This and That

 Tommy has a pillow he uses behind his neck in the recliner. It was his father's, and he died in 1972. Tommy said he got the pillow in about 1969. Tommy has used it since 1972.  It has never been washed! That grossed me out. I bought three travel pillows, one for the car and one for each of us in the house. Tommy threw a loud fit, saying he like the bone-shaped pillow and did not want or need the travel pillow. 

Well, since yesterday he has used his pillow exclusively. I bought these six months ago, but wanted the pillowcases to use with them. I would just use a pillowcase that fits a regular sized bed pillow, but I only have three pillowcases here and I use two of them all the time. I found the pillowcases this last week, washed, and hung to dry. 

He loves the pillow! I suffered verbal abuse when I bought the pillows. Maybe one day, I will suggest he throw the old pillow out. I know that if it is washed, it will come apart. Can you imagine using a pillow for 60+ years and never washing it? I offered and suffered verbal abuse. He said it did not need washing. Yuck! 

I have been using one of the travel pillows under my shoulder, so that pillow is pretty flat or at least not so fluffy. He wanted that one and let me have the new one. That is okay with me since the fluffier pillow will work and I won't have to fold the flatter one for use under my shoulder that has torn rotator cuff. 

New book last week--Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson. 

This book follows the murder trial, coercion, and conviction of a black man for something he did not do, was not in town to commit. It is shocking how many lies convicted this man and put him on death row. Stevenson is a young black attorney who comes to Alabama to work for blacks wrongly convicted. Of course, all this is now a matter of record. 

Some nights, I read as little as four pages and then go to sleep so I won't work through the sleepiness and stay up too late. I could read the book in three days of leisurely reading if I put my mind to it. I think I will keep a book in the living room to read, plus one in the bedroom. 

Friday night, I put the hen in the oven late, about 6:15. The hen was still partially frozen with giblets inside. I put the oven on 350F, intending to leave it that temperature for an hour and turn it down to 300F. His oven is 50F too high. But, I forgot and left it on for the whole four hours. I wanted the frozen giblets cooked, not raw! I ripped off the breasts and put in a bag. Then, I ripped off thighs, legs, and wings for Tommy to remove meat today. It may be overcooked, but it is not raw! There are about 10 meals in the refrigerator from one huge hen. 

The hen was rubbed like it was turkey and it smelled like Thanksgiving in here. I rub salt, pepper, and ground sage into the hen before it is baked. I never use poultry seasoning. I chopped an onion in anticipation of Thanksgiving cooking and froze them. 

A hen tender was my lunch (no breakfast), dipped in Miracle Whip instead of Honey Mustard, milk, half a banana and pb. 

Tommy is watching an Auburn game, so the day is stalled while he watches. There are so many little picky rules in football. He doesn't mind telling why things happen, but I am not so sure I care. I know people like football, but it all seems so cruel and violent that I wonder about people who love football. Okay, not really!  I guess we don't have jousting and gladiators, so we have football. 

Hopefully, he will not want to watch the whole game. I can dream, can't I. But, there are things to do. I won't even ask about going out. 

Since all my Ball quart jars are now clean, I can fill them with beans, sugar, flour, powdered and brown sugar and such. I started that on Friday night. One jar of Great Northern Beans is in the freezer for a three-day stay. 

The weather is going to be beautiful this weekend, with a predicted frost or freeze on Saturday night. Most trees have not turned yet, so maybe this frost will do the trick. Some trees, deciduous ones, are still fully green, maybe fading but still green. 

Are you an avid football fan? Have the trees all turned in your area? Does anyone you know refuse to give up and replace an item that has seen better days? Do you use Ball jars to store dry goods?

Bananas, Pillows, and Roaches

 Friday, I bought bananas, five green ones and one slightly riper but still greenish. It was gross when I ate it this morning. Bad signs are green tint, green smell that is stronger when the banana is peeled, green taste, and I can hear the peel coming off. 

My goal in a few minutes is to find an apple and a paper bag and put the banana and apple in the bag to ripen the banana where I can eat one. I refuse to try to eat a green banana. 

Today, I was going to go to a church nearby to see if they were having a yard sale. They never advertise, just start slowly putting items out for sale on lots of tables. This works for me. But, since it is only 45F, I doubt they are having a sale today. 

A few minutes ago, I heard a soft "plop" outside the door. I knew it was my pillow. It was and it was in a heavy plastic bag with a zipper and handle. Of course, there was a white packaging over the handy bag. This is my new, favorite pillow on sale for 50% off, so I bought two. It seems my advanced age requires more pillows!  I bought one when I came here with no pillow. 

Plus, I bought a cheap pillow for the living room for my head. It has just about disappeared because it never fluffs up again. Right now, it is about three inches thick if I hand fluff it. Now, I need pillowcases. I have a couple of extra pillowcases so this won't be a problem. 

I ordered two pillows on the same order on the same day and only one was delivered. The other is still listed, so I know it is on the way. How is this efficient? 

Tommy suggested we throw out his toaster when I asked him where to put it. I had told him that if one roach had been on the counter, they had gotten into the toaster. He never wanted toast again. That was easy to get rid of it! Right now, I am going to clean some of the junk off his small table in the kitchen so things are easier for both of us. 

He has finally agreed I can spray for roaches. I did furtively spray when I first came here and he never knew. Now is the time to do the job right. I hate roaches. I have called him to kill them lately, so he knows how many I have seen all along. I have washed everything before I used it! He has just used dishes/utensils without a care. I know! It's disgusting!

When I came here, they ran freely all over the place. I had driven them back, but now is time to eliminate them. 

It appears the temperatures are going up slowly to almost 70 by Wednesday. Hopefully, the people in Texas will start to recover.

This is not the way I have lived or ever aspire to live. Have you ever had an infestation of roaches? 

Easy, Frugal Christmas Pillows

Just a minute for the pillows.

 Finally, I cut my hair, just chopped it off mostly. I did do one whack to layer it some, but have not looked or tried to deal with it. 

I have felt so awful this weekend, and I am beginning to think part of it is the antibiotic. At any rate, I started feeling a bit better about 9 pm on Sunday night. I did not feel like doing one thing and there was nothing to get out of the refrigerator, so we went to Sonic. Since we had not been there in months, I did not feel to bad about eating there. It's done!

There is a new way I employ to thaw a turkey. I use a stock pot and dump it in there and put it in the refrigerator. Trying to thaw it lying in the refrigerator takes up too much room. This way, it uses less real estate and I don't have to deal with trying to keep it from leaking all over. Plus, handling it to place it in the freezer and taking it out are easier on my back. 

Okay, the pillows. 

I went to a fabulous upholstery fabric shop in Birmingham, M's, and found tapestry fabric pieces that were needlepoint Santas. By using leftover velvet fabric for the back of the pillows, I had cheap pillows that were great looking. I would guess the pillows were about 12" x 18". I put a zipper across the short end at the bottome of the Santa pillow. For myself, I made a pillow stuffed with fiberfill and put the new pillow form inside the Christmas pillow. 

For my daughter, I wanted something easier to mail than a whole pillow. So, I mailed the pillow cover without a pillow inside. I had given her son a travel pillow the size of the Christmas pillow. I told her to put his pillow inside the Christmas pillow cover. It would have worked but I think his pillow was smaller than my travel pillow. So, I suggested she stuff the bottom end with a couple of her husband's tshirts. It worked. 

This is an advantage to me, also, since I don't have to store full pillows, just the covers. I use the pillow forms from my garden pillows for Christmas and then put the forms back into the garden pillows that I stored in my sewing room. Other than the one pillow, the others were about 16" x 16". 

You can cut Christmas pillows the size of your present sofa pillows and then place your regular pillows inside Christmas pillows for the season.  This way, you also don't have to buy or make pillow forms. 

If you do not want to put zippers in the pillows, you can always make a lapped cover on the back with one or more large buttons. 

I always try to make things look  great and do it cheaply or at least less expensive. Do you make or buy Christmas pillows?