So I guess some of the media got tired of talking about Usama Bin Laden all the time and decided to turn their attention to more important things.
Like who is being invited to the Presidential Poetry Night.
Up until recently, I didn't even know the President had a poetry night. I tried going to a poetry night at a coffee shop and I thought something must be wrong with me because I didn't get much out of it.
I think Shakespeare is poetry, so if they had read Shakespeare all night it would have been different. Maybe.
My favorite form of poetry, though, is Haikus. They're so much fun to write. You can write them about almost anything.
But I digress.
The President invited some guy named "Common" (I'm not even sure that's how you spell it) to the poetry night and apparently this guy is kinda famous for being political and controversial. Like loving Obama, hating President Bush, and using all kinds of unkind words. I never heard of him before recently, so I'm wondering how famous can this guy be?
On the other hand, it was only several months ago I learned that Lady Gaga was a singer and not a new kind of cheap body spray. Speaking of which, does anyone remember the body spray called "Jean Nate" or the one called "Baby Soft"? Did I just date myself?
I digress again.
I think if they were looking for a good poet, they should have asked my Mother because she writes awesome Haikus and she LOVES Obama. She would have been a shoo-in for poetry night.
For those of you who don't know, a Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry. It consists of three lines. The first line being 5 syllables long, the second being 7, and the third being 5 syllables again.
It looks something like this:
Poet called Common?
Who is he? He has issues.
His mouth needs some soap.
See? It's easy.
And it's a great stress reliever. You should try it some time.
As I said before, my Mom is really great at writing Haikus. This is the one she emailed me for Mother's Day. By the way, Chloe is my daughter.
A Mother's Day Haiku
by Lisa's Mom
OMG Chloe
Where is my new underwear?
Is that a new hat?
For those of you who don't have children who put your underwear on their heads, this makes no sense. I laughed out loud.
Haikus rock. Instead of a poetry night the President should have Haiku night.
And he should invite my Mom to perform.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Comfort Food...
It's the day before Mother's Day.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there.
This is how my day went.
We took my daughter to the local High School this morning to have a swim evaluation done. This is a prerequisite to being able to sign up for summer swim lessons. And she really, really needs swim lessons.
While waiting in line at lane four, a child about 4 families ahead of us started crying that he didn't want to get into the pool. I thought, "Boy, I'm glad I'm not that parent", because I would have no idea what to do in that situation. Thankfully, it seemed that my daughter was excited to do her swim evaluation and to take swim lessons.
When we got to the front of the line, the sweet High School girl evaluating this line of children, said to my daughter, "Do you want to come in?"
"Sure," said my daughter, throwing off her shoes.
But then came the task of figuring out a way to get in to the pool. Once my daughter realized she had no easy way to get in to the pool, but was going to have to rely on the kindness of strangers, she freaked out. She became a trembling mass of jell-o. She did what the sweet High School girl asked her to do, but she did it shaking all over and repeatedly saying, "I don't like this."
By the time sweet High School girl had brought my daughter back to the edge, she was crying, "I want my Mommy! I want to get out!"
I was THAT parent. It's too long and embarrassing to explain how I handled the situation. Let's just say that my daughter's pre-school teacher was in the next line and will have a lot to tell the other teachers on Monday.
We are still going to give swimming lessons a try, because I am determined that this child knows how to swim.
That was my morning.
This afternoon, I was helping my daughter with some project she was doing, and I went to go sit down on the chair next to our breakfast table, but I missed the chair completely and managed to land, hard, on my hand and right cheek. (My bottom cheek, not my face). It took me several minutes to convince myself I could stand up, and several minutes after that to attempt walking anywhere.
My whole backside is achy and it is a pain that is spreading up to my shoulder blades.
I have pain killers somewhere in this house, but I refuse to take any until both my children are asleep and I know I have several hours before I have to function.
Somehow I managed to drive myself to the store, buy a few groceries, and put together dinner.
I made guacamole for a snack while I was cooking, because guacamole is one of my comfort foods.
And here's what I did for dinner.
Pay close attention because when you have a bad day, you can make this sauce and then everything will seem better.
I browned some steaks in a skillet using olive oil and then put them on a plate in the oven to warm. I once overheard a co-worker say that olive oil releases toxins at a certain temperature and therefore should not be used for cooking, but only for salad dressing, but clearly this co-worker has some deep issues that I can't even begin to understand.
What am I going to use? Vegetable oil? Um, no. Canola oil? Did you know canola oil is really bad for you, because there's no such thing as a canola. I use it anyway, but I'm just saying. Butter?
Well, I could use butter, but we are on diets around here and I use butter enough as it is.
So I browned some steaks in a skillet. Alton Brown's rule is "you only turn the steaks once". I try. I really try. But I end up turning the steaks more than once, mentally beat myself for doing so, and then make a sauce to cover up any mistake I may have made with the steaks.
Here's the sauce:
*After removing steaks from the skillet and putting them on a plate (cover them with foil, or keep them warm in the oven), add a little more olive oil to the pan.
Make a mental note that the steaks will continue to cook, so don't overcook them in the pan.
*Add sliced onion to the pan and proceed to saute (saw-tay) in the oil until they are brown and translucent. Scrap up what brown bits you can.
*Add as much as 2 tablespoons flour to pan. Stir around the pan with the onions on not too high of a heat. Make sure the flour thoroughly coats the onion and starts to turn a golden color.
*SLOWLY add in 1/2 cup of soy sauce (I prefer low sodium)
*Continue to stir frequently, and SLOWLY add in 1/2 cup decent red wine. (If you use two buck chuck, I will slap you silly).
*Continue to stir frequently, scraping up any remaining brown bits on the pan, and SLOWLY add 1 cup milk. (I use two percent, but you can use whole milk or even heavy cream if you are particularly indulgent. Whatever you do, don't use fat free. Yuck!)
*Turn up heat a bit and stir frequently (close to constantly) until the sauce starts to bubble around edges and you can get a layer of sauce on the back of your spoon. Run your finger through the sauce on your spoon. If you leave a stripe, you can call it ready.
Take off heat.
Spoon over steaks and serve. I served this with a pear and gorgonzola salad and a nice red wine.
One last note, some people are steak purists. They think putting a sauce on a steak is evil and preach against it. In general, I agree with them. If I know someone good (like a nice restaurant) is cooking my steak, I will leave it "naked". Well, maybe I might order some grilled onions or blue cheese crumbles, but mostly have a naked steak. Once again, I state I was in pain and making comfort food so the evils of covering my steak can be further explored at a later date.
As the hours pass, my pain increases and I worry about my ability to make it to the Mother's Day champagne brunch I have been so looking forward to.
On the upside, my daughter lived through her swim evaluation and promised to give swimming lessons a try, my baby only threw up on my foot once tonight, and I was blessed with a pretty good Mom myself. Oh, and I had a pretty nice dinner.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there.
This is how my day went.
We took my daughter to the local High School this morning to have a swim evaluation done. This is a prerequisite to being able to sign up for summer swim lessons. And she really, really needs swim lessons.
While waiting in line at lane four, a child about 4 families ahead of us started crying that he didn't want to get into the pool. I thought, "Boy, I'm glad I'm not that parent", because I would have no idea what to do in that situation. Thankfully, it seemed that my daughter was excited to do her swim evaluation and to take swim lessons.
When we got to the front of the line, the sweet High School girl evaluating this line of children, said to my daughter, "Do you want to come in?"
"Sure," said my daughter, throwing off her shoes.
But then came the task of figuring out a way to get in to the pool. Once my daughter realized she had no easy way to get in to the pool, but was going to have to rely on the kindness of strangers, she freaked out. She became a trembling mass of jell-o. She did what the sweet High School girl asked her to do, but she did it shaking all over and repeatedly saying, "I don't like this."
By the time sweet High School girl had brought my daughter back to the edge, she was crying, "I want my Mommy! I want to get out!"
I was THAT parent. It's too long and embarrassing to explain how I handled the situation. Let's just say that my daughter's pre-school teacher was in the next line and will have a lot to tell the other teachers on Monday.
We are still going to give swimming lessons a try, because I am determined that this child knows how to swim.
That was my morning.
This afternoon, I was helping my daughter with some project she was doing, and I went to go sit down on the chair next to our breakfast table, but I missed the chair completely and managed to land, hard, on my hand and right cheek. (My bottom cheek, not my face). It took me several minutes to convince myself I could stand up, and several minutes after that to attempt walking anywhere.
My whole backside is achy and it is a pain that is spreading up to my shoulder blades.
I have pain killers somewhere in this house, but I refuse to take any until both my children are asleep and I know I have several hours before I have to function.
Somehow I managed to drive myself to the store, buy a few groceries, and put together dinner.
I made guacamole for a snack while I was cooking, because guacamole is one of my comfort foods.
And here's what I did for dinner.
Pay close attention because when you have a bad day, you can make this sauce and then everything will seem better.
I browned some steaks in a skillet using olive oil and then put them on a plate in the oven to warm. I once overheard a co-worker say that olive oil releases toxins at a certain temperature and therefore should not be used for cooking, but only for salad dressing, but clearly this co-worker has some deep issues that I can't even begin to understand.
What am I going to use? Vegetable oil? Um, no. Canola oil? Did you know canola oil is really bad for you, because there's no such thing as a canola. I use it anyway, but I'm just saying. Butter?
Well, I could use butter, but we are on diets around here and I use butter enough as it is.
So I browned some steaks in a skillet. Alton Brown's rule is "you only turn the steaks once". I try. I really try. But I end up turning the steaks more than once, mentally beat myself for doing so, and then make a sauce to cover up any mistake I may have made with the steaks.
Here's the sauce:
*After removing steaks from the skillet and putting them on a plate (cover them with foil, or keep them warm in the oven), add a little more olive oil to the pan.
Make a mental note that the steaks will continue to cook, so don't overcook them in the pan.
*Add sliced onion to the pan and proceed to saute (saw-tay) in the oil until they are brown and translucent. Scrap up what brown bits you can.
*Add as much as 2 tablespoons flour to pan. Stir around the pan with the onions on not too high of a heat. Make sure the flour thoroughly coats the onion and starts to turn a golden color.
*SLOWLY add in 1/2 cup of soy sauce (I prefer low sodium)
*Continue to stir frequently, and SLOWLY add in 1/2 cup decent red wine. (If you use two buck chuck, I will slap you silly).
*Continue to stir frequently, scraping up any remaining brown bits on the pan, and SLOWLY add 1 cup milk. (I use two percent, but you can use whole milk or even heavy cream if you are particularly indulgent. Whatever you do, don't use fat free. Yuck!)
*Turn up heat a bit and stir frequently (close to constantly) until the sauce starts to bubble around edges and you can get a layer of sauce on the back of your spoon. Run your finger through the sauce on your spoon. If you leave a stripe, you can call it ready.
Take off heat.
Spoon over steaks and serve. I served this with a pear and gorgonzola salad and a nice red wine.
One last note, some people are steak purists. They think putting a sauce on a steak is evil and preach against it. In general, I agree with them. If I know someone good (like a nice restaurant) is cooking my steak, I will leave it "naked". Well, maybe I might order some grilled onions or blue cheese crumbles, but mostly have a naked steak. Once again, I state I was in pain and making comfort food so the evils of covering my steak can be further explored at a later date.
As the hours pass, my pain increases and I worry about my ability to make it to the Mother's Day champagne brunch I have been so looking forward to.
On the upside, my daughter lived through her swim evaluation and promised to give swimming lessons a try, my baby only threw up on my foot once tonight, and I was blessed with a pretty good Mom myself. Oh, and I had a pretty nice dinner.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Our new used car is in the shop again.
It's been in the shop for two days because this little airbag light came on.
I really don't see why a car would need to be in the shop for two days for a tiny little light on the dash, but apparently it's a big deal if you get in a car accident and your airbags don't go off.
Consequently, I have been stuck in the house for two or three days with a four year old and an 8 month old. This is very disturbing to me because usually when I can't think of anything to do, I say, "Get your shoes on. We're going out!" I can still say that, I mean, we go for walks and stuff, but it's almost ninety degrees outside and I'm a wimp. And going for a walk can only take up so much of your time.
So here's what we've done since we've been homebound: made brownies, ate brownies, played Rapunzel (Chloe always gets to be Rapunzel-we attach a scarf to the back of her dress underneath her real hair and let the scarf hang down. Then I pretend to climb up it. We do this over and over), glued construction paper to an old diaper box and decorated the box, made noodle art, worked on math skills and sight words, played games on the computer, folded laundry, made a zoo out of stuffed animals, and whined when we didn't get our way (we all did that). We also played outside with the water table and splashed each other.
Oh, and the grown-ups had Bible Study at our house last night. Our Bible Studies go like this: we have snacks and drink and then we study the book of Hebrews. We have been in chapter two of Hebrews for over a month now. This is not for lack of concentrating, on the contrary, we happen to disect and focus on and discuss almost every little nuance of the text.
Last night, the subject of Jesus being tempted in the garden of Gethsemane came up. We talked about how it is likely Gethsemane is the point where Jesus takes on the full realization of what taking on the sins of the world actually means. It's heavy. Really heavy. On top of that, Satan comes along and tempts Jesus again (Remember, he tempted Him in the desert). This time, the temptations come with the weight of all humanity in play, so to speak. Again...heavy stuff.
This morning I remembered a speaker that I heard at a woman's retreat I was attending a few years ago. The subject was the garden of Gethsemane. Here's kind of a summary of what I remember, in my own words, not the speakers, because as I said it was a few years ago.
We (as women) size each other up. We compare ourselves to other women all the time. Are we prettier? Smarter? Is this woman a threat to me? We may not even be aware that we are doing it, but we know we all do it.
Here's what we need to keep in mind. "Every woman has her Gethsemane." In other words, if something hasn't happened to you yet to make you feel like the weight of the world is on you in a very heavy way, it will. And if we keep this idea in mind when we look at each other, we won't be so quick to see the negative. More likely, we'll be quick to feel a sort of comradeship or kindredness. (Is that a word?) Somewhere in the back of our mind we can think, "Hey, I've been there too."
Now of course, if you want to get technical, we won't ever have a Gethsemane experience like Jesus had. But Jesus had that experience so He could say in a very real way, "Hey, I've been there too."
Anyway, that's my thought for today.
And being stuck in the house without a car for a few days is an inconvenience, but it's no Gethsemane.
Thank goodness.
It's been in the shop for two days because this little airbag light came on.
I really don't see why a car would need to be in the shop for two days for a tiny little light on the dash, but apparently it's a big deal if you get in a car accident and your airbags don't go off.
Consequently, I have been stuck in the house for two or three days with a four year old and an 8 month old. This is very disturbing to me because usually when I can't think of anything to do, I say, "Get your shoes on. We're going out!" I can still say that, I mean, we go for walks and stuff, but it's almost ninety degrees outside and I'm a wimp. And going for a walk can only take up so much of your time.
So here's what we've done since we've been homebound: made brownies, ate brownies, played Rapunzel (Chloe always gets to be Rapunzel-we attach a scarf to the back of her dress underneath her real hair and let the scarf hang down. Then I pretend to climb up it. We do this over and over), glued construction paper to an old diaper box and decorated the box, made noodle art, worked on math skills and sight words, played games on the computer, folded laundry, made a zoo out of stuffed animals, and whined when we didn't get our way (we all did that). We also played outside with the water table and splashed each other.
Oh, and the grown-ups had Bible Study at our house last night. Our Bible Studies go like this: we have snacks and drink and then we study the book of Hebrews. We have been in chapter two of Hebrews for over a month now. This is not for lack of concentrating, on the contrary, we happen to disect and focus on and discuss almost every little nuance of the text.
Last night, the subject of Jesus being tempted in the garden of Gethsemane came up. We talked about how it is likely Gethsemane is the point where Jesus takes on the full realization of what taking on the sins of the world actually means. It's heavy. Really heavy. On top of that, Satan comes along and tempts Jesus again (Remember, he tempted Him in the desert). This time, the temptations come with the weight of all humanity in play, so to speak. Again...heavy stuff.
This morning I remembered a speaker that I heard at a woman's retreat I was attending a few years ago. The subject was the garden of Gethsemane. Here's kind of a summary of what I remember, in my own words, not the speakers, because as I said it was a few years ago.
We (as women) size each other up. We compare ourselves to other women all the time. Are we prettier? Smarter? Is this woman a threat to me? We may not even be aware that we are doing it, but we know we all do it.
Here's what we need to keep in mind. "Every woman has her Gethsemane." In other words, if something hasn't happened to you yet to make you feel like the weight of the world is on you in a very heavy way, it will. And if we keep this idea in mind when we look at each other, we won't be so quick to see the negative. More likely, we'll be quick to feel a sort of comradeship or kindredness. (Is that a word?) Somewhere in the back of our mind we can think, "Hey, I've been there too."
Now of course, if you want to get technical, we won't ever have a Gethsemane experience like Jesus had. But Jesus had that experience so He could say in a very real way, "Hey, I've been there too."
Anyway, that's my thought for today.
And being stuck in the house without a car for a few days is an inconvenience, but it's no Gethsemane.
Thank goodness.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Reflection on this day in history...
And so the United States celebrates around the world at the death of Osama bin Laden.
In case you've been living in a cave, that's the dude that heads up that terrorist organization that's responsible for about 3,000 deaths on Sept. 11, 2001 among other things.
He really ticked me off with that and personally, I think the guy was pretty evil and I was thankful that that's one less person to be spreading evil around.
But if you look on facebook there have been a lot of reflective statements about Osama's death, including some dear friends who have reminded me that as christians, we are to also show mercy and grace and not dance on graves.
I'd like to post some of the cool things that were said by my friends on facebook. Some of them made me laugh and some made me cry and some made me feel convicted...well, you get the idea.
And then I'll close with what my husband posted because I think it says it all for me.
1) Score : Waldo-1, Osama-0
2) One nation, UNDER GOD, indivisible with Liberty and Justice for all
3) It's always a good day when you get the bad guy
4) Read Ezekiel 33:11
5) Thank you to our men on the ground who fought the good fight
6) Thanks to our troops
7) The sight of a crowd peacefully but proudly waving my red, white, and blue is a beautiful sight.
The truth is, they all said it better than I could. I don't think I feel emotional to the extent that the families of the victims of 9/11 feel, but I have to admit-when I saw a group of firemen standing straight on top of a firetruck in New York, it hit me that these men know men who sacrificed their lives to save the lives of our fellow Americans.
And that is a beautiful thing.
To see a group of young people standing outside the White House chanting "USA! USA!" is a beautiful thing.
To, for even a brief moment, put aside our political differences and appreciate the magnitude of what has taken place is a beautiful thing.
To know that the men who went in and brought down Osama didn't die themselves, is a beautiful thing.
To hear a group of military students sing the Star Spangled Banner is a beautiful thing.
I guess I could go on and on.
And no, it's not right to dance on anyone's grave in anger and it is right to reflect on what might have been in a perfect world and to show mercy and grace.
But I also think it's right to assume our God is a just God and sometimes he allows justice on this world, in this lifetime.
As my husband said: "I can pray for even this villain's soul, but where temporal justice is concerned, some folks just need killin'"
One last thanks to the Navy Seals. They rock.
And I will sing the Star Spangled Banner a little louder this year at the 4th of July fireworks.
In case you've been living in a cave, that's the dude that heads up that terrorist organization that's responsible for about 3,000 deaths on Sept. 11, 2001 among other things.
He really ticked me off with that and personally, I think the guy was pretty evil and I was thankful that that's one less person to be spreading evil around.
But if you look on facebook there have been a lot of reflective statements about Osama's death, including some dear friends who have reminded me that as christians, we are to also show mercy and grace and not dance on graves.
I'd like to post some of the cool things that were said by my friends on facebook. Some of them made me laugh and some made me cry and some made me feel convicted...well, you get the idea.
And then I'll close with what my husband posted because I think it says it all for me.
1) Score : Waldo-1, Osama-0
2) One nation, UNDER GOD, indivisible with Liberty and Justice for all
3) It's always a good day when you get the bad guy
4) Read Ezekiel 33:11
5) Thank you to our men on the ground who fought the good fight
6) Thanks to our troops
7) The sight of a crowd peacefully but proudly waving my red, white, and blue is a beautiful sight.
The truth is, they all said it better than I could. I don't think I feel emotional to the extent that the families of the victims of 9/11 feel, but I have to admit-when I saw a group of firemen standing straight on top of a firetruck in New York, it hit me that these men know men who sacrificed their lives to save the lives of our fellow Americans.
And that is a beautiful thing.
To see a group of young people standing outside the White House chanting "USA! USA!" is a beautiful thing.
To, for even a brief moment, put aside our political differences and appreciate the magnitude of what has taken place is a beautiful thing.
To know that the men who went in and brought down Osama didn't die themselves, is a beautiful thing.
To hear a group of military students sing the Star Spangled Banner is a beautiful thing.
I guess I could go on and on.
And no, it's not right to dance on anyone's grave in anger and it is right to reflect on what might have been in a perfect world and to show mercy and grace.
But I also think it's right to assume our God is a just God and sometimes he allows justice on this world, in this lifetime.
As my husband said: "I can pray for even this villain's soul, but where temporal justice is concerned, some folks just need killin'"
One last thanks to the Navy Seals. They rock.
And I will sing the Star Spangled Banner a little louder this year at the 4th of July fireworks.
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