The Wind Blew...Let's Have a Coffee Chat

Yesterday and today the wind blew and blew and blew.  It was not a day to hang clothes on the line.  They would have blown away!

So I puttered and piddled about indoors, sheltered from the wind pretty much, with two brief spells each day on the front porch where I sat while the animals ate their breakfast and dinner.  Trudy felt frisky as a pup in this cooler air.  When she feels young and puppy-ish again she also remembers that she loves me.  She leaned hard against my leg and sang to me.  I love her doggy songs.

I don't feel I accomplished a whole lot today but I worked steadily at things.  Saturday afternoon I sat down to craft a few cards. Yesterday morning I made about 8.  I ended up with 18 cards in all.  And I have about a dozen more laid out.  I need to get more card stock to make those.   I don't really need 18 cards but I enjoyed my play time.  And I will use the cards.  I kept thinking of various people I love as I made them.  They 'belong' to them now so I shall write a note and send them off, I think.  But not all at once.

I cleaned and moved books and bookcases and wondered again at my need to have so much stuff.  I suppose because so many I know are moving, I think about what it would be like to pack up my things to move.  I am overwhelmed at the thought.  When did I acquire so much stuff?  And how much of it am I really willing to part with?  That's the bigger question.  I am not a hoarder, but I'm no minimalist either.



I am trying to be more mindful of usefulness and beauty as I bring in future items.  That's why I decided this evening it was time to let go of a table I've had since we moved here.  It's not a particularly nice table, not sturdy enough to warrant being redone. It was one Granny had for thirty years or more and relegated to the shed with good reason.  I wanted it then for sentimental reasons but even sentiment needs a sturdy base.  I suppose I might put it on the porch to corral potted plants but then again maybe not.  Maybe it's just plain time to let it go.

Today was a kitchen day.  I meant to make out a menu early in the day.  I sat down with my recipe notebook to look for inspiration and instead I began to organize it and hunt a couple of recipes.   I sorted out my recipe notebook and tossed a handful of untried recipes I've had for the past year or two.  That system of dating them has worked very well for me to determine how long I've had them. While I was working on the recipe notebook I realized that I was cold...Yes, really.  I needed a sweater or to get up and get busy.  I opted for the 'get busy' and started my baking. I knew I wanted to make bread and cookies today, but somehow I got caught up in making other things as well.  I had over ripe bananas and made muffins with those.  I got so caught up in what I was doing that I realized at 1pm I had no clue what we would have for dinner.  So we ended up with a light lunch of burgers with lettuce and onions, followed by one of those warm muffins.

I baked the cookies as I cleaned up the kitchen.  What a mess that kitchen was!  I baked all three pans of cookies while I cleaned.  Then I decided I needed to put my feet up and rest.  And you know what?  When I sat down and got still, I got chilly cold all over again!  The wind and the coolness feels mighty odd when the trees are in full leaf and it's a new season, I'm here to tell you.  Makes me glad I haven't planted anything.  Today it never got much over 60F.

As I sat there shivering a tiny bit, I thought about supper and I wanted soup.  I didn't have enough vegetable soup in the freezer to share between the two of us, but I had enough Cream of Asparagus in the freezer to easily serve two. When I put the bread in the oven to bake, I got the soup out of the freezer and put it in a saucepan so it could slowly heat up.   I also made up a bowl of turkey salad (and put a half dozen eggs on to boil for the coming work week) for sandwiches.  I'd put that on my menu page for the week and it seemed to me with our dinner having turned into lunch we might just have a nice meal for supper.

 Of course, by the the time I'd heated soup, made chicken salad, and baked bread and then made sandwiches the kitchen was a bit of a mess all over again.  Isn't it funny how those dishes keep getting messed up all over again?

John wasn't crazy over the soup by the way.  He wasn't even swayed by how frugal it was, lol.  I confess I can convince myself I like things well enough at times if I know that they were inexpensive, but not my husband.  He likes it or he doesn't like it, period. Some of my greatest frugal fails are made because I'm trying to push something at him.  Ultimately of course, the goal is to find those things he does like and repeat repeat repeat and NOT repeat those he doesn't care for.  So no more homemade cream of asparagus soup.  I thought it passable, but not a great favorite.  John not liking it makes it a fail as far as I'm concerned.

I noted that as I went through my recipe file this morning that for the past two months I've saved an inordinate number of dessert and cake recipes...This threw up a caution sign.  However, I checked dates on the recipes and most were from Christmas and Valentine's Day which explains a great deal.  I kept most of the recipes today but only because I had a number of salad, soup and vegetable dishes to add to my files as well.

This is our last week of April.  Doesn't that just sort of shake you up?  It seems the month has flown, truly it does.  I've barely read any more than I did last month.  I've accomplished only marginally more than I did last month, too.  Not one of my 'projects' has been started much less completed.  I think I must really make out a project list for next month and sincerely make an effort to begin to tackle my projects list.

Good news from Mama yesterday.  This week marks her last week of Physical Therapy.  It also is the week they allow her to drive again, but not until nearer the end of the week.  So one more grocery shopping trip is in order.

I am not looking forward to this week's grocery shopping.  Mama told me she has a very long list.  I cannot imagine why she does, truly I cannot.  No more can I imagine where she will put all the things on her list.  Every time I've been by to visit she has had a packed fridge and freezers and pantry.  I get overwhelmed when my own fridge is full and find it hard to keep track of what I have.  Mama has no system other than memory for keeping track of her foodstuffs.  I've tried to share how I track my  inventory but she is not interested...

I guess I'll end here.  I hadn't realized it had gotten so late!