Couch Hugging

 It was a lovely sunny quiet day in the neighborhood.  I completely forgot about my truck, zoning in on the fingernail repair I required after spending hours each day with my hands in an ice chest full of what else, ice and water.  If cold could help you lose weight, my hands would be half their size.  

What that does however, is completely trash your fingernails.  They all broke off to the quick.  Being a country girl, I'm not so in to fancy nails, but it was actually very hard to pick things up and scratch that itchy spot on my arm, not to mention an amazing array of other things fingernails are good for ... like cleaning your fingernails.

That's when I heard it.  The biggest BOOM you ever did hear.  It was close ... too close.  I ran outside thinking the house across the street had just blown up.  Nothing.  How could that be?  It shook the windows it was so loud.  I wandered around the neighborhood finding absolutely nothing.  I KNOW I didn't imagine that.  I did run into a couple of people who heard it, but none of us could figure out what it was.  It's a mystery.  Possibly the guy down the road who shoots off fireworks once a week at midnight.

Back to business, I've done my own nails for about 40 years with fiberglass.  Just like your speed boat, it worked great.  Now however, it's a whole other world and fiberglass is a no-no.  Words like tips, acrylic and gel were thrown around as I sat wondering what was about to happen.  I was okay until she brought out the high speed grinding machine.  Yikes!!

I'm also not one to use all those fancy colors, which threw her for a loop.  No color please, as I gazed at the wall of glossy rainbows.  I like natural much better.  It took an hour of filing, grinding, gluing, dabbing, smoothing and painting.  $40 later I was back in business scratching Cooper's back like a boss.  He approved.

 Back home there was a little couch hugging time while I watched more completely predictable Christmas movies.  I can tell you the plot in the first five minutes.  My plan had been to smoke those ribs, but the nail appointment messed up their entire five hour cooking time.

I figured I would have lunch, then get the ribs in the fridge.  Alas, when I opened the bag-o-slaw, it was all glued together with something akin to spider webs.  Yucky poo!!  How about the five day old leftover hot dog from the Patch?  No .... it smelled pretty bad.  Okay then ... pumpkin bread with whipped cream it is!!  It's probably a good thing I don't have a family to cook for.

 

Back to the ribs, I cleaned them up, removed the skin on the back and set about seasoning them.  Plain old yellow mustard makes for the best adhesion without adding any flavor.  It actually helps tenderize them a bit too.  Then I pat on the seasonings ... my own blend of all the leftover spices in my cupboard ... and put them in the fridge overnight.  

This morning I'll take them out to warm up a bit, then pop them in the smoker for a total of five hours.  My mouth is watering already.  I was thinking turkey for Thanksgiving, but I may just go with ribs instead.

 There was a little more couch hugging at the end of the day which has helped revive my tired body.  Well, maybe another few hours won't hurt.  After all, I really can't go anywhere while the ribs are cooking.  Maybe I'll even put up a few Christmas decorations.  

Be forewarned, I'm skipping the Thanksgiving decorations altogether.  If it's good enough for Michaels and Hobby Lobby, it's good enough for me and I'll actually get to enjoy them for TWO months!