AMANDA'S BASKETS: Labor Day 2010

Monday, September 6, 2010

Labor Day 2010

I hope all of you are enjoying a relaxing 'Labor Day'. I always feel that Labor Day is on the starting line for the 'fall rush' from things resuming like school, to preparations for Thanksgiving and Christmas... Fun, exhilarating, exhausting, and exciting!

I sometimes wish that Thanksgiving wasn't so close to Christmas. It would be fun to spend a bit more time preparing for each celebration. But, wishing is not going to change things, so back to the rush. Truth be told, that is probably some of the excitement... At any rate, I hope you are having a great Labor Day even as you begin anticipating the calendar of events.

Remember when I showed you the beach we visited...

Well, I collected some rocks but believe me I want to go back. The rocks were very unusual. Most of them were smooth from the action in the water, but tons of them were very, very thin. Great for painting pictures on. Here are a few that I brought home...

The two stones leaning up against the long stone...YES, that is a stone...are very thin as you can see in the next picture. Now that I know about these, I think I will take advantage of the really tiny, thin ones for my atc's and even inchies!!!

And another Zendoodle...

And yet another one...

These are becoming addictive. Either that or a way to get the artistic juices flowing...when I just can't make up my mind as to what to do, I doodle. What's interesting is that after doodling, I seem to be able to settle down to doing something else artistic. Go figure!!!

Well, that's all for today. We're on our way to Manhattan tomorrow but should be back on either Thursday or Friday.

Thanks for stopping by...

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?