Covered Bridge Survives Irene!

This video shows the aftermath of Hurricane Irene in a small town in Vermont. I'm so relieved and thankful that the covered bridge survived because it holds a special place in my heart: it is the location that Handsome Hubby asked me to be his wife nearly 5 years ago and he painted an award-winning picture of the bridge as a gift to my grandfather.

Praying for all the people affected by the hurricane!

To the Baby Lizard in my Laundry Room, You scared me when you jumped right at me off Long Dog's food storage container. I chased you around the room to try and shoo you outside, fearing that you might choose to wait and die in my house instead (so sad!!). After many failed attempts, it was Long Dog that finally chased you out of the house. Be free, Baby Lizard! Live a long, happy life out in the wilderness of my back yard! To Long Dog, Thanks for being such a great protector of the house. Also, I know you must have been secretly laughing at me the whole time...
To the other things that don't belong in my house, My pantry has never been so clean and organized thanks to our weekend infestation of grain weevils. Yes, grain weevils, who apparently hitched a ride into my house in a bag of bird seed. Most of my pantry items have been thrown out and replaced... and everything is now sealed in ziploc bags. I still cringe at the thought of so many bugs in my kitchen...
To the Moe's Monday Crew (and the occasional addition...yes, I mean you, Mrs. South Korea), I'm so thankful for the wonderful time we spend together every week. After the chaos of a sometimes hectic Monday, I love getting together and fellowshipping with such incredibly encouraging and supportive friends. May we never get tired of burritos, queso, salsa, and chips!
To Mr. and Mrs. Korea, I heard this song while running errands this afternoon. It made me think of you both. Just saying... Mr. Korea, I hope you are doing well! We need to Skype double-date soon!
To my Sleepy Sweetheart, Last night, in my own sleep stupor, I bolted upright, shook you awake, and told you I thought you were having a seizure! To which you replied that you were sleeping. ;) I'm so glad that you were actually okay. I don't know what I had been dreaming about, but I'm just going to blame what we ate for dinner... Maybe you wouldn't be so tired if you were just able to get a good night's rest.

Food Friday! : Blueberry Power Muffins

(For the lack of a better name...)

My childhood was filled with many many wonderful memories, and often those memories are paired with wonderful foods. My mom is an incredible baker/cook and she has passed on the love of good food and making good food to the three of us kids.

Therefore, to honor my Mama and all other people who have encouraged my passion for cooking/baking (you too M-I-L!), I have decided to add more posts with recipes...new finds and old favorites. Enjoy!

Blueberry Power Muffins with Almond Streusel
(a new find)


I found this recipe recently on Cookinglight.com and something about the picture made my mouth water, so I decided to make them. Sometimes when HH runs out the door in the morning on the way to the hospital with a cup of coffee and an over-processed breakfast bar, I am overcome with wife-guilt. I hope he likes this recipe enough to take one (or two) of these instead. Not to mention that those breakfast bars are rather expensive...

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups vanilla low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup 2% milk (I used skim)
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (thanks again Mama Morris for my Mexican Vanilla!)
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (I had frozen blueberries left from the Saturday morning markets downtown and I just let them thaw before folding them in)
Cooking spray

(For Streusel)
1.4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup slivered almonds, chopped
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour, whole wheat flour, oats, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a wisk. Reserve approximately 1/4 cup of this flour mixture to "dredge" the blueberries. In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, milk, oil, vanilla, and egg, stirring until well mixed. Add this liquid mixture to a well in the center of the flour mixture and stir until just moist. Fold in dredged blueberries, making sure to add with it any remaining flour. Using a 1/4 measuring cup, spoon batter into muffin pan (sprayed with cooking spray).

For the streusel, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with hands. Sprinkle over the batter in the muffin pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched in the center. Makes about 25 muffins.

Has anyone else made these? What do you think?

 

To the "Blue" (because the Chair named you the head of the group and made up the name) Intern, You're in your last week of Pediatric Surgery! Way to make it [almost] through your second rotation of residency! I'm so proud of what you have accomplished and I know you have certainly impressed some of the attendings... way to go!
To The Fresh Market, You made my day yesterday when I walked in and heard my beloved Pumpkin Spice coffee calling out my name. No one is as excited as me, expect maybe Handsome Hubby, Weathergirl, and the dozen or so girls in my small group. I don't care if its still 90+ degrees outside- it is now officially fall. Time to get out the front door wreath... P.S., Here's a little secret, I will spend the next 4 months stocking up on enough of this coffee to last me until next fall. To my freezer, Make room! The coffee is coming! To Weathergirl, I'm sorry your Fresh Market doesn't have any yet. You can always come and visit...
To the Kickboxing Queen, So excited that a new semester of your incredible class has started at the Wellness Center! Monday's class was awesome and awful all at the same time. ;) I'm still feeling the after effects of not having been to a kickboxing class in near 4 months. Oooouch.... Looking forward to seeing you twice a week!
To the Earthquake Felt Around the World (or at least the East Coast), Way to be the talk of the week! You surprised everyone by being the natural disaster to hit our area (sort of)...and here we expected Hurricane Irene. She, however, has apparently decided to visit other places. Thanks for making Tuesday all that more interesting!
To Handsome Hubby, Thank you for being a generous man. I am grateful that you are always so giving and quick to offer support to anyone...even if it is a place to stay for the next month! Here's to one more roommate... although none can be quite as good as the Swede!

To my Sleepy Sweetums, You called me at 5:50 this morning because you needed me to bring your badge and your pager to the children's hospital. I know you really did it on purpose so that you could see me and Long Dog again. :)
To the Parking Office, You gave me a parking ticket on Friday claiming I was driving an unregistered vehicle. As it turns out, I have a blue Ford Edge registered, but the car I parked in the parking lot was apparently a purple Ford Edge. This is ridiculous and I can't believe is worthy of a parking ticket... For those interested, I will not be paying this.
To Hurricane Irene, I'll admit that all the hoop-lah about the potential of you coming this direction is somewhat exciting. We certainly need the rain! Hurricane Hunk, Keep us updated if bad weather is coming our way! Sadness that you think it might actually miss us completely...
To the Birthday Boys, Happy Birthday!! We had such a great time as a family celebrating you two this weekend! Papa Peter, I'm so thankful for your incredible health! You look great and I'm so glad you are feeling better. Can't wait to have you come play disc golf with us... especially now that you have your very own discs!
To my Hardworking Hubby, You got your vacation schedule this morning and you have the week of Thanksgiving and the week of my birthday off! Thank you for making these weeks a priority! Sorry you didn't get the week after Christmas off...

 

The beautiful Key Lime and Chocolate Cupcakes that Mama Ne made!

The view from Brooke and David's home in San Juan, Costa Rica. Can't wait to see the view in Cuzco!

 To my favorite PGY1, You have the whole weekend off. Second weekend in a row. I'm getting spoiled.
To Mama NeNe, I so enjoyed spending precious time with you today! It's always so refreshing to come home and hang out with you and the padre... whether it's catching up at the kitchen table over cake and coffee or watching you play Angry Birds. :) I'm so thankful for you both.
To Brooke and David (and children), how wonderful it was to spend time with you on Friday night! It was only a short time to catch up, but we loved hearing about how far you come since moving to Costa Rica and what you have planned next in beautiful Peru! So excited that you will have space for visitors in your new home... we are saving up for our next adventure already!
To Banker Boy and Popmiester, It's your birthday weekend!! These special days only come once a year and I'm so thankful that Handsome Hubby and I are able to celebrate with you! Let the party begin...
To my Sleepy Sweety, You called waking up at 8am "sleeping in". You're making progress on becoming a morning person! I'm still getting used to you napping in the most uncomfortable places and some of the strangest times... May this weekend be a restful time for you to recover from your busy week!

To my Dr. Husband, Congratulations on completing your first laparoscopic appendectomy!! I'm so proud of you and completely impressed. Wish I could spend a day shadowing you on the job...I think it would be fascinating! On another note, you came home quite late and announced that you needed a dessert to "pay off" the residents who let you do the surgery. Thank goodness I was in a baking mood!
To Dingo Dog, Apparently Long Dog holds no hard feelings towards you for tearing off the extra long tail on his favorite bunny squeaky toy. As it turns out, it is now just the right length for him to carrying it around without having to fold it in half to prevent tripping on it. I think he must be secretly thankful. :)
To the Pantry Sans Sugar, The task: make a dessert. The problem: no white sugar. Thanks to my over preparation for the baby shower this last weekend, I had plenty of cake mix and lots of powdered sugar. The result: perfectly baked vanilla cake mix cupcakes with vanilla (thanks Soon-to-be Mama Morris for the Mexican vanilla!) buttercream frosting. Delish! I hope the residents enjoy them! P.S. HH, you owe me. :)
To my Breakfast Date, Sometimes when you have a calm(er) morning at the children's hospital, you invite me on a breakfast date. It might be hotcakes at McDonald's and maybe for only 10 minutes, but it makes my day just that much brighter... Thank you for being the man I married.

To my Sweetheart, Who knew you would be so good at helping me set up for a baby shower? You picked up balloons, you swept off the porch (and the deck), and you single handedly stuffed every one of the mini crescents with chicken salad. And after all of that, you went to see The Help with me afterwards. One word: impressive. I promise a "guy" day really soon...
To Soon-To-Be Mama Morris, So glad we were able to celebrate you at your baby shower yesterday! Can't believe it is almost your due date...it seems like just yesterday that you announced you were pregnant. We are counting down the days until we meet your niña bonita! Oh, and thank you for giving me an excuse to borrow my Great Grandmom Betty's china and make another diaper cake! :)
To Long Dog, You've never liked the car. Ever. But, then we took you with us for the short drive to DQ on Miracle Treat day. And despite the near-record heat, we drove with the windows down and you loved every minute of it...kept your head out the window the. whole. time. Made my heart happy. This day, I promise to take you on more car rides when I run errands, so you may once again have the opportunity to act like a real dog. I'm sure it helps that I don't drive you around in a tin can anymore... 
To RayRay, So I'm thinking you have made it home from the beach by now and I am happy to report that nothing bad or unfortunate happened while you were away. Which leads me to one very special and important conclusion: the vacation curse has been broken. Hallelujah!
To anyone who cares, I'm fairly certain that the man I "recognized" while out to dinner Friday was Muse Watson. Handsome Hubby thought it was incredibly funny how giddy I was by seeing a famous person. [Insert a shout out to all my NCIS buddies here.] 
To my Hard Working Hubbster, It's your second day off in over 3 weeks. How do you use this time? You helped me wash Blue and you changed Bessy's oil. He really needed a bath, and even though we had to hurry and finish as the thunderstorm was blowing in, I'm really grateful that it's clean!

To my hard-working Dr. B.,  Sometimes when you come home in the evenings and tell me about your day, I am amazed (and sometimes grossed out) at what you do...especially the little lives you are saving this month! I'm so thankful that God has given people like you the passion to be an incredible physician! May you have the favor of your attendings, residents, and patients today! 
To my Blog Readers, I have had a noticeable absence from blogging lately. But alas, I have returned! The chaos of the last few weeks is settling down, and I hope to have more opportunities to blog than I have this last month.
To my Encouragers, You know who you are. Thank you for your support, your words of encouragement, your prayers and your overall kindness over the last several weeks. My Papa is home from the hospital and recovering well! Praise the Lord! I'm still learning to trust God fully and depend on Him for the strength to get through each day (and that He gives my dad the strength to get through every day!). I'm still learning to relinquish the stress and anxiety of not being in control of my life and trusting and believing that He works for the good of those who love Him! This is definitely going to be a process... (How anxious, you wonder? Handsome Hubby assured me that the above values from the grocery store's device are not real and we retook my blood pressure at home. Otherwise, I would have been in Stage 2 Hypertension.)   :)
To Piedmont Hospital, I love it that you play a lullaby over the loud speaker every time a baby is born. What an incredible reminder of the miracle of life that continues each and every day, and sometimes dozens of times a day...
To this ridiculous Summer Heat, The schools around us have started, the cinnamon brooms are out at all the grocery stores, and I'm ready for apple cider, pumpkin pie, and cooler temperatures (and I don't mean a "cold front" with a high of 92)...isn't it time for you to hibernate until next year? My utilities budget can't handle much more of this...
To my Handsome Hubby, I love you. Can we go see a movie this weekend? How about "The Help"? We can go to the expensive theater...(Thank you to my favorite M-I-L for the free movie tickets!)