You know you want one!

Have you entered my giveaway for milspouses yet?

The prizes are these AWESOME high-quality bumper magnets (instead of bumper sticker, so you don't ruin your car) that I made at build-a-sign.com. 

I did one for each branch of the military, so whether you are in love with a Sailor, a Marine, a Soldier, an Airman, or a Coastie, come over to my BABY BLOG and enter now!

You can also get extra entries by blogging about the giveaway, and tweeting about it.  Only four days left, so enter now!

What's your song? Linkup week 3

Once again I am participating in Amber's weekly song linkup - I LOVE this one!  Go check Amber out HERE, and tell her I said Hi!  While you're there, feel free to join this awesome linkup, and check out everyone else's songs.

My song for this week is another from my FAVORITE band of all time, Depeche Mode.

"Precious" is my second favorite song from the album Playing The Angel - I wanted to share my FIRST favorite, "A Pain That I'm Used To" but the intro to that song is some pretty harsh electronica, which I thought might make a lot of you click away without listening to it.

Next week, if I'm feeling it, I'd love to bring out some OLD SCHOOL Depeche Mode.

Rock on everyone!

Giveaway!

My giveaway for Milspouses has officially started over on my baby blog! Check it out by clicking the button in my right sidebar (the cute preggo belly button that says," Does this baby make me look fat?"

If you love a Marine, Sailor, Airman, Soldier, or Coastie, you need one of these cool bumper magnets!

Www.preggotimes.blogspot.com

Keeping it real (?)

The other day I posted over on The Wifey Blogs about my hubby's sudden request demand that I stop blogging about him.

He has never read my blog, which I think magnifies the unfairness of his demand, but whatever.

The problem is, I really want this blog to be HONEST.  Uncensored.  The real me.  And, like it or not, he is a huge part of ME.  I would not be the woman I am if I had never met him. (that's mostly meant to be positive, but I also credit blame him for some of my negative traits)

I feel like, if I blog about my life, but omit this very important part of my life, then my blog will resemble this joke about OPSEC:

Yeah, its kind of funny - except that it's NOT.

I really want to respect his unreasonable request, but I am not sure if I can.  If you notice that the 'hubby-related' comments are a little thin, just know that it is not censorship, it is me trying to make this marriage work.

We heart tacos!

My family's favorite at-home meal is definitely tacos.  Yesterday Knucklehead almost hurt himself jumping up and down when my answer to the age-old-question 'whats for dinner?' was "TACOS".

The secret to making yummy tacos is definitely all in the shells.  We fry them fresh, from corn tortillas.  It helps if you can get FRESH corn tortillas, but even if they are weeks old (which was all I could find when we stayed in Virginia for a summer - whats up with that???) they still come out yummy after you fry them.

Frying corn tortillas can be difficult at first, but once you master it, it is ridiculously easy.  Here are some tips that I have learned along the way:

1. Don't get the oil TOO hot - it should be hot enough that it pops right away when you put the tortilla in, but not so hot that it actually pops/spits AT you.

2. Use room-temp tortillas if you can - cold ones mess with the oil temperature, and you will have to adjust it after cooking the first few.

3. Make sure your oil is deep enough in your pan - I usually fill the pan to at least 1/2 inch deep.  Don't go TOO deep, though - more oil makes it harder to maintain an even temperature, which means you are more likely to burn the shell - or yourself!

4. Don't use your favorite pan!  I have one that is now my OIL PAN, that I only use when I am frying tortillas, or tortilla strips (to garnish tortilla soup)

5. When you put the tortilla into the hot oil, you need to 'fold' it pretty quickly, before it hardens as a flat tostada shell - but you can't fold it ALL THE WAY, or it will stick together.  Long handled tongs help with this part, so you can hold up the top part of the taco shell while the bottom part cooks, then turn it over. If your oil is the right temperature, it should take 15-20 seconds to cook each side.

6. When the shell is done cooking, take a second to hold it up over the pan to let excess grease drip off before you move it to your paper-towels to drain.

Of course you also want your taco meat and fillings to be ready BEFORE you cook the shells, because these shells just aren't yummy when they get cold - fry them immediately before serving.  For fillings, I use taco meat made from fresh ground turkey, with Schilling or Lawry's taco seasoning mix.  The other fillings I like are grated cheese, shredded lettuce, Knudsen fat free sour cream, and Pace Picante Sauce.

Last night hubby had 7 of these babies!  Bonehead and Knucklehead each had four, and I had five.   YUM.

Song linkup week 2 - "STAND"

Amber over at Goodnight Moon is hosting this song linkup EVERY THURSDAY - how awesome is that? I love the fact that last week's linkup had more than 40 participants, with only two songs duplicated!  Go check out Amber's blog and link up with us!

This week's song is by Mike Corrado, who I have blogged about before.  I LOVE this artist, and not just because he is a Marine.  His video for "On My Watch Tonight" includes photos of my hubby (the link to that song and video can be found in this post).  His song "Start Saving Me" resonated so deeply with me during our second deployment that it topped my playlist for months. (link to that song is HERE)

But this song, STAND, is one of Corrado's newest...and it moves me to tears right now.  It reminds me of the pure heart that still beats somewhere within the amazing man that I married - regardless of the emotional/psychological wounds he's suffering from these days. It reminds me of his commitment to the Corps, to the country he loves and would still die for.

I couldn't find the song on playlist.com, so I am using Youtube this week:



(next week I will be back with more awesome Depeche Mode, because I have really been feeling their album "Sounds of the Universe" for a few weeks now)

coach (not the purses)

It occurs to me that my blog followers must think I am some kind of angry bitch these days, because lately every blog post is just me griping and complaining. I think this is because I use this blog as an outlet when life just sucks.

I have no desire to censor myself here, so you will always get my honest feelings. BUT, I am going to make an effort to blog when I'm in a GOOD mood, too.  I mean, good things happen in my life, too. (just not as much good these days as I'd like, of course.)

So, one cool thing going on right now is Knucklehead's basketball season.  He's in fifth grade this year, playing in a league with fifth and sixth graders....but the week he would have started practice, the parent who had signed up to coach the team had to step down due to work commitments.  Knucklehead's team was coach-less.  My first instinct was to step up and volunteer to coach this team, but there is one small thing taking up all my time these days: Bobblehead.  He's five months old and just beginning to get mobile, so there is just NO WAY that I can coach this basketball team

(or so I thought)

My awesome friend Regina, another Marine Wife, stepped up and offered to coach if someone would help her - so, yeah, my hand shot up!  We're co-coaching the Division III Thunder, and so far LOVING it!  Last night we played our first game, and WE WON!!!!! Awesome game, too: 35-33 final score after DOUBLE OVERTIME.  The coach for the other team is a seasoned coach, we've faced him in four previous seasons (back when I was 'just a mom' and not a coach ha ha ha) and he actually COMPLIMENTED Regina and me last night on our coaching!

Now, to clarify one thing: I have NO IDEA what I am doing with the whole coaching thing, and honestly Regina is winging it, too.  But at least she played ball all the way through high school and a year in college.  I have not actually played since JUNIOR HIGH. More than 20 years ago.  Yes, I am old.

My dad has coached high school basketball off and on for the past 30 years, and he sat in on a practice the other night, as well as last night's game, to give me some pointers.  Gotta say, Dad really knows his stuff! I am super excited for the next practice, but even MORE excited for the next game.

I can't believe I am a COACH!!!!!

Wow.