Little Things

Ok y'all.

There has been a tad bit of drama in my world as of late. And if you know me at all, you know that I do not enjoy drama. In fact, I tend to run from it and avoid anyone/anything who loves it.

This situation could have turned even more dramatic but I chose to accept it (because I could do nothing to change it) and walked away. I'm still angry about how it all went down, but I will spare you the details.

What I will tell you is that my roommate moved out.

Am I sad about this? Not really.

Was I dependent upon her for income, favors, chores, etc.? Not really.

Did I forget how fabulous it is to live alone? ABSOLUTELY!

In celebration of this revisited revelation, I am making a list! (You know I love me some lists.)

What I love about living alone:

1. Being able to walk around naked. Don't lie - you do it too.
2. Laughing aloud at stupid stuff/yelling at the TV... and feeling no shame. I mean, college football and basketball seasons are right around the corner!
3. Not worrying that someone is going to break my grandmother's china or throw my dedicates into the dryer when they really need to be line dried.
4. Knowing that my dog will only get fed when I feed her.
5. Knowing that everything will still be exactly where I left it. Or be moved to wherever Luna chose to move it. (Same difference.)

[cue sigh of relief]

In other news, it has been raining like the dickens in southeastern NC - and I am about over that mess! My gardenia bush, however, has celebrated by gifting me with its first bloom :)

Clean Banana Pancakes

I woke up this morning far too early and starting organizing closets. About an hour into it, of course, I had to stop because I was starving. 

Do I have any prepared food in my house to eat for breakfast? 

Of course not. 

I decided that I desperately wanted pancakes. So, I googled some recipes for clean pancakes, grabbed random ingredients, and mixed them together. 

The result? Clean banana pancakes. YUM!

-----

Ingredients

2 small ripe bananas

1 whole egg

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 1/2 c. rice milk (that was all I had but feel free to use almond or skim milk)

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Directions

1. Blend/whisk all ingredients together until you have a slightly thin batter. If you want a smooth batter, you will need to mash the bananas before you blend them with other ingredients. I threw in whole bananas so my pancakes had chunks in them.

2. Preheat the burner using low to medium heat. If you have the burner too hot, these won't cook properly. It takes a tad longer than normal pancakes but the result is well worth the wait!

3. Serve with maple syrup, peanut butter, or whatever tickles your fancy!

Clean Banana Pancakes, hot off the stove

Clean Banana Pancakes + Maple Syrup = YUM

Current Obsession: Homemade Pretzels

I don't know that I should call this an obsession quite yet seeing as how I have only ever made homemade pretzels once in my lifetime, but given the fact that I ate SEVEN of the eight pretzels that I baked, I think it's safe to say that I have a problem.

I can't find the recipe to share with you guys right now, but you better believe that I will find it again. So I can share it and, of course, so I can make them again! I think the recipe is saved on my laptop at home. At least, that's what I'm hoping.

Instead you will have to settle for pictures.

Shaped dough. Very exciting!

Completed pretzel, ready for consumption.

Stop drooling.

Doggie Delight

As a Sunday treat, I baked some homemade doggie snacks for Princess Luna and Sir Gabe.

Gabe closely supervising, per usual.

Luna being cute, per usual.

----

Doggie Delights

1 cup rolled oats (aka dry oatmeal)
1 cup boiling water
5 1/3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces
3/4 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules (I just smashed the cubes)
1/2 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 egg, beaten OR 2 medium bananas
3 cups whole wheat flour

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the rolled oats, butter, and boiling water. Let stand for 10 minutes. Grease cookie sheets.

Add the cornmeal, sugar, beef bouillon, milk, cheddar cheese, and egg/banana to the bowl. Mix well. Stir in the whole wheat flour, 1 cup at a time, until a stiff dough has formed. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface (or wax paper) and knead, adding additional flour if necessary, until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky.

Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, roll the dough out with a rolling pin to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a cookie cutter and space evenly on prepared baking sheets. Reroll remaining dough scraps and continue cutting until all dough has been used.

Bake 35-45 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Let cool completely before allowing your pups to sample!

---

Here are my treats during the process:

Dough ball. Duh.

Princess cookie cutters!

Ready to bake!

The finished princess products!

Gabe

Luna has obviously been keeping me occupied over the past month since I have not posted a blog. I swear that one day I will get better about posting! I really do lead an intriguing/humorous/entertaining life and I want to share all of the nitty gritty details with you. muhahahahaha ;)

So the past month has been insane and I'll have 2-3 more posts about it later (like, this week - I promise!) but for now I must just tell y'all about Gabe.

Gabe is my first foster through GDFRL. He is a sweet boy with a few listening problems... as in he doesn't want to listen to me disciplining him! He knows his basic commands but continues to follow me all over the house. I've only had him for a week so I'm hoping that once he realizes that I'm not going anywhere (nor is he, at least for a while), that he will settle down and just relax. He also has this horrible habit of placing his chin on the counter, which completely grosses me out. (Hi, I'm a germophobe.)

So what is Gabe's story? He was picked up by animal control in TN. They spotted him tied up outside in someone's yard, emaciated and hot. They seized him for a vet visit and the vet determined that he was extremely underweight (105 lbs) and malnourished. After some paperwork and legal mumbo jumbo, he was released to GDFRL at a healthy 135 lbs.! A gang of volunteers graciously drove him from TN to Charlotte to Rockingham to Chapel Hill, where I picked him up and drove him back to Wilmington.

Gabe travels to Wilmington!

Gabe has obviously lived in a house before, because he went straight to the couch. He knows how to counter surf, dig through the trash, sit, lay down, and bark at intruders. (How lucky am I?! :/) While Gabe and Luna do get along ok, he does have some food and water aggression issues. He also barks a lot so that gets her all hot and bothered. Sometimes Luna looks at me and is just like, "Mom, really?! We had such a quiet life before this character came along." 

Let's just say that he is a work in progress. I thank my lucky stars every day that I have him, instead of a shelter. 

Gabe, living the posh life on my cloud of a bed, teddy in paw.

"Rescuing one dog may not change the world, but for that one dog the world will be changed forever."

Luna

Well y'all, I have a new child. She's not really new new, but she's new to me!

Introducing... Luna!

"Mom, will you share your dinner with me? Please?!"

Luna is an adorably sweet 6 year-old female Great Dane who I rescued from Great Dane Friend of Ruff Love outside of Charlotte, NC. This organization is run by volunteers who pull Danes from shelters, owner surrenders, animal control, etc. and foster them in their own homes until the dogs are ready for adoption.

Miss Luna was an owner surrender from about a year ago. Apparently the guy had over 20 large dogs in his house and he called animal control to take a few because he had "too many" dogs. Luna's sister, Sophie, was pulled with her and was also adopted to a lovely family who lives in Charlotte. It's funny how similar Sophie and Luna's dispositions are! Both are super chill and completely content laying on the couch, "helping" you cook, or going for a long walk. Luna is a fan of leaning on you to allow for long petting sessions, and will always make herself the center of attention so she can get some love!

She reminds me a lot of my "old" rescue, Malibu, who I sadly had to put down about 3 years ago due to degenerative hip issues. I like to think that Mali and Luna are somehow related and were put on this earth just for me :)

Anyways, Luna is extremely loving and amazing, and I only hope that I can repay her with a life full of unconditional love and, of course, luxury. (I mean, she does sleep in my bed every night and get yummy snacks!)

Clearly, I need a larger bed. Isn't that obvious?!

Who knows - I may even let her borrow my tiara!

PPOTW: Terms of Endearment

Even though this post will be nothing but a rant, I must say that you readers are very lucky - I did not wait another 3 months to post this time. Only 2. Go me!

Now, back to the topic at hand...

My current Pet Peeve of the Week:

I hate it - I mean really haaaaate it - when women who are younger than I am (in addition to any male that I am not dating) call me "honey," "darling," "sugar," and the like. Really!? I do not know you. I am not a food, nice person, or your friend. Save your terms of endearment for people who appreciate them. I most certainly do not.

Blogging Slacker Wears a Baker's Hat

Well..... I may or may not have been a blogging slacker the past 3 months. But I also may or may not have been busy purchasing my first home, packing, and then subsequently unpacking.

While all of this information is absolutely thrilling, my obsession of the moment is this:

What is "this," you ask? Oh you know... just a peanut butter high hat. I found the recipe via Pinterest and decided it looked too delicious to not recreate. 

On the same day, I also created these bad boys:

I really don't know what they're called, so I have dubbed them "pizza bites." These were so quick and easy to make and they made a great finger food while I was running around the house picking up things and watching NCAA tournament madness.

To make these, I used my rolling pin to flatten a regular biscuit (you know, those Pillsbury ones that come in a can that you have to pop open?), and then filled each one with marinara sauce, half of a "to go" block of cheese, and a few turkey pepperonis. I folded the biscuits around the deliciousness inside, placed them on a baking sheet, sprinkled them with a melted butter/parmesan/oregano/parsley mix, and popped them in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Here they are in the making:

I've also completed a few arts and crafts projects around the house. So many, in fact, that I can't remember to take pictures of projects while I'm working on them. You'll just have to settle for the list below.

- created a fire pit
- laid down grass seed
- repotted 2 plants
- planted a Lily of the Valley bulb
- planted herbs for my indoor herb garden (more on that later)
- painted 2 rocking chairs and 1 rocking bench
- painted patio table and chairs
- painted a fancy bronze mirror black
- painted large clear vase with an opaque design (to store extra TP)
- organized closet
- unpacked
- finally followed through with this excellent salad idea

I promise that I won't wait another 3 months to post again. I'll try not to let y'all be deprived for even 3 weeks, but I can't make any promises. There are so many crazy things going on, which, I will of course post about later.

And I will show you the house too :)