Soup!

So I combined one of my soup recipes with one my friend Andy shared with me. It turned out fantastic and I've had some requests to share the recipe so here it goes.

Ingredients:

1/2 sweet onion, diced

3 carrots, sliced thin

3 stalks celery, diced

1 c green beans, snapped into short pieces

1 c cabbage, shredded

4 medium red potatoes, cubed with skin on

olive oil

salt & pepper

roasted garlic powder

onion powder

2 cans chicken broth (i use Swansons with no MSG)

2 cans water (just filled the broth cans after i used them)

2 c soy milk

1/2 c flour

1 package/link Hillshire Farms polish kielbasa, sliced then quartered (think small bite size)

Directions:

1. In large soup pot, saute the onions, celery and carrots in some olive oil.

2. Add the broth, water, green beans, cabbage and potatoes and bring to a boil. Stir in the salt, pepper, roasted garlic powder, and onion powder. Cover and let simmer.

3. In frying pan, sauté the sausage until good and browned.

4. While the sausage is cooking, whisk flour into milk in separate sauce pan and heat to a simmer.

5. Drain the sausage and lay out on paper towels to soak up the grease.

6. Add sausage and milk mixture to the soup pot. Let simmer together for a little while.

Yum!

Houston's First Day of School at Columbia City Elementary

Look at this ... going to school in regular clothes with a ... what's that? A Transformers backpack?!?!?! Say it isn't so! :o) Houston is loving every bit of his new school. He is especially enamored with the hot lunch line in the cafeteria. His teacher is fantastic and he has already made new friends. He loves all the things they get to do and the playground at recess is a big hit too. He has transitioned better than I could have dreamed. He just fit right in.

Where Do I Start?

Really ... so much has happened lately, especially just this last week. I don't even know where to start or how much I want to post about. Maybe i'll just start with the facts ...

• Our family is no longer associated with The Blake School in any way. The boys don't go there, I don't teach there, Brett and I are no longer on the Advisory Board, I am not running the Christmas Parade float tomorrow. Done. Finished. Over. Yes I am happy about this. Not happy about how it went down, one thing I cannot stand in life is a lier, but the stress that has been lifted from my life is tremendous. One word ... "karma".

• Houston starts at his new school (Columbia City Elementary) tomorrow. I've heard great things about the school. It's been an "A" school for seven years now. I've heard great things about his teacher, Mrs. Kennon. We are excited about this. She was super nice when we met her on Friday and Houston is really excited about all the fun things at his new school. Pet hamster and hermit crabs in the classroom, computers in the classroom, really big playground with lots of fun playground equipment, the lunchroom where we will actually be able to afford the hot lunch ($1.75 vs. $4).... he's been asking all weekend if he can go to his new school yet. It's super close too. It literally takes us only 5 minutes from our driveway to the school. Why we had to get re-zoned for this is beyond me. The school we are zoned for would probably take us closer to 20 minutes to get to in the morning given the distance, traffic and area we would have to drive through.

• I am really looking forward to spending more time at home with Brody. Rock on.

• I am super excited about teaching at the community college. LCCC is actually now a four year college and is going through a name change. It will be Florida Gateway College. The math department just won a big award. More good news. Also, less than 24 hours after things fell through at Blake I was contacted by the math department to see if I could teach two more sections of the math class i'll be teaching in the spring. Heck ya! Bring it on! :o)

• Sometimes when things get too stressful it's good to look around and see what needs to change and allow yourself to be open to the new things the universe has planned for you. Good times folks, good times. I am so excited about the new direction our life has just taken and I truly hope this is a sign of wonderful things to come in 2010. I'm healthy, i'm happy, i'm really excited about my new job, lots of stress is gone ... good stuff! And I still haven't even posted about my awesome weight loss/weight watchers/running goals met. I think I'm afraid to jinx it. ;o)

So I think that's a good update for now. Houston and Brett are on their way to see the Jacksonville Jaguars and the the Houston Texans play in Jacksonville. Wish I could see the look on Houston's face when he walks into that stadium. He's never seen anything like it. I told Brett he better take lots of pictures with his phone. Brody and I are enjoying a lazy Sunday. I suppose we'll have to get out of our pajamas eventually and make it to knitting group.

Ahhhhh .... life is good. Now if CES could just get a new project or two so we can pay the bills life would be just about perfect. Minus an SEC championship and a national title. Poor Tim Tebow. I hate it for him.

Big Changes

Big things have happened here lately and I promise to blog about it soon. Hopefully before the weekend is over and after the Gators beat some 'Bama tail! Go GATORS!!!!