Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 37
November 20, 2014
Easy apple cheese danish squares
The following post is from Shaina of Food for My Family and Olmanson Photography:
Sweetened cream cheese, cinnamon-spiced apples, crispy pastry crust. There is nothing not to like about this recipe for danish squares.
There’s a turkey in the oven, right alongside a pan of au gratin potatoes, and when those are pulled out, sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole are patiently waiting in line to occupy the oven. The burners are full of simmering sauces. Pies have taken up residence on all available counter tops. The refrigerator is packed full of salads and jello molds and all of your favorites.
I always forget about the other meals on Thanksgiving Day. I sip my coffee as I prepare the meal, and sure enough, before I know it the little people in my house appear in the kitchen demanding to be fed, as if the anticipation of the meal to come isn’t enough to satiate them through the next eight hours.
Reluctantly, as I am prone to getting lost in the cooking of the main meal, I’ve learned that I need to make definite plans for the meals before the main event. Namely, breakfast.
These danish squares are easy, relying on a box of puff pastry to create the flaky layers. It’s my favorite cheat in the kitchen. I won’t use premade pie crust, but puff pastry is a regularly stocked staple. It’s easy to pull out and turn into something fantastic, be it a cheesy vegetable tart or a sweet and rich dessert. In this case it’s used as a breakfast pastry shell, filled with lightly sweetened cream cheese and plenty of apples. It’s like you hit the local bakery up, but instead, you just rolled out a bit of frozen dough and baked it the night before.
Pro tip: While you preheat the oven for the turkey, you can warm up the danish and serve it warm. Add fruit and coffee for a Thanksgiving breakfast worth waking up to.
Easy Apple Cheese Danish Squares 
Print Recipe type: Dessert, Breakfast Serves: 10-12 Ingredients 1 8-ounce package cream cheese at room temperature ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 5 cups sliced and peeled apples 1 teaspoon cinnamon ¼ teaspoon cardamom ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg flour for rolling 1 package puff pastry dough 1 large egg 1 teaspoon cream 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar Directions Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a medium bowl, whip together the cream cheese, ¼ cup granulated sugar, and the vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, toss the apples with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, the cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg. Lightly dust your work surface with flour. Roll out one sheet of puff pastry into a 15"x10" rectangle. Place on the parchment. Carefully spread the cream cheese onto the puff pastry, leaving 2" around the edges for sealing purposes. Top the cream cheese with the apples, spreading into an even layer. Roll out the second piece of puff pastry, making it slightly larger than the first. Place this piece over the apples. Press the corners to seal and trim any excess or jagged edges. Roll the edge slightly up towards the center. Make 5-7 2" long slices on the top of the pastry for venting. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and cream. Brush the egg over the top of the pastry. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until the top is golden brown. 3.2.2802
What do you do for Thanksgiving breakfast?
Shaina Olmanson is the freelance writer, photographer, and home cook behind Food for My Family. Cooking daily with and for her four kids and husband, Ole, drives her desire to inspire other families to do the same. Shaina is also the author of Desserts in Jars and contributes regularly to a variety of online sites and traditional print magazines. Meet the 101 Days of Christmas sponsors:
King Arthur Flour's Baker's Hotline: free professional help with any holiday baking challenge
World Vision Gift Catalog: share a full life with children in need by giving unique, life-changing gifts
Plant Therapy Essential Oils: 100% pure, undiluted oils you can trust at a price you can afford
Life Your Way Christmas Shop: get your 2014 Christmas planner today
Easy apple cheese danish squares
© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
Minifolk wooden people {101 Days of Christmas}
The artwork and directions for these minifolk comes from Caravan Shoppe, the same online store that creates the Ollibots artwork. Like the robots, I knew I wanted to make a set of these for our 5-year-old, who — like her mama — is an introvert and can play for hours and hours on her own.
Because of the round edges and smaller details, these are a little bit more tricky than the robots to put together.
However, they also come with detailed instructions and a video showing the process, so with a little patience, I’m confident anyone can make them. You’ll want to be sure you print out a couple extras, though, because I ruined my first-choice outfit for two of the minifolk as I was trying to figure out the process.
A couple things to keep in mind:
If you don’t have a laser printer, you’ll want to get the pages printed at a print shop since the ink from inkjet printers is likely to bleed when you apply the Mod Podge. I would estimate that it takes me approximately 30 minutes per minifolk to assemble these, from cutting to gluing. I also had my husband cut out the arms with an X-acto knife because he’s better at that detail work than I am. The instructions include details for which wood pieces you’ll need to purchase. I spent $12.50 on the wood for 30 minifolk, and you could easily create multiple “families” if you didn’t want to make a full set for one child. I have not figured out the details yet, but I’d like to get a little metal lunch box and decorate the inside as a case for these. We’ll see what I come up with!Click here to purchase the Minifolks artwork and instructions from Caravan Shoppe!
Gifts for kids from the archives:
Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces. Meet the 101 Days of Christmas sponsors:
King Arthur Flour's Baker's Hotline: free professional help with any holiday baking challenge
World Vision Gift Catalog: share a full life with children in need by giving unique, life-changing gifts
Plant Therapy Essential Oils: 100% pure, undiluted oils you can trust at a price you can afford
Life Your Way Christmas Shop: get your 2014 Christmas planner today
Minifolk wooden people {101 Days of Christmas}
© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
November 19, 2014
Marzipan snowmen {101 Days of Christmas}
I have a serious obsession love for all things almond flavored, but I’ve never made marzipan at home…until this week! I originally had visions of marzipan fruit for the Christmas season, as my heritage might dictate, but then I decided to be realistic about my art skills. However, while marzipan can be rolled into a log and sliced into coins, to be dipped in chocolate or eaten plain, or served various other ways, I really wanted to highlight the moldability with something fun. So snowmen it is! Because round spheres are about the extent of my sculpting skills.
Ingredients:
Marzipan:
1 3/4 cups almond meal 1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract 1 egg white**If you’re nervous about using raw egg white, you can purchase the cartons of pasteurized egg white from the store or pasteurize them yourself.
Snowmen:
extra powdered sugar for rolling mini chocolate chipsDirections:
Marzipan:
In a food processor or blender, pulse the almond meal and confectioner’s sugar until they’re combined.
Add the almond extract and egg white and process until thick and smooth.
Transfer the dough to the center of a piece of plastic wrap and knead a few more times to make sure all of the flour and sugar has been incorporated in the dough. Roll into a log and wrap in plastic wrap.
Store in the fridge and bring to room temperature before using.
Snowmen:
Pinch off a small amount of marzipan at a time to roll into 3 different size balls for each snowman.
Roll each one in powdered sugar and then carefully stack them on top (if you’ll be transporting the snowmen, you may want to use a toothpick through the middle to hold the three pieces together).
Gently press two mini chocolate chips into the front of the middle ball as buttons.
In a small saucepan, melt 2-3 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips over low heat until smooth and creamy. Transfer to a icing bag (or plastic baggie with the tip cut off).
Carefully spread a small circle of melted chocolate on wax paper and let harden. Add a dot of chocolate on top and let harden. Repeat to make the hat taller.
Gently peel the chocolate hat off the wax paper. Add a small dot of melted chocolate to the top of the snowman’s head and place the hat on top.
Enjoy!
Projects from the archives:
Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces. Meet the 101 Days of Christmas sponsors:
King Arthur Flour's Baker's Hotline: free professional help with any holiday baking challenge
World Vision Gift Catalog: share a full life with children in need by giving unique, life-changing gifts
Plant Therapy Essential Oils: 100% pure, undiluted oils you can trust at a price you can afford
Life Your Way Christmas Shop: get your 2014 Christmas planner today
Marzipan snowmen {101 Days of Christmas}
© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
November 18, 2014
Going analog in a techy world
The following post is from Lauren Rothlisberger of Get Me Geeky :
Last month I missed scheduled post here at Life Your Way. It somehow just never made it on the calendar.
It wasn’t the only thing to slip through the cracks, though.
Over the past few months I have both missed things and booked myself to be in two or even three places at once. I can’t stand being a flighty person that drops the ball or has to cancel last minute. I know that a life with four kids and a husband has to be very organized or everything starts to fall apart. Everybody makes mistakes, but this was becoming far too often.
I tried to figure out why it was that something I had done for years — keeping my calendar on my phone — was suddenly failing me. I am not sure why this started happening, but my best guess is homeschooling. This is my first year homeschooling and, for whatever reason, the way I interact on my computer and phone are different than the in the past. Truth be told, I have never really loved the digital calendar. It is hidden behind an app, so it is easy to not pull it up and look at what’s ahead. I also find it a bit annoying to add things to it, and — especially with the kids at home — found myself forgetting to put things on there more and more.
Clearly this wasn’t working for me, so I decided it was time to reassess the situation. It was time to go analog again. I needed a calendar/planner where I could write things down AND keep my weekly to-do notes. For most people, you have a higher chance of remembering something after it is written down.
I looked at many different calendars and planners, most of which have gotten really pricey. I finally settled on a simple Moleskin one that breaks the calendar down into weeks and has room for notes. I use the notes for my weekly to-do list. Current to-do lists for big projects I am working on go to that dedicated Moleskin notebook, while the calendar notes are for things like, “Call the doctor for Will, replace van battery, etc.” At the end of the week I am forced to look at what to-do list items remain and roll them over to the next week or, sometimes, just get rid of them all together.
For me, the process of seeing everything laid out on the physical calendar really helps. I didn’t consider this before, but it is also nice to have a calendar I can keep open in the kitchen. My husband can look at what the rest of the family is up to and add on his never-ending list of work events (that I am expected to attend).
I am by no means suggesting this is the right solution for everyone — or even that this solution will be right for me in two years — but for now it seems like a good step. It made me realize how often we may lock ourselves into using certain technology because we think we should. I’ve stopped using my iCal, but I still really like to use my Reminders app for certain appointments.
There are plenty of disadvantages to going analog. It is another thing to drag along with you. If I leave the house without my planner/calendar, I might forget to write something down in it later. (If I do this — and I have — I just cheat and write myself an email. Once I look at my email again at home I put it in my calendar. ) Analog calendars don’t have alarms.
Here is a quick list of other areas where you might want to consider analog:
Contact BookYou could go back to the days of a little black book, but it might not be worth it since all of your contacts conveniently become the phone numbers loaded into your phone. Now an address book (if that is different than a contact book for you), could maybe be kept on paper, but I prefer to keep my list of addresses in an excel spreadsheet. To me this makes sense because I can create and print labels every time I go to send out holiday cards. I do try and keep those addresses in my contact book as well so I always have access to them.
To Do ListsAs I mentioned before, I keep a general to do list with my calendar or with the big project it belongs to. I still use my Notes app to make lists of things centered around a certain upcoming event. For example, I have been slowly adding ideas to my kid’s Christmas list note for months.
RemindersThe analog version of a reminder is a Post-It note, right? I guess so. These certainly can have their place in the world. Like “DON’T FORGET ID CARD” on a Post-It on the door to the car. Of course the advantage to our digital reminders is they can be set for certain times. Unfortunately I can be dealing with a toddler tantrum and that little reminder doesn’t make an impact at that moment.
Grocery ListsI hate grocery lists. I have never found the perfect solution for this. I write notes on my phone and have used a grocery store app. But we also have a chalkboard on our fridge. This is the place we jot down notes of things we need as we run out. Especially my husband. Yes we can work off the same notes via the iCloud, but sometimes it is more trouble that it is worth. He writes the list, I snap a photo on my way out to the store.
Well, this isn’t a very techy post, is it? I have not gone anti-tech, but I am trying to be pro-simple. I’d encourage you to look at all options when something isn’t working. There is probably some hybrid between tech and old-fashion pen and paper that will be the magic spot for you!
Have any of you had an experience like mine?
Lauren Rothlisberger blogs and consults over at Get Me Geeky. As a military wife and mom of three girls five years old and under, she loves focusing on technology and productivity and finding new ways to simplify her life. She recently started putting together MacMinis, which are easy to follow videos for Mac users, and also wrote an ebook, Evernote for Moms. Meet the 101 Days of Christmas sponsors:
King Arthur Flour's Baker's Hotline: free professional help with any holiday baking challenge
World Vision Gift Catalog: share a full life with children in need by giving unique, life-changing gifts
Plant Therapy Essential Oils: 100% pure, undiluted oils you can trust at a price you can afford
Life Your Way Christmas Shop: get your 2014 Christmas planner today
Going analog in a techy world
© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
CommentsI'm a very low-tech person to being with, so it's no surprise ... by ClaireI so have been there. With the groups I am involved with it is ... by TracyOh, yeah, I've been there. I used to run my entire life with ... by Melissa Q
DIY body butter {101 Days of Christmas}
We’ve made shaving cream and aftershave for the guys, and today we’ve got a creamy and luxurious body butter that Christina from Plant Therapy whipped up!
Body butter is a thick and creamy alternative to everyday lotion, and with a combination of lotions and oils, it doesn’t just feel good on your skin but actually helps moisturize and protect it as we head into the cold winter months.
Whip up a batch to pamper your friends or to say thank you to a special teacher, but be sure to keep some for yourself as well!
Supplies:
1 cup shea butter 1/2 cup mango butter 1/4 cup vanilla infused jojoba 1/4 cup avocado oil up to 144 drops of essential oilsDirections:
In a small saucepan, combine the first four ingredients and heat over low until melted, stirring often. (If you’re easily distracted in the kitchen — ahem! — combine them in a double boiler instead, as you’ll have less chance of overheating the mixture).
Remove from heat and cool in the fridge for 20-30 minutes, until the edges begin to harden.
Using a hand mixer, whip the mixture until it’s frothy.
Refrigerate again for 30 minutes.
Add the essential oils and whip again until it’s nice and creamy.
Transfer to a jar or container with a tight lid.
Projects from the archives:
Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces. Meet the 101 Days of Christmas sponsors:
King Arthur Flour's Baker's Hotline: free professional help with any holiday baking challenge
World Vision Gift Catalog: share a full life with children in need by giving unique, life-changing gifts
Plant Therapy Essential Oils: 100% pure, undiluted oils you can trust at a price you can afford
Life Your Way Christmas Shop: get your 2014 Christmas planner today
DIY body butter {101 Days of Christmas}
© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
November 17, 2014
Pinecone elf ornament {101 Days of Christmas}
Various versions of these ornaments kept popping up in my Pinterest feed last year, and I added them to my must-do project list because they’re just so cute!
These are simple but adorable, and I’m hoping to gather a few more pinecones at my mom’s over Thanksgiving so that we can make these for our annual ornaments this year.
Supplies:
fat pinecones felt in 1-3 different colors pipe cleaners 5/8″-7/8″ wooden balls ribbon hot glueDirections:
Glue wooden ball to the top of the pinecone.
Cut out felt mitten and boot shapes. Cut pipe cleaner in half. Wrap half tightly around the pinecone an inch or so from the top and the other half as close to the bottom as you can get. Glue the mittens and boots to the ends of the pipe cleaners.
Cut a 6″ length of ribbon. Fold and tie the ends together.
Make a cone for the hat. The easiest way to do this is to cut one big circle (5″-6″ in diameter) and then cut that circle into quarters. Roll one quarter up until the straight edges overlap. Before you glue the edges together, thread the ribbon loop through the hole at the top. Secure the cone and then glue it to the top of the wooden ball.
Let glue dry and then hang on the tree!
Projects from the archives:
Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces. Meet the 101 Days of Christmas sponsors:
King Arthur Flour's Baker's Hotline: free professional help with any holiday baking challenge
World Vision Gift Catalog: share a full life with children in need by giving unique, life-changing gifts
Plant Therapy Essential Oils: 100% pure, undiluted oils you can trust at a price you can afford
Life Your Way Christmas Shop: get your 2014 Christmas planner today
© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
November 16, 2014
Hot cocoa stand for charity {101 Days of Christmas}
The other day we got a letter from our sponsored child in India, and it included a little pamphlet about the World Vision Gift Catalog.
The girls immediately began to read about giving ducks and goats and chickens and cows to families around the world and, without any prompting from me, started hatching a plan. They settled on wanting to buy a goat and two chickens, but they were a little bit stuck on how to raise $100 before Christmas.
As we all started throwing ideas out, someone chimed in that we should do a lemonade stand. That would be a great idea if we lived in Florida or New Mexico or California but might not work in our 30-40 degree weather, so I suggested a hot cocoa stand instead.
Although we live in the boonies, we’ll be visiting my mom for Thanksgiving, and she lives in a bustling neighborhood that gets a ton of traffic not just from residents but from construction workers as well. I’m hopeful that the weekend after Thanksgiving will be a perfect time to host a hot cocoa stand on the corner.
As we continued to talk through ideas, we decided to serve hot cocoa for $0.50 per cup — plus $0.25 for various toppings — and offer packets of instant hot cocoa for $0.50 each. The girls kept suggesting things like $0.25 for a cup of hot cocoa and $0.01 per topping, which I probably would have let them do if they were just trying to earn money (some of the best lessons are those learned the hard way!), but since they have an actual charitable goal, I stepped in on the pricing to make sure they had a chance of actually meeting it. Sean and I will front the cost of supplies and ingredients, while the girls will prepare the packets and host the stand, and every bit earned will go toward our goal of buying a goat and two chickens for a family in need.
(There’s a blank version of this printable that you can customize as well!)
I’ve requested some extra gift catalogs from World Vision (scroll down to the bottom of this page) so that we can share them with people who stop by the stand, and I also put together this pack of printables…because life’s more fun with pretty printables!
Want to host your own hot cocoa stand for charity? Click here to download or print the hot cocoa stand printables.
Projects from the archives:
Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces. Meet the 101 Days of Christmas sponsors:
King Arthur Flour's Baker's Hotline: free professional help with any holiday baking challenge
World Vision Gift Catalog: share a full life with children in need by giving unique, life-changing gifts
Plant Therapy Essential Oils: 100% pure, undiluted oils you can trust at a price you can afford
Life Your Way Christmas Shop: get your 2014 Christmas planner today
Hot cocoa stand for charity {101 Days of Christmas}
© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
CommentsThis is a lovely idea and is also an awesome reflection of the ... by Roberta S
November 15, 2014
Fiori di Sicilia star cookies + a King Arthur Flour giveaway {101 Days of Christmas}
These cookies are amazing!
Fiori di Sicilia — or “flowers of Sicily” — is an Italian flavoring used in panettone and pandoro. With a dreamy combination of citrus, vanilla and a light floral aroma, this flavoring would make a great addition to any baked good, adding a distinctive taste that’s light and enticing rather than overpowering.
For these simple star-shaped sugar cookies, it’s just perfect, as evidenced by how quickly they disappeared from the plate last week!
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup cream cheese 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia flavoring 2 large egg yolks 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour white sparkling sugar, for decorationDirections:
In a medium bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, cream cheese, salt, vanilla and Fiori di Sicilia until creamy.
Add egg yolks and beat until full incorporated.
Gently stir in the flour until dough is smooth.
Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Unwrap refrigerated dough and place between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll out to 1/8″-1/4″ thick and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter. Sprinkle generously with sparkling sugar. Transfer to a cookie sheet or stone.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.
Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool.
Yields 4-5 dozen cookies.
Click here to add this recipe to your Plan to Eat account.
And now for a giveaway!
King Arthur Flour has been a regular part of my kitchen for many years now. Their Unbleached All-Purpose Flour and White Whole Wheat Flour are pantry staples I buy on almost a weekly basis, and I use my stainless steel measuring cups and spoons daily.
As part of their 101 Days of Christmas sponsorship, I had the opportunity to try a few new products, and there are now a few new things on my list of King Arthur Flour brand only products. This includes castor sugar, which is a superfine sugar perfect for baking and candy making, half sheet parchment paper, flour wand, and — of course — Fiori di Sicilia flavoring.
This week, King Arthur Flour is giving one lucky winner this awesome baking collection valued at more than $100:
King Arthur Flour Tote Bag King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion 10th Anniversary Edition (Soft Cover) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (5 lb.) 15″ Dough Whisk Espresso Powder (3 oz.)
Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces. Meet the 101 Days of Christmas sponsors:
King Arthur Flour's Baker's Hotline: free professional help with any holiday baking challenge
World Vision Gift Catalog: share a full life with children in need by giving unique, life-changing gifts
Plant Therapy Essential Oils: 100% pure, undiluted oils you can trust at a price you can afford
Life Your Way Christmas Shop: get your 2014 Christmas planner today
Fiori di Sicilia star cookies + a King Arthur Flour giveaway {101 Days of Christmas}
© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
Weekend reading: November 15, 2014
From Instagram: I mean…seriously. My heart just burst into a million different pieces watching these two color.
Ten days ago I officially became a Mac owner, after more than two decades using PCs, and the switch has been…interesting. I am fairly tech savvy, and I have an iPhone, so I understand most of Mac’s basic workflows, but the differences in the keyboards are enough to make me nutty! The funny part is that I’m typing this on my PC because I got an iMac and our power is currently flickering, and I’m already so used to the Mac layout that I’m now having trouble on the PC. Why did they need to make Control and Command different buttons in different places, exactly?
I’m looking forward to sharing more about the transition and some of my favorite productivity apps on the Mac, although that’s probably a post for 2015 as we head into the fun of the holidays!
What I’m reading: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (and Free to Learn by Peter Gray, although I’m definitely preferring fiction right now!)
What I’m cooking: salsa chicken and rice, baked ziti, italian baked chicken and mashed potatoes, blue ribbon chili
What I’m pinning: pumpkin pie bars, pumpkin spice spritz cookies, pumpkin pie energy bites {because Starbucks canceled my pumpkin spice latte…what?!}
What I’m thinking about:
Wisdom for Life What My Love Affair with Coffee Taught Me About Marriage | Carrots for Michaelmas What would Victoria Beckham do? | Modern Mrs. Darcy On showing up. | Modern Mrs. Darcy Organization and Productivity The Rule of 52 and 17: It’s Random, But it Ups Your Productivity | The Muse 5 Easy Steps to Email Inbox Control | Sarah Parsons Your kids, too? Practical advice when kids have too much stuff | The Washington Post Holiday Priorities 10 Things to NOT do this Holiday Season (and the one thing to do) | Finding Joy The Ultimate Clutter Free Gift Guide | Slow Your HomeHave a great weekend!
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces. Meet the 101 Days of Christmas sponsors:
King Arthur Flour's Baker's Hotline: free professional help with any holiday baking challenge
World Vision Gift Catalog: share a full life with children in need by giving unique, life-changing gifts
Plant Therapy Essential Oils: 100% pure, undiluted oils you can trust at a price you can afford
Life Your Way Christmas Shop: get your 2014 Christmas planner today
Weekend reading: November 15, 2014
© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
CommentsLove these posts! Thanks fo the brain fodder! by BarrieI'm on a wait list at the library for All the Light We Cannot ... by Kristia
November 14, 2014
Take time for non-work things
The following post is from Katie of Making This Home and Gadanke:
I laid my baby boy in his crib for the night and tucked his blanket around him. “Perfect,” I thought. “I’ve got at least an hour with which I can work before I need to hop into bed myself.” I raced to my computer to start writing to all of you, feeling so proud of all the to-do items I’ve knocked off the list today. Surely I can get one more going.
I logged into the backend of Life Your Way and – oops! This post was going to be about taking time for things that are absolutely unproductive in terms of work and how gosh darn important it is to pause.
Hmmm. Do I lie and just pretend that I spent my evening sewing a fun little pattern I’ve wanted to try? Or do I actually stop working and go do something fun?
We all forget to pause. It’s so easy to rush through the routines of parenting so that we can get work finished. But the question is: when do we take time for ourselves, then?
I started asking folks on my business Facebook page about books they recommend and movies I’ve missed during my son’s infancy. (Being a journaling business owner, I get to chit chat and ask thought provoking questions over there.) At first, I stopped doing those leisurely activities because I was so busy caring for my child. But now that we have a routine, what am I so busy with during the evening? Imaging I need to catch up? Trying to make another great slash mark across my to-do list?
Ask yourself: What benefits are there to never taking time for non-work things?
And remember, work items include cleaning house and folding laundry. They include catching up on emails.
We always say how quickly children grow up. Our lives go just as quickly. So my challenge to you, dear friend, is to turn off that computer. Don’t work. Read that book you’ve been waiting to start. Get a babysitter and go for a night out. Keep an introspective journal just for yourself. (Yeah, that’s a plug to my favorite Gadanke journal – ha!)
Mandi here at Life Your Way is an incredible role model for reminding me to pause. She holds her baby boy while he sleeps and reads books on her Kindle, truly making the best of life’s quieter moments. Follow her on Instagram if you aren’t!
For the record, I did close my laptop last night, and I didn’t work. The internet didn’t implode. My list of projects was still here when I awoke. In fact, the only thing that really happened was that I had an inspiring evening of watching the Touglas family document their thru hike on the Appalachian Trail. (Highly recommend it!) And then the next day? We went into the mountains to feel the creek water. (Highly recommend that, too!)
Katie Clemons is a storycatcher and journal crafter. She helps people celebrate their stories with her award-winning writing prompt journals and free workshop at Gadanke. She also blogs at Making This Home about simple, handmade living from a vintage airplane hangar in Montana.Meet the 101 Days of Christmas sponsors:
King Arthur Flour's Baker's Hotline: free professional help with any holiday baking challenge
World Vision Gift Catalog: share a full life with children in need by giving unique, life-changing gifts
Plant Therapy Essential Oils: 100% pure, undiluted oils you can trust at a price you can afford
Life Your Way Christmas Shop: get your 2014 Christmas planner today
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