It'll make a hero out of a mouse it is that good.

"And as he leaned there, his heart pounding, his paws shaking, a small wonderful something occurred. A midnight breeze entered the kitchen and danced over to the stove and picked up the scent of the soup and then swirled across the floor and delivered the smell right directly to the mouse's nose.

Desereaux put his head up in the air. He sniffed. He sniffed some more. He had never in his life smelled anything so lovely, so inspiring. With each sniff he took, he felt himself growing stronger, braver."

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

One of the only things I like about winter is that it is the season for making soup. I love soup. Soup can warm you when you are cold, help you feel better when you are sick, and provide dinner when your budget is tight. This is one of my favorite recipes of all time. You make think that it makes too much, but trust me, you will go through more of it than you think, and it is just as good, if not better on the second day.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1/2 lb bell pepper - I use red

1 1/4 lb yellow onion

1/4 cup minced garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 cup flour

11 oz corn tortillas

1 1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 1/2 Tbsp cumin

Salt to taste

1/2 Tbsp black pepper

1 1/2 gallon + 1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup chicken base

4 1/2 cups cooked chicken

Place onions and bell peppers in food processor and finely chop. Remove and set aside. Add garlc and finely chop. Heat olive oil in skillet, add minced vegetables and stir often. Saute until vegetables are transparent and slightly brown.

Add butter and allow it to melt.

While vegetables are sauteing, tear tortillas into large peieces and put into food processor. Chop until fine.

Add flour, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Process until very fine - the consistency of corn meal. If not the soup will be too thick.

Add tortilla meal to sauteed vegetales and mix together to form a roux. cook 4-5 mintues, constantly scraping sides and bottom of pan.

Add chicken base to chicken stock, and stir to blend. Slowly whip the stock into roux, one quart at a time, scraping bottom and sides of the pan.

When all of the stock is added, add chicken and cilantro. Bring to a slow simmer for 5 minutes (do not let soup come to a hard boil). Turn off heat and cool. Garnish with tortilla chips, sour cream, and/or cheese.

ABC, easy as 1,2,3

I've been tagged by my sis, so here goes -

A - Attached or Single? Attached, very attached.

B - Best Friend? Crazy Wixom women. My sisters and my mommy.

C - Cake or Pie? What a terrible question. I feel like I am making Sophie's Choice. They can both be made in chocolate, why should I have to choose?

D - Day of the week? If I say Sunday, does that make me sound super spiritual? 'Cause I am. But if I say Saturday, does that make me seem super lazy? 'Cause I am. If I say Monday, will you think I am crazy? 'Cause I am.

E - Essential items? My friends. I have a bunch that I can't do without.

F - Favorite Color? Red. I love red. Red roses, red dresses, but not blood. I know I told you all to donate, but, seeing it really grosses me out.

G - Gummy Bears or Worms? - I have negative feelings about both of these, but Gummy Bears got me an "F" my freshman year of High School in typing class, so I hate them worse. I'm not going to tell the story, because it is too long and you wouldn't really be interested. Oh, come now, you don't really want to hear it? Really? Okay. I was actually pretty good at typing, but really bored. We had really cool new typewriters. The kind with all the letters on the ball instead of individual keys. I got bored practicing the same letters that I already knew and became fascinated with the mechanics of that stupid ball. How are the letters arranged, I wondered? By upper and lower case? Tried that, no. Common vowel combinations? I typed ea, ou, ie, ey, ai. Nope. Consonant combos? Hmm, ck, tr, ch, sh, th, br. No. Before I could get to consonant vowel combinations, the bell rang and I had to hand in my typewritten sheet for grading. What about the Gummy Bears? I told you it was long, I'm getting there. Sheesh, telling the story was your idea in the first place. So, moving on. The teacher was not happy with what I handed in and since I kept trying day after day to figure it out she pulled out one of the old machines just for me and I was not allowed to use the new ones anymore. And on my way to class, someone handed me a GINORMOUS bag of gummy bears. I didn't want them. I explained that I don't even like the flavorless blobs of rubbery chewiness, but they passed them off on me anyway, saying I could share with my friends. So, there I was in the dark of the boring typing class, clacking away the letters, asdfghjkl, when suddenly a thought struck me. I wondered if I placed the gummy bear in just the right spot on the roller, would he stick to the key? Why yes he would. Hahaha, I thought to myself. He looks kind of funny there looking up at me all suprised. He also looks lonely, though. A friend give him I must. Oops, too close together, they are only going to fit every other key. Wouldn't it be clever if I lined them all up like a rainbow going across the keys? Yeah, that will be totally funny. The next person to type on this typewriter will totally think it is hysterically funny. And so I carefully arranged the bears going across the keys in rainbow formation. My little gummy bear parade. Only I forgot a few things. Like, it was So Cal. It was a hot day. There was no air conditioning on. Next period was lunch. And, nobody else uses this typewriter but me. There was also something that I didn't know about gummy bears. When they get hot, they sweat. Which makes them sticky. Which isn't very good for keys on typewriters. And High School teachers have this thing about destruction of property. When confronted, I tried to point out that it was illogical to be upset about the property that would have been thrown away anyway if it weren't for me, and there were still all the other old ones in the storeroom just waiting for me. Which didn't go over very well, because apparently that was not the point. The point was that I was not allowed to take the final, which is 50% percent of your grade. Which means you get an "F". Because of Gummy Bears. Which don't even taste good. Even if you change their shape into a fish.

H - Home? I grew up in Los Alamitos, Ca. Go Griffins!

I - favorite Indulgence? Reading a good book. Movies. Long Baths. Pedicures. Vacations. Eating out. Shopping. Naps.

January or July? July. There is icky white stuff on the ground in January.

K - Kids? Two. Aren't they good lookin'?

L - Life isn't complete without? My family.

M - Marriage date? July 30th. Right, hon? I am the one who forgets, not him.

N - Number of Brothers and Sisters? Two sisters. Two beautiful sisters. Too funny sisters.

O - Oranges or apples? Apples. Oranges on the East coast are not as good as on the west. But the apples are great. We like to pick our own. Apples.

P - Phobias or fears? Ladders. I hate getting on ladders. I really don't even like step stools after the second step. I made myself be brave when we repainted our living room, but I got dizzy with fear a few times. It really makes me feel sick to think about it.

Q - Quiet time, what do you like to do? Sew. Apparently I have no quiet time, because I never sew.

R - Reason to smile? My husband. He brought me some chocolate the other day because he won a bingo contest. He and his coworkers play during their weekly conference call with a particular client. This client uses unusual phrases a lot, things like, "that's a snake on a plane for us". So one of his computer techies made bingo boards of the most common uncommon phrases he uses. They change it up each week. My husband won. Lindor chocolate truffles. I am going to go eat one right now, just to check the spelling of Lindor. Mmmmm. He is responsible to provide the prize this week since he was the winner. What do you think he should bring?

S - Season of choice? Spring. It means I made it through the winter. Have I mentioned that I really don't like snow?

T - Ticklish? Don't touch my feet. Ever.

U - Unknown fact about me? I have a hole in my chest. My ribs don't meet together like they are supposed to. You know how your bra is supposed to be touching your chest in the middle of, well, in the middle? If I put my finger to touch my chest, my bra would be touching my second knuckle.

V - Vegetable? I like 'em. Most of 'em.

W - Worst habit? Hair twirling.

X - X-ray or Ultrasound? Um, neither?

Y - Your favorite food? Pizza

Z - Zodiac sign?
Aries
Horoscope for November 10, 2008
This is not the greatest time for action for you -- let someone else call the shots.

Got Blood?

I have been so busy lately, I have not been able to blog. My sister-in-law, who's ovarian cancer returned on her liver, has had a rough week and I have been spending all my spare time with her. I sure wish foot massage could cure cancer. I love her very much. She has been in the hospital since Thursday fighting an infection. When someone goes through something like this, you really see their true colors. She is beautiful. She has a great sense of humor, is kind to the nurses, patient, and brave. There is a chance she will get to come home today. She has three wonderful daughters to come home to. Her husband is a good man. He has been a terrific support for her.

Times like these are when I am most grateful that I am a stay-at-home mother. I know there are plenty of other women in my sister-in-law's life that would like to be there with her, but due to their schedule they can't. It is my privilege and blessing to be able to be with her. There are material things that my family and husband do without because of the loss of additional income, but it is such a blessing to be available in times of need.

I have found ways that I can be more productive and organized at home to find the time to spend with her each day. And it has helped reprioritize what is most important in my daily tasks. Right now, I get the essentials done, and let the rest worry about themselves. I learned that from my sister, who is a breast cancer survivor of thirteen years. Woohoo! She went to a restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner when she was not able to put that meal on for her family. She and her family made that a wonderful memory, and reduced a ton of stress that way. I take my cues from her whenever I can, she is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met. Someone once said to me something to the effect of, I can see that through the trial of cancer your sister became a really incredible person. No. She was already incredible. The trial of cancer just magnified it. Her family knew how incredible she was all along.

My sister-in-law goes by Bindi, and if you would like to add her to her prayers, I am sure she would appreciate it. We have come in contact with so many kind people that do creative things to relieve suffering. Yesterday, a woman playing a miniature harp came by her room. Someone came by with a black dog for pet therapy. I couldn't help think of my friend Pam. Read up about her contribution as a giggle therapist on the right side of her blog.

Doesn't it just make you want to be like that? For those of us who are looking for a way to benefit others, can I just encourage you to donate blood? It's easy, and not painless. I know, I was supposed to make it sound like no big deal, doesn't even hurt, but truthfully, donating blood is really hard for me. My veins roll and they are small and when I am cold it is even worse. Last time I donated blood I had to drink 3 bottles of juice and they had heated saline bags all over me to get my blood moving. I kind of felt like I wasn't sure it was worth all that. Watching a bag of blood save my sister-in-law's life has changed my tune. She has needed one transfusion so far. Last time she went through chemo she needed two. She truly wouldn't make it without it. I have become so grateful for those who consistently donate blood. It really does save lives and there is always a shortage of your blood type. I don't care what type you have, there is always a shortage of it. There are so many people that can't donate blood because of health, pregnancy, nursing, diabetes etc., it becomes even more important for those of us who can to donate. Sometimes it is so important for us to back up our prayers with action. Maybe we could all say a prayer while we donate blood? So consider this my blogblooddrive. For those of you who can donate, please comment after you have donated. Let's see how much we can accomplish. For those of you who are unable to donate blood, well wishes are welcome. How have you been blessed by blood donation?

Here are a few tips from me for donating. Eat a hearty breakfast and drink plenty of fluids before you go. They will have lots of yummy snacks for you afterward, so don't worry about bringing any. Wear comfortable clothing that gives easy access to your arm. For women, we often run low on iron depending on where we are in our menstrual cycle. For donation they need sufficient iron levels. If you are too low to donate, it does not mean you are anemic. I think they need your iron at something like 12 to donate and something like 4 is anemic. I find it helps to have red meat for dinner the night before I am going to donate and then I never have a problem with my iron level, no matter where I am in my cycle. I prefer to use it as an excuse to have steak, but since that isn't always an option, here is one of my favorite recipes for good old chuck roast. Easy, delicious, everybody loves it.

French Dip sandwiches

1 beef chuck roast (3 pounds)
2 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp galic powder
1 bay leaf
3 to 4 whole peppercorns
8 french rolls split

Place roast in slow cooker. Add water, soy sauce and seasonings. Cover and cook on high for 5-6 hours or until beef is tender. Remove meat from broth; shred with forks and keep warm. Strain broth; skim off fat. Pour broth into small cups for dipping. Serve beef on rolls.

I double the water through peppercorns. I like to leave extra juice on the meat to keep it moist and lots for dipping. It is great made overnight and then put in fridge. That way the fat in the juice rises to the top and hardens. Remove the fat, heat and serve. Your house is going to be filled with a wonderful smell. Leftovers freeze well.

1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543)

In honor of Bindi and survivors everywhere -
Donate first, comment later! Can't wait to hear from you.

Writing style

I come from a family of comedians. When we are together, we laugh often, we laugh loud and we tend to garner some attention because we make a bit of a spectacle of ourselves. Funny thing is, we get so much of our sense of humor from the quietest member of our family, my dad.

Tomorrow would have been his 77th birthday. He passed away in 2004 from lung cancer. In honor of him, I would like to share just a few memories of his unique writing style. He didn't really love writing letters, but I loved getting them, because they were never ordinary.

He once sent me a letter at camp from the perspective of a fly.

He sent me a letter making different hash marks on the page to represent each member of the family's shopping style (he had all girls and complained that he should own stock in the mall to get some of his money back).

He sent me a letter complaining about how stupid it is that at the end of a letter on the left hand side people write the word over in parentheses even if it is mid-sentence which is stupid because what fool doesn't know that the letter is to continue on the other side? Some people continue to do this even if they have numbered their pages. Redundant. For the rest of the letter he wrote (over) mid-sentence and continued on the other side. Then he began another sentence and in the middle wrote (over) and finished on the other side and kept going. To read the letter I had to keep flipping the page, finding where he left off and keep going around.

Speaking of going around, he also wrote me a letter that started in the middle of the page and spiraled out so that I really did have to keep turning the paper around and around.

But the letter that wins the comedy prize was the newspaper clipping. I served a mission for my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). We were encouraged not to read our mail until our day off and we didn't read the newspaper, listen to the radio or watch TV so that we could stay focused and not mentally going home every day. For a straight month, every time someone asked me where I was from and I told them they would tell me of some terrible disaster in the area my family lives and say "I hope your family is okay!" They were freaking me out! So I wrote home and asked my parents that if there was some big thing going on anywhere near them would they just send me a quick note telling me that they were okay and not involved, nothing else, and label the outside "Open immediately"? It was just a few weeks later that I got just such a letter with my dad's handwriting on the outside. Inside was a newspaper clipping from the Associated Press that detailed a domestic abuse incident that had occurred in my home town. Apparently, some man became enraged at his wife and killed her by beating her with a frozen squirrel. That's all the article said. Just 2 or 3 sentences. At the bottom, my dad added one sentence of his own. "Your mother and I were not involved. Love, Dad"

Thanks Dad, for making life beautiful, making your love for me abundantly clear, and teaching me how to find the humor in just about every situation.

Will it pass? Will it pass? Will it pass?

All this talk about Congress and Bailout Bill has got me thinking about kidney stones. Do you think there is a correlation? Like, painful, but necessary to pass? Or, somebody better get in there and lazer blast that thing in order to defeat the stones before the man dies trying to pass them? The man being man in general. Main Street Man, not Wall Street Man. What do you think? Bailout Bill - Pass or Blast? I am undecided and I don't get a vote. Neither do you. Except on my blog.

A newbie hangin' with the cool blogging crowd

I have been tagged, by a favorite blogger and friend, Pam. It is pretty exciting for a newbie blogger like me to get included in the cool blogging crowd.

Here goes! 7 random or wierd facts about me.

1. I am a hair twirler. I have tried to stop, but I just haven't been able to. It is not nervousness, it is just that my curly hair (it is very curly!) winds perfectly around my finger and will flip back and forth from one finger to another. I am not trying to flirt or be coy, I am just wierd. So when you see me with my long hair down you will probably notice that there are two curls at the nape of my neck on either side that are perfect corkscrews. It is not because they grow that way. Maybe my screen name should be Noodlehead.

2. I had a perm once. I know, you just read about my naturally, very curly hair. My sister was in Beauty School and I wanted to look like Barbara Streisand in the Main Event. I didn't. Perming curly hair is not a good idea. Didn't talk to my sister for two weeks. Enough said.

Why, oh why, did I want this hair in the first place? I know, I am the one who posted enough said just moments ago, but I just couldn't go without saying it. There are some things that even being a child of the '80's is not enough of an excuse for.

3. I am a Boggle addict. I play often. I love unscrambling the letters and coming up with words. I have it on my computer and sometimes get caught up and waste large amounts of time. I hate Scrabble. My sisters and my mom always win and they laugh at me, too. I'll play Scrabble with my husband though. We are about even so it is a fair competition. Nobody wants to play Boggle with me.

4. Speaking of my guy, I am deeply in love with my husband. He is so very patient and kind with all my eccentricities, and I tend to be a little bit of a goofball. He is an incredible father and a great gift giver. Often, I am not initially happy with what he gives me. Mostly because he spends more than I have budgeted. Once he gave me a storm door for mother's day. A storm door? you ask. Yeah, that is what I thought too, until I could leave front door open to see the kids playing outside, get fresh air and more light in the room. He knows I love lots of natural sunlight. (I grew up in So Cal, and you can take the girl out of the valley, but you can't take the valley out of the girl! It is, like, so totallay true, okay.) It always ends up that what he gives me is what I really wanted and just didn't know it. He knows me better than I know myself.

5. Our marriage had an interesting start. Our wedding day didn't go exactly as planned. The story is too long and I will save it for blogging on my anniversary, but here is just a taste. The car broke down, I passed out, the caterer didn't show, we went on a double date that night with two men to see a play about homosexuality, got lost on the way to the hotel, when, of course, the car broke down again, a stranger gave us a ride to our hotel only to find out they had given our room away. Some people might have taken this as some kind of omen, but really, we are tremendously happily married.

6. I once ate green tomato pie. It tasted like apple, except the texture was different. I am not a very adventurous eater, so I had to keep mentally picturing an apple and saying to myself, yummy, yummy apple. But then my mental apple morphed into a tomato and I started to gag.

7. I like to cook and try new recipes (not exotic ones! See 6.). Hence, the name Cookingsherri. But when the fire alarm in our house goes off, my kids ask me what I am making for dinner. That thing is oversensitive, I'm telling you. My sister who is an awesome cook, is kitchenditcher. Funny, huh?

Unfortunate misuse of the CTR ring...

I hate the game of slug bug. You know the one where if you see the VW Bug first you get to punch someone in the arm and yell "slug bug, no slugs back". I hate that game so much (I am a black belt, but my kick is stronger than my punch) that I was thrilled when some CA cousins who shall remain nameless introduced us to Cruiser Bruisers. Same game, different car. Thanks. I had a friend who came up with hug bug instead, which I preferred, and it was working for our family, until Thing 1 became a teenager. It was irresistable to find a new wrestling avenue with Dad. It was irresistable to find out if he could punch hard enough to hurt Dad. Dad will not admit it to you, but he has admitted to me, Thing 1's punches are beginning to hurt. I let it go and chalked it up to a guy thing. As long as I am not involved, whatever.

Dad got home from work early, had the evening free, and so we decided to go on a family walk in beautiful fall weather. We even brought the dog, and the football. Cool, huh? Till thing one saw the P.T. Cruiser. Punched Dad in the back. I am not involved, whatever. Then I turn around to see Thing 2, my little girl, punch Thing 1 right in the chin!?!?!?! What are you doing? I missed? Missed what? His shoulder. By a long shot! In her defence Thing 1 is growing at an alarming rate. At the beginning of summer he had just barely become as tall as me. School has started. He is at least two inches taller than me. He is growing about 3/4" a month. So I thought, maybe it is hard to aim up. Maybe, she hit his arm and then it grazed off and accidentally hit his chin. Thing 1 states clearly that this was not the case.

Okay, Thing 2, my little girl, let me just give you some motherly wisdom. Dad and Thing 1 look like they are having fun playing this game. I can see how you think you might want to join in. Resist the urge. They are hurting each other. And laughing about it. This is a stupid game that boys play. Be smart. Do not play this game with them. If you do, you are opening yourself up and you will get nailed. 100 % dissatisfaction guaranteed.

Thing one is not satisfied with this lecture. He says it really hurt when Thing 2 popped him in the chin. Plus, you are supposed to hit in the arm. Yup, and she missed, and you hit Dad in the back and this game is stupid and if you don't want to get hurt don't play it. But it really hurt. Yeah, that is the nature of the stupid game. Buck up. You are big now. There is hair on your upper lip. She is a little girl. How bad could it be? Pretty bad. After mentioning his hairy upper lip, I now noticed the lip underneath it. It is bleeding. Not bad, but there are cuts on his chin. Oh my goodness!?!?! Didn't I start out on a Norman Rockwell painting like family walk? And it ends in bloodshed? Apparently it was her CTR that was the culprit. It stands for Choose the Right. I don't think that is how you are supposed to use those. I hope nobody in the neighborhood was watching. They might nominate us for a parenting award with the county's child protective services.

The bumper on my car is fixed. But the catalytic converter on the driver's side is not. And something is wrong with the steering wheel, and the passenger side mirror isn't doing the night dimming thing right anymore, and winter is coming and the back heater isn't working. So my car is in the shop. It has been there since Monday night. And it won't be done until Friday. That is the bad news. But, it is all under warranty and my warranty covers everything including a rental car. That is the good news. Until I see the rental car.

It is a P.T. Cruiser. The good news is now a little bit concerning for my family's welfare. I have got to get my car back before somebody in my family ends up looking like this:


"Cruiser Bruiser, no bruises back!"