the dish rag and all...

Ok. So I'm over the XANADU high. Now I've got something new that's making the dull, cold, winter-y days so much more enjoyable... and that is ScentSationals from Walmart!!! I hear they have them at Hobby Lobby too. They are just like the Scentsy bars, not all the same flavors... but still some really yummy ones and they're under $3.00!!! Gotta Love that~ The one that I almost can't get enough of right now is called "Lemon Chiffon" - Oh my goodness... it'll make ya wanna bake a lemon cake and eat it right up! Plus it just smells spring-n-summer-y and that makes everything all better.~ Some of my other favorites are:

Right now-

• guava berry
• jelly beans
• crispy apples
• and I wanna try cupcake, it sounds like it would smell scrumptiously delicious!

Fall/Holidays-

• oatmeal cookie
• cranberry clove
• fall harvest
• fresh-cut pine

Anyhoo- you really must get some. It will make you feel like you're little again and playing with your Strawberry Shortcake Dolls or like I said before.. it'll make ya feel like you wanna bake a lemon cake and eat it all up! Either way... I'd say that's a good way to get through the l-o-n-g winter months. Oh, and if anyone has tried and likes any other flavors, do share... I love me lots of yummy smells!!!

Due to my complete style change and overhaul that's slowly beginning to take effect in my kitchen/family/dining area... I need to order this to replace this.

Oh and another thing that makes a gray day a little more peachy is a Rt. 44 Peach Sprite from Sonic! Go at happy hour and you'll leave feelin' even peachier...

I've been having fun crocheting all sorts of yummy yarn goodies too... this has also helped the month of January go by in such a smoother fashion. Outa' sight... Outa mind... It's been busy, so-busy... that I STILL have what looks like a bare, sawed off Christmas tree waiting for me to pack him away in the box for next year. I say sawed off because I've really been trying to attempt getting all those last lingering things put away and over a week ago, maybe even two I took off the top portion of the Christmas tree, but the rest still remains. Oh bother. It's at the top of my list of things to do tomorrow. Afterall, I'm having a friend and her family over for FHE and the last thing she wants to have staring her in the face when the front door swings open is a naked, sawed off Christmas tree that should've been packed away weeks ago. My bad.

Speaking of FHE... I've been meaning to write about this since the beginning of the month and just haven't had time, or haven't wanted to make the time after everything else was said and done each day.. but here I am, Sunday 12:23 a.m. or Monday I guess and I'm suddenly in the mood and and making time. That's because I cuddled up on my bed earlier this evening and had a very nice nap and therefore I'm not at all tired.

So, I was divinely guided to stumble upon a book during my holiday shopping that has completely changed our family-home-evenings! I'd even call it an answer to my prayers. It's amazing... I love it...  and I'm so glad I found it... It's exactly what I've been wanting to zero in and focus on more as a family and for each of us individually. We've always been pretty consistent in having family-home-evening, but whether it consisted of a spiritually uplifting lesson each time was hit and miss sometimes. The book is called Teaching Christlike Virtues in the Home. You can order it at  Deseret Book.

It has an exact amount of Christlike virtues to be studied as there are weeks in the year, so we have all of our FHE's already planned out and ready to go for the entire year. That right there gives me much peace. The layout of each lesson is short and to the point and very simple for even younger children to understand. It gives you the definition of the virtue to read, a hymn to sing that goes along with that virtue, a few scriptures to read, and a short story from the scriptures that talks about that virtue. Another one of my favorite parts of the whole thing is that at the end of each lesson it gives you a journal prompt to spur some ideas of what you could write about in regards to the virtue you just studied.  I was so excited about this part. We started out using this book for our FHE's on the first Monday in January and I bought journals for each of us to go along with it. We have written in our journals as a family at the end of each lesson and it's been such a good experience. The kids have really enjoyed having family-home-evening more than ever before and it's targeting the issues that I've been wanting us to be more aware of as a family and individually at the same time. I highly recommend it to anyone!

At the end of our first FHE that we used this book, with it being the new year... we each included "one word" in our journal entry that we want to live by this year, then we went outside and danced around with sparklers to ring in the new year, our excitement for a full-year of Christlike centered FHE's, regular journal writing, and in celebration for the "one-word" we declared we'd live by with all our might, mind and strength!