Upside Down Cats

Ok, now that I've had a Saturday morning out of the kitchen, it's time to get back to the business of planning our weekly menu. Here 's some of what I'll be cooking up this week...

 

English Muffin Sandwiches with Eggs, Bacon & Cheese, Hash Brown Potatoes

Beef Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Zucchini & Carrot Medley

Beef & Cheddar Sandwiches, Onion Rings, Mixed Greens Salad

Sesame Honey Chicken Wings, Fried Rice, Stir-Fried Asian Vegetables

Homemade Beef Pot Pies with Mixed Vegetables

Potato Chip Topped Chicken Casserole, Steamed Broccoli

 

The break from cooking was nice, but I I'll be glad to get back at it!

This morning we went to eat pancakes with our friends Maureen, Chris, and Nina, along with thousands of our fellow townsfolk. We attended the 56th annual Pancake Day in Park Forest, which is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club. We try to go every year, and I think in the 13 years we've lived here, we've only missed one.

It seems the whole town comes out on an early Autumn Saturday each year to enjoy pancakes, sausage links and coffee under a huge circus tent, erected in the downtown square. The weather this year couldn't have been more perfect...slightly crisp and sunny!



This is not your ordinary pancake breakfast...this one features the famous Pank-a-Tron, an amazing piece of pancake making and distributing machinery! I think you'll be as amazed as we still are to see the Pank-a-Tron in action...

It's breakfast and a show!

The first time he hit me was two weeks after we started dating. We had been napping...my head was tucked up under his outstretched arm. When I rolled over, apparently my head caused a piece of the skin under his arm to be pinched...HE WENT BALLISTIC! He accused me of hurting him on purpose and went running into the bathroom to inspect his injury in the mirror. When he emerged from the bathroom, he called me a stupid, careless bitch and punched me on my right upper arm. I told him how sorry I was, how it was purely an accident and that I would be more careful in the future. Then I cried...Once he saw that I was hurt too, he apologized, saying he didn't know what came over him, and that such a thing would never happen again.

Thus began our ten year cycle of abuse...

Continue reading "My Survivor Story" »

I'm sure we all have possessions that are special to us - and only us - for purely sentimental reasons. They have no real value to anyone else...or, if they do, the sentimental value we attach to them is just as great, if not greater. I'd like to share stories about some of my treasured nostalgic belongings. I have quite a few, so I'll consider this the first in a series of posts on the topic of prized possessions.

Here's the story of how a particularly cherished treasure entered my life...

Continue reading "Prized Possessions - Vol. 1" »

Back on August 27, I quoted William Goldman, author of The Princess Bride, in my post titled, Gina's Quote Du Jour. Just yesterday, my husband, Scott, referred me to an excellent post he'd discovered, titled, 10 Life Lessons from The Princess Bride on Ray Basile's blog, One Man's Highway.

I want to bring Ray's insightful take on this outstanding film to my readers' attention. It encapsulates the very essence of the movie in a clever and thoughtful way. As I mentioned last month, The Princess Bride is one of my very favorite movies. It is a charming medley of fantasy, comedy, adventure and romance...what's not to love?

Ray's entire blog is awesome...I find his philosophical insights inspiring! He seems like a man of many talents and passions...very interesting reading there!

Saturday night we were thrilled to catch the movie Stranger Than Fiction on cable. It is one that we put on our "want to see" list as soon as we heard about it. There are very few films we feel warrant the effort and inconvenience to bother seeing in the movie theater. Generally we only go to the theater for the benefit of the "big screen effect." When we do go to the theater, more times than not, we end up walking back to the car afterwards talking not about the movie, but about the annoying people in the theater, or the disgusting fact that we just paid $8 each to sit through a half hour of commercials before the movie!...So with few exceptions we wait for movies we want to see to show up on one of the movie channels. Besides, our chairs are far more comfortable, and our popcorn is much tastier!

Stranger Than Fiction is one of those quality movies that pleasantly surprised me by being even better than I anticipated! I don't ruin movies for others by giving away too much information about them, so even if you haven't seen it, feel free to keep reading...no spoilers here!

Continue reading "It's A Fact...Stranger Than Fiction Is Great!" »

Somebody recently told me that Zen practice can be summed up as waking up in the morning and saying “Whatever” and going to bed at night and saying “Oh, well.”

I discovered this quote recently while reading a blog written by Malvina Reynolds' daughter, Nancy Schimmel, called Writing Malvina.

I would love to live this way...to embrace each new day and all its promise, ready and willing to experience anything and everything. It would be so empowering to wake up in the morning feeling that I am at peace with whatever happens and that it is all ok...

I would know I'd truly made strides toward becoming the person I want to be if, at the end of the day, I could shrug off the day's shortcomings and disappointments with, not a flippant, but wise, "Oh well..."

I really am trying to grow toward that sense of peace. I suppose - like any new skill - it's a day by day process of learning and adjusting my mindset. The most important aspect for me to remember is that I am on that journey...

I'm busy doing all things domestic today...laundry, cleaning and planning the meals for the upcoming week. Here's some of what I'll be cooking:

 

Breakfast Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Eggs, Bacon & Cheese on Whole Wheat Bread, Nectarines & Grapes

Homemade New England Clam Chowder, Garlic Parmesan Soft Breadsticks, Mixed Greens Salad with Fresh Mozzarella

Pork Tenderloin over Rice with Broccoli, Carrots & Pea Pods

Chicken Breasts with Honey Mustard Sauce & Swiss Cheese, Red Potato Wedges with Butter & Parsley, Mixed Greens Salad

Thai Chicken, Rice Noodles & Asian Vegetables

Pasta with Beefy Tomato Alfredo Sauce, Mixed Greens Salad

Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches, French Fries & Vegetable Platter with Onion Ranch Dipping Sauce

Scallop Risotto, Mixed Greens Salad

 

That will get us nicely through the week. Now I have to get back to the housework...I'd rather be cooking!

“Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.” - E. Y. (Yip) Harburg, lyricist of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’

Recently I was reading Malvina Reynolds' daughter, Nancy Schimmel's blog, Writing Malvina and I discovered this quote. It struck me as the perfect answer to a question Scott and I often ponder and discuss, "Are song lyrics poetry? Can they stand alone and convey the same meaning as they do when accompanied by their music?"

Our consensus was (usually) that although lyrics often can stand up to analysis in much the same way as a poem, there is some indefinable difference between the two.

I think this quote colorfully illustrates why, as far as a song is concerned, in order to convey the entire experience, the words and music are inseparable.

“Youth is like spring, an over praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes. Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.” - Samuel Butler

I couldn't have said it better myself!

It's common to hear people spouting the hackneyed idea that Spring is the 'best' season, with its' promise of rebirth, and that Autumn signifies the beginning of the end. But birth is a dramatic event! Sure, you get blossoms in the Spring, but they are just the beginning of the story. In the Autumn when growth is complete is when the 'fruit' is fully developed, and the product of all that labor is reaped and put to use.
Maybe that is why I love Autumn so much...it reminds me metaphorically that it's not birth or growth that are the purpose...it's the result - the fruit - of all the work and what we do with it that is the point of our existence. Once the fervent work of birth and growth are complete, then the work of doing something with it begins, and we can let our true colors show!

I think most of our life is Autumn...between the 'Summer of Puberty' when we grow physically and the 'Winter of Maturity' when it all comes to an end...

Which begs the question: What will I do with the yield of my harvest?