Giving Back to the Community!

The holidays are not solely about getting gifts. Although we should try to help others as much as we can all year long, this is the time of year to really reflect on the good you have done in the past 12 months and the good deeds you hope to accomplish in the coming year. Because of my husband's caring spirit, this year 3 kids whose parents are suffering financially will get to have a good Christmas.

We are going toy shopping on Monday and will be donating the toys to that family so Santa can come visit them this year. If you are able to, help someone out this holiday season. Purchase a toy for a kid in need, donate your old jacket to a local coat drive, or even fix a few plates of food on Christmas for a shut-in or elderly neighbor. It's the small things that count the most!

Gooey Gobble Turkey Treats Recipe

Ingredients:

1 package of Nutter Butter sandwich cookies
1 package of plain M&M’s®
1 package of candy corn
1 box of round chocolate wafers
1 container of vanilla frosting
Large REESE'S Peanut Butter Cups®
Tip: If your frosting is too thin, have an adult thicken it by adding confectioner’s sugar!

Directions:

• First, make the turkey’s yummy feathers and back. Place chocolate wafer down on plate. Generously coat entire wafer with icing and arrange 8 candy corn candies around the top rim of wafer (making sure to place larger end of candies facing outward). Spread icing over bottom tips of candies, for extra support. Then, take a REESE'S Peanut Butter Cup and place larger end on bottom end of chocolate wafer. Place in freezer for about 15 minutes, to stiffen icing.

• Next, place a Nutter Butter cookie down on plate and add icing to the top half (as shown). Place 2 brown M&Ms for eyes, 1 yellow M&M for a beak, and 1 red M&M for the turkey’s gobbler.

• Generously spread icing onto smaller end of Reese’s cup, and place the Nutter Butter body on top of icing (again, if you want, place in freezer for about 10 minutes to stiffen.)

• Generously spread icing in middle of a second chocolate wafer. Add two orange M&Ms for the turkey’s feet, and place turkey body into the middle of icing. Enjoy your super gooey gobbled treat!

If you are not going to eat them right away, place gobbler treats in freezer to keep them intact!

Disclaimer: I did not create this recipe so I am not taking credit for it, I am just sharing it with you. The Lisa Frank company had this posted to Facebook so I think they created it but, I'm not sure.

Country Cruisin'

I'd like to reminisce for a few minutes. Country cruisin', as folks from the country like to call it, is something me and my family use to do together all the time. When there was nothing to do we'd all pile in the car, fill up on gas (back when gas was still cheap), and travel way out into the rural areas of the tri-state area where we lived. We lived in an area where we were right on the border of two other states so anytime we wanted, it only took a few minutes to cross the state lines so we'd go country cruising all over the place. My dad would spend about 2-3 hours driving around and we'd all look at the pretty scenery.

Along the way you'd see several farmers that had little tents set up on the property next to the road or they'd have signs in their driveway that said "Pull on in, we've got fresh veggies!". So, we'd almost always stop and buy some local grown fruits and veggies. If we were out during the fall, we'd stop and buy some of that dried up corn in those pretty fall colors and my mom would take me to the craft store later that week and buy me some supplies so I could make us a fall door wreath or some kind of decoration out of the corn. We'd also stop and buy a bushel of hay, a few pumpkins, and some corn stalks to set up Halloween decorations for upcoming trick or treat.

Along the way, it doesn't matter what state we were in or what roads we headed out we'd always eventually come to a small town somewhere and almost every town had a little ice cream and burger shop usually called The Dairy Boy, The Dairy Delight, or something similar so, we'd stop and get us an ice cream. That was the part of our country cruise trips that we all looked forward to, the ice cream. My parents took me out on trips like that my whole life until I moved out on my own and even then, my dad would call me every so often and ask me if I wanted to come over and go out on a little trip with him, my mom, and my sister. I also have two brothers but, they're much older than me and my sister and they were just getting ready to graduate from high school by the time I was born (I'm the youngest) so, they didn't live with my parents while me and my sister were growing up.

Last night, me and hubby decided to take a little country cruise of our own. My husband and I have known each other since I was in 8th grade and he was in 9th so, you could say we kind of grew up together because spent our entire teen years together and then got married after high school. We are a rare couple because we've stayed together since high school and that doesn't happen much these days. Anyway, when we were teens we'd go cruising all the time. Me, my hubby, and a few of our friends would travel the back roads and sometimes it was just me and him so, this has kind of been a tradition for me since I was born, and since it has been a few years since me and hubby did this, we stopped at a convenience store and got us some snacks and drinks and went riding around. It's a good thing too because where we live now, we've only been here for about 3 years so we needed to familiarize ourselves with the back roads and short cuts around here.

The above photos are examples of what our local country scenery looked like. Did you and your family ever do something like this? If so, share your experiences in the comments section. I was raised as a country girl and lived in small rural towns my whole life up until a few years ago when I decided to do what I've been wanting to do all along, become a city girl. I did, and I love it here. As beautiful as the country was, I wouldn't ever live there again, at least not by choice. Although, when I was 4, 5, and 6 years old we did live in Florida in a city near Orlando while my dad was going to college to finish getting his degree but, I've lived in the country about 97% of my life.

Handmade Earrings: How to Choose the Right Pair

Looking for some beautiful hand crafted earrings at an affordable price? Well, handmade earrings are available almost everywhere and if you get online and do a search for "handmade earrings" you might find yourself overwhelmed at the amount of pairs that are available, the number of shops that are offering them (thousands upon thousands), and the different price ranges they are going for. If you are in a hurry you and you need to find a gift for your sister or the perfect pair of earrings to match your formal dress, you could always just do a quick search and pick the first pair that appeals to you and is in your price range but, how do you know which seller is the right one to choose from?

My handmade earrings are unique because I am not using the same designs and styles that everyone else seems to be using right now plus, my prices are reasonable. A pair of earrings from my store averages $8.45 to $12.45 each while many other crafters would be selling their earrings for $18.00 to $60.00 each! I do have a few expensive pairs available because I like to include a wide price range so that everyone can afford to buy at least one pair but, even for those I charge nowhere near $40 each. My earrings are affordable but I can assure you that I do not cut out quality to make that possible. I only use the best possible materials and name brand beads and crystals.

So, how am I able to offer you a lower price for my creations without skimping on quality? It's simple. When I purchase the supplies I use to make my earrings I only purchase in bulk lots or from bargain stores. This enables me to find the best quality name brand materials for the lowest price possible because yes, people do sell some really nice things for great prices at bargain and variety stores if you know where to look and, if I am saving money on supplies I am able to pass those savings onto you because since I didn't have to pay full price for my supplies, I don't have to charge you full prices on my jewelry to make a profit. So it's a win-win for both of us!

One more reason to choose www.themysteriousrose.ecrater.com for your handmade earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings is that I have 100% positive feedback in all of my stores and I offer friendly customer service and fast 2-3 day shipping.

For the Love of Autumn

Autumn (or fall) is my favorite time of year. I love the slightly warm days with cool air breezes flowing through your hair and the beautiful red, yellow, orange, and brown leaves all over. Several bushes wait until this time of year to bloom and I find that those bushes are the prettiest with their white, purple, and fiery red flowers. Then you have the rainy days where it's overcast or cloudy and slightly dark out. Not so dark that you can't see but, dark enough to make it feel comfortable out with no sun glaring down on your eyes and blinding you, and dark enough to make your home feel all cozy and dimly lit inside which is perfect for a mid-day nap!

Oh and then there's the holidays. To me, Autumns arrival is a reminder that "Hey, the holidays are coming up, get ready!". Also another reason why I love this time of year because shortly after Autumn arrives there are back to back celebrations. Halloween and Trick or Treating for the kids or, Samhain for those who are Pagan/Wiccan. Samhain is pronounced like sow-in or saw-in. Many people do not know this and they pronounce it like Sam Hayne. Halloween is a big deal for my family. We have all kinds of fun. A big Thanksgiving-like dinner, lots of yummy homemade snacks, a horror movie fest, and a trip to one of our local haunted houses.

Then you have Thanksgiving, a time for families to come together and feast until you're so full that you feel like you either want to fall asleep or get sick. And there's always plenty of leftovers to eat over the next few days. By the 3rd or 4th day after Thanksgiving usually all of the leftover food has been consumed and at that point you are so sick to death of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and stuffed celery that you don't want anything to do with it again until next Thanksgiving, LOL.

Then about a month later there is Christmas but, I won't get into that subject right now. I'll leave that for a future post that I'm going to make about the Winter being my 2nd favorite season. I'll probably make that post sometime at the end of November or early December.

A Great Life Quote to Live By

 Here is a quote I came up with that I find to be inspiring and uplifting. I wrote this, I did not take this from someone else.

"Life is too short. Don't sit around wasting time thinking about what you could've done or should've done, just do it. Achieve your goals and make your dreams come true while you still have time left to do so because you never know when you are going to die. You don't want to find out you are terminally ill tomorrow and only have 6 weeks left to live realizing you are going to die without ever having achieved or obtained anything you desired. So celebrate life while you still have it left so you can die happy and fulfilled."

22K Gold Toilet Paper for the Filthy Rich

Could you picture yourself using a roll of 22K Gold toilet paper the next time you have to go potty? Well, if you can afford to spend over $1 million dollars, now you can have that luxury! LOL. I found a roll for sale online Click here to see the listing. If you bought this item, you'd now be the proud owner of the most spoiled and pampered bum in the entire world.

Oh, the things that people come up with to sell! What is this world coming to? We have people all around us that can't even afford to buy a sandwich from the dollar menu at McDonald's, people that have to wear the same outfit all year round because they can only afford to spend $10 a year on clothing, and people that don't even have the luxury of using a toilet and have to use the bathroom in outhouses with no plumbing or other unsanitary places yet, there's always that one rich guy who has millions in his bank account and what does he choose to spend it on? $3 million dollar yachts, $2,000 dollar rhinestone encrusted dog collars, $500 ink pens from Neiman Marcus, and oh yeah, 22K Gold toilet paper! It's such a shame isn't it?

If you have that much money, it would be much better spent by donating to charities to feed the hungry, research for kids with cancer, animal rescue foundations, and the list could go on forever. I wish I had that much money. Not so I could go on insane spending sprees but, so that I could donate to help my favorite causes since there are so many other filthy rich folks out there who are unwilling to do so.