Pasta Sauce

   Ok fingers crossed I'm pretty sure I've got the right combination for my pasta sauce. I made lasagna the other night and it was the best one I've ever made (the men folk were all in agreement!!) Now I'm not Italian, so it's not some fabulous sauce like you'd get if you were in some fancy restaurant, but it's good and pretty simple to make (which are the two requirements for me making something)

    I start with store brand tomatoes, (I tried the name brands, but I really like these the best) 1 can each of Giant brand 14.5 oz Diced tomatoes, Italian diced tomatoes (has basil, garlic and oregano) diced tomatoes with garlic and onion. Then a 12 oz can of tomato paste. I put this all in my nonstick pot and mash w/ the potato masher (a plastic one so you won't damage the pan). I use McCormick's Italian seasonings, not really sure how much, I just gently shake it over the pot so there's a light coating on top of the sauce. I then let is simmer for a couple hours, stirring maybe every 1/2 hour 45 minutes. I would think you could also do this in the crock pot if you don't want to "babysit" the sauce. And that's about it (see told you it was easy). I taste it with some bread about half way through. I might add a little more seasoning to it if I think it needs it.

   This makes enough for a pound of pasta or a 9x13 lasagna. Both of which are just enough for our family with maybe a leftover bowl for Hubby to take to work for lunch one day (if one of the twins don't eat it for a snack)

  So there it is, my "I'm not Italian, but I'm going to make my own sauce and have it taste better then out of a jar" Oh and the good part is, it's cheaper then a jar of sauce for us because it takes a jar and a half to cover the pasta properly. So it tastes better and it's cheaper, what more could I want out of a sauce : ) 

Why are we so hard on ourselves?

    I'm not sure if it's just moms or women in general, but why are we so hard on ourselves? Most of the woman I know are moms, so I'll just talk about the moms right now.

   I know women who have a kind encouraging word for all of their friends. They find a bright spot in a person's day, some little positive thing to tell a friend who's having a bad day, or just some way to try to cheer up a friend. They have no trouble telling you all the great things about their friends/family/etc, but when it comes to themselves, they only see the negative. Why is it we can find the good in everyone but ourselves? Why is it we don't want to believe our friends who have kind words for us. We feel like we must say thank you, but we don't really believe the truth our friends see about us?

   Is it the magazines that show us pictures of the "perfect woman"? Because we all know most of those pictures are photo shopped. Is it the movies where the women have it all? (I don't really watch anything that isn't drawn and has a musical sound track to it, so I'm no expert on the new movies) Is it because we see the "stars" out with their babies and they've dropped the baby weight so quickly? We know those woman have the money to hire a personal trainer and a nanny to watch the kids while they work out. So why do we make the comparisons?

    I don't know the answers? I wish I did. But I do know I have some fabulous moms for friends. They make craft projects with their kids. Some take them out to the playground everyday, weather permitting. Some have moved Heaven and Earth to get their child the special help they need to deal with a child's special needs. (and believe me that is no small feat!!!) Some of my mommy friends homeschool (those lucky kids have the best teachers ever). Some make home made meals every day, others married men who know how to cook a home made meal (go you!!!). Others are great just because they tell/show their children how loved they are every day.

   These are just a few examples of what makes them great moms, but if you were to ask them what's so great about themselves, they'd hem and haw, they'd be able to tell you 10 things they wish they were better at right off the top of their head. But they'd look at all the accomplishments I've just listed and say Well that's just what moms do.

   So to all my mommy friends, know that you are awesome!!! Know that you are doing great things for your kids, just by being there for them and enjoying their everyday antics. And please write down a list of all the great things you do and post it somewhere you'll see it everyday. Shoot put it in your undies drawer on the top so no one but you sees it. And know that you are fabulous women. 

The best things in life are free

 It's funny how often this rings true when kids are involved. They love the big box a gift came in. They'll happily visit the park and just run amok on the playground. In short, they're just happy to be happy (boy howdy can we all take a lesson from their playbook or what?)

   This week has been a cold one, not so cold you can't play outside for a little while (once you're all bundled up) but cold enough to freeze the water puddles and make a nice place to "ice skate" I remember many a winter day "ice skating" on the big frozen puddles that were around our farm. I say "ice skating" because there were no ice skates, just ice and slippery soles on your boots. We did have a pair of ice skates here or there, but the slippery boots were just as fun. And as a child you're sure you look *almost" as good as Dorothy Hamill did when she skated. (yes I know I just gave away my age)

   So Little Man and Baby Girl have been having just as much fun on our very own puddles the last couple of days. They've used sticks and leaves to play hockey. They've spun *gracefully* in circles (ok so maybe more like whirling out of control tops on a freshly Pledged wooden floor). They probably spent as much time on their fannies as they did their feet, but that's ok. As for me, I've loved watching them "skate". It brings back memories from my childhood and makes me stop and smile for a minute. 

                               This picture is a little blurry, but I love the big belly laugh
                                                                                              Little Man is having

                                                                           Just "skating" along
    So in this time of everyone's house looking like Toys 'R Us threw up all over the place (or maybe that's just my house that looks like that after Christmas) it's been nice to be reminded of the simple pleasures in life. They're free and they're precious and as adults, we need to soak them up when we can.  I hope you cold weather moms are able to get out there, find a puddle and pretend you're Katerina Witt, if only for a short time, with your kiddos .
 

The self check out lane

  It's not rocket science folks, just follow the instructions and you'll be just fine! I really do try to keep a sense of humor about my job, but some nights the idiots are out to get me! I think there should be a basic list of rules you need to read before you walk over to a self check out area.

• Do not try to operate this machine if you're drunk. Even though it's funny to watch you stumble over the pushing of the screen and the trying to open the plastic bag (that in it's self is hard enough when you're sober) you're only going to get mad at the attendant when we tell you to follow what the machine is saying. Oh and we have to do this with a straight face because you're drunk and we're easily amused!
• The machine works on a scale. The bar code has a weight attached to it. If you're going to try to scan 1 item and put two in the bag an alarm will sound and we will loudly tell you to only put in the bag what you've already scanned. We're sure you're not trying to steal.
•  If you're not going to listen to the machine and you're not going to listen to the attendant when we try to explain, then just keep moving along, none of us need the aggravation.
• Please realize the machine can't hear you when you talk back to it. Although it amuses me and makes my night go faster, so by all means, please carry on your conversation. 

 To all the people who zip through the self check out with breeze good for you! I'll smile and really mean it when I tell you to have a nice evening.

Menu planning made easier

  Or at least that's what I'm hoping for. In order to help the food budget, I menu plan from the local grocery ads. I "cherry pick" from the two higher end stores (meaning I only buy what is on sale, not my basics) and then do the rest of the shopping at the cheapest store out of the three local stores (all within 5 miles of my house). This usually works out, but I still seem to miss a couple things I'll need for my menu. Which means I need to run out (or have Hubby stop on the way home) to get the missed item.


     Well I think I've come up with a better way to menu plan and make sure I've got everything I need for that weeks menu. I took 3X5 cards (that I already had on hand for the twins for school) and wrote one meal on each card. I then wrote every item I need to make that meal (not the actual recipe, just the ingredients). I color coded them for each meat with a pen, so black is beef, green is chicken, blue is pork and red is other (seafood or the recipe doesn't call for meat).  So for my stuffed shells recipe it looks like this
                         Stuffed Shells 
                     ground beef
                     pasta shells
                     egg
                     shredded mozzarella cheese
                    bread crumbs
                    parmigiana cheese
                    sauce

 So now when stuffed shells is added to the rotation I look in the pantry to see what ingredients I already have on hand and what I need to buy gets written down on my grocery list. I will let everyone know how well this plan works out for me. I'm hoping I will be much more organized now.

   My other tip for shopping the grocery store is go on-line for the store you shop. Most stores allow you to view their ad on line and you can click on the things you want in the ad to create a list. Then you can follow the tabs to add the other items not on sale to your grocery list. When you print it out, most stores organize the list by isle. So you only go down the isles you need and you know exactly what isle everything is in. So when you're in isle 9 you know you're going to get your pasta, sauce, rice and beans. Make sure to take a pen to cross the items off as you go. If you're shopping with a little helper, have them help you with the isle number or how many of the item you are looking for. 

   

I am going to brag on my teenagers

  As any mom of a teenager knows, it's not a glamorous life, teenagers can really put you through the wringer. I try to remember it's not all their fault, that hormones have a lot to do with it, but some days, it's very evident to me why the young male wolves get kicked out of the pack! I mean really, Mama wolf is probably tired of having to clean their bones out of the cave, she's just had enough and off they must go!

    But, I digress, this week I have very proud of my teenager, it's their last winter break (as their seniors this year) and they are both putting in a full weeks worth of work.

    C is working his co-op job from tech school. He's one his way to being a tool and die maker (following in Daddy's footsteps). His work has plant shutdown for the main floor so they can do maintenance on the machines. This is a dirty job, C comes home covered in oil, and yet he goes back in everyday, knowing that he's making good money to be there, helps I'm sure. Also C genuinely wants to do a good job for his boss. He wants to prove they made the right choice in hiring him. We got hit by the snowstorm Sunday going into Monday AM. C left over a 1/2 hour early to make sure he got there on time. I have to say I'm very proud of him.

                                    C at the open house of his tech school working the CNC
   R is working 40 hours this week as well. Unfortunately it's not as his chosen profession as a welder (that will come starting on the 5th when his new co-op job starts). He is working at the grocery store filling in for his dairy supervisor. R is "throwing the load" which means he's responsible for getting the load put where it needs to be, whether that be out on the shelf or in the backstock cooler. It's a physical job, he's tired when he comes home, but he gets up and hauls his fanny off to work each morning.

                                     R showing his grandparents his welding skills
    I know a lot of their friends are working the same type of hours this week, but that's because the seem to gravitate toward kids who's parents have taught them the value of an honest days work. So to all those kids who spent their winter break from school working, my hat is off to you. It's nice to see there are still young people out there who aren't afraid of a little hard work

Only 5 more wake ups till Christmas!!!!!

And as always, I'm not more then 1/2 way done. Although I have it on good authority that the elves have wrapped all the kids gifts and just need to put the curly ribbon on them. At our house Santa gifts are all wrapped pretty, with shiny paper and shiny curly ribbon. When the twins were older, but Jey was just a baby, Hubby made the comment that while it looked nice on Christmas morning, he doubted it would make any difference to the kids if I wrapped them so fancy. I told him it made a difference to me and since he didn't have to put one piece of tape on a package, he needn't worry about it. Well low and behold (and out of the mouths of babes) C says to me that Christmas (he was old enough to know who helped Santa out) Mom I just want to thank you for all the things you do to make Christmas so special. I really appreciate how you do all the little things that mean so much.  Oh yeah, still get tears in my eyes over that one. So with those sweet words of encouragement tucked away in my brain, I'll be curling the heck out of the shiny curling ribbon later on this week.
   
     Some Christmas cookies have been made, and using the time honored method of my mom (hiding some of the cookies) we'll have at least sugar cookies and peanut butter blossoms for our Christmas guests. We'll try for gingerbread men later in the week. We made them for the first time ever last year and they turned out so yummy. And the little two love decorating them. I'll make sure to post some pictures of my little bakers hard at work.


    So here's hoping you've got your items bought, wrapped and ready to go. That your cookies don't all get eaten before the big day and you have a very merry last week before Christmas.