As requested by Fort Cox

I have had a request for the Mexican Lasagna recipe so here ya go!

Mexican Lasagna (For 6 people)

2 Tbsp EVOO or canola oil
1 lb ground chicken, ground turkey or lean ground beef
2 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 red onion, chopped
14-15 oz crushed or stewed tomatoes
5oz taco sauce- your preference on the heat (not salsa!)
15 oz. can black beans (drained) 
1 cup frozen corn kernels- optional
1 package of burrito sized tortillas, plain or spinach flavored
2-3 cups shredded Colby Jack or Pepper Jack cheese
Green onions, chopped
Sour cream

Preheat oven to 425

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the oil then the ground chicken/turkey and season with the chili powder, cumin, and red onion. If you use ground beef, no oil is needed and drain the meat before the seasoning and red onion is added. Brown meat and then add the tomatoes, beans, taco sauce, and corn. Heat through for 3-5 minutes.

Spray a 10x7 glass casserole (2-2 & 1/2 qrt) with non-stick spray. Cut the tortillas in half to make them easier to layer. Build lasagna in layers of meat mix, tortillas, and then cheese. Repeat: meat, tortillas, and cheese again. For the top layer of cheese, keep it mainly centered or the edges or the tortillas will not get very crispy. Bake lasagna 12-15 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Finish with a dollop or sour cream and a handful of chopping green onions.

**You can make a 13x9 casserole by doubling everything- doubling the beans is optional. **

Enjoy!

Butt Whippin' Time

So I'm attempting to whip my butt back into shape... or rather back into my old jeans/making my current jeans fit better. The current jeans which were a little big when I got them last Fall, are now a bit snug unless I wear the crap outta them. Part of this, I believe, is do to the cycling class I was attending regularly for about a month. 'Twas a great workout- however, it made my thigh muscles huge. I had also been attending a Cardio Kickboxing class. It was alright the first two weeks, but then I guess the novelty just wore off, and I just couldn't motivate myself to go.

I now have a new plan of action:

• On warmer, sunny, rain-free days, I walk between 8 and 12 laps on the track around the football field. The inner most line is 1/4 mile; I walk on the outer most lane. Best guestimate is that I am walking between 2 and 4 miles any time the weather is pretty.
• On not so warm, gloomy, rain-filled days, I go to the Health and Wellness Center on base (which is free! score!) and rock it out on the fancy-schmancy elliptical for at least an hour on the Fat Burn/ Intense Cardio setting. These machines have screens which show you either running on a track, how high you have gone in elevation, or your progress in a 5k. 
• I'm attempting to do this at least 5 days a week and may go with the hubby on the weekends so we both get to work out AND spend time together! Now ain't that just adorable?!?
• Also, ever other day, I am doing an ab routine which includes: six 40-45 second planks, 30 modified throw-downs, and 21 yoga ball things (sorry, don't have a name for them!) These numbers will increase with time.

All this to feel better about myself and fit into my jeans better! And also, I'm a wee bit paranoid my dress for my best friend's wedding won't fit come May 29th, seeing as how I bought my dress last May.

We'll see how this new plan holds up! Wish me luck!

(Question of the Day: If "ain't" isn't a word, why did Spell Check NOT underline in when I typed it under the third bullet???)

The Living Room

Here is the end product of this weekend

And for George, we made a peep hole :)

The Weekend

It has been a pretty great weekend with the exception of a few minor glitches.

Awesomeness:
We spent a good bit of the weekend shopping for some house stuff, putting up pictures and curtains, and hanging out with friends. At least one corner of our downstairs now feels almost homey with our couch in place, gallery canvas wraps up on the walls, pictures set and most of the excess junk out of the way. (Will post pictures tomorrow!)

Sunday was a bit more low key filled with pancakes, movies, and just cuddling up to my husband on our big red couch.

Glitches: Saturday, I realized I needed two more ingredients, 10 minutes before I was supposed to start the Mexican Lasagna! Have no fear, the commisary was near and all turned out delish! Today (Sunday), we had massive computer issues with our big behemoth of a PC freezing up randomly every time you really try to do anything more than open and close a window PLUS we cannot find the the key code to our wireless network so we can use the laptops.

All in all, a good weekend :)

I Titled It Confessions For a Reason...

Ugh...

So yet another person I know is having a baby....



...



There aren't words to adequately describe how this makes me feel.

My Clumsiness Wasn't Left Behind in Ky

I was thinking of a way to start this when I rubbed my eye and winced and muttered, "Ow!"...

I've always been a bit accident prone/clumsy. Every vacation I've had in the last few years has produced some sort of bodily injury: slipping on a wet street resulted in a softball size bruise on my hip; falling on and getting run over by my own jet ski resulted in a huge gash and bruise down my leg; playing beach volleyball with a soccer ball resulted in loss of my entire big toenail; walking through the streets of London, I almost got run down twice, one of those was by a double-decker bus. Need I list more?

As any cat owner knows, cat's just up your chances of some sort of accident- tripping and falling, stuff of that sort. Well, I have a new one to add to my list, thanks to my furry little George.

NOTE:  George loves the bathroom; he likes to jump in the sink, in the tub, and yes, the loo. Don't ask me why, 'cause I don't know... Also note that a man designed my house- the loo is right inside the door and the door swings in, in front of the loo.

WHAT HAPPENED: I was trying to get out the door to go to my Spouses' Pajama Bunco night so I'm running around trying to close all the windows and get my keys and such. I don't know where the bathroom will be when I get to the squadron so I will listen to my mother and go before I leave. George has followed me upstairs and runs into the bathroom ahead of me. I'm in a hurry so I hastily lift up the lid, taking no note of the position of the door, and rush to sit down before George can hop in...
WHAM!!!! goes my eye at full speed into the metal door knob- eye being the prominent bony part of my left eyebrow just above the eye.

So now, every time I touch my eyebrow, I wince, gasp, grumble, and mutter words which I will not repeat here. Though it is a not a black eye, it is still very red and swollen and very tender.

Thank you, George, man who designed my bathroom, and wonderful clumsiness of my own.

Flashbacks

While walking my twelve laps today, I was joined by a PE class or two from the intermediate school across from the track. In case you are wondering, on base, the elementary school would be K-3, and intermediate school is 4-6, I believe. Something like that... anyhow, I watched first the boys run as fast as they could across the field and then the girls do the same, the coach noting the fastest each time. They, then, had to see how many laps they could run/walk in 9 minutes. I was walking longe enough to encounter two different PE classes. The teacher actually commented, "You're still here?!" with a look of disbelief when he returned with the second class. Hey, I walked 12 laps. It takes a little time.

Anyways, it was this second class that caused a bit of a flashback to my elementary school days. I was on my 8th or 9th lap and was slowly coming upon 3 girls and a boy walking together. I was not eavesdropping on them. I was merely in close enough proximity that my ears couldn't be stopped from hearing their conversation. In confidence of the other three kids, one girl stated that a classmate claimed to be her "best friend" but was walking with someone else. She then went on saying that "if she was really my best friend, she would be walking with me because that is what best friends do- they do everything together..". Then, a second girl came to the classmates defense, claiming they were friends and she didn't want to talk about her behind her back. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I pulled ahead of this little gang of conspirators. I, then, heard the boy claim he had a HUGE secret and went on to make them swear of their friendship to him so they were bound by secrecy and friendship to keep this to themselves. I just happened to reach the point where my ear could no longer pick up their little voices so I never heard what this terrible, terrible secret was. Good thing, too, since I never swore my friendship to the little guy. I just might have told someone...

All the whilst this was ensuing, I flashed back to my old days of walking around the playground with my best friends, gossiping about who liked who, who did what to get in trouble, how mean so and so was or how the new guy was sooooo cute. It's such a funny age to be, trying to establish friendships and trying to be your own person, and not just another little face in the classroom.

Aah, the old days..

Hump Day

Today was a pretty routine Wednesday. Got up, bowl of cereal, read my current book, got dressed, and went grocery shopping. While I still lived in Ky, Gerrit had told me of this great wonder called "The Commisary"- that you could find all sorts of things there, that it had more than your conventional grocery store... heh, he had no idea what an awesome Kroger I had only ten minutes from me at the time! As usual, I had to scrounge for ingredients I needed for one of my mother's recipes.

• How hard is it to stock Hot Taco Sauce??? Really? 
• Also, there are only two options when it comes to cans of black beans... organic and overpriced OR ranch style with all sorts of unnecessary spices and whatnot. Why can't they carry your generic can o' black beans? 
• Next dilemma - buy the 28oz can of crushed tomatoes (when I only need half that amount) or no crush tomatoes at all? I ended up with a can of stewed tomatoes instead... 
• and I'm pretty sure their 'burrito' sized tortillas are about 3/4 the size of an actual burrito sized tortilla. 

At least they take coupons up to 6 months past their expiration date. And they have chocolate everywhere, I kid you not. There are multiple areas of just chocolate- candy bars, minis, etc section, Easter chocolate section that takes up an entire aisle, plus free standing cardboard things of chocolate in every other aisle at least. However, the last positive thought towards the commentary turns to negative in that I'm not allowed to keep chocolate in the house.  Why???? you ask. L&G Rule 37- no keeping sweets in the house or said sweets will be eaten before anything healthy will, even if foraging individual isn't actually hungry;  then aforementioned sweets will definitely be consumed "just because they were there".

After the ritual grocery trip and getting everything put away, I awaited what I look forward to most on my Wednesdays- Skype Girl Date with two of my favorite people in the world. However, today was only half of the usual wonderfulness in that one of them was MIA. Being the lovely person that I am, I completely forgive her because she was probably catching up on much needed sleep, it being the week after her spring break and all.

I also added, to the Wednesday routine, walking. I am now making it a point to go walk between 8 and 12 laps on the track 4 or 5 days a week. There will be a better explanation about this later.

Alas, I now must await the return of my dear husband, whom I shall spend about 3 hours with before he falls asleep... oh the military life.

Hello from England!

I decided to start an every day blog for myself to accompany the one I made for George. It really never occurred to me until yesterday when my best friend made the comment that she would really like to see what I'm up to everyday but she'd settle for following George. Then, when I actually got to thinking about it, I realized there actually are people out there who just might want to know what I'm up to! Who'da'thunk, right?


So I have spent the better part of my Tuesday (with the exception of unwrapping my brand new couch!) setting up this blog for myself. Here ya go!