Five Style Rules to Follow

 Here’s my five style rules:

1.  Dress 👗 for the occasion. Consider where you’re going and dress accordingly!  Honor the event!

2.  Dress comfortably. Wear shoes 👟 and clothes that are comfortable!

3.  Show more. Show less. Be modest and add fashion style. You don’t need to be revealing to be gorgeous!

4.  Don’t follow trends blindly. Stay modern, relevant, and fresh. Stay classy! 

5.  Wear the right undergarment!  A proper forming bra is essential. 

Styling Ideas

 Here are some of my favorite styling ideas 💡.  

1.  Tuck in your shirt 👚 or blouse 👚!

2.  Drape a jacket 🧥 over your shoulders!

3.  Always wear sunglasses 🕶!

4.  Wear a scarf 🧣!

5.  Wear a hat 👒!

6.  Roll your sleeves. 

7.  Wear statement earrings. 

8.  Wear pointy toe shoes 👠!

9.  Layer with a jacket 🧥 or sweater!

 

 CHRISTMAS IS COMING (and so is Thanksgiving)!

I love love Christmas but everyone is coming for Thanksgiving (except for one daughter and her family) and no one will be here for Christmas.  I was feeling blue about that but now I am decorting and baking right now because the;y all want Christmas for thanksgiving. I have already put up five trees and I wasn't even going to decorate at all!  Oh MY!  Now today I will be making homemade caramel popcorn balls and white chocolate popcorn. I need to buy and wrap gifts for the daughters who are coming from Washington and Wyoming.  It is a task to think of gifts for each family member.  Everyone, my age, just gives their adult kids money for Christmas.  I hate doing that because I don't want to be liked just because I am a cash cow.  I like to be thoughtful about each gift.  My Mom would always buy us kids the SAME thing every year:  a can of tennis ball, a box of turtles, soap on a rope, a book or game, a dress.  Mom would buy it in bulk and put them out on our designated couch in the living room.  Mom and Dad would make everything magical with always white flocked tree covered in red balls and ornaments.  Mom would make us decorate the tree and would urge us to cover every branch with an ornament.  

My Favorite Fudge: Dad's Fudge

Every Christmas my mom would make a big batch of this buttery creamy chocolate fudge.  She would hide it in the great big freezer down in the basement hoping it wouldn't get discovered until the guests had arrived.  Little did she know that I would sneak down the back staircase, down two flights of stairs to grab a bite of fudge and run all the way back up into my room to devour the chocolate butter fudge.  We called it Dad's fudge because it is made from Canadian Dad's coconut oatmeal cookies.  Unfortunately you can't get Dad's cookies in the USA but I found an alternative.  I just bought cheap hard oatmeal cookies and crushed them with a rolling pin and proceeded with the recipe.  It is not rocket science here folks.   Here's the recipe:
24-36 crushed oatmeal cookies
1/4 cup melted butter
Mix and press into a 9x12 pan reserving 1/2 cup of the crushed cookies.  Bake 300 for 5 minutes.  Cool.  Set aside. 
Melt 2 sticks of butter and 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
Stir in 3 cups of powered sugar and a dash of salt and 1 tsp vanilla and 2 tsp. cream.  Mix well.  You can add chopped nuts if you like.  Pour the chocolate butter mixture onto the cooled crushed cookies and top with the remainder of the crushed cookies.  Cool in the fridge or freezer.  Cut into pieces.  Devour!

15 Secrets to Get More Done in a Day INSTANTLY

I have been around a long time and after having raised a huge family I have learned a few tricks of the trade or secrets to get more done instantly.  Here is my sure fire list:
1.  Write a list of what needs to get done every day.  Cross off every item when you get it done.

2.  Get up early.  I get more done in the wee hours of the morning than any other time of the day.  The early bird gets the worm,

3.  Decide if you can do difficult tasks in the morning or in the afternoon or evening.  I personally do all of my "thinking tasks" first thing in the morning because they tend to take more mental energy that working out or cleaning out the fridge.

4.  Choose your outfits for the week on Sunday night.  I can't tell you how awesome this quick idea is.  You simply group together your entire outfit for Monday-Sunday.  No more hunting for items or rushing around trying to figure out what to wear and what goes with what.

5.  Make good use of your "down" time.  Listen to podcasts or scriptures or books on tape like audio tapes when you are stuck in traffic or commuting or driving the kids around to lessons or waiting for a flight.

6.  Get up and ready first thing in the morning.   Take a one minute shower and put on your clean clothes, brush your hair and teeth.  Feeling ready makes you feel like you can accomplish everything.

7.  Do the 10 minute TWEAK in each room.  Set your timer for 10 minutes and tweak each room.  By tweak I mean pick up and clean up fast!  You can make a bed in 2 minutes.  You can fold a towel or blanket in seconds.  Straighten up and tidy up fast!  Pick up as quickly as possible.

8.  Keep a notebook with you so when an idea or a grocery item pops into your head, you can write it down before you forget it.  I write everything down.  If I don't write it down, it gets lost in my head.

9.  Break up a big task into bite size pieces.  By an inch it is a cinch.  By a mile, it takes a while.  I like to think of baby steps.  Try to break a huge project into little to-do's.

10.  Put an extra garbage sack in the bottom of each and every garbage can so when you empty a garbage, you don't have to run to the kitchen to retrieve a clean, new bag, you already have one in the bottom of the can.

11.  For any bigger task, set your timer for 30 minutes.  When 30 minutes is up, stop and move on.

12.  Lessen your expectations.  Don't be too hard on your standards of perfection.  I don't wash everything I wear once.  I usually wear the clothing a few times before I wash it unless it is underwear.

13.  Grab a laundry basket and pick up every item that doesn't belong in that room and place it in the laundry basket.  Walk around your entire house with your basket and putting things back into place.

14.  Plan your weekly menu on Sunday night.  Write down what you will eat on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.  No more guess work or late afternoon panic about what to eat for dinner.

15.  Utilize grocery delivery or grocery pick up.  I can't believe how much time I save by ordering all of my food items online and then I do grocery pick up.  I not only save time but I save money by not doing impulse shopping,  I stick to my menu items and grocery products.

BONUS:  16.  Eat leftovers.  Put your extra leftovers in those cute glass or plastic containers and heat them up for lunch.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

I can't get enough of Christmas!  I love Christmas!  I simply adore it!  I have put up seven trees so far and countless wreathes and garlands.  I get excited about lights, and trees, and snow, and family, and friends, and Christmas music, and baking and ginger bread boys, and fudge, and everything in between.  I love the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and the fact that He died for our sins.  His great atonement can lift our sins and our burdens.  He is the way. 

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