To make heart-shaped cupcakes, place the paper liner in the pan, put a marble or a ball of aluminum foil between the pan and paper liner and fill cup 1/2 way. If you fill too much, you lose your heart ;-)   Have a fantastic Valentine's Day!

This year, those waiting to get that special New Year’s Eve kiss will have to wait one second longer to collect it. On the bright side, there will be one more second to accomplish those 2016 goals – if they are short. 

According to a press release from the U.S. Naval Observatory, a leap second will be inserted into the U.S. Naval Observatory’s Master Clock Facility in Washington D.C. at 23:59:59. The clock will reach 23:59:60 before turning to the New Year and displaying 00:00:00.  

You can even watch it happen on the U.S. Naval observatory’s Master Clock online at tycho.usno.navy.mil/what.html. Just remember to adjust for your time zone. In Kansas the time will be 6:00 p.m., Dec. 31. 

Though one second doesn’t do much to accomplish big goals and you can watch it tick away as quick as, well, a second, it does help align the historical method of keeping time by the earth’s rotation, called mean solar time or UT1, with the more precise atomic timescale of Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC, now used. 

The method of measuring time is one of world-wide importance and is accomplished through international agreements forged in 1970 that established a procedure to maintain a relationship between UTC and a measure of Earth’s rotation angle in space. That agreement, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory press release, allows a leap second to be inserted or removed as needed to keep the two measures within .9 seconds of each other.   

There is some reported confusion about the need for the leap second. There are also those who misunderstand and believe Earth is slowing in rotation. The hypothesis for Earth’s slowing its roll isn’t an accurate assumption according to information from the Naval observatory’s website. In fact, the two means of keeping time are simply different. The accumulation of those leap second intervals throughout the years is not a measure of the rate of rotational slowing. It is simply the measure of difference between the two timekeeping systems. Inserting a second periodically, the last one was inserted in 2005, helps the two measures stay synced.

The world will stay in sync and can mark time together thanks to that leap second. The rest of us can chose a way to spend that extra second like with a wink, a nod or a smile.

More things you can do in one second or less:

1. Give a thumbs up

2. Like a status

3. Take a sip of water

4. Blink

5. Frown

6. Say Thank you and mean it!

7. Make eye contact

8. Slam a door

9. Say yes

10. Say No

11. Look at the sky

12. Sing one good note

Transition to Farming

When we moved to Kansas a couple of years ago, we plunked ourselves in the center of a 25-acre parcel and bought some chicks. Now, two years into our dream of rural life we have about 40 chickens, a barn cat, a pair of donkeys who just delivered a little colt, a black angus steer and heifer,  seven Pygora goats, a peacock and three crazy ducks.

The Pygora goats are a lot of fun. they keep us entertained and provide me with the most beautiful fiber to develop my skill at spinning.

We made it through our first sheering by teamwork. Hubby got one side and I got the other. Whoever had their side prepped first - meaning picked free of stickers and vegetable matter - started shearing first. Then we passed the clippers over to the other one and that went on for our first five. We didn't get the other two until after that shearing.

Life is a lot of fun - those goats are pretty smart. They get into everything and they just want to hang out with you whenever you are outside. They are so social and full of energy. I can't help but love them.  Here they are "helping" dad put a hinged cover on their hay feeder. Turns out they like to jump into it and have a tendency to get themselves stuck after eating the "floor" out from under themselves.

My husband is such a good sport. It was -17 with the windchill and he was out there building a lid for the hay feeder... He's a keeper.

So, that little slider of summer/winter views of our "Old Bill" statue here at Fort Riley, Kansas, is a successful experiment. I'm playing with apps that help us illustrate information folks around here might need to know. This was just a quick exercise in how to remind people to plan for the upcomming winter weather - of course - a day later and it was 18 degrees F. Brrr....

Life in five-minute increments

Sometimes my interests go in circles. I used to think it was because I didn't really know what I wanted to be when I grew up. But I know. It's the time between now and when I grow up that I'm having a tough time with. There isn't so much of it available and I want to learn and try and do so many things.

I spend most of my day making my living and I love what I do, but there is so much more to living than working and so little time left after work takes that big chunk out of the middle of each day.

So I've found my own solution. It doesn't set well with my husband sometimes because there are a few yet to finish projects lying around. But I am learning to live in five minute increments and by doing so I learned that every moment can count for much.

You would be surprised how much you can get done in five minutes. And by applying those five minutes every once in a while you will get through a project - at least I have faith that I will one of these days.

I get as far as I can with a project in the moments I have and then leave it in a logical place to pick back up.

I'm determined to get the hang of drawing the yarn through with the perfect tension on my little loom but it will be in little increments between work, chores, Pampered Chef and learning as much as possible about praise and worship and how to encourage people who are doing that.

By the way, when I grow up I want to be a worship minister. Someday after all the working for a living part is done, I will graduate to the ranks of the retired and I will encourage worship in a corporate worship setting. For now, I will play with my five minute projects and do all I can to encourage worship wherever I find it and to engage in it as often as I humanly can.

Go ahead - raise your hands on Sunday if you feel you should - sway a little as you lift your song of praise - above all, let God move you where he will without worrying about anyone else's view of you. Give yourself permission to express love and you will give others permission to do so too. That too you can do in small increments - moment by moment. Encourage someone in one of the moments of your next day. Do so every moment you can spare and you will build a project so worthy for yourself and everyone around you. Moment by moment build an environment that is uplifting by simply uplifting people and you will be lifted too.  We all have time for that.

Another day, more new stuff

So, at last post I was anticipating a job or not a job. I ended up with a great new job full of challenges. I also continued on with Pampered Chef.


Two of the children have moved home and our house is almost full once again.

New stuff, Seriously Good Stuff!

Lots of things are happening these days. My civil service job was cut. I'm still employed until they find me a place to transfer (within the gates of my current location) or an involuntary separation happens because they have no place to put me. 

I'm ok with this turn of events most of the time because I know God is in control. Then there are those times when a little fountain of frantic begins to well up in me and I find myself more than a little afraid. Years of living and experiencing has taught me to use fear as a trigger to lean on God again and I pray. So, most of the time I'm ok. 

I hope you will pray for me as well. 

In part because of the turmoul on the work front, I've started a new venture. I became a Pampered Chef consultant. I did it for plenty of reasons. Here's my top three

1. It's FUN! 

2. I LOVE the products and can't afford to buy them all by myself 

3. I really respect the company and what it does as a corporate citizen. 

There are a ton more great reasons : I set my own hours, I pick my own goals, I decide what's important and! another really BIG one ... 

I can use my business to benefit organizations doing great things out there in my community and the world. 

SO here goes. I'm doing a fundraising catalog show to benefit Fisher House Foundation Inc. FOr those who really love Fisher House and all they do -- here's the link!

Fisher House Fundraiser through your Independent Pampered Chef Consultant!

FOr those who want to know more about them .... read on.

The Fisher House Foundation has houses near military hospitals all over. They work a lot like the Ronald McDonald House by providing military family members a place to stay while their loved one is being cared for in a military hospital. 

The military hospitals aren't just treating wounded warriors. They treat children with cancer, Moms and Dad's with major medical issues and have rehabilitation centers where victims of car accidents also learn to stand and walk again. Fisher House helps families be there, near the loved ones getting the care. 

I really want to see Pampered Chef write the biggest check they've ever had to write to a non-profit organization.

Please pass the link and if you were going to order Pampered Chef anyway because the products are fantastic, this is a great time to do it. You'll benefit and so will Fisher house.

As an added Challenge, if the sales reach $1,200.00, I will an additional 10 perc and between that and the check from The Pampered Chef, Fisher House will earn 25% of the total sales.

The link below is the direct link to order on line for this fundraiser -- pass it around quickly because the fundraiser closes on the 20th!

http://www.pamperedchef.biz/collenmcgee?page=host-search-results&showId=3528668