Oh Boy!

Summer is completely upon us. The girls took a trip with Jeremy to Los Angeles to see Great Grandma (and to log some quality beach time) and the following week we spent some time with my family in the mountains at the family cabin. And now we're back to real life. Yesterday morning before Jeremy left for a quick trip he turned on the central air. Nothing. I told him, with a smile, that we'd be fine.

So, knowing that it might be a warm day, we had waffles for breakfast. This is the 3rd week in a row that Anna, my 10 year old, has made waffles. The recipe is easy to follow and with some direction, the waffle iron is a snap, too. This is my mom's recipe:

Oh Boy! Waffles

2 1/4 c. flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar

2 1/4 c. milk
2 eggs
1/4 c. oil

In one bowl mix together dry ingredients. In a different bowl whisk together wet ingredients. Pour wet into dry. Mix well. Pour onto hot waffle iron.

These waffles are a staple at our house and I generally serve them with butter and syrup. When they're on sale, I serve them with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Another fun option is butter and jam (try it with peach jam or raspberry jam). My jabbering 18 month old prefers creamy peanut butter on his "fuls".

When I'm feeling health conscious, I use 2 cups of white flour and 1/2 cup wheat flour. My kids don't comment on it (maybe they don't notice?) and I'm adding fiber to our bodies. Bonus.

To the dry ingredients my mom adds about 1 tsp cinnamon, along with a touch of allspice, nutmeg, and ginger ("you know, the pumpkin pie spices"). She also adds to the wet ingredients a drop of vanilla, and a drop of lemon extract.

Tasty, nutritious, and delicious... and easy enough for a 10 year old.

the mail

I catch myself watching for the mailman (postal carrier, I think is the correct term), glancing down the road, and even lifting the lid on my mailbox (that is conveniently located on the brick wall just outside my front door, look, my house was built in 1950).

Then, when the mail does come, I find myself feeling silently disappointed that it only contains credit card applications, how-to-make-your-kids-smarter classes, and advertisements for a new furnace.

Today I got mostly junk. To combat the paper influx at our house--we have 4 elementary school kids--I simply stand next to the garbage can when I open the mail. The items either go in the garbage (or to the "shred" pile to hand to my kindergartener on her way in the door from school) or to a specific file. There are only a handful of categories: (1) garbage, (2) coupon file, (3) weekly ad file, and (4) bills (I suppose this should be the first category). I do have a category called "to do" which is a catch all for anything that needs to be read, calendared, or responded to.

This simple drill cuts down on unnecessary piles and eliminates extra papers that have to be sorted. How often do you have to buy a new furnace anyway?