It smells...good and bad..

Some time during the last week of Holly's life, a cat peed on the floor next to my love seat, perhaps several times. I don't know which cat but it was, but probably, hopefully, Holly. It smelled awful, and for the last week I've been scrubbing on the floor but not finding the right spot or method to remove the stench. I picked up some enzyme cleaner with an orange fragrance because the scented one was on sale. The combination of orange and cat urine was nauseating and I'd had about all I could take. I wanted to avoid my usual nest because of it. I know the enzyme cleaner works! I've proven it for myself several times. So I had to conclude that I wasn't getting it into the right spot.

Tonight, when I got home, I moved all the furniture away from that space, put about two inches of hot water into a bucket, added some cleaner, and preceded to pour it all over the floor determining the parameters by nose. I scrubbed it in with my fingers and then sucked it up with the little green clean machine. Then I poured full strength cleanser on the floor in generous quantities and worked it in with my fingers. I allowed it to sit for about 20 minutes and slurped up the excess with the green machine. It smells incredibly orange but I don't smell urine at all. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I got it and that the carpet will dry. I'll use the green machine again to bring up any excess water if it hasn't dried in a couple of days but the enzymatic cleaner works as it dries so I want to give it a chance to work.

While the living room smells distinctly citrus, the kitchen smells wonderful! Before starting on the floor project, I started tamale chicken in the crockpot and set a chicken stock (with some chicken) to steep with onions, garlic, carrots, and parsnips. I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I had cooked a whole chicken in the crockpot and couldn't let the juices go to waste. The carcass simmered overnight and needed some flavoring. Besides, my parsnips needed cooked. I found a recipe for creamy cauliflower soup that I will use part of the stock for tomorrow. Tonight it is cooling- I've strained out all the bits and pieces but suspect it will need another skimming, once it cools, to remove more fat.

The tamale chicken smells great but it's a new recipe for me so I'm not sure what to expect. It's fairly low carb and makes good use of the chicken that I just can't eat plain.

It starts with onions and green chilies. Then adds sour cream, olives, cheese, cream of chicken soup (I used mushroom because I didn't have chicken), a can of beef tamales, chopped, chicken (8 chicken breast halves but I used the whole chicken and it looked adequate), a can of stewed tomatoes, chili powder, garlic powder, and pepper. It's mixed all together and topped with more cheese. It looks like the best sort of glop and smells divine! I'll have it for lunch tomorrow with some avocado and more sour cream.