Homesick

There's nothing like being homesick during the holidays. I didnt think it would affect me to much because I was expecting cold weather for Christmas. I haven't had a truly cold Christmas in over 15 years. Florida doesn't typically get very cold at all during the winter, and I thought Texas would at least give me a more seasonable feel.

Well from everything I can tell, this Christmas will be unseasonably warm for this area. Got figure. Then to top it off this will be my first Christmas without my parents. I managed to survive my first thanksgiving without them with the help of my mother in law. But Christmas will be just me and J, most of our friends are going home so it will be a difficult one for me.

Then to top it off I am highly emotional for other reasons. We are officially trying to conceive, and are having more difficulty than we expected. Having gotten pregnant by chance before we truly didn't think we would that hard of a time. So I've been feeling like a bit of a failure recently.

It's difficult to see my friends who are getting pregnant and having little ones. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely happy and ecstatic for them, but I'm sad for me at the same time.

I know it will happen when the time is right, but that doesnt make it any easier. I was just really hoping to get pregnant before we head to Hawaii, and while I know we have some time yet, my hopes for that are starting to dwindle.

Hopefully my spirits will turn around soon. Afterall Christmas is my favorite time of the year.

Writer's Block

So the last couple of months I've really been struggling with writer's block, and frankly still am! I have turned another year older, as well as my husband. We have started to plan for the holidays. I am looking forward to the family coming to visit over the next few months. I've been doing a lot of life reflecting!

I've struggled with turning 27, yeh I know it's not old, but it's a turning point. I don't exactly see myself as a grown-up even though I am. I don't feel old, usually. I look at how much I have grown, matured, changed, and accomplished over the years. Next year is my 10 year high school reunion which seems almost impossible. Sadly I don't think I will be able to go due to our move to Hawaii. This makes me sad, but I only talk to a handful from school anyway. I'm not quite where I thought I'd be when I turned 27, but at the same time I wouldn't change where I am. I also feel the crunch of certain clocks now, which I'm not overly thrilled about.

We are officially planning our Thanksgiving and Christmas things. We are planning our dinner for Thanksgiving which will include some of the single soldier's in Jesse's unit. We don't want anyone to be left out! We are planning our Christmas gifts for our families, since we aren't heading home. Lots of homemade gifts this year are in the works! These are definitely going to be thoughtful and useful!

From now till the end of the year there is at least one family member coming to visit a month! I'm excited and will make the holidays seem a little more bearable. We don't know yet if any family will be with us on Christmas yet, but at least we'll see them beforehand.

As I start my homemade gifts I'll be sure to share some tips that I find for some of these projects! Wish me luck in solving this writer's block!!

Yay for 4 Day Weekends!!!

Oh, 4 day weekends how I love you! It feels like a mini vacation with my husband, even if we don't go anywhere! We can do whatever we want for 4 glorious days!! Plus on top of that, it's pay day!!! Of course we don't have a lot of money to waste, but the weekend always seems to be better when it's payday!

So what are our plans for this weekend, you may ask?

~ Finish up my craft project of refinishing a wine rack, more to come on this.
~ Search Home Depot and Lowe's for the supplies I need for one of my home made Christmas Gifts
~ Picnic at Lake Belton
~ Central Texas State Fair - Yay for horrible for you Fair Food!!
~ Possible BBQ
~ Giving this puppy a very long over due bath:

~ Spending some much needed quality time with my wonderful hubby!!

For those of you who are in a deployment cycle, I will make sure to hug my love extra tight for you! Those who have their husbands home, I ask you to do the same! Enjoy your time with them, that next deployment is always just around the corner!






This song by Keith Urban, strengthens my appreciation for our military men and women every time I hear it. I've always had a strong sense of appreciation growing up with a father in the Navy and deployed for, what seems like, over half of my childhood. This is how I always understood the mentality to be. If I could have done it, I would have, but something kept telling me that my job was to be a military wife like my mom! Love you Mom!!  So enjoy Keith Urban's "For You"

Cabbage Chili? or Cabbage soup? You Decide

      So hubby has to weigh in this week, which means extremely healthy eating in this house. The purpose of anything we eat coming up to a weigh in is nutritious, filling, and easy on the waist line. So this time I decided to look into making Cabbage Soup. After looking at some recipes online, I made my own version, and it is amazing! After eating it for dinner tonight, I realized there are many versions of this to be made, from extremely healthy and vegetarian to full on chili. So I have decided to share with you, how to make my version. I apologize for not having more pictures or better quality, but I didn't decide on sharing this until it was well into the cooking phase!


When I make this it fills my stock pot, I think it has a 6qt capacity. The cabbage and chicken stock can be reduced to fit into your stock pot. Of course this will be easy to freeze and has plenty of left overs.

Katie's Basic Cabbage Chili/Soup

* 1 Medium Yellow Onion - Diced

* 3 Large Cloves Garlic - Diced/Chopped

* 1 Bunch Fresh Spinach - Chopped

* 4 Celery Stalks - Diced/Chopped

* 4 Medium Carrots - Shredded/Grated

* 1 Medium Head of Green Cabbage - Chopped

* 2 Cans Petite Diced Tomatoes

* 1 Can Navy Beans - Drained

* 1 Can Garbanzo Beans - Drained

* 1 Can Kidney Beans - Drained

* 6 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Stock

* Olive oil

* Salt and Pepper (I prefer Kosher or Sea Salt for this)

* Garlic Powder

* Onion Powder

* Chili Powder

* Ground Cumin

Step One:  Sauté onion, garlic, and spinach in olive oil. Season with a little salt and pepper
Step Two: Add about one cup of Chicken Stock and deglaze the pan
Step Three: Add Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, and approximately 3 cups of chicken stock.
Step Four: Season to taste with Salt, Pepper, Onion powder, Garlic Powder, Chili Powder, and Ground
Cumin.
Step Five: Add Tomatoes, Beans, and remaining chicken stock to cover all ingredients.
Step Six: Simmer on low for at least two hours stirring occasionally.

This is ready to eat when the cabbage is soft and cooked through. 

Top with your favorite soup/chili toppings!

Full Stock Pot of Cabbage Chili

Variations of Katie's Cabbage Soup/Chili

* Add 8oz package of Diced Ham for a little more substance

or

* Brown one pound hamburger and drain before Sautéeing onions, garlic, and spinach for a truly hearty chili

I made this version of Cabbage Chili with Diced Ham

My Bowl of Cabbage Chili with some Shredded Cheese on Top

The best thing about this soup/chili is that it takes exactly like regular chili to me. It has great flavor and is extremely hearty with or without meat. For those that don't like cabbage, this wasn't very strong on the cabbage flavor. I think the tomato really subsides the strong flavor of the cabbage.

So what do you think, is this a soup or chili?

 

 

Link Up: Friday's Letters

Ok, so I have never done a link-up with another blog before, but I figured I would give it a try. So I'm linking up with Ashley for Friday's Letters.

Dear Husband, Thank you for being you and supporting me in everything I do. Thank you for supporting me in the decision to quit a job I didn't like!

Dear Housing Maintenance, I hope that you are right and that we only have stress fractures in our walls and that the house won't fall down around our ears. If it does, I'm coming after you!

Dear FRG, you drive me batty with how little support we can drum up from over 200 members. If my wonderful husband gets pulled up to brigade, I don't know how much I'll miss the headache. I'm sure I will miss it, but I would like to have my sanity back.

Dear Denice, I couldn't handle the FRG on my own, without you I would have quit a long time ago! If he does get pulled to brigade, I will miss working with you, but I will still help with the things we planned if I'm still allowed!

Dear Lexy, I love you pup, but you need to stop clawing me out of jealousy. It hurts and you can't do that when another little one is on the way.

Dear Texas, please start cooling off, it was wonderful earlier this week! I would love to feel the fall weather again!

Dear husband, I love you more than you know! I'm excited for our future!

Joy

    So this morning while I was doing my normal morning social media catch up, I read this post by fellow blogger Fran at FreeBorboleta. This was something that I needed to read today. She talks about the difference between Fun and Joy in life. (Make sure to take a look, it's a great read.)

    I have been feeling kind of down over the life I had in Florida versus what I have here in Texas. I have been thinking about all the things I would do and all the fun I had while living there. I think about the friends I am no longer able to see all the time, and the lack of friends that I have here. Fran's post got me thinking a little deeper on my past and present. I started to examine if I was just having fun or if I had joy in Florida, and also what I have here.

    I had both fun and joy while living in Florida! In Texas, I still have joy with some moments of fun. I have always tried to do what will make me happy, which I equate to joy in most circumstances. I am filled with joy in my every day life. No my life may not be exciting and always filled with fun, but I am happy. I wouldn't trade my life here with my husband for anything,  not even to be back in Florida where I had a lot of fun.

    I know the fun will come back, it always does. I will make new friends and I will have fun with them, it just takes time. Until then I will continue to be happy with my life and enjoy the fun, no matter how unconventional it may seem now, with my husband and few friends I have here. To my friends from back home, you know you are always welcome in my home!

Enjoy some of my favorite memories from the past year and half in Florida. By the way, if anyone can tell me how to put multiple pictures on a line, feel free to let me know!

Thinking of the Future with Baby Fever

This is my first official post on anything worth writing, lol. I have decided that I will start writing about more than just what happens in my day to day life, because frankly, at this time, it's not that interesting! So instead I am going to write about something in particular from my very ordinary life that might be of some interest. Of course, I'm sure I will still write about the mundane, but my goal is to write something with more substance! Now on to the substance!!

After everything that happened earlier this year with the pregnancy, and with our impending move next year, hubby and I have had some serious decisions to make regarding future children. We decided that with the high probability of him deploying shortly after getting to our new post, we want to have a baby before he leaves. With the length of recovery, we knew that I would deliver to close to the move and one way or another he would end up leaving to our new home before I could. We definitely do not want that, if we can help it. So based on all of that fun stuff we decided that we can stop preventing this fall. We decided on this a few months ago, but now that the date is about a month a way, baby fever has officially hit!

Living with baby fever and ample time on my hands, I have had time to begin planning! My husband of course, thinks I am crazy! Here's my logic, we will be losing roughly 2 months, if not more, of planning time because of our move, then we will basically have one month left before baby comes! I am way to indecisive and change my mind to often to wait until we are officially pregnant to make some of the big choices! Ok, maybe I am a little extra anxious, but I still have a valid point!

Have any of you had baby fever like this??