Just for Nicky...

I left blogging. I went to Facebook. I still like Facebook. Facebook is faster. More people are reading on Facebook. I keep in touch with more friends. But it is not the same as blogging. Bloggin' lets you say more. Sometimes too much. Blogging releases my inner writer. The literary genius lurking inside of me. It is like singing in the shower. You let yourself go in the joy of anonymity. Except blogging is not anonymous. Some of you know who I am. So it is not like singing in the shower at all. You know what I like? My ipod. One of my favorite apps is Grocery Gadget. It organizes all my shopping lists, and then as I check the items off, it keeps track of the order and organizes the list however the flow of the grocery store is organized. I have a list for Costco, all my favorite grocery stores, Target, Home Depot and the like. That way when I am at that store, I don't get home and say, "Oh, I forgot, I needed to get....". It is a great mommy gadget to have.

Make that 34 books read

I finished reading Cold Comfort Farm for book club and that was just pure fun. Not like anything I have ever read before.

I also finished my essay and sent off my application for college. I am not posting it because it is so cheesy.

What I did want to post were the pictures of my daughter's eyebrows after she shaved them. But, I can't, because I lost our camera with those pics still on them. You read me right. I said shaved, not plucked. She teased her brother about having a unibrow which he hurled right back at her. Apparently she can dish it out, but can't take it, because she promptly went upstairs, got my razor and shaved a nice broad strip right down the bridge of her nose. As if that didn't look strange enough she became suddenly concerned that her eyebrows are bushy, and decided to trim them. With the razor. Which trimmed them alot. Right down the center of each eyebrow. She came to me with her hands over her eyebrows crying and said she just did something very bad. Then she revealed her artwork and I ran. To get the camera. I told her to stand against the wall with her eyes closed so I could take pictures. Through her tears she asked me why I was photographing her to which I replied from the annuls of cliche mommy statements, "because someday this is going to be funny." Only, that wasn't really true, because honestly, it was pretty funny right then and there. We had to pencil them in for weeks. I dont' know which I am sadder about, losing the camera or those pics.

Lest you think she is a brother punching, eyebrow shaving hoodlum, let me just brag. She is funny, kind, bright, athletic and musically talented. She loves the outdoors and is a wonderful friend. And obviously, creative. She makes being a mommy the best job in the world.

I love to read...

I don't know where this came from. It is all over the place that it is some list from the BBC but I can't find it on their website. There is another list of 100 books voted as best by their audience, but it is not this list and nowhere does it say they think most people have only read 6. Nonetheless it is an interesting list. Friends have told me they wish they had time to read as much as I do. I read fast. So I think what they mean is that they want to read that many books. They are in no way insinuating that I have more time than they do. One friend said she only finds time to read when she is in the bathroom. I told her to eat more fiber and drink more water. Nonetheless, here are the books from the list that I have read.

Instructions:1) Look at the list and put an 'x' next to those you have read.
2) Tally your total at the bottom.(Seeing the movies doesn't count!)

1. ( X) Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. (X) The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. (X) Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. (X) Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. (X ) To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. (X The Bible
7. (X) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. (X ) Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. ( ) His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. (x) Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. (x) Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. ( ) Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. ( ) Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. () Complete Works of Shakespeare
16. (X) The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. ( ) Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18. ( ) Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. ( ) The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. ( ) Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. ( ) Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. ( ) The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. ( ) Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. ( ) War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. ( ) The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. ( ) Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. ( ) Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. ( ) Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. ( ) Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. ( ) The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. ( ) Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. (X ) David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. (X ) Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. (X ) Emma - Jane Austen
35. (X ) Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. (X ) The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. ( ) The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. ( ) Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. ( ) Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. ( ) Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. (X) Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. () The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. ( ) One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. ( ) A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. (X ) The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. (X) Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. ( ) Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. ( ) The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. (x ) Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. ( ) Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. (X ) Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. ( ) Dune - Frank Herbert
53. ( ) Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - I will be soon though. It is this months pick for book club.
54. (X) Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. ( ) A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. ( ) The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. (x ) A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. ( ) Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. ( ) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. ( ) Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. (X) Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. ( ) Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. ( ) The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. ( ) The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. (x ) Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. ( ) On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. ( ) Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. ( ) Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69. ( ) Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. ( ) Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. ( ) Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. ( ) Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. (x ) The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. ( ) Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. ( ) Ulysses - James Joyce
76. (X) The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. ( ) Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. ( ) Germinal - Emile Zola
79. ( ) Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. ( ) Possession - AS Byatt
81. ( ) A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. ( ) Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. (x ) The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. ( ) The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. (X ) Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. ( ) A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. (X) Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. ( ) The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. ( ) Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. ( ) The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. ( ) Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. (X ) The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. ( ) The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. ( ) Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. ( ) A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. ( ) A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. ( ) The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. (X) Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. ( ) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. (X ) Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

33! I guess I do read a lot. But all this does is add to the list of books I would like to read.

College app

Thank you all for letting me know it is worth it to keep blogging. Things are busy for me as they are for everyone, and I don't know how often I will get to do this, but it was so self gratifying to get encouragement from my bloggy friends. It was also a bit narcissistic and self-absorbed, but it was so validating of this use of my time. I do it for you.

I want to finish my college degree. I have an associates, which means I lived through my general ed. but it is a very old degree, which I hope does not necessarily mean that I am a very old person. Especially since I didn't even start college until 22. But at this point it is quite reasonable, according to the admissions department, that my degree will not be recognized. In which case, I don't know if I have it in me to start all over.

But all that is nothing. I started the application process. It was pretty easy. Until....the essay. I was kind of hoping that transfer students would not have to go through that ordeal, but alas, they do. Now I am trying to come up with a creative way of meeting the requirement of expressing my leadership and service qualities in a creative way and under 500 words that will wow my collegiate audience and win me the privilege paying a fortune for an education I hope I never have to use in the professional sense. I really like to be a stay-at-home mom and would love to continue in that role even when the kids are grown and out of the house. I want to do stuff, I just don't want to have to get a job and give up all my creative flexibility, but the reality is, someday, I will probably have to.

What's your major? A major dilemma. Should I go practical so that I can insure a better job that I hope I never have to get, or should I follow my passion? Being narcissistic, self-absorbed, not so practical and sort of free spirited, I am leaning towards an Art History degree, with maybe a minor in English, which qualifies me to do a whole lot of nothing. Honestly, I would love to work in a museum, which really would require a masters in Museum studies, but at this point I just hope I get accepted and my degree is recognized. I can change my mind later right? I mean, this is only the 5th major I have declared at this point and all I have to show for it is an associates. Liberal arts, English, Humanities, Home Economics, and Fashion Design. Hmm. Looks like Art History would make 6. Nothings set in stone right?

Maybe I will test out my 500 word essay on you all in the next week or so, and you can proofread, edit and revise. We can make getting me an expensive, possibly useless education a group project. What do you think?

I'm thinking of coming back....

I am thinking of coming back to blogging occasionally because I like to write stuff and it is fun to get comments, but I think maybe nobody even looks anymore because I haven't written in so long and it probably shouldn't matter, because really I just write for myself all journal-like but my friend did a class on blogging at church last night which reminded me that it was kind of fun, so I think maybe I'll try it again and see what happens. Anybody still out there?

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.