bountifulplate

My 30th  high school reunion was this past weekend and living 10 hours away I had toyed with the idea of going to it, but decided it would just be too expensive and hard to work out.  I had lots of mixed feelings being that I didn't have the best experience in high school.  I think others out there can relate.  I was bullied at times by other girls, and actually couldn't wait for high school to be done so I  could graduate and move on with my life.  I have wondered sometimes what my high school friends were doing.  When I decided to join Facebook I hooked up with some of my old "peeps" and compared notes on our lives. My daughter is going into 10th grade and to her high school of course is the biggest thing in her life right now.  She is building much better memories than I had.   I have told her more than once that high school is just part of your life.  More things are waiting in the future - graduating high school, graduating col...

I had my son when I was over 40 years old and my hubby was over 50 years old.  I guess you could say our little guy was kind of a "surprise."  When he was little he cried more than the average baby.  I was kind of out of practice because my daughter was 8 when he was born so it had been a while since diapers and all-nighters.  Around the time of his birth things were very chaotic, we were traveling back and forth to Cleveland because my hubby's dad was ill.  After his dad passed we then cleaned out their house which was packed with stuff.  We made lots of trips back and forth to Cleveland, being my husband is an only child and at the time his mom was still in Cleveland in an assisted living facility.  I didn't notice that my son wasn't really talking or communicating.  As we soon came to find out he had Autism.  Being such a proactive person once I found that out I have done tons of research.  So many people along the way on this journey...

When I go to the grocery store I always seem to pick up bananas.  Even though 2 out of the 4 of us in our house really don't eat them, I still buy them.  My hubby will say, "why do you keep buying them if nobody eats them?"  I keep meaning to put them in his lunch and then get caught up just trying to get his lunch made before he leaves for work and  I end up just giving him some other kind of fruit.  So, I end up making banana bread or muffins every week.  My go to recipe for banana bread/muffins came from an old cookbook given to me by an old office mate at least  15 years ago.  I have adapted it several times, but this I have found to be the best recipe:  3 medium sized bananas, 1 3/4 cups white  flour, 1/2 cup white sugar, 2  large eggs, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 6 tablespoons margarine or butter.   Mash bananas in separate bowl with fork.  So...

One thing that I have discovered (especially this past year) is that when you lose someone special to you there are two ways to view it.  One is positively and one is negatively.  I choose to view it in a positive way.  My daughter was very close to her grandfather (my husband's father) and he passed away back in 2005.  Just this past January we lost my mother-in-law (my husband's mother).  My daughter had gotten particularly close to her because her other grandmother lives back in Maryland.  When she passed away it was really hard on my daughter.  She is still actively mourning her grandfather and it's been difficult to comfort her and know just the right words to say.  One thing I heard recently is that when someone passes away one of the worst things you can say is, "I know how you feel."  Unless you have been in someone's shoes you really don't know.  The best words that I have found to comfort her and others that I know that are gri...

I have been baking and cooking since I was very young.  It really is a true passion of mine.  I love to cook and bake for my family and friends.  When I was about 12 or so I had just took a cake out of the oven and had set it on the counter to let it cool.  I guess I got a little impatient (well, okay, a lot impatient) and tried to remove the cake from the pan before it had cooled enough.  It would have been okay, except I tried to do it over the sink where there was a bowl of soapy water.  You guessed it, it landed right in the soapy water!  I remember being so upset about it.  I was telling my daughter the other day that if I had let that stop me from ever trying to cook or bake again just because I failed, it would have been terrible and my own family would never have enjoyed the benefits of my cooking and baking.  Don't be afraid to try again even if you make mistakes.  I promise you, you will be much better for it!

Being a stay-at-home for 15 years (hard to believe it's been that long) the weekends seem just like another day of the week.  Saturdays we usually go to Mass, hang out as a family and kind of goof off.  Sundays are reserved for washing clothes, getting ready for the week ahead and used to be when we would have my mother-in-law over for dinner.  My husband was an only child and my mother-in-law was very close to him.  As my mother-in-law got older and I got to know her better, I feel like she was one of my best friends.  I would wash her clothes and try to visit her as much as I could.  Starting with this time last year she started having a lot of memory problems.  Around the Christmas of 2010, she was admitted to the hospital because she wasn't eating.  As we soon discovered she had advanced dementia.  While the kids were at school my husband and I would go to the hospital and sit by her bedside.  She was really not able to communicate v...

This is my first entry on my blog.  I have thought about doing this for some time and decided to just jump right in! I want this blog to be open to anyone!  A little about myself - I was born and raised in the Washington, DC area. We moved to the Midwest shortly after 9/11 and have now been here over 9 years.   I feel like I have experienced quite a lot in my 48 years on this earth.  I have challenges just like everyone else, but food has always been a passion of mine.  I cook and/or bake every day.  I guess you could call it a hobby :)  I plan on using this blog to connect with others out there that have challenging lives and just want to talk, be it about food or just about the kind of day you've had.   I have an amazing stepson, so I have experience with that.  I have a son with Autism, so I can speak to that.  I have experienced the loss of both of my in-laws, so I can speak to that.  I have aging parents, so I can speak to...