Girl Scout Camp

I got to spend this last weekend with a bunch of Girl Scout leaders and their daughters.  What a fun time we had!

We arrived on Friday to spend the weekend with our daughters. 

Saturday morning, those who were interested went horseback riding.  So of course, Bailey and I did this.  We had great ride through the trees and beautiful area. 

Here's the barn as we walked up to it. So beautiful!



And here's Bailey on her horse, ready to ride.



This was our sleeping arrangements for the weekend. Not quite the Hilton, but it was just fine.



Bailey was the oldest Girl Scout there, and she led the girls in several activities. Here they are in front of the building we stayed in.



This was our youngest Girl Scout for the weekend. So adorable!



Saturday night we had a spa night. For those who were brave enough, this meant a home made facial.



Some girls opted for manicures!



On Sunday morning, Bailey led the girls in the Scout's Own ceremony. The girls celebrated a mother's love and the mother/daughter bond.



We had such a wonderful time, and the weekend went by so quickly.



We have Bailey and Michelle to thank for such a fantastic weekend.  Bailey helped Michelle plan the event and they had a great time together.  Michelle looks young enough to be one of the girls, but she really is one of the moms.



They both worked very hard to make a special weekend for us all. 

My Fitbit

It's a new year, which means new resolutions for many people.  Me included.  I did so well a couple of years back and lost a lot of weight, but recently I've been struggling to find the motivation to try to eat healty and move more.  Because of this, I've gained some of my weight back.  Not good.

A big part of my problem was not wanting to exercise.  I know the foods I should and should not eat, but I really do not like exercising that much and I wanted to find something to help me with that.

To help me move more, I have gotten a new toy.  Well, it's not really a toy, but it sure has been fun over the last two weeks.

(NOTE: this is not a paid endorcement, Fitbit has not heard of me - I just think it's really cool)

It's my Fitbit!  (Shown next to my phone to give you an idea of how small it is.  And that's a cat hair, not a scratch on my phone.)



I found out about Fitbit from my brother, David.  He gave one to my mom for Christmas and I know that she's enjoyed it too.

It's a little pedometer, but it's also so much more. It gives me positive reinforcement throughout the day as to how active I am.  It even talks to me!

(Please ignore my bruised thumb, I banged it back in November and the bruise has been slowly moving towards the tip of my nail as my fingernail grows, which has been kinda fun to watch.)




This is just one example of the messages it will give me if I pick it up. 

I wear it on my waistband all day long, and it tracks my activities throughout the day.

There is a free website where you can log your food, activities, vital statistics (measurements, blood pressure, etc).  If you buy the Fitbit, then it automatically syncs up and you can see your progress in real time. 

Mom and I have become "friends" on the Fitbit website and we can check in each other and see who's ahead of who in terms of daily steps taken, etc.  (I'm ahead!)

Here's a snapshot of my activity today from the website.  I did a bunch of laundry, which meant going up and down our stairs.  I'd love to say that I normally have this many floors climbed, but this is an unusual day.   


I've set goals for myself and it helps me keep on track.

Another neat feature is that you can wear the Fitbit at night on a wrist band and it will monitor your sleep.  This was alarming at first because I found that I wasn't sleeping well at all. 



The pink color above is the times that I am awake.  The blue color is actual sleep time. 

We tried having Rominal sleep in a different bed just to rule out him waking me up.   It didn't seem to make much of a difference, I still didn't sleep well.

Rominal was pleased to hear that he could come back to our bed.  I was too, I missed him. 

Here's another night's record. 



What I'm finding now is that I am beginning to be able to improve my sleeping patterns, either that or I've just been super sleepy and I'm sleeping better.

This is from a recent night.



I'm getting better at sleeping!  Way cool!

I've had the Fitbit for almost two weeks now and I've lost about 4 pounds so far.  I've set my goals to lose slowly, so 4 pounds is great for me. 

I just think this is super cool and I thought I would share it with you. 

Looks like I'd better go do more laundry - I want to see how many flights of stairs I can do today!

Mmmmm, Chocolate Cake

Hello There!  I'm still catching up from my blogging rest.



I made this cake a couple of times over the holidays and it is a crowd pleaser.  I though I would share it with you.

Mmmmm, Chocolate Cake
from The Cake Mix Doctor, by Anne Byrn

• 1 package (18.25 ounces) chocolate cake mix, I used a German Chocolate mix
• 1 package (3.9 ounces) chocolate instant pudding mix
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350'.  Spray a bundt pan with spray (love me some Pam baking spray - smells so good!).  If your bundt pan has a tendency to stick, you might want to flour this too.  Mine works really well, so it wasn't an issue.

Basically mix everything together, except for the chocolate chips.  Add those in after everything else is mixed.  Pour the mix into the pan and put it in the oven.

Bake at 350' for 45-50 minutes. 

You'll know it's done when a knife or toothpick comes out clean.  I remove the cake from the pan and let it cool on a cooling rack for a bit.



I tried drizzling a powered sugar icing on the cake one time I made it, and another time I sprinkled the cake with powdered sugar.  I like the powdered sugar sprinkling best.  But if you make the cake, you can decide which works best for you.  I'm flexible that way. 

It's a moist, delicious cake, and super easy to make. Enjoy!

Girl Scout Camp - Camp Grady Spruce

I am way behind in my posting.  Sorry about that.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.


I started looking through my pictures to see what I should have been posting and I was thinking I would post a bunch of pictures to show what I had done since my last post, but I had so many pictures from a Girl Scout camp I attended I thought I would start there.


Early in November, my Girl Scout troop went to Camp Grady Spruce in East Texas. 

Here's Bailey and Tiffany in front of the sign.

Grady Spruce is a beautiful location, right on Possum Kingdom Lake. This was the flag ceremony on Saturday night.

There were about 125 of us out there. The weather was cold, which I prefer for camping.

Saturday night we (all of us Girl Scouts) were invited to another camp close by where they were going to shoot off fireworks. (sorry, no pictures of this, just wanted to tell the story) We all drove over to the camp and we were treated to one of the best fireworks shows I've seen. I think it was so special because we were so close to where they were shooting them off. It was so beautiful to see the fireworks shooting off over the lake.

On Sunday my two girls (my daughter Bailey and my Girl Scout Tiffany) lead a ceremony called a Scout's Own.

It's a special ceremony that the girls come up with on their own. I couldn't have been more proud of them. They were the oldest girls at this camp and all of the younger girls really looked up to them. They did a fantastic job.

Here's a picture from their ceremony - everyone is in a friendship circle around the flagpole. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend.

Whole Wheat Beer Bread

We don't drink much in our house.  I'm not against it or anything, we just don't do it often.  If I do have a drink, it's probably got rum in it - or maybe a glass of wine.  We would never drink beer.  Again, nothing against it, just don't like it. 

However, I happen to have a lot of beer currently in my house left over from several parties, so I've been looking for beer recipes to use up this beer.

I found this recipe and it's great!  It's very easy and uses ingredients that I almost always have on hand. 

Here's how you make it:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar (I add a bit more, about 1/2 cup- I know, your shocked)
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Pour in beer, stir until a stiff batter is formed. It may be necessary to mix dough with your hands. Scrape dough into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.               

Just mix everything up and put it in a bread pan. It really couldn't be easier.



Be sure to give this a try - your gonna love it!

State Fair of Texas - Trip 2

We made two trips to the State Fair of Texas this year. We always have so much fun there.

My brother, David, and his wife, Lauren, were visiting with us for the weekend.  They timed their trip to Texas so that they could go to the fair with us.


Rominal is once again getting coupons for food and rides - he did that a lot that day. He was using a credit card with my name on it and the woman actually read the name on the card and said he didn't look like a Wendy. He had to point me out to them.

If only they had some fried food at the fair.


Seriously though, what is fried watermelon? We should have gotten some just to try it, but there was so much food and so little time.

Bailey was pleased to have a ride partner with my sister-in-law Lauren.

Bailey talked Rominal, Lauren, and David into riding with her on a roller coaster.



I took this picture as they passed above me on the ride.
I think they had a good time.

We also talked my mom into coming with us on this trip.  We took her to the fair a couple of years ago and luckily she had forgotten how much walking we did on that visit and decided to come back with us again this year.


The fair has packed up for this year, and David and Lauren have gone back home.  We had a great time both at the fair and with them.

State Fair of Texas - Trip 1

Yes folks, it's that time of year again.  Time for all kinds of fried foods and fun at the Texas State Fair. 

On this trip, Bailey took a friend with her, Taylor.

We arrived at the fair early, to try to avoid the crowds.   That only worked for a little while.

I love walking through the Midway, seeing all of the sights and sounds. 


Bailey and Taylor loved the rides.

Here they are on the Love Bug.

They clearly hate it.





This ride blows a really loud horn during the ride. Darn thing scares me every time. You'd think I'd be used to it now - Bailey rides this ride each year.

Were's Rominal?  Oh, he's getting more coupons (the rides and food vendors only take coupons).

He made several trips for coupons throughout the day.

The haunted house had some fun characters this year.   Eeeewwww, what is that?  Is it house broken?



This thing was funny. People would go up and stand in front of it to have their picture taken, and then the guy inside would move and scare them.



This was our first trip to the fair this year. I'll show pictures from our next trip on my next post.