Angela's Enchiladas (by popular request)

For all 3, bake at 350, covered with foil for 30 minutes, then 10 minutes with foil removed.

Cheese Enchiladas:
~12 oz. Velveeta cheese, cut into small cubes
1 14.5 oz. can tomato sauce
2 pkg. McCormick Enchilada seasoning
3 cups water
tortillas
grated cheese, Mexican blend

Mix enchilada seasoning, tomato sauce, and water in a saucepan, bring to a low boil, stirring frequently. Once boiling, turn heat down to medium and continue stirring for 2-3 minutes. Let cool.

Dip tortillas in sauce, then add Velveeta and roll. Once the pan is full (about 10-12 enchiladas) cover with remaining sauce and top with grated cheese.


Chicken Enchiladas:
8 oz. sour cream (or 1 lb for creamier sauce)
1 can Cream of Celery soup
1 14.5 oz. can tomato sauce
1 package McCormick enchilada seasoning
1 package dry ranch dressing mix
milk to thin sauce
seasoning to taste (I use chili powder and a little lime juice)
2 lbs. chicken, cooked and cut up
grated cheese, Mexican blend
tortillas

Mix sour cream, soup, tomato sauce, enchilada seasoning, and ranch dressing in a large mixing bowl. Add milk until the sauce is the desired consistency. Add chili powder or other spices as desired.

Dip tortilla in sauce and fill with chicken and a small amount of grated cheese and roll. Once the pan is full (again, 10-12 enchiladas) pour remaining sauce over enchiladas and top with grated cheese.


Spinach enchiladas
1 bag fresh spinach
1/2 an onion, diced
grated monterrey jack cheese
1 lb sour cream
1 can Cream of Celery soup
1 package dry ranch dressing
milk
lime juice
chili powder
Cilantro, diced

Mix sour cream, soup, ranch dressing, lime juice, cilantro, and chili powder in a large mixing bowl. Add milk until sauce is desired consistency.

Saute spinach and onion in a skillet.

Dip tortillas in sauce and fill with spinach and onion mixture and monterrey jack and roll. Once the pan is full, pour remaining sauce over enchiladas and top with grated monterrey jack and spinach (if desired).

**For lower fat, healthier options, substitute light or fat free sour cream and cream of celery soup and reduced fat milk and cheese.
***Never tried beef, but if you want to try I would suggest using the sauce for cheese enchiladas and using fajita meat.

Around and about

Some of you are wondering if I've fallen off the face of the Earth. The truth is, I've been trying my very best to do just that, but as usual, I was unable to accomplish being invisible for long. So here's a quick update. I am still jobless with no immediate prospects. Yay for the economy! The heater core in the truck has gone out, which means that it leaks antifreeze into the floorboard and is in danger of overheating any time I am idle for more than 30 seconds. Which also means that I am pretty close to homebound. Until I get a job and can afford a new(er) vehicle, I'm stuck out here in the sticks with my dogs and cats. So that explains some of the lack of you seeing me. There's also the Angela-weirdness factor, which you all know is a constant variable and subject to change at any given moment. Sometimes I spend all day thinking about what I'm going to do when Mark gets home (ie, going to the bar, going to the movies, taking my dog to the park) and then end up in such a funk over the dishes not being clean that I sulk the entire evening. If you know me at all you know I'm not exaggerating. So all that to say, I apologize if I have offended anyone by my absence.

Moving on. I have recently started going to a new church called Clawson Assembly of God, which I love. The people there are wonderful. You are probably wondering what a self-proclaimed Southern Baptist is doing at an AoG church. Well here's the short answer - Mark gets paid to go to church there, so I go with him. The long answer is that despite some glaring doctrinal differences, I feel that their love for people outweighs my sundry disagreements with their stated beliefs, which are manifestly few, even if there are many "official" doctrines I find do not fit my personal dogma. In other words, I am seldom confronted with a sermon or any other method of manifestation (such as speaking in tongues and the like) that I find I have to take with a grain of salt. Is that long enough for you?

And finally, for the inevitable topic of my thesis. It's coming. Due to some complications (which shall remain between me and my director) I've been forced to dig myself out of a hole and get my head out of the sand (at the same time, which is impressive if you ask me). So, long story shortened, I'm working on it. I'm aiming to graduate in December (yeah, go ahead and laugh Dr. Sosebee) so for the next six months you'll rarely see me without an armful of books, my laptop, and a lost look on my face that screams sleep deprivation. The. End.

So, yeah.

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. I'd like to blame it on business but sadly, I cannot. Chalk it up to laziness, or to make me feel better, the lack of anything AT ALL interesting occurring in my life. Let's see. What HAS happened? We got the electricity hooked up to the travel trailer, so now my brother can at least see when he goes out there. I picked up a former foster cat for boarding a few weeks ago. His owner works overseas and needed a babysitter for a few months, so here I am with yet another cat. I'm up to 6 now, if you count the foster, the boarder, and my brother's cat Fey. Which isn't necessarily all that bad, if you consider my three and Fey stay outside almost all day and come in at night only to eat and sleep. The dogs are actually more trouble. I forgot to mention that I also have my brother's dog. She's a sweet dog, but if she doesn't stop chasing cars, I'm going to strangle her (before she gets killed by one of the cars - she's already been hit once, by Mark, no less). And Kona is...well, she's Kona.

Aside from the humdrum daily routine, there is really only the fact that I'm STILL unemployed despite applying for 20 jobs at 10 or 15 different places. I've even applied to work at the pet store. My last remaining hope is the animal shelter, but I'm putting that off until I have no other options because I know I cannot bear to see the euthanasia process. I did apply (and get an interview) at KTRE, but as it approaches week 2 of the waiting game, I'm not so optimistic. For the love of Pete, I have a bachelor's degree and half a masters' degree. I'll blame it on the economy (which conveniently sucks) because otherwise, I'd have to blame it on my shortcomings, which I do enough of as it is.

So for now I'll sit back, clean house, and eagerly expect Dr. Sosebee's comment about why I'm not doing my thesis.

Grooming

Note: I apologize for the lack of any posts, but with the holidays and everything, I just haven't really thought about it.

So, my foster cat was recently diagnosed with Stomatitis. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about (which I suspect is most of you, as I hadn't heard of it either) it's an inflammation of the gums. It results in bad breath, drooling, and bleeding of the gums. Basically, it is a really nasty condition to deal with. So because of it, he can't eat anything but patte. Which smells horrible, but ok, whatever. He also doesn't groom himself because, well, it's just too painful. I took him back to the vet and pretty much told him to do what he could to fix it. The last time I took him in, he pretty much blew me off so I was already perturbed. His response was basically that it was all part of the condition and the condition is incurable. Well, I suspected that even if it is incurable, things could be done to make him feel better (and maybe stop drooling that nasty, stinky crap). So an injection, steroids, and more liquid antibiotics later, he finally started grooming himself last night. So why is this noteworthy? Well, most of you probably don't care, but for me, it was a special moment. It's why I do these sort of things. Like take in cats that have been locked in closets. I had been incredibly frustrated with him because of the condition and other quirks he has as a result of his misfortune. But seeing him finally start to groom himself, and then turn around and start to play with me, was reward enough for me.

In Memorial

As most of you know, my dog-child of eight years, Sierra, passed away on Tuesday, November 11, 2008. I am not going to say too much, because if you didn't know Sierra, you just won't understand, and if you did, then words aren't needed. I will say that she was her typical happy-go lucky self that afternoon when I left to go to work. She was fine when Mark came home. She mucked about on the porch as she does most of the time until she laid down in her kennel and fell asleep for the final time. We suspect that she had a heart attack, as her heart was weakened from an earlier bout with heartworms. She likely died around 9 pm; she was still warm when I found her at 11:30. I went outside to give her the anti-inflammatory pill she's been on for almost a year now. When she didn't get up when I called, I walked over to her kennel to wake her up, discovering her curled up with one paw over her eye as if she was dreaming. She wasn't. My brother Andy and my mother came over, and Mark and Andy buried her despite the rain and the lateness of the hour. I have ordered a Husky statue to commemorate her final resting place, under an oak tree by the corner of the property. There is no reason for me to go into detail about my feelings on the event - I think most of you know how I feel. I will never forget my beautiful Sierra Linda.

The end of the world as we know it

The election last night, resulting in the victory of Senator Barack Obama, has sparked a lot of protest from a lot of people, including many of my closest friends and family. Statements ranging from the expected to the outlandish have been made, going even so far as to declare it the end of American ideology. I titled my post as such not because I believe that Obama's election marks the end of the world (as no doubt, many of you were hoping I would say) but because I think your ridiculous and unreasoned partisanship will be. If you want to see the death of American ideology, continue to be fractured. Continue your in-fighting and your out-fighting. Continue to mock, hate, and protest against people of the other faction. Continue your ignorant crusades and cross-burnings. (Please note: this is NOT just directed at McCCain supporters, but also at those who would be saying the same things if McCain rather than Obama had won.) If you think America is doomed, you may just be right. But instead of fostering partisan sentiments, we need to come together and support each other. Folks, it happened. Obama is our next president. Whether right or wrong, good or bad, it's fact. get over it and let's band together to help our neighbors and our fellow man to fight our way out of this slump. I'm ony going to briefly go on my rant about how most of you who protest the most violently against Obama don't even have the first clue what he believes in (which is not socialism, I hate to say. Socialism is far more extreme than what Obama has so far advocated.) I will concede that many of you do know what he advocates, and some of you will be negatively affected by it. You have a right to be angry. But many of you do not. Even still, we have to work together. I'm not saying conform. I'm saying that you need to stop whining. Instead of burning crosses (either real or metaphorical) form a coherent and well-informed (that being the key) statement of your grievances and find a way to have them addressed. That's what democracy is about. The people in power will not respect or listen to you if you speak in the language of hate, but if you learn to speak in the language of concern they just might. That's my two cents. (And no, I never said if I supported Obama or McCain. I won't say. It doesn't matter. What matters is that Obama is our next president.)

Insert Cuteness Squeal of Death

So it seems like everyone these days is having babies. Well. Not everyone. But a lot of people. Aaaaand they're having adorable little monsters. Not your garden variety kid. And if not everyone is having kids, it seems that everywhere I look I see cute kids, boy and girl, that get my mommy emotions going. The other day I saw the most ADORABLE little boy. He was about 2, and he was already flirting with the girls. It was way cute. A few days later, Mark saw a little blonde girl that made him think seriously about wanting a girl (which, if you don't know Mark, is amazing in its own right. He'd rather not have kids period, but he's dead set on having a boy if we do walk that path.) So, all that to say, I WANT A KID! Well. Not now. Not soon. But someday. When all of this graduate bullshit is behind me and I have entered into my chosen career. At this point I'm resigned to accept my likely fate as a mother of boys, because Mark's family is dominated by males. His father had eight brothers and no sisters, and all have had at least one boy, if not more. But if God would smile on me and grant me a green-eyed, black-haired little princess, I think I would be the happiest person on the planet. Well, I suppose that concern is years away at this point. We'll see.