Counting Sheep

i am not certain that anyone truly knows of my deep love for sheep, other than my old pal Jessie.  This video makes me think of Jessie, too much Bulmers, Wheatabix and how happy and awesome sheep are.

When we were wee freshman at Young Harris College (actually rising sophomores -- the top dogs back when you were only lucky enough to stay at YHC for more than two years if you failed Ms. Nation's Statistics class), Jessie and i enjoyed a two week study abroad trip in Ireland.  Yes other students were there - but most important, of course, were Ms. Collins and Ms. Johnson, respectively.  The trip was the beginning of a fast friendship for which i am extremely thankful, but that is not what i am here to talk about.  Despite my husband's belief that my whole world actually revolves around Jessie -- i have other things to discuss.  (Only 3/4 of my world is about Jessie - sometimes only half.)

So back to the sheep!
These little fellas were not the livestock of choice in my hometown... not a huge demand for wool in South Georgia, i suppose.  Needless to say, until my exposure to the lifestyle of these creatures on my Irish stint, i did not fully appreciate the sacrifices they make for us.  These guys scale rocky cliffs sporting humiliating colored spots on their butts, seeking blades of juicy grass and rays of sun, all to grow a sweater for me - sweaters for everyone!  And now, after watching this video, i find out they are performers as well!!!!  Tis a dream come true, indeed.  This is just one more thing that makes a girl want to steer clear of a sheep on her fork.

Speaking of nixing the sheep from my fork.... we had the BEST dinner last night.  i day dreamed about it all day today.  Butternut Squash Curry. y-u-m.  i found the recipe on Country Living's website, on the same list of vegetarian dishes that i found the roasted celery recipe.  Here is the link to the original: http://www.countryliving.com/cooking/recipes/vegetarian-recipes-curried-pumpkin-peas

i had butternut squash leftover from a few days ago, so i substituted the pumpkin with it.  i also used purple fingerling potatoes (my favorite variety of these sweet dirt jewels) rather than a red skinned.  We had the curry over brown jasmine rice.

Jeff and i have actually been doing really well with the "Weekday Vegetarian" plan.  At least Jeff has been doing well when i am planning his meals.  He has admitted to eating chicken tenders at work.  i am sure it is inconvenient for him to find meatless meals in his professional kitchen, where he is the chef.  (sheesh)  

We have tried some awesome new dinners, and i have lost some unsightly poundage.  i feel great!  Cutting out meat from our weekday diet is a plan i will certainly continue for life.  But, i must admit, i am looking forward to the beef empanadas we are going to have on Sunday.

My Mama Made Me Do It (well she tried anyway)...

Check out my shower door.  (Excuse me, OUR shower door...)  i took the photo from inside the shower so y'all could see that, YES, it opens in AND out!!!!  i am oh-so-proud of our bathroom.  You can see a little reflection of it on the door.

Do not worry.  This is not a blog about a shower door.  Well, maybe it is.  It is really a blog about my new friend, the squeegee.

Dictionary.com defines "squeegee" as:

squee·gee

skwee-jee, skwee-jee]  Show IPA noun, verb, squee·geed, squee·gee·ing.

noun

1.

an implement edged with rubber or the like, for removing water from windows after washing,sweeping water from wet decks, etc.

2.

a similar and smaller device, as for removing excess water from photographic negatives or prints orfor forcing paint, ink, etc., through a porous surface, as in serigraphy.

verb (used with object)

3.

to sweep, scrape, or press with or as if with a squeegee.

4.

to force (paint, ink, etc.) through a screen in making a silk-screen print.

In this case, i am talking about the tool (noun definition #1) which i use to do the action (verb definition #3).  Below is an image of my little friend.

So here is the thing about a carrie and a squeegee.  When i was in high school, my mama bought a squeegee for me to use on the shower door in my bathroom.  But i didn't.  Maybe once and a while i would do it for kicks, but really i just felt like i didn't had the time to be bothered with wiping water off of a door every time i bathed.

Oh, younger carrie, what was your problem?

Now - i feel like i have accomplished something great when i squeegee the shower door.  i am aware of what a small task it is, but just taking care of a little chore after my shower makes me feel like i am working toward being a successful homeowner.

Oh, later twenties carrie, what is your problem?

But i do not think that Jeff is using the squeegee.  Which i think is okay, due to my history that i just mentioned.  As long as there is a 50% chance the door is being de-streaked, we should be in good shape.  But then today i was thinking about how he does not use the magical window cleaner and then i started worrying about if we have kids, they will probably be a lot like a younger carrie and a current Jeff.  So there will be more and more showers and only ONE person cleaning off the door!  i am so scared.

And then i thought about today being Wednesday and realized i had taken a vow to blog on Wednesdays.... So my shower thoughts from the morning were all i could come up with to write about.  i apologize.  i am still going to post this blog and share it on Facebook and Pinterest.  

If anyone has any tips on getting a husband to do little things he thinks are silly, please share.  Likewise, if anyone has any tips on how to make a wife understand that husbands do not find the same things important that she does - share away as well.

Here's hoping for a better post next week!!!!

This Time the Quest is Serious...

2013.
This is the year to become an adult.  To become and stay better organized (because i have discovered that organization is key for any sort of productivity on my part).  And to pursue the life that i want to lead.
It is ALL so exciting!

So far, i have started the MPA program at GC&SU.  i have established a small little workout schedule. i put everything in my calendar.  i have committed to becoming a "weekday vegetarian," which should be fun.  i am getting up earlier. And today, i am writing a blog post (an activity that i will add to my calendar to be a weekly Wednesday occurance)!

i want to tell y'all about the delicious supper the Vandervers had last night.  i found this roasted celery recipe yesterday on CountryLiving.com. 

http://www.countryliving.com/cooking/recipes/vegetarian-recipes-roasted-celery-blue-chesse#slide-25
We had celery at the house, so i thought i would give it a whirl for our first official "weekday vegetarian" meal.  IT WAS DELICIOUS!  i modified the recipe, using rosemary instead of parsley and pistachios and pecans instead of walnuts.  i also did not use any cheese.  We enjoyed it with a side of yellow rice and cleaned our plates, thank you very much.  i am telling y'all, even Jeff liked it.  This is most definitely going onto the repeat list.

Ingredients

Salt
Pepper, freshly ground
3 bunch(es) celery, tops trimmed, and halved lengthwise
1 cube(s) diced celery
2 tablespoon(s) extra-virgin olive oil
5 tablespoon(s) honey, divided
2 cup(s) apple juice
5 ounce(s) blue cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup(s) walnuts, toasted and chopped
1/4 cup(s) fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Submerge celery halves in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and transfer to a baking pan.

Drizzle oil, then 3 tablespoons honey, over celery. Season with salt. Pour apple juice into pan and roast until celery begins to brown, about 25 minutes.

Transfer celery to a platter. In a small bowl, mix blue cheese, walnuts, parsley, and remaining celery. Season with pepper. Spoon over celery, drizzle with remaining honey, and serve.





Read more: Roasted Celery and Blue Cheese Recipe - Country Living

 

a mildly green thumb

i've done it!  i've harvested TWO banana peppers!  i prepared them with diced tomatoes, coarse ground mustard, a little red wine vinegar and some sweet Vidalia onion as a relish for a very delicious chicken, spinach and feta sausage dog that was accompanied by a warm potato salad.  We enjoyed this meal a few days ago for lunch.  i love it when i get to cook any meal, especially lunch, for Jeff.  He likes it when i have food on the table, or stove as it were, when he has been cutting the grass.  He claims it makes him feel like a farmer.  Cute.  

He has a way to go before he's a farmer.  But the yard certainly does look good.

In addition to the banana peppers there are a few jalapenos waiting to be plucked.  They are beautiful!  Next year i'm going to try out the tomatoes and maybe even some squash.  Watch out Harmony Crossing Farmer's Market.  A fool i may be, but Cristen was right.  i CAN grow a pepper!

Farewell Professional Gardening Career

i suppose i'll need to purchase and read several gardening magazines, because my hand certainly lacks a green thumb.  i don't understand it.  i like to entertain, i love antiques and yard sale discoveries, i'm a pretty good cook, and i am mildly creative.  Doesn't being a great gardener just fall right in to place with those qualities?  

Apparently not.

For my first ever home-grown crop i planted banana peppers, jalapeno peppers and yellow bell peppers.  I had heard, Lord knows where, that pepper plants prove to be stronger than others and successful in nearly every environment.  Well that can't be right, but you get the idea-- "A fool can grow a pepper."

This fool has produced three pretty, but fairly weak looking pepper plants.  i keep talking to them, watering them...and yes cheating with the Miracle Grow...  The plants keep growing, seemingly smiling, though meekly, back at me.  And last week a banana pepper appeared!  A glorious, baby banana!

i cannot begin to describe my excitement.  Everyone i came across knew about my pepper.  i began dreaming about how we would use the fruit when it was ready to harvest. If the plant produced nothing else, i would be satisfied with my one perfect pepper.

The next day i bought the 2010 Oxford American, Southern Food Edition, and found this statement in an article written by Warwick Sabin: 

"It used to be that keeping a few free-range chickens, tending some grain-fed hogs, and raising a small vegetable garden was how people simply survived.  Now these are often vanity projects for young hipsters and retired hedge-fund executives who have discovered the forgotten pleasures of 'heirloom' tomatoes and artisanal sausage.  Incredibly, we've reached a point in our society where things that humans have done for thousands of years-- grow a vegetable, smoke or cure a piece of meat--now provide the grounds for smug satisfaction."

A valid, heart wrenching point.  "However," i thought, "this is just the first step.  Soon i will be growing vegetables with the best of them.  If not for survival, at less shocking checkout at Publix."  My smugness was still allowable.

i skipped out the next morning to sing to the little pepper, "Oh what a beautiful morning. Oh what a beautiful day. i've got a beau....."  It was lying in the soil.  By the looks of the crime, a sneaky snail ripped the fruit off the plant, had a tiny snack bite, then left it there to rot in shame.  

Failure.  

This fool can't grow a pepper.

But i'll keep watering and keep singing and keep hoping that something else will grow.

And i'm happy to take suggestions....  

Wycleff Jean said this morning on NPR's Morning Edition that Miles Davis is a staple on his ipod.  He says Davis provides a boost to his own creativity.  i have just added a Miles Davis station to my personal Pandora package, hoping to boost my own creativity.  Well, that and i wanted to listen to good tunes.

  On another note.  Yesterday a gentleman, a member at my club, asked to make a reservation for Mothers' Day Brunch.  His name was Cheney.  i asked, flirting, as i do with the older men, "Oh, is there any relation to the vice president, i mean the former vice president?"  

"Only in our politics," he replied.  "And you were right in saying Vice President."

i simply smiled, and took the reservation. 

Polite.  Painful.  Perfect.    

Easy like Sunday Morning

Sundays in the Springtime have long been some of my favorite days.  In my childhood and teenage years, they sometimes began lounging around St. Simons Island with the Johnsons and ended with coffee or dinner at Grandma's with the Herndons.  

In college (specifically Young Harris) there would be sporadic church, Southern Sunday Style lunch either at some Blairsville Baptist buffet establishment or at the dining hall with the Methodists, then what we termed "Sunday Adventure Day" would ensue.  We would pick out a destination in my North Georgia trails and waterfalls guidebook and spend the day exploring creeks, hidden towns and ice chest graveyards.  During our final semester at YHC, my Sunday evenings were spent to the wee hours with Sallie, my best friend and fellow procrastinator, developing our photography assignments that were due the next afternoon.    

Athens Sundays were always a treat with all the endless options for brunch and mimosas on a patio.  An entire afternoon spent with friends outside The Globe is surely not a wasted one.

What is special about a Sunday is not just the lounging, not just the piddling, but the company that is kept.  My favorite Sundays have always been spent piddling, lounging and laughing with people i love.  All this is to preface what a wonderful Sunday was had yesterday.

Late yesterday morning began with pecan banana pancakes (mine topped with yogurt, Jeff's with chocolate chips and syrup), turkey bacon, coffee and mimosas in the backyard.  The dogs frolicked, the ducks swam and we relaxed at a perfectly set patio table.  After brunch i cleaned the kitchen and Jeff began clean-up on the poor, neglected boat... which i will continue this afternoon.  

Next we hopped in the Jeep and eased over to Rock Hawk to do a little leisurely hiking.  We climbed the lustrous new observatory tower to view said hawk (who hasn't been as well preserved as his eagle cousin), explored an old cemetery where a soul hasn't been buried since the 1800s, met a 3-legged dog and her foster sister, and Jeff expressed, again, his disdain for random children. (i, however, admired these easy going kids clad only in their Spider Man briefs and cowboy boots.  What a way of living!)      

On our walk back to the car we received a surprise telephone call from our favorite uncle named Tony and our favorite aunt named Michelle who were on their way back home from beautiful Wilkes Co. Georgia and were hoping to stop by and visit their favorite niece and nephew. 

"Is it okay that i invited them?" asked my respectful husband.  

"Of course," i replied, thinking that is was a friend on the phone, NOT an aunt and uncle.  "We just need to speed up a little so that i can straighten up a little.... Nick and Katie, probably won't mind a little mess."

"That wasn't Nick, that was Tony.  They're 49 minutes away."

Horror ensued, we still had about 25 minutes left to walk and another 10 to get home.  "Shit! We have to get to the car right now!"

Friends, this is one of those times that the perfect southern woman may "curse in moderation."  As you have all been told, Masters week just recently left us.  As you have not been told, i was not able to handle the 90 work hours, the loving of the husband and dogs, the fitness routine AND the household maintenance.  Some things on the list were neglected.  The cleaning being number 1.  Now, i'm not saying we were living in filth.  i'm just saying some clothes were piled on seating surfaces, some shelves were not dusted, some papers had not been thrown away, and some things in general were just not straightened!  

Jeff insisted that we need not rush, Tony and Michelle loved us and would understand and not judge our mishaps.  

i insisted that he pick up the pace, that i was striving to be the Perfect Southern Woman, and that i would die before i let anyone see dirty panties on my floor or magazines strewn across the living room.

So he did just that, all the while laughing at my foolishness.  We cut the walk time down about 10 minutes, rushed home and straightened our humble abode.  And yes, i'm guilty of throwing some things in places they do not belong, but i would like to know who isn't.  

They arrived just as i was dusting my last shelf,  and we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon in the backyard with apples and pepper jack cheese and a fabulous Tex-Mex supper in Greensboro.  Plus, Michelle let me drive her shiny new red Volvo convertible to the restaurant!   

i can't imagine how yesterday could have been any more perfect.  There was brunch, there was adventure, there was cleaning, there was family and there was leisure.  Bravo to Springtime Sundays in the South!