Disorganized ramblings of a Mom

Sometimes all you need is a rock!

2010-07-27T22:09:00.002-05:00

Ah summertime...

Kids activities, family time, sunny days, thunder storms, late nights and....

3 foot weeds all over my front lawn. Don't get me wrong, I fully enjoyed the deer that came by to graze on the jungle growing out front. Why the tall weeds? My awesome lawnmower that will mow down the 5 foot tall corn stalk like weeds out back broke. Not a big deal (so I thought) just a cable snapped, I'll go get a new one and be back in business in no time.

Sunday morning I finally decide to go write down all the info on the mower so I can search online for the proper part. First set back.... The lawnmower is a Craftsman which means I am limited to only certain places that will carry parts. I go online to Sears and look up the part needed. Of course it is not available at our Sears.
Good news: it is only an $11 part, Bad news : the only places that have it in stock are over an hour away.
I could order it online, but unless I want to pay for expedited shipping it will take over a week to get here and we have family coming from out of state THIS weekend.

Monday I decide to go to our local Sears because I have been told that they will just get an item in stock at another store brought to there store. Nope, not true. They want me to place an order and pay for shipping...could have done that myself.

Today I decided to go to Home Depot, just for the hell of it to see if they have anything similar, or some sort of universal part that might work. 3 very helpful men try their best, but they have nothing that will work. They suggest 2 other local places to try, so off I go. First place looked promising, the man working there rifled around his shelves like the wand guy in a Harry Potter movie, but didn't end up having it. On to the next place....Low and behold the guy says that they carry the part...yay...BUT...they are out of stock....Grrrrr

Defeated, I go home and decide to take a closer look at the mower and see if I have any other options. Please forgive the following technical terms....LOL

The cable that ran from the handle down to the engine has this little rubber stopper thingy that pulls this other doojiggy in and out. you pull up the handle, doojiggy moves, mower can start. I sit there trying to figure out how to replace a wire so that I can pull it open...can't find anything that looks like it might work.
I start looking around some more.... Then I see it......

A ROCK!!!

I jammed a rock behind the little thingy that goes in and out to hold it out and TA-DA... the mower starts...VICTORY!!!

I did a test patch to make sure the rock will not fall out and go flying causing someone severe bodily harm and it seemed good to go. No this is not a permanent solution and I will probably order the part next week, but I feel pretty succesful in my McGyver type solution.

Just goes to show you that sometimes, all you need is a rock!
Take that Sears ;)

Thursday Ramblings...

2010-04-15T10:36:00.002-05:00

Well, I had a meeting at the School again this morning to kind of tweek Tucker's 504 and see where he stands as of right now. I dreaded it all morning. I am so sick of all these battles. Somedays I wake up and I wish I had the perfect little book nerd kids that totally strived on doing well. Of course I wouldn't trade my kids in for anything in the world, but somedays they certainly make me threaten it.

I don't know if I just got totally smooth talked and don't have a clue, or if I should really feel this relieved. I'm not used to a relieved feeling...something must not be right...

I really like his guidance counselor. Seems like a pretty honest and decent guy. He doesn't make me feel all confronted when I go in there and I didn't leave feeling all defeated and beat down. As of right now it seems that we still have some hope. Some of Tucker's grades aren't all that terrible and there is hope to get through the year succesfully. Of course this depends very heavily on what Tucker does with that opportunity and will also take a lot of work on my part.
I got a report from each teacher on his strengths and weaknesses and some helpful ideas, although it seemed as though one teacher particularly stood out as someone he clearly doesn't get along with. We added a few things to his 504 accomodations that I hope will be very helpful. They were new ideas that no one has tried before and sound like they could be a great benefit.
I guess time will tell where this all gets us....

I'm back !......(maybe)

2010-04-12T07:27:00.003-05:00

I have no organized thoughts right now, so let's just see where this goes. I didn't realize I hadn't been here for that long. Really? almost 2 years? Yikes. Not very committed am I? Hell I feel like I should be committed..lol (ok not the same meaning)

Life is just crazy. I feel crazy most mornings. I never thought being a parent would be so hard and exhausting when they got older. The baby years are a piece of cake compared to this. What I wouldn't give to go back.

I've got 2 boys failing school, 1 daughter with a mouth that is going to get her into serious trouble and 1 daughter with enough energy for 20 of them....insert scream here...

The good, there has to be some somewhere right?...
Let's see...

Christopher has a job and is making his own money. He has proven himself to be a reliable and good worker.
Tucker...well I guess the fact that he is still attending school is a plus. There are kids that would totally shut down and skip school and do worse I guess...that's positive right?
Emma loves to read. She is definately Daddy's girl in that area. She still dances, is involved in girl scouts and is playing spring soccer again.
Melanie is funny and creative. She likes to make people happy with her art and silliness and is completely obsessed with her Tap class right now. She is also involved with Daisies (girl scouts) and is playing spring soccer.

The girls are definately busy and very social. I think it's good for them. (I hope)

Hmmmm, I came on here all ready to bitch and rant about my horrible morning. I felt bad that I am always bitching about the bad, so I forced myself to focus on some positive. You know what? I don't feel so bad anymore. Thinking about the positive things with the kiddos helped me regain a little of my disastrous morning. Go figure...

I guess I'll go finish off my coffee with a little less of a twitch...

Who you gonna call???

2008-08-28T07:56:00.001-05:00

So we are sitting here this morning and Melanie is watching Mickey Mouse clubhouse.
Personally I can't stand the show, but that's beside the point.
So they have this goofy thing they call for Toodles or something like that.

So they ask... who do we call???

and Melly yells out.....

GHOSTBUSTERS ...

I was dying laughing!

Dinner with my daughters = Chinese Water Torture

2008-08-03T15:38:00.002-05:00

Yep, eating dinner with my 2 precious little girls can be equivalant to chinese water torture. OMG, do they ever stop talking??? I am not a big person on noise, but I don't mind a little conversation over dinner. Somehow that turns into a back and forth blab fest of pure nonsense. One stops and the other chimes in. Peter is gone to FL for the week and they are driving me absolutely insane. Tonight I sat there and counted in my head (see I told you, insane) and between each t ime they would blurt something I counted the pauses. The longest pause over the entire dinner was 19 seconds...I kid you not!
Melly has also taken to complaining how hungry she is constantly and then not wanting to eat anything after everyone leaves the table because she is lonely. Because she doesn't stop talking she doesn't have time to eat anything. GAAAH
If I hear "can I be done" one more time I'm going to grab a coffee and my iphone and go hide in a closet somewhere!!!!

Moving...or not....

2008-06-24T08:17:00.003-05:00

Wow, what a whirlwind of a week. At first we were moving and then we were not. Here is the rundown.
Peter happened upon an ad on craigslist for a 4 BR house to rent. It sounded great so we decided what the hell and looked into it further. He talked back and forth with the woman who owns it and it seemed like it would be a great place. It was about a half an hour away from where we are now, bt we thought we could deal with that. The rent was over double what we are paying now, but for an entire house, the sacrifices seemed worth it.
We went to look at it on Thursday night. The house was huge and very cute. It could use a little work, but basically wallpaper and stuff like that. The yard was huge and there was also tons of storage in the basement. The bathroom was terribly tiny :( I hated the bathroom.
We talked to the owners and were pretty sure we were going to go forward with it all. We left saying we were going to discuss it.
Then... they told us they had to wait for a meeting about their new house to find out when they could move out so we could move in and they would let us know Friday. Friday came and went, Peter e-mailed them, no answer. Peter e-mailed them twice more on Saturday and finally called them twice until we got ahold of them and she still had no answers for us. In addition to this we never had gotten anything in writing, so there was no guarantee it was ours. All the while she was still pushing us to move in for July 1st. How are we supposed to let our current landlord know we are moving in one week when we aren't even positive.
The whole situation was a little odd and Peter and I just got a bad gut feeling. Something just felt like it was not a good choice. Sunday afternoon he called her back and told her we decided not to take it. He said she sounded kind of upset and tried to get him to still take it if maybe she could push the date until the 15th. We still said no. It all just seemed a little to urgent for her to us.
I am kind of disappointed, the room would have been so nice, but I am also relieved. I did not want to screw up the girls dance classes, and travel would have been a killer although I would have managed. Although we hate it here, there is a certain sort of comfort level too. Does that makes sense. I guess it falls into the same category as know your enemy or something like that. Now I wish I knew the correct saying... the evil you know is better than the one you don't.
So here I sit in my crappy dirty apartment in my crappy dirty neighborhood and sort of happy about it. I already signed the girls up for free swimming lessons at the state pool, the boys are at summer school and summer dance classes start the 7th. Back to being busy!!!

Wii Sweat...

2008-06-04T12:38:00.002-05:00

...well ok, it's really called Wii Fit, but Wii are sweating right now. I got my hands on the newly popular wii fit yesterday, fully ok with the fact that I may not like it after I get it. I figured even if I was too lazy in the longrun to use it, the rest of the family would get good use out of it. It's only day too, but here is my opinion so far...

GENIUS

That's the word I would use to describe every person involved in coming up with this. I am overweight. According to them the meter hit the top of Obese. (I'm just glad I am under the weight limit of 330lbs) That being said...

Today I did my body test again (a few simple balancing tests and a weight check) and some yoga. Yes, yoga..can you believe it??? That's not even the most of it. After that did one or two of the strength training excercises and then decided instead of the balancing games I was going to check out the aerobic category. Well My fat ass Hula Hooped and jogged.

Now back to the word genius...
Whoever could manage to get me up off of the computer for an hour to do yoga and jog is a flipping genius. The best part is, I am such game addict that I wasn't happy with my score, so I did it again.

These nintendo people are definately onto something. This is exactly what us lazy americans (and plenty of other people I am sure) need. Get us up and moving. Even for a little bit is better than nothing. I think I have already moved in the last 2 days more than I have all year. And for that I say thank you.
Thank you for making something so un enjoyable fun. I may change my mind down the road, but for now I am totally impressed!

The Mystical Pizza Tracker

2008-06-03T17:46:00.002-05:00

Have you seen this? This is the new fascination in our house. When you order pizza from Dominos online, they have a tracker now that shows you step by step what care is being put into your pizza.

Tonight was one of those magical nights of laziness. I ordered our pizzas online and up popped the tracker. We were promptly told that Jason had begun making our pizza. Then it popped up to say that our pizza was being placed in the oven. Little girly yelps of joy rang through the house as the both girls stood at the computer waiting to see what Jason would do next.

We were then told it was being placed in the box. I yelled this to them in excitement and they cheered! (ok a little exaggerated, but not much)

Now we sit here and wait for our pizzas that I 1: did not have to make, and 2: gave us entertainment while we wait!!!

Does it get better than that???

Random Ramblings for Carla!

2008-06-02T12:06:00.003-05:00

So it has been noted that I have not blogged for a while. I guess that's the kind of organized chaos that takes over when life happens around you and takes you for a ride. Am I making any sense? ...No, I didn't think so.

Well, what have we been up to the last couple months...

The beginning of the year was very busy with rehersal for me and the variety show I was in. That finally came to an end after the performance in the beginning of May. You may remember my post about puppet hell. ah yes, those beloved puppets (said through gritted teeth), all 35 of them were a big part of the show.

The weekend after my show, Emma had a show for her school. It was called putting on the hits. Groups of kids performed by dancing and lipsyncing to a bunch of rock and roll songs to state that South Street Elementary Rocks!!! LOL It was a great show and Emma's rendition of Rock you like a Hurricane was the Bomb ;)

The girls are both gearing up for their dance recital now that will be on June 14th. The whole recital is a Disney theme this year. Emma is in 2 numbers, a Hannah Montana song for Hip Hop (but of course) and Beauty and the Beast for ballet. She has the most beautiful yellow leotard with a HUGE tutu! Melanie is doing Pocahontas for her ballet class. It is the most adorable little outfit brown and teal with a big teal feather. I can't wait to get good pictures of them all done up.

We have signed up for summer dance classes already and warned the studio that they can't get rid of us.

I always feel like I don't have much to say about the boys, but......Boys WILL be boys.
Tucker is doign ok at his school. He's not doing great, but we are working on some things and just went through an evaluation for him. There is still alot to go through.

Christopher is busy living through teenage drama, guitars, skateboards and girlfriends. Mostly in that order I think..lol

Peter and I are doing well. I couldn't be any happier. He's busting his ass at work and it shows, but he is finally getting the recognition he deserves.

Phew....I think that's enough of an update for now. I will try to come back more often.

Now to sit back and sip on my GrapeAde!!! MMMMmmmmm

From the depths of Puppet Hell

2008-04-22T09:18:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a day of complete and utter puppet hell. How do I get myself into these things? I know it's my own damn fault. I decide I don't like something and then take it on as a project myself so that it is done to my liking. The problem is, once I bite off that one bit too much, the project is no longer fun. I am pretty happy with myself for actually doing this and I hope everyone appreciates it. I had gotten mixed feelings about it all in the beginning. My goal now, to keep it interesting is to be creative putting the finishing touches on. I am not going to have time to make clothing for them all, but as far as I am concerned I made the puppets for everyone and they can clothe them somehow. Hell they are muppets, they don't even need clothes. Did Kermit and Grover wear clothes??? Well, ok, but not most of the time.

I do have a special project that I am working on and if it comes out how I want it to, it should be a nice surprise.

Next project....
Costumes!!!

I need to figure out what I am wearing for my other numbers. Anyone have a really big cowboy suit and a fake mustache? LOL

My Social butterfly

2008-03-27T08:58:00.002-05:00

Emma has turned into quite the little social butterfly. It's hard to believe the once shy (yes, at one point she was)little girl has turned into such an outgoing, active, 8 yr old.
I can only hope that she continues to pursue the things that she enjoys.
Right now she is loving her dance classes. She takes ballet and was actually moved up a level a few months ago. She has really learned a lot and it's amazing to watch how they learn and evolve in class. This past fall she also started Hip Hop. I was a little more hesitant to put her into this class, but she is loving it. She has so much fun and is improving there as well.

Another of her interests is theater. She had really wanted to audition for a local theater groups youth production of Alice in Wonderland, but at the time of auditions she was only 7 and the age requirement is 8. They will be doing a different children's production later this year and she is hoping to be able to auditio for that one. Hopefully it won't interfere with her dance schedule.

I never thought I would be the parent worrying about my kids' schedules, and by no means am I pushing anything on her. She truly loves it and I have told her that whatever she wants to do, if it is possible, I will help her do it. I can not see holding her back if it is what makes her happy.

Oh and instead of being in Alice in Wonderland, her class is going to see it as a field trip. How cool would that have been if she was in it?!?!

For now, her next "performance" will be a school thing. She is starting rehersal today for "Putting on the Hits". This is a little talent show type thing that her school does. Kind of like a lip sync, dance show just for fun. I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Animal School

2008-03-11T07:49:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine just gave me a link to a great inspirational video. Normally I would see the words inspirational video and run in the opposite direction. Normally, inspirational is just not my thing..lol

So I gave it a look, and I am so glad I did. The clip is called animal school, and it really puts things into perspective and makes you think. This is very close to home for me and all we've been dealing with here. If anything, maybe it will make you think just a little bit differently.

Please take a few minutes to watch it. It may seem kind of long, but it is so worth it.
Here is the link:
http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/wp-content/themes/179/aschool012008.html

Meeting at Tucker's School today

2008-03-10T12:34:00.001-05:00

I have the meeting this afternoon with Tucker's teachers. I am not looking forward to it. I am going to leave him home just so I can get some of the points across that I want to without him getting worked up. Over the last few months I have had a notebook that I write down some of his "quirks" in. I am going to type up an overview of it and hopefully it will givethem a little more insight. We are NOT talking abouta kid that just refuses to do his work. There is more to it than that. There has got to be.

Let's see where we can get today. I really want to push the issue that they have not done any of the things that we discussed when we switched him there in December. I am beyond frustrated!!!
Hopefully my list will help them open their eyes!

What a weekend

2008-03-10T12:27:00.002-05:00

It's monday afternoon and I don't know what to do with myself. I only have about a half hour before I have to head out. This weekend has been crazy. We found out saturday morning that my Father in Law has lung cancer and they can not treat it. He has diabetes with lots of related issues and treating the cancer will not help him. As you can guess, our household is really upset and Peter is not taking it well. I am trying to be strong for him and be there because it is all I know how to do. It is so hard because I feel like there should be more for me to do. I feel so helpless. The biggest issue is that we will not be able to get the whole family down to Florida to see him. We have no idea how long he has left and are hoping that Peter can get down to see him before it is too late. Now would be a good time to win the lottery so we can get the kids down to see him.

I've been away

2008-02-26T10:22:00.002-05:00

Wow, I didn't realize how long I had been away. I keep meaning to come back here but something always comes up. I guess it's just an example of , sometimes life just takes over. I guess the last time I posted was last summer. After school started our busy schedules took off.
Nowadays I am lucky if there is any time where I don't have to run out somewhere to do something. Both girls are in dance now and that takes up at least 3 days a week usually. Of course, there is also their social calendars.
Christopher is definately a teenager and is out of the house more times than not. Mall, movies, skateboarding, playing guitar about covers it all. Tucker is still pretty much the same. he keeps to himself and plays his games or watches movies. He has started to branch out and talk to friends online, but I think he just does it because his friends do and that's what he thinks he's supposed to do.
Let's see, what else has been going on? We got a puppy in October and she is great. Her name is Willow and she is my new baby now. We just got her spayed on Friday and believe me, that is not slowing her down one bit! It's a chore trying to get her to leave her stitches alone. As a result of creative solutions by the vet, she is now wearing Emma and Melly's t-shirts to cover her belly. She looks rather silly, but still cute as hell.
I guess that's enough of an update for now. I will try to come back here more often and keep things updated. I don't know if anyone even reads this.

well....another rambling down....take care, until later!!!

Miss Manners

2007-07-10T18:24:00.000-05:00

So it's been a while since I've posted. I've been very busy, or should I say run ragged by these kids so far this summer. I wanted to share a little story about what just happened though. It amused me, but also made me proud.

I am constantly trying to teach the girls manners with little results. (The boys are a lost cause at this point..LOL)Usually if they want something I will ignore them and wait for them to ask instead of demanding something or just making a statement.This proves that Melly is listening at least part of the time.I was just sitting at the computer and the girls were on the couch nearby. Emma says about 3 times, I'm thirsty. I don't respond.Then I hear Melly say to her... Emma you know that's not how to get what you you want. You say please may I have a drink.I about died. Emma then asked me the correct way. I thanked Melly for teaching her older sister manners and got them both a drink.Just goes to show that they are really listening sometimes when you think that they aren't.

Happy Birthday to Me

2007-05-30T08:45:00.000-05:00

Yep, another year gone!!! I guess you can say that I kind of have mixed emotions today. This is yet another year where things have gone quite as planned. Money never works out for either me or Peter's birthdays. I shouldn't be dissappointed, but I am. Every year I don't really expect anything much , but I get my hopes up for some sort of a suprise. Nothing huge, just some sort of sweet suprise that I just wouldn't expect. The day's not over, but I'm guessing it's going to be business as usual around here.
I can't complain. I went and blew money on myself this weekend. I got things I have wanted. I got a new game and a new CD. So, they weren't giftwrapped I still got what I wanted. So then why do I end up feeling this way??? Is it just me or is something wrong with me???

Anyway, that's one end of the spectrum. The other end is this, and when you weigh the things out, this means so much more. It sounds corny, but I have a great family. Just about everyone we know has gotten or is getting a divorce. No one we know seems truly happy. We must be doing something right. We have great kids and Peter is just such a great Dad and Husband. I can honestly say that everytime I sit and wonder do I really still love him as much as when we met, the answer is yes, I do. Even more!!! There couldn't be two people better for each other. We have poor budgeting skills, we can be too spontanious, and have poor judgement. We don't keep a perfectly neat and tidy house and we swear like truckdrivers....but we love each other and we make each other happy.
At the end of the day I don't look at anything he does and criticize it, I find myself waiting for him to come home with the same excitement I had when we first met and I was waiting to see him again.
To me that is worth so much more than the little things. I may be slightly disappointed for a day, but overall for the rest of my life I am so fulfilled!!!
Thank you my honey for being there for me and being the love of my life and my best friend!!!
Thank you for being my partner in freakdom!!!
And that to me is the best gift!!!

You mean it's not Friday???

2007-05-24T12:42:00.001-05:00

Well it certainly feels like it shold be a Friday. Emotionally I am so done for this week. We are so broke because we had to replace the radiator in the van and then screwed up and got slapped with some bank fees. Peter has been having issues with his feet, and with Diabetes, that's not good. He is worried and I am worried, and I hate seeing him miserable. I wish I had comforting words, or great solutions, but I don't. I feel helpless, and I know he feels even worse. (which in turn stresses me out more, etc...)
We ran out of oil, so now we have no hot water. Luckily we don't need heat, it's over 80 today, bt cold showers SUCK.
We should have enough money to deal with that next week. We'll be able to pay rent, get oil, pay a few bills, and get some groceries. Probably won't end up doing anything or getting anything for my Birthday. It's really not a big deal, but it does bother me.

We've also got all sorts of other little things coming up that we are going to have to pay out for. Dance recital tickets, tights, gift, pictures, all that jazz. Christopher's going to need some clothes if he gets the job he applied for. They have a very particular dress code that he just does not own.

Tucker's pissed at me because I cut his hair. He says his friends all make fun of him. I honestly think that he starts it. He gets all down on himself and they feed off of it. I wish he could be more positive.

Oh and I got super stbborn today and cut half of the lawn in the backyard with Missy's weed whacker. What a pain.

That's it, I'm done.
Man I wish I had a bottle of Mead to drink tonight.

Recipe of the Day

2007-05-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

This is a copy cat recipe that I had found somewhere online.
My kids favorite baked mac n cheese. I double this recipe and cook it in a 13 x 9 casserole dish for the 6 of us.

Boston Market Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

6 oz. Dry macaroni
1/2 stick Butter
1/4 c. Flour
1/4 tsp. Dry mustard
1 tsp. Salt
Dash of pepper
2 c. Milk
1 t. Minced onion
1 c. Or 1/4 lb. American Processed cheese

Preparation

Cook pasta according to instructions, drain and set aside. To make cheese sauce, melt butter in a saucepan add onion flour. Allow this to thicken, and when thickened slowly add the milk. When all milk is added, you may add the cheese. For this Velveeta, is really the best, but you can use another brand. Add salt, pepper, and dry mustard. When sauce has thickened, add pasta. Lightly butter a casserole dish, and add pasta mixture to casserole dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Friday Ramblings

2007-05-18T19:15:00.000-05:00

Yippee, today is Friday. I promised myself that I would try to write on this blog as often as possible no matter how boring. It's always interesting to look back later and read things I was thinking.

It's been a pretty crappy, cold and rainy day. The van got fixed yesterday, so I was able to go out to Petco and get Latte' some bedding and food. Melly loves to go their. She was excited she got to see a tarantula today. What a little freak.

I got some scrapbooking done today and started to figure out how to make some paper sets. I'm having a really rough start, but it looks promising.

It's about 68* in the hose right now, so I have my freezing little tootsies under my quilt and the warm laptop on my well, uh...lap (top) LOL

I'm about to throw on a pot of coffee and kick back and watch some girly shows on TLC. Yay friday is makeover night. What not to wear and allt hat stuff.

My first scrap freebie

2007-05-17T08:15:00.000-05:00

Be patient, I am new to this. I have created a very simple freebie and am just playing around trying to figure out how all this works. I made you some Fun Fur in 3 great colors.

You should be able to

Download here

Random Ramblings

2007-05-16T11:28:00.000-05:00

rambling #1

The van is having some issues, so we dropped that off at the garage this morning. We don't have a "regular" car guy, so we are trying this person out. Hopefully everything goes well. Neither Peter or I are car people. We are not mechanically inclined at all. Give him a computer or give me some fabric and we're golden, but toss a car problem at us and we are screwed! So now here I am sitting waiting for this guy to call us to tell us what is wrong and how much he thinks it's going to cost. Oh the joy...
So..now I am stressed and impatient.

rambling #2

For some reason the tv ended up on PBS this morning and Sesame Street was on. Melanie has no idea who any of these characters are. I was so depressed. Our lives have been so overwhelmed with options in everything possible that our kids sometimes don't even get to experience some of the good ol standbys. We used to have Sesame St., Mr. Rogers, and a handful more kids shows. Now there are so many to choose from on so many channels at any time of day. It makes me happy and a little sad at the same time.

rambling #3
Blues Clues.... I still prefer Steve over Joe. (and so does Melly)

Now, I should move on and get something productive done somewhere. I'm sure there is a lot more I wanted to write about, but my mind is at a loss right now. If I think of what the heck it was, I'll be back ..lol

take care,
Stacy

Recipe of the Day

2007-05-16T11:24:00.000-05:00

Berndt House Lo Mein

I tweaked this from a Kraft Recipe to suit our family's likes. Everyone loves it!

Ingredients

16 oz Linguini
2 tsp Dark sesame oil
2 tbsp Vegetable oil
2 cups Or more cooked chicken breast or other meat
2 cans Sliced mushrooms, drained
1 can Water chestnuts, drained
1 can Med. shrimp, drained
1 cup Fresh pea pods
1 Or 2 chopped onions
1 1/2 tsp Ground ginger
4 tsp Minced garlic
6tbs Beef broth
6 tbsp Soy Sauce
4 tbsp Brown sugar
2 tbsp Oyster sauce

Preparation

-Cook pasta, toss with sesame oil

-Heat vegetable oil in skillet ( med high) Add vegeetables, cook, stir, 3 minutes

-Add Ginger and garlic, stir 30 seconds

-Add meat, shrimp, mushrooms, cook and stir 3-5 minutes

-In a small bowl mix broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, oyster sauce

- Add sauce mixture and pasta to the skillet, cook 1-2 minutes until heated through

RECIPE OF THE DAY

2007-05-15T09:05:00.000-05:00

CHILI MAC

This great dish is a cross between chili and goulash, and is so satisfying. Not to mention, very simple to prepare. Believe it or not ALL of my kids love this!

Ingredients

2 pounds Lean ground beef
1 Medium onion, chopped
2 clove Garlic, minced
1 can (14-1/4 ounces) diced tomatoes
3 cups Water
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
2 tbsp. Chili powder
1 tsp. Oregano
16 ounces Uncooked elbow macaroni
1 can (15-1/4 ounces) dark red kidney beans, undrained

Preparation

1. Brown ground beef, onion and garlic in a 3-quart saucepan; drain.
2. Return beef mixture to saucepan. Add tomatoes, water, tomato sauce and seasonings; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10 minutes.
3. Stir in uncooked macaroni and kidney beans. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium heat. Simmer 9 to 10 minutes or until macaroni is tender, stirring occasionally.

My first official rambling...

2007-05-15T07:59:00.000-05:00

Well, at least my first official rambling here. I have decided to give this blogging thing a shot. I have moved on from that sissy myspace blogging and decided to go for the real deal. I don't usually have anything too fascinating to say, and my life can be pretty ordinary, but I think most of us can say that. I have made quite a few friends on this little thing we call the internet, and I look forward to letting everyone in on a little bit more of me and my life. Sometimes it's just comforting to know that you're not the only one who is having a crappy day.
So, that being said. I hope you come back and at least once in a while get a laugh, a cry, some satisfaction that you are not alone.......something.

Thanks for stopping by,
Stacy