A great loss...

Thanks to everyone that said a little prayer for Joel's brother.  Unfortunately, early on Valentine's morning we lost him to heaven.  It's been a great loss to everyone, but of course, especially to his immediate family and his wife.  No parent should ever have to bury their child, and no wife should ever have to let go so early on in their marriage.  Joel is taking it pretty hard, as is everyone.  Please continue to pray for his family as they grieve such a tragic loss.  And please say an extra prayer for his wife.  It was difficult enough for me to have the "what would you want if you died" talk with Joel before he deployed; I could not imagine the pain that she is feeling right now.

What goes up...

Sorry for my lack of posting.  Of course when life is going too well, something always has to happen to bring us back down to earth.  Joel and I are currently on emergency leave tending to his brother.  He has been battling cancer for years, and just when we thought he had won his battle, a virus reared his ugly head and has taken over his body.  If you wouldn't mind, would ya'll say a little prayer for him?  Things don't look good, but his doctors only gave him a few days to live on Wednesday, and he is still hanging in there.  They did an experimental procedure, and we are waiting for the test results.  If it works, it would be a miracle, but there's always hope until there isn't, you know?

Gleetastic!

I know I am due to post about a ton of updates and reviews, but I have something I wanna talk about, and that's one of my favorite shows, Glee.  I love Lea Michelle, I love musical theater, and I love Becky, the Cheerio that has become Sue Sylvester's number two gal.

I also love that the show is talking about something real and something that I am very passionate about.  Becky has down syndrome.  This week's episode brought to the surface that people with disabilities are still people, with their own thoughts and feelings.  I am going to school right now to be a Special Education teacher, and I wish that more people understood that about these kids.  They laugh, love, and feel.  And they hurt.  There is a movement called Spread the Word to End the Word.  Check it out, google it, friend it on Facebook, and realize that words hurt.  Please.

Guess who's back...back again...

So, December and January have been fast and furious months.  We had Joel's family in town for Christmas, I had Lasik eye surgery (I can finally see!), we went to Vegas for a week, came back, and closed on a house the next day!  Today (OMG, did we really do this on Friday the 13th?) we are moving in to the new place, next week I start a new job, and last, but certainly not least, grad school starts back up Tuesday.  So, I am so sorry I haven't been on to blog!  I will certainly update as soon as I can, and when Joel deploys at the end of the month I am sure I will have ample time.  For all that have remained faithful to read my little corner of the world, thanks!  And now, back to moving...

Giveaway Winner!

According to Random.org, the winner is Cindy!  Cindy, I see that you left your e-mail in the comment, so I will be contacting you soon to redeem your prize.

Merry Christmas to all!  Or happy Hanukkah, as the case may be.  I feel so blessed this holiday season, even though I am quite busy!  I wish you and your families all the joy in the world.  Thanks for reading my little piece of the world.

Alive! But without internet...

Hey all!  I promise I will announce the winner of my give-away soon!  My router went "kaput" on me and it took about a week to figure that out, versus the provider.  Should be fixed tonight.  In the meantime, thank God for smartphones!

Christmas came early! And my first giveaway!

Are you ready for Christmas?  There's so much to do!  And in our case, we have a ton of family coming over.  There are many different food things to consider, and the above picture will help out with that.  My husband loves Kikkoman soy and Teriyaki sauce.  He was stationed in Japan and has specific tastes.  He finds them to be the best here in America.  While I am not a huge fun of soy sauce (or Asian type food in general) Kikkoman still saves the day with their delicious milks and bread crumbs.  This weekend, Joel is even trying out their french toast recipe!  I'll keep you updated with progress on that.  It looks delish!  They even have a yummy mac & cheese recipe that the family will be tasting over Christmas.  Who knew?  Thanks to Kikkoman and my early Christmas gift, I now have a ton of new recipes for holidays.

In the spirit of yummy food and giving, for my readers I would like to offer a giveaway!  For my military related readers, the prize is a $25 gift certificate to the commissary to help lighten your holiday load.  If you don't have access to a commissary near you, the prize will be an assortment of the yummies you see listed above, plus a spoon rest and a Kikkoman rubber ducky.  That guy is so cute!

How to enter?  Easy!  Just leave me a comment stating what your favorite holiday dish is, and then stay tuned to find out the winner!  I will take entries until Tuesday, which is my last final for the semester.  Eek!

Happy winning everyone!!!

So much!

Too much going on!  I wanted life to go slow and steady so January wouldn't get here and my husband would not deploy.  But, that hasn't been in the cards.  Time just keeps on rolling by.  I swear I will get caught up soon.  Stay with me!  Here are a few topics that you can expect to see coming up before the end of the year.

* The Holidays.
* The end of my first semester at grad school.  Eek!
* Did we or didn't we buy a house.  Say what?
* My first ever give away.  Hint?  Kikkoman.
* Preparing for Joel's deployment.

See, busy, right?

Miami Dolphins #1!!!

Ok, I know this is going to sound crazy because I am a born and raiser Hoosier from Indianapolis, but I am a massive Miami Dolphins fan.  Huge fan of football in general, but especially the Dolphins.  My three year old self's crush of Dan Marino evolved into a deep sense of pride for my team.  Win or lose (we seem to be doing too much of the latter lately) I will always root for them.  That is why I was super excited that they were playing close to me in Kansas City.  No offense to Chiefs fans, I have nothing against my team, but I just knew I had to make the trip. 

I had never been to Kansas City before, so I knew I also had to try some of that famous Kansas City BBQ.  I was not disappointed!  It is even better than the local St. Louis style.  Based on a friends recommendation, we went to a place called Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ.  I hate to say it, but it was perhaps some of the best BBQ I have ever had.  Reggie Bush was even there that night, so you know it was fabu!  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

 Pork BBQ Sandwich

 Joel's Ribs

Seriously the best creme brulee I have had in America.

And the best part of the weekend?  Miami got their first win of the season!  Yeah, I know, this post is long overdue, but I had a great time and wanted to make sure to recap.  I have a lot of posts that I need to get on.  Stay tuned!

Happy belated Halloween!

I hope everyone had a blast!  I dressed up as Marilyn Monroe ala "Diamonds are a girls' best friend." 

Joel was of course TDY.  No bueno.  But, I had friends over and loved seeing all of the neighborhood kids in their costumes.  I especially liked the homemade ones.

Here is what I tried to look like:

So here I am, in all my glory.  I coulddn't find pink gloves anywhere!  Oh, and no making fun!