White Chocolate Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookies

I made some super yummy cookies this weekend! They are white chocolate cinnamon toast crunch cookies. I probably could have eaten the entire bowl of batter all by itself, but somehow I managed to make some cookies as well. Cinnamon Toast Crunch is pretty much my favorite cereal, so adding it into cookies was sure to be a winning recipe. yum :)

Project 365 - Week 4

Here are my shots from week 4:

Sick

Well, it's safe to say I am officially sick. I don't get sick ... EVER ... I guess I didn't really know what it feels like. It sucks :(

I took the day off today, which makes it my first sick day ever, and I went to the doctor. Too bad she didn't have a clue what was wrong with me either. She even went and asked other doctors about it. It's my mysterious nighttime illness. I'm calling it that because up until today, I have only been sick at night. I'm not eating much, but during the day I have had plenty of energy and felt fine. However, each evening around 6pm, I start to feel run down, and within an hour my temperature spikes up about 4 degrees. The rest of the night is just miserable, but the next day I wake up feeling fine. Today is the first day I don't feel fine during the day. I'm not running a fever (although just wait about 6 more hours and I probably will be; it's like clockwork, I'm telling you!) but I feel very weak. The thought of food makes me feel sick, and anytime I stand up and move I feel like I have to stop and get my breath back. It's like moving requires too much energy. I guess it's a good thing I took the day off, but if this is a virus who is to say tomorrow will be any better? I can't take off another day! Guess we'll see what happens this evening ... That being said, I am spending the day in bed. Other than my trip to the doctor, I have slept all morning so hopefully that will help.

On the plus side, I had no idea how good some of my friends are or how much people are willing to do to help me when I need it. I don't often ask for much; heck, I don't often ask for anything, but I've found multiple people, who I never would have expected, willing to go entirely out of their way to make sure I am okay and taken care of. Blessing in disguise I guess.

Treasure - Part II

Awhile back, I posted about what I had been doing in December to volunteer my time, and mentioned that I had something else in the works for this year. I am quite certain that you have all been on the edge of your seats waiting to hear what that was (haha!) and I am finally ready to share that with you.

So, starting in a few weeks, after all my paperwork is completed, I am going to be volunteering for a few hours, every Tuesday evening, at Texas Children's Hospital. :)

Despite the fact that I currently feel like death has wrapped his boney fingers around me and is slowly pulling me down into his black pit (I kid, but really, I haven't felt so sick in years! I feel AWFUL!) I made it up to Texas Children's today for my volunteer interview. Under any other circumstance I would have tried to reschedule, but I already had to schedule this over a month in advance, and today is the only weekday for awhile that I don't have to go to work. So, I got the fever under control, pulled myself together, and went to my interview at noon. I met with a very nice lady and we chatted for about 45 minutes. She shared with me all the different opportunities they have for volunteers, and I decided to start my placement as a patient pal. Basically I will go to Texas Children's every Tuesday from 5-7 and talk to individual patients, read them stories, play games, do puzzles, or just hold babies. The point is to give parents a break and give the kids something fun to do. I could not be more excited about this! I cannot wait to get started! Unfortunately, it will be a few weeks still before everything will be in order and I can attend an orientation.

After the interview, I got super lucky and they said they could squeeze me in for my TB skin test while I was there since I live so far away. This is really awesome because now I can just have my school nurse read the test on Wednesday, sign off my paperwork, and fax it back in. Saves me a LOT of driving just to have someone look at my arm for 2 seconds. So, I headed over to the clinic to get my TB test done. I have had a lot of these skin tests done because you have to have one every year in college to be allowed into classrooms, so I know what they are like. EVERY single time thus far, I have passed out afterwards. I have a serious fear of needles. This isn't even a big needle; I realize it's no big deal, but every single time after it's over I start thinking about the needle in my skin, get lightheaded, and pass out. I have now learned that I have to ask the nurse to let me sit there for a few minutes to prevent this from happening, but I was sort of scared of this lady as when I first walked in I overheard her making fun of the lady before me for crying when she got a tetanus shot. Didn't seem like she was going to be too sympathetic to how absolutely pathetic I am, so I didn't say anything. She gave me the shot, I felt a little lightheaded but shook it off, walked out of the office, my vision started to blur a little, I leaned back against the wall in the hallway (where the scary nurse could no longer see me) and stood there like a crazy person for a few minutes. But guess what?!? I didn't pass out! HUGE progress here! haha

Since I wasn't expecting to get the TB skin test done today I ended up being out a lot longer than planned. I felt fine pretty much the whole time, then on the way home I started to feel a little run down again. That may have something to do with when the last time I took any Advil was though ... but no worries, I have since taken some more.

So, that's my big news of the day! I'm going to be volunteering at Texas Children's Hospital every Tuesday for the next 6 months. I am SO excited about this I cannot even tell you! :)

Project 365 - Week 3

Here are my shots from this week:

Stuffed Roasted Red Pepper

I started this post a week ago and never got around to finishing it. Last weekend I went to the Farmer's Market and got some fresh vegetables. One of the things I picked up were red peppers. I found a recipe for stuffed roasted red peppers, and decided I wanted to try it. I don't cook much, not because I can't, but because it's a lot of work for one person. I love this recipe though because you can do most of the work beforehand and then just stick it in the oven when you are ready to eat. Also, the stuffing mixture refrigerates well so it can be saved for a meal at a later time. This was my first time to try quinoa - I really liked it! Oh, and this was definitely the first time I ever roasted a red pepper on my own. It was easy, and yummy!

Anyway, I found the recipe online and sort of just went with the general idea and added in as much of each ingredient as I wanted:

1 roasted red pepper

1 cup quinoa, cooked

black beans

frozen corn

diced fresh tomato (from the farmers market)

chopped cliantro (also from the farmers market)

cheddar cheese, shredded

dollop of sour cream

salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roast the red pepper. Mix together all other ingredients in a small bowl. When pepper is done roasting, peel the skin off, cut off the top, and stuff with the quinoa mixture. Bake in oven for 30 minutes. See? easy! And, oh so yummy!

I'd say this goes along with my new years resolution to try new things each month. This was my first time to roast a red pepper, and my first time to try quinoa. :)

Fruit of the Spirit

24 has been a good year for me in a lot of ways so far. I credit this year of my life with being the one where I became my own person. This is the year that I stopped living my life through other people and started to figure out what it was I wanted from life, not caring what others thought or said I should do. Up until this year my life was not about me, it was about the people around me. It was about what other people thought, and what other people wanted at all times. I made decisions based on other people's decisions. I decided what I liked based on what others liked. I decided what to do based on what others were going to do. This year, I found myself hidden behind all those other people. Turns out, I like the person I am all by myself. It's unfortunate that it took me 24 years to figure that out.

That being said, who am I? Or more importantly, what kind of person am I now striving to be:

I want to be a person who:

- loves and shares Jesus

- loves others selflessly

- recognizes all the blessings in life

- shares their blessings with others

- helps others and gives back

- is approachable, forgiving, and friendly

- trusts in God's timing

I was driving around earlier, making this list in my head with the intention of writing it down later, when all of a sudden the idea of the Fruit of the Spirit popped into my head. It has been a LONG time since I have read, or heard about, the Fruits of the Spirit (seriously, since I was a kid I think) and yet, as if out of no where, I remembered this verse:

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control ... - Galatians 5:22-23

As I was thinking about this, I realized that a lot of the qualities on my list of things I want from my life line up perfectly with the things God wants from my life, as described in the above verse:

- loves and shares Jesus (faithfulness)

- loves others selflessly (love)

- recognizes all the blessings in life (joy)

- shares their blessings with others (kindness)

- helps others and gives back (goodness)

- is approachable, forgiving, and friendly (gentleness)

- trusts in God's timing (patience)

All that was missing from my initial list were peace and self control. I could write a whole other post only on self control, but I think for now I'll just go ahead and say that there are definitely aspects of my life I want to have more self control in. And peace? Well, haven't I been working on that all along? Ever since I got moved into second grade this year I have tried really hard to feel God's peace in every situation. Every time I get stressed I try and remind myself of this. In fact, just read my previous post and you will see an example of this.

Funny how without even realizing it I had come up with a list of qualities I wanted to be part of my life and part of who I am, that have a direct correlation to the nine qualities that God wants out of my life and filled me with the moment he entered my heart. I say funny, but what I mean is amazing. Isn't that just what God does? Isn't that exactly how He works? Isn't He amazing?!? I love moments like that, where I can clearly hear Him speaking clearly to me. No deciphering necessary; clear as day I can hear what He has to say.

I spent the first part of this 24th year of my life figuring out what I wanted from my life. I found myself behind all the people I had tried so hard to hide behind for so long. I figured out what I wanted my life to be. Now, in the second half of this year, I am going to really focus on making each of those qualities a central part of my life. I am going to work on making each of those things so deeply ingrained in who I am that when others see me, that is what they see.