Just a Bunch of Stuff

We went on a little shopping spree last night. Our huge projection TV that came over on the Ark with Noah has about had it. As I've mentioned, Jeff and I rarely watch TV. But the other day I was freezing my tomatoes for my salsa and wanted to watch a movie. And what do you know. . . the stupid TV wouldn't come on. The one time in weeks that I've tried to watch TV, it wouldn't work. Figures. I pretty much decided then and there that we needed a new one.

Monday afternoon Jeff went down into the dungeon that is our basement and saw a puddle of water right in the middle of the floor. After investigating, he determined that our hot water heater had a crack in it. Now, we could still get hot water, but it's just leaking. So he decided that we needed a new one.

Hence the shopping spree last night. First we went to Best Buy. I thought they might sell hot water heaters in addition to TVs. Uh, no, they don't sell those. And in fact, have never even been asked if they sell them. But. . . they do sell these.

And ours is to be delivered on Saturday. Since our living room isn't really set up for the TV to be above the fireplace, we had to buy one of these.

We were going to have it delivered on Saturday, too, but then I got to thinking. If we don't get the stand until Saturday, and it has to be put together, when they hook the TV up, they won't have anywhere to put it. Duh. So we're going to go back to the store tonight and get the stand so we can put it together.

My dad, who can do almost everything around the house -- and if he can't, he knows someone who can -- knew a guy who installs hot water heaters. The hot water dude picked ours up today and is hooking it up right now.

It's a little bigger heater, so maybe I'll actually be able to fill up the tub without Jeff having to heat water on the stove. Hopefully. We've been here 15 years, so I guess the wear and tear is going to start to show on other things. Besides my carpet.

I made the best supper last night. It was a recipe I got from a blog on my sidebar, The Cookbook Junkie. It turned out really good, even though I messed up the recipe. Like always.

Jamie’s Mexican Chicken and Tortilla Casserole from Paula Deen’s The Deen Family Cookbook

One 16-ounce jar salsa (2 cups)
1 cup chicken broth
One 6-to-7-ounce bag tortilla chips
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 small onion, thinly sliced
3 cups (3/4 pound) grated Monterey Jack, or pepper jack.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the salsa and broth in a blender and process until smooth. In a large bowl, toss the tortilla chips with 2 ½ cups of the salsa mixture. In a separate bowl, toss the chicken with the remaining ½ cup salsa mixture.2. In a greased 13x9-inch baking dish, layer one third of the chips, followed by half of the chicken, half of the sliced onion, and one third of the cheese. Repeat. Top with the remaining chips and cheese. Cover with foil and bake on the middle rack for 30 minutes or until heated through and the cheese is melting. Serve hot.

I left out the onion because we're not crazy about onions. I think it could've used more salsa, but I think it was because I used more chicken than the recipe called for. Anyway, it was very good and Ross, Cam, Drew, Jeff and I ate almost the whole dish. Oink. Oink.

Today is Open House for Henry County schools. I have officially been to my last Open House. It was the year Cam started 9th grade. I don't go anymore. Cam goes on his own now and would be mortified if his dad and I went along. But oh, the memories of those long ago days. Trying to find a parking place. Standing in line to meet the teachers. Getting the supply lists that were so, so long. And then off to Wal-Mart to buy the things on the list. Along with every other mom in the county, as if he needed 10 spiral notebooks, 12 Number 2 pencils, 5 glue sticks, a box of markers and a box of colored pencils on the first day. Now he takes care of the supply list.

School shopping is another thing I've done for the official last time. That one I did last year before he started 10th grade. He and Drew and Joseph went last night and got their school clothes. I was not needed to make sure he got pants that fit or to make sure his toes had plenty of room to grow in the new school shoes he got. I didn't have to help him pick out a lunchbox or bookbag. No, all that was needed of me was my debit card.

Ironically, as it turned out, though, he could've used my help. Poor thing. He's got some things to learn about shopping for clothes. He came home with a shirt that was a size Small and some shorts that were XXXL. Now, he's not small and he's not XXXL either. He went by the sizes on the hangers rather than checking the tags.

Happily, I guess he does still need me. Sort of.

Till tomorrow.