Sometimes I get in the mood for the oddest music. My current kick really makes me laugh at myself. I'm currently listening to the oldies station. And by "oldies" I mean way oldies. Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, big band stuff. It usually happens when I've been through the rotation a couple of times, country to classic rock to pop to alternative to jazz and everything in between. Then I find myself on 103.3 listening to stuff that no one my age really has any knowledge about.

I think it started with the purchase of my very first car. "Rose". What a beaut. I had graduated from high school and needed wheels. I wasn't in a position to be picky either. I was desperate. So off to Pocatello I went with my parents and there we met Rose. The 1984 4-door rosewood Plymouth Reliant. We test drove, it fit the bill. It wasn't until after the purchase that we found out that the radio was only AM and stuck on 1390 am- Hits from the War Years. I had no idea that there were cars that were purposefully made to only broadcast AM stations. I paid much more attention to those sorts of details on my next car purchase.

But, Rose was mine and she did travel well from point a to point b. It was truly the ultimate in grandma cars. It was just impossible to make it cool and I tried, I swear I tried, it just wouldn't stick. This was never demonstrated so well as it was one day in the K-Mart parking lot. I had gone to the store for some reason, came out with purchase in hand and got in the trusty Reliant. Put the keys in the ignition and turned. Or tried to at least. It wasn't working. I tried again but to no avail. "What's the deal!" I thought. Then I looked around. The color was right, the interior exact, but it was clear by the paraphernalia around me that I may not be in my car. As luck would have it one row behind me there was a little old lady trying to get into my car! If ever there was a doubt that cleared it right up. We shared a laugh, switched cars and went on our merry way. Weird that I was okay with that. I had a good laugh about that for quite awhile.

So, in memory of Rose and hits from the war years, I give you Nat King Cole's "Rambling Rose"

Easy Black Bean Lasagna

I just have to share this recipe that came from the Taste of Home Magazine back before it got all sponsored and stuff. (Now instead of recipes for the every day family there's quite the section with ingredients that I have never even heard of which translates into expensive.) It's so easy and it really is a tasty dish with a flare. It's one of the lasagnas that I will actually eat as a leftover. David's not as picky as I am when it comes to leftover food. Thank heavens. Anyway, enjoy!

Easy Black Bean Lasagna

15 oz can of black beans drained and rinsed

28 oz crushed tomatoes, undrained

3/4 cup chopped onions

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup salsa

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

Combine in a bowl and set aside

In another bowl mix:

1 cup Ricotta cheese

1/8 tsp garlic powder (I like more than that, do it to your own preference)

1 egg

additional ingredients:

10 uncooked lasagna noodles

6 oz shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese (or more, I like cheese)

Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray

Spread 1 Cup tomato mixture over bottom of dish

Top with half of noodles, overlapping slightly

layer half of tomato mixture spread across

layer all Ricotta mixture spreading carefully

layer half of the cheese

layer remaining noodles, remaining tomato mixture, and remaining cheese

Spray sheet of foil with cooking spray, cover baking dish with foil.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Uncover, let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

My to do list... did it get done?

So, yesterday morning I got up at the unbelievable hour of 8 O'clock and made myself a list of things that needed to be done. Then I promptly went back to bed. 9 rolled around and I got up and ambitiously did nothing on my list. However, my "nothing" turned out to be exactly what I really wanted to do.

Since the weather has turned colder I have wanted to rearrange the furniture in our living room. We have gas fireplace that we haven't used yet and up until yesterday our very large couch was in front of it. It made sense to do it that way since we weren't in need of additional warmth during the Summer. Now that there's a chill in the air and frost on the ground I can thing of nothing better than curling up in front of the fireplace with a good book. I quickly recruited David to be the muscles and we have a cheap remodel of the house. Gotta love what a little move of the furniture does for ya!

Our new look complete with the man with the muscles.

Reading nook created behind the love seat.

The fireplace... in case you couldn't tell.

And if that wasn't enough for the day, we decided to clean up the garage! Not entirely our fault that it was in such a state. Our landlord had some shelves that he planned on taking with him, but just never did. So I David asked what he planned for them and low and behold they had been sitting in the garage unused since March for nothing. Up they went and up off of the floor our stuff went! It used to be in a pile in the corner and surrounding the car on one side so you couldn't open the door all the way. It looks so good now that we had to keep on taking a look during the day cause it just looked so nice! Hopefully we can keep it that way.

Here's to a hard day's work.

Courage

This is dedicated to a dear long lost friend

who I wasn't entirely sure considered me a friend anymore.

Time passes, we drift apart

not entirely sure where we have even ended up.

Thanks Tonya for still being my friend.

It really does mean a lot.

Thank you.

So, remember a really long time ago when I promised that

I would post pictures of our Colorado adventures?

Well, here they are.

The biggest part of the trip was our hike to

Fish Creek Trail. Absolutely beautiful!

It was exhausting... as you can see by my exaggerated gesture.

David has a backpack with ridiculous straps. It made it look like he had "man boobs"
(Can I say that in a blog?)

K, so we didn't put it there but kind of nice huh!

Well, that pretty much sums us up! a little crazy, a little grouchy, but we sure do like each other!

In passing...

Another week has gone by. Highlights:

1. I've been systematically killing people at work... and they like it. For Halloween (my favorite holiday) I have been making headstones to put in the windows at work. Headstones don't mean much if they aren't for the people you work with, know, and love. And of course there are those that you just want to harass a little bit. The joke now is don't mess with catering or you'll end up with a headstone. I love it.

2. Diwali, the festival of lights. David, myself, Tawnya, and Isaac attending the Indian Festival of Lights last evening put on by the Indian Student Association. Thank you Tawyna and Isaac for putting up with it. The food was good, but the entertainment portion was long... we even left early and it was still long. But hey, didn't have to cook!

3. Jarom and Alex came to stay with us on Tuesday night. They were here in the "big city" to sell potatoes. We ended up staying up till 1 am. Everyone had a lack of sleep headache the next day, but it was totally worth it. So dang fun! And I bought custard cups and made individual molten lava cakes for dessert! Am I the coolest sister or what!

4. Mom and Dad also spent time with us, Friday night to be exact. After the shock of learning we had cancelled our cable ( I swear Dad lives for the news sometimes) they took us out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Yummy and very filling.

All in all it's been a good week. Even today went well. We split our bulging nursery of 28 kids into two rooms and not once did I hear screams of displeasure emitting from either nursery! It was great. The nursery leaders didn't even look frazzled by the end of the day. Finally a winning decision! Woo-hoo! Perhaps the beginning of a winning streak? Let's keep our fingers crossed.

General Conference Chaos

New message on the home phone:
"Hi Lora, this is Abby. You really need to call me or Jarom before you come home! Just go to Jarom's house because there is no power at Mom and Dad's because of the fire. K, bye."

Isn't that a wonderful message to send you into a panic! Fortunately, we found out about the house fire before we heard the message. My parents had a bit of a house fire early this morning. Dad got up to get a drink and noticed that the front porch light finally started working... and flickering... odd. He went outside to get a better look and that's when he noticed the flames!

Apparently, the wind was so bad during the night that it was blowing some wires together against the house. The constant touching of the wires closed the circuit and the electricity kept trying to ground itself, therefore heating up the wires, melting them together, heating up the siding on the house and eventually starting the insulation on fire. Nice huh. Fortunately everyone was okay, dinner just got moved down the road to my brother's house. Always fun. And of course, thank heavens for insurance and a neighbor who also happens to be an electrician.

Then of course there is the general chaos of having a house full of adults and kids trying to cook dinner and watch General Conference at the same time. At least it kept us all awake!

Extra special treat:
I made a new cookie recipe yesterday. I meant to only do one batch, but upon completion of first batch I realized I had accidentally doubled the salt. So, another batch got made, sans salt, and mixed with the first. Result: I brought a salad and cookies to dinner. They were quite good though and people asked for the recipe. Here it is.

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies (courtesy of Ocean Spray)
2/3 cup softened butter or margarine
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 oz craisins (1 package)
2/3 cup white chocolate chips or chunks

cream together butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
add eggs and beat till smooth
add oats, flour, baking soda and salt, mix well
add craisins and white chocolate chips
bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes
makes 2 1/2 dozen.

Enjoy!