Girlfriends

I have so many great girlfriends. I am blessed beyond measure because of them.

On Saturday, I had lunch with two amazing women and their kiddos. All 3 of our husbands are gone. One husband is TDY to the Midwest, another is about 10 days into a 179 day TDY to Afghanistan, and mine is TDY to the Southwest. We had such a great time. We chatted about coping with deployments and TDY's and how it affects us and each of our kids differently. We discussed how car batteries and computers always die as soon as your husband leaves. Amazing how that happens! We chatted about the highs and lows our our time in the military and how we cope with being apart. There was no complaining, or any "woe are we moments." Just a few women sharing in the camaraderie of the similar lives we lead. I think we were an encouragement to each other. I hope they were encouraged, because they encouraged me.

Then today, another girlfriend and I went shopping all afternoon. Her husband (he is NOT TDY) offered to keep my kids so we could enjoy lunch and a day of shopping. Both sets of kids were happy playing with each other, the moms were happy to have some time with each other (and away from our darling children),and her husband was happy that he made us ALL happy. (Thanks, Aaron! The kids and I really enjoyed our day. )

Thanks for a great weekend, girls!

Inspired

My friend, Malia, inspired me! I belong to Abundant Harvest and get fresh organic produce each week. Sometimes there is some seriously weird stuff that I've never seen and have no idea what to even do with it.

This past Monday, Malia blogged about Braised Bok Choy. She included a video on how to prepare the bok choy, recipes, and even a photo of the finished masterpiece. It looked pretty good but I didn't see myself ever buying or cooking bok choy. UNTIL.. I picked up my produce today and had... you guessed it.. Bok Choy in my basket.

I used the same combination of the two recipes Malia used. I did make a few changes. I live in a home filled with carnivores. A meatless dish would have gone over like a lead balloon at my house. So, I added chicken and julienned some carrots. I also used 5X amount of ginger it called for (I really like ginger) but doubled all of the other spices/liquids because we usually like extra "sauce." Everybody really liked it. When I put in on the table Connor said, "MOM! This looks AWESOME!" Which, for Connor is a pretty big deal. Of course, it could have been the cashews. He loves cashews.
In any case, I got the thumbs up to cook it again.

Thank you, Malia, for inspiring me and for my providing a most excellent recipe for dinner tonight.

If any body local wants to try these recipes for your bok choy, check out Malia's blog. Oh, and I've got oyster sauce if you need some!

Halloween

Last week, Scott had to attend a conference in SOCAL. So we decided to go with him. We had a great week. We went to Polliwog Park, The Roundhouse Aquarium, and Manhattan Beach. We had a great day when we went to the beach. It was a little chilly but we had such a beautiful time just hanging out. I read to the kids for a few hours while they chased the seagulls, dug in the sand, and just laid on our blanket. It was so relaxing. We went to see Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs one evening.

We got back Friday evening and we unpacked and just hung out.

Saturday started with a soccer game for Connor followed by pumpkin carving in the afternoon. Our friends, the Reeds, came over late Saturday afternoon and we all ate together. The Dad's took the kids trick or treating and Kelly and I stayed back to hand out candy. Everybody had a great time.

Scott left yesterday for another TDY to Ft. Worth. He was able to have dinner with my Mom and Dad and both of my Grandmothers last night. I wish I could have been there but he promised to hug everyone for me.

There's something not right about him seeing my family more than I do. :-)

Tater Head Punkins'

These make me smile. I saw the Potato Head pieces in Target and couldn't resist. Instead of using real pumpkins, I bought fake ones so I can use them every year. Everytime I turn the corner and see them sitting on the floor they make me smile.