Thank you MLB

It's Drug Free Week in our local school district. Just say NO!

Every day the kids were something theme related - Monday was PJ's, Tuesday was Camo, Wednesday was dress like a nerd, Thursday was Jersey day. Today is wear all red. Because red is the drug free color.

So I load up Preston for school in red track pants, black shirt and red sweatshirt. On the way to school, I ask him "why are you wearing red today?" Here's how it went down:

Mom: "Why are you wearing red today? What does it stand for?"

Preston: "Texas Tech"

M: "yes, but what else?"

P: "just say no to drugs"

M: "Right! Drugs are really bad, they ruin your life. You can't get a good job or have a full life if you are on drugs. We don't need drugs to feel good. If you do drugs, you'll get kicked off the team. They are just really bad for you. You can't play sports if you are using drugs."

P: "But Manny Ramirez uses drugs and he plays for the Dodgers"

Silence... What do you say to that? Seriously...what do you say?

So I say "he's a creep".

What? I didn't know what to say! So then I took the opportunity to tell him about Josh Hamilton and how he got addicted to drugs and was kicked out of baseball and almost lost his family, but then he let Jesus start running his life and now he's on top of the world. Preston does love Josh Hamilton.

I'm so sick that there are so many horrible examples in professional sports. My kid watches any game that's on. He watches Sports Center. He loves sports, and he loves certain athletes. It's just heart breaking when we try to teach our kids the right thing, and there's so many others telling him the wrong thing.

More Blastoff Ramblings

The boys have been sick, so I've had lots of time to play with my new Blastoff page. I've ordered a few things. I need to order some more coffee. Anyhow...if you have not set up your Blastoff page, what are you waiting for?

Check out my frugal blog here - I've been writing about it. It also has a swell link to my Frugal Shoppers group on Facebook. I am digging this - so much fun to tell others how to save money!!

http://www.weirfrugalblastoffshoppers.blogspot.com/

If you have not set up your own Blastoff page, you can now! Pizza Hut is about to launch their own advertising campaign around it this week. (you can read all about it in my Frugal blog...)

http://my.blastoffnetwork.com/amyweir

Can I Marry a Casserole?

My husband is a trained chef. He went to the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont. His mastery has been published, by way of the chef he worked for during his internship. His chef published a cookbook, and Joe prepared and plated several items - including the cover. He's good. His food is amazing. He is not in the profession, but he gets joy from cooking. For the first 12 years of our marriage, he did most of the cooking. He loves to cook. I, on the other hand - hated to cook. In all honesty, it might be the fact that cooking for a trained chef. Ya think?

So with TV Joe doing all his TV Joe duties at work...for 12 hours a day... I was forced to either learn how to cook or get a job at the Sonic to help supplement our bill there. In the beginning, I was not very good. And I resisted training from Joe - I'm a smart girl, surely I could follow a recipe? I watched Rachael Ray, Paula Deen - Food Network 24/7. I'm not sure when it happened...I wasn't really paying attention...but I got good at it. I made few things that I thought "hey I could serve this to guest", or "this didn't completely suck". I became an expert at Taco Soup, spaghetti - basics. I made a good roasted corn chowder. Then my friend Janna started her food blog and made it look so pretty and easy, and I really started trying hard. I think it might have been last year when I made a roasted pork tenderloin with a mustard apricot glaze and new potatoes. I plated it, stepped back and actually felt pride. It was beautiful, cooked well and delicious. From then I decided to try at least one new recipe a week, if our schedule allowed. And I began to love it.

Monday night I decided to cook a King Ranch Chicken Casserole. I read about it on some blog, and thought it looked easy and good. It called for 2 cream soups, rotel, tortillas, chicken and cheese. That's it. Sounded good...but sounded boring. Surely I could jazz this up. So I started googling and read about 10 recipes for KRCC and got a little spice list compiled.
So I made this recipe Monday. Layer tortillas, layer chicken/soup/rotel/broth/spices mixture, layer cheese, layer mixture, layer cheese. Done. In the midst of cooking, I got a call reminding me that TV Joe would not be home for dinner, he was going to watch Monday Night Football. Well, I'm not cooking this for 2 picky kids and me. I was about to wrap it in foil and throw it in the freezer when I realized I forgot the rotel tomatoes. I tried to gently remove the tortillas from the layers to keep them from getting into the chicken mixture. It didn't work very well. So I thought, screw it - I'm just going to mix these tortillas in and then layer some extras. Good move, Ed. This made the casserole have a bit of a stuffing/dressing consistency. I pulled it out of the freezer last night and popped it in the oven. It. Was. So. Good. So good. Soooooooo good. I want to marry this casserole. I have leftovers in the fridge that I'm eating slowly to make them last. Yum.

Here's what I came up with: (and know, I get about 5lbs of rotisserie chicken breast at Costco for casseroles and freeze in 1# bags - love it!)

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

1 lb cooked chicked breast, diced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can rotel tomatoes
1t chili powder
1/4t salt
1/4t garlic
1t cumin
1 cup chicken broth
10-12 corn tortillas
2 cups colby jack cheese (or cheddar, mexican blend - whatever you like)

Preheat oven to 350
Spray the bottom of a casserole dish with pam. Cut or tear the corn tortillas into small triangles. Layer 1/3 of the tortillas in the dish. Mix chicken, soups, tomatoes, spices, broth and 1/3 of the tortillas in a bowl. Layer 1/2 the mixture on top of the tortillas. Sprinkle 1/2 the cheese. Spread 1/3 (remainder) of the tortillas on top. Add the rest of the mixture. Sprinkle with remainder of the cheese. Cook for 30 minutes.

So good. I served with Mexican rice. Enjoy!

Anyone Scrapbook?

I assure you I will return to boring you with my everyday details of my exciting life in suburbia, but I'm so busy with this Blastoff launch - trying to get the word out on how COOL it is to earn cash back that I have to dedicate both blogs to this effort.

Mosey over to my shopping blog to learn how you can earn 5% cash back on your digital prints. And earn a referral on the digital prints that your scrapbooking friends order - down to 10 degrees. Awesome.

http://weirfrugalblastoffshoppers.blogspot.com/2009/10/snapfish-photo-developing-christmas.html

My Blastoff Shopping Blog - first purchase

Hey y'all - I have a new internet shopping blog to get the word out on this new network that pays cash back on your online purchases at over 300 retailers - including Target, Walmart, Kmart, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Sephora, on and on. It's completely free - all you have to do is sign up! And then when you invite your friends to sign up, you get a referral bonus on THEIR purchases, up to 10 degrees of separation from you! Amazing! The site goes live in a few days - check out my other blog for more info!

http://weirfrugalblastoffshoppers.blogspot.com/

The Slowest Driver Rears Her *perfect* Head

You all remember the slowest driver in Colleyville, right? There was much rejoicing when I discovered that her child now goes to the middle school. Can I get a hallelujah? I'm finally rid of the 25-mile-per-hour-when-we-are-rushing-to-school-hurry-don't-get-a-tardy!!

Until today.

We live next to the gate on our street. The gate only opens for the school bus. It's wonderful because the boys can play in the street out there fairly safely. The gate opens from 7:10 until about 7:45 or longer - I have no idea how long, I'm always gone by then. So the middle school bus stops on our street, and apparently now the slowest driver brings her child to our street. Now the way I see this - if you are getting in your car to bring your child to the bus stop, shouldn't you just drive them all the way to school?

I digress...

So today this car was stopped the wrong way on the corner of my street and the major street. And she sat there for a while. A long while. Probably only 2 minutes, but it felt an eternity. I could not turn, I could not go around her. Grrrrr. But we finally made it and she turned into her neighborhood. Time to accelerate.

Right into the NEW slowest driver in Colleyville. That's right. The sweet little black Mercedes SUV is slightly faster that it's prettier sister, the black Audi SUV. This one drives 23 miles per hour down the 30mph road to school. Oh boy. I'm going to have to pray for patience on the way to school. Road rage in the carpool lane is never a good idea.