Reasons Why We Lose Our Peace

Reasons Why We Lose Our Peace

Inner peace is something we all hope for, but like anything else it takes some work to achieve. Peace is waiting within all of us, but unfortunately we often lose our inner peace and let destructive emotions take over.

If we know what to look for, we can stop these negative emotions in their path and keep peace as a part of our daily lives.

Here are some of the reasons why we lose our peace:

* We Expect Perfection. Sometimes we do this without realizing it, but we always seem to be striving for perfection to an unnatural degree. You need to allow yourself to make mistakes and move forward, instead of kicking yourself for making a mistake you think you could have avoided.

* Being Afraid. When we allow fear into our lives, it disturbs the peace. We need to conquer our fears – or accept them for what they are – in order to restore a peaceful balance.

* Anger and Resentment. Some people don’t realize that strongly negative emotions like anger and resentment are detrimental to your health and well-being. If these emotions arise, it’s important to take a few deep breaths and release them.

* Being Too Busy. In this fast paced world, it’s easy to take on too much. If we start to feel too stressed out, we lose our interior freedom. Sometimes busyness and stress are unavoidable, which is why it’s important to take frequent breaks.

* Accept Challenges. Accept challenges and accept your situation. Once you surrender and deal with the situation you’re given, you’ll no longer have to deal with the negative emotions that might be fighting with you. If you can accept the worst-case scenario, then there’s nothing to worry about!

* Regrets. Regrets can cloud your current thinking with thoughts of the past that are unchangeable. When we regret the past, we lose the opportunity for peace in the present moment.

Everything Happens For a Reason

You have to remember that everything happens for a reason and everyone has a purpose. Think about everything in your life that you’re happy about and things that make you proud, and allow that to bring you joy. Remember that peace usually accompanies positive emotions.

You might regret a decision or a certain thing that happened to you. However, those negative things had to happen in order for you to be given the life that you have now. The positive things would not be there without the negative ones too. You can find peace again by remembering that everything balances out.

Meditation

If you’ve lost your peace and negative emotions are the culprit, try meditation. You can discover many things about yourself and achieve inner peace by using this simple practice.

The heart of meditation is accepting things as they are. Meditate on the fact that you need to accept all emotions in order to become free.

Achieving Inner Peace

Inner peace doesn’t have to be achieved by any set rule. The most important thing to remember is to find something that works for you personally.

Set a certain amount of time each day that you can dedicate to maintaining peace. It could be meditation, listening to your favorite music, or taking a bath. Whatever it is, when you take these simple steps, you’ll achieve an unshakeable freedom within you!

Make Your House Smell Delightful with this Pumpkin Roll Recipe

Make Your House Smell Delightful with this Pumpkin Roll Recipe

This is my favorite Halloween treat and one of the reasons is because it makes the house smell yummy. This pinwheel design comes from spreading cream cheese filling onto a flat pumpkin square and rolling it up. I double the recipe and freeze a loaf for later when I need something absolutely delicious to serve up. It takes a little work if you’re not used to handling your cakes, but once you’ve figured out the little tricks and how to mend your mistakes (if you make them) you’ll become an expert.

Some recipes you find call for making pumpkin puree. I have done this, but found that buying pure pumpkin is by far, easier, less messy and just as tasty. You’re going to add your own spices, so don’t buy the kind with them already added.

Let’s start! You will need to preheat your oven to 375 degrees and get your pan ready. Using a 15 x 10 inch pan (Texas sheet pan is what I call it) spray it with butter spray. You can use regular but I prefer the butter spray. I lightly flour this as well.

Now for the Pumpkin Roll:

3/4 c. flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

3/4 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. allspice

1/4 t. salt

3 large eggs

1 c. sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

2/3 c. pumpkin puree

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and salt into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Beat your eggs and sugar together on high until fluffy (about 5 minutes). You will know when it is enough; the mixture is thick and forms a ribbon pattern off your beaters when turned off and lifted slowly out of the bowl. Next, beat in the vanilla extract and pumpkin. Slowly add in sifted flour mixture you set aside earlier. Gently mix thoroughly. Pour batter into pan, evenly spreading the batter.

Bake for 13 – 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Don’t overcook. You want the cake to “spring back” when lightly touched with your finger.

While pumpkin is baking, take a piece of wax paper and lay it on a flat work area. Sprinkle this with powdered sugar and finely chopped walnuts.

Immediately, after cake is done, turn this carefully onto the dish towel that you have prepared. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar and roll up the pumpkin roll, with the towel. You want to do this while the cake is hot. Set aside and wait to cool.

Filling:

8 oz. Softened cream cheese

2 T. softened butter

1 c. powdered sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add sugar and beat until smooth. Once the pumpkin roll has cooled, you can carefully unroll it. If you have breakage, you can use your filling to fix the cracks. You will have fewer cracks if you roll the cake immediately out of the oven and wait until it is totally cool before filling. Now spread your filling over the roll. Keep in mind that you may have some squeeze out so you will probably want to put less filling on the outside 1/2 inch of your roll. Once filled, re-roll your pumpkin roll. Lightly sprinkle with powdered sugar. Wrap in foil and freeze. When ready to serve, slice thin and enjoy.

If you’re like me, all that yummy smelling earlier from baking will make you want to eat these tasty treats right away.

Tips for Planning a Trick-or-Treat Party that Doesn’t Cost a Fortune

Tips for Planning a Trick-or-Treat Party that Doesn’t Cost a Fortune

Halloween is a fun time of year! It’s a time to think about costumes, carving pumpkins and just plain fun. A Halloween party is an alternative to the normal trick or treat. You can plan an inexpensive party for your child. From the invitation to saying your goodbyes at the end of a fun filled night, this article will give you affordable ideas for the perfect party.

The Internet has some inexpensive invitations that you can download for the price of the ink and paper. Choose a color that would fit the season or theme of your party. I would deliver or mail these invitations to arrive three weeks prior to the date of the party.

Costumes are a huge part of a successful party. If you choose a theme, such as Star Wars or Character theme, you want to put that on the invitation so people can dress accordingly. Choosing a comfortable costume is in your best interest. You can often find what you’re looking for at thrift stores. Throughout the year I look for white sheets, full skirts, old vests, boots, scarves and other things that I can put together to make easy outfits. Colored hair sprays, wigs and gloves are some things you will want to look for. With some planning you can easily make a costume that will be comfortable and cute.

Next comes feeding your guests. Whatever you choose, use key words in your recipes like Zombie Punch and Graveyard Chips with Blood Salsa. I make iced pumpkin bars and design black spiders on them. I call these Spider Bars. For Zombie Punch, I take one each of 12 oz frozen orange juice and limeade. Mix with half the water as the recipe calls for. Refreeze these into tubs. At party time put them frozen into a punch bowl and add key lime sherbet and 7-Up to taste. For Graveyard chips and Blood salsa, I buy blue corn chips and find a very chunky salsa.

For games, the web is full of ideas. Mummy Bingo is fun for young children. I bought orange poster board; cut it to the size I wanted and with a black marker made the Bingo pattern. Candy Corn made great “bingo chips and was fun for munching. You can laminate these and re-use. A white sheet simply placed over a child creates another game; Guess the Ghost!

Let’s get our decorations up and we will be ready to party. Carve 5 to 6 pumpkins prior to the party. I found a cool carving set at Wal-Mart’s and I use it each year. There are a lot of ideas in the package that you simply follow. Put one pumpkin in the window closest to your entryway. You can line your porch or steps with a few as well. No matter where you place your pumpkins, remember safety in keeping them lit. You might choose a battery operated LED light. They flicker like a candle and are safe. Hanging creepy spiders and cobwebs are an inexpensive way to decorate and can be bought in discount stores. Keep spooky music playing in the background.

These are just some ideas for an inexpensive party. Whatever you choose to do, be safe, have fun and Happy Halloween!

Halloween Pumpkin Picking

Halloween Pumpkin Picking

If you have the opportunity to choose your Halloween pumpkins from a farm this fall, I would encourage you to do so.

The last ten years I have taken my children and grandchildren out to a local farm to pick out our pumpkins. They have a hay wagon loaded with hay bales that we sit on. As the farmer pulls out very slowly, we know that our fall journey has begun. We are on our way to one of the finest times we spend together every year.

We travel over often slightly bumpy areas of ground, past recently harvested cornfields to our patch. This is a time where we are all together with no other sounds but that of the tractor and anxious children. The country farm smells are delightful and the kids laugh gleefully as we near the fields of pumpkins lying ahead.

I’m not sure if it’s the fact that we can walk all over, through the pumpkin fields or if it’s the camaraderie of just being together and having fun, but we always pick out far more pumpkins than we need.

The kids and I pick up gourds and squash that we find to be “totally cool” and everyone gets their fill. Some of these special finds are used for home decoration, end up at school in show and tell time and some go home with daycare children that we have. I pick up a few squash to cook, which at first was not real popular at our house with the kids, but now they find that the squash they pick is not really so bad (brown sugar and butter help a lot!)

At the farm we visit, they also have pumpkins that are grown specifically for making pumpkin pies. I can tell you that at first I was not excited to make my very own pumpkin pie from scratch but making it a family project, we now find it is as fun as wrapping Christmas presents. The calendar alone told me that it was fall in September, but my sense of smell and the pumpkin pie baking in the oven is always my way of welcoming fall again every year.

Often times we set the pumpkins out as a display for harvest or Halloween decorations because we don’t like to carve them too early. We find that in the last week before Halloween we carve the pumpkins and the children take them home.

We are so glad that we discovered this way to spend a great time together with the family. Choosing pumpkins from a pumpkin patch is much better than picking them from your local store market. Check around and see if you can’t find a patch and start your own family tradition.

How to Carve Your First Pumpkin

How to Carve Your First Pumpkin

So you’re ready to carve your first pumpkin? Congratulations in joining the ranks of many who rank pumpkin carving as one of their favorite Halloween activities. To avoid a huge mess you’ll have to clean up later, the first thing you’ll need to do is prepare your workspace.

Choosing Your Pumpkin Carving Space

Select a flat work area. Lay down several layers of newspaper being sure to overlap them.

Gather Your Supplies

Pumpkin

Pumpkin Carving Kit or Butcher Knife & Serrated Paring Knife

Semi-Permanent Marker or Pencil

Container lined with a garbage bag to deposit your waste

Lighting Source of Your Choice (Candle, glow sticks, etc.)

Preparing Your Pumpkin for Carving

Turn your pumpkin on its side. Using your permanent marker, draw a large circle on the bottom of the pumpkin. Be sure it’s large enough to fit a large spoon and your hand inside. By cutting out the bottom (instead of the top) you’ll make it easier to place your light source in it. Using your large butcher knife carefully cut out the circle. Make note of the best side for carving your chosen design or face.

Let the Fun Begin

It’s time to clean out your pumpkin. Using your hands, scoop out the seeds and put them in the garbage bag, unless you want to put them in a bowl for later roasting. Using either a wooden spatula or serving spoon, scrape out the meat. Hopefully you have already decided on which side you will be carving the face, as this will need extra removal of the flesh.

Draw Your Design

After the pumpkin has been cleaned out, it is time to draw the design of your choice. Use a semi-permanent marker or a pencil and draw your design on the pumpkin.

If you don’t have an artistic mind it’s ok. You can use a stencil available on several Internet sites or one that may have came in your tool kit. (www.hersheys.com is a good site for designs.) Take a copy of the design and place it over the pumpkin. Secure this with masking tape. With a needle, push pin or nail, start poking small holes through the paper and into the pumpkin. Make sure you do them close enough as this is the pattern from which you will carve.

It’s Finally Time to Carve

Preparation pays off. Now, let’s get carving this pumpkin. Be particular in your carving as any little slip with the knife is likely to ruin your design and may cause injury. With your paring knife or other preferred choice of carving tool, carve along the pattern lines cutting all the way through the rind. Cut away from yourself and into the pumpkin. After each feature has been cut out slowly push out the cut pieces from inside the pumpkin.

Hint: Keep your blades as sharp as possible to ensure accuracy and ease of carving.

Clean Up

 

Take your newspaper and fold it over on all sides, keeping your pumpkin “gunk” on the inside. Once folded, throw it in the trash can or garbage bag.

Congratulations! You’ve now carved your first pumpkin. Once you’ve finished and cleaned up the mess, place that baby out on the front porch and add your lighting. Show it off for the entire neighborhood to see. Don’t forget to take a picture too – after all you only have a first carved pumpkin once. Enjoy!

Easy Additions for Perfect Halloween Meals

Easy Additions for Perfect Halloween Meals

It’s Halloween! With just a few little changes or additions to things that you probably already make, you can put the spirit of Halloween on your table.

Scary Eyeballs – Add a little more mustard into the egg centers or a thin dollop under where you will lay a black olive into the creamy center.

Ghost Sandwiches – Cut your bread into ghosts, add the filling of your choice and your children will have a ghostly treat for their school or after school sandwich.

Wormy Hot Dogs – Thinly slice your hot dogs and then microwave. This will make them curl to look like worms. Put them on a hamburger bun and dress with mustard, catsup and pickles to make a slimy swamp underneath.

Ghostly Toast – Toast your bread. When it is cool enough to cut, with a gingerbread girl cutter or a plain knife, cut to make a ghost body. Top with whipped cream cheese or flavored yogurt with raisins or dates cut for eyes.

Orange Jack O Lantern – With a toothpick, gently carve a face into the orange. Careful not to injure the meat/pulp of the orange, your child will have a small version of the Jack O Lantern that is healthy and edible.

Graveyard Snack – Take a cup of plain or buttered popped popcorn; add a half cup each of mini pretzels, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, goldfish crackers and raisins.

Spider Snack – Taking two round crackers, such as the ritz, put peanut butter in the middle. Take 8 small pretzels and stick all around, 4 on each side to make the legs. Add raisins for eyes.

Salty Bones – Making breadsticks for your spaghetti tonight? Here’s a Halloween twist. Unroll a tube of refrigerated breadstick roll and separate the triangle pieces. Stretch each individual piece to make a long bone like figure. Cut about a 1 and a half inch slit in each end with your kitchen scissors. Roll the remaining 4 flaps into what would make the end of a dog bone. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake as directed.

Goblin Tongues – Using mini bagels, spread cream cheese or mayonnaise, your preference, onto bagel. Cut slices out of circular pieces of bologna lunch meat to look like tongues and put into the top center of the bagel, leaving it to hang out like a tongue.

These are just a small sampling of things you can do to impress the kids or grandkids. Nothing fancy, quite simple for you but they’ll love them. Presentation and excitement is part of children accepting new and different things. Let them help you when creating these treats and they may just be a little more receptive to the new Halloween changes in foods they already love.

Creepy Fingers Recipe: Perfect for a Child’s Halloween Get Together

Creepy Fingers Recipe: Perfect for a Child’s Halloween Get Together

These are most fun to make, most fun to eat and the kids just love them! They add a nice touch to a school treat or just to have when having friends over.

I’m going to give you the tips first. I’ve found that if the tips are before the recipe I am more apt to read them and not be at the end of my recipe and wonder why or where something went wrong.

Some people omit the egg white brush. The only reason I like it is because it seems to add an old, weathered, yellowish dead look. I don’t think it makes much difference in taste. However, it may help in solidifying the almond into the finger.

You must roll these cookies thin. Believe me; they will spread out in the oven. Also, take them from the oven a few minutes early and reshape them the way you want them and then finish cooking.

The recipe doesn’t call for it, but if you wanted to slip a few slivers of almond into the fingers at random spots you can get that exposed dead bone look. You might also want to put fine lines of red icing to resemble blood in various spots onto the cooked fingers.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons red food coloring

30 sliced almonds

2 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

5 T. sugar

Pinch of salt

1 2/3 cups flour

Couple drops of almond extract

Directions:

1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

3. Put food coloring in a shallow bowl and add the slivered almonds into the bowl. Leave them set until they are as deep red as you’d like. Every so often, stir them around to make sure they are getting completely covered.

4. Separate 1 egg, sitting the white aside in a separate bowl. In a different bowl, take the entire 2nd egg with the yolk of the first egg and whisk it together; add vanilla and set aside.

5. In large bowl, combine softened butter, confectioners’ sugar, sugar, and salt. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add egg mixture and almond extract, and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, and mix on low speed just until put together. Wrap the dough in plastic, and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

6. Once firm enough divide the dough into two halves. Keep the one you’re not working with covered in the plastic wrap and chilled. Separate the dough you’re working with into fifteen pieces. Lightly flour your counter or work space. Roll each piece back and forth with palms into finger shapes about 3 and a half to 4 inches long. Pinch dough in two places to form knuckles. Score each knuckle lightly with the back of a small knife. Transfer fingers to the previously prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough.

7. After you have formed all your fingers, using a pastry brush, brush lightly with the egg white from the first egg in step 4.

8. Position almonds into nails and push into dough to keep firm.

9. Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes, however, you will remove them at about 9 minutes and reshape them the way you want them to look. Cool completely.

Kids love these icky fingers. Even more fun than eating them is making them, so don’t be afraid to let them join in the process. You’ll all have fun and the kids will learn a few life skills at the same time.

I am made stronger through my hardships.

I am made stronger through my hardships.

I know that life can be hard and I accept that as part of the natural order of things. In fact, if I didn’t have the hard times, I couldn’t appreciate the complete joy of the good times, either!

I am reminded of the well-known statement, “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger!” This is so true. Even when I feel as if I cannot bear any more, I persevere and I come out of the situation knowing that I am stronger than ever.

Just as my body is strengthened with tough exercises, my character is strengthened by hardships. These challenges exert pressure on me and make me feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. But each hardship I conquer makes it easier for me to lift off the weight of the next one.

Overcoming hardships also brings me the confidence to face new challenges. If I did it once, twice, or many times, I know I can do it again!

Because of past experience, I also know with certainty that “this, too, shall pass.” It gives me the strength to continue on regardless of the circumstances.

Living through hardship also provides me a new appreciation of life. I am grateful for the good times and can find joy in even the most trivial moments.

Today, I plan to persevere through any hardship that may befall me, knowing that I can come out on the other side of the situation stronger than before.

Self-Reflection Questions:

1. How has one my recent hardships made me stronger?

2. Did it allow me to appreciate the good things in my life more fully?

3. Now that I’ve been through it, do I feel more confident about future hardships?

Bubbling Cauldron Recipes: Dip and Witch Brew Fit for Halloween Parties

Bubbling Cauldron Recipes: Dip and Witch Brew Fit for Halloween Parties

Throwing or attending a Halloween party this year and wondering what to make? Bubbling cauldrons are the dish of choice for the ghosts and witches of the night. Here are two recipes everyone in attendance is sure to enjoy.

Goblin Dip

Ingredients:

1 pkg (16 oz.) Velveeta processed cheese, cubed

16 oz shredded Swiss cheese

1 can(10 ½ oz.) cheddar cheese soup

2 cans (15 oz.) black beans (drain well)

1 jar medium or hot salsa

1 can (4 oz) diced jalapeno peppers, (drain well)

1 round loaf of pumpernickel or round marble rye bread, unsliced

2 loaves (18 ounces each) round marble rye bread, unsliced

Pretzel rods

Preparation:

Put canned soup into saucepan. Add the processed and swiss cheese into the pan. Melt cheeses over low heat, stirring often. Remove from heat. Stir in beans, salsa and jalapeño peppers, if desired. Carefully cut center out of bread, leaving 1-1/2-inch shell. Cut or tear bread center into pieces for dipping.

Fill your emptied bread bowl (cauldron) with the cheese. Take your cut or tore bread pieces that you took from your bowl and place on a serving plate. For an added extra touch, you could “assemble a campfire” of pretzel rods around the bowl. Put 1 full pretzel rod into the cheese dip and serve immediately.

Alternate Ideas for Goblin Dip

If you want more of a Mexican taste to your cheesy dip, add a package of taco seasoning into the saucepan when cooking and a can of Ro-tel tomatoes with green chilis.

Using Halloween cookie cutters (you can purchase them) and cocktail bread, cut out some decorative pieces of bread for dipping.

Witch’s Brew Recipe

Ingredients:

2 packages lime Jell-O

Ice (if needed)

Lime Kool-Aid

1 Gallon Green Punch Kool-Aid or Green Punch (any brand)

Cauldron or Punch Bowl

Ladle

Directions:

The night before, using the lime Kool-Aid prepare ice cubes. You’ll need to use the flavored ice cubes as this particular witch’s brew does not do well watered down with plain water ice cubes. It will water it down too much.

In enough time for the Jell-O to set before serving, prepare both packages of lime Jell-O. Place in fridge to set. Make one gallon of Green Punch Kool-Aid or you can purchase a gallon of any brand green punch. Chill.

When ready to serve, using a fork, mash up the set Jell-O into globs. Pour the punch into punch bowl or cauldron. Add Jell-O globs and Kool-Aid ice cubes.

Tips for serving: Because this is a Jell-O punch, do not use a pitcher to serve. The Jell-O will try and sit on the bottom. Make certain you stir the punch well and ladle it into your guests’ cups.

Alternatives to Halloween Candy

Alternatives to Halloween Candy

If you’re a parent you may be worrying about how much candy your child will be bringing home this Halloween. Candy not only has very little nutritional value, it is bad for your teeth and can cause nasty tummy aches when eaten in excess. If you’re looking for something different to hand out to trick-or-treaters this year, here are some alternative ideas.

Nabisco has 100 calorie pack individual packages that trick-or-treaters will find enjoyable to their palates. Teddy Grahams and chocolate covered pretzels are my two favorites, but they have a whole line to choose from.

Individual packages of nuts or trail mixes are nutritionally beneficial to your ghosts and goblins. They not only taste good are good for you.

Microwave popcorn packages are a great option. You can buy them in many different flavors, but if you’re looking for healthier alternatives skip the extra or movie butter kind.

Nabisco Handi-Snack offers a variety of healthy choices. A few examples that I particularly like are:

Breadsticks and cheese

Cheese dunk ‘ems

Ritz cheese and crackers

These individual packages are a tasty choice. Fairly inexpensive, they are a great fit for children.

While not quite as healthy as some of the other options above, many restaurants, such as McDonald’s & Wendy’s, sell coupon certificates or books you can substitute with. You can purchase gift certificates for your trick-or-treaters and by using your Arch card and following some simple guidelines at the McDonald’s website you can not only give a non candy gift, you can also earn college rewards.

Non-Edible Gifts

If you visit a dollar store or a store that sells children’s books inexpensively, you can find non-edible gifts too. Items such as coloring books, crayons or audio books and more are great alternatives to sugar laden candy. Not only is this a healthier choice, it is educational as well. Some people even shop throughout the year to help spread the cost out.

A visit to your local dentist may be just what the doctor orders this Halloween. He may be able and willing to give you toothbrushes and toothpaste samples at a reduced rate to hand out to children. If you wanted you could even hand out sugarless gum.

Small games like jacks and jump rope fit well into a trick-or-treater’s bag and will last for longer than one night. While various different flash cards or games such as old maid and crazy eights are not what trick-or-treaters are used to getting at Halloween it is something they can use and re-use. Again, they are inexpensive and can be purchased throughout the year at dollar or general stores.

The choice is yours. Use some of these ideas to begin to change the suggestion that candy is the only choice for Halloween. Be creative and give your visitors something healthier this year!

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