Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...

There are things I simply know I should stay away from.  Bartending for instance, would be a horrible career for me.  Did you see the Banger Sisters with Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon?  Let's just say I identified more with Goldie's character.  I am thankful to this day I did not get that job as a shooter girl.

Well, tonight was just one of those nights I thought I'd let bygones be bygones.  Try something I'd sworn off of more than 20 years ago.  I had my class...I really wanted a crock'd all inclusive dinner that would be ready when I got back home...I'm cooking lighter...those were my three big inspirations today.  Big mistake.  Really big.  Huge, actually.

I have only made 2 dinners in my entire adult life that were inedible.  The first was a meatloaf.  A healthy, good for you, meatloaf.  I know, I should have known better than to mess with comfort food, but I was young and impressionable.  It came out the color and consistency of cat food in a can.  Absolutely, inarguably disgusting.  The Fiance (the very same man as the present day The Hubs) and I ordered in a pizza.

Tonight, I made this lovely concoction.  Inedible Dinner #2.  And yes, that is a cookbook you see in the background.

So no, this evil doing was not from my own personal imagination.  

Which means somebody else thought it up, made it, ate it, believed it tasted good, and then Other People agreed it tasted good enough to include in a cookbook!  No, I'm not going to bash this cookbook, because the fish tacos and the zucchini nut muffins were pretty darn tasty.  I will make them again.  But The Hungry Girl's 300 Under 300 recipe for Cheeseburger Mac Attack is nasty, nasty, nasty.  Yes it does indeed look like a crockpot rendition of Hamburger Helper in her book's photo.  My husband has a soft spot in his heart for The Helper, so occasionally I indulge him.  Let's just say the boxed stuff is way better!

This is when I should have become suspicious, but I was clearly in denial...around mid-day I wandered out to the kitchen where my oldest son was and asked him...'What's that weird smell? Oh it must be the crockpot dinner'...chuckle, chuckle. 

His response?  'Mom, that does NOT BODE WELL for dinner, that even you think it smells weird'.  That kid made arrangements to eat at his cousin's house tonight where my sister in law was serving tri-tip.

So, what is the common denominator in these two dishes that even I wouldn't eat and smelled weird?  GROUND TURKEY.  I will not, let me repeat, will never, EV-ER, try to cook with it again.  Two times and shame on me, right?
I opened windows, cranked up the whole house fan, lit candles, put that nasty mess to rest in the garbage and hit up Submarina for some awesome sandwiches. 

Sometimes that's just how it rolls.

I think my trusty crockpot is happier now.  I'll have to make it up to her with a nice roast, or chili, or Italian Chicken...or ABOUT A THOUSAND OTHER RECIPES THAT DON'T INCLUDE GROUND TURKEY!!!

Don't let the turkeys get you down, (snicker snicker)
~Sherri

How did all that happen?

I love my Japanese Maple.  The other one didn't make it through our cold winter.

My boys and I have just completed the Oddest Spring Break On Record. 
We did not go anywhere exciting. 
We did not go anywhere at all. 
Instead, they both got sick with that nasty cold that's going around.
But each and every day I still had to get up at 6am to take my daughter to her school, which was not on Spring Break, and won't be until the last week of the month.  After Easter.   Anyone else find this odd?


Plenty of opportunity to get my Spring Break To Do List done done done.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. 

This was my To Do List For Spring Break - paint my bathroom cabinet (it started raining - paint takes forever to dry), shoot photos for class final, reschedule daughter's doctor appointment, schedule my own eye doctor appointment, schedule dentist appointments for all the kids, make 2011 files (yes, I'm aware we're in the 2nd quarter of the year, so what?), empty desk files that I ignore into the file cabinet in the garage.

What I did do was...hung out with my sister in law (hi Karie!), saw my friend who lives an hour away (hi Michelle!), and well....I'm not sure exactly what else I got done.  I did P90x most days.  So I can be proud of that right?  Oh, and I bought a lot of cold medicine and Kleenex and tended to 2 sick young men.  They need a lot of attention when they're sick, those young men do.

It's okay though, this odd Spring Break, because one of the big advantages of not being beholden to the public school system and its schedule, is that we'll take some days in the next week or so and do something fun! And exciting! 
At least we'll leave the house.

Around 7:45am today, before the rain, wind and hail.

So on this last day, of this odd Spring Break week, not only did it shine bright sun, pour rain, blow major howling wind gusts and hail, I found I was completely, totally, fully, completely, distinctly, commitedly unmotivated.  Hiding out.  Hibernating.  I did not want to.  Anything.    Period.

But as I write this at 9:57pm I realize I...

...did 3 loads of laundry, despite my best intentions to leave the washer alone.

...changed my Firefox Persona from a hot pink girly one to Homer Simpson sleeping in his tighty whities with donuts on his belly.

...paid our homeowners insurance premium and updated the checkbook.

...gathered up and took even more photographs of my gnarliest pet.

...wrote the ungrateful pet her own blog post.

...remembered to make the chili for dinner.

...cleaned our house because my daughter is having friends over for a movie night.

...took a shower and, mind you, it was not a minute past 4:03pm, don't think it was.

...retrieved my son, heard him out, decided he wasn't really in as much trouble as I thought he might be in. 

...went to the grocery to pick-up movie night type snacks for the girl and her friends, because sometimes I'm nice like that.

...got home in time to make my favorite cornbread.

Apparently even when I'm lagging...I am woman, hear me ROAR!  

I bet you are too.

Even if you're a dude.

Make this Sweet Cornbread.  It's better than Marie Callendar's.  And the recipe is straight off the Alber's Corn Meal box side panel.  If you prefer the unsweet, baked in the cast iron skillet, kind of corn bread, I'm not sure what to say about that besides come on over to the sweet side of life.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Combine these dry ingredients in a medium bowl:

1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup yellow corn meal
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Set aside.


Combine these wet ingredients in a small bowl:

2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups milk (I always use nonfat because it's what we drink.)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 Tablespoons butter, melted.

Grease an 8" round cake pan.  If you use Crisco, you will get a nice little crisp edge that's divine.  You can also use spray oil, but the edge is not as fab.

Add the well combined wet ingredients to the well combined dry ingredients.  Stir just until blended.  Pour into pan and bake for 35 minutes.  Let cool for a few minutes then cut into wedges and have a little cake disguised as cornbread with your dinner!

I will be prom dress shopping tomorrow,
~S

Oh Yeah, She's a Mean Girl

Yes, there was the movie, Mean Girls.  And yep, I went to high school and can back you into a corner if need be.  But I suspect most of us can.  So it's not really much to brag about.  But the Mean Girl I'm talking about is this one.

Meet Layla.  

I call her THE VERY BAD CAT.  

She is a climber of screens.

The eater of carpet (and wicker Pottery Barn chairs).

Much to the amusement of my boys, she can leap half way up a wall in hot pursuit of a red laser dot.

She sharpens her weapons of mass destruction  nails, publicly, and proudly.

Always watching.

Seeking.

Stalking.

And like most Mean Girls, she's absolutely gorgeous...

mink soft fur

sleek body

glistening golden eyes
magnificent stripes

long strident whiskers 

So what began as a scruffy, fluffy, unbearably adorable, grey and white foundling from the hub's company's outside shop, has become our very own Mean Girl. She even had a dark grey 'M' marked in the center of her forehead. We should have known right?!  But no!  We thought it meant she was destined to be ours...M being the first letter of our last name and all.  

Little did we know it really stood for Mean.

xoxo on this super unmotivating Friday, last day of the oddest Spring Break ever, wish the sun would come out kind of day,

~S

P.S.  She's also hands down the favorite pet of my oldest boy...who truth be told shares a little of her ruthlessness.  I keep telling him he should be a trial attorney.