Valentine Advent Calender for Husband

Dear Hubby and I have known each other since I was 12 years old.  While he has loved me since then, we didn't really get together until I was a Junior in College.  When we first got married, the excitement of new romance and marriage was thrilling to me.  I went above and beyond to show him how much I loved him and how worth it was to him to have waited for me to catch up all those years.

I used to leave little notes for him in his lunch when he went to work.  I would make him personalized gifts for each holiday perfect for his tastes and fun level.  I even left a note on his car after work one night inviting him to dinner at Taco Bell where we had a candlelit dinner on china (yea, the restaurant and other patrons got a kick out of that one!)  I did a lot of fun little things.

Fast forward 18 years and 4 kids.  I rarely do anything anymore to show him how much I love him.  I figure if I cook dinner and do his laundry every day that should show him, because seriously, who would do that if they didn't love someone? Yikes.

But after listening to him talk about those early romantic moments to a friend, I realized I've let something important go by the wayside.  The chores and "I Love You"s as he walks out the door aren't cutting it.

This valentine's, I've decided to show him a little more how much I love him.  I've designed up a countdown to start on February 1st and end on the 14th.  He'll get a fun gift each day to build the excitement for Valentine's.

I started by writing this poem that I'll give him with his first gift.

Then, each day, I'll give him a gift or do a little act of service for him that will speak "his" language of love.

Day 14: 14 tracts of music (Burned CD with all our favorite love songs to dance to.)

Day 13: Pieces of Meat to get the juices flowing (a package of Jerky. Hubby loves jerky, but it's so expensive and everyone in house loves it, so it's gone in moments.  I usually only buy it for car trips or Christmas/Easter holidays.)

Day 12: 12 date night ideas, one for each month of the year.

Day 11:   11pm Late Night Snack.  (Hubby loves his ice cream, but since he's been on a weight loss journey, he doesn't ever get any. I plan to buy him a small pint of his favorite for that little snack.)

Day 10: 10 Reasons Why I Love You (I am going to leave him 10 post it notes throughout the day with reasons that I love him.  I plan to put these in the funnest places so he will discover them as he goes through his day.)

Day 9:  9 Challenge Squares.  (I found this Rubik's Cube idea from Love Actually with wedding pictures and I want to create one for him.)

Day 8: 8 hours of a Scrabble game. (His favorite game is scrabble but I HATE to play it since he always wins and it takes HOURS to play with him.  But I found a Chocolate scrabble game. If he takes too long, the chocolate will melt, and we can have fun with that!)

Day 7: 7 am memories (a family picture for his office- we took the picture at 7 in the morning. LONG, UNHAPPY story on that one.)

Day 6: 6 Sweet Treats. (Hubby has fallen in love with these healthy Attain Bars. It's a yummy snack which helps him stick to his weight loss goals.) 

Day 5: 5 new iPad apps ($10 Gift Certificate. He LOVE his new iPad)

Day 4: 4 ounces of Sweets.  (Hubby wants a Scentsy warmer for his office and has fallen in love with the Cupcake scent from Walmart. So he'll get the warmer and the scent for his office.)

Day 3: 3 uninterrupted "Moments" of free time. (Hubby has his hobbies like we all do, but the kids all gravitate to what he's doing and playing, so he usually ends up letting them play instead and doesn't get to play himself.  So I'm going to keep the kids busy so he can have a few moments of free time.)

Day 2: Two movie tickets to the movie he's been dying to see.  We never have the time nor money to go to the movies, so this will be a special treat.

Day 1: One "quiet" night alone.

It was a little difficult to come up with 14 day specific ideas especially since I couldn't go with much candy and sweets due to Dear Hubby's weight loss goals, but I'm pretty excited about the whole idea and I think he'll LOVE it.  Hopefully, it will make him feel extra special again and I'll remember we can still have a little romance and fun.

Are you doing something fun or romantic for your husband for Valentine's?  I'd love to hear your ideas on how to make it a little "more" this year.

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EASY, DIY Alice in Wonderland Croquet Set Printable on Off Topic Tuesday

When I was trying to throw my Alice in Wonderland party a few years back, I had the hardest time trying to find Flamingo Croquet.  After all, you can't have an Alice in Wonderland party without the famous croquet game!

After searching high and low, I didn't have any luck, so I decided to make my own Flamingo Croquet.  I used PVC pipe and it was a bit complicated and difficult, but do-able.  I shared the directions HERE.  But after a few years, I got to thinking that maybe there was a better, easier way to make this.  One that didn't involve drilling, cutting, and unhelpful blobs of glue.

Then, an idea came to make my printables fit an already made croquet set from Amazon.  DUH!  I guess I couldn't find an appropriate set to work with all those years ago.  Or maybe, like Dear Hubby says, I just like to be complicated.

But this new set was so EASY I almost wondered if I did something wrong.  (Nothing's ever really that easy is it?)

I found this Halex Select 6-Player Croquet Set in Deluxe Carry Case from Amazon.  It was about $35.00.  I like that it comes in a zip case that allows you to store everything inside it and keep it all together and safe.  After the mallets I made from  my other Alice in Wonderland Croquet set ending up all over the house and torn up, I like that this can be all secured away.

Then I took my Flamingo head printables, printed them out, cut them up, and glued them on.  So easy!

And the Guardsmen Wicket pieces were just as easy.  I made two different instructions so if you want to make yours super sturdy and durable, or if you are just wanting something quick and easy.

Either way, I've got you covered!  I'm super excited about how much easier it will be now for you to enjoy Flamingo Croquet at your next Alice in Wonderland party.   You can find the printable in our shop HERE or if you still like the old fashioned DIY set made from PVC pipe, you can still find the directions and printable HERE.

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February Family Home Evening Chore Chart Printable

I don't talk about religion very much on this blog.  It's kind of a personal thing to me.  Maybe that's good, maybe that's bad.  But I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We as a people are very family oriented.  It's probably one of the most important factors of our life.  As such, we focus a lot on family activities and family learning.  So we try to have a weekly night where we just focus on our family.  We teach our kids the things we feel they need, we enjoy time as a family, and we play.

Finding the time and energy to do this each week, is sometimes hard.  I admit it.  Drama Queen and the Perfectionist are in their high school play.  They are doing Beauty and the Beast this year and it's going to be BIG.  Or BIGGER than BIG.  So they spend alot of time at school in practice.

The Daredevil got the role of Puck in A Mid Summer Night's Dream in his middle school play.  I'm super surprised that they are doing Shakespeare and that his first time trying out he got such a great roll.  Not that I'm surprised in him.  He was born to be in front of an audience.  But that takes a lot of time up too.

Plus, Mini Me is in after school activities, we have Boy/Cub Scouts, Youth Church Activities, Dear Hubby and I both have big callings.....

I could go on and on...But, don't we all have live's like that?  We have to make it important to spend the time together as a family.  We carve out the time and make it special.  After all, my teenagers won't be around too much longer. I need to enjoy every moment I have with them.

So our Family Home Evenings are even more special to me right now.  To help us all stay on track, I created this chart for each of us to keep track of our weekly assignments.  (That's the worst part for me.  I feel like I end up doing it all sometimes.)

If you aren't interested in using it for your family night's, it could also be used as a chore chart.

I started by going with a Valentine theme.  I used hearts with arrows.  On each of the hearts are our weekly assignments...lesson, song, prayer, game, treat, and helper.

I used arrows to write each of our names on.  Each of the arrow ends got a piece of velcro on the back so we can move these each week without ruining the chart with tape.  The other piece of velcro went on the top of the heart where the arrow looks like it pierces the heart.

Now each week, we just move each name around the chart and don't forget our weekly assignments.

If you are interested in this printable, you can right click and save the JPG picture files to your computer.  Then add your own information on each piece.  Or you can use the idea to create your own.  Whatever works for you.

I hope that gives you a chance to spend some time with your family.  It goes by way too fast!

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Hugs and Kisses Candy Jar

I love finding fun, yummy candy gifts to give out for Valentine's.  (Okay, for just about any day.)  So when I saw this Valentine's Hugs and Kisses Candy Jar by Lil' Luna, I knew I was going to need to make one for my teens.  I already made a Valentine Countdown Calendar for my younger two, and I'm working on a (more in depth) Valentine Countdown for Dear Hubby, so this was going to be perfect for Drama Queen and the Perfectionist.

I started by finding a Kerr pint mason jar.  I like the Kerr brand best because it's clear on all sides with only the writing showing in one area.  Then I went to Lil' Luna and printed out her free printable.  I did resize it to be 2 1/4 inches by 3 inches so it would fit over the Kerr writing.  Then I used my Xyron to make it into a sticker and placed it on the jar.

The jar fit 55 Hershey kisses and Hershey hugs.  I didn't have any Valentine colors available so instead went with the different flavors of kisses.  There are Air Delights, Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Caramel, Cherry, and Cookies and Cream kisses.  Plus a good handful of Hershey hugs.

To make it a little more fun, I added our Conversation Heart Kiss Sticker Printable  to the kisses.  My daughter will LOVE the fun sayings on these while enjoying the chocolate instead of the powder of regular Conversation hearts.

I finished it off by cutting a circle of red fabric and tying on a red bow to spice it up.  I think both kids are going to love these and I am super excited to have Lil' Luna share this great printable.  Run over there and grab it yourself HERE and go make a little sweet gift for your loved ones!  (And tell her I said "HI!")

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Sweet Candy Valentine Printables

I've been busy working to bring you some requested Valentine Candy treats this week.  These are one of my favorite things to design!  I LOVE these candy toppers for their versatility and sweet treats.  You can add them to the top of a gift as a fun "To" and "From" tag.  You can give them as part of a gift.  You can give them to your whole class as a cheap, easy Valentine treat.

I'm still working to add a whole bunch more, since the ideas are endless on what you can do and use to fill these bags.

But I've also been working to add some that weren't all "Girly" and "Mushy."  These Swedish Fish "O-Fish-ally Be Mine" toppers would be great to give to the boys in your classroom. Or how about the new "Hooked on You" Gummy Worm topper?

 

 And due to popular demand, I've started making these ALREADY completed.  Some of you have complained about having trouble finding the time or the candy to make these yourself.  Thanks to access to a fun candy store, I can do both.  You can find the completed toppers (with more coming soon) HERE while the printable ones are HERE.

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10 Free Valentine Printables

1. Hershey candy bar from Less Cake More Frosting.

2. Valentine's Day Keep Calm Printable from Designs by CP.

3. ABC Valentine Printable from Oopsey Daisy.

4. Valentine Hugs and Kisses Jar Printable from Lil Luna.

5. Valentine's Day Mad Lib Printable from My Sister's Suitcase.

6. Valentine's Day Subway Art from Lillian McKay Designs.

7. I Love You Valentines Day Printable from Decorating the Dorchester Way.

8. Valentine Goodie Bags by Twig & Thistle.

9. Valentine Kiss Printable from Amanda's Parties To Go.

10. Valentine Kiss Countdown Calendar from US!

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Valentine's Day Candy Bouquet DIY

Since I'm officially a store owner now and Valentine's Day is only weeks away, I decided I needed to get busy making Candy Bouquets today.  Since I was crafting away, I thought I would share my fun with you and maybe inspire you to make a fun treat for your loved ones today.

I started by finding a bunch of glassware and baskets at my local Goodwill.  It's always my first stop for bouquet holders since there is such a diversity and uniqueness in the styles you find there.  The price is super good too!

Then, I stopped by Walmart and bought some of the big bags of Valentine's candy.  You can use regular fun size bars, but I like the colors and designs that come in the Valentine's section.  I also picked up some Hershey and  Reeses hearts to put into the bouquet.

If you are lucky, you will find some Teddy Bears and fun plush to put inside your bouquet.  I didn't have that kind of luck, but did find a few at Goodwill and I plan to go check out Dollar Tree tomorrow.

You can also take a big vase and put a piece of styrofoam down in it.  Then take Conversation Hearts or other candy and fill it around the foam.  This is such a fun way to add more candy to the bouquet at a good price.

Hopefully, this has inspired you to see how easy it is to make candy bouquets and go make a few.

You can check out my full Candy Bouquet tutorial and go spread some sweet candy love!

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Improv Challenge-Banana Nutmeg Squares

 

This ingredients for January Improv Challenge hosted by Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker are bananas and nutmeg.

It seems I always buy one or two bananas more than I can eat so they end up in the freezer waiting to be made into something.  This month I was aiming for a bar cookie, and the squares could be cut small and served that way; but the recipe really produced a cross between a cake and a coffeecake so serve it as you wish.

I used a stresuel topping, but stirred the batter to swirl it into the dough.  I thought some of the topping would stay on the top, but it all sank into the batter.  That left me needing to do something with the top so I used a little powdered sugar glaze to finish the recipe off.

Banana Nutmeg Squares
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 c. sour cream, low fat is OK
1 t. vanilla
1 c. mashed bananas, about 3 small
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 c. chopped, toasted walnuts
1/3 c. flour
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted or put through a sieve
4 t. milk
sprinkle of nutmeg

Cream butter and sugar together until well blended.  Stir in eggs, sour cream, vanilla and bananas.  Stir with wire whisk until well blended.   Mix together flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.  Stir into banana mixture, mixing well.  Add walnuts.  Spread into greased and floured 9x13-inch baking pan.  Combine flour, brown sugar and nutmeg in a small bowl.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse corn meal.  Sprinkle mixture over batter in pan.  Swirl a knife back and forth from side to side and end to end to swirl topping into batter.  Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.  Remove from oven.  Combine sifted powdered sugar, milk and a sprinkle of nutmeg until well blended.  Drizzle and spread glaze over top of cake.  This can be done either when the cake is warm if serving as a coffeecake or when cool if served as a cake.  Makes 15 servings.

Next month's challenge is Hearts and Flours (pun intended).  This is a challenging and fun link party.  I encourage you to join us.  All the information can be found on Kristen's Improv Page.

Check out the links below to see what other bloggers have posted using bananas and nutmeg.

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Thankful Thursday: A New Year

After a wild and crazy 2012, I'm so thankful for new beginnings and a new year.  I'm excited to look forward with hope to good things happening this year.  I'm excited to start new adventures.  And to make new goals.

I know that it's several weeks into the new year and I'm just now getting around to setting some goals for this year...probably not the best way to start off...

But I have 2 excuses in my thinking when it comes to this delay...

1. I've been super sick the past 2 weeks and am just now coming back to life. 

 And 2. I figure this way I've missed all the time when everyone usually sets their goals and then quits, so I'll be more apt to keep going.

Right? Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

In setting my goals for 2013, I kept coming back to one phrase that summed up everything I wanted to accomplish this year.

I heard a lesson given by a friend at church last year and to be honest, I don't remember all of what was said, or probably even most of what was said, but this phrase stuck with me.  

In the talk, she recited a quote by George Albert Smith where was telling us that every day we can do just a little bit better than we did yesterday.  Sometimes we may not make big strides, but by small acts, every day can be just a little better.

So this year, I'm going to be a Better Mom.

A Better Wife.

A Better Sister.

A Better Counselor.

A Better Businesswoman.

A Better Blogger.

A Better Friend.

It may not be a very concrete goal to you, but it's something that goes through my mind in every choice that I make.

Last night, I was finally taking down the Christmas tree and cleaning up too many dirty dishes, when the Daredevil asked me to play a game with him.  Looking around at all I needed to accomplish (since I was finally well enough to clean), this quote went through my head and I knew it was inspiration to be a better mom.

So we loaded up the dishwasher together and sat down to a long game of Phase 10.  It may not have been much, but it was a "little bit of Awesome" in my Mom Bucket.  And with every choice, it makes me a little better.

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Valentine Kiss Countdown Calendar Free Printable

It seems like when you are young, you have a lot of "collections."  Things that are "cool" to have and save.  I had a huge collection of Snow Globes and Cherished Teddies collectibles when Dear Hubby and I first got married.  Over time, I learned that it's not quite as important (and not much fun to dust), so when kids come along and things start getting broken or there are more important things to spend money on, it's wasn't that big of a deal to let go of the "stuff".

The only thing that I've really kept up collection wise is my Advent calendars.  I just LOVE counting down to special days.  Every year I try and make or purchase a new countdown calendar for Christmas.  By now, Mini Me is the only one who still gets excited to change the date each day, but he and I have fun doing it each morning before school.

So when I come up with a new idea for a countdown calendar, especially one for a different holiday than Christmas, I get pretty excited.  And when the idea is super easy and involves chocolate, I am in LOVE!

I started by designing up this 8x10 Valentine Kisses printable.

Then I found a fun frame and put it inside.

There are 14 pink dots on the heart, one to countdown each day in February until Valentine's day.

I put a Glue Dot on the outside of the glass in the center of each dot.

Then I stuck a Hershey Kiss on each glue dot.  You can use Valentine colored kisses or a specific flavor of kisses (Mini Me loves Dark Chocolate, so I'll probably use that for him.)

Each day, you can take off a Hershey Kiss and enjoy a sweet treat before Valentine's Day!

Next year, you can add new kisses and do it all again.

Here's the free printable if you want to make one of your own.

Just right click on the jpg picture and save to your computer.

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Secret Recipe Club-Butterscotch Blondie Mini Muffcakes

 

The blog that I was assigned for January for Secret Recipe Club was Bizzy Bakes.  Since I have been up against bandwidth issues with my ISP I did not have a chance to explore the blog as much as I would have liked.

I did, however, find two great potato patty recipes and a whole page of links to muffin recipes.  When I saw Butterscotch Blondie Muffins listed on that page, I knew that was what I would make.  After all who can resist a blondie or a muffin?  I am definitely going to explore this blog further when I get through this ISP thing.

I made a few minor changes which is why I named my recipe Butterscotch Blondie Mini Muffcakes.  A year or so ago, Tiffany from Eat at Home and I had a email conversation regarding what to call those recipes that seemed to be between a muffin and a cupcake.  Muffcakes was the result of that conversation.

I used an egg instead of the egg substitute.  I baked the batter in a mini muffin pan and instead of stirring in the butterscotch chips, I just placed a butterscotch chip on top of each muffin.  I had hoped that the chips would remain on the top, but they sunk into the muffins.  Next time I will use two chips for each muffin cup and push them into the batter to cover them.

Hubby really liked these, especially the butterscotch chip center of each mini muffin.

Butterscotch Blondie Mini Muffcakes
adapted from Bizzy Bakes
1/4 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 large egg at room temperature
2 t. vanilla extract
1 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/8 t. salt
36 butterscotch baking chips

Melt butter in a large microwave-safe bowl.  Stir in brown sugar, egg and vanilla.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir flour mixture into butter/sugar mixture just until flour is moist.  Batter will be somewhat stiff.  Spray a mini muffin pan with nonstick spray.  Drop batter by teaspoonsfull into muffin cups.  Push two butterscotch chips into each muffin.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool and store in a zip top bag to keep muffins moist.  Makes 18 mini muffins.

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Valentine Shopping

I was officially diagnosed with the flu last week and boy, has it not been fun. I haven't been this sick in forever and it has taken forever to get better.  Thanks to that, I've been in a creative slump.  I'm hoping with Valentine's only being a few weeks away, I'll get my head in gear and wow you with some fun valentine's party ideas.

To get started, here are some sweet ideas from the small businesses of Etsy.  Go and show some love to your local mom and pop businesses with the fun finds.

'I Love You Valentine's Party' 

Be Mine banner Valentines da... PaperPolaroid $35.00	Valentine Chocolate Blooming... candycottage $25.00
Pearl Heart Napkin Rings - V... Umis $16.00	Valentine's Day Personal... ahindle78 $12.00
Set of six VALENTINE'S D... TransylvaniaFl... $24.95	20 White Heart Rattan Lover ... marwincraft $14.97
Valentine Day Cupcake Topper... Umis $10.80	Valentines Topiary "Hug... LadyBugzandLac... $40.00
Valentine's Red Heart Dr... GrasshopperGri... $4.00	Valentine Gummy Hearts Large... LorDelLinens $22.00
Giant Valentine Sugar Cookie... guiltyconfecti... $16.00	Valentine Cupcake Stand Disp... NuLuDesigns $37.95
Valentine's Red & White ... BlueMoonStudio... $28.00	Red Twine-Red bakers twine- ... SofiesBigDay $4.25
Valentine's Day Satin co... ladybugsnbees $29.99	Valentines pom poms set of 1... PomGarden $60.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

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