Month: January 2015 (page 1 of 2)

It’s Only Tuesday

Vintage Photo 1964

Well, yesterday I never managed to catch my breath, today felt the same. I’m running on my little hamster wheel and I’m trying to make a leap for freedom.

Mr. Michie texted me this morning to ask if I put the shirt he wore last night to his meeting in the washing machine. I replied with a yes, only to learn he left a pen in his pocket and that was the one shirt, I forgot to check this morning in my bleary-eyed state of doing laundry at 6am. Well, the laundry gods were smiling on us, as it didn’t ruin anything and now Mr. Michie has a very clean pen.

The weeks seem to be getting longer at the moment and the weekends are getting shorter. And it’s only Tuesday. How can that be? So much happened yesterday I was sure when I got up this morning that we were farther along in the week.

Oh, well. Onwards and upwards, right? Right!

Surprises

Jennifer Michie Chocolate Heart

I love grocery store surprises! Today Mr. Michie brought me home a grocery store surprise of a little chocolate heart. I shared it with him, it was delicious!

The end of last week, got the better of me and I never found the time to come to my little home here and write. I have so many things to share, including a Copenhagen post (or two)!

I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend, wherever you may be! x

What?

Vintage Bear Photograph

“Did you hear me?”

“What?”

“I, said it’s only Wednesday!”

“Only Wednesday!”

“I think I’m bear-ly gonna make it through the rest of this week!”

{Found HERE // Pinned HERE}

Dolly Parton’s Banana Pudding

Dolly Parton

I LOVE banana pudding. I don’t think I could call myself Southern, if I didn’t. I also happen to adore Dolly Parton. She is a spitfire country woman for sure! While cruising through Pinterest tonight on my way home, I saw a picture of her, which led me to her banana pudding recipe! What could be better to beat the Monday blues than a little bit of sunshine yellow banana pudding?

The meringue topping would be an interesting twist, I’m more of a sweet whipped cream kinda gal, but if Dolly likes it, I’ll give it a whirl!

The recipe from her cookbook Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s, is below and the original article can be found at AnOther mag.

Pudding

1 box of vanilla wafer cookies
4 large firm, ripe bananas, sliced
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk
1 large egg
Yolks of 3 large eggs
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Meringue Topping

Whites of 3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In deep dish toss the cookies and bananas to mix well; set aside.

3. In a large saucepan combine 3/4 cup of sugar, flour and salt, beat in milk until blended and smooth. Bring to boil over medium-low heat and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

4. In small bowl beat egg and egg yolks, adding 2 – 3 tablespoons of the hot milk mixture. Stir egg mixture into saucepan and set over a low heat. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly until mixture is hot but not boiling. Stir in the butter until melted. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Pour mixture over cookies and bananas in casserole.

5. To prepare the meringue topping beat the egg whites, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract together until stiff peaks form. Spoon the mixture over the top of the pudding and bake for 15 minutes until top is golden.

Online Cleaning

Vintage Dish Ad

I feel that it is just as important to re-ogranize your house as it is to re-organize and evaluate your online presence. I have spent a bit of time doing just that throughout December and January. Culling through my Feedbin account and removing blogs that I was no longer reading as well as sites that hadn’t posted anything in over a year.

I have also done the same with my Twitter account. I had over 700 people I was following and I have now reigned that in to just over 300. I’m streamlining. I’m trying to keep things simple in order to be more productive and not have such a digital crowded space. As Martha would say, “It’s a good thing!”

No Snow

When I was in elementary school and the electrifying, magnificent, blissful four letter word that is S-N-O-W, was sent forth from our lips, we all squealed. Someone would always be the organizer and tell everyone else in the class that we had to do a snow dance and wear our PJ’s inside out, so that our town would be wrapped in a white coverlet of snow and we would have the day off from school.

Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. It normally depended on whether or not the snow was moving up the Gulf or coming over the Blue Ridge Mountains as to whether we would be graced by Susie Snowflake herself. Well, I saw that heavenly four letter word yesterday and I was beaming all afternoon, I kept staring out the window last night, I barely slept, the weather channel promised it was gonna happen. But alas, I woke up to freezing temperatures, a black sky and NO snow. So, off to school I went.

I’m not greedy, I would just like ONE snow day. Just one day off from school, where everyone can play outside or stay in and drink hot chocolate and stay cozy. Just one day, that’s all I’m asking for.

I think other people were wishing for that snow day as well as my train was exceptionally quiet this morning. The second full week since everyone has returned to work and the memory of Christmas seems to have faded like an old piece of cloth. Everyone is tired. Everyone is waiting for the weekend.

The quietness continued on the tube with my band of mismatched travellers. Until we hit my third stop down the line, where a mother and her son get on every morning. Any peace to the journey usually ends there, as he is a very lively little person. He’s feeling his oats lately and spends most of the journey telling his mom, “No!” or screaming. When they get off a few stops down he shouts, “Goodbye!”, to everyone, most of the people in the carriage normally respond with a wave, a smile or a nod. There is a collective sigh of relief that peace has returned as we shuttle down the tracks.

There is another mother who gets on in the morning with her daughter, who is about 7. Their routine, normally involves studying for a test or finishing up homework. She is very animated and today while working on smilies, she stated that my scarf was as yellow as sweet corn and her gloves were as navy as blueberries. I couldn’t help but laugh, she has quite an imagination, I hope she never loses that!

Come on, Miss Susie Snowflake! Just bring me one really good snowy day, that’s all I need. Maybe I should do a snow dance and wear my PJ’s inside out tonight for luck!

A Project

Set You Free

I have a project that I have held on to for over 10 years now. It is something extremely close to my heart but it is time to let it go. I’ve previously tested the waters and dipped my toe in a few times and the fish have nibbled at my feet but nothing came of it. It wasn’t meant to be in that moment.

Now, I’m not a procrastinator and I don’t make excuses, but for some reason I have done that with this project. I say that I will do something with it, I talk about it with the few people who know, but that is it. I just sit on it, like a chicken waiting to hatch an egg in her nest. I can’t sit on this egg any longer.

I don’t know if this dream will come to fruition, but it has been weighing heavy on my heart and mind a lot lately and a new year, calls for new beginnings. So, I am going to start working on this project again and hopefully make it all it can be and them I’m going to put it out in the wild blue yonder and hope that it bears the fruit of my dreams. So, keep your fingers crossed for me.

Tonight, I’m going to visit an art exhibition, I’ve been wanting to see and then Mr. Michie is going to meet me in the city for a back to school celebration dinner. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, wherever you may be!

{Image pinned HERE}