Decorating for Christmas

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanzaa season to you all! Whatever you celebrate, make it lovely and warm and cozy.


We got started this weekend with going to buy a Christmas Tree. We are traditionalists and always buy a real Fir Tree because we love the smell and it adds to the wonderful smells of Christmas in our home. We just bought a small 3-4 foot tree this year since we will be gone for a large chunk of the holidays on our trip to the west, but we still wanted the Spirit of Christmas to be in our home while we are here. My 2 year old and I decorated together...

This is what happens when you have a 2 year old helper...you end up with 4 ornaments on one limb of the Christmas Tree...

but in the end, it always turns out lovely...I love to sit in the living room on a dark night, sipping hot chocolate, cuddled in a blanket with my sweetie and watching old Christmas Classic movies with the white lights of the tree just blazing. Its a beautiful thing.

This holiday season, no matter what you celebrate, remember to celebrate the important things like good friends, family, health, and the miracles of life. We see them every day, we probably just do not realize it.

May your days be merry and bright!

Make it a beautiful season!

Heather

Scrapbooking-Turning 2 is fun to Do

(And...last time...the layout is laying on a polka dotten blanket, don't let it throw you off.)

Turning 2 is Fun to Do!

Here is yet another page of pictures taken on his actual birthday when we had cake with family members. This is a simple design and really took no time at all. The papers are all Stampin' Up and actually what made it super simple was that I bought this is a layout pack from my sister Lindsey at http://stampwithlinz.blogspot.com/

She takes papers that go together and basically puts together the parts for a layout and then you just figure out where you want to adhere everything and mount your pictures and go. I really love how easy it is to do this with Stampin' Up because the colors always match...they are made to go together...so the red ribbon matches the red paper matches the red buttons...for me, it makes life so much easier because I love my reds to match---that is just the way I am---I hate it when the color is off!

Craft-Frame Art

(again, ignore the polka dotted blanket underneath)

This is another super easy craft from retreat. This is a normal frame that you can get at Wal Mart for less than $4. The red paper of the back layer is embossed with black embossing powder. I went for the swirled look with a swirly stamp that I stamped in a Versamark stamp pad and then sprinkled with embossing powder, then held under an embossing tool (or you can use another heat source like a stove, just don't catch the thing on fire, please....you just hold it over the heat until the little embossing sand bead things start to get shiny and melt into each other.)



On the white strip, I embossed with an iridescent white embossing powder with the same swirly pattern, although you probably cannot see it. You take that strip and adhere it to the plain black strip, and adhere that to the red strip.



The words here are a cut out of the Big Shot from Stampin Up and Sizzix, so its just a cut out, although you could use vinyl letters or a rub on or something as well.



Then, you glue all those layers to the mat that comes with the frame, make sure it is centered, and then take some ribbon, and thread it in between the glass and the frame and tie a know. Then, with some black think twine, I attached the charm that is a snowflake.



You have so many variations with this and can do so many things. The original design had snow flakes instead of swirls, but I wanted to keep it up all year around so I did the swirls.


Isn't it beautiful?

Heather

Random Thoughts--After Turkey Fun

Howdy and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! Do you like the new layout? I have been playing with it for days and I like this one today, no telling if I will like it tomorrow....so stay tuned. If you hate it or love it, please let me know. If it is hard to read, let me know that too so I can adjust the colors.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family and it was fun, exciting, and memorable. Almost all the men folk ate our early Thanksgiving day lunch and then hit the road for Big D as they travelled to the Dallas Cowboys traditional Thanksgiving Day Game. The excitement was electric...those boys were so excited they could hardly stand it and they all donned their favorite Cowboys paraphernalia and headed north. It was a great game and they had a great time. It will definitely be a memorable day for them to remember. The girls had a good time at home with the kids (I should say that we all had the opportunity to go as well, but I thought I would let my hubby go and I would stay and watch our little guy...but I would have loved to have gone as well!). We played and played and watched TV and played...it was fun and the cousins have so much fun when they are together...never a dull moment...or a quiet one! We are also especially excited to have another little cousin heading our way in just a few weeks, so we threw a family baby shower for Anne and showered her with some last minute gifts. It will be fun to see them as parents and to welcome another beautiful baby into our family.

Then Black Friday is made for SHOPPING!!! My sisters and I love to hit the stores, and although we had one store opening at 4am, we decided to wait and be somewhat sane and not go until 6am. The first store we went to was packed and we waited in line 20-30 minutes just to check out, then we headed to my little sister and my favorite children's clothes store...The Children's Place...we L-O-V-E LOVE that place and you can tell by looking at most of our kids clothes. We took Anne along too so she could experience the love that is Children's Place and she was right there with us, arms full and grabbing some GREAT bargains. We all walked out of there with tons of beautiful kids clothes and bargains galore! We then headed to Panera Bread and ate a quick breakfast before we hit a couple more stores. We love Panera, I had the egg souffle with asparagus and spinach and it was total fab-ness...my sisters had the breakfast sandwich that they said was the best breakfast sandwich they ever had...we all loved it! Then, we headed to our favorite and relatively newly found store...Anne Taylor...we shopped here a few months ago at Anne's insistence and have since been converted. Its all about that whole buy quality thing instead of quantity that I have spoken of before...Anne Taylor clothes are beautiful...the colors are saturated and lovely, the styles are trendy and classic, depending on whatever you want, and when you catch a great sale...it is really quite affordable....and we caught an awesome sale!

You know how you have some outfits that you know you look good in...so good that you want to wear them every day because you know you look your best in...the outfits that you look skinnier than anything else you own...those are my Anne Taylor clothes...My little sister and I had our similarities confirmed as we kept coming up to each other and showing each other the same clothes, or she would say "This is so cute" and I would say "Do they have my size?" Its a good thing we don't live in the same town because we bought some of the exact same outfits. (As a side note, when we both lived in the same town, we would show up at events or church or whatever and be wearing the same thing without ever even talking to each other...sometimes it was a little embarrassing!)

Anyway, I am so sold on Anne Taylor stuff that I wonder if I ever want to shop anywhere again...really, it was that good. And I am hoping we hit the jackpot sometime this week because they are having another sale next week and you can use these $25 coupons we got this week...I could easily go spend a ton more!

Anyway--It was a fun shopping time for us all and now we know better that next time we do not need to get up at 4am or 6am, just wait until 8am when Children's Place opens and then head over the Panera for breakfast until Anne Taylor opens. It will be a beautiful thing!

Another wonderful thing that happened that day was the phrase that Lindsey said to me when I was trying on one outfit...we always come out and model the outfits and she said "I think you need a smaller size"...Wow...that was music to my ears! And, the best thing of all was that my favorite item was a beautiful chocolate chip brown jacket (Linz has one too now) and the largest size they had was a 10 so I grabbed it just to see if I might could fit into it...and it fit!!! I am not in a size 10 jeans yet, but I will get there eventually!

Speaking of sizes...I need to go to high heels camp tonight and get in a workout!

Much love and holiday greetings to you all!

Heather

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope this is the start of a wonderful holiday season for all of you!

(And may all those fmaily members and in laws not drive you crazy!)

Much love,

Heather

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Well, the rolls are done, the sweet potatoes are mashed and in their dish, and the cranberry sauce is in the fridge....I have already put most of anything that did not need to be refrigerated in my car so we are ready to go! After we eat, the boys are heading up to Big D to go to the Cowboys game against the Seahawks...they are so excited that they can hardly contain themselves! In fact, we have been given strict orders that we must start eating by 11:14 a.m. so that the boys can eat and be on the road by 12:14 at the latest...this may be the fastest Thanksgiving feast (actually almost a brunch) EVER! But hey, they are so excited that its hard to not be excited for them...in fact I am thrilled they get to go. They want to go this year to the old stadium and next year to the new stadium...hey, we are fans, what can we say?

There was no High Heels Camp today, the trainer, participant, and coach (all those people being moi!) had too much to do! Which is normally not a very good excuse but I am giving myself a little slack for being on my feet for hours making rolls and other "fixins". I also plan to work out tomorrow, either early in the morning or after we eat I may go for a walk/run around the neighborhood...then on Friday I will exercise my right to shop! But I still plan on working out on Friday as well. I do give myself weekends off most of the time unless I have been a real slacker. so, stay tuned for another high stepping high heels workout tomorrow or probably Friday because I may not be near a computer tomorrow!

I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and drive safely to and from your destinations...and keep your sanity if they are all coming to you!

Take Care People!

Heather

Heather's High Heels Camp-Day 2

Hello people,

Today I decided I would do a little bike riding on my stationary bike...mainly because by the time I got home, it was dark and I didn't want to go workout outside. So anyway, while switching the channels between The Biggest Loser (I am so ready for Vicky to go) and Dancing With the Stars (Yeah for Brooke), I pulled my recumbent bike from the guest room out into my living room and started to ride. Yes, it makes a great decor statement there in my living/dining area...so stylish! Anyway, I figure if it is there, then maybe my hubby might also get on it and ride every once in a while...which would be great! So anyway, I get on and set the program to P2 on my machine which is a preset program that goes from easy to medium to hard over and over again, probably 6 times. I set it for 35 minutes and I made it through without dying once...although there were times it would have been REALLY easy to just stop pedalling when it was at those killer levels, I just kept pushing through and breathed a sigh of relief (well actually just caught my breathe) when the machine made that little noise that means it is changing modes. You learn to love and hate that noise, I loved it when I was on the high level and dying to get back to that easy level, and then I HATED it when I was on the middle level and it was going to high. Its a love/hate relationship, me and that pesky noise.

So anyway, I did that for 35 minutes and then did about a 10 minute cool down of just easy riding. While cooling down, I grabbed my hand weights and did random arm exercises: laterals, curls, kickbacks, sky touches, etc for probably 8 minutes.

Next was to the floor...get your stopwatch and do 1 minute of push ups, 1 minute of sit ups, 1 minute plank, other random stretches and shake it all out...then another plank.

All in all, I feel good and I feel like I got in a decent workout! Its much better than just sitting on the couch watching Biggest Loser and thinking "wow, she is almost weighing less than I am now!?!" "Do I look like her?"

So, do it...go move your body and be healthier...you may be totally floored like me and find it utterly addicting.

As my trainer says when we all get to that powerful pain threshold where you just want to stop and lay down on the ground and try to breathe normally...he says "Keep Going, Push it, Its just mind over matter!" then he says "If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." So, take the pain, such it up and deal with it, it is making you healthier and possibly saving your life.

Be good, eat good...except for Thursday, just eat in moderation if possible, but try everything and enjoy life!

Heather

Heather's High Heels Camp

Howdy all,

I hope you are all having a nice Thanksgiving week and getting ready to gobble up some good food on Thursday! I know I am excited and ready to do so!

Well, with tighter finances and the holidays coming up, I decided to not do my "boot camp" that I have been doing the last 2 months. Its really hard to justify doing it when you have Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up and a small trip and a really large 3200 mile trip coming up in the next month. So, I decided I would save the money to spend on the trip and not sign up for boot camp for this round. It started today and I miss it already but HEY! I can do this on my own. This is my life, I am the "Captain of my life and the Master of my own Destiny" right? So why can't I just try to do this on my own. I have taken notes and have all the emails from the last 2 months and I can count to 20 and have a watch to time myself, so I have decided that I am now my own coach! Yep, that little inner voice in my head is going to be yelling at me and telling me to push it harder...and I am going to listen and to do it by-golly! I decided to call mine "High Heels Camp" because I hardly ever wear boots and who doesn't want their legs to look good in high heels? So, welcome to Heather's High Heels Camp!

So, this evening I started with running some sprints...I am going to try to share some of my workouts with you so that you can do it yourself if you want or just laugh at me for looking silly. Anyway, start out with about 5 minutes of warm up...so I walked basically across my yard and did high knee walks slow, then tippy toe walks, then hurdler walks on one leg, then the other led, walking lunges, backwards jogging, and maybe a few other things just back and forth across the lawn. This is just an easy way to get your muscles working. If it is really cold outside, you might want to go longer to get your body warmed up a little before you take it up a notch. Now on to the workout...

I started out tonight by running suicides up my driveway. For those of you who have never experienced a suicide, here is an example...if you were on the football field and you were standing on the goal line, first you would run to the 5 yard line then back to the goal line, then you would run to the 110 yard line and then back to the goal line, then on to the 15 yard line and back...etc. These are torturous and exhausting workouts but they do great things, so I did them. I just used the tension line spaces in my driveway as my yard lines and I ran back and forth. My driveway is not that long, so I just kept doing the over and over. I would run the sprints constantly going back and forth in 2 minute increments, then rest for just a tad and grab a swig of water, and then do it again. I probably did this for at least 5-6 rounds so probably 14 minutes or so with short breaks in between. Then I ran longer sprints by going from the very end of my driveway to the front door and back over and over again, I again did this in 2-3 minute increments with short breaks in between. I would walk fast if I got too tired to run/job but most importantly, I kept going. I did that for probably about 20 more minutes. It works up quite a sweat! (I should mention, and not to rub it in to those in the colder climates, that is was about 73 degrees and beautiful.)

After that I went inside and did 30 second series of small hand weights, mine are 5 pounds each, of lateral raises, kickbacks, curls, tricept curls, and bent over flies with a twist at the top. (If you need directions on how to do any of these, just post a comment and I will give full discloser!)

Then I did 1 minute of each of the following...
squats (make sure your bent knees are not going past the end of your toes)
lunges
push ups
sit ups

Then I did forward stomach crunches for 30 seconds
left side stomach crunches for 30 seconds and then right side for 30.
Then I did V ups (like a side sit up kind of) for 30 seconds on each side.

Then I did a plank for 1 minute, push ups for 1 minute, then another plank.

Then I stretched with a cobra back/ab stretch and finished with a few other stretches...

And that was my workout! the only equipment I needed was running shoes and hand weights...so there is NO excuse that you do not have a gym membership or the right equipment, it is easily attainable.

Our trainer told us this weekend that we should all set an outrageously high fitness goal for ourselves and then to work towards it, because you just might be surprised at how you do in attaining that goal. my friend Angie wants me to train for a half marathon. While I don't think I would be ready by March, its still a good goal...and the fact that I didn't out and out laugh at her when she suggested it, says that I have come a long way from where I was 6 months ago. She told me I could do it and I actually believed her...so I think I am going to work towards that goal and see if I can maybe do one further away. I think March might be too soon but we will see, like I have mentioned probably before...the word "marathon" of any sort and "Heather" generally do not mix unless it involves shopping, so the fact that this one involves actual running, is quite amazing! We will see folks...stay tuned!

**Under Construction**

Well, as you can see, I have been piddle-ing around my web page for an hour or so playing with the colors and design.

I wanted to put up a page that had more fall colors for the Thanksgiving holidays....and I did that, I just got a few random reindeer thrown in there as well. So anyway....bare with me while I work out the kinks, but fear not, I will have a new fab layout for the Christmas/Holiday Season and I hope it is spectacular...and beautifully basic too!

Feel free to give me opinions and advice, just don't be offended if I do my own thing! :) seriously, I like opinions, I am just obviously opinionated myself! hee hee

Recipe:Thanksgiving Cornbread Dressing

I made this dressing last year for the firs time and it was by far the best dressing I have ever tasted. Its a good old southern version of the cornbread variety but it does have some bread in it as well. I hope you love it as much as we do! (We don't actually stuff it in the bird since there are health issues with it not getting cooked enough and poultry juices running through it.)


Ingredients
Pan of cornbread (I doubled the recipe and made one that would fill a large rectangle casserole dish), crumble after its done and cooled

1 package of family sized stuffing mix (like stove top, the bread and the seasonings)
1 sleeve saltine crackers
8 tablespoons butter
2 cups celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
7 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sage (optional)
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning (optional)
5 eggs beaten

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine crumbled cornbread, dreid stuffing mix, and saltines; set aside.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the celery and onion and cook until transparent, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the vegetable mixture over cornbread mixture. Add the stock, mix well, taste, and add salt, pepper to taste, sage, and poultry seasoning. Add beaten eggs and mix well. Reserve 2 heaping tablespoons of this mixture for the giblet gravy. Pour mixture into a greased pan and bake until dressing is cooked through, about 45 minutes. Serve with turkey as a side dish.

Here is a cornbread recipe if you need one, but I think I used 2 package mixes last year

Cornbread:
1 cup self-rising cornmeal
1/2 cup self-rising flour
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into a greased shallow baking dish. Bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
To serve, cut into desired squares and serve with butter. For stuffing above, crumble cornbread.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Random Thoughts--I have gotten a ton done this week!

Howdy!

Its been a strange week for me this week. Since my son was sick for the first half, I was home with him and got to spend some time around the house. On Saturday, my hubby had to go help out one of his former farmers that he used to work with when he was in the poultry industry, so my son and I were together all day again. We went grocery shopping, then came home for a while and then went to Target. Then he conked out for a nice nap and I got some quality time on the computer making hotel reservations for our Christmas driving trip. I then baked 2 batches of wheat bread (the equivalent of 8 loaves) and a batch of corn bread, plus I mixed up the dry ingredients for 2 more batches that I will make tonight and again later this week. Because I have been home so much, I feel like the weight of the world is off my shoulders and things are finally starting to go back to normal at my house. Its been such a crazy semester with Hurricane Ike and our normal super busy football season, plus I am involved with a major renovation on campus and that has taken up extra time as well...its been one of the craziest semesters I have had in the 8 years I have worked for the university. But as of now, all my dishes are clean, my laundry is completely done except for the clothes we wore yesterday....I love that feeling. I have even matches up a ton of socks! The laundry is all put away (except for the socks which are heading there soon.) and things are more organized. Now, I still have a few odds and ends here I need to pick up, but its such a relief to have that all done before I get to the Thanksgiving break! Whew! I have been a busy girl!

And to add to all the craziness, my husband goes to church early to go to some meetings and he called and told me not to hurry and get ready for church today because he thought it would be cancelled...huh? You don't just cancel church? Well, he was standing outside waiting for the fire department to say the building was clear and they could re-enter. There had been a small electrical fire and the building was full of smoke! They didn't think they could get it cleared and get the smell out (that burned rubber plus electrical smell) out in time for church to start in an hour, so they cancelled it. So, I was able to piddle around the house and do a few odds and ends and have a nice relaxing morning. It was quite nice!

I am excited for Thanksgiving and all the fun and food that goes with it. This year has flown by and I can hardly believe that it is almost December...with Thanksgiving being late this year, you literally put away the turkey and pull out the Christmas lights!

I hope this post finds you all doing well and happy as we head into the holiday season. This time of year is a joyous time of year and I hope you can find some joy, no matter what your circumstances are.

Happy Sabbath!
Heather

Whole Wheat Bread

Okay--I meant to get this up last night but my hubby had to go out to a farm and so I was home with my toddler and just never got around to it. Here is the basic recipe except that I added whole wheat gluten and dough enhancer....and I can't remember how much....I have it written down at home but I am now at work, I just basically followed what the package directions said, I think it was 1/3 of one and 3 tablespoons of the other...but alas, I do not recall which was which! (I know, scream at me in frustration, I am beating my head against the wall as I type!)

Its good even without that extra stuff....here it is!
(6:45pm Update with all the correct amounts!)

Whole Wheat Bread

5 c. warm water
2 T. salt
½ c. oil
½ c. honey
3 T. yeast
14 c. freshly ground white wheat flour (approx.) ( I am going to admit that I did not freshly ground mine, in fact it came out of a bag from the grocery store....shame, shame, I know!)
4 tablespoons of dough enhancer (optional)
1/3 cup of whole wheat gluten (optional)


Mix all ingredients in large mixer. Mix for 5-7 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Shape into loaves. (Makes 4 regular sized loaves.) Let rise. Bat at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Vinyl Lettering--In the Kitchen

Okay, once I saw that Stampin' Up had this new Decor line, I loved it from the start. I ordered these swirly designs specifically to go on my black fridge.


Can I tell you I LOVE THE WAY THIS LOOKS! Love it love it love it....its totally my style.


The Fridge....

Up close and personal-left side

Up close and personal-the right side



And I had a few flowers left over so I put some on the microwave!

What do you think? Have I mentioned that I love it?

I also made the most glorious whole wheat bread today....I took my friend Lisa's recipe and just tweaked it a little by adding dough enhancer and wheat gluten....and I made what I think might be the perfect wheat bread. I know those loaves are a little disproportionate in size, but I wanted one of them bigger....and I got it! It almost took over my kitchen! They say everything is bigger in Texas...this bread is living that dream! I will post the recipe tomorrow!

Random Thoughts Part 2-Strengths Finder

I took a personality test a while ago...I may have told you about it, its one of those Strength Builder or Discover your Strengths type deals where it tells your your top 5 dominant traits in your personality....I like to do these things because it causes introspection and provides some understanding. Here are my top 5...



Activator-People strong in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.



Responsibility-People strong in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.



Achiever-People strong in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.



Learner-People strong in the Learner Theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.



Significance-People strong in the Significance theme want to be very important in the eyes of others. They are independent and want to be recognized.



I have to admit that they got it right, I am all of these for the better or worse. They also talked to me about how my strengths make a nice balance. During one of the exercises with my other Manager Team members, I had a few minutes while I was waiting for someone to finish and the trainer people were looking at my strengths (on a lanyard around my neck for the activity) and talked about how it was an interesting combination (does that mean totally whacked and crazy?) and how they created a compliment to each other and created a really strong personality and leader. Hmmmm, interesting....



The Activator and Achiever work together....that means I want to do it and I want to do it now, stop pussy footing around it and let's get going! You add in the Responsibility factor and I want to do it right and with integrity. Add the Learner...if I don't know how to do it, give me that manual by golly because we need to get started now....and then add in the Significance...and I want credit for it all, please tell me how good I am and let me get the award!



I have to admit that the whole Significance thing made me realize how vain I am...I do like the attention...in some cases I thrive on it....but you know what...I am the only member of my team who has this attribute...so, you know what that means? That means that when we have major events, they are all fine and dandy to be behind the scenes and they want me out front talking to people, working the room, and greeting dignitaries.....they do not want to do that, its just not them and they love it that I can and want to do that part of the event...so see, even something that may seem like its a little selfish, is a good thing for our team because we need a front man out there, the face that people see and know they can come to if something is not going right at their shin dig. It is total serendipity that our team has so much synergy and we work well together, it seems we have just the right combination of strengths to cover the gamut on an event....its a good thing...



An on to my personal life...I was so intrigued by this exercise that I went and bought another book because there is a code in the back and you can take the quiz online to see what your strengths are.....So, I had my husband do it and LOW AND BEHOLD.....drum roll puhlease....



We are NOTHING alike....not one strength do we have in common...nada, zilch...nothin'



Am I surprised? Maybe a little, but really, he and I are very different animals. While I am the do it, do it now type person, he is the "let's think about this, study it, and draw up a plan" for what we want to do and it doesn't matter to him that the plan may never happen or be implemented....he is Deliberative.



He also has Ideation and Analysis...loves ideas and reading about things and then thinking about them and analyzing them and thinking about it some more...then looking up some more info...then thinking thinking thinking...its enough to drive an Activator type C-R-A-Z-Y! So, I guess that whole "opposites attract" thing really does have some merit, and I see more and more that it is true, because we are definitely polar opposites on a lot of things, but that is okay because his strengths compliment my weaknesses, so its all good!



Anyway, if you are curious as to what your top 5 strengths are, I suggest that you take the test. You can find the books at places like Barnes & noble and it gives you a sealed pass code in the back of the book so that you can take the online test...you have to have 45 minutes of uninterrupted time to take the test, because it is timed and they want to know your gut reaction to every question.


Its been good for me to do this and to have my hubby do it too, it makes him make more sense to me and I see how and why he does things....even if they don't make sense to me or drive me batty at times. Plus, I think its always good to rediscover yourself and see where your strengths really lye (or lie? I am evidently having spelling and thinking issues today, its early people, I got up at 5am to work out!), because our strengths are what can make us great.

So, if this intrigues you, you might want to try it to. You have to have a book per person, so you can't share because the code only gives you one chance to answer all the questions (its gut instinct remember and their gut and your gut are different!).


This is what I do, I go to Google Product Search and enter Strengths Finder and then look online for it because I think its much cheaper online. My book for class had the price tag somewhere between $21.95-$25, I can't remember exactly and I don't have it handy (its probably under the laundry). However, I have seen it for as low as about $8 just make sure you get a new copy or one that for sure has the code still sealed. Here is the link to the Product Search I did. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=strengths+finder&hl=en&cid=16366531195245239933&scoring=p#ps-sellers





There is also one for older kids and teenagers, I think its called Strenths Builder or Guide, and it focuses on what they are good at and can help in looking at what they might want to do in life. I think it might help some teenagers who just don't know what to do or are trying to figure out who they are.

So...go figure out what you do best and embrace it and love it...you can still work on those darn weaknesses, but don't ever neglect your strengths because that is who you are. And your strengths change....they say there are about 10 strengths out of the 36 that are your real strengths and they will move around depending on what is going on in your life, this test tells you the top 5 core strengths and explains all 36 to you.


Make it a Beautiful Day!
Heather

Random Thoughts--The Laundry Monster

While I generally hate to admit my shortcomings (and there are many but I am not going to list them, there is not enough space on blogger!), I am baring all today as I show you what I worked on yesterday....piles and piles of LAUNDRY! Life has been busy for the past month and I just could not get a hold of the monster that is our laundry. This picture is a good example of how it can take over your dining and living area. While this is A LOT, this is not all of it, there are more piles on the outskirts of this picture and still a little bit more waiting to be hung up or folded. At least The Biggest Loser was on last night so I had something entertaining to watch while I folded and folded and hung up (or is it hanged up? I know a person is hanged and not hung (well, okay, so someone could be hung but this is a G rated blog...most of the time)....but I am not sure about laundry) and folded again....and still have more to do today! But, it will be done today...I can see it...the light at the bottom of the laundry basket....it is there, I can feel it!

So, for anyone who thinks they are the only ones buried under laundry....nope! I am right there with you, gasping for breathe and hoping it doesn't suffocate me! That is what the dining room table is for right? Folded clothes? At least my center piece looks cute right?

I can think of at least one other time when all the laundry in my house was done and it was pure bliss! In fact, I wanted to go wash anything as soon as it was dirty because I didn't want to have that ugly pile of clothes staring at me again....so there you go...

Note to Self....

Self, I will keep up with the laundry from now and and will not let this happen again....okay, that may be a stretch so I will at least hope that I can keep this up until our trip in December! How is that for making a lofty goal and then smash it back down to size....I hate being defeated, can you tell?

Scrapbooking-Animal Print Ribbon

(Again, don't let the polka dotted blanket its laying on throw you off! )

Here is another page from the day at the zoo, only this one is about lunch at Cracker Barrell....oh, I wish we had a Cracker Barrell here!!!!! But alas, we do not so we go to the one up by one of my sister's houses an hour and a half away.

And while I think this is a simple page, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the giraffe pattern ribbon, I think it makes such a nice touch with the theme (Zoo Day) and looks really cute with the yellow and chocolate chip stamps and paper. Plus the pictures are mounted on Stampin' Up's Basic Gray, which is a great neutral color.

Scrapbooking--Big Pictures and Combining Pics

(This page is laying on a polka doted blanket, so don't let that throw you off.)

This is one of my favorite pages I have ever done. I loved how all these photos turned out from our day with the vintage trains. My son LOVES trains! I like to have some variance in my scrapbook pages and use different sizes of photos. The big picture in front of the train (The trains name is Puffy, by the way) is actually an 8.5" X 11" picture and I cropped it down a little bit. My sister helped me on this one because I literally sat looking at the photos for at least 45 minutes before I had any inkling how to get them on the page, so I put it away and worked on something else until I could get my professional scrap booking sister to come help me with the layout. I am really pleased with how it turned out!

I also like the large picture on the second page. I did not have another picture that I had had blown up so she suggested I create a big picture by combining some pictures into one. I love the way everything looks and I am so pleased that our pictures with Puffy can now be highlighted in such a pretty way! I also can't wait to go the the Great Plains Transportation Museum on our way west for Christmas...I should mention that we are going north then turning left to go west, otherwise you would all wonder why I thought Kansas was west of Texas. :)

Have a beautiful day and make a beautiful page in your life!

Heather

Scrapbook page-A Whimsical Page of our Zoo Day

Here is another page in the saga that was my son's birthday. We had his party at the zoo(Saturday), then we took everyone out to eat(Saturday for lunch), then we had cake on his actual birthday(Monday). This page is fairly random...this is a conglomeration of a bunch of pictures from teh zoo of people and animals...and people in a tee pee! I cut out the blades of grass and then just snuggles some animal pictures in there. I cut the picture in the tee pee to look like they were in a tee pee with a paper tee pee that I cut out behind the picture. The butterfly pictures were wooden boards set up in the park that the kids could go stand behind and put their faces up to it for pictures.

No, nothing is to scale...otherwise that is one HUGE flower and butterfly! but, I like it none the less. This is a little more whimsical that I usualy do, I am usually pretty organized in my scrapbooking pages but I thought I would take a more artistic approach on this one and I am pleased with the results. Its kind of a silly page but it was a silly and fun day for all, so that is okay!

Craft-Lunch Bag Scrapbooks as teacher gifts

(Don't let the white and pastel polka dotted blanket throw you off.)

Here are some more of those lunch bag scrapbooks that I talked about earlier in the year. I am making these as teacher gifts for my son's teachers. I made 8 of them....it did take quite a while and I was really glad when I was finally through. I think next time I will take on an easier project, but if I only had to make one or two, it wouldn't have taken much time at all.

I bought these lunch bags in bulk at Sam's. I think they were around $6-$7 and there is 500 of them. While I don't plan on making a gazillion of these, I thought I could use the lunch sacks for other things so I just went ahead and got them. I used 4 bags but I think if I had to do a bunch, I would only use 3 bags next time. The beauty of this project is that the pages and layouts are so small! The paper I cut to put on the page is only 4.5"X 4.5". So, you could easily do this with scraps. Plus, I tried to do the pages in bulk, so I would try to make 8 pages of the same page at once. Like I said, I spent quite a bit of time on this, but I think if you did it in stages, you wouldn't notice it as much. for instance, if you cut out all the squares one night, then stamped the embellishments the next time, then added brads and such another time, etc.

I think his teachers will love them and HEY, at least I am DONE!

So, grab some lunch bags and make a scrapbook! A variation on this is to only use the lunch bag as the scrapbook cover and then cut card stock that is 9"X 4.5" and make them the pages. You can staple or sew down the middle for the binding or punch holes and use ribbon as a "binder." Once again, the possibilities are endless!

Scrapbooking Page with Rub Ons-Day at the Zoo

Another scrapbooking page from retreat. This is from the birthday we spent at the zoo...you will see quite a few zoo pages because I had lots of fun pictures. I did the circle pattern on the left to simulate the tube slide that they had. I had quite a few pictures from the slide so I thought I would try to duplicate the slide's form/shape to match the picture lay out.

One nice feature that I have highlighted on the bottome close up picture is the "for you" rub on I used. I used these more than I ever have at this retreat and I really like the subtle touches it adds to the pictures. These are Stampin' Up rub ons and you basically just rub them on to the photo or paper, its that easy. They come in white, chocolate chip brown, old olive green, and black so its a great accent to a photo.

Scrapbooking--Halloween Party

Here is another finished product from my retreat. This page is for my son's Halloween party at his school. The page with the big candy corn is actually the art activity he did at the party, I just added another picture, some journaling, the side border, and a few stamps.

I really like how these pages turned out and I love that his artwork was part of the page.

Craft-Modge Podge & Papercraft

First off--Please ignore the messy table in the background...you don't really see that, its your imagination playing tricks on you! (I was taking a quick picture to send to my sister to see if she thought my secret sister would like it and I didn't bother to take a nice pretty picture before I gave it to her, so these are my only shots. Oops! I was scrapbooking and packing and making things all at once so there is quite a hodge podge of crap on that table! Sorry! And sorry for the use of crap if you don't like that word.)

This is a sample of taking something you would normally throw away and making it into something really cute! This is a cream puff container, the kind you buy at Sam's and can never eat just one, it comes with like 50 and they are yummy and great fro parties...I digressed to cream puff heaven there for a second....anyway, I took this container and cleaned it and removed the side labels, the top one isn't removable so I just covered it up. Then I took scrap booking paper (this paper is from the Bella Rose Designer Series with Stampin' Up!) and used Modge podge to glue it to the container and then I went over the paper with Modge Podge so that it would be sealed and shiny. I thought this turned out super cute. I also covered a peanut butter jar (plastic) and a pickle jar (glass) in matching colors and gave them all as a little ensemble of gifts. I filled the peanut butter container with M&Ms.

This was for my "Secret Sister" gift at retreat and she acted like she loved it so I can only assume she does! We do secret pal type things at retreat and its really fun to see what people come up with. This one was a hit!

Craft-Paper in a frame

Howdy again...

This is a take off from scrap booking and it is so simple and easy!! If you have a square punch, this goes really quickly. I made this for one of my primary girls who is turning 12 this week. All you do it punch out the squares and put them in a grid pattern and then embellish them with buttons, stamp cut outs, paperclips, ribbon, etc. If your squares do not have enough room to fit all the way across, you can trim them down just a hair to make them all fit nicely.

This frame cost me $1 at the dollar spot at Target and the paper cost is super minimum as well since I already had the stuff on hand. In fact, I think I mainly used scraps, so it was probably a total of less than $2, and it easily could have been cheaper than that! Really, since I had everything on hand, including the frame that I bought months ago, its really just a freebie in my head.

So, enjoy this super simple craft!

Heather

Craft-Scrapbooking

Good Morning,
The only good news about being home with a sick little boy is that I hope I can get a few things done around the house today...do you love my over the brim optimism? I am not sure how much I will get done, but I sure hope I can at least get the laundry in its rightful place and get the house generally picked up...that would be a feet in itself!


Here is one of the first scrap booking pages I got done at retreat. This is a combo page of pictures from different days at school, they had a Dr. Seuss Day at school and then Halloween, but since one of the more famous Dr. Seuss books is "Horton Hears a Hoo", my older sister had the great idea of using that for his elephant costume page for Halloween....such a great idea. Anyway, here are the pages....click to enlarge. It seems that one of my pictures is a little fuzzy. I keep having that problem since my husband took the camera on a trip he went on, I think he put it on some funky settings and I can't figure out what the heck he did! Once I figure that out, I will take another shot and replace it. Silly husband! :)

Crickets Chirping...

Sorry for being MIA, I was out of town at my twice yearly (is that bi-annual?) scrap booking retreat...can I just tell you that I had so much fun! I wish you could all experience the fun of retreat...good food, fun people, and tons and tons of creativity...and LOTS of inspiration!

I got a lot done....
9 scrap booking layouts, so 18 pages
1 frame gift
8 mini albums for teacher gifts
1 framed wall art
9 Christmas Cards (that I had started a year ago and never finished the last 9)
and I think that is it but I am probably forgetting something...

Anyway---I will take pictures tomorrow and get to posting some ideas! I seriously think I made some of the best scrap booking pages I have ever made...and I saw some super cute other ones that people made, so I will try to post some of those as well if I can get pictures. Since I don't have any girls, I don't make many girlie pages at all, so I will try to get some pictures of those to post.

So, I am glad to be home and rejuvenated from a totally fun weekend. I, of course, came home to a messy house...can you believe that the housekeeper, garbage man, and doctor did not show up while I was gone? :) My hubby and son both got sick on Saturday, so I got home about 10pm to a hubby who was not feeling well and to a little boy with a swollen eye...and ear infection. Hubby has one too. So, I will be off the next 2 days from work to watch the little guy until his eye clears up. I am happy to be home and spend some time with him since I have been gone for 3 days...plus I can get unpacked and TRY to get my house back in some semblance of order...although that may take weeks!

So, stay tuned!

H

Craft: Lace Card

Here is another one of the crafts we did. These were about $5. They were called Lace Up Cards because you basically just put all the parts together and lace up the seems, glue on the letters, etc. It was easy, just a little time consuming so I did it while I was watching tv one night. I will see if I can find a webpage with a link to these because they were super cute and would be little gifts for friends or visiting teachers. They had ones that said "Dreams", "Friends", and "Family" all with different color schemes.

Very cute!

Craft: Wall Art

Howdy,

Here is one of my projects from our big Super Craft Day a few weeks ago. Its just a wooden board, painted red and black, and then the 'Wise Men Still Seek Him" and the picture outline are vinyl rub ons. I can't wait to get this up on my wall!

Recipe: Monster Cookies

Ahhh, the memories that food can conjure up. These cookies were my grandmother's specialty. I don't know why they are called Monster cookies, I always figured it was because the whole batch was enough to feed a monster, seriously, it makes a ton! My grandfather would joke that when she made the Monster batch, she would take off her shoes and clean her feet and mix it up with her feet because it was too big to stir....I still don't know if that is true or not!


These wonderful things are full of peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips, and M&Ms. I have even convinced myself that they are good for you because of all the oats. I even added 2-3 tablespoons of ground flax seeds this time to make them even more nutritional. (If you are a dietitian or nutritionist and you look at this recipe and say..."Heather, you are smokin' weed, these are not good for you!" then that is okay, I just like thinking that I am getting protein and oats and other good stuff!)

Anyway, these cookies came with the holidays when I was growing up. Whenever the family would get together, my grandmother would make up a batch of these wonderful cookies and then send us all home with some because there were so many. We literally would eat them all day long, before eating, after eating, snacks, etc and there would still be a ton left. The full "Monster" version makes around 30 dozen, if I remember correctly. These are also great for the holidays because you can make one (huge) batch and freeze some of it and just keep making more as you need them for parties and things.

Here is the recipe:

Monster Size (about 30 dozen)

Ingredients:

eggs 12

brown sugar 4 Cups

white sugar 4 Cups

vanilla 4 teaspoons

corn syrup 1 Tablespoon

baking powder 8 teaspoons

butter, melted 2 Cups

peanut butter 3 pounds

quick oatmeal (although I think I have used regular before and it was fine) 18 cups

chocolate chips 4 Cups

M&M's plain 4 Cups

Large Version (about 15 dozen)

Ingredients:
eggs 6
brown sugar 2 Cups
white sugar 2 Cups
vanilla 2 teaspoons
corn syrup 1/2 Tablespoon
baking powder 4 teaspoons
butter, melted 1 cup (2 sticks)
peanut butter 2-2/3 Cups
quick oatmeal (although I think I have used regular before and it was fine) 9 Cups
chocolate chips 2 Cups
M&M's plain 2 Cups

Average Version (about 6 dozen)

Ingredients:

eggs 3
brown sugar 1 Cup
white sugar 1 Cup
vanilla 1 teaspoon
corn syrup none
baking powder 2 teaspoons
butter, melted 1/2 cup (1 stick)
peanut butter 1-1/3 cup
quick oatmeal (although I think I have used regular before and it was fine) 4-1/2 Cups
chocolate chips 1 Cup
M&M's plain 1 Cup

Instructions for all sizes:

Mix in the order given, then mold into even sized balls (You can freeze them at this point so they are ready to bake, just pop them out of the freezer and onto a cookie sheet. )

This is how it looks when its all in the bowl...and this is a big bowl (I made the Large size).

....and here they are, on a cookie sheet ready to bake...I choose to squish them with a fork right after this and before they went into the oven.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. (If you want a flatter cookie, you might want to press them down with a fork like you do peanut butter cookies before you bake them.)

You can use variations, like crunchy peanut butter or the mini M&Ms. You can also add raisins, coconut, pecans, nuts, etc, but I like them just as they are. You won't ever see me tell you that you have to put raisins in anything because raisins ARE SCARY and I just don't do raisins in my food!

Here they are out of the oven! Some of the chocolate is a little smeared because I forgot to smoosh some of them down until after they had been baking for a few minutes so I smeared some of the chocolate...I am sure they taste the same though.

And this is about 40-50 more cookies that are ready to go into the freezer so I can have ready to bake cookies in my freezer for any old day that I feel the hankerin' for a monster cookie. Actually, these little morsels will go with me on my trip later this week to retreat! ( I don't know if you could just hear the scream of Yahoo and excitement, that was my sisters when they read that I was bringing these childhood favorites to retreat!)

RETREAT! Retreat is something I look forward to twice a year. Its a weekend where my lovely sisters and some friends of ours all go to a lodge in Central Texas in the middle of nowhere and we hole ourselves away for a weekend and just do crafts and scrapbooking and a lot of laughing. In fact, there are times at every retreat where my sisters and I are laughing so hard that we cannot speak and people are looking at us like.."really? what is so funny?" Its hard to get our "sister" humor unless you have been there like we have for pretty much...all our lives.

(pictured Lindsey, Heather, Leah, & our mother, Billie)

Anyway, I leave on Thursday and can hardly wait! So, I will be away from my computer for a few days but will have lots of fun things to show you when I get back. We will get back late Saturday night.

Its my twice a year fun with the girls, get away from it all, hang out in the country, smell the clean good country air, eat girlie foods (like quiche), be artsy crafty, sleep very little, laugh a whole lot kind of weekend...it rejuvenates my soul!

Beautiful is as beautiful does!

Make it a great week!

Heather

Going Green

Hello there people...

While I would never describe myself as "granola" or even close for that matter, I have tried to be "greener" and more environmentally friendly over the last little while. Some of the things you can do are easy and hardly cost a thing or cost nothing. I thought I would put down a few green suggestions for people, just so they have it handy. This might also be a good reference table you could have at an HFPE night or do a short class on it.

Its easy being green! (just a twist on the old Kermit the frog Song)

• Grocery Bags--You see them at so many stores now, the little reusable sacks that you can buy and use instead of the plastic ones. I admit, I have what seems like thousands of those plastic grocery bags stuck here and there in my kitchen. I have started to purchase the green bags and found them handy to have around for many instances when you might need to carry something. I have lots of varieties and I will take them all with me now when I go to the grocery store. I also go to a weekly Farmer's Market and I take them with me to carry around my fruits and veggies. Even non-grocery type stores have them now. I have bags from Jo-Anne's Fabrics, Target, HEB Grocery, Toys R Us, and one from a conference I went to in Denver where they gave them out. They generally cost about $1 each and I have found that I use them for other things like carrying my workout clothes, taking my lunch to work, and other random things. Green bags are cool! Go get you some!
• Shop at local Farmer's Markets-this is a great way to get local produce and know where your food is coming from. My market is open on Saturday morning in the neighboring town and Wednesday afternoon in my town. There is also a local produce store that sets up a small Farmer's Market in the plaza of the university. Its fun to go to these because you meet the people who grew the food plus they also sell homemade preserves. breads, and herbs.
• Change your light bulbs to the squiggly looking bulb-Installing a compact florescent bulb saves energy and lasts longer than a traditional light bulb. We buy ours at Sam's in bulk so we always have some on hand. They are especially great for places that are hard to get to, like your front porch or a high ceiling because you won't have to change them as much.
• Recycling--Its always good to try to recycle what you can. Check you local community and see what kind of programs they offer.
• Buy locally when possible-It saves on fuel for shipping and helps your local economy.
• Fix a dripping faucet--You are waisting valuable water!
• Look for the energy star label--It will save you money on your electricity bills and be more efficient! When we built our current home, we made sure we built a home that had energy efficiencies...we even got a break on our taxes because of it, so ask your builder and your tax guy or gal what you need to get the tax break!
• Do full loads of dishes and laundry--I never really have a problem with this, I always have a full load of laundry and dishes, but it wastes water, electricity, and money if you only do small loads.
• Change your air conditioning filters when they get dirty, the a/c unit will not have to work as hard if the filter is clean.
• Monitor your temperature in your house--If you are gone for parts of the day, you can get one of those timers on your unit so that when you are usually gone, the a/c goes off or maintains a higher temperature. You can set it to restart 30 minutes before you get home so it is perfect by the time you arrive.

These are just a few suggestions, if you have other ways you have become "greener", I would love to hear 'em!

Have a great rest of your week and take care of the Earth! (Thank goodness it is almost Friday!)

Heather

Craft: Papercraft

I was looking at my friend Robyn's blog and thought this papercrafting was so stinkin' cute that I had to share it. I have mentioned it before, but I love taking some ordinary and making it extraordinary....and Robyn did just that! (Way to go Robyn, you are fab!)

Here is the link, check it out! She is one talented lady! http://bobobbin.blogspot.com/2008/10/from-thisto-that.html

Recipe: Honey Oatmeal Wheat Bread

This has turned into one of my favorite breads to make. Its easy and not too heavy and not too light, plus the oatmeal adds some extra nutritional value! I use my kitchenaid mixer, but you could do this by hand.

...

Ingredients:

...

1 1/2 cups of water

1/2 cup of honey

1/3 cup of butter

3 1/2-4 1/2 cups of white wheat flour

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 cup of oatmeal

2 teaspoons of salt

2 packages of active dry yeast (equals 4.5 tablespoons)

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon of Whole Wheat Gluten (optional)

1 Tablespoon of Dough Enhancer (optional)

...

Topping:

...

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

oatmeal

...

Place water, honey, and butter in small saucepan. Heat over medium low heat until mixture is very warm (120F-130F).

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First place oats, then all the white flour, 3 cups of wheat flour, dough enhancer, whole wheat gluten, salt, and yeast in mixing bowl. Using a dough hook, turn to speed 2 and mix for 15 seconds. Continuing on Speed 2, gradually add warm mixture to flour mixture and mix about 1 minute. Add eggs and mix about 1 minute longer.

...

Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix about 2 minutes, or until dough starts to clean sides of the bowl. Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour or until double in size.

...

Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf. Place in greased 8.5X4.5X2.5 inch baking pans. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until double in size.

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Beat egg white and water together with a fork. Brush tops of loaves with mixture. Sprinkle with oatmeal. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30-40 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks.

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Yields 32 servings, about 16 slices per loaf.