How to Make Yummy Roasted Chicken Breast

Last Sunday, while Mr. Wonderful did a little bit of this...
I came up with a yummy Sunday Dinner.
It has to be a Sunday thing for us, because during the week, I can't take more than half an hour to cook anything, or we'll majorly miss our bedtime.

All you need is some chopped up veggies...
I used a red onion, potatoes, mushrooms, celery, and green onions. I tossed them with some Wegmans Basting Oil, thyme, rosemary and some poultry seasoning.

You'll also need some chicken. I did a double chicken breast, because that's what I had in the freezer.
But, a whole roasting chicken would be good, too. Rub her down with some basting oil, salt and pepper... and put her on top of the bed of veggies...
Then, cover the dish with some tented aluminum foil.
Roast at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes, or so, depending on the weight of your chicken, and your own oven, and ENJOY!
I've been having so much fun with our fresh veggies from Arganica! We're getting another delivery tomorrow morning and I. am. pumped.!!

The Saturday Afternoon Post

Starbucks Tribute Blend is amazing. This has nothing to do with the content of this post, just wanted to let you know that.

Hello, everyone.
I didn't have my usual Saturday morning post.
Oops.

But, I did get a good night's sleep, and I cleaned the apartment, and watched a little bit of a documentary about the Egyptian Sphinx before I fell asleep again. Then, my dear husband called in a prescription for me so I can get some much-needed relief for major itching on my hands. Darn Eczema! So, I made a trip to the Mall to get said prescription and drop off my dress for the White House Correspondents Dinner to be altered.

Because everything I buy has to have about a foot and a half cut off of it.
I don't love this dress, but we're on a budget, and it was $40 so, it will do. It's black. And I can wear my shoes from last year, so that's good.

I've been rocking this Jergens tanning lotion stuff my mom sent me. It works! You should get some. That was random.

We have had an adventurous week around here.
WE PAID OFF CREDIT CARD #2!! We still have 3 more to go, but we are making major progress and I would just like to give God, and my Mother-in-Law a shout out for making that possible.

Brokaw had his surgery. I totally milked it and got Michael to let him sleep in the bed with us for a grand total of 4 days (I love to have Mr. Puggles snuggled behind my knees). He came through it great. If it weren't for the surgery, we could have paid off another credit card this month, but we love Brokaw, so, we took care of him.

We had some other doctor stuff this week, for Michael. A hard couple of days. I'm still processing all that business. He'll be fine. We'll be fine. We could be in for a bit of a lifestyle change, but after crying, and having a long, deep conversation on a sunny day in the parking lot of a soccer field, and some pretty extensive googling on my part, we can do this. There may be more to come on this. I don't know. If you'd like to pray for us, we would appreciate that.

I'm so thankful I was able to take off of work on Wednesday and Thursday to be able to just focus on the medical stuff. Juggling that plus work is too much stress! I stress out so easily, so I'm glad I was able to focus on one thing at a time this week. Thank you, Lord.

In other news, I've been religious about drinking a whole lot of water, and working out for the past 2.5 weeks, and it's paying off! I'm down 6lbs! Yeah!

And that's in spite of these two things last weekend...
and...Drink. More. Water.
It's amazing.

Pants Are Generally a Good Idea

Last week, I had a major rush of adrenaline.

I was in New York, for a work trip. But that's not the reason for the adrenaline rush.
Neither is the fact that we interviewed Donald Trump.
Nope.

That adrenaline was because I FORGOT MY PANTS.

Some people forget toothbrushes. Maybe even underwear.
Me? I forget my pants.
That's right, folks.
I brought half of a black suit.
I realized this as I was unpacking in my hotel room, the night before the big interview.
It was about 8:30. As you know, most retail stores CLOSE AT 9PM!

So... I whipped out my iPhone, searched for the closest Ann Taylor Loft (because I can always be sure their pants fit me!) and high tailed it in the rain!
I walked in the front door of this store, and pretty much screamed, "I need a pair of black pants in a 12P and I don't even care how much they cost!!"

I was in a dressing room, stat.
First pair I tried on, I bought.
They were on sale, and I had a coupon (naturally) so I also got a new jacket and shell. :)

Good thing, because as I said... we had a pretty important interview the next morning.

Photo credit: Ian Rushing

That's right.
The Brody File interviewed The Donald.
Lots of 3rd person stuff going on. Just kidding about the 3rd person stuff.
But, we really did interview The Donald.
After the interview, we shot our entire show in Times Square.

Photo credit: Mark Bautista

You can watch the show here.
The trip was a blast.
Sometimes I can't believe I get paid to have this much fun.

Reconnecting with Friends on Facebook

This morning Dana told me about the outpouring of encouragement a former co-worker had received via Facebook. They were all great friends ten years ago. Now that she needs loving support, her old office family are there, posting away.
We have both bumped into old friends online, and right on time. We were able to say the right thing and offer support.
That sense of community gives folks a place to belong. Church can be that way. Family too.

The Saturday Morning Post

I had an hour to myself this morning.
Rejoicing during my 40 minutes or so of sitting here, alone with my blankey and my cup of coffee and my Bible.
I desperately needed this time with God to get my heart right!

I don't know about you, but every now and then, I have to just come to the Cross and get cleansed, again. And again. And again.

This time, it was jealousy that had crept into my heart.
Since I was a little girl, way before I knew the Lord, I've had a problem with jealousy. Comparing myself with others, looking at what they have, where they are, what they're doing and thinking my life is boring, I have nothing and I never get to do anything cool.

That is ridiculous, right?
But, it's SIN, people!

I take responsibility for this sin, truly, I do. It's my fault this got out of control. But, you know where I believe it was born? Facebook. Yep, Facebook.
And I love Facebook. I really do. It's an incredible tool for keeping in touch with people. Love it!

But, I'm going to chill on it for a bit.
Because I find myself looking at other peoples' lives and comparing my life to them and getting jealous, sinfully jealous of their lives.
Their new homes.
Their shopping extravaganzas.
Their babies.

It's not that I'm not happy for these people. They're my friends. Of course I'm happy for them!
It's just that sometimes, from here, life doesn't seem fair.
Not that it is or is supposed to be.

But, anyway. I'll be posting blog updates to Facebook still. And reading comments and messages and such. But the general, time-sucking activity of just scrolling through the changing profile pictures of people's allegedly-perfect lives? Not so much, anymore.

8:59am.
Time to go get my love out of bed.

Our Family Walk

I'm so glad that big yellow fireball in the sky is back! One day this week, after getting home from work, I changed into some comfortable clothes, Michael hooked up the dogs, and we went for our first family walk in months. It felt GREAT! Really looking forward to many more of these this Spring and Summer!I love the sunshine. I love being together. So much to be thankful for! Cheers.

Farm Fresh!

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a membership to Arganica Farm Club through a Groupon.

Basically, it works like this: You pay a monthly membership fee, then pay for fresh produce (and whatever else you want, but so far we've only tried the produce) and they deliver it in a wooden crate on your doorstep on Sunday mornings.

It's all fresh, local, and organic!
So, 6:00am Sunday morning, when I was taking the dogs out, THIS was on my doorstep along with my Washington Post!
Check out what was inside!!
Broccoli, lettuce, kale, lemons, potatoes, a sweet potato, brussel sprouts, carrots, tomatoes, bananas, baby bok choy, a butternut squash, a mango and a red onion. Phew! I think I got it all. I do not think we will be ordering anything this weekend, because we are still working on eating all of this stuff!
It is happily tucked in the produce drawers of my fridge, and that makes me very happy. A full fridge and a full pantry make me very happy. We are so very blessed!

I happen to think the box fits nicely on top of the fridge. Yay for that.

I am so stoked because I have a goal of totally changing the way we eat this year to a healthier, more natural, organic diet. Phase one was meat. Thanks to the Springfield Butcher, we eat almost exclusively local beef, pork and chicken now. *Note- that also came from a Groupon! Yeah!

Now, with Arganica plus local farmers markets will be opening for Spring/Summer soon (fruit!) that will complete phase two. Dairy will be next, then grains. I'm excited about these changes!

I'm also excited about learning how to cook new foods, like this baby bok choy I cooked this week.
All you do is rinse it, chop it up..
And saute it up with some olive oil and garlic. Deeelish!

All Dressed Up

Every spring there are two dinners for the media in DC. The Congressional Correspondents Dinner (formerly known as the Radio-TV Correspondents Dinner) and the White House Correspondents Dinner. They're like Junior Prom and Prom, respectively.

Some people love these things. Some people dread them. Maybe I'm a nerd. Maybe I'm still in the "newer" years of my days as part of the Washington Press Corps, but I enjoy them!

Last week, a group of us attended the Congressional Correspondents Dinner.
I dragged three dresses to work that day.
Because, as we've discussed lately, I've gained some weight. So, I had the dress I just bought (that I'll probably end up wearing to the White House Correspondents Dinner in a few weeks), the dress I wore to the White House dinner last year, and the dress I wore to the Congressional Dinner last year, which is the same dress I wore to a company Christmas party a few years ago. Confused yet?
Sorry about that.
Bottom line is, we had Chinese the night before the dinner.
So... I wasn't sure what was going to fit.

I took my lunch break the day of the Dinner and went shopping with my lovely White House Correspondent. We were shopping for shoes.
But, we found this glorious purple hat. It was a little big for me.
Um... and Jennifer.
Sadly, we did not leave with the purple majesty.
I did, however, score a dress for TEN DOLLARS!!!
This was my best bargain in a long time. The original price of this puppy was $140. I thought it was $40, then it rang up for $10.78 and I actually felt guilty leaving the store.

The only thing about these media dinners that keeps them from being the ultimate experience is that you can't really bring your spouse. Boo! But, I understand.

I still had a HOT DATE though!
My purple hat shopping buddy, of course!
At the actual event, we ate...
Some sort of fish something... it was pretty decent. I liked the bread the best, of course.
And we listened to a couple of Congressmen attempt to be funny. Some were funny, some were.. not so much.
My other date for the night, a White House official. Shout out to Shin!
I always enjoy getting all dressed up and experiencing these events. I'm also always happy to get home to my loving husband who listens to me tell story after story about the night. He's so interested and supportive and I could not live this life without him! Maybe one day I will be important enough to bring him along. Oh, the day!

App Obsessed

I may or may not be obsessed with this new App I downloaded to my iPhone.

It may or may not be keeping me busy while I sit still for what seems like hours in DC traffic.

And while I enjoy coffee, and/or lattes...

And celebrate the bounty that landed on my doorstep Sunday morning...
And my husband singing to me...
Yes, indeed.
I may or may not be obsessed with this.

Friday Night Lights in Real Life

Photo courtesy Variety

Fans of Friday Night Lights know how gritty and contagious this show is. It tells the story of a small west-Texas town's football coach, his family, and his team, the Dillon Panthers. In the first season we meet Jason Street, an all-star quarterback leading his team to state. He is paralyzed at C7 in a bad tackle. Much of the story line revolves around his getting back in life after paralysis: family, girlfriend, lost dreams, community admiration, sense of identity, accessibility, and determination.

Cross country guys circa 1994

We are watching the show from the start --now in season three. His story line is wrapping up. Dana tells me it gets kind of crazy from here. But until now I have found myself reliving my own story through his. We laugh at inside jokes, like when he uses "quad quotes" --picture somebody without finger dexterity using his whole arms to mimic quotes while talking. We cry when he struggles with disappointment. We get angry when others patronize him.

D and M on first visit to D.C.

Dana wasn't around when I broke my neck in high school. She didn't know the pre-paralysis Michael --not that there is much difference. Through our marriage, she has been dealing with the grief and loss my friends and family went through sixteen years ago. It has taken me back to deal with it all too and face things then sixteen-year-old Michael didn't understand or appreciate. It's been our own drama that has challenged us and brought us closer together.