Greed vs gratitude

I was just watching TV and was thinking about what bratty behavior the one twin on Jon & Kate was exhibiting as usual. It's all about her, what she wants and when she doesn't get it, the fit that she throws. Just like the real world. Selfish people who think only of themselves. I want, I want, I want. There is nothing more annoying and it is rampant. This led me to my next thought about my friend Pam who died one year ago of metastatic breast cancer. Pam was grateful for life even with a grim prognosis for her personal future. She never forgot where her blessings came from and she didn't care if she had the latest, greatest clothes, shoes or trips. She continued to serve others and her family and her faith were the most important gifts in her life and she was thankful on a daily basis. I don't think I ever heard her complain or whine about her own health situation which I'm sure created economic hardships as well. She truly endured to the end. I wanted to write a tribute to her on the anniversary of her death but instead, I just looked at her picture and read the loving tribute her son wrote about her. I miss her. She was the definition of gratitude.

Fabulous sounding fresh shrimp dip recipe

Check out this dip recipe. I found it in Southern Living (April 2009) magazine. Anything with real blue cheese in it will be fabulous. I'm trying it out on Anne, my good friend from Atlanta, when she gets here in about threee weeks. Give me the verdict if you try it out sooner than I do.

Prep: 25 min., Cook: 7 min., Stand: 15 min., Chill: 4 hr.
Yield
Makes 5 1/2 cups
Ingredients
2 1/2 pounds unpeeled, large raw shrimp (21/25 count)*
1/4 cup diced sweet onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
4 green onions, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Assorted fresh vegetables
French bread baguette slices
Preparation
1. Peel shrimp; devein, if desired.
2. Sauté onion in hot oil in a skillet over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in shrimp, and cook, stirring occasionally, 3 to 4 minutes or just until shrimp turn pink. Transfer to a bowl, and let stand 15 minutes. Chop shrimp, and return to bowl.
3. Stir in cream cheese and next 10 ingredients. Cover and chill 4 hours. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days. Serve with vegetables and bread slices.
*2 1/2 lb. frozen unpeeled, large raw shrimp (21/25), thawed according to package directions, may be substituted.
Amy Tornquist, Amy Tornquist, Southern Living, APRIL 2009

Darling birthday cake!!!!!

Is this the cutest cake you've ever seen??? Although if I would have posted her Fancy Nancy cake there may have been a little debate. This was done by my pseudo niece Michelle. Of course her little guy is darling as well. I just can't believe the talent in that Jolley family. If they ever all lived in the same region, the potential would be endless. No small detail is neglected. I am just amazed.

Who's watching the start of March madness???? It started this morning and there will be games until late into the evening and for days. I am so loving it. I've got the TV on with one game and the computer on so I can watch the other three games. Sorry all you Cougars but once again, they are blowing it (it's only halftime though). We didn't pick them on our draw sheets this year as they've disappointed too many times in the past years. I'm loving Memphis again.

New Playlist....YEAH!!!!

They're finally gone. Yep, all the Christmas carols are gone, replaced by LOTS (all) of ABBA. I loved Mama Mia so that's what the new play list has (except one). I liked the movie alot but the music didn't even come close to the original version. Pierce Brosnan's singing was truly awful. And speaking of other major disappointments, Colin Firth as the potential "gay" dad really wrecked my day. I have loved him forever as Mr. Darcy. This was so NOT good. Anyway, this music makes me really happy. So happy that tomorrow I think I'll go buy the CD. I can put it on the house intercom system and dance my way through vacuuming. Hope you all enjoy it as much as me!!!

On a side note, the Jazz are creeping their way back up. They slipped past Dallas tonight to the seventh position and are they are only two games behind Houston for the 4th position. Houston should go down the toilet as usual so things are looking up now. This makes me very happy too. If my "personal" Jazz rep can get us tickets to a playoff game, we just might go. I sold my season tickets so my people get my playoff tickets. We'll be just like the other poor Utah slobs trying to score lower bowl tickets unless Gary can come through for us. He got us tickets last year to see them in Utah and LA but I am NEVER doing the Staples thing again. Those Laker fans were ravenous animals. I had my true blue t-shirt on and they wanted me and the one other Jazz fan in the arena. I'd rather drive or fly to Utah!

A Birthday in the Family

We had a birthday in the family. Friday was Riley's birthday. I think I have to keep the number secret. Since Nan and Sam couldn't be with us for the party on Saturday night, we planned the night at the casino to be with them. Saturday night we had the party at home with neighbors and friends. I actually planned a dinner and it turned out pretty good - grilled blackened salmon with mango, pineapple and strawberry salsa for on top. We forgot to open presents until after all of our guests had left but he had already guessed what he was getting. Yep, we've joined the Wii family. We decided that we wanted to bowl on Saturday nights after playing on Gary & Jen's setup at Christmas and I'm the queen of duck hunt since the original Nintendo days. Now if I can only find Jaws and Castlevania to play. He had happy birthday phone calls from Gary and Jen and Micheal and from a couple of his siblings and that was nice. The party was lots of fun and I think he might have enjoyed getting older for one day at least.

Mmmm Mmmmm good!

Dinner out tonight with Nan and Sam.......fun! fun! fun!!!! They are in OC for Sami and Kodi's CIF Water Polo game so they thought we needed to have dinner tonight and we agreed. We'll all be coming from different directions and meeting in Cabazon. None of us has been to this casino before but I just googled it for "dining" and it looks like a winner. Many restaurants to choose from once you get inside. This is a casino right on I-10 that looks almost exactly like the Palms in Las Vegas (same architect).

I still haven't got Christmas pictures posted but still intend to do so. I've still got to post the pictures that we took with our fabulous guests that came to visit in January. I just can't seem to get the picture part together even though I got a really great new camera for Christmas and Jen sent me a disk with all the pictures she took with her great new camera. We'll get there sooner or later.

We're still here!

It's been forever since my last post and it wasn't even a "real" post. I still need to catch up on our trip to Disneyland and Christmas. We're putting our other house up for sale again and there has been lots to do (clean the garage and get rid of massive amounts of stuff) so we've been busy. We had weekend guests (some of you will recognize the name - Tammy and Allen) a couple of weekends ago and had a great time with them at Joshua Tree National Park. Pictures to follow as soon as I have time to download them. So stay tuned and maybe tonight after I have dinner and play cards at a neighbor's house, we'll get some of those pictures posted.