Wordless Wednesday

(Othello)

What do you do with a bag of ‘Tots? Why casserole, of coarse.

I had some ground beef, browned, bagged and frozen. Tater Tots. Hmm. My family loves casseroles. Here’s what I did (didn’t measure).

Sauteed about a cup of onion in some butter/olive oil, added about 1T. of chopped garlic to the mix. Sprinkled about 1/4 cup of flour on top, then added 5 cups of milk, slowly, while stirring the whole time. Heat and stir, added a few shakes of Tabasco, some salt and pepper. Heat until thick and bubbly, stir in about 3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. Turn off heat and stir until melted. Mix in the ground beef.

In large baking dish empty 1 bag of frozen mixed veggies to cover bottom of dish. Oh, I sprayed the dish with some non-stick spray before I did this. I digress, back to the veggies, sprinkle some salt and pepper on them, and a handful of shredded cheddar cheese. Pour cheesy beefy mixture on top. Take your bag of frozen Tater Tots and spread them evenly over the top of the dish. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes, take it out and top with a cup of cheese (I sprinkled some garlic on top) then return to oven until tots are browned and it is bubbly. Serve with a simple salad. Yum.

Everyone loved it. You can add in some other veggies, too, if you have them. We ate it for a late lunch and then the kids heated more up for a snack later on. I had one kid who claimed he wouldn’t like it and ended up eating those words.

Wordless Wednesday 

So glad I got started on that scarf. Sigh. In true form of my compulsive craftiness (ie. A.D.D. knitting), I abandoned the scarf to work on a hat. Not needing much of an excuse to do so, since my natural inclination is to abandon projects, particularly scarves it seems. But the other day Franny remarked on how our hat supply had dwindled.

Ya don’t say?

That was Monday, and by noon I was at the store buying black and brown yarn and by Tuesday night was weaving in the ends on the completed hat. I had DT try it on for me and he said, “Nice hat, too big though.” And that’s pretty much what they all said, the little boogers. I was nearly maniacal, silly drunk with knitting that the “too big” part hurt me wee ego a bit. But, hey. I successfully worked some DPNs this time, so it is a learning process.

Lootie was my kind model. Again. So grace-filled in the morning hours while munching waffles before school.

(Photo on Picasa)

(Photo on Picasa)

I’m guessing my next hat will be started within a day or so.

Sal may not like the Hinna-Hin, but Freddy doesn’t seem to mind. He stood, kneading Hinna for a good while, and then finally nestled into her.

Fred is a happy, but very strange cat who, instead of eating upright like a normal feline, likes to plop on his side next to his bowl and fish food out with his paw, bringing it to the ground to eat. I’m in awe that he would seriously be that lazy, but apparently… he is.

He also likes to jump up to the table and sit on it, which I DO NOT LIKE AT ALL, seeing as we EAT there and everything. Pheenie went and snapped a photo of the evidence of his naughtiness when I’m not around. Thank you Pheenie.

. . .

Idonotwanttogotowork. Idonotwanttogotowork. Idonotwanttogotowork.

Gmail is great. Got all my email on there.

Google is fine and dandy, too. Got the toolbar set up to search from the Goo’ an everything.

Until it goes down and you can’t access it over the span of a couple days.

I can’t seem to find any information on why Google is down or how long it will be.

I’m a knitter, but I’m not a knitter, if you know what I mean. I like to knit. I enjoy making fast and easy projects. But I can’t make a sock, or a sweater. And, for the most part, I have the tendency to abandon projects. I guess in my head I’m not abandoning them, but more “moving on to something else” for a bit. Right now I count… 1 blanket, 1 prayer shawl (ripped that out, though, made a major boo-boo with that… first time on the circs), 2 or 3 scarves, one dishcloth. Just off the top of my head.

I’m an ADD knitter. It is what it is.

Boredom with my current scarf project motivated me to dig out my box of yarn. I figured I could use up some of it on a project — maybe a hat. Mind you, there’s nothing to salivate over, no yummy hand-dyed yarns or expensive ooh-la-la skeins. A bunch of discarded yarns, really, bought for some project I meant to make but still haven’t gotten around to. Some of it is Sugar and Cream leftovers from my dishcloth making obsession, yarns for preemie caps, Fun Fur, stuff like that. Did find some nice wool in there. I have additional skeins lying around in mid-project or in bags, waiting to become yet another abandoned project.

Tub contents:

The rest in the tub:

Yarn is like books for me. I shouldn’t buy anymore until I use (read) what I’ve got. I could make hats for the kids. We can never have too many. Or an abundance of hats, scarves, mittens, preemie caps, maybe a prayer shawl for charity. But, as compulsion would have it, as the yarns slipped through my fingers, I felt inspired to run to Hobby Lobby and pick up yarn for a scarf pattern I found.

The fancy yarn, marked $9.99, I got for $1.99. Lootie helped pick it out (he loves the craft store). I needed a second yarn, but ended up going back a couple days later to painfully pick that out (hard time making decisions). I’m about 1/3 through the scarf. I messed up in the beginning bringing the yarn up the side as I knit and didn’t realize that I was carelessly adding in some stitches for a few rows. Was yapping with the husband, too lazy to go back and take it out.

I’d really like to finish this scarf. I need a new one badly. And I still have that itch to knit a hat.

I have just one thing to say.

Dove Chocolates. The Eggs. Only at Easter. Eight years ago the twins were born. Pre-mature  (8 weeks). Emergency C-section. Percoset put me over the edge, but Dove Chocolates sincerely helped me endure the month that they were in the hospital. If there was a shortage of those eggs in our city Easter 1999, I take the blame. At that time I hadn’t the palate for dark chocolates (don’t think Dove made dark ones anyway), so I devoured the milk chocolate eggs. They were in my purse constantly. When I ran out a state of panic ensued. Sal got really sick (some of you know that). Developed septicemia, blew every IV they put in (head, hand, feet…) and finally got a central line put in for the anti-biotics. Thank God that worked. They both came home within a month, on the same day.

Dove Chocolates, the eggs, will always remind me of their birth.

Lootie had his birthday last weekend. He turned 11. Two days before his birthday, he decided he’d like a party. So he started to invite people, calling them at a time when probably most of the kids were already in bed. I didn’t realize this because I was occupied. At any rate, having been sick all week I wasn’t up for much fanfare. Pizza and cake, treat bags. Those were my provisions. And shelter. Some balloons. He’s not picky. He just wants people to come over and have fun. An excuse to get sugared up and facilitate good fun for the people he enjoys. The majority of the kids I knew, but one was new to school.

“I have to let you know that (name of boy)… you have to know something. He’s big. Very chubby. You can’t say anything.”

I looked at him like he was a bit mad. “Lootie. I’m big. When have you known me to say things about people because they’re big? Or because of anything like that?”

“I’m just saying. People tease him sometimes.”

He left the room. Lootie’s like that. Matter-of-fact. Done. It was his way of saying, I’m inviting this kid and I don’t give a crap what anyone else thinks.

A day before the party, Frank picked up 2 Tres Leches cakes. Last year I made them. Didn’t have it in me this year.

The day of, two hours before the party, we went to Wal-mart to get plates and treats for the goodie bags. I bought 3 bags of balloons to blow up, figuring if I scattered them around the house, it would look festive enough, coupled with the 99 cent “Happy Birthday” plastic tablecloth.

The boys, about 13 of them (3 of which were mine — Dants was in Minnesota and Pheenie was at a friend’s house) plus one little sister… they had a blast. Lootie may have his “issues” at times (we all do) but he’s good at showing people a good time, making sure everyone is included. I didn’t have one report of teasing the big kid. He thought it was way cool that within a week of starting a new school, here he was at a party. (His mom, when she picked him up, was over the moon, said it made his week. Lootie has a very genuine way of doing things like that.)

Most of the time was spent running around, eating pizza. The stations of interest were: television (we rented a couple wrestling videos since most of the boys are wrestling freaks), computer — (which I had to remove them from because I thought they’d mess it up), video games. And then, the highlight of the night, running around with the Nerf guns, taking prisoners and evading getting hit by the foam pellets. I literally had to hide in Pheenie’s room for a breather. They found me though, and happily occupied that corner of the house as well.

All in all it was a swell gathering. We didn’t spend too much money. And Carlito didn’t notice or care that we didn’t give him a gift (although he went to a wrestling show back in Fall as an “early birthday present”). He said the party went too fast, and that he had a blast.

Frank was in charge of picture-taking.

You’d think it would come natural to a group of 11-year-old boys, but taking a “goofy picture” can be so awkward.

Opening gifts. He’s got no problem being excited about each gift. But then he’s also great at sincerely thanking people.

The Tres Leches cakes. Frank picked out one coconut and one coffee flavored. Not sure why he got a coffee flavored one for an 11-year-old’s birthday. But strangely enough, it was just what some of the kids wanted.

. . .

In answer to some of the comments… YES, momma uses a Neti pot (and to my brother — it was completely UNnecessary for you to post that hideous link to the sinus pictures, which is probably why you did it in the first place *thwack*). And I did get some relief from that. The major relief came from using the sinus spray in combination, though, just to get over that hump. My mouth pain was gone within a day. I love me a Neti pot, though. Those things are awesome. Suellen, not sure on the eye thing. Although, I wondered if flushing irritated my nasal passages. It was after I started flushing that I became inflamed.

. . .

Well, now I’m off to shovel snow. I need the darn exercise.

Knitting keeps me warm. Occupied. Feeling productive. I’ve been keeping busy knitting a scarf. Well, actually I have about 8 scarves started, but got sick of them, abandoned and started this one. Wanted something a bit funky and different from my regular Fun Fur festivals, and needed to use up some yarn. Here she is about 1/4 of the way done.

. . .

The feeling of a small troll, crammed between the roof of my mouth and my nose brought me to the doctor this afternoon. I guess I’ve got some sinus stuff going on. He recommended Afrin twice a day for a few days to open up those passages and let the goo drain. Attractive, I know!! I’ve been feeling intermittent goo slide down the back of my throat, and my tummy is a bit unsettled, so this wasn’t a big newsflash. I’ll admit, if I’m in my car or outside or somewhere where I’m not ashamed to show my lady-ness, I hack it up and hock it in a snowpile (or Kleenex and dispose, yes I do). I can spit pretty well, totally not proud of it– not putting it on the resume or anything. It’s just a fact. Cradle snot in a curled tongue and whuuck like a blowdart. I don’t like that crap going in my tummy. Save those calories for the good stuff, ya hurd?

I do know to be careful with that spray because, a few years back, I lost my sense of smell from the stuff for a while. It was my own fault because I got a bit overzealous with the nasal spray, using it even when my nose was clear. Foolish.

. . .

Christy’s got a contest going on. She’s giving away an Angie Stone CD. Go check it out.