my "surprise class"

Since I had to teach a class on my birthday, I figured I'd use my birthday as a gimmick for the class - seemed like a good idea! So, after we got warmed up, I turned to the class and announced that today was my birthday. I then said "Since no one has ever thrown me a surprise party, I decided that you guys are going to give me a surprise class!" I had each student, in turn, name a body part to work, thereby making the class a surprise even to me. It worked out really well! And I made us do 35 reps of everything, thereby working the birthday gimmick even more. And, we did a couple of 35-second cardio bursts. We ended up working the whole body and getting a really well-rounded workout, and the students really seemed to like the format. In fact, I only had to come up with a couple of ideas myself, because in addition to just naming a body part, most of them named an actual exercise to do, taking all of the work out of my hands. I was even able to work in a few age-related quips. For instance, when we were getting ready to do shoulder presses, I cautioned them to use lighter weights, since the shoulders tire so easily and 35 reps is a lot, saying "I would hate for anyone to get injured because I'm so old." :) I also told them that I expected a cake at the end of class. The other benefit to this class format was that I memorized all the students' names, which is great!

The best moment came, though, before I had revealed my age. I was about to reveal it, and said "I'm not very happy about this birthday..." and one woman, Laura, said "Are you 30?" When I said I was 35, her jaw totally dropped and the look on her face was priceless. I LOVE HER! Totally made my day. :)

So all-in-all, I've had a very nice birthday, what with the cards, the phone calls, the good class, and the disbelief at my age!

so, this is 35

Well, I'm 35 now. Hmmm. Don't love the number (or the wrinkles), but I still feel like I'm about 25. And according to Rebecca, I have Linda Hamilton (in Terminator) arms. :) So maybe the arms cancel out the wrinkles somehow - that's a comforting thought!

I've gotten so many cards, Facebook wishes, emails, and phone calls that I'm feeling very warm, fuzzy, and loved right now. I have the best family and friends! You all know who you are, and I love you.

Not really doing anything special for my Bday. Brian gave me a card and some mint chocolate truffles this morning, but other than that, my day has been pretty ordinary. I am teaching my class tonight at the gym, just like any Wednesday. I guess you reach a point where birthdays are just no big whoop (BTW, Rebecca - your card is a SCREAM! Every time I read it, I laugh out loud. Thanks for that!). OK - now that I said that, I guess I should share, so you're not all like "What is so funny about this card? What does it SAY?" So, it's got a picture of a doleful-looking basset hound wearing a party hat on the front, with a thought bubble that says "It's your birthday. Whoop-dee-freakin'-do." Then on the inside, it says "When they took his testicles, they took his spirit." :) :) :) If that's not funny, then I don't know what is.

Happy Birthday to me!

it's certainly been a day

Today is.....different. First of all, I'm exhausted. I haven't been sleeping very well lately, and I'm not sure why. I keep tossing and turning and just generally not sleeping. And last night, the overly bright clock display on our new VCR/DVR didn't help. Ack!

This morning was marred by a (thankfully brief) scare about my Dad. The man is 73 and lives alone, and my siblings couldn't get ahold of him, on either of his phones, this morning. You have to understand that this is very unusual, and caused us all to jump to the worst kind of conclusion. I was going out of my mind, thinking my Dad was dead! Finally, my sister called to tell me that he had left the house early (unheard of!) to help pack up after a Friends of the Library book sale. And of course, he left his cell phone in his car. He just doesn't get how worried we get if we can't reach him! When my sister told me he was OK, I just started crying with relief. And this was all before noon.

With a much lighter heart, I went to get Nick from preschool, whereupon we ran around signing him up for summer school and then going to a different school (long, boring story) to register him for Kindergarten in the fall. Nick was very good while I filled out the endless paperwork, so I treated him to lunch at Wendy's. Oh, I also found out that I did win something at the carnival auction after all, since the winner turned it down and I was next in line: 4 tickets to the St. Louis Museum of Transportation for $10! This place is very cool - we've been once before, and Nick loved it. So, we will definitely make use of those tickets.

Now, here I sit while Nick naps, and I'm really hitting the wall and wishing I could just curl up and sleep for a good long time. I only hope that I'll be so tired tonight that I'll sleep well. Wish me luck!

a nice day, despite the persistent gloom

We have had a very nice day so far! First, we went to Nick's school carnival. It was sort of lame from an adult perspective, but Nick had a blast playing all the games and winning piles of cheap crap that will litter our home. :) He also enjoyed the bounce house - what kid doesn't? Plus, he got an awesome SpongeBob SquarePants tattoo on his cheek. We had a cheap and oh-so-healthy lunch there, consisting of a hot dog, Doritos, cookies, and Capri Sun. Sheesh. I didn't end up winning any of the silent auction items, because I'm simply too cheap! :)

We then proceeded to the Hampton Inn, where child development specialist and children's musician Jim Gill gave an intimate, interactive concert for a small but very appreciative audience. Nick had the time of his life! He smiled and laughed more than should be legal. :) Jim is incredibly animated, silly, and energetic, and the kids (and parents, too!) just ate him up. Nick and his classmates from Mrs. Tate's class were already familiar with several of Gill's songs, as Mrs. Tate uses one of his CDs in class. Everyone had a blast dancing, singing, jumping, and clapping. We ended up buying one of his CDs and getting it autographed, and we got a picture of Nick with Jim. They had door prizes, and we won a free two-topping pizza from Papa John's. Given that the day is already a nutritional bust (see lunch description above), we decided that we shall get said pizza tonight and just write off the whole day. I will start afresh tomorrow, and plan to be good for the remainder of the week.

Now, we're back home having a quiet afternoon and chilling out. Tonight's plans include eating pizza :), watching Lawrence Welk, and working on my next body sculpt class - I'll actually be teaching on my birthday, so I have to come up with a good way to torture my students so that they can suffer right along with me. :)

yet another recipe!

Hey, all! I just made this tonight, and it's pretty tasty:

Pineapple-Cheddar Corn Bread

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 14.75-oz. can cream-style corn (I bought no-salt-added, so decided to increase the salt in the recipe to 1.5 tsp.)
1 8-oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a 9 x 9" baking pan and set aside.
2. In medium bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt with fork. Set aside.
3. In large mixing bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour mixture on low speed just until combined. Stir in corn, drained pineapple, and cheese. Spoon batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake about 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and top is golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack.

I also found another faboo-looking recipe that I plan to use for the next MOPS meeting - peanut butter & jelly bars. If it turns out well, I will share it, too!

Not a whole lot else to say. I'm really sick of this gloom and rain, and tomorrow looks dismal - it's only going to get up to around 50! Blech. Nick's school is having a carnival, but I think they'll move it inside if it rains, so I guess it'll still be a go. They're having a silent auction, and there are several things I'm interested in (like tickets to attractions and meals at restaurants, a night in a jacuzzi suite, etc.); wish me luck with my bidding!

After the carnival, we're going to a concert given by a cool children's musician named Jim Gill. Nick's teachers use Gill's music in class, and the kids love it! I think his CDs are available on Amazon - you should check them out if you have kids!

I was slightly cheered up today by the cute little skirt I bought for $14, but then I depressed myself by eating a totally unnecessary, evil chocolate muffin with a cream cheese center at Starbucks. Ack! I wasn't even hungry. So, it was a roller coaster of a day. :)

For anyone who watches Private Practice: How frustrating was that cliffhanger on the season finale? I can't believe I have to wait all the way until the new season to find out Violet's fate! It's killing me.

My 35th birthday is a mere 5 days away, and I'm alternately horrified and underwhelmed by the prospect. Bah, humbug! :)

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

gooey bars

Here's that recipe, for anyone who's interested:

Gooey Bars

1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup (two sticks) salted butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
chocolate chips or other topping, optional

Preheat oven to 300. Blend together with a hand mixer the cake mix, one egg, vanilla, and butter. Spray 9 x 13 pan with Pam. Pour mixture into pan and spread to all edges. In separate bowl, mix together remaining two eggs, cream cheese, and powdered sugar with hand mixer. Pour this mixture over cake mixture and spread to all edges. If desired, sprinkle chocolate chips or other topping on the top. Bake for 45-50 mins. or until toothpick comes out clean.

I will warn you - this dessert is very decadent and very addictive. Enjoy!

my first 5K: a personal triumph!

So, I've had quite a busy and exciting weekend. It all started on Friday evening, when Rebecca and I went for dinner at a new Japanese place here called Kyoto. We were seated at a tiny table in a corner. My view was down the hall to the ladies' room, and Rebecca got to look at a wall. :) It also took forever to get our food. But, when we did get our food, it was really good! We had bento boxes with such items as gyoza, shrimp and veggie tempura, chicken terriyaki, rice, salad, miso soup, etc. We also tried some fried tofu with a hot and sweet sauce. It was all pretty good. Our waitress also brought us out some extra free food - edamame and more tempura. We weren't sure if this is something they do normally, or if she did it for us because it took so long to get our food. Either way, we stuffed our faces until we wanted to undo our pants, and we had a great time talking and laughing. Love my Rebecca-friend!

Even though I was still very stiff and sore on Saturday morning, I dragged myself out of bed, slathered myself in sunscreen, and proceeded to the 5K on post. It was warm and also freakishly windy! I was met there by my gym friend, Michaelle, who ended up being my savior. She is much more of a runner than me (I'm virtually a non-runner. I jog once in a blue moon, and have never gone more than a mile), and could have gone faster than me, but she chose to stay with me to be my personal cheerleader. I honestly don't believe I could ever have jogged the whole thing without her encouragement. I never even planned to jog the whole thing - I went into it thinking I'd jog about a mile and then walk for a while and see if I felt like jogging any more. Never in a million years did I think I could jog the entire 5K without stopping or walking, but that's exactly what I did! It damn near killed me, but somehow, I found the strength to keep going, one foot in front of the other, all the way to the end. There were times when I didn't know how I'd do it, but I did! And when Michaelle told me that we had gone over halfway, I figured that I'd never forgive myself if I didn't try my hardest to jog the whole way. Granted, I didn't jog terribly fast, but who cares? We don't know exactly how long it took us, because there was no time announced at the beginning or when we crossed the finish line, but we estimated that it took about 30-35 mins., which would mean I jogged about a 10-12 minute mile. Not too shabby for a non-runner! We were by no means the last to finish - people were finishing way, way after we did. The most amazing thing started to happen as we approached the finish line. This 5K, which had been something fun for me to do, a challenge for me to see how hard I could push myself, suddenly turned into something very momentous and meaningful to me. I actually started crying a little, and I said to Michaelle "Two years ago I was a fatty, and now I'm jogging a whole 5K! I just can't believe this!" I got very emotional, and though I had told Brian and Nick to stay at home, I ended up being really sad that they weren't sitting there to watch me cross the finish line and cheer me on. It also would have been really nice to have a picture taken of me with my number on right after I finished. When I rounded the bend to the final short straightaway before the finish line, I summoned up all my strength and sprinted - and I mean SPRINTED - to the end. I was running so hard that my feet were hitting my butt. I came to a stop and caught my breath, incredulous, while tears ran down my cheeks. And that is the story of my first 5K. I still can't believe I did it.

Tim and Jaimie showed up a little while later for their visit, and though I was bone-tired, we ended up having a very fun afternoon with lots of laughter and silliness. We went on post to shop and so that T and J could ogle cute soldiers :), and then we went out for dinner to Mizeki - another Japanese restaurant! Yes, I ended up eating pretty much the same dinner two nights in a row, with equal amounts of gluttony. I can't even imagine the amount of water I'm retaining right now, what with all the soy sauce I've consumed over the past couple of days. Oh, and in addition to that, we also baked up a 9 x 13 pan of gooey bars (an amazing, decadent dessert bar), the entirety of which we polished off before they left to head back to Springfield. Disgusting, I tell you. (I'm hanging my head in shame.) But, who cares? I jogged a 5K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today, I slept in a bit and had a very slow, stiff morning. I headed to Walmart for some stuff, and have since been getting little things done around the house. In a little while, I'm finally going to watch the TV I recorded on Thursday night. And that's my weekend...

this and that

So, my quads are so sore today that it sometimes takes my breath away. That might have something to do with the 100 squats and 90 lunges (on each side) that we did in my sculpt class Wednesday night! :) I'm planning to do a 5K tomorrow, and I'm somewhat worried that this soreness will hamper me, but I'm still going to go for it - I just might end up walking more than jogging. But, it will still be fun and good for me! Because of the acute soreness and the 5K coming up, I decided that it might be wise to skip working out today and just rest and stretch my legs. My weight keeps flip-flopping between 142 and 144, which is kind of frustrating, but then again, maybe it just means that I'm right where I'm supposed to be and I shouldn't worry about it.

I ended up crazily teaching yoga class last night, because the regular instructor couldn't be there. I was petrified, but I put together a solid series of flows, and it ended up going really well. I did a "warrior flow", where you typically start facing one way and do it on one side, and then you switch sides and repeat the whole thing on the other side of your body. Well, I realized this morning that I forgot to do it on both sides last night! Oh, well. For all my students knew, I did that on purpose to avoid running out of time. And my class did end up filling the hour, plus a couple of minutes, even without the missing poses. There were a couple of other little mistakes I made, but all-in-all, I'd say it went very smoothly for a first yoga class. My transitions all seemed smooth and to "make sense", and I kept my composure and didn't do anything idiotic. :) So, yay!

I'm excited about tomorrow, because in addition to the 5K, we're going to an Earth Day thing on post, with vendors, food, and activities for the kiddies. And best of all, my Timmy friend and his zesty friend (and mine) Jaimie are coming up to visit us! Yay! We're going to go out for Japanese for dinner. I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese...

And can we talk about this fabulous weather? I'm completely loving it. Today, I'm wearing a sleeveless top, a skort, and sandals, and I couldn't be happier. Now, if only it could stay just like this instead of getting into the humid high 90s later in the summer. :(

That's about all for now, folks...

a very rainy day

It has been raining almost nonstop here today. Blech! We figured we had to get out and do something, so we decided to take Nick bowling on post. It was pretty fun! I did better than I thought I would, given how long it had been since I last bowled - I got a 135, which included one strike and several spares. Brian beat me by 7, and Nick held his own (with the help of bumpers) with a 74. He was very excited to go bowling, and apparently had a wonderful time! :)

We also went to Walmart and picked up all the pics I had developed (145!), in addition to a bit of shopping. I got a couple of cute tank tops, and we got a couple of tank tops and new shoes for Nick. We also picked up a new cordless phone, as one of ours was on the fritz. And, I picked up a new kind of wrinkle cream, in my never ending quest to stave off the ravages of time. :)

It was nice to come back home, though, to our nice cozy house. Since getting home, I've been putting photos in the album, reading the Sunday paper, talking to my Timmy-friend and wishing him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!, etc. After I'm done online, I've GOT to get to work on my next sculpt class - I'm totally slacking on that. Ack!

Hope everyone's having a nice weekend...

random babbling and a recipe!

Hey, folks! I guess I should do a bit of a "real" post, finally. I don't have anything really exciting to say, but I AM going to share the faboo recipe I made for dinner this evening.

I've ended up having a pretty productive day. I've washed all of our bedding and am still washing all the throws, bathmats, kitchen rugs, etc. We vacuumed and flipped our mattress, and put on a new zippered hypoallergenic mattress cover, to see if that helps me - I tend to wake up congested every morning, and I've decided that maybe it's because of dust/dust mites. We shall see. We also vacuumed under the bed and took down the heavy (and disgustingly dusty) drapes that are right behind our bed and laundered them. I don't know if any of this will actually help my congestion, but at least our bedroom will be cleaner! :)

I also talked to my friend Katherine today, which was very lovely. She always makes me laugh and lightens my mood. Thanks, girl!

Also, I got all of my latest digital pics on CD to take to Walmart for printing, and Brian vacuumed the whole house and I mopped the kitchen and bathrooms. Wow! I really have done a lot today, haven't I? There's something about seeing it all in print...

In addition to all of the above, I managed to find time to whip up a very quick, simple, delicious dinner: spinach and black bean egg rolls - they're sort of an east meets southwest kinda thing. I have two words for you: Me gusta! Here's the recipe:

Spinach and Black Bean Egg Rolls

2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies, drained (I left these out.)
4 green onions, chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. pepper
20 egg roll wrappers
Pam
salsa and/or ranch dressing

1. In a large bowl, combine the first nine ingredients. Place 1/4 cup mixture in the center of each egg roll wrapper. (Keep remaining wrappers covered with a damp paper towel while you work.) Fold corners in one by one, making an "egg roll" shape and moistening final corner with water before pressing down to seal.
2. Place egg rolls seam side down on cookie sheet sprayed with Pam. Spray tops of egg rolls with Pam and bake at 425 for about 15 mins., until nicely browned and crispy. Serve warm with salsa and/or ranch dressing, if desired.

I mixed up the full amount of filling, but decided to just assemble and bake 10 egg rolls this evening. I refrigerated the remaining wrappers and filling, and that way I can make them fresh next time, instead of reheating existing ones. Seemed like a good idea! I thought they were very good - if you make them, let me know what you think!

Tomorrow, I shall do my usual Walmart run, and Brian and I are going to take Nick bowling and then possibly go to a couple of furniture stores and see if we can find a headboard for Nick's bed.
I also have to design my next class. It's shaping up to be a pretty good weekend! Hope yours is, too...

new photos!

I have added new photos to Facebook, in three separate albums. Here are public links to those albums (you can view them even if you're not "on" Facebook). Enjoy, and let me know what you think!:

Nick's 5th birthday

Operation Big Boy Bed

Miscellaneous pics from March/April

a good weigh-in

I'm very happy to be back in my target weight range, despite porking down last night on a big Southwestern salad with tortilla strips, sour cream, and pico de gallo. :)

I'm also happy to report that I'm finally in the process of processing the 100 digital pics that have accumulated on my camera, so I should be doing a post very soon with some new pics - yay! So, Rebecca, just hold on a little bit longer. :) I would ask you why you're not posting, but - oh, that's right! - you haven't even STARTED your blog, you wench!

Happy Friday, everyone...

we're back from easter weekend...

I'm just on here long enough to say that we're back home after our Easter weekend in Springfield. We had a very nice time, and my singing went well. Right now, though, I feel like I have 8 million things to do and I'm somewhat overwhelmed. So, I may not be posting for a few days. Bear with me! Hope everyone had a nice Easter...

a wonderful, moving true story

I just finished reading The Year My Son and I Were Born: A Story of Down Syndrome, Motherhood, and Self-Discovery, and I highly recommend it to anyone, not just parents or those who have a child with Down Syndrome. It's incredibly moving and eye-opening, and is just a wonderful read. I can almost guarantee that you WILL cry in certain parts, and from joy, not sadness! If you read it, let me know what you think. I checked it out from my library.

come on, amy - time to rein it in!

So, over the past two weeks, I've gained two pounds, and I'm now outside of my "comfort zone" of 140-143. Not by much, but this means that I've got to get my eating under control so that I don't keep going in that direction. Why I've gained those two pounds is no mystery - I've been eating fairly crappily, and it's got to stop! This weekend is already doomed, because we're going to a big Easter brunch, but come Monday, I've got to buckle down and get some discipline back into my diet. Wish me luck!

We're off to Springfield this evening. Tomorrow, I'm going to spend some time with my Timmy-friend and see his new house (!), and Sunday I'm singing at church and then brunching with my family. I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend...

the end of an era

We just got done setting up a full-size bed in Nick's room - he is now the official owner of a big boy bed! It's a pretty big step, as he was sleeping in a "toddler bed", which was simply his crib with a side rail removed. But, he was just about too long for it, so we decided it was time for a bed! I didn't want to mess with a twin bed, because I feel that when he's a teen, it would be too small for his comfort (I remember how much I hated having a twin bed as I got older.), and I didn't want to have to start with one size and then switch to another. Plus, we already owned a full-size bed, which we were using as our guest bed. We simply gave it to Nick, and we will move our full-size futon back up from the basement to use as our guest bed. So, it works out great, and all I had to buy was new bedding for Nick. He's really excited to sleep in his bed tonight, so we'll see how it goes. I'll share pics eventually...

miscellany

Regarding the recipe for oat, almond, and cranberry breakfast bars - I just made another batch and substituted applesauce for the oil, and I would NOT recommend that. They're OK, but rather different and not nearly as good as with oil. I'm so disappointed! Alas.

Went to the dentist today for my check-up, and all was well. I finally asked about closing the gap between my bottom front teeth, and found out that I could have some bonding done, and my co-pay would be rather reasonable! Yay! So, it's scheduled for next week. I'm thrilled; I just wish I had asked about it a long time ago. The gap doesn't show when I smile, as it's on the bottom, but it does show when I speak or sing, so I'm pretty self-conscious about it. Wish me luck that the bonding turns out well and looks natural.

Because of my dentist appointment, I didn't go to the class at my gym this morning, but I had enough time between the dentist and picking Nick up from school to head there and use the treadmill for 30 minutes - better than nothing! I jogged for probably half the time, so I got a pretty decent calorie burn.

Today is Peanut Butter and Jelly Day (apparently), and one of the community centers on post hosted a free PB&J lunch. I picked Nick up from school and took him there, and it was fun! Granted, it wasn't the healthiest lunch ever (no whole wheat bread, natural PB or no-sugar-added jelly in sight), but it was free, and Nick loved it! We each had a sandwich and a bag of chips (Cheetos for Nick and Fritos for me), and a cookie for dessert. They had crafts for the kids to do, and Nick had a blast. The woman in charge happened to be the yoga teacher at my gym, and it was nice to sit and talk with her - we discussed the idea of me being able to sub for her when needed, and she thinks I'd do fine, which makes me feel good.

Brian was supposed to meet us for the lunch, but on the way, he suffered a flat tire (well, his car did, not him personally). :( The tire couldn't be fixed, so he had to have a new one put on. Ack! It wasn't too expensive, though, so all's well that ends well. He's had a pretty bad day on several counts, the poor guy, between the tire and some stuff at work.

We'll finally get to see him pretty soon, because Nick and I are getting ready to leave to head to Nick's school for parent-child night, where we'll meet up with Brian. They're having some sort of "multicultural" theme, and then there will be more free food :), including my underwhelming applesaucy bars. I hate to subject the other families to the results of my experimentation, but whatareyagonnado? I don't have time to make anything else. :)

That's all, folks! Gotta head out...

i did it!

I finally went through my closet and got rid of the remainder of my too-big, unwanted, outdated clothes! Yay! It was quite the bloodbath. :) Now, everything in my closet is something that fits and that I will actually wear. And no, there's not much, but that's OK - now, I can start building it up again. You wouldn't believe the amount of empty space in that closet now. I feel so liberated and unencumbered. In addition to two large garbage bags full of clothing, Brian will also be taking one bag full of hangers to Goodwill - it's insane how many hangers I had!

I had a fairly accomplished weekend, all-in-all. I went through my next sculpt class, working out the kinks and finalizing it for Wednesday, went to Walmart (got some new tank tops, nail polish, lip color, etc.), did laundry, cooked and baked, dusted the house (somewhat), cleaned the toilets, rehearsed my Easter solo, painted my toenails, gathered and packed up a bunch of kid clothes and toys to take to a resale shop, ordered a new bed-in-a-bag for Nick, gathered the documents Brian will need to have our taxes done, etc. Whew! When I see it all in print like that, I really feel like I got a lot done. Brian was also quite helpful this weekend - he set up our new printer (The old one finally gave up the ghost, but we had had it for 10 years!), vacuumed the house, took stuff to Goodwill, and generally kept Nick occupied while I got stuff done.

The week ahead is busy as usual. I'll be chauffeuring Nick to school, working out, going to a Love and Logic class, doing laundry, grocery shopping, paying bills (including the first payment on the Caliber - blech!), teaching my class, going to the dentist, attending parent-child night at Nick's school, going to Rolla, etc., etc. My niece is supposed to be visiting next weekend, which I'm looking forward to very much.

Hope everyone had a great weekend, and I wish you a good week ahead...

more yummy goodness!

I just made these today, and they are absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS! I highly recommend that you make them as soon as possible. :) They do have oil, honey, and sugar, so are not exactly health food, but they're also full of really wonderful, healthy things, like oats, almonds, wheat germ, and whole wheat flour, if you use that. Also, I would imagine that you could substitute applesauce for the oil - I didn't have any, so I didn't try that. Enjoy!

Oat, Almond, and Cranberry Breakfast Bars

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 lg. egg
2 cups old-fashioned oats, uncooked
3/4 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/2 cup Craisins or raisins
3/4 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9 x 13" baking pan and set aside.
2. In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, stir oil, honey, vanilla, and egg until mixed.
3. In a large bowl, with fork, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, almonds, wheat germ, Craisins, and salt until combined. With a rubber spatula, stir honey mixture into dry mixture until blended and moistened; scrape into prepared pan. With a wet hand, pat mixture evenly into pan.
4. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

chicken and spinach stromboli (serves 6)

I made this recipe for dinner tonight, and it turned out great!

1 lb. chicken breasts or tenderloins, cut into strips
1 pkg. (11 oz.) refrigerated Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Crust
1 cup pasta sauce, divided
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup shredded Colby/Monterey Jack cheese blend
milk
grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oven to 400. Boil a cup of water in a large skillet, add chicken and return to boiling. Cover and simmer 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool, then chop.
2. Spray a large cookie sheet with Pam, and unroll pizza crust into a 12 x 14" rectangle on the cookie sheet. Spoon half of the pasta sauce down the center, leaving 3" on either side. Layer spinach, chicken, and shredded cheese over sauce. Cut 12 strips on both sides of crust. Fold strips over filling so that they overlap in the middle. Brush with milk and sprinkle with Parmesan.
3. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until nicely browned and crisp. Serve with remaining pasta sauce.