Sugar Today

 Yesterday, when I said the word 'sugar,' Tommy became louder and emphatic, "No, we don't need sugar because we have several bags." Well, this was news to me. Since he is the one always rummaging around in the food, I took him at his word. I told him to put it all by the sink.

There were five partial bags of sugar, not to mention the sugar cannister and quart jar of sugar I had in the cabinet. He put the five bags on the counter for me. 

One bag had about a cup. Two had maybe 2 cups or more. The other bag, although open, still looked like nothing had been removed. In my defense, all these were in a store bag and twisted closed. And, they were over near the table on a chair. 

I emptied them into two Tupperware cannisters until I can get three glass jars ready with the metal lids. I was tired from the trip to Cullman.

When I stepped over to reach for something further along the counter, I stepped in sugar, lots of sugar. The counter had sugar all over it! I managed to clean off the counter, leaving the sink full of sugar, too. When I lifted the last bag that held the full bag of sugar, there was a huge hole in it and it was full of sugar. What a mess! Tommy feels nothing on his feet, never checks for holes in bags, totally oblivious. Someday, he will learn. 

So, the point of all this is that we have plenty of sugar considering I rarely use it and never bake anymore. Plus, I am not on top of things. Tommy does sort things, putting like things together. We have enough sugar to last years. He never uses it for coffee or in any cereal.

We went back to Publix to get the cartons of Pepsi that are b2g2 for Tommy and I shopped some more.

Tonight, we are having chicken cordonbleu and a casserole of zucchini, tomato, onion. It is the casserole that my children loved so much that we had three casseroles of it one night and they ate all three. They were such happy children that night. 

The three pieces of bread had melted unsalted butter on them. I don't use much butter, but on the last bread chunks, I used salted butter and it was much too salty for my taste. 

The blueberries have been in the crockpot all night, way too long. So, I will put them in half-pint jars and freeze some of them.

We went to the usual three stores today to get ads. I was so upset at one store, I just left. A witch works at the CS desk. At the other I bought a grab bag for $2. I will put that up tomorrow.

Dinner: chicken, bacon, ham, spinach; casserole with zucchini, tomato, onion, bread. This was hearty and filling and delicious. I gave Tommy my bacon and ham.

Tommy was filling his plate within five or six minutes of my removing the chicken dish and the casserole from the oven. Yet, he microwaved it. The casserole was burning my mouth, and I dipped mine first. He is obsessed with the fact he thinks all food must be boiling hot before he eats it. He ruins the food I cook. I am insulted.

The air is so dry that my hair is blowawy frizzy. It was still in the upper 80s and pleasant. However, the ac runs continually. 

Do you use much sugar, bake much?

Do you ever find you are overrun with one pantry staple like sugar? 

Do you know anyone who must have food microwaved until it is excessively hot?

Zucchini and Potato Casserole Recipe

 Casserole Recipe Here

While I have not tried this recipe, I put it here to save it. When I can get more zucchini, I will make this casserole. I think I would slice the zucchini a bit thicker and the potato thinner. I might alter the sauce. It is a video and has sound, so beware when you open it. 

The recipe certainly calls for a mandoline, but I am so terrified I will not use the one I bought years ago. Do you use a mandoline? Are you afraid of it? I have gloves that help prevent cuts, but I am still afraid.

Wednesday, the other pork butt came out of the crockpot and straight into the freezer--eight servings. Tommy picked the meat from fat. There was not much fat, so the rest is liquid turning solid in the crockpot. My friend picked up both bones and the fat for her dog. So, nothing went in trash. The liquid/fat in crockpot still sits. No, he said he removed the liquid.

The first pork butt was either eaten on Monday and Tuesday or frozen. I forgot what, but two packages of meat are thawing in the refrigerator. Tommy is afraid we will get too much meat in the freezer. He wants me to quit buying it...lol.  

Thursday, I will share my newly acquired seed packets with Lynda. Unfortunately, I only have two duplicates. I might even open the packets that I only have one in order to share those with her. Can I grow a pumpkin in a flower pot? 

We had ground beef for dinner. Tommy had sweet potato, and corn. I had slaw and corn. Since I bought two bags of cole slaw mix, the second bag will be made for Thursday or Friday night. We may want to finish the lettuce/salad mix first. 

Are you a fearless mandoline user?

Saturday So Busy and "Marching" Record

 We went to Cullman Saturday. I got the mail and went to the Farmer's Market where I bought:

A mess of green beans $2

dozen eggs $4

peaches--seven for $6

zucchini $4 with yellow squash added to make it $6,

2 yellow squash 

I used coupons for free produce, and they are in $6 denominations, so I get something to make up the extra cost, hence the 2 squash. 

The green beans came from the guy selling eggs. I asked him if I could just get $2 of green beans. The other guy at the booth started bagging up a whole mess of green beans and I reminded him I was only buying $2 worth. He said, "Well, this looks like $2 worth of beans to me." So, he was being generous because I am a regular customer and love to talk chickens. Good deal! 

I went to a store and bought tomatoes and Vidalia onions. The market only had green tomatoes, and I am not a fan of green tomatoes. I should have bought a couple to fry for Tommy. 

Saturday night, we had meatballs and green beans cooked in foil in the oven and sliced tomatoes. It was delicious. The tomatoes should have been added to meatballs and beans. Tommy like the whole green beans--"different way to cook (whole) and different taste (olive oil and garlic), good." The meatballs were cooked and frozen, so just needed heating.

On Friday, I "marched" for 10 minutes, a new record for me. Tonight, I will do the same. Okay, it is getting late and I am about to drop, so tomorrow. 

Saturday morning, I cooked breakfast to avoid buying Hardee's sausage and biscuit. Tommy ate bread and two sausages. I had three scrambled eggs and two sausage patties. Next time, I will only have one sausage patty. The Johnsonville Sausage patties were on sale this week, so I have three packages of premade sausages. 

After sleeping an hour and a half on Friday night, I took a two and a half hour nap, getting up much sooner than I really desired. Hopefully, I can work my way back to a semi-normal sleep pattern. 

Saturday was a really good day.

Accomplished

 I think I slept until 11 am today, and I am sure I could have slept longer. But, I got up with a mission in mind--hummingbird feeder. It is done the hard way. 

Ordering it on Amazon was so easy, but they sent it to the wrong station so I cancelled. Today, we spent 4 hours buying one. 

First, we went to the Most Hated Big Box. I found the feeder but not an ant moat. Tommy stood in line and made three returns for me, so that is almost $30 back in my pocket. When he saw the hummingbird feeder he seemed very please and picked it up to look at it. 

I went off to find Miracle Whip. I found store brand Cheerios for Tommy, a small package of sugar-free candy-Werther's. I also bought a hand towel. Don't ask. 

Then, I went to Lowe's to see what kind of what kind of feeder was there, My plan is to use a shepherd's crook to hang the hummingbird feeder. I also needed some wire for another project. I looked for wave petunias but they had none. 

Sooo, the electric cart quit before I even got started. I managed to corral a guy to push me...lol. This has always been the idea of Lowe's, so I asked someone. I bought another hummingbird feeder so I can take the one back that I don't want.  Then, life became very difficult when I wanted wire. They wanted me to buy insulated stuff and buy it from a roll, having it cut. They swore they have never seen a little roll of wire on cardboard with the clear bubble enclosing the wire! And, they mocked me for even thinking anything like that existed. 

So, I left with my shepherd's crook with two hanging places and another hummingbird feeder. All this took four hours! We were exhausted. 

I took an hour and a half nap and awoke to heat chicken and some cooked zucchini for Tommy, plus he had uncooked baby carrots. I just ate two bites of his chicken and zucchini. He loved the zucchini from Ruby Tuesday, so I cook it for him. There was no garlic that I could find, so I put onion flakes in the zucchini that I cooked last night for today's dinner. 

And, I forgot to buy loppers! And, it was so hot today. I love the heat, but inside Lowe' s garden center and in full sun is not fun. 

Tonight, I really am going to get the hummingbird's nectar ready to get this all up tomorrow. I think Tommy will love it. I may have to change the nectar every afternoon since the front yard is sooo hot here. 

All in all, Wednesday was a happy day due to bringing home the hummingbird feeders and something on which to hang them. 

Have you ever seen wire in a bubble pack? They swear it does not exist. Have you spent an inordinate amount of time for a small chore that left you exhausted and disgusted? 

Delicious Dinner and Peanut Butter

Thursday night, dinner was late. I was tired. So, what is new with me and dinner?  However, I had plenty of food, so I was not going to get dinner out or even wish it.

I washed two of the four zucchini and Tommy sliced them. I put the sliced zucchini and some water and olive oil and a sliced clove of garlic in a Corelle casserole, the kind that can be used on the stove. Finally, I could stand no longer and put it in the oven. I diced a huge juicy tomato.

When the zucchini was well-wilted, I added the diced tomato and had the dish on a stove eye. I sliced chicken and placed it in dish and added grated Cheddar cheese. By the time I got two plates, the cheese was melted. So, I dished the meat and vegetables onto our plates. It was delicious!  There was about half the meat we usually eat.

2 zucchini, sliced
1 large tomato
Sliced chicken breast
2 oz. grated cheese
garlic or garlic salt or powder.

Tommy was disappointed there was not more of this dish. Me too! I cannot wait until zucchini and tomatoes are ready to pick! Maybe I should plant them soon.

I always ate Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter. It would  spoil in the heat of my house if not refrigerated. If refrigerated, it was rock hard and no fun. Here, it won't because the heat is on 64F in the winter and cool in the summer so I can breathe. Because regular pb is not good for anyone's heart/arteries, I have switched back to Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter. It is full of oil in the glass jar and is a pain to use.

I did scrape it all out, beat with an electric beater and put it back in the jar AND store it in the refrigerator. Now, I just turn the jar upside down and store it out of the refrigerator. This pb only has peanuts and a little salt. I always thought it was better for a person to consume, but had fallen away from this good habit since being here. I am back on track with this good habit.

Do you ever eat natural peanut butter?

Sat

Before I forget, I found a penny at Sam's Club on the seat in the eating area. I did not have to bend to the floor! And, I had lost weight when I went to the doctor. So, that makes 21 lbs. lost, I think.

I ran out of milk Friday and had none for breakfast on Saturday and ate dry cereal. We went to Publix on Saturday for milk, and I got other items: 3 12-packs of Coke, 4 bananas, four zucchini, 4 half gallons a2milk. Everything except the bananas were reduced/sale items.

I did nothing for the rest of Saturday, and it is now Sunday, about 3 pm. Tommy is going to get KFC for me because I want it, I may struggle to cook those zucchini because his eyes light up when he sees cooked zucchini or hears I am cooking zucchini.

The clean wet laundry languished. I finally got everything hung up. It was a chore only because I felt sick. I need to somehow get another load all the way to his utility room.

Church was out of the question by early on Saturday. So, now it is Sunday. I feel so awful. I think part of this is my allergies and the excessively dusty room in which I sleep.

No matter how I feel, I need to wash my hair. I almost bought a new bottle of shampoo, but remembered I had bought a new one that is too heavy to manipulate and put some into my smaller, empty bottle. So, there will be the search for that. There is not much of mine here, so the search will not be extensive...lol.

Someone said that my buying 10 dishtowels was excessive. Tommy said he did not think so. I either have to wash a couple of dishtowels and a few other things every day or use dishtowels that have been in contact with roaches or roachy surfaces. I choose to spend $0.44 for dishtowels. They are Halloween designs but that does not bother either of us. Does anyone think I overspent? Yes, I am working on getting rid of roaches as they gross me out.`