New logo for September, thank you to Christine, who heeded my cry for a new one!
You rock, Christine!
icanhascheezburger
Good god did this picture make me laugh ’til I cried last night at 11:30 when I was sitting in front of the computer in an internet daze. It’s the crazy “WTF? I was sound asleep and I wake up and this thing is MOVING?!” eyes on that cat that really get to me.
Fred worked his butt off yesterday, pulling up tomato plants from the garden. They were pretty well played out – any ripe tomatoes left were splitting open or had holes from bugs in them. Again this year, despite the fact that he planted twice as many plants as last year, we didn’t get nearly as many tomatoes as I’d wanted.
We’re moving the garden out toward the back forty next year – planning to, anyway – and maybe the tomatoes will be happier out there.
I did a lot of puttering around the house, did my Monday morning chores*, then did laundry, roasted some cherry tomatoes, made a batch of cookies for the pigs, put the laundry away.
Sugarbutt’s been especially loving lately, climbing between me and the keyboard and falling asleep. He did that at one point yesterday and proceeded to spend the next half hour farting on me.
FARTING on me.
No one deserves to live that way, people. After half an hour of it, I decided I’d had enough and put him on the floor. He gave me the big sad eyes before he wandered off to fart elsewhere.
Bastard.
We had an early dinner, grilling out chicken and potato salad and coleslaw, and then didn’t do much for the rest of the evening.
I call it an excellent Labor Day.
*Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I:
(1) Empty, clean, and refill the two hummingbird feeders on the front porch and the one on the door off the computer room
(2) Scrub out and refill the two water bowls on the front porch
(3) Water all the plants on the front porch
(4) Refill the food bowl on the front porch
(5) Scrub out and refill the water bowl on the back porch
(6) Scrub out and refill the water bowl in the chicken yard, and the two waterers, if needed
(7) Refill the bird feeders, if they need it
I had to make it so that those chores got done on certain days of the week, because if I wait until they NEED to be done, I’ll always put it off ’til another day. This way, they’re scheduled to be done on certain days, and that when they get done! They might get done on days other than M-W-F, but they always get done on those three days.
Friday, after the tray of habaneros I’d put in the dehydrator were completely dehydrated, I told Fred that I wanted to go ahead and grind them up before bed so I wouldn’t have to do it Saturday morning. First, I did the cayenne peppers, and then I dumped the habaneros in the blender, and then I had to pee, so he offered to take care of the habaneros.
He did while I ran to the bathroom, and from the other end of the house I could hear him start coughing. The instant I set foot back in the kitchen, I started coughing, too. For the next half hour, it sounded like a TB ward in our house as we tried to expel from our lungs the fine powder we’d stupidly breathed in.
But the habaneros, they are powdered. I think Fred’s probably got a freakin’ lifetime supply of the stuff, because I think that stuff is best used sparingly.
Over the weekend, he pulled up the rest of the habanero plants. I put the habaneros we had in the refrigerator into baggies, to put in the freezer with the other habaneros so Fred can use them whenever he gets around to making all that habanero jam he wants to make. We now have over 500 habaneros in baggies in the freezer.
That’s a LOT of habanero jam someone’s gonna be making, and I’m glad it’s not going to be ME.
New recipes you might want to try! I’ve been meaning to post these recipes for the past few weeks, and am just now getting around to it.
Cooking Light Blueberry Coffee Cake. I made a double batch of this stuff a few weeks ago, cut it into individual servings, wrapped each in foil, and froze it. Every now and then, I take out a piece, let it thaw out, and eat it. Hey, it’s got a ton of blueberries in it. It’s so good for me it practically has negative calories, right? (Okay, maybe not.)
88 Calorie Brownies. I found this recipe on Jenna Fischer’s MySpace and have been referring to them as Jenna Brownies, but apparently they originally came from Discovery Health. In any case, they’re delicious and weirdly filling. You might want to eat more than one, but don’t or you’ll be reeling around whining about how FULL you are. I swear it! Also, I cut our brownies into 9 servings instead of 12, so in that case they’d be 117.33333 calorie brownies.
Roasted Cherry Tomatoes over Pasta. I am sad that I discovered this at the end of summer instead of the beginning! I made it twice, once with penne and once with angel hair. Both times, it was FABULOUS. We had enough cherry tomatoes over the weekend to make another batch, but it didn’t fit in our meal plans, so I roasted the tomatoes yesterday, mixed the tomatoes, basil, and olives, and froze them until we’re ready to eat them. Hopefully once they’re thawed, heated, and tossed over pasta, they’ll still be fabulous!
Crooked Acres Easy Potato Salad. (I took a picture, but it’s hard to get a flattering picture of potato salad, believe me.) Easy and tasty. I used some of the sweet pickle relish I canned last year and it was really good.
Speaking of food, I believe I mentioned I was going to make a batch of the Ball Blue Book Boston Baked Beans, substituting maple syrup for the molasses, and see if they were as good as the Bush’s Baked Beans.
Last week we had hot dog and bean casserole made with the beans I canned, and I can say that the Ball Blue Book Boston Baked Beans with maple syrup instead of molasses? Really good, and indeed very close to the Bush’s. I highly recommend it! The Ball Blue Book recipe, here.
Laundress Kitteh despairs at the task before her. (Is it just me or is Zoe looking at my bras all JUDGMENTALLY, like ‘DAMN, woman has some hooters!”?)
Smackdown at the Computer Room Corral.
Poor Joe Bob. He just wants to be everyone’s friend, but they’re still working out the pecking order (everyone but Joe thinks that Joe belongs at the bottom of said pecking order, since he’s the new guy. Joe does not agree. Joe thinks Stinkerbelle belongs there. Stinkerbelle does not agree.)
Previously
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: My god, has Bill O’Reilly always been such a pontificating blowhard?
2004: (No, he’s not going to remove her eye. Thank god.)
2003: The first time I did actually inhale was the last time I ever put a cigarette to my mouth.
2002: “What’s “porn”, Mama?” she would ask.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.
We made jalapeno hot sauce last week, and we were all coughing and gagging, and then the last 2 days I spent grinding chili peppers in the burr grinder, and I made myself gag several times. We now have 3 quart jars of jalapeno hot sauce (which will last forever, I’m sure, based on the heat in it) and a full quart jar of chili pepper powder. Who needs a QUART of chili pepper powder? Not us, but yet, there it sits in the cupboard, all red and mocking me.
Hotdog and beans is a favorite around here. Hotdogs and kraut with the baked beans as a side is another favorite.
Robyn,
Please tell Fred to make some more Strawberry/Habanero jam and SAVE one for me. I missed out last strawberry sale offer, and I don’t like raspberries so I skipped his next jam sale…
I cannot imagine the pecking order fights in your house. It’s bad enough in mine and I only have 3 cats. Of course, two believe they are top cat and hence the fighting. They tend to conduct their power wars during the middle of the night. I just love being awakened by a cat screaming and the thunder of running cats. I’ve actually had to put one cat in “time out” several times because he just don’t know when to stop. Five minutes in the bathroom by himself does wonders.
I planted 21 tomato plants. I got about 20 tomatoes the size of a golf ball. These plants were supposed to yield very large tomatoes. Right. I watered, fertilized and they got plenty of sun. I have no idea what the problem was. After talking to several people who raised tomatoes, they all said theirs turned out the same as mine. Pepper plants are wonderful to grow. I have a bell pepper plant in a pot on my patio. It is covered in peppers and they are beautiful. So, I may stick with different kinds of peppers next year.
First, I did the cayenne peppers, and then I dumped the habaneros in the blender, and then I had to pee
I was so certain that this was going to end differently.
Val I’ve put my cat in time out! In the bathroom too! Hehe! One time I put my cat in the bathroom, went and took a nap and woke up to find the ceiling was leaking. His little hairs on the top of his head where all wet. Poor dude stuck in a leaking bathroom… not good. 😛
My comment is really for yesterday, but it being a holiday and all I treated it like a weekend day and didn’t read your blog. When I don’t go to work my routine’s all messed up. Anyway, the pic of new little pig standing in the trough should win some kind of prize. It’s wonderful and should be framed! Really!