Fall Out of the Bee Sting

RIP kamikaze bee 7/10/14

Thanks you little suicidal rat bastard bee who thought my beach towel was a flower. I had a nice day after you stung me yesterday morning.

me: all those little bothersome breathing issues from a constricted chest and throat...gone. Ha!

me: finished the last 4 episodes of cult classic Freaks and Geeks on Netflix. In 1999, when it was on the air, I had 3 kids 4 and under. I was busy. It was niche programming before anyone understood that. Too bad.

bee: since it seems I've developed an allergic reaction to bee venom when I was last stung on a camping trip when I was 10, I have to see my doc and be allergy tested. Could end up having to haul around a bee kit for the rest of my life. I hate hauling stuff around. But I think I'd hate death by honeybee more. Sigh.

me: sting site? What sting site? I can barely find it. Ha!

me: totally amused my husband last night without trying because I'm such a wimp. Plus he took me out for an ice cream cone.

TALLY: me...4 bee...1

Making lemonade out of lemons.

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Can You Feel It?

I woke up with this particular bit of wisdom front and center, demanding attention this morning.

Grateful today for Maya Angelou's legacy.

xoxo

~Sherri

 

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All's Quiet on the Western Front.

2/20/14 UPDATE...
I wrote this a long, long time ago.  When exactly and what was happening exactly, I have no idea now.  Which just goes to show you how many shenanigans my 3 kids can get into in any set or unset period of time.  I'm quite sure whatever the doozy was that prompted the unposted blog, has been followed up by both bigger and smaller shenanigans.  But since it sat unpublished for at least a year, I can assume it was a world tilter.  Or not.  Hard to know actually because nobody went to prison and nobody died.  In other words, the lunatics are, indeed, still running this asylum.

But the pertinent thing is that good advice remains constant.  And the good advice I received from a friend back then has been tested time and again here in The Household, repeatedly proving itself to be a true sanity saver in a FUBAR type situation...


Hello, Hey There, Hi All, What's Up?, Boo!

I have come to appreciate the fact that, living in the moment, does truly mean relishing the easy, joyful, pleasantly fabulous, good times.  Because while there used to be a time when occasionally the other proverbial foot would drop (and frankly, it was often a doozy), that with kids, the other foot is generally in step with its partner. It's not if, it's when and what size.  And I would Flip Out.

A friend of mine shared a pearl of wisdom with me a few weeks back.  And really I need to thank her husband who, done thunk it up, as they say.

One fine day my friends received one of those killer phone calls, and the jig was up for one of her children.  A teenager.  Of course.  It was a Big Deal.  No joking matter.  While she was hyperventilating, her husband calmly dealt with the phone call, the next step, and the one after that.

HOW do you do that?  My friend really wanted to know, so she asked her man.  This is what he said...

I pretend it's not my kid and do what I would advise my friend to do if it were HIS kid.

Oh.

It's like following the advice you just gave someone right after you said...of course it's easier to say/do/believe that because it's not my kid but what if you just...fill in the blank.  That's it.  Just that simple.


And it's what I'm doing today.

~Sherri

Sweet sweet perfection...

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

There are some things in life that need to be perfect...

...the perfectly crisp white tailored shirt always at the ready for those times you find yourself seated across a desk from the school principal unabashedly defending your child's reason for socking that really annoying kid in the eye.

...the perfect shade of lipstick that lights up your smile and brightens a bad day.

...the perfect phrase that manages to define your life view and applies to absolutely everything - mine is...

Live simply.

Love generously.

Care deeply.

Speak kindly.

  

...the perfect guacamole recipe.  I have spent the last 20 or so years trying to get it just right.  In college the guac was Joey's job.  He has been my friend's (hi Kim!) boyfriend, fiance and continues to be her totally cool husband.  He also happens to be the person who introduced me to Chris Isaak's music and so I am eternally indebted to him for that too.  But since we have all grown up and moved farther apart than we were then...I no longer get to simply sit down to the huge bowl of the green perfection he used to create on many a Friday night.  I have to make my own.  Huge sigh here.

And on this gorgeous 85 degree Memorial Day I think I've hit the mother lode.

Make your guac this way and you will not be sorry...pick 3 perfectly ripe avocados - firm yet yielding to the gentlest of pressure.  Grab a ripe Roma tomato and 3 green onions, your Lawry's Garlic Salt  (it's okay, you don't have to admit out loud that it's in the back of the pantry and you use it  all the time), a lime, and some Tapatio.

Quarter the tomato and slice the white part of the green onions and throw them into your food processor and whir 'em around until they are chopped up real tiny.  (If you didn't happen to inherit your mother in law's food processor like I did you could absolutely chop it all up real little by hand.)  In a bowl mash up your avocados (you know you should cut them in half and scoop all the flesh out without me saying it right?), but stop mashing before it's as smooth as you like your guac.   It'll get a little smoother as you mix in everything else.  I like to use to potato masher but a fork works too!  I add a light layer of garlic salt across the top and generously sprinkle in the Tapatio.  Add the onion and tomato mixture and mix everything in.  Then, and this is muy importante, taste with the chips you'll be eating it with because that adds to the saltiness!!!  Took me a few trips around the block to remember this little golden nugget of guac wisdom, so I thought I'd mention it.  Adjust your seasoning to however you like your guac.  I like mine not too spicy because I usually eat it with spicier Mexican dishes and use it to temper the heat of those.  Also I live with a bunch of gringo dudes who can't handle the heat.  Oh be sure to squeeze in about a quarter of the lime's juice and mix that in.  Helps keep it from turning the color of the dryer we had when I was a kid and I like the hint of tartness it lends.

Some people might be wondering what the heck?!  Where is the cilantro?!  Well, I have a long and serious love affair with cilantro.  Turns out I just don't like it in the guac.  But if you do, well throw some cilantro in your food processor with the tomato wedges and green onion slices.

Well, that's about it.  I hope it works out for you like it did me!  Remember to thank those who have died for our country...it's what this holiday is all about.

xoxoxo

~Sherri,

The Guac Master  

Late and without a shamrock.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!!!!!!

There are good ships, and there are wood ships, the ships that sail the sea.

But the best ships are friendships, and may they always be.

I know, it's almost over...sometimes the day just rolls like that regardless of my plans.  Not that it was a bad day, just a busy one.  I spent a good part of my day putting together my midterm portfolio for my photog class.  This was one of my favorites...

An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold on to one blade of

grass and not fall on the face of the earth.

The color is quite a bit lovelier in the actual print and in my computer file than it is here, but still, it makes me smile.  I know there about a bajillion photos just like this blade of grass with dew drops glistening in the morning sun.  But the fact that I got this so tightly focused, and it actually came out just like I wanted it to, straight out of the camera, no post editing, made it TOTALLY worth the fact that yesterday at 8:30am I was purposely lying on my stomach, in the dirt, on the side of a remote rode between a horse ranch and empty field, taking pictures.

I hope everyone had a great day and enjoyed a little Irish luck!

May those who love us, love us.

And for those who don't love us,

May God turn their hearts.

And if he can not turn their hearts,

May he turn their ankles,

So we may know them by their limping.

May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.

xoxo,

~Sherri 

comfort food & Emerson

Yesterday was really a mixed bag.
The miners were out!
But I didn't get to watch any of the coverage because I happen to be a mother with typical kids.
One nagging challenge solved in a most perfect way.
Followed by the phone call that precluded watching the miners.

So what to do with a day like that?  I'm too old and wise for things I may have once sought.  So first I re-read this little nugget of wisdom from Ralph Waldo Emerson (how can you not love that name?!)
I have this little poem of his on a magnet on my refrigerator.  It reminds me not to kill anyone when they are doing something really idiotic.  Including me.

finish each day and be done
with it.  you have done what you
could.  some blunders and
absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
tomorrow is a new day.  you shall
begin it serenely and with too
high a spirit to be encumbered
with your old nonsense.
-emerson

Then, with my mom hat on, I spun two of my plates into one and fulfilled my dinner making obligations by feeding the familia my favorite comfort food!

This is a practically perfect Mac N Cheese recipe.  Perfection has alluded me, but I've got time.  Until then, after a gnarly day, I'll make this one out of one of Trisha Yearwood's cookbooks.

8 oz. elbow macaroni, cooked BTW I hardly ever us elbow, I usually pick some that looks more fun just to entertain myself.
1 12oz. can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs, beaten (particularly a good ingredient when your mad...)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted (please use regular old salted butter, nothing fancy, it's mac n cheese for Pete's sake)
1 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
2 10oz. bricks, sharp Cheddar cheese, grated (about 5 cups)  okay, it's a really good thing she included that little tip about it being 5 cups, because out here in Cali, they don't sell 10 oz bricks of cheese at the local grocery)
Dash of paprika I was in a hurry last night and didn't use any paprika.  I don't think anybody suffered expect maybe the paprika farmer.

Her directions call for making this in a crockpot, but so far all crock'd mac and cheeses have a weird texture and I didn't think I could handle any more disappointment last night, so I baked it! 

Here's how...Preheat your oven to 350F, mix all the ingredients EXCEPT the paprika and 1/2 cup of the cheese in a large bowl (I used the pot I boiled the macaroni in - less dishes).  Pour it all into a greased 9x13 pan, sprinkle the 1/2 cup cheese across the top, get in a rush, forget to sprinkle on the paprika and bake at 350 for 50 minutes.  Pull it out of the oven when the timer beeps and carb out.  Your troubles will melt away.

If you want to crock it, A-let me know if it has that weird lumpy cheese texture, and B-here's how to do that...do all the same things except pour it into your crockpot (I'd probably grease mine, because I'm lazy that way), sprinkle the 1/2 cup cheese across the top, cover and cook on low for 3 hours and 15 minutes.  Turn off the crockpot, stir and serve.


Doing my best to remain unencumbered with nonsense today...
xoxoxo
~S