I'm still here!

Hello!  I know its been a while, and no I'm not dead nor have I stopped cooking.  Lots of things have been happening since my last post.  We moved to a new apartment a few months ago and we are STILL dealing with all the junk you have to do here to move.  Its getting ridiculous actually.  At least we finally have internet again; that only took 4 months.  I went home to the States for two weeks and got stranded twice on the way back here.  I went to Nove and bought some pretty sweet pottery for ultra cheap.  I tried a few new recipes and they turned our really well and I will be posting things about them up here starting with a new pot roast recipe tonight!  Its a super easy crock pot recipe, which are usually my favorite kinds of recipes.  :)  I have a new pasta dish, and will have a dessert up hopefully after Wednesday.  As well as a tip for crock pot users - my life has changed because of these!!!

I just wanted to pop in real quick and say hi, but now I'm off to a treat of a Tuesday afternoon Bunco. 

Later!

NOTE:  Another new thng since my last post....  I LOVE ITALY!!!!!  EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!!!!!

Just a boring post! v2.0

I totally posted this huge and boring post about how Italy is different than the states and then I realized it was way too many words and no one would read it so I'm condensing it.

Likes: 
Gelato! 
Pizza!
Shutters!  (No matter what kind of shutter, they keep ALLLLL the light out for easy all day sleeping!)
Gas stations that you can use cash to purchase your gas from... when they're closed.  :) 
The mountains.
The rail system.
Random firework displays year round. 
My new friends. <3 
The awesome gym and its free classes. 
How there are 80 different ways to get to the same place.
Traffic circles.

Dislikes:
Drivers. 
Siesta.
Gas stations that are closed ALL THE TIME.
The price of gas.
The price of everything.
Small roads.
The smell by the farms. 
Bugs.
Huge ass spiders. 
Monday being an "everything on the economy is closed" day.
The recycling. --->  If you know me, you know I've always recycled, but some of this is ridic.
No Walmart.
No Starbucks.
No 24-hour anything, except the laundry mats on base. 
The bells!!!!!  They're cool for the first 15 seconds, but by the 7th minute they get a bit ridiculous.. No, by the 2nd minute they get a bit ridiculous.

Its a new old single life for me...

I've lived on my own since I moved out of the house for college. One could argue I was on my own before then because I took care of myself and my finances, but anyway, you get the gist. I rented an apartment with Nikki in New Haven, rented a place with Jess in Hawley, and then Bing and I rented an apartment together before he left for basic training, but I lived totally alone for the 5 1/2 months that he was gone. I've always been a scaredy pants - you can ask my mom. Even if I was walking through my parent's house (that I lived in full time from 5-18) I would turn every light on in the place at night time. I have a hugely overactive imagination and it really gets away from me sometimes. Anyway, in our tiny little apartment in Hawley, tucked away on the side of a house where you couldn't even see our front door (ie you couldn't really tell we lived there) I still made sure that door was locked every night and I even locked the bedroom door, and slept with a softball bat next to the bed. I felt really safe there, and actually didn't need to lock any of the doors if you want to be perfectly honest.


Now I'm in this brand spankin' new COUNTRY, where people are loud and everything echos so any sound seems like its right outside the door, and my husband gets put on mids. Mid shift works from 11pm-7am. This shift suuuuuucks for many reasons. A) I have to sleep alone. Hello insomnia! I'm too scared to go to sleep so I stay awake all night until I can't take it anymore. And right now its 12:33 am and I am exhausted but won't go to bed for probably another hour or two. B) Bing sleeps all day. C) I want to reverse my schedule to sleep when he does, but then I miss out on my entire life (working out, ACES, the girls) D) We have a 1 car garage, with a garage on either side of us... We have to move cars around in order to function. I have to wake Bing up to move his car in order for me to be able to go anywhere during the day.
Anywho, the point of the story IS... mids is the worst shift ever. Lindsay told me I'd never see Bing and she was right.

I think I'm going to go set up my safety devices, and go lay down. I'm re-reading Harry Potter now so let's see how far I get this evening.

Also, I totally apologize for this post. There's a bit of complaining in it, and this blog isn't for that. I guess its part of my new way of life.

Try my recipes!

I can't actually believe this is happening.

For THE longest time, I vowed that I would never make a blog. I always thought they were catty, but then I met Maggie here in Italy. Maggie has a blog to keep in touch with her family while she's over here. Mainly she puts gorgeous pictures of the new foods she makes and puts the recipes up as well. That's where I got the idea for this blog. I plan on random updates of my time here, some pictures, and of course my recipes. I'm trying new things everyday, and I'm trying to help Katie out with some easy stay-at-home things to make. I hope to keep this thing going for a while, but like so many of the journals I've attempted, I don't see that happening, but here goes. :)

Now, just a little back info on my new friends in case they are mentioned.
First of all, you have Linsday. She was the first girl I met and actually spent time with here. She's a little crazy (or a lot, but its all good) and I love her. Bing works with her husband and that is how we met.
Then come in Katie and Maggie. We met at an event at the base called Heartlink, which was a get-together for spouses that are new to the Air Force way of life. Both Katie and Maggie have been associated with the military for a while now. Katie's husband, Matt, has been in the Air Force (twice now) for a while.. And Jake, Maggie's hubby, has been in for 7 years. However, they just got married so Maggie is new to the spouse thing just like me. Katie and I arrived around the same time, and I think we both went to find friends. Katie also has the most adorable little girl named Kylie. She's almost 6 months old, and absolutely wonderful.
Finally we come to Betsy, the newest addition to our little group. She lives across the street from Katie and has a really cute puppy named Thor (you know how I am with puppies.. By the way, Katie and Matt have a lab named Moby and he's the coolest dog over here because he's HUGE).
We fit nicely together because we all read like crazies. Maggie and I go shopping a lot, we've started going to the gym, and recently brought Lindsay and Betsy into the gym routines.

So these are the people you are likely to hear about most in my jabberings. Enjoy! :)