#1 Be YOU

Source: Pinterest

The first thing that’s important to remember is to be YOU. Your house doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to apologize over and over again if it’s not! Your friends come over to see you, not your house, and I guarantee they aren’t judging you because their house probably looks the same (or worse!). Just be yourself and enjoy your time with your guests.

I actually love going to a friend’s house when it’s not perfect because that means they didn’t stress out about me coming over, it means they really just want to hang out with me. Being yourself is important, embrace who you are, whether your house is perfectly clean or not!

#2 Quick clean up tips

A lived-in looking house, is to be expected, but a dirty bathroom is just gross.  If you only have a few minutes before your guests are stopping by, head to the bathroom and give it a quick cleaning.

• Us the current hand towel to wipe off mirrors and wipe up the sink
• Grab a sanitizing cloth and wipe down the toilet
• Clean up hair, dust, etc.
• Empty trash
• Set out a new hand towel

#3 Timing is everything

Think about the timing of your meal. Don’t wait until your guests arrive to start making dinner (because everyone will be starving by the time it’s done) but also don’t have it sitting out getting cold when they first get there. Plan ahead so that whatever you’re going to serve for dinner, has about 10-15 minutes left to cook when your guests arrive. That 10-15 minutes is the perfect amount of time for them to get settled in, grab a glass of wine, nibble on the snacks you set out for them, and start into a good conversation.

It might make you feel unprepared to still be cooking when your guests arrive but when I started doing this I noticed that our guests felt more relaxed and they seemed to enjoy themselves more. I learned that having everything sitting on the table waiting for them mad them feel rushed, like they were late and had been holding us up, and that’s definitely not how the night should start out.

#4 Make your guests feel welcomed

When your guests arrive always offer them something to drink. Set out a tray with a pitcher of water, some glasses, lemons if you have them, and even a few snacks.

Or if you want to fancy it up a bit, set out a couple bottles of wine and offer them a glass once they are settled. Guests also love it when you set out a small platter with crackers, cheese, or other appetizer type foods.

Having food and beverages set out for your guests when they arrive will make them feel special because they will know you were thinking about them before they arrived.

#5 Let your guests help

Does that make you gasp and your stomach churn a little? If it does then you’re exactly like I am. I hate letting my guests help because when I have people over I want to serve them, not the other way around! But after many years of hostessing, all kinds of events, I’ve learned a very valuable lesson, your guests want to help. About 1/2 the time we host, our guests won’t offer to help – which is more than okay with me, but the other 1/2 of the time, they offer.

Typically people won’t offer to help, unless they really want to, so why deprive them of their kindness, and willingness to help? I’ve learned that when I let my guest help, they really enjoy themselves and it ends up being a huge blessing to me, because it’s less for me to do at the end of the night!

These five tips will help you to be the best host ever! Meal planning and a little prep work will help too but the most important thing about hosting is to make your guests feel welcomed, loved and comfortable in your home. As long as you get these five things down, everything else will fall into place and you, and your guests, will have a great time!

Happy holidays!!!

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The post The BEST tips for How to be an Organized Hostess appeared first on Ask Anna.

So much has changed since that first day, it feels like a lifetime ago. I’ll never forget my friend encouraging me to start a blog, then sitting down to start it, and getting tons of ideas for things I could write about. Never in a million years would I have imagined my little blog would turn into a business, an opportunity to work with my favorite brands, speaking opportunities, a way to connect with millions of people and so much more.

I also never imagined I’d get to share the story of our adoption, the story of our new house, the honest truth about my postpartum depression and other stories from my heart, with people all around the world.

What an amazing adventure blogging is!

Before moving onto my surprise, let’s look back over the last six years to see what your top 5 favorite posts have been.

#1 How to Clean between Oven Glass, with almost 4.5 million views!

#2 Spring Cleaning Windows & More, with over 1.3 million views!

#3 How to get rid of that “Boy Bathroom Smell”, with almost 1.2 million views!

#4 How to Clean your Dyson, with over 1.1 million views!

And last but not least, #5 A Video Tutorial for How to Paint a Perfect Line, with just over 1.1 million views!

And because this is my blogiversary I’m going to share one of my all-time favorite posts, which comes in as #17 on the list. The transformation of our ugly pink shower/bathtub is one of my favorites because it completely changed the look of the bathroom and was so easy and inexpensive. Even a couple years later it still looks fabulous!

It has been a great six years and I love getting to help you solve your cleaning, organizing and decorating problems. But here’s my surprise – this year I’m expanding the way I help people, I’m moving beyond just cleaning and organizing, and moving to the heart.

I am honored to introduce you to my new adventure, Faith|Fullness. I will still be here answering your questions, but I will also be over there talking about matters of the heart, my faith journeys with the Lord, my dreams, the way I parent and who knows what else. Faith|Fullness is an unknown to me, I have no idea where it will take me but I am trusting the Lord and following His lead, just like I did with Ask Anna.

Today, as I celebrate 6 amazing years of blogging on Ask Anna, I’m also launching a new chapter, so if you want to hear how I ended up with another blog, about something so different, I would love it if you’d join me over there to read my first post, which explains it all.

And last but not least, I want to thank YOU. Thank you for following me, thank you for believing in me, thank you for making Ask Anna great. Without you, my amazing readers, Ask Anna would never have become what it is. I’ve never done any job for 6 years (other than being a mom) and I feel so incredibly blessed, and humbled, to have spent those year with you, and who knows how many more to come!

So pour yourself a glass of champagne and let’s say “cheers” to 6 years of hanging out together, 6 years of great tips, to the 7th year of Ask Anna and to new adventures!

Cheers!

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Every year around Christmastime I look to see if there’s a family in need, a cause to give to or a shelter to help out, because I know lots of people go without a lot of things most of the year; but, Christmastime is a time of year when no one should be without. Earlier this month I received the BEST email, presenting me with the opportunity to work with Aflac to help a family in need. Aflac understands that the ripple effect of financial burden, caused by an unplanned health event, can be especially compounded around the holidays, which was the inspiration behind the #AflacHolidayHelpers program. So when I received an email and was presented with the opportunity to fill someone’s fridge, decorate their home for Christmas and give them the best Christmas ever, I can’t even tell you how ecstatic I was!!!

The family

A good friend of mine from church had recently told me that her sister-in-law had gone into labor at 29 weeks and was rushed down to the local children’s hospital. Because her water had broken in the process of labor, but the baby hadn’t been born, she was required to stay in the hospital, leaving her out of work. During her stay, her husband lost his job and their baby shower got cancelled, leaving them with nothing for the baby and in a financial bind.

I knew without a doubt this was the family I wanted to help. The opportunity to bless them with an amazing Christmas, and provide everything they needed for the baby, sounded like a dream come true!

The strategy

There was a lot of shopping to be done so my friend and I teamed up and tackled the task together.

• Goal #1 – provide the family with a full fridge and lots of pre-made meals, because no new parents have time to make dinner.
• Goal #2 – provide them with everything they needed for their new baby boy: lots of diapers, clothes, toys, bedding, etc.
• Goal #3 – decorate the house for Christmas so it will look welcoming and magical when they return home.
• Goal #4 – spoil the new mommy and daddy with the best Christmas ever!
• Goal #5 – provide them with gift cards to help cover groceries, gas for their cars, etc. until they can get back on their feet.

By the end of the day my car was packed full of Christmas presents, goodies for the baby and food for the new parents! And we had SO much fun shopping for this much deserving new family!

The before

They have a super cute apartment, with beautiful hardwood floors but the living room needed a little sprucing up and the Christmas tree needed a little accessorizing. (These pictures were taken after we unloaded all our bags from shopping.)

The reveal

Their couches were a little outdated so we covered them with large blankets and sprinkled them with new pillows that matched their drapes. We also decorated their tree with fun ornaments, gift cards for groceries, gas and a family outing, along with toys for the dog and a reindeer and elf socks for their new little one.

They live in a 2-story apartment, so on their wish list was a place to change the baby’s diapers, and a place for him to rest downstairs.  To meet this need, we set up a pack-n-play, which is awesome, but took longer for us to put together than the crib! And of course we had to accessorize it with a Santa Suite for the baby.

I didn’t get a “before” picture of the baby’s room but before we got there they referred to it as the “storage room” because it was filled with office supplies, boxes and lots of other random things. Not a single thing in the room was for the baby. But when we got done with it, the room had storage, a crib, a new rug, LOTS of diapers – and they were speechless!

This family is so deserving, they are adorable, their new baby is so tiny and precious. My friend and I had SO much fun blessing them with a beautiful Christmas and a new baby’s room! They were speechless during most of the reveal but I know it meant so much to them to receive all these things, on behalf of Aflac, that they never could have imagined during such a difficult financial time in their lives.

The dog was pretty excited about her new toy too.

And, of course, we had to put the Santa hat on the little guy!

I am so incredibly thankful that I got to take part in the #AflacHolidayHelpers campaign and I’m pretty sure this will be my favorite Christmas post of all time!

In the United States, Aflac is a leader in voluntary insurance sales at the work site. Aflac knows that major medical insurance may not cover every expense related to a serious health event, so supplemental insurance from Aflac is there to help fill in the holes.

Aflac herein means American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus and American Family Life Assurance Company of New York.

Z161385A                                                                                                              12/23/16

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The post Making Christmas Wishes Come True! appeared first on Ask Anna.

Every holiday meal needs a good dinner roll, something warm and soft to sink your teeth into, and something to make leftover turkey sandwiches with the next day. I’ve wanted to share this recipe with you for years but it’s our secret family recipe so I haven’t been able to, but the day is finally here, all the permissions have been asked and now I finally get to share my recipe for the BEST dinner rolls!

To me a good dinner roll is important because I don’t want to waste my holiday carbs on something that’s not amazing, so trust me, I don’t take it lightly that I’m calling these the BEST dinner rolls because they are seriously SO good, just ask anyone who’s ever joined us for the holidays.

Do you want to know the best part about these rolls, they are SO easy to make!!! There’s a way to make them by hand, or in the bread maker (which is how I make them), so I’ve included both directions and you can decide which way works best for you.

In our family we call them “Lisa’s famous rolls” but since y’all probably don’t have a “Lisa” in your family, I’ll call them the BEST dinner rolls instead.

Be careful because when they come out of the oven you’ll probably have little hands stealing them right off the baking sheet! I always have to make two batches, one for everyone to eat before the meal, and one to actually enjoy with our holiday feast!

They are amazing with jelly, butter, honey or just by themselves, but whatever you choose to eat them with, make sure you have some handy Huggies® Wipes waiting to wipe off sticky fingers and faces.

Just like not all rolls are created equal, not all wipes are either. Huggies® Wipes have triple layers that are gentle on cute faces but thick enough to clean up all 10 sticky fingers!

I truly hope you enjoy these rolls as much as all of our friends and family do, you might be surprised, but I know they’ll end up being one of your favorite things and you’ll start craving them each holiday season!

Check out other recipe considerations for more family-recipe fun:

• How To Create A Breakfast Waffle Bar
• Gourmet Chocolate Chips and Caramel S’mores

5.0 from 1 reviews

The BEST Dinner Rolls from Scratch (seriously THE BEST)

 

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Author: Anna Moseley

Recipe type: Dinner rolls

Ingredients

• 2¼ teaspoons yeast (1¾ teaspoons yeast)
• 2¼ teaspoons yeast (1¾ teaspoons yeast)
• ½ cup warm milk (1/2 cup warm milk)
• ½ cup warm milk (1/2 cup warm milk)
• 2 teaspoons sugar (1½ teaspoons of sugar)
• 2 teaspoons sugar (1½ teaspoons of sugar)
• 1 cup hot milk (3/4 cups hot milk)
• 1 cup hot milk (3/4 cups hot milk)
• 1 cup cold milk (3/4 cups cold milk)
• 1 cup cold milk (3/4 cups cold milk)
• ½ cup melted butter (1/2 cup melted butter)
• ½ cup melted butter (1/2 cup melted butter)
• 2 eggs (2 eggs)
• 2 eggs (2 eggs)
• ¾ cups sugar (1/2 cup sugar)
• ¾ cups sugar (1/2 cup sugar)
• 2 teaspoons salt (1½ teaspoons salt)
• 2 teaspoons salt (1½ teaspoons salt)
• 8-9 cups flour (6½ cups flour)

Instructions

1. Dissolve 2¼ teaspoons yeast with ½ cup warm milk. Add 2 teaspoons sugar and stir a little. Set aside.
2. Mix 1 cup hot milk, 1 cup cold milk, ½ cup melted butter, 2 eggs, ¾ cups sugar and 2 teaspoons salt.
3. Combine yeast mixture and wet mixture.
4. Add 8-9 cups of flour 1-2 cups at a time. Knead until the dough is soft, not sticky. Cover and let rise 1½ hours.
5. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet with butter.
6. When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down. Pinch off pieces of dough that are about fist-size. Fold the rough edges of the dough under and place them on the cookie sheet, rough edges down. Tip: the rolls won't rise very much in the oven so make sure to make the balls of dough are about the size you want them to end up.
7. Bake 15-18 minutes, or until they are golden brown.

3.5.3218

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The post The BEST Dinner Rolls from Scratch (seriously THE BEST) appeared first on Ask Anna.

Malea had been asking for a kitten, and even though I’m allergic, I missed having a cat in the house so I coaxed my husband into it, and after a few short weeks we were bringing home this little guy.

From the moment he came home he was perfect. We’ve owned a couple cats in our marriage, and we’ve been around a lot of our friends’ cats but Taz was different, there was something special about him. When I’d give him a bath he would barely protest, when Malea would dress him up in American Doll clothes – he would tolerate it, when our puppy would gnaw on his head – he was compliant to be the chew toy.

He was perfect. He kept me company, and snuggled with me during the day, he was Malea’s best friend when she came home from school and he hung out with Matt and had “dude time” in the evenings.

And then, in just a few short months he was gone.

We lost him last Sunday and it was traumatizing for all of us.

After I cried many many many tears, the Lord reminded me of the message I spoke at our Woman’s Retreat a few weeks ago. My message was “What happens when the dreams God gives us, don’t turn out the way we thought they would?”. In this case the dream of having a kitty in the house definitely didn’t turn out the way I thought it would, in fact it ended about 10 years short!

Just like there always are, when a dream doesn’t turn out the way we thought it would, there are so many “why’s”.

“He was perfect, why did you have to take him?”

“How could you do this to Malea’s precious little 7 year old heart?”

“I have dreamed about having another cat for a long time, why did he have to get taken from us after only 2 1/2 months?”

“Why did you give us the perfect cat, just to take him so soon?”

He was just a pet, but the death of the dream and the loss of a precious pet is a very real thing.

But what I KNOW, that I know that I know, (that I keep reminding myself) is that God is good. He is always good and He always has a plan. We have walked through much harder losses, and had to hand over so many dreams to the Lord, because they didn’t turn out the way we thought they would, but God has always turned those hard things into something beautiful.

It has never looked the way we thought it would, and often times the dream still looks dead, but God is doing something in us, so even in my mourning over my little Taz, I am excited to see how God is going to use this.

I have learned that what often times looks like the death of a dream to me, is usually the catalyst for God to do something great.

We will always miss our little buddy, and I know we will always remember him, but rather than asking “why?”, I find myself asking “what?”. “What are you up to Lord?” “I don’t understand, and I’m hurting, but what is your plan, how will you turn this into something greater, because I know that’s what you always do.”

We will always love you Taz…

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