Not Forgotten, Just a Bit Over-extended

Okay, so between the girls spring-break, my twin sister & my brother-in-law coming to visit, my trip to Mumma's on Easter and rehearsing for the upcoming show next month I haven't had much time with my computer & internet... That's bad and I am starting to go into withdrawl! Hopefully, I will find the time to sit and update you guys on the Rachel days as I know you must all be going into withdrawls as well seeing how fabulous I am (impish grin.) I have been keeping up with you guys thru' your blogs tho', I just haven't been commenting as teething twins are making anything beyond reading next to impossible... Okay, gotta go get ready to rehearse for a Fri evening performance which will turn into a birthday bash at the Mirage later for Grace one of the newest troupe members. BTW, Angie & Sonja I'm totally ticked about the Goodwill trip without me -- yeah, I saw that!!! Don't worry tho' Ang, you buttered me up early with the purse so I'll hold my grudge against S~ longer. Gotta run -- must go punish S~, ummm, I mean rehearse.
Blessings!

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After Dance Dinner

My eldest daughters had dance class last night and Dayton's been working 12 hour shifts since last Thursday. With 5 kids, you can imagine that going to the grocery store without backup is quite the undesirable project so looking to the pantry and freezer for dinner... need I say that pickins were slim? It's 1:30pm. I have to have everyone in the van & ready to go by 4pm and I have to prepare dinner for a family of 7 to be ready by the time we walk back in the door after dance classes at 7pm. I hadn't pre-soaked any pintos for the crock, besides I'm out of cornmeal -- just uncivilized to have beans without cornbread! That roast isn't defrosted and I'm out of onions & potatoes... Then I notice the spaghetti squash from my garden last fall; it's fell off the vine while it was still green and has spent the winter on my counter ripening tho' no longer growing so it's small as spaghetti squash go but it just may do... I pull out the good knife, slice it in half, scoop out seeds (saving enough to dry & plant this year) toss it in a pan cut-side down, pour in just enough water to roast & in the oven at 350 for an hour. Now, what else? There's a pack of turkey Italian sausage in the freezer... into the sink to thaw. There's a can of crushed tomatoes and still a few of my roasted tomatoes in the freezer from last fall (can't wait to start harvesting romas again this year so I can restock!) 1:45 -- Operation dinner is in full swing. Out of the kitchen and back to the babies while the squash roasts and the sausage thaws. 2:30pm -- I couldn't get back to the kitchen 'til now but it's hard to over-roast squash (just make sure it has enough water) so it's all good. I take it out of the oven and set it aside to cool while I start cutting the still semi-frozen Italian sausage into inch size pieces to brown (semi-frozen so it's soft enough to cut thru' but doesn't crumble when piercing the skin.) Toss in several peeled cloves of garlic toward the end of cooking the sausage (no mincing, just peel & toss) and back to that squash -- 10 til 3 & it's cool enough to handle now. Scrape the meat of the squash with a fork into corningware and add basic italian seasonings (red pepper, basil, oregano, etc...) Open that can of tomatoes and a couple roasted tomatoes -- toss 'em on the heap, stir it a bit so the seasonings mix & I don't have that naked clump of stringy squash on the bottom... Throw the sausage & garlic on top and toss back in the oven at 200. Upstairs to get girls ready for class and the other 3 ready for a few hours away from home... 7pm -- everyone is now hungry and begging for LongJohnSilver?! The smell of victory greets us as we open the garage and all mention of LongJohn disappears. The girls ran to the table to wait for me to dish out servings then fell on it!!! My camera's batteries were dead and the girls could not wait the hour for them to charge so no pics this time around but take my word it was a pretty dish (and filling!) I could have told them it was squash not angelhair, but who would have believed me. I LOVE spaghetti squash, I feel like such an Italian food outlaw! I am officially out of my home grown fare now tho' -- time to start planning a garden and pre-treating those food stains.

Okay, so this actually happened a couple weeks ago (before I opened this blogger account) but it was so tramatic (and funny) that I felt it still worth posting...

This is my son T~ stuck in a child's rocking chair. Hard to tell in the picture but his bottom isn't touching the ground so he's having to squat. After 15min or so I started calling people for help and had his sister find me a pillow he could sit on... While I was making phone calls A~ ran across the street to get the neighbors. After Autumn (neighbor) & I still couldn't get him out (at least half an hour at this point) she went and woke up her husband Matt (who works night shift.) We tried everything, we don't have a saw & neither do they so back on the phone to get someone to bring one. Poor baby was terrified and I sat cradling the whole rocking chair trying to comfort him!!!

Finally (after about almost an hour stuck) Matt was able to break the back of the chair where it joined the arm and I was able to slide him out. What an adventure!!! How did he even get there!? I've always thought "If you can get in, you can get out!" Now I know better... Of course, the garage door opened about the same time that the back started to give way so D~ got home just as we got T~ free and swooped in to give the "It's okay. Daddy's got you. Everythings fine now..." love... Geesh, I tell ya! Mommy endures the screaming, comforts during the whole dilema and makes freedom a reality then Daddy reaps the glory... I did get the pictures tho'... My friend Bernie says my kids are gonna take me on Dr Phil someday! Probably, but if we document the good times and triumphs with pictures I think we should also have some of the tramatic (but hilarious) moments to show future girlfriends!!! I call it leverage for future behavior modification!!! Does that make me a bad mom? No, it makes me a great mom who knows she needs all the tools at her disposal to successfully create respectful, well-behaved teenagers/young adults who know the power the Momma holds over their lives... Mwahahahaha!!!

The Creative Process

Why do some people insist on dissecting the creative process? I see a piece of art (song, dance, painting, design) as something birthed out of inspiration and sweat and then I watch it evolve into what it ultimately becomes (usually with a great deal more sweat trying to keep it alive.) It is much like child-rearing, art... has a life of it's own which can run-a-muck if not directed but still an entity all it's own. Not every one sees art this way. Many choose to needle it, pick at it, and dissect it. I realize that these are well meaning individuals who just want to figure it out and "get it right" or whatever, but to dissect a thing you must kill it... This is my irrational rant for the day. Moving on...

Song of Incense