Following the lead of Cindy over at the Mom Pod Blog, I too, will make a confession of my occasional neurosis. In this case, Christmas neurosis.

Last week I bought my Christmas decorations. I know Christmas is still more than 100 days away, but last week I had all the Christmas "stuff" out of storage and spread all over the living room and dining room as I reorganized it and put the newly bought ornaments in the mix.

A little background will help this confession make a little more sense. I just didn't wake up one lovely, summer, August morning and think to myself "gee, what a great day to go buy Christmas ornaments". Rather, I stumbled into this situation.

Earlier this year, I had repainted my condo. (friends joke that I repaint so often I'm losing square footage). The old colors were pale yellows, blues, and greens. Now, my place is all white and red.

When the color scheme was yellow, blue, and green, I decorated my white, artificial Christmas tree with light blue and silver ornaments. It all matched.

Allow me a little more digression. I know a white tree isn't everyone's first preference, but I fell in love with white Christmas trees as a kid when my aunt Lynne always had one. My first few years living in Grand Rapids, I had real trees. But after killing a vacuum cleaner each year trying to pick up all the pine needles, I decided to go for the artificial tree. It just so happened that my mother was visiting from New York just before Christmas that year and offered to buy my artificial tree as an early Christmas gift. We went into one place with lots of trees and I watched my mother cringe as I bee-lined for the white trees.

Well, I realized earlier this year that I would need new ornaments. Light blue ornaments on a white tree in a red and white living room would look more like the July 4th than December 25th.  

We have a store in West Michigan called Hobby Lobby. Its a large arts and crafts and seasonal decorating store. I had stopped in to look at what they had out for Autumn and Halloween. (Again, what's the harm in being prepared?)

I was rather pleasantly surprised to see that they had their Christmas stuff out -- all of it. So, instead of going home with pumpkins, bats, and artificial fall foliage, I went home with a hundred or so red, white, and silver ornaments.

Now, if I keep up this pace, I will be shopping for Easter egg dye and chocolate bunnies just as Labor Day arrives. If you are like me and like to prepare early for upcoming holidays, I believe the Amway Global Holiday Catalog will be coming out in the next few weeks. I'll let you know when I see its available.

I've been under the weather the past two days, fighting a stomach virus. Nothing serious, but it's left me not wanting to cook or do much else. I should be back to my normal self shortly.

When I feel like this I revert back to comfort food, which for me is toast with butter and cinnamon. It settles my stomach a little, and its the only thing that I find tastes good when I feel this way.

Everyone has their own comfort food. Some of my friends swear by the healing power of warm Coca-cola. Others tell me that peppermint tea does the trick. And depending on what ails you, some of my friends also report the healing powers of vodka heated up with their favorite juice.

What's your comfort food?
 

Later this week, my nephew (also named Gregory) and my sister-in-law will visit for three days. I'm excited to have them come; this will be my nephew's first trip to Michigan. He's 9, and lives in New York City, in the same neighborhood where I grew up. In fact, he lives in the same house my grandmother grew up in. I come from the Howard Beach section of Queens, in case you wanted to take a look at my original neighborhood.

I've got the usual site seeing planned, a trip to the Lakeshore, and other pleasantries. One issue I'll need to resolve is "kid food". I really don't have that much food for kids in the house. No cereal, no milk, no treats, and so on. I'll be checking out the Smart Menu food early this week. I think they have cereal. And everything I've had from this line of food has been really good. In fact, a coworker shared some Lemon Animal Crackers with me and they were excellent.

Most of our meals will likely be eaten out as we visit various places and do the "tourist" things. But there will be breakfast and one or two meals at home. In the meantime, I have some cleaning and preparation to do.

My friend and coworker, Jeannie, stopped over and gave me this recipe for one of her favorite appetizers, which I am now sharing with you.

Roasted Squash and Pepper Tart

2 cups diced squash (yellow summer or similar)
3 Red, orange, or yellow sweet peppers cut in strips
1 large onion diced
Half a red onion cut into slices
3 table spoons of olive oil
3 oz of grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup of halved cherry or grape tomatoes
3 table spoons of balsamic vinegar
1 table spoon of thyme
Pre-made frozen, puff pastry sheets

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat a cooking sheet with non-stick spray or butter. Toss the veggies, peppers, onions, etc. with olive oil and salt and place on pan. Roast uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes or until tender. Turn veggies at least once.

2. While the veggies are cooking, take your already thawed your pastry sheet, roll it out and shape it to fit the pan now in the oven. Take the veggies from oven, remove them from the pan. Replace the veggies with the pastry sheet. Toss the veggies in olive oil again and place them evenly on the pastry dough.

3. Sprinkle the grated cheese and balsamic vinegar over the pastry and veggies. Return to oven and bake at 450 for 15 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden.

4. Remove the tart. Using a cool same-sized cooking sheet, cover the pastry and then turn over, allowing the veggies that fall off to land on the cool sheet. Sprinkle the tart and any veggies that stick with salt, pepper, olive oil, and additional grated cheese. Return the veggies evenly to the tart and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

So far, this summer in West Michigan has been on the cool side. And that suits me just fine, not being a lover of temperatures over 75 degrees. Still, we've had a few warmer days and the forecast shows some hot days ahead in the next week or so.

On those hot days, nothing feels better than a good glass of lemonade. And while most people think lemonade is pretty simple to make, the variety in approaches and recipes is pretty amazing. Here's my recipe for a not-too sweet lemonade.

Ingredients 

3/4 cup of sugar
1 cup warm water
1 cup fresh lemon juice

1. Using a saucepan, warm the water and sugar until the sugar dissolves. This is called simple syrup. Once the sugar is thoroughly mixed, begin adding the lemon juice.

2. Let the syrup cool just a little. Then mix it into a pitcher with 4 cups of cold water and some ice. Allow to sit in the refrigerator until cold.

3. Before serving add a few thin lemon slices and a couple of sprigs of mint.

If the lemonade is too sweet, add a little more water and more lemon juice. If not sweet enough, use a full cup of sugar next time when making the simple syrup.

By the way, the simple syrup can be used to make other drinks. Just use a variety of juices.  

I've been trying to clean an area of my sink over the weekend. I have a soap dispenser with a metal base and its left an enduring stain and set of scratches on my white sink top.

In the past, I've used bleach, let it sit, and then washed it. But the last two times I've tried this it didn't work. Some of the marks and stain came off, but there was still a visible set of marks left.

So, I figured I would try LOC. I poured some concentrate on directly, let it sit for an hour. And it did the job. All the marks are gone. I really do love this stuff. I know that sounds like a commercial, but it really works.

Whenever I post a recipe I usually get an email or two asking me how closely one has to follow the specific instructions and ingredients. People want to know if they can substitute items, change the amounts, or add something to the mix.

My response is always the same -- go for it! Cooking should be a personal creative adventure. I am not one to feel tied to the exact instructions in a recipe. Which is a good thing, because one of my favorite cookbooks is Norwegian, and it's very hard to find Reindeer meat in West Michigan. (Besides, I think Santa wouldn't be very pleased). My creative solution is to substitute New York Strip steak.

Your IBO business is a lot like cooking -- it calls for creativity, personalization, and the expression of your own style and way of doing things. Certainly, you should follow Quixtar's Business Rules. And I do suggest you consider our recommendations and advice as well as that of your upline.

But at the end of the day, how you sell to your customers, what you chose to focus your business on, and how you explain and express why you are involved with Quixtar needs to come from the heart and be a personal statement. And you'll likely be more successful sounding sincere and expressing your passion.

Owning your own business is a challenge that calls for creativity, just like cooking. Dare to alter the recipe once in a while and try new things on the menu. You'll be glad you did.

Here's a question for Quixtar Independent Business Owners: How do the home products figure in your business?

With the growing emphasis on retailing, have the home products -- LOC, SA8, iCook, Dishdrops, Pursue, and eSpring played a role in your sales efforts?

I am extremely interested to hear what you have to say about the challenges, advantages, and your experiences, selling and using these products.