Still upacking, and now the holidays are here

Well, we are in our new house, and still trying to get settled. This is the largest house we've ever lived in, and it is strange to be able to have space for all of our belongings. We are not fully unpacked yet, but the main level of the house doesn't make me cringe any longer, so that's a good thing. One of these days we will get around to hanging pictures, but I do wonder if we will ever be fully unpacked. No matter what size house I move into, whether it's smaller or larger than the last place I've lived, I find that I always need at least one piece of furniture or something in order to fill that one space. You know that space - that area that your eye invariably moves to that just seems wrong, empty. There are a lot of spaces like that here, yet in an odd way I'm enjoying the emptiness.



This picture was taken a few days after we moved into the house, and it shows all of the open space that surrounds us. You can't quite make out the cornfields that can be seen from our backyard, but they are there. Perhaps it's the open space around that is opening my eyes and helping me enjoy some of this stillness.

Several friends and family have asked for pictures of the house, and I should have taken pictures of the house the day before Thanksgiving, when we celebrated the holiday with Patrick's mother and the house looked good. But, I didn't. Yesterday because we were having leftovers, we thought we'd get a jump on the decorating and pulled out the boxes of Christmas decorations. Now there are decorations everywhere, but nothing is decorated. Our thin false tree that we bought for our small condo in Norfolk is standing in our living room without any ornaments looking quite sad and lonely. Let's hope I can get this posted and the decorations up!

Speaking of the leftovers...




We very rarely have the same recipes year after year for the holidays. Both of us love to try new recipes, and experiment with different flavors. This year the only thing that we have made before was Creamed Corn Gratin that I got from Bon Appetit magazine. It is so good that we have made it every year for Thanksgiving since I found it. The first time was part of a Thanksgiving meal we prepared and delivered to some of Patrick's co-workers that were working on the big day while we were stationed in Italy.

I was impressed with all of the side dishes we made this year, and I will be making them all again. I have always found that most Thanksgiving Sweet Potato recipes are too sweet, but the Sweet Potato Puree with Brown Sugar and Sherry that we tried this year was fantastic. I'm looking forward to using the leftovers to make sweet potato ravioli or gnocchi, or perhaps both!



I particularly loved the Cranberry Nut Rolls . I am going to be making these again and again to have with soups, but especially for breakfast. I had a wonderful breakfast of leftover rolls toasted with butter - um, yum! The only thing that I may do next time is make them a little smaller, to maximize the crust.


The Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Apples were very easy to put together, and would be good as a side dish for any fall or winter dish.

P.S.
Just click on any of the links to get the recipe links! Enjoy!

Moving and a simple recipe

It has been over a month since I've sat down with the computer, and tried to write something here. I wish I had a good excuse, but I don't think there is such a thing!

Things are still in flux, but we are not moving from the St. Louis area. The last time I wrote, we were most likely moving to DC. Well, the negotiations fell through for that job, so we decided to stay here. Within a week of realizing that we weren't moving to DC, a friend and co-worker of Patrick's put their house on the market. We have been to their house before and loved it. They bought in a little over a year ago, brand new, and he put a lot of work into the house. The biggest reason for wanting this house was the finished basement that Jim did. He put in a spacious bar and pool table which is staying with the house! SO... we put a contract in on it. We are moving right before Halloween. Which is VERY soon!

Now, the house that we are renting is the first actual house that either of us have ever lived in. We've lived in apartments, condos and townhouses - but never a house. And now we are going to have one of our very own. It's in the country, but close to Patrick's work in Illinois. You can see cornfields from the backyard! I'm not sure how I'm going to adjust to it, being the city girl that I am. But, I'm so excited. We finally are going to have room to put all of our stuff. We have so many beautiful things that we have picked up from our travels, and we've never had them all out. Plus, we are going to have room for guests! So, pack your suitcases, and come to stay for a while... I am looking forward to having visitors that I can cook for!

I haven't been cooking very much for the last month or so. Mainly just heating things up. But I was standing in line the other day at the grocery store, and was staring at the magazines, when I saw a picture for Ravioli with Apples and Walnuts on the cover of the October issue of Real Simple. So, I bought the magazine, and tried the recipe last night. It has been so long since I've served something good or even thought about writing, that I didn't think about taking a picture of the finished product, but it was absolutely delicious. I have to say I was a bit unsure as I was putting the ingredients together, because it didn't seem like much. But one bite changed my mind. I can't describe how the ingredients come together, but wow. This is definitely something that we will be making again, and soon!

Click on this link to get the recipe from Real Simple.

Life is a work in progress

I don't know about you, but lately I've been re-evaluating just about everything. I believe that my life has always been a work in progress, but for some reason now more than ever. I have never felt very comfortable with myself, physically or otherwise. I'm trying many different things, and one of them is that I joined Weight Watchers. I don't know if it has been apparent by the types of recipes I've posted recently, but I've been doing it for a few months now. I have lost 15 pounds so far. I still have a long way to go to where I would like to be, but it's O.K. I'm happy with how it is going.

We also may be moving, again. It is not definite, but it is a very real possibility. St. Louis was not originally in our thoughts as to where we would end up once Patrick retired from the Navy. So, moving is not a huge shock, but I did think we may be here for a bit longer than we have been! As always, I am excited for the new adventures awaiting us. However... I am not looking forward to moving only 9 months since our last move. In the last 14 years we have moved 7 times. It's always fun to live in new places, and experience new things. It's the actual moving I despise. The packing, organizing, the angry cats, finding a new home, and then the unpacking and trying to get everything in it's place.

We have collected so many objects and art from all of our travels, that we had over 11,000 pounds of, well, crap when we moved here. One of my many goals for the next month (HA, who am I kidding, next year) is to go through most of this stuff we have accumulated and to donate the things we do not need or want and throw away the things that no one else could possibly want. Sometimes I wish that I was one of those people who only had a few things and could move with a small moving truck. I've read several articles about the 100 Things Challenge. These people downsize their belongings to 100 articles. Some people have adjusted this a bit, and count a collection of say, books as 1 item. I know that I will never be able to downsize that much and truly I don't think I would want to downsize that much. I like my things too much, but I do think it is time to scale back and only keep the things that I need or love. There are some great articles and blogs out there about this, and the following are my favorites:

How to Live with Just 100 Things
The Art of Zen Living
Guy Named Dave's 100 Thing Challenge

I have been mulling over how to put into words some of the thoughts that are jumbling around in my head to end this particular writing, and nothing I type makes sense in the way that I was hoping. So, I found this quote that I thought was very apropos of both this blog and this tangent that my mind is on!

Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour. ~Arthur Schopenhauer