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Archive for Around the House

Be a Passenger in Your Life

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Are you feeling rushed, hurried, out of control, disorganized? As you hurry through your work week, family week, and taking care of your house week life can sometimes just fly by you. And occasionally it seems like the weeks just go by faster and faster, with no direction in site.

So my challenge to you is slow down just a little bit. Instead of always being in the driver’s seat sit back for a bit be a passenger for a few minutes or hours, here or there. Look at where there are little pockets of rushing and hurrying. What can you do just a little differently to make your week in all areas of your life just a little less hurried or hectic than the day before.

It could be something as simple as getting up 5 minutes earlier to start your day just a smidge sooner. Getting up early enough for a cup of coffee or tea, and a little bit of reading before the household wakes up. Or maybe you go to bed just 5 minutes earlier to get a little more sleep.

Maybe you are rushing around in the morning getting the kids ready for school. Could you have gotten their backpacks ready the night before? Maybe had everyone pick out their clothes before they go to bed? Any little pockets of time that you can gain add up by the end of your day.

I was rushing around a few days ago getting some errands done, and as I went back to my car to get in I reached for the passenger door instead of the driver’s door. I wasn’t paying attention, just hurrying along thinking about something else. It made me realize that it’s so easy to get ahead of yourself, and just rush, rush, rush all of the time.

I give each and every one of you permission to just stop, take a breath, and slow yourselves down. Really take a close look at how you are going about your day, and make the most of your time within each day. Sit back for just a few minutes and be a passenger, and learn to enjoy it.

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Have you made Mini Donuts yet?

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Renee Spindle

One of my Christmas presents from Travel Man was one of those little mini donut makers. He loves getting me new kitchen gadgets, and this one was at the top of my list.

The mini recipe booklet that came with my new gadget had a few recipes, and I just wanted to try the basics. Here’s the recipe I used:

Basic Donut Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 egg

1/2 c. milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

4 Tbsp cooking oil

Directions:

Stir dry ingredients together.
Add egg, vanilla, and milk and beat 1 minute with electric mixer or vigorously by hand.
Add oil and continue to beat for 1 more minute.

Now you’re ready to plug-in the donut maker, and get those goodies going. The donut maker just plugs into the wall, and heats up like a waffle iron. Once heated, you spray the top and bottom with some sort of non-stick cooking spray, add the batter, close the lid, and bake until the “ready” light comes on.

Once they are baked place the little goodies on a plate or cutting board to cool. At my house you have to guard treats like this with your life, so they don’t disappear instantaneously!

You can also frost the donuts, and dip them in sprinkles, or some other sugary delight. For our very first round of donuts I just wanted them plain so I could tell how this recipe tasted. The donuts were very light and delicious. Like little cakes, but not too heavy. Just the right amount of sweetness for me. Left plain these little snacks would freeze very well.

The mini donuts disappeared quite quickly after I sounded the alarm that they could be eaten. I think I might try something with pumpkin next, or maybe lemon poppy-seed. Those would be my two favorite flavors to experiment with. What’s your favorite donut or muffin? Have you tried the mini donuts?

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I’m so excited…..

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Hello friends I just wanted to share with all of you that I just published my 40th post. Yay!! It’s an exciting fete for me, and I look forward to continuing to share my stories, and a few recipes with you. Upwards and onwards to number 50!!

All the best for a wonderful week to each and every one of you.

Cheers!

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The Power’s out Grandma -Now what do we do?

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Last Saturday our beloved Southern California Edison had scheduled some sort of maintenance stuff, and we had been notified that the power would be out some time between the hours of 7am and 3:30pm, by mail. I wonder how many people in the neighborhood forgot about this and had friends or family over? This timeframe was ok for me. I didn’t have a whole lot going on, and whatever was urgent I finished on Friday. My only commitment was to host my grandson, Evan, for an overnighter so his parents could have a “date night”.

In a perfect world the power would have been off between 7am and 3:30pm, but in my world the power went out at about 11am, and didn’t come back on until almost 9pm!!! The nerve.

I called my daughter to delay Evan’s arrival until 5pm or so. Evan came over with the pepperoni pizza and bread sticks in hand, and I had a movie to watch. At this point in the day the power was supposed to be back on at 6pm. Of course I called to check on it. My grandson was on his way over and I was the entertainment! I figured no big deal, about 45 minutes with no power and then we could get on with our evening. After Evan put the pizza in the kitchen and said his goodbyes to his Mom, he was investigating the house, the light switches, the tv. Walking around very inquisitively.

And this was his battery of questions-

So you mean the computer won’t turn on?

The light bulbs in the lights won’t turn on?

What about the plugs? They still work don’t they.

Will the tv turn on how are we going to watch our movie??

And my response to each of these was “No Evan that needs electricity to work”. It took him awhile to digest that information.

So, 6:15 rolls around, and still no power. I called again to get a status and now the power won’t be back on until 9pm. Yikes! Not the evening I had planned. Mini panic by Grandma at this time.

Now, Evan’s just a little scared because it’s getting dark, and our entire neighborhood is in the dark. The street in front of our house is just pitch black. I lit the fireplace in the living room, lit some candles, and we each had a flashlight. At some point I had asked Evan if he wanted to go home, and he said, “Nope”. Evan was too nervous to eat any pizza so he just snacked on the bread sticks.

We played a short game of memory, and then Evan was looking around the living room and he says, “So this means I can’t play any video games, or watch tv right now”. I replied, “You’ve got it! This is a video/tv vacation”. I’m thinking to myself maybe we should make this a regular thing.

Next I busted about my iPad. I realize this contradicts my no electronics statement, but a Grandma’s got to go what a Grandma’s got to do. I have some games on the iPad that Evan likes to play, plus it was well-lit. We played checkers, tic-tac-toe, connect four, and then scrabble. Evan’s really starting to get into the scrabble board. He needs a little help, but enjoys putting the word puzzle together.

Finally, the power came back on at about 9pm. We scream Yahooeeeee, turn on the tv to watch the smurfs, make popcorn, and eat some pizza. TV/video vacation was over.

Isn’t it funny in this age of all things electronic that we just don’t take more time for some peace and quiet. I think I have a new concept for overnighters at Grandma’s house. A video vacation will be part of our new overnighter routine, and we’ll learn a new board game or card game, and read some extra stories together.

It doesn’t get any better than this. Good night Evan.

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Re-Discovering My Love of Cooking

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Renee Spindle

If you are a regular follower of my blog you know that last year I quit my full-time job and became a full-time Domestic Goddess, as my husband likes to call me. Being home full-time has given men the freedom to do lots and lots and lots of cooking. I have always liked being in the kitchen and cooking for my family. But having the time to try new recipes, and being diligent about menu planning can become a difficult routine to follow when you are working full-time and juggling your job and family/household needs.

You know when you are a working full-time and seeing to the needs of your family I think you get into a cooking “rut”. Even when you do your menu planning it’s easy to get into a rut and just make the same dinners week after week. I think it is kind of like “comfort foods”. You have this set catalog of recipes that you are familiar with and “comfortable” preparing for your family. This mindset alone made it difficult for me to say to myself that I should try something new.

Here’s my list of what I would call my “staple” dinners when I was in the working world:

Spaghetti

Sloppy Joes

Chicken Patties & Mac-n-cheese

Baked Chicken & Potatoes

Toasted Cheese Sammies & Soup

Brats & some kind of potatoes

Taco/Nacho Nite

Chicken Stir-Fry & Rice

Hot Dogs or Hamburgers on the grill with chips, etc.

Friday Nite Pizza Night- Usually from Little Caesar’s

So, I would rotate these meals, and Friday would be pizza night or take-out night, and then the rotation would start over again. And just to be clear this list is just an example of the cooking rut I found myself in. But, I did not really discover that fact until I stopped working. That was an eye-opener for me. I have always loved cooking, but it just became monotonous and routine for me. It was comfortable, and not stressful for me that way.

But now, being the new and improved “Domestic Goddess” that I am, I am able to love trying new recipes, and being way more adventurous with my cooking. And it is so much fun discovering new recipes that the family likes. It becomes fun to “rate the recipe”. Kind of a gauge of how everyone liked the recipe and would I make it again.

Some great resources that I have found online and like for new recipe ideas are; The Pioneer Woman, All Recipes, and Cooks.com Each of these sites has their own unique advantages. Any of the Pioneer Woman recipes have always been delicious. I was just telling the kids the other night that I don’t think there is a recipe that I have tried that we did not like. The All Recipe, and Cooks.com sites are very practical and easy to follow. They both have good search tools, ad you can really find a recipe for anything.

So, I am now pleased to report that my new and improved two-week menu plan would look something like this:

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Italian Sausage & Mushrooms – make a double batch of sauce and use the leftovers to make lasagna. This was an amazing recipe: Pioneer Woman’s Best Lasagna Ever . I will never buy the Stouffer’s frozen variety again!

Jambalaya with Summer sausage, grilled onions and peppers, and rice of course. This is my daughter Naomi’s creation and it’s delicious.

Homemade pizza in the oven or on the grill when Travel Man is home. Here’s a link to the recipe I now use for my homemade pizza sauce.

Beef Stew in the crock pot with Bisquik cheese biscuits. This recipe is from the Fix It and Forget Cookbook. See the details below.

Chicken Breast in the crock pot seasoned with taco seasoning to make shredded chicken for tacos, nachos, fajitas,etc. Another creation from daughter, Naomi.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese , Pioneer Woman style, and this could be a meal all by itself. We usually have it with some sort of baked chicken.

B roccoli Cheese Soup – another one of my Pioneer Woman all time faves!!

Turkey Tetrazzini – This was a favorite with the leftover turkey meat at holiday time.

Chicken Tacos that were pan-fried in the shell – Totally yummy.

What a turn-around from my previous “in a rut” menu. And I also make a lot more salads to go with the dinners than I ever did.

You can tell that I have truly enjoyed the Pioneer Woman recipes. The recipes are nothing complicated, but always packed with great flavor. And my favorite all time book for crock pot recipes is the Fix It and Forget It Cookbook.

This book is jammed packed with great recipes for soups, main dishes, dips, etc. I have used this one over and over again with great success.

So if you feel like you’re in a cooking “rut” jump on the internet, or go through your old cookbooks and find a new recipe. Try it out on the weekend or on your day off when you have a little more time to spend in the kitchen. Happy cooking everyone!