If eating pancakes for two meals in one day is wrong, I don't want to be right

I'm sitting here in my apartment near the end of a nearly perfect Sunday and what do I feel like eating for dinner? Pancakes. But not just any pancakes.... Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes.

I went to Wal-mart yesterday with Megan & the parents and we talked about pancakes on the way home. I said how I had never made them without bisquick or some other mix and they were shocked, and then gave me a few recipes that I just had to try. They have convinced me, I now need to use up my bisquick so I can move forward and never buy pre-made pancake mix again, or at least for awhile.

For breakfast today I made Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes and they were so good! I'm not the biggest fan of syrup so when I ate one with just a little Blue Bonnet on top and I enjoyed it, I was sold. The brown sugar gives them the sweet but the oats made me feel like I was eating healthy, win-win.

Please, please, try this! Its so easy and so yummy and yes, I am probably making another batch for dinner.

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes

(original recipe from allrecipes.com but edited by me)

1 large egg

1 cup milk (or buttermilk)

2 tbsp. vegetable oil or melted butter

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup light brown sugar (can easily reduce to 1/4 c.)

10 tbsp. quick oats, uncooked

1. Whisk egg, milk and butter or oil together

2. Mix dry ingredients together

3. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just combined

4. Pour onto a lightly greased griddle or pan, cook & enjoy!

Tips:

1 - If you want to use buttermilk but do not have any - you can make it with just milk and white vinegar, google it!

2 - I added 1/2 tsp of Vanilla to my batter, yum.

3 - You could probably also add cinnamon, not sure why I didn't since I add it in everything

Tunnel Vision

(Driving under the Atlantic Ocean in Norfolk, VA - 11/27/10)

Do you ever get tunnel vision? Because, I do.

In fact, sometimes I worry that my friends might think I am ignoring them or don't love them or something because sometimes I am so set on my destination that I just focus and walk.

Like today, for example. I was leaving Spanish class on my way to turn in my graduation application (weird!) and I saw a friend of mine. I yelled to get his attention and then someone else called my name, I turned around to see who it was said hi and noticed Scott but was trying to figure out where my friend went so I quickly turned around to find him and therefore, ignored Scott. I found the friend and after chatting with him for a sec felt kind of bad that I didn't say hi - but I think he'll get over it, I hope.

There was another time that I was running some event, probably FHE or something, and I was running around trying to get everything set up and people were coming in and because my task at hand was to get things in to the room I just walked where I needed to go... and might have nearly run over a freshman or two in the process. Nearly.

So - this got me to thinking. If I have tunnel vision in my day to day activities, Do I have tunnel vision with my life?

The answer - Yes.

The latest fireside from Elder D. Todd Christofferson was perfectly geared towards a person like me. Someone, who at the moment, is so focused on end goals that sometimes she forgets to enjoy the journey that she is on.

Lets hope I can fix this whole tunnel vision problem.

I can get to the end goal, enjoy the journey and hopefully stop ignoring & running people down.

Benefits for all

:)

My " Attitude of Gratitude " List - Part 2

I know I did this awhile back but tonight, and really at this very moment, I am bursting with emotion in the best way possible. I am suddenly feeling so grateful and so very happy with life and all that is going on right now. Is it all easy? Certainly not, but all that is happening is for my good and I am seeing that. So, kiddos, here is My "Attitude of Gratitude" List - Part 2

*if i duplicate somethings well, then i guess they're super important

1 - I had FHE tonight and my goodness, my ward is amazing! I have received a Co (I am FHE Coordinator, without a co because he left to go on his mission) and even though the Co- has not been sustained or set-apart yet he came to help me tonight with FHE and it was just fantastic. We had a Ward Birthday Party, basically celebrating everyones birthday so as to never leave someone out. We had three different cakes and had them count off in to teams of three. They then needed to go out in pairs (2 people from each team) and find the hidden decorations throughout the church. The type of frosting they found dictated what cake they got to decorate ( message me for instructions if you want to do this, it was so fun ) They then decorated their cakes and even though one boy, who is not in our ward but always comes to our activities and is a little hyper, found the m&ms and dumped them all over his groups already frosted cake they dealt with it well (as well as they could, they were upset freshman girls) and then my not-so-official co and I picked the winning group.

It was so much fun! Complete and utter chaos but everyone was laughing, and really having a fun time. If you can handle the noise and having to stand on a chair to make people listen to you then its great.

My C0- also gave a really wonderful spiritual thought/lesson prepared in only 8 minutes on Creativity and our power to create. Perfect for the activity.


2 - That all being said I am so grateful for my FHE Committee. They are all fantastic. Samantha. Chanson. Michelle. Austin. Danielle. (& Nate) You are all wonderful. You make my life easy, and you make this calling so much fun. I appreciate all of the time and work (and money, before being reimbursed) that you put in to your callings. We (minus Nate) all had an interesting semester with trying to figure out what these callings meant but we did it, and I have such high hopes for this next semester and all we can and will do.


3 - I am grateful for my body. I do two different programs; Body Attack and Body Flow. Body Attack is a sports-inspired, aerobics program designed to get your heart rate up and keep it up for the better portion of an hour. Body Flow is a combination of Yoga, Pilates and Thai Chi that is designed to help your flexibility, balance and develop your core muscles. I go to Body Flow MWF at 8am and then Body Attack MWF at 10am. Since combining the two I have seen such improvement in my fitness and how I feel, and I'm glad that my body doesn't give out on me with such workouts....

except when I pulled my quad last Wednesday and since then have missed both attack and flow
:-)


4 - I am grateful for my family but most especially, my 73 year old father who no matter what happens will drop everything to help me out. He has been so great with all of my car problems lately and has always been a support to me and my education. I never hang up the phone without hearing " I am so proud that you are my daughter " - Well Gee, Dad. Make me cry, Why don't you? I am glad he says that because it reminds me very often that I have people that have worked so hard so I could be where I am and I owe them that much, to make them proud of what I have become and what I have done with their help.


5 - And right now, I'm grateful for my pillow & my bed that I made this morning that looks so neat but I am about to climb right in and mess it up.

"You've got Bang Bangs!"

From This

To This

Ive talked about the big hair change but havent posted about it yet, so for your viewing pleasure - a history of how my style has not changed, in about 15 years.

The last time I had full on bangs. (L) Im about 3, (R) Im about 6 here I think

(L) Freshman or Sophomore year with Sam. Long, dark (probably dyed) with side bangs

(R) Shorter, Curly, little red to it and therefore probably not dyed. Right after I asked someone to prom hahaha Im a dweeb :)

(L) Right after graduation from RHHS. Long, Dark, Grown out Side Bangs

(R) Sophomore Year @ SVU. I had dyed it dark just a few months prior to this night when Mal and I decided to put some red chunks/color in our hair the night before Finals Week because "they cant kick us out or punish us finals week!" & yes we really thought that

(L) Scott and I in Norfolk, VA in November. Old color growing out & roots showing, really bugging me at the time. My hair was really at its longest since about 1st grade at this point, proabably 6 inches past my shoulders at least

(R) What Scott saw when I came home (VA) from home (NY). I refused to send him a picture and instead waited to suprise him, it was so worth it.

Oneirophobia - Episode 1

Oneirophobia is the fear of dreams. I certainly dont have that but until I come up with a better title for what I assume will be a series of posts that is what I am sticking too.

I have weird dreams. Most are very vivid, and I usually remember a few per night or every other night. Last night was no exception. Over break I had my hair dyed so that when it grew out it would go back to its natural color and I wouldn't have to keep coloring it brown when it turns this reddish auburn color (seen below). In my dream I must have done something to my hair because I "woke up" and had blue and orange (as in a more orange version of the color seen below) hair! It freaked me out so bad. I panicked and called the woman who colored my hair and told her she needed to send me the money that it cost to get it done to begin with because she must have done something wrong and I needed to get her mistake fixed down here at school.

Somehow by the end of the dream the woman I was talking to had convinced me to send her the amount I had paid in the beginning and she would send me the coloring stuff so it could be fixed.

A sign that I must be far too gullible.

What do you think? Orange/Red hair with some blue chunks? Sounds pretty cool. Ever done anything super dramatic with your hair color?

Pumpkin Crap Cookies & Illegal Activity

for future reference: this is the long, and the short of it: Scott and I broke up last Sunday (i.e. the 8th). We're still both wanting to be friends and are working on that. Its up, its down but bottom line is I still really like the kid and am very happy that we both wanted to keep our friendship. Maybe I'll post more on it, but probably not. Though, this isn't the last you'll hear of him.


On to other news - Three members of the Bishopric of the University 5th Ward located in Buena Vista, Virginia had mysterious bowls covered in foil delivered to their doors last night between the hours of 10:30 and 11:15 p.m. Wait - Whats that? We have just received word that one member of the University 3rd ward Bishopric was also involved. Sources say the suspects had a difficult time locating the first house and were super confused as to which door belonged to the intended recipient, The Congdon Family, and which door belonged to SVU Professor Jeremiah John. They knocked twice on what they believed to be the correct door and ran for the hills, er... the getaway truck. Next stop was the home of 3rd Ward Bishop, Bishop Burke Olsen. All lights were off at the home and knocking was apparently avoided to respect Miss Penny Lark Olsen & Miss Eliza Olsen's bedtime. The truck was seen driving by the home of University 5th Ward Bishop, H. Douglas Himes but the suspects continued on their path as there was an unknown vehicle parked, but running, in the driveway with lights on. Next stop was the third member of the University 5th Ward Bishopric, Nathan Ondricek. When asked for a statement, Megan Dransfield Ondricek provided the following "We had just turned the lights off like, two seconds before and then we heard a knock. Nate felt a little lazy and was getting ready to fall asleep so I got up and opened the door. I looked down to see a bowl with our names on a card. It was full of yummy Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies. They even gave us the recipe!". Mrs. Ondricek said she noticed a car driving in the direction of the Himes home afterwards. Two locals mentioned seeing a silver truck pull up in front of the Himes household a little before 11:15pm. They told local law enforcement (The Few, The Proud.... SVU Security) that there were two people approaching the home. One leaving something on the doorstep and the other cowering behind bushes laughing. The one dropped the package and joined the other behind the bushes. They heard the door open and a woman's voice saying "Thank You". It is believed that this was Sister Himes from the cheerful ring in her voice. The suspects then drove away, never to be heard of again -- That is until Mrs. Ondricek informed those investigating the situation that the suspects knocked again on her door to say "Hello" and deliver well wishes. "I did not think it was important to the case -- but do you want the recipe?!"



WOO! Okay, that was too much fun but SO not as fun as my friend Zach and I actually doing the ding-dong-ditch with the cookies. The cookies were to supplement Zach in his time of need (I.E. Somehow, on his Facebook account all of his friends were deleted, including ones from the mission in Brasil) He came, we baked, we conquered? Something like that. I mentioned that there were far too many cookies for me to just keep them because after all I am on a "no-sugar new years" that Scott is doing too.... That I have cheated on all of last week, but hey, that's for another post.

So - I mentioned delivering them to our Bishopric. Because I am a card carrying member of the U5 Relief Society I also made name tags with little notes for each bowl... and then proceeded to hand write a copy of the recipe for each bowl. We still had enough left for one more bowl so we made one for my old bishop because heck, I miss him. We finished and jumped in the truck for some late night mischief. The rest is in the story above and it was epic. Just the night I needed after the week I have had. I have not laughed that hard in a long time or smiled that much in the last week so really, it was wonderful.

Now for your enjoyment the recipe for Pumpkin Crap Cookies (on the cards I wrote Pumpkin Butterscotch... not sure how appropriate it is to write "Crap" on a card you are handing to Bishops and Bishopric Members.... hmmm)

Pumpkin (Crap) Butterscotch Cookiesi

1 15 oz can Pumpkin puree (Not pumpkin pie mix)
½ C. soft butter (Not Melted)
1 C. Sugar
2 C. Flour
1 Egg
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Vanilla
½ tsp. Salt
1 Bag Butterscotch Chips

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Spray cookie sheets with PAM. In a bowl combine all ingredients by hand (no electric mixers) and then gently fold in the butterscotch chips with a spatula.
Drop mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them a few inches apart. Bake for about 12-14 minutes. Insert a toothpick and make sure it comes out dry. Allow to cool if you have the patience.

La même histoire

Considering some recent happenings - this song almost made me cry tonight.
It's been one of those nights.
It's been one of those weeks.




Besides making me a little teary, it made me want to learn French.
Maybe that will be my next language.