Music

I've been thinking a lot lately about the power of music. I work with the children in our church congregation, or ward. We've been encouraged to increase our use of music this year. And to be honest, I don't remember much about primary when I was a child, but I do remember the music we sang.

A couple of weeks ago I ran across a blog authored by someone I knew in Wisconsin. Apparently it has become somewhat of an international sensation. Her family was in our ward during my last 2 years of high school. She has since married a frenchman and has spent the last three years living in Paris. Reading her blog has transported me into another world as I've learned through her eyes and words about another culture and far away place. But besides that, my thoughts have been turned to her amazing family, and most of all to her mother. She has eight children and I just remember her being one of the most wonderful people I have ever met. I long to be even half the mother and woman she is. As dificult as I've found parenting one child to be, I find people who raise a large family with such grace and skill to be mesmerizing. This includes my own mother. I have this intense desire to know how they do it. Anyway, I came across a post about how this mom used music incessantly in their home. I instantly felt like this was something I needed to bring into our home.

I grew up with music. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of the songs I would sing with my mom. I took piano lessons for many years, played the violin for a few, and had a short stint with the organ. I also loved to sing. With others, that is. I sang in various school choirs all through high school. One of my biggest fears was singing alone, though. I also developed somewhat of an aversion to music in college due to some different events in my life at that time. So, music hasn't been a part of my life for a while. When I had Madeline, it took many months for me to be able to sing to her. I think I was afraid to hear my own voice. Not that it's horrible, but it's certainly not the voice of a beautiful soloist. I've slowly brought music into our home over time, but I've tried to use it more the last few days with amazing results. I've found more peace and joy during my day. The mundane household tasks have become easier. My child is more responsive with me and I have more fun with her.

It's a wonderful thing.

St. Patty's Day Cuisine

Food is on my mind this St. Patricks Day.

First off, I tried a new recipe on Monday, and it just may have been one of the most divinely delicious things I have ever put in my mouth. It was that good. I've found Rachael Ray recipes to be a little hit or miss, but this one is genious in it's simplicity and bright flavor. It's green, so it would make a perfectly good non-traditional St. Patty's Day meal, and it only takes 15 minutes. You really should try it.

I'm actually not a huge fan of corned beef and cabbage. I've never even made corned beef, but I have tried out cabbage a couple of times. Here are my tips to make it somewhat tasty. I think the best way to cook it is roasting it in the oven. Just cut out the core, cut it into small wedges, and toss it with olive oil. Spread it out on a baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 20 or so minutes, stirring it around after 10 minutes, until it's soft and caramelizing on the edges. To make it even better, squeeze fresh lemon juice over the cabbage before serving.

If you really must boil it or steam it (which I'll be doing tonight for the sake of time), try this sauce. 1 part dijon mustard to 1 part melted butter. Or, better yet, try the sauce over the roasted cabbage.

Also on my mind this week is my cute little girl and all of the crazy things she's saying these days. I think the best quote of the week happened as I was getting ready for work on Saturday. Madeline was in the dining room with her head on the ground and bum in the air trying to do somersaults. She said, "Mama, I'm inside out!"

Too Many Hugs and Kisses!

We are glad Madeline is finally loving to give hugs and kisses, but it's turned into a real bedtime problem. She's figured out that hugs and kisses are a great stalling trick. She wants a million of them, and then a few more. Every time I zip her up in her "princess bed" after having given her several hugs and kisses, she needs another, and then another, and then another... you get the point. While I love her to pieces, I really don't love to be maniputed by her 2 year old self.

Yesterday we decided to set a limit on bedtime hugs and kisses. It seemed somehow very wrong to limit affection to my child, and really strict to actually set a number for her. But it needed to be done for my sanity and her precious sleep. She was really ticked about it yesterday, in that she refused to sleep during her nap and screamed, "HUG!!! KISS!!!" for another 30 minutes at bedtime. Naptime today: not a peep.

As we are dealing with our little "terrible" 2 year old (who's really not all that terrible, but more now than she's ever been) I keep looking to the future, to her teenage years in particular. I've heard there are many similarities between the terrible twos and teenagers. I'm pretty sure that one stark difference will be that I will be wishing for more hugs and kisses from this girl.

Scatterbrained Sushi

I've been wanting to try my hand at sushi for a while, and found a friend adventuresome enough to give it a whirl with me today. It actually turned out better than I had expected. I know my food pics don't make food look appetizing at all, and the rolls are a little rough, but they actually tasted surprizingly good. We just made vegetarian rolls filled with brown rice, avocado, cucumber, and green onions. Next time I'll choose veggies with a little more color variety. I also need to work on my rolling skills. Other than that, I was pretty proud of myself. This friend and I set a goal to make something new and crazy every month. What to try next... any ideas?

One a completely different note, I'm pretty sure I'm getting more airheaded by the day. Can 20 somethings get alzheimers? I'm definitely showing some symptoms. I burnt the sushi rice first thing this morning. While that's bad, what's worse is that I didn't even notice the stench or the billowing smoke coming from the pan and filling our apartment until the fire alarm went off.

Then this afternoon I proceeded to lock my keys in the car. AGAIN. In the parking lot at work, again with Madeline. And again, Scott rescued us. This isn't something I typically do, although my recent pattern doesn't make it seem that way.

When we finally got back home, I noticed that I had left my hair straigthener on all day, and it left a nice dark burn on our bathroom counter. Something I'm sure I'll get charged for when we move out. Awesome.

Grand Prairie

Every week recently has brought a new fiasco for our family. Be it black bean disastors or indecent exposure, something crazy is always happening. Last week was no exception.

On Wednesday I decided to be a good wife and take flyers for an upcoming health talk of Scott's to various locations in Grand Prairie. It's a good 40 minutes away, at least when you don't take the toll road because you don't have a toll tag and really should. We started off at a couple of grocery stores with no luck. Then we tried the public library, with again no place to post community events. When we got back to the car I discovered that I had locked the keys in the car. Madeline was even more distraught than I was, crying, "keys, car!" over and over again. Luckily I had my purse and phone with me, which I had contemplated leaving in the car. I promptly called Scott, only to hear his voice mail because his phone was off. My phone was also on it's last leg of battery charge. After a few more phone calls I got in touch with a friend who's husband was sitting in class at Scott's school. She called him to run over to the clinic and find Scott. An hour later or so he rescued us.

Not wanting to ever drive to Grand Prairie again, I finished my little route of dropping off flyers. The only places that would let me post something were the ghetto laundromats. I'm guessing nothing will come of my trip that day, except maybe the gratitude of my husband for trying to help. Madeline did get her first taste of McDonalds as we crept home in rush hour traffic. She didn't think it was all that great.

I'll tell you, though, that there aren't many better places to be stranded than a public library with your diaper bag which you actually needed. It could've been a lot worse.