Monthly Archives: December 2011

The anti Year in Review

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I was reading a blog that I like called Addicted 2 Decorating. She did a year end Q&A about herself instead of doing a “2011 Year in Review”. I liked the idea so I’m thieving it. 🙂

Here goes!

  1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
    I was named after the title song from the movie “Laura“. However, my mother always called me LauraSuzanneSheats when she was mad at me so I prefer to go by Lauri. Unless you’re mad at me, of course. It’s how I know. 😉
  2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
    I cried last night when I learned that the daughter-in-law and first grandbaby of one of my twitter followers were having emergency surgery. If you don’t think you can love people you have never met, you’re wrong. While I knew the situation was in God’s hands, I cried for them because I know how that would make me feel if something happened to Nikki or Aniston. Mom and baby are fine, so you don’t worry.
  3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
    I don’t like my handwriting. It’s hard to read and I get impatient with myself. Mostly I print. When I was in third grade, we moved halfway through the year. In the old school, we were just learning how to make cursive letters and in the new school they were already writing. So I faked it. LOL!
  4. DID YOU GO TO COLLEGE?
    Yep. I went to lots of colleges. Most of my college time was spent at Old Dominion University, though.
  5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
    I don’t like lunch meat. All that nitrite and nitrate stuff. Eeeuuwww.
  6. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
    I have two awesome boys, Brandon and Geoff. Being their mom is the second best thing I’ve done in my life. The first best, being the wife of their father. 🙂
  7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
    Yes, I’m wacky and fun. I like people like that.
  8. DO YOU USE SARCASM ALOT?
    Oooh I try so hard to keep the snark monster stuffed way down inside.
  9. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
    Nope. I had my tonsils taken out when I was 3. Two of my earliest memories are from that experience. One, I remember them waking me up with a mouse handpuppet and two, I remember standing in the bed and watching my dad walk by the door. He didn’t know which room I was in but I was afraid he wasn’t coming to see me. Wild, eh?
  10. HOW MANY U.S. STATES HAVE YOU VISITED?
    I haven’t been to Alaska, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island or Vermont. So that’s like, what? 52? 😉
  11. HOW MANY COUNTRIES HAVE YOU VISITED?
    21 – USA, Cuba, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji, Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, UAE, Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica. I think that’s it. 🙂
  12. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
    Oh gee, I don’t know. I’d zip line for sure. Jump out of a plane, yes. But bungee jump, I just don’t know.
  13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
    Oh, I love cereal but I cannot eat it. It makes my stomach hurt really bad. But I love Frosted Shredded Wheat.
  14. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
    Only if I can’t get them off tied. 😉
  15. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
    I know I’m strong. It’s my role in life. LOL! The day I flipped the tire, I giggled all day long I was so tickled. 🙂
  16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
    I really love mint chocolate chip ice cream. I don’t eat it a lot but when I think about ice cream, that’s the one I want.
  17. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?
    I love turquoise. I call it turkwah. My designer, Juni, taught me that.
  18. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
    I wish I didn’t have such thin skin. Most of the time, if someone says something terrible about me, I don’t care. But there are times when I do care more than I should. This is the reason I’ll never be president of the United States. If someone said something bad about me, I’d just become a puddle on the campaign trail.
  19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
    I miss Brandon the most. (Happy Birthday, sweetie!)
  20. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
    No shoes. I love to look at them more than wear them. 😉
  21. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
    Mexican food from Mexicali Restaurant in Tulsa.
  22. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
    Ha! Kool & the Gang Radio, natch. 😉
  23. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
    Green. Then I’d match dollars and emeralds. 😉
  24. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SMELLS?
    I love the smell of jasmine and my perfume, Flower Bomb. Oh, and sheets washed in lavender detergent. And coffee.
  25. DO YOU PREFER THE PHONE OR E-MAIL?
    E-mail. I’m usually awake way earlier than other people and early in the morning is when I do a lot of my best thinking. Email doesn’t intrude. People can answer at their convenience.
  26. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?
    I love, love, love the beach!
  27. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
    I love basketball and football. Those months where the two sports are both going on is the most wonderful time of the year.
  28. WHAT IS YOUR NATURAL HAIR COLOR?
    I was blonde as a child, tow headed. But as I got older, my hair got darker. It’s pretty dark these days. We add blonde highlights to hide the shiny hair. 😉
  29. WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR?
    Suede blue.
  30. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
    I do wear contacts because I’m vain. But since I got my new Rayban hipster glasses, I find myself wearing them more than my contacts.
  31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?
    My favorite food is a cheeseburger. I love them. Most especially with blue cheese but any kind of cheese will do.
  32. DO YOU PREFER SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
    I love comedies. I’m not a big movie watcher. I need to be completely entertained or I’ll fall asleep in the dark.
  33. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
    I can’t even remember!
  34. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
    White. That doesn’t happen often.
  35. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
    I love spring or fall. Any time I can have the windows open with a cool breeze. I’d rather have summer than winter.
  36. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT?
    Cake. I love it. I love to bake it and eat it. And talk about it. And wish for other people to eat it. hee hee
  37. DO YOU PREFER THE COMPUTER OR TELEVISION?
    I rarely watch TV. I watch sports and news but when David isn’t home, the TV isn’t on much at all.
  38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
    I’m reading Son of Stone by Stuart Woods. Love the Stone Barrington books!
  39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
    I use a placemat. It seems to have just the right texture.
  40. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SOUND?
    I love the sound of laughter. Anyone’s laughter. It’s contagious and it makes me happy.
  41. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE KIND OF MUSIC?
    I like all kinds of music except rap and country. I’ve been listening to Kool & the Gang Radio on Pandora for about a week now. It makes me uber happy.
  42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
    I think Fiji since it’s on the other side of the equator and the International date line. But I’ve been to Malaysia, too. Not sure which is further.
  43. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
    I was born in Rockford, IL.
  44. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR HOUSE?
    The Garage Mahal is white with a forest green roof.
  45. WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU DRIVE?
    I drive a black Jeep Commander. It’s invisible. 😉

So there you go. More than you ever wanted to know about me.

I wish you and yours a very happy and successful 2012! I know ours will be exciting. It always is. 🙂

I don’t eat stems

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I love nothing better than fresh spinach. When we were growing up, my mom served us spinach out of a can and I thought that was what spinach was. Eeuuww. Slimy.

When I was 14, I got my first job at the Magic Pan, a restaurant in Woodfield Mall. I was hired as a bus girl but eventually learned every position in the restaurant except server and bartender because I wasn’t old enough. I was even added to the opening team to help open new restaurants. It was so much fun. But I digress.

Back to spinach.

They served a spinach salad at the Magic Pan. One of the jobs of the salad department was to pick the spinach. i.e. pick the stems off each leaf. There were days when I went to work and that’s all that I did for hours.

So imagine my complete horrification to go into a restaurant, any restaurant these days, and be served a bowl of stems.

See them?

Ick.

I rarely order a spinach salad in a restaurant but if I do, I leave a pile of stems on the table when I leave. LOL!

And so I confine my spinach eating mostly to home where I am in control of those dastardly stems. They never make it into my bowl and go in the garbage where they belong.

If I found a restaurant where they picked their spinach, I’d shout their name from the rooftops. If you know of one, let me know! I’d love to order a spinach salad in a restaurant and find it stemless. 🙂

Thanks for thinking of me

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I think it’s so funny how you can have an impact on someone you’ve never met. People (often people I’ve never met IRL) tell me all the time they thought of me because of something they know about me from social media.

I’m honored that anyone would randomly think of me like that.

Sometimes the things are super funny. Like this one from facebook today:

Hilarious! I wonder if they were WANTED posters.  LOL! 🙂

Thanks for thinking of me. It’s really sweet. 😉

Oh my my

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As much as I try and stay away from it, I love bread. When we lived in the Middle East, finding new and better bread vendors was a family sport.

The other day, I stumbled upon the blog of Nancy Shehata and her recipe for pita bread. It looked easy and delicious. She said she finds that the kind of pita bread you find in the store is too tough. I find that, too. It’s dry and bears no resemblance to the bread you find in the Middle East.

I thought I’d give the bread a try today only I turned it into Zatar as she instructs at the bottom of the blog. Oh my my. It was amazing! Delicious, soft. I could have eaten all of it all by myself.

I’m good at baking bread but this is not a difficult recipe and I believe anyone can make this amazing stuff!

Pita Bread

Ingredients

2+ cups of flour

1 tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tbs yeast

2 tbs olive oil

1 cup very warm water

Add 1 cup of flour, sugar, salt, yeast and olive oil into the bowl of your mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Slowly add 1 cup of very warm water. Mix on medium for three minutes.

Add another cup (and possibly more to make a sticky but not stiff dough) of flour mix using dough hook for 10 minutes.

Take the dough out and knead for another minute or two by hand to make a smooth ball. Cut the ball into 8 pieces and form into balls. Cover with a towel and let rise for 10-20 minutes while the oven is heating to 550 degrees. If your oven doesn’t go up to 550, I’m sure that 500 is fine. Just be sure to check that it doesn’t burn! 🙂

Take each ball and roll into a 6 inch round, place two to three on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 3 minutes.

Make sure they don’t burn! Take them out of the oven and remove from sheet with a spatula. Be careful. If it poofed (to make the pocket) like you want, that steam inside will be HOT!

If you want to make zatar, prick all over with a fork to keep the pocket from forming, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with zatar spice mix before baking for 3 minutes.

Delicious! I’ll bet you’ll want to eat them all too. 🙂

Coastering

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One of the very first things I pinned on Pinterest was this:

I’m not a crafty person but I looked at that and thought, “I can do that!”. And, the beauty of it was, if it didn’t turn out it wasn’t going to be like I wasted a ton of money on it. It was a pretty economical project.

I decided I would make the coasters for the kids for Christmas using Brandon and Vanessa’s wedding logo and the design theme of Nikki and Geoff’s house. I gathered all of the things I needed to make the coasters and then I froze.

I was so afraid of making a mistake. But finally I got my courage up by telling myself that it’s no big deal if I DO make a mistake because they aren’t expecting the coasters and if I mess up, it will be okay.

So I cut the artwork out and started the modge podging. Is that a verb? 🙂

And it looked good!

I got all of the coasters created and put the felt circles on the back.

And then I was stuck. How to package them?

I went back to Hobby Lobby and wandered around looking for something I could put the coasters in. I eventually found these:

I thought all the way home about what I would do to them. I was clueless.

I painted the boxes black.

But that didn’t seem like enough.

I googled decoupage cardboard box and the instructions said that you could use anything to cover a box. Tissue paper, newspaper…ah ha! Newspaper!

Brandon and Vanessa met when they were working at the Tulsa World. So I covered their box with the Tulsa World and modge podge. I love the way it turned out!

For Nikki and Geoff’s box I was a little more stumped and I ended up just painting it with leopard spots.

I then wrapped the coasters in gold (Brandon and Vanessa) and cream (Geoff and Nikki) ribbon and put them in the boxes.

I added black drawer pulls that I attached with shorter screws and voila! I was finished.

I hope the kids like them. I had fun making them and was so happy that my first foray into modge podge without adult supervision turned out so well. 🙂

Born on date

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I feel like beer.

hee hee 😉

I woke up this a.m. to a tweet telling me it’s my third twitter birthday.

I clicked the link and it brought me to a page with a birthday certificate.

Cool. I don’t remember getting this last year so I’m guessing that by @starbucks being my Godfather, it’s probably the first person that I followed or who followed me back. For a coffee achiever like myself, that seems appropriate. But if I were choosing my Godfather, it would be my friend @ScottMTownsend.

@ScottMTownsend walking to work

I had heard of twitter before December 24, 2008 but I didn’t really get it. That day, I was here alone. I’m not sure which Muslim country David was in that year but I had time on my hands and Scott was nice enough to help me to figure out how twitter worked.

A couple of email exchanges and a monster was born. LOL!

To say I love twitter is probably an understatement. When I think of all of the amazing people I have met and all of the cool opportunities that have come to me in the past three years, it just blows my mind that twitter could be the cause of it all.

I love my twitter friends. I mean, I really love them. Many of the people I met via twitter are now my dearest friends IRL (in real life).

Two of my earliest twitter friends were @patrickallmond and @jonfisher. They remain my twitter friends but they are also amazing real life friends.

Through them I met their incredible wives @allographics

Angela and I riding the train at Cecil's first birthday party

and @a_fisher. And I am honorary grandma to the precious @cecilfisher who truly feels like family to me even though he doesn’t really know me. 🙂

Afton and Cecil

I have friends all over the world. I love that. And my goal is to meet all of them when I come to their state or country.

People come and go on twitter and I miss the ones that go. But there are always new friends to make and new relationships to form.

So, happy twitter birthday to me. Thank you to all of my friends (followers) for making my twitter experience so awesome!

Now, let’s eat cake. 🙂

Just be yourself

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Last night while I waited for David to get close to Tulsa so I could go pick him up, I was perusing my twitter stream. This is what I saw:

First I saw my friend Erin Patrick say that it takes courage to become who you really are. I barely even had time to let that roll around in my brain when I looked further down and saw my friend Bernice’s tweet about letting go of perfection.

And it hit me.

That was when I finally had the courage to be who I was always meant to be. When I finally let go of perfection.

No one is perfect but I spent so many, almost tortured, years of my life trying to be just that. It was only when I finally realized I wasn’t, and would never be, perfect that I was able to be me.

And guess what? I like me! 🙂

If you struggle with trying to be perfect all the time, you might want to read Bernice’s blog post. It’s good.

One of my favorite songs is The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. Some of the best words are:

Live right now, yeah, just be yourself
It doesn’t matter if it’s good enough for someone else

True, true, true!

Take it from me, letting go of the stress of feeling like you need to be perfect is such a relief. And it gives you the courage to be who you’re really meant to be.

Now go forth and be you! 🙂

Chicken Tikka Masala

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We adore Indian food. The couple of times I’ve tried to make it haven’t been very successful. It’s usually good but way, way, way too hot.

That’s why, when I stumbled upon this recipe, I wanted to try it. It didn’t look terribly difficult and I thought it sounded wonderful.

After querying my twitter friends on the use of fresh ginger, I forgot the ginger at the store but I did add my favorite cilantro which wasn’t called for in the original recipe.

I am a bad, bad blogger because I cannot find this recipe on the web again to attribute it. I will keep looking, though, since it makes me feel like a thief not to say where I found the recipe.

Chicken Tikka Masala

• 4 breast organic chicken in cubes

• 2 large red onion thinly sliced

• 2 tablespoons crushed garlic

• 2 tablespoons crushed ginger

• 1 can 28 oz. crushed tomatoes

• 1 cup of yogurt

• 1 cup heavy cream (optional)

• 2 tablespoons cumin

• 2 tablespoons garam masala

• 2 tablespoons turmeric

• 1 tablespoons chili powder

• 4 tablespoons cilantro

• Salt

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add in the onions and start caramelizing them until brown. Add the crushed ginger stir for 5 minutes,saute the garlic for 1 minute. Add cumin, garam masala, turmeric, chili powder, and mix well, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and yogurt. Add chicken and simmer, covered, on low heat until sauce thickens, about 25 minutes.  Season it with salt and transfer to a serving platter, garnished with cilantro. Serve with Bamati Rice or Naan.

How I love basmati rice and naan! But I served this with riced cauliflower which is healthier for us and also quite good.

This is a winning recipe, easy to prepare, and I’ll make it again. It was DELICIOUS! 🙂

I hate everything about you

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If you’ve read this blog much at all, you know how much music is a part of my life. There is always music on in the car and I always sing along.

When the kids were small, they’d join in.

Today, I was driving to Tulsa and the song (I Hate) Everything About You by Ugly Kid Joe came on the radio. I love that song. It’s fun. :-)

Now you wouldn’t think a song about hating someone could be fun but the tune is bouncy, the lyrics are catchy, there is maniacal laughter and different sorts of vocal changes in it.

When I hear the song now, I literally laugh out loud.

The reason? The song was popular in 1992. Brandon was 10 and Geoff was 9. We sang it loud, word for word, in the car, on the way to…

church.

OMG!

What kind of a mother was I?

It’s this that makes me laugh. But we had fun. And we didn’t mean it. We just liked the fun.:-)