Happy New Year!

May your 2016 be filled with joy and blessings in abundance!

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Filed under: Holiday Tagged: Holiday, New Year's

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Holiday, New Year's

Thursday Thumbnails

Christmas is done and ours this year was wonderful, perhaps one of the best ever.  We saved our pennies and were able to get our kids something they really wanted, and something we really wanted to get them.  *fistpump*  It’s a long way from the times we weren’t able put anything under the tree, so gratitude is high on our list. 

The New Year’s manicure.

Homemade French Silk Pie I made for my husband’s birthday.

Pizza cake!  My husband saw this several months ago and told me he wanted this for his birthday dinner.  If you’re going to break a diet, homemade pizza is surely a good way to do it! 

The Christmas full moon.  It really was lovely.  I was still up at like 4 AM and I had to walk across the parking lot to get this shot as the moon was behind our building.  Like a dork, I didn’t wear a jacket because I thought I’d just be able to pop out, snap a picture, and go back inside, but no.  I had to go across to the office building to take a picture.  So, shivers are included in the pic. 

Rant of the day – two days ago I could change the color of my blog title, and yesterday I could not.  WordPress changed their customization template and something that was available to me is now gone, unless I want to pay for an upgrade, apparently.  I cry foul.  /rant

Are you ready for 2016?  I swear, I’m so bad with the calendar that when people say “the 90s” I still think that was only like 10 years ago.  Where has the time flown?!  There are moments I think if I don’t hold on I’m going to go flying off this calendar merry-go-round that seems to be spinning way too fast.  My son, who was just born a few months ago I swear, is 14 now and starting homeschool high school next week.  If you see me with a wide, wild-eyed stare, it’s because I’m afraid to blink now!  O_O 

Have a wonderful and blessed New Year! 

Filed under: Thumbnails Tagged: Thumbnails

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Thumbnails

I Plead the 5th

Fifth Wednesday, that is!  Those are my special days, my built-in personal little vacation days.  Wednesdays are the days I schedule the “big” household chores, since we don’t do school on Wednesdays.  I clean the fridge or oven, that kind of thing.  But every so often, just four times a year in fact, there is a 5th Wednesday in a month.  When I was working up my household chores list a few years ago, I decided that those days would be my days to play.  If I want to play Sims on my computer all day, or watch movies, or talk on the phone, whatever I felt like doing, the 5th Wednesday was my personal guilt-free play day.  It’s the one day I give myself permission to not worry about being productive. 

How about you?  Do you build free days into your schedule?  Days that belong just to you, to do whatever you feel like doing?

Filed under: Personal Tagged: Personal

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Personal

Resolved?

You know, after more than 9 years into this blogging thing, I still don’t know what I want my blog to be when it grows up.  So many bloggers I see seem to have a theme thing going on, like a focus on a single topic.  I’ve tried that.  Which is why I have like at least a half dozen blogs dedicated to one subject or other that interests me.  But because I have more interests than time, I don’t blog on those other sites as much as I want. 

Mostly, I think I wanted a way to connect with other people, and a place to express myself.  I’m pretty introverted and writing is much easier for me than vocalizing.  And every year around this time I wonder if I should focus on something on my blog, or have a dedicated thing – like every Monday is one subject – know what I mean?  Do you have a system for blogging?  Do you map out your posts?  Does it help?

I’ve also been thinking of resolutions for the new year.  As a general rule, I don’t do resolutions.  A couple times I have, but over all, I tend to believe that if something’s worth changing, there’s no time like the present to get started.  Or, at least next Monday.    Last year, I had a couple of things I wanted to learn in 2015 – making soap, and crocheting.  I did the soap thing, but I never found time for the crochet thing and honestly, I couldn’t really justify it.  No one in my family would wear a sweater and they tend to dislike yarn-y things in general.  So I tabled the crochet thing.  At least for now. 

For 2016 I have a few things I want to tackle.  I have some online notebooks that need serious pruning, as well as some email accounts.  I don’t really have anything new that I want to learn, per say, but I do want to learn more about soaping and essential oils.  I also want to focus more on my tech classes that I signed up for last year.  I’m using Trello to help keep me in line.  Oh, and walking.  I have a bad knee that I baby a lot because it starts to hurt when I stand too long, like when I’m making dinner or washing dishes.  But, babying it doesn’t seem to really help it at all, so I thought maybe walking would help more.  So I got one of those FitBit things to help me keep track and motivated.

How about you?  Do you do resolutions?  Do you have personal plans or blogging plans for the new year?  For that matter, do you have New Year’s Eve plans at all?  We like to stay in and hide behind the couch until the revelry is done.   

Filed under: Daily Life, Personal Tagged: Blogging, Daily Life, FitBit, Resolutions, Soaping, Trello, Walking

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Daily Life, Personal, Blogging, FitBit, Resolutions, Soaping, Trello, Walking

Music Monday

The wind and ice was so bad today that we turned our computers and electronics off for safety’s sake.  We kept having these power flickers where things would go slightly dim for a few seconds, then restore itself to normal.  I had a delivery guy come this afternoon, and a trip that should have taken him 10 mins took close to 40.  He said there were several cars in ditches along the sides of the roads and that things were really icy.  So, Winter has finally arrived in Chicagoland, ain’t it grand?  [yes, that IS sarcasm!]  It certainly doesn’t help for those folks who get the post-Christmas blues.

Which is part of why I love this song so much.  Just because Christmas day is over, doesn’t mean that Christmas has to be over in our hearts, right?  We can have that every day.  And I particularly love this song because there is a day-after-Christmas birthday in our home.    I think I’m going to make it part of my post-Christmas tradition now.  I hope you enjoy!

Filed under: Music, Video Tagged: Matthew West, Music, Video

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Music, Video, Matthew West

Announcing the KetoDiet Cookbook and Giveaway!

Broadcasted at December 28, 2015 at 03:18AM:

I am so excited to announce the arrival of my first cookbook, The KetoDiet Cookbook that releases on January 15! This all wouldn't have happened without your amazing support and the hard work of my publishing team at Fair Winds.

What's Inside

My cookbook contains over 150 low-carb, primal and paleo recipes specifically designed for the ketogenic diet. It took more than a year to develop and test the recipes and put all the content together.

If you want to see what's inside and learn more about my approach, check out the KetoDiet Cookbook page. The vast majority of the recipes are unique and only a small number of the recipes can also be found in my Apps.

Here is a quick preview (YouTube)...

Preorder Now to Get 33% Off

Please, consider preordering my book from either online or local book stores. If you preorder it on Amazon.com, you'll get 33% off! The more preorders, the more copies of my book will be displayed in bookstores. This way you will support both my work and also help the ketogenic diet gain well-deserved exposure.

Free Diet Plans

I've been working on the final touch-ups of 4 free weekly diet plans based on recipes included in the KetoDiet Cookbook (two keto & primal and two keto & paleo diet plans). They will be available to download from 15th January from by book page.

Giveaway!!!

To celebrate the arrival of my new cookbook, I'm giving away three copies of the KetoDiet Cookbook! Best of all - anyone can enter this giveaway, as the cookbook can be shipped internationally!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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