It's Going to be a Cooking Day Sprinkled with Errands

It's Friday, a "day off" and a day when I'll be going here and there and have a LOT of cooking that also needs to get done. I have one piece of salmon to eat for my dinner tonight (yummy!!!), but I need to make my dinners for the week ahead and also do a load of baked fruit. My side of the refrigerator is showing a lot of empty shelving. LOL

I make my baked fruit in large batches - it's my usual 
breakfast every day. I'm eating the last portion that I 
have made today, so it's time to make a new batch. 

I'm starting to think about upgrading my cellphone again. I don't actually need a new one, my "old" one which really isn't more than two years old, works great. But Google has done some wonderful things with the newest phones. I'm waiting for sales. The last sale they offered on the Google 9 phone didn't include the folding version (which I'd LOVE since I read on my phone a lot). So, after some thought, I decided to skip that sale. My Google 6 is still working great, as I mentioned. It's old and starting to show it in little ways, though. 

Verizon is currently offering the Google Pixel 10 phone 
with an "Unlimited Plan" at no charge for the phone. It 
might be worth looking at ... but just looking right now. 
There's something really nice about having a phone that's 
totally paid off. 

Since DH is awake and playing his computer game not six feet away from me, he also has the TV on, and it's morning, so it's on the business report. I guess, from the interviews, that Apple has a new phone that's getting released today. In all of the years I've had cellphones, and I stretch WAY back with them, I've never owned an Apple phone. I did have to work on an Apple computer in the early days (and I didn't like it), so I've never dived into the Apple pond. After years of Motorola phones, I've pretty much settled on Google phones. When I upgrade the one I currently have, it will be my fourth Google phone. DH and Chickie have Samsung phones, and I've looked at them too, but no, I keep going back to Google. 

I'll be busy in the kitchen for much of the day today. 
There are worse things to spend my time on - LOL. 

So, I'll have a busy day today going here and there and cooking this and that. All things considered, it's one of the better ways for me to spend a "day off" these days. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Be kind, and Slava Ukraini. 

It Was a Day of Semi-Accomplishments - LOL

I actually got quite a lot done yesterday, driving here and there and then over yonder. I did get my salmon cooked, and it looks lovely. I'll enjoy having those for my next two dinners. I also went on a hunt for a screw which was semi-successful. I finally found one tiny enough to fit the holes in the item I need to mount, but they're about 1/2" too long, so I'll have to clip them down before I can use them. So that project returns to the back burner for another few days until I have time to take it out, clip the screws, and see if my idea will work at all. 

I basically need these. These are from Rockler, and 
I think they have a local store, so I might hop over there 
next week. This is EXACTLY what I need - the right 
type of screw and the right hanger. 

My health insurance had decided to send me a home kit for colonoscopy - ColoGuard. I had one of these last year as well. I know it's not quite as thorough as the more intensive procedure, but my insurance company has decided it's sufficient for them, so great. I got that done and sent back off yesterday, so one more thing off my "To Do" list. 

The hard part about ColoGuard is that it must be 
shipped within 24 hours and they use UPS only. 
But I took my box to my local shipper late yesterday 
afternoon and it's only going to a lab in Wisconsin. 
They should be receiving it today. 

Somewhere I have a baggie of assorted sawtooth hangers. It's supposed to be in my framing area, but it's MIA. I'm not seeing it on my computer desktop (although it could use a good tidy to be sure) and it's not in the drawer in the workshop area where we keep it. DH will be VERY pissed if I've lost it. I doubt I've truly lost it, but it's definitely taken a bit of a walk-about. *sigh* I'll try for a deep hunt tomorrow because I'd like to get these two smaller artworks finally completed. The larger piece will require eye screws and wire for hanging - totally different. 

I'm relieved that I finally got my email out to Kate, at 
Lady of the Lakes silks. She does such amazing work. 
I already own several of her pieces (not as many as my 
friend Melissa who owns more than 80 of her scarves). 
She does incredible work - beautiful, durable and perfect 
for Ren Faire as well as everyday use. 

I did get my email sent out to Kate at "Lady of the Lake" silk scarves. At least I managed to accomplish one more thing on my "To Do" list for yesterday. Apparently DH and Chickie were at odds yesterday, though, so I'll have to sooth Chickie a bit when I get in today. DH doesn't mean to be a bully, but he's under a lot of stress, and we've asked her about this particular issue a LOT and nothing's really been done about it. So ... time for a chat. We'll manage to make things work out again, but sometimes it's rather like herding cats. *sigh* Have an excellent Thursday, I'm off to the swimming pool. Slava Ukraini. 

It's Going to be a Busy Housework/Cleaning Day Today

So, after yesterday's attempt to post, we'll see if I'm more successful today. *sigh* Yesterday was my wedding anniversary - married in the dark ages in front of a fire with a cold cave behind and winter approaching. Well ... the only accurate thing is that winter is approaching, but the marriage did happen 46 years ago. We were young, foolish, and walking into an unknown future which turned out very different than either of us had envisioned. 

Today's agenda includes some major housecleaning, getting bills paid, and hitting the computer room for a deep clean. I'm looking for a particular book that I believe is buried in the stacks, so it's as good an excuse as any to do a Fall cleaning. I haven't hit this room for quite a while. 

Sometimes I think it would have been so much better if 
both of us weren't packrats. We're not as bad as some - 
we're not hoarders, but we do tend to accumulate things. 

Of course, it's also a swimming day and a grocery shopping day. I have two salmon fillets that have to be cooked, so I'll dash through that too, but the most important thing will be finding this book. 

I have two salmon fillets that need to be cooked, 
so that's on today's agenda. I don't need to do any 
other major kitchen work until Friday, so it'll be 
a bit lighter and leave me plenty of time to hunt 
for that book that I need. 

Yesterday was our anniversary, as I mentioned above. DH did get me two cards - very nice ones. I got him nothing. We'll celebrate at Ren Fest this weekend, and hopefully have nice weather for it. I have to get an email out to Merlin's wife regarding my scarf. I've added a note to the small stack of bills to be paid today, just so I don't forget to get that out to her. 

Lady of the Lake Silks is Merlin's wife's business, and she's 
extremely successful and very talented. The scarf I'm ordering 
ranges from Black on one edge to White on the opposite edge, 
ranging through the entire rainbow as it progresses through. 

So, I'm going to wrap this up, and hopefully it won't end up in cyberspace hell like yesterday's post did. *sigh* I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Business - If You're Not Interested, I Totally Understand - LOL

My computer ate my post for today, and I have to get to the pool. So this is all you're getting today *sigh* Sorry!

A Short Post for a Monday Where I'm Running a Bit Late

I had plenty of time when I awakened this morning, but after 45 minutes on the treadmill, a nice comfortable shower, making two cups of tea, and catching up on some emails, my time has compressed into OMG, I have NO time! Funny how that works sometimes - LOL. 

I'm out of time. I need to eat my breakfast and get over 
to the shop.

But, it's a Monday. The start of another work week. I don't get Chickie on Mondays, so I'm always working twice as hard because DH is almost zero help with customers. Just getting a short break for lunch often doesn't happen on Mondays. But I'll try - I do consider that short break in the day to be rather essential. 

We had a lovely, if hot, day at Ren Fest yesterday. We 
wandered here and there and everywhere, saw friends, 
and people watched. 

We had a lovely day for Ren Fest yesterday - perfect weather. We stayed a bit longer than anticipated, but that was fine. We ended up with a great parking spot and didn't have to part at the far end of the known world as we have had to do a couple of times. I saw friends, got hugs and "hello"s from a variety of people, and the weather couldn't have been much better. My kind of day. 

We started the day at Ren Fest with a beverage and 
an Egg Flip. It's egg and cheese and other things 
put into a thick piece of bread that's been sliced 
down 80% of the way, so the egg mixture gets stuffed 
into the bread. It's very tasty. I think next time I'll 
ask for it in a bowl, however. Much less messy to eat. 

So, because I'm out of time, I'm out of here. Have a wonderful Monday and I'll be back tomorrow morning, hopefully with a bit more time to write a blog post - LOL. Slava Ukraini. 

Gardens - My Vegetables and My Garden of the Soul

Good morning and Happy Saturday to each of you. It's the weekend, and even though I have to work today, I'll have tomorrow off to attend Renaissance Festival. It should be a lovely day, even though it will be a short one because we'll want to return home for football. Still, some time outdoors with friends and acquaintances, a bowl of Pho from the Vietnamese stall, and music here and there isn't a bad way to spend a Sunday. 

This photo is a bit more classed up than the Pho we 
purchase at Ren Fest, but it's basically the same 
meal. Rice noodles and a meat (we usually choose 
chicken), in a broth. He adds a lot of spicy sauces 
to his bowl, I add a bunch of Hoisin sauce to mine. 

The leaves are beginning to turn - orange and scarlet blazes across the Cities with greens fading into the background and reserved for evergreen trees. Fall is my favorite time of the year - I adore the colors, I like the cooler temperatures, and I love football season, which started last week. There's just something about that little nip of cool air in the mornings, fresh apple cider, cinnamon snapping in the air, pumpkins turning orange - ready for carving and/or cooking. Squash returns to the menu, along with the more robust foods for the season. It's a grand time of the year. 

The majority of trees around me turn orange and red 
in the Fall. Most of them are maples, and maple trees 
are very colorful. I do miss the golden Aspen trees of 
my youth, but I'm stunned by the orange and scarlet 
trees of Minnesota. 

I have to get my latest dehydrator batch pulled out this morning and put into containers so that I can put the dehydrator away in the cabinet once again until the next batch. I had more than 40 habanero peppers that I harvested yesterday and put in to dry. It was a veritable feast of brilliant orange peppers. I can't wait to add them to soups and stews over the winter months.  I also harvested Serrano peppers and ... hmmm ... I'm not remembering the exact type of my red peppers, but they're lovely as well. And one other pepper plant that has really tiny (but very potent) peppers is just coming in for harvest now. I harvested my first few yesterday and added them to the dehydrator batch. 

Here are my peppers cut and ready for the dehydrator. You 
can see I had  2-1/2 shelves of Habanero peppers, but there 
also were red and green peppers and four little guys all on 
their own that probably will be super hot because they're 
so small - LOL. Just an assumption. I haven't tried them 
yet. But I have to get my dehydrator emptied before I leave 
for the shop today. 

So, hot foods for the cold season to come. I'll be using all of these over the winter to add to my soups and stews. Having a garden can be a wonderful thing! But I also have a garden of the soul which is populated by my friends, both near and far. You're the ones I visit time and time again to give me the strength I need and show me the kindness that often is missing in my life. Thank goodness for every one of you! Know this --- you're treasured! Slava Ukraini. 

It's Friday - A Very Busy "Day Off"

Yippee! It's Friday. I have the "day off" with a list of things to do that's as long as my arm, but I'm not in the shop, so that's a total win. I will be bouncing from one part of the city to another, though. Between everything, I also need to locate a specific bag that's holding my higher-priced Etsy items. I sold a strand of trade beads yesterday, and want to get that sale finalized and shipped off tomorrow. So I need to find the bag. I have a pretty good idea of exactly where it is, but didn't get a chance to chase it down this morning. 

I had an Etsy order for some Swarovski crystals that 
I sent out yesterday, and got this order through my 
email in the afternoon. The trade beads of this style 
are called "Mali Wedding Beads" because they've 
been used by people of the Mali tribe for ceremonial 
use for decades. It's a very pretty strand and a good 
price. If everything goes smoothly, I'll have them 
in the mail to the purchaser tomorrow morning. 

I also need to pay the 2nd payment of my annual property taxes on the house today. *sigh* That's never a bill I welcome - it's a lot of money, but you can't fight City Hall, or the State Legislature. It's got to be done. The value of the house and property has been increasing since we purchased it in the mid-1980's, and (of course) property taxes keep increasing annually as well. Death and taxes - the only two sure things in the world. LOL

There's actually a video game called "Death and 
Taxes". Who knew? LOL I should look into that one. 

I used my new headphones while on the treadmill this morning. They work OK, I'll certainly manage to live with them even if they're not the brand I prefer. I had an online friend wonder how I could plug headphones into my phone. Well, I use a small dongle (honestly, the words we've invented for our computer age - dongle - LOL). The dongle has the proper connector for the phone on one side and the proper connection for the headphones on the other, and it's about 2-3 inches long (I'm too lazy to go and measure it). Without the dongle, I wouldn't be able to use the headphones with my phone at all, of course. 

Of course, you can't connect a phone directly to a set of 
earbuds, but with this dongle, which is sold on Amazon 
and lots of other places, it's easy. It's a minimal piece 
of essential equipment. 

So, it's going to be a busy day off today. The normal things like making my next batch of "Ogre Juice" as well as a few other errands will fill much of it. It'll be a nice day, though, with temps peaking at about 80F. I can certainly enjoy that last rush of summer. Maybe I'll get a chance to do a bit of gardening and get my massive crop of Habanero peppers harvested and into the dehydrator. It's a goal, right? LOL Have an excellent day and I'll be back to wrap up the week tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.