Snow, cont

In case you can't see the snow from the last picture, here is my view
right now- sitting T the dinning room table- looking out the back
door - watching snow fall and listening to Charlie Brown Christmas. To
complete the experience, I will now go make some chai. Happy Holidays
from Austin, TX

It's snowing!!

Yay! Yes, I recognize it is but a few tiny flurries, but even this
much is typically an every-other year occurance for us and so it is a
big deal.

Hometown Hero

Best post-game interview answer EVER!!

Reporter: And for those people, Vince, who questioned whether or not you could still play at this level in the NFL and be consistent... what is your answer to them? (to this question, i am recoiling, annoyed and kinda wanting to give the reporter a sharp elbow to the stomach, or maybe stomp on her toe)
Vince: (after half a pause, looks straight into the camera and with a giant grin) I love y'all, too! ha ha ha {turns and runs off to hug old friends on the other team)

I love Vince Young. After all these years, he's still an incredible player, full of determination, fun to watch and I just want to hug him! =)

I have never really liked Pro football, always felt like something about it just seems glitzy and over-done that doesn't fit the essense of 'football'; anyway, all my sports energy is poured into College Football. However, I think I might start watching and cheering for the Titans. It's just like the old days. Turns out, you can go home. =)

Right here, right now

These are the things on my mind right now on this lovey rainy morning where i've been so fortunate to work from my kitchen table (and yes, in my pajamas). When not on the VP's WW Town Hall meeting or plowing through emails and fielding urgent work calls to my cellie, i took a couple moments to peel an orange, watch the rain fall and listen to "Dear Mr. Fantasy" off the blog. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

Here's what's on my mind:

1) Peeling oranges. Turns out, I love peeling oranges. seriously. always have. never really appreciated this until earlier this week when a co-worker seemingly went bonkers at seeing me peel an orange, belaboring how much she *hates* peeling oranges. Didn't know you could hate it; I enjoy it quite a bit. it's fun to punch my nail into the peel, it smells so good when that delicious orange oil squirts out and then the gratification of scratching off the bits of rind that remain... you get the picture

2) I had the funniest dream last night that keeps replaying scenes in my mind. Mainly that the shorty came along (which in the dream we knew exactly how early he'd arrived) but i realized that i couldn't remember what labor was like -- so that was good-- and he was okay, even if three months early - and then i was holding him and he was a sweet fluffy grey kitty. We were SO excited and SO in love with the little furry fella. =)

okay. that's all i got for now. happy friday, friends!

Talkin' Chai

Did I ever share how to make Chai from scratch? It is so super delicious; and I don't know if it is in spite of or because of the 5-8 minute effort over the stove that it is such a treat. I learned how from my wonderful Indian friends almost two years ago now.

Yesterday we went to Juanita and Frank's 70th Wedding Anniversary (you don't attend a "Platinum Anniversary" Celebration every day) -- more on that later -- and I think being around Juanita inspired me to make something with a little extra effort this morning. And OH was it worth it.

So here's how to make your own Chai at home as I learned it from Mita -and in the spirit of a Juanita recipe, I don't have exact measurements, just a general guide. Anyway, and all the best recipes seem to come that way:
-Start by measuring out your water to approximately how many glasses you intend to serve (for this example, I'll say two teacups) into a pan
-Boil this water along with:
-1-2 pods of cardamom, crushed to make sure the little black seeds come out and maybe a few of them are lightly crushed
-1-2 heavy sprinkles of cinnamon
-3-4 slices of fresh ginger - Mmmm (if no fresh ginger, go with 2-3 sprinkles of ground ginger if you must)
-2-4 cloves or about a 1/4 tsp of ground clove
-1-2 light sprinkles of nutmeg
(the more you make it, the more you'll be able to micro-adjust the spices to your liking)

Once this is boiling well, add a spoonful of loose black tea and stir. The length of time from now until the end will determine 1-how caffeinated and 2-how bitter your tea will be. the longer, the stronger. I usually let it go for about 1 minute or less.

If you are going to sweeten, you want to do this as close to the end as possible. So once it's boiled a little longer with the tea, add in your sugar and give it a couple swirls with a spoon. Because I'm already being fussy will making this lovely treat, I've only ever used turbinado (raw sugar), but I'm sure any sugar (oh, or even honey?!) would work. As an alternative, you can of course sweeten each cup after serving.

As soon as the sugar is dissolved, which isn't long-- or if no sugar, once you feel your tea has steeped long enough: you are ready for the final step.
-add milk (or half and half, which -surprise, surprise- is what I use) until it is a creamy carmel color.
-a dollop which might be ~1 teaspoon mexican vanilla (this is my modification since rarely have vanilla bean pods on hand and this adds lovely flavor. if you had a vanilla bean, you'd slice, scrape and boil with all the spices at the beginning)

this will temporarily cool off your water and it will quit boiling. a few seconds longer and you're done. let it heat back up until it is steaming and almost scalded, but don't let it boil again or your milk will separate.

remove from stove and strain either directly into heated tea cups (i have a lovely little 1/4 cup mesh strainer that works perfectly) or a pre-heated tea pot. I just swirl a little hot water in there first so it doesn't cool the tea too much.

Voila! You're done. Sniff, sip and enjoy. OH! and by the way.... your house is going to smell incredible for the next couple hours now.

Do me a favor? Let me know how it works out.

A Tale of Busting your Tail

Once upon a time, in a town not far away at all, there was a girl who worked very hard. Too hard, some might say (often even herself). But she continued to bust it, which often meant long days and sleepless nights, laden with stress.

"I'm tired of this crap!" she'd say. But it didn't matter, the work and the foul-ups that she had to handle, just kept coming.

Then one day that was another one of those 'the sky is falling' kind of days, the boss man had a meeting with her. "You can't let this fall through" he'd say, "you've got to make sure this happens, it is crucial for the business" and on and on. She took it like she always did. "I need you to bust your a$$ on this."

Okay, buddy, this was pushing it, she thought, and quickly jumped in with a pointed, yet light-hearted "Do you imply that I am not busing my a$$?!" He assured her he wasn't and carried on.

And then it happened: sandwiched in between rattling off reasons why this was so important and things she could do to make it better, he slid a folded piece of paper in front of her and said, "you deserve this." She was a bit confused and as she started looking at the paper he said: "but you can't tell anyone!"

It occurred to her that she might have just received something very valuable with that sheet of paper... But there hadn't been raises or promotions in so long, it was generally accepted that it was just a myth that they ever happened at all. Nonetheless, there it was, laying in front of her.

Though there was no time to slow down and appreciate her good news and affirmation that the results her work had been impactful to the overall business, that monkey of frustration that had been on her back just seemed to crawl off and sit politely at the corner of her cube.

And then her phone rang again...

The End.

Happy Maddi-ween

the little munchkin was a baker this year. much more "grown up" than last year's whoopee cushion but playing the part just as well! she loves that hat.



oh, and those are mushrooms she is 'slicing' with her spoon.

Best Comment of the Week

I love this:

So I'm wearing a lovely new sweater today and a shirt under it. In other words: some padding between the two layers I have on, one of which is rather thick.

Keep in mind that Shorty continues with his routine kicking, flipping, etc.

After a meeting today, this very sweet guy from the catalog team asked how I was doing. I replied "good" and laughed something about his wiggly-ness today. He responded immediately by looking concerned and shaking his head with "yeah, I didn't know if it was rude to say anything, but your sweater kept moving around and forming bumps during the meeting..."

Just to be clear: I classify this comment as awesome. I feel bad for the guys in the office that feel like they can't say anything or it's inappropriate to acknowledge the bump, etc. ...and as soon as you open the door for them, they come gushing about it. It's good stuff.

Humor with a Pregnant Perspective

Plowing through the 2nd trimester-- can't believe we are about to turn the corner in to the 3rd. Not much to report besides continued growth and constant activity in the belly. I no longer have to lay down or lift my shirt to see the little fella kick, flip and punch away... walking around, sitting down, wearing a shirt or thin sweater: there it is - The alien baby in my tummy pretending he is John Bonham.


With all else being a bit status quo: I offer my list of
Surprising (and mildly inappropriate) Things People Say to Pregnant Women. This is fun for me because as these happen, I just generally nod and go along with it - but on the inside, I'm shouting: are you kidding me? Seriously, people??

Without further ado, here we go:

1) In reaction to my mentioning that I can't/won't be carrying furniture upstairs (absolutely no other mention of physical activity): "Seriously? Um, you'd better stay active, otherwise you may not make it through labor. I mean, are you should at least be doing pilates??" (note: this person was not speaking from personal experience)

...Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence that I 'may not make it through labor.' wow.

2) The well-meaning, co-worker: "I mean, I don't know how you women do it, knowing that in eight months, then seven months, then six months, and until the end... KNOWING you are going to endure the most excruciating pain of your entire life."

Yes, thanks for the reminder. How uplifting. =)

3) I'm going to not recount the horrible pregnancy stories here, i'll just group them into a category (heard two over the past few weeks). But in general, you don't walk up to a bride and groom and start telling a story of a heart-wrenching divorce so what makes people feel the compelled to tell a pregnant woman a friend-of-a-friend's story of some one they know who had complications and baby died at 24 or 32 weeks? mind boggling. And the trick here is, if I respond with that I'm really thinking ("you a-hole, what is wrong with you to tell me those horrific details and tell that story that really was unnecessary!?"), I sound like a hormonal pregnant lady who is overly emotional and out of line. Now, if this story is a friend or current, then by all means, i'm not asking for censorship here - just hoping to pass on the sensationalism of someone telling the awful story of someone they don't even know (nor are they sure of the exact details). Yes, there are lots of sad stories out there - but again... let's remember the bride and groom and try to keep things in perspective.



Okay - that's all i have for now. Eagerly awaiting your feedback on stories you've heard. =)

View from here

On a bench
Under a Live Oak
In the park
On a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.