Joint Base McGuire/Dix/Lakehurst

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the local military base with students from our eighth grade class.  It was a sort of career day, and the students were given the opportunity to tour the base to see what it might be like to work in the military.

When I think about career opportunities in the military, I think about combat missions, logistics, operating vehicles such as airplanes, tanks, humvees and ships, and of course playing in a military band.  The careers I was able to explore today were not what I expected to see.

First, we were taken to the area of the base where they train the police dogs.  I have had some experience in this area with civilian police.  We have Lovey going to a training school where we were training him with a former police K-9 specialist.  Today we saw the actual work dogs in action.  They put them through their regular routine.  Lucky, the first dog showed off his skills on the agility course.  Dakota, the second dog showed us how he follows commands carefully when executing a "bite and retrieval" maneuver.  It was very interesting and entertaining.

Next, we visited the main fire station on base.  This is the largest of the five stations on the joint base.  It houses regual firetrucks as well as the much larger trucks used to extinguish fires on airplanes.  They demonstrated the air cannon on one of the air fire trucks.  It was very impressive.  The water was released with great force from the truck.  All 3300 gallons of water were expelled in a 15 minute time period!

I thoroughly enjoyed my day at the military base today!

Robbed!

It was a typical Sunday morning.  I was ready to leave for church and opened the car door to find the contents of thecar to be in total disarray.  I knew immediately that I had been robbed.  It was an awful feeling, knowing that somebody had entered my car and taken some of my belongings.

They took my GPS, my bluetooth, a $20 bill, a Vera Bradley Bag with all of my Alice in Wonderland, Jr. materials, and both of the kids scooters.  All tolled, it was around a $400 loss. 

Imagine my surprise when I got a text from my good friend Ellen telling me that Chris Carl, the band director at LMS had my bag!  How did he get it?  Upon investigation, I found that he did not have it, but that one fo my neighbors had called the school because somebody had dumped the bag in her bushes.  Since there were music materials in it, she called the school, hoping somebody there would know who it belonged to.  There was one more clue - they said it had the name "Kirk" in it.  So Chris called Ellen and she knew immediately that it belonged to me!

I was lucky enough that I was able to retrieve my music materials and my beg fromn the neighbor around the corner. 

Books I Love

Here is a list of some of the books I have read and loved.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows
The Help
Sarah's Key
Twilight
The Hunger Games
The Shack
The Lovely Bones

Jennings Farm

On Wednesday, one of my Facebook friends shared a rather discturbing video about our food supply. Click here to watch http://www.robynobrien.com/.  I learned that it seems as though the antibiotics and hormones in the food we consume is making us sick.  Furthermore, the researcher finds the the rise in childhood food allergies may be linked to changes made to our food by the inclusion of genetically engineered ingredients.

I felt compelled to look further into finding healthier food for my family to eat.  When I went to ShopRite on Thursday, I purchased a few boxes of organic breakfast cereal.  They were on sale, so it turned out that they actually cost less than some of the conventional cereals we usually eat.  Price is definitely a concern.  I had never gone fully organic, because it can be much more expensive.  I also checked out the organic produce section.  The fruits and vegetables are generally more expensive and there is less of a selection.  I think I will slowly introduce the organic versions of the produce we eat the most.

When I got home from the store, I started researching organic meats on the internet.  I was surprised to find two local farms where I can purchase grass-fed beef, pork and poultry.  They also sell eggs.  Yesterday I made a trip to one of the farms, Jennings Farm in Medford.  I don't know what I was expecting, but when I arrived, I found the whole setting to be quite charming.  There were horses and cows grazing in their respective pastures.  I approached the farmhouse and knocked on the door.  I small woman answered and introduced herself as MaryBeth.  She opened her cooler full of wrapped and frozed cuts of beef.  I purchased a small variety of meats to try and a dozen fresh eggs.

We are going to have the ribeye steaks for dinner on Wednesday night.  I will update then with our reviews.

Busy

I am one busy person.  I feel pulled from all sides.  I want to do everything.  And I want to do nothing.  I love my family.  I love my jobs - both at school and church.  I just want to make everyone happy.  And me too.

Melody and Ryno are young.  They are involved.  Hunter and I are so proud of them.  I want them to have everything.  So we run, and run and run. 

I am involved in my church because that is where I am supposed to be.  I love being there.  It's where my gift shines the brightest.  So we are there very often.

Have I left my extended family with little or no time?  How can I fix that?  I love them too and don't want to let anyone down. 

Is it all too much? 

Early Gardening

It occurred to me today that it might be a good time to think about starting some lettuce for a Spring crop. So I went to Lowe's to see what they have. I picked up Dark Green Lettuce and Broccoli seeds. I thought I had Romaine too, but I must have put them back accidentally. I'll have to go back tomorrow. So I have my lettuce and broccoli in their little starters. I am going to let them grow inside for a few weeks, then plant them outside. I haven't decided where I am going to put them yet.

I had done a rough garden plan yesterday, but did not account for these plants.

So it's either move things around, or plant the lettuce in containers.

Freezer Cooking

There's a new craze on the internet these days.  It's called Pinterest.  Many of my Facebook friends had jumped on to check it out, so I thought I would too.  It really is a very interesting website.  People "pin" things that they like onto a virtual message board.  I think I like it so much because it is very visual.  When you see a picture of something you like, you can click on it to find out more.  And if you really like it, so can "re-pin" it onto your own board.

Since I love to cook so much, it's the recipes that really grab my interest.  I was looking a little more closely at a recipe one day when I got re-directed to a page about Freezer Cooking.  I had never heard of such a thing! How can you cook something in your freezer?  At first it didn't make much sense, so I dug a little deeper.  What I learned is that people cook a double meal and basically freeze half for another dinner.  What a great idea!  There are so many times that I make a casserole in a 9x13 pan, only to have my family eat just half of it.  We then feel burdened by it for the next several days, feeling that we have to finish it.  Sometimes, we even end up throwing away food because we don't eat it before it goes bad.  Freezer cooking is the perfect solution!  Instead of making a larger casserole, I divide it into two pans and freeze one for another time.  Here's what I have in my freezer now:

Chicken Divan
Lasagna
Homemade Stuffing
Meatballs
Turkey Spaghetti
Pot Roast

It will be so nice on those busy spring nights when we are running to baseball, choir and who-knows-where to be able to pull out those freezer meals!