AMANDA'S BASKETS: FLOWERS GONE, HOLIDAY PREPARATIONS BEGINNING

Thursday, November 29, 2018

FLOWERS GONE, HOLIDAY PREPARATIONS BEGINNING

I lost all three of my outside fall flowers but I only paid a couple dollars each because the stores were trying to get rid of them. All three survived the snowstorm but none survived one night of very cold temperature. It's been somewhat warm this week, although windy - in the 40's and the weekend looks even warmer. Next week, however, looks to be colder.

I finished taking inventory of all the stuff for the Holiday Charity that I and a friend are in charge of and I was pleasantly surprised. I also finished taking all the pictures which I want to print out and share at the next meeting.

Now I need to begin filling the stockings. I figured that if I do about 40 a day, I should be done next week sometime, just in time to take the things to the different organizations and get the house ready for the tree. Wow, is it already that time?

So how are your preparations doing for the Christmas Holidays? I have finished shopping for everything that needs to be sent...just have to wrap and package them up. Still have to shop for the local folks though.

And, of course, I need to take down the season of orange and put up the Christmas decorations. We will be cutting a tree the second weekend of December. (I hope all the Holiday Charity stuff will be out of here by that time. It will be nice to be able to reclaim my studio again.)

I have been looking for an ornament to make this year...one that I haven't done previously. Perusing Pinterest, I saw an oldie - the cinnamon, applesauce and glue ornament. I have always thought about creating them but have never made any. I think that might be the ornament I make to give away this year. I love the idea of making ornaments that have a wonderful fragrance.

Do you make ornaments to give? Have you every made this one? I'll let you know how they turn out when I make them, hopefully, next week.

Well, I really need to run some errands so I will close today...
Thanks for dropping in...
Talk with you tomorrow...

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?