May 15: Just Relax and Flow With It

 

After a bit, you can get awfully tired of trying to fight the current.  All set for a day at home today, and the last thing last night was John turning to say, "We have to go get mower blades tomorrow."  I sat there for a silent second and then said "Okay".  I just let my body relax and went with the flow.  This week will not bend to my will, so I must bend to it.  

I slept like a rock last night.  And woke about 5:20 this morning.  John and I both were up by full daylight (which is somewhere around 6:20 or so).  That is typical of this time of year for us.  I showered and stripped the bed and bath...Wait!  Did I forget today was Thursday and not Friday?  Nope!  I was thinking about how we must be up earlier than we've been getting up in order to follow Sam over to Columbus to the body shop he's using to repair his truck.  And anticipating that likely neither John nor I will feel like doing loads of stuff once we're back home.

So yes, Friday chores started the day.  John did two loads of laundry today.   I made the bed up fresh.  

I mixed up muffins before I sat down to have coffee.  I had about 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce left in a jar and 1 lonely overripe banana.  I added in almond flour, flax seed meal, egg, half Stevia and half sugar, some oatmeal, chopped nuts.  They came out almost too tender and soft, but they tasted well enough.  I put a half dozen in the freezer and four were set aside for snacks/easy breakfasts after we ate our meal this morning.  

After the muffins were done, Katie and I were texting back and forth and she said if I wasn't busy, she'd call.  I told her I wasn't busy and went out on the front porch to sit and watch the birds.  It was lovely.  Not just being outdoors but listening to Katie chatter away telling me all the news.  I really enjoyed that morning call.

After breakfast I got ready to go.  John wasn't ready quite as soon as I was, so I filled that brief window with the beginning stages of a pedicure.  That made me feel good, about myself because I stayed on top of my footcare this time around.  I still need to polish my toenails but all else is done.  

Then we went over to Perry to the lawncare dealer and picked up his blades.  Can we order them online?  We can.  But the last time we did, the blades were stolen from the package, and we ended up paying over $50 for an empty package.  We just figure it's best to go pick them up.  They are a bit cheaper, and we don't spend enough on gas on this trip to make up the difference.  AND we know we have blades, in hand, not 'lost' in the mail.  Admittedly, we seldom have anything 'lost' or stolen' but when you have to pay twice for something you reconsider ordering it at all.  

And yes, mail woes continue here in Georgia.  It is a rare day I get a bill early enough to mail a payment with a ten-day window between receipt and due date.  It is an even rarer day when I mail a bill more than ten days earlier than the ten-day window and the company receives it before it's gone past due.  

On the way home, John and I stopped at Dairy Queen and picked up burgers and a fries.  I have asked several times that John add tomato and lettuce to my burger, but he never remembers.   I might have fussed or insisted he correct it but again, I just relaxed and flowed with it.  Why make a scene over a slice of tomato and a measly lettuce leaf?

The food was good and hot.  So hot that the fries sizzled on the tongue.  They put several packets of catsup in the bag as well and I couldn't resist eating hot fries with a drizzle of catsup.  John and I took it in turns, each eating just one hot fry with a squeeze of catsup until we'd eaten them all.  They were so good!  Mind you we were both fairly hungry.  And the burgers were still warm when we got home with them.  They were good, too.

And that was about all we did today.  I settled in to do quiet sort of work this afternoon.  I worked on my grocery list.  

You know, I always made out my grocery list based on every sale item I wished I could buy if the budget stretched and the things I absolutely had to get.  And there was a time when I could get all of what I needed if it was in stock and enough of what I wanted to keep me happy.  These days my lists of what I hope to buy on sale are down to about five items per store.  And the 'wish list' part doesn't even exist!  I was going over the sales this afternoon at Publix, Kroger, Food Depot, Aldi and Piggy Wiggly.  There weren't a dozen items for all those stores.  My needs list is long enough but the sales simply aren't there, not on the sort of items we routinely use.  

What do I see on sale most lately?  Lots of processed food items, cleaning and personal care things.  We buy very little processed food, seldom purchase cleaning or personal care items.  We've relatively low consumption in the last two areas.

I am not saying prices are higher than ever.  Yes, they have increased a little.  I'm still struggling with the idea that I can seldom find a reasonable (80/20) ground beef for a bit over 5.  That Chuck Roasts continue to be about $7/pound.  What I am not seeing, despite a lot of claims that we are in the direst of places are empty shelves, or outrageously high.  So, my dollars aren't stretching quite as far as they used to overall.  The same boat that apparently all of us are in.  

Yet I feel very assured that we will manage just fine.  As I told John the other day, for all that I do, I have yet to dig down to the deepest of my money stretching skills.  I am employing more of them than I did say ten years ago, and yes, I'm spending more on groceries than I did ten years ago, but we are managing to eat and we're not starving by any means.  And knowing that I have a whole set of skills that are unused as of yet...Yeah.  I feel like I can manage for a bit longer.

Let's just relax and flow with it all.

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May 13: What Plans?

 

I actually wrote this on Tuesday...why it didn't publish, I don't know but bonus for you guys, there will be two posts today!

Today was the day!  I woke early and had black coffee to finish waking myself up.  I'd already planned my day.  First, I'd clean off the area at the end of the porch where Sam would be working on the new steps.  Then I was going to tackle that big food prep plan of mine.  

Sam was over early, and he was not in the best of moods.  Disappointed, frustrated, angry at himself, angry at everything and no one...You see he bought a truck at an online auction months ago.  Now the truck was a very good buy and even paying for transport from whatever state he purchased it to here in Georgia, he didn't have a fourth as much as most people pay for a used car these days.  It took a whole $16 to repair the truck and get it up and running. 

Well, the value of the truck running increased exponentially over the value of the truck as he'd purchased it.  So, he felt safe putting extra funds into it.  This was his sanity project this past fall and winter.  (The garden has been sanity project for the spring.)  It was a barebones sort of work truck.  He's put in vinyl flooring, new seats, headliners, a working radio, and heaven knows what all else, all done on his limited budget as he had cash to spare.  He's talked about nothing but this truck and his marital woes and what he's cooked lately that the kids wouldn't eat, in that exact order.  The truck has been a source of great pride for him.  This past week he bought new headlights for the truck and got all the wiring sorted so he had day runner, automatic headlights, etc.  He took it for a test drive last night along the back roads to see how well the lights worked.  An animal crossed the road in front of his truck; he hit the brakes and the concrete blocks he'd bought for our back steps slammed into the back of the truck bed.  It bent the back of the cab and the truck bed.  

Y'all can just imagine how he felt.  It's my opinion, which is wholly unprofessional, that it's all going to be fine and not nearly as bad as he fears.  It is his opinion, as a former auto adjuster (with twelve years' experience) that the insurance is going to total his truck. 

His filed his claim but not without a load of frustration.  There is a body shop he prefers (again his years of experience as an adjuster) in Columbus and he asked if we'd follow him over and bring him back home again.  Of course, we said yes.  At the time though, I admit thinking "Oh no!  I'm going to miss another whole day of my plans for the week...".  Then he said, "I don't think we'll be able to take it over until tomorrow...I have to see what my insurance company wants to do."

Eventually he went home after unloading the offending blocks from the back of the truck, but not without a momentary cry on Mama's shoulder, so to speak.   John and I sat quietly together and every once in a while, sighed deeply because we hate what happened for his sake.  We both knew how much all that good work on that truck had helped him along.  

Finally, I told John, "Well just in case we do have to go over to Columbus today, I'm going to go ahead and start my planned work, but only the parts that I can stop in the middle of and put away.  Not the stuff like baking bread that I committed to a three-hour long window."

I got all my things set out and put together and made a battle plan for preparation.  I had just started when Sam came back over.  "I'm going to go to work on the steps Mama.  I can't just sit at home and look at that truck!  I can work my frustrations off over here."  

And here we are now about 4 hours later, and he's made me a perfectly lovely set of steps.

Pictures will follow soon...and yes, I know you want photos of the kitchen all painted and pretty, too.  Well, it's painted, and the painting looks pretty but there is nothing on the walls and the counters look like someone slung stuff at them in haste. But I do have it on my agenda to get the kitchen finished off and take photos for you all.

While Sam labored (and John, too.  He's fetched and carried and held and tugged and lifted), I worked indoors.  I got the pizza dough made.  I made the Pasta A la Diable.  I got three pans off that one recipe, and I'm convinced we'll have leftovers in at least two of those pans when I bake them.  They are already in the freezer now.  

I made the cottage pie.  I had a half pint of the filling left from that.  I'll likely end up making a single pot pie or use as a baked potato filling with that.  The leftover filling is in the freezer.  The Cottage Pie is in the fridge to await tomorrow night's supper.

I made the Hawaiian Barbecue Chicken Pizza for our lunch today.  Won't do that for Sam again.  He apparently dislikes pineapple mightily, but he did say he thought it was a lot better with barbecue sauce rather than pizza sauce which is how he's had it in the past.  I took half the pizza dough and made up the Buffalo chicken calzones.  I got two of those.  I couldn't have stretched it to four as I'd hoped, but they are more calzone than they are hot pocket sized.  Those went right into the freezer.  I knew Sam disliked Blue Cheese, so I had decided he'd prefer the other pizza.  

I have a slow cooker of broth simmering.  I've drained the bones and have them cooling on the counter. I'll pick over the bones and see how much meat we end up with.  I had a little less chicken than I'd thought I from the roasted chicken. I only have about a cup left.  If need be, I'll thaw a chicken breast and chunk it up to make the Cashew Chicken dish.  I have a jar of Brown sauce from the Chinese restaurant that I'd frozen. I chopped two containers of vegetables for that dish and the Chicken and Dumplings this morning when I was in the kitchen. 

I ran out of energy before I ran out of work today.  I need to finish cleaning the kitchen (wipe counters, sweep floors), but I do feel I accomplished quite a lot.  I'll probably bake bread later this afternoon or early evening since we will be going to Columbus another day this week.  

I went out to admire Sam's handiwork and listened to all of his instructions about doing this and that and this and another thing, etc.  I also walked up and down the steps.  They are so easy to go up and down and I'm very pleased.  Where we had two steps, one quite low to the ground and one that was more like a step and a half up, we now have three steps.  I can easily walk up and down them without using a handrail, which is terrific.  

So that has been our day.  

The other night when we were about to go to bed, John clicked on one last video to watch.  It was a prayer, a simple one.  I've prayed it over the past two nights, and it's completely calmed my spirit and helped me to sleep soundly.  If I wake, I pray it and I'm soon right back to sleep.  It's not a magic formula but it is comforting.

Holy Spirit fill me.

Holy Spirit teach me.

Holy Spirit protect me.

Holy Spirit, renew the Spirit within me.

It's so simple but so effective!  I'm reminded of that simple three-line prayer from Elizabeth Goudge's book, The Scent of Water.  "Lord have mercy.  Thee I adore.  Into thy hands."

I think that is all from me for today.

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Start Where You Are, Use What You Have, Do What You Can

 

Here's a picture of the new steps.  Let me share three things very quickly.  Sassy inserted herself in the photo quick as she could.  The facing boards on the end of the porch need to be painted and the porch is dirty.  The steps are straight and level.  It's the porch floor which is slightly higher at the house and slopes forward.  That is the proper way to build a porch, especially one that began as a deck off the back of the house.

I didn't take a better head on photo because frankly I was trying to hide how dirty, cluttered and in need of cleaning and fresh paint the porch itself is.  I just wanted to show you all these new steps while the concrete is fairly clean.  It's the only part of the porch that is!  

I do plan to get the porch straightened out and ready for enjoying come summer.  We often sit back here about lunch time as this end of the house generally gets a breeze and is shady at that time.  Then we'll sit on the front porch in the evening since it faces east and doesn't get the western sun the way the back porch does.

I love how broad the steps are and am envisioning flowers on the ends.  Maybe.  We will see.

I've been more than a bit frustrated this week with the way things have gone.  Namely, my plans have mostly gone kaplooey and everybody else's plans (some necessary, some a whim) have gone on.  Last night, John told me 'we' (always the communal 'we' when he makes plans) must go do something today.  Admittedly, this time it was necessary.   But we're supposed to be gone Friday as well and that means that my week of work, visiting Mama, etc. has been completely cancelled out. 

I confess I'm weary.  I overdid it all yesterday in an effort to salvage what I could out of the week in the one day I was sure I had to work.  I mean I did everything. Then John mentioned running this errand today and I felt I should go ahead and do all the bills (which I'd normally have done this morning) so that I could add mail and banking errands in with the other while we were in the area.  Well, it was all a bit too much.  I knew it was even though I did call myself resting here and there.  Last night I was in pain and unable to sleep as well as I might have so I woke up on the borderline of tears this morning.  I had a headache and nausea to boot.  Ugh.  

An electrolyte drink seemed to set the nausea and headache right and I went off with John to do the errands we needed to do.  Some were accomplished and they were necessary ones but the very one we went out to attend to couldn't be taken care of at all.  There is nothing we can do on our end.  It needs someone else to handle it.  Oh well.  We came home in time for me to make lunch here.  I was so done in that after lunch, I took a solid little 30 minute or so nap.  

That too seemed to help put things a little more right.  I was just contemplating having an afternoon iced coffee when Sam texted asking if John could cut his lawn between now and Friday afternoon.  He's got Katie and her friend coming over to pick blackberries and talk gardening and he wanted the paths along the blackberries to be free of long grass.  John immediately got up and off he went.

I confess I was a bit surprised.  I made it clear that anytime between now and Friday evening suited Sam but perhaps John's feeling a bit restless, too.  Or maybe it's because we both noted that our yard needs mowing and he knew Sam's really did need it as well.  Anyway, off he went, just like that and I sat here looking at the clock and said, "Surely I can do something in the next hour or so."   

I went out and blew dust and debris off the back porch and new steps.  I contemplated giving the siding and railings a good washing down, but I hesitated.  I'd need to do a load more work than I could do in an hour's time.  That back porch is loaded up with furniture, grill, shelving unit, tools, cat shelter, bicycle and scooter, etc.  However, I had a bottle of cleaner that had been recommended to me a couple of years ago, called Wet and Forget Outdoors.  Amazon Associate Affiliates Link

So, I got out the container and read the label.  It needed to be washed off any plants it got on.  The gardenia and hydrangea have both just begun to bloom, the Asian lilies are standing tall...I didn't feel I should spray it on the back porch railings with all the plants I have around there.  And to do just the walls meant I'd have to move a load of stuff away from the wall.  That was more than I felt I wanted to start today.

I went to the front porch which is practically empty and has no plants about it for various reasons and used the entire spray bottle on all the white woodwork there.  You really do just spray it on and walk away.  Mind you it took time.  There must be a hundred pickets on the railings and spraying them on all sides was tedious.  But before I'd made my way to the end of the porch, I could already see the product had gone to work.  It wasn't perfectly white once more, not in that half hour or so but it was certainly looking promising as a remedy to a perpetual problem.  I sprayed and then went back and sprayed again.  I didn't follow directions perfectly.  They suggest a cool, dry day.  It was warm and sunny and a wee bit breezy, so it didn't stay as saturated as instructed but it was working just the same.  I used the whole bottle out there.

When I was done with that task, I pulled all the poke weeds out of the flower bed about the faith tree.  I've got several small sunflowers coming up under that tree despite it being so shady there and one had bloomed.  The soapwort is looking pretty as well.  And of course, Rufus has dug a hole right in the midst of it all, sigh.   I do like dogs.  I do like dogs.  I do, I do.  But I do not like the holes they make!

I picked up a few branches that had blown out of the tree and then moved the pile of debris off the lawn and onto a corner of the patio, in case John takes a notion to mow our grass.  I don't like to leave a mess in his path and I'm never sure if I'm going to get right back to clear up once I leave it.  At least I moved it out of the way.  

Then I walked about and looked at the flowers.  The snapdragons did nothing.  NOTHING.  The mint, ditto.  I have one cosmos and two marigolds and some zinnias out of all the packets of seeds planted.  I've made up my mind that sometime this week (what's left of it) or possibly next, I'll go out and sow a new batch of zinnias, cosmos and whatever else I can lay my hands on and see how they do.  At worse, I'll have loads of zinnias which is fine.  I love zinnias.

And then I moved the wagonload of stuff I'd taken from the back porch and pulled it around to the patio.  I was going to unload it but suddenly I felt I'd done enough.  I wanted an iced coffee and to cool off.  When I wandered back indoors, I discovered that I'd worked exactly the hour I'd meant to work.  

I've been really enjoying a Dalgona coffee these warm afternoons.  I skip the sugar and sweetener of any sort.  I've found that a bit of hot water and the instant coffee will whip up just fine without any sweetener added.  I usually pour in about a cup of milk and top if off with ice.  This tastes as good as any coffee bar iced coffee I've gotten anywhere.  The big jar of Instant Decaf coffee cost me $10 which I felt was high at the time, but then I thought differently.  All I had to make was one or two coffees here at home and I've saved as much or more!  And it really is good.  I don't feel I'm settling for anything.  

I hope I can find more 'swaps' such as this that are both satisfying and allow me to feel I'm getting a treat.  

Now, John has long been home, we've had our supper (Cottage Pie, Pickled Beets, Apple Slices) and I've cleared up.  I made John some instant pudding.  Now we're going to watch our Wednesday evening church service.

I hope you all had a wonderful day!

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May 12: Planned Meal Prep

 

Old hat to most all of you I know but I roasted a chicken yesterday for Mother's Day luncheon, though it was only John and me. One household was sick, and one household chose to have a family meal as a family unit.  No problem with me.  I received gifts and well wishes and love which is all I really want (the love part).  And Sam brought over leftover beef barbecue for our supper for Sunday night which was lovely of him.  He said it was his treat to me for giving him so much rosemary wood to smoke the meat with.

The chicken was roughly 6.5 to 7 pounds.  I took it out to thaw early on Saturday.  It was still frozen when I put it in the fridge Saturday evening.  And still had a cavity of ice crystals when I took it out on Sunday morning to prepare.  

I thought long and hard about cooking such a big chicken for just the two of us and I decided I needed to plan out how I'd use it all first to ensure that we got all we could out of it.  Some will feed us this week, and some will absolutely become convenience foods for the freezer.  Here's how I plan to use it.

Sunday: Roast Chicken, mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, carrot apple and cranberry salad.

After dinner I broke down the chicken and wrote out labels to remind me of what I meant to do with all of it.

Meal 2:  legs, wings, and leftover dressing with other leftovers from the fridge.  This was meant for lunch today but my husband's plans and my plans didn't coincide...I planned this meal because I wanted my time free to prep these other meals.  All of those plans have been moved over to Tuesday.

Meal 3 and 4: 1/2 cup chicken is all that is required to make a 9x9 pan of Spaghetti a la Diablo.  I'll use some of the thigh meat for this recipe.  I've been making this particular recipe now for more than 45 years and it's always a hit.    This will provide us with two meals.  I plan to divide into two casseroles.  I thought I would use penne or rotini instead of spaghetti this time around.  I have mushrooms I need to finish using up and this recipe requires 8 ounces of fresh mushrooms chopped.  Lately I've taken to adding shredded zucchini (about 1/2 cup) to the dish as well, just to bulk it up a bit further.

Please don't think I'm shorting us on protein.  The pasta is whole wheat and higher in protein, the mushrooms have some protein and the whole is topped with shredded cheese.  It all adds up to about 20 grams protein per serving enough protein to be a satisfying meal.

These will go into the freezer.

Meals 5, 6, 7:  I plan to make pizza dough which I will divide in half.  One half will be made into a Hawaiian Barbecue Chicken Pizza (1/2 cup diced chicken, onions, and pineapple tidbits with barbecue sauce).  

I plan to use a mixture chopped chicken breast and thigh for this and the next meal.

The other half of the dough will be made into Buffalo Chicken Hot Pockets.  I'll do a buffalo sauce, bits of celery and some roquefort brie cheese I have in the fridge, along with a sprinkle of mozzarella.  I think I can get four hot pockets from this which really is enough for 2 meals, but I'll figure on just one until I see if I can actually make four.

I'll freeze these for future meal(s).  Typically, a pizza serves us twice, since I can usually cut 8 good slices from a pizza round.  So that will actually serve us 2 meals, hence my counting in this extra serving.

Meal 8:  Cashew Chicken.  I was sitting here thinking of how long it's been since we had Almond Chicken and then realized that I can use other nuts in this dish.  I've got cashews in the freezer and peanuts in the cabinet so either one will make a great topping...This recipe needs only carrot, celery and onion plus the chicken in a brown sauce.  

Meal 9:  Chicken and Dumplings will use the remaining bits of meat and the bones.  I've got the bones and a few bits of meat from two leg quarters in the freezer that I'll toss in as well.   I always use vegetables (beans, peas, chopped potato, carrots, corn, etc.) to make a sort of stew then add dumplings.  It's my idea of a good one dish meal.   I'll make the protein dumplings (yogurt and flour) which will help increase the protein of the dish.

Meal 10:  Generally, there is plenty of the 'stew' left from the dumpling meal and this works really well as a filling for a homemade chicken pot pie.  Or as a soup if I'm feeling like I need the comfort of chicken soup. If it seems too skimpy on meat, I can add a can of chicken breast.  I'll freeze this portion for a future meal.  

I think I've done really well planning the stretching this chicken.  Now to see how it translates in fact.

Meals we'll eat this week:  Sunday's chicken and dressing dinner, leftovers for our lunch one day this week.  Cashew Chicken and Chicken and Dumplings for 2 more dinners.    

In the freezer: two 3-serving casseroles of Chicken and Pasta a la Diablo, 1 pizza, 4 hot pockets, and eventually will put Chicken Stew/Pie Filling in as well.

I have leftover mashed potatoes and 1/2 pound of thawed hamburger meat; I plan to make a small 2-serving size portion of a cottage pie as one of our meals this week.  I'll chop vegetables for that. the Cashew Chicken and the Chicken Dumpling meal at the same time.  

The weekend behind:

I completely forgot to blog on Friday.  No, I wasn't caught on a rabbit trail again.  Indeed, we worked all Friday morning and then we went out to lunch at the Mexican place we like.  We got ice cream on the way home.  It was a beautiful day, absolutely gorgeous.  

Sam came over to measure the back steps. He's just built steps up into his garden space and then put two sets of steps on his front porch as well.  He did such a good job, that John asked him if he'd do ours as well.  He and I discussed the size (a little shorter so I have a larger flower bed on the one side).  We also discussed rescuing that silly yellow rose that has insisted on growing out from under the step for the past 14 or so years.  

My brother actually dug the rose up and I replanted it elsewhere, but it died during a drought season.  However, a part of root was leftover behind, and it's grown into a bush that pokes out between the floorboards, and out from under the steps, through the lattice and creeped out next to the rosemary where it blooms all summer long. 

I can't remember what else John and I did, but I do recall being tired and falling into bed and sleeping like the dead that night.

On Saturday I went to Sam's and walked his garden with him.  His flowers are beyond gorgeous.  He has loads of red and yellow poppies just now, a lovely tall purple spiky flower, coreopsis etc.  His garden is thriving.  I've never seen so much basil and am envious of it all. It's very thick.  And so is the grass which dismays him no end.  However, if he keeps working at this garden it's going to be beautiful.  Like Pinterest worthy.  He's made a good hard start on it.

Truthfully it makes me feel very ambitious about my own space here...Let's face it, while I'm not covetous about his garden space, I can see his vision coming to life and it's just the sort of place I've always dreamed of having myself.  So yes, I am envious but not in a bitter unhappy way.  It's lovely to watch his hard work turn into something truly beautiful.

I took the kids to the library.  For one reason and another we didn't enjoy that outing very much.  For one thing, their dad said no computer time.  And then it rained so we couldn't go to the park, and I have to wait until pay day before I can take them to lunch...so we were home early, very early.  We did all get books though.

Saturday afternoon it went beyond raining to pouring heavily and kept it up for hours.  The tomatoes on the front porch (dill, and parsley, too) grew by leaps and bounds.  I'll be planting those out by end of this week.  And the fig cuttings Sam asked me to try 

Sunday, we spent at home, just John and I but Sam ran by to bring some thin sliced roast he'd smoked on Saturday, using my rosemary bush trimmings to smoke it.  It rained and was miserable.  We were slated to have more rain today and I thought for sure it was coming with the headache and anxiety I was having but it turned out to be one of those rapid downpours and then sudden clearings. 

Today, I got up with lots of plans aka meal prep of those chicken leftovers.  I made biscuits for breakfast and sadly contemplated our severely depleted fridge (no eggs, little milk, no breakfast meats).  I decided to look over what I do have.  Enough salad and fruit to see us through this week, cheese, and basic produce (celery, onions, carrots, cabbage) and a load of cooked chicken.  It's definitely not like we're going to starve!  Plus, a pantry that might look skimpier than in the past but still ample and a freezer that also has plenty in it.  Sometimes, when we're looking at what we don't have it's a good idea to compare it to what we do have and today reminded me that we're blessed and very much so.  

I started my Monday home blessing and then settled at my desk to bring the checkbook up to date.  It was at this point that we had a long discussion.  I opened what I thought was a bill and found within a document telling me financial information that left me shaking my head.  It's something that John and I have discussed many times over the last few months.  I was all for cancelling and he was all for keeping.  Well facts speak loudly.  When he saw what the value was after paying loads for years, he realized that just maybe I was right that we had other resources that we could utilize if needed rather than relying on that particular source.  Honestly, it's barely a bump in finances but it will make a difference to not pay that amount out each month.  

Bonus: when I cancelled, I found we'll get a refund on a portion of what we've paid in which will just cover a credit card charge John made when buying paint for the kitchen!  

What followed was less happy but is funny in retrospect.  Sort of.  I had a virus on my computer last week.  No problem I caught it and sorted it out and it's all gone.  But I had to restore my computer to a point prior to infection which wiped out a lot of passwords and permissions.  Including one to a financial institution and I wanted to access that to see where we stood on our account.  I needed a pass code to get back into the account which was supposed to be sent to John's phone since he's primary on the account.

We waited and talked and waited and chatted and waited and finally he said he'd access the account on his computer.  That was fine but the moment I hit the 'x' to close out the page, the pass code was sent to his phone.  Here's where the argument ensued.  John was convinced I could just pull the page right back up and use that code to go in. And then he started to tell me that I didn't know what I was talking about and well...

We had a very loud conversation...

Honestly!  I don't know lots of things but what I do know I know, and I didn't tolerate the argument very well at all.  

After all that we got ready to leave home to run the errand he insisted we should go on today.  I added in three more errands we could run while we were out.  I like to make these longer trips out count.  If I'm going to lose time working on one thing, I want to make up for it with getting other things knocked off my list.

Our last stop today was next door to a Publix.  I went in and picked up a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs (prices are NOT dropping on those by much mine were $4.79!), a package of cream cheese, and the two items that were buy one get one free that I wanted: English Muffins and Turkey Spam.  For the first time in over a year I was completely out of Spam in my pantry.  John wanted something to eat so I grabbed a bag of baby carrots, a container of fresh pineapple chunks on sale...not so as you'd notice, and a cone of popcorn chicken.  All of that food came to about $45.  And as usual, I just wish I could share all the things I put back, looked at but didn't pick up...)   Proof we were both truly hungry, those carrots were the best thing ever when we opened the bag on the way home, lol.  Popcorn chicken was good too, but golly gee those carrots had it all and then some as far as we were concerned.

I don't know about anyone else's prices at present but whole carrots these days run 1.29 a pound in Publix and most other stores I've been in.  A pound of baby carrots is just $1and I'm all for the better buy.  And of course, we brought plenty of pineapple and carrots home with us.  The popcorn chicken was all gone though.

Yes, I am the same person who looked at the fridge this morning and decided I could wait on purchasing anything.  And this afternoon as we sat there in the parking lot where Publix is located, I thought, well if I get these basic items now (meaning the milk and eggs) and the two sales items for storage, then we could possibly wait another week before we buy groceries.  We'll see how that theory goes in reality.

I'm still working on my brainstorm lists. It has been fun to get those things down on paper.  A hard copy list means that I don't have to worry about forgetting ideas or thoughts.  I can scan a page and check off those things that work, make notes about what didn't and why.    I used to keep all my notes each month and go through them to remind myself what I'd forgotten.  Then one day I tossed them, and I have deeply regretted that decision!  They were a great resource, and I threw them away!  To this day I cannot tell you exactly why I did so or why I thought it was a good idea.  Hence my desire to get things out on paper where I can read through them now and then is very strong once more.  Sometimes I'll include a picture of an idea or a recipe or a quote that struck me hard.  I truly enjoy going through these old lists.

I've been reading through several book compilations of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books.  John pulled up a video tonight from Jordan the Lion on YouTube.  He was visiting her and Almanzo's last homestead and their two homes on the place.  Laura just loved color, and she used it liberally in her homes.  Almanzo's handiwork was really beautiful as well.  He built all sorts of furniture and lamps and cabinets and the work is just wonderfully done.  

And with that I shall end this very long post.  I hope you all had a great Mother's Day weekend.  

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May 8: Do What You Can

 

I've been brainstorming.  In fact, I've decided that for the next few days or so I'm going to keep right on brainstorming.  

I've had all sorts of thoughts in my head on different matters, and it all kept getting tangled up into knots.  If I was the least tired, I began to get irritable, frustrated and muddled in my thinking.  So today I sat down with a pen and paper.  I started taking things out of my mind subject by subject and dealing with them one by one in the best way I know how: listing every single thing on paper where I can plainly see it, add to it and work from it.  

I have always been a visual learner.  You can talk to me all day long and feed me facts repeatedly, but until I can SEE them written out it all means nothing but a lot of gibberish to me.   

Admittedly I didn't get very far this morning.  I spent a good hour or so and filled two pages front and back on just one subject.  But I have every intention in tackling another subject here this afternoon and then another and another.  I've got my sheets all labeled so I'll remember what subjects I meant to work out.

You see, I realized this morning that one of the sources of my frustrations and slumps lately has become the habit of thinking I can't do things because I haven't the funds, resources, energy, ability...You name it.  I've gotten very good at whining (to myself!  Goodness no one else wants to hear the litany of complaints I've been making!) and haven't spent nearly enough time DOING.    There are so many things that can be done.  As I pointed out yesterday sometimes the act of just cleaning alone can suddenly transform your way of thinking if you're not looking at dingy, dirty, and cluttered spaces.  

It's also true that I feel overwhelmed by the size of some of the tasks but that doesn't mean I can't DO them.  I just need to remember that it's okay to do them in small bites.  If I can't complete a task in a day, then I'll work at it thirty minutes at a time or fifteen if it's particularly strenuous.  The nice thing about work is that most jobs will (a) wait on you to attend to them and (b) do not all have to be fully completed.   There are exceptions to those two rules, but they tend to be true 98% of the time.

This morning, I decided that I wanted to randomly putter around the house and that is what I've done.  I often find in puttering randomly that many little things get done but nothing major is accomplished.  Not true today!  Today I have:

Given myself some self-care.  I shaved my underarms, legs and face.  I pampered my skin.

I focused on the laundry area and got the baskets above the washer and dryer organized.  I moved some things to the laundry area that seem to make sense to me.  We'll see if I remember I moved them there, lol.  That's the true test of whether or not it makes sense.  

While sorting the baskets I came across a container of seeds I'd collected for ages off of plants int he yard.  I decided I'd plant some of them and when I opened the container, I found I had brand new packets of seeds in that container as well!  I was so surprised and laid a few of those out to try plant as well.

It was a good time to take mental inventory of what we have and what we are getting low on.  We're good on dish detergents, laundry detergent, paper products but I'm on the last box of trash bags...Duly noted and put on the list.  

I'm also out of white vinegar.  And my homemade vinegar spoiled.  I must have contaminated it when I took the 'mother' out to examine.  I was so proud of that mother, too!  Lesson learned.  I will try to make more apple cider vinegar 

I deep cleaned my fridge.

Everything that came out of the fridge was repurposed in some way.  True one or two things went outdoors as pet food, but it all got repurposed.  I grated up half a zucchini to put into the freezer and used the other half to make a vegetable dish for supper tonight.  I layered some sugar-free pudding I'd made with graham crackers to make a low sugar torte for weekend desserts.  I decided that one item would do very nicely as the main entree for our supper tonight.  I found a bell pepper I'd forgotten that was a bit past prime but not gone.  That went into the vegetable dish as well, at least the good parts did.  

I made breakfast, lunch and dinner ahead of each meal, not just as that mealtime has rolled up.  I was prepared for each one.  Supper is nearly completed.  I just need to reheat the entree.

I spent an hour brainstorming one subject that I've been thinking about.

I fed all the plants, not just watered them but fed them.  The temperatures are finally at the point where I feel I might safely take the palm, Thanksgiving/Christmas/Valentines'/Easter cactuses, and the orchid outdoors for the summer.  Our lowest temperature in the next fourteen or so days shouldn't be more than 61.  I'm going to wait until that day is past and then I'm taking those plants outdoors and putting them on the front porch.

All in all, I'm quite happy with how the day has gone.  I've been steadily working but not forcing myself to do too many things at once.  Tomorrow is my end of week House Blessing day.  I always look forward to that!  It sounds silly but having fresh bread, clean fresh sheets and a clean house at the end of the day on Friday pleases me no end.  I truly do feel I can fully relax over the weekend and do!

Now I shall end.  John bestirred himself to go outdoors and work a bit and I've had a very productive two or so hours this afternoon.  I'm ready to slow my pace for the rest of the afternoon and relax this evening.  

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May 7: Use What You Have

 

I slept quite late this morning and there was little point in making breakfast once I'd had my coffee.  I had a hard time shutting down my brain last night and when I finally did, I apparently snored my head off and woke with a very sore throat.  John confirmed my suspicion that I was snoring when he greeted me this morning.  "You were cutting the z's last night!"  I pointed out that I had been cutting them this morning, as my throat assured me it was true.  

May 6: Sweet Things to Tuck Away

 

Hello dears.  I fell into a rabbit hole, a genealogy rabbit hole that is and hence I completely and totally forgot that I had a blog to keep up with!  It was a nice break for me, and I accomplished a load of work and found some new puzzles to fret over and figure out.    I spent all day Saturday at it.

On Saturday morning, Sam started texting me early, about 7am.  He was showing me pictures of the most beautiful rolls he'd made for breakfast, a raspberry orange filled roll.  I literally drooled looking at each of the pictures he sent (he sent them in various stages of development).  I couldn't have been more pleased when he ran by here with two large rolls for us to have as breakfast.  They were absolutely delicious, so tender and wonderful.  He made a HUGE pan of them.