When the Universe Doesn't Get the Memo

Today is my birthday.  Today I am 41 years old.  Today I feel 141 years old.  All in all, not a great day.  Certainly could have been worse but definitely could have been better.  It was a busy mommy day.  Sadie and I had Bible study early this morning then we came home and baked cookie for the dessert bar for Zoë's Spring Fling dance at school.  While I had the oven going I made my own birthday cake.  I guess the downside of being the "go to" person for all family celebrations is that there is nobody left to "go to" when it is your special day.  After baking and cleaning up, it was time to deliver the cookies, pick up Zoë from school and race across town to get her to her hair appointment.  The car rider duty teacher had a minor nervous breakdown and wouldn't let Zoë get in the van.  I was very close to adding physical pain to her nervous breakdown.  Then we hit every red light in Montgomery County between point a and b and we got behind what must have been minions of my arch nemesis (I honestly didn't know I had one but clearly I do).  When people weren't driving slower than they had to they were hurling their vehicles directly at me causing my to swerve the van and completely undo any spiritual healing that may have occurred earlier today at Bible study.  We make it to the salon only to find that our stylist had forgotten us.  She was called and eventually showed up but at that point we were 45 minutes behind schedule.  We rushed through the appointment and sped home where I instructed the spring flinger to shove food of nutritive value in her pie hole and meet me in the bathroom for final touches.  We made it and I was able to take pictures and make up for lost time, only arriving 5 minutes late to the dance.

Back at home, I tried to find the birthday candles for my self made cake.  I could only come up with two number 2 candles so for all intents and purposes, I am really just celebrating 22 years of my life which is probably about right once you disregard some of the less eventful or should be forgotten years I've lived.  Zoë was changing clothes and not hurrying up, David was on the phone and the internet on a work call and Sadie was bouncing off of the walls watching the wax drip off the candles onto the cake.  Sadie sang to me.  I blew out the candles.  Done.

There were several bright spots to my day.  Sadie made me several gifts, my mom and my mil both called and sang to me and I got a plethora of facebook good wishes from friends near and far, old and new.  I've got about another hour of this day left.  I'll be ready to see tomorrow.  There is hope in tomorrow and it won't matter if the universe didn't get the memo that today is my birthday and thus I should be treated as the pretty pretty princess that I am.

Here are some photos of my Spring Flinger.  I love her.  She is ethereal.  She is my epitome of light and love and joy.

 

Sadie ponders when it will be her turn

Ponderings ...

I've learned some things about myself these past few weeks.  Mainly that I shouldn't make resolutions.  I had good intentions of fully participating in my 365 self portrait project and did really well with it and then I got PMS and the hell that follows and discovered that I am either incapable of taking good pictures during that time of the month or am just especially unphotogenic during that time because I could NOT for the life of me take a good picture let alone one I deemed passable of myself.  Anywho ... sort of took the wind right out of my sails.

On another note, every weekday I drive past my old elementary school at least 4 times a day and specifically I drive past the windows that look in on my 4th grade classrooms.  In the nano seconds that it takes for me to drive past them I have such clear and vivid memories of 4th grade Sherry.  I remember the sounds, the smells, the anxiety, the joy, and the wonderment of it all.  I remember my teachers and their voices. I remember looking out the windows ALOT and getting in trouble for it. My hypothesis is that because these two classrooms had huge windows that looked out onto the world it allowed me to make a true and honest connection to the world and created a psychic gateway of sorts and probably something dealing with a time/space continuum  - I don't know - but it is the strangest thing.  When I first got out of college I was a substitute teacher in that same school and found these same two classrooms and even went inside them and didn't have near the connection that I have to them now from merely driving by them.  I have a similar relationship to a particular spot on the playground where I can remember 1st grade Sherry raking together the pine needles with her hands to make an enormous birds nest for her and her friends to sit in.  I feel fortunate to have these memories because they are markers of my own development and journey and grounding points in the universe for me but I wonder if kids today are given much of the same opportunity to connect with the world while at school.  More and more older schools with beautiful architecture and big windows are torn down and replaced with carbon copy models of the same design.  True, some rooms have windows but the tasks put before students today are not exactly complimentary to day dreaming out the window and recess (when it is still available) rarely even allows for such time to sit still and access those part of our brains that are stimulated by letting your mind drift away.

What's For Dinner Tonight?

I have a strange and varied process when it comes to deciding what's for dinner.  Sometimes it is based solely on what is available.  Other days it is based on what I think the kids WANT to eat.  Others, what I feel they NEED to eat.  Still others, what I feel like cooking/eating/smelling/looking at/cleaning up after.  Some days I take requests and some I make demands.  Then there are those days that I just want something different.  Such was today.  HEB had pork chops on sale so into the cart they went and home they came.  I was just going to pan fry them but then I remembered an unsuccessful pork chop brining attempt of mine and immediately knew I was going to try, try again.  To the interwebz to find a brine that appealed to me.  Low and behold:  http://sweetnicks.com/weblog/2008/09/the-best-pork-chop-recipe-e-v-e-r/

Recipe courtesy of Cuisine at Home magazine, June 2002

Pork Chop Brine:
Dissolve in one gallon resealable freezer bag:
2 cups hot water
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
Add:
6 cups ice water
Dissolve salt and sugar in hot water. It helps to set the bag inside a large bowl in case of spills or leaks.  Add ice water to brine.  This will cool the brine quickly.  Add the pork and seal the bag and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.  Just before cooking, dry chops to remove excess brine.

I went through the pantry and wound up adding some crushed garlic cloves and some whole allspice berries and black peppercorns along with some crushed red pepper flakes and whole coriander seeds and some fennel seeds for good luck.  My intent was to get some deep and good flavors into the other white meat and I've decided that food knows when you are afraid of preparing it so I've vowed to approach cooking with a devil may care attitude.  Eh, you win some and you lose some but in the middle are those days that you feel like a total rock star in the kitchen.

Brine achieved and on hold for timing purposes (this brine only needs 2 hours and my chops are fairly thin).  Now onto the rest of the meal.  Sure, I could still just cook the chops simply but I was in the mood for something more and while blog trolling for brine recipes, I came across this recipe:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Stuffed-Pork-Chops-46695

Ingredients

• 4 pork chops (1 in. thick)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or canola oil
• 3 cups stale bread, cut in 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup finely diced celery
• 1/4 cup finely diced onion
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup or condensed cream of celery soup
• 1/3 cup water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
   
   
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet and brown the pork chops.
   
   
3. Toss the bread cubes, onions, celery and seasoning together and drizzle the butter and broth over all, toss again to distribute evenly.
   
   
4. Mound the stuffing over the pork chops.
   
   
5. (you could also cut a slit in the side of each chop and stuff them, piling any extra stuffing on top of them) Whisk the soup and water together until smooth and pour it over the chops.
   
   
6. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
   
   
7. Uncover pan and bake 10-15 minutes more or until the juices run clear and meat thermometer reads 160-170 F.
   
   

*insert drool here*  Stuffed Pork Chops.  And it looks easy.  Yeah!  Only problem is I'm adverse to white bread stuffing.  So I made some cornbread and while I was making the cornbread I roasted some garlic up to add to some mashed potatoes (because clearly the one starch of the stuffing wasn't going to do the job.)  And then while the oven was still warm I baked off the remains of a log of peanut butter cookies that was rolling around in the fridge. And even though the oven has been turned off for a few hours it is still nice and warm and I have diced up my cornbread into cubes and have them drying out in said oven so as not to have mushy stuffing.  And I think we shall invite Mr. Steamed and Buttered Broccoli to the dinner party.

I'll let you know how it turns out but honestly, I don't care.  My weird process always makes me happy in the end when all the pieces fall in place.  If it is extra yummy - that's just icing on the cake.  Oooh.  Cake.  Pardon me.

The World's Best Blueberry Muffins

Unlike most muffins that are best enjoyed while still warm from the oven, these are at their best the next day or later.  Great for the freezer as well.

3/4 cup melted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (no need to thaw the frozen ones)
1/2 cup blueberry pie filling
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon flour (no sifting)
1/2 cup milk
CRUMB TOPPING
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup softened butter

Spray 12 cup muffin pan with baking spray (Baker's Secret or Pam for baking or use paper muffin liners).  Melt the butter.  Mix in sugar.  Add in beaten eggs, baking powder, and salt, mixing thoroughly.  Put one tablespoon of flour in a ziploc bag with the blueberries and shake, coating each berry with the flour (will help suspend berries throughout the muffin).  Alternately add in the remaining flour and milk into the sugar mixture.  Add in the 1/2 cup of pie filling.  Your batter will turn purple but the muffins will be normal color after baking.  When all the ingredients are thoroughly combined, fold in the blueberries.  Fill muffin tins 3/4 full.  Set aside and make up the crumb coating.  Sprinkle the topping over the muffins and bake at 375° for 30 minutes.  Let cool for at least 30 minutes for easy removal.  Store overnight in a covered container for optimum eating enjoyment.

New Year, New Decade, New Habits

Here we go, friends.  Hold on to your hats.  I've decided this year to actually make AND keep New Year's resolutions.  I figure if I list them here those close to me will shame me into keeping them. 

• participate in a 365 project on flikr wherein I take and post a self portrait everyday for one year.  I'm typically the photographer and avoid being on the other end of a camera like a participant in the witness relocation program.  This will be hard for me - not the taking of the picture but with posting it and coming to terms w/ the results.
• blog regularly.  I admit to being a frustrated writer.  I don't know if I have a novel inside of me but those around me tell me enough that I should write a book so this seems like a logical first step.  Our family blog will morph into more of a daily chronicle of our lives along with pictures, recipes, and projects that we are working on as well as my observations of all of these things.  It's not so much that I feel like I need to be heard but I need an outlet and with a blog folks can choose whether or not to read it.
• COMPLETE PROJECTS!  I am the world's worst at getting an idea for a project and sometimes even procuring the necessary supplies and then never finishing it.  Not this year!  I've started a notebook where I print out projects I find on the web or cut out pages from magazines and file them along w/ supply lists.  After 1 month I will revisit and see if the "fire" is still there or if it can just remain in my mind as a cute idea I saw once.
• open an etsy shop with Zoë.  I am a crafty girl and have raised a crafty tween.  I don't think we will become millionaires but at least we will have the experience and we can do it together.
• start walking daily.  I have kids.  I have dogs.  I have a distinct need to get moving and get some exercise.  I don't think I'll ever become one of those backwards lunge walkers that I mock see on the trails but I can certainly start moving my fluff around.
• start doing something once a week just for me - not for the kids, not for my family, not for David - wholly and selfishly for Sherry.

There you have it.  Check in if you care to.  Much love from our house to yours and best wishes for a prosperous 2010.

Halloween

Zoë per her usual waited until the last minute to decide what to be and seemed more than a little shocked that I didn't jump through hoops to help her out.  Thus, she went as as zombie this year and did the whole thing herself (I think just to show me it TOTALLY wasn't THAT big of a deal, MOTHER).  Yeah.  Sadie persuaded me to buy her a Tinkerbell costume as soon as costumes hit the floor at Target (so you know ... back in July) and swore to me on her lil' 3 year old heart that she wasn't going to change her mind.  Well ... she did change her mind but only to recycle an old costume from year before last.  No skin off my nose.  David took the girls trick or treating and I stayed behind on the off chance that we had any candy seekers at our house.

J-U-M-P

Sadie loves to jump on the trampoline.  I love to take pictures of her jumping on the trampoline.  It is one of the reasons our relationship works out as well as it does.  There is just something about the movement and motion to it all.  I love the way her hair bounces and gets static-y from the trampoline but most of all I love to hear her squeals of joy as she defies gravity.

 

Randomness

My mother passed down the decree that her granddaughters shall get dressed up in finery and come to her house for a photo shoot so she could try out her new camera.  Being the sucker that I am for a parental mandate, I obliged the old girl and brought along my camera because it felt like it was the right thing to do.  Here are a few from that session.

A Sample of Zoë's writing from 5th grade

Ran across this and wanted to save it for posterity's sake. She cracks me up. Transcribed as it was written by Zoë, Friday, 3 April 2009 10:26 AM (this was a free writing activity in class so it wasn't edited as is evident by the copious occurrence of commas)

My life, my dear sweet life, was gone, flushed down into the giant toilet of humanity. I think this is how it is for puppies on a ranch, being bought by good people, people the puppy knows will take good care of it, but the puppy is still sad to leave the place it grew up in. This place may as well have been New York, and I still wouldn't care. I just wanted to be at my old house, that's all I wanted.

The only reason I moved was because my mom promised she would home school me. My other option was to live with my Grandma, and with the way I've been talking, the reward for staying with her is pretty obvious. Cheryl and I (Sherry is my mom's real name. I just call her Cheryl to annoy her.) started to unpack.

"And since you were so good about moving, you get the waterbed room." Mom mentioned while unloading dishes.

Yes! It's also the room with the T.V. I thought for a second. "The home school offer is for reals, right?" I asked with suspicion.

"Yeah, yeah, it still is. I set up your tire swing in the front yard."

"No!" I said in a too-tired-to-scream tone. "The culdisac" did I mention we also live in a culdisac? Mom put up a pretty sweet offer - "kids will make fun of me for being new!" But I was walking out the door while I spoke.

Turns out the kids were O.K. Soon I was so well known I went to public school and got around even more. Actually, no, I didn't go to public school, but I had dreams about it. Life was good, and I was glad I moved.