Happy Lady.

My man is home and I am lovin' it!
Check out the sandwich he made me....

Too cute right! Love that guy!
I am super happy he is home.
Other than that I am leaving for RAGBRAI tommorow so I probably won't be bloggin much next week. That's all for now, Ciao.

He's Home!

We picked up our soldier yesterday and took a few snapshots...

We are waiting so excited!

Still Waiting!

Finally together again!

So happy he's here.

Let's go home!!!

Thanks to Billy's sister April owner of Natural Slice of Life Photography for the photos!!!

Sunday!

Thank goodness my crazy busy life is coming to a slow down. It feels so good to sit and watch TV mosey around the house and not worry about all the stuff I have to get done, all the stuff I have to pack, and driving 2 hours back to Waterloo. Love being home and relaxing! And to think Billy is gonna be home like the day after tommorow! WOW that snuck up! Can't wait!!!!!!!!!

Veggies al a mode

Ok I know all I blog about is food lately but I feel like my whole life is consumed with waiting for Billy to come home. There isn't much on my mind besides waiting for B to arrive so food is all I can think to blog about. Here was another delicous meal I made.

I just sliced some veggies: Zuchini, Yellow Squash, Onions, Potatoes (I usually add orange and yellow peppers but I didn't have any on hand). I usually like to do this and just sautee the veggies in a skillet over medium eat because it is quicker and you can crisp up your veggies if you like them a little more done. However I was feeling lazy and didn't want to have to watch or stir them so I cooked them in the oven this time.
Put your veggies in tin foil with a scoop of butter or margarine and some seasonings (I used a garlic pepper seasoning and I usually just through some other things, whatever I have in there). Bake in the oven at about 350 or 400 degrees. It takes a bit longer this way I'd say around 30 minutes but I wasn't really timing. I just periodically take it out and taste a potato (The Potatoes take the longest to cook through) to see if it is done yet. Works the same way and really great on the grill! You can always add some cheese in the last few minutes of cook time if you want to give some more flavor to it. YUM.
Also having been working indoors sitting bored at a desk all day I find myself craving a mid-day treat. Here is my new favorite to stay away from the cookies and chips...

Strawberry Smoothie! YUMMO.
This is super easy too, the first time I made a smoothie I was nervous too because you don't know how much to put in and how its going to turn out. But really theres no way to know until you try it. I start with a splash of juice at the bottom (Not to much it'll be too runny just a dash and you can always add more later if you need too.) Any kind of juice is fine I use some variety of Apple, Apple Cranberry, Apple Strawberry Kiwi...any of the the above is fine or whatever you like! Then add a few scoops of yogurt. I started with the plain but now I prefer strawberry bc I'm just a strawberry girl and why not add the extra boost of flavor. Then just start throwing fruit in! I use mostly strawberrys, some blueberries, and some blackberries. The only downside to blackberries is they have huge seeds that stay whole and you'll notice them when drinking the smoothie so if you don't like that leave out the blackberries and put more blueberries. Then blend it until its all mixed together! Do a taste test and see if you need to add more of anything and you'll eventually get it down pat. Try peaches, mango, and I've even heard to add a small amount of steamed broccoli for the nutrients and you won't even notice the difference in taste. I have yet to try that though. Obviously it's better with fresh fruit but sometimes that is hard to keep around so I use a combination of fresh and frozen. Just thaw out your frozen fruit for 30 min before making your smoothie, you probably won't know the difference.
Ok so that's my healthy dinner and healthy snack. Well sort of anyway!
ENJOY!

The day I've been waiting for, for the past 11 months...

...is ALMOST here.
Not quite but Billy is back in the US and should be arriving home soon and I can't wait to see him.

There is my soldier. What a cutie pie and I can't wait to hold him in my arms again! I knew he was gonna be home sometime next week as of last weekend and therefore this has been the LONGEST week of my life! Seriously time could not be passing any slower. I just keep telling myself he will be here soon.
Anyways I love you Billy and I'm thinking about how excited I am to see you. Love you forever babe.

Not your average grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Ok so I made another delicious meal for one last night and I am excited to share it!
I was looking at my food thinking "what should I have for dinner tonight?" I looked at the cheesy turkey dogs that cook in 3 minutes in the microwave. Tempting because it is easy but wanted something better. So I saw the tomato soup and thought alright soup and a cheese sandwich sounds alright.
I put the soup on and was prepping my sandwich as I was thinking about how delicious that zuchini and yellow squash was last night. Then it popped into my head..."What would happen if I put sliced zuchini on my grilled cheese?" Then I thought no that is weird and I kept on preparing my soup.
I usually put some shredded cheese or sliced cheese in my soup to jazz it up a bit.
Then I started to make my sandwich and just kept thinking, "Really, zuchini on a a grilled cheese sandwich sounds kinda good and if it turns out good I can write it in my blog and tell everyone I know!" SO I thought just try it!
So I sliced the zuchini and yellow squash into small round slices and sauted them quickly over medium heat. I sauted them because I wasn't sure if they would cook if I just put them straight on the sandwich. When the veggies were cooked I put the cheese on the bread and then the veggies on top and then the other slice of bread and cooked like a normal grilled cheese sandwich!
Then when it was all done, the moment of truth. Is it gonna be good? It has to be bread, cheese, and zuchini. Sounds delicious right?!
IT WAS!
So there you have it. Cheesy Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese and Zuchini Sandwich. (Grilled cheese, with out feeling like a little kid eating it!)

My delicious dinner

Ok so it is really hard to cook for one, trust me I've been doing it the past year while Billy is Afghanistan. I don't eat alot and I don't like left overs much. When Billy is home it is no big deal if I make to much because he will take to work with him the next day. However when its just me, food gets wasted and I hate wasting it.
Well here is one super easy meal I make on little money and little mess!
I really like to make spaghetti because it's so easy to make just the amount you want to eat. However plain old spaghetti gets old so I wondered how I could jazz it up and I decided to play around with it.
Well I found a DELICIOUS way to make spaghetti even better.
All you need is:
-Whole Grain Spaghetti (You don't have to use whole grain but it's better for you!)
-Tomato Sauce (If your cooking for one you know that those HUGE spaghetti sauce jars have far too much, so buy plain tomato sauce it comes in an 8oz can which is perfect for one LARGE serving and old cost about $0.30. You'll find the tomato sauce by the canned tomatoes, not by the spaghetti sauce)
-Grated Parmesan Cheese
-1 Small Fresh Vidalia Onion
-1 Fresh Zuchini
-1 Fresh Yellow Squash (It looks just like the zuchini, only its yellow)
-1 Slice of Cheese or Shredded Cheese works as well.

Ok so you can imagine how easy this is I probably don't need to explain but I will.

Cook your whole grain spaghetti as usual in boiling water for approx. 6 minutes. Start your tomato sauce on medium high heat. In the meantime start slicing your veggies up. You only need to use about half of a small onion, dice as small as you possibly can. I usually use about half of the zuchini and half of the yellow squash. Cut into thin round slices. Put your zuchini, squash, and about half of the onions in a skillet. Add a small amount of butter to keep from burning and cover them, stirring often(I like to flip them rather than stir because they may tear). Put the other half of the onions in the sauce which should be warming up by now. Then break your slice of cheese into small chunks and add to the sauce as well. Stir well and when the sauce is warm enough the cheese will blend well. The onions and cheese add great flavor to the plain sauce.

Now the fun part. When your spaghetti is cooked drain the water. Place your spaghetti on your plate. Then add sauce and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top. Add your veggies on top and ENJOY. Can you say YUMMMMMMMMM?!

Deployment Status

It was a crazy weekend and I got a lot done at home as well as catching up with some old friends over a few drinks. It was really fun to see Jackie, Heather, and Adam because it has been a LONG time.
Besides catching up with the oldies, here is what I got done in the new house...
-Primed the dining room walls
-Picked up my new dining table from Pier 1 (Best deal I ever got: a $500 table for $40!)
-Attached my new hardware to my freshly painted cabinet doors
-Bought new outlets and light switches for the whole house
-Successfully installed the kitchen outlets (Yay, they all match now!)
-Tried out my living room rug in the kitchen and it looks awesome!
-Installed a new pendant light above the kitchen sink
Ok, so that is a lot right?!
The best news of all is that I got to talk to Billy for 2 hours on Sunday morning! AWESOME! And the good news is that he will be home VERY SOON! I think even earlier than we expected. After he gets home we want to get away for awhile and so we will hopefully take a short vacation. I can't wait!
Looking back at it now, I had a WONDERFUL weekend! Thanks for listening!

Just call me the Handy-man.

I just installed my very first (of many to come) electrical A/C outlet all by myself! I didn't get shocked or start any fires or anything. Just one of the "MAN" things you have to learn to do when your a Military Wife and your man is on deployment. Don't worry babe, I got this one! (Can you tell I am sooo proud of myself). Now I can't wait to change all the other ugly, mismatched outlets and lightswitches. My house is getting there!

Feeling Better.

Ok I felt bad after I posted that negative blog about my work situation.

I am so lucky to have a Home to drive to, even if it does take 2 hours, so lucky to have a wonderful man in my life, even if he is in Afghanistan, so lucky to have a full time job, even if it is far from home.

There are so many people out there without these things and I am lucky to have them. Don't take for granted the wonderful things you have in life.

So here is my new inpiring quote for today's negativity...

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”

Over Worked, Over Reactions...

Ok today's post isn't going to be the most positive but I'll try not to get too negative on you. Billy and I just bought a house. Now it isn't a new house by any means...let's just say it is a "fixer upper". Which is great for us because it is our first house and me being an Interior Design freak, I love being able to take something old and redo it how I want to make it our own.
I moved all of our stuff into the house about a month ago when we got the place. If you read my first blog you would know that I am working in Waterloo for the summer. Basically Sunday night I drive to Waterloo (it takes about 2 hours and a half tank of gas) then work all week (The shop I work in is owned by my uncle, luckily enough there is an empty apartment above the shop that I live in for free) then when 4:30 on Friday rolls around I drive back to Ankeny (another 2 hours) and work in Ankeny on Saturday and Sunday.
I didn't mind doing this at the beginning of the summer because I needed to get out of my old job in Urbandale (I had a monster of a boss) and this was the best solution. Plus Billy is gone so what else do I have to do besides work. At the time I lived in a crappy apartment, which really wasn't that crappy but I went from a nice place and had to down grade because of the deployment. I didn't like my apartment anyways so I didn't mind only being home on the weekends.
Now that we have an amazing HOME that I love and I have ALOT of work to do on the house, I am getting sick and tired of traveling so far every week for work. Like when I am in Waterloo, I get off work at 4:30 and I sit and watch TV, I don't know anyone here, and I just think about how much I could be getting done if I was home in Ankeny!
Ah it is frustrating to sit here when I know there is so much to do back home. And not to mention it is exhausting to drive so much and work everyday, yes EVERYDAY, I don't get a day off I work 7 days a week. I am just exhausted and have so much to do at home, but by the time I get there I have 2 half days to get stuff done and I am either to tired or to overwhelmed to get anything done.
Not to mention that there is no time in there for friends. Wow.
Ok I got it off my chest and I feel a little better, the good news is that I am only doing this until Billy comes home, which should be in a few weeks if all goes according to plan. So I am almost done! The other good side of the whole thing is that I am lucky and grateful to have a full time job, and making good money. Especially because I won't be making a lot of money when school starts in the fall.
Ok Im done sorry about the ranting and raving!!!

This is how I feel today...

Live and Learn

I am going through a very profound and awakening time in life right now. I think partially the fact that my boyfriend of 5 years is in Afghanistan has something to do with it. I have had some time to sit back, think about my life, and how I can improve it. I am grateful to have come to the realization that I needed to make some changes. Some of you may know, but most probably do not know, that I have issues with anxiety. I have been battling with anxiety for years (as long as I can remember), however I never knew what it was. There are several things that cause me anxiety, and I just always thought I was a little different, or I was just more sensitive than other people. It wasn't until a year or so ago that I actually realized that I had anxiety and I needed to do something about it. I won't go in depth about the whole thing because this already personal enough and it isn't an easy thing to talk about. I did attempt to get on some medication to help calm my anxiety but the doctor wasn't sure what was going on with me...my anxiety was not "normal". She sent me to a therapist and she as well was not sure what was going on and wanted to do some research on different conditions and we were finally making some progress. I at least wanted to know why I am this way, what is wrong with me. You can't imagine how badly I want to hear "This is a condition called _________" Just to know that it is a disorder or something that I have instead of I am just not normal, something is wrong with me. As my therapist was doing research on my anxiety, I was dropped from my insurance (because I graduated college). Yet ANOTHER block in the road. It's so hard to admit you have a problem and try to get help for it, not to mention when the doctor's tell you they don't know what is wrong with you, and then when you finally feel like your making positive progress the whole thing comes to a screeching hault. Now I have to start this whole grueling process over?! Really it'd be much easier to hide in my room all alone where no one can bother me. REALLY I HAVE A GOOD POINT TO MAKE, I PROMISE IM GOING SOMEWHERE WITH THIS. Since then, I have not gone back to therapy. One night I was up really late (I have a hard time faling asleep) watching tv. You know how all they have on tv at 2 am is infomercials, well this infomercial popped on tv about an intense program to help people with stress, anxiety, and depression. I can't remember the exact name of the program but it was by Lucinda Bassett, who of course struggled with anxiety herself. It was like a 12 disc CD program you could follow to help you with these issues. It was like $150 and I was like Wow, that is alot of money, it could be a scam, but if it worked it would be totally worth it. $150 is nothing compared to having anxiety EVERY SINGLE DAY of your life. So I told my mom about it and she said the same thing if it works it'd be worth it and so I did some research online about the whole thing to see what it was all about. I discovered that Lucinda Bassett had written a book on the same idea and principles as this program. So I decided alright I'll buy the book, $25, and see how I like it first. I got nothing to lose. WOW, what a difference it has made in my life. The book talks about how you have control over your mind, and how YOU can control your reactions to certain situations. It may sound simple to some of you, and I am sure that it sounds stupid to some of you, but to me it was a game changer! A light popped on in my head..."Hello, Christine...you control your brain and you control your reactions and you control your happiness!" DUH! I was stuck in this rut of negative thoughts, and negative reactions to everything in my life and I was miserable. The reason this negative thinking is so dangerous is because you don't even know that you are doing it! I thought I was happy for the most part and I thought I was fairly optimistic, I just thought that I had bad luck and bad things always happen to me. I was wrong, I wasn't as happy as I thought I was because I had a negative reaction to everything that happened to me and I thought the world/universe hated me and wanted to make my life hard. Now I realize...who cares if it didn't go the way I planned it, what's the worst thing that is going to happen? Nothing really. Why did I freak out and have cause myself to be miserable over silly little things? I don't know. I can tell you now that I am so much happier, I am repairing the relationships that I had ruined before with my negativity, and surrounding myself with positive people.
I can't say that all my anxiety is gone because there is still that anxiety that none of the doctors can figure out what is going on with me, however in my journey to fix that problem I discovered how to handle my daily stress and anxiety better and completely turned my life around. I am 1,000 times happier and feel like I had an epiphany! Truely Amazing.
The book is called "The Solution" by Lucinda Bassett and I suggest everyone read it because even if you don't have anxiety, everyone has stress and alot of people fight with depression. The thing is that you may not even know you are fighting with these conditions until something pushes you to wake up and see, REALLY SEE. Anyway I think it could help everyone in the way they view life, it certainly couldn't hurt.
Alright I am done ranting and spewing my heart out, it was a very personal post but I feel like I should share the power this way of life has to offer. And I'll leave you with my new favorite quote.
"If you want to be happy, be."

"Ouch"

Unfortunately, I just got home from the dentist. I am having a crown put on my tooth because I had a root canal in January. Without the crown your tooth will easily chip away. So today they did some prep work and put in a temporary crown in, in 2 weeks the permanant crown will be placed. As for today...OUCH, my gums are hurting bad. One dentist had told me that they needed to shave down the jaw bone in order to place the crown over more of the tooth. Bleeehk. I am not sure what they wer doing up there and if they did indeed mess with my jawbone but it sure does hurt alot. I hope it stops hurting soon, I took some really 'good' meds that I had left over from my root canal so let's hope it gets better soon.
#inmiserablepain

Gonna try this new blogging thing.

Ok so blogging isn't new, but it is new to me! This is my first blog and I am rather confused on all the technical things involved still. I guess I will just start blogging and work out the details later. Also, any advice on how this thing works would be greatly appreciated.
I'll start by talking a little bit about myself I guess. I am just your average 22 year old girl. I went to the local cimmunity college and graduated with an Associate in Arts Degree and Interior Design Consultant Certificate in 2010. Now that I have been graduated for a year, and still don't have a job related to Interior Design, I have decided to go back to school for a full fledged Interior Design Degree. I am super excited to attend Iowa State University's design college this fall, because from what I hear they have a great program. Interior Design is my passion and has been ever since I could comprehend the idea of a "career." However in the meantime I have to pay the bills and so I have been working in the restoration business for about 3 years now. I work full time for Steamatic, and we restore houses that have had fire damage, water damage, mold damage, vandalism damage, and even trauma clean up. I specialize in fire damage restoration, specifically restoration of the home owners contents that were affected by the fire.
Besides restoration, I work retail at Pier 1 furniture store and at the local Farmer's Market. I am a busy lady, working 7 days a week and still trying to find time to enjoy life in there somewhere.
My boyfriend Billy and I just bought a house in the town he grew up in, which is where we both enjoy spending most of our time. We love our little town and our little house on our little piece of this earth :) Billy is currently serving our country in Afghanistan and has been since last August. I am very thankful that he will be coming home soon and ready to get back to our normal lives (although I am not sure there is normal life in the Army). I am so proud of him for what he does for this country and for everyone who lives in it. To him it is no big deal, that is just his job. How humble ;) He is a great man and I am lucky to have him in my life.
Well that is just a quick peak into Christine's life and maybe you learned some things about me that you didn't know. Of course there is alot more to my life than that but for now I think that's enough. Adios.