Grandparents Day!

Do we all remember the special days throught the year? Some are very prominent - others were maybe designed for the card and flower companies. September 7 this year is Grandparents day. In the light of how many Grandparents are raising children it might be a very important day.

Most Grandparents think much more of a phone call or a pretty picture drawn for them than another vase with flowers to sit around. The important thing is that the children remember them - if they are young maybe Mom or Dad will have to help them remember. At any rate, HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY all.

Contests! Contests!

Everyone likes contests - especially when there are prizes.
The Group of Squidoo lensmasters that write "What's for Squidinner" have started a contest to find some really good lenses that feature recipes. Skip on over to "What's For Squidinner? to check in on the fun. At the least you will get some great recipes and at the outside you might win a prize.

It is always good to vary the food you feed the family. Variety adds spice to life and to the dinner table. Those times when they don't want to try something new, just bargaining for one taste - next time go for two bites and after that you probably won't have to bargain anymore. Many times little taste buds need to learn new flavors.

It's the weekend - try something new in the kitchen. You might plan the menu for the week ahead and make you week a little easier.

Sewing Month - September!

The year passes so quickly. I used to always think of July as sewing month. That is the month I had to sew like mad to get the 4-H projects done. Back then we had fair the first week of August and it encompassed the style show. Oh I must be showing my age. That was my start of love for sewing.

I was in a county program where the competition was tough. You had to strive for perfection - something no child should have to do if they want to enjoy that activity. None the less, it was a time when the clothes on the rack didn't come in tall sizes, the only way to get jeans long enough was to buy boys and if you found something on the rack long enough it was just plain ugly. I liked to sew because I could make my own clothes that fit.

Through high school and college I continued to sew. The priority for my dorm room was where could the sewing machine go. One activity we had in the college housing my dorm decided on a red, white, and blue theme before they looked for the dresses. I sewed about 50 of the dresses - thank goodness a few mothers helped make their own daughters dresses!

As I had children and now grandchildren, the one thing I learned is that you can easily get much more wrapped up in pattern and fabric that the same garment costs at Wal-Mart. The sewing now is kept for special occasions. Like the Big Bird Costume for the kindergarten graduation- found it in the attic the other day - 20 years old this year!

Have fun with your sewing. With the new fabrics, assessories, and equipment it can be a fun hobby. Great way to have clothes with a custom fit for an adult. The items you can make for around the house are amazing. Celebrate September! Sew something.

Celebrate sewing and save at the CreateForLess National Sewing Month Sale.

September is here - Whirlwind of Summer is gone

Or is it? Tradition says that Labor Day is the start of fall, end of summer. Now that schools are starting in August and the summer weather continues into fall/autumn it is hard to tell. It is the last long weekend for us in the United States for some time so most of us try to relish it. The barbeque is used, the lake is chaos, all things are summer fun and good food.

Does that mean in our business life it is time to settle down and get to business? I'm not so sure but truly ambitious folks even slowed down for summer. We all wondered where the buyers went - unless we were selling summer toys for young or old. The wardrobe is replenished for each season. It is just that sometimes it is a little more formal than others. I truly believe that this year some people started evaluating just how much they spend on their toys, clothes, and wants. The budget this year might be geared a bit more for needs. The clothes and toys may have to be a bit more practical, dual purpose, yes I think practical covers it. Should we blame the oil companies, government, or can we just think that maybe it is our idea? I think more of us have been forced by the oil companies to start thinking about how our money is spent. Maybe this is a wake up call we should have had years ago.

September is here. That is a fact. Are we going to get down to a more practical lifestyle? That is a choice that each of us will make. We will look for reasons for our choices, maybe try to place blame. When we get down to it - we make choices in what we do, what attitude we have, and how we face each day.

End of Summer

Labor Day weekend is the official end of summer. In actual fact it is the best summer weekend we have had all year. The air temperature and the water temperature were close, low winds, sunny, no rain (although we really need it). It makes for great activity on the lake, with the grandkids, at your barbeque and just to sit under a shade tree.

If you are in the Gulf Coast region it isn't quite so good. Our thoughts and prayers are with those folks. Sometimes the anticipation can be the hardest on the nerves. Just waiting with only so much you can do.

If you have a chance to check out a new and exciting blog this weekend make it "What's for Squidinner" for lots of good recipes and contests. A good way to start the autumn season - eating good food.

Enjoy the rest of the long weekend. School and work come soon enough.

Create Your Way to Sanity and beyond.

Nature is around us everytime we head out the door. How often do you stop and look? Do you really see what is there? When you don't see the beauty of the earth as it was given to us it is very difficult to see what damage we have done to our world.

I feel strongly in the theory that we first must identify what we need. Not want. Then we must use those things we need wisely. We can use something until it has found the end of its life - not until we're tired of the color. If we just can't stand the color anymore then pass it on so someone else can get the good use out of it. Try Freecycle. This network is in most communities nationwide. Pass it on, don't feel you need paid for everything. If you need something, see if someone else has that item in good usable condition but doesn't need it anymore. This all goes along with the topic of Re-use. This is much more important than recycle. Recycle also takes resources.

Summer Produce Is Abundent

Don’t you love the summer trip from the garden. The vine ripe tomatoes, fresh crisp green peppers, the cucumbers just big enough to add to that salad, and a few carrots and green onions on the side? The time to steal those new potatoes out from the edges of the hill before they come to full size because they are so delicious - especially mixed with a few fresh green peas and some cream sauce?
When we look back at the life when every family had a garden, worked it together all summer and “put up” the vegetables and fruit for winter we ate much more holsum food. You did not hear so much about cancer, hyperactive children, asthma, and all the other diseases that have become so common recently. Was it the fact we got in the outdoors and worked or played while Mom and Dad worked? Was it because we didn’t have additives put in all our food? Maybe it was because we got out and moved, ate heathy food and breathed fresh air. Even people who lived in town had their own little garden.
Sterile cubes that we call homes, food that comes in sealed packages, jars and frozen with extra preservatives really must be better for us. Why else would we live this life? Exercise in an enclosed gym with recirculated air that runs through filters must be better.
Nope! Just sit on my deck for an hour after a fresh garden salad and vegetables that come fresh from the garden. Watch the neighborhood children running up and down the channel to see what water creatures they can catch their last day before school starts. Can you really tell me being a executive workiing and living in a highrise is the better life?