In which I meet a fifth grader

When I show up to get That Guy for school, he's discussing Thursday's quiz with one of his students.

T.G.: This is Mrs. T.G.

Student: Your wife?

T.G.: Yes.

Student: She's small.

Adventures in cooking

As mentioned previously, That Guy loves New Mexican green chiles, which, in the Midwest, are only available as greenish mush in tiny aluminum cans.  Here, I can buy the fresh, Hatch-grown chiles at the grocery store (at least for a month or two in the fall).  Don't they look beautiful?

And I haven't paid a dime for them.  No, I'm not a shoplifter.  Every single time I buy them, the store rings them up at the wrong price--and so they give them to me free.  I'm up to four-and-a-half pounds of free green chiles.

My last green-chile dish was chiles rellenos, which, in the New Mexican style, are smothered in a green chile sauce.  Cooking with chiles is always interesting because they're unpredictable.  Where most restaurants post their soup-of-the-day, New Mexican places have a sign that says "Today's green chile is: hot."  Because they are used whole, the heat level varies from batch to batch.

So at dinner, T.G. and I were starting on our deliciously crispy chiles rellenos. As the first forkful went into my mouth, it brushed my lip.  Whoa! I put it back down. We had an extra-hot batch. I ended up eating my dinner with a giant dollop of plain yogurt (which we often use instead of sour cream) and a glass of whole milk.  T.G. ate his chiles wrapped in tortillas. But we were still sweating. 

Making green chile sauce from scratch was an adventure, but I probably won't repeat it. Like making pie from an actual pumpkin instead of from prepared pumpkin puree, the savings just isn't worth amount of time spent. The chiles have to be roasted and peeled before they can be used, and I can get big tubs of pre-roasted/peeled/chopped chile in the freezer section.  But when I need whole chiles (for rellenos, of course), it's totally worth it.

For the record, to roast chiles:
1. Stick them under the broiler, turning occasionally, until they're no longer crisp and the skins have bubbled up and blackened.
2. Let them sit a few minutes in a sealed plastic bag or covered bowl.  The steam helps loosen the skins further.
3. Peel off the skins.
4. For whole chiles to stuff, slit them down one side and remove as much of the seeds and membranes as possible, leaving the stems attached.
5. For sauce, remove the stems, seeds, and membranes; and chop.
6. WASH YOUR HANDS. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EYES OR MUCOUS MEMBRANES.

My not-really-a-recipe for chile sauce:
2-3 cups of chopped green New Mexican chile
1 Tbsp. fat (lard, bacon grease, canola oil if you have to)
1 Tbsp. ground beef
Salt
Enough water to make everything is a little floaty

All amounts are approximate.  Simmer together for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, 'til the ground beef is cooked and the chile has broken up into the liquid a bit more.  At this point, I would cover the saucepan and leave it over low heat until whatever I'm serving it with is ready, adding a little more water as needed.

A few minutes before serving, stir in about a tablespoon of flour to thicken.

Moving in?

Dear American health insurance system, you kind of suck (I'm paying HOW MUCH for WHAT?), but then I'm not a fan of any of the alternatives either. So thanks, I guess. Please don't hate me. Yours truly, etc.

Dear everyone else, this moving-in thing is going pretty slow. It turns out I'm not so good at staying on task when I don't have any outside pressure.  Pictures to come eventually, but probably not until the whole place no longer has papers, stray bathrobe belts, and random homeless objects strewn across every flat surface. If I owe you a thank-you note/letter/e-mail--I'm, um, working on it. Promise.

So, Phoenix, then?
Positives:

1. Sprouts - I'm in love with my local chain "farmer's market." Ninety-nine cents for cherries? Three red peppers for a dollar? OKAY! Chocolate-covered dried cherries in the bulk bins? YES PLEASE! Said chocolate-covered cherries are residing in the back of fridge to keep me from inhaling them all at once. Out of sight, out of mind I hope.
2. The mall - I never knew That Guy would go mall-walking with me, but when it's 110 outside and there's a Lego store (look! the Lego Death Star) AND a board game place (including yo-yoing, possibly cave-dwelling proprietor [seriously, the palest Arizonan I've seen so far]) AND a Teavana (cheerful salesgirls who couldn't possibly let you miss any of the six free sample varieties)....
3. Fresh Hatch green chile at the grocery store - as I was saying to T.G., I don't think I've ever met a New Mexican, or anyone married to a New Mexican, who didn't love green chile (not out of a can).
4. The swimming pool - there's really nothing like having a sun-warmed swimming pool all to yourself under the stars.
5. My itsy-bitsy galley kitchen - I wasn't totally sold when I moved in, but there's something to be said to just turning around to get from your stove to your sink.
6. Dry heat - yeah, I get it now, but would the former-Midwesterners please stop telling me how they can "never go back"?
7. T.G.'s job - Turns out he's great with fifth, seventh, and eighth graders. Who knew? Most of the teachers have adopted "Mr. T.G's Three Laws of Stupidity": 1) Don't do anything stupid, 2) Don't wear anything stupid, 3) Don't be stupid. This covers most classroom situations, with the added bonus that 10-12 year-olds LOVE saying the word "stupid." But don't call any person stupid, okay? That breaks rule #1. He's also turned into the designated human bullhorn (years of voice training finally coming to fruition) and the assistant flag-football coach. Also the short kids' favorite locker-opener; surely someone should have realized that it is futile to assign a four-foot-tall child a top-tier locker.

Negatives

1. Local drivers - Could we just stop with the illegal u-turns please? Also, you can't all have broken turn signals.
2. Dry heat - Not being sweaty is nice and all, but it's still 112 degrees, yo.
3. The library - Discovered I'm totally spoiled by my previous public library experience. What do you mean I have to fill out paper ILL requests?
4. It's still not Minnesota.
5. Distractions - Look! A Walmart! A Target! Trader Joe's! I don't have to go to work! Let's play on the internet/needlessly window-shop/write blog posts!

Looks like it's time to get back to what I ought to be doing.

Things I didn't know I would be doing this month

1. Moving (still pending)
2. Painting everything (done)
3. Hanging Venetian blinds (success!)
4. Changing the pull-cord switch in a ceiling fan (success! Stripping wires is a huge pain.)
5. Re-wiring three-way light switches (qualified success. Everything works but only one switch turns the ceiling fan on and off.  Both switches control the fan-light.  If anyone can explain how this is possible, please let me know.)
6. Pulling handfuls of cigarette butts out of the bush by the door (EW!)
7. Owning patio furniture for our sunshiny Arizonan patio.
8. Looking for a new doctor (anybody know any pregnant ladies in the Phoenix area?)

Happy panic

Last Friday, That Guy got a job offer, so we're moving.  To Phoenix.  Bonus craziness: he has to be there on Sunday for a staff retreat.

WHEEEEEE!

So we're a little loopy around here (plus I just ingested way more caffeine than I've had in, um, yeah).  T.G. is going to fly out on Saturday, but I'll be sticking around for a few more weeks to pack/resign/sell the condo.  Extra special thanks to the parents and friends who have been volunteering to help and/or take our cheap furniture. (Please, take our cheap furniture.)

Pros:
1. T.G. having a job!
2. Me quitting my job! (Which, don't get me wrong, has been a perfect job for me, but please see addendum 2 below)
3. Living near the Tall Relatives and Our Adorable Niece.
4. Living closer to Twin Sister and The Marine.
5. Living not-so-far-away from Mum and Pops.
6. Did I mention I'm quitting my job?
7. Swimming pools EVERYWHERE.
8. Big-city library system.
9. Real mountains not so far away.
10. The Grand Canyon.
11. Oh, I forgot: I'm quitting my job.
12. Cross country road trip!
13. No humidity
14. Probably better for T.G.'s allergies.

Cons:
1. Hot weather/no winter/where are they keeping the grass?
2. Having to retire my turtleneck collection, and what do I do with all six of my winter coats?
3. Living WAY far away from Mom, Dad, Eldest Sister and Mr. Currently-Doing-Research-in-Germany.
4. It isn't Minnesota.
5. Cross country road trip.
6. I don't think the cucumber plants will want to move with us.

Addendum 1: Sorry to anybody who is reading this whom I probably should have called/e-mailed.  I can't remember who knows what right now.

Addendum 2: Have I mentioned that I'm pregnant, due in January?

Selfish?

Two of my friends have written about the decision to have (or not have) children in the last week, and I found the contrast striking, to say the least.

Corey says: "No one would call you selfish for not wanting to have a dog or a cat. And children are basically high-stakes permanent pets with fine motor skills. [...T]he reasons for reproduction can be much more self-serving than the decision to keep our genes to ourselves."

Joy says: "It’s way easier to be married with no children. I haven’t gotten a night of unbroken sleep for about 10 months now, post-baby, and it makes me crabby and desperate and unsure of my own bold assertions here. [...] But either we and our peers believe that the hard road of discipline will yield great rewards for us and society later, just as God has promised, or we seek our own momentary self-satisfaction."

Hallelujah!

Here's one of the many (and, in the scheme of things, less important) reasons I love my church. It is our tradition to do a sing-a-long of the Hallelujah Chorus to close the Easter service. I'm playing the flute in our tiny ad-hoc orchestra, and That Guy is the one in the light green shirt toward the edge of the bass section (on your right) who is not looking at his music. He, of course, still has the bass part memorized seven (eight?) years after learning it. Considering we do this once a year and never rehearse (okay, the choir, all two dozen of us, sings it through a couple of times), we sound pretty good.


Hallelujah Chorus from ClearNote Church on Vimeo.

After this, the men tore down the rest of the chairs in about three minutes flat, and we had our Easter feast, another reason I love these people.

Saturday morning at our place

Me: We should have a waterproof thesaurus.
Him: A what?
Me: A waterproof thesaurus.
Him: A waterproof thesaurus?
Me: So we can look words up in the shower.
Him: Oh, I thought you were talking about a dinosaur.

Falling in Love

So, it's been a while!  I actually did some serious writing yesterday--trains and planes seem to bring that out in me, so I may have something to post shortly.  I've also been planning to do this post as a "Friday Favorite," but I couldn't resist one day early.

A number of sweet ladies of my acquaintance have posted on their blogs about about their courtship/dating/engagement/marriage.  They delight me.

"51 Weeks":  Start at the bottom and read up. Rebekah's most recent post is the one that finally made me post.

If we were to separate? If I had to say goodbye? If my future didn't include him? Oh God, I would feel like part of me had died, I truly would. My chest hurt just thinking about it.

I remember that moment.

Summer Harms: You'll have to do a little searching to find the entire tale, but Summer's got a lovely account of her penpal courtship. I remember this one! I was there the summer they started dating and had no idea they had been corresponding, or even really knew each other. It was Summer's first summer on staff. So when they kept disappearing together, I was really confused. Was something going on? Did Summer just have an irresistible crush and couldn't stop following Grant around (it wouldn't have been the first time!)? Then they started officially dating and it was too cute.

Breeding Lilacs: This is adorable, but the real reason I love it is that her first skiing lesson was pretty much exactly like mine.

He gave me a few general guidelines, let me practice stopping once or twice, then took me up the lift: no lessons, no bunny slope–nothing. And it was incredible! I made it down the first run without falling once, though I must admit that I screamed (half delight/half terror) all the way to the bottom.
Zach stayed with me the whole day. He kept behind me, even though I’m sure my beginner’s pace was painfully slow for him. He helped me up when I fell (for the beginner’s luck on that first run didn’t last all day). And when I really wiped out and sent a ski sliding down the mountain ahead of me, he went ahead to fetch it and then trudged up the slope in his ski boots to return it to me: no easy task.

A Silver Cord: I didn't get married during college, but I did leave college a semester early to do so, so I know a little bit about the feelings Sarah experienced.  This is a phrase I definitely heard quite a bit: "Wow, you're amazing, I could never do that."

And finally, One True Word.  This is actually more of a reflection on Rebekah's story, but it gave me comfort. While I love reading happy romantic love stories, like Joy, mine is "too sad and frustrating" to want to write about. I thought that it would have turned into a good story by now, but every time I go back to look at the writing and e-mails I did at the time, it's still painful. Maybe some day.

What a night

Last night at 11, That Guy left to take a friend home after dinner. He called me to say they had seen a car accident and would be delayed, so I read for a while and then went to bed. At midnight, my phone rang. It was T.G.

I was a little groggy, but I woke up right away when he said, "There's blood in my hair."

A young woman had rolled her car over on a residential street. They called 911, some neighbors came to see what was going on, and no one touched the girl.  Everyone knows you're not supposed to move an injured person in that kind of situation.

Then they noticed that there was gas leaking onto the street, and something in the car was smoking.  Neither the police nor an ambulance had arrived. The little crowd of people decided it was time to act.

But T.G. had to beg them five times to actually help him.  He unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted her out of the car. He tried to turn the car off, but it was still in gear and he didn't want to touch the shifter, which was gory.  "I could see her skull," he told me.

The girl was conscious and speaking (though not coherent) by the time they took her away.  One of the neighbors let T.G. in to wash up. The neighbor had a large, friendly dog and a pack of cigarettes, which was the perfect combination to keep T.G. from going to pieces in the aftermath.

Meanwhile, three states away, my mother was sitting with her father, who was dying. He left us about 1 in the morning to see his Lord and his wife.

If anyone knows if the girl is all right, we'd love to find out.  Grandpa's better than he's been in years.