A Rose Grows in Overland

The saga continues... For those of you who haven't been diligently following the story of my rose clippings, here's a quick sum up:
I have a climbing rose bush in front of my house that I planted about 2 years ago. I love it. And when we started thinking of moving I was really upset to have to leave behind the roses that I grew. So I read up on how to start a new plant from the clippings. Most places I looked said that it wasn't easy and you had to buy all these growth activators and simulators and whatnot. A good friend of mine is a horticulturist and told me she had never been successful at starting a rose from clippings. Then I found a website that said the oldest and simplest way to start a rose was to just put a clipping in water and wait. So that's what I did.

I put two long stems in a vase of water and set it on the window sill. And waited. And waited. And waited. After months of changing the water and justifying the science project on the sill to my husband I finally saw roots! Both stems were growing tiny roots. Then they had a little bit of new growth, an extended stem here, a tiny leaf there... It was great!

Then I thought they both died. I didn't change or refill the water for a while.... Then one came back to life again, after another few months of waiting. The first one really did die. But I was too afraid to plant the live one in dirt. It had grown and lived in just water for so long. But then it just kept growing. It had a couple of new stems, many new leaves... And so I did it. I planted it in dirt. Now I have to remember to keep it watered and take care of it. But it's now an official clone of the rose bush I have outside! I really did it!

I've decide to try and clone other roses.... I just need to find some pretty rose bushed that people will let me cut off of.

Ghetto Tuna Casserole

We almost had plans tonight... but they fell through. And when you tell a two year old that you're doing something or going somewhere and then you don't... you'd better think of something else to do to distract them. So I asked Nola what she wanted to do. She said she wanted to take pictures. It was dinner time and I needed to make something quick because Logan was getting restless so we compromised. A Food Photo Shoot! So here is our photo shoot of what we proudly refer to as Ghetto Tuna Casserole.

First of all you need to start with all store brand ingredients:
Schnucks Brand Macaroni & Cheese - one box
Schnucks Brand Tuna - one can
Schnucks Brand Peas - however many you have left over
Schnucks Brand Cheese Slices - just one will do
And the regulars: milk, butter, salt & pepper

First, boil some water in a pot. I think that's pretty obvious, but directions are directions.
Then completely cook the box of macaroni noodles.
When that's done I start to get the rest ready.
I like to drain my tuna and peas directly into the pasta strainer in the sink.
Nola pours these things in - not too much she can mess up here.

Leave the tuna and peas in the colander.
Drain as much of the pasta water directly into the sink, not through the strainer.
The rest, just pour on in.
The heat of the water and pasta warms up the tuna and peas.

In your empty pot, with heat still on medium to low, toss in a clump of butter and your slice of good ole processed cheese!
(the kid does this part too - she's good at dropping things in)

Then pour in some milk, a large splash.
And add some salt and pepper.

Stir that up and then you add the magic powder.
The neon orange mystery cheese powder.
Where that color comes from is one of the mysteries of the universe I think.
Either way, pour it in and stir it up.
Turn off heat while stirring so your milk doesn't burn.
Burnt milk tastes like crap.

Now it's time to combine it all together.
Dump your colander full of goodies into the pot.
Fold! Fold! Fold!
Don't stir too hard or you will mush up all your peas and have what looks like vomit.

Now, get out your best China... or Chinette... or paper!
Pile on as much as you think you can eat.
But don't worry, it saves pretty good.
Throw the rest in to a tupperware and microwave it for later.

And there you have it!
Ghetto Tuna Casserole.
Also know as: Macaroni & Cheese, Tuna & Peas (it rhymes you see)

All that's left is to season it to taste.
You can stick with basics, salt & pepper...
Or you can toss a little bread crumbs on top,
maybe even some Parmesan cheese, aka Shaky Cheese.

I will say this....
I do not advise you to put your two year old's dish in front of her on the table and go make a bottle with the task of "season to taste" at hand. My kid really likes pepper.

We had to throw this bowl away and get a new serving.
And I think we all sneezed through dinner.
Oh well!
I hope you have enjoyed our little Food Photo Shoot with bonus recipe.

You Should Shop Here!

My sister Cayce just opened up her Etsy Store and you should totally buy her stuff!

Go here to visit the shop:

HelloCayce!


Even if you don't want to shop for awesome things, you should check out the captions for the items...
Pinky the Bookmark likes hanging out in Romance Novels and books about Flowers! TOO CUTE!

My Husband's Gift

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and my husband got a great gift. Not for me... we decided not to sped money on stuff this year. And, no, I didn't get him anything either. Not exactly. See, I've been keeping a secret from him for about 8 years now (as long as we've known each other). And yesterday I let him in on the secret.

He got home from work late last night, around 11:30pm. As we were talking about his day he told me that a girl he worked with pinched his nipple (through his shirt of course). What!? Then he told me how several of the ladies, or whores as he calls them, slap his ass from time to time at work. Apparently they've told him he has a nice rear end. He says he always tells them to stop but sometimes they just won't. And he's the boss!
He said, "Do you think I have a nice ass?" to which I said, "I don't think I have to tell you that, since you apparently get to hear it all day at work..." He does.
Then he told me how all the girls at his regular store (he's working in another store for 2 weeks to help out) were sad to see him go. They asked him what they were going to do without their "eye candy to look at everyday"...

I jokingly asked him if I needed to go kick someone's ass at his job! Then he said that there was a lady at his regular store who helped him out by fending off all the other girls when they start to flirt with him. Well, that's good to know, I thought. "Yeah, she tells everyone that I'm her man and that no one is allowed to touch me because I belong to her!" Wait a minute! That's not exactly helpful! "But she never touches me!" We joked a little about this whole thing. Honestly I'm not worried about this kind of thing... he has no clue, or so I thought.

"So, honey..." he said at the end of the conversation, "I guess the ladies really like me. Don't you think that's weird? I think I must be a hot commodity! Do you think I'm really that good looking? I just didn't think I was that good looking."

And that's when I had to tell him...

"Yes, honey, you're really that good looking. I've always known it. And I've always known that you didn't. I was keeping it a secret and hoping you would never figure it out!" Then I had to remind him of how we met....
"We used to work together remember? I used to be one of those girls who flirted with you at work. I used to sit around and talk about you with the other female employees. I had to beat out several other girls for you - but I WON!"

Smiling, he asked, "What did you all say about me?" So I had to tell him the story of how we all - ALL - used to stop what we were doing at work when he left to go home. It was like that Pepsi commercial with that construction worker guy that stopped all the ladies from working so they could crowd the window to watch him drink his hot sexy Pepsi... sortof. He didn't remember anything about his leaving work... so I reminded him. "You used to go out the side door, and by the time you reached the windows where we could see you, you would take off your shirt as you were walking to your car. All you had on was your 'wife-beater'. Then you would light a cigarette, take a long drag and blow it out as you were pulling out your ponytail. You would look up and shake your hair out and then walk to your car. You were hot, and we all used to watch you go everyday."

"So I'm hot?"
"Yes, dear, you're smokin hot... I didn't want to have to tell you the secret, I hoped you'd never figure it out. But now you know.... Happy Valentine's Day."

How Much Is That Baby?

Being such an anal person with money and numbers I've been meaning to budget for how much the baby cost us these days.... I finally got around to doing that and I thought I would share....

Main Expenses:
Formula
Diapers
Baby Food
Wipes
(Clothes and Toys were all presents or hand-me-downs)

Formula - $12/can (this is the generic formula from Target, brand name is double that)
A can will last us approximately 6 days. That is $2 a day for formula, $14/week
Diapers - $30/case (this is a 176 count case from Sams, size 4)
Each diaper comes out to roughly 18 cents. If baby uses an average of 6 diapers a day, that's $1.08/day and $7.56/week
Baby Food - $1.00/2pk stage 2 at Target. (Rice Cereal is around $3 a box and lists for weeks so I'm not counting that.) We use 2 baby foods a day, one fruit, one veggie. So that's about $1/day, $7/week.
Wipes - $9/case (this is a case of 6 72count packs) One pack last roughly a week, and this is with 2 kids. That's 22 cents/day, $1.50/week.

Grand Totals:
Each DAY my baby costs: $4.30
Each WEEK my baby costs: $30.10
Each MONTH my baby costs: $130.00

I had a Dream

I had this dream last night that was strange and funny. It may not make total sense, but here goes:

I was married to the Vice President. At no point in the dream was he Joe Biden. At first it was Kirk who was elected. And then it turned to Obama. And I think back into Kirk. I was never with him, whoever he was. I was always on my own.

The major dilemma throughout the entire dream was the acceptance speech for becoming Vice President. I was nervous about what I would wear. I had nothing to wear! Because we still had the same house, life and closets that I do in real life. I tried on outfit after outfit and couldn't find anything! I think at this point Kirk was the VP because I thought to myself that he wouldn't really care what I wore because he doesn't care what people think.

The other problem was that I was terrified of giving a speech in front of the entire nation! That's reasonable I think. In my dream it was like the Maid of Honor speech - you were really supposed to but didn't HAVE to. (In real life I've skipped out on that twice). I was so worried about what I would say, what the world was saying about me... at this point it was Obama who was my man - I remember seeing in a Tabloid that I was being referred to as the little white wife! So as I was out shopping for something to wear (the day of the impending speech) I convinced myself that I didn't need to even go. I quit answering my cell phone when Barak was calling me and I just didn't go.

Then I woke up. I think I may have some avoidence issues due to self counciousness...

Such a Slacker!

Wow - it's been a while since I've even checked on this blog.... ooops!

We are about to embark on the second journey into the real estate market... I'm not at all looking forward to it. We had our house up for sale while I was pregnant with Logan... obviously it didn't sell. We took a break after he was born and put the house on 'maternity leave'. And by the time that was over we were just in no position to show our house. Leaving the house on a whim with a 2 year and 2 month old was not in the cards for me, not to mention having a clean house to leave behind. So we took it off the market. But we are now going to give it another shot.

In the next few days I am going to go through the house room by room making lists of what needs to be cleaned, repaired, packed away, thrown away, moved, etc. And then the work will begin. I'm sure I will enlist a Grandma or two to help out, either with actual help or just babysitting so I can actually get something done.

"Hello. My name is Mama Nae and I am a pack rat."

But it's just too hard to throw things away that I think we may want, need or use in the future. I've gotten over this issue with clothes and shoes. But things don't go out of style. Why throw away a perfectly good end table just because we aren't using it. That's what basements are for, right? We may have the perfect need for it in the new house. I'm telling myself that we will not store anything like that when we move. If we don't find a place for 'it' in the new house, it goes on the curb. But it will go on the new curb.

I have lots of kitchen things that refuse to throw out: a Kitchen Aid stand mixer (hello, those are like $400!), a pasta maker (what fun!), and several sets of wine glasses, two or three glass pitchers, tons of coffee mugs - none of these things get currently used. The mixer and pasta maker have (shame on me) never been used. But they will! Once I have a bigger kitchen with more space and storage, they will be used. But for now I guess I need to pack them up like we're moving next week.

With all my stuff I just fear that I will need something and it will be packed away. What if it takes a year to sell the house and in 3 months I REALLY want to make fresh pasta! What the hell do I do then? I guess I just buy some Pasta Barilla!