Making the switch to cloth napkins

Earlier this year, we visited some dear friends in Dallas and we were inspired. This couple had made the switch from paper napkins to cloth napkins and they made it look so easy. So when we got home, we decided to try it. And what do you know – it was super easy. We have been paper napkin free for over a month now and I don’t see us going back. Here are the lessons they taught us:


1. Make sure you have enough to get you through the week. This way you can just throw them into your weekly laundry and it’s not a big deal. For us, this meant having twelve cloth napkins ready to go. Luckily I have been an avid shopper at Ross, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods for years so I have amassed a pretty impressive collection of cloth napkins.

2. Put them where you had your paper napkins before. For us this meant in a pape napkin holder on top of a cake plate in the middle of the kitchen table.

Exhibit A:

Now, this is functional, but not too aesthetically pleasing. So I need your help. What suggestions do you have for how to store our cloth napkins. It has to be open so napkins can be easily grabbed and it has to be able to sit in the middle of the kitchen table. I look forward to your ideas!

A lovely hostess gift

One of my dear friends recently visited from from my old stomping grounds of Chicago and she brought the greatest hostess gift. A gorgeous box of chocoloates from Rich Chocolates in Chicago.

It came in this cute little box.

And inside.....

But the best part was that each candy was inspired by a neighborhood in Chicago!

This box of candy was like a Pandora's box of memories. The flavors reminded me of the great times I had spent in those neighborhoods. Plus it was chocolate.

Well played my dear friend, well played.

I fished a snake out of the pool

OK… What really happened was more like…

Scene: Angie doing water aerobics. I look over and see a snake doing water aerobics. Go back to lunges and then in slow motion, my head slowly turns and realizes – IT REALLY IS A SNAKE. I hightail it out of the pool and stand on the edge pondering what to do next – all the while the promos from Snakes On A Plane are circling in my head. 'What would Samuel L. do?' And 'I hope his fired his agent for letting him do that movie.'

I scream a tiny scream hoping my husband who is inside on a conference call will hear me and coming running. No husband. I head over to the pool closet looking for the skimmer. 'WHERE IS THAT NET? Why is it so hard to find a net? Where in the world would my husband put the net? I can’t get the snake without a net! I run over to the backyard and look for the net. NO NET!!! WHERE IS THE NET??' I contemplate going inside to get my husband, but then I say to myself, 'Angie! You are a woman of the 90s! You can do this!' (Apparently in my head, it is still the 90s and women in the 90s fish foot-long snakes out of pools.)

I head back to the pool closet and find the net. Grrreat! Now I really have to get the snake. I head over to the side of the pool and start fishing. It squirms and then makes a break for the other side of the pool. I should jump in and get it. WHAT!!! Then I would in the pool with the snake. BAD IDEA! I run to the other side. After a few struggles, I get it in the net and it is all floppy and squirmy. Now I really scream and run toward the backdoor and fling it with all my might. It goes 3 feet. But that is far enough.

At this point, my husband comes running out. The combination of running and screaming has triggered an internal “huh…my wife might be in trouble…..” alarm.* I think, ‘Just in time, Lucky!’ I tell him how I got the snake out of the pool. He asks how big it was. I say a foot. He is surprised that is was actually a snake. See, when I originally said SNAKE! He thought worm.**

I made him check the rest of the pool. He declared it “All Clear.” And back into the water I went. Because if you don’t get back on the horse right away – you might never swim in your own pool again.



*Running and screaming independently do not sound the alarm anymore. I am a wee bit of an over reactor.
**See note regarding “over reactor”