Not Just Another Pretty Face in the Stands

By the time track season rolls around, I am worn out. Football, basketball and cross country have taken its toll. Also, the little ones are finishing up spring soccer and starting softball and baseball. My time is limited, but I do make the regional track meet which decides who advances to state. My favorite is the mile relay and it may be because it’s the last race run and some years is the only one I see because of my tendency to be behind schedule. The race usually reduces me to tears because of the athletes’ gutsy performances, and this year was no exception. However, I did not experience any tears the next day because for the first time in a long time I did not burn from the sun’s grueling rays. It’s typically my first extended time out in the sun, and I usually blister. But this year, I broke out the new suntan lotion I picked up last month at a makeover. I am a sucker for anything with the word “beach” in it. It reminds me of my summers at the Jersey shore. Bobbi Brown beach with SPF 15 reminded me slightly of the Coppertone lotion I reluctantly slathered on as a child. It wasn’t greasy which is a huge turn-off. It may be better suited poolside than a day at the track but most importantly it protected me from burning. For $25 at all locations that sell Bobbi Brown cosmetics, including Neiman Marcus.

Share This

As coach’s wives, we are forced to make choices. We hold onto things near and dear to us and let other things go. About two weeks out of the year, I paint my fingernails - the other 50 weeks, I let them go. In my rush to get things done, the lack of polish usually doesn’t bother me in the slightest. But when I have time to study them - usually on out-of-town trips for my job, and I get a chance to study them, it DOES bother me. About a month ago, I found the answer to my problem: Sally Hansen Natural Shine Instant Nail Finish. The marketing claimed it dried in “seconds.” This, I had to see. I grabbed the pink tint and applied it in the car while the kids fastened their seat belts. By the time we drove off, it was dry and I had instant shine. It now has a permanent place in my purse. Available at local drug stores for about $5.

Share This

I am very particular about my family’s laundry. I refuse to let anyone sort, wash, dry or iron our clothing. I even forbade my mother to handle the chore after four C-sections. I have a routine: seperate clothes, check for stains (dirt, pen marks, ketchup), treat, wash, check for stains again, dry for 10 minutes and then hang dry until ironing. You can slap me now.

When the children were young, they loved attending basketball games. Not because of the excitement of watching Daddy’s team but because they could eat nachos. The gooey canned cheese inevitably ended up on their fingers, hair, shirt, pants, and was one of the most difficult stains to remove. I finally resorted to a friend’s recommendation of treating them with the green Clorox Gel with bleach sink cleaner after all else failed: her reasoning - the shirt was already ruined so what else did I have left to lose? It worked most of the time if I threw it in the laundry quickly enough.

If only I had the “Tide to Go Instant Stain Remover” 12 years ago my life would have been so much easier. I picked up the pen yesterday at Bed, Bath & Beyond and stuck it in my purse. Little did I know I would use it five times before the day was over. Haircuts after school, a trip to the golf course to drop off sons no. 1 and 2, before racing to the tennis courts to watch a neighbor compete for a trip to the state tournament. A quick stop at Burger King before church and before I knew it, son no. 4 spilled ketchup on his shorts three times (I think he just liked using the pen), daughter no. 3 (one time - she needed an excuse to use it), and grease from the fries on my pants (one time-honest mistake). I took off the top to the Tide pen, wiped it across the two small grease stains on my tan cotton pants and was left with a little of the pen residue. After washing the pants, the stains were nearly gone - I should have performed additional pretreatment but the ketchup on my children’s clothes was gone. I was hooked. For $3.50, it was a good investment. The pen can be found at most grocery stores.

Share This

One good thing about coaching is you make many friends in many different places because of “job relocation.” Leaving friends is tough but making new ones is always a blessing.

Last weekend, two couples who were a pair of my personal role models (from two job stops ago) stopped by and stayed for church and lunch on their way to their yearly visit to see the bluebonnets in the Texas Hill Country. I was so excited to see them but began deep cleaning the house and going over and over what I would serve them.
As they pulled out of the driveway on their way to Fredericksburg, my oldest son turned to me and said, “Boy Mom, they must have been really important to you for you to go to all that trouble.” That night as he pulled out the leftovers from Sunday lunch and cut himself a piece of Red Velvet Cake, he repeated, “Boy, Mom, they must have been really important to you for you to cook this much good stuff.”

It made me think: “Why do I pull out all the stops for company but not for my family?”

The next night, I vowed to prepare my family a meal that was just as good as the one I served during Sunday lunch.

I went to my “no-fail cookbook” (I have many, but this one is my newest), “Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats”. Everything I have made in this cookbook has been drop-to-your-knees delicious, including No. 267, “Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Breasts with a Cheddar-Mustard Sauce.”

4 medium (quart-size) plastic food storage bags

4 small whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 5-ounce bag of salted pretzels, any shape

1 TBS fresh thyme leaves, chopped

Freshly ground black pepper

2 eggs

Vegetable oil, for frying

2 TBL unsalted butter

2 TBL all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

2 cups grated sharp yellow Cheddar cheese

1 cup grated extra-sharp white Cheddar cheese

2 heaping TBL spicy brown mustard, such as Gulden’s

Coarse salt

1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped

1/4 small yellow onion, finely chopped

1 large sour dill pickle, finely chopped

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Sprinkle a little water into the food storage baggies. Place 1 chicken breast in each bag and seal it up, pushing out excess air. Use a mallet or the bottom of a heavy pot or pan and pound each breast until flat, just shy of busting out of the bag. Repeat with the other three chicken breasts.

Place the pretzels in a food processor or blender and grind until fine. Transfer the ground pretzels to a shallow dish and add the thyme and some pepper. Crack and beat 2 eggs in a second shallow dish with a splash of water. Working with 1 pounded chicken breast at a time, coat the breast in the ground pretzels, then in the eggs, then in the pretzels again. Preheat a large skillet with 1/4 inch of vegetable oil; add the pretzel-coated chicken breasts to the hot oil. Cook in a single layer, in 2 batches if necessary, about 3 or 4 minutes on each side, until the cutlets’ juices run clear and the breading is evenly browned.

While the chicken is frying, in a medium sauce pot over medium heat, melt the butter and add the flour to it. Cook for 1 minute, then whisk in the milk. When the milk comes to a bubble, stir in the cheeses and mustard with a wooden spoon. Season with a little salt and pepper and remove the cheese sauce from the heat.

Transfer the fried pretzel-crusted chicken breasts to servng plates, drizzle with the cheddar-mustard sauce, and then sprinkle with a little parsley, finely chopped onions, and finely chopped pickles. Serve immediately, with lemon wedges alongside.

4 servings

This isn’t as difficult as it sounds and every single person in our family of six went back for seconds.

Share This

I never wore make-up in high school or college and for several years of working at a television news station. Finally, the kind-hearted news director told me to go to the mall, find a make-up counter and get busy. That was nearly 20 years ago. He didn’t know the monster he was creating.

But I digress: being an avid reader, I remember Lana Turner specifically telling her daughter to never to go to bed with her make-up on. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have laid down, dead-tired from a 2 1/2-hour trip home from a basketball game on a school night with my DiorShow still covering my lashes. I am a fanatic about going to bed with a clean face.

A week ago, while browsing the Target cosmetics aisle I stumbled upon No. 7 Quick Thinking 4 in 1 Wipes by I had remembered reading about the brand from England in year’s past. I needed a beauty fix and grabbed the package of 30. For $8, I could afford it if it was a mistake. It wasn’t.

Three times in the past week (worked two late nights in the press box typing district track results into the laptop and once burning the midnight oil for my job), I stumbled to the blue package, pulled out the wipe (reminded me of those baby wipe days) and removed my face.

The smell was nice, it wasn’t greasy or drying and removed most of my make-up from the tell-tale signs on the wipe. There may be other products out there, but this one worked for me. Do you have a favorite all-in-one beauty product?

Share This