Moving, cooking & life

We sold our house and have moved to a condo. I am so thankful to be out from under the home repairs and the obligation of the mortgage! It's like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I know everyone says that you are supposed to buy a house and that renting is just throwing money away. Guess what? A raccoon tore a hole in the roof of our condo. We don't have to fix it. It's not our responsibility to hire a "wildlife removal" person and a roofer to repair the damaged roof and tiles. That makes me smile and makes it all worth it to be "throwing away" money every month. Did I mention that we don't have to rake leaves or mow a yard? The condo has yard people that do that. Sure, we traded in a few things. I can't paint or change anything (not necessarily bad). I have less than half the space I had before. Our big dog went to stay with a friend of our because we don't have a yard for her. (it's really better for her and better for us).. BUT.. we have a pool that's right across from our front door. We have lovely neighbors. It's MUCH quieter here than it was at our old house. I haven't heard a peep from our neighbors through the walls, it's closer to Elijah's school, Britt's office, and the church where I work.. AND it's incredibly quaint, efficient and charming! Did I mention no stairs? Did I mention that I have been walking the dog every day since we moved in? Yep. I am happy with our decision. I loved our house but I am loving this freedom even more.
Elijah is doing really well. He seems to be feeling better than he has in a long time aside from a few aches and pains here and there. He starts PT tomorrow which I am really hoping will help with some of the issues he has with his feet and ankles. They just hurt him nearly all the time. They are weak. I am praying PT will help. His hair is starting to grow back, but per the norm for him it's very blond and very fine so even though we think he has hair, he still looks totally bald. I wish his eyelashes would hurry up and come back. I think his pretty lashes are what I miss the most about him not having hair. I'm just thankful he is still with us. We've seen too many neuroblastoma kids recently that have passed or are not doing well. We are so lucky.
I am starting to cook again and I think I am really enjoying it. Crazy, I think. Since my kitchen is very tiny. I had a pretty large kitchen in my other house and for the most part, stopped cooking right before we moved out. Part of it I blamed on packing and lack of time. Part of it, I think, was that I just didn't want to cook. One of the girls that hosted bunco a couple of months ago used some recipes from The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook. I loved the lasagna she made and went to go buy the cookbook. I discovered when looking at the book that she has a blog and pretty much has all of her recipes on the blog. I would much rather look at a free blog than pay for a cookbook! So far I've made three of her recipes. Meatballs, mashed potatoes, and tonight I made chicken parm. The meatballs are now a family favorite and will probably be added to our list of regular meals. The mashed potatoes are rich and creamy (made with half and half AND cream cheese) and while they are wonderful, will have to be an "every once in a while" treat. The chicken parm was good. The chicken was the best part. I didn't much care for my sauce but I think it was my fault and not the recipes. I didn't have decent wine to use and I accidentally got petit diced tomatoes instead of crushed. I really think it made a difference. My boys liked it though. I will just do a little tweaking next time and I am sure it will be awesome. I am looking through her blog now to see what I want to fix next. I watched Julie and Julia the other night and LOVED it.. Maybe I will cook a bunch of Ree Drummond's recipes and blog about it.. but wait.. she already does that - wouldn't I look like an unoriginal ninny. So here is what I am going to do. I am going to pick a few more recipes from her blog to fix, but I would love for friends to recommend recipes to me for me to try. Doesn't have to be super easy, but not uber challenging either. I don't eat veal and I don't eat lamb. I don't typically eat chicken with the bones still in it either. I am pretty much open to all suggestions - so please tell your friends as well.. send me recipes.. good ones... yummy ones... I'm in the mood to cook in my tiny kitchen. I even want an apron that says something catchy about a tiny kitchen.. I will have to look on cafepress for something entertaining.
I've taken my ambien and my words are starting to look as though they are quilted on the page. It's cool, but a definite sign that I need to go to bed soon.