My husband will be home from AT tomorrow night. I remembered that I'd put together the impossible list of things to do and thought it might be fun to check our progress. Given that I haven't referred to it since he left, I can only imagine how far short we may have fallen.
Let's look it over together, shall we?
| | | |
| | |
This is one of my favorite photos of my girls.
It was taken not long after M2 came home from the hopsital & was finally allowed to be off her lamp that treated her slight jaundice.
The girls are sitting in the bed I was given as a girl and slept in until I moved to college. It then became a guest bed and then, finally, M1's bed.
I love this because it shows the girls as they are at their cores. M1, always calm, always go-with-the-flow, always making the best and smiling through even the most chaotic situation. M2, never afriad to let you know she she isn't happy with her situation. Always vocal about what ails her. Not scared to let it all hang out, even when someone has a camera to capture the moment.
She was so tiny and I can still see her like that, even if she is 9 today.
| | | |
| | |
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!
| | | |
| | |
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:
| | | |
| | |
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.
| | | |
| | |
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.
| | | |
| | |
Things are growing & blooming around Ft. W.
I had an amazing before picture of this previously hideous spot near our front door. But, my phone only pretended to take it--when I went to retrieve and upload it (AFTER I'd repotted and arranged the plants, of course), the photo wasn't actually in my gallery.
I usually spend Mother's Day planting, but not so much this year. My first mother-in-law sent me a gigantic patio pot from her favorite local florist (who did my first rehearsal dinner & wedding) and it is gorgeous right now! Trailing, bright pink and purple petunias, etc. It made me want to do some other things around the front door.
In addition to these guys, I cleaned up an ivy plant (from a previous planter from my first mother-in-law...how much do I love her?!) and put in some coleus to create some visual variety with the green ivy leaves. We have mums planted all around the house that are FULL of blooms and are ready to burst open at any point.
Plus, our raised bed full of volunteer mint and tomatoes continues to be wildly thriving. I'm stockin up on canning supplies so I can be ready this year and not let the tomatoes go to waste.
| | | |
| | |
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!
| | | |
| | |
Normally, I blog all over the place on the weekend. This weekend, though? I realized on Saturday that I had left my computer at work. This is a rare and strange happening because my Mac is like my assistant. I go nowhere without him and would never think of leaving him behind on purpose. Friday was an odd afternoon, though, and I ended up leaving the office without him.
Sigh.
And, I didn't notice until Saturday because I have been reading like a fiend. I devoured two books in a matter of days...I should be doing office or housework, mind you!
I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but once I started The Hunger Games, I couldn't put the books down until I finished. I have read the first two and by tomorrow, will be able to take the third one from M1. I will need to hide it somewhere, though, because I simply have too much to do to sit and read it until it's finished!
I have a huge list of things I'm planning to blog about including, but not limited to, GI benefit transfers and how military spouses should prepare their budget for deployment plus plan for contingencies in the case of their own illness or death. But what did I do instead?! Forget my computer at the office and sit around reading two of the three hottest young adult books on the market. There truly is no excuse...except that the books are really that good. If you're looking for a cleverly written book based on a novel concept (no pun intended!), then you may want to read your teen's room and purloin their copies of this trilogy.
M1 already has her opening night tickets purchased. She and her bestie, her bestie's mom and bestie's neighbor lady will brave the theater on the first night. I'm sure once I've finished the trilogy, we will go again (probably taking the bestie along).
Books like this keep me longing to work on my own! Oh, someday soon...
| | | |
| | |
I don't like to count my chickens before they hatch. Most of the time, I like to pretend there are no such things as chickens so if there are no hatchlings, I am not disappointed. After the grinding events of the past two years, I don't expect anything positive. I just wake up thankful to have another day to give it a go and find joy in the smallest things--a good cup of coffee, my girls being themselves, my husband filling up my car with gas without being asked, puppy hugs and kisses.
Today, though, was a banner day for Fort W. A milestone in the employment area of the household--and a milestone because of it.
| | | |
| | |
