My Famous Baked Beans

My baked beans are really easy to make...but they are a little hard on the
waistline!

Brown a pound of ground round.

Fry up a pound of bacon. Make sure you get the bacon really crisp.

Tater Tot - this shot is just for you! Yummy, crisp bacon!!!

Open a big can of pork 'n beans (I prefer Showboat brand, but can't find it here in Cajun Country, so I used Campbells.), and dump them in a big bowl. Crumble the bacon and toss it in with the beans.

Throw in the cooked ground round.

Then toss in a pound (YES a Pound) of brown sugar. I prefer dark brown for this recipe.

Now add a big squirt of yellow mustard and three big squirts of ketchup.
Whats a big squirt? Well, I guess for the mustard, it would be less than a 1/4 of a cup...I think I probably put in a little over a 1/2 cup of ketchup (or catsup if you prefer).
Mix this all together and pour into a baking dish. I used my Big Daddy Princess House Miracle Dish. In retrospect I could have fit this batch of beans into the
2 qrt. Miracle Dish.

Bake at 325 - 350 degrees for several hours.

Mine didn't bake long enough because my men were complaining that they were starving to death and that they needed to eat right away. MEN! Could they just eat a snack - NO - they had to have beans...and hot dogs, and tater salad.

Here's the finished product.

IT should be thicker, and bubblier, and darker, and...baked longer!

And Puglette asked me for the potato salad recipe...
...so here it is:

Peel and dice a bunch of potatoes (I use red skinned - but not creamers), and throw them in a microwavable (I use a Tupperware Stack Cooker) container with a lid - and nuke them babies til they're easy to pierce with a fork. Let 'em sit for a bit, so that they aren't horribly hot. Then plop a big big big spoonful of mayo on them, and then a squirt of mustard, and some salt and pepper and a little bit of dill weed. Mix it up gently (cause we aren't making mashed spuds), then you must taste them. If it needs more mayo, or mustard, or salt, or pepper, or dill - just add it now, and then re-taste. When you're happy with it - put it in the fridge and keep it there till its good and cold. That's it! Easy Peasy.

One day, I'll give you the recipe for:
"Everything But The Kitchen Sink Potato Salad",
but this will have to do you for now.

Throwing you all big
{{{hugs}}}}
!

PS - My Famous Baked Bean Recipe will be posted tomorrow!

6 Most Important Things To Do List

Homestay Mama was wondering how she could get herself cloned, so that she could get everything that she needs to do.... done.

Well - it just ain't gonna happen... but, I can give her and all of you some words of wisdom.

Each day start off with a list of the 6 most important things that you need to do. Start with the most important, and list it first. Then put the next most important thing as #2. Do this until you have listed 6 things. Work down your list as the day goes along. If you didn't get everything done...that's okay. Those things just get placed on tomorrow's list.

Dishes will wait to get washed, as will windows, and floors. Weeds provide oxygen - so let them stay a little longer. Cobwebs are homes for spiders, and spiders eat other bugs. Laundry sitting in the hamper, keeps the hamper company. Do you get what I'm saying?

The idea that we must be superwomen is BUNK. BUNK, I say - and say loudly. We only need to be the best that we can be, in each situation that confronts us. Each day is different. Some days use up more of our energy (both physical and emotional), and other days, we can do less, and thus, recharge our batteries.

PS - Do as I say, and not as I do;-)

Hi all - remember that contest that I was in...the one where I was trying to win a BLOG?
Well the winner - Cheryl Nelson - has it up and running, and I'd like for you all to be real neighborly, and drop by and say hello and welcome to Blog Land. Would you do that for me? I think that she would do the same for me. She dropped by today, and left me a very nice comment. Check it out - I've printed it below:

"Elizabeth Neas---I am so glad you left a comment for me over at the site. I came and visited you a week or so ago and read through a few of your posts and your profile. I never left a comment because If I recall correctly my son was dragging me away for a "warm/hot sippy cup of milk"--At any rate... glad you stopped in to see me and thanks for the congrats. I tell you one thing... You are awesome and if I had to get my butt kicked by anyone in that contest all over again, I would take my hat off to you and say: YOU ROCK LIBBY! God Bless Cheryl"

You can find her HERE at Because Mom Said So.

Tell her I sent you...okay?

On to other things...after 2 Requips, an Ambien, a Tylenol 3 and an ice pack - I was finally able to get to sleep around midnight. I do feel better today, but man oh man, does my jaw ache. And really, honest to goodness, I was told that I have a teeny tiny mouth. The dental hygienist told me that she had only seen one adult that had a smaller mouth than mine. I should have had her put it in writing, so that I could frame it and hang it up in my house! Maybe I'll have her do it when I go back for my permanent crowns. I'm told that the visit should only take an hour. I think I'll ask for that in writing too!

I've made it to level 23 in Farm Town, and I've saving for a house, silo, well, and windmill. I've got quite a few neighbors and just bought myself 2 llamas. Paid 2 grand apiece!

If anyone's interested, we had hot dogs, potatoes salad and my famous baked beans, on memorial day. If anyone would like the recipe, just let me know!

AND

I'm getting very close to my 300th post - so you know what that means - A GIVEAWAY!
Yep, I'm digg'n through my drawers, trying to come up with a great big ole heap of goodies...so stay tuned!

Thith wasth my view for 2 1/2 oueths thith afthernoon. I don know if I will ebber taawk nomal agin. I wasth tol thah I hath a weally tiny mouph, so ih wasth haaud to wook on me. Do any uf you bewieve thah? I may wive, buh I don ebber whan to do thah again!

Farm Town

Chele, 0ver at The Watson's Random-ness , has drug me down with her...I've become addicted to Farm Town on Facebook. This ridiculous online "game" has sunk it's teeth in deep, and refuses to let go. Does anyone know if there is a FT support group in my area? I need help...after all, FT is eating into my 101 Eggs and More time, not to mention my blogging.

I've been in a slump...haven't you been able to tell? I feel like my brain has turned to mush. Maybe that's why I've gotten so attached to Farm Town. Not a lot of thinking necessary. I know that some of my problem stems from anesthesia "hangover", but there's something else, that I just can't seem to put my finger on.

Is it the heat? Missing my kids and grand kids? Not sleeping well?
Heck - I don't know, but I do know that if I don't snap out of this funk sometime soon...I fear that I won't snap out of it at all.

Oh - and guess what I get to do tomorrow? Gotta sit in the dentist chair for 2 hours. Yep 2. I have to get three crowns, to fix the teeth I broke in February.
The worst part is...that with this expense, I will have maxed out our FSA for the year, and it's only the end of MAY. Hubby needs to have cataract surgery - Big J needs a root canal- somethings wrong with my wrist, and I don't know what needs to be done. Gosh, ain't life fun?

But you know me...I'm a " the glass is always half full kind of person" (yeah right), so I'm sure that my cheery self will be back in no time.

Actually sooner than you might think...I just noticed that my followers numbers are climbing - Hurrah! And, I'm nearing my 300th post, and am planning a nifty giveaway...so don't give up on me now. Okay?

Have a laugh on me.

---

I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.

I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.

You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.

Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.

I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are just missing.

Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.

NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.

The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

Consciousness: That annoying time between naps

Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it!

Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.

Procrastinate Now!


I have a Degree in Liberal Arts; do you want fries with that?
A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.

Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!

He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.

Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.


The trouble with life is there's no background music

Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends! Life is too short

I've Come A Long Way

Had surgery on February 13th - Proximal and Distal Open Pateller Realingment - with 2 screws.

After surgery - Jackson Pratt Deep Drain .

10 weeks in this brace.

From this...

...to this.

And now...I can do...

THIS!

Sometimes we don't think about the little things...like:

Being able to put on a shoe. Getting dressed. Taking a shower.
Getting in and out of bed...

...and being able to move a towel across the floor with your toes!

Woo-Hoo!!!

Spring Cleaning Party Continued

Well - it took me long enough...but I've finally finished the bathroom.

My cabinets were a MESS!

Everthing was just a big jumbled pile of stuff.

After tossing, sorting, vacuuming, wiping down - I ended up with this...
A vast improvement, don't you think?

New use for Windex

I haven't checked ' snopes.com' to see if this actually

works or not . . . But they say,

If you ever get the sudden Urge to run around naked,

You should sniff some Windex first.

It'll keep you from streaking.

FACEinHOLE

Create your own FACEinHOLE

FACEinHOLE

Create your own FACEinHOLE

This is what my salad looked like!

Mothers of Boys Know That...

1. A king size water bed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.


2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.


3. A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.


4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft room.


5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.


6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.


7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too late.


8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.


9. A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old Man says they can only do it in the movies.


10. Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4- year old Boy.


11. Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.


12. Super glue is forever.


13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.


14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.


15. VCR's do not eject "PB & J" sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.


16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.


17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.


18. You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.


19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.


20. The Police Department in Lakeland, Florida responds to all 911 calls...even when the caller just giggles and then hangs up!


21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.


22. It will, however, make cats dizzy.


23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

24. Women will laugh at this.

25. Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid!

Comfort Food

'
I turn to comfort food when I'm feeling down (or happy, or excited, or board), and I really needed some comforting yesterday... so I had a Healthy Choice Salisbury Steak frozen dinner. I discovered that if you eat 2 or 3 of them, with lots of butter and salt, that they are quite tasty BUT - I was still down...and still hungry!

So I made myself a salad.
First I chopped an apple.

Then added some diced carrot.

And a handful of Craisins - I love Craisins!

Put in some diced celery.

And some chopped pecans.
I say pahcaaaans - not peecans!

And finished the salad off, by adding some 2% cheddar/swiss cheese cubes.

Still feeling down, I found some of these left over from Chirstmas.

I ate 3 Pecan Pie Squares - the peppermint and eggnog flavors weren't calling to me.

Later I had some egg salad on gooey white bread...

...with some Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips.

What I really wanted was a hot fudge sundae...so hubby brought home a half gallon of vanilla ice cream, a jar of hot fudge topping, and a can of whipped cream. I was too depressed to put it all together, so I didn't bother.

Life is better today. So, I had the hot fudge sundae for breakfast:-)

PS - I've heard that there are some people who don't eat when they are sad, or excited, or happy (or even hungry)...I think that they aren't really people, but actually aliens in disguise!