Well, Hello there

Well, my oh my. It has been nearly 2 months since I last thought about writing anything on this here blog. But I thought I might give it an old college try.

The last 2 months have been hard. If you are still in school, thank your teachers. If you have kids in school, thank their kids. Because this career choice I made, it is hard.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love it. I have not once thought "I do not want to go to work today." Except for that one day when I had a stomach bug, but that was because I didn't want to puke on all of my students. I love going into that classroom everyday and teaching these knuckleheads things that I would like to think our children going into high school should know, but all too often do not.

I have been swimming in it all for the last 8 weeks. But with Thanksgiving right around the corner I actually feel like I might find myself as a person again. Maybe.

Take tonight as an example, even though I spent all day in class I still had time to take Emily to a birthday party, and have some one on one time with Jacob, and finally upload photos from like the last 3 months and a few other fun items. While sorting through the previously mentioned pictures I found one that I had forgotten i had taken. I had wiped the memory of the event from my memory all together. But seeing that picture, it all came back to me.

You see a few months ago my dear Amy and I finally made our much anticipated trip to see NKOTB. She recounted her fabulous memories HERE. She does quite a fantastic job of retelling the account in a fabulous voice with lots of anticipation and well thought out writing. But what she didn't tell you was that she became very violent on our little adventure. She was out right crazy. I became fearful for my safety when she insisted that she purchase a shot gun.

And then, ladies and gentlemen, she shot an animal. And liked it!

I know, I know, we are from Texas, where people shoot animals for sport. But, I really was shocked when we are walking through downtown San Antonio and she opens fire on a poor, defenseless animal.

I even took a photo of our dear friend with the "kill" and as you can see she was quite proud of herself!

I know, I know. I am almost ashamed to call her MY Lucy.

But in all seriousness, I think that weekend helped keep my sanity. With the craziness that is my life now I rarely have time for myself. But me and my girlfriend rocked a fabulous time and I can not imagine doing it with anybody else. Plus the music was pretty rockin' too!

World I never thought I would hear.

While the kids are gone this week I have been even more busy than I am with the kids. Ok, I am busy with things that are all about me, but I am ok with that.

I decided that while the kids are gone I would try a few recipes that I had found that I didn’t want to deal with crazy kids in case they were horrific. So, on Tuesday night I made a Mexican Lasagna. That’s what the recipe called it anyways. It was fairly easy, and from the my recipes website. It was so easy I made most of it while on the phone with Amy, talking about something of vital importance, like world peace, hunger in third world countries, or maybe it was what Britney was wearing that day on Perez Hilton. I don’t really remember.

Anyhoo.

I made this meal while on the phone, and I am not really a cook so that should tell you that the recipe was super duper easy to make. I did dirty 4 dishes/pots in the process but I will just have to get over that.

And when I pulled it out of the oven, it looked and smelled delicious. I waited for it to cool down and carved me a little piece out to try and it was fantastic. I was in love. I thought I was the new Rachel Ray. But I was home by myself and the true teat would be what Josh thinks when he got home later that night and tried some.

The next morning as I was heading out the door I asked him what he thought of the Mexican Lasagna and he said, “It is the best thing you have ever cooked!”

Now, I don’t cook much, but I think I have a few good meals up my sleeve. But now, Mexican Lasagna is one of the food that will be added to the rotation at our house. Plus now that I have made it once, I can think of a few ways I want to tweak it to make it my own. I am just thrilled to have found something that at least 2 of the members of my family will enjoy. I think that even Emily might like it and Jacob MIGHT warm up to it in time.

So here you go: the recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 pound ground mild pork sausage 1/2 pound ground beef 1 (15-ounce) can jalapeno ranch-style pinto beans, drained 2/3 cup canned diced tomatoes and green chiles 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of celery soup 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup 1 (10-ounce) can enchilada sauce 9 (6-inch) corn tortillas 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese 1 medium tomato, seeded and diced 4 green onions, chopped 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 medium avocado, chopped
Preparation
Cook sausage and ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain. Stir in beans and next 5 ingredients; cook until thoroughly heated.
Stir together soups and enchilada sauce in a saucepan; cook until thoroughly heated.
Spoon one-third of sauce onto bottom of a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish; top with 3 tortillas. Spoon half of beef mixture and one-third of sauce over tortillas; sprinkle with half of Cheddar cheese. Top with 3 tortillas; repeat layers ending with tortillas. Sprinkle with Monterey Jack cheese and next 3 ingredients.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Top with avocado.
Yield
Makes 6 to 8 servings

Yummy.

It's what we do

Here is what my day consisted of:

Tunes:


Tickets:


And reinforcements:


And videos of our adventure:

BFF Beatdown

Amy and I worked on this Sunday afternoon in response to another pair of bloggers...

So without further delay: