Filled to the Brim

Wow! Let me say that again...Wow! This month has been just crazy here at the house. We have our granddaughter and her mommy visiting us for 20 days. It's been so much fun to snuggle and spoil that little girl. The family is trying its hardest to convince mom to move here, and I guess we will see in time if she likes us all enough. 

We are still in a holding pattern for the kiddies that we are trying to adopt. Waiting for the slow hands of government to move along, but that's ok because it is giving us time to get little odds and ends all ready for them. I managed to get them registered in the same school, and totally bi-passed the waiting list. Now that will be so nice having all six kids in the same school. 

Today we were adopted by another pet. It seems a Pekin duck wandered into our yard and decided it was a good place to call home. So I am scrambling to figure out just what a duck might need to make it a happy duck. So very out of my realm, I know nothing about ducks other than they quack. Yeppers, they quack. I just read how to figure out the sex, so tomorrow when it's light out I shall check out those tail feathers. Knowing me I will probably sex it wrong, cuz that's just my way. I guess I will be hunting around to find some free stuff to make a shelter for it. 

We spent a good chunk of the day trying to get the duck into my fenced in garden where it would be safer, but every time we got it close, it took off the other way. So we just left it alone, and when I got home from the store, I spotted it in the garden. Guess it's not so stupid, just stubborn. Now I hope it doesn't eat my garden all up. Well at least the watermelon, it can eat the rest of the garden if it wants to. Ya'll know what's going to happen now don't you? The little bugger is gonna just eat the watermelon and leave everything else.

A couple of funny things about the duck...One, it likes Princess. A lot. She was walking back to the house and it followed her. Three times this happened. Two, it seems to like Babygirl. Every time I have put BG out it has slowly waddled up the yard. It managed to get about 5 ft. away from BG, and then it saw me come out the door. Kinda a good thing, because BG was just lying there waiting for it to get close enough to get. She didn't budge an inch, during the whole time. I think BG likes the duck too...just on a different level. One I don't plan on seeing.

So things have been a bit crazy here. Gearing up for school which starts in a week...YEAH (big time happy dance from me)! Being claimed by a duck, and visiting peoples. Never a dull moment here, no sir, no ma'am. 

               Ducky

Catching Up

Well I suppose I should be writing more blogs lately but things have gotten a bit more crazy around here. With all the calls to Texas regarding the kids I'm trying to adopt. I find this very hard to deal with since I seem to lack patience. I want call backs right now, I want answers right now, I really don't like being jerked around, but here I am.

So on the home front here, the kids are getting restless as there are only about 2.5 weeks of school left. However there wont really be much of a break since Princess goes to college for two weeks, and Jokester goes to Reading and Writing summer camp. My running around will actually get a bit worse as I have to bring Princess to her classes and pick her up. 

Superman is in a opposites mood, I guess I can't really call it that because it's not really opposites. He just makes things up for what he wants them to be. The other day he said he hated someone, and I told him that it isn't nice to say that about someone. He tells me, " oh when I say that I really mean that I like them a lot." Here's another one, " when I say stop it means I like BG." I'm not sure where he is getting this from, but at first it was kinda cute, but now he seems to think he can apply it in all situations and make his own reality, and it's becoming irritating now. 

Henry did something the other day that just blew my mind...he came upstairs with the boys and I when it was time for bed. He walked around, turned and looked at me and popped a squat and peed. The little bastard peed in my house! He hasn't done that since he was 2 months old!
Then to make matters worse, DH notices a wet spot on the floor and finds out it was BG. The only dog who was behaving himself was Smokey and he's usually the one peeing all over. My house is revolting against me or something. Ha! They have a lesson to learn, and that is...I shall not let them win! It is war! Bring on the water balloons household get your squirt guns cuz here we go!

No seriously we probably will have ourselves a water war here soon, but in the mean time...the things that stray from the norm of our family life with continue to shock me, make me just stop and bust out laughing, make me cry, or just plain stump me. I wouldn't trade it for the world either.
Well maybe the dog pee would be a good thing to go, but you get my drift. This is who we are, we learn new things each day, face new trials, and over come hurdles, but through it all we are still here and not somewhere else. 

Speaking of trying days...tomorrow the entire street can not use their drains. Why? They are repairing the sewer line and plugging everyone's drains to the sewer. Use the drains and there just might be sewer backing up into the house. That would not be fun, nor would I be happy, and it would be about the same time as the lady from CPS in Texas called me.

Wish me luck getting through 12 hours of that, thankfully most of the family will be at school/work for the duration. Now I just have to figure out where to do my business all day. Yes, yes I went there. Everyone has to do it, there is no denying it.

SOPA , Dogs, Balls and of Course Chili

Well it's been a bit busy around here the last two days, and that would be why there hasn't been anything new. Well that and honoring the internet blackout...sort of. Ok, I have to call it what it is and it's laziness for the most part. I really tried to read the bill for SOPA, but alas it was too dry of a read for me. What I did happen to gather is that this bill is pretty vague in some very important areas, and usually when you have that it leads to a whole lot of confusion and bad out comes. We have to make sure we do our own homework when dealing with things of this nature to make sure we have the whole picture, and not just rely on someone to give us their take on it, so I do recommend that you actually read the bill for your self. I will warn you it's a long one.

Now for something a bit more lighthearted. 

It seems that BG doesn't really know how to play. I have bought different toys for her, and the out come with that was she adopted one as her baby. Wont play with it just protects it, and certainly wont let others play with it. Now Henry on the other hand LOVES to play...anything! Catch, fetch, tug, bones, rough housing, chase, track...I'm sure you have the picture now. Anyhow, I have been trying to get BG to play, and it's not going so great. 

So far the only things I have found that she likes is playing chase with me and the laser light. She will stalk it like a cat would stalk something, she will chase it, she even asks to play with it. Small problem here though and that is that our house is small. There isn't much space for her to run after it. The kitchen is out since the girl only has three legs and non-carpeted surfaces are a nightmare for her. Our living room is pretty much a walkway between the couch and tv, and the hallway ends in tiled floor so she must scrunch herself into a ball just to turn around in it. Even though we have these obstacles, we manage to have fun each night.

Now I know she does like to play, because when she first came here, at first she would just watch me and Henry play fetch and she would whine to play. Now she wants to play, and her little stub tail wags like crazy. The only problem is that instead of chasing the ball and fetching it, she thinks she is supposed to chase Henry and fetch him. She has absolutely no interest in the ball. She hasn't actually tried to fetch him, but she jumps around in confusion trying to figure out how to grab him and bring him to me without hurting him. Poor Henry is totally oblivious to the fact that she thinks he is her ball, all he cares about is fetching the ball. It is a work in progress in teaching her how to play, we just have to figure out how to teach her that it's the ball and not Henry she is supposed to fetch. 

Tonight I had a craving for Chili, and since the only meat we had in the house was hamburger I thought why not? I looked high and low for a packet of Chili mix, but we didn't have any so off to the internet to find a recipe for the mix. Boy oh boy did I strike gold! This stuff was amazing, plus I had all the ingredients so that's a bonus! Since owning a restaurant on DH's Reservation we make Chili a bit different now. We add elbow macaroni noodles in it. It helps make a bigger batch for just a 
couple of pennies, and is more filling.  So without further adieu I bring you...

Rez Chili   serves: 6-10, in other words...BIG ole batch!

Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger browned and grease  drained
1 small onion chopped
3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
2 15oz. cans tomato sauce
1 10oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 15.5oz. can of light red kidney beans
2 c. water, or to the consistency you want
1/4 c. or to your taste chili mix*


Directions:
1)Cook the elbow macaroni noodles per box instructions, and set aside
2)In a large pot brown hamburger and chopped onions; drain grease
3)Add all ingredients into the large pot along with the noodles.
4)Bring to a boil, turn heat down cover and simmer for 30+ minutes. The longer you let simmer the better the flavors mix. I only simmered for 30 minutes since it was already past dinner time. 
5)Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream if desired.


This is in no way something I came up with, so I am due no credit to this great recipe. Click on the link to see the original recipe.


*Chili Mix 


Mix the following together. 
1/4 c. flour
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper (I forgot to add these and it still had quite the kick)
1 tablespoon dry minced onion, or 1 teaspoon powder
1 tablespoon dry minced garlic, or 1 teaspoon powder
2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoon cumin powder
2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper


The recipe for this says it makes 6 servings, but I used about half of it for this batch of Chili. Make sure you add the mix a little at a time so you don't go over the top. I started out with 1/8 c. and increased to 1/4 c.


Ha! DH will be so proud of me, I actually wrote down one of my recipes! He gets so mad when I create something and don't write it down for him to make too.

I Flew to the Moon

Oh wow, I just had my six year old smoke my butt at pool.  Not once, but twice!. Ok granted it was on a table top pool table, but really? I must re-evaluate my pool playing strategy. Like perhaps play on my knees so I'm sort of level with the table, or put it on a taller table so he has to be on his tippy toes. I told him that he can't be smoking my butt since I've been playing longer, he replies with,"maybe you just can't play". Ouch, touche my young son. I shall beat you soon just you wait.

Well I got everything re-arranged for the HUGE food and water dish for BG. Yeah, I hate my house some days. I just cleaned out the pantry not too long ago, and it is a disaster again. Seems somebody (Princess) doesn't like to put things back where they belong. Now like I mentioned before my house is very small, but my kitchen...well it's micro. Since I don't have that many cabinets I store all the big pots and cookers in the pantry. It is a very tight fit, and if one thing is out of place, there isn't room for what is actually supposed to go there. I must now re-arrange my entire pantry no thanks to Princess. I wont even mention the coat closet that I went to put something in and couldn't even get in there. Sigh...I give up. That is until I get pissed enough and start ripping everything apart to fix the problem. Never mind the fact that while I'm doing this I will be throwing a spectacular tantrum. I just might need a time-out, or if I was a drinking woman, a nice glass of something good.

Superman came in the kitchen and says to me, "hey what smells so good?" "Honey mustard chicken, why does it smell good?" "Oh yeah, smells wonderful." I hope they don't like it. It's Hamburger Helper, or rather Chicken Helper. My ego would be severely bruised if I'm out cooked by a box. Come to think of it, what got into me? I never ever buy this kind of food, well except Mac and Cheese sometimes. Must be slipping or something, or just had some leftover chicken I had no idea on what to do with. Yeah that's it, I'm sticking with that story. It really didn't have anything to do with me being lazy, not at all.

Update: Superman did not like it so I guess I'm still number one around here. He did mention before he even took a bite that it smelled so good he didn't want to eat it all gone. Guess smell and taste were on different tracks today.

BG has this really irritating habit of when she wants to be petted she will nudge your arm. She is currently making it very hard to type. She apparently wants some pets. I better give her a pet before she starts giving me her paw which she does if she isn't getting her way. She has a big ole paw, and she seems to have good coordination to smacking me in the face with her nails. Yeah, this habit is going to end soon. People will start asking what the hell happened to me when they see my face all scratched up. I of course will tell them I got in a fight with a bear or some other wild animal. Kind of like when a bill collector called me and I told them I had flown to the moon. The dumb chick actually believed me, and I never heard from them again. Sometimes the stories have to be so unbelievable to be believable I guess.

Somehow I have managed to hurt one of my toes. It happens to be the middle toe, so I can secretly flip off everyone who pisses me off. Hehe. I don't have any idea what I did, it just started hurting, and it hurts really bad. Almost like it's out of joint or something. So I think tonight calls for just putting my feet up and doing a whole bunch of nothing. Maybe catch a flick on Netflix or something. Now I just need some good munchies. Any volunteers?