Saturday, June 2, 2007

Sunday Dinner, June 3, 2007

Sunday Dinner....Hmmmm.....Let's see.....

My hubby is still in Texas, Jessica and Jason aren't sure if they'll be at church Sunday morning or here for the noon meal and I have no idea whether any of the sisters and assorted other family will be here or not.


What would YOU do under those circumstances???

Probably the same thing I'm going to do.

Nothing.

As far as I'm concerned we're eating out somewhere. I don't care if it's a fastfood burger or at a buffet, whatever.

It never fails. If I cook for a crowd there's only 2 or 3 here and if I cook conservatively I have a small army show up ready for chow. I have a 3 lb. package of hamburger in the fridge and several packages of hotdogs in the freezer. I figure anybody who doesn't want to go out to eat can stop and get buns, drinks, chips, ice, etc. and we'll grill some burgers and dogs. I don't really expect anybody to object too strenuously to
my plans, especially when I inform them of their choices.

Now, what are your plans for Sunday Dinner? Going to eat at a fancy restaurant? Go ahead, share your plans and make the rest to us drool. Going to Mom's or Grandma's place? Tell us the menu so we can enjoy vicariously.
I have a question that has nothing to do with anything else in this blog entry. I mentioned several months back that I bought a new printer/copier/scanner/fax. It works fine except for one thing. I bought some Ko*dak semi-gloss photo paper. A BIG package that's already opened and can't be returned, mind you. We're not talking about the cheap stuff here. Now this blankety-blank copier won't pull the paper. I've tried everything the troubleshooting program suggests and the photo paper is on the list of recommended papers for this model. I've even tried taping a piece of regular copy paper to the back of the photo paper thinking it might help it pull it better, but no dice.

But get this: I had one page of high-gloss photo paper. I figured I had nothing to lose so I tried it. Dippy thing worked like a charm. Grrrrrrrr!

Any suggestions? Any and all input welcome. Please, oh PLEASE!
I've been busy this week doing not much of anything. You have to be really good or really dedicated to be busy doing nothing. I have actually gotten a few things done, believe it or not. Not as much as I would have liked, but I figure this was a vacation for me this week as much as it was for Lamar while he's in Texas visiting his Dad and brother.

It's been really warm here this week. It's been in the upper 80's every day with a sprinkle here and there but no measurable rain. It just aggravates me when it sprinkles. You get all primed for a good shower and all you get is a little cloud spit. Not even worth the effort, I would think. We're supposed to hit the upper 90's by next weekend.

Yay! I can hardly wait. I hate to be hot. That was sarcasm there just in case you didn't catch it.

It just ain't right to sweat. Fat girls and hot weather ain't a good mix. At all. You'll never hear me complain about cold weather, ever. I can always put on more clothes or set something on fire for heat, but after you get nekkid and you're still hot, then what?

I've done a bit of cleaning and weeding and general tidying out front but I waited until late evening to work outside since it's been so warm. I threw out some hanging pots with tired potting soil in them and I noticed that someone took everything I threw out. Good luck to them, saves the trash guys from having to pick it up and maybe they'll get some use out of it.

I had a lot of portulaca, or rose moss, that reseeded and came up volunteer so I transplanted some to a pot and I already had some in 3 other pots. It's been so dry that it was suffering so I had to water all of them. We really need some rain in a bad way. It's rained all around us but somehow it always misses us. One old saying around here when it gets dry is that someone isn't paying the preacher right. I may slip my pastor an extra $5 Sunday morning and see if that helps the situation.
Another thing I did this week was do my monthly shopping on Friday. I went to Dol*lar Gen*eral and Wal*mart. Those were the only places I went besides Ci*ci's Pizza for lunch. Would you believe I spent almost $200 on household needs? Seriously, I didn't buy any clothing, shoes or books, no jewelry, perfume or makeup. Nothing except laundry and cleaning supplies, paper goods, cat food and litter and a color cartridge for my printer. I did buy a couple of family packs of hamburger and cubed steak and a package of smoked ham lunchmeat, plus a loaf of wheat bread and a 12 pack of Diet*Coke. That's it.

One thing that makes it seem worse is that I only shop once for the whole month. I sometimes have to pick up a few things during the month that we run out of unexpectedly or something unforeseen, but for the most part I get it all on the first of the month. I go on or about the 5th of the month for groceries, but I have to buy bread or milk sometimes before my scheduled shopping day.

But still, groceries and household supplies are getting outrageous! I buy a lot of my groceries at Wal*mart. Just a few weeks ago I was paying $2.24 a gallon for 2% milk, Great*Value brand. The next week the price had jumped to $3.09 a gallon for the same product. That's almost a full dollar more in a week's time!

I am so glad that our local gardens are starting to produce. It sure helps with the summer grocery bills.
My neighbors' and my mother- and father-in-laws' gardens are beginning to produce so I have garden fresh yellow squash now. I have a promise of new potatoes and fresh snap beans, plus corn on the cob and cabbage soon. That means it won't be long before the garden ripe tomatoes will be coming in. I can hardly wait until I get my first ripe tomato! Mmmm mmmmmm!

I had fried squash and beef cubed steak for supper Friday night. It was so good! I still have enough squash for several more meals and I bought a big family pack of the cubed steak so I will get another 3 or 4 meals from that.

I'm thinking my Saturday Supper is going to be ham sandwiches, plus fresh fruit for dessert. I have some peaches, strawberries, cherries and bananas. Sounds good to me.
I think I'm going to go fix that sandwich now, then I still have my Sunday School lesson to study.

I hope you all have a blessed Sunday. May God bless you with all you need, and may you have enough to share.

28 comments:

Barb said...

I just love the way you always end this post with, "and may you have enough to share." That always warms my heart because you know, no matter how much you do or don't have, there really is always enough to share, isn't there?

Wow. You covered some serious territory with this post, girl!

About the printer. You're saying it will pull the high gloss (slippery) photo paper but won't pull the semi-gloss. I'd say it's the printer, not the paper, and probably has something to do with the pressure not being right. I know you don't want to hear this but I'd call the place I bought it from and ask them. If they can't help you, they should replace it. Or maybe you can find a "help" email address in your warranty book.

Trust me, I know it's aggravating. Formatting all these invitations, rsvp cards, recipe card favors (1200 of them), and now four-page wedding programs was the easy part. But in order to minimize waste, I sat here and printed everything one.at.a.time. And still, I had some misfeeds.

It's just frustrating but your problem is worse than that and shouldn't be happening. Your printer should grab practically any kind of paper, including heavy cardstock.

But back to dinner. LOL

Wait! Weight has nothing to do with hating heat. I'm a pretty good weight for my height I think but Lord! I hate to be hot. It's hotter than heck here and like you, I'd rather be cold. Much easier to add clothes when you're cold and not nearly as tacky as running around the house buck naked when you're hot. LOL

OK. NOW back to the dinner. Tonight I made Paula Deen's beef stroganoff. Hmm. Hmmmmm.

Tomorrow I'm trying a new casserole I found in Southern Living - Chicken Spinach Pasta Bake.

Economical and makes a lot, so I hope it's good. If no one shows up we'll be eating some leftovers! For days. LOL

It took me a while to figure out I get the best value for my food money at Walmart. I'll never grocery shop anywhere else. I managed to buy our groceries today for $58 but that's for about one week, so we're on the same page I think. It's just depressing when something so basic as milk goes up like that.

OK. You can have your comments back now. Hope you have a nice COOL relaxing Sunday, Diane.

xoxoxo

Sister said...

Hi Diane,

Celebrate the end of your "vacation" by going out to eat, then take a nap and enjoy the coolness of the a/c in your home.

Sounds like you need a "buy one, get one free" sale pretty soon so you can stock up! Right now, due to sweet B's grocery shopping, I have 6 bottles of ketchup, 2 of which are the giant economy size.

Need any for your cookouts? :)

Greeneyes said...

Hey Girl ,
Granny D
Sorry about your printer problems , did you change the setting for you paper under printing preferences ,then paper quality? to semi gloss photo or what ever your selection is ,,,,is the size(papaer) different ?? smaller?? you may need to adjust your margins , where they grap the paper , but it should grab anyway , very strange! Did you put more than one piece in the tray ? one may not be enough where it is slipping . Did you change you ink cartride you bought? if so is you printer working at all? or could be out of ink but not totally and not enough to print an entire pic so it will not print what you want but will something smaller ???
Anyway I am just brainstormin here , may be no help but I hope you get it all straightened out . XOX
Love the post , like having a nice chat , best kind with a friend
Big Squishy hugs CLub
love you
Greeneyes

Greeneyes said...

Hi Diane
I forgot to mention
Milk hee hee , you want high prices we buy it by the litre here but coverted to gallon we would be paying (SIT DOWN) Over $8.oo Gallon , guess our cows have have golden udders LOL
I kid you not !!!

Now I want a glass of MILK , better take out a loan LOL
Miss G.

Myrna said...

I am not the one to give advice on machines this week! I have one of those multipurpose things I cannot get to scan for me. A friend is coming over to get it working for me.

Sunday nivver I'm hoping little E Girl, L Boy and their parents will bring lunch after church. We'll see.

Mr. L and I just had some strawberry shortcake. Yummm. We have some left, so I guess that will be a part of whatever we have tomorrow.

Tammy said...

My theory for what it's worth is the more gas prices rise the more grocery's and other supplies are going to cost...I mean it takes gas to deliver these items...
I've got some center cut pork chops that I'm going to bake and au gratin potatoes sounds purdy good!
:)

Big Mama said...

Well, I wish I could help you with your printer situation, but I have no advice. I'd call the manufacturer and complain. It sounds to me like the printer is faulty.

As for our Sunday dinner, P doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to sweet talk him into grilling fajitas. It's just about my favorite meal in the world. I'll make a little guacamole to go with it and maybe some fresh salsa. The best part is we'll have leftovers for days.

Have a great Sunday and stay in the A/C!

zztop357 said...

We're having B-B-Q chicken for supper tomorrow night.Maybe some soup-beans and coleslaw,mashed potatoes and cracklin cornbread.
We're gonna cook on the grill if it don't rain.I've got a gallon glass jug,gonna make a gallon of sweet-tea and have that too.
The kids swam all afternoon and will tomorrow too.They will be raring
for supper I bet.
Love you Sister
Donna

Lyndy said...

Oh I absolutely love portulaca, or rose moss it is so pretty. You will have to get some pictures.

Yes mam I can believe that you spent that kind of money on household stuff. I will be doing the same thing on Monday.

I don’t like being hot either and most people think you could hang meat in my house. I especially hate waking up hot, much rather have a nice cool room.

Enjoy your Sunday my sweet friend.

Love and Hugs, Lyndy

inspired said...

And may God bless you also...
P.s Thank you ..

Jada said...

Enjoyed reading your post. Lots of good stuff.

For Sunday dinner today, our church is having a picnic! It's Children's Sunday so there will be games and such for the kiddos; the church is supplying the meats and beverages. We're taking salads, side dishes, and desserts. I have to stop at the grocery store on my way to church to make up a salad! LOL

For dinner last night, I had a Stouffer's Vegetable Lasagna. I love those! I didn't even go out of the house yesterday. Did some much-needed cleaning and cleaning out for an upcoming yard sale. I noticed my flowers are in desperate need of water, so I'll be water those this morning since I didn't do that yesterday!

Enjoy your day!
~Jada

Gran said...

My granddaughter Gstormy and I are having blackend salmon and fresh collard greens and southern cornbread. Some would think that this is a strange combination. : )

I can related with you on the increase on all goods it seems. I guess the gas increase covers anything that we purchase with the trickle down effect. Our milk prices increased as well. We are told by doctors to drink milk to maintain calcium in the freshest form but, it is almost as costly as buying the supplement form now. :)

Today we have a break from the heat due to the TS in the East. We are getting a little rain and wind.
I am blessed though...it is really saving on the utilities at least for a couple days.

Have a very Blessed afternoon!

Carole Burant said...

I'm having my own issues with my printer at the moment! lol I swear these things were made to make you pull your hair out! Not too sure what I'll make for Sunday dinner yet, depends on the weather...if it isn't raining then I'll barbecue chicken..if it rains then it's tacos. It's been hot and muggy here too and I feel like I'm going to self combust! lol Was I complaining just a couple of weeks ago that it was too cold???? Smacks self!! Take good care of yourself my friend:-) xoxo

Pyjama Diva said...

Chalk me up as another who has no tolerance for heat. It's warm and muggy here today, and I've taken up my spot in front of the duct spewing out nice cool air. Ahhh!

As for Sunday dinner, English husband sometimes gets cravings for "old country" dishes, and he's doing kitchen duty today. Bangers, and Bubble and Squeak are on the menu, apparently. Which translates to sausages/bangers from an English butcher, made the "right way" (!), accompanied by a mashed potato/cabbage combo. You mix the potatoes with chopped, steamed cabbage, form patties from the mixture, and brown them in a frying pan. Sounds odd, probably, but it's actually delish!

Love the photos in your last post. Babies sure do change in a hurry, don't they?! Emmy is obviously thriving, though, and is cute as a button. :) My daughter was a tiny peanut when she was born, too, and was all long, scrawny arms and legs. Still is long and lean, come to think of it. Not my genes, sadly!

Hope you're having a fab Sunday! :)

Susie said...

Hi Diane,
I'd send you some of my beautiful "not tow hot or not too cold" weather, but I just can't figure out how!
I'm hopeless when it comes to figuring out printer paper issues, but I know I have to change the setting for type of paper on mine...
Dinner today??
I'm thinking leftovers. I am cooked out and plain tired. Bill is wanting to BBQ, so that may also be an option.
Have a wonderful week.
love and hugs!!

Anonymous said...

"after you get nekkid and you're still hot, then what?" i took several extra showers last summer to cool down and they were refreshing

Anonymous said...

Diane, I can't help you with your printer/paper problem, but I'd be willing to buy your pack of semi-gloss paper if you can't get it to work. If you're interested, e-mail me.

We went to a buffet early this afternoon - had the best fried chicken I've had in ages. Real mashed potatoes, green beans, cole slaw, sweet potatoes, fried green tomatoes, and on and on. Yummy!

Hope you have a wonderful day.

Dawn said...

I'm with you on the heat. But we seem to forget that in the winter when we're complaining!

We had meat loaf, at my DIL's request. I didn't realize that was one of her favorites that I make. Nice to know. We had corn on the cob and the kiddoes loved that. Really expensive and not great, but they were happy.

I love Wal-Mart's prices, but absolutely HATE shopping there on Saturday, which is the only time I can go. So many families seem to think grocery shopping is a great outing and their kids are running everywhere, practically getting hit by carts. And the stockes are always right in the middle of the aisle and you can't get through. Well, nuff griping!

Enjoy your nothing to do time. There's nothing I like better than doing nothing!

Laurie and Chris said...

Diane ~ Thank you for stopping by my blog and wishing me a happy birthday!!

Rachel said...

I really didn't have any lunch today. I went to a birthday party at 2 p.m. so waited until I got there and I had about 1/4 cup mixed nuts, a small piece of cake, and punch! Then later I had a bag of popcorn and a Rice Krispy treat. I don't cook normal meals for us. Just eat when the notion strikes. Unfortunately it strikes often and so I snack too much! I guess I should eat regular like!!

I hope you can get the printer thing figured out. I have no clue.
I'm very technology not smart! hehe

The hot weather is bad. When I go outside and the sweat runs down my face and my hairline gets all wet, and your clothes cling, and ...well, it's NOT good!! Oh well, I reckon sweating is good for us! I'm trying to look on the bright side ya know!! :)

Hope you had a wonderful Sunday Diane!!!

Meow (aka Connie) said...

Computer printers ... aaarrgghhhh ... they are made to make us crazy !! I'd suggest checking your settings (as Greeneyes suggested, and/or calling the manufacturer, or store where you bought it !! Sorry I can't be more help than that.
I'm with you on the summer thing ... too hot ain't nice !!
Hope you ended up with some company for your Sunday dinner, and it was good fun.
Take care, hugs, Meow

Anonymous said...

Oh my I think these printers are all a pain. I just gave up using any paper with any kind of gloss. I use a matte.

Wish I could only shop once a month. I am not organized enough. I would constantly be going back for something. Prices are definitely climbing. There are only two of us and our bird and pups...It seems like we spend a fortune.

A ham sandwich sounds good!!

Hugs,
Connie

Granny said...

I'm no expert but I think it's the printer, not the paper.

My old printer had problems with some paper - usually the more expensive kind. The new one (Hewlett Packard) seems to handle everything so far except the software has a tendency to think I want to fax when what I want to do is print.

Dick said...

I'd try what others have suggested on your printer problem. I know with my Epson photo printer that if I have it set for the wrong paper it really prints strangely. But it still pulls the paper through. I have read that as a general rule you are better to use paper that is made by the printer manufacturer.

Our Sunday dinner was an invite to Pat's daughter's house for chicken on the BBQ. It was nice to not have any dished to do.

As to milk prices, they have been saying here that it is due to oil prices but not in the way you would think. The high price of oil has made alcohol a popular alternative or additive, so the corn farmers are getting the highest prices for corn ever. Since dairy cows eat corn, those high prices are showing up in the price of the milk. And the oil companies are making record profits.

Mountain Mama said...

Sorry your printer is giving you trouble. And sorrier that i can't help you. I would have to contact the people who made the printer unless they may have n online help available.

My Sunday dinner was steak smothered in onion and garlic and steamed in the oven for an hour, green beans and baked potato. It was sure good too.

Prices on everything are outrageous. I still need to rototill a small garden spot and get to planting. You are right, it helps a lot.

Ethan's Mama said...

Diane I know that when I did my sister's wedding invites I to do all 200 of them one at a time it took hours so try doing just one sheet at a time that seems to work the best on those oh so tempermental printers and can do anything but print a million dollars. LOL.. good luck!!

Linda said...

Hey Diane,
I can offer no intelligent advice on the printer thing at all. I just expect all of those things to work. When they don't - I am at a complete loss.
I would feel as though I were on vacation too if I were you. Just sit back and relax and do the things you always want to do if you just had some alone time!!
I wish I were organized enough to just shop once a month. We go every monday, and I always hate it. I just don't like grocery shopping. My husband always offers to go alone, but I feel too guilty to let him do that. Sigh..
I hope you had a good weekend. It's heating up here too. I find I don't like either extreme of weather. I'd love it if it could be in the 70's all year round.

Cheryl said...

Oh the paper...I'd call the Ko*dak company and explain your issue with their paper. They should take care of the matter one way or the other... Smiles sista