Thank a Veteran

Happy Wednesday evening folks!  Hope your Veteran's Day was lovely.  I sent Bob a thank you this morning for his 20 years of service in the Army. He sent me a message right back thanking his family for supporting a soldier. He is kind like that. And he is also right. It is a package deal, a soldier and his family.

What a life that is to be an Army brat. You have to move every three years which kind of blows, especially when you are a kid. Really tough to always be changing schools. Fortunately, there are a lot of Army brats in most places you live, so every school you went to there were a ton of other kids in the same boat. That helped. A move also meant we had no friends so we had to go back to hanging out with the "core" family as we call our little pack of five. At least until you made new friends. And we did make friends fast and were always heartbroken when it was time for them or us to move again. But that was a small price to pay for all the good that came with being an Army family. I think it made our family closer to have to rely on each other when we landed in a new place. 

Also, I got to live nine years of my childhood in Germany. Who gets to do that?  I have volksmarched all over that country. Walked through castles and along rivers and through quaint little towns with cobblestone roads and real live flower boxes in the windows. Eaten my face full of brotchen, pommes frites, wurst and schnitzel. My parents let me go on a week long school sponsored ski trip to the Garmisch mountains when I was in FIFTH GRADE!! A week. In the mountains. Skiing. With no parents and no cell phones. I fell off the ski lift twice in snow up to my waist and had to be rescued! What were they thinking?

We visited surrounding countries. Went to Madurodam in the Netherlands. Google it. A miniature city. Very cool. I signed my name on the Berlin Wall before it came down. I was on a train bound for Berlin with my softball team and we went through a communist train station. We were forbidden from opening the curtains when the train stopped. Of course, we opened the curtains. You cannot tell 14 year old girls anything. It was seriously, just like out of a movie. A German soldier dressed in a drab grey uniform, with a dog and a machine gun was pacing back and forth on the train platform. It was scary and were happy to close the curtains. So many great memories! I will always be grateful for my childhood spent in the military. It was excellent. Thanks again, Dad (and Mom)! 

Let's wrap up the trip down memory lane and do a quick review of our eating for the day! I was up super early this morning for no damn good reason. Couldn't sleep. Do we just stop sleeping at a certain age?  Why is sleep so elusive?  I feel like it takes me forever to fall asleep. Then I basically lay in the bed partially awake all night and get up at the crack of dawn. Why?

Anyway, back to the food. I whipped up this beautiful breakfast taco while I was banging around in the kitchen at 5:30 this morning. It had all my regular staples, potatoes, bell pepper, jalapeño, onion, spinach, cilantro, tomatoes, except I added some refried beans. Jot down pinto beans on the plant list, please.  All that goodness and only one plant added to my list. 

Lunch needed to be something that went with leftover cornbread, since I had plenty left over from last night. I fried up some onions, mushrooms, garlic and fresh green beans until they got all caramelized or burnt, however you want to say it.  I love vegetables with a little char on them!  I sprinkled the whole mess with some of those crispy fried onions you put on green bean casserole and ate it with a chunk of cornbread.  Great lunch.  Garlic was the only new plant on this plate so + one more plant.  I also snacked on some walnuts today, so we are up three plants today. 

I wrapped up the day with a dog walk with Judy. I almost fell down. It was funny, but not really.  

Then came home and was brainstorming Christmas present ideas. You know it is Christmas when I get out the drill, luggage cables and padlocks!  Ha! Check out the prototype!  Had to pick Judy's engineer mind to help me figure out how to make this work.  It is going to be so good!  How many combinations are possible with four numbers?  A lot! 

The poor young adults on my list. They probably wish I would just hand them the damn money already.  

I will not. Bring your brain or wire cutters to Christmas morning. We must make this last! 

I will share more pictures when I get one completely done! 

Have a great evening and a fabulous Thursday!