Baking Challenge

I have some awesome cookbooks with great recipes for baked goods. I got another one for Christmas. It comes with little stories and written details about the recipe. I am going to challenge myself to do a baking day once a month at the minimum and try a new recipe from this or one of my other books.

First thing I want to try is this chocolate chip cake with buttercream icing.

Next is the chocolate covered yellow pound cake.

Going to really get out of my comfort zone of desserts and bake some bread. I may try the honey white bread recipe and see how it turns out. 

Whatever I end up doing, I will let you know the results and the recipe.

Dollar Tree finds

I ran out the other day and stopped by Dollar Tree. I picked up a few things for Valentine's Day. The candy came from Walmart, but the little glass I am going to put it in was Dollar Tree.

I love mugs to match the holiday. I won't be putting Valentine's decor out for a week or two, but I will drink out of my mug.

I bought a candle and some lace and string to "fix it up" with.

A cute sign for my door.

I posted a pitcher with an XOXO and some hearts. I found the XOXO at Target in their $3 section, but the hearts are from Dollar Tree. Going to try to recreate a table centerpiece I saw on Pinterest.

I love doing S & P shakers for the various tablescapes I do. I love doing the Dollar Tree ones. I use the paint from Walmart that is .87 cents. They are super easy. You pour the paint inside (they are for decor use, I don't put salt in them). Then you swirl the shaker around for the paint to coat the inside. Then turn them upside down for excess paint to drain out on a paper plate. No mess.

Well, I got some good finds again at one of my favorite places.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It's a brand new day, a brand new year, a brand new start. Many people (and I am one) like to pick a word of the year. In the past I have used words such as dream, focus, hope, joy, and believe--just to name a few. After much consideration,, my word for 2019 is going to be 

It's an odd word. It's definition is have the courage to do something. I was trying to decide on my word when one of those FB things popped up where you answer questions or it reads your posts and gives you details about yourself. This one was What is  your word for 2019? So I thought what the heck. It popped up DARE. I had an option for it to look for another word, but I decided to think this through. 

I never went off to college. I lived with my parents until I was 20. I got married at 20 so I moved in with my husband and had twins by the time I was 21. It last about 2 years and then we divorced (bad match) and I had no choice but to move back in with my parents. Where I stayed until I found my own place a year or so later. So I was finally out on my own, but with two children to support and busy being the mom and the dad to my babies. Enter Allen, the love of my life who I married after a whirlwind courtship. We were married for 34 years when he passed away after a short illness. So here I am 62. A widow. With five grandchildren. And I am alone for the first time in my life. I make all my decisions. I do what I want when I want. But I find myself still thinking I need to run my decisions by somebody to get their opinion or thoughts. So I think I am liking the word dare. I can step outside my comfort zone and live my life my way. Don't worry, I won't be going crazy. It's just that I finally realized I can do what I want when I want and if someone thinks I'm crazy well let them.  

The first couple of years after Allen passed away I would think of all the things I was going to miss with him gone. One was traveling. We used to take little short two day trips. We would go somewhere that was just a 2 - 3 hour drive, sometimes a little more. Explore around and do different things. I thought those days were gone. But they aren't. I'm still healthy; I'm still full of energy. I have five grandchildren and I know the younger ones would gladly go on trips with Mamaw. I have friends who love to getaway for a day or two. My daughter and I love to take one day shopping trips within a one hour radius of home. So the only thing blocking me from doing these things is ME.

And that's just one of many things I plan on doing this year that I haven't been brave enough or secure enough to do in the past because I thought I had to have somebody's approval. I have a good friend who is very creative. I asked him to write and design me something motivational about my word that I could frame and hang for the year. 

I read a book one time by Barbara Delinsky called The Summer I Dared. It was so amazing I have read it every year since I discovered it. So I am going to read it again this January and apply some of the thing the lady did and make this the YEAR I dared. I have a bucket list app and a few other apps to keep track of my progress and mark things off my list. I would love to hear what your word of the year is and the story behind it. 

Last day of the year....

I can't believe it is the last day of December. Saturday I didn't have to be at work until the afternoon so I went to the Scrapbook Super Store Clearance Center. They have moved to a bigger store so there was a tone of stuff to look at. I have several projects that are not scrapbook related that I need embellishments or paper for. I was also looking for things for my Happy Planner weekly spread like quotes and motivation. So I found the 15 items below for my projects. 

I also found four pages of beach paper for an upcoming project.

This Scrapbook store always throws some freebies in your bag as a thank you for coming by. Saturday I got some paisley scrap pieces, a page of floral stickers and a package of punch out felt shapes. There are 5 sheets of different colors in there. And everything in this pic was free.

The one thing I love about this store is that prices are discounted since it is a clearance store. THEN they ring it up and you get an automatic 50% discount because it is a clearance store. As you can see I got my $9.31 worth of stuff for $4.65 plus tax for a total of $5.10. Then I got all that free stuff too.

And right before I left each clerk handed me a 10% off coupon for Texas Roadhouse. Since that is one of my fave places to go to eat and I spend around $15 when I go there, that means I will save about $3 between two trips. So saving $3 for spending $5.10 is a good deal in my eyes.

Since scrapbooking takes a lot of work and a lot of pictures to be printed, I may try doing what they call a junk journal. More to come on this topic after I do some more research, but here is a sample of one on Pinterest. 

Now that Christmas is over, I need to start looking for more Valentine's Day decor. I spent some Pinterest time yeasterday. I like these. I want to find the XOXO sign, a white pitcher and the sparkly hearts. 

These are simple and cute. I bet I could get everything at Dollar Tree to do this craft.  

I want to get some S & P shakers like this at the Dollar Tree and some pink paint. I just want a simple ribbon around the top, nothing as decorative as below.

I am writing my blog late tonight because I spent the day enjoying it since we have worked so many hours at work lately. I decided later this afternoon to go out to the lake and the dam to get some fresh air. My granddaughter Shelby decided she want to ride out with me. It was 70 degrees and windy but it was a warm "feel good" wind. 

Shelby decided I needed to do a photo shoot. We had a really good time. 

I have been just hanging out at the house the rest of the evening, working on a few things for next year. Making plans. It's really windy and it is pouring the rain (again). We have had way more than our share of rain this year. Saw this on Facebook earlier and it is so true.

Just about 2 more hours left in 2018. I am going to try to stay up to ring it in until 12:01 then I am heading to bed. Hope you are having a great New Year's Eve and are staying safe.

Sunday's Songs

Week in review....

These past week has been a whirlwind of activity at work and at home. A week ago, I baked cookies for gifts for work and ended up baking close to 20 dozen assorted cookies. I split them up and delivered them to each department at work that I work with daily. That night I realized it was a full moon and got an awesome picture of the sky.

I got a lot of gifts from friends at work and love them all. But my favorite was the tall pelican and the pineapple. They are looking great in my beach room. 

I love the fact that the pineapple is a night light. It's really neat.

The kids came over for Christmas eve and we had our family Christmas. My grandchildren are growing up way too fast for me. We had a great time. I got some wonderful gifts from them and hated to see them leave to go home.

I always pick myself up a few things for Christmas to have under my tree for Christmas morning. I was thrilled with my new Happy Planner.

I got the planner and some supplies to decorated some of the pages so I don't have a blah planner. I love sprucing things up.

The favorite thing I bought myself was a birthstone ring. It is blue topaz. I've gotten a lot of compliments on it. I am so happy with it.

My word for 2019 is going to be DARE as I come outside of my comfort zone and dare to be what I want to be and do what I want to do instead of what others expect of me. Thirty-One came out with a new canvas bag called a statement bag. You can customize your own bag. My friend Jonnie at work designed me a motivational poster about DARE. I will be sharing the story behind the word on January 1st. But he ended the poster with the words "When you think you've given your all, I dare you to be more." I just loved that line so I'm using it as my mantra in 2019. That's why I wanted my bag to say Dare to be MORE. I can't wait to get it. I will post the actual product when it comes in.

I am going to really work my Thirty-One business next year. They are offering a lot of incentives. In January, I have a goal of $1000 in sales and I will receive this bag. I am in love with the new Island Nights pattern. 

Well, that's it for today. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

After Christmas update....

I had some computer issues before Christmas and then when I was finally able to get back on here, life had gotten so busy with Christmas baking and cooking and gift wrapping and gatherings, that I decided to take a little blogging break. I will be back tomorrow with some updates of the past week.

I trust everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I will be back to "visit" tomorrow.