Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup!!

My husband and I REALLY enjoyed this dish tonight! In fact, I served our bowls and a quick sample of our portions lead us to devour our entire bowl while standing up LOL. I found the recipe online and tweaked it to make it my "own" :)..keep reading after the jump :)

Cajun Chicken Alfredo

This was one of my "creative" recipes; which basically all that means is I had an "idea" of what I wanted to make and used whatever ingredients I had to make it tasty!

To start off, lets make the "blackened" chicken. Blackened chicken is NOT burnt chicken LOL. It's actually a combination of spicy seasonings such as paprika, pepper, some cumin (which isn't spicy, just has a smoky flavor). You can also add garlic and onion powder and oregano. I just made up my own thing.Ok, enough of the jib jab, here are the ingredients:...keep reading after jump :)

It's a GIRLY way to hold my makeup brushes! :)

  


















 I have been trying to better organize my makeup and jewelry. I found this really cute desk organizer at Home Goods. It was like 7 or 8 bucks which is a little much, but I saw another one that was plain and just like it for waay more. And if you've ever been to Home Goods, you know that everything is sort of unique so you may not find it there again if you decide to buy the item later. Ok, anywho, the idea is to get any kind of container and fill it with colored sand. I bought the sparkly (or so it seems) royal blue sand at Michaels today. It was 2.99 and it was in the aisle where you find the marbles, and glass vases that you can put candles in. It was NOT on sale, so if you regularly get the 40% off coupon at Michaels (or even Joannes) I'm sure you can make a good deal out of it! I applied my coupon today to an 8.99 item so I paid the full 2.99...Which still isn't bad. So that's my makeup cool decor thing for the day! :)...Hope you like it!

*They wont all be this long...hopefully*

Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.


When I first heard that it was God. Army and THEN me AFTER Army.. I was NOT a happy camper...Of course God is first, we as Christians know that when we don't let God lead our lives as he is the Creator of it, its obviously a rough road ahead.


Well I get it now...Army needs first. I am tough in ways I never thought possible, because of the Army. I have about 5 gray hairs on my head, 4 of which come from being an Army wife. As I write this, I have been an AW for 3 years.
But... Deployment.....that's a first.


Currently Jesse is in his 6 month of being in Iraq and it could not have gone by any faster. Weird, I know. It should be dragging by, but since September 2 when Jesse first shipped off, a week later I had moved back in temporarily with my parents, then we celebrated Lincoln's 1st birthday a week after that. Then two months later was Thanksgiving, and 3 weeks later Jesse came home from Iraq for R&R. A week of him being home we had our second son named Reagan. Exactly a week after he was born Jesse went back to Iraq. I have been up to my ears in doctor appointments and as of recent events, NUMEROUS dental appointments. As I write this on Monday, February 22, I will be back in my home exactly a week from tonight...Yeah, it's been the craziest 6 months of my life.....So, quite honestly, I really haven't had a whole lot of time to sit down and pity myself. Don't get me wrong, that first night he was gone was brutally emotional on so many levels.The next few nights I cried less and less, and focused on the many tasks that would lay ahead of me.

My husband says this constantly to me when I start to complain: "It is what it is, so you better deal with it"

Pretty mean, insensitive and harsh huh?..Yeah I thought so too at first....Then I realized that living unrealistically ain't gonna cut it.Sitting around moping and getting nothing done is going to kill me..slowly but surely.. You do what you gotta do as a wife and mom. Mom's especially, because you can't lose control when your taking care of the kids...You gotta hold it together. So when do I cry and let go of all those emotions? At night...when babies are asleep and I get my "me" time...I am actually quite thankful I have two little ones at home with me keeping my days very busy. I think of my cousin who is a LT in the Army and his new wife of less than a year. They have a dog, which hey, is some good company :) but it's still a very lonely place and I think of her daily. I thank God of the sacrifices are men make for just living in a war torn country and fighting a very long fight. But don't forget the spouses. I will save that subject for another blog, on another day :)

Deployments suck to begin with....

then Reality shows its big ugly face and all of the sudden its been two days without hearing from my sweet husband and I find myself flipping through the news channels and checking live feeds online, wandering if there was another bombing. That sucks...that's reality....and it's not a place you wanna be..


The verse I decided to start this blog with has been my life verse in the past 6 months. A missionary was preaching at our church back home and as soon as he quoted this verse, it was like God had given it specifically for me. It's easy to complain, but as a Christian (and not just any Christian, I am saved by the Blood of Jesus Christ, and will one day be in Heaven solely because I have trusted in him as my PERSONAL Savior).....I can't survive this deployment without my Lord helping me everyday...Please don't take this blog as a preaching from me. My absolute intent is to help fellow military wives with POSITIVE and godly advice as much as I can. I make TONS of mistakes being a wife, mom and friend. I guess the point is to learn from it and move on.


That being said, I am no where close to knowing everything there is to know about this crazy military life.

Separation never gets easier and you don't get used to it as some people might think. The difference is your methods of dealing with it when it comes.


Thanks for taking the time to read this if you are a military wife or just a friend of mine dropping in. I hope I can encourage someone and in return gain a little wisdom :)