It Still Has Meaning

1. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
   The emblem of suff’ring and shame;
   And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
   For a world of lost sinners was slain.
   • Refrain:
     So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
     Till my trophies at last I lay down;
     I will cling to the old rugged cross,
     And exchange it some day for a crown.
2. Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
   Has a wondrous attraction for me;
   For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
   To bear it to dark Calvary.
3. In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
   A wondrous beauty I see,
   For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
   To pardon and sanctify me.
4. To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
   Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
   Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
   Where His glory forever I’ll share

Attention Grabber

There I was last night, walking to my car, minding my own business.

Suddenly a brilliant light caught my attention and glancing to my right there she was. Just sitting there, all shimmery and shiny, welcoming me to stare in awe at her beauty. And so there I stood for a few moments, openly and unabashedly gawking and admiring her as she slowly lifted herself higher above me.

I have always loved the moon when she is crescent shaped or just showing half of her beauty, but I love her more when she is full and her light is open, not hidden by clouds or skyscrapers. Whenever I'm in Boise or in a place far from light pollution I am able to see more of her but because I'm a city dweller, I'll take what I can get.

Here then my friends, is a view of last night:

Reality Returns

 Well, I knew it was coming.

It's time once again to wearing makeup.

Time once again to consider a wardrobe consisting of more than jean skirts, tees and flip flops.

It's time to start cooking and packing lunches, snacks and dinners.

Yep, the two week vacation has officially expired and because I didn't win last week's $320 Powerball, nor did a wealthy uncle/aunt die and leave his/her millions to me and because Oprah has decided not to adopt a middle aged woman (I'm sure she has enough financial responsibilities with her family) and spoil her rotten with money, clothes and a fancy car, I have to return to working for a living.

I want to make this clear: I am grateful to God that I have such a great job that allows me certain freedoms to help keep the company's Brand shining in a positive light.  The company provides a wide-bodied chair to handle my girth, like a lot of workers, I sit the majority of the time which is wonderful when you're as heavy as I am. Yes, I am very glad to be gainfully employed 

but

I still don't want to go to work. And except for these habits I have that I can't control, you know the ones - needing electricity, having the ability to flush toilets, being able to open a working refrigerator filled with delectable goodies, having the ability to buy fuel for my car...the list goes on and on. So, because of these habits, off to work I go. And you better believe, I will be smiling when I swipe that badge and the red entry light turns green.

So, while I'm blogging when I should be sorting this week's wardrobe selections, I want to share a new restaurant I discovered last night.  It's the Yard House  located in Desert Ridge Mall. We had  a lovely experience. The menu is as thick as training notebook because it's primarily serving beer from hundreds of flavours.  I don't drink so I was interested in the seating and of course, the food.  I can honestly and happily report that we sat out on the patio in comfortable handleless wooden chairs that felt sturdy when I sat down,  and the the food was awesome!

I started my meal with a cup of Clam Chowder - ok, this wasn't so good. It was pretty thick and a bit on the salty side, but that's only one dish. My next dish was this wonderful sashimi tuna that was hands down in the running for top ten of the sashimi dishes I've tried throughout the Valley.

I smeared wasabi on each slice then added a cucumber slice and went to Heaven each time I bit into a piece of this tuna. Pure pleasure in each bite!

The next dish was the tuna roll. Now this completely took me sometime to get used to because I've never had a tuna roll sans rice, molded turine-like with a crust of edamame beans, but once I got over the unique appearance, it wasn't that bad. I didn't finish it because the soup and the sashimi had pretty much had me stuffed.

The tuna roll sits in a sauce of sesame oil, soy sauce and little spurts of siracha dotted around the plate. Yumm!

What's Cooking?

So, I've been vacationing for the last week, I'm on my 2nd week now.  With everything I listed on my vacation "to do" list, I knew trying out new recipes would be at the top.

The first dish I tried is this chicken with rice and vegetables in the slow-cooker.  Anyone know good words to describe dull, bland and mushy? This dish is indeed a fiasco. It's not well seasoned although I followed the recipe: salt & pepper to taste, all spice, chicken broth, can of creamed mushroom soup. The rice is mushy and has a texture more like wet newspaper, the chicken thighs (skinless) are stringy. Here's a pic:

Mushy, bland and dull. And I have to eat this!

The 2nd dish I tried fared a whole lot better! Like the first dish, this was quick and easy to make. It's ground turkey, tofu and frozen vegetables.  A creation I call turkey, tofu and mixed vegetables. For this dish I used, pepper, sesame oil, garlic black been sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce and garlic. Very small amounts of each because the fish and soy sauces are very salty and the black bean sauce is both salty AND spicy.

Hands down,  the best recipe!

Here's a view without the flash.

Now THIS dish I won't mind finishing. 

When the kids get here Thursday we're baking bran/apple/banana muffins. I'll let you know how they turn out.

What? Me Relax? Yes I Am!

Been busy the last few weeks; Yearly performance reviews to prepare and deliver, actions to try to reduce New Hire attrition (so much to do with this), and just LIFE!  

Some of you understand the lengthy "to do" lists of tasks that must be completed before taking a two week vacation.  It's the same as when you're planning your personal vacation. The "to do" list grows and grows (stop the paper delivery and mail, make sure to clean the 'fridge of perishables etc). So in my case, make sure my folks understand what's expected of them while I'm out, and they understand who to contact because I'll be uncontactable (is this a word?) for two weeks. 

So here I am at the end of my first week of my two week staycation and I am proud to announce that I've done pretty much nothing on my vacation "to do" list. Aside from washing winter bed linen and winter wear, I've sat here in this house in quiet, doing pretty much nothing. And I don't feel bad about that:-)  As a matter of fact, this is my first time in a while that I've been relaxed enough to visit and update my blog. Right away I see spammers tried hitting my comments but couldn't get pass the authority levels - big SHOUT OUT to Blogger for handling this nuisance!

Now that I think about it, I did get out to meet with friends that I wouldn't normally see. Dinner with Kris, Marina's wedding, Maria's baby shower, tomorrow church and Appreciation Service for Mother King.

I believe by Monday I'll have enough staycation rest to get to some of the items on that list.  If only I can remember what I've done with it heehee. In the meantime, the following are examples of my most strenuous activity this week.  All done on my iPhone. Mostly done with my thumb.

We were at a Scottsdale park. These are palm trees dotted around a grassy golf course.

I saw a skirt made with this similar design and tried to copy it. The skirt flowed and had a sheer top with this print and had a black slip underneath. The lady wore a white top and blue sandals. She looked amazing!

My favourite time of the day - dusk when the sun has set and half of the sky is dark navy and the remaining sky is slowly turning dark purple to light pink. The little orange dots at the bottom are city lights that have turned on with the oncoming darkness.

Hope you've been having a great time where ever you are!