He's always there!!!!

You ever have those days where everything just seems to go wrong and all you want to do is run away??? Maybe hide under a rock for a while and come out when things are all better???

Today was one of those for me.

I got up this morning, got things ready for the moving guy to come by and then waited. Right after he left I decided to make sure we had rooms available at TLF (Temporary Housing Facility) for next week. Then it started, I literally felt like I was being tested and pushed and pulled in different directions.

"I'm sorry ma'am but we have no rooms available for people with pets, you'll have to keep them in a kennel or stay in a motel off base"....Ummmm, not exactly what I wanted to hear.

Curt was still home so we started going back and forth trying to figure out what to do, we tried to move our housing inspection day and were flat out told NO.

Our only other option was to stay in a motel off base which was going to cost us $70 a night, plus $4 each dog per night. Yeah not exactly viable since we needed 5 days and are not exactly swimming around in money. It's that whole military pay thing.

I started calling around, trying to think of what to do but most of all I started praying, please please God, help us out here, something's got to give, either a room on base or housing inspection date, something, anything.

It's a very scary place to be, you feel completely helpless and out of control, but I think it's these times that God uses to teach us to relax and put things in his hands. Not easy, but doable right???

I did my part, I called around, I tried different options and then I let it go, whatever happens happens, I replayed that in my mind over and over.

Things were about to take a different turn. Curt came home and called TLF again, all of his coworkers had offered to keep the dogs at their house so that we would be able to get a room at TLF. We thought everything was taken care of, until the man on the other side of the phone told him that now they had NO rooms available anywhere on base, no rooms for people with pets OR without. You have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! I mean honestly, it's ridiculous.

So now we're thinking, we are in a lot of trouble we have absolutely no place to stay at all and we need to be out of the house on the 28th, guess we'll be living in our cars or shelling out way too much money for a motel off base.

We were literally down in the dumps feeling completely helpless, so I sent out one last prayer.

"Father, I've tried, I've waited with patience and with purpose but now I'm really begging for some help".

Curt picked up the phone and called Housing again explain what our situation was, and guess what....yeah I'm sure by now you're all at the edge of your seats, huge grins on your faces because you know what's coming right???? Yeah, they've moved our inspection date to the 2nd of July, the day we actually leave Idaho.

Which means, we are able to stay in our house until that day....no worrying about a place for the dogs or expensive motels etc. Our cable and phone doesn't get cut until the day we leave and since we're doing a partial dity, we'll be able to have some blow up mattresses, our computers, a small tv, our clothes and whatever else we may need for those few days.....now tell me we don't have an absolutely amazing God?!?!?!?

I'm thrilled beyond words, I'm so so blessed and so happy. Ok and now I'm going to stop babbling about it.

The good news as well is that I will be able to blog and be online, will only be gone while we're actually driving to Arizona and then while we wait to get phone and internet plugged back in :)

Anyway, it's almost 10pm and I am exhausted, nothing like some stress to wipe you out.
Hope you all have a wonderful day, I'll be back tomorrow and I'll come by and visit you all too :)

God Bless,

Happy Father's Day!!!

I want to start by wishing my dad a wonderful father's day, he's been such a blessing in my life and I'm lucky to have him. I wish I could be there with him as he celebrates today but unfortunately I'm thousands of miles away....but I'll be there in spirit and thought.

Happy Father's Day dad!!!

What Makes A Dad

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,

The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,

The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,

Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so, He called it ... Dad

Author unknown

Time isn't stopping for anyone, it's just zipping by. I find that I hardly have a chance to come on the computer and check email, nevermind blogging and visiting you all, it's just not possible right now.

I've been calm about the move and not worrying at all, but suddenly last night it hit me, we have one week left in this house, YES, ONE.WEEK. Wow, after 9 years it's finally time to move on. I am excited but I'm dreading, I have this overwhelming feeling of sadness and I swear I could cry at any little thing. Unbelievable how attached we become to material things.

If I sit back and think about it, it's really not bad, we'll still be the same family, we'll still have all our things, we'll still keep the same friends and online friends, we'll just be in a different location.
Most of all, God follows us no matter where we go, and THAT is a relief isn't it??? There's no state or country that He can't get to.

So this week we're busy busy busy. Tomorrow morning we have the moving company coming for a walk through to see how much packing material they'll need and to go over some last minute details, which means today we're cleaning, packing and removing anything that is NOT going.
The rest of the week we'll be doing the same thing because next week monday is our last day in the house.

There's lots to do and hope for nothing to be forgotten. I'm not sure how much I'll be here from today, I'll try to pop in but chances are you may not hear from me for a while, it maybe be 3 weeks before you see another post.

I've just finished my Menu Plan for this coming week, it's going to be easy meals, paper plates and cups and no time spent in the kitchen. We have to make sure all the appliances are spotless for the housing inspection, so the least I make a mess on them the better.

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but the thought of no tv and no internet for at least 2 weeks is driving me crazy. There I said it, go ahead and laugh or bash or whatever you want to do, I can take it. I just can't take the fact that I won't be able to see my favorite shows or chat online and check email.....good grief I sound pathetic LOL

Anyway, I have things to do and not enough time to do it, so I better skidaddle on out of here.

Have a wonderful sunday, be good and continue the amazing bloggage, I will try to pop in but if I can't, I guess I'll see you in a couple weeks. Pray that we make a safe and uneventful trip across the states.

God Bless,

Welcome to my weekly Crockpot Recipes Exchange. It's such a great way to share your avorite dishes or to learn some new ones to make for your family.

What do you think??? Do You have some great recipes to share, or perhaps you're looking for some delicious ones to give you a reason to pull out the ol' crockpot???

Time to pull out those crockpots and put them to good use. If you want to join in, just grab the banner and add your name to Mr Linky :)

Betsy's Hungarian Goulash

Ingredients:

2 pounds round steak -- cut 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup onion -- chopped
1 clove garlic -- minced
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 14.5 oz can tomatoes
1 cup sour cream

Directions:

Put steak cubes, onion, garlic in cooker. Stir in flour and mix to coat steak. Add all remaining ingredients except sour cream. Stir well and cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Add sour cream 30 minutes before serving and stir thoroughly. Serve over hot buttered noodles.

Prayers for Sarah Please!

I have made such amazing friends through my blog and one of them is Sarah, she's just an amazing lady with so much to offer, she has thought provoking posts, laugh out loud posts and those that bring tears to your eyes....needless to say I just love her to death.

Sarah's come down with a case of Shingles, let me tell you it's painful and it's horrible. I distinctly remember my stepmom going through the same when I was about 12 or 13 years old and it was just horrible for her. So please, say a prayer for Sarah, I'm sure some of you know her from "A Bend in the Road".

I'm a little on the off side today, my allergies came in full force again, it's this pet dander that's really getting to me. I already used Nasonex but it makes me a little dizzy and gives me headaches, I swear I have no luck with these allergy medicines, so I'm hoping it all goes away within this week, wouldn't it be awful to be moving and driving for days feeling this way???

I know I'll be pushing through today and trying to get things done when all I really want to do is climb into bed and take a long long nap, if only my kids would cooperate, but I doubt I'll get them back in bed before 8pm tonight.

Thank you for the ideas on easy meals while moving, it's definitely going to help to have things organized and as easy as possible. The next 2 weeks we're going to be sorting through things and making sure they're in the right rooms so that when the movers come we don't end up with toys in the bathroom boxes (don't ask).

I have to tell you, I finally got through all the menu plan participants last night, all 112 of them, yes I stopped at 112 because everytime I refreshed the page there seemed to be someone new. I don't know, I think it's great to have big of a response but good grief, where do you find the time to visit everyone???

Since it's summer, the kids tend to become bored, so I decided to go online and search for a bunch of things for them to do, thereby completely removing the "I'm Bored" words from their vocabulary.

So here is what I found, hopefully it will help some of you out there with bored kids at home:

How about some "letterboxing" with the kids....or a Treasure Bottle (just love the Family Fun site and mag)

PBSkids.org is another fun site with so many great ideas, just look at this City built out of recycled materials....or maybe some Cauldron Bubbles or some Recycling paper?

I also found a page full of Paper Toys to make.

I saw another blog where she came up with a list of things to do for the summer, it was so cute and the title itself was hilarious "60 ways to leave your mother alone" LOL....go on over and read it, I've saved the link myself and will use it once we're done with our move to Arizona.

So there ya go, don't ever say I don't contribute to the blogging community somehow LOL

I have laundry to put away, yes I know I've been slacking off on that, I just wish the Laundry Elves would come and do that for me, it's not too much to ask is it???

I also need to go see what's for dinner so that I can prepare, thaw or whatever is needed for it.

Hope you all have a wonderful day, God Bless,

Well Dabaganabit, the cold remains.....

At least the sore throat is gone but I have the sniffles and my sinus is having a field day, but what is new right??? I should be the poster child for sinus issues!

Nicholas is still sick, he sounds like he's been hitting the whiskey bottle, his nose is running a mile a minute and his eyes are red from not sleeping well, poor thing....I just hope it all goes away soon.

So we have 2 weeks left in this house, I didn't think I would be saying those words so soon, it feels like just yesterday I was breaking news that we got orders to another base, now the move is upon us and I'm excited and sad and nervous and a bunch of other things.

It's such an overwhelming feeling to know that in just a short time you will be driving away from the house you've been in for 9 years, have built memories, had children, had ups and down and joys and sorrows...and it's not to say that our new house won't become the same for us over the years....but it's just sad to leave this one behind.

But moving on, I tried to visit as many blogs as I could for the Menu Plan Monday, but good grief who has time to go see over 100 blogs??? I certainly don't, so I saw about half of them and will leave the rest for later. In the meantime if you want to my menu for this week, just head over to "Full Bellies Happy Kids".

So last night Curt and I were watching tv, the History Channel, and there was this very interesting show called "Last Days on Earth".

Could the human race become suddenly extinct? We count down seven ways in which the world as we know it could meet an abrupt and untimely end, from a mammoth asteroid strike to the eruption of a super volcano. What would happen as computers literally become trillions of times smarter than we are--would they program our mass murder? Scientists, experts, and witnesses describe these and other vividly pictured disaster scenarios, from super bugs created in secret labs to black holes that could suck earth into oblivion. Using state-of-the-art computer-generated graphics and interviews with the world's top scientists, we will leave viewers pondering humanity's place in the universe and will reveal the most terrifying truth of all--that our greatest enemy is ourselves.

It was really good but thought provoking and quite a few times we just looked at each other and said "wow, that's scary". I guess that's why some people say Ignorance is Bliss, I mean, if you don't know about it you won't have to worry, but I am one of the few who actually likes knowing what's ahead, it scares me to think of the possibilities but I'm also not going to freeze and panic and start playing the what if game.

Really, if you get a chance to catch this show, watch it, it's good!

I have been trying to catch up on housework and I am ashamed to say that the one bag from our trip is STILL waiting to be reached but in my defense, I have not been feeling well and I have little sick ones to take care of. I guess my Martha-ness is going to have to be backburnered right now until I feel better. Tst Tst Tst, what a shame!

In two weeks, like I stated above, we'll be in TLF (temporary living facilities) here on base so I'm not doing planned menus and grocery shopping etc. Here is where you come in, I really need help with some easy and inexpensive ideas for meals while moving, it has to be quick, easy to fix and not require tons of pots and pans etc.

Paper plates is a must for us during this period, I have to laugh because my dad HATES eating out of paper plates so I always think of him when eating out of one.
Clean up has to be easy too, we have the house to clean and get ready for the Housing inspection so the least mess we add on, the BETTER.

I have so much to do around here, so I'll get going, here's what's going on in my house today:


Laundry
Paperwork
Bills


Watching:

General Hospital
Wife Swap
Supernanny


Eating:

Right now I have Annie's Crockpot Lemon Garlic Chicken going, it smells SOOO good in here.