It's Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday, night and you know what that means.. 

It's time to Dare to Share! 

As you can see I was quiet on the blog this week.  I had my ultrasound early Monday morning, and did not get great news.  They found two nodules on my left lobe. I had only one on that lobe several years ago. It is still there, and looks like it did not change too much in size, but there is also now a much larger nodule to be concerned about. That second nodule is almost the same size as the lobe itself.  The rest of my thyroid looks okay, but it is recommended I get a needle biopsy on the large nodule very soon. After my results, I was called on Wednesday by a head and neck oncology Dr to come in the office to determine next steps. Having a nodule as large of mine is at higher risk for cancer. It also grew pretty quickly, and is starting to push on my vocal chords.   While there is a chance it is not cancerous, there is an extremely high chance they will take out that nodule due to it's large size.  My appointment is next Wednesday, so I will know more then. 

I wrote a post about this when I was first diagnosed with my thyroid issues years ago. I am going to reshare that post here.

Thyroid issues and autoimmune diseases are becoming more common especially in women.  While my thyroid stabilized for quite awhile, changes in my hormones, age and a change of meds could have contributed to the growth of the nodules.  I have a list of facts about thyroid cancer on my linked post that I had forgotten I posted until now. If you have any questions about your own thyroid health, be sure to ask/see your Dr.  While the thyroid is not that large, it has a very big affect to your body. 

Now that I bummed everybody out, let's turn the mood around and start the Dare to Share party. Link up and HAVE FUN! I tell you to have fun at every party, so why stop doing it now. :) 

  

 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Well as you know, Monday was the National Championship game, and it went my team's way. Yea!  It was quite an interesting night. We had to go out to watch the game since we do not have ESPN, but it was extremely cold that night. (-10)   We started at one restaurant where we had dinner.  We found out while we were eating that it was going to close at 9 pm. They turned out to be okay, because we were able to stay until halftime. We ended up at a 2nd restaurant to watch the 2nd half, but we were still full from the first restaurant.  We did end up getting two appetizers and waters. (I had three glasses of pop at the first one!) The second half of the game was fun to watch, and worth eating way too much food that night.  

Wednesday was so cold where I live that all the schools in the area closed, because morning temps were in the dangerous range. I wish I could say I used my day off to create fun projects, but instead I was doing online training most of the day.  When you are in education you have to do a certain number of training hours every year or so.  I have procrastinated on completing my hours, so now I need to get all my training done this next week.   I am also going through some health tests this week.  I have had thyroid problems for years, and lately my thyroid has become swollen.  I can tell by how I feel that it something is not right.  I am tired a lot of the time.  I had my blood levels checked today, and will have an ultrasound early Monday morning. Hopefully I will know what is going on quickly.

Can you believe Valentine's Day will be in just a few weeks?!  I have quite a few classroom valentines and other Valentine printables in my Etsy shop. Soon I complete my training I will be adding a few more listings. 

Once you have your class Valentines ready, you will need a Valentine box to put them in. A few years back and I shared how to make an Unicorn Valentine Box using Dollar Tree items. I still have that box somewhere around here. :) 

Speaking of Dollar Tree, I have been posting my Dollar Tree finds, hauls and DIYs on my Instagram (Mydollartreelife)  and Tik Tok (Pamspartyplanning). I would love to see you over there! 

Now that you know what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been up to.   Link up and HAVE FUN!!  

 

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Let's Dare to Share!!

       

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Friday!   This week was the first week that we started to have a regular routine. Last week we had a few snow days and then more snow over the weekend.  That snow is finally starting to melt only to have the the blast of arctic temps starting later this weekend.. Brrr! I will be off of work on Monday for MLK day but we may be off on Tuesday depending on how cold it gets.  I posted a picture of my dogs because it is very rare to sit together like this for a picture.

With all the snow we had last week, I shared my Snow Day party with fun activities to do and snacks to make with your kids when you are stuck inside.  

Do you plan on watching the National Championship game on Monday?  I am! If you have followed me for awhile you know I am a huge Buckeye fan.  I set us this this football table while ago.  I am thinking about setting another one up this year for the game but since we do not have ESPN we might have to go out to watch it.  GO BUCKS! 

I have a few new things I am working on that I hope to post soon.  With Valentine's Day coming up and our annual work Candyland party, I have some new candy themed projects to watch for.  

Now that you know what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been up to.  Link up and HAVE FUN!! 

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It's a Snow Day!

Are you in the part of the country that is affected by the large storm crossing the US today?  I am.  It started yesterday, and it has been snowing for the last 24 for hours. I am not sure of the total accumulation where I live, but I think it's around 10 inches or so.  We were lucky enough that the ice/freezing rain portion of the storm went to the south of where we live.  Almost all of the schools and daycares, and many businesses are closed today. It's possible that we will have another day off tomorrow as many of the roads are still covered with snow. The plows have come through, but the continued snowfall and blowing snow have covered them back up. 

Some of you may have noticed that there was no Dare to Share party this past Friday.  That was not intentional.  Have you heard of the saying that the week between Christmas and New Years Day you lose track of time, and eat a lot of cheese.  Well that kind of happened to me just in the few days after New Years.  I spent New Year's Eve with my friends at the dance in Michigan. On New Year's Day we visited some family and friends, and then headed back to Ohio to watch the Rose Bowl. (Go Bucks!) In the days after New Years Day, we rested, babysat our grandbaby and lost track of time. It was easy to do since we were both off of work, and not in our usual routine.  Early Sunday morning, D asked me if I had done my Friday night blog post.  It was then that I realized that I TOTALLY FORGOT to post the party. Oops! The party will be back this upcoming Friday, as I will be spending this week getting back into my routine, and going back to work.  

Now that you know where I have been lately, I thought I would share some of my favorite snow day activities in case you are  having the same weather I am. 

How to celebrate a snow day

 

Build an indoor snowman

Make snowman pretzel treats

Make sweet snowflakes

Build a marshmallow snowman

Enjoy your snow day! 

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Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It's time to Dare to Share!

I hope everyone is having a great holiday week.  We have had a good week with a few not so good things mixed in.  We have not celebrated with our grand baby and her parents yet, because the three of them have been sick this week. While she is too young to realize what Christmas is yet, it is kind of disappointing she is sick for her first Christmas.   The other not so great thing happened early yesterday (Dec 26th)  on the way to visit my family for a Christmas visit.  About 40 miles from home at 8 in the morning, we hit a very large pot hole on the interstate.  It was not visible so we had no idea it was there until we hit it hard.  On the side of the road we saw a white car  already on the side of the road, and wondered it they had hit it too.  We drove about a half a mile farther when our car started acting really weird, and we heard that dreaded thump, thump, thump sound  Then low tire pressure and other warning lights came on. Luckily there was an exit very close by, and we were able to get off the highway to a safe parking lot nearby.  While we were trying to figure out what to do, we saw a tow truck towing the other car we saw on the highway.  It turns out she had hit the pot hole too, and told us to call the sheriff to make a report.  We were told we were the 7th car to hit that same pot hole in 24 hours!  We also found out from the sheriff that because of the severity of the pot hole and the amount of damage it was causing, we could possibly be reimbursed for any damage caused. We called the transportation department who emailed us forms and told us there was a crew on it's way to fix the hole.  In another stroke of luck, a dealership of our brand car was less than a mile away.  We had our car towed to their location.  We found out they had to order a new tired and rim for out type of car, and check to see if there was more damage done to the car.  Since we were not able to get our car fixed while we were there, we rented a car and continued on to my mom's house. Hopefully we will be able to have everything resolved, and can pick up the car on the way home in a few days.

My dog turned five  on Christmas, and I decided to try the viral social media photo shoot with her.  We were pretty successful, though she did rip the paper toward the end of the photos.  She loved getting all the extra treats, and being told she was a good girl.  

The day before Christmas Eve we went back to Winterfest at Kings Island again.  There are over 7 million lights, and it really feels magical this time of year.  If you are ever in the Cincinnati area, I recommend you check it out.  

 Well it is getting late, so I should probably get this party started.  Now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to see what you have been up to.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

 It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy almost Christmas! I am so not ready, and have no idea where December went. Today was my last day at work until the new year, so hopefully we will get everything we need to get down before the big day.  I took the picture of my dog this week. She makes the goofiest faces that always make me laugh.  

I finally got almost all of my Dollar Tree candy diys done. I have just a couple more to finish this weekend.  I put everything outside only to have it rain most of the week.   Oh well, the candy makes me happy every time I go outside. 

I am finishing my gingerbread room this weekend. These cute little gingerbread are going to be part of the decor.  :) 

Well it is getting late, and we have a big day tomorrow so I better get the party started. Link up and HAVE FUN!! 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

The party is starting just a little bit late today.  It's a Michigan weekend, and we just settled in after celebrating one of my best friend's birthday,   It has been a busy week.  I was working hard on my gingerbread sugar cookies for a Christmas event.  

  

Earlier this week, I finished my candy for my Gingerbread/Candy theme for outside our house. I did some outside decorating early the week.  We also celebrated my step son's birthday this week.  We spent an evening at King's Island's Winterfest and had so much fun.  I highly recommend it if you are in the Cincinnati area. 

Since it is getting late, let's get this party started!  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

I hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving!  Yesterday we had our first of two with just the kids and our grandbaby. It was nice and relaxing, and we got a lot of baby time.  Tomorrow the meal will be a bigger family outing with lots of people and kids.  It should be a lot of fun as well.  

Today I went to go see the movie Wicked with a good friend of mine.  I recently bought a Wicked themed bead kit from the Target Dollar Spot, and made myself some bracelets.  They had three different kits. I bought the Glinda version, now I wish I bought all three. This would be a great stocking stuffer if there are any left.  

If you saw my post spooky skeleton hands at Halloween, I decided to turn them into Grinch hands for Christmas. You can see that post here.

I have been busy working on lots of crafts for my gingerbread/candyland Christmas trees. Here is a quick sneak peek. They will be posted very soon! 

Well it is getting late. We have a big day tomorrow with the Ohio State - Michigan game and our second Thanksgiving, so let's get this party started.   Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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Christmas Grinch Hands

 This past Halloween I shared a craft called spooky skeleton hands.  Instead of taking them down, I had an idea that would allow me to keep them through the Christmas season as well.  

**This post contains affiliate links 

I really like the Grinch and Grinch decor, and they hands kind of reminded me of Grinch hands.   I found all of the supplies I needed at that Dollar Tree except for green gloves.  Walmart had some, but when I started looking for them they were already sold out in my area and online.  I ordered a pair of adult Grinch gloves from Amazon.

I placed the gloves on the skeleton hands. I used my glue gun and glue the white fabric to the read fabric to look like Santa suit sleeves.  I then wrapped the fabric around the base attached to the wall.  Since my skeleton hands were palm up, it did not look right to have the hands holding a hanging ornament.  Instead I placed a red Dollar Tree ornament in the palm of his hands. I loved how this turned out and it was very easy to put together.  

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

This was a productive week for me now that I am not working every evening getting ready for the market.  If you missed it, I shared a post How to make pie ornaments on Monday.  I am planning on trying to make a few other kinds of pies and sweets using this technique. 

Yesterday, I shared one of my family's favorite Thanksgiving recipes that we are really looking forward to eating again this year.  If you have leftover turkey next week, you might want to try to make Leftover Thanksgiving Pizza. It is so good, and we have to make several pizzas,because we love it so much. 

Also yesterday, I made a new Christmas DIY using my spooky skeleton hands.  I will post what I made this weekend.  It will be especially fun for those who like a certain green guy that is famous for his feelings about Christmas. :) 

Now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to see what you have been up to.   Link up and HAVE FUN!  

 

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It's time for Leftover Thanksgiving Pizza

It is almost time for one of my favorite Thanksgiving family traditions. It's time to make my Leftover Thanksgiving Pizza.  We look forward to this pizza every year, a day or two after our Thanksgiving meal.  This year we are actually having two Thanksgiving meals, so we will have some leftovers to use. We will have a small family traditional Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving, and then a big family pot luck meal over the weekend where most likely there will not be a lot of leftovers. 

We love this pizza so much, I make three pizzas for only five people. I am getting hungry just thinking about it.  I wrote out the full recipe in a post from last year, so instead of redoing the entire post, I am going share a link to the full recipe here.

Here is a tip in case you plan on making some.  While buying your groceries for your Thanksgiving meal, pick up a few extra crescent rolls, boxes of stuffing, and cheese ahead of time, just in case you do not have enough leftover from the Thanksgiving meal. 

Enjoy! 

 

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How to make Pie Ornaments

 

I think these diy pie ornaments are some of my favorite things I have made in a very long time. Not only are they really cute, but they are pretty easy to make, and the items to make them are inexpensive.  

I had a lot of positive feedback at our recent holiday market, which made me happy.  

The main items you need to make the pies are styrofoam circles from the Dollar Tree, and cubes of polymer clay. I got mine from Walmart for 96 cents each. I found each cube is enough to make the crust of three pie pieces.  I also used about a half of cube to make several pecan pieces. 

I cut each styrofoam circle into six pie pieces.  I then rolled out the clay and cut it to fit each of the pie pieces. You will need clay for the bottom crust and the outside crust.   One thing that I did not do this time, but will next time is to prop the outside crust with foil to keep it upright. A few of the outside crusts came apart with out it.   Before baking the clay you MUST remove the styrofoam before putting it in the oven.  (see the first picture)  Bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes. 

I used lightweight spackling to give each of the pie pieces some texture, and make them look more realistic.   Dollar Tree will sometimes have spackle for $1.25, but if you can't find it, I found this brand at Walmart.  It is a little bit bigger than the DT container and ready to use.  

Once I glued the cut styrofoam to the clay crusts and covered the pie pieces with spackle.  I painted each of the pie pieces with acrylic paint. I also painted the crusts to look more crust color. Since I was at my friends house, and had limited colors with me, I blended several colors I had on hand to look like pumpkin pie. 

When the paint was dry, I placed a little bit of spackle in a plastic bag, and added whip cream to each piece of pie.  

I only had enough clay to make cherries for one piece of pie. They next time I make cherry pie, I will add some clay pieces on top of the cherries to make it look a little more realistic.

I had enough clay to make three pecan pieces I added the pecans on top of the spackle and once it was dry, I painted it a caramel brown. 

I used screw hooks and ribbon to hang each of the ornaments on a mini Christmas tree. 

In addition to the pie ornaments, I sold pie shaped cookies, and gingerbread faces. My friend sold flavored bread which was well received as well.  

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