Gratitude Challenge Day 3

Don't ever say to yourself, "I have nothing to wear."

This picture snaps my perspective back into the right place.  I'm going to hang this in my closet as a reminder for those times when I get close to tears because I feel like I look like the Michelin Man in my clothes. This is what I need to tell myself, "Umm, excuse me self but you look like the Michelin Man because you have food to eat. And it's not JUST food - it's darn good food. And you have several outfits to chose from and shoes to match. So stop complaining and start praising God."

Oh my goodness, the things we feel upset over because it's not up to our standards. How many people would love to trade places with any of us in America?  We are blessed with so much and yet we still feel the desire for more. If you battle shopaholism like me, this picture is the one to commit to memory.

We've been invited to a free dinner with Pastors Jimmy and Karen Evans at the Hilton Hotel.  I promise that I will NOT fret about how I look or what to wear. Instead I am going to dress with peace and thankfulness in my heart because I am so blessed that I have choices. Blessed that I can drive to a store and buy food and clothing. I don't have to grow food or sew my own clothes or beg for anything. Most importantly, I will be lifting up prayers for those less fortunate around the world.

I am meeting today's challenge with the gratitude of the basic necessities:  food, clothing, and shoes.

Matthew 6:25-30

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

    ²⁵ “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? ²⁷ And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? ²⁸And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, ²⁹yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes thegrass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

Click on the link to join the Gratitude Challenge.

Kirstie Alley's Dramatic Weight Loss

Former weight 228 lbs
Kirstie Alley, who has struggled with yo-yo weight gain and loss for years, is showing off a body 10 sizes smaller after a lot of hard work. The 60-year-old actress strutted the runway during New York Fashion Week -- 100 pounds slimmer! – at her designer friend Zang Toi’s show. Inspired by her physically demanding "Dancing With the Stars" stint, Alley has gone from a size 14 to a size 4. Before her appearance on the show, Alley said she visualized one day fitting in a size 4, and now she does...

I'm just posting this for inspiration. I started a low carb diet today but I am already struggling. Having my emotional-roller coaster freak out yesterday just makes me want to gorge on carbs. Instead I pigged out on celery and organic black bean dip. The dip is not exactly low carb but "that'll do pig, that'll do."

20th Wedding Anniversary

After spending hours and hours on Pinterest I finally got off my bum and did one of the ideas that I pinned.  

Hubby and I just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. I feel very blessed that our marriage has lasted so long. I give Jesus all the credit that we are still a happy couple. I can't take any credit whatsoever. I know this to be truth because the first 10 years of marriage was under my own efforts and I screwed it up.

I'm usually really good at gift giving. But I was having a huge mental block for an anniversary gift. I don't have a large budget and the few items that I did order for my husband is on backorder until October 24. So that really threw a wrench in my original idea. I also have a problem buying gifts for my husband with his hard-earned money. I know it is really OUR money but I still have a mental block on the subject. I gave a lot of thought about what gift to buy hubby but nothing ever seemed right or it was too expensive. I kept warning my husband, "You know I don't have anything to give you." He said he didn't care about gifts and said it's not like he doesn't know that I don't have a job. I know he means it, but I wanted to do something...it is after all our 20 anniversary. Late Monday night as I was falling asleep still trying to figure out what to do I remembered an idea that I saw on Pinterest and inspiration finally hit me. I'm really surprised that I was able to complete this at all. I like a lot of planning because I am a slow crafter. On Tuesday I took my son to the doctor and spent 3 hours running around town trying to pick up supplies and started printing pictures. I had to stop working on it as soon as hubby got home so he wouldn't get suspicious. On Wednesday I jumped out of bed at 5:30am to start decorating.  Much to my chagrin hanging the photos is not as easy as it looks. It took me several tries getting the shape of the zero to work. In addition, I baked the ultimate vanilla cupcakes (which I will blog about), took my other son to the eye doctor which took 3 1/2 hours of my time, and made the number 20 button craft for the frame. I did it all by myself w/o any assistance from anyone. Eat your heart Martha Stewart (who has over 250 crafters and assistants who do most of the work for her).  

The traditional gift for 20th anniversary is china. The modern gift of a 20th anniversary is platinum and the gemstone is emerald.  So the color scheme I chose was silver and green. 

Hubby was really surprised when he got home. He loved it!

The silver circle is a table cloth.  I picked up 8x10 photo paper and the balloons from the dollar store. I love the dollar store! It sure is a money saver. I used Powerpoint for printing the pictures.

It takes at least 40 sheets of photo paper for this project. You need to give yourself extra sheets in case the ink runs out. I printed out 3 bad pictures before I noticed I needed to change a cartridge. 

Make sure you have extra ink too. 

I also printed out verses of the Kenny Roger's song

 "Through The Years" and posted them around the pics.

For the hanging circles I used a circle cutter and placed ribbon

 in between the circles before I glued them together.

The paper lanterns are $1 each at Michaels.

Make sure you don't apply too much glue. 

See the big circle on top. It's bending from the weight of the glue.

Ultimate vanilla cupcakes and the button craft project.

We brought the frame with us to Piranha's.

On the Beach Roll and our drinks: Raspberry Bonzai and Cowboytini.

This is my dish Chicken & Shrimp Pad Thai. I had already eaten some of it before 

I remembered to take pictures.

The inspiration came from Martha Stewart 50th anniversary party ideas.  

This anniversary idea was shared at:

I

http://www.happyhourprojects.com/

http://rocaandcompany.blogspot.com/
Frugalicious Me
http://www.frugaliciousme.com/2011/10/haute-stuff-thursday.html
Confessions of a Stay At Home Mommy

"Up", Up and Away in My Beautiful Balloons

Lately "Up" has been playing on Uverse and because there's nothing better to watch on the other 500 channels we pay for I end up leaving the channel on this movie. I love this touching, heartwarming movie although it has an underlying current of sadness with the loss of Ellie and Russell's parents. I think the sadness really hits home because I don't want to even entertain the thought of living this life without my husband or leave my children to be orphans.  

Now here's a delicate question I have for Disney and Pixar:  "Why is the mom/wife usually dead in your movies?"  

I'm baffled by this repetitive plot. Did a psychologist tell the Disney crew "The audience will automatically feel sympathy for the character if a parent is not present thus causing a rise in emotions building a strong connection. Because of this connection the audience will fall in love with the character and subconsciously want to support the character even though he/she is fiction. The viewer will freely spend more money on movie items such as shirts, toys, and Happy Meals. The kids are happy with their new stuff. The Disney empire will grow even larger and eventually take over the world."? (Insert sinister laugh here.)  

Let me list all the movies I can think of in which the mom/wife is not present:  

Snow White, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, Little Chicken, Nemo, Despicable Me, Cloudy with Meatballs, Pocahontas, Aladdin, Great Mouse Detective, The Rescuers, all Goofy movies, etc. I'm sure there are many more movies that escape my mind. 

But let's not dwell on the heart-churning-gut-wrenching-emotional-roller-coaster plots of Disney and Pixar anymore.  Let's turn our focus on life!!

Here are photos that should bring a smile to your face.

I just want to hug and squeeze this kid.

Engagement pictures inspired by "Up."  I'm so jealous I didn't think of things like this when I got married 20 years ago. 

http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/an-up-inspired-engagement-shoot/

http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/an-up-inspired-engagement-shoot-part-2/

Awesome!
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/upinspired-floating-house-14