*Monday Memos**

*MONDAY MEMOS*

   

 (If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge) 
Weekly recap of my rather crazy, insane, but fun and rewarding life!

dear monday, today I got in 2 miles running. I saw some signs that life might be starting to get back to normal a bit.  Lacrosse practice AND the track gate was unlocked! 

After practicing the harp, I started to organize my baking center. It wasn't too bad but some of my systems just weren't working, plus it got over run with "stuff".  That seems to always be the issue when it comes to organizing. It's easy to organize when there isn't a lot to organize, when there is too much stuff is when it is hard. 

I have always loved to organize. When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I used to organize my grandma's hall closet every time I visited her. I would organize my mom's hall closet as well when I was a young adult. I love order. I love to look at things that are in order. Disarray hurts my head. My desk right now is hurting my head.  I need a desk with drawers!  

My house would be completely organized if I got rid of 50% of it.  I have too much stuff.  And once I get things organized, it will not stay that way. It is because we work against NATURAL LAWS!  Organization always follows Newton's 2nd Law of Thermodynamics which is ENTROPY. It's a natural law and it's just as strong as gravity.  Basically, anything left to itself tends towards disorganization.   Or translated, any house, yard, lawn, kitchen, kids, etc. left to itself tends towards disaster!  We are trying to KEEP ORDER and by natural law it is moving toward disorder!  Everything is in a natural state of disorder and once it's been put in order it WILL NOT stay that way but become more disorderly naturally. 

And then there is NEWTON'S LAW OF MOTION which states:  A body at rest remains at rest unless some force acts upon it.  Thinking here of our children, husbands, selves. So much of my home right  now needs a makeover as far as organizing. Those natural laws have been in full force. But, I am slowly but surely getting to the hot spots. There are just so many!  hah The garage is the worst of all but I don't really have much motivation for that because of those laws.  And how well my husband obeys them!  LOL  I have cleaned it many times but within weeks, natural laws have run havoc.  

And like I said above, organizing would be a cinch if there wasn't so much "stuff" to organize. Hah  It is so hard to make it all fit without throwing everything away though I did a lot of that too. Bottom line is you have to get rid of excess in order to organize anything. After doing the baking center today, I have concluded that I am a SPRINKLE addict. My name is Jodi, and I love sprinkles!  Anyway, here is the before and after:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I debated on getting new containers for all my baking stuff on the top shelf (flour, sugar, oatmeal, cocoa, etc.) because those are pretty old, but they are so perfect and I truly do love them. The only other ones I would want are the OXO cereal containers but those are around $20 each and I just don't feel like spending $160 for them right now. I am replacing the smaller ones (middle shelf far right) with some clear plastic OXO like (though not that brand) soon. 

 I had this "Trail File" in there from many moons ago as well. I used to cut out recipes from magazines and the newspaper or others from friends that I wanted to try.  I chucked about 98% of the recipes. That's what PINTEREST is for now!

 I tole painted this (is there even still such a thing as tole painting?) and decided to toss it but take a photo first. 

The only reason I was holding onto it I guess is because it had our name on it and it was sentimental. It used to go on a glass jar that was used as a cookie jar. Those colors were the big in thing back in the late 80's and early 90's. Mauves and country blue.  I really used to love to tole paint. 

I made McKay Keto Cookies. I had a hair appt this afternoon. She didn't wear a mask even though I took some for us. We figured it was fine since she hasn't seen anyone that has had any symptoms or that has had it. Cambry came in. She is so cute. I held the dog Lily today. Love her. We had hamburgers for dinner. Busy day. 

I felt like it needed to cover the roots a bit better but I don't want to go back again.

My blog book came!
This is all my email posts that I sent back in 2007-2008 BEFORE I started blogging! They are mostly inspirational messages and a quote and a photo or meme.

The dates are wrong in them because I had to add them to my blog in order to print them so it looks like I wrote them this year. NOPE!  It was many moons ago!  I don't even like to read them because some of the stuff I wrote needs some editing or re-writing, but the main messages are good!  LOL

dear tuesday, today I had my harp lesson and so didn't get out on a run. She told me I am flying through Book 2.  It is a long and hard book but I have enjoyed it more since the quarantine. I have more time to practice usually anyway, not always. I made granola today. It was yum!  I cleaned the fridge and honestly can't remember all I did today but I never stopped! 

If that's not pretty, I don't know what is!
I love making granola!

Here is my recipe:

Jodi's Honey Nut Granola

Ingredients

·         8 cups rolled oats

·         1 1/2 cups wheat germ

·         1 1/2 cups flax seed milled (can substitute oat bran)

·         1 cup sunflower seeds

·         1/2 cup of sesame seeds

·         1/8- 1/4 cup chia seeds

·         1/8 cup hemp seeds

·         1 cup finely chopped almonds

·         1 cup finely chopped pecans

·         1 cup finely chopped walnuts

·         1 1/2 teaspoons salt

·         1/2 cup brown sugar

·         1/4 cup maple syrup (or omit and add more honey if don't want maple flavor)

·         3/4 cup honey

·         1 cup vegetable oil (substitute coconut oil or applesauce - I do ½ coconut ½ canola)

·         1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

·         1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment or aluminum foil.
2. Combine the oats, wheat germ, milled flax seed, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, chia seeds, almonds, pecans, and walnuts in a large bowl. Stir together the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, boil for a minute or two, then add vanilla.  Pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat. If want it to be more crumbly, add an egg white that has been beaten until foamy and frothy.  Mix well.  Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 30 minutes. Stir once halfway through. Cool. Will crisp as cools. Store in an airtight container or freeze.

*For clumpy granola:  Add one egg white that has been beaten until foamy and frothy.  Mix in after the liquid ingredients have been stirred in.

**Can also grind up enough oats to make 1/2 cup of oat flour and add to liquid ingredients after boiling.  
Don't stir as much during baking for more clumps. 
Can also clump with hands before it completely cools.

dear wednesday, I got my walk in early. I went and did bleachers at high school. TWhile I was there Heidi W showed up with her son and a photographer to take his senior pix. I talked to her for awhile. She said when they came in she pointed over at me and told the photographer, "Now, THAT is determination" about me doing bleachers. Or crazy-nation! We had a nice chat. Mostly about mama bear stuff. Got in 2.5 mile run! Yay!  I went to Carson's school parade at 12:30. Saw Julie and his teacher and a lot of friends that work there. It was freezing and windy!  The cabin is going to feel like winter again.  Wish we had a cabin in StG where it's warm! 

With his teacher Mrs.________

I worked on the pantry and baking center some more. I keep changing things up.  I also worked on the boy's memory boxes and cleaned out Tyson's room that they have trashed. I put away the stuff in my car finally. I hit Walmart and Crumbl and got gift cards for those who did the Homemaker tour.  Carson came over and had a sleep over with Taylor. They were going to sleep outside but it rained too hard and so they made a fort in the basement. It was so cute. We had pizza. Sarah and Sky stopped by when they dropped Carson off and visited. 

Nothing cuter than this little guy!  How I love him! He is in his raingear.

These are pretty pretty.

dear thursday, I got up early and cleaned bathrooms, my bedroom, and part of laundry room. I have to have my house spotless before we go to the cabin or on vacation. They boys and Dave joke about it all the time because I have said if something happens to me or us, I don't want the RS sisters to come in and see my house in a mess! LOL  I got in a short walk then cleaned the computer room, more of the laundry room, the boy's bathroom and  vacuumed. Organized more and put stuff away. Grammy and Grampy stopped by. I made corn chowder and a Hawaiian salad. My mom had me laughing the whole time. She is a hoot. Carson and Sarah came over. 

A very pretty bird crashed in window. It was injured bad. It just lay there for the longest time and Scratcher's came down the mountain and was curious so Carson ran him off and then kept watch for a long time. I felt so bad for the bird and wondered if we should put it out of it's misery.  We kept watching it and it finally sat up but then after a while tried to fly but couldn't and could only spin in circles. Either his wing or back was broken. I wasn't sure what to do since we are heading to the cabin. I talked  Grampy into taking it home to nurse back to health. He agreed.  How nice is that? He has always loved animals. That is where I get it from. 

I then hit Walmart and Crumbl and ran to Tyson's grave to decorate it for Memorial Day.

I came home and cleaned more including the freezer, mudroom, and playroom.  I packed a little but didn't get treats made for cabin or this caught up or my practicing done. I can't do it all. There isn't enough time in the day even though I worked nonstop and fast. I did the get the 6 in 1 cookie dough made though.

Here is the recipe: (my version)

6-IN-1 SHEET PAN COOKIE BARS

INGREDIENTS

·         1–1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

·         1 cup granulated sugar

·         1 cup dark brown sugar

·         2 large eggs

·         1 teaspoon vanilla

·         3 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

VARIATIONS:

·         Chocolate Chip Ranger Cookie = 1/2 C choc chips + 1/4 C toasted coconut + 1/3 C oats + nuts

·         Snickerdoodle = 2 tablespoons sugar + 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

·         Peanut Butter = 1/3 cup peanut butter

·         White Chocolate Macadamia Nut = 1/4 cup macadamia nuts + 1/4 cup white chocolate chips

·         Scotcharoos = 1/2 cup butterscotch chips + 1/3 cup oatmeal

·         Chocolate Chocolate Chip = 2 tablespoons cocoa powder + 1/4 cup chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1.     Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 12″ x 17″ sheet pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

2.     In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars until well combined. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

3.     With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour, baking soda and salt until combined.

4.     Place the ingredients for each flavor in six different bowls. Add 3/4 cup of cookie dough to each flavor bowl and mix together to combine well. You can use a large spoon to combine most of them, but your hands work best to really get those dry ingredients well incorporated into the dough.

5.     Place each ball of cookie dough into a sixth of a 12″ x 17″ sheet pan.

6.     Press the cookie doughs down evenly, with your hands, to fill the sixth of the sheet pan that each cookie dough is in. Each cookie dough should be pressed up next to the other cookie doughs that are beside it to fill the entire sheet pan.

7.     Garnish each square of cookie dough with additional toppings for that dough, if desired.

8.     Bake for 20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cookies comes out clean. Try not to over-bake them if you want them to be chewy.

9.     Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

dear friday, today I left early for my breast cancer MRI screening. 

I had to wear a mask and have my temp taken. I also had to have an IV and be injected with some metal dye. It went okay but I hate how loud it is. It was pretty relaxing if you can block out the loud noise. Then I headed to Home Goods and was in heaven shopping! I LOVE THAT STORE and I haven't been shopping forever!  I found some containers for m baking center and some other fun things. I even bought a lamp. I need to redo the family room but just didn't have a lot of time because I had to get back to my appt with Dr. Cannon.  

I headed back to the radiation oncology and got my stats and weight (I was down thankfully) and my appt went well. He wants me back in a year but told me to do monthly self exams. I need to be better at that. He is a nice guy. I really like that place. It has been 17 months!  So glad that is over!  Now to wait for the results!

I hit Dilly Dallys to get some stuff for Tyson's grave and ran a couple errands. I came home and hurried and packed and we took off for the cabin. I was excited because the Toone's are coming too!  We stopped at Golden Spike burgers so McKay could end his Keto in style. 

I just had a couple bites of Dave's and some fries. We arrived at the cabin and got it warmed up. No snow on ground thankfully!  It was chilly!  The Toone's arrived an hour later and we grabbed some Little Caesar's pizza. YUM. We had so much fun chilling and chatting and we played some fun games. We played Taboo and then a Mafia game and then some game called Fishbowl that was so fun. We had a blast. 

dear saturday, today we woke up to a snowstorm!  It was so pretty! 

 I made breakfast burritos for breakfast. They turned out great. We had lots of fruit too. Everyone just kind of chilled a bit and then me and Karen and Aubrey  walked to the store and to Family Dollar. I got a cute shirt for the 4th of July even though it won't happen in style this year. We had fun shopping. Peeps took the four wheelers for a ride and I made a six in one sheet-cake cookie bars. The link for the website is HERE. They were fun and so good. The snickerdoodle part tasted like Biscoff cookies. I think I will make an entire pan of just those. Mmm... Everyone had their own fave but those were the biggest hit.  Carson and I made a spring gingerbread house. It was fun and turned out so cute. We played games and had a Dr. Mario competition that was ongoing the entire time. Me and Karen and her girls went on a walk and we had a great chat. We were hugging and sharing how much we loved each other and how close our families are and it was very sweet and touching. I told them they were my girls I never had and Weston was my sixth son and Karen said I was his second mom.  Everyone just snacked for lunch and then Karen did pulled pork for dinner. It was good. We played more games and had so much fun just chilling. We had pie and it was delish. Chance was so cute (their dog). Carson was adorable. He was so funny with Barry. Barry was so funny the entire trip. He had us all laughing the entire time.

Carson got some and made a snowball, to...eat???

Yummy breakfast!

Chillin, playing games and hanging out...

Lots of Dr. Mario this trip.
I think I am the only one that didn't play it. I seemed to be occupied with Carson or the kitchen most of the time.

Carson and I made this spring gingerbread house. He had a blast decorating it. I have to admit that I did too!

Karen, Aubs, and I headed to the Family Dollar to get some stuff we forgot. It was so fun to just be out walking. We had so much fun just chatting.

I love them so much!  They are so fun!

My SIX IN ONE cookie bars!
They were so fun and so yummy!

The snickerdoodle one tasted just like Biscoff!  YUM!

dear sunday, today was a nice day. A little chilly but still so nice. I made Creme Brulee' French Toast for breakfast and it was so so so good!  It's so sweet but still so delish. Everyone loved it.  

Here is the recipe:

Creme Brulee French Toast

1/2 cup butter 

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

Bread, sliced, to cover over above mixture (french bread sliced about 1 inch thick)

5 large eggs

1 1/2 cups half and half

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

In a saucepan, melt butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup.  Pour into a 9x13 inch glass baking dish.  (We used an aluminum pan instead and it worked so whatever you choose will be great.)  Arrange bread pieces on top.  Beat together eggs, half and half, vanilla, and salt.  Pour egg mixture over the top of the bread.  Cover and chill overnight in the refrigerator.  The next morning, bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.  Bread will be a little browned.  This is unbelievably yummy!  

Karen, Aubs, Mickey, and I all went on a walk. We crossed over to where the Grey's river is and sat down and had a good talk about life. I love all these girls so much and we have so much fun together.  

This country is SO beautiful!

The cabin!

We went to Lunch Counter and checked it out. There was the cutest dog named Boone there that wanted to play fetch. I played with him for a long time. 

We watched these crazy guys surf! It was insane. They are so good!  But crazy. It was so fun to watch them. 

We are at LUNCH COUNTER watching.

We came back and everyone played games and I made nachos for everyone. We had so much fun just hanging out. Carson was so good. He loved the four wheeler. We had lasagna and mac and cheese for dinner. Then we played more games. It was so fun. We played Taboo and then did charades and then just a sound to describe the word. It was so fun. It was nice to get away for sure. We had more pie and ice cream and then Aubrey gave us a private concert!  Carson and Sarah were in heaven because they know all her songs by heart!  It was so fun. She is so talented. We even got to hear a preview of a brand new one that is coming out soon that I LOVED!

Aubrey's concert

dear random,