Husbands are distracting

Hence why I've been absent, like, all of last week. Evan finally arrived home from Louisiana from training before he deploys! Thursday night I showered and got all prettied up to pick him up at 11 o'clock at night. Only in the military world do you do this kind of junk. Friday I made sure I had one of his favorite meals ready: cheeseburger pizza. Ultra healthy, I know. This time I had a new pizza dough to try.

Please try this pizza dough recipe! I'm begging you! For the last year and a half or so, I've tried dozens of different pizza dough recipes. Most of them claiming to be "amazing." But, I couldn't find one that made the bubbly, chewy crust that also has texture and crisp. Some have been easy, others a little trickier, but this one is by far the easiest and tastiest dough I've ever had. It seriously rivals most pizzeria's that I know. Which is saying something if I can make it and it turns out phenomenal!  

Basically you mix water, flour, salt, and yeast together and let it sit for 18 hours. Its seriously that easy. I found it in the bon appetite magazine I get in the mail. You can find it online here.

 Over our long weekend (I was off for spring break!) we ate a ton of food, watched movies, and sat on our bums together all weekend; it was awesome. We were just happy to see each other and talk. One thing we decided this weekend, was that Harrisonburg, VA would be an awesome place to retire and buy a farm. (We have never been there...but whose to say it wouldn't be awesome!) 4 hours from the beach, 4 hours from Washington D.C., and 4 hours away from family. It's kind of perfect. The countryside is gorgeous, and it has such a large historical background that makes it even better! (Think Williamsburg, Richmond, and D.C.) The link is for a somewhat negative review of the place, but honestly for us all the negatives are the main positives in our eyes! We're just dreaming here; I'm crossing my fingers for someday.

Not all of us are happy Evan is home though.

When Evan arrived home from Louisiana Scout was pumped...at first. Well, that is, after he woke up and realized what was going on. Now, he's decided that Evan being home isn't so great. He might have a tad bit of jealousy in his bones. Whenever we came home yesterday from the range he was thrilled to see me, then Evan walked through the door after parking the car. He immediately stopped looked at Evan, and then looked at me disgusted. Everytime Evan tries to sit on the couch beside me Scout:

 a) decides he has to pee, so one of us has to get up
b) barks and cries at Evan until he moves, or
c) tries to smash his body on the couch between us

He's such a mama's boy.

One more thing. Evan's birthday is this Saturday and I have 0 ideas of what to do. Any suggestions?

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!

Tomorrow night Evan gets home!

I'm pumped, but exhausted. I spent most of the day today ripping devil plants out of the front of our yard. I'm trying my best to make sure everything is perfect. The house is clean, the fridge is stocked, and the front yard will hopefully be competed by the time he gets in! On the way home from getting my hair cut, I bought a dozen plants to plant to make our walkway to the front door more welcoming.Was anyone else aware of how expensive plants are?? I was not until today...things that have the potential of dying...especially in my care...cost and arm and a leg! (Specifically $65 arm and/or leg...I might have gotten ripped off. But how was I  to know? I'm not usually in the plant market...um ever.) Either way, they are quite lovely, and think the walkway already looks 100x better and they aren't even planted yet!

 The house is all clean and cozy; ready for Evan! Scout is ready to have his buddy back too!

 It's finally all cleared!
Side note: I filled the bin way too full, and now it's entirely too heavy for me to move anywhere by myself.
High five to me.

My new flowers waiting to be planted. I love the colors of the purplish-green ones! The leafy smaller plants will eventually have all different colored flowers on them! (We can only hope they make it that long)

 I finally caved after hearing, no less than 5 book reports, on the Hunger Games from the 9th graders at school. I read the first book Sunday morning, and I'm currently on the 2nd book. They are good...there will be a book review soon! I've been sworn to wait to see the movie with Evan...

 I was in desperate need of a haircut, and today it finally happened. I was seriously considering getting is all chopped off -- like pixie cut chopped off. But, I really miss my long hair so I'm growing it back out, expect I'm keeping my bangs. Have I ever told you how much I love bangs? Now you know.

 New headband from Mildred & Mable's in downtown Clarksville. It's my new favorite store!

I cannot figure out for the life of me why this picture is so blurry, but whatever. If you can't tell it's sushi. The wimpy Americanized kind, but it's sushi none the less! I've never tried sushi for several reasons:

1. Kittanning Pennsylvania isn't the hot spot sushi type of town...think more all you can eat buffet style.
2. It's intimidating! Sushi has always seemed like a trendy food, that only trendy people eat.
3. Does white rice, seaweed, cucumbers, avocado, and raw fish sound appealing to eat to you??

Although none of those things sound appealing, together...oh my...together its a completely different story! I don't know why I've never tried sushi before! It was so good! I doubt I'll be able to drag Evan along, but my friend Lisa, who took me, will have a lot of fun girl nights together eating sushi while the guys are gone!

I can tell I've already gone into partial independent woman mode (which I tend to do) when Evan is gone. I hate that it happens, but in a way, it's a coping strategy for me. You have to have this mindset that you can do anything and everything that you do together, by yourself. You trick yourself into thinking it's easy, enjoyable, and empowering. It can be, but when it comes down to it, I'm part of a team. Whether I like it or not, the team part of my brain shuts off for 9-12 months. It makes things easier to adjust to when hes gone. As silly as it sounds, it's hard to shut it off and let yourself need someone else again when he gets home. When you're married each person needs that feeling of being needed. Evan needs to know that I need him to mow the lawn, change the oil, and open jars. Being the man. Even though I'm capable to doing these things, it's part of how our mouse trap maze marriage works. In the end, no matter how much you think you don't need someone, we all really do. 

A Rockin' Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall in Love)

Pleasure for your ears :)

 //Spring//

 //Protecting the fort//

 //First time making veggie couscous//

 //It was ok, I kinda wanted a burger afterwards...//

 //New dress!//

Thrifty Thursday

OK, so I have a new weekly post I want to try to do: Thrifty Thursday. 

I was going to do Tightwad Tuesday, but that sounded a little negative (but funny, haha). Loving the art of thriftiness isn't always about being a tightwad, as some people would assume; it's about getting something unique, well-made, and having fun without selling off your first born child! It's a win-win situation. As some of you know I furnished my entire house from used/junk/thirfted/antique/whatever-you-call-it goods. Most of my wardrobe is also lightly used clothing from second hand shops. Evan refers to it as "junk" but that's his opinion...I'm pretty sure he should be thanking me for being frivolous and freaking awesome....but that's my opinion. About 75% of the stuff in my house my husband would have thought was "dirty" and "old." (Luckily he was deployed, therefore he didn't really have a say into the matter -insert coy smile-) 

I've got my act together and have slowly, but surly, have been making our house a home. Here's a tiny corner into my house that's home.

Table & chairs: Non's (grandma's) aka free // Curtains: antique shop .50 cents // Fruit bowl: antique shop $6 // Salt & Pepper shakers: junk store $2 // Wooden Spoon & Fork gift // Table cloth: This Old Place Antiques $11 // Grand total: $19.50

The hunt of finding all these one-of-a-kind things is the fun part for me. A nice bonus of that is you save money, lots of money. The only thing I purchased new for our house was our mattress. I don't know about you, but I didn't want to take the chance of bunking with someone else's bed bugs. This weekend I'm on the hunt to find a few things for our spare bedroom and some new spring/summer clothes! I'll let you know what I find!

Home Life in Modern Days

I've been in ISS (In School Suspension) with "Kevin" for the past week. I've had so much fun sitting in silence I picked up a few books from the library to curb the insane amount of merriment.
I checked out "Home Life in Colonial Days" by Alice Morse Earle. Before you fall to sleep at the very mention of this seemingly humdrum title let me explain. Ok, so most people would slowly die if they were required to read this book. The librarian asked me if I was doing research, which I quickly explained that I was just a fellow nerd reading some history.

 The book was pretty good, but I found a certain passage in particular to be really eyeopening on "Neighborliness." Today everyone is leery of their neighbors and strangers, which they have every right to be...there are a lot of crazies out there. But, even I can remember when I was little walking over to my neighbor's house with a cup to borrow some sugar, or a few eggs. But this was only because I grew up in a really small neighborhood, and I literately knew all of my neighbors like family, which might not be so common now. In the neighborhood I live in now we only know the neighbors across the street from us. When I say "know" I mean we've introduced ourselves, but I honestly can't say I even remember their names. I've tried waving "hi" or making eye contact to introduce ourselves to others, but neighbors turn with a blind eye, and scurry back into the safety of their home. Is it not a sad day in America when we look at our neighbors with a suspicious eye? When they are probably just as pleasant and polite as we are, but our first instinct is to assume the worst? Maybe we're more antisocial? I'm not really sure. Anyway, Alice Earle sums it up perfectly on just how much the foundations of our society has changed.

A picture of an old inn sign. This will one day be in the foyer of my house!

"Colonial Neighborliness"

"It is curious to see how completely social ethics and relations have changed since olden days. Aid in our families in times of stress and need is not given to us now by kindly neighbors as of yore; we have well-arranged systems by which we can buy all that assistance, and pay for it, not with affectionate regard, but with current coin. The colonist turned to any and all who lived around him, and never turned in vain for help in sickness, or at the time of death of members of his household; for friendly advice; for culinary aids to a halting appetite; for the preparation for feasting an exceptional number of persons; in short, in any unusual emergency, as well as in frequent every-day cooperation."

"We nowadays have generalized our sentiments, we have more philanthropy and less neighborliness; we have more love for mankind and less for men. We are independent of our neighbors, but infinitely more dependent on the world at large. The personal element has been removed to a large extent from our social ethics."

Today people assume their own burdens, or expect the government to take care of it, at the cost of high taxes. How much more respectful would we be of each other if we all still lived this way? I believe there would be less rudeness and more courteousness. More hard workers and less thieves. Less government dependence and better communicators. Society would be be a more moral, trustworthy, and better steward of belongings.
I know I can't live with my nose stuck in a history book, wishing things were like the "Days of Yore," but sometimes I would like to hope that there are still neighborhoods like my neighborhood growing up still out there. Or, that we can make an effort to create this neighborly spirit in towns throughout America once again. So maybe the next time you see your neighbor getting the mail, instead of turning away cross the street and talk to them. Ask them if they need you to cut their lawn the next time they are away. Saronade them to Mr. Ronger's "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

Ok...that might be a little creepy, but you catch my drift don't you?