May 31, 2013

Cinnamon Sugar Bread


 Yum! This Cinnamon Bread is crazy easy to make and it is crazy good. It was out of the oven at about 11am on a Sunday morning and it was gone by 5pm. The teenager was like...uh, you made this?? Yes! 
I found the recipe here on A Whisk and a Prayer. It's a quick bread recipe so no kneading or waiting to rise or none of that. Not that any of that is bad. I'm just getting my feet wet on this one. You probably already have all the ingredients in your cabinet. That's one of the reasons why I made it! I did add more cinnamon and sugar to the top layer. It made for a nice crispy topping! And look how pretty it is when you slice it...


I am getting more and more excited about making my own breads, cakes, pies, pretzels...all kinds of stuff. I don't have a bread maker but that's ok. I would actually like to try it by hand. I have the time now and my son loves to help in the kitchen. We made brownies from scratch the other night and he was telling me how to whisk eggs! Love it.

Well, give this bread a try. It was delicious! (oh and the recipe said to let the loaf sit overnight but yeah...that didn't happen!)




May 29, 2013

Completing Goals Girl

Dress & Jacket: Thrifted, Scarf: Gift, Sandals: Aldo

Successful outfit photos. Check.

I got a few cleaning goals accomplished as well. Whew. I'm off to go pick up the little guy from school. Back soon!





May 26, 2013

Wear Flowers Everywhere Girl

Top, Sandals & Earrings: Vintage, Jeans: Walmart, Hairbow: Wombat Eye

One of the many things I still can't seem to master every day since going "stay-at-home" is actually looking pulled together. I mean, I throw on a pair of jeans and a tee shirt that is somewhat cute. Maybe has a flower or some sequins on it but I can't say I've had any sense of style in the past two weeks. So today I was determined to look presentable. Plus, Sara at Wombat Eye sent me one of her bows from her adorable etsy shop and how could I resist pairing it with even MORE flowers?!? Just look at this little bow!


She can also make any bow into a man's bow tie! Or a woman's....remember when Drew Barrymore wore a black bow tie in the movie Going the Distance? I was obsessed and went and bought one immediately.


I had a hard time deciding on which one I liked the most. Check out the cute leather one! Her prices are fabulous so go grab one now!


The addition of the dainty accessory definitely helped me get all gussied up. I think what happens through the weeks is after I drop my son off at school I know I'm going to have to come back home and start cleaning so it's like why put on something cute if I'm going to have to clean in it? And the fact that no one is going to see me from the house to the car rider drop off line just makes the excuses even worse. But summer break is coming and I won't be having to leave first thing to drop him off. I can get my cleaning done and then put on something that doesn't look like I'm homeless. That is the goal!





I even went all out and added flower earrings. Must.wear.all.the.flowers!!!


Have a wonderful Memorial Day!



May 24, 2013

Some Planting and Some Mud

Riley and I were having fun planting seeds and then it turned into mixing lots of water with soil and then that turned into make mud cupcakes. Grandpa had stopped by so he got to smell the delicious "cupcakes" baking in the sun. Yumm...




I planted some tomato seeds - fingers crossed that I will be successful. I've got some basil that has already taken and I just need to get them over to a little bit bigger pot.


Riley made his lable...Mudball. 




After following strict decorating rules by the judges, they were finally ready to go in the sun. And then the dog stepped in half of the tray. The End.

May 21, 2013

DIY Garlic Butter Spread

I have started making my own garlic bread since we are on a tight budget and we always seem to have leftover hot dog buns (the country-girl's breadstick) or hamburger buns. To make a plain old piece of bread taste like garlic bread I needed some tasty butter to go on top. Usually I would whip up some plain garlic butter spread each and every time so to save me some steps I decided to make a bigger batch so I could have some on hand.

What you'll need:

Butter
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Parsley Flakes
a clean used butter tub, small tupperware container or any type of container with a lid
spoon or tablespoon


What I did first was scoop about 1 cup of butter (not exact - just eyeball it) and put it into my empty container. It really depends on how much you want to make at a time.


Next, I measure about 1 Tablespoon of garlic powder (you do NOT have to use this much OR you can use MORE!!)
Then I added a few shakes of onion powder and a few shakes of parsley flakes. Like I said - none of this is exact measuring. Make it a little more onion-y or a little less - more parsley or no parsley. Totally up to you.


Mix well...



and refrigerate! I scribbled "Garlic Butter Spread" on the side of the tub so no one would grab it and think it was regular butter and have a kitchen moment melt down.
 
Yum. Anxiously awaiting Baked Spaghetti night....


 


May 20, 2013

One Week Down...



One week down as a SAHM. Wow. It's been scary, wonderful and intense all at the same time. I think the fact that my car has been out of commission for almost 2 weeks now has a lot to do with the feelings of nervousness and anxiety. We were so overwhelmed at the price it was going to cost to fix it. But it's like now that we know and we have accepted it we can begin to look past it and just get back on our feet. It is still a very hard pill to swallow. A brand new transmission for $2400 isn't really what you want to have to buy right when you decide to quit your job. But God will provide and see us through. I really just want to move on and get on with summer!! I've got so many fun ideas down on paper for this summer. We'll see how many actually come to fruition. Sometimes the best laid plans just get thrown out the window for spontaneity, right?

Anyhoo, I have actually really started to enjoy cooking again. I am anxiously awaiting the first chance I get to use my pressure canner. I just have to wait a few more weeks in so I can feel a little more stable with our food budget so I can set aside additional money for the fruits or veggies and some canning lids and possibly more or different sized jars.

One other thing I have discovered through this blogging business is a great idea of making your own stock/cooking fat. I put a pork roast in the crockpot and then saved the stock. I put it in the refrigerator in a tupperware pitcher type thing. I have read that while it sits in the fridge, the fat rises to the top and congeals. A perfect scoop of cooking fat is waiting right there on top for you to use the next time you need some grease in your pan. Yummm....pork fat. Ha!!

I do want to come back and share with you a garlic butter spread idea a little later.....

See you soon!

May 11, 2013

Gulp

Gulp. I have no job. I am unemployed...by choice. It is incredible and scary all at the same time but also exciting and mysterious. What am I going to uncover about myself? What will I learn? Will I develop a skill that I enjoy doing and can actually do very well? I am good with numbers but it wasn't something I actually "enjoyed" per se but what if I find out that I can do something really well and it's actually something that makes me excited to do. What about my parenting style? How will I handle being with my six year old all day? Will I fail? Will I cherish these memories of living life and not giving my best thoughts and moments of high energy to the corporate world?

Right now, I feel very scattered. I have my office junk that I need to find a place to put. I need to have space for an office here at home. We have an extra room that we use for an office, crafts and that silly elliptical. And extra jackets and snow boots and stuff like that. I don't leave my boots down in the basement anymore. Not after we started finding snake droppings.

Which brings me to how the bottom just fell out when we actually decided to make this choice - this leap of faith. My car broke down on Wednesday. Like not-drivable-broke-down. Like maybe-its-the-transmission-broke-down. That night we came home and found the snake poop. So there's that. I was getting really discouraged about it all. Part of our commitment to be more family focused it a serious budget. Getting a new transmission and fighting snakes wasn't really on the list for the month of May. Needless to say, God provided me a vehicle for next week. My dad has an extra car that I thought had long ago bit the dust but it hadn't. Praise the Lord! We picked up some snake repellent up off of amazon and it just arrived today. The hubs sprinkled it around the house. Let's hope that's the last we "see" of slithering serpents.

Today is Saturday and I'm taking the morning...maybe the day...to relax and take some me time before I begin this new journey.  I'll leave you with a gift from my friend Tonya and the new way I will be sweeping the floor:




May 3, 2013

Pop of Orange Girl

Jacket: UO, Tank: Target Maxi: Thrifted, Sandals: Target, Necklace: Premier Jewelry

Ahh this outfit was so comfy to wear. I love black and white - always. But a pop of orange was fun.




May 2, 2013

Cha Cha Changes



Hi everyone! Sorry for the radio silence around these parts. I hope to be a much better blogger very soon. The hubs and I made a pretty crazy decision. After much deliberation and waffling, we decided I should just quit my job and be a stay-at-home mom.
Whaaaaat???

Yes. That is scary to say. But I have been wanting to do this for years. We've just not been financially ready until now. So I'm going to do that full time mom thing. For the summer. Then when the fall comes around and the boys go back to school, I may look for a part time job.

What am I going to do with myself? Well, that's a good question. I have a 6 year old and a 17 year old that will probably get his license next Monday and be driving. So we may barely see him after that. If he's anything like I was at that age he won't stick around the house much. Riley, my 6 year old, will love to go to the pool and so will I. We won't be able to afford to go there every day so I'm working on building a list of things we can choose from so we (I) won't go stir crazy.

I have been working a full time job since I graduated high school. That's about 18 years worth of non-stop corporate working. That means I am in a big life changing event here folks. But, this is what I have been wanting to do. We ordered a pressure cooker so I can start canning. We're getting some plants and as we can we will start a garden. I'm not sure if we will be ready this year but definitely next year. I need to gather up some info on what I need to do to garden in our neighborhood. We have lots of critters. Lots. The typical raccoon, deer and rabbit but we see coyotes and lots of bears too. Problem is I want to research having chickens but I'm afraid I won't be able to keep them from danger. I've talked to a few people here and there and some strategic coop designs might be our best bet and of course, fencing in the yard is our end goal for sure. We'll just have to see how the budget goes! There won't be much of it!

Anyhoo, I just wanted to share a little bit of what's going on over here at One Girl. I really want to share this journey with you guys, the ups and downs and the question and answers. I've got another week and a half at work so there is still some real life left before the rubber hits the road.

We'll see if I come out alive on the other end.