My Alfredo Recipe

     I have to pat myself on the back because I made the most awesome Alfredo Sauce ever the other night. I mean it was the best thing I ever made. If I wasn't afraid I would balloon up to a massive weight I would make it every night.
     I know you want to know how I did it, don't you? Well, I will share it with you because you are my friends. I started by reading the Olive Garden Alfredo recipe on Pinterest but to be honest I have made that before and it lacked something. You don't think the OG would intentionally leave something out of their recipe so that we keep flocking to the restaurant do you? I'm sure no big corporation would sink that low. Sorry I haven't forgiven them for taking Garlic Herb Chicken and Broccoli off the menu. My favorite thing ever, ever in the whole world.
      Okay here's what I did.
     3 tablespoons butter
     1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic (I buy the little jar at the store and use that)
     1 1/2 cups milk (I had low on hand so that's what I used)
     1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream (Yumm another one of my favorite things.) I won't tell you what else I do with this because you would think less of me as a woman.
     1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese. (I buy the tub of it at Walmart in the lunch meat section)
     1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of shredded Romano cheese (this is smelly but good)
     Three eggs yokes
     Heat and on low to med heat until it is creamy and delicious. Be careful not to scorch it on the bottom.  
    
    

The Circle of Life

     Have you ever noticed how one project leads into another? We have been planning to paint our garage floor and put those sprinkle things on it since we moved here. It's been five years now. The reason we haven't done it yet was because we wanted to get some more shelves put in. We did get that done last summer. Now, when we are about to take the plunge and paint the floor, the hubby has decided to paint the shelves first and he wants to fill in the grand canyon sized cracks in the garage floor with that rubber stuff. Which is a good idea because I almost kill myself in those cracks whenever I have heels on.
     Of course, painting the shelves and the garage floor lead to totally reorganizing the garage and doing a deep cleaning.
      When you hear the term, "The circle of life," is not that you are born you live and die while your children carry on, it the vicious cycle of having to do ten different things before you can do the one thing you really want to do. Just a quick observation for today. Love Ya.

Where is my Master Planning Menu Calendar?!!!!!

     I try to be organized, I really do, but it's like the forces of nature are against me. This time I am missing the cheap three dollar calendar that I bought from Walmart that I was writing down my menus on. Granted I had slacked the last few months and not written down as many well planned out dinners, but the first few months of the year were perfect. Now the calendar is AWOL, that's absent without leave for those of you not familar with military lingo, and I need it to plan dinner tonight. I hate this. Who would take my menu planner and abscond with it!
     The frustrating thing is this isn't the first time this has happened. I had a tiny three ring binder years ago that I had page protectors in. In each page protector I had a blank monthly calendar on which I was planning menus. I was doing it as the year went so I could take advantage of sales and seasonal produce and incorporate them into my menu plan. It all sounds really impressive doesn't it? Except that one of my kids needed a small three ring binder with page protectors and they found mine. They tossed all of my menus and took it to school. I didn't find this out until months later when said binder came home in a backpack.
     Did I mention it was September when it disappeared and I had nine months worth of meals planned on that thing. I was never going to have to plan menu's again. I would just look at the month and make whatever was listed.It has taken years for me to work up the courage and fight through the disappointment and try again to make a master calendar. AND NOW IT'S GONE AGAIN. I had such hopes for that menu planner.
      Were having pizza tonight!

The Survey

     Some of you will remember that we took a trip to Cali in May and went to Disneyland for several days. Our passes were about to expire and we had to get in one more experience.
     While we were there I was asked if it would be okay if they contacted me for a survey about my trip. Being someone who has an opinion about pretty much every thing I agreed. I was curious if they would actually do it. Well, yesterday I got the email. I opened it and started in. They asked the usual questions, like how many in your party and what were their ages. What was the best memory and what was the worst? Where we stayed while we were there and things like that.
     They never once asked if I thought Disneyland was overpriced and greedy. I mean, really, $3.75 for frozen lemonade?
      They also asked for my eleven-year-olds opinion so I called Ryan into my room and asked him a few questions. When I got to, "What was your worst memory?" He smiled and said, "I don't have a worst memory. It was all awesome." What a way to end a survey. Don't think for a minute they didn't think that one through.
     Well played Disneyland, well played.

Bad Dreams

    I had a dream the other night that I was shopping with my girls and they were making me try on maternity clothes because I was pregnant again. NOOOOO!!!! I don't ever want to do that again, even in my dreams. It's not that I have anything against having babies but I had children in three different decades and it took me twenty-seven years to get them all in school.
    I love being a mom and I loved having my kids, but ten was enough for me. When my last baby was born my oldest daughter got married. I told her the baby making was now in her hands and she was to make sure I had access to a baby at all times. She abliged by having her first just before her first wedding anniversary. What a good daughter.
     My other kids have kicked in and we are going on number ten now. I have babies around all the time and I can smell, kiss and snuggle all I want without having to get up at night and change diapers. It's the best of all possible worlds.
     So you can see that my dream was more in the nightmare category. :)

Ode to September

     Here it is August 3. The hottest month of the year, or one of them at least. Now I only have to survive 28 more days to make it to September. I know September is still hot, but it's like the light at the end of the long, hot, desert tunnel. In September the days are noticeably getting shorter and the nights cooler. Some of the leaves begin to change colors and I know summer's days are numbered.
     I love September. It's one of my favorite months. School's back in session and the house once again gets quiet, well, quieter during the day. The evenings feel like fall and have that orangy glow about them, especially late September. People start to decorate for fall and I love that. Yard work slows down because the grass and weeds aren't growing quite so fast. The hubby loves that. I'll be able to set the self-cleaning option on my ovens without the air conditioner going crazy or feeling like I'm living in an oven.
     There are so many things to love about September, I could go on forever. Come on September!

I Wish You All Could Have Been There!

     I just got back from Cali last night late and am happy to have been able to sleep in my own bed. Here are a few observations from my trip. I don't like flying. That being said the flight was fast and it didn't crash, so it's all good.
     The weather in Cali was spectacular, cooler than here but the humidity is higher.
     I really hate seeing all the graffiti everywhere you look. It just looks trashy.
     My daughter and I stopped at Archibald's restaurant and shared the most delicious fried zucchini ever made on this planet. It is truly the reason zucchini exists and a chicken salad. The chicken is the most tender and tasty meat known to man. Yumm!!!
     To the Asian woman who got off the Vegas bound tour bus in Barstow with the bleach blonde hair that has been dyed pink and who was wearing the hot pink spandex leggings with a dress that looks like it came from the Barbie collection, not a good look for you, Hon. You look like a clown in training. And to the man in Vegas with the bright orange Crocs with gray socks, who was pumping gas in a gray hula shirt and silky boxer shorts, seriously?! Was it too hot to wear real shorts, you know, the kind that don't have the little opening in front for bathroom emergencies???
     Just wanted you all to share in my road trip experiences. :)