Pantry Sweep

I've decided to put my foot down. Every night that I come home and don't go out, I sit around hemming and hawing over what to make for dinner. And usually i end up eating crackers and cereal. Or sometimes I stop at Chipotle or Qdoba. I decided that I am wasting money and eating like crap... when I have a whole pantry full of goods that are begging to be consumed. Plus I have the fridge, full of half bags of shredded cheese and jars of almost empty, but not ready to be thrown, spaghetti sauce.
So my goal this week is to use up everything edible in my pantry\fridge and make yummy meals in the process!
Last night I made Baked Penne with Chicken Parmigiana.
In that process I used up a jar of marinara sauce, a shallot, penne pasta, mozzarella cheese and one lonely chicken tender in the freezer.
It was yum-a-licious!

Tomorrow I will post what I just made for dinner: Southwestern Spaghetti Skillet. Yee-Haw!

Happy Birthday Kelly!

To my favorite cousin in the whole wide world!

Happy Birthday!

Not the end, Just a new beginning...

Bittersweet. That is my mood right now. My dear bestie Shannon is on her way to a new life in Michigan tomorrow. She met a boy. She is packing up her stuff and moving to what I call, "Bermuda Triangle Michigan". Believe it or not this is not the first time a dear friend has been sucked into the vortex of the state of peninsulas. (Hi Rach!) There must be something about those Michigan boys. I am very happy for Shannon. She has found a good guy and I think she will be very happy on her journey. But holy crap I will miss that girl. I have known Shannon aka Tweaker since the 4th grade. They could write a book about all our adventures. We were crazy then, even crazier now!
I hate goodbyes, so Shannon this one is for you. I love you girl!

Please pay me to eat!

This weekend I went with my cousin Kelly on our second annual "Go to Willmar and Go to an Art Fair, And have dinner with Aunt Lori and then get together with Kelly's High School friends" weekend. (although this weekend we added on, Get tires changed and listen to Kyle teach us about music, but I don't know if that will be a tradition or not?)

It was fun and I bought another piece of pottery for my collection from the amazing and talented Emily Schollett.
But the question I had to ask on the road trip was:
If you were paid to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I had to think about it, but i think I decided that it would be Toaster Strudels. You know those pastries from Pillsbury with the gooey filling and the super sugary icing you drizzle over the top?
Those are amazing. I do not buy them. I never have. I know that if i had a box in the house I would eat them ALL in one sitting!!!
I'm sure there are other things i would love to get paid to eat, like Gummy Bears and Pad Thai. But I really want someone to pay me to eat Toaster Strudels. Then I wouldn't feel guilty because I could say, "It's my job, I HAVE to eat them!"

If you were paid to eat one thing what would it be?

nine nine O-nine birthday!

Big day! Happy birthday MOM!!! Love you!

(he's weird)

Last night I went with Kelly and Kyle to see probably the funniest comedian ever, Jim Gaffigan. I seriously have never laughed so hard for an hour strait. I love his quirky weird commenting voice and the way he can take everyday activities and make fun of them.
My favorite bit he does is Hot Pockets. He did it last night and I was in tears!
Here is a video of him doing Hot Pockets.

September One

September One.

End of Summer.

All the teachers came back to work yesterday. I am no longer alone. No more solitude, no more watching movies all day long, no more sanity.
But in return I got back, all my friends, lots of laugh, and treats. Yes, treats. Yesterday I received:
iced chai tea latte,
a bag of goodies and
Joe Mauer on stick. It's complicated, but amazing.
It's nice to have everyone back. Yay for awesome co-workers!

“Anyone who imagines they can work alone winds up surrounded by nothing but rivals, without companions. The fact is, no one ascends alone.” ~ Lance Armstrong, It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life
(courtesy of Slaughterhouse 90210)