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Monday, October 31, 2022

Scary Meal Planning

Halloween is here and with it begins fall foods and the Holiday countdown. 


What was planned:
1. Chicken pot pie, tossed salad
2. Puerto Rican beans and rice, coleslaw
3 Italian sausage with sautéed peppers, onions and tomatoes,  biscuits
4. Cauliflower au gratin, green beans, cucumber tomato and onion salad
5. Carolina hamburger, sweet potato fries
6. Vegetable soup or chili and cornbread
7. Out to eat

What we really and truly ate:
Monday: The soup was made, but I was out of cornmeal. That alone might cancel my Southern card. 
Vegetable soup, toasted English muffins

Tuesday: I needed to use a serious number of peppers. 
Italian sausage, onions, peppers (tons of peppers) potato, and tomato skillet dish

Wednesday: This was our anniversary which meant getting dressed up to go out. (Not my strong suit) 
Dinner at Perry's. Smoked salmon, sautéed mushrooms, wedge salad or grilled redfish with asparagus, bread pudding

Thursday: The easiest dinner I could manage was to take something out of the freezer, heat and eat.
 Chili with Fritos (TheHub's preference)

Friday: I was determined to try this and it was really good. We will be having them again. I even made some real fries because I got 8 pounds of Idaho potatoes for $3.99. Those of you who live in potato states go ahead and shake your heads at what the sale price is here.
Carolina Burger, French fries

Saturday: This was a gathering the fragments type of day.
Leftovers (Bits and pieces of anything we had leftover from the week)

Sunday: We had tickets to an afternoon event which was before we had a chance to eat lunch. When it was over it was too late for lunch but too early for dinner so we decided to grab something on the way home for a "lunner"
Fish sandwich


The possibilities for this week are:
1 hot dogs ,baked beans, coleslaw, chips (Our traditional Halloween dinner)
2 lentil soup, cornbread
3 broccoli cheese stuffed baked potato
4 chicken pot pie, tossed salad
5 out to eat
6 Broccoli stuffed chicken breast, salad or coleslaw
7.Spaghetti with meat sauce, tossed salad

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all.

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Joys and a Celebration

We are another week closer to the end of the year. In my world once it is our anniversary week (Oct 26) the holiday season is off and running, and does not stop until New Year's Day




Saturday:TheHub and I did some running around in the morning kind of like we do every Saturday. Going out and about is kind of his weekend answer to his daily Publix recreational shopping habit. I go with him (not always cheerily). I honestly hate running errands on Saturday. I plan my shopping trips or errands for days of the week and times  of day when crowds are traditionally low.
There was an upside to going out with him though. At about 11:30 he decided we needed a Sneaky Pete's hotdog for lunch. It is close to our house so we stopped and got regular Sneaky's for him and a slaw dog for me.
We came home, ate and mucked around the house before he and Son2 left for the Alabama game. 
DIL2 and TGS came over to watch the game and have a comfort food meal with me. I do love having them over here.

Sunday: TheHub worked Sunday morning and I drank coffee and watched episodes of The Chosen. After he came home we just hung around the house, and basked in the beautiful day.

Monday: Our friend's funeral was Monday. It was a beautiful celebration of his life and I was honored to have known him and know his family. He was one of a kind and will be missed, but whenever he is thought of by anyone who knew him, it will be with a smile. I am not sure there is a better legacy than that.

Tuesday: We had high winds and some heavy, much needed, rain. I did not have to go anywhere, so I didn't. I stayed at home and did some house stuff, including sneaking one of the Halloween treats.  I give out full size Hershey Bars and admit I ate the entire thing one delicious rectangle at a time. I have enough for  86 85 Trick or Treaters. I might buy one more pack just to be safe. If I have any left over we can always make s'mores when we have a fire in the fire pit.
TheHub reminded me that Wednesday would be our anniversary and we made plans to go out to eat.

Wednesday: I had class Wednesday morning, then cherry picked a couple of grocery stores. I had a surprise phone call from Sissie (Kim's twin) which was wonderful, then got home and found a surprise package in the mail from Kim. I will talk about it a little later, but it replaced an item I have somewhere in my house. (or it got tossed when we were doing the final clean out at Mom's house). It will be extremely useful to finish on project that I began and could not finish and another that is downstairs waiting on me to start.
Special note to Sissie: I did get as gussied up as possible for our Anniversary dinner. 
Our favorite celebration restaurant has not reopened since the quarantine, so we went to Perry's instead.  It was very good and the "doggie bag" I brought home had enough food for 3 lunches.

Thursday: I was supposed to go to Independence Place and paint background scenery for their winter play, but woke with some arthritis issues and could not even hold a coffee cup with my right hand. I am one of the most seriously right handed individuals in the universe, using my left hand only for balance.  I knew if my hand was not working I could not paint and there was no reason for me to go hang out there doing nothing. I hate I missed it because I love being there.  Next week, for sure!
The day was not a loss nor was it joyless, but I did miss seeing my friends there.

Friday: I could not get to sleep at all Thursday night and finally drifted off at about 5 Friday morning. My biggest joy was having nothing to do on Friday morning that could not be easily moved to another time. So I slept until about 10:30 and it was blissful.  
My beloved sister is also having trouble sleeping at night. We decided we need to either have a midnight meeting at Waffle Awful House for some scattered, smothered, covered, and chunked. Then we could hit a 24 hour drug store to find the single most bizarre item there. 
Or maybe we should just get a graveyard shift job stocking Walmart stores. We could make our insomnia pay off to the tune of $10.15 an hour plus no benefits. Sounds like a plan, huh?  
At least we had a lot of laughs talking about it.

Look for your joys. They are always out there!

May all your weeds be wildflowers,
Anne

Monday, October 24, 2022

Winning at Dinner? Nope

I make plans and plans are followed__or not. We eat and regardless of the plan the meals come and go

What was planned:
1. Leftover steak, leftover mashed potatoes, leftover tossed salad, leftover birthday cake
2. Puerto Rican rice and beans, coleslaw, wacky apple cake
3. Sausage casserole, tossed salad, Brussels sprouts
4. Unstuffed pepper casserole, (tons of small peppers need to be picked before a forecast frost) coleslaw, cooked carrots
5. Chop Suey,  rice, spinach salad, lavender cookie with vanilla ice cream
6. Vegetable soup or chili, cornbread, coleslaw
7. Carolina hamburger, air fryer French fires or sweet potato fries
 
What really happened:
Monday: We had leftovers from the birthday steak dinner, and you know those horrible packets of brown gravy mix? Yep, I used one of those.
Leftover steak bites over mashed potatoes and gravy, leftover tossed salad

Tuesday: Today was a use up some peppers day. My crisper was filled with them
Deconstructed stuffed bell pepper, broccoli, coleslaw

Wednesday: We had prepared food in every nook and corner of the fridge, but TheHub wanted to go out to eat. I really did not feel like it but we went anyway.
Baked potato from The Purple Onion

Thursday: This was in the fridge after my day of cooking. It was as good of a night as any to eat it. It was actually quite good and is also delicious for breakfast.
Sausage rice casserole, coleslaw, apple spice wacky cake 

Friday  Another straight from the refrigerator meal. Woo Hoo!
Vegetable beef soup, cornbread

Saturday: DIL2 and TGS came over to watch the ball game and have a quick dinner. Comfort food all the way!
Grilled cheese sandwich, tomato soup

Sunday: The meal was unplanned but we harvested the last of the okra and it needed to be cooked.
Lady peas, okra, tomato slices

Now on to what I plan (just a suggestion really) for this week:
1. Chicken pot pie, tossed salad
2. Puerto Rican beans and rice, coleslaw
3 Italian sausage with sautéed peppers, onions and tomatoes,  biscuits
4. Cauliflower au gratin, green beans, cucumber tomato and onion salad
5. Carolina hamburger, sweet potato fries
6. Vegetable soup or chili and cornbread
7. Out to eat

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan or with no plan at all!


Sunday, October 23, 2022

Joys for Week 42

For those still counting,We have just finished the 42nd week of the year. We are in the countdown folks! Just ten more weeks of joys until we turn the page on a new year. 
And just for today, the musical interlude has absolutely nothing to do with anything, but is an ear worm that I can't get out of may head. Hopefully by posting it, someone else will catch it and it will leave me alone. (I blame TheHub because he was playing this the other night when it hopped in my brain and will not go away)



 Saturday: Game day, Bama lost, Tennessee won, Roll Tide. ( I am a Bama fan regardless of the game outcome, but I do like it better when they win) Son2, DIL2, and TGS came over to watch the game. They stayed after the game and we celebrated TheHub's birthday with a meal and a lot of laughter.
Sunday: I hope TheHub understands just exactly how much I do love him. I went shopping with him as part of his birthday present. To an outlet mall, no less. It seems neither of his two favorite stores have a retail establishment in town anymore. Since going to an outlet mall feels like I have entered the second level of Hell, my joy for the day was leaving the stores!
Son2 came over to our house (they were actually here when we got home) to help us get the pool covered. This year we got it on before the Great Leaf Dump happens, which is another huge joy.

Monday: I had a little running around to do. The day was drop dead gorgeous with temps in the upper 70's. It was perfect for running errands. Coming home and only having to warm leftovers for dinner was the icing on a near perfect day.

Tuesday: I began the day doing some food prep for the week. Before I even had my first cup of coffee, I had two pots of beans I had soaked overnight  on the stove.
I really do find joy when I get things done ahead of time. It just makes the rest of the week so much easier. Additionally I made enough for several freezer meals, which will make sometime in the near future easier.

Wednesday: I love what I got to do Wednesday more than just about anything I do. Son2 asked me to come paint animals for his upcoming show, so I was able to spend the better part of my day with the participants of The Independence Place. I love going there and interacting with all of them. 
I did not get home until later and even though I had a ton of food prepped and ready to warm, TheHub wanted to go somewhere to break up the week. Instead of eating soup as planned, we went to The Purple Onion.
I was not feeling great, so as soon as we got home I put on my pajamas and promptly fell asleep on the couch.

Thursday: There was both disdain and joy on Thursday. I stayed at home the entire day.  I needed a home day to get things done but I had let some things go and had much more to do than I wanted to do. The disdain was having to do so much but the joy was getting it done

Friday: This was a day for laundry and laughs. Though I had a boatload of clothes and towels that needed tending my beloved sister dropped by. Whenever she come over you can bet that hilarity ensues. laundry through laughter is such and easier chore.

Look for your joys, no matter how small. They are there even if you really have to search for them.

May all your weeds be wildflowers,
Anne

Monday, October 17, 2022

Food Without Thought.

 I am not even going to mention what all was eaten last week. There were moments of deliciousness at the beach, an Arby's Reuben sandwich, a birthday steak dinner and a peanut butter sandwich. I already mentioned some of it on my joy list anyway, so instead of recounting our last weeks meals I am just going ahead with our plans for this week. They may or may not happen, since I have other possibilities floating around in the vault (brain). No matter what, this is going to be a week of simple prep.


I don't even like CW music and I like this song.

Plans for dinner this week:

1. Leftover steak, leftover mashed potatoes, leftover tossed salad, leftover birthday cake

2. Puerto Rican rice and beans, coleslaw, wacky apple cake

3. Sausage casserole, tossed salad, Brussels sprouts

4. Unstuffed pepper casserole, (tons of small peppers need to be picked before a forecast frost) coleslaw, cooked carrots

5. Chop Suey,  rice, spinach salad, lavender cookie with vanilla ice cream

6. Vegetable soup or chili, cornbread, coleslaw

7. Carolina hamburger, air fryer French fires or sweet potato fries

Of course I am not delusional and am pretty sure we will go out at least one night this week, with a strong possibility of twice. After all these years I do understand TheHub's need for eating out.

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all.

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Abounding Joy

There are weeks that happen with so many joys it is almost impossible to recount them all. This past week was one of those weeks. I laughed more than I have in a long long time, and it felt great.
A beautiful view, perfect weather with fun new friends is a true blessing. 



Saturday: We started our girls trip to the beach and made it to the tank farm on 65 until traffic virtually stopped . We finally inched over and managed to get off the interstate in Alabaster stayed on the back roads until we were almost in Clanton. Once back on we managed to stay in traffic snarls until we hit Montgomery where it was just slow traffic the rest of the way to the gulf, making the trip to the beach the longest I have ever driven.  We kept wondering where all the traffic was coming from only to find out the schools in Georgia were out for fall break, and every person in the state was headed for an early October vacation. (Once home I realized half of Tennessee was out for fall break and many districts in Alabama were out for the same. No wonder the traffic was so bad.)
We grabbed dinner at Harpoon Harry's (less than stellar) then hit the grocery store for a few essentials like Diet Coke and Hershey's toffee chunks. If you have not tried them yet,  do yourself a favor and buy some as soon as possible.

Sunday: We woke, the the weather was just drop dead gorgeous, and the gulf was calm and clear. Sissie and Kim stayed at the condo while Sluggy and I went to the grocery store to pick up some things either we had forgotten of were not available at Walmart's grocery.  (Who does not have cucumbers or tomatoes? Walmart) Afterward we stopped at the fish market to pick up some shrimp and smoked tuna dip. (I think I was the only one who loved it, but that was fine with me) The rest of the day was spent either on the beach,  resting, or sunning.
Kim cooked a delicious shrimp and pasta dish.  Thank you Kim!
We rode up the beach to grab some ice cream, but the place we were going was closed, so we went to Publix and Kim and Sluggy grabbed a variety of delicious ice creams.

Monday: We drove over to Destin for some outlet shopping. I am not much of a shopper so I sat in the parking lot while waiting for the phone call to pick Sluggy up. Then she and I explored Destin while the professional shoppers continued doing their damage.
We drove around stopping at  McDonald's to get Sluggy a half cut tea. Naturally she got out of the car at the drive through window and found a handful of change on the ground.
When it was time to pick up Kim and Sissie (both serious shoppers) we went to a little oyster bar and grill with Kim's SIL who lives in Destin.
After lunch it was time to head back to Panama City Beach. There was a ton of conversation and laughs before eating the leftover shrimp and pasta. 
Kim's SIL and BIL drove over to see Kim, while Sissie, Sluggy and I sat on the balcony talking. 
Kim joined us after her in laws left and though I will not relay the topics we discussed, I will only say there was some riotous laughter. "Bless Her Heart"



Tuesday: Unless you call going out for doughnuts doing something major, the day was filled with sunning and/or beach time and eating.
Sluggy bought some steaks and we grilled, had more laughs and hit the sack.

Wednesday: First off kudos to the young men who helped us manage our overloaded hotel cart up the ramp to the parking deck.
Home again, home again! We stopped in Enterprise Alabama to admire the statue of the boll weevil and look through some shops. ( At least the shoppers looked. ) It is a quaint, very neat, and tidy downtown area. If you get a chance to visit Enterprise, enjoy the downtown area, but know in advance the boll weevil statue in underwhelming. Now the Mcweevil  at McDonald's  ( a mashup of Ronald McD and a boll weevil) was a sight to behold. Not necessarily a good sight, but a sight nonetheless.
After we left Enterprise we got caught in torrential rains that lasted for about 30 miles of white knuckle driving. I was very thankful that the car ahead of us had on it's hazard lights on and was driving slow enough that I could follow it., I could not see the road at all, but I could see the taillights. I was overjoyed when we ran out of the rain. Whew!

Thursday: Everyone left and I was a little lonely. I got the sheets washed and packed away for the next guests, then TheHub and I got Greek chicken plates from the annual greek Food Festival. Next year I am ordering the pastichio, because I thought the chicken was not as flavorful as it has been in years past. The spanakopita and tiropita  were as delicious as always, but we forgot to get baklava. I could run back down before the festival ends Saturday night to buy some, but I probably won't.

Friday: This was TheHub's birthday. I could pretend like I had done all this work around the house to make his birthday festive, but I didn't.  Instead we walked across the street to our neighbor's patio and had a class of wine (or 2)  and some great conversation before going out to eat. It was not his birthday celebration though. We are doing that on Saturday, with Son2, DIL2, and TGS..

Look for your joys: they are always out there, even on weeks that are not overflowing with them like this week was.

May all your weeds be wildflowers.
Anne

p.s.  If you are ever around Sluggy and Kim and want to amuse yourself, salt the area with a few coins. 


Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Better Late than Never?

 Sorry I did not get this posted last kSaturday. I’ve been having too much fun at the beach


J
Saturday: We enjoyed a gorgeous morning at Pepper Place, a fun outdoor produce market/ artisanal cheese/ speciality foods/ craft affair. It is held every Saturday from spring through October. While we were walking around enjoying everything, we listened  to the music of The Martini Shakers, a jazz combo.
Later in the day we settled in to watch the Alabama/ Arkansas game

Sunday: It was another gorgeous day. I spent the day doing little more than reading

Monday: My beloved sister came by he house and we did a little business or maybe we were up to just monkey business. No matter, we had a lot of laughs.

Tuesday: TheHub and I had a Parkinson’s of Alabama’ event followed by a wine tasting and dinner. I met several lovely folks we will be seeing again soon.

Wednesday: I had to do some house cleaning to get ready for houseguests .  It was not fun but worth the effort!

Thursday: Who do you think arrived in Birmingham at about 7 pm? None other than Sluggy!

Friday: More company arrived; Kim and Sissie!

I will continue with the joys for the trip on Saturday! 

May all your weeds be wildflowers,
Anne

Monday, October 3, 2022

A Non-Plan

 There was no point in planning our meals  last week. TheHub was supposed to be gone for 3 nights, and I had planned on doing no cooking at all at that time. A bowl of cereal or some popcorn is perfectly fine for a dinner by myself. 

What actually happened (instead of cooking)

Sunday and Monday: Sunday I ate a bowl of cereal, Monday a tomato sandwich

Tuesday: TheHub came home early. I had nothing thawed, so we went out to eat instead.
 
Wednesday: He wanted to go out Wednesday night also. 

Thursday: I did actually cook veggies, only because we were covered up with okra and it had to be 
cooked.
Squash, okra, green beans

 Friday: This was the Hocus Pocus party with a hot dog themed dinner.
Dogs with all the fixings, chips, baked beans, cupcakes

Saturday: I did not feel well while we watched ball games all day (or TheHub watched while I slept on the couch off and on). Instead of cooking we grabbed some tacos.

Sunday: The day was beautiful, perfect for grilling, but I still did not feel great. TheHub and I split a steak, mashed potatoes, and tossed salad. 

I am not really planning much for this week either. I will be having some blog guests arriving Thursday night then we are leaving for the beach on Saturday. Whatever happens then just happens and will have no plan. So that only leaves me three dinners to actually plan, plus one crockpot dinner (possibly chili, but that is weather dependent).



Somewhat planned for this week:

1. Sloppy Joe's, coleslaw, corn on the cob
2. Chicken broccoli casserole, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers
3. Veggie dinner TBD later.
4. Some crockpot meal TBD later

That's all folks!

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all!



Saturday, October 1, 2022

Joys Continue

I have been much busier than usual the past week or two and have not been posting. I did write my joys for the prior week but forgot to hit publish and all I really need is the list to re-read on NYE this year. Since I have it, I will not bore you with those and will just post this weeks joys. It's not like I got the lead in an up and coming film, or hit the lottery. It was a week of just my normal small joys.


Not!!!!

Saturday: Made our usual Saturday morning rounds, did a few crafty things in the afternoon then had TGS and DIL2 over to watch the ball games and eat dinner while TheHub and Son2 actually went to the game. 
After the ballgame was over TGS wanted to watch the new Jurassic Park movie so we did, except both DIL2 and TGS fell asleep, so I guess I was the only one who really watched it. It would never have been a movie I picked, and was not particularly entertaining but I still watched it to the very predictable end.

Sunday: TheHub left mid morning to catch a flight to Orlando, so I had to day to do whatever the heck I wanted to. It was a wonderful day.

Monday: TheHub was still in Orlando and I spent the day getting ready for a small party we were having Friday. Sometimes things seem like a great idea until I start getting ready for them. Were having a Hocus Pocus viewing party on Friday night and for some reason I decided I needed to go all out for it. Some of the stuff I made took several hours, and the finished product was cute, but not necessary.
I talked with TheHub Monday night and was thrilled to hear he was coming back Tuesday, instead of staying through Wednesday.

Tuesday: The best joy for the day was TheHub being able to fly out of Orlando early, before the weather struck. Glad he did since his original flight was cancelled.
He got home shortly before dinner, so we decided to go to a restaurant in Homewood.

Wednesday: My Wednesday class started back the prior week and I was glad to be able to go again. I missed being a part of it last year. After class I did a little shopping (groceries) then came home. TheHub called about the time I got in the house and wanted to go out to eat again. I was not about to say no.

Thursday: I had a phone call with Sissie. I know some of you who read Kim's blog have heard all about her. Can't wait to meet both of them live and in person in a few days.

Friday: The Hocus Pocus party was upon us. At the last minute we decided against having a traditional weenie roast and opted to cook on the grill instead. The winds were pretty high and everything was dry as a bone. I could not leave a fire to burn itself out with the conditions around us and our fire pit advises strongly against using water to douse the fire.
No one minded, the house looked festive and we settled in after dinner to watch the movie.

Look for your joys. They are always out there, even if you have to look hard for them.

May all your weeds be wildflowers,
Anne