:D
sweet dreams purkles

morning everyone <3 How are you guys this morning?

Good morning everyone - How was your weekend?

I hope it was good - I know mine was productive.

Worked at the library Saturday and afterwards spent the rest of the night making pizza and finishing up homework.

Sunday was the perfect lazy day - slept in till almost 11. then my friend came over and we went out for brunch where I had the absolute most amazing apricot stuffed French toast I will possibly ever experience.

After that we went to REI and the 5spot where we bought jellies (remember those plastic shoes from the 80's - yup - them).

After shopping we went back home - decided it was dinner time - ordered a vegetarian sushi platter and stopped at cold stone to get some ice cream.

The rest of the night was spent playing cards and drinking beer - the perfect Sunday if you ask me.

Anyone else really confused about this crazy weather? I woke up this morning and there was about an inch of slushy snow on the ground - and almost all of the roads I take in to work were closed because of flooding - not to mention that one road had a giant tree that fell over blocking it and most of the traffic lights were not working because 1/2 the city has no power.

Anyway - good morning! :P

I sure am confused with this weather Si. I can't believe it's April 16th and we were getting snow this morning. Nothing that amounted to anything but none the less it was snow.

We also are experiencing high winds and it was rather difficult to drive to work without losing control of the car a couple times.

I for one am ready for warmer weather.

We also got a lot of snow on Friday and it blanketed everything like it was Christmas, but today it's feeling warm!

Sia, YUM @ sushi, apricot french toast, and cold stone!! And I remember jelly shoes! I had some clear ones when I was in elementary school. Are those seriously coming back into fashion?

Amy, I'm sorry to hear about your cat, but hope it doesn't turn out to be anything serious! And please post the recipe for tater tot casserole (I've not heard the term hot dish either!) I'm so hungry now.

Jenni, I didn't know what OCD was and had to google, but it does make sense knowing you! Hopefully the right meds will work.

I need to look and see what this new game is about. I wasn't here this weekend.

Alrighty, by popular demand...the recipe for Tater Tot Hotdish/Casserole...

1lb Ground Beef
Canned veggie of choice (we use creamed corn+whole kernel corn, so two cans)
cream of whatever soup (I prefer chicken, but most people use mushroom)
1 pkg of Tater Tots

In a rectangular glass casserole dish (11 x 7 I think). Put the raw hamburger in the bottom and flatten it as much as possible usually about a half inch thick I'd say. Mix your veggies and the soup together and put that on top of the beef. Then place the tater tots on top of that so the flat ends are top and bottom and they are in rows. Extras can just be tossed on top. Then you just bake it for 1 1/2 hours at 325-350...the tots just get more crunchy at 350.

It is super easy to make and surprisingly tasty, and I personally think it tastes even beter reheated. Oh, yeah, 'hotdish' is definitely a Minnesota term. lol There's even a wiki article on it! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotdish It even has a picture of Tater Tot Hotsdish! Although, I prefer my tots to be more lined up than the pictured one. :P

Also, there are a mutitude of other recipes out there for tater tot hotdish, but this is our "family" recipe, so it's what I'm used to. There is also Tuna Noodle Hotdish, which might be more widely known. It's even easier to make!

1 can tuna (I prefer the albacore)
1 can cream of whatever soup (again, I prefer chicken)
1 box of noodles (any kind works, I like to use bow-tie, shells, or macaroni)
1 veggie (we use canned peas)

All you do is boil your noodles and when they are done, everything gets mixed together in a casserole dish. Yummy! My mom also adds shredded cheese to her recipe, but I prefer it without.

Those sound good! I'll have to try them! The tater tots I think I can get at the grocery store are frozen. That's ok to put on top right, they don't have to be thawed? And what veggie might you suggest if hubby doesn't like corn..

The tuna one I'll want to try after the baby's born, as I'm supposed to limit my tuna in case of mercury poisoning or something.

Tonight I'm either making the rigatoni with bell peppers or some angel hair pasta with prego and artichoke hearts.

It always seems like the quick and easy dishes are meaty - *shakes fist at boyfriend for being vegetarian* - they sound interesting.

Thanks Amy. I copied both of those into a word document and printed them out. I really want to try the tater tot one if I can talk them into it at home.

Originally Posted by amersemt

Also, there are a mutitude of other recipes out there for tater tot hotdish, but this is our "family" recipe, so it's what I'm used to. There is also Tuna Noodle Hotdish, which might be more widely known. It's even easier to make!

1 can tuna (I prefer the albacore)
1 can cream of whatever soup (again, I prefer chicken)
1 box of noodles (any kind works, I like to use bow-tie, shells, or macaroni)
1 veggie (we use canned peas)

All you do is boil your noodles and when they are done, everything gets mixed together in a casserole dish. Yummy! My mom also adds shredded cheese to her recipe, but I prefer it without.

ooh! now my Mum used to do something like this, with rice, tinned tuna, mushroom soup and frozen peas, she used to put cheese on top too, i really liked it! she used to call it tuna and mushroom slop :lol:

i really like this month's items, i've not opted for a scythe as yet, gone for 2 mermaid items and one set of eyes so far.

i did dress up all pretty like, but i wanted to try out the horror film eyes so i changed 8)

Originally Posted by jellysundae

i really like this month's items, i've not opted for a scythe as yet, gone for 2 mermaid items and one set of eyes so far.

i did dress up all pretty like, but i wanted to try out the horror film eyes so i changed 8)

EEEEK!!!!

I'm a pretty pretty mermaid with purkle eyes and rainbows.

fawN, yes, the tots can be frozen, ours always are. As far as a substitute veggie...well, I don't know! I suppose you could try anything really or go without the veggie. If you don't use creamed corn, you might want to use two cans of soup so it stays nice and moist. I'm not too sure.

Si, darn veggie boyfriends! lol I suppose you could always try it using tofu! :P

Jelly, that is a scary look! I haven't gotten any of the Gaia MCs this month and I don't know if I will. They don't really appeal to me. Although I probably get some just to sell.

Jaz, very pretty!

thank you amy! the items were a makeup gift from the hubby for being a PITA last night. he doesn't know yet hehehe

edit: wow we're quiet here today. of course I haven't been around either. Was doing taxes for a friend. She needed her last 3 years done by tomorrow. Kinda fun. I love doing taxes ... just hate the government this year taking our refund away

yea I'm whining ... sorry

on a side note, kevin made some yummy homemade tuna poke. mmm mmm goodness

Wow it has been quiet in here lately.

I'm counting down to New York now. So hard to focus on work AND I don't want to send in my state taxes. I hate paying them.

I do like the mermaid. Very pretty. I have red eyes right now. I still need to get some black boots. Everything my poor little avvie has on right now doesn't match, lol.

oh yea! i forgot you were going to new york? when is that?

we were supposed to go to Toronto next month for our 1st anniversary. not gonna happen now tho. oh well.

Good morning. Another restless night! I've been getting really bad frequent contractions at night that wake me up every 10-20 minutes. Not fun. And no, I'm not in labor, but I don't know how much longer I can last if they go on like this!

*huggles fawN* i'm so sorry :( you must be exhausted! how much longer? I'll bet you can't wait!

Has to be coming soon fawN if you are getting contractions like that.

I got my headband yesterday on gaia so now comes the dreaded quest for the pendent. I doubt I will make it to getting it but I'm going to plug away for a bit and see what happens.

Aw, fawN, that's awful! The baby must be coming pretty soon though, right?

Rue, congrats on the headband. I noticed that it seems alot of the MCs at Gaia are dropping in price. Anyone else notice that? My Coco Kitty keeps going down a little bit everyday. It's sort of strange...

Wow Rue! Congrats on finally getting the headband!!! :D

I have a month left, and all these frequent painful contractions don't actually mean it will be coming soon because I've been getting braxton-hicks since 3 months, and they say I'll have them earlier, more often, and stronger this pregnancy than last, and I had them early and often with Jade too! With Jade they said call if I had more than 6 an hour, but that was pretty much every day, and this time too, only they're much stronger lately.

I do have my MRI on Wednesday, so after the results of that are in, I'm not worried about how early it comes!

roocee - Congrats on the headband! I do hope you get your pendant! They're one of my favorite items. MCs are dropping? Looks like it'd be a good time to snag some I've been wanting! I'm not playng as much at Gaia right now, so my money's just sitting there anyhow and I do have an auction coming up in a few months, so I don't think it would hurt to go shopping, eh?

Fridge still broken - they're coming by again today to do a few more tests. At this point, I'm just about to say, "Husband, let's just go buy another one!" I'm tired of living out of an ice chest and having to go buy new ice for it on a daily basis!

fawN - I hope they subside a bit for you! I never got any Braxton Hicks, so I can't imagine what that's like! But it seems like you've had a rough time lately!

Hmmm, maybe something is up signaling the baby might come extra early.. I've started spotting this morning, which could mean nothing, or could mean the baby's coming within a few days, or could be some other problem. I really don't want to go in and get strapped to machines and everything, especially before I've even had my MRI or results, but hubby'd rather me be safe than sorry, so I'm going to call in a little bit and see what they say.

Yeah I would do that too - you don't want anything happening to you or your little one! Keep us updated!