New recipe!

My friend Susan shared a recipe she found on the From Away blog. The recipe is for Two-Ingredient Banana Pancakes. They are gluten and dairy free.  I raised my eyebrow at the notion of TWO ingredients making a tolerable pancake...but guess what?  They were great!

They prepped and cooked up just like the blog showed.  The flavor is delicious, and the texture reminded both Patrick and me of crepes.

I encourage you to try them!

Happies & Crappies

Friday snuck up on me this week!  It's time again for Happies and Crappies, hosted by Sarah and Stephanie. I have a good time each week, so I thought I'd participate again!

Happies

• Lame assignment done for school (it was a presentation in front of the class, but that's not what made it lame, lol) and I feel it went well.
• Still hiking! 
• Loved watched the Super Bowl with my family.  It was a great action packed game.  
• Today is my brother's 51st birthday...Happy Birthday, Dave!
• Shannon's piano recital piece is coming along well.  Love it when I remind her to practice, and she says "I already did!"  Love that girl.
• Was able to get enough of our backpacking gear purchased that we can go backpacking!!! Woot!
• Patrick and I were out last night running errands.  Traffic was bad, so we got hungry and stopped for dinner at a restaurant we'd never been to before.  It was Flip Burger Boutique, and Oh My Gosh it was GOOD!!! Ended up being a fun, unexpected date night!

Crappies

• Nothing too crappy this week! 
• My favorite class was canceled this week because the professor was ill.
• Backpacking gear isn't cheap, so while it's a THRILL to finally have it, making the decision to spend the money is a little hard.

Still continuing the trend of more Happy than Crappy.  Yay!

Got gear!!!

We got our backpacks! (and tent)...we've pretty much got enough gear now that we CAN go backpacking! Squeal! (We're using tax refund money to get us started gear-wise.) I guess that doesn't really matter...I wonder why I always feel like I need to explain things. 

ANYWAY. 

I got a Deuter ACT Lite 65+10 pack. And Patrick got an Osprey Aether 60 pack. Mine's blue, his is green. 

Our tent is a Marmot Limelight 2P. It's Orange...I mean "Alpenglow." Patrick ultimately wants to sleep in a hammock, since we're pretty sure that will be most comfortable for his neck/back issues...but those are MUCHO spendy, so we're going to get started in a tent, and see how he does. If he's OK, then great. If not, we'll get him a hammock down the line a bit.

Easy-peasy

The Psychology course I'm taking is online only...meaning the only time I will have to go to campus for this class is to take the final.  I had a quiz I needed to take today.  The study guide simply said to watch the "Dog Video" and then take the quiz.

We'd been studying behavior, so I assumed the video would be about Pavlov's Dogs or something similar. Turns out it was a 3 minute video on this dog with narcolepsy, and the quiz was to write a paragraph summarizing the video.  ::::blink blink::::  That's it?  Boom!  Done with that!

Moving on!

Patrick and I were going to hike/walk today, but he's not feeling great.  He has a doctor appointment this afternoon to get checked out.  I think I'll ride the exercise bike instead.  We did a great 5.39 mile hike yesterday in the WIND and hoo-boy, that took it out of us!  We've done that same exact hike a dozen (or more) times before, but the wind added SO much resistance that we were WIPED out, and seriously thirsty for the rest of the day.

We had fun watching the Super Bowl last night and didn't *really* care who won.  Patrick is a big Ravens fan, but we all are from the SF Bay Area, so we're Niners fans too.  It was an exciting game to watch! There were a few fun commercials but I couldn't help but feel they were mostly lack-luster.  I enjoyed the Clydesdale one, the "God Made a Farmer" one, and the Taco Bell/senior citizen one.  The Doritos screaming goat one made me giggle, and the GoDaddy one made me throw up in my mouth.

Happies and Crappies

It's Friday again...know what that means??? It's time for Happies and Crappies! This fun link-up is hosted by Sarah and Stephanie. I had such a good time last week, I thought I'd participate again!

Happies

• Since it was the end of the month, I checked my weight...and I'm down 7 pounds since 1/4! Yay!
• In the last 10 days, I've hiked 20 miles...so much fun!
• I got my CPR certification renewed today...done again for 2 years!  Are you CPR certified?  If not, please consider it!
• My dad has been enjoying bird-watching this week. (Back story for any newish readers.  My parents live with us, and my dad has terminal cancer.  Something he LOVES to do is birdwatch, and we've set up a new patio and feeders for him to enjoy.)

Crappies

• I got a migraine on Wednesday and had to miss school, and now my neck is out of whack. Ugh.
• Not super crappy, but I have what I consider a lame assignment due for school next week.  NOT looking forward to it.
• Scary weather in GA this week, including a devastating tornado in Adairsville, GA...about an hour from here.  We were lucky to just have torrential rain and heavy wind...but it's hard to hear about deadly weather so close to home.

Still continuing the trend of more Happy than Crappy.  Yay!

Hitting the trail

Keeping at the hiking...today was my third 5 mile hike this week.  This time, to give my knees a break, I didn't wear my weighted backpack. They haven't been complaining...but I figure I better ease them into this nonsense, lol.

Patrick and I are having some fun conversations about gear, short backpacking trips, etc.  SO awesome.   We're waiting for our tax refund before we buy a few preliminary pieces of equipment, and then we can start sleeping out on the trail! Woohoo!

What's so interesting to me is that now that I have this goal, this passion about something...my other goals just fall into place.  Working out and losing weight has always been something I knew I *should* do...but eh, it's hard.  LOL!  But now that I'm comparing OUNCES in hiking gear weight, I have a very real reason to get my own weight under control. I've exercised 13 times since 1/4.  Feels great. I'm really proud, and it feels good in my brain to finally be going about this the right way.

Here's a picture of me from "the top of the mountain" today.

Happies & Crappies

This link-up is hosted by Sarah and Stephanie. I had such a good time last week, I thought I'd participate again!

Happies

• All A's on the assignments I've turned in so far.
• A nice little ice storm today that wasn't enough to pull down power lines, but was enough to give Shannon the day off school.  SNOW DAY!  We had a fire in fireplace all day, and have watched movies all day long!
• I ate really well (healthfully) this week!  Proud!
• My parents got an offer on their house (which has been on the market since June of 2010!) Please let this be it!

Crappies

• Patrick's migraines have been especially bad this week, and now he's sick with a bad ear infection, etc. Poor man.
• A very troubled woman in our community passed away this week...my heart breaks for her three girls.  The oldest is Shannon's age, and the youngest is 11.  The youngest is the one who found their mother, dead.  So sad.

Still continuing the trend of more Happy than Crappy.  Yay!