Ingredients
4 spray(s) cooking spray, or enough to coat chicken
1 pound(s) uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast(s), four 4 oz pieces
3 oz cooked lean ham, four 3/4 oz slices
3 oz low-fat Swiss cheese, four 3/4 oz slices
1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup(s) honey mustard
1/2 cup(s) seasoned bread crumbs, Italian-style

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray.

Place chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound to 1/4-inch thickness; remove plastic wrap. Arrange 1 slice of ham and 1 slice of cheese on each chicken breast.

Starting from shorter end of chicken, roll up breast into a tight pinwheel. Tuck in ends. Secure with toothpicks.

Place flour, honey mustard and bread crumbs in 3 separate shallow bowls. Add chicken to flour; turn to coat. Transfer chicken to honey mustard; turn to coat. Place chicken in bread crumbs; turn to coat.

Transfer chicken to prepared baking sheet and coat with cooking spray. Bake until chicken is golden brown and cooked through, about 40 minutes. Remove toothpicks and serve.

Holiday Pineapple Cheese Ball
Serves 4-5
16 oz cream cheese
2 tbsp chopped green onion
2 tbsp chopped green pepper
¼ c drained, crushed pineapple
2 tsp seasoned salt
2 c chopped pecans
Soften cream cheese. Add onion, pepper, pineapple, seasoned salt, and one cup pecans. Mix well. Shape into ball(s) and roll in remaining pecans. Chill several hours. Serve with crackers.

from HeavyTable.com

I used to read his stuff all the time. I wonder if that is where I got this feeling.

100 Things I am thankful for:
my husband
cell phones
the house in A
the kitchen of the house in A
the chaise lounge
my oldest son
the fact that he likes the leather coat
my youngest son
the high price he was able to sell his stocks at
the four books I was given today (10)
the 29-Gift book I read this evening
the fact that my hotel room is quiet
having walked around downtown Seattle
the light rain
a good dinner
plugs and tables for blogging at MLA
fitting in my clothes
pcard to pay
having worked out a syllabus
having M as my friend, even if we don’t teach the same class (20)
hearing about picture books and comics
having the key to the hotel room work
feeling pretty when I looked in the mirror
the compliment on my hair from the presiding chair
my brother’s willingness to call me regularly
the pictures of my nieces and nephew
my new D-90
the camera lens
R’s birthday party–the fact that we can have one
time at home in H (30)
paid for home
my dog
a workshop in A
the garage in H
years of comfortable living in the house in H
DB, a new and fun friend, in H
lunch plans with EA on Tuesday
having eaten at Chuy’s with SJ
my sister coming to lunch with the boys, Dad, and me
lunch plans with my dad on Monday (40)
R having a part-time job in A
shuttle service to the airport
getting to be home tomorrow with my sons
water to drink
God’s graciousness in helping me give up nightshades
my health (which, amazingly, has gotten better over the last three years)
memories of my mother
grandparents who loved me x4
great-grandparents x3
Granny Smith Apples
cinnamon apples
sweet potato fries
Cheddar cheese
students who do good work (60)
a reason to read my book on werewolves
a reason to talk to my sons about superheroes
my New Year’s Eve experience
soft pillows
warm covers
solid rooves (roofs)
electricity
gas heat
a laptop
having completed the retrospectives
50% off the McFarland books
time to myself, alone
peace
colleagues whom I love
being able to get up and down the stairs without difficulties
the sight of the trees in red and white Christmas lights on 4th St.
medicine that stops vertigo before (and after) it starts
the fact that my dad still has all his own teeth
songs (80)
memories of singing in the car
joy in singing
the bang-up job my sophomores did on the extra credit
the good job my sophomores did on the music compilation
the amazing job my freshmen did on the commercials
the amazing job my freshmen did using Xtranormal
having blue eyes
being able to dye my hair red
laughter (90)
good memories of my boys
A and J coming from CA for R’s birthday
M and D coming for R’s birthday
bras and underwear that fit
being too small for some of my clothes–some of my clothes being too big for me
autumn
autumn leaves
sunsets
“I can see the lights of the city, 14 miles from home.”
my engagement ring (100)
comfortable boots
cute boots that I get compliments on
new socks (When I got to here, I thought I should count and see how many I had to go. But I don’t have any to go.)
hotel reservations in March
better plane trip here
R’s school is almost over
newbie has lots of listeners
God loves me.

I have SO MUCH to be thankful for. Thank you, God, for all the gifts you’ve given me recently, even –or especially– for those I haven’t noticed.

I am wonderfully blessed.

M sold his stock and made $$$. He’ll have enough to pay for 2.5 years of grad school, if they don’t keep upping the price too much.

Our house was looked at twice this week, but we haven’t heard from them, so I am guessing that was a no. I’m still praying that it will sell at the right time for the right price.

I’m having a hard time being rational about money right now. I need prayers for that.

I haven’t done my syllabi. I guess I’m just going to go with Nancy’s for linguistics, since I’ve got no clue what else I would do right now and I don’t have the emotional energy to figure it out. (Or maybe I won’t. Guess I should look at it.)

Haven’t done any of my syllabi.

Have my paper for Saturday written. It’s not great and amazing, but I do think it has some good points.

My blog for my honor society isn’t visible. I haven’t sent the emails out yet. I need to do that, but I would like the blog to be visible, too.

I’ve taken more than a week off and now I am feeling panicked. Guess instead of being panicked, I should just work on the stuff I need to get done.

Jan. 4: Quadrantid meteor shower peaks

This meteor shower reaches its peak in the predawn hours of Jan. 4 for eastern North America. The Quadrantid meteor shower is a very short-lived meteor display, whose peak rates only last several hours. The phase of the moon is a bright waxing gibbous, normally prohibitive for viewing any meteor shower, but the moon will set by 3 a.m., leaving the sky dark for a few hours until the first light of dawn; that’s when you’ll have the best shot at seeing many of these bluish-hued meteors.

From the eastern half of North America, a single observer might count on seeing as many as 50-to-100 “Quads” in a single hour. From the western half of the continent the display will be on the wane by the time the moon sets, with hourly rates probably diminishing to around 25 to 50 meteors.

from Scientific American

A friend asked me the other day, “…given the sorry state of so much in the world, what’s possible to look forward to?”

The state isn’t sorry. It’s wide open.

from “The Chance of a Lifetime” at Seth’s Blog

As soon as you accept that just about everything in our created world is only a few generations old, it makes it a lot easier to deal with the fact that the assumptions we make about the future are generally wrong, and that the stress we have over change is completely wasted.

from “It’s Always Been This Way” at Seth’s Blog

Is the weather the only thing you can think to ask about? A great question is one you can ask yourself, one that disturbs your status quo and scares you a little bit.

The A part is easy. We’re good at answers. Q, not so much.

from “Q&A” at Seth’s Blog

How little can I get away with?

vs.

How much can I do?

Surprisingly, they both take a lot of work. The closer you get to either edge, the more it takes. That’s why most people settle for the simplest path, which is do just enough to remain unnoticed.

No one can maximize on every engagement, every project, every customer and every opportunity. The art of it, I think, is to be rigorous about where you’re prepared to overdeliver, and not get hooked on doing it for all…

from “The More or Less Choice” at Seth’s Blog

A wrapped present is transformed when it is opened. Anticipation turns into information, and frequently, one is worth far more than the other.

Too often, we overlook the value of imagination and dreams and the _____. We figure, as marketers or managers or leaders or engineers that all we have to do is meet the spec, fill in the blank and we can prove we did a good job.

Often, though, the story a person tells herself is worth more that the object itself.

from “Gift Wrapped” at Seth’s Blog

[T]he purpose of an elevator pitch is to describe a situation or solution so compelling that the person you’re with wants to hear more even after the elevator ride is over.

from “No one ever bought anything in an elevator” at Seth’s Blog

NYPost:

Would it bother you to know that the federal Centers for Disease Control had been shown your daughter’s health records to see how she responded to an STD/teen-pregnancy-prevention program? How about if the federal Department of Education and Department of Labor scrutinized your son’s academic performance to see if he should be “encouraged” to leave high school early to learn a trade? Would you think the government was intruding on your territory as a parent?
Under regulations the Obama Department of Education released this month, these scenarios could become reality. The department has taken a giant step toward creating a de facto national student database that will track students by their personal information from preschool through career. Although current federal law prohibits this, the department decided to ignore Congress and, in effect, rewrite the law. Student privacy and parental authority will suffer.

How did it happen? Buried within the enormous 2009 stimulus bill were provisions encouraging states to develop data systems for collecting copious information on public-school kids. To qualify for stimulus money, states had to agree to build such systems according to federally dictated standards. So all 50 states either now maintain or are capable of maintaining extensive databases on public-school students.

It bothers me. And my kids are grown now.

Think about it.

I don’t know why the smoke decided to come into the house instead of up the chimney. Did R close the flue? But the living room was filled with smoke. I woke R up, throwing him a robe as I did so.

He didn’t move quickly nor was he terribly coherent.

I went to the front door to open it and he asked me what I was doing. I said I was opening it to let the smoke out.

Smoke damage ruined more of my mother’s things in the Jersey house (where they lived before it caught fire) than the fire itself. I also pulled a fan out to push it out the front door.

The living room is now fairly clear, but the kitchen still has smoke.

A bit more excitement that I was looking for this evening.

This from Boris Štromar:

Boris Štromar photo of the path of stars shown on the clouds