Valentine's Decorations!

A peek of our Valentine's decorations!

Top on entertainment center.

Close up of the Picture frame. The black words spell out 1 Corinthians 4.

Close up of candles. The red in the vase candles are red hots.

Left side of entertainment center. The roses are darker red than they show up on the picture.

Angled view of entertainment center.

Foyer decorations. The LOVE is wire wrapped with yarn.

I made the rosettes with ribbon and shaped them into a heart.

Heart garland I crocheted to put around the upstairs banister.

Close up of garland.

Corner cabinet. The vase on top shelf is filled with Conversation Heart candies.

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Red Velvet Cookies with Cheesecake Filling!

I took these cookies to the office today for Valentine's Day and they were a hit! They aren't really hard, but are quite detailed. But in my opinion they look super cute and the taste is worth the work. DELICIOUS!!!

Red Velvet Cookies with Cheesecake Filling
For the cookies:
 1 box Red Velvet Cake Mix
 2 tbsp Flour

 2 large eggs

 1/2 c. oil

 1 tsp vanilla

For the filling:
 4oz cream cheese
 2 c. Powdered Sugar
 1 tsp vanilla

For the Topping:
 White chocolate chips or almond bark

1. Mix cake mix and flour. Whisk until all lumps are gone.  Mix together cake mix/flour mix, eggs, oil and vanilla until smooth. Wrap dough in plastic wrap. The dough will be oily. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

2. Using a mixer combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Using a 1/2 tsp scoop out mix and form into balls. Place balls on a plate and put in freezer for at least 2 hours.

3. Preheat the oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Take about 1/8 cup of cookie dough and flatten into your hands. Place a ball of filling in the center of dough and wrap it around the filling and roll into a ball. Make sure their are no holes for it to leak out.

4. Place onto baking sheet. The cookies will spread so space them out. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until they start to look "crackled". Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes. They will be all puffy when you take them out of the oven but will flatten & firm up while they cool. After 5 minutes transfer them to a cooling rack.

5. Once cooled, drizzle with melted white chocolate if desired.

I think these would be good using any cake mix. You could customize it to whatever theme you wanted. I forgot to get a picture of what the inside looks like but it's just cookie with a bit of white filling in the middle. They are SO yummy!

WW Week 52!

Can you believe tomorrow is 1 year of doing weight watchers! WOW what a year it's been. I will try to get a picture taken tomorrow to compare.

This week I lost 1.6lbs!!! WHOO HOO!!! I worked out each day Monday-Friday, I stuck to my points pretty closely all week so I had plenty to eat out a few times this weekend and still be ok. Plus I had exercise points I could've eaten too, but didn't have to. I'm getting closer to getting back to my smallest.

52 Weeks To A Better Me...Week #6 - Exercise Routine!

This week's project was to exercise everyday. I did take a break today, but I exercised Monday-Friday without skipping a day! I hope this makes a difference with my weight watchers results soon!

WW Week 51 Update!

This week I lost 3.2lbs! Whoo - Hoo! I'm not exactly sure how it happened. I did track points, but I also ate out quite a bit too. I guess it doesn't really matter, I'm just happy with the results!!!

52 Weeks To A Better Me - Week #5...Monthly Menu

This weeks project is a menu for the whole month. The way we all get paid it works out easier if we go grocery shopping in one big monthly trip rather than several smaller ones. In order to do that easier I made up a menu of all the foods we will be making/eating for the month. I'm going to try to post the recipes as we make them or maybe in a weekly recipe post and in my month end review I will try to post all the recipes for the month. Here is what is on the menu for February.

Taco Soup
Fish Stick Casserole
Corned Beef Hash
Taco Casserole
Beef Pot Pie
Swedish Meatballs
Chicken Tacos
Teriyaki Chicken
Fiesta Chicken & Rice Wraps
Fiesta Chicken Pie
Sloppy Joes
Chicken Nugget Casserole
Crispy Chicken Salad
Cheesy Enchilada Bake
Bar - B Cups
Lemon Butter Fish
Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese
Caesar Pockets
Stuffed Peppers
Meatloaf

I can't wait to see how it works!

52 Weeks To A Better Me - Month 1 Review

Each month I'm going to update how I'm doing with each weekly habit.

Week #1- Homemade Make-up Remover Wipes - Still loving them! Even if I don't have make-up on I try to use a wipe each night to just clean my face. They make my face very soft and I haven't noticed any breakout problems at all.

Week #2 - Cleaning Routine - I haven't been very consistent with this at all. My goal is to keep trying to stick with it.

Week #3 - Homemade Beeswax Lotion - I have used up all of my jar and loved it. It made my skin feel so soft and really helped with the dryness. I could tell an immediate difference when I used it and then when it ran out. I need to make more. It is very thick and quite greasy, I do have a few variations I can add to the recipe to make it thinner and not as greasy that I may try when I make more, I will let you know.

Week #4 - Homemade Granola - We loved this and would have made a second batch but didn't have all the ingredients on hand. Next time I make it I'm going to replace the walnuts with an extra cup of almonds and the sunflower seeds with an extra cup of oats. I think that will suit our tastes better. I will update the original post with the results.

WW Week 50 Update!

Can you believe we are only 2 weeks away from my weight watchers 1 year anniversary?! Crazy! This week I lost 1.4 pounds!!! YAY I'm finally losing again. With the weather warmer this week I hope to do some walking to help with that also.

52 Weeks To A Better Me - Week #4...Make Your Own...Granola!

This week I made my own granola cereal! It was great! We've already eaten the whole batch (and would've eaten more if I had enough ingredients to make more).

It's very easy to make and so customizeable! The recipe I used called for pecans, which we don't like so we left them out, and sunflower kernals which I put in, but will probably leave out next time.

This is the recipe I tried.

Honey Nut Granola
4c. Rolled Oats
1c. Sliced Almonds
1c. Chopped Pecans
1c. Raw Sunflower Seeds
1/3c. Canola Oil
1/2c. Honey
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tbsp Cinnamon

Mix together nuts and oats in a large bowl.

Mix wet ingredients, then pour over oats. Stir to evenly coat.

Spread granola on two cookie sheets. Bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 10 minutes, stir then bake 10 minutes more or until golden.

It smells wonderful while baking and despite the cinnamon in it, it really isn't noticeable at all. We ate it on yogurt (vanilla and fruit flavored) and with milk and love it. This will definitely be our go to granola from now on. I will probably try to use 2 c almonds to replace the pecans and an extra cup of oats to replace the sunflower seeds next time.

WW Week 49!

This week I stayed pretty close to tracking everything I ate. When I weighed in I was exactly the same as the week before, even to the tenth of a pound! So I didn't lose anything but I didn't gain anything also!

Pogo's Christmas Spirit

Pogo showed his Christmas spirit by sporting his "Reindeer In Training" hoodie. It has antlers on the hood with bells on the ends of the antlers.

He thought the most comfy spot to sit was on my basket of freshly folded clean clothes.

200th Post!!! 52 Weeks To A Better Me - Week #3 /Make Your Own...Beeswax Lotion!

This is my 200th post!!!!

I recently made some beeswax lotion.  It was super easy! It's a very thick "salve" type of lotion. Several comments about it said it helped with their eczema, I'm hoping it will help with the few patches I have. I made some for my sister, and roommates too.

Beeswax Lotion
1 c. Olive Oil
1/2 c. Coconut Oil
1/2 c. Beeswax (I used the pastilles, they are easier to melt and measure)
1/2 tsp Vitamin E Oil (about 5 capsules cut open and squeezed out)(optional)
20 drops Essential Oil (optional)

Mix Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, and Beeswax in a pint canning jar. Put this jar in a saucepan and put water in the saucepan until it comes 3/4 of the way up the jar, being very careful not to get water into the lotion. Heat on low/medium heat until all the wax melts, stirring occasionally. Once melted remove jar and set on the counter to cool, stirring every 10-15 minutes or so with a fork. Once the lotion has cooled to room temperature, add the vitamin E oil and essential oils. I used white beeswax pastilles, so if you use the natural yellowish ones your lotion will be a little darker. It does leave a greasy feeling right at first, but that quickly soaks in. If you'd like to make it thinner, just leave a tbsp or so of the beeswax out of the lotion. I've also read that you can cut down on some of the greasiness by adding 2-3tsp of  cornstarch when you add the vitamin E oil and essential oil. I made the recipe exactly as written (minus the essential oils as I didn't have any). I may try to play around with it in the future, if I do I'll definitely let you know the outcome.



My roommates and I have been using the lotion all week now. My skin felt noticeably better the first morning after I applied the lotion the night before. I've been applying it each night before I go to bed. It is quite thick and greasy feeling when you first put it on. I found the greasiness absorbed fairly quickly on my hands and took a bit longer on the rest of me to soak in. Putting it on right before I go to bed helps to "mask" the greasiness, because it has already absorbed by the next morning. It has seemed to help my eczema patches, they feel smoother and are not as red. I would definitely make this again to use as a nightly body cream, however it's not really something you would use as a hand lotion. I found that when I reapplied it to my hands repeatedly it made them feel filmy or "dry" it was weird. My hands feel fine each night when I slather the lotion all over me before bed though. My roommates also said their skin felt much smoother and not as dry after using the lotion for just a few days.