Wow

Wow, it has been so long since I've written anything.  I still need to post birthday pictures and since my last note, Dustin and I went on a trip to Spokane, WA, Seattle, WA, the Oregon coast, and Portland, OR.  It was a lot of fun.  I'll have to put up some pictures from the trip.

I am going through recipes and figuring out Weight Watchers points for them so I can go grocery shopping.  Dustin and I will be getting back up with Weight Watchers.  We did a vegan week lately and I lost 3.2 pounds just in that week.  I ate like a pig, but just cutting out milk and eggs really helped things.  I really don't like the taste of some vegan products, but others were great!  So, Dustin and I are going to eat vegan as much as possible.

This week, I want to concentrate on drinking enough fluids.

Last Wednesday, I got a call from Dustin at work that he had passed out while in an attorney's office.  I picked him up and took him to the doctor.  He was nauseated and while waiting started to get tingly and numb on his right side.  The doctor sent us to the E.R.  It was so scary, because nothing like that ever happens to Dustin.  It really shook me up and I was having a hard time staying calm about it all.  Once we got home from the hospital, Dustin just slept for hours and I kept going and checking on him.  I was really worried and scared about him.  I hated seeing him so miserable.  I laid with him for a little while while he was sleeping and just cried.  Then, I cooked him fettucine alessandro, which is basically fettucine with a pureed corn sauce.  It is SO good.  He didn't eat much, but I wanted to make him something he really likes.  Dustin is fine now and the next day we even went rafting in the river.  Taylor stayed with us for a while and we rafted three days in a row.  It was so fun!

That's pretty much everything that's been going on.

XOXO
Whitney

Birthday!

Tomorrow is my birthday!!!!  I have so much to write about, but I have a lot to do today.  For short, we had my birthday party this weekend.  It was Alice In Wonderland themed.  It was amazing!  I had such a great day.  We'll see if anything great happens on my real birthday!  I am so thankful for my family and especially my husband.  My Mom and Taylor worked so hard making the food and decorations and Dustin even wrapped his presents into decorations!  I'll put up pictures later.  I just am so excited about my birthday.

Dustin donates blood tomorrow, so I am going to make some bran muffins.  I'll write more later!

XOXO

Cupcakes and Manicotti

Last night for dinner I made spinach stuffed manicotti with homemade white sauce.  They were so yummy!  I ran out of sauce though, so I did a red sauce on the rest of them.  Then, I decided I wanted to try to make healthy cupcakes.  So, I made bran-brownie cupcakes.  They are delicious!  You mix 3 c. bran with 2 1/2 c. water and let it become a batter.  Then mix a brownie mix as directed and combine the bran and brownie batter.  Then you add 1 1/2 t. baking powder and I added additional cocoa.  I then attempted to make cream cheese frosting with splenda.  It's good and acts more like a glaze, but it doesn't thicken up.  I ended up having to add powdered sugar to make it thicken.  Anyways, they are delicious!

School's Almost Over!

The semester of school is almost over.  I am so tired of homework, not being able to do fun things/spend time with Dustin, and just school in general.  I have 2 weeks left of 2 classes, and only 1 week left in my other 2.  Today, I think I'm going to bust out my super homework skills and get a lot done.  The house is also a disaster, so I wish I could get that clean, but I think I'll do homework.  When school is out, I can get the house more organized.

On the weight loss side of things..... I'm at 12.4 pounds lost!  From before the wedding, I'm at 23.4 pounds lost!  I'm super excited about it, but I am unhappy about it, because I don't feel any lighter.  I don't see a difference at all.  

Anyways, I'm going to get ready for the day since with the new medicine, it has made me sleep in lately and I don't like that.  At least I'm not waking up needing to throw up anymore!

Strawberry Chocolate Pancakes

So, I decided one morning to cook some pancakes.  I was craving chocolate and strawberries, so I made these.

Make a pancake batter from a mix.  I made whole wheat pancakes.

In a microwave safe bowl, microwave some frozen strawberries until they are warm.  Add some splenda and water and cook until it is a syrupy consistency.  I don't know if syrupy is a word.  If not, I just made it up.  You could add sugar free syrup to the strawberries instead of splenda if you like.

On a greased frying pan, pour some batter and spread it evenly.  Place some chocolate chips in the batter.  Push them in with your finger or with a skewer so the chocolate doesn't burn when you flip it over.

Flip the pancake!

To assemble, place a pancake on a plate and top with the strawberry mixture.  I dusted it with powdered sugar.  

They are easy and yummy!

Mom's Birthday

Here are the pictures of my Mom's birthday.  Most of the pictures are of her quilt room after we gave it a makeover!

These are the two paint colors.  The lighter color on the right was on three wall, and the darker was only on this wall.

We rolled up fabric arranged by color groups in these crates, hung up cork board and peg boards.  

We arranged things on the shelf.  Here, you can see the peg board better.

We  mounted her tv on a moving arm.  Under the cutting board table, we have her scraps of fabric organized.  We hung her thread organizer.

Another view of the cork boards and how we decorated.

Peg board on the other wall.  They will both be painted white.  It was too windy outside, so we couldn't do it.

Mom's "inventory control" quilt she made, that shows what her room used to look like.  We hid it behind the door.  :-)  

Meeting Randy Fenoli

Here are the pictures from when Taylor and I went and met Randy Fenoli.