You didn't eat your Wheaties, did you?

Finally went to get my books yesterday at the campus bookstore. The little chick running the cash register was rude to me! I asked if I could post-date a check until I received my financial aid check and she acting like she didn't even know what a post-dated check was. Then she asked if I was on "the list." First of all, I don't even know what "the list" is and how can I know if I'm on it if it's not posted where I can check it. She said, "I need something with your name on it." Um...an ID? Driver's License? Student ID? A piece of mail? I can write it on a post-it for you.. I hand her my Driver's License and she takes it to the backroom to compare to "the list." Apparently I'm awesome enough to be on this "list" and she hands me a form to fill out. As I'm filling it out, I ask her if I need to return in person to pay or will they just cash my check on the 31st if I don't show up. She said I had to return in person or they would cash my personal check... UM, duh; that's what I just asked! I told her that I planned to deposit my financial aid in my personal checking account anyway, so it will come directly from my account. She didn't say anything so I just ignored her while I finished filling out the form. I also asked if it was ok if my checks had my husband's name on it and she had to ask her manager. Her manager said that as long as it had the name of the recipient of the financial aid on it, then it would work. The chick said, "But it has someone else's name too." Good grief girl, are you related to the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz? Idiot. So I just filled out my check and dated it for the 31st. We'll see what happens. 

• Successful Writer's Handbook {English 102}- $60.81
• World of Psychology & Study Guide {Psychology 200}- $175.20
• Visions of America Binder 201 & 202 {US History 201}- 87.84

After the bookstore, I headed over to the Financial Aid office to make sure my check had been mailed; it had. Then Mom, Amanda and I walked over to the BDH building for our History 201 Orientation. Online, it said it was in BDH 216, so we waited in there for over 45 minutes until there were at least 10 other people in there, then some lady came to tell us that she was sorry, but the classroom had been moved to 210 and she was late putting up the sign. 
There was already a sign in the front of the room saying that Wednesday's orientation had been moved to 210, so I had already walked down there to that classroom to ask if it had been moved for Thursday's orientation as well. The lady in there asked who I was looking for. I told her "David McRae" and she said "Well, I'm not David McRae. What time is it supposed to start?" I told her "12:30." She said, "Well, come back at 12:30, I won't be here." She was really rude. I didn't eat breakfast yesterday and didn't sleep so well on the crappy bed at Mom's, so I really felt like slapping that lady. Why do people have to be so rude? 
I wanted to ask her why she didn't eat her Wheaties for breakfast...

Dinner is Served: Quesadilla Casserole

Remember that awesome post that Blogger deleted back when it decided to crash a few months ago?? Guess what?!?! I found it. It just showed back up one day disguised as a draft. I decided since I didn't have nearly enough posts going on this week, to post it today. Hope y'all get to make this soon! :)

Original post date: May 17th, 2011 

I had quite a few ladies ask for the recipe for my Quesadilla Casserole. I cleverly omitted the fact that I didn't invent this. 

McCormick did...

But it's really good, so don't not try it just because I didn't come up with it. *ahem*. I got this for about $2 at Winn-Dixie. My Mama has been talking about how McCormick was coming out with these Recipe Inspirations for over a year now, but the Wal-mart in Springville doesn't have them. And Lord knows Mr. Burton isn't going to carry them. 

They're located on the spice aisle/baking aisle next to the other McCormick products. Our Winn-Dixie carries 6 different recipes. This is my favorite so far. (The Rosemary Chicken and Potatoes is really great too!) You can check out their other packets here.



Each packet comes with all of the pre-measured spices you'll need for each individual dish and a recipe card to add to your box. On the back of the package is a check-list of the other ingredients you'll need. If you don't plan on going and buying one of these, I'll go ahead and list the spices too. If any of you are like me, you don't use these spices everyday, so it's more beneficial to buy the spice packet. lol.

Ingredients

2 tsp. McCormick Chili Powder

1 tsp. McCormick Ground Cumin

1 tsp. McCormick Minced Garlic

1/2 tsp. McCormick Oregano Leaves

1/2 tsp. McCormick Crushed Red Pepper (optional)

1 lb. ground beef (you could use turkey too)

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (8 3/4oz.) whole kernel corn, undrained**

1 can (4 1/2oz.) chopped green chiles, undrained

6 flour tortillas (8-inch)

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Brown beef and onion in large skillet on medium-high heat;drain. Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and green chiles; mix well. Stir in all of the Spices except Red Pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes. Add Red Pepper to taste, if desired.

2. Spread 1/2 cup of the beef mixture on bottom of 12x9x2-inch baking dish sprayed with no-stick cooking spray. Top with 3 of the tortillas; overlapping as needed. Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef mixture and cheese.

3. Bake in preheated 350°F oven 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Seriously, let it stand 5 minutes. It thickens up then and it's easier to serve. Otherwise you'll have it dripping down the side of the stove. Or maybe that's just me. I am a klutz.



**Note: I couldn't find a can of corn this small, so I just used a regular-sized can. It works just as well. So don't waste a whole lot of time searching for a smaller can.

RTT: Had to be moved to Thursday...again.

I know it's not Tuesday, but I'm still going to be random. Stacy is still holding down the fort of randomness. Keely really isn't coming back. (For now anyway.) Be sure to link up with Stacy on Tuesdays! And here! (Not going to add the link today, since it's Thursday).

Well. Obviously I didn't foresee this little hiccup in plans. Lemme just tell you how this weekend went:

• First of all, J had drill this past weekend, so we spent the night Friday with Mama. Then Sat, he went to drill. Tim came home Saturday and we had a barbecue over at Amanda's house. Then Sunday, Mama and I were just chillin' waiting on J to get off work to come pick me up. Then, Barry (Mama's cousin. Nana's sister, Edith's son. got that?) called Mama and said that his Mama couldn't get in touch with Nana. Mama tried to call Nana and couldn't get in touch with her. Then, he went over to her house and banged on the door, but she didn't answer. So, Mama and I got ready and left for Gadsden.  
• When we got there, we found Nana in the floor at the foot of her bed. Apparently, she was headed to bed Saturday afternoon and left her walker in the hallway and was using the bed rail to walk around, lost balance and fell. She couldn't get up and didn't have the phone with her, so she was laying there all night on her back. She was really sore and weak, so we had her hospice nurse call an ambulance to take her to the hospital. They checked her out and said that everything was fine. She kept complaining about her left leg and hip, so they've been x-raying her for the past three days. She's going to be moving into a rehabilitation center and then into a nursing home. She doesn't want to live anywhere but her own home, but it's time for her to have help. 
• I was so tired Tuesday, that I didn't feel like posting an RTT. Sorry about that y'all. Not that anyone links up on mine anyway... 
• Toddlers and Tiaras (one of Mama's "shows") is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever witnessed.. That's all I'm gonna say.
• This is hilarious. Have you seen any of Simon's Cat videos before?

 

• This is one of the sweetest pictures I have ever seen on a photographer's site:

•  I finally finished reading "Under the Dome" by Stephen King yesterday. It only took me 5 days. LOL. 1,072 pages!! It was really good. Not what I expected, but still really good. If you're apprehensive about reading it because of the author, don't be. It wasn't scary at all. Suspenseful, but not scary.
• I'm 21 books behind on my goal of 100 books for 2011. Any suggestions on quick-reads? Feel free to recommend me a book on goodreads.com. :)
• Sorry this is going to be so short, I'm tired. It has been a long week. 

My Giveaway has been extended for another week since I've only had a few entries. Please tell your family and friends about the giveaway! And don't forget to enter for all three chances! :)

RTT: Temporarily re-named Random Thursday Thoughts...

Randomness was postponed til today due to the fact that I was in the doctor's office yet again, on Tuesday. I hope everyone linked up with Stacy at Stacy Uncorked. 

I will still post the linky thing at the bottom of this post just in case anyone wants to be even more rebellious and post on Thursday, like I did. Ahem... 

• A friend of mine posted this on Facebook the other day and it was too cute not to share:

 

• Who wants to buy me these so I can cook pretty breakfasts?

 

• Facebook is being stupid lately. It won't let me post links to the blog on my FB Honey Bunches of "Oaks" page. Hopefully everyone is finding the new posts anyway.
• Finally, justification for still sleeping with a teddy bear...and/or lion, such is the case with me:

• Apparently, I have a viral infection in my lymph nodes and that is why I am currently sick. I went back to the doctor Tuesday because Monday, my neck started hurting and it spread to my shoulders and then to my back. Even the back of my head was hurting; sore really. J took me to a different doctor because I'm pretty sure the other doctor was slightly incompetent. The doctor I saw at C.A.R.E.S was really nice and so were all the nurses. Thankfully, I'm feeling a lot better; only now, I have new symptoms...
• Our new neighbors are horrible. Last night they stayed up til past one, and were on the outside stairs making all kinds of racket. Thankfully, I think, they took home some of their guests this morning. I haven't heard a peep since this morning. They woke me up at 0630 and didn't leave until after 8. J went and talked to the apartment manager this afternoon and I suggested that she send out a flyer to all the tenants, reminding them that even though it is summer, people have to work. And that they should try to be quiet after 10pm. J said she would be sending it out in a week or so. I'm such a genius...*ahem*.
• I'm re-reading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, so I can read Ann Brashares newest book, The Last Summer. 
• Hopefully, I will be feeling well enough to go to The Princess' first birthday party this weekend. Afterward, J is going to take me to BAM so I can pick out a couple of books for the giveaway! Aren't y'all excited!?!
• J says that the Wendy's commercial for the new wildberry frosty sounds dirty. "Hey Wendy. I'd love a cold frosty on the beach..." *Snicker*
• I can't believe it's almost August. I'm actually excited. For no reason really.
• We are planning on going on a mini-vacay at the end of August; that could be what I'm looking forward to. 
• There are lots of babies sick lately. Even The Princess; she had an upset tummy the other day. I hope everyone gets well soon!
• How precious is this!?

• I just got stuck stumbling for 15 minutes before I remembered I was blogging.
• Just ate a ding-dong. I wasn't impressed; J was. Somehow, that just sounded wrong. Swiss Rolls are way better, but then, I am partial to Little Debbie. :) Love you Mama!
• I'm tired of sitting here, so I'm going to cut Random Thursday's thoughts short.

I hope everyone had a great week! I didn't, but that's besides the point. Link up, if you think you're random enough! ;)

Banana Sour Cream Bread

This yummy Banana Bread is so easy to make and tastes de-lish!
But first, this {I typed this up as soon as I got home, so I wouldn't forget.}...
I just met the strangest man at Winn-Dixie. I was almost finished shopping for my banana bread recipe and was looking at the butter when I noticed an older man sitting on the display case in front of the cream cheese. I asked him if he was ok (I thought he might be feeling sick or something.) and he said he was fine. Here's our brief and awkward conversation:

Me: Do you need anything?

Old Man:  No, I'm fine. No, I'm not ok.  I do need something. I need a girlfriend.

Me: yeah?

Old Man: Yeah. I need a girlfriend or maybe just a friend. I need someone to talk to.

Me: (trying to laugh it off like he was joking.) I'm married, I don't think my Husband would like that very much.

Old Man: I don't mean you personally.

Me: (Ignoring old man now...jeez way to embarrass yourself Whitney...) *looking at butter*

Old Man: People don't understand that I need someone to talk to.

Me: *crickets* (Wow, this butter is so expensive... and that old man is seriously disturbing.) Wow, that's expensive. (yes, I actually talked out loud to myself. The old man was doing it too!)

After ignoring him for several minutes whilst perusing the butter selections, he huffed up and I heard him mumbling, "I guess I'll move, I can see they don't want me to sit down. I just need to sit down somewhere."

Or something like that. And he wandered off with his buggy.

I moved on to the section where he was sitting and overheard one employee talking to another about the Old Man. The male employee asked me if I was offended by the Old Man. I said I was creeped out, but not offended. The lady employee said he does this all the time. While she was helping me to find some crushed walnuts, she told me, "He's a Vet (as in veteran, not a veterinarian... It's ok. I thought the same thing.) and he's off and thinks the CIA is out to get him." (I was thinking, why does a vet think the CIA is out to get him...and then I thought about it for a minute and realized she meant he was a WAR VET. Doh!)

**********************************************

Anywho...found my walnuts, so let's make this Banana Sour Cream Bread! 

I bought a bunch of bananas about a week or so ago at the aforementioned Winn-Dixie and they were quickly going bad,

so I thought to myself..."I like bananas. I like bread. I like bananas in bread. I don't not like baking. I think I'll try to bake some banana bread!" So,  I google easy banana bread recipes and I find this little beauty. Hey, I can do that! So I did!

My cute apron from the thrift store, c. 1963.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 6 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Perfect! They had NO bad spots at all, and they peeled so easily!

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300° F (150° C). Grease four 7x3 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Dust pans lightly with cinnamon and sugar mixture.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and 3 cups sugar. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Stir in nuts. Divide into prepared pans. 
3. Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. {I had to modify this and add an extra 20 minutes at 325°F since they were still "jiggly" after the hour at 300°}

 You may or may not enjoy licking the bowl at this point. I did. If you're like my mother and insist that I'll be sorry later because I'll have salmonella poisoning from the raw eggs, don't lick the bowl. Just call me! I'll come lick it... I mean, do the responsible thing and just rinse and wash your bowl... *ahem*

While it's baking, for an hour (who knew perfection took that long...) you can wash all the dishes you went through. (Maybe this is just me? I used all of my measuring cups and spoons.) Or you can dance around the kitchen with your freshly groomed pup singing along to 90's hits such as, "Whoop There it Is", 98°, No Doubt and Boys II Men... Not saying I did this, 'cuz I didn't....I'm just saying YOU could... *ahem* 

After you let your bread cool, or not... Slice off a piece for yourself and a loved one. :) It goes great with a glass of cold milk! And my Hubby who said he does NOT like bananas just ate a slice and said, "It's good." I'll take that as a compliment! He really means, "Wow, honey! You're the best cook ever! I really do love banana bread! All thanks to you!". Well, something like that.

Dear Punxsutawney Phil:

OK groundhog, where is this warmer weather you predicted?

Because currently, here in Alabama, it is snowing.

(Not that I'm complaining; I was just expecting

warmer weather--sooner.)

 I think you lied Punxsutawney Phil; I think

you're just a little groundhog that doesn't know 

what he is talking about.

YOU ARE FIRED!

I will now refer to James Spann for

all my winter weather advisories...

Yes Phil, this is how it's going to be...

Good-bye Phil,

ONE of your faithful followers haters!

**Note: I don't actually hate Punxsutawney Phil or snow.

I just wanted it to be spring... and this was a 

good opportunity to profess my love for James Spann. ;)

Wii-mote Control Condoms*

I'm so excited about these that I had to 

give them their very own blog post.

Our new Wii-mote and Nunchuk condoms*.

Awesome huh? Jeremy and I stopped by the Goodwill 

yesterday after we got my license renewed.

(It expired on December 31st.)

Jeremy was looking to buy Mom a new pot.

(he burnt hers the other day when he was

making cocktail weenies in BBQ sauce)

I don't know why he was even looking where the 

Wii stuff was, but he found these Wii-mote control
covers and asked if I liked them. 
Of course! So we bought them.

They were only three bucks for each set!

Jeremy also bought a pair of Ralph 

Lauren Polo jeans for $5.

I can't believe he bought them, but

whatever. They looked pretty good on him. :)

I found these beauties:

I've already read the first two, but it can't 

hurt to own them and re-read them. :) Plus,

they were only fifty-cents apiece. I also bought

one other book, Bungalow 2- by Danielle Steele, for 

my sister-in-law to read.

I love thrift stores. I plan on going to the 

antique mall tomorrow. I'll let you know what 

treasures I find there. :)  

*Note: This is what my brother-in-law calls the 
Wii-mote control covers--condoms. lol.
Since it protects them.

P.S. It's snowing again... 

It's UN-Necessary...

Life is pretty UN-eventful since 

Christmas is over. But I will re-cap a 

conversation I had with J the other day.

Christmas Day: The "boys" get remote-controlled mini-helicopters for Christmas. They wait until dark to try flying them outside. It has snowed and it is really cold. The boys take Tim's helicopter outside and get it stuck in a pine tree in less than 15 minutes. They can't get it down. J tries climbing they pine tree and scratches the front of his leg pretty badly. It's bleeding all over the place.

Helicopter blinks all night long.

December 26th: J gets the helicopter down by throwing a pine cone at it.

December 28th: The scratch on J's leg looks irritated and red. I try to doctor it up with some peroxide and antibiotic ointment. 

J: (puts on jacket and heads for the door.)My leg is fine. It doesn't need to be cleaned.

Me: (heading towards bathroom to get peroxide, ointment and cotton balls)Please let me at least clean it and put some antibiotic ointment on it. You don't want to get an infection. It looks sore.

Mom: (mockingly quotes old men from western movies that have been shot)"It's just a flesh wound."

J: (returns from a smoke break...aka escaping from me.) I told you it's fine. I don't need you to clean it. I washed it off the other day when it happened. You don't even have any gauze. This is so UN-necessary.

Mom: You don't need any gauze. It needs to breathe. It looks infected.

Me: (kneeling in front of J to clean his scratch) Yeah. It looks infected. I'm just gonna clean it and put this stuff on it. (pouring peroxide on his leg) It's all germy. Look at the bubbles!

J: It would bubble if you put it on the back of my hand too. It's just skin germs.

Me: That's gross. And no it wouldn't.

J: This is so UN-necessary!! Now I'm gonna have to walk around with my pants-leg up....(rolls eyes)

Me: (also rolling eyes) Fine! I hope your leg falls off!(stomping down the hall to put up the peroxide and ointment.)


J: (yelling down the hall) And don't blog about this or whatever it is you do. I don't want everyone to know about it too. Like you blogged about me running into that helicopter and stuff.


Me: (all innocent-like) No I didn't. What are you talking about? 


J: You had to have blogged about it or posted something on Facebook. 'Cuz everyone in my unit knew about that. 'Cuz you told all their wives! 

Me: No I didn't....

Update: J's leg is still red...because I'm pretty sure he rubbed off the ointment later. And he hasn't let me clean it again.

Is it a "man-thing" to pretend to be fine when you've got a bad scratch you're practically dying? And to act like someone is chopping your limbs off one by one you're dying when you only have a cold?

Christmas Eve Eve

I can't believe it's almost Christmas! I'm completely ready for Christmas to come and go. Don't get me wrong...I love Christmas. I'm just tired of all the stress and trying to make plans with three different families. Phew...

Thursdays are so boring in blogging world. {Someone really should create a Thursday meme! *hint hint*} I thought it would be interesting to give y'all a couple of

facts from Today in Rotten History:

December 23, 1888

After an argument with fellow painter Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh takes a razor and removes a portion of his left ear. Their quarrel regarded the prostitutes in Arles who seemed to prefer Gauguin over Van Gogh; the painter delivered his ear to one Rachel, who preferred Van Gogh. She fainted. 

 

December 23, 1995

Bodies of 16 members of the Solar Temple cult who had committed suicide are found on a plateau in the French Alps. Their bodies are charred and arranged in a star formation. Causes of death included stabbing, asphyxiation, gunshot, and poisoning. In 1994, 53 other members had committed suicide in similar fashion. 

 

Interesting, right? People are crazy. 

But God is Great all the time! 

Has everyone gotten all of their shopping done? I 

finished last night. I only had to buy a few stocking-

stuffers and I was done. No surprise that Wally World

was really busy when we checked out. My sister

and I stood in line for about 25 minutes. 

Thank God the guys had the babies. I don't 

think we could have made it. LOL. 

J and I met up with his parents, sister and brother-in-law

at Applebee's last night. It was a great meal and it was

good to see his parents. It's been awhile since we've

seen them since they do live in Florida. {They brought J's

dog, Sabrina, up with them. She's staying at my sister's 

house.}

Sabrina in front of Amanda's 

Christmas tree. She looks a little bit evil.

 

Today, J and I are having his family over to Mom's house,

so we can exchange gifts. I hope they like what

we got them. :)

For Jeremy's parents, I got a Boyd's Bears figurine:

Rooney...Proud to be an American

For his Dad, we got a Coat-of-Arms & Family History

from Family Crest in Ober-Gatlinburg:

This is just one of their samples. "Oaks" looks 

a lot different. {We also got one for ourselves, 

since they were BOGO half-off!}

 

For Miranda (J's sister), from Willow Tree® 

by DEMDACO- Child of My Heart:

She should be having her baby boy in 5-1/2 weeks!

For John, J bought a gift card to Academy. LOL. Men are so hard

to buy for! I also got Miranda a scrapbook for 

the baby and a few small things for everyone else.

I hope they will like these gifts. I know I do! :) 

What are y'all buying for your family members? Or 

In-laws, friends, neighbors, etc?

Because I have lots of free time on my hands.....

...I'm going to make one of these...
 

And you're all going to be jealous that my clothes are all folded perfectly and you'll all beg me to make you one and I'll refuse... because I'll be too busy folding all of mine and J's shirts to bother with making you your very own shirt-folding device....

*rolls eyes*

*sigh*....