prayers for Oklahoma

I don't normally post twice a day, but when I picked up Kat from school this afternoon, my heart was heavy.  As a mom, I release her every day into the capable hands of other people; to teach, guide, love, and protect.  I kiss her goodbye with every confidence I will see her in a few short hours and she'll be perched at the kitchen island doing homework and having a snack and chatting me up about her day.

It doesn't dawn on me....ever....that she won't come home.

It can't.

It can't for me, and it can't for any other mother who carried, labored, delivered, and now nurtures that child with a heart so big and so full of love - even when it's hard to have a heart full of love.  Even in the most frustrating moments of motherhood and the darkest corners of parenting.

I can't  go there.

The thought that your child won't come home.

I pray on my knees, in my quiet time, in my moments of casual discussions with God, for His hand to reach out and comfort those families in Oklahoma who know in a deep and painful way what the rest of us can't imagine.  Don't want to imagine.  Won't let ourselves imagine.

Our hearts go out to you, Oklahoma. My heart goes out to you.

With love from The Valley of the Sun.

just us girls

Kat and I had a girls' weekend, of sorts, while Daddy-O was at a Promise Keepers event in downtown Phoenix Friday night and all day Saturday.  If there's anything this child loves it's spending girl time with her mom.  Not that Dad isn't all that and a bag of Baked Lays, but, well...I'm the mom.

Worth my weight in gold, in her eyes.  The one who knows when the tickle fight has gone on too long and doesn't really believe Sorry® has to be the game of sweet revenge all the time.  I give great dramatic readings of Nancy Drew stories and make better instant oatmeal than anyone on the planet, and I'm apparently really, really, really funny.

Until I have to lay the hammer down and then it's all, "When's Dad going to be home?"  But up until then, I can pretty much do no wrong.

And that includes making fruit smoothies.  I'm also, rumor has it, the best at that, too!

One cup ice cubes, one quart container strawberries (washed and stems removed), one pint blueberries (washed), one-half banana, splash of orange juice, couple of tablespoons of vanilla yogurt, drizzle of honey, blend well, pour in to happy-looking summertime picnic cups, add swizzle straw, garnish with banana slice and enjoy.

Really.  It's so easy being me.  Some days.

It's Daddy-O's birthday today.  He's younger than I am by just a smidge and never lets me forget it.  We're going to see the International Care Ministries Childrens' Choir perform at our church in Scottsdale.  The choir is made up of kids who've been nourished by one of our ministry partners: Feed My Starving Children, which packs nutritionally balanced meals for shipment to nearly 70 countries.  The concert is their way of saying thank you to the many people in The Valley who've donated time or money to this amazing ministry.  Should be a very happy birthday!

With love from The Valley of the Sun.

52 weeks of happy: 2/52

The weeks fly by.  I don't know where time goes...especially near the end of the school year.  The week had it's ups and downs, but it started with this, which was a definite up!

A very happy Mother's Day!

A gardening success...so far.  Corn.

A bit of sad and a bit of happy.  A friend (one of my two remaining) and her family have had enough of life in the desert and Scottsdale.  They're Portland bound for a new adventure.  We met for coffee the other day to say goodbye.  Or, so long.  Or, whatever it is that we say when we know we'll meet again.  It was so sad for me.  I don't have many friends here...they all seem to move away.  But I recalled a quote by Charles Dickens:  "The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again."  She gave me this bottle of wine from the Williamette Valley in Oregon.  Hopefully the next bottle will be shared during a visit to their new home!

One hundred percent!

With love from The Valley of the Sun.

52 weeks of happy: 1/52

I saw this 52 week project on another blog recently, and thought it sounded like something I could use.  Something I needed.  I'm the first to admit I struggle here in the desert.  Always have.  Always will.  The last 18 months since my mom died have been exceptionally difficult.  Most people don't know that save my husband, who witnesses the tears at a moment's notice.  It's been an uphill battle; the loss combined with a general sense of being a square peg in a round hole in Scottsdale.

So when I saw Jennifer at Thistlebear was participating in this project, I decided I'd give it a try.  Because there is beauty and goodness everywhere.  Sometimes you just have to give yourself a little kick in the pants to remember it's there.

Hollyhocks at Singh Farms.

The first homegrown cherry tomato from our urban desert garden.

Conquering fear.

Circle of life: Mockingbird trying to frighten off a hunting Harris' Hawk.  I grabbed my camera with whatever lens happened to be on it at the time, so it's not the greatest shot.  The palm had a nest with young Grackles in it and I think the hawk was looking for breakfast.  The Mockingbird won the battle, however, and the hawk went searching for a meal somewhere else.

With love from The Valley of the Sun.

foodie friday - last hurrah chicken pot pie

It's safe to say I would do fairly well living in Alaska where I could cook soups and stews and miscellaneous comfort food all year long.  Can I just get this out there?  I can't stand the sun and 300+ days of sunny weather.  That only sounds delightful if you live somewhere that doesn't get 300+ days of sunny weather.  Feeling hot turns me into a whining mess...and, at my age, that's just not pretty.  With that in mind, as the hot, hot days are looming, I think I should probably jump on the 52 Weeks of Happy bandwagon to get myself through.  But, I digress.  Back to cooking.

We've had the last little tease of nice weather I think we're going to get.  To be honest, it's been unseasonably cool:  highs in the low 80s in mid-May is unheard of.  By now, we're usually well acquainted with the 90s, flirting with triple digits.  With some fresh chicken breasts and a hankering for one last hurrah in the comfort food department, I baked a chicken pot pie for dinner.

It was simple and delicious and comforting.  I liked it because it combined the best of fresh with frozen, used low sodium chicken broth instead of the usual salty, canned, condensed soup to provide the liquid base, and went together really quickly.  As you can see from the bottom picture, I'm clearly going to have to arm wrestle someone for the leftovers!

If you need a last burst of comfort before the hot weather rolls in, this was easy, flavorful, and kid-friendly.  Now, how long 'til winter?  Enjoy!

Last Hurrah Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

Chicken Mixture:

• 1 Tbsp Canola Oil
• 1 lb boneless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 medium onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 stalk celery, sliced and chopped
• 3/4 c low sodium chicken broth
• 1 c frozen mixed veggies
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp thyme, dried
• 1 tsp corn starch

Crust:

• 1 c Bisquick 
• 1/2 c low fat milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c Colby Jack cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375°.  Spray 9" pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a 10" non-stick saute pan, heat oil over medium heat.  Cook chicken until lightly browned on both sides.  Add about 1/3 cup chicken stock to pan, cover and finish cooking (internal temp should reach 155°).  Remove chicken and let rest, reserving any liquid in pan, before cutting into bite-sized pieces.
3. In another bowl, combine Bisquick, milk, and egg.  Add cheese and mix well.  Set aside.
4. In the same pan, add onion onion and celery.  Saute until tender.  Add remaining 3/4 c chicken broth, frozen veggies and seasonings.  Heat through, stirring occasionally.  Add cornstarch to thicken, stirring to fully incorporate.  Return chopped chicken to the pan and mix thoroughly.
5. Place chicken mixture in prepared pie plate.  Pour crust batter over the top, using back of spoon to smooth evenly.
6. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.  Remove and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Bon Appetit from The Valley of the Sun.

P.S.  This recipe is also linked up to Foodie Friday at Simple Living and Eating, and Home Maid Simple.  Click over and check out all the other great recipes!

no place like home

There are days when all I really want to do is go home.  To my Midwestern roots.  To a place where people are real.  And honest.  And genuine.  Where what you drive doesn't matter to so many people, and how many square feet you occupy doesn't reflect on your worth as a human being.  Where greeting a stranger with a smile and a hello isn't returned with a blank stare.  Scottsdale is another world to me.  One I'm not sure I'll ever understand.

So I'm counting the days, and clicking my heels...summer vacation is just around the corner!  Nine weeks and counting.

Grand Traverse State Park and Lighthouse, Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan.

With love from The Valley of the Sun.

late spring garden

Desert gardening continues to confound me, but G keeps at it.  He's bound and determined to make something of our side yard garden, and I have to give him credit:  he's doing it!

It's been a labor of love, and a project even Kat has embraced with his encouragement.  I like to go look at it, but it still all seems backwards to me.  Gardens shouldn't be this much work (at least in my Michigan-native mind).  We get too much sun, not enough rain, and our soil is less than nutrient-rich.  Back in The Motherland, if you put it in the ground, it grew.  In Arizona, there are a lot more gardening quirks.

But he loves it.

And she loves it.

So, what's not to love?

Our lettuce is pretty much done for the season, but my jolly gardeners put in a perimeter of sunflowers which have really taken off, and the tomatoes are flourishing.  As hard as he works at it, G's only real complaint about the garden is it doesn't all come together at the same time; the completely homegrown salad is never a reality.

A new plant in the garden this year...never before tried in our suburban side yard, is corn!  I took the first picture on April 22.  The second picture was taken eight days later, on April 30.

It's growing fast; a few of the stalks are starting to develop tassels, which has everyone (even me) pretty excited.  As much as Kat enjoys corn-on-the-cob, she was asking questions the other day whether we might be able to pop some of our corn.  Admittedly, I had to ask our in-house garden guru whether popping corn came from a different type of corn.  (Shrug) Hey, I'm only a country girl wanna-be with no real world experience!!

With love from The Valley of the Sun.