This and That Thursday

I always marvel at how many "church" envelopes we get every month. Besides the regular 4 envelopes for our parish and the gold one for the diocese, there are always "add ons." There are envelopes for school, to benefit Haiti, collections for flowers for the altar---I don't really pay attention to the others. It's too much. We just do the main ones and skip the special collections. Plus, we pay our contribution directly through our bank. I would imagine they could save a ton of money if they eliminated the paper envelopes. On the other hand, maybe if they did away with them, people would not give. 

Recently, Connie was telling me about how she cleaned out her "plastics." I told her that years ago, I hit upon an idea that really works and has worked for a very long time now. Storing the containers and lids can be a problem I tried putting the lids on, but that takes up way too much space. I tried keeping the container in one drawer and the lids in another---still too much space. I tried having everything just thrown in as a hodgepodge---that drove me crazy. I tried putting all the lids in a bigger container with the others stacked. I didn't like that either. Then I finally hit upon this.

I stack all the bowls, and then stack the lids on their edge according to size. This is by far the best method. You can easily find the lid you need. Plus, it looks nice and organized. Exactly what I want! Even Butch can handle this. The only time it's a mess is if someone else unloads the dishwasher (which doesn't happen very often) and they just toss things in. Plenty of room for just about ALL the plastics. I have some large ones that I keep nested in with my casserole dishes.  

 Mindy shared her enchilada recipe. I streamlined it a bit by cooking the chicken in the crockpot with the sauce at the same time. Plus, I put the chicken in frozen. I know that you are not supposed to do that, but I've been doing it for years with no problem. When I do, I cook it on high, so the crock pot is really hot.

 I cut the recipe in half. I cooked the right amount of chicken, but froze that for future use.

Mindy's Enchiladas

Chicken breast (1.25-1.5 lbs)

6” flour tortillas (I used Mission Carb Balance)

2 cans Verde enchilada sauce (found in the international aisle with the tortillas)

1 can/package red salsa or sauce (we absolutely LOVE the Frontera “chicken taco skillet sauce”— also in the international aisle)

Shredded Cheese (1/2 bag)

(1) cook chicken (I personally really like the texture of shredded chicken, so I cooked mine in the crockpot and then shredded it)

(2) preheat oven to 375°

(3) mix in sauce/salsa with chicken

(4) lightly layer the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with verde enchilada sauce

(5) roll chicken mixture into 8 tortillas and place horizontally in 9x13 dish, seam down

(6) cover tortillas with remaining verde sauce (no need to use all of 2 cans—just use enough to cover the rolled enchiladas)

(7) cook at 375 for 25 minutes

(8) remove from oven. sprinkle cheese over top (just enough to cover the top in a thin layer.) place back in oven for an additional 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Thanks Mindy! It was delicious. We're getting 3 meals out of a half recipe!

 Remember this from last week when my sisters started sending me pictures of their condiments? Sandy had an overabundance of tuna.

Well, this week, she found 3 more cans!!! I told her that made me crave tuna casserole, so I made one. I've shared it with Nicky because Butch hates tuna casserole. I made it a lot when the girls were little and Butch was traveling. I thought they liked it too. But when I offered to give some to Mindy and Stephanie, it was a hard pass! Steph even sent the vomiting emoji!! Luckily Nicky likes most everything! I've tried to freeze some too, so we'll see how that works out.

While Sandy was counting purses and totes, she found this---yarn covered hangers that my mother made. I made some  early on, but they were too boring to me. My mom made them for all 7 of us in different colors to match our rooms. Plus that's how we could tell which were our school uniform blouses from the others---she also sew colored "x's" in to our clothes with embroidery floss to match. I can't tell you how we fought over socks. You heard a lot of "take off your shoes!"

Well, when my mom died in 2010 (gosh, I can't believe it's been 10 years already), all of a sudden, those hangers became very important to us. 

We divided them up and each got about 2 dozen. I have them in my hall closet, well,  because I like my hangers to match---fanatically so. Sandy, I can spare some! I never have this many guests at one time!

 I have plain white, cheap, plastic hangers in my closet. They have to match!! 

I even went so far as to order white wooden pants hangers. Seriously, matching hangers is what makes your closet look neat and organized.

Two months ago---right before the "stay at home" order---Connie pawned one of her errands off on me. She asked me to take these jars to Karolyn who I was supposed to see that evening. Well, Karolyn didn't come. Of course  I'd do anything for Connie, but now I'll be driving these darn jars around for God knows how long!! 

Well, we've been asked to wear masks whenever we go out. We don't have makes, so decided to make our own. Both of these are made with athletic socks.

 The top one is the one I made. You need a tube sock and two rubber bands. You simply slide the rubber bands on the ends and fold the sock over in the back and tuck in to the sock opening. 

 It worked perfectly, but Butch didn't have a tube sock. As a result, the rubber bands are really tote on the ears. 

The one that Butch made has been cut to make straps to go around your ears. It gaps in an odd way. Plus, when I put on my glasses, they fogged up. So obviously this makes isn't all that air tight.

I stuck with the rubber band method. I used a cloth napkin folded up. It's nice and thick and feels perfectly fine. This is what I'll be wearing when the time comes---like tomorrow when I go to the post office!

Well, I couldn't get the photo to cooperate for my last item. Yesterday, Sister Anne Catherine, principal of St. Cecilia Academy (all girls school), had red roses (red and white are SCA's school colors) delivered to ALL the seniors. They posted the seniors individually in a big group collage. I guess for security reasons, they figured out a way that no one could "get" the photo. Still, the picture was so pretty with all those red roses and those surprised happy faces! What a great idea!

That's about all of this and that for Thursday!