Simple Apple Bread

This is a recipe I've had for years. Its very inexpensive and easy to make and uses very simple indgredients. Plus 1 recipe makes 2 loaves of bread!

~Apple Bread~

Ingredients:

3 eggs slightly beaten
2 cups of sugar ***
1 cup canola or vegetable oil ***
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 large peeled and chopped apples (I like granny smith)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (add more if you like real nutty bread)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 2 loave pans.
Stir together eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla in med. bowl.
Combine flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir into liquid ingredients.
Stir in apples and walnuts. Pour into pans evenly.
Bake for 325 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

***Note***
If you want to lower the fat content of the bread use half a cup of naturally sweetened apple sauce and 1/2 a cup of oil. When I prepare it this way I cut out 1/2 a cup of sugar the recipe calls for because the apple sauce is sweet.

The One-Minute Organizer Plain and Simple - Book Review

Yesterday I read through The One Minute Organizer Plain & Simple by Donna Smallin. Donna Smallin is also the author of Organizing Plain and Simple a book I have also read through. I applaud Smallin's philosophy of one minute at a time to an organized home. She breaks up our homes into little bites rather than "stuffing the whole cupcake into our mouth."

She has lots of ideas for paperwork, drawers, closets, toys, refrigerators and all quick little tasks that can be accomplished in a very small amount of time, yet be very gratifying. I think my favorite parts in the book are her orange pages...each has an inspirational message on it to help us regain focus and not to be too hard on ourselves from past experiences. As a matter of fact I have been posting these quotes on my Facebook page.

http://www.amazon.com/One-Minute-Organizer-Plain-Simple-Getting/dp/1580175848

All in all, I think this book is a great starting point for the person who doesn't know where to begin and truly believes they don't have enough time. If you are someone who is looking for more advanced levels of ideas to help you become more organized, this book probably isn't it, as it really addresses those that really are at the beginning of this process. Although lots of great ideas are offered in this book, I found myself reading those ideas 2 or 3 times as she repeats herself in some sections.

I found even though I don't have huge issues with organizing through out my home, there was some inspirational items to found in the book. I think one of my favorite quotes from her book is

Aim to surround yourself with BEAUTIFUL and useful things. Give yourself permission to let go of the rest. It's just taking up space and weighing you down.

I think this can be true for anyone. Never let the possessions you have, quilt you into keeping them, but only keep things that truly make you happy.

Spring Cleaning - Day 3

Well today I was able to attack both bathrooms. And may I say they are both very shiny now.

My completed task list:
Scrub down showers
Wash shower curtains
Clean mirrors
Clean counters, sinks and faucets
Wash bath mats
Clean the floors
Wash baseboards
Wash around toilets
Clean windows and blinds

Meal Planning April 28th - May 4th

Day 1
BBQ Pork Sandwiches
-put a pork roast in a crock pot season with salt and pepper, pour your favorite BBQ sauce over the top simmer all day. Serve on hamburger buns.
With Cucumber Dill Salad. Whisk together about 1/4 cup of plain nonfat yogurt,
2 tsps of cider vinegar, 1 tsp of dried dill weed, salt and pepper to taste.
Day 2
Chicken and Dumplings
recipe soon to follow
Day 3
Chicken Fajitas
Spanish Rice and Refried Beans
Day 4
Roast Vegetable Soup with whole wheat dinner rolls
Recipe has been posted previously
Day 5
Brined and Roasted Chicken Legs
Soak chicken in a mixture of 2 qrts of water, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup salt.
Then season and roast.
Serve with steamed broccoli and Roasted potatoes
Day 6
Pork Roast with vegetables
Day 7
Slow Roasted Seasoned Ribs
Mashed Potatoes
Corn

Spring Cleaning - Day 2

Yep, its day 2 of my Spring Cleaning spree and today was the girls' bedroom. And yes, this room too took longer than I had planned. Mostly because I spent most of the time trying to rearrange the furniture more efficiently. Space is definitely an issue with two girls sharing a bedroom. They did have a bunk bed, but it was too close to the ceiling fan no matter where it was placed in the room so my husband and I took it apart and now we have two beds in there taking up space. The positive of having the two beds is the storage space under each one because they are up pretty high off the ground so they fit large tubs under them. They both are pleased with how their room turned out, but I'm not so sure I made any more space for them. It does look better though.
What I did:
-cleaned out under the beds
-moved furniture around
-re-organized tubs
-washed bedding
-cleaned the blinds
-organized the closet
-culled some toys out
-threw out garbage
-straightened the book shelves
-vaccumed

Tomorrow I plan to take on a much simpler room; the baby's room. No furniture needs to be moved and her room is fairly simple as of right now. I know as she gets older that will change, but for now I will enjoy its simplicity. I actually want to get out of the house tomorrow, perhaps to the library, so I only want to spend about an hour on the room. Wish me luck!

Spring Cleaning

I'm normally not a Spring Cleaning kind of gal, but this year I have been so busy and my house has been so neglected I've decided a spring cleaning is in order. Rather than try and get through the whole house in 1 or 2 days and completely exhaust myself I'm breaking the house up into rooms to complete. I will post daily my completed tasks and what room I have gotten a deep cleaning on.

Today was catch up on laundry day. I wanted to get all the clothes washed and put away, plus wash bedding. And what better day than to do the the laundry room beings I was in and out of there all day today. I completed my todo's in there, and it actually is pretty presentable, which says a lot about the laundry room! All I used was a spray bottle mixed with water and bleach and a washcloth.

Things I did:
Sprayed both the washer and dryer down and cleaned them.
Straightened all the shelves and threw out trash
Washed down the walls
Washed the baseboards
Washed the floor
Took out things that did not belong in the room

Successful day. I think I spent more time than I wanted to, but that's because laundry is a time consuming job. I'm hoping the rest of the house will only take me an hour or two each day. The girls are on spring break and I don't want to spend our whole break cleaning!

Managing Time

All I can say is where has my time gone??? I have taken on a huge responsibilty as my children's school PTA President and it has become a leech of my time. Even has I sit here and write I am inturrupted with phone calls and dealing with other issues. After the busy week I have had, with absolutely no time for housework, blogging, or even hardly time to prepare a decent meal for my family, I have come to the conclusion it is time to take back my precious time.

At the beginning of the year I had created a beautiful schedule to help me focus my time on a daily basis. Now mind you very rarely did I stick with the schedule exactly because life is so unpredictable especially when you have an 8 year old, a 6 year old, a 1 year old, and a husband.
I think the most beneficial thing that came out of making my schedule is actually breaking my day down into half hour increments and seeing how much time there was in a day. This allowed me to take a hard look at what I was doing with my time and where it was disappearing to.

As is the way of things, my life is ever involving, enter my new commitment, Cassidy's soccer practice 3 x's a week and possibly Claire's Tae Kwondo classes. So now it is time yet again to tweak that schedule to better help myself manage time. Also I am in need of a wake up call...I can only spend so much time working at the school on a weekly basis and I need to learn to stick to a schedule so I have time to keep my home a haven and also time for myself even if its only a half hour a day.

I have added my pre-tweaked schedule here so you can see how I created mine. Its a simple spread sheet. Again I will be making some changes to mine to fit around the new activities that have entered into our lives these past few months. Remember there are only 24 hours a day, which sometimes seems like not enough, until you break it down and see what is actually stealing your precious moments.

A Day in The Life of the Bennett's
Time	Task		Time	Task
06:30:00 AM	Devotion/Prayer, Make Bed		03:00:00 PM	Girls snack
	Empty Dishwasher
07:00:00 AM	Girls up & Dressed, Me dressed		03:30:00 PM	Work
07:30:00 AM	Serve Cassidy & Claire Breakfast		04:00:00 PM	Work
	Check Email, Girls to school			Girls' Homework
08:00:00 AM	Mine & Cayleen's breakfast		04:30:00 PM	Work
	Clean-up breakfast/what's for dinner?
08:30:00 AM	Laundry (put away/start load)		05:00:00 PM	Start Dinner
	prep dinner if needed, House rescue			Switch Laundry to dryer
09:00:00 AM	Blessing – 15 minutes		05:30:00 PM	Make Coffee
	Zone – 15 minutes
09:30:00 AM	Cayleen nap, brush dogs, sweep &		06:00:00 PM	Dinner time
	vaccum
10:00:00 AM	Snack, blog		06:30:00 PM	Clean-up kitchen
				Make Lunches, take pill
10:30:00 AM	Me Time (see weekly schedule)		07:00:00 PM	Bath time for girls (T/TH/Sat)
				Family Night – Mondays
11:00:00 AM			07:30:00 PM	Desert
11:30:00 AM			08:00:00 PM	Cayleen to Bed
				girls pick up toys, story time
12:00:00 PM	Lunch, Clean up lunch		08:30:00 PM	Girls brush teeth
				Cassidy & Claire to bed
12:30:00 PM	Errands, Work, Volunteer,		09:00:00 PM	Read, TV
	Plan, To Do's
01:00:00 PM			09:30:00 PM
01:30:00 PM			10:00:00 PM	Brush teeth, wash face
				Bedtime
02:00:00 PM
02:30:00 PM	Errands, Work, Volunteer,
	Pick-up girls from school
	Home Blessing:		Zone:
Monday	sweep porches		Yard/garage
Tuesday	Swish & swipe MB/grocery plan		kitchen
Wednesday	mop, wash bedding, office day		Wk 1 hallbath Wk2 Girls' rm Wk3 Baby's rm Wk4 Laundry rm
Thursday	bathroom trash, windex		Wk 1&2 Master bedroom / Wk 3&4 Master bathroom
Friday	garbage to street, dust, & clean kitchen table		Wk 1,2,3 - living room / Wk 4,5 Office
Weekly Errands & Planning			ME TIME Schedule
Monday	Work		Monday	Scrapbook – snapfish
Tuesday	Financial, Meal & Grocery Planning/volunteer		Tuesday	projects
Wednesday	Work		Wednesday	garden
Thursday	Pay bills / Grocery shopping / volunteer		Thursday	computer time
Friday	Blog Planning		Friday	Scrapbook