Wizzo Wednesday

He's out.

He loves his mommy so much that he has to be on my lap even while I'm exercising! ;)

He has figured out how to jump up on the couch all by himself now...so I found him sleeping there today while I was cleaning in another room!

And another random Wizzo fact: He rarely barks...unless he sees a spinning wheel. He will chase and bark at the garbage cans as we roll them to the curb, and he barked at our rolling cooler today while I was moving it to the closet. Silly dog. :)

Oh and new pictures are up on his website, as well as this new video, which I thought I'd just post here.

5k Training - Week 8

Final week!

Monday 4/27 - Rest
Tuesday 4/28 - 3 mile run
Wednesday 4/29 - CT or Rest (I'll probably do 15 min on the elliptical & some weights.)
Thursday 4/30 - 2 mile run
Friday 5/1 - Rest
Saturday 5/2 - RACE DAY!

As I've said before, the training is set up for a Sunday race, so they say to have 2 rest days before race day, but I'm not following their "rule." I'm pretty sure I'll be fine. I'm pretty happy with my time so far...3 miles is coming in around 27:00, give or take a few seconds (9:00 mile). I'm hoping to run under that for the actual race. The adrenaline and other people there will hopefully help! Last week during my 3 mile runs, I was pretty tired and had to walk for a minute or so, but it was pretty warm outside, so hopefully it goes better this week. I'm also praying for no rain...right now, the forecast is calling for rain/storms on Saturday. I'm not sure I'm going to run if it's actually raining. That would be just miserable!

IFF

As of today, Grant has 2 flights and 1 sim left. The squadron has plans for graduation on Friday May 1st. I know Grant is excited to be so close to the end, but he says he's only looking at one day at a time. I guess his ride tomorrow will be pretty tough, but after that he will be "golden." He also has his last sim in the morning (he flies in the afternoon). Please keep him in your thoughts. He has been working so hard to get to this point...I'm really proud of him!

On a side note, Grant's parents are coming down to visit this weekend, so they will be here for his graduation. We are looking forward to their visit!

One Year Ago

One year ago today, the tragic T-38 accident that killed an Instructor Pilot and a Student happened here at Columbus AFB. I wasn't here, but I still remember what happened that day. I was in grad school and Grant called that evening on my way home from school. I could tell something was wrong by the sound of his voice, but he said he was fine and everything was okay. I let it go until I read about the accident the next day. I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped.

When I asked Grant more about it, he couldn't tell me much (or maybe he didn't want to). Apparently, he had been flying when the accident happened. He was flying T-38s at that time and was a class ahead of the student and IP whom were killed. I don't remember the details of what he was doing right then, but I believe he was toward the end of his flight and preparing to land. He actually saw the jet crash and explode. He says it was horrible to see and almost made him sick.

As I learned more about the people involved, I found out that the IP was married and had 2 young children at home. The student was also married and his wife was pregnant due to deliver their baby boy in July. I can't even begin to imagine how their lives changed on that day. Three children will know their fathers only through pictures and stories. I am not sure how the student's wife is doing now, but I do know a little about the IP's wife. She keeps a blog and reading it is such an inspiration...she is a Christian and is finding her way through this with God. Some of her entries from soon after the crash brought me to tears. I just can't imagine myself in either woman's shoes. My thoughts and prayers are with both of their families today.

The accident definitely made Grant's job "real." He doesn't sit at a desk in an office somewhere. No, he sits in the cockpit of a jet to serve and protect our country. Not many people put their life on the line for their country. I think we need to remember that and thank those individuals any time we can.

Wizzo Wednesday...on Thursday

Matching Shirts! :)

(P.S. Grant already had this shirt, so we couldn't resist when we found the dog one.)

Shows off just how fluffy he is...his butt looked so funny!

Family photo...too bad we couldn't get Wizzo's attention, haha.

Playing with my stuffed Yorkie dog...he found this on his own in our bedroom.

Caught in the act!

Samoas Bars

These are a homemade version of Samoas, the Girl Scout Cookies. I was reading a blog about these cookies, and it led me to this recipe. I LOVE Samoas (ok..and Thin Mints and Tagalongs...) and I don't always get the chance to order Girl Scout cookies anymore. So when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. A little time consuming to make, but so delish!

The guys in Grant's squadron were wondering why I hadn't sent in anymore treats, so I thought I'd make these for them. I sent probably 20 cookies and Grant said they were devoured. :) Oh and when he was telling me they were wanting cookies, he said a guy said "It's just not the same around here without Mrs. Saum's cookies." ---When I heard him say that, it was weird. Hearing someone else refer to me as Mrs. Saum made me feel old! Mrs. Saum is how you would refer to Wanda (Grant's mom), not me! Haha, I just thought it was strange to hear another person say it like that. I digress.

The original blog post is quite lengthy and detailed, and probably explains how to make them much better than I could (plus, I don't really feel like typing it all out right now...). I recommend checking it out if you're interested in making your own! I'll share my pictures and captions though. :)

I made them over 3 days...the first night I made the shortbread cookie base. Mine was pretty dry/stiff after mixing, and I don't think it was supposed to. Guess they turned out okay though. I also used 2 9x9 pans because I didn't have a 9x13 metal pan.

The next night I made the caramel coconut layer. I toasted the coconut first, let it cool, melted the caramels, and then added the coconut and spread it over the shortbread.

Then on the 3rd day, I used a pizza cutter to cut them into squares (on my cutting board so I didn't scratch the pans!). I melted some chocolate and dipped each bar into it and then let it dry on wax paper. I drizzled them with more chocolate to finish them off. I used some leftover chocolate that I had for dipping and then had to use chocolate chips because I ran out of the other. I wouldn't really recommend the chips, unless you thin it with shortening or oil. Mine turned thick and clumpy quickly, thus the reason for some big globs of chocolate drizzle.

Yum!!

5k Training - Week 7

2 more weeks of training...they are actually the same workouts each week. The race is Saturday May 2nd at 8:00am. Grant is going to run with me if he doesn't have another roll-call on the 1st. I'm pretty consistent running a 9:00-9:15 mile lately, although my 2 mile runs on Thursdays work out to be 8:30 or so.

Monday 4/20- Rest
Tuesday 4/21- 3 mile run
Wednesday 4/22- CT
Thursday 4/23- 2 mile run
Friday 4/24- Rest
Saturday 4/25- 3 mile run
Sunday 4/26- 40 minute EZ

Too Funny!

This clip is a Jimmy Kimmel spoof about "Octomom" Nadya Suleman, who apparently is going to have her own reality show. If you ask me, she is just ridiculous. She now has 14 kids as a single parent and she wants to take advantage of that to make money and "showcase" her life. Does anyone really want to watch that???

6 more weeks

Six weeks from today and we are outta here! At least that's the plan, so let's keep our fingers crossed. Grant has 6 more flights after today, as long as he passed today's flight. It was a solo defensive ride where he has to try to defend himself from an IP in another jet (aka don't get "killed"). Hopefully he does well! There are 3 weeks until his official graduation, so it looks like his class might graduate early. Unfortunately that doesn't mean we can leave any earlier since his water dates are the last week of May (he has to report to water training from Columbus and then report back to Columbus before leaving for NC). Overall, Grant's doing well with the training...I think he's only hooked (failed) one ride (and hopefully his only one!). It's been exhausting for him, but he's putting in the hard work, and I'm sure it will pay off.

I sent my North Carolina SLP license paperwork off to Toledo so I can get the program director's signature verifying my degree. I've asked them to then send it off to NC, so hopefully it all gets there correctly by May 8th. I wanted it there by today, but that didn't work out as planned since I had to wait to get some info from UT and previous supervisors. Ah well. It just means messing with a change of address since we'll probably be moving around the same time they grant and send me my license.

Other than that, all is well here in Mississippi! :)

Wizzo Wednesday

I thought I'd try something new and start posting some pictures or funny stories about Wizzo on Wednesdays. I've also updated Wizzo's website with some new pictures.

His head looked huge since it wasn't wet, so I had to take a pic. I forget how tiny his body is since his hair is so fluffy!

He went into his crate on his own (first time ever!) to lay down for a bit while I was doing some things around the house. I thought it was so cute. :)

Update on Videos

The videos should work now. They were set to private, but I thought you could still view them if I gave the link. There are 2 that are still private...I have to clear it with Grant before posting them. Enjoy! :)

5k Training - Week 6 Repeat

When I began training, I had 9 weeks before the race but the program was 8 weeks long. So I decided that I'll repeat last week. I also didn't do my 35-40 minute EZ run yesterday (Sunday), so I fell off the program a bit there. But I figure since I'm repeating this week, it's not a huge deal. And I won't be typing out this week's schedule, since it's the same as last week. I am doing pretty well with my time though! Hoping to keep up my current pace even with the longer distance. I can do my 2 mile at about an 8:25 pace, and Saturday my 2.75 was around a 9:00 pace.

Happy Easter!

First, let me say that we miss everyone back at home and wish we could be there with you on this holiday! The Easter Bunny did visit our house, though. On Friday, he dropped off a couple of packages in the mail (Thanks Mom & Wanda!!), which we enjoyed. This morning, he left a basket of goodies for Grant (and maybe a little extra for me, too...) and Wizzo!

On Thursday, I baked some Easter cupcakes for Grant to take in to his squadron on Friday. I used a box carrot cake mix and then used my piping bags to frost them in a fun design. I wanted to put a peep bunny or chick on top, but the commissary was out on Thursday when I was grocery shopping. So instead I just tinted some coconut green (Grant's idea!!) to look like grass and then added some jelly bean eggs on top. I thought they turned out pretty cute! :)

I wanted to watch an Easter church service on tv this morning (a baptist church broadcasts each week), but we were making our pancakes and I forgot. Speaking of the pancakes, I decided today would be a good day to make them. I found this recipe using the BigOven application on my ipod. A while ago, I had some leftover buttermilk that I wanted to use up, so I put in buttermilk as the ingredient and it found several recipes using buttermilk. These pancakes are so yummy...light and fluffy, but thick! We decided to double the recipe today to use all of our buttermilk, and it made about 30 pancakes! I filled freezer bags with 4-6 pancakes, depending on their size, so now we can just take out a bag, toast them, and have pancakes for the next few weeks! I don't have a picture, but here's the recipe:

Buttermilk Pancakes
(Source: BigOven)

Ingredients:
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1 to 2 tablespoons bacon grease, vegetable oil, or nonstick cooking spray

Directions:
In a medium bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Beat in buttermilk, melted butter and (if using) vanilla, until well blended. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to liquid ingredients, and quickly mix just enough to make a creamy batter with some lumps; do not overbeat. (It's normal for the pancake batter to be lumpy after you stir it.)

Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet or griddle over high heat. (If using an electric griddle, heat to 375 degrees F.) Test skillet by sprinkling a few drops of water on it.. When water forms beads and dances over skillet surface, it is hot enough. Lightly grease the griddle with bacon grease, vegetable oil, or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Pour about 1/4 cup batter into skillet for each pancake, making sure there is space between them; pancakes will expand slightly during cooking. Cook pancakes until batter is set, bubbles uniformly cover the top and have burst, and bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip pancakes and cook until golden brown on the other side, about 1 minutes more. (They usually take about 1/2 the time on the second side. This will depend on how thick you've made your pancakes.) Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil to pan as necessary. Serve immediately or keep warm (* see note) until all the pancakes are cooked.

Serve with butter spread on top and drizzled with warmed maple syrup, fruit compotes, etc.

Makes 12 pancakes; serves 4.

* Note: To keep pancakes warm -- Place a large cooling rack (sprayed with vegetable cooking spray) on a sheet pan. Place the pan and the rack in a 200-degree oven. Place pancakes on the rack in a single layer, uncovered, for up to 20 minutes (any longer--they will start to dry out.) The warm oven keeps the pancakes hot enough to melt a pat of butter, and leaving the pancakes uncovered keeps them from becoming soggy.

Since this post is long enough, I'll leave you with an Easter joke. :)

Three blondes died and are at the pearly gates of heaven. St. Peter tells them that they can enter the gates if they can answer one simple question. St. Peter asks the first blonde, "What is Easter?" The blonde replies, "Oh, that's easy! It's the holiday in November when everyone gets together, eats turkey, and are thankful and stuff..." "Wrong!," replies St. Peter, and proceeds to ask the second blonde the same question, "What is Easter?" The second blonde replies, "Easter is the holiday in December when we put up a nice tree, exchange presents, and drink eggnog." St. Peter looks at the second blonde, shakes his head in disgust, tells her she's wrong, and then peers over his glasses at the third blonde and asks, "What is Easter?" The third blonde smiles confidently and looks St. Peter in the eyes, "I know what Easter is." "Oh?" says St. Peter, incredulously. "Easter is the Christian holiday, that coincides with the Jewish celebration of Passover. Jesus and his disciples were eating at the last supper. Then the Romans took him to be crucified and he was stabbed in the side, made to wear a crown of thorns, and was hung on a cross with nails through his hands. He was buried in a nearby cave which was sealed off by a large boulder." St. Peter smiles broadly with delight. Then the third blonde continues, "Every year the boulder is moved aside so that Jesus can come out...and, if he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter."

Dolphin Bubble Rings

A friend sent this link to me, and it's so cool! I've posted the link to the article, which also contains the video, so check it out if you're interested.

http://news.aol.com/article/dolphin-bubble-rings/386019

I also thought I'd just post the video here in case you didn't care to read the article. :)

Videos

I uploaded some videos on Wizzo's site last night. In case you don't remember the web address, you can click on his picture to the right and it should take you there! To watch the videos, click the play button and it will take you to a YouTube page to watch the video. Let me know if it doesn't work. (P.S....some of them are long, and I'm sure we say embarrassing things, but I thought I'd post them all in case you were interested.)

I'm off to Tupelo for the afternoon to go to Kohl's and possibly the mall. I have a 30% off coupon for Kohl's, so I'm hoping to find some good workout clothes and a couple kitchen items. And of course I'll browse the shoe and purse selection. Would I be a true female if I didn't?? ;)

Have a good day! Stay warm, too...it's in the 40s-50s here...brr!

5k Training - Week 6

Monday 4/6- Rest
Tuesday 4/7- 2.75 mile run
Wednesday 4/8- CT (no more optional rest days!)
Thursday 4/9- 2 mile run
Friday 4/10- Rest
Saturday 4/11- 2.75 mile run
Sunday 4/12- 35-40 minute EZ (another 5 minute increase from the past 2 weeks)

Running comfortably a 10 minute mile. I've had to run on the treadmill a couple of times the past week, so I've been pushing myself up to a 8:30-9:00 mile pace toward the last part of my run. Yesterday, Grant ran with me for my EZ run. We did 30 minutes at a nice pace around base. I felt pretty good throughout the jog...I think Grant was more tired than I was!! That made me feel pretty good, knowing I could keep up with him, endurance-wise. Maybe this training is really paying off! :)

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

This was absolutely delicious and couldn't have been easier! I found this recipe at Busy (Mrs.) B. in the Kitchen a while ago and knew that Grant would love it, so I put it in my "to try" folder. I threw it together in about 5 minutes in the morning, and it was ready for us to eat at dinner time! I definitely recommend this recipe. The chicken was moist and had great flavor. We'll probably keep this on our menu list.

Crockpot Salsa Chicken
(Source: Busy (Mrs.) B. in the Kitchen)

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts (about 1-2 pounds)
1 jar (about 1 1/2 c.) salsa
1 can black beans, drained
1 1/2 c. frozen corn
Shredded cheddar cheese (for serving purposes)

Directions:
Combine chicken, salsa, beans, and corn in crock. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours. Ours cooked about 8-9 hours on low and was perfect.

Serve topped with shredded cheddar cheese (we didn't do this because I forgot! I did throw together an oven-baked double decker quesadilla from Rachel Ray's 365 meals cookbook as our side).

Santa's Surprise Cookies

I know, I know, it's not Christmas, but I saw these cookies over at Heather Drive and have wanted to make them ever since. I finally did a few weeks ago, and they didn't disappoint. One...who doesn't love cookies? And two...who doesn't love a cookie with a candy bar inside?!?

This was pretty time consuming, though, and I'm not sure what was up with my dough. As I wrapped the dough around the mini Snickers bar, it kept crumbling. I'm not sure if it was too dry or if it was because I used reduced fat peanut butter or what. I basically had to just clump the dough around the Snickers and then pinch it together with my fingers and roll it into a ball to smooth it out.

Santa's Surprise Cookies

(Source: Unknown, posted on Heather Drive)

2 sticks butter or margarine, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 bags Snickers miniatures

chocolate candy melts, for drizzling

powdered sugar, for sprinkling

1. Using a mixer, combine the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add peanut butter and mix until combined.

2. Slowly add eggs and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Gradually add dry ingredients to the mixture.

3. Cover and chill dough for at least 2-3 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Unwrap all Snickers.

5. Remove dough from refrigerator. Using a tablespoon, measure out a round tablespoon of dough. Put piece of dough on your work surface and flatten with the palm of your hand. Place a Snickers miniature in the center of each piece of dough. Wrap edges of dough around the Snickers, then roll dough between your hands to form a ball. (Heather posted a picture to help explain this on her blog, so if you're interested in making them, check out her post.)

6. Place on greased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. (Baking time and temperature may need to be adjusted if using bigger pieces of dough. For me, the perfect amount of baking time was about 15 minutes.)
7. Let cookies cool on wax paper or wire racks.
8. Drizzle cookies with melted chocolate. Once chocolate dries, sprinkle powdered sugar over cookies.

Wizzo Love

I finally uploaded pictures to a website so you can check out all of the pictures we have of our little baby. :)

http://wizzo.shutterfly.com/

It's more like a blog of it's own, but it might turn out to be pretty nice to use to share pictures. I think I might even be able to put videos there, too. I hope it works and I can post some videos soon, because I definitely have some funny ones! I'll be sure to let you know whenever I update the site. You can even order prints of your own if you want. ;)


Edited to add: I didn't upload the pictures to the site correctly when I first posted this, but if you visit now, you should see the pictures and should be able to view the entire album. Sorry!

Weekend Fun

I began writing this post on Sunday, but never got around to finishing it. Thus, the reason for several posts in one day. I'm going to try to be better at that and post once a day or every other day. We'll see how that goes.

We had a pretty fun weekend. Grant had his first roll call on Friday, which is basically like a frat party for fighter pilots and IPs of that squadron only. No one else is allowed to go, and I'm told they sing songs, tell jokes, and drink a little. I'm sure you get the picture. Let's just say I got the phone call to pick him up at 9:30pm, after he had been gone all day. He pretty much passed out on the couch when he got home and of course Wizzo had fun biting Grant's hand. I took videos of Wizzo biting him, but Grant says I'm not allowed to post them. :) This week is his 4th week, so almost halfway done! He's had 6 flights so far, with 13 more to go. He seems to be doing well, so keep him in your prayers.

On Saturday afternoon, we decided to head to Tupelo for something to do. I felt bad, but we left Wizzo at home alone for about 6 hours. He stayed in the kitchen, where I put down a couple of pee pads and gave him a bit of food before we left. He was very hungry when we got back home, but only peed on the floor once! He peed on the pads the other times and no poop! I was impressed. :)

In Tupelo we decided to check out the mall (who doesn't want to go to the mall?!?) and then we were going to eat at Kyoto, a Japanese steakhouse and sushi bar, but the wait for a hibachi table was over an hour, so we ended up going to Abner's, where they claim to have famous chicken tenders. We split an 8 piece meal, with half fried chicken and half grilled chicken. It also included fries, cole slaw, and a piece of garlic bread. It ended up being really, really good. We also stopped at Best Buy before we headed back to Columbus.

Obviously I wanted to shop more, but we didn't have the time, so hopefully I can go back to the mall and also stop at Kohl's this week, maybe Friday. I got a 30% off coupon from Kohl's, so I have to use it, right?? :)

It was nice to get away for a change and feel like you are in a normal place. It funny because the atmosphere is totally different up there than it is in Columbus. You wouldn't think it would change that much, but it definitely does. I don't think I would mind living in Mississippi [as much] if I lived in Tupelo.

My Bracket's Busted

After this past weekend's games, my bracket no longer has a chance. I chose Memphis and Pittsburgh to go to the final game, with Memphis winning. Both teams lost this weekend in the Elite Eight. Darn it.

Grant & I decided to each fill out a bracket just for fun. But let's be honest, I know little to nothing about basketball. I don't even watch the games up until "March Madness." So how do I choose my teams? I just guess. I base it on their record and ranking and whose name I like better. I put a lot of thought into it. ;)

Still a bummer though...it would have been fun to be right.

Mustache March

Pilots love the month of March. Why, you ask? Because it gives them an excuse to see who can grow the best mustache. Silly, if you ask me, but they do a lot of silly things. :)

Here's a glimpse of what I've put up with for the last 31 days.

Thank goodness today was April 1st. ;) (...and thank goodness Grant's hair is blond and not very thick!)