My New Obsession

Happy Tuesday!

So.... we all have our 'things', right?  Some people are obsessed with cats (crazy cat ladies...), some are obsessed with celebrity gossip (Perez Hilton...), and some are obsessed with the newest gadgets (IPod, IPad, I-can't-keep-track...).  I am obsessed with dog.  THE dog.  Dog the Bounty Hunter.  I tell you what, now that we have Netflix, I watch this show ALL.THE.TIME.  Now, those of you that know me will probably find my infatuation with this show pretty comical.  I'm not the most...let's say... 'rough and tough' type of person.  I don't know what it is... I just can't get enough of this show!

Ok now it's your turn to make me feel better... what weird thing are you obsessed with?

Shaun T... the INSANITY!

My hubby and his co-workers met Shaun T (you know... Mr. Insanity himself) a couple of weeks ago.  He came and did a masterclass in Columbus.  HOW. COOL.  Can you believe it?!?!  Totally star-struck.

HO-LY ABS, BATMAN!!!















Hubby is to the left of Shaun T (looking at the picture)

Insane.

Christmas 1 of 3

Once you get married, having multiple Christmas get togethers become the norm.  Since my brother and sister-in-law will be traveling to Texas for Christmas (safe travels you two!), we celebrated the holiday together a little bit early.  We had a very nice party- lots of good food, fun together time, and lots of laughs.

All of the food-  from top left, clockwise:  Herbed Quinoa, Black Eyed Peas (my SIL brought this), Moroccan Vegetables, Honey Baked Turkey (my MIL brought this)

YUMMY and filling meal.

Best. Dessert. Ever.  Recipe below- it's really complicated.... you might not want to try it.

Hot Apple Dessert

Serves 6

5 Apples, washed, peeled, chopped
1/2 C Raisins
2 T Cinnamon

Mix together in a casserole dish
Bake at 400 until Apples are tender- about 40 min
Serve with Vanilla Ice Cream

The. End.

Hard recipe, huh?  It is SOOOOO good.  And seriously so easy.  Enjoy!!

Christmas Morning Muffins

It's almost Christmas.  My gosh where on EARTH did this year go!?!?  For us, this year has been a blur.  Brenton was in school getting his MBA (he's done now YAY!) so our life was consumed by school, work, housekeeping, and very few extra curricular events (aka parties... movies... blogging :(... anything that wasn't necessary to our every day life).  Big sigh of relief that we can get back to normal!

This will be a season of celebration.  To make Christmas morning a little extra special, I have made some yummy (yes, I taste-tested) Raspberry muffins!  For my vegan friends, these are NOT vegan, but you could substitute Ener-G egg replacer or a mix of Flax and water for the Egg.  For my GF friends, feel free to sub Almond Meal for the Whole Wheat Flour.

Like the recipe?  I like the ''add raspberries, whatever'' part.  That goes to show you that I like to experiment with my recipes.....  hehehe!

2 C Flour (any kind you like!  I used Whole Wheat)
3 t Baking Powder (Aluminum Free)
1/2 t Salt (I used Pink Himalayan Sea Salt)
2 t Cinnamon
3/4 C Sugar (I used Honey, but you could use Raw Sugar, Maple Syrup, White Sugar...whatever!)
1 Egg (or replacer)
1 C Milk (you could use Almond Milk, Cow Milk, Goat Milk... or Water)
1/4 C Oil (I used Olive Oil- use whatever you have)
Any fruit you would like to use!  I used Raspberries, but you could do Apples, Blueberries, Raisins... be creative!
(I also added ground Flax Meal to the mix to increase fiber content)

Preheat oven to 400
Mix together all of the dry ingredients
Mix together all of the wet ingredients (including egg) and add to dry ingredients
Mix in whatever fruit you want to use
Either put paper muffin cups in muffin pan or spray with oil
Fill muffin tin cups half way- makes 12 muffins

These are AS GOOD as they look!!  We'll be topping ours with various condiments.... butter, goat cream cheese, jelly, peanut butter, honey.... you name it!  :)  These will freeze for 3-5 months.  Simply take them out of the freezer and put them in the toaster oven until warm (or microwave.......... choose the toaster oven if you have a choice.)

Wednesday- We need a song today!

Happy Wednesday to you all!  I think we're all in need of an uplifting Wednesday song, no??


I LOVE THIS SONG!!! Enjoy your day!

Fastest EVER Pasta Salad

Hi guys!  Happy Thursday!!  I made pasta salad last night for today's lunch- SO YUMMY, so easy.  AND so quick.

A Song.... One Song...

Happy Saturday, everybody!  Today was mentally a very good day for me.  It's not like I did anything special or out of the ordinary, but with this past week's events, I made myself do a lot of thinking and reflection.  After doing some research about emetophobia and how debilitating it is for the people it affects (obviously...), I realized that I didn't want to let it rule my life.

You know how in movies they play songs that directly relate to what is going on at that particular moment?  Here's mine.




So, friends, don't burn the day away.  It's been a long road... and I'm ready to take a detour.

Tomorrow, we go back to some yummy Christmas treats :)

Phobias.

Happy Friday to you all.  What a week!!!  It was a very difficult week for me, that really brought to the surface some underlying anxiety that had been swirling around.

Do any of you suffer from phobias?  I do, in a MAJOR way.  I am an emetophobe, aka I don't like ''throw up''. I have been this way since I can remember.  What I have recently found out is that this phobia affects more people on earth than any other phobia.  Isn't that weird?

My hubby was sick a few days ago, which caused me to go into a MAJOR panic.  I'm talking panic attacks like I haven't had in a LONG time.  My sister recommended that I try Rescue Remedy.  This is basically a vile with flower essences that are supposed to calm you down.  I've been using it off and on and I really DO feel a difference.  I can't exactly describe the feeling... kind of like a soothing of my energy fields.  Hippie, right!?

So, to help overcome this (or at least try to make it a little better) I'm going to start doing EFT again, using the Bach Flower Remedies, and talking about it with people that I trust.  All of the hesitations in my life (well, most of them anyway) have all originated here, with my emetophobia.  I don't know why I have this fear, nor do I know why it's so debilitating for me.  There have got to be others that are in the same camp that I am.  Right?  Anyone?  Anyone?

So, if you have a phobia, what are you fearful of?  Anyone in the same camp that I am?

Holiday Prep

December is here… in FULL FORCE!  I don’t know where this arctic blast came from (actually, I do- thank you Lake Michigan…) but boy o boy is it COOOOLD!  Ick!  Now that the holiday season is in full swing, I figured it was appropriate for today’s bloggie to talk about how I prepared for Thanksgiving/Christmas this year, and how I’m 95% done with EVERYTHING.   Yes, EVERYTHING. 

I started back in October with the “Cruising through the Holidays” plan that The FlyLady (www.flylady.net) puts together.  This plan gets your house clean, then ready to be decorated, not to mention gets all of your wrapping supplies, food, recipes, etc. ready to go in baby steps so you don’t stress out at the last minute.    

IT.WAS.WONDERFUL.

My entire house was clean and decorated for Christmas by mid-November.  ALL of my Christmas presents are wrapped and under the tree.  ALL of my Christmas cards are signed, addressed, stamped and ready to go in the mail.  My recipes for Christmas dinner (and various other dinners/potlucks/special events) are all picked out. 

Now that all of this prep is done, I have time to do fun things.  I have time to enjoy the holidays.  Once a day I clear out a “hot spot” and do 15 minutes of regular “maintenance” cleaning.  This keeps my house clean and off my mind.  Christmas could come tomorrow and I’d be ready. 

I don’t endorse a lot of things, but one thing that I WILL endorse is The FlyLady.  Check her out!  You’ll be glad you did (and so will your home!)