Wedding ABC’s

The count down is on… I’m officially 5 days away from being married for 1 year.  Oh. Holy. Cow.  Someone pinch me, make sure I’m not dreaming because seriously, where has this year gone?!?!

Attending:
I would guess we had between 100 and 150 attendees
I’m not really sure, that day was a whirlwind!

Bridesmaids
2 of my favorite gals!

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Pizza Casserole

So while perusing through blogs one day last week I stumbled across this recipe.  So as usual, when I see something that looks GOOD, I sent it to hubby for his opinion.  He said, mmmm sounds good.  So I printed the recipe and went home and made it.  Oh goodness was it yummy!  Therefore I’m going to share it with you today!  I know you love me right 🙂

Pizza Casserole
Found on For Mamas

Ingredients:
1 bag egg noodles (I used rigatoni)
1 extra large can of pasta sauce (haha I used 1 and 1 up from the fridge.  It uses a lot of sauce)
3 cups mozzarella (or as much as you might like 😉 and I used up some other cheese too)
1 1/2 lbs hamburger meat (I used 1 lb)
1 pkg pepperonis

Oh and that glass of wine… well I actually drank that (ok shared with hubby) but we did add some wine and seasonings to our hamburger.

Directions:
Brown the meat & drain.
Boil the Noodles until soft.  Drain.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees while you assemble the casserole.

Now for the assembly:
{1} Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce on the bottom of your 9×13 pan
{2} layer half the noodles
{3} Half the meat

{4} Half the sauce
{5} rest of the noodles
{6} Half the cheese
{7} rest of the meat
{8} rest of the sauce

 {9} rest of the cheese
{10} Pepperonis

Now cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Look at the cutie in the window…

After 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes.

And you’re done!

Wife gets a cooking lesson

Prior to getting married, if someone said they wanted Mac & Cheese, to me that meant Kraft Mac & Cheese in the blue box.

In fact, I like the cheap stuff, but it has to be Kraft.  I’ve never been real crazy about the “cheap” off brands although I’ve tried them before and they work really well if you are mixing them with something, but if just eating straight Mac & Cheese, give me Kraft, you know, the one in the blue box ;).

So the other weekend I told hubby I wanted Mac & Cheese for lunch one day.  I went digging through the cupboard and wound up with nothing.  Dang, no Mac & Cheese, really?  He was like:
You have noodles right? Yes
You have milk right?  Yes
You have butter right? Yes
You have cheese right?  Yes
Then what else do you need?  Kraft in the box?

To which he laughed at me.  So he showed me that as long as I had the above ingredients I could have Mac & Cheese.

Boil water.

Cook the pasta.

Add some butter.

Add some cheese.  Singles happened to be all we had at the time so singles it was.

Add some milk.  Eyeball it…

Mix together and let the cheese melt.

And some good ole Pepper and viola, you’re good to go!

Who knew it could be that simple?  Yeah I know, I read recipes like they are books… Yes I know I try new recipes all the time… however, Mac & Cheese had always come out of the little blue box… until now 😉

Let’s Get Grillin’

With summer coming to a fast close, I thought I would share a couple photos and a couple recipes for you.  I love summer because it’s the best time to Grill!  Now some of my friends live off their grill both summer and winter, we however have only had our grill since June (it was my husband’s birthday present (his birthday is November 1) that he got on Father’s Day, yes I know that’s screwed up) so who knows what this winter and the grill may or may not bring.

Obviously this was before Pokey broke his arm
Since we lost weight, all of hubs pants were way to big!!!

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Splish! Splash!

One of these days I’ll probably quit bombarding you with so many photos.

But today isn’t that day.  Sorry!!

Speaking of photos, have I ever told you I like photos?  Oh I have?  Or did you guess because I share so many.  Dang, back to that point in the road, one of these days I’ll quit bombarding you with so many photos, but again, today isn’t that day.

Wow, do you hear a broken record in here?  I think I might.  Ok moving on…..

Sunday morning we got up and headed over to my parents house so that Tbug could ride Aloha.  Little did we know that she’d wind up riding Squirty too, but that’s another story for another day.  We got up early and headed over to beat the heat.  It was warm Sunday but I never heard the final temperature for the day and I really think I’m to lazy to look it up.  That was then and it’s in the past.

After we were finished riding horses we hosed them down.  I’ll bet they felt good!  I could have used a good hosing down too, but instead I went home and eventually jumped in the pool.

When we started out riding I was sitting on the fence, Dad was on Squirty, Tbug was on Aloha and PC was on KG but when we ended for the day I was on KG, dad was on Aloha and Tbug was on Squirty.  Yes we played musical horses, just without the music.

But because I wound up on the back of KG, I got to unsaddle him.

Aloha was the first to get the nice refreshing rinse off.

Dad asked Tbug to go get the “Sweat Scraper” so we could “squeegy” them off.

Then he proceeded to tell Tbug how to do it and why we do it.  In case you don’t know, the sweat scraper can scrape off sweat or water and it just helps cool them off and dry them off faster.  I’ve seen 2 different types although there could be more… one is basically a wooden stick like what is in my dad’s hand that has a slight curve to it.  The other is a plastic handle with a half moon looking shape at the top made out of rubber.  I don’t have one or I’d show you a picture.  Sorry.  Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned the latter….

Tbug watched dad a few times.

And then set out to squeegy Aloha herself.

Aloha didn’t mind, she got to eat grass and cool off.  She was content.  The grass in front of the barn is always green because that’s where we rinse the horses off at.

Then PC took Aloha out to one of the pastures.  This was a different one than they all usually go to, so when he turned them all lose, they were a little “lost”.

Next up was KG.

Rinse.

Squeegy.

Repeat.  Except with Squirty this time.

Every now and again they shake like dogs.  And yes, you will get wet if you are standing in the proximity.

We also generally put Cowboy Magic or some other conditioner into their mane (up on their neck) and tail (it comes off there rear :)) just to condition the hair and keep it from breaking.  A lot like we do our own hair.

And of course, the minute you sit down anywhere, you’ll get greeted by the pups.  Luckily I was sitting in the grass a ways from the barn and they must not have paid any attention to me, that or dad was feeding them treats so they were sticking close.

Ok, now after looking at all these photos, I really want to play in the water!  Um… Boss do ya think I could leave work early this afternoon?  Maybe even just go ahead and take a day of vacation?  No, ok fine I’ll get up, get dressed and come to work.

Happy Friday!

What I love about Sunday's

Sunday night we hosted Sunday Night Dinner again.  Normally it’s always at Pokey & Earl’s (or as I affectionately renamed them Perky & Early) but this summer we volunteered a couple times since we had the pool.  Here before long we’ll have to shut it down so we thought, why not one more shabang!

My kind of dinner party, laid back, relaxed, & Pot lucks! LOL

I “brought” Tator Tot Casserole.

2 lbs hamburger
1 onion chopped
2 cans of cream of celery soup
shredded cheese
tator tots
salt and pepper

Fry hamburger and drain.  Add 1 chopped onion, 2 cans of cream of celery soup, a dash of salt and a dash of pepper.  Stir together and put in 9×13 pan.  Top with shredded cheese and tater tots.  Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes.

This is what was left of it….

Here are some of the other dishes brought:

She waited patiently for those brownies… LOL

And here are a few more photos from the rest of the night

There is something about this photo I love…

Brothers

My good buddy T 🙂

He’s good at flips!  I’m to scared to even attempt it…

The pups were even chilling

Hey Memaw, gotcha!

Hi hubby!

Great thing about a telephoto lens, they don’t know you’re shooting photos of them 🙂

Interesting… I think

Am I gonna have to come in there?!?!

boy I hope she wasn’t looking at me, oh wait, she isn’t… I’m across the deck

She sure wanted daddy!

Yehaw!

He’s a little nervous in the deep end but he has gone off the diving board twice.

She is a fish!  Loves the water.

Gotta Love summer!  It’s one of my favorite times of the year!

Want to know my other?  That’s easy, between Thanksgiving & Christmas!

The time of the year I don’t like…. SNOW season 🙂  And you know what…. that’s coming… beware!

Many Hats

People in general wear many hats.

  • Teacher, educator, mom, dad, grandma, uncle, niece, nephew, worker, taxi driver (haha), animal provider, the list is infinite!

Some days it almost seems like we have to wear too many hats.  I’m not sure about you, but at times not even one “hat” looks good on my head, little lone stacking up 5 or 6 🙂

That is Tbug’s Hat, my sunglasses were holding it on.

Ok so I kind of ran a different direction, it’s my blog and my blog post, I can if I want to 🙂 

But it’s the whole hat thing (brought to you by Rachael on Friends)

C’mon Daddy, listen to me! It’s like, it’s like, all of my life, everyone has always told me, ‘You’re a shoe! You’re a shoe, you’re a shoe, you’re a shoe!’. And today I just stopped and I said, ‘What if I don’t wanna be a shoe? What if I wanna be a- a purse, y’know? Or a- or a hat! No, I’m not saying I want you to buy me a hat, I’m saying I am a ha- It’s a metaphor, Daddy!

haha sorry, I know it’s my 2nd Friends reference this week, but I really like/liked the show!!

But some days I don’t want to be that shoe anymore.  Quit walking all over me, hahaha!  Ok I really don’t think this blog post has a point or a purpose so maybe I should just quit and leave you with pictures of actual hats, all courtesy of my iPhone and Bass Pro:

Oh wait, that isn’t a hat, it’s sunglasses, but it’s my typical sunglasses photo 🙂

Maybe school has already scrambled my brain!  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it 🙂

What Teacher's Make

When I was in college, I had days that were hard.  Now that I’m back in college, I feel I have more of that ahead.  My first time around I went to be a High School Agriculture Teacher.  Maybe not the same as a grade school teacher but still I had the power to make kids wonder and learn and question.  My dad sent this email to me one day my Freshman year and I printed it out and taped it to the wall next to my computer.  Any hard days I faced, I made sure to read this to myself.  In fact the next 3 years, everywhere I lived I made sure to take this to the wall next to my computer.  So I thought I would share to you what got me through my first 4 years of college.  Now I hope I can find something just as profound to get me through again.

WHAT TEACHERS MAKE

A poem by: Taylor Mali

The dinner guests were sitting around the table
discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain
the problem with education. He argued:
“What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided
his best option in life was to become a teacher?”

He reminded the other dinner guests that it’s true
what they say about teachers: “Those who can…do.
Those who can’t … teach.”

To corroborate, he said to another guest: “You’re a
teacher, Susan,” he said. “Be honest. What do you
make?”

Susan, who had a reputation of honesty and frankness,
replied, “You want to know what I make?”

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they
could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal
of Honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face if the
student did not do his or her very best.”

“I can make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence.”

“I can make parents tremble in fear when I call home”

“You want to know what I make?”

“I make kids wonder.”
“I make them question.”
“I make them criticize.”

“I make them apologize and mean it.”

“I make them write.”

“I make them read, read, read.”

“I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful, and definitely beautiful over and over and
over again, until they will never misspell either one
of those words again.”

“I make them show all their work in math and hide it
all on their final drafts in English.”

“I make them understand that if you have the brains,
then follow your heart…and if someone ever tries to
judge you by what you make, you pay them no
attention!”

“You want to know what I make?”

“I make a difference.”

“And you? What do you make?”

And because I like pictures,  Here are some photos of me my first 4 years of college.  Looks wise, I really haven’t changed except my hair is shorter and I’m about 15-20lbs heavier.

Sorry, right now I can’t seem to find many actual school pictures, but these were all college aged photos.  The first was when I studied abroad in Costa Rica,  the second was in 2002 while I was home one weekend and my dad’s mare had a baby, and the third is the summer of 2002 when I babysat for a lady who worked with my mom.  Good times, Good times. 🙂

Today I start school again, what ever possessed me to do this??!!??!!

Wish me luck!