Something had to give, there are only a few areas of my budget that aren’t set in stone, and groceries was one of them. I’m not willing to compromise my standards of food quality, I know too much. So I found a recipe on pinterest and thought I’d give it a try. Talk about easy and cheap! Wow! I made a few changes to the recipe and I will make a few more next time around. Here’s the basic recipe and then I’ll talk more about what I’ll be changing.

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cups plain granola (this is the recipe I used)
• 1 cup rice cereal (Rice Krispies, etc.)
• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup peanut butter chips

Process

1. Line an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 square pan with parchment. Set aside.
2. Combine honey and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in brown sugar after butter starts to melt.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
4. Add the granola and rice cereal, half of the chocolate chips and pb chips into the saucepan and fold them into the sauce until evenly coated.
5. Spread the mixture into the prepared pans and press firmly with a spatula to evenly fill. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate and peanut butter chips onto the top of the granola and gently press them down with the spatula.
6. Let sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes or until mostly cooled and set, put in the fridge for 30 mins; lift out of the pan and cut into bars.
7. Store in container at room temperature, separate layers with parchment paper.
8. Eat and enjoy!

Next time around I’m not going to use cinnamon in my granola – or make an additional plain batch – I love it in the granola, but it not so much with the pb and chocolate. That’s it! These are seriously so damn good I can’t stand it. By adding part of the chocolate chips and pb chips with the hot mixture it makes the bars have that melted chocolate in them -OMG they are so good. We’re going to play around with the recipe, I’m going to add chopped pretzels and different types of nuts. I am also going to make them thinner, mine were about 3/4 inch thick – so good, but so filling. I can barely eat one, so I’ll be able to stretch the recipe to make more by doing this.

All told it took about 10 mins from start to finish, not including fridge time.

I haven’t quantified exactly how much it costs to make these. I got about 16 bars – which is about three boxes. I can promise you I didn’t spend $15 on the ingredients. I also didn’t have to worry about recycling a box or throwing out wrappers – so environmentally speaking these are pretty great. Plus I’ve made them with all natural and organic ingredients so they I am certain they are good for me and my little ones bodies. We’re just about out – so it’s time for some more…. Yum!

Thanks!

For me it’s a day to decorate in pink, red and white – make some extra treats, go to school and celebrate with adorable kiddos and share said treats with some of my favorite people. It’s also a day for me to go a bit further in letting husband and children know how very special they are to me. I always tell my family I love them, I praise them when they’ve earned it and we never go to bed without a kiss and a hug. We’re a pretty affectionate family. Today, though reminds me to make an extra effort to tell them why I love them. So I had a few surprises:

The boys have a chalkboard message center on their door- I thought I would update it.

Love notes on the bathroom mirror. Ryan had a similar set on his mirror, plus some Mike and Ike’s, we’re fancy that way.

I cut out hearts and had them strung in the kitchen doorway and last night we made those yummy pretzel, chocolate, m&m creations.

I got up first and got breakfasts, lunches, and coffee ready (which is huge in this house). It really just set a good tone for the day.

Now I’m laying in bed, watching the snow fall, drinking coffee, listening pickles play house with her dolls and her dogs and cruising my new favorite website Houzz, it’s a good day.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all – enjoy your day with the people you love (whether you do anything special or not!)

Thanks!

I’ve been painting, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth and the Giants won the Super Bowl.

I’ve got an even busier month ahead of me. I’ve finally figured out our taxes, which is no easy feat when you are self employed and doing it for the first time. I often wondered how those Asian nail salons do it.

I seem to have gotten myself into a bit of a painting side business. Not your canvas variety, but the wall and trim variety. I don’t mind it and if there is one thing I’m good at, it’s painting. I’m actually a little cocky about it and I can’t conceive hiring someone to paint my house. I did it once, learned their tricks and never had them back. Plus I have a steady hand, so that helps. So between painting my bedroom, entry and coming soon: the toy room to tween lounge metamorphesis, I’ve done a loft, a large basement, a bathroom, a bedroom and getting ready to do another bathroom all in the last 6 months. In addition to my mural at the peditrician’s office, I actually had the chance to do three canvas’ in the last two weeks, which has been a nice switch. I’ll be posting those soon.

In closing, I’m here, I’ve been busy and I’ve been battling a tough time of year for me. It’s been a rough go round, but hopefully as we get through these last two months of this sad version of winter, I’ll emerge a happy, warm lady – still with a paint brush in my hand and probably a few specks of paint in my hair. Thanks!

Simple ingredients, and even though the recipe gives some flexibility, it’s clear there is little flexibility if you want it to taste right! All along it’s been BRANDY, not Whiskey!

This is my favorite! I love looking at recipes in my Yiayia’s scrawly handwriting – it make me smile. I have her banana bread recipe hanging in my kitchen. I feel like a part of her is present because when I think of my Yiayia, I think of her cooking, sitting in her kitchen, enjoying one of her special treats. Do you see the final line – “reg. Flour ones” do you know what that means? The majority of my family recipes call for “soup bowls of oil” or “coffee cups of flour or sugar” apparently you use whatever you have on hand. It’s made some recipes a bit more challenging than others.

Coludies cooling – of course by now you know they aren’t called Coludies – it’s just our American name for them. These cookies aren’t super sweet, not salty, they’re crisp on the outside, tender on the inside and perfect with either a cup of coffee or big glass of milk. I feel like I’m ten again when I eat them!

Yum!

There is no doubt that he will grow up throwing a ball – dad is a lover of such things (yeah!) and since they live in Tennessee and proudly wear the orange and white – I couldn’t resist incorporating a little UT into the design. So a football field is my background with my painted card stock letters. I found that darling little banner when I went shopping for Wren’s painting supplies. I edged the whole painting in UT orange grosgrain ribbon to finish it off. I think it turned out cute and is a perfect addition to a little boys room – one who will undoubtedly have no choice but to love and honor his God, his Father and his Volunteers. Happy Birth to you little one – Auntie Annie can’t wait to meet you soon!

Thanks!

So after all the stress, the issues, the tears, the waffling. It’s all worked out, just as it should have. Just as I should have let it – but perhaps we wouldn’t be HERE if we didn’t take the course we did. It’s one of those things in life, you’ll never know how things would have unraveled if you’d have taken another path. What the hell am I talking about, well here it goes.

Remember that post, that awful, tearful, heartbreaking post about letting Marcy go? Well here’s the follow up. We took Marcy to the Humane Society – one of their staff took her in his car down to Greenfield to meet a potential adoptee. It was AWFUL, saying goodbye, her leaning into me as we pass our car (as if to say – uh, we’re passing the car lady), loading her into his car – her big brown eyes looking at me like, “Where am I going and why aren’t you with me?” (I sort of have a Snow White view of animals and I pretty much believe every cartoon or Spooky Buddies type of movie that makes dogs and animals talk, I believe they silently have this dialog going on, bare with me). We cried, we ate Perkins, we went home. I received a phone call that her placement didn’t work. The other resident dog attacked her, and kept trying to get her every time he got within striking distance. She clearly emits “Alpha” phermones or smells or energy or something because this fella, wasn’t having it. She went home with the HS employee – with his 15 dogs – some of which I pray are outdoor dogs. She didn’t eat, she wouldn’t lay down, she just stood there until he put her blankie down and she finally curled up on it and didn’t budge until he brought her back the next day. Heartbreaking, right? She was happy to see us, we brought her home.

She was a slightly different dog, she wouldn’t leave my side, she was more social. In fact she didn’t even flinch when Cyd walked on her blanket on his way to me. Cyd starting coming in and sleeping on our floor again, whether we were there or not.   She started coming in the house and her tail would wag a little and most of all if Cyd was getting attention, she’d trot away giving him his time and if she was the focus and he got all up in her face she dealt with it. No growls, no snapping. Like she was scared straight, I imagine her though process to be – “I didn’t like that experience, so I guess I better shape up or they WILL ship me out.” (Again, Snow White interpretation)

In the mean time we know a wonderful family that was interested in her, they met her and of course fell in love with her sweet disposition and calm nature. Not to mention her floppy lips and big brown eyes. After much discussion, their location, lack of fence and neighbor dog were possible issues. Ryan and I made a pact that if this didn’t work out – it was meant to be, WE were meant to be her owners and that WE would work on correcting any of the issues we’ve faced. So long story short, the family decided that it wasn’t going to work and a relief has settled in that Marcy is ours. I am sure we’ll face some frustrations, but for now her behavior and the issues we had have all but dissolved. Except the barking, that’s going to be a fun one to work on….

So like I said, I think the path that we had to take led us to this point, led her to this point. Maybe she wouldn’t have been so amicable with Cyd if she hadn’t had her experience “on the farm.” If we hadn’t tried to make it work with another family, I may have always wondered if this was suppose to be or not. All I know is we all seem happy and comfortable. In fact this morning I walked into mini-wild kingdom in our room. Aliza, our cat, on our bed. Cyd on the floor in front of the bed and Marcy next to the bed. In the moment I was furious, thinking “Seriously??!?!?! Now you three decide to be kumbaya?” Now, however it makes me smile and helps me know this was all meant to be.

I want to close with a big thanks to everyone and their super kind words – I can not tell you how touching and thoughtful and helpful they all were as I stressed about this entire situation (stressed so much my face resembles that of my 7th grade school picture – full o’ pimples). Thank you, thank you, thank you. You were right, I was wrong and I happily admit it!

One thing that I always think of, but rarely get around to doing is homemade gifts. I love them – seriously there is nothing more tender than a homemade gift in my opinion. Let’s be honest, most of us don’t need a thing – so food, treats, snacks are a perfect gift. I always look forward to my Christmas delivery of my girlfriend Leslie’s homemade Cinnamon rolls – they are usually our Christmas Day breakfast treat. Some of our friends bring cookies or sugared nuts, they are all marvelous and we devour them as fast as they arrive.

This year I had plans, this year Christmas was crazy, the month was insane and frankly I don’t know how I managed, but I pulled it off. Next year, I’m going bigger. Now when I say homemade gifts – I didn’t actually make some of my gifts from scratch. In October, I made a rare trip to JoAnn’s in Castleton and found adorable cookie bag/boxes by none other than Martha herself. I’ve always been under the misguided notion that I need to give TONS of cookies and treats to friends and they all have to be special one of a kind recipes. Then I realized as I saw images in Real Simple and Martha herself – that only a sampling is needed and if I don’t have time to make my mother’s finger cookies that take hours then I could use scoopable cookie dough and things from a box. Each of these bags would hold six cookies. Perfect! So for some of the staff that I am close with at school I delivered these cookies on our last day. I wish I had taken a picture – the presentation would have made my mom proud. I also made Chex mix with a friend and we delivered those to our maintenance and kitchen staff at school – a group of hardworking individuals that get looked over quite a bit. Last, but not least, I made my Yiayia’s Banana Bread – always a big hit – I made a large loaf for my friend Leslie and smaller loaves for some of our neighbors. I DID take a picture of Leslie’s, because early in September I went to Garden Ridge and purchased a Christmas loaf pan. I baked hers in a different pan and then placed it in the decorated pan and tied the top with a recipe card. My tags were one of my Martha purchases from JoAnn’s.  I didn’t spend much, but that isn’t the point, its the love and effort that goes into it that matters. Leslie had wanted the recipe for a while – I put her off because I had this gift in mind.

I got to thinking though that things like this don’t have to be a “Christmas” event. I  mean I can always bake an extra loaf of bread or set aside a dozen cookies for a surprise to someone I love.

So for this next year, my commitment is to do a bit more homemade not only for Christmas, but year round as well. That and I’d like to make a few more of my secret family recipes. We’ll see how it goes!

Thanks!

I’m in a funk – I’m going to admit. I don’t have much mojo, spunk, (awe-duck-she) some greek word my mom and Yia yia would use for “energy”. I’m sure it’s like most of the greek I know – greeklish – made up by my grandmother. Hilarious – I have a whole vocabulary of a made up language that only the maternal side of my family would understand. I digress.

I’m getting little things done around the house – finally painting the drywall patches that Ryan did after installing the kids new windows this mid fall. Finally getting new bedding and such for our bedroom after talking about it FOREVER. I finally cleaned out our bedroom closet (I’ve been waiting on Ryan for this one.) We’re finally gearing up to tile our entry, and knock out a wall, and dec-out a wall with hooks in our entry to corral our bags and jackets better. I’ve got plans galore, but no upmf to do them. I can blame it on a bunch of things, but mostly I feel like this year I’ve been a ghost floating along. Just popping from one thing to the next, no real plan, no real direction, no real schedule. I have intentions – so with that I’m going to make some resolutions, like everyone else around me.

I like the idea of intentions or being intentional – it at least means I’m going to try – and trying is worth something, right?

Here goes:

• I’d like to adopt another dog – after we properly place Marcy in a loving home. I really enjoy the two dog dynamic and I am looking forward to finding a companion to Cyd and to our family.
• I’d like to blog more, or be more consistent. I want to balance my painting, simplicity, gardening and photography better. I miss writing. Although I’ve been trying to write in my journal more, it appears its one or the other for me.
• I want to continue to eat more real food, cook more meals from scratch, eliminate processed food from our diets. I am looking forward to gardening again – I’ve been looking at plans and seeds already and am going to commit to can more of my food – I have tons of salsa and one jar of jalapenos, but I only ended up with two large quarts of tomato sauce for pasta – it was AMAZING and I wish I had more. I think about all the tomatoes I composted because I didn’t get to them in time. I think I need to do monthly canning over the summer so that I can plan to have more stock piled during these winter months. I also need to get back on my bandwagon of weekly and monthly food planning. We are planning on selling our chest freezer (cheap to a good home, msg me if you are interested) and buying an upright freezer. The chest freezer has been wonderful for storage – but if I’m going to be making multiples of meals and storing them, an upright will allow me to see better what I have. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found pounds of ground beef at the bottom after I’ve already bought yet another pound. I’m excited about getting this new appliance, I’m a total dork, I know.
• Simplify, simplify, simplify. There is ALWAYS room for improvement. I want to clean out our storage side and continue to purge our house of unnecessary things, things that bog us down, clutter, crap. I’m feeling overwhelmed, drowning. I’m going to tackle the storage side and the kitchen once the kids are back in school. They are our clutter havens.
• I want to be more present. Check Facebook less, write more letters to my friends that I don’t have the luxury of seeing everyday. Book a couple of get aways to see those said friends, time to visit and catch up, but also time for me to recharge. My batteries are way, way low. I’m not a good mom or wife or even friend if I can’t get away and take care of me. I wish I could go 150 miles per hour 24/7/365, but I can’t. I get burned out and selfishly I need time to myself for myself. It’s been over two years since my last solo get away – I need to get planning…
• I also want to be more present for my kids – I’m not a “on the floor playing” type of mom, never have been, and I’ve resigned the fact that I won’t be. I don’t like to play, plain and simple. I adore my kids, but I just don’t like to play. With that I need to find what does work now that my kids are getting older – force myself to do something other than read to them at night or barrage them with questions after school and at dinner. Penny goes to full day school next year – I vaguely remember our time alone together. Hell I vaguely remember anything these days. We’ve been swapping out or 8mm tapes to DVD’s and I’ve been watching all of our history as a family – it breaks my heart because I barely remember how little Jon was or the things Drew used to say – or what Penny was like as a baby. I find myself bitter too because so much of their youth – Drew and Penny was spent caring for mom, and ultimately grieving for her – so it’s almost like none of it happened. I want so much of that time back, but without the caregiver parts or mom’s death. But I can’t, so I move on and try to make the most of this time, I do have.
• Be less busy. I’m a busy person – I have at least four things going on at once. I’m a good juggler and multi-tasker, but I don’t need to be. I need to focus more, be less busy – which I think will ultimately help the “present” goal of mine. I need to say “No” more – I’ve improved dramatically and I’m not a martyr – I just need to say “NO” more.

Sweet kitty Aliza – she doesn’t get much face time since she’s a bit of a shy gal. That and she’s NEVER busy.

So there you go – intentions. We’ll see I how I fair – I wish to all my friends a warm and happy 2012 – may this year be the best yet!

Thanks!

I quickly went to PetSmart and got all the necessary things we’d need for her to come home. I picked her up in the afternoon and set up her space in our bedroom that would be her space for the next week during recovery. Cyd was curious, but we balanced our time between the two dogs and within three days her infection had all but disappeared. We decided we needed to start introducing Marcy to Cyd straightaway.

We started by letting them sniff each other through our fence. The first time Marcy growled and snarled a bit, Cyd, the doofus that he is tried to give her his soccer ball. We tried again later with Cyd on a leash and her still on hers – keeping him a tad more calm and they did better. We learned that the shelter failed to tell us that she seemed to have little tolerance for high energy dogs. Oops – we happen to have one of those.

Over the next two weeks the dogs have learned to tolerate on another. Cyd still wanting to be a friend, Marcy still not convinced. She still growls, but it isn’t as bad as it once was. We’ve worked hard to help her realize she isn’t the alpha – we are.

She’s an incredibly loving dog. She’s a bit like a cat in that she doesn’t seek out attention, but if she happens to be by you and you want to give her love, she’ll readily accept it. She’s been groomed, she’s gorgeous and looks like a polar bear. It’s fun to walk her and see people just become awestruck with how magnificent she is in person.

We’ve also gotten the dogs to go outside in the back yard together – it seems to be the one place she’s cool with Cyd. Unfortunately this is where our story goes south. Marcy LOVES being outside. It is the ONLY time her tail is up, she readily runs outside and prances like a gazelle. She’s happy, she’s free(ish) and she barks her head off. Unfortunately for us we can’t keep her outside for long periods of time. Her constant barking is consistent with her breed and from what I’ve read on forums and articles it isn’t something you can train them out of doing. We have some very persnickety neighbors that in the past called the police on Cyd who barked for about 10 minutes one summer morning. Marcy’s deep bellow bark would never fly, not a chance. Add a constant stream of golfers and golf carts and I just know we’ll be facing all sorts of cranky, middle aged idiots knocking on our door shaking their fists. It is times like this that I truly wish we didn’t live in a neighborhood, or this neighborhood or at least around these neighbors.

I need to back up and explain that we’ve been talking about getting another dog for well over a year now. Cyd is 7 and we felt like he needed a companion since we were home less and less. Next year, with all the kids being in full day school and me working at least part time he would definitely need someone to interact with – he has a tendency to get depressed after a long week of being alone. It is clear that Marcy and Cyd at best will tolerate or co-exist, but will never run around with the soccer ball or spoon or cuddle.

So ultimately we’ve made the decision to continue to foster Marcy, but that we would not in fact be her forever home. It’s been awful – with all seriousness I haven’t cried this much since my mother died four years ago. She’s an amazing dog, she’s gaining weight, she’s beautiful, she snuggles with me (when I seek her out) and she is so obedient and good with commands (at least the ones she wants to follow). She is a phenomenal dog. She doesn’t like Cyd. She barks a lot. Ugh.

I have been in communication with the shelter and they’ve found a great home for her. A woman runs a animal rescue in Greenfield. She has 6 acres fenced. She has a 9.5 year old Great Pyrenees and a miniature horse. She wants Marcy as her pet. She recently lost a second Great Pyr that was the brother to the one she still has. Apparently she nursed them with bottles from the time they were 2 weeks old and has had them ever since. She was heartbroken losing her other dog and has wanted anothe Pyr ever since. She’s wanted another Pyr as a companion to her existing Pyr. Her dog is calm and docile, not a high spirited bone in his body. She would be able to run the 6 acres each day and be inside at night. She’s got a heated barn where the animals go if they need a break or shelter. She’ll be happy, it’s perfect for her. She won’t be the groomed beauty that I’ve got right now, but she’ll be able to run and bark and that is what matters most. I found out today that we need to bring her to the shelter on Sunday morning because they will take her down to this woman’s farm and see how Marcy does with this dog. If she does well she will stay, if she doesn’t she’ll come back and we’ll foster her until we find her forever home. Frankly this sucks.

I vascilate between whether this is the right choice or not. Could I train her better, would they get along better over time?  But then I see Cyd skiddish around her or I see her tail go between her legs as I call her indoors and realize that this probably for the best. I’ve always loved animals. I’ve never volunteered at a shelter or tried to be a foster home because I’m all in and I fall in love too easily with these precious creatures. They break my heart. If I had the room I would have come home with 6 cats when I was at the shelter last – age doesn’t matter – I’d bring them all home and give them so much love they wouldn’t know what to do with it. Ultimately I know I can’t, so I don’t, because I’d be a hot mess 99% of the time.

So say a little prayer for me, for us, as we spend our last couple of days with Marcy. Say one for her too – that her transition is a good one. I know dogs are fairly simple – they don’t think like us. She may miss me the first day or be confused, but she’ll get a feel for her environment and she’ll move on. Sometimes I think it would be easier to be a dog because I don’t have the luxury of forgetting her.

Last week I finally had my opportunity to get into the space that I was hired to paint, but Northpoint Pediatrics here in Indianapolis. We’ve actually been going to Northpoint for almost 10 years, I love our pediatrican’s office (three offices really). I will never leave, of course they might think it’s creepy when I show up with no kids. I digress. I mentioned before that I put a bid in to paint the space and on a hope and a prayer they accepted my bid over the other artists that submitted. Hooray! There were some delays, but long story short I gave myself a pretty tight schedule and wanted to finish it prior to Christmas. I’m happy to say that after three very late nights, it is finished and I am THRILLED with the finished product. Pictures just don’t do it justice. But I’ll give it a try, I had a one foot border along the perimeter of the room. The rug that they purchased was the muse for this project. The walls were painted satin (they chose my color scheme) and the border area was painted eggshell. I used my typical acrylic paint and then a water-based polyurethane once it was done, protecting the images from little hands and cleaning products. Here goes:

I could fill the page with pictures of these cute little buggars – but you get the idea. I am so excited for this opportunity and my client was amazed with the outcome. So much so that they are removing the existing examining table out of the space because it covers too much wall up and they are replacing it with a smaller, shorter model. That just tickles me – and makes the 3 am drives home from Castleton SO worth it. It felt good to get the brushes going again, now just to figure out my next project…

Thanks!