Are New Year Resolutions Silly?

This is a question I ask myself again and again.  The answer I keep coming up with is yes and no (spoken like a true lawyer).

Yes a NEW YEAR resolution is silly.  If the resolution is worth making, why wait.  Make it happen now.

However, setting aside a time to evaluate your life and make changes is healthy and frankly I think mandatory. But I also think the New Year is a bad time to do this.  With the craziness surrounding the last 6 or 7 weeks of the year, why put that kind of pressure on yourself?

And don't you think introspection might best be had laying on your back in the green grass on a warm sunny day? Well maybe not for you, but that works better for me than trying to think about how to improve my life on some below zero temperature day with 8 hours or less of day light.

Take time to ponder how life is going and whether you need to make some changes.  But do this at a time when you are feeling calm and rested. Not after a marathon gift buying, wrapping, unwrapping, and exchange season. Like maybe June.  Yeah, June is good.

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Homemade Tomato Soup

This is the time of year when I am happy that I canned all those tomatoes!  

78 pounds of tomatoes harvested before the first black frost

Homemade tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich is a very satisfying and nutritious winder meal.  And surprisingly, both the soup and the sandwich can be made in less than 30 minutes!

For the soup you will need the following:

2 Tablespoons butter

3 cloves of garlic

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 cups stewed tomatoes (optional)

6 cups tomato sauce

2 teaspoons dried basil

You may also want some some shredded cheese and some baking soda... read on to learn why.

If using, drain the stewed tomatoes into a colander.  I like to add the stewed tomatoes to the soup to give it a variety of textures.  If you want a thin liquid soup, leave them out.

I canned these tomatoes in one pint jars but I use two jars for the soup. After draining off the liquid, there are only about 2 cups total of the tomatoes.   Apparently I am not very good at packing my jars tight while canning.

Add the butter and garlic to a medium sized pan.  Saute the garlic until it is light brown and makes everyone in the house hungry.

To the pan add two cups chicken or vegetable stock.  If had had any homemade stock on hand I would have used that.  Time to get a whole chicken!  Also add the stewed tomatoes (if using) and all the tomato sauce.  Stir and heat over medium heat for 10-15 minutes.

While the soup cooks, make those grilled cheese sandwiches.  No recipe provided...yet.

After your 10-15 minutes of cooking time, the soup should be boiling lightly.  Taste the soup.  If it is too sour, sharp, acidic, or however you want to describe it, add a small pinch of baking soda to the soup and stir.  It will bubble and fizz for a moment.  The baking soda is neutralizing some of the acid in the tomatoes. Taste again.  If still too acidic, add another pinch.  I find I often add three small pinched (which is probably less than 1 teaspoon of baking soda).  If you add too much baking soda the soup will taste really salty and flat and basically need to be tossed in the trash.  So don't do that.

Turn off the heat and add your dried basil and stir.  Let the basil sit in the soup for a couple minutes before serving. If you have fresh basil chop it up fine and add as much as you can stand.   Seriously fresh basil is awesome and healthy!

My husband loves to add a clump of shredded cheddar cheese to the soup. I just dip my grilled cheese sandwich in the soup. Enjoy.

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Valentine's Hugs and Kisses - Kids Craft

For Valentine's Day this year we are sending hugs and kisses to some special people who live far away.

 Start with a big paper heart.

 Put lipstick on the child.

 Smooch that heart all over.
TIP - I sprayed hairspray over the lipstick prints to keep them from smearing.

 Trace the child's hands on paper.

 Cut out the hands.

 Have the child hold ribbon in both hands.  

Cut a piece the length of the child's arm span then glue a cut out hand to each end of the ribbon.

 Glue the middle of the ribbon to the back of the smooch filled heart.

 TA DA! Hugs and kisses to send to Nana.

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Artichoke Dip - Game Day Food - 3 Ingredients

We are big football fans at my house.  Even our little princess is (she didn't really have a choice).  But I am usually not good about planning to have game time snacks on hand.  I wish I was better about it. If I did it right, I'll bet I could plan it so that I didn't have to cook lunch or dinner on game day.  Hmmmm I might have to take on that challenge.

While I was mulling over game time snacks (snackage as my daughter would say), I remembered an old favorite of mine, artichoke dip.  And, as a bonus, I had everything I needed in the pantry.  Which means, yes I stock cans of artichoke hearts as a staple pantry item for my home (don't judge).

As you might imagine, this is NOT a healthy recipe.  But it is quick and yummy.  Two out of three isn't bad.

For this recipe you need:
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 14oz can artichoke hearts

Drain the artichoke hearts then chop them up.  In a mixing bowl add the mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, and chopped artichokes.  Mix well.

Optionally you can add diced sweet or hot fire roasted peppers, chilies, jalapenos, or even a little minced garlic.  Technically you could eat this dip cold.  I prefer it heated.  Something about melting the cheese into the mayo makes it taste a lot better to me.  You can put the dip into baking dish and pop it into a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so.  Or, as I did, you can put the dip into a microwave safe dish and heat it for 4 - 5 minutes (yes oven baked would have made a better photo but we wanted it now, not 20 minutes from now).

If I was bringing this to a party I would bake it until the top was nicely browned.  When it is for just me and my hubby, the microwave makes the prep time of this dip less than 10 minutes tops.  We eat this with corn chips but it goes really well with pita chips or french bread.

Enjoy and Go Pats!

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Paper Heart Garland

Make this super cute heart garland for Valentine's Day.

Cut out some hearts.  I used my Silhouette but heart punches would work too.

Make a small cut through the shape

Link the hearts together.

Add a jewel or sticker over the cut. 

Hang and enjoy!

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The Importance of Thank You Cards

When I was growing up we never sent thank you cards.  We were of course grateful for gifts given to us from family and friends.  But that was as far as it went. Sometimes we would make a call to say thank you or give the thank you in person the next time we saw the giver.  But taking the time to send an actual card? That was a foreign idea.

It wasn't until I was a young adult that the quaint notion of sending thank you cards struck me as an option.  I tried to remember to send thank you cards but it was sporadic at best. And sadly it wasn't until much later when I realized the real value of a thank you card.

I am changing the culture in my own family so that my daughter expects to send thank you cards.  In fact she gets agitated if we wait too long to write them.

Writing and sending a note of thanks takes effort.  Much more effort than a phone call, text message, or email.  To me, the call or electronic message is simply acknowledgment that the gift reached its intended recipient.  While the thanks expressed at such a moment maybe heart felt, it takes little to no effort and quickly becomes a forgotten moment in time.

The time and thought involved in putting pen to paper to send a written note is a much greater indication of gratitude.  And for those of us who keep such sentiments, the written thank you note becomes a treasure that can be revisited again and again.

Sadly the habit of not sending a note of thanks is holding on strong to the other members of my extended family. And frankly, it makes me less inclined to spend much time, thought or money on a gift the next time around. Perhaps our household's  diligence in sending thank you cards will someday light a spark of inspiration to others.

Here is a simple little thank you card I made on my Silhouette.  This is a print and cut card and will fit in a standard thank you card envelop.

You can download the Silhouette Studio file from my Google Drive by clicking here. There is also a pdf file of the card at the same link.  You will need to resize the pdf so the card prints 5" x 6 3/4" which is a standard thank you card size.

Here I dressed up the card a bit by cutting out paper circles and mounting them over the printed circles.

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More Valentine's Day Tags - Free Printable and Silhouette File

I am so done with thinking about staying warm!  So I am going to focus on Valentine's Day and plan for Spring.  Not that there is anything wrong with winter but serious -30 with a -60 wind chill forecast for next week. This is getting ridiculous.

Here are some super cute Valentine's Day tags for you.

Click Here to go to my google drive to download the pdf and Silhouette Studio cut file

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Valentine's Day Tags - Free Printable and Silhouette file

Click here to go to my google drive to download the pdf and Silhouette Studio cut file


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