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On house and homes and health

Things that caught my eye and/or heart this week

The Little White House Up on the Hill from The Redneck Mommy. It’s a bittersweet story, and Tanis tells it so nicely. And that photo at the end is just so sad and lovely.

At the top of the shag-covered stairs, there was a stray bullet hole from a rogue hunter’s rifle. Every time I passed by it I was tempted to trace the circular outline with my fingertips and I’d shudder with the weight of my own mortality.

Bugged from An Entirely Other Day. A real-life interaction with our health-care system.

The PPACA is important. It’s vital. When a bug can bring down your family, when there are people who are willing to take away the shield that could prevent that, when we as a country have become so small and stingy and mean that we cheer the idea of ripping medical care away from fellow citizens, offering nothing in its place but sanctimony and self-righteousness… What are we? We’re not a country. We’re not a community. Oh, no.

We’re a zero-sum game. We’re the state of nature. We’re animals, gobbling down as much as we can, as fast as we can, swatting away the weak.

Simplicity and Our Home at the End of the Street from Moosh in Indy. This one reminds me of one of my favorite poems, “The Yellow Bowl” by Rachel Contreni Flynn.

In my home my arms are never empty, there is always a warm body to hold, some of them bigger than others, a couple of them way more furry than the rest. I am never truly alone here.

PMS from Hogan Here. Yep.

Regular reads

I forgot until late last night to pull together a few links from my Google Reader to share with you, so we’re going with the least-textual of them.

The Big Picture is the Boston Globe’s photo blog, and they do a marvelous job highlighting interesting and moving photos that illustrate current events. I love their large-image format, and it functions for me as a jumping-off point for a lot of news stories.

Moment Junkie is a collection of wedding pictures submitted by photographers. I was not kidding when I told you that I love weddings. Some of their photos are just light-hearted, silly candid shots (see: “The Highest of Fives” and “The Armpits“) while others capture such gorgeous raw emotion and intensely private moments (see: “The Weeping” and “The Moving Father-Daughter Dance“).

Bandwagons

Turning inward

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I half-heartedly thought about joining author Patti Digh’s Project 137 for a few weeks when I first heard about it. It’s an online class of sorts, designed to help its participants “to be more mindful, to clear ground, and simplify, and do all the things we put off but need doing.” I could use help in all of those categories, but I put it off and put it off and then it was full. And so, I thought, that decision had finally been made for me.

Then about a week after the project kicked off, Patti opened it up for a few more participants. This time I didn’t think about it. I signed up. I was already a few days behind, since I’d registered late, so I wouldn’t be finishing on December 31st as intended. But I forged ahead anyway, and the first few days were fun. The assignments were things like Make a List of People You Love and then, a few days later, Write One of Those People a Letter & Tell Them How You Feel. I like writing, and I love making people feel good. So it was all rainbows and puppies for a few days.

Then I came to the assignment that knocked me down: Write a love letter to yourself.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but just trying to make a list of things I like about myself left me kind of emotionally shell-shocked for the better part of an afternoon. My self-esteem is not so great, I knew, but I was surprised at how hard that exercise was and at how deeply it affected me. I didn’t realize, I guess, that I didn’t even want to think about myself. (Let that not be confused with not being selfish. That’s another barrel of beans altogether.) And now I had to write a full-blown mushy-gushy letter detailing the things I love about myself. I let the assignment slide for six days, doing my best not to let it skitter past the far outreaches of my mind.

And then one day I did it. I got out my pen and my composition notebook, and I wrote myself a letter. I’m not sure I really hit the mark as far as writing a love letter goes — it isn’t terribly mushy — but I think it was a pretty nice pep talk, at least. I’m supposed to give it to someone and have them mail it to me before the end of the year, but so far it’s just sitting in my office/closet. But wrote it, and it didn’t leave me in tatters.

That’s progress, I think. Maybe by the end of this I’ll be able to rattle off things I love about myself with zero hesitation.

What about you? What do you love about yourself, and is it easy for you to pinpoint those things?

menu plan Monday

From crab cake bliss to omelet hum-drummery in 24 short hours

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Rockford and I visit with Mrs. McW (who is now Mrs. McW-P or possibly just Mrs. P).

Yesterday Rockford and I were in Atlanta for his cousin’s wedding. The day was all blue skies and light breezes, and the bride and groom radiated joy all afternoon. I love weddings in general — the happiness, the love, the excitement, the cake — and this was one of the loveliest I’ve had the honor of attending. It was a very small outdoor ceremony at JCT Kitchen, and the food was phenomenal. My favorites were the little fried crab-cake balls and the rolled pasta with a corn-marscapone filling. If you’re looking for an intimate wedding venue in Atlanta, I’d absolutely recommend JCT Kitchen. The setting is pretty and sophisticated, and the staff was wonderful.

I’d like to eat crab cakes and corn pasta all week long, but sadly that is not possible. Here’s what’s on our table this week!

Monday Breakfast for dinner

I decided to make tonight’s dinner as unfancy as possible, so as not to let myself down from the wedding high too easily. (That’s not true. I just couldn’t think of anything else when I was planning the week.)

Tuesday: Chicken Tikka Masala

We’re going to have a pretty busy Tuesday afternoon, and I’m trying to get back on the Weight Watchers train this week. So I search the Weight Watchers web site for slow cooker recipes, and this was one of the highest-ranked offerings in that category. It uses chicken thighs, which I’m not crazy about, but I’m hoping it’s good anyway.

Wednesday: Baked chicken strips and mac ‘n’ cheese

I think this was supposed to be Pete’s week to pick the Kids’ Choice meal, but I didn’t remember that until just now. So it’s Poppy’s Cheesy Choice two weeks in a row! She wanted to have just mac and cheese, but I thought a protein might be a good idea.

Thursday: Pizza

We’re going to the fair on Thursday after Rockford gets off work, so we’re switching it up and going for pizza on Thursday instead of Friday. We’re a wild bunch.

Friday: Tacos

The last time I made tacos, my DIY seasoning was almost unbearably fiery. The flavor was great, though. I’m determined to make The Perfect Taco Seasoning.