Banana Bread Recipe (SOOO good!)

We got the banana bread out of the freezer last night that I made on the "2 hours and $20" day... it was SO GOOD, so I thought I'd post the recipe. That loaf didn't even last 24 hours in this house!

Ingrediants:
1/2 Cup Butter (1 Stick)
2 eggs
1 Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Cup Ripe Bananas
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1 1/2 Cup sifted flour (I didn't sift mine..)
1/2 Cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 Cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate ones)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix: butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla in a bowl until creamy
Add: Bananas and cinnamon and mix well.
Add: baking soda, salt, sour cream, flour Mix until all smooth.
Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour until done.

I got this recipe off of cooks.com. It froze really well. I plan to make a couple loaves next week! I'll see how well the recipe doubles or even triples. =)

garden space

This year I am trying to figure out what keeps the weeds down the best. I try and use organic methods so weeds are the most work. I divided the garden in thirds. My dad came and rotatilled the garden

(Thanks dad!) and then I covered one part with a degradable paper (looks like thick brown paper bag material) the middle is straw and the other is not covered and I plan to rotatill it again before planting...so then I will know which works best for keeping the weeds down. With such a warm winter, I hope to get some peas into the ground at the end of the month.

Chick box cleaning day!

This chicks are AMAZING entertainment for Elle! She draws them pictures, sings them songs, reads them books, watches them, talks to them, protects them from our dog and cat... it is truly all day entertainment ...(which is GREAT for MY sanity!) We'll see how long it lasts, but for now we are loving it!

Today I wanted to give them new sawdust so Elle and I made a little "fence" with her blocks to put them in while I cleaned out the box. It was hilarious... they really wanted to break out! One even went through the little hole in the block! Elle was so funny, she is sort of scared of them so she wouldn't put them back in herself, she'd just run away and start shouting that "one got out!"... Adorable.

hellebore pictures

I Love these flowers. They are so early to bloom, the blooms last for SO LONG and the greenery stays year round. They continue to grow to larger "bushes" and have such cool flowers! They do well in the shade which makes them great for some color under trees or on north sides of buildings.

Rooting Pussy Willows

Just an experiment... I hear rooting willows is really easy, so I am trying it out. Supposedly just cutting the branches and putting them in water will produce roots after a couple weeks. So we'll see! =)

 I am going to try it with honeysuckle as well.

The chicks have arrived!

The chicks came today. Odd to pick up our "mail" on a Sunday, but they arrived at the place they go before getting sent out to the post offices and they called with the option to come get them, so we did! Elle was SO excited! Murray McMurray sent us an extra 3 chicks so we got 28!!! What a tiny box they were shipped in, for body heat in traveling. We had to "teach" each of them to drink water by dunking their beaks in the water dish before letting them loose in their new home (a large cardboard box). Elle just loves to sit there and watch them. It'll be fun to see them grow!