Apology

#7.) Write an apology letter, actually mean it, and actually send it!)

This one was a hard one. Not because I wasnt truly apologetic when I wrote the letter, but that I had to get out of my box to write it. I didnt want to rehash anything when I wrote the letter... so it was purely an apology. I am sure there is someone (maybe even a few someones) who you might have some regrets with. Maybe you still have that lingering guilt that weighs over you that you need to apologize for. When I am on my death bed I would like to have no regrets. Life is short. I swallowed my pride (and this is a must for this task) and apologized to someone who is going to open their mailbox in a couple of days and probably be shocked to be getting a letter from me.

Life is short people. If you have a petty fued with someone, or have wronged someone in the past.... let it go and ask for forgiveness. Even if you were not the only person in the wrong... say your sorry! What good does holding on to a grudge do for us? Nothing.

Get out your paper and pen and get to work. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain!

Save a life

#6.) Do something that could save someone's life.

This was something I didn't even have to think twice about doing. A friend from church, Brittany Horton, was diagnosed with leukemia and will more than likely need to undergo a bone marrow transplant. I have known Brittany since she was a little girl. Her brother and I have been friends since about 5th or 6th grade. When I found out Brittany hadn't found a donor match I knew this was something I wanted to try to test myself for. Tanna, Brittany's sister in law, posted the instructions for the Bone Marrow Bank Testing. I followed the questionnaire and ordered the kit. I got my kit in the mail less than a week later.

After I got the kit in the mail I did the swabs, and was happy to seal that sucker up and send it off. Even if it turns out I am not a match for Brittany, there is always the chance that I could be a match for someone else. How blessed and rewarding would it be to be able to help save someones life. I encourage each of you to order a kit and get tested.... There are so many people that need someone to donate for them. Imagine if it was your little sister, your wife, your daughter!

Here are the directions on how to get a kit. I took this text from my friend Tanna's blog.

You go to this link:

http://www.BeTheMatch.org/join

They will guide you through a health questionaire, etc. It takes about 15 minutes to go through it. Then you put in your mailing info. There is a place where it says PROMOTION CODE and you need to type in "brittanyhorton." They mail you a kit, you do a cheek swab, and then send it in to see if you are a match. I think that is all it consists of.

It is free. They say it takes 100 bucks to put you in the system, so they take donations, but if you cannot afford one then it is for sure free. As long as you are in good health, you can try to be a match.

FYI

I have several new posts to put up. I'm going to work on that today, promise!

Pay it forward

#5) Do something nice for someone in need, for no reason other than the satisfaction of knowing you helped someone.

I would like to think this isn't the first time I have done something nice for someone in need. I would even like to think this wasn't the first time I helped out someone I didn't know very well. Nonetheless, it is something I need to continually get out of the box and do.

I was given the opportunity to help a family move this evening. I met 'J' last week at boot camp (actually we had been at the same get together once before also) and I heard she was in a sticky situation. Due to issues beyond her families control they had to move out of their current house (which they just moved into 2 months prior) and into a new house. The keys to this sad situation were. 1.) They had no A/C in the old house. 2.) She has 3 kiddos. (one of them is only 4 months old) 3.) They were given about a weeks notice they had to find somewhere new to live. 4) Her husband was out of town. I cant even imagine if I was put in the situation where I had to pack up a house and three kids and move all of my belongings without my husband. It just wouldn't be possible. Once I heard about this situation I knew I wanted and needed to help. Luckily we have a 12' x 6' flatbed trailer, a truck, and Mr. Milo's muscles.... so we volunteered to help.

If you are reading this... try to do this task today. Don't make an excuse... just do something nice for someone today.

Ideas welcome...

Have an idea for me, to get myself out of my mommy box?!

Leave me a comment with your ideas. Each month I will pick one idea. Whoever gave me the idea will get something super cool from me.... not sure what yet.... but it will be super cool. ; )

Put a cork in it.

#4) Make a custom bulletin board.

Today was a lazy Sunday, but I did manage to still do something new! I bought this fancy smancy looking frame from ikea that has that french deco look to it for Miss Tooters nursery. After trying to figure out what to do with this frame, I went with the bulletin board idea. All you need for this project is any type of frame that allows you to pop the glass out, some scissors, a pencil, and a roll of cork.

I made a quick stop to Office Max for a roll of cork. Price of that was $13.99 for a roll. I had plenty left over, so you could make several cork boards with 1 roll (depending on the sizes of your frames, obivously).

Step 1. Take the cardboard backing and filler sheet out of your frame.

Step 2. Roll out your cork.

Step 3. Use the filler sheet as a template to cut your cork. Trace.

Step 4. Cut out the cork.

Step 5. After taking the glass out, lay the cork into the frame. I had to do a couple trims to get it to fit.

Step 6. Put the cardboard backing behind the cork. This will hold everything into place and make it more sturdy.

Step 7. Hang up and enjoy your custom bulletin board!

I give it a thumbs up.....

Errrr.....

Ta da!

Can I have fries with that shake?

#3) Make a creative cupcake / dessert.
Today's new activity for myself came from Bakerella ! I love her blog. She has the cutest ideas and makes such fab-u-lous desserts! I always read these blogs and think the things they make are so cute. So, today I decided to try to make something from her site. I'm no Betty Crocker, but I think the end result was good enough to say this mission was a success!

I bought a box mix of brownies, yellow cake mix, a roll of sugar cookie dough, food coloring, and then camped out in my mom's kitchen all evening. The most time consuming part was just waiting for each mix to finish baking. Boy, did the house smell good though!
I baked the brownies first, since they are my fav! I normally bake brownies in an 8x8 pan (with a family size box mix) since it makes the brownies more fluffy! The trick to keeping brownies moist is.... as soon as they are cool enough to cut, cut them & then put them in a Tupperware container. 3 Days later they will still be moist! Anyways, for this project I baked them in a 13 x9 glass pan so they would be thinner.

Next I baked the box of yellow cake mix. I used cupcake liners for most, then ran out so I had to just pour the batter into the pan with a little Pam sprayed on the bottom. The ones with the liners turned out much better in my opinion. I only cooked the pan of cupcakes for 33 minutes @ 350. I didn't want the cupcakes to brown too much.

The hardest part of all of this was making the french fries. I rolled out the sugar cookie dough and it kept sticking to the rolling pin, even though I had covered it in flour. (Bakerella had better ideas for this part). I had to put the pan of cookie dough back in the fridge to harden several times. For some reason the cookie dough wasn't cold enough and in turn was sticky. Finally I was able to cut strips of cookie dough out with a pizza cutter, then I put them on another pan and covered them with sugar. In the oven they went for 8 minutes @ 350. Once they came out I had to cut them again, as soon as they came out of the oven. (if you wait too long to cut them it wont work). This picture was before they went into the oven.

Bakerella had a template on her site on how to make the tray for the meal to go in, as well as the container that held the fries. I printed the red tray part on card stock. I printed the french fry holder on vellum, and I used the tray liner on vellum also. On Bakerella's site she geared hers towards Fathers day.... so I only printed page 1 & 4 of her templates. I started off using a glue stick, but quickly changed to double sided tape. It was much easier to do with double sided tape!

When it came time to make the icing for the ketchup, mustard, and lettuce ~ I used a can of whipped vanilla icing then used food coloring to color it.

I divided the icing into three bowls, then kept adding food coloring as necessary.

When I wasn't looking Nonnie let Miss Tooter get a little too close to the icing. I just know she is thinking.... "Act normal, she will never know I just stole some icing!"

OK, OK, mom.... I ate some! Busted!

After the brownies were done I took a 2" cookie cutter to make the hamburger patty.

Then I put all of the icing in Ziploc bags and cut the bottom to ice the hamburgers.

Ta Da! Bakerella used actual sesame seeds. I used bare naked granola instead.

Finished product!

Since I worked so hard at boot camp, I knew I couldn't eat these happy meals and undue all of my hard work.... soooooo... I gave them away. My sister and some friends stopped by as I was finishing up, so they were the lucky recipients of some hamburgers & french fries!

Since Miss Kristi gave the best only answer to what I was up too today, she wins a $5 gift card to McDonald's. Kristi, send me an email with your address. kkgaskill@yahoo.com