By Sheri Hopkins
Lifestyle Contributor

Hello everyone! Sure have enjoyed the rain this week. Almost time for school to start, I’m sure all the kids and teachers are excited.

I loved school. I didn’t necessarily learn, just loved to socialize and have fun. We had Mrs. Looper for English, and she was the nicest lady around. You guessed it, we gave her such a hard time. Some of the boys were so mean, she would cry almost every day. Curtis Feimster and I had her class together and she had to separate us. That didn’t stop us from talking across the room. We sure had some fun times. One time we had a teacher that was expecting a baby, I can’t remember her name, but she had to leave the room and she told us not to touch the windows or the blinds. I often wonder why she said that because that was an open invitation for trouble. Clinton Basham was in that class and as soon as she left, he opened every window and blind in the room. She came back and cried. Teachers in the 80’s were very emotional. When we took the English peas back to class for a food fight, the teacher didn’t cry, but we got sent straight to the office. Lonnie Efurd, John David Moore and me. We got suspended for three days. When Jason, Michael and Kelly Wagoner started school, they were immediately asked if they were related to me. Poor kids didn’t stand a chance. Michael was always getting in trouble for something. You look back on it and it wasn’t bad stuff, just mischievous.

Then, when we graduated, Curtis and I rode to work together to a place called TES Inc. It was some kind of engineering place. They say if you love your job, you never work a day. We loved our job and co-workers and we had so much fun. We had an old lady, I can say that now, we called Vee that was over us. She let us listen to music in the office and one day when she stepped out of the room, Curtis Feimster got on top of the desks and was dancing like a crazy man. He will deny this till his dying day, but he did it. Yes, we were young and very immature. We were always doing crazy stuff.

There was a waterbed store right beside our building and we went over there one day at lunch. I decided I needed a waterbed. I got me a kind size, free flow waterbed. It was the thing back in the 80’s. I loved that waterbed and had it for years. I have recently thought about getting another one. It’s just me and JR, why not? Of course, I might roll over and he might go flying in the air with the greatest of ease. He only weighs four pounds, and you know how them waterbeds are. Those were the good old days, and we didn’t even know it. Such innocent fun.

This week’s recipe is pepperoni pizza casserole. I love pizza and Curtis has given me a hard time about eating pizza all week. I mean he danced on a desk. I can eat pizza if I want to!

PEPPERONI PIZZA CASSEROLE
12 oz. of rotini noodles
24 oz. of pizza sauce
1 cup diced pepperoni
1/2 cup whole pepperoni
2 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon of oregano
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a cassarole dish with cooking spray. Cook your pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to the pot. Add in the pizza sauce, diced pepperoni and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese. Mix all this with your noodles and pour into your cassarole dish. Add remaining cheese, the whole pepperoni and sprinkle oregano on top. Bake for 7-10 minutes or until cheese is melted. You can also add the toppings of your choice, my favorite is mushrooms and a little sausage.

This is quick and easy. Have a blessed week. Watch out for kiddos on the street.