Debbie Delozier :: A Casual Affair

Because today is laundry day (again) this is how I’m dressed. Not really, I do still have on a housedress. I’m just taking it slow today while doing the laundry and little bit of housework that needs to be done along with the little bit of kitchen work today. I’m taking it slow and easy so that later I can go take a nice, slow, warm shower and ready myself for our evening plans.

The teenager’s plan for tonight is to leave for Tulsa shortly after school with some of her friends to attend Winter Jam which is a Christian Rock concert. She is very (extremely) excited. She asked for $ to get into the concert but I went ahead and added enough for dinner and a t-shirt or something else that she may want to buy. She is really a great young person and hardly ever asks for anything and if she does its just so little. She is a blessing.

Our (that would be Jim and I) plans this evening are to travel the short distance to Vinita to the grand opening of our sister-in-love’s art gallery Studio 124. It’s her big evening and I’m very excited for her.

Now it is time to switch laundry loads and also make some roast beef salad which was previously requested by the teenager.

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Today I was out and about the town in Bartlesville; so I threw a roast, carrots and little new potatoes in the ever trusty crockpot before I left the house. Kati has been wanting a roast, actually what she wants is roast beef salad sandwiches, which means you have to start with a roast beef.

I was in Bartlesville just doing some errands and a bit of clothes shopping, wouldn’t you know I didn’t find a thing to buy. Isn’t that always the way though, when you want to buy clothes you never see anything you want, but when you don’t really have the time to try on clothes, etc, you see all sorts of things you want.

I had just entered Dillard’s in the mall when my Jim called me and said he was on his way to B’ville and wanted to know if I wanted to meet him for a bite of lunch. Well, yes, have you ever known me to turn down a free meal. But Jim wouldn’t tell me where he wanted to take me, he told me just meet him in the Atwood’s parking lot at 11:30.

I finished up at Dillard’s (not finding anything at all I liked) and tried to get out of the store without my friend, who works at one of the make-up counters, seeing me. I know, that doesn’t sound very nice at all, but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to see her or visit with her, but I knew that if we began to visit we’d chat and chat and laugh and laugh, and I wouldn’t make my date with Jim.

So, I made it out of the store and back through the mall and back across that section of town to park and make our noontime tryst.

Jim took me to lunch at a small up-town restaurant across from one of the Phillip’s buildings. The restuarant is named Robert’s. When I asked him how he knew about this place he said that our friend, Pastor Rob, told him about it the other night, saying he (Rob) thought that I would really like it. And I did, Rob! We’ll have to go back in the evening and see how hopping the wine bar gets after sundown.

I enjoyed the fish tacos which were made with a breaded and fried tilapia, topped with slaw, cheese and a roasted tomato salsa. It was really yummy although messy. When I make fish tacos I use shredded cabbage and add a tarter type sauce served on the side which I think is probably better as the taco with the dressed slaw on it was pretty wet. Jim had a chicken club croissant which I am going to have to start making myself. The chicken breast was sliced and pounded very (very) thin, grilled and then topped with ham, bacon, red onion, tomato and lettuce. The sandwich is usually served with a cranberry mayo (I think this would be fantastic) but Jim, not being as food adventurous as I am, asked for regular old mayo. When we go back I’m ordering this with the cranberry mayo. It was a nice surprise from my sweet, sweet husband and also a good suggestion from my very dear friend.

My Kati will be home soon so I best be getting a few things done around here before she hits the door.

Till later Friends.

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This is the top of the muffin (cupcake) I made for the Rotary lunch. Along with the chili, fritos, crackers and vegetable tray, I also made 2 (yes, only 2) cupcakes for the lunch. Believe it or not, they only ate 1. Jim was thrilled because that means he gets the chocolate one with the white chocolate/almond icing.

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I had a package of smoked sausage in the fridge that I needed to use. I had taken it out of the freezer on Friday and then we ended up doing something else (I can’t remember what) and then we were busy all weekend and ended up grabbing stuff while we were out; except for the lunch my Jim prepared after church on Sunday. I also had a green bell pepper and a sweet red bell pepper in the fridge that needed to be used. My mind began working (uh oh).

I started by sauteing the onions, bell peppers and garlic in a bit of olive oil. Once they had softened a bit, I added the slices of smoked sausage.

Once the sausage started to brown up I added the tomato paste, mixing it into the vegetables and sausage. I poured the beer into the skillet and stirred everything together. I then added some oregano (just enough until it smelled right). The sauce was fairly thick but I didn’t want the dark beer to overwhelm the dish by adding more so I added a bit of chicken broth to thin everything down a bit. I lowered the heat and let it simmer about 20 minutes.

While the sauce was simmering I boiled some spaghetti noodles. I also think this would be good with a heartier pasta like rigatoni or penne.

Jim and I both really liked this dish, Kati wasn’t crazy about it, but then Kati doesn’t like spaghetti even when it is made with hamburger. Kati goes through stages, one day she likes a food and the next time I make it she doesn’t, go figure!!

Anyway, we’ll be having this again. I might even make it for the Rotary Club next week; I think they’ll really like it.

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That is how it always is for me when I am cooking pot-things like chili, soup, beans, or stew. I start out with 1 pot and end up adding things to the pot until I end up in my biggest stockpot. Are you wondering why I don’t start out in the stockpot in the first place? Sometimes I do to. Actually, I don’t always intend on making such a big pot of chili (as in this case). First I browned 2 1/2 lbs of chopped sirloin. I then added 2 cups of diced onion, 1/2 cup diced celery (yes, celery) and 2 small cans of chopped green chillies.

At this point I began to think about how many people I would be feeding with this pot of chili. First there will be anywhere from 4 to 12 people tomorrow at Rotary Club. There are 10 members of the Rotary Club, but sometimes because of other responsibilities or dates or job related problems not all the members attend the meeting and lunch. Sometimes there have been as few as 2 members there. Then sometimes, they get busy and forget to let me know they have company. Usually this is no problem as most of the time I fix more then they need in the first place.

After Rotary has their lunch, then if there is enough left; Jim, Kati and I have supper from the leftovers. Every once in a while when there is more than enough for our supper I will give some away at the bank too.

So, I’m thinking how much chili I should fix. What I’m starting to ponder is I’ll make a bunch and then the Rotary will have enough, then we’ll have supper tomorrow evening and if there is still some left I’ll make baked potatoes one night and we’ll top them with the leftover chili, cheese, sour cream, etc. If this is my plan I better make quite a bit, so I get out a bigger pot. I transfer the browned beef, onion, etc into the bigger pot. I add tomato paste, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes. Then I add 45 ounces (3 cans) of light red kidney beans.

About this time I start looking at what I still have to add and how much room I have left in my pot. I trek out to the garage and grab my largest stockpot. This way I know it is all going to fit, no problem. I then add 45 ounces of pinto beans and 16 ounces of rinsed black beans. I add my cumin, my chili powder, garlic, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. I give it a good stir and put the lid on to let it simmer on it’s own.

Now my only problem is how will I fit that stockpot in the garage refrigerator. Guess I’ll have to go move stuff around out there now.

Gotta get busy on other things now. Wishing you a great day.

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Kati and I received a special delivery this weekend. Priceless artwork was in the package.

Artwork was done by famous artists Emily and Eva Fink. Both of the girls love the Disney Princesses.

In other happenings; Kati went to Miami, OK yesterday with the high school choir. I’m happy to report that her ensemble made a perfect score of 1 and will be going to the state competition later this school year. It seems she is one busy young lady right now. Friday she is going with friends to a Christian rock concert in Tulsa, I think it is Winter Jam or something. Then she has 2 more choir contests coming up soon, plus getting ready to take her ACTS in March. In March she’ll probably start making prom plans too. Oh, the busy life of a teenager.

Our young married couple made a trip to Dallas over the weekend to purchase a dining room table and chairs at the Ikea store (I think). Cass sold her old table and chairs which were way to small for their large dining room and the people came to get it last week. I haven’t seen the table she is wanting and don’t know how many people it will seat but I think she told me the table is 8 1/2 foot long. I’m sure it will look great in the dining area.

As they were leaving for Dallas, my Jim was returning home from Dallas. He and Randy made it back to Nowata around 4 pm and he went right into the office to clear stuff up so that we could enjoy the weekend.

Saturday, while Kati went to Miami, Jim and I made a trip to Owasso and then on to Tulsa. As I have been going through years and years and years of pictures I have decided to put them all in individual photo boxes instead of the old plastic albums. We also went to EyeMart to have one of my pairs of glasses fixed (both lenses fell out of the frames). They quickly repaired the glasses and we then did a bit of shopping. Of course being Saturday we also did grocery shopping after I had made menu plans for home and catering jobs for the week.

Today, being Sunday, we of course (each in turn) showered and readied ourselves for church service this morning. Immediately after church we (Kati and I) stayed for the board meeting, Jim took Kati’s friend Michael home, then drove by the tv station to drop off the recording of this morning’s service. After that he headed on home and prepared Sunday lunch for the family. When Kati and I returned home we had a nice hot lunch waiting on the table for us. I could get used to that I tell you. As Jim normally does dishes after I cook I stepped in and cleaned up the kitchen after he cooked. ‘

Sometime during the afternoon, we each took our turn at taking an afternoon nap among doing a little of this and that around the house.

This evening our Women of the Well had a special evening planned for us at the church. We went back to church at 6 and spent the evening listening to their beautifully harmonized voices as they sang and spoke to us of love. After the service we all met in Fellowship Hall for yummy snacks and fellowship. Can you think of a more wonderful way to spend the evening than surrounded by God’s love and the love we share with one an other? I can’t.

I’m beginning to drone on and on so I guess it is time to close.

Hope you have a wonderful week.

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I meant to post this yesterday, but I got busy and didn’t get around to it. I also didn’t call him like I meant to. By the time I remembered I thought the baby may be asleep and I hated to wake her with a ringing phone, I remember how hard it can be sometimes getting those little ones back to sleep.

My brother, we call him Tolly (not because he is tall, which is he, but it is short for another nickname he had), is 12 years younger than I am. He was 6 years old when Jim and I married. Our older sister had married and moved out and our younger sister left about a year after I did. Leaving Tolly at home, more or less, an only child. It was about 4 years later though that Cassie was born and as Mom babysat for us during the work week, she was almost like a younger sister for Tolly(almost).

Tolly used to make Cassie lunch sometimes, getting her hooked on fried weenie sandwiches with Miracle Whip. She still loves them. When Tolly was a teenager, he worked to get money to buy a horse. He told Cassie he would share it with her, of course, she wanted to know which half was hers, the eating half or the pooping half. I think they ended up selling the horse before they ever broke and rode it.

Tolly had a pretty rough life as a teenager and early adult, many times it extremely hard for him. However, he has grown up now, straightened his life up, gotten himself a wonderful wife, owns his own home and is now a very doting daddy. I know, too, that he is going to be a marvelous father as his little Courtney grows up.

I’m very proud of the man you’ve become, Little Brother. I’m glad you have the loving family you’ve always wanted.

Happy 36th birthday, Brother.

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This is my new laser printer/scanner/copier, with card slot. Fed-Ex delivered it today. It is sitting in the box until Jim gets home because it is a little larger than I’m able to handle. I have a laser printer already, and I also already have a copier/scanner printer. But having 2 different pieces of equipment just takes up more room back in the office, and believe me, that room is already crowded. As we’re trying to straighten up the office, (once I get everything situated and cleaned up in there I’ll show you the 3 new bookshelves we bought) my sweet Jim ordered this printer for me. Since the church is in the market for a laser printer and our ‘old’ one is less than a year old I think I will give it to them. I don’t know (yet) what I’ll do with the scanner/copier/printer but I’m sure we know someone that could use it.

This morning I dropped off my cylinder work at the office and visited with my sister-in-love, Debbie just a bit before heading to the bank to pick up my dishes from the board lunch yesterday. I ran into one of my friends while I was in town. She told me she made 2 of the banana/toffee pies (the one I posted a week or 2 ago) last weekend for a get together. She said everyone really enjoyed them. It really is a great pie and, although it takes a few hours it is easy to make, too.

When I returned home my friend, Sandy (the one who gets me all the jobs at the bank) had emailed me and said the bank directors loved the BBQ Sandwiches yesterday. I guess there was some left and she took some home to her husband Ken who also really enjoyed it. Of course, she also offered me another job for the first week of March (that will make 3 that week, all on successive days) and of course, I accepted the job (it’s part of that saying no problem I have).

We are again dealing with strange weather here in Northeast Oklahoma. Kati and I both woke this morning around 5 to lightening, thunder and ice pelting against the windows. All the schools around us were closed but Nowata was still having class. Really, that was a good thing, they already have missed so much school with the December ice storm and other snow days they’ve had to take. Plus, the ice didn’t get near as bad as they were predicting. It was just really wierd to see the sky light up with lightening and hear the thunder while ice is hitting the ground.

Jim, Kati and I haven’t had many chances to talk in the last couple days with all of our scheduling conflicts. Usually he’ll have a couple chances to call us but his meetings begin pretty early and by the time the meetings end and they get through with their evening obligations it is really late. He did get a chance for a short call last night to inform me that I have an award winning husband (that isn’t anything I didn’t know already). He and the Nowata branch have brought home awards from their Manager’s meetings for the last few years. Jim, himself, received an award (which also carries a $150 check) last night, something about customer increase and profit reportings. He and the Nowata branch (cause he couldn’t do it without all the people who work with him) received an award for over $2 million in gross profits. Not too shabby for one of their smallest branches. Of course, I’m not surprised, after all, it’s my Jim.

Well, I need to head to the back and get some beauty sleep, my traveling man will be home tomorrow afternoon and I don’t want him to get one look at me and run off again.

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At the moment I took these pictures I think our property was the weather dividing line. This is what it looks like out the back door toward the East.
Still a tinge of blue to those skies.
This is what it looks like out the front door toward the West.

A hint of gloom with clouds and winds blowing in.
This is what the weathermen are foreseeing for our area.

Moving on; I hate to beat a dead horse (that in itself sounds horrendous) but I did tell you of my firmly held belief that one can never have too many dish towels. Here is just one more confirmation of this belief.

I had already done my morning cylinder posting work and had just finished cleaning the kitchen after baking a dozen giant chocolate chip cookies, making coleslaw, and adding bbq sauce to the shredded beef and adding it to the crock-pot to heat. I thought I would sit, have a cup of coffee and just breathe for a moment before heading to the bedroom to get myself ready to take my wares to town.

I sat my cup of coffee on the edge of the end table and I need not tell you the rest.

I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a handful of dishtowels from under the sink and plopped them onto the spill. I didn’t even think about coffee stains because these are ‘cleaning’ towels and I have plenty to go around. HA!

My Jim phoned about a quarter to 10 this morning to let me know they had arrived in Dallas, was getting ready to pick up his car and head to the meetings.
He and 2 of his salesmen will be attending meetings to teach them sales techniques. Now; anyone who is the least bit familiar with my husband, knows he could offer oil to the Arabs and make them believe they really need to have it. And he’ll sell anything, he’d sell me if he thought he could make a dime. Well, maybe he’d rent me out anyway. Actually I guess he is, in a way, as I am usually cooking for the bank, the Rotary club or the church already.

This salesman trait is in the DeLozier bloodline though because there isn’t one of them that doesn’t have it, and I’m talking about every single one of them I have known beginning with Grandpa D who passed it on to his son, Jerry (Dad). Dad then passed it on to each of his sons who in turn passed it on to their children. As a matter of fact, our oldest (the young married one) sold her couch which had paint on it and just, this last week, sold her dining room table so that she could get a new one. Come to think of it, she may have inherited that from me though. Remind me to tell you the story of selling my dinner table some time.

After dropping off the lunch for the bank directors I went to the church for our Lenten service and soup lunch. I almost wish we could have these service and lunches every Wednesday, Lent or no. I really enjoy the midweek clearing of the worldly clutter.

And speaking of clutter, I’m off here now to do a bit of picking up here at the house.

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I received this (the article, not the picture) in my email yesterday, it is taken from an actual article in Housekeeping Monthly May 13, 1955. I thought I’d share it in case you need a good side-splitting laugh today. The picture is of Jim and I on July 29, 1978.

1. Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially their favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.

2. Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you’ll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

3. Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

4. Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.

5. Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper, etc. and then run a dustcloth over the tables.

6. Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction. (are you kidding me?)

7. Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. (bwahahaha) Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vaccum. Encourage the children to quiet also.

8. Be happy to see him.

9. Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

10. Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first – remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

11. Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax. (Yeah, Right!!)

12. Your goal: Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.

13. Don’t greet him with complaints and problems.

14. Don’t complain if he’s late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day. (Yeah, this is gonna happen)

15. Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. (are you putting arsenic in that drink?)

16. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

17. Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgement or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him. (Are you getting a bit irritated with all this ‘fun’ now too?)

18. A good wife always knows her place. (Knows her place?)

Are you laughing yet? I’m really glad I didn’t get married until the late 70′s. You can bet I’m not showing this to Jim and let his see what he has been missing out on.

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