I received this in an email today and thought it was definitely worth sharing.  It really hit home with me.  I do not know who wrote this, so if someone knows, please let me know so I can update this posting and give credit to the right person.  Thanks!

Stress Management…

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?”

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

The lecturer replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem.  If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. “In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

He continued, “And that’s the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.  As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.”

Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. “Relax; pick them up later after you’ve rested. Life is short.  Enjoy!”

I’m slowly on my way.  I’ve had five sales (the fifth being this morning and fourth being earlier in the week) since January.  In the next month, I plan to create a few new items to sell on Etsy and relist some items that have sold (envelope sets).  I’m excited to add more to my Etsy shop and push my creativity once again.  I’m amazed at the gifts God has blessed me with.  It’s one thing to be creative, but another to actually love that gift and talent that God has given me.  Stay tuned for more creations…

The past two days I’ve been working on coming up with ideas of ways to wrap Lia Sophia boxes for my friend (who is offering gift wrapping as an option to her customers for Mother’s Day).  I started with searching online for some ideas (I’m not that creative on my own).  I then took some time yesterday to wrap them all with the wrapping paper.  Today I finished things off with the final “beauty” touches.  What do you think?

Life has certainly been busy lately.  A lot going on.  Here are a few things I’m working on right now…

My friend, Bekah, sells Lia Sophia jewelry.  She is offering her customers a gift wrap option for Mother’s Day.  She’s asked me to be the creative mind behind the wrapping, so I’m working on some unique wrapping ideas for the boxes the jewelry comes in.  If you have a great gift wrapping technique, idea, or picture, please send it my way.

I’m also working on creating covers for notebooks.  I’ve never tried this before.  I’ve made actual fabric covered journals, but I’m going to now try making fabric covers for journals.  I’m seeing them everywhere and love them (they look much simpler to make, so I could actually sell them at a much cheaper price).

I’m also starting a new blog about my new diet venture.  Yes, another one.  This one is going to work though, because I’m determined, have a weekly check in, and am told exactly what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, etc…, along with exercise (what to do and when to do it).  It’s a fail-proof diet.  If I stick with it, I will see results.  If I don’t, I have only myself to blame.  This new diet (um…way of life) is called Total Health & Fitness.  This new blog will show pictures, weight and measurement stats, some journaling, and basically take you on a journey of my progress.  It’s still a work in progress and I’m still on week 1 of this new diet plan.  I’ll keep you posted.

For clarification…I still think the P90X plan ROCKS!  I just finished week 7 and was surprised that I didn’t see a huge difference in me.  I felt stronger and noticed a difference when lifting things, so I know it was working.  So…it had to be my eating.  Yes, I was eating “clean”, so how could that cause me to slow the weight loss process down.  It could only be one thing…portion control, no scheduled eating (just eating when I had time), eating late, not sleeping enough…(ok, so that was more than one).  This new plan has it all written out for me, so there’s no room for error.

Due to being on a new diet plan that tells me what to eat, I will be taking a break from making “clean” meals from the Eat-Clean Diet.  I will definitely go back to making them when I have the “go-ahead” to do so, but I’m not sure how long that will be.  There’s plenty of recipes already posted.  Check them out.

There’s a few other things going on right now in life, but nothing exciting enough to share, so I’ll end for now.  Time to work out.

I know…two starches in one meal, but I was dying to try them both.  Out of the two, there is definitely one we liked better, although we did like them both.  The Skinny Scalloped Potatoes won out.  They are very bland (almost tasting like hash browns), but tasted very healthy and is definitely worth making over and over again.  The Veggie, Rice & Cheese Supreme was also very good.  It had just the right amount of everything (good balance of flavors).  We added some baked chicken to the meal (not pictured) and had a meal fit for a king (well, kind of).  Both dishes got two thumbs up from us.

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I have to say that putting the ingredients together and seeing the batter makes this muffin seem less than desirable, but the taste is good and I will make them again.  Next time I may add a little vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg to them (what my normal (um, fattening) banana bread recipe has in it).  It wouldn’t change the nutrition facts either, which is nice.  When I do make them again and try the new way, I’ll update to let you know if they’re better and worth changing the recipe permanently.

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My husband and I both like Taco Salad, but when eating it while out, it just seems so greasy (the meat at the bottom, the shell, etc…).  This recipe is different.  We both loved it, yet tried different versions of it.  I’m not a huge meat eater and he doesn’t like black beans or white sauce, so he had the version with chicken and no black beans or Greek yogurt on it and I had the version with no meat, add the yogurt (which by the way tastes a lot like sour cream), and black beans.

Both of us loved our versions and can’t wait to have them again (I’m out of lettuce or I’d make it ASAP).  It was very fast to make and the flavor was awesome!  Best Taco Salad I’ve ever had (even if it didn’t come in a shell).  And you got to love the directions to make it (better check it out to see what I’m talking about).

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I’m a huge fan of Black Bean Soup and if a restaurant offers it, I’m ordering it. This was my second Eat Clean Black Bean Soup that I’ve made and my favorite of the two. It was pretty simple to make (just throw the ingredients in a pan, cook, puree some, and eat). It tastes so healthy! The flavor is outstanding!

I think this is the best Black Bean Soup I’ve ever eaten (and I’ve had a lot). If you have a favorite Black Bean Soup recipe or know of a place that sells Black Bean Soup and you like it, fill me in on the details.

I will definitely be making this again (over and over). Outstanding!!!

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These were really good eggs!   They were so simple to throw together.  I woke up a bit late, but promised my husband the night before that I’d make breakfast the next day (which he’d actually be fine with cereal, but when I say I’m making breakfast, I like to put a little more thought into it than just cereal).  I had time to make coffee for us and this Omelette, sit down and enjoy it, and still get ready in time.  Now that’s a meal worth making.

The recipe has you toasting an English muffin on the side. I put jelly on my husbands, but broke my English muffin up and put my eggs on top (see pic). Either way works!

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Does anyone even know what that means?  I’ve never heard of it before and it sounds very strange.  Why not call it “A Spin On Chicken Veggie Soup”, because that’s basically what it is.  It was pretty easy to make and tasted really good (even the leftovers).  It pretty much tasted like a Chicken Noodle Soup without the noodles and the addition of several other ingredients (um, that doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?).  Anyway, it’s easy to make and tastes great, so we give it two thumbs up and will be making it again.

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