Birthday Extravaganza

The month of March is full of birthdays. If you count back nine months, what is that?  June?  You automatically think June weddings.  A lot of them are not the first-born, though. Perhaps people attending weddings are reminded of their wedding/honeymoons? Eh?

It is chili today.

Cooking up a batch of chili today. It will taste better tomorrow, right? Maybe I can fix grilled cheese today and we can chow on this tomorrow.

Then I am going to work on my bathroom. Right?  Right? right..?

Slow going

The basement is a priority compared to my upstairs bathroom. I am still washing wall paper paste off the walls in the bathroom. Tedious job.

Downstairs, they have Clorox'f the floor and added the first coat of primer in preparation for the new carpet.

The smells have slayed me. I have taken a migraine pill and it has kept the fumes from ripping my head apart (just barely). The smells still make me woozy, especially after I come in from taking the dogs outside.

It was a Chinese food fest last night and I don't want to see Chinese food for at least a year or so. Tonight it looks like sloppy Jo's and french fries. That should change the smell factor in the house. Oh, yeah!

Mutant grape

I found this in a bunch of grapes at work the other day. I painted clear finger nail polish on it and snapped a photo of it. Yeah, I have THAT kind of job.

The other staff members and I laughed at how it looked a bit like a pumpkin/gourd.

I am not looking forward to seeing it tomorrow. It was looking a bit peaked on Friday.

Moving fast

We did see the trotters on Saturday. They were moving pretty good. Quite a few "broke" . After reading the terms and definitions from the link I just provided I read that "cross fire" is the term my daughter had asked me about on Saturday.  She wondered if the front leg/foot ever hit the back one. She said "you know, like when  your ankle bones smack together when you are running?'' Well, I cringed - the brought up some memories. Ouch!

It was a beautiful day Saturday. Not too hot. Warm but with a breeze. We tired ourselves out pretty good walking around. I topped my day off with a fair sausage sandwich. She wanted nothing. I threw the elephant ear and funnel cake away. I had brought them home. Can you believe nobody ate them?

The blueberries have it

This is the banana bread recipe I have been making for years. It is in my Pillsbury cookbook. As you can see this is one of the pages that looks a bit used. I copied the recipe to the back of an old used envelope so I would not have to haul this old cookbook out any more. The pages are delicate and beginning to come out.

I (re) use old envelopes from the mail for shopping lists, to do lists, notes and recipes.

I only began adding blueberries to this recipe a couple of months ago. Today I tried strawberries.

Nah. We voted, blueberries are the best with this.

No nuts in the house. Well, no edible English walnuts in the house. Wink, wink.

Blueberry banana bread

This picture does not do the bread justice. I had some very ripe bananas and decided to make my banana bread (or Pillsbury,s rather) and having lots of blueberries decided to try adding them. It turned out great! Very moist. I also just happened to have mixed berry cream cheese (for some blueberry bagels I had picked up) and the combination was heaven.

We can't stop eating it. My daughter and her boyfriend both insisted on taking a loaf to work with them today. I awoke with a stomach ache (having imbibed in two small pieces right before retiring). That will teach me. Pfffttt!

Sake

I had my first "intentional" sake last evening. When a group of us went a couple of years ago, the performing chefs squirted some in our wide open mouths with a squeeze bottle. Hell, could have been water they were squirting at us for all I know.

I liked the immediate "punch" feeling that it gave me. The atmosphere was right. I was with other women from work. I had an empty stomach. The air was full of friendship, laughter and gossip. The first little tiny cup of sake went down quickly and "bang", I was buzzed.

As with all alcohol, after you eat a meal - that same little cup of sake has no effect. Or not near as much. I long remember the days where I had to keep that buzz going and food was forfeited and in return I was blessed with a long, painful hangover the next morning. Ah, those were the days. (NOT!)

Free Lunch

Sorry this photo became skewed. I lifted it off the Internets. Anyway, the photo is the closest I could find to the lunch plates that were used when I was in grade school.

I am having a hard time deciding if I am going to post about this topic or not. Thirty, twenty and even ten years ago I would never have considered it. I try not to talk about these things.

For many reason. First and foremost is - I don't want pity. I don't want people to think I want pity, either. That bothers me beyond belief.

But, I read a post today that got me to thinking.

Free lunches, free breakfasts in schools.

So many people say it is a great idea - how nice to help the needy.

Today's kids are different than we were back in the 50's and 60's. In that era it was a SHAME to get a free lunch. Breakfasts were not even considered, yet. My Mom told me that when our brother (1953) signed up for free lunches the teacher would write their names on the chalkboard. That is right. The entire list of students who were to get a free lunch written for all the world to see. The "haves" had a field day teasing the "have nots".

Since that time my Mom never let us sign up for free anything again. She lined up five brown bags (at that time five of us were in school) every morning and we ate a bologna sandwich, one small orange and about three cookies every day. It was twenty years before I could touch bologna again. To this day I won't eat it with mayonnaise.  In high school I just did not eat lunch.

And, every time I eat a sandwich or an orange, my stomach wants those three damn cookies. Well, okay - my brain wants the three damn cookies. Funny thing, I never seem to want the orange. My brain is completely satisfied skipping the orange but never the cookies. Sigh.

Anyway, for those that think it is a wonderful idea - it is. But consider this. It ain't so wonderful for the child who gets ridiculed by other students and teachers (OH YES THEY DO) when you are getting something free. There is always a teacher or two who believe she is paying for your lunch right out of her pocket and she wants to make certain that you are aware of where that money (lunch) is coming from.

A co-worker told me a story her daughter shared about just such an incident. This incident (which I hope my co-worker reported to the school superintendent) was about her daughter sitting with a friend at lunch. The friend had chosen a salad for lunch. A teacher came up behind the child and snapped "You better eat ALL that salad because I paid for it! Why didn't you get a peanut butter sandwich or something?"  TRUE!  As if to say that the free loaders need only have a bland sandwich and were not entitled to a more healthy fresh salad as privileged children are. My friend's daughter was confused. She asked her Mom why the teacher paid for her friends' lunches. I don't recall  how my co-worker handled the question. She is a wonderful and bright lady, so I am certain her daughter learned something valuable that day.

2013 folks. It is alive and well in our schools today. Shame on the children of the lousy free loaders!

In the post I read I came across the word discrete. The free food is given to the students in need discretely. Really? Does a machine give them the food? Because if there is a human handing out that free food there is always going to be talk. That human tells another human who gets the free lunches. Really - they do. They can't seem to help themselves. Pretty soon a dozen people now know who gets free hand outs. And if even one person has a chip on their shoulder about a family getting free stuff because the father is no good (must be his wife's fault) then it all comes pouring out.

My older sister and brother tell me stories of their youth. Before they became old enough to help the family begin to stand on our own and not rely on hand outs. My father was a drunk. There, I said it. He barely worked. My Mom had 8 children. She was not able to work outside the home, although she did get flack from the welfare agency as to why she thought she could not work and provide for her family and of course they made her feel like it was her fault that my dad was a drunk, etc..

That stopped the welfare. My Mom refused to go back. My older brother joined the Air Force and began sending money home. My older sister put herself through college, worked two jobs and paid the bills with the help from my older brother. They are still close today and live together and help each other. And they still hand money out to the siblings that just keep asking for it. Sigh. I don't know why. It is ingrained in them, I suppose.

Enough of that. It makes me want to vomit just re-reading what I wrote. If you do comment, please do not comment about that. Thanks.

Back to discrete and human nature. I worked as a data entry operator in the early 80's. The business was food distribution to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, bars and diners. At one point a saleslady came up to me with an order and she said "This order is for the shelter for abused and battered women."  She said "You know where it is, don't you?"  And before I could utter no or any other word she proceeded to tell me where this shelter was. I did NOT need to know. I was not the driver or delivery person. Sheesh. Why couldn't she have kept her mouth shut? Then I began thinking about all the people who actually knew where the shelter is physically located - and then how safe is that? Every policeman would know. The fire department would know. The creepy truck drivers we employed would know. The sleazy salesmen we have would all have know. Discrete my ass. Sorry. No such thing.

Deep frying the turkey

The "guys" busy at work frying the turkey. Every year the office I work out of has a Thanksgiving lunch where everybody brings a covered dish. We have a wonderful lady who brings a roaster full of turkey with delicious juices. We usually run out and it is too much for her so we decided to supplement with a second turkey. I think they were nervous that the meat be a true 165º that it was a bit dry, but hey - it was delicious! And we had plenty of gravy.

Of course wouldn't you know that the main guy doing the frying is a volunteer fireman. If you are related to -  or a friend of a fireman then you know they are the most dangerous! LOL! I finally talked him into having a fire extinguisher on hand. They are just so daring because 'They've seen it all!'

This year I brought the jiffy cornbread cream corn pudding. I had doubled the batch and it was so creamy when I mixed it I was worried about it being done in the middle. So I cooked it too long and it was dry. Some recipes called for sugar and some did not so I was nervous about the sugar so I added very little. Another mistake. Next time (and there WILL be a next time) I am adding more sugar and not baking it as long.

I battled my headache all day. We were all running around getting our covered dishes ready, many dishes were in and out of the oven all morning in our office kitchen. I had to run back home to get crackers since I had forgotten them. I also take hot pepper jelly with cream cheese for folks to nibble on during the morning as they try to wait until the food is ready and lunch time. With all the fantastic smells we are all just walking around drooling.

We did not have fun and games (I am usually the one who creates the trivia and a game or two) but I told them about my migraine and I just could not do any more. The big laugh though was the fact that I had put my top on inside-out. The office secretary came up to me in the food line and whispered that fact to me. I laughed and said "I wondered why it looked so light today. I just thought perhaps I had goofed and washed it with a load of whites and bleached it!"

It got a good laugh from everybody and I loved it! I finished getting my food, set my plate down and proceeded to the restroom to turn my top inside-right. I quipped "You are all lucky I even managed to put a top ON today, with the way I feel!"

After lunch, I had time to sit quietly and just work. My headache finally subsided enough. But, I had a hair appointment. The good thing about that is somebody is scrubbing my head (always makes my headache feel better) but I was getting the roots colored so the smell was going to be an issue. Waiting for the dye to finish setting I literally fell asleep twice in the chair.

I have no appointments or events this week-end so I can lay low and just chill out. Give my body time to rest and if I want to take a nap, I will.

Until I read sister 1944's e-mail. She is very depressed. Me (being me) told her to give me a day and time and I would be there to listen and to paint love all over her. Because that is what family does and that is what sisters are for. I truly believe that those raised with nothing and in poverty conditions have a much stronger and beautiful bond with their siblings. And I truly believe it is more precious than any amount of money and you better believe that I am humbly grateful that I was fortunate enough to be born into such a family. My cup runneth over this Thanksgiving.

Hey...what? Runneth is not a word, blogger?  Aw - shame on you!  Alright - dictionary.com says it is not a word, either. Too bad. I am using it and I am keeping it because I heard it a lot growing up!

Two dollars

Is this not the cutest thing? I have a co-worker who made this at the dinner we went to Wednesday evening. I had very new crisp dollar bills and she showed off her skill. She said her husband is very good at it and kids just surround him to watch him work if he is out in public and doing this.

I have been slammed the past few days. Day and night. Of course a migraine started to creep up on me yesterday. I overslept. Had no memory of turning off my alarm. I was scheduled to drive to a little tiny school 55 miles away in a cow pasture. Just to arrive and find out the tech did not know to try turning the equipment off and then back on. That was all that was needed. I blame myself for part of it because he is new and when I told him to check to see that the equipment had power, they usually turn it off and back on and I neglected to detail that fact.

I was literally falling asleep on the long drive back. I picked a spot halfway and parked the car. I literally crashed for an hour. In the car! Of course it was not a good sleep as I chose Roscoe Village and there were many slamming car doors and the sun had started to come out and I was using my coat as a pillow (must wash coat!) and it smelled.

So, that was my lunch hour. I fired the car back up and went on to the next scheduled stop. This is the juvenile center for wayward young adults. The building is brand spanking new and next to the county prison. The last visit I had there was not a pleasant one. I had many complications getting in and getting co-operation.

This time I must have done something right. I had called and arranged my visit before hand with the right person. I was not given any grief whatsoever - people were as nice as can be. I didn't fix the problem but it was a nice visit. Except for the fact that the wiring closet has no shelf,  no table, nothing to balance my laptop on. Did you know that a lap does not exist until one sits down? Hah!

I had to plop on the very cold cement floor in what I would guess to be a three feet by three foot room. It was freezing in there. I spent about an hour. I moved around a good bit and got up several times.I had to stand outside in the hall with the door propped open to get cell phone service to call the telco to help troubleshoot. If the door closed, I was not getting back in until I went to find an employee. Few and far between. If I stepped back inside the closet the network went dead and I would lose my very precious call to the telco. You can imagine what steps you have to go through to get back into the queue and actually get a human on the other end of the telephone.

Sometimes when you have to deal with conditions like this and then the people at the site are nasty and mean - you just want to chuck it all and go back to your warm office with the fake leather chair and relax. Sometimes it just sucks to spend so much time being this uncomfortable and you just throw in the towel for the day. The only problem with this action is that you know you have to come back out here at some point and try again.

And the stupid headache does not help. It is hard to think in this condition. The day finally ended and I moved on to the grocery store where I needed to get a few supplies to make a dish for the office luncheon we are having today.

I signed up to bring in the creamy corn pudding made with jiffy cornbread.  I don't know why I keep choosing recipes I have never tried before. Sigh.

I am not a chef

Yah. I'd like to meet the sick S.O.B. who thought it might be a great idea to take hot cabbage leaves and attempt to roll loose ground beef, sausage and rice in it?  Really? Seriously?  I must have used every damn toothpick in the house!

I swear - I nearly needed therapy when I was finished with this mess.

Ah....but it tasted divine!

Could have been the prednisone.  :)

Warmth

(Photo lifted from the tavern's web page)

It was a cold, blustery day when we headed out after work. Eight of us in three different vehicles. We drove for over an hour and we braved the brisk air to scurry inside a beautiful, warm and glowing barn-like building. Full of good smells and decorations. The hostess walked us past table after table of smiling diners. As we walked the age-old wooden floor beams we passed fireplace after fireplace.

Winding our way through the rooms and hallways, we finally ended our journey in a room next to the kitchen. With no fireplace. Zilch. None. Boo! My face fell. Ah, well.

We were still in for a treat. I had prepared myself for the sticker shock by looking the menu up on line and the gal who arranged this night out warned us also. Pricey. Indeed, it is. You can see the menu yourself. It is really no different than some of the wineries I have been to, though.

I usually save a few dollars by refusing to order anything to drink (table water is fine), refusing to order an appetizer and skipping dessert. Those three items can cost as much as the entrée. I heard one of the gals say she did not bring near enough money. She ordered the house salad and an appetizer. I saw the appetizer when it came. What a disappointment. It was so tiny. She had ordered the pasta pinwheels. It was no bigger than a skinny hot dog bun. Actually since I didn't want to stare it may have been smaller than that.

I ordered filet. I was prepared for the cost. I was not disappointed, nor were any of the others (as far as I know) - except the poor gal who ordered the appetizer. She raved about the salad dressing on her salad, though. I should have been more daring and ordered a dish that raved about the toppings and sauces that sounded so delicious. My steak was good but not the best I have ever eaten. The baked potato was just that - a baked potato. The vegetables were cooked correctly, but no great sauce or taste accompanied them. There was no salad with the meal - salads were extra. The bread was warm and very good - it was complimentary. They were out of duck. I have never eaten duck. I did not want to order lamb (my mom never fixed lamb - she raised baby lambs and had to live through them being slaughtered and refused to eat them and she passed that on to her children),  and I don't eat veal .

My niece used to work here. I do know that Reagan dined here and I have heard that Quayle stayed overnight here. This is a tourist sort of place, but there are no malls, no metropolis for miles, it is out in the middle of nowhere.

I have wanted to dine here for years, and now I can finally say "Been there! It was great!"

Relaxation

This photo was taken last month. I was visiting my "north" friends (previous co-workers). This friend has had this little camper on the lake for maybe more than 15 years. She was going to sell it once but I am so glad she did not. It is a beautiful spot by the lake.

Across the way there is their big shelter house. The president of the board of this campsite had a son getting married. The wedding party arrived in big decked out golf carts. The photo is dark, but you can see them a little bit parked on the lakeside of the big white tent.

This day was hot. The weather today won't reach above 65º Fahrenheit in my neck of the woods. I have an outdoor genealogy picnic to attend. My jacket is clean and ready.

I have made my calico beans that a lot of my family enjoys. Here is a similar recipe to what I use for my calico beans.  I am running behind or I would look up my recipe and post it. Gotta go!

Mixed Nuts

You are going to have to excuse my ignorance about this one. At the time I read it, I did not know that there was a difference between a peanut (legume) allergy and other "real" nuts. I did not know that somebody allergic to peanuts can safely eat other nuts. Sometimes.

But why would you even take the chance?

Before I was educated on peanut allergy (forgive me for not knowing) the wording of this recall just cracked me up.  I was like "Really?!"  To me it was obvious that anybody with a peaNUT allergy would steer clear from a package of mixed nuts. Oh, contraire!

Well, here's hoping that all packages get out of the consumer's hands safely and anybody who has an actually peanut allergy can eat anything called "mixed nuts" safely.

I go here at least once a week:  http://www.recalls.gov/     and choose "Recent Recalls" and catch up on many different types of recalls. Cars, tires, childrens' toys/clothing, food etc...

Random

I closed my eyes and picked a picture from the archives. This is what you get. Vegetable beef soup. Or beef vegetable soup. Whichever way you want to phrase it. It is a winter dish. I made pot roast with potatoes and carrots this past week end but I did not get any pics of that. It went way too fast. :)

Mmmmm...spaghetti!

An actual text conversation on my phone:

Coming in from a number I do not recognize...

"I think you should come to our "name of city" fire department spaghetti dinner tomorrow."

I replied:

"I do too. Who is this?"

A.S.S.

Al$0 $a!t $ubstitue.  From here on out, known as ASS. I purchased a box of six in December for my nephew for Christmas. Well, I was going to keep a couple. I ordered online from here. 

They replied in an e-mail stating it would take 4 - 6 weeks to deliver. Ah, well. Not in time for Christmas but no big deal. I kind of forgot in January. I sent an e-mail in February. Waited two weeks. I called them and left a voice message. No return call.

Two days later I called again. The lady looked up my order and said they would ship it next Friday. I waited two weeks. Nothing.

I called again and left a voice message. I will call every day if I have to. WTF?!

My daughter saw the doctor last week. She has hypertension. At 21 years old. Crap! I have always had low blood pressure or very good BP. I used salt periodically but in the past five years or so I have craved it so much. I buried the salt deep into the back of the cupboard. She never adds salt to anything. She does however, eat too many frozen entreés and pizzas. And fast food. She refuses to cook. (I buried the salt so I would stop).

Food tastes SO bland. The reading material the doctor (or rather - nurse practitioner) gave her said - no salt substitutes. She is okay with that, but I wouldn't mind the opportunity if I only HAD the chance to try it.

I will go to the store and get another substitute for myself - but good gawd! ASS is on my shit list.

Hey, and what about the new terminology:  "She got salty with me."  When did "salty" become the euphemism for cranky or bitchy or nasty?  LOL! 

I am about ready to get really salty with ASS. I will make it my goal for the year. To harass the hell out of this company until I get my product. I am rather certain it is a little too late to go to my credit card and have it removed. It was billed to me in December after all. I don't know what the time limit is. It is more the principle of the thing, now. You want salty? I'll give you salty.

So, there I was in the grocery store yesterday reading labels. Sodium, sodium, sodium. Picking the cereal with the lowest sodium. Surprising. Ketchup and mustard - not as bad as we thought. I have always purchased my tuna in water - and I can still rinse it before adding it.

My daughter loves tuna noodle casserole. It is the cheese that is going to cause problems. I could not find any low-sodium cheese. I will keep looking at other grocery stores and specialty stores. I will mix half and half so we don't have a totally tasteless casserole. We also love nachos. The three ingredients that she likes are the cheese, nacho chips and the beef. I always purchase 96% lean ground beef, but it is the taco mix that may have the sodium. The cheese will also - but I am not certain we can even eat the nachos with a low sodium baked nacho chip. We can try. Or limit ourselves.

Stopping the canned vegetables. I only buy peas and green beans canned. I know you can buy low sodium but - no thanks. I am thinking baked beans will be a thing of the past for us. I'll go with the frozen vegetables. Or fresh, of course. Produce is lousy this time of year. And the prices just keep going up, up, up. Iceberg (head) lettuce was $2.00 each. Good grief. Head lettuce isn't the only thing hit hard. All greens are affected because of the weather this year.

I used to love grocery shopping. Now it is UGH.

Rice noodles and vegetables

Yum. Saturday night - near the beginning of the meal. The cook is tossing an egg in the air. The ladies at the far end? Sister 1954 and 1956. Sure, they are getting along here. Five hours later after continuous drinking - eh...not so much. I do not drink with them. I have maybe two drinks and stop. I am on too much medication. One sister did not take her high blood pressure medication that morning "so she could drink."  I know, I know - don't look at me! The other one - does not eat all day and gave her food from this meal to a nephew.

They were staying at my house. They went to a bar with another nephew and I was to pick them up at 11 p.m. Except (of course) they were not ready to leave. They went to a big dance place. There must have been hundreds of cars in this tiny parking area. Cars were backing up, moving and all over the place. How anybody went home that night with their vehicle still in tact was beyond me. Sober eyes (mine) watching outside a dance club for over half an hour while I waited on my nephew to round up my sisters was a real eye opener.

Another reason I do not drink any more. The hangovers. My God - the hangovers. I would throw up so much I thought my head was going to fly off. The pain was so great.

Speaking of hangovers...this trip I went on for work? This past Monday through Wednesday? Two fellows from my establishment drank Monday night on one of the vendor's bill. The group I was with stayed away. We went out to dinner on our own. We are not drinkers. One of those fellows made it to the convention Tuesday, but the other ?... stayed in the room throwing up all day. Your tax payers money - hard at work! The money that pays for this is not from a levy or your local taxes. It is earmarked from the state as "pr0fe$$ional devel0pment."  Nothing much pr0fessional going on here.

Burgers and stories

Here is the burger menu from the diner. While I sat there waiting for my meal to arrive, two guys came in and sat in the booth behind me. They were continuing a conversation that must have been started in the truck. One guy was speaking of a girl he had met on facebook while he was in the service. He kind of went into detail and at one time mentioned that she was a sexual deviant. I was hoping that they would change the subject. At one point I started giggling (I could not help it) and I think he must have realized because they finally changed the subject.  Anyway, I got the idea that she left him high and dry.

By the way - he ordered the Italian Stallion. LOL! You should have seen me trying to get a peek of him as I checked out but did not want to make eye contact with him. Too funny! I should have said something clever like "What do you expect from somebody you meet on facebook?"  But that would not be fair to the ones who did meet on facebook and have a great relationship. I usually don't make waves unless I have sister back up or I am in my own territory.