On The Stove
Since I have an unexpected day at home, I've decided that I want to do a little cooking. So I'm making Beef Barley Soup. Here's what's in it:

3 quarts of my homemade vegetable broth*.
1 pound of beef, diced, then browned and roasted in the oven for about 25 minutes.
1 1/2 cups carrots, sliced
1/4 onion
1 cup barley

Brown the meat in an oven-proof pan as the oven heats to 375. Put the pan in the oven for about 20-30 minutes.

While the meat cooks, cut up the vegetables and heat up the broth to a simmer.

Once the meat is cooked, deglaze the pan with a cup of broth and combine everything (except the barley) in a crockpot.

After the soup has simmered in the crock pot for about an hour, taste and season the soup. Make sure the crock pot is set on low and let it go for the rest of the day. About an hour before the meal, add the barley.



* My vegetable broth is made with vegetables I have on hand.

Basically, it's a combination of: carrots, celery, peppers, onions, and whatever other veggies are in the refrigerator on the day I make it. I also keep a Ziploc bag in the freezer that I throw in the remnants of veggies I've used or prepared for previous meals.

Sometimes, it contains beets, broccoli, peas, green beans -- whatever's handy. I throw it all in a crock pot and fill the crock with boiling water.

Then it simmers all day. After that, put the crock in the refrigerator to cool overnight.

Then it's double-strained (I use a collander and fine strainer) and I store it in the freezer until I want to use it.

The Work Thing
My plan on working or writing every weekday is working out okay.

Yesterday was a writing day. I finished off an interview that I did over the weekend. I also interviewed someone for the paper.

Today was going to be a working day, but the day labor place had a lot more available people than they had assignments. I left them my name and came home to write up the interview that I did yesterday. So today is a writing day -- unless I get a call.

Tomorrow will be another writing day. I have an interview with a couple who provide foster care services in their home. Tomorrow night starts my seven workdays in a row.

So that's the schedule for the next couple of days.

'Bout Kicked My Butt
The other day, I made a momentous decision. I decided that from now on, when I am on the "off" part of my 7 days on/7 days off schedule at work, I'm going to work every weekday.

I'll be honest: I've been rather lazy with that time off the past few months. So the other day, I went down to a day labor company and signed up.

The plan is, every weekday that I'm not actively writing something for money, I'm going to the day labor place. On Thursday, I dutifully rose at 4:15, took a shower and headed out.

The day labor people suggest you get there at five if you want to work that day.

I got there in plenty of time, and I was given an assignment at a local sawmill. I spent the morning feeding pieces of wood into a saw. In the afternoon, I unloaded pieces that came out of the other end of the saw.

The work was tedious and relentless, but it was rather simple, and I had plenty of time to think and plan. The biggest problem I had other than the sheer physicality of the work -- I'm not used to being moderately active for 8 hours straight -- was the fact that there was a clock on the wall right in my line of vision.

I did my best to avoid looking at the clock, but when it's in your line of sight...you look.

At the end of the shift, I earned $56.36. That's okay; I've done worse jobs for less money. And when you work day labor, you get paid at the end of your shift, which I like a whole lot.

And I enjoy working with wood. I like the smell (except for dogwood, which smells like manure that has been mixed with honey), and even though I was pretty sore, I felt good.

The money didn't even make it all the way home; I stopped at the grocery store and spent $55.

On Friday, I was all set to go back to the sawmill, but decided against it. I had some story ideas, and I even had someone who had agreed to be interviewed for the On The Job article I write for the paper.

But I couldn't find the guy until almost two in the afternoon. He said to come back next week on Wednesday or Thursday. Another subject was out of town for the day.

So I was frustrated. My plan is to work every weekday -- and I had skipped a paying job for writing a story, and I was skunked. And this was only the second day of my Big Plan.

Instead of giving up, I stopped in at a dog grooming place and made an appointment for next week to interview one of the stylists. I also called a church secretary that I know who agreed to an interview on Monday morning.

A family that provides foster care is up for Tuesday. So that means I probably have four or five stories lined up in the next few days.

So that means I don't need to go to the sawmill or any other assignment from the day labor place. This is the deal I made with myself: work every weekday. If I'm not writing, I will go to the day labor.

It's funny just how many ideas just jumped into my head when I had 8 hours of noisy incessant work in front of me.

I'll tell you the truth: that job 'bout kicked my butt. It's also true that I needed it kicked.

Love for Mongo
I'm not talking about Mongo from one of my favorite movies, Blazing Saddles:












Most Patient Wife, Mercurial Girl and I went to a wonderful new restaurant called Mongo's Grill

It's a build your own stir fry, pita and wrap place. You can choose from 9 different kinds of meat, 26 vegetables, and nine different sauces -- as well as a slew of different spices that add heat or flavor (or both) to your meal.

Once you've chosen what you want to eat, you take it to a giant gas grill that looks like this:



And they fry it up for you on the spot.

Mercurial Girl is a very finicky eater, but she really loved it as much as MPW and I did. What I liked the most is that you control what goes in the food.

If you want junk, it's there. If you want healthy stuff, it's there. If you want a little or a lot -- it's up to you. You can make it spicy, mild, meatless or with pork or chicken or beef or seafood.

We had a great time at this place, and if there is something similar where you live, I can't recommend it highly enough. It's good, fresh food, cooked to your specification.

The atmosphere is a bit festive, and the line to select your fixins could be a little slow when the place is busy. But the food was wonderful, and we had a good time.

I can't wait to go back!

A Little Evil, For A Good Cause
Can you guess what this monstrosity is? I'll give you a hint: you can eat it, although I would never do so myself.



It's a lemon. Over at The Sneeze, Steve tells us about his friend with a lemon tree that may just have a personality problem.

You can bit on it at ebay. Steve is also throwing in a coffee mug from The Sneeze.

The cool thing is, Steve and his friend are going to give the proceeds from the sale to charity.

The charity of your choice. So go bid already!

RIP Gene Pitney
One of the more prolific songwriter/performers of the late 50's through the 60's passed away last night. Gene Pitney wrote a great many songs for a lot of different artists.

If you're of a certain age, it's likely Pitney wrote or song songs that you love, including "Hello, Mary Lou", "Town Without Pity" and "Only Love Can Break Your Heart".

On his last night on earth, Pitney was doing what he loved: He was on stage in front of people who loved his music. A few hours after his final concert, he passed away of natural causes.

He was a decent man from what I've read, and he was also a dedicated artist who knew how to compose and perform music. I know that I'm going to spend some time revisiting his music in the coming days.

Extreme Makeover: Hate Edition
Okay, I'm going to get into trouble over this, becuase Most Patient Wife loves the TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

But I hate it. I've always hated it. I think it's a show based on people's sob stories, and even though the guys who produce the show try to give off some humanitarian vibe, it's nothing more than a ratings thing. (And a blatant product placement deal for Sears.)

If they just came out and said "We're doing this for the ratings", I'd have less of a problem. But no; it's all a bunch of smug checkbook charity, and wowzers I just can't stand it.

And then last week, when it came to light that the producers of the show are looking for specific types of sob stories...look for yourself; it's at The Smoking Gun.

So basically, we just may hear the uber-obnoxious Ty Penington screaming through his bullhorn:

ATTENTION JOHNSON FAMILY!!! Sorry that your pathetic plight wasn't sympathetic enough. You're going to have to live in squalor while we spend an ungodly amount of money on the SMITH FAMILY down the block! Sure, we could easily fix up both of your houses if we wanted, but then this wouldn't be...EXTREEEEEEEEEEEME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION!


Some people may call me heartless because I don't want to watch this show; I think it's heartless to help people who are in dire straits just so you can make money. It's not about helping the family -- it's all about media and manipulation. I think it's ugly and almost evil.

Something To Ponder
On this Wednesday, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.......[1,2,3,4,5,6]

Start your conspiracy theories ... now!

And Another Thing....
Just because Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover say it's racism, that doesn't make it so.

Suuuure It's Racism
Let's say you're a security guy who is on duty at the US Capital building and you see this lady walking through the gate or whatever portal you're guarding:

You ask her for I.D., and she doesn't have any, and when you say that maybe she'd better stop because you're a security guy and it's your job make sure no one goes in without I.D.

She doesn't stop. So, you (as you're trained to do) physically get in her way. And she smacks you.

After a few phone calls are made, it turns out that she's a member of Congress. And she's mad.

See, the real reason you stopped her was because she's a black woman. Not that she's a scary-looking person breezing through security, refusing to show I.D. and smacking security officers.

Nope, it's because she's black.

And I bet there are some folks who will say I'm a racist just for writing about this.

I'll admit to a a certain bias against people with that kind of hair and eyes that scare the life outta me.

Folks, she spent time making her hair look like that. If security hadn't stopped her, I'm pretty sure that the Fab Five would have!

Sheesh, lady. You're a Congresswoman...you have people whose job it is to make you look good. People who could take you somewhere and have someone do a hair intervention or something. I'll bet there's a Great Clips somewhere in your district!