Looking Ahead and Starting Now.

There is a question that I always ask my clients in our first meeting, it goes like this; "If we were meeting 3 years from now and you were looking back on this meeting, WHAT is it that has to happen for you to feel successful in where you are at?"

It is a very profound and deeply though provoking question for some and others have immediate, tip-of-the-tongue answers. But everyone has answers. We all want something better for our futures, don't we? Or at least different, or maybe simpler, or are you wanting to spice things up more? Isn't that why New Years Eve resolutions are so popular (or dreaded) for the general population every year? How many of of these "resolutions" quickly turn into mere "intentions" without any real weight or momentum behind them, leaving any real improvement in our lives in the dust? Why, why does this happen?

Hmmmm.... time to think, more tomorrow.... must have chocolate!

It's been a long time...

I have spent a long time trying to decide whether to close my Blog down or start writing again. The truth is, I fear I have have nothing really profitable to say, is anyone really wanting to read my rantings? But I think I am in need of another project so, the Blog shall live. "La Vida Blog"! Or something like that! I will be doing some more updates to it though because I am not quite happy with the format and platform that it has, it doesn't quite seem to represent me completely. Kinda getting excited!!

Marraige & Money - Making a Budget

Developing a Budget that is Successful

March 24th, 2010 | Budget, Personal Finance, money management techniques 

In general there is no way to overcome major financial problems without going to a budget. Even if you do not like the idea of budgeting, a good budget is like a trail boss who knows the entire forest like the back of his hand. Your budget will also prove to be the guide to your future financial success

There are five items I am sure will provide you with a basic skeleton of a working budget for you to flesh out and call your own.

1 - Teamwork - The relationship that you have with your spouse is one of the most important of all human relationships in your life. If you are married, then you need to treat your situation as if you and your spouse are one entity, which means that all of the most important decisions in your life need to be made together. Teamwork, then, is a vitally important part of developing a successful budget for your relationship or your family.

2 - Truth - It is important that you learn and comprehend what your true income actually is. Most people are not really aware of what their true income is. So what is a true income? Your true income is the actual dollar amount that the entire family is bringing in every month. These are the net dollars that remain after taxes and other withholdings have been paid. This is a reliable amount of money, and it is a for-sure amount of income that is not going to be dependent on things like bonuses, overtime or simple wishful thinking. The only way that you are going to have an accurate working budget is to know what your actual spendable dollars are.

3 - Monthly Budget - You need to make sure that you are doing your budget every single month. Prepare your budget brand new with every new month. You do not have to reinvent the wheel every single month because your budget format will already be in place, but you are going to want to prepare a brand new budget every single month because it will force you to rethink and review your spending habits on a regular basis and it will encourage communication within the family.

4 - Commit to Paper - Get your paper down on paper for the best possible results. Everything you do should be put down on paper because this makes it definitive. If your family budget is going to have any kind of an impact at all, then you are going to need to get it down on paper sooner rather than later.

5 - Prioritize - If you want your budget to have the biggest impact on your family, you need to be willing to prepare your budget based on where dollars need to go first and foremost.

Photo Credits: ThrasherDave

Originally posted 2009-10-26 03:28:26. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Shelley's Chicken Salad

This salad comes from one of my good friends, when I visit her house it is mandatory that she make it for me :)

2 cans or C shredded chicken
2 stalks celery, diced
2 stalks green onions, diced
1/4 C mayonnaise (I use Veginaise)
2 red apples, diced
1 t curry powder
1 t dill
salt & pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and cover tightly. Rest in refrigerator 2 hours to blend flavors.
Serve over lettuce leaves, on bread or in celery stalks. Very yummy!

3 Meals from 1 Chicken

This week is "Tech-Week" for my sons theater group, which means - no time for cooking each night, I HAVE to plan ahead and be very strategic or be ready to increase expenses and eat out. Since non of us are big fast food fans, I set to planning. I was essentially planning for meals ready to eat fast meals and was not planning on going to the store, so I turned to what was already in my freezer and my pantry and hoped for the best. A beautiful whole chicken was frozen, so I sat it to defrost and wondered..."just how many meals could I make out of this one chicken?" I scoured my home recipe book and found some help and imagination or "divine intervention!" filled in the rest.

I oven roasted my chicken (skin on) with thyme, salt, pepper and white wine. The spice combination was designed to give it flavor but not so much distinct flavor that I couldn't add other flavors to it. After cooling, I picked it apart, every evidence of meat was claimed and portioned. Then one, two, three I cooked three easy meals for my family of 4 that were easy to reheat and portion friendly, needed for the demands of the week!

Meal 1: Chicken & Cheese Burritos Enchilada Style
11/2 C Shredded Chicken
1/2 Onion sautéed              (Tip-cook other half of onion and add to salad below)
2 C Shredded Cheese         (Tip-shred extra cup of cheese for salad below)
2 C Enchilada Sauce - homemade or canned
4 Large Flour Tortillas
Briefly put each tortilla in skillet of warmed sauce to coat. Remove to greased 13X9 pan and fill (I stuffed!!) with chicken, onion, salt & pepper & cheese. Roll into Burrito, seam side down. Continue with remaining 3 tortillas. Add remaining sauce to burritos, topping with cheese. Bake 25 minutes at 375.
Made 4 servings

Meal 2: Chicken & Dumplings
3 C Shredded Chicken
1 10 oz can Cream of Chicken
1 C Chicken Broth
1 C Milk
1/2 t each Thyme and Pepper
1 C Bisquick
1/4 more Pepper
1/3C more Milk
Combine chicken through Pepper in large saucepan over med-high heat. Stir constantly. In bowl stir together Bisquick through milk just until moistened. Drop Bisquick dough by spoonfuls into boiling chicken mixture. Turn heat to low and simmer 10 minutes, uncovered. Simmer 10 more minutes, covered or longer until dumplings are done.
4 Servings

Meal 3: Mexican Chicken Salad
1 C Shredded Chicken
1/2 Sauteed Onion
1 Can Black Beans
2 Carrots
1 C Shredded Cheese
Optional-1/4 t Cumin
Romaine Lettuce
Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil, Honey & Red Wine Vinegar to taste
Top cut lettuce with carrots, beans, cheese, onions and chicken. Salt & pepper as desired. Mix vinegar, oil & honey for dressing.  Also fabulous with a squeeze of lime, salsa &/or sour cream.
Made 4 servings

Enjoy!

Encouraging Article on Partial Fasting, just in time for Lent.

Retune The Body With A Partial Fast

by PATTI NEIGHMOND

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Consuming only water for a 24-hour period — no more than once a week — can suppress insulin secretion and reduce the desire for sugar.

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November 21, 2007

For thousands of years, beginning with philosophers like Hippocrates, Socrates and Plato, fasting was recommended for health reasons. The Bible writes that Moses and Jesus fasted for 40 days for spiritual renewal.

To understand how the body reacts to a lack of food, you could start by looking at what happens to newborns. Newborns can't sleep through the night because they need to eat every few hours. They don't produce enough glycogen, the body's form of stored sugar, to make energy.

"Glycogen is necessary for thinking; it's necessary for muscle action; it's necessary just for the cells to live in general," says Dr. Naomi Neufeld, an endocrinologist at UCLA.

Neufeld says most adults need about 2,000 calories a day. Those calories make energy, or glycogen. Neufeld says it doesn't hurt — it might even help the body — to fast or stop eating for short periods of time, say 24 hours once a week, as long as you drink water.

"You re-tune the body, suppress insulin secretion, reduce the taste for sugar, so sugar becomes something you're less fond of taking," Neufeld says.

Eventually the body burns up stored sugars, or glycogen, so less insulin is needed to help the body digest food. That gives the pancreas a rest. On juice diets recommended by some spas, you may lose weight, but your digestive system doesn't get that rest.

Mark Mattson, a scientist with the National Institute on Aging, says that when we convert food into energy, our bodies create a lot of byproducts we could do without, including free radicals.

"These free radicals will attack proteins, DNA, the nucleus of cells, the membranes of cells," Mattson says. "They can damage all those different molecules in cells."

And even if you don't fast, Mattson says that simply limiting the calories you consume may be beneficial. He points to studies where rats and mice were fed every other day. Compared with those fed normal daily diets, there was a reduction in disease among the rats that were severely restricted in their food intake. Mattson says those findings hold promise that humans could also benefit from partial fasting.

Mattson thinks partial fasting has numerous benefits, from improving glucose regulation, which can protect against diabetes, to also lowering blood pressure. Some animal studies have also shown that partial fasting has very beneficial effects on the brain, protecting against Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and stroke.

Partial fasting may even extend lifespan because eating less sends a message to the cells of the body that they should conserve and use energy more efficiently.

"When they're exposed to a mild stress, [the body's cells] sort of expect that maybe this is going to happen again," Mattson says. "So maybe next time I may have to go longer without food, so I'd better be able to deal with that when it comes on."

Mattson says that process is similar to the way muscles get built up when they're stressed by exercise. Mattson adds that because complete fasting is difficult to study and there is little actual research comparing people who fast with those who don't, it's not clear whether complete fasting (water only) is also beneficial.

Proponents say small, short-term studies find that complete fasting lowers blood pressure and reduces cancer risk. But Dr. Naomi Neufeld worries that complete fasting could be harmful. After the first few days of liquid only, the body uses up all its stored glucose to make energy. And then it turns to other sources, including fat and muscle.

"The main tissue that's the target in long-term fasting is muscle, because muscle has readily available amino acids which can be converted to glucose right away," Neufeld says. "In that way, your brain is never deprived of needed glucose."

The problem, Neufeld says, is that when muscle breaks down, potentially toxic proteins are released. These proteins are partly composed of nitrogen, and too much nitrogen in the body can be toxic to the kidneys and liver. That's when starvation is officially under way.

Great Coupon and Deal Site

I just stumbled upon this great resource for daily notices of local sale, deals and coupons! Give it a try.

How are we running?

1 Corinthians 9:24 

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run,

but only one gets the prize?

Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Inspiring Story of being "Happy First"

918 Moms - Inspiring others with Happy First by Melanie Henry font size:   Print   Email   1 comments Cancer survivor Debbie Vineyard aims to inspire others through her women’s and children’s clothing line, Happy First. In a minute, Debbie Vineyard’s world changed. As she held her 6-week-old baby and her 3-year-old son scurried about, Vineyard learned she had cancer. A woman known for calling and e-mailing friends to wish them a “Happy First Day of the Month” or “Happy Monday” would begin chemotherapy the next day, Feb. 1, 1995. Of cancer, Vineyard simply says, “I got the good one. Isn’t that funny?” According to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the survival rate for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer involving the body’s lymph system, is generally 90 percent or higher when the disease is detected during early stages, as it was for Vineyard. Vineyard knew the odds were on her side, but the unknown haunted her. “I wasn’t worried about me,” she says. “I was worried about my kids, my husband. I felt like I could beat it from the start. I knew God had a plan for me and I was going to be fine.” Fifteen years later, Vineyard is cancer-free. “Everyone has their own story,” she says. “I had to go through cancer to get my story.” Her story began with a cancer diagnosis, but Vineyard was determined to make her next chapter one of new beginnings. So, Happy First was hatched. The egg-inspired clothing line offers women’s and children’s apparel with unique messages. Four years ago, the line began with eight products. Today, Happy First offers dozens of products with vendors in 15 states and online at  www.HappyFirst.com. Best sellers include “Happy Chick” and “Freshly Hatched” organic infant onesies, adult wraps and “Happy Hour” hoodies. “(It’s) just like you are bursting out of a shell,” Vineyard says. “I like the idea of a fresh start every day.” Friends say her enthusiasm is addictive. College friend  Amy Fuller says Vineyard radiates something special. “I think she’s exploding with the need to explore life and not waste a minute,” she says. Lori Dale, another longtime friend, admits that she often needs “a dose of Debbie” to brighten her day. Others appreciate her contributions as well. This year Vineyard has been nominated as the Pi Beta Phi Woman of the Year. As her company grows, so does Vineyard’s commitment to giving back. In addition to donating a portion of the Happy First proceeds to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Vineyard is also an advocate. She says her clothing line is more than just a shirt or jacket. “It’s an opportunity to connect and share my story and encourage people to live life to the fullest,” she says. “I tell them to be positive. Many cancers are curable. Watch the blessings that come from the challenge.” Vineyard says she wants people to embrace the Happy First mentality, which is to simply find your passion and pursue it. Spend a minute with her and you’ll see just how she celebrates life each day. Melanie Henry co-founded 918moms.com, a community Web site for moms who swap stories, save money and share advice. Learn more at www.918moms.com. This article originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of TulsaPeople Magazine.

Words You Should Never Say...

This is a great list from Kathy Peel on 25 things we should never say to our kids!

Crunchy Pork Chops

Getting all of my family to agree on a "good" recipe is a challenge, I tend to test out a lot of new things on my family in the spirit of creating something new and finding ways to save money.... sometimes it's a thumbs up and other times I get asked where the Cheerios are!

This recipe was a surprising hit. The pork was juicy on the inside and the coating remained super crunchy. I started out with a basic recipe and of course added and changed, etc., sometimes it takes a few tries to tweak things, but this one seemed to be perfect after the first go around, so I submit it for your dinnertime pleasure :) My apologies, I forgot to snap a picture; unexpectedly, my parents came over for a spur of the moment dinner so they got to share in the yum as well.

1/2 C Bisquick
1/2 C Panko
1/2 C Flax-Seed Meal
1/4 Wheat Flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 boneless, center cut pork chops
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425. Place wire rack on a baking sheet and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In shallow dish dish, combine Bisquick, Panko and Flax-Seed Meal. In 2 separate shallow dishes, place flour and eggs. Pat pork chops dry with paper towel and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dredge pork in flour; coat in eggs, and dredge in baking mix mixture.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until done. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Reviving Make Up Brush Cleaner

It is hard to remember to clean our make up brushes, but once something touches our face, it needs to be cleaned so as to not spread bacteria. A good rule of thumb is to clean them at least every 2 weeks. This wonderful homemade cleaner is so simple it will having you taking better care of those brushes with very little effort and at a fraction of the cost of retail brush cleaners.

Reviving Make Up Brush Cleanser:
2 Tbs Pure Alcohol
1 C Distilled Water
1 tsp Castille Soap

Have available:
Damp, new sponge or paper towel
2 Shallow dishes or small bowls
Distilled Water
Clean towel or paper towel
1 Clean towel folded

Steps:

1.  In shallow dish of cleanser, dip tip of brush, being careful to not wet the farrel (the metal connection between brush tip and wood handle). Do not swish the brush around, you will "muddy" the cleanser, just hold for a few seconds.
2. Wipe brush back and forth on damp sponge or paper towel, do not rub or circle the tip. Repeat steps 1 & 2 until tip wipes clear.
3.  Wet tip in dish of distilled water to rinse.
4. Wipe again with back and forth motion to rid of excess water on clean paper towel. 
5. Shape brush with fingers and lay flat to dry on folded towel with brush tip hanging over.
6. When brushes are completely dry, fluff lightly with fingers and replace in holder. 

• Always be careful to keep brushes pointed down when handling so water does not get into the farrel.
• Grouping powder brushes, blush, and eye brushes together for cleaning makes it easier.
• For heavy eye liner or lip liner brush cleaning add tip to a drop of Olive Oil on a paper towel and wipe gently for make up removal, then proceed with Step 1. 
• Kabuki or powder brushes can also be "quick cleaned" by wetting tip with distilled water, applying a few drops of soap to a damp sponge, and wiping brush back and forth on sponge, finish with a water rinse and dry.

The Practical Life

What exactly does that mean... "Practical"? Webster was a huge help in picking apart the word with me and my mind went racing away, as usual, with new interpretations. Here is some food for thought on The Practical Life.

practical, adjective, noun. adj.

1. having to do with action or practice rather than thought or theory. I find it interesting that theory and practical are in opposition to one another, interesting just because I never thought of it before. We all have our beloved theories on life, parenting or how to boil water, but do we practice them? Do we hold onto these theories more as impressive thoughts to be heard by others but not seen? Some of us have become "arm chair Christians", have we not? Quite possibly the difference that lies between a Practical Life and a Theoretical Life is one that has a track record, a life where one's theories are being tried out, tested and lived. When I do not act on my beliefs, how do I know how real they are or if they will 'hold water'? God speaks about such a life in James 2: 14-17. A theory that is put into action, over and over again is practiced and made stronger... it seems like a beautifully designed cycle. The theory gets stronger as it is practiced, the action is refined as it is practiced... The Practical Life!

2. fit for actual practice.. I love this definition! I will exchange the word "fit" for "equipped" and trust you won't mind. I am a Certified Kolbe Advisor (check out www.kolbe.com, contact me for more, I seriously passionate!) I am 100% convinced everyone is uniquely designed to fulfill the desires God has placed in our hearts, this is His will for our lives and is one of the most exciting things to grasp in our entire lives. As we allow ourselves to dream and have the courage to step out towards those dreams, we practice living how we are meant to live. If you are a housewife, you are equipped. If you are a COO, you are equipped. If you are retired, divorced, a grandparent, single, unemployed... YOU are equipped! Whatever you are doing or are going to do, God has given you the necessary items in your "tool kit" to be successful, satisfied and overwhelmingly happy as we practice them. How do I know this? Eph 2:10 - "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good things, which God created beforehand that we should walk in them." Oh, how I love the promises that reassure us for our Practical Life!

3. useful. Life! Your life, my life, is useful. What we do, every day IS useful. When we are practicing our purpose, when we are using what God has given us (tools, skills, theories, etc) to do his will. Col 3:23-24 reminds us that as we do these things for the Lord, and forget that it's for people, our blessing comes from the Lord. Geez, it is hard to see sometimes, isn't it? Among the laundry, the messes, the problems and the noise there often isn't a break, much less a warm fuzzy from Heaven saying "Hey, Great Job on that chicken! It rocked and it was worth hand picking the basil and lemons in 112 degree heat, I could really taste it and ..... THANK YOU!!!!!" .... not going to happen. But, I'm not waiting for it either because my satisfaction is not in the thank you, it's in the lemon. What? Yup, it's in knowing that I am useful. Because of the way God made me, personally, I know that I feel satisfied when I create. One way I get a lot of joy is from creating meals for my family - I just do, I can't explain it, it's instinctual. As I follow my God given desire, I find myself practicing my skill I am having a great time doing it because I am also being useful with my creations... now, tell me how cool God is!

The same is true for you. The Practical Life you lead is the actions you take, not only those brilliant thoughts you have. You have been created with YOU in mind, perfectly fitted and equipped with a tool box for your real construction site of life. You are useful in your Practical Life as you use your natural instincts for your work, you will experience true freedom and satisfaction in doing things as you were meant to, for God's glory. So have at it, Ladies and remember the Lemons!

Love you~ Misty