Ending with a New Recipe... Banana Pumpkin Seed Muffins

I am always looking for healthy choices for breakfast and snacking for my children.  They love muffins because I can make a giant batch and freeze them.  Then we can bag up what they want to eat in their lunches or have a few thawed by the time they get home from school or up for breakfast.  This is the most recent new recipe I have made and I thought I would share it with you to finish off this month.  A new recipe just for you....

Note:  I did not have wheatgerm the day I made these so I just subbed whole wheat flour and it worked out fine.  They were great for breakfast!  I suspect you could also sub canned pumpkin for the banana and I might need to try that soon.

It is from one of my favorite muffin books called 1 Mix, 100 Muffins by Susanna Tee (I know I have shared this book before because I love it!)

If you try it or do pumpkin instead of banana please let me know how it turns out for you.

Do you have a favorite muffin recipe?

New Gloves

My friend, Sherrie recently gave me a pair of arthritis crafting gloves and they are awesome!  They keep my joints warm and add a little compression to reduce swelling.  I would have never dreamed of owning such a thing.  I did not even know they existed until she gave them to me.  I am so very grateful for this new discovery and for my friend for thinking about me!  Check them out....

Nice compression...

Open fingertips so I can still do stuff in them.

Oooo... I could be an arthritic hand model!  LOL

New Experience

If you become a mother this experience is inevitable.  

It is not something I hoped would happen or looked forward to but it comes.  

It has come a few years later than most for us, I suppose. 

Today, for the first time in 21 years, I am not baking a birthday cake for our oldest.

He would not be here to enjoy it if I did.

He is off living his own life now and, at this instance, he is unable to even communicate with us.

There will be a celebration and a time for cake but it won't be on his birthday this year.

I am sad and a bit weepy but I know God has him.  I know that the Lord is reminding him of how much we love him.  I know he is on mission and working toward the future God has prepared for him.

So, happy birthday, Son.  Today you are 21 and this mother's heart could not imagine being more proud and honored to be the one who gave birth to you all those years ago.  I love you with all of my heart!

New Calendar

For many years I tried to wait for calendars to go on sale toward New Year's Day or just after.  I have learned that some calendars are just not available any longer by the time or they don't change in price that much due to their popularity.  The Susan Branch calendars are typically the same price now as they are come New Year or if I order them online.  I don't have an issue buying cheaper calendars for most of the house but there is the one in the kitchen that I want to be lovely just for me.  I will buy a Susan Branch or a Gooseberry Patch calendar now, just for me.  I was in Costco yesterday and saw this one already available and I snagged it.  It is beautiful, as usual!  So, now I have a new calendar and come January 1st it will take it's rightful place in my kitchen for me to enjoy every day of 2015.

Do you have a favorite kind of calendar you get just for you each year?

New Scarf...

I have an agenda... I need something to go with a yellow shirt in November so I am on it.  I have just finished my first infinity scarf and it is yellow.... very yellow.  LOL  So, I have learned a new pattern and now I have at least one more to make using it.  I love learning new stuff!

Another New Graphic... Phil 4:19

Happy Sunday!

New Website Discovery

As the girls from my online Bible study group bantered around some ideas for our next study session one of the ladies shared a site that intrigued me.  I had never heard of this group before. Upon further investigation it looks like something I would totally love being a part of.  It is called the Hello Mornings Challenge!   They also have a facebook page and a pinterest page to go along with it.  I will be diving in and taking a deeper look over the coming days but I wanted to just take a moment to tell you where it is so you can check it out, too.

Ok, short and sweet today....

If you are aware of some other online Bible study sites that motivate and encourage please feel free to drop me a comment and point me in that direction.  I love learning about new places to study with others and encourage one another.

New Lay Commentaries

I have been slowly collecting a few commentary series over the years for our shelves.  I have a few of the Holman Commentaries that started coming out a few years ago.  They are a little pricier as they first come out and so I have been buying them more slowly hoping for some used copies to save a little.  I am also collecting the Be Series by Warren Wiersbe.  As I study a book of the Bible I have been buying them used.  They are quite affordable because they have been on the market for about 40 years.  They have been republished a few times.  Sometimes I snag an old copy and sometimes I find the newer publications of them.  This particular one... the Genesis series... is in three volumes and I managed to get all of them in the newer publication for about $4.00 to $5.00 each.... WIN!!!  One of the best things about these is that they are written for the layperson (not theological seminary PhD pastor types).  So, anyone can read and understand them without a seminary degree.  I wanted something my teenagers could feel free to use, too, as they wanted to study.  Here is my new study series that was completed yesterday...  I will be reading them starting this weekend!

New Herbal Aid

I know that you all are women reading this blog.... if a man reads he never comments or makes it known so it is his fault if he is having to read this. ;)

I am sharing something that has been helping me get through this "phase" of my life.  

I am a woman of a "certain age" and I get hot and cold spells and heart racing episodes and I needed something to balance this mess out.  So, I have recently sought out an herbal solution that I can order or buy over-the-counter and this has been what I have found.

Progesterone Cream!  

It is made with a wild yam extract instead of horse urine.  (ICK!!!)

I prefer the one with lavender but you can get it scent free, too.

It helps greatly with the heart racing and the night sweats.  Make sure it is approved by your doctor if you are taking other meds and follow the instructions in the box for best results.  This is only a recommendation based on what is helping me.  Do your homework before starting anything new on your own without a prescription.  

If you cannot find it at a local pharmacy or health food store you can order it through Amazon.com.

I get ABSOLUTELY NO kickback for promoting this product or any other medicinal or herbal products on this blog.  I just love it!

New Treatment

Many of you know I have Lupus and my main symptom that occurs almost daily is the arthritis that accompanies it.  With the treatment for the Lupus (Plaquenil) comes stomach issues so when I have joint pain I don't really want to put more pills in that will exacerbate the issue.  I recently spoke with my Rheumatologist about it and he prescribed a topical as a solution and I have been quite pleased with the results.  I do not use it four times a day or even daily.  I only use it when I NEED it to stave off the pain.  I am grateful for this...

New Tea

I love tea.  Some of you may have read my series on tea here on the blog.  I am always in search of new teas to try.  I discovered Rooibos tea a few years ago but have not really had much of it over the years.  I was shopping in the local grocery store and found that Twinings has started selling it.  I have had a sore throat for about two weeks on and off and I have read that it is great for treating sore throats.  It is also suppose to be a mild anti-inflammatory so it helps with arthritis and other inflammation in the body.  I am really just starting to learn more about it and I am glad I found it today in the grocery store.  

Want to learn more about Rooibos Tea yourself?  Check this out!

A New Charity

We choose a new organization or charity to donate to for the Christmas season.  I still highly recommend Advent Conspiracy but there are others that are great places to support, too.  We have recently been prompted to be a part of this organization due to a deep love for the Marine Corps and what they stand for.  Many of you already know that our hearts are full for these brave young men and women.  

They have a yearly mission to bring toys to underprivileged boys and girls during the Christmas season.

We encourage you to join us in supporting this organization through generous donation to
Toys for Tots

Another New Graphic

I love making these... then putting them where I can see them.  This particular photo is from our trip to Colorado this summer... our backpacking trek.  The scripture is from Holman CSB.  Have an amazing Sunday! 

New Tune... at least to me

I am really not one to love the new pop music very much.  I am kinda stuck in the 70's and 80's for the most part.  I am also very eclectic in my tastes, adding jazz, big band, classical, certain forms of country music, rock, pop etc... to my lists on Pandora.  I usually like people that don't land on the top 40's list very often if at all.   With that being said there is occasionally the odd song or lyric that strikes my fancy that is modern and popular just because of it's message or unusual melody/musical interpretation.  This particular song has a message that I love and that I think people... especially young women... need to know it.  It is about being who you are and not trying to be someone you were not created to be.  It is catchy and hip and has that great message...

Enjoy Estelle and Do My Thing on this Friday.

Have a great weekend!  

New Language Helps

Outside of my Saturday class I have invested in a language workbook and I have been studying online during the week to improve my skills between classes.  We have the opportunity once a week to immerse ourselves in the language but I am still putting together vocabulary, reading and writing skills and we are just starting to learn some basic grammar.  It will still be a little while longer but each week I improve.

Here are some things I am using...

A book called Read and Speak Korean for Beginners

(it has a CD with it for pronunciation)

Here are a few pages I use...

Korean Class 101

and their Facebook Page

My Favorite YouTube Korean Language Study Channel

Talk to Me In Korean - has lessons and helps they post often

How to Study Korean

Do you have some favorite Language learning helps you use?

New Apps

Another day on our Korean adventures. We live in such an amazing day and age where we access to so many things we never had before.  There are tools online and available for our phones that can help us with so many things.  One new thing I have discovered are language apps.  I have a few new language apps on my phone that I use when I have a few open minutes throughout the day.  I just thought I would share a few with you...

This one is called Learn Korean... you can click on the icon and find it.  If you have an iphone then I am sure you can find their version, too.

This one is the Learn Korean Phrasebook

and learn to write the Korean alphabet (called Hangul) with this easy program.

Are you studying a second language this year?

Do you have a favorite language app that you like to use?  

New Food

I thought I would share another post about our adventures in the Korean church.  We are experiencing a whole variety of new foods and one of my favorites is something called 

Kimbap (김밥)

It is kind of like a California Roll.  Bap means rice and Kim means dried Nori seaweed.  They 

are something we have recently enjoyed during our Saturday language class lunchtime.

I snapped a photo...

These are great for practicing my chopstick skills... they are easy to pick up and pop in your mouth.  They are delicious and I will try to make them at home soon.

Do you have a new food you have tried lately that you would like to share with us?

New Book

We have been serving in a Korean church as the English pastor and family since about May and we are learning so much.  I have been learning about new foods and new cultural aspects of the Korean people and how they do church and family which is one in the same for them.  I love so much about this new adventure we are on.  

Our youngest and I have been studying the Korean language this semester.  One of the things I have done to help myself to understand how to minister to the women and younger people of the church is to pick up a book to give myself a little more insight on Asian American Women in our modern world.  So many of these women in our church were born in Korea and have gotten to America through a variety of ways.  There are many cultural experiences that I have yet to know about and understand but I am ready and willing to learn as much as I can.  

The book I just started reading is called : More Than Serving Tea:  An Anthology of Asian American Women on Expectations, Relationships, Leadership and Faith.  

I will let you know how it goes... 

What are you reading right now?

New Mercies

I made this one myself... with a photo from 2010 that I took near my parents' home.  Made this using a photo and paint.net .  I am learning new things...

New Performance

We have a new brass player in our home.  The little guy in the middle just started learning baritone about 6 weeks ago.  This is his first "concert" performance on the horn.  There will be many more to come.