Katie Coo

I started house sitting for a new family on Sunday and I'm done tomorrow, so just a short 4 days. Katie (I call her Katie Coo) is super sweet but seems so confused as to why I'm here. She just seems out of sorts and is unsure of what to do. She has gotten more comfortable as the days have gone by but I feel bad for her. I wish I spoke dog.... or whale for that matter. NAME THAT MOVIE and you will have my heart! Anyway Katie's life will be back to normal tomorrow as will mine.

Brittany convinced me to sign up for another race. This race will prepare me for Warrior Dash this fall. Here goes nothing! 

My sister is getting married and I'm having a hard time getting a hotel for her destination wedding at an affordable price. How do you save money when booking a hotel?

Timber

Remember how I volunteered yesterday at the animal sanctuary? Well last night a massive tree fell down and took some other trees with it. Luckily no animals, people or buildings were damaged. It was just a giant mess to clean up!

Here's the small but mighty crew!

Here's the downed tree.

The start of the brush pile.

Sawing away!

We took a few limbs to the goats/sheep for them to munch on.

Here they come to munch away on.

Cali the kitty stuck by side for most of the day.

This limb impaled the ground and would not budge.

Sort of like sword in the stone.

Cutting the logs into sections.

See how big this tree was?

Continuing to cut the sections.

The base snapped once the last cut was 

made and down the roost went!

Massive root system!

Ta-da! The completed drive way is now clear!

Toby photo bombed me!

My new boots all muddy but so worth it!

I'm sore, bruised and tired but it was an 

excellent work out and very rewarding! 

What did you do on your Sunday?

Lasagna

As I have mentioned before I like to make my little brother and his lovely girlfriend freezer meals as they are both in college. I decided to make them lasagna. Here's my recipe:

What I used (not all items pictured): 3 large cans spaghetti sauce, 10 cups fresh chopped spinach, 2 cups shredded mozzarella, 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan, 1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend, (2) 8 ounces boxes of ready to bake lasagna noodles, non stick cooking spray, Italian parsley, crushed garlic, 4 eggs, salt, pepper, 1 pound ground turkey breast, (1) 8 ounce block of cream cheese, (1) 16 ounce container of cottage cheese, and (1) 32 ounce container of ricotta cheese. 

Cream together (1) 8 ounce block of cream cheese, (1) 16 ounce container of cottage cheese, and (1) 32 ounce container of ricotta cheese in a bowl.

 Add 10 cups chopped fresh spinach 2 cups shredded mozzarella, 

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan and mix in.

 Add 4 eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon 

crushed garlic, 1 tablespoon Italian parsley and blend.

Cook the ground turkey. Set aside.

Divide the cheese/egg filling into two bowls. In one bowl add 

the ground turkey. I made my little brother's lasagna with meat 

and mine without.

Spray your pans. I used a 9X13 pan for my little brother and an 8X8 for myself.

Pour a little sauce in the bottom of each pan.

Spread all around. If you do not do this step your bottom layer will burn.

Add noodles. ***Remember to use the oven ready kind!!!***

Spread a layer of filling onto the noodles.

Then add a layer of sauce.

Add a layer of noodles.

Repeat with filling, noodles and sauce until almost at the top of 

the pan. Make sure you end with your last layer being sauce.

Top with shredded Italian cheese blend.

I had enough filling, sauce and noodles left to make (2) bread loaf size pans of lasagna. I know had I used the same size pans through all of this it would have exactly (2) 9x13 pans. I like the smaller sizes for me as I'm only one person, so it's more manageable.

My mess was actually minimal once I had a rhythm down.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes...

Or as I did freeze just about all of them. 

Enjoy!

Happy

I woke up way too early today and it was by accident! I’m such a blonde sometimes… well most times! I was supposed to set my alarm for 7 am but instead I set it for 6 am. When I woke up I got ready for the day totally oblivious that I could have slept for another hour until I was all ready to go and looked at the clock. Then it hit me. Geez! I putzed around for an hour and then once I was back on track I headed to a little bakery to meet Vicky for breakfast. We were able to catch up and chat which was terrific! I just love her! After breakfast I headed to the farm animal sanctuary to volunteer. It was pouring rain but the animals still need care. I put my boots on, put my hair up, and went to work mucking out stalls, taking wheel barrels full of used hay to the compost pile, moved hay bales around and cleaned fresh veggies for the animals to snack on all in the pouring rain.

 Happy goat!

 Mrs. Watson coming to inspect our work after we cleaned out her pen.

 Our supervisors for the day, the barn cats.

 Just a tiny amount of mud that I ended up taking home with me.

When it was all over I was soaked, muddy, and sore but it’s the best feeling in the world. When I got into my car I switched the radio on and this came on. Perfect! I then headed to Katie (she’s a dog I will be house-sitting/pet sitting for soon) to get keys and get more information. Katie’s humans are friends with Buddy’s humans so that’s how we met. Anyway Katie is a little love bug that will be fun to play with. Once my meet and greet was over with Katie I came home I jumped in the shower to wash all the mud off. I somehow managed to get mud in my hair, talented? Yep, that’s me! How was your Saturday?

Single Awarness Day

Oh Valentine’s day we meet again. I made sure to mail out my Valentine’s Day cards this week so I’m hopeful they will arrive in time. Fingers crossed! I handed out Valentine’s at work and there were plenty of goodies to tempt me but I resisted! It’s the little victories I celebrate! Vicky, my former co-worker, stopped by with a Valentine’s Day mug with tootsie pop suckers and told me “Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to suck”. I love her! We were also informed that our director was perusing other employment opportunities. It was a surprise but the supervisors and leaders in my organization have stepped up to the plate and have done a fabulous job keeping everything running. I’m so thankful for their dedication and support. I know taking on a new position was scary for me but I have to ay the leaders are terrific! I guess that’s why I continue to work there and recently celebrated my 7^th year of employment with them! Back to Valentine’s Day…. As you may remember I’m on an online dating website. It’s still weird for me to admit it publicly because I feel embarrassed about it for some reason. Anyway, I began emailing with someone and so far it’s been pleasant. I’m NOT getting excited because it’s only email. OK, I’m a little excited about it. After work Linda and I had dinner together and watched 27 Dresses. It was defiantly a chick flick night, which I loved! How was your Valentines Day?

The C word

On Thursday I had just gotten into my car when my Uncle called. He was calling to tell me that my Grandma has bilateral breast cancer. My Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago almost to the day. We don’t what stage my Grandma has and will find out soon as to what the treatment plan is. I know going through this with my Mom was tough and now my Grandma will have the same battle to fight. I’m a ball of emotions but I’m surprised as to how calm I feel. I don’t know if going through this my Mom has prepared me more or if Heavenly Father is comforting me. I think it’s a little bit of both. Please pray and send good thoughts to my Grandma! 

Girl Scout Cookies

On Wednesday I felt like I was finally catching up from the work that I had to make up from our freak snowstorm. I hate feeling like I’m drowning. Well I guess everyone hates drowning. You get my point, right? OK, moving on. Way back when I ordered a HUGE amount of girl scout cookies to go with thank you cards for the people that helped me move back in December. The Girl Scout cookies were from Rhett’s daughter. Rhett helped me move and then the next day had to have an emergency appendectomy… I FEEL SO GUILTY thus why I bought 16 boxes of cookies from his daughter. He says we are even. Sounds sweet to me! Which Girl Scout cookie is your favorite? Mine are trefoils!