Mr Bluebird

Isn't Mr. Bluebird handsome?
He lives on this tree in my driveway.
If I wasn't so ashamed of the flower bed around this tree, I would have included it in the picture. 
But I promise Mr. Bluebird, I'll clean it out and make it pretty this weekend.

Rattles To Catch You Up

I'm baaaackkkkk.
Here is a few rattles to catch you up on what has been going on in my Rattly Life.
I finally bought a new laptop after killing my other one. (The reason I haven't been posting) I hope the IT dude at work will be able to get my pictures and files off of it.  But if I have done without them this long,  I guess I don't need them.
I also killed my iPhone 3GS and I got a new 4s.  When I killed the 3GS there were a ton of pictures on there as well.  Now here's the thing, right after I got my new iPhone, I lost the old one.  I could still boot it up and view my pictures...but it is somewhere in this house or maybe my car.  I can't find it.
I seem to be losing/destroying a lot of things lately.
I have lost my last set of keys that had a clicker on it.  I have one more car key left.  No clicker.  No house key of my own.
So, since my car is 11 years old, (bless her, she still looks pretty good and runs good) I just leave the key in her.  I don't keep anything in there worth stealing and I doubt anybody would steal her.  I wonder if the old adage that your insurance won't pay if you leave the key in it is true....
The other day I opened the refrigerator door and I had put the bars of soap that I had bought at Wal Mart in there.
I can't hear well.
I sure can't see well...I'm up to 2.00 readers now.
And....are you ready for this,  I keep getting to work and realizing that I haven't zipped up my britches.  That's right.  I button 'em, but I don't zip 'em up.
Now that said, I have read that this is a sign of senility. Don't yawl see old men walking around with their britches unzipped?  I now that I have...but I'm not an old man...I'm an old woman...but I never wear skirts or dresses....
And here's the other thing, I absolutely can't keep up with my house work.  I spend my Saturdays cleaning house.  And I think that if I can just get it really really clean, I can keep it up through the week.  But it never happens.  Never.
David and I are going on a medical mission trip to Costa Rica the end of July.  And I as was running around one day a couple of weeks ago getting ready for a meeting with the rest of the team, I said to myself, "I have just got to get it together."  And then this little voice said to me, "Angelyn, if you haven't gotten it together in the last 56 years, it's probably not going to ever happen.  Sigh.
I'll be back her much more now, but I want to leave you with this picture of Fontanna napping with his monkey.  It always makes me smile....and I bet it will you too.

AngelMc.

Another Thing I Made + A Recipe

This is my Wild Monkey Bracelet.  

There is a birthstone color for each Wild Monkey.

And of course a Wild Monkey Charm.

It too has helped assuage my desire to make bracelets.

I have been looking at how to make bracelets on Pinterest.

I have Googled how to make bracelets.

Lately all I can think about is bracelets.

David gave me a bracelet for Christmas......

And now for the Recipe.

I have served it twice.

The second time I served it at my book club.

And they raved about it.

And they are foodies...one has even published two cookbooks.  Yeah. I was a cooking rock star.

Lasagna Soup

INGREDIENTS

for the soup:
2 tsp. olive oil
1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage (I added a 1/2 to 1 pound of ground chuck)
3 c. chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 T. tomato paste
1 28-oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
6 c. chicken stock  (I used a lot more......twice maybe)
8 oz. mafalda or fusilli pasta (I used bow tie once...then the fusilli second time--both were fine)
1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

for the cheesy yum:
8 oz. ricotta
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

PREPARATION

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

Add diced tomatoes, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add uncooked pasta and cook until al dente. Do not over cook or let soup simmer for a long period of time at this point, as the pasta will get mushy and absorb all the soup broth. You may even want to consider cooking the noodles separately, and then adding some to individual bowls before ladling the soup over them. This would be an especially smart move if you are anticipating any leftovers. Right before serving, stir in the basil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the cheesy yum. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

To serve, place a dollop of the cheesy yum in each soup bowl, sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top and ladle the hot soup over the cheese.

Servings:  8

I served this with a nice salad and garlic bread...it was great.

Things I Have Made Lately

Since we went Christmas shopping and I bought a few things at Hobby Lobby, I have not been able to stop thinking about all those beads....I wanted to make a marriage bracelet and a wild monkey bracelet.
So when we had to go to Tupelo Saturday, I threw a fit for David asked David to drop me off at Hobby Lobby.
Honestly I could spend hours in there.......but anyway...I made this.

The amethyst bead is for David, the blue/green is for me (our birthstones) and the one in the middle is for our marriage.  The bracelet is to help me remember to pray for David, for myself and most of all for our marriage.
I'll post a picture of the wild monkey bracelet tomorrow.

Things I Bought At The Auction #Something

I know you have missed seeing the stuff I have bought so I'm posting pictures.
On of my friends told me to please not junk up my new house. Too late.

Electronic Murder

I have spent the day killing my electronics.
As you all will remember I killed my laptop several months ago.
Today I really really needed to balance my check book and pay bills.  This is done easier if I can print my bank statements from online...but when I tried to print, I killed the printer.  Now it was at least 6 years old, which is probably over a hundred in electronic years. 

I tinkered with it a little bit, but soon gave up. And of course it had the last laugh because I had just bought 2 new ink cartridges........sigh.
While I was trying to resuscitate the printer, I bumped the air card...and yep, I killed it too. And it was a gentle bump and despite an hour on the phone with AT&T tech support I was unable to resuscitate it either.

(Thank you AT&T tech support, yawl are always so kind and patient and helpful)
So I went to the local AT&T  store and bought a new air card that yipppeeee is 4G and is faster that my old one.  I also bought a new Canon printer at Wally World for $63.10 that will scan, print, calculate if the wind is from the east/west/south/north and notify me if the dogs tee tee in either of the back bedrooms.
Oh and did I tell yawl that I killed my iPhone a few months ago and had to wait till the iPhone 4s came out and then get on the waiting list?  Yep, I have a new iPhone 4s, only had to wait 3 weeks before they sent it.....which is like 8 weeks in iPhone withdrawal......
Oh and did I tell yawl that David lost his phone in the woods last Friday night?  And....we found it today?  It was a miracle...but that is another story.
I'm thinking that when I go back to work tomorrow, I better stay away from the defibrillators....hmmm....

Happy New Year

Happy New Year From The Wild Monkeys!!

And Arfy New Year From The Puppiebabies!!!