Can't Go Wrong with Potatoes

 I am always looking for recipes to expand our meals. I found a fried potato recipe that seemed pretty easy: Pommes Persillade.

Yes this is a French recipe, but I figured its potatoes. What can go wrong?

Well, they didn't turn out too bad. I might have boiled them a bit longer than I should have, which made for an interesting frying experience. I was also out of dried parsley, so I added a bit of dried basil in its place.  I think I will try to make these again. It seems like a recipe that gets better with more practice at it. Hey, at least I can say I cooked something French.

Here is my copy of the recipe.

No Choice but to Give Up on Him

 I work with students who have behavior and emotional disabilities.  I love my job and wouldn't trade it.  I get to make connections with these kids who a lot of people have already given up on.  And these kids have such personalities; some seem to blossom under the attention. 

I try to listen to what they like, what they don't like, and just have a conversation with them about mundane things.  It often surprises them that I remember what they tell me.  For example, I bring in a birthday treat for each kid: donuts to share with the whole class and a special food treat just for them, based on what they have told me or that I have observed.  They also get a hand drawn card with a message from me and my fellow teacher written inside.  The kids who are new to my room, are often shocked to see a treat that is just for them and it is based off of stuff that I know about them.

What hurts is when one of my kids (yes, they are my kids even though I did not birth them) has given up on his education, for one reason or another.  I keep trying to help them realize the importance of it and how having a high school diploma can help them in the future, but sometimes it doesn't make a difference.  I do not what to give up on them but I have to come to that point where I can't continue to pour water on a dead plant, thinking that it will grow again.  I have three students who have pretty much check out of their education and it hurts to see. 

I still love and care about those kids and I let them know that, but I have to remind myself that there are other kids in my room that haven't checked out of their education.   I don't want to give up on them, but in the end, I have no choice.  Those three have made their choice and there is nothing that I can do to change it.

Think About It

 Will you remember...

The deaths of innocent,

Families torn to pieces,

Lives halted.

Do you stop & think

About tomorrow?

Will you not do it

Because someone else will?

Well...

To someone else,

You are that someone else.

(written August 12, 1999)

The Hardest Path to Find and Follow

 Follow the trail through the night black
To feel the last of the time of day.
The beginning of to the end is
At last touched by the top of Life's lips.
A feeling through
By the loss of these hands.

To keep grasping
With the loss of hands
Is to feel the loss of one.

Touch with the undead hand
Brings the Shadows
Behind the unfulfilled Truths.
Truths left
By mouths dead but moving.

The light opens the door of Truth

And the dark shuts it.

(written January 18, 1999 & inspired by "The Crow: City of Angels)

Cats Are Toddlers

 "Oscar, don't lick that thing off the carpet! You don't know what it is."

Sounds like I am reprimanding a toddler right? Nope. It was something I said this evening to my almost 12 year old cat Oscar.  There are times when I feel that living with a cat is like living with a small, furry toddler. Here are some examples of I've said in my years of being a cat mom:

Gabby, don't smack your brother!

Oscar don't sit on your sister!

Stop trying to crawl into the dryer/closet/pantry.

Get out of the dryer/closet/pantry!

Don't eat your sister's barf!

No, I will not give you more treats.

If you eat too fast, you'll get yourself sick.

These phrases are just a sampling of what I have said (repeatedly) in my 11 years as a cat mom. They sound an awful lot like phrases uttered by people with toddlers. But honestly, the antics that I've seen over the years make those phrases worth it.

Gabby Memories

 The year 2021 will always be, in my mind, one of the worst years of my life. On the 6th of February, my husband and I had to say goodbye to our fuzzy daughter Gabby. It was the most heartwrenching things I have ever had to do. 

She was such a silly girl with the attitude of a diva. This is how I want to remember her. In an act of healing an remembrance, I wish to share memories of her. 

Memory 1: When we 1st met her, she was the runt of her litter. She fit in my hand. Even with the double hernia on her belly, she was so full of attitude. She was fearless and wanted her way. We tried to not let her sleep in our bedroom, but she wasn't going to have that. She meowed her little head off and we let her sleep with us the 1st night and every night.

Memory 2: One day, when she was still a little kitten, we thought she got out of our apartment because we couldn't find her. My husband and I were in a panic. She was so little that she couldn't wear a collar. We were so scared that she was lost. I walked past a pair of my husband's sneakers lying on the floor & just happened to look down. I spotted a silvery gray tail draped over the edge of one shoe. I shouted to my husband that I had found her. He asked where & I told him that she had fallen asleep in his shoe. Lee reacted to the news with a bit of shock, saying that it couldn't smell that good. We both couldn't help but laugh.

One of the many pictures of my darling Gabby on my phone. She loved laying on my lap & snoozing.

Love Comes in Many Forms

 Many have said that cats are not capable of the loyalty and love that dogs give. I respectfully disagree with that thought. I am owned by two, sweet, yet nutty cats. One specifically has chosen me as her special human. 

For some weird reason, Gabby has picked me. She will often seek out my lap, curl up with me as I lay in bed, ready to go to sleep. She will even curl up with me when I am sick, purring away.

Oscar has chosen my husband as his human. He will give lots of rubs to his legs, meow at Lee to shift on the couch so that he can curl up next to him, crawl up Lee's chest and headbutt his chin.

Cat love is different that the love from a dog, bird, or any other animal, but it is love just the same. The wonderful little fireballs that live in my home are the sweetest cats that I know. I am grateful that they chose us to give their love to.

My sweet girl, napping on my lap