Monday Must Have’s

Let’s start this week off with a positive!  Monday must have: some things I simply can’t live without…

1. Leggings

2. Crystal Light with caffeine

3. Tervis Cups

4. Work-Out Class

 

I MUST HAVE leggings. Which is funny ironic because I used to hate leggings. I said I would never wear them. I believe my words were “I don’t have the right body for them”. LOL – whatever, who cares what type of body you have. They are the most comfortable things ever. I wear them probably at least 5 out of the 7 days per week. My favorite brands of leggings are White Plum (pictured) and GAP.

I have recently discovered Crystal Light with caffeine. BEST THING EVER. I’m trying to drop a few pounds and be a little healthier, so I stopped drinking pop. However, I really really need my caffeine – I can’t won’t give it up. So I was drinking iced tea in the morning, which was fine but I still craved something a little sweeter – enter Crystal Light with caffeine. The Wild Strawberry is good, but very sweet. So I do add more water to mine than it calls for. I have found Citrus flavor – which I bought but haven’t tried yet and Peach Mango. I’m not a big “mango flavored” fan so I probably won’t be trying that one.

Tervis cups. The one pictured is from Champion Seed – where we buy our corn and soybean seeds to plant. Yes, you can customize them. Awesome, I know. Thank you to Champion Seed for supplying these every 2 years. They are awesome and I use them every single day. They don’t “sweat”, which is super because that really irritates me and they keep your beverage cold for hours! One time I had one for these bad boys filled with ice and tea – I still had at least 1/2 – 2/3 left so I stuck it in the fridge when I went to bed. The next morning the ice was still there. WHAAAAT?! Worth the extra money.

Work-Out Class. I actually really like to work-out. It makes me feel good. It gives me more energy. BUT – I need a class. Otherwise I don’t push myself and I quit when I start to feel a little tired. And I get bored. Really fast. I recently started a new class (for FREE!!!!) – it’s CrossFit like and I love it. Plus one of my besties goes too so I get to see her first thing every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Have a great week.

XOXO

~ The Sheiliac

White-Out

I plan conventions for the Iowa Turkey Federation. It’s one of my favorite parts of my job. I love having parties and getting people together and planning conventions in part is like that!

Every year I pick a different theme – is that necessary. No. Does it give a new life to convention and make it more fun. Absolutely! So this year I went with White-Out. I got asked a lot what that meant – people wanted to know what to wear. Easy – just wear white. You don’t have to be dressed head to toe in white (although that is awesome), you just need white somewhere – white shirt, white tie, white pants, white shoes. You get the point.

I decided that everything in white would be a little boring – so I jazzed it up with gold, glitter and sequins. I know – shocker that I would pick glitter and sequins. It turned out beautiful and we had an awesome convention!

We served white turkey cookies at lunch – this was a winner in so many ways. First – turkey farmers raise white feathered turkeys. Do you know why? It’s a simple answer…when you remove dark feathers from a turkey it leaves dark spots on the skin. Consumers don’t like that and inspectors degrade the meat. So white feathers it is. Second – they are adorable, Hy-Vee does an amazing job. Third- they are so good. Seriously. Delicious.

Peppered Fries from the West Des Moines Marriott. AMAZING. So very amazing – in fact we refer to them as crack fries. That’s how good they are. NOT that crack is good – but you can’t stop eating these. They have parmesan on them and some sort of seasoning – I’m glad I don’t have the recipe or I would eat them everyday and gain a lot of weight. If you are at the WDM Marriott. Get them. You will thank me.

The hospitality room is a very important part of our convention. There is a ton of networking, lots of conversations ranging from work and turkey discussion to catching up on family news. I like to have a little something on the tables but I don’t want to take up the whole table either – these worked perfect. The bottom glass part is part of an old turkey water, then I used Epson salt, candles from the dollar store and gold ornaments, greenery and  gold “picks” from Hobby Lobby. Hospitality isn’t complete without snacks – so I used these awesome turkey bowls from Pier 1.

The banquet tables were beautiful and exactly what I wanted! A big thank you to Katie from On the Banks of Squawcreek for helping me with the centerpieces. The beautiful glass jars are old turkey waters that we got from a fellow turkey farmer – they were in an old barn. We Katie hauled them home and to the office. We washed and washed and washed them. Side note – polident works wonders, as does vinegar and Dawn dish soap. After we got them sparkling clean, we poured Epson salt in the bottom (these pictures don’t show it very well but it looks like sparkling snow – so pretty!), then put different sized candles in each one. Done. Beautiful. Fairly inexpensive. Now for my favorite part of the decorations, drumroll please…… the champagne sequin table runners. They were absolutely stunning – well worth the $20/piece rental fee. (If you love them as well and want to rent them we got them through Bella Floral in Des Moines, Iowa.) It was finished off with champagne colored silk napkins.

Here is my outfit for the White-Out. I loved it – it was so comfortable. I was lucky – I went to the White House Black Market and that day they had 25% off and I had a $100 gift certificate so I didn’t spend that much – the top, sweater and pants are all from there, the leopard print shoes I’ve had for a long time and have no idea where I bought them. In the 2nd picture I’m standing with Joel (the National Turkey Federation President) and Jill (the Iowa Turkey Federation Lobbyist).

Another great convention in the books. I’m working on next year’s theme’s…I’m thinking Tailgating and Roaring 20’s. What have you done that went over amazingly well?

Hey! I’m Sheila and I’m a Sheiliac. There I said it.

Hi everyone! My name is Sheila and I’m a Sheiliac. What’s a Sheiliac you ask? Well – it’s really just my name and Celiac Disease put together. Why? Because I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in the fall of 2012 and it’s who I am, it’s a big part of my life and it’s never going to go away. I’m also a farmwife and mom of two – a sweet farm boy (G-money) and a sassy Diva. Sophie (a miniature schnauzer) our inside dog and Lucy (a black lab) our outside dog complete our family.

I can’t forget my “other” full-time job! I work at the Iowa Turkey Federation as the Director of Membership Services. I love it. I get to visit with farmers and all the companies that supply goods to the farmers and I plan the parties – I mean meetings. I also design our magazine – Turkey Talk. It lets me be creative and showcase all the wonderful things our organization, famers and allied members do throughout the year.

Why I started blogging – well that’s actually a really long story but my friend Katie, from On the Banks of Squaw Creek – has told me and told me I needed to. I had seriously thought about it when I (and my daughter) were diagnosed with Celiac Disease but then my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and I knew it was time.

So what is Sheiliac going to blog about anyway? Good question. Seriously. This is why it took me so long. What the heck did people want to read about and why would they want to read mine??? I struggled. Now – I know. Hearing other people’s struggles and success with Celiac Disease and Type 1 Diabetes has been a life saver. It makes it easier somehow. So….

• The Diva & Diabetes – I will share the stories about my sassy little Diva living with Type 1 Diabetes and anything else related to her – not to mention our favorite diabetic recipes.
• Sheiliac – it’s really all about me. LOL. Seriously though – my life, celiac disease and gluten free recipes. Trust me, my grandma (GG) is awesome at making recipes into GF recipes. LOVE HER.
• Sparkling Chaos – Life is awesome but let’s face it, it’s always a little chaotic. Plus I am a major sucker for fashion, glitter, sequins, design and parties.
• Levis & Boots – my husband and our little farm boy and of course our farm. What’s on the farm? Glad you asked – we are turkey farmers and we also row crop corn and soybeans. It’s awesome and I can’t wait to help you understand farming more.

Other stuff I love and that I just might blog about sometime – DIY, summer life – aww, warm nights and steamy days, water skiing, fitness and photography.

All of this makes up Sheilapalooza – it’s a crazy life but hey it is what it is. So let’s be friends – I’d love to know about your chaotic life too!

XOXO

~ The Sheiliac