Adventures in Baking: Your Average Spicy Chocolate Muffin

The humble muffin. In the case of yesterday's batch, easy to mistake for a cupcake, since the first recipe I ran into when looking for a quick, kids-will-definitely-eat-it kind of breakfast was for a Chocolate Muffin. What could be simpler, or more kids-can't-say-no-to-it?

Except, of course, that I'd completely forgotten that I had used up a main ingredient, the cocoa powder, in Ralphie's birthday cupcakes a couple of weeks earlier. And since this was a quick-and-easy recipe and I was SURE I had all of the ingredients, I didn't bother to do anything in the correct order. So by the time I realized I didn't have the cocoa powder, well, the batter was already completely put together. Sans cocoa.

If any of the four convenience stores I'd stopped at had had the cocoa powder, I would have tossed some in and we would have gotten yummy chocolate muffin breakfast goodness, and that would have been that. Only there was no cocoa powder to be found that morning. And completely-put-together-muffin-batter only missing its cocoa will only last on the counter for so long, so a trip all the way to the grocery store was out of the question. So, we ended up with two different muffin experiences - the chocolate chip cupcakes made for the kids, and the experimental chocolate cupcakes I made with the rest of the batter.

See, I had a kind of chocolatey powder at home, just not the one I'd originally had in mind. The one I had handy is one called Aztec Spice Sipping Chocolate by Dove Chocolate Discoveries. It's packaged as a spicy hot cocoa, and I wasn't going to throw it in there originally since it's an already sweetened product. But I figured, I had put in less sugar than the recipe called for anyway (habit, thanks Dad!), and it just suddenly sounded like it might be yummy to have in there. And OH MAN, was it ever! I can't tell you at ALL how much I threw in - so sorry. I just upturned the can until it looked like a good sized pile and the batter had the right consistency. But the muffin that came out was moist and chocolatey and had just a delicious amount of heat - not quite 'hot and spicy', but almost. Even the kids liked it! I am so going to figure out how to do it again!!

Thanks to Chocolatier Katie Resig, on whose DCD website I originally 'discovered' this yummy spicy sipping chocolate that ended up being the star of my morning muffins.

The original chocolate muffin recipe I followed is from joyofbaking.com - here - and my only alterations aside from the cocoa powder, discussed above, were that my chips were dark chocolate, and I didn't bother to melt the butter - the kitchen was so warm just from the weather that my stick was barely a solid to start with :).

On to Wednesday dinner planning. Have a great week!

Local Favorite: Netcong Farmers' Market

I am still mourning my blog over at ScrapFriends. A couple of years worth of stories I only-put-there, always thinking they'd be there for me to go back and grab later..including many kid milestones, like first-word stories, birth stories...sigh! As someone who's lost all digital photo files twice now (once due to no backup, I guess, but the second time due to failed backup...) I guess I've come to accept that such things are more ephemeral than I would hope. So now I'm ready to blog again. My last blog included much of my life, since my followers were friends, but the central theme was, of course, scrapbooking, due to the nature of the site and my relationships there. I don't know that I'm sure how to focus my revived blogspot blog yet. So we're going to go with the theory that it will evolve somewhat organically, and I'm happy to sit back and see where it goes.

One thing I can say is that whenever I'm enjoying a favorite anything - food, local attraction, free-kid-thing - I always want to share. So I know what will be feeding some of my writing here. And in celebration of summer, I'm going to start by sharing my favorite little Farmers' Market, the one held at the train station in Netcong, NJ, known simply as the Netcong Farmers' Market.

This is not what I used to think of when I thought of farmers' markets. I thought of the one in Madison, Wisconsin, where you keep going and going and going around the circle and it's just neverending and mindboggling in its variety and the sheer number of vendors.

I was pretty surprised the first time I visited Netcong, a few years ago, and found only a few local farms set up. But until the Sparta market opened this Spring, it was What We Have, and I love it for being close and fresh and just so much more convenient than the bigger ones further away. They also used to have fantastic weekend giveaways - I once won the 'beach day' themed giveaway, which was a colorful beach umbrella-with-stand, two supersized towels and two beach chairs! - but I was told this year that Netcong 'said no.' Bummer for that!

Here's what to expect at Netcong Farmers' Market: Alstede Farms (whose frequent-shopper card does not work here...only if you buy at the farm in Chester). Hickory Ridge Alpaca Farm, with at least one supersoft alpaca in a pen to accept the attention of small fry. (This week, we had a Mama with her little one - bonus!) Iona Hill Farm. A little admin tent where, if you bring in your ValPak coupon, you can get a free canvas tote (this year's appears to be maroon). The possibility of one or more other local vendors, who may or may not stay the season.

Herbs and fruits and veggies are the stars of the market, but Alstede usually has local honey and some baked goods, and you can pick up plants and hanging baskets at Iona Hill.

We were happy to see Netcong's fabulous new spot, All in the Icing, set up. Though their Farmers' Market fare included less perishable items, their cupcakes are so so SO flavorful and creative and beautiful - so worth a visit! They even go for local and organic/sustainable ingredients 'when possible.' Their alcoholic flavors are truly alcoholic. Come to think of it, I may need to blog about them here one day, too. Don't have any photos, though. Looks like a visit is in order. ;)

The kids' favorite spot is always the alpaca stall..they all love to moon over the fluffies for a few minutes, and KC especially loves to beg for the fluffy 'stuffed animals' on display.

The nice thing, of course, about the smaller market is that it's a quick in-and-out if that's what you need. Parking is right by the booths and the fare is somewhat predictable. But I'll take a prediction of sweet, fresh Jersey Corn any day.

The Farmers' Market takes place from 9-2 every Saturday from now through mid-October at the train station at Main St. & Rte. 46 in Netcong. According to a quick search, they can be reached by phone at 973-347-0252, or by email at "b dot ryan2 at att dot net"

Maybe we'll see you there one Saturday :)

Summer Reading Club for grownups - is this really a good idea??

We went through a lot to get to summer, and now that we're here, I've got a boatload of things on the agenda.

Taking advantage of Kids Bowl Free and the free movies at Clearview Cinemas.

Getting the kids to daytime karate classes. And to Crescent Cove for fun swim, and Hackettstown for swim lessons.

Maintaining the pumpkin patch and our new (huge!) container garden (can I call it a Victory garden?) so that we can enjoy it all summer.

Cleaning out our entire house, top-to-bottom, in an effort to get it where we need it to sell next year.

...and so much more. But I'm pretty sure staying up four hours past bedtime because the siren call of a Summer Book Club - for *grown ups* - made me check out three Orson Scott Card books I haven't yet read was not part of the program. But there is no putting down a good book once I get started.

So three days into the summer reading program, and three Card novels later...oy. This Mama needs some sleep!

Books down..so far..Homebody ('ok'), Treasure Box ('very good') and the last one I read, whose name I forgot, which was written with a co-author and had to do with Healers and DNA-coded viruses and such. Which was also very good, but not as good as Treasure box. Tried to get another book out of the library yesterday, this time looking for unread Ursula LeGuin, and ended up in the kids' department. Which was just as well, since that's where my kids were looking for their own book treasures :)

My Very Own Kit

Can I show you a layout I haven't even posted to a gallery yet? It's made with a kit with the totally boring name "Bookshelf" - but the exciting thing is that I made the kit! First ever. I joined a designing contest at Brownie Scraps in order to basically force myself to learn more about how to use my scrapbooking program(s). It's a little overwhelming for me (the 'minis' we're being asked to do are way bigger than the 'minis' asked-for in another contest I've been following!), but I did learn a few things last week putting the kit together. So, success! The layout I made from the kit is my favorite thing about it so far, though! Here she is:

I used a few elements from the Skraphappens CU grabbag, and a great tutorial I found on making a plaid from a photo (tho not this one :) ). (That grab bag is a Charity kit, by the way - check it out!)

Happy to know a little about re-coloring, creating a palette and creating a plaid from a photo now -- but I want to figure out making my own designs, too. What I'm really missing are Jewish kit themes - always know in my head what I need for a layout, but rarely find the kit for it. I mean, how has no one hooked me up with a "Hebrew School" kit yet?? Seriously? But I don't think tooo much of that is out there yet. Maybe I'll have to check in on Barb Speck and see what she's been up to lately!

Wow. It's been a long time.

I dropped off the virtual planet for a while - well, not all of it, but the blogging and the running of a website for sure. Life has a way of taking over, I guess, and the third child kind of did me in for a while. When I got back, I found that the blog I had been faithful to for such a long time was completely gone...apparently, with the demise of the site where it had been hosted. There was so much there that I'm very sorry to have lost - anecdotes about the kids, birth stories, photos...sigh. But in the greater scheme of things - oh, well! Can't save everything, can we?

I'm at the point in my life where I'm approaching a milestone birthday and still trying to figure out how to do what I want to do in life, now that I'm in a place where I can't afford the time or funds to finish up the schooling I need for it. I'm also in a very anxious place in Real Life. But I'm now also in a spot where spending a few hours a month working on scrapbooking the most precious bits of my life has more meaning (and more value - as happiness therapy!) than ever. So here I am again! I'm doing digi scrapping almost exclusively now, because the overwhelming quantity of scrapbooking Stuff and Scraps almost did me in last time. I'm very happy to contain any disorganization (and all of my supplies) to the laptop and a new online backup service. (Note to anyone who may be reading this - don't back up with Mozy. I did, and was not able to recover my files. Now I'm with Carbonite..good luck to me if I ever need it, and may I not!)

I picked up a couple of Creative Team positions pretty much as soon as I got back into the game - after all, the only thing nicer for digiscrapping than a gorgeous kit with which to work is a free gorgeous with which kit to work! So you'll be seeing my favorite layouts for Vicki Eggins of Dana's Footprint Designs (hosted at www.digiridooscraps.com), as well as for the designers of Skraphappens.com. A BIG thanks to my online scrappy friend Dee Bibb, whom I think I might have known from the late, great Scrap Friends site - whose Facebook post about the new Skraphappens site formation was my springboard back into scrapbooking. I owe you big, Dee!!

Oh, and speaking of gorgeous kits and Skraphappens - the image at the top of this post was created using Little Girl Blues by Chunlin Designs over at Skraphappens.

Happy sleepless Tuesday early-morning! I'm so, so happy to be back!

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NEW BLOG

This isn't really my blog anymore. It would never accept my new entries, so I gave up. Find me at http://forum.scrapfriends.us/blog/lynnanne - I'm leaving this one up because I find that in order to comment on some blogs on blogspot, I HAVE to sign in here...and I figure if anyone tracks me down through my blogger account...well, it's just polite to let you know where to REALLY find me.

Thanks for checking out my blog :0

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Welcome back

After a hiatus from Postcards for a few months, I've finally recovered my username and password :) In short, my husband had a heart attack in November, and everything else fell by the wayside. He's through cardiac rehab now and we've made some lifestyle changes intended to keep him (heck, all of us) alive for a long time if at all possible. But what an experience.

I've been getting some nice recognition in the scrapbooking world since my last post, too. Scrapbook Answers published a layout of mine called "i dream in color" on the April 2006 Answers Disc. I took my own photo for it, right before New Years, and just couldn't bear to smile - everything still seemed so uncertain with DH. I ended up tinkering with it on the computer and got a neat effect I wouldn't be able to duplicate in a million years :)



I just found out that "Incredible Edible Egg" won the April 2006 Answers Disc Challenge too, which means it's scheduled to be published in the June/July issue of Scrapbook Answers. This was such a fun layout to work on! Being, you know, JEWISH, I just don't tend to do much in the way of Easter layouts. But Memory Villa is having an 'Easter layout' contest just for the design team, and I was going nuts not having anything to enter! I was talking about my conundrum with Lisa when we met her at the Licoln memorial last weekend (I can't BELIEVE that was just last weekend!) and she told me she had some photos from an Easter Egg hunt her kids had done the day before. One of her pics plus a zillion of the Jolee's flowers we got for next to nothing at the EK Success Warehouse Sale...plus a printable image from Scrapbook Answers...and we got a winner! I told her ahead of time I'd share the goodie package if I won...guess I'll have some sorting & splitting up to do when it gets here! As long as I get the tee shirt, I'm happy :)



The Rubber Stamper requested several of my layouts for a look, and I was told they were planning to publish two of them - but didn't mention which two! LOL Here's hoping they sell enough ad space to get both of them in there, but if not then at least one I hope! I've also been chosen to be on the design team at Scrapbooking Moments in Time, my not-too-local local scrapbook store (and an awesome one!), as well as a new culturally-aware website called Diversity Designs. I'm busy, and I'm enjoying it.

Life as we know it

After a hiatus from Postcards for a few months, I've finally recovered my username and password :) In short, my husband had a heart attack in November, and everything else fell by the wayside. He's through cardiac rehab now and we've made some lifestyle changes intended to keep him (heck, all of us) alive for a long time if at all possible. But what an experience.

I've been getting some nice recognition in the scrapbooking world since my last post, too. Scrapbook Answers published a layout of mine called "i dream in color" on the April 2006 Answers Disc. I took my own photo for it, right before New Years, and just couldn't bear to smile - everything still seemed so uncertain with DH. I ended up tinkering with it on the computer and got a neat effect I wouldn't be able to duplicate in a million years :)



I just found out that "Incredible Edible Egg" won the April 2006 Answers Disc Challenge too, which means it's scheduled to be published in the June/July issue of Scrapbook Answers. This was such a fun layout to work on! Being, you know, JEWISH, I just don't tend to do much in the way of Easter layouts. But Memory Villa is having an 'Easter layout' contest just for the design team, and I was going nuts not having anything to enter! I was talking about my conundrum with Lisa when we met her at the Licoln memorial last weekend (I can't BELIEVE that was just last weekend!) and she told me she had some photos from an Easter Egg hunt her kids had done the day before. One of her pics plus a zillion of the Jolee's flowers we got for next to nothing at the EK Success Warehouse Sale...plus a printable image from Scrapbook Answers...and we got a winner! I told her ahead of time I'd share the goodie package if I won...guess I'll have some sorting & splitting up to do when it gets here! As long as I get the tee shirt, I'm happy :)



The Rubber Stamper requested several of my layouts for a look, and I was told they were planning to publish two of them - but didn't mention which two! LOL Here's hoping they sell enough ad space to get both of them in there, but if not then at least one I hope! I've also been chosen to be on the design team at Scrapbooking Moments in Time, my not-too-local local scrapbook store (and an awesome one!), as well as a new culturally-aware website called Diversity Designs. I'm busy, and I'm enjoying it.

Calm Babies

We've heard a lot of compliments as to how calm/easygoing/happy our babies are. Not tht Ralph doesn't have his two-year-old tantrums, or Kaycie those bouts when she wakes up oh-so-hungry and can't wait another minute for mama to turn over and feed her. But overall, they ARE happy kids. A few of those complimenting the babies have also complimented us, saying that we the parents must be the reason those kids are happy. It's difficult for us to take credit for that. Not that we aren't generally happy people, but we're no happier than anyone else, as far as I can tell. And you really don't want to hear about OUR tempers.

But I noticed something last week. First, there was this meeting at our house of some of Ralph's E.I. ladies. Ralph, in the middle of us all, picked up something marginally dangerous. A pencil, maybe? Nothing SUPER dangerous, just something that could conceivably be something you didn't want your two year old to be walking around with unsupervised. One of the ladies (who has a son a little older than Ralph) burst out with some loud exclamation (it all happened so quickly - something like, "OH NO, NO, RALPHIE!"), leaped at him and grabbed it from his hand in the flash of an eye. EVERYONE jumped - especially poor Ralph! He fell screaming to the floor, scared half to death just for picking up a pencil! As I calmed him down, somewhat mystified by her panic, I told her what I do if I see him with something I don't want him to have...I ask him to give it to me. Which he then does. (Isn't there a better chance that he'll hurt himself with whatever it is if he startled and jumps or runs, than if he calmly passes it to his mama??) And I wondered about her overreaction.

But then, I had another mama over at my house with her son a day or two later. At some point, Ralph was trying to step past someone and tripped over the steps to the loft. He's been walking independently all of 6 months now - very late walker, by the charts - so though he now walks well, he does hit the floor sometimes. Especially when we've got extra stuff and extra people about. This is NOT a big house. So whenever I see him go down, or hear the thud of little knees hitting the carpet, I ask, "You okay, Ralpha?" He generally ignores my inquiry, since by then he's already up and on to the next thing. But this time, as soon as his knees hit the ground, my friend literally SHRIEKED, jumped up and raced to him, pulled him into her arms tightly and made a big fuss over him. It was really kind of sweet...but definitely not the reaction he's used to! Later on, she also did an exclamation-jump-and-grab when she noticed that the baby had a C battery in her hand (to her nearly nine month old mind, just the right size for a little teething relief...and often in her reach, now that big brother learned how to get into the fridge and take the batteries out of the drawer). Kaycie startled, but recovered quickly, very happy to have my friend's full attention after we'd been talking over her for a while.

I have no idea what the implications are for any of us in the long term. Some things work for some kids, everything becomes clear only in hindsight - you know, when those kids have kids of their own. So I'm not going to (and wouldn't care to anyway) try making judgments on any of it.

But I AM actually starting to think that those people who attribute calm babies to a particular style or personality of parenting may actually have something there. And just for me...I *like* having calm babies. I don't scare them, they don't scare me -- a system I can live with.

Flowers for Mama

That's Medieval!

A number of years ago, as a starving grad student, I attended my first SCA event. I had just joined about a month earlier, after a friend finally convinced me to go to a meeting. Lisa was the group's Chronicler, and as she handed out the newsletter at that meeting, someone made fun of it. She got mad, quit, turned to me, said, "YOU'RE an English major. YOU be Chronicler." And threw the rest of the issues in my lap. All of my commonsense reasons for refusing were completely ineffectual, and so I became an officer. And I still didn't know what SCA exactly DID.

Did I mention that my first SCA event was Pennsic War? Tent city of 10,000 people. I had about $20 bucks on me for the week, after I paid admission, and was told, "don't worry. People will feed you." And they did.

I only mention this because I'm starting to suspect parallels with my relatively new involvement in Mensa. I joined on the books a few months ago, volunteered as the NEw Jersey sub-group coordinator last month, and attended my first event this past weekend. With a name like "That's Medieval," how could I resist? I packed up all the garb I could find and headed to King of Prussia, PA, for the Delaware Valley Mensa Regional Gathering. I had more than $20 this time, as well as two babies, a dog and my lord. Uh, my husband.

I hadn't been able to resist the call for presenters, and ended up presenting the program I had volunteered to do (Silly Shakespeare for kids) as well as one on a subject I love that I had declined to do (The Medieval Bestiary). I'm not even sure I ever agreed to do that one. Those Mensans are tricky people.

We stayed to ourselves some of the time, socialized some of the time, and ate a lot! I won the King's Own Baking Contest on the second night with my Treasure House cookies. (Yes, that was the night I was the only entry.) My family won a costume contest, too, even though I had only entered Ralph and Kaycie, for their heraldic display - we won for 'best family group' and 'most vocal.' Vocal was little lord Ralph, who was very tired and not at all interested in being carried up and down the aisle to show off the adorable tunic I'd pasted together the night before with felt scraps from Squires and Scribes banners of years past.

Oh, and did I mention that I ended up halfway to proctor certification, which I had never even considered, after chancing to hear a comment about nametags and innocently asking how many potential Mensans would be taking the qualifying test that afternoon?

It was a good time, though. Lots of Dunkin' Donuts, garb, baked goods, smart friendly people, bottles of water, and things to do. A media swap, where I got to ditch a few books we no longer wanted, and pick up a few new things to look at. Organizers smart enough to choose a hotel (the Sheraton) that not only allowed dogs, but gave them their own goodie bags upon check in, water bowls, and even dog beds on request (though we did not).

Looking forward to seeing what the theme will be next year!

SCCC Fall Festival

The kids and I were on our own Saturday, while Dad was working in New York. I decided to head where we'd have gone if we'd had him with us: to the Sussex County Community College's Fall Festival.

I don't know what I expected beyond knowing that home sales companies like Pampered Chef were going to have booths. Besides commercial booths, they had a healthy living booth that gave us a free bottle of water and free apples (good thing, since I had $1.11 on me and it turned out to be a much warmer day than I'd expected!), a petting zoo with everything from a pot-bellied pig to a tiny kangaroo, and games for the children.

Not just any games, though. They had games that even Ralph could play! There were two we spent most of our time playing. The first involved a pair of salad tongs, and a set of small plastic balls with a bucket to match. Lanes had been set up on the grass, and the red, yellow or blue balls were spread out along the lane. The game involved using the salad tongs to fetch a ball, run the ball back to the bucket, then race out again to get another ball with the tongs. Ralph gave those tongs a good try, netting a couple of balls with it (two-handed) before tossing it down and running willy-nilly down the lane grabbing at the balls! He brought them back by the armload, dumping them in the appropriate bucket (he used both red and yellow lanes) or handing them off to Kaycie...who had a ball (so to speak) playing with them herself. She even explored one of the buckets when Ralph brought it over to her. Ralph earned a ribbon for playing!

We then found a booth with hula-hoops. We'd just learned how to play with these at Mommy and Me at the dance studio in Sparta, so Ralph knew just what to do! First, he held hoops up for himself and stepped through them, feet over the bottom, then head ducked under the top of the hoop. Then, we spread them out on the ground and he took turns walking the 'obstacle course' and jumping it. Jumping, for Ralph, means bending his knees deeply, then looking up at me until I come over and lift him up and onward! He understands the concept, but doesn't *quite* have the mechanics of it down. I can't imagine it will be long, now. He kicked a ball at the festival, first time I'd ever seen him do it, and now he gets his kicks in every day. When he got tired of stepping and jumping, he brought a selection of hoops over to Kaycie for her to enjoy. He then got to pick his own ribbon for playing with the hula hoops.



We visited the petting zoo area, where a gentleman with a fanny pack full of food for the animals doled it out to the children handful by handful. Ralph fed a donkey and a sheep, and tried to feed the thoroughly uninterested calf. He then ran over to watch the hopping kangaroo and glance at the pot-bellied pig, who probably weighed twice what he did.

Things Found Whilst Cleaning Out the Attic

Technically, a loft. But no better than an attic till we empty it!

I have been having an AMAZING time emptying boxes and boxes of STUFF. Some of this stuff is GOOD stuff, some is BAD stuff (you know..the mouse turds..), and some is really ODD or TIMELY stuff.

1) Color copies of some scrolls I illuminated while serving as a scribe in the SCA. PERFECT TIMING! I have 'princess' themed scrapbooking papers to review, some of which are appropriate for medieval, not just fantasy...woohoo!

2) A new-looking toothbrush of unknown origin. Again with the weirdly good timing! I posted just last night on Scrap Friends asking about cleaning mini bundt pans which aren't as non stick as they claim to be (ok..aren't non stick at ALL)...and the answer my friends gave was 'an old toothbrush'. Time to boil up this old-new toothbrush and put her to work!

3) My passport..which expired in 1994. Ah, the memories.

4) MY LOCK BOX!! MY LOCK BOX!! This thing was misplaced TWO moves ago...and it holds birth certificates, vehicle titles, ALL of the ID I need to get my NJ plates etc...woohoo! WOOHOO I SAY!!

5) Some kind of brand new combo bottle opener/can opener whatchamajiggy. I guess it was DH's? I like the separate ones I have - the bottle opener is magnetic, so I can always find it on the fridge, and my can opener has a comfortable grip...so this one's on the curb near the other stuff, with the "FREE PLEASE TAKE" sign. Who wants to wait for a garage sale? Let's get it out now!!

6) DH's resumes. Again, good timing! These haven't been updated in 6 or so years.

7) PRESCRIPTION SUNGLASSES! Mine! Current Prescription! Brand new! I completely forgot I owned these! Got 'em right before we went to the Crawfish Festival for IMC's birthday...which would be about 5 years ago. Found it in a backpack with other items from the Crawfish Fest. Hot DOG!

8) Ground Ginger. I *told* DH I knew I had ground ginger somewhere! How the heck it got UPstairs I don't know...but now I feel justified for not having purchased a replacement for so long!

To be continued..as I clear out more STUFF.

Wish List

The little things that would just make my life...prettier. That I always forget to pick up for myself until I really could use them...then forget about again till next time. Maybe writing them here will make them come true :)

1) New, beautiful kitchen set: hot mitts, towels, potholders. Mine are sooo ratty (or partially blackened)!
2) Set of Flylady featherdusters
3) New covered garbage cans for outside. 3 of 'em.

Wendys. (Plural.)

I pulled out my Wendy Bucklew CD tonight, and it's playing now. For the second time in a row. I bought it after seeing her play at a little coffeehouse type place in Atlanta, one that I'd heard the Indigo Girls frequented when they were in town. There was a mini music festival of sorts, a handful of local singer-songwriters there, and though I couldn't tell you who else played that night, Wendy stood out.

First of all, there was the hair. You really weren't quite sure what her face looked like, because she wore a gigantic mane of thick, coarse-looking, curly-as-all-getout hair, and she had this way of ducking her head over her acoustic guitar so that her face was perpetually obscured.

Then of course, there were the songs. Her voice was...throaty? Soulful. She had a funny, self-depracating sense of humor, fully revealed in her witty but heartwarming lyrics, her playful melodies. They spoke to me. There's something refreshing, funky-in-a-good-way, alive, about them. My second favorite song is "My Heart Might..." ("I would never dance with two left feet...but my heart might.") But my first is this:

I Know the Feeling

Is there a love in your life
Your lucky charm
Your secret vice
Who touches you in all the right places
One who takes their time
One who takes your breath
And sends you up, up, up, up high?
I know
I know the feeling well
I know
I know the feeling well

There's a love in my life
My other wing
My tunnel's light
Who reads to me from all the best pages
One who takes their time
One who takes my breah
And sends me up, up, up, up high
I know
I know the feeling well
I know
I know the feeling well
Let all the love inside come out to play
Tag! You're "it"!
But don't run away
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wish I could put the melody in your head as you read this. I tried finding a Wendy Bucklew homepage to link here, but the only one I can find currently reads, "Under Construction."
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So it's listening to these songs again that got me thinking about Wendys. It seems to me that I haven't known too many Wendys over the years, but the ones I remember have been a pretty darned talented bunch. I remember a Wendy that I bowled with in high school. Kuipers. I think she was in my Saturday classic league at interstate, and I think I ran into her during Varsity bowling meets, too. But what I remember about her is mostly this: she had talent. She had the highest average I knew of for a girl our age - I think she was a year older than I - and but gosh was I intimidated by her. She was on the All American bowling team in college, and I know the JBT (Junior Bowlers Tour) has her ranked among the highest ranking bowlers ever. I wouldn't be surprised to find her bowling on the women's pro bowling tour now. Oh, and I think she aced her SAT's or something too. Wendy.

Then there's another Wendy I know, if only virtually. Wendy Price. Not that I know her well, or even know much ABOUT her. But I run into her on scrapbooking boards now and again, where she goes by WendyP, and she's on the Memory Villa design team with me. What I know about her is: the girl can scrap! Take a look at her layouts: http://www.mvlayouts.com/gallery/Wendy-Price See what I mean?

And you know what I think of Wendy from Peter Pan? There's a chick who has her head screwed on right.

There's just something about that name. Wendy.

Tonight's Menu

Monday September 26:
Just me and the babies tonight. Corn on the cob, rice, Gorton's fish sticks, Bush's vegetarian baked beans. Fresh baked rice muffins.

Sunday September 25:
Fresh honeydew melon; Pan Fried Chicken Livers with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper; egg noodles with chicken gravy (defrosted leftover from chicken paprikash last week); peas.

Saturday, September 24
Garlic London Broil, onions and mushrooms sauteed with garlic and rosemary, fresh baked sesame-topped chalah with honey.

Friday, September 23, 2005
Perch fillets baked with oregano, thyme, pepper and lemon juice; leftover potato soup.

Thursday, September 22, 2005
Tomato-mushroom salad with onions and homemade avocado-mustard-dill dressing, crockpot potato soup (thanks to my friend Nancy, who posted it at http://forum.scrapfriends.us), Gorton's fish sticks, fresh greenbeans and (leftover) steamed cauliflower. Fresh melon for dessert.