Sunday, January 21, 2018

Get ready for the Super Bowl with #Celebrate365

The game has been set and there will be an Eagles and Patriots showdown in two weeks for Super Bow LII.  To help you get ready, I have partnered up with my Celebrate 365 co-hosts (Carlee from Cooking with Carlee, Jan of The Tip Garden and Nicole of Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom) to host a Football Party Food Blog Party!

Get ready for the Super Bowl with #Celebrate365

No matter if you're going to a Super Bowl Party to cheer for your favorite team (or root against your least favorite), the commercials, or the half-time show, we've got you covered for delicious food for the entire game.

Bloggers are welcome to link-up all of their best football party foods from snacks and dips, to sandwiches and drinks, all are welcome as long as they are party friendly.

What looks good for your Super Bowl party?  Remember to Comment for a Cause and link up your best recipes!

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Comments for a Cause - Quilts of Honor

Comments for a Cause - Quilts of Honor
Happy New Year!  After sharing my Top Blog Posts from 2017 & my Goals for 2018, I can finally share about the new month of Comments for a Cause.

Thank you to everyone that commented last month to help me support The Michael J. Fox Foundation and for all the care and concern for my mother-in-law.  I am happy to report that she has returned home and is doing very well!  She is one of the strongest women I know and she's not going to give up.  That is one reason why I respect and admire the Michael J. Fox Foundation so much.  They aren't just working to find ways or things to help people with Parkinson's, they are dedicated to research for finding a cure.  Last month I had a total of 63 comments, equaling a donation of $31.50.  Thank you all for your continued support!

And thanks to everyone's continued support I am continuing my Comments for a Cause program for the 5th year!  To start off 2018 I am donating $0.50 for every comment made on my blog to Quilts of Honor.

Comments for a Cause - Quilts of Honor

Last year I learned about Quilts of Honor after a group of Veterans in an area Care Center received quilts through the nonprofit organization.  I thought the gesture was very honorable and I love to support any group that values the contributions of our veterans and current service men and women.

After years of quilting patriotic quilts for veterans, Quilts of Honor was officially founded in 2010 by Gail Belmont.  As a veteran herself, she had a passion and mission for providing comfort and healing to veterans and warriors.  One way of doing that was by providing "Quilted Hugs of Gratitude" to those who had served in the military.  To date, over 700 quilts have been awarded to veterans and service men and women across the country.

So help me and Quilts of Honor show our appreciation to our veterans and warriors for their sacrifice and service by commenting all month long.  Do you have a special veteran in your life?  You can request a quilt for them through the organization.  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

Monday, January 1, 2018

6 Goals to Accomplish in 2018

Happy New Year!  I'm motivated and excited for 2018, and I wanted to share with all of you some of my goals I have set for this year!

Family, Farm and Individual Goal Setting for the New Year

Family Goals

Family has always been one of my top priorities and in the last year I have actually started making some changes so I can focus on my family and be at home for them even more.  My family goals aren't anything new for us but I guess I want to refocus and put greater importance on these goals:

In the New Year I want to re-establish having family meetings on Sundays.  A couple years ago we started doing this but kind of let it go by the wayside over time.  Sunday nights for our family is a great time to go over the week's plan and schedule, talk through things that need to get done, and also talk about goals and ideas.  Our kids especially love giving supper recommendations each week, and thinking through BIG things like birthday party themes, vacation destinations and family fun activities.

In 2018 I also want to re-focus on creating individual time for each kid daily.  I know my kids do better if I have taken some time with them one on one, to do something special with or just for them.  This can be anything from reading a book, baking in the kitchen, or playing outside.  When you have four kids it can be easy to group them all together for activities and even have them just help each other out, but taking time separately with each kid isn't only a benefit for them, it is also a benefit for me to get to know and appreciate them as an individual.

Having individual, quality time with my husband is also a goal too!  He is the most important guy in my life and I never want to take him for granted.  Sometimes with young children it is easy to just focus on their needs, but taking time each day for us is important.  For Lent my husband and I have done nightly devotions together, but an idea is to do that all year long, rather than just Lent this year.

Creating Family Goals for the New Year - Weekly Family Meetings and Daily One-on-One Time

Farm Goals

My Farmer and I have been talking through goals and dreams for our farm ever since he started farming 12 years ago.  This year I want us to take some time to actually prioritize our projects and put a realistic time frame on these ideas.  We've had some plans on our to do list for the last few years but have never accomplished them.  What do we need to do to actually finish the task?  What will our budget actually allow us to execute this year?  These are things that we need to sit down and take time to work through.

Another goal that will help us on our farm in the New Year is if we both make more time to be in the office.  When you farm it is easy to concentrate on the outdoor tasks - feeding and taking care of the pigs, working in the field, getting machinery ready for the field, etc.  But taking time to file paperwork, track inputs and outputs and organize our records, will not only help us come tax time, but it will also help us with marketing, making daily business decisions, and can help us accomplish those projects that I just talked about.

Making Farm Goals for the New Year - Plan for Projects and Increasing Office Time

Individual Goals

Finally, I can't do any of the above if I'm not taking care of myself.  I talked the other day about how I feel like 2018 is my year to make healthier choices and changes.  One of first things I'm going to do in order to make those healthier choices is to wake up earlier.  This is not a new concept, and isn't even the first time I've made this a New Year goal.  But when I have done this, I have found myself more productive, am able to take more time for myself and in general am happier.  I know waking up early works and I'm determined to make it my routine.  I even have an accountability partner in place to give each other morning texts and encouragement to get up and get going.

My other individual goal goes along with being healthier too, and that is to drink more water.  This is another thing I have been good at in the past, and then have fallen off track with, especially since this last fall it seems.  When stress has gotten high and sleep has been minimal I have fallen into drinking more pop than I know I should be drinking.  The New Year seems like the perfect chance to get back on track and concentrate on drinking more water daily.

Making Individual Goals for the New Year - Waking up Earlier and Drinking Water

What are your goals in the New Year?  Be sure to share and Comment for a Cause!