Words of Advice

File Under Things NOT To Do For Your Kids

Today was Kids' Day Races at the Park County Fair. Both Charlie and Augusta took part, to their monetary benefit. Charlie, the C H A M P I O N of running off from Mom and Dad, won a dollar bill for the 0 -4 year old dash. Augusta won an assortment of quarters and fifty-cent pieces for her efforts. "It's just like what the Tooth Fairy brought me!"





THEN came the mom and dad dashes. "Mommie! Will you run?" says Augusta. I'm in shorts, tank, decent bra and Keens. "Sure" says the stupid, forty-year old me. "I hope I don't fall..."

On your marks, get set, GO! > > > > > > > > CRASH! Skid.... ouch.

"It was the shoes. I know I'm clumsy, but the damn shoes helped!"

Bloody knees, bashed hip and grass rash to boot.

Scott's turn. He's wearing Keens, too.

Guess what? Lather, rinse, repeat...




Our children, scarred for life by two parents with the Scandinavian klutz gene AND deadly shoes.
Me? Just scarred.



As Scott said "good thing we weren't running from a bear..."
Or a mountain lion.
Or a ticked-off moose...

So, to recap...
• Charlie and Augusta, about three bucks richer from their running.
• Justine, two big band-aids from the EMTs' first aid wagon.
• Scott, believing me the next time when I say "it was the shoes!" Like there'll be a next time...

Think I should write Keen about their $90 death rides?

Recipe

As I was trying to take a nap yesterday afternoon I was lamenting that I had no plans for dinner. I guess the wheels in my brain started turning because while listening to BeauSoleil on Prairie Home Companion, I came up with the following recipe.

BeauSoleil Stuffed Prairie Chicken

4 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 sour cream
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 -2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh spinach, julienned
1 glass white wine
1/2 thinly sliced onion
1/2 large sweet potato, grated
2 tablespoons olive oil

Using a meat tenderizer, pound boneless breasts flat as the prairie. Mix next five ingredients. Spread a thin coating of the cream cheese mixture on the chicken breast, roll up breast and place in a baking pan that has been buttered. Lay rolls of chicken breasts side by side in pan. Pour glass of white wine. Pour half over chicken breasts. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Reserve other half of wine for sipping while chicken bakes. Toss onions and sweet potatoes with olive oil. Top chicken with onion & potato mixture. Cover dish and bake in a 375° oven for 40 minutes or until chicken is firm and juices run clear. Remove chicken from oven and allow to sit 5-10 minutes. Lift each rolled & stuffed breast onto the plate and slice to reveal a beautiful sunrise...

Toffee

A friend asked me for a recipe today and so I took it as an opportunity to try something new. I put together a recipe card, with a photo of a batch of the toffee that I made this afternoon. I turned the InDesign file into a PDF and then lobbed it back to being a Jpeg so that I could post it here and on Facebook. I then reworked it and just exported it as a Jpeg for upload directly to the blog. All for a dinky little candy recipe...

I'm feeling a little too geeky right now, so I guess I'll go fold some laundry...

Freestyle Sewing

So, I'm stuck in the house.

The sun is out a little, but it is still not terribly pleasant outside. I found a scrap of fleece and unearthed the sewing machine for a little engineering/freestyle designing.

I tried to duplicate/modify the design on a freebie balaclava we've had around the house for awhile. I used one of Charlie washable markers to sketch out the design on the fleece, minus one piece and this is what I came up with...







It's not perfect or windproof, but it was free, is keeping my neck warm right now and occupied a half hour of my otherwise ho-hum day.

Similar Minds

Okay, obviously First Lady Michelle Obama and I were of the same mind when it came to color selection for Inauguration Day. And, we were probably getting dressed at the same time, as she dressed in a gorgeous Isabel Toledo ensemble and I put on my shirt from Target at 4:30 MST this morning.

Coincidence?

No, just two women ready to spend the day glowing...

Skating

Augusta tried skating for the first time and we've all lived to tell the tale...


First Time Skating from Justine Larsen on Vimeo.

Craig Ferguson Knows

Tales From Sleep

Okay, so Scott has a cold and I have an impressive onset of allergy symptoms. We overate last night, I had a beer (shouldn't), the house was stuffy and we're just a little stressed... but all that must make for cool dreams.

Early this morning:

I'm at a political rally of some sort, and the crowd has moved away. I'm left behind, fiddling with my camera and trying to keep Charlie from wandering away. Just then, Barack Obama walks up, with a huuuuuuge security detail, and asks if everything is okay. Charlie says "HI! I got the BUBBLES!". He is picked up by Senator Obama and placed on his shoulders. Charlie looked as though he was 40 feet in the air. It was like a dream in HD — the vivid color, or lack of color, in Charlie's white hair on the shoulders of the sharply dressed Democratic candidate with a glorious wide, white smile and lush skin and black hair. Everyone was smiling, even the security guards. And I say, "but I can't get my camera to work!"

... just figures.

And no, Charlie wasn't wearing his "My Mama's For Obama" shirt. He was wearing his much loved Bob the Builder shirt. Figures as well.

Perception, Part Deux

In a week of near-disasters by nature and the gathering of people in the Midwest that I don't share a worldview, with "Maverick"-this and "Governor Mother"-that, I can't help but wonder if I'm the first to realize that the GOP candidates should be heretofore referred to as the "McPain Ticket".

November can't come soon enough... Can I get an amen?

Road Trip

What do you get when you mix three National Parks, two small children and 1260 miles to Grandma's house? A road trip with 3 of the 4 FromWyomings!


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