Happy Mother’s Day!

Dear Lord
Author: Unknown
Dear Lord, it’s such a hectic day
With little time to stop and pray
For life’s been anything but calm
Since You called on me to be a mom
Running errands, matching socks
Building dreams with building blocks
Cooking, cleaning, and finding shoes
And other stuff that children lose
Fitting lids on bottled bugs
Wiping tears and giving hugs
A stack of last weeks mail to read
So where’s the quiet time I need?
Yet when I steal a minute, Lord
Just at the sink or ironing board
To ask the blessings of Your grace
I see then, in my small one’s face
That you have blessed me
All the while
And I stop to kiss
That precious smile

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexico’s victory over French forces in 1862.

In the United States, Cinco de Mayo is an excuse to enjoy the great foods and drinks that the Mexican heritage has given us. Any reason to party, is a  good enough for us.

Now if you’re partying at home and having friends over, you have to pull out the fresh goods, and make some guacamole. Because good friends, don’t serve store bought guacamole to their friends. That’s just wrong.

To help you out, here’s a great recipe for guacamole and a fantastic margarita. I hope you enjoy them both. Remember it is Thursday, and tomorrow is a work day for most, so enjoy in moderation.

Guacamole

Total time: 10 minutes
Servings: Makes 2 cups
Note: Molcajetes, lava stone mortar and pestles, are widely available at Latino markets and selected cookware stores.
2 heaping tablespoons finely chopped white onion
3 serrano chiles, seeded and finely chopped
4 heaping tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro plus cilantro leaves with little stems for garnish
3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
3 large avocados or 4 small avocados
4 ounces ripe tomatoes, finely chopped (about 2/3 cup)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1. In a molcajete, grind together the onions, chiles, chopped cilantro and salt to a paste.
2. Cut the avocados into halves, remove the pits and spoon the flesh into the molcajete. Mash the avocado into the onion-chile mixture until it is a uniform texture, but not smooth (it should still have some lumps).
3. Stir in the tomatoes and lime juice, adjust the seasoning and top with the cilantro leaves.
Each tablespoon: 36 calories; 0 protein; 2 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 3 grams fat; 0 saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 57 mg. sodium.

Frozen Mango Margarita

1.5 oz. Cuervo Especial Gold (25 oz. per bottle)

3 oz. Jose Cuervo Lime Margarita Mix

1 cup(s) mangos

1.5 tablespoon(s) sugar

4 oz. crushed ice

1 lime wedge  

Drink Recipe Preparation:

• Rub rim of a margarita glass with half a lime and dip into sugar.
• Add Cuervo Especial Gold, lime margarita mix, diced and peeled mangos, and crushed ice.
• Mix in blender until smooth.
• Pour into the glass.
• Garnish with lime wedge.

Osama Bin Laden Dead

 

Hiding out in the mountainous regions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, just wasn’t enough. Sources say, the U.S. has possession of his body.

Two senior counterterrorism officials confirmed to the Associated Press that bin Laden was killed in Pakistan last week. One said bin Laden was killed in a ground operation, not by a Predator drone. Both said the operation was based on U.S. intelligence, and both said the U.S. is in possession of bin Laden’s body.

We all remember where we were on 9/11, when we heard the news. I was actually packing to move into my brand new home, my husband and I had built. I remember, standing in the kitchen, almost dropping a glass I was wrapping when the first plane struck. It’s hard to forget crying for the people who were killed, and their families. The memory of explaining to my daughters that evening what had happened. As an American, that day hit me hard. As a veteran, I understood the President’s reaction to it, and felt something had to be done.

So, here we are, 1 May, 2011. America has received the news it has been waiting ten years to hear.  Where were you on 9/11? What’s your opinion on today’s news? 

Because we all need to laugh…

I really don’t need to say anything, I think this video says it all.

English Teacher Harassed For Being Erotica Author

A review of Joanna Trollope’s Daughters-in-Law

As Anthony and Rachel Brinkley welcome their third daughter-in-law to the family, they don’t quite realize the profound shift that is about to take place. For different reasons, the Brinkleys’ two previous daughters-in-law hadn’t been able to resist Rachel’s maternal control and Anthony’s gentle charm and had settled into their husbands’ family without rocking the boat.

But Charlotte—very young, very beautiful, and spoiled—has no intention of falling into step with the Brinkleys and wants to establish her own household. Soon Rachel’s sons begin to think of their own houses as home and of their mother’s house as simply the place where their parents live—a necessary and inevitable shift of loyalties that threatens Rachel’s sense of herself, breaks Anthony’s heart, and causes unexpected consequences in all the marriages. Then a crisis brings these changes to the surface, and everyone has to learn what family love means all over again.

********************************************************************************
Rachel and Anthony have three sons, all so very different, as are their wives. Edward, the eldest, is married to Sigrid. A Scandinavian woman who has bore him a daughter. There life seems perfect and orderly. They’d introduced their middle son, Ralph, to his wife Petra. She’d been a student in Anthony’s art class. The two have two sons, whose care seems to fall mainly on Petra’s shoulders. Their youngest, Luke, is ready to take a bride of his own. However, Charlotte isn’t quite the fit to the family as their previous daughter-in-laws. Rachel is a mother who takes pride in being the nexus of her family, and for her, this new addition to the family proves to be a somewhat difficult transition.

As with many families what appears on the outside, is only a façade of what is just below the service. Secrets, among the couples, are heading to a boiling point and the structures of the family are being tested, especially Rachel’s role as head of every family. The final blow come on the tail of financial difficulties for one of the sons. Rachel sees this as a problem for the entire family and of course another opportunity for her to fix things. This seems to be the moment the family needed to get real with one another.

This is the first of Joanna Trollope‘s books that I’ve read and once again, I have found another author to add to my list of favs. Her new book, Daughters In-Law, covers an array of emotion that I’m sure have been felt by every married woman with in-laws during some time in their marriage.

I found Trollope’s ability to show each character’s side of the story enlightening. She successfully weaves the lives of her characters into a tight little package, reflecting how they all influence each other’s outcome as well as their own. I really enjoyed the story and I’m sure others will too.

A great lounging on the beach, while sipping on a Pina Colada while a summer breeze blows through your hair, read. Go out and get it now for your summer reading list.

Posting every week in 2011!

So I’ve decided that I’m going to blog more this year. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now. I will be posting on this blog at least once a week for all of 2011.

I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.

If you already read our blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way. One way or another, I’ll begin to post on a more regular basis.

Here’s to blogging in 2011!

Kensana

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day from the Playground.

Let’s hear it for the troops!

I am proud to be a veteran and will always cherish and remember my time served to my country as a very special time in my life. Happy Veterans Day to those who have served and those who continue to protect our borders against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

~Kensana~

Confessions of a Google-holic

Sitting in the park yesterday, on a perfectly lovely autumn morning, I did a little writing the old-fashioned way. I’m usually all about the electronica, but when the little one needs some fresh air, I’m perfectly willing to leave the battery-challenged laptop at home and scribble away in a notebook. No, not the cute Apple kind of ‘notebook’ that comes in so many lovely colors. I mean a cheap, three-subject, spiral-bound block of paper I bought at the drugstore. And sometimes my best work comes out this way. Yesterday was not one of those days. Sure, the scene I wrote was inspired, dramatic, and just what was needed to move the plot and characterization along, however, the whole scene went right in the trashcan. Why? Because it was based on something that DOES NOT happen. [Cindy takes a moment to decide whether to laugh or cry]

Here’s what I learned today—When you step on a landmine it does not make a loud click and it will do one of two things 1. Immediately explode or 2. Wait a few seconds and then explode. There’s none of this Hollywood melodrama where the soldier or, better yet, his commanding officer hears the telltale sound of a landmine arming itself and has time to say, “Son, don’t move. Keep your foot right where it is.” Because even if the soldier stayed as still as a marble statue, the thing’s gonna explode. Who knew? Well, apparently weapons experts and military history buffs all over the web know this, but those of us who glean most their munitions knowledge from movies and TV have been seriously misled. Not surprising. The myth began due to some US propaganda during World War II designed to make the German S-mine, the famous ‘Bouncing Betty’, seem like something soldiers could outsmart. Not only is it untrue, but freezing is the worst thing you could with this type of anti-personnel weapon. With a bounding mine, it’s better to hit the deck. It only goes to show, even things you think you know bear double-checking with a Google search. Which brings me to my next point, have I become so dependent on Google that I can’t write without it?

Okay, clearly I CAN write without it, but the question is, should I? I mean, luckily this time I double-checked my facts before my editor—or worse, a fan—pointed out to me that I’m a doofus. Or is it okay to take certain liberties with the truth if the unrealistic situation works best in the novel? Hollywood does it all the time. See, this is why writers are great big balls of neurosis. I suppose it’s up to each author and publisher to decide what’s poetic license and what’s over the top. But for me, in this case, I feel it’s better to rewrite the scene than to rely on bad propaganda turned urban legend. Not to mention, if I’ve seen it enough times to have adopted it as fact, I could probably be more creative. No need to rely on hackneyed story-telling devices. Today, I’m back at the laptop reworking my brilliant scene so that it’s both genius and believable.

So, all you writers out there, how much fact do you weave into your fiction? And how much inaccuracy are you comfortable with? Inquiring minds want to know!

What’s your favorite method of research
(polls)

First Kiss Friday