Discipline Yourself to Celebrate

I am singing, “I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah Another day of living, I just want to celebrate another day of life” ( lyrics by Rare Earth)


Hello! Welcome to the blog! I am SO glad you are here today. We are celebrating!

We are on the last Chapter Discipline Yourself to Celebrate of  the Joyce Meyers book Eat the cookie…buy the shoes.

And I want you to do just what the title of this last chapter says…and join in the fun today!  Oh and spread the celebration...invite your friends to join in!

This book has been all about learning how to lighten up and not be so strict with ourselves, seeking true balance, celebrating and learning how to reward ourselves for progress.

I am a real girl and I realize first hand there are unexpected and unpleasant things in the day to day life. An unexpected bill comes in the mail, something breaks, the car needs to go to the mechanic, a 4 year old tries to demonstrate he has the same DNA as me when it comes to stubbornness.

Day to day life my friends is why we need to celebrate. And when we learn the fine art and balance of celebrating it will help us not to feel so overwhelmed with all the unfun stuff we have to deal with.

It is NO coincidence that we are celebrating today…why you might ask? Well being a girl who chooses to believe God is purposeful and intentional…He has us here today celebrating…and He purposefully planned it on a weekend that is all about celebrating freedom.

Friends there are things that cause us to be sad, mournful, disappointed, upset, frustrated, mad, angry, overwhelmed…did I cover them all? But our focus shouldn’t stay there.

God sent His Son to die on a cross for us. For us to experience true freedom. Our focus should not remain on the sadness and death that was displayed on the cross, aware of it, yes, but rather we should go on…move on to celebrate the freedom we have and celebrate it and live in it each day!

The last chapter of Eat the cookie…buy the shoes is packed full of some super great encouraging and motivating advice on learning how to discipline yourself to celebrate.

So being a girl who lives on purpose…we are celebrating today!

The Book

First of all there is a signed copy, yep by Joyce Meyer herself, Eat the cookie…buy the shoes. A huge thank you to Joyce Meyer Ministries and the very generous heart they have!






The Shoes

Second of all there is a Zappos.com $10 ecard to be given away!!


This is a fun picture of my Red, White and Blue shoes!





And the great news is that everyone wins this:





The Cookie

Third here is a recipe for “double doozie” cookies. Now I am not sure that this is the exact recipe for the ones Joyce refers to celebrating with at the end of the book. But by reading the recipe and seeing this picture…its looks and sounds worth of celebrating with in my book. The boys and I will be making these today and eating them up! Yum!



"Double-Doozie" Cookie Recipe

FOR THE COOKIES:

1 cup softened margarine
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small box instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
12 ounces chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1 cup M&M's
FOR THE ICING:
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix together margarine, baking soda, granulated sugar, brown sugars, vanilla extract and pudding mix. Add eggs. Gradually add flour (may need to add a little more as dough needs to be stiff, but not too stiff). When mixed well, add chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto cookie sheet. After cookies have taken their form, place the M&M's on top and edges.
Total bake time is 8 to 10 minutes. Cool.

While cookies are baking, make icing:
Mix together confectioners' sugar, butter, shortening, milk, hot water, salt, vanilla and almond extract.

Apply a layer of icing between two cooled cookies to form a sandwich.

These freeze well!


Join in the celebrating…leave a comment and share your favorite pair of shoes…your favorite cookie! There will be two winners, one for the book Eat the cookie…buy the shoes and one for the Zappos.com ecard. I will draw the lucky winners next week and announce!

The only thing that would make this celebrating even MORE fun…is eating these cookies in person while wearing our favorite shoes!

Friends doing life with you is always great and amazing. Thank you for walking alongside and seeking balance and celebrating.

Choose to celebrate with me and sing along…

“Celebrate good times, come on!
Celebrate good times, come on!
There’s a party goin’ on right here.
A celebration to last throughout the years
So bring your good times, and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you!” (lyrics from Kool and the Gang)