New Roast Recipe!!

I've been trying a lot of new recipes. Mostly from Pinterest <- It's my obsession!!! Most of the recipes have been good but not blog worthy, until......today!!! :o) YES!

It's called Mississippi Roast (but the hubs thinks we should rename it.... so I guess I'll update you when he comes up with a clever name. LOL

It's so easy.

 Buy a chuck roast & put it in the crockpot.

Sprinkle Hidden Valley Ranch dressing on top.

Sprinkle McCormick Aus Jus gravy mix on top of that.

Put 1 stick of butter on that. (I read you can use a can of beer instead of the butter)

Put about 5 pepperoncini peppers on top of that.

Sprinkle w/a lil salt & pepper & then....

...cook on low for 8 hours. I served this with rice (would be great w/mashed potatoes)!! The gravy was delish. You should make it, I'm sure you'll love it as much as we did!!

Here is a link to the original post. http://www.food.com/recipe/mississippi-roast-crockpot-491126

It Begins...

Well today the husband and his entire unit stood outside on the flightline for hours trying on and picking up their multicam uniforms and gear. This is the gear that they will actually take to Afghanistan. It certainly makes this deployment seem oh so real. They are not actually leaving until the summer some time but they will begin shipping their items soon.

Since deployment in nearing we want to try to do as much as we can afford to do before he leaves. So we have been planning a few trips. Our anniversary is coming up and the hubs surprised me by actually taking a couple days off. We originally planned to go out to dinner in the dark but after realizing they needed payment in advance we just went ahead and canceled with the intent to reschedule b/c that is too awesome to miss!!! So we have decided to take a trip to Switzerland. This will be our first time actually traveling out of Germany so we are both really excited!!! We also plan on taking a detour to go to Monkey Hill in Salem. Who can pass up free range monkey that you can hand feed! Hell Yea! LOL Well, actually the husband owes me this trip since we had planned to go last October and then went to Oktoberfest instead. Later we found out they closed for the winter. But they are reopened and I am ready!!!

Then later in May the girls and I are going with ODR on a Polish pottery trip. I am excited the ODR has put out their list of spring/summer trips. Hopefully it will keep us busy after the guys all leave. In June we have our big vacationed planned to the UK. I can hardly wait. After that trip I will be gearing up to throw a huge Deployment Sucks Party!!! One of the husbands good friends Crawford is actually letting me borrow his house for the night to throw this party. Since his house is on post and actually has a yard it will be a much better site for crazy infantryman to party b4 they deploy!!!!

As excited I am about the things we have planned, I know that after we do all these fun things the husband will be leaving. They say he could be gone up to 18 months. I am not looking forward to that at all. I could definitely handle 6-9 but 18, that is too long!

The only thing that may save me (besides having some good friends that will be going through the same thing) my mom & sister plan on visiting. I can hardly wait for them to be able to take in the beautiful sights I get to experience every day!!! Eeek!!! ;o)

Klinikum

Last week I was feeling pretty bad. I normally get tonsillitis a few times a year so I assumed it was that. After suffering for 6 days I made an appt to see my dr here on post. The system that they have in place at this health clinic is pretty efficient most times but this time i felt like they didn't take time to treat me, the patient, they treated my symptoms. So I get called back by a young guy with a laptop. He takes all my vitals, temp and so on. Then asks every question imaginable. He relays this info to the dr. She comes in and says I hear you have this, this, and this. Here is some medicine, Bye! I literally spent 4 minutes with the dr and about 25 minutes with the young guy and his laptop. 

Later that night after seeing this army dr I start to feel much worse. I decided to just go to the ER since its a 7 minute drive. I was worried about even going since they do not speak great English but I was hopeful they would give me an antibiotic and send me home. After they did all the normal er stuff they sent me for an x-ray  So the weirdest thing....they just left me in this barely lit hallway outside of the x-ray place for at least 20 min. It was kind of creepy. Every now and then I could hear voices but sure as hell couldn't understand what they were saying. It was worse than being in the nail salon, thinking they are talking about you but not really knowing. lol

Finally they take me back for chest x-rays, I guess to make sure it wasn't pneumonia. After the x-ray a nurse takes me on the rolling bed out of the ER and in the hallway where my husband is and starts shouting his name. I ha no idea what was going on by this point. Now that my husband was by my side, I felt better but she nurse continued rolling my bed to the elevators. Truthfully, I was thinking the ER was full so they were taking me somewhere to wait. The husband and I kept exchanging weird IDK what's going on glances at each other. 

We arrived on the top floor and met another nurse where she met us with another rolling bed. Thankfully this one speaks a lil better english....but not too much better. At this point, I'm questioning here like "What is going on." They roll me into a room with an elderly woman who looked to be in her 80's. AKWARD. And the nurse is telling me I am staying the night and I was instantly freaking out. It was about 940pm and the nurse tells me that visiting hours are over at 10 so the husband would have to leave. I was so freaked out, not really knowing what was going on and they were making my love leave. The husband did find out that I had a high fever and that contributed to my admittance to the hospital. 

So I am laying in this weird place next to this old German lady. The only thing she can ask me in English is What is my name. After that....silence. They don't give you gowns or anything so I was just laying in pants and a long sleeve t-shirt trying my hardest to just sleep so the next day would come. They did however give me some good antibiotics and painkillers which was the 1st time in a week I had been able to swallow without much pain. Sadly, the meds wore off about 2 am and made it impossible to fall asleep. 

So by 7am the next morning all the lights on on and the day has started. I am beyond tired and just hoping for the husband to show at 730. They bring in breakfast around that time. Weird. 2 rolls, 2 pieces of lunch meat that looks a lil like bologna with green flecks in it and some coffee. I ate the bread till I bit into a caraway seed and it kinda made me gag. The husband arrived then with a Dr.Pepper, my savior!!!! 

Lunch was about the same weirdness. Baked fish with a gelatinous sauce covering it, nasty potatoes (come on, who fucks up potatoes) and a soup I could actually eat (thank goodness) and choc pudding with pears on top. 

After lunch and all this time filled with complete boredness they finally took me to see the ENT. He said he would give me a prescription and that I would be able to leave. 

This was the 1st time I ever ever stayed in the hospital, wouldn't you figure my 1st time would be in a foreign country!!! This is definitely an experience i will never forget!!

Life is back to normal!!!

Thank goodness he is home!!! Life is back to our kind of "normal." And I am loving it!!! Thankfully this month he gets 3, 4 day weekends!! It is like 3 mini vacations!!! We don't have any plans yet but it will be the perfect time to do something!!!

So the day I went to pick him up when they all got back from the field, they were all hungry tired & oh so STINKY!!! Most of them haven't bathed most of the time they were out there. Command would not release them until they all went and got haircuts. You know, they have to keep up with Army standards...hair lengths being one of them. They told them to go a few at a time so I gave one guy a ride. In the barber shop you have to pull a number b/c it can get busy at times. So he pulled number 11 and looked up and they were on number 38. Only 70 people in front of him, with 6 barbers working. No big deal. Just one sign that all the guys are home. While they were gone the post seemed like a ghost town. Not any more!! YAY!!!

The hubs and I were laying around that evening as he tells me stories about being in the field. Like how all the privates assigned the leaders animal names. He said his was The Great White Buffalo (but u had to whisper it?).... made me lol. And how his squad leader got his team killed (I am not fond of those stories)! My favorite though was when he was discussing how cold and miserable it was out there, although I felt bad for the guys, he made me lol when he looks up so seriously and says..."nothing like having to wipe your ass with frozen baby wipes!"

I love having them all back and I am glad we won't have to deal with them going to the field again..... well until D-Day!!!

Later!!!

He's almost home!!!

Just a few more days and my love will be home!!! I will be so relieved. This is the first time in a long time I have not spoken to him in over 2 weeks. They usually let the guys call home once or twice while they are gone!! I miss his voice!!! Awwww!!!! We are expecting the guys to return home around 3a.m. That is not ideal at all, especially for the families with small children but I can deal with that!!!

Thankfully, I have grocery shopping, scentsy parties and baby showers to keep me busy until his return!

I came across this on a fellow Army Wife's FB page so I thought I would share on here. I have seen it before but it is one of my favorites!

A Military Wife

Lots of moving...
Moving...
Moving far from home...
Moving two cars, three kids and one dog...all riding with HER of course.
Moving sofas to basements because they won't go in THIS house;
Moving curtains that won't fit;
Moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours.
Moving away from friends;
Moving toward new friends;
Moving her most important luggage: her trunk full of memories.

Often waiting...
Waiting...
Waiting for housing.
Waiting for orders.
Waiting for deployments.
Waiting for phone calls.
Waiting for reunions.
Waiting for the new curtains to arrive.
Waiting for him to come home, For dinner...AGAIN!

They call her 'Military Dependent', but she knows better:
She is fiercely In-Dependent.

She can balance a check book;
Handle the yard work;
Fix a noisy toilet;
Bury the family pet...
She is intimately familiar with drywall anchors and toggle bolts.
She can file the taxes;
Sell a house;
Buy a car;
Or set up a move... .....all with ONE Power of Attorney.

She welcomes neighbors that don't welcome her.
She reinvents her career with every PCS;
Locates a house in the desert, The Arctic, Or the deep south.
And learns to call them all 'home'.
She MAKES them all home.

Military Wives are somewhat hasty...
They leap into:
Decorating,
Leadership,
Volunteering,
Career alternatives,
Churches,
And friendships. They don't have 15 years to get to know people.
Their roots are short but flexible.
They plant annuals for themselves and perennials for those who come after them.

Military Wives quickly learn to value each other:
They connect over coffee,
Rely on the spouse network,
Accept offers of friendship and favors.
Record addresses in pencil...

Military Wives have a common bond:
The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands; his commitment is unique.
He doesn't have a 'JOB'
He has a 'MISSION' that he can't just decide to quit...
He's on-call for his country 24/7.
But for her, he's the most unreliable guy in town!
His language is foreign
TDY
PCS
OPR
SOS
ACC
BDU
ACU
BAR
CIB
TAD
And so, a Military Wife is a translator for her family and his.
She is the long- distance link to keep them informed;
the glue that holds them together.

A Military Wife has her moments:
She wants to wring his neck;
Dye his uniform pink;
Refuse to move to Siberia;
But she pulls herself together.
Give her a few days,
A travel brochure,
A long hot bath,
A pledge to the flag,
A wedding picture,
And she goes.
She packs.
She moves.
She follows.

Why?
What for?
How come?
You may think it is because she has lost her mind.
But actually it is because she has lost her heart.
It was stolen from her by a man,
Who puts duty first,
Who longs to deploy,
Who salutes the flag,
And whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her Military Husband,
She will remain his military wife.
And would have it no other way.

--Jane Hubbard Hyde

Smothered Pork Chops!!

The husband and I eat lots of chicken, steak & seafood [well of course veggies too] during the week. Pork is not really something I cook often. I think it was because I was not very good at cooking pork, it was always dry & well, gross so I just stopped buying it. Period!! While meal planning the last week before the hubs left for the field I stumbled upon a great recipe for PORK chops!!! It turned out great and I will definitely be adding this to the monthly menu!!!


Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 pork chops, 3/4-inch thick, bone-in
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup buttermilk
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish


Directions
Put the flour in a shallow platter and add the onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, salt, and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels to remove any moisture and then dredge them in the seasoned flour; shaking off the excess.

Heat a large saute pan or cast iron skillet over medium heat and coat with the oil. When the oil is nice and hot, lay the pork chops in the pan in a single layer and fry for 3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove the pork chops from the pan and add a little sprinkle of seasoned flour to the pan drippings. Mix the flour into the fat to dissolve and then pour in the chicken broth in. Let the liquid cook down for 5 minutes to reduce and thicken slightly. Stir in the buttermilk to make a creamy gravy and return the pork chops to the pan, covering them with the sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes until the pork is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley before serving.

Giving credit where credit is due: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/smothered-pork-chops-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback


Oh, & I added mushrooms & then served it over brown rice! Fantastic.

1/2 Way There!

Yep. We are halfway through this field training! I am so ready for my guy to get home! The days seem longer while he is away and I get so bored. He wasn't able to bring his phone this time so I haven't talked to him at all. I think that is the worst part.

The only up side to him not taking his phone is that I was able to take it in to the shop to be repaired. After almost a year with it being broken he finally had a reason not to [NEED] it so I could FINALLY get it fixed. So they were unable to fix it so they gave him a new one. He will be kinda bummed b/c he didn't back up his phone to icloud recently BUT.... I am freakin' pumped. The upgraded phone now has a working camera and  takes panoramic pictures like the iphone 5!! I am beyond excited to try out this new feature!! I'm sure once I get the chance I will go crazy with this feature.... & I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda jealous he has it & not me!! :o(

Luckily I have two fur babies to keep me entertained throughout the day. Today I woke up to balls of socks all over the hallway. The husband always balls up his socks when he packs. Since all his crap is all over the spare bedroom floor it is like a playground to a kitten. He must have found these socks and had the time of his life with them while I was asleep!!! Too funny!! But this pic is how I found them today....cuddle buddies!!!

Tucker (the baby) has found out that the bath tub is a cool place to hang out. It's annoying that he follows me to the bathroom... Every! Single! Time! But now it's ok b/c he doesn't hang out at my feet anymore! LOL