A GIVEAWAY THAT WILL BRING COMFORT TO THE SOUL

I am so thrilled to be a part of this and to have the opportunity to give away a FREE spot to this online class!!!

Keep reading to find out what it's all about and how you can enter!

                                          
Sometimes this life just gets overwhelming and crazy!!! There is always so much to do and so many places to be. Our to-do-list is never ending! Well........this might be a little something that can help you learn to slow down, recharge, and simplify! Sounds good, right?!

I have had the opportunity to visit the Brave Girl's Ranch and meet these incredible ladies in person. I am inspired by their desire to help our sisters around the world learn how to spread their wings and fill their lives with all things good and positive! I have also taken several of the Brave Girl online classes and I absolutely LOVE them! As women, we have spirits that yearn to create and also to connect with our sisters! 

What a beautiful thing! 

In the upcoming class "Soul Comfort" that Brave Girls is offering.....you will fill that need and at the same time, you will be given a chance to relax and learn how to simplify your life. Sounds pretty good, huh?!

To the tired, the exhausted, the overstretched…here’s an invitation…

Life can be simple.

What if we celebrated the brave act of….taking a break?

What if simplicity,
comfort, and quiet were the goal?

What if there really was a way to quiet the chatter in our minds and let us recharge our body & soul?

And what if it was fun, too?

Introducing a new eCourse . . .

Soul Comfort

Soul Comfort is a fresh new concept using art and journaling as a means to relax and comfort yourself and to get grounded while dealing with the craziness of every-day living.

This course if full of beautiful projects to fuel your creativity in very simple and easy ways that are meditational and relaxing , beautiful comforting things that will have your soul infused into them so that you want to keep them forever.

Melody (course creator and teacher) says, “I want to teach you some new habits of creativity mixed with simplicity that I have learned over the years. Being a recovering hoarder of supplies and techniques, this is really a new way to give yourself permission to do things simply but beautifully.

One of the most wonderful things about this course is that everything fits into one fabric tote bag . . . I wanted to create a whole course where all of the supplies fit into a tiny space so that you could take it everywhere you go…so that you could do it sitting on your bed, on your couch, with your family, do it with your children, in the car, wherever your day takes you. It’s incredible. This has changed my life. This has been something that I have used on my own and I can’t wait to share it with you.”

Soul Comfort

You can count on this class to be . . .

• enlightening, enjoyable, fun, & simple
• customizable with many choices to fit your exact style
• interactive, encouraging, and supportive with a private community on Facebook and weekly live chats
• a beautiful experience that will help you relax, simplify, and enjoy your life 
• a place to learn simple new ways to journal, plus the  ”Brave Girl” way to use stitching and such to create both beautiful things you’ll love AND peaceful relaxing moments
• a place to learn exactly what nourishes YOUR body and soul, and how to fit comforting rituals into your day
• something that you can finish without feeling overwhelmed
• produced with the level of caring and  excellence and attention to detail that Brave Girls Club is known for

We’ve worked to narrow down things to quench the yearning of your soul…to be able to be creative but also to be sensitive to the mess that it makes and the time that it takes as well as the brain space it takes for complicated tools and  techniques. We will teach you fun ways to make beautiful things while relaxing yourself . . .and we’ll be participating in the class right along with you.

• This will be relaxing, fun, and simple
• You’ll be able to take it along with you, everywhere you go
• Instead of overwhelming you with one  more thing to stress out about, this eCourse will help you relax, enjoy, and feel comfort and peace no matter what else is going on in your life.

• It is YOUR time for some Soul Comfort. Come join us!

• Supply List - simple, inexpensive supplies
• Regular tuition $99 (but if you win......it will cost nothing)
• Class begins September 24. Access the online classroom through January 2, 2014.
• Divided into 4 segments, with a new one released every two weeks to give you lots of space to breathe

Answer the following question in the comment section, and you might be the lucky winner!!! Good luck ladies! The drawing will be held on Friday so be watching to see the outcome! 

Why do you think women have a hard time with self care? And how do you think this Brave Girl class might help you get through the holiday season?

TO TEACH IS TO TOUCH A LIFE FOREVER!

As we attended the graduation of our oldest daughter, Kelsey, and her husband, Brian from Utah State University, I couldn't help but think about all the wonderful teachers and people that helped them along the way. Teachers are some of the greatest assets that we, as parents, have to help us raise our children.

At the graduation ceremony, we listened to a speaker who addressed us about the great teachers he had and the people that believed in him and encouraged him. I was impressed with his story of being a Spanish kid, growing up in Franklin, Idaho, and attending the Preston School District. He is now a prominent Judge. He gave a lot of credit to the teachers in his life who believed in him and gave him opportunities to grow and achieve. What a blessing!

We all have people like these in our lives, and our children have also been recipients of these same blessings! Great teachers are all around and they never get the credit that they deserve. I would like to thank all of my past teachers, those who are still teaching me, those who teach our children and believe in what they can become. YOU ARE PRICELESS!

TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY IS THIS COMING TUESDAY, MAY 7TH. Don't miss your chance to express your gratitude. I also ran across THIS blog that has several fun ideas, or just a simple note goes a long way to show your appreciation. I plan to help my kids remember this day and to also take the chance more often throughout the year to just say THANK YOU!

MILLIE MADE - WEAR YOUR WORD

I have been having a ball creating and designing leather cuffs. Each cuff has an inspiring word or short phrase of your choice stamped on it. Words are so powerful!!! Words can lift and encourage! 

You can purchase cuffs from my etsy shop at Millie Made. Most of these are custom made. I just need your word and wrist size. Other simple changes can be made, as well. 

Such a fun and creative way to remind yourself of what is important and close to your heart.

YARN POM POMS

About a year ago, we added another adorable little Reeder baby to our family......my niece Flora. I can hardly believe it has been a year.

I didn't plan on blogging today, my goal is to get the whole house cleaned! However, when I was cleaning, I ran across a bag and these are the treasures that I found inside.

My assignment for Flora's baby shower was to make the table centerpieces for the luncheon that we had. These items are just a part of the ensemble that I put together for that special day. My sister topped off the look with a variety of beautiful antique dishes. It turned out very nice.

When I ran across these items today, I couldn't help but fall in love with these pom poms all over again. Long ago, when I was a young girl.....maybe 8 or 10........I was obsessed with making my own pom poms and turning them into cute little animals. I spent hours working on them and then I would give them away to those nearest and dearest to me as gifts.  

I'm sure my animals looked something like these.

How do you make these?  For my baby shower centerpieces, I actually used a plastic tool that my daughter had, but there are many different methods of creating pom poms and you definitely don't need to run out to the store and spend money to make these. Pictured below is a homemade cardboard thingamajig similar to what I used so long ago when I was making pom pom animals. You can also go to this tutorial to learn more.

There are really so many things that can be done with pom poms

I found several pom pom ideas and tutorials by doing a search on Pinterest. Check it out....grab some yarn.....and start filling you life with pom poms!

LIFE IS MEANT TO BE CELEBRATED

This thing we call "life" is meant to be celebrated! Given this fact.......I have decided to add a new tab to my blog. This will serve as a place for me to tell my story, write my memories, and celebrate this crazy journey I've embarked on. 

I will be doing this "journal jar" style. Have you ever had or even made a journal jar? Basically, you fill any old jar to the top with journaling prompts. Each day you choose one, paste it in your journaling notebook, and begin telling your story. 

Rather than a notebook, I will be using my blog. Same thing.....just a little bit different method.

Here are a couple of links to assist you in creating a journal jar.....whether you use a  "real" jar or a "virtual" jar. This site has JOURNAL JAR ideas that are catered more to youth and the LDS faith. I also ran across this blog and I really like the questions that they have provided for JAR JOURNALING.  What a fun and creative way to share your life story and celebrate YOU!

A SPLASH OF SPRING

It was kind of a dreary and grey day here in Weston, Idaho. The day matched my mood. My lack of motivation was the culprit for not getting much done.

I forced myself to do two things that ended up brightening my day a little.

                     I ran five miles and it felt GREAT!

                     I threw this  cheery spring door decoration together.

 

            

I picked up these adorable rubber boots specifically for this project, but I've procrastinated working on it because I keep imagining that the boots might be put to better use for jumping in puddles. I like jumping in puddles. I may need to purchase me a pair now specifically for that. What do you think?

It will happen and there will be photos to prove how much fun puddle jumping can be!

WELCOME SPRING

I have decided that I have a pretty serious psychological problem. I wonder if there is a name for it. The problem is:

I JUST CAN'T SEEM TO FINISH THINGS!

I've been ALMOST done cleaning my basement for four months now. I have oodles of quilt tops that are ALMOST finished. I began the chore of organizing my pantry a few weeks ago and ALMOST finished. The list is long of projects that are ALMOST finished. What is wrong with me?

Last month we purchased a Kirby vacuum cleaner, and I LOVE it!!!!! One of the features that sold us on it was the carpet cleaner. So, today I decided I was going to clean my carpets. But, guess what? I got a good start and then I took a break to check out Pinterest and my attention was drawn elsewhere.  I found three super cute spring door decorations, and I absolutely could not finish cleaning carpet!

Instead, I focused on the following project:

SUPPLIES:  (All purchased from Hobby Lobby)

*Paper Umbrella

*Flowers

*Cute Pinwheels

*Ribbon

They had a lot of different colors of umbrellas. Not sure why I chose pink. I'm generally not a pink person, but I like it!

SEE WHAT YOU THINK!

 

The best part was......it didn't take much time at all. I probably made it in 15 minutes, and that included distractions (because my brain is easily distracted). :)

There's always tomorrow to tackle the unfinished task of carpet cleaning......right?

THE PITS

The other day I was doing laundry. I pulled a load of whites out and noticed that my daughter's shirt was just plain yucky! You know how over time white shirts can get those horrible yellow pit stains that just won't go away......well that was her shirt! Even after washing, it didn't smell that great either.

I was about to throw it in the trash and then I remembered that I had seen somewhere on Pinterest that you could mix a solution to take those nasty stains away. I decided to test it out.

MIX:

2 tablespoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of dawn dishwashing soap

        (I didn't have dawn so I used what I did have and it worked too)

2 teaspoons hydrogen peroxide

This will make a sort of paste that you can then apply to the area. I used a scrub brush to saturate it good. Then, you can set it aside for a couple of hours and wash. I didn't wash this shirt until the next day.

NO MORE STAIN OR SMELL! IT WORKED GREAT!!!!!

THE FARM

Like so many of you who watched the Super Bowl on Sunday, I was touched by the Dodge Truck commercial. In fact, it was probably the only commercial that was worth the anticipation that the Super Bowl television adds usually bring. (Except for maybe the Taco Bell spot. I mean who doesn't love to watch old people doing non-old-person things. That was great!)

The fact that so many other thoughts have already been expressed about this particular ad almost made me want to keep mine to myself. However, I have felt the need to add to the heartfelt views and reflections posted by so many of my wise and inspirational friends. After all, I was raised by one of those priceless men that God made. :)

Paul Harvey delivered this speech called, "So God Made a Farmer" at an FFA convention in 1978. As I think back to this same time period......the late 1970's.....I was a kid and we were making preparations to "move back to the farm".  "The farm" was a fairly small plot of land in Weston, Idaho. As a younger child, I have many memories of visiting my grandpa and grandma Reeder at their home on "the farm". My grandpa was a farmer, his father was a farmer, and my own father was now going to become a farmer. We were going to be a farm family. What a great adventure this would be! 

This event turned into one of the greatest blessings for our family. It was more than an adventure, it was to become a significant part of learning life lessons and strengthening the bond of friendship and love that every family should have. Before farm life, Dad was seldom home, but now we were able to find ourselves working along side one another and learning from his example first hand the importance of hard work and doing things right. I will always treasure those years on the farm working and playing together with the people who were most meaningful to me. That first summer on the farm we spent hours, days, and weeks putting together wheel move sprinkler lines. We moved sprinkler pipe.....day and night. I even learned how to drive the tractor. Yes...I plowed fields and I raked hay. I drove truck load after truck load of grain to the local grain elevator. We spent hours pitching rocks from the farm ground to clean it up. We turned hay bales and helped buck it up on the truck and trailer. We pulled rye. We hoed row after row of potatoes. We learned how to flood irrigate with siphon tubes and set a dam. We worked hard!! Our neighbors worked hard!! Our community worked hard and we often worked together!

And, when the work was done we played. We spent time with cousins who would come for summer visits to "the farm". We built forts out of old junk.  We would run through cold and very dirty irrigation water from that same sprinkler pipe that we had just moved. We rode motorcycles and four wheelers. We had animals.....I love animals! We water skied. We spent hours at the flume (more dirty irrigation water).  We jumped our selves silly on the trampoline that was in our back yard. We made memories with my dear, sweet, and very adventurous grandma who was our next door neighbor.....and oh how I cherish those memories. We gained a relationship with nature and witnessed the beauty of watching things grow and even being a part of nurturing and caring for those same things. In the process....we grew too. We felt the love of family, friends, and of God. We were a family who was "baled together with the soft bonds of sharing".  We were blessed and we were happy.

The sons in our family no longer "do what Dad did". "The farm" has been sold to people that I don't even know. I drive by those fields often, and sometimes I even cry.....just a little tiny bit. My heart wishes that our own children could have had the same opportunity to learn the lessons taught by living on a farm and working hard. Life has changed.  Though fewer......those farm families are still out there   and I thank them for working so that we can put food on the table. I know the sacrifices that are made by these families. Many of them are our neighbors and we rub shoulders with these great families in our business and appreciate their efforts and the difference that they are making in our lives. I'm grateful that God made a farmer. I'm grateful that one of those farmers was my father.

In case you are interested, full audio and text of Paul Harvey's original "So God Made a Farmer" speech can be found here. 

THE POWER OF WORDS

Have you ever considered how much power our words possess?  Words can bring comfort, support, encouragement, love, and beauty into this big old world. On the other hand, words can also hurt and destroy. I have given this a lot of thought as of late, and I have been making an effort to be kinder with my words. Sometimes this is difficult, but I realize that this world needs more softness and tenderness and less hurt. My own home needs more kindness and it should begin with me.

I recently read somewhere that rather than making a new year's resolution for the coming year that a very insightful lady had picked one word to focus on. One word that would stay close to her heart in the days to come. One word that would remind her of where she wants to be and what she wants to focus on. What a wonderful idea!

WHAT WORD DO YOU CHOOSE?

I'm still trying to decide. There are so many wonderful words. :)

MAKE 2013 AMAZING!!!

Just a little thought for 2013 that my youngest girlie helped me doodle on a

 chalkboard that my oldest girlie made for me. I just wanted to share!

NOW GO OUT THERE AND DO SOMETHING 

AMAZING!!!!!!

ON A ROLL

I have a confession to make. I just pulled the last two cinnamon rolls out of the freezer and ate BOTH of them. 

This is a recipe that has been a holiday tradition in my husband's family for a very long time. It has now become our tradition, as well. I usually only make one batch of cinnamon rolls a year, and that is on Christmas Eve. This year I made two batches. We ate the first up so quickly that I had to make more to get us through to the end of our Christmas break. Yes, I did eat more than my fair share. I can't help it!

KELLER CINNAMON ROLLS

2 T yeast

3 C warm water

1/2 C sugar

3 eggs

2/3 C shortening

9 to 10 C flour

1/2 T salt

1 T vanilla extract

1 C dry milk

Dissolve yeast in warm water and sprinkle the sugar on top. Set aside.

Then add the eggs, shortening, 1/2 the flour (5 cups), salt, and vanilla extract to the yeast mixture and mix well.

Sprinkle dry milk on top of this and mix. Then, add the remainder of the flour (4 or 5 cups). Just add it until it feels right and isn't too sticky or too dry.

Let rise for one hour in a warm place. I usually set mine on a chair in front of the fire.

Punch down and divide. Roll the dough out on a buttered surface. Spread with soft butter and sprinkle plenty of sugar and cinnamon on top. Roll up and cut into 1/2" slices. 

Place on a greased cookie sheet and let rise for another hour.

  

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes or until golden brown on top. Brush with butter and let cool.

Use your favorite icing recipe to finish them off. I like to use the following buttercream recipe. It's a great recipe for decorating sugar cookies too.

Cream together 1 C shortening and 1 C butter.

Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Then alternate adding one 2 pound bag of powdered sugar and 1/2 C water. You can add less or more water depending on the consistency of icing you want.

The traditional way to serve these for our family is to immediately put them in containers in the freezer, pull them out one at a time, top them with butter, and microwave for about 15 seconds. 

DELICIOUS!!!!

I'm going to be in so much trouble for finishing them off!