Birthdays

September is a crazy month in our family. Crazy because of all the birthdays.

We had to spend the day doing birthday things because it was Kara and Jake's birthday about a week ago, it was my niece's birthday yesterday and another niece's birthday tomorrow. Crazy.

So, we all went to see one of my favorite things: zombies. Resident Evil After Life in 3-D. I just love Alice and Claire kicking butt all over the screen. I love any movie that has a strong female character and this movie had two or three, so it had me at ... Hello, my name is Alice.

Then we went out to dinner and my crazy kids tried to bug me by ruining my photos but it was a photo sabotage fail... I had the waiter snap a photo for me--I won!

Race for the Cure - Saturday in Portland, Oregon

My MIL is a breast cancer survivor and when she called and asked if I was doing the Race for the Cure - I said, "Ummm . . . yeah." And, now I am.

My husband, me and my MIL will be on the streets of Portland on Saturday morning. We're only going to be doing the one mile walk but we're hoping to spread the word and hopefully have a wonderful time along the way.

It will be a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning.

Pints to Pasta

These races always start at the butt-crack of dawn. I mean, it's an ungodly time that you have to get up and get going to be a part of these "fun"d raisers. If only they could start at noon. Then, I wouldn't look sooooo tired. But they are still loads of laughter and lots of fun.

Sunday my sister and I ran in Pints to Pasta. It's a 10k to help support a couple good causes. The proceeds go to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training AND The Boys and Girls Clubs.

Every community has these types of events and if you don't want to run or walk in the event, you can always volunteer. It's a lot of fun and it does a lot of good for your community.

Think about volunteering and making a difference.

Answer to Word for Wedneday

Answer: The word Conundrum means "a riddle" or anything that puzzles. If you want to read more about it, check it out here.

And THANKS for playing

Word for Wednesday - a game for Writers

Word: Conundrum

Guess what it means in "comments"

then come back around 3:00 to see,

if you were right or wrong.

The Marriage of Figaro - Mozart's Opera

Opera. . .?

My husband asked me if I wanted to go see one. I said, "I'd rather go see the new Resident Evil (in 3-D) Afterlife. And I wasn't joking.

I always figured opera was for old people. . .old stuffy people...

I mean opera is boring--right...? That's why I'd never even thought about going to an opera before. No interest.

My husband, on the other hand, loves all sorts of music and, I guess, classical is an easy stepping stone away from opera. Anyway, he's even been teaching himself Italian so that he'll understand what's going on when he listens to those operas . . . on the radio.

Anyway, when he heard about The Marriage of Figaro being performed in Portland, (in English) he wanted to go. I simply laughed and went around the house singing, "Figaro, Figaro, Figaro."

He shook his head and rolled his eyes, "That's not this opera, that's in the Barber of Seville."

Like I would know.

Anyway, my husband won the coin toss so we spent Friday night at the opera.

I don't know what I really expected but it wasn't this.

The Marriage of Figaro is a romantic comedy that made me laugh out loud. The actors were all amazing even though it was a Student Opera at Portland State University put on at the Portland Actors Conservatory. Tickets were only $12.00. And, believe me, it would have been a bargain at $30-$60 per ticket. It was four hours of continuous entertainment. Just imagine . . . singing for four hours. It was a wonderful show and my only complaint was that the performance, like I said, was four hours.

Four hours is just too long for me to sit still (even though we had two intermissions). By the time I got up out of my seat to head home, my butt was sore. Even with a sore behind, I would go see another opera - as long as it's in English. But, first I'll have to go see Resident Evil.

Monday Mealtime - Lemon Fennel Chicken

Who doesn't like herb-roasted chicken and potatoes? Everyone in my family loves to eat 'em and fennel smells so sweet and fragrant--like licorice--and since my husband loves fennel, I have a lot of it growing in my garden.

Sometimes I have to work to think up ways to use fennel. But a friend told me about a lemon fennel chicken she had for dinner and I thought, "I can do that."

So, I did.

I added my own little twist to the dish: garlic and parsley, plus some kosher salt to spice up the dish.

To get started, I went out to the garden and picked the fennel and parsley, plus (in my opinion) you can never have too many tomatoes so I grabbed a few of those.

Then I rinsed off the garden goodies and chopped up the parsley and fennel. My husband squeezed some fresh lemon over the herb mixture and cut up the chicken breasts to make a nice pocket for stuffing my herbs inside.


We stuffed the chicken breasts with our herb mixture and added some fresh chopped garlic. Of course we had to add a little extra salt and pepper but you could add whatever spices you like. Then we baked the chicken at 400 for about a half hour (next time I will cover the chicken in foil. That will help cut down on the dish washing and seal the moisture inside the chicken.

Plus, I (meaning my husband) chopped up some red potatoes, drizzled olive oil over them and mixed in some onion soup mix. When the potatoes were well-coated, I baked them on 350 for about an hour.

Then I chopped up some fresh fruit for a little fruit salad and made some homemade lemon ice-tea. I even added some lemon zest to the brew and it was really yummy.

This dinner took a little longer than I usually spend during the work week but with my husband's help it was fun and turned out oh-so-tasty. I hope you'll try it.