mmmm, Creamy Banana Muffins

It's what's on the menu this morning.  The goods required to make:

The recipe:

Creamy Banana Bread

1/2 c. margarine or unsalted butter, softened

1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 c. mashed bananas

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 c. chopped pecans and/or walnuts

Anyone who has ever asked me for a recipe almost immediately regrets it.  It turns into "well, this is what it calls for but instead of *insert ingredient here* I use *insert yummier ingredient here*"  This is no different.  You can choose to follow the exact instructions or follow the winding (& often confusing) path of Karen.  

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream the butter and cream cheese together.  Gradually, add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg.

Stir in the mashed bananas.  Peel the bananas (I use three).  Break them in half.  Add them one half at a time to your butter/creamcheese/sugar/egg mixture.  Just throw them in!

Add vanilla extract.  (the good vanilla that was carried over the Mexican border by your hubby and that has lasted forever).  Add all-purpose self rising flour, baking powder and baking soda.  Mix until batter is just moist.  Mix in chopped nuts.  Bread can be baked in a single large (9 x 5 x 3 inch) or small, greased loaf pans.  Or a well greased muffin tin/pampered chef stoneware

 Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan.  Cool and wrap eat every last bit of it!  Freezes well. 

They taste even better the next day!  Enjoy!!

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Being a military family, it's hard to establish roots.  Oh, you can plant yourself, grow a little, but in 2-3 years you have to dig yourself up and set up shop somewhere else.  Rinse, lather, repeat.


Today, I am homesick.  Bad.  Tears and all.  


You see, seven (wow!) years ago, I was planted in Warner Robins, Georgia.  I kind of didn't want to go, we were stationed on the Florida Panhandle after all (beaches, hello!).  We bought a beautiful, big enough for all five of us house in a new subdivision.  Hunter was almost 6, Sarah was 3 and Andrew was 3 months old.  The school that Hunter would start Kindergarten at was just across the highway.  We would only be there for two years, right?  


I remember walking into the school to register Hunter.  The very first person that I met in Warner Robins was Leigh Vaughn.  She was working in the office and was so very nice in helping me figure out what all I needed to do.  In fact, EVERYONE that I came in contact with that day in the school was so friendly that I immediately knew that I had found the perfect place for Hunter.  


Little did I know, that I was planting myself in this place.  Over the next five years, I was at that school a LOT.  I volunteered in the classrooms, was PTO President for not one but two years, I substitute taught, I applied for jobs to WORK there permanently!  I knew all of the teachers and their families and most of the students and their families.  During this time, Chip was deployed most all of the time.  The school became my busy spot to make the time go faster.  All of those people lifted me up when I needed help or a shoulder to cry on.  They were my FAMILY.  All of those precious children always seemed to know exactly when I needed a hug and they were right there "Mrs. King!  Mrs. King!!"  I celebrated births and mourned deaths with these people.  I went to church, ate dinner and partied with them.  Such great memories!!


The irony in this is that I was BORN on the Air Force Base in Warner Robins many, many moons ago.  My dad got out of the AF when I was less than a year old and we moved back to my parents' hometown of Sylacauga, Alabama.  This is where I grew up and graduated high school.  I never thought I would think of any other place as home.  Then I moved to the big WR.


Today my heart is in Warner Robins, Georgia.  I am seeing on Facebook all of my little friends starting their first days of middle school and high school and last first day of elementary school.  It's only been two years since I left, but it seems like I am missing so much.  It's hard to look at the pictures of these almost grown 'babies'.  Some of them, I remember from Pre-K.  I really do miss them all like crazy!


In May 2009, Chip received orders to a new duty station...Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Alabama!  Closer to my parents, but still not the home that I had established in Warner Robins.  The kids and I stayed on in our house while Chip went ahead to Alabama.  A little over a year later, we moved to AL with him, all of us  kicking and screaming. 


Today we live in Virginia, but a little town in Georgia is always on my mind.

Why Obama made me cry

I received notice on my phone today that our President was calling a news conference.  Great!  I just knew that he was going to announce that the US would start sending troops into Iran.  Was I surprised, and relieved, when he didn't.

But what he did say made me sob...help for military members in this housing situation.  WHAT??  Relief??

Almost three years ago (May 2009), Chip received orders to PCS (Permenant Change of Station...move) to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.  We were living in our beautiful house in Warner Robins, Georgia.  At first, I was excited.  I would be ONE HOUR away from my family.  This would be the closest I had been in 14 years!  Then reality sank in as we looked at the housing market.  Our wonderful, beautiful, big house was not even worth what we had mortgaged three years before.  Like $20,000 less than what we paid.  Booooo!!!  We were unprepared to take that loss.  The decision was made.  Chip would move to Montgomery.  The kids and I would stay in Georgia.  Thus began our decent into a hole of debt and frustrations.

First, Chip bought a camper and lived in the campground on base.  He drove back to GA most weekends, unless the kids and I came to AL.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I was working two part time jobs and taking whatever embroidery jobs I could.  I also had to take care of the kids, everything house related, walk two miles in the snow to school...wait, wrong story.  We had to pay for the camper, gas back and forth, his lot rent, the house payment and all the bills.  It was a huge sacrifice on all of us.

After a year of this, we decided to see if we could refinance the house and get it on the crappy market to rent, sell, burn.  I called our mortgage company, then several others and they could not/would refinance because the house was worth less than our remaining mortgage.  This was NOT what I wanted to hear.  We always paid our bills, ALWAYS paid our mortgage on time.  Why were we being punished because Chip had to move because of his job??

A couple of months after this, we were hemorrhaging money.  We thought the best thing to do was for all of us to move to Alabama to be a real family.  A real estate agent planted a sign in our yard, we said goodbye to our awesome friends and we left Georgia.  By this time, financially, I was so far in the ground that there was no light.  I say 'I' because I had to pay bills with Chip's name on them or he would get in trouble with the military.  Whatever was in my name had to be paid whenever we had some money to go towards them.  But, always, always the mortgage on that empty house in GA was paid.  So much for my perfect credit score...

Here we were paying about $4000 a month for an empty house in GA and a broken down, too small overpriced house in AL.  My kids were having to do without.  We were having to do without.  My credit is in the pot.  Gas prices were going up.  Letting the house go into foreclosure sounded really appealing, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it.  

People have looked down on us "well, you shouldn't have got into a mortgage you couldn't handle".  Really??  We handled the mortgage just fine WHEN WE LIVED THERE.  We were quite comfortable and able to have a little savings.  All that changed because the country that my husband fights for decided that we needed to move.  The only choice we made in that situation was to buy a house.  We never expected that the market would crash.  We had to move and in moving, we HAD to have another place to live.  It was not like we bought a house that we knew we couldn't pay for or we were living out of our means.  There was a neighbor in GA who was BRAGGING that he hadn't made a house payment for a couple of years and the bank was still letting him live in the house.  He wasn't military and he & his wife sat at home doing nothing to make their situation better.  THEY were/are living beyond their means.

After sitting empty for nine months, our house finally rented. For less than the mortgage payment.  But hey, that's ok because it's better than having to pay the entire thing.  We have been able to start digging out of that hole, but Chip received orders to move again.  

When the President began telling me that relief was in sight for people like us, it was like the weight of the world was lifting.  I sobbed like a baby.  We are  not the only military people in this situation.  Several of our friends are in the boat with us.  I just hope that we can all jump out of this boat soon and began to live again without the words "FORECLOSURE" and "UNDER WATER" pushing us down.

*deep breath*

mmmmm, cake!

So, I signed up to make a dessert for our spouse's group for their Dessert of the Month Club.  Sounds easy!  I decided early on that I was going to make my Butterfinger cake because it IS so easy.  I had everything bought for it...cake mix (check), disposable pans (check).  Now, if I could only remember to contact someone so they could remind me...again...what it was that I was supposed to do.  Make the dessert, then what???  Luckily, Lisa (the wonderful president of our group) knows me and knows that I need gentle reminders threats pushes in the right direction.  Not sure if it's the age or what but I can not remember a lot of...wait, where was I??


Got the email on Wednesday and told her that I had it under control.  The winner of the Dessert Basket would be chowing down by Friday.  Too bad my friends stomach bug and migraine did not get the memo.  Both boys were home from school with a bug and I had the migraine to end all headaches.  To top it all off, Chip was out of town.  Fine, it'll just have to wait.  So, wait it did until today.  Thought I'd share the recipe with you all just because.  

Butterfinger Cake

1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix

1 jar of caramel ice cream topping (12.25oz)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 container Cool-Whip (12oz)

1 regular size or 3 fun size Butterfinger bars

Make cake according to directions on box.  While the cake is in the last 5 minutes of baking, mix together caramel and sweetened condensed milk in a medium bowl, place to the side.  Take cake from oven and immediately poke holes all over the top (I find that a chopstick works well for this).  Slowly pour your caramel mix over the top of the 'holey' cake.  Let cool completely.  When cake has cooled completely, spread Cool-Whip over the top (most, if not all of the liquid should have been absorbed by the cake).  Take your Butterfinger(s) and crush.  Sprinkle broken bits over the top and serve.  Keep refrigerated. Enjoy!!

The Flip Side

It's when 'YAY, YOU'RE HOME!!!!' turns into 'yay, you're home *sigh*'.  It is the time no one really talks about because it makes both of you look, well, ungrateful.  You both feel it, you just don't want to admit it.  


Now, there are some that will say it never happens to them, but they are the same ones who have the Spouse of the Year awards lined up all across their mantle.  Heck, they probably even have their own special display case with lights!  You know the ones, they burp rainbows and fart sunshine.






Well, this is not about them.  It's about me the rest of us imperfect souls.


It's been about four days since my friend's husband came home.  In respect for their privacy I haven't called, texted (is that a word?) or dropped in unannounced, but I know it's about that time.  The time for me to ask her "So, how's it going?"  To which she will sigh, roll her eyes and say under her breath "He is driving me CRAZY!"  Followed by a HOLY CRAP.  It's this time of the post-deployment that would make even the most virtuous of women drink and curse.  


You get desperate.  'Yes, it did too take me 30 minutes to poop'  'Um, yeah, I gotta go to the commissary.  I know that I just went an hour ago, but I forgot something, anything' 'Kids, Daddy wants to play with you!' 'I bet you should go in to the office, I bet they are DYING to see you'


You've been in survival mode for months and now there is a practically new person that has been dropped onto the island and you have no clue what to do with him.  You really want to just say 'the tribe has spoken.  You've got to get on up out of here' but you know you can't.  


So what do you do?  You may have a bottle glass of wine and tell yourself over & over that you missed him at some point.  You remember how hard it was when that extra set of hands was not there.  You suck it up once again, put on your big girl panties and DEAL.  It's not easy, no one ever said it would be.  You just didn't think that it would be this hard either.  You try not to put your pillow over his head when he sleeps (but that sure stops that snoring that you lived without for months).  You think happy thoughts and wish that you were the wife that burps rainbows and farts sunshine.  


He's home, he's safe.  You count your blessings.  You are NORMAL.  There's still the point at the end of every post-deployment honeymoon that you find yourself asking


"Can't you find some TDY to go on???"

Whew! You're Home!

While the rest of the world Alabama was preparing for a certain football game, I was helping a neighbor welcome her husband home from Afghanistan.  The Air Force members come back from deployment with little fanfare, which is sad.  They usually arrive at their home airport alone or with one or two other Airmen.  No hero's welcome or TV news reporters.  Just their eager families waiting to catch that first glimpse.

We see him!!

She had called me the day before to ask if I would come to the airport to take pictures of the homecoming.  She also swore me to secrecy because they wanted their privacy as a family to reconnect.  Of course, I agreed, grabbed my camera and headed to the airport.  What awaited me was a bunch of emotions that resulted in me shaking and crying so bad that a couple of pictures were blurry.  Every time we meet someone coming home from a long deployment, it takes me back to each and every deployment that I have had to face in my 14 years of being 'the one left behind'.

Chip's first time of being away from his family was a short (ha!) tour to Osan Air Base, South Korea.  We had just had our first child and *poof* he was gone.  Hunter was almost 4 months old when he left.  When Chip returned home a year later, he found that the chubby little baby who didn't sleep much had turned into a toddling powerhouse who went on and on and on like the Energizer Bunny.  He also came home to a wife who had realized in his absence that she could survive just fine on her own.

Little did we know at the time that that was the first of many deployments.  Eight months after he returned, September 11, 2001 changed our lives forever.  He deployed.  He was called in about 9 in the morning and was on a plane by 5 that evening.  I was three months into a difficult pregnancy (Sarah), Hunter had just turned two.  By the time 2009 rolled around, we calculated that Chip had been deployed 3-6 months out of every year since 2003.  Andrew, our youngest, was born in 2005.  He was the result of a homecoming from Afghanistan ;)

As I was standing at the airport in Montgomery, Alabama with my friend, I was thinking about all of those times.  How many times had I stood at an airport waiting for my airman to get off of a plane?  What emotions ran through me during those times?  Relief was number one.  Relief that he had made it home safely.  Relief that I no longer had to do everything on my own.  Relief that I had relief!  Fear was second.  Would I still know this person who had been gone so long?  Would he still know me?  The kids?  Could we live together again??

After so many deployments, it doesn't bother me so much to do everything on my own when he is gone.  I've learned a lot about myself (and others).  You learn to pull up those big girl panties and rock on!  You get pissed, without really meaning to, when you hear someone say 'my husband had to take a business trip to Atlanta and he is going to be gone THREE WHOLE DAYS!!'.  You bite your tongue, suck it up and muddle through no matter what.  You learn that you can take care of three kids under the age of 6 while sick, tired and worried for months on end.  You learn who your friends are and who you can rely on...and most of the time, the only person that you could rely on was yourself.  You can change a tire, fix a leaky toilet, soothe a sick baby and deal with a HUGEmongous rattlesnake...sometimes all at the same time!

He's Home!

As I watched this precious family reunite, I thought about all of that.  Watching the kids jump on top of their dad and all of the smiling faces makes all of the crappy days that brought you to this point just fade. It was hard, but it is over...for now...

Welcome Home Brad!!