I didn't realize until this morning how long it has been since I have posted. I highly doubt anyone was waiting with bated breath for me to post, but I am sorry for staying gone so long :-)

We drove south last weekend (family visit/wedding/pretty drives to enjoy) and north the weekend before (friends to meet/museum to see/pretty drives to enjoy) and, quite honestly, I just haven't had much to say. I'm thinking on many things but just feel like its best not to put too much of it into actual readable words just yet. There is still pondering, praying, and learning to do :-)

I'm not just catching up with blogging but emails, too, and I read this from a friend this morning (Thanks Michelle!!). I thought I'd share it with ya'll. The author is unknown (at least to me and whoever sent the original email) but as Michelle said, it had to be written by someone who knows!

Hope you enjoy!!

MILITARY WIFE

Lots of moving... 
Moving... 
Moving... 
Moving far from home... 
Moving two cars, three kids and one dog...all riding with HER of course. 
Moving sofas to basements because they won't go in THIS house; 
Moving curtains that won't fit;
Moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours.
Moving away from friends;
Moving toward new friends;
Moving her most important luggage: her trunk full of memories. 

Often waiting...
Waiting...
Waiting...
Waiting for housing.
Waiting for orders.
Waiting for deployments.
Waiting for phone calls.
Waiting for reunions. 
Waiting for the new curtains to arrive. 
Waiting for him to come home, 
For dinner...AGAIN! 
 
They call her 'Military Dependent', but she knows better:
She is fiercely In-Dependent. 
 
She can balance a check book; 
Handle the yard work; 
Fix a noisy toilet; 
Bury the family pet... 
 
She is intimately familiar with drywall anchors and toggle bolts.
She can file the taxes; 
Sell a house; 
Buy a car; 
Or set up a move... 
.....all with ONE Power of Attorney. 
 
She welcomes neighbors that don't welcome her. 
She reinvents her career with every PCS; 
Locates a house in the desert, The Arctic, Or the deep south. 
And learns to call them all 'home'. 
She MAKES them all home. 
 
Military Wives are somewhat hasty... 
They leap into: 
Decorating, 
Leadership, 
Volunteering, 
Career alternatives, 
Churches, 
And friendships. 
They don't have 15 years to get to know people. 
Their roots are short but flexible. 
They plant annuals for themselves and perennials for those who
 come after them. 
 
Military Wives quickly learn to value each other: 
They connect over coffee, 
Rely on the spouse network, 
Accept offers of friendship and favors. 
Record addresses in pencil... 
 
Military Wives have a common bond: 
The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands; his
commitment is unique. 
He doesn't have a 'JOB' 
He has a 'MISSION' that he can't just decide to quit... 
He's on-call for his country 24/7. 
But for her, he's the most unreliable guy in town! 
His language is foreign 
TDY 
PCS 
OPR 
SOS 
ACC 
BDU 
ACU 
BAR 
CIB 
TAD 
ABU 
And so, a Military Wife is a translator for her family and his. 
She is the long- distance link to keep them informed; 
the glue that holds them together. 
 
A Military Wife has her moments: 
She wants to wring his neck; 
Dye his uniform pink; 
Refuse to move to Siberia; 
But she pulls herself together. 
Give her a few days, 
A travel brochure, 
A long hot bath, 
A pledge to the flag, 
A wedding picture, 
And she goes. 
She packs. 
She moves. 
She follows. 
 
Why? 
What for? 
How come? 
You may think it is because she has lost her mind. 
But actually it is because she has lost her heart. 
It was stolen from her by a man, 
Who puts duty first, 
Who longs to deploy, 
Who salutes the flag, 
And whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her Military Husband, 
She will remain his military wife. 
And would have it no other way. 
 
~ Author Unknown

Sallie

I don't really play along with all the games on facebook for doppleganger and such but thought I'd share this early snapshot of my brother, sister, and I when we were just wee little ones. I may have been in Kindergarten in this pic. I won't tell you how many years ago that way!

My sister will ooh and ah over this pic if she sees it here. My brother will probably hate me if he finds out I put it out there for the whole world to see. Doesn't he look so cute?! He'll probably hate me more for that comment :-)

The skirt part of this dress was red and long and had a big ruffle at the floor. My sister and I always wore matching dresses and then they were usually passed on to other cousins, as we had two other aunts that each had two girls back to back age wise. My hair was a bright strawberry blond color back then. I never quite understand why people don't think I have red hair now. I guess even natural color fades after a while...LOL. That's OK. I'm enjoying all these gray strands that are starting to stand out rather prominently upon my head!

I love reminiscing over old photos! They remind me of the good ole days. This one of my siblings and I definitely put a smile on my face today even though its faded and a bit discolored.

Do you have favorite old photos? Which ones make you happy?

Sallie

Our favorite fish around here is catfish but unfortunately nobody makes catfish like my grama Lissie did! Nobody.

Our next favorite is tilapia. It cooks great and you can do so much with it. It is particularly good with a bit of Emeril's Essence thrown on it! Mmmm, good!

We used to eat all sorts of fish -- cooked, sushi, and sashimi -- when we lived in Okinawa but after being in the desert for more than 6 years we transitioned more to spicy Mexican food and seemed to forgot all about fish (for the most part...but fish tacos were yummy). So, in an effort to expand our fish palate, we have been trying to eat more different types of fish lately.

Salmon is NOT one of my favorite dishes. The only way I ever ate salmon as a kid was salmon patties made out of canned salmon. It's okay. But not great... and everytime I've tried to make it like my mom used to it has been an epic failure. Really. Seriously. Do you truly understand how bad it turned out? OK... just making sure.

One of my favorite motto's is "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again" so with that in mind I decided to try a new recipe for salmon. I had purchased some crusting blends from McCormick a while ago and found a recipe using them with salmon at their website. It is a very simple recipe and everyone actually liked the finished dish so I wanted to share with you here. Oh, and no, McCormick isn't paying me to say any of this. They didn't even give me anything for free :-)

The recipe uses three (3) simple ingredients: Salmon (uhm, of course), Olive Oil, and Garlic Lemon Rosemary Crusting Blend

Thaw the salmon fillets out. The recipe doesn't say this and I wasn't sure if they used fresh or not so I thawed them out. It just made sense to me.

Rub them up real good with olive oil on both sides. The recipe says use a brush. Fooey on that... get your hands messy. Didn't you know that EVOO is good for your skin?!

Now, sprinkle a good helping of the crusting blend on both sides of the fish. I just poured a good handful into my hand and then poured it onto the fish. It works.

Lay the fish out on a foil wrapped pan (though I think next time I'm gonna try my pizza stone bar pan or my iron skillet). Put in a preheated 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. I did 15 minutes this time. Next time I'm gonna try less because our oven heats up...and stays heated up... pretty well. The fish was good.. I just think 10 or 12 minutes might be better than a full 15.

We served our finished salmon up with a nice large salad and a chunk of bread! Dinner turned out to be sooooo gooooood! It was healthy, too, so that makes it even better :-)

Now, off the subject of salmon, but on the subject of the McCormick crusting blends: I have been pleasantly surprised with these! We can not find panko bread crumbs ANYWHERE here local but I've found several recipes that call for them. When I saw these blends have the panko crumbs and spices already mixed, I figured I'd give them a shot. We have used the Garlic, Lemon, and Rosemary blend as well as the Italian Herb and Cheese blend on fish, chicken, and pork and I haven't had a problem with them yet. Next up to try is the French Onion, Pepper, and Herb blend and the Crunchy Honey Mustard blend. I bet that honey mustard one makes some really tasty chicken nuggets!

Have you tried any new recipes lately? Like 'em enough to blog about it? Feel free to share a link in the comments. It might help me find a new favorite dish for the family :-)

Sallie

A few months back, really as a start to the celebration of 300 years of existence for the city of New Bern, I thought I would start sharing some of our favorite eating places on my blog. These will mostly be local joints (that includes places both north and south of Havelock as well) that I blog about, but I might add in some places that we find out an about in our travels as well. You can see my first local "good eats" review here.

Today I really want to share with you a great little place for down home country food: Kountry Kitchen Restaurant in Morehead City.

Kountry Kitchen is a small mom and pop type restaurant that serves breakfast all day long. It also has lunch and dinner menus appropriate for those times of day. You can order anything from biscuits and gravy to omelets to Belgian waffles for breakfast and burgers or seafood or steaks for lunch and dinner. There are homecooking dishes like meatloaf available at those times, too. You can't beat the great variety of foods to choose from. The worst part of the meal is just deciding what to eat. After that relax and enjoy yourselves 

Every once in a while I like to take just one of the children out with me for chores and errands. I don't usually tell them what the plan is 1) because I don't usually know for sure EXACTLY what the day will look like, and 2) because I want it to be a surprise. Earlier this week I woke Jesse up and said "Hey, ya wanna go with me?" He flew out of bed :-) We dropped dad off at work and headed out the front gate and down Hwy 70. As I got in the turn lane for the restaurant, Jesse quickly exclaimed "Oh, YES! I love the Kountry Kitchen!"

Jesse and I ordered omelets for breakfast. I had a potato omelet and Jesse had a ham and cheese omelet with a side of home fries. We both shared a small portion of biscuits and gravy (oh, YUM)! The food was tasty and hit the spot. We also ordered three french toast orders to go for the other children. That isn't something I usually do but the price was very affordable and I knew they'd appreciate the blueberry topping...LOL

Granted, Kountry Kitchen isn't fine dining so don't expect that if you go. BUT, if you're in the mood for comfort food that tastes really good and a family friendly setting then you can't go wrong with this local hot spot. It is a place that our family loves to catch a bite at!!

Want to go see and taste for yourself? Here's all the info to find it:

Kountry Kitchen
252-240-0046
5380 Hwy 70 W # I
Morehead City, NC 28557  

Sallie

WOW! If I had known Oliver would be so accommodating in helping teach the children, I would have asked sooner ;-)

Sallie