Monday, September 28, 2009

In the kitchen: Banana Bread

I was gonna post the last well, week. But life got busy!! Which made me think of something some one said to me yesterday.
"how to you do everything Rhonda?"
Oh I soooo do not do everything!!
Lots of things I get done happen at night or during nap time. Both are highly important to me!
I've got a mile long to do list. And many things I wish to do.
But well I don't.

The whole past week I was gonna do some more baking and other stuff but it was busy.
Last week's evenings went like this.
Monday - Regan was on call. Solo with the kids.
Tuesday night - As soon as Reg got home I was off to YW. And got home at 8:45 or so. Then did my blog post :)
Wednesday Night I went to a Love and Logic Parenting seminar. Which was good and interesting. Some stuff I really liked, other bits felt a bit.... um degrading to kids. And not at all in line with Gospel teaching. So some good. Some not.
Thursday Family Home Evening Kit Group I am in met together.
Friday Reg was on call again and We went out to dinner with some of my family to Boston Pizza and then I had my niece sleep over so I could go out to a girls night.
Saturday night I went to a dinner and RS broadcast.

Needless to say it was busy :)

Anyway, my point in sharing all this was..... that sometimes life runs away. And I'm not always on top of things. In fact more the opposite most of the time! But I've been asked by people how i get all this stuff done.

I don't watch TV much. As in haven't seen anything for over a week or more. And if I do watch I like to do something while I do. Like make invitations or cards or fold laundry or whatever.

I try and do things while my kids play around me. If they want to be in the backyard, I fold laundry down stairs or read a book in the backyard or make phone calls or whatever I can down there. If they are happy on the deck I load the dishwasher or edit a few pictures. Eli makes all this harder. HE is a lot more high maintenance than either one of my first kids were. (And despite what some people say I do not agree that he is normal. He spent from 3:45 pm to 7pm crying on and off the whole stinking time. And that's a good day lately. That's not normal) I'm still getting used to accomplishing as much as I like to with him around. Perhaps God is teaching me to sit down and enjoy my kids.

Each night I write down my to do list for the next day. I have all kinds of to do lists. To do lists for house projects. Sewing tutorial to do lists. Blog post idea lists. I am a list kinda girl. I love a good list pad :)

I have a crazy calender with all my dates an deadlines and all that written all over it. It is kind of looking crazy for September. crazy fun :) I've started highlighting Regan's on call days too. So I can see at a glance all those when I am planning or scheduling things. I should have taken a picture of it but I didn't know I was even posting about this til I sat down and started to write and now it's too dark out. :)

I think it's funny that women are so comparison driven. The fact is everybody's life is sooo different. And I don't think it's even able to compare vague things like what you get done in a day. It's my opinion that more people get more done than they think, that everyone wastes more time than they realize AND that most people are not as busy as they think they are.

Just a few of my somethings that need to be done....
1. Logos for my brothers' company (need to finish the final draft)
2. a blog header for a friend
3. Preparations for Lucy's B-Day party on Friday
4. a few photo shoots that should have been edited already (right Christine??)
5. bills paid (did that tonight)
6. prep for having a bunch of girls from church over tomorrow night to make hair pretties (which means making my house is kind of clean hahahaha)
7. laundry (did 4 loads today - but still more to do...)
8. Type out a few recipes that I've been asked for by a few people.
9. Actually finish my photography blog photo shoot give away (which I posted about entirely tooo long ago eeekkkk!)
10. Scrapbook. It feels like it has been entirely too long since I did that! (a week or so)

The thing I've been thinking about is a quote I heard the other night at the RS broadcast. Which basically said that a wise person knows how to distinguish between the things that need to be done and the things that don't and then leave some things undone by eliminating the non essentials. Now it sounded much prettier when they said it, but you get my point!

This is an insanely long rambly post.
If you actually read my thoughts then let me hear what you think! :)
And I'll get back to editing those pictures....
And since no post is fun without photos...
here are some of the current editing crop.
DSC_0040svnty

DSC_0171bw

DSC_0259

And here is the banana bread recipe that was asked for from the last post.

Banana Nut Bread
from Martha Stewart Baking Handbook
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups veggie oil
2 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3)
1 cup coconut
1 cup walnuts, pecans (or chocolate chips)
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350. Coat two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, and oil on medium low until combined. Beat in the flour mixture. Add the vanilla, banana, coconut, nuts (or chocolate!) and buttermilk. Beat just to combine.

Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely. Bread can be kept at room temperature, wrapped well in plastic for up to 1 week or frozen up to 3 months.

Now I am off to bed to rest my foot (i'm currently suffering from Plantar Fasciitis which my handy hubby doctor diagnosed for me but there isn't so much you can do for it except stretch your calves and roll your foot on a frozen bottle of ice (which I am doing right as I type this) and be in pain.)

15 comments:

Mikal Imperator said...

I have to say that you seem to get more done in a day than I do, or maybe it's just that I focus very tightly on top priority items. I don't usually get to the lower priority items, they wait to become a higher priority!

Julie said...

i love reading your thoughts :) I admire your confidence - for some reason, I'm always a little afraid to post my thoughts the way you do. Not sure why. Afraid of criticism maybe. But I sure enjoy reading yours, and I learn lots :)

you sound like me. I'll tell Paul I want to start something new, and he'll be like "remember the other [insert large number here] things you've got going on right now? maybe finish those first..." but I'm also a big fan of the lists and not of the tv :) kudos :)

The Full Nelson said...

I love the MSBH, I used it frequently, and MS cupcakes. So good! You are so organized. I know I waste a lot of time but don't have as much stuff to do as you! Well done for generally staying on top of things. I LOVE lists too, they are great and I love to see what I've accomplished

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing. All true. Really hard to learn that we are only able to do what we can do, especially with little ones.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of lists, I was totally cracking up the other day at this family's reality show. The mom was going on this rant "how can people function or get anything done without a list". Of course she really couldn't because she forgot her grocery list and is freaking out to her husband on the phone. Meanwhile, husband drops phone is poopy diaper he's changing and doesn't really care about the issue so wife's just talking to herself. Too bad you don't have time for TV.

That suck about the plantar facitis...gotta hate those rest and time problems. I'd take advil when my was that bad just so I could go for a run.

(I thought I'd do a rambling comment to match your blog).
Brooke

scrapwordsmom said...

Rhonda. I loved this post simply because it sounds like my life!! I like how you said sometimes the weeks just run away from you...that was me last week! LOL! This week my Franklin Covey planner hasn't left my side and I'm getting so much done! I had to miss the RS broadcast for my daughter's soccer game (which I'm fine with)...but man, I sure missed a good one. Everyone in our little Branch has been talking about it!! Keep up the blog. LOVE IT! Leslie

KellyLady said...

Great blog Rhonda! I totally got everything you said! I tend to let a bunch of little things build up and then take a day "off" from the big things and accomplish a bunch of little ones I've been meaning to do. And I totally understand the frustration of trying to accomplish the same amount of stuff I used to do before Brock! Especially now that he's getting mobile!
Oh, and thanks for posting a definition to your prognosis and what you can do for it....Now I know why that happens to me and what to do for it!

whitney said...

Oh I hear you girly. Since going back to work I really am wondering how I can even get half it done, let along all of it. I really do need to prioritize and just not stress about it all.
So glad you got to come to the girls night! Hope you had fun!

Kristi Drennan said...

Oh how I love this post! Thing is I often wonder how people do it all! I have no where to go, no errands to run, no appointments, no callings or church to attend, nadda nothing to do...so I have all the time in the world to get soooo much done. But I'm a time waster. I can get lost in blogs. Lost in computer stuff in general. And even lost in TV but I've found lately I'm on the computer less during the day (I didn't even go on until later afternoon today!!!) and I'm ALWAYS doing something when I watch TV.

I'm sorry to hear about Eli not sleeping for you. I get seriously bad anxiety and get down in the dumps when Isaiah doesn't sleep so I feel for your pain! Do you think he may be allergic to something?? I was giving Isaiah sweet potato for awhile there and noticed he was staying away and crying and figured out he had really bad tummy pains. I try never to give ideas to other Moms, especially ones who have more kids then me but I just feel so bad for ya! OH and I love lists too! Though sometimes I get upset when I don't finish what's on it so then I write a reverse list...what I did do that day and give myself a good check mark for each!

Amy said...

Loved this post, sometimes rambling thoughts are the best, it's always good to get to know you better. And I'm glad you clarified, I was really beginning to wonder how you did it all too LOL.
I'm a list girl too. My sister in law was just laughing at my over crowded calendar, whatever, it's what keeps me sane.

Connie Nichol said...

thanks for the banana bread recipe. I tried a couple of different recipes this weekend, one with unflavoured yogurt and not much oil, but will try this one too! Love banana bread! Did you know that you can sign up for a cookie recipe of the day from Martha Stewart? And a daily recipe for EveryDay Suppers? Check out her website, I love these emails, they make me happy! And I'd be worried about Eli too. No way it is normal to cry that much at his age. Allergies was my first thought too. Can you keep a food diary and see if you can narrow anything down there?

Abby Metz said...

Hahahaha - ah the precious minutes of nap and post-bedtime! I think being a mother has made me more efficient - you really learn how to maximize your time and do more with less!
Oh, and BEAUTIFUL photos. I don't know who the people are, but the picture of that little girl with bright blue eyes just takes your breath away!

Crystal said...

No matter how you say it, you do alot!! Alot with your kids, with your church, with your creativity, with your friends. You inspire me as do all moms. And I agree - alot of people think they are busier than they really are! And the computer - yeah, major time consumer - I need to walk away sometimes and do what really matters :)) Have a happy day!!

Mike and Jodi said...

Thanks for the great post Rhonda! Love it. And I totally agree with your statement: "It's my opinion that more people get more done than they think, that everyone wastes more time than they realize AND that most people are not as busy as they think they are."

I don't watch t.v. either. Tv isn't even plugged in! A few years ago I realized how much time I was wasting and changed my ways. Make better use of my time. I do however watch 1 or 2 shows per week on the computer with Mike - which only works out to about 1 hour of "t.v" time per week. I always hear about people never having enough time for anything but then in the same breath they are telling me how many favorite shows they have to watch. Quite amusing actually.

I'm a list girl too. Mike laughs because I'm always giving him things to do. Usually the things I can't do. My problem is that I need to "organize" my to do lists! ha! I make lots of lists but they are usually on random pieces of paper and then I don't find them for awhile.

I remember you posted before about reading to your kids when they ask you to. I've really tried to do exactly that. Sometimes the cleaning/meal making, etc has to be put on hold so I play more and read more with my kids.

You truly are an inspiring woman. I've learned so much from you and appreciate the example you have set. Probably why I look at your blog more than any others! Have an awesome day and enjoy the family!

Oh - and thanks for the banana bread recipe. I was thinking of asking you for it. :)

Heather M. said...

i have been feeling rather overwhelmed with my to-do list these days! i'm glad i'm not the only one with lots to do. i just wish it was sometimes easier to get it all done but am trying to not let that be my primary goal in life.

hope this week is a bit slower for you!