Good Morning!  I hope y'all had half as good of a weekend as I did.  Welcomd back to reality and another week of the same ol' grind.  Luckily I got the house cleaned up and all the laundry done before we left, so there is very little for me to do to get things back to usual here.

 

I can't remember where I came across this recipe, probably Better Homes and Gardens. I thought it sounded interesting.  We always do the same ol' barbeque chicken, so this might shake it up a bit.

 

                          

 

Sesame-Ginger Barbecued Chicken
6 servings
Prep: 10 minutes
Grill: 12 minutes
Ingredients
1/3  cup plum sauce or sweet-sour sauce
1/4  cup water
3  tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 1/2  teaspoons sesame seed (toasted, if desired)
1  clove garlic, minced
1  teaspoon grated fresh ginger or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4  to 1/2 teaspoon Oriental chili sauce or several dashes bottled hot pepper sauce
6  small skinless, boneless chicken breast halves and/or thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds total)
Directions
1. For sauce, in a small saucepan combine all of the ingredients except the chicken. Bring to boiling over medium heat, stirring frequently; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 3 minutes. Set aside.
2. Rinse chicken; pat dry. Grill chicken on the lightly greased rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium heat for 12 to 15 minutes or until tender and no longer pink, turning once and brushing with sauce once or twice during the last 5 minutes of grilling.
3. In a small saucepan heat the remaining sauce until bubbly; pass with chicken. Makes 6 servings.

We had such an awesome weekend!  We haven't gotten away and had that much fun in such a long time.  We had an adult, couples only weekend up at Nettle Lake. 

We stayed with some relatives, Aunt Ronnie and Uncle Steve and NONE of the children came along.  It was one us and JB & Cathy and ...well,one of my children, but he is a grown adult who works full-time and owns his own home.  Both him and his live-in girlfriend came up with us.

 

Miss Rylie Jo spent the weekend with her sister.  Sammi was going to come and pick her up on Friday after Ray got off work.  However, she called Thursday evening and asked if she could come get her then.  She and Matt took Rylie from our house to a restaurant called "Two Toots".  The place has a train theme, your meal is delivered to your table on top of a small train.  The kids said that Rylie really loved it.  When the train brought their meal she put her hands on top of her head and said "Oh mah gosh!"

 

Then they took her to the park, which she didn't want to leave.  Of course when they got home and settled down, Rylie turned to Sam and said "I want my mommy".  Sammi told her that we weren't here and then she said "I want my daddy".  She told her that he wasn't home either.  Then I guess she just settled down with Gater (their dog) and watched a movie.

 

On Friday they spent some time at the pool.  Of course Rylie was upset because she forgot her floaties.  After they got some for her she jumped right in and had a blast.  I believe they made a few more trips to the park and back to the pool over the weekend.  They also took her to visit Matt's Mom, Sandra, who just loves Rylie.  One day they even took her to the river and had a picnic.  They tried to keep her real busy. 

 

Sammi  took her to the store to do some shopping, which is when Rylie got her new doll andnew (toy) high heels.  I think she had a blast but was glad to come back home and see mommy and daddy.  I know we were very happy to see her.  The weekend went so quick, but it was long too.  Especially when we were missing Rylie.

 

I meant everything I said last week Samantha.  I really appreciate you spending time with your sister.  She has so much fun.  And it really gives us that occasional break and some time alone together.  Thanks again hun!

 

We hope to make another trip back up to the lake at least once more this summer.  It's been so long since we got away like that with no kids and it was real relaxing.  I got to spend some time hanging out with Cathy and we both got to know David's girlfriend, Jill (our new nickname for her is Kandy-lol) a lot better.  She is such a sweetheart and we had a blast hanging out with her and Aunt Ronnie. 

 

The guys spent most of their time either fishing or telling tall tales about their fishing.  In the meantime, the women were either sunning, cooking or chatting (in other words...telling tall tales about the men, lol).  We had so much fun, half the time we were just laughing and giggling.  The time flew by way much too quickly. 

 

We (the women) even sat down at the table Saturday night and came up with a name for our weekend.  Well, we were just going to call it the "Couple's Weekend".  Pretty simple right?  But then Aunt Ronnie threw out "Coupling Weekend", LOL.  I think it slipped out accidently, but Cathy and I jumped on that and thought it was perfect. 

 

Then we came up with "award" titles for everyone.  For example, JB was pushed off the dock by "someone" (right goofy?) and he hit his ankle on a big rock.  Ouch!  Poor ol' boy, he was limping around like a 3 legged dog the rest of the weekend.  So his award is "The best dive".  Jill, aka Kandy, got the worse sun burn I've seen in a long time.  So she got "The most improved tan" award.  The fella that didn't catch a single fish on the last night of fishing (and hooked his own hand) is getting the "Champion Fisherman" award.  Just silly things like that. 

 

We are going to try to get some tee shirts and have them made up for the eight of us that were there that weekend.  We'll have the names and awards on the back of the shirts (the same way concert tee's have tour dates) and on the front we are putting the name of the weekend and the date on the left side of the chest.

 

Here is a copy of my Daily OM for today.

 

July 2, 2007
Finding Your Joy
Be Happy Every Single Day

Our lives are rich with potential sources of happiness, but sometimes we become victims of negative thinking because we believe that focusing on all that has gone wrong will provide us with the motivation we need to face the challenges of survival. When we choose to focus on what makes us happy, however, a shift occurs in the fabric of our existence. Finding something to be happy about every single day can help this shift take place. The vantage points from which we view the world are brought into balance, and we can see that being alive truly is a gift to be savored. There is always something we can be happy about—it is simply up to us to identify it.

On one day, we may find happiness in a momentous, life-changing event such as a marriage or the birth of a child. On another day, the happiness we experience may be a product of our appreciation of a particularly well-brewed cup of a tea or the way the sun shines on a leaf. If we discover that we literally cannot call to mind a single joyful element of existence, we should examine the cause of the blockage standing between us and experiencing happiness. Keeping a happiness journal is a wonderful way to catalog the happiness unfolding all around us so that joy has myriad opportunities to manifest itself in ourlives. Writing about the emotions we experience while contemplating joy may give us insight into the factors compelling us to resist it.

Happiness may not always come easily into your life. You have likely been conditioned to believe that the proper response to unmet expectations is one of sadness, anger, guilt, or fear. To make joy a fixture in your existence, you must first accept that it is within your power to choose happiness over unhappiness every single day. Then, each time you discover some new source of happiness, the notion that the world is a happy place will find its way more deeply into your heart. On this day, find one thing to be happy about and let it fill your heart.

I've got everything I need to make me happy.  My beautiful and loving children and the love of my life.  The little things are just the icing on the cake.  I remember how things were at one time and it makes me appreciate the blessings in my life even more.  It's amazing how much more peaceful you can feel when you ignore the road blocks that others try to throw at you.  People sometimes have their own agenda...I've learned that one the hard way...remember that and ignore the things they try to do to mess you up. 

 

Well, as I said before, the vacation (coupling weekend) is over, time to get back to reality.  I need to get moving and get my 30 minutes of morning cardio in.  It is so much easier to do while Rylie is asleep.

 

 

Have a great day & hugs to all my friends!

Tags: Sesame-Ginger, Barbecued, Chicken, Joy