Caution: Know-it-all Ahead

On the way home last night. . . .

Adam: Hey mommy, ya know what that sign means?

Me: It means that we need to watch for people crossing the street.

Adam: Uuugh! No, mom, it means dat sometimes cars, umm, go up on the sidewalk and, umm, get dare wheels stuck and, umm we need to watch out for dem when we're walking so we don't trip.

Me: No, I think it means we need to watch out for the people that are walking.

Adam: No. Mom. It doesn't. It doesn't.

The Lowest Bidder. . .

This popped up as an advertisement on Google today. Some things just aren't worth the discount. . . .

Plastic Surgery Prices Even w/ Our Limo Service from San Diego Airport You Can't Beat Our Prices! Tijuana-Cosmetic-Surgery.com

Happy Thanksgiving to all. . .

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~W.T. Purkiser

Bon Appetit!

In our pursuit of a healthier lifestyle Damonn and I have been trying a lot of new recipes. Some of them hits, some misses, some just need a little personal tweaking either to suit our tastes or our limited time in the kitchen. Here are a couple of recipes that have become family favorites. Both of them are from The Sonoma Diet Cookbook which is filled with wonderful, healthy and for the most part, simple recipes. They even have desserts! The recipes below are written as they are in the cookbook with our personal changes in parentheses.


Grilled Mushroom Turkey Burgers – In our kitchen these days ground turkey is as versatile and as common as olive oil and garlic. These make great burgers, meatballs and by just omitting any particular “shape”, a great filling for tacos.

2 Tbs dried porcini or shitake mushrooms (I chop up one small can of canned mushrooms to save time)

1 cup boiling water (can be omitted if not re-hydrating dried mushrooms)

12 oz ground turkey breast

1/2 cup bottled salsa (we love marinara as well for an Italian twist)

(1 egg - I add this to help the patties hold their shape)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (we usually omit)

6 cloves garlic, (1 Tbs minced from jar)

2 tsp chopped fresh sage (we use 3-4 shakes of dried)

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

4 whole wheat hamburger buns, toasted

Lettuce, salsa, sliced red onion, avocado, tomato (optional)

Rinse dried mushrooms and place in bowl of boiling water for 20 mins (If using). Drain and chop.

Combine all ingredients through black pepper in mixing bowl and mix well. Form into 4-5 patties, 3/4-inch thick. Cook on grill over medium coals or in frying pan on stove on medium-high until no longer pink (165F). (If cooking on stove you may want to cover with lid to help them cook through more evenly) Serve burgers on buns with desired toppings. Crunchy veggies make a great side!



Crustless Feta and Cheddar Quiche – When you just can’t take another cold salad and need something a littler richer, a little heartier this is just the ticket. Serving it with whole-wheat toast and some fresh fruit rounds out the meal.

Olive oil cooking spray

4 beaten eggs (we use five)

1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I've used regular flour as a substitute)

4 cloves garlic (2 tsp minced from jar)

1 Tbs chopped fresh dillweed, thyme or mint (we use 2 tsp of dried dill)

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 cups low-fat cottage cheese

1 10-oz pkg frozen chopped broccoli, cooked and drained (or medium head fresh, boiled and chopped)

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 cup shreeded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly coat 9-inch pie plate with olive oil. In medium bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and spoon into pie plate. Bake for 40-45 min. or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire wrack for 5-10 min before serving.


Click this link to go to The Sonoma Diet Cookbook link on Amazon.com

Death - 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Across the street from my office.

Afro Ninja. . .

Here's your laugh for the week. . . . My favorite part is when he tries to get back up. LMAO!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEtIoGQxqQs

Courtesy of youtube.com and rickemerson.com

A Bleeding Heart. . .

Anyone who spends much time with me is pretty quick to realize my feelings on personal responsibility. I believe we are all responsible for ourselves and the choices we make. Going through life with a victim’s attitude will get you no where and that we, above any government or social organization, are responsible for the safety and well-being of our families. It is because of this belief that I am a registered Republican. I know that can be a dirty word these days as can stating that you voted for George Bush, which I did. Twice.

I realize now that may be one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made. The thought that I’ve had anything, even a single citizen’s vote, to do with the chaos and devastation that has been brought upon the people of Iraq, breaks my heart. I didn’t vote for Bush because I thought going to war with Iraq was a good idea, but I figured if it happened, it would be similar to the Gulf War – short and easy. We’d walk in, find Hussein, put a U.S.-approved Iraqi leader in power, CNN would send in a few correspondents and we’d be home by Christmas. I’m apparently as naïve as our president.

What we have done to that country, to its citizens and to an entire generation of children is unconscionable. We have drug a global war into their living rooms and dropped it in their laps. A war that has no front lines but instead is fought in every corner market and every neighborhood school. A war that has brought such ruin that most do not have such basic necessities as water and electricity. A war that not one single Iraqi citizen instigated. A war that has such widespread violence that even The Red Cross cannot manage to have a presence. We are responsible for this. I am responsible.

Anyone who knows me also knows that beyond my views of personal responsibility I am also a participant and promoter of helping those that cannot help themselves. Charity, which to me means the responsibility we have to help one another, is a theme, a moral code I strive to teach my children from a very early age. I hope as they grow up they will come to understand that the two things that make a successful life are taking care of yourself and taking care of others. And that is what I am asking of you today.

Whether you voted for our president or your foresight was better than mine, we as a country have a responsibility to help those that we have harmed. Please read about the work the Iraqi Red Crescent is doing across their country and more importantly what needs are still waiting to be met.

"Today and for the last three years, the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization has been the primary humanitarian provider on the ground in Iraq. The employees and volunteers work under severe conditions and safety is never guaranteed. Global relief agencies like the United Nations and the International Federation of the Red Cross/Crescent have not been able to sustain a notable operational presence inside Iraq. It is up to the Iraqi Red Crescent along with its offices in Jordan, Syria, and Iran to bring to bear the technical capability, and financial support to ensure a rapid and successful response to the present humanitarian crisis facing the Iraqi people." - Iraqi Red Crescent website

Click here to help.

Article on CNN.

A Crack In My Psyche

"I don't know what to say about this — the way I incline towards sadness, latch on to it as it floats past, ride up into its currents. But it keeps me grounded somehow, however paradoxical that may sound." - Catherine Newman, Dalai Mama

I hate having my blog seemingly ride the coat tails of Catherine Newman's (read entire article here), but I'm not sure truer words have been spoken about my psyche and it seemed a good intro to a post I've tried to write several times, but never could get the words to say exactly what I wanted them to. I'll give it another try. . . .

They say things happen when you least expect them. I learned that when I was ten. Never once while I lay in bed in the dark at my grandma’s house that night, straining to listen to hear what the man at the door was saying or what the muffled commotion in the living room was all about did I imagine that they were talking about my mom. I knew that something was wrong, that someone was hurt or not well, but when you’re ten and the only death you’ve seen in your life is that of the family dog, even the far stretches of your mind cannot grasp the loss of someone close to you. Even when the thought of dying had flittered “what ifs” across my mind it was always about how sad my mom would be if one of us kids died. Never was it about losing her. I think that must be a type of self-preservation built into children.

After what seemed like hours of listening and my grandma had left in the car with her sister, I decided that it must be my great-grandpa that was not well, as he was in his eighties and they had taken turns taking him to respiratory therapy for years. The thought that he might be dead didn’t particularly bother me. I had only occasionally visited him with my grandma and he had been sick most of my life. In fact, after I came to this conclusion I was able to rest my mind and went to sleep. That was the last night of the first part of my life.

I learned a very important lesson that night. Expect the unexpected and prepare yourself for the worst because it can happen to you. And so, just like Catherine, I am drawn to sadness, to devastation, to heartbreak like a moth to a flame. Because if you can see it, imagine it and prepare for it, maybe it won't be so bad when it actually happens to you.

And this somehow, as she says, keeps me grounded. I know how lucky I am to have the people in my life that I do and I know how quickly it can be taken away. I know I am not above being dealt pain and grief in my life and I will never again say, "I never thought it would happen to me."

They Are Scaring Me Out, Man. . . .

. . . . is how Adam described any front porch decorated with more than a bale of hay. Even the flickering glow of a benign jack-o-latern was enough to keep him from the inevitable bounty of treats awaiting him on the other side of the front door. He managed to find a few houses that met his non-goul criteria where he scored what must have been nearly every “Reece’s Peanut Butter Butter Cup” in the neighborhood – well, except for those that managed to hide themselves behind the decorations of Satan himself. He then returned home where he gorged himself according to our newly sanction house rule of “all the candy you can eat on Halloween night”. Unlike his usual nature, he didn’t even stop to ask about the contents of each treat and instead was opening his next morsel, sucking up chocolate drool, before he had even finished chewing his last. In the end the count was seven, at which point he simply picked up his trick-or-treat bag, announced that he was done and retreated to the family room to watch A Pup Named Scooby-Doo – the one where “they are trick-or-treating just like I did”.