Tommy Cooks! Pay Attention

Friday night, for some reason my stomach hurt. I had eaten oats because I was starving. Right below my breastbone, if felt like a rock was inside me. I did not feel well at all. I told him he needed to cook his own dinner--a pork chop. He agreed. He did ask if he needed to put oil in the pan. No. 

Of course, I had to talk him through the process. There were still collards and cole slaw, so frying one pork chop was all he had to do. First, he wanted to know if he needed to put oil in the teflon-like pan. No. Since the pork chop was partially frozen, I told him to put a bit of water, like two tbsp of water just to thaw it in a heated pan. No, I don't boil our meat. When the water boiled away, he said he turned it on simmer to cook it. 

Well, I told him to turn it up and brown it. He still wanted to know about oil. I told him to put maybe a tsp of oil in the pan. I did tell him to salt and pepper it just a bit. He ate it and had a good meal without my cooking by adding slaw and collards to his plate. When I feel better, later or tomorrow, I will cook mine. 

One day, I looked up and Tommy was carrying the yellow Tupperware cannister out of the living room and into the kitchen. I said nothing. I keep noticing things are disappearing from the bookcase between the front door and his chair. Good job. He is making the place look better for company and us! 

It is very cold and windy here. The wind snatched the storm door from my hand as we went out. I made a decision--we are not going anywhere Saturday since it is going to be even colder! Tommy is more than okay with that. 

I have 3 pounds of hamburger meat thawing. Tomorrow, I will make another pot of soup. We ate all the last gallon and never froze any. Soup, even the same kind will be good for the next few days when it will be so cold out. 

Well, another comment on the chair is forthcoming. Tommy said the chair is sort of hard. I call it firm. The thing I did not like about the La z boy recliner was that it sort of enveloped me. It was squishy. I sit on top of this chair and like it. Before we got our chairs, Tommy was adamant that he was not covering his new one. Eeww, sleeping and eating in it would make it gross. He slept and ate in his old chair for about 12 years with nothing on the chair. But, as soon as the guys delivering them left, I suggested he get the quilt I had out here. He immediately covered his chair and we both make sure we cover our chairs when the quilt slides off. We tell each other when the quilt has slipped off and a head is touching the chair.

From 6 pm until 10:30 pm, I kept hearing loud noises outside. Tommy said all the banging around was just car doors, people coming and going up and down the street. Well, it sounded like someone was throwing a ball at the carport wall. The utility room door does not fit well or stay closed. He went out and put a piece of cardboard in the door to keep it shut. Well, then he went out and put the cardboard in tighter or something. Finally, the noise was driving me mad. I asked him if someone was in my car in the carport. He went out to drag a bag of soil in front of the door. The noise stopped. The woman whose bedroom is next to carport probably was as irritated as I. 

Even though it was Friday night, these people around here are not noisy or apt to be out much at night, so I doubted it was car doors. No one had lights on and there were no moving vans, so where was the noise? I suppose I will have to apologize to the woman next door. 

He downplays everything. When I smelled gas at his gas meter, he said he could not smell it at the front door and that the only reason I could smell it was I went to the meter at the side of the house. It was not a bad lek. He finally called the gas company "to shut me up." Yes, we had a leak. Yes, I complained nonstop. 

It is now 5:30 am on Saturday morning, and I cannot sleep. 

Has your persistence in raising the alarm ever solved a problem or averted a catastrophe?