Guess who's back...

I was going to title this post "Guess who came out of the closet" but that sounded kind of weird. We finally got the repair part for Oda Mae's musical chair. Some of you may recall that a while back there was a recall on this chair that I posted about. (I just used the word "recall" twice in the same sentence with two different meanings....Ha) See February 7, 2006 Oda Mae was very happy to see him again.



On another note....here is a quick dinner for all of you stay-at-home people (or all of you non-stay-at-home people). If you like the old frito pie, you'll really like this little casserole. This is for those days when you forgot to make dinner and your wife is going to be home in 25 minutes.

Sour Cream Chili Bake

1 Pound Ground Beef
1 15 oz can Pinto Beans
1 10 oz can Red Enchilada Sauce (MILD: Oda Momma won't let me use the hot stuff)
1 8 oz can Tomato Sauce
1 1/2 cup Shredded American Cheese (divided) (We like cheddar)
2 Tbs instant minced onion
1 6 oz package Corn Chips (If you can find a 6 oz bag of Fritos, let me know. I can only find 10 oz)
1 cup Sour Cream

In a skillet brown ground beef (thaw it out in the microwave first 'cause you forgot to set it out); drain off fat (or don't; it depends on how much of a hurry you're in and if you're trying to lose some of those calories from that bowl of ice-cream last night).

Stir in drained beans, enchilada sauce, tomato sauce, 1 cup of the shredded cheese, and instant minced onion.

Set aside 1 cup of the corn chips; coarsely crush remaining chips (Your kids will love this part, give'm a rolling pin and let them have at it). Stir crushed chips into meat mixture.

Turn into a 1 ½ quart casserole. Bake, covered, at 375F for 30 minutes (I usually forget to cover it, so I don't think it really matters).

Spoon sour cream atop casserole; sprinkle with the ½ cup cheese. Sprinkle reserved chips around edge of casserole. Bake, uncovered (again), 2 - 3 minutes.

Stick a salad on the side and maybe some corn and you got a pretty good meal. And Oda Momma is happy too!

Give this a try and let me know how you like it. I usually double this recipe so we have plenty of leftovers.

Next time, I'll come up with something a bit more healthy.

-OD

New teeth...

Oda Mae has been cutting some more teeth the last few days. She has been kind of fussy, though I can understand why. Two teeth have broken through on the left and right side of her uppers. I'm pretty sure she's got one on each side of her lowers coming in as well.
Here on the home front, things have been going alright. I was able to repair the washing machine the other day for $20. Tomorrow I'll get a part in for the refrigerator and hopefully I can fix it without any problems. I figure I'll save at least a couple hundred bucks by doing all of this repair work my self. I've turned into quite the handyman. :) Oda Mae of course helps with everything!

Yesterday, I made a cake for one of Oda Momma's coworkers. See....

Mr. Versatile, that's me.

-OD

Planted some trees...

Today Oda Mae helped me plant a Bald Cypress and a Shumardi Red Oak in our front yard.

I think she ate some dirt.

She seemed to be doing okay at the end of the day so I've decided not to worry about it.

-OD

How to Stop a Baby from Crying...

I stole this from Nonchalant Savant

I hope that this technique will keep some SAHD from going completely insane someday.


I'm tempted to go wake Oda Mae up from her nap right now just to see if it works for real. Well....maybe not.

-OD

Field Trip....

After our run this morning, Oda Mae told me that she wanted to go on a field trip. So we went to the Botanic Gardens.

Having a good time.
Smelling the roses. Hut 1, hut 2...

Walking around. Playing with the water.

At this point she was saying "Ni, ni" which translates to "Night, night". And we came home and took a nap.

We had a good morning.

-OD

It's "officially" Spring

We made it to Easter, yea! Oda Mae had a wonderful day. After I played my three Easter services (btw, I'm good on going to church for at least three weeks now.), we went over to Grandpa and Grandma's house for an afternoon of BBQ and egg hunts.

We decided not to color any eggs this year:

1. Oda Mae is only ONE.

2. She doesn't understand why you would want to color eggs.

3. If "we" were to color eggs, Oda Mae would be playing on the ground with her blankets while Oda Momma and I were coloring the eggs.

4. She dropped the plastic eggs a lot. Need I say more.

I'm sure that we will have many years of coloring eggs when Oda Mae will have much more fun.

Oda Mae had a lot of fun finding eggs until she got tired. Then we came home.

On a somewhat different note...today is TAX DAY! I have to admit, I didn't finish my taxes until Saturday. Being "self employed" makes it kind of a drag to do my taxes, BUT this year I had at least one very good little tax deduction. The US government says that Oda Mae is worth $1000.00 to me and Oda Momma. For the first time since we've been married we actually get a refund!!!! Woo Hoo for Oda Mae!!!!!

-OD

Techie Question

Okay, I need to find out how to "FTP" something. Do I need any kind of special software that isn't on my computer?

-OD

Here is a picture of Oda Mae.

Busy Weekend...

I was very busy this weekend. Didn't hardly see Oda Momma or Oda Mae at all. Very glad to have been able to go to the park today with Oda Mae.

We decided to make a movie! We like to call it "Swing It!"

Today was...

go to work with dad day. Oda Momma had to work very hard all day today for symphony auditions. (She still isn't home.) Oda Daddy had a last minute gig come up, BUT the rehearsal was too early to be able to get a babysitter for Oda Mae. So, being that the gig was at a church, Oda Mae got to spend the evening in the church nursery with about 30 other little kids.

We got to the right room and Oda Mae went in just fine. Daddy, on the other hand, couldn't understand why she wasn't crying and screaming to stay with him. I felt kind of bad letting someone else take care of MY kid. Would her diaper get changed? What if she got hungry? What happens if she starts getting into something that will scar her for life? Alas, when I came to pick her up 2 1/2 hours later she was sitting on one of the nursery workers lap watching the other, bigger, kids blow bubbles. So she didn't get kidnapped, or dismembered in any way...I'm really glad for that. When she saw me she waved. :) The nursery worker brought her to me and I gave her a big hug while the worker went and got our diaper bag. I said thank you very much and Oda Mae and I went on our way.

About half way home I realize (Yay, Oda Momma is home!) that I didn't ask how she did with all the other kids or what she did. I was so happy to see her that I totally forgot to ask about what she did all night. Now the nursery workers think that I'm a total nut job. BUT, on the way home I asked Oda Mae what she did and she told me. She got to run, play with other kids, eat Cheerios, drink juice, get into stuff, sit on the nursery workers lap, and all kinds of stuff. She met a girl named Katlyn, she was a little bossy, but she was fun though. Oda Mae waved bye to her when we left.

So, I think that our first time in a nursery went as well as to be expected. I just hope that she didn't catch something from one of those other little childrens.



-OD

A Haiku

My nose, yes it runs
I blow, but nothing comes out
Doctor will help soon.

Free Weekend...

The Oda Family doesn't have to work this weekend (except for a short rehearsal today and a church service to play tomorrow morning). This is the first weekend in a long, long time that we were able to spend the weekend together as a family. Today we went to the park and then to a big church garage sale and then out to eat at a local diner. At the garage sale we got to fill up a paper grocery sack of books for $1.00. You can't beat that! We also got an Oda Dress and an Oda Shirt for .25 cents. Can't beat that either. Oda Mae was so tired when we got home she had her bath, got to read another chapter in "Charlotte's Web" and went right to sleep. Haven't heard a peep out of her since.

Here she is playing at the park today. She met a friend, we'll call him "Jethro". He was 2 months older than Oda Mae. They had a great time on the swings together. We didn't take any pictures of "Jethro" because we didn't want his mother to think we were really weird or something. Maybe if they meet up again I'll ask if it would be okay.