Week ending May 28, 2023

Monday: Old habits are hard to break. Monday is the day I change the sheets and do the laundry.

I also took Pepper to the vet for his follow up and picked up more medicine for his eye. Two more weeks of medicine and then another follow up if it hasn't cleared. He's such a good boy when I take him to the vet. Not a peep out of him in the car or on the examining table unless you mess with him too long.

He's even learned that if he's good when I doctor his eye, he gets lots of Good Boy! praises and Good Boy Treats.

I dropped him back home and went to Nixa Hardware for weed killer which will kill violets (stubborn little ladies which require a special kind), some mulch for the front, and a few yellow flowers to garnish the purple pansies, and purple petunias for the driveway pot. It's a start on my neglected yard.

I always try to plant orchid petunias for my mother's birthday. She had a planter box on our front porch which must have been heirloom petunias because they reseeded themselves every year, and I've never been able to duplicate the color exactly.

I don't like working in the front, because the robins have a nest on my drain, and the parents get all upset when I'm around.

Off to Walmart to get some ingredients for a rice salad and green posole. I'm back in Finish-those-books mode.

I'm also trying to work on my health. I'm blessed with great health due to my hearty peasant background, but a little effort can't hurt. I'm taking my zinc, vitamin D, selenium, vitamin C, and I never fail to take my emu oil every night which is my vitamin E and eliminates the aches and pains of old age. I'm also trying to eat the rainbow every day, which is vegetables or fruits colored  red, white, blue or purple, green, orange or yellow, and I added leafy green. Today I had a salad for lunch with every color but white. I wasn't hungry for dinner, so I whipped up some simple potato soup. Made it! 

Tuesday: A productive day.

I'm working on reducing my monthly expenses, so I'm changing to Consumer Cellular. I went to Target last week, and they no longer have a representative there full time. You have to make an appointment. I decided to try signing up online. They outlined their plans, and said to call if you don't see what you want. I called because I don't like anyone charging my credit cards every month, and I want a paper bill so I can track my usage as I'll have a limit on my data. Wow! What a pleasant surprise! Carrie walked me right through it, has sent me a new sim card, and when it arrives, I call and they'll walk me through the transfer. I love this company. I was with them before but changed to T-Mobile when I got a smart phone because I could get one free. And good news - they're working on opening their own stores.

Then I had a visit from TJ of Guardian Angel Painting. She's been in the business since 2000 with her partner, who sadly made her transition recently. They used to do a lot of work at Elfindale, a community of seniors, and they would sweep out their garages and do little chores while they were there, so the residents started calling them "our guardian angels." I love this story.

Anyway, I'm getting my dining room and entry painted in a couple of weeks - same color, of course. I've had Navajo white paint and real estate beige carpeting for years, so why change it?  

Next I made Any Flavor Gelatin Salad so I could have a photo for my book. I think it's more a dessert than a salad, but everyone calls this type of dish a salad, so why would I try to change history?

ANY FLAVOR GELATIN SALAD

1-3/4 cups sour cream

8-oz container of Cool Whip®, thawed

3-oz package of gelatin, any flavor

3 cups mini-marshmallows

1 cup flaked coconut

20-oz can crushed pineapple, drained

15-oz can of any fruit, drained 

Combine sour cream, Cool Whip®, and gelatin in a large mixing bowl. 

Stir in the marshmallows and coconut. 

Fold in the pineapple and fruit and mix well. 

Cover, refrigerate at least 2-3 hours. Serve cold. 

Note: Pictured is orange gelatin and mandarin oranges. Good combinations would be lime gelatin and pears, strawberry gelatin and peaches, lemon gelatin and fruit cocktail. All fruits seem to pair well with the pineapple.

And I created a blog post. It feels good to be back.

Wednesday: My mother's birthday. Rita and I went to Rosie Jo's where I had ham and pinto beans, fried potatoes, and cornbread. This was our dinner every week on laundry day. I prefer navy beans, but we always had pintos. A disappointment. Not much ham, so not much flavor, the potatoes were lukewarm, and the corn muffin was heated in the microwave and hard as a rock. I good toss and it could probably break a window.

Goodwill is right across the street, so we had to drop in. I bought a rotary cutter for $4.67, but no cutting strip. If I can find one, this will be a huge win - if not, a total loss. 

I also found a pretty scarf for $2.03. They have the weirdest prices at Goodwill.

I made green posole because I need a new photo for the Soup book, and because I love eating it. In the refrigerator so I can remove the fat tomorrow.

Thursday: I put some pinto beans to soak. Now that I was in the mood for beans, I wanted some which taste good. 

Then off to the dentist for x-rays and teeth cleaning. A new dentist because my old one was limited, and I needed someone who can take care of things like replacing crowns, bridges, or doing implants if I need them in the future. Next door was a donut shop. I was a little early, so decided to check it out. Bad idea! Apple fritters! I told them I'd be back if I were a good girl at the dentist. I was good. I got my fritter. And I'll get another when I go back in November.

I came home and put salve in Pepper's eye, had some lunch, and went to Katie's to drop off some things and show her the item I picked up at Goodwill when Kathy was here.

It was taped, so I wondered what was actually in the box and what was missing. I just noticed the date on the price. May 16 was the day I dropped in after taking Kathy to the airport. I guess it had just hit the shelves.

It had a magazine with sixteen double-sided pages. Things for cutting out on one side and solid or pattern on the other.

The magazine also had lots of card samples.

A stencil.

Some stamps

Dies

More dies

The only thing missing was one cutout.

And the invoice from 2020 was inside. Good deal! If the shipping cost seems high, it's because it came from England.

I came home and cooked my beans. Now that's more like it. Yum!

Friday: On the way to meet my Lil' Bro' and Lil' Sis' in Mt Vernon for lunch, I stopped off in Halltown to put flowers on the graves of my cousins (Bos and Donna)  and my aunt (Auntie Kack).

When my cousin Cathy was a toddler, she loved Bosco, a chocolate drink mix to add to milk. My dad started calling her Bosco, then it was shortened to Bos, and it stuck. That's all we ever called her thereafter. All our friends thought we were calling her "Boss," which would have been appropriate, because she was older than my brothers and me, and she was really bossy. LIke my mother, she loved country music.

When Bos was diagnosed with terminal cancer, I made several driving trips to CA to bring home her paintings (she was a talented artist), and other things she wanted to pass on (quilts, photos, etc.). She already had a gravesite in Halltown, and when the time came, I would have her creamated and bring her ashes home on my final trip. 

As we were talking one day, I mentioned something about "when I take you home." She replied, "I'm in no shape to make that trip," and I said, "I mean later." 

To that she replied, "Oh. Well, I'll sing country music to you all the way." And I told her, "And I'll put you in the trunk."

When I ran across this at a thrift store, I couldn't resist. It has guitars, cowboy boots, a fiddle, etc. around the pot, and when you turn it on, it plays oldtime country fiddle music, and the flowers each twirl around, and at random, they go up and down. I know she was laughing when I turned it on, and placed it on her grave.

We hit the jackpot when we found El Maya Mexican Restaurant in Mt. Vernon. It's on the square which has a beautiful old stone courthouse in the middle and restored buildings around the perimeter. The inside is completely covered with colorful pictures of all things Mexican, and the food is outstanding. They also have a location in Marionville.

I had carnitas; the best I've ever had anywhere.

Becky had shrimp tacos, and she said that she'd like to come back and would order the same thing.

Jim had chile rellenos, or would that be chiles relleno?

I had so much meat, I brought some home, along with two of the flour tortillas, which I ate for dinner. 

Saturday: I had a lazy day after the busy week. I talked on the phone a lot, and I did manage to revise the Green Posole recipe and put it and the new photo on the computer.

GREEN POSOLE

Posole is Spanish for hominy.  Sometimes it’s spelled pozole.  The soup is usually red, but we had green at El Torito in California at the Sunday brunch.  I loved it and finally decided to see if I could duplicate it.  This recipe is fairly close and very simple to make.  You’ll need extra time if you wish to chill it to remove the fat.

2 Tbs oil

Salt and pepper

1 good-sized pork steak, about 1” thick, cut into bite-sized cubes

1-1/2 cups chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp crushed oregano

1 qt. chicken broth

2 4-oz cans chopped green chiles

2 15-oz cans white hominy, drained

Lime wedges

Chopped cilantro for garnish (optional)

Salt and pepper the steak. Add the oil to a skillet and brown the meat well, then transfer it to a soup pot. 

Sauté onion, garlic, and spices until soft in the same skillet and add to the soup pot, along with the chicken broth, chiles, and hominy.  

Simmer for an hour to blend flavors.  Adjust amounts of salt, pepper and cumin to your taste. 

Serve with lime wedges to squeeze and cilantro to sprinkle.

Sunday: I was a total slug; even took an afternoon nap. The busy past few weeks caught up with me, and I decided I needed a little time out. 

Tomorrow I'll hit the reset button.