Archive for September, 2010
Easy Peasy Lasagna
Posted by: | CommentsI made lasagna on Sunday for dinner. Yes, I made dinner. Usually Tony does most of the cooking (Thank God!). I got the recipe from a Kraft magazine a few years ago, and tweaked it a bit. The bonus? You don’t have to cook the lasagna noodles. Here’s the original recipe:
HEAT oven to 350°F.
BROWN meat in large skillet on medium-high heat. Meanwhile, mix 1-1/4 cups mozzarella, ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan, parsley and egg until well blended; set aside.
DRAIN meat; return to skillet. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Add 1 cup water to empty sauce jar; cover with lid and shake well. Add to meat mixture; stir until well blended. Spread 1 cup meat sauce onto bottom of 13×9-inch baking dish; top with layers of 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup meat sauce. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining noodles, meat sauce and cheeses. Cover with greased foil.
BAKE 1 hour or until heated through, removing foil after 45 min. Let stand 15 min. before cutting to serve.
I do it just a bit differently. I use cottage cheese instead of ricotta (it makes the lasagna less sweet). Sometimes (like this time) I use ground turkey instead of ground beef. The kids tend to like that a little bit more. Make it. Do it. Go, go, go!!!!!
Snip, Snip
Posted by: | CommentsWell, Chloe gave herself a hair cut.
I’ll start by saying that it could have been worse. I actually didn’t notice for a few hours. (And I’m gonna apologize right now for not having any pictures) Here’s how it went down:
Our niece came over to visit with her two sons (the new one is just nine weeks old, super cute, and slept the whole visit). Anyway, the girls were playing with their cousin, and they started to play school. Outside. Well, fine. I saw Chloe walk by with a pair of safety scissors in her hand. My magic mom sense told me that I should definitely question that. So, I asked her just what exactly she was going to do with those scissors. She told me that she was going to cut some paper. Then, just following my gut (or maybe putting an idea in her head), I asked, “You’re not going to cut your hair with those scissors, are you?” I just had a feeling. She told me, “no.” I made her promise, and she did.
They were playing school, we were chatting. It was pretty hot outside that day, and the girls dug out the (extremely overpriced) spray fan that we got at Disney World. They were spraying their faces and head to keep cool.
Fast forward to a couple of hours later. I went out on the deck, and sat down in our little love seat. As I look at the cushion next to me, I see a tuft of hair, at just about “Chloe-head” level. So, I yell to Chloe. She stands in front of me and I ask her, “Chloe, did you cut your hair?”
{{{{crickets chirping}}}}}
“Chloe, did you cut your hair?!?!?!?!”
First, about five seconds of ”deer in headlights.”
Then, screaming, crying, and “I’m sorry, mom!”
I grabbed the brush and started checking out exactly how bad it was. She cut the sides, which WAS over her ears. Not any more. I laid a guilt trip on her, told her that Jess (our hairdresser) was going to be very disappointed, and that her head looked wacky. Through the tears, she said to me, “I **sniff, sniff** didn’t know **sniff, sniff* that it wouldn’t **sniff, sniff** LOOK PRETTY!!!!!”
HA! I had to chuckle a little. So, she went to school the next day with everything tucked behind her ears. We took her to Jess (at Hot Heads Hair Design) today, and I think I like the way she fixed it better than the original haircut.
Let’s just call that one a joint effort 
Have a great rest of your weekend!!!
Invasion
Posted by: | CommentsYou know, over the years here in my little piece of the world I’ve seen a few stink bugs. But this year? Ugh.
I don’t think I have it as badly as some of my friends who live over in Moon and Kennedy townships, but the bugs? They’re here. They’re ugly. Don’t squish ‘em…they smell. And that smell? It attracts more stink bugs. Wanna see some video from last month?: http://kdka.com/video/?id=75580@kdka.dayport.com
Ugh. Well, today Rex decided to protect me. He does this often. Usually it’s with moths. But this morning? He ate two or three stinkbugs that were on the deck.
Wanna know what he did next?
He hurled. On my new outdoor rug. (Better than inside!). Poor little guy…he has such a sensitive stomach, and to put a STINKBUG in that sensitive stomach was just, well, not a good idea. I’ve tried to get rid of them. A friend of mine on facebook said to spray them with rubbing alcohol. Well, that didn’t work for me. I read to spray them with a 50% water/50% Dawn mixture. That didn’t work either.
Effers. They better not come in my house, or there will be a stinkbug war. Do you have any tips on dealing with them?
Have a great day!!!
Careful – You Might Get Hit With An Opinion
Posted by: | CommentsOK, fair warning. I actually read something that got me fired up enough to write a blog post. That doesn’t really happen too often around here, so I’m letting you know: If you don’t want to get smacked in the face by a flying opinion, either a) duck or 2) kindly leave the room
I don’t know if you read about the teacher who sued Chartiers Valley school district. Wait, which one, you say? They’ve been sued so many times in the past few years, it’s hard to keep them all straight. Anyway, I’m talking about the applicant for a Social Studies teacher who is also a Veteran. Here’s the article at the Post Gazette.
There’s so much BULLSHIT in this whole situation that I don’t even know where to start. Plain and simple, Chartiers Valley School District has CONSISTENTLY put their sports program ahead of academics. They have done this by “bending” the rules (or, you know, breaking the law…whatever) and now the taxpayers are paying for their mistakes. There have been other mistakes, too. Mistakes that don’t have anything to do with sports, but politics. And poor judgement. And people who have power who do things for their own agenda. Remember the Assistant Superintendent Tammy Whitfield? Yeah, she has money going to her. And then there’s the whole Tim McConnell situation. Great coach. He’s also my neighbor. Nice guy, supports our business. But he had a job that he wasn’t qualified for. I’m glad that he’s still the coach, but the way he got into that position was just not cool. Not necessarily his fault, but it involved more blunders from Chartiers Valley.
The teacher who got the job instead of the applicant who was a Veteran? Football coach. I don’t know him from Adam. He’s probably a very nice guy. But, plain and simple, he shouldn’t have gotten the job when there was a more qualified candidate. The situation would be totally different if they were applying for a job with a private company. But this is for a SCHOOL DISTRICT. Their salaries are paid by TAXES. Do I think that the majority of parents would rather have a great coach or a great teacher? We want great teachers!!!!!
Nepotism exists. Plain and simple. ”It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Well, that’s all fine and dandy. Maybe it can give you an extra “push” if you know somebody. It should be a tie breaker. But if there isn’t a tie?????? HELLO!!!!! Jobs should go to the most qualified person.
OK, I feel better. Do I want to run for Chartiers Valley School Board? Hells, no. Do I want to vote out every person that had anything to do with these situations? Hells, yes.
Entertainment and Such
Posted by: | CommentsWell, since I’m kidless for some large chunks of time, I’ve been able to watch a little bit of boob tube. Here’s what we’ve been watching:
Hot Tub Time Machine – Laughed my ass off at this movie! Love it, love it, love it. And, because I’m an eighties girl, I also love John Cusack. It’s a requirement.
Kick Ass – I really liked this. Not quite as funny as Hot Tub Time Machine, but it was a good movie with a decent story. The little girl? Awesome. Just awesome. Worth watching.
Also, season three of True Blood wrapped up on Sunday night. Again, not the same as the books, but still darn good. It’s really like a whole new GOOD story. If you don’t get HBO, go rent the first two seasons from Netflix or something. If you have a weak stomach, nevermind.
I’ve also started watching The Big C on Showtime. I’ve been catching it while the kids are at school on OnDemand. So far, I like it. Here’s a video for that:
Seems like I haven’t really watched anything bad. Maybe that’s because I’m just happy to be able to watch SOMETHING. Although I did fall asleep during the Jets/Ravens game last night. Meh. That’s what Tony gets for putting football on at night. Although, if it were a Steelers game, I would have been hootin’ and hollerin.’
Have a great day, and get some entertainment!
