Let The Education Continue

This fall I am going to take two courses. Both will help me to further my knowledge not only as a Nursing Assistant, but also to help me get into an LVN/LPN program (whenever we move again because I can't just quit in the middle of the program that is 2 years).
So, the course runs from August 22 to December 17th. As well as benefiting my future career, it will be beneficial to my own sanity because Matt is going away each month for training before he deploys in November. Also, another perk is that I will be able to do early registration for spring semester for the HHA (home health aide) course that will help even more for my career! The two courses I have registered are Body Systems Survey and Basic Medical Terminology.

I have also been contemplating about holding off at least until January to get a CNA job because I am more than likely flying to Florida to be around family during the Christmas and New Years months and I know that as a CNA you cannot take that much time off especially if you just started the job.

Other Random Talk:
Only 5 days until I leave to go fly to Florida to visit family on both sides, attend a memorial, and a family reunion (over 50 people and that's not our entire family! I really wish Matt could come so he could meet my family he's never met before) I am a still nervous about leaving. It feels weird for me to be the one leaving Matt, when normally he is the one leaving me at the house. Hopefully all will be good! So if the nervous nerves weren't there, then all that would be is excitment to see family that I haven't seen in a long time and then my immediate family members whom I haven't seen in over half a year.

And I guess you could call it bad timing, because the whole entire week I am gone in Florida, Matt has to go to the range. Why bad timing? Well, because he will be getting out of work each day around 1pm vs. his normal time at 6pm!!!! Lame, right? I'm not too happy about missing that. It is what it is, I suppose.

It could be a bad thing that I am already missing him and he still has a little while until he leaves. 

Hope everyone is having a good week so far.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels With M&M's

This is an easy dessert snack that can be brought to any party or get-together or maybe just to eat at home and hide some from the husband and kids. Okay, so I didn't hide any this time, but it did cross my mind! And Thank you again Kristin for introducing these to me. You were always a help when it came to fattening me up with your delicious food!

Prep time and serving size varies depending on how many you make. (One regular bag of hershey kisses has 72; therefore, 72 small desserts which does seem like a lot but ours are almost gone!)
Bake time: 2 minutes

What you will need:
Hershey Kisses
M&M's
Mini Regular Pretzels (can be square or circle pretzels too)


Start by preheating the oven to 350*
Then, place the pretzels on a cookie sheet.  Unwrap each hershey kiss and place 1 hershey kiss on top of the pretzel.
Place in the oven for 1-2 minutes or until it gets melted a little.
Remove from the oven and then take an M&M and push it down on top of the hershey kiss so the chocolate melts ontop of the pretzel.
Then, take them off the cookie and put on a plate to either put in the fridgerator or freezer. I placed mine into the freezer so they could cool off faster so I could eat them quicker and then I later kept them in the fridge just to stay cool.

Enjoy this quick and easy fun dessert snack :)

P.S. I did take step-by-step pictures but for some reason the pictures didn't save to my memory card although I had seen them in the view menu. I am clueless about that. So, sorry about no pictures :( but since it is a simple recipe, I figured this one can go without the pictures anyways.

Makeover Time

Remember a few one month ago in posts how I said I was going to start up a project and then I oh-so-kindly gave you a little sneak peek of what the project would be? Well in case you forgot, here is that post.
And here is the full item of which the project was about

So forward that to yesterday, I actually started and finished it.

First, tape around the edges of the mirror and shove them undeneath the crack that's between the frame iteself and the mirror. If unable to do so, then line it up on the side or take the mirror out. In my case, this mirror cannot be removed, so I taped as best as I could.

Next, place bags, paper bags, or cardboard over the mirror to protect it from spray paint. It looks like I went overboard, but to be honest - I had some spray paint on the mirror; which, then I had to scrape off with a knife. That was tedious just as much as placing the tape around the frame.

I put the mirror on top of a box and then added a painters rug on top of the box just for precautions. Just make sure you are in a well-ventilated area because they have not made a spray paint that is no-VOC yet.

psstt - Is it just me, or does anyone else think of a coffin when they see this picture?

Grey is my primer. Then, obviously the purple is my color.

Grey primer applied (this was my first coat. I did two coats)

First coat of the purple (I did three coats)

It was actually hard for me to stop spray painting. I felt like I would keep going out to check on it to see if I missed any spots or if I could spray paint anything else in our house. Is that strange that I really enjoy spray painting? Good thing Matt didn't come home to our kitchen table being purple. That would be something.

Here it is close-up. It's not the best lighting due to our house having crappy bulbs. I swear each room has a different bulb than the other. But hey! I can't complain too much, right? We don't pay an electric bill or for light bulbs due to living on base.

Another view of the entire thing when I brought it inside. It dried within 10 minutes since I had it sitting in the sun (which the can even says it will be dry in 10 minutes) But it did also mention it might be sticky or need to stay outside for a few hours or overnight. Well, I left it outside for almost 2 hours and then brought it inside for 1-2 hours before actually hanging it up. It didn't have a strong aroma and it wasn't really sticky, so that was my okay to move on with the process!

View of the mirror. I kind of think it's a little high, but if I had it lower it looked weird too. This way we lined it up with the blinds.

The view of our living room with the mirror at its new home.

Sorry the lighting isn't great.. It looks black in the pictures but it's really a purple and noticable too when you walk into the room!

Why did it take me so long to do a project that would require not that much time? Well.. the spray painting actually scared me. I never spray painted anything in my life, so this was the first. The fact that I actually really loved this mirror since I got it not only for a great price, but also because it was large and has great details, I was worried I would mess it up. What a disappointment that would be. But, as you can see that didn't happen and all is good.

Why purple? I was leaning on a light purple to begin with, but was unsure at times and kept thinking of other colors and where I would exactly put this mirror. Then I received a phone call telling me my aunt has passed away. It was a shock to everyone. Her favorite color was purple, so I said to myself, "self, Purple the mirror will be!" Not only was it the color I was leaning to, but it matches the pillows we have downstairs in our living room, and I will think of my Aunt.  As you can see... it's not light purple, but a darker shade and that's because the light purple looked more like a grey so I said forget it, let's go dark. I can always change it later if need be.

I think I got this mirror for such a deal! I was on the search for a large mirror, but they were $50+. So, thanks to a yard sale, I got this mirror for cheap.

Break-down of costs:
Mirror $10
Tape $0 (already had it on hand)
Nails $0 (already had it on hand)
Spray Paint $12
Total: $22

P.S. not only did the mirror get a makeover, but our blog did too! Did you notice?

Pasta Salad But Hold The Lettuce

Want a delicious pasta salad to take to a party, a family reunion, a get-together, or maybe just to make for a lunch or dinner? Well, this pasta salad is just that. Here comes the part where you might be surprised.... I learned this recipe from my husband, but then added my own twist to it. In his words, "You blew my pasta salad out of the water. You one-uped me." I wasn't trying, it just ended up that way.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 11 minutes

Cooling Time: 2.5 - 3 hours (it's even way better the second day!)

Serving Size: 5 - 6 with no "seconds"

• 2 cans of tuna
• 1 box of Penne pasta
• Pepper
• Mayo
• Tomato
• Green pepper
• Red pepper
• Onion

Start getting the water to a boil. During this time, begin to chop up some onion, green pepper, red pepper, and tomato. You can add as much or little as you like. If you like black olives or anything else, you can put that in but we are not olive fans.

Make sure to chop them into small peices. At this time put the noodles into the boiling water and boil for 11 minutes or as long as the box says. Whenever the noodles are finished, immediately drain from the pot and then rinse under cold water. Keep repeating that process by rinsing under cold water, draining, rinsing under cold water, draining.. etc. The noodles need to be cold so it doesn't continue to "cook".

 I believe I did this about 2-3 times before my noodles were cold.

Draining out the cold water for the final time.

Put your pasta into a large bowl, then add your drained tuna into the bowl. But, before adding the tuna in with the noodles, pull it apart with your hands so it's shredded rather than in chunks. And besides, who doesn't want to have their hands smelling like tuna fish for awhile? (sarcastic humor added in.)

Notice that I changed up my bowl? Yea.. I ran out of room in the large glass bowl, so I had to settle for a  large tupperware.

So as you can see from the picture above, the obvious next step is to add in all your other ingredients which include: pepper, green pepper, red pepper, onion, tomato, and mayo (do not add too much mayo! just gage it). Mix it all up is the last step.

And then enjoy!

In other news, We are alive still! Sorry for the delay of posts, but to be honest, nothing has been TOO exciting over here in the Lacey Household. Although, I should be working on a craft project tomorrow and possibly a new dessert - so maybe stay tuned for that post. 

I bought my plane ticket to go home for a family reunion/memorial. I will be gone for about a week. Unfortunately, the husband cannot come with me due to a huge inspection coming up at his work (that means he will be working longgg hours) I'm kind of sad about it and also nervous about living our home in his hands. I think I now understand how he feels everytime he has to leave me and our house due to work.

Have you ever felt that way when you had to go visit someplace for more than a few days and leave the house with your significant other (and maybe kids)? 

Hey! It's-a Mostacholi

This Italian dish is one of mine and Matt's favorite dishes to eat. I learned how to make it from one of my best friends that use to live here until she moved back home this year. She had me hooked on it since I first tried it and same with my husband when I made it for him. So, thank you so much, Kristin! I miss you.

Although, my recipe isn't exactly like hers because I tweaked a few things, I still wanted to give credit to her.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30-35

Serving Size: 6 (not going up for seconds)

• 1 package of Johnsonville Italian HOT ground sausage
• 1 box of Mostacholi noodles
• 1 package of 1 lb. Mozzarella cheese (the first time I made this, I used 1 lb. and 20 oz. of cheese and it was good, but really cheesy. So it's up to you.)
• 2 cans of sauce (I can't remember.. but I think they are 20 oz. cans. You can use either regular or spicy sauce)
• Ricotta cheese (optional)

First start off by adding water to a large pot and allowing it to boil. During that time, add the ground sausage to a pan over medium heat until it's brown.

Your water should be boiling now, so go ahead and add the Mostacholi noodles and set the timer for 10 minutes.

If your meat is brown before the noodles are finished, just keep them in the skillet.

You can start to preheat the oven to 350* that way it's hot by the time the Mostacholi goes into the oven.

Once the noodles are finished, go ahead and drain the water. Place the noodles back inside the pot you were using.

Now, drain the meat (this is why I mentioned to keep the meat in the pan until after the noodles are drained so you can use to the same drainer without having all that grease on your noodles...am I smart, or what?). When the meat is drained, you can put that in the same pot as the noodles are in. Then, mix together.

Add the sauce and mix it together. You don't need to use all the sauce if you feel like it is saucy. You can add as much or little as you feel. I just usually use around 1.5 - 2 cans each time.  After the sauce is in there, if you like Ricotta cheese, you can add a couple spoons of that in. If not, it's not a huge deal.

Everything is now mixed in together. Grab an 11x9 or 13x9 dish, or if you want to make 2 separate ones to split it up, that is fine too.  Put a layer of the noodle mixture on the bottom of the dish; covering the entire bottom.

Then add a layer of Mozzarella cheese covering all of the noodle mixture.

Then add another layer of noodle mixture and another layer of Mozzarella cheese on top.  Usually, I can only do 2 layers, but if you have enough to make more, just repeat the process.

Put the Mostacholi dish into the oven at 350* for 30-35 minutes.

Then, Enjoy :)