Of Chums and Chicken, Craisin, and Cashew Bowtie Pasta Salad

My dear friend Carli came for a visit yesterday. We've been trying to plan a get-together since...Well since I moved to Utah four months ago! It really was getting rather ridiculous that we couldn't seem to coordinate our schedules together to make it happen.

Psst...

It was 93% my fault.

With Carli's help, I finally admitted something to myself: I am busy. I went and got a life after all. That's all well and good, but it makes me sad to be "too busy" to simply have a lunch/play date with a friend. There's something wrong with the world when you begin to feel like you don't have time for friends.

I'm glad we finally made it work out. Thanks for coming Carli!

And thanks for being so patient with me and my fickle scheduling skills.

And thanks for liking the lunch I made!



Anyone want the recipe???

This is a great spring/summer salad! My little sister Camille served this at her wedding reception. It's a perfect combination of savory and sweet, crunchy and soft. If you give it a try let me know how you like it!

Chicken, Craisin, and Cashew Bow-Tie Pasta Salad or 3 C Salad

4 cups cooked chicken breasts, diced (*Feeling lazy? Use an already-cooked rotisserie chicken from the store. Just pull off the meat and dice it.)
6 cups bow-tie pasta, cooked al-dente (*I think the trick to this salad is to make sure the pasta is really, truly al dente. Cook it until it seems to still have a bit of "crunch" to it in the middle. Trust me. It works!)
1 and 1/2 cups green grapes, sliced in half
1 and 1/2 cups red grapes, sliced in half
2 (5 ounce) cans water chestnuts, drained and quartered (*eh...I would leave this out.)
1 (10 ounce) can pineapple tidbits, drained (*Leave this out too. Or don't. Whatever.)
2 cups celery, thinly sliced
1/2 cup scallions, thinly sliced (green onions)
2 cups cashews, whole and halves
2 cups craisins (dried cranberries)

Dressing:

1 (16 ounce) bottle Hidden Valley brand coleslaw dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Miracle Whip

How to:
(Hint: This a great salad to make the night before. Giving it time to soak up the dressing makes a world of difference.)

1. In a large bowl mix all salad ingredients together, except cashews and craisins
2. Whip together dressing ingredients.
3. Toss dressing with the mixture in the large bowl.
4. Mix in cashews and craisins right before serving.

The Good, the NOT Bad, and the Very UN-Ugly

(Cheesy? Probably. But how else do you thank the mysterious early morning snow shoveler?)

As I write this post my three oldest are playing outside in the backyard of our new house.

A fenced backyard. Of their very own. I think I'm gonna cry...

Happy tears!

I've always been a rather emotional person (you read my blog, right?) Over the last month those emotions have swung from despair and depression to joy and contentment.

LIFE IS GOOD!

And I would be a very ungrateful girl indeed if I didn't share it. It's too easy to write about all the trials and tribulations and soak up all the "poor Evelyn"s.

There is a balance.

For as insanely crazy and chaotic that the month of January was, so many good things happened and continue to happen. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I was this happy.

We have been blessed with family and friends who love us and give us so much support, encouragement, and love. We have felt the power of prayers, fasting, and love over the last several weeks.

I can't believe that this still surprises me, but it does. Over the last several weeks people would call or write out of the blue to tell me that they weren't sure why but they had been thinking of us and wondered if we needed anything. Amazing!

Packages of goodies and love arrived in our mail box. Homemade meals came to our door. Visitors sat in our living room unannounced but so very welcome. Blog friends who I have never met in person queried how we were doing and asked if there was anything they could do or just expressed the desire to be closer so they could help.

There were so many offers to help that I didn't even know what to tell people. I always feel kind of silly saying things like "just keep us in your prayers" or "we need your prayers", but if there was ever a time we needed prayers it was this last month. And those prayers were there and the power of them felt. Many times over.

I don't understand how. I don't understand why. I don't think we particularly deserved to be so blessed. We try to do good, but we certainly aren't the most righteous or generous or deserving folks.

In short, all that has happened this last month, the good and the bad, has been overwhelming and HUMBLING. Maybe that's why it happened. Because we needed a good humbling.

Note taken.

As grateful as we were for the help, it was hard to take it.

It was not easy to send my children away with my sister and mom for the better part of a week when I was in the hospital giving birth.

It was not easy to sit on the floor of our trailer in Nevada and watch nine men load up my house in a moving van in the space of an hour.

It was not easy to say "yes" when the Relief Societies of our church asked if they could bring in meals when we were all so sick and again after the baby was born and AGAIN when my husband left town a week after we moved to our new home.

It was not easy to watch my family set up my new house in the space of a day from the comfort of a recliner (something that would have taken me months to complete on my own with the "help" of three kids and a newborn).

It is not easy to feel worthy of so much concern and care. It is not easy to feel this indebted to so many people. It is not easy to find the right words to express the depth of gratitude I have.

I have every intention of paying it back and paying it forward. Possibly impossible, but I'll try anyway.

Starting now...

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

To all our family, to our friends, to the old ward, to the new ward, to the "neighborly" neighbors, to the bloggers, to the complete strangers, for the meals, for the gifts, for the muscles, for the time, for the sweat, for the child care, for the fresh fruit, for the reminders to take it easy and to absorb the time with our new baby, for the shoulders to cry on, for the sympathetic ears, for the hugs, for the phone calls, for the messages, for the hotel stay, for the snow shoveling, for showing up, for being there, for staying, for coming back, for asking again and again and again, FOR THE PRAYERS...THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts, from the bottom of our toes, and all the spaces in between!

Thank you.

Christmas at the House of Dreams {2002}

The Christmas season of 2002 I lived in a very large, very old, creaky, drafty house with four other college girls.

The house was in appalling physical condition. When you walked upstairs you felt a little dizzy as the whole upstairs was shifted ever so slightly at an angle. A very narrow stair case led down to a dark and dank basement. Unless I had laundry that needed to be done, I rarely went down there out of pure unadulterated fear. There was a large dirt-filled recess at one end that would have been the perfect place to stash bodies.

As if that wasn't enough to spook a bunch of single girls, a large attic-like room full of sticky cobwebs, piles of ancient insulation, and inky-black mysterious space lurked strangely in the middle of the house.

Whatever the house lacked in charm, warmth, and safety, I found in my roommates. I had lived with other roommates in other apartments and houses before, but these four girls became my sisters. We just clicked. We called our strange twisted abode the House of Dreams. We stayed up way too late most nights talking about anything and everything, simply enjoying each others' kindred spirits.

That Christmas in the House of Dreams we decided to swap names for a roommate gift exchange. Chelsea had picked my name and I believe I had hers in return. Sadly, I can't for the life of me remember what I gave her that Christmas, but I will NEVER forget what she gave me.

Although we were a bunch of single college students, we had pooled our money to buy a real Christmas tree for our living room. The five of us gathered near the glow of its twinkling lights on the predetermined night before the Christmas holiday to exchange our gifts.

My gift was the last to be given. Chelsea handed me a stack of papers and envelopes, varying in size and shape and color, carefully tied with a ribbon.

As I untied the ribbon and began to investigate my lapful of envelopes, I realized these were letters written by dozens of people for...me.

I was stunned.

How had she done this without me knowing? How had she managed to get so many people from so many different areas of my life (family, church, school, work, high school, etc.) to cooperate with something like this?

And how had she known this is exactly what my heart and soul needed at that time? She could have spent hundreds of dollars on a gift for me and it would not have meant nearly as much as this simple stack of letters did.

If you have read my blog for long, you already know I tend to be a bit of a weepy person, but I was out-right sobbing as I began to silently read some of the letters. They were brimming full of love and inspiration and friendship and encouragement.

I tried to read a few quickly, not wanting to hold up our little roommate Christmas celebration and hoping to absorb the rest in private later, but was quickly encouraged to read my letters out loud. As I did, immense love filled the room and each of my dear sister-roommates became emotional as well. We were up for hours that night reading letters and expressing gratitude for the goodness in our lives.

That night will always be one of my most magical and treasured Christmas memories. It was the pinnacle of my living experience in that creepy old house with those wonderful women.

I still keep my stack of letters tucked away in a box and every couple of years I start reading them again letting the love and the memories of The House of Dreams wash over me again.

Good Things Come to Those Who Blog

But do I really need to convince you of that?

Chances are, if you are reading this, you already think blogging is pretty fantastic. It's those darn husbands that need the convincing, right?

No dear husbands. Despite what you may believe, blogging is not a modern mass movement to empty your wallets or take attention away from you and your manly needs or to bore you with stories about even more people you don't know. We promise.

Blogging is fun. Blogging is funny. Blogging is therapy. Blogging is connection. Blogging is cheering, sustaining, inspiring, touching, lasting.

Blogging is a way to connect with other women who just "get it".

This year has been one of the loneliest years I have ever experienced. I have yet to make any friends in our new town. I blame some of that on the language and culture barriers and some on how hectic it has been to tend to my own little garden patch of three kiddos and one on the way. In other words, it's my fault too.

How can one feel so lonely when so surrounded and busy? Believe me. It's possible. There has been many a day in the past year that I have felt like my only friends are those I know by pseudo names, digital pictures, and typed conversations.

Does that sound a tad pathetic to anyone else?

Wait. You're a blogger. You get it.

This last year especially, blogging has brought many a good thing to my life.

A chance to record memories and family history.
Friendships with now very dear friends.
Advice, wisdom, and experience beyond my own.
Paychecks earned while sitting in my jammies at home surrounded by my children.
A medium to express and share my self, my accomplishments, my struggles, and my joys with others who reach back, validate, sympathize, and balance me.

And how can I not mention the really marvelous packages (at least the most recent ones) that have floated over to my neck of the woods?

Very thoughtful packages like this one that was sent by Sarah Cardell after I wrote a post about persevering. Thank you so much Sarah. I choked up when I opened it. Can you believe I was already in need of a reminder?

Sympathetic packages like this one sent by Mamarazzi, a firm believer in "Good Mail", from one swap host to another...

Speaking of swaps, packages like this one from Cherie Bakow, my ornament swap partner through the ornament swap hosted by Carrie from The Rowdy Stroudys (who also sent a very thoughtful and fragrant parcel earlier this year that I am still enjoying daily in my car.) Thank you Cherie and Carrie!

And don't forget packages from past swap partners who have become incredible friends and who also happen to know how to put all sorts of fun into blogging with monthly contests and games. I {almost} blushed when I pulled out all my winnings from this box from Sami the other day. How can one girl get this lucky?

The prize for Symfully Sweet Saturday...

...and the prizes for Quince Quote. (How did she know I love Junior Mints?)

And a little extra love "just because". And a handmade card to boot?? Thank you Sami!

And thank you to all of you for the Christmas cards, the packages, the letters, the notes, the comments of humor and genuine love and concern. It has meant more than I can ever tell you through any post or package.

But I'll keep trying...

***The winner of the Snugalicious Giveaway thanks to Random.org was...

Lisa @ Little Angels with Dirty Faces!

Merry Christmas Lisa and Lisa's arms! The snuggie is in the mail! ***

Yet Another Piece of Evidence that Blogging is...

COOL!
the best!
uplifting!
cheerful!
connecting!
lasting!

worthwhile.

Look what I found in my mailbox today...


My bloggy friend, Myya, mentioned awhile ago how much she loved these cool little pre-measured spices and recipe cards from McCormick. Always on the lookout for an easier and new way to approach dinner, I've kept my eye out for them every time I go to the grocery store...to no avail.

I nonchalantly mentioned to her the other day that I had finally found some, just not the one she had raved about. I had no angle in telling her that. I mostly wanted her to know that I paid attention to the things she talked about.

Guess what? She pays attention too. Thank you so much Myya! And a homemade card to boot?! Your thoughtfulness made my day!

Unfortunately, Chicken Marsala according to McCormick will have to wait until another night since I didn't check the mail until after my huge grocery shopping trip today.

This is what's for dinner at our house tonight:


Summer Sausage Supper is so simple and scrumptious so stop slouching and saute some for supper so you can slowly slurp it, silly.

(Well, I'm sure that's enough alliteration for several blogs. And not very good alliteration if truth be told.)

This easy recipe is a favorite of my husband's. He is a sausage lover. I am not. Yet, we can agree this is a delicious meal. There you have it. Ssssssss...

Summer Sausage Supper
(taken from Cooking for Two magazine and doubled)
Makes 4 servings

1 lb smoked sausage, sliced
2/3 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
2 TBSP olive oil
1 and 1/2 cup V8 juice
3 cups hot cooked rice

In a large skillet, saute the sausage, green peppers, onion, garlic, oregano and basil in oil until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Add V8 juice; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 7-8 minutes or until thickened.

Serve with rice. (I bet noodles would be yummy too).

P.S. While we are on the subject of dinner...I tried a broccoli cheese soup mix from Bear Creek Country Kitchens brand the other day that is more than quite decent. And SUPER easy! I steamed up several crowns of fresh broccoli and added them in once the soup was done. This obviously balances out the calorie content from the cheese part of the soup. Obviously.

I have yet to master the art of cheese soup. Mine always ends up super gritty. Hardly palatable. But this product takes all the work and worry out of it for me. I'm not getting compensated for telling you how great this product is...I just thought I'd share a dinner tip I found. Try it and let me know what you think. (By the way, we tried the Wild Rice version and weren't very impressed. Stick with the broccoli cheese.)

And if anyone out there can school me on how to make edible cheese soup...I'm all ears!

Happy Dinner!

I'd like to give the world a blog...

♪♫♪ ...and keep it company. ♪♫♪

Brothers and Sisters! I am here to testify of the goodness of blogging!

Can I get an "AMEN"???

I was thinking yesterday about a friend of mine, Myya, trying to figure out how the heck I knew her. Just when and where had we met? How long had I known her? Then it dawned on me. I know her strictly from blogging. But now we are friends on Facebook. We talk about each other's kids. She wishes my brother a happy birthday. She wonders how I am doing if I don't update my blog and I wonder how she is when I am slacking off on checking my blogs.

Isn't blogging amazing in that it brings total strangers together?!

Can I get a "HALLELUJAH"???

A few months ago I participated in a blog swap, thanks to the gracious Mamarazzi, where I was partnered with Sami. That swap was months ago. But I received more than a package in the mail; I made a friend! A life-long friend from a perfect stranger.

Last week, when I accidentally sent my cell phone on a Farewell Bon Voyage tour in my washing machine, I sent out a hopeless cry for help. Guess who answered it? SAMI! When that beautiful old to her/new to me/saving grace replacement cell phone arrived in the mail only a few days later, I did what any mature lady blogger would do. I turned to my dear skeptical husband and in the most obnoxious and taunting tone I could conjure up I {lovingly} said, "I TOLD YOU GOOD THINGS COME FROM BLOGGING!! Neener Neener Neener!". Now he's convinced.

My friend Lisa and I have met in person like...what Lisa... once? And that was in our swim suits! But it wasn't weird to be sitting with some strange girl in a hot pool while our kids played with each other. I KNEW her and she KNEW me...because of our blogs.

Anymore I can hardly differentiate between my blog buddies and my "real life" friends. In all reality, I probably "talk" more to my virtual friends than my (non-virtual?) friends. I suppose some would say that's kind of sad, but I think it's wonderful!

To all my blog buddies out there: I heart you!

(I would say "love", but that seems so presumptuous, especially this early in the morning...You know what I mean, right?)

So there it is. Blogging is good.

TESTIFY!