Riding out the Hurricane with Chili Recipes

The Hurricane is here! I still have power... for now. I spent most of the morning/afternoon in the kitchen cooking! I figured if i have to stay inside all day because of the weather and I am in the mood to cook, why not! I ended up making a yummy pot of hearty beef chili and a yummy pot of creamy white chicken chili! I ate a bowl of the white chili for dinner and froze the rest in ball freezer jars for days when I don't feel like cooking. I froze 5 jars of white chili and 7 jars of beef chili! Thats quite a few meals for little ol' me! I did lose power for maybe an hour or so around 4pm today. I wasn't prepared... so I went to the local wal-mart to see if they had any flashlights... they were wiped out... all but this little head light contraption. I bought it! When I returned home, my power was back on! :)

My family in North Carolina isn't faring as well as I am though. My mom has been without power since around 8am. She is there by herself, which makes me sad, wish I was there with her! She watched two trees fall down on our horse pen, at least one across the fence, she doesn't think the horses will try and escape because it fell along the wooded area so they won't be able to see what they are getting into... lets hope they stay in! 

I hope everyone else on the East Coast isn't doing too bad in the storm! Leonidas and I are sending out our best wishes to everyone!

My Chili recipes will follow in another post!

No Place Like Home and Random Rambles

I had an absolutley amazing weekend at home in North Carolina! I always love going home and being with my family. On Saturday I was able to hang out with one of my very best friend's Kim! We used to live in the same apartment complex in Alexandria, VA. Her hubby got transferred to KY so we hadn't seen each other in probably about a year. They just got transferred to NC which makes me sooo very happy! I go home to NC quite often and now I get to see her when I go home! I am so very thankful to be able to see her while the hubby is deployed, she is someone that I can tell anything to. I am very lucky to have her as my friend!

Hanging out with my mom and stepdad is always an amazing time too! I love my family!!

On Sunday, I woke up and let Leonidas outside. My parents were out back in the barn so I started walking out there, still a little groggy, I had maybe been up for 7 minutes. Leonidas and my moms dog Tipper are both probably around 50lbs each. They started running back up towards me and the house, this is where my morning went south. I became the target point for an impromptu game of chicken between Leo and Tipper... let me just say, neither one of them were chicken! They both came running at me full force, one hitting each leg. I went flying, not sure exactly how or where I landed, but it was painful. My mom saw the whole thing and said my flipflops flew about 20 feet. I landed in the gravel somehow... I think I started to turn when I realized they were headed straight for me, luckily I think that is why I walked away instead of having two broken legs! I have a pretty gnarley bruise on my lower back/upper part of my butt cheek, I will save you the horror of pictures lol. I am pretty exhausted today and every bone in my body is sore!

On another note, when I make the 4 hour drive home to NC or back to VA, I love to listen to audio books on my Ipod. I download from http://www.audible.com/! On the way to NC on Friday I finished "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. What a great book! It's told in the point of view of the family dog Enzo! I definitley recommend it! Especially if you are a dog lover! On the way back to VA last night I started listening to "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. I have heard all good reviews of the book and movie, so far it lives up to those reviews :).

Are you currently reading any good books?

What's YOUR Song?

It's that time again! Hah I say that every week don't I? Anywho, I linked up with Goodnight Moon for What's YOUR Song? Again this week I chose a country song... you have to understand where I am from, country music takes me back there! Especially THIS song! It reminds me sooo much of home in North Carolina! AND what better week to have it as my song when I will be going home soon! Sooo excited! On another note, Jake Owen is pretty easy on the eyes too :).



Day 2 - Nine Loves

These are my nine LOVES for the 10 Day Challenge, day 2. They are in no specific order.

9. True Blood! I just can't get enough of it! I think there is far too many months in between the seasons!

8. Sleep! I love to sleep, just ask my husband! He hates that I take so many naps, especially while he is deployed, he worries about me... which brings me to number 7...

7. The most amazing husband in the world! He takes amazing care of my and I am the luckiest girl in the world to have him!

6. My puppers Leonidas. He is my furbaby, my four-legged child! I would do anything for him!

5. My wonderful family! I come from a rather large family, 3 sisters and 3 brothers as well as 1 brother in law!  My family as well as my husband's family pretty much rocks!

4. Reading, I really love to escape into a good book!

3. My friends! They are just an extension to my family!

2. North Carolina! I am a Carolina girl and I always love going home!

1. GOD!

Spoiled... just to have my bubble bust...

So the last few days have been pretty BLAH for me. I have figured out that I got too accustomed for pretty much knowing exactly when my Hubby would be calling me. My bubble has definitley been busted though, I havn't heard his voice in far too long! :( I do miss my dear sweet hubby!

On a happier note, Leonidas is loving going to the dog park everyday. I guess since my spoiling has halted, I decided to spoil him. It wears him out enough to where he isn't going 150 miles an hour all day and night. We went to the dog park today only to get caught in a torrential downpour!! We were both soaked by the time we made it back to the jeep... and go figure 5 minutes after getting in the jeep it stopped!

On and even HAPPIER note... tomorrow I get to head to North Carolina after work! It will be a nice long weekend! And the most exciting news is that I get to see one of my greatest friends Kim!! I havn't seen her in over a year when she and her husband got transferred to Kentucky. Well now they are coming to Bragg and I can't be more excited!! I can't wait to be able to decide to go home to NC and visit my Kimmy! It's a much shorter drive than going to Kentucky! AND on top of that, my Hubby is going to be sooooo excited to be able to hang out with Kim's Hubby on R&R whenever that may be!

This is Kim and I all dressed up for the Old Guard Ball in 2009!