Beef....It's What's For Dinner

After the incident of the purse in Marshall's yesterday, I continued to shop....far away from the scene.  I found a Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade cookbook.

 I love Sandra Lee's cookbooks, so I picked this one up for 4.99.  If you're not familiar with her style of cooking, she takes store bought products (canned and packaged goods) and turns them into good meals...as she says "that taste like they're made from scratch."    I read cookbooks more than cook from them...but I already found a recipe in this one that I'm trying tonight.

*I added an egg in the cornbread mix and cream-style corn mix...



This recipe reminds me of one of my all time favorite meals my mother used to cook...and I cooked when my kids were little.  The meat mixture is made with cooked hamburger meat,  a jar of spaghetti sauce, sauteed onions and green bell peppers, then topped with a layer of canned corn (drained) and jiffy cornbread prepared as directed on the box....then cook at the degree and time on the box for cornbread. Yum. 

Tonight's meal will be with a Mexican spicy flare....... 

But first, I need to find a beautiful Mexican shirt like she has on to serve it up in.


Post Script:  Wednesday morning: This was delicious!  Served with a salad and a Margarita.  Yum.

My Purse....

I went to the eye doctor today.....then on to the place in the mall to get eye glasses in an hour.  Because I'm impatient like that.   They were having a buy one pair, get a spare deal....so I ended up with 2 pair of glasses.  Let's call these driving glasses.  My vision is 20/40.....so it's not very bad unless I need to read the menu on the t.v. or a street sign at night. But I've been squinting more and more lately and it was good to get the eyes checked out. (I almost didn't pass the eye test when getting my driver's license....so that was the first clue my eyes were getting worse.)


Will and his friend met up with me for lunch at the mall then we went our separate ways and I ended up at Marshall's. Looking for nothing, just enjoying the freedom of being out running the streets on a Monday.  Spring Break freedom.

I stopped to look at a pair of shoes.  Ended up trying them on.  Leaned down to buckle them.  Stepped back to look in the mirror.  Decided they were a no.  Leaned back down to unbuckle.  Put them back in the shoe box.  Then turned back to my basket to move on.

My purse was gone!  Panic set in quick! 

I yelled out across Marshall's.....


MY PURSE IS GONE! 

 MY PURSE HAS BEEN STOLEN!!!


I had everyone's attention.....stopped the store in its tracks.  Then I looked around in a panic.  And right there on my other side was my basket with my purse.

I somewhat yelled out:  Never mind.  sorry. whoops.


 (pointing to the empty basket, then my basket.)    


A couple of people may have rolled their eyes at me.  And one little girl continued to stare at me way past a normal amount of time. One lady walked up to me and told me her heart just about stopped.  And then went on to tell me her stolen purse story. 






sorry.  sorry.  sorry.  CARRY ON. 




But hey!  It worked.  If it had been stolen, I got everyone's attention.  Perhaps someone would have caught the thief.

Y'all I had 2 new pair of glasses in that purse, not to mention my wallet.  No cash though....never any cash. 

Memories Are Made of This

Letters, quotes and words seem to be all the rage right now.....on pillows, artwork and frames.  When things become all the rage you'll know it because it will be everywhere.  I usually like something until it becomes so "everywhere in your face" then I can hardly look at it.   I think letters and quotes and words on decorative accessories are getting there.

However, I bought a frame while in Atlanta that caught my eye because of the colors and then for what it said.  I knew just where I'd put it and what I would put in it.  If I get sick of the lettering, I can always paint this frame.

But for now it hangs at my kitchen desk drop-off point....cleaned up for this photo.

See the big frame?
To the right of the black sign with words on it....
Uh, oh....all the rage has crossed over to "everywhere."

Memories are made of this.

Sounds sweet, doesn't it?

I looked through old albums for a picture of my 3 kids when they were little. 

This one brings back lots of memories. 

This photograph of my 3 kids was taken at the hotel swimming pool when we went to Disneyworld in 1998. I'll just go ahead and say this.....

                                                   This trip was one of the worst trips ever.

I can laugh now but at the time it was very stressful to be so miserable at Disneyworld when all I had ever heard from others was what a great experience it was for families. Stressful to be so miserable when we were in the middle of spending a lot of money for this "good time."  Stressful to be coming to the realization that maybe we were a very dysfunctional family after all.

My kids were at an age where 2  of them (5th and 8th graders) were in to the daring rides and wanted to get on them over and over, while the remaining kid (a 2nd grader...you guess which one) would stand in the hour long line with us, then start to cry right as it was our turn to get on.  CRY.  And glue his feet to the concrete...as in "not getting on that ride."

Because he was scared.  After waiting in line an hour. Really?  He couldn't have told us this earlier?  Like an hour earlier?

One parent was telling him with clenched teeth to stop and get on the dang ride, while the other parent with the fake smile was saying I would just sit it out with him on the bench and meet up with them afterwards.  All the while knowing the long line of people behind us as well as the people already loaded on to the ride and the cheery workers were watching this circus show we were putting on.

This happened over and over, one ride after another until I may have lost it publicly in the park (ala Kate as in Jon and Kate plus 8) and said we were going back to the hotel and they could just play in the pool for all I cared!  Forget Disneyworld ....forget Universal Studios!  Forget that we had 3 day park passes that had cost us an arm and a leg. 

Funny thing now....this picture was taken during the best, calmest moment of the whole trip.  The kids got along and played in that pool for the whole afternoon.

We could have saved a lot of money just renting a room in a hotel in Houston.  You know, for an afternoon of swimming in a hotel pool.

Yes.  Memories are made of this.

Post Script:  The little scared 2nd grader is the same kid who jumped out of a moving car in 10th grade.  Didn't see that coming.