January Review!

It's the end of January!  Bananas how it went by so fast!

We had so much more snow than we've had in previous years and I loved it.  It's pretty, nobody can deny that.  I don't understand the hatred for snow.  I mean, I have an entrance to Narnia at the end of my drive!

The Bond for the schools passed!  Yay!  We are going to get a new athletic center and middle school.

Alli got her braces off!! 

Work was crazy around the middle of the month.  While I wasn't effected by the government shut down, the clients we serve were.  I got to travel for work and it was awesome.  I'm glad I get to do that more often now.

What We're Eating This Month....

Instant Pot recipes!  I made so many things in the Instant Pot.  I get excited even talking about it.  I made a Spaghetti Pie and was impressed with it.  The chicken tikka masala was so yummy.  The only thing I made that I didn't love was Garlic Parm Wings.  They were blah.

What I'm Reminiscing About....

Nothing really.  I like to look forward.  I do enjoy my memories on Facebook though.

What I'm loving....

The Instant Pot.  That there will be no more Alli ortho appts!  My calendar.  Roller Derby.  Warm bath with Epsom salts!

What We've Been Up To....

answered above!

What I'm Dreading...

Hmmmm.....the first week of February at work.  Just because of the procedures we had to have due to the government shut down.

What I'm Working On....

My Business Process Reengineering Project for work.

Finding fun things for our Wisconsin Road Trip.

Lots of new recipes.

What I'm Excited About...

The upcoming Wisconsin trip!

Taking my mom to dinner on her birthday!

My tax return.

Getting postcards in the mail.

What I'm Watching/Reading...

I am currently reading "Educated" by Tara Westover.  Read it.  It's amazing.

I like watching all the medical shows...New Amsterdam, The Resident, Chicago Med, The Good Doctor.  The ER shows they have on TLC are good to watch too.

 What I'm Listening To...

I've made a playlist with pump up music!  I'll have to figure out how to share it from my Prime account.

What I'm Wearing....

I'm wearing a blue plaid shirt with a white tank, black leggings and boots.

What I'm Doing This Weekend...

It's my mom's birthday on Friday, so we are going to dinner. 

Saturday is our second Vixens Game.

Sunday I am playing two games of roller derby at a national tournament.

I'm going to get the oil changed in my car.

I am going to finish putting Peyton's desk together!!

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month....

Going to Wisconsin

Gradually warming temperatures

More Sunlight

Ronald McDonald House

Alli and I volunteered on Sunday with the Ronald McDonald House.  I coordinated it for one of my derby leagues, Fountain City Roller Derby.  We collected donations of food items, merchandise items and monetary donations for this project.  They were our charitable partner for January during the game.  Alli and I went shopping at Costco to round out the menu for the meal we were preparing for them.  We picked up a ton of snack items to fill their snack baskets and pantries up.  We got a box of beef sticks and they were gone by the time we finished cleaning up the kitchen that night.  Next time we volunteer, I am going to pick up four boxes instead of just one.

Alli and I ate a late lunch at Costco and we didn't realize the hot dogs were humongous, neither of us finished ours. 

Donations provided by our league mates and spectators at our game.  Alli staged it to look beautiful. 

 Alli's pizzas turned out so pretty!

 We filled the snack baskets up and put some Crystal Lite to make the water a little tasty.

I appreciate all my friends and league mates that showed up!

It was organized and we had a lot of families come through the eat.

Spaghetti Pie!

I made a new to us recipe last night and it turned out really well!

When I look up recipes, I just look them up to get the gist of them and then go out on my own.

There are four layers in this spaghetti pie.

The first one is cooked spaghetti noodles, parm cheese, butter and an egg.  You mix that all together, it will get a little thick and stick together nicely.  That is your bottom layer.

The second layer is ricotta cheese.  You spread that evenly over the noodles.

The third layer is pasta sauce and I added meatballs to our recipe (pretty much because I had them in the freezer).

After the third layer, I put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes, I added the top layer of Italian Mix cheese and baked it another 10 minutes.

We had it with garlic parm bread.

It makes a lot and there are plenty of leftovers.  In fact, that is what I am eating for lunch right meow.  I brought some for my friend to eat and I'll still have a piece for dinner tonight.

 

While I was waiting for things to bake, I was cleaning out the cabinets.  Kibben decided he wanted to help.  He's a good little man.

He also stared at me from the top of the fridge while I was preparing dinner.

 

Happy Friday! I'm cold!

It's so cold out.  When I took Alli to school this morning, I was taken back at the bitterness when I stepped out the door.  I get it, it's winter, it's cold, but it's like cold, cold, cold now.

Peyton had an ortho appointment this morning.  They put some chains on and now he has black bands on his braces.  He doesn't have to go back for another eight weeks.  We did our stop at McDonald's tradition.  He had a sausage mcmuffin, hash brown and chocolate milk.  He tried to stall as long as he could before going to school.  He's doing well this year, expect in Career Explorations.  It's because he dislikes the teacher.  He had a lot of issues with her last year at the Sixth Grade Academy.  Last night, we worked on his missing assignments.  We got 3.5 done because he said he had already done the part of one with a partner during class.  We have three or four more  to work on this weekend.  

I stopped by my house before heading to work and I found this little kitty hanging outside my shed.  Apparently, it lives in my shed.  I think it's my neighbors cat because he told me he kicks his cat out of his house sometimes.  It's 12 flipping degrees out!  No need to kick the cat out.  Should I put some food and water out for him?  I don't want him peeing in my shed though.  That's the only thing I am concerned with.  If he needs a warm place to sleep, my shed is the place.

It's going to be a busy weekend coming up.

Peyton and I need to finish putting his new desk together and go through all his old stuff.

The Fountain City Coed Game day is Saturday, I'm not playing, but I'm coaching and volunteering.

Sunday is jammed full of fun things.  Team breakfast in the morning, practice, shopping for the Ronald McDonald House and then preparing and serving a meal at the Ronald McDonald House.  I'm excited about that, I haven't done it in a while.  I asked my mom to go see a movie Saturday during the day, but haven't heard from her yet. 

Maggie's new hiding place.  I am going to sell this table.  I don't like it and it doesn't fit well in my dining room.  I need a square one.

What's going on this weekend for you?

 

Who are YOU in the Zoo?

My manager sent us all a personality test to take so we could discuss at our next conference call.  You pick the words that best describe you to get what animal you are.

http://stem.vcsu.edu/shared/MSP-grant-documents/2016-2017/Day-10-June-9/Ashley_&_Ashley_Docs/Inventories_and_Rubrics/Personality%20Inventory.pdf

My results ended in the Lion being my top one by far followed by the Otter.

The Lion is competitive, decisive, adventurous, goal driven, leader, not conversational (I don’t agree with this one, I can talk an ear off sometimes), problem solver and bottom line.

Strengths:  Visionary, practical, productive, independent, decisive, strong-willed

Perceptions:  Cold, domineering, unemotional, unforgiving, sarcastic and cruel

Until you get to know me, I’m sure those perceptions could be true. 

What's your personality type?

Also, do you need a good laugh?  I found these floating around somewhere and could not stop laughing!

From the *big* snow storm

A week or two ago, I don't know how long, time blends together, we had a snow event.  It was beautiful.  It was so clean and pretty.  The kids and I had plenty of food in the house and kept ourselves busy watching movies, catching up on the DVR and reading.

What do you like to do when you are "snowed in"?

I wasn't actually snowed in, I didn't have a problem getting to work when I had to leave, but it was a nice thought.

My trees.  One of them ended up falling a bit. 

Neighbors yard,  the creek is in the background, that's after it leaves my property and turns to the south. 

My front yard. 

My neighbors tree that has taken over part of my front yard. 

 

The entrance to Narnia. It just needs one of the lamp posts with a kerosene lamp.  This is at the end of my drive before I turn to go up the hill. 

My neighbors car was under a tree.  They never move their vehicles anyway. 

The Creek before it froze.  The temps were not terrible during this storm. 

The creek! So pretty! 

The side of my property across the creek!  All there is, is snow! 

My other neighbors tree caught on fire from the electrical lines.  We called the Fire Department because it had actually gotten pretty big, but it ended up burning itself out.  Thank goodness.  It did smolder for a while and the branches eventually fell to the ground.  We didn't lose electricity during that incident though. 

Because you haven't seen the cats in a while.....

Here is my creek!  It's so lovely frozen.  The sound is delightful and it's fun to see the water rushing beneath it.

Here is my Maggie cuddle bug.  Putting herself front and center on my bed, because why would I want to see in my spot.

Here is Fred.  He has taken over my old cat Jewel's bed.  She passed away sometime last year.  I found the bed going through things, washed it up and it's his new favorite place.  He's almost too big for it.  Don't mind my books and a basket of socks.  That's life.

And Kibben.  Kibben who likes to swat at my head when I pass by.  He would not face the camera for me.  He's such a butt, but so cuddly and loving.  I was sitting on the couch, hanging with my Peyton the other night and I went to move and I didn't even notice it was Kibben on my lap.  I felt bad for moving.  He's a good little guy.

And another creek picture.  My daughter is across the creek.  She's the reason I went down there because she said it looked so cool.

Late Holiday Party

I am so bad about taking pictures at parties and events. I got three the whole evening for the Sheilas Holiday Party.  We did a White Elephant Gift Exchange. Some of them were hilarious and others were very useful.  I ended up getting a black purse with red trim.  Someone's mom had gotten it for them in Europe and she just doesn't use purses.  I looked up this purse online and it was around $120.  Bananas!  I made out like a bandit.  It was perfect timing also, my current purse was falling apart and was starting to get a few holes.  I've now changed over and it's so pretty.

Someone made Red Velvet Cakes using a skull pan!  They turned out so pretty!

And it was an appetizer party!  Every was good.  I love goat cheese and someone brought some with cranberry.  There was also deer meat and cheese that paired perfectly.

I brought a pickle dip.  People keep asking me for the recipe and I keep forgetting to put it out on the Book of Face.

But here it is:

Jar of Whole Kosher Pickles (Chopped Up)

Two bricks of cream cheese.

An 8 oz container of sour cream.

Dill Weed

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Pickle Juice

I start by mixing the cream cheese and sour cream together into a nice smooth texture.  I add the pickle juice and try it out until it's enough.

I add the three spices to taste.

Last, but not least, I add chopped up pickles.

Goes perfectly with Wavy Potato Chips and any kind of cracker and veggies of all sorts!

New Football field?

On the weekends, I am up before my alarm and up early even when I do not set an alarm.

During the week though, I just don't want to get up.  My bed is snuggly and my cats are too.  I actually wake up around 5:30.

Fridays mean I have to wear my Christmas Cat Sweatshirt.  I was told if I don't wear it the Chiefs will for sure lose.  I wore it. (And they had a heartbreaking loss :( )

The school district I live in is having a Bond Vote.  It will not increase taxes.  It will provide for a new middle school while preserving the historic auditorium and gym.  The middle school needs revamping like no ones business.  It will also build a new district athletic center.  That means a new football stadium and track.  It's not bad now, but it's not good and up to date like the other ones around.  I believe they are doing a few more things with it, but those are the big ones.

Everyone in the district has been getting emails, text and phone calls about it every day for about two months.  It's driving me bonkers.  I voted!  Okay?!  Now, leave me alone pls!!

Tanner's New Ride

Tanner bought a Jeep with his money from Basic Training!  It was the perfect ride for his first drill weekend because we had about a foot of snow on the ground!  He's pretty happy about the purchase.

Maggie missed me while I was gone over the week.  She was sitting on my shoulder. 

I found out that I made the Charter for KCRW.  I will still be playing on the Plan B team, which will be amazing!  But I am going to Clover Cup, where I probably will play since we have the chance to play so many games and fresh legs are needed.  We have a 20 person charter and 14 + 2 alts are rostered for any given game.