Down for the Count

Oh friends. Remember when I talked about how parenting (in general) is not for the faint of heart? Well it turns out that parenting when you don’t feel your best is even harder. PJ had a migraine for 24 hours this weekend and my back was killing me. I’ve had back issues for years (we both have, actually) and, unfortunately, this weekend I did something to my lower back that is making it hard to even stand right now. Luckily PJ’s migraine went away, so he has taken lead with the kids and cooking for the last few days.

When you don’t feel good, all you want to do is curl up on the couch and watch TV, but my back is making it hard to get comfortable standing or sitting, so even doing that is not much of a relief. We have a busy week of projects and appointments for the kiddos next week, so here’s hoping this strain doesn’t last long! xx

PS: new YouTube video

Cinnamon Oatmeal Banana Bread

Good morning, friends, and happy Friday!

I made this cinnamon oatmeal banana bread last night and wanted to share it here because it’s the perfect warm and yummy treat for the weekend. I don’t know what I was expecting while making it, but this bread is the definition of comforting. It’s like a giant hug or an oversized sweater in your mouth, which is especially welcome right now because as I look out the window while writing this, it’s a frigid 24 degrees.

We had some old bananas that I was holding onto for weeks (that PJ smartly told me to freeze until I was ready to actually make something with them) to make some sort of cinnamon banana bread, but at the last minute I decided I wanted to add oatmeal into the mix, too. Cinnamon oatmeal banana bread? Is that even a thing? A quick Google search revealed that it in fact was a thing, and it was a thing that looked absolutely delicious. So I started baking.

I ended up going with this recipe from My Gourmet Connection. Fair warning: PJ asked if I cut the sugar any, which I didn’t, so if you like your breads a little sweet, you may want to add a bit more sugar than what the recipe calls for. I thought it tasted great as is (the kids did, too!), but I think we could all use a little more sweetness in our lives, don’t you?

Full recipe and directions below, directly from My Gourmet Connection:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quick cooking oats

• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

• 1/2 cup milk

• 3 medium ripe bananas, mashed

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the topping:

• 1/3 cup quick cooking oats

• 2 teaspoons sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease the bottom of a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

2. Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

3. Combine the oats with the milk and set aside for 10 minutes to soften. Add the bananas, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract to the softened oats. Mix well.

4. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add in the banana mixture and combine until dry ingredients are moistened.

5. Spread the bread batter in the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the top and pat down gently into the surface of the bread. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the edges pull away from the pan slightly and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire cooling rack.

Hope you have the coziest weekend ever, and happy baking!

Hump Day Mood

Believe it or not, that’s actually Alyster mid yawn (not viciously trying to eat the phone).

A busy day ahead and I have exactly zero energy. Need. More. Coffee. STAT. Side note: how cute are cat’s tiny little middle teeth? I had never noticed them before I read an article a few years ago and now it’s all I see whenever Alyster opens his mouth.

Happy hump day friends. xx

A Promised Land

I received President Obama’s new book for Christmas this year from my soon-to-be sister-in-law (thanks again, Mariah!) and I’ve been eager to dive into it ever since. I’m only on page 9 and I’m already hooked. Obama’s writing is so clear and concise and his prose is beautiful. The book is a fascinating peek at his early life and the eight years he was in office, so I’ve heard, and I can’t wait to get to the juicy parts of his presidency (and his thoughts on the last administration).

Happy Tuesday to you!!

A Huge Thank You and a Sincere Apology

Nothing like starting the week off with an apology, right?

This is on my mind today so I wanted to talk to you about it. First, I want to start off by saying thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.

Thank you for the kindness and the love you have extended to our family over the last five years. Having this community of smart, strong, brave people has been so incredible and we feel incredibly grateful for you every day. And ever since the kiddos came to live with us a year and a half ago, seeing the love you have sent to them has been overwhelming in the best way possible. To know that so many of you care about and send love to them is the best feeling in the world. Thank you for that.

I am trying to say thank you in a way that doesn’t sound pretentious or self-absorbed. We never take your presence or your time for granted, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being here with us. Hearing your stories and learning your backgrounds has taught us so much about life, about the world, and about ourselves. The lessons we’ve gained from you are irreplaceable and honestly, we’re so much better because of them.

We read every email, letter, comment, message, and package you send us and are immensely grateful for you, for all of you. But I want to say I’m sorry. Lately I have fallen behind on responding to the things you send us and I feel so awful about it. The letters and cards, though they have been read, have started piling up in my “respond to” stack and they glare at me with seething eyes every single day. It’s so bad, y’all. And I am so sorry. I think about you every time I walk by and see them and I think, “If I just sit down for 10 min I can write them back and it will mean so much to everyone involved!” But then a dog needs to be fed or a kid needs to go poo-poo or dinner needs to be made and I lose track of time. Rinse and repeat.

I feel guilty for us even having a PO Box when I can’t respond to everything you send in. The kiddos received SO many gifts for Christmas from you all this year, and I think that was the hardest thing to not respond to. You put so much time and effort and love into everything you send and we can feel it as soon as we open the packages.

Please know we see everything you send in, even if you don’t get a response from us (or it takes us weeks to get back to you!). I don’t think I could have anticipated, no matter how many parenting blogs I read or people I got advice from, just how busy and all-consuming (in the best way!) kids would be. I feel like by the end of most days I have zero energy left and all my bandwidth is used up. What then?

But the truth is, lots of people have kids and still find time to get done what they need to/want to. So I will keep working on it and in the meantime, I ask for grace in responding to your sweet, kind correspondence. The quickest and easiest way to reach us is by email (propertyloversemail@gmail.com), so please always feel free to send something that way! I hope you understand and again, thank you SO much for showing our family so much love. You mean more to us than you’ll ever know.

xoxoxo

Have a Great Weekend

Good morning, friends.

After a chilly last few days at home, I made crispy cheesy stacked potatoes last night (in muffin tins, no less!) from Half Baked Harvest and omg they were so good. Tieghan comes up with the best recipes ever and after last night, I’m wondering how 30 years of my life have gone by without ever having made potatoes like that. From here on out, there is only my life before crispy cheese stacked potatoes and after crispy cheese stacked potatoes.

Do you have any plans this weekend? Right now, the only plans we have are editing this week’s YouTube video and hopefully spending some time out at the land if it warms up. I’m sipping my coffee as the sun is slowly coming up and the house is sleeping, and I always like to refer to this part of the day as the calm before the storm, even though, in truth, it’s not so much a “storm” when everyone wakes up, but it is when our day begins and it doesn’t usually stop until long after the sun goes down.

What a week, y’all. So very glad it’s the weekend. Stay warm, and have a good one!!! xoxo

For the First Time in 4 Years, I Feel Hopeful

The importance of today cannot be overstated.

I want to start off by saying how I have personally felt over the last four years, and that is uncomfortable, worried, uneasy, and unsafe. I shared my feelings and beliefs this summer on the blog and they were in turn shared on a FB group who, let’s say did not share the same feelings as me towards the last administration. I don’t want to get too much into that, nor do I want to spend too much time writing about the negative effects of our old President. Instead, I would love to discuss some takeaways from today’s inauguration.

I had been looking forward to today for the last four years. That sounds like a joke, but I am so very serious. When Biden was elected President at the end of last year, I, as millions of others, let out the biggest sigh of relief. I immediately felt hope, optimism, relief, excitement, and at ease. I knew the future looked so much brighter than what we’d experienced during the last administration. I know America has so much work to do to make up for the last 4 years of lies and corruption and violence and racism, but I have to believe we’re all up to the task.

It will feel strange to live in a country where the current administration listens to scientists and facts, where they empower and accept minorities and don’t try to oppress people’s rights just because they look different than they do. Biden’s cabinet picks are officially the most diverse of any President. History!!! Speaking of, so much history was made today. Can you believe it? Vice President Kamala Harris (can I just say how much I love writing that entire title?) is the first woman, and first woman of color, to become Vice President of the United States. Black women all across America DID THAT. The Democratic Party seems to always be at the forefront of change, of breaking through barriers, and I am so proud to call myself a Democrat today. And don’t even get me started (or do) on Amanda Gorman and her breathtaking and beautiful poem “The Hill We Climb”. I got chills and started to tear up listening to her stunning, timely words and rhymes. Highly recommend watching.

I feel confident that the next 4 years will be a time of positive change here in America. Where climate change and racial injustice and Covid-19 will be taken seriously and dealt with appropriately, instead of being dismissed and tossed under the rug. I feel confident that there is still so much hard work ahead of us all, but together, and with strength and determination, we can achieve greatness as a unified country. We are still so divided as a whole, and it’s somewhat overwhelming to think about all that must be done to right all the wrongs we’ve caused, and not just in the last 4 years, but the last few hundred years.

As a member of a minority group it’s easy to feel like our wants and needs are overlooked, even as the gay rights movement has picked up substantially over the last decade. I definitely didn’t feel like it was a priority during the last administration, but I feel like things will be different this time around. We have a President who is intelligent, compassionate, caring, and seems to have the people’s best interest at heart, especially those in minority groups.

Don’t get me wrong. I do not agree with everything Democrats stand for and believe in. I loved Obama, but he was not a perfect President, nor a perfect man. But mostly, I had faith in him and supported him and truly believed he put America first. To put it plainly, I did not feel that way about 45.

But a new dawn is on the horizon and there is electricity in the air and optimism in our hearts. A new year, a new presidency. Same problems, same country, but a renewed sense of possibility is taking over and I can’t shake the feeling of hope I’ve had all day. All day I’ve been at peace, smiling and taking deep breaths and savoring this historic moment. Living in the south, in a conservative town, it’s easy to get lost in the politics, but today felt different. Today was different.

May we all go forward with love in our hearts and compassion leading the way. We have so much work to do, but something tells me we’re all willing to put in the blood, sweat, and tears that it requires. For the first time in 4 years, I feel hopeful for the future and what it means for us all.

PS: The Deep Meaning of the Color Purple at the Biden Inauguration

The Significance of the Bible Joe Biden is Using on Inauguration Day

above photos via Variety, APNews, Deadline.