Random Ramblings on a Sunday Afternoon

Let me tell ya, I fixed a dinner today to die for, if I do say so myself. ~ patting self on back~ I have been on beef overload. Yep I am extremely grateful for my freezer of lovely beef..but at times I just feel like chicken. So with that being said I dug a chicken out of the depths of the freezer, cut the little darln` up and lite the grill. I also threw on some beef ribs just for good measure . I knew it would keep my DH happy. He just cannot hardly abide fowl.

Anyway, I wanted something different, and I remembered a stop we make last summer at a road side cafe up in the Pecos Wilderness. This fella was cooking meat on a huge grill. It was done Argentina style, and it was the best chicken I had ever lapped a lip over. So I got to thinking about it, wondering what that great sauce he put on it was so what did I do I Googled ,"Argentina Bar-B-Que sauce. And did I find one, yep Here is is,

6 cloves of garlic chopped fine
half cup of oregano
half cup of parsley
1/4 cup dried red pepper flakes
1 cup boiling water
half cup of olive oil
half cup of cider vinegar.

Place in a jar and shake..this is supposed to be placed in the icebox for 12 hours...but this was a spur of the moment thing, and I used it right then. Anyway brush or pour on meat every so often till done. This was great. It would be very good on steak .

We also had oven roasted potatoes
green salad
Cornbread
Apple crisp and berry crisp with real whipped cream

Now I am sitting here feeling like a stuffed turkey, probably looking like one as well.

We did not make to church today. Why, we were out of gas. That is the honest truth. Time got away from us, and we forgot to check the fuel tanks, and sure enough I ran it out Friday night. So until the gas company decides to pay us a visit I am grounded. Can't say that I am overly upset about it. I am pretty much content to stay home. Can't say that I ever get bored. I always have plenty to do.

I was watching HGTV the other afternoon. I rarely watch TV during the day...but it was one of the days that the wind was just howling and the sand was blowing, and I felt like if I didn't find something to take my mind off of it I would go crazy, so I tuned it.

Anyway I can't remember what the name of the show was, but the object of the show was that this couple was looking for a new house and they were given 3 to choose from. Now the house they were moving out of was most defiantly not a shack. It was gorgeous. But they were just out growing it. They had 2 children and not enough room. I think it was a just over 2500 sq. feet. Bless their hearts. I am saying that with sarcasm.

Anyway as I sat and watched this show, what struck me was what a spoiled generation we are. Here they had this beautiful home. But it just wasn't suited for their needs. They needed a home office, they needed a couple of fireplaces. They needed a pool, they needed this and they needed that. A bigger kitchen, with updated appliances, for the one meal they ate at home once or twice a week. It was just crazy.

They finally found their dream home the price of which, after about $ 60,000 of renovations was around $ 765,000.000. They had two fireplaces put in, a pool and the kitchen was"dated" so it needed an upgrade. And I forgot all what else they did. And this was not an old house, it was only several years old. How could anything a few years old be "dated"?

My grandmother spent several months in a tent up at Dalhart Texas while they broke ground with dozer so they could plant wheat. She cooked 3 meals during the day on an old woodburning cook stove, and on top of this she had a new baby in diapers. She would haul water from the stock tank to wash dishes and diapers. That is just what you did. You worked with what you had.You didn't sit around and whine because you didn't have 2 bathrooms on the upper floor. You were lucky if you had a bathroom at all. To this day the old outhouse is still standing on our homeplace.

I have to say that at times when I watch those shows it makes me discontent with what the Lord has provided for myself and my family. It makes me see all the things wrong with what I have. Our house is old. It isn't even our house. If belongs to the ranch Dh works for. We only have 1 bathroom. One bathroom for 5 people. It is drafty, it leaks dirt, we never have enough room. But you know what? I am grateful to have a roof over my head. I am grateful that when I step out on my porch all I see is sky and miles of nothing. And all I hear is quite. I am grateful that we have always had these small houses because it has forced us as a family to learn how to share. Now at times it has been a trail, not alot of privacy. And the kids have fought as kids do about sharing a room and such. But I don't think it has damaged them beyond repair. They seem fairly normal, whatever normal is.


I am not living for what is in this world anyway. One of these day's the Lord has promised me a mansion. I can' t wait. I just hope it has mud room!

God Bless and Happy Trails
Ranch Wife