Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

Have you made homemade ketchup?

Ever?

I haven’t. Not until this morning. As I had 12 packages of black garlic that we bought in 2020, I thought I might give it a try. So, I did.

This is what 7 heads of black garlic broken off, and separated, one clove from the next looks like. The peels are in the bowl, the peeled cloves on the cutting board. I thought about removing all the peel from the cloves then realized how long that was going to take, and how much work it entailed, that I decided against it.

I also realized that it would be a waste of my time as, after all of the ingredients cooked down for 30+ minutes, and were blended, then put through a fine sieve, all of the peels, tomato seeds, and skins, etc., would removed, leaving a velvety, though fairly dark ketchup.

It smells delicious, looks amazing, and I am excited to blend it, sieve it, and taste it. It has to cool down first so I don’t ruin my blender. I have patience. I’ll wait.

Unto that end, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Absolutely the best ketchup I’ve ever tasted. Let me know if you want the recipe. It’s a bit extensive, and you could absolutely leave out the black garlic, but I wouldn’t. It’s delicious.

I’ve relegated mine to the living room.

For now.

For anyone that has read my nonsense over the years, you may recall that I did without a microwave for the first 3, or 4 years we lived here. It was Ivan’s insistence that I have the luxury of one that demanded its purchase. I have used it, to be sure, but how often? And, more importantly, why?

I’m going to find out how often, and for what purposes I actually use it as it has been afforded a great amount of real estate on my very small kitchen countertop, while using 1 of only 2 outlets. Therefore, if I don’t use it every day, and for purposes only it can be used, it doesn’t deserve the much-in-demand space.

And, since I am also limited to the number of functioning outlets in the kitchen, it needs to earn its monumental status on said countertop.

So far, (I moved it to the LR just yesterday), I’ve used it to reheat a cup of coffee, and heat about 1/4c. water to clean my reusable ear swab. Fortunately, I can, in the future, do both with the boiling water I use to wash, and rinse my dishes every day. No need for the microwave as of yet.

Until such time as I decide what to do with the behemoth, it stays in the LR, out of sight, out of mind. If I don’t find a need for it soon, I will give away to some unsuspecting person.

Stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I was watching some unremembered channel on YT tonight, and was told that single use batteries are going to be going out of use in the next 5 years.

Ok by me. Ivan bought rechargeable batteries with their chargers when we first moved down here. How very forward thinking of him. He did things like that a lot.

The ones he bought were made by Panasonic called Eneloop pro. He bought 4 D cells, 12 AA batteries, but I haven’t found any AAA so I bought some on Amazon. They’ll be here, in theory, tomorrow.

They require approximately 9 hours to fully charge and supposedly retain their charge for quite some time. I’ll let you know. Here’s what I found.

The above charger once had a cord to plug into a wall outlet to charge different sizes of batteries. Of course, now that I’m interested in using it, I couldn’t find the cord. Well, not until I asked the Lord for some help please. That’s when I went out to the living room, opened a random plastic container, moved the odds, and ends in said container, and found the cord. I had looked in the drawer where I put most of Ivan’s cords, etc., but without success. Thank you Lord. Again.

This one has its own collapsible prongs that go directly into an outlet. As you can see, there are 4 AA batteries charging in it at the moment. When the neon green lights go out, the charging is complete.

When all of the rechargeables are recharged, I’ll have at least least 8 AA, and 4 D cells, ready to go. Plus the 4 AAA’s coming tomorrow. That ought to last me for a while I should think.

Consider starting now to phase out your single use batteries for rechargeable ones. It’s the way the future is heading. Be in front of the trend.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Post script: Best I can tell, that cord I found for the EBL recharger is not the correct one. The unit got so hot, and the batteries even hotter, I thought it was going to melt the top of the copier. (That’s where I sat it so I could keep an eye on it.) So, it appears I need to go in search of another cord with the same plug piece that goes into the charger. I don’t really need it however, as the batteries that came last night came in a 4plex charger of their own. And, I already have a small 4plex, and a D cell charger. No need for the big one. BFN. 👋🏻

I think so anyway.

I didn’t care for the way the black tape border showed around the adhesive tiles, so, when I got up this morning, I removed it all from the mirror in my bathroom. Let me show you.

It didn’t take much effort, or time, to peel the black border, complete with adhesive tiles, from the mirror.

I laid the tape on the edge of the sink, peeled the “tiles” off of it, and put them on the mirror. It all happened quickly.

The edges are cleaner, brighter , and smile worthy. Now that it’s done.

Next, after my second cup of coffee, I started in the hall bathroom. This one had only the black tape border. So, I had to remove the backing off of an entire package, and a half of adhesives. No mean fete, let me make that clear.

I discovered, 3/4 of the way through the full pack, that rolling the edges tended to loosen them up, making separating the tile from the backing a teeny bit easier.

I bent back a corner of each adhesive tiles, making it easier to get them all ready to be applied. Well worth the time, and effort.

Before.

After.

Now, don’t those mirror changes just make you want to smile? They do me.

Update: I added 2 more rows of tiles to the kitchen wall which, again, makes me smile.

My next tiling project? Let me show you.

More on this addition another day. 😊

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Post script: have a safe, and fun Independence Day weekend. See you again soon.

THE CHAIR.

It’s here. It arrived whilst I was out, but it arrived, nevertheless, safe, and sound.

Now, all that’s left is to assemble, and enjoy. I’ll be back.

Hieroglyphs secured. Onward, and upward. Never say die. Cheery-ho. The last one pays for all.

Hmmmm. Something isn’t right. Not sure while taking this photo, just what wasn’t right, but, after about 30 minutes of trying to figure it out, after turning the chair on its side, upside down, right side up, upside down again, and again, and again, I discovered that I hadn’t secured the seat base as was needed. I went back to the hieroglyphs, and discovered what I had missed. 😡

Two screws into the seat base was what I missed. Seriously? Ok, so I found the screws still in the thing they all came in, removed the backing from the chair, turned it upside down for the umpteenth time, installed the screws, replaced the plastic cover hiding some of the junctions of the chair back, turned it over, and saw this.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I did it. I got the seat to sit straight, so I sat down and just about cried. The other chair is out in the living room where it belongs, and I’m seated in my new office chair. Watching my new monitor. Enjoying my solitary life as well as I can.

Until my next adventure, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Post script: a very happy anniversary, tomorrow, to my daughter, and her husband. Wishing you many more happy times.

I had forgotten I even bought them it was so long ago.

I believe I bought them either in my former life, or shortly after moving in here, 6 years ago. I’m too lazy to look it up on Amazon.

Suffice to say, I found them recently, in a 5 gallon bucket with different small planters that I had also forgotten about. I got them out, look them up on YT, of course, to refresh myself on how to use them properly. They have cut the watering of all of my remaining plants in half.

The spikes use a siphon system to water the plants, and depending on how high you place the jar of water in which they sit quietly doing their jobs, will determine how fast said plants receive said water. Let me show you.

Here they are in all of their glory. It took me a few tries to get the siphon started, plus I had to weigh them all down with something with a bit of weight or they floated to the top. That won’t help me at all.

Also, for the first little while, one pot, sometimes 2, got too much water, and overflowed into the saucer in which it sat. Annoying but easily fixed. So, now, instead of watering all of them, every day, or every other day, I only had to refill the quart jars in the morning, and away I went.

I was glad I found them when I did as they are making quite a difference in the dry leaf phenomenon I’ve been experiencing since the weather turned to oven temps.

Until next time my lovelies, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Post script: as it turned out, the dry leaf edge “phenomenon” wasn’t because the plants were dry, it was because they were burning up being in front of the window. The reflected light from the condo in front of me, was too bright. I have since moved them to another location, and all are recovering quite nicely.

I bought 3 packs of 4” tile adhesives to put around my bathroom mirrors.

On this mirror, I put them over the 4” black border I put up a few months ago, but will have to remove them, remove the black tape border, and reapply the tiles.

Not today. Today, I’m just enjoying the look of what will be the eventual end result of the new adhesives. Take a look.

There’s so much dark brown/black in the bathroom already that I didn’t realize, or notice until I put up the Talavera. What a difference.

Is it perfect? Not by a long shot, but do I care? Only a smidgen. As I said, I’m going to remove them, remove the black tape border, then reapply the tiles. That should help me a lot to stop seeing the imperfections. To me they’re glaring, but I hope you don’t notice them.

Until next time, and yes, I’ll definitely show you how the whole thing changes after I’m done with it, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I have been using our Visio tv as my monitor since moving stuff into the spare bedroom, turning it into my “office”.

It looms over the top of the Murphy bed like a gargoyle, watching my every move. I’m not paranoid, I’m just tired of the big black bulkiness of it bringing down my chi. (Not that I know much about chi, but I know it bothers my spirit).

So, I went across the hall, and had a look in the room of requirement, and found a lovely little 24” monitor that Ivan must have bought, though I have no memory of when, or why. I’m just glad he did. It’s the perfect size for me to look straight at it, no longer cranking my neck to look up at the tv screen a foot above my head. Let me show you.

It’s high definition, and fits perfectly on my little desk.

Here’s the original set up. TV, table/desk wannabe, living/dining room chair.

Here it is now. Notice the difference?

Everything is centered, where it needs to be, and I can take a deep, lovely breath of fresh air.

No cords hanging down, no clutter, no unnecessary stuff. Just calmness. I love it.

Now, I have to get out of this comfortable chair, and go for a short walk.

Tomorrow.

Until then, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Specifically, an office chair.

I need one, desperately. I’ve been sitting on a living/dining room chair for months now, and the height is causing all kinds of trouble for me.

I’m short. The chair is tall. It cuts off the circulation in my lower legs, and feet causing my ankles to swell inordinately. I really need to get away from it.

So, I ordered a new chair that will be here in a few days. I’m so excited to finally sit in comfort I can’t sit still.

It has everything I think I need, especially the height. Now, I just need to order it, receive it, put it together, and enjoy it.

The latter will be the easiest of the 4 things as I’m looking forward to this immensely.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Once again, I have purchased beeswax bread wrappers.

I used them quite a bit in my former life, but, for reasons unknown to me, I stopped. They “popped up” on my Amazon.com.mx home page, so I opened it to investigate.

They’re lovely. I bought one large piece to cover a new loaf, either boule, or loaf pan size. It will cover a ciabatta style loaf, or a focaccia, when I get around to making those as well.

I bought a pretty bread box that I was unable to return, so I gave that away after receiving these wraps. I have had the loaf I’ve been eating wrapped in it for several days now, and it remains, (what’s left of it), soft and mold free. Thank the Lord. Mold is my biggest nemesis as I can’t eat a loaf fast enough to keep the mold at bay. Speed, and slice thickness are the 2 things holding my bread for ransom.

Oh, when I ordered the wraps, the folks from whom I ordered also sent me a market bag of 100% cotton. Excited to walk to the plaza to “buy stuff”.

Until next time, my lovelies, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.