Sep 30

31 Days of Homemade Holidays! Day 1:Pumpkin painting

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Hi Everyone! Welcome to October! This is an exciting month as I am joining hundreds of other bloggers for a 31 day series with thenester.com! Each blogger chooses a topic to write on for 31 days straight. My topic is 31 days of Homemade Holidays, so I have lots of fun projects, recipes and gifts to share with you. From Halloween to Christmas, we are going to do it all!

Day one: Pumpkin Painting!

At our house we love to decorate pumpkins, but handing a carving knife to three little boys is not ideal in any way, so we decorate by painting our pumpkins!

Supplies you will need: Pumpkins, multiple colors of Acrylic paints, paintbrushes and sponges, stickers, stencils, glitter and lots of imagination!

There are many possibilities, but these are the ideas we used this year…

For the black with orange polka dots I placed circle stickers all over the pumpkin and painted the whole thing black. When the paint was completely dry I removed the stickers to reveal the orange polka dots. Cute!

For the gold stenciled pumpkin, I taped stencils to the pumpkin and sponged the paint over them. I think this would also look nice on a black or dark colored pumpkin!

The candy corn pumpkin was really fun…and so simple! I just painted the bottom yellow and after it dried, I painted the top white (including the stem). Fun!

The gold pumpkin…I think looks very classy and elegant. All I did was paint the entire pumpkin gold and sprinkle it with glitter!

I love how the black and white pumpkins turned out! The striped gourds were quick and easy, but make a big impact The bat pumpkin I painted solid white and when it was dry, I stenciled on the black bats.

Now it’s time for you to get creative! Share with me what you came up with!

Sep 28

Tidy Friday…How to Clean a Ceiling Fan

So how do you clean a ceiling fan without all the dust falling on you and flying everywhere?

Try this! Use a pillowcase to clean the fan blades and all the mess falls into the pillowcase instead of on your head! I sprayed Shaklee Basic H2 (all purpose cleaner) inside the pillowcase and then easily wiped down each fan blade.

Throw the pillowcase in the laundry and you’re done! Easy!

Much better!

Coming in October, I am participating in a 31 day series with thenester.com, so my Tidy Friday series will pick back up again in November. Lots of fun stuff planned for October, don’t miss a thing. Follow me on Facebook!

Sep 27

Pumpkin Spice Apple Dip

Took a trip to the local apple orchard this past weekend… That must mean it’s time for some apple dip!

Enjoying apple donuts and cider!

Pumpkin Spice Apple Dip

Ingredients:

1 cup greek vanilla yogurt

8 oz cream cheese (softened)

1 cup canned pumpkin

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)

Combine all ingredients and beat with a mixer until smooth. Serve with apple slices, graham crackers or pretzels. So yummy!

Sep 26

Lasagna with no boil noodles

Lasagna prep becomes much easier without having to boil the noodles first. So easy that my seven year old son made this tasty dish almost completely by himself! It’s that simple!

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground turkey sausage (or ground beef) I bought a package of pre-cooked turkey sausage for simplicity

1 15 oz jar of spaghetti sauce

1 1/2-2 cups mozzarella cheese

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

4 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp garlic salt (or to taste)

9 lasagna noodles (can use regular or the no boil version, increase to full cup of water for regular noodles)

3/4 cup hot water

Turn oven on to 350 degrees. Combine cooked turkey or beef with spaghetti sauce. Mix the ricotta cheese, parmesan and 1 cup of the mozzarella with the oregano, garlic salt and eggs.

Place three lasagna noodles in the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish, then layer a third of the meat/sauce mixture, and a layer of the cheese mixture on top of that and repeat twice.

When all three layers are complete, top with the rest of the mozzarella cheese, some parmesan and sprinkle with oregano. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for about 10 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly. (If you are using regular lasagna noodles instead of no boil noodles, increase baking time to 1 hour and then remove foil until cheese is browned .) Let sit for about 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

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Sep 25

Transformation Tuesday…Tools!

Hi Friends! Another Transformation Tuesday! Been a busy week here. Lots of events coming up, lots of preparation and anticipation. This week has been stressful, busy and lacking in sleep. I must say that has gotten me a bit off track for my Transformation, but it is never too late to get back on that track and that is exactly what I am going to do!

As women, we all crave something. Whether it’s love and attention, success, building better relationships or something else, we all crave SOMETHING. I think for a lot of women, that lack of whatever it is causes us to turn to food for temporary comfort. Very temporary, am I right?!! I always get so discouraged when I don’t see immediate results after starting a new healthy habit. I have given up many times and easily fallen back into my old habits. But anything worth working for IS NOT going to happen overnight. It is in the perseverance that we are able to change and learn and reach our goals.

I was reading this verse yesterday and I am encouraged to persevere. ”You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3 A steadfast mind has eyes focused on the goal far out in front, not the daily troubles that are very much right in front of our eyes. Hard to do, but look past those!

Today I wanted to share with you some great tools that have helped and continue to help me on my journey to a healthier lifestyle. Last week was about my “go-to” foods and this week is about my “go-to” tools.

1. Easy exercise- I have been using these “Walk at Home” DVD’s by Leslie Sansone for at least 7 or 8 years now. They are perfect if you are not super coordinated and if you can’t get out of the house or don’t have much space for exercising. There are many different DVD’s from 1-5 miles. So whether you are just beginning or advanced, there is one for you.

2. Strength training- Hand weights and Stretchie band. These two strength training tools make a big impact without being too strenuous. I must admit I have not been using them lately and my arms are paying the flabby price for it! Using these with the walk at home DVD’s really gives a better all around workout. I really like that the Stretchie band is light and folds up small so it travels easy.

3. Great reading- ”Made to Crave” by Lisa Terkeust, “Love to Eat, Hate to Eat” and “Uncommon Vessels” by Elyse Fitzpatrick. These three books are tremendous help and encouragement! They really get to the heart of why we crave what we do and how we can develop healthier habits. Not for just physical health, but spiritual and mental as well. I recommend them HIGHLY. Not just another weight loss book and not a diet book, so much more!

For the month of October I am going to be writing a 31 days series as part of a once a year event with thenester.com So I will resume my Trasnformation Tuesdays in November! Lots of fun stuff coming up next month, follow me on Facebook so you don’t miss a thing!