What An Angle

Who thought up this flower? It’s tremendous and quite heavy. I know there are places in Italy that have fields and fields of sunflowers growing rampant. It has to be one of my very favorites and if I were to become a flower, it would surely be this one. It is the happiest flower I have ever seen.

The Service Department

Even though today is a milestone in my relationship with my husband (it’s our first-kiss anniversary), here we sit in the service department of the Volkswagen dealership. Auto maintenance and repairs are always something that, while important and necessary, they tend to pop up when one least expects it.

After $1,800.00 in repairs just a few months ago, last month he brought the VW into get a routine oil change. Guess what … another projected $1,100.00 in repairs and four new tires. Oh boy! Well keeping the little Beetle in good running order is essential and a good safety measure.

In the spring it was brakes. In the fall it is tires. It always comes as a bit of a shock when you have been told the price (parts and labor), is one amount, only to be told that it is in fact, $257.00 more.

Now it’s a very good thing I came along because my husband sat there and took it. The price increase, I mean. Whoa! I jump into action, whip out the written estimate and advise the young man that just yesterday afternoon, I spoke with Francis and she confirmed both prices. The guy says he’d check on it.

About 45 minutes later I meet with him and he claims we were quoted the correct amount, but for the incorrect part. Oh, they made a mistake … that department will have to eat the difference, because they will honor the written quote. Great!

Now as I sit here writing about this little drama, I wonder how many of you out there would have just taken it? The price increase, I mean. And how many of you would have taken the reins and driven another outcome?

Pork Chops

Pork Chops

Rinse your meat and pat excess water. Salt and dredge with flour. Heat fresh oil in skillet and fry until golden brown. Be sure meat is cooked, but not overcooked. Drain oil from pan and leave in drippings and 3-4 TBSP of oil in pan. Mix 3 Tbsp flour in 1 to 1 1/2 cups water and pour into heated drippings. Cook down until big soft bubbles. Season to taste.

Fridays For Freedom

I’d like to think that the contemplative look on her face was due to a reflective moment she might have shared with another. We are surrounded by beauty, bombarded with it. No matter how many times every day I get to witness it, I am always humbled by the fact that, while our world may turn topsy-turvy now and again, we are incredibly enriched by our immediate surroundings.

With the exception of today’s, last hurrah, 96º weather, the coverings have been removed from the skylights and at night, around 3 AM, the moon and stars or clouds drift by, while I am enclosed inside the condo, perched atop a whirling world spacecraft. A living, recycling planet that is taking us on her long voyage.

Stop and smell the roses that still bloom. Watch the colors burst forth from within the surrounding trees. See the squirrels gather nuts from the ground. Listen to the sound of birds overhead as they begin their flight south. The sounds of Autumn, and the fact we are alive to witness them gives us a freedom to be. Fridays for freedom to share our own beauty with The Universe.

WFD Tonight?

BBQ chicken breast and veggie orzo is a good blend and a balanced meal.

Theresa’s Cabbage & Sprout Orzo

6 slices thick bacon

1 bag frozen petite brussels sprouts

1/4 hunk fresh cabbage cut into small square pieces

2 large outside cabbage leaves

1 cup uncooked orzo pasta

Salt & Pepper to taste

1) Boil water for orzo and make sure you have enough. Salt just before adding pasta. (5 min to boil and 10 min to cook)

2) Fry bacon until well-done and crispy. Place cooked bacon on paper towel to cool.

3) Cook brussels sprouts in the microwavable bag 5 minutes.

4) Reduce heat under bacon drippings and add butter.

5) Add chopped cabbage and some salt, and saute while stirring for about 3 minutes.

6) Add Brussels sprouts to skillet and stir. Add more salt and pepper.

7) Drain almost all of the water from the orzo (leave  little pasts water in pot)

8) Add orzo to skillet and stir.

9) Rinse the two cabbage leaves (cut the end spine piece in a V-cut) Microwave on a paper towel for 1 minute.

10) Place a cabbage leaf on each plate and spoon cooked food onto each cabbage leaf.

11) Sprinkle bacon on top and serve.

* Yields 2-3 servings

Sock Monkey

He’s an oldie but a goodie. Throw him in the washer and patch him up. He’ll be as good as new. Cosmo likes to play with Sock Monkey’s frayed tail. I try to hide it from him. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get my needle and thread to fix him up. Then a spin around the washer and a bounce in the dryer.

Captain Picard We Need You!

Where are these people when you need them? I have come to the conclusion that the reason so many people love Star Trek (all versions), is because in the future no one uses money, nor is anyone lacking in the barest necessities of life; food, shelter and clothing. Plus, it seems everyone goes to school and academy, or college, because education is also free. Learning is encouraged and humanoids from all walks of the universe are embraced, rather than scorned. That is unless they are troublemakers but that would be the premise for another episode.

the whole point is that in a world of plentiful abundance we need to stop destroying our resources and start teaching people to grow and be self-reliant. We need to educate, clothe, feed and help build homes for them. Either push up our sleeves and help, or do the right thing and donate something on a very regular basis.

BloggersUnite.org is hosting Stand Up and Make Noise and grab the attention of The United Nations (MDGS). See below.

Objective:
To provide an opportunity for Bloggers to MAKE NOISE to impact the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Review Summit this September

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Review Summit will be held on 20-22 September 2010, in New York. This is a High-level Plenary Meeting the General Assembly of the United Nations to review how the promise to End Poverty by 2015 is faring. Stand Up Take Action End Poverty (SUTA) working with the EndPoverty2015 Millennium Campaign are mobilizing for three days prior beginning Friday September 17th till Sunday 19th. The big push will be this September 18th, 2010 for One Day of Unified Global Action taking an idea from the Africa Campaigners Retreat held in Malawi, to “Make Noise for the MDGs!”

The purpose is to encourage people all over the world to take part in common global actions which are designed to grab public, political and media attention and to make sure that the global movement in support of the MDGs are seen and heard in every corner of the globe.

* Please visit and sign up and write about this event. Make some noise.

Brain Freeze

I’ve got brain freeze and it isn’t because I drank something too icy cold, it’s because I am so relieved my niece has finally delivered her beautiful daughter, last Monday, September 13th @ 11:40 PM. Now they are home and I am so thankful everyone is doing just great. Last night I slept for eleven hours, because I was relaxed for the first time in months. Literally … months. Now that the grand event has taken place, I will be able to focus on my little domain, although I must admit that the little beauty keeps popping into my head.

My husband and I went to the grocery store Tuesday night. I have already picked out a soft yellow Woodstock with a plastic clip. A Cat In The Hat book ready to paint with the watercolors and brush (they came as a package deal), and my husband picked out a $10.00 card (On The Day You Were Born …) 9″ x 9″ which plays Star Wars Theme. We are smitten by this tiny little Baby Girl. She is going to wrap us right around her fingers. She has long fingers, too, so perhaps she will love the piano. I hope she will want to take ballet classes. We’ve decided every time we shop for us, we’ll throw in something for her. Why not? She has stolen our hearts!

September 11, 2010

I want to move onward from the hurt this day can still bring, to the future. I want us to move on and to celebrate the lives of these victims, so they have not perished in vain. They would want us to move on, to forgive and to find new ways of communicating with other countries and all peoples … in peace.

My memories are of the combined spirits chosen to be angels. I’ll let them guide me to love and peace. They shall never be forgotten and hopefully they will guide you, too.

Spicing Up The Holidays

Please click on the photo to enlarge it, because I want you all to be able to see just how beautiful these spices, herbs, roots, nuts, vegetables and beans look. The ambiance of this marketplace, from its rug-covered earthen floor, to the atrium lighting by the windows overhead, caught and held my attention. I am always on the lookout for beautiful scenery, especially when it includes food.

Read More …

Food Excites Me!

Can You See The Beauty?

I wonder what she was thinking as she stood frozen for a second in her dance. She looks like a satisfied woman who is looking into the distant future and seeing exactly where she is headed. Or perhaps she is thinking about a lover who is far away at sea and hoping he can feel her tamped down fires of passions. Whichever it might be there is no denying how lovely this young woman is.

Even though I didn’t snap this shot, had I been present and holding a camera, I surely would have caught this expression, too. There is beauty all around us. One cannot leave their immediate area without having beauty surround them. That we do not always stop to look about us carefully is undeniable. Too many times we takes these things for granted. We are in a rush We are complacent with the things we are used to or have grown accustomed to ignore. What fickle creatures we are. We ignore things as we tire of them. Just like children who discard their toys, we toss things, even people aside and search for the next interesting thing, or fling, or attention grabbing item just around the corner.

is it any wonder there are uncountable stars, grains of sand, subjects, inventions, colors, skin types, decisions, choices? We are intellectual beings and we’re on a living planet. What a wondrous world it is. the next time you leave your house, really stop and look at the intricate possibilities and blades of grass, trees, bushes that are teeming with life and register all of the beauty that is awaiting you. Just like the beauty of this dancer, the world is a beautiful place.

TV Tuesday

Masterpiece Theatre, White Collar, Covert Affairs, House Hunters International.

Quiet Day

Quiet Day

~~~~~~~

Cup of joe

Nowhere to go

I don’t know

Don’t mind

At all

Footballs fly

On my TV

Teams run

They play

Whilst I watch

Swirls of cream

Float around

Listening today

Miles Davis’ Portia

Quiet Day

©  All Rights Reserved Theresa H Hall

Freaky Friday Hearty Pasta

Freaky Friday Hearty Pasta

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 LB Ground Chuck

1 med onion (chopped)

1/2 LB cherry tomatoes

1 LB mushrooms (sliced)

1 red pepper (sliced)

3 cloves garlic (minced)

1 just ripened avocado (cut up into chunks)

2 tsp Italian dried spices and herbs

1/2 tsp paprika

salt & pepper (to taste)

1/2 LB your favorite spaghetti – type pasta

Instructions:

1) Boil plenty of water in a large pot. Add salt just prior to boil. Add pasta and cook according to directions.

(add pasta when you have reached the half-way cooking point of the rest of your ingredients)

2) Heat  large saute pan and when heated add the ground chuck. Break up the meat as it cooks.

3) Add onion right away and cherry tomatoes, too.

4) After one minute add the red pepper and stir.

5) Add sliced mushrooms and continue to stir.

6) Add in the minced garlic and the olive oil, then the spices and herbs.

7) Just before it is finished, add in the pieces of avocado and gently toss and warm it.

8) stain the pasta, add it to the saute pan and gently toss. Salt & pepper to taste and drizzle the remaining olive oil on top.

Serve immediately. Makes 3 to 4 servings.

Crocheting 101

So I was watching a learn to crochet video but I messed up. I didn’t figure out the square thinamagiggy and so I made up my own style. Now it seems I have made something to serve a breakfast egg in. The color is very pretty. I need to practice some more and then get someone to show me how to make the granny squares.

I want to just do it. I don’t want to lose heart for this project. The baby will be arriving any minute now and I want to make her something cool. I need help!

Update: The baby … she is a week late. Our beautiful niece is going to be a lovely new Mommy!

Update: If Baby doesn’t come soon, tomorrow New little Mommy will be induced. Prayers for Divine Order and perfect, Healthy Delivery and all is well! Thank you Father!