Stream of Consciousness

Monday, September 24, 2007

There's no place like home...

A friend of mine mentioned recently that she is considering buying a house. It makes me think about my decision to buy my house- almost 5 years ago now (dang!!). There are a lot of great things about owning your own house, but its also a lot of work and a lot of time investment. It occurs to me that although I don't regret doing it myself, I don't necessarily recommend it to everyone...

As a single woman, it can feel overwhelming sometimes. When the refrigerator breaks, you have to replace it. When your old washer finally gives (or just starts spewing water all over the place), you have to go get a new one. When something breaks, you have to be willing to spend your saturday trying to figure out how to repair it. You have to cut the grass, fertilize, trim the bushes, keep up on all the yard stuff, on top of the house maintenance. I think my neighbor Scott thinks I am insane for being a single woman who owns a house and dogs (he hates dogs) and he likes to comment on things, as if I'm an idiot and don't know that the tree is dying or the grass is long. Thank you Scott. And there are times I do wonder what on earth I'm doing thinking I'm old enough to have my own house- and trying to take care of all of it on my own. God willing, someday I'd like to share that with someone else. Someday I'd like to escape the plumbing projects- "Honey, I think the toilet is running and needs to be fixed." and be able to have my husband spend the 2 hours running fixing it while I put my feet up and drink a margarita ;) (that's how it works with married people right?) Sometimes I think Scott is right, I am probably crazy for taking it all on as a single woman. And there are days I am a little envious of my apartment dwelling friends- they spend Saturdays at the park, at the zoo, hanging out, etc while I'm home working my butt off just to try to keep up with stuff at home.

And yet, I have no regrets and I am so thankful for my home, with its many challenges and joys. It was the right time in my life to buy a house, take on a new challenge, move on to that level of responsibility. And it has become home sweet home. I have never felt so at home anywhere else- not growing up in my parents house, not my apartment or rental house in college. This place, my house, complete with lists of things I need to do and things i haven't gotten to, it is soooo home to me. Its my comfortable place, my safe zone, my place to escape the rest of life. Home is a place I can invite people over to share in its warmth- from nieces and nephews, to my teens, to friends and family. I think a person's home is somehow a reflection of them, a glimpse into who they are. My home is definitely that- its part of me. Certainly there are some things i hope aren't a reflection of me- lets face it, i never would have picked that ugly linoleum in the kitchen or the mudbrown carpet on the stairs- and I wish the chaos in the garage wasn't a reflection of me- although i know it is. And yet, with all its imperfections, it is definitely home. I miss my home when I'm gone too long and there is nothing quite so great as coming home!!

And my home is a reminder to me to ponder what heaven will be like. If I can love a physical place so much, a humble, imperfect place here on earth (with projects up the wazoo), how much more is heaven going to be Home, in every sense of the word!! I can't wait!!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Goddaughters rock

These are my Goddaughters, Maria and Rosemary.

I think they are both pretty terrific and so darn cute!

Monday, September 17, 2007

More Jane Colette

Big brother Geno thought she was pretty cool, for about 30 seconds and then "Ah, my arm is sooooo hot!" He was ready to hand her off and check out all the other neat things you might find in a hospital room.

Lucy liked holding her and kept looking at her, a little confused. She liked it when we unwrapped her so she could see her toes and fingers - i think it made her seem a bit more human instead of a very wrapped up bundle with a head.

New recipe

So... on Saturday, in the midst of staining the new patio door and doing yard work, i was making dinner for Bren and Hannah and for some reason (probably insanity) I decided to experiment... I don't really recommend experimenting when cooking for someone else since it can cause last minute panic "what if it doesn't turn out, or its gross, or or or..." Nonetheless, I hadn't thought that through (until it was too late). There were a few factors driving the decision to experiment and what i would make: I didn't have much time, I had tons of tomatoes, I just bought chicken, and I was thinking about wine...

So, it started out as chicken tenders in the crockpot and grew from there. In the end, i thought it was delicious and Brad who also had it for dinner gave it rave reviews (although its possible -though doubtful- he was just being nice). I hope Bren and Hannah liked it. Anyway, here's the recipie (ish- none of this was actually measured at the time):

Maureen's Tomato, Chicken, Wine Creation

Step 1:

12 chicken tenders (basically just chicken pieces 1/3 the size of a boneless chicken breast)

4 cups food processed tomatoes- I had lots of yellow pear tomatoes sitting around, so i washed them, threw them in the food processor with the garlic, and threw them in the crockpot.
6 cloves garlic (also food processed)
1.5 cups white wine (I used pinot grigio because it was open, next time i'd probably go with chardonnay)
Oregano & Basil (a bunch of shakes)

Put the above ingredients in the crockpot and cook on high for around 3.5 hours. Test the chicken for doneness and turn off the crock.

Step 2:
Make noodles- I used rainbow rotini, but i imagine it would work with any kind of noodles and probably rice too. I think i made about 6 cups of noodles (dry).

Step 3:
2 T. butter
2 T. flour (maybe a little less)
1 T. minced garlic
2 c. milk
1 pkg cream cheese (i used the low fat variety)
4 cups crockpot sauce (from above)
salt (to taste- i used probably less than 1/2 teaspoon)

Put butter and garlic in saucepan on high, once the butter is melted, add the flour and stir in quickly. once that is combined and bubbling, add the milk slowly, stirring to combine as you add it. Add the crockpot sauce and cream cheese, cooking and stirring until cream cheese melts. Add salt to taste.

Step 4:
Mix noodles and creamy sauce together, put in casserole dish. Add chicken on top of them, slice cherry tomatoes (or yellow pear tomatoes in my case) in half and add with chicken. Sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees approximately 10 minutes until parmesan is melted. (Technically, you could skip the baking part, but i liked the melted parmesan and slightly toasted tomatoes.)