Love Week - Cupid's Crunch

What kind of Love Week surprises am I planning?  Well, who doesn't love snack mix? Especially the kind that includes:

small pretzels (I used the small twists but the circles would be cute, too)

+

salted peanuts

+

M & Ms brand chocolate candy - in those fun Valentine Colors

+

Quaker Whole Hearts (fun heart-shaped cereal I bought at Target, but Cheerios or any yummy cereal could work too)

+

dried fruit (I used cranberries)

I didn't add these, but wouldn't they be fun?

Mini pink and white marshmallows

There's nothing magical about this recipe, of course,  add and subtract as you like.  I think granola might be a nice addition.  Here's my finished product though:

With a self-adhesive label on a nice smooth mason jar

and 

a smaller, fun-size jar with the cute tag tied on.  

Aimee and Bettijo of Paging Supermom were kind enough to give me permission to link to their post.  You can read about their delicious snack mix and even get your own copy of their fun printable.  


Hooray! Another thing to love about Love Week!

Love Week** Nears

1 CORINTHIANS 13 FOR KIDS

If I speak beautifully and can sing like an angel, but don’t love others,

I sound like a child banging on a piano or a screeching radio.

If I am smart, almost a genius, if I can figure out the hardest math problems and understand sentence diagrams, but don’t love others, I am nothing.

Love will stand in line and wait its turn.

Love looks for the good in others.

Love doesn’t always want what others have and doesn’t brag about what it does have.

Love is polite, even when the other person is rude.

Love doesn’t always have to be first.

Love doesn’t get angry over the small things and it doesn’t remember one reason after another to be hurt.

Love isn’t happy when someone else fails but is happy with the truth.

Love always protects others, especially those who are picked on or teased.

Love always believes the best about others and is steady and true. Love never gives up.  

Preaching will someday stop, so will speeches.  Knowledge will come to end.  Today we only know part of what there is to know. We can preach and speak only with a small part of understanding, but when perfection comes then what is imperfect will go away.

Now I am young and so I talk and think and speak like a child.  When I become an adult I will put childish ways behind me.  Now we see only a poor reflection, like in a mirror, then we will see face to face.  Now I only know part of what there is to know; then I will know fully and will be fully known.

Only 3 things really matter in life:

Faith, Hope and Love

But the greatest of these is LOVE. 

*From the NIrV Adventure Bible for Young Readers

To print out a copy, go  here.
** Read more about Love Week here.

All Dogs Go to Heaven

Our sweet Libby. We love you. We'll miss you. Thank you for being our friend.

"People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right? Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long."

~ Anonymous

Friday the 13th

Did you know that Paraskevidekatriaphobia is a fear of Friday the 13th?   If you're interested, you can read more about it here.


I am not a superstitious person.  I've never owned a lucky rabbit's foot, I'm not fearful of black cats nor am I overly concerned about broken mirrors or walking under ladders.  However, I did find these facts, which confirm a kind of universal concern  about the number 13, fascinating:

·      More than 80 percent of high rise buildings lack a 13^th floor

·      Many airports skip Gate 13

·      Airplanes have no 13^th aisle

·      Hospital and hotels regularly have no room number 13.

·      Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery

·      On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between houses number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12.5

·      Many cities do not have a 13^th Street or 13th Avenue

It might not make the worriers among us happy to know that this year, unfortunately, Friday the 13th will occur 3 times (for the record, the day occurred just once in 2011 and 2010).  What to do?  Cross your fingers and wish for the best.  

National Apricot Day

Who knew something as obscure an an apricot would have it's own day?  On second thought, perhaps something as "obscure" as an apricot needs it's own day -- a way of calling attention to this member of the plum family.  


My extensive research (okay, I Googled apricot) tells me apricot means "precious" in Latin and that 95% of all apricots are grown in California, yet I'm fairly certain I'd never even eaten an apricot before a friend gave me this recipe.  This simple list of ingredients changed all that for me.  Because, you see, this recipe, which I call Frozen Apricot Salad, makes 36 servings (yes, you read that correctly, 3 - 6) and it's delicious.  


You will need:


1 can (12 oz) frozen orange juice, thawed
2 juice can of water (12 oz)
1 cup of sugar (I use Splenda instead)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 can (17 oz) crushed pineapple with juice
2 can (17 oz each) apricots, drained, then chopped
6 bananas, diced


Combine all ingredients.  Spoon into paper muffins cups then set in muffin tins.  Freeze.  Remove paper wrapper and place in freezer safe sealable bags until ready to serve. 


Here's a printable copy of the recipe (and might I add, hooray to the non-tech-saavy me for figuring this out!)

A little bit icy, but still delicious

I take a few out of the freezer at a time just before a meal, usually while I am setting the table (they do need to thaw a bit, so they are easy to eat). 

In my grandmother's little parfait glass.  Cute (or should I say, precious?) and delicious.

Trust me when I say, they are a delightful way to end any meal.  We especially love these in the winter when good fresh fruit is expensive and difficult to find.   Enjoy!

Happy Twenty Dozen

An Agenda

"Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are 

only as many days in the year as you make use of."

~Charles Richards

You might have guessed that I love a calendar.   A calendar represents so much promise.  


 And, I bet if you Google it there are lots of  great tools out there for scheduling and tracking days and dates, too.  Sometimes I lose myself in the calendar, wall planner and appointment planner sections of the office supply store.  I know.  I know.  I should get a hobby. Mostly I rely on my iCal, though I also love Google calendar for its sharing feature.  But here's a great online resource I use when I want to plan ahead and, heaven forbid,  print a set of calendar pages (like the entire summer) so that I can have a frame of reference for all our activities and appointments.  This is especially helpful when I need/want to spread adventures, trips and events out over a period of time.   


So, as you begin to organize the days, weeks and months of 2012 - happy planning.