Lilacs & Lace

One Sunday afternoon, while I was sitting in a cafe court, I overhead someone at another table say "We went to a Padres' game last night and were out really late, so I didn't make it to church this morning."  This got me to thinking about how our choices reflect the priorities in our lives. Something can be important to us but still not be at the top of our list of priorities.  For example, I may want to lose weight, but when it comes time to make my food choices, are they conducive to weight loss?  Is my highest priority, when it comes to choosing what I put on my plate, the food that will help me be healthy, or maybe the tempting chocolate cake sitting in front of me? What about when we get some sort of health scare and are told we have to change our diet?  Maybe we do really well for several weeks because we are scared, but after a while the fear fades and we forget that our priority is our health. It can be a good idea to look at our choices and see what th...

Yes, I said it, breakfast and cookies...together...for breakfast. I don't know about you, but sometimes I just want a quick breakfast.  I don't want to spend a long time fixing it, I just want to grab it and eat.  So, a breakfast cookie appealed to me. I found this Oats & Pumpkin Breakfast Cookie recipe and gave it a try.  I replaced the sugar with date sugar, but was having a hard time getting it sweet enough to make me happy.  However, I also didn't want to use a ton of date sugar either, so I added some raisins.  We were happy with the results, but I kept thinking about that recipe.  The thought came to me, use some banana.  Of course, that sweetens things up nicely, and so I did, and I am happy with the changes I made.  I altered the initial recipe in other ways too, so I will include the altered recipe below. First, some notes.  I don't know about you, but when a recipe calls for a partial container of something, I am not alwa...

Recently a sister in Christ sent me a video on how to make this recipe : Cucumber, Ginger, Mint & Lemon Lemonade.  Now I don't know about all the health claims this site makes, but it was a hot day and this recipe sounded good to me, so I got the ingredients and gave it a try. Source I cheat on recipes sometimes.  This one calls for juicing 3 lemons, but I didn't want to take the time.  So, bottled lemon juice to the rescue, about 3/8 of a cup worth (2 T lemon juice per lemon).  Also, I don't have or care to use stevia, so I threw in a handful of raisins (remember my post about raisin water ?).  I also used only 1/2 a cucumber. I enjoyed the flavor of this recipe, and have made a second batch since then.  For me, 1/2 a cucumber was about right.  I don't notice the ginger, but the mint, cucumber, and lemon make their presence known in a nice way. Do you have a favorite beverage recipe for those hot summer days?

Being the mother of a daughter, I have been given bragging rights, just like all other parents that have come before me (as well as those that have come after).  😁 When my daughter was little she informed me she wanted to do a book.  I asked her what part of the book did she want to do and she said "the whole thing".  She didn't really stand a chance, her parents are both book lovers.  She was being read to right off the bat.  Until she was old enough to care, I got to read her my books, but then somewhere along the way that wasn't good enough. Today she still loves books -- reading and writing.  She has had her own blog  as one of her creative outlets.  You should check it out. In fact, today is a really good day to check her blog out because she is not only interviewing an author, but has two, yes TWO, giveaways.  That is two chances to win something!! So head on over to her blog and show her some love.  I plan to be back on...

Since I have gotten into decorating my planner, learning to write with fancy lettering has interested me.  I played with a felt tip calligraphy pen some, but for me it wasn't coming real easy, so I set it aside. Yesterday I ran into a free online calligraphy class by The Happy Ever Crafter .  You need to hurry up if you are interested though, because the deadline for signing up is tomorrow, September 3, 2017. Source I signed up and have received a supply list with recommendations.  You only really need a couple of things, a pen for calligraphy and smooth paper.  She also recommends an Instagram account so she can see your work and give you feedback. She recommends 20 minutes of practice a day, and the class runs 4 weeks.  She has videos and drills she will provide. If you want to join me and chat about it as we go along, let me know.

True story:  I made Colcannon Soup  for lunch.  I asked my daughter's opinion, and she said it was okay.  After a while she informed me that what it needed was more kale.  More KALE??!!  Hey, if adding more of a very nutritious green vegetable is what improves the dish, how can I complain? Basically, this is a potato soup with kale in it, and it tastes delicious.  At the very end, you add a cashew cream to provide that creamy texture and look. According to Wikipedia , colcannon means white headed cabbage, and is a traditional Irish dish of mashed potatoes and kale or cabbage.  There is also a song about the dish. While the recipe called for specific amounts of potatoes and kale, I was liberal with them.  I was concerned about getting too much kale (at this point I realize that was a silly concern!) so I didn't use the whole bunch, but I am thinking next time I will.  That should make things tidy, since I won't have left over...

In looking for a new planner for 2017, I started seeing the disc bound concept.  It interested me.  Then Michael's  had a sale on Happy Planners , and I was hooked.  They were pretty and functional.  In my research I was finding that people were actually decorating their planners -- like scrap booking.  There are blogs and Facebook pages dedicated to planner decorating. Source So, I anxiously waited for 2017 to start my Happy Planner and I jumped in, combining at least two things I enjoy - organization (though you couldn't tell by looking around my house) and artistic expression (my house wouldn't reflect that either 😃). It has taken me a while, but I have learned what makes me happy in my decorating.  I love checking my planner and seeing it looking lovely, and I love it when it is time to decorate my next week. Some things I enjoy about the disc bound concept: I can easily add things.  No clunky ring binders here.  Recentl...