What does this look like to you?

My husband loves bananas and he used to eat a lot of them, but lately there's been a trend around our house. Seems like instead of Doug eating bananas by themselves or with peanut butter, they are being left to ripen...only to mysteriously turn into some sort of baked good. So, when I saw these ripe bananas this afternoon, they looked like banana-chocolate-chip-cherry muffins to me. {And I don't usually keep Tootsie Rolls in our fruit bowl, this is a piece left over from Halloween. I started to take it out for the photo and thought, "nah, keep it real..."}

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Two years ago today, Carrie thought I needed a blog and I protested - just like I did when she insisted that I have a MySpace {which I never really used} and Facebook {which I actually really like}. She set the blog up for me, and showed me how to create my first post.

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These past two years have been very interesting, and oh so enjoyable. I have loved sharing my thoughts and crafts and frustrations and recipes and antics on this little space. I have loved making friends across the country and the planet, and I have also loved getting to know about different traditions around the world.

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Through following blogs that I love, I think I have become a better writer, a better photographer, and a better cook.

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I consider myself to be a very basic cook - always follow the recipe exactly and don't even think about changing it up. But lately I've been stepping out of the box when it comes to recipes, and this afternoon I made the same banana bread recipe I've been making for 20 years, but I changed it up..

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I added a little more flour to keep them from being so dense, and chopped up some cherries for a little zing, doubled the vanilla, and I used butter instead of shortening.

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Yes, a lot of things have changed in the past two years. When I used to look at ripe bananas, they looked like banana pancakes, or banana chocolate chip muffins. Now they look like a blog post.

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November Attitude of Gratitude:

* I am grateful for a daughter who pushes me to do new things.

* I am grateful for the many wonderful people and lessons the blog world has given me.