Black Bean Burgers

Made these black bean burgers last night. They were absolutely wonderful (can't wait for the one I'm saving for lunch). I'm trying to stock up on some good, filling vegetarian meal options (not cutting out meat entirely just trying to cut back significantly). Any suggestions?

Weekend Wrap Up

Things accomplished over the weekend:

1. Finished that book that I've been reading for 2 weeks.

2. Finished that baby blanket that I've been working on for 2 weeks.

3. Felt a burst of creativity and made these hats:

(Three hats will be heading your way Denise once I figure out how do make 1 smaller and 1 larger)

4. Had a very nice, relaxing, spiritually uplifting weekend.

Gearing Up

What does one do when one is about to enter a biggest loser weight loss contest? (Apart from affecting the dialogue of the Queen of England) One eats of course. And this is what one eats:

A deliciously, sinful (and so easy to make) s'more cookie bar (I'm not admitting to how many I have already eaten--but I will say that I resisted having one for breakfast, barely). Recipe found here. I used Symphony bars instead of Hersey (cause Hersey bars are just vile tasting). Watch the baking time. It says to bake for 30-35 minutes. I checked it at 30 minutes and thought it had browned just a bit too much--is that an altitude problem?

Confessions of a Future Resolution Breaker

I come before you today to tell you that I plan on breaking one of my resolutions. In fact, I plan on breaking this resolution 13 times over the next 3 months. Why? Because I have some winter weight to lose and a couple of my sister's have some baby weight to lose and so we are doing our own in-family Biggest Loser competition. This means that I will have to weigh in publicly (in front of my family--eek!) 13 times which pretty much obliterates my goal of not weighing myself this year. I however will only be weighing myself 13 times and not in between weigh ins to determine if or what I am losing so I kind of feel that I am still adhering to the spirit of the resolution (a little bit).

And now for a bit of unrelated business. That crazy woman you might have seen wandering through 2 Walmarts at 11 pm last night wearing hot-pink pleather slippers, baggy ill-fitting jeans, a baggy sweatshirt, no make-up, and crazy hair looking for 6 feet of yarn to finish up her baby blanket project might indeed have been me. In my defense I forgot I was wearing the slippers until I was half way to Walmart and decided I wouldn't go home and change since, after all, it is Walmart we are talking about. Neither store had the yarn--curse you Walmart!

Create

It would appear that my church is now on YouTube. I heard this announcement recently on the news or in the newspaper, but it seems that they have actually been there for since last August so I don't know why the announcement was only being made recently. Perhaps what was meant is that they are now creating some really great clips (not just the fun/thoughtful commercials that we know and love) on doctrinal topics. And by great clips I mean thoughtful, professional, and cool--as in not cheesy.

Here is one from Elder Uchtdorf that is a very good reminder for me right now (I used this quote in a lesson I taught recently and wish that I had known about this clip).

Dear April,

That was some nasty April Fool's joke I woke up to this morning and I think perhaps you didn't actually think through this one very well. Snow? This is not helpful to me right now. You see, I'm in a bit of a funk. I've been reading the same book for a week now (it only has 200 pages and something like that usually only takes me 3 days), I've been working on the same baby blanket for a week now (just when I thought I was done an unnamed niece snipped away a couple strands of my crochet work at the beginning ruining the entire thing and causing me to start over), and just generally I've been feeling frustrated and useless this week. So you see, when I woke up to snow this morning (even though I knew it was going to snow because the local weather man was wearing is white suit jacket last night--it's what he does when snow is forecasted for the next day) it felt like a cruel, cruel joke that had just gone to far.

I realize, April, that that was probably not your intention so I don't want you to feel too badly about it and that is actually why I am writing this letter to you. I was thinking that perhaps if you knew how I was feeling you could find it in your heart not to make it snow for the next three days. And if you could find that in your heart then just maybe you could also find it in your heart to bring on Spring. I'll even put up with your April showers if you will show me glimpses of budding trees and flowers.

Pretty please,

Yankee Girl

Not A Real Post

I've already spent too much time online today--really need to define some limits--so I have a question not a post.

What is Twitter? And do any of you Twitter?

Okay, that was two questions. I don't think this is one I'm going to get sucked into (said that about Facebook, though) but I am just wondering what it is. It would appear to be a place to update what you are doing in simple one sentence statements(like Facebook) but without all the games, quizzes, tags, and pokes (not like Facebook).

Evil Librarians

I've done a very poor job of updating my reading list on my side bar of late so I thought I would do a bit of updating in a post.

First off, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson (inspiration for the post title--I don't know any evil librarians myself). Fun, fun young adult read about how evil librarians run our world by controlling knowledge and information--and, of course, our only hope is a 14 year old orphan. I picked it up for the title alone and ended up very please with it--only found out later that the author is LDS and lives in Provo.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin. The true story of an American who builds schools in Pakistan and why the work he does is so very important in the fight against terrorism.

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute. A sweet little romantic love story that takes place during and just after World War II first in Indonesia (or similar setting) and then the outback of Australia.

Impossible Things by Connie Willis. A collection of short stories by an excellent Sci Fi author MBC introduced me to. Spice Pogrom was my favorite--imagine the silly romantic capers of the 30s and 40s (It Happened One Night) set in space with aliens. Loved It!

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. A story about a group of women who gather once a week to knit and find their lives weaving together in unexpected ways. (I read the sequel as well and didn't care for it very much so read this one then stop)

These Three Remain by Pamela Aidan. This is the third installment of Pride and Prejudice written from the view of Mr. Darcy. A fun, Austenesque read (books 1 and 3 are the best of the trilogy--I had one friend who skipped book 2 all together).

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. So very good. It is a classic for a reason. Don't let the number of pages turn you away from this read. It reads quickly and is so very well written.

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos. I'd like to take a moment here to apologize for my not-very-good reviews. If you were sitting here with me I could tell you a bit more about why I loved these books, but finding the words to type just escapes me and tends to come out more as "I loved it," "liked it," "didn't like it." For this book, though, head here to MBC's review and you will find an excellent review by an excellent reviewer (who is not an evil librarian).

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. This is the story of the lone seventh grade Protestant boy of a small town during the late 1960s. On Wednesday afternoons he is stuck reading Shakespeare with his seventh grade teacher while all the Jewish and Catholic kids escape to their respective religious instruction classes. Loved this book.

Ok, so there you have the short list of a few books I have read and loved over the last few months.

What have you been reading?

'Nother Video

I don't know what it is with me and video clips, but here is another one for your viewing pleasure. This one comes to you courtesy of Jenny at Daily Blessings.

How Sweet Is This?

Beautiful

Saw this Oren Lavie video at Design Mom and loved it.

Man Candy Thursday

Guess whose pretend boyfriend was speaking Irish on CSI:NY last night. It was just about enough to actually name him my no. 1 pretend boyfriend. Couldn't find a clip of it yet so you will just have to make due with his pretty face.

Where Did My Spring Go?

Ummm, really I'd like to know. Cause Saturday it was 70 degrees outside and I was wearing shorts and planning BBQs and then this morning I wake up to snow. SNOW! I really don't know if I can handle this and so I am retreating behind a crochet hook, some hot chocolate (the last of the season, please), and some Spring music by Vivaldi. Then tonight I think I'll sequester myself in a very dark room, turn my back to any windows that might offer glimpses of snow, and watch Australia--pretty sure the Outback doesn't have these Spring snow shower problems. According to the weather report, such behavior may go on all week and possibly into next week.

Top 5 Things I Didn't Plan on Doing this Morning at 3 a.m.

Number Five: Share a bed with a two year old.

Number Four: Tickle the back of a two year old.

Number Three: Refill the sippy cup of a two year old.

Number Two: Pop popcorn for a two year old.

And Number One: Watch Mulan with a two year old.

Good thing I got a cute little nephew for all my trouble. I'm pretty sure someone told me all the details but in my lack-of-sleep stupor I don't quite remember them all. I think they are about as follows:

Born: This morning at 4:20 am

Weight: 6 pounds something

Height: 19 inches or so

Hair: Dark and lots of it.

Mom and baby are doing great. Pictures to come.