Friday, September 28, 2018

A bright morning

and the light at the end of the tunnel as we moved the last load and finished cleaning the old place. NO more spending $$$ for gas for driving back and forth any more.

I had a bit of a worry as Daughter 2 had shut 2 of the dogs in her bedroom while she was staying with us and they did this to an 100 yr old door
We weren't very happy with her but like always in her mind she can do what ever she wants and it's always right.

I got Restor finisher for dark oak and now it looks like this. Landlord's oldest son asked for what it was because he now wants to redo all the doors and woodwork with it.
He hadn't realized that the door was 2 different woods.

We came home the other night and was a bit worried as Charlotte wasn't in the yard with the boys... we found her in the house which bothered us until I found muddy prints on the back storm door and the mudroom inside door had muddy prints also. Hubby didn't make sure the storm door was shut and Charlotte definitely knows how to get in and out. Wilbur tried to get in to her as every single window had his muddy prints on the newly painted siding.

SO now it's 118 things for this HOME and over 100 boxes to sort and put away.


Monday, September 24, 2018

Sam's club, 209 and old house... frugal choices



We had Amish ladies paint the house. They charged 1/3 of what we were quoted by "Englishers" as the term is used around here. There are 3 places they could not reach as our ladders weren't quite tall enough on the ends. I told Hubby we could park the truck next to the house and put the ladder in the truck bed giving us the 3 ft needed in height to finish the house. The house looks great and a big check mark off the to do list

The back splash at the stove was installed by Hubby instead of having the contractor do it at $150 , he put Plexiglas over it to protect that almost $250 back splash from grease from the stove.

We cleared the inside of the old house YEA!!!! We still have 2 loads in the garage...just because of the size of things not the amount. I still have to clean the house and do some minor repairs. We have chiropractic appt Tuesday morning so will be in that area and Hubby has 3 month check up on Wed with his doctor also in the area... I figured we can pretty much finish it on those 2 days ( saving gas for not making extra trips)and do the removing of the mantle that will go to our oldest on Sunday (when she is off work and Son 2 can help us) and give the keys to the landlord along with the garage openers and get our mail one last time.  Last 4 wks we spend around $600 in gas moving. SO done with doing that.

We went to Sam's club today. I had a very detailed list of what needed restocked along with price point.

I got gal./qrt/ and sandwich bags. Foil and press and seal wrap. Potato chips, Frito's and Cheddar cheese chips. Plain choc candy bars, almond candy bars and Heath candy bars. Dried cherries and dried cranberries. Cashews. Club crackers.Choc. chips.Limes,lemons,cucumbers and apples.Spaghetti and Velveeta cheese.Peanut butter.Olive Garden salad dressing. Goat cheese and fresh moz. Minute rice and 20 lbs Jasmine rice. Canned pumpkin and coffee for me. Chinet plates to replace what we used at the family reunion. The big buy was 7 lbs of light brown sugar, 25 lbs of all purpose flour, 25 lbs bread/pizza flour (definite need after we at frozen pizza because we don't care for the pizza place that is close) and 50 lbs of sugar.

About half of the buckets I have , this is the flour and sugar section.They are sitting on pieces of wood as you should never store food directly on concrete.

From Amazon I ordered 
White Lily bread flour and all purpose flour, popcorn,panko crumbs, case nacho soup,case of bean sprouts,case ramen noodles,Arborio rice,2 cases of whole potatoes, coffee for Hubby for 1/5th less than I could find it else where.

I still have manicotti, lg pasta shells,red cabbage with apples and saran wrap on the buy list.

I have my "fall/winter" list of winter squash,pork loin, pork butt, pork ribs, dinner sausage(Walters)pepperoni (IGA) G&R bologna (G&R) Prime rib(Walter's at Christmas) Turkey (Thanksgiving) Ham(Thanksgiving/Christmas and Easter). I am looking for Roasting chickens and hamburger.

I need to find a local source for eggs.... I forgot to ask when the ladies were here painting the house.We are going to the Pumpkin Auction at the Amish produce auction on Friday with our friends so I might find a local seller there.

We have the furnace on but turn it off when it's warm enough to prop doors open for the dogs and turn it down to 60 when we are gone. I said something about it being cool in the house and Hubby suggested I turn the furnace up, I came back with I could put socks and slippers on and a shawl or sweater instead of cranking the furnace up. He laughed.

Dogs are no longer staying in the kennel and their run at the barn while we are gone as Rascal has learned to climb over the 5 ft gate. Since we don't want him without water and food for hours we decided to leave the run gate open and found that they do stay in the yard (meaning he doesn't climb the 5 ft fence) and will take shelter in the kennel or on the kitchen porch when it rains. Both neighbors have checked on them and said they do very well like that.

We saved $250 on getting a dumpster instead of paying extra for the boxes etc we have from moving. I still have about the same amount of boxes to go through. I plan to have that done before the dumpster is removed.

I put darts in a couple pairs of pants. I don't want to buy new clothes going into winter when I usually put on weight. But my belts are no longer holding the pants up either.I'm still a bit under weight from last Crohn's attack.

Blessed Be






Wednesday, September 19, 2018

trying to set a new routine....menu

It's starting to be every other day we have this sight in the morning.

The routines seems to be settling in some. I changed a couple things in the kitchen drawers since I kept walking to one drawer for the can opener and it was in another. Easier to move the can opener than retrain me LOL.

Mornings are started with us sitting either on the kitchen porch or at the dining table drinking our first 2 cups of coffee, talking about what needs done, who is doing what etc. I start a load of laundry between cup 1 and 2 and then I hang that out on the kitchen porch clothesline. It's 8:45 ...the Amish kids walk by to catch the buggy ride at the end of this road at that time.




I then unload the dishwasher and put that away.IF I am going to the old place I leave for there. Usually around 2 I will head back here with my car looking like this.
Yesterday it was both my Jeep and my Ford. Ford blew the muffler on the way here and since it's heading to the junk yard as the axle is going bad I won't be fixing it. Hubby was kind of shocked that I was driving it even with him following. Not the first time the axle broke with me driving that car.

When I get home it's fix dinner, load dishwasher and set to run after bedtime. Put out what ever needs thawed for the next day's dinner. We spend some time either on the Kitchen porch or sitting at dining table. If we can we will watch the news for the weather in the front room. I will do some computer work,balance the budget, update punch out list for both places and then read until bedtime which is around 8:30.

If I don't go over to the old place I do something in the gardens or on the yard work in the morning and again in the evening. I unload the car and put it away. Continue to work my way through the boxes that are here and moving furniture around to work better during the day until dinner time. Our morning and evening routines are pretty much the same.

Breakfast is usually toast,cupcakes, cake, cookies (as we had some left from the reunion last Sunday), Hubby does cold cereal few and far between. I know when it gets cold it will be oatmeal or cream of wheat...maybe grits for him. Milk gravy and bread or biscuits. We prefer warm breakfasts when it is cold. Pancakes,French toast and waffles are more of a weekend or breakfast for dinner item.

Lunch is leftovers or lunch meat wraps except on Wed or Thursday then it might be Pfieffer Station lunch of meatloaf(Wed) or beef and noodles(Thurs).

The last couple nights for dinner we had leftover fried chicken my brother brought to the reunion along with the leftover mashed potatoes son2 brought for the noodles my cousin brought ...which I didn't get any of  noodles🙁🙁.  Tonight is 123 pasta using smoked sausage (freezer), onion( I grew) and bell pepper( neighbor gave us) with diced tomatoes the I have canned. We are eating mostly from the pantry or what we are given.

I've pretty broke the routine of going to the grocery store(Kroger's) every week. Last week Hubby spent $4 getting milk at the gas station when he got fuel because he figured it was cheaper than him going into the local Walmart and spending money on what we didn't need. I then reminded him that Save A Lot was a block from that gas station and the milk would have been less than $2.

I would like to get a cleaning routine set but right now it's clean as needed and focus on the moving etc still. Every Saturday morning I do dust mop the dog hair (HA HA) off the floors.

Blessed Be

Monday, September 17, 2018

Can't think of a title LOL

because lots of things running through my head. We need to finish getting the stuff from the old place and then find a place to put it away or get rid of it here.I need to restock pantry, winterize this house, get winter clothes and blankets ready, prepare gardens,prune bushes, trim and mow the entire property.  NOT touching there is still painting etc to do. NOT have a Crohn's attack.
SO I will start with this picture that I found a long time ago on the internet somewhere.The woman reminds me of my Nonna who was from Northern Italy. It's my favorite style of apron. The kitchen is real close to what I grew up with except Daddy enclosed under the sink so Mother could have more storage. It keeps me focused on what I need to do because as a child I learned the necessities of making it through the winter since we didn't go to the store for food at all and there was no such thing as assistance if we couldn't pay the fuel oil bill or electric. Nonna, my grandparents and my parents all went through the Great Depression. I've been taught well on what I am using to get us through this next year, that we planned on being on the rough side. Don't know how much fuel it will take to heat this house, run the water heater and the cook stove. Don't know how well the insulation is or how well the windows will keep the wind out. Lots of unknowns to deal with.

It will be officially Autumn this week, we watched geese flying north west this morning.I bounce from windows open, AC on to furnace running in 24 hrs.It's fall in OH.

The pantry is lower on the veggies than I like going in to winter but doable but I do have more jam than usual and more dehydrated potatoes than usual. We just won't have the variety that we are used to having. I don't have extra money to pay for it out of season as we still need to finish getting the stuff for Hubby to start welding and his truck is limping big time.

I have the material for the winter curtains but until we are out of the old house (NO later than the 28th because I refuse to pay another month of rent and electric and we stopped due to me getting an eye infection and not being able to open my eyes at all..and not being able to see..(better, not completely over it but better) I am not focused on the sewing.

As our Amish neighbors told an Englisher at the Auction the other day when they were asked, they eat from the gardens during the season and from their pantry when out of season. If they don't can or dry it (as they don't have electric so no freezers) they don't have it when it's not in season. We intend to be the same.

I hope everyone is doing well, adjusting to new schedules with school/work or just every day life changes.

Blessed Be




what i buying this month

Our Sam's club membership ends the first part of Oct so I will make a run before than as we don't know if we will need to have that membership since a few of the bulk stores carry flour and sugar in 25 lb bags.

We decide to try to find a local butcher shop and see what specials they have and if that doesn't do well for us we know the local Save A  Lot store (like Aldi's) does a weekly 4 packages of different meat for $19.99. Packages are for a family of 4 so that would make us 2 meals at least.

On the list (which was easy to start since I just moved the pantry and freezers.

50 lbs sugar
25 lbs All purpose flour
25 lbs bread flour
25 lbs White Lily bread flour
25 lbs White Lily All purpose flour (White Lily flours is what Southern's use and I use it in recipes that I got while taking classes down south)
4 lbs light brown sugar
case of ramen noodles
Panko crumbs
Minute rice
Arborio rice
Jasmine rice
case of bean sprouts
case of whole canned potatoes (unless neighbor teaches me to can potatoes)
case of Nacho soup
1 box of manicotti
1 box of jumbo shells
3 jars of red cabbage and apples

Meat...
3 pork loin (I use for roasts and cutting my own pork chops)
4 pork ribs (for BBQ or smoke ribs or flavoring in sauces)
2 pork butt roasts
3 roasting chickens
4 hams
1-5 bone prime rib (At Christmas) (Walter's Wapa OH
2 logs AKA sticks Italian pepperoni (IGA Anna or New Bremen OH)
2 logs of G & R bologna (G & R Waldo OH)
2 cases dinner sausage (Walter's in Wapa OH)
6 whole turkeys. (wings for broths, dark for hubby and white for me)

Hamburger will be bought on sales as I find it
Beef roasts will be bought on sales as I find it

At the Auction I hope to get 

25-50 lbs of onions
50 -100 lbs of potatoes
25 lbs of sweet potatoes


IF I get cabbage I will make freezer slaw.

I have 3 pumpkins that grew in the compost pile the other owners had started so I will freeze pumpkin puree.

If I get more tomatoes I will make more sauce. Neighbor has offered and her tomatoes are the size of soft balls.

I will get  frozen peas,peas and carrots,broccoli,cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts when the local stores have their buy 10 or cheaper.

If the neighbor gives me any more soft ball size bell peppers I will freeze them.


Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Daily life at 209

We start our day here
It's the only place completely set up and is functioning like we want. Mine is on the left with medium brew, Hubby's in on the right with bold brew. My tea box is to the left of my coffee pot. If the weather isn't bad we sit even in drizzle out on the kitchen porch and watch the dogs run around and the Amish kids walk to the corner to catch a buggy ride to school.

This is okay...not thrilled to have it sitting at the cold air return but for right now it works as there is NO drawer space for my kitchen towels.
This is set up real close to how it was so it's good. I used to have my metal bowls sitting on top which I do prefer but that causes issues with open bags of potato chips and boxes of cereal on top of frig. I think Hubby will get away from the cold cereal.
I still open the right side for the milk which is now on the left side due to water filter on the top of the right side. This is SMALLER than our other one which is now in the basement. I think we both regret not spending the money and ordering the same size in black.

In all the years we have had this cabinet I've never been able to use the side table because it sat at a door way. It's nice to be able to put what ever we are putting in or pulling out on that now. We do need a better radio, as the local radio station plays decent oldies and has weather every 30 min and local news at the top of the hour. The tv is on an antenna that gets a station over 90 miles from us. Okay for the weather but nothing about local news here.  I was able to put my bento boxes and steamer baskets in with Mother's pots and pans that I keep in the cabinet.

For the past week, at least once a day if not twice a day, this is what the back of my Jeep looks like. Boy do I miss the Ford being able to be driven because I could get twice as much in the Ford as I do the Jeep.IF I do twice in one day I stay home the next day and put the second load away while Hubby goes and gets a load of stuff from garage or farrowing house that he will put away.

We have started to have a routine. Coffee and kitchen porch in the morning to discuss what needs done, sometimes at the breakfast bar or dining table.

Our Amish neighbor told us this morning they didn't know if we were out of bed yet since there was no lights on... a friend of his needed a ride due to a horse not doing well on the way to work and stopped at the neighbor's house. We open curtains and as long as we can see what we are doing we don't turn on lights.This house has a lot of windows and it not as dark as the old place. Since he now knows that he can't go by lights on and to just look to see if the back door blind is up any. We raise it when we let the dogs out the first thing as they go out the back door instead of the kitchen. Their preference for what ever reason.

I will do a load of laundry and hang on the kitchen porch clothes line unless it's really raining hard enough to get the porch wet. Then I wait until the next day.

I put 3-5 boxes away or sort through them to list what I need to find a place for.It's now , where can I put this so I remember to look for it here mode.
Hubby now has 3 wardrobes and I have two clothing racks.Lack of closets is a pain. A place for shoes for both of us is worse. I can see some items going away.

If we are both home we eat lunch at 11:30. If not then we try to have dinner together between 4-6. Otherwise we are known for grazing for what ever that is quick.

Back to work for me...
Blessed Be






Sunday, September 9, 2018

I refuse to buy

something I know I have but can't find because it's not in the box I thought I packed it in. SIGH I really really thought I had it better organized. I guess that is being frugal...frustrating but frugal.

Items I don't know where are going are put in boxes and put in a certain place and a note of what it is so when I figure it out I can put it away.

We decided to change the furniture around and if we don't have a place for it right now it will go to the barn until next spring. That way when I finish doing the lofts it won't be a "blast, should have kept that".

I started washing the blankets etc Hubby used to protect things while moving them. Since he hasn't had time to put in my new clothes line I am hanging them on the clothes line on the kitchen porch that the Amish lady had. They hung clothes on the porches and basement when the weather was bad or cold. That means I can only hang a few blankets at a time but cheaper than running the dryer.

We have been sticking to the menu for a change and I've not felt too tired to eat let alone cook and clean up. Decided leftovers once a week.

We now have hot water so I was able to use my dish washer last night and let it run after we went to bed.We did have to have the plumber come back in due to an error code on the water heater and what we thought was a leak. Wasn't a leak just no one had used the hot water and the plug in the tub adjusted. While he fixing that he realize the sump pump had been shifted and the float was sticking on the wall so he adjust that and check a couple other things to make sure everything was how it should be.

I put a couple bath towels up at windows that still don't have enough curtains to keep the sunlight out from heating up the house... we are in 100's with heat index. I  folded a panel of curtains in half to use in the dining room. The curtains are too long but work fine folded. When I get time (ha ha)I might just sew them so that is how they are.

I opened the house this morning as the rain came in to cool things off for awhile. It wasn't raining in on the east side due to porches and overhangs. Nice to turn the AC off at least for a bit.

We changed how the railing /banister to the staircase to the lofts are going to be so we can do them ourselves instead of paying the contractor that is coming in on Saturday.

Saturday.... contractor and his crew got the flooring down in the north and south lofts. He will come back next week to put the pine panels on the bottom of the walls. He is hoping to have the rolling pantry cart for my regular bathroom done when he comes back as he decided to make it at his own home. I put together meat and cheese platter with assorted breads, a veggie tray and fruit tray for the 5 of us.

Hubby and I finished the veggie and fruit trays today, Sunday. I will most likely put part of the meat and cheese in the freezer with some of the bread. The rustic white bread is almost gone. I already made notes for the menus in the next weeks to use up the rest of the bread, meat and cheese.

I went over to the old place and packed up another car load of things that can't be transported in the trailer.

Punch out list was 304 a couple months ago, was down to 119 on Friday. We have it down to 109 today.

Calling it a day, I was up through the night with a migraine due to my arm hurting (weather is now 60) with the colder weather.

Blessed Be










Sunday, September 2, 2018

First thing I cooked on my new stove/menu

 WAS>>>>Hot water to wash the new pots and pans with...sigh..still no hot water.

At least I am now set up to cook and clean without the hot water heater working. Talk about going back to my childhood.We shifted our work day to mornings here and afternoons back at the old place to finish it up and take hot showers before coming back. The old landlord was fine with it for another week but since I am feeling a bit rough I was concern with another flare up of Crohn's so I paid Sept rent. He said he would prorate it for when we actually are completely out.

We are focusing on becoming zero or very little waste. I know it won't happen over night. 

First we decided why the change... truthfully it was because we very seldom have 1 full white trash bag of trash a week but have to pay the same as someone that has 10 bags of trash. I talked to the lowest priced company and they suggested I pay for 1 month to start. From what they have seen the most trash is produced when you first move in and when you move out.  They figured we would start living closer to how our neighbors do and end up with zero waste because our township does recycling once a month.

Second, I hate paying that much for something I can get by without using.

We still might end up spending the money but at least I will have tried.

We will not be getting cable but using the tower Hubby bought from a fellow HAM radio operator. That's on his to do list.

We spent time with our ins guy and he priced out 2 different ways to insure us and we chose to do the suburban farm as it was only $200 more but allows us to earn money doing hobbies. The other required no income from the farm and we know that will change in the future. Ended up with it not being as expensive as we thought AND it covered more of our stuff that wasn't covered before...like hand tools...AKA 35 screwdrivers we have between us and yes we have used them ALL.

I figured out the menu based on what we have right here at this time.

canned corn beef hash, biscuits(canned) salad and canned mandarin oranges

pasta with meatballs (freezer)  homemade sauce ,garlic bread (freezer),peas (freezer)and canned tropical fruit salad

meatloaf , mashed potatoes ,rolls($5.99 split a meal from local store) corn(freezer),and canned peaches

Beef and noodles, mashed potatoes,rolls ($6.99 split a meal from local store) , cole slaw (from local store as we don't eat enough of it to make it) and home canned applesauce

One pot green beans(home canned), potatoes and ham(leftover in freezer), cornbread (from scratch), and home canned pears

Saturday we have 3 contractors coming in to finish the south and north lofts. I already told them I would provide lunch. I know two of them are sandwich eaters. I will make a meat and cheese platter, veggie tray and fruit tray along with assort breads. I plan to bake brownies or a cake also. What ever is not ate will be our dinner and then frozen for meals later.

Sunday will be leftovers or home canned beef veggie soup and leftover bread.




1st morning at 209.

We slept in to 7 am... even the dogs. AND they didn't get us up during the night. Charlotte went out at 10:30 pm but Hubby was still up.

We had our first cup of coffee watching the sun come up over the trees and listening to the horses' hoof hit the road as they went down the other road about 1/3 mile from us. Even the dogs would cock their heads to listen. Not a sound we are used to.

Wilbur decided to check out the perimeter which is now all fenced so we don't have to worry about any of them getting in to the fields or the road. It's about 2 acres for them to roam around. He decided to come check us out to see if we had anything for him.
Rascal has now marked every single tree, bush, plant , building, fence posts LOL
Charlotte swiped Rascal's ball while he was busy.

Hubby was just enjoying sitting and relaxing before we started back to working.

And since I snapped Hubby's picture he insisted I have mine take also...
Nope I didn't brush my hair yet LOL...

We still have tons of work to do , still have things to box up and bring this way also.

The dogs have adjusted so well that when we went over the other day , they wanted back in the truck within 30 min , didn't even go check out the barn or cows.