I love music. All kinds. I love to play duets on the piano with my mom. I love singing with choirs and my family. I wish JJ would sing with me. (Update: JJ says he sings with me all the time.) I love dancing in the kitchen while we get dinner ready. Music and I, we get along.
I love my phone and iCal. Like really love. I consider getting rid of the phone all the time, and just cannot talk myself into it for several reasons:
• I never get lost because I can see where in the world I am and can see where I need to get to.
• When I go out into the country, or those without internet (you all are crazy) I can still get my facebook fix, email, and check my google reader. I still know what you are doing.
• My calendar is on it. And I can enter all my stuff on my computer and than hook the two together and they update each other.
• It is the baby sitter. I give it to the boy while shopping or driving long distances and he is so much for pleasant. There are all kinds of kids apps that entertain him. Right now he is obsessed with one that has knights and you get money to buy better shields and weapons. I am a bad parent.
• Along with the calendar, I can set alarms that remind me that I have a life going on and I need to get stuff done. For instance, I set alarms to remind me to bake bread. And go shopping. And pay my bills. And make dinner. You know. Basic life stuff.
I love my phone.
Have your tried tumblr.com. I really like it. You can post little snippets you find around the web. Because of my fierce liking for all things mellow, mine reflects that. Check it out here.
I love this other poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson, not. Ha ha. I am in junior high again. The poem is wrongly attributed to him, but is probably written by a Bessie Stanley in 1905. What a trickster. Anyway, here is the poem.
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by
a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed
easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded.
This recipe is fairly intense, but so worth it. It is also a huge amount, so if there are only 2 people in your house you will be eating it for a week.
Green Bean Casserole (from Everyday Food Magazine)
2 cups vegetable oil
6 large shallots, cut into very thin rounds, rings seperated
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
course salt and ground pepper
2 pounds green beans, trimmed and halved (you can get a 2 lb. bag at Costco)
1/4 cup butter
1 pound button mushrooms, trimmed and coursely chopped
14.5 ounces chicken broth
1 cup whipping cream
1- Preheat over to 425. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. In a small bowl, mix together shallots and 1 1/4 cups flour until shallots are evenly coated. In batches, shake off excess flour from shallots and fry until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes, adjusting heat if shallots are browning too quickly. With a slotted spoon, transfer to sheet and season with salt. Set aside.
2- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook green beans until crisp-tender, 6 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Pat dry.
3- In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium-high. Add mushrooms and cook until liquid has evaporated, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1/4 cup flour and cook, stirring, until incorporated, about 1 minute. Whisking constantly, gradually add broth, then milk. Bring to simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
4- Add green beans to mushroom sauce and toss to coat. Transfer mixture to a 9×13 baking dish. Bake until bubbling around edges, about 15 minutes. Serve topped with fried shallots.
mmmmmmm. this is so good. probably my favorite side dish.
Shoesday update. I had to order #1 because the king spoke and that is what he wanted. But I agree that #2 is a better choice.
See what I mean with him having opinions about what he will and won’t wear. He informed me today he will no longer be wearing shirts with buttons. Great. Maybe I can get him a t-shirt with a tie screen-printed on it for him to wear to church. Because we are classy like that.
The second order of business is that I am looking for a diaper bag that doesn’t shout, “Hey I am full of formula crumbs, cheerios, and diapers.” It is hard. I have been carrying a duffel bag look a like and I hate it. I went today to look for bags with a long strap that I can put over my shoulder and be hands free. Like the mother of all purses, and I found nothing. What is the deal. Someone should come up with huge stylish purses that can carry a bunch of stuff and don’t cost $200. Do any of you have suggestions? Cause I am all ears.
The thing I love today, is sweet kiddlets. The ones that make me find accessories that must fit 437 criteria.
I will hold you tightly
When the hurting kicks in.
Life is beautiful, but it’s complicated,
we barely make it.
We don’t need to understand,
There are miracles, miracles.
Stand where you are.
We let all these moments pass us by.
It’s amazing where I’m standing,
There’s a lot that we can give.
This is ours just for a moment.
There’s a lot that we can give.
Vega 4 :: Life is Beautiful
A new found love is 30 Rock. I am late to the game. But I love it. In fact, “I love it so much, I want to take it out behind the junior high and get it pregnant.”
I love friendship. I don’t feel like I really had friends until I was in college and even than, they were my roommates so I felt like they had to be nice to me. I don’t really feel like I have had any friends since I was like 5 like a lot of people do, except for my cousin, you know who you are and we had a rocky patch there for a while. But I have stayed friends with my roommates. Katrina, my cousin, went to college with me and we have stayed friends and now our kids are penpals. Here in this neighborhood, I feel so blessed to have so many good friends. My sisters, my sister-in-laws, and my mom and a bunch of my cousins are my friends.
It is truly lovely to have friends that really care about you. People that know you aren’t perfect. People who have had to deal with a lifetime of my uncontrollable farting. People who love me anyway.
A new thing for me, I am sure this isn’t that new I just started to notice, is people being incredibly charitable. During the swine flu panic, a friend gave up her shot for me and called me to let me know that it was waiting for me. I was pregnant and had tried several times, unsuccessfully to get it. I was panicking trying to get it. Her doing this for me, changed me and my opinion of her. Other friends have rescued me from my kids, or rather rescued my kids from me. Or taken my on business trips I didn’t really need to go on. Or just checked up on and been available by text or email late into the night. And been willing to bring dinner when they had just had c-sections themselves (I told this friend to stop threatening to bring dinner).
I recently made friends with a little 83-year old lady in my neighborhood. She is tiny and sweet. She has back problems, it hurts her to do most anything. I cannot believe how busy she is and how much service she gets done. I wish I could think of something to do with or for her all the time. I love going to talk to her, but don’t know how to just invite myself over. Maybe I should start inviting her to my crazy and dirty house. But Gentry loves her dog and we want him to come too.
Friendship makes my life better and makes me a better person.
