A new year a new life!! (Jan 09)

In March 1999 I left for Basic Military Training for the Air Force. I flew to San Antonio and started my six week adventure. In April when I graduated, I was sent to Witchita Falls, TX for my training school. In June I was lucky enough to get stationed in Panama City, FL! When I arrived there and started my career in the Air Force, I never knew it would lead me to where I am now. I joined the AF to earn money for college so I enrolled in college shortly after arriving in FL. I thought I would get my bachelor's degree quickly and then get out of the AF. Boy was I wrong...

As time passed, I enjoyed the AF and decided I would probably make it a career. I took some time off school after earning my AS degree and had two wonderful children. In Octoer 2005 I went back to school to start on my BS. All along, I intended on making the AF a career and had hopes of applying and getting accepted to Officer Training School. In November 2006 everything changed....

I was deployed to Iraq and had to leave my beautiful boys behind with their dad...who I was now separated from (marriage and distance). It was there that I met a great mentor who guided me in the break up of my marriage. He told me to try and work it out for the kids but, if it wasn't working or I was happy, "have the courage to walk away." I returned from Iraq in April 2007 and tried to make my marriage work. It was probably only a few days home that I realized it wasn't working. I had some major life decisions to make...

My major decision was to leave my husband and start a life on my own for myself and my boys. It wasn't fair to them to see Mommy and Daddy unhappy. After this change, living on my own, and thinking about being a single mom again, I decided the AF was just not right for me anymore. I worried so much about their dad, who remained in the AF, getting a job somewhere else and moving. If I was active duty too, I wouldn't be able to just pick up and move to keep the kids together with their dad and me. Plus, what if I was relocated and the same situation happend. So, I made the decision to get out....

All of that lead to Jan 1st 2009. This was my first day of terminal leave...which is using all the earned leave you had saved. My last day working on active duty was December 31st. I couldn't believe how perfectly it worked out that my first day as a "civilian" was Jan 1st. This is what I called a new year and a new life. I was not officially a civilian until February 22nd but, I did not put my uniform on again after December 31st. I sat at home and waited for job offers. Who would have known 2009 would have brought so many changes....

Continue to read my blog for the next few weeks to learn more about my "new year and new life"....

My quest to empty my pantry...

Over the last six weeks, I have decided that I needed to empty my pantry and fridge in preparation for moving. (The moving story will come in another blog later). The movers won't move food or liquid so I am trying to get rid of as much as I can so that I don't have to be the one to move it. Plus, I know that it saves money in the long run.

I went to the grocery store on Aug 2nd and picked up a few things that I needed to last me through the weekend because we were leaving the next weekend to take the boys to Alabama to their dad's house. I think I spent only about $30. When I returned home on Sunday, I decided I was going to "boycott" the grocery store since the boys weren't around for me to constantly need food and I could survive feeding myself with the things still in the fridge/freezer and pantry. So, my quest began...

Several weeks went by and I still didn't visit the store. I was able to make so many different recipes just with the things I had in my pantry. I made Chickpea and Black Bean soup, a chicken and pasta recipe, creamed spinach, and MUCH more! Many of the recipes I didn't have all of the ingredients but I was able to substitute for some things. For example, I didn't have fresh tomatoes so I used a can of diced tomatoes. I didn't have penne so I used rigatoni. I didn't have hamburger so I used ground turkey. Things were flying out of my pantry left and right! I ran out of eggs, milk, bread, and other essentials. I was finding that I needed one or two items in order to make a meal. So, I jotted down the things I would need in order to use up other items in my pantry. My list only made it to about 8 items. I was soooo thrilled! But, I didn't want to go to the store. It almost became a quest to see how long I could survive without purchasing groceries. But.....

Labor Day weekend was around the corner and I decided I was going to host a cookout. So, I had to visit the dreaded grocery store. I picked up the items I needed for the party and a few other essentials for me. I got eggs, milk, butter, a few canned items and some FRESH fruit and veggies! WOW, it was SO nice having fresh fruit and veggies again! I think I spent about $45 for the items I needed.

I hosted the party the next day and to my surprise (I am being sarcastic) there was a lot of leftover hotdogs, hamburgers, buns, and fixins. Of course being the "frugal" person I was in the last few weeks, I decided I needed to freeze the hotdogs and hamburgers and I would find something to do with the buns and fixins (tomato, lettuce, onions). Of course the leftover onions was an easy fix for me, I just sliced them up and froze them for sauteed veggie night (I purchased squash and zucchinni so I intend to use them for that). I cut up the tomatoes and added some sugar, onion, vinegar, garlic and italian seasoning to make my own pizza sauce. I intend to make "mini pizzas" with the leftover hamburger buns, the sauce I made and some shredded cheese I have in the freezer. That used to be one of my favorite lunch meals as a kid! Now, what to do with the hotdog buns....

I decided to make Google my first stop...as it generally is when I am looking for a recipe or just an answer to anything. I typed in "use for leftover hotdog buns". Lo and behold, a recipe for bread pudding came up. I have never made or eaten bread pudding so I was a little apprehensive. But, I decided I might give it a whirl. First, I decided to look up other bread pudding recipes to see how this one differed from the rest (other than the hotdog buns). I ended up finding a blog that was about bread pudding. This lady posts nothing but bread pudding recipes! I scan through the titles and one caught my eye..."Orange Marmalade Bread Pudding". WOW, that sounds good. And what do you know, I have a jar of orange marmalade in the fridge from a recipe I made weeks ago that only called for 1 tbsp. PERFECT!

I grabbed the hotdog buns and started cutting them up into little squares. I wanted to use all that I had, so it ended up being more than what the recipe called for. I decided that if I can cook, I can bake and I just decided to add a little more of the liquid ingredients to make up for the extra bread. I reluctantly prepared the recipe and stuck it in the oven. Actually, the recipe was for a slow cooker pudding but I didn't want to have to drag my slow cooker to work today to share the rest of the pudding. So, I decided I would look at other recipes and see what the general baking instructions were so that I could use a pyrex dish with a lid to take the leftovers to work. All the recipe prepared and into the oven....

45 mins later the pudding was done. I patiently waited for it to cool enough to not burn my tongue and I helped myself to the first serving. I dropped a dollop of vanilla ice cream on the top and crossed my fingers that it was good (cause I was hungry!). First bite....WOW! It was actually good...at least in my opinion. But, this is coming from someone who has never eaten bread pudding. I let the rest of the pudding cool and place it in the fridge anxious to take it to work for the critics to decide....

(See.....)

I carried the pudding into work and was stopped instantly with inquiries. I warmed the pudding up in the microwave and relecutantly left it on the counter for all to enjoy. Before I could even walk away the spoon was dipping the first serving. The guys at work tried it and said it was good. I told them that I really needed honest feedback. A little bit later some of the ladies tried it and I had two requests for the recipe. I still didn't feel like the pudding was good and that maybe they were just trying to be nice to me....

Then, I got an email from the most honest lady in my office. She said, "The pudding kicked @$$. Can I get the recipe?" This was the point when I decided that it really must have been good. This lady is the most honest person I know. When we need fashion advice, food advice, anything, she is the one to ask. We know she won't lie. So when she said it kicked @$$ I was elated! I was happy that my first bread pudding was a success!!

My quest to empty my pantry yeilded a fabulous dessert! Who would have known....

The surprises didn't end there... (Dec 08)

For a long time my little sister had been asking me to come home for Christmas or her birthday. I knew I wouldn't be able to come home for Christmas because Joe deployed just a week after Christmas. I thought that I could possibly go home for her birthday so I looked flights. I ended up finding a precent decent price for all of us (Joe, Me, Nate and Ryan) to fly home the weekend of her birthday. But, I wanted to surprise everyone. I didn't tell her at all and in fact I told her I wouldn't be able to even come until after the new year. The only person I told about the tickets was my other young sister, Karen, my mom, and my Aunt. I had to tell my Aunt because I needed a place to stay the night I flew in and her house was right by the airport. I told my sister because we had this elaborate plan to surprise my dad (more on that in a minute). I told my mom just because she is my mom and I wanted to tell her. LOL!

So, the whole week before going to NC I was so excited! I almost put stuff on my FB status to ruin the surprise. It was SO hard to not tell anyone else! Somehow I managed to pull it off and got there without anyone knowing. My sister, Karen, was planning to go visit my dad on the Friday I flew in and invite him out to lunch. My dad had been at home for awhile because he had knee surgery and couldn't work and sometimes even walk. I knew he would sit at home in his PJs all day (without his teeth in) and I didn't want to just show up at his house and he look like that for the first time he met Joe. I figured neither one of them would have liked that very much. :-) Karen arranged to go see Dad and put the plan in motion. Here's how it played out...

I flew in Thursday night and stayed with my aunt in VA. Friday morning we drove towards NC to surprise everyone. Along the way to NC my sister and I are texted each other to make sure the plan was in motion. She tells me she has arrived at Dad's and he is still in his PJs and no teeth! LOL! She said he didn't want to go out to lunch because he would miss a call from his Disability/Workman Comp caseworker. I told her she HAD to figure out a way to get him dressed then and I would just show up at the house versus a restaurant as we planned. I told her to tell him he needed to go look at her car or something. She tried that and he didn't put on clothes, he just went outside in his PJs. Finally she just flat out told him that he needed to get dressed because she had a surprise for him. At this point he was getting a little suspicous. He got dressed and sat on the couch probably about two minutes before I arrived. Talk about cutting it close!!

I pulled up in the driveway and got all the kids out of the car. We rang the doorbell and Karen answered the door. Dad's chair was just around the corner from the front door so he curiously looked to see who it was. As she opened the door, Ryan peeped his head in and said "Papa!". Then I followed in right behind him with Joe and Nate behind me. I heard my dad gasp! He was SO surprised! He and I both starting crying and just hugged each other. It felt soooooo good! Karen was even crying!! I introduced Dad to Joe and we just sat around and chatted. He couldn't believe I was able to pull of the surprise. And, he was mad at his sister for not telling him I was at her house all along. LOL! But, the surprises didn't end there!

As I said, I wanted to surprise my little sister for her 16th birthday. At this point she still didn't know we were coming to town. My dad asked me if I was going to pick her up from school to surprise her...that was the plan all along. My dad insisted that we pick her up early because this was a special occasion. So Karen texted her and asked her if she would miss anything if she picked her up early. She is thinking that Karen is coming to get her. My dad, Joe, the boys, Karen and I all show up at the school to sign her out. The counselor is there and my dad explains the situation of the surprise. They call Brittany to the office so my dad could sign her out. As we waited for her, I stood in between Dad and Karen waiting for her to enter the office. She turned the corner and saw Dad and Karen but at first didn't recognize me. I said "surprise" and she just about passed out! She could not beleive it! Of course we all started crying again! Even the counselor was crying! It was soooooo great to surprise her like that. But, the surprises didn't end there....

My little brother, Tyler, was in the school right next to Brittany's school so we went over there to pick him up too. He wasn't nearly as dramatic as Brittany. He just said "what are you doing here?" LOL! He was more excited to be leaving school early and to play with Nate and Ryan. BOYS!! But, the surprises didn't end there....

After we picked them all up from school we drove to my step-mom's work. My dad and brother and sister went inside and told her they had a surprise for her. Meanwhile, Joe, me and the boys were hiding in the back. Anita came around the corner and Ryan saw her and went running. She was in shock! She couldn't believe we were all there! We all came out of hiding and greeted her. Her boss gave her the rest of the afternoon and the next day off so she could stay home with us. Everyone was happy! But, the surprises didn't end there...

The only "important" person left that didn't know I was in town was our older sister, Angie. Angie is horrible at keeping secrets so I knew she would have to be the last one to get surprised or everyone would know before I could surprise them. LOL! It was just about the time Angie was supposed to pick up her daughter from school so Karen called and asked her if she could come to Daddy's. Angie is very emotional and immediately thought something was wrong. Karen tried to console her but she still seemed to rush to get there. As she pulled up, a ton of cars were there. My rental, Karen's, Daddy's, Anita's, Brittany's, and Anita's parents. She thought something was wrong still. As she rang the doorbell I stood in the living room waiting for her to enter. When she first walked in I could see her face but she didn't notice me. She saw Joe sitting on the couch and everyone in the living room and had a weird look on her face. Keep in mind, she has never met Joe. The boys were hiding behind me so she didn't see them either. She didn't look towards me at first so I just said "surprise" and she then realized I was standing there. OH my word! I thought she was gonna have a heart attack. She started screaming and crying and flailing her hands around. She was probably the most dramatic of them all! It was great to be able to surprise her like that.

Yes, the surprises ended there. But, that was surely enough for one day! I was exhausted from all the emotions! We immediately started making plans to all get together and have a late Thanksgiving/early Christmas gathering the next day. We all arranged to go back to my aunt's house...since she had the biggest house...and we made it a potluck style lunch. We arranged to get to Sears for some family photos as a present to my parents for Christmas. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend!!

Lots of snowboarding!! (Dec 08)

The last I blogged, it was Thanksgiving. Joe was home, I was still on active duty and we were preparing for Joe to deploy. December was a busy month!!

The first week in December Joe and I went to Keystone for a few days of snowboarding. We have so much fun together and just loving doing adventurous things. We had a lovely little room in the condo building really close to the first ski lift. We decided we would cook in the room every night since we love to cook and we could save money. It gave us a wonderful opportunity to bond together before he had to leave. As usual, we cooked fabulous meals and just had a fabulous time. Here's a picture of me cooking.

We always get a room that has a fireplace (which most of them usually do). We take off our outwear and hang them by the fireplace to dry. This year we hung our socks over the mantle and called it "the stockings were hung by the chimeny with care". :-)

We visited Keystone twice in the month of December. He had a lot of time off and I had to use up my annual leave before I separated from the Air Force. Unfortunately, I can't remember any real specific details of the trip. There is usually something funny that happens but since it has been almost a year, I have lost that memory. LOL. We did get brave this month and start trying to jump stuff. I got a little bit of air and Joe got quite a bit more. It was fun and exciting trying new things on the mountain. As I said, Joe and I always have a great time together!
Until next time.....

It's been a while!

WOW! I can't believe I haven't posted a blog since November! There have been sooooo many times since then that I wished I could just write a huge paragraph on my FB status to tell the world what I am going through. Why in the world didn't I think of this blog? I think Mandi even reminded me of it...but, as usual, I got scatter-brained and forgot. So, here I am....

Instead of trying to catch up from almost a year of not writing all in one blog, I think I will create seperate ones with different occassions or experiences I have had. I imagine by the time I am done I will have about 10 different posts...probably for the 10 months that I haven't blogged!

This is the first of many....I hope you enjoy catching up with my life over the last 10 months. It has been quite a ride!!!