Phyllis

Earlier on Facebook, I promised I'd upload some photos of Phyllis.  Here he is!

Phyllis.3-10.1

Phyllis showed up at the Village, specifically right around the store, sometime last year.  He was almost fully grown when I started seeing him, so I am guessing he was a "dump."  Which sounds terrible, but really, the chicks all around Country Village are well cared for.  They get lots of attention, have lots of friends, and there are plenty of things to eat and places to sleep.

Phyllis.3-10.2

Phyllis generally stayed near our store and next door at Keepsake Cottage fabrics, but over time he became more comfortable with the place and he now makes regular daily rounds about the place.  I typically see him down at the Tea shop in the mornings, just inches from their door, crowing his brains out if they aren't open when he thinks they should be open.  He ends his day with us, waltzing right into the shop at almost the same exact time every day.  We do give him chicken feed, but he did this long before we ever fed him, so I think he just likes the attention.

Phyllis.3-10.3

I've never tried to touch him (and don't plan to), but he is comfortable enough just inches away from me, or the other gals at the store for that matter.  He probably recognizes us at this point, and knows we're safe.  At night, he sleeps on a high branch in a tree right above the hot dog stand.  Every night, in the exact same spot.  He's a very regular rooster.

Phyllis.3-10.4

Each spot in the village seems to have their own name for him, but near the beginning the Keepsake gals started calling him Phyllis, due to his silly hairdo, so much like Phyllis Diller's.  Yes, he's a boy, but it still fits.

Phyllis.3-10.5

Well, so that's Phyllis.  Feel free to come visit him sometime!  But come see me too please. 🙂

What we’re watching

Varekai

Tonight we're watching Cirque du Soleil's Varekai before Ben's bedtime.  We don't have a TV, and haven't used our cable service since moving in here a year and half ago, so we really don't watch any TV.  However, we have a few concert-type DVDs that we do love to watch, Cirque du Soleil being one of them.  We have a projector that blows it up on our wall, and it takes up the whole wall.  This is right across from two large windows that face the street, so anyone that drives by gets glimpses of really rather interesting characters.  The Skywatcher is one of our favorites.

The-Skywatcher 

He is one of the "clowns" of the show, and always reminds me of my friend Evan.  Not that my friend typically wears grass pants or walks around in an oversized hampster ball, but I just imagine that he could play The Skywalker's kind of character.  (Sorry, Evan – but it really is a compliment!  The act is very good and fun).

I think what Ben likes the most about these shows (we have three) is the music.  He has responded to music from the moment he was born, and has been dancing since before he could walk.  He'd lay on the floor on his tummy, bouncing and slapping to the music (often he even claps to the right time).  Not long after he learned to walk, then run, he added jumping to his musical routine.  He responds most especially in this respect to the group Celtic Woman, specifically the fiddle player, Maidread.

Mairead 

The moment she comes out and starts playing, he is spinning, waving his arms, and jumping into the air, not unlike what I imagine primitive tribal dances to be.  I've considered videoing this reacting and emailing it over to them to see what a big little fan they have, which I really won't, but I'd still love to get it captured for our own watching later.  His joy at the music is so sincere and uninhibited, I always think of that famous "…dance like no one is watching…" quote.  How wonderful to be a child, not even remotely concerned about what other people must think you look like, as you're dancing to your heart's content.  We could all learn a lesson from that, I guess.

Anyway, I really just meant to pop in and say hi, and share what we were watching tonight.  We never get sick of these concerts, though we watch them over and over.  It is our evening wind-down time.  Sometimes we sit and watch, and sometimes we play.  And, of course, we always dance… (Though I'm always sure to close the blinds first).

If I Had A Million Dollars

I love this song.  I really do.  I don’t know why.  Barenaked Ladies crack me up.

If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
I’d buy you a house
(I would buy you a house)
If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
I’d buy you furniture for your house
(Maybe a nice chesterfield or an ottoman)
And if I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you a K-Car
(A nice Reliant automobile)
If I had a million dollars I’d buy your love

If I had a million dollars
I’d build a tree fort in our yard
If I had million dollars
You could help, it wouldn’t be that hard
If I had million dollars
Maybe we could put like a little tiny fridge in there somewhere
You know, we could just go up there and hang out
Like open the fridge and stuff
There would already be laid out foods for us
Like little pre-wrapped sausages and things

They have pre-wrapped sausages but they don’t have pre-wrapped bacon
Well, can you blame ’em
Uh, yeah

If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you a fur coat
(But not a real fur coat that’s cruel)
And if I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you an exotic pet
(Yep, like a llama or an emu)
And if I had a million dollars
(If I had a a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you John Merrick’s remains
(Ooh, all them crazy elephant bones)
And If I had a million dollars I’d buy your love

If I had a million dollars
We wouldn’t have to walk to the store
If I had a million dollars
Now, we’d take a limousine ’cause it costs more
If I had a million dollars
We wouldn’t have to eat Kraft Dinner
But we would eat Kraft Dinner
Of course we would, we’d just eat more
And buy really expensive ketchups with it
That’s right, all the fanciest ke… dijon ketchups!
Mmmmmm, Mmmm-Hmmm

If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you a green dress
(But not a real green dress, that’s cruel)
And if I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you some art
(A Picasso or a Garfunkel)
If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you a monkey
(Haven’t you always wanted a monkey)

If I had a million dollars
I’d buy your love

If I had a million dollars, If I had a million dollars
If I had a million dollars, If I had a million dollars
If I had a million dollars
I’d be rich

C is for Curry

Foodchickencurry

Yum!  I just whipped this up the other night, and it is easy, relatively healthy, and de-LISH.  If you
think you don’t like curry, give this a try – Chris doesn’t
particularly care for Indian dishes, yet he did really like this.  Its
not too overpowering, and is very tasty!  It’s made in a slow cooker,
so there is very little prep – you just chop a few things up, throw
them in the pot, then eat in about 4 hours!

Easy Chicken Curry

Ingredients:
1 lb Boneless, skinless chicken breast (uncooked), cut into 1" pieces
1 lg Yellow or orange bell pepper, cut into 1" pieces
1 lg Sweet Onion (such as Walla Walla or Vidalia) sliced into 1/4" thick rings
1 14.5 oz can Italian Stewed Tomatoes
1/2 cup pineapple salsa
1/3 cup water
2 Tb cornstarch
2 tsp Curry powder
1/2 tsp ground Cumin
1/4 – 1/2 tsp hot sauce, such as Sriracha
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
Salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
3/4 cup Cashews, divided
Cooked white or basmati rice (to swerve chicken over)

Instructions:

1.  Put chicken, peppers, and onions together in the slow cooker; pour tomatoes over top.

2.  Mix together remaining ingredients and pour over chicken mixture.

3.  Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until done.  Stir only once or twice.

Serve over rice; top each serving with 1-2 Tb cashews.  Yield:  6 servings, with about 1 1/2 cups per serving.

Enjoy!

I’m off to my sister’s place in Hillsboro, OR area for the weekend.  I’ll be back on Monday sometime, and will blog more then!  Take care!

Technorati

This week I purchased Somerset Studio’s newest special publication called Artful Blogging. If you love browing blogs for visual eyecandy and a peek into the lives of kindred spirits, you’ll enjoy this magazine. I understand it is going to be quarterly. I recognized about a third of the artists featured – its fun reading about why they started a blog, and what it has done for their lives.

In the back of the magazine, they give you some blogging tips and tricks, many of which I was familiar with. I hadn’t heard of Technorati, has anyone else? Apparently it is a search engine that specializes in blogs, so you can post your own blog in there, and search for other people’s. I’ve just created a Technorati Profile. I don’t really know what that means yet, but I guess I’ll find out.

More Encyclopedia of Me Meme to come…I may not have all 26 letters done by my birthday, but that’s OK. I’d rather have it late and genuine than on time and rushed/not really thought through.

About the “Man”

To explain a little about the previous post, the “man” in our lives is our new cat, Rumpus, which we adopted from my sister. Jennifer lives in Long Beach, CA, and has several cats of her own, but when she discovered Rumpus alone out on the streets, clearly neglected and likely abused, she couldn’t resist “saving” him, with the exuse that he was for us when we got a house. Well, we live in a house now, so now we have our first pet.

I have to say it has been so much fun. I’ve spent my whole life with at least 2 pets in the house, and at least 1 was a cat, but Chris has never had what I consider a “real” pet – just “city” pets like hamsters and parakeets. They just don’t have the personality and demands of a cat, you know? And what demands! Rumpus has been a very good cat, behavior-wise – doesn’t do anything anywhere he isn’t supposed to, understands and mostly respects the word no, eats and drinks as he should, barely sheds, and the like. But boy does he LOVE love! He greets us at the door every day we come home, with yowls that go on and on until we pick him up and carrying him around like a toddler. Heaven forbid I take my bath before he’s had a good petting and scratching – the world has come apart if I dare to even shut him out of the bathroom! He will wander in and out, walk all around and under the tub, even put his paws up on the rim of the tub to see if there is any conceivable way he can get in there with me.

Demanding as though he is, we are nonetheless really enjoying having him around. It has been an interesting new aspect to our relationship, this business of taking care of a living creature together. We seem to have naturally settled into a pattern of who does what, that so far seems to be working rather smoothly. Although I admit I probably say that because Chris does about 90 percent of the work – pretty much because I can’t touch the litter of course, and don’t usually have the energy to animate the ball of yarn every time the cat decides he needs to play, which is usually at 10 or 11 pm. Chris really loves it, though, and it has been good practice for us to have another body in the house to worry about. Not like caring for a cat is ANYTHING like caring for a child, but it is still better than nothing. So far the cat is still alive, healthy, and kicking, so I guess we are off to a good start!

P.S. Jennifer named him, we didn’t. I have no idea where she got the name.