Sounds of Silence

I like to talk.  Its one of the good things about what I do for a living.  I get to talk.  At the Front Desk, with my kids, with parents, staff, at events, in meetings; I do a lot of talking.  So, that said, its really hard for me right now.  I can't talk.  I have a little bit of a 'squalk' but, on the whole not a lot is coming out.  To me its embarrassing.  I am not able to effectively live my life, do my job and function as I normally would.  Even as a single person I'm always talking at home.  Whether its on the phone, talking to myself or normally singing along with whatever music I have playing while I'm doing other things.  So, I'm kind of at a lose.

Its not that I haven't had laryngitis before.  I have.  In the past several years I've had many bouts.  It usually lasts 2 days and then I get most of my voice back.  That is not happening this time.  I suppose that is part of what's frustrating me.  I'm not making a rebound.  I saw my internist on Thursday and he recommended rest and fluids.  We can't do any type of meds because A, they probably wouldn't do anything and B, they would exacerbate my other issues.  We both know where this comes from and that is, to me, becoming infuriating.  I'm not mad at the doctors, that would be silly.  I'm mad at myself, a little at God (sorry, I know its wrong) and just mad in general.  My esophagus and stomach cause this.  Acid corrosion in my esophagus onto my vocal chords, and the raging infection in my esophagus that has probably moved into my vocal chords, are the underlying problem.  Is there no end to the litany of problems that my digestive system feels the need to throw at me?

So, here I sit.  In silence.  I've spent the bulk of the weekend at home, in my room, resting.  No talking.  Communication through e-mail, texts, Facebook and now Blogger.  I'm dealing with the situation and pray that tomorrow I'll wake up and things will get better.  I've been silent and that is 'supposed' to help.  I don't feel like it has but, what can I do but try?  I'll wait it out for now.  I go back to the doctor on Thursday and see no point in attempting to call before then.  I've just gotta deal with it and do the best I can.  (Can you tell I'm trying to give myself a pep talk?)

Anyway, the best thing about this weekend has been resting and working on simple things.  You'll see in my photos below some of the things I've been doing.  Hope you like my pictures.  If you need to get a hold of me, e-mail, text or Facebook would be best for the foreseeable future.  Don't bother trying to call, I won't be answering.  *sigh*

Have a great week!!

I have wanted to try my hand at embroidery and this is my first real attempt.  I like it.  It took a little more time than I thought and isn't perfect, but it's cute.

Yummy vegan chocolate chip pancakes I had for dinner.  Not really 'healthy' but healthier than the alternative.  No milk, eggs, oil, so a little better than usual.  And they were really good!

I had to go to the store yesterday (for medicine) so I took a more scenic route home.  This was along the way and I thought it was a pretty view.

I had to get out today and found this tree trunk.  Pretty in its decomposing state.  Yeah, it was covered with fungus!

More fungus in my yard.  This is on/beside a tree stump in the front yard.  Fungus doing its job!

More fungus that's on the stump.  So pretty.

Changing leaves.  Welcome Fall!!!

A breathtaking sunset.  I almost missed it.  I went to the kitchen and was washing up a few dishes and happened to look out the window above the sink.  I saw this, grabbed my jacket, camera and ran to the back yard.  Glad I did as it was gone in literally 3 minutes.

To end this post, I'll conclude with the lyrics from a song I've been listening to a lot lately.  I travel a good deal, and am several hours and quite a few miles away from the people I love the most.  My heart is spread out in Ohio and the US as a whole.  But, I love this song because as the last lines say, 'don't count the miles, count the I Love You's.'

Miles sung by Christina Perri

Kiss me on my shoulder
Tell me its not over
Promise to always come home to you
Remind me that I'm older
To be brave, smart, sweet and bolder
Don't give up on what we're trying to do

Don't count the miles
Count the I Love Yous

Chock Full (Vegan) Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love it when the weather is cooler.  I have always been a big fan of fall.  I have always despised summer.  I am thrilled summer is coming to a close and fall is upon us.  I can't wait for the changing leaves, apple cider, Halloween, Thanksgiving and all of the other joys that come with this time of year.

One of the things I don't do very often in summer, due to lack of air conditioning in my home, is bake.  I really like to bake.  I wanted to make bread today, but didn't have quite enough time to do so, since I worked a few hours today.  (It was kinda fun at work, we cleaned out the main toy closet and ORGANIZED everything. That makes me and my type A personality happy!)  So, since I didn't have time for bread baking, I wanted to make something.  Chocolate Chip cookies was the obvious substitution.  Easy, relatively fast and oh, so yummy!

While I haven't been adhering to a strict Vegan diet lately (I really should get back to it), I still try to avoid using milk and eggs.  So, I hit the cookbooks to find a recipe for Vegan Choc. Chip cookies.  One recipe intrigued me, but I had to do a little 'adjusting.'  The recipe below is my adaptation and I must say I LOVE THESE COOKIES!  They are a little bit crispy, cake-like and full of goodies.  Chocolate chips were just a starting point.  What this evolved into was soooooooo good!

April's Chock Full (Vegan) Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup flour (preferably unbleached white flour)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup applesauce (I used chunky applesauce because that's what I like.)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup Vegan Chocolate Chips
1/4 cup (or a tad more) dried cranberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix flour, baking soda, and cinnamon until well blended in a small bowl.  Set aside.  Mix sugar, applesauce and vanilla until blended in a larger bowl.  Add dry ingredients to the applesauce mixture.  Mix until a soft, solid dough is formed.  Add chocolate chips and cranberries.
Drop by rounded teaspoon onto an un-greased baking sheet.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on the top.  Remove from the cookie sheet and cool on a cooling rack.  ENJOY!

(One of my favorite things about vegan baking is you don't have to worry about sampling the dough-NO EGG!  I wouldn't encourage you to eat tons of it as it will probably lay heavy in your stomach, but a sample or two is not out of the question!)

Below you will find a few photos of my baking adventure.  They're all the pictures I got today.  Between work and the fact that my lips started to swell within five minutes of leaving the house, my hope for taking a walk/hike today was ruined.  Maybe in another month I'll be able to enjoy being outdoors.

In other sad news, tomorrow is the day of the run I had planned to go to in Columbus.  I had hoped that 7 weeks of training would have gotten me somewhat in shape to complete the 5k but, because of my knee and allergies, I had to put that hope away too.  Now I am just fat and lazy and miserable.  Ick!  I need to start working out again.  I only have another week and a half before I go see the orthopedist, so hopefully after that he'll release me to start up my workouts again, this time with some tips and a plan to prevent further damage to my bones!


Okay, sorry for my deluge of misery and whining.  I'll try to be positive.  Anyway, enjoy the photos below and have a happy Sunday!!!

The only type of applesauce I buy.  I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to applesauce.  It is a major staple in my diet and currently I will only eat two kinds of applesauce, Musselman's and the stuff I make myself.  I'll have more on my recipe for applesauce as we venture further into fall.  It is really yummy and pretty simple to make.

My preferred brand of chocolate chips.  Vegan and mini, a wonderful combination.

The dough.

Large teaspoons full on the baking sheet, ready to be baked.

Look at that golden brown color.  Yum, yum!

You can see how many chips get in each cookie as well as the cranberries.

Lots of chocolatey goodness.

The recipe made a dozen and a half good sized cookies. 

J'adore...

A few things I love today...

No, I don't adore myself.  I love that I'm not traveling this weekend or possibly at all this week.  No trips that are longer than 20 minutes.  I love that!

My cutting mat, rotary cutting tool and ruler.  I worked on projects last weekend with out these and I was miserable.  Glad to be home with them.

Glade, Clean Linen candle.  Just a nice fresh, clean scent.  Not overpowering, cause that would make me sneeze.

Grape Kool-Aid.  Yeah, I know its not the best thing to drink, but I really like its sugary sweetness.

Chocolate marshmallows.  Toast them over the flame on the stove and delish! 

These are some cup/containers I found at Wal-Mart.  I really love them.  I've used them for tons of things since I bought them.  Right now my favorite thing to do with them is to get all my daily meds ready.  Each night before bed, I sort out my three cups of meds: breakfast, lunch and dinner.  So handy and cute!

Chocolate.  I bought this bar and divided it up into sections so I wouldn't eat it all at once.  Of course I ate this section as soon as I was done with the picture.  Yum.

Greek Yogurt with Maple Syrup to sweeten.  I don't use much syrup, just enough to enhance the flavor.  This makes the yogurt tasty and healthy!

Beautiful, fresh, ripe, sweet peaches.  My before dinner snack!

Breathing mask, latex gloves, and extra strong trash bags.  I went to Lowe's and got all of this to help me clean up my basement.  The mask was necessary as there is more than a bit of mildew and mold in the damp, icky basement.  But, its better now.  May I never have to do that again!

Laundry Detergent.  I started using the Purex laundry sheets a couple years ago and loved them.  However, the sheets are a bit more expensive so, now I stick with the liquid.  Honestly I used ALL before an I totally prefer the clean, fresh scent of Purex.  I really like doing laundry.  Everything get clean, warm and fresh smelling.  I really like it when things smell nice!

These were all in my pocket.  Flash drive with all my work back up documents.  Burt's Bees Pomegranate Replenishing Lip Balm.  Soft lips and a yummy taste!  My Tree of Life necklace.  When I was checking out at Lowe's the girl ringing me up said it was really beautiful.  And to think, this is my everyday necklace!