Common Sense Living

I love my neighbors. I really do. They feed me often.  

The neighbors on one side are a little older. They could retire if they wanted to, but they don’t want to. So I’ll do things for them, and they give me homemade Italian food. I like that deal.  

I make sure they can get in their driveway when they get home after a big snowfall – they give me food.

She said she wanted to clean the beach, but couldn’t get to it. I like having things to do when I’m outside – so I did it. They feed me.  

And its not stuff you can buy.

Today he brought me lasagna, an Italian sausage sandwich with grilled red peppers, and a big thing of fruit salad. He’s always kidding me because I eat so much fruit.  

I’m trying to get him to show me how to make some of it, like his red sauce.

And, I’m just about to get my first ripe beefsteak tomato out of my garden. It’s a good week for food! 

There’s 3 points to this story - 

Always be willing to lend a helping hand. 

Show appreciation when someone does lend a hand. 

Good food goes a long way! 

Don’t you feel special when you have something that’s exclusive? Something that not everyone can have?  

That’s the feeling you can have all of the time when you make your own food. And its a fairly inexpensive way to show people that you appreciate them.  

Even your family.  

You might not think that they notice, or even care. But let me tell you – they do. 

How many times have the guys brought something fabulous their wife made into the office?  

I’ll ask my daughter what she wants for dinner. She often just says, “Good food.” 

She gets tired of the fast food joints with her friends, or the packaged instant food at other people’s houses. She wants, and appreciates good food.  

What about you? Don’t you deserve the best? A little special treatment? 

Food that will make you look and feel great? 

Steer clear of the fast food lane tonight and make something fabulous. There’s tons of fresh fruits and vegetables that don’t require any cooking at all this time of year. Throw something on the grill and you’ll be feasting in no time 

Your family will thank you.

Your body will thank you.

Your waistline will thank you.

If you need help finding something fast and fabulous to make >>>

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OK, I’ve had my head buried in the sand again. I’ve been busy loading recipes at Rebel With a Fork so you all have plenty of good food, not only for Thanksgiving – but for any busy day of the week. It’s turned out to be a tall order! But I think I’ve got a lot of fast easy stuff to get your taste buds activated

But – I just found out that one of our fellow readers makes these fantastic handmade soaps that sound so luscious – and they’re so inexpensive! I wanted to tell you right away because I don’t know how many orders she’ll be able to handle by Christmass – and at these prices you’ll want to get some.

I get nothing for telling you about them. She doesn’t even know I’m doing this. Shelli is one of us, and these soaps look incredible, and the prices are definitely right. Check them out!  http://buttontreesoaps.com/Soaps.html

Image by churl via Flickr

We planned a sort of laid back weekend this weekend. We really needed a break! So when I was going to the store Friday, I asked my daughter what she wanted to eat this weekend. She said “Good Food!”

Well, that narrows it down, doesn’t it?

She definitely wanted the Pecan Crusted Chicken. Her boyfriend likes green beans, so we had to have those, and we topped it off with cooked apples for a side dish.

For Sunday they picked Teriyaki Chicken with buttered noodles, and a big tossed salad.

And we made potato chip cookies.

It was a weekend of great company, relaxing, and great food.

And the kids made the mistake of telling me about the new oldies station…

Everything is cleaned up, and I’m ready to settle in and watch a movie. Oddly enough, as much as everyone else likes them, potato chip cookies are not my favorite – but there is some chocolate mousse and some raspberries left that have my name on it.

Oh, you thought they were going to pick pizza and burgers, didn’t you? Not often around here. My daughter spent about an hour on Rebel With a Fork. She was reading the recipe for the Pecan Crusted Chicken, and she said, “hey that’s pretty easy – even I could make that!”

Yep, that’s the idea!

Fast, easy, healthy. Oh sure, it’s not what the health gurus are trying to sell you – but it’s a lot more enjoyable way to get thin and healthy. Join the Rebels! >>>

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I’m finishing up the carpets. You know me, a little here and there until the big job is done. But I’ve got to get it finished – Visiting season is starting…

The house I live in used to be part of a resort way back in the 1920s & 30s. Only 2 of the 6 cabins are left standing, and they have been converted to year-round houses.

Since I live in vacation land, I don’t go anywhere on vacation. Everyone comes here.

It actually took some getting used to in the beginning. It felt so weird to have to get up and go to work when you felt like you should be going out and jumping in the lake.

My first round of company is coming this week. Some old friends we met when Bill was stationed here at Great Lakes will be coming to see their daughter graduate from Great Lakes. Well, without Bill, he’s still in Iraq. It’s been 5 years since we’ve seen them.

Gotta get all the sheets washed. I don’t know where everyone is sleeping yet. Some menu planning and shopping. But overall, everything is in pretty good shape. If they came today, everything would be fine, but I’m a freak and I want everything really clean. Except my desk – that’s always a mess. I hear that’s a sign of a creative mind. If I put everything away, I can’t find it. Weird, huh? Everything else has to be so clean, and then there’s this big messy desk. I guess we all have our quirks.

Thursday night we’ll have teriyaki chicken, pineapple, fresh green beans, and I think buttered noodles. Friday, everyone will be running around. Saturday we’ll probably do brunch. It will be the only morning we have to lay back and relax. Maybe some strawberry-banana french toast… We have a spaghetti dinner fundraiser thing on Saturday night. I don’t know what time their church is on Sunday. Then we’re going out for lunch before they leave.

My daughter loves that kind of weekend – always on the run. I’d like a little more down-time myself. But it will be fun.

I don’t know if I’ll get to making those potato chip cookies…

I expect a lot from myself, don’t I? Maybe we’ll just forget the cookie thing. We’ll see. What would you do?

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  Today was a bad day. It just was. Nothing went right. Everything was frustrating. I was more tired than usual. Just a bad day. And it wasn’t just me. Everyone seemed to be having trouble today. Everyone seemed a little out of it, frustrated and overwhelmed. I was looking around and I thought “at least my house is clean.” I know that sounds crazy, but I was already using the 3 dinner plan – so I didn’t have to stress about that, and the house is clean and calm. I know I can clean off my desk, take a nice hot shower and get a fresh start tomorrow. When I get up in the morning – everything will be clean and ready to go. No distractions. Hopefully minimial stress. Dinner is planned. Yep, tomorrow will be a better day. I’m ready. If you haven’t picked up your copy of Live Your Life by Design Instead of by Accident – look for the lime green cover over to your right and get your free copy.

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