Shaklee Saturday: Shaklee 180 intro

In November, Shaklee announce a new program to be launched on January 1, 2013.  Just in time for all those resolutions.  I did not attend the regional meeting to learn more but I sure wish I had.  There is so much to learn, I hope I can do it all before I re-launch my Shaklee business.

 

Here is a clip about the new product, I hope you enjoy it:


Shaklee Videos: Shaklee 180: You're Invited

I am loving the new look and can't wait to try the Crisps.  If you would like to join me in the new year, please leave a comment here, so we can get started together.  Here's to our health.

Off n Running,
AnnMarie

Jars... Save or Recycle?

I started this post in early October.  I never made the time to take the photos and actually post this.  With my 21 day challenge, I thought it was time!  Here is what I originally wrote and how I am doing with the situation is below that.  

So I have been reading a lot about jars lately, I don't know if it is a sign that I have too many or a sign that I need to get them organized. Mark thinks they should all be put out in the recycle bin.  I think jars are kind of cool.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  I think it would be cool to have some of the blue glass ones.  Since reading these blogs and looking on Pinterest, I have had a few ideas of how to use them.  I have also had ideas on how to store them.

I first read about jars in Laura's blog HEAVENLY HOMEMAKERS.  She loves jars.  If you go to her site and type in jars, you will get a number of links for her writings on jars.  I am curious how she stores them when they are empty?  I do know that she has sparked my interest in gardening next summer, so that I can use my jars.  I made her Tomato Soup recipe and have 4 quarts put up for the winter, which is not enough for my family.  We love to have soup and grilled cheese.  :)

My basement looks like this:

I would love for it to look like some of Laura's shelves.  Today I was reading my emails and read this blog post about 15 ways to use glass jars at Eating Rules.  It just got me to thinking about  how to re-purpose my jars and the ones coming into my home.

Do you have jars?  Do you love them as much as Laura loves hers?


As part of my 21 day challenge, I am organizing this space and moving stuff around.  I don't like this shelving unit for jars, it is too unstable.  So, I need to figure something else out.  

First Great Date Complete!

I found this book a year or so ago.  SwimChick is in middle school, the age when all of these things matter the most.  I read through the first few chapters of this book and was nervous and excited about it.  I want my kids to be able to talk to me about all kinds of stuff.  I want them to be honest with me and not be afraid of my reaction when they are.  I thought this might be a good stepping stone.  

I wanted to start these dates over the summer.  Here we are December and we FINALLY did it.  As I stated, I was a bit nervous so it was easier to keep putting it off.  Then one day it became a reality and I couldn't put it off any more.

The school has incentive days.  These are days when they take the classes to movies or roller skating.  First quarter incentive was the week of Thanksgiving.  SwimChicks class went to see the movie "Wreck it Ralph", which she reported was good.  She also reported that a boy and girl in her class were kissing during the whole movie.  WHAT?!?!  There are so many wrongs with that.  First off, this was a school function, where were the teachers?  Second, this was a school function, why would it be ok to make out in front of all your peers?  I thought I have got to do these dates ASAP.  SwimChick was grossed out that this girl and boy were kissing with tongues and everything.  Good deal, I thought, keep thinking that way until you are at least 18 girl!

So, for our first date we went to the Anaba Tea Room in Shorewood, WI.  What a great place for our first date.  We listened to Dannah on the ride to the tea room.  She told us a story of a beautiful tea cup and we learned that we are all pieces of art that God is still perfecting.  I had called the tea room and made a reservation.  At that time I found out they only serve in "common" cups, so I brought some of our "fancy" cups.  I am praying that our first date is still working on her and will continue to do so as she grows.  

Here are some photos taken with the cell phone, because I forgot to bring the real camera:  

We ordered the Tea for Two.  We got 4 kinds of sandwiches, a salad and 3 desserts.  Yummy and fun.  We took food home there was a lot of it.  The atmosphere was perfect and it was not crowded at all, so no one looked at us funny for bringing our own tea service!  

As I said, I hope that the lesson about God's beauty in all of us got her to thinking and will open doors for great conversations in the future.

Off n Running,
AnnMarie

Um, I lost the challenge, I think?!?!

 

Not sure who read my post on this great eBook and the challenge I was going to do.

Well, I started and had very good intentions BUT...?!?!?!  I don't know where I am with this.  And I am afraid to tell you that I only read the book to day 4, I think.  I have not taken any photos lately of the progress and I knew that it would not get done in 21 days.  With that being said, I am going to update you all now.  :)

Sometime since declaring that I was doing this challenge, the holiday stuff started to happen.  My children are wanting bigger and better items from us and Santa.  I mentioned one morning to ChessMaster that maybe he would like to try to sell some of the things he no longer plays with and wouldn't want to keep for his little cousins or own children some day.  (They play with toys that were mine when I was their age, so we have talked about this!)  He thought that would be ok.  So, we started with the Fisher Price Little People Noah's Ark.  He got this when he was a year old.  He got most of the animal sets too.  (Thank you God-Parents!)  I suggested he set it up and we could take a photo.  He had it all set up nice and cute, and... we can't find Noah.  How can we give away the ark and animals without Noah?  The great search began.  My DH even got involved.  We took all the boxes of toys down from the shelves, out of the toy box and dug through them.  This allowed us to sort EVERYTHING and toss some stuff, donate others.  No Noah!  We even dug around in the box outside.  He will show up, to this day we still can't find him, maybe he likes our house and doesn't want to be sold?

I did organized the shelves in the "pantry" area.  I moved the boxes of fabric and craft stuff away from that area.  Moved the crafts off the smaller shelf, donated some craft books and started more pantry shelves there.  I also defrosted the freezer.  It looks empty now.  Wishing I had more yummy fruits and veggies to put into it.  Next spring and summer won't come soon enough.

I did get a start on the corner with the boxes and boxes of clothes and stuff, but now some Christmas items are hiding in that area and will have to wait.  LOL!

It is a start and if I get a chance I will take some photos of the progress.  The new year is coming, I think one of my goals is to read this book through and honestly do the challenge.  Will I continue the basement project with my next challenge or pick a new project?  Hhhmmm, I have a few days to decide, stay tuned to find out.

Off n Running,
AnnMarie

Book Review: Come to the Table

 

I love this writer!  I was so excited when I received this book from Thomas Nelson Publishing in exchange for my honest review.   I couldn't wait to read it and see what happens next to Kat Davies.

So let me give you a bit of background first...  I first found Neta Jackson's Yada Yada Prayer Group Series at the Christian Book store.  I read the back cover and couldn't wait to read about the group of women from the Chicago-land area.  The main character, Jodi Baxter was attending her first Christian Women's Conference with her "boss" and church friend, Avis.  The women get put into groups at the Conference and end up bonding in ways they never knew existed!  I read 4 of the books in this first series.  

One day I saw Ms. Jackson had started another series:  The Yada Yada House of Hope Series.  I have not read any in this series, but can only imagine that it is an extension of the Prayer Group Series. 

Sometime ago, I received the first in a new series "SouledOut Series".  The first book called STAND BY ME, was AWESOME!!!!  We meet Katheryn 'Kat' Davies the day she becomes a Christian.  She is at a music concert and meets Bree and Nick there.  She realizes that she needs more in her life and these new friends help her become a Christian.  The three friends attend a Christian College in Chicago together and in book one, Kat finds the SouledOut church.  She also finds Avis Douglas' daughter and reunite the two. 

One day last week, COME TO THE TABLE arrived in my mailbox!  I remember seeing it on a list of books and filling out the "raffle ticket" online, but I was shocked when I got it.  Thank you, Lord.  I read this fabulous book over the weekend while I was at the swimming pool watching SwimChick!

This book starts where the first left off.  Kat, Bree and Nick are elbow deep into their summer.  Kat was volunteering with a summer program at Avis Douglas' school, working in a coffee shop and enjoying the summer.  She also is still looking to teach a nutrition class at women's shelters.  She connects with some of the folks we met in the first book and learns to allow God to lead the way.  I really enjoyed this book.

As I read, this I got an understanding in prayer.  I think that is why I enjoyed the Yada Yada Prayer group series so much too.  Kat is still fairly new in being a Christian and "learning" the ropes, but aren't we all still learning?  I forget sometimes that anything I say to the Lord could be a prayer and we all need to just ask for help sometimes.

Go here to get yourself a copy.  Happy reading!

Off n Running,
AnnMarie

Beer Run Half Barrel

I did it!  I ran under 2 hours and completed a half marathon.  WOO HOO!!!!!

I had been dreaming of this for a few years.  Last fall when I joined the Team Challengers to raise money for the Crohns and Colitis Foundation, this was also a big goal.  I must admit I was a lot disheartened when sidelined by my cancer and hysterectomy.  But I have bounced back and am on a roll.

I think I mentioned in the past how I met a nice lady in the park one Sunday this past summer.  Mrs. H and I chatted it up and swapped information.  We have been running together ever since!  We meet early in the morning, like 5:45am.  I told her about this awesome race I was thinking about and how I had run the 1/6 barrel (4.1 mile) race two years ago.  I really wanted to try the half barrel race (13.1 miles) this year.  I emailed her the information (If anyone is interested on running next year check it out here, and click on events.) and she registered.  We were luck to register when we did, they sold out!  AND then added an additional 125 slots.  IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!

The temperature was hard to prep for.  It has been years since I trained in cold weather, like since 1999, when I trained for the Disney Marathon in Florida in January of 2000.  A friend lent me a great Brooks jacket that I am putting on my Christmas list (hint, hint!!!).  Another friend gave me a pair of tights by Mizuno, that I am in love with too.  Anyway, it was snowing when we got to the race site, but that stopped by the 11:30am start time.

When the gun went off so did my partner.  She was like a rabbit, zoom she was gone!  I saw her back for a few blocks then again when she found me at the finish line.  Man o' man is she fast!  She placed 3rd in her age group, finishing in 1:42ish.  I came in hard and finished in 1:57ish.  WOO HOO!!!!  We did it.

I am resting today.  Hope to get to yoga tomorrow.  I am meeting Mrs. H to do 3 miles on Wednesday.  I hope my tight muscles don't hold her back too much.  LOL!  Praising God for a fabulous partner on this new running path I am on.  Hoping to chat about some upcoming races to prep for and a plan to complete them well too.

Off n Running
AnnMarie

21 Days to A More Disciplined Life

So, I follow a few blogs.  Some time in the past two weeks, a couple of these blogs sent me information about a book called "21 Days to A More Disciplined Life" written by Crystal Paine.

                    

These bloggers received the book and have completed the first reading, I think.  All of the bloggers are part of a 21 day challenge.  And today, November 1,  is the first day of their challenge.  I am joining this challenge.   I just re-read the beginning of the book and day 1, yesterday.  My plan is to post about my 21 days.  I am not going to commit to posting every day, as I see my last post was almost a month ago.  But I am going to do my best!

Day 1 Recap:  I love this idea.  It is like she is in my head and just got it together before I figured it out.  She is explaining how to make your list of big tasks and take baby steps to complete them.  So, for today we need to complete one simple task, I ironed on Dancing Princess' AWANA patch to her Sparks Vest!  Pretty simple task, but I am one to put it off.  (For example, Swim Chick is no longer a Junior Girl Scout, she bridged up and now has a new vest.  BUT, I still have to sew badges onto her Junior Vest!  Not my idea of fun, obviously, and this is why it didn't get finished.)  I have also found buttons to replace the two that are missing.  I can check that step off.

Next she has asked us to write up our big list of things to do.  I started my list.  I also started to break down that list into smaller chunks of projects.  Here are some of the tasks I continue to put off...

*Clean up the basement and get it organized
  - Clean off my desk
     Sort piles
     Recycle what I can
     Put things in their proper place
     Basically, make this a useable space for my Shaklee Business!
   -Clean off the "work table"
     Sew up projects on the table and chairs
     Donate Home School stuff
     Basically, finish projects, toss or donate so this table can be used for scrapbooking or other fun stuff!
   -Organize the play area
     Legos
     Dress up
     Cars
     Trains
     Kitchen stuff...
   -Organize the boxes of clothes for kids to grow into
   -Sort stuff for donation boxes
   -Clean up the sewing and craft supplies
   -Clean up the shelves for food storage
   -Defrost the freezer...  This list may get longer, but it is a start!!!
*Sew up my t-shirt quilt
*Sew patches on Swim Chick's vest and messenger bag
*Get  Chess Master a sweatshirt and sew his scout patches onto it
*Blog more, get into a routine!
*Scrapbooks completed
   Christmas Album caught up and ready for the 2012 photos
   Dancing Princess:  First year, school days, Girl Scouts...
   Chess Master:  School days, Cub Scouts, fun books...
   Swim Chick:  School Days, Scouts, Swimming, fun books...**Note:  These are all books I have started and need to catch up on!!!!

The last task for today is to do one of the first tasks in your big job.  So, I took before photos of the basement.  I figured if I can complete this organization, then we can seriously talk about remodeling this space!  (We would like to put in a small bathroom and family/TV room.  You will see here, that can't happen if there is no where to put it because of stuff!!)

This is the start of our donations.  The table was put up for a Girl Scout event and never put away. 

Part of the play area.  My DH got fed up and banned the kids to the red carpet only for their toys and playing. 

The other part of the play area, here you can actually see the red carpet.  As you can tell there is not much room and it is in need of organization!

"Mark's Workout Area"  this is the front of the play area.  As of today he has banned the Wii and TV.  This is how he expects the basement to look ALL the time!

This is the storage corner of the basement.  You can see boxes and hanging clothes here.  Dancing Princess and I have started to go through the 4 boxes of 6/6X clothing.  I NEED to get this organized, because I am tired of tripping over it, myself.

Laundry area, a start of the organization!

More laundry space, but this corner is where we have too many other things that need new homes, too.  There are 3 shelving units and one cabinet.  The cabinet holds food stores, next to it are the canning jars and ice cream pails of oatmeal and flour.  The smaller shelves in the middle of the photo have craft supplies and food stores.  And the white shelves on the left are my bed sheets, I don't have a big linen closet so I have them here.

Here you see the white linen shelf and another large black shelf with more craft supplies and it is in disarray.  You are also getting a glimpse of the office space.  

THE Office space:

Wall 1:  I am embarrassed to show this but it is my desk.  Nice piles don't you think!  That little basket is the Christmas Cards from last year that need to get into a scrapbook! 

Wall 2:  Mark's desk.

Wall 3:  Shelf full of scrapbook stuff, piles of Homeschool stuff and Girl Scout stuff...

Wall 4:  Work table=more piles!!!!

So, as you see I have my work cut out for me.  Wish me luck.

Off n Running,
AnnMarie