Who Can It Be Now?

Why...it's PVT Murphy of course!!

Why wouldn't he rear his ugly head already??

I mean, The Hubble had been gone for a bit under a week when PVT Murphy decided to make his appearance.

I don't know why...but I thought I had a bit more time. 

Shouldn't The Hubble at least be deployed before something happens?

Apparently not.

Let me tell you about my day that day.

I invited my niece to come hang out with Little Butt and me for the day. We were going to work on my Daring Bakers challenge. My niece loves to cook and bake like I do and she's never really had a role model for it so I thought I could start cooking/baking with her to help her learn some techniques.

We were hanging out and I noticed that my Little Niecelet (my niece's daughter) had disappeared. She was found in the computer room/library. So my niece and I started closing the doors that Little Niecelet shouldn't go into. 

I went to close my bedroom door and somehow...I have no idea how this happened...I kicked the side/bottom corner of the door with my little toe. The whole thing is kind of vague for me. 

All I know is that all of a sudden there was excruciating pain and numbness all at the same time. I watched as my toe began to swell to twice the original size. 

I had shooting pains up through my foot and it burned and was numb...it was really weird. My niece got me some ice but it hurt way too badly to keep the ice on. 

I was on the verge of tears and thought for sure that maybe I had broken it.

It finally calmed down a bit but still hurt to put any weight on it. 

And what was worse...it's my driving foot.

So here I was...7 months pregnant, with a 4 year old, no husband and now I broke a toe on my driver's foot. Great!

Later that night, I realized there was a pretty nice bruise in between the last two toes:

(Please forgive my horrible pedicure in these pictures, I was supposed to go get my feet done the following weekend).

Even later that night, I realized that the bruise had extended to the top of the foot above those two toes.

(The bruise is a bit hard to see in the picture but if you look closely you can see discoloration)

The bruising has reduced significantly, as has the pain. It still hurts when I move it a certain way or put pressure on it in the wrong spot.

I did go to the ER the next day (only because my family insisted) and they didn't even take an x-ray. So I still don't know if I broke it or just jammed it really good. 

Either way, the only thing they would be able to do would be to buddy wrap the two toes. They did that. And let me tell you...it helped tremendously.

Also, I wasn't sure if I could drive, but my JerBear suggested I get in the car with it off and try to press the peddles. It worked! So now things aren't so bad.

But it just figures that something like this would happen as soon as The Hubble is a thousand or more miles away.

Such is life as a military wife. And I know you all know what I'm talking about!

Menu Planning Monday Week 2

It's time for Menu Planning Monday again!!

Each week, I sit down and look through blog posts, cookbooks and magazines to come up with our menu for the week. I actually find this to be therapeutic and I just love it.

I know most of us cook and we love to share recipes. I've seen some of you do Tasty Tuesdays, recipes of the week and others just post recipes randomly.

I don't care what you call your recipe sharing day, but do tell others about this link up so we can all share and enjoy our favorite recipes with each other.

This week I'm sharing a "family" recipe. The Hubble's mom makes THE best enchilada casserole I've ever had and I feel privileged that she shared it with me. 

Now I get to share it with you! So here you go!

Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 3 cans chopped green chiles
• 1 can Las Palmas green enchilada sauce
• 4 cups shredded cheese
• 18 corn tortillas
• onion, diced (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cook chicken in boiling water until white all the way through; about 20 minutes. 
3. Shred chicken; add cream of chicken soup, green chiles and onion (optional)
4. Pour enchilada sauce into shallow bowl; coat tortillas.
5. Layer sauce smothered tortillas in even layer covering the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan.
6. Cover tortillas evenly with 1/3 of chicken mixture; sprinkle 1/3 shredded cheese evenly over chicken mixture. Repeat process until you have 3 layers; ending with cheese layer.
7. Cook in oven for 45 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling.
8. Serve and enjoy!

If you would like to view step by step photos of the making of this recipe, go HERE.

Now you get to link up! Enjoy!!

It's Nights Like This

The other night, I got super excited because I took the trash out.

It's not just that I took the trash out. But I took it out on my own. (Well, technically my older sister was with me when I walked it down to the curb).

Later that night, The Hubble called me and we started chatting. I got super excited and was about to tell him about me taking the trash down to the curb when it hit me...

The last time the trash was taken out, he took it. It's been a week. It's only been a week. How the Hell can it only have been a week???

See...The Hubble moved Little Butt and me down here to Texas because he had to go play Army. He has now been gone for a little over a week.

I know that's just a drop in the bucket. And I think that's the problem....it's just a drop in the bucket.

We will see The Hubble for a total of 3 weeks (and that's being optimistic) over the next 16 months.

And it's only been a week.

The one good thing is that I've been able to talk to him every day. But that will change come October/November. Then it goes back to that whole "not knowing if I'll ever see or hear from him again" thing.

But anyway...the point to this post was to talk about nighttime.

I've decided I hate nighttime now.

I seem to keep staying up until somewhere between 1am-2am now. I don't want to go to sleep.

My most hated part of the day or night is right after I put Little Butt to bed.

That's when I start turning things off and thinking about washing up and heading to bed...alone.

And it doesn't help that I'm super paranoid. Every noise makes me nervous and jumpy. Some nights I walk through the house, holding a weapon, checking all the locks on the doors and windows. But of course it's not enough to check them once. No...I have to check them several times throughout the course of the night.

Usually it's worse the first few nights The Hubble is gone. I know it gets better.

But right now...

It's only been a week.

Ringtone Fun: Song of the Week

I don't know about you...but whenever I read through blogs for a while, I tend to feel as though I know the people that I'm reading about.

I mean, I know you guys to a certain extent, and you know me.

But there are certain little everyday things that we don't know or see about one another.

So...for the song of the week, I thought I would post my current ringtone.

So far, this is my favorite ringtone I've had yet and sometimes I don't even want to answer the phone because I just want to listen to the song.

But alas, I force myself to answer.

So, now you can know a bit more about me. Here's my ringtone.

The portion that I hear every time my phone rings is the first two lines of the song. I love it so much! Of course, I love the song itself.

Wordless Wednesday: The Sassypants and Fun at DQ Edition

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Before we left Missouri, the weather started getting slightly nicer. So on a particularly lovely night, we decided to jump in the car and head to Dairy Queen. But naturally, The Hubble and Little Butt had to have some camera fun before we left. (Then I took over at DQ)

Mom's Day 2011 Weekend Recap

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Please don't yell at me! I know this post is super duper late...like a couple weeks right?? 

But better late than never??

At least I'm finally getting around to it.

Mom's Day over here was kind of more like a weekend. 

Saturday, we were invited out to a small town called Taylor, TX. We have some friends who live out there and the town was having their annual street fair. We thought it sounded like a grand time so we jumped at the chance to go. 

We went and picked up our friends and headed over to Main street. We bought some tickets for Little Butt. 

First stop! The pony rides! 

Every girl should ride a pony at some point in their lives right?? Little Butt loved animals and she had a freaking blast on this pony. And yes...this is the exact one she chose.

She had this huge smile plastered on her face for the entire ride! It was really adorable. She was in her own little heaven right there.

After the pony ride, it was into the little animal petting area. They had ducks, goats, sheep, potbellied pics and a resting pony. At first Little Butt didn't quite know what to do. She was a little timid.

She saw the pony in the back corner. She approached and sized up her prey...

Then she moved in for the kill.

Success!!! All was well until...

She was ambushed when she lost situational awareness. Way to NOT secure the perimeter Daddy!

But Little Butt and her opponent quickly sized each other up and came to a truce. All was well. So it was time to move on.

At this point, it was time to procure food! Meat, dipped in batter, fried and eaten from a stick was absolutely on the menu. She loved it and ate almost the entire thing (Daddy ate the rest). After lunch, we ate the most amazing Italian ice EVER! The Hubble and I both chose cherry and blueberry while little butt got blueberry and watermelon. (I may or may not have sent The Hubble back to get me another one after we had made it back to our friend's house. What?? I'm pregnant. What can I do??)

After we ate we made our way over to the jumping balloon area. Little Butt, of course, wanted to go on the biggest slide in all the land. This slide had to have been a couple stories high. She swiftly climbed the stairs, reached the top, looked down the slide and started crying. She refused to slide down the slide and just stood there screaming while other kids passed her by. 


I would have had sympathy for her if I didn't know her better. She is a daredevil of a kid and I knew if she just went down once she would be hooked. The nice girl who was taking tickets went up to slide down with Little Butt. (We tried to convince the girl to just push the kid down the slide but she didn't feel right about that. Blah!)


So Little Butt and the girl went down the slide. At the bottom, Little Butt's first response was "I want to do it again!" 

So they went up and slid down again...

And again. By this point we figured we would leave the poor girl alone so we went to find something a bit more fit for Little Butt's size.

And we did! We found one that was perfect for her! She jumped and played in this jump house for quite some time.

Then we finished our time at the street fair with a train ride for Little Butt. 


She had an absolutely blast there. Us adults had fun too...except for me afterward when I realized I had the worst sunburn I've ever had in my life!

We went back to our friend's house. The Hubble and Little Butt took off to get us some dunch (dinner/lunch) and he brought me home an edible arrangement bouquet!! Woohoo! I've only been wanting one for about 4 years. But hey...better late then never right?? The fruit was so juicy and delicious.

And naturally, Little Butt went for a chocolate covered strawberry before anything else.

A face only a mother could love...LOL!!


Saturday came to a close shortly thereafter.


On Sunday, Mother's Day, the day I was supposed to rest and do nothing...I decided to host a brunch for my mom, older and younger sisters and my niece. 


The spread was amazing and everyone was super full. We ended up inviting the Dad's over as well and we played games all day then ordered pizza for dinner that night. It was super fun, but I was exhausted by the end of the whole thing.


So that's my Mom's Day extravaganza in a nutshell. 


Did you do anything to celebrate Mother's Day? Either for yourself or your own mom?


Thanks for bearing with me through this long post!

Menu Planning Monday Week 1

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Each week, I sit down and look through blog posts, cookbooks and magazines to come up with our menu for the week.

We don't tend to set each meal to a certain day, but meal/menu planning makes grocery shopping (and my cooking schedule) a lot more manageable. 

I actually find this to be therapeutic and I just love it.

This past week, I was having trouble finding inspiration (it's hard to want to cook when it's just me and Little Butt) so I went to Twitter. Luckily, my Twitter friends really came through for me and saved my weekly menu!

I realized at that moment that it was mostly milspouses who were coming to my rescue. 

I know most of us cook and we love to share recipes. I've seen some of you do Tasty Tuesdays, recipes of the week and others just post recipes randomly.

I got to thinking, wondering if anyone else does this menu planning thing that I do. Again, Twitter says yes.

So...I thought, what if we all had a place where we can link up a great recipe to share with one another. When it's time to sit down and plan our weekly menus, we just hop over to one place and peruse through the suggestions of our friends and peers. 

So I came up with this linky. 

I don't know if any of you will participate, but the link will be up all week long. If you make your menus on the weekend, by the end of the week, hopefully there will be a lot of options to choose from.

I don't care what you call your recipe sharing day, but do tell others about this link up so we can all share and enjoy our favorite recipes with each other. 

Here's my contribution for this week:

Sweet Apple and Onion Stuffed Pork Chops

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless pork tenderloin chops, at least 1 1/2-2 inches thick
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium apple, diced (I used a red apple)
• 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 cup bread crumbs (I used Italian style)
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used Vermont Sharp Cheddar)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Add the diced onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the diced apple and saute until tender, about 3 minutes.
4. In a medium mixing bowl, melt the butter then add the bread crumbs and toss to coat.
5. To the bread crumb mixture, mix in the onion and apple.
6. Add the shredded cheese and mix to thoroughly combine.
7. Slice the pork chops lengthwise leaving about 1/2 an inch on one side still in tact. 
8. Stuff pork chops with bread crumb mixture. Secure with toothpicks
9. Spray each side of the pork chops with nonstick cooking spray and season with salt and pepper.
10. Grill the pork chops (or cook on a skillet) until the juices run clear, about 20-25 minutes.
11. Remove from the grill and let rest about 5 minutes. 
12. Remove toothpicks.
13. Serve and enjoy!!

This is seriously one of the best meals I've ever thrown together. 

I hope you all enjoy this new linky and that it's helpful! So link up and spread the word baby!! Enjoy!!!

Book Review: Cleaving by Julie Powell

Title: Cleaving

Author: Julie Powell

Publication Date: November 2010

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

Pages: 336

ISBN: 9780316003377

This review is my opinion and I have not been compensated for it in any way.


Goodreads Synopsis:


Julie Powell thought cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking was the craziest thing she'd ever do--until she embarked on the voyage recounted in her new memoir, CLEAVING. 


Her marriage challenged by an insane, irresistible love affair, Julie decides to leave town and immerse herself in a new obsession: butchery. She finds her way to Fleischer's, a butcher shop where she buries herself in the details of food. She learns how to break down a side of beef and French a rack of ribs--tough, physical work that only sometimes distracts her from thoughts of afternoon trysts. 


The camaraderie at Fleischer's leads Julie to search out fellow butchers around the world--from South America to Europe to Africa. At the end of her odyssey, she has learned a new art and perhaps even mastered her unruly heart.

My Thoughts:

Like many others, I fell in love with Julie Powell when I read Julie & Julia, her memoir detailing her ups and downs while cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I loved the book so much that I saw the movie when it came out in theaters. I now own the movie and watch it regularly. 

Julie Powell's first book is the one that inspired me to start cooking, and actually enjoying it. That book earned a spot on my bookshelf of "books that have inspired and shaped me as a person and a reader."

So it wasn't a surprise that I was curious about her second book. The topic (the art of butchery) was not incredibly appealing to me. Neither was the idea that she had an affair. But, I found the book half price at a Borders store closing sale and picked it up. 

With all that being said...I have to now say that I was less than impressed with this book. In fact, I'm downright angry that I wasted so much time on it. 

In the beginning (like the first 30 pages) I thought the whole thing was kind of interesting. Reading about the ins and outs of butchery was fascinating (at first). But that didn't last long. It got old.

Especially because what the book is really about is her 2 year affair and her subsequent obsession with the guy. Her and her husband, Eric, were stepping out on each other throughout the book and it had nothing to do with the art of butchery.

I tried, I tried desperately to find some correlation between the two parts of the story. The only thing I was able to gather was that she was not only trying to distract herself and her readers from her whoring around and let me tell you...it doesn't work! It doesn't distract her or us!

After her and D, her lover, break up she still text messages, calls, writes letters, sends gifts and is all around creepy. She starts sleeping with random people in dark hallways. THEN she decides she has to travel through Argentina, Africa and other various places.

At first, I could understand. I have someone in my past who was able to control my thoughts and actions. He was able to get under my skin and make me do things I wouldn't normally do. He even came into my life within the last few years and made me question certain choices in my life, i.e. my marriage. However, for me, my love for my husband was so strong that I was not tempted away from him. This guy's control over me was over. For Julie Powell, unfortunately, she had not severed those ties yet.

What bothered me the most though is that there is no real resolution to any of this at the end of the book. That is what made me angry. I was just mildly annoyed before the end of the book.

I have a problem with weak individuals and this book made me think of her as weak. So...I'm choosing to TRY to forget I ever read this book and only think of Julie Powell as cute little Amy Adams in the movie Julie & Julia.

If I were you, I would pass this book up. Don't read it. Don't be tempted. Just walk away. It's not worth it.

I give this book 1 star and would give it negative stars if I could. Blah. Time to move on!

A Confession and My Song of the Week

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I have a confession to make (besides the fact that I didn't realize that it's Thursday and I almost missed the song linky this week). 


Yes...you may judge me.


Yes...you may unfollow me. 


You may even pretend to have never heard of me before.


I'm okay with all of this. I need to get this off my chest.


Okay...


Ready...


Here goes....


I...


Oh gosh....Just say it!!


I watch American Idol!!!


Phew.


I feel so much better.


Judge away! 


I've never been into American Idol that much. I never watched it when it first came on. It just didn't appeal to me.


When I was visiting my father a couple years ago, he had several episodes on his DVR and I ended up watching them with him. 


But, you know how you start a show and you start to feel for the people on it, then you have to know what's going to happen???


Yeah...that was me. I ended up going home and setting my DVR to record the show as well.


I watched the season that David Cook won (love him!) and the one that Adam Lambert DIDN'T win (hate him!).


Then the show just fell off the radar for me. 


Until this season. I was very curious about Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler being judges. So I started watching again.


I have to say, I think there has been some amazing talent on this show this season. (Although I'm disappointed in the top 3)


Anyway...


A couple weeks ago, Haley Reinhart sang a song I had never heard before. 


Let me tell you...I was completely blown away by this song! I loved it and haven't been able to get it out of my head ever since.


I was pleasantly surprised when we were over at a friend's house and he had the original (and some other versions) in his collection! And come to find out, he had gifted the song to The Hubble several years ago. Score!!


So now, I have the song and I can listen to it all the time. 


And because I love the song so much, I thought I would share it for this week's song linky party. And don't forget, if you want to participate in the fun, head over to Goodnight Moon and link up your song of the week!


Now, without further ado...here is my song!

Wordless Wednesday: The Hallway Photo Shoot Edition

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Sorry I've been absent the last few days. Little Butt and I were spending some quality time with The Hubble before he was to leave. Thanks for hanging in there and waiting for us!

Now...on to the show!!

This is what happens when I take ONE picture of Little Butt...suddenly we are in the middle of an impromptu photo shoot (at her demand).

Little Butt's 4th Birthday and Her Current Song

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Okay...

Now that we are a bit more settled around here, I can finally write Little Butt's 4th birthday post!

I can't believe my baby girl is getting so big.

It's crazy to see her doing things on her own (even though she's always been insanely independent).

She is just this little person now. We have these conversations that just blow my mind.

And though her birthday is about a month in our rear view, I'm finally getting around to writing her birthday post. But you were on the edge of your seat waiting to see the cake I made right?? LOL!

So here's how things went down.

On her actual birthday we took some cupcakes and juice boxes to her daycare for all her friends to enjoy. We took her to lunch at her favorite Missouri restaurant, Bulgogi House, and we gave her Tangled on DVD that day.

We had planned to do a swim party the weekend after her birthday (right before we were supposed to move) but we procrastinated too long called too late and the indoor pool in the area was already booked up.

So, naturally, I went to Facebook and asked if anyone had any Plan B's lying around that they weren't using.
A friend of mine came to our rescue with Kindermusik! This friend is a Kindermusik teacher and she did birthday parties. AWESOME!

She even made the theme of the music dinosaur themed (Little Butt LOVES dinosaurs). I'm so grateful because all the kids had a great time with this.

There was dancing, singing and musical instrument playing.

They played with a big tarp. They were supposed to move it up and down and pull it over their heads at certain points in the song...

But Little Butt ran into the center, underneath the tarp whenever everyone came down. She freaking loved it!

However, every time it was supposed to get back up, they had to stop so she could get the handles of her side back in her little hands. Oh well...she had a blast!

After the Kindermusik fun, it was time for cake!

Are you ready to see the cake that took me about 2 days to make??

There it is! Crazy right?? The "grass" is a funfetti box cake. And the dinosaur body is a ginger lime poundcake.

Look how happy the little dinosaur is!

And Little Butt definitely loved her cake. So did everyone else!

After cake, it was present time. She got some clothes, a MobiGo and a bunch of dinosaurs.

All in all, I would say she was pretty excited about her birthday celebrations. She didn't even miss the pool. And all the dinosaurs she got were just awesome for her!

And seeing as how this is Little Butt's birthday post, I thought for today's song link up I would share Little Butt's current favorite song. (And yes, she requests this song every time we get in the car and she sings it throughout the day)

Don't forget...if you want to participate in the song link ups, head over to Goodnight Moon and have fun!

Okay. Here's my girl's song: