Soup

I love soup! It has a magical way of making you feel better whether you feel sick or are hurting emotionally. There is also such a variety, from cream soups to broth-based soups and they can loaded with whatever you want. I can't even say I have a favorite soup because it varies on my mood. I also love to sit down to a nice, warm bowl of soup on cold days. It just warms you to your core. I love the old Campbell's commercial where the snowman comes inside and sits down for a bowl of soup. As he eats the soup, all the snow melts away and you see a little boy sitting there. Of course, while I enjoy the occasional bowl of Campbell's soup, I much prefer homemade. So whether it be Baked Potato Soup, Italian Wedding Soup, or Chicken Noodle, I love soup.

As I am always looking for new recipes, especially for soup, I would love it if you would share your favorite soup recipes, or at least a link to them.

Candles

I love candles and the ambiance they bring to a room. There is just something about the way they flicker and glow that calms me instantly. When they add in a lovely scent, it can stir up memories as well. When they are not lit, candles can bring some color into your decor and they are inexpensive and easy enough to change according to your desires or the season. Candles in a bathroom can make a bubble bath more relaxing or can add to the romance in a bath for two. In the bedroom, candles give off just enough light for you to see each other, yet not so much that anyone has to be self-conscious of their looks. For ones that I do not plan to burn, I generally choose inexpensive ones from a dollar store, but if I do plan to burn them, I splurge on high quality, well scented ones with lead-free wicks. Even though I do buy candles for decor, my favorite candles are the ones I burn. As I type this, I am looking forward to putting the kids to bed tonight so that I can light a few candles and unwind before my husband comes home around 10:30 and then the candles can serve their other purpose of bringing romance to a room. I love candles.

Disclaimers

I just wanted to assure all of you that things that I post on this blog are truly things that I love and as of yet, none have been paid postings or even reviews of things I was asked to review. I do have a blog where I post reviews of products, but this blog is reserved for those special things in life that I come across that I absolutely love. I am not saying that the time will never come where I review something I love, but if/when it does, I will be sure you know what I received in exchange. My dear readers, you are so special to me and I do not want to ever feel like I have sold myself just to have something to write about.

Photographs

I love photographs. They have the ability to take you back to a time and place and evoke powerful memories. Even photos of places you have not been and of people you do not know, allow you to imagine the experience. They tell stories without words and allow you to see how people and places change over time. I love looking through scrapbooks and photo albums to relive experiences. I also love professional portraits, especially when they manage to perfectly capture the subject's personality. They allow you to see who that person really is/was and are wonderful items to pass on to future generations. I love photographs.

Related to this, if you would like to see my family's most recent portraits, and have the chance to win a 10x10 specialty portrait of your own, be sure to check out this post on The Happy Wife, one of my other blogs.

Baby steps

I have been failing to meet my goal of publishing at least one post a week here and I again apologize. I am working on posting more often, and I have lots I want to share. I just need to actually sit down and type it all out. I have currently been posting about once a month and I will continue that, but my new adjusted goal is twice a month. Once I get that down, I will go for once a week and then hopefully, even more often.

I often find that when I set my goals, I set them high and I do not provide a plan to reach them. By following what I stated above, I have put in place the baby steps I need to reach my bigger goal of posting 2-3 times a week. When we give ourselves baby steps, we are better able to reach them and therefore have several times when we have the feeling of accomplishment. Plus, if we are unable to reach our larger goal, each baby step we did reach, improves our lives anyway, just on a smaller scale. I did the same thing when I wanted to lose weight. My goal was to lose about 150 pounds. My baby steps were to eat whole grains at least twice a day, eat a rainbow of colors every day, cut out soda completely, increase my activity and to limit myself on sweets and fatty foods. I also had even smaller steps for each of those goals. I ended up losing 80 pounds (which I have since gained back after having 2 more children), but now I know I can lose the weight and I still eat more whole grains, fruits and veggies than before. As a matter of fact, I am going to add the weight loss to my list of goals. I will try to post my progress as I go along. I guess my first baby step will need to be to get all this Halloween candy out of my house ;0)

A Great Deal

I love great deals so I had to share this one that I found. There is a great deal on the new Snow White DVD/Blu-Ray 2 pack. On Amazon.com, the sale price is $19.99, but if you enter the coupon code "Snowhite", they will take an additional $10 off, making the total cost $9.99. Shipping is $2.98, but the DVD does qualify for Super Saver shipping so it could be free if you add another $5 to your purchase (the total needs to be $25 before applying the $10 coupon for free shipping). This includes both the regular DVD and the Blu-Ray version so whether you have a Blu-Ray player or not, this is a great deal.

Kind people

This is a story I have been wanting to share for a few weeks now, but have been unable to sit down and actually type it up. As some of you know, we recently went on a cross-country (NY to Seattle area and back) vacation, by minivan. Before leaving, our local grocery store had a really good sale on cherries and I love cherries. I suggested buying some for the road trip, but my husband insisted on waiting until we got to Washington, because there is "nothing better than Eastern Washington cherries". I obliged since we were heading there anyway. When we finally made it to Sunnyside, WA (a small, but very cute city), my husband found a fruit stand and went in to buy some long-awaited cherries. The look on his face when he returned empty-handed told the whole story. Cherry season had ended the week before. Disappointed, we headed on our way. As we reached the edge of town, we pulled over to set the GPS and to take a picture of this huge, red wagon. While my husband was fiddling with the electronics, a police officer pulled up behind us with his lights on. We were not overly concerned since we knew we had done nothing wrong, but we were curious as to why he was pulling up behind us. The officer approached the window and asked if we needed any assistance. My husband told the story of the cherries and stated we were just getting ready to head back to the highway. He asked us to give him a moment and he began to make a few phone calls. During his phone calls, we learned that this was not just an officer, this was the Chief of Police in Sunnyside. Incidentally, we also realized the red wagon was sitting in front of the jail. Chief Ed Radder, continued to chat with us while he was on hold during his phone calls. He explained that Johnson Foods was located there and that they provided asparagus and cherries to the Schwan's Company. After he finished his final phone call, he told us to follow him and he gave us a police escort over to Johnson Foods. Upon arriving, my husband and Chief Radder approached a tall gentleman who they chatted with for a few moments. The gentleman then walked away and returned with a HUGE box of freshly picked cherries and handed them to my husband. My husband asked how much they were and the gentleman said, "No charge. Welcome to Eastern Washington." There had to easily be 10 pounds of cherries in that box. Even after bringing many of them to a family function a few days later, we still had cherries that made it back to NY. We were told it is was a great cherry season this year, all I know is that these were the sweetest, juiciest cherries I have ever had, made all the better by the kindness and generosity of Chief Radder and the folks at Johnson Foods. I love cherries, but I love kind people even more.