"Save the Date" Handbook

This entry should be filed under.....printables.  As in, your significant other should get a copy 'cuz I know there is not a man out there reading this peri menopausal blog.  Ladies, help your man out.  This is a long hand Go To Guide.

I have spent the last 2 days trying to figure out how to embed a document and if I wait any longer, I won't be posting for awhile.  So I will have to wait to post an attachment to this blog.  I did it!!!  Click on  Love Language Gift Guide for your own downloaded copy.

This little labor of love was born out of a passive/aggressive encounter with my hubby over Valentine's.  I say "I don't care", when really I do, but being the literal male that he is, he takes that at face value.  And this guy is as sentimental as they come!  It all worked out in the end when I was able to confess, but it got me thinking...

Men, if there are words in the little blocks on your calendar, it is officially a holiday.  And these are the important ones to remember:

Feb 14 Valentine's Day: Forget your dead president's, this is the important one
May 8 Mother's Day: If there are children
Dec 25 Christmas: Unless you are Jewish, then you had better really gear up cause it's something like, 7 days worth
(Fill in the date) Birthday: Barring she doesn't have a pulse
Anniversary: She will want a remembrance of the day she labored over for however long you drug your feet.  If you are still dragging your feet, I advise she wad this up, throw it at you, and get on with her life.
I am going to save you the dime and time of getting the book and let you know that there are 5 love languages.  Because when it comes time to making the effort, you want to make it count.  Not all "gifts" are equal!  They are: Physical Touch, Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Gifts and Acts of Service


The following is 
1. Que's for "what your significant other's language is"
2. Suggestions to incorporate them into a holiday.  The key indicator is what SHE is most often doing for YOU (and vice versa!).  This is most likely the thing she herself would appreciate:
Physical Touch: (Hint) She is clingy, she complains that you never touch her (hey, that was easy!) She used to touch you all the time and now she never touches you (but only if she USED to touch you all the time

• Get her a massage, or plan some time where you can create a "mood" and give her a massage and EXPECT NOTHING IN RETURN
• Hold her hand
• Cuddle (this word creeps me out as it is not my love language) while you are at the movie or wherever you are taking her 
• Do something physical with her (NON SEXUAL) like take a dance lesson (country bars have them all the time)

Words of Affirmation:  (Hint) She knows how to give a compliment, she is encouraging, she sends you little notes with kind words, she used to do all these things and now when you come around she rolls her eyes (but only if she USED to do all those thing)

• Get a card from Blue Mountain, they say all the things I am sure you would mean but don't have the words to say

Quality Time:  (Hint) She complains you never spend time together anymore (anything she complains about is a good indication of what her love language is - so instead of holding a grudge, take notes), when she makes plans, it is thought out and may sometimes be elaborate, or at the very least, thoughtful.  Warning: This gifting may require extra dates - As this can tend to be a celebratory, making memories language.  You may not be expected to produce on these holidays, you will be expected to participate: New Year's,  Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day.  You may get to opt out of Birthday sometimes after she hits 40, as she may prefer to spend quality time with friends!

• Anything involving getting in the car together
• Take off your "fix it" hat and put on the "it's going to be ok" hat and allow her to vomit on       you.  You are allowed to tune this out, if you have the capability of interjecting at the right   moments "it's going to be ok"
• Take her shopping and don't complain
• Engage in one of her activities, as long as it is not the annual trip to the Precious Moments Museum because she is a collector.  That is an appropriate boundary.  Take in something local - farmer's market, outdoor concert, antique show

Gifts:  (Hint) She is in the habit of buying you little cuddly teddy bears, she gets excited when she passes a booth at the carnival that has prizes, when she gives you a gift she goes to a lot of trouble to make it meaningful

• Flowers and cards.  When you buy her a card, pick up a second and file away for next time.   Stay ahead, I mean, you're already standing there!
• Have her create an account on Wishpot, so you can get her what she WANTS.  Don't be extravagant up the wrong tree. Or worse, cheap!
• Gift certificates to her favorite stores, for a mani/pedi or massage, but a word of caution, this should not be the only gift.  An envelope just seems...light?  Best to accompany with, something of equal or lesser value.  Books, music or hobby items.
• Jewelry, perfume and handbags are highly personal.  Unless she has picked something out and showed you, best to stick to more generic items.  Unless it's diamonds, you can rarely go wrong with diamonds.
• Something she's been wanting for the kitchen!  That $200 standing mixer, the Cuisinart Food Processor or coffee pot, the Vita Mix.  I am not talking about an Oster Toaster, OK.

Acts of Service:  (Hint) She complains "Nobody ever does anything around here!", she often gives up housekeeping, laundry and cooking because she is worn out, she is a servant to others (maybe not you anymore, but she USED to serve you), she waits until you can no longer close the garbage before finally taking it out herself...ok, this is my love language.

• Take her to a B&B (ladies, explain this)
• Take her anywhere that she does not have to cook or clean up, I recommend NOT taking her to Wendy's because "It just had it's Grand Opening!"
• Send her to out for the afternoon and hire a housekeeper (this will require some picking up on your part, or let her know this is what you plan to do)
• Accomplish a "Honey Do"that has been grating her
• GET A BABYSITTER
• Send her off for the night with a friend

I hope to have a little "gift" in the next week that you can print out for your man with a holiday language guide and guidelines! 

Cup o' Joe and last minute Valentine's

I just got a text from a friend asking about the stackable mugs I got from World Market so I went on the site to see if they still had them.  They do and now they also have them in a cheetah pattern too!  I would love to know if someone bought those chubby cheetah mugs because I recommended them!

I was also thinking about another blog and remembered she has a Valentines pattern that I know someone would do something so creative with.  I may laminate a sheet and make Valentines place mats!!! I'm brilliant! This a sample of the pattern

Creative All Nighter

Valentine's isn't even here and I have already tapped out.  I got real creative into the wee hours last night.  Once again, I am hyper focused on something and spend every spare minute beating it like a dead chicken. I rotate the same things it seems when I get the "create" bug, so if you are looking for random creating, this is the blogspot for you!  I made these little sweeties for my pre-K homeschool group.

I downloaded an image again from google images and printed it on card stock.  I cut them down and fray the edges by dragging a wet paint brush along each edge one at a time until it bleeds in about 1/8 in or so and is nice and wet.  Then I pinch and pull out the wet area and it frays.  I'd give a pic demo, but I took off  my acrylic nails and they are a mess...I hope I explained it adequately!  Anyway, I love all the new fonts I downloaded and so I typed out the signature and the Be Mine Valentine and cut those too.

Now, I have a real problem with symmetry.  I need everything to line up, so to "skew" anything is a real stretch for me, I compromised with the signature.  I really want to do some cool creating for Easter, so it got me thinking...

How do I get inspired?  So where do I go, GOOGLE of course!  What an amazing tool.  I want to host a creative gathering, so I googled something like "How to host a scrapbook party" or something and the article mentioned Scrapbook Sketches...BRILLIANT! So I googled that too and this blog has over 100 sketches to inspire you.  What I want to do is create a design for an Easter Card and maybe some gift tags for people to copy for themselves so the whole night isn't spent in creator's block and we can socialize adequately.  This will be a HUGE help!  So that will be my next venue.  At least that's the plan in my mind.
Also along with my googling I came across a page of a woman who had organized her scrapbook room which was very thrifty and gave me some GREAT ideas for the new spare room I have acquired now that the kids are in one room.  My kids are sleeping on crib mattresses on the floor, but "my space" will be tricked out!  Priorities, priorities...

Be My Valentine

Another holiday, which means...PARTY FRENZY.  Now, it doesn't have to be like that, but I romanticize every holiday.  It's going to be creative, it's going to be fun...and there is that, but it is stressful too.  Why can't I just buy store bought cards for the teachers and kids and call it good?  Well, actually, I DID, and then here's what happened.  This folks, is the story of my life.
When I was in California I saw these super cute old fashioned cards.  There were 15 in a pack and I thought, hey, that will be different, and definitely my style. Yeah, OK, so I get home and Samuel's teacher tells me they are going to combine 2 classes....so I am 8 cards short.  So what do I do?  Do I order more 'cuz I have plenty of time?  No, I wait until the last minute, even though I had the idea in mind for weeks, and make these.

I went to google images and typed in something like "vintage valentine's" and then cut and past them into a document, then printed them off onto heavy card stock (which I wished I had used glossy, but oh well), cut them out and bought envelopes to fit.  Sounds easy, and for the most part is.  Just a bit of running around for supplies because the scrapbook supplier store in town here keeps weird hours.  I guess you can do that in a small town.

Then their was the "treat" to go with the cards.  While everyone else is giving dum dum's, which my kids love, no, I have to BAKE cookies.  This, I also knew for WEEKS.  I could have baked one day and froze them to save myself time and stress.  Did I do that?  No.  I did them the day before.

The Sugar Cookie Icing really makes these cookies, they come dry to a nice sheen, like you see in pastry shops.  I used vanilla extract instead of almond, as it reminds me of almond paste, which I am not fond of.  You will need to at least triple this recipe for 30 cookies, as it will take more than one coat, at least if you are using a paint brush, which I did, which I am sure was the hard way to do it.  These are the little lovelies...

Oat Flour Sugar Cookies

This recipe says it makes 60 cookies.  Uh, no.  And you will see my comment to that effect on the review.  These made 30.  I didn't feel like mixing another batch, so instead, I refused to let the kids lick the bowl or eat any because I wouldn't have enough.  Doesn't that sound sweet?  I also wouldn't let my son ice them because again, not enough to "make a mess", as I am anal about presentation and just couldn't "let it go".  Yet another lovely memory maker with my kids.  Yup.

 Chocolate Cut Out Cookies

Then I decide, after being such a pill, that I would cook up a different batch with chocolate.  Follow all suggestions here, especially mixing confection sugar and cocoa, as it is like rolling out cold fudge.  But it was easy with the dusting "powder".  Now this recipe made quite a bit, not sure if it was 60, probably about 50?  And again, triple the icing.  For one icing recipe, use scant drop of red, a little goes a LONG way, as the first batch was a sickly pink, more like Pepto-Bismol.  I also put 2 coats of icing on these and let the kids eat as many as they wanted.  But still wouldn't let them decorate! Let it GO Kris!

All of this was not really an original idea, I was inspired by another blog I follow and she makes everything seem very effortless and is a much more hand on mom.  Though I did do it more her way last year and let them color.  This year, too crunched for time to be June Cleaver.  Maybe St. Patrick's Day...