Posts

Posted on

Classy Halloween Treats

halloween

Ever dream of being so pulled together during the holiday season that you not only pass out Halloween treats to the neighborhood kids–but to the neighbors themselves? And to top that off, what if the the snack bags looked…well…stunning?  Sound impossible? Well, not now…

Here’s how to do it.

You’ll need:

Clear cello bags

3/4 inch black or orange ribbon

Printable address labels

Halloween treats (We made our famous popcorn ball recipe without shaping them into balls)

Fill the cello bags with whatever Halloween goodies you’d like. Seal them with tape or a twist tie. Wrap the ribbon around the middle of the bag and secure with a square knot.

Click on this Classy Halloween Labels link to print off some fabulous spooky labels of your own. Be sure to type your own name below the “Happy Halloween.” Load your printer with Standard 1″x 2-1/2″ address labels and push print. Stick them on and pass out your pretty stuff. Or you can run them off on heavy paper and use them as tags–either way—

be prepared for lots of clapping…

April halloween

and rightly so.

Posted on

Shielded

Bibs 058

With Autumn coming on hard and fast in these parts—I thought I’d be clever and make an attempt to clean up the weedy garden so that the last of the zucchini and cucumbers and tomatoes could be picked and piled and brought inside one final time. The ground had been soaked the night before so the grass and weeds and spent plants pulled up very easily. I was making great progress and feeling quite pleased with myself. Just as I was about to move to the tomato row and continue on–while the garden was still in shade–a strange thought went through my head.  As clear and distinct as a bell the thought was, “Get some gloves on.”  Well, that wouldn’t be any real big deal except that I didn’t actually have any gloves. So I sat there, not really sure what to do.

DSC06580

Now understand that I’m a big believer in following impressions, the Spirit, my heart–however you are comfortable putting it. I’ve learned that things always, always turn out better if you listen when you are prompted. But the ground was soft, the shade was perfect and the weeds were willing to come out. I didn’t want to stop. Maybe I could just clear out this first tomato plant. Maybe I could just…I knew better.

Exasperated, I gathered up my tools and trudged into the house. After cleaning up I headed to the store to look for some gloves, but the season was over and there wasn’t even a garden section anymore.  I had to make do with some lame cloth work gloves–but it would be too late in the day to begin again anyway. The weeds would have to wait till tomorrow. Luckily, the ground was still relatively soft the next morning. With my silly work gloves on I was determined to finish the entire section and again, made great time. Clearing every blade of grass and weed away from the tomatoes I moved on to the zucchini, watermelon and pumpkins. Ok, I didn’t quite get to the cucumbers, but dang the garden looked good.

Bibs 054

So good in fact, that when my son-in-law came home from work that evening, I begged him to go clear out to the garden to see my work. Standing on the deck we waited while he walked around admiring the plants he could actually see now. As he leaned down close to the tomatoes, he reached down to pick one, but instead, he hollered, “Bring me a bucket!”

We did.

And this is what he found…

DSC06139A very, very Black Widow

At the base of the first tomato plant that I was trying to weed the day before, without gloves—and the same one that I had meticulously cleared that very day with gloves, sat a big, fat, creeptacular Black Widow. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that 51 year-old ladies really don’t want to get bit by Black Widows. It’s a policy we have. Luckily, the brave knight slew the dreadful Charlotte and all was well again in Zion. But I’ll tell you something–next time, when I hear a whisper,  I won’t argue for a second. I’ll just move.

And so you see, dear reader—that the moral of this story is:

All those good ideas, and epiphanies and warnings and nudges and nagging feelings that we have—all the time…

They are given to us for our own good—but can only help if we listen.

True story.

The End

 

Posted on

And the Winner Is…

Ahhhh….I mean,

the Winners are…

Bibs 060

1) Little Punkin’ Toddler Hat

Kristen

“I love the hat! I voted today, hooray!”

——————————————————————————————–

Bibs 118

2) Webkins Elephant and stuff

Wendi

“Just found your site and loving it. My kids would be so excited to find this cute little guy wrapped up for Christmas. How cute is he!!!”

——————————————————————————————–

AA 007

3) Pumpkin Candy Jar and Loot

Jodi

“LOVE this dish!! And of course the candy inside as well!”  :)

—————————————————————————————-

AA 013

4) Veggie Tales Pirate Movie and Booty

Laurie

“Enter me in this one please, seems I now have a pirate living in MY house too!”

————————————————————————————————

Copy of Purses 016

5) greenWinkle Water Lily Bagbag

Marque

“I’m impressed with the talent you have. To be able to turn plastic bags into such a beautiful bag amazes me.”

———————————————————————————————-

6) GeneTree DNA Test Kit

Summer

“It would be a dream to win this giveaway. I am an avid genealogist!”

————————————————————————————————

New-Moon-new-moon-7295426-1024-768

7) 2 New Moon Opening Night Tickets and Party

Emily:

“Sure, I love a passionate vamp, but Edward can bite me. I’m going into this one like I never read the last two books (yes, living dangerously in the moment) and I say…go Team Jacob! I say Edward could even be Team Jacob at this point. Without Jacob his girl would be as cold as a coffin nail. No amount of being a romantic makes it okay for a “man” with a genuine soul mate to abandon her because of his own lousy fears, and Edward gets no love from me here. Bah! Jacob saves not only Bella’s life (oh, that’s right, several times) but her sanity as well. That’s right baby!! TEAM JACOB IS WHERE IT’S AT!! Go TEAM JACOB!!”

Congratulations to everyone—and thanks for entering!

Posted on

Halloween Candy Garland

Aa 039

This is one of those fun, fast, easy and REALLY cute little crafty things that you can whip up while the kids are at school.

Aa 023

Grab up some twisty wrapped Halloween candy—taffy, Tootsie rolls, Jolly Ranchers–whatever. I liked the looks of the Candy Corn and peanut butter taffies…a bit more Halloweenish to me.

Aa 024

Using black, orange or whatever color string or yarn—chain 10 and join in a circle–this will be the loop you can hang your candy chain with when you are all finished. Now, just continue to chain about 15 more stitches.

Aa 030

Take your hook out of the last chain and wrap it around one end of the candy.

Aa 031

Pull the stitch to hold the candy tight.

Aa 032

Now, wrap the string around the other end of the candy–twice should do it.

Aa 034

Put your hook under the string across the candy. Grab the yarn and pull it under.

Aa 036

Continue to chain 15 more stitches. Keep adding candy until you are buried in candy garland. What a way to go!

Aa 040

It will be a lovely thing—that could wrap clear around the house if you’d like. Just depends on how much candy you have and how long you sit there stitching.

Aa 045

As I said, fun, fast, easy and sooooo cute. You’ll be crowned “Super Mom” for sure.

There’s only one teeny tiny problem that I can see…

Aa 050

Posted on

Looking Forward

My daughter, Jillian, wrote this post on her blog but I just had to share it. It’s lovely.

Launi

*****

While working on a genealogy project at the LDS Church History Library back in August, I had an interesting experience…

Church clothes

I woke up early in order to catch the bus up to Salt Lake as usual. Typically I wore business casual up to the library because I was just researching there, but that morning I felt I needed to wear my church clothes. So I did.

church library

Once I got to the reading room, I approached my “regular” spot. It was over by the microfilm readers that face the wall in a somewhat hidden section of the room. As I passed the computers just in from of them, a thought came to mind that I should request the CD to view the documents I needed that day rather than microfilm. So I did.

CHLInnerReadingRoom_640_432

When I went to sit at a computer facing the wall, something nudged me to sit at the station across from that–one that face the center of the reading room. So I did.

After several hours of transcribing 19th century documents, I wanted to stop a few minutes early. Looking at the spot in the ledger book made me reconsider this idea. It felt like I should leave at time I had planned, and simply transcribe just a few more pages to get to a better stopping point in the meantime. So I did.

Then it happened.

Dieter

The second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Dieter F. Utchdorf, stepped into the room. He and a few others seemed to be touring the fairly new facility. Perhaps because it was the reading room–a rather quiet place–neither him nor anyone in his party made a sound. They walked from one door, passed the seat right in front of me, then continued silently out into the foyer.

church stuff

If that wasn’t surprising enough, I glanced at the service missionaries who manned the reading room front desk. The two of them smiled at me. As I looked around at the people in the room though, I realized something: we were the only three people that noticed that President Utchdorf had been there. All the others had been facing their microfilm readers or the computers–all of which faced the walls. Their backs had been to the center of the room. Even several of the other employees of the Church History Library had not seen him enter because of their seats as well.

Contemplating this, I realized all the tiny promptings I had followed that morning leading up to that moment. Because of each of them I had been in the right place, dressed appropriately, within minutes of the right time. Most importantly though, I had been facing the right direction so I could see an apostle of God with my own eyes just a few steps away from me.

church conference

This weekend is General Conference. I am still looking forward to seeing the apostles and the living prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, speak to us over this weekend [Sat. and Sun. at 10AM and 2PM MST.] If any of you may find yourself facing a wall at this time, simply turn around so you don’t miss anything like those in the reading room did that day. Listen as they testify of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. As you do, no doubt that you will realize the promptings you have followed to get to be exactly where our Father in Heaven needs you to be at this time.

be-not-afraid

As I look forward, I realize just where I need to be headed in the future as well. Forward. Not just in my gaze, but moving toward He who marked the path, even Jesus Christ.

Jillian