I hope you all have a lovely day – I hope to spend mine reading and eating delicious food that I did not prepare.

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It’s My Birthday originally appeared on Seasoned Joy on May 19, 2012. Consider leaving a comment!

I wasn’t sure how Mother’s Day would be, since Mr. SJ tweaked his back on Friday and wasn’t able to do as much with the kids, but other than needing me to handle all diaper changes and dirty dishes, he did all right. That might sound awfully suspicious, but washing dishes is generally tough on him because the height of the sink is bad for him, and that’s also what gets him with changing diapers. Eh, just give me some time to sit in peace and quiet and read without interruption and I am quite happy to change the diapers.

— 2 —

I made myself the delectable King Arthur Flour Chocolate Indulgence cake that I discussed in my birthday planning 7QT. One of the nicest things about this cake is that it is way too chocolatey for Mr. SJ to want to eat it, so it’s all mine. Fortunately it freezes nicely too.

Mine wasn’t quite that pretty, but it tastes just as good as it looks.

— 3 —

I thought about taking myself (and the baby) to the library for a bonus visit – usually I go only ever 3 weeks (the length of time a book can be checked out). I was too lazy to want to drive down there however, and instead just stayed home.

— 4 —

I also passed on the opportunity to go to Target by myself (or just with the baby.) Again, the pull of my books was stronger than the pull of wandering the aisles in peace.

— 5 —

Because the boy is generally so insistent that he be near me, unless he’s working with daddy (mowing the grass, cleaning up the garage), his dad ended up taking him to a nearby park for a walk on Sunday to give me some quiet. Of course the baby woke up not 5 minutes after they left, so the quiet wasn’t quite what he was trying to provide.

— 6 —

Last week Mr. SJ was very weird about telling me that he was taking the boy out. They were going to the store. I was starting to ask him more in depth what he was doing because he was being so odd about it, and then I realized: Mother’s Day and my birthday are both approaching. I’m sure they’re going to go look for cards.

Yup, that’s what they were doing. The boy picked me out a very nice Mother’s Day card with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy wishing me a happy day. As Mr. SJ said, there was absolutely no doubt which card he would pick once he saw that one; only perhaps if there had been a Lightning McQueen one might there have been some hesitation as to which one would win.

— 7 —

My mom and mother-in-law pretty much always send me a card for Mother’s Day. Not this year, which made me laugh. However, one of my sister-in-laws sent me a really sweet card for Mother’s Day, and I wasn’t expecting that!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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Seven Quick Takes: Mother’s Day Edition originally appeared on Seasoned Joy on May 18, 2012. Consider leaving a comment!

I’m cheating a bit with the theme for this week’s photo, “Mothers.” Both my mother and mother-in-law live out of state, so I couldn’t get a picture of theme for the week. I am terrible at self-portraits so I didn’t even try getting myself in a photo.

Instead I photographed the two children that gave me the title of “mother.” I have renewed admiration for children’s photographers, because trying to get both of them cooperating in one photo was hugely challenging.

What did you do for Mother’s Day?

For more photos illustrating “Mothers,” visit Kent Weakley, who is hosting for Darcy at my3boybarians.

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Mothers originally appeared on Seasoned Joy on May 17, 2012. Consider leaving a comment!

I love bars. They’re so much quicker than cookies to make; no need to scoop out individual balls of dough. Most bars freeze well, so they’re easy to have on hand even if you don’t have time to make a fresh batch. And usually once they’re baked, you’re done, unlike with cakes that so often must be frosted.

These bars were initially a disappointment. Tasted soon after they came out of the oven the shortbread base separates from the top and the flavor is bland.

Tasted the next day, after the bars have chilled overnight in the refrigerator, and the bars hold together well, and the flavor is fantastic. Slightly chewy thanks to the condensed milk, but with nice crunch from the nuts, and the shortbread turns into a delightfully crumbly base.

So, don’t make these expecting an immediate treat, but if you can plan ahead and let them thoroughly chill, they are delectable.

Ingredients
2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup toffee baking chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13×9″ baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, powdered sugar, and butter. Mix until thoroughly combined, then firmly press into prepared pan to form a crust. Bake 12 – 14 minutes or until golden brown.

While crust is baking, in a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour over baked crust. Sprinkle evenly with the nuts, chips, and toffee chips.

Return to oven and bake until set and golden brown, around 25 minutes. Cool at room temperature, then cool completely in refrigerator.

Variations, Modifications, and Other Comments
I didn’t measure any of the nuts, chips, or toffee pieces that carefully, but I probably used less toffee chips and more chocolate.

Use whatever sorts of nuts you prefer. I adore pecans so that’s almost always my choice.

These bars freeze beautifully, so don’t hesitate to make the entire batch, even if you don’t need many. I almost never halve a recipe that calls for a can of condensed milk because I hate trying to measure out a half can.

I’d give credit to the original recipe source, but I don’t know it. It’s one that’s been in my recipes-to-try binder for years before I finally made it, and any original attributions were lost.

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Toffee Turtle Bars originally appeared on Seasoned Joy on May 16, 2012. Consider leaving a comment!

I read Madeleine L’Engle’s classic, Newbery-award-winning book A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet) for the first time only because it was the assigned book for bookclub.

Unlike my husband, I wasn’t assigned to read it in school. Despite being a voracious reader growing up. Despite loving the fantasy genre, I never voluntarily read it as an adult.

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. I liked the character of Meg quite a bit. I liked her younger brother Charles Wallace well enough. I didn’t feel like I got to know Calvin that well, but he was an interesting character. However, nothing about the book got me super excited to find out more about the characters, and what happened to them in later books in the series.

I felt like there were too many occasions where instead of really explaining something, L’Engle instead had one of the “wiser” characters express frustration that the concepts just couldn’t really be explained in words. Jumbled bits of half-explanations were almost given, with the caveat that “There’s some things we just aren’t meant to understand.” It’s okay though, Charles Wallace has such a prodigious intellect that he understands and tells Meg that it’s allright. (yes, that’s sarcasm.)

Some of my frustrations with the book may just be because it was so groundbreaking, things I like and take for granted now were something rare and special, like having a girl be the main character and hero in a science fiction/fantasy novel. Maybe it only seemed so formulaic to me because it set the formula that many other books have followed?

L’Engle includes one of my most-loathed contrivances in children’s literature, the wise adult dismissing children with the equivalent of “you aren’t old enough/mature enough to understand, but meanwhile go off and save the world because you’re the only one(s) who can. You just won’t know what you’re facing.” But of course the wise adults have super-powers and can magically appear just when they’re most needed and/or provide some sort of prop with special qualities that can save the heroes.

There are so many times when I read books that are wildly praised and wonder what’s all the fuss, and this is definitely one of those times. The book was ok, but in no way is it even close to being one of my favorite books of all time, and I know of many people for whom that is the case.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog!

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Review: A Wrinkle in Time originally appeared on Seasoned Joy on May 15, 2012. Consider leaving a comment!

I’m working my way through Tsh Oxenrider’s ebook One Bite At A Time, tackling each project in order. All previous projects can be found here.

Project 28, Create a Regular Monthly Budget, is one of my favorite sorts of projects from the book, because it’s something I already do. That’s right, it’s a super-easy week for me!

I am a Quicken fanatic. I have records going back to when I first graduated from college. I can see just how little I earned at my various jobs. I can see how much I spent on books, or meals out, or groceries, or …

Yes, I am a budget nerd, but it makes me happy.

I don’t actually budget in Quicken, although they claim to have that capability. I never liked their setup for working with sinking funds, and I use sinking funds extensively.

For true budgeting purposes, I use an Excel spreadsheet that I based on a template I found online. I have since modified it quite a bit, but it is my (money-related) brain on paper in the computer.

Our budget has lots of line-items, but I prefer it that way. Most lines I use as sinking funds, allowing money to stockpile until we need it for that purchase. For example, our home maintenance fund. I put aside a certain amount of money every month that is allocated towards home repairs and maintenance. Most months we don’t spend any of it, but some months we spend a lot of it. The spreadsheet lets me keep track of how much we have available for every budget line without me having to have separate baking accounts for every budget item.

Do you have a monthly budget? Do you follow it?

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Create a Regular Monthly Budget originally appeared on Seasoned Joy on May 14, 2012. Consider leaving a comment!

G has had no interest in drinking from a “real” cup, and I never cared enough to really push it. He’s got cups with straws that he uses for water, and a supposedly teeth-friendly somewhat spouted cup that he uses at meals for milk. I figured with warmer weather I’d encourage him to take a real cup outside to practice.

Until last week, when on a whim I asked him if he wanted to try to drink like a big boy. A little water in a cup, and he drank it down like he’d been doing it forever. He was so proud of himself too, running around all day repeating that he’s “drinkin’ like uh BIG BOY!”

— 2 —

Still no interest in using the potty like a big boy however.

— 3 —

His sister is walking like an absolute pro now. She will cross the room in a flash, and is also so proud of herself. She knows she’s accomplishing something impressive! It’s cute how she still has to hold her arms out a bit for extra balance. And she’s liable to PLOP down onto her bottom suddenly if she loses that balance.

— 4 —

My mother-in-law’s birthday was last week, and I prepped the boy for a birthday phone call.

“What are we going to tell Grandma?”

“HappybirthdayLoveYouSeeYouSoon!”

Amazingly, once on the phone he actually said it all! Unfortunately he wouldn’t say it when he was all that close to the phone, so it wasn’t super clear, but she claimed she understood it. It helped when he started repeating “LOVE YOU! LOVE YOU! LOVE YOU!” at length and volume.

He was also very excited to tell her his big news, already shared her in QT#1.

— 5 —

G generally has really good enunciation, but he’s got one quirk that I find so adorable I don’t correct him. He’s started calling balloons and bananas “palloon” and “panana.” He used to say them both with the “b” sound, so I’m not sure where the “p” came from, but it is so cute, and I know it won’t last long so I’m just smiling at it while it lasts.

— 6 —

If anyone ever asks for my children to be in a wedding again, please remind me to say no. Politely, but still. NO. It was so stressful worrying about whether or not he’d cooperate. Whether or not he’d throw a fit, or who knows what else to disrupt the ceremony. Would he even wear the clothes he was supposed to? They weren’t his usual:

Happily, he was GREAT. Walked down the aisle with the flower girl, carrying the little pillow that supposedly held the rings (the best man/maid of honor actually had them, so we weren’t worried about him losing them.) Then when he got up to the front & the stairs, he apparently set the pillow down and then put his head down on it, much to the audience’s amusement. Daddy pulled him aside for most of the ceremony (and the flower girl just about threw a fit because she wanted to go join G with his dad, instead of staying with her dad on the other side of the room), and then got both kids back into position for their reverse trek down the aisle behind the bridge & groom.

Unfortunately due to a sick baby girl, I wasn’t able to attend the ceremony or reception, which is why I say “apparently” above. I’m just going on what was reported to me.

And the clothes? I prepped him for it by talking them up as “snazzy clothes.” He was so excited to put them on, he didn’t want to take them off! He kept walking around talking about his “SNAZZY CLOTHES!”

— 7 —

So the wedding was on Saturday, and baby girl was sick. Sunday G was also sick, and was much worse than his sister had been. He spent a lot of Sunday snoozing on the couch or on me, and ended up staying up with his dad fairly late. He was clearly still sick because he never wanted anything for dinner, and even with all the napping, he still slept that night (albeit a late start.)

Not that I want my children to be sick, but since I was also sick, it was a good time for G to be lower energy & willing to crash on the couch. I couldn’t have kept up with his usual requests to play outside, or go for walks or whatever else he’d want.

For more Quick Takes, visit Betty Beguiles, who is hosting for Conversion Diary!

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Seven Quick Takes: Kid Edition originally appeared on Seasoned Joy on May 11, 2012. Consider leaving a comment!

“Still Life,” the theme for this week’s photo, immediately brought to mind paintings of fruit and flowers. It also brought to mind my son, the antithesis of “still life” if there ever was one.

Instead of trying to get a photo of my son in a rare still moment (you can see one of those at last week’s “Siesta” picture), or a composed photo of cut flowers arranged in a vase like my mental image of “Still Life,” I decided to shoot the beautiful flowers that are now blooming outside my front window.

Why? Because flowers are something that can still my son when we go for walks. He is so high-energy, and races his motorcycle as fast as he can, but when we come across flowers he has to stop every time and give them all a sniff. Often I have trouble keeping him from racing up to people’s front doors if they have flowers flanking the doorway; he wants to smell them all. I try and contain him to flowers that are accessible from the sidewalks only.

What do you think of for “Still Life?”

For more photos illustrating “Still Life,” visit Kent Weakley, who is hosting for Darcy at my3boybarians.

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Still Life originally appeared on Seasoned Joy on May 10, 2012. Consider leaving a comment!

I’ve never liked pound cake. Not homemade, not from a box, not the frozen kind that my mom always bought. To me, pound cake was a waste of calories; boring and blah.

That is, until I made Cream Cheese Pound Cake. Suddenly the pound cake had a luscious texture and a subtle tang that made it irresistible to me. And my son. And husband. And I’m sure my daughter would agree, if only I’d ever shared it with her.

The recipe is originally from Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations, but this is how I make it:

Ingredients
3 cups (360 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
3 cups (600 grams) sugar
6 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325. Spray two 9×5″ loaf pans with baking spray*

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt together and whisk to evenly mix.

Combine the softened butter and cream cheese in large bowl, and beat well with a mixer until soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and mix 3 more minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing for 1 minute after each egg is added, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the vanilla.

Add the flour mixture in two batches, mixing on low speed just until the flour is incorporated.

Spread the batter into the prepared pans, and bake for 55 – 65 minutes, until the cake pulls away from the sides, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cool completely on a wire rack before turning out of pan.

Variations, Modifications, and Other Comments

Please don’t substitute margarine for the butter. There aren’t enough other ingredients to mask the flavor that would be missing.

I always weigh my ingredients, so the volume measurements for the flour and sugar aren’t what I use.

If the cake is underbaked, the center remains ridiculously gooey, which I find delicious, so I tend to err on the side of underbaking.

The cakes freeze beautifully, either as a whole cake, or, what I do is cut it into individual slices, then flash freeze them on a baking sheet. Once they’re frozen solid, I put them into a freezer container and can then pull out slices as I want them. They take very little time to defrost enough to eat, and I like them when they’re still very cold.

You could substitute other flavored extracts for the vanilla, but you run the risk of masking the lovely cream cheese flavor.

*Baking spray is the spray that includes flour. Alternatively, you can grease and flour the pans, but I am lazy and like the spray that does both in one shot.

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Cream Cheese Pound Cake originally appeared on Seasoned Joy on May 9, 2012. Consider leaving a comment!

Getting the most out of your 168 hours takes discipline in a distracted world.

When you focus on what you do best, on what brings you the most satisfaction, there is plenty of space for everything.

In Laura Vanderkam‘s book 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, her premise is basically the same as in her book All The Money in the World – that everything is about choices and priorities. When we say “yes” to one thing, it means we say “no” to something else. Whether that yes is to spending money on one thing versus another, or using time for one thing instead of another.

Vanderkam does an excellent job of emphasizing prioritizing what you do with your time, so that you are choosing to use your 168 hours every week in a way that gets you closer to your goals and priorities. The book is really less about time-management than prioritizing and discipline. That’s something that everyone can benefit from I believe.

I especially appreciated the section on developing a list of 100 Dreams, and seeing what you could do to make progress towards those dreams. I also thought her suggestion on developing a list of tasks you can do in 30 minutes or less, and a list of ones that you can do in 10 minutes or less was brilliant. I very rarely have any large blocks of time to accomplish things, but I can find 5 – 15 minutes semi-regularly throughout the day.

What else did I like?

I liked that it got me thinking about how I spend my time and how I could better spend it to align with my priorities and goals, instead of frittering it away on insignificant things.

I liked the reminder to think about my time over the course of a week instead of only one day at a time.

I liked the encouragement to re-frame my thinking to “it’s not a priority,” instead of “I don’t have time.”

I liked the examples she gave of people who are accomplishing a lot by really thinking about how they use their time.

I liked the concept of the 100 Dreams List, and the encouragement to take action towards items on that list.

I liked her focus on core competencies (although I would argue with her over her feelings about child care on that list).

I did have one big complaint about the book, and that was that I think she really trivialized the value of being a stay-at-home parent. She seems to relish repeating statistics that stay-at-home moms spend insignificant amounts of extra time on meaningful interactions with their children when compared to full-time working moms.

Her opinion is apparently that mothers should of course work full time (part-time work being no real work-life balance; it allows too little time for work and too much for life). “Quality time” with children for a few hours in the evening and longer hours on weekends provides ample opportunity to nurture those bonds, and daycare or a nanny can easily handle routine care tasks that aren’t a core competency.

Yes, I’m a stay-at-home mom, and yes, I was disappointed in her implication that so much of what I do is meaningless and should be outsourced so that I could focus on my Career (please note the capital-C Career). She explicitly states in the final chapter that the key message of the book is that there is time for anything that matters. I guess I do agree with this premise, I just disagree with her on some of what matters. However, this complaint does not take away from the value I did find in the book.

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Review: 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think originally appeared on Seasoned Joy on May 8, 2012. Consider leaving a comment!