Cream Cheese Chicken - Crockpot Style

The coming October is taking these perfect, cool September days and leeching out the last bit of warmth of fall.  I have been fighting firing up the furnace, loving the way my house smells with all the windows open to the clean air.  But, it's finally gotten too cold, and I've been forced to admit it's more winter than fall now. With the cooler temperatures, I've been craving hot crockpot recipes.  

This is a super easy recipe that is always delicious.  It takes about five minutes to put together, and then the crock pot does all the work while you're off to school or work.  By dinner time you have super tender chicken with a delicious soup to share with your family.

Cream Cheese Chicken - feeds 5

5 pieces of chicken

1 small can black beans

1 small can corn

1 8 oz package of cream cheese

shredded cheese on top

There's not much preparation.  You just throw it all into the crockpot, set it on low, cover it, and leave it alone until dinner time.  That usually means about 7 hours for me, but I've had it a little less or a little more. This is super filling and even my picky eater, Asher, never complains.  

Shatter Me Series

    People seem to either love how this book is written or hate it.  I'm one who loved it.  It's different. It's compelling - it makes you feel like you are part of the main character's mind.  It is so hard to really crawl into the mind of someone else, leaving behind your own way of thinking.  That is the very most powerful part of this book for me.

    The second part of this book I loved was the development of the bad guy.  He was so much more dynamic than I've usually seen.  Usually, you end up with just Mr. Superbad, and you don't get anything else about him.  In this one, there is just so much more development.  I found myself wanting to hate him less, and perhaps really understand where he was coming from.

    My only wish for this book was that the main character was more sure of herself.  She seems to make a lot decisions based off of seeking attention from her love interests.  She didn't choose things which were good for her happiness.  Instead, she made her decisions off her loveless childhood, desperate for love now.  The last book will be out soon, and I hope the protagonist will grow out of her neediness, finding a reason to value herself beyond what a man sees in her.

Pretentious Little Car

Nothing is sexier than the smooth, clean lines of my powerful little car, the Prius. 

Ok, so ya, I can’t even say it with a straight face. I’ve never wanted a Prius.  Sure, I can appreciate the ridiculous gas mileage, but come on.  Those little putt putts are a slow miracle of gutless wonder.  And I doubt Trey Parker would have come up with this South Park episode if it there wasn’t just a little bit of pretentious hidden in the hearts of many Prius drivers.

But then I started graduate school. 

I commute a round-trip distance of 250 miles every day.  I’m working on a Masters in Human Resources - my dream job. I love people, and love helping them grow into their potential as a career coach.  There’s a vicarious joy to seeing others advance, and being a part of the team that focuses on making things better.

But I live very far away from campus. Uprooting the kids for a year and a half program only to return when its over would be rough on them. It's also financially impossible since we own our house and could never pay for two homes.  So I commute – I have no choice - and it was pricy.

Even taking the train half way was still killing us. My 4Runner was burning up about $700 a month.  I was keeping Saudi Arabia in business all by myself.  When we found the Prius, I’ll be the first to admit that I had a pretty big groan of protest.  My husband convinced me to drive it, and just couldn't get past the fact is was not my 4Runner (still miss it).  But, we needed to do something different and the expense was forcing choice out of the equation.  So, we traded in my beloved truck and bought the Prius. I gritted my teeth on my way home and just kept repeating my mantra - it's only until school is out.  

But wait.

I was shocked when the Prius started to grow on me the very next day. I love this car.  It is not a gutless wonder - plenty of pep, yet comfortable and quiet.  Driving to school, I get 51 mpg.  Gas is down to $30 a week, rather than $30 one-way.  I’ve been so happy with this car, and will probably keep it long after I graduate. 

New Little Big Man

This summer we lost a member of our family - Bruce.  He was a rescue, so we missed out on all his puppyhood.  He was a great, big, slobbery mess that came to us a little bit damaged.  We loved him so much, and that damaged dog left us broken hearted when he passed.

There's a little boy hand in the middle of this picture!

Asher has been asking for a new dog for months, but I just have had a very difficult time moving into a place where I could accept one.  Bruce was so precious to me, much like his predecessor, Max, was.

Max was also a rescue, who had left a hole in our hearts with his passing.  That dog came to us geriatric and riddled with cancer.  His owner had decided to throw him away for grad school, perhaps unaware of just how hard it is to place an elderly dog.  We couldn't bear to see him surrendered to the shelter, especially at his age where it was almost certainly a death sentence. We decided to serve as hospice care.

That old man became my favorite dog of all time, but only a year and a half passed before the cancer got him.  His loss was so acute that we rescued another dog immediately, hoping to ease the pain - too soon after his passing.  I never really healed, and losing Bruce left me with two giant wounds.

People who don't know Danes don't realize what gentle giants they can be.  They rarely spaz out, and above all else, have no idea what truly giant dogs they are.  Instead, they try to sneak into your lap, sure if they just scrunch down enough they'd fit.

After Bruce, I just couldn't bring myself to get another dog. We'd occasionally look, but it just ended tearful - none of them seemed right.  I really wanted to start with a baby this time, but there just wasn't a good fit.  But then Frankie came along.

Frankie has put all the things I believed about Danes on their head.  He's a silly dog, forever trying to run around and usually failing pretty miserably.  You would too, if every morning you woke up to legs that were a different size than the one's you went to sleep with.

When we met Frankie,  just the right circumstances came into alignment to make his adoption possible.  He adopted me right away as his person, and has been hogging the blankets in our bed every night since.

In this picture, that leather color is the one that Max had first, and then Bruce wore after him.  One day, Frankie will grow into it, but not just by the thickness of his neck.

Both of the Danes before Frank were great dogs. One day, if Frankie is very lucky, he'll be able to fit into those doggie shoes, just as the one's we loved before him did.

At the Bay

The world has so many places to camp.  Each place has its own special gift, and we try to visit several every year.

When I was small, my family spent much of our summers in the mountains.  As I got older, life got busy, and my parents took us less and less.  But, the outdoors always kept a special place in my heart.  Once I had kids of my own, we started their camping memories as soon as possible. I love sharing my connection to the woods with them, as though I am somehow returned to the natural me, often lost  in my hectic life of work and school.  

This trip in Davis County was a fun one.  It's a couple hours away, but worth it since we’ve never seen many people there.  Even though it has designated campgrounds, it still feels isolated and peaceful as we relax and listen to the kids play in the water. 

My kids are fearless.  When they were babies, we’d literally toss them on the bed and they would scream in delight.  I was an amusement park ride for them – until they got too big.  I’ve tried to explain to them how I’d preferred they stay little and cute. They have no one to blame but themselves for growing up, but they never buy it.

Since they are too big for me, they find tall stuff from which to jump instead.  They hold contests to see who can hold their breath the longest, borderline drowning every time. My competitive little monsters scare me half to death with that game, but what can I say?  They are adrenaline junkies. 

They fling their little bodies around, racing across the beach and throwing themselves into the water.  If I had half their energy, imagine what I could get done?

Still, I love every minute of it.   Eventually, they do sleep, and often I'll end up with at least one curled up on my lap.

I love this place.  I love nature, and all the things that go with it.  Included in that is my kids' wild ways.  

I just dread the day when these kids are big enough to engage in real danger.  My little people will one day be men, and will not mind what their mother’s tell them all the more!