Monday, June 4, 2018

Just Say When!

I am Summer, come to lure you away from your computer... come dance on my fresh grass, dig your toes into my beaches. - Oriana Green



While it isn't technically summer for another few weeks, the weather in our neck of the woods deems it to be summer, so we are gearing up. Here are our new beach chairs. 😎


Two years ago I got new beach towels and dolphin towel clips, and last year some friends gave us a new umbrella. As you can see this is a process of selection and collection. Now I'm ready! The only question is when???

Let me know in the comments if you are a beach gal (or guy) like me, and where you like to beach best.



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Wednesday, May 16, 2018

What's Up?

So what do you write about when you have nothing share-worthy rolling around the ol' noggin? Crickets!

Okay, so let's talk about my day. It began with breakfast of one-half of a cinnamon and raisin bagel followed by a 45-minute aerobics class. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have calories leftover from that.

The afternoon was equally intriguing as I sprayed the second version of homemade weed killer on my test subjects, bleached the dickens out of my shower curtain liner, and made multiple trips up and down the basement steps and in and out the back door.

Awesome, right? I know...

I now have my dinner in the oven...meatloaf. What? You were expecting a 5-star, 3-course meal and fancy cocktails? I will be serving this beefy deliciousness with the dried hash browns that are now re-hydrating since I was too busy (or lazy) to go to the store for more potatoes.

To add to this fascinating tale, upon coming in from mowing, hubby announces that he has a meeting at 7:00, and is going to shower. 

"Didn't I mention that to you?" 

"Yeah, weeks ago."

Needless to say, dinner will be more of a sprint than a marathon.

So, how goes your day?



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Tuesday, April 17, 2018

The Season of Sunlight


When the sunlight hit the trees, all the beauty and wonder come together. Soul unfolds its petals. Flowering and fruiting of plants starts. The birds song light up the spinal column and harmonize the hippocampal functioning. ― Amit Ray

I think that means we all come alive in the sunlight. We feel the sun on our faces, hear the birds sing and watch with wonder as life starts all over again. These memories will carry us through when we feel the absence of the sun's warmth.

In case you were wondering, the hippocampus is the part of the brain responsible for processing of long term memory and emotional responses.  We should all be grateful to our hippocampus for preserving our memories.

What are some of your favorite sun-related memories?

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Friday, March 30, 2018

The Well of Spring

Hey friends,

Spring has sprung and Easter is just around the corner again. With each passing year, so does the time pass faster and faster. There is no slowing it down, so hang on for the ride and live each moment to the utmost.

Spring is a season of renewal, where not only do the flowers bloom and the trees leave out, but our souls are renewed as well. We cannot slow time down, but we can slow ourselves down...for a moment to drink deeply from well of spring.

On another note, Easter falls on April 1st this year. I can only imagine the April Fools jokes regarding bunnies and eggs. I heard where someone was going to put grapes inside the Cadbury eggs. Ewww! Maybe we should all check our Easter goodies this year. 😉

Have a joyful and blessed Easter.


To read previous Easter posts, click the links below:
Easter Wishes (2015)



If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Gluten-free Brownies for the Win!

I have a very good friend who, over the years, has developed an intolerance or sensitivity to a number of foods. Among her many restrictions are gluten, soy, yeast and most dairy, which unfortunately includes butter.

Ladies, as you all know, we must have our chocolate, and since she has issues with most chocolate, but can eat cocoa, I decided to find a brownie recipe that would not further upset the already delicate balance of her diet.

Having found a recipe that was close enough to what I needed, I gathered my ingredients and ventured into the culinary unknown, mixing and baking and pondering what the outcome would be. 

Ding! The moment of truth. As soon as they had cooled enough to get one out of the pan, I tried it. It was good! This recipe makes a moist, fudgy brownie, just the way we like them. 

I took one to my hubby for a taste test and after getting a thumbs up, I told him they were gluten-free. 😋 Win!

I messaged my friend the recipe and said I had a pan of them on the counter. Her response? "I can't wait."

Did she like them? Oh yeah! I failed to take a picture, so I borrowed a similar one from Pixabay.

If you, or someone you know, loves brownies but can't have dairy, soy or gluten, give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.

Gluten-Free Brownies
½ cup coconut oil, melted
1⁄2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon gluten free vanilla
1⁄2 cup gluten-free flour
1⁄4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×8×2 pan.

Place the cocoa into a large mixing bowl. Melt coconut oil in a sauce pan or microwave in a glass container. Remove from heat and add to cocoa and mix until blended, then add sugar and mix well. Add eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla, flour and salt. Mix until blended, but do not over mix. Bake 25-30 minutes. Cool and serve, or even better, eat 'em while they're warm!

I used the King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten-free flour, and baked for the full 30 minutes in an 8×8 glass baking dish. You can find the original recipe here.



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