We have recently decided that we will not be going home for Thanksgiving. In my 28 years, I have only missed one Thanksgiving in my parent’s house, and even then I was able to be with my grandparents in SC for Turkey day.
But being a grown up means that sometimes we have to make tough decisions and be realistic. With the timing and distance along with the dogs, we just aren’t able to make it home for those couple of days this year. Life of a military family I guess.
So while we are sad about missing out on the 3 Glinn Thanksgivings with the noodles, shrimp, and cranberry salad, we are getting more and more excited about the prospect of hosting our very own Thanksgiving for the first time. I have started sorting recipes to create the perfect dinner while also adding a bit of home at the same time.
Tom gets really passionate about cooking meat so he was really pumped about cooking his first big bird.
Tom- “We could bake a turkey. We wouldn’t fry it because we are grown ups.”
Me- “My dad deep fries one every year, and you have had it.”
Tom- “Ok, what I meant was: I don’t know what I am doing with frying a turkey.”
Me- “Yea because it is delicious.”
It will be an adventure for sure.
This is realistic for us to do right?
Do you have advice for our first solo Thanksgiving cooking?
I have been waiting for the opportunity to put my own dogs on the site.
And my opportunity arose this last weekend, AND I FORGOT TO MAKE A SHAMMING PICTURE!
Ok in reality, I was so embarrassed at what my dogs did, I just tried cleaning up the evidence as soon as possible that dog shamming was the last thing on my mind.
I know you all are waitingdrooling to see what they did, but let me preface the picture with the back story.
Grace has severe separation anxiety. It was one big reason we decided to get another dog. She could have a companion and not worry so much about abandonment.
We have never been able to leave her out of the kennel, because she literally makes her self sick and makes a mess of herself and the house. It is so bad that she even does this IN her kennel sometimes.
Then enter Crosby.
Crosby on a few occasions has escaped out of his kennel, and he was a perfect angel. The couple times he has gotten out by himself, nothing happened.
So we made the plunge to try both of them out of the kennel.
Cue Stephanie panic attacks on a daily basis.
Much to my chagrin, they have done fairly well. For the past month, we have successfully left them out every day.
We have had only two messes.
1. Grace made a boom boom when we tried to push the time limit we usually set for ourselves to get home. But plus side, she did not eat it and proceed to vomit poop, and then poop vomit. (Too much?) We are about progress people.
2. They ripped apart a pizza box that we had left on top of our microwave.
So we were pretty proud parents, and we would brag about our little success muffins whenever we could!
That is until this weekend, when they ate my sister-in-law’s couch.
all three cushions
What this picture doesn’t show is all the pee that Crosby sprayed all over pretty much the entire perimeter of the room, and the poop that inevitably came from Grace.
So we have learned that if it is not our house, they cannot be out of the kennels.
I am just now able to laugh at it. So embarrassing…
Oh,you think that is all that I have.
Nope, you are so naive.
Since we have gotten Crosby, I have lost count of how many collars he has chewed through…of Grace’s. He doesn’t like her wearing anything apparently.
Is it bad that I seriously almost cried when I learned that he chewed through this one? We had just put it on her last week, and it was my favorite collar I have ever bought her. Now he wins; she is naked unless we are in public.
For the most part, our life is not this dramatic.
We have a lot of “always positive” moments, instead of “bad turned eventually funny” moments.
Like this weekend when we introduced them to a trampoline.
Needless to say, we will not be an internet sensation anytime soon. Grace is the biggest scaredy cat. This is exactly how she acted with water, and this is fairly accurate on how Crosby was with water-not a care in the world.
Something they are really good at is road trips, so that is a plus!
We may puke in our kennels, but not in the car!
Grace likes to climb up in the front seat with me like she is a lap dog. Then she will look back at Crosby in an obnoxious way like she is snubbing him. She is also afraid of the air vents, which is a fun game to play. Doesn’t her collar look nice?
This is Crosby’s contribution to keep everyone awake and alert in the car.
So there is the doggy shame for us. I know this won’t be the last thing they do, so hopefully next time I can have some forethought and document it properly.
I am a very visual person. I have to write things down or see it in order to remember it. Post its are my favorite office supply, and I have several planners to keep track of all my lists.
So when I was going through some of my rougher days trying to remember to be passionate about my job, I decided to give myself a reminder.
Start with a blank canvas and paint
drop dots of paint all over the canvas
Use a small paint brush to smooth and blend the colors together. There is no method to this, just create what you want!
Paint wooden letters then hot glue them on the canvas.
This was so easy to make and is a great reminder in my office every day. I am there for the students.
Adding some color to the walls
This project is super versatile. You can do it without the letters and just have the painting. You could also keep the colors in the same hue to blend. Obviously, you could have any saying/words you want. You could also tape the words down first then paint over it and peel it up so it isn’t 3d like I have here. You could also do this finger paint style if you want to do it with kids (or adults).
As you can see, this is easy to create to your own style.
I love reminders, and I love art: perfect combination!
Tom as a kid playing in his Grandpa’s old Army helmet.
I know he had considered going after high school, but he choose to head to Warrensburg to start the normal track of a college freshmen. While I was in grad school, we had talked about the service, but in the end Tom decided to finish college and see where that took him. Once we were in Iowa, his job situation was not panning out as quickly as we had hoped and the thought of the military came up again. We went back and forth making the decision on whether Tom would enlist. It is not an easy decision for anyone to make and we made pro/con lists for months. It is not a decision that we took lightly, especially when we made this decision we had only been married for a hot minute.
But as you can see, Tom has always felt a calling to serving his country. So not even 6 months into our marriage, Tom took an oath to serve our nation.
This was the time for the Army. Every time before there was something else that he was destined to do. If he had joined before now, he would not have finished that degree. If he had gone after high school, we would not have met at Worlds of Fun that fateful summer. If he had gone during grad school, our relationship (eh maybe just me) at the time was not strong enough to endure the stress of the military. This time around, there was nothing holding him back. He was ready; we were ready.
I could not be prouder of the things that Tom has done in the last year and half as an American soldier. He put so many things on hold to fight for the things that he believes in the most.
He is not one to let others fight his own battle, and he puts in everything he has to fulfill his duty. He would do anything for his unit, which as his wife can be terrifying because I know that he would give his life to save any one of those men.
But that gusto, courage, and confidence are the things that I am proud of. I am married to a great man, a brave man, a sweet man, an Army man.
And yesterday, I got to share him with the elementary school his sister works at. They had a Veteran’s assembly, and Tom was asked to speak since the school knew about him from sponsoring him during his deployment the year before.
If I was proud before, I was in tears proud of watching him be the keynote speaker for those kids. Yes I am that blubbering wife. It also did not help that I was sitting next to the sweetest little old Vietnam vet as well. And they played taps and a hero memorial montage video, I mean really how was I supposed to keep a dry eye?
We were able to see TJ there as well. Tom made him “his guest” to the reception they had for families, which meant he got out of class for about 10 minutes to eat cupcakes. Awesome!
Tom and TJ.
We also got to hang out with our little niece a lot this weekend. And of course the relationship between Tom and Ava is priceless.
Yes, Tom smashed her face in her cupcake. After a moment of pouty face, she dug into the cupcake like nothing happened.
We had a great weekend back home, and it was great to see the outpouring of support for our Veterans. It was a little crazy to see the reaction to the uniform though. Around here in Clarksville, uniforms are such an everyday thing, so seeing people react back home was interesting to say the least.
Since today is Veteran’s Day, I wanted to highlight a company that is finding a way to thank our veterans.
(I took this directly from their website.)
2013 marks the third year that Heinz® Ketchup has helped Americans honor and support our veterans and active service members. The Heinz Our Turn To Serve program celebrates those who have served our country, and raises awareness and money for Wounded Warrior Project® — a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that honors and empowers wounded warriors.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Look for Heinz® Ketchup bottles with the “Our Turn To Serve” label at participating restaurants and retail stores nationwide. Participating Heinz® Ketchup bottles will feature a quick response (QR) code that can be scanned with a smartphone. The QR code will give instant access to step-by-step instructions to create and send a personalized Thank You Card to a veteran.
You can also share your thanks on Instagram when you tag your photo or video message with #OurTurnToServe. Photos, videos and Thank You Cards can be viewed in our Gallery of Gratitude.
For every Thank You Card sent, Heinz will donate $1 to Wounded Warrior Project®, up to $250,000. Heinz will donate an additional 57 cents for every Thank You Card that is shared via Facebook or Twitter by July 1, 2014.
A HISTORY OF HELPING
Since 2011, the H.J. Heinz Company, L.P., and the Heinz Foundation have donated over $630,000 to Wounded Warrior Project®.
More than half a million personalized Thank You Cards have been sent to veterans through the Heinz Our Turn To Serve program.
During World War II, Heinz converted one of its factories to manufacture parts for planes.
Almost half of Heinz’s total food production went to the Allied armed forces during World War II.
I knew I liked Ketchup for a reason….
So glad to have my soldier home! I am so proud of him and what he has done for our county! (And for the speech he did today at his sister’s elementary school…more to come later!)
However, there are so many that are not home, and I am sending my prayers up for you and your families.
Thank you to our military members for your service in the past, present, and future.
findingmyyellow.com 