Lots to Talk About

And gee.  Just this morning I thought I’d never blog again…

Man, that was a tough four days.  Thanks for all the nice thoughts.  I mostly was trying to say that if you will re-frame (ooh, a W.W. term) your thinking and your expectations of ‘a good day,’ that just a moment or two is enough to refresh.

However, that is not how I felt this morning.  More like I’d been run over by a mack truck.  Adding to the mix of the last few days was some kind of ominous malfunction in my car.  Every light on the dashboard would light up, and it would almost lose power.  We will be limping down to the auto repair shop tomorrow.

That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, though.  It forced me to stay home.  I skipped church, cancelled another evening meeting, and skipped going to the gym, the grocery store, and Walmart.  Noah got a TON of attention, and as a result (I think?) he was quiet a whole hour before it got dark!  First dinner I’ve eaten in peace in quite a while.  Really, the last time I ate at home I had him on leash next to me, and I would take one bite and then correct him.  Take another bite and then correct him.  I know.  I’m making you more sorry for Noah than you are for me LOL.  [which reminds me of June’s hilarious post about how she HATES LOL.  I like it because when Monk (the detective, not the famous dog) was trying to be cool he said “LOL out loud.”  LOL.  I can’t help myself]  Now, where was I?  Oh, I guess I want to tell you about all the wondrous relaxing(?) things I did today.

Started the day with one of my blueberry scones and some greek yogurt (used as clotted cream.)  This is really really an excellent use of greek yogurt.  Yummmm!!!  (I think that’s another thing that annoys June (adding extra letters.)

Then to a project that I keep forgetting about because I was dreading it.  It involved figuring out how to do something new on the computer.  Aaaarrrgh.  But, to make a long story short, I DID IT!  And the pictures are miraculously already waiting for me at Costco.  11″X14″ enlargements for $2.99.  I can hardly believe it.  They are the pictures of the litte kids in the slums in Kawangware (the place I am going to visit in Africa) and I will use them when I display the ‘Africa’ quilt at church next month.  I want to share these pictures with you–waiting for permission from the photographer.

Noah is trying to figure out what the fascination is with the big white screen that Mom stares at all the time…

Then, finally, I set out on a long walk with Noah.  I took a backpack with a GIANT apple, a homemade protein bar, a bottle of water, and a book.  I was hopeful that Noah might let me sit for a minute and read and eat. (I used to do this with Oliver all the time.)  We went down to the little stream and waterfall.  Well, he didn’t really relax, but it was FUN!  I ate my big apple and read a little bit, and he explored, as much as you can explore on a 6-foot lead.  Then he noticed all the STICKS!  It kind of looked like a little beaver dam, but I think it was just a bunch of branches that got caught on the rocks in the stream.  STICK HEAVEN!  Once he got his feet wet, he really had fun splashing around.  I hurried to finish my apple, and tried to get some pictures of him in the stream.

And a couple of shots of the little waterfall.

On the way home I noticed some beautiful wild flowers.

And finally, we ended our walk with Noah’s perfect ‘Stick of the Day.’

I love that look of happy satisfaction when he finds just the right stick and gets it perfectly arranged in his mouth.  There’s a lot of tossing around and picking up and putting down that goes on.  I think its actually because his teeth still hurt.

Well, a wee bit of quilting, a little reading, and some weeding ensued.  I had some of that tofu edemame salad for a late lunch.  And when dinner time rolled around, I wanted something quick and easy and light.  Had one more of those little puffy tortilla thingies in the frig, and made a real quick, but DELIGHTFUL meal.  I realized that these things fulfill my love of cheese enchiladas.  And do you know enchilada sauce only has 15 calories in 1/4 cup???  So I chopped some romaine lettuce, a couple of little tomatoes, and one slice of onion.  I put the lettuce, tomatoes and half the onion on the plate and sprinkled a little garlic salt and pepper.  I put the rest of the onion in the pan with the pupusa (that’s what these things are called) to cook.  When the pupusa was good and hot, I plated it, and then put 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce in the pan with the onions, just to heat it through, and poured that on top of the pupusa.  Yum.  Yum. Yum.  Because when I have a cheese enchilada, my favorite thing is to eat a bit of the lettuce garnish with each bite of enchilada.  I love these things so much, I checked the label so I could tell you what they were in case you ever see them.

AND…drum roll please… I made my first batch of frozen yogurt tonight.  I’ve been eyeing this yogurt maker for over a year, and I finally ordered it.

It arrived a few days ago, and this was my first chance to use it.  And surprise, I had a fresh batch of homemade yogurt to use in it.  I looked at a couple of recipes, and then just used these three ingredients:  one pound of strawberries, 1/4 cup of sugar, and 2 cups of yogurt.  I didn’t want it too sweet, since I seem to crave the ‘tart’ flavors at the frozen yogurt shops.  I am going to have a cup with a few walnuts and chocolate chips on top.  Oh, wait.  I’ll take a picture of it for you!

The verdict?  Yummy.  Tart, but sweet enough.  A little icy, I think because of the high ratio of fruit.  No doubt many more frozen yogurt recipes will follow.  I will make smaller batches so more opportunity for experimenting!

Habanada, everbody!