Peanut Butter Granola Balls

These make a great, healthy snack and they're easy to make too:

Peanut Butter Granola Balls

1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (ok, kill me, I used salted butter)
1 cup crisp rice cereal
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1/4 cup dried fruit (cherries, raisins, cranberries...I used cranberries)

In a small saucepan over medium, heat honey, peanut butter, and butter. Stir until loosened and smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cereal, oats, and dried fruit.

Drop mixture by tablespoon into mini paper cupcake or candy liners. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. To store, refrigerate in an airtight container up to 1 week.
Makes about 24

Now, if I could just convince myself not to eat all 24 of them, I'll be all set!

Painting and Cleaning

Since Friday night, I've been doing nothing but painting and cleaning. I did manage to finally get my living room painted. Not a single orange wall remains. I need to take a big shopping trip tomorrow to accessorize the room, so I won't share what it looks like just yet.

I will tell you that we didn't take the paneling down. As the Mister was knocking on the paneling, we could hear the plaster behind it moving or falling or crumbling or who knows what! So, we decided to just leave well enough alone, knowing full well what we were going to find behind there. We ended up painting over it. Truthfully, I don't really mind, I think it looks 100% better painted.

The monster mirror over the fireplace is gone too. It was labeled 1948 on the back and let me tell you that sucker weighed a ton! Getting that thing down put me into a state of panic, I was in tears, literally. I think the Mister wanted to kill me. It was so massive and I kept thinking I would drop it, it would shatter, slice an artery, and one of us would bleed to death waiting for an ambulance to arrive. (I know, I sound like Dr. Doom, but that's just how my mind works.) The mirror measured 6 feet by 4 feet. With the mirror down, I feel as though my mantel is not quite as massive as it used to be. I'm hoping that's a good thing because it was always a challenge to decorate the massive mantel.

Bye, bye mirror!

Anyway, with the big shopping trip planned for tomorrow, I did a little spring cleaning today. My dining room & adjacent living room/sitting room (whatever you want to call it) are spotless. At 7:00 the morning, I was hanging from the ladder, cleaning windows and taking down the curtains to wash them. The chandelier was taken apart and washed. Believe me, everything was washed, dusted, vacuumed, swiffered...you name it! You won't find a speck of dust anywhere. (Yeah right, who am I fooling? You know darn well that the dust fell the second I walked out of the room. Darn that dust!)




Have a great week and if you get a chance, send some "good shopping" vibes my way! lol

I didn't really care, I just loved them

Because it is Friday and Spring Break is so close I can almost touch it, I decided to participate in Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home.



I have been meaning to get to the Antique Mall for weeks on end. I finally got there this past weekend and I fell in love with these plaques. (So much so that I refused to put them down, holding them closely to my chest, as though they were my long lost love.)



They were labeled as "chalkware" and to tell the truth, I didn't really care what the heck they were labeled, I just loved them. Now the turquoise blue one is not exactly a color that I have used anywhere in my house, but then again, I didn't really care, I just loved them. I know I can't be the only one who has experienced the I didn't really care, I just loved them phenomenon. Am I?

You know what? If I am, well then I don't really care, I just loved them! lol

Head on over to Cindy's and check out all the other Show and Tell goodies and have a wonderful weekend!!

P.S. Oh yeah, I also bought a "little something" else at the Antique Mall. I'm thinking of participating in the Cottage Charm giveaway at Twice Remembered so this "little something" else can be your "little something" else. Stay tuned. :)

Growing Up

(I needed to post this while the details are still fresh in my mind. If I ever get around to scrapbooking this, I'll at least have a written record for my journaling.)

When my children were babies, I never wanted them to grow up. Then, as toddlers, there would be some seriously trying days and I would see friends and family members with children older than mine and think, "Oh I can't wait until they're older because they seem so much easier."

Can I say that I am now sorry for every time I wished them older?

I can still remember having my daughter, 12 years ago, and one of the maternity ward nurses telling me to "enjoy her...they grow so quickly." Yeah, I sure will, I thought to myself. But do you ever really listen to that kind of advice? No, of course not.

On Thursday, April 1, 2010, my daughter decided to ask me if I thought the Easter Bunny would hide her & her brother's Easter baskets. I answered like any parent trying to keep the magic alive..."How should I know what the Easter Bunny is planning to do this year?"

And then it happened.

I got "that look." You know the one. The look that says "Are you kidding me? I'm 12 years old now. I know."

Not knowing exactly what to do, and seeing the smirk on her face, I knew it was time to come clean. As heartbreaking as it was, it was time. (I wanted to tell her a few years ago, not wanting kids at school to make fun of her for believing, but my husband insisted I leave it alone and let her figure it out by herself. Smart man.) Anyway, I asked her if she realized that things would most likely never be the same now and that was why we tried to keep the magic going. She understood. She even said, "I wanted to keep believing, but the older I got, the more illogical it was all becoming." Smart girl.



So, she knows. She is growing up and I don't like it one bit. (I don't even want to think about her 1st Christmas not believing in the big guy.) How did this all happen? The little girl dressed in the pink flowered jammies on Easter morning, the one with the gleam in her eye, knows. She knows.

I have sworn her to secrecy about spilling the beans to her 8-year-old brother. She promised and said that he would most likely be in tears if he ever found out. Again, smart girl. I can see him believing for a quite a few years yet. Keeping my fingers crossed anyway.



So, if you have little ones, here is my wish that they continue to believe as long as possible. And like that wise maternity ward nurse once said, "enjoy them, they grow so quickly."

Early Spring

Wow, has it really been a whole week since I posted? I don't know where I've been or what I've been doing, but I've been busy. (Does that make any sense?)

I'm so glad that Spring is making an early appearance for us. Although we did have a few light snow flurries Friday night, it's been more spring-like than usual. (Translation: it's kinda chilly but we do see the sun from time to time.) All my flowers are beginning to bloom which makes me so happy.


(You see, that's the perfect example of our early Spring...this tree normally doesn't flower until mid May.)

The trouble with early Spring is that I want to Spring clean so badly. (I did get both bathrooms cleaned this weekend, from ceiling to floor and everything in between.) This time of year makes me want to get rid of everything in the house. Spring break begins on the 19th & I can't wait to take that week to clean out and get that other project I talked about under way. (Hmmm...last year, for Spring break we were on vacation in Florida, this year I'm staying home to clean. Kinda weird, no?)
Anyway, I hope that you are all having a great weekend and that you see lots of sunshine.

Happy Easter

Just thought I'd take a minute before going to my sister's house for dinner to say:
Happy Easter! May you have a beautiful day filled with much happiness!