Before and After: November 2012

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving

If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.

Gerald Good

Today, we are headed to my Mom's and then Scott's Aunt's house. They live fairly close so that makes it doable. I will be posting pictures on Facebook, so check us out on there today!

What are you doing today? Do you have a Thanksgiving Tradition? What is your favorite thing to eat today?

Have a great day!

Bonnie :)

Strawberry Banana Protein Smoothie

Even though it is fall now, our family never gets tired of smoothies!!

We love them and feel great when we feed our body right!

Plus, this makes an excellent fast, easy, and healthy breakfast before school!!

I just add milk, frozen strawberries, and a fresh banana to a blender and mix it all up.

Then I add our favorite protein powder for long lasting energy!

Then, we blend, pour, and ENJOY!

What is your favorite smoothie?

Have a great day!

Bonnie :)

Click here to order the protein that we use.

11 Creative Gift-wrapping Ideas for Christmas!

I love to showcase creative ways to make every moment special. Christmas is just around the corner, and while your search for the perfect gift is on, here are some absolutely fun creative ways to wrap! Perfect for all levels of skill and budget friendly too.

Enjoy the holiday season and with these craft ideas have the most fun creating. There are so many ideas perfect for wrapping gifts for kids, grandparents and everyone! For more ideas check out an earlier post on 20 more ways!!

Little snowman for Christmas! Swatches of felt, pom poms and some ribbons. Easy blanket stitch, and fabric glue. Make the snowman into a brooch, pin on jacket or hats/bags!

Easy burlap covered recycled tins for gifting goodies. Use mod podge/fabric glue, vintage ephemera, flowers or beads. Decorate it just as you like. So elegant!

via Joann

Cutest of them all! Perfect for doting grandparents, uncles and aunts. Use your kid's drawings as gift wraps. They would love little artist's work as much as the gift itself. Love!

Nifty craft idea for teens. Punch holes on box and stitch any pattern. Heart would be perfect for Valentine's too. Maybe a colorful ornament or star for Christmas. So fun!

via here

Ribbons and paper quilling, easy beginner level. Use glue dots and alphabet stickers. Make it colorful and festive. Frilly elegance!

A simple bright red felt poppy can add the right pop (alliteration :P) Cut circles of petals and use a brad to fix them. A gorgeous embellishment.

Beautiful shabby chic inspiration. Little bits of lace, tinsel and yarn. Add used stamps, paper embellishment etc. Uber chic!

via Anthropologie

Store bought scrapbook supplies. They can be used in so many different combinations. Use holiday color combination, red and green. Quick and easy :)

Natural woven gift box adorned with a fresh flower. Trim the stem and insert in a slit on the cover. Pretty all natural decoration.

A complimentary tag to go with the theme on the wrapping paper. A simple touch of thoughtfulness.

Such an ingenious twist! Sew a shirt sleeve to hold a bottle, use a cuff link to bring it together, tie a ribbon to secure it further. Perfect for the men in your life.

Credit: Rest of the images from BHG

Please leave your thoughts, they inspire us!

90 YEAR OLD GETS HELP WITH VIVIX

Good morning! :)

I hope that you are having an amazing day!

I just want to pop on here real quick to share this amazing story by Anthea with you...

My Mom will be 90 years old in November. She and my Dad have been using Shaklee products for more than 25 years. They don’t take a lot, but they have been consistent with what they do take. Vita Lea, OsteoMatrix, Vitamin E, Vitamin C and sometimes Nutriferon.

As with many elderly, my Mom started showing signs of short term memory loss 4 to 5 years ago. Very slow progression but nevertheless real, along with a general slowing down mentally and physically. She basically just wanted to sit around, take multiple naps during the day and didn’t seem to be motivated to get involved in daily activities, especially cooking. I think she got confused where things were in the kitchen.

Last fall I took them a month supply of Vivix and they began taking it right away. Toward the end of my two week stay, I was in the kitchen starting dinner when my Mom came in and picked up a potato peeler and began helping me. That may not sound like much but really it was huge. That hadn’t happened in a long time.

Over the last year, after taking it and not taking it, I now send it to them in England regularly. Not only does my Mom LOVE Vivix, but my Dad, who is never easy to convince of anything, is a firm believer that Vivix is making a noticeable difference.

My Mom is so much more involved and engaged in all around her, including helping my Dad with the cooking. She even will initiate activities herself now. This is a huge improvement and I can tell the difference in her when we speak on the phone. I return in September for another visit and am excited to see even further improvement.

- Anthea Tripp

Wow! That I love hearing stories like this!

Thank you Anthea for sharing. :)

If you have your own story that you want to share, please email me at donahuewellness@hotmail.com so I can feature you.

Order your Vivix today!

Bonnie :)

How To Organize School Papers

Happy Monday! :)

How are you doing today? Are you ready for Thanksgiving? Are your kids off this week? My kids have school until Wednesday this week.

This is a great time to get organized for Christmas and the new year.

One the hardest things to organize can be PAPER!!! Right? We always get to much of it that it can be overwhelming.

Today, we have Krysta here to help us out.

Please welcome Krysta from KrystaSteen.com.

How To Organize School Papers

If you have kids in school, you know how many papers come home! Then the decision becomes what to keep and what to throw! I’m not one to keep every little drawing my kids do, in fact my husband will tell you that at times I get a little too “trash-happy”.

I once threw out a very large check we were expecting because I thought it was junk….yeah, Oops.

Anyway, without further ado!

I started this after my oldest had been in school for a couple of years, so I went back through piles of stuff and it felt so great to get it organized!

I bought 3 storage bins at Office Max: a large one for each child and a smaller one for my son’s gymnastics programs. I used hanging folders and labeled them with their name, grade and teacher. I just labeled the fronts with their initial to keep them straight.

I decided to choose a couple of special art projects along with test scores, report cards and the yearbook. It’s fun to go through the older folders and looks at their old projects!

In the smaller bin, I have organized my son’s gymnastics competition programs by level. You could do this with just about any sport to keep pictures, scores, etc. organized!

This way we are able to go back and look at his scores from the previous years and see how much he has improved!

Hope this helps! How do you keep school papers organized?

Thanks Krysta! :)

Visit Krysta for more ideas.

How do you organize? What system do you use?
Please post a comment.

Have a great day!
Bonnie :)

Thanksgiving decoration: 10 Easy last minute craft ideas!

Thanksgiving decoration ideas; some really quick last minute inspiration for decorating your home. Simple and budget friendly ways to add the extra dose of style and beauty to your Thanksgiving decor. Surprise your family and friends with these nifty crafts. You will love displaying them!

These ideas are perfect for those busy and are trying their hands at craft for the first time. Hope you find some inspiration here! Happy Thanksgiving :)

Go rustic chic! An old fruit basket filled with flowers and fruits in autumn colors. It cannot get easier than this ;)

An impressive yet ready in no time craft for a gorgeous centerpiece! Fill glasses with tomatoes place tiered plates/trays with bay leaves as decoration. Use your own substitutes too. Done!

Love this! Craft store baskets filled with beautiful scented fall goodies. Use floral foam and knitting needle to hold the baskets in place. Fill up and decorate. Absolutely gorgeous!!

A wonderful all natural table decoration. A branch with lovely fall leaves in a small pot. Added texture of small burlap sack. Little bunches of flowers. Love the lively yellow color theme too.

Natural texture and color of pumpkin is so exotic that even a bunch of them tastefully displayed looks pretty. A very simple approach to holiday decorating!

A few branches of ginkgo tree and wild shrubs look perfect for fall-autumn decor. Turn to nature for inspiration, it has so many shades and shapes to offer :)

Its easy to find wheat sheaf during autumn months. add a bunch of bright flowers for the pop of color. An elegant twist for a rustic style wreath. Perfect for last minute rush!

An old grapes charger or wreath base can come in handy. Few sprigs of herbs and flowers looks charming when put together. It is a very rustic feel and is perfect for cottage style decor.

A really cute idea to engage kids on Thanksgiving holiday. A simple walnut shell, leaves, twig, and play dough sail boat. Float them in a bowl, will look cute on window sill or even console table!

A lovely way to dress up the window. Clean the leaves and to keep them supple and pretty spread a vaseline over them. Tie with dental floss or sewing thread. Hang on window rod!

Boys Bedroom

My house tour continues....

Did you think I forgot about it? No, I have just been living faster than I can blog. (It's a good thing!)

So, today I am sharing Michael's room with you!

We went with a red, white, and blue theme.

I got the idea from the quilt. It is baseball one that I love.

I am not going to itemize each item but just know that I got EVERY SINGLE THING second hand in some way for this room! Yup, I am pretty excited about that. We saved a ton of $$$!!! I bought most of it from garage sales although some things were handed down to us!

I think these lifesavers are so cool!