How to Watch a Basketball Game

7:15 pm - Arrive at game.  Find that the Varsity Girls are still playing.  Dig for the magazine that I have surreptitiously stowed in my purse.  Drool over the cupcakes.  Determine to have a "French Country Kitchen" by Thursday.

7:30 pm - Loudly cheer for Oldest Son's team coming on to the court.  Admire his warm-up shots.  Silently curse kit lens that came with my Nikon.

8:00 pm - First quarter break.  Avoid eye contact with basketball-loving fans, including My Husband, while snatching up my magazine.  Sigh over fabulous table setting idea.

8:05 - Second quarter begins.  Resume loud cheering for Oldest Son and his team.  Scold refs, encourage point guard, instruct Oldest Son as necessary.

8:20 pm - Half-time.  Sneak more looks at my magazine.  Remember that I have not had dinner and am wildly hungry.  Salivate over cupcakes, tea, and candies of various delectable-ness.

Become totally distracted by the step team!

8:35 - Third quarter begins.  Stuff magazine and cheer for Oldest Son and his team.  Scold coach, mutter at opposing team's fans, admonish defense as necessary.

9:00 pm - Third quarter break.  Realize that everyone has accepted that I love my magazine as much as the game of basketball.  Notice female fan down the bleacher eyeing my "read" and wishing she had brought one of her own.  File away cool idea of how to display a book.

9:05 pm - Enter into fourth quarter.  Focus on taking pictures.  Make increasingly loud comments to My Husband regarding the ability of my kit lens to get any decent pictures.  Begin to list lenses that would improve my quality of life.

9:30 pm - Game over.  Exit game, magazine safely stowed once again.  Think how much I love watching my son play his game.  Think how much I love looking at my magazine.

Perfectly Perfect

In life, perfectly perfect things do not come along often.

So when they do, one must enjoy them to the full, celebrate them, drink them up!

Which brings me to the subject of my perfectly perfect new slippers.

Let's begin by saying that I am NOT a slipper person.  In my opinion, slippers tend to make a person look frumpy and schlumpy.  There is nothing worse than having someone meet you at the door with slippers that have been worn much longer than the manufacturer intended (for some slippers, that's just about a week) and are now an odd, faded color, fabric threadbare, fluff matted down, and let's not even talk about how a slipper can lose its ability to ever again look clean.

Instead, I have chosen to go barefoot in the house, summer and winter, so instead of looking frumpy and schlumpy, I have instead looked barefoot (occasionally pregnant---5 times to be exact) and cold.

Until now.  Until I found the most perfectly perfect pair of slippers ever, ever.

Aren't they the cutest?  Suede upper, stitch-y look, fur for a little style, nice hard sole for running out to the mailbox, inexpensive, warm.

If I wear them enough, now, the cracks and callouses on my heels may actually one day be soft again.  Slippers can be a good thing.  Who knew?

If you just must have a pair, Target has them here.

Come to think of it, I may just order another pair to replace these when they inevitably wear out.  After all, in life, perfectly perfect things do not come along often.

Quick Turkey Enchiladas

There are 3 reasons I love this meal:

#1 - They're quick - meaning I can decide to make them an hour before dinner time and still have them on the table at the prescribed moment, meaning I can feel like something really did go right with my day.

#2 - They're turkey - meaning I don't feel heavy and gorged when I finish eating them, meaning they're light but totally delicious!!

#3 - They're enchiladas - meaning it's Mexican food, meaning it's flavorful and slightly spicy, meaning my family loves it.  My family really could eat Mexican food meal after meal after meal after meal after meal ......

This recipe is adapted from an American Test Kitchen recipe.

Quick Turkey enchiladas are especially comforting on a grey . . . drippy . . . overcast . . . drizzly day.  Like today.

Give me something warm and scrumptious!

Quick Turkey Enchiladas (serves 4 . . . I double it for the 7 of us)


1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground turkey
3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 1/2 cans red enchilada sauce (you will need 2 10-ounce cans of enchilada sauce)
1/4 cup drained sliced pickled jalapenos, chopped (I left these out . . . too spicy for little mouths . . . husband very disappointed)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
10 6-inch corn tortillas


Heat oven to 400.  Grease 13x9 baking dish.  Heat oil in large skilled over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add onion and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in turkey and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.  Stir in 2 cups of cheese, 1/2 cup enchilada sauce, jalapenos, and cilantro.  Season with salt and pepper.


Stack tortillas on plate, wrap with plastic and microwave until pliable, about 1 minute.  Top each tortilla with 1/4 cup turkey mixture and roll tightly.  Please seam-side down in prepared baking dish and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Top with additional 1 cup enchilada sauce and remaining cheese; cover with foil.  Bake 10 minuntes, remove foil, and continue baking until cheese is completely melted, about 5 minutes longer.  Serve, passing remaining heated enchilada sauce at table.

On Being Ancient

There was one more find that came through the door after my flea market spree.

A 1963 Royal portable manual typewriter.

Sweet!

When I opened it up, the children stood around in awed silence.

They waited for a screen to appear above the keys.  None did.

"Does it come with paper?" one asked after awhile.

The next several hours were filled with jostling back and forth, jockeying for a turn on The Wonderful Machine.  This was mixed in with chimes of discovery:

"Mom, if you type far enough, a bell dings!!"

"Hey, if you hit the keys too fast, the letter arms get stuck together!"

"Wow . . . when you press the silver bar on the left, the paper rolls up to just the right spot so you can start typing on the next line!"

"You sure have to press hard on these keys to make them work!"

It was as foreign to them as creating butter with a churn.  As fascinatingly unknown as exploring Eli Whitney's original cotton gin might be.

And I was amazed that something so common and unremarkable from my childhood should be an object of such awe, wonder and marvel to my children.

A similar typewriter sat on my grandma's table, and she routinely drummed out fascinating letters to her children and grandchildren spread out over the globe.  I feel pretty sure some model of manual typewriter was probably in a closet somewhere as I grew up, as un-exceptional and ordinary as the folding chair leaning up next to it.

But now, being brought face to face with a 1963 Royal, my children felt like explorers investigating an artifact from some past culture.

Me?  Well, I just felt . . . ancient.

Finding!

Wow but don't I feel like Cinderella come late to the party.  After watching beautiful blog by beautiful blog show their "finds" at the thrift store or the flea market or their neighbors curbside garbage, today I get to show my finds from my first day ever of flea market searching.

Uh, maybe not quite "searching."  When it is 19 degrees out and only 10 vendors have bothered to show up at risk of hypothermia, it might not exactly  be called "searching."  Rather, glancing . . . spotting . . . sighting.

Love, love, love these sweet little bottles.  In case you wanted to know, Kreml is a hair tonic from the 30's.  Yes, I'm quite the little storehouse of vintage knowledge now.  ::ahem::  I have them up behind my sink, and since pansies flourish in these parts all winter long, I can enjoy those chipper little pansy faces while doing my dishes.  Sweet!

Old well wheel, cocoa box, pitcher and 3 cent milk bottle.  Rustic, worn, used.  Makes me smile.  I think I'll do a few little vignettes on top of my cupboards.

The Man of the House looked slightly bewildered.  I told him I had "finds," and he pictured a new piece of furniture that became mine for $10.  He did not, however picture rusted metal, old glass and worn silver.

This could be a frustrating new obsession.  Poor man.

Picking!

Well, there's been more than a little watching of American Pickers over Christmas break.  Goodness I love that show!  And between that show and great blogs from flea market lovers and Flea Market Style Magazine, I decided that it was high time to actually visit a flea market.  Youngest Son was more than game to come along.

Last week of Christmas break, needing a little something fun to do, let's do it.

Never mind that after a mild winter, the very day we chose to go was smack dab in the middle of a cold front!

Actually, by the time we got to the flea market, the nice little windshield was informing us that it was, indeed only 19 degrees!!

If it looks to you like there are a lot of empty tables at the flea market, well, you would be doggone right.  There weren't many brave souls buying or selling in the 19 degree weather.

But there were some.  And Youngest Son and I had a blast . . . searching, bartering, discovering . . . the condensation of our breath in the icy air so thick we could scarcely see each other.

I'll show you my sweet little finds tomorrow.

Me and Youngest Son . . . the newest American pickers.

Winter Table

Here's what my winter table is looking like.  Christmas colors, but not Christmas-y enough to need to remove with the reindeer, ornaments and nativity.

Collected bottles, a wrapping of burlap, tied with twine.  Mixture of daisies and mums.  Various fresh greenery laying on the burlap runner.

Simple, common, beautiful nature.  Just the way I like my table!