Shaking the Eight Ball

Have you ever wished that your scale was like an eight ball and you could just shake it again for a different number? Well, I feel that way this week. I went on vacation for three nights with my honey bunches and guess what, I gained three pounds! That is a pound a day people. That is just crazy. It was all worth it though, right???

The place where we went to get away was in Eureka Springs, AR. It was a bed and breakfast called Mt. Victoria. It is known for it's awesome breakfasts and even being featured in Southern Living. The one that was featured was Chris' signature smoked turkey breakfast pastry. I am here to tell you that it was reallllllyyyyy good. I'm not kidding. I have thought about it several times since I got home and I think that I am gaining weight thinking about it.

Eureka Springs was a really neat place to visit. Prince Charming and I had been talking about going there for several years and until now had not been able to go for whatever reason. I am really thankful for the time away. Now I need to figure out how to not expect breakfast being made for me every morning at 9:00 am and oh the not having anything to do aspect was something I could get used to as well. OK, back to trying to shake the eight ball and get a new number. Wish me luck.

Yummy Granola

Last week, my family went to Little Rock to visit my sister-in-law and niece who came in to visit from Pennsylvania. It was so fun to see my little niece and experience the harsh realities of hearing her tell me in her cute little voice, "no" that I could not hold her. She is two and I have not gotten to see her very much because they live so far away. It was definitely a fun time minus the rejection. :)

Upon our arrival, my mother-in-law displayed a yummy concoction that we fell victim to the whole time we were there. It was "Ultimate Irresistible Granola" from All Recipes submitted by Veronica S.. Thanks, Veronica S, for the 20 pounds! :)

When we got home, I made it for our family and it really was not around for very long. The only thing that I would add to this recipe would be a dash of vanilla in the canola and honey. The only other direction I would give would be to make sure you have two large baking sheets where the granola is not piled on top of each other in a thick layer. It is hard to get it to be crunchy otherwise. Mine turned out different from my mother-in-laws because of that, but I was assured by my many family members that it was still good. It was more granola bar texture rather than granola.

Ultimate Irresistible Granola

Prep Time:
15 Min

Cook Time:
20 Min

Ready In:
35 Min

Servings (Help)

US Metric Calculate

Original Recipe Yield 20 servings

Ingredients

• 5 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup blanched slivered almonds
  
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (I just bought a can of nuts that had walnuts, pecans, etc)
  
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup sesame seeds ( I did not have so I just put lots of sunflower seeds)
  
• 1 cup wheat germ ( I did not have this either, but I am going to get some next time)
  
• 2 cups shredded coconut
• 1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups honey
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup dried cranberries (I substituted craisins)
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, almonds, walnuts, pecans, sesame seeds, wheat germ, coconut and sunflower seeds. In a small pan over medium heat, stir together the oil and honey. Cook and stir until blended. You could also do this in a large measuring cup in the microwave, heating for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Pour over the oat mixture, and stir to coat evenly. Spread out in an even layer on two cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the oats and nuts are toasted. Immediately after it comes out of the oven, stir in the raisins and dried cranberries. Let stand until cooled, and stir again to break up any large clusters. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks, but I guarantee it won't be around that long!

Seriously good family memories with good family food!

Don't Think I'm Weird!

Don't think I'm weird if you see me driving with my fingers crossed!

My son has been reading a series called "Diary of a Wimpy Kid.". In the book they give each other the "cheese touch" if their fingers are not crossed.

I don't know about you, but the "cheese touch" sounds pretty icky! You wouldn't want it, would you?

Cheese touch, you're it! :)

Technologically Saavy Culture

My kids have been playing on computers all of their lives. We have always had one. We have gone from playing Nemo and Clifford the Big Red Dog to Wizards 101 and Webkinz. Yikes.

As you probably know, I home school my eight year old daughter. I was administering her weekly spelling test and we were on contractions. She looked at me after having to spell I'm and she said, "oops, I forgot to caps lock!" I could not believe that our once forgetting to capitalize or making a letter bigger was now "caps lock." Wow!

The day is getting started around here so I better control alt delete shut down for now! :)

Snow Wonder I am Relaxed!

Did you get my catchy title??? :) I tell Prince Charming I need to be in marketing! :)

We have had a great couple of days. I think Gretel still has her pajamas on from Friday! Today is Sunday. Yikes, maybe time to "unrelax" a little. We have been snuggling under covers, watching the tube, making jewelry, eating pancakes, and rocking out on Lego Rockband. We got to spend some time outside in the 9 inches of snow that we got. I am pretty sure that is a personal record for me in the time I have lived in Arkansas. What fun!

The fun has to come to an end though. Hansel still does not have to go back to school tomorrow because Arkansas does not know what salt is. You know, the stuff you put on your watermelon in the summers and the stuff you put on your roads in the winter. Anyway, I think I am getting a little house sick. I am starting to feel the urge to go to Wal Mart and that is not right in any way.

Ok, I know this is a random post, but have you seen that show, Food, Inc.? Boy, that was pretty eye opening. I saw a reference to it being on Oprah the other day and I found it on my Netflix Instant Watch. Did you know that there is a large corporation that has a patent on seeds. How can you own someones seeds? If you want to be even more paranoid about where all of our food comes from and you want to be responsible for that kind of information then you should watch it.

On another note, I am reading a good book that I put a link to on my blog. It is called, "You Can Still Wear Cute Shoes" and other great advice from an unlikely preacher's wife. I have been a member of Lisa McKay's blog for a long time and she ended up writing a book about what it is like to pastor's wife. It is kind of like Myth Buster's. . .Pastor's Wife Style. Good stuff.

I hope that you are doing well. Please forgive my ramblings and incomplete thoughts. That is about all I have the capacity for right now.

Much Love,

Gym Adventures

I know that you are going to really love this post. This is my latest and greatest Exercise and The Princess posting ever. It started out as a normal day. . . not!!! I woke up yesterday at 5:43 am, half an hour after my alarm clock sounded (that I don't remember turning off). My coffee was patiently waiting for me to grab a cup and head out the door. I slept in my gym clothes, which yeah I know is very ingenious of me so I had very little to do to actually get to the gym. The less, the more realistic it is that I arrive and on time.

I get to the gym after pondering the possibility to get a little more shut eye at each stop sign I come to. I decided that might be a little unsafe so I should just keep moving. Anyway, I had had enough bad dreams about the gym all night. Dreams that included me being so uncoordinated that I could not work out. Normally, I do not have this much anxiety about going to the gym, but this morning was different.

I had a personal trainer waiting for me at the gym waiting to give me a little "Exercise Love." My partner-in-crime was also awaiting my arrival. You see, I had missed the last two weeks because I had been sick one week and overslept the next. She told me that she had a little trouble walking after her workouts with the personal trainer in the last two weeks that I had missed.

I was determined to make it though. "I am no exercise coward" I said to myself. So, we begin the workout. We start with a few push-ups. We go on to some pull downs, bicep curls, tricep extensions, and then onto leg work. By the time that we get to the 10 pound ball above our head and lunges up and down the center of the gym, I was beginning to "feel it" and I mean really "feel it." The feeling was mostly coming from my stomach and the sweat I broke out in. My stomach kind of felt like a well of coffee wanting to be pulled up by the rope if you know what I mean. I casually mentioned I was not feeling so "well" and exited quickly to the restroom where I welcomed the coffee back that I had guzzled earlier. :(

Feeling like I needed to go back to my bed and forget this happened or had been part of my day, I came out to some wide-eyed exercise friends. My personal trainer did what any man who was exercise minded would do. He encouraged me to stay and promised me a mint. I could have either variety cinnamon or peppermint. Now that's what I like, options. :)

So I stayed until after the planks sent me running back to the bathroom, where I barely escaped more of the porcelain god. I forgot to pay the poor guy and excused myself quietly and quickly. Hmmm, next Tuesday is looking really fun. I can't wait.

Tales from the Crib

Or from the baby carriage I should say. Yes, that is her baby, Lime the live cat. He is quite temperate.

I wonder if I am going to be on BlogHer probation soon for how many times I have let my blog lapse. I should just stop apologizing. Unless I become instantly rich and never have to work again, this blog will just keep lapsing. I keep thinking my job will get so easy that I do not have to actually work to do it. Hmmm. I think there is something wrong with my work ethic. :)

That's ok. I will just have to persevere. In a nutshell this is what is going on at our crib as we speak:

My cat, Lime, is running through the house like a horse trying to find his Christmas toys and my cat, Lexy, has her legs splayed and is trying to clean her aging fur.

Gretel is finishing up her school work for the day (5:30 pm), :( but she is excited to be done because she has her 1st semester of her 3rd grade year finished in Literature. She got to receive a brand-spanking-new school book and she is delighted beyond words. I had to tell her not to read it all at once. This, my dear, is a good problem.

Now she is stomping off to see what the cats have knocked over in the kitchen.

Hansel is taking a nice long soak in the tub. He had his dreaded basketball practice today. He is going to be sooo tall, but he hates basketball. I just keep thinking he will magically start liking it. Maybe Michael Jordon used to tell his mom that he didn't want to go to basketball practice. :(.

Prince Charming is on his way home from Little Rock. He had some people to visit with, as well as, lunch with his parents. He also had to stop at Sams and make use of the $30 membership card. :)

I am trying to decide what to do. I am either going to get back to work for the evening or go do something totally irresponsible. . . like eat a bunch of ice cream with candy bars crushed on top and put my pajamas on and sit too close to the TV watching all of the Home Improvement Shows that I can find until midnight.

Hmmm. Which would you do??? Have a great weekend. Back to the blog time lapse.

And We're Still Here

We are so exhausted, but we want to stay to see The Illuminations here at Epcot. We got here at around 8:00 this morning. Just so you know our family does not do anything half way. :)

Tomorrow may come too early.:). Enough whining for me though. Gretel was doing that when we were visiting "Germany" today and we called her our little "whineyschnitzel.".

Last of the Disney updates coming tomorrow. I promise and then I will not be standing in line blogging anymore. I will be cleaning out closets and doing laundry. That's not blog worthy! :)

Fun with a capital F!

Prince Charming and I are enjoying watching all of our hard earned money being spent at Disney. It has definitely been a great family bonding experience.

You can absolutely have fun doing many other inexpensive things, but now I feel like I know what people are talking about when they talk about Disney.

We looked at a lot of options before we decided, but the Big Kahoona (Prince Charming) made the final call.

We have one more day. Tomorrow we are visiting Hollywood Studios. I am excited about going home though because I have one more week off. Now if I can only hire Cinderella or even Goofy to come back and clean the house for me. I AM in a fairyland!

Epcot

Ready or not here we come!

I Phone Recovery Miracle

A guy answered Prince Charming's phone this morning. When he answered he said it was his phone. I talked with him all day and until he showed up at our hotel this afternoon I was not sure he was coming. Isn't that amazing that this guy went out of his way to get it back to us. Thank you Lord for the I Phone Miracle!

I phone tragedy

Prince Charming after he realized he lost his phone :(

Buzz lightyear

We're having a really good time. We went back to the room for a rest. Now we are headed back to magic kingdom after naps and Olive Garden lunch.

Space mountain!

Yay!

GeoTagged, [N28.35401, E81.56096]

We had a short sleeping session and we are here!

Disney World so close I could scream

GeoTagged, [N28.65823, E81.81995]

Yes, we are on the road to Disney, but much to our dismay we are stuck in crawling traffic outside of Orlando. Ok, let's think about this, almost 8:00 at night and we are stuck in traffic. We left at 2:00 am this morning.

My kids have been awesome through it all. Me, not so good. I stink and my hair has so much oil in it we could fry some chicken. I hope that my next blog post is with Mickey Mouse and me smiling. Until then, who wants some chicken?

New friends

GeoTagged, [N36.16058, E86.77862]

This is a picture of my new friends that I am working with in ARVA. We are at a math conference in Nashville, TN. Yes, it is a new season. This is a place I never thought I would be. Isn't that just like the Lord? Exciting times.

Danger!

I think his spelling might be more dangerous than him! He is precious!

Fall fun

My kids have been dreaming of doing this for weeks. They raked the leaves themself for the sole purpose of jumping in them. I love it and they are growing up too fast!

The Friendships of Women

This weekend our church is having a Retreat on "The Friendships of Women". Our speakers are speaking on the saying "Friends are for a Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime!" I would love your input on your own friendships. Please fill out this 6 question survey (link below) for your friend, Desiree'

Survey on Lifelong Friendships

Dust Angels

My kids said, "Hey look mom, we are making dust angels!" Nice! :)

Menu Planning for the Week

pic from google images supergrocer.ca

This menu planning is for the sole purpose of my own sanity. I do not think I would have made it through these last few weeks without eating out every night had I not learned how to plan ahead with my menu. At least I know what I haven't made when everyone is starving!

Monday - Small Group - taking meatballs in some kind of sauce - not sure what kind-maybe ketchup :)
Tuesday - Realistic expectation - Subway footlongs (2 for $10) - have an away soccer game
Wednesday - Roast in the crockpot, potatoes and carrots, French Bread
Thursday - Pancakes, Sausage or Turkey Bacon, Fruit (Soak beans)
Friday - Beans and cornbread
Saturday - we have a big Harvest Festival Party for the kids at church (Hotdogs and smores) - very fun!
Sunday - leftovers

The Story of a Young Girl in Iraq

http://livesstrong.blogspot.com/

I was searching for a blog that I used to read to get craft ideas and I ran across this much more important blog. I have wondered a lot about what is going on in Iraq from an Iraqi's point of view, but I really did not seek it out. This is it! I emailed my mom and husband and said, this blog should be a must read for every American high school kid. It is appalling what our kids complain about after reading her blog, isn't it?

Let me know your thoughts on her blog.

Hansel practicing with his teacher