This Week: Eggs, eggs, eggs

Saturday:  The Strata we had this morning with the coconut streusel atop was very good.  Too much for us.  I put half in the freezer.  I will make a note here that in future, half as much is as we say a gracious plenty.  Bess stopped by later this afternoon and told me how much they'd enjoyed it as well.  I'm so glad.



Bess gave us a French Apple Tart, but she had frozen it and not baked it.  I popped it in the oven today and later put in the chili to reheat and made cornbread, all in the same oven.   I'll say this for Bess, she has got the pastry part of pie making down flat.  I told her I could eat just the pastry and be glad of it.  The filling was lovely, nice and tart and a good balance to the rich crust.

Nothing much to it today, as usual. Just a quiet day at home with John snoozing before the television and me reading or on the computer.

Bess stopped by, as I mentioned, and was on her way to the dumpsters with a load of stuff she'd cleared from their huge garage shed.  She offered to take any trash we had.  I had two bags at the back door and was more than happy to have her carry them with her.  The garage at their home is space they could use.  It's been full of all sorts of things since my niece left the place and since Sam and Bess haven't money to work on the house at present, they are clearing up the property.  She asked us to look at a few things she'd pulled out of the garage.  I acquired a cute red wooden tool caddy and a set of brass bells strung on a half rotted rope that sound like heaven.  Bess knows me well, lol.   John got a couple of golf clubs.  Bess had some good stuff loaded on the truck but she was doing the TCSwap (that's not my initials by the way) which is to put the good stuff out next to the dumpsters for someone else to easily pick and use.  I'll lay odds that it will be gone before morning.

Sunday:  I got up in the night and turned the thermostat down by three degrees.  Not because I was warm but because it was below freezing and the thing ran and ran.  We don't like to sleep with the propane heat on unless we have extended below freezing days and nights.  That's happened about three times in the 22 years we've lived here.  I forgot to turn it back up this morning but that's just as well...I did remember and turn it up this afternoon when we returned home.

We turned on and used the propane heat this morning.  It was cold enough that the heat pump and the propane ran at the same time throughout the morning.

I took time last night to set up three outfits.  I'm so short on choices at the moment.  I refuse to buy a thing until Spring actually arrives because we have far more warm/hot days than we do cold ones.  I got complimented several times on my clothing today which is always nice.  I wore a chiffon Aqua top with a pair of navy pants and topped with a gray pea coat and gray flats.  Not a combination I've worn before but one I shall certainly wear in the future!

We went by the grocery after church.  I agreed to do a taste sampling of the store's Organic/Natural foodstuffs and write down which ones I liked.  This netted me a free glass water bottle.

We went into the store for just bread, flowers and dog food.  We came out with bread, flowers, bananas and dog biscuits and a newspaper.   John got the dog biscuits because Rufus can't chew the big ones that Maddie likes and Aldi only has the smaller biscuits on occasion.  They were on sale at the store which was nice.   We discussed dog food and John suggested I just go ahead and do a subscription order for the brand the dogs prefer and save the need to have to lug it from store to car, car to home.  It's not his back he's trying to save but mine because he knows I do frequently end buying it when I'm alone.

Nice to come in to the aroma of food cooking.  I really do use my crock pot far more in summer to keep from heating the entire house with the stove, but I'm beginning to really appreciate the absolute delight of coming in on these cold winter days and having the scent of a meal wrap it's arms about us and welcome us in.

Today's meal was stew.  I know I had pot roast on the menu but when I was digging in the freezer last night I came across the package of sirloin tip cubes and recalled that Katie had mentioned she'd made Stew last week.  I made an old favorite stew recipe that calls for green beans and tomato soup.  It also has potatoes and carrots and onions and I added in a parsnip because I like them and I still have a few in the fridge drawer.   Happily I made just enough stew with only a few vegetables as leftovers.  I'll reheat those and eat for my dinner tomorrow and cook a piece of meat to go with them.

I mixed up chicken salad for sandwich filling.  John commented on what a big batch it made.  I told him I'd had what was left of about five chickens to put into the crock pot.  It really did net a lot of meat, but all in tiny bits, perfect for a bowl of chicken salad.  I'll hold off making egg salad until John has eaten a bit more of the chicken salad.

Set up oatmeal and toaster for morning. I pre-measured the milk and cracked an egg into it and put that in a jar in the fridge.  I measured out the oatmeal, brown sugar and butter and added a pinch of salt.  I put these into a covered pan that I set next to the stove.  I put the loaf of bread beside the toaster.   Coffee also set up with timer on to insure it's making when we get up.  All of John's lunch items are either already in his bag (nonperishable) or in one basket on the bottom shelf of the fridge where I can easily pull them out and forget nothing.  These are all nice little conveniences for my sometimes morning addled pre-coffee brain.

Placed an Amazon prime order this evening for some beauty products I was running low upon.  I get far more for the money on Amazon than I could get at any pharmacy and it will all be here by Tuesday.  Just avoiding the temptation of lipstick and nail polish displays was a savings for me!

Monday:  Brrrr!  It was cold when we got up but got colder still as the sun came up.  I turned on the propane heater.

Sent John off to work, fed, coffee and lunch bag in hand.

Put a load of sheets and towels on to wash.  Hung them out to dry as soon as it was daylight.  Remade the bed with fresh linens and hung up fresh towels in the bath.

Made note that I could use four more white pillowcases for our bed so that I have three complete sets of linens for that bed.  I will look at Walmart when I go in this morning.

Made out a quick short list for Walmart.  T-shirts, cabbage, valentines for the grandchildren, lampshade, plants, fabric.

Did something I hadn't though to do before.  I wore the fairly new (bought in November) black and white sweater with my jeans.  I don't know why I locked my brain into wearing that sweater only with black pants.  The truth is black and white are neutral colors.  Denim is also a neutral.  It looked rather nice with my black ankle boots and purse.  I used a solid gold necklace that is made up of various sizes of circles and plain little gold hoops as my jewelry.  I felt rather chic, always a good sign when an outfit is first put on.  Must remember to use that sweater as a neutral in future!

I love that Walmart and Target open in the early morning hours, which is when I personally prefer to get my shopping done.  Actually I think Walmart is open 24 hours but I haven't done that sort of shopping since my first marriage when midnight was sometimes the only time I could get use of the car long enough to do grocery shopping.  Ugh on those days!  

So I went over to Walmart rather early and got to listen to the morning meeting of the team lead staff which was held at the registers in front of the store.  Let me tell you that was a pep rally!  I enjoyed listening to the clapping and cheers, I really did.

I wandered up and down a lot of aisles but I was careful.   I'll tell you what I bought and what I didn't.  I do have a mental list of things I mean to buy, that aren't yet on an official list, so I always wander.  You never know when you're going to find a bargain on just those things you've determined you'd like to have.  Besides, walking is good for me.    I started in the garden center, debating on pansies which were looking fine, but I wondered if they'd still look as good after several mornings of our hard freezes of late.  I decided to skip the purchase.  I feel I've really waited too late this year to get any real enjoyment from them, though I do love them.

I looked over lampshades and declined to purchase any.  The ones large enough to fit my lamp weren't at all what I wanted.  I expect I'll end going back to At Home to look for a shade.

I bought: a gray throw, just an inexpensive single fleece one.  I've often wanted something light in the evening to go over my legs.  This will be perfect.  I chose three silk peonies which are gorgeous.  They will stand in for when I don't have fresh flowers in the house.  Not quite the green houseplants I wanted but then again, there weren't any green houseplants.  I got five t-shirts.  I bought six yards of fabric.  I had to buy six yards because of the width of my bookcases. I'll have leftover strips  of this fabric. I bought Valentine Day cards.  I decided to send just one Valentine to each family and found a packet of six that worked out to about $1 each.  I bought two packages of two each white pillowcases.  I got the cabbage I wanted.  My impulse buys?  New hot pads and dishcloths for the kitchen, both in the medium teal colors I've used in the room.  Oh yes, and a bag of sphagnum moss to tuck in the empty spaces in the planter I'm using in the living room on a side table.

I decided to go on over to Cato to see what they might have in t-shirts, just in case the ones from Walmart didn't work for me.    I found no t-shirts.  I did however, in looking over the clearance racks hoping to find a pair of black jeans, find a scarf, a grey cardigan, a pair of dark wash jeans and a pearl and gold chain necklace.  All of my purchases totaled just over $20.  I feel I can afford that sort of splurge.  All I needed to do when I got home was to add my white t-shirt and hang all the pieces together as one of my upcoming outfits!

I was plenty hungry by the time I was done shopping because 5:15 breakfasts wear off extra early.  I talked myself  out of buying any snacks, take out food, etc.  My reasoning was that by the time lunch was being served I could be home.  I knew I had a variety of leftovers and easily prepared frozen items on hand and a salad ready made.   I drank the bottle of water I'd brought with me and found I wasn't nearly as hungry as I'd first thought.

Put a full load of dishes on to wash after unpacking my purchases.  I air dried those and then ran another load of wash, as the day has warmed so nicely and I've plenty of sunshine and drying time to get them on the line.

And so the day has gone.  I ate lunch: I made nachos with chili and cheese and a salad on top.   I read an email from a friend while I ate and it was as good as having company.  I didn't feel completely well but I bargained with myself that for every 45 minutes I spent working I could sit and read or play games for 45 minutes.  So the day moved on.

As chores, I unloaded the dishwasher and hung out the second load of clothes on the line and brought in the first load to fold and put away.  I ran the vacuum over the floors and wrote out the tithe checks and totaled the checkbook  once John had called in the figures for me.  I did read and I played a game on the computer.  I worked a puzzle.   Katie ran in and used the printer and internet.  She stayed a bit just chatting and borrowed my last onion and some soy sauce and happily took home part of my bag of chicken pot stickers.   Sam called and came by to get bay leaves and mustard seed.  Katie laughed when I said I was thinking of putting up a sign that said "GROCERIES".  I brought in the second load of clothes and folded those to put away.  I made my own supper of Pot Stickers with the last portion of a bag of Prince Edward Island green beans and carrots and admired the sunset.

I have enjoyed this day.

I wish that John's job schedule was as it used to be and he could come home about 7:30 each night.  Mind you it was a hard schedule even then, because we had to get up at 5am every morning but I enjoyed those evenings of welcoming him home and snuggling in to sleep together at night.  I don't mind the daylight hours of being alone so much, because I will busy myself with something, but I do miss him come evening when I consider it quitting time.

For my final tasks tonight, I will gather my thoughts and plan a breakfast menu for tomorrow morning, and set the coffee pot up so that the aroma of coffee will wake me a little early.  I'll go off to bed earlier than I do when John is home and sleep in the very middle of our bed, which is my little luxury when John is not here.

Tuesday:  John brought home 30 more eggs this morning.  Sam was telling me last night that he and Bess are getting between 3 and 6 eggs daily from their chickens.  We do occasionally get a few eggs from their chickens.  Josh sells them for $3/dozen.  The girls at work usually ask $2/dozen and sometimes John just picks up what is left and brings them home.   Since we have such a plethora of eggs at the moment he's asked me to make him a few hard boiled eggs in his lunch as a quick to eat food.  No problem.

I went out this morning to run errands.  I had to turn around and come back home because I forgot the main purpose of the errand trip: John's paycheck.  I started again but wondered if I really ought to go out since I had such a hard time getting my stuff together.  All went well from that point onward.

One of the joys of living in the country and taking the back roads from one town to another:  wild turkey strutting down the center of the road.

Picked up our car tags while I was in the county seat.  And dropped off Mama's affidavit excusing her from jury duty due to both age and the fact that she lives out of county.  Dropped off mail and went to the bank.  I walked from a central point in Butler to visit the post office, the court house, and the tax office.

John has a class tomorrow and must work on Thursday.  He'd mentioned missing the boys...then Bess texted me that Sam is out of town for the next two days, so they will come to have supper with us tomorrow.  If weather allows I will go to the grocery store.

Failed to take out anything for dinner today and that's strictly on me.  I had an easy to prepare entrée in the freezer.  I think I'll just start posting my menu on my desk bulletin board...It's really silly of me to plan and then continue to forget what I've planned...and be too doggone lazy to even look it up on the computer.

Wednesday:  John had to go to work for a training class.  This was not paid time which is more usual but he does need the CEUs to renew his license.   I made a quick breakfast of toasted biscuits, leftovers from yesterday morning's meal.

Since we're short of time this week, I went on and did grocery shopping on my own.  Having recently done a pantry inventory and having a semi good idea of what was in the freezer it was easy to do my shopping.   I stocked up on a few canned items but even there I proceeded cautiously.

I wanted a candle today at Aldi but I put it back.  I wanted a candle that smelled like roses and was lovely in a metallic rose gold holder.  It was huge and it smelled wonderful.  It wasn't particularly expensive but I know that I shall never burn a scented candle and really what is the point of just having it sit about?    Haven't I just offloaded a ton of stuff trying to get rid of the excess in my life?

What I did buy today at Aldi was a twin pack of blue chenille pillows.  They are a lovely deep blue, the same shade as the deepest blue in my blue and white porcelain pieces.  Perfection for the living room. I'll take the pillows I'll use over the candle I'd never use.

Shortly after I got home today, John's class was done.  He offered to stop in town and buy something for lunch.  I said, "Sure go ahead" because I was still busy trying to figure out what we'd have for our impromptu family dinner tonight.  It's a given the boys (well, Josh.  Isaac is far less picky but is limited in what he can manage to chew) will want either eggs or peanut butter sandwiches.  We have plenty of eggs and plenty of peanut butter, too.

Made sure to note on my pantry inventory list just what I had added to the pantry today.  Noted that I really need to pull some things to use in February if only because they are uncommon ingredients and if I don't plan to use them, I must plan to lose them.

In the end, pulled a pan of those frozen chicken enchiladas from the freezer and heated them.  I served with black beans, yellow rice and a big salad.  I put leftovers of the beans, rice and salad aside.  I'll likely make myself a burrito bowl tomorrow for lunch using at least some of these ingredients, plus the ripe avocado I'd meant to serve for supper tonight and forgot.

Dessert today was Banana Nut Muffins that Josh made with his Mama standing by.  His face lit the room when I told him they were delicious.   The room got even brighter when Grampa went and got a second one, though Josh did caution him to save one for his daddy to have.

I wonder sometimes why we spend money on toys.  I do really.  The boys play mostly with odds and ends that they gather from around the house.  Wooden boxes that John's dad made for his tools, are stacked in the living room and are regularly filled with rocks which are dumped out and put back in.  These are clean rocks and large enough that little mouths can't fit them in.  Some are painted rocks I've found in various places or plains one which I collected as a sort of souvenir.    They play with pillows and boxes and the plastic containers I've saved to store foodstuffs in.  They adore putting on John's boots and tromping about in them.  They like to play a sort of peek a boo game behind the laundry area curtain.   Of course, they love the piano, drums, harmonica, kazoos, maracas and tambourines that John has for them.   They do like cars, blocks and a tea set I'd bought that included a few little pots to 'cook' in.  But mostly they just play with an odd assortment of things they gather themselves rather than any toys.  Fortunately I haven't laid out a fortune in toys and do have an idea of what my own children preferred which seems to be pretty much timeless things overall.

Thursday:  John and I both slept quite well last night, even going to bed earlier than usual.   I had not taken time to set up breakfast for the morning so I simply fried John a couple of eggs and made toast for us both.  I couldn't stomach eggs this morning, but I've eaten my share of them of late since we have a plentiful supply.

John also mentioned that he'd happily take some of the eggs hard boiled in his lunch.  Good idea on his part.  I shall send two with him and we'll see if he's a man of his word on that.   At any rate, he's texted me this morning to say that he's bringing home two dozen more!

I wondered just how I'd manage with these eggs but recalled that all of them are very fresh, laid within the past week or so and they will last.  Nevertheless I'll be getting creative with them in the week or so ahead.  I'd like to make up a pound cake recipe which will put two cakes in the freezer.

Sent John off well fed, with coffee and lunch bag in hand.

Immediately after John left this morning, I made myself a second cup of coffee and planned to relax with it. I'm afraid I got busy and let it get cold.

I've been a little lazy this week.  I didn't feel 100% on Monday after a morning out shopping and gave in to it and on Tuesday I just wanted to spend what time I might with John  and on Wednesday I went grocery shopping on my own and then readied for the boys and Bess to have supper with us.  So here I am on Thursday and it did seem the house looked a bit rough about the edges.  I started at the backdoor and started cleaning and ended at the dining area.  Now the house looks spic and span once more but I had yet to tackle any one job on my list for the week.  It's a little too cold to paint, even indoors.  And a good bit too cold to make me want to do any job out of doors.

Well days never go quite as you plan them.  I made myself get busy on that zipper on the slipcover seat cushion.  It's in.  I'd held off because I needed a longer than usual zipper.  I found one finally and then postponed because frankly I was a little scared of doing it.  In the end, it wasn't as difficult as I feared it would be at all and I had no trouble at all getting the cushion back into the thing once I was done.  It makes me happy to look across at that chair and to see a job done rather well by my own hand.  Now I shall look toward getting the slipcover on my other chair remade to fit.  I've been putting it off due to fear too, but you know I have only to look across the room to realize I can do this and do it nicely.

I pulled all the tax papers together and got my figures done.  Hopefully this will be all I require. I knew I needed to do this come January and here I put it off until the last minute.  Tomorrow may never come but anytime we say 'I'll do it later" you can be sure that at some point it is indeed later and has arrived.

I had just settled in my chair to have a soda when I heard Katie come up.  I hadn't expected to see her today so I did nothing else but visit with her.  She asked what I meant to have for supper and I looked at her sheepishly and admitted, "Well...I've been looking forward all day long to a piece of Raisin bread cheese toast."   Needless to say that didn't appeal to her but there were plenty of options in the fridge.

I need to plan out my weekend meals.  And the dining area rug needs to be vacuumed.  I should make Shabat bread.  And I really do need to consider what to do with a portion of those eggs.  But that can wait until tomorrow.  This day is over and it's time for bed.

Friday:  I was up a little later than usual for me last night.   I watched a couple of tv shows I enjoy that John doesn't usually watch and then I wasted another hour on the computer.  Finally I wrote out a meal plan for today and went off to bed.  I did not last long once I actually laid down.  I'd meant to listen to a video but never made it past the intro.  I slept long and hard and didn't wake until John was literally coming in the back door.  I don't often sleep like that and I'm not complaining!

Made us an omelet this morning for breakfast.  Thinking to use up more eggs,  I found Granny's recipe for Pound Cake and think I might make that one...but I also have a recipe for a banana pound cake and a chocolate one...All three sound delicious to me at present.  Since I can't make up my mind I sorted recipes instead and cleared out a load of old paperwork I'd kept for years upon years.  What I have in this recipe notebook is only the tried and true ones I know we enjoy.

Leftovers for our dinner today.  I had a lot of chicken rice soup left the other night.  That was an ample lunch and what is left now will go to the dogs.  After all it's nothing more than what a homemade dog food would be comprised of.

I puttered about the house this morning doing odd jobs.  I went through the broom/cleaning closet and organized it better.  I went into the upper cupboard that is so very awkward and redid that.  I cleaned out from under the cabinet in the guest bath.  I worked on that recipe notebook and then I cleared my house clothes drawer and neatly folded things in the Kondo way.   Each area I touched today saw something tossed in the trash, repurposed elsewhere or set aside for donation.  Here I've just spent a full month decluttering my home and I spent two and a half hours this morning working on more of the same.   I will say that the tidying and folding did make me aware of what I didn't want to see at all in a space and therefore it was easier to let go of things.  I don't expect I will spend a lot of time doing this all over again this month but it was a good activity for today when I've no desire to start a heavy cleaning or project work.

Allegra wrote quite a long comment on last night's Coffee Chat post about anxiety and what area of the brain is responsible and how subtle the triggers of anxiety can be.  It was very informative and I urge you all to refer back to those comments and read it.  As I responded to her, there may not be a reason I can pinpoint that triggers my anxious moments but at least now I am aware that it likely is not a premonition of something but just a random response I think I can better accept the panic attack that sometimes ensues.

Since several of you have mentioned Marie Kondo and her books, I thought you might not be aware of her blog.  I realize that likely she is a passing fad for many but I do believe in some ways she's tapped into something that triggers a response with many and that is that 'stuff' often gets in our way or what it is we really want from our lives.
https://blog.konmari.com/

Here's a glimpse of a portion of the living room now.  I added the needlepoint pillows, plants and several pieces of blue and white china to the bookcases.  It's still very much a work in progress.

I also wanted to share this link from Kroger stores about the ten most commonly wasted foods.

Louise shared this very interesting article with me about expired drugs.  Please do read through it, it's very enlightening!


And that's the week it's been.   Welcome to February.  Please share with us how your week went.