I Love This Photo II

I Love This Photo

Katie and her daddy doing the dishes.

I love this photo.

There's nothing else to say.

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

A Day With Grandma?

Katie and I made a dash into Wal-Mart this afternoon. Once we picked out our grapes and hamburger, we were greeted by a bubbly and enthusiastic cashier. She started a conversation with Katie and ended up asking, "So, are you enjoying your day with Grandma?"

Huh? Katie looked at the cashier like she was speaking Chinese. (Good girl, Katie!)

I had to enter the conversation at that point. "She's enjoying a day with Mommy."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she replied.

I didn't mean to make her feel bad. Granted I AM old enough to be her grandmother--barely. But why do people just assume that because you aren't a very young person that you must be a grandparent? Am I being over-sensitive here? (It's quite ok to say that I am!)

This happens at least once a month. Looks like I'd be used to it by now!

Etsy!

I have my Etsy shop open for business! Like eBay, once you get going, the listings are fairly fast and easy. I made an Etsy button for my sidebar, but can't figure out how to make it "live." If anyone knows, please enlighten me! For now, you can click here to see the store.

As I said in my post yesterday, now is a GREAT time to start online Christmas shopping!

NOTE: Rebecca told me how to make the Etsy button live! Now it works. Be sure to check out Rebecca's blog. She takes amazing photographs!

eBay

I've been working on listing hairbows and headbands on eBay. Check them out here! (Our eBay id is "peppermintstreetboutique" and you can always look us up that way.) I hope to get a lot more listed in the next few days. Once you get started, it goes fairly fast.

Has anyone out there in Bloggityville ever bought or sold anything on Etsy? Have you even HEARD of Etsy? It's a website to buy and sell handmade items. I hope to open a store site there in the next few days. I'll post about it when it happens.

In the meantime, now is a great time to start your online Christmas shopping....HINT, HINT!

Works for Me Wednesday: Pizza Cutter

A few weeks ago I wrote about one of my favorite kitchen helps: food scoops. This week I'd like to introduce you to my next favorite kitchen utensil: my pizza cutter!

Pizza cutters are for more than cutting pizza. They neatly cut the crusts off bread. (What is it with kids and crusts?) It slices sandwiches into bite-sized pieces. It makes short work of cutting meats like bologna (not that we'd EVER serve that around here! :-), pancakes, waffles, cheese, and just about everything else, including pizza, that kids need to have cut up for them.

By the way, it doesn't work so great on hotdogs.

Check out Rocks in My Dryer for other great Works for Me Wednesday tips!

Banana Bread.....Yummo!

We love bananas around here. Luckily, we’ve been able to get bananas for a decent price lately. When they start to get brown spots we all know banana bread is in our future! Here’s my favorite recipe. It originates from The Taste of Home Cookbook.

Banana Bread

¼ cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
¾ cup mashed banana (about 2 medium)
½ cup sour cream
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 t cinnamon
¾ t baking soda
½ t salt
½ cup chopped walnuts

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in bananas and sour cream. Combine dry ingredients and stir into banana mixture just until moistened. Fold in nuts.

Transfer to a greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Perfectly acceptable adaptations:

If you don’t have sour cream, use yogurt. In fact, I think we prefer this over the sour cream.

If you only have one banana, make up the rest of the ¾ cup with applesauce.

Add 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips with the nuts. Or use vanilla chips. Or butterscotch chips.

Leave out the nuts completely!

Make muffins or mini-muffins. Adjust baking times.

I had some leftover Cinnamon Life cereal that I crushed up and sprinkled on top of the muffins tonight. I don’t recommend doing this with the bread because they’ll burn due to the longer baking time.

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This bread freezes well. In fact, it’s better the day after you bake it. Just wrap it up in foil after it cools and try to keep everyone out of it!

What am I Going to Wear?

I cleaned out the girls’ closet the other day, culling out things that are too small for Audrey, and clothes that are too small for Katie, but Audrey will be able to wear in a year or so. The girls had been at their grandparents’ house for an overnight stay. When they came home and looked in the closet, Katie exclaimed “WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CLOTHES? WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR?”! Granted, I’d taken out about two-thirds of what was in the closet, but there were still plenty of things left hanging.

When Kim and family were visiting the other day we were talking about what is needed versus what we THINK is needed, especially where things like clothes and shoes are concerned. She told me of a little rhyme that she thinks in Amish in nature:

One to wash,
One to wear.
One for church,
One for a spare.

Four dresses. That’s it.

I’ll be the first to admit that I love dressing my girls. I love buying clothes….making clothes….finding great deals on clothes. Can we get through a season with four dresses each?

(When I say “get through” it sounds like it would be a great sacrifice on our part. I don’t want it to sound this way at all. I want us to be thankful for what we have, not always looking for more. I don’t think it would be easy to have just four dresses per girl, and I don’t think it will happen this year. Also, I’m not suggesting that this is for everyone.)

It seems like our house is getting smaller and smaller. The real problem is that we are accumulating more and more stuff.

How much do you think is enough as far as clothes and shoes are concerned?

Sandy Hannah

I just had to show everyone in Bloggityville this picture of Hannah. She's the daughter of our friends, Kim and George.

Hannah fell face-first into the sandbox here last week. She was covered, but still smiling! Isn't she a doll!

Happy Birthday, Miss Katie!

Miss Katie turn the big FOUR on Saturday! She's growing up so fast.

She and Daddy made the cake that she picked out herself: Funfetti with M&Ms on top. Mamaw and Papoo came, along with cousin Kyle, and G-ma. I think her favorite part of the day was playing with Audrey and Kyle.

(Cousin Kyle and Miss Audrey)

She informed me she wanted a kitten for her birthday. She was already planning to name it Cupcake.

Oh my.....

Soda? Coke? Pop? .....Other???

This is by far the most interesting map of the United States I've seen in a L-O-N-G time. (At our home, states are mostly referred to as a "red or blue" state. Politically speaking, of course.)

So, what do YOU call a carbonated beverage? Is it a coke? A soda? Pop?

According to the map, my county in Indiana goes by "pop". I think that's what we always called it when I was growing up, so it makes sense to me.

(By the way, my dad always drank Pepsi, but we called it "pop". We kids got one glass a week while we ate a bowl of popcorn and watched The Carol Burnett Show. ....Memories... But I digress...)

Somewhere along the line I started calling it "soda". I think it happened during my short stint as a nanny in New Jersey. Look at New Jersey....the entire state thinks it's "soda".

I noticed there is category for "other", and there are a lot of "other"s in places like North Carolina. What is "other"? Someone from a bright green county please enlighten me!

How does the map match up with what you say at your home? Is it a coke? A soda? Pop? Other?

I'm off to consider other earth- and mind-shattering questions....like what to make for dinner.