A Beautiful Day With my Husband.

I feel like I so rarely get a perfect day, but last Monday was just such a day.
It started out as a yard work day, then it became a quick lunch and trip to the beach.

While having lunch we saw a tug boat 

coming into Sandwich Marina.

If you look hard enough you can see the 

Sagamore Bridge in the background!

Seafood Sam's is now open so we had

 to go for Gary's favorites.

There were fried clams, Scallops, and 

onion rings and cole slaw.

Just around the corner is our Boardwalk.

We took our dog for the trip and I just feel like it was the perfect day.

I love my little family, and days like this make me thankful to be alive!!

Love~Victoria~

Fluttering in MA.

I have been a FLY baby for years... if you don't know what I am talking about, Please go to this site now (http://www.flylady.net/) and learn about it....I will wait here till you get back........

Ok so now that you have a better idea of what I mean about being a FLY baby, I can share with you my story.

When I say I am fluttering it is because I will start to follow the ways of the FLY Lady, and then burn myself out. It has been happening like this for years I will start by jumping in where I am and then I do too much because of my Perfectionist ways.

I just don't seem to get the real message that Marla is trying to get across to me. But this year I feel different. I read this years mission statement and a light bulb clicked on in my head. It was so simple.

Perfectionism is shelved in 2012.

That's it. Simple right?

I had been failing at this for so long because my perfectionism kept getting in the way.
So I recently decided that I needed to take things slowly. Now because I have done this before
I already knew about jumping in where you are, so that's what I did.

I woke up one day and got dressed to lace up shoes. Again simple. I was dressed and ready for anything. That day I made up my routine for the week and a Menu plan as well.
                                                                   Then I shined my sink.

The next day I got dressed to shoes again...and went to work on following the flight plan I created for the week....I jumped in on ZONE 2 the Kitchen.

This is the other side of my counter almost totally clutter free.

You can see my Flight plans listed on the cabinet door. 

And my cup of Ice water I drink about 4 every day.

This is the rest of our small kitchen counter space. Clear of clutter as well, and on 

the cabinet above my mixer is the Recipe for our meal that night.

One of the things I love most about the FLY Lady and her mission, is that she just wants you to take it 15 min at a time because the mess didn't appear over night, it took time to make your mess and it is gonna take time to clean it all up.  The truth is we want the mess to disappear now, and that is the perfectionist in us just nagging away.  I have a hard time remembering that slow and steady wins the race.

After I was done with the kitchen counters I moved on to decluttering my bedroom, It really wasn't that bad, but it is still a work in progress. I did manage to get our headboard, side tables nice and clean.

Then I made our bed up and vacuumed, and now it feels like an oasis to go in there.

I love my bed at the end of the day. My husband and I built this together the year we got married.

Above the mirror is a Plaque he made me for an anniversary present one year it says "always kiss me goodnight" and I love it so much :)

Our bedroom is an extension of the love we share for one another. I am so happy to have reclaimed it.

I am still learning to Finally Love Myself(FLY)

but with Marla's help, kind words of encouragement, and loving wisdom, I know I will get there some day.  Until then I will flutter along, sing a happy song and try to shelve the perfectionism that has kept me from FLYing for so many years.

I will keep posting about my adventures in FLYing as I continue to grow and declutter.  Please let me know what you have been doing to FLY and kick perfectionism out the door!!!

Love ~Victoria~

My Cake Decorating Adventures!!

As I have said before I love to bake and create, and recently I decided to take my local cake decorating class. I thought it would be fun to learn a new thing or two...but it turns out I know quite a lot already :)

My teacher Cindy thinks I will make a good teacher, so I am taking all the classes, and the (dreaded by me) Fondant classes....lol . Now I am not afraid of fondant, per say...I am just not a fan of the taste.

I was watching cable at a friends house...lol(I don't have cable at my house)and I ran across the Cake Boss on TLC, so I watched it....and I saw him build this Beautiful cake(then he covered it in fondant). What surprised me was that when it was time to serve this cake, he deconstructed it and served the cake without the fondant!!! I was shocked, and happy at the same time. I didn't know that that was what was done....I always thought that you cut it up and served it with the fondant (and you just had to peel it off yourself..LOL)

 So now I am looking at fondant as a removable(non edible) decoration!!! I just might like this after all :) Now onto the Food Porn...lol this is my last cake...Enjoy!!

Birthday Cake for my Favorite sister in law!!

I love how my cake class cake turned out!!

I have gotten pretty good at the 

basket weave technique!!

Thank you for enjoying my passion 

through pictures...I promise to keep posting.....

as long as I have ideas!!!

Love ~Victoria~

My Famous Banana Bread

This is my Famous Banana Nut Bread Recipe Tutorial!

I am about to share it with you all,

but first you must promise not to tell anyone where you got it.....lol

okay you can share it, but you have to promise

 to always add the "secret Ingredient"!

And Here it is.....

Victoria's Famous Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients

1/3 c. Butter (room Temperature)

1/2 c. Granulated Sugar

1/2 c. Brown sugar(packed)

1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean paste

2 Eggs

3 to 6 VERY Ripe Bananas(depends on size)(mashed)

Enough water to equal 2 1/2 cups Liquid/Bananas

1 and 2/3 c. All Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/4 tsp. Baking Powder

1 cup Coarsely Chopped Pecans(optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease or spray just the bottom of your loaf pans!!

Pre-assemble all the ingredients.

Using the steps below combine 

the ingredients as follows....

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 60 min.

This is what I like my bananas to 

look like for Banana Bread!!

                                      
                                                                Room temperature butter.

                                                                Eggs and Pure Vanilla.

                                                                       The sugars.

                                                                  Chopped Pecans.

                                                            All the dry ingredients.

The mashed bananas and enough water 

to equal 2.5 cups of liquid.

All the ingredients ready to go!!

Step 1 Cream the butter...

Step 2: Mix the butter and 

sugars together.

Scrape the bowl down to ensure an even mixture.

Takes about 3 to 5 min to cream the 

butter and sugars till light an fluffy.

Step 3: add the eggs and Vanilla...

combine well and scrape the bowl down...

continue to mix well until light and fluffy again.

Step 4: add banana and water 

mixture and combine well.

Step 5: add the dry ingredients

 and mix until just moist.

Step 6: Optional!!! 

Add the chopped nuts and fold in by hand!!

Step 7: divide the mixture between 

the two prepared loaf pans.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 60 min. or until a tooth 

pic inserted in center comes out clean.

I made three batches at once here!!

All done and beautiful!!!

This is a very moist bread, allow to cool

 in the pans on a cooling rack before you cut.

Enjoy with anything you like, here

 we like cream cheese or butter!!

If you want to save one for later, wrap 

tightly with plastic wrap(while still slightly warm), label, and place

 in a ziploc freezer bag, before you freeze.

In case you have to ask my secret ingredient is actually

(that I use extra ripe or frozen bananas)

And LOVE!!

I hope you enjoy my recipe as much as my family and friends do.

It is what I make for them every Christmas.

A few times a year(when I have accumulated enough 

bananas in the freezer)

 I make a few batches and give some away and 

store a few in the freezer.

I make it as a treat, it is a specialty that I like to share

on occasion, but you may like to make it every week!!!

Please enjoy and let me know how yours comes out!!!

Love ~Victoria~