Scribbles and Scrambles ~ 1,000

Some of my photos from yesterday were cryptic. Okay, maybe not  cryptic, maybe just weird. But, honestly, you would expect what? 

I started one of my resolutions for 2015 early. Why wait till January 1? 

I flipped through a series of articles one random day and read about a woman who decided to purge clutter to the tune of 1,000 items. She was inspired by this blog.  She said it was freeing and between her four immediate family members they found 1,000 excess items and none of them missed a single one. 

I decided right then and there that losing 1,000 items seemed like a brilliant idea and my 2015 goal. 

But then, while doing some cleaning in my pantry I couldn't wait. I declared my resolution to begin December 1, 2014 and end November 30, 2015. Then I started tossing things into bags. 

Rob caught the bug, too. He didn't count his items and I did not count his in my total. I am the one who will personally purge 1,000 items of excess. (My rules = pairs count as 1 item.) My personal count?  I'm a 1/3 of the way to my goal. 339 things which includes useful items I don't want, need or use. The homeless shelter we donated to weighs the contributions. Rob and I removed 228 pounds out of our lives and boy does that feel great!

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weekend Highlights

Gertie Wanted What I Had, REAL BAD!!!

  

Magic Number...To Be Explained Later...

Weather = AMAZING. Sunday was lowkey after church. Leisure and snow boots.

Cool Ice Sculpture at Rob's Office Christmas Party

First Performance - To Be Continued

Proof that I don't kill every plant I touch. My Christmas Cactus Bloomed

New Ottomans = pup favorites. New slipcovers. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Banana Bread (Best Ever Said My Co-Worker) Vegan/Dairy Free

 

Best Ever Banana Bread (Seriously, my co-worker, Iowa farm girl born and bred said this. So it must be true. Iowa farm girls know their banana bread. ) 

1/2 Cup coconut oil

1 Cup sugar

1 TBSP Ener-G egg replacer (instructions for homemade here)

2 TBSPs non-dairy milk

2 ripe bananas

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 Cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry) 

Preheat oven to 350. Grease bread pan, mini muffin pan or small loaf pans.

Melt the coconut oil and defrost* bananas (if using frozen ones) in preheating oven in medium glass or stainless steel bowl. Prepare the milk and egg replacer in small bowl. When the coconut oil is melted and bananas squishable remove from oven and add the sugar mixing well. Then add the cinnamon, salt and baking powder and mix until combined. Finally add the egg and vanilla and stir. 

If you want mix-ins add them now (chocolate chips, chopped nuts, dried fruit.) 

This will make one full loaf, 4 minis or about 60 mini muffins or little squares. You will bake the minis for about 40-45 minutes, the mini muffins for about 13-15 and the full sized about 50-60. 

Crumb topping: 

3/4 Cup flour

1/2 Cup sugar

3 TBSP coconut oil (solid)

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

pulverized nuts (1/4 Cup or so) (optional)

Mix flour, sugar (and cinnamon and/or nuts) well, cut in the coconut oil with a fork, two knives a pastry blender. Sprinkle this over the top of the unbaked bread, muffins etc. 

* in case you don't do this. When bananas get too ripe, peel them and place them in a designated zipper bag or container in the freezer. Then use them for such a time as this. Peeling is important unless you want to dig banana membrane off a frozen banana later. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Spanish Quinoa

Super Easy Meal

1 Cup  uncooked quinoa (Rinsed if you don't have a pre rinsed one. )

1 1/2 Cup vegetable broth

2 - 14ish oz cans of  diced tomatoes

1 - 4 ounce can of diced jalapenos

1 Cup of hamburger substitute

Put all in a pan. Stir.  Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to simmer and simmer about 20 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed. Stir as needed. Serve in tortilla shells, as a nacho topping with chopped lettuce, diced tomatoes, chopped onions, avocado, sour cream etc. 

 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Ooops!

So. You probably know that blogging doesn't pay well. Occasionally, I'll get something free. Yay! And I get about 7 cents a month for clicks on ads. But yesterday it cost me. Wait. No, not really. But I'm going to use a costly lil incident and turn it into an amusing (I hope) anecdote. 

If you've read my blog for any length of time, or know me, you probably know I STINK at parallel parking. some people stink worse (I won't name any one in particular, Michelle Griep, because I've never actually wounded one of my children and a friend while attempting, however, I came close.) 

I went to downtown Omaha on a quick trip to meet & and tiny Bean (the 3 year old) for lunch. Omaha is a big city and has lots of parking meters and parallel parking. 

Sigh. 

I pulled in. The wrong way, front loading. I know this is improper parallel parking technique. I know that what one must do is line up your tire and crank backwards into this incredibly short slot.  When people I'm with are parallel parking in the proper manner I hold my breath and break out in a sweat. It's almost like they are magical, intelligent beings who know the secrets to the universe. 

Well, the secret to confidently wheeling a vehicle backwards into a twisty rectangular slot. 

When I returned to my vehicle a lovely woman, wearing a vest with official looking identity marks looked up and made eye contact. "Oh, Honey, I'm so sorry. I just ticketed your vehicle." 

"Dang it. I knew time was a tickin." I said and snapped my fingers. 

"Well, that's not why you got a ticket. Do you know why I ticketed you?" 

"Because I parked like an IDIOT?!?" I asked

She hooted. "Ha, I didn't say that... but..." She handed me the ticket. It said "violation - parking more than a foot from the curb."

aka parking like an idiot. Okay to be fair. My entire car was NOT a foot away from the curb, more like the butt of my car was a full three feet away from the curb. 

Here's the really sad part. I had a blast bantering with the nice lady as she passed me the ticket. It helped considerably that she thought I was HILARIOUS. And that she thought Bean was adorable. Bean sat in the car seat cracking up watching the two crazy ladies laugh. 

Hey. I've blown $16.00 in far worse ways. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Quirk Alert

Gladys is either a wannabe hunter or nurturer. Not sure which. She routinely disappears into a different room and we'll hear whining. The first few times I took her out to go potty. But then we figured out it was part of her gathering behavior. She attempts to collect all of her toys in one trip. She scoops everything into her mouth, whining until it's full and then trots happily back into the room with us. 

She doesn't rip her toys to shreds, even though she and Gertie do remove the stuffing because that's fun to play with. Oh, and the squeakers, those get excised as well. 

Here is Gladys's proud catch of the day. A record of three items, one of which is the rubber bone. She's got a personal goal of adding the brown owl/monkey toy and the skinned shark to her personal best.  

Serials and Scenarios ~ Looking for a Good Family or Kid's Gift?

Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect Hardcover – September 1, 2012
by Richard H. Schneider (Author)
Hardcover: 28 pages
Publisher: Abingdon Press; Stk edition (September 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1426754868
We used to read this book when the kids were little. 

It's always been one of my favorites. 

Last night I got to read it to my little ones. Ok. Two of the three of them were mostly distracted. But I remembered why I loved the book so much. A message we all need during the Christmas season. Of note, Toad-Boy and & remember it as a favorite book, too, so maybe, eventually, the little bits will share that sentiment.