Life is Returning to Normal!

Not much has been happening since my last entry.  Mom went home on the 29th, which was nice.  She had been here for eight days, and that's a LONG time.   She needed to get back to her home and we needed to get ours back to normal.   As normal as is possible in this household anyway!     

Aaron's puppy, Minnow knows his name and is doing pretty good.  We're working on the whole potty training thing, but really don't know what we're doing.  We let him out all the time to pee and poo at all the right times, but how do we get him to tell US he has to go out?  We've never had to potty train a dog before (heck, I didn't even potty train my KIDS!  LOL  May babysitter did most of that work for me!).  Any suggestions would be appreciated!   Anyone who knows us most likely knows that Maddie doesn't bark.  She doesn't bark at the doorbell, or the TV or at delivery trucks, etc.  She just doesn't bark.  That is, unless we're at a campground where she's not supposed to bark and we're further away from her than she feels is appropriate!  Anyway, Minnow now barks at all kinds of stuff!  Even shadows on the wall!     He also barks at dogs barking on TV!   What a hoot that was the first time he did that!   

The other day, Abby came hobbling downstairs from her room and said "Mom, I think I need your help."  She was hopping on one foot and sat down on the floor in the kitchen.  She stepped on something and it was sticking out of her foot!  At first I thought it was just a sliver, and when I tried to pull it, it wouldn't budge!  I was hollering for Greg and Aaron to carry her out to the car so I could take her to the clinic, when Aaron whips out his "leatherman"-type tool with the pliers on it and proceeds to yank the thing out of Abby's foot!     Of course, he didn't think about the fact that it would start spurting blood all over!     

So here's Abby's sliver



Yea, that's a toothpick!!!  See that red line on there?  That's how much was stuck in her foot!  Just that tiny bit was sticking out!!!!!!  Yikes!  Her foot seems to be doing OK, and she had a tetanus shot just two or three years ago, so everything seems to be OK.  We're keeping a close eye on it, though, to make sure there's no infection starting.  I did put some chlorhexadine (sp?) on it, which is what I used to use to clean Greg's port out years ago when he had his transplant.  I figured that's about the strongest stuff there is, short of straight rubbing alcohol.  

I don't think I mentioned that I watched Julie and Julia.  I thought it was a GREAT movie, and because of that, I've started reading Julie Powell's actual blog from when she started the Julie/Julia project.  It's quite good!  It's also gotten me to want to do more cooking!   Go figure!     

I made what we call "New England Boiled Dinner" with the leftover ham from our Christmas Day dinner.  It's a simple stew with ham (and the bone!), carrots, potatoes, onions and cabbage.  I added some of the gravy and the other excess fat and drippings from the ham, and plenty of water.  I had it cooking for two days before we finally ate it!  It's one of those things that just gets better the longer it cooks.  That was great, but it was even better with the homemade dinner rolls I made!  It was funny, Aaron asked me where I got the rolls, because they're really good!  I told him I MADE them and he simply said -- you have to make them often!  Yea, they were good!  

Last night I decided to use the leftover chicken (remember the whole rotisserie chicken/Greg colonoscopy story?)  from Sunday night and made Chicken Enchilladas!  Oh, YUM!!!!!!!!!!!  They were SOOOOOOOOOO good!   It was a simple recipe that I received in an e-mail.

Chile-Chicken Enchiladas
1 can (19 oz.) enchilada sauce2 cups diced cooked chicken1-1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded1 cup sour cream1 can (4.5 oz.) chopped green chiles1 package flour tortillas (8 inch)1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Heat oven to 350.  Spray bottom of 13x9 glass baking dish with cooking spray.  Spread 1/2 cup enchilada sauce in bottom of baking dish.  IN medium bowl, stir together chicken, Monterey Jack cheese, sour cream and chiles.
Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla.  Roll up tortillas; arrange, seam side down, in baking dish.  Top enchiladas with remaining enchilada sauce.  Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.  Spray sheet of foil with cooking spray; cover baking dish with foil, sprayed side down.
Bake 35 minutes.  Remove foil; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.  Top with avocado or green onions, if desired.  Serve with lettuce, chopped tomato and additional sour cream.

I didn't take a picture last night, but will try to remember to take one today when I have one for lunch!  They were FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!       This is definitely a "do-over" recipe!   I only changed a few things.  First, seeing as I had a WHOLE chicken left, I doubled the recipe.  Normally, I wouldn't use something like green chile's, but decided that I would try them.  Because this was a first for me, I only added one can.  Didn't want to overdo anything, of course!  I also added some onion and garlic to the chicken (of course!).   That was it for the changes -- pretty simple!   Oh, I did fold in the sides of the enchilada's, making them a little more like a burrito, but that was because I needed them to fit better in the pan.  

Hope everyone has a great day!  It's time for me to get off my butt and get some work done around here!  

Julie