homemade cheese and egg muffins.

today i tried out a recipe i found on pinterest.  homemade egg mcmuffins.  they have three ingredients {and the ones at the fast food restaurant have more than 52}!!

these are super easy to make and can be frozen for quick morning meals.  you start out by toasting english muffins on a baking sheet.

this next part is genius!  you can fix the eggs all at once, too, in a muffin tin.  once they've baked, they hold their shape.

pull the eggs out of the oven, place them on the muffins, add sliced or shredded cheese, and top them off with the other half of the muffin.

these are so yummy and super handy for tossing in the microwave right before we run out the door on our way to bartlesville.  {if you can't tell, my life has become incredibly hectic since the repositioning was announced at work -- i'm working about 13-17 hours a day and it's about to kill me}.

let me know if you try these and what you think.

notecards {pour moi}

i was in desperate need of note cards {and you know i'm always referring to the age-old-adage that the cobbler's family always has the worst shoes ...}, so i stopped into the inviting place.  i hadn't been inside the new location, and i thought it would be fun to check it out. 

i love my new cards.  aren't they sweet?  i just wish there were more than ten in a package.  that's the great thing when i design my own ... an unlimited number!

thanks, girls, for taking care of me!

these days.

these days i can't decide if i'm coming or going
these days i'm so happy to be busy with notably noted orders
these days i'm excited about the opportunities everyone is discussing with the conocophillips split
these days i'm enjoying a night in with my boys ... a must needed evening in
these days i'm flattered that someone i met a year ago kept me in mind and gave me a call
these days i'm trying to decide if i will go to my ten year {1o year???} reunion tomorrow
these days i'm trying to figure out how to balance everything
these days i've been cooking and cleaning up a storm
these days i'm happier than i was a few weeks ago
these days i'm looking forward to the crisp clean air of fall {and wishing fall lasted longer}
these days i'm beginning to run again {and am enjoying it!}
these days i'm making sure to get to my google reader because it inspires me
these days i'm feeling old
these days i'm grateful for the true friends in my life
these days i'm enjoying men of a certain age and franklin & bash
these days i'm on my way to do a million things ... so goodbye for now

gratitude.

Wait, what?? I haven't posted since February?? As in five months ago?? Are you kidding me? Craziness. There are SO many things that have happened in these past five months -- looks like a LOT of posting is in order. I'm not going to get into all of that tonight, though. Instead I'm going to share a glimpse into the girl I was five to eight years ago. While unpacking a few random boxes tonight, I found a "Gratitude Journal" that Amelia had given to me as a gift a looong time ago. In it, I found the following entry:

When I was a freshman at TU, Aimee Bauerlein Keiffer made a gift for me.
It was a cup that said, "My cup runneth over," around the top. Along with
it she provided small squares of paper -- these were to be used to write
blessings and other things I was thankful for. The idea, of course,
was to place the "blessings" in the cup and watch it "runneth over."
;) I found thme the other day and it was wonderful to look back on those
blessings.

Tonight, I was blessed again as I read through the things I had written as a 22-year old wrapping up her last year of college.

• My great roommate and friend Aimee who encourages me (and who made me this cup) =)


• Thank you God for being my Provider: Gates Scholarship


• I am the daughter -- or princess if you will -- of THE King!


• My brother made it safely through his wisdom teeth removal


• My bank account $till ha$ money in it -- Thank you! =)


• You are the only one I need. I bow all of me at your feet. I worship you alone. You have given me more than I could ever have wanted and I want to give you my heart and my soul. You alone are Father, & you alone are good, & you alone are Savior, & you alone are God. I am alive!


• J


• Sierra


• The little miracles that happen each day -- those small things that seem so insignificant but still matter so much


• "You can't ask for a Godly blessing and live a goldfish life."


• We found out about the golf tournament scheduling error before October


• Blessed is the man whom God corrects so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. Job 5:17


• Being an American citizen is such an amazing blessing


• The gift of creativity


• The ability to read God's word. This is a blessing I need to remember not to take for granted.


• Daily reminders of Your continual presence and guidance!!


• My king died for me -- a mere pauper and sinner


• I got an "A" in Culpepper's!!


• I love my mama!


• You've given me the desire to find a young girl to mentor and spend time with and disciple -- help me find her


• A dad who has worked hard my whole life to provide for his family


• M.O.M.


• Sierra ~ Thank you for how much she loves me and for allowing me to have such a great sister to love!!!


• I serve a God who is the God of another chance, another time. Thank you for your mercy and grace


• The interview I have Monday


• My brother has turned into an amazing young man! It's unbelievable that he's 17!! -- and now as I re-read this in 2011, my brother is 25 and my sister is 17 (soon to be 18)!

These are just a few of the slips of paper that I wrote. I tried to remember to write at least one blessing each day and the cup did get very full. I think I might try that project again. I moved from writing on slips of paper to writing in the journal. I got halfway through the journal and then the entried slowly dwindled away {not unlike our blog lately}.

Every day I want to remember just how blessed I am and how many incredible things I have for which to be thankful. You are one of them, my friend, my family.

Thanks for being a part of my life in each of the small and enormous ways you are.

random update.

01. it's 11:10 and i want to post, but can't believe that i'm still awake as it is.
02. kate didn't get home from work until 9:30 tonight. 9:30!! how nuts is that?
03. travis and i have followed the dave ramsey plan and have paid off $17,000+ in debt in the past year!!! $17,000+ people. and yes, there is a +. (as if the $17 followed by three zeroes wasn't enough).
04. i wish i had time to be a fun, crafty blogger like all the interesting women i follow.
05. so many things to write but the time keeps ticking away and my car pool will be here very early in the morning.
06. oh! travis will be joining my car pool in mid-march. monday he accepted an offer from conocophillips. we will both work in bartlesville in just a few short weeks.
07. nighty night. i've missed writing. i'll try to come back again soon.

another workout in the books.

did i mention that i worked out earlier this year? i can't remember exactly when it was, but a week and a half to two weeks ago.

travis signed us up for a membership and i went with him. can i just say, i.thought.i.would.die. die i tell you! it took me almost twenty minutes to run a mile!! ridiculous! in high school we had to run a little more than a mile in under ten minutes or run it again. ridicamous.

tonight i did much better. i was afraid i would fail dismally because i remembered my earbuds, but forgot my ipod. there was nothing on the tvs, but i was able to tune into the local radio stations on my eliptical and worked out to the likes of rihanna and britney -- two artists i really like very little, but who had very peppy beats for running.

today i went two miles in twenty minutes!!! {okay twenty-two minutes, but that is waaaaay better than my one mile in close to the same time last time}. hopefully i will keep this momentum {does two times to the gym in a two week period really counts as momentum?} but you get my drift.

help me stay motivated girls!!! i need to drop these lbs in a bad way. i can't keep buying new clothes!

you are beautiful, my sweet, sweet song.

lying here wishing i didn't have to fall asleep, these lyrics popped in my head.


you are beautiful my sweet, sweet song.
you are beauitful my sweet, sweet song.
you are beautiful my sweet, sweet song.
i will sing again.

you are so good to me. you heal my broken heart. you are my father in heaven.

you ride upon the clouds. you lead me to the truth. you are the spirit inside me.

you are my strong melody. you are my dancing rhythm. you are my perfect rhyme and i want to sing forever.

you poured out your blood. you died upon the cross. you are my jesus who loves me.

homemade pancakes.

this morning travis wanted homemade pancakes for breakfast. i've wanted waffles lately, but i don't have a waffle iron, so i decided to settle for pancakes as well. i considered making the healthy pancakes i've been making over the past few years {i thought i had shared the recipe, but it doesn't look like i have -- looks like i have another post in the works}, but i didn't feel like being good so i decided to whip up a batch of regular ol' homemade pancakes. i used this recipe from the food network, and they turned out delicious. i'll definitely be using it again in the future {i actually considered creating a large batch of the dry ingredients that i could use just like i would use a box mix} but i'll save that for another saturday. travis specifically requested no chocolate chips, no raisins, no bananas on top, no blueberries. just plain pancakes.

ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

3 T. sugar

1 T. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/8 t. freshly ground nutmeg

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 t. pure vanilla

3 T. unsalted butter, plus more as needed

directions:

in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg

in another bowl beat the eggs, then whisk in the milk and vanilla

melt the butter in a large cast iron skillet or griddle over medium heat {i really need to get both of these}

whisk the melted butter into the milk mixture. add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and whisk together until a thick batter is just formed

keeping the skillet at medium heat {i actually ended up having to turn down my electric stove from medium to the notch in between low and medium to keep the pancakes golden}, ladle about 1/4 cup of batter onto the skillet. cook until bubbles break the surface and the undersides are golden brown {about two minutes}. flip with a spatula and cook about 1 minute more on the second side.

i added more butter to the skillet as needed. i put a serving platter in the oven, and turned it to warm. as the pancakes finished cooking, i would place them on the platter in the oven. everything came out just perfectly and i loved having saturday morning breakfast with my boys.

project 365: sneaky, sneaky.

i shot this picture through the mirror over our kitchen sink because i didn't want conor to catch me spying on him. i fixed breakfast this morning, and when travis and i got up to put away our plates, conor couldn't jump on my chair fast enough. he didn't know i was watching him through the mirror. of course i wanted to tell him to get down, but he just looked so cute, i decided to watch him instead. he never got on the table any further, but he wanted that stack of fluffy pancakes so badly!

project 365: little cowboy.

i love getting mail. love, love, love it. this month hudson turned 2 years old! {i can hardly believe it}! i remember when jen first told me she was pregnant, receiving the texts that he had been born and suddenly he was turning one. now another year has already passed. very hard to believe. i attended his party the saturday before his birthday {travis was sick and didn't want to infect all the babies so he stayed home}. jen had a fun cowboy party for hudson {i plan to feature it on notably noted's blog}, and keeping in jen-style, it was perfectly designed and so much fun for grown-ups and kids alike.

today i received this precious thank you card from hudson.

melted. my. heart.