Tuesday, May 25, 2010

spt



i've mentioned before that my father is a keeper of fine vegetable gardens. thank goodness he's still at it, because that passion is not something that has been passed along to me! at Easter, Grampie had his granchildren help him plant a few things in the new garden. last night, we were treated to the first beans of the season.



no fancy food prep here! we ate them au naturel!!



Monday, May 24, 2010

spt challenge - au naturel



now, before your mind reels, let me explain that i am talking about food items today!!

summer is upon us! (well, unless you live in Utah, in which case...) we just bought a new grill, and i am almost jumping for joy at the whole new world of dinner options that has been opened! there is something so wonderful about easy summer meals. (and how is it that it seems easier to fit veggies into a summer dinner than a winter dinner?)

i do try to *focus* on fruits and vegetable that are in season. i can't say that my families' little attempts at eating fresh and local have made any difference in the huge world of the mass production/transportation/extended storage conundrum. but i do know that fresh tastes better!!

the strawberries have been excellent this year! are you enjoying Nature's bounty? what are you snacking on? we're keeping it "au naturel..." - leave the HFCS and partially hydrogenated oils out of this picture!!

Friday, May 21, 2010

flashback friday

so, holly had me rolling with her Bicentennial Ballerina flashback today. the memories of my own tap/ballet/baton-twirling routines & costumes from the '70s came flooding back.

without further ado, may i present the Charleston Flapper, who (according to the date of the newspaper) was tapping away just about a year after Holly's red, white & blue itchy tutu debut.



our costumes were dresses provided by our mothers, with fringe painstakingly sewn on (by our mothers). i remember being thrilled when my best friend and i showed up with the same dress! and being less-than-thrilled when our twin-ish appearance meant we would be positioned at opposite ends of the kick line...

that's me, closest to the camera. i love the look of determination on my face!



here i am again (and i believe this actually was our Bicentennial routine!) do you love my ponytails? and i even got to tap next to my best friend! but do you notice that look on my face. again?!? dance does not, and never did, come "naturally" to me. but, oh how i loved to perfom!! (still do!)

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

self portrait tuesday



it is terrifying to be a mother.

when you have a child, you open yourself up to a whole new world of anxiety. you worry over a newborn: is he eating enough? is he sleeping too much? is he breathing, for goodness sake.

and then you have a toddler and you worry about marbles and electrical outlets and separation anxiety. should we watch the news in front of him? where the heck did he find those scissors?!?

and the first day you leave him with a sitter. or a grandparent. or a teacher. those first hours when you obsess over how many things will go wrong, how many poisons he will swallow, how many times he will slam his fingers in the door, how many times he will slam someone else's fingers in the door...

the terrifying bike rides when he swerves too close to a car, the cannonballs that land too close to the pool deck, the stitches, the casts, the nightmares. these are all too soon followed by the learner's permit, the unchaperoned outings, the minutes that tick down incessantly to that first missed curfew.

and then, there are the werewolves...

Posted by Picasa


at first, you hear the stories, snippets of gossip in the drop-off lane at the elementary school. a family pet dead. a child missing. they are horror stories, of course, but told in the comfort of morning light, the sun's rays blur the vivid detail with which the tales are spun. by the time you've finished your morning's errands, grabbed another cup of coffee or put in a few hours at work, you've all but forgotten the chill that raised the hairs on your neck.

but your child has heard the stories, too, in their elementary school epic-ness, twisted and embellished until even the teachers cry, "enough! let's get back to long division."

and now it is dark. and your child is restless. the night sounds that used to be familiar are now echoing throughout the house, un-named. unknown. you touch the locks again, secure your safety as you peer out into the inky calm. they are out there, somewhere. these predators. these werewolves...

it is terrifying to be a mother.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

i know i told you things were a bit topsy turvy right now. but i assure you, i have not gone completely mad (well, that's debatable...) (some of you readers can just hush now...)anyhoo, i'm sure you've noticed this is no ordinary spt.

i don't know much about werewolves, and neither does my 9 year old son. yet. (well, there was that one episode of Wizards of Waverly Place recently...)

but Christine Johnson knows a lot about them. and today is the day that her first novel, Claire de Lune, is available for purchase! you can check out the prologue and the first chapter right here.

i've been invited to participate in the first ever Non "Book Blog" Tour and i'm thrilled to be in the company of some other fantastic bloggers who are helping to get the good word out for Christine! click on over and see how werewolves are popping up all over the blogosphere today!! (thanks for the invite, katie!)

[and, i'd like to add, if you are visiting amuse-bouche for the first time, please read on to learn a little bit more about this blog. and, by all means, feel free to jump into spt along with the rest of us!!]

Monday, May 17, 2010

the dirty low down

hi, my name is lelly, and i'm a former blogger...

[a-hem] [dusts off moniter; wiggles fingers over keyboard...]

deep
breath.
here
goes.

things are a bit topsy turvey right now. the hotel is busy, but not as busy as it should be in may and that's got me in a bit of a tizzy as i try to generate revenue, guarantee hours for my staff and reign in expenses. where are the people? are you traveling? more or less than a year ago? two years ago? do you make plans in advance or just wing it when you have a little extra $ to spend? i'm curious.

we have a musical revue opening this weekend, for which i'm covering keyboard 2 and the narration. which means, i should technically have opened my score and written some sort of narration. i've done neither, and it's getting to the point where the actors/muscians/director (named "dad") are going to notice that i'm not, shall we say, "prepared." GULP.

summer is fast approaching and my 9 year old is refusing to go to camp. as in "REFUSING!!!" at least, he's refusing to go to the camp where he's spent the past three summers. there are other options - he could do a week at soccer camp, a week at art camp, a week of swimming lessions. but here's the thing: i still have to coordinate all of that. and pay for it. and make sure he has transportation. this is a lot like WORK, people.

and, we've moved. i didn't want to move. but it is for the best and will hopefully help us save money and there really wasn't any other option. truthfully, i was hoping that the next time i moved i would be leaving the area, checking out a new town, with new opportunities. that i would be moving on my own terms.

but, i'm not doing any of those things. and so please excuse my lack of enthusiasm for packing up our lives and moving three freaking miles and living in the chaos of boxes during the most hectic part of the year...

and, matty, if you're reading this: this week sucks and i will be at rehearsal every night with the humidity and the mosquitos and the music i haven't yet practiced, so no more boxes will get unpacked which means you might not be able to find your good razor or clean socks for awhile, and, by the way, the dog can hop the fence so don't leave him unattended while you are helping jack learn the hoedown throwdown for "Fun" Day and Thursday is our TENTH ANNIVERSARY, so if i happen to forget it in the chaos of our life this week, "Happy Anniversary!"

my dinner last night consisted of rotisserie chicken and three hard pretzles.

i washed it down with a bad domestic beer, tried to catch up on my DVR list, inadvertantly watched the tail end of a horror/werewolf movie and proceeded to freak myself out the rest of the night...

Saturday, May 08, 2010

spt challenge - couldawouldashoulda



the year is winding down. the school year, that is. there is a rhythm of daily living that goes hand in hand with the school calendar, whether or not you have children in school! we remember it from our youth. we schedule vacations and get-togethers around it. our alarm clocks might be set at a different time because of it. think of the different things we cram into a typical "school" week: dinner gets put on the table (or not), trips are made to the grocery/convenience/big box store, multiple loads of [insert sport here] uniforms are laundered, homework is checked and projects are completed, left shoes are misplaced and sweatshirts are lost...

we are on a constant march to bed time it seems, in these school months. at the end of a day, we fall into bed restless and exhausted, our minds spinning already with the next day's tasks. we replay the day's events, wincing a little as we recall tense conversations and rushed moments.

we remember there was that one thing we wanted to do... that one relaxing, creative, fun, not-related-to-school-sports-piano-lessons-shopping-cooking thing we wanted to enjoy. we drift to sleep not refreshed and fulfilled, but thinking, "i shouldawouldacoulda done ________________________."

so what is it? what's the *one thing* for you? who do you want to do it with?
WHAT'S STOPPING YOU???