Hibernation

The Oklahoma ice storm of 2007 still haunts us to this day. Going without electricity, heat and most forms of communications were not fun. However, even though we were "roughing it" for a while, there were some great memories that came from that. Like sleeping on the mattress from the guest room in front of the fireplace with every animal in our house piled on top of us for warmth is just one that comes to mind.

So needless to say when the weather people say ice, we kinda freak.

Like I did. I apparently became a bear who is going to go into hibernation and is storing up for the long hard winter.

What did I do? Besides buying rock salt and doing load after load of laundry to make sure we had plenty of underwear should the power go out, I went into a baking frenzy. I'm pretty sure I made about 3 or 4 rounds of muffins. Completely an unnecessary quantity. And since I'm all about not wasting things these days, I'm gonna have to figure out where to stuff all the corn muffins, blueberry muffins, oatmeal muffins...

Any takers?

Elsewhere

As any of you who know me very well know that I can be a voracious reader. It used to be that I would read just about anything and be able to find something good about it. Except maybe romance novels...I've never been much for the heavy panting, aching loins, heaving bosoms variety. Now that I'm older, and not necessarily wiser, I have a bit more discerning tastes.

My favorite quick reads tend to lean on the scary or mysterious side.

Enter William Peter Blatty's "Elsewhere".

Blatty is an old-timer in the horror genre and is best known for writing "The Exorcist" novel and screenplay. He's a fabulous writer and a master in his own right.

However, while I enjoyed the creepy factor in this book, I was left a little disappointed in the end. I felt like the plot is not all that new to me. Nothing new under the sun and all that. But you might feel differently, so give it a read if you like. You will probably even get the chills in a few parts like I did.

A Little Bit O' Baking

Along with expanding my creativity lately has come with it some experimenting in the kitchen. Amazingly this has come about without any major mishaps. Those of the past have included the times I have scorched Rice-a-Roni and also finding out that it IS actually possible to burn water (or at least burning the pan your water USED to be in).

This baking/cooking stuff has been tricky in other ways now. Having a baby around who doesn't quite understand that you are right in the middle of whisking and needs something RIGHT NOW, can make for some road bumps. Alas, the Mr. in my life gave me the great idea of buckling her in her bouncy chair and planting her up on the island of our kitchen. She is up where she can take part and she seems to be quite happy being included.

Even though I've tried a few different recipes, I will limit this post to just the Banana Oatmeal Bread recipe I tried. The recipe credits for this delicious item go to http://chezbeeperbebe.blogspot.com/2009/12/reduce-waste-use-what-you-have-over.html
This is a great option when you inevitably have overly ripe bananas lying around, as I usually do. No matter how well I plan, this always happens. Now I don't have to feel so wasteful!

I taste-tested this on the Mr. and on some fellow co-workers and they all gave it a thumbs up! Now, go, get to using those ugly bananas.

Adventures in Volunteerism

Ugh. I finally got this poor little teething baby to finally drift off to dreamland. I feel so bad for her although really, she is not a fussy baby. Today while exploring a new volunteer project she was a perfect angel. Really, an angel. Even the girl showing us around and giving us an orientation remarked how patient and alert she was. It was a proud Mama moment.

So about this volunteering thing. Since having my little squirt I have decided that we need to find ways to explore and enhance our time together. And while I love just being with her even if its just hanging around the house, I do want to get out and show her the world. There are so many things I want to give her. A few that stand out at this moment in time are creativity and imagination and also a sense of volunteerism. I want her to grow up knowing that its a good thing to help others, even in small ways.

So I have been spending time lately doing my research to see how I can volunteer while being able to tote l'enfant along for the ride. I have found some organizations that I have an interest in and am waiting on a call back from a few.

One place that I found I was able to contact was Safari's Animal Sanctuary . We went today for an informal volunteer orientation and tour. What a cool place! This is a little rescue haven for animals barnyard and exotic alike tucked away in Broken Arrow. They have everything from big cats such as lions, tigers and leopards to ducks, pigs and donkeys. The babe and I got to pet a sweet little kangaroo. Guess I better get a pair of sturdy mucking boots so we can get to work feeding, watering and cleaning pens.

With our little family having a small zoo of sorts in our own home (2 dogs and 3 cats), maybe the wee one will end up enjoying this experience.

She might even grow into a tot-size set of muck boots all her own.

A New Plan

Well, I might have set a little bit of an unachievable goal. Or maybe I'm just not making enough effort. Personally, I think I've been pretty busy but not on things for my Etsy shop. Which, when I re-evaluate things, really does not bother me. It's still a goal, but its going to take a lot longer. Oh well, c'est la vie.
I've decided that I still really want to do this blog but I will just make it my own little crafty place. Since I'm nursing my daughter and spend a lot of time surfing the internet while doing so, I've been reading a lot of other people's blogs. I'm mostly interested in ones that are devoted to their crafts or crafty lifestyle. My current fave is http://chezbeeperbebe.blogspot.com/. She's got lots of great craft tutorial downloads and recipes to try. I have already made her granola, homestyle split pea soup and tomorrow will be making banana oatmeal bread and also chicken stock. I love her ideas for the ABC magnets and memory game. Once I start my sewing class I plan to make these.
So, from here on out I will just blog about all the random things I'm doing and making. This should be more fun...