A summer morning in the life of yours truly: I got up at the beautiful, godly hour of 10:15!! Delicious!! (Of course, I get to bed after 1:00 most nights). At 10:45, with my puffy, unmade up morning hair and face and pulled on clothes and only coffee in my gullet, took kiddos to 3rd morning of swim lessons. The lessons are at the cool, revamped pool which is large, shallow, and has lots of neat water features. There is a large, curvy water slide, a winding river with water that moves you, and a sprayground feature you can climb on that has water coming out of various holes. Zach and Jessie are progressing well with their lessons. Zoe, I think I may have mentioned, will do her lessons in a few weeks with a friend. She is a little irked to have to only watch, as I half expected. William skinned his elbow really bad this morning, and, as is his VERY PERSISTENT nature, extended his crying through the pain, and the blood, and the bandaid applications, and the trip to the candy machine, and the anger at not getting the candy he wanted. I actually got two packages of whoppers for the price of one! One for Zoe, and one for him. We had to hang out in the dressing room for a time and have a LITTLE TALK. Only 10 minutes later, he was eating his whoppers and dancing happily by the pool chairs.

I thought the kids were in danger of getting burned at the outdoor pool, but it has been between 60 and 70 degrees, and mostly overcast. A little chilly for swimming, but dem's da berries.

Yesterday, got some algae killer for my fish pond/pot and looked at filters. Got Zach some vittles for his reptiles. Made Paula Deen's shrimp and grits for dinner--rich and deliciosa!! Anyone out there also a Paula Deen fan? I just discovered her new magazine, and have already made 2 recipes from it, and plan to make a third, crabcakes, soon. I have mountains of laundry, as is usually the case. I should exercise and mop. Veggies and flowers need watering. Can I get my soul around medical transcription? Should I give up? Tonight's dinner: potato cheese broccoli soup, using chicken broth to cook the veggies in.

This morning, William made up a song he sang OVER AND OVER again: "We're not going camping now. We're not going camping now." The tune, if you can believe it, sounded very much like Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire"!! So you'd sing it to the part that goes, "The taste of love is sweet...."

Father's Day at the Fam's

Bear Prayer

I read this joke in Country magazine, and thought for sure I could remember it and tell it to my family. Well, I proceeded joyfully, and absolutely forgot the main part altogether. My Mother and I are both mentally retarded when it comes to telling jokes. (Bless her heart). I did NOT inherit my Father's Irish joke or story telling ability, unfortunately. I actually had to tear the joke out so I could tell it to my family properly and share it with you.

A Minister was hiking in the woods one day when he came face-to-face with a huge grizzly bear. Knowing he couldn't outrun the beast, he dropped to his knees and prayed: "Oh Lord, have mercy on your humble servant. If I could ask only one thing, please make this bear a Christian." The minister heard a noise and looked up just as the bear dropped to its knees with a thud and folded its front paws as in prayer. Awestruck by the miracle he had just witnessed, the minister heaved a huge sigh of relief. Then the bear began to speak: "Lord, bless this meal that I am about to receive..."

Uh-oh! Hot dog!!!

CROATIAN CHICKEN WITH SOUR CREAM

1 lg fryer chicken, or 1 whole chicken, cut up
1/2 c. butter
3 T. flour
2 tsp. paprika
2 c. sour cream
1 lb. sliced mushrooms
juice of half lemon
1 T. chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste.

Wash chicken and cut into pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Melt butter over medium heat. Fry the chicken in hot butter until golden on all sides. Place in a well greased baking dish. Add flour to butter and cook approximately one minute. Add lemon juice, mushrooms, paprika, and sour cream. Season with salt and pepper. Pour this sauce over the fried chicken. Sprinkle with parsley. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for about 45 min. till chicken is very tender. Serves 6.



CHICKEN CALIENTE (KING RANCH CASSEROLE)

3 lbs chicken breasts, or 1 whole chicken, cooked, reserving
1 cup broth.
1 lg onion, chopped
1 lg. green pepper, chopped
2 T. butter
1 tsp. chili powder
dash garlic salt
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tomatoes and green chilies, drained and crushed
1/2 lb cheddar cheese, grated
12 corn or flour tortillas, cut into strips

Bone chicken and cut into bite sizes. Saute onion and green pepper in butter. Combine chili powder, garlic salt, soups, broth, and tomatoes. Place 1/2 of chicken in a large casserole; top with 1/2 soup mixture, tortilla strips, onion and green pepper, then cheese. Repeat layers. Cook covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes; then uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes. When I made this the first time, I used a soup can pretty much full of broth. The second time, maybe a half can. If you skimp on broth, the tortillas don't puff up as moistly; they're better moist than just dry strips.

Hi, my name is Lori, and I throw sea anenomes

I actually tried posting pictures of my growing garden at least twice, but it wouldn't work. Problems with the page or something--connection timing out, try again. Hmph.

A few days, William was getting cozy with me in bed. He looked at the open area under the eaves and told me he saw.......a rabbit. It was white, and it was "eating a yanwich." Ha ha!! He also sang almost perfectly Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which was SO heartwarming! :)

School is out in 1 week!! Thank you, Jesus!!! I am so ready to not be chilly, as in, bring on the summer weather!!

I plan to start the girls on swim lessons for the first time. I sign them up the day school ends. Maybe I'll do Zach after their session is over. (Three kids with lessons at once adds up, dontcha know). Saturday, at the school down the road, I took the kiddos and 2 neighbor kids to an open swim for a little while. The rule is, I have to be in the water with them, unless they are older and proven swimmers. So, I got in the warm water (indoors) and held William the whole time, in his swim diaper (wonderful things--those). This was something I was doing FOR THE KIDS, but it ended up being totally fun. There was a poolside basketball net, some balls, a plastic sea anemome, and a plastic stuffed alligator floating around, which I took advantage of, like a fool. I was throwing them to and at my young charges. I get an unbelievable kick out of throwing flotsam and jetsom at loved ones--always have. There were a fair amount of people around, and blissfully, I didn't care. I was surprised at how much exercise I seemed to have gotten just playing! I was sorry we couldn't stay longer! But holding William the whole time did tire my arm.

I also bought a book of piano music right before the swimming. I have had this untuned piano for what--2, 3 years? Have I bought any new music since having it? Had it tuned? NO!! The music I have is hand me downs from my childhood music lessons and my parents' house--pathetic!! Apparently, I was waiting for the earthshattering suggestion/direction from my husband to go down to such and such music store, when I didn't have the kids, and GET SOME MUSIC ALREADY!!! Cuz it was so hard to think of that myself. Sheesh!! It really is surprising how much it meant to me to just have someone else give me that obvious instruction. The music store, which I had not been in before, was SO COOL. They sell instruments and accessories and tons of sheet music. Big store, lots of good energy. Picking 1 book was a challenge, but I'm happy with what I got. I probably spent 4 hours this weekend playing--unheard of!! It also has guitar chords, so Chris can dink around with it, too.

Is anyone interested in a couple of awesome chicken recipes I have/will make for the second time in a matter of weeks? If you are, let me know, and I will post the directions. One is Croatian chicken, and the other is King Ranch Casserole.

Bikers for Jesus

I am a Harley babe, now, did you know that? Chris and I took a moonlit ride last night, tight leather and all......... Yeah right!!! HAHA!! Actually, he MADE me get on that little dirt bike with him. First he had me in front, which was ridiculous, and he was going a bit too slow in the alley, and I really thought he was going to go straight into this shed. So then I got on the back and really had nowhere to rest my feet. We had no helmets, and I was wearing a skirt, and it was twilight, but my BAD BOY and I rumbled out of the alley, in front of our house, across the street, and back. I was really scared to death and had to hold on tight while resting my legs on air. I prayed that we weren't going faster than our guardian angels could fly. I couldn't have stayed on any longer, cuz my butt was RIGHT over the exhaust pipe. HOT. When I got off, I was kinda shaky, but we both had big stupid grins on our faces. Yes, it was illegal. More of a rush than this desperate housewife has had in awhile. I could get used to rush, I think.

Ta da!!

Zach took his first day (out of two) of SATs today. He thinks he did well. We'll see.

Chris bought him a dirt bike for his birthday, and that is exciting, but the kickstand was welded on, and it doesn't stay running. ARGH!

I went with Jessie on her field trip a week ago to the Washington History Museum. It was quite exhausting. And I found out yesterday that one of the other moms that went actually PASSED AWAY within the last few days!!! I don't know how yet, but isn't that SHOCKING!?? She looked not much older than me, I spent a number of hours chaperoning a field trip with her there, she had like 3 kids, and now she's gone forever!!! Yikes!!!

On a brighter note, I got some more stuff planted in the front yard today. It started out muggy and dry, and I was positively inspired to get petunias, large yellow marigolds, snapdragons, alyssum, and geraniums. I got done just as the rain started. My raised bed full of veggies is really coming along nicely. I took a picture, but it doesn't do it justice, plus it takes 6 and a half weeks to upload. My Mum stopped by for lunch today, where we ate on the front porch. The two chairs out there plus my old white "shabby chic" nightstand(with potted alyssum in yellow tin bucket and a small candle lantern as accessories) from my teen years are a recent addition, and tre cute, if I do say so myself.

Happiness is getting cool stuff for cheap at Ross and Goodwill! Yay!! I got several new outfits at Ross and this antique looking green colander and red jello/cake mold at Goodwill (.99 each!). Those 2 items are now resting on the wall above the stove looking like I paid 24.00 each at an antique store!!! Smug, glib, and smart are feelings that come to mind.

Need a new quick dinner idea? Here's what we had tonight: pasta salad with canned salmon, ranch, quartered cherry tomatoes, fresh parsley, green onions, cooked broccoli. It could have used some extra zing from, like, flavored salt, but it was quick and healthy.

"I had long realized that she [my mother] was no longer my most powerful amulet against danger........And I suppose the reality of no amulet at all against the great, killing wounds of life was simply too awful for me to deal with." --Anne Rivers Siddons,in King's Oak