Independent the I word

My entire adult life with the exception of the last 2 1/2 years, I have been am independent female with a job and mortgage.   Actually, I am still those thing I just have my husband in my corner now to help.  Here is what I learned from being independent and on my own for 22 years. 

-You are stronger than you think: 

You can face anything as long as you make the choice to get up the next day. 

-You have to limit your self pity.  

We all go through overwhelming thing and you need to give yourself time to feel bad but you need to know when enough to is enough and you are swallowed up by your problems. 

-Get back up and get going.   When you are knocked down, know you aren't knocked out. 

-Never be afraid to ask for help.  Even independent people need someone.   Before my husband I leaned on my mom and my best friend for advice and grounding.   Have your person who can just help you help yourself.   

-Being independent and being proud are not the same thing.  Don't confuse them.  

-Keep learning.   Look at every roadblock as learning opportunities.  

-Have fun!  You are free to be and do whatever you want.  Travel, go places alone if you feel like going.  Enjoy your freedom.   I didn't stop being independent when I married but things do change.  Now I have two other people to think about before I go somewhere or do something. 

-No matter what your problems are, don't run from them.  At various times of living in my own, I had to figure out how to replace a sewer pipe, broken appliances,  pull carpet, put new flooring in myself, fix toilets and of course, afford to get the car and air conditioning repaired.  The last two things were the worst because those industries tend to take advantage of females.   My a/c actually went out 2 months before I met my husband who is, naturally, an HVAC technician.   I was so proud to show him what th repairman did and how I got the part price down to cost.  He laughed at me and told me it was a $30.00 part and a $300 job and I was taken by a shady repairman.   But hey, I did it on my own! 

Happy Monday! 

H is for Husband talking Hunting and Hogs

My husband has a passion.  Every year around the first of September he starts to get this itch he can't scratch for a few weeks.  He is a hunter at heart and a outdoorsman by nature.  I decided to ask him a few questions about his favorite pastime and thus I am killing three H's in one, Husband, Hunting  and hogs.   Before I get to his answers, I want to say a few words. 

I was never fond of guns or hunting before I met the man.  My brother is a hunter and it would drive me crazy, the dead animal photos on Facebook.  Who wants to see that?  Then I started dating Mr. Hunter himself and he took me to his land in East Texas.  I fell in love with the land but not so much hunting.  I thought it was all about killing animals.  

My husband explained something my brother tried to tell me 100 times.   Hunting has very little to do with killing although there is apparently a big rush when you actually do get your buck.   Hunting is about being responsible to yourself, family, friends and the land.  Hunting is about getting back to nature and taking care of the land the way our ancestors have done since we lived in caves.  Hunting is about work.  More importantly he explained that many of the deer would die without the hunters feeding them.   We feed the animals about 9 months of the year even thought hunting is around 2 months.   Feeding a herd for the hope that you get one good shot in the fall.  Sometimes even that doesn't happen but you still take care of the animals.  Finally, hunting is controlled and it controls the population limiting the number of deer that end up bumper decorations.   One place on the east coast disallowed hunting in the area and now the auto accidents with deer have exploded.   The deer can get into neighborhoods and eat whatever you have in your front yard. My husband shared this story.   In Wyoming where he grew up, people would sit baskets of apples out at night to keep the deer from eating their front lawns.

Alright, here is my interview with the man himself.


What is your favorite part of hunting?

-I like observing nature and sitting and watching everything.  Sitting in the stand and watching the animals.  Spending time with my friends and sometimes my wife and daughter, around a campfire with s'mores and laughter.   (The sometimes is because I don't go down with him all the time. I have things that have to be done at home.)  You see cardinals, ducks, squirrels, doves, migrating birds, raccoons, wrens, armadillos, road runners,  fox, bobcats, coyotes, owls, and once even a cougar.


What do you think the biggest misconception of hunting is?

-That it is all about the kill.   It encompasses so much more, discipline, delayed gratification. It teaches a work ethic to children and adults about taking care of your land.  Sometimes you even get the truck stuck working on the land.  (This is a shot at me because I did get the truck stuck).  You find a way to achieve a goal even if it is getting the truck out.   The goal is feeding your family but there are so many steps to get to the goal.  Also, when you do feed your family with animals you hunt, you know exactly where it came from and how it was processed.  There is no mystery meat included.  

What is your off season like outside of fishing?

-There is no off season.  We are still spending time on our land taking care of the animals even if we aren't hunting.  We are feeding them, being a steward of the land.  We are still enjoying nature, watching the birds and bugs.  We still have to cut the grass, taking care of the tractor and 4 wheelers, maintaining the trailers and you still put food out for the deer.  You feed them all year long so that somewhere in the year, you get your one deer to feed your family. hopefully.  (We didn't get any last year.)  When a tree falls across the road, you have to clear the tree but you even get firewood for your home.  Mowing the roads and fields makes the land have higher value but it also promotes growth of tender foliage and benefits the animals in the forest especially the browsers, like deer and rabbits.   Cows are grazers, they sit in one spot and just eat and eat.   Browsers nibble and then move to another spot. 

What do your want people to know about wild hogs?

-They are totally destructive.  They are not native to the land.  They are invasive.    They eat quail eggs and turkey eggs.  Anything that nests on the ground.  Wild hogs take the food from the deer and squirrels and other wild animals who eat acorns and other nuts.  They root up plants (This is a shocking sight.  It looks like a bomb or rototiller went off.)   They are uncontrollable.  Normal hunting practices can't even hope to contain the feral hog population much less control it.  They are invading cities too.  It isn't just the country folks that have to worry about them.   (The city of Dallas actually just hired people to help control the Feral hog populations. That is Dallas, Texas folks!)


I told you the other day that I can't talk baseball with my husband.  There are two things however that he could go on and on about, one is hunting and the other is fishing.   I want to thank my husband for letting me pick his brain.  Okay folks, we are off to the races, literally.  We have tickets to the Duck Commander 500 today where NASCAR meets camo and the beer flows freely. 

G is for...

 

Grout.  People don't talk a lot about grout you know, much less write about it. 

There is a really good reason why, of course.  Grout is usually nasty, dirty, and disgusting....kind of like the grout above. 

This is my kitchen floor and I am not proud of it.  In fact, it drives me crazy.   There is a lot about the  kitchen that drives me crazy, actually but this floor is on the list.  It is plain tile with white grout.  No, really, that is white grout.  I didn't pick this out, it was in the house when we bought it.  Now, for those of you who don't  know me, I have floor issues.  I am obsessed with trying to keep my nasty old carpet clean until I have the time to pull it all up and refinish the hardwoods underneath. 

And that is all to tell you this floor is going to stay for the time being and the time being is at least the next 5 years.    Anyway, just because I am stuck with this tile does not mean I have to put up with this once white now brown grout....so I did something about it.

Now, if you are thinking I am going to give you a magic solution to clean your grout, I am going to disappoint you.   This solution will clean your floor, grout and all, but it is going to require a scrub brush and a little muscle.  I said a little and I mean little.  You won't be scrubbing for hours. 

First thing you do is spray your floors down with a bottle of bleach cleaner right on the grout.   I used a very cheap and I mean under a dollar cheap off brand of bleach cleaner from Walmart. If you don't want to buy the cleaner, use water and bleach mixed together and applied directly to the grout.   Once you have sprayed it all down, you can easily see the bleach is starting to work without the next step but the next step is going to be the game changer.   Sprinkle your floor with baking soda trying to get the grout lines first.  I didn't go crazy with this, I just randomly sprinkled baking soda everywhere. 

Now for the hard part.  Get down on your hands and knees, this stuff is going to burn a little so use gloves and an old towel or something to protect your knees.  Grab your scrub brush and start scrubbing.  I didn't have to scrub really hard on most of the tile.  I just sort of lightly scrubbed all over.

When I was done, I went over the floors with a bucket of bleach water and an old towel to dry the floor a little.   Basically, if there was any left over powder mixture I lifted that with a sponge and this is the finished product.   See, I told you that grout was white. 

Before and After

I am sealing this floor with a spray sealer to try and avoid having to do this on a regular basis.  Not sure how that will work but it can't be any worse than looking at that nasty grout.

Okay, I know, grout isn't sexy or exciting but sometimes in life, you have to clean up the messes before you can have fun!

E is for Enchilada Lasagna

A to Z challenge

Enchilada Lasagna

Okay eating does start with an "E" but instead I am going to share with you one of my husband's favorite foods....that I make.   He loves these so much that last weekend while he was out hunting with my brother, he called me to make sure, although I didn't have to, that I was still making these for Sunday dinner.   See Joe's birthday was on the 31st and I had just started my new job.  Aside from being tired from the emotional roller coaster, my new job actually doesn't have me getting off until 6pm which is an hour and a half later than I use to get off.  This means on a good night, I will be home by 6:45.   That's just a tad late for me to cook.  Luckily, hubs had it all figured out and he made dinner for his birthday.

So, what I am saying here is, even if I didn't want to make enchiladas for him, and let me be honest, I like cooking for him.  I would have made these puppies because well, first he loves them and second they are easy.   So Sunday was his birthday dinner complete with cherry pie, his favorite.  It worked out well because we had the kiddo back in time for dinner. 

Alright so about this recipe.  I always use 2 pounds of ground beef or venison depending on what I have on hand.  You can also use ground turkey or ground chicken.   This recipe isn't unique but it is good and the way I make them, I like to think of them as lazy enchiladas but really, it is more like a casserole or lasagna. 

What you need:

Corn tortillas (Approximately 18)

2 pounds ground meat of your choice

1 onion chopped

1 pack taco or enchilada meat seasoning

1 jar of black or pinto beans

1 can of chicken broth

1 can of red enchilada sauce

1 tablespoon corn starch

Fresh Cilantro

1 small jar sliced black olives

2-3 cups sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

Brown together ground meat, 1 medium onion finally chopped and drain.  Add meat back to pan with taco seasoning and water as per directions on packet.   Drain beans and combine with meat mixture.

In a saucepan combine a can of chicken broth and enchilada sauce with corn starch.   (Add starch slowly stirring constantly to avoid clumps.)  Let cook over medium heat until thick.  Chop cilantro and add about 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro to sauce. 

In a 9x13 baking dish layer the ingredients in the following order:

Sauce, 6 tortillas laid flat, meat and bean mixture, cheese

Repeat

I usually end up with 3-4 layers. 

Top layer should a final layer of tortillas, sauce, and cheese then add more fresh cilantro and the black olives.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until the cheese is melted and lightly bubbly.

Serve with your favorite Tex-Mex sides like sliced avocado, sour cream, chips, salsa, and a margarita.