wednesday wantings

mt. rainier from the plateau

the heat wave is back. it's 90+ outside today here on the plateau. that would be the mt. rainier plateau.

today i managed to get my lawn mowed. our home is 109 years old and we have a double lot here in the old historical part of town. thankfully the previous owners had added on a large family room and a master suite to the house so those two improvements have been done. the kitchen is in dire need of a remodel, but now i am so sued to it being so small i like it--less to clean up.

i love to cook and often times find myself in the kitchen creasting something for my family, so a bigger kitchen would be nice, but i like my little space. it's me. it hasn't stopped me at all. just last night while i was making chicken curry for dinner, standing my the sink cutting up the chicken and looking out the window at my apple tree and smiling. there on the tree were hundreds of apples waiting to be picked. so i did. after i put the lid on the chicken i grabbed some bags and went out the back door to pick some apples. i came in and made an apple pie, and this morning i peeled the rest and sprinkled them with lemon juice to freeze until a later time.

the rest of today consists of probably doing at least one load of laundry. then later on mr. roll and i are going to take the dogs and pick blackberries which i may can tonight or tomorrow depending on how warm it is. we don't ave a/c here in western washington so when we get a heat wave we pretty much shut down and we whine.

tuesday thoughts

chicken curry. can you guess what we're having for dinner?


where is the time going? summer is almost to an end. one more month to go. i love summer and don't look forward to it's ending in the next 4 weeks. fall is all about change for me and i'm not a person that does well with change.

that said . . .

i'm beginning the paralegal program at university of washington in the fall. i've also decided to begin kaplan's lsat study course in preparation of taking the lsat in the fall of 2010. this will put me in hopefully being accepted to law school in fall 2011. talk about change?

i'm also on a mission to declutter my house. i've signed up for flylady and i think i can do this with baby steps. i love the idea of getting a hefty bag and tossing 50 items a day. 50 a day is nothing for me to do. i can do that every morning when i come home from yoga. i'll have this hosue decluttered in no time.

mr. roll is making our living room furniture and in the meantime our living room is becoming a storage room and this must stop. time to toss. toss. toss.

it feels good to have even made this decision to declutter. i did this 3 years ago and it felt so good. how did it get time to do it again? it's a constant work in motion isn't it?

tonights dinner is chicken curry

Ingredients:
3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter), or oil
1 small onion, finely chopped 1 stick cinnamon
2 cardamom pods
4 cloves
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 inch piece root ginger, very finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp ground coriander
¾ tsp chilli powder
1 tsp tomato paste
2 skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 chopped tomato
1 tsp. plain yogurt or sour creama
handful of cilantro leaves, chopped

directions:
Heat the ghee in a large heavy pan, add the chopped onion and fry till onion is transclucent.
Turn the heat to medium low, add the cinammon, cardamom, cloves and fennel seeds, stir for 5 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes stirring occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. Then add the turmeric, ground coriander and chilli powder and fry gently for a minute. Add the tomato purée and stir in enough hot water to make a sauce. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Season with salt.
Heat a little oil in a large heavy frying pan and stir-fry the chicken pieces until they turn white.
Add the chicken and chopped tomato, sour cream/yogurt to the sauce and simmer gently until the meat is soft and succulent.
Sprinkle with the coriander and serve with plain rice and yogurt.

thursday it is . . .

thunderstorms sweep along western washington. we certainly are hearing them out here on the plateau. so loud that lucy, our rhodesian ridgback, is clinging to mr. roll. all 90lbs of her wants to be cuddled in his lap. she is so funny sometimes. here she is the alpha dog with the other two dogs, but sh is scared to pieces of loud noises. and the sad eyes he can give just breaks your heart. mr. roll took her upstairs to his office where he made her comfy on the futon while he sits at his desk and works on his computer.

i haven't been around for sometime. i spent the weekend on cameo island with girlfriends. it was beautiful. we had a fabulous time out there. we stayed at the state park, the cabins were cheap, right on the water. sitting out on the deck in the evening enjoying the beautiful sunset. enjoying the wine and the company. bbqing. smoking the salmon. fun. fun. fun.

i've been a little disillusioned this week with fellow bloggers. i'm not so much disillusioned with the mama-blogger that seems to have some controversy surrounding her. she is what she is and she chooses what to share and what not to share. and in her defense, certainly blogging is one way to make your life be exactly what you want it to, when in reality it is far from it. unfortunately for mama-blogger the events in her life she was hiding were all public record and someone found them. why did someone go looking? i have no idea but they did and then made blogger world public what they found. not a good refection of either.

what has really bothered me in all this is the fact that the fans/followers of mama-blogger are nasty mean. attacking anyone and everyone that questions the mama blogger. christian? no. no one is allowed an opinion that is different or opposes mama-blogger. no one is allowed to ask where her sick baby is. so where is he? 100's of bloggers are curious as to where he is and if he was left behind, just days after leaving the hospital where he almost died. maybe i should make that allegedly almost died? 100's of bloggers are curious as to what went on while he was in the hospital with the twittering and all as his heart is stopping. a continuim of strange behavior. mama-blogger seems to not hold herself accountable.

uncomfortable al the way around.

got this of my chest.

i got in. . .

today i received my "congratulations" letter from the university of washington telling me i was accepted into the paralegal studies program. school begins on october 1.

i am walking on cloud nine.

cloud nine.

skipping through the clouds.

smiling.

i don't even recall, at this moment, why i was so worried i wouldn't be accepted. they want me.

they are only taking 60 students into the program. that is their limit. at the informational meeting i attended a few weeks ago they said they have had more applicants this year than ever before and conclude that is because of the economy and layoffs. paralegals are in high demand and the job pays well whether one enters non-profit or high profile offices.

60 students. they also told us that they had already seen 120 applications come through. they were not going to increase the number of students due to the increase in applications. 60 students.

what i really like about this program, at uw, is that it is a 5th year program meaning one must have a bachelor's degree to apply.

now i am having fantasy thoughts enter my mind about maybe actually applying to law school in a couple of years.

am i crazy?

i would be like 60 by the time i finish. nope, i am happy with the paralegal. i want to research and write and this is what i will be doing as a paralegal.

walking on cloud nine.

today i received my letter from the university of washington letting me know i was accepted into the program appiled to. i cannot tell you how excited i am. i got in!!!!!! that degree from u. c. berkeley finally came in handy lol!!!! i am in the program and i start october 1.

walking on clouds.

walking on clouds.

jumping from cloud to cloud.

i don't even have a care in the world to being middlea ged and doing this. it's a fresh beginning for me and i am happy. happy. happy.

happy dance.

friday at last

my oldest son, dylan, trekking through patagonia in argentina.

i'm not so sure why i am thrilled it is finally friday, but i am. it's not like i work out of the home all week and look forward to the weekend off. maybe it is because mr. roll and i have been talking about taking the dogs to the dog park on saturday and i am looking forward to doing that together.

speaking of mr. roll, he took me to my doctor appointment this morning. bad news is i have 2 kidney stones in my right kidney. this is my weak kidney. last time i had kidney stones i developed septic shock. shock is what hit me when i heard the results of my ct scan. you know it's going to be bad news when you get the call and they want to see you in person. however, this time it has been caught early, and mr. roll knows what to be on the lookout for--any sign of lethargic behavior and i am off to swedish (hospital in seattle). on monday i see my doctor again to either laser them or hopefully discover they have passed. i have meds to deal with it all and a diet to help bust them up. but i am frightened of going septic. scary stuff going septic.

it's hot. i bought an ice cream maker today. i have one of the ones that takes boxes of salt and lots and lots and lots and lots of ice. i wanted one of the ones you keep in the kitchen and it makes creamy rich delicious ice cream a la the Cuisinart ICE-50BC Supreme Ice Cream Maker

i ordered one from amazon.com and it will arrive monday. too late for the weekend, but there is always next weekend, and certainly we can have yummy ice cream all week long. this alone should add some much needed junk to my trunk. so i ordered one of them and then decided to go back and order a second one for my son as his birthday is on wednesday and i know he will love it.

we are trying to decide on our vacation plans for this year. we always go away in october, but this year i will be in the paralegal program at the university of washington in october so we need to go in september. we're torn between doing a disney cruise through easten caribbean, and doing disney world in orlando. one day it's one and the next day the other. everything is so cheap right now i wish we could just do both! not.

in preparation for vacation someplace warm (i've done alaska the last two years with mr. roll and made him promise we'd do warm and beaches this year) i went online to look at some clothes. at macys.com everything i liked was not available in my size. they had plenty of size 10, size 12, even size 2. where were all the 4 & 6's? i just wanted a few pairs of shorts and tops. i ended up calling my sister in las vegas and asking her to go to our favorite store in las vegas and find me some things to take. she loved it. she knows me better than anyone and knows what i like and what will look good on my straight boy body (no hips, no thighs, no butt). i also need to get a couple of new swim suits but i have to try them on before i buy them so while i am in nyc, visiting my son dylan, and my niece katie is with me, she and i will go shopping for swim suits together. i love shopping with her.

it's not a night for cooking so we're eating out.

Grilled Shark

it's hot. i got in the car today and the temperature read 107. western washington is not used to this kind of heat. we don't have ac, we don't own fans. we we're lucky in that when i moved here 8 years ago i brought all my fans with us. all 8 are not scattered throughout the house working hard to keep the air moving. i wouldn't be miserable if i had my pool. we bought this house because it has such a large yard which mr. roll pointed out would be good for my pool someday. i'm ready for someday.

i mailed off my application/resume/intro letr/transcripts to University of Washington today for the paralegal program. i hope i get in. it is in god's hands now.

it's a good day to bbq. tonight is grilled shark. if you're afraid of shark don't be. it's very good. very meaty. good texture. good flavor. i've been using this marinade for years now, and that speaks for itself.

GRILLED SHARK

1/4-1/2 cup soy sauce (1/2 cup could be very salty for some)
6 shark steaks or swordfish steaks
1/4 cup catsup
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh parsley, Chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 tablespoon pepper, Ground

Directions
1Combine soy sauce, orange juice, catsup, chopped parsley, lemon juice, pepper, and minced garlic.
2Add fish; cover and marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours.
3Remove fish from marinade, reserving marinade.
4Grill fish over hot coals 6 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, basting frequently with marinade.