We Got Mail Today!

We normally only get mail about once a month when my step-daughter, Becky, sends it to where ever we may be. She hasn't sent it this time in over a month because I did not know how long we would be somewhere until this week.

So, I opened the bag and got a few surprises. First, the good ones. I got my yearly dividend check from the electric co-op from when I had my house. I think I'll still get those for a few more years. The check I got this year is enough to go out to eat at a really good place, like maybe Outback Steakhouse or something similar to that.

Next, I got a statement from one of the medical bills we have been paying on since 2005, when FabGrandpa was in the hospital for four days, and it turned out to be that his thyroid had quit functioning. Anyway, that one bill is paid in full, YIPEE. One down, three to go.

The last of the good ones, is that I also got a statement from the IRS, showing that I only owe them $63.00 more, so that bill will get paid off this month, too. Yay!

Then for the finale: FabGrandpa's passport arrived, but I got a letter saying that the birth certificate I sent them won't do. It is not a "certified" copy, and it does not show the date my birth was recorded. Excuse me? I ordered that certified copy from the state of Georgia, and paid good money for it. The other copy I have (I ordered two copies from the vital records department at the same time) does have the raised embossed seal on it:

However faint it might be, it IS there. And the date the birth was recorded is also right there on it:


So, it sort of looks like the date filed says 6/16/1952, which would be about three weeks after I was born, but if who ever filled out that form way back then couldn't write worth a shit, how is that my fault? I was a baby at the time!

How in the hell do they expect me to correct something that was recorded way back in 1952?!? I am going to call the vital records department on Monday to see what, if anything they can do for me, but if I don't send in another copy in 60 days, I'll lose my application fee and have to start all over again. So NOT FAIR! FabGrandpa will get to go to Mexico without me. I demand justice! I NEED that tequila, I NEED those margaritas!!!


So, to calm my nerves and get my Mexican fix, I made charro beans for dinner:



1 lb dried pinto beans
6 slices bacon

Rinse the beans, cover with water, and bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Pour into a crock pot. Add the bacon, cut up, cover, and cook until the beans are tender.


6 slices bacon
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
1 tsp oregano
1 tablespoon cumin
salt to taste

Fry the bacon until crisp, set aside. Add the garlic, celery, onion, and peppers to the pan, and sautee in bacon grease until the onions are clear. Add the bacon, crumbled. Add all to the crock pot. Add the can of tomatoes and salt to the crock pot, stirring well to combine. Cook for one hour longer. Serve with corn bread or corn tortillas.

Bean Soup Weather, Again

The weather here in Pennsylvania has been cool for almost a week now. Today is supposed to be 85, but it is already after one o’clock and it is still only 72 degrees out there. I am loving it, but hope it does warm back up as I really don’t want to have COLD weather yet.

Yesterday I did another version of bean soup, so here it is for you all to enjoy:

1 lb dried white beans (I used cannellini beans)
1 good-sized hunk of salt pork, preferably with some lean in it
3 celery ribs, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the beans for a couple of hours, until they are soft. Add:

1 pkg Bird’s Eye Sugar Snap Stir Fry (sugar snap peas, carrots, onions, mushrooms)
1 large yellow squash, cut up
2 large fresh tomatoes, cut up (peel and seed if you want to, I didn’t)
1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon dried basil ( I really like basil)
1 tsp dried oregano

Cook for about an hour longer. This was really good, although I can’t take full credit for the recipe, as there was a recipe for minestrone on the bean package, which I followed very loosely. I just happened to have that package of frozen vegetables in the freezer, and since it had most of the vegetables called for in the original recipe, I dumped them in. My husband, Jim, really like it, too, but he asked for cornbread to go with it. I just doesn’t seem like a cornbread kind of soup to me.

Bean Soup Weather

When we got up yesterday morning it was rather chilly for August--62 degrees. The high for the day was only 68, and the weather forecast was for rain all day. Perfect weather for a pot of bean soup!

Here is the recipe I used, or rather what I threw together:

1 lb dried red beans
a ham bone from the freezer
3 carrots peeled and chopped
3 celery ribs chopped
1 medium onion chopped
2 heaping tablespoons of chopped jalapeno peppers
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and black pepper to taste

Put the beans in a pan, cover with water, bring to a boil and cook on high heat for five minutes. Meanwhile, put everything else in the crockpot. Pour in the hot beans, and cook for several hours on high. I did not have anything else to serve with it, but cornbread would have been nice.