by kathilipp | Nov 19, 2014 | Christmas, The "What's for dinner?" Project, tips and ideas, Uncategorized |
Yikes! It’s almost time to cook the holiday turkey!
Do you have turkey-phobia?
It can seem like a daunting task to make the perfect turkey, but I promise you, it isn’t. Try my turkey recipe and follow my instructions, and you’ll have a table full of guests licking their fingers and begging for more. But beware, this turkey is so good, there may not be any leftovers for turkey sandwiches.
Kathi's Brined Turkey
-
1
gallon
water - cold
-
1
cup
sea salt
-
1
tablespoon
crushed dried rosemary
-
1
tablespoon
dried sage
-
1
tablespoon
dried thyme
-
1
bottle dry white wine
-
3
oranges
cut in half
-
In a large garbage bag, combine the all the ingredients.
-
Wash and dry your turkey. Make sure you have removed the innards. Place the turkey, breast down, into the brine. Make sure that the cavity gets filled. Place the bag in a roasting pan and in the refrigerator overnight, turning once.
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Remove the turkey carefully draining off the excess brine and pat dry. Discard excess brine.
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Cook the turkey as desired reserving the drippings for gravy. Keep in mind that brined turkeys cook 20 to 30 minutes faster so watch the temperature gauge.
by kathilipp | Oct 13, 2014 | Speaking, tips and ideas |
Free Webinar: Kick Start Your Speaking Career
Monday, October 13 at 7:00 PM CDT
Is it time to take your speaking to the next level?
Do you want to change the world, one message at a time?
In this free 60-minute webinar, marketing expert Thomas Umstattd and speaker and author Kathi Lipp share the secrets of successful speakers to not only getmore bookings, but better bookings.
What: Free webinar
When: Monday, October 13 at 7:00 PM CDT
Here is what you’ll learn:
- What your website is missing that can turn inquiries into bookings.
- The three fastest ways to get in front of audiences.
- Writing copy so that event planners will notice.
Not only will Kathi and Thomas share with you their secrets to successful bookings, but will be answering your speaking questions.
by kathilipp | May 19, 2014 | 21 Ways to Connect With Your Kids, I Need Some Help Here, tips and ideas |
Summer is almost here and I know that you want to avoid “couch zombie” syndrome! Sure it’s quiet when your kid’s face is in a screen, but I’m pretty sure that the glazed look in his eyes is not a good sign.
Why not have an unplugged, memory-making kind of summer?
I have just the thing to help you have fun with your kids without pulling out your hair. My friend Kimberlee at ThePeacefulMom.com is offering her e-book Summer Sanity: A Mom’s Guide to a Great Summer FREE when you subscribe to her free weekly eNotes filled with ideas to help you save money, get organized and love your life.
Click here to get your FREE copy!
Please Note: If you would rather not subscribe, you can get the book for just $3.50 (40% off) with code SUMMERFUN – that’s hours of summer fun for about the cost of a box of frozen fruit pops!
Click here to purchase.
For more summer sanity, check out the Summer Survival Kit!
Make this your best summer yet!
photocredit: Ambro; FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by kathilipp | Mar 31, 2014 | 21 Ways to Connect With Your Kids, Relationships, tips and ideas |
Spending time outside does not have to just be camping, as much fun as that is, but there are many ways to get the kids outside in the fresh air while spending quality time connecting with your children. Ones that don’t include going to the bathroom in the forest.
Ten Ways to Get Outside and Connect
1. Go for a treasure hunt in your neighborhood. Here’s a short list of things for your kid to look for: a leaf bigger than their hand, a rock smaller than their little toe, and something they can recycle. You can also have them make up the list to keep them interested.
2. Tape a large piece of butcher paper to your fence or outside wall and paint a mural.
3. Sleep outside.
4. Go fishing.
5. Jump rope on a date with your child.
6. Watch a sunset while having a picnic dinner.
7. Wash the car together.
8. String lights in your backyard.
9. Run through the sprinklers.
10. Play cards outside (but not on windy day).
The biggest thing to remember is to prepare for any event that you do. This means everything from planning on what you are going to eat on your picnic to being dressed warmly enough in case it gets windy. Encourage each child to find something in the activity that they connect with. For the expressive child, it might be the beautiful colors. For the athletic child, it might be games you play while running in the sprinkler. Try to connect with each child no matter what way you choose.
How about you? How do you get your kids outside? What are some fun ways you connect with them while outside? Tell me in the comments and you will have a chance to win my book all about connecting called 21 Ways to Connect with Your kids.
by kathilipp | Feb 24, 2014 | tips and ideas |
Last January, Kathi issued a de-cluttering challenge that motivated me to finally gut my garage.
Now I don’t have an organized bone in my body; I’m the total “Queen of Chaos” type.
But by the end of the month, I’d taken several car-loads to Goodwill, sold a handful of items on eBay, and thrown out an astonishing amount of trash.
Here’s what worked for me as I transformed our garage from catastrophe to functionality.
Step 1: Determine your priority needs.
We don’t park our cars in our garage. Our top priorities are:
a) Plenty of space for Daniel’s workbench and tool cabinet
b) Easy access to the elliptical and Daniel’s weight bench
c) Easy access to frig and pantry
d) Easy entry/exit for cats
Your priorities are probably different from ours. Once you know what they are, they will guide all the rest of your decisions.
Step 2: Loan useful items that aren’t getting used
Check the layer of dust on all meant-to-be-used items. This includes, but is not limited to: golf clubs, backpacks, and sewing machines. I loaned my high-end serger, which I’d not used in six years, to a co-worker. She’s put it to good use, cranking out dozens of blankets and hats for homeless shelters.
Step 3: Evict all occupants of the “Needs Repair Graveyard”
Yes, I know, they could be repaired. And you probably would, if only you had time. But if you haven’t yet, chances are you won’t. Say farewell. I promise you won’t miss them…or the guilt you feel every time you walk by and hear them whisper “fix me!”
Step 4: Consolidate and strategically store holiday decorations
If your holiday decor has multiplied over the years until it’s taking over several separate sections of the garage, it’s time to rein it in. Take the time to sort through it with a critical eye. Give-away anything you don’t love, and store the keepers in containers you can move without help or injury.
Step 5: Check and chuck old paint cans, cleaners, and other chemicals
Rust or dust on any of these means they’re not getting used. Properly dispose of any that are expired or beyond use. Give yourself 3 months to use or give away anything that’s still good. (Highly Practical Hint: Consider storing touch-up paint on a high cupboard shelf in the room it matches!)
Step 6: Flatten and recycle boxes
I know how hard it is to get your hands on good boxes when you need to ship something or when it’s time to move. I also know how “good” boxes can overcrowd an otherwise spacious garage! At the very least, flatten them; they’ll take up lot less space, and you can re-build them as you need them.
Step 7: Toss trash
This step seems like such a “no duh,” but it’s amazing how quickly trash accumulates. Do you have a good-sized trash can in your garage? If not, get one and keep plenty of bags near it.
Cheri Gregory is a Certified Personality Trainer; contributor/co-author of a dozen books, including 21 Ways to Connect With Your Kids (with Kathi Lipp); and frequent speaker for MOPS groups, women’s retreats, parent workshops, and educational seminars. Cheri has been “wife of my youth” to Daniel a pastor, for over a quarter-of-a-century; they have two college-aged kids. She blogs about expectations, “baditude”, and hope at www.CheriGregory.com.
Sign up for Cheri’s new blog and receive a free download of 50 Ways to Leave Your Clutter!
by kathilipp | Feb 16, 2014 | tips and ideas |
4 Ways to Decorate After the Holidays
I love winter. What isn’t there to love about the season? Even after the holidays, the snow stays on the ground and we get to enjoy hot tea, good books, and other indoor activities. But now that Christmas has come and gone, and all the Valentines candy is picked over, it’s a great time to redecorate your home and make it look warm and cozy until it’s time for spring.
For some people, however, the last thing they want to do is think about decorations. After all, they just spent two months putting out all of their holiday stuff and then packing it all up again. However, it’s easy for your home to look boring and blah during the last months of winter, especially after all of the November and December holiday decorations are gone. I like to make sure that January and February get a few special decorations of their own, simply because it makes our home feel that much more pleasant and inviting.
Here are four ways to get your home ready for the last few months of winter:
1. Sort decorations by month
When you think about it, winter has four months, each with its own holiday. November has Thanksgiving, December has Christmas, January has New Year’s, and February has Valentine’s Day. If you put out a few holiday-relevant decorations each month, your home will always look warm, inviting, and appropriately festooned.
To make it fun and keep things organized, I purchased a few colored tubs from the store so that I could color code each of the holiday decorations. Decorations that represent Christmas, for example, are all put into a green tub. Thanksgiving gets brown, Valentine’s Day gets red, and New Year’s gets white. There are always a few winter decorations, such as wreathes, that you can keep out all winter long; those decorations go into a plain gray tub, to distinguish them from the holiday-specific ones.
2. Keep lights alive
While anything Christmas themed should be put away, you can still keep outdoor decorative lights up for months afterward. Using solar or LED lights instead of incandescent lights keeps the cost down low too, so there is no need to worry about extending the cost of lights beyond the season. To keep the lights from looking too much like the holiday, I only use it to trim rails or walkways. Everything else is turned off. Once the weather breaks enough to take the other lights down, they will go in another special tub just for holiday lights.
Any lights that remain up are just used for outdoor decoration. Try to keep it universal to any time of year and the lights never even have to come down!
3. Work in 30-minute increments
I know that for me, it’s overwhelming to try and find a full afternoon for house organization and decoration. Luckily, there are very few tasks that can’t be completed in 30 minutes. Instead of trying to carve out an entire weekend afternoon, work in phases. Often, you can accomplish just as much in three 30-minute sessions.
Here are a few things you can do in 30 minutes or less: clean off a dining room table, put out new winter-themed dishtowels, change your sofa’s throw pillows and decorative blanket, add a new scented candle to each room of your home. It often works best to combine a cleaning and a decorating activity, such as cleaning out the bathtub and putting out new winter-themed soaps. Don’t try to do everything at once; simply do a few tasks at a time until all of the jobs are done.
4. Have a Decorating Party
Who says you have to do it all yourself? Make it fun for everyone. If you’ve got kids in the house, spend an afternoon making paper snowflakes for January’s decorations or cutting out paper hearts for February. Take them to a store like Target and let them choose scented candles, window clings, or even decorative throw pillows to add to your home. Kids love to decorate, especially when you make it feel like play. They can also help you clean up, when it’s time to take everything down!
Don’t assume that just because the holidays are over, you have to wait until next year to start decorating again. Winter lasts through mid-March, after all, and there are plenty of opportunities to decorate your home so that it keeps feeling warm and friendly all winter long.
Jan Vespremi
Jan is a freelance writer and work from home mother. She loves DIY projects – and always sees them through to the finish. She most enjoys writing about home improvement tips, organization, and family.
