Double Digits!

Little man is 10 today!  It's hard to believe that an entire decade has passed since I become a mother of my second child, a sweet little boy.  I mean "little" quite literally.  We didn't find out the gender of our first child so I was surprised by the birth of my 8 lbs 4 oz baby girl.  We decided to find out the gender the second time partly to try it differently, and so the whole concept would be a little less abstract for our daughter.  When I found out I was going to have a boy I was elated, one of each gender.  But I was also worried because I knew several people who had a daughter first and a son second, and their sons were so much bigger than their daughters.  I was thinking if he was much bigger than his sister that I'd need a c-section.  But he was born blue, with his cord wrapped around his neck, at only 5 lbs 15 oz; an ounce smaller than I'd been as a baby.  Thank goodness we had such an experienced OBGYN who got that cord cut immediately and got him on oxygen.  

He's been a source of joy and fun since the day he was born.  He's always been less serious and doesn't mind just being goofy.  Sometimes we have to reign that in a bit, but we try to let him be himself as much as possible.  He's always been a good sport about letting his sister dress him up and even put makeup on him.  Although at ten now he's starting to be less tolerant of his parent's goofiness, he's still easier on us in that regard than his sister has been since she was about three years old.

Although we have our challenges with his behavioral issues, we also see some wonderful personality traits in him.  He's very intelligent, and if he's interested in something he will learn the most amazing facts to share.  Math comes naturally to him and it's been fun watching him do that homework over the years.  He loves animals and small children and he's incredibly sweet and gentle around them.

Happy birthday to my boy, I'm so excited to have a day to celebrate my special little guy!

My Children Make Me Feel Inept

While I'm all too aware of my faults, I used to think I was a fairly capable person...until I had children.  Then I realized that there was a great deal I didn't know.  I used to run a before and after school daycare program at an elementary school and was pretty good with the kids there, so I thought for sure I'd be able to handle my own children.  Little did I realize, my job was working with those kids at the elementary school.  As a working parent one goes to a paying job all day and comes home exhausted, and then still has to deal with one's own children.  I love my kids, and I'd never want to change anything about my family, but I feel pretty incompetent quite frequently these days.

My daughter is leaving on a trip to Europe for nearly two weeks on Monday.  Last evening we were talking about it and she said she's not feeling any anxiety about it because it still doesn't feel real.  I told her she doesn't need to feel any anxiety because it's a tour run by an educational group with three of her teachers as leaders.  She doesn't have to worry about anything, all the details are taken care of for her.  She agreed and seemed fine.  Then at dinner last night she spilled her drink which she found incredibly embarrassing, and that was all it took to send her into a very dark place.  The rest of the evening was filled with tears, especially after she got her group lists for the trip and realized she wouldn't be with her closest friends or her first choice of teacher.  She does get to room with those friends on several nights, but oh man, the group assignment was DEVASTATING!  Of course I think she should be flattered, because I'm sure she's seen as a steady child who can handle any assignment.  But she wasn't in a mental place for me to help her go there last night.  So she went to bed still crying, and I felt like an utter failure as a parent.

My son (who will be turning 10 tomorrow) was a complete basket case for the final two weeks of the school year.  He was always mad at either my husband or me for something, and it was generally a totally irrational reason.  We even dealt with a suspension from school at that time because he was such a mess about the year ending that he was making horrendous choices.  Now that we're one week into the summer break, he seems to have calmed back down, thank goodness.  But again, I don't know if I'm handling everything correctly and properly balancing empathy and support with guidance on how to make different choices.  I'm not sure that there's an experience out there more humbling than parenting.

The other day I came home with my son when my daughter had been watching one of her favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption*, so my son caught the very tail-end of the movie (we won't let him watch this movie yet).  If you've seen the movie, you know that there's a scene where one of the men carves "Brooks was here" into the wooden beam in his room.  Apparently my son saw that and it inspired him to carve his name with "was hear" into the beautiful wooden ledge in his room.  Not only am I frustrated that we're now going to have to replace that at some point, but he didn't even spell it properly!  He informed us that it wasn't vandalism if you were defacing your own property.  Then I had to explain that he's not the one paying the mortgage on the house, and that someday he'll turn 18 and move out.

The good news is that as of this afternoon, everyone seems to be back on track.  Both of the kids are out with friends, and my husband is at a happy hour with his co-workers.  So I'm sitting in a quiet house, all by myself, listening to the gentle, soothing rain falling.  Maybe now I can start to rebuild my self-confidence that has been pretty battered by my seeming inability to properly parent.

* In case you didn't know, this movie was based on a story called Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King from his book Different Seasons.  He wrote a story for each season in this book, and three of the stories have been made into movies.  His spring story is titled Apt Pupil and the movie shares the name.  Shawshank is the summer story.  His fall story is called The Body and this is the story on which the movie Stand By Me is based.  To my knowledge there has never been a movie inspired by his winter story, The Breathing Method.  But if you haven't read this book yet, I highly recommend it.  None of the stories have many supernatural elements, they're just really good stories.  I didn't really care for Apt Pupil, but you may have a stronger stomach for that sort of thing than I do.  But the gentleman's club that he created in The Breathing Method is so vibrant and creepy, I keep hoping that someday he'll write a story all about the club.

Mid-Week Weigh-In

If you looked at my weigh-in this past Sunday and wondered why I haven't really gained or lost any weight; there's a reason for that.  I generally eat pretty well early in the week, and my weight will start to go down a bit.  Then towards the end of the week and over the weekend, I have a difficult time sustaining good choices and by Sunday, my weight's back up again.  Because I'm making a commitment and an effort to do better, I thought I'd give myself a push and share my weigh-in from this morning.

133.7

This is down two pounds thanks to being very diligent about workouts (although to be honest, workouts have never really been my problem) and good food choices (this has always been my issue).  I only need to lose between 10 and 15 pounds total.  If I could keep this up, I'd be at my goal weight in about 2 months.  Sometimes I get frustrated and disillusioned and wonder why it even matters.  But then I stop to focus on how I'm feeling and realize that while I don't feel terrible, I would feel better if I weighed between 120 and 125 pounds. (I'm about 5'5").

Another thing that has been helping is that Denver recently closed the downtown bus station where all of the express buses used to drop folks off.  They moved into a new space in the old Union Station, which is about 3 blocks further away from my office.  After I finally figured out how to walk from the station (navigating all the continuing construction has been interesting), I decided to use my pedometer today and see what the actual distance was to my office.  It's a little over a 1/2 mile from where the bus drops me off to my office building.  I can't walk as quickly as I normally would since I need to stop at intersections (getting run over by a car wouldn't do much for my health goals), but I was still able to do a little better than 3 1/2 miles per hour, in my work clothes.  Having that extra mile walk each day definitely isn't hurting, even if it isn't quite as aerobic.

Self Improvement

I've been working harder to manage my stress lately.  I really enjoyed reading The Little Book of Contentment by Leo Babauta.  I'm ready to start soon on his book The One Skill: How Mastering the Art of Letting Go Will Change Your Life.  But before I can start reading that one I have to finish reading one for work called The Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace by Cy Wakeman.  I think these books will ultimately help me to deal with my stress, but they're also causing me a bit of stress.  They're making me realize that if I'm unhappy with something, it's my responsibility to make things better.  So I can't blame someone or something else for my discontent and stress.  Of course that's good because it means I have the ability to make things better without actually changing my job, but that also means that I have to do the work.

This is sort of similar to the way I thought maybe I had hypothyroidism and that I wouldn't have to work hard to lose weight, that there would be a simple solution.  But all the tests came back normal and there's not a simple solution.  If I want to lose weight I have to work at it and make the right choices.  Just like I have to make the right, and often difficult, choices if I want to manage my stress.  It's so much easier to whine and complain and blame someone else for all my problems.  Easier, but less satisfying.

I have been managing to keep my emotions on a more even keel at work and while driving, both situations which have been exceedingly difficult for me in the past.  The book by Leo Babauta gave the advice to stop thinking that everyone was doing things because of me, because I'm not the center of anyone else's world.  He gave an example of being in a boat and getting bumped into by another boat.  He said that if the boat were empty we'd just move it aside and go on, we wouldn't be mad at it.  But if someone was in the boat we would take it personally and get angry with them; but really there's no reason to react any differently if the boat has an operator.  So I'm working on it, but I think it's going to take some time, both to react properly to external stimuli, and to lose weight!

This morning on my jog I got a grainy picture of the eastern sky as it was starting to lighten, with a planet shining.  The cell phone camera definitely can't hang with the low-light pictures very well.  But you can still sort of tell what a beautiful morning we had.

Memorial Day Weekend 2014

Memorial Day was kind of hard this year, as I assume every holiday that reminds me of my dad will be for awhile.  My dad was a veteran and he passed away this past April, so of course he was heavy on our minds today.  But we made the most of the day, spending it with my mom, aunt, and my brother and his family down in Castle Rock.  We hiked up to "the rock" and then scrambled up "the rock", something I hadn't done since I was in my early twenties.  It was actually fun and kind of exhilarating.  My brother used to technical climb, so I don't know if it's sensible that I trust him to find a good way up, or foolish because he's so much better at it than I am.  But regardless, there was just enough challenge with an edge of danger to make it a great way to spend the day.

My heart just about stopped at one point when my son saw a lizard in a rock crevice and leaned over to get a good look.  I calmly told him to lean back, because I thought screaming it would scare him and send him tumbling over the edge.  After that I was adamant that he needed to move back from the edge of the rock.

The area is very pretty with scrub oak and little lizards climbing around the rocks.

Scrub Oak Leaves

Castle Rock, we were up next to that star

My brother, nephew, and son

Pikes Peak with fresh snow from this weekend

My brother, nephew, and daughter

Lizard poking up through the rock crevice

Me and my family

Lizard sunbathing

Wildflower

We spent yesterday afternoon with my mother- and father-in-law and had brats to eat.  I love bratwurst but only eat it about once a year because I know it's not very good for me.  I like to make sure that mine has lots of horseradish mustard on it!

Flowering shrub in my mother-in-law's back yard

My mother-in-law's flowers (she has a degree in horticulture)

Last night my daughter and I did one of the 5K races we're participating in this year.  She hadn't been very willing to run much of the other two races we've participated in, but last night she did agree to run part of the time, so we completed the 5K together in 41 minutes.

So like life, our weekend had its ups and downs, but overall was very nice.

 

Weekly Weigh-In and Some Random Thoughts

So...week 18 of tracking and I'm 0.3 pounds less than I when I started.  That's a bit disheartening.  I clearly need to get more serious if I really want to lose this weight.

Starting weigh-in:  136.0
Current weigh-in:  135.7

My husband and I had a date night last night for the first time in quite awhile.  The kids spent the night with their grandparents, so we didn't even have to worry about getting home at a certain time.  We enjoyed dinner together at a local Polish restaurant (which may be a little bit of the reason that today's weigh-in wasn't better).

Random Thought 1:  There are some weeks that I feel like I should get hazardous duty pay for doing the laundry.  Like this week when my son slid down a muddy hillside into the creek.  Then didn't even bother to remove the legos from his pockets before putting his muddy shorts into the hamper.

Random Thought 2:  I'm tired of seeing studies that report something causes death.  You know what causes death?  Life.  Every single living thing eventually dies:  people, animals, and plants.  You know what doesn't die?  Things that were never alive to begin with, like rocks.  If people want to report in studies that something causes premature death, then I'm all for that.  But saying that an activity or a way of eating causes death is disingenuous.  Yes, I have a mild case of OCD which is probably why I think exacting language is so important, but I do think it is important.

Saturday Morning Sunrise

I wasn't able to make it up to the proper spot in order to get the exact shot I wanted this morning (I was walking/running), but I still managed to get some pretty sunrise photos this morning.

Now I really need to get a photo editing software so I could take the same shot with two different exposures so you can see the color of the sky and color of the foreground.

This is a short post today because I'm off to a date night with my husband, and the kids are spending the night with my in-laws  I feel like I'm 25 again!

Reframing a Missed Opportunity

I've been sort of pondering lately why I like photography so much.  I've decided that there are several reasons why I've developed such a passion for it and spend so much time doing it now.

• It allows me to capture beauty and share it with others.
• It's a creative outlet.
• I seem to have a natural aptitude for it and doing things we're good at is very satisfying.  (This is also why I love working with spreadsheets.  I know most people groan when they hear that, but I can do some pretty amazing things with Excel and make really useful tools for others, plus it's often like solving logic puzzles which is fun.  Yes, I was one of those weird kids that loved math word problems).
• I've found that I've become much more observant of the beauty around me when I'm wondering what would make a nice shot.

Yesterday was a crazy busy day, as evidenced by the fact that I didn't manage to get a blog post written.  There is always so much packed into the end of the school year for the kiddos.  Today is their last day, so things should start calming back down.  I think our last activity for the school year was attending my daughter's awards ceremony today.  Last year at the end of 6th grade she was on the principal's honor role and got a science student of the year award.  This year she got four awards:  principal's honor role, career achievement (for being on the principal's honor role for all of middle school thus far), band student of the year, and overall student of the year.  I'm very proud of her because she really works hard at school, but hope she isn't disappointed if she doesn't get all those awards again next year.  She already puts more pressure on herself than I think is totally healthy.

I was pretty disappointed in how busy everything was yesterday, because I missed at least one really cool photo opportunity.  I was driving to the bus stop to go to work and the sunrise was absolutely phenomenal.  There were some clouds left over from our thunderstorms overnight and the sun was a huge orange disc on the horizon peaking through the clouds.  I wanted to take a picture so badly, but knew I would miss my ride if I stopped.  Plus I don't keep my good camera in my car which I leave at the bus stop.  (It sure is a bummer when your job interferes with your hobby...and someone really needs to invent a universal sarcasm font.)  So I'm hoping that the sunrise will look similar on Saturday morning when I plan to be there, camera in hand, to get a shot.

In my effort to manage my stress, I have been trying to stop focusing on what I'm missing out on, and instead focus on the positive.  So while I was disappointed that I couldn't stop and take that picture, I reminded myself how lucky I was see such a beautiful sight.  Today I worked from home in order to attend my daughter's awards ceremony, and when I glanced out the window I noticed how pretty my neighbor's irises looked with the morning sun shining on them.  So I did manage to get a nice shot of that this morning, which I wouldn't have been able to do in the office.

While I fully recognize that missing the opportunity to take a picture of the sunrise shouldn't cause me a great deal of stress, it really had been doing so in the past.  It started me down a mental rabbit hole of wanting to stop working in order to spend more time with my family; missing my dad since he would have liked the picture; and ultimately wondering what the point of life was anyway.  Ridiculous, I know, but that's where I was going mentally.  So while it may not seem like a big deal, I'm pretty pleased with how I've been able to re-frame my thinking and manage my reactions and stress about this.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a beautiful sunrise shot to share!

Good Day

Today was a good day.  I used my stress management strategies and successfully controlled my mood even during some very trying times.  I did longer intervals during my run this morning and it felt really good.  I don't think it will take long before I'm able to just run again.  I ate fairly well even though we unexpectedly had to eat dinner out.  I also got to hold a baby.

The picture is a little awkward because I was holding her with my left arm and taking the photo with my right hand.  She's 5 weeks old and just too adorable, plus it was really good to see her momma again too.  I do miss this age, but I know that I'm too old now to stay up all night, although since I don't sleep very well anyway maybe that wouldn't matter.  But I just can't imagine starting over now that my kids are older and so much more independent.  It's probably just best to get my baby fix this way now.

We've been under tornado warnings today.  At work the sirens actually went off and everyone was asked to move to the interior of the building.  But there was no damage at work or at home.  I love listening to the distant thunder and watching the lightening as long as know that everyone's safe.

Our stormy skies tonight, right before it started raining again.

Reset Again

I'm back and I've successfully adjusted my attitude...again.  I've really been working on stress management and mindfulness lately.  I'll do pretty well for a time, and then several things will happen simultaneously that knock me off kilter.  I do realize that those are the times when it's most important to use the strategies I'm learning, and I'm working on it.  It's just still definitely a work in progress, and I imagine it will be a work in progress for the rest of my life.

I have an exceedingly difficult coworker who has made things rather challenging lately.  She's incredibly smart and good at what she does; you just never know if she's actually going to do the work.  If I follow up with her about a missed deadline, then I'm "micromanaging a peer."  If I follow-up with our boss about a missed deadline, then I'm "tattling and hurting teamwork."  So I've decided to take a slightly different approach with this woman.  Since nothing I do will ever make her happy, I'm just going to do the right thing and stop worrying about the way she's treating me.  I'll continue to be kind and keep her informed and in the loop, but I'm no longer going to internalize her dissatisfaction.  Hopefully this will work and keep me in a better head space.

We've also been dealing with some fairly extreme reactions and behavior from our son recently.  I'm not sure what's causing this, and I don't think he's sure either.  It may just be getting ready to transition as school gets out at the end of the week.  But we've had some rough interactions lately, although I'm actually pretty happy with how we ultimately handled a melt-down last night.  My husband and I managed to keep our tempers in check and eventually get our son calmed down and talking.  I'm even happier to report that there was no yelling in my house this morning.  That may not seem like such a great victory, but when you have a child who purposely does the exact opposite of what he's supposed to be doing most mornings making everyone late, no yelling is a real accomplishment.  Yes, I still think children are worth all of this.

In fitness news, I went for an interval run yesterday morning and found that I've managed to stay in shape better than I realized.  I could have run much longer intervals, so I'll be adjusting the length of the intervals for tomorrow morning's run.  I've always enjoyed running.  In high school I was on the track team, although at that time I competed in sprints.  I was always a fast runner and thought that's where I should be.  I was good, but never great.  In college I tried out ROTC for a semester where we did longer runs on a regular basis.  The two-mile run was always timed and we were competing against each other.  There were about 60 other students in the program, mostly males, and only two of the males could beat me in that run:  Carl and Sam.  I still remember their names because it really frustrated me that I could never surpass those two.

I actually dream about running sometimes.  In my dreams I can run so fast that I practically fly, and some of the time I do rise in the air when I push off.  I think I mostly have those dreams when it's been awhile since I've run.  The thing is, it's hard to run; and it's even harder when you don't do it regularly.  So every time I get out of the habit, it's a challenge to start again.  Then I'll have a running dream and remember how good it feels and find the motivation to start up again.  I'm always very glad when I get back into it, so I suppose I should stop quitting.  It's amazing how quickly a busy week or an illness can sideline my running, and it's so easy to slip out of the habit.  It seems a bit unfair that stopping is so much easier than starting.  But that's life, and as I regularly remind my children, no one ever said it was going to be fair.

I'm going to do a weigh-in this weekend, no excuses.  I'll let you know how I'm progressing according to the scale.

For everyone out there struggling with anything, please know that you're not alone; and your problems aren't inconsequential just because they may not be as severe as others'.

The evening sun shining on our maple tree leaves

We're getting into our spring storm pattern, and I LOVE this picture of the clouds

Time to Reset

I realize I haven't posted in a couple of days after promising a weigh-in.  I'm going through a really rough patch with work and with my son.  I've been in a spectacularly foul mood and don't want to impose that mood on anyone else.  So I will be posting again once I can adjust my attitude, but I just can't be positive enough right now.

Nature Party

My son is going to be turning 10 in a couple of weeks.  Because of the way his birthday falls at the end of the school year and over the labor day weekend, we always have a hard time scheduling his party, so this year we decided to try having it a little early.  He never wants to go anywhere which is actually much less expensive.  But sometimes we have a difficult time figuring out to entertain the boys for a two-hour party.  So this year we looked online and found a nature shapes scavenger hunt.  I think the boys really had a good time looking for different shapes on the creek.

After we found all of the items on the list we went to the park where the boys roamed all over the hillside and playground equipment having a (foam) sword fight.  Then we came back to the house and had dirt and worms in the backyard.  My son insists on having this dessert instead of birthday cake at his party.  It's actually pretty fun for the boys since they can make their own.  They use gummy worms, pudding, and crushed up Oreo cookies to make the treat.

I was glad that it ended up being such a nice day for the party since it rained overnight.  Though it did make for some nice photos this morning.

Now it's time to put my feet up and relax after a successful birthday party!

Silver Linings

If you're reading regularly, you know I've been struggling a bit lately with basically all of my life choices (other than my family).  Due to some physical symptoms which I'm starting to believe are caused by stress, I'm really making an effort to manage my stress and reframe my thoughts.  This morning when the alarm went off, I very nearly went back to bed, I was just so tired I couldn't hardly form a coherent thought.  I'm sure I looked like a robot that someone forgot to turn on.  But I remembered my decision from a couple of weeks ago that when I'm really that physically exhausted, I'd just go for a walk instead of trying to do an intense workout.  I really did a pretty good job with my workouts this week, so I didn't even feel very guilty for having a lower intensity day.

While I was out on my walk, I realized what a gift it is to be up and outside at around 4:30 in the morning.  There are hardly any other people out and there's a blanket of darkness, so I get that solitude outdoors that I crave so much and seldom have in my suburban neighborhood.  Since most people are still in bed at that hour, there isn't much noise and I can just listen to the wind in the trees and the birds singing.  There was a just-past-full moon hanging low in the southern sky which nicely silhouetted the mountains; they looked like dark blue cut-outs against a slightly less dark blue western sky.  Even during the summer months, it's still cool enough at that time of day to be able to exercise comfortably rather than wondering if I'm going to drop of heat stroke.

When I left the house at about 5:45 to head downtown to work this morning, I appreciated the sunrise and the color and quality of the light at that hour.  On many mornings in the past, I've felt upset when I see the sunrise that I don't have the time to stop and take some pictures.  This morning I really just worked on appreciating the beauty and tried not to worry about what I was "missing out" on.  I don't have this all figured out yet, and quite frankly I may never get to that point, but I am making an effort to do better.

My heart was very full this afternoon watching my son.  I had picked him up from school and we were waiting at the park for my daughter's bus to drop her off.  There was a dad with a 4-year old and an infant there and my son went over and started playing with them.  He was so sweet with the 4-year old, he took him on the slide several times, he "raced" him (and let him win every time).  He also gently rocked the baby in the swing while the dad pushed the little boy.  I told him that I was very proud of how kind and gentle he had been.  He told me that the dad told him that the little boy is a little behind, and he responded to the dad, "that's alright, so was Albert Einstein."  It's a good reminder that it's important not to have narrow and restrictive definitions of "good".  My son was suspended from school yesterday, but demonstrated some great qualities today.

I'm going to keep attempting to look for the good in every situation.  I'm going to try and find the silver lining as often as possible.

Healthy Eating and Scone Recipe

I'm working at home today (unexpectedly) because my son was suspended for the day.  For rehashing a long-ago episode with a perceived slight to one of his friends.  He got a write-up for it the first time, and a one-day vacation from school for it this time.  He has a list of required items that he has to work through for the day, and some other options items.  The required items include homework and cleaning his room, in addition to a couple of other items.  The optional items include things like scrubbing the baseboards throughout the house.  Maybe I'll get some good deep cleaning out of this situation.  I also think it really hit home because his class is going on a field trip to the Colorado History Museum today.  He loves history and has to miss out.  So maybe this will make an impact on the behavior choices he makes in the future.

I do have to comment on how grateful I am for my wonderful sister-in-law.  When I texted her to tell her about the suspension she offered to drive the 42+ miles from her house to ours to spend the afternoon with my son if I needed to go into the office.  I hope my brother regularly recognizes how sweet and generous his wife really is.  When it comes to in-laws, I know I won the lottery there!

I was able to get a couple of pictures that I either wouldn't be here for during the day normally, or wouldn't have time to set the tripod up for on a regular day.

Full moon this morning

Dew on the grass shining in the early morning sun

I've also been managing to eat well, which is something that I've struggled with on my work-from-home days in the past.  At work there just isn't any other food available, so I the temptation isn't there in the same way.  When I'm home I can just walk into the kitchen at any moment.  So far today I've been able to use the appropriate self-talk every time an urge to head into the kitchen crops us.  I did give myself a leg-up this morning by making myself scones (again, since I didn't have to commute into the office).  I developed this recipe after a great deal of research about how to make scones as healthy as possible, using as little sugar as possible.  Obviously these still aren't health food, but when I'm really in the mood for scones they are a much better option than Starbucks or Panera.  Plus they have some extra fiber and protein so they stick with me better.

Darcy’s (Slightly) Healthier Scones

Ingredients

• Dry Ingredients
• ½ cups AP flour
• 1 ¼ cups instant oats
• 2 tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ cup nuts
• ½ cup dried fruit
• Fat
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter – butter must be cold
• Wet Ingredients
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk

Directions

• Preheat oven to 425°
• Sift and mix dry ingredients well
• Cut in the fat
• Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl
• Add wet ingredients – mix as little as possible
• Gently knead just until dough is cohesive
• On a floured surface, gently pat out/fold the dough until it is about ½ inch think
• Brush top with milk and sprinkle with a small amount of sugar
• Bake for 12 – 15 minutes on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper or a silpat
• Place on a cooling rack

Tips

• You can add any variety of nuts and fruit and/or you can add chocolate chips.
• You can make a glaze with powdered sugar and a small amount liquid (milk, water, fruit juice) and/or flavors instead of brushing the top of the scones, but this decreases the health factor.  Or you can just leave the top as is which slightly increases the health factor.
• You can make the scones savory by adding cheese, herbs, or other items.  Do not brush or glaze the scones when making savory scones.
• The scones can be stored in a container at room temperature for about a week or frozen for several months.