Important Things In Life

Today is the day that all eligible Alaskan residents receive their Permanent Fund Dividend, more commonly referred to as the PFD or free money. For weeks now retailers have been advertising PFD specials and thousands will be anxiously flocking to the local stores or visiting their favorite online shops to spend their money. So when a family member posted a photo on her Facebook page, with the following message, I thought I would use the same message to design a printable.

Reduced version for the web.

Whether you're Alaskan, religious, or neither; this is a great reminder to remember the important things in life. Don't forget to show and tell the people around you how much they mean to you today and every day.

Full resolution version for print. Will print as an 8x10.

Conquering My Fear . . . .

of making gingerbread anything. For some seriously odd and unexplainable reason, other than perfectionism, the thought of making gingerbread houses/men has intimidated me. I hate being wasteful so I don't usually try to make something unless I know it'll turn out. Not very risky or fun, I know. Well, after much thought, self coaching, living with a tight budget, and a little research, I decided to try my hand at making my own gingerbread house this year instead of purchasing the premade kits.

I used this recipe and found it surprisingly easy to work with. So easy that I didn't even have to flour the counter to roll the dough out! I can't attest to the taste/quality as I've never made any other recipe, but I can pretty much guarantee that the candy embellishments will get eaten before the actual gingerbread house.

Not very appetizing, I know, but this was prior to kneading the dough.

Ten year olds are also perfect for kneading and kneading and kneading dough.

Once we were done kneading we rolled out half the dough and used our template to cut out the house pieces. The other half of the dough, we wrapped up and refrigerated as directed until we were ready to make more pieces for the project.

I thought they turned out pretty nice. Since daughter number two is on her way back from the boonies, we decided to hold off on decorating until tomorrow so she could participate in the family decorating party. Let's just hope the house will stand!

It stood! This was the easiest gingerbread house that we've ever put together. Good bye store bought kits!