Christmas Decorating Has Begun

I began on Friday to tear the house apart and started decorating for Christmas. Every year I say it's going to be simpler this year, and then I start and its so fun and everything looks so charming and delightful that I can't help myself and I just keep decorating. Sorry for the blurry photo above. I took it a couple of times and I couldn't get it any clearer. This is the cupboard I store my quilts in and on and the whole thing got cleaned off so I could hang the stockings from it.

My fireplace generally displays photos of ancestors and there is a painting that hangs above it. All that comes down to display a white village that I LOVE!

The dining room curtains come down and lighted garland and big striped candy styrofoam balls go up with some glass snowflakes.

They sell these big letters at a local discount store and you can paint them any color you want. Then I thumb tacked ribbon on the back to hang them up with.

I moved a piece of furniture in front of the bay window to watch the deer from, but it needed a few pillows on it. I made a simple pillow cover from an old tablecloth with holes in it. I cut the table cloth up and cut out tree shapes and stitched them on. It was a quick and easy project that I think turned out very well and didn't cost me a dime. I hope to make another one for the other side of the bench and put a few store bought Christmas pillows inbetween. I'm working on a few more things I hope to show next week. Live Well, Judi

Happy Thanksgiving

Most of the children were gone this Thanksgiving and we missed them. It was mostly just us 'old folks' enjoying the holiday.

The traditional 20 lb. bird...even though there weren't enough people to make a dent in all that food.

I did make fewer pies and we still didn't make a dent in these either. I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. I am so grateful for this year to improve and progress and have learned so much from my relationships with so many of you. I have so enjoyed new friendships and your contribution to my life. Live Well...my friends!

Caution...Deer Crossing!

You can't tell by these photos, but we live in the city! There is a Walmart just down the block from our house. We have a little cluster of trees that are behind the house and these deer have moved in...they have also had babies all summer long. We now have a total of 11 that eat our grass, flowers, trees, bushes and even apples if we have a box on the back porch. They're fun to look at, but they murder our garden and dig up the bulbs. Further, I can't come in or out of the driveway without having to wait for the deer crossing.

Does this cute little face look guilty to you or is it just me?!

Kiss your plants goodbye.

This one has nestled into the compost pile of grass clippings and looks so comfy. She didn't move all day even when I went outside. She owns the place in case you're wondering.

Can you see why I can't store the fruit or vegetables on the porch? She's only about 5' from our back door.

Can you charge a deer rent?

Lunch with Girlfriends

I was invited to lunch with my friends Ruth and Susan. Ruth made everything for us and it was wonderful. This is the salad and it had a yummy new flavor in every bite. She said there wasn't a recipe, just put on everything that looked like Fall! It would be a great way to use that leftover turkey.

These rolls are sold at Sam's Club and come already in the pan and you just heat them up for about 5 minutes. They are as good as they look. Great idea for Thanksgiving prep...you'll look like you cooked all day...these taste homemade and are even made with whole grains.

The best dessert...a big chewy chocolate chip cookie. I'll put the recipe at the end of this entry. :)

Ruth is on the left and Susie on the right...They're busy making my lunch! I felt so loved.

Ruth's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. shortening

3/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. white sugar

Cream those ingredients together. ADD:

1 1/2 t. vanilla

2 eggs

ADD:

1 1/2 c. flour

1 t. soda

1. salt

2 c. oats, use quick or regular

1 c. chocolate chips

1 c. coconut

Bake 350 10-12 minutes on greased cookie sheet. Ruth usually triples the above recipe and the dough stays well in the fridge for about a week and she just keeps making fresh cookies everyday. She makes them really big by using an ice cream scoop and only putting 6 cookies on each cookie sheet to bake.

Live Well,

New Findings on Depression

On my list of favorite things to do has always been to study nutrition and the role it plays on keeping ourselves feeling our best. I found this article and thought since it's approaching that time of year when we eat more sugary foods, this might inspire us to be more careful. Live Well, Judi

Depressing Processed Foods

A diet heavy in processed and fatty foods increases the risk of depression, according to British research published. Researchers at University College London also found that a diet including plenty of fresh vegetables, fruit and fish could help prevent the onset of depression.

They compared participants -- all civil servants -- who ate a diet largely based on "whole" foods with a second group who mainly ate fried food , processed meat, high-fat dairy products and sweetened desserts.

Taking into account other indicators of a healthy lifestyle such as not smoking and taking physical exercise , those who ate the whole foods had a 26 percent lower risk of depression than those who ate mainly processed foods.

People with a diet heavy in processed food had a 58 percent higher risk of depression.

The researchers put forward several explanations for the findings, which are published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Firstly, the high level of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables could have a protective effect, as previous studies have shown higher antioxidant levels to be associated with a lower risk of depression.

Secondly, eating lots of fish may protect against depression because it contains high levels of the sort of polyunsaturated fatty acids which stimulate brain activity.

And they said it was possible that a "whole food" diet protects against depression because of the combined effect of consuming nutrients from lots of different types of food , rather than the effect of one single nutrient.

The researchers concluded: "Our research suggests that healthy eating policies will generate additional benefits to health and well-being, and that improving people's diet should be considered as a potential target for preventing depressive disorders ."

The study was carried out on 3,486 people with an average age of 55, who worked for the civil service in London.

Grandma Wanted to Meet the Horse

Carissa has begged, plead, stood on her head, (hey that rhymed) etc. etc. for years for us to buy her a horse. She finally has one! (At least one we're making payments on!) His name is Honey, although he is registered and has some fancy French name as well...I just don't know what it is. His mother and father were apparently very important horses and so he will someday grow up to be famous himself. (Can you tell, I know absolutely nothing about horses!) Her riding instructor called and said this was the horse to invest in...so we're going entirely off of her advice. So far he just costs lots of money and eats bunches and bunches! Not that different from my children now that I think about it. :)

It's darling how he comes to her call and follows her everywhere.

Honey doesn't allow others to touch him much, but he sure loves Carissa and follows her command.

Mr. Live Well's mom's in town and she is staying with us indefinitely. She wanted to meet Honey before it got too cold for her to get out of the house and visit with him. She is 87 and about 89 lbs soaking wet, so we have to bundle her from head to toe to keep her even slightly comfortable.

One of the "Ladies" is having Twins

Our little group was nicknamed "The Ladies" by one of the quilters daughters, Aleena. Aleena is just a few weeks away from having twins...a boy and a girl. So her momma and I got together and designed a quilt for each baby. We planned it together on a Sunday and then Ruth did the shopping and the drawing of the monkey face, etc. I got to help with some of the sewing on Ruth's day off Wednesday. I feel like I was a small part of keeping them warm and toasty. As you can tell, she will have 4 babies under four!! Doesn't it make you tired just thinking of it?


This is the boys quilt. Can you see his bow tie? How cute and then this will be bound in the brown dots when it gets quilted.



The girls quilt has a bow in the top of her head. Oh, so cute. It was a fun project and it's always fun to sew with your friends. What would we do without each other?


Ruth has a quilting machine and did the quilting herself. It is so darling. I am working for her in a couple of weeks so she can leave her business and take care of her new grandbabies when they get here.

Caitlyn's injury...Ouch!

Caitlyn is #32 and plays basketball for Southern Utah University and came down on her ankle wrong at practice on Wednesday. She came home to her momma to get 'doctored' with oils and natural remedies to get the swelling out and some of the bruising and soreness. I think mostly she wanted hugs and love. We did get the swelling down by half just in one day. Hopefully, she can play on it in a week because she really wants to play against BYU!

Carissa's Birthday

Our "newborn" turned 17 yesterday! Where or where does the time go?!

She had her friend Audrey over and she dressed up in the new clothes she got for her birthday.

Her sister Caitlyn came home for a quick visit from college to wish her sister happy birthday.

Carissa wanted banana cream pie with chocolate dipped strawberries instead of birthday cake. I've been making this from scratch since she was a baby.

She got lots of gifts and cards from her Aunts, Cousin in Arizona and Grandma's and Grandpa's.

Happy Birthday honey. We love you!!

A Great Study by Harvard...Eat Your Fruits & Vegetables!

Fruits & Vegetables"Eat your fruits and vegetables" is one of the tried and true
recommendations for a healthy diet - and for good reason. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can help you ward off heart disease and stroke, control blood pressure and cholesterol, prevent some types of cancer, avoid a painful intestinal ailment called diverticulitis, and guard against cataract and macular degeneration, two common causes of vision loss.What does "plenty" mean?

More than most Americans consume. The latest dietary guidelines call for five to thirteen servings of fruits and vegetables a day.The largest and longest study to date, done as part of the Harvard-based Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, included almost 110,000 men and women whose health and dietary habits were followed for 14 years. The higher the average daily intake of fruits and vegetables, the lower the chances of developing cardiovascular disease.Increasing fruit and vegetable intake by as little as one serving per day can have a real impact on heart disease risk.

According to these two Harvard studies, for every extra serving of fruits and vegetables that participants added to their diets per day, their risk of heart disease dropped by 4 percent.Fruits and vegetables are clearly an important part of a good diet. Almost everyone can benefit from eating more of them, but variety is as important as quantity. No single fruit or vegetable provides all of the nutrients you need to be healthy. The key lies in the variety of different fruits and vegetables that you eat.
Live Well, Judi

Food for Girl Gang

We had our first Tuesday of the month meeting at Broadbent's for Girl Gang and I brought food again. The only trouble is, I can't show you a picture because every single spec was devoured! I guess that's a good sign. I talked to them about eating more hot salad's in the winter because they were easier to digest and kept you from getting sick during the colder months. Also, about how to modify the recipe if you ate more meat or to make it just like it was if you were happy without meat. So here's the recipe...
I layed down a bed of chopped raw spinach and red swiss chard. Put on top of that brown rice steamed and hot as it will help wilt the spinach. On top of that you put a combination of 1 can white beans drained, and roasted vegetables. If you want, you can even add sprouted sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top.

Here's the recipe for roasted vegetables...(this recipe works for most any kind of vegetable, but especially good with root vegetables.)
Butternut squash cut up into chunks (about 3 cups)
1 large sweet onion chopped in large pieces
A few beets peeled and cut into chunks

Put these in a large bowl and pour 1/3 c. organic olive oil and stir. Make your own 'onion seasoning' by using 4 T. beef boullion powder(I use Shirley J's brand because there aren't any chemicals in it), 8 t. dried onion, 1 t. onion powder. Stir together and use half this mixture poured over the vegetables above. Store the other 1/2 for the next time. Bake your vegetables in a 9 x 13 pan at 425 for 30 minutes. Pour over the rice and greens and stir in the drained white beans, sprinkle with nuts if desired and enjoy. If you have a husband that needs a little meat to be satisfied, just roast a couple of chicken breasts at the same time the vegetables are cooking and slice thin for the top of your salad. Live Well, Judi

I WON!!

Remember a few weeks ago I told you about Cutie Pinwheel having a giveaway on her blog?!...well I won!! I was as shocked as RaeAnn was. I feel so lucky! Here are the goods...and I had to hurry and photograph them for you because some of them are going to be used immediately and one of them eaten...so it won't be here anymore to show you :)!! I got a pattern and some beautiful fabrics to start my Hawaiian quilt.

A darling coin purse and tape measure and the cutest thimble stuffed with fabric samples that is a lapel pin. Oh, so cute!! The coin purse is going immediately into my purse with my DoTerra oils in it so I don't have them floating around my purse where I can never find them!

There's a bookmark and a darling pin cushion and a yummy treat that isn't long for this world!

A darling doll for holding needles. I always lose my needles in a pin cushion and I'm excited to put her to good use. RaeAnn wrote me a fun note on this postcard and I thought it was so beautiful. When I was a girl, I was raised on Guam and used to visit Hawaii often and this post card brings back lots of sweet memories.

All was put in this darling basket which will be used often as it has a net that covers the contents and protect them from the flies or bugs in the air. How cute it that?!! I feel so lucky and was excited to show you all my goods. Thanks again RaeAnn!!