10 Things You Might Not Know You Need This Christmas

Happy Christmas season! 

But enough with the preliminaries. 

I know you've got a list a mile long and about two seconds to spend on this page. I'm honored you're here at all, so I'll try to make it worth your while in a hurry.

1. If you need an alphabetical assortment of stocking stuffer suggestions: try this joint-effort list my girl Lisa the Syncopated Mama and I put together last year.

2. If you need a festive-looking gelatin salad with no weird chunks of anything in it: this Cherry Applesauce Salad made with fruit juice and unsweetened applesauce and one surprise ingredient that I PROMISE works. But please know that if chunky molded salads are THE thing that makes your family's holiday complete, that's fine, too. My people just happen to prefer smooth, and this salad slips right down.

Cherry Applesauce Gelatin Salad {print}

1 3/4 cup water

2 packets plus 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (yes, this means you have to open three packets, but it really does make a big difference)

1/4 cup cinnamon "imperials" candies

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 12-oz can 100% juice apple-cherry frozen juice concentrate, thawed

Pour the water into a medium-sized saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin over the surface; allow to stand for one minute to soften. Dump in the sugar and cinnamon candies and stir. Cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved and the candies are melted. Do not boil. Remove from heat and stir in the juice concentrate, followed by the applesauce. Pour into a pretty serving bowl and refrigerate several hours until set. Serves 6-8

3. If you need a festive holiday dessert you can make waaaayyy ahead of time (like, yesterday): Peppermint Crunch Oreo Ice Cream Cake. 

4. If you need a way to get Christmas tree sap off your hands: hand sanitzer. (Yes, really.)

5. If you need a new warm fuzzy Christmas song: Mathew West's "A Christmas To Believe In." Best get some tissues first.

6. If you need a beautiful Christmas quote to read out loud around the table or just ponder in your heart: This. All this. From "10 Gifts We Can Receive From God This Christmas," by Alicia Yoder. 

7. If you need a real-life way to stay close to Jesus this season (and in the new year and, well, forever): the Daily TruthBytes for Moms app. Short devotionals, words from the Word, prayer paths...all delivered right to your phone. No guilt, just good stuff from God from some moms who need it themselves and figure someone else might need it, too. If you're an Android user, just search "TruthBytes" in the app store; Apple users can follow this link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/572641451/daily-truthbytes-for-moms-devotional-app.

8. If you need gifts that encourage and facilitate hospitality, especially if you, like me, are (ahem) "hospitality deficient": a hospitality planner or hospitality calendar from my friend Sue over at Welcome Heart. 

9. If you need simply gorgeous free printable gift tags that would make a gift of a roll of toilet paper seem lavish: these from Write Them On My Heart. 

10. If you need to refocus on what--Who--the season is really all about: this CHRISTMAS acrostic. What a beautiful name it is.

{click here for a printable version}

What might I not know I need this Christmas? 

Tell me in a comment, or hop on over to Facebook and leave a message there. 

And thanks for spending a few moments of your busy holiday season here. 

**This post may have been shared at some of these blog link parties.**

10 Possibly Weird Things I'm Oddly Thankful For

Thankfulness has been on my mind a lot lately, and not just because it's Thanksgiving season. Last fall and winter, I did a Bible study on the armor of God, and thanksgiving popped up there because it's pretty much the prerequisite to peace. If shoes are the peace in the suit of armor, the soles might be made of gratitude.

I'm thankful for all the usual (but not-to-be-taken-for-granted) things: my faith, my family, a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear. This list alone represents an embarrassment of riches I need to remember to be grateful for every single day.

But lately, a few more obscure targets of my appreciation have come onto my radar. Namely... 

1. Retractable vacuum cord. Watching my canister vacuum suck up the cord when I'm done using it thrills me every time I push the button. This either makes me really pathetic and in desperate need of an actual life or charmingly grateful for the little things. 

2. Notes and reminder features on my cell phone. Longtime Guilty Chocoholic Mama friends, please don't hate me for this, but it's true: I have upgraded from my dumb phone. I promise: I haven't crossed over! It's just that I have teenagers who drive and are out past dark, and my old phone was not keeping me in adequate contact with these treasured people. Apart from the assurance of keeping up with my progeny, the things I love best about my upgraded phone are the "notes" and "reminder" features. Which are the new sticky notes in my life. I use them for mini grocery lists and texts I want to send later and blog post title ideas and (my personal favorite) Bible verses I'm either trying to memorize or just need to keep literally close at hand. (Psalm 5:3 is a current go-to.)

3. B&B Vanilla Bean Noel. Other than the fact that using this makes me want to eat my elbow, it's pretty much perfect.

4. That my 19-year-old still calls me "mommy" when she texts me. Except when she's mad at me. Which isn't very often. And is almost always justified.

5. Cherry Limeade Sparkling ICE. Vitamins, antioxidants, and puckery pick-me-up fizzyness with no calories. I'm pretty sure this is the most I could ask for from a beverage.

6. Toilet paper. I've often said I would have made an awesome pioneer woman on account of their limited wardrobe choices (fewer decisions to make) and limited social lives (see: introvert homebody). But I do greatly appreciate the modern convenience of toilet paper versus whatever they had to use. Which is probably enough said on that topic.

7. The load-size sensor on my washing machine. Several months ago, my old washing machine died after a mere 23 years of service. (It had been a wedding gift from my in-laws, so my husband and I felt rather smug that our marriage had outlasted our appliances.) I went looking for a new one that would wash my clothes; I did not need it to interpret the mood of my apparel or otherwise promise to change my life. I ended up with a agitator-free, front loader which, as it turns out, almost has changed my life. In keeping with the title of this post, I'm oddly grateful for the happy little song it plays when I turn on the power; I think the title is, "Now We're Going To Do Laundry...Won't This Be Fun?" But what I love the most is that I can throw in a load of whatever, close the door, and push start without having to decide if this is a small load...or a medium-ish load but with bulky stuff that could push it into large-load territory...or a small large load. No, I just get the thing going and leave the room while the machine takes its contents for a test spin to figure out how much water it needs to do the job. And then at the end, it chirps to tell me it's done, but only in a non-aggressive, "I know you'll probably ignore this until tomorrow morning which is why there's a 'rinse and spin' option, too" kind of way.

8. The online book request option at our local library. I'm standing in the kitchen. I suddenly think of a book I should read or need to read or want to read. I pop around the corner to my computer desk, log into my account at our local library's website, search for the book, request to have it sent to the branch closest to our house, and wait for a call telling me it's in. Really, a lot more of life needs to be this easy.

9. Electric pencil sharpener. Sometimes, it's the littlest things that wreak the biggest havoc on your emotional stability. Dull pencils are one of those little things for me. I want mechanical pencils to solve this problem, but they come with their own issues. So a few years ago, I broke down and bought an electric pencil sharpener for our home. I really don't think I can adequately describe the calming effect sharp pencils--and the assurance I can resharpen them ANY TIME I WANT TO--have on me. Maybe the best less-than-$20 I ever spent.

10. You, dear reader. If you are my mom, thank you. If you are one of my faithful readers and encouragers, thank you. If you are a new visitor to my little slice of the blog pie and are not sure how you ended up here and are not sure you're ever coming back, thank you. I don't think it is at all odd that I'm grateful for you, and I'm sure you are not weird, or at least not any weirder than I am. And anyway, everyone knows that weird is the new wonderful.

What are you (possibly oddly) thankful for? 

Tell me all about it here in a comment or over on my Facebook page. 

Maybe I should be thankful for it, too.

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Previous posts that might have something to do with this one:

So You Want to Start a Women's Bible Study?

Five Football-Free Thanksgiving Traditions

Surprised by Good: The Thanksgiving I Didn't Plan On

31 Things I Love (That You Might Love, Too)

This post may have been shared at some of these blog link parties.

10 Lists I Love (None of Which Has Anything to Do With Groceries or Buckets)

If this isn't your first time stopping by Guilty Chocoholic Mama, you've probably figured out that I'm a big fan of list and that most of my posts are lists. (Also: thank you so much for coming back!) 

In fact, if I had to rename this blog, I'd probably call it "I've Got to Make a List."

In the interest of reusing, re-purposing, and recycling, I've put together this list of lists. Okay, fine: this is actually total self-indulgence. Up to this point, these are some of my favorite posts in full-on list form. But it's also time management: I've got a high school graduation party to throw, and that list is titled "101 Things You Absolutely Must Do Before June 23rd and Honey, There is No Way You're Going to Get to All of These." 

Self-indulgence aside, I'd love it if something here somehow made your day a little bit better--if only by giving you a "me, too/I'm not the only one" moment. Which, when it comes down to it, is really item #1 on a theoretical list of why I have a blog in the first place.

1. 20 Classes Moms Would Take If Motherhood Was a PhD Program. Stain identification and removal, maybe? Or how about math for moms?

2. 10 Things I Don't Wish I'd Done Differently as a Mom, Parts 1 & 2. Oh, mama, believe me: I've got plenty of things I DO wish I'd done differently. (Two words: potty training.) But here are a few things I'm grateful to say I wouldn't change, even if God did offer me a maternal do-over.

3. You Might Be the Mom of a Tween Girl If.... "You have accepted that life runs more smoothly if 'it' is clean. Whatever 'it' is." For example.

4. 5 Ways to Feed Your Child's Faith (Without Preaching at Them). My husband and I are far from being the wisest parents ever to be sent home from the hospital with a baby, a bill, a birth certificate, and best wishes for our utterly changed lives. But we've tried to feed our girls' faith, and so we've learned a few things about what's worked for us...and what might work for you, too, while you lead your children along the way home.

5. Dear Children: 25 Things I Think You Need to Know. Some practical (hand sanitizer will get ink and Christmas tree sap off your hands), some preachable (as often as possible, try to "disrupt the world with grace"). 

6. 7 Reasons I Love Being the Mom of a Teenager. Among other things no one ever tells you, having a responsible teen driver on hand is the best thing ever. 

7. Four Kitchen Tool Must-Haves, Plus One I Just Really Like. Don't even talk to me about life without my batter bowl. 

8. These Are a Few of My New Favorite Things. With bonus "how I met Julie Andrews (yes, that Julie Andrews)" story!

9. Chocolate-Covered Popcorn...and 5 Other Habits of a (Mostly) Happy Family. One day, I asked my children a Very Important Question: "do you think we have a happy family?" Here's what they said and why I think they said it.

10. My Top 5 Mom Lessons (So Far). I've been a mom for more than 18 years now, and I'm not sure I could have learned these life lessons any other way.

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Bonus round...or, rather, a roundup of lists from some of my favorite bloggers. These ladies are hilarious and encouraging and you need them--and these practical, purposeful lists--in your life.

• 6 Easy Meals You Should Add to Your Freezer, by Jennifer at Chaos2Peace.
  
   
• 10 Ways to Make Nursery Rhymes More Fun, by Lisa at Syncopated Mama.
  
• The Bedtime Hoops: 4 Important Questions to Ask Your Kids Every Night, by Christine at Real Life Families.
  
• 10 Prayers to Pray for Your Daughter, by Tracey at Girls to Grow.
  

• How to Raise Children to Love Their Siblings, by Ruthie at Rear, Release, Regroup.
  

• Pampered Chef--My Top-Ten (+ One) Favorite Products, by Sue at Welcome Heart.
  

• 36 Crazy Things We've Done to Escape Being in Debt, by Jamie at Medium Sized Family.
  
• Encouraging Songs for Your Playlist, by Pat at Pat And Candy.
  

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

You're on my list of "people I may not have met but am really, really grateful for."

**This post may have been shared at some of these blog parties.**

Ten Things You Can Never Have Too Much or Too Many Of

 

There are a few things I can't imagine needing another one of...ever. 

Mugs, for instance. Hot chocolate, hot tea, life-sustaining coffee-flavored creamer: I have vessels for all of these. All at once. With several in the dishwasher, awaiting a run cycle. Even if we have guests. 

I'm also good to go on lice outbreaks, having done three. (Which was four too many.) 

And decorative scarves. For every mood, outfit, meteorological condition, and neckline, I. Am. Set. 

On the other hand, here are a few things I've always got room in my kitchen or closet or desk drawer or life for.

1. Friends who know what you're really like...but like you anyway. People in my life who fit this description, you know who you are. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Also, thank you.

2. Chocolate chip cookie recipes. Once you find a classic recipe you like and can rely on for emotional rehab when your family has a rotten day, you stick with it. But there's always some new variation out there that just might change your life, and really--do you want to miss it? Here's my favorite, one-stop-shopping collection to get you started. 

3. Caramelized onions. Every time I make a batch of these (usually for the caramelized onion, spinach, sausage, and Parmesan pizza my husband and I slightly addicted to), I look at the huge pile of raw rings in the pan and think, "We'll never need all these." Then, half an hour later, when I'm staring at the two tablespoons of finished product, I think, "Why didn't I make more?" (Need a lesson/recipe? Start here.)

4. Rolls of tape that have ends you can find. Re: "they can put a man on the moon...."

5. Staplers that actually work. And by "work," I mean they actually staple (gasp) on the first try and do not cause me to yell, "WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THIS STUPID THING???!!!!" before throwing it against the wall. For example.

6. Outfits that fit any time of the month that you feel good in that don't wrinkle or bunch up or show stains or require that belt you used to have but haven't seen in three years. 

7. Music that inspires, motivates, soothes, heals, helps, guides, and comforts. Some of my favorites (a VERY incomplete list):

Aaron Copeland's "Hoe Down" from Rodeo

Kristene DiMarco/Bethel Music's "It is Well"

Audio Machine's Tree of Life

Elevation Worship's "Call Upon the Lord"

Mercy Me's "Even If"

Toby Mac's "Move"

"The Great Day" from The Story

8. Love that comes anywhere close to the 1 Corinthians 13 standard. Or even tries to on a regular basis.

9. Working batteries. I would love to know what it's like to have too many of these in my house. In fact, usually, I'd just like to know what it's like to have any at all.

10. Faith. Life is hard--for now. But God is good and great--forever.

What's missing from this list? I'd love to have you add it on in a comment or over on Facebook. And if you've got a make and model for #5, will you please, please let me know about it? My walls are thanking you already.

This post may have been shared at some of these link parties.
Photo credit: Sanja Gjenero, www.rgbstock.com/gallery/lusi.

10 Mom Things I've Said A Lot More Than 10 Times

"Elizabeth. When someone pays you a compliment, they are not looking for a discussion. Just say, 'Thank you.'"

This bit of wisdom is one of many things my wonderful mom said to me more than a few times when I was growing up.

Moms say the same things over and over for two reasons: 

1. Those things are true. 
2. We are too tired to come up with new material all the time. 

Which got me to thinking about the mom standbys I've been known to say with some, er, frequency.

1. Well, it's got to be somewhere. I feel like I've spent the last 17 years looking for lost stuff. At least once a day, I tell my girls that whatever they can't find "has got to be somewhere." Because it has. Now in the case of, say, my high schooler's lost cell phone, we still haven't figured out where "somewhere" is, but the phone IS somewhere. It might be a trash heap or it might be smashed in a parking lot or it might be in some mystery spot in her room we haven't though to check, but it IS somewhere. Whatever is lost IS still in existence somewhere. It didn't vaporize, for crying out loud. And I don't mean to brag, but no one in this house is better at figuring out where somewhere is than me. My daughters don't call me "Sleuth Mommy" for nothing. Most recent Sleuth Mommy score: my daughter's lost purity ring. Which was somewhere, as it turned out. Namely, under her dresser. All of which is to say that I'll have to take issue with Tim Hawkins as seen in this video clip. Tim, I love you, but don't call me Captain Obvious. Call me Sleuth Mommy.

2. It will be okay. It will. I have two teenagers, and they're both hormone-ridden girls, so I employ this phrase A LOT. And it's true. Whatever "it" is, it will usually be okay. Someday. Probably soon. In heaven if not before. It's the stuff that might not be okay until heaven that's tough to stomach.

3. Just do your best. And by "best," I mean best under a given set of circumstances, on a given day. Under other circumstances on another day, best might look better than it does right now. But just do it. That's all I ask.

4. Do you need a snack? Once I figured out I was going to have girls and only girls, I started talking to moms of boys and asking if I could rent their teenage sons to feed. Because I love to bake and feed people, and teenage boys are notorious for wanting to eat. Once my girls got older, though, I retracted my offer because as it turns out, my teen girls eat plenty, thank you very much. Which THRILLS me. But their healthy appetites do mean I spend a lot of time coming up with snacks-of-redeeming-nutritional-value that can be eaten on the run, in the car, en route to dance, before a track meet, etc. And in case you're wondering, the answer to "do you need a snack?" is almost always "yes" (insert tones of semi-starvation).

5. Are you listening to me? By which I do not mean, "Are the sounds coming out of my mouth being received by your auditory senses?" By which I do mean, "Are you paying attention to what I am telling you and, more to the point, do you have any intention of actually acting on what I'm saying?"

6. Did you put it in the laundry? Usually said in response to "is such-and-such clean???!!!" shouted from the top of the stairs at 6:08 a.m. on a school morning. Usually a Monday morning.

7. Be careful and pay attention. I have a teenage driver. I say this frequently. And then I pray. 

8. I'm so proud of you. Not just of what my girls have done, but of the effort they've put into the doing. And not just of who my girls are but of who they are becoming.

9. Don't forget to ___________. Brush your teeth. Find out what time the birthday party starts. Turn in your permission slip. Take your vitamin. Look in the bottom of your locker for that missing library book. Give me the shirt you want washed (see #6). Text your mother when you get there. 
Et al. Ad infinitum.

10. I love you. The end. And the beginning. And lots of points in between.

I'll leave it to the brilliant Anita Renfroe to cover all the rest of the things moms say on a daily basis...and she'll do it in 3 minutes and 24 seconds flat. Watch this video, then leave a comment or hop over to Facebook, and let me know what mom thing you've said more than a few times (even if it's something you'd be perfectly happy never to have to say again).

**This post may have been shared at some of these blog bashes.**

Teachers Know These Things: 10 Practical Tips for Parents

My girls head back to school in about a month, which means stores around here are stuffed with supplies.

Now when I'm shopping, the only thing more confusing than trying to decide which yogurt to buy--Greek? nonfat? full-fat? Icelandic? fruit-on-the-bottom? no fruit but with a sidecar of crunchies?--is trying to figure out what kind of glue stick will provide the most adhesive power before it dries up in the tube at the exact moment one of my children has some massive posterboard project due the next day.

Enter to the rescue my friend Julia, a stellar second-grade teacher and one of my former college roommates who's still speaking to me. (On account of my worshiping at the throne of the almighty 4.0, I was very difficult to live with during my college years. Sorry, roomies. Not that I'm all that easy to live with now. Sorry, family.) Julia shared a life-altering post on Facebook about what kind of pencils professional educators wish their students would bring to class. Buoyed by this bit of consumer clarification, I asked Julia what else parents need to know when they're staring down The Great Wall of School Supplies.

She graciously answered that question and, along with a few of her teacher friends, also offered a few hints for general school-year success. 

Parents, consider this your teacher-approved back-to-school cheat sheet.

1. Presharpened Ticonderoga pencils are IT in the leaded writing implement world. Julia says that when these do need sharpening, your little scholar won't end up shaving most of it off the way they will with cheaper pencils. Seems like this falls in the "you get what you pay for" category of life stuff.

2. Pass up paper folders for more durable, longer-lasting plastic versions. (See "you get what you pay for," above.)

3. Wide-ruled notebooks are the rule in elementary school. Wait on college-ruled until college itself is a little closer. 

4. Crayola crayons. Yes. 

5. On lunch supplies, from an actual student (thank you, Brock): "pack enough for lunch 'cause kids are used to eating snacks in the summer." 

6. Also in the food-and-beverage department: send no-spill drinks in lunches. (While I'm not a professional educator and am in complete awe of those who can be and are, I will say that my girls are still going strong with the Contigo AUTOSEAL water bottles we bought last summer. No leaks, no breakage, no weird taste, no snapping off of the one minuscule part essential to the operation of the whole deal. (Zipper pulls, I'm looking at you.)

7. Buy extra art supplies now while they're readily available. In December, all the seasonal shelf space currently allotted to glue sticks, markers, and crayons will be given over to Ghiradelli chocolate gift sets. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, only that you should buy those markers before the changeover happens. At which point, of course, you should buy the Ghiradelli.

8. If a specific brand of something is on a supply list from your child's teacher, it's probably there for a reason, and it's not because the teacher is getting a kick-back from the XYZ Staple Company. If possible, try to get the brand listed.

9. Just checked mechanical pencils off your list? Great. Did you get the refills? Of course you did. Good job.

10. Stock up on envelopes and zip-top baggies. Because these are what your child's teacher wants money you send to school to be contained in. WITH your child's name on it. AND labeled with what the money is for. Please. Also, thank you.

Extra credit:

Julia and her colleagues also chimed in with a few other suggestions for a successful school year. Between these and your killer school supplies (and prayer...lots of prayer), I think you've got this, mama.

• Designate one area of your house for school "stuff"--packets, handbooks, notes from the teacher, etc. That way, when the question is "where in the world was that [insert specific school-related piece of paper]?" you'll already know the answer.
• Drop off all medications to the school nurse; don't send them with your student. And inform the nurse and your child's teacher of any diagnoses.
• Sign and return forms right away. Or sooner.
• Don't be on the phone when you pick your kids up or when they get home. I love the why behind this advice from Diane, a first-grade teacher: "they have missed you!"
• Check assignment notebooks or take-home folders nightly.
• Charme, a K-2 Literacy Coach, says, "Be sure to share anything going on with your child or home life, as it affects their day and how [their] teacher may respond to certain things [your] child does."
• Find out when your child has PE so you'll know when they need to take their gym shoes.
• Backpack clean-out is best done once a week, not at the end of the year when entire new colonies of living things have taken up residence.
• Notify the school ASAP if contact numbers or addresses change.
• "If you have to report an absence or dismissal change, contact the office, not the teacher. Teachers are busy teaching and can't always get to their phone or computer. They may be absent or in a meeting and the sub doesn't have access to their email or voicemail box." (School secretaries like Cindy know these things.)

My thanks to Julia and her colleagues--Sandy, Loree (and Brock), Diane, Susan, Rachel, Ann, Charme, Stephanie, and Cindy--for giving parents this crash-course on all things school-related. Got anything to add? Please share it in a comment or over on Facebook, because among other things, The Great Binder Decision still awaits me.


**This post may have been shared at some of these blog bashes.**

These Are a Few Of My New Favorite Things

True story that does actually relate to this post:

The summer after my sophomore year in college, I worked as a hostess at a Bill Knapps restaurant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. For the uninitiated (which you'll remain...Bill closed his doors decades ago), Bill Knapps was a chain of family-friendly sit-down restaurants known for its au gratin potatoes, chocolate birthday cake, and servers who were trained to carry a ridiculous number of plates to a table by lining them up on their arms.

In the middle of one weekday afternoon--otherwise known as "the time when no one is supposed to come in so the staff can get ready for the dinner rush"--a tour bus pulled up. Our skeleton staff cursed (I mean, not me, but other people) and moaned (me) and grumbled (all of us) about the hassle during our down time and began running around to set up one of the back dining rooms. The bus people came in, and one aggressive-type man unceremoniously slid himself into a front booth.

"Sir," our manager-trainee told him with as much sternness as someone who looked about 12 and possibly had not yet started shaving could muster, "you have to wait to be seated." Mr. Seat-Himself replied snidely, "Oh, we have to wait to be seated." 

"Follow me," I told the group and led them back to the tables we'd hastily prepped. After they were seated, I returned to the front to finish some thrilling task like rolling silverware, when one of the waitresses (her arm permanently scarred from all those hot plates) whispered to me, "Wasn't that Julie Andrews?" 

Oh. My. Word. I, a lifelong choir geek and devotee of musical theater who knew every song from A Sound of Music and could even kind of do the yodeling bit from "The Lonely Goatherd," had unknowingly and haphazardly seated Fraulein Maria herself. And Mr. Seat-Himself was none other than Blake Edwards, Julie's big-time actor/director/producer husband.

I was too reticent to ask for an autograph, but I can tell you that Julie/Maria had the tuna melt. I guess that was one of her favorite things...no idea how she felt about raindrops on roses, et al.

Which brings me (you're welcome) to this list of ten of my new favorite things. If you need a snack or something to wash your face with or a refreshing drink or inspiring music or a foodie movie, you might find a game-changer here. There'll be no tuna melts, however.

1. Belvita Dark Chocolate Sandwich Biscuits. I was already a big fan of these whole-grain breakfast/snacking "biscuits." But then they started sandwiching them together with dark chocolate, and my morning happiness quotient went up about 500 percent. My daughters like them, too, and if there's one thing a house with teenage daughters needs in the morning, it's more things they like. 

2. Gracelaced. My baby sister is turning 40 this year, and as soon as she sent me a birthday gift idea from this site, I was hooked. Gorgeous prints and greeting cards, recipes, a blog...all in all, a beautiful place to get lost sometime. Everything here is so beguiling, in fact, that when my sister's gift arrived in the mail, even the "please do not bend" request printed on the package was beautiful.

3. Noxema Anti-Blemish Daily Scrub. Fabulous skin is not one of my areas of giftedness, which is why I'm thankful for this cleanser. Unlike similar products that make you feel like you're rubbing your face with coarse sandpaper, this is gentle but with enough scrubbing power to make you feel like you're accomplishing something. Plus, it smells great. In the world of rotten skin, it's the little things that make a difference. 

4. Audiomachine. I have to thank my daughter's friend, Caleb, for bringing these next two favorites into my life. Caleb (God bless and keep him...he left a couple weeks ago for Navy boot camp) is a big music lover, and I'll always be grateful he introduced me to Audiomachine. If your life were an epic movie, this is the music you'd want as the soundtrack. Put this long-playing YouTube video on in the background of whatever you've got going on today. You'll feel like you're starring in your own life. 

(And yes, I'm well aware your life is not like an epic movie but rather more like a reality TV show with THIS as its theme song...)

5. Bai Antioxidant Infusion in coconut pineapple. Caleb (see #4) also brought these low-calorie, no-artificial-sweetener flavored waters to our attention. Drinking this coconut-pineapple version is exactly like sipping a pina colada on a beach in Maui, except without the calories or the cost of airfare. (Okay, also without the beach or the Maui, but still.) 

6. I'm Happy For You (Sort of...Not Really), by Kay Wills Wyma. Comparison and the discontent it breeds are Ongoing Life Issues for me, so I'm thankful (sort of...no, really) to my blogging kindred-spirit Tracey from Girls to Grow for making me aware of this book by putting it on one of her insightful reading lists. 

7. Thirty-One purse. My friend Cristina, a Thirty-One consultant of the highest fabulousness, carried this purse--I mean, "Organizing Shoulder Bag"--into Starbucks when we met one day for caffeinated fellowship. I said I loved it. Soon thereafter, she (being a great sort of friend) texted my husband and asked if he wanted her to order it for him to give me for my upcoming birthday. He (being a smart sort of husband) immediately said, "Yes, and how much do I make the check out for?" It arrived on my doorstep shortly thereafter, and how I survived so long in life before I had this is beyond me. 

8. The Hundred-Foot Journey. My favorite foodie movie in years. Beautiful, funny, inspiring, and worth watching more than once. Note: you might want to be eating Indian food while you watch this if you like that sort of thing.

9. Pasture Bedtime (A Cautionary Tale), Jenny H. Lyman. Heads up, people in my life who might someday have a baby: you WILL be getting this adorable and brilliantly punny book--and matching clothing from Lazy One--from me as a gift. I promise: this is a very, very good thing.

10. Oreo Thins (Mint). All the snappy chocolate-mint goodness of the famously addictive Girl Scout cookies, but in a version you can pay for in the self-checkout lane at 3 a.m. at one of those 24-hour grocery stores. 

So these are some of the newish things I'm loving these days. 

What's one of your new favorite things? Share the love in a comment or over on Facebook. And if you try anything from my little list and it changes your life, 

I'd love to know about that, too.

**This post may have been shared at some of these blog bashes.**