My Sister Visited! It was Fun!

My littlest sister, E3, is one of those unlucky college students whose school has finals after winter break. She came to visit Mr. H and me after he finals at the end of January. She drove over six hours by herself!

The Grape Slushie I Got Myself because You're Only
Exactly 10,000 Days Old Once

She arrived on Thursday night in time to celebrate my 10,000 Day Birthday!

The Cake I Baked and Decorated for Myself

She was pretty tired when she arrived so we ate dinner and cake and headed to bed soon thereafter.

I baked the cake using cake flour! And I tried out strawberry frosting for the first time. When I went to the grocery store with Mr. H he asked me why I was getting plain vanilla frosting again so I shook it up. I almost got purple vanilla frosting but Mr. H likes the strawberry frosting so I went with that. I will go back to plain vanilla for the next cake since I thought the artificial strawberry flavor was off. The sprinkles and green icing on top were found items in my pantry. I am so glad they did not make us sick. We've had the sprinkles forever and I'm not sure when the green icing was purchased and used the first time.

E3 didn't want to do much other than chill. But, on Friday, she help me resolve my Gap Dress Dilemma. I had tried on this Gap dress in December at the store (and tweeted about it before anyone else did*) and ordered the tall size online because I'm kind of tall and this dress was short. It came and I was convinced that the regular in the store had fit better. I went back to the store and bought the regular size. But I still had no idea. E3 isn't much of a clothes person but she thought the Tall looked better on me and the internet agreed.

Please Help! Which Gap dress is better on me the regular size or the
tall size? The regular's waist hits closer to my natural waist but it three
inches above the knee so I think it's too short to ever wear to work. The tall
hits an inch above my knee but its waist hits at my belly button, several
inches below my natural waist. I'm only 5'8" but I usually go with tall
sizes for pants since my inseam is 34" or  35".

Tall was the winner.

We managed to see catch Catching Fire at the theater with E3 and my brother-in-law on Saturday.

On Sunday we went out to eat dinner. We to Mr. H's favorite place first. It was closed on Sundays. Then we went to our favorite place, usually open on Sundays, but closed that particular day. Finally we went to the Sea Dog. I feel so-so about eating there because it's an old mill and noisy inside and the food is good but not great. But in the summer they have the best outdoor patio around. We enjoyed our dinner. They had fried pickles.

The best part of E3's visit was Monday morning--a doughnut taste test extravaganza! Mr. H had brought home some leftover doughnuts from his doughnut club at school. (The teachers take turns buying doughnuts for their teacher meetings.) They were from the local place, Frosty''s. E3 said she didn't think it was the best doughnut she had ever had.

On Monday morning before she left I went out to Dunkin Doughnuts, Tim Horton's, and Frosty's and bought chocolate doughnuts and other doughnuts besides.

#myrealselfie #nofilter Pre-shower, early morning doughnut
 run to Dunkin, Timmy Hos, AND Frosty's for a taste test
with my sister #afrosandbaseballcapsdonotmix

I cut up the doughnuts into halves and kept track of which doughnut came from which place.

The Key to the Doughnuts and the
Ranking of Doughnuts on the White Board

The Dunkin' Donut Was Double Chocolate
(Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting)
The Tim Horton's Doughnut Was Chocolate Cake, Glazed
and the Frosty's Doughnut was Chocolate Cake with Sprinkles

Somebody had to eat their words. In the blind taste test, E3 thought the Frosty's doughnut was from Dunkin' and she thought it was the best. She thought the doughnut from Dunkin' was the worst! This confirmed my assessment of the various doughnuts. To confirm the results we also had a glazed chocolate doughnut from Dunkin' because we suspected that the coating of glaze might trap moisture in the doughnut and keep it tastier longer. But we declined to change the rankings after trying more doughnuts.

The Instagram Record of the Event

I sent E3 on her way with a doughnut from Frosty's and a blueberry doughnut from Dunkin' and she made it back to her school safe and sound despite the impending storm. (I kept the cookie dough and brownie batter filled doughnuts for myself because I am the most selfish sister ever.) She said she was happy to be some place other than school and to eat home cooked meals. I hope she managed to get some rest before she starts up her last semester!

*After I bought the dress it exploded on social media. I am kind of afraid that people will think I bought it just because I saw other people with it even thought that's not true. I kinda feel like I am channeling my middle school/high school self with this concern but for some reason it's bugging me a lot.

January Thankful Thursday and Resolutions Recap

I'm linking up with Katie Elizabeth, Mia at Make Me Up Mia, Kristal at The Strong Family, and Carly at Carly Blogs Here for this Thankful Thursday. I've saved up my thankfulness for the whole month and I'm letting it go today. Almost everyday so far this month, I wrote down what I was thankful for that day. Honestly, I forgot a couple of days and had to go back and reconstruct what I was thankful for.

1/1 Waking up next to my handsome husband's smiling face. He does so much for me.
1/2 SNOW DAY! I get to spend all day with Mr. Handsome.
1/3 (Another snow day) Watching a movie with Hubs and having him tell me how much he likes watching movies with me.
1/4 So grateful that I have a warm home and warm food. Keeping those without in my thoughts this coming week.
1/5 We stayed under budget doing our weekly grocery shopping! Money we don't spend on groceries can go towards a downpayment on a house.
1/6 Two things! 50º! It was so warm today. I am thankful all the ice melted off my car and our walkways. And, I thought I had a UTI and I was able to see a doctor right away and get a prescription for some antibiotics.
1/7 Fresh sheets are so nice.
1/8 I got to leave the house and go to the JLP Meeting and now I'm a co-chair for my subcommittee!
1/9 Made a up a new recipe that Mr. H loved.
1/10 Google Hangout with my sisters.
1/11 Skyping with college friends.
1/12 High of 60! We went for a walk because it felt like Spring.
1/13 I opened the windows and cleaned up half the basement.
1/14 Mr. H took such good care of me while my back hurt today.
1/15 I am going to see a psychiatrist on the 30th! Yeah! Trying to make an appointment to deal with my mental health concerns made me start crying last month so I am so happy about this. I thought I had anxiety issues but the survey I filled out now makes me think I might be depressed.
1/16 We've used less electricity so far compared with last year! My suffering hasn't been wasted.
1/17 Got to go shopping with Mr. H after dinner.
1/18 :(
1/19 watched a movie with Ben
1/20 I got into the psychiatrist early. There's nothing wrong with me, at least nothing so wrong that I should be medicated.
1/21 I wrote a cover letter.
1/22 We got to bed early and Mr. H and I got to read next to each other in Bed. Our house is so clean.
1/23 E3 came! I am 10,000 days old and I had cake!
1/24 :(
1/25 E3, Mr. H, and my BIL went to see Catching Fire.
1/26 We went out to dinner at the Sea Dog. I love their patio, in the summer.
1/27 E3 and I taste tested all the doughnuts in town! I love doughnuts. I finally got the ball rolling on getting the big scrape on the side of my car fixed.
1/28 Ben thinks I have what it takes to be a SAHM. I didn't think I had what it took but I really appreciate his support.
1/29 I think I'm almost done with the every week allergy shots!

Progress Towards My Resolutions

Exercise Four Times a Week and
Stamp Every Day on My WiiFitU Calendar
I did not get a stamp everyday since I didn't get a stamp before I hurt my back and there was no way I was going to subject myself to excruciating pain to weigh myself that day. Then my sister came and we were to "busy" for me to play. Then I gave up. I thought getting a stamp everyday would encourage me to exercise more than four times a week. This does not seem to be the case so I am I just going to try to exercise four times a week going forward. I think I may have failed at getting in enough exercise this week. I will have to redouble my efforts in February.

January
Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
			30 min
33 min	20 min	36 min	30 min			29 min
21 min		29 min	20 min
20 min	30 min	20 min

Eat Less Sugar
I haven't started yet but the candy from Christmas is pretty much all gone. We'll see how it goes in February.

Use My Clarisonic Five Times a Week and Floss 80% of the Time
The past week my skin has been so dry and sensitive so I gave it a break from the Clarisonic. Other wise I've done great.

I made a chart with stickers.

Drink 8 Cups (64oz) of Water a Day

January
Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
		36 oz	66 oz	42 oz	29 oz	36 oz
66 oz	66 oz	25 oz	76 oz	64 oz	75 oz	85 oz
64 oz	0 oz*	66 oz	88 oz	76 oz	65 oz	67 oz
64 oz	24 oz	64 oz	71 oz	72 oz	71 oz	48 oz
0 oz	63 oz	47 oz

*I did drink some water that day I was just in a lot of pain so I didn't record anything.

Practice Gratitude and Minimize Envy
See above. I started having a hard time remembering to write things down.

SAVE $ FOR A HOUSE
I called Comcast and managed to save $10 a month on our cable/internet/phone bill. This year we turned the thermostat down to 60º form 64º. Our suffering has not been for naught. Last January we spent about $193 on our electricity bill, we have electric heat, and this year we're on tract to spend $152. See also my review of my new face lotion and toner below. I'm doing freelance work and Mr. H has already done more tutoring work than he did last year.

I'm working on reducing our food costs by buying more in bulk, see my post on meal planning. But I still went over our grocery budget and spent $238. I was aiming for $160 but I would have been happy with $200. We still spent less on groceries than our average for last year. I am going to aim for $180 in February. And our "net worth" is still over $1,000 below where it was when I stopped working at my temporary job. Christmas was expensive but my mom said she'd reimburse me for my plane ticket to the Keys since Mr. H and I hadn't planned on me taking that trip.

Try to Spend Less on Beauty Products

The lotion is great! It is fragrance free so it smells like sunblock and reminds me of summer. It costs less than half as much as the Burt's Bees stuff I was using and it is twice as big. The cheaper toner feels so wonderful and moisturizing on my skin. There's slightly more in the bottle (6.7 oz versus 5 oz) and it costs way more than half as much as the $21 a bottle toner from Origins that I had been using. The only problem is that it's fragrance free so it smells odd because it doesn't have the lovely scent that the Origins United States toner has.

Target Toner for $4.19 and Face Lotion for $6.99

Be Nicer to Mr. H.
I think I'm being nicer. He never thought I wasn't nice to him to begin with so I didn't ask his opinion.

Don't Stop Myself Because of Fear
I checked out a book on accounting to learn more about hanging out my own shingle but I didn't finishing the book (or the other books I checked out about starting a business) before it was time to return them. I've been writing cover letters.

How Fortunate I Am

Last week I was reflecting on how fortunate I am to live now and I much I owe those who came before me for fighting so hard and risking their lives so that I can enjoy the "equal protection of law" promised to all Americans by the 14th Amendment.

Would my dad have stayed here if the Civil Rights movement hadn't made America a place where there were no legal barriers to his success? Or would he have gone home because his concerns about America were greater than his concerns about his native country? Would he have stayed in Maine, where people are super nice, instead of going to Chicago where he met my mom. It hasn't been all easy going for him. When I told him that I was doing work with the Fair Housing Act, he told me about when he was inexplicably turned down for a mortgage. It didn't make any sense at the time since he had a high paying steady job as a surgeon. The only real plausible explanation was that someone didn't like his accent or his funny name and turned him down.

Would my parents have gotten married if the Lovings hadn't taken their case to the U.S. Supreme Court and had anti-miscegenation laws invalidated as unconstitutional 14 years before they married? Even if they did marry and have children, would my parents feel comfortable taking us to Disney World or traveling anywhere knowing they might end up someplace where their marriage was illegal? This apparently is still a problem for couples like my parents and Mr. H and myself. Shortly after we were engaged, a justice of the peace in Louisiana refused to marry a couple like us and I can still remember how indignant and hurt I felt when he said he wouldn't do it because the marriages didn't work out and the children of those relationship suffer because of their mixed raceness.

My first trip to Disney World

If not for the woman's rights movement would my mom have felt capable of going to medical school, where she met my father? Would my mom have felt empowered to delay child birth until after finishing all her training to become a surgeon? If she hadn't my mom might still have had children but life would have been so different without her strength and knowledge. It also would have been very different without the extra income that her job provided. I would never have known the wonderful nanny who helped raise us.

I know I am so incredibly blessed because of my parents' education and their relative wealth. I grew up in a very wealthy area so I never realized how money improved my opportunities because it provided me and my sisters with education experiences that many others didn't have access to. (Also braces to fix my crooked teeth.) My life experiences were pretty normal for most people in the area so I didn't realized that they weren't the norm for the rest of the country.

Seeing the beginning of Western Civilization

I didn't really realize how lucky I was until college when I started talking with my new classmates about their life. I realized that I'd only come so far because my parents worked I've only come this far because I've gotten so much support from my parents. They've always told me I can do whatever I set my mind to and have taught me to work hard for what I want. In addition, they've given me finical support when they think it's appropriate. I am in awe of those who've accomplished more than I have without their parents' help.

I read about social justice on the internet and I found this little exercise that can be used to help illustrate people's different life experiences and you can imagine how some of these differences would result in advantages in school and life.

A Social Class Awareness Experience*

Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka

Indiana State University

© 2008

Introduction: An activity designed to help the participants gain awareness of the vast range of social class that exists within themselves and others. This has been updated based on the wide range of feedback we received as this was becoming a popular experience.

Explanations and Notes: All of the ‘step taking’ is about things not requiring effort on the students’ part, that were things done by others. While some of these are important to some people, others will be important to others. The list includes experiences, objects, and other things which reflect social class.

Each bolded statement is a step forward I would take. Something that likely helps me that is likely something someone else did.

If your father finished college before you started
If your mother went to college before you started 
If your mother finished college before you started

If you have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor. (I'm counting my mom as a professor since she teaches and is an administrator at a med school. I assume a surgeon is a physician.)

If your family was the same or higher class than your high school teachers

If you had a computer at home when you were growing up
If you had your own computer at home when you were growing up (Some of my earlier memories involve playing Reader Rabbit on our families first computer and typing gibberish in the word processor. I miss DOS so much. I had my own computer on an off, I was so nerdy and I wanted to be an l33t hax0r so bad.)

If you had more than 50 books at home when you were growing up
If you had more than 500 books at home when you were growing up (I am guessing that we had more than 500 books, they are my Dad's favorite thing in the world and he bought us a copy of the Encyclopdia Britanica before we were born. My parents never said no to buying me books.)
If were read children's books by a parent when you were growing up (I have a video of my mom reading me a book for Halloween and I remember my dad reading me fables.)

If you ever had lessons of any kind as a child or a teen
If you had more than two kinds of lessons as a child or a teen (I should be much more musical and athletic than I am now given the number of lessons I've had. I've had piano lessons, guitar lessons, tennis lessons, swimming lessons, and golf lessons all for nothing.)

If the people in the media who dress and talk like you were portrayed positively (I'm from the Midwest and general speak the like the newscasters thought. I mostly dress kind of preppy now but when I was a child my parents more or less dressed me like everyone else.)

If you had a credit card with your name on it before college (FYI Even if you're just an authorized user on your parents' account it may show up on your record when people go to pull your credit score and that may cause you some problems.)

If you had or will have less than $5000 in student loans when you graduate
If you had or will have no student loans when you graduate (I only have student loans from law school. May parents would have paid for that if they weren't paying for college for E2 and E3 at the same time. They're helping me pay them now since I am not working.)

If you went to summer camp (Once I went to sleep away camp. I went to Park District Day Camps every summer until I was in high school.)

If you had a private tutor (I got a C in Level 4 Spanish my freshman year of high school, so I got a tutor to keep up my GPA until I could drop down to Level 3 my sophomore year.)

If you have been to Europe more than once as a child or teen (I'd only been once before College.)

If your family vacations involved staying at hotels rather than KOA or at relatives homes (My mom was very anti-camping as her family had to camp. We never needed to camp so we never did.)

If all of your clothing has been new (I got no hand me downs since I am the big sister and the oldest cousin here.)

If your parents gave you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them (I miss the VW Cabrio my parents got for me, but only in the summer. My Ford Escape handles so well in the snow. It also a gift from my parents because my mom was worried about me driving the Cabrio to school everyday in the winter. My husband didn't learn to drive in high school because he didn't want his parents to pay for car insurance for him or driver's ed classes, I taught him how to drive and he bought his own car.)

If there was original art in your house as a child or teen (I do not think so but I have no clue.)

If you had a phone in your room (I am saying yes to this because I had a cellphone in middle school in the late 90s)

If your parent owned their own house or apartment when you were a child or teen
If you had your own room as a child or teen (I shared a room with E2 for a little bit but we all got our own rooms as we got older.)

If you participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
If you had your own cell phone in High School
If you had your own TV as a child or teen (I got rid of my TV at some point.)

If you opened a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College (E3 did. She is smart.)

If you have ever flown anywhere on a commercial airline (My parents took me to Hawai as a lap baby! They are the bravest people in the world.)
If you ever went on a cruise with your family (On the first one I remember I was horribly sea sick at dinner every night and I puked all over me and  my dad at least once while he was taking me to vomit. On the one we went on in Alaska, I was the sickest I have ever been in my life. I still get very sea sick so I am glad that I can opt out of family vacations now. On the last cruise we went on as a family my parents got me perscription stength anti-nasuea meds like the kind my mom used when she was undergoing chemo and I still felt sea sick on the day we were at sea.)

If your parents took you to museums and art galleries as a child or teen (I can't remember ever going to an art museum with my parents but my mom would always take us to the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Alder Planetarium.)
If you were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family (I had no idea how much our bills were until we got old. My dad is not very good at remembering things and for some reason he was in charge of paying bills so occasionally some would slip by and I'd find out how much the past due payment was when someone called and left a message reminding him to pay up. I also went with him to pay the credit card bill because he'd always leave that to the last minute.)

If you went to a private high school

*If you'd like to use this for teaching or otherwise please be sure to credit the original educators who created this exercise. You can read more about them here: http://quakerclass.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-privilege-do-you-have.html and here http://socialclassoncampus.blogspot.com/2012/11/step-into-social-class-20.html.

Six Month Blogaversary!

Today I am 10,000 days old and I've been blogging for half a year now! So I figured I'd share a little bit more about myself and this blog.

For Anyone Who Hasn't Read the About Me
So I was born and grew up just north of Chicago. I have two little sisters, E2 and E3, who are now my best friends. It's amazing how much your feelings for a person can change when they aren't constantly taking things form your room without asking and messing up or hogging your shared bathroom. I went away to college in Maine where I ended up finding Mr. H. We have no idea when we met but we were both in the same groups of friends and he ended up in all the same teaching classes as my roommate sophomore year so I saw him a lot. We ended up dating and we're still together today. After graduating he started teaching and I started law school. His first year of teaching was so much harder than my first year of law school, FYI. I finally graduated law school, got married, and passed the bar. I worked in a temporary position at a non-profit for most of my first year as a lawyer and now I'm looking for a permanent position and figuring out how I might hang out my own shingle.

We had so much fun with photo booth when we started dating.

Why Exile in Vacationland?
I love Maine and I love being here with Mr. H. When our relationship became serious we talked a lot about where to live. We decided on Maine mostly to be close to his parents. It is so much easier for my parents to travel, they are used to traveling and they have enough money to do so. His parents would have a much harder time coming out to visit us in Chicago. The cost of living here is so much less. The Bar here is friendly and welcoming. I didn't think it would be hard for me to get used to living here. I was kinda wrong.

It's been a huge shock going from the one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world (no. 19, no. 3 in the country) to Maine where the state wide population is only 1.3 million. For example, the City I went to college in had half the population of the Village I grew up in. Sometimes I think even miss traffic jams (I think what I actually miss about the traffic are the regular updates on weather and traffic on WBBM 780.) I miss my high school friends. I miss my family. I miss the variety of life in a big city. I can't get gyros! There's no polish sausage! The Chinese food is weird. There's only one mall and I have to drive half an hour to get to it. There is no Nordstrom.

Winter here never seems to end. In Chicago, there is a real spring and a real summer. Here it's cold all year round and there isn't a real summer where it gets warm. It just winter from December to April and then it's Spring and maybe a day or two of summer and then fall and then winter begins again.

I grew up in a mostly white suburb and went to a mostly white and East Asian school school (me and my sisters were the only black people there until a Nigerian family moved into our school district) but a fair number of people where weren't white and Christian around. Plus the city itself was much more diverse. So being different didn't make me stand out. Here that's not the case and it's kind of weird sometimes (like no one ever shouted the N word at me before I moved here or mistook me for the other black person woman my age in town).

People are generally so nice and friendly that it's scary to someone who's used to polite but aloof city folks. I was used to anonymity because I was just one of ten million or so, here everyone knows everyone. I feel left out sometimes because I don't know everyone and haven't known everyone my whole entire life. Also, here I'm always thinking about how I'm acting and if that's appropriate for a lawyer because my future clients probably see me all the time around town. I can never leave the house in yoga pants unless I am on my way to a yoga class, I can't listen to loud music in my car, I can't really have a really bad day in public, I worry about people talking about the groceries I buy.

So while I like it here, it's been hard sometimes and I kind of feel like I'm on a self imposed exile.

#myrealselfie a la College Prepster

Why Start Blogging?
In law school I read blogs and they looked like fun! So I started blogging in fits and starts in law school. Although, as soon as I could I had a Xanga and LiveJournal so maybe I've been blogging in fits and starts for over ten years.

What's your Name?
So, last spring at my temporary job they hired a new paralegal. That process involved looking at what was public about them on the internet. I realized that if you googled my name you could find my blog. I didn't blog about anything particularly embarrassing or bad. But, I still didn't like the idea of prospective employers or clients finding my blog and reading about my struggles to find a good strapless bra, read about my adventures in cooking, or think that I was obsessed with manicuring my nails. I also wanted to be able to share more personal things that I assume other people struggle with but never talk about because it's sometimes embarrassing (like menstruation).

So I made my old blog private, created a new one with a new email address. Here I only go by eHa. I don't even want to use my first name since you could probably figure out who I am by searching just my first name in the state attorney directory. I mostly just want to keep my professional life mostly separate from my personal life.

If you have any more questions, just leave a comment and I'll answer if I can!

Update: Jennifer/JMO at Crazy Shenanigans asked "Where's one place that you'd love to live if you could live anywhere?"
I would likely move home and live in the town I grew up in on Chicago's North Shore only I'd like to live closer to the lake. I wouldn't want to live in one of the really big old fancy houses right on the lake but it would be so nice to live within walking distance of the beach. I think I'd also be willing to give Cleveland a try.

I can't imagine living any place without seasons so while it would be tempting to say I'd love to live in Florida or California I couldn't do it. I'd also like to live in a more populous area than I live in now. I much prefer the lake to the ocean. I'm also hesitant to live some place where there are a lot of natural disasters. There are hardly any earthquakes in Illinois or in Maine. There are no hurricanes in Illinois and by the time the hurricanes get to Maine they're weak tropical storms that seem less scary than thunderstorms back home. While there are tornadoes in Illinois there aren't many thunderstorms that spawn tornadoes close into the City. There are no tornadoes in Maine. Blizzards don't faze me. I don't like ice storms and freezing though and there are more of that in Maine. I also hate driving on hills in the snow or at night so I'd be happiest back in the Midwest.

White Bean and Vegetable Cream Soup

I put "white bean soup" on our meal plan one week. (I put a lot of soup on our meal plan that week since I was in the clutches of the so called Polar Vortex when I drew it up. But it ended up being abnormally warm the rest of the week.) When I went to make dinner I didn't have a corresponding recipe so this kind of happened. I was  inspired by a recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian White Beans, Tuscan Style in which the beans are seasoned simply with garlic, sage, and black pepper. Mr. H liked it so I thought I'd share the recipe--it's like the ham and potato soup from September except without the ham and potatoes.

I wasn't planning to blog this so my photo is the
left over bit of soup that I ended up having for lunch.
So good, even left over.

White Bean and Vegetable Cream Soup

1 qt. vegetable broth (1qt water + vegetable better than bullion)
1 chopped onion
4 diced carrots
1 c. diced celery (one or two stalks)
1 c. frozen green peas
1 c. dried great northern beans, soaked and drained (or two cans drained beans)
1 t pepper
1 t sage

5 T butter or vegetable oil
5 T all purpose flour
2 c. milk

Combine the first group of ingredients in a stockpot. Bring to a boil. Then simmer for an hour or until beans are tender.

Melt butter or heat oil in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook stirring constantly for two minutes. Slowly whisk in milk and cook for 5 minutes until thick. Stir the milk mixture into the the soup and mix thoroughly.

Note: In soups I like my veggies to be really mushy if you don't like that cook the beans by themselves first for 40 minutes and add the veggies for the remaining 20 minutes. Or use canned beans and just cook everything for 20 minutes. You can use any combination of vegetables you'd like I'd try to keep it to about 5 cups of diced vegetables. I'll likely try using olive oil (I used butter this time) and adding in some garlic next time. Also, I think spinach would be really good in this.

The White Beans, Tuscan Style from Bitmann's
How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
with fresh bread and diced sweet tomatoes