A funny little article, eh?

I found this article today while mindlessly surfing during a thunderstorm this evening. Hope you enjoy it!

BTW I miss all you Canada folks--Nancy, Claude, Pierre, Jacques, Andre, Keith, John, Jeff, Don, Bill and Marie.

Have a great night!

Surfing the weekend away...

At least, the last bits of it. I found this article on http://www.washingtonpost.com/ about the movie, A Mighty Heart, which was recently released.

A Mighty Shame

One of the reasons I am doing this is because I'm already tired of the tapes Bubba got from the library Thursday. There is a 10 VHS tape limit per kid at our library, and so he went bonkers. We haven't watched too many of the eight he actually picked, though. He loves Air Bud and it seems like that's all we watch, along with Swan Princess III, which is a big studio knockoff of a Walt Disney princess cartoon.

Since Bubba just finished his space dog coloring sheet I had to put it up on the fridge...right on the front door, so he can see it as he goes by. He's so proud of that brown dog with yellow equipment (space helmet and backpack).

For more information on cool internet sites for kids, check out this site from Urbana, IL:
The Reading Group

My dear hubby also set up our friend's new 5 CD changer bookshelf system. No, it wasn't Klipsch, but he graciously did it, anyway.

Bubba enjoyed it all. He got to sample a fresh glazed donut while Dad got things rolling. Just like Homer, Bubba likes a good donut. Maybe he has a future in the nuclear industry after all!

Using up strawberries, in the news

Well, in between my new job paperwork, I had to go online to find something to do with my bumper crop of strawberries I picked out at the store last week. (I thought we would eat more, but that hasn't happened yet!).

I found some really good muffin recipes at the California Strawberry Commission.


In the news:

Who says there's no good news?
Volunteer dentists restore smiles to abuse victims (from cnn.com)

Girls celebrate college instead of babies (from ksdk.com)

10 Commandments for drivers (from ksdk.com)

The girls still outnumber the boys...

Among some of Bubba's cousins, at least. Uncle Mike has photos of his latest addition in his blog today.

Congratulations! And may some little girl let mom and dad get some sleep! (never can get enough of that!)

Is it Friday yet?

One more day of relaxation (if you can call it that!) and I start my new job on Monday. I took my board exam today and realized that I'm not the only one who felt sick when I left. I didn't feel like I slam-dunked enough questions, which worries me.

Nevertheless, I have to wait for the results to come back, and I'm not going to worry until then. Baking is a great stress reliever for me. When I came home after the test, I baked an Imperial pound cake and cleaned up some strawberries so I can take them over to IC tomorrow for coffee with the St. Boniface folks. At least, that should be fun.

Bubba and I had a great time last night making blueberry muffins (his favorite). I also made some good bran muffins, with a few blueberries and dried cherries thrown in (a/k/a the "berry-cherry" muffins"). Both of these recipes came from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (2000). Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 beaten egg (you can substitute 1/4 cup EggBeaters if you'd like)
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil (I use canola)
3/4 cup blueberries
1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel (optional)

Grease 12-2.5 inch muffin cups or line with paper baking cups and set aside.

In medium mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the egg, milk and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir until just moistened. NOTE: if you stir too much, the muffins get tough! Batter will be lumpy. Fold in blueberries and if desired, 1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups filling 2/3 full.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from muffin cups. Serve warm. Makes 10-12 muffins.

Low-Fat Berry-Cherry Wheat Bran Muffins

1 1/4 cups wheat bran
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup skim milk
1/3 cup honey (NOTE: I didn't have any, so I used brown sugar)
1/4 cup EggBeaters
1 tbsp cooking oil (I used canola)
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Spray bottoms of 12-2.5 inch muffin cups with nonstick spray (Pam, etc.) or line with paper baking cups and set aside.

In one mixing bowl, combine wheat bran, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/4 tsp salt.

In another bowl, combine the applesauce, EggBeaters, milk and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir until just moistened. NOTE: if you stir too much, the muffins get tough! Batter will be lumpy. Fold in blueberries and cherries.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups filling 2/3 full.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from muffin cups. Serve warm. Makes 12 muffins.

Still studying, in the news

I had a really interesting conversation about the news yesterday. It seems one of my compatriots did not know who Paris Hilton was. Sure, he's not in the demographic who might know, but I found it interesting nevertheless, especially with all the "news" she's been in lately.
What a sad state of affairs for the news people when they have to "go Entertainment Tonight" for ratings!

Anyway, here are a few newsy tidbits I found of interest today, in between carpet cleaning (my gift to my brother--happy belated 36!), studying and cracking open CD players.

FBI warns universities to watch out for spies (from cnn.com)
PK told me about this during my SLCC days...and sometimes, I think he's right!

More than just dish about Diana (from washingtonpost.com)
Quickly becoming pseudonews at it's best. Does this really warrant front page of washingtonpost.com? News must be slow this year!

Last but not least....
SLU boosts costs of watching Bills (from stltoday.com)
The travesty of travesties...boo hiss! This 3x Billiken doesn't like it one bit--shades of PSL all over again! I just hope they don't stick up the kids and add a license fee to the Billiken Kids Club!

Thankfully, I don't live in Galesburg ...

..or I wouldn't have a diploma right now.

Another fiasco in a fine Illinois town that just has gone too far.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/education/education_article.aspx?storyid=120896

The story of my life...

Yes, I'm studying again, but this time, it's for boards. My date with the dreaded NCLEX monster is 6/14. I've been spending a lot of time at www.kaptest.com going over my goodies from their prep class. It has been helpful.

On another note, I'm so glad Hubby doesn't have to work at this lab:
http://www.ksdk.com/news/watercooler/hot_topics_article.aspx?storyid=120889

Have a great weekend ,all.