Sugar Land

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If you want to make God laugh tell him you want to move anywhere but Houston.

Yup. Lesson learned. Don't make plans ahead of God's.  Also, don't mention city names in your prayers. Turns out I had no clue what I was asking.

Travis received a wonderful offer for a job opportunity in Sugar Land, TX.

Wait...that's in Houston,  right?

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Sugar Land Fun Facts

• Sugar Land, TX
• Fort Bend County
• Population: 84,511
• 25 miles SW of Houston
• Home of Imperial Sugar
• Minor League Baseball team Sugar Land Skeeters
• Humid Subtropical Climate (that means hot and humid)

We went to visit one weekend. Of course it was 75° and sunny with a light breeze and like 20% humidity. Maybe Houston isn't all that bad! Love how God can make it all ok to push you in a certain direction. I knew summers were awful, but it was gorgeous at the time. Great community.

Decision was made.

Ok. We'll move.

Chaos and Change

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Wise words. My last post was way back in October.  Wow. Here's what was working at the time:

1. One of my wonderful friends was about to have a bouncing baby boy. He came in early November and is beautiful! (I have lots of details for his shower still to post, including some super cute invitations!)

2. Per #1, Work was about to get harder because my friend was also a coworker. She needed time to enjoy her new little one, and unfortunately my workplace did not "cover" her leave. This meant my heavy caseload would increase by half a heavy caseload. Ew. Post-acute brain injury cases can be very intense. Especially in as an intensive program as I was with.

3. At work, we were looking at overhauling our service delivery model to accommodate a few issues: 1)Scheduling had become a hot mess, 2)Understaffing, 3)Evolution in billing/reimbursement issues in post acute rehab, 4)Functional treatment was giving way to routine, 5)Teamwork was declining and communication was an issue. This change came in the form of transdisciplinary teams. Not something commonplace in rehab or something to easily conceptualize.

4. Travis's work was rolling along with the usual stressors including anxiety about end/beginning of the year evaluation/raise/benefits mess.

5. My Nonnie was living in a memory care facility as her vascular dementia had progressed significantly after my Pops passed away from cancer last early summer. I was worried about holidays and all the speechie stuff that one worries about when changing environments/routines of someone with dementia.

6. A position at my alma mater opened up for a clinical instructor position. So....I ended up reducing to part time at my full time position and accepting the CI position. Post-acute brain injury in the morning and clinic/supervision/charter school in the afternoons. I will forever be grateful for that opportunity.  I learned so much in the time I was there from some  amazing therapists and clients.

At my morning job it became apparent that no one had any idea about what/why the service delivery change was. In order to keep my sanity I dove in to research and documentation development. Ended up learning a TON about transdisciplinary principles and procedure development.

Holidays went fairly uneventfully. Nonnie made it through fine. Although we knew it would be her last holidays with us at the house, we were so very glad we got to spend this time with her.

End of January brought some more news:

1. Travis was allowed to develop and lecture a course about engineering and the law. Right up his alley. Lots of work involved, but a great experience.

2. Other job stuff for him wasn't going so great. We were fast approaching decision time. He started exploring other options with other companies.

3. On the other hand, my job situation was calming down. Service delivery change was rolling along and they had recently hired a wonderful SLPA who would move to full time after graduation. My work at the University was picking up, and I was getting the hang of multiple-location-population therapy. 

In March my Nonnie passed away in her sleep. It was a progression of the vascular dementia that slowly started shutting down her body systems. I was heartbroken. She hadn't been my Nonnie as I will always remember her in a while,  and I know what she had gone through must have been very scary. Just before I learned that Pops had passed away I received a strong feeling that he was telling me he had to go now so he could be waiting to dance with Nonnie as soon as she arrived. At the end, I am at peace that she is now dancing with Pops in paradise.

Needless to say, with all this going on I was not really feeling the crafty/bloggy world. I also was probably a pretty crummy friend during this time. Sorry about that.  I'll try to make it up to you.

However, there is absolutely no way I could have done this without support from so many. My husband is an amazing blessing and has held my hand and supported me through all the rough times. My family has been a constant source of support and encouraging words (thanks, mom and dad, for all the support and fun facts). My best friend, whom I miss dearly, listened and supported all my word-vomit about the situation even if it meant moving across the state.

Whew.

What a beautiful mess life is.

Cute as a Pumpkin!

Just a quick stop in to share the CUTEST diaper cake! I may be a little biased, but this one is just too sweet!

Update! I added a tutorial here. 


Yup! It's totally made of diapers (even the stem)! It's wrapped in orange and sparkle brown tulle for a pumpkin-y finish. I was surprised how easy this was to make. Just roll diapers like a regular cake and use flat diapers on the outside to shape. Add some tulle and curly ribbon for a vine. Ta-da!

Sunday Night Dinner

Well, the first two weeks of college football are behind us! I am proud to say that our Texas Tech Red Raiders are 2-0! Our first tailgate was last weekend which was lots of fun. Pretty low-key.

A cool front moved in this weekend, and the high yesterday was only 78. Beautiful! That made me think about how much I love fall/winter food. Now, I do love grilling in the summer. There is just something about smoky/nutty fall flavors that I find delicious.

This is a recipe my mom made originally. I've tweaked it just a smidge to work with crock pots nowadays. I've found the instructions in the recipe don't accommodate the advances in crock pot technology. This is a true "slow cooker" recipe. Not a fix it and forget it. You have to do some stove-top cooking prior to putting it in the crock pot.

But...it is totally worth it! The stuffing turns into a nutty, crunchy, and spicy masterpiece. I could eat just the stuffing for a whole meal. No joke.

This was a perfect opportunity to use some of our jalapenos from our container garden. Look at this beautiful pepper!

Pork Chops with Jalapeno Cornbread Stuffing
(Adapted from 365 Favorite Brand Name Slow Cooker Recipes & More)

6 boneless pork chops
4-6 c. cornbread stuffing (packaged)
2 c. chicken broth (+extra as needed)
3/4 c. onion - chopped
3/4 c. celery - chopped
1/2 c. pecans - chopped
1 jalapeno - chopped (more or less to taste)
thyme
sage
salt/pepper
1 egg - lightly beaten

1) Sear pork chops in large pan just until sides are browned. Set aside. They will be raw in the middle. No eating!
2) Saute onions, celery, pecans, jalapeno, and spices until soft.
3) Combine stuffing, veggie mix, and chicken broth in pan and stir until combined. Don't over-mix as this will make mushy stuffing. Add the egg and combine.
4) Spray slow-cooker with non-stick spray (or olive oil spray). Put stuffing in bottom of slow cooker and arrange the pork chops atop the stuffing. Cook on low 5 hours, stirring stuffing after 3 hours. You want the edges to get some crispy parts, but you want this to be throughout so stirring once will ensure even cooking.

Sky, Sky, Sky

There is nothing like the W.Tex sky. On our way home from our trip to Iowa we were, again, reminded of how big and beautiful the sky is. There's nothing quite like red dirt and a stormy sky.

Just thought I'd share a few pictures we shot just as we re-entered W.Tex.

PS-This one is my favorite!

Baja Shrimp Taco Cups

I love tweaking recipes to make something delicious. We love making chicken baja tacos, especially during the summer. It's nice to have a light dinner option when its over 100* in W.Tex.

This "recipe" is less of a recipe and more of a method. The infamous wonton taco cups on that P-website can be modified as much as you want.

You can find some fabulous instructions for wonton taco cups here and here. We used the same methodology but added some cilantro lime rice at the bottom, chili-lime shrimp, feta cheese, and our garlicky-sour cream sauce topped with more cilantro. Add a little side of cilantro-lime rice, and you've got a great light summer meal.

We make our cilantro-lime rice from this recipe. It turns out fabulous each and every time. Yum!

Yummy Food and Yummy Weather

It has been a beautiful couple of days here in W.Tex. 72* with a slight breeze...perfect for sitting out on the patio! We've been working on installing a drip irrigation system for our potted plants, so we've taken advantage of the weather as far as getting that all set.

With the beautiful weather has come a great week of harvest for our container garden.

We've had a ton of okra as well as quite a few jalapenos. We've used our bounty in a number of dishes including some crunch jalapenos in taco cups. Of course, we have to make homemade fried okra. 'Cuz that's what you do when you have fresh okra!

Fried okra (and the fritters below) are great frozen and reheated in the oven at a later date. This makes for really easy meals later in the week, and you get to use all the okra you don't want to eat right away. However, as great as homemade fried okra is...we needed a change! I found this amazing recipe from pinterest here for okra fritters with grilled corn and goat cheese.

You must go print that recipe and make it ASAP. These fritters were uh-mazing. Seriously. Smoky grilled corn, fresh okra, and tangy goat cheese all melted together is about as close to heaven as food gets. Pretty sure.

We're totally going to try modifying the recipe next time. We may try these with a sharp cheddar and add in some jalapenos (from the garden)!