What I learned in 2011

It's officially a new year (and my birthday...yay!), so I thought I would compile a list of things I learned this year.  I haven't thought this through, it might be a short list...haha!

1. Independence is great, but having someone to lean on is even better.
2. It's ok to tell people no.
3. I learned how to sew this year, it has been a really fun hobby!
4. Even though you don't always get what you want when you want, there is usually a silver lining, you just might have to look for it.
5. Have a job you love is a huge bonus, no matter where you do it.
6. Being kind to everyone really does pay off, even if it just makes you feel better in that minute.
7. I am not going to please everyone all the time and I have to just let it go.
8. Even though people don't always know the right thing to say, it doesn't mean they don't care.
9. Infertility is an awful plague, I hope to find a cure one of these days and have a take home baby.
10. God is in control no matter how many times I take my troubles away from Him.

That is a good start.  I suppose I could always add more as I think of them, but this pretty much sums it up.  I hope this year find you with all that you want and need.  Just remember that everyone is fighting some kind of battle even if you would never be able to tell it from the outside.  I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed New Year!

Holiday Fun

I love the holidays.  I love the feelings that come with them, the memories they bring and the goodwill that strangers show to each other.

I also love making the cookies, candy and all the other treats that come along with it.  I had my friend and her little boy over to make cookies.  It was so fun!  He was very into rolling out the cookies and cutting them out!  Icing them was another story.  He iced about 3 cookies and he was finished.  He then proceeded to suck all the icing out of the bags.  It was hilarious!  I am not sure what time she got him to bed after all that sugar!

I found a recipe for powdered sugar icing that reminded me of the icing on the cookies from the doughnut shop from my hometown.  It was awesome!  It made me happy! 
Here it is:
1cup of powdered sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla
add food coloring as desired
Mix and spread on the cooled cookies.  When the icing dries, it is shiny and smooth!  Plus it tastes super yummy!

Ugly Cry

We had a special musical guest at church today.  Just let me say his voice was wonderful and his songs were beautiful.  One of the songs he sang was about a couple where the husband told his wife before he died that he would draw an arrow on the banks of the River Jordon pointing the way to heaven and he would wait for her to go and meet Jesus.  So of course being the emotional train wreck that I am these days, I flat out ugly cried.  It just meant so much to me since we lost my grandpa last year at Christmastime.  He and my grandma had been married 67 years and it has been such a loss for our whole family, but especially her.  Right before my grandpa died, he and my grandmother had been in separate hospitals for various reasons. My grandpa got out first and when my mom took him to visit my grandma, his first words to her, "Where have you been?  I have been looking all over for you!"  Another time when he was in the hospital, we took my grandma to visit and everyone else had gone out of the room and I was just standing right outside the door, I overheard them talking.  She was standing beside the bed and he was holding her hand.  He told her that he had been thinking about her.  She asked him don't you have anything better to think about?  His sweet reply was, no I don't reckon I do.  I hope that D and I are as happy and as in love as they were for 67 years.  Just so you know, I cried again while writing this.  I am trying to brighten my mood with Christmas music...but then hearing about a baby that had no crib for a bed brings tears to my eyes too!  Emotional train wreck I say!