Tuesday Tidbit-Holiday Baking Prep

It's here. At least, it's right around the corner. Can you feel it breathing down your neck? Like an lion on the hunt, here it comes. . . . Holiday Madness. For me, I like to try to have the crux of things together by Thanksgiving. And to my absolute horror, I find that Thanksgiving is here NEXT WEEK. How did THAT happen? I love Thanksgiving- a day to feast with family and friends and to simply reflect on the goodness of life. And while things may not be what they have been in years past, this Thanksgiving will still be a very good day, with so, so much for which to be thankful.

Now, it's the days following Thanksgiving that create an absolute frenzy. But in the spirit of SIMPLIFYING, I'm taking a few moments to streamline some shopping trips before all the craziness begins. I'm a holiday baker. I can't help myself. Thanksgiving and Christmas are a MAJOR reason to make 8 different kinds of cookies and breads and candies and pies and whatever other delicious recipe presents itself. So one of my  Thanksgiving habits is to shop for my Thanksgiving meal and all of my keepable baking supplies (butter-because it can be frozen-, flour, chocolate chips, sugar, chocolate chips, candies, spices, cream of tartar, chocolate chips . . . ) at the same time.

This helps me with three things:

1. I get the supplies on sale. This is usually the best price on baked goods for the entire season.
2. I now have the supplies and can bake at my leisure without having to make a separate baking supplies trip.
3. I don’t know if they do this where you live, but in order to get your turkey for, I don't know, $.059 a pound, you have to spend $50. Otherwise, your turkey is $1.99 a pound. Since we cook a huge bird, I have no interest in paying that amount. And baking supplies add up quickly, so it easily helps me meet the $50 condition.
   

So, while you are planning for Thanksgiving, if you plan on doing any major holiday baking, make your list and take it with you. That way, you kill two birds, or turkeys, if you please, with one stone. I'm taking 15-20 minutes to make my list today!

Yours, relishing the thought of turkey and Nieman Marcus Cookies!!!!!

Melissa

MY HOLIDAY CHALLENGE TO YOU

We have a charity here in West St. Louis County called Circle of Concern. Now, if you know anything about the St. Louis area, you’d be wondering why West County needs an organization like Circle of Concern, but believe me, they have their hands full, especially this year. Like any other area of the country, we also have families in need. Circle of Concern “feeds the hungry and provides long-term and emergency assistance to low-income families in western St. Louis County.” Additionally, they “create opportunities for needy families to re-establish themselves as productive members in our community.”

This holiday season, they need to collect 480 frozen turkeys so families in our area can have a proper Thanksgiving meal. For those of us not so badly hit by the recession, what’s a turkey? We take it for granted. But for those families where a parent has been laid off or an already low-income has been hurt even worse, a Thanksgiving turkey may be a symbol to their children that things will get better.

Our family has decided to help the Circle of Concern collect their turkeys. We are sending out an email to all of our neighbors asking them to purchase a turkey, or to donate $15 to pay for one already ordered. We will then pick them all up and drive them over to the Circle of Concern. Because I know, as good as our intentions are, sometimes it’s just a hassle to buy the turkey, lug it home, figure out where the Circle of Concern is and then find the time to drive it over there. We’re busy – I get it, so I’m making it easier for my neighbors to help.

So my challenge to you is to find a charity near you and do the same thing. And look not only for the inner-city donation spots, but look deeper into areas of your counties and municipalities for charities you may not have know existed. Needy families are all around us. They may even be your neighbors. So in this time of distress, let’s all help one another.

Karen and family

Friday Fun- Time To Shake Whatchya Momma Gave Ya!

It's Friiiiiiiidaayyyy!!!!! Don't know about you, but it's been a long week. The week after a writing trip is always bumpy for me- catching up and coming back to reality. Nashville is hard, but when you are pursuing a dream, well, it makes it a lot of fun too. So, coming back to being a teacher, mommy, wife, author, it can be a huge smack of reality. But it's all good. All good.

When I was putting myself through school, I waited tables. Ten long years I was a waitress. Started in high school, and when I went to college, it seemed to be the easiest thing to fit around my school schedule and make somewhat decent money sometimes. If you've ever waited tables, you know that it is hard, hard work. Never afraid of hard work, I also had to make it fun. You know the motto,"If it's not fun, it doesn't get done!" So I had this thing that I did. Every time I got a great tip, I would stand at the end of the alley (the kitchen) and do my happy dance. It caught on. My fellow wait staff started doing the happy dance with me. It became the best tension breaker there was. We even came up with a song to sing with it as we would walk down the line and shake it, shake it, shake it. It's been a long, long week and I just need a little fun this morning. So sing it with me, peeps. . . "I'm doin' that happy dance/Every time I get the chance/ Starts with the right then left foot shake it like this!" And then you shake it, shake it, shake it!

Woo-hoo! That's it! I'm telling you, it cures a world of crankiness! So some time today, when you need it the most, find yourself a corner and bust a move. You'll be glad you did.

Yours, shakin' it to that Friday Groove,

Melissa

Thursday Thoughts-Thankful Anyway

If you've been reading the blog lately, you'll know that I'm on a mission to make my life a little simpler. Thursdays are generally a day where I get to breathe a little. I was hoping to today, but the break seems long in coming. Before the day is over I will get the kids to school, do the book and breakfast count, meet with the PTO Pres about the Wrap Packs for next school year, grocery shop, look at website templates, reconstruct my company vision and make a batch of potato soup. That's all before noon. Then it's meeting with Karen, teaching a musical theater class and hopefully getting to see my family for a little bit this evening before I collapse in a heap on the couch. Good thing I brewed a huge pot of coffee this morning!

And while I have a ton of questions, thoughts, plans and what ifs swirling around in my head, and the desire, currently, to chuck it all, move to Nashville and pursue songwriting to my heart's content, I am thankful. Thankful I have a job (or three or four) that uses my skills. Thankful to make a contribution to the family budget. Thankful that I have potatos to make soup with. Thankful for a business partner who takes me as I am. Thankful for friends and family members who get me. Thankful for kids that love me even when I'm crabby. Even if life isn't exactly the way I would like it to be, there's still so much for which to be thankful. So while I'm making adjustments, eliminating stress factors, streamlining my schedule and trying to figure it all out, I'm looking at it all and just being thankful.

Yours, hoping that feeling will last in the middle of the stress of it all!

Melissa

TO OUR VETERANS

Just a short note of thanks to all our veterans out there, past and present. The freedom we enjoy today, and our children will continue to enjoy in the future, is due to your bravery and your loyalty to our wonderful country.

No matter what war you fought in, or if you fought at all, what branch you served in, or what your job was in that branch, you are all heroes to us. We’ve rejoiced with your families when you’ve returned home and we’ve cried with them when we’ve heard they’d never see your smiles again.

You are always in our hearts and we will always know, and always teach our children, that without you, our country would not be as glorious as it is today.

THANK YOU!!!

Karen

Tuesday Tidbit-Back In the Groove

So it's been something around here the past few days. I was out of town last week, and came home with a cold that is knocking me for a loop. And even though I had everything taken care of before I left, it somehow all caught up with me before I returned. I hate it when that happens! How did the laundry that I already have washed, folded and put away multiply into a mountain in the space of four days? And all that food? GONE. But the one thing remains- my paper piles. Yes, there's no place like home. :-) So today, I'm back at it- going through my lists of things that have to be done, but with one word in mind. SIMPLIFY. Yes, I'm holding myself to it. I have to. There's simply no more room for anything else.

So, first things first. Coffee? Check. Paper pile? Check-check. New piece of paper, pen and the eternal hope that I will make sense of this mess? Yep. Right here. Happy Tuesday, friends. Here's hoping we get through our piles together today.

Yours,

Melissa

EXPERIENCING FOR THE FIRST TIME…AGAIN

It’s an amazing thing, seeing something again, yet experiencing it, seemingly for the first time, through your children’s eyes. I took my boys to Arizona this past weekend to see mountains. (Nothing against my DH, but he doesn’t feel anything is a vacation unless it’s spent at a beach. So, of course, all my kids have seen are beaches!) I’ve been to Phoenix several times before, and I’ve been up to Mount Rushmore and to Colorado, but mountains never to cease to take my breath away. So I was really wondering how they would affect the boys.

I was NOT disappointed! From the moment we could start seeing even the smaller mountains from the airplane, they were mesmerized! (And to take their eyes away from a movie or the PSP is HUGE!) They started snapping pictures immediately. And the bigger the mountains got, the wider their eyes got!

Saturday, we drove up to Sedona. The red mountains up there are just amazing! We hiked a bit, had some lunch, and drove around just to look. We had a truly great day!

On our last day, we hiked up Pinnacle Peak (not sure if I spelled it right, so feel free to correct me!) in Scottsdale. The views from the top were spectacular. And the hike up was not bad at all, probably because the boys kept stopping every few feet wanting a picture of this or that!

All in all, it was a FABULOUS vacation, even though we all missed DH and the dog! I just want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to my friend Mindy and her family for putting us up (or should I say, putting up with us?) and taking us all over, and to my friend Brenda for taking us hiking. I’m so thankful for old friends! (Oops, not old as in OLD, but old as in LONG-TERM! Whew!)

Karen