Carpet woes...

                                                                 ICK!!!
 With all the rain last week this is what's happened to my carpeting. Eewww.  I scrub them with my favorite, vinegar, and they all come back with a vengance anyway. I am spending hard earned savings, earmarked for NEW flooring, on professional cleaning this Sat. The owner of the company swears he can fix this. Uhh huhh. I know I've posted rants about this creepy floor before but it daily makes me nutso. I have babies on the carpet and I cringe when their parents come in.  My silent mantra is.."Please don't look down, please don't look down". These aren't new stains from dogs with bad manners. They are old once removed and were all gone stains from kids, spills and Sally being Sally stains. arrrgggg. 

When we get rich and famous I want porcelin (SP?) tile throughout all but the living room and bedrooms. Then my only battles will be with killer dust bunnies. 

Take da bunny out back n let 'im have it.

Sally May

                                                        Presenting....Sally!

What a character this girl is! Our son adopted her for his birthday present to himself. Then he moved to Indy to share a place with his brother and sister and there's no room for poor lil Sal. So we have her till the daughter unit moves home in November (can't wait to get my girl back home!)and the boys can share Sally duty.

Sally had a rough first half of her life. She was a breeder at a puppy mill. She lived 24/7 in a small cage. Subsequently she never learned any indoor manners. So, after trying and trying she must stay in the laundry room. Its right in the middle of all our action here so she's not alone, just safe on a scrubbable floor! In spite of her limited socialization she's overcome it all and is good with everybody and every critter. When she first moved in she tried to be the boss but that took too much effort and now she just sniffs a hello and goes back to sleep. She's just excellent with my babies I watch too. My 2 year old holds her face, scrubs nose to nose and murmurs, "Oh Sahdee". Darling Sally snuffles her love right back in her face. sigh. And speaking of her going back to sleep, the old girl snores like a freight train. LOL

We have kittens in the garage and when one attacks her, Sally puts on her tolerant Mom face, pushes it out of her way with the smooshed face and walks on. The dog's a champ.

And she's deaf as a post. Also a drawback in trying to teach her house type manners. Because she can't hear you call her, taking her out to do her stuff where she's supposed to is quite an adventure. She's never had a collar or been leash trained. I put her on a retractable soft cloth leash, let her out the door and let the door hold the handle of the leash. She wouldn't 'run' off, as she won't run, but she will slowly amble away. She gets herself stuck on the back steps as she hasn't figured out that if she sits in front of the screen it can't open without knocking her off on her kiester. She'll bark, more of a "doof" and sit there while you try to pry the door open and her back out of the way. I've been working with her to learn the technique for about 2 months now and she just can't grasp the concept. She's so surprised when the door opens into her. AGAIN.

When I get rich and famous and have a place to keep all the dogs I want, I'll get my very own English Bulldog. I can just imagine how great it is to have one as a puppy. All that extra skin and MAYBE just maybe a little more energy.Maybe. She's a hoot.

Que Pasta! via Rachel Ray

I made this yummy dish last night and it was good enough to share with you! I didn't take pics cause, well just cause we were too anxious to dig in...

3-4 Dried Ancho Chilies
can chicken broth

1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb Chorizo
onion diced
garlic smooshed
bay leaf
1/4 tomato paste
bottle of beer (Grumpy like this part!)
pinch of cinnamon


cooked spagetti pasta
chopped cilantro
Queso cheese, grated




De-seed and stem chiles. Boil in broth till all soft. This smells heavenly! Then pour into food processor and blend. While it cooks...

Brown and drain beef and Chorizo, onion and garlic. The chorizo is pretty greasy, I like to blot it after draining. You do whatever suits.

Add chiles and rest of ingredients and simmer to reduce. 
Pour over cooked spagetti pasta and mix. 
Top with cheese and scallions and cilantro.


I served this with cornbread cause that's "his" favorite. Would be good with tortillas too! We also liked it better with some hot sauce added!






 

Busy, busy, busy...

Is this a beautiful sunrise, or what?! This is my favorite time of year! The sunrises and sunsets are spectacular. The air is clear. The barometric pressure is low (I think that helps with my brain doo-dads). And the temps are perfect, perfect! And when the leaves start changing, just a couple of weeks, I will be even more thankful we moved to beautiful southern Indiana. It's the best kept secret in America!


On the garden front-all done! Grumpy/crazy uncle picked and cleaned up the beans last week. Most of them were dry enough for storage but there were a few we had to sit in the sun and the dehydrator. These are cranberry beans and black beans. I see black bean burritos in our future... I do want to get some apples and can/freeze them and make some pies. I've got a killer apple crumb pie recipe. And Grumpy loves my applesauce.


On the critter front-Our Mama kitty just quietly wandered off to leave this earth 2 weeks ago. I knew she wasn't going to be here much longer the night before she disappeared. When I looked in her eyes she just wasn't in there anymore. She was a loyal friend and true. We got 3 kittens, named #1, #2 and #3, to guard the garage and barn. They are precious. Sadly #2 passed away 2 nights ago. They all have roundworms but were just too young to worm yet. #2 kept getting thinner and thinner so I figured if I didn't do something we'd lose her no matter what. Poor little thing was just to sick to handle the harsh meds. #1 and #3 act healthy and hardy and funny as only kittens can be! The pic is #1 in a brake lite housing from youngest son's motorcycle. 3 days ago the Poultry Massacre of 09 occured. Eldest son was home to help out with chores and when he went to feed the chickens he discovered a bloody mess. Something got all but 2 of our kids and also spared the guineas. And earlier this month we lost the rooster. Truth be told his loss didn't upset me all that much as he was one MEEEEAN fella. I always had to arm myself before feeding. Ingrate.


As for our Prepping-we've had to slow down purchasing supplies because of $cash$ flow issues. Oh well, life marches on with or without moola. We went on a WONDERFUL date last night. We drove to Bloomington and saw the 70th Anniversary release of The Wizard of Oz. It was sooo fun! It's my tied for first place favorite movie. Gone with the Wind is the other. This release was done in Hi-Def and I was pleasantly surprised to see there really is a difference. Such detail! The Munchkin costumes were very clearly beautifully intricate. I spotted so many little things I'd never seen before. Cool things like the witch has curly hair tucked in a spooky big pointed bun. EEewww. We were going to go out to eat afterwards but we messed up and spent our cash on gold popcorn. It must have been cooked in liquid gold as it and drinks cost more than I spend on new cars.


In the cooking dept-I've flubbed more loaves of W/W bread lately than ever. sigh. My cousin was on Rachel Ray yesterday! He is a exotic animal handler and breeder. That was fun, but the tie in to this is that I also got recipes for today's meals. lol. Que Pasta (mexican spagetti) and Armadillo potatos (stuffed baked potatos). How fun is that?

Nuff said for today. Think I'll go change a baby's poopie pants. Livin' the dream...

Chicken N Dumplins

I found some ancient chicken in the freezer this week and here's what I made with it. 2 chicken thighs and drumsticks. Place in crock pot. Cover with water. Cook on high till starting to smell really good. 1 sliced onion 2 plops of minced garlic 2 T chicken base (from Sam's) Pepper Cook on low till falling off bone. De bone. Break up chicken into smaller bites. Place in fridge overnight (skip if you can't wait till tomorrow) Next day, scoop fat off. Reheat in POT to boiling. Add more broth if needed. Thicken w/cornstarch if you want it thicker. Add some frozen peas. Stir up enough Bisquick mix to make a small batch. Add milk to mix till pretty gooey, not thick enough to hold up as buiscuts. Add lots of fresh ground pepper. Drop carefully onto boiling soup. Boil uncovered for 10 minutes. Cover. Boil another 10 minutes. Dish up and eat like royalty! Wish I'd taken a picture but we were starving and couldn't wait! P.S. Your house will smell like Grandma'a.

R.I..P. Mama Kitty

On to new shtuff...

We refinanced our lovely country mansion this summer. I was all brilliant and smart and edyoukated about what is best, which loan to choose, how we can pay it off even faster etc...Dear GumpyCrazyUncle trusted me and my banking type advisor boyfriend. Silly Unk. Enter, The real world...we're doing some pretty fast dancing to keep up with everything now. The loan is for 15 years. If we pay twice monthly instead of just once it will be paid off in 12. If I put half of my babysitting moola on the principle it will be paid in 7 years! Unk wants to retire in 12 (he'll be a young 67)and won't that be nice to have 0 house pymt and hopefully some moola saved for the next adventure??!!Well, we'll see as it looks like I lose one of my babies soon. OY I am scouting around and working my dented cranium to come up with ways to save on the spending end. So far I've found a few small ones and am on the lookout for more. If you know of any (even little ways, comment to me here!! I am trying out the make-your-own genre. I already make my own mixes, flour, cornmeal etc. This week I tried the homemade laundry soap. So far, so good! Next is the softner, stain remover and automatic dishwasher goo. Figure we can save literally hundreds of $$ per year this way. I have D/C'd the garbage pick up. Oooo this kills me. When I pitch something I have this need for it to be totally outta here. But I'm workin out my inner conversations with myself. I need to find bins or tubs or cans or something to keep glass, metal, paper and plastic.And we need a burn can. Our county accepts recycles for free and charges only $1 per bag for refuse. It will mean that when I go to town (on my few consolidated trips)I must drop things off before I pick things up. Big deal. I can do that. That will make a savings of just under $300 per year. Yup, I can do that. If we win the lotto or something we will get a wood burner. I use the clothes line sporadically (it's that whole crunchy towels thing). I don't buy name brand anything except for Unk's Zesta Saltines. I DO go on mini trips too often. sigh. Gonna have to learn the word NO in my travel-loving heart. I FINALLY found someone who really cuts my hair cute and wouldn't you know, she's in Indy, and charges a bloody fortune. So, the hunt is on for someone local who doesn't insist on perms and a blue rinse. The self-pamper thing I do (nails) is gonna be a pretty memory. Chiro visits are down to twice a month instead of weekly-we'll see how that works out later! I don't do magazines and only "shop" the library for reading material. We signed up with a new phone company and have a contract for TV, Net and home phone. Could've done without the TV part but it was only about $13 less w/o it. That's my current list of findings and financial roundabouts. Guess we'll see what we see...

Garden gets an A+

From meager beginnings came plentiful harvest! GrumpyCrazyUncle done did good! Here's a guy who's not supposed to hang out in the sun, has Arthur waaay worse than alot of zombie ER whiners, broke his neck in younger years, had eye surgery in the spring and got stuck with a wife who would rather lick a toilet than mess around in the garden.(not me-the other wife)...and yet his labors yielded this almost final tally. 63 qts green bean 3+ qts dried peas 22 pts corn 7 qts corn 4 pts boring salsa 5 qts spagetti sauce 97+pts tomato sauce +all the goodies we've eaten so far. We are blessed! I read so many bloggers who's gardens were a near or total flop this year. We've had weird weather too but ours so much prospered anyway! He only planted 1 cucumber and we had to pitch a good portion as we couldn't eat em all. Most of his regular table tomatos were a flop. He learned alot about what he'll do next year for them. And that greenhouse? All put together by hisownself with mostly stuff scrounged from other projects. He's really clever. Me? I get messed up with detailed printed directions.

Anniversary Yurt

Years ago dear GrumpyCrazy Uncle teased me mercilessly about building us a Yurt to live in. I went along with it. Yuk yuk yuk. Arent you just so funny...This past Thursday was our 31st anniversary. Unk never said he was planning anything so I took the initiative to set up our little day trip. I told him to be sure he had the day off, packed the car and drove south. He was all cool with just following directions. We did get truned around once but it wasn't our fault, the road sign was turned catywhampus. We figured out the way to go and came around a bend in the road and he hollars, "A F*&^ing YURT!??!? A F-ing YURT?!" The look on his face, one of amazement and slight disapproval, was totally worth the wait. I found this websight somehow and kept it for a few years. Tried to get us in last year for the big 3-0 but being a holiday weekend, was all full up. The couple that owns and runs the place were an excellent bonus surprise! They were a true oximoron. Conservaqtive Old Hippies! We fit right in! We have many matching life-views and enjoyed their company. YUMMY breakfast is included and is delivered to yur yurt. We chose to eat outside and enjoy the beautiful countryside. Southern Indiana. America's best kept secret!! Prices are comparable to the plastic generic motels but this is much much more restful. A romantic soaking tub is on the deck and you can bubble away an evening watching the fire under the full moon. sigh