Housebound, But Keeping Warm

Until our driveway melts, I'm stuck at home. I haven't had my car down off our hill in over a week because of snow and what not. I'm hoping things might melt enough today, because it's supposed to get up around 40F. But if not today, tomorrow is supposed to be around 50F. I could most probably get the car out of the driveway (by sliding down the icy part straight towards the road--a little harrowing) but I probably couldn't make it back up again. And the thought of carrying Holly and groceries back up is something I'm not tackling. My husband has been making it up and down the driveway in his vehicle which is 4WD, but after being laid off for several weeks, he has been back to work again this week. Figures it would coincide with the first time I've really been stuck in the house for the winter. He did bring home milk and toilet paper last night, so we're not without the necessities. And staying in does keep the budget in check!

Our furnace isn't quite keeping up with this cold snap we've been having. We normally don't spend this much time with really cold weather. Plus we've been fortunate enough to be able to add onto our house, but that means the furnace is trying to keep up with heating a larger area. We'll have to make adding another furnace a priority before next winter because we've got a living room addition framed onto the house right now that would really tax our heating system if nothing was done to it. So, I've been baking something every day just to give the house a little extra warmth. Yesterday I made some maple blond brownies and if I could remember where I found the recipe, I'd be happy to give credit here, but I can't remember! Sorry, but if anybody recognizes it, feel free to claim it and I'll give credit where credit is due. As I was saying, I made these brownies/blondies, and my husband couldn't get enough of them. He seriously wanted me to make another pan last night. The bad thing about them is how much maple syrup they use, but I do like that it uses maple instead of sugar. Unfortunately, they used up about half of my jar of maple syrup which is over $7.00 at the store. So they aren't the cheapest baked treat to make, but I got the feeling that if I told my hubby that I needed to budget half the grocery allowance for maple syrup to make these goodies on a daily basis, he would be fine with that!

Here's the recipe:
Maple Blond Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
  
• 1 cup maple syrup
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
  
• 1 1/3 cups flour
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Butter and lightly flour a 13"x9" pan.
3. Beat butter and syrup in a large bowl.
4. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended.
5. Spread batter in pan.
6. Bake 25-30 minutes.
7. Let cool in pan before cutting.
   

I also added some walnuts into this because I thought it seemed like it needed nuts! My hubby agreed that the nuts were an important ingredient.

And here's something else that has made me feel warm and toasty! I've received two rewards in the last week or two! Thanks so much to Mary at Mother No's Best and Michelle at The Giving Tree Project 2009.

From Mary, I received the Sisterhood Award which was created by Diana of Diana Rambles (another daily read of mine.) It was inspired by the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I love both those movies and just recently watched the second with my own sister. Mary is a kind blogger with multiple talents, and I love peeking in over at her blog to look at her crochet projects and other things she has crafted. She also posts interesting tips and tidbits she digs up. She's looking for a job now, but I hope when she's back to work she is able to keep entertaining us with her blog!

And from Michelle, I received the "You've Been Tagged" award. I've been following Michelle's year of giving since I stumbled on her blog via another blogger who received a special gift from Michelle. Inspired by The Giving Tree book by Shel Silverstein, Michelle has decided to make an effort every day to find some way to give. I loved this book when I was a kid, and it's still a sentimental heart-breaker. I've been avidly following along with her giving journey and am so glad to have found it so close to it's inception so I can watch the whole thing unfold. I'm supposed to list seven weird or random things about myself, but I'm going to leave that for this weekend, hopefully.

So thanks to Mary and Michelle who both warmed my heart with these awards! Be sure to check both of their blogs out, you won't be sorry!