Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Winter Mishigas

I hate this winter. It's been one thing after another. There were constant snow storms. Nothing major, just 3 to 5 inches each time, but they kept coming, time after time after time. I had infections in both of my ears and a broken toe, making it just as difficult to leave the house in the smaller snow events (since I could only wear a flip flop on one foot) as it would have been in larger snow storms. 

To make things worse, we had whipping winds. More than once we joined our neighbors chasing trash cans up the street (yes, with me in flip flops) and of course on one of the coldest days PurDude had his first flat tire of the year (and yes, multiple flat tires in a year is a thing, for his car anyway). 

So, needless to say, I spent a lot of time in the house. And although I love to read, scream and swear at the national news and play a little sudoku, winter is (take my word for it) a long, long, long season. Out of desperation, I came up with a few diversions around the house to keep me occupied. And, big bonus, a fun game to play with the family at the end of the day. I thought I'd share some of my new pastimes. If you ever find yourself with 2 ear infections and a broken toe in the winter time, perhaps you'll need to amuse yourself too. 

Winter Mishigas, or how to amuse yourself while stuck indoors. | Graphic property of www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics #winter


~ Count all of your toothpicks. 
     *Remember this number but don't tell anyone, it's on a need to know basis (trust me on this).

~ Do the laundry, not just the underwear because you don't have a clean pair, all of the laundry.
     *Keep track of how many loads you've done. 

~ Go through the fridge and throw out any item with a "use by" date before the year 2000. 
     *Be sure to make note of how many items you discard.

~ Use every item in your make-up drawer. Color is cheerful on a dismal day.
     *You may want to refrain from posting a pic on social media. Unless, of course, you're so desperate to leave the house you don't mind doing it in a straight jacket.

~ Open a bag of candy. You know, the one hiding in your underwear drawer or in the back of your baking ingredients shelf (don't even try to tell me you don't hide candy, no way I'll believe you) and count how many pieces are inside. Compare it to the number specified on the package. Hint: If you get the same number as the company, count again. Use your fingers and toes if you have to. I won't tell.
     *Yes, note both numbers.

~ Bake. Duh. 
     *Write up a blog post and share the recipe. They'll be so impressed.

 Tastes Like a Candy Bar Cookies are versatile cookies inspired by some favorite candy bars. Many ingredient options, use the ones that work best for your tastes. | Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #chocolate
Tastes Like a Candy Bar Cookies


~ Rearrange all of your seasonings and spices in alphabetical order.
     *Take a picture and post on Instagram. They'll be so impressed.

~ Do a dinner challenge. Make dinner with whatever you have on hand. Anything with a "use by" date of 2000 till present is fair game.
     *Snapchat a pic of your concoction creation. They'll be so impressed.

~ Now that you've cooked dinner, re-rearrange all of your seasonings and spices back in alphabetical order. 
     *Note: no need to post the re-arrangement on Instagram. However, if it doesn't look exactly like it did last time, go through them singing your ABCs to see where you went wrong.

~ When the family gathers for dinner, offer to play a new game of trivia to see who cleans the kitchen and takes out the trash. 
     *Sample trivia questions:
      How many toothpicks do we have in the house?
      How many loads of laundry does it take to clean all of our clothes?
       How many items did we have sitting in the fridge that had a "use by" date before the year 2000?
     How many different colors are represented on my face? 
      Tell them how many candies the bag says are in the package. How many are there actually? This can be a trick question, of course as you may have eaten a few when counting. But that's for you to know and them to never find out.
      What are the ingredients in this dinner?

~ Take a picture of whoever is doing the after dinner chores and send it to everyone in your "contacts" list. They'll be so impressed.
     

Is it Spring yet? Please tell me it's almost Spring . . .


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Tastes Like a Candy Bar Cookies        
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients (makes about 50 cookies):
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 stick margarine, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 box (about 3.5 oz) Almond Joy, Mounds or Hershey's Chocolate instant pudding mix
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda 
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips, semi sweet, dark or a combination of both
1/2 cup of toasted coconut, brickle baking chips or a combination of both

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper
*Cream together the butter, margarine, brown sugar, sugar, and pudding mix of your choice. Beat in the eggs.
*Slowly at first until incorporated, beat in the flour and baking soda. Add the mix-ins of your choice.
*Roll into 1 inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to sit on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before removing to cool completely.

14 comments:

  1. You know having grown up in snow in MA, I understand. I think those who have lived their entire lives along the west coast or in the south where snow does not happen would speculate the need/rationale for your games. They of course would be WRONG!

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  2. This sounds like what I do on my regular mundane days, our weeks of rain (which we’ve had a lot of) and just plain old boring days. D thinks I’m loosing it when I say things like “guess how many beans were in the bag” lol

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  3. How often do we say we just want to stay home and do nothing, then when we are stuck at home with nothing to do we complain about being stuck at home

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  4. Yes, it’s great to think of having nothing to do, until you hurt yourself or get sick (congratulations, you did both!) and suddenly you are soooooo bored. I wouldn’t even have thought of alphabetizing my spices. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I have to admit that they remained that way for about a hot minute.

      Delete
  5. I suspect I would be a horrible invalid, because after a couple of days in the house I go stir crazy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do too, but I look out the window and not leaving the house seems a little more palatable.

      Delete
  6. Sounds so yummy. I'm LOLing, imagining you counting toothpicks.

    ReplyDelete

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