Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Piggies

Every good and true Southerner has his or her favorite barbecue joint. And naturally, an opinion on the best style of barbecue and the best kind of sauce (or rub, as the case may be).

I'm a fan of the western style of North Carolina barbecue, although, being from Tennessee, I have a real soft place in my heart for a Memphis dry rub. Of course, a rub is only good on ribs and chicken and I do prefer a good pulled pork sandwich any day to ribs.

So, I thought I'd try my hand at making a little pulled pork for supper tonight. We have soccer practice at 6:30, so I wanted to try something I could throw in ye olde crock pot and have waiting for us when we got home. Here's the recipe I'm using, although, I added my own enhancement by using a dry rub on the pig before throwing it in the cooker. I just don't know how non-smoked pork will turn out, so I thought it would probably want a little extra seasoning.

We'll see.

But right now my kitchen smells pretty good, y'all.

Shake It Like a Polaroid Picture

Check it, y'all! Scott sent me this earlier today and I'm really digging it.

Monday, September 17, 2007

You Pull My Strings

I love this song so much, I have to share this. Check out this live version of one of Scott's newest songs, You Pull My Strings.

This was recorded at the Inman Perk show a few months ago. It sounds fantastic.

I Get Weak

There are just moments of pure bliss in this life. Rare, fleeting moments, but moments so amazing the beauty of them can feed your soul for days or weeks, even, as long as you choose to hold onto them and allow their purity to infuse your being.

Last night I had the great fortune to live one of those moments.

While Scott played guitar in preparation for his next show, I lay on the floor sorting through pictures from Brendan's soccer game, just enjoying the music. A couple of songs in, Brendan comes out of his room and stands outside our doorway, listening. When he saw me peeking around the door at him, he smiled the biggest smile and ran to me, arms outstretched. I asked him why he wasn't in bed and he said, very seriously, because I just love you and wanted to be with you. I put him back to bed and returned to my laptop. After about 10 minutes, I hear his door open. A surprisingly lengthy time later – maybe 30 seconds – he appears at our door, but doesn't come in. Again, I ask why he's not in bed, and he very sweetly and shyly says, "Well, Mommy, I just love you so much and I really want to be here with you and I just can't control myself.

He was so very earnest and sweet. I held my arms out and he threw himself into them and gave me the biggest, sweetest hug.

I know he was playing me, a bit, wanting to stay up past his bedtime and hear his daddy play guitar. I know he was just curious about what goes on after he's asleep. But it still melted my heart and made me feel incredibly blessed. Looking at Scott and Brendan and seeing how much alike they are, my heart felt like it would burst from the overflowing of love I felt for my beautiful husband and this amazing little child we made together.

Sometimes, I feel like the weight of my love for Scott and our sons will crush me all the while it sustains me. I spend so much time worrying about them, worrying about losing their love, worrying about not being worthy of their love in some way.

Maybe that's why these moments when I am simply in the moment, feeling and being, and not doing anything seem so beautiful and prized.

I mean ultimately, I know that my fears are meaningless. I need to simply be in this life and enjoy every moment of it, the beauty and the mess of it all.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Volvo Driving Soccer Mom


soccer
Originally uploaded by belleoftheblogATL
Well, lo and behold, if we didn't have our very first soccer game ever this weekend. It was so much fun! I had no idea how much fun it could be to watch a bunch of four-and-five-year olds chasing a ball around a field.

Brendan had a great time and our team...My goodness they were so cute it hurt. But not just cute. They were good!

I mean we have some very good players on our team of four girls and two boys. We've got "Jet" and "Gigi", blonde twins who are quick and scrappy. Their little sister, Noey, who just beams and could be their triplet. Then there's Brendan who, having never played soccer before at all, jumped right into the fray, and had a great time.

Then there's Isaac. This kid has a foot. I mean just a really great player.

We won. By a lot. Our kids scored six goals, I think, to the other team's two. In fairness, they only had three players who showed up for the game and it was hot. One of their players, the only girl on the team, stopped a few minutes into the second half and just stood on the field crying. The coaches stopped the game and we sent two of our players over to play on the other team. We spent the rest of the game rotating players around, although I think we only ever had two of our players on their team at one time.

Toward the end of the game, our team stepped back and let the little girl who cried score a goal. She looked so very happy afterward.

All in all it was great fun and it really made me happy and proud to see my little guy trying so hard and having such a good time. Hopefully he continues to enjoy it and it turns out to be a positive experience for all the kids involved.