thursday's ten: be my valentine

if you're looking for valentine's cards this year, i've found some cute ones :)  clicking on the pictures should take you to the original source!

be still my heart -- penguin oreo valentines!

(no link for this one, you can find them at your local store.  airheads valentines)

lots of craft ideas on this blog

this is a contest winner from a couple of years ago -- but inspiration perhaps for you creative types!

adorable die-cut from papyrus

this makes me want to decorate the bathroom for valentines :)

all kinds of adorable vintage valentines on this link!

ahh, so cute!

this blog has a ton of freebies

step by step instructions for this adorable card

*next week's theme will be love.  quotes, photos, etc...bring on the love :)

picture this thursday

visit vanessa to join in!

this week's theme is winter.  we've had plenty of it this year already...most likely more to come :)

and a few favorites from last year

recipe of the week: sausage & ravioli lasagna

once in awhile a recipe is just what you need :)
i ran across this one in a southern living magazine a few months ago, and have been jonesing to make it ever since. monday night i was actually able to! it is SUPER easy and fairly quick -- it takes less than an hour total (maybe 45 min?), even including bake time.

i adapted the recipe somewhat, so it's not exactly as SL suggested at this point. i'll make notes of what i changed at the end.

sausage and ravioli lasagna

1/2 pound ground sausage or chicken sausage
1 24 ounce jar tomato and basil pasta sauce
(i used trader joe's, which comes in 26 oz. i just left a bit at the bottom of the jar for later.)
3 oz fresh baby spinach, thoroughly washed
1/2 cup pesto sauce
(again, used trader joe's...the bottle came out to exactly 1/2 cup)
20 oz package cheese filled ravioli
(if frozen, do not thaw)
1 cup shredded Italian six-cheese blend

preheat oven to 375
cook sausage in skillet over medium heat, stirring often, 10 minutes or until it crumbles and is no longer pink. drain, then stir pasta sauce into the sausage

chop spinach and toss with pesto in a bowl (i tore the spinach -- i like the rougher texture)

layer 1

spoon part of the sausage mixture into a lightly greased 11x7 baking dish until it covers the bottom. top with half of the spinach/pesto mixture. arrange half the ravioli in single layer over the spinach mixture. repeat layers. if there is remaining sausage mixture (i used a bigger dish so there wasn't), top with it and then sprinkle with cheese blend.

layer 2

bake at 375 for 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.

popped in the oven

30 minutes later

and 5 minutes after that

recommended by myself, anthony, his sister, his parents and his grandfather's nurse.  definitely a winning recipe!


***
original recipe called for 6 oz of baby spinach. that was just too much for my taste, and i wanted the pesto to be more pronounced, so i chose to put half that amount in.
the original recipe also called for a 25 oz package of frozen ravioli. that didn't exist in any grocery i went into, so i bought a 20 oz and a 9 oz package of four cheese fresh ravioli from the refrigerated section of kroger. um, i didn't even end up using the entire 20 ounce package, so i definitely have enough for a second batch of this stuff...which i will likely be making in the next 3 or 4 days!
lastly, it recommended baking the casserole for 30 minutes and adding the cheese for another 5-8 minutes. i decided to just toss it on at the same time. it worked out just fine.

meal planning tuesdays

my friend casondra who is an AMAZING cook has started this little blog deal...and i love it! so i'll make every attempt to join in on a weekly basis!  hopefully it will keep me accountable not only with healthy options, but also with financial meal planning :)

because of my crazy schedule mine is a bit scattered...but here's my best guess of how this week will look.

tuesday (today)
breakfast: coffee
lunch: pita bread, hummus and veggies
dinner: taco soup at anthony's

wednesday
breakfast: coffee, bagel and cream cheese
lunch: at my nanny gig...most likely from their freezer
dinner: chick fila on the way to babysit IF there is time, otherwise i'll bring leftover thai noodles as a backup :)

thursday
breakfast: coffee
lunch: again at the nanny gig -- take leftover thai noodles if i didn't eat them wednesday night
dinner: we're celebrating a friend's birthday at a tapas restaurant

friday
breakfast: coffee, bagel
lunch: nanny gig -- take leftover burger
dinner: date night...all i know is that we're going somewhere "nice". :)

saturday
breakfast: coffee
lunch: leftover greek meatloaf
dinner: we've been invited over to anthony's aunt and granny's for dinner...so naturally we've accepted :)

sunday
breakfast: coffee
lunch: leftovers
dinner: it's superbowl sunday, so whatever is at the party :)

monday
breakfast: coffee and bagel
lunch: at nanny gig
dinner: sausage and ravioli lasagna

shopping list:
since i'm eating outside my own house a LOT this week, i'm just picking up coupon deals and the following ingredients for the sausage and ravioli lasagna at trader joe's

• pesto sauce

• tomato basil sauce

• sausage

the rest i have leftover from making it this past monday!

hopefully next week will be a bit more normal around here!

hey, it's ok (tuesday) .8

(go to amber's blog for the original)

hey, it's ok

... to want to reach through the tv screen and shake Haddie (parenthood) for being such a selfish brat

... to get completely excited about the smallest things

... to get a slight thrill about putting away dishes.  there's something about restoring everything to their order...yes, i'm sick.

... to heart oreos.  specifically double stuf.  more specifically, with mint cream.

... to use the word heart.

... to sometimes watch silly old movies and get completely immersed in the stories (three men and a baby anyone?)

... to smile every time you see emi using her christmas present (anthony and i got her a small "cat mat" and she LOVES it)
... to stay up way past your bedtime talking to your love on the phone :)

thursday's ten: kids shows

i've been totally slacking on the blog the last few days -- a fact not lost on my love who has repeatedly asked when i was going to post again.  this probably isn't necessarily the post he's looking for, but...




today's ten are the shows that i can actually enjoy with the children while babysitting/nannying.  believe me, it's not hard at all for me to come up with a list of WAY more than 10 that grate on my every nerve.  but here are 10 that i enjoy.

1.  phineas and ferb
(um, i may have this set to dvr.  at my house.  where there are no children.)
2.  berenstain bears
(it's kinda a throwback to my childhood...i LOVED those books.  now if only they would do a show of amelia bedelia.  i'd love that.)
3.  curious george
(while i think the man in the yellow hat is pleasantly clueless and possibly dumb, it's a pretty cute little show.)
4.  little einsteins
(maybe i'm just a fan of the music ;)
5.  olivia
(it's just the right amount of cheeky for me.  ha)
6.  good luck charlie
(another that i'll watch on my own.  and the older set that i babysit like it)
7.  veggie tales
(of COURSE.  i love it)
8.  max and ruby
(ruby and max!  sure, their parents seem to be absentee but the kids are all right ;)
9.  sesame street
(i don't love the flying fairy school portion, but the rest is liveable)
10. wordgirl
(yay for positive role models for girls, yes?)

hey, it's ok (tuesday) .7

(visit amber for the original)
hey, it's ok

... to have a big.huge.box of those fla・vor・ice popsicles in your freezer just for yourself

... to never have ANY desire ever to watch shows like jersey shore or the bachelor or any "real housewives of blahblah". HOW is that remotely appealing?!

... to get excited about date nights :-)

... to think that sweet tea is quite possibly the best.beverage.ever.  (except water, of course)

... to dislike the musical guests of 90% of the shows you watch.  

... to stay in your pj's on a day off (at least until you go out!)

... to dread taking down the Christmas tree (yes, it's still up.  and that's ok too.  ;)

it's a great day to say goodbye to the snow...

it's melting away...
ah well, it was a fun week
:0)

Thursday's Ten: about snow in tennessee

as the rest of the country, tennessee is kind of buried under snow at the moment.
and i think it's thrown everyone into a bit of shock!

you see,



{1) we don't get snow here very often.  once a year (well, season), normally, and just a light dusting (at least to my indiana-born eyes)
THIS season we're on our 3rd snow.  2 in december and 1 now.  which started on sunday.  which brings me to my next point...
{2} i've never seen snow last for more than 2-3 days here.  but it keeps.snowing.  which means we have a few MORE days of the white stuff even after it finally stops!
{3} some places have 5-6 inches of snow!  this is unheard of!  i only have a couple of inches, but my travels this week have taken me to some of the deeper snowed in areas.  i'm kinda loving it, i can't lie
{4} nashvillians...do NOT drive well in snow
{5} however, in their defense they usually have more ice than snow.  and tennessee is really hilly...much more so than where i grew up!  and even though it's been way more snow than ice this time around, they're expecting it to be as per usual, i think.  so we're driving down completely clear roads at 30 mph.  sigh.
{6} and school may as well be canceled for the month.  they haven't gone all week, and they've used up all 4 snow days plus 2 now.  because i work for educators, i have only worked one day this week (when she asked me to come over so she could run errands).  i JUMPED at the chance to get out of the house.  however, i am babysitting today, which means that i'm earning some extra cash which is really nice!
{7} all the sleds are sold out everywhere.  of course, not many places had them in stock, lol.  must.find.a.sled by this weekend.  my friend brittany and i have major plans to go sledding if we can find one!
{8} as i've mentioned a couple of times, we have awesome citywide snowball fights on the first day of a good snow.  if this season is any indication, there may be a couple more of these this year!
{9} tires.go.flat.  or low.  it kinda drives me crazy. 
(note to self: stop by gas station on the way to teaching piano today to pump up.  again.)
{10} but for all our mess, we're nowhere near as bad as atlanta.

noon on wednesday, atlanta

how about you?  or are you just so sick of the snow that you'd rather write about 10 things OTHER than the snow? :-)