Author: Launi

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Rose Parade

There is a ton of color in our yard these days. Most of it is coming from the rose bushes that are everywhere. They remind me…

When I was a little girl, my dad took the family to the Tournament of Roses Parade. It was a pretty big deal. However, in order to get a real spot on the curb to watch the whole thing we had to stake out a chunk of space on the sidewalk in down town Pasadena. It was so strange to be sleeping outside with a million other people—on the pavement. Uncomfortable and awkward–but exciting at the same time.

I remember there were some scary looking hippies—sorry, that’s what we called them back then—who were smoking something when we got there. They played guitars and sang nearly all night. My dad rigged up some kind of Bunsen Burner deal and made hot chocolate for us and shared some to them as well. The smoking stopped immediately because there were “little dudes around.”

My cute dad was always one for heading off any signs of trouble–at the pass–and making friend with everyone. Sometimes it scared my mom half to death–but he felt like being kind and friendly right up front, was the best way to keep us all safe.

As we kids started to fall asleep the singers’ music got softer and more lullaby-like. I vaguely remember a slow, sweet version of Puff the Magic Dragon as I drifted off to sleep.  While we slept, some other group of people set up chairs right in front of us, completely blocking our view of the street. We woke to the sound of the “hippies” physically escorting the curb poachers far, far away from our space.

I’m sure it was a wonderful parade–maybe it even had something to do with roses. Sincerely, I can’t remember one speck of it. What I do remember is my dad shaking hands and patting the backs of some new, very different  friends. Friends that didn’t look so scary any more.

Read about  The Rose Named Peace
Photos by Jillian
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Lasting Happiness

“President Gordon B. Hinckley believed in the healing power of service. After the death of his wife, he provided a great example to the Church in the way he immersed himself in work and in serving others. It is told that President Hinckley remarked to one woman who had recently lost her husband, ‘Work will cure your grief. Serve others.’

“Those are profound words. As we lose ourselves in the service of others, we discover our own lives and our own happiness.

“In today’s world of pop psychology, junk TV, and feel-good self-help manuals, this advice may seem counterintuitive. We are sometimes told that the answer to our ills is to look inward, to indulge ourselves, to spend first and pay later, and to satisfy our own desires even at the expense of those around us. While there are times when it is prudent to look first to our own needs, in the long run it doesn’t lead to lasting happiness.”

Dieter F. Uchtdor

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HypnoBirthing Giveaway

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HypnoBirthing is a wonderful way to learn the skills and techniques that can help expectant moms to have a calm, easy, comfortable, birthing experience. Sound too good to be true? Well the new Gracious Rain Giveaway should be very helpful then. The folks at HypnoBirthing are giving away the book, “HypnoBirthing–the Mongan Method,” along with a relaxation practice cd, so that some lucky person can learn how it works for themselves.

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You don’t need to be an expectant mom to enter either. This would make a perfect gift for someone you know who would like to learn how to have a more gentle birthing experience.

Just leave a comment on this post and we’ll choose a winner at random on Friday June 5, 2009–at 10 am.

Good luck everyone!

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If you’d like to learn more about HypnoBirthing, or would like to read over 50 lovely birth stories–or would like to sign up for a class just click on the HypnoBirthing tab at the top of the page.

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Blink~The Graduate

I suppose I’ve been driving this route for some time now.

Ooooh-whoo. Seven fifteen a.m. every morning for the past one hundred years.

Perhaps I exaggerate just a tad–but you get the point.

I’ve taken this road in the pouring rain…

thick and spooky fog……

and slippery, blinding, icy snow.

Driven it before daylight savings time when it was so dark outside the streetlights were still on.

With all the windows down in the summer when the cooler wouldn’t work.

In the winter with blankets wrapped around our shoulders and heads and feet because the heater wouldn’t kick in.

Attended every football game, track event, and choir concert humanly possible.

Grumbled now and then about the caffeine-induced erratic drivers or teenage pedestrians with a “you-know-you-won’t-hit-me” death wish, and the ridiculous youngsters that really shouldn’t have a license in the first place—as we all converged here in this very parking lot—before any decent human being should even be out of bed.

Sat, crocheting in this holding space for hours at a time, doing that mama thing we call waiting, sometimes alone and sometimes while my beloved cargo spent some needed time…with their mom.

Sat, idling along with the car, staring at this tinted glass door–that far away one between the cars–looking for any sign of Daney boy, or the bald kid.

Oh, the laughing and talking and listening and teasing and  heartbreaks and secrets and real earth life we’ve had at this place.

All to end up here. One. Very. Last. Time.

The bald kid thinks that I’ll be so glad to sleep in. He thinks that I’ll be relieved to save so much gas in the car. He’s sure I’m happy to see it all be finally–after 24 years and 5 kids—over.

I’m afraid he’s very…

very….

wrong.

And when that alarm clock doesn’t go off at 6:30 am any more, it won’t matter…

because I’ll already be awake…

wishing that it would…

just one more time.

Off to school—1996

 

 

Week 11 Food storage prompt:

10 lbs. sugar, 1 lb salt

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Perfect Crispy Chicken Tenders

I’m thinking that being able to make an honest to goodness crispy chicken tender — just like way better than what you’d buy at some fancy, expensive restaurant should make you a really valuable woman. Don’t you think? I expect the marriage proposals to come flooding in–non-stop.

Ok, no I don’t. But I’ll tell you this…

If I was married to some cute little Scottish farmer man–he would be falling madly in love with me all over again because, you see, I’m magic.

I can make Crispy Chicken Tenders.

Oooh, ooooh, oooh–so can you…

Put two cups of flour in a bowl.

Add 1-1/2 Tbsp Seasoning Salt. If some other chickeny spices sound good to you, add them to the flour.  Personally, the seasoning salt works for me.

Soak a package of boneless, skinless chicken tenders in buttermilk for about 20 minutes. You may be asking, “how much buttermilk, lady. How much?” I’d say about 1-1/2 -2 cups. Save some for later.

Mix seasoning spices into the flour.

Ok, it’s later. Drizzle a few drops of butter milk onto the flour mixture. “Why?” you may ask. Well,  I can’t tell you yet.

Fluff the buttermilk drops into the flour mixture with a fork…

…until little crumbles form.

Dip each piece of chicken into the flour mixture. Isn’t it cool how the crumbly pieces actually stick to the chicken? Remember the drizzling buttermilk? That’s why.

Deep fry the tenders until golden brown–about 3 minutes on each side.

Remove from heat and cool on paper towels. Look at all that crunchy stuff!

The temptation will be to grab one and take a big bite–but be warned–these things are dreadfully hot. So let them sit for awhile, while you make a salad or something.

Oh, I know…

How about if you just bask in the glow of perfect Crispy Chicken Tenders, and your magic-ness.

You’re gonna make lots of friends now.

And if you happen to see my little farmer man with the Scottish accent wandering around out there somewhere, nudge him in the right direction.

He really doesn’t know what he’s missing.

I found this recipe on Pioneer Woman. So there.
4.9 from 11 reviews
Perfect Crispy Chicken Tenders
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 Cups flour
  • 1-1/2 Tbsp Seasoning Salt
  • Boneless Chicken--cut in strips
  • Buttermilk
Instructions
  1. Put two cups of flour in a bowl.
  2. Add 1-1/2 Tbsp Seasoning Salt.
  3. Soak a package of boneless, skinless chicken tenders in buttermilk for about 20 minutes.
  4. Mix seasoning spices into the flour.
  5. Drizzle a few drops of butter milk onto the flour mixture
  6. Fluff the buttermilk drops into the flour mixture with a fork until little crumbles form.
  7. Dip each piece of chicken into the flour mixture.
  8. Deep fry the tenders until golden brown–about 3 minutes on each side.
  9. Remove from heat and cool on paper towels. Look at all that crunchy stuff!