Home sweet home and Sausage soup

We've finally moved into our new house. I love home ownership. I love the fact that I have a little backyard with a garden. I love the fact that I don't share a wall with anyone else and I will never have to hear the saga of Joe, Joe Jr, and Jo (anne) ever again. (They were our neighbors some odd doors down from our old place who are going through a divorce and thanks to their nightly arguments in home and on street, I now know more about their personal lives than I'd like).

I live in a lovely little neighborhood with trees, more grass than I've seen in the last 10 years, within four minutes walking distance to the main surgical hospital and within 10 minutes of the main clinic.

I have raspberry bushes in the backyard. My neighbors to the right of us have lilac bushes. There is a large maple tree in the backyard.

I have to say, once settled, it's rather nice. Moving was a nightmare. Driving across the country in a U-haul for three days and nights is definitely not fun. The truck drivers started to blend into each other after the fourth stop, although they definitely made it difficult to distinguish themselves by pretty much having the same attire (plaid shirt, cap, jeans). One of the rest-stops had the most beautiful ladies' room I've ever been in, though, and it was wonderfully clean.

Nothing tastes better than a greasy burger when you're on the road.

On another note, I saw entirely too much roadkill on the road, in varying degrees of decomp. *shudder* Poor little rodents. Never saw it coming.

I have two weeks before I start work. In that time I will: read the ATLS manual, refresh myself on antibiotic usage and ICU information, plant tomatoes, dig a ditch in backyard, make frozen dinners from scratch, and go to Ikea for odds and ends. It's an exciting time.

The first meal we had in our new house was sausages, sauerkraut, and potatoes. A good German meal. Mmm. I made this a few days later:

Sausage soup

4-5 potatoes, peeled, diced
4-5 carrots, peeled, diced
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2-3 large Italian sausages diced
3 chicken bouillon cubes + 2 liters water or 2 liters chicken broth
1.5 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbs veg. oil
salt to taste.

In large pot, heat oil on medium high. Add garlic, onion, sausages. Saute until sausages browned or onions clear (5 min). Add potatoes, carrots, chicken broth, oregano, cayenne. Bring soup to boil. Cover, turn soup to medium-low. Cook for 30-45 min until potatoes tender. Serve hot with rolls + butter.