Just rediscovered this gem I jotted down from a round of cards during Christmas break. Kind of makes me wish I was 12 again:
Youngest daughter: "Sometimes I just change out cards because I feel sorry for them."
Laughter. Heads shaking.
Son: "I change out cards, but I do it so people won't know what I'm doing. Not for stupid reasons."
Youngest daughter: "I believe everything has feelings."
Husband: "Even a piece of paper?"
Youngest daughter: "Everything."
Monday, January 25, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
A change in perspective
Nothing this morning seems quite so important as updates emerge about the devastation of yesterday's earthquake in Haiti. News of the impoverished country enduring yet another round of suffering and hell is almost too painful to read.
Making lunches, dropping kids off at school, drinking the morning coffee and getting ready to teach yoga — the daily routine lacks substance and meaning. Everything I might have cursed yesterday about what is wrong and hard in my life returns today as a mocking reminder.
For an up close and personal view of Haiti, its people and Tuesday's destruction, check out this blog — http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/ — written by Tara Livesay, a missionary from Minnesota, living in Haiti with her husband and children.
Making lunches, dropping kids off at school, drinking the morning coffee and getting ready to teach yoga — the daily routine lacks substance and meaning. Everything I might have cursed yesterday about what is wrong and hard in my life returns today as a mocking reminder.
For an up close and personal view of Haiti, its people and Tuesday's destruction, check out this blog — http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/ — written by Tara Livesay, a missionary from Minnesota, living in Haiti with her husband and children.
Monday, January 11, 2010
A work in progress
New year, new you? Not me. Rather than resolutions, I'm more of an evolution type of girl.
It's not that I don't believe in making resolutions. They're great. For other people.
To me, a resolution is too daunting because of the potential for failure. What if I can't do it or if I feel like bailing along the way? The risk vs. the reward just doesn't do it for me.
Instead, I figure if I identify a goal and head in a forward motion in that general direction, then life is good and, possibly, rewarding.
And so, with that philosophy in mind, I'm getting back to the old blog and charting a new course. Not that I'm making any commitment to write any more frequently than I have in the past half a year — although, I think I can do better than once a month. And, it could be that this new venture runs its course in a few weeks or months. Along with not making resolutions, I don't do promises.
So, here's the plan: I'm going to keep with the concept of daily life, but I'm going to add in an element from my yoga classes, where I get to visit with a variety of wonderful women every day; women of all ages, occupations and life paths.
The commonality that we share beyond yoga is a sense of bliss that we take from class and into the world beyond. We don't spend much time with each other beyond the 45-minute class, but we do enjoy passing along thoughts on everything from parenting to recipes and good finds in faraway places.
I also often get asked such questions as how to dress for running outdoors in the winter, what running shoes I like, what I do to stay in shape or where I get my workout clothes.
So today, after exchanging email addresses for recipes and talking about a new restaurant in Minneapolis, the thought occurred to me that lifeontherun could be a place to exchange ideas and information.
With that, I pass along a fabulous recipe for Malaysian Chicken Pizza from Cooking Light magazine:
3/4 c rice vinegar
1/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 c low-sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
2 tbsp chunky peanut butter
1/2 to 3/4 tsp crushed red pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
cooking spray (I use olive oil)
1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 c (2 oz) shredded reduced fat swiss cheese
1/4 c (1 oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella
1 12-inch pizza crust (make from scratch or use a mix)
1/4 c chopped green onions
1. Preheat oven to 500˚
2. Combine 1st 8 ingredients in a bowl, stir well with whisk.
3. Heat skillet coated with cooking spray. Add chicken and saute for 2 minutes. Remove chicken from pan.
4. Pour rice vinegar mixture into pan and bring to boil over medium heat. Cook mixture 6 minutes or until slightly thickened. Return chicken to pan, cook 1 minute or until chicken is done. (mixture will be consistency of thick syrup)
5. Sprinkle cheeses over prepared crust and top with chicken mixture. Bake at 500˚ for 12 minutes on bottom rack. Sprinkle with green onions. Let stand a few minutes and serve. Yield 6 servings.
(You can also cook on the grill: Brush grill with olive oil, place dough on grill & let cook briefly before flipping over. Put toppings on and cook until done.)
Calories 293 / Fat 7.3 g / Protein 18.2g / Carb 38.3g / Fiber 1.8g
It's not that I don't believe in making resolutions. They're great. For other people.
To me, a resolution is too daunting because of the potential for failure. What if I can't do it or if I feel like bailing along the way? The risk vs. the reward just doesn't do it for me.
Instead, I figure if I identify a goal and head in a forward motion in that general direction, then life is good and, possibly, rewarding.
And so, with that philosophy in mind, I'm getting back to the old blog and charting a new course. Not that I'm making any commitment to write any more frequently than I have in the past half a year — although, I think I can do better than once a month. And, it could be that this new venture runs its course in a few weeks or months. Along with not making resolutions, I don't do promises.
So, here's the plan: I'm going to keep with the concept of daily life, but I'm going to add in an element from my yoga classes, where I get to visit with a variety of wonderful women every day; women of all ages, occupations and life paths.
The commonality that we share beyond yoga is a sense of bliss that we take from class and into the world beyond. We don't spend much time with each other beyond the 45-minute class, but we do enjoy passing along thoughts on everything from parenting to recipes and good finds in faraway places.
I also often get asked such questions as how to dress for running outdoors in the winter, what running shoes I like, what I do to stay in shape or where I get my workout clothes.
So today, after exchanging email addresses for recipes and talking about a new restaurant in Minneapolis, the thought occurred to me that lifeontherun could be a place to exchange ideas and information.
With that, I pass along a fabulous recipe for Malaysian Chicken Pizza from Cooking Light magazine:
3/4 c rice vinegar
1/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 c low-sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
2 tbsp chunky peanut butter
1/2 to 3/4 tsp crushed red pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
cooking spray (I use olive oil)
1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 c (2 oz) shredded reduced fat swiss cheese
1/4 c (1 oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella
1 12-inch pizza crust (make from scratch or use a mix)
1/4 c chopped green onions
1. Preheat oven to 500˚
2. Combine 1st 8 ingredients in a bowl, stir well with whisk.
3. Heat skillet coated with cooking spray. Add chicken and saute for 2 minutes. Remove chicken from pan.
4. Pour rice vinegar mixture into pan and bring to boil over medium heat. Cook mixture 6 minutes or until slightly thickened. Return chicken to pan, cook 1 minute or until chicken is done. (mixture will be consistency of thick syrup)
5. Sprinkle cheeses over prepared crust and top with chicken mixture. Bake at 500˚ for 12 minutes on bottom rack. Sprinkle with green onions. Let stand a few minutes and serve. Yield 6 servings.
(You can also cook on the grill: Brush grill with olive oil, place dough on grill & let cook briefly before flipping over. Put toppings on and cook until done.)
Calories 293 / Fat 7.3 g / Protein 18.2g / Carb 38.3g / Fiber 1.8g
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