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!

I love Old Navy!

I've always loved shopping at Old Navy, but it seemed like years ago whenever I would go there (which was rare) it just so happened that there wasn't any good deals going on at the time. So back then I decided that it was going to be one of those stores that I loved to shop in but couldn't really afford it.

Well a couple of years ago the built a new shopping plaza closer to where we live and guess what they have....Old Navy! Last year right before Christmas I went with my mom and her friend out on our annual shopping trip. We went into Old Navy and they had all these sales, that as a woman I could not ignore. I ended up with a ton of stuff for myself, my daughter, and even my husband--for cheap! To top it off they had a promotion going on that if you opened an account with them you would get 20% off your purchase. That made my great day even better! Years ago I had an Old Navy card, but since there wasn't one close I didn't use it enough and ended up closing the account. However, there was a store closer to me now, and 20% off was a great deal that again, as a woman, I could not pass up.

This has got to be the one department store credit card that I've had that has actually been worth it! After spending (I think) $200 I received a $10 off coupon in the mail. Ever since then I have received several other coupons as a result of shopping there. The coupons have ranged anywhere from $5 to $20 off a purchase, to 20% purchases on Tuesday during the summer (a temporary promotion they were running this year). Just the other day I received another coupon in the mail where next week I can receive a free Old Navy tote and 20% off everything I can stuff into the bag....how awesome is that!

A couple of days ago I went out with my my daughter, mom, and sister-in-law because I had a $10 off coupon burning a whole in my pocket. I wasn't sure if I was going to get anything, but figured I might as well look. If not, the coupon was still good for another two months. Well, the coupon didn't last that long. I found two cute 3/4 sleeve shirts that were $5 each, which with the coupon meant I got 2 free shirts! Heck yeah! I walked around the store to see if there was anything else on sale. Over in the kids section they had cute stuff that was an extra 50% off the already low sale prices. I bought my daughter two t-shirts that were on sale for $3.49 each, and with them being half off they were $1.25--you can't beat that! These plain white shirts are going to be perfect for some of the iron-ons I have for my daughter. I also got her a pair of white soft cotton capris for the same price.

There is one more good deal that I got a couple of months ago I have to tell you about. Right before Father's Day Old Navy had a sale where all men's clothes were half off! I bought my husband two pairs of reversible shorts (which is actually like getting four pairs of shorts), 3 polo shirts, and 2 v-neck t-shirts for only $40. Without the sale all of this would have cost me over $120, but everything was 50% off, plus I had a $20 off coupon (thanks to my Old Navy card). I brought it all home to husband and he about went through the roof when he saw how much stuff I bought. But when he saw the price he couldn't believe what a good deal I had gotten and was absolutely thrilled, not to mention relieved I didn't break the bank!

Now I'm not saying you should rush right out and open up an account with them, but if you are ever looking for a credit card that you will actually benefit from, this is the one I recommend. I use the credit card so I can get the points needed to receive those love coupons and discounts, and then just pay it off anytime there is a balance on it. Since I'm cheap this isn't hard for me to do :-)

You can see a reflection of my love for this store in my closet....most of my tags now say Old Navy on them :-)

Lisa's Weekly Recipe -- Coleslaw Dressing

If you are ever looking for a quick side dish for a meal then I have one for you! There are times when we're having something like hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner and I don't want to put in a lot of effort in my side dishes. My mom makes this awesome coleslaw and I finally asked her for the recipe. When she gave it to me and I looked at it my reaction was somewhere along the lines of "Are you serious? This is it?"


Now, if you want to actually shred all the ingredients for the actual coleslaw, then have fun. As for me, I just go and buy a pre-made bag of coleslaw at the grocery store. The only thing you need to do is make the dressing for it.


Ingredients:


1 cup of mayonnaise
2 Tbls. of white vinegar or lemon juice
1/4 cup of sugar
Salt & Pepper to taste


Directions:


Mix all these ingredients together in a small bowl. You can either put the shredded coleslaw in a large bowl or in a gallon size Ziploc bag. Pour the dressing over the coleslaw and mix it together well.


That's it! Simple huh? I do recommend letting the coleslaw sit in the fridge for at least an hour so the dressing has a chance to flavor the coleslaw, plus, it will draw some of the moisture out of the coleslaw making it all the more yummy!


Enjoy!