It is that time of year again....

GRADE 1

¨ 1 school box

¨ 1 box saltines or graham crackers

¨ 1 primary scissors (pointed)

¨ 1 paint shirt to share

¨ 2 elmers glue

¨ 24 #2 pencils (sharpened)

¨ Playdough (2)

¨ 1 big box keenex

¨ 2 large pink erasers

¨ 1 granola bar

¨ 10 glue sticks

¨ 1 watercolor paint set

¨ 1 box baby wipes

¨ 2 two pocket folders

¨ 1 box 8-10 washable markers

¨ 2 boxes crayons (no larger than 24)

¨ 1 spiral wide ruled notebook

¨ Opt:  box black chisel point dry erase markers

   GRADE 3

¨ 3 spiral notebooks (red, blue, any)

¨ 10 glue sticks

¨ 1 pkg loose leaf paper

¨ 4 folders w/pockets (solid color)

¨ 2 lg erasers

¨ Sm pencil sharpener

¨ 1 bin (Rubbermaid clear 16x11x6)

¨ 1 watercolor paint set

¨ 1 lg box colored pencils

¨ 1 box crayons (24)

¨ 1 lg elmers glue

¨ 2 boxes felt tip markers (1lg and 1 sm)

¨ 24 #2 pencils (sharpened)

¨ 1 big box keenex

¨ 1 primary scissors (pointed)

¨ Opt: 1 box baby wipes

¨ Opt: paper towels

¨ Opt:  hand sanitizer

¨ Opt:  box black chisel point dry erase markers

Tex-Mex in a Pan

I just stumbled upon a great combo of convenience cooking...  cooking once to make two meals and cooking ahead.....

Make a pot of rice (I do brown rice and I finally have my system down... you can see it here.) 

Cook up three 1 pound packages of burger (I used elk but whatever) as taco meat.  I'm using up the last of the taco seasoning can I got at Costco but then I'm going to try this homemade version.

Usually what ends up happening is I make the rice up and Hot & I take some for lunch.

The first night.... tacos.  After dinner the second night mix:

Leftover cooked rice
Two cans black beans, drained & rinsed
A jar or so of salsa
Leftover taco meat
A couple of chopped up bell peppers
Whatever else seems Mexican in your fridge (leftover sour cream, onion, tomato)

Put it in a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 (or so) for 35 minutes (or so).  Top with shredded cheddar cheese.  I like to garnish with cilantro, sour cream & avocado.

Eat leftovers in tortillas for lunch the next day.

This is Hot's favorite meal right now.  Too bad it requires turning on the oven during the summer.

One Last Thing

One Last Thing . . . .

From Elle......

The last time I said, "I love you" . . . . this morning when Hot left for work....

The last thing I cooked . . . . fried eggs on toast for breakfast.  In a second I'm going to throw together some tortilla-type things for lunch and put together a taco casserole for Hot for dinner. 

The last time I forgot my wallet . . . I leave my wallet all over the place....

Last hangover I had . . . 2001.  Hard Lemonade.

Last TV show I watched . . . the tv is permanently on Channel 12 for the Olympics right now. 

And the Caddyshack theme song plays.....name that rodent.

The other day I came home and saw THIS diving under my porch.  My first thought.... Jeez-um.... I have GOT to stain that porch.  My second thought..... is this Caddyshack?  I love that movie.  I wonder if we own that movie?  We should get that one. 

Yes.  I do have a bit of a focus issue....

I called my hubby at work.  I reported we might have a tiny mutant pigmy hippo living under our porch.  Go ahead... scroll up and check out that cute rump.  That's a hippo rump.  What does one feed a tiny mutant pigmy hippo? 

Or, possibly, it is a pack rat.  In which case it must die.

So I waited.  And I saw this.

Yup.  There s/he is.  Bonus points for anyone who can identify this little buggar.

Go ahead... guess.