Oatmeal Banana Muffins

Today I am off of work, so I decided to bake. I had a couple ripe bananas, so banana muffins was on the agenda. I've been trying to be more conscientious of eating healthy lately, so I wanted to make these with as little white flour as possible.... I have an abundance of oatmeal sitting around (my new breakfast of choice), so I thought to myself "oatmeal banana muffins would be good" and proceeded to look up the recipe. This is the part of the story where I agree with Dad that I am, in fact, a blond. I googled "oatmeal banana muffin recipes" and found several, including one with not only no white flour, but no flour whatsoever...this was great, exactly what I was looking for. So into the kitchen I went...dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another...and then I realized...there were no bananas in this banana muffin recipe. Now, a clever person would have realized this before making the muffins, but not me...no siree Bob...so there were a few minutes of frantic "what the heck am I going to do with pile of goo" until I browsed other recipes and was able to save this poor unfortunate batter. So, here is my new favorite Banana Oatmeal Muffin Recipe:

1 cup oatmeal
1 c. flour
1 TBS + 2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 c. sugar

1/4 c. oil
1 egg
2 mashed bananas
small dash of nutmeg
bigger dash of cinnamon
2 cap fulls of vanilla

All dry ingredients get mixed together, all wet ones together, and then you mix all those together and bake at 400 for 20 minutes...they're tasty, but do require either coffee or hot tea as a compliment, because that's what all baked goods like to have with them. :-)

These guys are AWESOME

You've gotta check out this link. :-)

My new favorite quotation, as seen in a coffee shop

Unattended children will be given a shot of espresso . . . and a puppy.


Isn't that a terribly happy thought? :-)

PINK!!!!!!!!!!!

I just realized this blog is MUCH too pink and cutesey. I'll have to change that sometime when it is no longer 2 am.

"When the sun hits just right, these hills sing"

That's a quotation from Emperor's New Grove...and all time favorite movie...but I was reminded of it today when I was sitting on top of a rock...I had a headache and no aspirin, so I went for a drive on Skyline to get rid of it...and it worked...I drove from Fro Ro to Thornton Gap on my way home...you know, the long way, and while I did stop at a couple overlooks, once I hit mile marker 21, I parked the car and went gallivanting. It was great fun, but I wasn't exactly planning it and was wearing shoes with a bit of a heel...big mistake, but it worked. So I climbed up a bit and sat on the rocks while enjoying a yellow delicious apple....because those are the best. I like being above everything...makes me feel powerful. :-) I was sitting directly above the overlook, so the view was amazing...very brown and orange and red with a couple of ponds. A family stopped at the overlook while I was there. They were very cute. It was refreshing to see a family with a couple of teenagers just goofing off with Grandma and Grandpa. I'm sure they would have behaved more "properly" had they known someone was sitting on a rock 50 feet above them, but they didn't, so they were just a silly family and I thoroughly enjoyed them. :-)
Then I went home and made a pie...but we're not gonna talk about that b/c I have a feeling that the crust is going to be too tough...
Then out to coffee with Joe, which is always refreshing, and then out to see Enchanted, which was super super funny and I think that everyone who wants to be put in a happy sort of mood should go see it.
And now
I am going
To bed.

And then there were none...

Well, it has certainly been a very long time. Goodness...no excuses, other than a mixture of laziness and busyness. Life has this habit of keeping me quite occupied, and now that I am once again living with people, I don't need machines (ie, computers on which to blog) to fill up my evenings.
I'm not even gonna try to catch up and fill in...I'll just pick up as if I never ignored this thing for 3 months and we'll see where it gets me....

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'...

Well, not rollin', movin'....tomorrow and the next day, and I still haven't really packed..is that a bad thing? I have too much stuff...If things break, well, good riddance, right? Well, not really. There is, somewhere, a fine line between "too much stuff" and "life's necessities" and right now I'm trying to find that line. I feel like I've got SO MUCH, but in reality, I really don't...when a nun, who has taken a vow of poverty, can look at you and say "you have absolutely nothing," that should be a clear sign not to worry about the amount of stuff floating around; but I must admit, I'm still not convinced. I was reminded by one of my sisters the other day that I'm not expected to lead a monastic life, and can therefore have some of life's little luxeries and shouldn't feel guilty about that...things like stuffed animals....I like stuffed animals. But what about the stuffed animals that are well worn and beyond being any use to anyone? Like the bear I got for Christmas when I was 5...I'll never forget that Christmas...the bear is huge, well, at least to a 5 year old...and when we went into the living room on Christmas morning, it was the first thing that I saw. And when I asked whose it was, Laura said it was hers...but I knew it had to be mine and she finally gave it to me and I slept with it for many more years than I care to admit...but now he's showing his age and does nothing but sit on the top shelf of my closet...so has he, one of my favorite toys EVER, moved into the realm of "stuff" and need to disappear? The silly, pack-rat, sentimental side of me says "no, absolutely not" but at the same time, he's doing no apparent good and is just taking up space...and that's just the bear...I have the same dilema with about 40% of what I own...so in the next 2 days, I get to figure all that out and find the healthy balance of enough stuff without being too brutal and throwing away my most prized possessions....hmmmmmm....we'll see how that goes...