DIY & couch time

"Something you made" 

Well, I didn't really "make" this,

 but I painted the frame, 

got rid of the backing,

 and put the "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON" vinyl on it.

Personally,  I love it. 

Picture is not that great; I think you can even kinda see my reflection in the glass. Ha!

"a favourite place"

Since I ran my first and only 20 miler today, my favorite place right now is the couch.
Especially with my tired feet elevated.
They feel like they are made of lead, but I lived through it.

reading material & snacks

What you are reading...

This should really be labeled what you are trying to read because frankly I haven't had the time for reading lately.  I am so glad my last reeeeaaallly long run is this Saturday (20 miles) after that I'll be into that magical stage of tapering (running less and less until the day of the race).

Spending 3 hours running on your only non-Sabbath-day-off-of-work (aka the day for doing all your errands)  has been mentally exhausting.  Luckily, Lee has really helped me pick up the slack with the cleaning and trips to Walmart around here.

Now I just need some tips on how to get him to give me nightly foot massages...
 

Let's talk about something really interesting...

"Snacks"

9 AM mini snickers

 3:30 PM banana & pink lady apple

3:45 PM Cheetos & DDP

8:30 PM...

Mini Cheese Cake

Do you eat as many snacks as I do?

No.

I already know that.  

It's a rhetorical question.

PS: I only ate 1/4 of that mini cheesecake so don't be judging me.  Unless it makes you feel better about yourself then by all means do it, but just don't be telling me what a cow of an eater I am.  I am pretty sure I got that enough growing up. Every time my grandpa came over for dinner he'd say, "She sure has a healthy appetite!" Thanks gramps... I'll pretend that's a compliment.

grass, love, & lasagna

This photo challenge is getting old. I hope I make it to the end of the month!

"grass" 

"love"

And now for the cooking...

This week I made lasagna.  It's a bit of a harder dish, but we went to Olive Garden last Thursday and Lee ordered lasagna.  Afterward he said that the lasagna I make is better, so I wanted to make it.

I got this recipe from my mom, but I don't think she made it up or anything.  Most recipes started somewhere, just not sure where.

Here's what you need for a basic lasagna...

1 lb of beef
Lasagna noodles
1 can of tomato sauce
2 cans of tomato paste
1 1/2 cups of water
1/4 cup onion
2 cups Monterrey Jack Cheese
Cottage Cheese

First thing you would do is to boil a pot of water to cook your noodles (you will need 9-12 depending on how many layers you want to do)

Then you will brown your beef, I usually sautee the onions in a bit of butter and then put the beef in with the onion. (Original recipe calls for a full onion, but I don't think anything needs a full onion).  I also salt and pepper the meat as it cooks, but you could add other spices as well.

Add the water, tomato sauce, & paste to the beef.

Mix the cheeses (grate the Monterrey) together in a bowl.

Put a little sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan, layer three noodles, then layer sauce, then layer cheese, repeat until you run out of ingredients.  Lastly put some extra Monterrey Jack Cheese on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. ENJOY!

We also had green salad and garlic bread.

happiness & mums

"Something that makes you happy... "

Going out for a girls' lunch and getting a pedicure. 

"Mum"

I got these mums from one of my student's for teacher appreciation week.

I hope you had a great day celebrating another kind of mums.

kitchen

I usually love spending time in the kitchen.

BUT, I don't think the kitchen is, "a woman's place."  I do most of the cooking at our house for two reasons:

1. I love food, so I want my food to taste delicious.

2. I enjoy cooking; maybe one reason I enjoy it is because I like to feel like I am taking care of/serving those I love. 

"a favourite word"

weekdays

"something you do every day"

I don't teach every day, but I don't do much every day besides eat and sleep. I run a lot, but I take rest days. 

What do you do every day?

 

no cooking Tuesday

I am sorry to say,  I have no cooking post this week!
 What our dinners looked like (aka why no cooking post this week)...

1. sharing a totino's pizza with a side of salad (lame)
2. pot roast (already been featured)
3. left over pot roast
4. cafe rio (not cooking)
5. steak and potatoes (at my MIL's house)
6. take out chinese food (not cooking)
7. oatmeal for me and lee ate at work b/c of working late

We do not usually eat out even once a week, let alone twice.

Next week, I hope to do better.  We will see.

Anyway,  today I am supposed to share a photo of "a smell you adore"

Before you think I am ingesting chemicals or making meth, this picture is supposed to represent what my house smells like when it is clean.  Not that I always use harsh chemicals, sometimes I use vinegar and baking soda and other natural substances, but sometimes you just need a little bleach to feel like it is really, really, really,  clean.  You know what I mean?

Yesterday I was supposed to share a photo of, "someone that inspires you."

Well shoot.  
That's kind of tough. 
There are so many people who do.
I am kind of crabby today.
and yesterday.
and the day before. 
Therefore, I decided not to take this one too seriously.

you

I am behind so I am going to have to post twice today. Yikes!
This is for yesterday... a picture of you.

I drew this self portrait while I was teaching my students how to draw their own. I should probably become a professional art teacher instead of an elementary teacher who has to teach art sometimes because that drawing is pretty much an exact likeness, right?

planning

here's my photo for...

"bird"
 

Do you have a planner?

Some people use a blackberry, their iphone, or electronic devices.  Personally, I just really like an old fashioned paper planner.  There is something great about writing it down, with a pen, in your own handwriting.

Lately I have seen quite a few ladies at the grocery store using their ipad for a grocery list.  And for some reason it bugs me.  I could see the convenience of having it on their iphone, but an ipad is pretty big to lug around the grocery store?  I would be worried I was going to drop it!

How do you keep track of all the plans in your life?

fun

When I first started thinking, "what will I take a photo of today that is fun?" I automatically thought of running, but I talk about that enough. Then I thought of my birthday lunch celebration with my BFF coworkers today, but I didn't want to ask them if I could post a picture of them on my blog. Then I thought about how much fun I have teaching every day, but I can't post photos of that because of my students.

I was stumped.

 I almost took a photo of the "Fun." CD I bought a few weeks ago, but when I walked through the door after getting home from work and my dog grunted, whined, jumped around, jumped on me, wagged his tail, and was generally acting like a lunatic from excitement to see me I realized I didn't have to be the one having fun in the photo.

The best (and most fun) part of my dog's day is...

going for a walk.

He loves walks so much that we can't even say the word, "walk" in our house without him going insane thinking he gets to go on one. Lee and I spell it to each other if we are discussing it.

Me: Should we take Biff for a W-A-L-K?
If we decide to go we then say, "go for a walk?" and Biff runs around like a maniac jumping on and off couches and circling the house.

We have recently tried to replace the word "walk" with "disneyland" to try to get Biff to respond with excitement when we say, "go to disneyland?" just because we think it would be a riot, but so far no luck.

I hope you had some fun today.

today

Something I wore today...

Today was our annual "fun run" at the school where I teach.  The fun part comes in when the really athletic kids don't want to let me pass them.  They keep sprinting and then getting too tired to go on, but what I can I say? Slow and steady wins the race.

skyline

I saw a lot of beautiful skylines as I went on my 7 mile run earlier tonight, but taking a camera on a run isn't very practical.  During the last half mile I was lucky enough to have a fluffy little piece of nature float into my eye and attack! 

This skyline was not as good as some of the sights I saw on my run, but it was just a few steps away from my door.

cooking for two tuesday & challenge

This week I cheated; I am running out of new ideas for dinners that haven't been featured.  Yikes! Our featured dinner came from a box.  This box:

It costs somewhere between 2-3 dollars and is easy.  It doesn't taste half bad either.  You pour a can of soup (it's all there in the box, I imagine it's cream of chicken, but it also has carrots, peas, and potatoes) into a pan. Then you add 1/2 cup of water to the powder packet for the biscuits and drop balls of dough onto the top and bake for 35 minutes.

Better than eating out if you ask me.

We also had steamed broccoli, carrots, tomato slices, and apple slices. 

Don't you love lace?

Me too, as featured in a new shirt I wore today.

I'm trying to mix it up here and be more creative so I am going to try
(keyword being try) to complete a photo-a-day challenge during May.

today's photo...

 

"peace"

I wanted to take a photo during yoga class tonight, but I didn't think anyone there would appreciate it.

If you're interested in the photo a day challenge click here.