the pattyo

Ingredients
boneless, skinless chicken breasts (if you don’t have boneless that’s okay, and if you don’t have skinless just remove the skin and toss it) — one half breast per person
butter, melted
parmesan cheese (I use the freshly grated stuff, but you can always use the Kraft canned junk if you want to settle for less (smile)

Put the breast(s) in a glass baking dish. Pour melted butter over the chicken and then put a lot of parmesan on.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until done. This is usually about 45 minutes or so.

I serve with baked potatoes, and if you prepare the potatoes first (just clean ‘em, poke ‘em, and stick ‘em in the 350 degree oven) and then prepare the chicken everything will be done at the same time.
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***Tomorrow
I leave for Hidden Valley (in Carmel Valley), where I’ll join a colleague and play the Honegger for flute, English horn and piano. I get to stay at a Bed & Breakfast for the evening, which will be nice and relaxing.

Dan will, sadly, be home rather than with me; he’s been gone a lot and we thought it best if he came home to be with the kids for a while. Jameson was commenting on his absence this summer … I know he misses him!

I’m hoping we eventually take a little vacation together, but we’ll see if we can work it out with our busy (due to Jameson’s crazy schedule) summer!

***Brandon Called!

So here’s the update. He called last on Saturday the 17th so we move on from there:

After leaving New Orleans on Sunday evening they drove a while and then slept in the car.

***Monday
they went through Memphis and saw Graceland and then visited a place called Graceland 2 in Holly Springs. (For $5 some odd man allows people to go through his house which, I assume, houses a lot of Elvis stuff.) They then landed in Nashville where they spent Monday and Tuesday night at Matt’s friend’s house. Brandon commented on the low cost of housing, but didn’t seem ready to give up his idea of living in San Francisco!

***Wednesday
they camped in Birmingham. He didn’t have much to say about that place. They then drove through Atlanta (seeing The World of Coca Cola — wow) and Athens, Georgia.

***Thursday
night was spent in a campground in Southern Carolina. They then drove through North Carolina (sounded like he liked that) and saw Kitty Hawk.

***Friday
they stayed in Richmond, Virginia. He didn’t say if they camped … or at least I can’t remember if he did!

***Saturday
(tonight) will be spent in Arlington, Virginia with Matt’s cousin. Again Brandon mentioned the affordable housing. I believe tomorrow they’ll be in DC.

They are hoping to see Tim & Margaret sometime, but they’ll have to wait for that; the family is on vacation until the 2nd of August. This means that if Brandon and Matt visit Brooklyn (and, thus, NYC) they’ll have some time to kill first. It sounded as if they might go to New England for a time, but he really wasn’t clear on that.

They managed to cook some meals on the Coleman stove, and it sounds as if he’s managing his money well although they had one misfortune: they thought they were parking in a parking lot for a place they were visiting but they were mistaken. The car was towed and $100 later they had it back. Oh well. Brandon was quite philosophical about it, saying that it was probably a good wake up call and that they’ll have to be careful about things like this in the future.

I was thrilled to hear his voice … and I sure hope that they’ll get to have a bit of a visit (and stay) with Tim & Margaret. Time will tell.
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***Poor Giants

It’s just not their year, I guess. I’m not exactly giving up, but they sure can’t seem to get a winning streak going. They are now in third place (again).

Sure wish they could get Randy Johnson. And I wish they could manage to take more advantage of all the walks Barry is getting. And all those double plays</> … ?? Can’t they please stop hitting those? Oh well.

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***Thank you, Kelsey!

Kelsey has figured out how to make the text justified and I am ever so much happier now. Things look cleaner when they are lined up on both sides, if you ask me. It’s amazing how something so small and insignificant to life can make me smile.

I guess I’m just easily satisfied.

Sometimes.
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***Justified

Heh … bet my Christian friends are now thinking I’m gonna write about justification and sanctification and get all intelligent and thoughtful … right?

Not.

I’m just wondering aloud (or in print) how one can have the text justified in these blogs. I’ve seen other blogs that are justified and I really like that. It just looks clean to me.

And I like clean. (Surprise, surprise!)

***Thought

Okay … it’ll be here later maybe. I’m not feeling brave enough at the moment.

I am not a brave person. (sigh)

***Michael Moore

I still don’t know what to think about this guy, other than I find him irritating and arrogant when I hear and see him. But I find a lot of people who have strong opinions tend to put them out on the table in a bluntly irritating way. I like gentleness I guess. I dunno. (I’m not a gentle person, so this really doesn’t make any sense.)

But I read Spinsanity on occasion, and they have an article on Moore there which is worth a look.

So is this, I think.

Anyway, I have a bunch of friends who believe Moore can do no wrong, and believe that his documentary is precisely what we all need (and need to see). I have others who think everything he says and does is an outright lie. I know very few who fall in the middle with this guy.

I think Dan and Kelsey will go see it. They can fill me in. As I’ve written before, I know I can’t handle the violence. I suspect, too, I can’t handle the cynicism … which is odd since our family prides itself in cynicism it seems. Go figure. (I can dish it out, but I can’t take it …??)
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***Yes, Dan is Home
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***Reed Making Manual

I’ve been working on the reed making manual. I want to have it as a Word document as well as have it on my site, so I keep going back and forth between Word and my site. Today I spent quite a bit of time working on the site. Tomorrow I’ll move back to Word and get that finished for at least the first portion of reed making. I have to have it all done by the time I start my reed making classes on the 28th of this month. (I have six students signed up for the course!)

***Jameson’s Birthday

As much as I did try to make the day nice, Jameson’s birthday has gone pretty much unnoticed by the majority of folks. I feel badly … especially since he gave me no birthday list and I can’t figure out what he really wants. I didn’t want to go out and just buy any old thing for him, and he knows we will try and celebrate with Dan later on … probably Tuesday at lunch time. Jameson and I will have to talk this over tomorrow and go out shopping. It’s simply not fair to let him go present-less.

I’m glad that at least Brandon called, but still ….
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***And My Latest Bit ‘O Spam

I have to save this confusing little message!

Unfortunately, adults who might feel emboldened to pick up the guitar or stretch their vocal skills may not receive the same boost to brainpower.

***As I am Writing This …

Jameson is on the phone with Brandon! I was able to talk with him for a time first, but of course he called to wish his brother a Happy Birthday. (This mom is very pleased!

Sounds like the trip is going great … here’s the update:

***Thursday
the guys stayed in a motel (I’m sure they loved the showers and beds!) in Forth Worth.
***Friday
they went to Dallas. They chose an exit just because they weren’t sure where they were going, but when they got off Brandon immediately recognized it. They were right near the JFK museum and so they visited that as well as the 6th floor depository. He said it was pretty weird to see places that he recognized so very clearly from his history knowledge and all. They spent the night at a campground in Ajax, Louisiana.
***Saturday
is a New Orleans day, and it sounds as if they are having a super time there! He called from in front of the oldest restaurant (bar? — looking online it says restaurant, but Brandon called it a bar) in the United States, which was owned by a pirate. It’s called Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop. Oh … the pirate didn’t have a bar there, but ran his “businesses” from the building.
They have decided to enjoy the city and they are again staying inside. This time it’s the Dauphine Hotel in the French Quarter. He said the city is great and I can tell he’s excited to be there. They’ll stay until tomorrow evening and then do an evening drive to Memphis and then Nashville.
Matt has a friend (family member?) in Nashville so they have a place to stay there.
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***Kelsey is Home

Yay!

***EWWWW.

I just watered Dan’s garden.

Now I smell like a tomato plant.

Yuck. :-/

***Is There an Actor in the House?

Apparently so!

Jameson has been attending a Performing Arts Conservatory for the past five weeks. Yesterday was the final class and a recital.

Jameson sang, danced, and did a monologue. I was very impressed. It was clear that he was not only good at what he was doing, but he was also having a blast doing it. Nearly everyone there went up to tell him he was fabulous.

Great fun!

… and Bravi to the teachers there too. They did a great job.
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***Brandon Called!

The phone rang at 7:40 or so this morning. Gee … this means that Brandon is waking up earlier than he ever does at home. How ’bout that?

Anyway, he sounded great, and he filled me in on where they’ve been:

Sunday: LA: they spend the night and visited with friends
Monday: drove through Phoenix, Oak Creek, other places, and spent the night in Sedona
Tuesday: went to the Grand Canyon, enjoyed the sunset there, as well as the sunrise
Wednesday: Alamogordo, New Mexico was the camping spot for the night, and prior to that they went to White Sands and the Trinity site where they do missile testing

… which brings us to this morning. They are on there way to Texas and hope to reach the state by this evening. They plan on looking for aliens in Roswell. (Yes, I asked if he had is alien stun gun, nerd that I am.)

It sure sounds as if they are having a wonderful time. I’m leaving out most places in between the cities where they have camped, but I’m sure we’ll hear and see a lot when they return; Brandon said he’s already taken two rolls of pictures and, if I’m remembering correctly, filled one video cassette.

They’ve been caught in rain once, for only about 15 minutes. They didn’t bring umbrellas! (I think this was while they were in the tent, though, and they do have a fly for the tent.

It was great to hear his voice!

***Here at Home
I finished Jameson’s shirt so I only have the pants to go. Yay! I was up until 12:30 getting the shirt done. I just want to be finished.

***Aracnafrustration

I’m annoyed because we must have a spider problem here (duh … Kelsey told me about them and I’ve dusted and vacuumed but they are still here). I have spider bites that hurt like mad.

Sigh.

***Fifteen?!

Jameson’s birthday is Saturday. He has an all day rehearsal. We’ll probably celebrate when Dan gets home.
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