But She Hurt My Feelings!

     I have been the world's biggest slacker on this blog lately; I blame school.  This semester will end in the next three weeks, so all the due dates for all the important things are coming up, and it's getting a bit hectic.  Thankfully, I don't have school on Fridays, so I'm free to enjoy this beautiful, sun-shiny day.  Or at least I would be if this day was beautiful....or had any sunshine.  Oh well, instead I'll hibernate and catch up on a few things I've neglected, like this blog for one.

     Let's see, what's been going on in my world?  Well for starters last night my four-year-old made me cry.  And not in a good way.  She's been going to a friend's house on the evenings I have class ever since J deployed.  It's been working out fabulously; Monkey loves it there, and she gets along great with my friend's daughter.  The only problem is that she's had so much fun over there that she gets angry with me when I show up to take her home.  Not to mention when I get out of class it's close to 10:00 at night some nights, so she's tired by the time I go pick her up.  Tired plus grumpy means it's a fight to get her in the car to bring her home.  Not that I can't handle that, but last night she added a whole new twist.  On the ride home she told me that she didn't want me to be her mommy anymore, she wanted my friend to be her mommy so she'd never have to leave their house.  I don't know why, maybe it was because it was late and I was tired, but I started crying.  I knew I was being silly.  This wasn't even the first time I've heard monkey say this; in the past she's asked to go live with her Nanny.  This time struck home though, probably because I've been worried about how much time school has been taking from her, and I was tired and stressed out last night, so when she said it I cried. And I cried.  And then I cried some more.  I was being quiet about it, though, and it was dark, so she didn't realize until she asked me something and I responded and she heard my voice.  That's when she got all sweet, and she asked me, "Mommy, why are you crying?"  The mature mother took over and whined, "Because you don't want me to be your mommy anymore, and that hurt my feelings!"  That's when Monkey started crying too (I don't know where she got that emotional side), and she swore that she would never say that again.  Did I believe that?  No.  Did I stop crying?  Yes!

     When we got home we hugged it out, and then resumed our usual bedtime battle of trying to get the Monkey to stay in the bed, and all was well.  Thankfully I went to sleep soon afterwards, so now that I'm well-rested there's not much danger of the little Monkey making me cry again.  That's not to say she didn't try when I told her she had to go clean her room O.o

      Well before you go I do have a recipe to share.  Unfortunately, I can't post pictures right now because I have to have my brother in law (who saved my computer again last weekend) teach me how to upload all my iPhoto files, because right now they're on my old hard drive.  But here's the recipe anyway:

Oven Tacos
From Mommy I'm Hungry Blog

2 lbs ground beef (or turkey)
1 small onion diced
1 small can diced green chilies
1 recipe for Homemade taco seasoning (below)
1 (8 ounce) can low sodium tomato sauce 
1 (16 ounce) can fat free refried beans 
2 cups shredded reduced fat Colby-jack cheese 
18-20 hard taco shells

Optional Condiments- Shredded Lettuce, Diced Tomato, Salsa, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Sliced Olives

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  In a large skillet brown ground beef and onion over medium-high heat. Drain off any excess liquid. Return to pan, add chilies, refried beans, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning. Mix well and cook for a few minutes if mixture seems runny. 


Spoon the taco meat mixture into the taco shells and place into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, standing up. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the taco meat in each shell. Place into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tacos are heated through. 
Remove from the oven and top with any optional condiments for serving. 

Taco Seasoning
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

In a small bowl, mix all together. Store in an airtight container.
I used all of this on 2 lbs of ground meat with a little water mixed in.