Kissin My Domestic Diva Card Goodbye

Yesterday was NOT the most stellar day in my career as a housewife/stay-at-home-mom. In fact, it quite possible rates among the bottom 3. It started off semi bad and then took a swift downhill turn. Let's just say that, by noon I was takin pictures because I knew that, at the very least, I would need evidence and at the very most, it would be very bloggable.

Yes, I have no shame.

So here, in all of it's photographic glory, is my day ...

Now, first of all I must say that up until yesterday I was feelin pretty good about my Domestic Diva status - even going so far as to brag on it to my twittery and facebook friends. And, yes, I think the Sweet Lord felt I needed to be taken down a notch.

First thing yesterday morning I loaded the washing machine and proceeded to the kitchen to unload the dishwasher. All was going swimmingly until I bent low to put some stuff away in a lower cabinet. I glanced up and caught a glimpse of a thick layer of CRUD on the counter top. It was, ummm, gross. I was a little disgusted, but just cleaned it and went on.

A little later I had put the second load in the washer and was feeding the girls their lunch - complete with fruits AND veggies! Go me!!! And then I heard a noise. NOT a good noise either.

I ran to the breezeway and saw a flood of water coming from beneath the washing machine. I threw down some towels and ran to call the hubbs. Seems a hose had come loose. He told me to just turn it off and wait til he got home.

But I was hearing none of that. I still needed to wash at LEAST one more load. See, I had located (in the mess that is our garage of doom) the ONE PAIR OF PANTS that actually fit and I needed them clean. So, I located the errant hose, fixed it myself and attempted to move the machine to clean up behind it. It would not budge, but since MOST of the water had ran to the drain, I decided to attempt another load. I needed those jeans after all - I have Bible Study today!!!

So I packed the perimeter with towels ...

... and started her up. And it worked! YAY ME!

Uh Oh. There's that pride again ...

After lunch I got Sophie down for a nap and decided to start dinner. I felt like spaghetti would be a good choice, so I went in search of sauce. I found a couple of cans and emptied them both into the crock pot. As I was scraping the second clan clean I noticed that it was not spaghetti sauce at all, but a can of Bold Manwich.

Panic struck in my heart. So, I did what any self respecting (wanna be) Southern Belle would do. I consulted Aunt Bee!

However, in the pages of the cookbook that every good (wanna be) southern wife should have, I found NOTHING from Aunt Bee. I did find a little somethin from Goober, however ...

But his recipe called for mushrooms. Now, I know this may cause a stir, but I do not do fungus. Especially since I saw an episode of Dirty Jobs that showed how they are grown. Lets just say that the "soil" was steaming and the "water" ... well, some are known to write their names in the snow with it.

Just sayin!

So, I moved on to this one ...

I got some ideas and headed on back to the crock pot, pantry shelf and spice cabinet...

I, however, did not have any tomato paste, so I grabbed a couple cans of stewed tomatoes and went to town ...
What? It's close enough isn't it?

I threw it in with the rest of the concoction, along with some assorted seasonings I pulled from the spice cabinet!

I decided it needed some meat, so I went in the freezer and found some of this:

I also do not do the raw meat, so I let it float in a sink of hot water for a while to defrost and then just drained it and dumped the whole thing into the crock pot. BEFORE I had tasted it! So, I had NO idea what we were in for!

After a while I figured I better start the noodles. I went for a pan... Have I mentioned that our fridge BARELY fit into the fridge pocket and, thus, made it a tight squeeze into the cabinet where all of the assorted pans had already been placed?

Ummm ... yeah ...

... THAT is where the pans live in our house! Yikes!

I managed to squeeze one out and started the noodles.

About 15 minutes (and one burned finger) later, both noodles and sauce were ready. And just in time for Hubbs to walk through the door. I served it up and told Hubbs to take a taste and tell me what he thought ... and that I would THEN have a story to share.

Turns out that the creativity paid off ... for most of the family. Hattie was not a fan, but then again, she is pretty much not a fan of anything food wise - unless of course it is pop tarts, cheese pizza, peanut butter, cheese and crackers, bananas, hot dogs, macNcheese , chicken nuggets, fries or milkshakes, so, no surprise there. Hubbs liked it though, I thought it was pretty good myself and Sophie ...

... Well, looks like she liked it too.

But, then again, she's easy to please!