Christmas Planner

Today I caught up on my Christmas Countdown activities. I started my first ever Christmas Planner. It is not the prettiest thing I have ever seen! I had to use an old 3-ring binder from the Interior Design Class two years back. Its broken. But now that the husband and I are trying to tighten up the budget, I figured it would be silly to go out and buy a new one.

To make it cuter, I printed off a free cover design and a matching one for the spine. It will have to do for this year!

The most challenging activity for me so far was the Holiday Values Worksheet. It asked a lot of questions about what was good and bad about last year. What I remember the most about last year was stressing out over gifts! I never know what to get people, so I end up spending too much or avoiding it at all costs! I wish we could skip gift giving for the holidays. Sure, I like to receive gifts as much as the next girl, but I am EASY to shop for! Everyone I know is picky or unafraid to voice their distaste for the gift I got them. Example: I have known my husband for eight years now, and I think I have only gotten him TWO gifts that he has really ever enjoyed. That includes Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries...SIGH.

I am going to work hard this year to make sure that is not my focus. I don't think I enjoyed Christmas as much last year because of that. I would rather be focusing on JESUS! He is the best gift I could ever receive! I pray He is the focus for me this holiday season.

Cheers!

Reminisce and Plan

Hello World!

I just got back from a most wonderful trip to Phoenix Arizona. I flew out to spend a precious few days with my bestie, Sarah. We went shopping at the Chandler mall, went to the Arizona State Fair (where we had some interesting moments with a Llama), and spent the day browsing/getting pampered at the AZ Ultimate Women's Expo! It was spectacular!! I had a great time and it was such a blessing to spend time with my friend again. Arizona is a good looking state too; the sunsets were gorgeous.

But now back home I have to jump back into the swing of things. There is a humongous pile of laundry calling my name, cheerleading stuff to organize, showers to take, piles of mail on the floor/coffee table/counter, pictures to upload, unpacking to do, bills to pay....whew!! I am in a mood to get organized and on top of things though. Which is why I am excited to see that the Christmas Countdown has begun!

The Christmas Countdown is a six week organizing plan that gets you ready for the holidays without waiting for all that last minute stress. I know I don't have a family of my own to be organizing, but I figured this would get me excited for the holidays and ensure I enjoy them fully! The Countdown started yesterday when I was still in AZ, so I am officially starting today! Week One is Get Organized Week! Day one is about getting organized, day two has you making a Christmas Calendar! I am pretty excited to get started so I better stop blogging and hop to it!


http://christmas.organizedhome.com/christmas-countdown/2011/assignments-day-1

Last Summer Hurrah

So today is the first official day of Autumn. Here in MN though, we have had fall weather for at least the past week and a half.

To celebrate the passing of summer, I made some homemade strawberry lemonade! It was surprisingly easy too.

Ingredients:
2 cups + 1/2 cup of water
1 cup and 1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup fresh lemon juice (I used about 5 lemons)
3 cups of strawberries hulled, halved and quartered

In medium saucepan, bring to boil the 2 cups water and 1 cup of sugar. Reduce the heat to a simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Transfer to a pitcher and and refrigerate until cool (a lot of recipes say this should take about 45 minutes, but I was in a crunch and stuck it in the freezer {my freezer is pretty bad} and it cooled in about 10 minutes).

In a blender add the strawberries, 1/2 cup water, and 1 tablespoon sugar and puree. Add to the sugar water (some recipes also say to pour through a sieve, but I do not own one! The result was that my drinks were a little frothy and looked a little more like margaritas than lemonade). Add the lemon juice to the pitcher also.

Stir well and pour over glasses filled with ice. Garnish with strawberries or mint. Enjoy!!

A cool trick I learned for squeezing juice out of lemons without using a juicer: Roll the lemons on the counter to make sure they are softened, than cut in half. Squeeze the lemon over your other hand into a container. Your other hand works just as well to catch all the seeds and flesh that might fall out. But beware: make sure you don't have any cuts on your hands because it will sting!! The bonus is a great lemon-y smell for the rest of the day! 

So make yourself some FRESH homemade lemonade, kick back, and finish the beach chick lit and say Adios to summer!!

1 Peter

Uff-da!!

This morning I finished an in-depth, independent study of 1 Peter. It was almost two years in the making!
I used the LifeChange Series, and it was simply phenomenal (and totally recommend you try one of their studies). I learned so many things I hope to take with me through the rest of my life: my place in God's heart, how Jesus acts as my Living Stone (I love calling him my Living Capstone!), how to give spiritual sacrifices to the Lord, the definition of Holy, and the great importance of the gift of Jesus' blood, amongst the many other important lessons.

I say all this to encourage you to find a good Bible study, a GOOD one. I love Beth Moore with all my little heart, but studies like that don't always dig in and just sit in the scripture. I truly believe that everyone needs to get into the meat of the Bible. Find out what those words mean,  buy a commentary and discover the meaning of that phrase, look into the background of that character, learn how to pursue holiness.

Dare to go deeper.


Next I am considering the LifeChange study of Isaiah...*big gulp* I hope I don't bite off more than I can chew!!

Have a blessed day folks!!

Baking Day!

Hello! 

Today is a BAKING DAY!! YAY!
I have officially decided to go with : CHOCOLATE CHIP STUFFED COOKIES! 
This is the first time I will be attempting this recipe, but I figured it would be fun to document the process and see how they turn out..45minutes later..it turns out to be mixed success! My cookies really grew so that they were no longer stuffed cookies :( But! They are still delicious! And who doesn't love giant cookies??

The Goods:
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 large cold eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. {This was my first time actually using my parchment paper, and I am not so sure I liked it. It just slid all over the tray, if anyone has any hints to make the paper stay in place while placing cooking dough, let me know!!}

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
In a larger bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar until smooth.

NUM!! Can't go wrong here!!

 Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until blended. On low speed, add the flour mixture just until incorporated.

This is probably where I went wrong, I added the flour in small doses

This caused the dough to be much softer than it was supposed to be

Add in 2 cups of chocolate chips. {DON'T FORGET! Like I almost did! :))}

Rolls 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and flatten slightly to make a disk and place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat to make a total of 16 disks. Space the dough disks about four inches apart {they do grow!}. Lightly press 1 tablespoon of remaining chocolate chips onto each disk. Using remaining dough, make 16 more disks, place one on top of each chocolate-chip-topped disk. Press gently to cover around the edges. 

You can tell my dough was too soft. And I made mine bigger. 

{The bigger the better!}

You can also see where I was struggling with the parchment paper. boo. 

Bake one sheet at a time until edges are lightly browned but centers are still golden, about 15 minutes.

Cool on baking sheets than transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or room temperature! 

First batch! Since my dough was not as stiff, they flattened out :(

Taste factor=still amazing!!