Don't Pee on the Bee

More Pies, Oh Yeah!

Well, if you haven't been reading me for the past week or so, then you have totally missed out on the fabulous pie posts!  ;-)  Well, OK, they probably haven't been fabulous, but they have been repetitive!  But I did make good on a promise!  I actually made a pie!  Well, nine pies, to be exact--and with help from my kids!  Let me show you the proof!

 
Beautiful, aren't they?  And I promise they are the pies that the kids and I made, and not Oprah's pies!  But if you check out the picture with the Strawberry Hand Pies recipe, you might be surprised!  We actually did pretty well if I do say so myself!  And I will also say that these pies were amazingly delicious!

But I do have a few tips.  First of all, it says that the dough will be sticky.  Well, if your butter is so soft that it is practically oozing out of the package, I'm going to hazard a guess that that is too soft!  That's how my butter was, and this dough was almost like goo!  I still wrapped it in plastic, although I had to use a ziploc bag since I was out of Saran Wrap, but I don't think it mattered too much.

Rolling it out, the dough got kind of sticky after it warmed up, so I am going to try less-soft, softened butter next time.  And yes, there definitely will be a  next time!

Trying to find a cup or bowl that was 4 1/2 inches was a little challenging, but JJ got his tape measure, and we measured all kinds of round objects!  (Made me feel less guilty about not doing the math homework packet that his teacher sent home from school at the end of the year!)  But as you can tell, we finally found something that worked just fine!

 

The filling was just strawberry jam and some sliced strawberries . . .

 

 . . . then a little egg wash, seal 'em up, shake a little sugar (we just used regular), and pop them in the oven! 

 

We couldn't resist checking on them once . . .

 

 . . . and JJ came running in from the backyard and announced, "I can smell those pies cooking all the way outside!" 

So you've seen the final result, and now I'll let you in a little secret.  I wasn't sure how many pies the dough would make, so after eight (which was the supposed target number, I realized later!), we rolled the dough back up, rolled out one more and then gave up on the sticky dough.  Total: 9.  Well, that night, after everyone ate one for dessert (that would be four!), and we talked about how good they were and how there were enough for dessert for tomorrow night (that would be eight!), Mama went ahead and helped herself to #9 later that evening on the couch with my feet up on the coffee table.  Delightful! 

O, Pie!

OK, so I am really embarrassing myself here, but once more, a post about food . . .

I had a hard time falling asleep last night, so I broke out my new issue of O magazine and started reading.  Liked the articles about intuition and want to read many of the recommended books, but it was this article, Easy As Pie, that really inspired me!  I used to love to bake when I was a little girl, thanks to my grandmother buying my a Betty Crocker kids' cook book at a young age.  It was my favorite, and I loved to break it out on the weekends and make things from it.  But as I got older, my love for cooking was less about baking and more about food in general!  And I don't know if I have ever made a pie besides pumpkin or sweet potato!  But this article really makes you believe that you can make a pie!  And there are recipes for little Hand Pies as well as regular pies.  And I promise you that I will be making one of these pies here soon and will report back!  Let me know if you try one before I do!

Blissology

So I read about this guy, Eoin Finn, in the June 2011 issue of O.  He is a yoga teacher who had an aha moment in a hammock.  He was so blissed out while laying in his hammock, and he had a notion that if everyone did this, the world would be a better place.  (I remember thinking that after getting a really good massage once!)  So he went back to Vancouver where he lives and set up am"spontaneous relaxation" zone where he invites people passing by to take a break and hang out for a few minutes in a hammock.  Naturally, he met with some resistance at first, but then when people actually stopped and did it, they were much more relaxed when they got up and went on their way.

I think it's a great idea.  Sad to say, though, that I might be one of those people who keeps cruising on by.  Maybe not, though.  I guess it would depend on the day and my mood.  But he's got an entire movement going now.  Check out www.blissology.com if you're interested.

And in hindsight, I probably would keep walking past his hammocks!  Just ask my husband.  I am one of those people who fell out of a hammock, trying to get into one--on my honeymoon, no less!  Oh well. 

Three Words

No, they're not "I love you," but they should get you there!  Just what am I talking about ???

When I was gone last weekend, I took the January 2011 issue of O magazine with me because there was an article in there that I wanted to re-read and also have the time to do the exercise that it was about.  I love Martha Beck, the "advice" columnist if you will, for the magazine.  She doesn't answer questions a la Dear Abby, but she definitely answers some of those questions that probably many of us have swirling around in our brains on a fairly regular basis.

Martha's article, Words to the Wise, is about goal-setting--but not in the usual sense, using nouns and verbs to describe our dreams (like "I want to be a famous blogger!").  She wants us to get to the nitty gritty, the feelings behind those dreams or goals, and see what comes up.  It was a really thought-provoking experience to sit and go through the steps that she suggests.  And I tell you, when you come up with those three words, you will feel pretty good about yourself and ready to look at your life now and see in what situations you might even already feel like this!

I thought about sharing those 3 words that I came up with, but it feels a bit too personal for such sharing!   But I love my words!  And they helped me to come to some realizations about things other than those goals, things like friendship, philanthropy, spirituality, education . . . Intriguing, eh?

Just About or Exactly?

Spent an hour on the couch this afternoon.  Very unusual.  Told Sarah it was "quiet reading time" and enjoyed myself!  (She's so easy to hang out with some days!) 

So . . . an hour on the couch . . . just me . . . and Sarah . . . and Oprah.  And did I read the funniest thing!  Well, some will probably think it is funny.  Others may think it's pure genius.  Apparently there is a website called ShopFruit where you can buy a bra with a "personalized cup" on each side!  Choose "Just About" or "Exactly" for either side if you are "asymmetrical.  (It may be TMI to tell you what I am, so I'll just keep mum on the matter!)  As Adam Glassman, O's Creative Director, sums it up, "For only $5 a cup, you get a customized undergarment--about the same price as two cups of joe!"

OK, but what I found a bit disconcerting--and was mentioned nowhere in the little blurb about this--is that the home page of the website (which I did not direct you to!) says Designed to bring Fun, Color and Comfort into the world of juniors.  HUH???  Junior whats???  I have a feeling that if Adam had mentioned juniors here, not many of Oprah's readers would have found themselves checking out this website!   And really, do "juniors" have issues with lop-sided boobs?  I would think that this is more of a "seniors" issue.  (And I'm thinking that probably anyone over 40--myself included--could me considered a senior here!)  Anyone care to comment?

Addicting Rice

Yes, it's addictive, but no, it's not food!  I was going through the Septmber issue of O magazine and came across a sidebar entitled Kill time (without an ounce of guilt).  It lists a number of websites that are "inspiring and challenging" and encourages us to do something different than snuggling with our TV remotes.

There are two that were particularly interesting to me, but I never made it to the second one after getting hooked on the first!  Check out www.freerice.com and test your vocabulary.  Seriously, if you are the slightest bit "wordy," you will be hooked.  I hate to admit it, but I let my kids scream while I kept playing!  The cool part is that with each correct answer you make, the site donates rice to the UN's World Food Programme.  Check out their Press tab to see what others have to say about this site.  You'll either love it or hate it, I'm afraid, but I think I have found a new solution to those moments when I am feeling "dumb mommy syndrome" sinking in!

 

Mending and Making Do

Two last things out of the April 2010 issue of O magazine . . . and still working the green angle . . .

Check out 3greenmoms for their amazing-looking and -sounding LunchSkins, "cheerful, reusable, dishwasher-safe sandwich and snack sacks."  Their story is cool, and these lunch sacks are cool-looking!  They always seem pricey (which is why I have never bought anything like these in spite of thinking that I should!), but it is estimated that more than 20 million plastic sandwich  bags go into the landfills on a daily basis!  Now that blows my mind!  I love the idea that they can go in the dishwasher.  The website says they just get softer like a pair of old jeans.  I might have to think about getting some of these.  Maybe just the snack size ones for now . . .

An article by Carla Power entitled "The Pleasure of Pinching Pennies" really caught my interest, not because I am a super thrifty person (although just ask my husband about how I will only buy toilet paper on sale!), but because of one paragraph in particular.  Here it is:

Thrift is often dismissed as the sort of Julie Andrews of virtues: familiar and comfortable, but hardly scintillating.  Not so.  Done right, deliberating how you spend has a hidden voluptuousness.  Thrift allows you to appraise the world anew.  It's about perusing life's possibilities, then homing in on the ones that make you the happiest.  Raised in a family of tightwads, I've known this for awhile, but more people, it seems, are discovering it during these hard economic times.  If you're trying to keep up with the Joneses, it's the Joneses who ultimately choose the kitchen or car you're going to buy (italics mine).Thrift allows you to go explore the wilds of your own desires.  For many of us, the current rediscovery of what my British friends call "mending and making do" feels more liberating than the go-go years ever did.

I love the concept of "mending and making do," and I also love how it sounds!  It sounds like something my grandmother would have said.  (It makes me miss her.)  And I just think that Power's statement about "the Joneses" is simply a fascinating new way to look at that whole concept!  It sure gives the Joneses a lot of power!