Thanksgiving was last week and if you traveled over the river and through the woods to visit “Grandma’s house” you're probably back home and have been gradually tapping the final stash of leftovers from the take-home goodies Grandma gave you: turkey, gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce, rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.

But if you're the grandma you've probably got a Ziploc bag of leftovers in your fridge screaming at you to be creative with its contents. But what do you do with one dried out turkey leg, part of a wing and bits and pieces of light and dark meat? Most of the good stuff went to your kids and their families.

That's what happened in my house, and I questioned myself why I didn't give it all away. I'm sick of turkey!

I asked Nelly (my inner child). 

“So, are you the one who decided to keep some of the turkey when I was making up the “to go” boxes?”

“Yep!”

“Why’d you do that?”

“Because I like the drumstick and I didn’t get to have one on Thanksgiving because you said the real kids would want them and then they didn’t even take one but Pa Pa Gary ate one.”

“So, when you saw the other one was left, you put it in the bag to keep?”

In this video which was produced for a local ABC affiliate, we took video cameras out to find the spirit of Christmas. It was a spiritual trek and we found the perfect place. It's almost a promise, if you have one of these places near you, you'll find the spirit of Christmas too. This clip will get that Christmas glow flowing through you, so please take some time to enjoy.

 

 

The following is an account of a disorganized Thanksgiving Day (from experience) and an organized one. Hopefully it'll makes you smile and plan ahead.

A MUST READ!! 

Be Organized

 

ORGANIZED SCHEDULE

6:00 a.m.   Exercise, shower, fix hair, put on make-up and dress in festive clothing.

7:30 a.m.   Say prayers, read inspirational material.

8:00 a.m.   Make bed, dress, eat a hearty, bacon and egg breakfast (no toast or potatoes) take a walk, and check appearance of the front door and entryway.

9:00 a.m.  Stuff turkey with stuffing prepared yesterday, have children set holiday table. (Silver was previously polished.) Boil potatoes (they were peeled yesterday and have been soaking in cold water overnight). Make pies(pumpkin filling, apple filling and dough were made yesterday and refrigerated).

10:00 a.m. Listen to holiday music; check table, centerpiece and candles. Bake pies. Whip potatoes and set aside to be micro-waved just before serving.

11:00 a.m. Put turkey in the oven.

Noon  Prepare a light meal, soup and salad for family.

 

15 EXTREME things to do to remember how blessed you are!

 

November is the month of gratitude and with Thanksgiving just a couple days away, it’s the perfect time to be more thankful.

Even though we’re bombarded with reminders to be thankful this time of year, it’s probably a good thing, because it’s so easy to forget how blessed we are.  

 

Hey, we’re busy! Who has time to write in a gratitude journal when you’re going to have 25 people over for Thanksgiving? How does Oprah do it? She must be the busiest woman in the world yet she’s always talking about her gratitude journal and how she starts and ends her days being thankful.

For some great ideas for a stress-free Thanksgiving, take a couple minutes to watch my sister Peggy and me on the Chuck Woolery show with some short-cut cooking tips.

Are there people in your life whom you have not forgiven? Do you think you’d be happier if you could forgive them?

 

Nelson Mandela said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”

 

Would you like to read about a simple approach to forgiveness that has worked for many, who tried it? To find real peace and joy in our lives, we need to forgive those who have hurt us. I shared this timeline in a blog many years ago and if you truly want the freedom that comes with forgiveness, this approach could help. 

February 17:

I got an email from a woman who said her teacher (spiritual) asked the students to bring a clear plastic sack of potatoes to class, with each potato representing someone they hadn’t forgiven in life. In class they were asked to write the name of each person they had not forgiven on each potato. Some of the bags were quite heavy. 

 

They were asked to carry their bag with them everywhere, putting it beside their bed at night, on the car seat when driving, next to their desk at work until they could forgive the people the potatoes represented.
The woman wrote, “The hassle of lugging my bag of unforgiven people around, made it clear, what a weight I was carrying spiritually, and how I had to pay attention to it all the time to not forget, leaving it in embarrassing places.” 

 

Is there anything yuckier than a rotten potato? You know that saying, “one rotten apple spoils the barrel”? Well give me a rotten apple any day! One rotten potato smells way worse than a garage of rotten apples. One potato would affect the whole bag, but that usually doesn’t happen because of the smell! I don’t think I could let a whole bag of potatoes rot, because the stench of one is enough of a call to action. 

 

If you’re a cozy person, you probably do.

 

Now that winter will be coming soon, do you get the urge to cozy up the place? Webster defines cozy as: enjoying warmth and ease, marked by the intimacy of family or a close group. It takes a cozy person to make a cozy home. For every cozy home, you'll find a happy family.

 

When I was growing up, our house was always cozy, but as the holidays came closer, the coziness factor seemed to rise. Do you think it could be genetic? If it is I got my cozy gene from Mom who got hers from Granny.

 

Every home that Granny made was cozy.

Three of her homes that I can recall, were only two rooms; two cozy rooms. I remember one winter, Mom, Dad and my baby sister, Peggy, had to live with Granny for more than a week. The Northwest experienced what they call a Silver Thaw. I think I nderstand what happens when one hits. First of all, the air nearer to the ground is below freezing and the air a little higher up is above freezing. When the precipitation hits the freezing air, it turns to ice. The super fine ice collects on everything, turning the landscape into a sugary, slippery wonderland. 

 

Before the Silver Thaw, it had snowed about six inches. When the ice storm hit, it covered the snow with such a thick layer of ice that we could walk across the snow and not crunch through. The ice collected enough to pull huge trees over. Power lines were powerless to escape the accumulation of the frozen water and electricity was cut off for more than a  week. That’s why we went to Granny’s. Our home was all electric. Granny had a wood stove. 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes things can get a little hectic during the holidays, especially if the gathering is at your house.

 

 

 

 

Here's a grand idea using children's imaginations to keep them busy for an hour or so before the feast is served. AND you'll end up with a festive holiday tablecloth that'll end up a valued keepsake.

All you need is a twin-size flat sheet, some butcher paper (or newspapers) and marker pens and you'll see what can happen in your home. Watch this short video and let your little artists take over.

Watch this DIY video and see how fun it is.

 

 

Imagine eating a chilled, ripe, juicy watermelon.

 

 

Imagine the taste of the sweet juice as you chew the imaginary fruit. Did your mouth water as you ran the thought through that beautiful mind of yours? If you swallowed, it’s physiological proof that you have a great imagination and your body responded viscerally to the thought. 

 

Think how powerful your imagination is! You can use this power to solve all kinds of problems, like this one, for an example. Say you want to make Wiener Schnitzel and most recipes call for one inch thick, boneless pork loins to be flattened to a quarter of an inch thick. What if you don’t have one of those wooden hammers you see in fancy kitchens? What could you use? 

 

If you are a happy person, you know your very presence among others lights them up, even if 

they’re in a bad mood.

 

 

That old saying, “Misery loves company,” implies miserable people love to be with other miserable people, but it could just as well mean misery loves happy company. Now there’s scientific proof that happiness can be spread just like the flu!

 

There was an article in the paper about a study MIT and Harvard jointly conducted. The two prestigious schools discovered by using a formula that tracks the spread of infectious diseases like the flu, it could track the spread of happiness or sadness. They concluded both emotions spread like disease! We already know that laughter is contagious and I know I can cry when I see someone else crying. What this study can mean for us is we can spread joy or misery; it’s completely up to us.

Five years ago Terry’s daughter Kristi and her family came to stay with us for ten days. At the time the children were seven, nine and 12. The day they’d spent flying across the country from their home in Boston to our home in Woodland, Washington sent them straight to bed as soon as they arrived. Their bodies were still adjusting to the three hour time difference the next day. That morning I suggested we have what I termed a “being,” not a “doing” day. 

 

 

"the criteria for my kind of being day, is to love what you’re doing"

 

 

This might look like a traditional Thanksgiving dinner but there's an intriguing

twist and it's so easy.

You'll never guess what it is. Watch this video and you'll see!

 

 

 

 

KIDS GROW QUARTERLY

and with winter and the holidays coming, a new supply of warmer clothes and of course toys,
books, games and such will be coming into your home very soon. This is a great time to organize the children’s rooms.

 

Children are much more likely to keep their rooms neat if they don't have constipated drawers and closets and too many toys, books and games. Parents have to be the laxative here, because kids can't do it alone, it’s too overwhelming for them.

We’re already a month into another calendar quarter and if the weather hasn’t hinted at a change in clothing, it will. The House Fairy

has several ideas for helping your kids to streamline their rooms. If you are a member of the Snuggle Bunny Club you’ve probably seen her show the “Un-shopping Video.” 

 

Take some department store shopping bags from your stash and with your child in tow, go into his/her bedroom and play like you’re in a store to buy clothes. That means your child will try on questionable keepers. It’s a quick way to see what is not being worn. Also bag up all the summer clothes (they won’t fit next summer) along with the stuff that doesn’t fit now. 

 

 

They gutted his room (including the closet and dresser drawers) of almost everything. 

What if when you said, “I do,” you knew how much had to be done? You probably didn’t think about that when you fell in love.

 

 

But did you know that if you were disorganized you’ve done way more work than an organized person who said “I do?” Ask any BO (Born Organized) person why they’re organized and one of the main reasons is that they’re lazy! One BO told me, “I’m
basically lazy and I’m not willing to leave the kitchen a mess after a meal because it takes twice as long to work off food that’s dried on plates, silverware, pots and pans and counters. I know exact times because I have a stop watch and I’ve timed both clean-ups! Twice as long when you put it off.” 

 

Just think, if you’d been a BO from the time you said, “I do,” until now, you’d have had twice as much time to play! Oh well, what can you do about it now?

 

What if you were organized right now? What if your garage looked like an advertisement for storage cabinets for a garage? What if you were ready for the holidays right now? What if you were debt free? What if you weighed what you weighed in high school? 

 

"Where's a magic wand when you need one?"