Yummy Oatmeal Breakfast Recipe

Giving Thanks Can be Good for You!

Thanksgiving is now upon us! What do we think of when we think of Thanksgiving?

Family

Food 

Football

Ha, ha, that's pretty funny...it goes right with my last post about wanting to get more into being healthy...

TLC

for 

Body

Mind

and 

Spirit

Being with family is always good for the soul. Did you know that according to a study of over 21,000 Denmark parents, they found that being a parent (especially a mom) lowers your chances of dying from cancer, accidents and circulatory disease?

According to some research from Brigham Young University (my alma mater),  having a sister is good for your mental health. That's great news, because I have two wonderful sisters, and my husband has FOUR!

8

Talking with your mom lowers stress..WOOOHOOO! I talk to my mom almost everyday...even though we are 14 hours away from each other. I love technology sometimes!  According to health.com, talking on the phone with Mom seemed to decrease stress hormones and increase the feel-good chemical, oxytocin among young girls (ages 7-12). Guess what? I believe it helps us girls over the age of 50 too :)

Okay, I could go on and on about how wonderful it is to be with family...I found some of this info at this website if you would like to learn some more about how family can be beneficial for your health.

So, let's move on to the food.....

The typical Thanksgiving dinner consists of 

Turkey

Ham

Mashed potatoes

Gravy

Rolls

Macaroni and Cheese

Dressing or stuffing

Butter

Butter

more butter

Pumpkin pie

Okay...I'm going to stop right there. As you can see, Thanksgiving dinner is NOT the healthiest meal on the planet. I know, it's only once a year...Oh, WAIT! We have Christmas soon after, not to mention all the parties with all kinds of yummy, not good for you food during the time from Halloween to New Years. Now, I am not saying NOT to eat this stuff...just needs to be in moderation.

Enough said about that...let's get to FOOTBALL!!!!!  We all enjoy sitting around, after our wonderful dinner of Thanksgiving, to rest and watch football. But, you know what would be better? Go for a walk...a family walk! OR...if the weather is nice how about a family bike ride...humm?

How about a Turkey Bowl? We've lived many places throughout the United States, and several of these areas have actually hosted an early morning football scrimmage, called a Turkey Bowl. It's usually our church family that does this. Seems like someone always gets hurt though, so we do need to be careful.

So, now for the spiritual part of this. This is the time of year we tend to focus on thanksgiving and being grateful. I know, myself, I've been posting the things I am "thankful" for on my facebook during November, but did you know studies have shown that it's healthy to be grateful?

Robert Emmons is a psychology professor at the University of California at Davis. Through his research, he has found that those who have a permanent "attitude of gratitude," gain a lot of good health benefits from this.

Taking better care of themselves, and engaging in better health maintenance, exercising more, eating healthier, having a better mental alertness, coping with stress better, feeling more optimistic, having a better immune system, looking at the future in a more positive manner, are just some of the benefits of grateful people.

I've been going to church for many years. One thing I have learned by doing so, is to be grateful and to realize my blessings. Sure, bad things happen, but I have tried to remember that it can always be worse. Each day, I pray, and study my scriptures and write in my journal. There have been times that I have slacked in this area, but lately, I've been doing pretty good. I know this is why I have been able to handle some of the things going on right now in a more positive manner.

So, just to end this, I hope that all of us strive for a better life through being happier, looking on the bright side, eating healthier, exercising, and just being plain GRATEFUL.

To sum it up, I would like to share a quote I saw today with you...

"It's not happy people who are thankful, it is thankful people who are happy..."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bye-Buy Bags...

Yesterday, I put my last Thirty-one order in. Yep, I am hanging up my bags. 

Don't get me wrong, I love all my bags I have accumulated from Thirty-one. It's just that everyone is pretty much bagged out. Besides, I am starting a whole new direction..... 

There are so many things I like to do;

Photography,

making jewelry,

and trying to be healthy are just a few.

Soooo....

I am going to redo my Wonderful World of Bags Facebook and start focusing on more important things. At the end of the year, I will be closing down that facebook page, and starting a new one....

TLC for Body, Mind, and Spirit...

Kinda a play on my initials...

I love my initials

TLC

aren't they cool?

So, anyway....I hope you will be on the look out for my new Facebook page, and would love to have any comments about how you stay healthy; mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and in every way....

Treasures by Terry

Just sitting here looking at my Treasures by Terry Facebook page and noticing I've been getting more traffic lately. That is so exciting! 

I love playing with beads and creating fun stuff to wear.

I love to see people enjoy my pieces.

Coming up with unusual things are fun, like this crochet wire and bead Christmas necklace I made several years ago. I just got it back out to wear next week.

Even making jewelry from stuff that you would not think to use....

Like paper....

and guitar string.

Come pay me a visit at my Treasures by Terry facebook

Tacky Dressing

My husband and I were invited to a Tacky Birthday Party. Everyone was asked to dress as tacky as possible and the winner gets a prize. I know my husband won't want to dress weird, but I like doing stuff like this. Since we have most our stuff in storage, I really don't have much to choose from, but I did manage to come up with something.

Today, my daughter in law and I went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore, and I saw these earrings. Talk about TACKY! Perfect, and they were only $1! They were clip earrings, so I just came home and switched them out to pierced.

I don't normally wear flannel shirts, but I decided to bring this one for around the house. It pairs nicely with some black and white plaid pajama bottoms I have. Then the purple chain stitch scarf from my DIY Gift Ideas video and a green silk flower from Thirty-one. I think that outfit is pretty tacky. What do you think?

Oh, one more picture.....

How funny is this!? She used Laffy Taffy (heated in the microwave) to look like chewed gum. Now THAT's pretty tacky!

Easy DIY Gift Ideas

Here's a video I shot in Kentucky just before it turned REALLY cold and snowed. It was a gorgeous day. I just shared a few ideas for some quick, easy and inexpensive ideas for gift giving. Oh, by the way, when I say "single crochet" I am meaning chain stitch. 

Here are some good tutorials for a couple of the projects I show:

Curly Scarf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0RI04BU6p4

Beaded Wire Crochet Necklace (I did my a little differently, but this gives you the idea. Maybe I'll do a tutorial soon...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apQh0X0TIe4

Ity Bity Kitchen

Today, I tackled the kitchen. We NEVER use the front door, except to check our mail. EVERYONE and EVERYTHING comes in the back door, which is the kitchen door.

With all the traffic that comes in through this area, also comes the dirt, so I am constantly vacuuming and moping this kitchen. 

There are a lot of weird things about this kitchen. First off we have the tiny hot water heater that was not properly vented when my husband first moved in. He had to fix that. The landlord supplied what he needed and she was very appreciative of his service. She had just bought this duplex, and it needed some work done to it. So this helped her out.

One other weird things is the washer hook up. Seriously? I'm not sure a washing machine would even fit there, lol.

When my husband first moved here, the fridge and stove were not in proper working order. Playing the part of a bachelor and not being home much, he never mentioned it to the landlord. When I got here, I NEEDED a fridge and stove/oven that worked....I like to cook, besides home cooking saves money and CALORIES.

Notice the bookshelf? I remember that from my childhood years. My dad made it and it is a very nice, sturdy bookcase, perfect for my cookbooks and other books we have here.

Again, I did not do much with this space, just used a lot of what I already had. I had made a wood wall hanging almost a year ago, and it fit perfectly over the washer hookup. Since we have three drivers and two cars, we are always playing musical cars, so I had painted a wood key hanger and put it in a central location. I added one other picture to that wall on a nail that was already there. Our landlord really doesn't want us putting holes in the walls, which I am having an issue with :P  Anyway, the picture I chose to put there is where we got married....The LDS Washington DC Temple. It is a reminder of our marriage covenants we made over 31 years ago.

I only have about 2 feet of counter space to do my cooking on, so the only thing I have on the counter are my knives. 

Not much cupboard space either, but I store some stuff over head. Mostly my Thirty-one thermal shopping bags.

Having a 72 hour emergency kit is very important. Even during our recent tornado clean up, I used it. We did not have to evacuate, but to save the food in our fridge from going bad, I chose not to open it and eat out of our emergency kit. It is now restocked and ready for the next time we may need it...hoping that will be never. It gets replaced every six months. This area kinda bugs me, but this is pretty much the best I can do. I have all my baking stuff...flour, sugars, chocolate chips, etc in the purple Thirty-one Square Utility Tote and Organizing Utility Tote. I find these bags great for storage.

We like to travel and when we do, we usually bring food to make sandwiches, etc on the way. That's why we have a couple of coolers, and they store nicely by the fridge along with my mop and broom.

The rugs I used at the sink and back door I brought from storage in Kentucky. This redo cost me ZERO. We do have to expand part of our kitchen into our living room. We have a small kitchen table where our microwave and small oven set. I tried putting that into our kitchen, but it was just too cramped. 

So, I guess my next room should be the living room? Hmmm....maybe? Not sure. This may take me some time to figure things out. Our living room is pretty much acting as a living room, bedroom, office, kitchen. blah! SO......my creative juices need to flow for awhile....

A Beautiful Mess

Happy Handmade Home

Painting, Crafting, and Decorating a Cheerful,

More Inspiring Space

from the creators of a Beautiful Mess

Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman

When I first ordered this book, I was a little reluctant because many were saying how they did not like it. One even called it "juvenile." Personally, I have enjoyed this book and plan to try some of the projects in it.  Currently, our family is in temporary housing until we can sell our home, and I am not able to really spend much money to decorate our small duplex. This book is ideal for people like us, or for students, newlyweds, anyone who is on a tight budget and/or in "limbo" as we are. 

After we do get settled, there are a few things I would like to try, like the scarf curtain on page 29. Elsie and Emma even give a few tips on entertaining and share a couple of their recipes. I believe I will be trying their, "Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies" this weekend. 

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Teeny Weeny Bathroom Redo on A Budget

I was pretty busy today...took my daughter in law to work, met some friends for lunch and went shopping. Sox was getting really low on food.

When I got home, I started in on the bathroom...organizing and decorating. As I mentioned, I was just going to make this little place a home for now, but I don't want to spend a lot of money. We don't have any clocks (except our cell phones) in this place, so I bought a $3 wall clock for the bathroom. I know myself, sometimes when I'm hurrying to get ready in the morning, I like to know the time.

Remember my last blog I mentioned I bought a rug? Well, that is it in the background. I love the colors. The Thiry-one bags I already had. I bought the piece of fabric and a tension rod and I was pretty much good to go.

Our bathroom was a HUGE blank slate. The walls are painted that renter's beige and everything else in there is white.

The closet is pretty much our vanity. We store boxes in the bottom and I hated seeing it all the time, soooo....

That's what I used the fabric and tension rod for. I plan to go get another shelf to put in there, but it looks so much better having everything organized. 

The shower curtain was a little boring, so remember those button flowers I showed you how to make on a video?

Well, I added them to the rings. Some of the rings are missing anyway, so instead of buying a new set for one or two, I just looped the button flowers to hang the shower curtain. It adds a little pop of color.

More Thirty-one bags for storage. I love the Snap It bags. I have razors in one, soaps that my good friend in Kentucky makes and always shares with me in another, and hair clips and stuff like that in the last. I have a Large Utility Tote on the shelf with our towels and another storage bag from Thirty-one with our washcloths and small hand towels in it.

Of course I have my essential oils all organized and within easy reach.

I added one of my recycled guitar string wreaths to the clock for a little added interest. 

So, there you have it. For less than $20, I was able to get this place together. I used things I already had, and then spent $8 on the rug, $5 for the fabric and tension rod, and $3 for the clock.

I will need to spend a little more on that board for the shelf, but it's pretty much done. It is simple and clean....and cheap! 

I wonder what room I will do next?

I'm Being CREATIVE!!!

Going from a 3100 sq ft house to a 230 sq ft duplex has been a struggle, but I'm finally ok with it. HEY! It's less to clean!!!  Anyway, it's gotten my creative juices flowing and I am ready to get organized and decorate on a budget!

When my son got married, his bride and I had so much fun trying to create a beautiful wedding on a budget, and I think we did a pretty good job.

We did all the flowers,

photography,

made the jewelry,

we even made their Hillbilly "Wine" glasses.

My daughter and I did a pretty good job with their wedding just two year before by doing an all DIY wedding too.

If I can do two successful weddings on a small budget, I think I can "decorate" our small duplex on a small budget too.

So...what are some ideas I have? Well, first thing I did in the bathroom was decided on a color scheme.  Since I have been selling Thirty-One, I have accumulated a lot of black and white 

 bags. My husband already had bought a white shower curtain, and so I decided that I would go with those colors. We needed a rug, so I brought out a pop of color by purchasing a colorful rug. It only cost me $8, so by using what I already have and purchasing one thing, I got of pretty cheap.

Anyway, I have some other things boiling in my brain, and can't wait to get it all put together.

By the way, I just found out that there is a neat little store in town that have old doors, windows, you know stuff from buildings that are being torn down...for sale. They are open weird hours, so my daughter in law and I plan to go Friday to check it out. Not sure, it maybe be too $$, but we shall see.

Hoping soon I will be able to post some pics of what I wind up doing...

I Love This Picture!

Here are some links to some tap dancing flamingo birds....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW8GX2n4qbY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U97h3Fh8j0

It Turned Cold In Kentucky...Already?!

This past week I was up in our home in Kentucky. For the first few days, it was nice, but then.....it got cold. I even saw some snow flakes...REALLY!? It's just November. I guess we are in for a very cold winter, brrrr!

One thing that is pretty cool (I know I use that word way to much), are all the deer that come to visit us in our backyard. Even though my husband is a deer hunter and we eat deer meat, I love to watch them frolic around in the yard. They are such beautiful animals.

Each morning...early, like between 4 and 6, they come to feed, and then around 4 pm they are back. When it is cool like it has been they run around and chase each other. I guess the cool weather makes them frisky, I know our dog loves the cool weather like that.

The leaves are all off the trees now, and winter is about to settle in. Growing up in Florida, I never experienced the change of seasons. Sometimes people do not understand. The first time I saw the change of the fall leaves, I was about 21, and I was very impressed. I will admit, it is a beautiful time of year. I guess each season has it's own way of being beautiful...even though my favorite time is summer...warm and green :D