{Out of the Blue}

Sometimes

Out of the blue

My husband

Will think of me

And bring me

A beautiful

White Rose

From

Someone else's

Wedding.

I

Love it

Just

The same.

Karma?

I busted my pinkie toe last night. I caught it on the coffee table while running around the living room. It took a good 15 minutes to catch my breath. I've got to say, I've learned a few lessons since then.

Karma Lesson # 1: I immediately heard the echos of my parents childhood warnings of why I shouldn't run in the house. It turns out that Mom was right.

Karma Lesson #2: What goes around, comes around. For all the little toes I've stepped on in the past I now have a painful reminder of my own.

Karma Lesson #3: Pinkie toenails are a little over-rated. Or at least they are for the moment. The impact of the crash sheared my clean off. What you see here is one pinkie toe, twice the width as it used to be with the circular remnants of what will probably grow back in 2-3 months.

Ouch!

My Broken Puppy

Davey is 7 months old today. He weighs an amazing 82 pounds and is longer than my refrigerator is wide. He's now up to eating 8 cups of food a day. I've starting running again, which hasn't been that bad, and I'm even entertaining the idea of someday running in one of the 5K+1 mile (4.10 miles) events that they have in Wichita in the Spring and Fall. But that's not the reason why I started running again. I started to run as a way to run down the energy-meter on my puppy. When he started using our living room daily as an obstacle course for his "Zoomies" (or what we used to call them as kids- Rampages), I realized that the 1.3 mile walk that we were taking everyday just wasn't enough. It's helped tremendously! I'm still finding it a challenge to get him to behave when another dog or human comes around and I'm holding out hope that this stage won't last very long. On the other hand, I really love how curious he is. Everything fascinates him. Like the electric can-opener, and the bath tub water spout, and the taste of UFO's (Unidentifiable Field Objects). He has developed an incredible smell and taste for random articles of junk (and Goose poop) in the back field and thinks nothing of devouring it quickly only to puke it back up 2 days later. Have no fear! I don't take pictures of that.

But, I kind of broke my puppy the other day. We were walking back home after a long walk when he started to slowly limp. As we got closer to the house the limp got worse. When we got in the house he immediately laid down. He wasn't to thrilled with me when I examined his foot and discovered that his pinkie toe was really swollen and the toenail was cracked from the top almost to the bottom. It's the white streak on the black toenail.

I'm not sure if I stepped on it when we were walking or if he did it on something out in the field. I felt horrible. He was a good sport about letting me play doggy nurse when I propped up his leg on a rolled up blanket and fed him ice cubes. He slept like this for a good 2 hours.

Have no fear! He was back to his normal self today as demonstrated by the picture below. He likes to walk around the house with a long strip of an old fleece blanket hanging from his mouth. He'll chew on it, toss it around, lick it, and happily place it soaking-slobbering wet on your lap when he's all done. For all the "Eeeeewwww" moments that I have with him, he makes me laugh and give him lots of kisses everyday.

This is what it's looked like outside for the last week. The weather channel says it will look like this until Saturday.

It's one giant formless grey cloud that doesn't seem to move. Now I know what it would be like to live in a nuclear winter, minus the falling ash and the radio-active burns that would randomly appear on my body. It's dreary and dull and 7 AM feels the same as 5 PM. Plus, it's really not raining either. It's just constantly misting so everything stays damp and cold all the time. It's wonderful hot-cocoa weather and the fall color on the trees are really beautiful!

Mid-terms are almost over. I'm glad last week is over. It was probably the most difficult, most stressful 2-week stretch that I have ever had in all my college experience. I had a major research paper due for my upper-division Roman history class on Monday, a mid-term in my Science class on Tuesday, a major take-home mid-term 8 paged essay for my upper-division Asian history class due on Wednesday, along with an autobiography and another essay about my conceptual framework of teaching for the College of Education that was due on Monday, and random homework assignments for my Educational Psychology class. For two weeks I slept 4 hours a day, 2 hours from 2-4 AM and 2 hours from 2-4 PM. Did I mention that how well I did on my Asian history mid-term would determine whether or not my professor would write a letter of recommendation for me? No pressure there! Plus, I have put an immense amount of pressure on myself to get the best possible grades so that I can make the Dean's List again this semester. I have to say, at the end Wednesday's classes I just about threw-up from the amount of stress and nearly had an anxiety attack/break-down in my car. Honestly, I think the running helped most of all in the stress department. I have another mid-term tomorrow and on Monday, so the grades should be posted soon!

I hope you have all had a wonderful October so far. Any Halloween/Fall parties planned?

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

It has been far too long since I've posted a recipe so here is one of my very favorites.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

4 boneless chicken breast halves cut into 1-2 inch cubes

4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

4-6 medium red potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 (14.5 oz) cans of diced tomatoes (I like the Delmonte diced oregano, basil kind)

4 cups of chicken broth (I use bullion cubes because they add more flavor)

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 cup of frozen corn kernels

1-2 (9 inch) refrigerated roll-out pie crust (Pilsbury is the best)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Prep all ingredients first.

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add chicken and saute for 5 to 7 minutes, until browned on all sides. In a large stock pot heat 2 teaspoons of oil, add onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add cooked chicken to the onions. In a small bowl combine flour, thyme, salt, pepper, and paprika. Add flour mixture to the chicken and stir to coat. Stir in carrots, celery, potatoes, tomatoes including the juice, chicken broth, and Dijon mustard and mix well. Bring mixture to a boil. Cook until vegetables are tender. Stir in corn and immediately transfer to a large casserole dish. Place pie crust on top of the casserole (you might need to use 2 depending on how long your casserole dish is) and pinch around the edges to seal the crust to the dish. Prick the surface 1 to 3 times with a sharp knife or fork to allow steam to escape during cooking. Place casserole dish on a baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the crust is golden. Let rest for about 10 minutes or you can eat it immediately.

*If you don't want to use the pie crust or you don't want to wait an extra 10 minutes or so you can make Bisquick drop-biscuits (my second favorite to the pie crust) or the refrigerated canned biscuits. After stirring in the corn, cook for a few minutes more and serve the pot pie stew over biscuits.

I've made this several, several times and the cooking depends on how thick your carrot and potato cubes are. I've served it over biscuits and cooked it with the pie crust. Both ways are fantastic. For a cold autumn or winter night, this comfort food is awesome!

For This, I Am Grateful That I Can Remember

Today marks the 8 year anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. It feels like it happened decades ago. We all have our own memories but this is what I remember the most...

I was sleeping when my brother, Tommy, woke me up suddenly. He was calling for me to come downstairs. At that time, Alex and I lived in a town home and Tommy had stayed the night and had crashed on the couch. It was kind of an overcast day, if my memory serves me right.

I remember sitting in shock on the stairs leading down into the living room as I watched the footage of the first plane hit the first Tower. It was around 9 am PST so the action was already in motion by the time we were aware of it on the West Coast. I remember thinking that it was so movie like while both Tommy and I quietly listened to figure out what was going on and what the newscasters were saying.

Then the second plane hit the second Tower and you could hear and feel the shock of the reporters who were absolutely dismayed at what was going on. I wouldn't be surprised, if at first people thought that a plane had lost control by accident and collided with the building. I did, at least. I guess I couldn't believe at that time that someone would purposely plan so much destruction of human life. I was hoping that mechanical error was the true answer and not that Man could be that evil, but when the second plane hit, it became apparent instantly that this was not the case. At this time we didn't know exactly how many (or how few) people were on board each plane or in each Tower. I was immediately moved to tears and sadness by the massive amount of lost lives. So yes, I cried. I wept openly. I wept for those on the plane that lived the last moments of their life in terror. I wept for the people busy at work who were taken by surprise by the high-impact collision that would soon take their lives. I wept for the countless number of families that would never see their loved ones again. I wept for all the boys that I worked with or ever knew because I felt that soon they would be pulled into a war the likes I had never seen. I wept because a tad bit of my innocence was forever gone.

I remember the push for donating blood, although, I didn't understand why. Maybe people need to feel like they could do something, something to make them feel less helpless in an out-of-control situation. Maybe.

I remember that I called my Dad that morning and told him that I felt like packing up my bags and going... somewhere but I knew that I would just be driving to drive and I would have to come back home eventually. I remember calling my Mom but I don't remember the conversation.

I remember the American flag being flown by almost every home.

I remember the silent and empty skies that followed for the next week.

I remember the panic, the speculation, and the genuine fear of not knowing or comprehending what was next. But most of all, I remember that for a short time our nation put aside all its differences, all our problems, all our past hurts, and for a brief moment in time we acted together as a caring community. For this, I am grateful that I can remember.