I Snagged a Neighbor

 He usually takes Tommy garbage can to the road and brings it back. He was returning it to us. I had things to say and questions. He told us two weeks ago he was going to drive his bus RV to the northwest two weeks ago. Well, the story is he became ill in Arkansas, returned home, tried again and never made it out of Alabama even though he was going to be gone six weeks. While he was here, I asked him about the grill. I was doing it right! However, he said the gas was not coming out right. He used a lighter. He told me to get one of the long lighters, which I can do. The guy from Lowe's has offered to come by, so I think I will take him up on the offer. 

At the store, Tommy went in and purchased $20.02 or 11.18 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts. I told him to get at least ten pounds and ask for still-frozen packages. He said they were all frozen rock-solid. I suppose the meat guys had restocked the meat counter before they left for the day.  Four packages are still in the refrigerator and two are in the freezer. My back was hurting badly before I made more room. If I can clear out more room, I will get more bscb before the ad ends. 

If I can get two more packages in the freezer before they thaw, I will. Otherwise, I will bake the four packages and freeze one breast to a bag. Yes, I will need to clean out more of the freezer. I found a frozen package of American cheese, about an inch thick pack. Tommy was screaming that there was some in the refrigerator...lol...well, now there is more. 

At Publix I saw what appeared to be a mother and her three children. The mother could not take her eyes off her phone. The teen had his eyes glued to his phone. A five-year-old little girl was carrying a fat little baby that looked to be young enough not to be walking. The teen boy ran into the little girl carrying the baby. He was engrossed in his phone. The little girl stumbled, almost falling down with the baby. The baby was being tossed to and fro like a rag doll as the little girl stumbled and valiantly tried to regain her footing and thankfully did. And, all this was in the front of the store in the road! My heart stopped! 

Between an inhaler and guaifenisen, I hope to get my breath back. I was too weak and feeling breathless to go in the store. Really, I need to use two inhalers, maybe three different ones. 

When we came home and exited the car, the air was so much more comfortable for me to breathe. It must have rained around here since it is not so hot. 

I suppose we will cook the steak in a skillet tonight. 

I bought Truvia Monk Fruit. It was bogo, so this is a cheap way to try it. I wanted just Monk Fruit. However, this has erythritol. Well, Tommy brought it from my list.

He washed my towels and such, so I have to hang those up no matter how I feel. 

Every year, I refresh my stock of school supplies. It just seems the right thing to do for fall. I now have Crayola Washable Markers. As I see sales, I will get other items. Many of the items, I will give away. 

Dinner: Tommy will have steak, potatoes, carrots, maybe tomato. I will have steak and a can of green beans.

Do you still buy school supplies at the back-to-school sales? What do you buy? 

Do you juggle items in the freezer to add a good buy?

Do you see frightening instances of phones almost causing accidents or actually causing accidents? 

Di

50 Cent Bargains

 I really did not feel like going into a store, so Tommy did. I needed tulle since Lowe's did not have the cover I needed to protect the blackberries. 

I bought Sweet Petite Little Finger Carrots seeds. I know it is late to start. But, I cannot find the carrot seeds here. I need to grow two pounds of carrots to break even on the Ferry-Morse $1.99 package of seeds from Lowe's. 

He found a ten-yard bolt of white tulle for $10. While I have not priced white tulle lately, this seems like a good price, reasonable price. Libby's canned pumpkin, the kind I use for holidays--$.50. It was dated Oct 2024. Stove Top Stuffing was also $.50 and dated 11-2023. Heinz Family Size jar of gravy is dated 2024 and was $.50. Tommy always calls to see if it is a good deal. I called my friend who buys for a food bank and told her. Maybe your WM will have the same bargain. 

All food in packaging for the shelf must stop at my chair. All the new cans/jars/boxes are labeled and moved to the bedroom. This is an ongoing task it seems, but necessary to keep eating the older foods and keep us eating the things with a near date. Since I label top and front of the can, it is easier to see what I am looking at and eating. 

Today started off brilliantly sunny. Now, it is overcast. But, it is still warm--84F. 

I need to go and move my snake near the one blackberry ripening fast. The tulle covering can wait until tomorrow. 

I need to go into the kitchen and cook already sliced yellow squash, zucchini, and onion. Tommy is having the squash/onions, salad, and chicken thigh. I will have the last bit of ground beef and onion, salad, squash/onions. 

Two things I must do tomorrow:

1--find a bird wing and deliver it and pattern to man who will cut the wings. Buying a 2x8 is part of this task.

2--find a video on what to buy to water pots and not a soaker hose like the guy showed me today! I do want a timer for it. Or, maybe not.

3--Maybe we could plant carrots. 

There were calls I needed to make today. But, nothing was accomplished on that front! Those are on the list of things to do, too.

Have you ever watered plants in hanging pots with tubes for water from the faucet?

Do you grow carrots? 

Ads Are a Bit Better

 Wednesday, I wanted more salad to have with tomatoes, so Tommy went into Publix. Everything on the list was reduced, bogo or on sale.  Cheerios were bogo, as was the Fresh Express American salad mix. The biggie for me was carrots--two pounds for $1.79. So, I had him get four pounds, two packages. We may get more carrots before the sale goes off. We love carrots. The last time I bought carrots they were $1.29/lb. So, we have four pounds, each less than $0.90 cents. 

There were not many meat or vegetable ads we want to use, but if you want really cheap Nilla Vanilla Wafers, they are cheap at The Pig. There are lots of sales on snack stuff. The salad and carrots at Publix are better sales than I have seen lately. Most prices are only few cents cheaper.

On Wednesday, Tommy went out to water flowers. All of a sudden, the water was a fine mist and covering the porch I could see and the door. I wondered what was happening. Maybe his hand slipped, and the hose is on the ground. Maybe he is on the ground. Well, I will look in a minute, I thought. Finally, I saw him trying to hurry through the deep St. Augustine grass. When he came in, he said the hose developed a split. 

I gave him Alien Tape I bought and the directions to read. He took the Alien tape and went out to mend the hose and water flowers using a milk jug. He read the directions that said it might take 24 hours to make a good seal. Well, on TV the guy seals a hole in his boat and appears to use it immediately. Oh my! Maybe the ad is deceptive? At any rate, we will try to save the hose. I don't think either of us can replace the nozzle, the place where the split occurred. We do have another identical hose in the backyard. So, good for now, either way. 

Today, our only chore was to return two things--panties I bought 3 sizes too small, and a back brush. I did buy the correct size panties this time! Well, we did have another chore while out, but forgot it completely. So, it can be done when we are out tomorrow. 

Tommy stayed in the kitchen for a long time last night. Finally, he came in with a nasty gallon bag with rotting bacon, rotting I tell you. He found rotting salad. So, that went to garbage. I forgot what else he found, leftovers that were hidden. I just cannot bend so far for so long to find things. Besides, he shoves and shuffles things around. But, that is okay. 

Later, when I went into the kitchen and got something from the refrigerator, I was shocked. He had totally organized the refrigerator! I was so surprised. Good man! 

When we went out this morning, I commented that it smelled like something died outdoors. Looking around the porch, I could find nothing with my nose that might be the source of the stench. As he left to water, he said he supposed all the rotten food was now smelling. To high heaven, I would say. He took the garbage to the road before he watered, self-defense, I suppose since the flowers are near the garbage can. 

Last night, I could not go to sleep, so I sorted junk from Tommy's drawers in the bathroom. I have tossed things with expiration dates from 2002 to 2015. He won't miss a thing. I also piddled in the bedroom, sorting things of mine. I slept from about 6 am to 9:30 am and took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. So, sleepy right now. 

I am in the mood for chicken, rice, soup, and broccoli casserole. I think I will add thinly sliced carrot coins and thinly sliced celery, maybe some pimiento. Tommy said it sounded good when I told him the first four ingredients. I thought of the rest as a delicious and healthy afterthought. 

Tonight, we are having leftovers--roast, salad, with green beans for me, and tomato. I think Tommy is making a salad with greens mix, tomato, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, zucchini and squash slices. 

Cooking and Warm Weather

 Friday night, I told Tommy if he would peel, core, and dice the huge bag of huge apples in the refrigerator, I would make him an apple cake. I took 13" pan and sprayed with PAM, dumped in the diced apples, sprinkled cinnamon over them, and sprinkled a spice cake mix over it, poured 3/4-cup of melted butter over it and baked on 350F for an hour. I wish I had sprinkled raisins over the apples. Next time. It is delicious! Tommy likes it and wishes there were more apples and less topping of cake mix. Next time. 

Then, I had him get out the five pounds of giant misshapen carrots and peel/scrape them. I will chop into three inches pieces. I plan to cook them in the oven--carrots, potatoes, onions, green peppers, and the rest of the grape tomatoes (about six), plus any other vegetables I find lurking. Adding garlic cloves and Italian spices. This is for Saturday night. I think we will have pork chops, too.

I am trying to get the refrigerator cleared of food that needs to be eaten, plus make room for Thanksgiving foods. The apples and the carrots were taking up almost a whole shelf! Milk is once again 3 half gallons for $10, but I don't think I will stock up because the refrigerator was too full and hard to manage before Thanksgiving. 

Right now, I have one dish ready for Christmas dinner--purple hull peas. I just wanted them. I may freeze the rest of the turkey breast for Christmas and not bother with a whole turkey until after Christmas. Sounds great to me. Since I just discovered Christmas is Saturday, I suppose I will put another turkey or turkey breast in refrigerator to thaw. I change my mind of a dime. 

One channel promised/advertised a Christmas movie and did not come through! "SANTA WHO?" was supposed to come on at 7 pm and did not, so I settled for Hollywood Christmas Parade. 

Saturday morning and it's already 70F at 10 am. I think this is our high today, not sure. 

There is a bag of six chicken breasts that I need to cook today. I suppose I will freeze them for meals later. 

I have so much to do. Sunday, after church someone is coming to help out with getting things off floor over in a corner and all over the living room! I am tired already thinking about the ordeal. 

In a minute I will be eating my brunch of something. How is your Christmas prep coming along? 

Wednesday

 The effects of hurricane Sally so far have been minimal even though the weather forecast had rain at 100%. However, the local city forecast for Hueytown showed no rain, just a cloud. So far, maybe a sprinkle. 

We had thought about meeting friends in Cullman after we all got our take out lunch. They offered to sit on their porch and eat. This is the couple we eat with at the lake under a pavilion when we pick up a lunch. Today was spaghetti day. It would have included a nice salad. It would be nice to visit, but the chance of rain and maybe storms was too great. The clouds and rain bands are swirling up that way, so need to set off and encounter a storm. 

I had 11 tiny bags of baby carrots, the kind in kids lunches or box lunches,  a total of 1 lb in the 11 bags. Tommy cut them all into chunks and they are in the sink in ice water and another batch just went into boiling water to blanch, and he is working on a 1 lb bag. Those he is cutting into coins. So, this is a production line. These will be good in soup this winter. That makes 10 pint bags with almost 2 cups each this afternoon.

Tuesday, I bought bananas because I was out. Right there in the produce department was a dozen or so reduced packages of bananas at a quarter a pound. I now have 37 cents worth of 5 bananas to mash. Actually, these are nice enough for me to eat. I will mash these and freeze. This will be another 1 cup of mashed bananas in the freezer. 

Even though I got a heaping cup from five bananas last week, I bought four bananas this week and got a bag with 1 cup and another with 3/4 cup. These bananas were so firm and free of blemishes and rot that they went further than the more ripe bananas.  I will put enough bananas in the bag with little so that it is one cup, also. 

I ran out of pint freezer bags and we had to go get more. I only needed three to finish the bananas and carrots. When I went to Publix, they had none. A guy who works there told me they cannot get canning jars, so people were switching to freezing. At the Pig, there was a whole shelf full of pint bags. I got two just in case they are going to be scarce. That is only 40 bags. If I had not found any bags, I would have frozen in half-pint jars. 

Now, I have two packages of chicken to put into a cooking bag for dinner and for freezing and for another meal tomorrow. 

Still, it is only sprinkling here. It was 69F here at 5 pm, and the rain with sprinkling and ac in the stores made me very chilly. Of course, when I dried out, I felt warmer. 

Maybe I will cut and freeze red onions this evening. 

Is anyone finding freezer bags scarce? There were very few on the shelves here.

Tuesday Tidbits

Okay, the pink plastic bag was thrown today. And, there are no coupon inserts. I hate that. But, the Publix ad was there even though there is nothing I want. There are plenty of things on sale.

The Aldi ad held nothing of interest to me. blueberries are more expensive there than at Publix.

Walmart has closed their garden center, so there is no way to buy bedding plants or garden things. Yet, they are selling hair color and other stuff that will not keep you healthy or alive.

I had plans for today, but it appears I will get nothing done. So, my expectations for me has fallen. I will plant carrot seeds for carrots that are only about 3" long--Ferry-Morse' Petite Sweet Little Finger. Hopefully, it will be good and grow more value than the $1.78 price for the seed pack. Eventually, I want to grow enough carrots for cooking and freezing for winter.

My concrete planter will be home to mounding petunia plants I have. I plan to put some in the backyard, too.  A six-pack cost $1, and I got a pack of white and one of pale pink. I like those two together.

Seeds for Roma Tomatoes will be started tonight in plastic cups and soil mix. So, that is three things in the ground this evening. It is almost 6 pm here and the sun is still very bright, not near setting.

Somewhere on the internet, I saw a picture of a person who had made a face shield from a hard plastic container from greens or cookies. Well, it is that hard plastic type. I think that is very clever and useful. She had it somehow attached to a strap around her head. That might work for some of you.

Tonight, I am making the green bean casserole. Since I mixed the peas and snaps with green beans, there is a large portion of that left. I am going to put it in the casserole instead of just leaving it in the refrigerator. Ham and fruit salad will be on the menu, also.

A chicken breast that needs to be used will form the basis of Family Circle Hot Chicken Salad, along with the rest of the potato chips. Fruit salad will round out the menu.

How are you re-imagining Easter food? What have you planted or germinated? What do you plan to plant or germinate?