When the Saints won the NFC division championship and headed to the Super Bowl, going to battle with my favorite team, the AFC champs Indianapolis Colts, I told my men folk I’d make gumbo for the game, in honor of the NOLA team.
I waxed poetic about how I would even make my own roux, that I was a master at getting just the right shade of chocolate-brown.
The sacrilegious teen scoffed and said to buy bottled faux roux… not in my house I declared.
I even had a roast chicken for the gumbo, none of this bland boiled bird would do.
Home from my much-needed and long overdue girls’ night out, I began the prep for my stew ~ pulled chicken, andouille sausage, fresh red peppers, celery, parsley and tomatoes. A little green chilies for some kick and of course a generous portion of Cajun seasoning.
I brought out my heavy-duty Dutch oven, browned the sausage ~ leaving the crunchy dregs, adding to it the finest quality olive oil and a handful of flour. Stirring, stirring to keep it smooth until it was the color of creamy, melted Ghirardelli.
Then disaster struck, in my enthusiasm I splashed some of that mighty roux on my wrist. Quickly calling to The Boy to get me a cold compress, I didn’t abandon my post, didn’t let the roux burn or get lumpy. I kept up the constant stirring. I thought I had escaped with only a few red marks to prove my devotion to my men folk.
Instead, these unsightly welts and blisters began to form yesterday.
Not only did my team lose to the sainted Saints, but I am possibly scarred for life… woe is me…
You should never underestimate the power of a good vent with a friend. Having someone who knows you really well, knows you are sharing your pain and skeletons in confidence, and sympathizes with all you’re going through, and won’t blow unicorns and rainbows up your ass when you need honest feedback ~ is invaluable. It helps you stay sane.
I have a friend like that and we had one big bitch fest this weekend.
Like me, this last year has been a walk through Hell with her child. Different issues, but the same emotions, the same grief, same blame game, the same frustration and heartache.
We got together for a movie and dinner, then spent the rest of the evening exorcising some of our demons.
We talk about the ‘what ifs,’ about the ‘what did I do wrongs,’ about the ‘what happens nows.’
We grieved for the unfulfilled future we had hoped for our children and the real hardships they face today. We admitted our guilt for what we may have done to create those hardships and reflected on what we could’ve done differently, knowing no matter how we raised our children their lives could still be the same.
We talked about some difficult choices we as mothers may have to make, choices our children may not like. Choices that may be met with anger, resentment and pain. Choices we have to make because they can’t make them for themselves.
It was good to talk openly about what I’d been feeling, and good being a shoulder for my friend. We both needed this weekend, this chance to say out loud what we were holding in for so long. I hope we can do this again very soon. We both need the escape.
More Weekly Winners photo galleries can be found at I am Lotus (the artist formerly known as ‘Sarcastic Mom’). Don’t forget to leave a little comment love for Lotus and the other WW photogs.
For Jan. 31-Feb. 6
(Shot with a Nikon D60, using an 18-55mm, 55-200mm, or 55mm f/1.8 prime lens)
The weather didn’t cooperate much this week, but by Friday and Saturday the sun same out and I was able to get away for a few hours of hunting. I visited a couple of local parks and found some interesting nature shots.
It seems that the older I get, the more early memories of my life simply disappear. I’ll get a glimpse of an image, but for the most part, there are whole chunks of my childhood that I cannot remember. What I do recall doesn’t follow any kind of pattern. There’s no telling what will flashback, or when.
There are even events in my children’s lives, those moments I told myself I would never forget… gone.
Yet, moments that seem of no consequence are forever remembered.
When I was about six or seven, my family lived in a huge apartment complex. Our building was near the entrance, and the road in ended in a cul-de-sac. All us kids would congregate there, playing ball, riding our bikes, being complete nuisances.
One summer a new family moved into the neighborhood. They were Japanese and the parents spoke very little English. They had two young daughters, one a little older than me, the other a little younger. I don’t remember their names, but I do remember the older girl taught me how to fold origami cranes.
For whatever reason, I can recall that lesson and 40 years later, with a bit of trial and error, I still know how to make cranes.
It intrigues me that this simple memory has remained with me… how to fold a piece of paper into the shape of a bird. Why was this significant enough that it is perpetually embedded in my brain?
We recently visited our daughter at college. Weather reports had promised sunshine and warmer temps. It was overcast for the entire two-hour drive. Once there, though, the clouds parted and a little sunshine broke through.
For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit SkyWatch Fridays.
The 100 Word Challenge is a weekly writing prompt hosted by Velvet Verbosity. The idea is to take a single theme, either through prose or verse, and tell a story in only 100 words.. no more, no less. The theme this week is ‘Darkness.’
Green neon numbers from the alarm clock gave a dull, eerie sheen to the half full glass on the bedside table. Heavy drapes swallowed city lights and street noise, the room was strangely quiet. Smoothing the blankets, she eased slowly into the warmth of her bed.
She is Alice.
Tiny pills shrunk her down into motes of dust, drifting across time and space. The outside world fell away.
Hoping to slip into her dream from the nights before, she welcomed the darkness and the shadows. One last time, she joined the secret life she lives when the sun goes down.
Been feeling very defeated lately about the ‘non-working’ status. It’s disheartening to constantly see ‘no results’ in every job search listing.
Had I known what a growth industry the news media would be… bygones. For years, newspapers, television stations, even interactive media have taken a crash-and-burn nosedive. A month before I was laid off, the company I worked for had filed for Chap. 11 Bankruptcy. I really should have seen it coming, but I have always been terribly nearsighted.
Trying to be positive, pro-active, I spend a large part of Monday once again desperately enthusiastically rummaging through the dozen or so job sites I was given by the Agency for Workforce Innovation (formerly known as the unemployment agency). The only job that popped up looking for my qualifications was one I’ve already applied for, but have yet to hear anything back from, except for a auto-generated ‘thanks for your submission’ e-mail.
It’s not like a full-time, 9-5 is doable now. Ideally, a telecommute or part-time gig would be preferred. Even that has been a fruitless search. I checked a few freelancing sites (thanks for the link Julie…) only to discover they pay essentially pennies an hour. Some less than $5 per article and then only after reaching a certain threshold of clicks.
Sounded like way too much effort for far too little compensation.
I’m not too picky. Any job I find doesn’t have to come with a life sustainable salary… a fill-in-the-blanks salary would do nicely. Still, it would be good to feel like I’m contributing to the financial welfare of my family.
I accept that I am where I’m needed, doing what I need to do… it’s just hard getting beyond the idea that income equates valuable, equates worthiness. I felt the same way the first time I was a stay-at-home mom. Regardless of how hard I worked doing all those mommy things, that I didn’t significantly contribute to our bank account made me feel inadequate… and it shouldn’t have, it still shouldn’t.
Before I went back into an office this last time, I would tell myself, and anyone else who would listen, I simply needed the adult interaction. Being home alone with two little kids, then two pre-teens and teens, was often mind numbing. I wanted to talk with a real, live grown up about real, live grown up stuff.
It was that, but it was also that I didn’t like knowing that anything I wanted for myself, anything I bought, I used someone else’s money. I felt like I had to ask for permission or an allowance to buy any thing that was not household related.
It was guilt that sent me back to a paying job more than anything. Guilt I created myself, not any that my husband pushed on me. It’s guilt now, guilt for losing my job in the first place, and not being able to find another to supplement the single income we now have.
More Weekly Winners photo galleries can be found at I am Lotus (the artist formerly known as ‘Sarcastic Mom’). Don’t forget to leave a little comment love for Lotus and the other WW photogs.
For Jan. 24-30
(Shot with a Nikon D60, using an 18-55mm, 55-200mm, or 55mm f/1.8 prime lens)
Just when I thought it was safe to venture outside again, perhaps to enjoy the first harbingers of spring… and it starts raining and turns off cold again. Mother Nature you’re just being a mean b’otch now. A few traces of warmer temps, a tease of things to come. I am ready to thaw out.
[Don't miss the video of Pollo del Fuego and her first experience with catnip...]
The two cats in our house ~ Pollo del Fuego and Scruffy ~ provide us with endless hours of amusement. Sometimes they are very sedate and sleep, either snuggling with us or hiding in favorite nooks and crannies. Other times they are running around the house, literally bouncing off the walls and furniture, knocking over stuff, tearing around like idiots.
We also have several cat toys and scratching posts. These don’t aways distract their attempts to completely gut our couch and living room chairs, but they’re getting better.
To that end, I thought, I’d try to make these scratching posts a little more attractive. In the past, they’ve enjoyed playing with catnip infused toys. So, I thought, since I have a bit of dried catnip, I’d sprinkle some directly on the posts so see if they liked it.
It was hilarious! I truly think I got my cats high.
I didn’t capture their first experience with the green herb, but here’s Pollo, coming back for a second hit.
Taken, where else, on the beach last February. Around here, February is the beginning of spring. It’s planting time as the threat of frost is over. My kids have even been swimming in the Gulf on Valentine’s Day. I don’t think I have ever looked forward more to warmer, sunnier, and calmer weather, and in need of Springtime.
For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit SkyWatch Fridays.
