Twice In One Day?

Can you believe it? Two posts in one day? I just wanted to share a recipe for cookies that you can have while watching what you eat. Even my husband who is anti-diet food LOVES these cookies! They are from Martha Stewart, so you know they've gotta be good, right? Anyway, here's the recipe.

HEALTHY OATMEAL COOKIES

1/2 C whole-wheat flour
1/2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 C vegetable oil
2/3 C packed dark brown sugar
1 lg egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C rolled oats - NOT instant!
1/2 C dried currants or raisins (I used dried cranberries to add a little tang!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk flours and baking powder, then set aside.
In a new bowl, combine oil, sugar, egg and vanilla.
Slowly add flour mixture a little at a time.
Fold in oats and fruit.
Roll 2 Tbs. of dough into ball. (I use my Pampered Chef medium scoop so they're uniform size)
Bake for 15 - 17 minutes, rotating pan half way through baking.

They look like little mini-scones and don't take near as long to prepare, since you don't have to roll and cut them. I also like this recipe b/c I don't have to get out all of my kitchen tools to make them. It's a pretty easy recipe. I mean, I LOVE my Kitchenaid mixer, but these can be made really quickly with little cleanup. I hope you go an cook a batch soon - they are scrum-diddly-umptious!

The Results Are In!

Ok, here goes my first weigh in blog!

I did walk a total of 3 days last week! Yay me!

I do, however, have to admit to 4 small cheats. It was Easter weekend, after all!
Here are my cheats - two mineature snickers (the tiny square ones), on Reece's egg and one sweettart chick. I couldn't pass up the chick, our Easter Bunny always got them for us, and you can only get them this time of year! I feel pretty good about my self for only having these few small lapses in judgement!

I believe my scales say I've lost a pound! See, my start weight was from when I went to the doctor's office. My scales are pretty hard to read, so I THINK I've lost a pound, but I'm not certain! Hopefully I'll have a new scale before my next weigh in post so I'll know for sure!

Thanks so much to those who have sent encouraging messages! Keep 'em comin'!

Swimsuit Weather... It's A Comin'!

Ok, I've been inspired by Amanda! I had already made the decision to get back into shape and and my cute summer pants before I read her post, and now I know it's going to be even easier, with someone supporting me! While teaching, I am pretty good at maintaining my weight, but not losing. When I worked at an office job (for 2 years) I steadily grew. My goal is to get back into my fun summer pants and not be too embarassed to be seen in a swimsuit this summer!

There are two ways I plan to reach my goal:

1. I'm walking at least 3 afternoons (hopefully more like 5) with one of my friends, which is getting me moving and will hopefully help me to shed some pounds.

2. I'm not going to eat sugar! For those of you who know me, you know I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia in my senior year of high school. By sticking to the STRICT diet I was given (not eating anything that has sugar listed as one of the first three ingredients) I lost almost 40 pounds! Well, that was ten years ago, and frankly, not eating sugar SUCKS! However, I can tell a difference in how I feel when I stick to my diet, and the slimming results are VERY desireable!

So, here's the plan:

*I'll weigh in each week, like Amanda, on Wednesdays.
*I'll also list any cheats to my diet, should I have any.
*I'll give a running total of how many days a week I walk, trying for at least three, but shooting for more.
*I also have a weight loss ticker on the top right of my page. It hurts to see the numbers in print, so I'm hoping that will inspire me, too!

Any and all encouragement is much appreciated! I know I can do it, but being encouraged sure does help it along!

Thanks in advance for your help!

10 Facts

HERE'S HOW YOU PLAY. ONCE YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED YOU HAVE TO WRITE A BLOG OF TEN WEIRD, RANDOM THINGS, FACTS OR HABITS ABOUT YOURSELF. AT THE END, YOU CHOOSE TEN PEOPLE TO BE TAGGED, LISTING THEIR NAMES AND WHY YOU CHOSE THEM TO BE TAGGED. DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE THEM A COMMENT "YOU'RE IT" AND TO READ YOUR BLOG. YOU CAN'T TAG THE PERSON WHO TAGGED YOU. SINCE YOU CAN'T TAG THAT PERSON BACK, LET HIM OR HER KNOW WHEN YOU'VE POSTED YOUR BLOG SO HE OR SHE CAN READ YOUR ANSWERS.

1. I am afraid that if you poke anyone's bellybutton (especially mine!) that the pokee will deflate like a balloon.

2. Although my feet freeze, I CANNOT sleep in socks.

3. It drives me crazy (short drive, I know) when the switches to a light with multiple wall switches are not all in the down or up position. One up and one down makes me insane!

4. I can clean up vomit, poo and other bodily fluids all day. Just don't ask me to watch any nasty ER procedures! They just gross me out!

5. I'm obsessive with symmetry. When decorating, I must have similar if not EXACT sized objects to balance out each side.

6. I wanted to be a veterinarian at one point in my life. Then I encountered chemistry and realized I'd have to use needles!

7. I like the smell of gas. Not from a body, but from a pump!

8. I'm comfortable singing in front of large numbers of people, but not speaking.

9. I can probably recite "The Sound of Music" word for word. I watched it every day (almost) growing up.

10. I lay all of my clothes out at night for the next day, down to the underwear and jewelery. My reasoning for this is that I'm always running late, and it takes me forever to decide on an outfit. By planning ahead, I run a smaller chance of being REALLY late.

Ok, I don't have 10 blogging buddies. Sad, I know. Maybe you could tell your friends about me and my little blog? Anyway... I would be interested in anyone's answers who will sit and do this. I really enjoy reading them!

God is good ALL the time!

"And you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the lord over every ruler and authority in the universe." Colossians 2:10

I have just returned home from an AWESOME weekend at the First Baptist Church in Trussville! This weekend was Complete / Renew, a gathering for girls and women to grow closer to God and learn more about His plan for us. We had some amazing speakers (all women!) who taught us so many wonderful things about faith and joy.

Let me start by telling you how God got us there. As you may know, it snowed today. We had plans to leave at 7 am in order to be in Trussville by 8:30. We prayed over the bus (Jody's maiden voyage on the church bus)and the roads, and that God would clear our path to get there. Here's the cool part. We were on 459 when we came to a complete stop. The road was closed up ahead because of the weather (and I think an accident). We were in the middle lane of traffic and stopped even with the exit onto I-20. Here's the even COOLER part. The 18-wheeler in the outside lane beside us had not pulled up all the way to the car in front of him. God truly did clear a path for us to be on our way! With the help of some of the men in our lives, we were able to navigate from I-20 to Trussville. The problem was, we didn't know where to go after we reached Trussville. Jody just happened to have written down the number for the church and said "I think I should call them to find out where to go." Ok, here's the COOLEST part! When Jody called and told the lady where we were, the lady said "Oh, just turn left at the next light and we'll be right on your left." WOW! Do you have chillbumps? We did! We pulled into the parking lot singing "God is good, ALL the time!"

Here are a few things I learned this weekend:

From Page Hughes, I learned that if we truly have faith in God, we will see our problems through Him, not Him through our problems. Cool visual, huh? I also learned a new favorite verse: "Shut up and let that be your wisdom." Job 13:5. Any of you who know me know that this verse will pop into my head A LOT (sadly, sometimes too late!)!

From Tollie Meggs, I learned that joy is NOT happiness, the absence of conflict or being funny. Joy is the product of having the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Jesus even prayed that we would have His joy when He was preparing to go to His heavenly father. How awesome that the God of all creation would even care to know me, and even pray that I may have joy.

I will end this by saying that I had a wonderful time of fellowship and worship with other girls and women who love the Lord. I wasn't able to write about everhthing, because this post is already a bit wordy! It was wonderful to be renewed and reminded that God is the source of our joy, if only we are faithful and claim it! He wants the best for us, and sent His son to die for us. Even though I still don't understand why, I know that my God is bigger and more powerful than anything else I will encounter. May we all remember to Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS!

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was packed full of diversions! It started Thursday (Valentine's Day) with my Valentine's Day party with my class, combined with Valentine Grams being sent to half of the school that I was in charge of organizing. When I got home, full of sugar that I didn't need and ready to crawl in bed from exhaustion, my husband and I were invited to my parents' house to enjoy a meal of steak and potatoes. YUM! Needless to say, I perked up a little!

Friday, I took the Junior class officers to the Birmingham Zoo to check out the lodge as a potential place to have our prom. Yes, that's right, I'm in charge of the prom! (On a sidebar, yes, we're having it at the zoo! More to follow in another post...) After getting home (finally) my honey took me out on a real date! We went to Carrabba's, our favorite place and went all out with an appetizer and everything! After dinner we went to the movies to see "Fool's Gold" which is FABULOUS, then to Dairy Queen for dessert. I was so excited to have a date night that didn't include a trip to Wal-Mart!

I spent the first part of Saturday sleeping late and watching Hallmark movies, when I should have been cleaning and doing responsible grown-up stuff. Then, it was off to good 'ol Shelby Academy to take up money at the beauty pageant. I showed up dressed in jeans and a nice top, only to find out I was the one responsible for taking the envelopes up to the master of ceremony to read out the winner. I sooo would have dressed up more if I had known! When I got home I rented the new "Hairspray" (not as good as I wanted it to be) and ate leftovers from Friday, since Michael went to Chana Yan without me!

Sunday is the kicker. After screeching in on two wheels to church and (just) making it to sing in the choir, I had to wait with Jody for her ride (another story for another day). I got home, changed and headed out with Michael to accompany Mom and Dad to the Bass Pro Shops in Prattville. Now, some of you have already put this together. Sunday is the day the tornadoes hit Prattville... We didn't know such inclement weather was headed that way, or we wouldn't have gone! It was raining pretty hard when we got there, then the power went out and they got everyone to the lower floor. We thought this was just a precautionary measure. Little did we know that less than 1/4 of a mile away homes and businesses were being destroyed! Yikes! After a quick dinner at O'Charley's, we made it home safe and sound. We are so blessed that we were not caught in the REALLY bad weather!

So, now it's Monday, and I had to stay late at work and I'm exhausted! Although it was a fun weekend, I'll be happy to just vege this coming weekend. I mean, we spent all of our going out money for the month (and then some) in one weekend! Oh well, at least we had fun!

Picture Survey!

Another fun one... here's what you do:

Directions:1) Answer each question.
2) Take each answer and type it into Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com/)
3) Take any picture from the first page of results and post. (click on the picture and copy the HTML code) Don't explain, it's funnier that way!

1. The age that you will be on your next birthday:


2. A place you would like to travel to:


3. Your favorite place:


4. Your favorite thing to do:


5. Your favorite food/candy:


6. Your favorite animal:


7. Your favorite color:


8. The town in which you were born:


9. The town in which you live:


10. The name of a past pet:


11. The name of your current or past boyfriend/girlfriend:


12. Your nickname/screen name:


13. Your middle name:


14. A bad habit of yours:


15. Your first job:


16. Your grandmother's name:


17. Your favorite song:


I'm with Amanda - I'll tag anyone reading who hasn't participated yet and is willing to do it!