Mad cooking skills

For those of you that know me you know that I am more of a baker and not so much of a cook. If I do cook it's normally pastas or breakfast. I have never been good at cooking meat. Let us skip the whole me becoming a house wife part and jump straight to what this post was intended to be. From the time I left New Mexico I have become obsessed with Pinterest and have found some super awesome and some not so awesome recipes. But who wants to talk about the not so awesome stuff, let us get to the good stuff.  

**NOTE: These are not my pictures nor are the any of my recipes! Click on the hyperlinks, they will take you to the actual webpages with the recipes!**

So tonight I made chicken rollatini with spinach and it came out insanely good!

This is one of Rene's favorites jalapeno popper inspired grilled cheese but instead of using goat cheese I just used cream cheese. (I also didn't use the apricot spread) To tell you the truth I didn't even read the recipe I just saw the picture and made up what I thought would taste awesome! haha

I LOVE BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP! I tried to make some a while back and it came out TERRIBLE! I found this recipe and figured it sounded simple enough and it was. Not to mention the soup tasted AWESOME!! I did not put nutmeg in it nor did I blend it but I am going to make the soup again tomorrow and I will try it with the nutmeg and I might blend it... we will see how I feel :) 

Chicken cashew lettuce wraps, I made it for myself for lunch one day, because I thought that Rene wouldn't like it! There was some left over when Rene came home for lunch and he actually really liked it! I was surprised. But they were delicious!

 

Mini Cannoli's  Delicious! haha

Lemon poppy seed bundt cake The most amazing bundt cake EVER!

Whhhaaaaattttt??

Oh geeze, Rene just reminded me that my birthday was in a few weeks! More like 11days to be exact, but who's counting anyway :)  My days are all messed up, I was out with Alyssa today and could have sworn it was Tuesday the 21st which makes no sense because Monday was the 21st! That still doesn't change that fact that I seriously didn't think my birthday was coming up so soon! I FEEL LIKE I STILL HAD TIME!! haha  I don't know that I am ready to be 24.... I don't feel like I am old enough to be 24 either. I am dreading the day that my metabolism decides to slow W...A....Y..... D....O....W....N and then I will actually have to worry about what I eat :( But UNTIL then maybe I should make this ULTIMATE FAT KID dessert Tell me that this does not look delicious!! (click on the link!!!) This lady even used double stuffed oreo's... Oh My Goodness!

You know what I also can't believe?! That we've been here for 3 months already! I feel like we have been here longer...
 And our baby Bean isn't a baby anymore, she's 2 years old with a litter of pups that aren't going to be puppies anymore! I remember when we drove to AZ to go get bean, she was so freakin cute! She still is, and I love her with all my heart!  This is a picture of Bean the night we brought her home 2 years ago!

ALL MY BABIES ARE GROWING UP! MAN I wish I were back home to throw Bean,  Mitts, Don Vito, Penny, Gus, Bella & Gracie Lou a big birthday bash! I don't know that I can contain myself and with hold the cute pictures of the pups when they were born... BUT I will. HA! Guess you guys will just have to come back in a few days to see them :)

Oh and if someone would send me a sonic drink (cranberry limeade or an apple cherry slush) THAT would be fantastic lol

I promised a happier post!

Although this past week has been terrible with Rene out of the country and silly Turkey being.. well just plain silly, I did promise a happier post. So with that being said Rene is back home and I couldn't be happier, luckily the week he was gone went by quickly. Even though the last few days of last week were the worst! We did get our car this past Thursday and unfortunately need to wait a week before we can get it registered, since I "wasn't allowed" to do so >:(  This is still a sore subject if you couldn't tell

So while Rene was out of the country I was able to get a few of the rooms put together and most of the boxes full of stuff that we really don't need put away. I also got a few picture printed and some pictures up as well. Definitely starting to feel more like home!

I love this one! I got the idea from pinterest of course. It's our first dance with the lyrics to the song :)

I did get my sewing machine out and started reconstructing a t-shirt which would have turned out pretty cool if it wasn't so tight...haha. Now I just need to figure out what stitches are for what and I'll be golden! I guess I should start reading the sewing book, my Grandma Pat and Cheryl gave me, instead of just looking at the picture :) Since I can't just go to the nearest Hancock Fabric store and finding a fabric store here is deeming to be a larger task then anticipated I was able to find a website with some fabric I think will work great for the dresses I want to make. I know what you are thinking, Pamela in a dress? wait wait wait did she just say she was going to MAKE a dress?.  I know it's crazy talk! But I found a blog with an awesome tutorial on how to make a maxi skirt ( The skirt has a flap like yoga pants! And don't laugh I understand the lady in the picture is pregnant, but these dresses are super comfy. Hmm now I sound like one of those girls that makes up excuses to wear stretchy pants all the time...)

We also got the Thank you cards in and I've been working on getting them all put together and hopefully will get them sent out within the week! Which also reminds me that I need to get these puppy treats sent out to the pups for their birthday! I can't believe my little furbabies are going to be a year old and Mama Bean is 2!

I am not sure if I made it known but I did get a job here on base but the paperwork and amount of shots and blood work needed is insane! I am still waiting on the blood work to get back to prove that I have the antibodies to fight off chicken pox... If it weren't for that I would have started orientation today. Lame fish fo sho!

The things I've taken for granted

I never understood the craze about New Mexican cuisine. It never made any sense to me that people who moved away ALWAYS wanted New Mexican food, or why when they came to visit that was all they ate the entire trip!! I mean don't get me wrong it's pretty flippin delicious but seriously?! I lived in New Mexico for 23 years, I loved the food but was never too crazy about it. It is probably because it was so easy to get while I was there. Pretty much every restaurant you go too in New Mexico, even the sushi joints you can get green chile. For shits sake you can get a green chile beer! Again I love me some green chile but isn't that taking things a little too far? Now that I live roughly 6958miles (if you are just measuring it on a map) or a 5-6hr flight to Baltimore, then a 10-13hr flight to Frankfurt, Germany and then a 7-9hr flight to Adana, Turkey. I have come to really appreciate what I had in New Mexico. I know I miss the food so much because I can't get anything like it out here. Not to mention the blandness of the food here does not help in the least bit. I now understand completely what all those people who moved away from NM feel when it comes to green chile and the food in general there. How I miss those sloppy plates drenched in chile.

We all bitch and complain about gas prices in the states and how the cost keeps rising. I now understand why people here drive tiny little beater cars and their version of a full size truck is no bigger then a Toyota Tacoma. The average price is roughly 4.20 Lira per liter which equals to about $2.30 per liter. Do a little math and 1 gallon is equal to roughly 3.8 liters, do a little more math and you get $8.74 per gallon. Aside from not wanting to get lost in a foreign country that I can't speak the language, so if I get lost I can't ask for directions nor can I read the signs. I miss being able to just drive, for no reason, to just clear my head and drive. Road trips almost seem silly because of the gas prices lol.

It is pretty awesome to be given the opportunity to experience a different country but I've realized in the few months I've been here all us American's cling to anything that is American. When I found out we were moving here I freaked out about being able to use all the same products I used on a daily bases. I have found many stores here that carry the things I used in the states and many new ones as well. But for some reason I can't help but miss the stores I used to go to. I miss Target lol I miss getting groceries at Smith's. I hate going into new stores and not knowing where anything is. Not to mention not being able to read what exactly they are. I still forget things after I go grocery shopping even if I wrote it on my list lol. It is irritating that there are certain things that I want that I can't get here. Equally as irritating that I can't ask for something specific because of the language barrier. 

I also took for granted the internet speed we used to have back home lol I know it sounds silly. I hate that I have an iPhone and I know that I can iMessage people who have iPhones in the states for free but because of my silly stupid internet in my house I am unable to do so.

I miss 110v plugs and I hate the transformers in my house lol

I think that is more then enough bitching for at least a week! :)

Settling in

The rest of our stuff FINALLY got here!!! YAY!!!

I was really impressed with the amount of kitchen appliances I own. 
I will definitely get some picture up soon once my house is nice and clean and there aren't dirty dishes in my sink haha.  But the house is coming together nicely. We really don't have a lot of stuff so for now we have 2 fairly empty rooms. Rest assure that in the time we are here we will accumulate enough stuff to fill them. I really regret not bringing my bed :( Oh well, REALLY didn't think we would get a 3 bedroom house so I guess better safe them sorry!
Since we have this extra room Rene decided that we should turn it into a poker room and wants to get a custom poker table made.. HA! I told him not until I get my damn kitchen table made! lol So we may need to meet in the middle and get a kitchen table w/ a poker table underneath it! That is what marriage is all about right? Compromise? lol. He also thinks that we should get a bar built and we have the PERFECT spot of it in the house. I am all for getting a nice bar built, that would be awesome. Only down fall is what if it doesn't fit in our next house. But 1st thing is 1st we need a new coffee table, since the one we have got messed up in the move..

Well,  I got a job!!! I will be working at the youth center here on base, well as long as I pass all my pre-screening employment stuff on Thursday. Rene just informed me about 5 minutes ago that we should be getting our car in a few days. Which means that the car gets to sit in our drive way for a few weeks until we get our plates. I am super excited that we will soon have our car and will be very excited to return our Hyundai rental car :) I have enjoyed our time together Hyundai but unfortunately you will not be missed.....