Julie Andrews. I knew that would get your attention:-).

Yep, the Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton selected poems, songs and lullabies to create a collection particularly for children (But should anything be particularly for children?) which is exactly the reason I checked the book out from the library:-). I think Julie and Emma did a reverent job of just who they included in this book...Ogden Nash, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Shel Silverstein, A.A.Milne, and the list goes on. Some surprising, some not so surprising. Some far too cutesy and maybe even trite for me, BUT I didn't write this blog for a critique of the book, I am writing to present a poem I thought would do me good to remember. And it might do you good also:-).

MY SYMPHONY
To live content with small means,
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion,
to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich,
to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly,
to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart,
to bear all cheerfully,
do all bravely,
await occasions,
hurry never--
in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony.
William Ellery Channing

Sticking with jumping rope.

Ugh. Maybe I just need to write about this to get over it. You know, put it out there in the universe and hope it will come back to me better than I imagine, or something like that. I am meeting with a personal trainer today. I can't stand even writing that. Except I really like her. She'd be my friend, I'm sure, if she weren't my personal trainer. Ess Gee and I joined a gym a few weeks ago. We were getting cabin fever with North Carolina's cold and I need to walk for mental health, so gym membership became therapy. I thought, "Cool, get me on a treadmill, lift me some free weights, all good." BUT, this gym comes with a three time meeting with a personal trainer as part of your membership. The first meeting with her I told her all my neurosis and all the things I wasn't going to do. I was putting the power back into my hands, I called the shots. I wasn't going to find out my fat content, my weight by their scales, my blood pressure. I know this is walking the fine line of irresponsible, but I've been there. I used to do this, to the extreme, and now that I'm free from it, I'm fine. My husband, on the other hand, who has met with the personal trainer twice already, now wants to cut out caffeine, do training circuits, and try kettle balls. Me, I'm a classicist and still just wanna walk on a treadmill and watch the occasional Today Show. I even told the PT that I'd give up my three meetings with her, and she could give them to anyone she wants, but that wasn't going to work. SO, today, I meet with her, to go lean on a huge rubber ball, and roll on some styrofoam cylinder to help my core muscles. These feel trendy to me and that's partially why I don't do them. In California, (and I'm sure in other parts of the US) where I lived for a good portion of my life, there was this huge trend to rollerblade along the boardwalk at the beach. I will tell you right now, everything in me opposed this. I was not gonna be rollerblading anywhere. Too many people doing it. Same reason I never tried snowboarding. I stick to ski's because everyone else was doing something else. Not to say that I don't love me some occasional skinny jeans, or a viewing of Avatar, I'm just saying. My poor personal trainer, she will be getting a mouthful today, all the while I'm pulling on some plastic, stretchy rope with handles to help strengthen my upper body:-). If anything, she and I will get a good laugh:-).

A Regular Walt Disney.

My husband, Ess Gee, (this is how he would like to be referred to in Humble Two Pennies. He kills me. He even told me how I could spell it!! For those who know him, you would definately find this humorous and cheesy!) says I like to name everything, and it wasn't until a few days ago did I fully agree. (Personally I just think this happens to you when you spend too many days in cold weather.) Ess Gee's truck is named Buck. Buck sometimes has an attitude, particularly when Ess Gee is driving I've noticed. My car is named Phineaus, aka Phin. She's speedy, but tries to obey the rules. Our home's heating system is affectionately called Henry. Henry takes such good care of us because right when we get into bed and shut ourselves into our bedroom he kicks on. He makes us feel like we are in a cocoon. He has been my favorite. I've even named imaginary animals we've do not yet (or if ever will) own. Like if we owned hamster's, there would be two. One named Peanut. One named Butter. After my favorite food. And if we get a dog (this will not be imaginary) his/her name will be Simma Astro Down [insert our last name]. If we ever bought ourselves a Toucan, which I could never imagine us doing, but if we did, Ess Gee even joined in on this, he said we can name the bird Toots Can. I can tell you right now, Toots Can would be my least favorite. My goodness, we welcome the Spring:-).

These here are thoughts of someone who has the great luxury of a not very worried life.

At two in the morning is when you have the most existential thoughts:-). I found myself debating on what kind of blogging should I do:-). Should I make this a themed blog? Should I only write really smart things (said in a humble way, of course:-))? Should I share personal stuff? Should I post more things than one on a single day? Should I post daily? Weekly? Do others who blog experience these same questions:-)? I then decided to give up every one of those questions and do whatever I pleased without the existentialism:-). I like the freedom. Here's to not waking up at 2am, and here's to posting whenever, however I like:-). Bear with me, folks. To tell you the truth, when I drive my 45 minutes to and from work, I like to think of Blog Titles, and just how I would flesh them out into words. Does this make me a nerd blogger? I smilingly think so.

Make this because you like yourself a whole bunch.

I promise to not make this a blog solely about recipes (although there is the temptation) but I had to include this weekend treat my husband and I had and super enjoyed. P.S. I even told my very cute, and truthful, Midwestern grandmother about it and she said it sounded good. This coming from a woman whose favorite food is the hot dog!!! Her exact words were, "I'd have to say most of the recipe's you make do not sound appetizing, but this one does." She is not a fan of Indian, nor Thai, nor Mexican, nor Greek foods, but I do agree even she would like this one. I've built the recipe out of a Betty Crocker one and through time have made it tastier than when begun. Eat up!!

Black Bean and Sausage Soup Made in a Large Pot on the Stove
Two cans of black beans, not drained, dumped in.
One fat sweet potato, microwaved, skinned, and then cut up in big chunks, dumped in.
A cup or so of cut up carrot tidbits, dumped in.
One onion, chopped up, dumped in.
Fresh spinach, sliced up, add in.
I use breakfast sausage, but I'm sure you can use any kind, chorizo, Italian, bratwurst. Cut up into one inch pieces, precooked, and then dumped in.
Four cloves of garlic, pressed (or chopped up), dumped in.
2 to 3 cups water (depending on how thick you like your soup add more or less)
One and a half chicken bouillon cubes (or use chicken stock, three cups worth and no need for the water)
Salt, pepper, coriander...a few shakes into the pot will do.

(Through time you can add any other kind of veggie you may like, ie. corn, green beans, regular potatoes, make it your own.)

Bring to a boil, then simmer 15 minutes. You may eat as is, OR you can puree about two to three cups worth in your blender. Puree the meat, sweet potato, onion, everything, don't be choosy. Pour the puree back in the pot and WHAHLAH, eat with pleasure. Serve with rolls, crackers, cheese, tortilla chips. I make a roll called a Nun Puff, but I'll save that recipe for later.

Rollin' along, forgetting about divinity.

I forget just how very divine things can be. Like divine intervention, or divinely spoken, or divinely directed. I was talking with the gentleman I work for--Bill (his wife has a neurological disorder, I'm her aide). They are both in their eighties, have been married 60 years, and, yes, they have divine stories. He is an optometrist (Still! Not retired!). Twenty years ago, when most people his age were retiring, he had noticed his client numbers were dwindling, but he knew he wanted to keep working, so he began job hunting. There was a brand new practice opening up in Durham, so he applied. (He and his wife were living in western North Carolina at the time and were getting tired of the cold.) But he bowed out of the pursuit of the Durham job due to changes going on in the optometry world that he wasn't quite ready for. He remained timid, depressed, unsatisfied. He decided to change gears and head south towards Charlotte. He got a job in a bedroom community near Charlotte and rented an apartment. He got off of work around 3pm everyday so afterwards he and his wife would swim in the pool or take long walks around their neighborhood. He eventually found himself itchin' for more though. Wanting more hours, more clients, more work. He went to go talk to an optometry friend in Charlotte. [Note: This is four years after pursuing the Durham job.] His friend mentioned, without knowing about any previous Durham search, that a practice in Durham was in need of an optometrist. The place that was recommended was exactly the place Bill had quasi-pursued four years before. Bill got the hint:-). He applied and was hired, and he and his wife moved to Durham.
So even though it was worry and anxiety that kept him from pursuing the job before, the grace fact was it was brought around to him a second time. And this time it included the added bonus of a four-year status in a consistent and full client base, so he could just join right in--to a good, full days work.
It was better than he deserved, he says. It was better than he expected, he says. I forget how very magical people's stories can be or how God could possibly know what he's doing. I forget that. Bill's story excited me to the fact that I am now apart of their story, and, honestly, what a privilege it is for me. Because they kindly remind me of divinity.

Winning come's in 3's...

I don't know if you know this or not, but all good things come in three's. I'm not sure where I get this from. My grandmother on my mother's side has some funny superstitions, so maybe I've picked this idea up from her, I'm not sure. Grandma M., we'll call her, has said some strange things, like if a knife falls on the ground and points towards you, and you are a woman, you're gonna be the next one pregnant. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean, say, if you're like a 75 year old woman and the knife points towards you, or what happens to you if you're a man...no clue. She's italian and Catholic, so she'd probably give you some vino and do the sign of the cross over you all while underneath her breath she's calling on Jesu Cristo. In any case, all good things come in three's, and I'm waiting for my #3. My first win was with our local newspaper The News and Observer. We subscribe and I was able to submit my name to win two tickets to see Loggins&Messina...this is Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina (www.logginsandmessina.com)..eeeyow!!! I won! Absolute freakout on my end, because I grew up singing House at Pooh Corner, Your Mama Don't Dance, Danny's Song. And then I have a friend who also writes a blog and it was her blog's 200th entry, so she was having a drawing to win an 8 by 10 letter press qoute in pretty pink and gray, and my name was randomly drawn!!!! That was maybe a month ago...and I eagerly await to name drop, apply, submit, enter anything that catches my fancy that may soon be my hysterical, wonderful #3! I'll keep you posted!

Friday Grocery Store Observances

I've noticed more and more men. Over these past six month's of grocery shopping every other Friday, mid-morning's, I've noticed more father's, more couple's, more families, more solo gentlemen standing, pushing, hauling, debating, choosing food item after food item at our local SuperTarget. And I wonder why they are there. It's the strangest thing to measure your economy by how many men may shop at SuperTarget at 10:30am on a Friday, but I have a funny feeling we can.
Disclaimer: Not that I don't leave room for those who do not hold traditional 9 to 5, Monday thru Friday jobs...of course(!) there are many of those types of jobs out there, and not that I don't leave room for non-traditional families,couples, father's...of course (!) there are many different types of scenario's out there, but I'm just making commentary for a simple observance.

Jesus, a Zen Buddhist?

I just finished reading The Long Quiet Highway by the poet, author, painter, teacher, student of Zen Buddhism, Natalie Goldberg. I will be rereading The Long Quiet Highway because it seriously has the kind of words that lift up the huge boulders of my own anxieties and shines a light on them to help scare away the monsters underneath. She shares with her readers a few conversations she has with her Zen masters, and how she describes her time with them is sometimes how I feel about Jesus. Natalie often says when she would listen to the master speak, she frequently didn't understand what they were saying, BUT it felt like what they were saying was true. She would even probe with more questions to help sort out their discussions, but often times her teacher's answers still did not clarify a thing. I think this is how the disciples felt about Jesus,too.
Jesus had been working on Jesus for a very long time, learning to be Jesus, being Jesus, etc.. (Not in any way phony, but being both God and man had to take a little work navigating:-).)The Zen Master's had practiced their buddhism for years and years and years, thereby, earning the name "Master". These teacher's were used to themselves, their thoughts, their minds, their way of being. Then Jesus and the Zen Master's get students/followers, and here's when it becomes confusing:-). The disciples, me, Natalie, and the other students all sit there listening to our teachers. Jesus says things like, "The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness." (Luke 11:34) Zen master's say things like, "Mountains are not mountains. Mountains are not mountains. Mountains are not mountains." Take these words at face value, you get stares. Take these words in layers, and it opens up to you the wholeness of Jesus and the wholeness of perspective. Natalie quotes Dogen, Japan's foremost religious philosopher and thinker, "When you walk in the mist, you get wet." She then says, "You might not understand everything, but just by being here, you absorb the teachings." I think as one who follows Jesus, I can definately understand this.
They say Buddhism started about 500 years before Christianity. I think Jesus just might have thanked Buddha for kinda helping him out. Students before (and after) Christ might have posed quizzical, but that still didn't stop them from believing that what they were hearing rang true.

Honestly, I just needed to get it together!!

I've been brewing over creating a blog for months now. Idea's would pop into my head and I'd be like, "Man, I wanna share it!" But what really has been keeping me from it all was a name...a name for my blog. And today it came. Aaaah. Welcome. It's nice to be back. It's good to be here. Be on the lookout for more, much, and many excerpts from my daily life, our daily lives, specialties, delicacies and the like. I hope you enjoy the view!