Most Certainly Not

A Summertime Staple

Pretty sure the Lemon Orzo with Asparagus & Tomato recipe I linked to yesterday will become a summer staple at Ft. W.

The fact that it takes no time to make, it can be eaten hot, warm or cold and it is as light as can be increase the likelihood that I will make it again and again.

M1 loved it as did I. She had two helpings!

Great color. Great texture. Wonderful taste. The lemon and garlic with the olive oil made an amazingly light 'dressing' for this orzo salad.

Definitely recommended & something in which you can use all those teeny tomatoes from your garden.

Thank you, Pinterest!

The Skinny on Summer

Aside from being hotter than the Devil's oven, this summer has been a hot mess for a multitude of reasons. Did we not already mention that summer is nearly half over & I have yet to do anything super fly with my children? I thought so.

Add in some non-exercise, non-healthy eating habits and you have yourself a finely uphostered hot mama--aka ME. Looking ahead to Vegas in a couple of weeks has me pondering exactly what I will wear because Lord knows I don't do summer skivvies anyhow and there is nothing bearable about this bod at the moment.

It's been decided that the next couple of weeks will be a gigantic overhaul at the house--I'm not sure everyone received the memo, but I'm really the only one who needed it anyhow. I would love to think that M2 would get one board with eating things that don't come in a box or bag more often than not, but that will take some doing, I think. M1 has always been my would-rather-eat-salad-than-fries kid--as a toddler, she once gnawed a raw zucchini through the veggie bag while I was distracted in the produce aisle at Kroger.

Fort Warthman climbs aboard the healthy train with the following meal plan for the upcoming week:

The AT To-Do List

No married soldier ever deploys without a spouse who has a to-do list of epic proportions. It seems as if things like reading the classics; painting the entire interior of the house; losing 50 pounds; and organizing my entire life fall onto more than one spouse's list. The months pass and a couple weeks prior to the homecoming, the spouse mentally checks the list and decides "shaving my legs" and "buying a cute homecoming outfit" will have to do. Things become real really quickly when you're tasked with being a one man band. For me, if the dogs were alive, the kids clean/fed/breathing and the house standing, it was a WIN.

For National Guard families, there is that magical "2 weeks a year" we always hear about that comes in the summer. The soldier goes to Annual Training (AT) and the spouse is left home with a couple weeks.

You would think by now, I would realize that this falls in my busiest time of year. We are less than three weeks from go-time for my bar exam takers. And yet, after all these years, I still think I will be able to accomplish some sort of list while my husband is off doing Army things.

Summer Slow Down

It's July already. I don't deal well with regret--I try not to have any & if something goes awry and I am aware that regret is possible, I pull back on the reins and try to manage a 180.

Summer 2012 is providing me with the red flags that regret is on the horizon. I need to quickly apply some force or I will be sad when next month shows on the calendar.

So far this summer I have spent no appreciable time with my girls--especially the two of them together. They have been here, there, and everywhere but home. I understand this is a phenomenon known to many parents, but frankly, at their ages, this is a little too early for me to accept the empty nest. I take partial blame too because my job's busiest time is from mid-May to mid-July. 

I want to document my plans for July and early August here so it's staring me in the face, in writing, so I don't miss the chance to say we had fun this summer.

I Don't Do Heat

Growing up, I lived in an old farmhouse that didn't have central air. We had a couple window air conditioners, as did most everyone else I knew, and I don't remember feeling particularly near death during summers. 

Once I graduated high school and moved to the "big city" for college, I enjoyed central air in the dorms until I moved into the houses in the student neighborhood ("The Ghetto") at which point I ended up moving into my fiance's apartment and mooching his central air.

This weekend, a storm took out electricity for thousands and thousands. Our home joined the ranks of the powerless from Friday afternoon around 4:30 until Sunday evening around 6:30. I am pretty sure if my husband had not been home, I'd have croaked. Literally.

In My Heart, I'm a Regular Blogger

Someday, I'm convinced I will be able to blog it just by thinking it. Until then, I suppose I have to put blogging on my calendar or it won't happen. I don't like to relegate my creative outlet to the drudgery of a "to-do task", but if I don't I do something crazy like go three weeks without posting.

It isn't like there is a ton of uber interesting things going on, but I can take a stab at bringing the blog current & maybe even ranting on some things that are kind of bothering me.

And, with that tease, we'll continue after the jump!

Coming to the Surface

Long time, no post! The past few weeks have passed so quickly because we have been so busy. Aside from the final weeks of classes where I work plus graduation and the entrance of our new summer class students, I launched a new line to my home business, we have taken on the State Science Fair and I survived my first half marathon. 

Yeah. We've been a bit busy.

The Weekly Mission: Meal Planning

At some point this weekend, you may have a chance to catch your breath. When I do that, I usually gasp at the sheer volume of things facing me in the week ahead. If you have time to plan ahead this weekend, you could be proactive when it comes to meals and save yourself an emergency trip through the fast food lane.

Why not try one of these recipes tested in the Ft. W kitchen this week?

It's All Relative, Right?

February's blogging theme for those committed to daily blogging is "Relative."

I've been having a taste of that this week. To other people looking in, I'm always "busy." Mostly, though, my usual overbooked, overwhelmed self is just my normal. The past week, though? This is busy even for me and it's a really wild ride.

My boss is one of the hardest working, tireless, hard charging women I know. And, people come to expect that kind of delivery from her. She's been overseas, though, and I've been filling in certain duties for her. She worked to line up some others to take some discrete tasks off my list and only a few of those things have actually come to fruition. This is one time I'd gladly delegate, but there is no one responding to the delegation assignments.

I will be so glad when she's back in the country on Wednesday night! And yet, I'm really glad she could go and that she trusts that the place will still be standing when she returns. I have enjoyed everything I've done in her absence, but many days the back-to-back classes, meetings, copying, organizing, planning, etc. is too much of a good thing. And next week, those we work with who are taking the February bar exam head off to do just that. It's a scary time for some very worn out people. I'm becoming quite adept at exuding positivity and calm even when I just want to crawl under the desk and hide.

There are several things waiting on my to-do list that aren't work related. Pretty much everything outside the office is waiting for my attention. It will be interesting to see what I do with all my "free" time once my boss returns.

Mojo Monday

I'm not sure what happened today, but I crossed every single thing off my work to-do list. [Unprecedented] The risk was ambitious, especially given that I had to leave work at 3:00 to pick up the girls and return in time for a 4:15 meeting. Wild.

I left work at 5:00 and brought the girls home. M2 had her last basketball practice at 7:00. Before we left the house at 6:30, I quickly went through some coupons and mapped out a quick trip to a market where I rarely go to "save" money. I go there because they have meat and produce I trust and wonderful other things. I realized the other day that they double coupons to a dollar--didn't realize that. Tonight with my Club Card and manufacturer's coupons, I saved 21%. That's hot.