Forever!

Oh I am embarrassed to look and realize how long it has been since I have been on here! Forever ago!! I'm faithful about reading friends' blogs late in the night....but apparently not so well at blogging myself.  Mercy.  I guess life really does get busy.  I think I kept thinking that it would slow down.  Ummm, not so much.  Oh well.  Guess I will just have to try and do better. 

What have we been up to??  Well...where to begin.  My babies aren't really babies anymore (although, as much as they hate to hear it, they really always are our babies aren't they??).  They are 11 and 7 and oh boy growing so quickly.  I quit my business of selling Kitchen tools and actually delved into the world of cake decorating.  And you know what???  I love it and my business has grown leaps and bounds in the last three years!  Way beyond what I ever expected it to!  I am so blessed to be able to still be at home with the kids and make money AND make people smile with cakes!!  I will begin posting pics of some of the ones I am doing.

In other news, 2013 was a hard year.  My father-in-law was diagnosed and lost his battle with jaw cancer.  This came on the heels of two strokes in the previous year.  My husband and best friend was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (at 41 years old, sheesh!!) just before his dad passed away.  Our world was really rocked.  But you know our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ got us through it all.  He never said life would be easy but He does provide us with the faith of knowing that He is in control.

Promising to do better!
M-

 

 

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

My family decided a little while back that they don't care for jarred spaghetti sauce anymore. What??? The kids have always said they wanted their pasta plain with just a little cheese. So I guess that just leaves my husband. Now what? We eat spaghetti (or some variation of pasta) once a week! It's so easy to twist that lid and hear "pop" and pour it into a pan!! So I began to experiment........ After several trials and turned up noses, I have hit on a sauce that they ALL love!! What's great is you can leave the hamburger out and it's great over pasta with a little chicken for a Chicken Parmesan. AND it doesn't take all afternoon to prepare!! Now if you will notice as I begin to post recipes, I am not a measurer by nature. I'm a sprinkler and a dumper. I think the best recipes can always be improved upon by the person following them! So you may want to adjust these amounts according to your taste and preference! Also, sometimes I completely leave out the tomato sauce and water if I am doing a meatless pasta dish. Tastes really fresh with just the tomatoes, onions, garlic and seasonings over pasta!!

1 T. olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 hambuger patties (we buy hamburger in bulk and my sweet husband spends an hour patting it all out and freezing it)
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes (or fresh if you want...I take the easy route!)
1 small can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 can water (8 oz)
1 tsp. oregano
several sprinkles (see I told ya!) Italian Seasoning
salt and black pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in skillet over med/high heat. Add onion and saute til fragrant (not til the onions are brown, but til they are clear). Add garlic and saute for another minute or so. Not too long b/c you do not want burned garlic!! Now add your hamburger. Cook til hamburger is done and crumble into tiny bits. Drain your grease. ***TIP***If you don't want to pour the grease down the drain or all into your trash can and run the risk of hole in the bottom, then take a paper towel and fold into quarters and then eights. Place in a cup and open it up to create a cone shape. Pour your grease into here and leave it sitting for a bit. It will solidify some and you can throw it away without the mess! Now you can add the tomatoes, sauce, water, oregano, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally and taste. ALWAYS taste!!!! The worst of recipes could be saved if the cook just took one little taste before serving!!! Add any more "sprinkles" that you need!! This usually give you just the right about of time to get your bread, salad, and pasta prepared.

Enjoy!!

I took the kids to this amazing little place in town called the Discovery Center. It's a hands-on museum with all kinds of activities for them to do. Every year my dad gives them a membership for Christmas. We haven't been yet this year, so I decided to surprise them after school. The place closes at 5:00, so since this WAS after school, they ONLY had two hours to play (Zach's words, not mine). It's funny how you go from being "the bestest, coolest mom in the world for for taking us to our favorite place," to "did you know we would only have two hours to play?" Like it was a conspiracy theory on my part. Ahhhh, the love of a 7 year old.

So on the way home, he springs on me that since Friday is Valentine's Day, his teacher decided for them to go ahead and take their tests tomorrow and get them out of the way. Love how he kept that little tidbit of info to himself after I told him we were going to the Disc. Center. Because had I known that we would have to write 10 sentences and 10 sets of rhyming words and study our spelling words and vocabulary words and read a book AND finish our little report on the penguin A-N-D cook dinner because Dad called and was working late and was supposed to be home cooking aaa.....nnnnn....ddddddd give a haircut because spring photos at school tomorrow. Do you get the picture??? Yep, there would have been no discovery center for us today!

Thus my reign as Mom the Terrible continues because he didn't get to play very much tonight and (because I have a little case of Tennis Elbow), I made him sit in the kitchen while I cut his hair instead of the bathroom. "The kitchen just didn't feel right," he tells me. Oh, and I didn't let him have anything sweet for dessert, because we were so busy. So can someone please polish my trophy for Mom of the Year??? I have a nice little spot on my desk for it!!

Where to Begin??

So here I am taking the leap into this world of blogging!!! I wanted to have a place that friends and family could keep up with the kids and see what they are up to - especially those not on Facebook. I have also had many of my customers tell me I need to post some of my recipes and cooking tips and the such - I have a home-based business selling kitchen tools. So here I am!!! I hope you will enjoy reading about our funny, crazy, and sometimes boring life! You may even have to listen to me vent, but hey, isn't that what Moms do best some days?? So welcome to my family! I am Michelle, and I have been married to my best friend, Jason, for 11 years. We have two beautiful children: Zach is 7 and Emily is 3. As Director of Household Affairs (code word for stay-at-home mom), I love this job I am so blessed to be able to hold! Well, at least most days!!