So, I have always had sink protectors and my favorites were clear. I found these at Ross as bath mats and cut them to fit my sinks. They cost a total of $10 when the ones I have purchased before have been at least $10 each.
Everyone who saw them thought there was ice in the sink.

Chicken, Zucchini, and Prosciutto

I got this recipe fromthe RealSimple web site. I have made it twice and it is really good. We had Pasek Cellars Blackberry wine with it, but only because it was open. I would have chosen a non-oaked Chardonney, my favorite being by Pasek, but gone for the season. I can't wait until next year to get more.

Enjoy!

Chicken, Zucchini, and Prosciutto

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 tablespoons (about 8 slices) prosciutto
3 small zucchini, thinly sliced into half-moons
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 lemon


Heat oven to 400° F.

Rinse the chicken and pat it dry with paper towels. Season the chicken with 1/4 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken for 2 minutes per side. Transfer to oven and roast for 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a second skillet, over medium heat, heat the remaining oil. Cook the prosciutto until crisp, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

Add the zucchini, garlic, and the remaining salt and pepper and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer the prosciutto, zucchini, and garlic to the skillet with the chicken, squeeze the lemon over the top, and toss. Divide among plates.


Yield: Makes 4 servings

CALORIES 298 (27% from fat); FAT 9g (sat 2g); CHOLESTEROL 114mg; CARBOHYDRATE 5g; SODIUM 1,134mg; PROTEIN 49g; FIBER 1g; SUGAR 2g

Not Quite 50

We had a fabulous weekend. We took the trailer down to the Thousand Trails campground just south of Chehalis on Thursday morning. It is my favorite campground. It has so many trees with moss and ferns and just lush green all over the place. They have added a dog park area which is great. We made kabobs with chicken, red pepper, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and baby red potatoes. They were quite scrumptious. For desert we had a mixture of strawberries, raspberries and loganberries.
On Friday, I woke up older. I am officially 49. I feel no different. We decided to go to some wineries and out to lunch. We went to Widgeon Hill Winery first since it was only about 4 miles from our campground. It is a small operation but has some good wine. Jodi, the winery dog, met us at the car while Rhett set up the wines in the small tasting room. He shared that his dad had started making the wine and when he passed a couple years ago, Rhett took over. He wants to stay small and since he has another job, he probably will. We really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of a very unpretentious place. We bought a Chenin Blanc, Tunupa Red, merlot, cabernet, and a syrah. We are both looking forward to some great food to enjoy with this wine.
We headed in to Centralia to get lunch and go to our next winery. We ate at the Olympic Club. I had a Smoked Mozzarella Sandwich with grilled onions, tomatoes, & pesto on grilled rustic bread. It was yummy. My folks had the bean soup which was different from what they expected, but they both enjoyed it. Steve had French quarter chicken sa ndwich Cajun-spiced chicken breast with blue cheese, lettuce, & tomato on a traditional bun. He ate it all so it must have been good.
We then walked a block to our final destination. Heymanns Whinery is not a spelling error. Bob Heymann was our pourer and he was great. Not only is the wine really good, he has wine and beer making supplies and books and accessories and gifts in his shop. He was generous with his pours. We bought his chardonnay, raspberry chardonnay, cranberry, merlot and syrah. We also bought a book and a game. The book, Wine Trails of Washington is going to be fun. We asked lots of questions and we got stories. It was great and I highly recommend a visit.
We drove back to camp and met Sydnee at the campground. We had a great dinner of marinated flank steak, grilled zuchinni, and yukon gold potatoes with sour cream. For desert we had brownies.
On Saturday, Steve went golfing and Mom, Sydnee and I went to the outlet malls in Centralia. We got incredibly lost but eventually ended up on the right road. Shopping took longer than planned (always) but we got back to camp so Sydnee could head home to her celebrations. We made dinner of pork tenderloin with cabbage steamed and dressed with a sause of butter, dry mustard, vinegar and salt and pepper. It was good. I like to sprinkle a little cinnamon on the pork before I grill it. Tasty. We had strawberries for desert. Mom & dad had them plain, we put ours on brownies.
It was a great weekend and we didn't starve.

How Sad

It has been a long time since I have posted and it isn't because of facebook. It is because I haven't been in the best mood and couldn't think of what I wanted to say.

The name of this blog is "Are we there yet?" and I know we aren't. The problem is I have no idea where there is, or even which direction to take. I think that is my problem right now. I don't have any projects to accomplish, other than cleaning out the garage and sun room. Yeah, I'll get right on that. I have planned a couple trips, but now I have to wait. Do I want to get a "real" job? Building up my massage business right now won't work since I am trying to find out what is going on in my wrist and I can't do too much there. I just don't know what I want to do.

I realize this is a luxury to be able to examine this in the first place and I am feeling like I am whining, which is why I haven't posted. Oh well.

Are we there yet?

Thai Massage

This is some of what I learned this weekend at my Thai Massage workshop. This was developed about 2500 years ago by a doctor to the Buddha. It was started in India and traveled to Siam (Thailand). Its focus is on the energy of the body.
Some of the listed effects are releases stress and tension, increases flexibility and suppleness, increases vital energy, deeply relaxing, relieves pain and soreness, brings the systems of the body into balance, increases blood and lymph flow, releases emotional blocks, excellent therapy for common injuries and ailments, deepens the connection between mind, body and spirit. That is a lot. That is just for the receiver. For the practitioner it enhances meditation and concentration, awakens compassion and loving kindness, deepens the connection of mind, body and spirit.
This is a description about how a practitioner works:
“Intention is the hidden power behind each action. If the underlying intention or spirit behind the action is to help, to heal and to work with love and kindness then the work takes on a much deeper and more powerful effect. Working with mindfulness, awareness, loving kindness, compassion and joy throughout a session takes some practice, but when these energies are present within the spirit of the work being done, the massages given are truly healing, not only to the recipient but also to the giver.”
I must say that with every new technique I learned I thought, “Oh, the runners will love this”. I was able to give a treatment to Steve and he pretty much melted. You will have to ask him what he thought.
Remember some people are more flexible than others, so the pictures may show a person in a deeper stretch than you would go into. The pratitioner listens to your body and places you were you need to go. These are a few pictures I found that demonstrate just a very few of the positions.

Too Much Stress = Dis-Ease

I'm sure there is a mathematical formula out there that represents the amount of stress (internal or external, good or bad) times the energy of resisting said stress is equal to the amount of dis-ease created in the body and the time it takes to recover.

Okay, so Robin has moved home and is taking the quarter off. It is for medical reasons, not grades. (not that it should matter, but...= stress) He was accepted into Pierce College for the spring quarter and is planning on trying to go to UW in the fall. (sick kid moving home from college = stress) Learning that I can't fix everything sucks (stress) and I have to let him learn what he needs for himself. (you guessed it, stress) Rearranging schedules and getting him settled into his room/sanctuary/man cave is a process. (hmmm, more stress)

After Christmas I decided that I wanted to cut back on my time at the Y. I was feeling a little depressed and felt I did a lot of busy work and I could use my time more effectively at home. Is that selfish? (stress) Then I had 12 hours of training to teach over 3 days in a week plus the organizing and planning, which I love, but that put me at almost 40 hours for a two week period, quite a bit more than normal and much more than I really wanted. How did that happen?

Last weekend I had a scratchy throat for two days and even though I was determined to have that be it, my body obviously wanted some down time. Guess who won? By Tuesday, I knew it wasn't going well, so I decided to get a sub for one of my three classes on Wednesday. After teaching the first class, I was so glad I had gotten my sub. Thank you Callie. I was to go back for a meeting to finalize the training paperwork, but it wasn't happening. I also had one last class but there was no way I was going to be able to teach it. I felt really crappy about leaving everyone in the lurch. (stress) Before noon on Thursday, I realized that Friday would be a no go for me and sent off emails to get a sub. When I didn't get an immediate response (I'm so patient) I called my supervisor to let her know where things stood. I think the fever of 102 had me a little off and I was a lead weight sinking into the couch. I really couldn't sit up for more than a few minutes at a time, and since I didn't have much voice I didn't think I could make any calls to find a sub. This is the first time I have ever done that (guilt, guilt = stress, stress) but the couch and an ice bag beckoned to my sore, achy body and head so strongly I let it go. While my classes got covered, one from an email I had sent, I still felt reprimanded that I had let them down.

It is now a week since the throat thing started and I’m still sick, but the fever is down. I will need to continue to watch my stress level to keep it at a manageable level (ha-ha) so I can heal. But, I’m not depressed and since that is my usual reaction to too much stress I’m pretty happy. Now it is time to think about what makes me happy and how that can translate into making a difference in people’s lives. I love the training that I have been doing. I have more learning to do, but that comes with time. Honestly, I am thinking I would love to teach Anatomy & Physiology at a massage school. So we shall see what happens.


Life is a journey. I have my journey to travel and I get to decide what things in my life that I can change if they become so stressful that they are counterproductive to my health. There will always be things I can’t change and must learn how to accept. I have to accept that my children have their own journeys to travel and while I can be there to support them or give advice if they ask, it is not my job to lead them anymore. I did that already and it is now their turn to lead themselves. And they are doing a great job of learning who they are and what they need in life.

Ixtapa Report

I am sorry to report that there was no marathon involved in the making of this vacation. There was also no animal testing. We tested the beer and wine on humans. And neither of us had any tequila at all. Amazing.

Our travel day down was long. The flight time was about seven hours, but travel time was about 21 from the time we left the house until we checked in at the hotel. But it was fine. We had books and we just chilled in the San Francisco and Mexico City airports. We walked around and ate at both. But I must say by the time we ate dinner I was so exhausted I couldn't see straight and I only had two glasses of wine with my dinner. We chose our possibilities for the trip in San Francisco. We do this all the time, we think about how we want to experience our lives. I chose flow, fun and adventure. Steve chose connection and tranquility. This is exactly what we got.

Our room was fabulous. Here is the view from our balcony.

We immediatly suited up and went to walk on the beach. We walked by the massage tents. There were probably about eight tents set up. They all charged $20 for an hour massage. Monday, Wednesday and Friday were open on my calendar. My only complaint is they use mineral oil and by the time I walk back to the hotel I get a little burnt. But I learned from the last time we went to Ixtapa that I had to shower immediately. Sorry, I got a little distracted reminiscing. After our walk we changed clothes and went to look for a dinner spot. We found quite a few and everyone wanted our business. We chose but as I said earlier, we were so tired we had to go straight to bed. We were asleep by 7:30, it was great.

This is how most of our days went. Get up, go eat, walk on beach or at the market, have a beer and snack, go to the room to take our time getting ready and then go out to dinner. Steve ran Monday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings. This is the start of his first run from the 11th floor balcony. This is pretty blurry because I had to zoom in a long way. we got most of our shopping done and got signed up for a private tour of the country side on Tuesday. We saw crocodiles and bird, archeological artifacts, churches, markets, beaches, coconut candy and where they collect sea salt. Here are a bunch of pictures from the trip.


































Here is one last picture I promised Rick.