If its Zucchini it Must be Fall

You know its the first week of fall in my house when I start getting bored with eating fresh zucchini (How is it that one plant produces so many vegetables?) and I start baking.

I hate baking. Its so structured with no room for fun...or so I use to think.

As I was searching for a new zucchini muffin recipe (you can only eat so many zucchini muffins before you hate them) and I discovered pineapple zucchini cupcakes. I was instantly excited. It was fairly easy but I thought I could tweak it a little to make it, not better, more me.

MJ's Pineapple Zucchini Muffins

•  3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• a pinch of grated ginger root
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract                                                                                                                                       
• 20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained 
• 2 cups unpeeled grated zucchini                     

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2: Combine the flour, oats, flax seed, coconut and dry spices in a large bowl. Mix ingredients well.

Step 3: In a separate bowl mix the honey, ginger, olive oil, eggs, vanilla and pineapple.

Step 4: Squeeze most of the moisture out of the zucchini and add to wet ingredients.

Step 5: Combine the wet ingredients into the dry and blend well.

Step 6: Spoon into lined cupcake tins

Step 7: Bake for 25 minutes.

Check out the Pineapple Zucchini Cupcake recipe that inspired me.

My Favorite Reason its Fall

I love fall! It is truly my favorite time of year.

Beyond the reprieve from the summer heat, the beautiful colors and of course pumpkin flavored everything; I love that its the time of year for sweaters to come out of storage and boots can be worn everyday.

That's right I love fall because of the clothes. 

Its rather shallow of me but what can I say I look good in sweaters and love boots.

I have always liked sweaters and I am sure it has everything to do with having large breasts and being short.

I know you are confused....I have that effect but let me try and explain. At 5'1" clothes just are not made for me. With most collars I show a fair amount of cleavage. I don't mean to but I just have so little space from the bottom of my neck to the top of my breasts (is that your decolletage?) that even a modest v-neck shows more than is decent outside a night club in Las Vegas.

But sweaters cover all that area. No need to layer. No need to double or triple check the mirror. No need to change your outfit because you can't wear that to work. Sweaters are really the most perfect article of clothing for a short big busted girl. There is the added benefit that a sweater worn correctly will enhance your bust line no matter the size.

My love of boots started young. I blame it on the movie Footloose, the original with Kevin Bacon. In one scene the heroine of our story was wearing red cowboy boots and this was the beginning of my obsession with boots not to mention my desire to one day own red cowboy boots...that day hasn't come yet but it will, eventually.

I guess you can say it had a impact on me.

I want to watch Footloose now...the original not the new one.

Score I just found out you can instant stream it on Netflix.

I will see you later.

How Do You Know its Fall?

Monday through Friday I drive through a "treacherous canyon" on my commute to and from work. In the summer its hot and in the winter its freaking scary sometimes.

But in the fall its beautiful. Its how I know fall has arrived. All week long I have been watching the leaves and the scenery change....probably not the smartest thing I have done while driving but I couldn't help myself. 

So for your viewing pleasure* I would like to present Sardine Canyon (dont ask me about the name...I never understood it).

*A special thanks to The BF who not only drove me on my recent photo shoot but knew just where to take me to get some really good pictures.

Great School Memory???

Do you have a great school memory?

I bet you do!!! I bet you have an awesome, amazing, spectacular memory. A memory that made you into the person you are today. It may be sad or happy but I bet you have one.

I don't have any stand out memories of school.

Dont judge me because of my hair.

Don't get me wrong I have blocked it all out just nothing stands out.  I got along with most people and had relatively little drama (it was high school so I'm sure we were dramatic but nothing outstanding). I don't recall kissing a boy in school but I am sure I must have...I was a normal girl and dated but again nothing stands out in my mind (sorry guys).

So lets go further back than high school (I am skipping the college years...my mom has to get dementia before I will relive those memories in writing). Jr.High that was a fun time. Not really...I was fairly awkward in Jr.High and beyond letting my mom dye my hair in the 8th grade they were fairly uneventful.

That leaves grade school...that was a really long time ago, can I even remember that far back?

Not really?

Now I am all sad that I don't have that stand out memory...of course since graduating high school I have suffered not one not two but five Traumatic Brain Injuries. You read that right FIVE Traumatic Brian Injuries. And all of them were in a 4 - 5 year time frame. That's one a year. Its amazing that I can remember my name let alone what happened 20+ years ago.

So if you went to school with me please please please share any memories you have of me.

Is It Fall Already?

This week I am participating in The SITS Girls - Fall Back to Blogging challenge.

What...you haven't heard of SITS Girls? Shame on you. Its an amazing site that has 40,000 women bloggers dedicated to supporting one another by leaving comments & learning about blogging. You should go check them out here.

Besides the constant support they have many blogging tips, blogging conferences, they also have (and this is my favorite part) challenges.

This challenge is all about refocusing on blogging complete with writing prompts to get your creative juices flowing. 

If you want to sign up you can do that here.

Here is what I will be doing this week.

Monday

Whether you have kids or not, we’re sure you have a great school story that you haven’t shared. It might be a teacher who inspired you, a disastrously funny moment, or getting your first kiss by the lockers before 4th period Geometry class – we want to read your best school memory.

Tuesday

Show us a picture of what fall looks like in your neck of the woods. Or show us a picture that means “fall” to you.

Wednesday

Fall is a great time to write, because it is a season filled with colors, smells, and textures (fuzzy scarves, itchy sweaters, crunchy leaves) – all ingredients for a great story. Share one of your favorite fall memories with us, or something you look forward to each fall (hello, Pumpkin Spice Latte, my old friend).

Thursday

Share your favorite fall craft or autumn recipe.

Friday

Link up a post you wrote on this day (September 28th) from a previous year. If you didn’t publish something on the 28th, link up a post from that week.

I hope you will join me.

Its My SITS DAY!!!!!

Me!!!

OMG!!!! Its finally arrived. The day when all my SITS Sistas are coming to visit. And that means I have company coming. I hope I did everything I wanted to do to prepare.

• Every thing clean and shiny...check.
• Dirty laundry hidden...check.
• Lipstick wiped off milk jug...check.
• "Pseudo" step-kids washed and threatened to be polite or else...check. 
• Trip to the liquor store...double check.

Welcome, my name is Michael (I prefer MJ) and I am a girl...have I already said that? I am always saying that...its the story of my life. 

The BF fixing things.

I want to invite you to make yourself comfortable and enjoy a cookie and a cocktail...may I suggest my signature drink The Sweet MJ (I even make an alcohol free version if you prefer).

Really quick a little bit about myself. I am in my late 30s (when did that happen), I live with my BF, his 2 kids (my "psedeo" step-kids) 3 dogs and a cat. I started blogging in 2010 to share my mad cap adventures with friends and family. Soon I started blogging about my bizarre thoughts and about my relationship with The BF and family. Please don't take anything I write too serious; I am mostly tongue in cheek and I am always looking for the humor in everything. After all, if you can't laugh at your self you can't laugh with others.

If you are like me and live to read books please check out my second blog: A Girl Named Michael Reads a Book.

To learn more check out my about me page, my favorite posts page and my how we met page.

I hope you have a nice time here today. Please feel free to look around and tell me about yourself.

Are you asking yourself what is SITS? Well let me invite you to check out this awesome blogging community boosting 15,000 women bloggers that believes the Secret to Successes is Support.

To be honest they are so much more than just a community. They really want to help you to be the kind of blogger you want to be and offer support regardless if you are a brand new blogger or a veteran blogger.

They offer forums, free online classes, tips to making your blog and a Blogging Boot Camp (which is the only thing I haven't done but I am hoping to one day)

Please check them out at The SITS Girls.

A Girl w/out a Niche

Recently I joined a blogging forum/site The SITS Girls. They are all about supporting woman bloggers. And they are amazing, fun, inspiring and all those other good adjectives. Right now they are doing a 30 day challenge to improve your blog and increase your followers. Besides being fun its been very helpful. Recently they have been talking about connecting with other bloggers in your niche. My only problem is I am not sure what my blogging niche is. I have never thought about my blog beyond its all about me, me and me. I do post book reviews does that make my blog a book reviewer blog. I don’t consider myself a book reviewer, I really only include them because they are such a big part of my life.

And now I am a feeling like a square girl in a round life or a round girl in a skinny world. It takes me back to be a kid in a small town and having the only divorced mom in town. Living in Utah and not being LDS. Being a Liberal in a Conservative family. Working in a social worker field with a degree in Microbiology. You get the idea.

Now I wonder do I need a niche. Will my blog suffer without one? Do I care? I would like to say no but a do I want to have a successful blog that people enjoy reading.

So please help me...What is my niche????