proof

When we lived in Eau Claire I was always trying new recipes and was determined to make as many things from scratch as possible. Now that we're here, that's pretty much gone. Especially since I work at night. Even on my days off the last thing I want to do is spend my entire day in the kitchen. 

But last night, I made dinner and it was pretty good. So I thought I'd share the recipe. I found the recipe here, but I modified it slightly because of what I had. So here's what I did.

Tortellini Soup with Sausage and Spinach

1 lb. mild Italian Sausage

2 garlic cloves minced

1 lb. cheese tortellini 

1 bag fresh spinach

1 tsp thyme

salt and pepper to taste

3 quarts beef stock

1. Cook sausage over medium heat until cooked through

2. Add thyme and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes

3. Drain grease and add sausage, garlic, and thyme to beef stock

4. Bring to boil and then reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes

5. Add tortellini and cook for 5 minutes 

6. Add spinach and cook for another 2-3 minutes

One change I would make next time would  be to use either less stock or add more of everything else, because I like a good hearty soup. But I will definitely make it again! 

oh Ella

Ella at her finest

I think I can

As my previous post stated, if I'm not productive in the morning, the rest of my day is shot. 

It's 8:10 and I've been awake for about 20 minutes and so far I'm not doing so well. So in order to try and hold my self accountable, I'm going to make a simple list of things I WILL accomplish today.

1. Run 

2. Grocery shop

3. Pay my student loan (yay)

4. Practice knitting

5. Send Karrin, my sister-in-law, a birthday card

So clearly this is nothing difficult. I should have no problem doing this today. But it's amazing to see how quickly I can become distracted.... 

2nd shift

In 10 minutes I have to leave for work. 

For the first time in my life I have a full-time, 2nd shift position. Part of me likes it. Like right now. It's been one of those mornings where I haven't really done much, (which is pretty sad considering I've been up since 6:45.)

If this were a day off, it would be wasted. If I don't start out the day productive, there's really not much hope. So instead of knowing that my whole day is shot, I get to go to work and actually feel like I'm accomplishing something. 

Of course there are some days when I am feeling productive and work seems to get in the way. But not today. Today, I am ready to go to work. And if I'm lucky, I'll leave with no battle wounds ... =) But that's a whole other blog. 

rain

I really like rain. 

The last 2 days it has rained off and on. Not snow and rain mix. No chance of freezing, creating nasty road conditions. Not rain turning to sleet, but just rain. It's rather nice. 

But it's only February. 

Being from Wisconsin, I'm totally not used to that. I feel a little confused as to what time of year it is. Maybe once summer comes, I'll be straightened out.

88 days 17 hours and 58 minutes.

Is the countdown until our airplane will have landed in Minneapolis, MN! I cannot even express how excited I am to be going home. After we bought them, I may or may not have shed a few tears of joy.... 

Over the last few months TJ and I have been doing some budgeting, checking for cheapo flights, and trying to find a reasonable way for us to make it back for my little sister's graduation. Despite all of our efforts to find a deal, all we managed to find was increases in price. I was getting discouraged, kicking myself for not booking the flights when they were only $244.

On Wednesday night I decided that we were going just going to have to bite the bullet and buy the tickets before the fares went up again. Then I found out the price increased by $10, just since Monday. I was not a happy camper.

Desperately, I had TJ pull out his frequent flyer card. Last summer we tried to use his miles, but Northwest had changed their policy and pretty much the miles were only good for a 2 day trip or a 2 week trip. Or we needed twice the miles which he didn't have. Really, we didn't consider using those miles as an option. But we looked, and praise God, Northwest added a new feature which enabled us to get 2 tickets for a pretty AWESOME deal!  

To spare you the math, we're headed home on May 20th, and we're staying for a week. I have a huge list of things I want to do and people I hope to see. but I'll save that for another blog =)

resurrecting the blog

Last year when I started blogging, this one wasn't my first blog. My first blog was actually a running journal. I had big plans for my running last year and needless to say, I failed miserably. 

I won't go into details because I already posted something about it on my running blog, but I'm starting it up again! 

I feel like I'm in a better place (physically and mentally) to start running again, and I did set a resolution to run Bloomsday and if God allows me, I'd really like to follow through. 

If anybody else is looking to start running, let me know! It's always nice to have someone holding me accountable and I'd be willing to do the same!