Plan B

Several nights ago, I had all the ingredients out and was ready to start making Gorditas. Just then the hubby called to say he was on his way home. I told him of my plan for dinner and then I heard a slight grumble on the other end. “What!? (sigh)” “Ah, I just had tacos for lunch…I don’t want Groditas tonight. Can you make something else?”

So now, I have to come up with Plan B. He’s on his way home, He’ll be hungry; I have a pound and half of ground meat out….Agh! What to do?

A quick look in the pantry and I decided to make a pseudo stroganoff.

I pulled out the Worcestershire Sauce
A box of Fettuccine
A can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
And I was on my way.

I browned the ground meat in a skillet and then added some Worcestershire sauce to taste. Then I stirred in the can of cream of mushroom soup. You can thin that with a little water or some white wine. I added a little white wine. (To the skillet and to my glass).

While this was going on I was cooking the fettuccine (I like it a little al’dente).

By the time the hubby made it home I had plan B ready to move to the table.

What do you fix when you’re in a pinch to get something ready fast?

We Interrupt This Blog...

I was trying to get a new post up for today but there just is no time for that right now. I’m busy celebrating my anniversary. Today marks seven years of wonderful marital bliss. The hubby took the day off from work so we could be together. So I’m off to hold hands, rub noses and make googgly eyes with Mr. Wonderful.

Blogging will resume soon. Thank you for your patience.

Happy Father's Day

To all the great Dads, Grandfathers, Godfathers, Dads in waiting, Soon to be Dada and the wonderfully loving Men who are “like a Dad” to so many, I wish you all a super Father’s Day weekend!!!!

Our Big Daddy is getting this lovely hand painted T-shirt and some scrumptious homemade cookies with a poem, that my friend showed me, about how sweet dad is to them. My disclaimer, I can cook but baking… um, not so much. If the cookies don’t come out good, I’m so blaming the kids. ;-)

Now lets just hope this isn’t one of those times that the hubby reads my blog.

What do you have planned for Father's Day?

Happy 16th

That’s a sentence we say here every month. It may sound like a strange sentence at first but wait until you here why.

Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince. At the time, he was living in New Jersey (don’t fault him for that). He was visiting a neighbor/friend so they could brew some homemade beer together. While there, he noticed his friend Ralph had a photo on the refrigerator of his daughter and her friend. “Who’s the brunette?” said the prince. Just then a light bulb went off in Ralph’s head…”Hmm, that’s a friend of Jen’s, she is single…you two should meet. So they called Ralph’s daughter Jen and Jen called her friend. After a short discussion, the “OK” was given to pass the girl’s phone number along.


The girl was very busy and dealing with many things. At first she said no, the timing just wasn’t right. He asked again and finally a third time. She checked her schedule and said “Yes”. So the prince invited the girl to meet him at a sushi bar for a half blind date. (He was working from a picture). That was November 16th 1997. They hit it off so well, they decided to see each other again. After several more dates, they wanted to celebrate the joy they had found in each other. Their journey started with sushi; why not celebrate with sushi???

So for the next ump-teen years they would have sushi on the 16th of each month and wish each other a “Happy16th”. Their wedding even included a sushi toast right after the champagne toast. The girl, turned princess, would of coarse have veggie sushi during the months she was L’prego but they celebrated none-the-less. What bliss.



“Happy 16th my Love!” (for the 139th time).

Girls' night in

We could all use some “me” time and there are few things that “charge my batteries” more than hanging out with my best gal pals. So, why not combine the two? Have a girls-night-in party.

Every now and then I need to have one of these parties. It’s kinda like a grown up slumber party…with out the sleeping over part. A night with your best girl friends, your most comfy clothes, some yummy snacks and a little girly pampering and you’ll feel good as new.

This time I combined the girly party with a jewelry sale. I set up some jewelry in one room with really low sale prices and then got the rest of my space ready for some pampering and camaraderie.

The hubby entertained the kids upstairs with some snacks and a movie in Mommy & Daddy’s room. That is such a treat they were more than happy to stay up there for the evening. A quick run down to say “Hi” to the guests and then they were gone for the night.

I pulled out all the pampering items I could find. I lit some candles, got out the special lotions, nail polish, hand scrubs and other “taken care of you” things around the house. I happen to have my own paraffin bath and some hand warming mitts. Check around, you might have some friends that can lend you theirs. I set the table up with all the things needed to do a simple manicure.

I had another area set up with the paraffin bath and the warming mittens. Over by the sink I have some wonderful smelling soap, a nailbrush, some soft towels and a nice lotion. There was a chick flick playing in the background or you could pull out some music from your high school years. (The 80’s were super cool dude!)

I had a drink tub filled with a variety of canned soda (or as we say here…“pop”)

I had some lemon slices floating in a pitcher of water and another pitcher with some iced tea and fresh cut mint.

All the fix'ns for some "happy" coffee.

Make a few of your favorite appetizers and you’re ready to go.

Send out a note to let everyone know what day and leave the time frame open for a “no stress” “get here when you can” atmosphere. Tell your guests to come dressed in their favorite cozy clothes; sweat pants, PJs, oversized T-shirt, flip flops or slippers, anything goes.

Now go pick out a date that works for you and start calling your friends.

What do you do for "Me" time?

What helps you to "charge your batteries"?

Last day of School!!!

Another school year is coming to an end. If you’re looking for a cute gift idea for your kiddo’s teacher, here’s an idea I found. I saw this on someone’s blog several months ago (Sorry I can’t remember where). Anyway, I tried it on my own from memory and it turned out pretty good.

Supplies:
Mat board with 8 x 10 opening
Card stock
New box of crayons
Tape
Sharp scissors or utility knife
Hot glue gun (White glue will work too but take longer to dry)


I had two to make so I used a 64-count box of crayons and had plenty left over. Each “Teacher Award” took me about 30 minutes to make. I used “word” to create the writing at the top and to put the teacher’s name along the side. I also had an outline of the initial that I wanted to fill in with the cut crayons. Start laying out your crayons to fill in the letter on your award. Cut each one to fit within the shape of the letter. You might want to stager the crayons to get a more artistic look. Once you have 4 to 6 cut, start to glue them down using the hot glue gun. If you use white glue you will have more time to work at getting everything in place but the project will take longer to dry and be finished.

Work in groups of 4 to 6 crayons at a time until you have filled in the letter. After all the crayons are glued and the glue has set you can attach it to the mat board. Hold it up to the light to make sure the cardstock is centered behind the mat board. Use some masking tape along each edge on the back side of your project to secure the cardstock to the mat board.

What ideas do you have for teacher gifts????

Like Mother, Like Daughter

It’s not unusual for the kiddos to see me staging a photo of my jewelry or something else I have made. A few weeks ago I was taking some pictures of this purse I had finished making.

My oldest then asked if she could “borrow” the camera. Only half listening I said yes. (OK, so I know, I wasn’t fully paying attention and I should know what I’m saying "yes" to and I should know what the kiddos are up to at all times but come on…)

So I go to down load pictures and save them into folders and as I’m looking through them, I see a few that I did not take and I'm pretty sure the hubby did not take them either. Hmm, I wonder where these came from????


(Beaded play purse)


(Hannah doll)

What do ya think?

I just might have a budding young photographer on my hands.