HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

And POOF ..... just like that, June disappeared into the sunrise.  It's July 1st ... and that means HAPPY CANADA DAY to all my Canadian friends!! 

Though Mr. Cooper wanted to celebrate with me, he just could not hold back the NAP.  He also seems to be having a bad hair day.  

I on the other hand, started out the day brilliantly.  I had bread pudding for breakfast.  Why was it brilliant?  Because I took a big swig of that REAL Canadian Maple Syrup and stirred it in to the sauce.  It made it even better than bourbon!!  I guess that means I can eat the entire casserole now.

That brought up the other GREAT day.  It was National Clean Your Garbage Disposal Day!  Who knew?  As you can tell, it DOES need to be cleaned, even if I never use it.  They are great for city dwellers, but bad news for a septic system.

Now that THAT is out of the way, it was on to Home Depot.  My list was not long, but it was rather frustrating.  I knew where the Miracle Grow was (one tomato plant is looking quite sad) because it lives next to the Roundup weed spray.  That last stuff I bought last time didn't work at all.  What a waste of money!  I tried the home recipe too, but it only made them a little sick.

I was then on the hunt for Dap gutter repair.  Of course it was in the exact opposite end of the store.  They didn't have any ... and only one said it was actually for gutters.  The last thing on the list was a small propane bottle.  Not the green ones, but maybe a 1 gallon small one.  

They literally had me going to all four corners of the huge store ... to find not a single bottle.  I don't know where people get them, but I would like to have one for my patio barbecue and not be throwing away bottle after bottle of the small ones that don't last more than three times.

I returned home to find this guy once again sitting on the top of the couch.  Apparently that is the lookout station.  It's so sad that he misses me so much.  I find I'm staying home more and more just to keep him company.  Even worse, his eyesight is getting bad, and he didn't even see me when I snuck in the house.  Lots of love and scratches made it better I guess.

We headed outside immediately, only to find THIS!  Oh my ... this stuff is growing like crazy now.  

After fertilizing everything and contemplating the ladder for gutter repairs, I decided caution was the better part of valor.  Maybe I can find a volunteer.  Instead, I drug out the air fryer and cooked another batch of bacon.  EVERYTHING goes good with bacon .......

Especially zucchini!!

I spent the afternoon doing this ... decoupage.  Anyone remember doing this back in the dark ages?  It's interesting to note I have very little interest in all that crafty stuff we used to do.  I seriously don't know how we had time to make all our Christmas decorations, Halloween decorations, house decorations, change the furniture around once a month, gather all the vines for wreath making, drive to the coast and back once a week, grow a HUGE garden and actually work 7 days a week!   How did we DO that?

I saw this and thought how cute it would be with candles inside ... so I ordered the stuff.  It sat on the counter for a week before I actually got motivated enough to do just one.  Brush on mod podge, place dried flowers and mod podge it once again.  Let dry.

DONE!  It's actually much prettier in person, but you get the idea.  Thank goodness I didn't try to dry the flowers too!!!  The idea was to make ten of them for the patio, but I pared it down to five on my living room shelves, which ended up being ONE on the stove.  I'll try to get a little more motivated.  Maybe when the fake flickering candles arrive I'll get back into the swing of it.

That was it for the day, and a very nice day it was.  Tonight I'll be off to the Magic Kingdom of Bingo where for the first time EVER ...   I will be calling the pull tab games.  Nervous?  You betcha!!!  I'm waring my steel underwear just in case I mess up and see flaming arrows heading my direction!!

HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE!!!

The Truth Comes Out

 Ninety nine degrees was the magic number of the day for what was supposed to be a leisurely Sunday of healing up.  But when you get an invitation for breakfast ... you go.  Mr. Cooper and I were up early as usual, heading out on our morning walk.

I laugh at this skateboard every time we go by it.  This is old time ... anyone else put roller skate wheels on a board and try to slide around 90 degree concrete sidewalk corners?  It's been hanging out here for ages, broken in half.

This is SO very true ... Cooper makes EVERY day a GREAT day for me.  Except yesterday, when I headed out to breakfast.  I forgot something and had to return, to find him crying at the back door.  Talk about making me feel bad ... I almost cried myself!!  

Almond Tree was the restaurant choice ... one of only two in town open for breakfast.  I met my friend who asked me to help do all that serving.  The truth comes out.  It turns out the only reason she wanted to be there was not to really help, or even to get a nice prime rib dinner.  

It seems her grandson has been selected as an Aide in Washington DC.  Her only reason for doing this was to smooze with the politicians, handing out his business cards to them.  She's trying to get him hired full time in the sleazy world of politicians!  Hmmmm next time I'll ask more questions.

Breakfast was chicken fried steak, scrambled eggs and country potatoes.  I'll be honest ... though they raved about it, I've had better.  

The REAL reason for the meet was to take my sewing machine over to their boat and stitch a nylon handle on to the rod holder.  My machine is as heavy as can be, and it took two of us to get it IN the boat, not leaving much deck space for moi!  To make it worse, my machine is foot controlled only.  I finally half laid down on the deck and worked the foot control with my hand.  SUCCESS!  We got it done!

When I got back home, breakfast brought up the question ... why oh why don't I just make my OWN breakfast.  After all, I have all those eggs I bought for $1.99 a dozen!!

I chopped and hacked up every veggie I had in the fridge, adding lots of eggs and cheese.  It became lunch ... and was SO much better than breakfast!!

I finally snuck in a little nap before finding my cutting board under all those boxes in my laundry room.  Remember I was going to cut it down?  That brought about a frenzy of cupboard door opening, looking for the sander I KNEW I had SOMEWHERE.  Looky here!!!  FOUND IT!

After ten minutes of sanding, I took it out for a fit check.  IT'S PERFECT!!  Now I have a little more counter space in the van.  It slides back and forth perfectly ... but hopefully is still tight enough to not bang around when traveling.  

There were no more naps, but I finally remembered to check the zucchini again.  It's just amazing how fast they grow when it's hot!  Half of ONE is one meal, so I better get busy eating!!  

By the way, I looked through my phone for an hour trying to find that Kings Hawaiian roll bread pudding recipe so I could post it.  I'm guessing I accidentally deleted it.  I looked online, but none of those recipes are even close.  Hopefully I come across it again soon, because it was (and still is) DELICIOUS!  Yes, only 1/3 left to eat!!

By the way, I think I forgot to mention the centerpieces at the dinner.  They were really beautiful.  When the nice lady said to please take them home, I snatched this one.  Maybe it will last until July 4th!!!

Speaking of which, I got a giant reprieve yesterday.  Another friend was having a food booth at the local July 4th Parade.  Her help ghosted her and she called me.  You know I can't say NO.  That meant a 6:00 am arrival .... UGH .... I only do that once a year on Mother's Day.

Lucky for me, not only did her help call back, but the help is buying the whole shebang ... food trailer and all.  WOOHOO!!  Sometimes saying yes works out just fine in the end.

We're in for another scorcher today.  Summer has finally arrived in Central California.  

Just Call Me Alice

 Good morning my friends!  It's a good thing you can't see me this morning because I'm pretty much a wreck.  Just call me Alice ... you know, from the TV series ALICE?  Florence Jean Castleberry played a waitress in that show for several years.  I think she had it much better since she didn't work as hard, or as long as I did last night.  It's going to take at least TWO DAYS to recover from this one!

It started out nice enough ... a little walk with the kid in the hot morning air.  We are currently sitting at 71 degrees at 5 am.  YIKES!

I didn't do much all morning, trying to suck up all the energy I could for this epic night.  Anyone heard of Steve Hilton?  He's running for Governor of this state, which takes lots of money.  He rented the lodge for a fundraiser ... feeding 150 farmer-type folks one of our fabulous prime rib dinners.  

My friend who usually helps out at this kind of thing, asked if I would help too.  SURE ... not even having the slightest clue about how hard this would really be.  Be careful saying YES.  Want your picture with Trump and Reagan?  You could do it here.  

Want to buy hats and T-shirts?  You could do that here too.  Not me really, because I don't buy hats, but my friend does and she gave me this one.  

SO ... I've been a waitress many times before, but this was over the top.  We had five Elks employees and five volunteers from the local political arena who knew nothing ... NOTHING ... about serving, nor did they pay attention to the instructions.

The tables are numbered ... and it's important that you serve them in order.  It didn't help that my friend who was supposed to stand by each table holding her hand up until it was completely served ... was too enamored with the politicos that she wasn't paying much attention either.  I'm sorry, I know politicians are necessary ... I just don't want them in my life.  I'm not impressed, especially when I'm carrying huge plates of food.

Caesar salads got laid down first, with the unexperienced carrying big trays while we served.  Then came the freshly carved prime rib, baked potatoes and roasted vegetables.  Previously I filled 150 cups with sour cream, 170 cups with horseradish (oooweee my nose!) and 150 cups with chopped green onions.  

All they had to do was carry two plates to the appointed tables.  There was sour cream and horseradish all over the floor in the first 60 seconds.  Maybe having these nice 5 people help, wasn't such a good idea after all.  Then there were the folks who wanted well done prime rib.  How did they do that?  A huge pot of boiling au jus. Drop in the piece of meat and 60 seconds later ... WELL DONE.  

Then came the worst part ... standing there waiting while Steve gave his speech.  I have to admit, it was very good.  No teleprompter, no notes ... he just winged it VERY well.  

Dessert was our usual peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream.  A slight snafu in the kitchen resulted in one pan not getting cooked.  There was some yelling ... some swearing ... and the boss man stepping in to save the day.  I know from previous experience, that those ovens don't cook evenly at all.  Turn the pans, or put that one in another oven.  All's well that ends well ... it got done and dessert was served to everyone.  

By now I'm slowing down, but with the event over, it was time to clean the tables.  My oh my what a mess!  I have to say however, that everyone cleaned their plates like good boys and girls.  It took us an hour to gather up the dishes to be washed.  The rest will be cleaned up this morning.  I'm smiling because I won't be there!!

Instead I will be enjoying my piece of prime rib ... payment for five hard hours of work.  But WAIT!  WHERE'S MY CONTAINER?  I set it in the kitchen on the side, letting them know it was mine.  I even put my NAME on it.  It was gone ... poof ... disappeared.

Nancy was NOT a happy camper.  Really?  You stole my dinner?  Lucky for me, the Kitchen Boss had cut two pieces for the Head Bartender.  He took one back and I snagged two baked potatoes.  Breakfast in a box!!

Sleep escaped me.  I was so mad that someone actually stole the box with my name on it, that I couldn't sleep most of the night.  Who does that??

I'm supposed to head out to the boat this morning with my sewing machine, but unless I get a shot of sugar, I'm going to be dragging BIG time.  This waitressing work ..... IT'S HARD!!!

FOODIE NEWS

 Ooohhweeee it's been a hot time in the old town!  95 degrees wasn't so bad for the first hour, but after that, it got pretty old.  Here's the old gal and her dog checking out the morning's vegetable cache. I'm pretty sure I've never eaten this many tomatoes in my entire LIFE!  

After checking on the squash ... no edible denizens on this morning ... we came in for breakfast.  Mr. Cooper hit the hay immediately.  

I'm going to eat up that quiche if it kills me.  Upon closer inspection, I discovered there is just as much crust as there is EGG.  What a big letdown.  More tomatoes went bye-bye, along with some excellent avocados!

Back outside before the REAL heat hit ....... now you see them .......

Now you don't.  I was extremely sad to see these go.  The gazanias, stolen from the roadside by my friend, came with an ugly disease that I was afraid would spread to everything else in the garden.  In spite of $50.00 worth of spray, and constant spraying, it would not give up its grip.  I'll have to clean it up and find something else for this spot.  

In need of a couple quick items from the store, including yeast because I got another crazy idea, I headed out once again into the oven.  It pays to be nice at the grocery store.  The nice young gal stocking the shelves asked if I was looking for something.  No, I always look this way ... like I'm lost.  

Turns out she was stocking eggs.  Now I don't NEED any eggs ... I have 18 in the fridge, followed up with two dozen from Costco.  "You should get them now" she said ... they are $1.99 a carton.

WHAT?  How could that be?  I just paid $4.00 a dozen at Costco.  So of course I snagged two, which was the limit allowed.  What I'll do with them, I don't know.  Oh wait ... I'll make QUICHE with FLAVOR!

Unfortunately, the nice girl ALSO told me that Ben & Jerry's was on sale.  I don't buy Ben & Jerry's any more since they tried to tell Hershey how to make the candy bars that went into their ice cream.  I don't think ANYONE tells Hershey how to make candy.  

I stared at it for quite some time.  This used to be my all time favorite ice cream.  I bought TWO.  The good news is I can make it last a VERY long time.  The bad news is they are using some off-brand toffee that doesn't taste NEAR as good as Hersheys.  I'll suffer through.

And then THIS happened.  Amazon is a BAD THING.  They are back to delivering most everything the NEXT DAY.  It's been years since I went the sourdough route, mostly because it's a big pain in the patoo to keep the starter going.  But here we are ..... sourdough starter started.  I'll let you know how that works out.  Anyone remember that friendship bread??  More on this later.

It's seriously hard to lose weight when you are home alone with nothing to do since it's too hot outside.  So let's BAKE.  This one is for Barbara and Tom.

I've mentioned before, that as we crossed the entire United States, we taste tested every bread pudding we could find.  We were on a mission to come up with the BESTEST in the U.S.  Turns out it was at the Miners Inn in Jerome Arizona.  

I thought this one might be interesting ..... it's made with Kings Hawaiian rolls.  Who doesn't like THOSE?   It came out of the oven looking like a million bucks.  I couldn't wait to taste it.

I should have waited a tad bit longer because I instantly burned my mouth!!!  Sadly, I could not find my GOOD recipe for the sauce, so I used this one.  It's not the best, and truly, needed some bourbon.  I had to suffer through since I'm not buying a bottle of bourbon just for one dessert.  I'm not a bourbon drinker anyway, as evidenced by almost getting kicked out of the bourbon tasting joint in Kentucky because I thought it tasted terrible.  

It give it a solid FIVE.  It's all about the sauce I think, and it just wasn't up to snuff.  Too bad I still have to eat the entire casserole dish full.  The bread part was delicious ... maybe I can find another sauce recipe.

And so ended another foodie day as I prepare for tonight.  I'm switching out hats for a waitress apron.  There's a really big gig going on at the Elks Lodge tonight that I will be waitressing.  I haven't done that in about 40 years, but they are short handed.  And I get to keep the TIPS!!!  I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow!!

It Was Shocking I Tell You!

 It was a SHOCKING day on Wednesday, and that was BEFORE I took my truck in for her checkup.  I walked outside to see these golden rings on my fence.  What?  It looked like someone spray painted these square circles.  How weird is that?

Upon further inspection, though it took some detective work, I realized it was reflections from my four bedroom windows, set high up on the side of the house.  How weird is that?  I thought maybe I was being invaded by aliens!!

Then I spotted Kitty Kitty.  He is never out in the daylight, but sneaks in at night to eat the kitty food I bought.  

Just look at those eyes!!  The great news is that Kitty is looking MUCH better, not having to share his food with the other eight cats in the neighborhood.  He's keeping this a secret!  That's when I realized ... DUH ... he probably could use some water too, so that will be one of today's projects.

Next up ... COSTCO ... where you are always SHOCKED AND SURPRISED by what they have and what it cost you to get out the door.  But first, I had to cut all the dried chunks of berry seeds out of my hair from the previous days squashing.  The purple spots remained, permanently dyed.

I heard Costco had my Skinny Dippers back in stock ... small dark chocolate peanut butter cups.  Weirdly, it's just enough to kill my sweet tooth cravings.  

Alas, they lied.  The only things they had were outrageously high in carbs ... so I settled for some Kind Bars.   I knew it was all going to be pricey ... vitamins, spray avocado oil, parmesan cheese, eggs ... but I almost hit the floor when I got home and actually LOOKED at the tag.  

This little box my friends, came to $243.00.  NOT KIDDING.  Here's the count.  Two boxes of Kind Bars, three bottles of vitamins, one bottle of Tylenol, three boxes of breathe right strips, two cans of avocado oil spray, and one jar of parmesan cheese.

Because I was hungry, I threw in two quiches ... barely 1" thick ... and two dozen eggs.  That's it ... that's all I got.  I double and TRIPLE checked the tag to be sure it was correct.  The only good news, if there CAN be any at that price, is that the vitamins will last me for TWO years, and the Kind Bars ONE year.  

With everything put away, which took all of two minutes, I went back to work on the jam.  Sadly, I discovered lots of mold in one batch of berries, so I was afraid to use them.  I've never encountered that before and did not want to risk it.  Into the trash they went.  

Thank GOODNESS this is the LAST of the berries.  These are the frozen olallieberries I got on the first day when they were out of boysenberries.  I guarantee I will never buy this many again.  This was a LOT of work!!

A lot of HOT work!!  That's the temperature in the kitchen on the bottom!!

I must say, it's quite satisfying hearing all eleven POPS from the last jars sealing.  Now to find a place to store them all.  

Dinner was quick and easy.  I threw one of those quiches in the oven to bake.  The taste test?  It was SHOCKINGLY TERRIBLE.  Well that was a big waste of money.  My idea of a quick meal here and there vanished into the oven.  Truly, it had no flavor whatsoever.  I'm hopeful that the other one that is living in the freezer, is somewhat better.  

I had two more trips to the store, but THOSE shocking stories are for tomorrow, along with my TRUCK saga.  

I'll be out in the garden ....... 

Truck Goes To Doctor!!

 One quick picture this morning.  I'm on my way to get and oil and fuel filter change in my truck.  They are early birds like me ... my appointment is at 7:00 am.  That means I have to get my morning act together!

This is what happens when the temps hit 95 and you forget to check the zucs every day.  They get HUGE!  Same with the yellow squash!  One second it's too small and the next it's TOO BIG!  It was actually quite tasty smothered in cheese and bread crumbs, baked in the oven.  I took your advice Barb!

There was a quick run to Costco ... way too early for me that caused an OMG moment and a stop at the lodge ... also too early, but the chicken is officially mine!  

I'll fill you in on the rest when I get back from my best friend's Doctor checkup.  That would be my TRUCK!!  She needs oil and filters before the dreaded soon-to-be-required SMOG TEST.  

Here's to a happy no-problems day!!

THE CREW

I'm here at IT'S NOT Knottsberry Farm today, but it sure feels like it.  If anyone has been there, you will remember its buildings full of jams and jellies, pies and all things fruit.  It was the first Disneyland, made to look like an old Ghost Town, complete with jail and talking jailbird.  I remember most every minute of being there 65 years ago.  

It was the only place around where you could get boysenberry syrup.  Its restaurants and storefronts were loaded with it.  That's how I feel this morning.  I'm loaded to the gills with boysenberry jam.  Lucky for me, I got rid of SIX jars last night.  Hopefully they like it and will order six MORE.

It was BINGO night once again, thankfully NOT a full moon.  I was at the Magic Castle early to discuss all things payroll and sign checks while the Queen of the Castle (I don't think I've mentioned her before) ... the Bookkeeper ... keeps everyone in line.  Trust me, NO ONE messes with the Queen.  Not even the KING.

Once again, my Fairy Godmother crew member, she who sets up everything and puts out all the paper (bingo cards), helped me set up the calling station again.  But what did we find?  INTERLOPERS!!  Three ladies who were quite pushy and demanding, who wanted to hang a 15 pound American Flag on the drapes which hang on the stage.  

There they stood on chairs, trying to pin a too-tall flag to the too-tall drapery.  That's a NO-NO.  Seems they are having an event Saturday.  Then they proceeded to completely change every dial on the loud speaker system.  That's a WORSE no-no ... and it's not even a full moon!  No one toucheth the microphone system that we use for Bingo.  Won't they be surprised when they come back and find it NOT where they left it.

I should have taken the chance to divest myself of some jam (the penalty for standing on a chair) but I'll bring more, since I will be serving at their fandango on Saturday.  Good thing it's not a FULL MOON.

 

Fairy Godmother also told me about the Back Room's cards.  I truly have tried to stay away from them completely.  There's always something off, and I have never wanted to be the one to see why.  I stick to my little Infernal Machine zone.  

Here's one of their cards ... called a CARD.  You pull off the front and mark either of two numbers per square.  The pictures are free.  It's a blackout card, so you have to get all of them, which brings you $1,199.  For obvious reasons, this one is a favorite.  

Every week, someone wins this game.  Two other games played offer $500 each, along with several $250 instant winners.  In total, they will play eight of these games every week.  THIS is the money maker for the club.

There are 180 per package, and we sell two packages per week.  The other boxes of games have from 250 to 1,000 tickets, all of which go bye-bye EVERY week.  It just amazes me how much folks will spend.  This particular card costs $5.00.  Certainly more than I EVER wanted to know.

It was also more than the replacement gal wanted to know.  The Back Room Boss was out of town, and the new recruit was thrilled to be the BOSS.  That lasted until she didn't balance at the end of the night.  I was done and heading out the door when I heard the ruckus in the back room.  

I stuck my head in the door, in spite of my better judgement.  "How much are you off"?  I think she decided this gig wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  $300.00 she said.  I took a quick look see.  Luckily there were no sharp things laying around she could stab me with.  

There's two things you need to be good at when it comes to being on the Bingo Crew ... and that's adding and subtracting.  It seems we are lacking in those skills.  I counted the money, added it up, subtracted the food tab, and it was only off a couple of dollars.  She raced out the door.  I doubt we will be seeing her again any time soon.

I arrived home in time to snuggle with my baby boy for an hour before going to bed.  That was probably a mistake.  We were up three times during the night wanting to play the ball game.  Oh Mr. Cooper ... I love you, but I also LOVE sleep, of which I got ZERO!

Early this morning, I'll be BACK at the Castle, paying for all that chicken I brought home.  It seems the King went overboard when buying for the Bingo Party.  There were SEVEN bags of chicken breast left over.  We get a crazy good deal from the Chicken Farm, so I agreed to buy the leftovers for $7.00 a bag.  I think there are ten big pieces to a bag.  Not a bad price, eh??

The box was so big I barely made it in the back door, not to mention completely rearranging my freezer at 11:00 at night trying to get it to fit.  SO very sad ... my leftover birthday cake went in the trash.  You just never know what you will find at the Magic Castle of Bingo!!  And this night I SCORED BIG! About $125.00 worth of chicken cost me $49.00.  

So I guess you know WHAT'S FOR DINNER!!