My Next Phase Will Be...

I sometimes operate under the silly assumption that there are periods or maybe 'phases' that I progress through in life. One at a time. Simple. Easy.

For instance, when thinking about last year where I worked not as a teacher and not yet in my current profession, I originally thought to myself, "this will be my transition phase- in grad school and working a easy part-time job." What I often forget is that things don't turn out as simple, clear cut, or as one dimensional as I initially think that they are.

I think that is what happened this fall:

I originally must have thought something like the following, "once I graduate, it will be an optimal time to just begin looking and applying for new jobs- it will be my developing my new career phase."

Great.

But I must have forgotten about that previous thought and also thought, "now that I am graduating, I will have plenty of time in the evenings without any homework- I will have a bit of a break and lots of time to do things that I have always wanted."

Sounds good!

But that one also must have slipped my mind... because I also recall thinking, "Husband and I finally have some time and space to start a family- this fall, winter, and spring can be my pregnancy phase- lots of time to read, finish up house projects, and prepare for baby."

Yep!

But somehow that really important 'phase' also got lost in the shuffle, because somehow this fall also became the 'having two jobs/completing the Oral History Project phase' and the 'implementing my thesis research for real in the neighborhood phase'. Hmmm...

I don't even have a sentence that can sum all that up into one phase with which to label my fall and winter. It became the 'new baby, new career, oral history project, new neighborhood initiative, and where did all my time go? phase'

So last night, finally, after walking between my two institutions, daily, in every kind of weather, at every time of day, for every kind of meeting, with my increasingly large belly, with an enormous amount of work over the last three months, I finally put one of the phases to bed: we launched the Oral History Project. None of the complements, accolades, or thoughtful comments mattered as much to me as moving on from a 'phase' that may have gotten a little too involved...

This morning I woke up ready to begin another new phase that really won't take any work and that is what I will call and lovingly think of as my 'one-job phase'.

That is... until May when another 'phase' comes along.

Oh Happy Day!

Just back from watching the inauguration at a local cafe with lots of people from the neighborhoods surrounding campus. Husband and co-workers were also there. It was a great time. I can't count the number of times I ended up with tears in my eyes. The day all of a sudden feels brighter, the future seems lighter now that I know our 44th President is in office.

As friend CS said to Jff last night, what a relief to be finished with Bush before bringing a child into this world. This last weekend, husband and I talked a lot about what it will be like for our child to see an African-American President in office and to possibly only know that for the first eight (fingers crossed) of life. The way it should be.

Kind of like Ronald Reagan was to me while I was growing up, only much, much, much better. Oh Happy Day!

The MLK Day of Service

What did you do for Martin Luther King Day today?

For years, I always had teacher inservice days. No students to really celebrate with in a meaningful way, but instead, just really horrible meetings on culturally-sensitive topic that were a far cry from inspiring or thought-provoking.

Last year, I had MLK Day off. It was just a three day weekend, nice, but probably filled with things that were not necessarily thought-provoking nor inspiring, just comfortable.

Today, I had to work. When I drove in alone and left husband warm in bed, it definitely felt like a bummer. But then the day started. Ten students who I work with showed up at 9:30 for a planned trip to a homeless shelter downtown for a day of service. We took the bus to the shelter, the volunteer director talked to the students about homelessness and the cycles of poverty that surround uncertain living conditions, and then we cleaned the shelter from top to bottom, including the sleeping mats. Before we left students were asking how they could become over-night volunteers or have a more consistent role with the center. On the way back in the bus, we had a thought-provoking and interesting conversation.

We returned to campus on the bus in time to eat lunch and then attend the MLK Day convocation in the chapel. After beautiful musical performances we listened to Hollis Watkins, a fellow civil rights activist (and member of SNCC) with Dr. King during the mid-sixties. He was excellent and definitely inspiring.

In the end, it was a good day... Appropriately celebrated.

Friends who are just an internet away...

I feel like I probably revisit this theme a little more than necessary on this blog, but I can't help it.

I often wish that some of my friends from college lived around here. It would be fun to see them, to have more of a everyday social connection with them like husband has with some of his college friends. But then again, I am reminded by how wonderful it is when they pop into my life, often via email. It is then that I realize that no matter how long it is between the time we communicate, how far apart we live, or how much we DON'T see each other that an important connection remains.

I got this email the other day out of the blue from a friend I don't communicate with regularly:

Hi Kristin,

Realizing I no longer had ice skates made me think of you last night, so I visited your blog today at lunchtime.

You are a really good writer. Your stuff has great honesty; it doesn't seem to be hampered by thoughts of "what can I write that will make me look like a good writer?". When --- got back from her six-week meditation retreat last year, she said she spent much of the time realizing how much we depend on external validation. I think that good writers have slayed that dragon.

The email went on to talk about thoughts about writing a specific type of book that was similar to one of my posts (I would explain it here, but I think it is such a good idea that I would hate to be responsible for ruining my friend's chances of doing it first).

I wrote back:


Congratulations on your purchase of a house! How exciting for you guys. There is something strangely spectacular about owning your own house that you never discover until you are there. Maybe it it is the freedom, or the rooting aspect of it, I don't know exactly. But this January will be my five year anniversary of buying this house and the longer I stay, the longer I love the fact that I can walk around with out any lights on in the middle of the night because I know it by heart. I love the history that has happened in this house. I love that we will have our first child in this house. I hope you also get all those special feelings about your new place, especially because they help with all the not so lovable things about being a homeowner (like dishwashers).

 I like that I have friends where we can talk about the important things in life- about dreams or goals, about big life changes, about tough times as well as good times. I like that we do more than exchange Christmas cards and the surface sentiments that are often included in those cards. I like that I have friends like that- even if some of them are states, phones, and the internet away.

The Dishwasher Debacle

In September husband and I did a lot of research, a lot of looking around, and then bought a new dishwasher.

We had always had a dishwasher in this house, but it had never worked well. Our plates were too large, it didn't really clean the dishes, and man was it loud. We had always said that when we were about to have our first child that we would switch to a real dishwasher (John's talents at the sink vs. a mechanized dishwasher). So we began looking at dishwashers while I was secretly pregnant, early on.

We ended up buying a Bosch for a couple of reasons: 1) it was highly-efficient with a stainless steel interior 2) it was one of the only dishwashers that was compact enough to fit under our kitchen counter completely 3) it was very quiet and  4) it was a really good quality item that was nowhere near the bottom of the line.

In October it was delievered. By the end of October husband was complaining about having to re-wash many of the dishes by hand. At first, I thought it was something we were doing wrong: were we not rinsing the dishes enough, husband thought they might be stacked in there too tightly.

In November, the installation guy came back to the house to have a look. His verdict: make sure the water is warm and use less soap... This sounded a little suspect to me, but I was willing to try it. I thought we were possibly not treating our Scandanavian brand appropriately... still only partially clean dishes after all that.

In December, we were at a holiday party where someone had a Bosch dishwasher. The message was: "we love it, we can do anything with it (soap, water temp, etc) and IT STILL CLEANS THE DISHES!" We returned to the drawing board and called the appliance store, meanwhile John was still doing dishes by hand.

This time they vowed to send out their own technician. He came (at least an hour late) and told us that the control panel in our almost-new dishwasher needed to be replaced. It wasn't the water or the soap- it was a malfunction of the machine.

I quietly told the repair guy and subsequently the customer service representative that I would not like a repair for my brand new dishwasher, but instead would just like a brand new dishwasher. The word LEMON just kept streaming through my mind. All I could think about was that any other time that you purchase something that is broken from the beginning, you return it and get a new one. Just because this purchase is larger than most, and needs to be installed is no reason for us to keep it and get it repaired instead of a getting it replaced. Because what happens in a year when the warranty has expired and eight other things are going wrong? I knew that my demands for a new washer were somewhat wasteful, yet I just wanted something that worked reliably.

So on Friday our new dishwasher was installed. On Saturday, it was the six month mark of my pregnancy and on Saturday we had our first batch of gloriously clean dishes hot out of the dishwasher to put away. Amen, we are ready for the kid.

Southwestern Corn Chowder: A simple soup for all seasons

Last night we had friends over for our usual dinner and movie. I was not immediately inspired to make anything, so I pulled out my favorite cookbook, Simply in Season: Recipes that celebrate fresh, local foods in the spirit of More-with-Less. I knew that we had a bit of left-over turkey in the refrigerator from John's Christmas Eve masterpiece and so I went to the ingredients index and found the following recipe under "turkey":


Southwestern Corn Chowder
serves 4

1/2 cup sweet onion (chopped)
Saute in 1 tablespoon olive oil in a soup pot until soft

2 1/2 cups corn (I used 3)
3 1/2 chicken or vegetable broth (I used about 4 cups)
Add an cook 10 minutes. Remove 1 cup of solids with about 1/3 cup of broth and place in blender or food processor; blend until smooth. Return this puree to the soup pot and heat until nearly boiling.

1 medium sweet red pepper (chopped)
1 small tomato (chopped)
Stir in and heat another minute

1/2 fresh lime
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro (finely chopped)
Squeeze lime into soup and top with cilantro immediately before serving. Garnish individual bowls with Tabasco pepper sauce, lime wedges and/or dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream (optional).

Variation: For a heartier soup add cooked black beans, lima beans, and/or chunks of cooked chicken or turkey. Using grilled corn, cut off the cob, imparts a delicious smoky flavor.

I did vary the soup by adding black beans (I added one can, but in the future would add two), as well as chunks of pre-cooked turkey (2 cups or a little more). I also cooked Jasmine rice and served it on the side, but everyone agreed that the soup great with the rice in it. I did serve with lime and cilantro (and no sour cream) and it was excellent. I think next time I will also try it with sour cream. The soup easily served four people with at least two bowls each.

I was really happy with how the soup turned out. It was perfect for a simple winter evening meal, (although the cook book had it as a summer meal because the cilantro, peppers, tomatoes, and corn are seasonal). It just so happened that our guests, in a bit of happy surprise, brought cranberry juice, diet 7-UP and a lime (and normally vodka if I were a capable drinker) to make a great drink to go with the soup.