My Someday List & Oatmeal Raspberry Bars

I am an avid list maker. I come by it honestly – we're a list-making family. It’s what we do – (though they vary in methodology and rigor).  I always have multiple lists going. Sometimes, when my mom and I need to feel productive, we put things on our lists that we are already doing just so we can have the satisfaction of marking things off the list.  I have lists of:

things to do at work, 

things to do at home, 

long range "to do" lists, 

house project "to do" lists, 

foods to make, 

foods that I’ve made and photographed to blog at some point, 

bucket lists, etc. 

A new list I’ve started is a “some day" list. 

This list contains things that someday I want to do.  They are inspired by people doing them for me and they mean so much that I want to do them for someone someday, or they are things I see others doing that I want to also do when the time is right. Many of these things are related to my children when they are grown, things to write about, places to go, hobbies to try.

Here are a few things on my “Some day List” :

My friend, Blair’s mom, Ruth, has sent amazing baked goods to me via Blair as a THANK YOU for loving her daughter in Nashville, being a home away from home for her, as she lives a few hours from home. She sent these INCREDIBLE oatmeal raspberry bars which I love, and a lovely plump loaf of her homemade whole wheat bread. She included a lovely note of gratitude.   Little does she know that WE are the blessed ones!  Blair's wonderful presence and friendship to our family is a gift.  

(I thought to myself, “do this someday”! When my kids are out of my nest. I want to show gratitude via notes and food to those who love and take them into their families and homes). 

another thing on my "do that someday" list is:

When Dave and I bought our first house, I was so excited to have a home and super excited to have a porch on which to rock.  Evidently, I had expressed this dream of porch-rocking to my coworkers at Oasis Center, because the week we moved into our house, we arrived home to our new house, to find a rocker on the front porch with a large bow on top with a card attached.  They put their money together and bought and delivered a rocker to the porch of my new house.  A dream come true- a house with a porch and a rocker to rock in.  It was an overwhelming and unforgettable moment many years ago, where I felt so supported and celebrated by my co-workers about something happening in my personal life (buying our first home).  It meant the world to me!  

My friend, Hannah, told me many moons ago about something her mother-in-law did when Hannah went to visit. Her mother-in-law would have fresh flowers and a magazine on the bedside table in the guest room where they would stay awaiting her when she arrived.  She said these lovely touches made it feel like such a vacation to visit their home and she felt so honored and welcomed.  I want to do that someday!

I hope someday if Asher marries, I can bless his wife with lovely touches like that.  I expect the way I will love Lainey and Lucy’s someday-husbands will be cooking their favorite foods, like my mom has so wonderfully done for my husband. 

These are a few of the items on my "to do some day"list.  

In the meantime, I am making these oatmeal raspberry bars when I need an easy to make, tasty treat! 

There are many versions of this recipe with little differences.  I think one (Ruth's) is a winner. It has so few ingredients! The ingredients are lots and lots of butter, brown sugar, oats, self-rising flour and raspberry jam.  

This recipe is simple and yummy!

Oatmeal Raspberry Bars

2 sticks butter (softened)

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup brown sugar

2 ½ cups oatmeal (old-fashioned oats)

10 oz. raspberry jam (seedless is best)

Mix first 4 ingredients with hands until crumbly.

Spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray.  Line pan and up sides with foil or parchment. Spray the liner.

Pat half of the mixture into the pan.  

Spread jam over the first layer and top with the remaining oatmeal mixture. 

Bake at 375˚for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly.  Cool and cut.

You can add toasted coconut, or change the kind of jam.  You can make them in a smaller pan if you want them thicker. You really can't go wrong, I don't think.

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Thank you, Ruth, for inspiring me and sharing your daughter with us! I hope my kids will bless families they meet when they leave the nest, like Blair does.   And I hope I will be as thoughtful to those people as you have been to me.