Friday Freestyles

Friday!

Payday!

Glory!!

I am eating lunch now. But the shades of my mind are at half mask right now. In other words, don't expect much of ANYTHING productive on pay day.

I tend to ball 'til I fall in my mind on payday. I did that while getting ready this morning for work. I imagined ditching the paying of bills and being whisked away to some island.  I saw myself asleep on a lounge chair as the cool ocean breeze flowed through my hair.

Sigh.

Then I finished getting dressed and fed and watered the cats.I try to locate the cats before I go to work in the morning, because they like to hide out under my bed. There's nothing worse than a cat trapped all day in a bedroom.  And it's worse if they have lost their collars with bells. I can't hear them moving around. So I have had mornings where I am running around looking for cats, and I look up to see them staring down from the beams.

Sigh.  One of these days I'm gonna get them back. I was almost late for work fooling with them. Humph.

Okay. So I finished up the red pepper ketchup. Here you go.

I bought 4 ounce jars this time. I'm not all that pleased with this batch... It's not as thick and rich as I like, but it's pretty damn good.  My cubicle mate Lady M said it's the best batch I've ever made. She like that it's coarse.  I pureed it well enough. But there are little pieces of something in  there that melts in your mouth. I'm not sure what that's about. But it's good.

That next batch... I'm going to put it in a crock pot and let it simmer down for about 10 hours. I bet it will be out of this world then.

Good deed of the Week. While making cookies for the ice cream social on Wednesday, I made a dozen for my old supervisor. She called early for them.

"Did you make my cookies?"
"Yes, I have them here. But I have to draw on the bag," I wailed. "I have a meeting at 10:30. (It was already 10:20 am).
"I have a meeting, too," she said. "I will get them afterwards."

I think she wanted them right then. Maybe she wanted a snack for her meeting. But she would have to walk over to me from her office in the adjoined building. (There was no way I was going to walk way over there. We have often met halfway, though).

It only took me a couple of minutes to draw on the bag.

She likes oatmeal walnut cookies without dried fruit (raisins, cranberries) of any kind.  Seems as if she has a problems with raisins... she thinks they are flies or something. I didn't ask any questions, as I didn't want her having any unnecessary childhood memories. She sure did skip over here and pick up the cookies.

I hope the cookies made her day a happy one. 

That's it for me!

CD of the Week. So Weeknd's CD came out today.

I like it. But I wouldn't listen to him because of the drugs. And I have a clean version of the CD on my spotify. I can do without all that cussing, young man.

Good CD if you like that type of thing. I was surprised. He seems popular. That hair, though. I don't understand.

Somebody needs to explains this Hills video to me, though.



He lost me with that one.

And that hair. I don't understand. 

And maybe I don't need to.

I understand that it's payday. And I don't have to work this weekend.

And I'm going to enjoy it. On purpose.

Repost: A Red Pepper Oldgirl

*Since Ginae wants the recipe, and Laura and Sasha are all O_o, here's an old red pepper ketchup post. Enjoy!

I like Old school things.

And when I say Old school things, I mean Color Purple Celie Oldschool types of things.

I like doing stuff they had to do back in the day just for fun...

Stuff like canning!

I only can one thing: red pepper ketchup. I make it every couple of years, so I got the BRIGHT idea to make it the night before I was due back to work (after being off for 12 days).

I haven't been able to find any organic red peppers for some reason. So I found some the other day at $2.99 a pound. (I saw some for $6.99 a pound here and there, but I didn't want to pay that much).

Here's my recipe!

As you can tell, the recipe is well worn, pages all smudged. It looks like one of my grandmas's recipe books.

Or one of Celie's recipe books.

That's Oldschool right there.

Here are my mason jars, justa sterilizing and boiling away...

Here are my ingredients!

Diced red bell peppers (9 cups), onions (5 cups), garlic and ginger.

Honey, that all took me an hour to cut up. It felt longer than an hour.

Here's my spice mix.

That took about 15 minutes to mix up.  My kitchen stills smells strongly of cloves.

Here's everything cooking and stewing down.

I let that stew for an hour!!

Then I pureed it all in my blender.  I added some light brown sugar and apple cider vinegar and let it cook down for a good hour and I canned it all up.

And here we have it! My red pepper ketchup!

That's good stuff. I didn't finish until one in the morning. My back was on fire from all that standing and stirring. I was not a happy camper the next morning.

But at least I had my ketchup. That's all that matters.

I probably won't make anymore for awhile.

Unless I have another Color Purple Celie moment.

Remembering Aaliyah

Today we remember Aaliyah, a singer who died in a plane crash on August 26, 2001. Today is the 14th anniversary of her passing.

I am not the biggest Aaliyah fan, but that Cowgirl Cre is. So this is for her.

"One in a Million" 

Ten Tuesday Thoughts

I love Ten Tuesday Thoughts. The idea of it at the beginning though is so O_O.

But once it gets rolling, it's a good thing. I can clear my head in a matter of few minutes.

1. I had to be at work at 9:00 am instead of 10:00 am for a meeting today. It is amazing how leaving the house an hour early throws me off a little.

2. I left my expertly prepared lunch at home. This type of thing happens when I have to leave early. Next time I will just pull it out the fridge earlier. Or put my keys in the bag in the fridge the night before. That may be a problem... because I will be looking all over for my keys in the morning. Oh what a vicious cycle.

3. Sister Callie Jo and my sister are best friends right now. Sister Callie Jo is going to be singing old sad negro spirituals in the corner when my sister leaves. Sigh.

4. Mitch is not flipping out over my sister. He likes my sister, but he is very partial to me. She said he'll come around her, but once he hears that garage door go up he's out of her room and down those stairs in a flash. (Aww. I guess he's happy to see me). 

5. What I'm drinking right now: Dandelion root tea.

My sister is fond of it. It is a great coffee substitute. Not that I drink a lot of coffee. My limit is 2 cups per week, but I average 1 cup a month and that is good enough for me. But my sister has hellacious caffeine issues. This is better for her. It is good for me too, as I snatched a few of her teabags. I'm not sure how she feels about that, but... OH WELL.

6. I am enjoying these nice sunny ATL days. It is much appreciated after a week of monsoon rains in the ATL.

7. The work group meeting was good today. But I was kept an hour afterwards. Let's just say, if you ask me questions, then I will answer them. And don't be asking me anything when I'm... annoyed. That is all.

8. We have an ice cream social tomorrow at work!

Oh what fun!  I cannot wait! They have the best socials in this area. And it's right outside my supervisor's door! Oh joy!

9. And I volunteered to bring cookies. I don't know why I did that. That means I need to drop by the store and buy some butter and eggs. I think with me and my sister it is hard to keep up with what I need at home. Sigh.

10. I needed to go to the store tonight anyway for mason jars. I need to make more red pepper ketchup.

I cut up all my veggies for it on Sunday night. I am making a half batch, which is so much easier than a full batch. I will work on that while I am making cookies.

Oh what fun to spend a weeknight in the kitchen. :(

(Really :)... by faith. Amen and Amen).

I think I will be getting off from work a couple of hours early today.

Yes, that's the ticket!

With that said... this has been Ten Tuesday Thoughts!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Monday Morning Thought

This is a good one. Worth reading.

Right on, Oldgirl!

This is actually a quote from a Portuguese life coach/self-help guru by the name of José Micard Teixeira.

It is STILL a good one!