Busy

Wow.  You know, no matter how hard you try to simplify, when you are mom with kids in the house, there just never seems to be much down time.  I have been wanting to share some stories, but unfortunately, blogging is lower on the list than, say....feeding the kids.  Or reading my book for our small group study (didn't even get around to getting that one done!).

I spent the better part of yesterday getting our new computer set up - and the printer to go along with it.  I had to call tech support a couple of times to figure it out, but I now have 2 laptops and the desktop all hooked up to the wireless printer.  All by myself!  Isn't that amazing. ( The wireless printing thing, not my skills at setting up the computer.)  A lot of the computer set-up issues stemmed from the age of our previous computer.  It was almost 9 years old, which in computer age is like 205 years.  It's even worse than dog years.  The word processing program on our old one is not even recognized by the new version and the young guy helping me at the Mac store had no clue what that program even was.  He was probably in Jr. High when we bought that last computer.  I also had to call into the wireless router people because we had somehow lost our secure internet connection.  And while I trust my neighbors for the most part, probably best if other people can't access our network.  All this tech stuff...and I am NOT a techie.  

Side note:  if you have a front load washer and you are getting 'the smell', stop using liquid fabric softener.  The repair man told me that it is made up mostly of animal fats.  Isn't that the nastiest thing you have ever heard?!  Also, he said to make sure you are using no more that 1 Tablespoon of the HE detergent.  1 Tablespoon.  That's the maximum.  We were using WAAAAAYYY  too much detergent.  It's amazing how long that giant bottle of Tide will last when you use just 1 T.

Here's a recipe for you.  It's for Chicken Tetrazini.  I have made it with turkey, too.  It freezes well, so it's easy to make one, freeze one.  I usually find it works well to make spaghetti for dinner one night early in the week and make double noodles.  Then put the extras in a ziplock and use them at the end of the week for the tetrazini.  It saves a step and makes it even easier to assemble.

Chicken Tetrazini
cooked spaghetti (not sure exactly how much...just what looks right for your family)
1/2 stick butter
3 T minced onion or 3 t dried minced onion
1 can cream of chicken soup (reduced fat works, too)
1 can evaporated milk (I use the 2% variety)
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 c parmesan cheese
2 c cooked chicken, cubed
1/2 c or more shredded cheddar (use medium or sharp for best flavor)

melt butter in a large sauce pan and cook with onion.  Add chicken, soup, milk, spices and cheddar cheese.  stir to combine.  add noodles and toss to coat evenly.  put into a sprayed 9x13.  sprinkle with parmesan.  bake 30 min at 325.

Enjoy!!!

We are off to Laser Flash this evening.  My husband will take the belated birthday child + a few friends. I will be with Joel at another basketball tournament -- 1 game tonight, 3 tomorrow and up to 4 games on Sunday if they continue winning.  Then we will all gather back here afterwards for cake and ice cream.  Actually it's an ice cream cake that I make by layering ice cream sandwiches (3 layers with 4 sandwiches in each layer) with a mixture of pudding, coolwhip and oreos in between.  Then I frost the whole outside with coolwhip and freeze it overnight.  Then you just slice it into pieces to serve.  Looks really cool with the chocolate and vanilla layers.  And it's yummy, too.  Seriously, what's not to love about that!