Author Archives: explorenewness

a NEW setting sun experience

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sunsetchallenge

Happy hump day! Whoot! It’s Wednesday 🙂  So on Sunday, my daily ‘challenge’ was to watch the sunset.  Pretty easy, right?  Well, I discovered that I probably haven’t really ever waited for the sun to set.  I ALWAYS notice the really pretty sunsets.  I love them!  My husband knows I love them and when he sees one, he’s kind enough to call me and say “Honey, look outside!”  But I don’t remember ever just sitting and waiting for it to set.  It was a nice time to just sit and meditate and think over things while I watched the fiery ball slowly descend.  I recommend it!  You should try it, if you haven’t lately.  To know the exact time of the sunset where you’re at… there’s an app for that!    Check it out!

a NEW hiking experience – going solo

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hikecollage

Happy Saturday!  Today’s ‘challenge’ from the 28-day challenge I’m doing was to take a hike.  Again, this wasn’t really that challenging, because I live so close to the mountains.  But what was NEW to me, was going for a hike…SOLO.  I think I’ve always had someone with me before! To be honest and truthful, it was a bit freaky because I chose a very STEEP hike and not too many people were on the trail.  My mind kept thinking…’If I tumble off this cliff, no one would even know!’ 🙂  But I didn’t fall off the cliff and here is a collage of my trek.  I think I’ll do it more often….maybe I’ll get over my ‘solo-hiking anxiety’….as long as I stay away from the edge 🙂

Have a great day and learn or do something NEW!

my NEW fabric organization

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minibolts

Sometimes I get those moments….those BFO moments!  {BLINDING FLASH of the OBVIOUS} moments!  I had one recently when I saw the brilliant (yet obviously efficient) way to store fabric at Smashed Peas and Carrots blog!  Duh!  Mini Fabric bolts!  If it’s good enough for fabric stores to organize fabric on bolts, it’s good enough for me…and mini bolts work GREAT!  I don’t sew a ton, so I don’t even have very much fabric to store, but it sure beats this mess (fabric previously stored in plastic bins among other craft supplies)

fabricmess

….and this mess (left over matting sitting at the top of my framing closet):

matmess

You see, I do my own picture framing and matting and I have a hard time junking the scraps of matting that I JUST.MIGHT.NEED someday!  Well!  I did need it!…to wrap my fabric into bolts!  These mini bolts are 7.5 inches by 10.5 inches.  PERFECT for my NEW sewing cabinet shelves:

botls3

LOVE IT!  Try organizing something NEW today!

NEW green smoothie recipes

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Ginger-Spinach-Green-Smoothie-200x300{source}.

Hi all!  Well, day 2 of my 28-day challenge was to make a green smoothie.  Although this wasn’t much of a ‘challenge’ at all (because I regularly make them), I thought maybe I’d research some NEW and different varieties to try in the future. When I signed up for this challenge, I had no idea what would be expected of me….but so far they’ve been very do-able… thank goodness!

Check out these green smoothie varieties:

Ginger Spinach Green Smoothie

Coconut Green Smoothie

5 other varieties

And last but NOT LEAST,  you should check out The Green Smoothie Girl website.  It must not be a coincidence that she’s doing some FREE seminars in MY AREA this week!  (Don’t you love it when stuff like that happens!?!)  I think I’ll check my calendar and attend if I can.

Try a NEW smoothie recipe or something else NEW today!

a NEW challenge and NEW photo of my day

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flowershowdow1

I’m participating in a 28-day challenge which started today.  The first day’s challenge was to buy myself some flowers.  I don’t remember if I’ve EVER bought myself cut flowers!  I’m pretty much a cheapskate!…but Costco had nice flowers for relatively inexpensive, so I DID IT!  Then I took a photo of them to show you 🙂  I hope they last a long time!  I’ll try to post what the rest of the challenges are…I always LOVE doing NEW things, so this should be fun.  Have a great week everyone!

a few NEW stories

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edstivender{source}

Have you ever been to a storytelling festival?  I’ve attended our local festival the last two years and they are really VERY fun!  Good stuff…Quite entertaining!!!  Last night we enjoyed listening to:

Bil Lepp, Josh Goforth, Liz Weir, Andy Offutt Irwin, Carmen Deedy, Barbara McBride Smith, Syd Lieberman, and Ed Stivender

They were ALL excellent!  HERE is a website that lists storytelling festivals.  See if there’s one close to you!  Listen to a NEW story TODAY!!!

a NEW recipe and a NEW use for an old kitchen tool

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pbbarswithmilk2

I recently got this REALLY YUMMY recipe for Peanut Butter bars from a co-worker….and I’m not even that big of a fan of PB!  But, the recipe is quick, easy and delicious.  My kind of recipe!  The first time I made these, I was PLAIN-JANE and simply cut them in to squares; but this time, I used an old kitchen tool that rarely gets used and made them crinkle-cutted-ed-ed 🙂  I wanted to fancy them up a bit to take to a neighbor.  Whatdoyathink???  I know they’ll disappear soon!  They taste just like Reeses Peanut Butter cups.  If you like PB…try these! (or something else NEW)!

pbbars1

Recipe Card Template 1up 4x6

Linking up at:

Happy Hour Friday

Not Just a Housewife

Thursday’s Thought

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distantheaven

I might have used this photo with a favorite quote before, but I thought it went rather well with this quote.  This quote is from the {fabulous} book, The Rent Collector, which I recently rated.  Have a great Thursday everyone!  Do or Learn something NEW!

OK…so I hit publish by accident, and I know it’s only Wednesday….but instead of deleting and scheduling this post for tomorrow, just PRETEND that it’s Thursday! 🙂