rachel's continued ramblings

i realized i forgot to post this last week when we had it.  i actually like it a little better than the hash brown one, but both are good.  it’s VERY similar. once again, this is something i’ve made so many times that i just kind of wing it now, although i do have the recipe that kate sent to me after she made it for my family when micah was born. i like to keep the recipe because it has some little ‘britishisms’ throughout, just like kate! ;-) who, by the way, rocks, having called to check up on me the other evening when she saw that the power in our area was out AGAIN!  thanks kate, smooch smooch! but now i’m getting distracted… big surprise. here goes. you will need: 1 lb or so ground beef (or ground turkey) 1 chopped onion a bunch of veggies (kate’s recipe calls for a ‘tin’ of mixed veggies, but i use fresh carrots & celery if i’ve got’em, frozen beans, peas, corn, whatever).  maybe 2-3 cups. 1 can (or tin) of cream of something soup (i...

so i’ve yet to make it to the store, and it’s taken me all morning just to put a week’s worth of meals and a shopping list together, but i think i’m finally done.  we’re out of literally everything, and i hope my $$ holds out this week! wednesday: upside-down pizza casserole; green beans thursday: chicken burritos; salad friday: pizza; green beans saturday: hamburgers; tater tots; carrots sunday: scrambled eggs; bacon; toast monday: roast beef; carrots; baked potatoes tuesday: leftovers i’m using chicken for the burritos leftover from what we had last night (if you read fb, you know about my adventures preparing this chicken), so i don’t need to buy that. i’m also super excited about the roast beef on monday because it means that wednesday of next week is one of everybody’s favorites, french dips!!!  yay! i guess i’ll have to go to the store today if we want to eat tonight, but i feel a little guilty going since both of my younger child...

seriously. everything would be SO much easier if i could just LIVE LIFE! but no, every stupid little thing requires hours and days and months and years of contemplation.  WHY? why me? why can’t just be one of those people who just lives? there are people out there who have kids, put them in whatever diapers are cheapest, clothe them in clothes that are on sale or they think look cute, and send them to the local school when they’re 5.  end of story.  these people also attend whatever church is closest or suits their denominational preference, go to the store when they need food, clean things when they look dirty, etc, etc, etc. doesn’t require a lot of agony. not me. yes, i realize i’m oversimplifying here and a little bit of thought about important matters is not only good, but necessary.  but… that person i just described is the COMPLETE AND TOTAL OPPOSITE OF ME! and i’m therefore going crazy, as usual. why oh why must i live in my head???  i lite...

metaphorically speaking. my children are driving me nuts.  completely batty!  and i don’t mean that they annoy me.  well, sometimes they do, but that’s the least of my concerns.  i’m genuinely concerned about them.  why? they’re horrible! they fight: pinching, hitting, kicking, pushing, etc. etc. they tattle on each other. they don’t listen AT ALL to us. they complain and throw a fit when asked to do something totally reasonable.  it’s awful! i have yet to find some sort of effective discipline measure that will make any sort of improvement.  but this is only the day to day.  this is the least of my concerns. why? because these are just symptoms. these are the little fires that flare up all day long. i feel like i spend my day stomping them out.  one after another, often the exact same fire i just finished stomping out 5 minutes before!  but there’s this raging inferno all around us and as long as that’s burning, there’s nothin...

i think i’ve officially converted to wednesdays.  i was getting a little frustrated with sale items being out when i got to the store on mondays or tuesdays. it’s hard to plan a week’s worth of meals based on what’s on sale and then have some vital part of it not be at the store when you get there.  flying by the seat of my pants doesn’t work so well when it comes to trying to create a meal in my head while at the store with my kids and remember what we need for it and what we have at home and what all the recipe calls for, etc. etc.  so, since the flyers come out on tuesday and the sales start on wednesday, i’m going to try doing my shopping on wednesday.  i only had last week planned through monday, so i really needed to shop yesterday, but micah woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and a bad croupy cough, so i decided to forego it until today, and we were able to scrounge for dinner last night.  most of us had some frozen costco chicken strips with...

around here, there’s an ongoing joke about how crazy people go when the sun comes out!  yes, as i write this, i have no doubt that the lake beaches in the area are filled with half-naked, truant teenagers sunning themselves. if a 70* day in april causes your child to feel the need to don a swimsuit and fill up a kiddie pool… you might be from seattle. yes, that’s a slide in the water. and yes, she’s using it. and no, she hasn’t gotten hypothermia yet, but i’m sure it’s coming.

the pnw experienced a lovely weekend (yes, it is getting to be spring). i’d like to be able to say that we accomplished a ton outside, but not so much.  i started out good on saturday, working on the remaining 1/4 of my garden, but fizzled out and wound up taking a nap all afternoon.  dave, however, washed both cars and cleaned a lot of junk out of the toyota. AND he mowed the lawn.  3 weeks straight now, but it’s getting to the point where it might have to start happening twice a week… at least until july when it quits raining and the grass all turns brown. i’d love to be one of those people who watered and kept the lawn nice and green all summer… but green grass means you have to mow it, and it also seems like a silly waste of water/money.  then again, if i were the type to do that, i’d probably  be the type to rid the grass of all the weeds and moss that has invaded it too. much as i’d like to do that, i’m just not willing to spend the money on nasty chemical...

so mary asked about this, and since it’s a family favorite, i thought i’d post it.  there was, at one time, a recipe for this casserole, but i’ve made it so many times it’s kind of evolved (as these things tend to do).  so i’ll give you the recipe according to me… and if you like specifics and measuring things, then bummer for you!  so this is what i do: take a 9x13 pyrex dish and line the bottom w/ frozen hash brown patties.  i can usually fit about 7.  (you could also use a bag of the shredded kind, but it’s not as good.) add about 2 cups or so of veggies.  carrots, green beans, peas, celery – whatever you’ve got. (corn is not so good in this recipe, so i don’t recommend it.) you should pre-cook the veggies so they aren’t crunchy – or i guess you could use canned, but i think they’re gross so i use frozen, with the exception of the carrots and celery which are fresh. add a bunch of chopped, cooked chicken – whatever you’ve got leftover or ...

just got back from the store.  i did really good this week. $64.71! which is great because i didn’t do so well last week. my total last week was .22 over budget and i had to dig a quarter out of my purse.  this also didn’t include our easter dinner, which my parents provided most of, but i still had to get some things for dessert. so on sunday i had to borrow $20 from this week’s grocery money for that.  at any rate, i knew in my planning that i was going to need a cheap week so i planned a couple meals out of the freezer, and another casserole that can use some leftover chicken from last week. so here goes: tuesday: beef stew; sourdough wednesday: hash brown casserole thursday: white chicken chili; sourdough friday: pizza; green beans saturday: hamburgers; carrot sticks; chips sunday: breakfast burritos; hash browns monday: leftovers i have to make a costco run this week too, but not for many food items, mostly diapers, wipes and pull-u...

so there it is… my first knitted sock is done.  no, it’s not good, but it’s done and it fits my foot.  what else can i ask for?  well, maybe it’s mate. i’ll start that tomorrow.