Marmalade!

I have never eaten marmalade, but that did not stop me from making it yesterday! Following the "waste not, want not" mode of thought, I decided to use up some navel oranges that I just couldn't bring myself to eat as is. Luckily, pickyourown.org had a pretty easy orange marmalade recipe, and I just happened to have all the stuff to make it! (I made the version without the peels, 'cause I'm a sweets kind of gal.) Now when I cook, it's pretty much just controlled chaos, so things got a little sticky, but I followed the recipe, and when it was all done, I had seven half-pint jars of pure gold:

♫ Hallelujah! ♫

One week down, 51 more to go!

How is it that we are already a week into 2012? I never cease to be amazed at time's ability to slip right past me. At any rate, so far my resolution to purchase fewer prepackaged items is going well, in spite of me not being as well prepared as I had hoped to be. (I wanted to make up jars of homemade mixes so that I could still have the prepackaged convenience without actually having bought prepackaged foods, but that hasn't happened yet.) My trips to the grocery store will be shorter, no doubt; I'm finding I can skip past entire aisles. In the kitchen (which I am managing to keep clean, yay!), I have made a few dozen chocolate chip cookies for the hubby's work lunchbox. I also made granola cereal, apple chips for me, experimented with fruit leather, and made my own pudding pops. The pudding pops are yummy, and only 60 calories a piece! I only wish I had had popsicle sticks to use for handles; toothpicks work, but they're pokey. The granola cereal is very tasty, but my husband wishes it had more clusters. The apple chips I made in my dehydrator turned out awesome - just like the ones you buy at the store. The fruit leather also tastes wonderful, I just didn't have quite enough fruit puree, so it's a little thin and stiff. I think my dehydrator may just become my new best friend in the kitchen. My cookies were tasty, but could have been better. The recipe calls for "2/3 cup of shortening (part butter or margarine)," and I used all shortening. Normally this isn't an issue, because I use butter flavored shortening for baking, but I didn't have any this time. I totally should have used a half and half mixure of butter and shortening, because the cookies seemed to be missing something. Next time I'll remember.

Well, that's how my 2012 is going. How's it going for you?

Moving into the Woods with Ryan Gosling

So here's the thing: I'm not actually a Ryan Gosling fan. Put down the pitchforks and torches, please. I liked him in The Notebook, and he's pleasant enough to look at, but he's not my cup of tea. That being said, I'm pretty fascinated by the phenomenon that is the Ryan Gosling "Hey Girl" meme. It amazes me that one actor could become the posterboy for everything you'd ever want to hear come from your significant other's mouth. Why not Johnny Depp, or Hugh Jackman, or any other handsome actor? Maybe it's just because he has a very sincere face; you can imagine him saying these things in earnest. Whatever the reason, you could say that the whole "Hey Girl" meme has gotten a little out of hand - I mean, in addition to the original, there's now a Literary Ryan Gosling, a Feminist Ryan Gosling, and the list goes on. There's even a Handmade Ryan Gosling, which is where I found this:

I totally swooned. My dream is to move out into the middle of nowhere and start a little homestead. So something about the text combined with the porch, the rocking chair, and his manly facial hair just sent my heart all aflutter. It really resonated with me. So yes, Ryan Gosling, I will move out to the woods with you, and we can make our own soap. It'll be awesome. As long as you don't mind all my unfinished projects lying around. Oh wait, you don't? I'm packing my bags right now.

New Year's Resolution

I almost don't want to call this a resolution, since typically my resolutions never come to pass - but I came up with a goal for the coming year, and that is to buy fewer prepackaged foods. I figure this resolution is four-fold: it's healthy, it's frugal, it's eco-friendly, and it allows me to be that domestic diva I've always kind of wanted to be. Starting small will be the key - I know if I try to do everything all at once, I'll end up giving up by the end of January. The first thing to go will be store-bought cookies. While my husband loves his Oreos, he will never complain if they're replaced by fresh peanut butter, chocolate chip, or oatmeal cookies. The nice thing about me joining Pinterest is now I should never run out of awesome new recipes to try.

I have a few other things on my resolutions list, but they're pretty personal, so I won't go into detail. Suffice to say it has to do with me being a better human being and being more available to the people around me. I tend to be a loner, so it's really easy for me to seem withdrawn.

Looking into the more immediate future, I'm pretty excited about Christmas this year. I can't wait to see how excited the little one gets about the whole shebang. Last year she got into it pretty well, but this year she's really old enough to understand what's going on, and I think she'll have a blast. I need to solidify my Christmas plans though, 'cause I'm not really sure when we're doing what and where, if you know what I mean.

Well, that's all for now, folks. I may blog again before the holidays, but if not, I wish you peace and joy throughout this season and into the New Year!

Time to Give Thanks

Every day is a day to give thanks, but life often gets in the way and makes us think we're too busy for such things. The approach of Thanksgiving helps remind us to stop and take stock of the things for which we should be grateful. Some friends of mine on Facebook have been posting one thing they are thankful for each day for the entire month. Well, coming up with a new thing each day is kinda tough (I know, because I used to keep a gratitude journal), but I do have a couple of things of which I'm continuously thankful:

• Even though we haven't sold our NY house, we still have money to pay the bills.
• Even though times are tough, my husband has a job, and we have food on the table.
• In spite of all odds, my husband and I have so far managed to raise a well-behaved, smart, and healthy child.
• I am surrounded by fall beauty and wonderful weather this time of year, and I love it!

There are other things, but these are the main ones. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

Send me your motivation...

...because I've lost mine. I have stuff I need to do, but darned if I feel like doing it. I've got a cold, and it's not a bad one, but it's just annoying enough to make me not want to do anything around the house. Help! If my kitchen stays messy one more day, I'm probably going to lose it! I don't have enough counter space to have dirty dishes.

It's Laundry Day

Today, I'm getting miscellaneous chores done around the house. I've got coffee brewing in anticipation of the caffeine fix I'll need to get it all done. On my list of things to do is my favorite chore of all - laundry. Laundry used to be just another never-ending job, but I love it now. Why? Line drying. I used to always throw my clothes in the dryer and leave them there until they were too wrinkly to wear. Then one day, I read a book called Simple Country Wisdom, and in it, the author painted a beautifully romantic picture of doing laundry and hanging it on the line. Now, I've line-dried clothes before, but this book convinced me to try it again. I was hooked. The clothes swaying in the breeze, being outside in the sun - it was magical. Now I look forward to laundry day, and I hang my clothes out as often as I can. It's sort of like a meditative experience for me. I even put up signs in my laundry area that express my feelings about doing laundry. One says, "It all comes out in the wash." The other says, "Sorting out life, one load at a time." It rings true for me, at least. Washing my clothes washes my cares away, and with each load I sort and hang up, I sort out life. It may seem quaint, but I love it.