Memories

Do you ever get a whiff of someething (good or bad) and you have a flashback? 

I had one of those moments yesterday (and do every other Friday at school).  Every other Friday, our students who haven't missed a day or been tardy or had a behavior problem are rewarded with popcorn.  Since we are a school of 600 + making bags of popcorn isn't logical.  So, they use one of these:

For most people, you might think of a movie theater.  But, I'm reminded of times spent at my grandfather's Five and Dime.  I'm assuming most people my age are not familiar with Five and Dime stores or may have heard for Ben Franklin's.  Now they are almost unheard of.

Anyway, how does this relate to popcorn?  My grandfather had one of these old fashion machines (his was really old fashion) at the front of his store.  When there were events downtown and on the weekends, he would make up some popcorn and sell it for a quarter a bag.  The smell of fresh popped buttered popcorn would fill the store.  I have so many wonderful memories of his store.  When we didn't have school he'd let me "work".  I'd mark items with the price gun.  I'd check people out.  I'd wrap presents.  I loved wrapping presents because it meant I got to make bows with one of these

(picture found here)

I also remember buying school supplies at his store every year.  And on Christmas, he'd give us money to "buy" Christmas presents for all of our family from the store.  His store was around until around 2006 when he was 87 years old.  But, competing with WalMart is just too much for a small local business. 

My grandpa has always been a special man and I cherish my special memories I have with him.  And on Fridays, when I smell the popcorn popping, I can't pass up a bag for myself.  And every Friday, these memories come flooding back and I can't help but smile.

Wow...

...time is flying.  I mean really flying.  Anthony's almost been home two months now.  Today was the 50th day of school.  Christmas is less than two months away.  Thanksgiving is 27 days away.

Wow.  Those last two sentences leave me a little overwhelmed.  So much to do.  And, as indicated by flying time, I don't know when it's all going to happen.  We still don't really know what we are doing for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  We know Anthony is off both of those days, but has to work the day before, meaning we will miss lunch with my family each day.  And then there's gift giving.  I like to have all my shopping done before December.  I worked retail in college and I dread the mall and avoid it like the plague in December.  Then, I have to decide what I want.  Normally, my wish list is complete by October, but this year, I just don't know what to ask for.

And then there's Christmas decorating!  I can't wait!!!  I love having the Christmas tree up and stockings hung.  I get giddy just thinking about it.  It'll be here before I know it.

Best Best Friend Ever

I have the best best friend ever!  This is what I found when I arrived home today.

Now, I did know it was coming, but that didn't make it any less exciting.  Earlier this month I had bought Kimmie a Dallas Cowboy tshirt and this is what we decided on as a way to pay me back.  I'm not going to lie, chocolate is way more exciting on a Monday afternoon than cash. 

When I went out to visit this summer, Kimmie had a bag of Ghirardelli chocolates waiting for me.  My favorite in the bag was the Milk and Caramel Latte.  They were amazing!  I bought a couple bars at Ghirardelli Square and savored them for a couple months (until my husband came home and found them).  I've looked everywhere (in the tiny town I live in) and had no luck finding any.  So, Kimmie sent three bags of those and a small bag of Pumpkin Spice Caramel.  Those are almost as amazing.  Thanks Kimmie!

My Firefighter

This past week in first grade we had been spending time discussing fire safety (yeah, we're two weeks behind, but better late than never).  Who's the best person to talk fire safety?  A firefighter, of course.  And I just so happen to know one.  With some begging and a bargain, he finally agreed to come Friday afternoon. 

When I told my students he was coming, the room was filled with excitement.  You would have thought that I had just told them Santa was coming to visit our room.

Part of the bargaining was that I had to put on his gear to see what it was like.  And I agreed.  It was heavy.  It took forever to get me dressed.  And it was HOT!  These guys have 60 seconds to get their gear on.  They wear all of that gear into a  fire (which is way hotter than my classroom).  And he had to do all of that in Iraq, during the summer.  I was sweating and my thermostat was  on 74.  I can't imagine it being 115 and then going into a fire.  It gave me even more respect for what he does.  I know I couldn't do it.

Here's some pictures from his visit.

I'm so proud of my firefighter and all that he does.

Blessed

As a military wife, I often get frustrated with the life that we have.  I hate that my husband works on the weekends and holidays, we don't get to see our family frequently, and we can never really make plans.  But lately I've been thinking about how the military life has actually blessed us and our marriage.  As a military family, we have learned to cherish things that most people take for granted.

I cherish every day I spend with my husband, for I don't get to spend every day with him.  I am perfectly content sitting beside him on the couch while he watches football.

I cherish every kiss hello, goodbye, and goodnight, for some times I only kiss him goodbye and there is no hello.  There is no goodnight.

I cherish my friends because while away from my biological family, they are my family.  I can count on them for anything at anytime.

I cherish the opportunity to do his laundry and to cook dinner for two because it means that he is actually home and not deployed.

I cherish the holidays we have together, because some years he might have to work on Thanksgiving or Christmas.

I cherish my family and the chances I have to visit them.  I don't dread going to visit our families like so many people.  I actually look forward to every minute with them.

What has the military made you cherish more?

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Now that fall is here and it really feels like fall (Texas fall anyways) I decided I wanted to do some fall baking.  I have never baked with pumpkin and wanted to try it ever I ate some amazing pumpkin bread last fall.  I went searching for a recipe, and came up with Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies from pickycook.com.  I absolutely love oatmeal cookies and loved the idea of combining oatmeal and pumpkin. 

The cookies were so easy to make.  And they turned out amazing.  So amazing, that I may or may not have eaten 5-6 each day for the past 3 days.  But, they are healthy so it's totally justifiable, right?

Since they were so good, I have to share the recipe.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/3 cups old fashioned oats

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter - softened

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons honey

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and sit aside. 

Cream butter, honey and sugars in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla.  Mix well.

Gradually add dry ingredients.  Mix until blending, being careful not to overmix.  Chill for 30 minutes.  After chilling, drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.  (I flattened mine just a bit with the spoon as I noticed they did not seem to flatten while baking.)  Picky cook recommends sprinkling sugar and cinnamon on top, but I used the last of my cinnamon making the cookies.

Bake for about 14 minutes.  Of course, ovens will vary, I baked mine about 16 minutes.  After removing from the oven, all them to cool a few minutes and then move them to a wire cooling rack (if you can resist eating them). 

ENJOY!

TV Rant

I don't rant on my blog much about TV.  I don't really thing I ever have.  But something in particular caught my eye today.

Every morning I watch the first 10-15 minutes of Good Morning America before going to work.  Today, one of their topics was Military Wives as Surrogates (click on it if you want to see the article).  I didn't have a chance to watch that segment, but when I got home this evening, I read the article. 

Next, I did some number crunching.  I wanted to get a rough percentage of military wives that serve as surragates.  (Stay with me, I'll get to my point.)   According to Wikipidea, (I know, not the most reliable sorce, but it will work) there are a little over 1,477,000 members of the military.  And PRB reports that in 2009 52% of adults (over 18) were married.  We'll just say, 50% of military members are married (I'm sure that there's some site that shows this, but I couldn't find it quickly).  I'll say that 5% (personal estimate) are women military members with male spouses who obviously can't be surragates.  So, we'll say there are about 664,650 military wives.  That's just my guess.

Good Morning America reports that there 1000 surragacies a year, 15-20% are military wives, making that about 150-200 military wives who serve as surragates a year.  That's 0.03% of military wives who serve as military wives. 

The whole reason for the segment was discussing that military wives who serve as surrogates are using tax payers money (Tricare) to pay for the medical costs.  Not all military wives do this.  There is a clause in TriCare that says that TriCare can ask for the money back.  They even have a wife who reports she doesn't use TriCare to cover her medical costs. 

So, now to my rant.  I was really bothered by this segment.  I really felt that it was made to look like military wives cheat the system all the time.  It's .03% of military wives.  That's a tiny number of women that do it.  Why not focus on the good of the military wives. Like the strength a military wives must have to endure her husband being deployed and carrying someone else's child.  Yes, she gets money, but I don't think any amount of money (in my opinion) could make a deployment easier.  Your husband is still in danger and you are still alone and you are dealing with a pregnancy.  Show me one women that will happily endure all three of these things for $30,000 and never once have a negative feeling because I want to know what her secret is. 

Okay, that's my rant.  Do any other military wives find this offensive?