American Idol - Top 8

Tonight's theme is Inspirational Songs. To be honest, I'm needing a little inspiration this evening as my afternoon was hectic as all get out. I'm feeling quite frazzled and am not really ready to park it in front of the TV for a couple of hours. Please forgive me if my thoughts aren't organized...

THIS is American I-dol (totally stole this from Cindy's blog)

Michael Johns - "Dream On" - Okay, I'm a little thrown by the new ascot trend. I mean really, two weeks in a row? I liked it last week, this week not so much. Didn't recognize the song until he got to the chorus - shows how much I listened to Aerosmith in the formative years doesn't it? Now that I know it, I'm totally rockin' out. Didn't love the falsetto stuff at the end, but overall it was a good job by Michael.

Syesha Mercado - "I Believe" - To be totally honest, I wasn't in the room during the performance. I had to run downstairs with the hubby to get some dinner (yes, we eat in front of the TV during AI). But as soon as I walked back into the room and heard the judges talking about Fantasia performing this song, I was like "WHY?" Why does this girl pick the biggest songs she can find. You KNOW she's going to be compared to the originals. I don't know, I just don't get it.

Jason Castro - "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this song! A and I were in Maui this past summer and totally listened to this CD while hanging out in our condo, driving around the island, and most notably, driving the road to Hana. Jason rocked this performance and I loved it!!

Kristy Lee Cook - "Anyway" - I liked it! I'm proud of Kristy Lee for summoning all her ambition and bringing it tonight. I do feel like she has a little bit of an arrogant attitude though, which I really only see when she's talking back to the judges after their comments. Not so crazy about that, but overall I enjoy her as a performer.

David Cook - "Innocent" - Unfortunately I totally didn't get him tonight. Not only the white jacket, but the whole performance. I'm a little disappointed.

Carly Smithson - "The Show Must Go On" - Didn't Paris sing this song a couple of seasons ago? I really like this song, but it just didn't seem to work tonight. Carly came off as kind of angry and I didn't see the "inspirational" value of it. Bummer because I do like Carly. I guess this just wasn't her night.

David Archuleta - "Angels" - Nice to see him behind the piano, but for some reason I am kind of over David A. at this point. I think he's a good singer, but he's not my pick for the American Idol.

Brooke White - "You've Got A Friend" - Cute dress! Good song choice, although I would have liked to see her change it up a bit and add some of her own flair. She's a strong performer though and I do enjoy watching her.

Should go - Syesha

Will go - Syesha or Carly (so sad!)

Best of the night - Ummm, kind of a toughie this week. I suppose I'll say Michael Johns, although I didn't think this was his best performance. Last week was still the top for me.

Sunshine

I have always appreciated the sun, but it wasn't until I began staying at home full-time that I really started to love it. I now notice the way it crawls into the crevices of my home's decor and accents whatever it shines upon. I especially love the morning sun, but our house doesn't receive a whole lot of it because the majority of our windows face west. Our front door faces east though, and we have a lovely arch window at the top of the door, which lets in a bit of soft morning sunlight. Just inside the front door is a curio cabinet with some candles, flowers, etc on the top. One of my favorite moments of the day is when I come downstairs and all the windows and blinds are still closed from the night before, yet the sun is streaming in through the arch in our door and highlighting this spot. It always makes me smile.




Unfortunately, today I didn't get to enjoy this little moment because we are experiencing this ...



Oh well, maybe tomorrow...

Stocked up...

I try to do our grocery shopping on a monthly basis. This requires some serious meal planning, a trip to Sam's Club to stock up on the things we use a lot of, a major trip to King Soopers, and then maybe two more trips to Kings during the months to pick up milk, fresh veggies, etc. I love getting things divided up into meal-sized portions and put away in the freezer after my major shopping trips. It makes me happy to see my pile of food all organized and ready to be used during the month! (My exception is frozen veggies - since I use them straight from the freezer, I just pour out what I need at the time.)

Focaccia Bread

This isn't my own recipe - it's just out of the book that came with my bread machine, but it is wonderful! I love to make this bread to serve with soup or salads, or use it to make a wonderful Italian sandwich. It also makes a great Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwich - you basically make a Caesar salad with chicken and then put it on the bread for a sandwich. Also a great bread option if you're serving an Italian meal. Yummy!!



Focaccia Bread
1 cup water (80 degrees F)
1/3 cup olive oil
2 t. sugar
1 t. salt
3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 t. active dry yeast

Layer ingredients in bread machine and use the dough program. After the first rise, add 1 t. dried Italian seasoning. After program is complete, press dough evenly into a greased 9x13 inch pan, using oiled hands. Using your fingertips, make indentations in the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until almost double in size. While the dough is rising, prepare the topping.

Topping:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 cup minced garlic
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 t. salt

In a skillet, heat olive oil. Stir in oregano and garlic, then immediately remove from heat.

Once dough has doubled in size, use fingers to press dimples into dough again. Spoon topping mixture evenly over dough. Sprinkle with remaining ingredients. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until done.

P.S.

Just switched over to the Dancing with the Stars results show, and in my totally humble, totally right opinion, Adam Corolla needs to say goodbye! I cannot stand his "humor" - can you say rude and obnoxious?!

I'm just sayin...

American Idol - Top 9

Here we go again folks... I'm psyched for tonight because I love Dolly Parton - have ever since I was little. I love to hear her speak, watch her perform, and overall I love her sweet country girl demeanor. Yeah for Dolly!!

Let's get to the music!

Brooke White - "Jolene" - I love this song. It was hard to listen to Brooke and not compare it to Dolly's version. Unfortunately it didn't quite measure up to Dolly, but I did enjoy Brooke's performance. I like that she used the guitar. To use Randy's words, overall, it was okay for me.

David Cook - "Little Sparrow" - I'm not super familiar with this song, but I loved David singing it. Great performance - he is consistent and definitely shaping up to be one of the top contenders in this competition.

Ramiele Malubay - "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" - Much better than last week's performance, but not great for me.

Jason Castro - "Travelin' Through" - I really liked this performance! I think he amped it up a bit after being in the bottom three last week and in my opinion it paid off. I completely disagree with Simon's critique, which is actually kind of rare. for me.

Carly Smithson - "Here You Come Again" - Great song! Another intimate, acoustic performance - must be a Dolly thing. I really like Carly and I really liked this performance. I really felt badly for Carly when Simon slammed her wardrobe - regardless of what I think, that's got to be hard to take, especially in front of millions of people. Props to Ryan for putting Simon in his place.

David Archuleta - "Smoky Mountain Memories" - I actually liked it! I'm usually kind of take it or leave it with David's performances, but this one I liked.

Kristy Lee Cook - "Coat of Many Colors" - I've never heard this song, but it almost made me cry. Kristy Lee was in her niche tonight - I liked it a lot!

Syesha Mercado - "I Will Always Love You" - Considering how overplayed this song was in the 90s, it was just okay for me. Hard not to compare it to Whitney and Dolly's versions.

Michael Johns - "It's All Wrong But It's All Right" - Wow - phenomenal performance. And nice ascot. Yep! He's a keeper. Loved it!

Should go - Ramiele or Syesha

Will go - Ramiele or Syesha

Best of the night - Michael Johns, with David Cook taking a close second.

That was fun...let's do it again next week!

It's Bella Time...and an Engagement

Here are a couple of cards I made this past weekend. Last Tuesday evening my brother-in-law proposed to his girlfriend. Of course she accepted so a "congratulations on your engagement" card was in order. This stamp (from the Michaels $1 bin a year or so ago) is my favorite for engagement cards. It's a cute little picture and I don't like to overwhelm the groom-to-be with a frilly bride card. I save the girlie, bride stamps for the bridal shower. The paper is from the DCWV spring 2008 stack and the button is from My Mind's Eye Tres Jolie button collection.



(My apologies that this photo isn't better. We've had cloudy weather and snow for the past 2 days and I couldn't get very good lighting for the picture.)

The next card is a birthday card for a very, very good friend of mine, who is celebrating her birthday today. She is an April Fool's baby! The image is partygirlabella from Stamping Bella. I do love my bellas! The paper is from DCWV summer 2007 stack and I used pink and clear stickles. This card is a CASE from somewhere, but I can't remember where. Sorry if it's yours!


Hope you have a great day and Happy April Fools Day!!