Jessica's Graduating!!!

Congratulations to my talented and beautiful cousin, Jessica Damon! Jessica graduates from Hammond High in the San Antonio area, tomorrow, June 10th.

Jessica is the first to graduate from what we call the "Second Set" of Damon grandchildren. There are 5 in each set. the First Set consists of Michelle (33), Me (30), Katie (30), Nathan (27) and Shannon (26). The Second Set began arriving 8 years later: Jessica, Adam, Sam, Samantha, and Nick, ages 14-18. (Sorry I don't have the ages. I blame geography and gender. I only really converse with Jess and Samantha, 18 and 14 respectively, the boys fall somewhere in the middle.) Hey - my dad is #3 of six children, there were bound to be some grandchildren.

Jess' graduation makes me feel old. I remember being 14 yrs old and playing with an 18-month-old baby Jessica while we both visted our grandparents. She was so cute and inquisitive and had the softest reddish-chestnut hair, and pixie-like features. It made me want to move to San Antonio. To have more of a connection with this side of my family. But it wasn't meant to be. Jessica and her brother Sam moved around the world with my Uncle Steve and Aunt Susan for the Army. Turkey, Delaware... they recently settled back home in Texas. I am so grateful for text messaging and Facebook for reconnecting me with my family. I've gotten to know the woman that Jessica has grown into. She is creative, intelligent, loyal and brave. She graduates tomorrow from high school amid a tornado of emotions. I have no doubt that she will find her place in this world and continue to changes the lives of those around her.

It's a bit overused, but it's a wonderful piece of advice from Emerson:
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

and a little advice from your 30-year-old cousin:
You will be confused and overwhelmed by life. You will also find yourself underwhelmed by everything around you. Just remember that you have time to find your way, your path. Absorb all around you, discard the unnecessary, store the trivial, and use the good stuff. You never know when you will need it. If you need to talk, you can always call your family, any of us - we've all had different experiences and can help. I promise.

posts...

Weston's Shock at his Mommy's lack of Blogging.
No... we were on the train at the Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley, IL, in the covered bridge in the dark. He was a little freaked out.

I seemed to have lost the month of May. Poof! gone. I am working on some posts and will get them posted as soon as I can. (I actually tried last night, but Blogger was unavailable. figures.)

Be back soon. With Pictures. :)

new recipe

Apricot Chicken with Baked Sweet Potato and Ginger-Garlic Fresh Green Beans

So... My last blog was about being sick. And I am still sick. Actually, I feel worse than I did on Friday. But I hope I do look better... though I doubt it. Anyway, on Thursday I made this Apricot Chicken. I found the recipe on Taste of Home (.com) and I tweaked it a bit, and will probably tweak it more the next time.

But I liked it. As a meal it was very pretty. But since I was starting to get sick... I couldn't finish the chicken.

Apricot Chicken (original recipe)

Bone in Chicken Breasts with Skin

Glaze (Per piece of Chicken):

• 1tbsp of Apricot Preserves
• 1 tbsp French or Russian Dressing (I used Western Dressing)
• pinch of Ginger

*************************************

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix glaze together. I let it sit in the fridge and combine while I prepped my chicken. I cleaned and patted them dry. Salt and Pepper both sides. I pulled the skin from the meat to create a pocket. I then spooned in some of the glaze. Then I brushed the breasts liberally on both sides. I placed them on a foil lined (next time I will also "Pam" the foil!) sheet, breast down. I baked breast-side down for 25 minutes on 350 degrees. Then I flipped them and re-glazed the top with the last bit of apricot glaze. I baked them breast-side up for 35 more minutes. (my oven sucks in this apartment. I am 50 degrees too cold. So... general cooking time for chicken breasts with the bone is 50-55 minutes at 350.)
• My alterations:
  Besides the Western Dressing, I would make some other changes. For one... there wasn't enough flavor. I think I would use Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts. I would poke holes and let them sit in the glaze before I baked them. I also think I would add a bit of Soy Sauce and more ginger, maybe some garlic. Maybe turn the whole thing into a stir fry? I liked the ease of this dish, so I will experiment some more and see what I come up with.
• I baked the smallish Sweet Potatoes with the Chicken. Next time, I will pop them into the microwave for about 3-4 minutes on high before I put them into the oven. (which is what I usually do. But in my defense, they were small and I thought they would cook in an hour.) Either way, they were fabulous with butter and a little brown sugar.

Green Beans

• I used about 2 pounds fresh Green beans. It was too many beans. And I underestimated the effort to clean them and the time to cook them. So... frozen or more time.
• Anyway, all I did was stir-fry them in minced garlic, ginger, and a 2:1 ratio of butter to olive oil.
• Done. I did this with snap peas a few weeks ago and they were delicious. These were too. I am trying to eat more fresh or frozen veggies that are not corn or broccoli. Trying to expand my horizons. And Weston's too.

Maybe this photo was the wrong choice...

     I woke up icky yesterday. The new apartment complex mowed on Wednesday. For hours right in front of our open windows. So when I woke up congested and feeling generally icky, my first thought was allergies. I've never had them before, but maybe the 30+ year old established grass outside my window woke up some long-buried allergies. After a dose of allergy meds and 2 different doses of cold and sinus meds, i thought maybe it wasn't allergies. I thought it was a stupid cold. But I didn't get better, no matter how many pills I swallowed. This morning I woke up in worse condition. Sore throat and ears, more congested, and achy all over. I went to work. Why? Because I had no choice. I called my doctor's office trying to make an appointment. My doctor was working in Urgent Care today, no appointments needed.

     Now, I know what you're thinking, "Why would she go to the doctor for a stupid cold?" And normally I wouldn't. But you see, it's Mother's Day weekend. And I want to see my Mom. I need to see my Mom. So, if I needed to pay a $15 co-pay to be told it was ok to visit, then so be it. 

     So, (Ever noticed how much I use the word "so?" Is it getting annoying yet?) I went to work miserable and feeling like crap. I did the billing, placed a few orders, tried to make people happy, all the while trying not to breathe on anyone. I left at noon. Grabbed some lunch since my blood sugar was starting to hit the floor. And I made it Urgent Care at Mercy North in Ankeny by 1:10pm. Not bad.

     I stood on the scale. (We won't go there.) I had all the usual check up stuff. Temp was a (very) little high, blood pressure was high-ish, and my pulse was pretty high. 106 beats per minute. But I could have told them that; I had felt my heart racing all day. 

     Dr. Nowak (whom I love, cynical enough to get me, attractive enough in his 50s to make me stare a bit) went over all of my medicine issues and made adjustments. Then we got down to the "cold." It wasn't a cold. I have a respiratory infection with an almost sinus infection. Combined with some serious exhaustion. I was told that I could probably work through this on my own, but since I was seeing Mom tomorrow, Dr. Nowak put me on a pretty good antibiotic, and told to rest. I shouldn't kiss my Mom, but I can hug her. And if it makes me more comfortable, Dr. Nowak told me to wear a mask when I hug her, but to make sure it's a big hug. Have I said that I love my doctor?

     So... here's what I look like today. And what I hope to not look like tomorrow. We'll have to see what happens in the morning I guess.

The Fastest and Funniest LEGO Star Wars story ever told

"You are paying for your friends"

My wedding, October 30, 2004.
Katie, April, Me, Marci, Brandy and Melissa representing Chi Omega Sisterhood.

When I started Drake in August of 1998, I was the loneliest I had been in my entire life. I went to high school with my roommate, I had friends on the floor, but it wasn't the same. I missed my real friends. I missed my family. I was so alone I almost left Drake. I almost ran back to Clinton. Back to my sister, back to my mom.

But... Sarah Veierstahler, who worked with me at the D-Shoppe, and was a Rho-Chi (Rush guide basically), convinced me to Rush for a Sorority. Crazy, I know. No one understood what I was doing, or why. But honestly, it just felt right. So, I did. It was an amazing experience, one I still remember in detail to this day. (But if you ask my friends... I remember everything.) I pledged only one house. I wanted only one house. And I told myself if I didn't get in... well, then I had fun, but that was that. Obviously, I was offered a bid from Chi Omega. And I of course accepted. I dressed in my red clothes and rushed out of the Olmsted Center to meet my new sisters. Future friends who had chosen me as much as I had chosen them. And found my already friend Sarah, wearing her red waiting with the party.

When I returned to Clinton for the October break (Drake has a 4 day weekend called Fall Break) my friends from Clinton asked all sorts of questions. Mainly... Why? I was not the sorority type, was I? It didn't make sense. Our friend Chris was the instigator of most of these questions. He kept saying, "You're paying for your friends. Are they really your friends?"

I joined a sisterhood. I found a place to belong. I found a family and sisters at Drake. Without the acceptance and love of these women, I would have left Drake behind. Deep in my heart, I know this. Everything that has happened in my life, every decision that has been made to keep my head above water, happened because I was asked and I said Yes. Scott, Weston, my job... all of the decisions that led me on the path to my family began with my choice to Belong. I paid monthly dues. I got another job. I moved into the House my sophomore year. I worked a lot to pay dues plus living expenses. Yes, I paid to belong to Chi Omega. But I got more out of this than I paid for. And Chris Swales... we aren't really friends anymore. He got married about 8 years ago... and he fell off the earth. But the Chi Os? We've been friends for 12 years. I have a close-knit circle of Chi O's, 4 plus myself. These women have been present in every important moment of my adult life. More physically present (since most of us live in Des Moines) and just as emotionally present as my 3 best friends from high school. I can fall back into my old self with these 7 women as easily as I can with my family. There are no pretenses or judgment, just history and laughter. The 4 of us Chi O's still in Des Moines try to get together once a month. Usually Weston or one of Jayme's 3 children tag along... it's just the way it is as you grow up.

I'm the baby in this group of friends. They were all a year ahead of me. It was nice being the baby somewhere. My wedding 5 1/2 years ago was the last Chi O wedding in our group. Until this summer. April is getting married on June 26th to a great guy. April was gone my first semester at Drake, she was at Basic Training for the National Guard. She returned just in time for our Initiation. And we were initiated together. I thought she was stuck up. She thought I was a snooty bitch. It took about a year in a half - we bonded as Rho Chi's for the Fall 2000 Rush, bonded over our house closing before that Rush, bonded over a horrible Religion class - and she is my closest Chi O Friend. I love her dearly. My son loves her. And now she's getting married! We celebrated her upcoming wedding this weekend with dinner at our spot (El Rodeo on Douglas) with Brandy, and later Fisher (Melissa); and then with April's Bridal Shower on Saturday. We were all there. And it was so much fun! I am so lucky to have these 4 women in my life. I may have "paid" for my friends, but I am the one reaping all of the rewards. It was so worth it!

Me, Brandy, April, Melissa, and Jayme at April's Bridal Shower.
Chi Omega Sisterhood at it's finest.

update

I made it home fine. No one called me, but it wasn't so bad. I called Scott and Anousha for some short talks. Weston fell asleep right by Little Amana, about 15 minutes from Iowa City. Not that he would talk to me either. :)
We got home around 10:30. I handed Weston to Scott, got in the shower, and then right into bed since I heard Weston asleep on the monitor. We all went right to bed. And were a little lazy waking up. But, we all got up.

Heard from Shannon that mom had a rough night sleeping. So she moved to the chair. They slept a bit this morning. But she's still in pain in her back. Waiting to see what the doctor says about the clot. She may be released with blood thinner shots that someone at home will have to give her. We're waiting to see.