Day 9 - Momar's Lasagna Recipe

Day 9 -

My mom has always made the best lasagna.  We have it several times a year when we get together at her house, and it's our official Christmas Eve meal.  Luckily for me, my children like it and I make it myself at least once a month.  Yesterday I asked the big girls if they wanted to go out and eat seafood (we ARE at the beach after all) and Karlie's friend, Savannah, said, "No! I want your lasagna!"

It's easy, it's yummy, and it's even better heated up for lunch the next day!

Disclaimer: This isn't really a picture of my lasagna.  I didn't take a picture of it because I didn't plan on blogging about it.  This is pretty close to what it looks like though, so let's just go with it... 

Addendum - due to popular demand... here's the recipe!

1 pound ground beef
1 pound sausage
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 can petite diced tomatoes
2 cans tomato sauce
1 small carton cottage cheese (small curd)
1 package shredded mozarella cheese
9 lasagna noodles

While noodles are boiling, brown ground beef and sausage.  Drain.  Add rest of ingredients.  Simmer meat sauce until the cottage cheese is melted and mixed in well.

Drain noodles.  In casserole dish, put 3 layers of noodles alternating with meat sauce.  Top with mozarella cheese and bake on 350 degrees for 20 minutes.


*P.S. This isn't exactly Momar's recipe.  She doesn't know the recipe so I just kinda winged it.

**P.S.S. I usually boil more than 9 noodles in case a couple stick together or something.

***P.S.S.S. I've noticed noodles in the grocery store that you don't have to boil. They're "bake ready".  They might work but I haven't tried them.

Thankful Blog - Catching up!

I’m behind on my Thankful Blog so I’m combining 3 days in one… here goes!

Day 6 – My Bed

The other night, I was asleep in my “assigned” spot on the couch (Aubree has one end and I have the other).  My knees hurt when I fall asleep sitting up and so apparently I stretched out in my sleep.  I woke up pushing a pillow out of the way with my feet… only it wasn’t a pillow.  I had my FOOT on top of Aubree’s face and was pushing her out of the way.  Yikes.  Poor baby, but it’s really her fault.  If she would sleep like a normal person, I would have been snoring in my nice, comfy bed instead of kicking her in the face.  On Day 6, I am thankful for my bed.  I don’t get to spend NEARLY enough time in it, but I still love it. 

Day 7 – 5-Hour Energy Drinks and Teenage Girls Who Talk And Talk And Talk... 

Since the kids are out of school on Monday for Veteran’s Day, we planned a long weekend trip to the beach.  At the last minute, Willard backed out because he’s been sick, so I headed out with 8 kids. Well, one is technically an adult but he doesn’t pay his own bills so he’s still a kid to me.  And 3 more were teenagers but they don’t wash their own clothes so they’re kids too.  We headed out after dark, and I knew I’d struggle to stay awake.  When it gets dark, I get sleepy.  Always have and always will.  My foster daughter suggested a 5-Hour Energy Drink and SHA-ZAM!  Between the drink (my first ever) and the fact that she NEVER stops talking, I didn’t get one bit sleepy.  We made excellent time, only stopped once and now we’re nestled in for a beautiful weekend.  So, on Day 7, I’m thankful for artificial energy boosters and my 16-year-old foster daughter’s motor mouth. 

Day 8 – The Beach

Rain or shine… warm or cold… There’s nowhere in the world I’d rather be.  On Day 8 I’m thankful for the beach and that I get to wake up to this view for the next few days.

P.S. After I wrote this post, one of the bunch started throwing up.  I am not sure if it's a virus or food poisoning, but I'm thankful for Zofran.  :( 

Day 5 - Thankful that I'm thankful and want to share it...

Day 5 -

I've been thinking all day about what I wanted to profess my thankfulness for today.  There are dozens of things that pop in my mind... some as significant as Jesus and some as insignificant as these new bobby pins Hope Garner gave me.  Fortunately, I've got a few more days to cover everything.

Today I'm thankful for being able to share what I'm thankful for. I saw a couple of my FB friends making comments about the negative attention that the "thankful" statuses are getting and I thought... nah... surely nobody is complaining about people being THANKFUL.  With all the possible things in this messed up world we could be complaining about, we're going to complain about seeing people publicly post what they're thankful for? Unbelievable.

This is me on my soapbox.  I know, I look skinny - don't I??  

Day 3 - Massey ... Day 4 - My Home

On Day 3 and Day 4, I'm thankful for Massey, Alabama, and the house that I live in.

When we got married in 1990, Willard's aunt and uncle gave us land as a wedding present.  Land, people! I was 20 years old and honestly did not realize what a gift that was.  I appreciated it then, but even more now.  I have thought many times that there's nowhere I'd rather live than this spot right here. From my "spot" on the couch right I have a perfect view of the sun rising in the east.  When I look to the south, I can see nothing but land and trees.  Well, except for the occasional cow, coyote or deer. 

We built our house in 1994, and then built ON to our house in 2006.  It's not a mansion but it's plenty big for us.  I've never been one to really care about decorating or what kind of counter tops I have or even really if the furniture matches exactly.  It may not be magazine-worthy, but it's full of the things that matter... laughter, love, and laundry. 

Day 2 - In-laws

I love my in-laws - my family by marriage.  When I met them all on Easter Sunday in 1986, I was a skinny 16-year-old with a mullet.  They immediately loved and accepted me as part of the family, and always take my side over Willard’s.  We have played many, many family softball games in the front yard, played Hide-And-Seek after dark, got slung around Smith Lake together on inner tubes, stayed up all night playing card games, and eaten enough fried fish to feed a small nation. This family plays hard, fights hard, and loves hard.  On Day 2, I am thankful to be able to call them mine.

Day 1 - Free Days

Day 1 –

Today I am thankful for downtime.  Tomorrow (Saturday) will be the first Saturday since August that I haven’t had to be somewhere bright and early.  I’d love to think that I’ll get to sleep late, but since Aubree thinks she part rooster, that likely won’t happen.  At least I can be lazy and watch cartoons all morning.  We won’t have very many free Saturdays in the near future either.  For some reason that is now buried somewhere in my subconscious, I signed Yuri and Gigi up for basketball.  On the night of their first practice, I had to go with Karlie to volleyball so Willard took them to their practice.  When they got home, I started quizzing…

ME:                        How was practice???

GIGI:                      Horrible.  Just horrible. 

ME:                        Why???

GIGI:                      We ran and ran and ran.  My heart was “beeping” so fast.  And it’s still beeping fast.

ME:                        Ahhh. Well, what was your favorite part?

GIGI:                      I liked the outfield. 

ME:                        …

YURI:                     She means defense.  I liked it best too.  My coach says, “When you are on defense, you get that ball!  I don’t care if you have to bite, pinch,or pull hair.  GET THAT BALL!”

This should be interesting… 

Ouch! That hurt...

Well, the stomach virus has hit our household.  I’ve been playing nurse since about 8:00 last night.  Hopefully if it’s going to pass through all of us, it comes quickly and leaves quickly.  Ugh.  Aubree and Gigi are both feeling really bad.  Our poor little foster baby boy is getting neglected today because I’m so busy taking care of the girls.  He’s such a good baby and doesn’t seem to mind at all! He is absolutely the best baby I’ve ever seen.

Gigi has been laying on the chaise watching cartoons all morning and she has added quite a few items to her Christmas list.  She picked out something called a Tummy Stuffer.  It looks like a stuffed animal but there’s no stuffing in it.  It has a hole in the mouth and you stuff it yourself with whatever you can cram in there… blankets, shoes, toys, etc.  Gigi pointed out that if her and Yuri got “a bunch” of those for Christmas, it would be really easy to clean their room.  Um, no. 

On a positive note, I’m scared to eat and that’s good news for the diet.  I’ve been lax about it the last couple of weeks.  Yuri said something that shook me back to reality though…

ME:                        Girls, time to get in the tub.

YURI:                     I’m not taking my clothes off until you leave.

ME:                        Why?

YURI:                     I don’t want you to see me naked. 

(I find this quite odd since she runs around the yard naked and half the community has seen her naked, but whatever…)

ME:                        *rolls my eyes*

YURI:                     Okayyyyy… but don’t laugh.  Remember… I saw you naked before and I didn’t laugh.