AMANDA'S BASKETS: THE DAY AFTER THE DAY AFTER...

Monday, November 11, 2019

THE DAY AFTER THE DAY AFTER...

Enjoyment Is To
Be Cherished And Revered, Find
Yours And Hold It Dear

Saturday's Guild Meeting went well. Lots of folks attending, the member's market was successful, and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. I talked about volunteerism not just as it pertains to our guild but nationwide. In case you are not aware, volunteerism is on the decline in America and has been for quite a while.

DeTocqueville in his 1831 book titled Democracy in America made the interesting observation about American's unique tendency to volunteer. So volunteering has always been around and Americans volunteer more than most first world countries. Not sure what this decline is going to mean, but it is something to take note of.

Well, I did tell you that I would be bringing back a ton of stuff for the Holiday Charity...between all those bags and bags of donations, plus the mess with kitchenware all over the place, there are only pathways throughout the house tonight.

Tomorrow I hope to get much of the donations sorted so I know what we need more of. Folks gave a lot of money so I should be able to fill lots and lots of stockings.

I had errands to run, grocery shopping to do and then work outside. We are supposed to get the first snow of the season tomorrow and although it was almost 60 today, the forecast low is supposed to be 40-50 degrees colder tomorrow.

So it was time to put away the umbrellas, the citronella candles, the rakes and brooms and bring out the snow shovels and de-icer. The snow is not going to stick around, but the ice may as will the colder temperatures.

After being gone all day on Saturday, all the heavy lifting and on my feet for ten hours straight, I just vegged out yesterday and watched three football games. My Vikings won in spite of the awful calls against them by the refereeing team . I was really proud of the team. The Packers also won which was nice.

Well, it's late and as the Frost poem says 'And Miles To Go Before I Sleep...' I will end this post. Oh, and by the way, I love to read everything...how about you?

Looking forward to a great week...

I hope you have one also...

Talk with you tomorrow...

TOMORROW'S PROMPT

Everyone has something that they truly enjoy

doing or would enjoy trying to do. What is that

special thing for you? Have you given yourself

permission to enjoy it? If yes, how does it make

you feel? If not, why not?

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?