Momma's Banana Bread

Today's recipe is one that's a household favorite! My momma gave me this recipe. I don't know where she got it, but it always turns out so fabulous!! And we always have "mushy" bananas lying around... those bananas that just don't get eaten in time.

Ingredients

1 3/4  cup flour

2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2-3 medium bananas, mashed

1/3 cup of butter, softened

2 Tbls milk

2 eggs

Mix together 1 cup of the flour and the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  

(Sometimes I even add in some "shakes" of pumpkin pie spice! It's a great spice; it has so many different flavors!)

Add in the bananas, butter, and milk. Mix on low speed until mixed together, then on high speed for 2 minutes.  
Add the eggs and the rest of the flour. Beat until blended. 
At this time you can stir in walnuts or chocolate chips.  My husband hates nuts in "deserts" so I can't add in the walnuts. But I do love them in the bread!

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350º for 55-60 minutes

.

Let cool before slicing. Eat with butter or eat it plain!

Click HERE to get the printer-friendly version.

To Stay, or Not To Stay

Three years ago, we bought our house....

We were IN LOVE with this house from the moment we pulled up in the driveway with our Realtor in tow. And I fell even more in love with it as soon as we walked in. We came from a house that I bought when I was just 22 and single. It was a shoebox...horribly laid out. BUT, it worked for me. And it worked for us when I married my husband. And it even worked when we had our first born, Autumn. But then, we found out we were expanding with Brooklynn. NOW, we were stressed about living there. We found this house the DAY it went on the market and it was a short sale! It was meant to be ours!

Fast forward three years. We've done some landscaping and some odds and ends around the house to make it our own. But we were never really sure if we were going to STAY here forever. Ron really wanted at least an acre of property. But after looking for quite a while, going back and forth on what to do, putting some bids down on houses and properties and it not panning out, and me not really decorating the house or really making it our own, it has finally come to the point where we just can't find anything that is better than the house we have...without having a mortgage that takes up both of our paychecks.

So, we're staying.

We. Are. Staying.

Whew! I can FINALLY start planning! For someone who doesn't like unfinished work or living life without a plan of action, this is a HUGE sigh of relief! I really didn't care if we stayed or if we moved, I just wanted to NOT be in a state of limbo anymore!

So, now I've gone full force in planning....

I have TONS of BIG projects in the works. First up?? POOL! If you know anything about me, you know that the beach and the pool are a HUGE part of who I am. I grew up with a pool in my backyard. I love to be able to just wake up and go swimming, entertain around the pool, relax at night in the pool, come home from the beach and jumping in the pool. I just love it...need it. HAVE to have it.  

And now I will. Well, next year I will. No sense in putting it in now when it'll be done in the winter and then I can't really use it.

I have MANY more projects that will need to get done. And I will need a contractor to help me with them. Thankfully, my parents are moving back in November and my dad is a builder. He will already have his first jobs lined up when he moves back. 

So now, you'll get to see the transformation of my house. This is why I love blogging; because now I can look back and see everything that we've done. 

I've been on a pinning rampage for kitchens, bathroom, pools, and offices. (check my boards!). If you know of any good blogs for home designing, decorating, remodeling, let me know! 

Summer Chalkboard Art

Happy first day of summer!!! Well, it was when I drew the board...yesterday. haha!

Yesterday, I showed you my Spring Chalkboard I did a few months ago.  And today, here's my FIRST Summer Chalkboard!!  I say 1st because I wanted a few different things in my mind, but I couldn't do them ALL in one board.

This one took a lot of erasing...with a paper towel (wet AND dry) AND Q-Tips. lol. I used a ruler to help keep the writing straight in the middle there... I REALLY wanted to draw a mermaid in water for the "Mermaid Kisses" part, but I didn't trust myself on that one! eek!

You can check out my "inspirations" on my Chalkboard Art Board on Pinterest..this one was a combination of a few different ones.

Spring Chalkboard Art

I was doing some "research" on what I could do for my summer Chalkboard Art, and I realized that I don't think I shared my Spring Board, that I'm KIND of obsessed with. haha. Anyway, I realized I needed to blog about it because I would want it for future reference to maybe do it again! haha!

If you want to check out other boards I've been pinning during my "research" you can check out my Chalkboard Art Board on pinterest.

Baby C...Gender Revealed!

Today was the day. I wasn't going to find out so soon... I really honestly, didn't care that much. We thought we pretty much knew what Baby C was going to be. But hubs suggested we go now. Ok. I'll make the appointment....

My belly has been tied up in knots...What was Baby C?!?!

Welll......

HAHA!!! We all KNEW we were going to have a 3rd girl....

Let's just call Ron "The X-Man"

I think for Halloween he should dress up as an X-Man character...

Now... to start thinking of Baby C names!

Blueberry Cobbler Crisp

So, one of my favorite desserts to make is a Cobbler... I don't know why it's so comforting, but it is. Summer, winter, whatever is in season you can use for the fruit.

This is my take on a Blueberry Cobbler Crisp (I add the crisp because I just LOVE the crumbles on top).

There are 2 parts: The Cobbler and the Topping

For the Cobbler, I just use a simple recipe, using Bisquick. ha! See?? simple.

6  tablespoons butter, melted

1 1/4  cups Original Bisquick™ mix 

1/2  cup sugar

2/3  cup milk

3  cups fresh blueberries

2 tsp lemon zest

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Heat oven to 350°F. Pour melted butter into baking dish. (I always use my cast iron pan, but if I need to take it somewhere, I put it in an 8 or 9 inch square pan.)

• In medium bowl, whisk together Bisquick mix, sugar, and milk; pour over melted butter.
• Stir lemon zest, lemon juice, and blueberries together.

• Sprinkle blueberry mix evenly over Bisquick batter. 

For the Crisp, I use a basic streusel recipe

1 cup flour

1/3  cup sugar

1/4  cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (or sometimes I trade out for pumpkin pie spice!)

1 stick of cold cut butter (1/4 pound)

For the topping, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the butter. Mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until it's in big crumbles, then sprinkle evenly over the fruit. 

Bake 42 to 47 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm....and maybe even with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top! YUMMY!

Time to be a Butterfly!

One of my favorite saying is "Sometimes you just have to be a butterfly." I actually LOVE butterflies! You know why?? Because they CHANGE from a caterpillar. To me, they are a symbol of life... because life is ALWAYS changing... whether you planned it that way or not. And even if you didn't plan it...if it's an ugly situation, it'll turn out ok! I mean the butterfly isn't pretty as a caterpillar, is it?? But after it changes, it's beautiful.. just like life. you have your ugly moments.. and your beautiful moments...but nothing every stays the same. And here's just a little snippet of how my life's been like a butterfly.

Life's been a *little* crazy lately.  Things are definitely changing around here.

First... there's the BIG news of the BUMP!

YEP! Baby C is on its way!!

We're not really sure when C is due...but according to size, sometime around Thanksgiving.

I think my first reaction was "Oh, boy!" (or girl...probably), but then I got to thinking.... Life's already chaotic, how much more could it really get? lol

Blooper from the photoshoot.... just to prove that kids make everything so much more fun. 

So, that's the one thing...

the other thing is that I'm moving schools... and grades! eeek!!!

I've called Turner home for 10 years of my 11 years of teaching. It's bittersweet to leave. I will miss a lot of my friends there...people who I've known for the last 10 years.  But I'm so excited to be starting this new chapter of my teaching career. It'll be a whole new world to me.

So I've been doing a lot of purging... and packing....

I've already taken 8 large tubs to a storage unit... and I've packed up ONE of my filing cabinets...

The other filing cabinet will take probably 8-10 boxes because it is SO jammed packed, I can't even get things out of it! lol

I've also been PURGING!! This is only the pile I had after one hour of purging... I have TONS more... I sent an email out to my school telling them to come grab what they wanted... the rest was going to go in the trash! Yep... I'm one of those... I don't have the time or patience to sell things. Just want to be DONE! lol

Anyway... the THIRD thing that's changing is that my parents are moving back!!! 

It's been 7 LOOOONG years since they've moved out to Colorado. And gosh darn it, I'm SO ready for them to be back!!! Especially with baby C on the way. wooo!! I can't wait to hang out with my parents again, and the girls just LOVE them!

Time to be a butterfly!