Saturday Evening Post.

Perhaps a blabbering on of a post, but my what a lovely Saturday it was!

The Morning...I don't frequent estate sales, but once in awhile I see something that I need.  I am well aware that hard core estate salers get there early, get a number, and quietly sip their coffee while visually intimidating their competition.

There were two things that I really wanted to get to this sale for...an old school cider press, and this lovely lady...

But, life happens.  I had stuff to do this morning and did not get there at sunrise with the die-hards.  So Joe, Coco, and I headed over after he got off work.  While I did not expect the dress form or the cider press to still be there, the following series of events made the whole situation just plain heart wrenching.

me:  Hi, I'll take this pile.
nice lady:  Okay, $1 apiece.
me:  Deal.  By the way, how much did the dress form go for?
nice lady:  Oh, there was this woman who got here before everyone and made sure she was first in line.  She made sure everyone knew she was here for the dress form - it was all she came for.
me:  For how much?
nice lady:  $50.  (really really stink in' cheap)

I did however, get three 1950's wool pencil skirts, one taupe eel skin purse, and a pair of dark teal Sperry tassel loafers, all in my size, all for $1..so it wasn't a total bust.

The Afternoon...I scored a collapsible massage table in the dingy basement of one of my favorite thrift stores today going for nothing (and Joe talked the woman with a peg leg down from that :).)  (And he found $20 in the back pocket of his dress pants that clearly went throughout the wash..so basically it was free.)  (And, I am not making fun of the woman for having a peg leg.  But, one time she told me that I couldn't shop in her dingy, dirty, warehouse of a thrift store with my morning coffee...in a spill proof travel mug I might add.  As if I might spill it on some junk and really make a mess.  I've been bitter towards her ever since.  A woman needs her morning thrifting coffee for God's sake!)

Side note, if you've never had a Jojo massage...you need one.  In fact, I know what all of you that I'm supposed to buy Christmas gifts for are getting...HA!!

The Evening...When we got home, Joe put a chicken and veg in the oven, and while that worked away we started working through the evening to-do list.  We had a bushel of apples that needed to go into the roaster for the last batch of overnight applesauce...and then there were the peppers.

A few weeks ago, on the morning before the first hard frost, I got the pepper call.  Once a year I get the green light from my sweet farmer friend to come and pick peppers till my heart's content before they pull all the plants.  They pick their fill for their restaurant, and when they just can't fit any more in the freezers...we pick.

She clearly warned me that intertwined with the sweet peppers, there were hot peppers that looked just like the sweet peppers but were a little longer and skinnier.  (Again, she warned me, so the following shenanigans are no one's fault but mine).  I was sure Joe would be able to tell the difference, so I just threw them all into the same bags.  Bushels and bushels of peppers have been glaring at me angrily from the dining room for weeks, and it was finally time tonight to process them.   Chopped for scrambled eggs, long slices for fajitas and stir fry - all off to the freezer.

Joe insisted that he had been using them for weeks an had not found one hot one.  I insisted that we taste every one before we bagged them.  And then we hit the hot ones.  The capsaicin spread over our hands.  Joe somehow touched both of his eyes.  I inhaled it into one nostril.  It was a hot mess.  Literally.  Luckily I was drinking a Kahlua and egg nog, so we started with the egg nog as an oil neutralizer.  After a few minutes I had a tissue soaked in heavy cream in one nostril to stop the burning.  

All the while I was yelling at Joe to keep processing peppers.

Coco and I had massage appointments this evening, and I took a nice hot bath first.  My hands are still burning from the hot pepper oil, and the hot water did nothing to help that.  But now the Cesarz girls are massaged and in their pj's, and "We Bought a Zoo" is on HBO.

Farm Fresh Family Life Baby.  xoxo, e