6.28.2012

our famous oatmeal banana bread recipe

about a month ago we got a big bag of organic oats from CostCo. since that day we have made nothing oatmealy at all except about eight loaves of this oatmeal banana bread. it's an experimental recipe i devised based on traditional banana bread. we've made loaf after loaf after loaf lately and i've fine-tuned the ratio of oats-to-flour and made a few other little tweaks and now i think it's just right.
i'm just acknowledging that my kitchen is a mess but that's about as good as it ever looks so whatever.

baking together with Otto is one of my absolutely favorite things to do on earth. it is real mommy-and-me bonding time for us. he loves to dump the ingredients in and stir and sample the ingredients as they go in (especially chocolate chips or dried fruits depending on what we're mixing in). he has embraced a nudist lifestyle of late but i am a stern mama and insist on at least underpants for all sous-chefs in my kitchen!

here's what you need to make our famous oatmeal banana bread:

- 1 cup dry oats
- 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/8 cup ground flax
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 6 Tbsp salted butter - melted
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 mashed ripe bananas
-(optional) 1/2 cup dried fruit, nuts, and/or chocolate chips
-(optional) 1/8 tsp vanilla extract, almond extract, or a little of each

here's what you do:

- grease a little bread pan
- preheat your oven to 350'
- get all of your ingredients ready because you're going to mix them all together at once
- ok, mix it all together
- pour batter into the bread pan and bake for just about 60 minutes

enjoy! this is such a yummy version of banana bread, super moist and the oats give it such a rich flavor and make it feel even more breakfasty. we've been eating it nonstop for a month and going strong. i pack it in Otto's lunches instead of a sandwich some days because he is a little finicky about sammies in his lunchbox but not even a little picky about this banana bread.

you might also like this egg free banana bread recipe from a couple of years ago. whenever i run out of eggs i use this method and have never had a problem. the taste is not affected at all!

6.26.2012

summer mom style

i need a style facelift like whoa lately. it's been on my mind a lot, actually. i have tattoos but i work in an office five days a week which means sleeves five days a week. blah, that gets old fast! (and warm.) i'm also three and a half months postpartum which means the bod is nowhere near my comfort zone. i'm actually really floppy in the belly and the girls (that's cute talk for boobies) don't match (fun!) plus they're both enormous (large marge and larger marge) and in the way (thanks, girls) and between the baby, the toddler, the full-time job, and occasionally wanting to eat or shower or watch Girls (not my girls, the show Girls), i haven't really prioritized "working on my fitness" into my regular routine just yet. i also refuse to seriously diet while breast feeding, so there's that. why am i such a shitty person? ha. anyways... on top of all that i seem to have lost my sense of style somewhere. i want to find it desperately! but i want it to fit who i am today, not who i was ten years ago. i want a wardrobe that i can wear to work or on the weekends, that's effortless but cool, and that still reflects my boho leanings. i want my clothes to look good on my body now, not the body i wish i had. i'm tired of wearing clothes that almost fit or would look great if/when i ever get around to losing 10-15 pounds cause that probably isn't going to happen anytime this year. so... is all of that too much to ask? it's so much easier said than done.

what you are about to see i cannot afford, but Ashley (cool girl, yo) turned me onto Polyvore and i've been playing around on there (you will be hooked!) trying to get some ideas of what i'd really like to have in my closet. i think something like these outfits would be perfect for my current lifestyle and help me feel more like myself. (ahem, and then just imagine a stupid cardigan thrown on top forty hours/week :)
summer mom style



summer mom style


summer mom style


i feel so fancy! i made outfit collages! and just going through the exercise kind of put me in a happy place as far as clothes goes. i think i need to go find some really great t-shirts that i can dress up for work, and wear with flip flops on the weekends. i think this needs to be a t-shirt-heavy summer to fit my lifestyle right now. and then maybe hit DSW and try to find some fun summer shoes. and then Buffalo Exchange and thrift stores for simple dresses and some pants. i'm seriously motivated to get out of my fashion womp womp. i am a fashion womp. and is it just me or do you other moms feel completely disconnected with your fashionable self? i see so many of you doing Steppin' Out Saturday and you're all so stupidly cute and put together. how do you find the time to do that? for reals. i'd love to hear what inspires you or how you find the time.

ps. also, how cute are those wingtips in the bottom collage? i love them.

6.23.2012

loretta at three and a half months

hi baby girl.

i just wanted to say that you are the most beautiful little lady i have ever laid eyes on. and when i look at you, sometimes i just get so overwhelmed with the beauty of you that i get frozen looking, just stuck basking in your presence, and sometimes i can't help but cry because i just love you so so much. there is something so fragile about being mama to a little girl. it's a little different than being mama to a boy. because i know, first hand, how difficult adolescence and young adulthood can be for a girl's sense of self. is it weird of me to be thinking of these things already and worrying for you already? i don't know if it's weird; but i am.

here are some of the things i want for you, my sweet, beautiful daughter.

i want you to grow up with a deep sense of being loved.
i want you to laugh and smile often and unselfconsciously.
i hope to instill in you a passion for reading, word play, and wit.
and confidence that is more than skin deep.
if you enjoy athleticism, i want to support you in that.
if you are a big bookworm geek, i want to support you in that.
just whatever your passions, whatever your interests, i want to empower you however i can to explore them.
and i will work hard to teach you strength of character. through my words and through my actions.
and i will work hard to teach you the importance of good judgement and acting with intention.
so that you will know when and how to do your own thing.
and i hope that you always have the tenacity to do your own thing, whatever that means to you.

i can't wait to see what "your thing" is. who you will be. you amazing little creature.

three and a half months is such a short amount of time but you are already up to so much these days. you love holding onto my fingers so that you can sit up and look around. you belly laugh when we do that and also when i pretend to sneeze after you sneeze or when we tickle your sides. you smell so magical like honey and milk. you roll over sometimes now (please stop this! it is too soon and a little horrifying). you babble and coo more loudly and more often than your brother did. you yell more. cry more. giggle more. spit up more. poop more. where he is our mellow, contemplative guy. i think you may be a bit of a spitfire. you cuss us out pretty regularly, but you also love to snuggle and cuddle and just to be held and to be a part of things. i am so thrilled to continue to see your wonderful, unique personality evolve.

you are an elemental part of our family already. we are a great little family of four! Otto adores being your big brother. i adore watching you watching him. he fascinates you and i can tell already that he will be your hero. he is such a gentle, imaginative, thoughtful guy that i whole heartedly think he will be a great hero for you to have.

i love you so much, sissy.

and if anyone ever tries to hurt you i will destroy them.

6.21.2012

babylegs grab bag giveaway! CLOSED

Congrats to Erica Carnes! You were the winner of this giveaway with comment #60 (winner chosen using random.org number generator)i'll contact you via email!


on Loretta: baby babushka & lil' dumbo legwarmers and on Otto: rocket man
the awesome people over at BabyLegs are giving one OT and ET reader a custom grab bag of products valued at approximately $50. we were so excited to get our BabyLegs grab bag. we love the cute styles and have been wearing them a lot on our weekend adventures around town.

NOTE - THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED to enter the giveaway just visit BabyLegs and let me know what you'd like in your grab bag. since $50 equals about four pairs, you can leave up to four different comments each with a different style you'd like and each comment is an entry. you can like BabyLegs on Facebook and comment for another entry. you can follow BabyLegs on Twitter and comment for another entry. you can also follow OT and ET on Facebook, Networked Blogs, or BlogLovin (see left sidebar) each for an additional entry. make sure your email address is somewhere in your entry so i can contact you if you win. i'll choose a random winner sometime next week. open to US and Canada. hurray! good luck!

6.19.2012

otandet.com

this is the kind of thing that is only exciting to bloggers but i have been a'bloggin for two years now with a lameass "blogspot.com" web address that wasn't even related to the name of my blog anymore. so this is so freaking crazy exciting to me that i! have! no! words!

::stupid grin face:: please meet ::cubed wine solo toast:: please meet ::barfing marshmallow rainbows::

welcome to www.otandet.com ! freakin hurray!

6.16.2012

it's summertime and the living's easy

this evening we barbecued with some friends and, well people, this is what life's all about ♥ first there was running in the sprinklers... in our underpants :)
 oh no. it was too much! i developed perma smile from the too-much-awesome.
miss Loretta was all summery and snoozy. and me? well i should've worn a more figure-enhancing bra (oh my! oh ugh.). but whatever! there was pasta salad. and then there was watermelon eating and more sprinkler action.
 and a little s'mores action, Otto's first!
 and then (after borrowing some dry clothes) we were treated to the most clap-trap ballet.
which ended a little like Black Swan, with Otto leaping to a severe toe-stubbing that kind of ended the evening. dudes, i ate so much pasta salad tonight. and then i ate another huge bowl of it when i got home. because it is good, and Trader Joe's wasabi mayonnaise is the shit. 

dear Oregon, please stay summer, always. okay, thanks.