Happy Days are Here Again

Okay, so truth is, happy days never officially left but it just seemed an appropriate title considering my oldest boy dressed like Richie Cunningham for a ‘decade’ birthday party he went to Friday night. Isn’t he the coolest?

I know this is totally random, but I just looked up the lyrics to the Happy Days song because it just occurred to me I’ve probably sung it wrong all these years. I was right. You know when it gets to the part that says, “The weekend comes, my cycle hums”? Well, I’ve always sang, “The weekend comes, tobacco’s fun..” Don’t even ask how I heard it that way. I just remember being a young girl and feeling a little naughty for singing about the joy of smoking.

I know. You could have gone the rest of your life without knowing that. But then why should that be any different than anything else I tell you around here?

Anyhoo, I’m a little late in mentioning our high school girls’ basketball team played in the State Finals in Birmingham Thursday night. We lost but it wasn’t because we didn’t put up a great fight. In fact, we dominated the first half and I truly thought we were going home with the trophy. I’m not one to rehash a ballgame, particularly one with rules and play strategies that I do not understand in the least. But pray tell me – if your team has 15+ fouls against you in one game half and the other team has 3, does it not appear that perhaps the officials may have been a little one-sided? We lost by 15 points and the other team got 30 points in foul shots. You have to give it to them, they did not miss. That game was won from the line. But, I will not be bitter. I’m so proud of our girls. The majoritiy of them also play on our softball team which are the reigning 2008 State Champs. You’d never know such talent could be so concentrated here in MiddleofNowhere, Alabama. It’s thrilling to watch such excellence and to be brought to tears by the school spirit.

Speaking of spirit, practically our entire town attended the playoffs and it was literally a stand-the-entire-time-and-scream game. Don’t you know all of us would die if we had to stand up for an entire church service and here we are jumping up and down like idiots for an event that nowhere rivals the thrill of being in the presence of God Almighty? I’m reminded of Nehemiah 8 and how eager the people were to stand in honor of God’s word and then alternately to fall with faces to the ground when they understood the exposition of it. Oh, that our zeal for The House would match, or preferably exceed, that for the arena!

Don’t know how I got off on that tangent but since I have, here’s praying that same fervor will consume us this night and that we will worship God with an overflowing heart on the Lord’s Day tomorrow.

The Weekend Comes and Happy Days are Here Again! Enjoy it, gf’s.

February 28, 2009 | Filed Under Girls Just Wanna Have Fun | 16 Comments 

It Is Through Much Tribulation That One Acquires Polenta

Today I went grocery shopping with a new Rachel Ray recipe in hand. It is one that Luke pointed out that he thought sounded good. Anytime he mentions something that he finds remotely appetizing I try to make a point to cook it.

I’m certain that’s in the Love Dare.

It is also in the Love Dare to brave the societal microcosm that is Walmart to find ingregients to said recipe. This particular one called for polenta and seeing as how there is a sizable Hispanic food section in our store, I assumed I’d have no problem finding it.

Typically when I see polenta it is in a bag resembling that of flour or cornmeal. You cook it in water much like you would grits. Also typical is how I see it when I don’t need it and today it was nowhere in sight.

I found a stock guy in the freezer section. “Do you know if you carry polenta?”

“Do we have Puh-what?” I took that as a no and moved on.

I ventured back to the deli and asked the ladies there if they had polenta. “Yeah, we sure do. It’s over there next to the chicken salad.”

“What’s that?”, her friend asked.

“You know, it’s that yeller cheese with them little red thangs in it.” {I’m not mocking. That’s exactly how she said it.}

No, no, no. Not pimiento. Po-len-ta.

Another dead end. I moved on.

I walked back toward the front of the store and an elderly what-I-thought-was-a-gentle man approached me. I thought he was going to offer to help me with my polenta woes but instead he said, “Excuse me. You have a big hole in your pants.”

I completely freaked out and instinctively threw both of my hands behind me to cover my backside. I said, “Oh no!” He said, “Hee hee hee. Of course you have a big hole in your pants. How else would you get them on? Hee hee hee.”

Pappaw had no idea how close he came to a hole in the esophagus. Pervert geezer.

After I got over that shock and trauma, I found another stock man and said, “Do you have polenta?” He said, “Isn’t that the cheese with the red peppers? You can find that in the deli.”

No. NO no. NOT pimiento. PO-STINKIN’-LEN-TA.

To give this sweet fellow credit, he offered to find the food manager and ask him about it. I saw both of them scratching their heads and then giggled as the manager started asking passers-by if they knew what polenta was. If I’m lyin’ I’m dyin’, a lady walking by said, “I think it is cheese.”

“It’s not cheese!” I said. Manager said, “Oh, well what is it? We have a customer who needs it.”

“Yes sir, I’m the customer.” And for the fourth time I tried to describe exactly what constituted polenta.

And as I’m explaining and even showing the photo of the recipe, a darlin’ life saver of a woman walked by and said, “You can sometimes find it ready made in a plastic casing.” And then suddenly it hit me. She was completely right. That wasn’t my preferred way of buying it but if you add cream it reconstitutes quite nicely. She suggested I look in the Mexican cheese section.

For the record, polenta is not cheese. It is also not tofu which happens to be where I finally located the stuff. In the organic section no less. Something tells me adding heavy cream negated those health benefits.

So anyway, I finally, finally, had all the ingredients, came home, and cooked the recipe. Luke came in and said, “what are you making?”

“That recipe you pointed out in the Rachel Ray magazine.”

“That isn’t the one I was pointing at, Lisa. It was the quesadilla one on the opposite page.”

Oh, the heck.

Let’s just say by the time I finished whining he was more than happy to eat the polenta with a big ‘ole smile on his face.

And by the way? If I do say so myself, the dish (Beef Polenta Bake) was fabulous. You can find the recipe here.

February 25, 2009 | Filed Under Recipes | 53 Comments 

One of these things is not like the others…

….One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Did you guess which thing was not like the others?
Did you guess which thing just doesn’t belong?
If you guessed this one is not like the others,
Then you’re absolutely…right!

{from Sesame Street, by Joe Raposo and Jon Stone}

All singing aside, I really am excited to tell you about a conference, A Woman Inspired, taking place April 6-9th. I have no idea how I ended up being on the speaker roster with such an amazing group of women but I’ll trust Jesus and The Amy’s {organizers} have a plan and roll with it. My teaching is based in Psalm 37:3-5 and is called “Bigger Than Your Biography: Allowing God to Establish Your Personal Ministry”.

And y’all, I have to brag on The Amy’s. This conference is done with excellence and I can not even imagine the logistics that have gone into coordinating this event. I promise you won’t be disappointed! It will be well worth the $24.95 registration.

What is totally fabulous is the fact it is completely online. You don’t even have to get out of your pj’s to tune into the sessions! Heck, I may not even change clothes to record. Everything is live which freaks me out just a little bit {Please, Lord, don’t let me mess up!} but if for some reason you can’t attend them all, your registration allows you to download free mp3’s.

I know there are many more details I’m not covering but your best bet is to watch the video below and visit the web site to answer all your questions.

And yay! I have TWO free registrations to give away . If you are interested in receiving one, please leave a comment on this post only. I will leave it open until Friday, March 6th and will draw a winner Saturday the 7th. You will receive information at that time on how to access the conference.

Okay, so watch the video and don’t forget to comment! Also, if you would be so gracious as to help spread the word, you can grab button codes here.


A Woman Inspired Online Christian Women’s Conference from Amy Bayliss on Vimeo.

February 25, 2009 | Filed Under Woman Inspired Conference | 35 Comments 

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