Blog from the Backyard

This is an excerpt from a journal entry I wrote after swing dancing this weekend. Enjoy :0)

In the corner near us and the band was a beautiful young girl, her flowing brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her partner was a tall and dashing man with thick wavy hair. They were so obviously in love--they never once seemed to notice the swirling dancers around them or the fact that I can't stop watching them. I took note of their simple matching rings. I envied them--their obvious deep love, their lives just beginning...and then I blinked. Sunddenly I saw his snow white hair, her gently wrinkled face. Instead of living on the brink of a life together they are closer to the end of their time. I can imagine that the days they have lived have brought many sorrows as well as joys, pain as well as promise. Yet, they are so full of love and hope that I simply cannot take my eyes away.

She smiles coyly as he spins her out and back, and they sway together in the way that only those that truly know their partners can, looking deeply into each other's eyes. This is their story, their beautiful legacy, and I find myself wanting to continue it.

I'll probably never know their names. But I hope one day, when I have hair streaked with gray and I am nearing the end of my journey, that someone will see me dancing with my soulmate and be as inspired by our story as I have been tonight.

This Week's Ten

Not even close to Thursday this time:

10 Ways You Know You're In a Play

1. You work on your choreography in the aisle at the grocery store
2. People tell you that you are more energetic that normal...this comes from constantly being "on" during rehearsals and staging...and leaks into everyday life
3. You're constantly wondering why you can't feel the spotlight on your face
4. Radio stations do not have the appeal they normally do, as you're constantly singing the tunes from the show
5. The two year old you nanny for knows all the steps to "7 Daughters of Jethro" and helps you out when you forget them.
6. If you're home for more than 8 hours at a time (including sleep time!) you wonder what's wrong
7. You can't have a conversation without mentioning something funny that happened in rehearsal the other night
8. You lay awake at night pondering your stage makeup application.
9. You've said "I can't. I have rehearsal" so many times in the last couple of months that you've lost count.
10. You're happy to have your life back after the closing night...but so very sad that it's over.

Recipe of the Week: Healthy Chicken Tenders

as usual, I adapted a recipe. So I'm typing the original in black and putting my additions in red :0)

Healthy Chicken Fingers

1 1/2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
cayenne pepper
crushed red pepper
black pepper

16 trimmed chicken tenderloins (obviously I don't cook 16 for just me--it's an easy recipe to halve/quarter)

olive oil spray
2 tbsp light butter (I don't usually add this particular ingrediant)
1 1/2 tbsp hot sauce(ok, for this I used Louisiana wing sauce and about 4-5 tbsp of it instead of the butter. I also splashed some tabasco in there. But I like it spicy)

combine dry ingrediants in shallow dish and dredge chicken spray a frying pan with olive oil spray and cook chicken. Add hot sauce and butter until chicken is well-coated. Serve with celery sticks and homemade low-fat ranch dressing (made with hidden valley ranch mix, low-fat mayo, and skim milk).

:0)

Recipe of the Week: Fettucine Alfredo

You've gotta love the technology age. I'm in the middle of Kroger tonight and I realize that I already ate the leftovers that were on my meal plan for tonight...oops. So I decide that I have a craving for fettucine alfredo and realizing that I could spend $4 on bottled alfredo sauce or $6 on the ingredients for the real deal (and make several batches from it!) I took out my cell phone and googled a recipe for alfredo sauce. The following recipe is a mixture of what I found on allrecipes.com and what I added.

Alfredo Sauce

1/4 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (YES I hand-grated a wedge and it was *fabulous*)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp crushed red pepper
5 slices sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
black pepper to taste

Melt butter in saucepan, add cream. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add cheese and garlic, whisk until smooth and well-blended. Add parsley, red pepper, tomatoes and black pepper.

I also broiled 2 chicken tenderloins which I chopped and added to the sauce. Served over fettucine noodles and YUM.

:0)

Saturday's Song

Today's song:

New Soul, Yael Naim

I love the catchy melody of this song. I first heard it on a commercial for something...I have no idea what it was for now. The product was forgettable, but the song was not :0)

I'm a new soul
I came to this strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit bout how to give and take
But since I came here, felt the joy and the fear
Finding myself making every possible mistake

La, la, la, la (21x)
La, la, la, la (21x)

See I'm a young soul in this very strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit bout what is true and fake
But why all this hate? try to communicate
Finding trust and love is not always easy to make
La, la, la, la (21x)
La, la, la, la (21x)

This is a happy end
Cause you don't understand
Everything you have done
Why's everything so wrong

This is a happy end
Come and give me your hand
I'll take you far away

I'm a new soul
I came to this strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit bout how to give and take
But since I came here, felt the joy and the fear
Finding myself making every possible mistake

New soul... (la, la, la, la,...)
In this very strange world...
Every possible mistake
Possible mistake
Every possible mistake
Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes...

Thursday's Ten (on Friday)

I was gone ALL DAY yesterday, so this one's a little late :0)

Ten Things You Should Definitely Do if You're going to KY Kingdom

10. Ride on the van with adults instead of the bus with the kids. Ahhh.

9. If you're like me, under NO circumstances should you wear sunscreen because it will interfere with your tanning plans. If you're like the rest of the population, put on sunscreen and reapply. I embrace sunburns; most people do not.

8. Wear a swimsuit under your clothing. The waterpark is definitely worth it.

7. Himalaya. I love this ride :0)

6. Breakdance. I really didn't want to do this one because I was afraid that the spinning would make me sick, but it was definitely fun.

5. Blizzard River. Warning--it's REALLY cold, but it's a nice little rafting experience. Nothing as fun as actually whitewater rafting, but still nice.

4. The Tornado. It's basically the most fabulous water slide ever

3. The Deluge Water-Coaster. Very cool--and wet!

2. Thunder Run--a very fun wooden roller coaster. My favorite.

1. Drive a little further north and go to Holiday World instead

Recipe of the Week

Lora's Fabulous Vodka Pasta

ok, so I cheat and use Bertolli sauce, but the rest is all me If I find a good vodka sauce recipe I'll adjust

1 box penne pasta
1 jar Bertolli vodka sauce (after trying a few brands, this is the absolute best)
1 pound Italian sausage--I use hot, but I've also used mild and it turns out ok
1 medium onion, chopped
possibly portabello mushrooms--sometimes I just don't have them to add, but they're yummy when I do!
various and sundry spices for the sausage, depending on your preference. I sometimes add some fresh garlic to it as well.

*brown the sausage. Add spices early on in the process, and add onion when it's completely browned and drained.
*add mushrooms and sauce, in this order. Simmer while you cook your pasta. Combine and enjoy.

This should make 4 servings at the very least...it feeds me for a few days :0)

Saturday's Song

We are singing this hymn at church tomorrow, and when we rehearsed it this morning I almost laughed. The words are so applicable to my life right now when I've been craving Sabbath rest and simplicity. The melody is simple and beautifully fitting to the words...which, although ancient by our assessment are completely applicable to my life. I hope they speak to you as well.

The hymn is an old one, and this is what Wikipedia says about it:

Dear Lord and Father of Mankind is a hymn with words taken from a prayer contained in the poem The Brewing of Soma by Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier.

Here are the lyrics:

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our feverish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard
Beside the Syrian sea
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word
Rise up and follow Thee.

O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
The silence of eternity
Interpreted by love!

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

Thursday's Ten

Today's Ten: Ten Things I'll Do Now That Most of my TV Shows are Over

1. Transform my patio garden into a meditation space as well as functional garden. I want to start doing yoga on the patio as often as possible. I need to find the perfect water source--I've been looking for over a year, so hopefully I'll find the perfect fountain...or whatever.

2. Clean more often ;-)

3. Pull stuff out for a yard sale--hopefully the end of June.

4. Continue making my home and environment more "green".

5. Organize ALL the closets in the house. That should take awhile.

6. Cook more often, and entertain.

7. Get my scrapbooking caught up.

8. Make some more jewelry--I've been slacking in that department lately.

9. Get caught up on correspondence.

10. Watch more Rachael Ray and Ellen :0)