Happy Monday...Randoms

Sunflowers

I haven’t felt like blogging. And it isn’t because I haven’t done much in the last couple of weeks, but because I haven’t felt like putting fingers to the keyboard. I have been commenting on other folk’s blogs, so I guess it is only befitting that I finally grace you with some overdue randoms. Hopefully, this will ignite my writing mojo so I can write an editor’s note for my book club newsletter. So here we go, sit back get you some coffee or a drink because it is a long one.


If you live in the south or in Montgomery, we have had a summer of pure rain. Seriously, it rained 24 out of the 31 days in July. And August we just completed almost 2 weeks of hit and miss rain but it has been mostly hit. I can’t tell you the number of days I was soaking wet by the time I got into the house. Give you an example on August 13th I had to go take a Servsafe test for the second job. No biggie, it was bright and sunny when I got to the venue, but baby it wasn’t 30 minutes in when the sky opened and the rains of a torrential variety let loose. I forgot I had left my windows cracked. Seriously. Ugh! And a couple days later while on my main job I left my windows cracked because I park in the parking garage. Well, the sky opened up again and rained and rained. When I left that afternoon it was still drizzling, but where I parked there was a leak in the garaged and yeah you guessed it, my seat had a puddle of rain in it. My car was soaked. This is how you realize how damn dirty your car really is when everything is damp and dirt is all over your hands and clothes. I was miserable driving the 10 minutes home in wet car seat. It took two days to dry my car completely out, because with no sun and nothing but rain my car stayed damp. So I drove with towels on my seat. Very uncomfortable. So this rain isn’t giving me life, but it sure has disrupted mine.

My out-of-control grass and hedges

Due to the excessive rain, my plants and my garden have suffered. My lovely Portulaca (Moss Roses) has been basically killed because of the rain, the poor plant it is hanging by a thread. It is one of those plants that has succulent leaves, well with the rain it couldn’t hold all the water and the leaves started falling off. A mess. I just gave up on the garden because too much rain was causing too much damage on the tomatoes and cucumbers. Frankly, I was getting too scared to pick things out of the garden because ya’ll know I am scared of worms. One morning, I went outside a little later than normal to water the plants because the rain was slow to come that day, and I had been telling my sister something was eating my tomatoes because I find them on the carport looking like something had eaten them. She of course said rats/mice. I was like no it is birds because they want let my sunflowers have life because they are eating the damn seeds because I see them all over the carport. Well on this particular morning, guess what I found? A mama cat and a kitten enjoying the fruits of my labor. I am sorry you cat lovers, but I do not like cats. I am not scared of them like Mrs. TDJ, but I don’t like em. I was like shoo and get out of there. The kitten was all slow and the mama just left her baby, what kinda parenting? But I now knew the culprit to the tomato eating mystery. Anyway, this weekend when my yard guy came to finally cut my overgrown lawn and hedges, I had them cut all close to the raised garden because that baby is done. Dunzo. (My yard alone was systematically bringing the property values down because the grass was thigh high, just kidding I think.) The rain is going to have an effect on your veggies this year because the excess rain hurt them. So be prepared. I froze and gave away a lot of my tomatoes. So marinara sauce and tomatoes for my soup are available, because I ain’t trying to buy tomatoes out of the store because of the cost.

This is ridiculous...Over it!

Those holes are from roly polies, they are voracious this year.  A worm or two, but mostly roly polies...

Sunflowers will make you smile, but if you look on the ground you can see the discarded seeds of the birds. 

I did manage to make a few bouquets with my flowers, but I know next year plant more flowers. I miss my big, vibrant bouquets.

Probably the last bouquet...

A week ago I was reminded why I must have peace in all aspects of my life. I was on my 2nd job and the owner basically lost his ever loving mind. He basically went ham on the workers and tried to do the same to me. First of all, I am too old to be hollered at and told to stand somewhere and don’t move. All the counting in the world wasn’t going to keep me from handling him. Basically, I told him I wasn’t going to micro-manage these kids and I wasn’t going to argue and act a nut because he is having a temper tantrum. As I told my sister, “He forgot I have 3 degrees to his 2. I am here as a courtesy to his father, not him.” I was so mad. I haven’t been that mad in a long time. I was so mad it carried on through the entire weekend. I counted. Recounted. Counted again. I couldn’t shake the mad. The kids were excited that I “handled him”. Whatever, it shouldn’t have gone down like that. I talked to him later that night about the situation and told him with new people working acting in the manner in which he did makes it difficult to keep workers. You can get mad, but you damn sure better show it in a professional manner. Acting like a recalcitrant child gets you nothing, but hostile workers. Were the kids wrong in the situation? Yes, but it was done accidental by one of the new cooks still training. Instead of him listening or waiting until he calmed down he responded in a derogatory and demeaning manner and that isn’t going to cut it with me. I was thisclose to quitting. However, someone has to protect the kids. FYI – even his wife has cautioned him on his behavior.

So as I still blistered from that Friday night diabolical, I had a 50th birthday party to go to. A former book club member was having a big shindig to celebrate. The best part in my opinion was the scholarship she awarded to a student in attendance in honor of her mother who passed exactly a month to the day of the party. I went to get a glass of wine because I was still mad from Friday and when the bartender pulled the bottle out and started to twist the cap off of the Merlot, I declined the glass. I ain’t a highfaluting person, but I need my wine to have a cork. That is all.

I went to the party looking all staid and cute, but when I got home and had a drink I looked too different. See?

 Before I left...

Then the Amaretto Sour when I got home...

After the drink...

Just kidding, I didn't have the drink until I went to bed. My hair was falling out of the bun or whatever I had...so I worked it!

I haven’t been doing a lot of cooking either. Not feeling inspired. Rain man, rain.

Lala likes to scream Aunt Nana in the background when she sees my face on her mom’s phone. However, if you put her on the phone she says absolutely nothing. And I do believe she thinks she is a rock star. Check the pictures.

No photos please!  And she puts on her own sunglasses...

I will get to see Carson this weekend they are coming home to hang with family. Here is a picture of him with his 1st cousins in the pool. Those little muscles are getting ready for the club.

My niece is in college now. Sighing…I am still waiting on her to respond to my text from Saturday. I hate to have to show up on the campus of WSSU and embarrass her, but I will.

My cousin who I call my child will be here this weekend to celebrate graduating with his Master’s in Psychology. He didn’t march because he is heading straight to the PH.D program. So we are having a family get together to celebrate. Unfortunately, I am working but I will stop through after. Nope, didn’t take off because I am not a fan of crowds and folks doing the most drinking and playing cards. I can’t play any card games. Frankly, I don’t have the patience for it. Yeah, I am different.

I love muscadines. But I prefer the purple ones. I also tried some champagne grapes. Good, but too much work to eat them. Yes, I am lazy.

Muscadines

Champagne grapes...

The Guy and I are funny together because we make each other laugh. We do. He was telling me the story of his son who stepped on a carpenter’s nail and it went through his foot and how painful it was because they had to pack it and such. The Guy felt bad for his son and then his son asked if they were going to amputate his baby toe. I am sorry but I couldn’t help but laugh. He was serious when he asked. These kids are so dramatic. He will be fine if you thinking I am insensitive, he has to get another tetanus shot and he is walking with crutches temporarily, but he is fine.

I told my sister that folks are raising kids who may be book smart but they have no critical thinking skills. If they get a flat tire they will be unable to fix it or know who to call if it happens. Seriously. It is kinda scary folks. They can’t figure out the simplest situations without calling their parents. Lawd, help them.

I had book club Saturday. So I made sure to have a low-key day before the meeting because my left foot was hurting. See on last week I noticed there was an ache and it seemed to be more pronounced after working out especially if I was doing the walk/jog interval on the treadmill. So on Friday I decided to just do weights and the elliptical and to my consternation I found my foot was hurting more. Geez! And because I had to help on my 2nd job, by Friday night I was limping and of course I diagnosed myself with a stress fracture. So Saturday I was like early out and early back home to put the foot up. And I took some medicine to combat the pain. When I woke up that afternoon and to my amazement my foot no longer hurt. I had already planned to go to the Primed for an X-ray and diagnosis. It feels okay today so I am doing low key exercising so as not to put too much pressure on my foot. A customer told me I do not want a stress fracture on my foot. And I believed him.

Book club was great. I like our group with the smaller number because it is more comfortable and everyone gets to enjoy one another. Why are strawberry-ritas (in the can) so popular now? Anyway, we discussed The Perfect Marriage by Kimberla Lawson Roby. Of course I had a mini-photo shoot before the meeting.

So Vain...

Make up was cute...

Fantasia was here with Avant on Saturday. Of course I didn’t attend. One member was mad because she wanted to see Avant. I asked why? All his songs sound the same…shrugging.

I tried to watch the re-airing of the VMA’s last night when I got home. I watched Robin and Miley and my response was what the hell? And I saw Justin Timberlake’s performance, which was pretty good. Some of the guys from N’Sync are a bit thicker…just saying. After he finished, I turned and was like I can’t with MTV they do not play music videos except in the early morning. Hell, I watch MTV for Catfish.

See a lot of folks watch Reality television. I can’t say I don’t, but not that much. I prefer scripted television, but with my cable provider I don’t have enough channels for it to matter.

My book club members asked if I was watching the marathon of Scandal on BET. I didn’t. The emotions that I go through watching that show are too damn much! I can’t. But come October, I am back on it!

Labor Day is next week. I plan to do nothing. Seriously.

My birthday is on the horizon and I was asked on Saturday what I planned to do. Well, I will be going to both jobs that day and although I plan to take off the weekend, I have no plans. Oh yes I do. I plan to make ice cream, because I haven’t made any recently because my paddle broke. Oh and of course get a pair of gorgeous shoes. DSW gift cards are welcome. Just kidding…

Will someone tell my niece to text me? Geez…

Have a great week!

 

Creative Cooking…Beef and Broccoli

Beef and Broccoli or Broccoli and Beef...



You ever see recipes post multiple times on Pinterest and think maybe I should try it? Well, that is exactly what happened to me. I have probably eaten Beef and Broccoli in a Chinese restaurant once. However, I was looking for an easy lunch for the following week and this recipe fit the bill. I enjoy making Asian dishes because when you go to the restaurants you can’t control the sodium and by making these dishes I at least have some control over the sodium.


Ingredients: As adapted from Simply Recipes

1 lb of top sirloin, sliced thinly

1 lb of frozen broccoli florets (you can use fresh, but I had frozen on hand)

2 tbs of Canola Oil

2 teaspoons of minced garlic

1 teaspoon of cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tbs of water

Beef Marinade:

1 ½ tsp of low sodium soy sauce

1 ½ Rice Wine Vinegar

½ teaspoon cornstarch

1/8 of ground black pepper

For the sauce:

2 ½ tablespoons of oyster sauce

1 ½ Rice Wine Vinegar

1 ½ Tbs of slow sodium soy sauce

¼ cup of chicken broth

½ teaspoon of chili paste

First you need to marinate your beef in the marinade ingredients for 10 minutes or so and be sure the beef is coated in the marinade.

Prepare you sauce while you beef in marinating. Stir in the all the ingredients of the sauce in a small bowl.

Since I used frozen broccoli I put the bag, pierced, in the microwave for a minute to thaw, but not completely thawed. Then I drained it preparing it for the dish.

Bringing it to a boil so it can thicken...

In a large fry pan over high heat until a bead of water sizzles and immediately evaporates then add your cooking oil and insure the pan is coated. Then add your beef to the pan and try not to have the beef touching. Let the beef cook on one side without disturbing for a minute. Then flip the beef over and add your garlic and let it fry for a minute or so or until the beef is no longer pink. Pour your sauce into the pan along with your broccoli and bring to a boil. Make your cornstarch slurry and pour into the pan and cook until the sauce boils and thickens. And serve over rice. I used brown rice with my usual carrots, onions, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Yummy goodness...

Verdict: Delicious! It was quite tasty and easy to fix. Next time I will add a little fresh ginger to the marinade and I added the chili paste because I like heat and it add just a touch of heat without it being overpowering. Using the lean beef and low sodium soy sauce helps keep this a bit healthy. And over rice it is quite yummy. Let me know if you try it!

Easy and tasty...

Hair Post...Bantu Knots

I decided I needed to do something with my hair, because right now I am so sick of my hair it isn’t a joke. Most people want the long hair, but I have long Sisterlocks and I ain’t enjoying them right now. Seriously, they are a pain. Luckily or unluckily, we didn’t have a real summer which means our temperatures didn’t get to 100 degrees this year. In fact, it rained the entire month of July and for the last two weeks it has been more of the same. So I am thankful that my hair didn’t get too hot and heavy this year. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t say that I miss being able to roll my hair on Softspikes or flexi-rods and have this big hair full of curls. I loved my hair back then. I really did. Now I am forced to do a braidout or wear it in a bun. This isn’t good because it thins the locks by wearing them in the same style, but hell I have few options.


So a couple of weeks ago, I sat down and looked at some Youtube videos on how to Bantu knot my hair. I love the vision of long locks with glorious and full curls. So after watching multiple tutorials, I decided to do it one night after my second job and right after a hair wash. Oh, I still hate washing my hair but really I just hate trying to dry it.

Freshly finished Bantu knots

First of all, I probably shouldn’t have done them on freshly retightened locks, but I did. My hair was slightly damp, but not wet. I lightly sprayed my locks with Oyin’s conditioner and Crimps and Curls to set the knots. It took me about 30 minutes to do my entire head, because I was also cooking my Sunday dinner that night as well. Multi-tasking. I found them tight and frankly they were very uncomfortable to sleep in and I knew this because the Youtube folks told me they would be hard to sleep in. I sleep on my arms (my years of wearing a perm and not wanting to mess up my curls) and it still was quite uncomfortable. I got up early that morning and sat under the dryer for 30 minutes trying to insure my hair would be dry. I took the Bantu knots down at about 3:30 pm and they had been in my head since 11 pm Saturday night. The hair in the front was dry, but you guessed it the hair in the back, which is denser and were in smaller bundles did not dry so that hair was straight. I was disappointed. Overall, the hair had curls and gave me a different way to make curls. However, the curls didn’t last long and it was cute for about 20 minutes before I had to put it up in a bun for work. Yeah, didn’t really have time for it to really set and give a great curly look. I am going to try it again soon, but I will make sure my hair is dry. I will use just the Crimps and Curls and hopefully let it set for at least 24 hours. The thing is once your locks get to a certain length it seems you aren’t getting the huge and lasting curls because the ends are heavier and weigh down one’s hair. My thoughts.

Freshly taken down before the fluffing.

A view from the back

Bantu Knots - Results...Still straight in areas.

I switched hair to a different side and got a fuller look, which I did like.  So I will try it again.  Hopefully, all the hair will curl...



Anyone still reading my blog with Sisterlocks? Any styling tips or help? Otherwise, I will be calling my consultant one more time about cutting my hair and if she doesn’t, well I guess I will be taking things into my own hands, after I watch a few more Youtube videos on trimming my locks.

Creative Cooking…Sichuan Wontons/Dumplings

Sichuan Wontons/Dumplings



I love the site Crepes of Wrath as can be attested by the number of recipes I have tried of this young lady. Seriously, she is in her mid-twenties and she cooks like a true foodie and a person much older than she is because she appreciates food and she makes dishes that allow your senses to scream in enjoyment because they are all stimulated. I was searching the net for dumpling recipes and then I remembered Sydney, Crepes of Wrath, had posted a couple of months ago this recipe for wontons and to me the recipe screamed dumplings. I love dumplings. No, I really love dumplings especially pork dumplings. Yes, the other white meat. My first and only visit to PF Chang’s was for their take on dumplings and I didn’t even order from the entrée menu, because I already knew the dumplings were going to make me happy. After my visit, I thought how silly it was for me not to at least try to make my own dumplings and I knew I would be able to find either dumpling wraps or use another kind for this adventure. So back to Crepes of Wrath I went after I got exhausted reviewing sites which used dumpling skins and knowing I wasn’t ready to do the intricate work needed for “dumplings” so Sydney’s recipe was my go to. And all I had to purchase was some ground pork and wonton wraps.


I couldn’t go to my normal grocery story for the ground pork, because I have only seen ground pork on 2 occasions so off I went to Publix, where they have a lot items considered specialties. I was in and out of the store in 10 minutes and 3 of those minutes was me looking for the ground pork before I got smart enough to ask where it was located.

So on the Sunday morning I decided Bourbon Chicken would be my dinner, I was going to have Sichuan wontons/dumplings for breakfast, yes I was. And I am glad I did.

Ingredients:
Sichuan Wontons as adapted from Crepes of Wrath and Appetite for China

For the wontons:

1 lb of ground pork

1 lg egg

4 teaspoons of sesame oil

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

3 scallions, thinly sliced

1 package of wonton skins

For the Sauce:

1 teaspoon of minced garlic

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

½ teaspoon of sugar

½ teaspoon of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of chili paste

1 teaspoon of oyster sauce

2 teaspoons of Rice Vinegar

¼ ground black pepper

(2 tablespoons of chicken stock for boiling)

Green onions for garnish

Ground pork, with all the ingredients and BTW, Crepes of Wrath doesn't include the green onions in the mixture, but I decided to do so, because I didn't read the directions properly.  Hey, works for me.!

In a bowl combine all the ingredients for the wontons until incorporated. The filling should be sticky and a bit wet.

Then get comfortable to do your wontons. I set up with the wrappers, meat, a small bowl of water and cookie sheet lined with wax paper and a damp paper towels.

Dampen all edges of the wontons

For goodness sake do not overfill!

Bring the corners together to make a triangle

Press the edges together to seal

Bring side corners together and dampen one of them to seal

Bonus:  And because I am fancy and actually looked at the tutorial on Appetite for China I do these shapes as well.  Set up wonton as a square place filling in the middle.  Pull the edges together to form a rectangle, then bring bottom corners together and dampen a corner to seal.  See her site for a better description...

I place my wrappers on a diagonal and wet all sides and place a small spoon of filling in the center, do not overfill. Really don’t do it. Then make a triangle by pulling the bottom corner to the top corner and seal the triangle wet one corner on the left or right of the triangle and press together and place on the cookie sheet and cover and keep going. It took me about 30 minutes to do this because I did a whole package of wontons and I had filling left over because I really didn’t want to overfill the wrappers.

Next, mix all your ingredients for your sauce. This sauce basically will work for a half of the wontons and I only made enough for two servings. Mix them well and until the sugar dissolves. I love the flavor profiles in this version, but you can always use the exact ingredients Sydney uses. Set your sauce aside because you will need it as soon as the wontons are cook.

The amazing sauce...

In a large pot boil water add the 2 tablespoons of chicken stock. Put your wontons in the water and boil for about 4 minutes until they float and removing them with a slotted spoon place them on your serving dish or bowl. Drizzle the sauce over the top and sprinkle with green onions for garnish. I froze the rest to be used as needed and you just boil them frozen in the pot for about 6 to 7 minutes to cook.

No you do not have to use chicken stock.  I have boiled the wontons without it as much as I make it and they are just as delicious.

Verdict: OMG! I love this dish. I could eat these wonton/dumplings for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 8 wonton skins are 160 calories and you add your meat and you have a good hearty meal. The flavors are so intense and the heat from the sauce made my morning, noon and night. Seriously. I enjoyed popping the little morsels into my mouth with the sauce. The sauce brings the heat, but the wontons are tender packages of flavor. Seriously, I will be making more this week, because this is a simple meal full of awesome Asian flavors. My love of dumplings just increased ten-fold. Let me know if you try this one. FYI this dish can be made with other protein such as shrimp or chicken. Update: I wrote this on July 1st and I have made Sichuan Wontons every week since. Seriously, I am in love with them.

FYI - I eat them only with my chopsticks...Aren't I fancy...

                                                       Beautiful sunflower, do you see the bees? Made me smile...

Maybe I should do a blog challenge, because I haven’t felt like blogging lately, the only problem is I haven’t wanted to do much lately. So, a challenge wouldn’t work for me. I finally scheduled some post of the recipes I had done awhile ago, so by the end of the week I just didn’t feel like being random and I had book club Saturday, so I figured I would blog Monday. Well Monday came and went and I still didn’t feel like blogging. Plus, my allergies are acting up causing me headaches and such. So here I am this Friday, about to be totally random and rambling and probably boring.

My first bouquet.  Beautiful...

I will not be blogging about Trayvon Martin’s case on this blog. My anonymous blog has my feelings, thoughts and what I feel needs to be done. I will say this, we as African-Americans need to start valuing our males so no one can devalue them any longer. Every day that I am in contact with a black male is an opportunity to see how much they are appreciated and I need to make it happen not sometimes, but all the times. A simple thank you with a smile to a young black male can make them feel a least for a moment special.

Speaking of book club, on discodiva’s blog I went to rambling in the comments about my book club. We have been together 14 years and folks are always impressed with the idea. However, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing and if you have read this blog long enough you know there were moments where I wanted to disband. Several moments. One reason I didn’t was I didn’t start my book club for any other reason but I loved to read and wanted to share that love with others and those not onboard with that mission are no longer a part of our book club. We currently have 11 members. We will be recruiting new members very soon. FYI – our members are found through our website and member and friend referrals. They go through an application process and then they actually attend three meetings where they can actually see how we are run and whether we are a good fit for them and we as members get to see if this person will be a good fit for our group. I always say, everyone wants to be in a book club, but aren’t willing to put in the work needed to stay in get the value from it as well. I have gotten some nasty emails from folks who are appalled they can’t just drop into a meeting and not be “vetted”. We are a bonded group and we don’t want someone to come in and fracture what has been built. If we were a transient group, bonding would not occur because folks wouldn’t be comfortable discussing issues that come about from our books. My feelings still get hurt from the emails, but somehow I am able to shrug it off and say thank you Lord because they weren’t going to be bringing the right energy to our group. My sister tried joining a group in California, but the group was transient and every meeting or outing there were different faces attending. Only the founder and her friend were consistent.

Smiling before book club meeting...

Our meeting Saturday was wonderful. We had a great time discussing Eric Jerome Dickey’s, Decadence. Although a few of us, including myself weren’t enamored with Dickey’s latest, we have to give him credit for broad vocabulary and his ability to write a woman’s voice. We also have some upcoming bonding excursions coming up as well and I can’t wait.

I have two more Creative Cooking spots to write up. I am so lazy this week.

Asian Turkey Wraps

Apple cinnamon muffins with a crumb topping...

I need to retightened and wash my hair. I started and then I stopped because I just didn’t feel like it. I need a vitamin or something. I told The Guy I needed to teach him how to retighten my hair. He responded, “Never had anyone want me to do their hair and I always wanted to see what you go through to do it.” I took that is yes he will learn to retighten my hair, but don’t hold your breath because I am still asking him to wash my hair.

I wished the treadmill was working again. The belt always needs lubing, which is ridiculous when it hasn’t even been a month since the last maintenance was done. Back to the elliptical and weights.

I guess I will walk/jog the neighborhood.

Does God show up for you and show out? He did that this morning. I am so Thankful!

My brother isn’t talking to me. It is my fault. Shrugging. I say what I mean and mean what I say. He recently went into the hospital and he posted on FB he had a sickle cell crisis. First of all, my brother has the sickle cell trait not the actual disease. He supposedly was re-diagnosed with a form of sickle cell that is in between the actual disease and the trait. However, him posting it on social media had my folks calling and it is so difficult explaining he doesn’t have the disease, but form of it that even he can’t explain to you. I learned about what his says he has and can explain it better than my brother and he is the one with the condition. But he isn’t mad about that I called him on posting things of that nature on social media, he is mad because I told him to not have his married girlfriend call me. I don’t care who he loves, but I don’t live a life of drama and I damn sure ain’t going to be in the middle of such drama. Whoosah!

My sister has finally given up the idea of going to New York for her 40th birthday. Thank you! Now we are looking at doing a family vacay in New Orleans where we do some community service while we are down there. Much more my speed. You know why I didn’t really want to go to New York, besides the number of people and small quarters? Bedbugs.

I just finished a pretty good book for review, The Goody Box by Valerie Coleman. It was pretty good until the ending. I do not like books that leaves so much open in order for there to be a sequel. It is 2013, and this book was done in 2010. I forget about the book when there is a long span of time before the sequel. And author’s every book doesn’t need a sequel. Please and Thank you!

I have been having a rash of turnovers on my 2nd job. Folks will put in a two week notice, but only work one week. WTF? I have a lot of interviewing to do for the next two weeks. And I have to take the Servsafe test as well. So not cool.

I am so vain...

Losing weight isn’t going well at all. I am so sorry I allowed the stress of my break in and the identity theft to make me not eat, because my metabolism is in the pits.

Just because...

My garden is at its end. I still have tomatoes, so I will have fresh tomatoes until about September. But the cucumbers, well they are some still out there but unfortunately worms are finding their way into them. Okay, if you have been reading my blog I am scared of worms. And I will abandon the plants if I see a worm. I can’t beat them. So I pulled three cucumbers last Thursday in between the rain, because it has rained everyday for a month. So I put them in a colander and thought nothing of them. On Sunday, I was making a tomato and cucumber salad and I started cutting a cucumber and it had a brown spot through it, the second was the same way and the third one when I went to cut it I looked down and there was a worm on my hand. Well, pandemonium ensued and I was trying to get the creature off me and throw the cucumber in the trash. Nothing was wrong with that cucumber, but I knew I was done with the damn things after that. Full disclosure, I ate one the other day after I made sure there was nary a hole on it. And the zucchini, forget about it. I got one good one and the other one I had some animal ate it so, whatever. No doing those again.

My cousin wanted to get some of my grape tomatoes for a salad they were preparing for a party. Guess what? I didn’t have but a few because I gave them away and I know freeze them for soups this fall and winter. Last year when they were coming out my azz, she didn’t need any. Oh well…

The other morning when I was talking to my sister, she had me on speaker phone and Lala was growling on the phone. Seriously?

How can such a pretty smile child, resort to growling?  If you have an answer, please let me know!



Hunny Bunny had a new hairdo, that I so loved. She didn’t care for it.

If Hunny Bunny would just get so vain, she has model potential.  Love the hair...

My sister did her own Senegalese twists. Now if she would learn to do retighten my hair.

Great job, now if she would stop saying no to retightening my hair...

Caitlyn goes to WSSU very soon.  Her mama is going to be a mess.  Me...I ain't about that crying life.

Caitlyn...she has a lovely, well paid for smile!

Just got back from Baumhowers’ for lunch. It was okay. I am about to go workout because those were wasted calories. I was trying to be a team player. Wings and curly fries. I wish I had eaten my salad because I feel yucky!

No big plans for the weekend unless you call working the 2nd job a plan and interviewing folks. Otherwise, I will run a couple errands on Saturday and rest when not working. I ain’t cooking anything, except my Sichuan wontons, but I am feeling light sandwiches.

Speaking of sandwiches, I made my chicken salad differently this time. I roasted my chicken instead of boiling it. OMG! The taste and texture and flavor took it to a new level. Thank you Barefoot Contessa for that tip!

I am so glad I feel great today, because yesterday was a bummer. The headache was aggravating. But when I got home and tinkered around in the garden, with some OFF on I felt better. Weird. I didn’t even have an appetite either. Allergies…no and stop!

We now have a place to go and take pole dancing classes, at Her Moves Dance Fitness. I am so looking forward to that and chair tease. They even have erotic aerobics. If I can get the Ciara chair moves, man I will be on fire. LOL! Don’t expect to see any pictures.

Hope you have some great plans for the weekend! If not, be sure to give yourself permission to do nothing if you want to!

And no post would be complete without a picture of my clubbing partner, Carson...w/his dad.

P. S. This post almost didn't get posted because Blogger and photobucket are on crack...!