The New Digs

I haven’t gotten around to posting in oh…several months…so I feel like it’s definitely time for an update.  Very quickly after selling my house in Bentonville, we found a new house to move in to.  We didn’t plan on finding one so fast, but once I found it…it was hard to let go.  We still have to sell Jason’s house so I’m praying for a quick economic recovery so that we can sell it ASAP.

Here are a few pictures of the new house.

The living room

The kitchen…my favorite room

We are still deep in the throes of major unpacking.  I do NOT enjoy  unpacking so it is proving to be a very slow project.  We leave for Italy a week from Thursday so I doubt we will be fully settled until after we get back on labor day. 

Jason's Birthday and Billie's Visit

We've had a busy few weeks around here. Jason's birthday was May 5 and of course required a week of obligatory celebrating. :) Jason's mom, Billie, came to town on May 6 and was here until May 15. We started celebrating Jason's Birthday the weekend before by having friends over for Margaritas and then going out to dinner at the Powerhouse. We got a very cool Jimmy Buffett Margarita Machine as a wedding gift and used it MANY times over the course of Jason's Birthday week. On Sunday, I made Jason a German Chocolate Cake from scratch. I forgot how much work it is, but it was worth it!

On Tuesday, Jason's actual birthday - we went to Dad's for fajitas and Margaritas. Both were of course fantastic!
Jason had a piece of leftover Birthday cake, since it was his Birthday after all! Billie arrived the next day and quickly began cooking. During the course of her trip, she made meatloaf, chicken casserole, pineapple upside down cake and apricot cake. The best part is the TONS of leftovers we now have in the freezer. I shouldn't have to cook for a month!
On Friday, we went to my Dad's to celebrate Billie's birthday. He grilled his famous steaks and we finished the meal off with a strawberry shortcake cake that Rick made. Got to love that Rick! And in case you didn't notice - we ate a ridiculous amount of cake this week!
On Saturday we woke up early to head to Kansas City for a little Mother's Day trip. Billie is very fond of Precious Moments so we made a stop at the Precious Moment's Chapel in Carthage, MO. Even if you're not a huge fan of Precious Moments, this chapel is pretty amazing and definitely worth a trip. It's completely free to get in and absolutely beautiful. We were a bit disappointed because Missouri had had major storms the night before our trip and all of the electricity was out when we got there. They were still doing tours with a flashlight though. Thankfully, about halfway into our tour, the electricity came back on so we were able to enjoy everything fully.
We celebrated Mother's Day that night with a very yummy dinner at the Capital Grille in the Kansas City Plaza. On Sunday we headed back home after a trip to the Cheesecake Factory.
This week I am headed to Phoenix for work. I get home on Thursday night and then we leave on Friday for a long weekend trip to San Francisco/Napa Valley. Anita is going with us and I can't wait! Should be a fantastic trip. I will admit though that this month is exhausting me. I'm looking a little forward to June when I can relax again.
Hopefully we will have some beautiful pictures from our CA trip to share. As always, all of our pictures can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Stiles2008

Camera Fun

I am FINALLY up and running with this camera now that all parts have arrived! I still don't really know what I'm doing with it (HATE reading instruction books) but I did play around with it a bit over the weekend. Here are a few of the pics.

Cute Boy!

Not so cute boy...

My attempt at an "artistic" photo. Jason said I was being ridiculous.

Yum! I could totally use one of those right now!

Fun birthday gifts.

Awww...

Alright - that's it. Have a good night!

Super Healthy, Yummy Blueberry "Pancake" Muffins

I found this recipe on some website (can't recall where) for healthy muffins that are supposed to be "pancake" like. They actually do taste a little bit like pancakes. They are not super sweet, but I like them that way. The blueberries (I used more than half a cup) make these incredibly good. I split mine open and spread with natural (no sugar) peanut butter. These even got the hubby's seal of approval!
If you try them, let me know what you think!

Pancake Muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp baking powder
1 egg
2 tbsp wheat germ
3 tbsp real maple syrup
1/2 cup blueberries

Mix and drop into 10 greased muffin cups.
Bake at 400* til golden brown. I had to bake mine around 12 minutes.

These come in around 98 calories each!

Under the Weather

I'm not feeling so great today. My throat is sore, my neck is sore (which is odd) and my body just feels weak. Yuck! I hope I'm not really getting sick..especially since it is Friday afternoon and that would be crappy timing.

I did have a good Birthday on Tuesday. When I woke up, Jason had placed a vase of tulips and a sweet card in the bathroom for me to see when I was getting ready. Very sweet! Several of my co-workers took me to lunch at Taste of Thai that day - which was yummy of course. And, that night we went to Pesto Cafe in Fayetteville with my dad. Yumm! I love Pesto. I had the Angel by the Sea which is a bunch of seafood on top of some veggies and angel hair pasta, covered in a pink sauce (which I think is spaghetti sauce, white wine and some cream mixed together). Jason had bought a pound of chocolate covered strawberries for me since I requested that instead of a cake and we brought that to the restaurant for the dessert. However, the waitress apparently caught on that it was my birthday and brought us a yummy piece of tiramisu. We were not lacking in the sugar department! In the spirit of Fat Tuesday (and since I gave up sweets for lent) - I had no problem eating it!

My dad got me this for my birthday to use with my new camera. Actually, he told me to go online and order it so I don't actually have it yet - but should next week. I am LOVING my new camera although I'm not entirely sure how to use it yet. There are SOO many buttons. I will take some pictures this weekend and post them so we can see how they turn out.

Since in my family growing up - our birthdays always lasted the entire week, I am TRYING to get Jason to take me to Bordinos on Saturday. Not sure if I have been successful on that one yet - but I will let you know. Apparently birthdays didn't last the whole week in his household.

And - as I briefly mention - I gave up sweets for lent and it suck really really badly. I did it once in high school and either I wasn't as addicted to sugar then (entirely possible) or I had completely forgot how HARD it was because this really sucks. Oh well - hopefully in a few more days the cravings will subside...we shall see. Have a great weekend!

Good News and Bad

A girl that I work with is suffering a terminal, genetic illness. Her dad, grandma, aunt and several other family members died of the disease that she now has. She has been given a 5-10 year life expectancy. Today, we had a HUGE sample sale at our office to raise money for research of her disease. Because the disease is VERY rare (only a handful of families in the world have it) very little money is devoted to researching and curing the disease. We asked vendors in the community to donate product that we then sold like a HUGE yard sale. We made over $18,000 for her! I am amazed..that is SO awesome. A few people at our office did a ridiculous amount of work to make the sale happen, so I'm very thankful that all the hard work payed off.

The not so happy news is that Anita has to have a second surgery to remove more of the margin in her breast since most of the tissue they removed had cancer cells in it. Also the tumor is a little larger still than we had hoped. That news is disappointing, but it could be worse. I know and have faith that Anita will be completely healed soon. In the meantime, we will keep praying!

I'm also a bit unhappy that UPS delivered my new camera today but nobody was home to sign for it so they are holding it hostage until Monday. :( I was SOOO looking forward to playing with it this weekend. Oh well. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Prayer for Anita during her surgery today

Loving Father, we entrust Anita to your care this day; guide with wisdom and skill the minds and hands of the medical people who minister in your Name, and grant that every cause of illness be removed, Anita may be restored to soundness of health and that we all may learn to live in more perfect harmony with you and with those around us. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

We love you Anita and pray for your speedy recovery!