2-Toned Blondies, Where's Jeff, and Sunday Morning plans

Recipes:

Another blast from my past, this recipe is addicting, easy, delicious, fast, and worth making two of. Or three. I didn't post the picture because it looks just like a yellow cake in a 9x13 pan. Nothing interesting to look at. But definitely amazing to eat! (Oh, so NOT good for you. Yum.)

2 Toned Coconut Blondies

1 Pckg. yellow cake mix

3/4 cup melted butter

2 eggs

1 c (6 oz) chocolate chips (I like the mini chips)

1 C. coconut

1/4 C. water

1 tsp. vanilla

Blend cake mix and butter, set aside 1/3 of the cake mix/butter mixture.

With the 2/3 cake/butter mixture, blend in eggs and chips. Pat into bottom of 9x13 greased pan. Combine coconut, water, vanilla with the reserved 1/3 cake/butter mixture. Spoon and spread on top of the pan. Bake at 325 for 45-50 minutes.

Running: I signed my boys, my brother, and myself up for a 5K on July 24th, a triathlon for myself in August, and the Pocatello marathon in early September (and I have a Logan marathon in late September). That was Monday. Then I re-injured my back on Tuesday. Of course. This always happens. (Eeyore and I are good friends, by the way.) But I am being so very smart this time and haven't run for the past 6 (SIX!?) days! (okay, since Jeff's gone and we've been at the cabin most of the time, I wouldn't have run anyway, but I'm going to take credit for being a wise injured-runner regardless). I do not like this, Steph-I-Am, I do not like that I once ran (and that I'm not running now - had to make it sorta rhyme). Sometimes I wonder if I'm done running. If so, I better find something else to do quick before I get grouchy again! I've been too busy to let it bother me this week.

So if running won't work, I'm thinking of working on my cycling (which aggravates my current injury so cycling is on hold, too. Dang it!). When I've had a moment, I've been following the Tour de France. The crashes scare me, the race stresses me, and the whole thing is very impressive. Since I'll never race like that, I won't let the enormity of it all quash my desire to at least try to be better and race faster. I'm easing into cycling, and I can tell I have A LOT to learn (like how to change my flat tire...Jeff-my-own-bike-mechanic, where are you!?)

Ruminations:

Where's Jeff? Jeff is volunteering for a week at a very cool cancer camp riverdiscovery.org. A pilot from the Angel Flight program picked him up at the airport here in town, then they hopped over to another city to pick up a camper, then flew on up to Salmon to begin the week on the river. I think it is wonderful and am delighted Jeff gets to help out. He worked at scout camp during his teenage years, camped every month at least once for years with his dad, was a Park Ranger Naturalist at Grand Teton National Park, and just kinda fits right in with the camping scene. So in addition to being the doc, he's probably (I'm imagining this) leading the kids in campfire songs, telling silly spooky stories, and pointing out wildflowers when the group is off the river. I expect he's having a great time. (Haven't heard for sure - no cell phone reception - but I know he had a great time last year). Happy for him, happy to help, but I can't help missing him!

Dream a little dream: With all the craziness of this past week, I haven't been getting much sleep. Being over-tired does odd things to me, like makes me not sleep well. Talk about messed up! Anyway, last night as I tossed and turned between visits to the kitchen (bad habit!) and checking all the doors in the house (wow, every time I checked they were STILL locked! Cool!), I did dream a little. I dreamed about banana bread.

So I planned, in the wee hours of the morning, that this Sunday morning (church doesn't start until 1 pm) my kids and I would spend a happy, quiet time together in the kitchen making banana bread. It would be a memory-making experience, laughing together, tasting the batter, smooshing bananas, sitting around the table eating. I even had walnuts (at 3 am, in my mind) to put in the bread for good texture.

Guess what? I don't have any walnuts. And, more importantly, I don't have any bananas. It is 9 am and three of the four kids are still zonked out (like I said, it's been a very busy week and everyone's exhausted). There goes my morning, there go my walnuts, there goes my banana bread. But I'm okay with that because (do I dare say this?) I don't really like banana bread anyway. (Is this totally un-American?). But I do like raisin bread, and I have raisins...

Now I just need energy to bake. Naw, I think I'll go back to bed and dream up something new.