Tag: fun

Simple Somethings

“You never know when one act
or one word of encouragement
will change a life forever.”

When I came across this quote today, my heart did a mental rewind to Saturday when I came home and found a message “from” my chair. *giggle* I still don’t know who put it there, but honestly, I prefer it this way. Their little act of fun and kindness really touched my heart in a big way. (Read “To: My Favorite Booty” if you’d like the details.)

In fact, it touched me in such a way that I’ve decided to pay it forward – and not just once, but every time I get an inkling to do a simple something for someone else. If a moment presents itself, I plan to act on it.

That simple something might come in the form of a handwritten note sent to a friend who just happens to be on my heart that particular day. Or maybe when I’m in line picking up a special coffee drink, at a place that reminds me of someone else, I’ll get a $5.00 gift card to send to them. You get the gist…I just want to be better at slowing down and responding to thoughts of the heart.

I know that in my busyness I miss many opportunities like these. Someone will flutter through my heart and before I know it, I’m off to the next thought. Sometimes when I’m out and about, I’ll see a simple something that reminds me of a friend or loved one. I’ll have that thought of “Oh, I should get that for…” but again, my mind will move on to something else. The moment is gone.

Do you ever have moments like these? Do you ever wake up with a certain someone on your heart, or have a thought of someone just flutter through in the midst of other things going on in your mind? Like, just out of the blue? Do you think it might be possible the thought is there for a reason?

What if we were to slow down a little bit and just linger there for a few moments. Encouragement, sent to another, in any shape or form is always a wonderful gift. Right?! So, I want to encourage you to act on it in some little way. Because, you never know…what you may think is very small and silly could change a person’s entire day – or life.

As you can plainly see…someone’s simple something meant the world to mine. 🙂

Happy Monday, friends!
~CindyLu

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To: My Favorite Booty!

I cannot stop laughing at this!

After a busy morning, I had just come home and was getting ready to begin some Saturday afternoon chores. I walked through the house, pulling back curtains, and opening windows to let the sunshine in.

I stepped out onto my front porch to re-arrange some of the chairs, from visitors we had earlier this week. As I walked across to where my two favorite wicker chairs sit, I noticed a piece of paper laying in the seat of one. I almost dismissed it as something one of my grandsons probably left there. But the words caught my eye and I had to do a double take…

from my chair1

It took a minute for the words to register. I somehow let out a laugh that sounded a bit like Goofy, “GUH-HYUK!” and then slowly opened it and read the rest of the message…

from my chair2

BWAHAHAHA!! Oh my goodness….this just made my day. I can’t help giggling over this very simple, but extremely sweet, note. I especially love the Harley-Davidson note paper. Hahaha!!

To whomever left this for me...THANK YOU! Not only does it tell me that you read Zoning In but, wow!, that you cared enough to make a special trip to my front porch to remind me. So I’m raising my hot cup of coffee to you right now, dear friend. I’ve pulled a book from my library that I’ve been wanting to read for years and starting it right now. 🙂 From the bottom of my heart, thank you, for having an awesome sense of humor and a very sweet heart. Praying the blessings of your life runneth over.

Happy Saturday, friends!
~CindyLu

from my chair3

 

 

Want S’more?

Earlier this week, in my “I can tell you this…” post, I included pictures from the rehearsal dinner we hosted for our son and [now] daughter in-love. In addition to setting up our fancy pizza spread, I also found the idea for a S’more Bar as our dessert – and I must say, it was a huge success! Many who attended the dinner commented on how they had seen pictures (fellow Pinterest addicts) but had never actually seen one in person or used one. Needless to say, it was so much fun to enjoy this first experience with so many others.

s'more - setup1

…and since my earlier post, I’ve received several e-mails asking how we made the boxes and what was used inside. So I decided today’s post would be on creating a really fun S’more Bar of your own.

I wanted mine to be three feet long and fortunately HB had scraps of wood to accommodate the request. He made these in about 30 minutes, tops.

s'more - boxes1

For each box, wood was cut to these proportions:

2 – 1×4’s cut to three feet in length (these are the long sides)
1 – 1×8 cut to three feet in length (this is for the bottom)
2 – 1×4’s cut to 8 inches (these are the short sides)
⇒ Once cut, he used your basic hammer and nails to assemble.

Note: You can, of course, make your box whatever size you’d like. I wanted these specific sizes to fit either a 4-foot or 8-foot table, with room to spare.

Now for the fun part:

I bought the “safe heat” sterno cans at our local Sam’s Club. They come as a box of twelve, and we used five cans in each of our boxes. The flame lasts for up to six hours, so you’ll definitely get your money’s worth. In fact, knowing that I have these cans sitting around has me planning some-more mallow roasts this Autumn.

In keeping with the country chic theme of the rehearsal dinner, I wanted to fill my boxes with a cobble-style rock, (found at Lowes), but you can use whatever style of rock you prefer. Home Depot also carries something similar.

For roasting the marshmallows, I used 8″ bamboo skewers that I found at Party City, but I think you can find these anywhere. I just happened to be there getting other items and grabbed them. By the way, I did not have to soak them in water prior to using for the s’more bar (like you do when used for skewers on the bbq)…just put the mallow on there and roast.

I wanted everything to look pretty, so I put out separate bowls and plates for the graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate. That said, my brain has been working overtime thinking up additional items I could add, like caramel sauce and peanut butter cups. Yummo! Basically, whatever you’d like to eat on your s’more is worth adding to the table.

s'more - grahams s'more - marshmallows s'more - hersheys

So that’s pretty much it…
1. make box (or find something else that is non-flammable and would work)
2. place sterno cans where you want them
3. fill with rock
4. put a mallow on a stick
5. have fun!

I’m actually planning a little family get together Saturday evening. To make it a little more in season, I visited my favorite store in the whole wide world – Trader Joe’s! – and picked up some cocoa mix, Pumpkin Spice Coffee and Spiced Cider. I pour the Spiced Cider into a crock pot and serve it hot – it’s a family favorite!

So there you have it…all of the information you should need to create a nice get together.

You will find, as you read my blog, that I’m all about connections; bringing friends and family together for some simple and casual fun. I also love traditions, new and old, and I know this new one will last for years to come.

If you make one of these, I want to know! By all means, send me your pictures!! I’m on Instagram (cindylu_coffeeandatypewriter), so you can always attach me to posts. As well…if you have any easy and fun things that you do, I’d love to hear all about it. I’ll post pictures of our event on Sunday.

Happy Autumn, Friends!

~CindyLu~

s'more - setup2 s'more - people1 s'more - people2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee Anyone?

I receive a lot of pictures about coffee on my Facebook page. For some reason, when people see a funny picture or good quote about coffee, they think of me. I can’t imagine why?! *smile*

Okay…it’s true. I love coffee and I drink a lot of it. When I received this picture the other day, my imagination took off. I am now on a quest for a cup such as this.

My idea is to have a dessert get together, one summer evening, and serve up iced coffee in a cup like this. You know, punch bowl style. Maybe get two of them and serve sweet tea in the other.

Seriously…am I the only one that thinks it’s a great idea?!

large cup of coffee

Simple Life – True Accomplishments

I haven’t been able to accomplish all that I had planned for while HB is gone. After the whole toe incident, a week ago today, I’ve had to slow it way down. I did allow this to discourage me for a day or so, but I feel good about what I did get accomplished when I first started out on this quest; that is, an organized kitchen with one large box of kitchen items, and an almost completely organized bedroom with three 39-gallon-sized bags, ready for the local thrift store. In spite of my unplanned down time the past couple of days, I’ve kept up with a bit of surface cleaning. The house does feel tidy and I can live with that.

I seem to be all about clichés this week, but I’m seeing that hindsight really is 20/20. As I reflect back over the past six days alone, I’m seeing how this little incident opened the door to do things that I wouldn’t have otherwise done, because my list was all about tasks.

So here are the things I have accomplished this week:

Spent an afternoon with my brother, sisters and mom. We all have busy schedules, so it’s not often that we’re able to get together and to do something fun. My brother happened to be in town, so we threw together an afternoon to have a late lunch and go to a movie. My sisters handed out bags of sinfully delicious movie treats and we had a blast. ♥

Met a friend for an evening coffee date. After a long day of work, I could have easily just stayed home to veg. The plan was to meet up and chat up some details for an Easter brunch, but that ended up being the smallest part of the conversation. Instead, we chatted about everything and nothing that we had going on in our lives. After almost three hours, I left there realizing how much I needed that girl time. ♥

An impromptu pizza and a movie at home. One of my daughter in-loves wrote me an e-mail to see if I had dinner plans. Nope, I didn’t. I told her to call in a pizza and I’d pick it all up on the way home. She came over with two of my grandsons and we just vegged together; dinner in the living room while we watched a movie. It was so relaxing, I almost dozed off a couple of times. ♥

Dinner with family. Not only is HB gone, but two of our sons went with him. This has left my two daughter in-loves at home with the kids. Well, these two amazing girls are making me a birthday dinner tonight. Are you familiar with the story of Naomi and Ruth? Well…these two girls are my Ruth. It’s one thing to be loved by your own children, but when you are loved by children from another mother…that’s a bonus blessing. ♥

Slumber Party. When I saw my mom this past weekend, I just realized how precious this time is with her. She’s been a widow for many years now and I couldn’t help but think about how empty the house has felt with HB away. So I invited her to come and join us for dinner tonight and then to spend the night with me. To make it even more special, I decided to also invite my only grand-daughter, because I want her to have something I never did…a relationship with her great-grandma. So we’re going to spend the late evening eating too much candy and watching something girly…probably “Tangled” because my grand-daughter believes she is the lost princess. ♥

I actually took tomorrow off, so I could have a nice three-day weekend. My intent was to spend it alone…my gift to me. I figured I would have a quiet cup of coffee, turn on some tunes, and well…do more cleaning. But instead, I’ll be spending more time with many listed above and tomorrow evening, I’ll drink too much coffee while I wait for HB’s plane to touch down around midnight.

As for my weekend list, it says…nothing.
It’s empty…a clear page of more relaxing with my very best friend.

Shouldn’t that be a picture of what a simple life looks like? Spontaneous, impromptu, decisions to do whatever we feel like in that moment, which includes nothing at all? Here I made a list of all that I wanted to accomplish to “reach” this goal, while missing the entire concept of what I should be reaching for.

I guess I need to be thankful for my dislocated toe because I never would have accomplished all that I have. My quest to declutter is still a goal, but I think I’m moving it down a few notches so I don’t miss out on other opportunities around me.

The chores will always be there, but spending time with family, friends, a good book, or a quiet cup of coffee…now THAT’s a true accomplishment towards simple living. 

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