Gratitude Friday

I am thankful for having a roof over my head, food and water and my loved one here with me as my heart goes out to those in Haiti and all the suffering they are going through.

Gratitude Friday

My status messages on Facebook expressing gratitude this past week...

Monday - Today I am thankful for the down time I got yesterday. It was nice to do nothing.

Tuesday - Today I am thankful for a good doctor check up, for being able to play with a cute little kitten at a friend's house and for seeing beautiful inspiring art.

Wednesday - Today I am thankful for my family...my parents, sister, grandmothers, aunts, uncles and cousins and my cousin's children. I am very blessed to have an amazing family!

Thursday - I am pretty much going to copy and paste what M posted for his status....as it says it just right...today a dear friend of ours lost her older brother. Our thoughts and prayers are extended to her and her family. Please take a moment to reflect and be thankful to be surrounded by family and friends on Thanksgiving - knowing exactly how precious life actually is. Make it count today.

and I also did for Thursday...
Today I am thankful for my Michael. He is an amazing man that I am blessed to share my life with and I so thankful for him. I love you! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I recognize that I have so many amazing people and things in my life to be thankful for and I feel very blessed.

Gratitude Friday (on Saturday)

We are out of town so I haven't been able to keep up with my thankful posts on Facebook.

Saturday - Today I am thankful for all my Ohio friends. I miss all of the good times and have some amazing memories which makes me incredibly lucky to have made such wonderful long-lasting friendships when I lived there.

Sunday - Today I am thankful that Michael finished a big part of a project. He has been working long hours to get it done. Maybe tonight he will get some sleep.

Monday - Today I am thankful for Kaylee and Jen. I met you both around the same time through the same group and I am so very happy I did as you are amazing friends. Thank you for being so supportive, giving sound advice and sharing many laughs over the years.

Tuesday - Today I am thankful for a new OVEN already to make dinner in, an early Christmas present from a dear friend (3 little owls), that the 7th book in the Outlander series is ready to pick up at the library, Star Trek is out on DVD and for Michael introducing himself to me 7 years ago today.

Wednesday - Today I am thankful for it being a bright sunny day as we are traveling across the mountain passes to Denver.

Saturday - Today I am thankful getting to spend some time with Michael's parents, for Frank's famous spaghetti and meatballs, for working with a great bunch of people in Denver and now for being home.

Coloring

I like to color.
























I have always liked to color....as a little girl and still now as a 42 old woman. It is relaxing. It is fun. It is just a little thing that gives me a pleasure. Right now I have several Christmas coloring books, a Disney Princess coloring book, a Pooh coloring book that has a little girl named Darby in it, a Precious Moments, a couple other generic coloring books with animals, princesses and such. Now that it is getting close to Christmas - I will be breaking out my Christmas coloring books to color in while watching The Polar Express, Miracle on 34th Street, Charlie Brown Christmas and the other Christmas DVD's we have.

Gratitude Friday

On facebook I am doing a daily status message of something I am thankful for so I am going to post all the ones I did this week....

Saturday - Today I am thankful Michael is coming home. Even though he was only gone for one day I missed him like crazy!

Sunday - Today I am thankful for Facebook. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to find old friends that I lost touch with throughout the years.

Monday - Today I am thankful that I will have a new oven in time for Thanksgiving.

Tuesday - Today I am thankful for Mesa County Library. Out of the 123 books I have read so far this year maybe 3 were my own books so I am thankful they save me money and also let me check out such a wide variety of book that I wouldn't have read if I had just been looking for a book in a bookstore.

Wednesday - Today would have been my Grandpa's birthday and he was a veteran. So seems only natural to be thankful for veterans on this day. Recently we had the honor of hearing stories from vets and their families about what it is like fighting in Iraq and coming home. The pain and emotion of what they go through is much more then I could ever imagine. I am truly grateful for their service but after hearing their stories, that gratitude has increased 1000 times over. They are incredibly courageous and it is truly horrifying how they are treated when they come home. We need to do more for these brave men, women...families.

Thursday - Today I am thankful for some simple pleasures....coloring books and crayons, warm socks, bagels with cream cheese and tea

And I didn't get to one today. But I think that was a good week of gratitude for so many wonderful people and things in my life.

The Art of Giving

The Art of Giving: Gift Ideas to Delight the Senses by Liezel Norval-Kruger


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is from description from publishers:

Gift giving is a universal custom, but in today's harried world many of us have moved away from the more considered and creative aspects of what should be a very personal act. It should be a gesture of love, friendship, celebration, acknowledgment, and thanks. The Art of Giving is filled with inspirational ideas and practical information for the discerning gift giver on how to achieve beautiful, artful, and thoughtful gifts.

Taste, smell, and touch are the pivotal chapters. They draw on our capacity to indulge ourselves and those we love through each particular sense. Each chapter is filled with ideas and tantalizing images, as well as practical information on how to create and present wonderful gifts. Another chapter, on wrapping, will show you how to achieve expert finishing touches and inspired solutions to the most awkward of gift shapes. From handcrafted soaps and homemade potpourri to beautifully wrapped candies and an entire picnic for two, the endless variety of ideas in this book offer something for everyone. Turn to the back of the book for recipes, templates, diagrams, labels, and other do-it-yourself essentials to tell you how to do it all. For anyone who wants to create and give gifts that are more expressive, meaningful, and heartfelt than something grabbed off the shelf or ordered over the phone, The Art of Giving offers a wealth of inspiration and practical advice.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the photos and the style of the gifts and ideas. The Art of Giving is filled with quite a lot of DIY gift ideas that are inexpensive, attractive and simple to make. Also this is a great book to find ideas for those on your gift list that are impossible to shop for people. The book I previously reviewed about green giving...was good but this book has better ideas that could be implemented with green options. Such as it has tubes covered with paper, photos or postcards. Or gifts wrapped in newspaper and then tied pretty ribbon that don't look cheap but look like it was wrapped professionally because the folds are so crisp and the ribbon perfect for it. Or gifts wrapped with felt and embroidery thread to do simple stitches to close it. All their examples were lovely and I can't wait to try some of them out this year for holiday giving.

The book includes recipes, craft and label templates and instructions in the back of the book also.

Some crafts and recipes I want to try and give....
Milk & Honey Bread
Infused Brandy
Fresh Feet Bath
Shoe Bags
Sewing Kits (that would be good for men or women)
Beaded Coasters
Hot Chocolate Cream

Plus MANY MANY more ideas. It is an inspirational book and one I would love to have on in my home to refer to often.

View all my reviews >>

Simply Green Giving

Simply Green Giving: Create Beautiful and Organic Wrappings, Tags, and Gifts from Everyday Materials by Danny Seo


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I liked this book better then the party book. Again I really enjoyed the photos/styling of this book. He really hits the concept to reduce, recycle and reuse over and over. Some nice ideas about reusing household items or getting items at thrift stores to repurpose to wrap your gifts, make handmade gifts and gift tags.

I enjoyed seeing him make bows from the scented perfume cards in magazines. He tore them out very carefully. And then opened up the scented edge. He cut 1/2-inch strips across the sheet, starting at the scented edge and stopping an inch from the end. Then you fold it up accordion style - neatly stacking the strips on top of each other. With a pair of sharp scissors take each strip and curl by pulling it over the blade. The quicker you pull it over the blade the curlier it will get. And then attach to gift. The colors and images on the bow turn into a bouquet of colorful ribbon.

He also used the same concept of curling ribbon by pulling VHS tape out of the plastic tape cassette. And he wrapped a wine bottle in newspaper leaving 5 inches extra on top and cut that into strips and curled also.

Some things I didn't feel looked great. He took an old string of christmas lights to tie around a package but I just didn't think it looked good. I believe it probably could have but I just don't feel it was styled right in the book. Something else I wasn't sure about was that he used the inside of silver foil part of potato chip bags to wrap gifts. He washed them of course and then wrapped so the silver was showing out. But I just wonder how someone would feel opening a gift wrapped in a potato chip bag? I guess if they knew you were going green maybe they would accept it but would they think you were weird? Does it matter to save the environment? I don't know. But I thought it was odd. It looked pretty in the book - just wasn't sure how someone would feel opening a gift wrapped in it.

Overall the book did give me ideas for wrapping and decorating gifts in more green ways. I think often people forget repurposing is a green option.

View all my reviews >>

Simply Green Parties

Simply Green Parties: Simple and resourceful ideas for throwing the perfect celebration, event, or get-together by Danny Seo


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed the photos/styling of this book. I enjoyed many of the ideas. Seo brings the concept to reduce, recycle and reuse upfront in party planning. Very nice ideas about reusing household items or getting items at thrift stores to repurpose for party decor. Many of the ideas are very chic and can be adapted to fit your needs.

Okay so the bad things....There were some things I didn't get why he felt they were green. I mean there shouldn't be a lot of trash after a green party. And he suggested using bamboo paper plates. Now that is more eco-friendly then the plastic disposable plates or regular paper plates...but what would be even more eco-friendly is using real everyday plates. Getting a plain white porcelain plate - and you can plan any party around that. Or picking up odd sets at thrift stores and mixing and matching is always to me a better choice then paper. He also did bottled water. Plastic bottles of water....I loved what he did with them making flavor waters but why not pitchers of filtered tap water with fruit in them instead of plastic water bottles.

Over all I am glad I read it. I enjoyed it. I am always thinking of ways to be more green and it did give me ideas for that.

View all my reviews >>

Tree Skirt and Owls

I love this tree skirt. It is from Crate and Barrel. It is a little expensive on Crate and Barrel - I think it would be less inexpensive to replicate and also easy to make.

I also love these owls too. So so cute! But not sure I could make them.

Gratitude Friday

I am thankful for...
1. a stack of Christmas craft books
2. baked potato and grilled chicken - the perfect dinner
3. candy corn on sale after Halloween
4. green ideas on gift wrapping
5. being able to check out DVDs at the library and seeing Doctor Zhivago and The Philadelphia Story
6. photos of my friends and family on my desk
7. Michael only being gone one night...I miss him like crazy

Gratitude Friday

I am thankful for...
1. using some of my birthday money on some socks from Sock Dreams
2. hugs and kisses from Michael
3. the smell of autumn
4. inspiration for a project for our bedroom
5 pancakes for dinner
6. 15 minutes to look through Real Simple and flag some ideas in it
7. a truly amazing phone conversation with one of my very good friends. We talked for almost 2 hours and laughed I think the whole time. It was so great to catch up with her. She is an amazing woman and I am blessed to call her my friend.

U2

I am a U2 fan.



There is this thing going around on Facebook called the Soundtrack of Your Life: "Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it: they sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of, they musically shaped your world. They stood up, they lasted, they mattered. They still matter, in some way (even if only in memory)."

I have started it but I haven't finished it but U2 is on there several times. I first heard them when someone passed me a walkman - with a tape of them. It was the album War. And I was hooked. We were on a long bus ride from Omaha to Colorado for Bible Camp and I just kind of lost myself in the music.

Although I saw a lot of bands and concerts in my teenager to early 20's - U2 was one of those that I just couldn't ever afford to see. Or just something always got in my way of seeing them. I really wanted to see them on the Joshua Tree tour. It is my favorite. But it didn't happen. I finally saw them on the Zoo TV Tour.

While watching this concert tonight, I realized that the last time I saw them in concert was my birthday and it was either 1991 or 1992 - I think it was 1992. I think we were living in Topeka at the time. I think I still have the tickets around here somewhere. I was very lucky as I got to see them twice that tour. We had got tickets for a concert in Ames, Iowa as that was the closest to Omaha. I remember Jim and I standing outside Homer Music in the Old Market waiting for the tickets to go on sale. I can even remember what we were both wearing isn't that scary? I really wonder if we were in living in Topeka at that time. But I know that we got them because it was the closest at the time and my sisters (who lived in Omaha) went with us.

U2 then added more dates and a Kansas City date was one of those dates. The KC date on my birthday. And so he got them for my birthday. That tour they had a belly dancer come out and dance on one song for sure "Mysterious Ways" and maybe she danced for a couple more. It was her birthday too - so Bono wished her a happy birthday. It was so cool to hear Bono saying Happy Birthday even if not to me - but on my birthday. It was freezing out. But it was worth it.

I have really good memories associated with U2.

Book Review: Lotta Prints

Lotta Prints: How to Print with Anything, from Potatoes to Linoleum by Lotta Jansdotter


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I keep going back and forth between giving this book 3 or 4 stars. The style of the prints, the photos, the set up of the book - inspiring. Just lovely. The actual instructions to techniques used - lacking. Most of it is basic printing information that is found online or in other books - with better instructions. So it didn't give me any new ideas as far as techniques but as far as inspiration - yes it did! Really easy designs that would leave anything you print on looking lovely. One such inspiration I can't wait to try is the wall hangings. They were ceiling to floor simple cloth wall hangings with a simple print on them. Very pretty - giving a room a splash of color with a minimalistic approach. I don't know if it is a book I need to own but I do think it would provide me inspiration print design if I had it on my shelf but probably wouldn't inspire me one which technique to use. Another plus to this book - many of the print designs could go for either male or female. They are very unisex friendly. Often prints books I have seen are very hearts, flowers and sunshine type designs but this book often has geometric designs put together in a very pleasing way that would work for any gender.

View all my reviews >>

Gratitude Friday

I am thankful for...
1. going to my favorite Chinese place for my birthday
2. finding old discs with pictures I thought I lost
3. the cool weather we got this week after being actually warm enough we wished we still had our swamp cooler still going
4. handmade slippers to wear this week since it was cool. They were made by my friend Kathie for my birthday. Thank you Kathie!
5. Michael getting the MRI done for his knee. I know it isn't an expense we are needing right now but I am glad he took the step to do it anyway so that he can at least get some answers about his knee.
6. all the wonderful people who remembered my birthday by sending cards, well wishes and presents. I am very thankful to have so many amazing people in my life.