Much Too Old To Act This Damn Young

Happy Monday Everyone!  That’s right.  I said it.  Happy Monday.  And it is a happy Monday, for the most part.  For more than one reason even!   First of all, it means the weekend is over, which may normally not be a good thing, but believe me, today?  It is.  For some stupid reason I tried to relive my twenties and drank not once, not twice, but three days in a row.  Don’t ask me what I was thinking.  Actually, I think I’ll blame Erin.  Afterall, she was present on 2 of the 3 days, and the third day we were drinking leftovers, so yeah I totally blame her.  Erin!  Stop being such a bad influence on your mommy!  Heh heh

The second reason it’s a happy Monday is my office is quiet.  As in no one is speaking.  And today, trust me, that is a very good thing.  And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Third reason……… uh, hmmm….. stretching here….. it’s 4 days till payday?  Oh wait!  I KNOW!  It’s raining!  It rained all morning in Topeka.  What?  Did you forget I live on a FARM?  Of course I’m excited for the rain.  I just hope it’s raining down south too! 

I’ve done some preliminary planning for the Bryson Family Vacation coming up.  Got the hotel rooms booked in Beatrice and Hastings.  You’d be surprised at how quickly hotels fill up for the farm show.  It’s a BIG DEAL ya’ll!  Still need to reserve the golf cart, so we don’t have to stand in line for hours waiting to get one.  Although, as I recall those line jumpers got the evil eye and may have even feared for their lives a little last year.  Of course since I won’t be looking at them this year, it will probably be ok!   I’m especially excited this year, because our friends Rick and Mary and going to the farm show too.    It’s more fun when you’ve got a girl to hang out with, not that there’s any girly things to do at the farm show.  At least I won’t have to go pee by myself!

I’d like to find something else new and exciting to do while we’re in Nebraska, but I’m not sure there IS anything exciting to do in Nebraska!  We always go through Pawnee City on the way up so we can stock up on wine and beer at our favorite winery, hence the hotel in Beatrice (closest town to pass out, err I mean sleep in).  From there we go to Lincoln to stock up on stuff at Greg’s favorite surplus place.  So between Lincoln and Hastings, there’s not much to see, unless we go out of our way a bit and Greg’s never too receptive to that idea.  So if you know of anything awesome in Nebraska that we should check out, please share!

I do have some sad news to report.  Mom finally made the difficult decision to put down her cat Spooky.  She was 23 years old, suffering from kidney failure, had all but stopped eating and taking care of herself, and was nothing but skin and bones.  Even though we knew it was the right decision, she kept second guessing herself.  I’m hoping after a while, she might show some interest in getting another kitty.  She won’t want a house cat – she’s never been a fan of litter boxes – but maybe we can get a cat that’s a year or two old that won’t run off and can defend itself against the coyotes and fox that live near her neighborhood.  We’ve suggested getting a house dog in the past, but she doesn’t think she’s up to house training a dog, and doesn’t want the worries of leaving one in the house all day if she goes somewhere.  I’m sure if she decides she needs some company, we’ll come up with something. 

Things That Make Me Go #%*&^$#&*%^&*#$(*@&#&*^@#$

I’ve got a few negative things to get off my chest today. Clearing the air, so to speak, so I can move on to my happy place.


Here’s what’s bothering me today --

Neighbors who don’t feed their cattle. Sure there was a shortage of hay last year, and what was available was pretty expensive. Here’s a thought. If you can’t afford to feed your cows, sell the damn things! And while you’re at it, how bout you fix your POS fence. We’re really getting tired of having to chase your cattle off of our bean field and away from our hay. And why the hell doesn’t the Osage County Sheriff’s Department do something about it? We aren’t the only ones who have filed a complaint. I suppose it’s up to us to take him to small claims court for the crop loss. That’s bull shit.

Disclaimer -- If you are reading this and trying to figure out which neighbor I’m talking about, remember when you live in the country, the word neighbor applies to anyone within a 10 mile radius of not only your home, but your farm ground as well, which can be miles from said home. In other words – you’ll never guess, unless you are one of his neighbors as well.

Dumb People. As in seemingly normal people who know what they’re supposed to do, but are either too ignorant or too lazy to care. You know the type. You run into them all the time. At work, at the convenience store, at the grocery store, at work, at lunch, at work. You are trying my patience, dumb people. I suppose I should welcome the challenge of sharing the same air as you without saying something rude, but nope. For the love of all that is good and holy, please think before you speak, or better yet, just go away. Oh, and did I mention users?  People who could and should make every effort to help themselves, but would rather sit back and beg for help from others who are too kind to question their motives. Yeah, those people need to go away too.

Slow drivers. Everyone knows I drive too fast, and as I’ve been told more than once, I should slow down and enjoy the view. And sometimes I do that. But come ON people! At least drive the speed limit, ok? If you’re out on the Interstate, or some other 4 lane road, drive as slow as you want. I can pass you. But when you’re in town, unless you’re getting ready to turn, or need to change lanes, just move over and get outta my way, mmkay?

Mechanics. Specifically mechanics who think I’m just a dumb woman who knows nothing. Hey dummy – guess what? We got your number. Your bosses at the dealership aren’t selling enough new cars, so they’ve instructed you to find enough wrong on older vehicles to “total” the vehicle so we’ll buy something new rather than spend a fortune to fix the old beater. And hey – here’s a clue – don’t try to transfer me to a salesman right after you break the news that it’s going to cost $8600 to fix my 13 year old truck. I’m not as dumb as you look.  Oh and btw, I got it fixed.  And I only spent $700.  It's a miracle!!!
.
.
.
.
.
WELL. I don’t know about you, but I feel much better now! Moving on to my favorite 4 year old.

You know, I’ve know Carter admired Luke Bryan for a while now. After all, he did memorize the opening to Country Girl Shake It For Me. (Hey Girl….Come On Now….You Know You Got Everybody Lookin’) Nothing wrong with learning pick up lines from Luke Bryan. But after yesterday, I’m starting to wonder if he’s on the verge of turning into a stalker. The conversation went something like this

Carter: Meema? Does Luke Bryan know me?
Meema: no sweetie, Luke doesn’t know you.
C: well, where does he live?
M: oh, I don’t know for sure – probably in Nashville.
C: well we should go to his house!
M: I don’t know if he’s home. Plus that’s a long way from here.
C: well is Luke Bryan real?
M: yes, he’s real!
C: well we need to go to his house so I can meet him!
C: What kind of truck does Luke Bryan drive?
M: ???
C: I think it‘s white

Next thing you know he’ll be asking Siri for Luke Bryan’s phone number!


After watching the Emmys the last few years and seeing all of the awards go to cable shows I’ve never seen, I decided I needed to see what all the fuss was about. Enter Netflix and Amazon Prime. When the Emmy nominations came out today, I’m happy to say that I fully understand why so many went to awesome shows like House of Cards, Homeland, Mad Men, Downton Abby and Breaking Bad. Still need to check out Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire, but at least I won’t feel like the only girl without a Prom Date on Emmy night this year. There is one thing I’m still scratching my head over though -- why wasn’t Big Brother nominated for Outstanding Reality Show????


OK - I shared with you, now tell me what's bugging you!

Mother's Day Breakfast Burritos

As mentioned in my previous post, here is my recipe for breakfast burritos.  Not exactly reinventing the wheel here, just a tweak or two.

ingredients -- frozen hashbrowns, milk, flour tortillas, cream cheese, eggs, gravy mix and smoked sausage

step 1. cook hashbrowns as directed on package

dump in a big ass

pan (technical, I know) 

 Step 2 - dice smoked sausage into small bite size pieces, and brown

 (sorry - no picture of the dicing - you'll have to use your imagination)

 here is what they look like after browning (duh)

yep, you guessed it - dump in the big ass pan with the hashbrowns

next up -- eggs!  Ideally, I would have Philadelphia Cooking Creme to add to the eggs, but since the plain old unspiced boring flavor was unavailable everywhere I looked (2 stores!) I had to use regular cream cheese - which means it looks lumpy when you combine it with the eggs - don't worry - it will melt eventually.

 

Scramble the eggs and cheese until the eggs are set -- how bout that whisk action!!!

do I have to say it?  Ok fine - dump the eggs in the big ass pan

stir it all up till it looks like a mess.  Add a lot of salt and pepper. 

Actually now that I think about it, I think I salt and peppered the hashbrowns too. 

Doesn't really matter when, as long as you do it!

now you need to warm your tortillas in the microwave so they roll up without tearing

and you're ready to assemble the burritos.  Put a heaping spoonful of the mixture from the big ass pot on the tortilla and top it with a little bit of gravy.  Crap - I forgot to make the gravy.

Imagine this is a picture of a pan full of gravy mix and milk

Follow the directions on the package and make the gravy.

I had leftover gravy in the fridge so didn't have to make it.

Sorry

No action shots of the folding of the tortilla -

just go with whatever works for you so the stuff isn't falling out all over the place, mkay? 

Now wrap that bad boy up in some foil unless you're planning to eat it immediately. 

WAIT!  If you're going to reheat them in the microwave, foil - not such a great idea. 

You heard it here -- if your microwave catches on fire, don't blame me! 

Now for all the boring stuff for those of you cooks who don't just fly by the seat of your pants like I do.  Ingredients and such.

Mother's Day Breakfast Burritos

32 oz frozen hash brown O'Briens
1 package Smoked Sausage  (more if your husband won't stay out of them)
12 eggs
4 oz Philadelphia Cooking Creme, Original Flavor
salt and pepper to taste
18 flour tortillas (soft taco size)
1 package sausage gravy mix prepared as directed on package


Of course, you can use larger tortillas, which will result in fewer burritos (see how I did that?)  I made smallish ones since there was going to be alot of other food to eat.

As a reformed gravy hater, I enjoy the gravy added in.  If you haven't come over to the dark side, no prob - just leave the gravy out!  Or if you're really crazy - dump that shit over the top of it!  Go wild!  Whatever makes you happy!

Preserving Memories

Well another Mother's Day has come and gone, and this year was an especially enjoyable one.  Thanks to Erin's bright idea, we all fixed food and took it to Mom's  house Sunday morning for brunch.  So much good food, no one left the table hungry, I promise!   One thing I fixed this year was breakfast burritos.  I've discovered a new trick to making them extra yummy.  Gravy!  Doesn't take much - just a little on top of the filling before you roll them up.  You'd be surprised at how good they are!  Planning to do a post later with the recipe, so I can post it to Pinterest. 

My only goal for Mother's Day this year was to get a 4 generation picture with my Mom, myself, Erin and Chloe.  Some of us are not as photogenic as others in my family,(I'm talking about myself here) so getting a good picture of all four of us wasn't the easiest task.  Add to that the sun shining in mom's eyes (NOT complaining about the sun - it was glorius!) and we were just hoping for one decent shot.  Thanks to our expert photographer, Rosalie, we were successful.  Carter even got in on the fun with his first photobomb. 

And the winner is.....

It's a picture I will always treasure, and a family I will always treasure as well.  Hope your Mother's Day was just as wonderful!

Feeding My Memory

My co-worker Gina and I made chicken salad for lunch today.  When we started throwing things together, we realized it had been a while since we last made it and weren't even sure what all we used before.  We definitely don't want to forget how to make it!!  For that reason, and just because it's so yummy and we want to share, I'm posting the recipe here. 

Gina and Barb's Famous Chicken Salad

1 big can of chicken, drained
1 apple, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 cup grapes, halved
1 cup pecans
1 cup Miracle Whip

throw it all together in a big bowl and stir! 

Yes -- it's that simple.  Not exactly rocket science, but definitely worth making.  It makes enough to feed 3 or 4 lunch easily. 

Today, we finished off with a pinterest recipe for dessert.  You can find it on either of our pinterest pages. 

Crescent Roll Pecan Pie Bars



Obviously they are delish -- it's half gone already!!!  (and just in case you're wondering, no Gina and I did not eat all of that.  Not quite. ha!) Tastes just like pecan pie, but uses crescent roll dough so you don't have to roll out pie dough.  That's my kinda recipe!  Gina did tell me she doubled everything except the crescent roll.  More = better.  Right?

Psych 101

I think it's fair to say I've always been a moody person.  It never took much to make me turn on a dime.  As I've aged, the moodiness has increased.  Medication (not just for that) helps some, but menopause has kicked it into high gear.  This evening, I experienced both extremely highs and extremely lows within a matter of minutes.  I'm proud of myself for escaping on a positive note. 

After work, I went to Best Buy in search of an old Jason Aldean CD, released in 2006. I knew there wasn't much chance of them having it, but figured I'd give it a shot.  When I got to the CD section, wouldn't you know, there was a guy standing right in front of the -A-s.  As I tried to peak around him, I saw him reach for a CD.  Yeah, a Jason Aldean CD.  I picked up the only one left and it was the wrong one.  I said something to him about how funny we were both looking at the same artist, and told him which one I was trying to find.  He pulled a CD out of the stack he was holding and asked "is this it?"  Sure was -- and he told me to take it.  I asked if he was sure, and he said yes, so I thanked him profusely and happily bought my CD.  How awesome! 

I decided to grab a bite to eat at Taco Bell.  If you're familiar with the Taco Bell on Wanamaker, you know how congested the drive through line can get.  Of course it was backed up onto the road leading into Best Buy, so I kept going and drove around to come into the parking lot from the other side.  I drove around front and there were a few cars in line.  I made sure I knew which car was the last one in line when I pulled up, and planned to merge into the line behind it.  Another car came whipping along and no doubt saw me sitting there and decided she was not going to allow me in front of her.  She kept on the tail of the car in front of her so there was absolutely no way I could squeeze in.  Of course my immediate reaction was rage.  I tried staring her down, but she wouldn't even look at me.  I cussed at her.  And then, I realized none of that was helping.  In the meantime, another car pulled in behind her, but she didn't crowd, and graciously let me in front of her.  As I sat in the line thinking about how she didn't have to do that, I decided to pay for her food.  It wasn't much -- she must have been a light eater!  But it wouldn't have mattered.  I just wanted to pay it forward.  First for the nice guy at Best Buy who helped me, and of course for the woman herself.  I got my food, paid for the orders, and headed on down the road.  As always the first thing I went to do is put my straw in my drink.  But guess what -- they didn't give me a straw.  Normally, this would set me off again.  I'd be cussing the drive through worker and Taco Bell in general.  But... BUT, I guess I felt so good about what had just happened, I just thought "oh well -- I'll just drink it without a straw"  That never happens!  I never let things go like that! 

I'm not writing about this so everyone will know I did something nice for a stranger.  I guess I'm just sharing the lesson I learned today; positive behavior begets positive behavior.  But then, you already knew that, didn't you?

It was the search for this song that got this whole ball of positivity rolling...

 



They Call Me Martha Sewer

Cooking.  Never really been a fan.  Or at least I didn't think I was.  But then I realized, it's not the cooking itself I don't like, it's the cleanup.  And when you're trying to create a masterpiece in a tiny area (that would be my kitchen) it's even worse.  So I've never been terribly adventurous when it comes to new recipes.  There 's another reason for that as well.  Greg hates it when I try cook something new.  He'd be happy to eat the same 5 or 6 meals every night for the rest of his life.  Nothing wrong with em, why mess with em?  That would be why I have a pinterest board titled "Stuff Greg Won't Eat".  But every once in a while, I come up with something worth adding to the rotation, as they say.  A while back, I started throwing some stuff together, thought it turned out ok, and tweaked it from there until I had something pretty yummy.  Then I made the mistake of bringing leftovers to work one day.  Now, about once a month, a few of my favorite spoiled rotten brats start whining about how they sure would like me to bring some to work!  I always give them a hard time about having to cook for them, but the truth is I really like making people happy, and if something I cooked does the trick, then I'm all over it.  So without further ado, I present to you my recipe for Hot Sausage and Rice. 

I'd love to be like Robyn and Nance over at dinosaurs can't eat pizza and post a picture of all of the ingredients that go into this dish, but I just made this a couple of nights ago and don't have all of the ingredients on hand right now, so that's just not gonna happen today.  I do have a few pictures taken during different stages of cooking, so that's gonna have to do for now.

The ingredients are:

1 lb. Tennessee Pride Hot Pork Sausage
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped peppers
2 T. Olive Oil
1 box Creamy Four Cheese Rice A Roni
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cups water
1/2 cup Velveeta, chopped
salt and pepper to taste


The first thing I do is chop the onions and peppers.  The peppers I use depends on what I have in the freezer or if I have to buy peppers in store.  We grow all sorts of varieties of hot peppers in the garden and then freeze them, so I that's what I usually use.  The small red, yellow and green peppers that come in a bag in the store work great for this.  They aren't hot, so if I use them I throw a few jalapenos in too.  How many hot peppers you use depends on how hot you like your food.  The hot sausage is pretty spicy, so I usually seed any hot peppers I use.

Saute the onions and peppers in the olive oil. 

Then add sausage and cook until the sausage is done.  

SORRY - NO PICTURE OF THE MEAT AND VEGGIES!!!

Remember I mentioned how much I hate cleaning up?  Well that led me to using the same big skillet for everything in this dish.  When the meat is cooked thoroughly, I dump the rice right into the center of the skillet and brown it a minute or two before adding the chicken soup and water.  Then turn down the heat, cover and let it simmer until the rice is almost done (about 10 minutes)  It's a good idea to check on it frequently and stir so it doesn't burn.  Once most of the liquid is cooked out, I add the Velveeta and let it melt.  Season with salt and pepper. 

If you have a fancy schmancy dishwasher and pots and pan running out of your ass, feel free to cook the rice as directed on the box, then add it to the sausage mixture and add the soup and cheese in without any additional water.  I happen to think MY way is easier. 

Now if I'm making this for supper after I get home from work, Greg is probably starving, so we go ahead and eat it at this stage.  If I'm making it to take to work, I put it in a pan and bake it in the oven for 15 minutes or so.  Baking it cooks the rice a little more and just firms it up a bit -- it's really however you prefer to eat it.  There's no right or wrong way to eat this stuff!

 All ready to feed to those bratty kids at work!!!

The beauty of this recipe is you can change anything in it to suit your tastes.  And while I do think the sausage is what makes it so good, you don't have to use hot sausage.

If you're brave enough to try my recipe, leave a comment and let me know what you think!