Shell's Sentiments

Everything is nearly set on the night before Christmas. We have one gift that needs to be wrapped and placed under the tree. Christmas looked different this year. To make this holiday feel as normal as possible, I took traditions from our extended families and brought them to our house. We had warm ham sliders on King Hawaiian rolls. A crowd favorite that my children love and missed this year. 

We did Christmas Eve different this year. I wanted a fun drink for everyone to enjoy. This non-alcoholic mocktail was a hit at both family gatherings. 

On your birthday, I am reminded of all the wonderful times we had together. Some of my favorite memories and life lessons of you are as follows. You were an entrepreneur before entrepreneurship became known. You were talented beyond belief. There was nothing you could not conquer. You also were never afraid to try new things. A few of the adventures you I can remember. 

A kid friendly mocktail that brings the holiday cheer to another level. My children love a good shirley Temple. However, I am trying to limit the amount of red dye in our diet. I tried out this recipe and it tastes better than the orginal.

This is the first year in many years that I was excited about the elf on the shelf. This is how my life goes. It never fails at the beginning of the month. I am excited, ready to go. A few days in, I forget to move the darn things. Which starts the downward spiral. I end up stressing myself out, becoming resentful over an activity that should be fun and joyful. 

It began years ago with a mom who was overachieving and clueless about what she was getting into.Our children were perceptive to the things they wanted to pay attention to. Early on, they recognized that “Santa’s” handwriting matched mom’s all too closely. I tapped into my creative spirit and came up with this wonderful idea. 

Can we quit bragging about how resilient people are? We learn a new word and we want to incorprate that word into our vocabulary, yet oftentimes we don’t understand the meaning of the word. Only that it is a new ‘hot word”Here are a few words you may be hearing a lot of: resilient, gaslighting, projecting, narcasstic.

Want to take back control of your life? Ditch your digital calendar. Don’t get me wrong, I love the ability to have my calendar at my fingertips. Having the capability of seeing everything that is going on is convenient. And a nuance. Let me give you 3 reasons to switch and if you're still not convinced, keep your digital calendar. '

I reached the point where I knew things had to change. I was tired of… making excuses. trying to keep up.   not having time for the people important to me.  not having the energy to do things just for me. I was ready to embrace this balanced lifestyle. 

I found my mom’s recipe for cocoa brownies. Seeing her hand writing sent a wave of emotion over me. I remember when she gave the recipe to me. She knew I was trying to purchase less pre packaged food and make more food from scratch.