by jphilo | May 13, 2014 | Family, Top Ten Tuesday, Uncategorized
Mother’s Day was a very special time in my childhood home. Every year we celebrated Mom’s extraordinary efforts to provide for our family. But when Mother’s Day fell on May 11, as it did on the day of his birth in 1929, we celebrated Dad’s birthday, too. Since his birthday again fell on Mother’s Day this year–and because I’m madly editing page proofs for The Caregiver’s Notebook and don’t have time to blog much–today’s top 10 list gleans from two posts from the past: What My Mamma Taught Me and Top Ten Things About My Dad.
10. Never allowed discussions about politics to become cut throat. Dad’s most barbed political statement referred to his right arm, severely weakened by multiple sclerosis: It’s my Republican arm. Not good for much of anything.
9. The library is an excellent place to hang out. Mom checked out a lot of books and taught her kids to love to read. And go to the library where books can be checked out for FREE!
8. Birthday and Christmas presents matter. Dad picked Mom’s birthday and Christmas gifts carefully. He looked through the newspaper ads and phoned the store to quiz the clerk for a long time about whatever gift he wanted to buy. Once he made his decision, he arranged to have the gift delivered when Mom was at work.
7. Every woman should get an education so she can support herself and her family. Mom went back to school to finish her 4 year degree after Dad was diagnosed with MS in the late 1950s. She went on for her Master’s Degree in the mid 1960s. Our lives would have been very different had she not pursued those degrees.
6. People matter more than winning does. Dad loved to play cards with friends, but he didn’t play to win. He played to talk.
5. A strong family will be a constant support throughout life. As a teenager, Mom babysat many of her nieces and nephews. Those nieces and nephews open their homes to her whenever we travel back for funerals or reunions. Their love and respect for her is a touching tribute to her influence on their lives.
4. Proximity matters. Having Dad close by in his wheelchair always made me feel safe.
3. Teaching Is more than a job. Mom’s passion for her work demonstrated that teaching is not just a way to support your family. It’s a way to inspire a new generation and help them realize their own potential.
2. No matter what happens, find a reason to laugh. Dad’s constant sense of humor and thousand watt smile taught that lesson time and time again.
1. True love never fails. Mom cared for Dad at home from 1959 when he was diagnosed with MS until 1983 when he required nursing home care. Once he moved to the nursing home, Mom visited him daily, unless she was visiting her kids and grandkids, from 1983 until his death in 1997. Every time she walked through the door, his face brightened and his eyes shone.
Every now and then someone asks why I drive 45 miles to visit Mom Tuesday after Tuesday. The answer is simple. It’s what my parents taught me.
Love bears all things, hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:7–8
What lessons did your parents teach you? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Mar 21, 2014 | Uncategorized
March Madness has revealed the first Cinderella team of the 2014 tournament. In a hard fought battle, underdog Spring beat Winter in several week-long overtimes. As you may know, Spring wasn’t a 15 or 16 seed. It wasn’t assigned a seed.
At. All.
Instead, the battered season was the recipient of several daffodil bulbs, so shriveled and ugly they were immediately buried underground and forgotten. Until yesterday, when the calendar proclaimed the arrival of spring, but everyone scoffed because what kind of Cinderella comes to the party wearing glass snow boots?
Spring does.
She comes, dressed wrong, and with Winter’s cruel, icy fingers gripping her neck, determined to strangle the life out of her. (Where are the refs when you need ’em?) But, spunky little Spring rallied valiantly, never letting her daffodil bulb status dampen her enthusiasm. Despite insurmountable odds, Spring believed in herself when everyone else believed this:
She could never manage a come back.
I confess, I didn’t think Spring would make it until a peek out our bedroom window proved me wrong. There sat Spring, in all her green glory, her daffodil foliage basking in the sun, her presence proclaiming what no one thought possible.
You can’t stop me, Winter. I am here!
And here she’ll stay. She’s the true Cinderella team of March Madness, 2014. She’s proof that sometimes impossible dreams do come true, that underdogs can win, and that new life hides in unexpected places. So take heart, winter-weary friends!
Spring is here. And the game is on.
by jphilo | Feb 19, 2014 | Uncategorized
Today’s recipe injected a ray of sunshine into February’s winter-induced gloom at our house. It comes from Deborah Vogts’ Country at Heart blog, which features recipes by many of her fellow authors. Bonnie Doran submitted the original recipe for two. Other than adding more vegetables and cutting down the amount of oil, my version is the same as original. By the way, this recipe not only received Hiram’s coveted seal of approval, but he’s also declared it his new favorite meal. Which means, from now on I’ll be doubling the recipe!
Kung Pao Chicken for Two
1/2 pound boneless chicken breasts (about 1), cubed
1 egg white
4 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 bunch green onions, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup red sweet pepper cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup grape seed oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1/2 cup peanuts
In small bowl, combine chicken, egg white, 3 teaspoons cornstarch and 1 tablespoon soy sauce; mix well. Refrigerate 1 hour.
Blend remaining corn starch, soy sauce, sugar , and dry sherry.
In wok or dutch oven, heat oil. Stir chicken mixture and spoon into hot oil. Stir-fry until chicken turns white, about 1 minute. Remove chicken to plate lined with paper towels and drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon oil. Add red pepper and cooked chicken; stir-fry 1 minute. Add sherry mixture to chicken mixture. Stir over high heat until mixture is coated with a light glaze. Stir in peanuts, scallions, and sweet red pepper. Serve immediately. Serves 2.
by jphilo | Feb 6, 2014 | Uncategorized
- Beatlemania hit the United States 50 years ago this week. I was 7 at the time, too young to join the screaming teenage fans, but susceptible enough to think b-e-a-t-l-e rather than b-e-e-t-l-e was the correct spelling of the insect variety of the word.
- Thanks to the bushy brow genes inherited from my paternal grandfather, I am one step ahead of the runway models resorting to hair plugs to sprout unibrows. It feels so freeing to know I could lose my tweezers and still be at the height of fashion.
- The man of steel and I both loved Saving Mr. Banks. What’s not to love about an evening spent flitting from Australia to London to Disneyland in the company of Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Walt Disney, Tinkerbell, Mary Poppins, Bert, Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, and the Banks family, with cameo appearances by songs from the Mary Poppins soundtrack. Thank you, Tinkerbell, for sprinkling pixie dust and making the evening magical.
Have you seen Saving Mr. Banks? What did you think?
Photo Source
by jphilo | Feb 4, 2014 | Uncategorized
10. Thanks to incessant media hype, people were sick of both events before either began.
9. The cost of attending both events was far too high.
8. Spectators, watching from comfy couches in their living rooms, were pretty sure they could have done a better job than the people on the screen. After all, how hard can it be to speak into a microphone or run around in the grass?
7. Fans of Downton Abbey and Biggest Loser spent the night with their noses out of joint because their favorite shows were preempted.
6. The day after the event the winners gloated, the losers pouted, and everyone else got on with their lives.
5. The spectators at both events need to go to good sportsmanship class.
4. Everyone spent way too much time arguing about the rules.
3. To make next year’s events more pleasant, commentators should evaluate their performances for cliches and phrases repeated far too often.
2. Immediately after both events, the winners were insensitive to the feelings of the losers, the losers made vicious accusations about the winners, and everyone else wondered what all the fuss was about.
1. Adults forgot that children were watching their behavior and would imitate it at the school the next day.
State of the Union Photo Source Super Bowl Stadium Photo Source
by jphilo | Jan 31, 2014 | Uncategorized
Just when a non-sports fan thinks the annual Super Bowl hype can’t get any hypier, it does. This week, advertisers who paid small fortunes to air ads during the big game, are maximizing their investments by releasing “sneak peeks” of their commercials.
In other words, they’re making commercials about commercials.
My non-sports fan inner cynic started scoffing the minute the news broke. It didn’t shut up until the beauteous implications of this hype-ocity penetrated my thick non-sports fan skull. Watching the sneak peeks commercials about commercials ahead of time will streamline Sunday’s Super Bowl watching experience for non-sports fans.
In other words, our game time conversations need not be interrupted by commercial breaks.
Other than a bathroom break and a brief check of the Bruno Mars halftime show, we non-sports fans can talk non-stop for hours. We can also stand guard at the food and drink table and chase people away from our favorite snacks.
In other words, my kind of party!
Those of you who are interested in streamlining your Super Bowl experience can watch the sneak peeks commercials about commercials at these websites:
Forbes.com: At Forbes you can not only watch, but vote for your fave.
2014 Super Bowl Commercials: While this site offers oodles of share buttons.
Mediaite: No voting here, but it loads faster than the other two.
Spinach Dip: No commercials here, just a hint about where I’ll be hanging during the game.
If you start now, you have plenty of time to watch all the commercials, share, vote, and make the spinach dip before Sunday’s pre-pre-pre-pre-game show starts on Saturday afternoon. Or does that begin on Friday this year?
In other words, what will they think of next?
Photo Source
