Well, Du'uh!!!!!!!!!!!

This hasn't been seen for 2 1/2 years!

November 2, 2009.

BRACES OFF!

Spicy Cod

Home tonight after lunch out with girlfriends and viewing Amelia with Hilary Swank - fabulous movie, BTW.

Anyway - home and started to think about dinner. Found some cod in the freezer and did a quick online search for recipes, and found this one - and it's a keeper!

Easiest Spicy Cod

1 1/2 pounds cod fillets

1-2 cups salsa (enough to cover cod filets in pan)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Crushed tortilla chips (I used Red Hot Blues)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350º F

2. Rinse and dry cod fillets. Place fillets in a lightly greased casserole dish, on

top of crushed chips. Pour salsa over fish. Sprinkle with parsley, salt and pepper.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Serve warm over rice.

Mmm, Mmm, GOOD!

booooooooo

It's still breast cancer awareness month, but I have to use my pumpkin pie ...

Happy Halloween!

YAHOO!

Just in time for the snow...

Coming Soon

I'm thinking about posting again, really I am. I am sick of seeing that Twins thing there. It was all timely and such when they were winning but now? Not so much. I even have some fairly good ideas about what I want to write about.

But then I sit down and on the one hand I could blog, and on the other I could read other people's blogs or play Farkle or watch videos or just walk away from the computer entirely.

So someday I will blog again. But not today.

Never mind.

Wanderlust

With Mama Ava in Beijing and Lucy in Malaga, Lonnie in Gjoevik and Kelly and Jil planning thier next trips to Disney (Kelly to World and Jil to cruise) ... well, let's just say I am feeling really sad that I have nothing in the works which involves an airplane.

Looking at Lonnie's photos makes my heart ache for Norway. It's a physical pull, heightened when I read her blog or look through her Facebook photo albums. Malaga and Beijing have the lure of being new and exotic to me (and I am going to Beijing, just haven't figured out exactly when yet ... so that does help some!) And then Disney... one year ago today I was starting to pack to take the boys on our first-ever cruise, with Disney, and the memories now are flooding back as I talk to Jil about their upcoming journey.

I think I'm going to Two Harbors next weekend, and then I do have a road trip up to Moorhead planned for November.

It's just not the same.

It's all about the birthday cake

My birthday is coming up in just a few weeks (ok, about 9, but that's less than half the year, right?) and I have found my cake.Whichever of you, my darling friends and family members, chooses to provide it, here's a handy link to its creator's website. So she's in Dallas, aren't I worth it?

Thanks, Cake Wrecks, for finding my dream cake for me!

Flash Forward

Is anyone else here watching it? I have this need to talk it to death ... into a greater depth than Brian is willing to go with me ... anybody?

Dog is gonna be OK

Well, the dog has allergies, and possibly hypothyroidism. Which transfers into $225 of exams and medicine. But they threw in a free nail-clipping, so I'm not complaining!

The new, ugly, open sore on his head? An allergy burn. The doc said they come up very suddenly and are pretty nasty. In examining Chaco, she found another spot which she said to watch, as it looks like it's about to erupt.

The thinning fur and lack of appetite are probably related to his thyroid function, so blood was drawn and more medicine may be in our future.

Right now, he will be on a three-week regimen of cortisone to help the allergies (someone just was telling me this fall has been nasty for dog allergies ... was it one of you??) and hopefully the itching and burns will disappear. But, she warned me, he may have an increased need to drink and urinate ... hopefully not in the middle of the night, but it's possible. Oh, and we have ear drops to help the itching in them. Because he has scratched them pretty raw, too.

And just for kicks, she noticed he has a dead tooth. So a tooth cleaning and extraction are in our future, the estimate on that is a mere $670. That does not include pain meds for the days after the surgery. But it does include use of the Bair Hugger, the inventor of which I know personally. But that can't be done til the cortisone treatment is done and out of his system, so we are looking at just in time for Christmas.

But everything is treatable and he's gonna be fine. And I guess, at least for now, that is priceless. For everything else, I used my Master Card.

time flies ...

It's October. Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I need a mammogram. (not because I think I need one - need one, but because I haven't had one for a few years ... oh, hi, there, Dad, I'm sure you needed to read this ...)

I realize how lucky I am. I have now been working for a month. Not even full time (I have Fridays off.) But I can barely get anything done. How do women do it who work full time and have kids who actually need constant mothering??? I have not had to juggle life duties like this for .... well, I was going to write in the number of years, then I realized it would be never. I have never had to work full (or close to full) time while also being a parent. Since laundry and cooking and buying milk and picking up garbage are barely getting done, blogging has pretty much completely fallen by the wayside.

The good news today? I really like my job. The variety of tasks, the friendliness of the people, the relative solitude (I know those last two sound contradictory, but for me it's perfect - I rarely see anyone, but when I do, they are really nice.) The hours fly by every day, the weeks are zooming by. And two paychecks so far :-)

The bad news today? I am very worried about my dog. I have been worried about him (Chaco, the little white one) for a couple of weeks, but we were dog-sitting for my parents' dog so I thought maybe it was just the stress of having a foreigner in the house. But today Brian found a pretty good-sized raw sore on the back of Chaco's head, which is tender and scary-looking, and that, combined with my uneasy feelings over the past two weeks, is making me take him to the vet tomorrow to get thoroughly checked out. (then tonight I read Minnesota Matron's post about her dying dog and I am NOT in a good emotional state.)

This is not well-written and it's not getting better the more I type, but it is an update (I fool myself into thinking there are people out there who actually notice my absence) so I am going to go with it.

I'll try to update about the dog after I hear more ...

Reminiscing ...

Man, I miss these days ....



Ben was about this size when the Olympics came on and he would bounce around during gymnastics routines, standing triumphantly with both arms raised above his head at the end. What I wouldn't give now to have a video of that!

They grow too fast ...

Required Reading

If you don't already, please read Girl's Gone Child's post today about parenthood ... unless you are not a parent, don't plan on being one, and never had one. She is an incredible writer always, but this one just tugged at me more than usual!

Happy Thursday, all ...

New Job, New School Year, New .... hmm, what else?

Well, we made it through our first week of me working and the boys attending school. I, for one, am exhausted. I fell asleep last night watching Project Runway, then I fell asleep again this afternoon reading a new book (that I was enjoying, I might add!) It's a tired, old joke, but this work stuff is really hard work. Getting up to an alarm clock every morning - something I haven't had to do all summer, and even last year I would get the boys up and out but then I could return to bed if I so chose - but no more.

Both boys are happy with their classes. Ben is having a bit of an issue figuring out which math class he should be in - I may end up going in next week to talk with the teacher and/or the counselor, but for now he is trying to manage it on his own and I am so proud - but also wistful that he is old enough to be doing this on his own. Such maturity, such pragmatism, such good communication he is exhibiting! Warms a mother's heart.

And my job. I so appreciate the support and love I have felt all summer long from all of you as I have searched and searched and searched for a job, and now the shared pleasure and satisfaction you all show me that I have finally found employment. The job is ... well, to be honest, it's just a job. It's not my dream job, not even, really, a step in my imagined career path, but on the other hand, my career path has never been straight or steady or paved or even visible, so who knows, maybe it is part of the path and I just don't know it yet. I am now the office manager (though sometimes I say I am the administrator to try and make myself sound more important!) of a small church. It's a Unity Church. Every time I say that, someone inevitably asks, what denomination is that? The answer is "it's a Unity Church." Unity was started as a church in the late 1880s by a couple in Missouri (where the church headquarters still are, today.) From their website:

Unity is a positive, practical, progressive approach to Christianity based on the teachings of Jesus and the power of prayer. Unity honors the universal truths in all religions and respects each individual's right to choose a spiritual path.

Unity teaches that each person is a unique expression of God created with sacred worth. Living from that awareness transforms our lives and the world. Unity emphasizes the creative power of thought in our life experience. We refer to this as the Law of Mind Action. When we take personal responsibility to choose life-affirming thoughts, words and actions, we experience a more fulfilling and abundant life.

Unity emphasizes the importance of applying spiritual principles in our daily lives.

Unity teachings continue to evolve as we identify, embrace and apply spiritual insights and the spiritual implications of new discoveries.

Deepak Chopra, The Secret, New Thought ... all are related to Unity Church. It's an interesting religion, no doubt.

The church I am working at is small and growing. Currently there are about 100 members - there were more until a change in ministers brought about issues that divided the congregation about two years ago. The current minister and members are working to overcome that time in history and build themselves up again. I see a lot of potential for my talents to be put to good use here. In my first week, I have been learning a lot about the daily operations - not too much about the faith itself (though pretty much everyone I meet asks if I am going to join the congregation. From my past experiences, it is usually better for office staff at a church to not be a member of that church. That can get messy.) The people are friendly, welcoming, and eager to work with me. The minister is from Nigeria originally, and was an engineer prior to becoming ordained. I am in charge of the day-to-day tasks including keeping the website up-to-date (I will eventually be working to get them to let me to completely overhaul it!), doing daily Facebook and Twitter updates (I have been resisting Twitter for as long as I have known about it - who knew it would become part of my job responsibilities?!), all types of internal and external communication, overseeing some volunteers, supervising the general management of the building (supplies inventory, making sure maintenance is done, etc.), mail, email, and phones, and then pretty much anything else that comes through the door. I love the variety and breadth of my responsibilities and tasks. I hope that I don't get bored six months down the road. The very best part? I will be receiving my first pay check on Tuesday. And the biggest challenge? (I said this on Facebook - mine, not the church's - already) ... it's located one block from Culver's. Today I treated myself to a hot fudge shake to celebrate my first full week.

This morning I was thinking about the date. 9/11. The strange thing for me, today, is that on that 9/11 I was working in a church, too. I remember getting calls at the church - it was a primary election day and the church was a polling place - and we brought up a TV and had it going so people waiting to vote, and the election judges, could watch. Is there significance in the fact that I have come full circle to working in a church again? I don't know.

New favorite blog

I have a new favorite blog. It's written by two grandmothers (at least one is a great-grandmother.) Well, at least that's what they say, you know how it is with the internet, you can never be sure anyone is who they claim to be. But they have such an entertaining way of presenting what I believe. I find myself needing to find ways to laugh lately when looking at anything political in our nation these days. Margaret and Helen provide that.

Working Woman

Yesterday I started my new job. After months of searching, applying, interviewing and not being picked, I finally got chosen to be on a team! I am the new Administrator at Unity South Church here in Bloomington. It's part time (25-30 hours per week) and (for now, anyway) I always have Fridays off. The church is small but vibrant and growing, and there is a lot going on - plenty of challenges to keep me busy and lots of room for me to be creative and innovative.

This pic is from my first morning. In somewhat atypical fashion for me, I was way more stressed about what to WEAR to work than about what the work would actually be like. The last few jobs I have had (last 18 years' worth) I have either had a uniform to wear, or I could wear jeans. This job calls for something one step above jeans, and I don't think scrubs would work. They'd be comfortable, yes, but probably not give off the right image. So I spent quite a few hours fretting about what to wear on my first day, and this is what I came up with. My favorite part of this picture, though, is Colby. He saw me posing, and looked at Brian with the camera, and he deliberately walked over to me, sat down where you see him, and stared straight into the camera lens, until Brian told him the picture was taken. Then he moved away again.

So now I have two days under my belt, and I am liking it. I am eager and ready to dive in and see what I can offer the church, and see how all the different pieces of my life - with the new job and the boys going back to school - are going to all fit together. But I do have to say, after a lot of years of setting my own timetable for everything, this getting up early to go to WORK is a tough transition.

Umm, how's that again?

I read it three times before I saw it and started laughing ...

Fresh Tomato Pie

Today I used the fresh tomatoes sent home with us from Iowa by Holly, to make a Tomato Pie. I used a recipe from my friend Susy, who got it from her friend Char who we lost to cancer last year. So tonight's meal was in memory of Char, and in honor of friends and family.

You start by layering shredded mozzarella and fresh basil in a double-layer of pie crust (I use Pillsbury refrigerated but homemade would be good, too, if you do that type of thing!)


Then you layer fresh, sliced tomatoes. The original recipe calls for Roma, but I used these (no idea what variety) from Holly - I just made sure I removed as much water (juice?) from the slices as possible so my pie wasn't soggy.

Then you place a layer of sliced pepper jack cheese, and cover with a second layer of tomato slices.

Finally, you cover the tomato layers with a spread of mayo, more mozzarella, fresh Parmesan, and fresh garlic. Then pop it in the oven for a half-hour.










When you take it out, the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly and hot. The smell is amazing, and everyone in the room will drool in anticipation!







We enjoyed it with a baguette and a Caesar salad .... and finished the meal with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. DEE-LISH!

Full Recipe:

2 Pillsbury pie crusts, layered in pie pan

Then layer:

Shredded mozzarella (about 3/4 - 1 cup)

Fresh basil leaves (to taste)

Sliced Roma tomatoes (maybe 4 small or 2-3 large?)

Sliced pepper jack cheese

Sliced Roma tomatoes (about same amount again)

Mix: 1/2 c mayo, 1/4 c fresh Parmesan, 4 cloves minced garlic (or more to taste - I use 5-6), 1 c shredded mozzarella. Spread on top.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Let sit 5 min before slicing.

Charlotte

It would seem that Charlotte and her web are alive and well, comfortable and thriving on Jack & Holly's porch,

right there in beautiful Mitchellville, Iowa.