9.28.12

It’s 9:40 on Thursday as I write this and I’m counting the minutes until 10:00 when I’m going to bed.  Five-and-a-half hours of sleep and a 4:45 a.m. wake-up call combine to make Stephie a very tired girl.

I finally don’t have a super busy weekend ahead of me.  The only thing I have planned is my long – and I mean LOOOOOONG – run on Saturday.  How long is LOOOOOONG?  Twenty-three miles, that’s how long.  I’m running with a group and there’ll be water stops so hopefully the change of scenery and camaraderie of suffering training together plus the H2O breaks will be a winning combination.

I do need to do a little deep cleaning like mopping the kitchen and maybe even steam-cleaning the den.  I’m hosting Women’s Night for the ladies in the ‘hood next Friday so I have to make sure my house is up to snuff.

The McHusband may be playing poker Saturday night and if that’s the case, then I’ll have to make time between my run and my nap to bake up some treats.  Oh yeah, did I mention that this run starts at 6:30 in the morning?  No rest for the weary as they say.

Hope you all have a great weekend and I’ll see you on the other side!

{Recipe Recap} Treats on Thursday

I’m going to bribe you to forgive me for my lack of attention to the blog this week with not one, not two, but THREE treats today.

I’ve made the non-chocolate treat before.  They are Lemon Cream Bars and they are very good. 

They are very easy to throw together.  Other than the lemons, you probably have everything in your pantry.  I’ve made these a few times, and I always use the full batch of crust on the bottom then make another half-batch and crumble that on top.

Next up is the Pretzel Crisp Toffee Bark.

I love pretzels.  And caramel.  And chocolate.  Put ‘em together and you have some very yummy treats.  I kept going back for more and I don’t remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure I probably ate this stack as soon as I was done taking pictures.

The last treat is a Peanut Butter Nutella Pretzel Tart.  The McMom passed on her rectangular tart pans so I was excited to have a recipe to try in them.

I love how thick the chocolate layer is.  That drizzle across the top is chocolate’s best friend, a.k.a. peanut butter.

I loved the combination of the salty pretzel crust with the sweet chocolate-Nutella-peanut butter filling.  Heather isn’t big on the salty-and-sweet combo so this wasn’t her favorite.  But I bet she would’ve liked it more if I had done a graham cracker crust.

So there you go, you have three treats to choose from today.  If you have a reason to make something sweet this weekend, you really wouldn’t go wrong making any of these. 

Or why stop at one?  Pull a Stephie Crocker and make all three!

What-am-I-gonna-watch Wednesday

This show has a number of familiar, but not overly famous, faces in it.  The premise – a nuclear sub captain takes said nuclear sub on the run and winds up on an exotic island – is intriguing so we’ll see if the actual show lives up to expectations.  I don’t have to wait long since it starts tomorrow.

Last Resort trailer

PS  Happy Birthday, Chase!  You can read about his (and Leah’s) Scooby-Doo birthday party this past weekend here.  Love the mystery/scavenger hunt that Jenny set up.  So cute!

Nine Twenty-Four Twelve

I apologize, but I don’t have anything for you today.  I know you’re reading this on Monday morning, but I’m writing at 10:15 Sunday night and I’m worn out and not feeling very inspired.  So I’m going to get back to my DVR and do my best to drag the McHusband to bed with me in just a bit.

Not like that, people!  Sheesh…

Hope your week is off to a fantastic start, and I promise to be back with a REAL post tomorrow.

Friday

Sorry, guys, I don’t have a real post for you today.  Just an idea for you brunch-makers.

 

{Picture from www.teaandcookiesblog.com}

I have a fun weekend ahead of me.  Women’s Night in the neighborhood tonight, then an 8- or 10-mile run tomorrow morning before a baby shower in the afternoon.  And Saturday will be capped off by girls’ night downtown, woo hoo!

So Sunday could be a dud of a day depending on how much fun I have Saturday night.

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

Trailer Trash Bash

Our neighbors love to throw a theme party.  This time, it was Trailer Trash.  I actually bought my outfit when I was in Florida in April.  We found the McHusband’s mullet at Spencer’s, and it was worth every penny.

It’s scary how natural the McHusband looks.

And equally scary how UN-natural Bruce looks in his short-shorts.

Bruce’s knuckle tattoos.

Trashy ladies (and I say that as a compliment).

Jeremy brought the class to our trashy bunch.

But I think my middle-of-the-back tat (not to mention the exposed black lace bra) canceled him out.

Chelle and me.  I have to do both pictures so that you can see our arm tattoos.

Quite the couple.

Umm…quite the couple?

Tres trashy.

Bruce said trashy women always look mad in pictures so we did our best.  Chelle and Heather nailed it, but I’d already had enough “happy juice” that I couldn’t fake being too upset.

{By the way, one of the four visible tattoos above is real.  The others are courtesy of the Dollar Store and, where else, Walmart.}

Wonder what the next theme will be…

What-am-I-gonna-watch Wednesday

Any other Friday Night Lights fans out there?  It remains one of my favorite shows of all time (and I’ve watched a lot of shows).  Besides the cutie-patootie football players – Tim Riggins and Matt Saracen, I’m talking about you – there was Coach Taylor and his wife, Tami Taylor, who were played by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton.  Two of the most amazing actors on the planet.

If you didn’t watch FNL, it’s not too late to redeem yourself.  It’s worth investing in the series on DVD.  You know, Christmas isn’t too far off if you want to ask Santa for it…

Anyway, I wish I were saying that FNL was coming back to TV, but alas, that dream isn’t coming true.  But maybe the second-best thing is having Connie Britton back on a “regular” series.  She was on the first season of American Horror Story, and she was great in that show, but it wasn’t for everyone.

Nashville just plain looks good plus there’s singing plus Connie Britton.  I couldn’t possibly pass this show up.

Nashville trailer

Quick update on one of the shows I mentioned here.  I watched the premiere episode of Ben and Kate and am very happy to report that it’s as cute as I hoped and even more entertaining.  I also watched the pilot episode of The New Normal, a new show by Ryan Murphy of Glee fame, and it was better than I expected.  Ellen Barkin’s character, the bigoted Nana, is hilarious.

Most of the rest of Charlotte in pictures

{Recipe Recap} Steel Cut Oat Cups

Muffins on Monday!  I feel like every weekend for the past couple months has been a splurge weekend dietwise.  My food philosophy is that there’s room for treats if you plan for them.  (And even sometimes if you don’t.)  But lately, I’ve been slacking – uh, maybe that should be snacking – on the weekends, and it’s catching up to me.

So in honor of me getting back on the good-eating train, I’m sharing these healthy steel cut oat cups/muffins.

I actually made four different kinds, but the PB&J ones went fast.

I filled some with blueberries.

Some got raisins (those were for the McHusband).

And I put Nutella inside a few others.

The base recipe without any add-ins made 19 muffins, which were each about 125 calories.

I read recently that you shouldn’t commit/recommit to a good habit on a Monday, that Saturday is the better day.  But I’m typically good with my eating and exercise during the week so I think it works out best for me to do this today.

The McHusband and I are traveling to San Diego and Vegas next month so that trip is part of my motivation.  I know there will be a ton of pictures.

But back to these muffins for a second.  Yes, they’re healthy, and they don’t try to hide that fact, but they also happen to be pretty darn good.

So pick up some quick-cooking steel cut oats from Trader Joe’s and give ‘em a chance.

All up in my grill

Emma’s found a new favorite place.

This picture is from Saturday so she didn’t stay there too long after I was done taking pictures because once she was more in the sun, it was too warm to be up there.

I imagine once the weather really cools off, this’ll be where we’ll find her more often than not, but then she’ll want to be up there ONLY when it’s fully in the sun.

P.S.  Happy Birthday to Leah, who turns two today.  Where does the time go?