Time Flies When Your Husband is Home

The weekends are great. Friday evening through Sunday evening have definitely become my favorite times here. Chris gets off a little bit early and walks through the door wearing his uniform and a big smile. I admit I always drop whatever I'm doing and go straight to him, not that this isn't a daily occurrence. I have noticed that I always position myself so I can look out a window. God forbid I'd miss his Jeep pull into the neighborhood or into a parking spot out front. I catch myself looking out the window at all times of the day, no matter how random or hopeful it may be.

That's why when Friday rolls around, I relax a bit. I know that he is going to be somewhat busy on the weekend, but he will spend most of it reading, napping, or studying. This means that I can follow him around like a puppy dog and ask him things like, "Where are you going?" and "What are you doing?" and it's not weird--it's just my way of setting up my day so that I can be in the same room as he is. This was a bit unfortunate for him this weekend because my friend Amber let me borrow "Confessions of a Military Wife" by Mollie Gross. This woman is seriously hilarious. She says all of the things that I think but could never say, and then some. Poor Chris was stuck in an oversized chair with me most of Sunday trying to read "Colder Than Hell" while I sat next to him and giggled every five seconds about something in my book. It just doesn't seem fair.

Friday night I didn't want to spend a second cooking. My last check came from my old job and I asked him if it would be okay to order pizza. You can tell we haven't been eating out much because we had all of the pizza gone by breakfast the next morning.

Saturday we spent most of the day getting the house ready because we were having four couples over that night for a backyard BBQ. It was BYOB/BYOM (meat) because since the majority of us haven't been paid yet, it's not really within the budget to go all out and feed everyone. I ended up making Tequila Lime Chicken for Chris and I, but made potato salad, pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, and pineapple cookies for everyone else. The pineapple cookies were about to be the end of me earlier in the day; the directions were written horrendously and made no sense. They were supposed to end up in somewhat of a "star" shape and I just ended up making pockets and filling them with the pineapple filling. I was beyond irritated with them. They actually turned out to be quite delicious! I am glad we were able to provide things like hamburger buns, plates, napkins, silverware, ketchup, mustard, etc. to everyone so we could enjoy dinner without much effort. I was very proud of Chris; he doesn't have a lot of experience grilling but he did grill hamburgers, chicken breasts, chicken drumsticks, and steaks with ease. We laughed later though because he plowed through a few beers and reminded himself of a scene from Seinfeld.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rU5mpwJ6GU

I really have to delve into couponing soon because it seems like every trip I take to the grocery store is at least fifty dollars. Luckily the commissary is cheap, but the produce isn't great. That's why you head out to Shopper's which is a great store with great produce. The prices are reasonable as well, and they have a tiny selection of craft beers. I had much more fun at Wegman's. :) I did find "fish sauce" in Shopper's...something I was worried I would never find because I have never used it before! I did stumble upon it though, so we're set! Also, it's taken me almost a month to find Dill Pickle chips. I've been craving them and was lucky enough to find them today!

We are supposed to get rain all week. I hope not because I am trying to run a little more and a little further, but I did run with Sarah this morning. We ran about three miles with some serious hills on the trails. The names of the trails crack me up. You can tell that they were probably named by Marines. For example. "Old Butts" trail leads to "Woodpecker" trail. That's where we ran today. I led my poor running partner through the brambles at one point because I took a wrong turn, but she's a great sport.

It's nurses' week! Looking at all the funny Facebook posts makes me realize more and more how I wish I could find a good nursing job within reasonable distance. I will say that there are "leads", but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I am trying so hard not to get disappointed about the job hunt, but it's hard when you have this amazing degree that lets you do amazing things and you aren't using it...it's frustrating.

BUT, here are some memes to keep my spirit up. The second one is how I feel when I look for jobs and the first is how I felt in school. (Plus Ryan Gosling is a babe.) The third is actually why you completely avoid the commissary on the 1st and the 15th; payday is when someone takes 2-3 carts, completely fills them, and drags them around the commissary while you are just looking for bacon.

Here is a meme I made specifically for today. http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3u9tm4/

I have to mention this because it caught me completely off guard...the other day I was in Fredericksburg and an old lady came up to me, grabbed a little of my red hair, and said to me, "Irish eyes" and kept walking. I took it as a compliment, but it took me a second to take that in! Our adorable neighbor brought us "muddy buddies" last night, which is apparently what "puppy chow" is called around here. I notice tiny differences every day that always make me chuckle.

I learned at the grocery store today that Vibrams FiveFingers are quite an oddity in Virginia, as numerous people look at them and ask me why I have "glove shoes". I simply explain it's like wearing slippers all of the time and they laugh and walk away. I also realized that yoga pants must be made of magic fairy dust because when I wear them guys in grocery stores go out of their way to let me pass them or help me find something. I will just say that it is helpful and leave it at that.

Alright, now I am off to work on banana bread. I might have to plug in my freezer downstairs because I feel like the six or so loaves I am about to make probably will not fit in the freezer upstairs!

On the menu this week:
Pasta and Veggies in Garlic Sauce (Busy Family Cookbook page 168)
Garlic Lime Shrimp (Busy Family Cookbook page 146)
Swiss Mushroom Chicken (Busy Family Cookbook page 105)
Chicken Croissants (Busy Family Cookbook page 88)
Coconut Shrimp (Hooters Cookbook page 93)
and finally
Grilled Chicken Satay (Hooters Cookbook page 65)