I wish we could live off Casseroles....

I don’t like writing about cooking because I don’t like cooking.

But I realize that I need to get better at it because 1) it’s sort of become a joke that I can’t cook and I don’t really like that. And 2) someday I am going to have to feed a growing human being (other than Joey haha) that will need to eat nutritious food and not just frozen pizzas and Bertolli’s ready-made meals…. Although what’s to follow is pretty much up there in the same category as the frozen pizzas and Bertollis…but, I digress……..

Earlier this week I got home earlier than normal and Joey asked me if we could have chicken wings for dinner.  I said no, because when he asked for chicken wings I thought “hmm… I bet there is a buffalo chicken casserole recipe online somewhere…” and I was totally right!! I sort of followed the directions and may have added/removed a couple ingredients. 

It’s not healthy. At all. So if you are looking for smart, gluten-free eats, this is not the place.  But I was pretty proud of it:

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, cut into “cubes” (or in my case, mutilated into small pieces)

2-3 cups pasta, cooked

1/3 cup buffalo sauce (frank’s red hot!)

1 cup ranch dressing

½ cup cheddar cheese (shredded)

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

Bread crumbs

Directions:

1.       Pre-heat oven to 350

2.       Cook chicken (I cooked it in a little bit of ranch dressing)

3.       Boil pasta

4.       Mix all ingredients together into a big bowl, pour into a casserole dish and sprinkle the bread crumbs on top

5.       Bake for about 20 minutes

So, I’m pretty sure this will not put me up for any sort of award but I was proud of what I did with what we had and it actually tasted pretty darn good too.  Of course you need to add a salad or a vegetable to make this resume a well-rounded meal in any fashion. 

Also I don’t have a picture of it but just imagine pasta and chicken in orange-colored sauce. (I guess I don’t have a future in restaurant marketing, either.)

OTHER CASSEROLES I LIKE:

Chicken Casserole (Chicken, stuffing, green beans, corn.  It’s like thanksgiving!)

Tuna Casserole (Tuna, pasta, cheddar cheese. Mmmmmm)

Also, I’m up for suggestions. Send me any of your (easy) recipes!!!!

THON

So a couple weekends ago, Joey and I went up to visit my sister at Penn State while she danced in the PSU Dance Marathon to raise money for pediatric cancer.  THON is something that has to be witnessed to be understood, but I did my best to try to explain it in an e-mail to a friend, which I have decided to post here!

 http://thon.org/

It was started in 1973 by some Penn State college students who wanted to raise money for kids with cancer.

Now, it’s a huge event where organizations from Penn State each select 4 dancers to represent them and dance for 46 hours straight on their feet. No sitting.  No sleeping.  No looking at the clock.  Just dancing, playing games, watching performances, motivational speakers, and meeting and hanging out with the families and the children they are supporting.

Things that you can 'sit down' for: piggybacks, "slip n slide" through baby powder, going to the bathroom, changing your shoes.  That's pretty much it...

So, you can imagine how elite of a group it is to be one of the 710 dancers chosen from the 15,000+ kids in the organizations. And both my brother and sister got to do it.

They raise money initially by going “canning” on a few select weekends in the fall.  Have you ever seen the kids in intersections with cans collecting money for kids with cancer? That’s the THON canners.  They go all over the US.  They collect change from drivers and host other events to collect donations.  The funds collected go to the “Four Diamonds Fund” which was started by a family who lost their child to cancer. The Four Diamonds Fund is located at Hershey Medical Center, and basically steps in when a family is diagnosed and covers whatever their insurance doesn’t. 

Lookin' good 34 hours in!

The event itself  is really well organized. They have committees of people there to keep the dancers busy and distracted from how tired they are. They have mail call, they feed them every few hours, they have a medical staff that keeps track of how often they take pain killers, etc. they each have a “moraler” which is someone assigned specifically to them to keep them positive.  There are guest performances, speakers, etc. and all the supporters stay in the stands the whole time with signs to cheer on their dancers.  There is a line dance done about every hour which is pretty fun.  The kids and families are also there for a lot of the time, and they get to hang out on the floor and there is even a “no adults allowed” room for them to just be kids.  There are 4  floor passes available for each organization at any given time, so we had to wait in a really long line with no guarantee that we’d get down to see her. I had to wait in the line twice but I finally got down there. We were there on Sunday between 2 and 4am.  Although you don’t tell the dancer what time it is, because that is just mean.

She walked over to where her sorority was located in the stands, and they went CRAZY cheering, yelling, waving signs. The amount of support is amazing.

There are so many people there, and NOBODY SITS DOWN.  There is a strict, unwritten rule about not sitting in the Bryce Jordan Center.  It is so awesome.  This year, the venue was so packed, the wait outside to get in on Sunday morning at 4:30am was 6-7 HOURS and they ended up closing it.  Consider also that it was about 5 degrees outside. My Mom waited for 2 hours to get in on Saturday.  Joey and I arrived around 9pm and couldn't get in, so we went to the hotel and came back at 1am... and still had to wait in line!

In the last 4 hours of THON, they have “family hour” which is when the families and the kids come out and speak about their experiences, they show a video of all the “angels” from that year, and it is terribly horribly sad.  I watched the live-feed at home as best as I could (with tens of thousands of alumni watching all around the globe, the site was very slow!)  And then, at the very end, they announce who raised the most money in each category.  Laura’s sorority and their partner raised over $131,000… and they came in 9^th place for greek life.  The winners for greek life raised over 350K.

The last thing they do is show the total amount raised for that year.  To put it in perspective, when my brother, Alex, danced in 2008 they raised a record breaking 6+ MILLION dollars.

This year, they raised over 12 million dollars, bringing the total amount raised for the fund to over 100 million.  It is so incredible.  This is the moment of the reveal, which occurs just minutes after the dancers sit down for the first time in two days. Make sure your volume is up. It gives me chills.

THON is really difficult to explain without experiencing it.  Please check out THON.ORG if you have any questions!!!

I'm sure when my Mom and Laura read this they will have things to add- so please go ahead and do so in the comments.

MAJOR CONGRATULATIONS to all of the dancers and especially Laura for completing 46 For the Kids!

~SG

Lovefest 365

For your Valentine's Day 2013, I've decided to share a love fest that happens every day of the year.

No, no, no. It's not what you are thinking.  I'm talking about the love between a man and his Min Pin.

Normally when this happens, Joey is laying in bed with no shirt on and it would be pretty awkward for me to post half naked pictures of my husband on the internet.  But last night, he was covered appropriately when the loving began, so I started snapping away.

I'm pretty sure if Doc could share his Dad's skin, he would. 

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

~SG

Another Weekend Down

So this happened via gchat on Friday:

12:37 PM me: of course
  hey you know where we havent eaten in a while?
 Joseph: PJ Skidoos?
  hahaha, that literally just popped into my head, didn't even have to think about it, weird.
12:38 PM me: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  you are a genius!!!!!!!
 Joseph: is that what you were thinking?!?!?!
 me: YES!!!!!!!!!
 Joseph: HAHAHAHA
 me: crabscrabscrabscrabs
 Joseph: GET OUT OF HERE
  we need some time apart
 me: ITS OBVIOUSLY A SIGN
 Joseph: a sign we spend TOO much time together

So I'm sure you can guess where we headed after work! Well, first I worked a half day and went on a lovely little shopping spree.  I haven't bought work clothes in FOREVER and it's really time to re-vamp my wardrobe considering I'm almost 30 and I still wear stuff I bought when I got my first job...

After Joey got home, we headed up north to our old stomping grounds in Fairfax for some crabs and cider (our traditional Skidoos meal).  Joey posted about it on Facebook and we tried to get some people to meet us but Peyton was the only fish that took the bait.  It was good to catch up with him.

After Skidoos we ended up back at his place watching old Scrubs episodes (I seriously love that show) and catching up with another old friend, Christina and her BF Charlie.  Love them.  Fun fact: Christina caught the bouquet at our wedding.

Saturday morning, I judged a local dance competition with some good friends.  I really enjoy doing these and since I work a lot of the same competitions each year I get to see the kids as they grow and improve.  It's pretty awesome.  It was a long day, so we had Boston Market for dinner and early bed time.

Sunday we assisted with moving Joey's Grandma into his parents' basement. Well, I sort of cheer-led while Joey and his brother did all the heavy lifting... 

After a hard day's work, we all went to the local Japanese Hibachi place.  It was delicious and they even threw in a surprise dessert for birthday boy, Uncle Jon. 

Welp, another weekend is in the books.  Next weekend is going to be IN-SANE.  Throw together Mason Homecoming and Penn State THON and you have a really busy, really crazy awesome weekend.  I can't wait!!!

~SG

Sudden Realization

First, I'd like to say that I grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania. AKA the North. AKA nobody talks with a southern accent up there.

Second, I've only seen this movie ONCE.  In Kindergarten (which, now that I think about it, was a certain lapse in judgement by my teachers).  It scarred me for life so bad that I can vividly remember the classroom, sitting on the rug, watching the tv on it's giant black stand, craning my neck to see.  We watched it over several days.  I think this may have been when one of the teachers was in a car accident and we had a sub before we had a permanent replacement.  And I remember crying hysterically at the end.  I hated it. And I've never watched it since.

Last night, we were watching "Family Guy" and there was an "Old Yeller" reference (if you do not know about this movie, then you are probably not old enough to be unsupervised on the internet).  I thought about it for a minute, and suddenly my eyes went wide.  These past years of living in Virginia have exposed me to some pretty redneck folks. 

I guess I always thought he was called "Old Yeller" because he barked loud?  I don't know.

But last night I realized it was 'cause he is YELLOW.  Or, "Yeller" if you are a redneck southerner......

40 Random Short Questions with Short Answers

1.      Do you usually sleep with your closet door open or closed? Closed, but when I was a kid it always had to be open so nobody could hide in it. Now I know nobody is hiding in it because I have two dogs and a lot of firearms.

2.      Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotels? Yes. I keep them in glass canisters in my guest bathroom and guest rooms.

3.      Where is your next vacation? The beach in North Carolina

4.      Are you reading any books right now? I’m trying to take part in a Book/Wine Club... the current book is called “The Merlot Murders”. I’m about 3 chapters in.

5.      Do you chew your pens and pencils? No. I witnessed the explosion of a pen in someone's mouth once.  It was hilarious.

6.      Is it okay for guys to wear pink? Sure, I don’t have a problem with it.

7.      What do you drink with dinner? Mostly water, although some days it’s wine. Or beer.

8.      What do you dip Chicken Nuggets in? I don’t dip my chicken nuggets in anything!

9.      What is your favorite food/cuisine? Italian. Done and done.

10.  What movies could you watch over and over and still love? I’ve seen “The Simpsons Movie” at least 20 times and I still think it’s hilarious.

11.  Were you ever a boy/girl scout? No, but I REALLY wanted to be one L But I was too busy with ballet.

12.  When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? I write to my Grandmother sometimes. I don’t remember when the last time was, though :-/

13.  Can you change the oil on a car? No, but my husband can!

14.  Ever gotten a speeding ticket? For speeding? No. For not having my license on me? Yes. For running a red light? Yes.

15.  Run out of gas? Knock on wood. No.

16.  Favorite kind of sandwich? PB&J Hands down!

17.  Best thing to eat for breakfast? Cheerios. With or without milk. Delicious either way.

18.  What is your usual bedtime? It used to be 10. Then Joey started going into work at 5, so now it’s 8:30....we are so old.

19.  Are you lazy? YES. I will not deny this.

20.  Afraid of heights? Just afraid of falling from them.

21.  Sing in the car? Heck yeah!

22.  Dance in the car? Totally!

23.  Ever used a gun? At targets only.

24.  Do you think musicals are cheesy? No, I think they are awesome.

25.  Is Christmas stressful? SO stressful.

26.  Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? Ballet dancer or teacher. 

27.  Do you believe in ghosts? Yes.

28.  Wal-Mart, Target or K-Mart? I’ll shop at all of them. I’m not as snobby as I used to be. I guess that’s the ‘hoodbridge in me coming out...

29.  Ever cried because you were so happy? I totally cried when we finished the marathon.

30.  Are you patient? No.

31.  Ever had plastic surgery? Nope.

32.  Which are better black or green olives? No olives.

33.  Can you knit or crochet? I learned to knit once when I was in high school.  My whole French class learned to knit.  Then I got thrown out of Chorus practice for knitting...

34.  Wash room or bathroom? Bathroom

35.  Do you want to get married? Been there done that!

36.  Do you have kids? Two furry kids, yes.

37.  Do you want kids? Yes, eventually. But I’m not in a hurry.

38.  What kind of mom are you?  I’m going to be a terribly high strung, worried mother. I am going to need that glass of wine with dinner.

39.  Do you like roller coasters? Not so much, although the Disney coasters are okay. Normally I’m the girl who holds everyone’s stuff.

40.  What was the last thing you bought? I think the breakfast sandwich and coffee from Dunkin Donuts yesterday morning?

Summer Bummer

This is a really good example of why I don't take "fashion risks" very often.  They never work out.  I'm sure my complaint is the same as many other women- my curvy body just doesn't usually work with clothes that are designed on skinny mannequins. 

Case in point:  I'm perusing Pinterest, and I come across this really cute swimsuit.  I know fringe is "in" right now, and even though it could be deemed a little weird, I decide that I like it and click on it to check it out.

So it turns out Zappos sells it (ultra win, because Zappos ships overnight for free) and that it costs $132.  YIKES.  So this is a 'designer' suit.... So I decided to buy it because more expensive stuff tends to fit better because a little more goes into making it.  I chose size Large to fit my big buns and the girls, and only had to wait a day before it arrived at the house.

After work yesterday, I was super excited to open the box and try it on! I didn't even get the top part on before I knew it was bad news.  The bottoms didn't fit my butt at all.  Well, they did.  But I had to double check the size to make sure they didn't send me a medium by mistake...

But it gets worse!

The top part didn't cover my boobs.  See how it's sitting on her chest? Yeah... I had to place them in the appropriate spot.  And I knew they wouldn't be staying there if I were to go walking or swimming in this thing.  There was absolutely no support.

[Side note- I think if I had fake boobs this suit would have fit a lot better.  They sit higher and stay put when you place them somewhere (at least I think they do?).  This is not the first time I've been tempted to replace them with silicone...]

But the worst part...

Is that there was a huge gap between the bathing suit and my body over my stomach.  It looked ridiculous.  My large chest caused the material to not sit flat against my stomach... and it looked really weird.  If you look closely in the below picture, you can see it's not sitting flat against her stomach either. 



Really cute suit, but not recommended for those with more than a B cup.

Hey, sometimes you have to take risks to learn a life lesson.  Obviously I will be returning this one.

Just because it's expensive doesn't mean it's going to fit you perfectly. Better stick to Target!

~SG

Pin Pic of the Day

It's been SUCH A LONG TIME since we've done PPOTD and I know you are starved for pictures of my cute little babies.

Here they are, basking in front of the space heater at the in-laws' last night during the Super Bowl.  (Doc is sporting his Cowboys jersey because he refused to cheer for anyone else.)

Have a Happy Monday!

~SG

Random Phone Pics

It's been a while since I've gone through my phone and looked at all the pictures I've taken and picked out a special few JUST FOR YOU!!!!

So here's a glimpse at what's been going on in my life that I deemed worthy of a picture for the months of November and December:

1. One of my favorite morning treat combinations: Starbucks coffee and a ham/egg/cheddar sandwich. Yummmmmmmmm

2. The koozies I had made for Alex and Corinne's engagement party.  Bonus, they match their wedding colors so the extras can be handed out as wedding accessories :)

3.  The Costco cart-o-booze for Alex and Corinne's engagement party.  Joey and I had a fun time with this one.  We got lots of judging stares.  I almost wanted to wear a sign that said "Yes, this is all for me."

 4.  This is a pretty good representation of how you will find our living room on any given day.  Chloe will be perched on the side of a piece of furniture.  There will be dog toys and the laptop cord on the floor.  And, most importantly, 2 beers on the coffee table.

5. Joey at the party store in Pennsylvania modeling paper plates to see if my Mom liked them (she did!).  He also found and fell in love with a blinky Rudolph nose......

6. .....And immediately put it on in the car and drove home wearing it.

7. Back in Woodbridge. Check out our new Christmas China!!!!

8. Chloe does not like Christmas.

9. An Army of Reinbeers!!!

10.  What our basement currently looks like:

11. Very typical place to find Doc.

12. We had a wild New Year's Eve!

HAPPPPPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!

~SG