Big Tex, here we come...yippee!

Dee and I are flying to Dallas tomorrow for our annual trip to the State Fair. Wanda is flying there from Austin and will arrive about 40 minutes before we do. Dee's mother, Gladys will probably pick us up. If not Gladys, maybe Dee's brother, William or her nephew, Brad. At any rate, someone will fetch us from Love Field.

My problem is always what piece or pieces of luggage to take. When we drive there, I'm able to throw my bag containing my pillows (body, arm, wrist) in the back with the rest of the stuff we take. I have a ginormous bag that would hold everything...well, not the body pillow, probably, but everything else. But, it's so huge! It would look ridiculous for basically a 2 day trip. We fly on Monday morning and Thursday morning, so I only need different clothes for Tuesday and Wednesday.

So, my ginormous bag would potentially contain:

**Lots of underwear...you can never go wrong bringing lots more than you think you'll need. (You never know when an unplanned sneeze or a fit of laughter will cause a problem!)
**one pair of pj's that would easily fit in a quart size ziplock
**a couple of pairs of ankle socks to wear instead of house shoes
**a couple of pairs of capris/pants and several choices of tops
**shoes...hopefully, only one pair other than what I wear on the plane
**one set of scrubs (this is my go-to clothing when I get home...light weight, no need for a bra, handy pockets for my phone)

That's about it for clothes. I could easily put that in a carry-on. Here's what will take up the rest of the room in my luggage:

**my makeup storage box...it's pretty small
**my travel makeup mirror...it's lighted, adjustable, has a regular side and about a 10X side (worst thing ever invented!)
**my travel blow dryer, just in case I need to wash & dry my hair
**a couple of novels
**a crossword puzzle book, a sudoku puzzle book, my special fat pencils and an eraser
**my travel kit that holds shampoo, conditioner, soap (in case I'm staying somewhere that doesn't have soap, for heaven's sake!) mousse, hairspray, brush & comb, makeup remover and cotton balls, night cream, moisturizer, ear plugs, shower cap, thyroid medication
**my camera
**chargers for my camera and my phone

Hmmm...maybe I'm forgetting something, because that doesn't look like so much. I've already pulled 3 possible pants and 3 possible tops from the closet. Crap! I'm going to have to try them on to decide which I'll take. And then I'll have to press them.

I didn't mention earlier that Gladys doesn't have an SUV, so not as much room for luggage as we're used to. And she's picking up 3 of us at the airport. Maybe I should take 2 smaller pieces...at least it would make it easier to transport.

But, I'm way ahead of my usual packing schedule. Normally, I mess around for the entire day and then decide to pack at about midnight. I'm so far ahead I think I'll post this and play a computer game.

See ya!

Shredding the lawn and other items

I always have my best ideas for a post while I'm mowing. Sadly, I don't remember any of my thoughts once I get off the mower. Possibly that's because most of my thoughts (at that moment in time) are mower influenced.

For instance, I saw what appeared to be a couple of newspaper flyers in the front yard the last time I mowed. My habit is to mow over anything that doesn't look like I could be hurt by it. That is, a mow over twigs, reasonably sized anthills, styrofoam cups...things like that. I don't mow over large limbs, large rocks, bricks or bottles. So, I mowed over the flyers, which turned out to be the Chronicle. The whole thing. It looked like someone had dumped a barrel of confetti out there. Evidently, the paper had not arrived when Wayne left this morning. He then went to Robin's house (well, her old house...she's married now, you know) and opened the gate and let Gracie out. Gracie hasn't moved yet. That's another story I might get to later. Gracie came to our house after the paper arrived and must have torn it up a little bit, and deposited it to where I found it and shredded it. When I realized there was so much paper there, I slowed down on my next pass and was able to read a headline on one of the larger pieces. Then I just went over it a few more times to help the biodegrading along. It was way too late to salvage anything. So then, as I have often mentioned here, I just laughed and went on mowing and starting composing a post in my head. I'm sure it was better than this one.

I have also mowed over a flip flop that somehow ended up in my front ditch. It has taken about a year to get that sucker all cut up, but I guess I finally did it. At least I didn't notice any pieces of it when I mowed last time. Maybe Gracie ate it.

It's always in the last place you look

Okay, just one more thing. As is common, with me anyway, as soon as I don't need the thing I was looking for, I find it. I decided to take the shower mats outside and scrub them and rinse them with the hose. As I was looking for the sprayer to put on the end of the hose (found it!), I found the long handled scrub brush. Of course, I didn't need it inside any more, but I thought it might be helpful for the mats, so I took it out to the yard.

As soon as I started scrubbing with it, the bristles started falling out. Glad I was outside and not in the shower! Anyway, I cleaned the mats and rinsed them off and let them dry a while in the garage. They're back in the shower now and the bathroom looks fairly decent. At least I did something worthwhile today!

I'm happy!

My busy day

I've been fairly productive today...staying on task, for the most part. Okay, except for now. I've dealt with sprinklers twice today, so far. I exercised this morning. I washed and actually put away a load of laundry.

I paid bills and took them to the mailbox. Naturally, I've checked emails and answered when I needed to. I've also checked blogs I follow, just to see what's going on. I didn't intend to post to my blog, but something struck me funny...so, here I am.

And, okay, the load of laundry was 4 towels and 8 washcloths...but, I did it and that's what counts!

It was while I was putting the towels away that I noticed how filthy Wayne's shower was. I've noticed it before, but the urge to clean wasn't as compelling as it was today. There are two teak shower mats in his shower...low wooden platforms. I have two of them in my shower, also. I like the way they feel, how they sort of give, and they seem more secure than just standing on the shower floor. When I finish showering, I tilt each of the mats to let the water drain off, top and bottom. My mats look almost as good as new. Wayne doesn't do that, however, and his mats are scary. Plus, there was so much dirt collected on the floor beneath the mats that it looked like we had painted a brown rectangle there. So, I decided to clean the shower.

I located the Scrubbing Bubbles and sprayed all it over the floor and part way up the walls of the shower, set the timer on my phone for 10 minutes and then went back to work on Quicken upstairs. Good thing I set the timer, because when it went off, I had already forgotten about the shower. I started spraying it off with a hose attachment that is really nifty, but the grime had been there too long and was hanging on for dear life. I knew I had a stiff scrub brush that had a long handle on it, so I went to get it. I looked everywhere, but never found it. I looked again, and still didn't find it. I looked out in the storage room in the garage. When I opened the door out there, the picture below is what I saw and what made me laugh.

It looked like we had decorated the water pressure tank for Christmas! The wreath goes to one grave at the cemetary and the tree goes to Wade's grave. Wayne takes them every year and then brings them back home a few days after Christmas. I guess that's where he decided to store them. Looks pretty festive, don't you think?

Anyway, that's basically the only reason I'm posting this ridiculous story about nothing. I never did find the scrub brush I was looking for, so I used a small one, which worked fine after another round of Scrubbing Bubbles. I should take the mats outside and clean them good, but it's too blinking hot. Maybe I could get Wayne to take them to the barn and pressure wash them. Now I just need to vacuum out the bathtub in that bathroom and it'll look pretty good in there!

Eating my words and more

Well, I've already had to eat my words...the ones about it being a long time before I fried anything for Wayne again.

It's Dee's fault! Or, to be more exact, Annie Mae's fault. Annie Mae ( I don't think I know her, although it's possible I have met her) is 96 years old. If that isn't enough to marvel at, she also has a garden. That she apparently prepares, plants, tends, and harvests...herself. And if that isn't enough, she also shares them with friends. And if that isn't enough, when she drives herself to the friend's house, the vegetables are washed and ready to cook! In the case of the okra that she took to Dee, not only were they washed, but also sliced...as precisely as if she had some kind of magical okra slicing machine. They were not in angled, uneven, haphazard shapes...they were all about 3/8 inch thick. No pointy ends or stem ends to be found. In short, they were beautiful!

Dee wanted to share with me, so she brought a large ziploc bag of the little gems over. One look at them propelled me into action and the ban on frying was suspended.

While the harvest is going on Wayne often has a later lunch, so when 1 PM rolled around I decided to get started on cooking that beautiful okra. I thought that the Louisiana Fish Fry product would really be good on it, but wanting to make it crispy enough to satisfy him, I poured a small amount of Egg Beaters into a pan and added a little cold water to thin it out. I dropped about 1/2 the okra in and stirred it all up so that each slice was moistened. Then I dropped the whole batch into a large plastic container along with the Fish Fry coating and shook it up good. I heated oil in a large stainless skillet and then added about half of the coated okra, prying clumps apart so that each slice had it's own space. After a few minutes, I turned them all over and let them cook a few minutes longer. I fished that batch out to drain and put the remainder of the coated okra into the oil and repeated the process.

Wow! I want to tell you that okra was absolutely delicious! If Wayne had walked in at that moment, he would have been in hog heaven. Instead, he showed up about an hour later. It was still good, but not nearly as good as when it first came out of the skillet.

I didn't season the okra at all...the Fish Fry coating has plenty of seasoning in it. There are several variations of the product at the grocery store. This one has a lot of yellow on the little package and it is "New Orleans Style." The photo of the okra is only half the batch that I fried, the rest was still in the skillet.

Can't wait to cook up the remainder of the okra that Dee brought over. This time I'll wait until Wayne's is in the house to get it started. They've finished shelling corn, so meal time might be a little more predictable.

Thanks, Dee! Thanks, Annie Mae!

A fried fish tale

I went down to Carolyn's Sunday morning to sit with Jax while the rest of the family went to church. He was very cooperative...asleep when I got there and stayed asleep the entire time. I did look in on him a couple of times to make sure he was okay.

I stayed for a little while as Carolyn started lunch, then headed home to make lunch for Wayne and I. When I was at the seafood market at the grocery store a few days ago, I saw basa fillets. The tag said they were similar to catfish (which I am not partial to,) but they looked very much like trout...long and narrow, unlike the tilapia that I usually buy which is wide and short. They were also about half the price of tilapia. So, I bought three fillets along with a product called Louisiana Fish Fry Products - New Orleans Style Fish Fry. (You didn't notice, but I was gone about an hour. When I went downstairs to see what the product was called, I got distracted doing other things...included among those things was trying to remember why I had gone downstairs.)

Anyway, you just dip the fish in ice water, shake it off and then roll it in the fish fry stuff. I didn't even season the fish. Then I fried it and served it along with potatoes with onions, black-eye peas (frozen, not the dried ones) and cornbread. Pretty good meal, I thought. I had mentioned to Wayne that I was using this new--to me--fish fry coating, so after we ate I asked how he like the fish. Mainly I was asking about the fish, not the coating, as we had never had basa before. He said he liked the coating to be crisper........................BRRRRRRGHT (insert sound of buzzer here..........wrong answer! I commented that mine was crispy. (And his was, too) He said that he liked a thicker coating. I didn't make any other comments, but my mind was working like crazy. Crispy, to him, is cooked to death...hard. For instance, proper fried okra for him would be crisp throughout, any resemblance to okra would be accidental.

I rarely fry anything anymore. In fact, I had gotten to where I baked fish more often than I fried it. I know when something isn't good, although I don't think that happens too often. You would think that after more than 44 years of eating my cooking, he would have learned what the correct response to my original question would be...."It's really good! You know I like fried fish!"

I don't know what he was thinking...but, he'll be damned lucky to get anything fried around here for awhile!

One tired Cookie

What a busy day! I'm exhausted and I know Robin is, too. But, she's 36 years younger than I am, so she'll probably spend the rest of the evening playing games, while I'm hoping to spend it in the recliner.

Last week she told me that she wanted to go to Victoria to see what the wedding decorator has planned for the tables. She planned to do that this morning and then go to Houston this afternoon for a wedding gown fitting. Fortunately, she needed to work half a day, so we were only able to go to Houston. Her fitting appointment was at 3:30. She had supplies she need to find at Hobby Lobby and had plans to go to three of them...all roughly in the area where we would be.

We left the house at almost 1 PM and made our first stop at Academy where she exchanged some shirts that she and Chad gave Wayne for Father's Day. We decided to wait until we were on our way home to visit the Hobby Lobby across the freeway from there . We went straight to Pappadeaux for lunch since we were both hungry and then hit the Hobby Lobby at The Fountains. From there we headed up Hwy. 6 to Weddings by Debbie. It's just past the West Oaks mall, but always takes longer than we expect to get there. We were just a couple of minutes late, but it wasn't a problem. Robin got into her gown and one of the assistants was going to give me a "bustling" lesson, but the head lady said to wait until it was closer to the wedding. She thought a bridesmaid should do it anyway. Fine with me. About 10 minutes later we were out of there, and on the way to a Barnes & Noble which was nearby. We both found things in there. Then, while at the Barnes & Noble, Robin made a series of phone calls. She needed to set up the appointment with Glenn for the bridal shoot, which meant she had to set up an appointment with Esther for her hair for the same day. After 4 or 5 calls back and forth (they both have vacations coming up; one leaving about the same time the other gets back) she finally managed to set a date. That meant calling the bridal shop to arrange to pick up the dress before the photo session. You have to have an appointment for that, because the dress has to be inspected by the customer (and the staff, I guess) to make sure that both parties agree that everything is perfect at that time. She also had to make arrangements to pick up the dress a few days before the wedding. We should have had a little desk set up at Barnes & Noble. We were writing everything on the back of an appointment card I happened to have in my purse.

Next we took FM 1093 and headed for Hwy. 99. Turned right onto Fry Road and then into the shopping area that included the 2nd Hobby Lobby and an HEB Plus. We found more of the items that Robin was looking for plus some things we didn't know we were looking for. Since we were next to the HEB Plus, we also stopped there so Robin could look for a bottle of wine that she hasn't been able to find at the local HEB. They didn't have it there either...the wine steward (imagine that!) said he didn't think it was made anymore, but suggested another bottle in it's place.

Back in the car, now heading down Hwy. 99 toward Hwy. 59 and the shopping area at Rosenberg where our first stop was the 3rd (and last) Hobby Lobby. Found more of Robin's items there and then made a quick stop at Best Buy before our final stop at Starbucks. Thank heaven for Starbucks! Carolyn had placed an order with us several hours before, so we picked up the three frappacinos and headed back to Wharton County.

We dropped off Carolyn's frappacino and tried to leave. Carlee and Kate rushed us and had to have lots of hugs and attention before we could get back in the car. Seven hours and 131 miles after we left here, we finally arrived back at the house.

I have no idea what I'm doing writing this instead of having something to eat. It's nearly 9 o'clock now. I heard Wayne come in and I guess he fixed himself something to eat. I don't know whether he has to go back out. They are watering cotton as well as shelling corn.

There are two showers for Robin tomorrow. Give me strength!