Happy Tuesday everyone!

I originallly had planned to start this post out with ‘Happy Monday everyone!’, but life intruded on this post so it had to be put off for another day.  What could be SO important that I would neglect my duties to this blog you may ask?  Well I tell you…my duties as a wife and mother took over yesterday and would not let go of me until about 10pm.  I hope that everyone had a wonderfully blessed Mother’s Day and that you celebrated it accordingly.  I have a very dear friend whose mother past about three weeks ago…she had a rough day on Sunday.  The slightly funny part was that she expected herself to be okay this Mother’s Day.  She called to say that she was walking the dog before getting ready for church and broke down in the middle of the street.  She said the dog turned around and looked at her like she was losing it (don’t just love dogs).  I told her you lost your mother three weeks ago and it’s mothers day…even I knew you weren’t going to be good, I have no idea why you thought you would be fine. 

Anywho enough sadness and teary smiles on to the point of this blog…  As I said, my intentions to blog became waylaid with life so I thought I would take the time out to give you a rundown of my day and maybe you’ll understand my inability and give me a pass.  It all began at 6:02 am when the alarm went off.  I had been awake already for about 20 minutes, but it really felt great to lay there so I didn’t move until that buzzer went off.  I got up did my Monday morning routine of visiting the porcelain throne and then brushing the gunk out of my mouth.  I sat at my computer for a few to check the weather forecast for the day so that I could figure out what to put on the baby doll.  I then headed down stairs and began making lunches for my guys and cleaning up the kitchen.  You see even though Mother’s Day was Sunday, the dishes were not getting washed and suficiet to say the dishwasher had dishes from the load I had run on Saturday and no one was going to put them away so that a new load could be added; so was stuck doing that and washing my knifes and pots that I would day put in the dishwasher. 

7:00 am  – I’m back upstairs making sure my baby doll is up and moving around and I begin the process of removing sheets off the beds and making them and making sure her clothes are ironed and the ready to go. 

7:30 am – I’m back downstairs getting breakfast ready and insuring that lunches are ready for everyone to walk out the door.  

8:00 am – I begin to make up my granola that I wanted to make last week but realized I was out of wheat germ and had to cancel.  (This is what my post was originally going to be about…making on the fly granola.  I will add that recipe at the end along with pics for you to admire). 

8:20 am – While the granola is in the oven for the first leg of the baking process, I go back upstairs to get the sheets and make up my bed.  I had 20 minutes to do this and I promise it just about took all of that time to get the stinking duvet in the cover!

8:40 am – the timer goes off and I’m back downstairs to turn the granola and I set the timer again for another 20 minutes.  This time I stay downstairs, get the sheets in the washer and begin to hang the pictures up in the kitchen that I’ve put off for the past 3 weeks.  I ended up having to get out my level because my naked eye kept telling me they were off-balance even though the level said they weren’t. 

9:00 am – I’m finishing up granola (boy did it smell good) and I’m back upstairs plastic gloves and cleaning supplies in hand so that I can tackle the bathrooms.  I take my camera upstairs so that I can get the granola pics off and get this post done.  Then I remember!…I have an appointment at noon to turn in paperwork for Kristian.  OMG!!!  I haven’t taken a shower and I’m up to my elbows with Kaboom and Windex.  Crap! 😦  I gotta get this stuff done.

9:15 am – I take down the laundry to the “laundry closet”  (It is really THAT small.  In the next house, I’m either getting a ROOM upstairs or a laundry shoot to the ROOM downstairs.  I’m stressing the word room for a reason folks. :)) I separate and begin the process.  I actually get all of the laundry done with the exception of a miniscule load of whites. 

9:30 am – I’m back upstairs cleaning the bathroom and editing the pictures for the blog.  I can’t even begin to explain how I was doing both, but I really was.

10:00 am – I’m back downstairs with the laundry and I start making the pasta sauce that I need for dinner tonight.  This is when I realize that I need to be leaving in about an hour I’m going to make my appointment on time.  I still need to take a shower and there is no way I’m leaving on time because I still trying to edit pic (the things I do for this blog.).  I go find my phone and set the time back by a half hour. 

10:30 am – I finally get in the shower.  I get dressed, put a load of laundry in the dryer, turn off the pasta sauce and I’m out the door by 11:30 am.

1:00 pm – I’ve made it to my appointment.  We finish up in 30 minutes.  My mother asks me to take her to DSW for a quick look even though neither of us are in a position to buy.  As things go we see several items that we “must have”, but can’t buy (thank God for making us good stewards over that which his has blessed us.).  We walk out of the store empty-handed and head back so that I can get my baby doll off the bus at 2:40. 

2:40 pm – Either I’m late or the bus is early, because I’m three cars behind it and can’t get in front because it’s a school bus. 😦  I park and wait for the bus to turn-around.

3:15 pm – We get home and I start making raisin cookies as a snack for the week AND I will be taking some to book club tonight.  I also begin making dinner. 

4:30 pm – I’ve finished the cookies and dinner and I’ve started folding more laundry. 

5:10 pm – We head off to ballet class.

6:30 pm – Stan and I head out for our nightly walk (I still haven’t eaten dinner yet).

7:15 pm – I FINALLY sit down to dinner and a big glass of wine (why did I do this when I was tired…it only made things worst – I was even more tired)

8:00 pm – I’m putting lotion on the baby doll after her shower and about to head up so that we can do our daily reading.

8:30 pm – I’m reading the book (book 4 of the Sugar Plum Ballerina’s series by Whoopi Goldberg).

10:00 pm – I go to bed after not being able to hang out any longer.

Folks, it was like a nonstop work-a-thon and this was my day off work.  But I got MOST of the things that I wanted to get done completed.  Now I’m going to supply you with the granola steps that I wanted to give you yesterday.  By the way…I start my granola with 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup canola oil, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 cup cranberry juice, and 1 tsp vanilla.  I mix all of that in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved.  I pour those over 3 1/2 cups of oats, 1 cup wheat germ, 1/2 cup slivered almonds, and 1/2 cup of walnuts.  I pour this onto a baking sheet lined with nonstick aluminum foil. And place in a 300 degree oven.  Now I have made this healthier with no butter and honey and not as much brown sugar, but this time I wanted to splurge.  This is what it looks like before going into the oven.

I set the timer for twenty minutes.

And go upstairs to finish making the beds when the timer goes off,  I came back down toss the granola so that it can cook evenly and set the timer for another 20 minutes and then hang up those pictures I’ve been meaning to get to.

A level and a much frustration later, I’ve got up them on the wall and I’m taking out my sweet smelling granola.

This is what you should have at this point.

I usually add my dried fruit at this point.  A lot of people suggest you cook it with the oats and nuts, but I’ve been unsuccessful with this option.  My fruit always seems to end up tasting burnt.  I place it over the hot granola and it still get some of the heat and essence included.  I used raisins and cranberries for this mix.

After it has cooled about 20 minutes (20 the magic number) I toss everything together.  This will give you the nuggets you want.  Doesn’t it look yummy?

I would be remiss if I didn’t take a picture of the one item that had me holding out a week to make my granola.  I have got to find a place to buy it and not feel like I’m being robbed.  I think I may need to find a health food store that sells it in bulk.  I really do eat a lot of granola (I love it with yogurt, on ice cream, out of my hands as a snack).  It only makes sense to have it around when I need it and not have to pay $5 for that little jar.

I hope that you guys try the granola recipe and that you enjoy it as much as I do.  You have to try it with Key Lime yogurt…it’s like a key lime pie that’s healthy for you.