Memories, Part 1

Warning! Contains political content.

Of course David knew the answer:

The Continental Congress voted on July 2, 1776 to declare independence. Ratified and signed on July 4, 1776.

I get it now. Of course John Adams would immediately write his wife about the news of the signing, which in his mind would be the date to celebrate. He didn't know yet when the signing would be completed.

The news right now is the attempted assassination of President Trump. Sorry, I'm very skeptical after hearing some of the witnesses. Audience was pointing out the shooter on the roof, and the police did nothing. Then the shooter was shot one minute after he finished shooting. They couldn't get him off the ballot; they couldn't put him in jail in time; assassination would take care of the problem.

Question: Isn't it logical that if all the claims of Biden Family corruption are lies, they'd be suing someone for slander? If I were a Biden, I'd be very worried about what could happen to me if Trump is elected.

Enough sadness; let's talk about food. 

This week's restaurant is Pasta Express. They have a beautiful website, so I assume they're a franchise. The one we visited, however, was not beautiful.  

You order at the register, get your own drink, and if you're drinking water, you receive a very small styrofoam cup. I ordered  a half antipasto salad and chicken parmesan. Elly ordered lasagna.

The salad was really great, and the 1/2 was so large, I shared it. This is only half of the half.

My chicken looked dry, but it was okay. Again, a lot of food. You can't see it, but there's pasta and sauce under the chicken. Sauce was rather sweet. 

Elly's lasagna

Rolls were obviously heated in the microwave and too long, as they were tough. We asked for more butter, and were served two more rolls with the butter.

 

We agreed that we wished we had each ordered a full antipasto salad and made a meal of it, skipping the other entrees. Here's the link to their menu. Click.

Next week will be either a hole-in-the-wall Mexican (can't remember the name) or Jimmy's Egg.

Question: Why do the firemen open the fireplugs and let the water run all over. Are they just testing? And, if so, why let it run so long?

I love old books, and buy them at the library book sales. I found this in one of them, and went into shock. The date is just visible at the bottom - June 1968. I was also surprised that receipts showed the department that long ago. How we've progressed. Now you get a description. And the sales tax was 4%. Why has the sales tax percentage doubled? Isn't there an automatic increase in tax revenue when  the price of the products increases?

Why I buy from Temu

Amazon - Click

Temu - Click

Warning about Temu: They have started representing outside vendors who ship direct, and those outside vendors might have shipping charges which don't count in your total for Temu free shipping. I just bought something small for $3 and got charged a $3 shipping fee. You can easily see the charge if you remember to look for it. It was all new to me, so now I know. It's like Amazon. Just look in the area of the description, and there will be a goldenrod banner showing the shipping info. Here's an example: Click Here.

We had some nice rain this week. Of course my wild child (aka Stormy the Escape Artist) had to dash out the minute I opened the slider, and then came in looking like a drowned rat, begging for a rubdown with paper towels.

I made some cards from a new design, but I'm not sure I like it. The cards look as if they're doing the happy dance or signaling in semaphore.

I received my quarterly order from CVS. I actually looked through the catalog this time, and found I could order a bath scales (mine drives me crazy because it's computerized and you weigh, step off, weigh, and it tells you what you weighed last time and the difference. Sometimes I don't do things in a timely manner, or whatever, and it loses its mind. Right now, I weigh, step off, then the scales say 1 instead of 2. So I got a new one AND a new non-slip mat because no matter how I try I can't keep mine from looking grungy. I take it up after I shower and arrange it on the shower seat in the corner so that it will dry, but it still wants to collect mold which even bleach won't touch. So this time my order arrived in this huge box. I immediately thought, "Hmmm, wonder if I can use those images for cardmaking?"

Nope. Too hard to cut out, too difficult to remove a layer so that it's not too tall, and most images are too large for the card. Boo hoo.

And then I had all this packing material they added.

If it's just a little, I save it for my own mailing uses, but this was overkill. I called the trash company to see if it could go in the recycle can. No, in the trash. Now we know.

Look what I found at Dollar Tree. Perfect size for a stick of butter, and three to a package for $1.25. Why the divider? Who knows? Oh, well; I can cut the butter. 

There's a McCormick's logo on the side (you know, the spice company), but I have yet to figure out the intended use.

I had a yen for a chili dog this week, but then you have seven buns, seven weiners, and most of a can of chili left. I wrap the buns and weiners in cling wrap and freeze them. This way I can take out one at at time.

Then I have a chili-cheese omelet the next morning. Okay, so it's not a real omelet, but that's how the Marie Callender's restaurants in California served it (wonder if they're still around?) Better with chopped green onions instead of Vidalias.

Then divide the remaining chili in portions and freeze it to have with the hot dogs.

I've resolved to wash my own car from now on. I usually do, but in the interest of time, I went to a car wash in Springfield. I paid $30 for a basic car wash and interior vacuum and cleaning. They tried to sell me a "deal" where it would be less if I signed up for $20 per month for unlimited outside washes, but my credit card would be charged automatically unless I cancelled. I used to drive through the cheap place near my home, but I still had to vacuum the inside and wash my wheels because they never came out clean from the wash. When my car came through the wash phase yesterday, four guys pounced on it and I thought, "Oh, boy! They're going to do a great job!" Nope. Take a look.

All four wheels

Bugs in the back window

And to add insult to injury, after my next stop, it started raining!

I made another wreath and changed the porch.

This is not my strong suit. I see I need to add more leaves at the bottom.

I love the pillow covers from Temu. Good quality and really inexpensive. I use the same set of pillow cores and just change them out each time through the opening at the bottom with a hidden zipper. 

Friend Linda has three kiddos she's teaching to cook and bake, much to the delight of the parents who get a break from parenting. Sometimes the kids are there the entire day - three-meal days. They recently made these cute chocolate cake bites. Now I want that NordicWare pan (and about a gazillion others they show on their website.)

I wish for everyone a great email pal like Linda. Here's what she sent recently, because she knew I'd love it. Click Here.

On a whim, I decided to check back when I first started blogging in 2016 to see what I was doing. Wow! I lived a much more exciting life back then. 

My old blog was hacked in 2022 (actually, my Google account was blocked, making my blog dashboard unavailable since the platform is Blogger, a part of Google. I also lost my Gmail account (had to think up a new email address), my YouTube history could not be accessed, etc. 

My old blog, www.teasandts.blogspot.com is still available for viewing, but I can't add posts, edit, delete, etc. But I can copy and paste the content. Who knew? You can see some of the past here.

Some highlights from the past:

2016 (July 17)

Tidbits:  In addition to wallpaper, you can make gift sets from grocery bags.

MYSTERY PECAN PIE

Taste of Home

9” unbaked pie crust

     Bottom Layer

8 oz. package of cream cheese

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

       Top Layer

1 cup light corn syrup

3 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350°.

Beat the ingredients for the bottom layer together.  Pour into the pie crust.  Sprinkle pecans over.

Stir top layer ingredients together and pour over the pecans.

Bake 50-55 minutes or until set.

July 13, National Beans 'N' Franks Day

This suited me just fine.  I've never outgrown my love of Weinies and Beans.  I like using baked beans instead of pork and beans.  Add Cole slaw and corn muffins and chow down.

Weinies and Beans - perfect

On a tray

In the family room

Watching a baseball game on TV

July 16, National Corn Fritter Day

I sort of made corn fritters - they're more a cross between corn fritters and hush puppies. I just made up a Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix and added a little extra milk, some canned corn, and so they wouldn't be too sweet, some yellow corn meal. I deep fried them in a saucepan on the stove.  

To see the entire blog post, Click Here  Continued on Memories, Part 2