What I accomplished last night...and a not-so-good recipe

To sum it up, I basically accomplished nothing last night!! When we got home DH sat in the living room for a while and talked to me, which is unusual because normally he heads up to our bedroom to watch the news, and I get started on dinner, or whatever else I have to do. But it was nice, so I wasn't in a rush. So anyway, I got a late start on dinner, which was my own concoction, and it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. Here is my "recipe" -

Burrito Casserole

1 lb ground beef (I think my package was a little more than that)
taco seasoning (I have a giant container, so I'm not sure how much I used, but it is easy to eyeball and taste the right amount)
1 can refried beans
flour tortillas
white cheese sauce (I used Gordo's jalapeno cheese sauce from walmart)

Brown ground beef, then drain grease. Add taco seasoning, and simmer. While there is still quite a bit of liquid left, add refried beans and stir until it is mixed well. Turn heat down and let mixture heat through.

Spray baking dish with cooking spray to avoid sticking, and start filling flour tortillas with the beef mixture. Roll up burrito style and line the dish. Pour cheese sauce over burritos, and bake in the oven on 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or so. Top with tomatoes, lettuce, green onions and sour cream.

This was ok, but it wasn't what I was looking for, I guess. I am a mexican food fanatic, and it just didn't feed my craving. Oh well, better luck next time.

As for the other things on my list, I just simply didn't feel like doing them last night! It was one of those days, and I just wanted to be lazy. I went to bed at 9:00!! So tonight, we are having leftovers, and I am doing the things on my list from last night, as well as cleaning out my fridge and cabinets and planning my menu/shopping list. Hopefully I wil be more successful tonight!

Tuesday night Goals

Well, I haven't been doing a lot lately as a result of recovering from the storm. But I NEED structure in my life, so I want to get back on track tonight. I watch more tv tonight than any other night of the week, so I'm not going to do too much, but I'll post my list anyway:

- cook dinner (either baked spaghetti or burrito casserole)

- Dust living room

- Vaccum living room, including stairs

- Start planning menu for next week


Hopefully I can get those few things done. My house doesn't look too bad right now, but I like the structure!

Whoa!

Ok, so the last 7 days have been C.R.A.Z.Y. around here!! Last Monday night, we had some sleet/freezing rain. It covered the roads, but it wasn't too bad. I woke up Tuesday morning, and came to work (well, my husband drove me to work!), and I carried on like normal for the most part. My parents power went out around 6:30 that morning, but I still didn't give it much thought. The news kept talking about the "winter storm 2009" that was heading our way, but they are seldomly on target with their forecast, so I didn't think much of it. I left work about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, and when we got home, our power was out. It made several attempts to come back on over the next few hours, and around 8:30, it came back on. Yay!! But not for long! It stayed on til about 10:30, and then went off again, and this time it wasn't playing around!! It was so quiet in our house, and all you could hear were the ice covered branches cracking and hitting the ground. They would hit our roof with so much force that I was sure they were coming through. We got up the next morning and not much had changed, except for the number of trees in our yard. We went the whole day without power, which sucked, and then, around 10 pm, our power came back on!!! It turns out that, because we are so close to Walmart and the mall area, we are on what is considered an "emergency circuit". We are in the first group that they try to fix, because people need to get to emergency supplies, etc. I have never been so happy to live so close to walmart in all my life!! Well, here we are a week later, and there is so much devastation in our town. People are still without power (including my parents), and some without water. I have never seen anything like it. Our town literally looks like a war zone. Trees are down EVERYWHERE. People were fighting at gas stations, and waiting in lines for up to 3 hours just to get gas at one of the few stations open for several days. It was madness. I am so impressed with our emergency service workers. They have been on top of the situation from day 1, and although there is often not much they can do, they try there best to keep people updated on the things. I found out yesterday that between the fire department, police department and national guard, they will be knocking on EVERY door in our town to make sure everyone inside is ok. They are passing out meals and water to people. I can't imagine being in there position, but I think they are all awesome.

Well, on a different note, I have officially lost 10 lbs since January 5th. Woo-hoo!! (the "power -outage diet" helped a little!!) I'm pretty proud of myself that I have stuck with it. I'm not exactly known for my will power or follow-through!! I'm glad to be getting back to normal. I'm going grocery shopping tonight, so hopefully tomorrow I will be posting my menu.

Please keep our town in your prayers...there is still so many people that are in pretty bad shape. Tonight is supposed to be the coldest night so far, with windchills below 0. Some of the people who have been ok so far are going to be finding it harder to stay warm tonight.