Leaving the Asylum

::cricket chirp:: :: cricket chirp::

::tumble weed bounces by::

Man things have been dead here on our blog, for over a year, and let me tell you that was so not the plan. But as I’ve heard it said, “If you wanna make God laugh, just tell him your plan,” cause that’s what we did, and considering how life has changed, I’d say he had a good, long, side splitting guffaw about it.

So originally our family plan was to bring me out of the work force and into the home. We felt, with struggles our teenager was having and our hopes of having another child, my being at would be most beneficial for our family. It helped that I was in a job I detested and my husband was in a secure job, that was bringing in a sustainable amount of money. With me in the home full time, I could focus on our home, build our little craft business, start the blog, get our kiddo to all of her appointments and be there for supporting her and any other one that may be coming along.

When I started the blog officially we knew that things were changing in my in-laws’ household, but not yet that it would have a ripple affect into our household as well.

So, what has changed?

We now are moved into a, new to our little family, home. The home we had been living in was loved but rented. When the opportunity, to take over the almost 2 acre homestead that my in-laws had live in for over 30 years, presented itself, we jumped at it. This new home would provide expanded living space, provide us with actual space to craft and make for our business, give us better room to expand our family and allow us to begin working toward being a more self sustaining family with room to garden and store food.

I have gone back into the workforce full time, on a temporary basis, to help us achieve some of our new financial goals. This change is temporary, as our goal is still to have me be home full time working again on our non-financial goals, but its been very beneficial and I was lucky to land a job that I like better and has hours that almost match my teenager’s school hours.

Our little crafting business was put on the back burner, but kept simmering by our involvement in amazing consignment shops, our involvement at Oddmall events and our sheer determination. We have begun to move this up to the forefront again and are getting our business areas in the house set up to help make production and business running smoother and easier. (For more information about Oddmall or the consignment shops we are in see links below)

Neil still has his good job, that we appreciate, but is looking to find a new job that will allow him set hours to help with moving the business forward.

We almost had the blessing of expanding our family, but God needed to keep the one he started to send to us. (See Angel baby post for more information.)

We have sat down as a family and created our short term and long term goals, our budget,and outlined our dreams to help our future be in clear focus and create our map to success. (Keep watch for how we have done this to be discussed in future posts. )

The blog is back on my to do list and beginning to take shape.

So here goes…… life changes…and time marches on……

 

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http://www.oddmall.info/ – Oddmall information

https://www.facebook.com/livedreamcreate/ – Live, Dream, Create Shop in Barberton, Ohio

https://www.facebook.com/faescabinet  – Fae’s Cabinet in Fort Wayne, Indiana

 

 

Part of our family’s goals for the year is to reduce our waste. This morning I realized I was facing a perfect chance to begin to put this goal into action and I ceased it.

A few days after Christmas our local grocery store had Bananas bagged up in what looked like half a peck apple bags and had them priced for $.52 PER BAG. This was too good of a deal to pass up so I snagged a bag, despite being worried about our ability to eat them all before they passed the yummy state. This morning while packing kiddo’s lunch for school I noticed that the bananas had gotten to the “use me or lose me” point. The old me would have shrugged it off and thrown the bananas away, grumbling that we need to eat them quicker next time, but this me decided that these bananas were not lost causes instead they were the perfect ingredient for a special treat for the family, Banana Bread!! So I dug through my recipes and found my Mom’s recipe that I haven’t used since I was a kid and decided to see if it was as yummy as I remember growing up.

Mom’s recipe is super easy and quick to mix up. I actually had enough bananas to make two loaves of the bread but, instead of doubling the recipe, I made each loafs batter independently to ensure no issues. So to begin:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees:

 

I used my trusty kitchen aide mixer but a hand mixer would work well with this batter too because it is not a thick consistency. It is however a rather wet batter and likes to hold on to surfaces so ensure you grease your loaf pans well and be prepared to scrape out the batter from a bowl, a simple spatula worked great for me.

First take:

½ cup of sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup of shortening (I used butter flavored)

Cream these ingredients together. Be careful throughout the mixing process to NOT OVER MIX.

Sift together:

1 ¾ cups flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

Keep your 1 cup of mashed bananas (approximately 2 medium bananas) separate from both your wet and dry mixture.

Add the dry mix to the wet batter, alternating with the mashed banana, ensuring to mix after each addition. You only want to mix so the flour and banana are fully incorporated. You could add nuts to this batter at this point, folding them into the batter gently with a spoon before pouring the batter into your greased loaf pans.

My recipe calls for an 9”x5”x3” pan. I am sure I have this size but I chose to use my trusted Paula Dean loaf pans and I am sure they are a bit bigger than what was called for by the recipe. You do not need to worry about smoothing the batter on top the bread will rise some and the top will crack in cooking.

 

Now into the oven they go!

Let them bake for 45-50 minutes at the preheated temperature of 350 degrees. They will be brown on top, have a nice golden crust to them and have cracked tops. Test the doneness of the loaves with your trusty tooth pick or butter knife. If it comes out clean after you’ve stabbed your loaf with it you know that loaf is done!

Remove the loaves from their pans after letting them rest for about 5 minutes and allow them to finish cooling completely on wire racks.

 

Looks Yummy right?

 

The salt n pepper shakers seem to think so….

 

It didn’t take long for the loaf to cool enough for me to remove it from the pan and thanks to my trusty non-stick baking spray (I prefer the one with flour added) the loaves slid right out and into my hand.

I let them cool fully on cooling racks on my counter then packaged them into large ziplock style freezer bags that I squeezed as much air out of I could.

Quick note: this recipe does not produce a super sweet banana bread. If you want a sweeter bread increase the sugar amount or even add some brown sugar for dept of flavor and sweetness.

 

Well here goes nothing, today is the first official work day back of the new year. The holidays have come to an end and now its time to get the house, our schedules and our lives back to normal.

This year the transition from the holiday season, defined by me as running from just after Halloween to the new year :), is easier for me than usual and it makes me wonder why? What different this year? Is it that this year’s festivities were more fulfilling for me? Or is it that my “normal” schedule is not so horrible to return to as it used to be for me? Honestly I am not sure but its a nice feeling to not be pouting that my Pandora shuffle is non-Christmas music.

Today’s To do list:

Laundry – the never ending story as an adult

Dishes – I took yesterday off so all of the Christmas dinner dishes need done. I was at least smart and tried to use nice disposable plates, cutlery and cups this year so all I have waiting for me in the sink really is the casserole dishes and pots/pans.

Vacuum – my floor looks frosted in places from all the Glitter off the presents, bags, tissue paper and such.

Bake Banana Bread: A few days after Christmas Giant Eagle had Bananas in a produce bag for .52 per bag, a deal that could not be passed up. So I grabbed a bag, and surprisingly my family put a pretty good hurting on the amount of bananas I grabbed but I still have four that have surpassed the eating point but are squarely in the “perfect for bread” range. Its been years since I pulled out my mom’s banana bread recipe but I remember it being amazing as a kid so we shall see if I can be as successful with making it as she.

Here’s the Recipe:

Mom’s Banana Nut Bread

⅓ cup shortening

2 eggs

1tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ chopped walnuts (optional)

½ cup sugar

½ tsp baking soda

1 ¾ cups sifted flour

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

Cream together shortening and sugar, add eggs and beat well. Sift together dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture, alternate adding the dry ingredients and the mashed banana, blending well after each addition. Stir in nuts.

Pour into well greased 9x5x3 loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees 45-50n minutes or until done. Remove from pan to cool on rack. Wrap in plasticwrap or ziplock bag to store.

When we started talking about doing a blog I asked myself this question over and over. I also asked myself, who in the world would want to read a blog about our simple family’s antics and musings? Maybe my dad, sisters, some of our friends, bored homebound individuals with nothing else do to? Considering, at this point, I don’t have an answer to the second question I figure I should take some time to answer the first questions for anyone who does come along to read about us.

In this home are: Neil, Ava, Emily, Me (Sherri), three cats (Oliver, Raleigh, and Zac), two dogs (Suzie Q and Dawson), one guinea pig (Wheaton), three goldfish (Lo mien, Mien fun, and tofu) and a beta (who was given a name by a client of mine and I am unwilling to change it but can’t remember it for the life of me.)

This is us, and by us I mean Neil and I. Yes you are seeing what you believe your eyes are seeing. He is wearing an OSU jersey and I am wearing a Michigan jersey. That is just one of the many unique layers of our relationship, but explaining all of those will most likely end up in a different post.

 

 

This is Ava (left) and Emily (right). Ava is 15 and Emily 13, yes we have two teenage girls, your prayers are welcomed and donations accepted. Lol But honestly we are pretty lucky that we have such great kids. Ava is involved in her school’s marching band and plays clarinet. She loves scary stories, Tv shows like Supernatural and a variety of Anime and Manga. Emily is a bookworm, who loves to bike ride and draw, struggles with anxiety and loves anime, Katy Perry and Black Veil Brides.

 

Meet Suzie Q, most often called Q. She is, we think, a part Doberman almost all German Shepard mix that we rescued from the Richland County Dog Warden. We don’t know much about her story prior to her coming into our lives, we do know that she was found as a stray on the streets of Mansfield and she was just under a year old when we brought her home. Since coming to live with us she has blossomed into a loyal, energetic, snuggle bug. She has grown like 8 inches and gained about 35 pounds since she joined the family as well. I am not sure she will ever grow into her ears though.

Here is our short stack, Dawson. He is a Corgi that we rescued at the same time we got Suzie Q. He’s a small town celebrity. He had a news video and article about him. The dog warden was called about a dog being tied and tangled in a creek bed just out of reach of the water, that was Dawson. He evidently just barked and barked until someone heard him and came to rescue. No one knows how long he was there or if he put there by someone or if he ran away. Despite the publicity no one came to claim him so he now lives with us. The vet believes he is about 5 years old. Did you make the connection in his name…..? I didn’t until we were getting ready to walk out with him and one of the workers at the pound said it. She said he was much cuter than Dawson was on the show…….remember it…Dawson’s Creek? You may groan as well….I did. Neil just laughed and laughed at the fact that he made the connection, having never watched the show, but I, the Dawson’s Creek show watcher, did not. Initially he was a hesitant indoor dog, we suspect he was an outdoor or mostly outdoor dog before coming to live with us. Now he enjoys being flaked out on his special blankets by the bed at night and on our futon or couch with his people, especially if they will scratch his belly.

 

This is our token black cat. Every home needs a good luck black cat and Zac has been that for us. He is a rescue. He was left by his original owner, in our care….well actually he decided that he was going to stay with us and not go with his person. When his original owner moved out and came to fetch Zac he was no where to be found, this happened three times. The final time the old owner gave up. Since moving in with Emily, Zac has found his calling, he is a girl’s cat, Emily’s cat specifically or she is his girl I’m not really sure which. He is such a wise an patient soul.

This is Oliver, he is mine, just ask him he’ll tell you. He has been mine since I found him abandoned at the barn where my horses were boarded. It was about two weeks before Christmas, freezing cold and there he was, this tiny, silver kitten about 5 weeks old. I swooped him up, tucked him in my Jacket, he curled up on my chest, started purring and went to sleep. He is hysterical, I will tell him to get down or to quit doing something he will quit, anyone else just get a “who do you think you are” look. He loves to curl up on my shoulder or chest to sleep and he calls for me….you think I’m kidding, I am so not….just ask Neil, Oliver will walk through the house yelling for me, or sit outside the bedroom door and yell until I come out to answer him. Neil contemplated murder of my poor kitty while I was gone for three days to my little sister’s because Oliver was yelling for me so much.

Meet our token female cat, Raleigh. Neil found and rescued her at the head of a bike trail, thus the name. The original plan was to find a rescue or new home for her but then he brought her down to my house and she’s been with us ever since. She is our quiet timid critter, very low key, loves to sleep on the corner of Kiddo’s bed while Emily is at school or Ava is not home. She was the last to relax and acclimate to life with Neil and Emily, but now she has opened up and has found the joy of laying on the wide windowsill of our living room picture window and watching the squirrels run from pine tree to pine tree in our front yard. She finally got her way and we installed two bird feeders outside the window and she is in heaven watching the birds.

These are our quietest, lowest maintenance family members. Two years ago in April, for her birthday, Emily wanted to go to the IX Indoor Amusement park and win herself a goldfish. So that’s what we did. She was able to win her goldfish and was tickled, I figured whats the harm, lets get her a little tank and a friend for her new fish. So for her birthday that is what we did. We let her pick out a small tank, gravel, plants and one more fish. How did we end up with three you ask……Well one of her fish is a trickster. Once Emily and I got the tank all set up and we put the fish in, the one she had won was not acting normal. I watched him for awhile and decided I was unsure that he was going to make through the night. So rather than have an upset kiddo and a lonely gold fish back to the pet store we went. once the third gold fish was added suddenly her originally chosen one was fine, the faker.

 

Our Beta (still working to get a good picture)  has a name but I can not for the life of me remember what it is. One of my clients named him when he lived in my office for awhile and I am unwilling to change his name, I keep hoping I’ll remember his name.

Technically there is one more family member, but she is too big to live in our house. So she currently lives in the care of Teri, my aunt. Sinnamon is my 11year old horse, who I have had since she was about six months old She’s my “kid”, my pride and joy. I try to get down to visit her as often as possible, which is not nearly as much as I’d like but for now its better than none.