Beautiful weather!

It's 46°F right now, according to my little Linux weather thingie. Mmm, so beautiful! The humidity is nice and low and I've got the window open to air out the house.

Oh, btw, that book that I checked out on Saturday and read that day was one of the funniest things I have ever read. It was called My Horizontal Life - A Collection of One Night Stands by Chelsea Handler. It honestly was more funny than raunchy and most of the book had me laughing so hard I had to put it down so I could breathe. I've got her second book on order from the library and am really looking forward to reading it as well.

Poor Malcolm had the worst case of cat diarrhea on Saturday. He was tremendously gassy all day and that evening was horrid. Poor thing got it all over him when he was attempting to bury it and Bear and I had to clean him up. Last night, he snuck into the bedroom for some snuggle time. Sharky tossed him out once, but he snuck back in and crawled up behind me for some biscuit making and purring. He eventually laid on my foot and took a nap, before starting to cough up a hair ball. Luckily it didn't end up on my bed but in the hallway, and yes, I cleaned it up before anyone stepped in it by accident.

Sharky absconded with my computer yesterday and gave me his Roswell power supply that glows blue! I tried to take a picture of it but the flash keeps drowning the blue out. So now, I've got my blue bubble tubes in the front, and blue glowing in the back. I need a new exhaust fan and Sharky says they make some that glow blue as well that are affordable. Guess what I'm gonna get? LOL

The kids washed and vacuumed Bailey yesterday and did a fab job. They are getting better and better at it - or at least they are paying more attention to detail. LOL

We watched Dan in Real Life starring Steve Carrel on Saturday night. It was a funny, but slightly sappy love story (rated PG-13), and I was surprised (but shouldn't be) that my sons really enjoyed it. LOL I'm proud of the fact that they are opened minded enough to watch things that other boys their age would go "eeeuuuwww" at.

Heard some more (true) gossip about Sharky's former work place. They've fired more "old timers" and hired a bunch of newbies to cut payroll costs - and are losing customers because of it. Serves them right. *sigh*

We need to start cracking down on recycling around here. When the printer is back up, I'm going to print out the list of accepted recyclables and post it where the boys can see.

Yeah, Sharky just called. He closes all this week but was able to trade with a co-worker so he opens on Friday (Halloween/Samhain). Yippee!!!

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Quick Tostitos Chili Cheese Bake

Ingredients:

• 10 ounces Tostitos Restaurant Style Tortilla chips, coarsely crushed
• two 8 ounce packages cream cheese (we use Neufchatel), at room temperature
  
• two small cans Hormel Chili - No Beans (Bush brand is good too)
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 12 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 small can of chopped black olives, drained
  
• 1 small can of chopped roasted green chilies
  
• Suggested: salsa, sour cream, shredded lettuce, diced tomato, diced avocado, diced scallions
  

Preheat oven to 350°F. Brown ground beef, drain, and add the can of black olives and the can of green chilies, mix.

To Assemble:

Spread cream cheese evenly in a lightly greased 9x13" baking dish. Layer chili on top of cream cheese. Layer ground beef (with olives and green chilies) on top of chili. Layer 1/2 of the shredded cheddar cheese (6 oz.) on top of ground beef. Sprinkle chips on top of cheese. Layer rest of cheese on top of chips.

Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.

Serve on bed of lettuce, and top with salsa & sour cream, then add diced tomatoes, avocados, and scallions if desired.

Makes approximated 8-10 servings.