It's My Life

The holidays are among us. Personally, at this time in my life, I love the holidays!  I have spent the past several weeks decorating my home trying to make it look as festive and cozy as possible for my family and loved ones.  However, if I am being super honest, I have not always appreciated this time of year. There was a point in my life when I was getting divorced and my father was dying of lung cancer that I honestly dreaded this time of year. I do not think I am alone. For many people, the time between November and January is a very difficult time to get through. Some may call it the bah humbugs or seasonal depression, or even just a funky ole mood but it is common to encounter someone with the Christmas Blues whose goal is just to survive the holidays.  There is something very emotional about the holiday season. It could be simply societal pressure of purchasing gifts and spreading ourselves too thin.  Maybe it is that a new year is upon us and star...

Cookies. I think we all might have a touch of Cookie Monster in us when it comes to our love of cookies. I mean, really, who does not love cookies? One of my favorite holiday traditions is an old fashioned cookie exchanges. You bring in a couple dozen cookies and swap with your friends. You leave with a sampling of cookies; maybe an old favorite or maybe even something new. My cookie of the year is a Lemon Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread. The red cranberries and the green pistachio's just look like Christmas in a cookie.  The lemon just gives the cookie an extra pop of flavor. Lemon Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies 2 1/3 cup all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 2/3 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup unsalted pistachio's coarsely chopped 1 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped zest from 1 lemon Mix the flour and salt together in a separate bowl. In your mixer beast the butter until smoo...

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree such please you do bring me! So much that I keep adding them to my home. Right now I have five in my home. By the time Ole Saint Nick arrives I may be up to six. This year we changed things up a bit. I added mesh garland to the main tree in the house. I even made my own topper. The family tree in the basement got a new Frosty hat topper and some cute Elf legs. My dining room tree is a rustic burlap, white, crystal, gold and bronze.  The star is a giant wooden star I found at Pier One last year. This year in honor of our 2015 World Series Champion Kansas City Royals, I created a small Royals themed tree. All the ornaments are salt dough and hand painted by myself. I made a gold crown for the topper out of sculpey clay. The final tree is a small fuschia colored tree with pink lights and a pink star. This tree finds its home in The Short Chic's bedroom. She decorated it herself this year.

Recently, we hosted a Glow Party for our friends at our annual family camp-out . We had over 50 people attend ranging in age from a year old to 65 years old.  I am not kidding for one second, it was a blast! Somewhere between black lights, glow sticks, and killer play list every guest let go, relaxed, and had a great time. Creating a Glow Party is actually pretty easy. Here are my 6 simple steps to follow to help you create a Successful Glow Party!  1. Venue We had our glow party outside at a local state park. You may have your party in a house, or basement or even a party room.  The size of your venue will determine the type of size of your black lights.   2. Black Lights Black Lights are almost a necessity for a successful Glow Party. Small venue's need small lights but if you have a larger space, you will need larger lights. Imagine the disappointment if you are trying to use black light-bulbs in a large area. They will be too small to hav...

I have known Jenn K for a while now but I recently discovered a passion of hers. She loves educating people about animals and loves to share her passion for animals with others. Jenn K is a Wildlife Education Exhibitor and owns and operates Exotics-R-Us . She has a crew existing of  human helpers as well as phenomenal animals that make up Exotics-R-Us. Exotics-R-Us has been showing animals for a decade. You might have seen them at many local schools, hospitals, 4-H camps, local businesses, training's, retirement facilities, Boy Scout events, Girls Scout events, as well as fairs and festivals. They are even regulars at Mid-Continent Public Library educating young crowds about these animals and their care. I recently caught up with Jenn and her Exotics-R-Us crew at a private birthday party. At this party Exotics-R-Us brought nine different species of animals and ten total animals to the party. The animals are just as involved as the staff at Exotics-R-Us when deciding w...

The Kansas City Royals won The World Series this past weekend. Yes. They. Did. We were proud last year when our last place Royals came back and clinched a wild card ticket . They were the Cinderella story of baseball last year and fought their way to the World Series only to lose out in Game 7 to the San Francisco Giants.  We did not get discouraged. If you would have asked any Royals fan in Kansas City, we would have told you on Opening Day this past Spring that this was going to be our year. We had unfinished business. We took care of that business last weekend by finishing The World Series in five games and defeating The New York Mets. On Tuesday of this week, our city threw an amazing victory parade that an estimated 800,000 people attended. Schools closed for the day, employers allowed long lunches, college students missed classes, and even government offices closed. This championship has given something more than a giant trophy and bragging rights to our cit...