Food Porn ~ Enchilada Casserole

Since I never write here anymore, and I really do want to, a friend of mine suggested I post a recipe or a photo-blog, just to get myself here to the blog.  So, I bestow upon you something that a lot of people ask me about, something that is a favorite of my family...

Enchilada Casserole

First, I will start you off with ingredients!

You will need: 

• 2 large cans of red enchilada sauce (we use mild because even it tends to be spicy, and I have Miss Picky to contend with) ☺
• 1½ pounds of ground beef
• 1 package of taco seasoning
• 28 corn tortillas
• 4 or 5 good sized potatoes
• a decent amount of your favorite cheese (sorry for the inaccurate measurements, I just use handfuls lol)

Procedure:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Peel and cube potatoes and put on to boil (they need to cook 15-20 minutes or until softening, once they boil.)
• Brown ground beef, add taco seasoning according to directions on package
• Heat enchilada sauce

Once potatoes, meat and enchilada sauce are done...

• Spread some sauce into two cake pans/rectangular casserole dishes
• Dip tortillas into enchilada sauce, covering both sides of tortilla, and lay in pan.
• Spread meat, potatoes (a little extra sauce!) and cheese on top of tortillas 
• Repeat the tortilla process on top of the meat, potatoes and cheese 

The pan on the left is just sauce and tortillas, I started to put meat and then figured I'd do the left pan a step behind the right pan, for clarification purposes lol.  Meat, potatoes and sauce on the right!

Once again, the pan on the left is a step behind.  Meat, potatoes, sauce and cheese on the left.  The right already has the top layer of tortillas!

• Once you have the (sauced dipped) tortillas on top, cover with cheese and then cover with tinfoil! 

The pan on the left is everything but cheese!  The pan on the right just needs to be covered with tinfoil and tossed in the oven!! 

• Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes!! 

*INSERT JEOPARDY THEME!*

• While they are baking, you can make a side dish.  We usually like beans and tortilla chips or beans and rice.  

*DING!*

The finished product!! 

Miss Picky's Plate!! ☺

I hope you have enjoyed one of my family's favorite (easy, yet a little messy!) meals!!  

I have recently learned to love cooking, so maybe I will bring you more food porn soon!! 

Love and Moonbeams, 

Kim ☽♥☾

The Only Words I Could Find...

Now I lay me
down to sleep

Instead I just
lay and weep

Too many thoughts
too much to feel

Sometimes life
seems so unreal

Just like a dream
good or bad

But real enough
to make me sad

Cannot explain
cannot describe

Cannot make you
feel my vibe

Misunderstood
used to it

Doesn't mean
I like this shit

Trapped in my head
screaming loud

Sorry I couldn't
make you proud

I am me
and you are you

I cannot figure out
what to do

So lost and lonely
hurt and scared

Especially when
my soul is bared...

What the hell man
what's going on?

My comprehension
is all gone

How to pick
which path to travel

The wind smoothed sand
or the rock hard gravel

No idea which one
is best

I cannot believe
I'm taking this test

I didn't want it
ever
never

I already took one
to be together

Hard, it was
but still I did it

Now I feel
like I can't
win it

No matter what
no matter the choice

Oh shit, I just
screamed out my voice...

It's gone, I have nothing
left to say

I guess I'll find
some other way...

To explain, express
and yes, to scream...

Please tell me this
is just a dream...

I Wish I Could Paint

So, I came to my blog to write a new post, and instead, ended up going to read a few of my friends' blogs instead. 

I ♥ my friends. :)

I got so many smiles and feelings out of what my friends had to say.  I need to remind myself to do that more often. 
I forgot what I was going to post here, but it was worth it. :)

Since I forgot, I will tell you this instead.

Springtime has come to California.
It is lovely.
We had some rain, and then a few days of baking sunshine.

It made all of the Springy things poke their heads out.

Now, today, it's chilly and breezy and gray outside.
All of the Spring colors are really popping against my favorite dreary sky. :)
I wish I could paint. 
The trees and flowers look so lovely against the dark sky.
So many colors against such a lovely background.

Ahh, the little things. :)
Be well, my friends. ♥

(P. S. If you click on the word "gray" above, it will lead you to a lovely blog written in 2004 that is still getting comments today!  I've always wondered about the spelling of the word "gray" and now, I will never wonder again!!)

Love and Moonbeams
☽♥☾

A Few Things...

Today, a few things are bothering me.

And, a few have made me smile.


My husband's job comes with $25.00 a week on the company gas card.  That makes me smile.  Today, Lance went to use said $25.00 and was able to purchase SIX gallons of gas with this twenty-five bucks.  Six!  When I started driving, gas was 99¢ a gallon.  $25.00 would've filled up my van!!  Now, we get six gallons.  But, at least we didn't have to pay for it lol.
Be comforted in knowing that Starbucks is still more expensive, at five bucks for 20 ounces, instead of the $4.11 per gallon that hubster paid for gas.

Speaking of coffee...we used to get the large container of Folgers at the grocery store for $9.99.  And, even as recent as a few weeks ago, it was $10.99.  Yesterday, we paid fourteen bucks for the same coffee. 
I'm very sad.  We go through a lot of coffee around my house. :)
Might be it's finally time to give in to my hatred of Costco.
I doubt it though :)

Today, a sweet email from an old friend made me smile.  I love the Internet.
And, also because of other sweet old friends and the Internet, I'm able to share with you something else which made me smile.

A friend of mine in Vancouver, Washington shared this rainbow on Facebook.  As you can see, I've stolen it lol.  The rainbow, and my stealing of it, both make me smile.

And, it's a little reminder that, even though we have to pay too much for our everyday stuff, the best things in life are free.

Love and snuggles from me to you, on this chilly California evening. ♥

 

A Blog While Smiling ☺

Lately, I have felt more settled in my soul. 
I don't know what it is.
I'm not complaining.

I still have conflicts.

I still think I could look better,
which nobody but me can make happen.
Big dose of getoffamyass haha. 
My mind is getting my body ready for this,
I think lol...
Time for an overhaul. ☺

But, inside...it's been a little nicer. ☺☻


Recently at my house:

*My kids learned how to play poker.
They've been playing on and off all weekend.
With pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters.
My husband wrote a little piece of paper for my niece, a list of the hands, what's what and what beats what.  It was cute.  I've not sat down to play with them, yet...but I hear my oldest son is pretty good.  He just told me, "Come on, Mom...I want to see what kind of player you are!"  I can tell at least one thing that the rest of my evening has in store for me.  :)  ♥

*My husband lost his wedding ring at work.  I wasn't as devestated as I thought I'd be.  He was.  Picking out a new one was fun (expensive!!!!), and it was a beautiful feeling inside of me to know that I love having him wear a wedding ring that matches mine, even more than I did when I first put it on his finger almost nine years ago.  Eleven years of togetherness, and I still feel so lucky. ♥  And, no, it never ever crossed my mind that he lost it, having sex with some random chick in a motel room lol.  Yeah, people suggested that.  They can kiss my ass.  I wish them trust in their future relationships.   
 
*A conversation that I smilingly overheard earlier:

Setting: My dining room table
Cast: Tyler-21; Ashley-16; Adam-10; Aidan-6; Erin-4
Props: One giant bag of some pretty ghetto ass animal crackers from Wal-Mart, which the kids (and the dogs) really like for some reason.  I think they taste like cardboard, and, upon biting into one, promptly spit it out. :)

The conversation:
"What the heck kind of animal IS this?"
"I think that one is some kind of Mountain Goat."
"This one looks like Raikou!!" (Raikou is a Pokemon, if you're unaware.)
"I think this one is a Tapir."
"No, this one's a Tapir..."
"You said that one was a Mountain Goat!!"
"Somebody ate the Mountain Goat, I said THIS one was a Tapir"
"I think this one's a Camel, but this one looks like a kitty."
"No, that one's Raikou."
"Nope, that's the Mountain Goat"
om nom nom nom

Me, missing the circus animal ones that came in a circus train box.  But smiling my face off.  It's the simple things. :) ♥

Now, it's pseudo-Spring Break for me, starting tomorrow.  It's only kinda Spring Break because my daughter still has school for one week, and then I get one week of REAL Spring Break. :)  She doesn't go to school until the afternoon though, so I still get to sleep in a little lol. ♥

Also, I love the moon.  Last night's Supermoon was fanstastically beautiful and made me shed a few tears, which hubby laughed at, but he's used to it.  We happened to be driving right at moonrise and I had him pull over for a minute when we reached a clear spot...and just absorbed the beauty.  It was so lovely and I cannot even begin to explain how I felt.  Some of you reading this may understand, some of you...it's ok if you shake your head lol.  I'M used to that. ;) ☽♥☾
 And finally, I'd like to wish anyone reading this a Blessed and Happy Spring!!  New beginnings, love in the air.  Take a minute to watch your trees bloom, smell the season in the air.  I wish I could post scent in a blog, for I would give you all orange blossoms and wet dirt, my favorite Springtime scents.  I'll try to figure out how to put it into words for you, the next time I'm sniffing a Springtime sunset. ☼

Off to make the most out of getting to sleep in a little tomorrow!!

A friend of mine suggested Captain Morgan and Dr. Pepper...lol.  And, maybe a few hands of poker with the kiddos lol. ♥♣♦♠

Many blessings to each of you.

Love and Moonbeams :)
☽♥☾

Fake It Til Ya Make It...

Disclaimer:
My dear friends...the title only applies to certain areas of life lol. 
There is one area where you should absolutely never ever apply the title.  But that's another blog :)  I know some of the people who read here would hate if I wrote a blog on why you're only cheating yourself if you fake it in certain areas of your life lol. ;)  So, I won't. 

My meaning for the title today is that sometimes there isn't room in your life to walk around crying.  Even though it's what you really wish you could do.  Even though you feel like it's all you're going to be able to do.  Sometimes you just have to knock it off and do what needs to be done.  And sometimes, by plastering that smile on your face for everyone else around you, it can actually improve your mood. 

Until the wrong song comes on the radio. ;)

Some other things that might help you through this kind of situation are...
Waterproof mascara, for those moments you can steal in the bathroom or the car to shed a few tears.  Men, you're so lucky lol.
Tissues.  You probably have some anyway, all of the freakin' flu!!
Talk radio!  Or, if you are lucky enough to have Sirius or smart enough to download the right stuff...COMEDY.  Just stay the hell away from the country channel because even if you're not a fan...if you're on the verge of tears, you're going to cry. 
Busywork!  Like writing a blog lol.  Something that keeps the brain busy for sure...you're going to space out if you're folding towels or mopping the floor.

When you can finally steal a moment to get it all out...do it right!!  You'll feel so much better.  This should help:

♥Love him♥

Until then...some of us in the world recognize your plastered on smile.  Some of you might recognize mine when it's there.  Everybuddy has days like this.  Yes, even adorable comedian guys who have lots of money.  Even that person who seems like the strongest person in the world to you, sometimes needs to just let it all out.  Some people don't know how...they turn to drugs or violence to release their pain instead...when in all truth, it just makes the pain greater...but that's another blog as well. ;)

I challenge you all to cry.  You're not a baby.  Or a psycho.  You're a human being.  Don't be afraid of your emotions.  If violence is your way, please at least get a punching bag.  I have one hanging in my back yard and I won't say I've never taken my frustrations out there.  But I always end up crying when I'm mad anyway lol.  Nothing like being in the middle of an argument and just breaking the hell down because you're so mad...when you're me, all the emotions end in tears.  Good, bad or ugly.  I'm ok with that.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm this way.  I cry over movies, songs, commercials, the news, books, my kids making me proud...etc, etc, etc!!  I don't usually hide it, and oftentimes, I can't.  I'm not ashamed of my emotions though.  Any of them.  When I love you, I love you and that's it.  When I don't...well, that's it too.  I won't make excuses for that any more than I'll make excuses for my tears.  But there are still some times when tears are not appropriate, especially when you're about to have a Weep-a-thon.  And it is to those times which I dedicate this blog. 
If you're afraid to cry, I suggest the shower.  Then, even you don't know that those are tears on your face...it's just the shower, after all.  :)  If you can't cry...get at me, I have movies and songs to suggest lol.  If you want to cry, but need a shoulder, I'm here for you!  You can reach me at kimberlylobley@gmail.com and we'll go from there.  Guess what?  That's another thing that can help you in the faking it 'til ya make it thing...helping someone else.  So, if you think you'd be burdening me by crying on my shoulder, you're dead wrong. 

Rest assured, I'll get my Dane Cook moment. 
Until then...
*Plasters smile back on*
I have stuff to do.

Hugs n things,
Kim

P. S. if this made no sense to you, I apologize.  It makes sense to me and it was something I needed to do. ;) ♥ Thanks for reading. ♥♥

Mingling Flavors

Yeah, I don't know what's up with the title either lol. 

I have spaghetti sauce simmering, and that's what it's doing right now, mingling flavors.
You can taste it right after you put it all together and it just tastes like tomato sauce...but after several hours of flavor mingling...it tastes amazing. :)

Yeah, dinner is making itself...my favorite.  I just have to cook pasta and toast up some garlic bread later, and it's all said and done.  I love easy.  The "domestic" thing doesn't come naturally to me.  Different people are good at different things.  Plus, on top of not really being "good" at being a housewife, I'm kind of lazy. ;)  I blame facebook lol!  In all seriousness though, this is something that has been bothering me lately, and I'm going to work on it.  I'm a housewife.  I need to act like it a little more.  Nothing is ever going to be perfect around my house, it's a full house!!  But it could be better.

Does anyone know where I can get a big stick?  LOL!  Get your mind out of the gutter.  Ok, don't...but there's another blog for that. ;)  Anyway, big stick.  I want to take the dogs for a walk!!  But, I know me and I would freak out if I'm walking Snoop (beautiful lady Pit Bull) and Tillie (adorable little girl American Eskimo) and here comes some big ass dog trying to fight with my babies...I'm going to freak out!!  I don't think a big stick would make me freak out any less because I just can't see myself hitting any dog with a stick, even if he or she were trying to hurt one of my dogs lol.  So, no go on the dog walking I guess.  *Sad*  Don't look at me like that, they have a big yard. :)

I think it's a little odd that I never blog and then just show up with randomness.  I miss it when I don't though.  My head is full and I need to get rid of some of the words in there to make room for more.  Dinner and dogs.  I have no idea why it helps, but it does. 

Now I need to turn on music, hope I don't wake the graveyard sleepers (my husband and nephew, not dead people) and clean up my living room.  I'll wait to vacuum, but the rest has to be done.  And it can't be done without music. ♥♪♫♥♪♫♥

Love to all who read my insanity. ♥
~♥~*Kim*~♥~

Something I Had to Share...

Hide me

from me.

Fill these

holes with eyes

for mine are not

mine.  Hide

me head & need

for I am not good

so dead in life

so much time.

Be wing, and

shade my me

from my desire

to be

hooked fish.

That worm

wine

looks sweet and

makes my me

blind.  And, too,

my heart hide

for I shall at

this rate it also

eat in time.

Stan Rice

Cannibal

from Some Lamb ~ 1975

I found this in Anne Rice's book, Queen of the Damned, at the beginning of Part III.  I like it.  So I thought I'd share it. :)

Happy Friday, I'm sure I'll be back later to think about more things  here.

Until then...

Because Sleep is Evading Me...

...I decided to write something rambly. :)


So, I did it again. I let myself forget about this. This which I love so much :) I'll probably never be an every day blogger though. You'd probably get sick of me if I was. Whoever YOU may be.


Since I was here last, I relized that I told a big fat lie. I said I would not go Black Friday shopping...but 5:45 AM found hubby and I, still in a turkey coma, in our local Wal-Mart lugging around this basketball thing that my kids (yes, even my daughter) all really wanted. I gotta say, I'm kind of excited too...I loved shooting hoops back in the day. :)

Basketball Thing

50% off :)

It is, of course, in a box...but the carts are not really equipped to hold a box of that size, especially in a crowd.  Speaking of the crowd...it wasn't that bad this year.  Nobody was rude, quite the opposite actually.  I could see the strain on the faces of some of the workers, but they still managed to try to help answer my questions politely.  We got what we went for and a few other things and got out of there.  We stopped at one more place to pick up some Christmas lights and came home and took a nap.  Yes, we'll have to go shop again, but we put a dent in it and we proudly saved quite a bit of money. :)

Aside from all of that, even though the Christmas spirit is grabbing me...I have felt so sad lately and I don't know why.  I know that is the most pathetic sounding sentence ever lol, but that's ok. 

It's that kind of sadness that you feel um...

...yeah, right there.

It's kind of like Bella's hole in her chest, if you've ever read the Twilight books, New Moon in particular lol.  However, she knows the cause of her sadness.  I do not.  I have no clue actually.  I have been in a contemplative place lately, trying to figure out the cause of said sadness, and I have come up with nothing!  Most people would say, "Oh, it's just the holidays, everyone feels that way." and brush it off.  But, I have absolutely no reason to be sad about it being the holidays!  Yes, there are people in my life who are either far away or who have died in years gone by that I wish could be with me during the holidays.  But it's never made me sad before, so I'm not accepting "It's just the holidays" as my reason for not feeling very whole lately.  If anything, "the holidays" brings me out of it...I am SO EXCITED TO GET MY TREE lol.  And wrap presents.  And make cookies.  And drive around and look at more lights.  Cocoa and fires.  All of the Christmas movies I love watching with them.  The looks on their faces, all of them.  Yep, I LOVE the holidays.  So that's so not why I'm sad.  I'm not going to quit until I figure it out though.  I'm pretty sure that part of it is because I sleep crappily.  (Sorry, I saw "crappily" on a web forum the other day and there was a huge argument about it not being a word, so I am using it because it's a word to me!)  I have been working on the sleep thing by trying meditation.  I am not joking.  Not mediCATION, mediTATION.  I've never been able to "go there" before because my mind is a busy place lol, but I've found that lately, even when I am feeling rather chaotic, I'm able to shut out everything....sounds, thoughts, feelings...and just BE.  This is a little gift I give myself at night before I go to sleep, when my time is my own, and I think it has improved the quality of my sleep a little over the past few days.  However...wow @ my dreams.  Talk about weird!  :)

The weird dreams can't possibly have anything to do with my choice of reading material before bed either.  I am re-reading the first six books of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, so that I may continue on with the six that followed.  I've read the first six before, but I stopped because I was at a very bad point in my life and they were getting under my skin.  I'm in a much better place now, sadness and all, and I'm ready to see how they play out.  But, reading these ones again (I'm halfway through Queen of the Damned...good book, horrible movie), makes me remember why they got under my skin to begin with lol. 

Anywho, I suppose I've rambled enough for now...again. 

I feel less sad already.  :)

If you read this, I thank you.

And I wish for you starry skies and vivid dreams.

Goodnight.  

xoxo

Rambly Thinking :)

Well hello there followers.  Yuck.  I don't like the way that sounds lol.  They should make us "fans" or "readers" or...well, whatever.  I will call you all precious, if you don't mind.  I am of the mind that there is something of worth and something to learn about everyone.  Anyone who would take the time to read my insanity has to be a saint. :) 

I want to share something with you all that moved me beyond words.  It's not that difficult to do lol, I am a very emotional being.  However, this left me with a huge lump in my throat and much gratitude for this silly, adorable girl (Katy Perry) for throwing some positivity out there in the music world.  Don't be put off by "Katy Perry" lol, I know some people are.  The message of this video is sweet. :)



Anyway, I loved it.  It made me cry a little.  I believe that there is a Firework in each of us.  I am always here to make you aware of how fantastic you are, even on your worst days.  I wish for each of us to be able to see the greatness in ourselves.  Kind of a newfangled, less Christian version of This Little Light of Mine. :) 

Onward!

My book writing isn't going so great!  I knew it wouldn't lol.  I am horrible at timetables and doing things in other people's timeframes and...well, anything that has anything to do with being on time with anything.  The story itself is fun for me though and I know that even if I don't finish with the rest of the NaNoWriMos (which I probably won't lol, only 9 days left!!) I know I will finish this story because it has become very special to me. 

Aside from that insanity and the guilt that comes along with it (another commitment made, another commitment abandoned lol, that's me!) I am doing great.  Loving this time of year even though we are so broke I could cry.  I know that even if my kids don't have thousands of dollars of presents underneath the tree, we will have a beautiful Christmas full of memories that I will cherish for years to come, long after the tree is dead (I insist on having a real one) and long after the wrapping paper is ashes in a landfill somewhere and very long after the new toys are forgotten.  I am not fond of the stress that comes along with "finding the perfect gift for everyone" anyway...so I think I'm going to skip it this year.  I'm going to get everyone a little something to know that I was thinking of them, and I'm going to move on.  I'd rather just enjoy the season.  I'd rather waste my gas driving around showing the kids Christmas lights while we drink cocoa and sing Christmas songs.  I'd rather spend my time in front of the fireplace with a good book.  I'd rather not be in the stores with all of the selfishness and greed in a time that is supposed to be funderful.  I am not Black Friday shopping this year.  I Black Friday shop every year.  I just don't have it in me this year at all.  And no, I'm not Bah Humbuging...exactly the opposite.  I'm choosing to preserve the wonderment of the season by not participating in the insanity...I have enough of that already! :)

Anywho, that's all for now.  I have been thinking of so many things to write about here, but I've been not letting myself do it because I've been forcing myself to "work on my story" and that usually means I'm playing Bejeweled Blitz on facebook. :)  I think I will get much more accomplished on my story once I give up the notion of finishing something when someone else tells me to, and do it like I do everything else...when I feel like it, in my own time.  Meanwhile, I'm not going to stifle my urges to come blog about the things that cross my mind. 
You've been warned. :)

Thank you for reading!
Love and Moonbeams,
Kim

Yep, I Did It :)

So, some of my friends have been "missing my blogs" (their words, not mine lol) and asking why I don't blog anymore.

I used to blog (sporadically) over on MySpace.  Once I discovered Facebook, I didn't like MySpace anymore, the only thing I missed was the blogging.  I haven't really even thought about setting up a new blog because we had a great "community" over there, and half of the fun of blogging for me was the interaction with the people who read my blogs!  It didn't matter if they agreed with everything I had to say or not, it was fun and it is a really good outlet for me, just writing down what's going on in my mind.  It isn't always pretty, but it's always honest.

So, I figured I'd go ahead and jump and make a blog over here.  I hope it lasts lol. 

I am writing a book and sometimes I do need a place to let off steam, even if my time would be better spent working on the story than writing pointless babble, I sometimes need a break!! 

I don't usually write about anything in particular.  Just the adventures of a stay at home mom of three.  I also have a hubby, my 20 year old nephew, my (almost) 16 year old niece, two dogs, two birds and a fish who live with me.  It is rarely quiet around here and never spotless.  But it's mine and I love it! 

I'm often moody and probably bi-polar (lol) and sometimes my thoughts are pretty dark.  But I never quit looking for the ray of sunshine in that darkness.  I hope I can bring a few smiles or at least some sense of understanding to anyone who reads anything I may write. 

Maybe I can learn something about myself along the way.  Maybe I can meet new and amazing people and all thoughts of MySpace and past blogging fun there will be just a distant memory that makes me smile, instead of something that still makes me kinda sad lol.  :) 

If you're reading this, I welcome you to click the little subscribe button or whatever it's called here, and hang out awhile!

Love and Light,
Kim