Happy 100th Birthday, Lubbock!

Last night was the opening celebration for the Centennial Lubbock Celebration. It was AWESOME! What a great show! And it was only $5!!!! Performers included Joe Ely, David Gashen, Mac Davis and Cactus Cuties & the Texas Rhythm Machine from the Cactus Theatre. The Cactus Cutie opened the ceremony with The National Anthem. WOW can those girls sing! Mac Davis of course sand "Happiness is Lubbock, TX in my Rear View Mirror." David Gashen sang "Bring Him Home" from Les Miz. There was a parade of 40 of Lubbock's greatest athletes. It was FABULOUS! The planning committee really went all out. I can't wait until the next events.
Here is the follow-up story that was in the AJ this morning
http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/030308/loc_253120182.shtml

Ultimate workout DVD

February's totals
14.69 hours
61.26 miles
6257 miles
March is going to be a stronger month for me.

I did discover an ultimate DVD to work out to. . .Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits DVD! TOTALLY! I decided to watch it this morning while I worked out and it was awesome! It has a great beat and rhythm, and plenty of opportunities to laugh at the 80s audience members. Laughing at the audience is one of my favorite things about the DVD. "America" "Sweet Caroline" "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" "Headed for the Future" complete with a TOTALLY TERRIBLE 80s video and my favorite "Forever in Blue Jeans" - which is my favorite on the DVD! All these songs remind me of roller skating in my driveway when I was in 4th grade to the N.D. "Heartlight" tape.

Blood, Soup and Tears

Monday night "my girls" came over for dinner and much-needed girl time. I decided to make 2 new soup recipes - Cream of Poblano & Green Chile and Creamy Sweet Onion. I didn't really have recipes for them, but had thought they out in my head.

I was going to prepare some of the ingredients Sunday evening after spending the day at my folks house - slice the onions, make the croutons, roast the poblanos. Josh and Meghan gave me a mandolin slicer for Cmas and it was going to be the first time I used it. I was pretty psyched. I don't know what possesses me to not use the slicing guard - even after my mom told me to be sure and use it - but I didn't even get through one whole onion before I sliced off part of my thumb. I'm not missing a chunk of my thumb between 1/2 to 3/4 inches long, and pretty deep. I began to cry and panic and called my mom. She and Dad came over and we decided I needed to go to the ER even though they probably couldn't do anything. Dad took me to the ER and Mom stayed home with Paddy. Before I left, Paddy offered me some of his "bubble gum medicine to make me feel better" and told me to be good. After 3 hours in the ER, in which I bled the WHOLE TIME, I got bandaged up with some gauze and Neosporin. My doctor was the worst doctor I have ever seen - inconsiderate, too busy and rude. He literally spent 1 minute with me saying he couldn't fix me because I couldn't get stitches and all he did was stitches. All that waiting for that comment. I was very obviously unimpressed with this man's care AND HE KNEW IT. I hope Covenant sends me a service survey. The nurse bandaged my thumb with lots of padding and it was large, kinda made me feel like I was in a Looney Tunes cartoon.

So, Monday afternoon rolls around and Mom offered to come help me finish cooking. I decided she was like my own little Ratatouille, like from the movie, only I wasn't in her chef hat pulling her hair to make my recipe. It was fun to cook together and to have her be impressed with my recipes.

All the ladies agreed that we have to do "girls night in" more often. And without further ado, here are the recipes. . . ENJOY!

Cream of Poblano & Green Chile

2 roasted poblano peppers, ½ minced and ½ pureed
3 slices of bacon
2 cans of whole corn, pureed with milk
1 can creamed corn
½ stick of butter
2 cans Campbell’s Cream of Poblano soup
2 can chicken broth
2 cups of Half & Half
½ block of cream cheese

Saute the roasted poblanos with the bacon until the bacon is crisp. Add all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil. Then let simmer for 30 minutes. Be sure to stir frequently so the milk and cream cheese doesn’t stick to the bottom of your dish.
Serve with tortilla chips and Monterey Jack cheese.

Creamy Sweet Onion soup
4 sweet yellow onions, sliced thinly –BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN SLICING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Olive oil & butter for sautéing
¼ cup flour
2 tsp hamburger or steak seasoning
3 can beef broth
2 cups Half & Half

Saute onions in olive oil and butter. Add flour and brown the onions and flour. Add the beef broth and half & half. If you want thicker soup, you can add a tbsp cornstarch mixed with water.
Serve with croutons and Swiss or Gruyère cheese.

Our weekend

Patrick has become a game-playing machine! He and I played at least one game of Candyland every night last week. We even play in Spanish - naming the colors and the numbers in Spanish.
Playing Candyland with Papa J. Papa J asked Paddy to "draw him a card," and Paddy said "Papa J, you play with these cards. You don't draw on them." I asked him what his favorite part of Friday night was and he said "playing Candyland with my Papa J."
Playing Spiderman Memory with Doodah. There were 64 cards - 32 matches! That;s a lot of matches for a little dude and his grandma. But I was very impressed with his memory while playing this game. I am so excited for him to get into a classroom.
Sleeping on on Saturday in his Spiderman bed. He also impressed me this weekend by starting a DVD all on his own in the Tech room. He put the DVD in the machine and knew which buttons to push on the remote. Is being able to figure out a remote genetically programmed into the male species?
With the Masked Rider at the 56th Annual Pancake Festival. I love his handlebar mustache!

Top 10 reasons I am looking forward to spring 2008

Spring 2008 can't get here fast enough! C'mon March 21. . .

1. Planning & celebrating Patrick’s 4th birthday and taking another picture with Coach Hays
2. Cheering on Patrick during his first season of tee ball
3. Evening trips to “Patrick’s park” and having picnics
4. Tech baseball and baseball tailgate parties
5. The tulips I planted last fall finally blooming
6. Planting all yellow flowers in my flower pots & re-decorating my back porch with suns
7. FINALLY wearing shorts – I haven’t worn shorts since before Patrick was born
8. Buying a new spring wardrobe of single-digit-sized dresses
9. Opening the windows to let the spring breezes blow through my house
10. Celebrating Mother’s Day

runner-up: landscaping on TTU campus especially the tulips in Memorial Circle and around the Will Rogers statue

NASCAR and Science

I went with some of my students this morning to judge a science fair at a Lubbock Elementary. There was one project that totally crushed me. The topic was NASCAR. But it gets better. The research question was "why are NASCAR cars and trucks faster than other cars and trucks?" the research, evidence, analysis were pictures of NASCAR cars and trucks torn (not even cut) out of magazines and taped with masking tape to the presentation board. The conclusion was that "NASCAR cars and trucks are faster that other cars and trucks cause of they have new engines (spelled incorrectly, but I don't remember how badly) and they have alot (sic) of HORES power." YES, if you did now know NASCAR cars and trucks have HORES power. I was crying I was laughing so hard. The lack of science in this science fair project concerns me and makes me question the teacher's involvement with the project, but it made me laugh laugh on this Friday morning.

TGIF, friend!

Much needed affirmation

Patrick was at home with a high fever again yesterday, so I got to stay home with him. I have never seen him as sick as he was yesterday and have never felt someone as feverishly warm as he was. His eyes were so unlike Patrick - just no sparkle. He didn't want to move at all from 11am to 4pm and he refused to let me leave his side. All he wanted was for me to tickle his arms and his back and to read him books. I gentley combed his hair with my fingers as he slept. Is there anything better? It was very therapeutic for both of us.

It was a good feeling to be that needed. It was an affirmation I had been lacking for a while. This whole "single thing" has been tough for me because I feel a "need to be needed." I think that has been the hardest adjustment as far as the loneliness goes.

His fever eventually broke and he was a new kid. He barely ate all day but then scarfed down a whole bowl of mac'y'cheese. And he wanted to watch Superman. While we were eating he was telling me all about Superman and who was who and that Lois was pretty and Lex "Lufer" was the bad guy. He aslo explained to me how volcanoes "b'plode" - complete with "b'polding"arm motions. I laughed for a while then explained that they explode. He also switched gears to Staw Wars and told me "sometimes, Anakin has crazy hair and sometime he has pretty hair." So then I had to question why Anakin had "pretty" hair if Patrick had "handsome" hair - trying to draw the distinction between boys being "handsome" and girls being "pretty," which Patrick is aware. Then he changed his rave to "sometimes Anakin has crazy hair and sometimes he has handsome hair." I am so thankful for my son who continues to make me smile and laugh and give thanks to God for him every day.