Making Things Up

Maybe it's because I'm not working right now so I have a lot more free time. Maybe it's because the weather is getting colder and so I've been staying in more. (Here's how it looks outside my window right now)

Whatever the reason is I'm making all sorts of things.

 Last night I made this soup.
It's a different take on chicken noodle soup. Both Thomas and I thought it was quite delicous. He even gave me permission to keep it in the rotation, which isn't anything new, he almost always says he wouldn't mind if I made something again but his eyes never lie. It's the eyes that tell me if I can really keep something in the rotation and when I asked him about this soup his eyes gave me a definitive YES. I wish I could say I came up with the soup on my own but I must give credit to Dinners On Me. You can find this recipe and many other great ones here. (I did stray slightly from the recipe. Instead of making my own meatballs I bought chicken links. I took them out of the case, cut them into small pieces and fried them up. Also, I cut out the celery and carrots since I'm not a fan of either of those items being cooked).

This weekend I'm missing out on a family baby shower. Thomas' cousin Brett & his wife Kim are having a baby. We're so excited for them but not so excited for ourselves because our recent move has made it impossible for us to attend the baby shower. As gifts they were asking for books and it just so happens that one of Thomas' favorite books as a kid is part of set that comes with one of my favorite books as a kid. To make it extra special I decided to make a little book bag for them. Congratulations Brett & Kim.

Triple Best

As I recently posted, I've been dealing with some nasty symptoms related to the swine flu. However, my BEST friend came to Spokane and so I had to get out of the house for a little bit. (hands off.....she's already got a best friend)

We decided to hit up lunch at PF Chang's. Now, I must admit that I was really sick, my throat was sore, I had no voice, I was running a slight fever, so chinese food didn't sound very appealing. As I perused the menu my eyes quickly settled in on the most appealing thing on the menu for someone in my condition, Chang's Chicken Noodle Soup. When they brought it to the table I almost suffered shock just seeing how much they give you. They don't just bring you a bowl of soup they bring you a pot of soup.(Thier bowl may be slightly smaller than this but it's pretty close to the actual size)

                                                                                                            

Then I tasted it, and it was the BEST soup I have ever had. Now maybe that's a biased statement because any kind of chicken noodle soup is going to be the best soup ever when you're sick but honestly this was the best soup I've ever had. I've been looking for a recipe of it all over the internet but have come up empty handed. I think I see many more trips to PF Chang's in my future. The BEST part......it's only $7.25.

I went to conference and came home with the swine flu

Through an unfortunate series of events I have contracted the swine flu. When I lived in Portland my cable package was paid through my employer. This being the case I opted for the largest cable package my employer would allow. I got all sorts of great channels including a wide variety of movie channels and sport packages. I also got the BYU channel, which I admit was seldom watched except on two weekends a year when the leaders of my church spoke to me on this channel. Now, had I not had the cable package I did, I still would have been able to watch on PBS. Well, as most of you know I have recently moved to Spokane, Washington while my husband is attending law school. Since our cable is no longer being paid by my employer, because I have no employer, we have had to settle for a much reduced (both financially as well as in the number of channels) cable package. This package does not allow for us to watch any given movie at any given time, nor does it allow for us to watch whatever sporting event we want to. In addition, this package does not allow for me to listen to the words of my spiritual leaders from the comfort of my own home while still in my pajamas. In addition, Spokane PBS does not take pity on me and it does not play these semi-annual conferences. As a result I had to do something that I hadn't done in years. I had to leave the comfort of my home and attend the conference at a church meetinghouse. Since my Stake Center is in Cheney (about 20 minutes away) I opted to drive to a different Stake Center here in Spokane. I'm not sure when it happened but on Sunday I began to have an annoying dry cough. On Monday I woke up and raked some of the pine needles that were covering both our front & back yards. And sure enough by monday afternoon it hit me full on. My throat has been so sore, I won't tell you about the stuff that I've been coughing up, and I haven't had much of a voice for about a week now. Also, by the time I decided to see the doctor it was too late for me to get on the Tamiflu, so I've been forced to ride it out. Well, I did get some cough medicine that's supposed to help me sleep at night unfortunately all it did was make my stomach sick. The one fortunate part is that I'm not working so I've been able to stay in bed and rest up. So now I'm trying to figure out who to blame. Do I blame it on conference? Do I blame it on PBS? Maybe I should blame it on the pine needles.  Or maybe I should just blame it on this kid.