I'm over April Showers!

So I'm very frustrated with Rutherford Co. I get up this morning and hear the rain pouring down. I knew that bad storms were coming and were expected, so I turned on the TV (we haven't invested in a weather radio yet), and within a matter of minutes, I'm hearing 105 mile wind shears near Sams Club.. that's like right behind our house. This is the point I start screaming at Kenneth to get up! I'm freaking out and Kenneth and I look outside and see the fountain going horizontal, not vertical. We loose service to the TV, love Direct TV, and it eventually passes. I keep watching and hear its heading to Lascassas, I'm am constantly texting my sisters by this point and have called my mom about 3 times.

The reason why I'm so mad at RCS, is because they didn't cancel schools! A flippin tornado went through Rutherford Co and they didn't bother cancelling or delaying school!! SERIOUSLY! I end up getting a shower and leaving for school. It takes me close to 35 to 40 minutes to get there. Normally a 12 minute drive. We get there and find out that at 7 am, they decided to have RCS a 1 hour delay and MCS closed.. ummm, sorry, our kids are at school at 7 am!

We did get to leave at 11:30, which was good. But the morning was enough to cause me to get so frustrated. I didn't want to be there and I wanted to be home! When I got home, I found out Toots roof has been damaged, Old Time Pottery roofs been blown off, and the stop lights at Cason Lane by the Walgreens and Sams Club were blown away.

I got a phone call from RCS going to Cheddars saying that they felt that when the storms were coming, there were kids on the buses already and they figured that it would be safer to get the children to the schools. UMM!! SERIOUSLY! You call off for snow, in advance, and you hold us a few weeks ago, when the high winds/tornado ran through Rock Springs, and yet, you feel that its safer for everyone to get on the bus in the middle of the storms.. people you arent thinking.

So thats my thought, I know, wordy and I haven't been on here all April. This two jobs things is starting to get to me.

Crockpot Lasagna And Other Things

Well I finally feel refreshed! Now, lets talk about that Crockpot Lasagna! I did tweak the recipe a little, and I will give you what it calls for, then tell you what I did.

Ingredients:
Servings: 4-6

4 4

Servings Size

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 12 ounces cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 12 ounces lasagna noodles, uncooked
• 16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 4 1/4 hrs

1. Brown ground beef, onion and garlic in frypan.
2. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt and oregano.
3. Cook long enough to get it warm.
4. Spoon a layer of meat sauce onto the bottom of the slow cooker.
5. Add a double layer of uncooked lasagna noodles (break to fit) and top with cheeses.
6. Repeat with sauce, noodles and cheeses until all are used up.
7. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours.

Very straight forward, and very easy to make. Also very good! Now for my variations! I accidentally used a 12 ounce thing of tomato paste, it just took a little while for it to become able to move. Paste is very stiff! And the tomato sauce I only used 16 ounces of it, because I stirred it into my pan and realized if I added any more it would make a huge mess!
The spices: I don't like onions or garlic, so I used no garlic, and used the spice minced onion. The flake kind. I just sorta started adding it till it looked right and it tasted good. I also left out the salt. No need for extra sodium!
Also, I put the top layer as noodles! DON'T do that! They turned out much too dry. Try doing it this way: meat mixture, cottage cheese (half), cheese (half), noodles, rest of cottage cheese & some cheese, noodles, then meat mixture, and top it off with cheese. That's the way I'm going to do it next time.

Now, onto Busch Gardens! It was such a great trip! I loved seeing all the animals, and there were 3 rides that I could probably ride forever! All in all it was a good trip, and it was great to escape for a while with my husband.

We have 7 more weeks of school left. TCAP starts next Thursday. I really hope the kids are prepared for it.

And for now, I've got to get started on some cleaning and also get dinner ready. New recipe again tonight! Might try to blog about it on Wednesday, and its for pork tenderloin!

i'm alive.. i havent forgotten..
i will catch up.
i will tell you all about busch gardens.
after we get back from memphis. maybe next wednesday.
as for now, I'm off to attend to crockpot lasagna.
i'll let you know how it turns out.. it smells awesome!

Kroger..

Kroger has started something new. Evidently in my contract that I signed 4 years ago it stated that part-time employees have to work 18 hours. Never has this really been a problem for me; but for the people who don't have a good availability schedule or people that really aren't good at their job and for people who call out. As far as I can remember, I've always gotten plenty of hours. Of course, I'm not strapped for cash and thats my fun job. But now, it's turning into my not so fun job. For the past 3 weeks I have been working over 20 hours there, and its honestly been closer to 25. There are a whole lot of changes coming and it's getting frustrating because every change that they do, allows me one more reason to complain, and think about giving my two weeks.

I have 10 more weeks till school ends, and then I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'd like to say I can hold out and keep up working 55/60 hour weeks, but I'm really starting to loose my patience.

So thats my rant for today, I'm off to enjoy my breakfast then head up to Smyrna. I took a me-day today and I'm loving it.. if only the puppy below me would stop barking and its owner take it outside to pee! Its getting a little sad :(

Oh one more thing! 1.5 more weeks till spring break, and 2 more weeks till Kenneth and I head to Florida! :)

Thoughts?

I'm mainly writing this because it's been on my mind a lot here recently. I take the Motlow nursing entrance exam on Wednesday. If I don't get into Motlow I'm not doing nursing this fall. This delays Kenneth going back to school, for whatever he wants to go back and get. And our final outcome of being done with school by the time we are 29. Not to mention having kids.

But anyway. I've been tossing around the idea of being a teacher. Kenneth's been talking to me about it, and then another lady at work as also mentioned it to me more than one occasion. I love the people I work with. They are all so encouraging and uplifting, I'm really thankful I was given this opportunity to come onto their team.

Now I could see myself being a teacher, I after all wanted to get my nursing degree and then work on getting my masters to become a nurse educator and teach heart healthy classes, smoking cessation programs, and labor and delivery classes after all. But now, with them telling me, I'm starting to wonder if I should just dump the idea of being a nurse.. (maybe thats why I was kicked out in the first place.) and become a resource inclusion teacher. This type of teacher works with kids that are below grade level on certain subjects. I would have my own classroom. I know I don't want to do the CDC aspect of it because I don't think I could handle day in and day out yelling and screaming. But on the other hand, I would be so picky with the area I work in and the grade level, it would be hard for me to find a job. I love the kids I have now, so I would want to do 3 through 5 grade.

I had to know by today if I wanted to go to a special teaching seminar in North Carolina over summer break that is geared towards helping kids with special needs. I decided not to because so many things are up in the air. And I don't want to have to pay them the 1,000 dollars that I would owe them if I do by some miracle get into Motlow.

So I'm sorry if this sounds uber confusing, I just had to type this all out. I guess it all boils down to the fact that I'm confused again. What else is new when it comes to my life :-/

Updates

So Snapfish is having an awesome deal on photo prints right now. 100 prints for 5 dollars!! 5 cents for them. So I'm in the process of working on getting on the honeymoon photos uploaded and saved so I can finally get them into an album or a scrapbook. Not sure which one I've decided to do.

Kenneth got his bonus yesterday. I got a semi good pay check, so with that, we were finally able to pay off the last of the wedding expenses!! YAY!!!! And book a spring break trip to Tampa. We are heading to Busch Gardens. I'm so excited!! I honestly can't believe that spring break is literally a month away!!

I also found a good deal for a round of golf, that Kenneth will be using to go play with his friends or with his dad. Hasn't really decided yet. Of course his dad has a broken ankle and won't be able to play for 6 weeks, so who knows. And now that the weather actually seems like its getting nice, I'm loving it!

I didn't get into Memphis. I passed the test, but my science grade was too low. So I will try again next Spring or Fall. Haven't decided fully. Fall allows me to get out in 16 months, but Spring allows me to start sooner. But for now that means we will be staying here through December at least.

Welp, I'm about to get ready and tackle this day. Cleaning, a little shopping, and some good old relaxation with my husband. I love Saturdays!

So it's almost Valentines day..

and I have had the past two days off! Which means getting lots of things done around the apartment. I took the TEAS for Memphis nursing school on Monday. I passed. So now I just have to stop and wait and see if my grades are good enough to get in. We also went looking at apartments in Memphis and I realized how hard it is going to be to leave this wonderful home that Kenneth and I have. I think we might start looking into renting if we move.

Onto some good news, Kenneth and I are celebrating Valentines Day tonight. So in preparation, I'm working on cooking him dinner. Here's the game plan:
BBQ chicken with bacon and swiss cheese on top
Green beans bundles (green beans wrapped in bacon, coated with Catalina dressing)
Sister Serbert rolls
Red velvet cake
and its not valentines day without chocolate covered strawberries! Aldi's has them for 1.99 and they smell AMAZING!

So I'm about to get back to cooking. What are you special plans for valentines day?