Our um...NON-Feathered Friend

Well, I was getting tired of seeing my face pop up on the blog each time I logged in, so here is a new post. Thanks for all the nice comments about my hair. We've been very busy. We have re-listed our house with a new real estate agent. We are having a lady come in to stage our house. There will also be a professional photographer coming in to take 30-50 pictures of our house to post on the web and our listing agent gets a "showcase" listing on Realtor.com. So, I really hope it sells soon. I am tired of all our stuff being in storage and I have a feeling that even more stuff will have to go.

This past Saturday, we had an interesting visitor. Scott and I had gone to see my grandmother, Meme, and when we were pulling into the driveway, I noticed a "bird" at the feeder. I thought, man, that's a huge bird, what is it. Then, I looked closer and realized it was a squirrel! He saw us seeing him and stopped eating and held on completely still for a second. Then, he just kept on going like, oh well, they will have to come shoo me off if they want me gone! What was I to do? I went inside and stood next to the cats and took pictures, of course!

This same little guy was hanging around on Sunday when we got home from church. I tapped on the glass and everything and he wouldn't budge. So, Scott unlocked the window and started to open it and he fell off like someone had shot him and ran off. The cats had tried to duck their heads out the window (like they could get through the screen) to go get him. I do think that if they really wanted out, they could definitely break through the screen, they are pretty strong, but they don't know it. I'll leave it that way.

Anyways, enjoy:

New Hair Cut

How do y'all like my new hair cut? I couldn't decide which picture I liked best, so I gave you a selection. I went to Karen's hair lady and I really liked her.

Cheesy Manicotti w/ a Twist

Source: Kraft Food and Family

Prep Time:40 min
Total Time:1 hr 25 min
Makes:7 servings, two stuffed shells each
1 pkg. (8 oz.) sliced mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 egg whites
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained
1 container (15 oz.) part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1/3 cup KRAFT 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) manicotti shells (14 shells), cooked, drained
2 cups spaghetti sauce
PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Spray large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add mushrooms and garlic; cook 5 min. on medium heat, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Beat egg whites lightly in medium bowl. Add mushroom mixture, spinach, ricotta cheese and half each of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses; mix well. Spoon evenly into manicotti shells.
PLACE in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with spaghetti sauce.
BAKE 40 min. or until heated through. Top with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses; continue baking 5 min. or until mozzarella cheese is melted.

Of course you all know that we can't make a recipe without changing it up a little. We actually had every intention of following this one, then realized that we had no spaghetti sauce in the freezer at the last minute. Well, I don't like filling those manicotti shells, so we always use the large pasta shells. Oh, and we used a small can of mushrooms and already chopped up garlic from the jar, so we didn't have to cook them. Scott actually made these and he didn't want to fool with separating the eggs, so he just used two whole eggs. Now, here is the tricky part. We did not have spaghetti sauce, but we did have a small can of tomato sauce with basil, garlic, and oregano and a jar of 4 cheese alfredo sauce (so good). So, we poured both of those over our stuffed shells instead of spaghetti sauce. I am sure we doubled the fat content, but it was really good. Just make sure that if you are ever making manicotti if you don't follow any instructions, you follow this one: cover the dish with aluminum foil or the sauce will all dry out and your shells will be crunchy. That is not appetizing!

My Surprise!

My birthday is this coming Friday (April 18). So, last Wednesday night at our ladies' Bible study, the girls surprised me with a birthday brownie on Lauren's special Happy Birthday plate with a candle and the birthday song and a big bag full of scrapbooking goodies, complete with a homemade card! I was so surprised and excited! I have the best friends ever!

Above is a picture of my loot, excluding Maxwell. I just couldn't get him to go away, so he was incorporated into the picture!

You Know It's Spring in GA When...

Craziness...

I was just on my way to work (so this won't be long) and the person on the radio said that the pollen count is already up over 1,000 (no surprise there) and the reason it was so high so early is because we had such a mild winter! WHAT?!? Did you think we had a mild winter? I mean, it snowed...more than once! It was below freezing...a lot! I wore a heavy coat since like November or something. What is wrong with these weather experts? I mean, was it really all that mild? Plus, I really don't think that this is early for pollen around here...it's always yellow about now...

Anyway...as a side note, 101.5 and 94.9 both have such good morning shows that I can't decide who I like more and I keep switching back and forth. The Country radio stations are really bringing their game these days.

So, that's enough randomness for now. I'd wait a while to wash your car...