friday funny

i LOVE this one!

this is a recipe i stumbled across a few years ago and my hubby loves it!! and since today is SLOW COOKING THURSDAY i thought i would post it.

2 medium (or one large) spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise
2 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 jar pimento-stuffed green olives, chopped
2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp green olive brine (from the olive jar)
2 cans chunk white tuna in water, drained
Arrange the squash halves in the bottom of a slow cooker.

in a bowl, combine tomatoes, olives, oregano, and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper. spoon the mixture over the squash. pour the olive brine in the slow cooker. cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or High for 3 to 4 hours.

when ready to serve, use a fork and "loosen" the squash slightly, creating spaghetti-like strands. spoon the tomato sauce over the squash and top each piece with some tuna.


some tips: if you have never used spaghetti squash before, get one that is heavy for it's size with no soft spots. and it's super hard to cut so you may need hubby to help cut it up. (unless you are a he-girl like me!) and don't forget to remove the seeds!

depending on the size of your crock-pot you may need to cut the squash in fourths instead of just in half.

i usually use all of the olive brine and not use the salt.

i don't like to open my crockpot during cooking but i have found that sometimes the squash on the top will not get a done as the squash on the bottom so i shift them around half-way through cooking.

sometime i will sprinkle it with mozzarella cheese. yummy!


and i'm laughing because i'm thinking that crazymama is not going to like this one...

i am an idiot!!!

i have been trying to figure out why everyone can use colored words and change their font size on their blogs except me.

DUH!!!

i have been typing all of my posts under the Html tab.

i feel so stupid. what is wrong with me. not paying attention...

WW

this is my bff cathy's son taylor about 2 years ago. he rocks. and she can't see it on youtube at work so i put it here for her to see. but you can all enjoy him. (he used to be in our band but as he got older he decided it wasn't too cool to be in a band with your dad and some other old people!) ah youth...

this is what i did this weekend...

i got an award!! melissa over at hope for the hopeless thinks i'm a cool cat! thanks melissa! right back at cha'!

my washing machine is the bane of my existence. i know most people hate to do laundry and i am certainly one of them. but during the months of october through march i get to hate it more than most. see my house is almost 40 years old and up until last year there was no city water. or sewer. so we have a well and a septic tank. no biggie. except that the basin that they dug 40 years ago for the washing machine rinse water no longer works properly. it's filled with 40 years of soap scum and stuff. during the rainy season it won't drain correctly. and i get to play draining woman. (sorry, couldn't think of a better name) what i get to do is listen to the different sounds the washer makes, spin, drain, fill, etc. and when it gets ready to go through the drain cycle, i run like a mad woman into the laundry room and stand over the machine and manually stop and start the flow of water. or it flows all over my floor. we have had to pull up all the carpet in there because it took about a year for us to figure out what was going on and my carpet got ruined. and did you know that a washing machine drains twice in a cycle. i spend lots of time in there. i even keep books and magazines on the dryer so i will have something to do while i wait for the water to go down. BUT! it could be worse. i am constantly standing over the machine thanking God that i don't have to go to the laundry mat. and praying for forgiveness for cussing at the durn thing!!!

for my b-day (march 6th just so you know) my DH is going to go under the house and move the pipe to go into the septic tank. you have no idea how excited i am!!!

on another note...this is what big c did to the door to his room. not sure why. it's construction paper. strange

i've been tagged (again!)

1 Link to the person who tagged you.....susie @ mommy, just one more minute!
#2 Post the rules on your blog.
#3 Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
#4 Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
# 5 Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged.

1. my favorite color is orange. most people would think that is strange. any other orange lovers out there?
2. my hair has been every color except black. and i do mean every color. red, orange, pink, blue, green, purple...
3. i have tattoos and piercings.
4. i walk on my toes
5. i love to go to the dentist
6. i have wayyy to many appliances on my counter tops in my kitchen. 7 at last count.
7. i don't drink coffee or anything caffeinated (i just get soo jumpy, can't stand it)


i tag jennifer
(everyone else i know has already been tagged!)

WW

ah the weekend...

i'm not sure why i like the weekends so much. i mean i'm a sahm AND i homeschool so i'm home all week anyway! and usually my DH is working.

but not this weekend!! he was home and we actually got something done!! last week we had a ferocious wind storm. many, many branches got knocked out of the trees and have been laying in the back yard just yelling for a chainsaw to come and cut them up. so hubby pulled out his new toy and got to work!
now we have lots of firewood. unfortunately it's been soo warm here that i figure we won't get to have another fire this year. hubby says the groundhog lied. look - even the flowers and trees are blooming!!

on friday night we went to dinner at the church where monkey goes to pre-school. the boy scouts were having a fund raising valentines dinner. for $20 hubby and i got to have prime rib with salad, a side, dessert and coffee and best of all we got to have it with just the 2 of us!! candles and soft music. no kids at the table. i didn't have to cut up anything for anyone and didn't have to clean anything up!! AND they kept monkey and fed him spaghetti!! it was a great evening.

oh and big c went skiing with his youth group this weekend. we dropped him off on friday and we pick him up today. he called yesterday and said he was having a great time. can't wait to hear all about it. we missed him a lot but i think that monkey really enjoyed spending some time with mommy and daddy without big brother around!

this is how my monkey swings...

none of that back and forth nonsense for him. oh no it's side to side and spinning around that makes monkey happy!

WW

homeschooling 101

this is what we have studied this week

Africa (learning the countries)
the skeletal system (did you know when you were born you had 300 bones and now you only have 206? cool huh?)
decimals *shudder*
The Gold Rush
vocabulary
cowboys on the range
cooking (big c made spinach lasagna for dinner last night)
levers and motion
purity in the church (bible)
and we are reading Gulliver's Travels together

copying and recognizing letters (that's monkey!)

and it's only wednesday!!

i love to homeschool big c. he is the best kid!! he never complains and is always willing to do the weird schools stuff that i want to do.

monkey-ism

monkey has a slight runny nose due to a cold. being 4 he constantly wipes his nose on his sleeves. this morning he had his jammies on and the sleeves were just covered with snot. (sorry) i told him to go change his pj's and put on clean clothes. he took his shirt off, turned to me and said "i think i just want to wear my stomach and my pants right now". i laughed and laughed.

I WON!!!

can you believe i won another contest!?! crazymama over at Truly Delightful In Every Way had a pay-it-forward contest this week. she was try to get people to comment as much as possible. then she used the Random Integer Generator to pick 3 numbers out of the 550 responses she had. and one was mine!! she is going to send me something and then i am going to do the contest and send something to someone else and then they will and so on and so on... a super fun way to make someone's day, don't you think?!

thanks so much julie!! i can't wait to get my prize! i'll post a picture when it get's here. :)

lego's anyone?

i had another panic attack yesterday so we opted out of school today. and this is what the boys decided to do. hopefully they will clean it all up themselves!!!

WW

SUPERBOWL!!!

i ♥ football. my mom was born and raised in dallas so i was brought up watching it. and my hubby loves it. so we make football a family affair. for the past several years we have alternated having a party with bill and jen. this was our year. we asked pete and kelly and tim and cathy. and my mom. pete and kelly's little boy jake goes to pre-school with monkey. and tim and cathy have blake who is big c's bff. and of course bill and jen and their girls elise and sarah jane. we had wayyyy too much food. elise, blake and big c are the same age and have know each other for many, many years and all get along great. we weren't really pulling for either team but i REALLY didn't want to see the patriots win. so it turned out to be a great game for me!! the kids played and the grownup's talked and watched the game and ATE!! most people left after the wonderful half-time show. (tom petty rocks!) but bill and jen stayed till the end. and boy was it exciting!!!
this is what the little guys did while we were not looking!! ahhhggg!! i had to plow my way through the room to just get him in bed.
needless to say we are all pooped from staying up so late last night. so early to bed for us!

oh and not superbowl related...at church yesterday i had a PANIC ATTACK!!! i have never had one of those before. totally freaked me out. and i sit in the front row right in front of the preacher. and we do a video feed with our other church site and i could not get up. holy cow i really thought i was going to die. hard time breathing, sweating, heart pounding away. thank goodness he showed a clip from something and i was able to get out of there. then i had to teach 3 and 4 year old sunday school!! ahhhh!! i came home and slept for 2 hours.

it really sucked.

i don't recommend them.

anyone else have them? what do you do to make it go away? advice? please!

my friend Julie over at *Truly Delightful In Everyway!?!* hit me up with this awesome award yesterday!! thanks again julie! so i want to pass it on to the totally Bodacious Bloggers that i know and love.

first i have my sis . she is the reason this blog exist. thanks for your encouragements and all of your comments!

then there is mar over at I Am Housewife . i read her blog like a druggie. then it stopped. but now she is back!!!! not just beautiful outside but inside too, mar you are bodacious!!

my dear friend betty . we have been email friends for a few years and she just recently jumped on the blog bandwagon. and boy did she catch on quick!! thanks betty for all the fun you put into your blog!

my newest blog addiction is my friend susie. her little girl sophie is the light of her life and she wants us all to know about her! what a beautiful smile that girlie has. and susie is quite a writer. i know she will always have something interesting to say and maybe a cute project that she has done with sophie.

do you love a crockpot? well i do. and when my sis turned me on to stephanie over at A Year of Crockpotting is was love at first sight. her new year's resolution was to cook in a crockpot (and post the recipe with pictures) every day this year! incredibly ambitious. and the recipes ROCK!

and i can't forget kim. she is the first blog i read of a person i don't actually know. i love her kind heart, her love for her family and her super funny labels for her blogs! thanks kim for being kind to a stranger!

if you want to be totally grossed out on a regular basis please go see the man over at Pick your Poison. he has made me gag on several occasions. thanks spammon!!

i have several blogger friends that have already been tagged but i wanted to mention them...
crystal
cecily
rob
manic

and ugghhh!!! i left off melissa!! sorry!!