Tuna Noodle Casserole

This recipe goes back to my childhood and is a staple in our house. The kids love it. I often -- well actually I should say I rarely DO NOT bake it and it is just as good. We are usually too hungry to wait on the baking step.

Tuna Noodle Casserole
INGREDIENTS:
1 (8 oz) package wide egg noodles
1 (9 oz) can tuna, drained
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
milk (use the soup can as the measure)
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup crushed croutons (or I use crushed regular Lays potato chips too!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.
In a medium bowl, combine tuna, condensed soup, and milk. Mix with the noodles, and pour into 2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle Cheddar cheese and crushed croutons over top.
Bake in a preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until bubbling and browned on the top.

AND, according to my children, this dish MUST be served with peas along the side.

Toffee-Topped Rich Chocolate Cake

I made this recipe for a bunch of friends we had over for dinner and it was a huge hit! It was fairly easy too! My kinda baking!

It was on the side of the Betty Crocker cake mix box, but I found it here too!

It was so yummy - you must try this one!

What a day... and it isn't even noon yet

Spirit had a 103.5 fever yesterday morning and so Mr. Man stayed home with him. Last night Spirit wasn't sleeping well (Probably the fever) so I was up several times in the night with him. Then this morning he woke up at 6:30 am with a 103 fever again. I was going to call in and stay home with him, but my boss reminded me of some projects due so I told him I would be in later to do them. My dear MIL said she could watch Spirit while I went to work.

I dropped Lady Bug off at school then drove 45 minutes to my MIL's house. Hopped back in the car, realized I needed gas to made a pit stop for gas. Back on the road only to run into a bunch of traffic on the highway and realize there is a car accident so I sit and wait. No coffee. Ught oh.

Finally made it to the office and had a stack of work already on my desk with notes to do "ASAP". I decided I should run down to the building deli for some coffee before attempting to tackle the papers. After coffee in hand I called a client who was supposed to come in yesterday to sign some papers and she doesn't want to sign them because she doesn't like how they are worded. So I get my boss on the line to work it out with her, while I work on the other "fires" on my desk.

Phew! What a start to the day. Things are progressing right along though!

Cute baby gift idea - Cake and quarters

Here is an idea for a simple, but unique baby gift idea for the mom in the hospital. I read on a blog a long time ago (I don't remember which one--sorry) that this woman takes a cake to a new mom in the hospital. She writes on the cake "Happy 0 Birthday!". At the time, I didn't know anyone having a baby so it didn't occur that I might ever use this idea.

My husband's niece just had a baby last week and since my husband had the day off from work (and I had to work) he decided to go visit her - I didn't have a gift ready for him to take so I told him to stop at the grocery store and buy a small cake. I told him to have the lady at the decorating counter write "Happy Birthday baby Prestyn". (I was telling a friend of mine about this and she said we should have done Happy Birth Day Prestyn THAT would have been so cute... I will remember that for next time!)

He took it to the hospital and everyone loved it and commented on what a good idea it was. I also told him to take her a roll of quarters because she had a c-section and I knew she and her husband might need money for the vending machines.

The reason this was a good gift idea is because this girl has a ton of family and friends and had lots of baby outfits, diapers, balloons, stuffed animals, etc. already in the hospital room and at home. So the cake was something everybody could nibble on in honor of the new baby and the quarters came in handy for the 4 day stay she had in the hospital!

Thanks to whomever gave me this idea! It was a great one! I will probably do this again!

Paying it Forward

This is how it works... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post and post about this on your own blog will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what it will be is a big surprise!!


BUT, in order for you to leave a comment on my blog, you have to post this on your blog first. (that means that sometime during this year you will send a gift to 3 people as well.) Get it? So, rush over to your blog, post this and then come back here and leave me a comment! The first 3 people to comment on this post will be the lucky ones!


Good luck!

Here little fishy, fishy

So last night was a ton of excitement in our house! Spirit got an aquarium for Christmas, but lost his first batch of fish to sickness. They started dying off one by one so we had to do a whole bleach cleaning treatment of the tank and equipment to kill off all the bacteria. We started over in early February with a new batch of fish and so far so good, we have kept all the fish alive.


Last night as I was putting clean sheets onto Lefty's bed (he is on the top bunk of the bed so I was crawling around on there, hitting my head on the ceiling repeatedly....ya I LOVE that job!) there was commotion below me with both boys, Mr. Man and eventually Lady Bug came running in also -- apparently one of the guppies was having babies. It looks like she is pooping and she has about 20 of them in a matter of minutes and then we see the other fish EATING THE BABIES..... nice! Guppies are "live bearers" which means she doesn't lay eggs, she actually gives birth to a little miniature version of herself and if not protected immediately they become a little snack for the other fish (well mom ate some too!). We didn't even know she was pregnant and wouldn't have known to protect her if we had known she was pregnant. I did a little Internet research to find out we should have moved momma to a different tank (called the "nursery") to have her babies and there are little hatchery things you can buy to protect babies. I also did some research to find out how to tell when a guppy is pregnant and found out that she can have babies every 2-3 months and even if we took out all males, the fish can store up sperm from a previous donor and continue having babies.

Ok, math isn't my forte but at 20 babies a pop, having them every 2-3 months..... THAT'S a lot of baby guppies. We managed to only save one poor little baby last night from the ravenous porkers in the tank, but I don't want a million guppies. I hate to leave them in there to be eaten, but I don't want all those little babies. What to do, what to do?!

Back to the work week

Some Mondays I look forward to being back to routine at work and not having to listen to the kids bicker for a few hours, other Mondays I just wish I could be a SAHM. The more I thought about it today though, I realized if I were a SAHM today all of my kids would be off to school and I would be home alone.

Hmmmmmm, I could handle that! Some peace and quiet. Plus no work pressures and deadlines. Sit around and relax all day. Ya, I could definitely handle that. (OH, and it is supposed to be 65 degrees outside today with lots of sun and no wind.)

BUT, I know myself. I would be have been cleaning like mad and be exhausted at the end of the day anyway. I have so many projects on my to-do list - painting, tearing down some wall paper in Lady Bug's room, shampoo carpets, tear out these hideous bushes in my front yard, the back yard needs a whole landscaping make-over, PLUS I have several crafty projects I want to do too. Oh, and there is the issue of separating the boys (read this post for more on that)

SO, as much as I would love to be home today doing a ton of projects (without a husband and kids under my feet), I know that financially we can't afford to do any of the major projects on my list right now anyway so I might as well be at work earning some money so that maybe this summer we can do some of the major projects on my list.

AND THAT LIST I MENTIONED - it scared my husband this weekend because he saw it in my purse -- it is a small spiral notebook that I have been jotting down ideas I have for the house, some updating, painting, etc. and the list is quite long. My husband has tomorrow off and I asked him if he wanted to start on my list..... he said, very emphatically, "NO!" LOL. Alright fine. But the list will only get longer as time goes by!

Hee hee!

Slow Cooked Roast with Vegetables

This was always one of my favorite dishes my mom made when I was growing up. When I married Mr. Man he told me he hated roast. I was almost devastated! Almost. Then I ate dinner with him at his mom's house and she served roast, or something similar. It was soooo dry and so flavorless I realized why Mr. Man hated roast. So I cooked a roast for him. He was hesitant to eat it at first, but once he tasted it he felt much better. He once told me that he never knew that roast could be moist and not be leathery!

Slow cooked roast and veggies
INGREDIENTS:
3-4 lb brisket, rump or pot roast
3 potatoes, cut up (we love potatoes so I usually do more like 5 or 6 potatoes)
3 carrots, sliced
1-2 onions, chopped
1/2 c beef bouillon
salt, pepper, garlic salt to taste
approximately 1 Tbls Worcestershire sauce (I don't usually measure this so I don't really know how much I put in)
approximately 1 tsp soy sauce (I don't usually measure this so I don't really know how much I put in)

Put veggies in bottom of a slow cooker. Season meat with salt, pepper, garlic salt, and put the meat on top of veggies. Add Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and beef bouillon. Cover and cook on low 10-12 hours or high 5-6. Remove meat and veggies with spatula.

Ya, funny how that works...

As the rest of us were finishing up our dinner Lady Bug had decided not to eat very well, but asked to be excused from the table. I told her that I thought she should eat a little more and she told me she wasn't hungry. I asked her to take a few more bites and to finish her milk.



She again told me she wasn't hungry. Mr. Man said she could get down, but that there would not be any snacks, candy or dessert of any kind if she got down from the table. She said that was ok and she got down from the table.

1.1 second later, Lefty asks for a piece of his Valentine candy and I said yes.

Suddenly, Lady Bug is crawling back up into her chair. She finished almost all of what was on her plate and drank all her milk.

She asked to be excused again and of course I let her. She brought her plate to the sink where I was doing dishes and she said, in the sweetest voice, "May I have a piece of candy now too?"

As she was eating a piece of chocolate I was thinking I may have to try this trick again... Let the boys get their dessert to encourage her to eat!

Actually, I shouldn't complain about her (or the boys either for that matter) for the most part she is usually a fairly good eater. Sometimes she just would rather skip the meal and go right for the dessert - wonder where she gets that from? It certainly isn't from the mom in the house who sometimes sneaks into the garage pretending to get food from the freezer for dinner, when in reality she is sneaking a piece of chocolate bar, no it wouldn't be her. Nor would it be the dad in the house who will sneak out to the garage pretending to do who knows what, when in reality he is stuffing his face with marshmallows, no it wouldn't be him. Hmmmmm, wonder where she would get that?

This girl cracks me up

Last night at dinner the boys were talking about how good my husband's homemade salsa is and how it would be really cool if they set up a table in the front yard and sell his salsa, kinda like a lemonade stand but instead they would sell bowls of salsa. Then Lefty said we should just invite all the strangers into our house (I still don't know why he thought we should traipse people in and out of my messy house, but oh well). You may remember over the summer they decided to sell mints in the driveway but lets hope the salsa brings better revenue! Anywhoooo, I piped up and said I didn't want strangers in the house and Lady Bug says:

"Well, ya 'cause the strangers would poke us."

and Spirit adds in: "Ya, they would poke us with a knife!"

Lady Bugs shoots back at him: "NO! They would poke us with a stranger-poker-thingy!"

SO there!

That girl is so funny sometimes!!!!

Meeting with the Super

Remember my dilemma with the school PTO groups (plural)? Well, we met with the Superintendents last week and it went really well!

Apparently, when this new principal took over 3 years ago there were a lot of discipline issues in the school and also the testing scores were well below average. Since she has been in place the test scores have come way up and the discipline issues are almost none (unless you count the time Spirit's teacher called me at work -- at work!! -- because he has been acting up lately and hitting/rough housing, but let's not go there right now!) The Supers wanted to interview teachers and parents to find out what is working so they can possibly implement new policies at other schools.

Each group was allotted 15 minutes to be interviewed by the Supers. They first interviewed the teachers. Then they interviewed some parents. Then they interviewed a few people from the Latino Parent Group. Then they interviewed a few people from the Black Parent Group and then they interviewed four of us as representatives of the Parent Teacher Organization.

We were asked things like "How long have you been at this school?" "Is this school your neighborhood school or do you "Choice-In" to this school?" "How well do you like it here?" "What are the Principal's good / bad qualities?"

Then they moved on to the different parent groups the school has. The Super worded his question like this: "Do any of you have anything to say about the many Parent Groups that are at this school?" My husband said "Well, I have quite a bit to say. I could talk for an hour so let me try to sum up my feelings on that."

Basically, all four of us said we didn't mind the "sub groups" but felt like the PTO should be the umbrella group, the core group. Someone else in our group spoke up and said that she just wondered where it would stop. She happens to be gay and said that if we are looking to represent every group, culture, etc. then we need a gay/lesbian group, an Ethiopian group, an Indian group, and on and on. The Supers didn't say much, just took a lot of notes. I think all four of us that were in there basically summed it up that the PTO should be the group where all the sub groups meet to make sure we are all working on the same goals and we can all help each other out.

All of us also made it a point to tell the Superintendents that our principal is really awesome and we love her!

I am not sure where all this info will go next, but maybe they will meet with the principal to give her all the feed back? I sort of hope they do that soon!

Soft spoken

No, this does not describe me at all! I am referring to a statement made to me by Lefty.

Let me start off by telling you that he has a tendency to use a high pitched voice when talking to me. I am constantly asking him to not whine at me. Constantly.

The other morning, when I was having a bad day, he approached me and starting asking me a question in his whiny voice.

I turned to him, and through my gritted teeth, said: "Please. Please do not whine at me." and he quickly responded with:

"I'm not whining. I am a soft talker."

Meal Plan for February 14 - February 20

HAPPY VELENTINE'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU! Doing anything special? We aren't really. Last night we went to a comedy thing and had a sitter for the kids so that was a fun night for us.

Here is this week's menu for any of you that really care to read this boring post! LOL

With the exception of Saturday and Sunday the "Lunch" portion of the meal plan is for the lunch I pack for the boys. On Saturday and Sunday I make our lunch at home and we all eat together.

SATURDAY:
Breakfast - Waffles (my family's favorite) topped with strawberries sprinkled with a little powdered sugar
Lunch - Tuna noodle casserole / peas / peaches
Dinner - Salmon (This sounds so yummy and Mr. Man loves Salmon) / asparagus / Steamed rice / Pudding parfaits (basically just pudding layered in a glass bowl with whip cream, but it sounds prettier and fancier if I tell the kids they are getting "parfaits")

SUNDAY:
Breakfast - Eggs / hashbrowns / toast / juice
Lunch - Left overs
Dinner - Roast with potatoes and carrots cooked in the slow cooker / fresh baked bread

MONDAY:
Breakfast - cereal / toast / juice
Lunch - Sandwich / chips / apple slices / carrot sticks
Dinner - BBQ sandwiches (using left over roast) / tater tots

TUESDAY:
Breakfast - Cinnamon/sugar toast / fruit / milk
Lunch - Pizza rolls
Dinner - Spaghetti / salad / bread

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast - cereal / muffin / juice
Lunch - Spaghetti
Dinner - Quesadillas

THURSDAY:
Breakfast - English muffin sandwiches / juice
Lunch - Sandwich / chips / grapes / carrot sticks
Dinner - Grilled Cheese / chips / pears

FRIDAY:
Breakfast - Breakfast tacos / juice
Lunch - Left overs or Hot lunch at school
Dinner - Eating out

Banana Muffins with Streusel Topping

These muffins earned me an award with my son! He told me that he told everyone at school that his mom makes the best banana muffins and one of his friends told him that no HIS mom made the best. Now Spirit has asked me to make some so he could share them with his entire class to prove mine are the best!

These are very easy to make and I make up a batch of them whenever I have 2-3 bananas that over ripe.

Banana Muffins with Streusel Topping
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 or 3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

The differences between boys and girls

(or men and women or boys and women, etc.)

The kids and I were watching a movie one evening and it happened to be about a football star who finds out he has a daughter. He turns from self-centered, focusing only on his own needs to realizing how much joy a child can bring you. He becomes a changed man.

In the end of the movie, the daughter has gone back to be with her aunt and Mr. Football star isn't doing very well in the Superbowl. There are some tear-jerking moments, like when he tells the media that nothing means more to him than his daughter. Nothing. It is really sweet because the audience realizes that he is changed and we all want his precious little daughter to be back with him.

I am tearing up and look over to find my 8 yo son teary too. I said "This is a touching movie isn't it" and he says "Yea. I mean, it is sad to think he is going to lose the Super Bowl because of all this."

I think he missed the point.

When I mention it to Mr. Man, guess what he says? He assures me that Spirit did NOT miss the point.... after all, it is sad to think a football star might lose the biggest game of the year!

*my eyes rolling*

THAT can't be good . . .

Lady Bug came running in the house, very excited, saying

"Mommy, mommy! Dirt and water make mud!"

The mess was confined to one small area on our patio and easily washed up ... the two of them however, well THAT is a different story -- THEY were filthy!! That's ok because they had a great time together!

Live Entertainment

The boys are out of school February 16-17. Since Mr. Man and I still have to work, the boys will be spending the day at the afterschool program at the school. The program is doing a Mardi Gras party with the kids those two days. The director of the program has been talking to Spirit about playing his guitar for them during the party.

When I picked the boys up from school one day last week Spirit says to me -- while he is adjusting his jacket and trying to look very mature:

"I am going to be the entertainment at the party."

Me: "The entertainment?" [wondering what does THAT mean??]

Spirit: "Yes. The entertainment. Ms. E asked me to bring my guitar and be the entertainment."

At this point I am thinking to myself, well it will be entertaining that is true, but you are NOT good. People, he knows 3 chords. Maybe. I mean, he cannot play a guitar and entertain anyone. Trust me. I have been in the house when he is practicing. Listening to the same chords over and over and over and over again really gets old FAST!

Me: "Well. That should be fun."

Spirit: "I hope they let the entertainment take a break once in awhile. I need to eat."

Me: "Oh. I'm sure they'll let you take a break!"

{Yes. They might even insist he take a break from the three chords!!!}

I spoke with Ms. E. last night and told her that he isn't very good, she said she figured as much and that none of the kids at this age are very good at their instruments so she was not really relying on him to be the "entertainment". A bunch of other kids are bringing in their instruments and she is suspecting none of them will want to play with them that long. There is going to be food, games, crafts, etc. which will occupy most of the day.

Love notebook

Having just celebrated an anniversary and thinking about the upcoming Valentine's day I thought I would share something Mr. Man and I started a little over a year ago.


Our Love Journal or Love Notebook.... not sure what we call it! I just took a small spiral notebook (which happened to have a maroon cover..kind of the color of love but still manly!). I was going to decorate it with some stickers or something, but was afraid that Mr. Man would refuse to write in it if it was too frilly!


Then, periodically, whenever we have something special to share with the other we write in the notebook and leave it somewhere (under a pillow, in a sock drawer, etc.) for the other to find. We date it and write down our thoughts.


For instance, I recently wrote to him and thanked him for our dinner out and told him how much I love him. I left it for him in the drawer where he keeps his wallet and keys at the end of the day. Then about a week or so later it showed up under my pillow with some sweet words from him about how much he loves me and needs me. {awww, he is so sweet!}

I enjoy getting it and enjoy writing down some personal thoughts that I might otherwise not say to him. I think he enjoys it too.

My bad morning

This morning I woke up at 5:00 to have my "me time" and as I am stumbling down the stairs (literally!) I bumped into Spirit. "NO WAY MISTER... get back to bed!" I usher him back to his room and lay with him for a few minutes. When I thought it was safe I got back up and headed downstairs, a little more gracefully this time, and I start my coffee. I hear the coffee maker doing some weird noises, but didn't think much of it. After about 10 minutes I go back to the coffee to pour my first cup of the morning and ... ya, there were coffee grounds inside the pot and it had overflowed out the TOP of the machine and was all over the counter. I thought I must have done it wrong, so I washed up the machine and started over. It did the same thing. Mr. Man looked at it when he got up and he said it was not fixable and to just throw it out! WHA??? No coffee this morning? Are you kidding? He told me I could drink some of the grounds if I needed to! Ha ha. Very funny. He just doesn't get it. I NEED me some coffee in the mornings to function! What is a girl to do? Starbucks...here I come! (Well, after I get the boys to school, Mr. Man off to work and I get a shower and get cleaned up!)

The morning went down hill from there. I was running late. I couldn't decide what to wear - even though I picked out clothes last night. They just didn't look right. Nothing did.

Then I was carrying in some cookies to Lady Bug's school so her class could celebrate her birthday and I dropped the container. UGH. I'm telling ya, it was the lack of caffeine! I ended up having to run to the store and get more.... I SO did not have time for that! {all for the love of my Lady Bug}

I get to work and there was stacks and stacks of stuff and every single thing had a note on it "Do ASAP!" Really?

**********************************************************
The good news:
Our get-a-way was awesome! We went into the mountains and yet it wasn't overly cold or snowy. It was windy, but we had sun! Our condo was gorgeous with a full kitchen so we ate dinner out on Thursday night and lunch out on Friday, but brought food for breakfast on Friday. Check out was noon, so we lounged in our jammies until 10:30 or so. It was NICE!!! No schedule. No pressures. No stress! We got back late afternoon Friday, picked up our kids and headed home! It was wonderful. Then Saturday, of course, was Lady Bug's birthday which was also fun times!

Meal Plan for February 7 - 13

This week's meal plan is listed below:

SATURDAY (LADY BUG's BIRTHDAY SO ALL MEALS ARE HAND PICKED BY THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!)
Breakfast - Pink pancakes fit for a princess / sausage links / juice / fresh strawberries
Lunch - Homemade mac-n-cheese / peas
Dinner - Linguine with grated Asiago cheese / sauteed veggies / Pink cupcakes for dessert
[yes, the boys in the house are going to be sick of pink!]

SUNDAY
Breakfast - French toast / bacon / fresh fruit
Lunch - Left overs
Dinner - Broiled chicken breasts / peas / pears

MONDAY
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Sandwich / chips / grapes
Dinner - Goulash / carrot sticks & cucumber slices

TUESDAY
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Pizza rolls / apple slices
Dinner - Homemade chili / crackers / cheese

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Spaghetti / bread / peaches
Dinner - Slow cooked chicken and noodle soup (new recipe for us)

THURSDAY
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Sandwich / chips / tangerine
Dinner - Spaghetti / corn / garlic toast

FRIDAY
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Left overs
Dinner - Pork chop casserole / peas

Happy Birthday dear little Lady Bug!

Today my little Lady Bug turns 4. She is growing up so fast. {{boo hoo}}

I remember back to when I found out I was pregnant with her. I was scared to death. Just about 1 year to maybe 1 1/2 years prior is when we delivered a stillborn. I was so worried about this pregnancy and did not want to suffer what we went through before. I was a freak at the ObGyn office. I called probably 3 times a week - every week - until delivery! I joked with the nurses that they would be so thrilled when I finally delivered so I wouldn't be stopping by (the office was on my way home from work, lucky for me!) every afternoon just to listen to her heart beat!

She definitely is the princess of our home, but she can rough house with her brothers like nobody else can! She can convince those boys to play tea party or "mom and dad" at the drop of a hat! Her brothers take such good care of her that it melts my heart every time!

She loves to cook.

She also loves to play with her dolls, have tea parties and play dress up!

WE ALL LOVE YOU SO MUCH LITTLE GIRL (whoops, I mean BIG GIRL!)

My guess is that there is something magical about turning four. I remember my sister telling me how my nephew was just sure he wouldn't have chubby cheeks anymore when he turned four. In fact, he spent all day on his fourth birthday telling everyone he wasn't four yet. When my sister finally asked him about it at the end of the day he squeezed his cute, chubby little cheeks and said "I still have these!"

Lady Bug has been telling me all the things that are miraculously going to change when she turns four. She won't be naughty anymore. She won't have to suck her fingers at night. She will be as tall as her brothers, or maybe taller. She will like Brussels sprouts.

So why is it that she and my nephew were so sure the world would flip upside down when they turned four? I am not sure, but it sure is cute!!! I hope Lady Bug isn't too disappointed when all these things don't magically happen today.

Baked Spaghetti Cakes

I saw a similar recipe online, but I changed my version a tad. These make cute little spaghetti shaped into "cakes" for dinner that everyone loves!

Baked Spaghetti Cakes
INGREDIENTS:
1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
1 (14 ounce) jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese PLUS some for sprinkling on top of each "cake" (I buy the bagged kind that is already shredded...I know call me lazy!)
3/4 lb ground beef (or you can use Italian sausage if you want)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a skillet, brown hamburger. Drain off grease. Stir in spaghetti sauce and warm thoroughly. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain. Combine pasta and sauce together in a pan or bowl. Add Parmesan cheese and mix together. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Drop circular "cakes" of spaghetti onto baking sheet. Top with Parmesan cheese and bake for about 10-15 minutes or until slightly crispy. Do not over bake or the sides of spaghetti "cake" will be very hard.

My purse

It doesn't matter how small or how large my purse is I still end up with the entire family's belongings in MY handbag! How does that happen?

I cleaned out my purse and look at all the things I found that didn't belong to me:

* one pink princess glittery lipgloss (Lady Bug's)

* one Tinker Bell ring (Lady Bug's)

* one 9-volt battery (Mr. Man's)

* one pen in the shape of a bat (Spirit's)

* one ballerina doll outfit [apparently there is a naked doll somewhere!] (Lady Bug's)

* one pink head band (Lady Bug's)

* a pack of power cords (Mr. Man's)

* one Match Box car (Spirit's)

* one blue plastic dinosaur (Lefty's)

I didn't bother to photograph all the empty gum and/or candy wrappers, loose buttons, loose change (this WAS mine!) and a paperclip (ya, that really was probably mine!). But seriously... why does mom's purse become the catch-all? I have tried a tiny clutch size and I still end up with stuff in there that isn't mine! UGH.

Be careful mommy!

Lady Bug asked me to go read with her downstairs the other night. She had just gotten her pajamas on and was ready to relax. I told her I wanted to get in my pajamas too first.

Immediately she ran back from the stairs and yelled "Be careful mommy!!"

I asked what I needed to be careful of, exactly.

Her response?

"Well, when I bend down to put my pants on I always toot!"

Good advice from the preschooler!!!

Anniversary celebration - a little late

January 29th was our anniversary but Lefty got sick that day so we ended up doing nothing for our anniversary except exchanging cards. No big deal, well, it was a little disappointing but I chalked it up to mommy-hood. Things like that happen when you are a mom. Period. But then, my dear husband and his sister worked it out for us to have a nice overnight stay in Estes Park (about 45 to an hour from our home). Estes Park is where we spent our honeymoon nine years ago. {{awwww}} These are the condos we stayed at when we were on our honeymoon.

The only problem with this plan is that I would have to take this Friday off from work and we would have to find child care - a child care provider that wouldn't mind hauling the kiddos to school!

So. First thing was to see if I could even get time off. I asked for Friday off, my boss said "no problem." Ok. That problem solved. Now, what about child care? Most of the people who usually watch the kids also have to work Friday. My niece said she would watch the kids at her house and get up and drive them to school on Friday morning. The only minor problem with that is that she has never watched my three kids before, let alone overnight. Plus, she has never been to the kids school. I foresee some lost little people touring about the city! (maybe not, but I am a mom and I worry a lot!)

Anyway. I think we are going to be leaving Thursday evening as soon as we are off work. Then we will stay in a condo that my SIL has in Estes Park. Check out is at 11 am on Friday morning. Then we will just shop and mess around in the mountains for the afternoon. My niece will plan to pick up the kids from school and then take them back to her house and we will pick them up from her when we get back from the mountains.

I am excited, but a little nervous too. Moms are allowed to worry - right??

Internet picture posting

When we were at my SIL's on Sunday, she became very angry. I mean REAL angry...hands waving in the air, fit throwing kind of angry!

Apparently, my SIL's 20 year old daughter's friend (did you follow all that? LOL!) posted a picture of my SIL on Facebook. My SIL said, "If I wanted my ugly mug posted all over Facebook, I'd get my own Facebook account! I think it should be illegal to post a picture of someone without their consent, even on MySpace or Facebook!"

She was so hot and all I could do was giggle. I understood her point and all, but she was so mad, and really, honestly, the picture wasn't bad of her at all! I'm sure she appreciated me laughing at her! Ya, not-so-much!

Pretty soon, Lady Bug grabbed my camera out of my purse (gotta carry it for all those blogging moments I might stumble across!) and she started snapping pictures of everyone. She got a nice big close-up of my SIL...well her nose and part of her chin anyway! So I started joking that I was going to put it all over the Internet --of course I wouldn't REALLY do that, but it was fun to see her react!

It got me thinking though, I hate pictures of me. All.Pictures.Of.Me!!! So if someone was posting my picture on the Internet then I might be a little upset too. In Fact, I posted some pictures of our summer vacation on my FB page and one of my sisters and my husband both emailed me begging me to remove a few of them. (Keep in mind our vacation included days camping along the Oregon coast in the cold, rainy weather and my husband spent lots of time on my BIL's boat....so ya, ummm, we all looked divine when I was snapping pictures of everyone! Whoops!)

So I guess it made me stop and think that I need to be very careful what picture I post or someone might just come back and post something really atrocious of me someday, somewhere!

My weekend in review!

With Lady Bug and Lefty still sick on Saturday morning we just took it easy. Mr. Man had to work all day so he left a list of to-do's for both boys, Lefty was to do what he could when he felt better. Spirit was wise and he got busy with his chores by 9:00 am and had them done so he could play the rest of the day. He was a big help to me too with the cleaning I was doing! Later in the afternoon Lefty started feeling much better so he got his chores done, slowly, but he did them nonetheless! Lady Bug was still not feeling very good so she did a lot of laying around, coloring, watching movies and snuggling with her stuffed animals! Then Saturday evening we had dinner, then I prepared a meal for Sunday for the family I have been providing meals to every other Sunday. I wanted the meal ready to go so I could deliver it in the afternoon on Sunday.

Sunday:
Mr. Man had to work again so the kids and I went to church. Then we took the meal to that family, then we headed home for lunch. We played games and got ready to watch the Super Bowl. About 1/2 hour before the game was to start my SIL called me to ask if we wanted to come to her house (she has a big screen, high-def TV!) and so I called Mr. Man at work and he was all excited. So I loaded up our goodies and we all went to my SIL's house to watch the game. We had good food and good company. My nephew is a computer guru and so the kids like to play around on his stuff, he has multiple monitors and lots of cool programs!

Then this morning I got up a little late, but I was still able to get the following accomplished:
* Made my bed
* Made everyone's lunch (including mine and Mr. Man's)
* Started a load of laundry
* Feed and watered the dog
* Watered my plants
* Picked up toys, shoes and miscellaneous items in the living room
* Got myself showered (even shaved my legs!) and ready for work
* Made myself breakfast
* Gave the kids fresh fruit and banana muffins for breakfast

ALL THIS and I still had 10 minutes to kill!! Woo Hoo for me!