Ciao 2013! I hope you like photos!

My, my. I feel like I blinked and it was already December 31st! The past two months have flown by so quickly. Then again, this whole year has gone by so fast.

I swear this blog is NOT shutting down. I won't even mention the word hiatus. I owe you so many more thoughts, recipes, and ideas! Thank you all for sticking with me all this time.

With that being said, I decided to look back on the past twelve months. My initial thought was "2013?! Gone?! Good riddence!" I mean within one year, I almost risked losing my Father, was diagnoses with an in-curable disease, took a deep dive into depression, and lost three family pets. All this while struggling to keep my strength and energy. Needless to say, I first had nothing but bad thoughts about this past year.

I thought a few more seconds though and realized that's not how I want this year to end. I don't want any year to end with such negative energy. And surely none of you deserve reading a blog tainted with darkness. So, I began looking into what GOOD happened in 2013. Here's what I came up with:

Within the first few months of this year, I realized how important my Dad is to me. While I would never wish bad on his health, I am thankful that it forced me into accepting myself and my relationship with him. Watching his quick recovery as we began bonding again was icing on the cake! For the first time in a very long time, I spent a weekend full of giving thanks with my Father.

We even visited my Grandma Swanson. Don't they look great?!

Oh, I should also mention I shot a gun for the first time!... Still scared of them.

I have no idea who was foolish enough to think I should have a rifle.

I cannot begin to express my gratitude that I'm given more time on this earth with my Dad. I'm also awe struck of my family's strength and my friends' love. I even learned there are a lot of people out there who know me more than I know myself. It's been a very humbling experience.

If there's any needed proof that I am related to my family, it's that I now have ulcerated colitis. My first initial reaction to the diagnosis was to fiercely scream at some higher power for awful timing. "Incurable" is such a disgusting word. The thought of taking pills for the rest of my life and praying for remission is so daunting. I have to be honest with myself though. I have four immediate family members that have some form of IBD, including two with ulcerated colitis. So we all knew there was a risk. In fact I'm lucky that I've lived as long as I have without it. Other family members were diagnoses with it in their teens... and had to have surgery. Thankfully that was decades ago and I can take full advantage of modern medical advancements!

... If you couldn't tell, I've had to work really hard on convincing myself there is some good in that.

I can't quite explain how or why it happened, but something snapped halfway through the year. I greatly doubted my capabilities and became unhappy with my life. I quickly turned to beat myself up because really, what do I have to be depressed about? That creates an awful cycle though. I'm thankful for this challenge because it forced me into figuring out why I was unhappy. Today I cannot quite say exactly what made me so upset, but I am pleased with what happened when I searched to find it.

Frankly, due to certain actions (including my own) I didn't think I did a very good job producing. And that turned into dreading work. Thanks to a summer class and good friends, I identified my strengths and weaknesses. Then through a lot of work (and heartbreak) I strove to change those weaknesses. While I still have a way to go, (you learn something new every day) I've improved through out the past few months. Also due to my producer class, I learned I wasn't alone and developed a great network of colleagues.

Thanks Poynter Producer Project! You all rock!

When you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up. I got to a point that I had to address certain relationship at work. Which for me, is a difficult struggle. I hate conflict. I'm also awful at responding to negative statements, even if it is constructional criticism. So, I made the mistake of turning my head downward and not saying anything at all. But, as I said, I got to a point where there was no where else to go. I also realized that if I say nothing, I never allow anyone to better understand "my side." So I took awhile to "predict" the conversation and began tackling those relationships. Mind you I said bad relationships. I have great coworkers. I couldn't ask for better coworkers. Our relationships just needed to be adjusted. I personally just let it get to such a tragic point. Months later, I can say I'm pleased by the outcome! Not only do I have a better connection with those colleagues, but I've gained invaluable lessons. I learned that as long as you handle an issue with grace and professionalism, there's no excuse to not confront it. I also learned a lot about certain coworkers and believe they know me better as well.

Quick shout out: I couldn't of done any of this without my great friend Heather (Right). AND who better to learn about the management of a newsroom than THE Patti Dennis From KUSA?!

That leaves one last chip on the shoulder. Both my husband and I lost the last of our childhood pets: the immortal felines. Lawson's family cat, Sasha, and my two cats Whoopi & Chopin needed help to reach their eternal slumber this year. All three were old and very sick. In our families, pets are family, so it was very difficult to say goodbye. All three had great lives though. We also saved them from a lot of pain. We also have the faith that they now get to be with the other animals they grew up with.  Never the less I already miss their smooth fur, soft purrs, and sweet companionship. They all have a place in my heart. I miss them dearly.

So there it is. The worst parts of my 2013. It brought a lot of challenges. And yet I couldn't be more thankful for the end results. I haven't even gotten into the best parts of my 2013. Needless to say it involved a lot of train rides...

I took more train rides this year than in my entire life.

And a lot of car rides...

And even some flights!

I saw so many amazing people that I love dearly!

There's too many photos to share- so here's cute one of Lawson & me!

I got to see some unbelievable sites.

Not sure which is more breath-taking: So. IL Garden of the Gods or that Dad recovered so well that he came to see it with me.

I even traveled in time with a best friend!

Oh yeah, we're that cool.

And that's just skimming the surface! There were so many good things that happened in 2013. This has truly been an inspiring year.  I can honestly say I have no regrets.

Yet another blessing I can hang my hat on? All of you! I'm ever so grateful that you all have hung in for this sporadic roller coaster that I call my life. I don't know how we did it but Limelight Musings has more than 7,500 views from all over the world! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So... how do you plan to remember 2013?

DIY Gift: Lip Balm & Why My Husband Refuses To Wash Dishes From Now On

It maybe after the Holidays, but I still wanted to provide ways that you can create great gifts for a loved one. Maybe save the idea for next year or use it as a way to get brownie points for Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day. You never need an excuse to give a small gift that you made.

One new idea we tried this year was DIY herbal lip balm. I've been enamored with Rose Mountain Herbs for quite some time now. Not only do they sell great, healthy products but they also provide a blog and YouTube Channel that inspires your inner herbalist. Have I said enough good things about this company yet? Are you still reading this? Hope so.

Well, their YouTube channel has a great tutorial on how to make lip balm. It seemed so simple we thought we would try it out.


First off, you will need:
1/2 C Calendula Oil
1 oz Bees Wax
1/2 teaspoon lavender oil
20+ lip balm tubes (we did have left over lip balm)









It was so fun trying out this recipe! But I highly suggest you use specific cookware just for wax products. We'll get to that later. But basically you start off with melting the one ounce of wax. I did this by cutting off an ounce, shaving it, then place in a double boiler. Shavings will melt quicker than just a block. While it's melting, go ahead and take the caps of of the lip balm tubes or tins.

After the wax is completely melted into a liquid, you pour in the cup of calendula oil. Next step: don't freak out when the wax slightly solidifies like this:

The wax slightly solidified because the oil was room temperature. So just keep the heat up so the wax can melt back down to a full liquid. This is also when you add the 1/2 teaspoon of lavender oil. You can actually use a 1/2 teaspoon of any kind of essential oil for flavoring. I might use mint oil next time.

After everything is all smooth & mixed, you then have a very short amount of time to pour the balm into the tubes. To make it easier for us, we poured the balm into a measuring cup with a spout. Then poured it into each tube and let it dry.

The only issue I had was that it appears the wax dried before it could get to the very bottom of the tube. It didn't take too long for the entire tube to dry. We labeled and presto! 20 lip balm tubes to go out as stocking stuffers!

Now for the downside. Due to this little experiment we had a double boiler pan, spoon, and measuring cup that were seriously coated in wax and oil. I did my best with hot water to wash it out before my husband came home, but I wasn't able to get it all. He wasn't impressed. Needless to say you should try to to all this with older kitchen equipment or purchase cheap tools that can be dedicated just to wax projects.

Everyone that received lip balm for Christmas love it. And we were able to make it with local beeswax purchased at the Farmer's Market along with lavender oil I made with lavender branches my in-laws gave to me. Next year I hope to have enough dried calendula to make my own calendula oil too! What other essential oils do you think I should add for flavor?

Goodbye 2012

So it's been quite a year, eh? The last few weeks have just flown by us. It did include a lot of knitting...

And painting...

And baking...

Within the next few weeks I'll cover several DIY gift ideas and recipes, but today I wanted to share a story of beauty and danger.

So as many of you know, several people predicted some catastrophic event to happen December 21st of 2012. This is mostly thanks to the Mayan calendar ending on that day. That is until archeologist found a new Mayan calendar this past summer that goes far past that date. Either way, my darling husband wanted to celebrate his birthday (December 20th) and Yule/Winter Solstice (December 21st) by camping at a near by lake. That's right. Camping. In a tent. In the middle of December.

We packed a lot, but nothing could fully prepare us.

About a week or so before this trip, we were looking ok. The weather was hovering around 40-50 degrees. There was a little wind here or there, but nothing extreme. That is until the day before our trip. There was a large cold front that brought rain and bitter wind. That wind lasted through the next day. Thankfully, two of our friends were crazy enough to join us that night.

Key word for that night: LAYERS

Ashley & I joined our husbands a little late. We both worked that day and eventually found the camp site around 8 p.m. By that time, the wind took down one tent and was in the process of taking down another tent and a tarp that sheltered our fire. Thankfully that blaze lasted throughout the night even without the tarp. We had hoped to have a delicious dinner, s'mores for dessert, and late night of fun. But the cold reality was ramen that took forever to cook, taking turns warming in my car, and a early bedtime.

My husband keeping our dog warm

I have no idea how cold it got for us that night, but I do know the wind chill in the city was 21 degrees with wind gust at 30 + miles an hour. So with that being said, we decided that the four of us (and the dog) needed to stay in one tent.

This held all five of us!

Needless to say no one slept well that night. It was frigid and the wind often woke many of us up. I was just waiting for dawn to break. For the longest night of the year to be over. And after what felt like a lifetime, we began to see the sun's rays. We then witnessed a beauty that made the whole trip worth while.

A new dawn on Lake Barkley

The world may not of ended. Nothing different even happened that day. But there's something to be said about seeing the sunrise after such a dark evening. We were able to have an early New Year's Day and speak about our hopes and dreams for the new time ahead. But with a still frigid wind in the air, we quickly packed up and headed back to our warm homes.

So why share this story? I think it's a good example on the end of one year and looking forward to a new. That night was hideous; but sometimes we have to go through awful times to move on to a beautiful morning. 2013 is the new dawn. And I greatly look forward to what adventures lie ahead of us. Here's at least a peek of what I do know that will happen in the new year:

Projects to make our home more efficient!

Journeys to enjoy nature!

Holistic projects!

And I'm so happy to share all of these adventures with you. Thanks for sticking with me this year. 2012 was good to us. But I'm over it. I'm ready for 2013. Bring it!

DIY Festivus: Homemade Wreath

So what would you say if I told you that you could get a fabulous holiday wreath that matches your decorations, is the perfect dimension, and is free. That's right. A wreath that cost nothing.

My mantle isn't so bare anymore!

So the beautiful wreath above didn't cost me a dime. It's mostly thanks to the fact I made it myself. And even that only took about an hour. Here's how you can make a wreath of your own.

What you need:
- About 8 branches that you probably cut off from your live tree to make room for the base. One time an employee from the tree store gave me extra branches from previous trimmings!
- About 5 branches of other winter plants: holly, mistletoe, etc. This one is optional.
- Zip ties of all shapes & sizes
- Extra gift-wrapping ribbon
- Extra holiday ornaments

You will first need to decide how large you want your wreath to be. After you determine that, lay the tree branches in the wreath shape you desire. It maybe easier getting a metal wreath form, but I have never used one.

Once the branches are laid out, you then have the hard work of using zip ties to connect the branches. As I said, you may want to use a wreath form, but I've always just tied the main parts of the branches together. You will need to be discrete, but don't worry too much. You can always cover up some of the zip ties with the optional holiday plants/ ribbon/ ornaments. And don't forget to snip the ends after you get it locked.

Also a warning: you may want to use gloves. I broke out after making my wreath.

After you get the wreath secure enough, you can then embellish it with it anything you want. You can even use some finer zip ties. Basically work the garnish into any of the empty spaces between the branches. Ribbon is normally the last part I add that way I can cover up anything left that needs to be covered up.

And there you have it: a beautiful wreath that's ready to be hung up on a door or wall. You can also take in some pride that you made it yourself. And it's thrifty! What could be better?

A wreath from two years ago. It's a little more messy, but I wanted to show a more ribbon/ornament look

If you're getting tired of DIY holiday ideas, don't worry. It's almost over. But until January 2nd, I'm going to milk Festivus as much as I can. Love this time of year!

DIY Festivus: Gift For Newly Weds

So there was a gift I made for one of our favorite couples last year. It was their first Christmas as a married couple. So I searched for a great gift to commemorate it. Thanks to this thrifty blogger, I found the perfect present: an ornament made from their wedding announcement.

The photo I took last year only to realize I couldn't post it until AFTER I gave it to them.

So here's all you need for this beautiful ornament:
- A plastic ornament bulb (it's like 2 bucks at Hobby Lobby)
- The couple's wedding announcement/invitation/or program
- Scissors
- A pencil or dowel rod
- Glue

Making the ornament literately takes no time. First you slice up the wedding announcement horizontally. Try to keep some of the important details within the lines, especially the names, time, and address.

After that, take each strip and use the pencil/doll rod to roll up strips of paper. That will give you the rolled banner affect. After each strip is rolled, you can finagle the paper so the name or date is straight.

Then you need to get out the halved ornament. Gently place the rolls where you'd like them to be. This will take a bit of patience and work. I was able to build what I wanted in one half. On the other half, lay a little glue here and there on the lip that connects the halves. Then you simply place the top half and hold until the glue is secure... and voilà! You have a beautiful ornament for your friend.

The ornament one year later...

I plan to try more of these through out the years. Maybe even attempt baby announcements! So for about $2, you can provide your loved on a one-of-a-kind gift. Not even Hallmark can do that!

DIY Festivus: Mantle Sign

So it's finally December. Can you smell it in the air? Christmas lights are up, everyone is rushing to the mall, and coffee stores are featuring holiday-themed flavors. It's Festivus!

Some of the delicious brews at our favorite coffee shop

As you can guess from my lack of posts, we've been busy. Outside of our normal duties, we're also busy decorating our home in a full holiday fashion. This is the first time we get to decorate our new home for Festivus. I'm so excited!

But I  also wanted to share one decoration I made this year that literally cost just $4 and 20 minutes for me to make.

So here's what you need:
4 Frames (bought at the Dollar Store)
Holiday-themed background (I used scrap booking paper I had from a 2011 project)
A Pencil
A Permanent Marker

It doesn't get much simpler my friends. Cut the background paper the proper size to fit in the frame. Then I drew the letters with a pencil at first followed by the permanent marker. Added some lines where needed. You can use paint, but I feel the marker is easier to control. And it practically dries instantly.

Not my most flattering photo but you get the point.

If you are not comfortable enough to do this free hand, you have a few options. There are a lot of stencils out there for the letters. And a ruler can be easily applied to sketch guidelines so it all matches.

For years I've been trying to find a good way to draw a snowflake. And if you are in the same dilemia & would like to know how I drew mine, here's a quick step by step tutorial. The design is open enough to make imperfections lovely.

After you draw out what you like & it dries, it's ready to go back into the frame then be placed in the desirable spot. For our mantel, I did intentionally pick one "odd" frame and overlapped the frames to give a 3D effect.

So there you have it! A quick, easy, and cheap way to add a new decoration to your home this season. I hope to share a few more ideas throughout the month when it comes to either decorations or gifts. I'm also pleased to share a photo of this year's Christmas tree! Are all your decorations up yet?

Happy Festivus!

Beginning Of Festivus: Thanksgiving

Well, we have finally arrived to my favorite time of year: Festivus! And that includes up coming Thanksgiving. We will be visiting my husband's family in just a few short days. But we decided to have a small Thanksgiving meal with one of our second families in Western Kentucky.

The Bargers & The Appels

You've probably seen the two a few times through out this blog. We decided to have a little feast this weekend. But since there's only four of us, we came up with an inexpensive way to have a portion-appropriate feast.

Here's what we featured:
- Lemon-Thyme Chicken
- Skillet Cream Corn with Bacon
- Homemade Canned Green Beans (from our good friend, Dillon)

What can I say? My man knows how to cook

My husband was in charge of this feast (we'll get to what I was up to in a moment). Here's how our recipes went:

Lemon-Thyme Chicken (which we found in the all-new ultimate Southern Living Cookbook)
1 lemon, cut half
1/2 medium onion
1 (5-pound) whole roast chicken (ours was actually quartered, but we still made it work)
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 t chopped thyme
1 t coarse salt
1 t ground pepper
1 cup chick broth
1/2 c dry white wine (we had a pinot grigio)
2 T all-purpose flour

First you normally shove the lemon into the chicken cavity. We ended up squeezing lemon juice over the quartered pieces.

Then stir together butter, garlic, and 2 t of thyme. Loosen the skin on the chicken by gently pushing your fingers in between the skin and meat. Do not totally detach the skin. Pour the butter mixture under the skin. Pour the rest over the skin. If you have a whole chicken, tie the legs together.

Place the chick, breast side up, on a lightly greased rack in a lightly greased shallow roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Then reduce heat to 400 degrees and bake for 55 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted into thigh registers 180 degrees. Baste occasionally with drippings and turn pan for even browning.

For the gravy, add broth to reserved drippings in pan and stir to loosen browned bits from bottom. Whisk together pan drippings, wine, and flour in a small saucepan for 5 minutes.


Skillet Cream Corn:
6 bacon slices
1/2 Vidalia onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
3 cups fresh corn kernels (if your ambitious, that's about 6 ears)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
A dash of salt
A dash of pepper
1 T butter
1 T basil

Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Then do the typical drain on a paper towel. Reserve 2 Tablespoons of drippings in skillet. After it drains, crumble bacon and set aside.

Saute onion and garlic in hot drippings skillet for 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in the corn and cook for 5-7 minutes or until golden. Remove from heat.

Cook the flour in a large clean skillet over medium. Bake & stir occasionally for 5 minutes or until golden. Slowly whisk half-and-half until smooth. Add corn mixture along with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes of until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in butter and basil. Sprinkle with bacon and serve.


Homemade Canned Green Beans:
We obviously just heated the green beans in a pot. But we added a bit of rosemary to spice it up. We are so grateful to our friend who sold us the chicken & threw in a couple goodies like the canned green beans. He also gave us deliciously canned apples, black eyed peas, and salsa!

Our little feast turned out perfectly, but alas, my photos did not. You have to trust that it was delicious. And even better, it filled up four tummies without over doing the table. If you need to have a smaller holiday feast, this is the way to go. It was also very thrifty. The whole thing was maybe $40 at the most? Probably less.

Oh, and what was I doing while my amazing husband was cooking? Starting up the Christmas decore of course!

This is just a preview of Ashley's & my work. There is much more ahead. But that's for another day. I hope you all have a delicious Thanksgiving. And be sure to take the time to count your blessing and express thanks for a wonderful things you have in your life. I have too many to count. But a loving husband, great friends, a good family, a roof over my head are just to name a few. What are you thankful for this year?

A Little Fall Decore

We are well into autumn so I realized I better get out some decorations out before I have to take it down and get Festivus gear in order. Thankfully, I have some help this year.

Preparing the Jack O' Lanterns & Painting

I don't know why I didn't realize this before, but fall decorations can be expensive! A couple weekends ago, we went out to a local pumpkin patch. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time, but some of the costs for autumn decoration can cost a pretty penny.

It's not fall without a good ole' fashion hay ride!

We found a loverly little pumpkin patch

We still ended up purchasing a few pumpkins (and pie pumpkins for cooking of course), but we got into thinking about decorating without breaking the bank. Here are some key words: Hobby Lobby & Dollar Tree. First, I've mentioned it before, but if you're looking for a cheap way to all a little creativity with class to your home, you got to try painting your own letters!

I've been working on have a new Monogram for each season: here's autumn

At Hobby Lobby, the cardboard letters are about $2-3, depending on which you get. There is an initiative cost of getting enough paints, but after that, that's it! And here's to think the store's actual painted letters (only in one color mind you) cost more than $8.

But I decided to do a little more than just a new seasonal letter. So, I bought the letters to make a banner- "FALL." It didn't cost that much & only took about a week to finish.

During the first few steps

I decided to have each letter incorporate different things. "F" was for fall in general, so of course I had to get in some pumpkins. The other letters were a given: "A" had apples & acorns, "L" had leaves, "L" again for lantern. I was really happy with the end product.

Now here's the tough part. I decided I wanted to hang this out along our porch, but I didn't want to get my husband worried about drilling holes. So, I'm trying out a temporary structure using staples and twine. I simply strung twine across the back of the letters & stapled it to the letters. I did a few staples for each to get some support. Thankfully this project is light, but I'll have to keep an eye on it throughout the season.

So after that was all said & done, Ashley & I got to work on the porch. Most of it is a lot a great finds we got at the Dollar Store- couple window decals, a skeleton Ashley painted, and a lot of fake cobweb. You'd actually be surprised how well that stuff works.

It's all spooky!

But it's time for le piece of resistance! Thankfully, we already have a few hooks for planters & such on the porch. I tied the twine through the hooks and then touched it up with some ribbon. I'm so happy with how it turned out!

Ashley also got some cobweb on it

So all in all, our porch now has a touch of Halloween & autumn- all while spending $50 at the most. I hope this inspired you with a few some thrifty decoration ideas!

Happy Harvest Season!