Merry Christmas

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I will be taking a little break from blogging to enjoy time with my family! Daniel is off work all next week and I have lots of fun stuff planned for us, but he thinks vacations should be without too many plans?!? That, my friends, is where he and I part ways, but I think we will have fun regardless of who wins out on this one.

As I was thinking about everything that I still have to do, I realized that I haven't taken enough time to remember the reason for the season. It is so easy to get caught up in the things you have to do and forget WHY we should be clebreating.

What are your Christmas plans?

Get a Jump Start on Getting Organized for the New Year!

Are you feeling overwhelmed with everything on your to-do list right now?

What if you could change your life in less than 30 pages?

I immediately purchased this book when it came out. I was so excited to dig in, but I have to admit that I was a little skeptical of how much this could really help. I was amazed. I sat down with a cup of tea and dove in to this wonderful book. I am a pretty organized person, but this book has helped me a ton with time management. It has also helped a ton with establishing future goals and coming up with clear concise ways to achieve them! The book is very straightforward, has clear instructions, and is a quick read.

If you are finding yourself overwhelmed, stressed out, frazzled, or just needing a boost in life organization I think you will find this to be a life saver!

Right now you can purchase this e-book for $6...that is 50% off and less than I paid!
(The deal is going on through Monday November 29th at 11:59pm)

I have found this book so helpful...and that is why I am telling you about it!!! Don't wait until January to get organized, get a jump start on it!!

Giving Thanks

I just wanted to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving! I am busy baking and cooking a few things to take to my parents house later...the house is smelling pretty good right about now! I just love Thanksgiving...it may just be my favorite holiday?!?

Let us take the day and remember to give thanks for all the Lord has given us. I feel like the "thanks" in Thanksgiving is all too often forgotten these days. We are so blessed!!!

Enjoy the time spent with your family today...yes, even the crazy ones! Just sayin'! I will be back soon and I guess it will be time to get the Christmas posts rollin'...

Vacation

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I am going to be on vacation the rest of this week and all of next.

Make sure you check back though...I have posts that will be coming out while I am away!

I hope you all have a great week!

Fresh Taste of Summer Party

Have you ever heard of House Party?

It is so awesome, you should definitely check it out. Basically, you apply to host different types of parties, and if you are chosen it is like you hit the jackpot.

I was lucky enough to be chosen for the Ball Fresh Taste of Summer Canning Party! They sent me everything I needed to can except for the vegetables. I received a 26 pound box full of all kinds of goodies. I added it all up and it was over $200 worth of stuff!!!! I was so impressed with it, and I would highly encourage you to apply to host a party.

First thing was to look at the handy dandy flip chart they gave me!

That is my sister, Kimery! Check out that apron...yes, that is a pearl necklace on it!!

Group shot of some of the ladies...Misty, Heather, Wanda, and Pam!

Here is Kande and my Mom!

We finally had to get down to business...here is Misty in action!

Ohhhh, doesn't the finished product look delicious? I sure hope I get enough stuff from my garden to can me up some salsa!?!

Everyone got bags to take home. Not just bags though, they were filled with coupons, pectin, and jars of salsa and pepper jelly!

I even got a bag, and I am so using it as an Aldi bag!!! I had such a good time and I hope everyone that attended did too!

Thanks so much, Ball! The party was a blast!

A Great Deal!!!

I wanted to share an awesome deal with all of you! This Groupon deal is for local readers, but even if you aren't local you should check out the Groupon deals in your area!

Today only you can get a two-hour cooking class at The Learning Kitchen for only $30! That is 60% off! Last year I took a pastry class at The Learning Kitchen, and it was unbelievable. The facilities are state of the art and the classes are very thorough and enjoyable! You will walk away with your belly full, recipes to take home, and a lot of knowledge!

This is really the perfect time of year for the coupon to come out. It would make a great gift for Mother's Day! I also thought it would be great for birthday's, bridal shower's, or even graduations. Everyone needs to know how to cook, right?

You can purchase the coupon at Groupon! If you love my blog, please use the link provided because it does help me when you purchase a groupon through it! Even if you are not interested in purchasing this groupon, you should consider signing up here. You will get an e-mail each day of a new deal. I have been a member for a few weeks and have seen some great deals come through.

Bullets and Bite Wings

Forgive me for straying away from cooking and coupons for a day. I witnessed a horrific crime about ten feet outside of the dental van where I work...it was very crazy and scary to say the least. Check me out on the news clip...

http://www.wlwt.com/video/22943859/index.html

By the way, have you ever heard someone say that you should always wear clean underwear because you never know when you are going to be in an accident??? While I am happy to report that I did have on clean underwear, I learned another lifelong lesson today! I tend to brag that I get ready for work in ten minutes...no makeup, no hairstyling! It really doesn't matter how I look at work, and I have to get up really early!

Well, I learned today that you should always get ready for work, you just never know when you are going to be on the news! Please forgive the bad hair and no makeup!

Seriously though, this is such a sad situation and unfortunately we see a lot of violence in the streets where we work. I am so blessed that the Lord has protected me each and every day for over 6 years of this job. Please pray for the family of this victim, I can't imagine the pain they are going through right now.

Can you spot the real Katie in the video? Apparently they think that Lil Juicy works on the dental van!?!

Adopt-a-Blogger

I am so excited to share with you some great news...my blog and I have been adopted! Adopt-a-blogger is an awesome program over at Kristen's blog, Dine & Dish. A veteran blogger takes a newbie blogger under their wing for a while and kind of helps them along.

Being that I am a newbie and seeing as I need all the help I can get, I was so happy to get into this program. Through my few months of blogging I have wondered several times what I have gotten myself into. I have so many questions and thankfully now I have someone to guide me in the right direction.

This is the 4th Adopt-a-Blogger, and there are almost 140 people involved. Somehow I was lucky enough to get adopted by Kristen herself. Still not sure how I got so lucky...

Kristen's blog is amazing, there is so much I can learn from her. She always posts mouth-watering recipes with the BEST photos. (I am hoping to improve my lousy photos with her help.) I am amazed that she finds any time to help me...she has 4 adorable kiddo's of her own to take care of!

Head on over to Dine & Dish and check it out. You may also want to read what she had to say about yours truly!

Getting Ready For The New Year!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I sure did! I keep saying I had a "Very Merry Kitchen Christmas", because I got SEVERAL kitchen things. I am not complaining, actually quite the contrary, it is mostly stuff I asked for. I was on the phone with my Grandma telling her all the "kitchen stuff", and all she could say was, "kitchen stuff, huh, I thought you already had everything imaginable". Well Grandma, I can't help it, I love it!

Here are a few of my new things I am pumped about, and I am sure you will see them used very soon:

I got a Roasting Pan with a rack, so now I can conquer the BIG MEAT in style!

Dutch Oven, of yeah, I am pumped about this one. I am too cheap to buy one for myself!

Julia Child's "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking" Volume 1 and 2 (along with the movie, of course). Daniel got me these, I think because he just misses all the wonderful food in France. I don't blame him, it was wonderful! I am admittedly a little nervous to try to re-create it at home, it isn't my usual style of cooking. I am up for the challenge though!

About a month ago on my way home from Arizona, I began a running list of goals both for myself and the blog for 2010. Some are things like growing readership, and all that behind the scenes stuff you probably wouldn't be interested in. The things that I do want to share on here are my lists of the foods I want to either learn to cook or perfect. I am going to keep a running list on here and hopefully I will have them all crossed off by December 31, 2010. I am planning to unveil the list later next week (be warned, it is quite a long one). It is going to be a busy year in the kitchen for me!

I need your help with this, though! If there is anything that you want to learn or want me to post about, let me know. I want this blog to be someplace that you can find recipes and tips that interest you. The only way I can do that is by you telling me what you are interested in. One thing that I have had several requests for are Crock Pot recipes...go figure, everyone is looking for a shortcut (including me)!

So, please let me know what suggestions you have...and I will try to add them to my goal list!

Giving Thanks

I wanted to share something with you that I have been thinking about this Thanksgiving season. I know this is the time when we are supposed to be giving thanks for what we have and what God has given us, but....what about the rest of the year???? One verse that has really stuck with me is Hebrews 13:15 "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name."

Continually, huh? That is the part that has really stuck with me! I knew that, but the question is not do I know that, but rather, do I practice that? Do I make it a point to praise and thank the Lord DAILY for what He has done for me? Is His praise continually in my mouth?

Just a little something for you to think about! I am going to consciously start each day giving the Lord the praise that He is so worthy of!