Meatloaf and a Toad

Growing up my Mom always encouraged me to help her cook so that one day I would be able to cook for my family. I think she secretly knew that I'd marry a man who loved to eat! She made home cooked meals almost every night and I enjoyed cooking with her. One of my favorites growing up (it gets a bad rep, but it's sooo good!) is meatloaf. To me it is like a giant hamburger without the bun, and more flavorful!

Meatloaf right before it went in the oven!

Here is my Mom's meatloaf recipe:

Preheat oven to 350. Cook for 45 minutes.

• 1 pound of lean ground beef
• Half an onion, chopped
• 1 tbs of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 cup of oats
• 3/4 cup of ketchup
• 1 egg
• garlic salt
• pepper
• seasoning salt
• any other seasoning you want!

Usually I use more onion, more or less oats, more or less ketchup, and I always guess on the seasoning. Just remember to not make it too salty!

Mix all the ingredients together with your hands...yes I said with your hands! Squish and squash the meat together until everything is thoroughly blended.

I use a cast iron skillet, but a regular Pyrex baking dish would work. Form a "meat-loaf" in the pan.

My Mom always made a "canal" with the side of her hand down the middle of the "loaf." Then she drizzled ketchup all over the top.

Put it in the oven and you've got one delicious meal coming right up!

Chris and I had this dish last night with home style mac and cheese and veggies. Being that there is only two of us, we will be having left overs tonight!

After we ate Chris went outside to give the pups food and water. He came back inside with this:

I found a smaller one the day before when I was outside watering the flowers.

Just adorable little creatures.

So you have a great meatloaf recipe? Seen any cute toads lately?!

Happy Wednesday!

It's the little things...

...that make my heart melt.

I found out last night that my Meme (mentioned here) is very ill and is going into hospice.

Please pray for her and for my family as we struggle with this.

I was very upset last night and my sweet husband was there to console me. Then, this morning, I woke up to "I Love You" spelled out in Hershey Kisses. Boy, he knows how to put a smile on my face.

Have a great Tuesday.

Painting and a Nice Surprise...

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Friday night I went to a dear friend's bachelorette party in Dallas. We went to Painting With a Twist, out to Primo's for dinner and drinks, and then back to the hotel. Saturday we laid out at the pool all day. Ahhh, it was so relaxing. I chose not to go out the next night because I was exhausted from the work week and wanted to get home to my hubby.

  

As I was driving home Saturday I called Chris and let him know I was on my way. He informed me that he "might or might not have hung some things on the wall while I was gone." Now, we have not hung much on the walls because I wanted to paint first, plus we don't have any decoration/pictures that I really want to hang...so I was instantly in "Oh Gosh!" mode.

When I got home I was instructed to not open the garage and call Chris so he could let me in the front door. He excitedly came outside, led me to the doorway, covered my eyes, and led me in. I was thinking, "What did he hang that is so suspenseful?!" As he placed me in the corner of the room and uncovered my eyes, I was delighted to see that my sweet husband, who HATES painting, had painted our living room! We had been talking about hiring someone to do it, but hadn't gotten around to it. The delight on his face was so adorable. I had already picked out the paint, so he had brought the sample to the store and gotten the paint and painted for hours in order to surprise his wife. Wow am I lucky!

Yes, we did have to do a second coat, but he is a prince for getting the ball rolling! I was so excited that he hadn't hung anything on the walls and, instead, painted our living room. Now we can get to hangin'!

Another great surprise: we got our curtains in! We bought the fabric last week (as I mentioned here), and they were ready to be picked up Saturday. We had some major living room changes this weekend; paint on the walls and custom curtains hung! Woo hoo!

I also wanted to mention the TV cabinet redo that is a work-in-progress. Here is a picture of a similar dresser to the one we are currently redoing:

Here is a picture of the one currently in our living room:

As you can see it is clearly not finished. We want to take out the top three drawers and make them open so we can put the DVR box, etc inside. We also need to get knobs for the other drawers...just not enough time in the day!

I will keep updating y'all on the living room as it comes together.

What did y'all do this weekend?! Paint?! Hang curtains?!