Plans

 Tommy saw two small birds swoop in and sit together on one end of the porch. One bird flew away from the house. The other bird flew to the direction of the birds in the flowerpot. He said she had food in her mouth. So, the little birdies are still there and doing well. I will get a bird house before next spring that will suit her for more babies. 

We left this noon to go and get the ads. It only sprinkled a bit, but we did not shop, just came back home. Tommy immediately looked over the ads and made a list. 

I have been using a bottle of Italian Dressing, Kraft, I believe. It has been too tangy for me, so it has been eaten slowly. Yesterday, it was almost empty. Today, I poured olive oil in it to break the tanginess that chokes me. It was still too tangy. I think the time has come to make my own dressing! Maybe tomorrow. 

I have felt well today, not shaky, getting my own food, and making plans instead of just sitting and trying to exist. Last night, I went to bed around 9:30, woke at about 2 am, went back to bed at 4am, and woke aat 9:30 am. It is amazing what a good night's sleep will do for mind and body. 

Tonight, I made a salad of the rest of the bagged salad, put a bit of grated cheese, and olive oil on it, plus a little bit of turkey, and a whole tomato. My eyes were bigger than my stomach. I also have strawberries to eat afterwards. I suppose what I cannot consume will the a snack later. 

I finally contacted the cleaner. She has not answered the phone. Well, she had surgery on her thumb. She had a trigger thumb. She might be here Saturday. I promised her light work and she can just not do anything that will bother her. I need her to dust and not pick things up, just dust around things I would normally have her pick up to dust underneath, get something down from tall cabinet. She is 5'11". 

Install my printer, show me how to send picture from phone and my camera to computer. Put a thing under the bulb by the door so it comes on automatically at night. Remember, she is tall. Straighten top of my dresser. There is two hours of stuff to do here that will not hurt her hand, hopefully. Oh, stuff needs to be moved from table in dining room so that electrician can get to the light fixture. 

I have installed every printer I have ever had, but this is in a location where I cannot stand and bend to do so. I do need a stool on wheels with a lock for the wheels. 

This tomato is delicious. Tommy cannot stand the seeds and the membrane around them. To me, that is the best part! That is why I like home-canned tomatoes.

He stays in the kitchen four or five hours a day. Tonight, I missed him and asked what he was doing. He was checking to see if some dark rolls were out of date. They were frozen. I took them, smelled to see if they smelled fresh--no moldy smell. Then, I checked each roll for signs of mold. He is cooking them. Then, I will put most of them in freezer bags. When I buy a loaf of bread. I put two slices in freezer bags. It is good to have frozen buns or rolls, or slices of bread. It saves a trip to the store. The Aldi rolls were delicious!

Someone in a comment asked me how much cheese I eat in a week. I finally know. I ate three pounds in eight weeks. I ate 6 ounces each week. Is that a lot? I just finished the three pounds, and just in time, the regular pack is on sale. We may shop tomorrow. I eat more cheese when I make pimiento and cheese. 

I forgot to make squash casserole or freeze squash!  Maybe tomorrow. I will slice one to put in the leftover salad I finally put in the refrigerator. I like raw squash in a salad.

Dogs are still here. Tomorrow, I will call humane society. The city is only removing them to mow the grass. I am afraid they will just put them back.

Maybe we will have a BLT tomorrow. Right now, I need to make a list from the three stores' ads.

Do you like raw squash in a salad? 

Do you like the seeds and squishy membrane around the seeds? 

Is six ounces of cheese too much to eat in one week?

Better Friday

 Why do I watch the weather forecast? The see what the weather will the next day. Well, it seems like the weather is not listening to the forecast. I expected some rain today, and so far have see nary a drop. That has happened several times lately. That's okay, but my plans were thwarted. 

Today, I am not dizzy. I don't have vertigo. I am just wobbly when I walk. I did not realize how ill I was until I got over it. Yesterday, even glancing up at the TV or moving my eyes caused a massive whirl in my head. Once I was sitting still, the inside of my head felt like it was whirling. 

My nose is not drippy, but all day I have been sniffling. That is a firm win! Since I felt so much better, I went into Publix today.

I almost knocked over one of the tiny light tables they put displays on near the door. I was so embarrassed, but two employees caught the table so it did not fall. My milk was marked down to $4.49/half gallon. I really needed more at that price, but I bought one. We have until Tuesday to get that price. Activia yogurt was bogo, so bought four 4-packs. Strawberries were 3 packages for $10. I found one package of good green grapes. We have a bag of peaches, one orange. I needed celery, but it was not on sale, bought it anyway. 

We have a couple of dozen green apples, and about four dozen red delicious. So, we are not low on fruit. I never did cook the Granny Smith apples, so maybe I can get that done. 

Tommy broke several branches off the purslane. I broke one. We managed to break off all the stems with flowers! That was yesterday, so today I went out to rescue them. I only found one of the four. Maybe Tommy can find the others. Other succulents are easy to transplant, so maybe this will work for purslane. 

The dead-ish knockout rose looks 100% better. I revive things from Lowe's all the time and for years. Some days, I look at the reduced plants and wonder why the employees don't use water and maybe one minute of time, pruning dead stuff. I am not talking about intensive care. Any thoughts on that? 

I got another tomato from Lowe's. I had permission. 

My dinner tonight--basically a cheeseburger--chopped ground beef on a bun, cheese, tomato, plus helping of slaw and grapes, apple later. All this is stuff in the refrigerator. I won't cook or prepare anything, just have leftovers and the fruit. Tommy will do the same--choose what he wants. Okay, he had a chicken sandwich, slaw, salad with tomato. 

We put chicken cutlets in oven to cook and chicken cutlets in skillet to cook and put two more packages back into refrigerator. All packages are cutlets, so Tommy will be happy to be making chicken sandwiches with these very thin cuts of chicken. I will slice it up and put mine in Mediterranean Pasta.

I just had an unspeakable accident. I am not prepping, but I think I could be ready for the colonoscopy. Now, I have to clean carpet. Now, I am so weak, but not dizzy or having vertigo!

Has it seemed the weather forecast has not been happening for the last two weeks? 

Do you ever transplant purslane from broken stems?

Sleep, Tomato, Reading, Limb, Neighbors

 I am up at 4:30! I awoke just before 4 am. Why? I listened to my body and went to bed at 9:30 pm n Tuesday night. I am shocked at my decision. But, I had a busy day. Doing nothing, it appears. I want to go to bed at midnight and awake around 8 am.

Yesterday, we had a tree guy come to give an estimate for taking the tree limb hanging over the yard. The last estimate and only other estimate was for $1350. One limb. 

This guy gave us two estimates per my request. One for taking it down and carrying it. One for putting it on the ground. The plan was to defray our cost by allowing someone to take it for firewood. The tree is oak. The cost for cutting, removing, cleaning the yard was $300. The cost for putting it on ground. $200. 

When I was handed to two costs, I was shocked and read it twice, read it aloud. I told Tommy we should not get the other estimate, just let him get the limb. 

Can you believe the discrepancy in the two bills? The guy appeared to be lucid. 

I never see the neighbors with the dogs. I just report what Tommy tells me. However, today, I saw one of the mothers getting out of the car. The dogs were barking like mad. I suppose they miss the family and were hungry. I wonder what happened to the other dogs and the cat, though. I told Tommy I think they have no electricity. He didn't think so. Well, he came in after me and said she went in and turned on no lights. He saw her go in and on another trip to the car saw her exit the house. Since she turned no lights on, he does think they lost electricity. 

I just hope the children are okay since at least one of these women are cruel. This seems to be a family in crisis. In times of stress more abuse occurs. 

Weeds are two feet deep and toys are still strewn all over the yard. The liner for the swimming pool is lying out in the front yard, killing all the grass. The sides of the pool are falling down in back yard. Of course, all this is on our side of their house next to ours. 

When I went to Lowe's on Sunday and bought the Stella de Oro, I was looking for cayenne peppers and something else in the vegetables/herbs. For some reason, the staff had made a raised bed and put it right on the pavement. Inside the square, there were lots of tomato plants, more than need be in that small space and none were staked. So, you can imagine the jumble. There were many green tomatoes. In the midst and below the tomato jungle, I could see one reddish tomato. I reached down and picked it up. The stem had been split, either from someone pulling it or from the stress of not being staked. The length of the torn tomato stem was healed. 

I finished picking it up since it was detached and put it in my cart. When I got to the register, the woman came around to scan the two things I had. I showed her the tomato and asked if I could have it. She very cheerfully said I could. So, it is on the counter ripening. 

The alarm is set for 9 am when I need to get up, wash my hair and leave by 9:30 am. I really hate that is four hours away, and I am up. However, I doubt I will be able to go back to sleep. I slept my seven hours I require. Still, this is why I never go to bed early. Even if I evolve into an early bird, I will be ready to go back for a nap before noon. There is not much to do this time of the day without disturbing Tommy. I cannot read a book until I get new glasses. 

I 'lost' my debit card. It has been two weeks. My cc does not work. I am even out of the bank's system. I did not use it enough. HA! On Monday, I called the bank to replace my debit card. On, Tuesday night, I found it. Isn't that the way it always happens? 

Today, I have an appointment for an emergency eye exam. It has been almost a year since the tech for the stress test popped my mask into my eye and refused to remove it so the edge of the mask was not hurting. The eye in the outer corner is still giving me problems, hurting and crusting. Today, I will see about that. The reason I have waited so long is that I kept thinking it would get better. 

Alabama is screwing up educational progress once again. I am just furious. When I was in first grade, I was astute enough to know that the reading groups were not just chosen at random. I realized everyone in my group were the best readers. My son was removed from his classroom and taken to a 'special' room. He tested very low at the end of first grade. So, I sat my pregnant self down and we read all summer, despite his objections. (He learned to love reading and is now a high school English teacher.) They put him in group wrongly based on six-month old scores. He was humiliated and complained every day for a month that all the other people in the class were stupid and could not read. I had a baby the end of September, so was not even aware of what was happening. They illegally put my son in some sort of program with numbers. I trusted a very good system and it failed us. How much failure is happening in other schools without stellar records? 

I suppose I need to go and at least lie down to keep my feet from swelling ahead of a busy day in the car. I am not going to edit this post at all. 

Do you ever find random tomatoes? Or, any normally cultivated food? 

Do you have neighbor children or families you worry about? 

Have you lost a cc or debit card, only to find it as soon as you find it?

Can you think of any reason in the wide range of cost for limb removal?

Have schools failed your child? 

Grilled Squash Fans

When I find a recipe I like in a magazine, eventually I tear out the whole page with the recipe so I can get rid of the magazine. I have had the now-wrinkled, ripped out page from the Southern Living May 1987 issue since I tore it out 31 years ago. I cannot believe it has been that long ago.

This is one of my favorite recipes to serve, whether at home or as a dish to take somewhere and share. I believe this would cook as well in the oven as the on grill. I think that I cooked these in the oven a few times. So, no grill marks.

You can go HERE and view the grilled squash fans ingredients. Plus, get the recipe. Okay, I copied the ingredients and directions below.

Ingredients

• 6 yellow squash
• 3 plum tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 1 Teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 Cup olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, pressed
• Garnish: fresh basil sprigs 

How to Make It

Step 1

Cut each squash lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices, cutting to within 1 inch of stem end. Cut tomatoes into 1/4-inch slices.

Step 2

Combine chopped basil and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until blended. Add squash and tomato, tossing gently to coat; let stand 1 hour.

Step 3

Remove vegetables from marinade, reserving marinade; insert tomato slices between squash slices, and secure with wooden skewers.

Step 4

Grill, covered with grill lid, over medium-high heat (350° to 400°) 8 minutes on each side or until crisp-tender, basting often with reserved marinade. Garnish, if desired.

My way

I hand select each crook neck squash and the tomatoes which must be just the right size. I do like the tomatoes to extend a bit further. I think other tomato varieties would work as well. I use Roma. I like the look of the crook neck squash but the straight neck yellow squash is fine.

If you are using produce from your garden, ignore sizes, just assemble what you have regardless of sizes. 

This is a slippery last step. So, be prepared to not be able to answer the phone, pick up a child or stir anything on the stove. Work over the bowl or a plate! A dishtowel nearby can really be helpful. 

Do you like squash and tomato? You will love this. The squash fans are an impressive presentation. Did you grow all the ingredients in your garden? I know sluggy did. And, I have green plates to serve them. 

Okay, so I have a few things to do on my birthday, but I will be back!