• Skillet Chickpeas with Spinach and Tomatoes
• Zucchini Frittata

1. Hydrate First Thing in the Morning
   • 1-2 cups of water when you first wake up
     • Drink 1 cup, and then drink another cup with morning meds
2. Eat a Protein and Fiber-Rich Breakfast
   • Low in carbs but high in protein
     • Frittata
     • Yogurt & Fruit
     • Avocado &
3. Keep Caffeine in Check
   • Include protein with coffee
4. Get Moving
   • A brisk walk
   • Tai Chi
5. Have an Earlier Dinner
   • Before 7 pm
   • Early dinners encourage less late night snacking.

DIABETICS MUST DO THIS EVERY MORNING

1. Wake up at the same time every day
2. Test you blood sugar
3. Eat a healthy breakfast
4. Take your medication
   • Try to drink 1 cup of water with the morning meds
5. Stay hydrated
6. Exercise
7. Plan your day
8. Stay consistent

Ginger

Cinnamon

Turmeric

Fenugreek

I bought a 12 pak of 32 oz. plastic storage jars with metal lids & bands from Amazon.

[08/09/25]: I fixed a thick cut pork chop under the broiler for dinner. I microwaved an ear of corn and I fried some brussels sprouts first on the stove top, then for a couple of minutes with just a smidge of water to create steam in the microwave, and then back in the pan with a little Spicy Chili Crisp and Toasted Sesame Oil and they turned out great. Shiny green with browned bottoms and flavorful. [end]

I bought a jar of GV Brand Stuffed Manzanilla Olives at Walmart yesterday.

While at Compare Foods, in Fayetteville, I saw some pretty Thai Chilis, but didn’t buy any. I did buy a few tomatillos and a couple of Chilaca Peppers, which I don’t recall ever trying. I don’t know yet if it is mild or hot. *I just read that they are mildly hot, less than a jalapeno but more than an Anaheim.

While in the checkout line, I was behind a young Hispanic couple, which I would term as young newly weds who were definitely Americanized. He might have been military, Army, but he wasn’t in uniform. They had what appeared to be a coconut that had it’s shell removed with just the white flesh remaining as a container, for coconut water. Namzen is the company, and I see it is well known on the Internet. I asked the young woman, while looking at her husband (I suppose they were married.) if that was a coconut and she/they replied to the affirmative. Seems they were trying this “for the first time” and it was refreshingly obvious that their inquisitive nature had taken over. They didn’t know if it was going to be good or not. *And, I am now thinking of going back to Compare to buy one for myself. I think it might be about $6, which includes the water inside, but I suppose the white flesh is also edible. I shall see. **I did go back the next day, today, and bought perhaps the last Namzen Coconut Water that I saw. It was only $4.99 which appears to be a really good deal. It was simple to open and drink. Instructions on the side of the package. Take the straw and straw holder off of the package, turn the thing upside down and press down, forcing the plunger into the coconut. Peel off the protective label from the top of the plunger and insert straw and drink. I kept the protective label to put back on until I wanted to drink some more. I googled again and the flesh of the container is supposed to be edible also. What will Trump tariffs do to this product?

An Ancho is a dried Poblano.

While in Sun Asian Market yesterday, I noted that the Mung Beans that I had bought for a dollar were now $1.99. That’s a pretty good jump in the wrong direction. But, I also found some Job’s Tears and some Soybeans. I bought all three and have now started a sprouting test on the soybeans and the Job’s Tears. Not sure if these are the sproutable variety. The soybeans were only $1.25 and as I ate a couple of the seeds it reminded me of how they tasted many, many years ago when I may have eaten them out in the field on our farm.

Frank Howell, “the Fat Farmer,” as I called him (not to his face) leased out our farm for $3,000 a year. I think that figure was the annual tobacco allotment, and he leased multiple farms to make it profitable. Not too long ago I met his daughter at one of the Swansboro High School Alumni luncheons (at El Catrin, that day) and when I found who she was, I mentioned my nickname for her father. She laughed. Apparently she had moved to South Carolina and for many years was involved as a Home Economist (or maybe a teacher), in the Clemson area, but had now returned to the Swansboro area.

Here is the updated order of grocers and their locations:

1. Food Lion at 150 Andrews Rd, Fayetteville, NC 28311
2. Walmart at 4601 Ramsey St, Fayetteville, NC 28311
3. Dollar Tree at 3646 Ramsey St, Fayetteville, NC 28311
4. Compare Foods at 155 Bonanza Dr, Fayetteville, NC 28303
5. Pate’s Farm Market at 6411 Raeford Rd, Fayetteville, NC 28304
6. Return home via I-295

The route starts and ends at your apartment at 323 Foothill Ln, Fayetteville, NC 28311.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/323+Foothill+Lane,+Fayetteville,+NC,+USA/150+Andrews+Road,+Fayetteville,+NC,+USA/4601+Ramsey+Street,+Fayetteville,+NC,+USA/River+Landing+Shopping+Center,+3646+Ramsey+Street,+Fayetteville,+NC,+USA/155+Bonanza+Drive,+Fayetteville,+NC,+USA/6411+Raeford+Road,+Fayetteville,+NC,+USA/Interstate+295,+North+Carolina,+USA/323+Foothill+Lane,+Fayetteville,+NC,+USA/data=!4m50!4m49!1m5!1m1!19sChIJuXFaCERuq4kRg5IaazwQ-_E!2m2!1d-78.8674125!2d35.1666756!1m5!1m1!19sChIJZYdWYWhuq4kRqRP9P_i6Rsc!2m2!1d-78.871438099999992!2d35.1590194!1m5!1m1!19sChIJv0xVTsttq4kR1wyDS5__yjI!2m2!1d-78.8830211!2d35.123654!1m5!1m1!19sChIJl5H3krFtq4kRnbXM9-Bro6A!2m2!1d-78.8771429!2d35.109428199999996!1m5!1m1!19sChIJ61rC-sNqq4kRu-0DpXntsnA!2m2!1d-78.990499599999993!2d35.0805358!1m5!1m1!19sChIJGXzcchYVq4kR0u6BpIk9XWg!2m2!1d-78.9904602!2d35.040587599999995!1m5!1m1!19sChIJN1vdpoxxq4kRt_86qQ-jzSA!2m2!1d-78.9501193!2d35.116637!1m5!1m1!19sChIJuXFaCERuq4kRg5IaazwQ-_E!2m2!1d-78.8674125!2d35.1666756!3e0

I drove up to the IGA in Erwin, North Carolina yesterday to buy my lunch. They have a good little salad bar, a BBQ Chicken Wings bar and sometimes they have perfectly ripe avocados. *I didn’t need an avocado yesterday because I brought half of one with me from home. But I did see that they appeared to have several ripe avocados for 99 cents each. **This is the salad bar & wings bar & ripe avocados “that launched a thousand ships.”

Actually, about 3 weeks ago or so, I stopped in here for the first time and bought 3 BBQ chicken wings (3 different flavors), made a salad, and bought a perfectly ripe avocado for 99 cents and had what was one of the most delicious impromptu meals I’ve had in a very long time. As I ate that lunch in my car, parked at the little community park down the road from that IGA, I repeatedly said something to the effect, “that’s one delicious meal.” They have various Ken’s Salad Dressings, and I liked the Ranch & Honey Mustard versions. It was so good that I returned either the next day, or the next to try and repeat the experience… and it was close, but not quite to the level of the first experience.

So that first great experience led me to eat many, many, many salad bar lunches since then. And now I am often boiling my eggs at home, bringing some cauliflower florets in a sandwich baggie, and also some cucumber slices, mung bean and broccoli sprouts (golden raisins, onion). I had bought a container of Broccoli Sprouts and then it came to me, instead of letting them go to waste, why not substitute the sprouts for the florets. After all, the sprouts are supposed to be more nutritious than the florets.

I’ve found an athletic park in Erwin that has a large parking area and one smaller area has some shade and a view through some tall trees. Pleasant and relatively private. *The current Street View doesn’t show that they have paved this area and made a smaller parking area, but they have.

After lunch I drove over to the Lillington Library to see if they had any books for sale that I might want, and they had very few for sale, and none that I wanted.

Then I headed across the Cape Fear and past the antiques store in downtown (their OPEN sign was on), and on to the Lillington IGA. I like this IGA because of their green grocer section. It is always well ordered, and it is refreshing to stand there looking at the order. But yesterday I meandered up and down most of the rest of the store. They had Neese’s Scrapple and I think Souse, and that made me think about asking their butcher to give me a “short course” in the difference between snapple, souse and C-loaf. Later the AI was almost useless in explaining the difference.

Their canned goods prices did not appear to be exorbitant, as had those in the IGA in Rockingham last week. I then noted a nice looking salad bar, took a few pictures, and also noted a container of multi-colored tortilla strips. I thought they might be wontons, but no they were “Fresh Gourmet Tri-Color Tortilla Strips.” I thought them a little pricey, and now see they are available at Walmart for about a dollar less. *These strips appear to be about as harmless as the wonton strips. Little nutritional value, but a nice addition of texture to a salad or soup. I’m gonna try ’em.

I left the IGA and headed back into downtown and the antiques store. I like many of the things they have for sale, but rarely do I find anything that I will actually buy. Except yesterday my eye came upon a shiny, aluminum bar stool. It looked very much like the one I use as a “Lazy Susan” by my easy chair. I thought it might be taller, and when I got it home, it was by about 8 inches. A little smaller seat diameter, and I also see that the width of the stool legs is more narrow, so I would guess less stable if you actually wanted to sit on it. The price on the stool was $12.95. I walked away from it and finished my usually route, clockwise through the store. I then came back to the stool, looked at it and decided to buy it. I walked up to the counter with the stool in hand and held it up for the clerk to get the sales info off the sticker on the seat. The sticker had the price, but it also had “Susan C.” which was the person to whom the profit of the sale would go (I guess minus a small fee to the shop owner.).

I put the stool in the back seat of my car and got into the driver’s seat. Almost immediately I got on my phone and googled for “aluminum kitchen stool, round” seat, and an image that looked like what I had bought appeared with a suggested price of $180. Hmmm… $13 vs $180, I think I just got a deal. I’m thinking I may have bought my stool, several years ago, from maybe Wayfair, but for probably about $65. It’s a little tall, and the legs are close together, and the seat a little smaller, but I’m happy. *Both of these stools have a rotating seat, so that becomes a Lazy Susan, and there are bracing bars all the way around about half way up the stool legs. I can put a “make shift” shelf there. *I’ve done that with my first stool. I have a square plastic plate that I bought at the IGA in Erwin. It was dark blue with a white pattern that I liked and only cost about $2.99. But, it’s just a little too small but if I turn it “catty cornered” so that the plate edges sit on the metal rungs of the stool, it makes the shelf stable, and I now have 3 jars of nuts sitting on it comfortably.

I’ll need to measure the stool seat diameter so that I can buy a round place mat for it. I already have on on my first stool. I use a pet feeding bowl on that to contain various items: nail clippers, box cutter knife, assorted pens & markers, chop sticks, letter opener and remotes.

Okay, the Chia Seeds were added by mistake. Only after I added them did I realize that they weren’t the quinoa. But, I also added broccoli sprouts, because I had a bunch of them. I was looking more for nutritional value rather than texture, but the odd texture (stringy) is pleasing in some way, and the barley is slightly chewy.

I added 1/8 C each of the barley, chia seeds, brown lentils, and quinoa. I did add garlic powder and S&P, and some chopped flat leaf parsley and several small yellow grape tomatoes. I used some chicken broth and water.

The overall pleasure of this soup is it’s earthy presence.

About two weeks ago I loaded my dishwasher like I normally do, added the powdered soap in the two compartments, shut the door and turned the knob, and nothing happened. Or at least, the dishwasher did not start. It didn’t make a sound. I rotated the knob completely around it’s cycle and still nothing. However, when you go through the cycle, the little door to the second soap compartment opens so I had all the soap on the bottom corner of the dishwasher. I didn’t think about the possibility of a circuit break switch being tripped, well not for several days. I did put in a maintenance request online. I also put a request in for someone to check my air conditioner which seemed to not be cooling quite as I recalled it should.

I think I went down to Hubert the next day, but when I returned home they had fixed the air conditioner. Now instead of having the problem of it being too warm, it was uncomfortably cool. But cool I can handle by getting a throw or blanket.

So not having heard about my dishwasher for almost two weeks, I checked yesterday with the rental office. They said I needed a new dishwasher and it was in the process of being ordered. *Having someone come this afternoon to bring me my new dishwasher makes me think they might have forgotten about my ticket on this.

This morning as I was leaving to go grocery shopping, one of the maintenance men was sitting in his car outside of my apartment. He got out and said he was coming to see about the leak I had reported. I walked back in with him. He got on his knees and looked under my kitchen sink. He then said the problem was with my garbage disposal and he would go get a new one for me.

As I was turning out of McCloskey I looked back and saw part of the Goodyear Blimp down in front of the Goodyear Plant. I had seen a small one sometime in the past few years down there. When I came out of Walmart, I looked up and saw the Goodyear Blimp. It headed toward downtown, but I headed elsewhere. But as I was coming back after lunch on Ramsey here the Goodyear Blimp passed me and was heading in a “bee line” for what I surmised was the Goodyear Plant. And it beat me there by about 30 seconds, so I didn’t get a good video of it arriving and tying up to it’s anchor in front of the Plant.

In Walmart as I was shopping, I looked at the bread section. A couple of weeks ago they had loaves of bread for $1. I made a note of this because I was researching how to live on $5 for a week and peanut butter and a dollar loaf of bread was necessary. But today all of the bread was $1.47 a loaf. They still had the dollar labels, but right next to them and on the individual loaves was the updated prices. That’s a 47% increase in two weeks. I think the Lao Gan Ma “Spicy Chili Crisp” was about 30 cents cheaper a few weeks ago too. One Walmart had no Dukes Mayo 30 oz. jars, or Splenda “Family Size Bag,” but the other Walmart had both.

I saw a bag of barley and asked Gemini if it was “diabetic friendly” and it said it was and that barley had a low Glycemic Index. I bought a bag. I think I’ve added barley to vegetable soup in the past. It’s not quite the feel or taste of rice, but it is a little chewy.

While in Lidl to buy orange juice and milk (the milk surprisingly was up 6 cents from $1.77) and then I saw some Scott’s Bathroom Tissue. That’s the brand I like, but have only bought at Walmart. If Lidl has a good price I’ll buy it there. And I saw Golden Mangos for 55 cents, which is a deal. I think I bought one at Compare a day or so ago for 99 cents, and thought it a good price.

By the time I returned, several hours later, and after having another salad bar lunch from Harris Teeter in my car, the new garbage disposal was installed. But, I did not notice at first that they had also installed a new sink fixture for me. A shiny silver one, with a long crooked neck. *I did like the old one that had the extending nozzle that I could pull out to better rinse off plates and pots.

It must have been as I was getting out of my car to come in to my apartment that the maintenance man drove up and stopped. He told be that the garbage disposal had been replaced, but he also told me that my dishwasher was working. That a fuse had been tripped and he had reset it and ran one successful cycle of the washer. I came in and loaded up a bunch of my Rubbermaid containers & lids, and the Hillshire Farms deli containers & lids and the few plates and the two fryer pans and glass carafe that I use mostly for Bill’s Drink (the concoction that I make almost every day for over six months and consume it each day). The entire dishwasher cycle completed successfully. The dishwasher is loud though. Sounds like some parts are either grinding or jostling around maybe due to it not being used for a couple of weeks.

Bill’s Drink consists of these four items: Pomegranate Lemonade Mix from Walmart, Ice Tea (with lemon) Mix from Walmart, some cranberry juice and some orange juice (usually with lots of pulp). The drink isn’t satisfying unless all four elements are included, although I have made the mix with real iced tea. But don’t used any flavored teas. I don’t get tired of this drink mix, or I haven’t so far, and I like it both cold and hot. In fact, I broke one of my classic glass beer mugs by putting only a small amount of the drink mix in it to heat in the microwave. Apparently, the small amount of liquid got much hotter than what I normally put in it, and the mug shattered into many pieces.

I have since bought a new “classic beer mug” and have heated both water and Bill’s Drink in these mugs without incident.

I just checked and the new kitchen sink faucet does not have the extender anywhere.

I was sleeping and heard someone come into my apartment. It was the younger maintenance man and he told me he had brought my new dishwasher. I stopped him and told him the other man had determined that it was a fuse switch problem and my old dishwasher was working, so I “sent him packing” without installing a new dishwasher. As long as the one I have works, that’s good enough for me.

I limped along washing all my porcelain dishes, silverware, and the cooking pots & pans, but I refused to wash most of my Rubbermaid storage containers. I kept them in a large pink plastic container on my patio porch. I am now washing my plastic containers and am on my second load.

I’m trying to remember where all my plates & storage containers go in the cabinets. I did have a system that has been discombobulated by the lack of a dishwasher.

And next, I need to seriously clean out and reorder the stuff in my fridge.

I was looking at a recent issue of “Our State” Magazine (June 2025) and saw an advertisement for Campbell University. There was a pretty student smiling at me. I thought, “That girl has a really pretty smile,” and then I went on to browse the rest of the magazine. But I picked up this magazine again, and thumbed through the pages passing her image again. Still had that pretty smile.

I think it was about the third time of seeing this ad that the thought came to me. “She does have a really pretty smile,” I wonder if she really is a student at Campbell University or not. So I took a picture of her and then did a Google Image Search. Sure enough this exact same image came up for several other businesses on the Internet, and I even found a different photo, from the same photo shoot for this commercial actress. One other warning flag happened when I ran the image past my AI (Gemini) and it described the image as of “an attractive young woman with a pretty smile and her hand in her hair.” I then realized you don’t get the perfect picture without planning, and this “come hither” look had to be planned.

I’m not sure there is anything wrong with using a commercial actress in an advertisement understanding that your audience is going to imagine that the person they see is somehow directly connected to your business or institution in a positive way, but maybe.

I just want to rehash my Mexican Themed meal here.

I halved the Quinoa & Black Beans recipe and it turned out delicious again. This is just a great base for the salsa and guacamole. I also added some chopped sweet onion, sour cream and crumbled some blue corn dippin chips on top. I smushed half of a ripe avocado, and added a little sour cream to it with some salt and garlic powder. That’s another solid flavor.

And, I browned some ground beef, added some poblano & a smidge of red jalapeno. I didn’t think to add any Aji Dulce pepper, but I bought some of them today and have already put them in my freezer. They are hollow so even frozen, they dice easily. I used a can of the diced tomatoes with diced green chilies (regular sodium) and a yellow sweet bell pepper. I did add some onion to this also.

I put this all in one bowl and it was delicious. Take a little guacamole and salsa. Next some Black Beans & Quinoa with some guac. Then some guac and salsa. Then repeat in any combination that pleases you, and add some of the chopped sweet onion, the sour cream and the crumbled blue corn chips. Oh, and the salsa and quinoa are warm still.

And If I want to substitute refried black beans or pintos, then so be it. A nice change up. Or a cold salsa without any ground beef.

How about some tomatillos in the guac? Or some lime juice in the cold salsa? And, the whole thing seemed not quite hot enough. It was spicy, but not with any real heat. I did put a little jalapeno and poblano in the salsa. I’ve read not to add carrots, but I might turn a blind eye and put some in the cooked salsa. Good filler.

I don’t do rice, but someone could. But, I might be able to slide in a little baked sweet potato, with some sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt) and some sweetener and cinnamon.