[Recipes using canned soup as a base...or tator tots]

My mom's enchiladas are the only ones DH will eat.

 

Brown 1lb beef. Drain and mix with 1can enchilada sauce, 1can c of mushroom soup, and 1 can milk. Add 1/2 of mix to 8" pan. Warm 12 tortillas up. Put 1/2-1 lb shredded cheddar cheddar cheese in tortillas and roll up. Place in pan. Cover with remaining mixture. Top with 1/2-1 lb mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil. Bake 350 for 30 minutes.

 

More or less. We make it frequently enough that I tend to double and freeze it. And I like lots of cheese in mine.

[If you celebrate Christmas, do you send Christmas cards?]

We send out about 100 but only get 25 or so. But half that number is just family within one generation. Yes, it costs, but I order through vistaprint so I get a good deal. Some of the people on our list, this is the only contact we have with them. I also make small photo calendar magnets for family. We went and visited family a few years back that we hadnt seen in 10 years and they all had our magnets on the fridge. I like getting cards, specifically photo cards and wish more people did them.

[dd's friend's sister is missing]

How horrible for the girl and her family. I'm praying for everyone involved.

[Is staying off site at Disney really *that* much cheaper?]

We stayed at Bonnet Creek when we went. There were 9 of us. It was a 5-15 minute drive to the different parks. Although they do have shuttles we had driven there so we already had vehicles and wanted to come and go on our own schedule. We were able to come back during the day easily. We went to Sam's and bought food for the week. Lasagna and such. We ate breakfast at the condo, a snack/lunch in park, early dinner at the condo and back to the park. We loved it and it worked great. We also went to Universal multiple times. I'd love to stay on site and completely "enjoy the magic", but we loved the condo so much we'll just continue doing that.

[Mouse-over of thread titles]

Thanks so much!

[Elf on a Shelf? Explain]

We just started this year. So far ds5 is loving it. I made a calendar of ideas for the month. Most of the ideas are from Pinterest. I made sure to pick some easy tricks for mornings when we will be busy and some more involved ones for when I'll have time.

[Who has their tree up?]

Ours has been up a few days. I love having the tree up but I wish we had waited. DS5 thinks that means Christmas is tomorrow. Everyday. And DS2 wants to play with it constantly. I'm starting to see why my dad wouldn't let us put up the tree until the first Monday in December growing up.

[Need thoughts on moving for job...Corpus Christie, TX?]

Well the first thing you need to consider is that Grand Prairie is about 8 hours away from Corpus Christi. So allergies would be different. We do have allergies, but not as much as other places. My mom has horrible allergies, but does ok here. She still has them, but they are manageable. We love it here. It's currently 70*. We have decent beaches. Not world class, but better than Washington. I have family that when they come down from Seattle they just want to sit on the beach. We have a low COL and we didn't get hit with the housing bust like most states. My DH works for the govt in a guaranteed job, but I don't personally know of anyone who has been laid of in the past few years. I know of people who are working in less than ideal jobs to them, but everyone I know of seems to be doing ok. We have a growing homeschooling community. I live about 30 min outside of Corpus so I don't really go to any of the activities. August is miserable, but it's a trade off for not having a winter. We love it here.

[Handwriting without tears supplements?]

I don't believe hwt has any other workbooks beside the grade one. I know you can make some worksheets for free from their website though. Abcteach.com has a paid worksheet generator using their font.

[Roku? is this what I want?]

We don't have cable, so I don't know how it would work with that, but just got a wifi-able dvd player instead of a Roku box. I use it for Netflix mostly, but also for youtube and Amazon instant video & Pandora music. They cost a little more than a basic Roku box, but that way you don't have an extra thing to plug in (and our other dvd player was dying so I was looking to replace it anyway). Mine is Panasonic, and I'm really happy with it & setup was pretty easy. Be careful to get a wireless one, though: some use ethernet cables to connect, and that would only work if your modem is near your tv.

 

We have a Samsung bluray that's Internet capable and when our roku went out this month we tried not buying a new one by using the bluray instead. We bought a new roku after two days. It has way more channels than the bluray. Maybe some brands have more channels, but Samsung didn't have some of the ones we wanted. We love ours.

[Does a healthy teen really need 12+ hours of sleep?]

My understanding is that teens and infants need the most sleep. So yes, I think it's probably on the high end of normal. I'd push for him to get more sleep for a while and see if there's a difference.

[Microwave heating bags-crosspost]

I made one of these for when I was in labor with DS1 (the only one I labored with). I heated it up so much we burnt the rice. The nurse asked me to stop using it because it smelled so bad, but I wouldn't because it felt so good. I know there are other fillings you cam use though, but I'm not sure what.

[Cheap tablet that can do Netflix...]

We bought a cheap $60 tablet from Walmart. Apparently, you want one with the Netflix app pre installed or access to the google play store. So look for those requirements. We didn't go for the cheaper model because it didn't have Netflix pre installed. There are some good reviews and questions on the walmart site.

[Favourite places to store shareable free docs?]

I use Dropbox mainly and google drive sometimes. I don't like scribd because it's constantly trying to get me to pay for downloading.

[So how late were you?]

Thanksgiving supper looks like it'll be an hour late right now. How late was your meal? A nursing baby who's going through a growth spurt means I've stopped three times to feed him. And that's with dd holding him for awhile and my mom doing some of the sides. One year I got dinner on the table close to the time, but usually it's about an hour late.

[do you refridgerate your pumpkin pie??]

We decided seeing as how it has eggs it should be refrigerated. But now I'm thinking it's cooked so it might be good? Mine are all in the fridge anyways.

[Any update on Miller Levine Biology Acess?]

I was trying to get the workbook answers. I have mainly been able to figure things out. It just takes a bit of work. College bio was too long ago. Lol.

[Calling Dr. Hive ... did I do the right thing?]

I've also got a scar on my forehead. I've another one on the back of my head as well. My dad patched me up at home with butterfly stitches, but one of them should've had real stitches. I'm not sure what protocol for calling in a plastic surgeon is, but I expect ER docs and nurses have seen enough that they can make that call. We always seem to get drs that go overboard nowadays.

 

For years I covered up my scar because it's very noticeable, but I've recently decided I no longer care. It's part of me. Hopefully what ever happens your dd will have a positive outlook on it.

[Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without (check ALL that apply)]

 

I had never heard of it until Mr. Ellie and I got married. Despite the disdain of foodies, we like it, canned cream of mushroom soup and all. :-) However, not as many people here in Central Texas seem to like it as did in California. Go figure.

 

DH had never had it until we were married either. His family was very...eh...about me making it for Thanksgiving but he likes it now. I did see a recipe on foodnetwork.com for from scratch green bean casserole, but I'm not up to doing that in addition to the rest of the dishes. But it looked yummy.

[What does the green number under our names mean?]

I think this is it because under my profile I have some older threads "liked".

[What are you getting for your 12-15 yr old girl for Christmas?]

Mine is getting a cheap tablet. Pretty much so she can watch shows on it, not for school work. Some nice makeup. Some clothes. I'm still trying to get some ideas because her birthday is right before Christmas as well.

[Any update on Miller Levine Biology Acess?]

I ordered the teachers pack following Handmaiden's instructions and it worked fine for me. Except I don't have access to any answers. :/ it makes grading lovely fun.

[TWTM Kindle Edition $12]

It's showing up as $12 for me and I'm prime.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I prefer the hardback version for flipping around, but it'll be used either way.

[Our family is new to video game consoles - looking for advice on what to buy?]

We bought a wii a few years ago when they first came out and loved it. It's a great system. But we recently got a Xbox with Kinect and love it more. The lack of controller for the Kinect makes it better IMHO.

[XBox Kinnect games for the 7yo and younger kids?]

DS likes the Kinectimals, Kinect Sports, and Wipe Out. He's not very good at some of them, but good enough to play most of it.