Why I love being a stay-at-home mom

Ian was diagnosed with pneumonia yesterday. Obviously, this isn't a good thing. What is a good thing is that it's OKAY. I don't have to worry about who he's been exposed to while sick, I don't have to worry about what to do with him for the next few days while he gets better, I don't have to worry about someone not babying him the way I want him to be babied (babyed? Baby'd?) when he's sick, and I don't have to worry about making my boss angry that s/he has to cover me for a week while I'm out with a sick child. Yeah, my kiddo being sick isn't fun, but it really doesn't do much to change our lives. I'm still home with him, I'm still the one making sure his needs are met, and I'm the one who is adapting our schedule to fit what he is able to do (which, until today, was pretty much just lay on the couch).

I love that I don't have to feel guilty and figure out my priorities. We don't have a lot of money and we struggle from time-to-time, but so what? At the end of the day, my son knows that no matter what Mommy will come running, Mommy will fix his boo-boos, and Mommy has the cuddles when he doesn't feel well. It's easy to make myself think I'm not "doing" anything when I stay at home. But it's times like these when I realize how important my role really is to our family, and it makes me feel good that I can do it (and that, most days, I LOVE doing it).

Jammie day

I am sooo behind on the blogging. I really had this big plan to become some great blogger, with pictures, and family news and all that fun stuff. Even planned to split this blog up into the "main" family blog, a nutrition/"green" one, and my place to vent. Trying to figure out how/when to transfer the baby blog over here. Maybe if I would spend a few minutes being productive rather than doing silly things like play games on Facebook, I would get it done. :/

Anywho, we've had a long week here! Saturday was spent in the ER where we found out that little man had croup...again. We spent the next few days lounging around, even missing church and our 5K Stop Children Trafficking walk (Hazen still went, we bought the shirts, but it was still a bummer!). The doctor assured us Ian would be past his contagious stage in time to go to school on Tuesday, but unfortunately he just was not feeling well and we slept in until 9:00 (he goes to school at 8:30). So he missed his first day of the year, though I don't expect it will be his last.

Today was Jammie Day at school. We had a jammie day last month, and the kid REFUSES to wear his pajamas to school. He just tells me over and over "No. Pants and shirt to school. Pants and shirt." So, he didn't wear his jammies. Again. I even packed a pair in his backpack thinking he might change his mind when he saw the other kids wearing their jammies. There were only 4 or 5 wearing theirs, and that wasn't enough to convince him. I don't know if the other parents just don't read their calendars, or if the other kids don't get the concept of wearing pajamas to school either. Maybe it's half and half? Regardless, I'm sure I'll get a reminder to read my calendar when I pick him up. If it were up to me, he'da worn his dinosaur jammas today. But it's becoming clear that less and less is up to me, so pants and a shirt it was. ;)

Fail (kinda)

The fast isn't working too well due to some recent news posted on my other blog. So the new strategy is this: hubby is fasting one day a week, and I am doing nothing. I'm eating what I want when I want. Didn't think now was the ideal time to be making drastic and temporary dietary changes. ;)

6 week "fast"

We just started a 6-week series on Ephesians in church. As part of it, our wonderful pastor mentioned the gap between what we "know" and what we "believe". He suggested, as a way to help close that gap, a "fast" of sorts. We're also to spend much more time in prayer than we usually do (an hour 1-3 times a week in addition to what we normally do).

The "fast" suggestions were these: fast one day a week (not an option--Hazen and I both become VERY cranky when we get hungry), skip one meal a day (not an option for the previously mentioned reason), or give up something. So, for our fast, beginning today, we will be doing 6 weeks of no meats, no sweets, and no booze. The sweets will be the absolute hardest thing for me. The meats I can handle. The booze will be fine. The sweets....ugh. I finished up the ice-cream in the freezer last night because I couldn't bear to see it go to waste (at least that was my excuse while I was downing my massive bowl...).

My biggest concern about "going vegetarian" is making sure we aren't missing any essential nutrients. Ian will be following our diet, though a little less strictly, so I really want to be sure he is getting what he needs. The nutrients we'll need to watch are:

•iron
•calcium
•protein
•vitamin D
•vitamin B12
•zinc

We all take multi-vitamins, so I'll be checking the daily values on those, and will also be looking into what natural options exist. We've decided to allow dairy, eggs, and a couple of servings of fish a week. So I guess that will mean we're dabbling in pescatarianism/lacto-ovo vegetarianism...vegetarianism with the allowance of fish, dairy, and eggs.

Our hope is that when it gets hard-and I'm sure it will!-we will be able to pray through it and stick to it. We're also hoping that cutting some of the fattier, nastier things that we enjoy so much will help with the waistlines...we've both put on a little weight in the last few months. Nothing drastic, but the fact that I'm gaining at all disturbs me as I've always been someone who can eat whatever she wants and not gain an ounce. This darn aging thing is a bit of a menace. ;)

kidshealth.org has been a helpful source in finding which nutrients we need to be careful about and giving options for obtaining those, and this blog post: http://eatclosetohome.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/vegetarian-menu-and-recipes-for-a-month/ is sooooo hopeful! She has two months (that I've found...there may be more!) worth of vegetarian dinner menus already laid out including the shopping lists and recipes. I don't think she could have made this any easier for me!

A couple of complications--Ian's birthday, which we will be celebrating three times when all is said and done. We already went to the Smithsonian in DC (which I really need to post about...I am so not good at this blogging thing), then Ian and I will be celebrating on his actual day, and then we'll have a small get-together about a week later beeeeecaaaaause...Hazen is going TDY for two weeks, right over Ian's birthday. So I'm really not sure how he plans to follow the "fast" while he's living out of a hotel room in Missouri. We're going to have to come up with some kind of plan for him. I'm sure it will be doable, but he will definitely have the harder time between us. And we've already decided we all get a pass on Ian's birthday/party. There's gonna be cake. He's been asking for cake for months. I can probably get around the meat thing, even if I have to grill burgers for everyone else, and serve Hazen and I something different. But I'm gonna have cake. No way I'm missing out on the best part of my kiddo's birthday celebration. ;)

So, wish us luck. Hopefully this will give us the boost in our faith that we need, and maybe we will enjoy this new lifestyle. We've been trying to add more meatless meals to our menu anyway, so this is a good way to really kick us into it and force us to try new foods!

Fun website

www.labelwatch.com

It shows all the ingredients in all kinds of stuff and has them color-coded: green=good, yellow=okay, red=bad. It's fun to scroll through and it helps when I'm looking up some of those ingredients that I can't pronounce. ;)

Vlasic Stackers Roasted Red Pepper Strips

We are trying to do more vegetarian meals. I am also trying to avoid canned foods (if I can find good stuff in jars, though, I do occassionally buy that). I found a yummy looking recipe for cheese tortellini in roasted red pepper sauce. The recipe requires roasted red peppers with a few other things (oregano, garlic, etc) to be blended together into a sauce. I had the worst time finding roasted red peppers, but came across the Vlasic Stackers brand. I, stupidly, did not check the label until I was rinsing the jar to recycle.

The ingredients? Peppers, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, SUGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. WHY? I honestly will eat HFCS in some items. If I expect it to be in there (store bought cookies, candy bars, etc) I'm (mostly) okay with it. Why? Because I'm consciously making a choice to eat something that isn't good for me. I know that, overall, that candy bar is doing nothing good for me and seriously, what's a little HFCS to top it off? However, it makes me ANGRY when I'm eating something that I think should be heatlhy only to find out that HFCS has been added to it for no apparent reason.

I read an article a while ago that disturbed me. It mentioned that HFCS is added to foods just to make them a liiiiittle sweeter. If all our processed foods are made a liiiiittle sweeter, we start to crave sweeter foods. It also makes us less full than cane sugar. Our bodies aren't recognizing what we're eating, so the calories aren't making an impact. So we eat more of the nasty stuff. We spend more on the foods we shouldn't be eating because they taste good and they don't fill us up. I mention this because I can't think of any other reason to add it to roasted peppers...

No more canned foods

We've been trying to get rid of our canned foods for awhile. I was still using canned tomatoes of all kinds and canned beans (kidney, pinto, black, etc). Well, as of about two weeks ago, we are can free. The tomato thing has been a little complicated--it takes A LOT of tomatoes to can any of my own stuff. To can everything I wanted to, I'd need about 100 lbs of tomatoes. So far I've only canned some tomato paste and a couple jars of sauce. I'm planning to go to a pick-your-own farm in Raleigh in the next few weeks to pick my own tomatoes and hopefully get that 100lbs at a reasonable price. For what our local stores and even farmer's markets charge, I'm not going to be saving any money by canning my own. And for the work and time involved, the money is a motivator for making it worthwhile!

Tonight we are having my yummy Crock Pot chili. The difference is I used some homemade tomato sauce, diced my own tomatoes, and am using dried kidney beans. The chili itself smells sooooo good, and the beans are so big and they also smell amazing. It's crazy to me how much different canned and "fresh" beans look! I read the nutritional content on both, and the difference between the two is ridiculous. Far less sodium, and sugar in the dried, plus more fiber, protein, and calcium. So hopefully we will be enjoying a nice healthy dinner tonight...that also tastes good. I'm still nervous about how the finished product is going to come out.

Terrible...almost 4's??

Ian has been a monster the last week. A holy terror. I will elaborate later, but for right now this is my two minutes to get it out there and hopefully forget it for the rest of the day (or hour or 20 minutes). I don't know what they were thinking when they coined the phrase "terrible two's" but somebody was SERIOUSLY mistaken.

Though, I guess in all fairness, he is adjusting to a lot of things right now. Maybe Mommy just needs more patience?

--total aside, Ian just walked up to the dog and said "Ohhhh, baby boy! I love you" and gave him a big hug. These are the moments that keep him breathing. ;)

Bumps, bruises, and annoying doctors

Here is a play-by-play of our last two weeks:

At a playdate (pool party) I discover a strange, bruised lump near Ian's belly button that wasn't there before. I watch it for a few days and put in a call to his surgeon in Montana to see if it may be related to the umbilical hernia surgery he had in September.

Don't hear back from the doctor, so decide I had better call and make an appointment with his doctor here. I call on a Thursday, explain that there is a weird lump and that he has had surgery in the vicinity and I would like to have him seen SOON. Closest appointment is the following Monday morning. Fine, I take it, continue to watch belly button.

Over the weekend, lump changes colors. Is now bright red with a purplish black center.

Appointment on Monday. Nurse brings us back, asks us typical questions. I mention again that he has had surgery. Doesn't seem concerned. Doc comes in, looks, says it looks like an infected bug bite and she is wondering about MRSA (resistent staph infection), prescribes special antibiotic, says to come back on Thursday. "Meeting" lasts a whopping 2-3 minutes.

Tuesday or Wednesday I realize that I might not have mentioned surgery to doctor. I know I told the appointment clerk and nurse, but did I tell the doctor? Hmmm...

Thursday, we go back. Not much change in lump, Ian still on antibiotics. Doc decides he should see a surgeon to make sure lump doesn't need to be removed. Tells me I will hear from Tricare in about seven days and to make a follow up with her for after antibiotics are done (since he won't see a surgeon before then). As she is walking out the door, I mention his surgery. She says "You didn't tell us that". I say, "I told your nurse, but couldn't remember if I told you". She claims (probably correctly) that I didn't. She is now worried that it could be related to the surgery, a complication or ruptured suture. Seems upset at me for not mentioning surgery before (we'll pretend I didn't mention it twice...)

Now we wait to hear from Tricare. Things get complicated when your hubby gets out of the military and medical records end up all over the planet. I requested his surgery records a couple of weeks ago, but they had to send me the written request, I had to fill it out and send it back, now they have to send the records to me...you know. Red tape. Although, honestly, I don't know that his records would have made much difference considering how fast she blows in and out of an exam room.

Workin' on the diet

Since our move, we have not been eating well. It's easy to grab something while we are out, and we never make good choices while we're doing it. I have personally gained five pounds. Not a huge amount, but for someone who is pretty good at MAINTAINING, a gain is kind of scary and definitely a step in the wrong direction.

I went back to my "normal" way of grocery shopping this week, and it felt good. Stuck mainly to the outside aisles, bought organic where I could, avoided the ice cream (sigh). For the most part, if a food item was put in my cart, it has some kind of actual nutritional value. I did cheat and get a couple of boxes of 100 calorie cookies plus a brownie mix, but I've never done well with depriving myself. A little junk once in awhile doesn't hurt, I just need to get myself back into the "once in awhile" as opposed to everyday.

My menu is set up for the week (in the kitchen...I'll have to go take a look at it and write it down in a bit) and the fridge is stocked with fruits and veggies. Here's hoping that I do the good girl thing and stick to what I've started!

Rained out

I was supposed to take Ian strawberry picking today with a new meetup group I've joined. Unfortunately, it poured rain all night and is still drizzling, so the ground is much too wet to go walking through strawberry fields. Thought we would take a trip to the children's museum instead, but it's closed on Mondays (of course). Guess the big plan for today is grocery shopping. Totally exciting. ;)

At least I have dinner in the Crockpot. There's one big accomplishment for the day.

Canning Tomatoes

I read an upsetting article today. I know BPA is bad. I know canned foods are bad. So we cut out most BPA and most canned food. The only canned food we still buy are tomatoes--diced, sauce, paste, crushed, etc. I read an article indicating that tomatoes are the worst of the worst when it comes to canned food. The acid in the tomatoes breaks down the BPA and causes the tomatoes to absorb it more quickly than other foods. It is thought to be linked with things like cancer, poor egg quality, and poor sperm(!!!).

So, after reading that article I found several more articles that relate the same point. I just ordered my first canning kit, and should begin canning my first tomatoes next weekend. All our canned tomatoes are being donated and getting out of my cabinet. I'm so disgusted that I've been making "organic" sauces from "scratch" thinking that I was doing something good for my family, when all the while I've been poisoning us. Maybe it's not quite that dramatic, but I'm so irritated and annoyed at myself.

Oh well--it changes today!

New dog?

We are trying to adopt a boxer from a rescue shelter. I'm not really sure why, but there are rescues dedicated solely to boxers all around the country. My only theory is that people get these dogs not understanding how energetic they are, and how much they truly need people interaction. Regardless, it's sad that these animals are abandoned in such large quantities. :(

We have passed our reference check and are now onto the home visit. A woman is coming today to check out our house and our yard to make sure we are dog friendly. If this goes well, we will hopefully be picking up our new dog very shortly!

We have our eye on one named Benjamin Buttons. He is just over a year old, and his owners brought him into a vets office to be put to sleep because of mange, a skin disease caused by mites. A CURABLE TREATABLE skin disease. He is reacting very well to his treatment, and with a few more and some care at home (special shampoos, etc), he will be perfectly fine.

Hopefully we can update with good news about our new family member soon! :)

Computer room--DONE! :)

If you scroll down, you can see the computer room "before" pictures. Here are the "afters":





And here is one of Ian dancing to Alvin and the Chipmunks...I owe him several days of out-of-the house entertainment after the last couple of days!!

Facebook Rant

This is silly. I mean, really, it's FACEBOOK. But there is something that gets done on Facebook that drives me BONKERS--the cryptic "there is something HUGE and BAD going on in my life right now but I'm just going to post a little tidbit that lets you know that BUT doesn't let you know what it is just to make you uncomfortable enough that you won't ask" post. Seriously. I have lots of days where there is stuff going on that I would like to share, or that I would like to at least put a little blurb somewhere to let people know "Pay attention to ME!! I am miserable and important today!!" but I don't. Because it's rude. And I really love when there is the outpouring of "I don't know what's wrong but *hugs!*" only to end with the entire thing being deleted by the original poster.

If you're not gonna share the whole thing, don't post it. Attention whoring is SOOOO annoying!!

Although, in fairness to the crazies, I could very easily just defriend them. I mean, if I'm not comfortable enough to ask what is wrong, and if I don't automatically know, then we're probably not really that good of "friends" anyway, now are we? But I'm always afraid of starting some "you de-friended me on FACEBOOK!!" drama, so I don't do it. Maybe I just need to grow a backbone. ;)

Making Progress!

My living room has been driving me bonkers. We didn't have DVD or book storage anymore, so I was storing several boxes behind our loveseat. I really despise the "unfinished" look, but I was being really picky about our DVD storage and bookcase. So it has taken me the entire month we've been here to find the "right" ones.

Well, as of last night, our living room looks like this:





All the boxes were back here--I am much happier with how this looks!



I'm not in love with the layout, and we're still trying to figure that out. We have another end table and lamp that are hanging out in the dining room because we can't figure out where to put them!

My next tiny project is to find some better storage for Ian's art corner. I'm refusing to buy at full price so have been scouring Craigslist and braggyardsales.com. So far, no luck!



And my next BIG project is the computer room:



I put this desk together and messed up a couple of the drawers. Have to make a trip to the hardware store to re-do some things and make this (hopefully!) look much better!



The boxes have our old desktop computer in them. Am planning to find somewhere that we can donate it so it can be refurbished and given to someone who needs it.



We have a hutch for the desk, so the plan is to get that put together and put up, and hopefully get all the junk off the desk and the floor. I hate disorder!!

Baptism Sunday

Hazen and I were finally baptised yesterday. Hazen went ahead of me, and then when it was my turn, he was able to come back and help the pastor baptise me. We will be getting pictures and I will post them when we do. It's something we've both been wanting to do for about a year, but we always chicken out. It feels great to have it done!

Okay, I guess an update would be good

I haven't posted much about our move or what being in NC has meant. So I guess I'll do a condensed version now.

Firstly, getting a house was a HUGE hassle. We live near Fayetteville, which is consistently about twice as high in crime as the national average. What this meant for us is we WANTED DESPERATELY to live on base. Military bases aren't perfect, but they are significantly safer. However, there was a 4 month wait for a two-bedroom house for us (we didn't qualify for a three-bedroom due to our having only one child). So I was trying to find us somewhere to rent, but it's really hard to find a place to rent when you don't know the area at all. I was doing research and trying to choose safe neighborhoods, but how was I supposed to know? And I couldn't find a realtor that would rent anything to us without us looking first, so we were risking moving across country and having no where to live--scary!

We found out that Pope AFB is going to be absorbed by Fort Bragg. All of the Air Force personel are going to be given orders to other bases by March 2011...our family included. Why we were sent here, I don't know, but we were.

So, I wrote to housing asking them to take us off the list. If we weren't going to have a house for a few months after arriving in NC, it wasn't worth it to us to live on base. That would mean moving twice in less than a year. That makes no sense. Thankfully, the base has privatized. What this means is that an outside housing company is responsible for the upkeep and leasing of homes on base. This also means they are paid every service members BAH (housing allowance). So when I said that we would be taking ourselves and our BAH off base, suddenly we were eligible for a three-bedroom house, and were able to move in the day we arrived in Pope.

So that has been our situation so far. We will only be here for 11 months. And we have a remodeled, 3-bedroom house that we all love. Guess it could be worse. ;)

Now our only problem is that the house is a duplex. This is totally fine with us, a lot of base housing is duplexes. The problem is the people next to us moved out and their home was not remodeled (the company remodels older houses that are still in good shape, tears down run-down homes, and builds new ones), so it is being remodeled now that it's empty. So there is a construction zone next door, dumpster and all...woo-hoo...

The menu

Okay, I have other things to blog about but not much time. Trying to limit my computer usage so I do things that are more important, like spend time with my kiddo! I made our weekly menu yesterday, though, and wanted to post it up here. Here's hoping I stick to it!

Yesterday we had Greek Style Turkey Burgers. Super yummy--made with lean ground turkey and a greek "salsa" of olive oil, white wine vinegar, italian seasoning, cucumbers, tomatoes, and olives on a pita round and feta cheese. YUM!

Tonight will be a new recipe, Pasta and Veggies in Garlic Sauce with french bread.

Thursday: Sweet and Sour Chicken (from my Biggest Loser cookbook--a healthy but delicious version!)
Friday: Pulled Pork Sandwiches (Crockpot)
Saturday: Garlic Lime shrimp on the grill
Sunday: More BBQ...whatever Hazen decides to cook up

Well, shoot

I didn't get the second job I interviewed for. This kind of stinks at this point. I don't know what else to apply to. I want to use my degree in some capacity, but I don't want to work 40 hours a week. Why is it so hard to find jobs that are mom friendly?

I don't know what I want, honestly. When the number came up on my phone, I was dreading that she would offer me the job. When she didn't offer me the job, I was also disappointed. I really don't know what I should do.

I got right back on the computer and started to look for more employment. There is NOTHING that is "right" for me. There are some substitute teacher openings here on base, but there is very last minute notice on things like that. I have to have notice so I can make sure that Ian has somewhere to go.

Financially I don't HAVE to work. We can get by if I don't. But it would really help a lot towards paying off cars and student loans and not having to pinch every penny we come across. Gah.

My day has been awesome so far. It's payday with no paycheck, I didn't get the job, I can't find any other jobs to apply for (other than the base Class Six, AKA liquor store), and I am waiting not-so-patiently for my cat to poop so I can bag it and take it into the vet's office. I think I'm ready for bed.

Oh, Target

Target is my absolute favorite place to shop. I just love it. It's quiet, it's relaxing, they have everything I could ever need, and their stuff is decent quality. Unfortunately, there is ONE Target in the entire city of Fayetteville. The consequence of that is Target is NOT quiet, it is NOT relaxing. The parking lot is a nightmare, there are no carts to be found inside, and it is packed with people.

I'm not sure what my alternative to Target is. Of course we have our BXs here on base, but sometimes they just don't have what I need. For example, I am looking for a cell phone charger organizer and a paper organizer for my kitchen. The BX does not have what I want. Target probably would, but since it takes over 30 minutes to get there and is a madhouse...just not sure it's worth the trip. We have a WalMart pretty close, but we despise WalMart. I'm half tempted to take the 50 mile drive to Raleigh, but that's bordering on insane on my part. I guess I'll just have to wait it out and do some exploring this weekend. I just REALLY want to finish my unpacking and organizing. We have a bunch of boxes still in the living room that need homes. It's all our DVDs and books. We need a DVD unit and a bookcase. And, of course, my cell phone and paper organizers.

I was pretty stoked to find out there are IKEAs in North Carolina. But the closest is in Charlotte, 2 1/2 hours away. And I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get a bookcase and DVD storage unit in my Honda and get it all the way back to Pope. Why, oh why, does Fayetteville have to ruin Target?

On the plus side, tonight's dinner is Oven-Fried Chicken with Worchestershire Brown Rice and steamed broccoli. Hoping it's as good as it sounds! Our new favorite cookbook is The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook. It's got some yummy stuff in there (the sweet potato fries and tonight's rice both came from that book) that is pretty easy to make.

Sorry for the hiatus--we are in NC

We made it to North Carolina. It has been a very long and busy few months, but we all made it safe and sound.

So, important things first, I guess. Ian is completely, 100%, diaper-free, and has been for about three months now. He uses the big potty instead of the little guy one and it is so nice to not need to clean up after every potty break anymore! He sleeps all night with no problems, and has very few accidents during the day. Those generally happen when we're not prepared for them. ;)

North Carolina is different. It's hot. And the drivers are horrible. I am amazed that I have only seen a handful of accidents. Of course, we don't leave the base too often so that may play a part. We're pretty self-sufficient here on Pope AFB/Fort Bragg. Two large BX/PX and Commissaries, a separate mini-mall, restaurants, fast food places, gas stations, auto service centers, TONS of parks...there is really no reason to leave.

We went on our first adventure last week. We drove the 50 miles to Raleigh, the state capital, and it is beautiful! Fayetteville is so dirty and trashy looking, I have really not been impressed. But Raleigh is very pretty and green and clean. We may head to the beach this weekend, but haven't decided. Hazen has his eyes set on a bicycle so he can start training for a Triathalon, so it's possible we'll be making a trip to the bike shop instead.

I've applied for a couple of jobs. So far my most promising leads have been with Bank of America. It's a part-time teller position, nothing glamorous, but it's not a lot of hours and they will pay for Ian's daycare/preschool while I'm there. I had an interview with one location about a week ago that really didn't go well. I had a second interview with a different, CLOSER location on Monday that I feel pretty good with. If I get it, great, if I don't, that's fine, too. It's no rush for me to start working, I'd just really like to get some progress made on my student loans!

Other than that, there isn't much to say. I'm hoping to be a better blogger in the coming months. I'd like to keep this updated and full of pictures. I'm hoping to be better about staying in contact with family and sending them pictures, also. I got a bunch of pics downloaded to the new computer yesterday, so hopefully I actually bother to do something with it all.

One thing I would like to start doing is posting our weekly dinner menu. I'm thinking if I blog it out and get excited about it, maybe it will keep me sticking to it more than I do. I do pretty well, but there are some days I just don't want to cook! Which makes no sense because the majority of the time, it takes LESS TIME for me to suck it up and cook our dinner than it takes for us to drive to a restaurant, wait for seating, wait to place our order...

So, I'm not going to post our entire menu today. That will have to wait until the weekend because shopping day is on Friday, which means I won't have our menu and shopping list planned out until we are about to leave the house. But I can say that last night we had turkey burgers served on whole-wheat pitas with homemade sweet potato fries. I've never in my life had a sweet potato fry, but let me say they are delicious! I just need to figure out a better system for cutting the sweet potatoes because they were nowhere near to being uniform in size. It was also the consensus that they needed LESS garlic. The excess garlic burnt in the stove, and really wasn't appetizing. The turkey burgers were also very dry because I cooked them at 450 with the potatoes because I was too impatient to cook them each at their proper temperatures. Live and learn!

Tonight we are having Chipotle burritos (super easy, yummy Crock-pot recipe) with homemade guacamole. Possibly pico-di-gallo (how is that spelled????), too, if I can talk the hubby into making it. His comes out much yummier than mine.

Happy New Year and Potty Training

Well, happy 2010! Here is hoping that this year brings good news and prosperity. At least a steady paycheck and a nice place to live would be nice. We are on the waiting list for a super cute house on Pope AFB, but unfortunately there is an 8-month wait for a 2 bedroom and we won't qualify for a 3 bedroom until we are pregnant again (there is only a 2-month wait for the 3 bedrooms). Oh well. This just means more adventures for us. ;)

Ian has finally started to potty train! My dad's wife's little girls started taking him in with them over the weekend, and he went a few times. Yesterday he woke up dry and went on the potty SEVEN times with only one small accident (only a little came out, and I'm pretty sure it was because of a scary movie he caught sight of that Hazen was watching). So hopefully we are well on the way to being diaper free!