Nov. 2, Saturday: I have just watched the loveliest sunset. That's something I've been doing routinely for a few weeks now. The leaves are getting thinner and thinner on the pecan tree outside the living room window so I can see more of the sky than I could in summer. John may go all around the house shutting shades as early as 5:30 or 6PM but he always leaves the west windows, the ones directly across from our chairs unshaded until after the sun has set. Tonight's showing was all pale pink and lilac and deep grey blue.
We have done very little today. And I took a nap on top of all that doing nothing much! Unusual, since I have slept well the last few nights. I only made the bed, loaded dishes into the dishwasher and barely cooked. I also read an entire book, The Trail of Conflict by Emilie Loring.
All in all, it's been a lovely restful day. I have enjoyed it.
Last night, I was going to make a salad to go with our supper. I opened the drawer and found two small Taylor Farms individual salad packages I'd picked up as a clearance item last Friday (that would be the last Friday in October). They were perfectly fine, no browning edges, smelled good. So, we had those. It was one of the best salads I've had in ages! It was the Citrus Crunch Salad, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
If you can't find it in stores or prefer to make salads at home, this is what it contained: tiny bits of cauliflower, red cabbage, carrots, iceberg and romaine lettuce bits, a bit of red onion, and quite possibly little bits of green cabbage. It was the dressing that blew me absolutely away, even more than the combination of salad ingredients. It was a lemon vinaigrette, so fresh and bright! The salad was topped with a combination of finely diced walnuts. This is a salad I want to keep in mind and possibly make here at home because it was so very good.
Today's Meals: Bagels with Cream cheese, Bacon
Sausage and Vegetable Pizza
Roasted Chicken, Grapes. We weren't very hungry, so we just had a chicken leg and the fruit.
Nov. 3, Sunday: That extra one hour of sleep turned into two for us this morning. John is playing at the nursing home this afternoon and we felt it was best to go to late service rather than the early one just to reduce time that the guitar and other equipment had to sit in the car.
Fortunately, today was neither hot nor cold, so the guitar could safely stay put. They are persnickety when it comes to temperature. I suspect that we needn't be quite so gentle with them, after all, they couldn't have been that careful in days long gone, but this is the one thing John is careful about with his instruments. And frankly given their value, I am glad that he is not careless with them.
We talked with friends for a bit while we were at church and then John called Katie to ask if he could come by for coffee. To be fair, the nursing home was within a couple of miles of her home and it seemed a good place to kill a few minutes time. She immediately asked if I'd go to Joanne's with her. I told her I'd go one better and have her dad drop me off there on his way to her house. I only had to wait on her about 5 minutes or so.
I waited for her outside and while I did so a man came up with two little girls. He carried one around to the passenger side of the truck and released the other one from her car seat and said, "Stay right here." Well of course, she didn't. He promptly raised his voice and said, "STAY HERE!" It's a busy parking lot and a car was coming. I was amused and couldn't help but smile. He looked at me as they came across the drive and said, "I try and try not to yell at them." I said, "You're being a good dad in keeping them safe." "They just don't listen!" At that moment two women came around me who'd just exited the store. "And that's why my kids' electronics live in the car..." said one to the other. That made me smile, too. Parenting has likely been pretty much the same for centuries...I wonder if Mary didn't raise her voice to Jesus when she found him in the temple...
I had decided I'd look for material to make shams for my winter bedding at Joanne's. I found a lovely piece of fabric, too. I was a bit taken aback at the cost of $21.99 a yard. The same sort of fabric when last purchased (weight and composition I mean) was only $11.99/yard the last time I purchased it. Since this was 54inches wide I felt a yard and a half was plenty for my two shams. Katie, bless her, had a coupon which the girl allowed her to use on my purchase as well as her own. So, in the end my thread, a skein of yarn, and the material only cost $22. My shams will cost me less than $10/each which is a great price and the material far nicer than the shams I meant to order online.
Katie is in her cozy fall season and wanted to crochet a new blanket for her bed. So, she was buying yarn...the skein I bought was one she was putting back since she didn't have enough money. Silly girl should have known I'd get it for her.
We didn't waste time, but it went quickly. I had just five minutes to go into the house and greet the children. Bella was overjoyed to see me. "It's Gramma, my Gramma!" she said, and she clung to me hard. Caleb sort of wandered up and hugged me off to the side. Already I can see that about to be age 5 boy is getting to be more of a big boy...Henry was sound asleep and even Gramma doesn't disturb a sleeping infant. I will say he is a good little sleeper and since Bella and Caleb are so loud, he's getting some good sleep training in sleeping through all sorts of noise!
We arrived at the nursing home early enough but there was a mess of road construction and directions led us to the back of the building where there were no entrances. We had to go back around the building to the front to park, looking hard for the unmarked entrance and exit. Interestingly enough the church we now attend used to be in the church right across the street, long before our time. More interesting, when I worked in Warner Robins, Katie's nursery was next door to the rehab center and across the street from the church, too. I pondered how many days I looked at that church as I drove to and from the nursery for drop-off and pick-up, never knowing that I'd be attending same church in a different location 20-odd years later.
We went to Buc-ees and grabbed brisket sandwiches on our way home. The place was a zoo. I told John, "My goodness! It's like being in the mall on a pre-Christmas weekend!" It took stamina to keep up with one another. Twice we were separated, and I nearly didn't find him again, lol.
I was hungry, very hungry by that point. We waited to eat here at home and promptly after eating I dozed off and took a nap. When I woke it was 7pm and dark. Time change had worked its wonders, and I'd completely missed any glimpse of sunset this evening since I was napping.
Meals: Big Breakfast: toast, grits, sausage, eggs
Brisket Sandwich, Pickles.
November 4, Monday: I heard the heat come on this morning, as I lay abed. It was just before 7am. I was wide awake and decided to get up. Time change may have me toddling off to bed around 9:30ish but the advantage is that I'll be awake earlier each morning and that's quite all right by me. Its John will miss my company in the evenings though, because he goes to bed by the time on the clock, not the time it might have been the evening before time change. It's funny how he lives by the clock, because he's very spontaneous otherwise, but he wants to eat at this time and that and he rises and sleeps at a set time and that's that.
Given my poor sleep pattern, I'm far less rigid. If I'm miserable with being drowsy, I head off to bed, determined to get in what sleep I might and if I wake, I get up, unless it's pitch dark. I do hate to sit up in the dark, though I could easily turn on a light and read...but I won't for fear of disturbing John. He will get up and sit with me if he sees a light, even though he's dead tired.
Despite the heater coming on, it's not cold, just barely cool. Our mornings of late have been foggy and gray and leaves are drifting off the trees almost the moment they begin to change color. It looks like Fall outdoors now. The leaves under the trees are thick enough to scuffle through. It's warm enough though that I'd be wary of doing so for fear there is a snake underneath them.
This week we're due to have some rain at last. It's been a good month since we've had any rain at all, perhaps even six weeks. We need the rain. We need the cold weather, too, but thus far both elude the season. However, the appearance of autumn is here with the gray drizzly mornings, the fog, the fallen leaves.
later: I got fooled by my lack of changing the clock. I glanced into the living room and the clock read 12N. I took things out for lunch, walked over to the window and looked out. A strange vehicle was coming up the drive towards the house. I called to John to come see what it was about...
It was a former work colleague of his. He was welcomed indoors and we sat here and talked. He was from the same county/former hometown we were, and we talked over various folks and places and changes. Time passed. I thought, well he arrived at noon...should I offer up lunch. He declined all offers of anything to drink, I felt I was being a bother and sat down to enjoy the conversation. I glanced at the clock, and it was a bit after 3pm.
I went to the kitchen to put up the bread I'd baked earlier. It was about then this fellow got up to take his leave. I wrapped up one of the cakes I'd made (Applesauce Cake, and I'd left one unfrosted to put in the freezer) so I handed it to him to take home to his wife. I put pizza in the toaster oven to warm and then John came in after having seen his friend off. He then reminded me that the clock had never been changed.
No, it hadn't! I'd bragged that this year we had only one clock we had to set time back on and I'd never done it. Nor had he. And it wasn't nearly as late as I'd thought it was getting to be, it was just after 2pm.
I really had accomplished a lot before noon today. I'd started supper in the slow cooker, baked a loaf of bread, made an applesauce cake, cleaned up the house and pruned the plants at the back porch that I wanted to cut back this week.
It's gotten cooler today than they'd forecast. I'd noted as John's friend came in the door that the air was chilly outdoors. When he left this afternoon, I found the back porch wet and a soft misty rain falling. We are supposed to have rain for the next 7 days and we're not issuing any complaints over it. It's been so terribly dry here, very dry and I was beginning to wonder if we'd see any rain or if we were headed back to drought conditions.
Meals: Cheese Toasts
Leftover pizza (1 slice each) and a small slice of Applesauce cake. Sooo good!
Ropa Vieja, Black Beans, Rice, Corn Relish. I have Tortillas, but I've decided to make it a Burrito Bowl sort of thing.
Nov. 5, Tuesday: We had company again this morning. I had just gotten pancakes started when John said, "We've got company!" I knew it must be Sam, who said he had absolutely no time to talk but stayed and talked anyway, lol. I finished making breakfast and we ate while he was talking to us. It was a nice visit, and we enjoyed it.
That was a late breakfast for us, and so a late lunch seemed to be in order as well. The truth, we are eating at the same time we always have eaten. It's just with the time change...It will take us a little while to get used to this change. It always does.
I got my little bit of housework done but no actual work in the rooms I'd meant to do. I did get the guest bedroom's new bedding put on the bed. It turned out I had ordered a duvet cover not a comforter. It did not say Duvet cover anywhere on the description that I recall but it worked out fine, since the quilt I had on the bed already fit perfectly in the cover. I will see if I can't fix the comforter so that it will stay in place and not scooch all over the place inside the duvet cover. I sure do like the mossy green gingham check, and it looks lovely in the room. My mind has been set on green for that bedroom for months now.
I went into the kitchen to prep the Chicken Spaghetti. I'll tell you more about that in a bit. I also made two Chicken Broccoli Rice and Cheese casseroles and boiled the frame hoping to get enough meat off that for soup, since I used all the chicken in the three casseroles.
After lunch we took an unexpected nap. That's two days in a row. I suppose that too is part of the time change adjustment.
We've had some discussions today. For one thing, we talked over one more time what adjustment we will make to our budget. There are two areas we could trim significantly but John asked that we hold off making a decision once again. I told him I was willing to wait but, in the meantime, there is no wiggle to the budget in the least. I reminded him that every single bill we have has increased in cost over the past six months. Every one of them. There's only so much money and the outgo is higher. In the meantime, I cut the grocery budget one more time. It's imperative that I do so. And I let him know that was all I can do at this time.
The other discussion he brought up and that was about Thanksgiving. John said he didn't want to have company for Thanksgiving, of any sort. Nor did he want to go to Mama's. He said if we're invited anywhere (except Mama's) he will consider going but he doesn't want to deal with the hustle/bustle, prep work, etc. I didn't enlighten him that if we end staying home there will still be prep work because those meals don't just make themselves, lol. He did tell me that next year, he'd like to plan our vacation to fall over Thanksgiving and us go away. So...No wiggle room in the budget but hey let's plan to go on vacation in 12 months.
It will all sort itself out. I know this. It always does.
Meals: Oatmeal Pancakes, Bacon
Leftovers from end of last week.
Chicken Spaghetti, Salad, Bread and Butter. I didn't much care for this casserole. I finally figured out why. It tasted very much like tuna casserole without the tuna. I'd rather have had tuna casserole. I have half this casserole left and we will eat it (I made only a half recipe to begin with) but I won't make it again. And I won't put it in the freezer to save for later, because I know I will avoid eating it.
Nov. 6, Wednesday: Pay attention to the sales ads dears! The Thanksgiving sales have begun. In my locals thus far I've seen these prices.
Aldi: 5 pounds of flour $1.79, 2 pound bags of powdered sugar and brown sugar $1.65, baking powder $1.59, chocolate chips $1.69. Turkeys range in price from 77c a pound to $1.07/pound. Sweetened condensed milk is $1.69.
Kroger: pineapple and cranberry sauce for $1.49 a can, Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup and Del Monte Green Beans for 79c each.
I didn't note any other actual Thanksgiving sales worth mentioning Publix. But I did find it interesting that the holiday foods sales are beginning so early in November. After the dearth of bargains over the past few years at holidays these are welcome sites. Kroger actually had canned pumpkin on sale last week. I hope they offer up more sales on that. I'd like to get 2 or 3 cans.
John left round 11am today to have lunch with his friend and former work partner. I have stayed home, mostly due to lack of funds to spend. I had planned to make purchases this week and thought today would be my day to do it, but then I looked at our upcoming pay day and the dates bills were due and alas, the bills had to go out earlier than pay day came this month. So I'll just sit tight on my wants and try to get them later in the month.
Bonus, I was home when the promised rain finally started and since it's a proper rain, not a misty one, I'm glad I am home! I had a lovely time writing a coffee chat post that will publish next week and puttering around doing a pedicure, cleaning up, and reading lots of my current book. I have no complaints over how my day has gone in the least. The TV is off, something that happens only rarely around here with John home and I've appreciated the opportunity to experience something as near quiet as we get in this modern-day world. Now I'm enjoying a rather disappointing mandarin and a most satisfying cup of hot tea.
I haven't had tea in ages upon. Growing up a day was not to be had that there was not a full gallon or sweetened iced tea made and sometimes we made two! It was a disgusting (now I say this but at the time it was refreshing) beverage which we drank at two meals a day and sometimes to cool off in between tasks in the summer. Sticky sweet with sugar and strong.
At first, I made it when I married as well, but money was tight and one thing we could give up and easily do so was sugary sweet tea. We'd much rather have had iced water or a cup of hot coffee which we took unsweetened as well. That was my first marriage mind you and I just kept the habit up of rarely having tea and when we did only lightly sweeten it.
It was in the hospital in 2015, that I came to appreciate how good tea could be if left unsweetened. It has a lovely floral sort of taste, but it has some vigor to it, too. I really came to enjoy and look forward to that twice daily cup of unsweetened iced tea! Then I spent a few winters fasting coffee and I came to appreciate hot tea. Here of late, I've been longing for a cup of nice hot tea. Today I decided, what with the rain pouring down and the overall grayness of the day, that this is the day to begin to enjoy it once more.
This is just a good name brand black tea, an orange pekoe blend. It's quite satisfying for a rainy humid afternoon. Ironic that the AC popped on though as I sat down to enjoy it, because somehow hot tea, more than a hot cup of coffee, seems to be the ultimate in comforting beverages.
I have Lapsang Souchong which has a smoky taste that I really like when it's very cold. It speaks of warming fires in a dark room, of penetrating cold and complete and the comfort of quilts and a warmth that spreads from the inside out again.
And to think I waited so darned late in life to come to appreciate tea!
Meals: Eggs and Buttered Toast
I had a stir fry veg and pot sticker meal. I'm pretty sure John ate his usual meal of Roast Beef and Mashed potatoes with a side salad and a bowl of warm fried apples if they went to their usual place.
I have no clue. Not enough chicken to make the soup I'd planned. Plenty of leftovers from last night (I am not excited over those). Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup? That sounds rather nice.
Nov. 7, Thursday: Somebody is going to pass out the 'bad grandparents' award and I'm going to win it. I completely forgot to call Caleb yesterday on his birthday. I didn't mail him a card. I also missed out on one of Josie's children's birthdays, and what's more another one of her children has his birthday in four days and he's not getting a card either. Sheesh! I swear next year I am going to be far better prepared!
How do I plan to be prepared? I'm going to go buy a whole bunch of cards and put the first name of each child on the envelope just in case their address changes at any point in the year. I'll go ahead and put their birthday cash in the envelope as well. I realize that I'm not going to mail money. One simply cannot do such a thing anymore. It's also not a good idea to mail gift cards which are virtually untraceable. But if I have the money in the envelope, I can purchase a money order or put it in the bank and then send the parent a cash app with the funds. That's resolution number one for 2025!
Last night, my hip was bothering me. On a scale of 1-10 it was low, quite low, but hurt enough to be uncomfortable. And then I had a sick headache when I went to bed. I was certain I was coming down with something and was fairly miserable when I went to sleep
I felt fine enough when I woke this morning, but the sick headache returned this afternoon, along with the hip pain. Ugh! Just let me get on without all this bother!
I got plenty done this morning though. I did my usual housework, mixed up meatloaf and started Chicken Enchilada soup, then settled to mending John's pants and finally to sewing my new pillow shams. I put lunch on the table, then started the dishwasher after that. It was unloaded later. Supper was made and cleared up behind and all those dishes washed or loaded into the dishwasher. I did not sweep the floor this evening...I was just done by that point and sweeping was too much already.
John's cell phone has worn a hole in his pants pocket. I told him I could fix it, and he went to check another pair of pants and found it was wearing in the same place. What he didn't notice was the wear points at the upper portion of the pocket where the top of his phone was rubbing. I just used iron on patches in a "T" shape to repair those places. Not a big deal really, just a matter of being patient as the patches set.
Then I started on my new pillow shams. I wanted an envelope type sham and bought enough fabric to manage that. However, the shams that go with the new duvet cover, were a different sort of envelope. You literally slide the pillow into one end and then you have a flap at that end tucks into the pillowcase. I thought it very clever and a more economical use of fabric. I managed to get the first one made but it took a bit longer than I'd thought it would. Of course, in making that one I learned enough to realize my mistakes and easily made up the second one with far less fuss. I'm pretty pleased with them overall but I forgot to do one thing that is so simple yet made a huge difference between the two. That is a bit of top stitching along the edge where the flap is attached. I had used the last of the bobbin of thread and put up the sewing machine before I realized I missed that detail, but I'll get it done another day.
This afternoon I got a Stitch Fix package. I'm keeping one item. Everything else is going back. The really dark wash jeans I wanted are too long by about six inches. I know from past experience that I can cut them off and hem them but since the leg has a slight flare it will ruin the overall appearance. One sweater I'd wanted just doesn't look good on me and the other, which I do like swallows me whole and wraps around me again. The blouse the stylist chose is white with a black window-pane pattern. I'd specifically asked for no more black items. The blouse is by a different fashion line but the exact style of all the other blouses I have from them. I like it but not enough to want to pay full asking price for it.
I think what has happened is that these new stylists are looking at what I've ordered in the past and simply sending a new color/pattern in the same style. The one item I'm keeping is a purse, and yes, it's just like a purse I'd kept in the past, but this one is more autumn/winter coloring.
I do like the quality of things at Stitch Fix, but I may have run my course with them. Fortunately, one can also order from them via their FreeStyle forum, where you go in and choose what you want yourself. I think that is going to be a much more affordable option for me in the future anyway.
Meals: Toast
Hamburgers, Chips
Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Cornbread, Applesauce (no cake but we've still got half a cup left).
Nov. 8, Friday: John told me last night, "If you'll get up early, we'll go out to breakfast..." Incentive! I barely slept and was wide awake in the wee hours of the morning, lol.
I wondered if John would still want to go when he saw the weather outdoors. We've had misty rain, rain and fog all week long with only one sunny day. No complaints, I'll say again. We need this rain and are glad to have it! But I did realize it normally would put a damper on his plans. Apparently only driving three miles into town is acceptable for this weather. Of course, we batched errands. I had to put bills in the mail, praying hard that some get there on time. With a late payday this month and every bill due within a day or three of the check coming in... I'm glad I took time in August to set money aside for this fifth week before payday! I'll be sure to do that again, as well. John needed to fill up his car. He forgot to do that, but we weren't even out of the city limits when I reminded him, we hadn't gotten gas, so we turned around and went back for it.
We went to the local diner, a place we have only ever frequented for the occasional lunch. Good food, but high for us in a small town. Still, we'd heard they had a good breakfast, and I was pleased when I saw the menu. Truth, I could not finish the meal I ordered, a Steak and Cheese omelet with a biscuit and hashbrowns.
There was only one waitress this morning and she was run off her feet. The phone rang every five minutes, customers were waiting in line to pick up orders or waiting on breakfast to be delivered to their table, the kitchen constantly calling out that an order was up. She was unfailingly calm, pleasant and polite to everyone.
If I could have wished for anything, it was that the interior could have been a bit lighter. With a gray dreary day outdoors, deep gray walls, a black ceiling and only about 1/3 of the lights working indoors it was a wee bit dark for my tastes. I think I've mentioned before that I am a 'light' girl. If it's daylight, I want the curtains and shades open and on a cloudy day I'll have lights burning as well. Not for me to dwell in a dark room!
Home once more, we got our bits of housework done. I finished my book and am pondering what book I shall claim next. The day is pretty much done for me as is the week. I have enough leftovers to last us for meals for the weekend for what time we'll be home. John has a Veteran's breakfast to attend Saturday morning and then we're going to Katie's to celebrate Caleb turning five this week.
How did your week go? Have you got weekend plans? I hope they are all pleasant ones!
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