The Smell of the Seasons
There is a certain something that goes with the burning hazelnut candle on my coffee table, cuddling in a warm blanket and watching a dark movie like Interview with a Vampire with the lights down and the feeling of fall all around. I have a peace that I have not felt in a long time, hubby is at work and I can’t wait for him to get home and join me in this wonderful mood.
It is that amazing time of year where the feeling of everything starts to change, the trees take on the colors of fire and their leaves fall like snow, the smell in the air is one of spices and autumn and the holidays are coming around. We will have Halloween coming very soon with all of the childish fun and excitement it brings, kids dressed in cute little outfits, tons of candy, fun decorations and scary entertainment. I have movies picked out on netflix set for a movie marathon should that be the choice for Halloween night or I may go to a party or out with friends, there are so many options. Then there will be Thanksgiving, the first Thanksgiving with my husband in Washington as well as the first I can do anything. Last year I had my wisdom teeth pulled the day before but this year our shop is thinking of getting together and having a shop Thanksgiving meal for those of us not going home. A fun group gathering for our odd little family. Then the smooth transition into the winter holidays, the subtle change of scents from cozy heavy smells you want to wrap yourself in and make you hungry to the wintery fresh scents that make you feel like you are walking through a pine forest or unwrap presents under the Christmas tree. Christmas will be a wonderful experience I hope. This will be one away from my family with just hubby and I creating our own traditions. we can decorate our own tree and unwrap presents with just us on Christmas morning. Family is always nice to have around but there is something to be said about a nice Christmas with just the hubby and I. Can we all tell that I am excited for this time of year? Summer used to be my favorite season but I think I have grown into a lover of fall and winter, I think I am equally in love with each.
I have been doing laundry on and off through out the day and cleaned up a bit here and there. The house still looks cluttered and a bit messy and we still have boxes all around and have way too much stuff but we are finally making it a home. It is really the little things that make somewhere a home, just small things probably different to each person that makes a place feel comfy and lived in. Hopefully over the next bit of time we can sort the boxes, donate a bunch of stuff and really get everything settled. We are so close and that just adds to the awesome feeling.
We also had a minor epiphany not long ago. It is something that we had vaguely realized before but it really hit home recently. I was in Hawaii for just over a week and while I was there had no real reason to spend any money. When I got home I realized just how much was left in my bank account and how much we screw around and waste money. I got back and we could actually do things and have fun! We went out yesterday to see Jo Koy perform because I found out the day of that he was in the area and actually had money for tickets. We had the money to buy lights and a coffee table to help with our home, we could actually do what we wanted without being afraid that we couldn’t pay bills! It is a great feeling and hopefully one that can keep up. When we discovered how much extra there was we did the calculations and saw how much we could have, not enough to be rich by any means but enough for us young adults to live a life and enjoy it. Now I am planning to settle in tonight and budget and hopefully get a lot of our old debts paid faster and get rid of them and still balance everything and have fun, that is the goal at least. I think I will also start cooking a bit more at home, or maybe strike a deal with my husband, he cooks the 2 days he has off, I cook the 2 I have off and we can eat cheap food or leftovers the other three days. With us living so close to work we are already saving a ton on gas, especially since he works really close to me so we have managed to cut down a decent amount of spending so far. The whole idea of getting things paid off and potentially having money really makes me happy and excited and that excitement seemed to have finally hit my dear hubby.
Ow…
OUCH! Why is my knee causing so much pain right now?! I haven’t been running for a couple of weeks now, shouldn’t it be getting better? Ugh, I guess this just proves to me how useless it is to take time out to try to recover, I think my knees are just doomed to hurt unfortunately. I guess I will wait until the end of the month when my waiver is up and hope it improves, if not then I guess I just tough it out and suck it up. In the mean time I am still below 140, yay! I had a brief scare where I thought I had gone above it but I think it was just because I had eaten so much salt, it was going to happen with the whole being broke thing, ramen does contain a ton of salt.
Payday is tomorrow and I can’t wait! I am hoping that this payday things finally start to straighten out, it will still be tight but hopefully it will be settled so it isn’t beyond tight and into the negatives. I think I can manage to get the extra debts and ticket paid and still have some money left for basic necessities. I am thinking I will try to go as long as possible without spending any extra money, just grocery shopping, bills and gas. This is going to be super hard but I think it is necessary, I need this over spending to stop, I am tired of living paycheck to paycheck. I joined the Air Force to get away from that and here I am still doing it, time for change. I kind of have things planned out and hubby hopefully does too so hopefully he will be able to give me the money he is supposed to so I can budget and buy better food.
I want to buy good healthy food! My body is totally craving fresh fruits and veggies and real food! I need to figure out what staples to buy for my kitchen and how to budget it all so that we have money and can still eat healthy. It’s not easy but I know it is possible, I just have to figure out how. I have finally started cooking lentils and brown rice and kind of tinkering and have a few recipes that make them pretty tasty (chicken broth is definitely a staple in my kitchen). They were sitting in my pantry for a while but desperation got me there and I am glad, healthy, tasty and cheap, exactly what we needed. I think hubby is getting a bit tired of the brown rice because we have had it the last three nights in a row but whatever, he can deal because there really isn’t anything else. I also managed to use random stuff through out the kitchen to make steak three nights in a row, I scrounged around the kitchen and dinners actually turned out pretty good. I used general recipes but kind of tinkered and I guess I have some ideas and kitchen sense. Tonight will be a scrounging night but I am going to budget and plan meals and get my kitchen straight!!
This is my goal, to get my whole life straight and organized. I want my apartment unpacked and I have a plan for it. I have a friend coming in Sunday who will be helping Hubby and I finally get it done! Now hubby can’t say in a minute because she won’t let him and it is a whole plan for the day so he can’t make an excuse and I can’t either. I am hoping to take control of what I can and try to make myself happier. I will get my kitchen set up and get my apartment set up too, my life will finally be organized and clutter free in every way I can manage. And maybe we will sell off some of that old stuff and make a little extra money, that would certainly be a very nice bonus.
Home Alone…
Hubby is off to his first day of work and I have the apartment to myself for the first time since he got here. I am enjoying it, I love him and I love spending time with him but everyone needs a little time on their own. He usually gets his time because he was here before while I was at work and he stays up way later than I do. I haven’t really done a whole lot today, just kind of sat here and relaxed. I moved a couple of pieces of furniture and have been doing some laundry and doing bits and pieces of things here and there but not going too crazy. Luckily hubby did a lot of cleaning last night before he came to bed, he also started marinading some meat for dinner tonight and I smelled the marinade and I cannot wait to have dinner tonight. Hopefully he comes home happy from work and hopefully the day was generally a good one. I know he is happier now that he has a job, he is one of those that without it and without money of his own he is very unhappy and feels like he isn’t putting anything into a household; even if he were doing all of the cooking and cleaning he wouldn’t be happy. So him having a job takes away money stress as well as some extra stress and annoyance from him so it will make life easier.
Edit: Dinner was amazing!
A constant
ARG! What’s for dinner? This constant eternal question and problem I have. I always go through and find a bunch of recipes I want to try but by the time I am looking at them I want something quick and easy and don’t want to bother with the nonsense of full preparations and everything. Must start planning ahead more. I think I am setting myself up with a project this weekend, I need to make a recipe book and put in a bunch of these tasty looking recipes I have found, then I am gonna randomly flip to a page and that will be what I make the next week, then I can buy the ingredients and be prepared. Project number 2 I think will consist of cooking a whole chicken and cutting it up and seeing what I can do. I have checked out online and it looks kind of easy, lol, hopefully I have some good knives and shears in my kitchen. If I can deal with a whole chicken than that will be much cheaper than the boneless skinless chicken breasts I usually buy and I am all for saving money.
I want to try to trim my bills as much as possible and save so I can have extra money for whatever. Some to put toward bills, some to maybe actually decorate my apartment. I am tired of being in this constant state of broke. I have enough for stuff, just not a lot of stuff. I can pay my bills, eat, affford gas plus some extra but it seems to disappear too fast. I want to get my debts paid down as quickly as possible but I also don’t want to tighten my money to the point that al I do is sit at home so I don’t spend anything. I think I will do my best to keep better track of my money this month. I want to see where it is going and where I can save. I know part of it goes to eating out so I want to cook at home as much as possible. I was doing really well with that before I left but then I got down to nothing in my fridge and I didn’t want to fill my fridge when I would be gone for 2 weeks. But, now I am back and I can shop and set myself up.
I also want to get more in shape. I had PT today but it was very basic quick strength training with the squadron (what’s left of it due to holiday vacations) and then on our own cardio. I pushed myself pretty hard today and honestly it felt good. It hurt, and I could barely breathe, but I felt good doing it. I realized I was reaching some sort of happiness about working out, or at least pushing myself. I still have a long way to go to really get where I want but the mentality shift is an awesome thing and will make the process easier. I figure I can eat healthier if I cook for myself, I can make my own tasty meals and save money doing it. It is win win so why not? with any luck I will be in decent shape when hubby actually gets out here and I can surprise him. Supposedly it takes about 2 weeks to start seeing results and I have 3 so maybe I can make a noticeable dent, lol. If I can’t for when he arrives then it is still a good general goal. I definitely have to improve by my PT eval, I have until April I think so I have a while but I want to actually do well rather than just passable. I have crunched some numbers and if I at least get back to where I was in basic I will be beyond passable and that took me two months, with more time I think I could maybe gain the 2 points I need for excellent. Then again, in basic it was 6 days a week of PT so that could make a big difference…
Happy almost Christmas Eve!
It’s almost Christmas Eve and therefor almost Christmas! I am excited though nervous, I have no idea how this whole cooking Christmas dinner is going to go, hopefully well. Tomorrow my mom is cooking tri tip and somethings for a good tasty family dinner. I am excited, I haven’t had tri tip in a while and it is one of my favorites. We went shopping today and bought all of our stuff for tomorrow’s dinner as well as Christmas dinner and I have to say it is a lot of food. The menu my mom set up for actual Christmas dinner doesn’t seem too hard, mashed potatoes, green been casserole, turkey, stuffing and cranberry stuff. Sounds tasty so hopefully it turns out just how it sounds.
Other than the Christmas stuff things are pretty good. Hung out all day with my mom which was actually pretty fun. Obviously we did the shopping but afterward we went to get our nails done and then hung out at the house and watched some TV. We didn’t fight or stress and it was nice and fun. Tomorrow I think we are hanging out again though I may have to switch that so I can go buy her some stocking stuffers. I have no idea what to get, I need cheap but still good and I just cannot think of anything. My sister has tomorrow off as well so maybe I can run off with her at some point and she can help me find stuff for both my mom and her husband. I also would love to get something for my husband but that won’t be happening. I am way too broke and technically I already got him something, I just gave it to him early. He can deal without a gift, he will probably appreciate it, he doesn’t really have money to get me anything either. Instead it will just be trying to get time together before I head up to Washington. He is staying here for another couple of weeks so he doesn’t leave people at work hanging during their vacations. After that he should be packing up and heading up to me. I am really excited, I can’t wait to get us out there and see what happens.
California!
So I got to Cali a couple of days ago and things are interesting to say the least. The family dinner was not nearly what I was expecting, not the happy fun it usually is. This year was an interesting one and we just have to see how they go next year, hopefully they stay good for some and get better for others. Talked with hubby, been talking with him. I don’t think I am really going to post anything until it is all finally set by my standards but at the very least there is a lot of stuff to work through for both of us. This will be an interesting few weeks I think. Other than that not too eventful yet, today should be visiting the house and starting to decorate for Christmas while my sister attempts to cook some random thing I stumbled her online. I will of course leave the decorating occasionally to peak my head into the kitchen, talk to her and keep her company as well as make sure she doesn’t burn the house down. We were discussing some of her cooking experiences last night and have decided she has an odd knack for creating new creatures…blobs and things that jiggle and move all on their own, lol. I will definitely be carefully watching.
Salsa Time
So I need a good pico de gallo recipe. I plan to start making breakfast burritos (when I can actually eat real food anyway) and want to try to make them as close to this restaurants method as possible. I have figured that the key to theirs is the salsa they use which is pico de gallo as far as my breakfast burrito. Other than that I think all they use is ham, shredded potatoes, cheese, and eggs, easy enough so the key has to be the salsa. I figure that they should be soft enough for me to munch when I get a little further into the healing process. So this brings me to my question for anybody who bother’s to read, anyone have any good pico recipes for me?
I was checking out the holes in my gums and it looks like they are actually kind of healing…one of them for sure at least. The hole is a lot smaller than it originally was though I can’t see the top holes so I need to go buy one of those little dental mirror things. Once I figure out how everything is healing maybe I can get a better idea of how much longer I have to worry about getting stuff stuck in my gums, very good information to have. Overall though I think it is going well and I should be past the worrying phase and am pretty much just in the irritating recovery phase, only maybe a month of that from what I am hearing…hopefully a little less and very definitely hoping not any more time than that.
I think today I am finally getting out of the house. Unfortunately the problem is I don’t have any money to really do anything so my getting out of the house will probably consist of driving around not doing a whole lot, throwing out my trash and checking my mail. At least I get some fresh air though. It will hopefully help with the boredom. Hubby has the day off so I am hoping to get a long call from him, I will most likely at least get a short one since he is supposed to be searching through the garages to see if any of our stuff was stolen. Should be an interesting day with many interesting reports from him. Hopefully no bad news or angry husband. I don’t need him all frustrated and me already bummed and tired of being stuck in the house if we start out with angry then it will quite possibly end up in a big fight that I don’t want. The goal is to be nice and happy and get along and make things work, I think arguing very definitely works against that goal especially if it is for petty little non important things.
Almost Pain…
Woot! Tomorrow will completely suck but today is great! I stopped into work today to test on some of the material I have been studying and checked my email. I got an email from my supervisor that was a forward and discovered it was a kudos for me. I tought class yesterday for some reservists and had a Lt. Col in my class, she wrote a note to my commander telling him how much she enjoyed my class and thought I was a confident teacher and did well with making sure that they knew what they needed to. I am really happy about that, my supervisor told me to save it for my annual review so yay for having another point.
I am watching more scrubs today and in a few minutes I will probably start making those soups to get ready for tomorrow. It will be a painful next week and hopefully not longer but I will get through it with soup…and the mass of other stuff I bought hopefully. Any last minute tips for wisdom teeth removal anyone?
