Stillness

Our house is so still and quite right now.  P is upstairs sleeping in, which he totally deserves.  He was gone for 4 weeks for pre-deployment training.  This weekend and next he has "4 Days."  We will be heading home to see friends and family next weekend so this weekend will be full of together time and rest.

When he was gone the silence was at times deafening.  Now it's so welcome because I know he's here, relaxed, and we are happy.

 I was out to lunch with a friend while P was gone as was her hubby.  She said that the training was also good for the wives.  It get us ready for months of being alone, months of single parents,and  sole decision makers.  It is a good trial run.  I missed P a lot while he was gone, so much that I left for 10 days to be with my mom in Florida.

 Deployment will be different in that about 10 weeks after he leaves I will be having our baby.  Having the baby without him is at times hugely daunting.  I know I will have my mom here for about 10-14 days and the Douala we hired for the actual birth.  But my husband is missing this huge event and if I allow myself to dwell it breaks my heart.  Which is exactly why I have to focus on the fact thousands of women are in the same boat as me and I know I have the strength to do it.

Boy....

That was NOT the direction I was planning on heading this morning   I was going to tell you about the awesome taco pizza I made last night, the pretty mist this morning hanging in the changing trees, and the ham and bean soup I have in the crock pot.  I guess this was were my head was.

Pumpkin Bars

I love a clean house!  Nothing feels better than when you are done giving everything a good scrub and it smells great and is all sparkly!

Fall is defiantly here in the North Country.  Cool sunny days and brisk nights.  I love fall.  It's is my favorite season.  The mums, pumpkins, apples, leaves, cider, and yummy comfort food.

Last night I made a pear and pork chop dish that was amazing.  I want to share the recipe once I tweak it a bit.  I also roasted a small sugar pumpkin and made pumpkin bars.  By small I mean small, I only got just over 2 cups of meat out of it.

Here is the recipe!

Pumpkin Pie Bars

(adapted from Eagle Brands Recipe)

3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Rolled Oats

• 1 cup finely chopped pecans

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided

• 3/4 cup butter ( I thought this was WAY too much, next time I plan on using 1/2 cup

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin or 2 cups fresh pumpkin

• 1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon All Purpose Flour
• 
  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In medium bowl, combine 3/4 cup flour,3/4 cup oats, nuts, sugars and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Add butter, mix until crumbly with a pastry cutter. Reserve 1 1/4 cups of the mixture. Pat remaining mixture on bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch baking pan.

Meanwhile, in large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, allspice and salt; mix well. Pour evenly over crust. Mix reserved crumbs with 1 tablespoon flour. Sprinkle over pumpkin mixture.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set. Cool 10 minutes. Serve warm, very good with vanila ice cream and/or cool whip. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Oh my, it's been such a long time

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted!

The wedding was amazing!  Went off with out a hitch, other than being the hottest weekend of the year.  Everyone one we love was there with us.

The trip to New York was great too.  It was so hard to say good-bye, especially to my closest friend and her sweet daughter.  We were planning on spending one night on the road at Niagara Falls, but my hubby forgot his passport at home!  We are going to try to head out there while we are still stationed here.

About a week after we arrive in NY I found out I am PREGNANT!!!  I can hardly believe it.  I am due March 24th, about a month and a half after P leaves for the desert. 

This is such a brief overview of life, but it has been so long I thought it would be better to just jump right in to regular posts.  So that's my goal for tomorrow.

Neglected

Neglected is what this blog is.....

My computer bit the dust.  I got a new one over the weekend ( Thanks P!!!), but I have no internet.  I am going to Panera, Corner Bakery, Caribou, etc to use the WiFi. I think it's making me fat since I have to get food, cookies, or coffee every time :)

 I think I am going to put blogging on hold until after the wedding.

Not only am I busy, but what I want to blog about is to personal and needs to wait for after the big day.

Needless to say I am anxious for July to get here.  I can't wait to be P's wife and get back to NNY, which now feels more like home than I ever could have thought it would.

Thankful Thursday (Road Trip Edition)

That Illinois has open road tolling, gates are lame and defeat the purpose of using any sort of EZ-Pass in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.

Violet did fairly well, had to run the A/C the whole time for her.

I master driving the square in the town we will be living in.

There were lots of Starbucks along the ride.

I am really proud that I did both ends of the trip straight through all alone and didn't get lost!

I never have to drive it again alone again.

Our time together was amazing and neither of us wanted me to leave.  Luckily I will be back a week from tomorrow.

Times up

The past 13 days have gone by WAY to fast.  I feel like I just got to NY and at the same time it feels like I have always been here.

I am NOT looking forward to the drive back tomorrow.  I know I can do it, but the excitement I felt coming out here is just not the same for going back to IL.  Although I am very excited for my bridal shower on Sunday!  And to open response cards I know are waiting at my mom's.

Over the weekend P and I went to Bolt Castle on Heart Island, about 45 minutes away.  The island is in the St. Lawrence Seaway on the border of Canada.  The grounds were amazing!  The castle itself is still undergoing many renovations since the 1970's, but seeing the old photo's you can imaging the splendor.  We also took the extra trip to the one remaining boat house, the boats in it were incredible!  It was such a nice way to spend time together and enjoy the warmer weather and our new home area.

After we checked some of the local restaurants out, but none of them looked that great so we just went to Texas Roadhouse.  And ate WAY to much yummy bread and steak.

Looking forward to coming back in about two weeks to move in to the townhouse!!  WoooWhoo!

Thankful Thursday

We didn't move this week, but that means we get to move into a way nice updated town home over Memorial Day weekend!

P indulged my OCD and ran a ton of errands on Saturday buying lots of cleaning and organizational supplies!

P has taken Violet out in the morning before PT while I fall back asleep.

We had a nest of baby birds in our dryer vent.  The maintenance guy told me he had to kill the 3 little birdies, their eyes weren't even open!!!  But then he said he couldn't do it, the local zoo was going to take them.

P has worked so hard at thinning lots of un-needed stuff out and reorganizing some of what he has.  What a trooper!

It has been amazing to have this time to just be like a normal couple and spend time together.  I am so very happy I was able to come out here.