One Day Later

Yesterday's garden... parsley still happy in its pot. Heather and primroses and promises of spring.












This morning we awoke to a snowstorm and 6" has fallen. There were cross-country skiiers on the soccer field. Dogs doing crazy donuts. Our dog Boomer couldn't get enough of the snow - as soon as he came in, he cried until I let him go out again. Norris stopped to help the elderly neighbors who were having a tough time wheeling their trash cans to the curb. Traffic was stopped and there were many cars in the ditch on the "S" curve just outside our neighborhood.

Me? I just stayed home and made chili, shoveled the walk, dealt with some paperwork, and had a snow day, one of life's unexpected pleasures.

Roots

Remember Tremors? The 1990 Movie with the big wormy things that chased Kevin Bacon & Fred Ward around the Nevada desert?

I hate to admit it, but at my home inspection today, the inspector found a big root had worked its way under the foundation and it wormed its way into the crawlspace. I could think of nothing other than Tremors! I haven't mentioned the similarities to D. yet, but I'm sure once we figure out how to deal with the root, he'll share the joke with me.

It's still pretty cold here, and I'm sad to hear of the enormous damage done to the citrus and fruit crops in California. Gosh, I hope the vinyards are OK!

I have to share a new recipe. Yesterday I decided to use the brown bananas in the fruit bowl rather than throw them away. I knew there had to be a good recipe out there for a low-fat banana bread, and I found a sugarfree one as well. We're enjoying the bread very much and I hope you do too.

Low Fat-Sugar Free Banana Bread

16 servings (one Weight Watcher point per serving)

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cut unsweetened applesauce
1 Cup Splenda Sugar Substitute (I used Splenda Brown Sugar)
2 eggs
1 Cup mashed bananas (I used about 2.5 bananas)
2 tablespoons skim milk or orange juice

Grease loaf pan
Mix all ingredients
Bake in a 350 degree oven 45 minutes
Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out cleanStore at room temperature up to 3 days or in refrigerator up to one week.

Claire went back to Arizona today. She has two really exciting job interviews coming up and we're so anxious to see what happens. We know she'll chose something wonderful and they'll be lucky to have her! (I'm voting for the job that involves trips to Paris and Australia!)

I wish she were here to watch the Golden Globes with me. We always enjoy critiquing the dresses.... I'll have to mention my favorites tomorrow. I am thrilled by Jennifer Hudson's win.

I met a great organizer today. In spite of the fact that I'm not exactly neat, I know where everything is. But I know a few people who could use her talents. I cleaned my closet yesterday and I'm going to have fun dressing now that I've uncovered a bunch of hidden gems. And I have several large bags to donate.

I bought valentines today!

A Cold Saturday

Wow, it was chilly today! Thank goodness for my car's heated seats! What a baby I've become after growing up in Wisconsin!

This morning I spent some time with my book, (I may never finish!) drank lots of coffee with Norris & Claire, and finally decided to head out around noon to look at pants at the GAP. I didn't get pants, but I found two wonderful sweaters on sale for $10 each!

In case you're wondering about the deal I was working on yesterday, we were able to pull it together & D has a new house! I also started working with M - a fun-sounding young condo buyer, who was a referral from Becky. Becky filled me in on her sister, Carrie (they are both clients and such awesome girls) who adpoted a beautiful baby girl from Ethiopia! I got a chance to hear all about it, and perhaps I can share a link to her blog...Maia is a gorgeous 6-month old girl! It's so fun for me to re-connect with my past clients and hear how their lives are going.

Last night I switched gears and tried a new recipe, which turned out to be quite good, and very easy. It was bow-tie pasta with tomato & brie.... here's the details...

While cooking a box of pasta, chop about 2 large, or 3-4 roma tomatoes, 3/4 cup fresh basil, 1/2 small red onion, 2 cloves garlic, and 12 oz brie (in small cubes) ... toss it all in a large pasta bowl with salt & pepper, and when the pasta's done, just stir it all together. The heat melts the brie, warms the tomato, & it's so delicious & quick!

I checked in with Cam and his first week of the trimester at U of O was great - he and Whit have a table tennis class together! He's also taking math, econ, psychology & a business computer class. Sounds like the musician is veering towards business. (yay!)

I'm finally getting used to my new Blackjack phone. It was hard to give up on using a Treo, since all my data was in Palm format, but the new model had such horrible reception that I had to return it. This slim, sleek little Blackjack has already made me forget all about my dear Treo! Converting all my data wasn't too horrible, and now I'm back in business.

Tonight we watched Little Miss Sunshine - what a funny, dark little film. It gives me high hopes for my nephew Scott's movie, which premieres in June at the L.A. Film Festival. Watch for news on Kabluey, starring Scott Prendergast and Lisa Kudrow. It's also a dark comedy, which he wrote, directed and starred in!

Yesterday I signed up to volunteer with the Western Farm Workers Association. I'll help deliver food, clothing & other resources to seasonal and service workers. The goal is to assist workers as farmers are being squeezed by growing competition from overseas. (I remember my mother helping migrant workers in Wisconsin when I was growing up and the crush I had on the cutest one of the boys, Rudy.)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Welcome

I've fiddled around with blogging during the last year, and read my favorites every day, so it's high time I get started with a blog about my little world. There's always something going on in my life, and of course you know I love to talk about myself, so welcome to my premiere post in the blog that's all about me.


Last night we had dinner with a business associate of Norris' and his new, young girlfriend. Claire joined us (she's leaving to go back to Phoenix on Sunday) and we had a nice, cozy dinner at Mingo. ( I had the Mingo salad - a very lemony caesar-like salad and seared scallops over lentils & arugula) The restaurant has 100-year old farm tables and lots of candles, and the best olive oil! It was so delicious and so olivey (imagine that!) that I had to ask what brand it was. It turns out it's their own "marinated" olive oil - they throw in a bunch of olives, bay leaves, rosemary, whole cloves of garlic & a touch of red pepper flakes and marinate it for a while. Then it's strained - it's still cloudy in the decanter - and served with amazing soft, crusty italian bread. I wanted to swipe the bottle. But instead, I'm going to try to make it myself!

Later last night, Cousin Charlie arrived in a hot new Mustang. He'll be visiting family and friends in Portland for 10 days and he's staying in our big, almost empty house. He's tons of fun and we love having him.

I'm working with a very fun new couple who have offered to buy a cute little house on a big corner lot. We're just a smidge apart in the negotiations, and last night we made one more attempt to come together on price. I'm very hopeful that today we'll seal the deal. If not, I get to spend more time with them, which is fine, since this all went very quickly and they're fun!

Today I have to spend at least a couple of hours reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. I'm on page 100 of 607 and I need to finish in time for my Book Club meeting on January 25. We have no major weekend plans, though Claire and I rented four movies and I feel like making chili or hearty soup of some sort.

Tonight's dinner: Thai-Style Steak Salad, courtesy of Martha Stewart.


One last thought...

Is it necessary to update my business card photo? It's about nine years old. A crucial nine years. But my hair is the same. So do I need to fess up and get a new photo? Because I don't want to.

Have a fun day!