Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Small Christmas Miracle

Steven went to Transportation a week ago and was told it was highly unlikely that we'd get the date for our pack out that we wanted. And that he should have come in a week before, but he couldn't have done that because he didn't have his orders until that week. He kept getting the run around, he was told he had to have orders before his leave form could be signed, but he couldn't get his orders until he had a signed leave form. Thank goodness they finally got their crap together and signed his leave form, or we could still be waiting on that, AND the whole Battalion is on leave until after the 1st of the year. Bullet dodged!

Luckily we got a phone call today saying that they'd be here FRIDAY! Which happens to be the day we wanted!! We are having most of our stuff packed and put in storage until we figure out where we will be headed. But for the time being, it's back to his hometown until he gets a job. Don't know where we will end up, and we don't really have a preference. Just wherever he can get a job.

Now if we could just have Santa come and clean our apartment for us, that'd be a great Christmas Miracle!

Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Changes

With Steven getting out of the Army, and transitioning into the Civilian world, I think it is time to say goodbye to this blog. I have another blog, and I think having 2 blogs kind of burnt me out of blogging. So I'm going to take a break from blogging until the first of the year. If you want to continue to follow me, please do so at my other blog, Life After Placing, I'm not sure what I'll do with this blog. Probably keep it around, just not do anything with it, that way I don't lose the posts.

I want to thank you for following me on our journey, it's been a fun 4 years. I hope everyone has a great Holiday season!


Thursday, November 21, 2013

Dinner Disaster

You ever make something for dinner that just wasn't what you thought it would be?! Well, I made this Tuesday, and it wasn't that great. Now my friend Jane recommended it, and I hope she knows I don't blame her at ALL! As the recipe I made Monday that she shared was a SUCCESS (minus the potatoes I made, which weren't the ones recommended)!

See, I made the Meatball Sub Casserole, and I didn't read the recipe very well, so the frozen meatballs weren't thawed. I also think I should have only used 1/2 the bag of meatballs. I also know Steven doesn't like Cream Cheese or Mayo, but I left the Mayo out. The recipe said to use an ungreased casserole dish, but the bread stuck to the bottom.

So when I make it next time, I'm not going to make the cream cheese/mayo mixture at all. Instead I'll only put Mozzarella on top of the bread, then only use half the meatballs (that I've thawed), then sprinkle more Mozzarella on top of the meatballs. I'll also only cook it for the 30 minutes, I ended up putting in for about 15 more minutes because the cheese didn't look melted enough! Ha!

Chalk this up to lessons learned!! Ha!


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

50-ish Days

Steven and I have made the decision to move to his hometown, in order to save a little money until he does get a new job, and he is officially separated from the Army in February, we are going to leave our apartment a few days before our lease it up (Thank God for the Military clause in our lease!) and move in with his mom. We are so grateful that we have our family to support us.

Steven put a waiver in to try and go either IRR or Reserves, but that was denied, not sure why. But he started ACAP this week and has given his resume to 3 recruiters and is going to be putting a packet in for a job in his hometown. We are hopeful he'll get something soon.

The outpouring of support has been awesome. And we are so grateful for everyone and everything! So thank you!

In a little over 50 days we start a new chapter. And that is both exciting and nerve-racking!



Tuesday, August 27, 2013

House Divided Wreath DIY


I saw a wreath on Pinterest a week or so ago, but it was just a Pin of a picture. No biggie, I found a tutorial for a Fabric Wreath. Gosh I just LOVE Pinterest (follow me!)



So here is how I made the house divided wreath!


I bought 2 yards of black, 1 yard of red & yellow, and 1 yard of UGA and GA Tech prints at JoAnn's, luckily I had some coupons to help with the cost, those stupid Licensed fabrics are $10/yard!

I also bought a wire wreath, I found mine at Hobby Lobby, I bought some wooden ovals (was looking for footballse) but ended up not using them because I remembered I had a house divided garden flag, but no garden to place it in!

*Disclaimer - I bought way too much red & yellow and a little too
much black, and this is what I have left over of everything*

First I cut the black, red & yellow in 2in strips and then cut them again, 6-8in long. After attaching them I realized that the thinner the strips the easier they were to tie, so I cut the UGA & GA Tech in 1 1/2in strips. 


Second, I tied the black all around the wreath, as there is black in both team fabrics.


So I wouldn't put too much of the red or yellow I figured out what half the wreath was, it was quite easy. The wreath was sectioned off in 10 equal parts, so I did 5 yellow and 5 red. I tied a red and yellow on the top and bottom.

This is what it looked like before I put the team fabric.


Since it took so long, and I bought the cheaper Pinking Sheers, I took the weekend off and cut the rest of the fabric yesterday. I have a blister on my middle finger, ouch!!!


I finished this last night while waiting on Steven to get home, which was about 10:30pm, yuck!!


The flag came with a rod and suction cups, we tried to suction it to the door, but we didn't think it would stay, so I took the suction cups off, and put floral wire through the holes in the rod and attached it to the wreath. I then kind of adjusted the flag so both teams were visible. 

And to think, I plan on doing this a couple more times, and soon! HA! 




Thursday, August 15, 2013

Next Steps


We won't find out our official separation date until Steven gets the memo, which knowing the Army's "Hurry up and wait" mentality, could be a few weeks to a few months. Until that we're kind of in limbo. He can't start ACAP until he has that date, and he can't start applying for jobs until he fixes his resume, which he was hoping to get help with when he went through ACAP. He could write his resume now, but it would probably not help him too much since most of his marketable skills are all military related, and he isn't sure how to translate those into the civilian world. It'd kind of be a waste of his time and the other persons time right now.

So for now, he's trying to decide what he wants to do, where he'd want to do it, and how to go about doing it.

My plan, I'll wait til we have a better idea of the region we're going to, and start looking for jobs then. Until then, I'm trying to figure out what it is I want to do as well. I should also work on my resume, it's been a while since I updated mine.

So that's just our next step, for now...

Friday, August 9, 2013

The Clock has started

We found out unofficially on Tuesday and officially on Thursday that Steven was not going to get promoted. This was his second look, and we knew the possibility was there. We also knew what that meant. It means he'll be getting separated from the Army. And with his time in service we fall short for a severance package and extended health care benefits. So the pressure to find jobs is on! We both have to figure out what we want to do, and I think because we haven't set a limitation on the location, we should be alright. He has some resources within the Army that we can use and he should be able to take time if needed to go interview and what not within his last 6 months. We are sad to leave the Army, and we wish it would have been on our terms, however, we are looking forward to what the next chapter will be and ready to tackle all those obstacles. We have both grown and learned so much in the past 4 years and we will take those with us.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

7 Months

So we've been at Fort Jackson for 7 months now, things are pretty good, so I figured I'd make a list of what we've done, and things to come!!

What we've done:

  • We've had 2 birthdays (mine & his)
  • 3 Trips to Dahlonega & Chattanooga, 2 to Atlanta
  • Florida to see my father's side of the family I hadn't seen in over 10 years for my Uncle's 80th birthday
  • We went to Charleston for the 4th of July
  • Myrtle Beach for the day to go to the Ripley's Aquarium
  • Steven went to Charlotte with his father for the Coca-Cola 600
  • I went to Charlotte with Emily for the KNOTB, 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men concert
  • Just started our 3rd cycle of Basic
  • Steven had his wisdom teeth removed
  • My sister came to stay with us
  • We did our first cycle of Clomid, it worked, but unfortunately we didn't get pregnant


What we're going to do:

  • I'm about to take my sister back to Chattanooga, and then we'll go to Daytona Beach with Emily and her daughter
  • Another round of Clomid
  • Finish up this cycle of Basic
  • Hopefully Steven will get promoted (the list comes out next month, we hope)



Friday, May 10, 2013

MilSpouse Day & Weekend Plans

Today is Military Spouse Appreciation Day to my fellow Military Spouses! Hope you have a great day!

We're making our way to Dahlonega today (whenever Steven gets back from doing a few things at work), he is doing a GORUCK Light Challenge in Atlanta tomorrow, so we're going to see his family for a night, and then he'll go to Atlanta, and I'll just chill in Dahlonega. He has to be in Atlanta at 7am, and I don't want to get up that early, so I'll spend the day there.


Friday, May 3, 2013

5QF 5/3/13



That last question, I asked it =P To play along, get the questions and link up here

1. What is your next home improvement goal?
Next week I have professional organizers coming to help unpack and set up the dining room and living room. If we have time, I'm going to have them help with our bedroom and one of our guest rooms. We need HELP!

2. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be? No religious texts (ie Bible, Quran, Torah, etc, etc)...
This is a tough question, I don't think I could pick just one book. Maybe a series, but not a book, and the series I would pick would be either Hunger Games Trilogy or The Twilight Saga, or The Sisterhood Series (by Fern Michaels) (because there are 21 of them! Ha)

3. What is on top of your refrigerator?
Breakfast foods (cereal, pop tarts) and our paper towel holder

4. What are your favorite or most used phone apps?
Favorite & Most Used are basically the same - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Starbucks, Been Together, Big Day, CocoPPa
Games - Fish Out Of Water, What's the Phrase, What's the Word, Ruzzle, Diamond Dash

5. What's the one thing you hate most about your spouses job?

I love my husband's job, and I am so proud to be an Army Wife, but right now, I hate it, I hate that he works until 8pm or later every day, he leaves the house at 5:15 every morning btw, at this point with how little I see my husband he might as well be deployed or in the field for a month. I'm also sick of people not taking care of their responsibilities. Just because you are on the way out of the Army does NOT make it okay to just stop telling people what is going on, and leaving it to my husband to clean up your mess. And that my friends is all I'll say...

Friday, April 26, 2013

5QF 4/26/13


So I told ya'll Monday I was a Menu Planning failure, and I was right, I had a hair appointment Wednesday at 3pm, but the spoiled rich girl before me decided she wanted a full head of highlights instead of a partial like her appointment was made for, and that put my hair lady 45 min behind, so it was nearly 6pm by the time I got out of there. There is a pizza place next door we hadn't tried yet, Village Idiot Pizza, it was really good. Then last night I had picked up Chicken (pecan crusted) from Whole Foods and asparagus but a new friend got free tickets to see Quidam, so now we're doing the chicken and asparagus tonight! See, a total meal planning failure, yet again! Ha!



Welcome to Five Question Friday!! 

Rules for 5QF: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then watch for the linky post to appear Friday morning and LINK UP!

Oh, and remember (pay close attention...this is the important one)...HAVE FUN!

Questions for Friday, April 26th: (Special thanks to Pam (@trooppetrie) from Troop Petrie, Kate (@KatieB38) from ~Kate's Life~, Kristina (@KristinasCackle) from Kristina's Cackles, Lady Ga-Gas (@gasfamily) from The Gas Family, Megan (@megstidbits) from Tidbits from My World for these 5QF question suggestions! I would love to link you in a future 5QF, so follow me on Twitter (@5crookedhalos) and/or like my Facebook page and watch for my Thursday shout out plea for questions! Remember to @5crookedhalos me and use hashtag #5QF if you go the Twitter route!)

1. Who drives when your family is together, you or your spouse?

It depends on which car we take, if we take his car, he drives, if we take my car I drive. It also depends on time of day, I don't like to drive at night, I have a hard time seeing at night. It also depends on where we are going, where we are, and who knows the area better. When we would go visit our families while we lived in Hawaii we would rent a car, and he'd drive in his home town and I drove in mine.

2. Are you an introvert or extrovert?

I tend to be a little of each, I enjoy making friends, and I have a great time when I do hang out with them, but there is really nothing better than spending a night in with a good show, movie or book. Plus I hate big crowds.

3. Are you married to an introvert or extrovert?

I think he's a little of both also.

4. What's your favorite type of social media?

Facebook, I'm a sucker for those games, even though I've kind of taken a break from them.

5. What's your favorite way to "recharge"?

A nap, a good book, a day in away from people, a get away, cuddles with my hubby!





Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Menu Planning Confession





Head on over to Jane or The Young Retiree to link up, 
or find some awesome new recipes or meal ideas!


I have a confession to make, I've been a menu planning failure. The last 2 weeks have been really hectic, and crazy. We've had some family issues that have affected (or is it effected) me and rocked me to the core. The week before last we left for Chattanooga so that threw Thursday and Friday off. We came back on Sunday, and so I moved what we were going to have to Monday & Tuesday. But Tuesday things took a turn, and I just could not cook, physically/emotionally could not cook. So I moved Tuesday's meal to Wednesday. Which then messed up the rest of the week, and then Friday I decided I didn't feel like making Chicken Divan, so I decided to do chicken nuggets and french fries, but the Hubs never came home, so I ate alone. 


Monday: The Hubs had a PT test Tuesday morning, so he likes to eat Pasta the night before. So I made Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti, which I was suppose to make last week, but you know...it was pretty good, aside from the fact that I baked the chicken too long and burnt the bottoms, luckily it was just the bottom, and we could remove the crispy part, and it was fine! 

Tuesday: Filet's wrapped in Bacon. (I found them at Walmart yesterday when I was picking up Monday's dinner) It is one of the Hubs favorite steaks. We are LOVING those Parmesan Potatoes from Foodraf, so I'm going to make those and some fresh green beans.

As for the rest of the week, I'm not sure, but I think I'm going to give menu planning a break...I might be back later this week with what we'll have.



Monday, April 15, 2013

Menu Planning



Head on over to Jane or The Young Retiree to link up, 
or find some awesome new recipes or meal ideas!


*Most of my recipes came from Pinterest, please follow me there to see more delicious recipes and really neat craft projects.*



For those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook know that we had to take an emergency trip to Chattanooga. We were going to leave Thursday, so I gave the marinated Steaks to a neighbor. We ended up leaving Friday due to the bad weather Chattanooga was suppose to get, and that was headed our way, plus the Hubs didn't get out of work until 8pm, so he brought home pizza.

We were extremely lucky he was given Friday off. And I was so glad we were able to go home. My sister really needed me. I'll post about that later though, please continue to pray for us, but now it's time for our menu for the week.


Monday: Chicken Bundles - found this on Pinterest from TidyMom, made them a couple weeks ago, and Hubs really liked them. We'll have a Knorr's Rice Side Chicken Broccoli

Tuesday: (all these are from Pinterest) Bourbon Street Rib-Eye, from All Recipes, Roasted Mushroom Medley from Italian Food Forever, Parmesan Potatoes from Foodraf

Wednesday: Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti and Garlic Bread

Thursday: Hamburger Helper....

Friday: Chicken Divan & Rice



Monday, April 8, 2013

Menu Planning Monday, on Monday, wow....






Head on over to Jane or The Young Retiree to link up, 
or find some awesome new recipes or meal ideas!

*Most of my recipes came from Pinterest, please follow me there to see more delicious recipes and really neat craft projects.*

Monday: Since Hubs was sick Friday I didn't make dinner, so we'll have Spaghetti and Meat sauce and Garlic Cheese bread

Tuesday: Slow Cooker Southwestern 2 Bean Chicken from The Gracious Pantry (another Pinterest find) 
I've modified the recipe since we made it a few weeks ago though. It's just chicken, tomatoes and salsa, black beans and corn. That’s it, in the crock pot for a few hours…it took all of 3 minutes to throw together, maybe 5…

Wednesday: (all these are from Pinterest) Bourbon Street Rib-Eye, from All Recipes, Roasted Mushroom Medley from Italian Food Forever, Parmesan Potatoes from Foodraf


Thursday: Chicken Bundles - found this on Pinterest from TidyMom, made them a couple weeks ago, and Hubs really liked them. We'll have a Knorr's Rice Side Chicken Broccoli


Friday: Red Lobster's Crab Stuffed Mushrooms from Secret Restaurant Recipes (going to use bigger mushrooms), left over Parmesan Potatoes and green beans

Now to make my grocery list and head to the grocery store!



Sunday, April 7, 2013

Low Key Weekends

Hubs came home from work early Friday sick. And the kind of sick I don't do well with. I can't even hear someone on TV throw up, or see it. You know that scene from Breaking Dawn 1, where Bella is throwing up and they show the throw up coming out. Yea, I turned my head, closed my eyes, and now that I have the BluRay I mute it. I just can't deal...But I took care of him the best I could. Went to Walmart, got medicine and saltines and bread. I got back, gave him the medicine and saltines, and it was all downhill from there. He had a headache. So after getting some advice from Mama M on twitter (Thanks btw!), I had him sip small sips of Gatorade every 5 minutes. He kept that down, so I let him take some Tylenol, and boy was that a bad idea. From that point on he didn't eat, drink or take anything. Finally later that night he decided to try Sprite. He hasn't thrown up since. But because we didn't know if he'd throw up again, I slept in the guest bedroom, partly because I can't deal with throw up, but also so I wouldn't get his germs. I sprayed Lysol and washed my hands after I saw him. So far I haven't gotten really sick. I think my stomach was upset just because of dealing with him. He's still not 100% but he's eating and drinking and keeping things down. So yay! And I'm not sick *knock on wood*

He had to work Saturday. They picked up a new cycle of S.I.Ts (Soldiers in Training) Saturday. So he'll be super busy until they graduate June 13!

So needless to say, we didn't do much of anything this weekend. And I hope next weekend we can do a little more. The weather is warming up, so maybe we'll go to the state park or something.

Hope ya'll had a great weekend!

Friday, April 5, 2013

5QF


Welcome to Five Question Friday!! You've come to the right place if you want a fun, easy post to get you through!



Rules for 5QF: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then watch for the linky post to appear Friday morning and LINK UP!

Oh, and remember (pay close attention...this is the important one)...HAVE FUN!

Questions for Friday, April 4th: (Special thanks to Pam (@trooppetrie) from Troop Petrie, Melissa (@Melissa_M80), Brooke (@HallBro) from Brooke and Michael, Kate (@KatieB38) from ~Kate's Life~, and little ol' moi for these 5QF question suggestions! I would love to link you in a future 5QF, so follow me on Twitter (@5crookedhalos) and/or like my Facebook page and watch for my Thursday shout out plea for questions! Remember to @5crookedhalos me and use hashtag #5QF if you go the Twitter route!)

1. Would you go to your high school reunion?
My 10 year is this summer, and I'd like to go, but I don't want to go alone, I'd like my husband to go with  me, but with his new job, it's hard to plan things, and since we don't have an exact date it makes it harder. Sure there are people I could care less to see, but there are some I'd love to see. Every time I'm in town I'm so busy with family, and we're usually not there long enough to meet up with everyone. I don't think it's a surprise to anyone when they hear I hated my high school, until senior year.

2. What's something that you've recently splurged on; either for yourself or someone else?
I fixed the damage on my car. I used part of our tax return, and went through the insurance, so it wouldn't cost us a whole lot, and I had 3 things fixed, 2 of which went through insurance, the other was under our deductible and won't count against us. And we have accident forgiveness, and since we've been long term customers the second claim shouldn't raise our premiums too much.

3. How do you handle your child's fever?
Don't have kids yet, so I don't have any clue! Haha!

4. What's the nicest thing to happen to you lately?
We went to Florida to see some of my family that I haven't seen in 10+ years. Got to spend the weekend down there, and my husband got to meet them for the first time.

We took a day trip to Myrtle Beach, got to eat at Joe's Crab Shack, go to the Ripley's Aquarium and eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. We will definitely be going back for longer. There was so much to do, and it'll be neat to go when it's warmer, it was pretty cold to be at the beach!

Another neat thing, on twitter, Josh Wolf (@joshwolfcomedy), a comedian from Chelsea Lately, replied twice to a couple tweets I replied/retweeted. He is seriously one of my favorites from Chelsea Lately, I've always thought he was cute, and he likes the Red Sox, and I'm reading his book right now, and it's making me like him even more. Seriously, check out his book - It Takes Balls - Dating Single Moms and Other Confessions from an Unprepared Single Dad


5. What is your current favorite song?


and





Wednesday, April 3, 2013

1 Year Ago


April 1 marked 2 years since Steven left for Afghanistan, and today marks a year that he's been home!!


Waiting for them to get there, I am NOT good at waiting!
 Things have been good since he's been home. We stayed in Hawaii for about 8 months after he got back, and now we're in South Carolina. And hopefully he won't deploy again, at least not for a really long time. Right now he's in a job that is non-deployable, and hopefully in August we'll find out if we're going to Oklahoma, where he'll be non-deployable for at least 6 months.

That first hug was AMAZING!
The deployment wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. But I think it helped that I worked the whole time he was gone! And I had some awesome friends! And we didn't have kids. So I only had to worry about me, and how I was feeling, rather than how my kids were handling their father being gone. Sure I had my moments, and I absolutely missed my husband more than anything. But I went into the marriage knowing this was something that was going to happen. Sure that doesn't make it any easier to deal with, but it keeps you in check when you start to feel sorry for yourself, and complain about it. I knew what I was getting into, and I agreed to this lifestyle. And this lifestyle is not for everyone!

He's home! And my awesome decorations!

 I made some amazing friends while he was gone. We had so many awesome get togethers, and girls nights, and dinners, and just hanging out. People I could go to if I got overwhelmed, people who wouldn't let me get overwhelmed! I sure do miss my ladies! I have met a few ladies here, but none of them have compared to the ones I met in Hawaii. I think they set the bar way too high!! I do like the ladies I've met here, and I look forward to getting to know them better, and meeting more!

Had to get a picture with the sign I made!

I'm really looking forward to what the next year will bring. And I'm sure whatever it is, we'll come through it with flying colors, like we did the deployment. And the move.



Thanks again to Taylor at Nine3Oh Creative (or her FB page

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Menu Planning Monday (on Tuesday)



Well, Tuesday, because I've been in a Dinner rut...so head on over to Jane or The Young Retiree to link up, or find some awesome new recipes or meal ideas!

Monday - We got KFC, cheap, easy, yummy

Tuesday - Steak, Mushrooms(found the recipe on Pinterest) and Mashed Red Potatoes - *breaking news - we did NOT have corn with mashed potatoes, which has always been something I've had to do*

Wednesday - Chili - my dear friend Lisa gave me her recipe, and I tweaked it for us, and it is now our favorite crock pot meal

Thursday - Garlic Chicken & Potatoes(found the recipe on Land O Lakes website, using their Saute Express butters) Except I'll buy the potato and green beans from Green Giant, LOL...
Friday - Spaghetti and Meat sauce and Garlic Cheese bread



Sunday, March 31, 2013

Debuting the new design

When I moved to Hawaii I got involved with a local chapter of my sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta. There was a chapter at the University of Hawaii. I met a few ladies through that.

One was Jane. Turns out she lived down the street from me and her husband was also in the Army. Jane and I got to know each other, I regret we didn't get to hang out nearly enough, I tend to be a really bad friend sometimes. But she just started a new design business. I saw some of her work, and LOVED it! Seriously, everything she has done has been AMAZING! So I asked her to make a new design for me since we moved and I needed to change the Header.

 So, if you need a new design for you blog, please consider Jane!

 She also did my twitter - and I love that too!

   



 

Thursday, March 28, 2013

What’s Up?

First, Husband and I went to Florida this weekend, I wrote all about it on my other blog, Life After Placing, click on over to read about it. Figure that’ll be easier than typing it all up again!

Second, Jane at Jane Whitney Designs is working on a new look for this here ole blog! Check out her work, it’s all really great. And I’m not just saying that because she’s an awesome friend of mine. Seriously, I haven’t seen a design from her I don’t like!

So, Emily and Kynlee came to visit, and we went to the Zoo. We had a ton of fun! We also had a little early Easter Egg Hunt. Husband hid the eggs for Kynlee and we hid them for Husband!

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These are just two of my favorite pictures from the zoo! Love this little girl with ALL my heart! Super proud Aunt!

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This was right after they got here, Kynlee was not in a good mood. She doesn’t really like Husband, she’s really shy around him, plus we woke her up from a nap, but this is typical Mandi & Emily!

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Not the greatest pictures, and for that I’m sorry, this is Kynlee looking for her eggs!

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This is Husband looking for his eggs, and Kynlee helping him, she was so cute. Again, these aren’t the best, I guess since it was dark outside.

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So this picture is sweet, because Kynlee came over to me, and gave me a kiss from her
Easter basket and told me I couldn’t eat it until I missed her!

Friday, March 15, 2013

Busy Bees

The next 2 weekends are going to be BUSY! Plus next week is going to be crazy for the hubs as it will be the final week of this cycle!

This weekend Emily & Kynlee (best friend and her cute daughter) will be here! They’re coming Saturday evening, so I have an awesome day all planned out. It’s going to be in the 70’s this weekend, actually my phone weather app says the high is 79 for Saturday and Sunday, but it’s 46 right now, and has been for a couple days, this weather is seriously bipolar, and I’m so ready for summer…Anyways, since the weather is suppose to be AWESOME, and the hubs has been wanting to go to the zoo since we moved here, I figured we’d go. I know Kynlee will LOVE it! I went to the zoo a few weeks ago, it is huge and only got to see 1/3rd of the zoo, seriously, not even exaggerating. They even have a botanical garden. It’s Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC, and they were just ranked 4th in the U.S. by Tripadvisor! They have a ton of interactive exhibits and fun things to do. My favorite, of the few we saw when I went, was the Kangaroo exhibit, you get to walk through their exhibit. The hubs is excited to see the Komodo dragons! Other than the zoo, I’m not sure what we’ll do, I think that’ll be an all day adventure, so we’ll see!

Then the next weekend we’re going to get to see my father and grandparents, along with, hopefully, most of my father’s side of the family. We have been planning to see my father and grandparents since before we left Hawaii because we weren’t going to be able to see them over Christmas. So it just happened to work out that there will be a family reunion in Florida for one of my Uncle’s 80th birthdays. I can’t remember the last time I saw some of these family members. It has to have been at least 10 years. So I’m so excited to see them, and for them to meet the hubs! Cannot wait! We will only be able to go down for 3 days, because the hubs starts some class on Monday (I’m sure he’s told me what type of class, but I seriously can’t remember)

Now I need to finish getting things ready for Emily & Kynlee!

Indecisive much

I'm so indecisive that this new blog name is just not doing it for me. I just don't have any clue as to what to rename it. Seriously, I can't redo the blog design until I figure out a new name. So if you have suggestions, I'm open. And hopefully I'll have a new name soon, and a new design as well.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Trying New Things

I’ve started getting creative for dinners, I’m kind of tired of the same ole things every week. And a friend of mine, Jane, loves menu planning, so I’ve started doing that. I went on Pinterest and found a few recipes that I’d like to try. Plus we got a new crock pot with the Christmas money my grandparents in VA gave us to Kohl's (and we earned Kohl’s cash to buy a new deep fryer, so win win!) I’d been using, and will continue to use, the crock pot the LT’s grandmother gave us. But this one is bigger, and I can make more in it, and then we have lunch the next few days! So here is what we’ve had for dinner this week, and will have the rest of the week (because well it’s Thursday after all…)

Monday: Honestly, I cannot remember what we had, LOL

Tuesday: Crockpot Beef Stew from laaloosh.com (I found it on pinterest)
It was really good, I left out the black beans, because I only bought one can and that was for another recipe. I think next time I’ll use different meat, or more. And I’ll put a smaller can of green peas (because I hate them, and the LT loves them!) I had gotten a bag of frozen soup veggies a few weeks ago, and added those as well, it was carrots, potatoes, onions and celery.

Wednesday: We cheated, and had fast food, I know, I know, horrible…but I didn’t feel like cooking nor did I have time to since I unexpectedly had to baby sit.

Thursday: Clean Eating Slow Cooker Southwestern 2 Bean Chicken from The Gracious Pantry (another Pinterest find)
I don’t think my version is very “clean eating” as I’m not using organic ingredients. But it’s chicken, tomatoes and salsa, Kidney & Black beans and corn. That’s it, in the crock pot for a few hours…it took all of 3 minutes to throw together, maybe 5…

Friday: Poppy seed Chicken, we use to eat it at my dads house, and I found a recipe on, you guessed it, Pinterest. The recipe can be found at Cupcake Diaries, and she calls it Ritz Cracker Chicken.

This weekend I’m not sure what we’ll make, since we cheated Wednesday I have stuff to make Chili, so I might make it. I also have chicken and ground beef I can use. And then I’ll plan the next weeks menu. It seems to help to plan out what we’re going to eat. And I think I might just document it at the beginning of the week instead of the end of the week. Makes more sense that way anyways!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

The Negs Relaxin’ at Jackson

Not really sure about the new name, for now I’ll leave it. I decided on the name because Fort Jackson is known as “Relaxin’ Jackson” and I thought a play on it would be cute. I also thought it would be funny because the LT hasn’t done much “relaxing” since he started working.

I’m not sold on the name, let me know what you think.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

New name

I really need to think of a new name for this blog now that we are no longer in Hawaii.

That's right folks, you read correctly. We PCS'd! We are now at Fort Jackson in South Carolina!

The LT is working in a Basic Training unit as the Company XO. Works 6 days a week. And one week a cycle he gets to go to the field. For a whole week.

We left Hawaii Dec 17, landing in Columbia, SC on the 18th. Rented a car and drove to our apartment, signed the lease and moved the few things into our place. We had 5 suit cases and 3 boxes that we checked on the plane. Along with 2 carry ons each and a blanket. We then drove to Charleston and got the LT's car and drove back and turned in the rental.

Three days later we headed to Dahlonega to see his family, then to Atlanta for Christmas, then Chattanooga to see mine, back to Dahlonega and finally arriving back in Columbia just in time to relax a few days before the LT had to report.

Our HHGs got here shortly after he reported. And he was granted permissive TDY to take care of that. My car also showed up! So now we have the fun task of unpacking. Which I have had zero motivation to do. Needless to say both our guest rooms aren't even remotely close to being ready for visitors. One of them we couldn't even get into if we wanted too. But that's what happens when you go from a house to an apartment. Now to just get motivation!

We had so much trouble getting my car registered. And then getting the LT's straightened out. And USAA didn't change over our insurance policies in the computer or was still reporting to Hawaii so we got a notice his registration was going to be suspended. And we'd owe them even more money. Luckily USAA fixed it and we did not owe money. Now we are needing to get his title figured out. It has seriously been the most stressful PCS ever.

Anyways, that's what's going on with us now. And I am trying to come up with a new blog name. I am taking suggestions.


 
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