One thing after another... Air fryer also

Rain every other day, ground is now like bricks from the beating. Couldn't even get the tiller to break it up... so Hubby spaded up holes for some of the plants and we put compost and potting soil in the holes with the plants. The beans are not going to make at all. Popcorn is still iffy...At least we didn't lose them in the 2 inches of rain we got in 90 mins or the constant daily down pours ... yet... Neighbor E lost the entire front garden they had just planted with seeds.... haven't been able to get back in it to replant. He lost the hay he just planted and might lose 2 fields of corn that aren't being able to dry out.

We cut the last of the asparagus and left the tall ones to become ferns and gave it to H and his family as their asparagus didn't do well and they got 3 meals out of it.

The day before the tornadoes came through we had wind damage...

This is looking out my bedroom window. Winds took the roof off the basement ramp... thankful there was no damage to house and a few blocks knocked loose that can be dealt with a temporary fix and this area is on next years to completely redo.

It landed at the end of kitchen porch,

Got stopped by the crabapple tree.

Hubby tied it to the tree and the porch brace to stop it from going anywhere else until the winds calmed down.

Next day he cemented the blocks back that had shifted and fixed the roof and put it back on.

He added braces to it that should stop it from being able to be lifted even though it weighed about 200 lbs. It's closer to 300 now with the braces

Tree didn't get damaged, not even bark knocked off.

Since Hubby had to go get cement for the basement ramp, he fixed the yard clothesline that the deadman came out of ground and let the pole lean in when he went to tighten the lines so the sheets wouldn't drag. Said it was dried before it rained (tornadoes went through but didn't damage anything here or around us) But he needs to drive the tractor over the dirt to pack it down when the yard isn't a mud puddle.

this is in what we call the cubby... area between the two porches... babies are getting ready to learn to fly... I never can get a shot of them sticking their heads out. AND since this is an area that the dogs can get to  I put up fence so if the birds fall to the ground they have a chance to get back up before the dogs get to them.

Since the water hose valve is there I put a big flower pot there with 3 stones to keep it weighed down, turned another flower pot upside down inside it and then put one of my hanging planters on top of it. We can move the pot when needed and yet the dogs won't mess with it. I am glad we keep this stuff around.

Then

I started cooking in the air fryer... May 19th....

Hand pies were good and will be on the menu more often

So I decided to try a pork loin

and heard a pop and then watched the inside glass break... I emailed a complaint through Amazon to the seller. I did acknowledge that I knew this was a supplier issue and would like a replacement instead of a refund.  I was thinking I wouldn't get an answer back,until Monday. Sunday night they responded...
Monday they let me know they contacted their supplier of that safety glass and Tuesday they shipped this

I did NOT have to nag, battle or anything else... 1 email and it was done and I had heard there was issues with their customer service. I didn't have any, if anything I would say it was the best customer service I've dealt with in the past months.
SO after cleaning, heating, cleaning and reheating it (it's coated with protective oil on inside) I cooked this

10 mins and it was on the platter and on the kitchen porch table for our snack.

Memorial day we had this

Steaks on the grill with

onion rings and broccoli fries.... CRISPY in 15 min. I did rotate the trays every 5 mins.

IF you noticed in the picture I have a wood cutting board under it and on the end of the bfast bar. It does produce heat on the bottom and I don't want heat on my counter top. It's on the end which was due to space but I can tell you it helped with the heat coming off it. The air around it came up 10 degrees.... yes I measured it. I made sure there was NO paper or anything that could catch fire close to it (think stove). I like it that it's big... I could get 4 trays in it with 2 being onion rings that take more space so had to adjust to that.

Not sure what I will pop in it next.

THEN I went to the doctor for follow up due to getting bronchitis hoping I was good to start my biologic...

NOPE... I am borderline bronchial pneumonia ... different meds along with inhaler 6 times a day do deep breathing exercises every 30 mins.. and go back the 18th of June.  AND then if I am HEALTHY I can start my biologic.

Hubby has had to turn down a couple jobs, they don't want to pay him even his costs and he's not going to lose money to get work. E asked me what was going on and I told him , the other guy's truck is gas and Hubby's is diesel which costs more plus Hubby's livestock trailer is bigger so uses more fuel to pull and he's not going to lower to match someone else and lose money. E said it's like him using 6 horses (more oats and hay ) to pull his equipment where his brother N uses 3 horses (less oats and hay) . Yep you got it.

Monday morning...hum drums

This is Charlotte. She will be 2 on June 17th. She is trying to get me to move out of my chair on the kitchen porch which she now has decided is HER chair.

Then it was fine, I will go over here and sit in Daddy's chair and pout.

I shifted in the chair and she was looking to see if I was out of HER chair yet.

The temp is 60 and that is the warmest it is getting today as we to drop in temp all day until it's 45 tonight. Furnace is back on.

 I have laundry rolling and I will clean out the frigs and some more of the pantry as trash goes to the road tonight.

I pinned a sheer curtain that will go on the French doors. I will have to sew them by hand as my sewing machine hates sheer fabric and I don't care to fight with it. I can do the hand sewing while watching cook shows on tv in the evening.I don't usually watch more than the news but Hubby started watching them and asked me to watch some with him. We get a kick out of Nick Stellino as he reminds me of my brother. British bake off is interesting also. Others he watches are Simply Ming, Martha Bakes, Patti's Table, Lydia's kitchen,and Rory O'Connell if he is on.

I really really just want to go  back to bed and lay there. Don't care if I sleep, just lay there. Depression and I are old friends, I think he is a cousin to Crohny (my Crohns).

Even with everything we did in the garden to help bring the soil back up, I don't think it was enough. Rain coming in every 2-3 days isn't helping. Neither will this cold snap.  In GOD's Hands is what I keep repeating to myself, I do the work, keep the faith and leave it in his hands.I only have half in which is a concern,I don't have the flowers planted at the windmill either. I told Hubby it was going in this week even if I have to mud it in. E and M don't have anything in and E said over half of their church (180 families) don't have anything in or what was in has flooded and rotted.

Deck isn't getting done due to the rain also. We did go out and mark the area. Which was good as after I mentioned we would be standing in front of the door trying to grill like we did on 245, Hubby moved the deck 2 feet so that wasn't going to be going on. It will allow us to change the down spout to drain farther away from the house also. E is going to put an awning on for me and he is doing it so when it rains I can still have the doors open if we ever get the deck on.

Can't get to the dog house, it's a muddy swamp where it is, chicken coop hasn't been moved for the same reason. Can't clear the garden shed until AFTER we take furniture to Son 2, Daughter 4 and maybe Daughter 2 as she is thinking of taking the last of the furniture as that's where the garden stuff goes. I have 4 boxes of Daddy's stuff left to go through.

Hubby's schedule and Son's 2 schedule has not worked out as Hubby wants to haul the furniture down and do the odd jobs at the same time. Daughters have kids in and out so someone is usually home so they don't care when we bring it down to them

Hubby trims the day after rain and tries to mow the entire area the following day.

Last week he got slammed with work even with having one person cancel 2 jobs...actually turned out better as he picked up 4 jobs for the same time and now has plenty of money for his fishing trip. He said his goal is to have one of the 3 trailers "paid off" meaning the money is back in the investment accts. He also was able to give me money to give to our grandson that is graduating. BUT because he was "working", he wasn't able to do all he wanted after yard work and garden work..

I look at all that is NOT done and don't see what is done....

I don't see that I cleared the southeast corner of the front room and moved the radio Son 2 got us for Christmas into the dining room where we will actually listen to the local news in the mornings while having coffee like we did growing up. Which now allows me to bring in another small table to sit my computer at and take it off the bfast bar in the kitchen. I can then use that section for canning supplies when I am canning. Hubby said I need to paint the table before bringing it in.

I don't see that I moved all the grow light cart plants out to harden off. Have 2 that is going to end up in pots as they aren't doing well out in the wind and sun. I want to declutter a basement area , (the last area in the basement to declutter) and move the  grow cart there for next winter.

I don't see that the pile that is commonly at the basement door is not there.

I don't see that I have my sewing area set up except for the sewing table that Hubby found me last night. Wednesday and Thursday are suppose to be rainy days so that's a good time to be sewing. SO he is planning to have the sewing table put together by tomorrow.

Son 2 called last night to let me know he would be bringing friends up to see us probably this coming weekend... figured I would like a week's notice as he already knows the house isn't company ready. I do like to dust and clean the floors of fur before I have company. THEN he mentioned us feeding them and he would pay for the groceries...  deep breath... okay.I will watch the weather after Thursday and see if we will grill out or cook inside before making the decision of what to get.

Washer buzzing, next load to the line.

savings this week/month

I scheduled the energy audit for mid June. IF we do any of the work they suggest and provide receipts we can be credited up to $50 on our electric bill.  I asked if he could estimate how much propane I would save by doing $50 of what ever... close to $100 savings of propane as an estimate.I do need to do some preparing for the test.

Hubby has been driving the Jeep for anything that does not require a trailer. He said he figured out he saved $80 in the past 2 weeks.

I finished one summer curtain for the laundry room as it faces south and the heat is starting to warm up that room and my bedroom.

I turned the furnace OFF... might have to kick it on during the night a couple times this coming week but it's off. By doing this I also might fingers crossed make this tank last until June so it's filled on the summer fill which is CHEAPER fill

I refused to turn the central air on...told Hubby to open the windows (he had to remove winter storm windows anyways on front room to install the screens ) turn on ceiling fan when he is in the room and I turned on a small rotating fan on low for Wilbur and Rascal (who is black), both are old dogs and can't handle the heat during the middle of the day when it's over 80. After supper the fan is turned off until lunch the next day. Rascal will nudge it with his foot when he wants it on LOL.

I had bought screen repair that was suppose to be self sticking but wasn't. Hubby told me to throw it away and he would go get new...nope I super glued the patches to the screen. Amish guy that was stopped looking for Hubby asked how I fixed them as he had some spare screen but not enough to replace his entire window screen.

Our softener salt lasted 9 days longer than regularly. I've been using the cistern water to water my plants. Better for them also.

I used my digital dollars at Amazon to order a book for my Kindle.

I used my Rakuten rebates,Swagbucks points and Pine Cone pay to order 2 new roasting pans that have racks and handles on the pans. Hubby and I both are having trouble lifting roasting pans (especially turkey) without handles.I used American Test Kitchen to decide what I wanted.

I didn't go to the store until today. I limped us through. BUT today I bought for a basic grocery list AND for the airfryer we bought for testing how it does this week. My brother, sister,Hubby's best friend, and 3 of the kids are interested in how it does.

In the end with how I saved, we have over half of July's budget in savings. So Hubby can go on his fishing trip without worrying how to make up the loss of income when he gets home.

Being frugal while sick....winter sowing

The rose my oldest sister(of my heart) has bloomed.

You would never guess it's been raining pretty much every other day here with the way this soil looks. My beans are planted here.With in  1/2 inch of the top soil it's mud. The quality of the soil is bad. E said the guy the owed it before his brother just kept planting the same crops in the same spot and never added compost or anything. N only lived here 1 yr so he wasn't able to get it turned around before we bought it.

Tomatoes, peppers, marigolds and rosemary... lots of compost in the holes and fertilizer later.

The gourmet potatoes in the grow bags are doing decent

The winter sowing I did the first round did very well

The second round did hardly anything but the weather was colder than normal and we got twice as much rain as normal so I think that was the why they didn't do well.

I am getting about 1 16 ft section done at a time before I have to go hack and cough while I work in the gardens looking like this

My allergies went nuts and I went in to bronchitis the day before I picked this up at drug store

I now have bronchitis GRRR... now I can't take it due to being sick and on antibiotics... waiting until I am cleared by primary doc and then I can start. SIGH

Since I was sick and I have no flowers (didn't buy any at auction either) I cut some crabapple blooms for myself.

So while out for doctors' appts we stopped at a store the Amish had mentioned. It's called Stites. It's a discount variety store, had some coolers for marked down dairy etc. but mostly dry goods. I got bfast bars for 49 cents a box, face masks I wore in garden (50 in a box for  less than $2), I got a bottle of chipotle molasses marinade for us and Son 2 for 50 cents. I got 1 birthday gift, 3 Christmas gifts and a sign to hang over our archway between dining room and front room for 1/4th of what I had priced else where. Reminds me of the old Odd Lots aka Big Lots.

We stopped at Menards and used rebate check to get fertilizer and weed killer during 11% sale.

I have still not went to grocery store because of this...

After reading bloggers, reviews, talking to others including daughter 1 who has an airfryer  and knowing it dehydrates also (I need another dehydrator as 1 died end of last year and this was the same price)... we broke down and ordered it.

It came in yesterday while I was in the garden and Hubby was trimming and mowing around wet areas.

I unpacked it today, cleaned it and read all the instructions (please do if you buy one READ ALL OF IT) and we decided we were going to pick out some of the recipes and do the "test drive" of it this week.

Meantime I am going to take another round of meds for this bronchitis and go find a table in the barn for my sewing machine as I found the scissors finally.

Is it really May 8th?

Grandson P said yes, he should know because it's his birthday and he reminded me  that in 1 yr he will be a teenager. SIGH.

Hubby mowed part of the yard twice...will need to do it again and he hasn't trimmed at all.

He planted popcorn on Monday.

I went through 4 boxes.

I finally got all the hoops jumped for my Humira ONLY to have a glitch that caused the delivery to not be made but is suppose to be by tomorrow (May 9th)

The paint issues are settled, paint company is providing new paint , contractor chose a store credit over being paid (he got more "money" that way) and I chose to have it done late summer, early fall and one room at a time since we have to move furniture.It can be done in combination of fall cleaning.

FINALLY all the GI doctors and PA's are on the same page of my treatment. I chose to have my primary doctor monitor my heart failure (he already does now) instead of getting a Cardiologist and paying another doctor who will run tests my primary already ran. I have left sided heart failure, not a lot of anything they can do at this point, I am on meds for it. I am glad to see there is experimental surgeries that look to be helping left heart failure.

I found the straight pens to start on the curtains... now I can't find the scissors. GEEZE.

We spent hours in the asparagus patch (4 ft by 120 ft) pulling weeds especially thistles and crab grass the last couple days, almost done, probably if we worked together we could finish it in 1 more round.

I transplanted some volunteer strawberries that had came up in what was the old strawberry patch we took out due to blight. These didn't show any signs of blight.

We went to produce auction and bought 2 flats of candy onions, 1 flat of cabbage, 1 flat of cauliflower and 10 of 4 1/2 pots of tomatoes.

We then went to the local green house and got 1 flat of broccoli, 1 flat of Amish paste tomatoes and 2 flats of marigold that had not bloomed yet.

I have plants in the grow lights cart that needs harden off starting this week.

Looks like we can be planting what we bought this afternoon after Hubby gets backs.

I told Hubby I would pick up milk when I got get my Humira. Then we don't have to make another trip to town for it this coming weekend.

Goals for May

On top of working and running the house etc we have decided on the following goals

Save and earn enough to pay July's bills.

ONLY buy dairy or fresh produce needed this month.



Hubby

put deck on which will also finish the gravel

delivery what ever furniture Son 2 takes that was Dad's

do the odd jobs he has been putting off to do with Son 2

Yard mow or if it keeps raining it might be bale hay.

Get the garden in

Straighten the fence along road

remove old doghouse since the other neighbor decided he didn't want it and E said he could burn as kindling.

Put the smoker together to stop his wife (ME) from nagging.

Mine

nag Hubby about smoker.

go through 2 boxes a week minimum of stuff... that makes it done in a year but I really see me doing more.

Contact ins about processing biologic

Contact Paint co about dealing with this bad paint

schedule energy audit

defrost and organize 3 deep freezers

finish cleaning the last 2 1/2 shelves in pantry

clear garden shed so E can move it to his place.

clear old chicken coop so H can move it to his place.

plant flowers at windmill

get garden in

find straight pins so I can sew the warm weather curtains.

sew warm weather curtains.

Frugal at store May groceries

First... the old trailer has sold so that covers June's bills. So we are working on July which is NICE since Hubby will be deep sea fishing during a week in June.

Since May's bills are paid including what medical bills were in, I think there is 2 left going through ins still.... I had EXTRA grocery money. We together checked what we had and talked about what we wanted.

We decided against freezing asparagus. Don't like mushy asparagus and we know we don't like canned unless it's pickled... So I am pickling asparagus we don't eat fresh or give to family.

Since we were over to Sidney yesterday for doctor appt we felt we should go to Aldi's for groceries for May's groceries. Hubby stopped over and said something to E & M asking if they needed anything. The WHOLE family as in parents, 6 adult children and spouses and all their kids was coming over to have a work day, cutting wood, making repairs, sewing etc. We ended up with a list (Thanks to M it was on 1 list not 7). Hubby took care of their list. I did ours. Since we have been asked repeatedly what Amish buy at Aldi's... veg oil, saltine crackers, powdered sugar, celery .iceberg lettuce,cream cheese and butter if less than $2.60/lb. I have seen them get bananas and whipped topping.

I got :

Milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, and 3 "bars" of cheese. I got Greek vanilla yogurt that less than a gallon of milk which would make the same amount of yogurt.

lemons, limes, oranges, kiwis , and a pineapple, strawberries(to make Daddy a strawberry rhubarb pie for his 92nd birthday on the 3rd) bananas, mangoes and fresh figs. Avocados.

Cherry tomatoes (anti pasta salad) Roma tomatoes for salads(cucumber tomato salad etc) and tomatoes for BLT's

Hamburger for taco meat

Thin chicken breast for satay

Chicken breast for the grill for me

Chicken thighs for the grill for Hubby

Prosciutto and speck for a couple recipes Hubby wants to take to a cookout at end of month.

Waffles and pancakes and hash brown patties...not something I normally buy but Hubby asked for them since we just finished what I had fixed for the freezer and it's not something I normally fix at dinner time during the summer.

Celery, carrots, potatoes, garlic (completely out of what I grew), radishes, broccoli, green onions, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce and mushrooms. I really think I need a "green house or hoop house" for winter/early spring growing.

I bought bread products that I will freeze and bag in servings for us instead of the whole package. Hubby feels at this time with dealing with all the boxes and stuff on top of gardens that my time is better put towards those items and not towards baking all our breads. I got 1 loaf of sliced bread (as Daddy calls it) 2 pkgs croissants, 2 pkgs of bagels, 2 pkgs of English muffins, 2 pkgs of sub buns, 2 pkgs of hamburger buns,and 2 pkgs of hot dog buns. Actually that should last most of the summer. Tortilla wraps... 8 inch for wraps/enchiladas/burritos   and 6 inch for tacos .

total came to $292.24...

Lessons learned with dealing with Daddy's house

Daddy usually smiles, if he isn't smiling something is wrong. Even the nursing home staff  has mentioned that if someone is down, Daddy will go visit them and then that person with start smiling along with him. Well he wouldn't have been smiling this weekend... he would have been kicking certain family members butts for the disrespect they showed by trashing his home to grab what they wanted instead of what they actually deserved especially since Daddy gave them money through the years as their inheritance when he wouldn't do that for Brother or me even after Brother confronted him about it. JUST and FYI, I gave paid off some of Mother's and stepfather's bills with my inheritance from them. I don't want the money. If they have something I would like I say something then, if I get it fine, if I don't fine.Since my brother is a hoarder... that's a different on how he looks at things.

Since Daddy has been in the nursing home over a year and we definitely know he isn't coming out  and I pushed for his house to be sold or at least rented out (Brother is paying the balance between what ins and Daddy's income covers) and put towards taking care of Daddy. Brother put word out he was going to sell the house, figured he would get a realtor and we had at least 30 days if not more because it's not in a great area, lots of poverty surrounds him since the factories closed down usually takes a year to get a house sold.

House sold in 24 hrs, Brother is going through Daddy's lawyer to make sure everything is at is should be and then came the news that closing would be in 10-14 days... We got the message on Wed. Sister in law and our schedules didn't mesh until Saturday and only for 2 1/2 hrs.

We walked into a nightmare... and she was overwhelmed as she had a wedding rehearsal as she is a preacher. AND there was mold and feather pillows that triggered her allergies in the house.. SO we agreed if she was willing to let us in, we could work without her BUT she had to walk through the house before and after before we left .  We were suppose to come back on MONDAY.

My brother made a bad decision (his words) over trusting another family member to get certain things that had been made for Daddy by their dad WITHOUT him being there which they did BUT they gave the key to another family member who wanted something that they had made for Daddy (it's what they said) Definitely ransacked the house and it was apparent they thought they would find cash hidden, something Daddy used to do but I can tell you we had already cut his "cash" flow off LONG before he went in the nursing home.Family member who gave the key was upset along with Brother who stressed out and I was more than willing to punch the person and they know it.

Brother got the call from the lawyer ON SATURDAY that the closing would be Tuesday.... SO Brother called us to come back on Sunday so if needed we could finish on Monday morning and he could get the trash out before Tuesday morning.

I packed a cooler with boiled eggs, sliced cheese, crackers and apples. Filled several water bottles and Hubby took a thermos of coffee. Brother looked like death warmed over, he has been sick with his allergies, other health issues and is going to be 70 and caught himself and got checked...he is in the very early stages of dementia that stress of changing jobs, his own moving, dealing with Daddy, and then the house (before it was trashed) of course  makes everything even worse and now dealing with a family member over trashing the house.

So Hubby and I  not only took what we wanted, we cleared it completely since we know he got everything he wanted out of the house. All the clothes was put in one area so Brother could haul it out easier. HEAVENS 52 underwear, 52 socks, 52 muscle tanks aka dress tee shirts,52 short sleeve button down shirts, 52 long sleeve flannel shirts, 52 long sleeve dress shirts, 52 sports jackets, 52 dress pants, 52 pairs of jeans, 52 ties, and 52 suits along with 24 pairs of shoes and 14 pairs of slippers.Brother is hauling all of it to a ministry that helps those that can't afford clothes or needs "work" clothes for an office job. We bagged 95% of the trash and put it in one area also. Garage wasn't done as well, there is nothing left but trash but it's hazard trash,such as fuel and oil and paint.

SO on top of dealing with the mess. I had to accept that things Daddy had wanted to be passed down where beyond keeping. Hubby picked up a bed frame that was to go and it to fall apart where it had rotted in his hands. Dishes were chipped so bad I would have been afraid to use them. He was using 1 plate,1 bowl and 1 cup...those were in good condition. When family came in he used paper plates so it wasn't caught.Heart breaking that he didn't use things himself and wanted to pass it on, but didn't do so while they were still of use.

So lesson's learned... check furniture including the areas you don't normally see until you take the bed apart, bottom of dressers, drapes, and mattresses . IF you are in charge of someone that goes in a nursing home,check for dirty dishes in the oven (hum... yes, I found them), have someone not only mow the yard but clean the house and don't throw newspaper in the door and toss junk mail around (Brother's butt now kicked by me) instead of throwing in trash.Better yet CANCEL newspaper and save the money. Everyone in the neighborhood knew he was in the nursing home. 

We tallied what we are now dealing with...

 5 boxes I have held from my late husband that his only child did not have room for. She agreed to find room by this summer as I want them out of here.

40 boxes from a daughter who said the boxes were ours from the old homestead and not hers only for me to find out when I started working on them they were ALL hers or her sons. I've talk directly to the sons since 2 are adults and the other 2 soon to be about if they want this stuff or not.One is planning on coming up this summer and going through it.

12 boxes that were from Mother's estate and that Pop gave us at that time since he knew he was going into the nursing home. He passed a couple years after Mother.

From Daddy's 12 boxes and couch (Daughter 4), 2 stands(Son 2) 2 dressers , 2 bureaus, 1 bed frame and mattress/box spring and 1 cabinet and 1 metalwork bench... the cabinet and workbench goes to Son 2. He tried to buy it from Daddy but he said he was still using it 3 yrs ago. The rest of the kids had gotten some things through the years and wasn't interested in anything that was left. Daughter 4 said anything we want to get rid of to bring to her. She now has a list of 10 families that are searching for stuff for their homes.

I was down to 40 boxes of our stuff and half is either fabric or yard.

AND REALLY all I want to do is have less rain so I can plant the gardens

Thanks for listening LOL

Blessed Be

Busy week

Monday

The manager from the paint store came and down checked ALL the paint in the house. Noticed I had a coat rack and broom rack sitting in the mudroom and told me to NOT put anything on the walls until after they figure out what to do about the paint after the testing comes back. SINCE I kept all the paint cans that still had paint they were able to test that paint instead of taking a sample off my walls.

This is the paint off the mudroom wall, it's a dark teal metallic... they were thinking the metallic was the problem BUT the 24 x 24 ft crimson front room is doing it , the cobalt blue dining room is doing and the lime green laundry room is doing it. I was shocked the purple in the bedroom was NOT doing it.

I finished the laundry after the guy left and worked on turkey.

I did soil tests on north and south gardens. North garden needs nitrogen.. South garden needs nitrogen and potash.

Tuesday

Errands and chiro appt. We got the potting soil for the grow bags for the potatoes. We were getting 1 cu ft bags as that is easier for me to move, they had the 2 cu ft on sale ... so we went with the 2 cu ft bags. I just told Hubby I would use the 1 cu ft ones I have to do the flower pots with and he would have to help me with dealing with the 2 cu ft. Saving us $148.They didn't have enough of the bags for all that I needed but I told Hubby I can watch for the next sale and finish picking them up then.

We went to chiro.... Hubby wasn't any worse than he normally is ...but it's the first time I ever heard my chiro cuss when he started examining me... I was told to knock the Sh.. off and told Hubby to keep me off the ground which Hubby being to smarty pants he is said he couldn't since I had to be on the ground to WALK.  He warned me I would be VERY SORE and have a headache for 2 days... I already was sore and had a migraine. DUH. What usually takes him 5 mins took him 20 min. He adjusted, waited about 5 min and the adjust again until it quit popping back out of place. The combination of my knees being out and my cerebral palsy acting up was causing me to fall. With drawl from from the medication they gave me after being in the hospital which I just finished triggered my CP. Migraine went away and eased down to a regular headache that went away at 2 am the next day. Little "shakey" with the knees , just going down sideways when on stairs when I am not sitting on my butt going up and down the stairs.

We were going to go to the grocery store... I tossed that out after the adjustment to come home and crawl in bed.

Wednesday

Just a little bit of headache and not much soreness and a beautiful day...
Hubby moved the burn barrel to where we can use it.

and then dump the ashes into the gardens.

I picked our first batch of asparagus for dinner

Thursday

We spent the afternoon putting down weed barrier in the south garden for walk paths.

We only have 10 of the cross sections done but the rain was starting to coming in so we called it a day and put every thing away.

Friday

It's a rainy day and we were planning on being outside...no go now. BUT this week we got 38 items off the punch list and about half off our monthly to do goals. Hubby is going to help move some calves and a bull for a friend tomorrow. SO we are taking today to relax and look over the goals and the punch list and the weather forecast which is NOT working with us.

Today is the last day of school for the Amish. The boys will be going to the fields to help their dads and the girls will be in the gardens or watching smaller children for their mom's.L is leaning over to tie her shoe.It's amazing to watch these children all under the age of 12 with their work ethic ... Reminds Hubby of his childhood a lot. I didn't think anything of walking a mile to my friend's house to help her corral sheep and sheer them, we were 10 yrs old.

I will miss watching for them in the mornings and afternoons. Always wave high or if at mailbox ask how their day went.

Saturday

Calves and bull got canceled but Hubby was given $20 for his time and for stopping another person from going over to J's house as J was on his way to meet Hubby. Bull is a maybe for Wed night. Calves are now sold to someone that has their own trainer so no need to move them twice.

We went through our goals list and took off things we know isn't going to happen due to paint issues. Checked punch list and then some May to do's that might get done when it's not raining.

Checked our finances.

Hubby went to get fuel for truck so I had him pick up the groceries I was going to get that was on sale at Kroger's.

I canned turkey and beef broth from what I found in the freezers looking for the ham for Easter.

Sunday HAPPY EASTER.

A  quiet day.We spend part of the day visiting with Daddy and some of the evening communicating aka texting my brother who was very sick.He thinks allergies but since he works in the school system figured he best go to the doctor to make sure he didn't pick anything up and starting passing it around. We nearly lost him 3-4 times due to his allergies, I think he's allergic to everything..

I fixed ham from the freezer, baked sweet potatoes and asparagus from the garden. We had ice cream for our sweet.

Monday

Laundry washed with homemade laundry soap and hung on kitchen porch clothes line. Area at yard clothes line still too wet to walk in unless you have boots up to above ankle. Hubby checked before I started hanging clothes. Said he could see that a fall waiting to happen.

We had fruit muffins for bfast that I pulled from freezer. Sliced ham, cheese and crackers for lunch. Will have one pot green beans, potatoes and ham for dinner with biscuits.

Hubby did some odd and ends jobs he had on his list this morning since he had to taxi an Amish horse to the vet this afternoon due to an infection after being "fixed".

I checked soil temp in south gardens... 60 degrees, if it holds there after the next batch of rain comes through I will be planting peas and beans at the same time... just like spring 2011. SIGH


Hubby came out of barn and he had found bulbs growing in kitty litter buckets ...

I didn't take pictures of the ones that were super small. I am hoping they are the grape hyacinth.I planted 150 flower bulbs that Hubby for some reason decide to NOT use the labels I made when we were digging them up last year when moving. Going to be interesting of what comes up and when next year as I know they are spring early summer bulbs.Unless the one is garlic... I really think it is garlic. If it is , I should be able to tell this summer because all my garlic is hard neck so produces scapes.

Stay in the light
Blessed be

Warm weather changes routines fast, livestock pic

Monday 

 I did part of my normal routine... laundry was done and hung on the line, house was picked up and floors swept.  Cleaned the dry goods shelves in the dining room and wiped down the china hutch. Flipped out the "winter dishes" which is red that goes well for Christmas etc.  for the spring dishes. Put out the "Asian"dishes and "Italian" dishes as Hubby calls them.

Dinner was leftover pulled pork so I didn't focus on that.

Hubby's parents came to visit for the afternoon so I didn't do anything else. They haven't felt up to getting out of the house especially Mom O who had sinus infection that went into bronchitis. SO it was great news that they felt up to coming over and even better that they ate lunch out as Dad O has some of the same issues I have and eating out is not something we do very often due to after effects of eating....new way of saying we run to the potty a lot afterwards? 😕
Mom O brought over hamburger buns as they were too SOFT for their liking... worked fine for us as I served them with the pork instead of making wraps with the tortillas. I put the rest in the freezer along with what was left of the pork.So hamburger buns for freezer is off the list. Had a friend give me a bag of pot stickers she had bought but didn't like. SO that's off the freezer list also.

Tuesday

Hubby put more concrete on the deadman of the clothesline  and fixed the downspout on the barn. Two things off his list.
He took a picture of the livestock trailer

Was advised to get some ply board and put around the bottom of the inside of trailer as horses with shoes have a habit of kicking and can damage the trailer if you don't have the ply board there. GLAD another person that does transporting livestock for a living warned him also told him to require straw be put down before loading as part of the "payment" then we can put it with the compost, makes it easier to clean out the trailer.

He tilled the south garden and laid the 1st weed barrier down that is 120 ft long.

This is the main path down the middle of the spring and summer sections. Hubby used landscape staples to hold it in place.

While Hubby was tilling I potted the 2 rose bushes a friend gave Son 2 and me.

Then potted 5 blueberry bushes (they do better in this area in pots as they prefer acid soil ) and made extra pots for the foxglove when it gets ready to transplant (also better in pots)  and THEN transplanted 18 from the grow light cart to the square pots until ready to go in ground. This way I can cover them or even bring them in if it gets that cold.

We checked out the fence line making sure everything was secure and noticed
 this in our pond.

I think they are blue gill...

And this in the side yard

E and M's guinea hens... they really need to go down to the gardens LOL

and then we decided to get the mail as neither of us had checked and that means walking pass the asparagus patch... we found ! one!

lonely 😁

Guess we might have to share him LOL

I fell in a hole in the yard ...yes I saw  the hole and still stepped in and fell. Now everything hurts...SIGH. Hubby immediately went out and filled it in. It's were a post was at that he pulled last summer and it settled in.

Wednesday 

Hubby is car pooling with some Amish and  a Mennonite today. Last week he
asked M if she needed anything as he was going over to Sidney for an errand and was going to stop at Aldi's on the way back. She asked if she could go also as she had appointment that would be 30 min in Sidney  and she would pay the gas. So he changed the day he was planning to go and said yes.
Since he can run the errand while waiting on her (I'm still home bound mostly). It's not any different than him going by himself. SHE mentioned it to a cousin who is Mennonite and she asked if her Hubby could go as he had an errand over there also and would split the gas... YES...  AND then one of the Amish guys Hubby is friendly with asked if his wife could go also as she needs things from Aldi's and they would chip in on gas. Reminds of our childhood when the neighborhood would car pool, Daddy worked in town 10 miles away and it was common for him to run errands for neighbors after he got off work and they paid his gas that covered him going to work. Hubby got gas money and lunch out of the deal. He was happy.

And speaking of Daddy...

He is happy and even though most of the time he doesn't remember I am his daughter (usually thinks I am his sister and have been called Mommy a couple times. My aunt says I look like Grandma who died when she was late 30's). All I care about is he is well and happy... and watch out because he will run over you with that wheelchair that he moves with his feet. He roams the halls(he calls them streets) and stops at each room (apartments according to him) and says hi to every morning and good night every night. If he doesn't see you in the chow hall (they call it community room he calls it chow hall) he will go check on you. He likes  commissary...or the general store depending on if he is in veteran mode or civilian. He is on insulin for the first time after being a diabetic for over 30 yrs.  A very low dosage and his doctor said at 91 going on 92 she wasn't going to tell him he couldn't have his snacks but she did increase his physical therapy to help him burn some of it. He used to walk 5 miles a day, ride an exercise bike for 1 1/2 hrs while watching the news every morning and lift weights besides mowing 10 lawns for elderly( after he was 60 himself) with a push mower. My brother and I are not any where close to being fit as Mother who worked until she was 80, was or Daddy.

I cleaned out the herb and spice cabinet and reorganized it. Made notes of what I need to grow and what I will need to buy when on sale.

Thursday

We were suppose to get gravel today, guy called from the quarry and they were out again of the size we ordered. Guy asked if we could take 2 other sizes and him bring us all for 4 loads tomorrow. SO we did.

Hubby moved the compost to the north garden edge instead of it being behind the barn in the field we let E plant in exchange I get sweet corn for our freezer.

He then cleaned out the mow of the barn of some wood shavings he found, put those in the compost also.

I did finances .... paid all of April's bills including medical bills and 2 school taxes. Shifted some things around and now have all the May bills $$ in savings until May when I need to pay them. NOT including biologic which at this point it's a waiting game on insurance to approve it. Hubby has a check in the mail that will start building June's bill money and thought after paying the gravel bill he might have enough to cover 1/2 of June and his deep sea fishing trip.

When we went to wash the walls while spring cleaning we found the paint was leaving residue on the cleaning rags so we stopped.

I let the contractor that painted the house know there was issues with the paint. The company that sold him the paint is sending a man down to check it out. He will be here Monday. The front room, dining room and kitchen is also doing it.

We went to Son 2's, we wanted to drop off his rose from our friend I potted for him and he needed some help with filing his taxes... the soldier in him does very well at inputting information... the civilian gets confused when asked about life changes like did you get a raise , did you put money in a retirement fund? HEAVENS!!!. I got him through it and then poor Hubby had to listen to me wonder where the boy's (HA HA actually a middle age man) brain went to on the 2 hr drive back home. Our dinner was from the gas station, yeah really, pizza (8 slices)and ice cream (2 -8 oz). Wasn't bad pizza and definitely was cheap as all of it was only $10 and fed us very well.

Friday

I was up at 3 am... ate too much and too late last night and paid the price. Made coffee and let the dogs out and in since I was up. Went back to bed at 4:30. Since dogs had been out they didn't wake Hubby. He woke up at 6 startled and wondering why the dogs hadn't gotten him up LOL. I got back up at 6:15, when I heard him rattling around in the kitchen.

I started doing some odds and ends that needed caught up and he went out to move things around for the gravel. This is a big check mark off the to do list for the month and the "punch" list for the house.

Ended up with 5 loads coming to  100 tons... will need 75 more tons when we finish the area at the basement ramp and around the pond. The pile by the barn is to go under the deck that is going to be on the side of the kitchen. The white stone piles is filling in the grass area on the north gardens so it's easier for delivery trucks to turn around and I can park my car there in the winter and let Hubby park the 350 which is diesel and needs plugged in at the porch where I park usually. Where the dump truck is dumping is the 32 ft trailer parking. The 18 flat bed and the 24 livestock are at the back side of the barn.  After we get the gravel spread the rest of the way out, we will need it graded (AKA smoothed out) E charges $25 to grade a regular lane. Hubby asked if he could barter... instead of E paying Hubby $30 to take some equipment to be fixed and bring it home, E just grade all of the gravel since we have more than a regular lane... E accepted.

Hubby just talked to the lady that is trying to sell the other flat bed trailer. She had a person looking at it ...the trailer is worth $12500... we asked $9000 with accepting $8000... the person offered $1000....She said she asked if he understood what the trailer was worth, YEP... and he was still offering only $1000. YEP..Said she had to bite her tongue and walk away to keep from calling him a idiot.

We went to town to get a battery for the old truck  and post office. I proceeded to fall in the parking lot SIGH... I caught the edge of a mud puddle and landed face first. SIGH...

We had eggs and corned beef hash and pound cake for dinner.

Saturday

Hubby went to auction with 1 of the Amish, good thing they went even though neither bought anything as another Amish was there and not only needed a ride back home but had bought something that needed a trailer. Said God was taking care of him.

I did my normal Saturday routine plus baked bread in my 13 inch Pullman pan using M's recipe. We like the bread better than the Pullman recipe and the size better than regular loaf pan. I used the meat slicer to slice the whole loaf.

Sunday

Put all 3 turkeys that was in deep freezer out to thaw to cook Monday. Making room in freezer as there are at least 3 dozen asparagus up in the patch.

Moved coat and sweater rack to loft and

HEAVENS Fell down the stairs.... I felt the nerve in my back pinch but could get sat down on the stairs fast enough so down I went...Hubby said he saw me lean back like in a plank when he turned around.

DONE for the day.

what a week GOT TRAILER...where we are at on goals NO SURGERY

School taxes paid ... Still waiting for bill from CT scan.

After 3rd opinion and a group meeting , it has been decided my intestine in NOT collapsed but actually swollen on the inside  . SO instead of surgery at this time (a maybe for future, talk of stint ) I will be placed on a biologic... Doctor is jumping hoops to get Humira authorized... more of a sit and wait while my gut hurts.

Daughter 4 came up, we both spent 7 hrs doing spring cleaning. Did not get it all done but got the worse part done. She did not realize the house was this big though did like how I have the sewing/craft room, office, spare bedroom and storage loft in the upstairs and it was the easiest for her to clean.Said the mudroom (it's always a mess) and front room (24x24) was the worse to deal with. Made a few suggestions that has made it easier to maintain ( like in the mudroom)and suggested I deep clean one or two areas a MONTH instead of twice a year. She got gas money, food and  a bit extra cash as she also did some work with Hubby out side that was not part of the agreement but helped a lot. She just changed jobs and won't get a paycheck for 4 wks so she was grateful also.

Hubby got the livestock trailer.!!!!!!!! Already had E's brother ask for him to haul something from the auction he  bought trailer at as he was there and wanted to buy gates but had no way to get them home. Paid 1/3rd more than we had hoped to, but the trailer is actually bigger,better condition and has MANY extras that makes it worth more than what he paid. He was bidding against 4 others. The guy that put it up for auction ask for Hubby's info, he does hauling also but said at times he has too many irons in the fire and was willing to send work Hubby's way. GOOD. Now it's just get the cash flowing back in to meet the bills coming in.

Auction on the 13th got canceled as what the group including Hubby was going to buy was pulled due to not being up to working condition. BUT another neighbor had a piece of equipment break down and asked if Hubby could haul it to the repair shop for him that day.

AT THE Trailer auction Hubby also got a grinder for $1 ...bought it for the angle iron for his welding until he started to pick it up and realized it was a grinder. E was excited as it's one he knew how to work and showed Hubby how it could be hooked up for Amish or English. Hubby also got 26 large pots...the size you would put a 2 yr old tree in.We had just priced pots that size for $15 to $35 ... Hubby paid $3 for each. Our ex son in law runs a landscaping business, he is interested in any we don't want and will pay $5 for each. It will actually put a little cash back in our pocket and the ones we use for free.

Gravel was suppose to be delivered last Thursday, guy got his days mixed up and had to reschedule for Friday and then call back and reschedule for this coming Thursday as the company that supplies the gravel was not able to fill that order until then.

Grill is together and on front porch. SO I can start using it.

Hubby also put the pressure washer together, he just bought because he found it on sale for about 50 % of what we had priced them at,  so if I decided to clean the mud off my kitchen porch I could.

He replaced the board over the cistern

We burnt the wood pile at the end of the north garden along with the weeds I pulled from the asparagus patch.

We took the straw off the rhubarb, strawberries and garlic.Straw is in storage behind garden shed drying out to be used again later.

We moved the flowers from the north flower garden down to the road on the knoll where the daylilies are also.

I have enough bread dough, roll dough, tortillas, muffins in freezers

Even though I am not having surgery we decided for me to still finish the freezer list so I am cutting back on kitchen time when I get in the gardens.

Frugal notes...

Because of how I paid the propane ahead last year, and having a credit,  we only ended up owing $128 for this 300 gal tank of propane instead of the $532 it would have cost us.

Turning off furnace 12 hrs a day to make this tank last 10 wks to get to summer fill. Filling the tank after June 1st will save us $210 on 1 tank. That much difference between summer fuel and winter fuel.

Electric bill is down another $10.Hubby said he cut his tv time down by 1 hr a day for the whole month (kept track on his phone) Was very proud of himself.

Canceled the newspaper, I will miss it and the information I get from it but can always go to the library to find out when things are or check online local radio station calendar.

Waiting for the rain as I finish this, I hope it does some as then I won't have to go water the flowers we transplanted.

Blessed Be

Have a wonderful week

April goals including surgery

Finish paying off school taxes. Have been having issues with their forms on line and have had to ask for help.

Will meet with GI/Surgeon to talk over surgery. Small intestine has a 5 cm (about 2 inches for those of us that don't do metric ME) that has collapsed.... I have no clue of why my system is working at all then.

The left to do with spring cleaning :

 In kitchen.... spice cabinet and dry goods "book" shelf. Ceiling, walls, baseboard and floor.

Neither bathroom has been touched but the bedroom is also down to ceiling, walls, baseboard and floor  AND changing bedding to warm weather.

Daughter 4 has bartered for gas money, a ham and a turkey to come up to finish what ever spring cleaning I don't get done by the 12th. Including the entire house, not just the areas I want focused on. I might send home bread also with her. We live 90 mins away from her so she offered 7 hrs of work and 3 for drive time. That makes it the same as if she went to work and keeps her 5 dogs on their routine.

Hubby's is no longer working with the state so he is able to start helping at home and working on the things he didn't get done on the house or his own items he wanted to do.

Hubby's April's goals
win bid for livestock trailer April 6th

has an auction to take Amish to April 13th and then found out 2 things we are looking for are at that auction so it's no longer a "job" but car pooling. Amish are paying for the cost to go, everyone is responsible for their food and drink.

gardens put in, tilled , weed barrier etc for me to plant
gravel in for deck and driveway
deck on at French doors
straighten the fence (including E's that is attached to our fence) at the road
move the compost pile to the gardens
put the grill together and put on front porch until deck is built
put smoker together and put on front porch until deck is built
change the down spout on barn
replace board over cistern
put more concrete on deadman on clothesline in yard.
Rehang the Jack Daniels coat rack he accidentally pulled down. I would like to change where it hangs and hang a secondary one as he hangs his heavy work bibs and carhart coats on the rack.

My April Goals

Get garden set up to plant
Schedule surgery
Finish paying off the last 3 bills (paperwork is forever)
Finish cleaning the last of the pantry
Defrost and organize the last 3 deep freezers
Schedule energy audit for May...towards the end of May
move flowers from flower bed
plant different flowers in flower bed
plant flowers at windmill.
clear garden shed
sew warm weather curtains
redo mudroom to be more organized and eliminate the clutter piles.

Stock deep freezers with following

bread dough, cookie dough, pie dough, noodles, and roll dough.
waffles, pancakes and sliced bread for French toast
Sliced bread for sandwiches, hot dog buns, onion buns and hamburger buns
Tortillas , bagels and English muffins along with fruit muffins.
Wonton wraps (and some pot stickers)
Egg roll wraps (and egg rolls)
Croissants and doughnuts and eclairs might be included .

Be recovered enough from surgery to go visit family at end of April

Do you have goals for this Month?

Frugal day by day

Monday

 I canned more turkey broth and vacuumed bag 7 bags of turkey in 2 cups amts.

I washed 2 loads of clothes with homemade laundry soap and white vinegar and hung them on the drying rack, sock dryer racks and on hangers in the shower. Was raining so didn't use kitchen porch clothes line.

I did not turn on any lights or even the oil lamp even though it was gloomy inside the house until afternoon.

I turned down the furnace since I was canning and the cook stove was warming the kitchen.

I spring cleaned the inside of all the kitchen cabinets (only have base cabinets) and the microwave cart.

Hubby drove the car to work since he was only working to noon due to our doctor appointments. We drove the car to the appointments

We ate lunch at home, egg salad, went to doctor appointments... everything was decent, scheduled for 3 month appt for both of us at same time to save gas then.

Went to CVS down from doctor's office , using coupons, sales and extra rewards discounts to buy toilet paper and adult diapers. I still need two more bags of diapers... got another coupon for diapers and $ 3 off total coupon with my receipt so I will go to the CVS here where I live  to use it.

Went to Walmart to pick up freezer tape, I found 2 pairs of shoes( I wear size 4) on clearance and Hubby got a pair of work boots and slippers on sale.

We met Son 2 and our friends at Hong Kong. We made sure we got the senior discount.

We drove the shortest way home instead of rambling along looking a scenery.

Tuesday

I woke up at 3 and decided at 4 I was done trying to sleep. Dogs decided since I was up to wake Hubby up. He was okay with it even though he still had an hour yet he could have slept.

I put the laundry away from the drying rack.

I started laundry with homemade laundry soap and white vinegar.

Hubby checked the weather report for today and tomorrow.

He drove the car to work without me saying anything about it.

I hung laundry on the kitchen porch line when the sun came up.

I made more soil blocks for starting 180 seeds.

We had leftovers in tortillas for supper

I spring cleaned the inside of Hoosier cabinet, bringing most of my baking supplies together except for the flour I store in buckets in the basement pantry.

I started cleaning the Metal cabinet.

Wednesday

I did laundry using homemade laundry soap and white vinegar. Used kitchen clothes line and drying rack as I also washed warm weather clothes from storage.

I had cheese and crackers for lunch

I made homemade biscuits with buttermilk and sausage gravy supper.

Dishwasher soap bottle is empty. We got 35 loads out of the bottle. SO we decided that since I mix 1/3rd water to 2/3rd Dawn that I put in smaller bottles  for hand washing that any thing NOT in dishwasher would be washed by hand after supper.That keeps the more expensive dish washing soap down.

Thursday

Ct scan with barium... UP at 5:15, had 3 cups of coffee by 7:30.
We turned the furnace down to 65 as we left for the testing. Drove the shortest route in the car, paid off the last hospital bill getting a  5% discount.

Was the quickest time ever getting the barium through, sort of worried me about having a 90 drive back home but made it home before the rest of it kicked on through my system.

Hubby ordered take out of the local Chinese restaurant. I added a qrt of soup also. Neither of us was up to cooking and wasn't sure what or how much I would be able to eat.

We didn't even turn on lights, watched the weather on the news and called it a day.

Friday

Hubby's last day for seasonal at the state. Both of us are ready for this to end even though he might do winter seasonal.

Texted Hubby to stop at Save a lot on way home and get 2 gals of milk. Potato soup and gravy on the menu.Saves one of us going back into town when we don't need anything else.

I had Hubby order a qrt of wonton egg drop soup yesterday for today's supper.

Propane was brought in this morning at 7 am. That is the last of our contract propane and I noticed it was 30 cents cheaper a gal than the contract so we won't have much $$ to pay out on the difference. 

Water softener co delivered also today. Right on budget there actually under budget according to them as we are using about half of what the EPA says someone should use daily.

I did a load of laundry and dried in on the kitchen clothes line.

Little E and Little B brought over 2 dozen eggs for us.These two little ones do not speak English except for Hi and Bye, good luck on getting that out of them when E and M are not around. BUT B always, just always has a large smile and a twinkle in her eye.Little E is ornery.

Saturday

I cooked canned potatoes and eggs to go with leftover biscuits and sausage gravy for bfast, well really brunch because we decided to NOT set alarms on the weekend and just get up when we wake up. We were up by 6, forgot the dogs wouldn't understand SLEEP IN. Still , we definitely didn't get around to eating until almost 9:30

We snacked on odds and ends in the frig around 2

I fixed some rice pudding and we had it along with the last of the wonton egg drop soup for supper.

I prepped baked oatmeal for tomorrow's bfast

I caught up the dishes, did some mending and notified family and friends of my CT scan results. Then spent the rest of the day figuring out priorities to be done before surgery.

Sunday

The day of rest is hard for us to do, as we have been so busy and worked some many times 7 days a week for years at a time.

We had baked oatmeal for brunch ,this is now going to be a once a week, with changes of fruit in it. Today was blueberry pie filling as I have pie filling that needs to be used up so fresh can be put in the pantry.

We had cheese and crackers for a snack at 11:30 while we played scrabble. Hubby won, he does cross word puzzles, he was definitely showing me that what he was spelling was a real word LOL.

At 12:30 we went to see my Dad in the nursing  home. Sunday is a "slow" day for him as no one else goes and visits him on that day. We couldn't go see Hubby's parents as his mom is  contagious. His dad didn't catch what ever buy she has picked up. She's been sick for over a month now.

Once home we did some planning of what needs done, what I need help getting done and how to handle me being down with surgery with spring planting getting ready.

We had spag and meat sauce from the freezer (Hubby's lunches he didn't eat while working) and garlic cheddar biscuits (freebie mix) We had a choc bar for our snack while watching cooking shows.

I ran the dishwasher and washed the hand dishes .

I put the dough together for the American style white bread 5 min and the starter for the Italian sub buns to bake tomorrow.

I down loaded some free books to my kindle.

How did your week go?

Blessed Be

Why do I have so many clothes? Hum

This gave me pause to think about. Ended up talking family and friends about it.

Here's what we figured out after Hubby had me write out what I was doing before I retired.

I will admit, I buy a lot from thrift shops and yard sales, have clothes that was Mother's daughters and grandsons. I have never kept as many clothes as either of my parents. LOL. My brother admitted last night that after going through Dad's (I dealt with Mother's) he went home and got rid of 50 suits....HUM yes he wears a suit every day and takes them to dry cleaners once a week.He still has 21 suits. His daughter tattled that it was the suits that fit him NOW not the 4 sizes above the now size that she hauled to donate last month of over 200 suits.

Son 1 buys new shirts every month, he buys 7. At the end of  month he donates them if still decent but usually tosses them as the work he does is messy. He buys cheap. He wears a sports shirt for other which is few and far between with him working 12 hr days 6 days a week.

Son 2 buys new shirts twice a year, donates his decent ones to either me, Daughter 4 or our grandkids and their friends.He spends most his days is dress clothes.

Daughter 1 passes hers to her Daughter 2 that works factory every 3 months.She usually has 7-10 tees and same with tanks. 7 work pants and 7 jeans and 7 shorts.

Daughter 2 wears shirts from work and gets new every 3 months and personal is 2-4 shirts new each season. She gives her Decent ones to Daughter 3 girls. She has over 100 in her drawers and mentioned she needed to get rid of some herself.

Daughter 3 gets new every 6 months, her kids get hers. She has 14 of each.

Daughter 4 wears Son 2 or mine. Might buy a new one every 2-3 months. She wears mine to work(works factory) and Son 2 to hang around the house and her own to go out in. She has 21 in her drawers.

I would start my day between 4-5:30 so dressed for home, did baking, home blessing, garden, and yard work. Casual cruds (LOL) Shower

THEN I would get dressed for the office/meeting work...suit, business dress clothes including jacket and heels.

THEN I would go to my cheffing work... light color dress pants, tee shirt or tank top, chef jacket, chef crocs and apron.

THEN I would go home, shower and change to go to either a chef class (causal wear) or teach (clean chef jacket, tee shirt or tank and clean dark dress pants) OR work as an sous chef and that would depend on who I was working under in the class.. Anywhere from dress pants, jeans, shorts, dress shirt, tee shirt and apron (never chef jacket) but always of the color they chose for their "staff". Usually 3 -6 times a week.

THEN I would go home  and relax... usually a causal dress, skirt or skort.

WOW  I was changing clothes 5 times a day to match the work I was doing.

Am I working that way now? NO

I still do some cheffing on my own... I have a couple of my chef jackets to wear with my light color dress pants.

Am I going to an office or meeting that require a suit like outfit...NO but I do have a formal dress (little black dress) and black skirt and a couple of jackets that I can pair together if that need ever comes up.

Daughter 4 and Son 2 also said I don't wear the same clothes year around. I wear dark colored tanks, tee shirts and tops in cold weather and I should put them in storage either in loft or barn instead of having them in my drawers or clothes rack (have no closets). I wear light colored during warm weather. The only thing they see all year is white and black. They also see I always buy 2 of my shirts, so when one gets stained I have another and the stain one goes to crud clothes.

Every once in awhile Son 2 or Daughter 4 goes through my crud clothes and they disappear. Guess they are the two that it bothers the most because the other 4 don't do that LOL. Then again they see me the most often working in crud clothes AT THEIR HOMES.

By pulling my "dark" tees and tanks I go down to 8 tanks (none the same color) and 11 tees (I pulled the ones that there was 2 of the same) . All of it is in one drawer. I took the crud clothes and put them in a drawer of their own.

I took all my hanging clothes and turned the hangers around backwards. As I wear them I will turn them around the other way. Next spring I should be able to see what I haven't worn and get rid of it, well, except the 40 yr old little black dress. It's not faded or worn and a classic.