Sacrificing, Giving, Receiving

Today, although I sabotaged myself with too much sorbitol, thus experiencing my due satiety as abdominal distress, I decided to try for a few more rib eye steaks while they are on sale at Macey's.  I went to the Orem 800 north Macey's on a hunch and bought more than 3 and a half pounds of rib eye which had been marked down after being mislabled.  I bought some additional packages at the sale price I expected.  On the other hand I threw away a lot of very expensive sugar free chocolate candy and lots of almonds when I learned about the high oxalate content.  That was a sort of sacrifice, but my reasoning was, if they are bad for me it isn't a fit gift for others.  I also purchased 8 lbs. of burgers to share with my neighbors for a tail gate party and added additional burgers from my freezer when the 8 lbs. was used up.  This liberated space for the rib eye steaks.

Rails

For some time I have had a pile of vinyl rails at the side of my house.  Some of them have never been used.  Others were used as part of a garden scheme I reduced by half.  I decided to use some of them to construct the box of my new trailer.  As it turned out, I have barely enough to execute my design.  There will be some railing left over, possibly enough to make a garden seat around my tree.

Rare

I baked ribs for lunch today and found that the well done meat really didn't satisfy me.  I got some good fat but I couldn't eat the last rib and still felt hungry.  Later I decided to go ahead and fry a ribeye.  I made it medium rare and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I realize that if I roast meat I should stop the cooking process while the meat is still quite pink.  I have enjoyed a roast cooked medium rare and sliced thin when it had cooled. 

Burgers

For the first time I decided to volunteer to host the Maple Lane 'tail gate' party associated with home games of BYU.  I had Adam's assistance getting the driveway and front patio cleaned up and weeded.  I moved my trailer, turning it around to camoflage the various items David had stashed next to his car, moving some of them.  I planted some chrysanthemums  I bought on sale from Home Depot several days ago.  I borrowed Lucinda's round grill and arranged tables and chairs around the front yard.  Nine families attended, the Grahams only briefly.  I had satiated myself on a very nice ribeye steak late in the morning and felt no temptation to eat any of the potluck offerings of other families.  I grilled over forty burgers.  I used cheap hamburger and that meant that they were juicy.  I received many compliments.  It was a success.  Afterwards Alden and Calvin helped me with the clean-up, bringing in the chairs and taking the serving tables to the side of the house.  Jane Dalley inquired what the party had been about and I learned that her name had been left off the e-mail to the other neighbors.  I will include it, although this would have been the best opportunity for her to attend since it was next door.  I had erected a temporary barrier to keep children from wandering into my back yard using a section of fencing.  She admired it. 

Ribeye

I have always liked prime rib roast which I only indulged in at banquets or when they served it baked with a rosemary and garlic crust at the Provo Temple.  Recently I have heard a lot about ribeye steaks which are supposed to be a nearly ideal form of beef in terms of tastiness and balance between protein and fat.  I purchased a pack of three ribeye steaks for what was supposed to be a very good price by still seemed quite pricey at $7.99 a lb.  They are the steak form of prime rib and quite delicious.  For the past two days I combined the steak I ate with lesser steaks on the first day and with some lamb breast today.  I think that more than one ribeye is too much for me to handle.  Tomorrow I will eat my last ribeye in solitary splendor and see if it will suffice.  I suspect it will.

Jobs

My grandson, Calvin, started a job today.  For a couple of years he has worked for me for a pittance along with his siblings doing jobs around the house like mowing the lawn.  I began to think of my own job history.  Like many girls I began babysitting very early.  I had a regular appointment to watch the little boy of the lady in the house in front of ours when I lived in Bountiful.  She actually treated me more as a friend and a peer and spent at least as much time visiting with me as I did looking after little Max.  In high school I worked for a brief time at the bakery near my high school but my mother insisted I quit when a rape happened near the bakery.  I colored in home backgrounds for an architect, worked a temp job and did housekeeping and baby sitting for two very different families.  It was a good way to see how other people lived on a fairly close level.  My older brother went away to work on a turkey farm in northern Utah for the summer when he was fifteen.  I don't recall either of my little sisters having jobs when they were teens.  I observed that young people who worked for their education usually valued it more and wasted less time partying.

Fence Rails

I made an alteration to the design of my trailer fence.  There is not enough steel fence left to cover the subject and just the other day I was musing about the large supply of vinyl fence rail for which I seemed to have no use.  It should make an attractive enclosure and has strength in itself.