Halloween is almost here!

Okay, so I know I've made a post on here a month or so ago about Halloween, but I just wanted to remind everyone it is coming up fast!

Tomorrow is October 1st and that means the countdown to Halloween is underway. So far Lilly has decided to be a pink fairy for Halloween, but knowing how things went last year that could change three more times before the actual holiday :-)

A great place to look for the stuff you need is http://www.buycostumes.com/. Last year we had a Halloween party and I bought a ton of stuff from them--costumes, decorations, and other party supplies. Not only did I purchase a fair amount of Halloween supplies, but I also received a very good deal. The prices on everything were the best I could find from one place, plus they have a nice 110% price guarantee that I personally know they honor. When I purchased my costume from them last year I ended up finding it cheaper from another company about a week later. I emailed http://www.buycostumes.com/ and I quickly received the refund--no hesitation, no problem!

For the customer service alone I would highly recommend using this company--not only for your Halloween needs, but also for any party you are going to have. Buycostumes.com definitely can fill your party supply order!

Happy Halloween!





P.S. Right now they have $0.99 economy shipping on orders of $40 or more!

Sweet Words for Strangers

How many times have you been out with your friends and you say to them (or they say to you) "Wow that is a cute outfit!" or "You look really good!" or even "I love your new hairdo!" Just the other day I was out with my girlfriends and noticed that one of them had colored her hair from blonde back to brown and I told her, "Your hair is cute! But your lucky, your hair looks cute either way!"

Most of the time when you receive a compliment it makes you feel good about yourself, sometimes even making your whole day. Here's another example: Another one of my girlfriends and I take our kids to the library every week for story time. One day she came in with her two kids in a kind of fitted 3/4 sleeve shirt. I told her "Wow! You look good...you look so tiny in that shirt!" Her midsection was looking really fit. Sometimes its hard to tell how people really look when their normally wearing t-shirts or something that flows a little more away from the body. She got this big grin on her face and told me thank you. Later that evening when I was checking my email I had received one from her. In it she told me thank you again for noticing and how good she felt after I told her that and how it made her whole day. I was happy that I was able to make her feel so good about herself.

Now I know there are many of us that can get catty when we're out with our friends and see someone walking by and think "OMG what is she thinking wearing that?!" I know I'm guilty of it...I can be very cynical. It's probably the worst when my girlfriends and I are sitting on the beach getting some sun and watching all the people walking by. But in that same breath there are times when we're sitting there and say "Wow...I wish my body looked like that" or "that is such a cute swimsuit...it really flatters her figure."

Thinking about things like this got me thinking, instead of just saying nice things about people to our friends, why don't we ever just go up to a perfect stranger and say "I just thought I'd let you know you look very nice in that outfit" or "Your hair looks gorgeous!" Why don't we compliment others?

How would you feel if some random person came up to you and said "I was just admiring your outfit and thought you should know how nice you look." If someone came up to me and told me they thought I looked nice I would love it! Just as a few wrong words can ruin your whole day, a few nice words can turn it right around and make it so much better.

So think about it next time you are out and about...complimenting someone might make them go from being down in the dumps to on cloud nine with just a few sweet words.

Lisa's Weekly Recipe -- Betty's Red Velvet Frosting

I have been seriously slacking in my weekly recipe postings, but I'm trying to get back on track...LOL!

There have been several times when I've been out and about eating somewhere and have ordered Red Velvet Cake. It is one of my favorite cakes to eat, and since it is, there are times when I try to make it myself or for my mom. Now making the actual cake is not the hard part--it's finding the right frosting/icing recipe. The frosting is what really makes the cake for me. I've bought pre-made frosting and I've tried various recipes, but never found one that made me go "Holy cow! That is it!"

Until now....

A few years ago a lady I used to work with brought in some Red Velvet Cake and it was so freaking good that I asked her how she made it and so she gave me her recipe, and now I'm giving it to you!

Red Velvet Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbls. cornstarch
1 cup water
1 cup nuts (optional)

Directions:

In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar, set aside. In a small pot cook water & cornstarch until thick, let it cool. After it has cooled combine it with the sugar and butter mixture. Add vanilla. Beat frosting together until it looks and feels like whipped cream. Stir in nuts if you want them!

All food is not created equal

Okay, so yes, I know that there are some things in life that I do that can qualify me as spoiled. I've never really cared too much about brand name clothing--for me, if I like it then I'll buy it, and usually only stuff that's on sale :-) But growing up I've always been very particular concerning what brand food items I eat.

For example, I don't like Hunt's brand ketchup or any other generic, I only buy Heinz. Other things I'm picky about include but are not limited to the following: French's Mustard, Smuckers Preserves, Jif peanut butter, Captain Crunch, etc. I don't buy knock off cereals just because they're cheaper. I'm sorry, but to me, if I'm going to be eating it I want to enjoy it. I love eating good food and I'm not about to cheap out on something cheaper when the taste is sub par.

There have been some things that over my almost 30 years I've been willing to buy cheaper versions of, like for example, sugar. I know, not a huge step, but a step nonetheless. So the other day I was out of honey and was looking around at the grocery store and decided to get a generic brand of honey. I figured my grocery store has some pretty good stuff concerning their brand, so why not try it right?

How wrong was I!! One morning I was all ready to relax with a nice cup of hot chamomile tea and honey and chill on my couch. So I make my tea as usual and add my new generic honey. I sit down on the couch and take a sip of my tea and I think....yuck! That cheap honey has ruined my tea! Now it may seem trivial to some, but for someone who thoroughly enjoys food, this was highly disappointing. My husband could see by the look on my face that this bottle of honey wasn't going to get used by me any more.

For some things in life, brand doesn't matter. But in the ways of food, cheaper doesn't always equate to similar in taste or quality. Sometimes cheap is just cheap.

I think I might need help....think I'm becoming and addict

Everyday when I wake up in the morning, after I take care of my daughter of course, I'm already thinking about it and I go for it. The days she has school I'm on it. When she's taking a nap I'm on it. When she goes to bed at night both my husband and I are on it.

Do you have any idea what it is like to be addicted to a freaking game? And for some of you reading this and thinking other things you might as well move along....lol.

Several of my friends had been trying to get me to join their "mafia" on the Facebook game "Mafia Wars", and for a long time I resisted. I would tell them "Look, I've got no real desire to sit here and play stupid games on here." One of my girlfriends kept hounding me to join just so she would have more people in her mafia, and so finally I just joined so she'd leave me alone.

Well a few months later I kept getting more and more requests from other people I knew that played the game and were asking me to join their mafia. So one day I decided to check it out and see what was so great about it. It started off slow for me, figuring it out and then playing for a little bit and then ignoring it for several days. I don't know what happened but one day I just started getting really into it and it's pretty much been that way since.

For those of you that don't know, Mafia Wars is a game where you are in charge of your own mafia. Just like in the movies you start by doing small jobs like mugging, robbing pimps, beating up rival gang members, stuff like that. The higher you get in levels, the more money you make and the weapons and other items get better. Of course, in order to have a strong mafia you need more people. So you take to the message boards for the game and pimping service, that's right, I said pimping services. These are basically discussion boards that you join and if you get lucky you get your name posted and a bunch of people will add you to their mafia, in turn, they become apart of your mafia--you were pimped.

I've even set up a special group in my friends list called "Mafia Wars" just so I can add all these people to my mafia. This way, these random people I add don't have access to my personal information, pictures, etc. I mean, yes I want a bigger mafia, but I don't want them knowing all about me and my family!

There is something kind of relaxing about it, especially after you've had a bad day. For example, you're driving down the road and some old lady loses her mind and yells out you for god knows what, every stupid person in town decided to be out the same time you are, your dogs ate another box of crayons, whatever the reason, you go home and get on your Mafia Wars game. You've got all this pent up energy and you let it out by killing a bunch of people on Mafia Wars and taking their money. It sounds weird but it does work! My daughter will make have a tantrum and make me upset right before her nap or something and then I get on the computer and kill a few people, go up a few levels, add more people to my mafia, and then all is good.

The days when I'm actually doing something productive and useful I'll be out and think "oh man, I've got to check on my mafia".....so sad I know!

Oh well, such is the life of the modern housewife! By the way, feel free to look me up and join my mafia....lol

I have crossed the P90X finish line!

I have done it! I have completed 13 weeks of P90X and I am so happy about it! This was the first time I actually enjoyed working out and kept to it. I was determined to get it done finally for several reasons, one of them being I was tired of looking at leftover baby weight from my 3 year old daughter, plus, my brother was only going to be at OCS for the summer and he wanted the P90X system back when he got home :-)


My results may not be as dramatic as some, but I was going for lean muscle mass and not trying to bulk up. I can really tell the difference in my arms--I actually have muscle tone now! I've been joking around with my family like my brother used to do: "Which way is the beach? Oh it's right over there (as I flex my arm muscles and point like a guy showing off or a girl)"...lol.


It is also nice to see flatter tummy with some definition, as well as the fact that my "spare tire"--as my grandmother so affectionally called my midsection--is a lot smaller. There is still some work that I need to do in that area, but now I know what I need to do and how to do it to in order to make my spare tire look flat.


I also once again have definition in my legs. When I was in high school I thought I had nice looking legs--you could feel the muscles in my quads and you could see that I actually had calf muscles. Once again I have that definition back!


My family has slowly seen my progress for the past 13 weeks, but I was especially excited to show my brother when he got home from Quantico. The last time he saw me was right before I started P90X, and when he got home I was 10 weeks into it and there was a real noticable difference in the way I looked. I loved that "wow I'm so proud of you...and impressed that you stuck with it!"


I will keep working out to further my results, but I don't think I could have gotten this far without this workout system!