Fancy Flours is the, "bees knees."
"Bees knees" is an expression meaning excellence or highest quality. Apparently bees carry pollen back to their hive in sacs on the backs of their legs. When you tell someone they are the "bees knees," you are actually alluding to the concentrated goodness around their knee-area.
Who is Fancy Flours and why are they the bees knees? Fancy Flours is the Disneyland of baking supplies! They are the Bees Knees because they are partners in our House of Shine Cookie Cutter Challenge. Each month, House of Shine readers select a holiday worth celebrating, as well as the cookie cutter I must use to stir up some fun. Fancy Flours mails me two of the cookie cutters - one to bake with and one to award a reader.
This month we are celebrating National Say Something Nice Day (June 1) and the cookie cutter that all of you decided I must somehow use is the bee hive and the bee.
Here are our cookies...
Matthew, Jack, and I are giving the cookies to friends and teachers for the last day of school with notes attached that say, "You are the Bees Knees." I have been milling over packaging ideas for weeks. I bought bright yellow bags and bumble bee stickers, cellophane bags and small bees on wires, and I also found small pastry boxes and foam cut-outs shaped like bees.
Then my friends came over for a swim and by the time they left, I wasn't ready to bust out all my crafts supplies and my hot glue gun.
Instead, it occurred to me I could package the cookies in lunch bags and try making them look like beehives.
It was fast, but still cute. Take a look.
Are you beehind in planning teacher gifts? Beefuddled when it comes to gift ideas? Beelated and without a lot of time for fancy packaging? Beegining to get the idea?
Be a busy bee. Dream up your own idea for how I might use the beehive and bee cookie cutter. For what other occasion could I use them and what would your winning slogan be(e)? Join us in the Community Forum labeled, Today's Post and tell me what you think. The winning slogan gets the extra cookie cutters.
Bee there or bee square.
It is the day of the week when readers from around the country gather at the House of Shine to discover who the winner is for our Yellow Envelope Project.
More and more people are making the commitment to seal some love in an envelope and anonymously ship it off to a deserving person who is making a difference in his or her world.
Some background for those who are newcomers...
The Yellow Envelope Project is dedicated to every day people around the country who Shine. They shine because their very existence makes the world a better, brighter place. They might make their corner of the world more compassionate, more inspiring, more hopeful, more vibrant, more socially conscious, more, more, more, more. What these people have in common is that they more than fill their present space. Their very existence, in some way, enhances the world around them.
If you who has ever wished for the comfort of someone who could understand and soothe some of your pain then you will connect with today's recipient. Take a look at what her nominator had to say:
"There is a woman in our church who recently recovered from hip replacement and is spending her time advising and helping others who are having this surgery. She is a nurse and has a long record of volunteering for everything that needs a volunteer. Luann recently gave a talk at the church about her early life and how she lost her twins at birth. She devoted herself to counseling other mothers who lost babies after that. It is typical Luann. She is bright and cheerful and close to her emotions. 'I can't help it, I'm Italian, she often says.' P.S. She went on to have more children who survived." She is someone who could use an "ata-girl."
Shine Principle #4: Keep Perspective. As a young woman Luann could have been swallowed up in the sorrow of having lost twins at birth. Instead of fleeing from her pain, she embraced the fragility of life and became a nurse. Years later she undergoes hip surgery and, again, instead of cocooning herself in a world of doctors, physical therapists, and pharmacists, Luann extends herself to others who are undergoing the same surgery.
Some people fall in line and dutifully follow along. Others are born to lead the way. Luann was born to lead the way.
Please join me this week in thanking Luann for allowing her pain to serve as a vehicle for relieving the pain of others.
It is easy. Take 5 or 10 minutes and dig deep. Imagine your Luann - the person in your life who you count on for that kind of comfort. Then send Luann a short, thoughtful note listing all the reasons why our world is better because of her compassion, her empathy, and her ability to bring comfort in times of great discomfort.
Seal it in a yellow envelope - or a white envelope decorated with yellow markers or stickers. Place the words, "Yellow Envelope Project" in the return address, attach a stamp, and mail it to the address listed below... by next Friday!
Luann
2712 Mitchell Street
Racine, WI 53403
If you feel as good as I do after sending my letter each week, then make note to meet us back here again next Saturday. We'll be here with the name of another deserving recipient.
Shining off until Monday.
When I returned home the other night Richard and the boys were already asleep. All the lights were out except one under the hood of the oven. The house was dark, quiet and even a little lonely.
Take two.
Now imagine me returning home to the same dark house and then turning on ten lights. First the kitchen light. Then the living room, the dining room, the study, the side porch, my bedroom, and my office. Now, upstairs to Matthew and Jack's room, over to Ricky's bedroom, and then - before heading back downstairs - the game room.
My once dark, quiet, and lonely house would feel bright, vibrant, and alive.
$202.00. That is the amount of money Heather, Cheryl, and I raised in our two-hour Create Together Bake Sale. And, as you know every $20.00 we raise allows us to present another person who shines with a signature Shine t-shirt from the House of Shine.
Ten more people who shine will light up knowing that we - House of Shine readers - have noticed their contributions. They will feel a surge of energy because passionate strangers, who care as much about the world as they do, went out of their way to acknowledge the effort and commitment involved in making the world a brighter place.
If they are feeling tired, they will have renewed energy. If they are feeling taken advantage of, they will feel appreciated. If they are questioning the importance of their work, confidence will be restored.
A simple gesture that costs only $20.00, but to the recipient, feels like hitting the jackpot.
Ten lights turned my house from dark, quiet, and lonely to bright, vibrant, and alive. Imagine what ten more lights could do to your community.
If there is even an ounce of you that believes your community would be better off if all the people who shined were encouraged to keep on going, then please consider joining our Rayvolution. There is no shortage of ways.
We are Shine Principle #8 - Relentlessly Passionate. Heather, Cheryl, and I do not want to stop until the planet is powered by shine. We're counting on the fact that a few of you agree.
Happy Friday. Shining off until tomorrow...