An Old Favorite

This is my tried and true - It hasn't failed me yet!
I have even gotten "requests" for it at office pot lucks.

Broccoli - Rice - Cheese Casserole (Crock Pot style)
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Cream of Celery Soup
1 box chopped broccoli (chopped)
2 cans Rice (I use the empty soup cans)
2 T butter
2 c Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese

Pile everything (but cheese) into the crock pot and cover 'mound' with water.
Cook on high for 2 hours - add more water if needed.
Cook on low for 1 hour.
Add cheese and stir well.

To make this a main course and not a side dish - add chicken strips (I use the 1 lb frozen bag).

Namaste.

Ouch

This weekend was one of injuries for us.

Friday found us in Urgent Care with MaBell's wrist. We were afraid that she broke it, but we dodged a bullet there and she only had to wear a wrist brace for the weekend.

Saturday found us playing sand volleyball. No injuries, but MBB and I are both a bit sore.

Sunday found OB being carted off of the football field. . . Diagnosis? Hyperextended knee. We dodged our second bullet and he should be okay to practice tonight - but I am wrapping his knee!

Sunday night found MBB and I at a jazz club.
Did anyone fall out of their chairs on that one?
Yes, I know that I don't care for jazz and I don't believe that MBB does either.
But when a college professor says go - we go.
Not sure if almost being put to sleep counts as an injury or not though. :)

Namaste.

Collecting!

Many of you know that we have been living in a house with no Air Conditioning (a frightful thought, I know)!

I have become a collector of estimates as we are deciding whether to buy:
> Air Conditioning only and keep our Gas Furnace
> Air Conditioning with an Electric Heat Pump to go with our Gas Furnace
> Air Conditioning with a new Electric Furnace

Does anyone have an opinion about any of these? We are also collecting info!

The last company is coming by tonight to get all of the information for their estimate.

**Happy Dance**

I'm hoping to get all of this taken care of before the first frost!!!

Namaste.

For 6 Minutes Straight. . .

. . .my alarm blared at me this morning.

I had no clue.
I stayed in a deep sleep.
I didn't want to get up.

I think I'm still sleep deprived.

What was MBB doing while the alarm was going at full volume?
Sleeping.

Namaste.

Hardest Thing. . .

I have always been told the hardest thing that I will ever do is be half of a successful, serious relationship.

I agree that it is a LOT of work.
I agree that I struggle with what I "let go" and what I "hang on to".
I agree that compromise is an art.
I agree that it is the most rewarding thing that I have ever done.

I disagree that it is the hardest thing I have ever done.

What is the hardest thing that I have ever done?
Hands down - Helping parent a teenager.

Namaste.

It's Back!

I'm not much of a TV person - too much to do and not enough time doing all of the other stuff that I have to do.
MBB has a few shows that he likes, but he watches them from the Internet so he is able to work it in to his schedule more easily.

Last year, I started to watch his favorite show (it's OB's favorite show too).
It's one of those shows that you have to watch them in order, and cannot miss one, or you are completely lost.
Thanks to the writer's strike, I caught up and saw all of the first two seasons.
I won't say that it is my favorite show, but it is interesting to see where the writers are going to take things.

Last night was. . . .dum dum dum. . . .
The return of. . .
Lots of twists and turns, surprises and questions.

Namaste.

Cooking

I got a new crock pot! :)
It's a smart one!
Yep. . .No more burnt meals from being gone too long with the crock pot running.
I program high (4 or 6 hours) or low (8 or 10 hours) and it switches to "warm" after that.
Click here for a product review.

I tried Hash brown Casserole in it first (OB and MaBell's reaction to me cooking breakfast at 10pm was hilarious!). . .Verdict: MBB - Liked it, but said it needs more spices. MaBell / OB - Hated it.

Yesterday, I attempted Beef Stew. This one was a bit more risky as my crew LOVES their Beef Stew. I knew it wouldn't be good if it didn't turn out well in the crock pot. . .Verdict: MBB - Said it was okay. . .it needed more spices. MaBell / OB - Liked it.
I used a different Beef Stew mix than normal. I think if I go back to the normal one, all will like the Beef Stew in the crock pot!

Since this is going to be big mission of mine (cooking with the crock pot), I'm going to post "approved" recipes here both for others to use and more importantly, for me find again if I "get lost".

So, here is my approved Beef Stew recipe:

- 2 lb beef stew cubes (floured and browned ahead of time)
- Packet of beef stew seasonings
- 6 cups of water
- 10 red potatoes (cut into eight pieces)
- half bag of baby carrots (halved)
- 2 stalks of celery (cut up into small pieces)

Put ingredients in crock pot in the order that they were listed, stir.
Cook on high for 6 hours (Mine was on warm for at least an hour before we got home).
Add some flour to thicken the broth (I used about 1/4 cup).
Cook on high for 15 minutes (while biscuits are in the oven).

Namaste.

What Wind!

We had some windy weather last Sunday.
Yes, windy - not rainy, not stormy, nothing but windy.

I took this on my way home Sunday early evening.
There are many, many, many more that I could have taken!
As I was driving down a major road on Sunday, my experience of stop lights was pretty mind blowing:
Stoplight #1: Lights off, stop signs in the intersection
Stoplight #2: Lights off
Stoplight #3: Working, no issue
Stoplights #4 - ~#10: Lights off, many drivers blowing through the intersections (~35 - ~45 mph)
PEOPLE. . .No lights on a stoplight means treat it like a FOUR-WAY STOP!!!
Stoplights #11 - #13: Working, no issue (2 fast food restaurants were open and majorly BUSY)
Stoplights #14 - #15: Lights off
Stoplight ##16: Working, no issue

I alternated between laughing at the sporadic electricity outages, screaming at drivers on the verge of causing accidents and praying that we had power at home as I hadn't had time to do the laundry for the week.

Most of the people I know in Cincinnati and even as far north as my hometown were without power (some still are). There were school closings galore all last week.

We were some of the lucky ones - we had power throughout the entire week and the kids had the great privilege of not missing a day of school! I figure they miss enough due to winter weather, glad windy weather didn't fall into that list too! :) I don't think that they agreed with me.

Namaste.

Time?

I seem to have an large "To Do" list. . .At last count, it had 27 things on it!
I'm having a bit of trouble finding time to cross things off of it.

One thing that just doesn't seem to want to get off of my list - I have a 4GB memory card that is FULL of pictures. OK, I can probably put about 10 more pictures on it, but that's it. I just haven't had a few moments to sit down, delete the bad one, edit the good ones and upload them (which is another chore in itself).

Tonight, for the first time in awhile, I don't have any games to go to, practices to pick up from or stores to stop at. I was going to go to the gym, but I forgot my gym shoes. SOOOOOOO. . .at 3:30pm today - I AM GOING STRAIGHT HOME FOR THE NIGHT!!!

Will I cross anything off of my "To Do" list?
Probably one thing - SLEEP!

Namaste.

Happy Birthday!

Today is MBB's Day.

He's not too happy about it.
I am! :)

Yep, we are the same age again. :)


Love You Baby!


Namaste.

It's Off-Limits. . .

There are some topics that are off-limits to my blog.
Not because someone else said so, but because I said so.

I do not reveal 'serious issues' that may be going on in our house - those are private.
I will reveal when something is bothering me, but not fights or disciplinary issues if I can't be vague.

I do not blog about sensitive issues that affect those in my house.
For example, something happened last night after a sporting event that I am dying to blog about.
BUT, I am not going to because it concerns an acquaintance of someone in the house.

I don't hide my blog and voicing my opinion about someones actions could get back to them and in turn back to my household.
If it would just come back on me - I'd be ready to post.
If it would come back on MBB, MaBell or OB - no way, no how.

Namaste.

What A Great Game!

Yep, they won!
I didn't get to see it personally, but I did get a good review.
OB's team is now 2 - 1 in regular season.

What? You thought I was going to blog about that orange and black team?

Perhaps when the orange and black team that I know and love decide to show up for a game, I will blog about them again.

Namaste.

Update

Posting a personal update here for those who I haven't been in contact with lately and those who have been waiting for information from me.

MBB's mom was rushed to the hospital Saturday afternoon.
We got to talk to the doctor last night (we just kept missing him, on Tuesday he came in after we left for the evening) and it has been confirmed that she had two strokes on Saturday - one "minor" and one "medium".
I'll be honest - the word stroke scares me. I don't care what type it is - it isn't good!
I guess in this case, we are thankful that it wasn't a "massive" one, but it was still a stroke and it still scares me.

As of last night, she is back to acting like the MBBMommy that I know.
We aren't sure when she will be released from the primary hospital - they are still trying to get her medication stabilized in her system.
Once she is released, she will be moved to a Rehabilitation Hospital. I'm still trying to work out all of the details on that one.

Namaste.

A New Pet Peeve. . .

. . .Unanswered emails!

I'm not talking about the typical FYI, forward or funny emails.
I'm talking about emails sent to one or multiple asking a specific question, requested an answer.
Nothing worse than needing the answer and not having it! AUGH

I don't 'think' that I am guilty of this in the past, but you can be sure that I will be more careful not to do it in the future.

Namaste.

The Box

There once was a box that arrived in the mail addressed to the man of the house.
There was a quick "DO NOT TOUCH" when said man was told of the box.

This box was quickly moved off of the floor as not to be kicked, bumped or stepped on.
It remained in its home up high and unopened, out where everyone could see.

The contents of the box remains a mystery.
The contents of the box continues to drive the kids of the house crazy.

The owner of the box doesn't appear to be the owner of the contents.
BUT the owner of the box will not open it until an event (still to be determined) arrives.

Namaste.

His Priorities A Bit Confused?

What would you do if you got fined for having the wrong name on your uniform?
Me? I'd stop using the wrong name.
What about you?

I would not go through the legal process and pay money and disrespect my family by CHANGING MY NAME!

I guess that Chad Ocho Cinco has different priorities.

Namaste.

Bad Internet!

The Internet doesn't like me - both at home and at work.
As my patience is handling 5 minute page load times, posting may be light for awhile.

Namaste.

That's My Man!

MBB needs one more Gen Ed class to graduate. . .A Fine Arts class.
The only class that was offered when he could take it was. . .
Drum Roll Please
Music Appreciation Class

I believe that he has done more home work in this class so far than his other four combined. That will probably continue as he has to attend and review three concerts this semester.

For his first assignment, MBB had to email his instructor some information (yes, this was an assignment). I forget exactly what the last section was on the email, but the example answer given was "I am looking forward to going to three concerts."

MBB's answer?
"My girlfriend is looking forward to going to three concerts with me."

That's my man!

Namaste.

Crockpotting. . .

I am on a mission to start cooking more with my Crock pot.

There are nights when we don't get home until 8:30 and if I don't have dinner ready in the Crock pot - it could be 9 or 9:30 before we eat supper.
Since OB's bedtime is 9, that's not going to work so well.
The only other alternative is to swing by the Golden Arches on the way home and that isn't a good option for my wallet or my waistline!

So, I ordered a crock pot cookbook from OB's school fundraiser.
I found a blog with crock pot recipes and. . .
Starting next week (after I do my weekly grocery store run), I'm going to give it a go!

I may need to get a new crock pot - one of those neat programmable ones that switches from HIGH to WARM so that the food doesn't over cook.

Namaste.

Labour Day!

We spent Labor/Labour Day Weekend doing lots of. . .Labor!

Friday:
Weekly trek to the grocery (which I hadn't done in two weeks. . .OUCH!)

Saturday:
One load of laundry
Found a great deal on a cabinet at a garage sale
Leg workout at the gym, with some cardio!
Cooked some Chili!!!

Sunday:
Caught up on some sleep - 12 hours!
Run, run, run! Birthday Party, Concessions at a Horse Show, Football Game

Monday:
Caught up on some sleep - 9 hours!
Changed the bed
Five loads of laundry
Cooked some Steaks

Wow - I think I need some more sleep. :)
I think MBB is REALLY tired of homework already - he logged LOTS of hours this weekend.

Namaste.