The Crazy Life is Moving

     

     Hey guys just wanted to let you know that The Crazy Life is moving to a different website. I decided to move in part to my lack of web site knowledge. You see I was having problems getting things to work here, so I found an easier site to use.

     I hope you still check back to see what is happening here in this crazy ole house, because just cuz the site moved doesn't mean the craziness will stop. At least I hope it doesn't stop, then there wouldn't be anything to write about.

     I'm still on Facebook, so you can also check me out there, and hopefully I can get these three sites linked together so you will have un-interrupted entertainment in this new year. You can always check the RSS Feed to find out the new news from the new site.

     So rather than bringing in the New Year, I will be bringing in the new site. Hope you all have a fun time tonight, and remember to be safe. I sure wouldn't want anything to happen to y'all. 

Goodbye Old Year: Things I Have Learned

     

     So the end of the year is just around the corner here. We all know what that means, new resolutions. I usually don't do this because I end up forgetting what I vowed to do for the year within a week. However this year I just might give it a try again. Hopefully it will last longer than a day. Hey come on now at least I tried!


      I'm finding it hard to come up with something unique. I mean I could say, to loose 10lbs, or quit smoking, or love myself more, get the house organized, but those are so over done don't you think? (plus,in my case unattainable) Now I'm not saying those things aren't good ideas, I just want something a bit different. That's just the way I roll dontcha know.


     So maybe you guys can give me some idea's. Just remember they have to be unique, and actually something I can do. If you don't give me any idea's then I guess I shall not partake of the New Years tradition and I shall be sad. So make sure you leave your idea's in the comment box below. 


     Some things I learned this year are: 
I can actually grow a veggie garden. I have also learned that the little rabbits that visit our yard loved everything I grew.  Little bastards. 


     I have learned that Superman continues to astound me with the things that pop out of his mouth. Some of them make me laugh, some of them make me wonder just what is going in that little head of his. His latest is, "my weinner hurts." "Why does your weinner hurt Superman?" "Cuz when I eat pizza it hurts." I'm sorry, say again please? Where does this kid come up with this stuff? He hadn't even taken a bite of his pizza yet. Flawed logic there young one. 


     I have learned that when you spend $900.00 on getting the truck back on the road, it will drop it's muffler one week later three hours before I had to go to work. This resulted in an extra $400.00 spent. Stupid truck!

     I have learned that when the lovely Mother Nature drops 12+" of snow on you in one shot, "plowing" the drive way with the van is not a good idea. Said plowing resulted in power steering going out. Now must drive broken van because broken truck is broken worse than broken van. (it wasn't me)


     I have learned that I now hate snow. 80 some inches of that white stuff almost killed me. We do not have a snow blower it was all done by shovel. Thank God for Princess's young back! Thinking of getting a snow blower, then again this year I only had to shovel once. I'll put that on the back burner for now, and kick myself in the ass later.


     I have learned that two boys, two years apart is enough to test anyone's sanity. Then again maybe I wasn't sane to begin with. The fighting is enough to send me to the looney bin...can't wait until they are teenagers. NOT.


     I have learned to test the limits of my family's taste buds, and actually have fun. Some were good some were bad. Some I think they actually would have killed me if it weren't for the fact they need me so much.


     I have learned my kids are smart-ass's. Hmm wonder who they got that from? Certainly not me, right? 


     I have learned that sometimes you just have to roll with it. Fighting it just makes it worse. 


     I have learned my children are precious when they are sound asleep and not causing chaos. Watching them sleep is the most awesome thing in the world besides holding them the day they were born. 


    So what are some things you learned this year? I hope that we all can continue learning as we go. 
May God bless you in this coming New Year, just as he has blessed me in this year.

   
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Is That a Foot Up My Nose?

This morning as I tried to roll over I came in contact with a foot on my pillow. This was not DH's foot, nor was it mine. I am not that flexible anymore. (now isn't that a pretty picture to imagine?) It seems Superman decided at some point to crawl into bed, and it was his foot I came face to foot with. It never fails that he will somehow manage to flip himself around on about a foot of space to rest his feet on my pillow. I truly wish I was awake to witness this awesome act, but alas I was sound asleep thanks to some muscle relaxers. 

 

In my sleep induced state of mind I managed to grab my phone and take a picture. Did you know it's very hard to take a picture half asleep, and facing away from the camera? It resulted in a blurry picture, but at least you can get the idea of what I awoke to when I sort of turned around. 

Now Superman isn't the only one who did this. When she was younger Princess would flip and flop around like a fish. One night I was woke up to her trying to shove her big toe into my nose. It was the last time she was allowed to sleep with me. The toe in the nose was a bit too much.

Jokester now he doesn't do the flip flop thing. His head will stay on the pillow, however his legs will be all over the place. I think he has restless leg syndrome in the truest sense. This kid runs in his sleep. A person never knows what might get kicked, or when it will happened.

We don't usually let the boys sleep in the bed unless they are sick. However they do manage on occasion to sneak in there, and the out come usually ends with a foot or two on my pillow, or I get kicked. Happy morning to me. 

      
The mound in the background would be DH, and the empty space is where I just vacated after pushing Superman over a bit so I could climb out without sitting on his head. He really needs to find a different way to sleep. I can just see the headlines, "mom kills child after sitting on his head". 

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ME, ME,ME

     Man I hurt today. My whole body is killing me right now. I guess it wouldn't be so bad except the fact that no doctor seems to know why this happens to me. You see, for some reason all my joints and especially the joints that receive pressure while I'm sleeping will all of a sudden become painful. This of course leads to a horrible nights sleep, while I'm tossing and turning around trying to find a position that isn't painful. You all know a horrible nights sleep leads to a very tired, cranky, totally out of it mom. I will have to give the kids a heads up, if they see me...run the other way because I am no longer mommy, I'm the head biting monster of your dreams. Oh, wow. Light bulb just turned on. Could I really be the monster in Superman's dreams? Have to tackle that one another day, today is all about me. Me,me,me,me.

     So back to me...so usually when this muscle thing happens I usually end up with a headache the size of a mountain. I currently have one that is only the size of a small hill, so far so good. Like I said, this happens all of a sudden. I have actually enjoyed a couple of months with very little flair up, so I really cant complain. Unfortunately when these flair-ups do happen it pretty much reduces me to a pile of "I don't do anything" blob. So a blob I shall be, and I shall make my family do my bidding. I am after all the Queen here.

     If I have the energy I will be making this recipe later for dinner, if not they can fend for themselves. I found this in mom's recipe box. I have never tried it out, so here goes nothing.

Ham and Swiss Casserole

Ingredients:

3 cups egg noodles, uncooked

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 1/2 (6 oz) cans mushrooms, drained ( will not be using these)

1 1/2 cups dice cooked ham

1 1/2 cups dice Swiss cheese ( I only have shredded)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon pepper

3 eggs

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons milk

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Bring large pot of water to boil, add egg noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente: drain

Pre-heat oven to 400F

Toss drained noodles with 2 teaspoons oil.

Heat remaining oil in a skillet and saute onion over medium heat until soft.

Combine noodles, mushrooms, ham, Swiss cheese, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Transfer to a greased 3 quart casserole dish.

In a bowl mix together egg and milk: pour over noodle mixture.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese

Bake for 30 minutes.

serves 6

     If I make this I will post the pictures later, but in the off chance I don't get this made today I will certainly post the pics when I do make it.

Update: I spaced out taking the pictures...again. One of these days I'll get it together with the pictures. 

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Post Christmas: The Recovery

     Wow! I survived Christmas! Nobody ended up in the hospital, presents all were wrapped, and not lost and given to the right persons, everybody ate till their hearts were content. I'm so glad it's over! Now don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. Just hate all the crap that comes with it. You know what I'm talking about right...the running around frantic looking for the items on the list, the extra grocery shopping for the holiday meals, the extra cooking. The best one is trying to fit all the extra garbage in the garbage container so you don't get charged extra from the environmental waste collector. A side note here, who decided to give them this title? I'm sorry it's garbage, and they are garbage collectors. Ok, back to surviving Christmas.

     Princess got her computer, while we tried to find a laptop for her, it was not to be. She did end up with a computer that blows DH's, and my computers away. Totally want to give her my piece of crap and take the new puter. Thinking she might not like that, but I guess I should be happy for the fact I no longer have to share my puter with her.

     Superman got his race track, in fact he got two. I hesitated to get him these since it has pieces, and Superman and pieces just don't go together. If you look at any room in my house you will find a piece or two to various things. This would be Superman. He has this thing where he likes to play with a piece of say a track and turn it into a gun. Said gun will make it through the house while he shoots various bad guys, and when he's done shooting the bad guy he will drop the "gun" wherever he is and move on to something else. Usually finds a better "gun" and goes from there. Therefore my house is covered in pieces of "guns".

      Jokester was ecstatic that he got a table top pool table...finally a pool table. This kid has been bugging us for one since he was two. He calls it shoot ball, so for four years I have been hearing, "mom can we get a shoot ball table?" The answer has always been no because we don't have the room, and they are too expensive. This kid has done almost nothing but play "shoot ball" for three days can you say very happy?

     DH received big cups. Now don't go thinking something dirty here, cuz it isn't what it sounds like. You see we have some left over large coffee cups from the restaurant, and he wanted us to grab some more of them. We looked high and low in the house for these big cups, and they were no where to be found. So I took the boys out shopping on the hunt for big cups. Five stores later I finally found the perfect big cups, so we quick bought them and brought them home and wrapped them before DH got home from work. I unfortunately forgot a vital piece of the whole gift giving thing. I forgot to tell Superman that presents were supposed to be a surprise. The next day Superman walks up to DH and proudly proclaims, "guess what dad? We got you big cups!" Oh snap! Mental note either make sure you tell Superman to keep a secret, or don't bring him with. DH did have to wait a week to get his "big cups", but he sure enjoyed the looks on the boys faces when he opened the present.

     The family finally got a Wii for Christmas. I have been putting this off for some time. Why I don't know, but I did. Probably had to do with the price or something. So for three days the family has been playing the Wii. I have never played this before, and I should have known something would happen, and it did. You see I have this fierce competitive streak in me, and everything I do I have to do the best. This stupid streak has resulted in me totally messing up my arm. OMG it hurts so bad! I'm thinking I can use this to my advantage somehow though. Like, "honey can you do this or that for me? My arm hurts too much." Oh yeah I see a plan forming here.

     I hope your Christmas was as good as mine, and I hope you all survived it in one piece. Just remember you can sit back and relax for another year before we all have to subject ourselves to the craziness that makes up Christmas. In the mean time, grab yourself some chocolate and indulge yourself...you deserve it.

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Good Night laugh

     I am so exhausted. I seriously need someone to hold my head up. So I figured I would do another post here with me being so tired and all. Actually I'm finally getting around to making Santa's Christmas cookies, so I have some free time on my hands between cookie sheets. I only have one so there is quite the time gap going on. Hold on, now that I think of it, I do have another cooking sheet somewhere, but I'm sure not gonna go look right now. Oh the casualties of not unpacking when you've been in the house for almost 3 years. I bet there are lots of goodies just sitting in a box somewhere. I however will not be the one to unpack them. They aren't bothering anyone where they are. Then again, I did just find my lost camera in one of those boxes. Might be something to look into...nope just messing with myself.

     I was wasting time on You Tube, and came across this video. Thought you might like it. I know I did. I would do this of my own free will, no need to ask me on this one. Kind of like the year Princess got a present wrapped in 5o layers of wrapping paper, or the year her dad did the same thing only used packing tape instead of scotch tape. I love these pranks. Anyhow check it out.

     I would have so much fun with this. In fact the one present we weren't able to get was for Princess. I said to DH, " hey wouldn't it be funny if we just gave Princess her little cheap presents and pretended that was all she got. She could sit there watching her brothers un-wrap present after present. Then come Monday we can totally surprise her." Now DH has a wicked sense of humor, and I thought this one would go over well with him, but he told me I was cruel. Now that sounds like something I would normally say to him, but I did see a smirk on his face.

     I guess Princess gets out of wrapping the stocking stuffers, since she wont be home until midnight or so. I'm going to just throw them in the socks and hope for the best, because I sure aint gonna touch another sheet of wrapping paper (see the story on that) for a very long time.

Well the cookies are done, and I'm heading off to bed so I can have some beauty sleep for the crazy day ahead of us tomorrow. Good night, and God bless. Hope you have a Merry Christmas.

Marathon Shopping

     I finally did it! We actually got all the Christmas shopping done with the exception of one present. It was a crazy day yesterday that is for sure. Finally got the haul hidden for wrapping later, picked up the boys and drove DH to work. I'm so proud of us! Did you see the Heavens open and the Angles singing Hallelujah? It was a beautiful thing. Sigh.

     Good thing Princess is gone until later tonight because her closet is crammed to the busting point. Going to have to remember to tell her not to touch, or there might be a landslide. Someone could seriously get hurt if not properly ready to dart and catch as things start flying out the door. Must have full battle gear on for this because I sure don't want to make a trip to the hospital like last year with Superman.

     So after giving the boys a healthy meal of tacos, and letting them get all the rambunctious behavior out of them it was finally time for them to go to bed. Gave Superman his medicine, let him pick out a movie since it was his turn, tucked them in, and prayed they fell asleep fast so I would not be up all night wrapping presents. It worked! It really worked. They fell asleep in an hour, and then it was time to let the fun  begin.

 Please trust me they do have their own beds. 

Sometimes you just have to leave them where they fall.

     So I go to said closet to begin take out the presents. I called it right, landslide. Fortunately I wasn't hurt. It was close though, at one point I saw something go zooming past my head. I decided to take out the remaining presents in layers, thinking hopefully it would be safer. This also allowed me to separate them into kid piles to make sure there were equal piles. Yippee, I didn't loose count when shopping, they each had the same amount. Now I don't have to hear, " he has more than me." 

     I was going to put the batteries in all the toys, but I figured DH could do that tomorrow while I take pictures with my camera that I lost two years ago, and found two weeks ago. It has been patiently waiting 2 weeks for me to get a new SD card. Poor camera, I'm sure it felt neglected.  There's just a glimpse into my disorganization, it gets worse but we'll touch on that another day. 

     I started wrapping presents at 9:30, and didn't finish until 2 am. Well I take that back, I gave up at 2 am. and saved the stocking stuffers for Princess to wrap when she gets home tonight. It took me so long because when I was a child, my father decided to teach me how to properly wrap presents. I had to wrap, and wrap until I got it perfect. I still wrap perfect and that takes time. I really wish I could just slap some paper on the stupid things, but alas I have had perfection drilled into me. 

     So I got most of them wrapped, bag them by kid, and went to shove them all back in the closet to wait for Santa. They did not fit back in. I moved, I rearranged, I shoved, I pleaded, and I prayed for these stupid things to go back in the closet. It is the only spot in the house that is safe from the boys. They must go back in! I even try to bribe them, and assure them falsely that if they go in, I will not allow Superman to break them. I think they were on to me. DH calls from the living room, "what's the matter?" "Oh nothing, just can't get these things to fit back in the closet", I say through gritted teeth. "Do you need help?" Now here is where something goes wrong. Instead of saying yes, I say no. Why I do this, I have no idea, because while my mouth is saying no, my brain is screaming, "yes you idiot I need help, shouldn't you just come and help without me having to ask?" What the heck is that, and why is my brain calling him an idiot? I obviously have some things to work out here, but in the mean time if any of you have an idea about this please feel free to comment below. Lord knows I need all the help I can get.

     Well I'm off to bake cookie for Santa (ok, let's get real here, they are for me). Santa works so hard this time of year I, oops I mean Santa deserves to have some chocolatey goodness. 

You all take care, and have yourself a great Christmas. 

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Meet the Princess: AKA Autumn

     Princess, AKA Autumn came into this world almost 17 years ago. There was one thing special about her. Her hands and feet were super puffy. Five doctors later, I finally found out the cause of the puffiness. She had Turner's Syndrome which only affects girls. I'm sorry repeat this please doc? After I did some studying I found out that there is a very high rate of the fetus aborting herself in the first trimester, so any TS girl born is indeed a miracle and God decided I should have such a miracle. This was quite the challenge for a 22 year old single mother, but we worked through the rough times just fine.

     Now when Autumn was younger, and an only child she was always bugging me for a baby brother or sister. She got her wish times two. Jokester came when she was ten, and Superman when she was twelve. She now regrets her wish, because her little brothers driver her crazy. Hmm welcome to my world Princess. Don't get me wrong, she loves the dickens out of them and would do anything for them, she just wishes they would leave her alone. You see when the boys aren't tormenting each other, they are tormenting her, but instead of one on one it's two against one. Poor thing.

Autumn helping Joe

     Autumn is my helper, and the one who keeps me somewhat sane around here. The things I can't (or don't want) to do she does. On top of that this kid gets straight A's. Without even trying! Wish I could have done that when I was in school, but alas it was not to be. This girl is always sunny and happy, never lets anything get her down for long. And let me tell you, she cracks me up. She is so gullible, you just cant help but mess with her.  I'm sure my payback will come someday, but in the mean time...I will enjoy myself immensely.

 trying not to crack up for school pictures

       I'm pretty bummed because she will only be here for one more year, and then she graduates and will step into the real world where I can't protect her any more. Then there's the other reason...I will be left in a house full of boys, but mostly I will miss my baby girl. I have secretly decided not to teach her how to cook so she has to come home sometime for real food, that way I still get to see her. See I'm smart sometimes. I sure hope the man she finds someday will know how to cook, but then again they can both come home for food. 

Princess and myself

Holy Crap! There's Piles of Poo!

   

      Wow, yesterday was a rough one for me. You see Smokey tested me to my limits. I am normally a laid back kinda gal, but this one, this one was a toughie. For some reason Smokey didn't want to go outside yesterday. Now normally this dog is jumping over, dodging under to get outside, but for some reason when put on the chain he dug all fours in and refused to budge. I dragged his little butt out anyhow, because ya know, a dog has to go sometime right? No sooner had I gotten the door shut he was scratching to come back in crying and whining. Well one of the things I hate is a dog who scratches at the door. It totally ruins it, and pisses me off. So I go back out on the porch and tell him, "NO, go potty", and go back inside. Same thing happens. This happened all through the day, so finally I went outside with him. Boy did he pee... like forever.

     I'm not sure what his problem was, and the only thing I can think of is that the day before they had torn down the house behind us. This might have made a negative impact on him with all the noise. Or maybe it's the fact the house is gone. I have no idea, but it's become a problem. You see he still wont go outside, and after what happened yesterday...this dog IS, and WILL be going outside. Now keep your hats on here, because what I am about to tell you is something I have never witnessed in my entire life, and let me tell you, I have witnessed some crazy things.

     While I was upstairs putting the boys to bed, something happened downstairs. Something horrible. Right before I went upstairs I had let Henry out to go potty, and then let BG out. Henry came upstairs with me, and we were up there for about 15 minutes. I called down to Princess to bring me something, and when she got up there she informed me there was dog poop in the hallway. So I says to her I say, "Shut Up, really!? Your messing with me." To which she replies, "um, no I kid you not". Well I finish up with the boys, getting them all tucked in, and proceed down the stairs, and that's when it hits me. The Smell. OMG! The smell was horrible! I come around the corner of the stairs and before me is the poo. Now this wasn't just any poo, this was monumental poo! 

     From the beginning of the cream hallway carpet and on into the livingroom, there were piles of poo. OMG sized ones, lg ones, tiny ones, and all other sizes in between! "What the hell happened down here", I ask Princess. She calmly says, " I told you there was dog poop." Seriously Princess?! You could have mentioned the fact there were poo bombs all over!" Now I should have known something was wrong because in most instances she will pick up the poo, not that it happens often, but she will do it. This time she just decided to tell me about it. Traitor, I'll get even with her, and I'll just snicker and say, "remember the poo bombs?"

     I go about trying to figure out which dog was the culprit. It wasn't there when I went upstairs, I know this for a fact. Superman has this radar for finding and stepping in poo, so for him to get upstairs unscathed would be a miracle. So it happened while I was upstairs. Next culprit, Henry...thinking not him since he was upstairs with me for I believe the whole time and in order for him to run down stairs and commit this monstrosity, he would have to have super powers. Next, BG. Definitely not her, she was outside the whole time. That leaves only one dog left...Smokey who was not upstairs, and was not in the kitchen with Princess. Little bastard. So I grab him stick his nose in it, and say, "No, bad dog",  and shove his butt outside. At this point I don't care if he scratches a hole all the way through the door. I'm pissed.  

     I go about beginning to clean up the bombs. It is a sad day for me, and disgusting too. I manage to get the first two piles picked up, throw it in the toilet and flush. The toilet promptly becomes clogged and on the verge of overflowing. Shit! (haha literally) Get the plunger and start plunging away. Get that fixed, and move on to the next pile. In all I picked up what would amount to 8 piles of poo bombs. Clogged the toilet again, plunged again. 

     Next it's time to clean the cream hallway and livingroom carpet. I just did this two weeks ago. Fricken dogs. So I get out the carpet cleaner and begin the tedious task of cleaning all the spots, and since I'm at it and the poo was everywhere, I'm cleaning the rest of the carpet. Almost forgot to treat the areas with the stain and odor remover. Glad I remembered in time. I finally finish with the carpet cleaning and decide...it's time for a smoke. Yes I smoke, shut up and leave me alone already will ya. It is then I remember the load of laundry that has been in the washing machine since the day before. I run down and grab it and finish it.

     Welcome to my world, and let me tell you this...Smokey will be going outside today whether he likes it or not. I sure am not having another day like that.

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Parts of the Female Body: The Dreaded Mammogram

     Hey yous, thought I might touch on something a bit more serious here today. You see tomorrow I get to go have my yearly Mammogram. I'm am not 40 yet, but I am supposed to be getting one done yearly since I was 27. You see my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer at the age of 27, so that automatically put me in the lucky category of "we'll make an exception for you." Here in Minnesota a woman usually will not get one until they turn 40 or in some cases 50, and then I believe it's every two years. Luck me huh? 

     Now you might have noticed that I used the word "supposed" when referring to getting a Mammogram done yearly. Well that's because I haven't. There is this thing in me that says, "nope, not gonna do that". I would much rather go through labor again than stand there having my boobies smushed. It fricken Hurts! When they say it's more painful the larger the breast, they aren't kidding. When I got my first one, I was rather small, but three kids later and a few extra pounds (ok much more than a few pounds), those suckers are much bigger. The bigger you are the more pressure they have to apply to get a good X-ray.

Never mind the fact there's some person (lady in my case) grabbing your boobies and plopping them on a cold steal plate. Sometimes I hate being a woman.

     So even thought Breast Cancer Awareness Month has pasted, make sure you still remember to get this done if you land in the luck category. Especially if you have a family history of this. There are low cost or free programs here in the states if you don't have insurance or you cant afford this. Pick up the phone and make that appointment, and while your there make sure you don't deck the poor technician. They need a paycheck too. Then you can be part of the Smushed Boobies Club, just like me.

Update: Got the results and everything is a-o-k with the boobies!

Merry Early Christmas!

     Merry early Christmas! I hope you have gotten the shopping done (unlike myself), planned out the menu if your having the family over, and for sure made or bought Santa's cookies. I'm waiting until the day before on the cookies other wise they wont last and Santa wont get any. Yes I would be the guilty party here. Fresh baked Chocolate Chip Cookies! My mouth is watering as I type. Lucky Santa.

     Ok back on topic here, but don't those look just yummy? So I was thinking that I should try to find some special deals for you, and I'll be posting them below for you.

     I will start with this one from SC Johnson Co. I actually signed up for this and there is some pretty good stuff here. You sign up for their newsletter and they send you tips for cleaning, and organizing. They also include coupons, and recipes. It's free to sign up so what are you waiting for, go ahead already.  

 

     Next we have one of my favorite products. The odor eliminator of my liking...Febreze.

Man I could spray this stuff all day long. Love the scents they have and their product line sure has gotten bigger. So here are some coupns and special offers.

     Oh my gosh this next one is a beauty! Now I know your just about at wits end with all the stress, crazy shoppers, not to mention family. Here is the perfect one for you, hell for me too. Calgon has a $1.00 off any product. How sweet is that. I'm printing this one right now and getting me some so I can be taken away!

     Now lets see if I can find something really good for you. I'm thinking along the lines of Chocolate! Are you with me here? I said Chocolate! Yeah baby I found a $1.00 off coupon for Ghirardelli. How cool is that of me. Your liking me now aren't you? Ah come on go ahead and like me on Facebook. Now here's that coupon your waiting for. $1.00 off coupon. Now keep in mind this is through Coupons.com, and you will have to download a special "printer" in order to print coupons from this site. 

      Just a reminder to you, I do not gain any money from you clicking on the links. These are just some finds I found while playing on the puter, and thought you might like them.

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Flash Back in Time: Ravioli Casserole for Crock Pot

   I was digging again in Ma's recipe boxes and came across this one. Apparently I put a few recipes in there,since this one is in my writing from way back when I cared if people could actually read my writing. Oh so nice and neat it was. Keep in mind I have never tried this recipe, in fact a lot of the recipes you find on here is just me trying new recipes. Ready for the adventure? If it is a recipe I have tried, I will make sure I put in in the post. Any how back to this recipe.

     Now when I took the photo of the ingredients I missed a couple of things, so please don't go by the photo. Make sure you check the recipe at the bottom of this rambling.

     Ok back again...having problems staying on task here. So I will tell you a bit about this recipe that I wrote down all those years ago. First it is a Crock Pot recipe. I love these kinds of recipes, but I always forget to start them early enough to have them done by dinner. Not today! Secondly the directions call for just throwing all the ingredients in the pot, including the raw hamburger. Yeah, I just have a problem with that. You see running a restaurant kind of makes you think about the temperature of the meats your cooking. I have gotten most of my Crock Pots used, so I have no idea if they are cooking at their correct temperature. Better to be safe than sorry. I cooked the hamburger before placing in the pot. I'm going to add a bit of water to compensate for the lack of liquid from the meat.

Cooked hamburger with the missing onion and garlic

     Next  I added the tomato sauce, I only used a large can which was one ounce off of the total amount, added the stewed tomatoes, Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper, and would have added the oregano, but I found out that I was out so I used basil instead, thawed spinach, and finally the bow tie noodles. (note I should have mixed it all up before adding the noodles, would have made it much easier.)

     Then we add the last ingredients, the grated Parmesan, and Mozzarella cheese. I debated on whether to just sprinkle it on top, or to mix it in. I decided to mix it in since it wasn't going to be getting that nice brown color you get in the oven. 

     That's it! Now you just turn your Crock Pot on low for the next 7-8 hrs. Kick back and enjoy your day. I will let you know how this tastes when we eat if for supper tonight. If you try this, post your comments down below. Well I guess post any comments you have down below. You  have a good day now.

OMG I forgot to post the recipe! Here it is.

Ravioli Casserole

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb hamburger

1 medium  onion chopped

1 clove garlic minced (I used two since I really like garlic)

2 cans (8 oz each) tomato sauce ( I used one 15 oz can)

1 can (14 oz) stewed tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried crushed Oregano ( I used Basil since that's what I had)

1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

1pkg (10 oz.) frozen , chopped spinach thawed

1pkg (16 oz) bow tie pasta cooked (I put mine in uncooked-oops fingers crossed)

1/2 c. grated parmesan

1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella

Directions: Throw in a Crock Pot on low for 7-8 hrs.

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Jokester AKA Joe

     Introducing the Jokester AKA Joe. This kid just makes me shake my head sometimes. I wonder what is going on in his mind. Joe is the middle child and he grew up in our restaurant we ran while living on DH's Reservation. He would go around to people and mooch french fries from the customers. Needless to say he really likes the fries.

Joe likes to think he is funny and like to make people laugh. He tells really bad jokes, but usually will do something he thinks is funny. Like say, instead of giving you a kiss goodnight he will wait until the very last second and lick your nose instead. He finds this hilarious, I thought it was funny the first time, not any more. He likes to pull stunts, which Superman thinks is really cool (remember the story of the bed jumping, guess who's idea it was?). He likes to live vicariously through Superman. When I say this I mean he comes up with ideas that he knows are no-no's, and has Superman do it, and then comes and tells on him.

Joe thought having a peanut shell stuck in his hair was just the craziest thing.

     Now Joe and Robert are your typical brothers, and when I say this I mean they fight like there is no tomorrow. Someone is always picking on the other. When Robert was a baby Joe would beat up on him. I told Joe that one day Robert would be big enough to whoop his butt, and I would just say, "I told you so" when that day came. Well that day came and Joe was absolutely astounded that Robert knocked him on his butt. You know what I said don't you? These two can go from killing each other one second to falling down laughing the next. 

Now is this the face of a kid who would do anything wrong?

      Joe is my little helper, that is, only when he is in the helping mood. If he's in that mood, this kid will constantly ask me if there is anything he can help with. He likes to help Princess do the dishes, she's not so keen on the idea. Makes more work for her. I had a garden this summer, and of course he wanted to help. Unfortunately his version of helping ended up with him and his brother playing in the dirt. In all fairness he did actually learn something about the food we eat. I must have done something right. 

     Getting Joe outside to play this summer was hard. You see Joe likes to veg out in front of the TV watching cartoons or playing video games. When I told him to go outside his response to me was, "um, yeah I'm not really an outside kinda person". My response was, " um, yeah today you are so move your butt". I found the best way to get him outside is to give him learning lessons. Loves to gain knowledge this kid does. 

     Joe started Kindergarten last year, and had a very hard time of it. Not his fault at all the school he was in was, to say nicely...a HUGE disappointment. I still get in a rage when the subject is brought up. Anyhow, three days before pictures Joe fell off the monkey bars and came home with a very fat, black and blue lip. After making sure he was ok, the thought of there goes the perfect school picture down the tube, but it captures the essence of Joe just being a boy.  

       All in all Joe is a fun loving, snuggling, sport loving, goof ball. He is my goof ball. One of his spelling words was "nut", and when I gave him an example of the word used in a sentence it was this, " you are a nut, and your driving me nuts". He thought that was pretty funny, but he remembered the word. Mission accomplished.

Joe showing off his hair doo, he did by himself. 

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