Recipe: Peanut Butter Pie (standard and Keto)

This pie is smooth and cool – a perfect dessert for spring and summer. If you’re watching your weight, follow the notes for the Keto version. It tastes nearly as rich as the standard version. This recipe makes a 9” pie. INGREDIENTS Standard Crust 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted…

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Emergency Preparedness Lessons from Power Grid Failure During Texas Winter Storm – Additional Tips

In our geographic area, we thankfully don’t worry about emergency preparedness for earthquakes, direct hits from hurricanes or blizzards. The last time this area had an accumulation of snow for 24 hours was 1985. Tornadoes are rare. Our biggest threats are wildfires, lightning storms, and occasional flash flooding that subsides within a day. So if…

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Emergency Preparedness Lessons from Power Grid Failure During Texas Winter Storm

September is National Emergency Preparedness Month. But guess what? Emergencies happen year-round. And once an emergency event hits, it’s hard to get what you need. This is why emergency preparedness during all seasons is important. My husband and I consider ourselves nerdy planners. We’ve always felt like we’re prepared for whatever will come our way.…

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7 Productivity Hacks That Don’t Work

In last week’s post about whether or not productivity hacks actually work, I shared why so many hacks don’t work. This week, here are 7 productivity hacks that seem helpful, but aren’t – unless you implement them effectively and efficiently. 1 Relying on Reminder Systems How many times have you set a reminder for “later”…

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Do Productivity Hacks Actually Work?

Productivity hacks  and time management hacks are popular search terms on Google. Productivity and time management are topics that millions of people are interested in because they want to know how to be more effective and efficient with their time. Is there a better way to work? Is there a way to do more in…

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Chinese New Year 2021

What is better than a New Year’s celebration? Why, that would be two New Year’s celebrations! The entire world celebrates New Year’s Eve on December 31 and New Year’s Day on January 1. It’s a time when we reflect on the past year and look ahead to the upcoming year. Some people make New Year’s…

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Recipe – Keto Mexican Wedding Cookies / Hojarascas

Prep Time 30 minutes Cook Time 12-16 minutes Total Time 46 minutes Servings  36 cookies, roughly 2 ½” in diameter Ingredients 12 TB butter (soft, but not melted – 30 min at room temp) 2/3 cup granulated sugar substitute (ex: monk fruit) 3 tsp ground cinnamon 2 tsp pure vanilla extract 2 pinches salt (if using unsalted butter; if you don’t have…

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How much time should you spend on email?

A writer for Better Homes and Gardens contacted me with questions about how much time should be spent on email. Here was her request: “For one of the illustrations, we would like to show a five-day calendar with periods of time scheduled for responding to emails. How much time do you recommend people block off…

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Do This to Prevent an IRS Headache

If you want to avoid an IRS headache when you need to make an estimated tax payment, take heed. Last week, a client told me his saga about tracking down the whereabouts of his payment to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), then disputing two delinquency letters he received from them. He estimated he’d spent nearly…

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