Friday Fiesta

If I took two recipes away from Texas with me when we lived there, it was Dorito Casserole and "The Punch". I don't know if the punch has a name, if someone else knows about it, whatever, these are my favorite two things, and anytime someone asked me what I wanted (we worked at a school, we were big into pot lucks for baby showers, birthdays, etc.) I would say Dorito Casserole and "The Punch"! They can be made separately, but they are also so good together! The recipes are as follows:

Dorito Casserole

Take one bag of Doritos and crush them along the bottom of a 10x13 casserole dish (or whatever size dish you normally make a casserole in)

Brown 1-1.5 lbs of ground beef, seasoned with salt and pepper.

While that is cooking combine one can cream of chicken, one can cream of celery, half a package of taco seasoning, one can of Rotel and a dash or two of PET milk in a saucepan and warm through.

When the beef is done, drain the grease and pour on top of the chips. Take sauce mixture and pour on top of beef. Cover with shredded cheddar. Put in the oven and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, just watch it, you will know when it is done.

Really yummy served with corn casserole and refried beans. Or if you know how to make AUTHENTIC Mexican rice, but I don't like the faux stuff from a bag.


"The Punch"

2L of ginger ale (Do you know in TX, they don't sell 2L, only 3L-EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS!)
1 frozen concentrate of limeade
1 frozen concentrate of fruit punch
1 container of frozen sliced strawberries defrosted.

MIX ALL TOGETHER IN A BOWL OVER ICE! If you want to have a bottle of Bacardi Limon on the side of the bowl, you can, I prefer it that way! :-)

Ten on...What Day Is It?

1. Seriously, I thought with the kids in school so much I would have so much free time and be bored. I can't even find time to do laundry! I have to say no because I have to do laundry. I am going to start using that as a real excuse for why I can't do things. "Sorry, I have to do laundry might come out of my mouth really soon!"

2. As if I didn't have a million and one other things to buy for our Money Pit. I really think I need a new dryer, and if I get a new dryer, I am getting a whole new set (washer and dryer)! I have to run everything through twice, which might also be contributing to my $657.99 electric bill! *MIGHT*

3. I am pretty sure it is the air conditioning causing me the pain and suffering regarding my electric bill. I want a new one desperately. We were told to wait until Spring because they are cheaper to install BEFORE the 117 degree temperatures hit. Happy Tax Return to me! Y'all want to come over and watch it happen. My kids are probably gonna go ape sh** with the crane and what not!

4. I am in shower planning mode. I have LOTS of fun ideas on pinterest, but I don't know who to show these ideas to. I need an architect or something. I don't know, I am just confused all the time. Here are some of the things I love, obviously not all together, but just a general idea!



THIS Decorative Pebble Shower Floor-SWOON!

We don't have wood floors in there, so it probably wouldn't look as cool, but bricks are my FAVE, as long as they are the right color, the front of my house, NOT THE RIGHT COLOR!



And I love this one!



5. We don't have closet doors, someone was supposed to come give me a quote today, but they stood me up, I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS! Sat here all day for nothing (well, I got a LOT done, but UGH!)

6. Made Buffalo Chicken Wraps for Dinner (buffalo chicken, carrots, celery, spinach, tomatoes, cheese) dip them in Ranch, HEAVENLY! I made them this morning, wrapped them up, put them in the fridge, READY FOR DINNER!

7. I miss my friend, Shannon. We are going to lunch tomorrow! 2 hours will not be enough.

8. We are having sushi for lunch tomorrow. I can't wait.

9. Did I show y'all the cool art I made for the office. It really goes well with our San Antoino FIESTA art, and I may have blown wax all over the freshly painted dining room walls and tile, BUT you know what, it was worth it! SO EASY!




10. Jackson's dead tooth is hanging by a thread, but refusing to fall out. It is pure torture! I want to cry everytime I see it.

1. How can a mole possibly appear on your face and no one can tell you whether or not it was there before? Does no one ever look at me? :-p

2. My sister has a new weird mole on her BACK, and I can tell her that it wasn't there before. HER BACK people!

3. Tyler started school last week, she is having a great time, it is weird having her gone five days a week. I don't know what I am going to do next year when she is gone ALL DAY!





4. The guest bathroom toilet is running, won't stop, and I have no idea what to do with it because it isn't your traditional toilet where you can jiggle the handle. Toilets have become my WORST freaking nightmare, seriously!

5. Phoenix Cooks! was amazing! Pat was a total lightweight and totally didn't take advantage of all the amazing free food you can stuff your belly with before drinking: wine, beer, gin, vodka, mai tais and pina coladas, so he wasn't feeling so hot in the evening, but it gets better every year. I seriously had the best time!

6. Tyler had this Mean Girl in her class two years ago, and they are in class together again, and she is still a Mean Girl. These are the stories I hear: "So and so isn't my friend because Mean Girl says she can't be!" WTF? "Mean Girl gets cotton candy every day and seven desserts tomorrow!" (That one is just stupid and annoying!) I must say, "Don't listen to the Mean Girl!" about a million and one times a week. Followed by, "Did you tell your teacher!?" OMG!

7. Do you ever think you are so much smarter than everyone you encounter throughout the day!?? I have been having that feeling lately! It is just a phase, something will happen soon that will knock me right off my high horse.

8. I really want a new car, instead tomorrow, I am going to sit at the service station to have an alignment and oil change, GAG! What a waste of time without kids!

9. We are having sandwiches for dinner all week because I refuse to cook.

10. Jackson's dead tooth is loose, I want it out so badly! Not only is it dead, but now it is dead and wiggly and just looks disgusting.

What We Have Been Up To!

1. Well, if you follow me on twitter or facebook, you know that we have had some DISASTERS occur around the house lately. One morning, over two weeks ago, I woke up, went to the bathroom, flushed the toilet and SH**, literally SH**, started coming up the shower drain. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever dealt with. We called our warranty company, and they sent someone out to fix it around 11 am. The guy took the toilet off, without draining it, and SH** water gushed everywhere, and I was running around collecting towels to clean it up and keep it from going on our brand new carpet. Well, I stopped it from going on the carpet, but the snake that they used to try and get the blockage out caused a great deal of damage to the carpet. It still has not been taken care of, and needless to say, I am not very happy about this. We also had extensive damage to our freshly painted walls and this has not been fixed yet either. The plumber that the warranty company sent was scandalous, ABC PLUMBING tried to tell us that our warranty was not covering the removal and installation of removed toilet and that it would cost us $800 to put in a new clean out, and blah blah blah. They wouldn't tell any of this to me, and they made me call Pat home from work, it was INSANE. They left, and we called out our own plumber, who had the clog unblocked in less than 15 minutes, including set up, and tried to clean up some of the mess the other people had made. He also only charged us $135 dollars for all of this. Why are good people so hard to find these days?

2. The blinds and shutters came in, and they look AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! Totally reasonably priced, Boyds Blinds and Drapes, was FANTASTIC, their service and waiting time, totally reasonable, and I would use them for everything around the home if possible. I called this morning to see if he did closet doors, he doesn't but I wish he did. Class Act and Fast!

3. Tyler starts "Kindergarten" on Wednesday. While it is technically a certified Kindergarten class, she will be going to Kindergarten next year, and hopefully having the lovely Mrs. Rogers as soon as I figure out how to request her. We met Tyler's teachers last week, and they are really lovely, so I hope that my opinion of them continues throughout the year.

4. Curriculum night at Jackson's school was slightly disappointing. But, I am trying to remain optimistic that his teacher was passive aggressive to the point of rude only to get the point across to the idiot parents, and that she is much nicer than that as a whole.

5. If you went to Xavier, most likely you had a Van Sickle, Mr or Mrs, for PE. Their daughter is in Jackson's class. What a small freaking world!

6. I am obsessed with pinterest. And I finally showed it to Patrick, and I think he might be a tiny bit obsessed with it himself, because all the things I have done from it so far are soooooo useful, affordable and fun! Lucky for me his closet and my computer share a room, sooooooo I just sneak in and show him things when he is changing, works out brilliantly!

7. Phoenix Cooks is this weekend, and we are going to brunch at the Phoenician on Sunday. I ate a lot this past weekend in the hopes that I will be able to throw down this coming weekend. I really cannot eat large amounts, otherwise I start to feel really sick, but eating smaller portions at the two above named events seems like a GIGANTIC WASTE!

8. Had a staycation with a few friends Saturday night. Made me realize how much I do miss my kids and husband when they aren't around. Did just what it was supposed to do. Gotta love those little breaks!

9. I hoard magazines, I think it comes from being a teacher, and basically magazines are literature and like books, I can't throw them away. So, Pat told me it was time to do something with them, so I started putting them in storage tubs to put in the shed, to which he looked at me like I was crazy, so last week, I went through every magazine, ripped out all the recipes I wanted and filed them away, followed by throwing away the actual magazines in the recycling bin. Well, while flipping through the magazines, I found two pages that talked about Mai Tais. For those of you that don't know, I often call Tyler Mai Tai, so I ripped them out, framed them and hung them over her bed. My own little project that I didn't need to use pinterest to come up with, I am so proud.




10. Does anyone else think that the pink paint Tyler picked out is ridiculously bright? It glows down the hallway. But she is happy, and you only get to be a four (ALMOST FIVE) year old little girl for a short time!

FIRST GRADE!

How did this happen? How is it possible that Jackson is in first grade!? I remember my first day of 1st grade like it was yesterday! I was over going to school for a half day and couldn't wait to go all day. My first grade teacher is my friend on facebook! She was the most wonderful, amazing, special woman EVER! Jackson's teacher seems nice enough. I am hesitant about this year because I am not certain whether or not anyone will EVER compare to Mrs. Rogers. I don't think any of the teachers at the school I taught at in San Antonio compared to Mrs Rogers. But, I am trying to remain open minded and love this teacher just as much!

Here's a few pictures from this morning, though I don't know how much longer I will be able to get a picture of him in front of his "class sign" because he rolled his eyes about twelve thousand times before I snapped a quick one. To me, it is pretty amazing that only two other students from his class last year are in his class, and they clung to one another pretty quickly once they were to find a place on the carpet. I was not particularly excited about walking this morning, but we wanted to see his class and walk him in, so this morning we walked, from here on out, I will go back to taking him through the drop off line in my pajamas. The real torture will be pick up when I have to walk to get him every day in the HEAT! I am hoping that the pounds will just shed off from sweating and walking! :-)

Fox Restaurants

We are a house divided. I LOVE Sam Fox Restaurants. Patrick hates them. He thinks they are pretentious, over priced and not very good. Whenever given a chance, and I get to pick the restaurant, I will usually try to pick a Fox Restaurant. Olive and Ivy, LOVE! True Food, LOVE! Sauce, LOVE! Blanco, NOT A HUGE FAN! Bloom, YUM! The Greene House, HUGE FAN! Granted, Pat isn't as adventerous as I am when it comes to food. I like trendy food, fully admit it. I like sweet and savory combined. I like cupcakes. I like seeing what chefs can come up with!

Today, I met the Fox Restaurant I wouldn't return to! Zinburger was an incredibly overpriced, disgusting experience. The burger I had was flavorless, except for the salt lick bacon they put on top of it. It was SERIOUSLY hurting my mouth it was so salty, and I like salt. Usually Pat is the one that complains about it being too salty. Paired with the Cheddar Cheese, it was disgusting. The zucchini fries I got were soggy. I ate one and didn't touch another. Wouldn't you ask if something was wrong with an item if someone didn't touch it while it was in front of them? The regular home cut fries were burnt, and tasted more like potato chips they were so hard and crunchy. When I took Tyler to the bathroom, we were unable to rinse all the soap off of our hands because the water was SCALDING our hands. Pat said he had the same problem in the men's bathroom. I understand warm, I don't understand BOILING! When I asked for a comment card on the way out, I was told that they don't have those? WHAT????

The only redeeming quality was the Butterfinger milkshake, which was incredible, but I will do without having another one because I have no desire to step foot in there again. This time, Pat wins, Zinburger is overpriced, pretentious and hazardous to my children's hands!

Needless to say, I am now in a terrible mood because nothing bothers me more than a bad restaurant experience.

Random Monday

1. I really need to bite the bullet and buy a camera. I wouldn't want to read this blog because it is super boring with no pictures.

2. My sister, Katie, had her baby on August 4th. Alexander James (Baby Bud) was 9 lbs 14 oz and 22 inches long. He is precious, and I could hold him all day long! Hopefully this will inspire her to write a new blog so you guys can all see some pictures over there!

3. I have so many thoughts all of the time, and I want to write them down, but I forget, and then when I sit to write a blog, nothing comes out.

4. We watched The Roommate this weekend, I found it mildly entertaining, Pat didn't like it at all.

5. I hate cooking in the summer, nothing sounds good, and it is too hot to eat hot food. I would eat a salad every single day, but my family doesn't really like that idea, soooooooooo we eat out A LOT!

6. When we don't eat out, I am trying out a lot of Deceptively Delicious recipes, by Jessica Seinfeld. As long as the puree is mixed in, I can't tell it is there, but when there is a layer of "hidden" puree on something, it makes me feel like I am eating baby food, and I don't like it.

7. Apparently The Pioneer Woman is coming out with another cookbook, I will not be cooking my way through it, but I will buy it.

8. The Bachelor Pad premeries tonight. This day has been crawling by because I seriously cannot think of anyone else.

9. It is amazing how giddy I get about not having to share the pool with anyone. What would be nice is if it didn't consure a million and one hours of Pat's time throughout the week.

10. I started off thinking we had a lot of cabinet space and there was no way we would fill it all. I was wrong, I am out of space.

11. I think I am going to go into the tree trimming business, those people charge a FORTUNE!

12. Jackson's room is decorated now, and other than a closet door and some electrical outlet covers, it is done. I can't post a picture of his actual room because I don't have a camera, but these are the wall stickers and pillowcases I ordered, and I did an amazing job of putting them up, if I do say so myself.

13. I cannot go to Target without spending over $100, it just is not possible. Speaking of Target, their Champion tennis shoes are buy one get one half off this week, I bought Jackson the same pair in the next two sizes he will need. CLASSY!

14. Pat got me a Diet Coke from McDonalds at 6am, and I am still drinking it. It didn't have enough ice in it, so I didn't really like it, but I need the caffeine today!

15. Pat made me dinner last weekend, and it was a Paris theme. He got music, made French recipes, it was all so wonderful, and we were stuffed. Seriously, he made brie wrapped in puff pastry with apricot jam inside, OMG, that could have been dinner by itself, it was HEAVENLY! He made steak with a cream sauce and these green beans that were to die for. VERY FUN! I am going to go next, and I want to do a Carribean theme!