Sunday, February 1: What a cold and blustery day it was on Saturday. The kids came in half frozen from their fast run across the field to my house.
I'd planned a Waffle lunch. I'd told the kids I was having a waffle lunch. I told Sam on Friday I was making a waffle lunch when he asked if it would mess up my plans if he took Isaac for a haircut on Saturday morning.
When Millie came in the door about lunchtime yesterday, she had a full-sized family pack of chips and a bottled drink. She proceeded to open the chips and I said, "Whoa...Hold on. I'm making lunch right now." "Dad said I could have them." "But we're about to have lunch...." "But I want my chips!" "Then wait and have them with lunch." "I don't want them with lunch. I want them now. Dad said..." And then the boys came in with the same, a full-sized bag of chips and a soda each. And then Isaac said, "Dad took me to Waffle House for breakfast."
I was so upset! I thought I'd planned something special for the kids, and it was all spoiled! John kept telling me to let it go and get over it. It wasn't as if no one knew what was going on. I fussed and complained and muttered, gently, but too much if I'm honest.
I made waffles and they were the BEST I've ever made. I used the recipe from my old Betty Crocker Cookbook. Those kids ate every single one and drank all the milk and had hot cocoa and ate fruit and still munched their way through those bags of chips, too! Millie told me, "Gramma these are the fluffiest waffles I've ever had. They're better than Waffle House!" Well, that brought a smile to my face. She's too young yet to know how to soothe hurt feelings as an older child might, but she sure smoothed my feelings down nicely.
I was shocked at all they ate. I had not realized they were at the bottomless pit stage at the moment, or I'd have saved my hurt feelings and angst with the world at large.
My day with them may have started late, but it ended early because they were asking for still more food and I was becoming rather alarmed at their appetites! I'm only half kidding. I took them home because it was getting steadily colder and colder and I felt it was far too cold for them to walk back across the field. Per my phone at that time it was 16F with a 'feels like' temperature of 11F. I'd closed the blinds and pulled the curtains early in the day and despite the propane heater and the heat pump both running, it was getting noticeably cooler in the house. I didn't want any of us out when the sun was going down.
I wore leggings and a tank top under my jeans and sweater today to church, as well as the heavy winter coat I bought two years ago and a baseball cap because I find that it does help to have that added layer upon my head. I need to find myself a nice hat to wear. The baseball cap is cute enough but not really church attire. I stayed warm, enough. Inside, I noted that they'd turned up the heat inside the church. People shed jackets and nobody huddled inside a sweater as they are typically wont to do on a typical Sunday.
It was so lovely to go to church! I hadn't been since the first weekend in January. I'd been sick the second Sunday, we'd had snow the third Sunday and I was sick again on the fourth Sunday. I'm glad that I managed to get there for the first Sunday of February.
Our lab results were back (how quick was that?!) from Thursday and while my numbers are better than last year's...I'm not impressed with any improvement I'd made. I have harped at John over his labs until he's rebellious and stubborn. But I mean to clamp down on us both and get us in some sort of shape...even knowing we're about to enter two weeks of multiple birthday cakes.
I went into Publix and picked up prescriptions which took all of the funds I set aside in January and part of February's (which aren't set aside just yet. I'll 'repay' the account when I set up that fund this month). Katie asked me to pick up Caleb's prescription while we there. I had to wait for them to mix his medicine. I had to wait for them to figure in the 'discounts' which they do not figure until you are there to pick them up. I deeply appreciate this courtesy, but that's why didn't go through the drive thru today and have others wait behind me while they do that.
But going in is not the best thing either. I grabbed a few things while there. I needed carrots and knew I was nearly out of Olive Oil which was on sale, and then there was that and this that fell into the buggy as I walked from one section of the store to the other...Sigh. You know the drill. Between the cost of the prescriptions and the 'bag' of groceries...I spent a chunk. Never mind that it's a new month and fresh budget for groceries, nor that I am now well stocked on carrots and olive oil. The overall total still made me wince.
We went over to Katie's to visit and drop off Caleb's medicine and, on the way over, Sam called asking if we could run by Lowe's and pick up something for him when we headed home.
Katie had a steaming crock pot full of lovely homemade soup. When she asked if we wanted any, I said "Yes" and John said "No". I don't know why he didn't want anything because he surely was hungry. I'm never going to turn down soup...I like it too well. Honestly, I find it comforting and feel I'm being deeply nourished. And I don't feel soup is a 'fattening' sort of food. Katie's had a lot of vegetables in it and plenty of broth. We talked and played with the little ones. Cody's dad came in and we all talked a good long while, then we headed off to Lowe's.
John just had to stop at McDonald's on the way and 'get a bite'. I urged him to keep it low key, and he did, but I thought, "If he'd just eaten a cup of soup, he wouldn't feel the need of anything just now." I fought my own desire for an order of fries, lol. I mean McDonald's fries served up hot are the bomb, aren't they? Of course, I didn't tell him that I wanted fries. I was going to be a 'good example'. John claimed that he wasn't hungry himself, but I needed something to eat. I assured him I'd eaten a bowl of soup and while I wasn't full, I wasn't hungry either. He ordered both of us a regular hamburger.
When we got to the drive thru window, we were told the car in front of us had paid for our meal. That has never happened to us before, but we thought it was just lovely. Our order was ready before the man who'd paid for our meal got his, so we were able to wave at him and smile as we left. I hope our happy smiles repaid him for his kindness.
I stayed in the car at Lowe's. Much as I'd have loved, loved, loved to walk through the garden center, I knew I'd more than hit my spending limit at the grocery and so I stayed in the car, where no impulse spending might occur.
For our supper tonight I had leftover Mongolian beef that I warmed up and served in low carb mini tortillas with pickled carrots and cucumbers, freshly diced green onions and thinly sliced red cabbage. It really did taste quite good. John wasn't happy, but I think he'd have been happier if he hadn't decided it was 'diet food'! I added insult to injury when I gave him a Mandarin when he asked for something sweet. There's plenty of cake in his future this week. He'll survive on a few days of 'diet' food!
February 2: John had an appointment today to remove his stitches. I had to pick up two more prescriptions at Publix. I had been getting texts from the pharmacy so thought they were ready. Well no, they weren't...so I wandered around the store, much to my detriment.
I bought frivolous things today but lovely ones. Fancy olives (Feta stuffed Castellanos and Cabernet Marinated Kalamata) and Alpine Strawberries (also known as pineberries, or white strawberries). They were all on special as a buy one get one deal. I always buy the White Berries in February, just once, either for my birthday or for Valentine's Day.
But are olives or fancy strawberries necessary? Absolutely not. Nor was the big bouquet of flowers, but all three of them made me happy. I call them birthday week specials. I'm not really big on celebrating my birthday for a whole week, but this year I'd promised myself little extras and that's what I've given me. I also placed an order for another item this afternoon that I promised myself last month
I picked up a free bar cake, too...And put it right into the freezer where it will stay until March or April. With two weeks of birthdays just now we don't need any extra cake hanging around, but I do know these cakes freeze well because this is what I did with the one I chose last year.
The prescriptions never did get ready! They said, "Oh it will be much later this afternoon." I said I'd come back over the weekend. We came home and as we walked in the door the darn text came through that my prescriptions were ready. I'm sure it was cheaper to come home than walk around the store for another half hour, though. Who knows what other splendid little luxuries might have gotten into my cart if I'd waited.
This afternoon, after lunch, I arranged flowers. I put a large bouquet in the living room and a smaller one in my work room. That's something I've been doing for myself this year. I buy a slightly larger bouquet than I'd bought in the past (it costs about $3 more) and then I make up an arrangement for my writing table and for the living room.
I took meats from the freezer to thaw for this week. This month, I'll share what we are having for some of our meals. The menu this week includes:
Chicken Parmesan (not fried nor breaded but coated with parmesan cheese and air fried). I served the chicken over Protein Pasta with fresh spinach and tomato sauce. I picked up those Parmesan coated chicken breasts at Kroger when they were marked down. They were very tasty and there was four breast pieces in the package. Apparently, they'd dipped the meat in garlic butter first and then in fresh grated Parmesan. We have two pieces of chicken leftover that I plan to use later this week. And I did. I made up a yogurt and flour pizza dough and topped it with the sliced leftover chicken, dried tomatoes, spinach and cheese.
Beef Stroganoff will be made one night. I got mushrooms yesterday just so I could make that this week. The sirloin I will use is one I purchased in late summer last year and found while I was working on my freezer inventory.
Chicken Legs. No clue what I'll make with these, but I have legs in the freezer that ought to be used.
Chicken Pot Pie.
I made biscuits for breakfast this morning using 1 cup of yogurt rather than add milk and shortening, etc. Just flour, leavening, and yogurt. They weren't carb free, but the yogurt did add reduce fat and added protein to our biscuits. I made up just enough dough for six biscuits. We had one each with an egg and a piece of sausage. They were tender and lovely. Honestly, I think I prefer biscuits made with yogurt, because they taste as though they were made with buttermilk.
I decided last night to change my tactics with John. I'm going to just start making dietary changes and see how we get on without too much fussing about what is okay and what isn't. The man is too miserable thinking he's on a diet...and honestly, he's NOT on one, I just said we'd be eating a little healthier. So, I didn't tell him the biscuits were made without shortening. I just said, "Here have a biscuit."
I made up sugar free Jell-O and sugar free pudding for us to have as a sweet after supper. We ate baked chips with our lunch sandwiches. Little tweaks, nothing he'll particularly notice. I'm going to use what I have first and then we'll buy better products to make further changes later on.
I have put out nuts, celery sticks and boiled eggs for him to eat as snacks. We will see how John gets on with those things.
Thursday, February 6: I've spent two afternoons this week tutoring Isaac on reading clocks and figuring out time. I recall that Sam had a devil of a time learning to tell time on an analog clock when he was at this age and still couldn't read analog time well when he got to junior high. Well, he's had a heck of time coaching Isaac through it as well and here he is 42 years old and training to be a math teacher.
I'm usually at their house two afternoons to greet Millie and Isaac when they get off the bus. Bess isn't off work yet; Sam stays after school with Josh who has both e-sports and band practice in the late afternoons. While I'm at the house, I typically run through homework with Millie and Isaac and this week it's been all about Time.
Well yesterday evening, Isaac and I were working away and Sam asked me if I'd be Isaac's tutor. "You are so much more patient with this, and he seems to understand your explanations better than mine," he added. Flatter me, please! Of course, I said, yes, I would help and Isaac and I sailed through two more exercises before I left. He's supposed to come over this afternoon to work with me.
John and I have had a pleasant enough day. We went to pick up car tags, an annual birthday outing for us every year. And we're supposed to have cake tonight with Millie for her birthday and John's.
I'm making John's favorite foods today. He's had pancakes for breakfast, and a (homemade) mini-Sub sandwich for lunch followed by his requested (homemade) yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I used a cake recipe I've used for ages upon ages and this time I reduced the sugar by one fourth with no noticeable difference to the taste or texture of the cake. Tonight, he'll get a steak dinner for supper. This is all he wants. Just a quiet day and good foods. I balance him out by expecting a little something extra for my own birthday, lol.
Earlier this week, I kept a promise to myself and ordered lamps for my workroom. I'd promised myself last month that I'd buy them for my birthday. I had a small gift card from November earnings and found a pair of nice lamps that were very reasonable. If you haven't bought lamps from Amazon, you are snoozing on a very good quality product that is inexpensive! I ordered a set last year for our master bedroom and Katie got a pair for her room as well. We are both greatly impressed.
The lamps for my room cost just over $20 after my gift card was deducted which I think makes a rather reasonable birthday present cost. They arrived the very next day and are in place in the room. They look lovely. The color of the lamp is a grey and it perfectly (although accidental on my part) matches a grey that is in those lovely curtains I purchased for the room last year while the shade picks up another color in the curtains. I'm over the moon about the lamps. How nice that they came in when it was gloomy outdoors, so the extra lamplight has been lovely to work by.
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Saturday, February 7: On Thursday evening, Sam and the rest of the family came over and joined Isaac here so that we could have cake with Millie. Millie, like Caleb, is so excited to be SIX. She was all dimples and bounces that evening. She loves sharing her birthday with her Grampa, too.
Those last two lessons on Time with Isaac were HARD, even for me. I think the main issue was that I didn't have a clock we could play with and add and subtract time as needed. I drew clocks on paper, and we tried to work the problems in that way but it's not the same as having a physical clock you can turn the hands on. We got confused. We had to do problems over and over until we were both befuddled. But we finished ALL of the time exercises for this week.
After the family left, I made Steaks and Fries in the air fryer for our supper. I'd planned a bigger supper, a nicer meal, but it was late and I opted for an easier less complicated meal. I told John it was French, Steak au Frites. He was not impressed by it being French int he least but was perfectly happy with it.
Friday morning, I woke happy as could be. I may be 61 years older than Millie, but I love my birthday, too. Katie called and sang Happy Birthday to me at 8 a.m. She was peeved that she was beat out by Sam who texted me at 6 a.m. Those two are in a competition every year to be the first of the kids to give me good wishes. I heard from Amie later in the morning via text. I think she was homesick and missing her family. I know it's hard to read feeling/meaning into texts but somehow, I could feel her longing to be with us. I told her that I'd been dreaming of her a lot lately and I loved hearing her laughter in my dreams.
We did our usual Friday house blessing and then we went out to lunch at our favorite restaurant. We were given not one but TWO gift cards at Christmas for the restaurant. I also signed up ages ago for emails and texts from the restaurant chain. They sent me a free dessert coupon. So, after we'd had our lunch, I got the dessert. We knew we were too full to eat the whole dessert which is a multi-person portion. John and I had the ice cream and brought the cake portion home. That dessert netted us three 2 person servings!
And of course, we brought leftovers of our meals home as well, which is what we had for supper last night with an extra piece of meat left that we put on bagels this morning with a fried egg. For $35 we got three good meals and extra desserts off our meal out.
Today has been a lovely lazy Saturday at home. No big meals. No chores. Tomorrow will be full. Our next two weekends will be busy and full. So, we've made the most of our lazy day at home.
I journaled the first week of February in my Junk Journal. I am so enjoying that bit of crafting. I had a lovely card from Karla. I used a portion of the pretty envelope on the page for my birthday. I printed out some pretty images from Pinterest, clipped portions of junk mail...I'm very happy with how that creative work went this week.
I went to my closet and set up two outfits. I've had a terrible case of "I-want-itis" this week. I probably haven't mentioned it, but I vowed to buy no new clothing this year from regular retail sources. I can buy from the thrift stores but not from Stitch Fix or Cato or any place I'd typically order clothing from. Well, here it is February and the siren call of wanting something 'new' has hit me.
I thought if I set up a few outfits, I'd feel happier with what I have. I managed two without much thought. I took a black ditsy print maxi summer weight dress and paired it with a tank top and a pair of leggings (also black) to wear underneath, a blue denim jacket and my black short boots, along with a few necklaces. I'm hoping it will be warm enough to wear to church in the morning.
Then I tentatively have paired a pair of pants with a matching cardigan, but I've no idea what top to put with it. I would love to find a nice graphic t-shirt that would pair well with jeans and the pants I chose today.
I cooked the chicken legs tonight as a sheet pan dinner with potatoes, onions and frozen red peppers. I confess here and now that I like the price of chicken legs on sale, but I don't LIKE chicken legs. I said as much to John when we were eating, adding "but they are so cheap at times..." and John said, "Then use them to make soup with." Well goodness, why didn't I think of that?! I find them too full of those tough little tendon ends. What a great idea to use them for soups and casseroles.
Monday, February 9: John and I have been fully celebrated for our birthdays this year. We went by Katie's yesterday after church, and they had lunch and cake and balloons for us. It was a lovely little family 'party' and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
I wore that summery dress with the leggings and tank under yesterday and stayed nice and warm all day long. Of course, the day turned out to be fairly nice, and I realized that once the temperatures are in the mid-70's I probably wouldn't wear it that way. I think it would be far too warm.
Today has been a putter about the house sort of day. I made soup from some things I'd been saving in the freezer: leftover broth from cooking a roast, leftover vegetable bits, that sort of thing. It was soooo good! I put two quarts into the freezer for future meals after we'd had lunch from it today.
I did all sorts of little odd jobs and can honestly say I accomplished nothing much, but it looked better at the same time. I also took myself out for a walk. No signs of spring here, unless you count the leaves of daffodils popping up.
I took a whole chicken, pork chops and about 1.5 pounds of ground beef from the freezer this morning.
Tonight's supper will be Pork Chops with German Potatoes and Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage with apple.
We'll have roast chicken one night and I plan to make spaghetti sauce with the beef. We'll have spaghetti one night for dinner. I plan to make a big batch so that I can freeze a couple of quarts for future use. I like to have spaghetti sauce on hand. It makes for such an easy meal if one is needed.
I also plan to make Fish one night. I have bought fish fillets for myself, but for John I'll make up some tuna fish sticks or perhaps he might like chicken better. He's never had a bone from a can of tuna or a can of chicken.
Wednesday, February 11: John had told me on Monday night that he'd like to pick up a pizza for lunch on Tuesday. Since we usually are out running errands this time of month, I agreed but did talk him into a pizza that had both meat and vegetables. We will have the leftovers tomorrow night with a salad for our supper. Both John and I will be out tomorrow for lunch. He's eating out with his former partner and I'm going to be out with Mama.
This morning, I tackled a project: making chili and spaghetti sauce for the freezer. I ended up with 4 containers of spaghetti sauce. It's about 3 cups of sauce in each container, not a full quart. I also put two quarts of chili in the freezer. I saved out enough chili to make Chili Mac for supper. It's warming up. I don't know if we'll have any more really cold days and Chili Mac is best in cooler seasons.
The doctor called yesterday to discuss lab work results. I'll be honest, I'm so glad that we switched over to him. He didn't fuss, threaten me with dying, or try to scare me in anyway. He and I discussed my A1C which has decreased from last year's labs, but I am now considered a diabetic and not pre-diabetic. He kept stressing that it wasn't anything to worry over, and we would discuss it when we have our next appointment which is at the end of the April.
From what I understand overall it means that the Metformin is no longer working to reduce the amount of sugar in my blood...and that is likely because my body is no longer producing enough insulin to naturally lower it. Likely I did do some good in introducing the Oregon Grape Root Extract and the Citrus Bergamot into my daily supplements. I'm grateful it worked so well for me for over 10 years. But it's now time to look at other alternatives for medications.
So, for now, all of the current medicines continue, I continue to watch what I eat and try to be better about choosing the better options. Then at the end of April, we'll talk it over and see where we're going from there.
Overall, he was pleased with the lab results. I love that this doctor is not an alarmist, he carefully explains what the results mean and why they were flagged and what the overall reasoning for doing something or nothing is, as well as the guidelines. I had no idea that each lab has its own standard of what constitutes a high on some numbers and not on others. It's like sizing in the clothing industry. Each one determines what it's going to guide by, and they are not the same!
I spent a happy bit of writing time in my workroom yesterday afternoon and was fully 'in the zone'...And then suddenly I crashed to earth. Sam was on the phone, wanting to borrow something that I had to go find and while I was looking for that, Isaac showed up telling me he needed 'help' with his IXL math. (He didn't...but apparently, he wants me to work with him, so I shall...I might as well refresh my own knowledge of basic math, lol.) Anyway, it's been a long while since I was so lost in my writing that I hit earth with a THUMP when it was broken up.
Today, I've spent the whole morning in the workroom writing. I'm determined to make the most of it since I won't get a chance to do a bit of work on Thursday and this afternoon, I must go greet the kids off the bus and help them with their homework.
Katie called this morning. Caleb has a teacher workday next Tuesday so he'll be coming over to spend the night with us. That's unexpected but oh so lovely.
Supper tonight will be Roasted Chicken. It's not one of those great huge baking hens but a lovely little broiler fryer, not much over 2.5 pounds.
Now I am off to put bread in the oven...
Later: Money Saving Mom posted about a book sale at Amazon, a buy one get one 50% off sale. I was thrilled to find a book series and the first book of another series I really have wanted to add to my shelves, all hardbacks and for under $55. I have put all of my personal spending on hold for the past month, but this month...I'm spending a bit of my allowance...but not all of it and I won't be spending any more any time soon. I'm saving for bookcases you see...but I might as well get the books I want to go on it...Right?
I've been thinking about saving money in the kitchen, which is typically where I look first when I want to trim household spending. My goal is to lower my grocery budget, and I've set myself a rather big reduction. BUT I am seriously considering means and methods because we all know there are places where one might reduce costs but also end up creating a lot of work. Work I don't need more of! So, I'm seriously considering which of the means I've thought might be a savings are actually worth my time.
Saturday, February 14: On Thursday, I visited with Mama...but I also texted Amie a Happy Birthday.
On Friday, I got a text from Ben saying, "Hey...Amie's birthday was yesterday..." We hadn't heard anything back from Amie, but we assumed she was working. It never occurred to us that she might not have received our messages! So, we took screenshots and resent them. Apparently, she'd had her phone off at the time we sent the texts.
I know it's Valentine's Day and I hope you had a lovely one, but it's also birthday party day for Millie and Isaac.
While I was writing on Thursday, I glanced out of the window and was alarmed to see great billows of smoke rising just across the field. I watched it for quite a bit and then determined that more than likely it was a controlled burn in the pine orchard. And so, it was. The smoke cleared somewhat, I felt relieved that my fear of it being a wildfire was for naught and I went back to writing. That was around 3pm.
By 5pm the aroma of smoke was in the house. I kept thinking how much worse it must be up at Sam's as he's right next to that pine orchard. By the time we went to bed, smoke hung in the air heavy as fog and the inside of our house looked smoky, sort of the way it does when you've burned food properly. Not enough to set off the alarms but enough to see a few wisps of smoke.
I kept saying to John, "What a shame that we have this when the party is tomorrow!" I knew there would be about 21 people (all family) there and I'd offered to have the party here in our home if it rained. This morning, Bess texted me that they were moving the party to Byron to the very nice park there. That was at 8:30 and when I came out of the room to tell John the plan, I glanced out the window and saw that the smoke really was heavy and hanging like fog outdoors. There was no way we'd be having an outdoor party, and you can just imagine how 11 children were going to react to that!
We left home and were in town when Sam called asking us to pick up something he'd forgotten at home. Glad we were still in town and was still more glad later when I was coming out of Sam's house and Bess's mom pulled up. Apparently, Jenny's phone had died that morning, and she'd not gotten the message! So, we loaded her up in our car and all went over to Byron together.
Just before we left home, even though the forecast was for slightly warmer weather, I felt the urge to run back and put on a tank top under the sweater I'd chosen and grab another sweater. I thought briefly, "I do have a sweater in the car already, but I grabbed one that coordinated better with my outfit, anyway. Again, glad I did.
When we reached the park and found the pavilion was breezy, too cool and fully shaded, plus the sun had gone behind the clouds. It was chilly! I went back to the car and got both sweaters and handed one to Jenny who hadn't brought an extra one.
Eventually the folks from north of Atlanta arrived. We were right next to the playground, and the kids went right to it. The adults spread about in small groups and talked then rotated into other small groups. Katie brought out blankets, other parents brought extra jackets from their cars for children who had come without.
Isaac had a birthday cake and Millie had cake doughnuts. Sam made both the cake and the doughnuts. He had the idea to let the children decorate their doughnuts and brought sprinkles and frosting, etc. Some of the children had a plate full of sprinkles.
All in all, it was a lovely afternoon. Truly lovely.
And a lovely, lovely two weeks of celebrating birthdays!
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