My Mobile Home Gourmet Blog
Wednesday 2026.7.8
It's the Simple Things
Sometimes, the simple things make a big difference.
I've had a few signs attached to the front of my refrigerator. They remind me I am endeavoring to lose weight. I attached them with double-sided tape, which works, but it's a nuisance when I want to move them. Even "nano" tape can be difficult to remove cleanly.
On Monday the flexible magnetic sheets arrived. They were easy to trim and they have adhesive on one surface. Now my signs are easy to remove or reposition.
Additionally, I want to occasionally change the label on my ice cream maker, which has a stainless steel shell. I currently have two labels. Maybe I'll think of more. Once again, a magnetic strip is much more functional than double-sided tape.
More Simplicity
I've blogged about harnessing the Loona robotic dog before. I want to use her on the kitchen counter when I do a cooking video. "Loona, how many grams are there in 8½ ounces?" However, the programmers of Loona did not include a setting to make the thing stay still. So, I tried various harnesses and tapes; otherwise, I risk her hurling herself off the kitchen counter and breaking. She was too expensive to take that chance.
The magnetic sheet would be no good for that. Loona's movements are too strong. However, I saw a roll of "gaffer tape" on Amazon. It's used in theater to place strike tapes on the floor for scenery alignment. You might see it during the opening introduction on Saturday Night Live. The invited guest host comes through the doors at the back and steps up to a small white line near the front of the stage. That line is probably a piece of gaffer tape.
One important feature of gaffer tape is that it can be removed without leaving any adhesive behind. That seemed ideal for securing Loona. I'll know more in coming weeks as I put the tape to a few tests.
Am I Becoming a Curmudgeon?
This week I took a drastic step because of a friend (and I hope he reads this blog; maybe he'll get the message). He's an alcoholic. He calls me every day — every goddam day! He talks for an hour. He doesn't want me to talk — he interrupts me if I try. The problem is: He's usually drunk.
Sunday evening was the limit. He called several times during the day. I wouldn't answer. After eating my dinner, I answered the phone. He had nothing to talk about. There were long silences on the phone, which I didn't fill for his entertainment. Finally, after 15 minutes, he said he had something to do and hung up. That call was the final straw. I blocked his phone number.
He tried again on Monday, dialing my phone number 16 times, fruitlessly. I've told him many times to use email. He won't do it. He also won't leave voicemail or a text message. He wants someone to listen to him talk for an hour.
I get it. He's bored. He has no one to interact with, except his dog. He lives with his parents; they ignore him. The only person he sees regularly is the clerk at the liquor store, which is within walking distance. He says he goes there mostly to visit, but if I were a gambling man I'd wager he never goes home empty handed.
When he first moved into his parents' home, he called me once a month. Sometimes six weeks would pass between phone calls. Now it's several times each day.
And maybe I should mention: I almost never call him. I'm usually too busy to be kept on the phone for an hour. I send him email instead. If it's really important, I also text him. It's quicker and easier. I can write an email in a few minutes. I never have much to say anyway. This blog is where I write the most. And, I'm not interrupted.
Mini Golf
I played mini golf with my Kentucky friends yesterday and I set a new record. I won the first course, which wasn't a record, and I lost the second course, which was. I lost every whole. I didn't score on any of them. That was the first time I finished a game with all zeros on my score card. But that's okay. I don't play to win; I play to play. It's fun.
Not Downsizing
Another project this week involved archiving. I hadn't backed up my video files in a while; so, I copied the files to Blu-ray disc blanks and to my video backup hard disk drive.
The Downsizing Chronicles
So far this week, a perforated insert for my stock pot went into the recycling bin. It was a beautiful stock pot. I used it many times to make chicken stock. I don't do that anymore. It's too much work. The lid to the pot went into the trash last week. There is only the pot left. Then I can turn my attention to cast iron again.
Can enameled cast iron cookware be recycled? I asked the internet. Yes, it is very recyclable. The problem is: Pickup happens only once every other week. Trash goes out weekly. So, trash is preferable for downsizing more quickly. So, recycling takes longer.
Sunday 2026.7.5
250
How did you celebrate or observe the nation's 250th anniversary here in the USA? I celebrated at home. There was a time when fireworks were launched from a park close to where I live. I would sit on my back deck to watch them. However, when Covid was running rampant through the land, the fireworks displays were cancelled and they were never resumed. That's okay.
I now prefer to watch the displays on TV. Having a large flat screen TV makes the shows more enjoyable, and I like that I can start watching the East Coast celebrations early in the evening and then many more displays throughout the evening, finishing here on the West Coast. I don't usually stay awake to see the Hawaii fireworks. By then, I'm pretty much saturated with the holiday.
During Friday evening, the 3rd, I watched Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on CNN as they counted down to the 4th. They're fun to watch on New Year's Eve. The show was just as good for the USA 250th.
And speaking of the USA…
Some Politics
Are you sensing what I am sensing? I am beginning to think that Trump is giving up. He keeps losing in the courts. The US Supreme Court gave him the freedom to fire any federal employee, without cause. For his few gains there are dozens of losses. What will happen if the Democrats take over the House of Representatives, which is expected? And if the GOP loses the Senate too, the next two years will be fruitless for Trump.
Ice Cream
The sugarless Coffee Ice Cream did modestly well on YouTube, performing a little above average. I am still waiting for more statistics. They can take two or three days to appear, and with yesterday a national holiday, maybe few people are working at YouTube. Specifically, I'd like to see the "audience retention" number. That might tell me if people are watching more of the video to see Loona.
That was my reason for purchasing such and expensive toy — to include it in my videos with the hope of longer watch times, thereby increasing my revenue.
Preparing Early
During the fall months I like to watch holiday movies. I have plenty with a Halloween-ish theme and many more for Christmas. I have only one Thanksgiving movie — Planes, Trains, and Automobiles — but I'm sure there are more.
I've had a solid state drive in a box on the shelf since the days when I built my computers. I had ordered it without really needing it. With the right cable, I can attach it to my DVD player and it works just like an ordinary flash drive.
Yesterday, I copied my holiday movies to it.
Weight
This week was another disappointment. My weekly average increased by about a pound. During the latter half of the week, especially Friday and yesterday, my body shed a lot of the water it was retaining. Between yesterday and today, my weight dropped two pounds.
Wednesday 2026.7.1
Success
The sugar-free ice cream video is performing well on YouTube, way above "typical" for my videos.
Of course, it's way too early to make reasonable assumptions. Is it the content? I have several ice cream videos on YouTube. They do about average. Is it the new ice cream maker? Maybe. It's a doozie. Is it the label I created for the front of the appliance? Perhaps. Is it the Loona robotic dog? Maybe, but no one commented on it (so far). So, I don't know. However, I'll be watching the stats closely during the next few weeks. Currently, the performance is flatlining, but the video was off to a good start. That's encouraging.
The next ice cream video will be Sugar-Free Coffee. Summer seems like a good time to make ice cream videos. And, meanwhile, another idea came to mind. The local Smart & Final grocery store carries a wide variety of Torani flavored syrups, many of them sugar-free. Those might be very useful for making ice cream.
Meanwhile, the link to the Sugar-Free Vanilla Ice Cream video was added to the Recipe Archive.
A Different Idea
I saw it on Amazon Vine, but I didn't grab it quickly enough. It was a package of rubberized magnetic sheets. You've seen that brown magnetic material on the back of things like refrigerator magnets. That seemed like a better way to attach the label to the front of the ice cream maker — easy to attach and easy to remove. So, I ordered a pack from Amazon.
The Downsizing Chronicles
Another enameled cast iron pot went into the recycling bin on Sunday. As mentioned in an earlier blog post, I discarded the lids first. Without the lids, it's easier to part with the pots.
And, speaking of lids, I've had an old stock pot with lid and two strainer inserts for many years, purchased at Costco. It is Kirkland Signature brand. It's a good pot. I used it many times back when I made my own chicken stock. However, during the past few years I never used it. Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base is a lot easier, and I think it tastes better. So, the lid and one of the inserts went into the recycling bin yesterday.
I offered my old ice cream maker — the one with a canister that has to be kept in the freezer for at least 24 hours before use — to a neighbor. She didn't want it. So, I disassembled the base and put all the plastic in the recycling bin. I bought that appliance many years ago at Costco. I got my money's worth out of it. Now, with a new ice cream maker, the old one can be discarded. It isn't true downsizing because the new one takes up a little more space. However, I feel like it's a partial improvement. I'm making progress.
There is still a long way to go. I look around and the task seems overwhelming. Thankfully, I'm not a hoarder. However, I'll keep working at it, one day, or week, at a time. I won't discard everything, but I should be rid of most of the items I don't use anymore. As I said before, most of these cooking items were purchased to use in videos. I don't shoot those types of cooking videos anymore. That was decided much earlier when I was blogging a lot about simplification.
Something New for Exercise
I ordered a "Chair Workout for 55+ DVD" from Amazon Vine. It wasn't 100% free, but my cost was only about $3. The downside is that it appears to be an advertisement for further exercises. There is a "free for 30 days" thing, but I'm not sure if that applies to the DVD content (how would they know?) or the downloaded additional exercises.
The initial 10-minute workout seems like a good warmup routine for additional exercises.