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01. You have at least one relative who wore a black dress every day for an entire year after a funeral.
02. You spent your entire childhood thinking what you ate for lunch was pronounced “sangwich.”
03. Your family dog understood Italian.
04. Every Sunday afternoon of your childhood was spent visiting your grandparents and extended family.
05. You’ve experienced the phenomena of 150 people fitting into 50 square feet of yard during a family cookout.
06. You were surprised to discover the FDA recommends you eat three meals a day, not seven.
07. You thought killing the pig each year and having salami, capacollo, pancetta and prosciutto hanging out to dry from your shed ceiling was absolutely normal. (Wow, that’s really Italian!)
08. You ate pasta for dinner at least three times a week, and every Sunday, and laughed at the commercial for Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti day.
09. You grew up thinking no fruit or vegetable had a fixed price and that the price of everything was negotiable through haggling.
10. You were as tall as your grandmother by the age of seven.
11. You thought everyone’s last name ended in a vowel.
12. You thought nylons were supposed to be worn rolled to the ankles.
13. Your mom’s main hobby is cleaning.
14. You were surprised to find out that wine was actually sold in stores.
15. You thought that everyone made their own tomato sauce.
16. You never ate meat on Christmas Eve or any Friday for that matter.
17. You ate your salad after the main course.
18. You thought Catholic was the only religion in the world. (12 years of Catholic school will do that to you LOL )
19. You were beaten at least once with a wooden spoon or broom.
20. You thought every meal had to be eaten with a hunk of bread in your hand. (it doesn’t?? LOL)
21. You can understand Italian but you can’t speak it.
22. You have at least one relative who came over on the boat. (yep!)
23. All of your uncles fought in a World War. (both Grandfathers did )
24. You have at least six male relatives named Tony, Frank, Joe or Louie. (my grandfather, Uncle and Dad are named Joe LOL and yes I have relatives named Frankie, Uncle Tony and a cousin named Anthony )
25. You have relatives who aren’t really your relatives. (yes didn’t realize Uncle Cary and Aunt Yvonne weren’t “family” till I was in high school )
26. You have relatives you don’t speak to. (yep!!!)
27. You drank wine before you were a teenager.
28. You relate on some level, admit it, to the Godfather and the Sopranos. I maka a meata ball you can’t refuse! …forrgetttabbboutit! badda bing! (yep!!!)
29. You grew up in a house with a yard that didn’t have one patch of dirt that didn’t have a flower or a vegetable growing out of it.
30. Your grandparent’s furniture was as comfortable as sitting on plastic. Wait!!!! You were sitting on plastic. (LOL )
31. You thought that talking loud was normal (it isn’t????)
32. You thought sugared almonds and the Tarantella were common at all weddings.
33. You thought everyone got pinched on the cheeks and money stuffed in their pockets by their relatives. (or in my grandfather’s case – a “pocketbook” aka a wallet  )
34. Your mother is overly protective of the males in the family no matter what their age.
35. There was a crucifix in every room of the house. (we held on to this tradition .. crucifixes over the doors of our children)
36. Wakes would be held in someone’s living room.
37. You couldn’t date a boy without getting approval from your father. ( I think it was more important that they were Catholic rather than Italian and YES Dan is Catholic LOL )
38. You called pasta “macaroni”.
39. You dreaded taking out your lunch at school.
40. Going out for a cup of coffee usually meant going out for a cup of coffee over Zia’s house.
41. Every condition, ailment, misfortune, memory loss and accident was attributed to the fact that you didn’t eat something. ( lol this one really reminds me of my Grandmother )
42. Those of you who get this…YOU KNOW who to pass it on to!

My computer has been wonky (yes that is a technical term LOL) and running very slow the last couple of months. At first I thought maybe it missed SGT Daddy too. (well not really but the rest of us do) Then it started to crash, and I thought uh-oh. I knew it wasn’t a virus because let’s be honest – Macs don’t get viruses all that often (if at all)

So I finally take it in to the Mac store and the Genius Bar Guy (actually his name was Jon) tells me the hard drive was going out in it. I was crushed!

Then Genius Bar Guy tells me about replacing it and I brace for impact. He then says ” Well  you can get it replaced a lot cheaper by going to one of the local 3rd party stores in the area and I recommend Simply Mac ”

The cost would be around $200. I was giddy! I mean compared to the cost of purchasing a new Mac (roughly $2000 ) that was a great deal!!!

We’ve bought Apple/Mac products for many years and I’ve always been happy with them and Apple’s customer service. I was really impressed  this time around. They diagnosed and offered me a solution to the problem within 20 minutes. They even gave me a map to the 3rd party store. (honestly would Best Buy, etc do that??)

Most of those that know me really well, know about my love for the Mac. I can tell you after this I’m a Mac lover for life.

So here is today’s edition of Project365 –

It’s just another reminder that our family is not complete right now and a very important piece is missing. The girls and I of course find as many things as we can to do during the weekends but sometimes it is just not enough.

During the week the girls and I are so busy with our various activities that we don’t think about it. Since school started, We have routine and we have structure. The weekends not so much~

Speaking of school, the girls started back to school on August 13th ( i know I need to post a current picture of them). Kiersten is in 6th grade and her first year in middle school. Rebecca started 2nd grade at the elementary school.

Both kids had a good start so far.. Beck has the same teacher and classmates as last year so she’s pretty happy about that. Kiersten was a bit overwhelmed with middle school and all the freedom that comes with it but she did GREAT! She’s also on the volleyball team this year.

It’s weird having the girls in 2 different schools and also means lots more of running around for Mom.

It’s hard to believe its been 75 days since SGT Daddy got on a plane heading to Afghanistan. Some days feel like its been forever and some days feel like it hasn’t been that bad. All in all , all of us (SGT Daddy included) are doing what we need to do, sucking it up and moving on.

SGT Daddy is doing well in A-stan and reports that “it is boring as hell here!!” There have been a few times where he and I haven’t been able to talk due to a variety of things happening over there (blackouts, his work schedule and travel) but we’ve been very lucky to communicate as often as we do.

I’m here!!!

I decided to take some time off and enjoy a mini-vacation. The girls and I  went to visit my friend (and VA) Tricia for a couple of days over the 4th of July weekend. Overall, the trip was awesome and we had a great time.

On the trip down there, things were going well. We were making good time and the kids and dogs were doing just fine. Everyone was getting a bit antsy.. so we decided to stop at a rest stop in Fort Morgan, CO. The girls and I were walking the dogs over to the dog run and playing in the open area.  I guess we were gone about 20 minutes or so.

During that time, some jacka$$ decided to steal my laptop bag right out of my car. (of course the laptop, my anti-anxiety meds and several other items were in the bag) I didn’t realize until we got to Tricia’s house.  Great. What a way to start off the vacation.

Like I said, we had an awesome time hanging out with Tricia, her family and all the various animals. We even managed to get a little work done and do some brainstorming too! Tricia graciously let me use her PC laptop but I missed my Mac so badly!

Emotionally, it was a hard weekend! I had to go cold-turkey off my anti-anxiety meds (something my Dr warned me not to do), didn’t have much communication with SGT Daddy those days and it was the first holiday since SGT Daddy left. I think I cried on and off most of Friday night and Saturday. I was supposed to stay till Sunday but I reached a point that I just wanted to get home. (I had a long drive ahead of me)

Things are all ok now … well except for I don’t have a new laptop yet. I love my Macs but they are so darn expensive. Although, on the way home, we actually got to see a funnel cloud in the distance. It was so cool and I’ll add the pics soon. I know most people would freak out if they saw a funnel cloud but I loved it. I would love to go “storm chasing” one day.

It’s hard to believe it has been 30 days since SGT Daddy left. Some days it feels like it was just yesterday … and some days it feels like its been ages since we were together. I’m so grateful that we get to talk (phone, email and IM ) as much as we do. I know lots of other Army wives go days/weeks without talking to their husbands.

So here we are .. one month down and we all made it through unharmed! (even though the deployment gremlins are trying their best to throw everything they have at us)

Also – since the laptop was stolen, my deployment videos are on hiatus till I can get a new laptop.  : (

Last month I was asked to review a cookbook for military wives, I accepted and I thought I hope it is not like all the other cookbooks I’ve seen. Boy was I wrong! (note the time/date because I don’t admit I’m wrong often LOL)

This cookbook – The Military Wives’ cookbook by Carolyn Quick Tillery is AWESOME! Of course, it has recipes like all the other cookbooks I have, but its has SO much more too! The recipes are great , I’ve tried several of them and they are “YUMMO“!

I grew up eating Red Velvet Cake from McKenzie’s Bakery in New Orleans as a kid. I loved it! Many of the recipes I’ve tried didn’t come close until I tried the recipe in this book! It was awesome and reminded me so much of being back at my Maw Maw’s house eating Red Velvet Cake for dessert! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it!!

The best part of this cookbook is the quotes and stories that go along with them. Each recipe includes a story and/or quote  that relates to that recipes and is evocative of the period. It tells the story of what Military wives were going through at that time. It tells about the history… or rather HER-STORY!

This cookbook shows the courage, sacrifice and commitment of the Military Wives – past and present!

Want to buy the book ? You can get it at any local bookstore or you can purchase it through Amazon.com using the link below.