Talk About Tuesday Home Edition ~ It's All About Perspective

You're going to have to stick with me on this one, because I promise it's going somewhere. I may just go around the world and back a few times, but there's a valuable lesson here. There was for me anyway.

Here's a sample picture of the military duplex in which we live. This is not the one we live in. I could not take a picture of the one we live in, because our screened in front porch is bad. Really bad. Really, really bad. Now housing takes a picture of one that is going to be the most flattering on their website and not make it look like the 60 year old dump home that it is.


We are six people living in a three bedroom duplex with one full bathroom and one half bathroom. Do you know how many showers six people take in two years in one bathroom? Well, when the painters don't use the right kind of paint in the bathroom, this is what happens:

Ceiling directly above the shower by the light/vent fan

Window Frame

Door Frame

These pictures are in no way the only places it's bad. These are simply representative. The walls around the top of the shower, over the door frame, and across about half of the ceiling look like the picture by the light/vent fan fixture.

Back when my husband first entered the military, if you had too much stuff to fit in your military housing, they'd put your overflow goods into storage for you until you moved again. Since the military has now gone to privatized housing, everything we knew and loved is gone. Forever. Now we sign a lease. And we have to give 30 days notice. For military housing. And when we sign this lease, we are signing that it is "adequate" housing, which means that they will no longer store your overflow goods, because they are providing you adequate housing and you signed your lease saying so. So the local shelter loves you. And knows you by name when you've only been here one month and you have no other friends.

Now this post had no four bedroom housing when we moved here, and we made the family choice to live on post for Hubby to be able to come home for lunch, be home quick after work, etc. It was our choice. That said, they built four bedroom housing for Hubby's rank and were finishing it up, and in the first part of this year I went and asked about getting on the list to move into it when it was completed. They told me we couldn't move into the four bedroom housing (unless our family situation had changed, meaning more kids) because we signed saying our housing was adequate, even though they had no four bedrooms at the time. Okay, angry me left, and ever since then I have driven a different way home so as not to drive by these new pretty homes, which is what we would get if we moved here brand new right now:

The irony of this whole thing is that we got a letter about two months ago (after Hubby had decided to retire anyway) and housing offered to let us move into one of the new three bedroom houses. Since I can be a little bit witty sarcastic, Hubby chose to go talk to them and get the scoop. Turns out they can't get enough people in their new housing to qualify for a bonus, so they were offering to let some of us in the existing housing move. But the four bedrooms were already filled, Hubby was retiring anyway, and we weren't going to help them out, because we would have had to move ourselves, and why would we do that for three months. That would be just a little bit silly.

I've been very bitter about this ever since my first visit into housing, thus the decision not to drive by that area. It was the same distance to drive the other way, so I used that as justification, but my family all knew why I drove home that way. A couple weeks ago I read this post about perspective, and it really made me think about how blessed I am to have a home for my family, even if it is not big enough for us, and certainly inconvenient, and not very nice. But it's a home, and it's temporary, both from an earthly perspective and for us right now. This was always temporary. And we're getting ready to move on, and I need to let it go. I've been coveting my neighbor's house, and that's wrong.

This week is the Talk About Tuesday Home Tour over at the Lazy Organizer. She's talking about her ceiling fans. Go and see what others are talking about too! It can't be as yucky as my peeling and chipping paint. So go have fun!

Menu Plan Monday

Last week's menu went perfectly great until the weekend when we had lots of unexpected things crop up on Saturday and then I didn't get the roast purchased for Sunday. I won't even tell you what we had for dinner on Saturday night, because those of you out there who are health nuts would cringe at the mommy in me that let my kids have cereal for dinner. But we have healthy cereal in the house, and everyone at least half of us had healthy cereal.

The Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix went over fantastic and none of the kids was any the wiser for it. Hubby knew, and he said he could tell a slight difference, but not enough to matter. The great thing about this mix is that it has no MSG, and the Old El Paso packages I was using had MSG, and I didn't realize it before. Here's the recipe that equals one commercial packet (I'll follow with how I make tacos):

1 T chili powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano powder
1/2 tsp salt

The nice thing about this is that some of these items come in organic versions. I didn't try using fine sea salt, but I will in the future now that I know what the original version of this recipe tastes like and how it compares to a commercial packet.

When I make tacos, I always purchase the taco kits that have taco sauce in them. My family does not put taco sauce directly on their tacos, so I always mix the sauce into the ground beef. Since I didn't buy the taco dinner kit this time, here's what I did:

approximately 2 1/2 - 3 lbs ground beef (we have extra for leftover taco salad), browned
Add to the browned ground beef and simmer until done:
2 taco seasoning mixes (recipe above)
1 1/3 cups water
1 cup Old El Paso taco sauce (I used mild)

I'm not going to share my Lemon Chicken Recipe from last week because the sauce did not come out right. The chicken was great without it, but it wasn't cooked any special way.

A few weeks ago I got this cute vintage apron from the Apron Queen at Rick Rack Attack when she hosted a giveaway for the first 60 of us who posted her button on our sidebar.

Sassy is wearing it for me. You can't see all the cute details, but I'll tell you the one I like the best is the little *x* stitching that is used to hold all the seams instead of regular stitching. It's done in brown on the cute peach and white-checked pattern. It reminds me of cross-stitching that I do. It also reminds me of something my grandma or great-grandma would have worn. I tried to find a picture to post of them in one of their aprons, but I couldn't put my hands on one. I thought since we were talking about food today it was a good time to talk about aprons that keep our clothes neat and clean while we're cooking that food!

This week's menu has my roast plus some of our standard fare. I'm going to include recipes (marked with *) for a few of the items at the end of the post. That said, here's this week's menu, just dinner this time since lunch will probably be mostly leftovers or sandwiches (pb&j, grilled cheese):

Monday ~ Roast in the crock pot
Tuesday ~ *Chicken Spaghetti...this is different from any other I've ever tasted
Wednesday ~ Marinated Grilled Boneless Pork Chops
Thursday ~ *Homemade Chicken Tenders
Friday ~ Fettucine (recipe next week because I follow the box and tweak it...tastes like Olive Garden!)
Saturday ~ Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts
Sunday ~ I'm clueless, but I'll figure it out by then

Chicken Spaghetti:

2 cups cooked & cubed chicken
1 box (16 oz) cooked spaghetti
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can diced Rotel
1 can chicken broth
Shredded Cheddar (I use a finely shredded mix Kraft makes)
Shredded Parmesan

Mix soups, Rotel, and chicken broth. Combine with chicken and noodles. Pour into a 9 x 13 ungreased pan. Cover with shredded cheddar cheese (recipe calls for 8 oz but I use at least 2 cups) and sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-60 minutes or until bubbly around edges. (I actually think mine only takes about 30 minutes.) I think the Rotel gives it a different flavor so it doesn't taste just all "chicken-y."

Crispy Chicken Tenders:

(My husband would marry me again if he could just because of these!)

**Note ~ I buy two large packages of the frozen Tyson chicken tenders at the commissary when I make these and then we eat on them for a couple of days. I have to multiply this recipe by four (except for the vegetable oil) when I make this many, and I cook them in two large square grill pans on the stove to save time.

1 1/2 lbs chicken tenders
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (the substitution is to use 1 T lemon juice and add milk to equal 1 cup for each cup of buttermilk I need...it works perfectly when I don't have buttermilk)
1/8 tsp red pepper sauce
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
Pinch cinnamon
1 cup vegetable oil

1. Combine buttermilk and red pepper sauce in a large bowl. Add chicken; let stand 10 minutes.

2. Combine flour, salt, pepper, paprika, and cinnamon in another large bowl. You can remove your chicken from the buttermilk and dredge each piece, then place them on waxed paper prior to cooking them, or you can do it as you go and put them in the pan.

3. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until oil is very hot. Cook chicken in batches until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. I sprinkle them with a little salt while cooking, but this isn't called for in the recipe. Transfer chicken to a cookie sheet and keep warm in a preheated 300 degree oven (I don't do this; I just put them on paper towels to dab out the oil as much as possible).

And when you make these Chicken Tenders, wear an apron, because I always get a grease spot or two on my clothes that won't come out if I don't wear one. See, the apron fit the post!

This week the Organizing Junkie is out of town, so Laura at Heavenly Homemakers is hosting Menu Plan Monday for her. Go check out some other menus and recipes there. You'll find a variety!

Maybe We'll Win Something

I found this great website and giveaway through browsing my cousin's blog today. You know, the one that I mentioned on Friday that has a beautiful singing voice. Well, I thought it looked like it might be fun to participate, and so I'm giving it a shout out in my post and a prominent position on my left side bar. If you'd like to participate too, or even just to check out the Tip Junkie, go check out all the information about the 20 days of giveaways here. I didn't get a lot of time today to look over her blog, but it is definitely something I'm going to get back to tomorrow and spend some time looking over the archives.

Hope everyone had a blessed Sunday!

Pickin' Daisies

This red flower is a gerbera daisy I got at Sam's in early June. It's not around anymore. I'm using it just for illustrative purposes. I still had it around, when...

...I bought a bunch of pink gerbera daisies at Sam's. Last year every time I bought daisies, within 30 minutes of taking the netting off the petals, this is what they would look like. The petals would all fold back, and many times the flower would be so heavy it would get very droopy on the stem. Well, since I still had a red one left that had survived, and it was on the counter next to where I placed the entire bunch of pink flowers, I observed something I might never have noticed, or not for a very long time. I know the picture of the red is an almost side shot, but can you tell what it is?

Well, look at these pictures of the lovely, and I mean so lovely I can hardly stand it, gerberas I got at Sam's today.

The little one was broken and had to be put by itself. But do you see the difference between it and the one above, and the similarities between these and the red one?

These have littler middles. I specifically looked for gerberas with "little middles" today, and I'll be if they don't look perky after I took the netting off. That's the secret: pick gerberas with little middles, and you won't get the droopies. And I very possibly just made up a new word.

I'm fussy about my daisies. My family would tell you I'm fussy about lots of stuff. Don't let them fool you!

Know & Tell Friday

I was going to read Heather and Reese's answers to their questions over at Kickin' It In Crazyville before I answered these myself, but I was afraid it would affect what I came up with myself. So I'm going to answer, and then go back and read what fun stuff they had to say. You do the same.

1. If a five-dollar bill magically appeared on your doorstep at the beginning of the day, every day, what would you do with it?

First I would try to find out who left it, because that's the Nancy Drew in me. After I got over the initial shock and bought my kids ice cream from the ice cream truck a time or two, got myself a venti White Chocolate Mocha from Starbuck's a time or two, got Hubby a venti Caramel Macchiato from Starbuck's a time or two (he'd be with me), I'd find a meaningful use for it. We sponsor one little girl right now through World Vision, and with $5 every day, we could sponsor five more children.

2. Tell us about your favorite teacher from elementary/middle/high school.

I had a lot of favorite teachers in elementary school. I was kind of a teacher's pet. My favorite was probably Mr. Polich, my 4th grade teacher, because he let me go out in the hall with my best friend, Kim, and practice for the school and district math olympics. We'd make up hard math problems just for fun. Sick, huh? If you haven't read my blog before, I'm the oldest child, Type A, perfectionist, OCD...a very left-brain kind of girl. And I'm originally from the South, Arkansas to be exact, so I can call myself a girl.

My favorite middle school teacher was my 7th grade science teacher. He ate fried worms in class. It was not Mrs. G.r.z.y.b.i.n.s.k.i. Do you know how many sentences I wrote in study hall with her name in them for talking? The fact that I can still spell her name without blinking should be a good indicator.

My favorite high school teacher was probably a tie between two different teachers. It was not my 10th grade geometry teacher but was my 12th grade Algebra II teacher. They were the same one. I had an attitude adjustment between the 10th and 12th grades. You had to know him to love him. The other one was a teacher I had for several business classes.

3. If you could make one person disappear for good, who would it be?

Only one? Based on the current news events, I'd say Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Even rhymes. Or the North Korean president Kim Jong Il. I don't know if it still is, but you should read this article about North Korea being the worst country in the world. Most people know it's bad, but most don't (or didn't) know it was the worst. There's so much in the news about other countries and about the only thing we see about them is the nuclear stuff.

4. Do you believe in fairies?

I do not believe in fairies, but I do believe in angels.

5. What era is your favorite for music?

The 80's is my favorite era for music. My kids just look at my husband and me so strangely when we hear a commercial or we're walking through a store and we just start singing along. And we're not singers. Hubby is better than me. My sister and my cousin were gifted with the beautiful voices. And I mean beautiful.

I still have a penchant for a little disco in these bones though.

6. Have you ever, or would you ever, have cosmetic surgery?

I have never had cosmetic surgery. I make it a rule to say never, because I always end up doing it then. I don't see that I would ever have a reason to have cosmetic surgery. I don't think we should mess around with what God gave us just to try to look better. I think when people have medical reasons, or have scarring from burns, that's a whole other story.

I could currently qualify to have cosmetic surgery on my stomach. I have a separated abdominal wall from my last pregnancy (eight years ago), but unless I develop a hernia, I'm not willing to risk major abdominal surgery. It's not worth the risks. I want to see my kids grow up.

7. If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?

My first name is a doozy! I've had to explain the stinkin' thing my entire life. My mom's middle name is Kay, so I'm Kayren (long *a* sound) instead of Karen. It's pronounced just like it's spelled, but it's been butchered so many ways I've lost count.

My natural father that divorced my mother (after he saw me one weekend of my childhood life when I was six months old when he returned from Viet Nam) gave me my middle name. Now yes, I have issues, but no, that's not the reason I despise my middle name. Louise. Yes, Louise. Ugh!

So now that you've had the lenghty explanation of my name, what would I change it to if I had to? Not if I wanted to, but if I had to. You know, as much trouble as my name is, this is not something I've ever thought of. Who would I be if I wasn't me?

I don't think I could legally be Sweetness, my husband's nickname for me. I've always liked the name Mary, and I knew someone I really liked with that name. I had a really good friend named Jaclyn in the third grade, and then of course there was Charlie's Angels to make me really like that name. I had a hamster with the name Jaclyn, so I think I wouldn't pick that one for myself. Kate is another name I really like, not Katherine or Katie, because I'm not a kid anymore, just Kate. Nice and simple, but pretty. And my initials would stay the same.

I'm Kate.

Kate signing off.

The Great Ink Pen Debacle, Part 2 (Subtitle: Mom, Why Is The Dryer Purple?)

When the military designed new uniforms a few years ago, someone thought it was a good idea to put a place to keep your pens handy on the sleeve. So there are these little slots for you to put a pen or two down on the lower part of your arm, like in a Mead binder.

The Great Ink Pen Debacle, Part 1, was about a year and a half ago, right after Hubby bought two new uniforms.

The first incident involved the washing machine and was fairly minor in comparison to this one.

I believe this pen made it through the wash cycle because it's a different washing machine than was in use during the original Great Ink Pen Debacle, because that washer bit the dust, but not because of the Great Ink Pen Debacle. (This is only further proof that I picked a bad washer and it's really not cleaning the clothes well. That's a story for another day.)

This is where family had just gone for a few hours...

...when I opened up the dryer to fold clothes and found this, including miscellaneous pen parts strewn about...

Well, after determining the damage, most of which was to Hubby's clothes, and further determining that I could not get any ink off with normal cleaners I had (I did not try bleach and I probably won't), I got old rag towels wet, did a dry cycle, and it appears that the ink is not coming off through an entire dry cycle onto anything. That's a blessing.

But does anyone out there know a good way to get this ink off the inside of my dryer? Every time I see it the OCD just screams inside my head. Caboose's answer is howdoyoufixyourdryer.com, which I'm thinking won't be a lot of help.

And in case there are inquiring minds, I am speaking to Hubby. With civility.

Page Protectors ~ A Girl's Best Friend (Keeping Kid's Artwork Under Control)

Years ago I had to come up with some viable option to keep control of my four kids' artwork. I only had three with artwork at the time because Caboose was an infant, but it was still everywhere, and a file folder just wasn't cutting it, because I tried that. So I went to Sam's and bought a four-pack of 1" D-ring binders and the big whopping pack of 200 page protectors (which is under $10 there and at most discount clubs). I used my trusty label maker to put each child's name on the outside of their binder along with the title "Artwork." That was necessary, because these are not the only binders in our homeschool closet. And to digress for a moment, I heart my label maker. It is a best friend of the chronically organized OCD personality. Back to the binders, the only thing this doesn't work for is 3D items or super large things that can't be folded in half easily. Here are a couple of pictures of some older artwork, and the kids love these because they can flip back through them. It's kind of like a scrapbook for them. I also put dates in pencil on the back, and I don't let them make stuff just to put in the binder. It has to be quality.

If there is a really special school paper they have done, I will also put it in here for safekeeping.

I also use page protectors in my recipe binder to keep recipes I've pulled from magazines, people have copied for me, or that I have printed from the internet. I use them in my homeschool binders for certain things that will be used for a number of years and need to withstand time. I use them in my "control journal" or "household notebook" to keep things in each section easy to find, as opposed to keeping it in just a pocket divider. I use them to keep scrapbooking idea pages in a binder. The list is really endless. And you can reuse them. I've rarely thrown away a page protector.

To see what works for others, visit Works-For-Me-Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.