You Learn Something New...

So I learned a valuable lesson this weekend. Well, I guess "valuable" is a relative term. If I plan to buy a ton of sausage in the future, it will probably be valuable to me. However, considering that the fact that I don't typically buy sausage in the first place is what put me in the position to learn said valuable lesson... Well, the knowledge might be wasted on me. But it sure gave me a laugh. And Julie too.

See, Julie sent me a recipe to try out some time. So tomorrow night, we are having Three Beans and Sausage for Monday Meal. The recipe calls for 1.5 pounds smoked sausage. So I went to the grocery store on Friday afternoon, and I went straight to the meat section. I knew what I was looking for. There was the hot bulk sausage. There was the regular. Ah... But where was the smoked? I looked. And I looked again. To no avail. So I finally caved and went to the meat counter. I asked if they sell smoked sausage. They replied that they do and the gentleman stepped from behind the counter and picked up some pre-packaged sausage links that had basically been right in front of me. No, I proceeded to tell the kind sir. No, I need the ground kind, like hamburger meat that I have to brown up and mix with beans. Kind of like a chili. I got a couple of puzzled looks. They asked me what I was making. I explained. I even admitted I don't usually shop for sausage. So they very politely explained that there is no such thing as ground smoked sausage. Oh. So I happily took the links (which they raved about) and went down to some aisles and called Julie. You know, to verify. I said, "So the smoked sausage in that recipe... Is that ground meat or is it in link form?" She got quiet for a second, then said, "Wait, what?" I repeated the question. She said, "Links. Why? Did I write ground?" I said, "No, I just had in my head that that was what I was looking for." Well, we had a good laugh about that, she and I. And probably the two nice guys at the meat counter did too. So, now I know... No such thing as ground smoked sausage :). (And if you didn't already know, now you do too :)).

I'm also making cheese and onion cornbread to go with the dinner. Lea is making rice and some sort of veggie and dessert. Those will be a surprise when I get there. Yum. Of course, I'm not able to find buttermilk cornbread mix here. They don't have Martha White stuff (though I know exactly what it looks like, because I bought her blueberry muffin mix often in the early days of marriage). I'll tell you like I told Julie: the problem with cooking Southern (out of the cookbook I checked out of the library called 1001 Ways to Cook Southern by Southern Living) when you don't live in the South is that you can't find half the ingredients! Her reply: Move out of Yankee-land and come on back home! (By the way, this Southern talk might help clue you in to the movie quote for the week-ish).

In other news: I totally hate Verizon at the moment. Possibly it's because they are trying to force everyone to upgrade to the phones that require a new (more expensive) service plan... Who knows. But my cell phone service has been spotty all afternoon and evening. No texts, no calls. I'm annoyed. Highly annoyed. I can't even tell it's in crappy mode until I try to send a text or call out. Christina and I are going to Best Buy tomorrow to see about getting me a new phone since I'm still within the time frame. But I don't think it's my phone. My mom's is doing the same thing. And hers is nothing like mine. Except, according to Christina, they are both analog only phones. Stupid data plans. I'm seriously thinking of just going pre-pay. Because this is getting ridiculous. There's my soap box.

I have checked out all the episodes of My So-Called Life on DVD from the library. It makes me feel old. I can't believe it's been over 15 years since I was watching it on MTV (when I could sneak on the channel when the 'rents were gone... ;)). (I never called my parents 'rents, by the way. I just know my dad reads this and thought I'd give him a raised-eyebrow experience :). I am, however, serious about the MTV thing). I remember when that show was really pushing the envelope. My how tame it seems now...

I went to a church game night activity last night with my friend Wendy. It was pretty fun. We played PIT. I had played it once before way back in 2006 with my wonderful Dothan friends Stacy, Brian, Brian, Becky, Kristy, and Jerry. It was fun back then. I had forgotten how to play it. I was reminded last night. And it was way fun last night too :). Julie... Next time I visit you and we have 5 people or more, I'll have to purchase PIT and we shall play. You guys will like it :).

And last, but most certainly not least.... I'm laughing already... So I was out in the 700s shelving books yesterday. I came across a book of Dilbert comics. Dilbert cracks me up anyway. I think he is pretty much spot-on most of the time. Just the cover made me laugh so hard... In fact, every time I think about it, I laugh. Seriously, Dilbert is a genius! I love the biting sarcasm and sharp wit :). Here's the cover. Maybe you'll laugh too :).

I'm still laughing :).