Hot, Fresh, Salty & Savory: Rosemary Pretzel Recipe

I like whenever we can make something ourselves that we'd normally buy - and I love it when that thing we make is absolutely better than the thing we'd normally buy.  Pretzels are 100% better fresh out of your own kitchen.  And they're pretty easy to make, to boot.  So easy, in fact, that my husband (who isn't known to do much in the kitchen) just decided to up and make them the other night.  Out of the blue.

These guys, pictured above, were made using a pretty standard recipe from TwoPeasAndTheirPod.com that we've stuck with for some time now, but we opted to use thyme from our garden instead of the rosemary called for in the recipe.  We've used rosemary in the past, and I think I like it even better, but thyme is what we had so thyme is what we used.  Deelish.

We didn't make the cheese sauce that goes with these in the recipe, and as a matter of fact, we've never actually made that sauce.  But I talk about it and one day, I'll probably get around to it.  The thing is that once you take these out of the oven you're pretty much done for the day.  The smell of freshly baked pretzels is intoxicating - and they usually lead to a tall pint.  Intoxication attracts intoxication, I guess!

Enjoy making these - you'll totally love them.

Your House: Don't Forget to Turn it On

In my first post I talked about some important chapters, or topics I intend to cover in-depth and offer varying tools and perspectives to help you out.  To help me out.  Really, to help us all out.  I want to start today with "Using Your Home," because no matter where you are - eventually, you gotta go home.  "Home" is universal - and I think it's easy to say it matters, deeply, how you feel about your home.

One thing I've learned from our recent renovation, but I could have just as easily learned from any of the work I've done to my apartments before this one, is to remember to STOP.  You don't own or rent your home for the purpose of working on it, do you?  I know I don't.  And when people said our house looked amazing and "oh my gosh - you guys just love this home improvement stuff, don't you??"  The answer I'd give them was:  No.  We're doing this so that one day we can stop working and spending and just live in it.  Because we bought this house for some important reasons, and none of them were "to practice our home improvement skills."

Ask yourself a question here - and I wrote down my answers, maybe you want to, too.  Because this piece is huge.  And different for absolutely everyone.  What do you want your home to give you?  That's right:  give you.  If it were your dream gadget and fulfilled your deepest desires for yourself and your family - what would it make for you?

I want my home to give us peace, giggles, art of all kinds, a place to read, homegrown vegetables, home cooked meals (sitting by the dozens in the freezer), hugs, celebrations, great conversations, quiet moments of private revelation...  Well, there's a lot I want from it.  For me.  For our family.

So, am I remembering to turn on this peace/giggle/art/conversation/celebration machine?  Do I have this incredible contraption that I'm perpetually polishing and photographing and telling people about...all the while forgetting to actually USE THE THING?  It's as though I was so excited to have the superpower of flight that I bought capes, told family members, envisioned where I'd fly to...but never FLEW.

My hope for all of us today is that we go home and remember to turn it on.  Let's FLY.  Go ahead.  It's waiting for you - and you don't have to do a thing more to improve it today.  Just use it.

Getting Organized: Naming Chapters

Chapters are an essential element for me when I'm taking on a big project.  I'm a procrastinator and will cheerily wallow in the "it's all too much/too big/too complex" phase of my big ambitions and ideas.  Because the purpose here is to improve our relationships with our houses, our careers, our families, our spouses, our bodies and ourselves, I think chapters are an excellent way to outline what I'm going to attempt to examine.

The Chapters

• Using Your Home
• Growing In Your Career
• Nurturing A Family
• Living Your Marriage
• Body Joy
• Being Your Own Best Friend

Look for posts in each of these chapters to flesh out the tactics and innovative perspectives that, within each of these, will help us all to live fully in the present, appreciating what we have and where we are - all while dreaming big.