barfy + moving + muffins

augustine has been sick with an unknown something er other. two nights ago he whimpered practically the entire night in his sleep. every few minutes or hours david or i would limp into his room and comfort him. he wanted so badly to sleep in our bed but three's a crowd and four in a queen is just crazy. he briefly climbed in on davids side but had to be removed because of too many elbows to davids face.

today is "everything from scratch" day at our house. it's something that, since the first of the year, i've been trying to do. it actually has been a breeze! and an enjoyable one at that! this morning i made blueberry pancakes, lunch was broccoli + cheddar rice, snack will be these cranberry orange almond muffins i made that surely will never see tomorrow's light at this pace, dinner is three bean chili.

here is the recipe for the muffins. seriously, they are the best muffins i've ever made!

Cranberry Almond Whole Wheat Muffins

Ingredients
2 ¼ Cups All Flour
½ Cup Whole Wheat Flour
¼ cup wheat germ
1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
2 Teaspoon Ginger
½ Teaspoon Orange Peel
¼ Teaspoon Salt
1 ¼ Cups Skim Milk
5 Tablespoons Butter, melted
¼ Cup Egg Substitute
1 Cup Cranberries, fresh or frozen (thaw). Halved or sliced.
¼ cup slivered almonds

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin pan with non-fat cooking spray.
2. Mix flours, sugar, wheat germ, baking powder, ginger, orange peel and salt in medium bowl; set aside.
3. Blend milk, melted butter and egg in separate bowl.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until just blended. Do not over mix.
5. Stir in cranberries & almonds until evenly distributed.
6. Divide batter among muffin cups. Sprinkle decorative sanding sugar on top of muffins if desired.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes until lightly browned

i am confident that our house is now sold. (well pending an inspection which i have no doubts about, and an appraisal.) HURRAY! it was nothing short of a mini miracle, especially in this market. it has worked out almost eerily well so far (Jesus? coincidence? somewhere in the middle?) i always default to God's blessings. i mean i KNOW He had a hand in this, otherwise doors would be closing left and right, but to the contrary, it seems like doors are opening and opening and opening in a direction we want to go. one thing that really concerned me is keeping our washer and dryer, sounds silly but it's true. with two kids in cloth (well augustine just at night usually, some naps) i cannot fathom the idea of schlepping our dirty diapers & laundry to a coin laundry several times per week, not to mention with two children in tow! literally i could do a load of something every single day. i've been apartment hunting twice this week and i am confident that so far only one is an option. everything else was either too expensive, too rowdy (one was facing a bar that apparently is quite uhh boisterous), on a second floor, or they didn't have a garage or basement. we need either a garage or basement (both would be great!) to filter and store our vegetable oil and filtration system. this is a MUST. other musts: washer and dryer hook up, as stated above, 2 bedrooms, less than $600, close enough to campus/in the city, not getting shot at and nowhere near graffiti please! sounds a bit like a pipe dream to me. one place sounded promising but when i got there the yard looked like an ash tray and the porch had holes in it large enough to suck up my youngest.

actually - and quick! divert your eyes non-parents! im about to talk about poop! as i was at the aforementioned apartment i went in looked around, whatever and when i got back into the car my mom (who was sitting in the car with the kids) said auggie has to go the bathroom RIGHT NOW which is odd because he usually notes that he can hold it until we get to a bathroom. so my mom grabs him out of his carseat and says just let him pee on behind that tree but dang it was cold out! so i start to undo his pants but then think, wait how white trash is this to let my kid pee behind a tree?! so i decide to knock on the door of the apartment i just looked at and ask if he could use the restroom there and GOOD THING I DID because the boy had massive diarrhea! imagine that behind an urban tree! wow. i profusely apologized to the (single, frat boy type) guy who's apartment my kid just stunk up and bolted. poor auggie.

i am ordering a card reader today so i can start uploading photos and videos soon. i took a video of the apartment i like as i walked through the entire thing. i know you guys would like it so it's like talking to a mirror but i'd still like to show it to everybody. this place is adorable but just a wee bit above our price range. david is going to haggle if we go for it. NICE!