Friday This and That

 We drove about 50 miles up the interstate today. We have been looking for changing leaves. One tree had brilliant red leaves. A couple of other trees were sort of reddish. Most trees were still fully green and a few had sort of faded to a lighter shade of green. Maybe later leaves will turn more.

Today, I was still feeling the effects of the trauma Thursday evening. I was up most of the night with a distressed colon. However, one must carry on. We went out to fix the problem. But, that went South. So, I will relate it later.

A few days ago, I lost my debit card somewhere on the premises. Well, it might be in the trash. If I order a new one, my number will change and auto payments will fail. The other choice was driving to the bank where they would print me a new card. 

We left a food giveaway and drove straight to my bank in Cullman. We arrived, sat in drive-through, and got the card and left, driving straight home. It was a long grueling drive and I just rode! When we got home, we shared it with a friend who was not well enough to go. 

On Thursday, an ebay package was delivered. As Tommy went to the mailbox, the postman got out with a package. I knew I had not ordered anything from ebay! It turns out it was ice trays, three of them with a piece of plastic to put between to keep them from falling into the one below. Well, I washed them and put one in the big freezer. I did not fill them all the way, but still the cubes will be larger than those made in regular trays. In a few minutes, I will have a glass of unsweetened, decaffeinated, iced tea. I am so happy. Thanks, Janet. This made my day and life better. 

I was desperate for ice and tea, so I may or may not have put the partially filled ice tray in the freezer on a slant--just doing the best I can at the moment. If it happened to slip and spill a bit, it is just water! This is an attempt to go zero Coke. 

It is 8 pm, and I have not had dinner, so I need to go and microwave chicken tenders, potatoes, and carrots. I had a bowl of cereal about 6 pm and I may have the energy to run the microwave now. Then, I will freeze some of the 12 drumsticks I baked last night. 

The weather is forecast for 50s, so the freezing weather is gone. The geraniums look dead. I am not sure how long they will last in cold weather, but these looked done for until a new green leaf came out today. 

Tonight, Tommy said, "I notice the counter is getting clearer." That was gratifying. Every time I go into the kitchen or at least a few times a day, I put something up or throw it out. 

Do you have to have iced tea, no sugar? How do you take your tea? Are the trees turning in your area? 

Phone Calls and eBay Amidst Cooking and Cleaning

 Sunday night, I took the turkey breast from the oven, let it cool a bit and bagged it for the freezer. We are still eating from the hen I baked. Tommy had a salad and a leg from the hen and English peas. He ate carrots and tomato on the salad. I had tomatoes, cheese bits, and chicken with Miracle Whip stirred in and green beans. 

Since I bought 3 more half gallons of milk, the refrigerator is crowded so I did not get another breast out. That will happen today. 

I believe today's Thanksgiving dinner prep will be baking a dozen or more sweet potatoes. I will peel the baked sweet potatoes and freeze them in meal sized portions. Since we have peas and green beans leftover along with the hen pieces, we can have dinner by adding sweet potatoes. 

The Butterball Turkey Breast had a gravy packet. I put it in a Ball jar to save. I don't know if I will use it or not. 

I started a bag in the freezer for stock. So far, I have the bones and browned skin of the turkey breast. This is new to me. I think it will work well. The juices from the turkey are in a Ball jar. They will go in the broth bag. Tommy listened closely when I told him how this works. He has never heard of such things. He said he was reading and looking at the boxes of broth and stock at the store. 

Sunday, I went to Publix to get two more turkey breasts. They were out. Pooh. However, I did get three more half-gallons of a2milk. That makes 3.5 gallons in the freezer. 

Okay, Publix did not get a meat truck in on Monday. Since it will come in tomorrow, I will check back.  The next breast to be cooked is thawing. I tasted the breast I cooked with plenty of seasoning and it was not tasty. Since I can taste everything else, I wonder why this Butterball breast is not tasty. 

My phone I bought from eBay and was advertised as 4G is not, I am scurrying to get it back to the seller through eBay. This is not easy. None of the numbers work, so I followed directions and left a message with eBay to contact me. That is not happening. The phone is a Rugby 4, not 4G, 4th generation of the model, Rugby. 

When I moved here, Tommy refused to let me clean his bathroom. So, I didn't. He did deign to allow someone to clean it, but that has not happened. I am quite sure that he will "allow" me to clean it now. But, I won't!  So, the floor is so filthy that some of the tiles are obscured with dirt. For the past several weeks, I have been mentioning him vacuuming the bathroom floor. It needs to be vacuumed, swept, and maybe re-vacuumed before putting anything wet on it. 

I removed the stick vacuum from the bedroom in which it was stored and put it at the end of the hall a week ago. Everyday, I mention something about vacuuming. Today, he did it. The bathroom floor is still filthy, beyond anything I have ever seen. If you wonder how I can stand it, it is hard. I wore shoes for the first 18 months I was here since the beige rug had turned dark brown. Then, I stepped with my bare feet to the two new rugs to use the toilet! 

Today, he also washed the two rugs in there since I have mentioned it for two weeks. It rained some and we were not here some days. Today is sunny and there is the slightest breeze, so the rugs will only require the least bit of time outdoors to dry completely. 

He is violent when I first mention my cleaning something. Then, with each mention, not nagging, he mellows. By that time, I am not going to clean whatever, so he gets to pay someone or do it himself! 

Sometimes, I hear him doing things in the kitchen. When he comes out, he either tells me what he did or I ask him what the noise was. He will clean things that I am shocked he does without my asking. I question none of this surprise cleaning. 

I had a list of calls to make and the numbers. Monday is the day I start making calls. Do you think I can find that list? Not at all. So, I suppose I need to start the list anew and find numbers. sigh I think I need ice cream. 

I suppose I will clean the pan for baking the sweet potatoes I have not washed and trimmed yet!

Are you using fresh sweet potatoes or canned ones for Thanksgiving? Hey, there is no judgment on using canned as that is what Mama did and so did I until I discovered these delicious sweet potatoes, buying from the farmer. Maybe you don't eat sweet potatoes?

I Need Red Clothing, eBay, Dinner

Yes, it sounds like a silly thought. But, I have one nice, dressy-ish t-shirt that is red, nothing else. Well, one red long-sleeved cotton sweater. However, all summer long I have had to wash the red shirt separately and alone in the washer. I tried washing it with black, but it got little gray balls all over it.  Tommy picked all those off. I need more red items to wash with it so it won't distress him so...lol. I don't like washing one item, either. 

I had two red coats/jackets, a red sweatshirt, two or three raggedy red tops I wore around the house. Now, I only have this one nice blouse/tshirt. I also had dark pink coat and a pink tshirt that were washed with the red items. Now--nothing else. Yes, it is a first-world problem. But, I need to use water more judiciously. All the tshirts I find are sooo thin. 

Winter blouses are another thing I need. Since I cannot stand even a short sleeve under a sweater, I need sleeveless tops. I wear sleeveless things all winter under sweaters, mostly tank tops. My daughter in NYC wears tank tops all year long, even when it is snowing!  She understands. Usually, I buy my winter wardrobe in the spring. This year, I did not. Between not getting into stores much and there not being much when I got there, I seem to still be lacking in tops.

I bought a new phone like I already owned on ebay. It was advertised as 4G, but it is 3G. It is a Rugby 4, not a 4G phone. I hope I can get a resolution in my favor. 

Earlier, we had seen an ad for Domino's pizza, two large for price of one. Yesterday, I was so stressed I wanted the deal and we were going to freeze the majority of the two pizzas. But, when I called the store, they had no idea what we were talking about. We discussed getting something else, somewhere else. Finally, I was to emotionally exhausted to discuss it. I said, "Let's go home and find something." We did. But. the first thing I did was take an hour nap.

There was one slice/shred of turkey left from the package I bought to feed J. There were collards and two baked sweet potatoes. One small bit of mac n cheese was left. I thawed meatballs. We had turkey, meatballs, collards, sweet potatoes, mac n cheese.  It was a great meal. Money saved!