December 30

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We did. We began with worshipping our Lord and then spent the afternoon at my grandmother's and then went back to services and then went back to my grandmother's. 

My brother came in Monday evening and spent the week. He and his wife and girls went back to South Alabama yesterday.  My dad took us to the McWane Science Center. We all had a good time. 

Tonight we are having a New Year's Eve, Eve Party for our youth here at our house.  I am supposed to be cleaning but as you can see I am taking a bit of a break.  I did gather up the garbage here in my space so I can count that as doing one thing for this space clean up.  I have gotten out of the habit that I had started before the holidays but I will get back to it come next week. 

TaTa for now as I am heading to vacuum and sweep the kitchen.

Happy New Year!

12 Weeks of Christmas

On the 12th week of the 12 weeks of Christmas I created this...

tags for trimming

(11) a note card holder with cards

(10) 6x6 layouts for the 12 months of the year

(9) a chocolate and mini card gift box

(8) Christmas cards for mailing

(7) Recipe box for gifting

(6) a Journal for a gift

(5) gift boxes with the cricut art philosophy cartridge

(4) star album for my friends

(3) an event calendar for the year

(2) a picture frame using the my acrylix block

(1) and a layout for my family photos

Christmas Cookies

So today we are working on cookies for our cookie swap at our Girl Scout Christmas party that is Monday night.  Rebekah decided she wanted to try a new recipe that we got from one of those jar mix gifts books (I love those for gifts).  She wanted to make Yuletide Christmas Cookies.  These are green rolled in red sprinkles.  The instructions said to mix until a soft dough forms and then roll into logs and refrigerate 2 hours.

Does this look like soft dough that can be rolled into a log.  Rebekah and I are uncontrollably laughing as she is trying to scrape the dough off of my hands.  So we decide a plan b. Girl Scouts are always prepared right?  We decide to use a cookie scoop and then top with red sprinkles.  We will see how this works.

Here is the finished product from the soft dough cookie.

Hannah tried the blond brownies with red and green m&m's. We didn't have plain m&m's so we used the ones with peanut butter in them.  This should be really good. Here is her cookie/brownie for Monday night. Not near the mess but we will have these memories forever.

Now we are on to making sausage balls for Hannah's christmas party on Tuesday.  We will have them ready for baking Tuesday morning.  Nothing like getting ahead.

The Bookshelf

Time Management for Christian Women

Helen Young and Billie Silvey

             Looking for a “Christianized” Heloise’s hints or One-Minute Superwoman? Sorry, you just picked the wrong book. But if you’re feeling more like Martha than Mary, try Time Management for Christian Women. Billie Silvey and Helen Young run basic time management principles through a Bible filter to distill excellent advice on doing your best work and being your best self for the Lord.

            You’ll make time for memorable mottos, laugh-out-loud anecdotes, and sold research on:

                      Overcoming habits that kill time

                      Recognizing and using scraps of time
                      Finishing work at the office, not bringing it home
                      Whether or not to accept a volunteer project
                      Being good to yourself

         Time Management for Christian Women is sensitive to the ministry goals of single and married women at different stages of life. Charts, Scripture, questions, and activities for each chapter make this book ideal for both group and individual study.

12 Weeks of Christmas

On the 11th week of the 12 weeks before Christmas I created this...

a note card holder with note cards

(10) 6x6 layout of the 12 months of the year 

(9) a chocolate and mini card gift box

(8) Christmas cards for mailing

(7) Recipe box for gifting

(6) a Journal for a gift

(5) gift boxes with the cricut art philosophy cartridge

(4) star album for my friends

(3) an event calendar for the year

(2) a picture frame using the my acrylix block

(1) and a layout for my family photos

December Daily Bible Reading

4 Proverbs 25	5 Proverbs 26	6 Proverbs 27	7 Proverbs 28	8 Proverbs 29	9 Proverbs 30	10 Proverbs 31
11 Esther 1	12 Esther 2	13 Esther 3	14 Esther 4	15 Esther 5	16 Esther 6	17 Esther 7
18 Esther 8	19 Esther 9-10	20 Ecclesiastes 1	21 Ecclesiastes 2	22 Ecclesiastes 3	23 Ecclesiastes 4	24 Ecclesiastes 5
25 Ecclesiastes 6	26 Ecclesiastes 7	27 Ecclesiastes 8	28 Ecclesiastes 9	29 Ecclesiastes 10	30 Ecclesiastes 11	31 Ecclesiastes 12

Date Logs

This recipe came from my grandmother who passed away in 1992.  My mom used to make these all the time. They are easy, fun, and of course good.  I thought I would share this recipe with you.

DATE LOGS

1 cup sugar                                                                1 (8 ounce) pkg. chopped dates

1 stick margarine                                                     2 cups chopped nuts

1 egg                                                                            2 cups rice krispies

1 tsp. vanilla                                                              coconut flakes

Mix first five ingredients in sauce pans and cook over low heat 10 min. Remove from heat and add rick krispies and pecans.  Let cool to handle. Shape into 2 logs and roll in coconut. Chill about 2 or 3 hours. After chilling slice logs.

My Space

 A friend of mine recently moved and posted a picture of her craft room on her blog. She hasn't been able to get it finished but is now determined to finish it before her children get out of school for the holidays.
I thought maybe if I posted mine then I would work on my space as well. This is my room and as you can see it is the place where everything goes when I am in a hurry. Beginning next week, I will be spending at 30 minutes a day to work in this space. No wonder I can't get anything finished. 

I will post a completed picture when I am finished. I am not proud of this room but I am determined to get it in proper working order. 

I hope you had a wonderful laugh!

12 weeks of Christmas

On the 10th week before Christmas I created this...

a 6x6 layout for the 12 months of the year.

This set of layouts was created by the Loving Hearts team.

On the 10th week of the 12 weeks before Christmas I created this...

a 6x6 layout for the 12 months of the year...

(9) a chocolate and mini card gift box

(8) Christmas cards for mailing

(7) Recipe box for gifting

(6) a Journal for a gift

(5) gift boxes with the cricut art philosophy cartridge

(4) star album for my friends

(3) an event calendar for the year

(2) a picture frame using the my acrylix block

(1) and a layout for my family photos.

Enjoy!

Enjoy the Moment

            Have you been stressed out lately?  Do you remember when you were younger and all you could think of was when I get bigger I will ________ and fill in the blank?  Do you still do that?  I can’t wait until I can drive.  I can’t wait until the holidays are here. I can’t wait until I go to college. I can’t wait until I get married. I can’t wait until I have children. I can’t wait until my children are bigger, or go to college, or get married, or have grandchildren.  What about I can’t wait until the holidays are over?  Or the cold weather is gone? 

What happened to enjoying the moment? The moment is all we have.  God did not promise us an exact amount of time.  We do not know when we will be called home.  Are we going to sit back and waste our time looking forward to something else? Every time we wait for something else we lose that time that we have.  Is that what you want?  We need to embrace our time and enjoy the moment.

             What can you do with the time that you have?  There are a lot of moments to be had and shared.  There is a lot that can be accomplished.  Yes, we need to make sure that we are working for God, and to be there for our families, and spending time with friends.  We also need time for ourselves.  When we rush around doing everything for every one we forget about ourselves and that builds stress, anxiety, and health problems.

Remember to enjoy every moment you have no matter what it brings. Sure, there will be some moments that are not enjoyable. We need to remember those are a part of life.  We also need to remember that we should not wish our lives away. Every time that we say we cannot wait until such and such a time we are wishing those moments away and we will never get that time back.  Do you remember when you were younger?  Now how old are you and what are you doing? Is there something you want to do? Go do it before you lose that time.  Is there something you want to try? Try it before it is too late.  Do you like to sit and drink a cup of coffee?  Do it and do not regret it.  We need all those times in our lives and we need to enjoy the moment.

OOPS!

I posted weeks 5-9 of the 12 weeks of Christmas.  I also scheduled 10-12 to post later. Something happened and week 11 posted and week 10 is scheduled for Monday. Sorry about that. After Monday it should be back on track.

Neely

12 Weeks of Christmas

As promised here is 5 through 9 of the 12 weeks of Christmas. I know you were beginning to think I was pulling your leg.  Well, I am finally able to sit down and work on it while I am waiting for our 20's/30's girls' night out to start here at my house.

I am now caught up and will have each of the 3 weeks posted on Monday.

On the 9th week of the 12 weeks before Christmas I created this...

(9) a chocolate and mini card gift box

(8) Christmas cards for mailing

(7) Recipe box for gifting

(6) a Journal for a gift

(5) gift boxes with the cricut art philosophy cartridge

(4) star album for my friends

(3) an event calendar for the year

(2) a picture frame using the my acrylix block

(1) and a layout for my family photos





12 Days of Christmas

When I was a first year wife at the Memphis School of Preaching the second year wives played the 12 days of Christmas with us.  They left us a little gift each day either at our door or our husbands' box.  It was really fun. This is the list of their items. 

On the ____ school day before Christmas the 2^nd year wives gave to me…

 12 Christmas carols

11 Hershey Kisses

10 Tags for Trimming

9 Gingerbreak Men

8 Bows for Wrapping

7 Chocolate pretzels

6 scented candles

5 candy canes
4 chocolate chip cookies
3 cups of cocoa
2 peppermint candies
1 ornament for a tree

I played this last year with the elders here at our congregation and this is what I gave them:

On the twelfth day of the 12 days before Christmas the Dean’s gave to us:

12 chocolate chip cookies

11  peppermint candies
10 Hershey kisses
9 cupcake truffles
8 Reese cup trees
7 bags of trail mix
6 Praline muffins
5 ounces of cheese straws
4 cups of cocoa
3 bags of coffee
2 coffee mugs
And a jar of Southwestern chili and rice mix (This jar mix is one from those books gift from a jar).

This is so fun to play.  I thought I would put this up in case there is any one out there that would like a different idea for the holidays this year.  I also played this the last twelve days of school on my husband for Graduation. I thought it was a fun idea.  I don't have the list of what I will do this year for my elders as I am getting ready to begin thinking of that.