I'm a blogging fool.....

Okay, so I've got to find something else to do. I've spent the morning (and now part of the afternoon) reading other blogs, people I don't even know. I've added links to mine, changed my colors about 5 times before settling on 'Garnet and Gold', and added a new post.
I was so preoccupied with this blogging that I should receive a flogging....I started a load of laundry, put the soap in and was going to let the water fill up a bit while I went in to finish reading something. I went out about an hour later to switch over the laundry and realized I washed a load of NOTHING!
Ummm, this is not the first time I have done this....Our washer will continue to wash even if the lid is left up and my dryer is really broken...can't change the heat setting and the timer is broken. I must admit....I've forgotten about the dryer and left it on for hours and even over night.
I probably can't blame it all on blogging....I was like this before blogging...heck, before computers!

The Fireplace Crinkler

For a few days now I've been hearing this 'crinkle' noise coming from across the living room. I only noticed it when I was sitting at the computer and all was quiet.

The other day I asked Hannah if she heard the noise also - she did. Jacob happened to be in the room also and he insisted it was coming from the basket of pine cones on the hearth. I decide to investigate. I sit on the hearth and put my ear up to the grate on the fireplace opening. I say, "Yep, it's in the fireplace. I think there is something in the chimney."

As I'm sitting with my back to the fireplace Hannah comes and sits on the hearth also. She sits sideways, looking at me. We hear the 'crinkle' noise, Hannah's eyes go toward the fireplace and get really big. She jumps up and screams, at the top of her lungs, and then runs to her room. With my back to the fireplace I can't see what she saw so I instinctively scream also, jump up and run to my room. Meanwhile, Jacob, who was on his way to a friend's house, runs out the front door. (He didn't come back for a few hours, so I guess he wasn't too worried about the girls in the house with the Mystery Fireplace Crinkler.)

I'm in my room, laughing hysterically....I hear Hannah laughing in her room. I open the door slowly, looking out into the living room....thinking I'm going to find something hairy. Nope, nothing. I ask Hannah what she saw and she says, "Nothing, I just heard the noise."

I call Michael at work and tell him that something is in the fireplace. He'll check it when he gets home, which won't be until 10pm. Urg....I still hear the Crinkler....basically, it crinkles all day and I convince myself that there is a bird outside on top of the chimney.

Michael comes home and I immediately have him figure out what the noise is. He looks in the fireplace and sees nothing. I tell him that there is definitely something in the chimney then. He says the only thing he can do is open the flue and whatever is in there will come "flying" out. Jacob gets the flashlight while Michael decides he is going to open the flue. I'm thinking that this probably is not a great idea, since Hannah and I are sitting on the couch, which is a few feet away. He does it anyway....he turns the handle and runs to the other side of the room. Hannah and I scream.....and then decide we didn't see anything fall down.

Michael goes to the fireplace and closes the flue and shines the flashlight to the corners of the fireplace. "I found it," he says, "It's just a beetle, well, it's a big beetle."

All that for a beetle? Actually, it was very funny...making me wish that somehow it had been caught on video. Alas, this mystery is solved. On to the next.

Grated Butter?

Sounds really weird, doesn't it?

I've been going to Books-A-Million every morning this week while Hannah and Jacob have been at VBS in an attempt to save gas. I brought my work with me and have actually gotten a lot done. Today, my eyes were starting to cross....either because what I was reading was technical or because I was up late blogging the night before. I decided to take a break from reading for work and picked up a few magazines to read for pleasure. I grabbed ones about gardening, crocheting, digital scrapbooking, decorating and a Martha 'Good Things' (I think).

Okay...back to grated butter.

Ever want to bake something, but need butter at room temperature? Well, all you have to do is grate the butter into a bowl and in no time you have butter at room temperature.

Of course, I had to come home and try it.....so, I made a healthy version of banana bread. I've always used my mother-in-law's recipe...but decided in my attempt to actually lose weight, I'd try something different.

I went to a party a few weeks ago and someone brought brownies. At first bite, I knew they were 'healthy' brownies, but they didn't taste like they had prune puree or applesauce in them. I found out that she used Hodgson Mill Insta-Bake mix. I went out and purchased the mix and made brownies....they were okay....I followed the recipe on the box, she didn't.

Today I used the mix to make banana bread....and it turned out good. Although, Jacob just came in from playing outside and smelled the bread and was excited until he tasted it. It was definitely not as moist as Elaine's banana bread. I'm normally not a fan of 'dry stuff' but enjoyed my slice of banana bread.....yep, only had 1 slice!

Here's the recipe I used....next time I'm going to use more milk and another egg.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

2 1/2 c. Insta-Bake Mix

3 ripe bananas, smashed

1/4 c. milk

1/4 c. butter, room temp.

2/3 c. raw sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

Sift mix.

Combine bananas & milk.

Cream sugar and butter until light & fluffy; add egg and mix until smooth.

Add Insta-Bake mix; stir. Do not beat.

Bake in greased loaf pan at 350º for 50 min.

Weigh Wednesday - 254.5lbs

I'm a Fat Blogger!

Yep, I said it - I'm fat and I know it. I've joined WW about 5 times over the past 10 years....and have lost some and paid A LOT. Jason had the idea to pay ourselves instead of WW. My mom and I tried to figure out a way that we would really commit to not only paying, but more importantly, losing the weight. I was worried about the accountability part...after all, this conversation took place over a basket of fried wings, french fries and a Diet Coke.

This is what we came up with. Each Wednesday, I will post my weight. My mom, Melissa and I have committed to pay ourselves and hold one another accountable. When we reach our goal we will use the money we have paid ourselves to go on a Cruise. No more money spent on WW or other's plans....

We've made a committment, we'll stick to our plan.

We'll weigh in each Wednesday and lose what we can.

When we reach our goal weight on this we agree

We're traveling and spending a weekend ,we three!!

3 Fat Bloggers

Robin - 254.5 Melissa - 211.5 Sara - 189

Combined Weight: 655 lbs.

stream of consciousness

the challenge: Just write. Stream of consciousness. Doesn't matter if it even makes sense. Who cares if it flows. Just start. Just type whatever pops into your brain. Go.

i saw this on another blog and thought it was a great idea. i constantly have ideas running through my mind. today hannah was able to help out with vbs at our church; she is too old to attend, but was a helper in the 3/4 year old class. she is really great with children and finds the things they do fun. she is the type of babysitter that actually plays with the kids. hannah is a really neat kid. she loves to keep her room clean, organizes and lays out what she is going to wear the next day, likes things organized and loves to rearrange her room. she is going to be in 7th grade....seems like just yesterday she was dancing around the living room in her diaper. we were looking through old photos the other night and memories of hannah and jacob as pre-schoolers made me smile. i bought some frames for my large wall that is bare...and has been since we moved in 1 1/2 years ago. i want to do a photo/kid's artwork gallery, but haven't found the right frames, until now. of course, now it will probably take me forever to find 'the right' photographs for the frames. we had grouper tonight for dinner and now my home has the fishy aroma....too hot to open windows.

Monday Musings

Okay....so we recycle, no big deal, right? When we lived in an apartment we didn't recycle...it was too much trouble. I admit it, if it's too much trouble with little or no immediate reward I'm usually not ready to jump on board. Since we moved into our house and the garbage service supplied us with a recycle bin and comes once a week to collect the recycle, I was ready and willing. The only snag to becoming a green friendly adult....boxes, cans, glasses and jugs sitting on my counter. It is Jacob's job to take out the recycle and trash...but it will pile up for days before he will take it out without me reminding him of his 'daily chore'. Well, not anymore!

I must confess, I have sort of become obsessed with reading other's blogs. I found this great blog about organizing and got the bug. I already love to label, love to read organizing books and magazines, and I love to buy containers...that's about as far as my organization goes. Don't get me wrong....I LOVE THE IDEA OF ORGANIZING; it's just putting all those good ideas into action that befuddles me.

So, on my quest to 'Just Do It', I purchased a bin at Wal-Mart today for $1.54. I added a tag with a green ribbon to my bin and Voila a recycle bin to sit on my counter. Jacob will be happy also, now he has a bin to take the recycle outside in.

I must admit....I retied the ribbon about 10 times before I was happy with the way it laid. When tying a knot, remember - right over left, left over right.

All-Star Baseball

Jacob has played baseball since kindergarten; he has played t-ball, coach pitch and 3 seasons of minors. He loves it and is naturally good; he thinks he's great! This season he did really good. His primary position was first base, but he also played catcher, third base and even pitched a few innings throughout the season.

He tried out for All-Stars last year and didn't make it, so this year he really wanted to be on the All-Star team. He tried out last Saturday....and Sunday morning we got the call - Jacob made the 10-11 year old All-Star Team! He was very excited, but there was a glitch. He planned on going to Cincinnati with PaPa and DeeDee the week before the tournament. Jacob had a huge decision to make - either go to Cincinnati, visit family, see a Reds game and not be a starter on the team or stay here, go to practice every night and have a possibility of being a starter on the team.

Jacob has never been a great decision maker. Basically, he wants it all....but don't we all? He is afraid he is going to make a wrong decision and miss out on something great. He and Michael talked it over and he made his decision to stay and practice with his team, prove himself to his coach and have a shot at being a starter.

I'm fine with Jacob's decision, although I know that he is very disappointed that he will miss out on a fun trip. Will he be upset if his team loses the first game and is out of the tournament? 3 hour practices everyday for 2 weeks, possibly all for one game. Makes me think of Thanksgiving Dinner....days of planning, shopping, cooking all day - all for a meal that lasts 30 minutes. I guess it all comes down to 'the experience'.

I hope that the All-Star experience is great for Jacob. If nothing else, he will have learned a lot. His All-Star coach has taught him more than he has learned in the past 5 seasons of baseball...well, that might be an exaggeration...but you get the point.

My First Blog....EVER!

For years I said I've wanted to journal, to write my story. Finding the time to actually sit down, find a pen (I can never, never find a pen) and a journal, and write down my daily thoughts has elluded me. It could also be that I'm a procrastinator and a perfectionist. I want everything to be 'just right', so therefore, I procrastinate. My mother is the exact opposite...when she gets an idea, she just does it. While it might not be perfect, it's done. I envy that type of thinking. I wish I was more like my mom....she'll love reading that!

Today I was on my daily phone call from Melissa, my very best friend since 3rd grade. We were reading Rosie's blog together and I said, "I want to have my own blog!" She said, "Google, start your own blog." I did just that....and now I have my own blog.

Okay, so you can imagine, me the procrastinating perfectionist that I am....how did I ever get it all started. I just did it....I didn't worry about how good it looked or what I was going to say....I just did it.
Will anyone read it? Will I have interesting things to say? Will I procrastinate blogging? The answer to all 3 - Probably