Black Eyed Pea Weather

 Tommy knew of an urgent care that I had never seen. I went there and got prescription. I took it about 5 pm and now at 10:30 pm, I feel somewhat better. Maybe I am just hopeful. 

Dinner of chuck roast, collard greens and banana over chocolate ice cream did help me feel better. I need blueberries now. I am just now sorting the peas. 

Today, the day was warm and beautiful. Sunday will be much colder and freezing temps at night. So, a sheet will have to go over plants. I am putting on blackeyed peas. The only prep I need is to find my gloves and red scarf. 

My pink mum that changed back and forth from pale pink to pale lavender finally faded to almost white. Now, it is back to a vivid but still pale color. I have never had a mum change colors like that. 

While at the urgent care, I asked the np to look at a pressure wound, she obliged me. Tommy is not good at telling me anything looks like. I got this pressure wound from sitting too much. She told me that a ring to sit on made hemorrhoids worse. I don't have hemorrhoids, but the news is good to know just in case. 

As I was throwing away the bag from the peas, I saw the nutrients listed. I was shocked to find there were 9 grams of protein in 1/4 cup. Then, I looked on the back and saw there were 24 grams of carbs. Who eats only 1/4 of black eyed peas? I can eat a bowlful for dinner. 

Maybe I will cook brown rice to mix with the peas. I love brown rice and black eyed peas with no seasoning of any type, not even salt. I may freeze some of these for New Years in case I don't get around to cooking these again. 

I just asked Tommy if he ever ate catsup on his black eyed peas. "Hell NO! That sounds awful!" Well, I have. Have you? Mostly, I eat them plain or with relish.

Publix BSCB and Other Stuff

 Tommy took a list I made from our perusing of the Publix ad. This is what he bought.

$2.99 24 oz zucchini

$2.54 x 2 Quaker Cinnamon Life (bogo--$5.07)

$1.40 x 2 Hormel No Beans Chili (bogo--$2.79)

$6.69 x 3 Diet Coke - $6.69 (b2g1)= $13.38 

$13.99 x1 People Magazine 

The man loves zucchini cooked in olive oil with garlic, so he chose zucchini over yellow squash. He should have bought both. He had circled the Life cereal, so it went on the list. I certainly did not know he liked this. But, he is onto the bogo thing, and this was bogo, so he will eat it. Unfortunately, I get the urge for chili over a hotdog and have no No Bean Chili. the price is always appalling. But, at $1.40 a can, it is not so expensive. I will freeze half the can or more since Tommy does not like chili over a hotdog. 

His Diet Pepsi was not on sale, so he settled on Diet Coke. I would have nixed this price, but I will explain to him why it can be gotten cheaper. Not a problem, though! He told me about the Betty White edition of People when he went in last time. I was exclaiming how I wanted it. So, he surprised me with the edition. 

Total--$43.82 Saved--$17.17

The Hormel, Kraft Mac and cheese is stock up. Coke, zucchini, and Life for use now. 

Monday, for dinner Tommy ate turkey, blackeyed peas, pasta, and cranberry sauce. I had a piece of cold turkey since it delicious cold and blackeyed peas (hot), half a banana. 

All the Christmas decorations are still here. I don't know when I will get around to putting it away. The trip to the grocery store where I sat in the car exhausted me. So, I am not pushing it. 

I forced myself to stand and hold onto the counter and load the dishwasher while Tommy handed me the dishes. Then, Tommy washed the rest of the items that would not fit, like large bowls. It will be an ordeal to get them out, but, of course, Tommy will help.     

Tuesday now and it was frigid overnight, below freezing. However, I was warm in bed wearing a sweatshirt over my thin, short summer nightgown. At least, the day will be dry! 

The most I will pay for boneless, skinless chicken breasts (BSCB) is $1.99. However, I will buy Publix bscb for more. They are $4.99/lb. now. But, bogo they will be half that. The reason I will pay that much is because the breasts other places are poorly trimmed. I am sick and tired of paying for gobs of fat, bones in the shoulder of the chicken, and long strings of whatever it is. I feel like I am still coming close to my $1.99 limit. 

I will buy two big packages today and cook one with a huge package of thighs. The turkey has one or two more helpings of meat left. So, I need to cook another batch of protein. The turkey went a long way and has certainly helped when I have not felt like cooking. This was the turkey that cost $0.49/lb. and was cooked on Thursday, I think. 

Okay, my turkey sandwich for breakfast killed off the turkey. 

What kind of decoration do you use as a celebration or homage to Valentine's Day? The day after Christmas employees were shoving the shelves full of Valentine's red hearts and cupids. I had a heart-shaped cake pan that I could bake a cake or use to make a heart meatloaf. Now, I may hang a heart on the front door. Maybe the amaryllis will be blooming by Valentine's Day!

Blackeyed peas, Explained.

 If you are not familiar with the Southern Tradition of eating blackeyed  peas on New Year's Day for luck in the upcoming year, the explanations in Mental Floss will be interesting.

We will never have a full meal  for Christmas since I am barely up to getting out of bed! Since I just got up from a nap, I will try to load the dishwasher with the usual help from Tommy. 

For brunch, I had half a banana and I think I had milk. Who knows? At almost 5 pm, I had a plain turkey sandwich with Miracle Whip.  Tommy can eat anything he can find. 

Yesterday, I threw out a bottle of MW that was getting too spicy. Today, I opened a new bottle and it was sweet and creamy. YUM! There was not much left in the bottle I threw out. I over bought last summer. Oh, well, still saved money. 

Sitting right here in the living room, you will find me sorting blackeyed peas. Of course, I will do it dry and then rinse the beans later. The crock pot cooks them perfectly. I don't mind if they get a bit mushy. I wish I had some chow chow. I might eat them plain or with some catsup.

Do you eat blackeyed peas? With Chow chow? Catsup? What?

Happy New Year!

Doc and Blackeyed Peas

 Okay, I called doctor's office and talked with nurse or rather to answering machine. She called back and told me they were slammed, too. Doc said to come to the lab and contribute since I thought it was a uti. 

I would have gone to AFC, but lines on TV discouraged me. That place would have been perfect, but not right now. 

The nurse just called and, yes, it is uti. So, the malaise that I diagnosed a week ago was actually an infection! Only when I had pain in my right flank, chills, slight headache, pain behind navel, did I actually believe I was ill. Actually, the chills nailed it. 

When I had Tommy look for the blackeyed peas, he could not locate them. I have no desire to look, nor am I able. So, I bought more at Publix. My new camera came and I thought it included an sd card. Nope, must have been another camera I considered. Then, I had to buy a new sd card at Publix at an exorbitant price. UGH!!

It seems all my packages are thrown onto the porch! Or, they are placed beyond our reach. Doesn't a ramp tell you the people living in the house cannot be trying to step over pots and plants to get to package? 

While coming in from doctor, I took the wreath off the door. So, the undoing begins. Tommy will undress the tree. I will cover the fake poinsettia. We are leaving the battery-powered candles for the rest of the year. There was low-key decorating this year, so it is easy to get down. 

When my older daughter was about 5 or 6, she and I were in the kitchen. I was cleaning up after dinner, and she was trying to clean a few black eyed peas off her plate. She was very sad as she said she did not think she could eat anymore "eye beans because they are looking at me." Of course, I laughed. She was so cute and funny. She did not have to finish the beans, just eat a few.

I will cook the whole pound and freeze them in portions for us. Are you having blackeyed peas for luck in the New Year? What else might you do or eat for luck in the New Year? Does is come from another culture?

Counting Coins and Blackeyed Peas

 Suddenly, I decided to count my change that I have put into the Tootsie Roll bank that Tootsie Rolls come in. When I started using a debit card almost exclusively, I still had a bit of change. That went into the jar, but it was about $2 because I had not used money much, and I never wanted to touch what change I had. 

Since I wanted it counted, I asked Tommy to do so. . . lol He took it and counted it for me and recorded the number of each coin. 

Once, I had stuffed a $1 bill in, too. Why? I don't know, just to boost the count I suppose. So, here it is. 

Pennies 89

nickels 33

dimes 31

quarters 45

One-dollar bill 1

Total $17.89

I think I will just stick it back in the bank unless I figure out something to do with it. I may use it to buy purses for my Pink Purse Charity. 

Of course, we had blackeyed peas for New Years. Usually, I buy the cheapest I can find, $0.99/lb. When the panic buying started, I decided to up my count of beans by another pound. Only, none were left at any price. Then, one day, I passed the bean aisle, and found one lone bag of beans, one pound of Camelia. 

I paid $2.49/lb and was just horrified. The only dried beans I ever buy or eat are Navy Beans, Great Northern Beans, and Blackeyed Peas. And, I have never paid over about one dollar per pound. But, I bought them. 

Last year, I cooked them in the crock pot for New Year's Day. Usually BEPs fall apart and can go to mush before I can finish the pot. Well, these BEPs did not fall apart at all. Even after 14 hours in the CP, every last bean was intact! I am still in shock. Do you ever cook BEPs? Do yours fall apart or remain intact? Does it matter to you? I like the ones that fall apart. Have you ever had Camellia brand? 

I am having trouble remembering what day it is. Are you? Holidays mess with my mind. 

New Year's Day

 So, it is still NYE. I did not feel like writing  and the shirts were so cute. I really need one. 

NYE I priced Hunt's Tomato Bits and Hunts Tomato Sauce. Publix is cheaper than Piggly Wiggly!  I will wait for a better price. Since I cannot find collards in a small can that does not contain anything but water, I bought a #10 can of collards. When I open them, I will freeze them in portions for two. 

Blackeyed Peas are in the crock pot. Collards will go well with those. Plus, I will make cole slaw. That will go well with peas, also. 

For about ten years I attended a New Year Day party that was just for women and we had our cards read by our host. We all brought food, even after attending her NYE party the night before. Some people brought bacon and eggs and cooked there. Someone always brought a huge bowl of cherries. I finally asked them to put the cherries at the other end of the table because I had no willpower in the face of cherries. 

I always brought blackeyed peas with no seasoning at all, not even salt. Surprisingly, some people were thrilled with no sodium. Plus, I brought slaw. Both were a hit and none was left. 

Those were twenty happy years. Sadly, our host for many parties died suddenly. We never recovered our parties. She hosted politicians, attorneys, teachers, professors, nurses, and the rest of us..lol. Conversation was always interesting. Tommy went there one or two times and found two other guys who were into Doctor Who. We always played Trivial Pursuit--one side of the room against the other. We had so much fun. 

I digress. 

Tonight, we are having cabbage and onions, the last two healthy hotdogs, and roasted potatoes. When the blackeyed peas are done, we will have those tonight and definitely tomorrow with slaw and ham. 

The NYEs that I stayed home, I had Coke, Ruffles, and onion dip. So, tonight, that will be my treat. I have the rest of the Port Wine Cheese Ball and half a log of goat cheese in blueberries, and Wheat Thins. I will only have a bit of these along with fruit.

When I told Tommy I had gotten a blueberry goat cheese log for NYE, he grunted in approval. Then, one day he got half of it and ate it! What was he thinking? So, I suppose we have less.  

There are fireworks somewhere, sort of rumbling. I have not gone out to investigate. 

I suppose we are watching a Doctor Who marathon. 

NEW YEAR'S DAY

Last night, I ate only a few chips, little dip. We saw no fireworks, just hurt them popping, nothing close.  After I finally went to bed at 2 am, I had just drifted off and was almost asleep when fireworks started again and startled me. And, they were close. 

I definitely do NOT like Doctor Who. 

Today is the day we are starting to take down decorations. I was going to wait until Saturday, but Tommy is taking the lights off the wreath now. Whatever. Most years, it take me two weeks to finally get everything down. I take them all down on one day, but keep finding things I forgot for days. 

The one thing we did have was a bottle of Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice. I had never had any, so I picked up a bottle last week. After I poured us a bit, I dropped some of the frozen white grapes in it. We should have put in 12 grapes, eaten them as we made wishes. The drink tasted like NuGrape drink, a bottle soda. Have you ever had NuGrape? It is the best of the grape sodas. No, we will not drink all this as I will pour it out. 

I had other things to eat that were snacky, but we did not eat much during the evening--a good move. 

My fever is within a tenth of a degree or two-tenths of a degree of normal. So, I feel better! 

It is 2 pm and I have not had breakfast or lunch, so I will make cole slaw and have blackeyed peas, collards in a few minutes. 

My one goal this next year is taking care of my health. This will include my weight, exercise, and figuring out how safely to go to doctor's and have tests performed that I delayed because of covid19. So, my goal encompasses many areas. 

Even though 2020 is behind us, I do not think turning a calendar page makes one bit of difference! The only thing that will make a big difference is getting the pandemic under control by whatever means necessary. That is not pessimistic, just realistic. 

So, Happy New Year's. Stay safe.