Birds in a cage

Hi Natty!  How are you feeling, my darling?  I hope you are having lots of fun, and keeping safe and healthy.  It's a beautiful world today, I guess I got a glimpse of satisfaction.  Alhamdulillah.  That's the way this world is, we get a glimpse of happiness but real perfection is for the next life, and it must be earned.  Ah, I want you here with me.  We can be birds in a cage together.  It was a nice, slow morning.  I blew the dust out of the house with an engine blower, went and bought drinking water, then ate the donuts and sardine buns left over from yesterday.  Since I didn't have to cook, I got to just laze around the rest of the morning and watch TV.  If I had air conditioning then it would be perfection, but the lazing around all morning was just great, thank you God.  There is truth to the stereotype you get of singers lazing around all day before the concert- I can't sing when I'm exhausted.  That's why I much prefer to do labor in the evening.  Which is what I did, I collected deadwood around the compound and burned it.  Dinner was bean and cheese burritos.  Want some?

Buying what's on sale

Hi Natty!  Did you hear me say, "Hi Natty"?  You're MY girl!  I hope you are having a fabulous time, and keeping safe and healthy.  Please pray.  Oh, there's nothing much going on today other than the usual.  I need to save money so that's why I stick to my budget, but if I had a choice I would eat caviar and sushi everyday.  Unless it's prime rib steak on the menu.  The good thing I find about being broke though, is that I eat healthier.  When there's no money, I stick to the staple foods.  Not today, though.  Today I'm scheduled to buy groceries, so I went to the big supermarket on the other side of town.  It's almost the Chinese New Year, so I expected them to be sold out of some stuff.  Like chicken.  No bulk chicken available.  But chicken nuggets were on sale, so I got that.  So were instant noodles, potato chips, chocolate covered malt balls, plus flour and fries were cheap too.  Awesome!  There's always some company doing some promotion, so if you adjusted your menu to that you can save a few bucks.  Also this morning's donuts and sardine buns were half off, so I bought that and that was my dinner.  Go with the flow!  Alhamdulillah.

Using up the dough

Hi there, beautiful Natty!  How's the life of a supermodel today, pinup girl?  I suppose it takes one to know one.  But I don't want to be as jet set as you because I've already done much time doing travel, and now my feet are tired.  Travel is for the young, I say.  I'm quite satisfied being a tree.  How's the weather?  Is it cold?  It was hot here today, but not unbearable.  The weather was comfortable enough for me to be able to nap on my bed/floor before voice training today.  Otherwise, just the usual going on today.  The menu was the height of activity for me.  I don't want to start spending again until next month (tomorrow), and the last time I went shopping was quite wasteful and I'm not pleased with that.  So I managed not to spend any money today.  All I had to do was use up the dough that's in my cooler.  So lunch was tortillas, rolled up with chili, egg, Chinese cabbage, onion and salted radish.  Weird?  Not at all.  Totally easy on the tummy.  Rather, I'm constipated.  For dinner, I made a pizza with eggplant, garlic and beef.  I sauteed the toppings before putting them on the pizza bread, and used "sambal tumis" (blended chillies, onions, and "belacan" (fermented shrimp) fried in oil until saturated) as pizza sauce.  Weird?  Not at all.  The downer was that I only had sliced cheese but hey, it's the cheapest.  Don't worry my love, for you I will use mozzarella.

Fried rice vermicelli

Hi Natty!  How's it going today?  How's the weather?  I hope you are doing well and healthy, and people are treating you nicely for I do love you.  Nothing too exciting going on here today, just the usual.  We can't have every day to be chaos and calamity, we need the mundane in order to raise kids.  Top of the menu today is fried rice vermicelli.  Every year about the time of Chinese New Year, my parents get a box of rice vermicelli from a friend, and they pass some down to me.  I have yet to use up what I got last year.  It's not that I dislike rice vermicelli, it just doesn't occur to me to eat it.  But today I cooked some up in the wok, and it turned out OK.  A little sweeter than average, I guess I used a little too much sugar in the sauce, next time I'll cut down.  It's hard to get past average when making fried rice vermicelli, unless you use expensive meats and seafood.  But I'm going to have many times to try.  I have 5 packs of rice vermicelli to use up.  Want some?

10 bucks

Hi Natty!  Wow, what a beautiful girl you are.  Let's make love.  Wait... can't do anything while we're still driving, can we?  I hope you are having lots of fun being a supermodel, please try to keep your precious self safe and don't forget to pray.  I have a little bit of money right now, so I paid all my bills and now it's time to do some grocery shopping.  I want to use up the food I have left first.  I still have a lot of dough in the cooler, plus a batch of chili.  Also 4 eggs, a couple of burgers, and some cup of ramens which my Dad gave me- I suppose he wants me to know what people who can't cook have to eat.  But I used to eat cup of ramens all the time- they're a quick fix, and if you cracked an egg in there makes it more filling.  The ones I have are kind of bland.  Anyway, I bought a kilo of roasted peanuts and some sliced cheese, then went to McDonald's for a vanilla cone.  But what do you know, their soft serve machine is broken.  Yeah, right.  We all know it's a conspiracy.  All I ever get from McDonald's is a vanilla cone for a buck.  Hey, I know how to make a cheeseburger.  But I guess I have to pay for not paying.  😠  Oh well, from Allah is our origin and to Allah is our return.  I also have all this rice vermicelli at home I don't use.  I have over 2 large packets from last year's Chinese New Year, they come dried so they last as long as the wrapper is busted.  It doesn't occur to me to use them, I usually just go for something else.  Then just now, my Mom gave me 3 more packets.  Yikes!  Looks like I'll be having fried rice vermicelli for lunch tomorrow.  I have some soaking right now.

Old commercials

Hi Natty!  How are you feeling?  I guess you're not ready to be Mrs. International Rock Star even though you're not even married yet, but that's how crazy people are.  But hey, you are traveling on a very unique ride, so please be grateful to Allah.  Meanwhile please have tons of fun, keep safe and pray.  I had a busy day today.  I paid my bills in the morning, and the wind died down so I did some burning in the evening.  I bought my dinner at the night market to save time.  Not bad.  Local fare.  Chicken rice.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I do have some influences that are old commercials.  Some of them have great jingles, probably all original too!  Here's one of my favorites: