Fort Knox is a pain in the Tukus!

Good Morning all.


First day dealing with no garage door and I am not liking it one bit, not at all!  I need 2 different  keys to get into my front doors and because we hardly use that door, there is so much sand in the keyhole and it is so hard to lock and unlock.  Turning the key makes a crunching sound and you really have to put some muscle into it.  The way my luck is going I am going to break the key in the lock and be stuck outside.  I think I had better put a locksmiths number in my phone!  Then there is the gate with the lock, only on the inside btw, so locking from the outside is a @#$%^ in the tukus!  And of course today is the day when I have to come and go many times.  So if you live close and hear lots of Flock of Seagulls, scale the fence and pop in and say hi!

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR! AKA NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS!

I was just thinking that it has been a few days since I had anything funny or interesting to write about and then, KABLAM, I now have a few things to share and I am not amused!


You all know about how my stove went on the fritz just as I embarked on my "No shopping, eat from the pantry challenge" and how frustrating that was for this challenge.  Well let me tell you, that was nothing!  Someone on The Compact issues a new challenge to not use the dryer and hang all clothing to be dried.  I did not take that challenge (however I now seem to be doing this challenge by default) as I was afraid of what could possibly happen as was demonstrated by my stove...ha ha.  I also have the garage door opener on my visor not working and when our mechanic came to the house to service the car, I went to show him and of course it worked right away and then when he left, it would not work again!  I was not about to tempt fate, however fate had other plans.


Today was the first day in a while that I just got to be home, all by myself, and I planned on enjoying it and all the quite that came with it.  I took Nathan to school today (a snow makeup day) and came home and noodled around on line for a bit under the guise of paying some bills (that I did not do) and drank a diet cherry pepsi at 9:45 am (yes I did) and had I known how today would play out I could have added a very healthy shot of something adult like as I would not be driving anywhere else for the rest of the day.  I jumped in the shower and took a scalding hot shower until the hot water was no more and I resembled a just cooked lobster.  It was wonderful and had been such a long time since I had total piece and quite for a nice long hot hot hot shower!  I also decided that since no one was home, I could be nekkid for a bit before I had to be an adult and put on some clothes.  It was so nice and so short lived!  


I was moving a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer and and went to turn on the dryer and nothing.  I thought maybe I had not put it on the dry cycle and tried again, nada, zippo, bubkus!  I think to myself that something might be blocking something and preventing the dryer from turning on, so I proceeded to fold the 3 loads of laundry that Rick washed and dried and did not fold (sheets and towels so wrinkles are a moot point) that were towering on the dryer.  I still wasn't too worried yet as I was confident that I would find the issue.  I got everything folded and put away and nothing was amiss on the top of the dryer.  I looked in the lint trap and it was full and I said to myself that that was the issue.  I cleaned out the lint trap and turned the dryer on.  Well I pushed the button and nothing happened, nothing at all.  I so folded the laundry for nothing....lol. 


 I turn to take the lint to the back door and put it outside for the birds when I hear this loud bang.  It sounded like someone slammed up against our security screen door.  This made me nervous as our whole yard is fenced in with an 8' high block wall around the sides and back and the front yard has a 4' block wall with 4' of wrought iron on top of it.  Everyone jokes that our yard is like Fort Knox and you can't get in unless we let you.  I run to our monitor and turn it on to see what the camera's are picking up and I don't see a thing.  I decide against looking out the windows, as I am nekkid and no one, not even an trespassing burglar should be subjected to that.  I put some clothes on and listen for any other noises and there are none.  I am now much braver with a thin layer of material separating me from anyone skulking around my yard and decide to look out the windows and I see nothing.  I decided to be even braver and put my death trap, ankle crunching slippers on to take a look around outside and see if I can see anything out of place, or some intruder hanging upside down on the wrought iron fence.  There is nothing amiss outside, so I go back inside.  I am not liking the peace and quiet now, so I decide to watch something that I had dvr'd to make it not so quiet in here.


I finished my shows and again noodled around on the computer, researching something (still not paying those pesky bills) and look up and it is time to get Nathan from school.  I have 15 minutes until I have to pick him up and that is plenty of time.  I search for my keys for a few minutes (they are so not in my key spot) and then I remember that I left them in the ignition when I pulled in the garage and got a phone call.  Hey, at least the car was inside the garage and not sitting in the driveway, right? WRONG! Could not be wronger!  I went to put up the garage door and it lifted only 1", yes only 1"!!!  I look around to see if anything fell to prevent the door from going up and all was clear.  I race out the front/side door and have to stop and unlock our Fort Knox gate so that I can look at the front of the garage to see if there is something there.  The front of the garage door is clear, nothing to block it!  Between looking for my keys and a non working garage door, I now have 1 minute to get to school and pick up Nathan.  Not happening.  I call a friend to see if she can get Nathan from his after school book club when she gets her daughter from the same club.  She says she is not going to school, her hubby was out and about and is getting her daughter.  UGH!  She is such a good friend, she says she will call her hubby to sit with Nathan until she gets there, as there is not room for 3 people to ride safely in his truck, and she will bring him home.  THANKS JUDI, YOU ROCK!!!  I call Rick and say don't be alarmed, but I am stuck in the garage and need your help.  Rick hates when I call him at work with these things, as :

• He could be 20' up in the air on a ladder
• Squished in an attic
• Can't leave a job he is in the middle of
• Too far away to come right home to deal with it
• Nothing he can do about it on the phone

  Today however, he was already on his way home and said he would be here in 20 minutes. YEAH!


My friend calls and says she and Nathan are in the driveway and he is trying to use the whatachamahickey on the side of the garage to open the door.  I race to the intercom and tell him to stop as I can just picture the garage door flying off the hinges and taking him out in one fell swoop (can you blame me with how this is going so far).  I go out the front/side door again, unlock the Fort Knox gate and thank Judi for getting him and bringing him home.  Nathan goes in the gate to go inside when we see Ricks truck coming up the street.  I stay where I am on the side of the driveway (where Rick parks) thinking that he will park on the other side so he can access the whatachamahickey and gate to fix the garage door.  Well you know what assuming things does, and he proceeds to back up his truck, apparently not seeing me.  I try to yell at him to stop, but his back up train whistle, yes you read that correctly, he has a train whistle sound when he backs up, drowns me out.  I am so glad that I did not have lunch today, because I was a sandwich away from being a pancake!  I slide along the wall to the gate pilling my pants the entire way and plan on sitting inside out of harms way while Rick fixes the garage door.


Rick heads inside to go to the garage to see what is going on.  I  and my pilled pants decide to go with him to see what is going on.  Rick tries to open the door and it goes up 1''.....did you think I was making it up?  He tries again for good measure, same thing.  He is about tho release the door from the tracks with the top handle when I notice that the whole length of the top of the door is bowed and tell him.  We realize that the spring and the mechanism that pulls the door up and down, is stripped.  He pulls the lever and it makes a loud bang (just like the one I heard earlier).  He gets his ladder to take a look thinking that maybe it can be fixed.  I decide to run inside and look on line if it is safe to repair this, or if we need to replace it.  I find my answer and go to print it for Rick to read and the @#$%^& copier jams!  I am beside myself with outrage that everything I touch is not working properly today.  I am a little nervous even typing this as my laptop has frozen a few times already.  I have a full dishwasher that needs to be run, however I do believe I will wait and let Rick start it...lol


So to my fellow compactors, I implore, no more challenges!  No more not using the dryer, no lets wash our clothes by hand,  no lets not use the car for a week,  no lets only open the fridge 1 time a day,  no lets power our TV's and laptops by running on the treadmill, no cooking only in a crock pot, no lets make our own candles and use them for light,  no lets sew our own clothes for a month, no anything....PLEASE!  Of course I am not serious, however it would be great if in the subject line you could say "Kelly open at your own risk" and I will avoid it like the plague.  


Rick just asked me if the dryer was still broken and I said yes and he said what's next, just so he is prepared.  Nathan asked me to stay away from the toaster oven and the fridge and just hid the iPad!  Guess that no interest for 12 months coupon from Home Depot is going to come in might handy in the next few weeks...I can so go for a Dove Bar right now!


To end on a positive note, I did not have to wear a bra all day.  I am taking all the positives I can get today and a day without underwire is a good day!

The best way to feed a hungry child, is to feed his family

I LOVE every 3rd Wednesday of the month!!!  Let me say that again.  I LOVE EVERY 3RD WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH!!!


This past summer Julia and a few other members of the Compact  participated in the Food Stamp Challenge (FS Challenge).  This challenge was to only buy groceries for the month (food only, no toilet paper, no cleaner, no toothbrushes, no beer, no diapers, no pet food, no lightbulbs, etc etc) based on what their states allotted to families based on size, and when you were out, you were out! The Compact is a very ingenious and resourceful group of people and some of them found themselves with more month than food, running out of things that they take for granted, that they always have on hand and can run to the store for when they need to.  People talked about how the FS Challenge reminded them of the struggles of lean(er) years, childhood, how they were on FS, how it was harder than they thought it would be.  Well Julia really lit a fire under me, opening my eyes again to the needs out there in our own corner of the world.  I wanted to do something to help feed families in my corner of the world and I was at a loss of how to do this.  I could not let this go, I though of it all day, every day, and even in my sleep.  It was apparent that I really needed to find a way to make this happen and NOW!


I decided to look up my local Food Bank on line and do some research.  My local Food Bank is the Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico and I was reading about their programs and came across the Mobile Food Pantry - The program is a traveling food pantry that eliminates the need for long-term or large-capacity storage and provides families 50 pounds of perishable and non-perishable food.  Families represent a large segment of clients served at Mobile Food Pantry (MFP) sites where 43% of those helped are children.  THIS WAS IT!!  I made a few phone calls and got some information and asked the Mobile Food Pantry Manager to come speak at my next PTO meeting because I wanted to ask the PTO to help sponsor this and if we could not, then I was going to do the first one and get donations for all the other ones I wanted to do.  My PTO members voted and agreed that they would sponsor  2,500 pounds of food each month!  This works out to be 50 pounds of food each for 50 families and it costs about $125.00.  Try getting 2,5000 lbs of groceries at the store for $125.00...  I was walking on air!  I was so excited!  We were going to be able to feed 50 families each month! I formed a volunteer committee and we got the ball rolling.


The first MFP happened in September and we did not quite have 50 families, however we were thrilled!  I cried talking to the families.  They were saying that they were so grateful that we were doing this and they had no food in the house. October 2010 and we had 50 families!  November 2010 I invited another school to share out time slot and feed their families.  We had 7,500 pound of food for 150 families and we were busy! December 2010 saw us with 16,000 pounds...8 TONS OF FOOD, ENOUGH FOR 600 FAMILIES!  We decided to get this amount as it was going to be Christmas break and many children that get their breakfast and lunch at school (for free or reduced) might be going without meals for more than 2 weeks.  We decided that since the parents would have their kids home over the holidays, we would give them 100 pounds of food, so we fed 300 families 100 pounds of food each.  We were nervous with 8 tons of food coming our way.  We didn't need to be nervous, we rocked it!  I  have the best group of people helping me make my dream a reality!  January 2011 we had 7,500 pounds of food (this was a paperwork error) and I was so nervous that we would have to turn people away.  It was amazing, we had the same amount of people and less than half the food and no matter how many people came, there was enough food.  It was like the "Fishes and Loaves",  the food seemed to never be getting less and less.  Today, February 2011 we again had 8 TONS of food.  We had a little food left after everyone did their shopping and I called a food pantry right up the street and they took a small truck full there.  NOTHING gets wasted!


I also make sure that we give out clothing at these events.  My next goal is to have mobile medical services in conjunction with the MFP.  There are Doctors and Dentists that will come in mobile facilities and give free medial care.  This is a perfect marriage of helping my local families.  It is a lot of hard physical work (ever unloaded 8 tons of anything?) and setting it up and then the clean up, however I can not think of a better way to spend an afternoon, surrounded by caring people, helping people.  This is why I love the 3rd Wednesday of every month!


Here are some pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73209&id=1609085328&l=2a1ec73f32

No the best choice, however it feels SOOO good!

Tonight as I was leaving the school, after giving out 8 TONS of food (that will be in my next post) I was walking to my car and this parent lights up a cigarette on school grounds.  I very nicely say that there is no smoking allowed on school grounds and he looks right at me and ignores me.  I say again that there is no smoking allowed on school grounds and he tells me to mind my own @#$%^&* business!  Good example to set for your kids in the car buddy!  I tell him that there is no need to use that language and to please remember that we are at an elementary school.  Well he cussed me out again and told me that it was a vapor cigarette and not a real one.  OK pal, let me tell you one more time, it is an elementary school, NO SMOKING, vapors or no vapors.  He starts cussing again and my son is with me and he asks who do I think I am?  I say that I work for the school district and I am also a parent.  He says what are you going to do, call the cops on me and heads into the school. I say never mind, just bite me and get in my car and drive off.  Then it hits me...He is parked in a no parking, fire lane, car will be towed zone.  I pull my car over and dial the police non emergency number and report his car in the fire lane and could they please send an officer out to ticket the illegally parked car.  Well he gave me the idea to call the cops in the first place! LMAO! KARMA BABY!!!

Please and Thank You

I dropped Nathan off at school where they were having a controlled burn (really?) right behind the portables, which is right behind the playground, which is right where the busses drop off the kids!  Controlled burns are scary at best, so I can see why they would choose to do it with 1,000 kids close by, 200 of them within mere feet in their classroom....makes total sense...NOT!  I saw kids walking over to get a closer look, and we all know how curious kids are...not the best choice of times to take care of some brush.


After driving home from a prairie fire in the making, I happened upon a construction site.  They are widening a very well traveled, busy road (YEAH by the way).  They have lowered the speed limit on this road, so we were a tad backed up and I had time to check out what they were doing.  My eyes went to the group of men talking and pointing and then I saw two guys standing off to the side a bit.  Well apparently that was the itch and scratchy section of the work crew.  Right there on the side of the road workman 1 is adjusting his boys (via the outside of his jeans) and taking a long time to make sure they are comfy and workman 2 is taking notes and decides that his boys could be a little more comfy as well, so he decides to adjust them from the inside of his pants (more of a hands on approach, if you will).  I guess they need a little more TLC.


I turn into my development and there is a dog doing his morning business right at the corner where I turn next.  I can handle this, I am far enough away that he should be done by the time I get there (how I figured this, I don't know).  I round the corner and the dog is happily wagging his tail and a job well done.  I must first commend the pet owner for being responsible and picking up after his dog, I however ask that when bending over doing so, to either have a robe that closes, and/or wear pants!!  Please and Thank You!

Size does matter!

Well here it is Valentines and sitting right next to me is a HUGE heart shaped box of chocolates!  And I am not going to eat a one....want to know why?  Let's go back to last night.

Hubby was on his way home from an emergency job what was supposed to take a few minutes that wound up being an all day job.  He decides to stop at Walgreens on his way home to get some beer and some Valentines stuff.  I say you can't get diamonds at Walgreens laughing.  So he comes home and puts the beer in the fridge and he is holding this really big heart shaped box of chocolates and a few other things.  He tells me that when he was paying for it, the guy ringing it up says this is a really large box of chocolates and Rick (my 1st husband) says "Well it is for a really big girl", and he is laughing while telling me this, thinking it is funny.  Well not only am I not going to eat that @#$%^&* box of chocolate, I am here to tell you...SIZE REALLY DOES MATTER*!!! (another version of Flock of Seagulls)

With that off my chest, and moving forward, tomorrow is another day.

*Not true and not an issue here, just blowing off steam! Hope everyone sees the attempt at humor.

And here comes Harley

Harley is the best dog!  Not only is he a Sheriff Dog, he is also a Therapy Dog and he has the best manners in the world, is the most obedient dog, and is the sweetest thing ever to get fur all over my pillow.  If you tell Harley to sit, no matter what he is doing, he sits.  If you tell him to stay, he stays (not so much for me, but for everyone else in the world.  I am a softie and he knows it!)  Harley is here for a few days while his family is out of town.  We all love to have him here.


 Rick and Harley are "snack buddies" and both like the same exact spot on the couch.  When Rick comes home, he walks into the kitchen and gives Harley a cookie (a dog biscuit), and Harley is waiting for him, right smack dab in the middle of the kitchen floor.  When Rick goes to the fridge for a snack, he also gets one for Harley.  When I get an ice cube from the freezer door, Harley gets two as well.  When Rick is cutting a steak, Harley gets his share, when Rick is making hamburgers, Harley gets a big bite.  Do you see a pattern here?  Harley is 90 pounds of love when he comes over and about 93 pounds of love when he leaves.  If Rick sits in "Harley's" spot on the couch, he gives Rick the saddest eyes he has until Rick either relents or just moves over.  If Rick gets up from the couch, Harley jumps right up to his spot and Rick is out of luck when he comes back.  Harley has even raced Rick to the couch for that spot.


When Harley comes inside, he barrels in like he was shot from a cannon.  He grabs a stuffed toy and whines while running thru the house being so happy to be inside.  We have learned to move to the side of the door when we open it for him, and well this morning I was letting him back inside and apparently did not hobble to the side fast enough because Harley ran in the house and proceeded to run and landed right on my sore right foot.  He did not know, he did not mean it, it was not on purpose, but man oh man did that hurt!  Still does hours later!


Above I said that Harley is the most well behaved dog because of his training and I also said that he does not listen to me, as he knows I am a big ole softy.  Harley went to work every day as a Sheriff Dog and followed all the rules.  He is also a Therapy Dog that will let kids roll all over him and never gets annoyed, EVER!  The first night Harley stayed with us, he slept on the floor of Nathan's room on a big dog bed and by the morning, he was on Nathan's bed.  When he comes over, he no longer brings his own bed, he has Nathan's with the "Harley Davidson" sheets waiting for him.  A few visits ago, Harley would come into our room and would sleep on my side of the bed, never even making a move to get on our bed.  Well one cold morning he looked at me with those sad, pitiful eyes and I patted the bed and without even blinking he was on the foot of the bed.  No biggie, he was keeping my feet warm and we have a king size bed.  The next morning, I woke up to Harley snoring on my feet.  He was apparently very OK with being on the bed...lol.


The next visit with us, I was so sick and Harley kept me company all day on the bed, even sleeping lying beside me, not on my feet...and this is were the trouble begins...


I was very sick and Harley slept next to me for a few days and loved it.  Rick was at work, Nathan was at school and it was just Harley and me in a big bed, lots of room to stretch out and still cuddle.  He only stayed on the bed during the day when I was sick, when I was well, he was waiting by the inside garage door for me to go get Nathan at school.  Well on Harley's last night with us, I was feeling better and was expecting him to sleep with Nathan (as is their routine).  Well Nathan comes running into our room and wants to cuddle and he snuggles between Rick and I and we watch some cartoons.  Harley, not one to be left out, jumps right up and we now have 4 bodies in bed.  We all fall asleep in our bed, but it is not a restful sleep.  Nathan is a tosser and a turner and likes to be right next to me, actually like an appendage. Harley decided that when I was sick that he really did enjoy my pillow, so that is where he was.  So picture this if you will: I am hugging the night stand on my side of the bed, while Nathan is attached to me, laying across the bed, Harley is next to Nathan, on my pillow, with his legs splayed all over on Ricks side of the bed and Rick is also hugging his night stand!  I tried to get Harley to the floor, he was not budging!  I tried using my feet to move him to the bottom of the bed, NOT HAPPENING!, I try raising my voice (he knows it is a ruse) and he ignores me.  Please keep in mind that this is a highly trained dog and he just looks and me and snuggles in and goes back to sleep.  Harley and Nathan had a good nights sleep and Rick and I were red eyed and cranky!


Harley is like having another 8 year old boy in the house.  If Nathan has a snack, Harley wants one too.  If Harley is being petted, Nathan wants me to "itch his back".  Harley rides to school with us in the morning, otherwise he whines and cries and paces until I get back home.  When going to the car, I have to have Nathan go first, or else Harley will sit in Nathan's booster seat and not budge.  I finally had to put the extra booster seat in there and now Harley has his own to sit in.  They share snacks, Harley likes goldfish, Nathan nibbles a dog cookie, Nathan will "accidentally drop a piece of bacon, and before it hits the floor, Harley has gobbled it up.  Harley likes to chew and lick stuffed animals (his wubbies) and he really wanted the soft furry snowman I had on the tree over Christmas.  He would never touch it, but would look longingly at it, so much so, Nathan had to give him a Christmas present early.  He is a character and such a part of our family when he is here, horrible, room clearing gas and all!

Today was not much better, thank you very much

Today, what can I say about today?  Well it was slightly better than yesterday, is that enough?


Woke up this morning and my legs were so stiff from my penguin like walking yesterday.  My right ankle was still swollen and a nice compilation of purples and black and blue.  My left ankle was just a tad sore, but so much better than yesterday.  New development however.  Not only did I twist my ankles yesterday, I apparently wretched my right knee and I woke up to a kneecap that looks like a bowl of jello and feels like it is on fire this am.


I try to get my sneakers on and I can, just not tied.  I can imagine me hobbling my penguin walk and having shoelaces underfoot.  My luck would be that I would trip on those laces and be in traction at the end of the day.  I decide to put my death trap slippers on (what else can they do to me) and get Nathan ready for school.  As I am dropping off Nathan, I ask him if he has everything he needs.  Backpack, check. Jacket, check.  Snack, check.  Homework, check.  Glasses cleaned, OH MAN!  I forgot my glasses Mom!  How do you forget your glasses?  It seems like it would be like forgetting to wear underwear, like forgetting to put on socks, like forgetting to put on your shoes before school.  I tell Nathan that I will bring them back in a little bit  (after all the drop offs are completed, because it is like the Daytona 500 with crash dummies in the morning around the school).  I am almost home when he calls me to remind me to bring in his glasses.  Really Nathan?  You forgot them, I say I will bring them back in and you are calling me 5 minutes after I just told you I would be back with them?  Too bad you didn't remind yourself this morning before we left the house...lol.


I get back to the school and hobble in the doors and very gingerly walk across the newly waxed floors.  I know that if I fall, it will be on camera and somehow will be shown over and over again.  Now showing at the next Family Movie night: Our PTO President Kelly "Do as I say, not as I say and not as I do" Evans,  will  be showing you the why of wearing correct footwear to school, and just how wrong it is to wear slippers.  As a special feature Kelly is going to demonstrate how to Stop, Drop, and Roll in case of a fire.  We do have our Nurse standing by, so please do not try this yourself.  I hobble to the relative safety of the carpeted floor in the office and sit and wait for Nathan to come get his glasses.  As I am sitting there minding my own business, not in the way of anything or anyone, a little person comes into the office and steps squarely onto my foot!  Why a cute little child would do this to me is beyond me!  Was I ever mean to you?  Did I ever ask you to sit on your pockets when you would rather be racing around the lunch room. Did I ever tell you not to spray water on the person behind you at the water fountain?  NO, I HAVE NOT!  What vendetta is playing out here?  After the buzzing in my ears stop, I hear a squeaky little voice say, "Sorry, I didn't see you there."  I am thinking that maybe this child needs Nathan's glasses more than Nathan does.  I say (out loud), "That's OK, accidents happen", while to myself I am saying, "How can you not see me sitting here, totally out of the way, not in the traffic path and with my foot as close to under the chair as I can manage and two steps in the office, you are standing on me?!?!?"


Nathan comes into the office and he does not look happy.  He says the kids are making fun of him for not having his glasses, saying is he blind, how many fingers am I holding up, can you see me, etc!  My heart just breaks for him.  I hug him and tell him that sometimes kids are just mean because they are jealous that you have cool green Converse Glasses.  I also tell him if someone else asks him how many fingers they are holding up to say, "Well you are in 3rd grade, you should know how many fingers you are holding up by now."  That is the best I could come up with that would be appropriate for school...don't make me come to class you !@#$%^&*#$%^&_+ Flock of Seagulls!




I go head for home, making sure I have no extra sets of keys, and walk slowly to the car.  I step down off the curb, right on a very pointy rock that I can feel right through my slipper!!!  I am so going to bed and put my feet up until it is time to go back to get Nathan and Harley*.


I get to school later in the afternoon and load Nathan, Harley and Little G (The Principals Therapy Dog) into the car and off we are to take Little G home and then head home ourself.  We roll down the windows for our two panting furry friends.  We are so glad that the windows were already down because the smell in the car is worse than horrible!  Harley has gas, and when Harley has gas, you need to leave the room.  We couldn't leave the room as we are all stuck in the car sharing the same foul air.  I look in the rearview mirror and I see Nathan trying to look in the back where the dogs are and I asked him what he was doing.  He says he is looking to see if they pooped, because it smells so bad in here.  Well they didn't poop, it just really stinks.




* Harley is a Sheriff Dog and a Therapy Dog.  Harley's Officer was killed in the line of duty and when his family goes out of town we get to love him while he stays with us.

Flock of Seagulls!

Let me point out that this was started February 10, but I did not get to post until just now. It was one of THOSE days!




Where did today go?  I had so many plans, so many things to accomplish and then it happened!  I was in a bit of a rush to take Nathan to school today, as he needed to be there 1 1/2 hours earlier and went to get something out of the car and then it happened!  I was wearing my slippers (that Nathan bought me for Christmas with his own money and which I love very much my thoughtful boy) and I went to step up on the running board and the slippers that my sweet little boy bought me slipped and my right foot came out and slid off the running board and crunched to the ground, while my left foot slammed to the concrete garage floor.  Let me tell you the words that came out of my mouth!  I could make a Sailor blush!!!  It helps (me) to let a whole bunch of expletives fly right out at that first bite of pain.  Really, try it next time you stub your toe.  If Nathan is around my favorite go to is "Flock of Seagulls".  So after making a whole fleet of Sailors blush, I hobble back into the house and no one notices.  Am I invisible, did you not hear the yelling from the garage?  No, they were just enjoying the bacon, eggs and pancakes that I made them for breakfast.  Must have been really yummy to not see the tears welling in my eyes and the double limp walking to the table.


I had gone to the car to get the forms for the "Candy Grams" for a fundraiser at Nathan's school.  I decided to forgo buying the little packs of Valentines at the store and to splurge and get the Candy Grams so that everyone in his class and some people I wanted to send them to, got the very coveted and much longed after Candy Grams.  I spent $35 and let me tell you there had better be Godiva in that Candy Gram when it is delivered!  I kid, I kid!


So I am filling out the 35 forms as we do not have time for Nathan and his 3rd grade (read slower than mine) handwriting to do this and watching both ankles swell up at the same time.  I am wondering what shade of purple the right ankle is going to be...Violet, Barney, Eggplant, Grape....I will save you all the guess work.  I was all of the above with a little bit of  black and blue, splotchy red and dark mauve for good measure. Flock of Seagulls!  I know there is no way I am getting shoes on these cankles this morning so I put on my death trap no traction slippers (thanks again Nathan, I love these so much and can't wait to wear them every day) and take turns limping on both ankles to the car to drive him to school.


Off we go....coasting out of the garage with my foot on the break (Lord have Mercy this hurts).  Put on the break hard (biting my lip) as we are at the top of a hill and I have to put it in drive now to go down the hill.  Get to the end of the development and are at a stop sign for forever ( I can tell it was forever as my ankle was pulsing in time with my heartbeat and I could feel each and every beat) and then I have to hit the gas to accelerate (please take me now).  Well this goes on for the next longest 7 minutes of my life on the way to school.  I drop Nathan off and repeat the whole painful experience on the drive home, the difference being, I can now vocalize my pain as there is not a very cute 3rd grader in the backseat taking notes.  I pull into the driveway and hit the garage door opener (the kind built into the visor) and NOTHING!  It is not opening the door.  I push it again, and again and harder and again!  Fine, I will just get out and hobble over the the whatachamahickey on the side of the garage and put in the code and just leave the car in the driveway.  I need to say that our driveway is a slant and I debated about going back and putting on the emergency break and then well, I didn't.  


I hobble inside, grab a drink and head for the shower and then to bed to put not one, but two feet up and watch some shows I had dvr'd.  I must have dozed a bit on the bed as my cell phone jarred me awake.  It was my boss calling and I said hello just as the missed call message came on.  I waited for a voice mail and there was none (my indicator is apparently on vacation as he left a few messages over the past 24 hours, along with about 6 other people).  No biggie, no voice mail, no problem, right? WRONG!  About 2 minutes later there is a text "Kelly, I need the quarterly reports for the entire 2010 year, and I need them in 1 hour!!!"  OMG!!   I tell him that I don't know if I can get them, as I just got a new computer as the other got fried and died and they transferred what they could.  Well his voice went up about 12 octaves and I knew I had to at least try.  I found them and I tried emailing them to him, but I have a Mac and he has a PC and he was not able to open the reports.  I tell him that  I have 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarter , but the 4th is not done because I am still waiting for a report done by an outside company and we are still waiting for the results.  Well that wasn't going to fly....so while I am trying to now print the 3 reports, I am writing the 4th as fast as I can with as few words as possible, enough to get us through the emergency meeting that was called.  Remember I have one hour and now I have to write the 4th quarter, and now have to hand deliver it as email is not working.  I am 20 minutes in already and the printer jams!  OMG!!  I don't have time for this!  I yank the paper and by the grace of whoever, it works and keeps printing.  His meeting is now 22 minutes away, I am 12 minutes from him and he is 10 minutes from where the meeting is.  I call him and say I am on my way,  and I have wet hair, am wearing slippers, and there is no time for a bra (who says this to their male boss? Me apparently).


I grab the papers, hobble to the car and race over to the office and I run up the stairs (well not really, but you get the point) and he sees me and says, "You made it!"  Well of course I did, your squeaky voice on the phone made this seem really really important.  We hurry to make copies and I say to him, would you like to read the 4th quarter and he says, "No time" and off he goes!  I stay for a minute and chit chat with some coworkers until I remember I am wearing a white T shirt and no bra....Gotta go, see you later.  I hobble down the steps and drive home.  The garage door refuses to open (it will close with the remote, but not open) so I leave the car in the driveway again, sans emergency break, hobble inside and go lay on the bed and prop my feet up.


I am propped for no more then 2 minutes when my phone rings again and it is now a PTO member wondering if I have the keys.  No I don't have the keys, why would I have the keys.  Let me check just to be sure.  Out I hobble to my car.  FLOCK OF SEAGULLS! I have the @#$%^&* keys, how do I have these keys!  I  text him and say give me 10 and I will be right there.  Much laughing ensues at the key exchange (none of it from me) and I am now on my way back home to prop my feet up and maybe brush my hair (as I forgot to after my shower as I fell asleep).  I am propped in bed, my hair is brushed, my ice has melted in my drink from hours ago and I turn on the TV. I find a show to watch and am laying back and relaxing when 30 minutes later the alarm on my phone goes off!  FLOCK OF SEAGULLS, FLOCK OF SEAGULLS, FLOCK OF SEAGULLS!!!  It is time to go to pick up Nathan at school.  I was just there!!!!  


I go get Nathan at school, we come home, parking in the driveway and he loves to do the whatachamahickey and we go inside to do homework , I get him a snack and then we get dressed for basketball practice....yes I am leaving yet again!!!   I never rested my ankles, never watched my show, never did any laundry, never did much of anything but drive, braless!


Want to trade days, I do!

I HAVE CHALLENGE REMORSE

Challenge...OY  talk about a challenge. I have challengers remorse!  As soon as I say "no buy", hubby pulls out the wallet, finds the closest parking space and grabs a cart.  Hubby thinks I am trying to kill him with spaghetti sauce, wants more applesauce cake, can't fix an oven, and we are over run by plastic silverware, paper plates, bbq sauce and Dove bars!  That being said....I went to the grocery store today for fruits and veggies (fresh and frozen).  I bought ALL organic fruits and veggies, organic milk and some coconut and almond milk. I bought some fresh spices as some of mine were past their prime and lost their va va voom.  I bought about 8 spices, my organic milk and produce and spent $104.00.  HOW!?!? FINE, twist my arm, I also bought a bag of potato chips and crystal light.  OK STOP ALREADY, it was two bags of potato chips, and they are low sodium, 50% less, thank you very much. Low sodium? Talk about having the fun sucked out of eating potato chips.  I must be old now, salt makes me swell up and look like the Michelin Man, only shorter and with junk in the trunk.

OK, enough with the diversion tactics...

I am not giving up....I have already done better in 9 days than hubby did in 4.....LOL.  I am still "shopping from the pantry" and did say at the beginning of the challenge that I would be shopping for fresh fruits and veggies. Spices are plant matter/veggies, the potato chips are a veggie, fried in sunflower oil and the crystal light iced tea, well that is just decaf...yes, I am justifying in the hopes that you don't notice the jar of maraschino cherries on the counter I neglected to declare. 

Last night we (and by "we" I mean the singular me) were going to cook steak and mashed potatoes with green beans. I LOVE mashed potatoes and will eat them for days, (can you say mashed potato coma?) with corn or green beans, french cut only thank you very much, mixed in.  Didn't take me long at all, as we had grilled cheese, pickles and popchips.  I do believe (OK...I am damn certain) that two soda's and more than one beer washed them all down.  It apparently was not filling enough for Nathan the eating machine, as he ate a huge bowl of cereal at 10 pm.  Bad Mom, Bad, Bad, Bad Mom for trying to pass of hot cheese on grilled white buttered bread as a nutritious hot meal.  

WEEK ONE (REALLY ONLY WEEK ONE?) OF THE FEBRUARY NO BUY CHALLENGE

Well the NO in the "no buy challenge" certainly turned out to be a challenge!  Can the rest of this shortest month of the year be easier please?  We have had bags of groceries find their way into our house, power surges, no gas and lots of together time due to snow and winter weather.  There have been burned baked goods, an oven that is heat challenged and then compensates by cranking up the heat and burning said baked goods, we have been cleaning and de cluttering, catching up on sleep, or not, depending which side of the snoring you are on, de cluttering, eating lots of the baked goods, de cluttering, eating the baked goods, de cluttering...

I really enjoy cooking and cooking many meals at once with a few of the same ingredients makes total sense to me and makes it easier to cook.  I made a huge batch of spaghetti sauce in the crockpot and the boys really like it.  I made 5 meals with this sauce: chicken cacciatore, stuffed peppers, spaghetti and meatballs, a veggie and a meat lasagna and have a bit of sauce left in the freezer.  I have/had no plans to have the boys eat spaghetti sauce all week for every meal, was just making use of the sauce. 

Last night was a long busy day with meetings and basketball practice until 7:30 pm.  I took the veggie and meat lasagnas (made in small pans) out to get to room temp and then put in the oven when I got home.  I cranked up the oven and nothing but a strong gas smell.  The oven is officially dead!  Well I have 2 pans of lasagna to cook, and a loaf of garlic bread and no oven.  I look at our toaster oven and based on the sizes of the pans, I was able to cook the meat lasagna  split the loaf of garlic bread in 1/2 and cook it side by side.  That leaves me out, no room for the veggie lasagna and I have to tell you, I was really looking forward to it all day!  No problem, I will just have a nuked potato and a salad.  I put 2 very small potatoes in the microwave and make my salad and clean up in the kitchen a bit.  The timer goes off and I leave them in until the lasagna is ready in 30 minutes with intent of just finishing up cooking them for a minute.  Well I apparently forgot that I had already cooked them and set the timer for the full amount of time.  The timer goes off again and I grab the potatoes and they are as hard as a rock and I can't even cut them!  Lets just fast forward and know that the boys loved the lasagna and Nathan wound up with my salad and I was thinking about a Dove bar again!

Talking to hubby on the phone this am and he asks if I am trying to kill him...WHAT?  He says he was up all night because of acid reflux due to the spaghetti sauce.  I say that no one made him go back for seconds on the lasagna....lol.  So now I still have meals in the freezer that are made with sauce and he can't eat them!  Why did I decide to do this challenge again? Sheesh!

So for the rest of the month, I have to prepare meals that:

1. Can be cooked in an "Easy Bake Oven" (better check our lightbulbs to make sure we have enough)

2. Have no tomatoes and or acidity

3. Be able to put meat and veggie dishes in toaster oven at the same time

4. Pretend that we don't have 4 ready made meals in the freezer

5. Ask hubby to cook on the grill in -14 degree weather

6. Not eat out

7. Not order in

8. Make lunches fresh every day as cooking in smaller sizes, there will be no leftovers!

I am worried however, that by the end of the month hubby and son will have joined the "NO buy witness protection program" and be eating McDonalds and pizza until I come to my "senses".

How many more days in February?   And where are those Dove Bars?

PUT IT AWAY OR BUY IT BACK AT GOODWILL

Otherwise known as pick up your crap, I am not your maid!


Between our snow days and state of emergency days, we had lots of time together....with each other and our crap.  And by crap, I mean piles of useless, dusty, pain in the ass to keep around stuff.  We have "crappies" on the breakfast bar, on the couch, on the other couch, on the chair, on the floor, on the dresser, in the closet, on the kitchen table, on the vanity in the bathroom, on our night stands, the only area sacred enough to be crapless is the HUGE GRAND PIANO IN THE LIVNG ROOM! (I can guarantee there will be future postings about this @#$%^&* piano!)  We have so much crap hanging around, our crappies have crap!  


I used to be the girl who could find a receipt for gum that I bought in the 5th grade, but couldn't tell you where I put the the bill for my car payment.  I used to be the girl who held on to scraps of paper with pithy comments to use at a later time.  I used to be the girl who saved books for years after I read them.  I used to be the girl who kept things because I was somehow attached.  I am here to tell you, that girl is long gone!  In her place is a lean (hardly), mean (you tick me off, you betcha!) get the crap out of here machine!


I reached my breaking point about 18 months ago and went on strike and I thought it would end within a week, month at the latest.  Well apparently I am not the only stubborn person living in my house (how rude!) and our standoff lasted until about 3 weeks ago when I issued my Declaration (ultimatum) of "PUT IT AWAY, OR YOU CAN BUY IT BACK AT GOODWILL!"  I said that in 3 weeks time if there is something you want, you had better put it away, or you can find it at Goodwill.  I pictured a mass stampede (our mass is 3 total, so not so much a stampede as a meandering) of racing around the house making sure all prized possessions were safely stowed away.  Well apparently I have been all smoke and no fire about this and was not taken seriously.  Each day I announced the countdown and still no action, except for Hubby's sudden interest in the garage and throwing away my Fathers 50 year old Scouting Uniform, backpack, canteen and a spare booster seat.  I rescued them from the trash and was a tad heavy with the sarcasm when I told hubby he did a good job clearing out the garage...OF MY STUFF (and to get to it, you had to remove 12 tons of his wire, tools, wire, wire, wire, tools, wire, and did I mention wire?)


Well the snow days hit and we were at the end of the countdown and had nowhere to hide.  I pulled out big black trash bags and starting loading them up.  I handed one to my son and sent him to his room with a mission to put everything that was not being used in the bag.  He filled that bag, I gave him another, he filled that, and 6 bags (huge 30 gallon lawn and garden bags) later he paused.  I took another bag and filled it with items from his closet and mine.  Hubby is still not really a team player with this and does not have any bags to his name (that he is aware of...shhhhh!).  


The state of emergency is lifted and hubby hears the call of work beckoning, I however saw my golden opportunity!  I grabbed bags and filled them until they could hold no more.  The bags have cd's, stuffed animals, books, slippers, toys, bath towels, dishes, shoes, pants, other bags that were stuffed with things.  All in all I bet there are 20 ish bags that are making their way to Goodwill each time I take Nathan to school (today being the first in a week).  


I have been patient, I have begged, I have cried, I have sulked, I have been silent, I have raged...NOTHING worked.  I have taken matters into my own hands now.  NOW, if you leave a glass on the counter, it goes in the recycle bin.  If you leave a book laying around, it goes in a bag for Goodwill or Freecycle.  If you leave your clothes on the floor, they go in a bag for Goodwill.  If you leave your socks on the living room floor, you will find them in the piano bench.  If you leave your empty can on the counter, it goes back in the fridge.  If you leave your video game on the floor, you have one less video game.  If you leave the vacuum in the middle of the living room floor, you will find it out back on the patio.  Since asking (words) did not work, I am taking action (bagging it up) and putting it where I choose (to hopefully illustrate a point).  Why can't I put a pile of (clean) underwear in the pantry and have a piano bench full of dirty socks and old mail if you choose not to put it where it goes?


So next time you are in Goodwill and you see a naked family, stop and say hello won't you, and please help me find my blender, so I can buy it back.

Do I have enough bail money, or should I do some laundry?

It is February here in New Mexico, and by design, all over the world as well.  We have been having really frigid weather, to the point that we are having rolling blackouts due to all the extra power being used, and possible gas surges that are burning baked goods all across the state.  Schools have been closed for almost a week (goodbye Spring Break!) due to snow, ice and conserving energy.  I am doing my part by not using the washer and dryer so that others may have power.  I know, I know, what a giver I am!


Well the last time that I let the laundry pile up, hubby had quite the experience at work, and it went a little something like this:


First you should know that Rick has no butt to hold up any pair of pants and being an Electrician, he stuffs his pants pockets with odds and ends that he needs so he will not be running back and forth to get needed items and it can make for a very heavy pair of pants.


Rick comes home and asks me if I want to see what happened at a customers house today.  He is standing in front of our fridge and says that I really need to see this.  There are visuals?  Rick is standing in front of the fridge and lifts his arms like he is working on an outlet on the wall and his very heavy pants fall straight to the floor, puddling at his ankles!  You would think that that was the funny part.  It is, only there is more funny on the way.  Rick is standing in his customers bedroom and when his pants fall down he is wearing his "porn star" bikini underwear as it was the only pair left in the drawer.  He has a screwdriver in one hand and a flashlight in his mouth, his jeans around his ankles, porn star underwear accentuating his now not so private parts (and who said stripes weren't flattering!) and his customer says, "Want me to hold the flashlight while you pull up your pants?"  Then she says that she had better go and call her husband at work to see what else he wants done, and promptly leaves the bedroom.  Rick is left standing there deciding if he should pull up his pants and sneak out, or stay and fix the outlet when the woman comes back and says that her husband says just fix the outlet today and can he come back later in the week to fix some other electrical problems.


Let us now fast forward a few days to Ricks next visit to the very same customers house...Rick walks in the door and the woman has company (she either had friends over for lunch, or they all had a stash of $1 bills and drinks in the freezer) and all eyes go to Ricks pants to make sure they were up.  They were, his zipper however was not!  Go ahead and laugh, I did!


Going to see if I have enough quarters for bail money, because I still want to do my part and not use any unnecessary power...

I've got gas

Guess what I was doing at 12:35 am?  I was finishing my baking.  UGH!  We tried the oven one last time around 11:00 and it roared to life!  I quickly slid in my pans, not wanting to waste our good fortune of the oven getting hot.  The timer went off and I went to take my pans out and I am NOT amused!  Some of the items are a tad bit overdone, OK burnt in the corners and bottom.  I do not know if we had a surge last night as all the need for dinner cooking was over, or because our oven has been temperamental for the last 4 years.  All the work, all the tries to get the oven going and now this.  I decide to deal with it in the morning and let everything cool overnight.


I head to bed tired with my shirt covered in pumpkin and a very messy kitchen.  First thing hubby says is what's burning? NOTHING I say!  He insists that he smells something burning...where was that burned food sniffing nose of his 30 minutes ago?  I tell him that everything is fine and to go back to sleep.  Well he is not letting this go, as 20 minutes later he asks again if something is burning.  Good God man, GO TO SLEEP!  I sniff and can not detect the slightest whiff of anything burned.  This could be because my sniffer has been in the kitchen all day with onions, garlic, cloves, cayenne, and dish soap.  


I wake up to hubby trying to wrangle the dishes into a manageable pile to wash and load into the dishwasher.  I tell him I will do the dishes and start sudsing up.  He says what am I going to do with all this food.  I tell him that I am going to wrap some up and put it in the freezer.  He says what about the burnt stuff?  He says that he even got up in the middle of the night to come check things out in the kitchen because a burning smell kept waking him up.  I am so going to hurt this man (I kid)!  I get the dishwasher going and turn to the pile o' baked goods.  The applesauce cake is good as is, no burned anything!  I cut it up into squares for freezing and eating now.  I turn to the pumpkin cake that I made in round cake pans.  I am beginning to really dislike these pans, as it is a dark grey teflon that always seems to burn everything.  Everything else I made in the Pyrex type dishes was just fine.  I pop the cakes out and one has two burn marks and the other two I just had to cut a tiny piece or two off.  I wrap them up for the freezer and hubby says did you cut off the burned part?  Really buddy?  It is a small extra dark piece of cake you are getting all worked up about.     


I made a beautiful pan of juicy peach cobbler and HATE it!  The crust tastes too much like flour to me and is disappointing.  I do not know if this is because the nice dollops of topping became one large mass from sitting on the counter until the oven was working, or if it is a not good topping recipe.  I have tried many many topping recipes and even Paula Deen's recipe was not good to me.  If you have a tried and true crunchy flavorful cobbler topping recipe, I sure would appreciate it if you could share it with me.


I have decided to put the whole John Brooks shopping fiasco behind me and start on getting my stuffed peppers and chicken cacciatore (I am going to use this recipe instead)  assembled, so I can be done in the kitchen.  I open the fridge to get the chicken out and it is missing.  How does a vacuum packed bag of chicken legs and thighs disappear?  I look thru the fridge, I look on the counter and I even look in the trash.  They are nowhere to be found.  Hubby comes in from the back patio (where the grill is) and says, "Lunch is ready, who wants some chicken?"  It is going to be a long long month!  

Ice cream sandwich for dinner, Dove bar for dessert

Picture if you will....I am in the kitchen mixing and measuring and then IT happens!  Hubby comes walking in from the garage and he is not alone, nope he has company.  It is company that I know and they are not welcome, not at all!  I hear that familiar crinkle, the noise that this company makes.  Hubby has brought home, get ready for it, four grocery bags from John Brooks!  WHY I screeched....why did you do this?  We are FOUR days in and YOU have blown the no buy for February challenge.  Hubby says, but...I cut him off saying I have been working hard in the kitchen all day prepping and using what is on hand to make meals for the week, and four days in, you have groceries???!!!  Hubby says that he stopped to buy some BBQ sauce that his friend makes and is finally in the stores, a long 7 years later.  I can understand supporting your friend, and Hubby REALLY supported him with 8 bottles of the BBQ sauce.  Then like a kid at Christmas, proceeds to show me what else he bought:  


1. We have a box full of 20 individually wrapped Dallas Cowboy plastic silverware sets, napkin included and big blue Cowboy star on the plastic wrap of each set of silverware.  AND they are not even in the Superbowl this Sunday!


2. 2 plastic jars of Clamato juice.  


3. A six pack of hot and spicy V8.  Makes perfect sense, as the 42 cans of V8 that we have on hand are not the hot and spicy kind and the 8 jars of Hot Sauce could not remedy that situation....UGH


4. 2 packs of 100 count paper plates.  WHY?  Because you can't use the foam ones in the microwave.  I had these hidden in the back of a cabinet  from another foray to the store on his own.


5. A box of ice cream sandwiches.  We have no ice cream in the house says hubby.  I open freezer and point to a 1/2 gallon right there and in a voice a tad high pitched say we have the ice cream maker that I got for Christmas just waiting to be used.  Oh I forgot he says.  This is were my right eye starts to twitch.


6. A box of Dove bars.  We are apparently on the verge of an ice cream shortage and needed to stock up.  


7. A produce bag with 6 Roma tomatoes.


I am fuming, getting ready to put the last thing in the oven when Hubby says what's for Dinner, I'm starving?  I say that we are having baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese, a steak, and a salad.  For dessert there will be peach cobbler or the applesauce cake.  I open the oven door to slide my dishes in and to check on the potatoes that I have in there.  I stop mid slide!  The oven is not working, it is warm at best!  I can touch the racks in there and not have to move my hand.  This is NOT good!  My eye is twitching away.  I am close to tears, looking at all the contraband on the counter and my 4 dishes to go in the oven.  Hubby says he will take a look, so I gladly leave the kitchen and come sit at my laptop.


There is banging, and moving and cussing, and banging , and metal scraping metal.  I am taking comfort in the tap tap tap of my nails on the keys of my laptop, while trying to block out the fiasco in the kitchen. Hubby asks me if I spilled anything on the stove top that would prevent the gas from coming thru and being lit. Really?  He then turns down the heat in the house thinking that it wont light due to the temp in the house.  For real?  He then tells me that it is the pot of water I have on the stove top, it has to cool.  OK, it should be cool, that was 7 hours ago.  Oh really he says.  We have both tried to warm up the oven for the past hour and we are not achieving our goal.  I am sitting here remembering when we were dating and he told me that there was nothing that he couldn't fix. Well for tonight his name is liar liar, pants on fire, tomorrow he will go back to being Rick.


Long story short...Hubby and son are having steak, on paper plates, and using the plastic silverware, and a plain nuked potato.  They had better use that @#$%^& BBQ sauce!  I, my friends am having an ice cream sandwich for dinner and a Dove bar for dessert!  Screw it!  If you can't beat em, join em!


I am going to wrap up my ooey gooey not cooked yummies and put them in the working fridge and troll on line looking for a new oven with one hand, and an ice cream sandwich in the other! Stay tuned for edge of your seat details...


Tomorrow is another day. AMEN to that!

Cook it once, eat it many times

Well here I am, second day in a row... a new record for me!  I have been taking stock of what I have in the pantry and seeing how I can cook once, use multiple times.  I have pureed tomatoes, diced tomatoes and tomato paste (all organic) and all the spices needed to make a spaghetti sauce that I can use for spaghetti and meatballs, chicken cacciatore and two lasagna's, one veggie and one meat and stuffed green peppers (to use up the cup of brown rice in the fridge).   I plan to at least double this as I am making a few meals based on this sauce. I just found frozen ricotta and mozzarella cheese in the garage freezer and while there, I pulled out some chicken thighs and legs.  I am going to make the "spaghetti" sauce in the crockpot so I do not have to watch it all day.  I have some meatballs in the freezer, so no need to make new and I will just chop up some of them to add to the meat lasagna along with a small piece of sausage I also found in the freezer.  I also saved the pasta water I used at lunch to use again for the lasagna noodles

Meals for Today:

Breakfast: 

There was no breakfast, we slept right thru it!  We got the call yesterday that there was no school again today, so we stayed up really really late and slept really really late!

Lunch:

We were ready for lunch!  I chopped up some carrots, bell peppers, onion, chopped garlic and  threw in some frozen TJ's corn and broccoli.  I sauteed all the veggies in about a T. of olive oil and added some paprika, mustard powder, kosher salt, and balsamic vinegar when it was hot.  I added a little bit of heavy cream and parmesan cheese and let it get thick and then added the pasta along with a little pasta water and it makes a very creamy and yummy sauce.  I always make a bunch of this as I will eat it for a few days.

Dinner:

We have not had dinner yet, my lunch dishes are still all over the counter,  and I am still chewing as I type this.  I have a steak thawed in the fridge and this will be cooked on the grill* outside. I have about 20 lbs of potatoes, so broccoli cheese potatoes seem like a good and yummy choice to add.  I will also use the last of the apple sauce tonight for dinner.  I will eat my pasta made for lunch, a salad with my champagne dijon dressing.

Baked yummies:

Last night I made the Applesauce Cake and this morning there is the equivalent of an applesauce muffin left!  I am going to make another applesauce cake in addition to a Pumpkin one.  I have cans of pumpkin from December that I had planned to use to make pumpkin pies and never got around to it.  I will also make a peach cobbler out of some canned peaches we have since I want to make the best use of the oven while it is baking away.  Hopefully some of this will make it to the freezer before Hoover and Son find them.  Hubby says if food disappears, it was very good and I should take it as a compliment, so I did.

*We grill all year long and have 2 grills, one is Hubby's for all the meat items and the 2nd is mine for fruits, veggies, and veggie burgers.  Yes this may seem a bit odd, however I do not eat anything with a face or a family and cooking my veggies next to a sizzling cow loses its appeal to me.