Angela Agranoff - Sophia O'Malley 01 - Organized Blackmail (5 page)

Makes 12

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled
  

• 2 cups flour
  

• 2 teaspoons baking powder
  

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  

• 1 teaspoon sea salt
  

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  

• 2 bananas, ripe and mashed
  

• 1/2 cup buttermilk at room temperature
  

• 2 eggs, room temperature
  

• 2/3 cup brown sugar, with additional for muffin tops
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease muffin tins, or line with paper cupcake liners.

3. Melt the butter and set aside to slightly cool.

4. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

5.  Mash the bananas in a small bowl using a fork, then stir in the buttermilk, egg and brown sugar with fork.  Fold in the butter.

6. Fold in the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until it is just combined. 

7. Spoon mixture into muffin cups, filing them 3/4 of the way full.

8. Sprinkle each muffin with a large pinch of brown sugar on top.

9. Bake for 20 minutes or until the muffin tops are a golden brown.  Insert a toothpick in center of muffin. Toothpick should come out clean if done.

10.  Cool for 10 minutes and serve.

Makes Lots!

Ingredients:

• 1 Can of tuna, drained
  

• 1 Cup of wheat flour
  

• 1 Tablespoon extra light olive oil
  

• 1 Tablespoon dried catnip
  

• 1 Egg
  

• 1-2 Tablespoons of water, more as needed
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

3. In food processor, combine tuna, flour, olive oil, catnip, egg, and water. Blend until smooth and completely mixed.

4. Roll pieces of dough into little cookies the size of a quarter and put on cookie sheet.

5. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are browned on top.  Cook long enough so they are crunchy.

6. Once cooled, keep in an airtight container and store in fridge.  They will stay fresh for about a week.

These are great for squirrels and birds!

Ingredients:

• Peanut butter
  

• Bird seed
  

• Pinecones
  

• Yarn
  

Directions:

1. Spread peanut butter evenly on pinecone.

2. Roll pinecone in bowl of birdseed

3. Use string or yarn to make a loop long enough to hang on a branch.

Sophia loves organizing bookshelves because she not only loves books, but she feels that bookshelves can be a work of art if decorated properly.  Have you ever felt that your bookshelves have become just an open storage unit?  Follow the tips below to help transform your bookshelves into a work of art!

Over our lifetime, we can collect many items that remind us of special events.  Sentimental items that are given to us by those we care about, especially by children, can make it difficult when we are trying to reorganize our display cases and bookshelves. Unfortunately these items can accumulate and result in dust pile up and bookshelves that look chaotic!

It is possible for you to display your sentimental items and books beautifully.  Design your bookshelves to draw people in instead of being an eye sore.

Here are three suggestions to keeping your bookshelves beautiful and useful:

1.
Only display items that are meaningful to you
. Don't feel obligated to display items that are given to you. Display items that you LOVE. With children's gifts, keep them for a time. Have a scrapbook to hold pictures of your children’s art pieces, filling the sleeves of photographs of the pieces that you don't keep.  This photo album can be beautiful to keep on your bookshelf. This will greatly reduce the art clutter, and there is no guilt that the artwork has been discarded.

2.
Re-arrange your bookshelves at least once a month or while dusting.
Pull out items not being used or that you don’t enjoy anymore. Wipe down the shelves and its contents regularly. Having less on the shelves will make it easier to maintain.

3.
Bookshelves can be artfully decorated.
Limit what you load onto them, using a few special pieces mixed in with books. What is fun about designing your bookshelves is that you can always change it around. You change them to reflect the holidays or if you have purchase a new book. You can also trade pieces in and out so the display stays interesting.  The rule of thumb is to display only two to three items along with your books.  If you have lots of books on a shelf, I would recommend only having one or two items displayed.  These items could include pictures in frames, collectables, small clocks, or sentimental items you collect.  You can line your books in library style vertically, but you can also occasionally display books horizontally, like three or four with a collectable sitting on top of the stack of books. 

Have fun and play around to see what brings a smile to your face.  Your bookshelves are not meant to hold everything, just some books and items that are special to you.

Enjoy redesigning your shelves and remember that less is truly more!

In Eleanor’s home she had a designated room just for her artwork.  But not everyone has a gallery to store all their special pieces.  In Eleanor’s space there was room to not only arrange artwork on the walls for displaying, but also there was space in a back closet to store the extra pieces.  She had wood dividers that ran floor to ceiling so we could slide in pieces vertically, keeping them from being damaged and off the floor. 

Here are some ideas on how you too can store your artwork to keep from being damaged when not on display:

1. 
Framed artwork can be wrapped in bubble wrap.
  You can find archival polyethylene plastic if you want to invest in the preservation of your pieces.  This technique is also useful when you are moving or transporting pieces to a showing.  Make sure that you store these pieces upright instead of stacking on a shelf horizontally.  If you stack multiple pieces on top of each other they can get damaged from the pressure of the weight.

2. 
With unframed artwork you can store in a large portfolio or archival box
. You can purchase a portfolio or make one out of a cardboard box.  You can slide acid-free tissue paper between each piece of artwork.

3.
Keep artwork stored at room temperature.
By storing it at room temperature it will keep it from getting warped or brittle.  It’s best to keep it at room temperature between 65 and 75 degrees.