~a LOT a bit stronger~

Today, I was driving Rylee to daycare in Odessa. This is an everyday occurance, and as she is sitting in the backseat watching "Horton Hears A Who" I am listening to the local country station and a new song comes on that I haven't heard. I listen to every genre of music, but country has been my go to lately. I turned up the volume to hear the words, and I'm listening and I almost start crying because this song is my life. This song had to have been written by me in my sleep and some country writer snuck in and wrote down the lyrics as I was talking in my sleep. This song is my life in music form! I know not everyone can relate to this song, but I also know a lot of people can. I never thought that this song would be the story of my heartache and my journey to finding myself. I am SO happy to say that I am not only a little bit stronger, but a LOT a bit stonger!! I still have weak days, but they are fewer and farther between!

Some of you know, some of you don't, and some of you may not care or agree...but I filed for divorce from Chance yesterday. This is a HUGEEEEE step in me getting stronger. I can't hold onto him, and his hurt forever. I know I am not the initiator of this divorce, but we have been seperated for 20 months now. Neither of us want to get back together, and just letting things float along is not good for either of us. I am happy to say that it was almost a relief. It is sad, it will always be sad to me. Rylee's parents are never going to be together. I am sad for her, but I know it is much better than her being exposed to parents that hate each other. I am hopeful that Chance and I can remain friends for Rylee. Rylee Emily Watson is my strength to get through the days. She is the most precious, wonderful, amazing, beautiful creation...and even though all the destruction and turmoil that Chance and I went through...a beautiful creature was a result of it. She makes it easy to get stronger!!

So...getting stronger has not been the easiest thing...it has taken time...MONTHS and MONTHS..but let me tell you...I am BETTER off now! I am a strong woman and nobody is going to hold me back! Getting stronger everyday!!

Here are the lyrics to "A Little Bit Stronger" by Sara Evans

Woke up late today and I still feel the sting of the pain
But I brushed my teeth anyway
I got dressed through the mess and put a smile on my face
I got a little bit stronger

Riding in the car to work and I'm trying to ignore the hurt
So I turned on the radio, stupid song made me think of you
I listened to it for minute but I changed it
I'm getting a little bit stronger, just a little bit stronger

And I'm done hoping that we could work it out
I'm done with how it feels, spinning my wheels
Letting you drag my heart around
And, oh, I'm done thinking that you could ever change

I know my heart will never be the same
But I'm telling myself I'll be okay
Even on my weakest days
I get a little bit stronger

Doesn't happen overnight but you turn around
And a month's gone by and you realize you haven't cried
I'm not giving you a hour or a second or another minute longer
I'm busy getting stronger
(From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/s/sara-evans-lyrics/a-little-bit-stronger-lyrics.html)

And I'm done hoping that we can work it out
I'm done with how it feels, spinning my wheels
Letting you drag my heart around
And, oh, I'm done thinking, that you could ever change

I know my heart will never be the same
But I'm telling myself I'll be okay
Even on my weakest days, I get a little bit stronger
I get a little bit stronger

Getting along without you, baby
I'm better off without you, baby
How does it feel without me, baby?
I'm getting stronger without you, baby

And I'm done hoping we could work it out
I'm done with how it feels, spinning my wheels
Letting you drag my heart around
And, oh, I'm done thinking that you could ever change

I know my heart will never be the same
But I'm telling myself I'll be okay
Even on my weakest days
I get a little bit stronger

I get a little bit stronger
Just a little bit stronger
A little bit, a little bit, a little bit stronger

I get a little bit stronger

Chili Corn Bread Salad

This looks delicious!!! Can't wait to eat it tonight!! :)

1 pagkage corn bread mix
1 can (4oz) green chilis, undrained
1/8 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp oregano
pinch of sage (i left this out bc i don't like sage)
1 cup mayo
1 cup sour cream
1 envelope ranch dressing mix
2 cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans corn, drained
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cup chopped green onions
10 bacon strips (chopped) i used turkey bacon
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Prepare corn bread batter as directed on package. Add green chilis, cumin, oregano and sage. Bake at 400 for 20-25 mins. Cool after cooking.
In a small bowl, combine the mayo, sour cream and ranch mix. Crumble half of the corn bread into a 13x9 panlayer with half of the beans, mayo mixture, corn, tomatoes, green pepper, onions, bacon and cheese. Repeat layers...dish will be VERY full) Cover and refridgerate for 2 hours!!

YUMMMM!!

Creamy Spinach Sausage Pasta

3 cups rigatoni
1 lb Italian sausage (we are trying to cut down on our red meat intake so I used ground turkey and seasoned with fennel seed, oregano, salt, garlic powder, rosemary, thyme, and pepper)
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 can Italian diced tomatoes
1 package (10oz) frozen creamed spinach, thawed
1 package cream cheese, softened and cubed
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Cook pasta according to directions. In a dutch oven, cooke sausage and onion until no longer pink, drain. Stir in spinach, tomatoes, cream cheese and 1cup mozzarella. Stir until cheeses are melted. Mix with cooked pasta. Transfer to a greased 13x9 baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 for 35 mins. Uncover and sprinkle remaining cheese. Cook for an additional 5-10 mins, or until cheese is melted.

I served this with fresh garlic bread out of the bakery at HEB and a tossed salad with fresh veggies!

I hope you enjoy this! :)

Beefy Tot Casserole

Soooo, my mom and I came to an agreement a couple of months ago. I am now the chef at the Curry house :) I make dinner most nights a week for the 6-7 people at our house. I have been posting my menu on facebook and been getting a lot of responses about my friends wanting recipes. I have been using Taste of Home a lot...their recipes are so realistic and easy, and very yummy! I'm going to *hopefully* keep up and get the recipes posted for you guys!! On Tuesday I made Beefy Tot Casserole...it was delicious and we devoured the entire thing that night (this basically never happens) :)


4 cups frozen tater tots
1 pound ground beef
1 package (16oz) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
1 can cream of broccoli soup, undiluted
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 can french-fried onions, divided (i used about 2 cups instead of the whole can)
1 cup shredded colby-jack cheese, divided (i used more cheese because we like it cheesy!!)
1/3 cup milk
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp pepper

Place tater tots in an ungreased 13x9 dish and bake uncovered at 400 for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook beef until no longer pink, drain. Stir in the broccoli, soup, 3/4 cup french-fried onions, 1/2 cup cheese, milk and seasonings..heat through. Pour over tater tots.
Cover and bake for 20 mins. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining cheese and onions and bake for another 5-10 mins, or until cheese is melted.

I served with my cheesey garlic biscuits:

2cups bisquick
3/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Mix the first three ingredients...mixture should be thick. Spoon onto greased baking dish and bake for 10 minutes on 350. Melt butter and stir in garlic powder. After you pull the biscuits out (i wait until they are a little brown on top) and baste with butter!

These are similar to the red lobster biscuits and man, they are so good and so easy!!

I also served this with a green salad with fresh chopped veggies on top!

Hope you guys like this!!

Love vs Hate

Wellll...a lot of you probably read my love dove Stacy's blog today about me. She is an awesome blogger and I'm totally impressed with her skills :) She challenged us to do a love/hate of our selves so I just kinda started thinking about it. What do i love about my life? What do I hate? How are these things related, if at all? Here we go.....



Loveee

-I love my Rylee Emily Watson. She is THE most precious, amazing, wonderful, silly, and loving little girl I have ever met. ( I know, I know...I'm a little partial :]) She literally makes the world go round for me. I'm loving the stage we are in (16 months), so much learning and growing happening right now. She literally makes my heart swell, just at the thought of her. I can't imagine life without her, I can hardly remember life before her. She is amazing :)

-I love my singing voice. I'm no professional, let me be the first to tell you. But, man do I love to sing! Especially to the Lord. I recently joined the praise and worship team at my church, and it feels like home sweet home. For me, it is something to be proud of, because there are a lot of things about me...that I'm not so sure about...

-I love my relationship with the Lord. It has taken on new meaning for me in the past year. God has always been a huge part of my life, ever since I was born. My parents are amazing Christians, and raised me in a loving, Christian home. I think I took for granted how important God really was. I made some mistakes...yes I had sex before I got married (this was a HUGE deal to me)...and kinda put other things before God for awhile. He was always there in the background, and I really missed Him a lot. After Rylee was born, I really wanted to start going to church again....I neeeeeeded it. When I moved back to CA, I started going to church, and Chance refused to go with me. This was heartbreaking for me, but I stayed strong and went alone, or with Casey. It was great for me. Now since moving home and going through all this crap, my relationship with Him has totally blossomed. I love my church (Faith Country) if you want to come with me, let me know :). I love that I found Him again.

-I love my family and friends. More than I can ever tell you. My family is amazing, and the bond we have is crazy special. I think us being, non-blood related makes us stronger. We love each other, because without each other we would be nothing. Its pretty awesome. We might gripe about one another, but we would stick up for one another in a heart beat. My friends are freakin awesome. Literally, I do not know how people get along in life without friends. I would probably die, lol. I miss my military friends like crazy...you will never know what I mean unless you were a military wife. We shared so many crazy hard times together, and so many fantastically fun times. My TX friends have given me fresh air in my lungs, and keep me going everyday. I love you ALL!!!!

-I love who I am. Even though I'm not totally happy with certain things about myself, I love being me, and being who I am. I love my laugh, I love my goofiness, and I love my love for life. I'm so happy with who I am, I know where I stand, who I believe in, and who I love.



Hate :/

-I hate being single. After eight freaking years of being with someone...being single is awful. I'm lonely a lot. I miss having a partner. I miss always having someone to talk to. I miss having sex...yep I sure did just say that, because its true. I miss being a family. Booo...enough of that one.

-I hate being fat. I hate that eating is such a struggle. I want to punch fatness in its ugly face. I know I'll never be perfect, but hopefully one day soon, I can be happy with my weight. Hopefully....

-I hate the devil. He has screwed up my life, but God has been there to pick up the pieces. I hate the control that the devil has placed on certain people in my life. Devil you can suck it...

-I hate being dependent on my parents. I don't really hate this...its just a transition period, and I'm very grateful for them. Its just hard after being on your own for so long, to come back and be so dependent on them. Luckily, they are more than happy to help, and so loving about it. I'm a very blessed woman.



Ok, so how do these compare? I think that obviously my love for God, and hate for the devil go hand in hand. I wish I was skinny so I could love ALL of me haha. Being single has led me to being dependent on my family, but I know both of those things will NOT last forever. I will be happily in love again, and I will not live with my parents forever :)

Thanks for reading this if you did...this was an I can not sleep blog (which is totally weird for me). Hopefully I can get over this and have sweet dreams the rest of the night :)

-Adell

Summa Lovin...kinda!

Summer 2010 has been crazy busy! I left my job the last week of May, and started going to school the following week on June 1st...full time!!!! I'm taking a total of 12 hours this summer which is a lot for summer. I am taking four classes, some of them spread out. I am taking statistics ALL summer long...it is a T/TH class at 8am! What was I thinking?? I was thinking that I just wanted to get it done lol. This is the last week of Summer I session, so I will be done with 2 classes...English 2328 which is American Lit. I was really nervous about it because typically I don't like reading stuff that somebody tells me to read (rebellious much??) but it was actually a good class. At first I didn't think the teacher liked me, but once I told her I was getting divorced and had a young baby, she felt we had something in common. Her husband just left her about 3 years ago after a long marriage. So anyways, I'm doing well in that class. Then I'm also taking a special education course. This is a required course, and after taking it, I really don't have any desire to teach special ed. It seems very stressful to me, and emotional. Anyone that knows me, knows I don't need anymore emotion in my life lol! Those classes have been everyday M-TH at 10:30 and at 3. So as you can see my schedule has been really full!

The school I go to, UTPB, is in Odessa which is about 20 miles from Midland. It isn't too bad, but sometimes I get tired of driving over here. I better get used to it though...2 more years of it everyday!

Rylee bear has been having a busy summer too! She goes to play with Lauren on Mondays and Tuesdays and she started Mother's Day Out on Wed/Thurs. She LOVES it! She is so stinking social and loves to play so it was just right up her alley. Fridays I am off of school, so it is usually Mommy-Rylee day! I'm loving spending more time with her and she has been really good about taking naps around the same time when I'm home with her....the first sign of a schedule and I'm soooo happy about it!

We went to a family reunion mid-June with all of our family on my mom's side. My mom's best friend has a HUGE...AMAZING lake house in Kingsland and we stayed there for 4 days. It was wonderful until Rylee got sick, and the AC went out in our room. But it was still a good time!

We had planned a vacation to Colorado in August, but Mom's new teacher in-service is that week, so it wasn't going to work out. She was bound and determined that we are going on a vacation so she threw one together for next week! lol...I suggested Austin and that is where we are going! We are staying at an RV park, but Rylee and I get to stay in a cabin with Mom's friend GG. We are going on a trainride, and a bat cruise (super excited about this) and just gonna have some fun! They are going on Wed, but I think I'm going to fly there on Thursday because I have class, praise and worship, and I really don't feel like driving by myself with Rylee. She screamed the entire way home from Kingsland because she didn't feel good, and I just don't think I can handle that all alone lol.

Well that is kinda what is going on with me right now. Life is good, can't complain...and I love it that way!

Quesadilla Casserole!

This is a recipe that we eat pretty regularly at our house! I found it in the Rachael Ray's magazine a few months ago, and we have probably made it six times since then. It is SO delicious! My aunt asked me for a few new recipes because she was tired of always cooking the same thing, and this is one I suggested for her! She asked for the recipe, so here it is!! I really hope ya'll try it, because it is easy and GOOD! Would also be great for doing dinners for people with new babies or sick loved ones! I really hope ya'll enjoy this as much as we do at the Curry-house! Yummm!



Ingredients
•3 tablespoons vegetable oil
•3/4 cup onion, chopped
•1 can black beans (29 ounces), drained, 1/2 cup liquid reserved, divided
•1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
•1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
•5 10-inch flour tortillas
•8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese
•1 cup store-bought green enchilada sauce

Preparation
Pre-heat the oven to 400˚F.

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add half of the beans and mash into a chunky paste. Stir in the reserved liquid.

Grease a heavy, ovenproof skillet. In a bowl, combine the corn, parsley and remaining black beans. Place a tortilla in the skillet and spread with 1/3 cup of the mashed black bean mixture. Top with 2/3 cup of the corn-bean mixture and 1/2 cup cheese. Press to compress the layers. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, mashed black beans, corn-bean mixture and cheese.

Bake until the cheese is melted and the casserole is heated through, about 30 minutes. Transfer to the broiler and cook for 1 minute. Serve with the enchilada sauce.