Thanks for Being Awesome...

Every once in awhile I hear someone blame their miserable situation on their parent's decisions and for some reason hearing about "awful parents" always bothers me. I am not so naive as to think that there arent truly awful parents out there, people that really do destroy their children's lives, but I would like to think that the majority of people had parents that have tried their best. I once heard a Jeff Foxworthy skit where he said something along the lines ofof you never hear anyone say, "my mamma was great, daddy was great, I'm just an idiot!" So true! Too often we hear about the extreme bad examples and just skip the awesome parents.

So in honor of Father's Day (and Mother's Day) I would like to say thanks Mom and Dad. Thank you for your patience, your long suffering, and for footing the bill for my childhood. Thank you for not putting me up for adoption when I turned 13 and deserved it, thank you for checking in on me to the point of being obnoxious when I was an angry teenager, thank you for forcing me to apply myself in school when all I really wanted to was get a B and be done with it, thank you for strongly encouraging me to make the right choices, and teaching me that "wickedness never was happiness". Thank you for teaching me to wake up and try again when yesterday was a generally sucky day, for forcing us to eat dinner together, thank you for letting me yell at you because I was angry and hadnt quite learned to channel my anger into something productive, thank you for teaching me too much garlic is never enough, for introducing me to the wonders of NPR, for listening to me recap my boring day, and for keeping the family close as we grow up and move away. Thank you for being awesome.

Car Talk and Bird Zappers

I have a not so secret affinity for Car Talk. I grew up listening to the show on Saturday mornings, granted it usually interrupted my plans to sleep in and be lazy and I never chose to listen to it, but I like to consider myself a lifelong listener. If you have never “wasted a perfectly good hour” tuning in to “Click and Clack the Tap It Brothers” your life is incomplete and you need to immediately rectify that. As a kid, and a teen, I thought the show was “beyond lame”. I remember one time telling a friend that the hosts though they were “all that and a bag of sun chips” but that they were clearly mistaken. Obviously, somewhere along the way I got over myself, and learned to come to the other side of life. Last weekend I heard something on car talk that must be shared with the general public- someone called in complaining that birds were using the mirrors of his truck as their own personal toilet. He had tried everything to get rid of them, but to no avail- but he had a sudden brainwave- to turn the motors on his mirrors into bird zappers- no I am not kidding. Click and Clack talked him through it, suggested he choose a less “barbaric” option, and when that didn’t work, told him how to zap the birds. If I hadn’t been listening how would I know to rig up that nifty little zapper (granted my car doesn’t have mirror motors but still)? Oh car talk you teach me so many important things! For those of you who have lived without car talk tune in to NPR on Saturday mornings at 10am- trust me it is worth the lost rest and relaxation.

Memory Lane Beans and Rice

Some people say music takes them back in time to specific memories, but I disagree, for me it is food. I grew up in a family where food was important, meals were planned in advance, everyone was required to participate in food prep, and cooking shows dominated saturday mornings- dinner was the center of the day not an afterthought.

There are some foods that just take me back to the days of scrunchies, the Babysitter's Club, and braces - things like cheesecake for breakfast, spinach pies, and beans and rice. All of these foods remind me of a kitchen full of family, NPR, and laughter. The one recipe that never fails to take me back to my childhood is beans and rice. My dad loves beans, I remember him saying on more than one occasion that what he was "craving" was a nice pot of beans- strange. Beans were something we ate after church on Sundays, something we ate in the winter when the sunset around 4:30, and something that made the Wright's Lake menu every year.

As a child and especially as a teen I HATED beans and rice for dinner. I thought they were boring, unfulfilling, and "vegetarian". In reality I was wrong about that, but then again at that time I would have given my right arm for a poptart. Now I am a fan of that dinner. I made it the other night, and I agree with my dad- this is fabulous.

These beans are delicious, cheap and take about 5 minutes to prepare.

"Memory Lane Beans and Rice"

Serves 4

2 c. great northern beans

1 onion, sliced

1 t. salt

2 t. pepper

1 hamhock

water

Place all ingredients in the crockpot. Cover the beans with water. Cover, cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve with rice.

CJ Update

As mentioned in the previous post we recently adopted a cat- a 5 month old black cat to be exact. Her name is CJ- after CJ the press secretary from the West Wing (aka greatest show EVER).

Why did we decide to get a cat you ask, well because we like them. Since before we got married Brian and I agreed that at some point during our married life we would get a cat. Up until this point we havent been allowed to get one, but ever since moving into our house the option has been open. I have been bringing up the subject on and off since we moved in, but we have always brushed it aside, agreeing that a cat is a big responsibility. Several weeks ago at work that all changed, one of the girls i work with was giving away kittens and we told her we would take one. Sadly that didnt work out, but it did inspire us to start looking at animal shelters. I should tell you that I have always wanted a black cat, for some reason I think they look cleaner than other cats (they arent but they look that way to me), so when we were searching at the shelters i was on the lookout for a black kitten. The shelter also told me that black cats get adopted last (people are afraid of them), so i had to give one a good home. I found the perfect kitten at the animal shelter, we called, and they told us she was sick and we couldnt have her. I made brian call the next day, and saturday we went to go and see her. While we were waiting to hear about the black kitten we met CJ. We had seen her online too, but she was a bit older (1 month) so we didnt pay much attention (mean of us). Well it turns out the other kitten ringworm and needed to stay for a bit longer, so we started looking at there other kittens. There was a cute and playful grey and white one that Brian wanted and CJ (and a bunch of others that we didnt like as well). Cj was calm and cuddly, and so sweet so we made our "donation" and brought her home. So far having a cat has been great, I sincerely apologize to everyone that told us not to get a cat, but i really like her, so I think it was a great decision.

Just in case you are not familar with the West Wing and CJ here is a snippet to give you an idea

Meet CJ

Meet CJ, more information to come... sorry Di

Writer's block

Lately I have suffered from writer’s block. I have sat down to write quite a few posts recently only to delete them before posting. I know few people read this blog, and that no one is on the edge of their seat waiting to hear from me, but still I have had a hard time writing. I don’t know where to start. Life has been busy, not exciting, but busy and I haven’t had anything to write about. How do I push past the writer’s block and start posting again?

Memorial Day Weekend, better late than never...

I realize I am a bit behind the time on this post but I have been busy, so better late than never, right?

We spent memorial day weekend in Utah and it was AWESOME! My wonderful father-in-law invited us to Utah for the weekend and we of course jumped on the opportunity to head home and see everyone. We had an amazing trip, we went to the temple, ate dinner with some good friends (hunters we miss you already), played ticket to ride, had some of Di's delicious pizza, and hung out with family (oh yeah and I got a pedicure (first one ever) but that is another story). It was so nice to see everyone, we miss you all and cant wait to see you again soon!

we bought all the kids special texas shirts, yes the brainwashing starts early.

the group picture failed miserably, but arent they adorable!