Reminiscing old times and prepping for Thanksgiving

 

Our daughter messaged me yesterday, asking if I could please send her some of dad's military photos, because her work is doing a presentation for Veteran's day, and she wanted to include her dad.

That sent me into the blog, into old posts, dating back between 2007 and 2012, when we were stationed at Luke AFB in Arizona.  I scrolled and scrolled, and found some for her, but after I did, I found myself still scrolling, still reading, still remembering, still feeling so blessed and thrilled, that I had made the effort to blog every day.

At the time, it was just blogging because I loved blogging, I wasn't thinking that future me, would one day be sitting in a completely different State, on an Autumn day, reminiscing.  It almost feels like those words on the pages, were written by someone different, and I guess in a way they were.

I was younger, I was in a very different place in life, still had both kids at home, being home schooled, was still an active duty military wife and so on.  

It's amazing how we change and adapt, as the years go by and life and circumstances change around us. 

 

 

If you look above his head, you will see TSGT Curtis.....he had his name on one of the F16's, as he was the Dedicated Crew Chief.  It means they are basically recognized by the Air Force as the primary keeper of that particular jet, it's like they own the jet, they're responsible for it as they know it inside and out.  

I still remember this day, and when I took these photos.  Curtis was working at the Air Show, and the kids and I only arrived in the afternoon.  They were so happy to see daddy, and clung to him the rest of the day.  I honestly miss the active duty military life, so much.

Anyway, back to reality and to now.

 

We've woken up a couple of days with some thick fog outside.  Are there any others out there who love a good fog?  Not to drive in, mind you, I don't like driving in fog at all, but I love fog.  I think it's so pretty.

Now let me show you what I've been up to these past few days.  As you know, I had family over on Sunday and then Monday I had to get the house back in order.  Usually I prefer to get it all cleaned up and tidied right after everyone leaves, but sometimes I am too tired to do it, and just leave it until the next morning.

The first thing I did was wash some chair covers, some kitchen linens and one of Kaia's blanket that was in the closet.  (I don't know why I do that, but if it's been in the linen closet for a few months, or from one winter to the next, I like to wash it before letting her use it.)

This always becomes a fort for Elliott.  He loves hiding under it while stalking one of us, he also takes naps under there, and sometimes uses it to hide if family comes over.  He is not a friendly cat at all to anyone other than the humans that live in the house.  Wish he was nicer, but I think it's a pretty normal thing with cats in general.

 

 

I had the family over for on Sunday for coffee and some snacks.  I made a Chocolate Yogurt Cake and our Portuguese Bola de Carne (Bacon, Ham and Chourico Bread).  The recipe for the Bola de Carne is already on the blog.

The cake along with a few others that I've made lately, will be going up soon.  I need to get my butt in gear when it comes to the recipes, I have so many floating around, and it's hard for me to keep track of them too, which makes it a pain every time I want to make one of them again.  I can never remember where I wrote it down.  

Hopefully this afternoon, I can actually take some time, sit down and get those up for me and for you all, of course.

 

I've been taking such immense pleasure, in keeping my home cozy and tidy.  It's hard for me to fathom that just a few months ago, I had completely lost track, was just living day to day, moving through each hour, doing the basic needed for us to survive.

 

I wasn't paying attention to the details, wasn't really worried about putting anything in it's right place, or adjusting this, or adding a little homey touch here or there.  It's weird for me to imagine that, but I am human and sometimes life happens around us, in such a way or speed, that we struggle to keep up with the basic needs, not to mention the extras. 

However, I am getting much joy from being back in the game, so to speak.

 

Things like the tree in the corner of the dining room.  Last year, I didn't even put it up until almost Christmas, and then put on but a few ornaments and called it good.

This year, I am going back to my tradition of decorating it for Thanksgiving.  One year, I think it was the year before my mother in law Pat, passed away, I made brown paper Thanksgiving Placemats.  Everyone got to write down what they were thankful for, and was a great way to go around the table and hear everyone.

This year, I am doing it a little different, I will have a basket with some printed leaves, that everyone can write something they're thankful for, and then hang on the tree.  I think my niece's daughter Eva, and son Dalton, will enjoy hanging them up.

So I will get those printed out either today or tomorrow and start the process of cutting them out.  

 

Before I leave, I just wanted to show you what I made for dinner on Monday night.  It's Kibbeh.  If you've never had it, it's a Lebanese specialty, made with Bulgur Wheat.  Typically you make it into oval patties and then fry them, but you can also make it in the oven.

Usually I would have made it the most popular way, but I was not in the mood to fry anything.  We actually don't eat much fried food at all, it's very seldom that we do.  I opted for the oven version, which is equally delicious.

I will have that recipe up for you as well.

It does take a bit of prep, but only in the sense that you need to soak the Bulgur Wheat for at least 30 minutes, depending on how coarse it is.  The rest of the preparation is nothing more than if you were making a meatloaf.  So good!!!  I put a ton of cheese in the middle, which made it even better.

Right, I need to get off here, and go finish my meal plan, so that I can get my pickup order placed.  For some reason it's taking me a while to get this done, some meal plans just flow, others take me sometimes days, because I seem to draw a blank and can't think of anything to make.

Kinda funny, considering meal planning is all about making things easier and not getting stuck in front of the freezer, trying to figure out what to cook.  But I guess my brain gets stuck on the planning itself, and that's ok, at least I know it will save me when it's time to cook dinner.

Anyway, I hope you all have a blessed Wednesday, don't forget to check out my sidebar to pray along with me, for the hostages kidnapped from Israel.  You will find their names on the sidebar, every day there will be a new name to pray over.

I'll see you all soon.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥