Books and Vegetables and Birds

 A thirteen-pound box of books arrived on my porch from a friend. Wow, what a gift to me. There was only one title I recognized, the one I will read first from this box. I was thinking about rereading it, so this works. If you want a really good laugh, read The Sweet Potato Queen's Book of Love, or something like that. I have read several of this woman's Sweet Potato Queen books, and they are all easy reads and humorous. Southern women will see the humor and recognize the women in the books. 

I finished Hillbilly Elegy. It was wonderful. I still am ready Salt Wars, Beowulf, and two other books I have started. So, I will finish four books and start on the Sweet Potato Queens book. 

Thanks, Janet!

Today, we went to a food giveaway. It was all vegetables. Sometimes, it is more balanced. Often it has lots of meat. Other days it has breads, chips, and sweets. This week's haul is superior--all beautiful vegetables. I will give half to my friend who is working her last day today, minimum wage and part-time. She will use all this. I gave her approximately half.

4 largish squash, dozen sweet potatoes, two messes of green beans, 4 English cucumbers, 1 eggplant, 6 apricots, 1 regular cucumber, head of cabbage. One bag had one eggplant and one bag had apricots. She gets the eggplant and 3 apricots. I hate eggplant and love apricots. Plus, there are two messes of greens. One mess is almost 2 feet long and huge. She can have that one. I will take the smaller bunch. I have no idea what kinds of greens these are. But, I like greens. I will probably cut the cabbage in half and share that. I did.

Just before we went there, we got a bag of red potatoes and a bag of Vidalia onions at Publix. We have more than enough vegetables. 

I think I have enough fresh vegetables to last a week and freeze lots, too. I am so tired today. Besides taking care of all the vegetables that were free, I need to wash the hummingbird feeders, fill them and get them back outside. Flowers need deadheading! And, the pork butt needs to be taken off the bone. I also need to freeze the ground beef. 

Friday night we still had the pork in the crockpot plus cabbage and greens on the stove and sweet potatoes, potatoes and squash on two very small pans in the oven. The house smelled nice. 

Friday night, we are having a bit of the pork butt along with a couple of potatoes and squash that are cooking in a bag with a bit of the pork juice and garlic powder.  I managed to scorch the greens. I am so furious at me. I told Tommy to see if he could get any greens off the top of the scorched ones. 

His plate was full--pork, potatoes, squash, cabbage, greens. I had pork, cabbage, potatoes, and squash. There is enough for several more days. 

Friday, when Tommy was watering flowers, the woman across the street told him how beautiful our flowers were. I was gratified when he told me! 

When he came in, he told me two birds were dead on the porch, guessed they fell or were pushed from their nest. They were freshly dead from the condition of one burst open body, he said. ( I don't think baby birds burst open on impact. Maybe a big bird pecked them.)I wonder if there are more babies. These had no feathers, just some fuzz on part of their bodies. I wonder if the mockingbirds killed these babies. Mockingbirds have been hanging around here for a few days. 

Food and Free + Aldi Trip

 Today, we went to get food from a giveaway. 

Huge pork loin roast, at least 5 lbs.

18 juice oranges

dozen grapefruit

10 lbs potatoes

3 lbs red onions

3 tomatoes

4 sweet potatoes

4 huge premade hamburgers, 6 ozs each

3 lb. bag of grated cheddar cheese

2 half-gallons organic milk

dried organic apples

Kind peanut butter clusters

dried figs

two boxes Great Grains cereal

dozen cans of carrots, corn, black-eyed peas (will give to friend)

4 cans of chicken breast

Cookies, candy bars, granola bites 

Russell Stover sugar-free candy

Cetaphil facial cleanser

We asked to take a portion to a neighbor, but they forget to give her a box of vegetables. We gave her some of our vegetables and all the cans of food. She did get the cans of food, though. Well, we kept the chicken and green peas from our box. 

We also got chicken tenders, more, smaller pork loins, hamburgers, chicken breasts, lemonade tea (gave away), and many packages of cheetos. We gave away most of the Cheetos! 

Lynda has been sickly. Monday, I shared some Hall's Mentholyptus cough drops, today I gave her guaifenesin. She says the kids in the daycare where she works sneeze in her face. I suggested she wear a mask. When the kids ask why, she can tell them they sneeze all over her face and do not cover their mouths. 

Tuesday dinner was hamburger but no bun, salad with tomato. All was free.

Monday night, I slept two hours and managed to get a two-hour nap today. Tuesday bedtime should be early.

Since I did not take my Tuesday medicine until midnight, I stayed up until 1:30. ugh! Then, I only slept 7 hours. 

So, Wednesday morning here and Tommy is mansplaining to me again. I asked what Obama said, and he explained it was a sound-bite to get people to listen to the story later. He did not know the answer. If he does not know the answer to my question, he goes off on a tangent of mansplaining! Just shoot me now! I could easily ignore this, but he just mumbles on and on while I miss the next three minutes of whatever. Otherwise, I would just ignore the mansplaining! Do you get mansplaining from anyone?

We are now going to Aldi for butter and eggs. Okay, just returned. It was a nightmare in Aldi!

It was not crowded. Usually, there is produce all over the floors and boxes everywhere. That was not true this time.  

The butter was full-price on the shelf, but I found an ad and the butter in the ad was same butter on the shelf. But, that was extra steps I did not need. The egg cartons were soft feeling, like they were damp. That was skeezy feeling. And, many eggs were broken. So, I had to sort that which meant turning loose of the buggy causing me pain, making me feel I might fall. 

Finally, I think I got unbroken eggs. I left with four cartons of eggs @ $1.97/dozen and three pounds of butter@$1.97/lb. I eat lots of eggs but not much butter. There will be other sales for butter before I need more butter. 

So, no more Aldi for a long time. I think this is only my fourth trip ever to Aldi! 

Free $20 if You Don't Buy Kraft Cream Cheese

 GO HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Exhausting but Happy Wednesday, Now Thursday

Wednesday morning, I awoke mostly rested, since I never feel well in the morning. I woke at 8 am and washed my hair and made a chicken sandwich to take with me for breakfast. We were out of the house by 9:10. I ate the sandwich and a glass of milk in the car. Then, we hit a 10 mile traffic jam and never did find out what happened. We mostly sat and occasionally drove 3 mph! 

If I look closely to my face, I am probably wind-burned! 

A church was having their monthly lunch pickup. It was going to be turkey and dressing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, roll and cranberry sauce. Plus, there was chocolate cake or pecan pie. Consequently, the line was longer than usual.  The word gets out and people come in droves. Plus, some people picked up 30+ dinners, picking up for groups of people or individuals who cannot get out of the house. 

We invited Tommy's cousin to eat outdoors with us at a different park. Sportsman's Lake is closed while they decorate for Christmas Light Tour in the park. We also planned to pick up two lunches for our 90-year-old friends we usually meet in the park. He is ill and had been in the hospital and won't eat or drink enough to survive the kidney infection. 

We sat for two hours talking and laughing with Tommy's cousin. We really like him. The wind was blowing in gusts that blew my hair in my eyes and face and twisted it up. I fully expect to wake on Thursday with a horrible sinus infection and accompanying ear pain.  I sat where the wind was in my face. Tommy and cousin had it to their back and side, better positions, I think. 

The leaves were falling and flying in the wind. Even under the pavilion, two flew into my food, three or four onto the table, and one huge one fell on Tommy's food, and more on all of us, the table, and onto us. The venue under the trees was very pleasant. 

We forgot to go the PO, went to two grocery stores, my house. We were home by 4:15. It was a long day. all the talking and laughing and the hard wind took their toll on me...lol. I took a nap from 5:30 to 7 pm and got up to eat with Tommy. 

We brought home two lunches and had them for dinner. We shared a small piece of cake and a small piece of pie. I seriously overate and could not finish my meal for dinner. Tommy took my turkey and put it in a sandwich bag. He has baggies down pat and sees the slice of turkey as his lunch. Good man. 

Wednesday was a very good day with a friend, picnic, and great lunch. I did not freeze the sweet potatoes. Tomorrow will be a new day. Maybe I will make mashed potatoes and freeze them. I do know I won't make sweet potato casserole since I have had my fix and need no more added sweetness. 

We did stay a bit and talked to the wife of friend who won't eat or drink enough. His wife is so worried. The next time we go, we will get watermelon chunks in Publix and take that to him to help with hydration. They are 90 and both still drive. Last year, they drove to Michigan and made it back in one piece. 

Thursday

I slept well and awoke ill. This is what the wind does for me. Nose, sinuses, ears, sore throat and chest all involved. Now, my job is to soothe and decongest all this. Otherwise, a fever will ensue and I will be miserable. I went to bed at 1 am. Tommy stayed up later. And, he always accuses me of making him miss sleep...lol. 

I do have things to do. I plan to freeze the sweet potatoes in portions, make gravy. If all goes well, I will have the gravy to the point of using fresh turkey drippings. I will save out enough sweet potatoes for one meal. That huge bowl will vacate a huge space in the refrigerator. I need the room. 

This is something I started about 40 years ago. I don't want to be stirring flour on the stove with oil continually to brown it on Thanksgiving Day!  My back cannot handle that these days. But, I started this just because it was more convenient. I can put the browned flour and oil mixture into a very small bowl to store it until Thanksgiving day. Or, in this case until I put the turkey juice in it. By that time, I will have the stored turkey and at least one of the ten half-gallons of milk from the refrigerator. 

Maybe I will just make mashed potatoes and freeze them.

It is almost 3 pm and I am tired and losing ambition. Tonight, we will have turkey breast, sweet potatoes, and kale. 

Has anyone done the hard work of browning flour and oil for gravy ahead of the day? What dishes do you or did you prepare before the DAY? By adding drippings later, the gravy does not have to fit into the refrigerator. Mama was always cooking everything on Thanksgiving. So, did I until I figured out better. There were reasons she worked unnecessarily hard, so not judgment there. 

Shopping at Three Grocery Stores Today

 Every time I went into a store for one thing today, I inevitably brought more out with me. I planned none of this, but it happened

First, I went into the bread store for two loaves of $1 bread, and I came out with a package of two cupcakes, also. 

Then, I went into The Pig for a case of  Diet Pepsi for Tommy, and spent more than I planned. With a $10, pretax purchase, I could get a free dozen eggs. So, his drinks, zucchini, dried navy beans and a package of bologna came home with me. But, I have free large eggs worth $1.20.

Then, thinking we needed vanilla ice cream for the blueberries, I went into Publix, got the ice cream and more. I found that Diet Pepsi and Diet Dr. Pepper were b2g2, so I got 4 12-packs. He will drink these five 12-packs in about two months. Since he does not care for the Johnsonville sausage patties, I bought Jimmy Dean sausage patties. The white grapes have not been pretty but today I found nice ones on sale. Black cherry juice has been on my mind, and they had a coupon for $1.

UGH! At least none of it was random spending since all of the items were things I had determined I would purchase. 

Before the 4th of July week, at the bread store I decided to get hotdog buns at the bread store. After I did, I went to The Pig and found that I could get buns free with their app. So, I got that. How could I turn down free hotdog buns for the 4th? There, I did shop to get buns, but not for anything superfluous. Right now, I have forgotten what I got, but it was heavy into bananas and vegetables. 

I came home to put the buns from the bread store into the freezer. As I took the buns I just purchased, I realized that the person from Publix had put a gallon of milk right on top of the hotdogs buns. I told Tommy to prepare to eat squashed buns. A few days later, I picked up the package of buns. Unbelievably, the buns had completely recovered their shape! 

Food shopping can be complicated and hard somedays! 

Maybe the sausage I bought will make him happier about not going to Hardee's. I could buy the roll and make the patties myself, but standing that long is too hard. With sausage all over both hands, it would be hard to lean and hold onto things. Yes, I could use plastic wrap or waxed paper to make the patties, but there is still too much standing. Maybe I can teach him how. 

Maybe I have found someone else to help out around here. The young attorney who hosted the 4th has a guy who helps her, is good and only charges $10 an hour. Things need moving, mostly just boxes. But, they have to be moved before two rooms can be vacuumed. Plus, the hole needs to be fixed where something came in the kitchen and ate potatoes. 

Successful Friday Yard Sale-ing

 Today, we had plans. Once again, we went to a food giveaway, not the nationwide one. A church is the location. We brought home enough meat for two + weeks as we don't consume as much as a family. 

On the way there, we had to take a detour since traffic was so heavy the way we needed to travel. Lucky me! We passed a yard sale, so decided to stop on the way back. I have certain criteria for yard sales.

First, does it look like it is just children's toys and clothing for anyone, especially children? Do I have to walk far? Do I have to walk down into a ditch or up a bank to get there? Do I have to walk far? Am I broken already so that I will be unsteady? Is it raining? Will I have to walk in mud or wet grass after a rain or before the dew has burned off? Is there a dog in the yard? 

I could see a dozen things or more that I could use or liked! It was very close to the road. there was only a little step down and nothing like it to walk up to yard level. I was fresh! No mud or dew was present. I saw no dog. 

As I went along, I spied a box with "Waterford" on it. I asked the woman to pick it up from the ground. I also asked if I could sit for a minute. Yes, it did have a Waterford mark. I asked her to get me the two Monopoly games. One was very old with the old markers. Money was clean and barely used. I did not check the Star Trek Monopoly game. I asked if they would take a reduction on the Waterford and paid one price for all of it which meant a reduction on the two games, also. 

I may sell all three. I might only sell the games. We will see. I walked about 20 feet and 20 back to the car with a little rest in a chair and a cane to steady me. She pointed out holes for me to be safe, and she put the items in the vehicle. I had fun. There were three people there and no other customers at the moment, so I did not take up time they needed to spend with someone else. 

Used, the Waterford bowl was $29, so maybe I can sell it. 

Now, I need to start thinking about dinner. Even though I did little, my back really hurts! 

We decided we will keep both hummingbird feeders and put one in the back yard. It will be hard to fill and we will have to stand at the sink to see hummingbirds, but it will be worth it. The backyard will be cooler, so we may have more hummingbirds there and fewer in the torrid front yard. 

Do you have criteria or a criterion for yard sales? Can you tell from the road when you do not want to stop? Have you ever stopped against your better judgment and found a treasure? Hve you ever stopped with a heart full of hope and found nothing to buy? How do you react to overpriced junk?

I bought blackberries, cream cheese, Diet Coke Caffeine Free b2g2, Johnsonville Sausage Patties on sale, two tomatoes, bananas, a2milk 2/$7 (Usually $4.59 for  half gallon), and garlic powder at Publix.

Reduced Produce, Free Wood, New Glasses

 Sunday, I went into The Pig for one thing and came out with reduced produce, both of which Tommy loves: 

4 Granny Smith apples $0.99

3 huge Bell peppers  $0.50

The apples look perfect to me. The peppers need to be used now as the ends of all three look wilty.  So, Monday night he will have a salad with Bell peppers, carrots and tomatoes. I forgot one shopping trip when I bought slaw mix for $1.99 but not reduced. 

Monday, we went to Cullman. I got my mail, picked out new frames and spent $305 for frames and lenses. I will get my free ones next week. I picked up free wood and dropped off free wood to be cut. Lowe's had a free cart, so I got to go inside and pick out paint for my wood project and choose the right size eye screws. And, one chore was a dead end. 

The friend who gave me the wood left over from his house building came to my storage unit and took the road-rescued table and put it in the storage unit. That table was in the car too long! 

I went by my lot,  and as we pulled into the driveway, I had to scream to get Tommy not to run over a piece of wood at the gutter, right in the end of the driveway. I saw nails in a piece of wood from my annoying neighbor's trash pile that had washed down to my yard. Tommy was screaming that it did not matter if he ran over nails. I do not know one man who would knowingly run over nails protruding from a board. Do you? 

When I got out, some of the nails were four inches long in one board. The other board had bolts in it that were at least the same length, four inches. Tommy sort of moaned when he saw them. That bolt would have meant a new tire. It could have been a carriage bolt. Maybe the nails would have been a catastrophe, too, if he had run over them. 

Later at the dead end chore, he managed to straddle a piece of concrete at the edge of the driveway. Then, he had to rip it off the concrete...sigh. 

Tonight, we are having cabbage, lots of it and leftover green beans, cole slaw, a bit of potatoes and  chicken. Okay, I cannot keep a plan alive for 15 minutes! There was no cabbage for dinner. I cannot find my large knife to cut it, so we had plenty of the other leftovers. 

Blue Skies, Attitude, Free Wood, Groceries, Stocking Up

 Does a beautiful day make you as happy as it does me? I feel very light and carefree. Any problem seems like it can be easily solved. At least, I feel like I have the will, stamina, desire to take on whatever I must do to accomplish my goals. The lack of sunshine adversely affects my attitude. 

How about you?

Today, the sky was almost clear of clouds and the clear blue sky gave way to clear and darker blue skies. We went to Cullman where I had  a good day. I picked up some woodwork from my carpenter. My friend, James, gave me wood for chair bottoms. I have nice cedar boards for bird houses and more 2x6 boards for another project that the carpenter will hew for me. James is building a house and I am welcome to any scraps of wood that I want. 

At a store I found a sale of Suddenly Salad--5 for $5. I bought 6. Last year, I bought enough for one box each month.  But, I have not been eating it that often. Cheese has not been on sale forever! Today, I felt lucky to find Kraft Chunk Medium Cheddar for $2.99. I only bought one, hoping for a better sale later on. 

I spent $9. 

I think I broke a record today--5 hours in the car and in and out for chores, and I did not have to go to the bathroom! I hope this is not a bad thing right now. My feet are not as swollen as they usually are when we spend any time in the car.  Could the exercise be paying off?

Dinner tonight--meatballs, Suddenly Salad, green beans, and carrots. Tommy said that since we were having SS, we only needed one other vegetable. HUH? He said he thinks of pasta salad as a vegetable, so we only need either carrots or green beans. Suddenly Salad is  "bread" to me. We had a bit of lettuce and tomato on our Whopper Jr. at lunch. Suddenly Salad does not have enough vegetables to make even one helping for one person, and we leave the peas out since I cannot eat them. 

Okay, I need to get Tommy at least one of the 4 pounds of carrots in the refrigerator and a carrot peeler. I need to get 128 meatballs on one tray and into the oven. 

Free Books and Other Happenings

Friday, when I went to the meeting for physical tests and took samples of my body (nails, poop, and saliva), I had planned a trip to a former friend/professor's home. She has dementia and is not living in her home. I just wanted to see the house where I spent so many holidays and activities. She was generous in her hospitality. It sold. But, I have no idea who bought it. It is sad when a brilliant mind is lost in this manner.

There is a store catty-corner from her house. I loved to go there and buy individual ice creams. They allowed customers to open a box and take out one frozen item or more, just what the customer wanted. For a long time, the store was closed. Then, I found it open on Friday. I did not stop for ice cream. I stopped because there were four 10ft shelves with free books. FREE BOOKS! Of course, I had Tommy stop while I shopped. I got three books. As it turned out, two were so musty I could not sit and read them. I even worried about getting it on my clothes.

While I do not believe in destroying books and the deal was to return the books, I threw two in the trash. Guilt consumes me. The free books were a good idea, an excellent idea. Inside storage would be better. But, I am not in charge. Basically, I got one free book.

Free items on Friday:
Banana Boat Ultra Sport Sunscreen Lotion, 8 fluid ounces, 50 SPF
3 package of peanut butter crackers
1 package Nekot cookies and peanut butter
1 package wheat cracker with cheese filling
2 tangerines
4 bottles of water
hat with 2 inch brim...not wide enough for sun protection.
"Sanctuary" collection of short stories by Honors students at various universities
"The Greening of America" Charles A. Reich
"Arkansas Three Novellas" David Levitt

"Sanctuary" is not musty, so I can read it and keep it.
"Greening..." is very musty. It was published in 1970. I would have found it interesting to see how the world of 1970, fifty years ago. viewed the world in terms of pollution, the environment and what the solutions could be.
"Arkansas: Three Novellas" would have been interesting. Too bad it was so musty.

This "Free Book" setup was an excellent idea, but since it is outdoors against the building, everything either became wet or just in the damp air. I found it interesting that the historic novels, mostly romance, were under the category of History. I wondered who made that determination to classify.

Today, I have too many dishes to wash. I want to make a peach cobbler if I can find a large enough pan to put it in. I cannot get my one larger Correlle casserole scoured clean. I will try one more time before I ask Tommy to help. He has more finger and hand strength than I.

He made a face last week when I mentioned cream cheese with chives. Then, he asked today if he could have some. Of course. Then, he ate some in a sandwich. I would never have made a sandwich with it, but he liked it.

Today, I awoke at 9 am after going to bed at 1:30. There was so little light outside that I thought it was 6 am.! I stayed in bed for another hour and it still was gloomy outside. It has remained so. The only window that is uncovered is the fan light in the front door. It is too high for me to see outside. He won't allow me to open curtains!

He has pinch-pleated drapes and curtain rods, not the drapery rod where the hooks go into holes where they can be opened and closed. Since the drapes are just butted against each other rather than lapped a bit, they are gaps all over the place where anyone can see in. ugh I try to keep them closed. I may resort to paper clips or packing tape.

Did I say? He said to throw away his cpap. I will do that today.

Progress: I have been determined to get things "gone" a little at a time. He has a little two-seater table with chairs in the kitchen, besides the dining set in the dining room section of the kitchen/dining room. The tiny table has little leaves about six inches long. The table is probably 2' x 4' with leaves open. This is where he goes to give himself an insulin injection. It is a mess and dirty. Slowly, I have removed one thing at a time. I noticed things started clearing out. He is removing things, too. I am proud of him. lol.

It is dinnertime and I was determined not to cook. There are leftover green peas, two baked potatoes in the the refrigerator. I dug around in the freezer and found two frozen chicken thighs. They are in the oven heating. I also put out a bag of ham that is cooked and sliced. it does not appear to be have freezer burn. The last time I gave him a bag of ham to freeze was in December 2018. We are eating so much that I cooked and gave him.

Bargains and Not

I do buy bottled water. And, I only buy Dasani no matter how cheap any other is.  I only started buying water after I was diagnosed with diabetes. I forget water and end up buying it. Usually Dasani 24-pack is $4.99. I only bought it when I could find it on sale for $3.99. Publix has frequent sales of buy 2 get one free. I passed this by. THEN, one day I decided to do the math. It turns out that each pack cost cost something like $3.83. Happy day! Now, I only buy at this price.

I would buy a bottle of water no matter the cost if I really needed it. Tommy sat in his vehicle until he was dehydrated, had keys taken away from him, and having to have police and EMT minister to him. He now listens and drinks water. I get two bottles of water from my trunk to take to his vehicle. Before, he would scream out the window that he did not need water. Then, he would not drink it and tell me to take it out of the car. Now, he says nothing and drinks it.

When I buy Coke without Caffeine, I buy it only on sale- 3 12-packs for $9.99. That is what I got this week and suddenly realized that 4 for $11 was a better deal if only by a few cents for each can--$.28 vs. $0.23. I will do better next time! Then, I figured out Walgreens has the same cartons--$8.99 for 3. UGH

cherries--$1.99/lb
Cokes--$9.99/3 12-packs
Daisy Sour Cream--3/$5 I only got one.
2 European cucumbers--free
Ruffles Chips, party size 13.5  ozs.--$2
Breyers Ice Cream 1.5 qts--$2

I think I have a bit of cream cheese. If so, I will make cucumber sandwiches.

I am so sleepy I can barely type right now.

There were many sales this weekend, but not a lot I needed or wanted. How about you?