Cole slaw dressing aged 10 years is so smooth

One of the things I bought on Monday while shopping was a 99 cent marked down bag of coleslaw mix. Today, I finally opened my 2nd and final aged bottle of Aldi cole slaw dressing. This came out of the bottle easier than the 1st. It looked unappetizing to be sure... But the contents extruded itself out of the bottle and onto the slaw mix in the container I had ready.  Gave it a good mix. It didn't smell bad at all. If anything, preliminary tastes showed this to be even better than the 1st. Hours later, I had a few fork fulls. Smoother, less sweet, less harsh, less vinegary. It made for a nice brown shaded cole slaw with an incredible deep flavor note. So smooth and creamy. A shame Aldi hasn't stocked it on the regular since then. 

This bottle has a Best By date of Apr 13, 2017, so if it was made months previous, that might make it 2016. I'd like to say this is a 10 year old bottle of slaw dressing which aged gracefully thanks to the apple cider vinegar. Yes, this beats KFC.

August shopping was 76° and partly sunny

Today was for paying rent, monies, and refills. I didn't get out as early as I'd hoped - at least I got the cat pan cleaned last night to toss out today and it hadn't even begun to ferment into ammonia!

While cleaning up & organizing my office area, I ran across the errant money order I bought in June for paying the cable bill - only I wrote it payable to my building instead! Disney Drug Fart & Eastern Onion don't do refunds if you f_ck up a money order, so you just have to figure it out yourself. Thankfully, I was able to unf_ck that situation. I had forgotten about that money order by the time July started because of Michael Weekly's passing... But last night, I found it again, and all I needed was another $97. Which happened today.

Getting out wasn't too bad. Got a free can of no salt added peas (I love canned peas). Got pulled in backwards at the credit union to make the walk to the front door shorter - ONLY TO HAVE SOME JERK PULL INTO THE HANDY CRAPITATED SPOT NEXT TO ME. Now I have to walk AROUND their car...

Got pulled into my 3rd favorite spot at DDM, and my red chariot was waiting and plugged in, but man did the last idiot not park close enough & had to stretch out that cord.

Had 2 refills, checked my 2 pieces of paper I had printed last month (trash), got my personal payments done, and just as I was about to fill out the 1st money order, the pharmacy had filled my 2 requests. Nice. Resumed carefully writing the correct things on the correct money orders.

Also back in June, Jean helped me not only with the money order problem, but also the lack of TP - I forgot to buy some in June due to my money order problem!! Today, I finally used up the last bits of the last roll of that pack she got me. It lasted 2 months! Last month I bought an 8 Mega Roll pack which had been marked down because 2 rolls got turned 90° in the package. Discounted sh_t tickets? Sold! Bought a cheap 4 pack today - just in case.

ALSO DISNEY DRUG FART HAD FRISKIES CANNED TURKEY PATÉ CAT FUD!!! Every time I have been to Walmart for the past couple months, they've had ALMOST NO Friskies cans on the shelf AND NO TURKEY unless you bough the $10 multican pack and then it was only 4 cans in there!! SO I BOUGHT 11 CANS. 1 of those is the shredded turkey, but the other 10 are what I usually get. Now I have the happy problem of buying 3 or 4 more cans so I can set up pairs - I run Poofball's food in a 2 can sequence. 1 not turkey (like Salmon), and 1 can of Turkey. This is how I found out he doesn't like any of the white fish stuff but loves Salmon, Tuna, Chicken, and Turkey. 9 Lives Super Supper he will eat, Mixed Grill he eats begrudgingly, and then lots of others he tries to bury like poop.

Produce - wish me luck. I bought a pack of Romaine lettuce. Also grabbed a pouch of marked down coleslaw mix - I finally will open & mix up the dark, aged bottle of unopened Aldi brand slaw dressing. This has aged to a very dark color & I promise I will take a photo before opening, maybe video. I had 2 of these probably just before Mom passed, and I don't make coleslaw very often. I'll buy a bag only to make okonomiyaki! But the other bottle didn't smell bad at all, was difficult to remove from the bottle, and tasted very good!

I guess I need to call Tracfone and ask why my amount of minutes dropped from 3,200 to 3,167 when I added 60+60 minutes. Also my SMS number went down instead of up. My service date was extended and my data went up, but not the other 2 numbers.

There were a lot more items on my list which I did not get due to not liking the price or they didn't have it. I'm going to make Mom's BBQ Potato salad recipe & Walmart likely has what I need. I should visit Meijer again though their prices weren't great.

Got gas, went to McDonald's for a Sweet Tea for my 2 Acetaminophen for pain relief (I had taken 2 way earlier & they would have faded by now), and made it back only to park next to... a running car? Did the owner turn on their car by remote? I didn't see him in it.

While gathering spoons to enter the building, I saw a Uhaul park outside & thought someone's moving out... only to find someone was moving IN. So I guess the previous occupant moved out somehow. At least it wasn't 204!

Got up & saw a recent order was dropped at my door. Thank you, Gofo!

Went through the list, listened to a couple Seinfeld episodes on the TV as I put things away (I had seen them when they originally aired), and managed to get to bed & pass out for 3 hours when Poofball woke me up for food.

I will now recover for the doctor appointment on Thursday.

AND OH YES - I BOUGHT A METAL STAPLER!!

 

Going through a box of memories...

I went through a storage tub as I worked to combine them into 1 in order to make room and be able to store the tub somewhere else. I found a few items.

- a Netspend prepaid Mastercard I got prior to 2014 which I did not sign up for and never activated.

- Photos of friends at Christmas and my 1st niece's graduation photo collage thingy.

- Scholastic book about pandas which I somehow still have.

And then a sheet of paper I wrote on:

STUFF I FOUND OUT ABOUT MOM IN THE 3 DAYS AFTER OCTOBER 15TH

- Paying for a Jackie Lawson website membership - waste of money!

- Paying $15 a month to a Magazine Publisher - Claimed she "didn't know" where Woman's Day was coming from, TV Guide was NOT free

- Paying for a Senior People Meet membership - another waste of money!

- POGO

- Irregular payments to a Chase credit card which had been maxed out & shouldn't have had anyway. This developed from a Paypal Credit Card - I kept wondering why she kept getting Paypal statments.

Recipe for BBQ Potato, Bacon, & Corn Salad

1/3 cup ranch dressing (I intend to use Blue Cheese)

1/3 cup BBQ sauce

2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard 

3 pounds small red potatoes, quartered & cooked (I prefer to chop into small cubes)

1 can no salt added whole kernel corn, drained

1/2 cup sliced celery

1/2 cup chopped red or green pepper

1/2 cup chopped red onion

6 slices of crumbled crispy bacon (or equivalent)

Mix dressing, BBQ sauce, & Dijon mustard in large bowl. Add remaining ingredients except bacon & mix lightly. Sprinkle bacon on top, refrigerate until ready to serve. 

Paying rent for the month, hope the van is okay

Today's tasks mostly went off as well as I could expect them to. I wanted to get out by 8:30 a.m. to beat the heatup, but managed to get out around 9 a.m. anyway. I was however rewarded for my earliness with free foodstuffs left on the donation table. Seems like I got here early & nobody knows this is here. I grabbed what I was interested in - a shame the head of cabbage got claimed but it's good to see it was. I'd have liked to made okonomiyaki or use my aged bottle of Aldi slaw dressing made with Balsamic vinegar. I had 2 and had opened 1 & it was sweet & delicious for cole slaw! At least now I have 2 pounds of lentils & a bag of raisins again.

Got my garbage deposited, parked where I prefer at the credit union & didn't have to wait in a line, then got to Disney Drug Fart and my red chariot was plugged in & waiting!

Asked about passport photos & they still do them. Got that photo taken (I forgot to shave & it looks like hell), deposited my refill request, shopped a bit, then got payments, stamps, & both lotteries. It was when I was doing my rent payment I noticed I forgot the cable envelope, but since I got something else to mail out when I get back, I decided to do it then & not panic.

It pays to look around. Was going to buy a certain pack of Fiora TP then found a slightly disturbed mega pack on the closeout shelf for $3.49 so I grabbed that, & then saw the distressed boxes of cereal. OKAY. Poofball's preferred Paté turkey or salmon were sold out so I had to get 8 cans of other cat food he will eat like Indoor Chicken & greens, chicken & liver, and Poultry Platter. He does not like anything with white fish. He might like shrimp, tuna he will eat. He might eat anything but I give him paté because it's easy to portion.

There wasn't a whole lot of shopping for things I needed. Finally remembered the rubber drain plug for the bathroom sink. Things were okay for driving back but as I got closer to Alliance, I felt a disturbance in the van. I wonder if it could be the heat, so I turned off Cruise Control since it drives the transmission harder than I would, & turned off Max Air on the air conditioning & it seemed to help. I really need to get it serviced, an oil change for sure. Perhaps a tire check.

I just hope it doesn't repeat the process of me having a vehicle try to take a dump before going to a friend's memorial service as I was forced to miss Randy Geis' service when the Blue Bumb took a dump & nobody else had time to go.

Got back before 12 noon, paid rent, saw if there was anything else to claim (applesauce is nice), and managed to get in & rest. Got my milk in the fridge, 2 loaves of bread in the freezer.

I'm going to spend the rest of the day in air conditioning and recovering. 

Been busting my ass for this

SO unfortunately, the cleanliness inseption is for TOMORROW instead of Wednesday like I had hoped. I am basically Not Allowed to cook anything tonight because then the reflector pan of the burner on the stove I normally use will turn brown as it did from what was cooked on it yesterday, and then it would look uncleaned, and while I would like to line it with aluminum foil to prevent this & make it easier to clean, some info says "That could catch fire..." And then there would be the dirty dishes in the sink. I basically live in a museum of Nonfunctional items. Except sitting surfaces. I'm allowed to sit.

 

I have a few more things in the other room to do things with. I really should have gotten a vacuum cleaner with an edging tool for crevices. OH WAIT - I DID! BUT YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THAT.

 

Oh and somehow a phone call at 4 p.m. from the boss lady says I overpaid rent by $18. The ledger says I did. I don't know how - maybe something from when the 1st time the elevator went out & they said they'd give us a break on rent the next month after it was fixed & I never got that? I pay exactly what I've been told & when it goes up. I wrote it down (and posting here) as proof that's what I was told. I can take $18 off next month's rent.

 

I apologize to my body - I did too much today

I had an appointment with a nutritionist at the local hospital today and because of that, I actually got in the bathtub & took a decent shower. Washed my hair, got the sprayer all around my problem areas, figured out how to get in & out of the tub... Get dried off, choose clean clothes...

Then with bad directions on finding the place, wandered far too much to get to the right place, had to ask 3 people... Thankfully 2 of my best friends were along (I asked for help getting to the hospital front door) and I had to stop a few times to catch my breath because there was so much walking. Which I will report to my cardiologist. But it wasn't so much my breath but pain which made me stop.

Got in, saw the lady, got info, and afterwards, we went to Walmart so I could finish some shopping -  we all had stuff to get. But I chose to stay in the vehicle at the next 2 stores - mainly because I was spent. I took 2 more Acetaminophen before leaving the hospital (why don't they have caffeine free pop in the machines??) but that comes on only so fast. Thankfully electric carts were ready & available once I walked in.... using a cart...

I will be unavailable for anything in the next 3 days. I need to recover. I bought a 5 pound weight and have info from the nutritionist to help me change my eating habits. And with that, some working with a weight to get muscle back. I hope.

Depression makes you do funny things, and you get used to them.  

They laugh at you if you screw up a money order

Wednesday was a busy day of accomplishments and 1 big screw up. I was wasted tired afterwards, and because I got done early, was able to nap and then Phone a Friend who did so much to counteract my screwup.

I made it my goal to get out earlier than I usually am, mainly because the credit union closes early. So 10:30 a.m., I was out the front door. First small do, throw away the small bags of trash & freezer waste after getting to the bench. Refill my spoons, get to my vehicle. 2nd small do, perfectly apply my vehicle registration renewal sticker. Which was perfectly applied!

Got to the credit union, nobody in the parking lot. I tried to do the turn around & back into place (because the driver's door is closer to the building) but ended up double parked... But since nobody immediately arrived, I was able to do my thing without bothering anyone.

Get to Disney Drug Mart... There's a guy collecting for Ohio Veterans (I felt awkward) but the green cart is there. I ain't using it. Sit & wait for a lady to bring the red cart out... who totally ignores me waiting for the cart, so I patiently wait & watch her move the red cart into place, plug it in, and collect her crap and leave. I ascend the seat and go inside. Thankfully the charge in the cart is still good for my use. Drop off refills, and there's a slow line for the service window which I need next, so instead I shop.

They managed to have Friskies Turkey paté in cans in stock!! This never happens! Got a pack of treats and decide to get the cat sand when I'm ready to leave. There's several on the shelf so it's not selling out soon.

Get my name called for refills (they're done - I had only 2)... Proceed for payments & etc. Which goes fine. Then I fill out the money orders.... and I screw up badly. I fill out the money order meant for my cable bill payable to my apartment building. CRAP AND DOUBLE CRAP. I try to see if the service window can help me - there's been a shift change & this new lady is aggressively unhelpful. I get told a solid "Nope!" (aka you're screwed - hahahaha call the number about a refund) Not worth my time. Maybe I can pay the bill with a credit card... At this point my day is totally fucked. I can barely shop for other stuff I can or want to get there. I wanted to get mayo but there was 2 people gossiping there and I don't have time to wait. I wanted to look for breakfast sausage patties... and I didn't get a bag of apples.

I mean there was so much else I wanted to get but my mind is worrying about that damn money order.

Which is why when I get back, take a nap, & wake up when I need to use the toilet - I FORGOT TO BUY TOILET PAPER. I'M TOTALLY OUT. Like I grabbed the last roll THIS MORNING. I remember the cat sand but not the TP!!!

Thankfully I had gotten back early to have napped, have it just after 4 p.m. when I woke up, saw what I failed to do, & phoned a friend - and Jean happened to be home! Thankfully she was able to help me with this whole problem in 1 go. I TRULY APPRECIATE YOU DOING THAT! Toilet paper, money order, and as a bonus, a pack of A&W bottles and 2 Simply Strawberry! So glad I included extra funds for it all.

Finally today I was able to relax after all that. 

Thought using the computer would be easier...

First time placing a Walmart order since May 2nd when I left a driver a 2 star rating for not bringing my order to my door, and Walmart gives me a bullsh!t "This PIN is incorrect." Hmm... So I go get my wallet, find my EBT card, call the toll free number, and when I finally get the system to acknowledge the number & enter my PIN, I GOT A BALANCE. So that's not a problem.

 

AND THEN I deleted that card from my payments, re-added it, and then Walmart tells me "Too many incorrect PIN entries, please wait 24 hours." *SIGH* FINE. Delete the EBT card, charge the whole load to my Mastercard because I need stuff. Good thing I didn't try to order everything on my list, only a few items I need now like milk & bread.

 

And then during that whole rigamaroll, my reserved delivery window expired which didn't help things, so now it's reserved for 6 pm. Next time I'm doing this from my LG56VL. I did it with my laptop because I thought it would be easier that way...

 

That time with the R2D2 cake...

So I guess around 1980, for my birthday my mom decides to go get one of those cake pan decorating kits and for me that meant an R2 D2 cake pan & kit. You bake a cake in it, it tells you how to decorate the cake. We took Polaroids of me holding the cake. I can't find the photos at this very moment but a sample picture of how it looked have been searched & one accompanies this blog post. Fine, good, dandy. My birthday we enjoy said cake, don't finish all of it, and there's like more than half left over. Great, I thought, I'll get to eat the rest over the next week. Maybe as breakfast.

And imagine the cake being cut & eaten maybe just up from the bottom to the light blue rows on the left side to the white part. On the right side, exactly past the middle, that was left cut a few inches higher. The right side was cut higher than the left. Eaten, enjoyed. Good.

Remember at this point my bitchass evil older sister still lived with us. She hadn't yet graduated & vanished off to Wittenberg. I had clearly remembered where the cake had been left cut. I go out, do some stuff for like a day or something. Mom was off either attending classes or working, not sure what. I come back to the house. I see my R2 cake is now suddenly shorter. Cut the same way it was before I left the house. The blue square on the left is now gone, right side down the middle mind you is now up to the darker blue region. There's only 1 criminal. Someone filched a cut of the cake, left a pattern similar to what it was before in an attempt to hide the fact someone cut the cake.

I take issue with this with bitchass. I think I also utilized some sort of implement to mete out justice during which she has the complete audacity to start screaming, then runs out of the house & down the street & goes over to the Duley's house to gaslight them about what just happened, how I allegedly "turned violent," etc. I don't do things like this randomly. There's always a trigger. Always a reason.

Pretty sure during this, Mom comes back, bitchass cries to mom about it, and Mom tells her she shouldn't have taken what wasn't hers without asking. WITHOUT ASKING. She's never asked and had she waited & asked, I might have cut a piece.

The Duleys was a family whose mother spoke French & bitchass aspired to be so good at speaking French as they & as I recall she was friends with a daughter? Possibly. I knew the son & had no issues with him but I admit I could have been nicer to him & I apologize for not doing so.

Evil bitchass has always been like this for all my life. She once took a 2 head Norelco shaver I had gotten for Christmas to shave her legs - didn't ask, reasoned I "hadn't been using it" and felt justified in using without asking. I found it missing when I went to go look for it, and her heard using it. I had to fight her mid-use of my shaver to get it back. Which I did. I still had that shaver for years. I think I had to douse the shaving head in alcohol to sterilize it. If she wanted something like that, why not ask someone for one? They were willing to take her to all her band competitions & leave me home, surely someone could buy her a 2 head Norelco for her.

1st incident? She cut the wires out of a kids' Close N Play record player I had gotten for Christmas. She had asked for a record player & was insanely jealous I got the Close N Play. Yes, she got her ass beat for pulling that one.

I am thankful somewhat this whole cycle of abuse ended in 2018 but not before thousands of dollars of important items were stolen from the family & summarily thrown away. I had 2 valuable Rockafire Explosion posters worth thousands which somehow I was unable to save. A record collection gone, computer software, books, electronics. My grandparents' wedding china & old glassware. A lot of stuff I lost which still stings to this day. A birthday cake remains a little post it note to the whole file of crap.

At least she'll never get any of the Swiss Chocolate cake I baked today, and she can buy her own Kinder Bueno ice cream. 

Just say NO to Digital Price tags & "Dynamic Pricing!"

Managed to make plans for today (because Tomorrow is supposed to be cold & rainy & I don't need that) & then actually get out and get them done. Which means shopping for groceries at Walmart. But not before I saw foodstuffs in a box on the donation table! Snagged 4 pounds of rice, a can of low sodium pasta sauce, 1 can no salt corn, 1 can low sodium Campbell's soup (120 mg per serving which comes close to the 110 mg per serving of another soup I like). And a tiny loaf of whole wheat bread which I froze for later. I passed on the 1,000 tiny packets of various fruit jelly from Borgor Knig, but I did pick up the 5% juice pink lemonade bottle.

Got over to Da Store. Someone kindly left (selfishly) one of the shopping carts out in the parking lot (which you're REALLY not supposed to do) and with 100% reading for the battery. It ran fine though it has a sticky thing when turning to the right. Saved me some walking!

I've learned to not go to produce & bread right off the bat and leave picking up the heavy stuff (milk, pop, and other drinks) for last. Get to the cereal aisle and there's a whole swath of the cereal shelves just fricken EMPTY. Was there a recall? I bought a box of Confetti Cheerios (among the cereal I got) but the cashier forgot to remove the coupon... But it's still good until November & on other products.

So last time the Anthem food program card doesn't pay for "Frozen, processed meats" like morning sausage patties. It needs to be freshly packed meat. So I found a 2 pound chicken tenders package for $8.82. So the rest of the purchase with the card is thusly: 1 gallon milk, 1 package Queso shredded, 3 loaves bread, 1 big jar of peanut butter. The total came to $25.01. Perfect!

One thing I finally remembered to look for was the Kinder Bueno ice cream thingy because Cyana heard about them & asked her mom to get a box... (There's also a Gnutella ice cream thingy.) And I rarely buy these things, so why not. But at the price for a box of 4? I won't buy them again. 

 

I've been wanting to replace my little frying pan for sausage patties & eggs because the non stick surface is coming off & over by the bread they had them hanging up! But man, $7.88? Were they always that price? And I see while Green Peppers are below $1 each, the $2.97 apples are $3.74 now...

Saw some curious packs of Matcha whatever it was in the baking aisle... but at $19 a tiny pack? GTFO with that! I bet I could get it for pennies on the dollar elsewhere online!

That one Monster High doll still on the shelf next to the other empty spaces has yet to go on sale... the one I want but nobody seems to be buying her. I see Playmates has brought out Winx dolls based on the Fletnix showing (which nobody watches) and they're not only ugly but wearing ... shorts? oh no. oh no no no no NO no. But hey at least there's a magic item which I have no idea what it is. I guess Nickelodeon should be the Spongebob Channel now because that seems to be the only thing they run.

And another thing not on the cat food shelf was Friskies Turkey Paté. It was simply not there as was most single can paté. I guess if I wanted it, I'd have to buy a multi-can pack.

ALSO WHEN DID WALFART ALLIANCE START USING DIGITAL PRICE TAGS??? I will be writing to my Ohio legislature reps to make sure Ohio passes a law banning Dynamic Pricing practices. IE These tags can be changed on the fly "based on demand" at any given moment to rip off people. I heard about this and a month ago those things weren't there!

I managed to make it in, tried to get some sleep but Poofball kept meowing at me until I threw down some "Happy Powder" after which he seems to have relaxed. Excuse me as I take the rest of this week to recharge.

Baked & stuffed Portobello mushroom caps

 

Supper tonight was 2 large Portabello mushroom caps I got from the marked down produce area yesterday while getting things. I didn't want to make these into Mushroom Burgers because I reserve bread for meat. I wanted a baked, stuffed mushroom dish. And after consulting 2 recipes, I put 1 together & got this. Rice & cheese with sauteed diced onion in oil & a bit of garlic with some thyme for color, Parmesan & blue cheese & shredded Queso mixed in & on top, and a sprinkle of Paprika for color. Bake for 25 minutes at 400F.  The mushroom added a nice flavor note.

 

 

 

May the 4th was almost with me

May 4th - about as perfect a day for getting refills & payments & doing what I needed to do as it can get. Temperatures were not too cold but not too hot, making wearing a long sleeve shirt perfect. Sunny, blue skies, a few road crews out doing their things, hitting green lights when I needed to... Driving not too fast but then I had one guy in front of me for most of my travel towards Minerva slowing me down. Minor annoyance as I was not in a hurry. I managed to get outside my building around 11:15, made a loop around to toss my garbage & cat poop, and was actually early.

Get to the credit union - nobody else in the parking area. Nobody in front of me making me have to stand longer than I would like. Got my money, counted it back to avoid having to be called to find out if I was given more money than I should have... Walked back to my vehicle which started up at the building just fine and continued to work.

Was going to call Mike to have him meet me at Disney Drug Mart but waited until I was there & before I went in to call him. Got his voicemail annoyingly, so being May the 4th, I couldn't resist. Didn't return my call while there...

Dropped off my 2 refills which I had prepared a month ago! Got payments, lotteries not worth playing. Shopped for mostly non-food items which I always got at DDM... I should have waited for a steno tablet at Walfart because I ended up getting a Shrinkflated 80 sheet tablet when mine was 100. Floor cleaner, air time card, body spray, dry cat food & stick margarine which Walfart was oddly out of stock, grabbed a marked down pack of Portobello mushroom caps, marked down chocolate doughnut holes, and a 99 cent clearanced Swiss chocolate cake mix. Green peppers were above $1 each here as well (why are these not sold by weight?), passed on a bag of apples, snacks, and any additional drink (cider or pop). Also noticed Disney Drug Mart no longer has bagged Malt-o-meal cereals...

Refills were $1.60, paid for my stuff, got some gas, and drove over to Mike's place to see if he was there and got his return call just as I was looking for a place to park. So everything up to now timed out perfectly. Handed him the 2 cables he needed to charge his phone, identified the Micro USB port on a rechargeable light he bought. As I drove on, he called me while I was doing so and I never answer my phone while driving. Called him back when I got parked to find out what it was about. Funniest thing is he thought I was going to go in, get that cable he could use, and drive back to Minerva, then back to the building. "Mike, I'm done! What I was going to do, I've done it. I'm going inside and collapsing on my bed." I was able to return to my spot & I'm NOT leaving it.

That would have been entirely true if wasn't for getting officialness on my rent money order receipt & getting in & putting things away I discovered my wallet wasn't in my pants pocket. Ah. I had heard something fall on the floor in the vehicle as I grabbed the backpack.

So after I got the cold stuff put away, I did collapse onto my bed, took something of a nap, dosed myself more acetaminophen, waited until 6 p.m. & dragged myself out again & got into my vehicle & saw my wallet right where I expected it. Bonus for my efforts was a bottle of Newman's Own poppy seed salad dressing & a box of Jewish Matzo crackers on the donation table. Those particular crackers are 0 Sodium & therefore great with tomato soup & keep a long time.

And for that extra effort, I'm paying the price of lingering body pain the next day. Acetaminophen takes the edge off but I'm still sleepy.
 

Frank I. Szabo, in passing...

I found out a few days ago a person I had sort of roomed with during my attempt at DeVry in Columbus, Ohio had died in 2007. His name was Frank Szabo. He was from New Jersey & Pennsylvania, and he had a lot to say about lots of things. He was tall, imposing, more worldly than I was, and yet he was only a few years older than me. I have memories of him - not necessarily good memories as we weren't friends but mostly cohabitators.

He made fun of my 1st impression as I met my new college roommates in our student supported apartment because I shook with my left hand. I don't know why he singled me out for this stuff. He would tell me how "If you give a Jewish boy $1.50 this week, next week he'll have $5" in a way to tell me I made bad buying choices such as when I bought all 5 Voltron Lions in the plastic version at Toys R Us. He was supposed to have moved out by the time I moved in, but he was buddies with the other guys in the place so they let him crash on a bed in the basement (there never were inspections as far as I know so he never got caught) but he was supposed to pay to each of us who were supposed to be there a portion of the $180 per person rent DeVry was ripping students off with. I never saw a dime.

He spoke about having a cameo in Flashdance and even rented a copy on tape to show me his moonwalking scene while holding an umbrella and wearing a black jacket. He was so much slimmer then... what happened? His name is even in the credits... I once saw him in the DeVry labs using one of those microprocessor breadboard kits hooked up to an oscilloscope and making it display a scrolling rocket animation, while people coming by to see it working, saying things like, "The guy knows his stuff!" and generally being impressed.

He could get part time work at places like Eastland Mall area's Brown Derby, telling me things like don't order things like a salad at a steakhouse because that's cheap food & fills you up before eating the expensive steak. I was always the target of his pranks or at least whatever mischievous thing he could pull in the moment. There's too many things, mostly unpleasant. He picked about the smallest things, any perceived slight, and I ended up on the bad end of it. He picked on me having stuck a potato in a jar in a cabinet (I had hoped to cook & eat it later but with all the distractions I forgot) and later it rotted, stunk, and had to be thrown out. He picked on someone drinking from a bottle of grape juice he had in the fridge & accused me of doing it, like he could go to each of the other guys and ask them but wouldn't believe me if I said I didn't touch it. If I had dropped something outside, he would tap the end of a broom he was holding near it, daring me to pick the object up otherwise he would try to hit my hand. Those are the Frank the Asshole moments.

Eventually the student apartment lease from DeVry was ended, I had to leave (I wanted out anyway), met George Jenkins from Temperance, MI & we decided to split a studio in a nearby apartment community (later I would regret that decision). I managed to get away with Frank's portable chess set with a 1964 half dollar and silver lightning bolt necklace inside. I sold the chess set & necklace on eBay in the late 1990s for a fair amount, kept the silver half dollar for some time.

I had my interactions with Frank, not all of them entirely bad, but not all of them memorable. He was just another person I had to deal with and when he wasn't being an asshole could be entertaining. It was him and his group who took me to my 1st Chuck E Cheese's and then Showbiz Pizza Place in the same night (Eastland Mall area had both). It's surprising to know he ended up in Missouri, got married, had a kid, and started up a business. I don't even know when he graduated, but he did. 42 is still too young to die, even if I didn't fondly remember him. All I had of his existence are 2 photos I shot with a 126 camera, 1 of him getting a Bundy Splash by a friend (his name was Lauren) with Mo from South Africa helping. And the other with him & Mo in the basement with the ping pong table, 1 other guy you can barely see, and Frank's bed in a corner. Like I said, nobody checked to see if he had moved out or to ask why there's a bed in the basement.  

The orange didn't go to waste

I was looking forward to supper tonight because I was finally going to make that Sweet & Sour Orange sauce, deep fry the boneless breaded chicken tenderloin meal I got for free, and then decided to cut up 3 potatoes I've had languishing in my fridge for months into fries & deep fry that, too. The free meal even had some cauliflower & pear cubes for a fruit. At least this time the fruit didn't get microwaved.

The Orange Sauce came together easily & quickly - and the free orange didn't go to waste. The recipe needed the juice & zest of 1 orange (about 1/2 cup) which is what I had. I figure if the breaded chicken wasn't Orange Chicken, at least the sauce would be! AND IT TURNED OUT SO GOOOD! I let this meal thaw out in the fridge overnight, and fried up crispy in only a few minutes. And stayed crispy even after getting the sauce all over it. And what's neat is I even put the cauliflower in the sauce... and the french fries went in the same sauce pan (left over sauce), got coated in whatever was left, and it mixed well with the ketchup I had! Orange sauce & ketchup? It tasted darn good!

Smelled nice in here after baking bread... had a bit of a failure with that, and after having my deep fryer on, still smells nice in here. Good thing I'm not hungry now.

Crock Pot Pinto Bean Chili today...

After taking out my trash around noon (and glad I did it then), I came back to wait for my pinto beans to finish their 3 hours on high in the crock pot for another round of Pinto Bean Crock Pot Chili. So after 3:30, I turned it off & got the rest of the ingredients ready - browning the 1 lb of ground turkey, chopped onions & celery (as green peppers were too expensive), adding minced garlic, crunchy chili garlic sauce, and the rest of the spices. Plus it finally gave me the chance to finally use up the 8 ounces of mushrooms I bought back on the 3rd! They were fine, needed rinsed & sliced. Once I got everything in, the green crock was full.

Got to taste the residue from the crank chopper to break up the browned ground turkey which is where & when I add the dry spices. That gave me an idea of how it's going to taste when done. Fat spreads flavor! I had some burger grease in the skillet when I browned the turkey. 3 - 4 more hours on low & it already smells good in here! 

Addenda from Friday

Additional notes from Friday's shopping:

    It was cheaper to buy a bundle of celery ($1.94) than it was to buy 2 green peppers ($1.27 EACH). That thing of Ralphie May and $97 salads was prescient. Salad dressing? I remember in 2019 when Walmart bottles of blue cheese were under a buck. Today it's $2.32. What the flipping hell happened? I could go to Dollar General for $1.50 bottles but I don't have the stamina to run around anymore. 1 store & done. I might shop at Aldi more but I don't get their ads in the mail anymore. Meijer doesn't seem to send out ads either.

 
    I verified the $10 packs of Friskies canned food & I really should have gotten 1 plus another pouch of treats Poofball likes but the aisle was busy & I wanted to avoid that much activity. I didn't even check out the toy area nor buy any snack chips. The only thing special I got was the 1 pound Reese's bunny because it was half off & I was looking for marked down Easter candy. They had so much unsold Peeps & plastic eggs & basket "grass." Might as well take it out back & torch it. Heh.

Friday night's supper was French bread pizza as has been my tradition to buy a $1 loaf from the bakery extras cart & make it with that. Saturday was more Crock Pot Lentils. Sunday I'm still sleepy & tired. Serviced the cat pan already, now have a letter to print & an envelope to mail. Got some physical stuff & floor mopping to do for the next week or so. Bought a new mop on Rent Day.

Anthem Food card doesn't help pay for just anything...

First time shopping for groceries & using the cheap ass Anthem Blue whatever food card. I wanted to know what it was going to pay for, but I selected "healthy" foods anyway, or what I thought would be considered as such. It's cheap ass because it doesn't provide $25 every month, but instead is loaded with only $150 for 12 months. United's card was DOUBLE that.

My list: 1 gallon 1% milk, 3 loaves honey wheat bread, large jar of natural peanut butter, bag of shredded queso cheese, and 1 bag of spicy frozen breakfast sausage patties.

THE CARD REFUSED TO PAY FOR THE MEAT. I don't have a list of what it will or won't pay for, BUT EVEN THE UNITED FOOD CARD PAID FOR MEAT.  United card did not pay for carbonated pop, cookies, snacks, pre-made desserts, or candy, and I expect this Anthem card will act the same, but not paying for frozen meat? I will try again with fresh packed meat next month and see what it does. Then I will have to see if I can get a list of stuff of what their program considers "healthy." Likely stuff such as produce. THEY'D BETTER NOT BE TRYING TO FORCE A VEGETARIAN AGENDA. I will NOT have it.

UPDATE: I found out the meat it wouldn't pay for was considered Processed & Frozen. If I had picked up fresh packed meat, then it would have paid for it.

Small excitement

Our previous building manager who took 2025 off for tax reasons (not really) finally saw my note I've been leaving with my rent payment for the past 3 months & TODAY got the form finished for my stated rent increase which I can now copy & send off. I was only $1 short from the actual amount.

Absentee ballot arrived today, filled out, mailed back with 2 stamps on it. Bought a dress shirt off Big Dude Clothing for an upcoming passport photo as I intend to renew that soon. I didn't have any solid color neutral shirts for such a thing. At least Big Dude gave me 10% off.

And I was rewarded for my efforts to attend to extra curricular activities with still cold & frozen food stuffs on the donation table - a bag of mixed vegies with Arabic writing on it (which I've seen before) & 4 single plate frozen microwave entrees. 

I needed some comfort, so I made mac & cheese

After the month of March I had, I needed some comfort, and with 2 bricks of cheese & free macaroni, with the 2 cans of evaporated milk I got on Friday, I was going to get some! Whipped it up under 30 minutes thanks to the miracle of parallel processing - letting the macaroni cook slowly in a small pot while I got the roux, milk, and cheese going in the Dutch oven. When I heard the milk & roux start plopping, that was the sign to get the shredded pepper jack into the pot, turn off all the burners, drain the macaroni, and get that cheese melted in. Add 1/2 of the macaroni, stir to combine & coat, get the remaining macaroni in, and combine. Not much while hot or warm - this comes into its own when cold. Yum. 

The last 4 days were the worst so far since Mom...

After the weekend I had, sadly, I had to dump the last serving of Arroz con Gandules from my Dutch oven which I hadn't washed since my last use of it to boil red kidney beans before I used them in a crock pot recipe... I'm not exactly sure what caused 3 weeks of kidney stone suffering suddenly, and while looking over my diary of weight, sleep, & last night's supper doesn't reveal any link, I decided to just wipe it clean & just have a sad food pantry bagged version of Tuna Helper tonight. Added 3/4 diced onion sauteed in canola, added 113 grams of sliced rinsed mushrooms, and later a can of no salt peas. Reserved the tuna juice & peas water for a dashi along with whatever the directions said to do. When it finally congeals overnight, a bit of Duke's mayo might make for a decent sammich. Sprinkled some grated Parmesan & a little Adobo to give it moral support. Even used a clean skillet! The other skillet (I have like 3 - with 1 good one I paid $20 for and is like a wok) has meat grease I want to use for fried rice. Topped off the evening with a cold A&W.