Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Front Porch Musings

 

I really miss the island life.  No service....just normal life, live music, the beach, waves, good friends, and peace of mind.  It was so hard to adjust when we got back home.  How hard?

First, I was utterly frustrated to see that my kitchen was filled with processed foods.  Daughter K went on a shopping binge, and there was junk food and pop everywhere.  On the floor, on the fridge, counters and table.  That was even before I had check the front room.  I had a feeling she had a friend over while we were on vacation.

Breakfast scramble was made - sweet potatoes, onions, green bell pepper, jalapeno, spices, eggs and bacon.


Got the green and wax beans blanched and in the freezer.



Here is a photo of the winter hats I worked on over the weekend (my travel project).  Although I am still not booked for any holiday craft show at this time, I am still doing handiwork when I can.  I try and set an hour or half hour for myself daily.  I have to, or I'll lose my mind.

Monday, August 30, 2021

Happy Homemaker Monday



We had a superb weekend on the island.  Our last sanity saver trip over this year.  Maybe. If they have an opening, I'm taking it.  We were literally off grid.  There is no service where we stay, and we like it that way.

On the way home we stopped at a large produce stand and brought home some green and wax beans.  I will be stopping there every year we head to the island from now on.  They have a large variety of everything.

Came home to find out one of my chickens died.  

We literally unpacked the truck, threw everything on the bed and kitchen counters, ran out to pick a tomato, and headed to the "Big City" to check on Mom.  We took her some chocolates a woman makes on the island, one tomato (only one turning red that was a beefsteak type), and some popcorn she loves.

Mom looks much better, but has a long way to go to recovery.  She still cannot drive herself anywhere, so between our Daughter K, her neighbor, my younger brother and I, we are trying to do our best, but we all have jobs/work/kids/garden to put up etc.  It's been rough, so hence the trip to the island.


Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  I'll link up if my brain remembers to.

The weather . . .
Hot and humid.  No rain in sight.

Right now I am . . .
Dragging my feet trying to get the day started

Thinking . . .
I wanna go back to the island. There is too much going on here, and too much needing done.

On my reading pile . . .
Nothing.

On my TV . . .
Bloodline

On the menu . . .
Have no idea.  Just got back from a weekend vacation.

On my to-do list . . .
Everything.
-put away dishes (life with a lazy young adult kid)
-run dishwasher
-pick garden
-water all gardens
-laundry
-clean entire kitchen
-label and put away canned items
-unpack from the trip
-vacuum
-sweep and mop
-clean out fridge (may be a week long job)
-clean green beans and blanch and freeze
-water house plants
-clean bedroom(yikes!)
-water porch plants
-dehydrate some herbs
-the. list. is. endless....

In the craft basket . . .
Winter hats.  I'll post a picture later when it's light out. Maybe even tomorrow if my brain remembers.

Looking forward to this week . . .
A clean house???

Looking around the house . . .
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!  Ugh.


From the camera . . .
A photo while driving the golf cart on the north side of the island.



Prayer list . . .
Mom.  Right now there are no other special requests.

Friday, August 27, 2021

Freezing Tomatoes




I decided to freeze the last of the picked tomatoes.  I didn't have enough to make or can anything, so they went into the freezer until the next harvest.  

I canned another round of hot pepper jelly.  My mad hatter peppers are finally turning red.

On a good note, I talked to my Mom about Life Alert, and I think she will be getting an Apple Watch that detects falls, and calls so many phone numbers when it happens. I'm just happy we have come up with a solution.  The cost is way less than Life Alert too.  In the meantime, her insurance is delivering her 14 free meals (great news)!

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Taco Sauce ~ Seed Saving



(before running it thru the sauce maker)

I canned a batch of homemade taco sauce.  I picked fresh jalapenos for it, and boy are my hot peppers doing great in this heat.  It has zero corn starch and only 1/4 cup of sugar (no corn syrup) and only real food.


10 glorious jars of taco sauce done. Checked that off the list.  Hoping to get more tomatoes.


Seed saving has begun.  I have bell pepper seeds drying and a bit of jalapeno seeds.  It's harder to save my hot pepper seeds, as I freeze and can with the seeds in, but will get them dried as well.  I have some Amish paste seeds drying as well.

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Heat Wave ~ Canning ~ Tidbits

The water hose was working overtime due to the heat and no rain. In fact, schools closed and will not be open until the 30th for now (due to the heat).  

However, we woke up to thunderstorms.  Glorious rain is falling on the gardens this morning.



My first batch of hot pepper jelly was done, but I will need to do more canning today with a small amount of tomatoes.



Froze more bell peppers and jalapenos, and made egg salad for a cold meal.

Mom was released from the hospital a few days ago, but since then has had a bad fall, which required stitches.  I'm very worried about her health right now.  She is a very stubborn person and we keep telling her to take her cell phone with her when she is outside. 

She was even out shopping prior to the fall, which I need to get after her to use the scooter in the store from now on.

First, we scolded her for being outside in 90 degree weather doing yard work at 8pm.  Second, I need to see what phone she has to get her a holder or shoulder strap to carry her phone.  Somehow during the day we managed to get a meal ordered and delivered to Mom.  She was very very happy.

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Monday's are Tough

 

Mondays I typically try and do the entire house, so I can enjoy it the rest of the week.   Didn't happen.  I started out making egg/sausage/cheese and chickpea tortilla quesadillas for breakfast (next time will add jalapenos), cooked up ground beef for sloppy joes and had a mountain of dishes after that. Dinner was crock pot sloppy joes on Ezekiel bread and sweet potato fries (baked).

Laundry got started, but our mower guy arrived, so I couldn't put it on the clothesline.  I started on floors, but had to do other stuff too.  Just hard to keep up with.  I haven't even checked the garden yet.

I got another corner area of the upstairs carpet shampooed, but when Daughter E moved out she left trash and belongings.  Good luck getting her to come and clean it up, so guess who is doing it?  Yep.  Me and my husband.  I am gonna have one big party when the last one moves out.  These kids, and I didn't raise them that way, are so selfish and lazy right now.  

Anyway, it was stinkin' hot yesterday.  I'm glad I don't have a lot in the garden to deal with right now, but I may be canning this week.  

Monday, August 23, 2021

Hot but Productive Weekend

We were very productive over the weekend.  Got more taken out of the upstairs, weed whacking almost caught up, all flower beds but one weeded, herb garden weeded.  Picked up more totes and got more yarn and crafting supplies moved to the upstairs.  Started another box for donations, tore down more boxes, made a trip to recycling and more.

It's been ridiculously hot here.  No rain in sight. Watering is happening, but only on certain parts of the garden now.

Hubby finally looked at Daughter K's car.  The AC is not working.  Unfortunately, it needs more work than he thought.

Speaking of working on her car.....weird things happened on Sunday.  While he was out working on the car, and I had just got out of the shower (after working in the herb garden), a woman literally (kid you not) walked out of the woods behind our property, walked up to the driveway and asked for water and use of a phone.  We were like "what is going on?"  She had some sort of story that didn't make sense, had make up on from the night before (clearly), and her boots where soaking wet from walking in the creek.  We both took her to the nearest gas station and dropped her off.  I was so strange and odd.  We are out in the country and our closest neighbor is 2 fields away one way, and further away the other direction.  

Then, we saw a elderly guy walking up the country highway, pulling a cart full of stuff with a sign that said "Alaska" on it.  It was strange and odd.  

We hot more hot weather ahead, but I sure hope it rains to cool it off.

Friday, August 20, 2021

Lost Recipe (again) ~ First Bell Pepper

I found a recipe I lost once, but lost it again before trying it.  Urgh.  All I can remember is that it contained tomatoes, was baked and had kelp powder in the recipe.  I swear I had it in a recipe book I had, but so far I have not found it (again).  Story of my life, ha ha!  

I have gone through the pile of un-tried recipes, my scanned recipes, recipes in my document folder etc.  However, I believe I have figured out what cookbook the recipe was in.  Stay tuned.  Hope I am right.

Brought in our first harvested bell pepper.  Golly, I love the smell of freshly sliced bell pepper.  I grew them from seed as well.  First one to go in the freezer.

No rain here for a few days.  Hot and humid again.

Mom is still in the hospital.  No changes since Wednesday.  She will be going home today if all goes okay.

Daughter E left a lot of boxes, so I spent much time breaking them down for the garden and recycling.  Much of my day was reclaiming the kitchen. My husband and I were like sloths Wednesday due to being at the hospital so late and then back up early of course.  It pretty much caused me to delay much kitchen work until Thursday.

I hope everyone is safe and healthy right now. There are two cases of the virus at my husband's work (one was vaccinated, not sure who the other person is).

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Pie Pumpkin ~ A Funny ~ Tidbits

 


We have one pie pumpkin on all 4 plants.  Sheesh.  Bad garden year for everything this year, but tomatoes and hot peppers.

Something funny to share.  When we went on our motorcycle ride we pulled into the front of our nearest Kroger. My husband hopped off and left the radio blaring and ran in for a few items.  I was standing there trying to figure out how to turn down the tunes, and an elderly lady walked out with a cart just sort of looking at me.

I'm thinking, she is mad it's so loud. I didn't want to touch any buttons and later my husband walked out and realized he left it so loud.  He turned it down and the elderly lady in her vehicle now, drove up to us.  She said we reminded her of her husband and their times riding around on their bike.  She literally said, "we need more of that" pointing to the bike with the radio on, ha ha ha!  

I love watching America's Test Kitchen in my crochet down time, but lately many of the recipes require using a microwave to speed things up.  I don't want to use a microwave.  I know they want to share recipes that are quick, but hmm.



More jalapenos made their way to the freezer.  My cherry bomb finally has peppers on the plants, but I need them all in sync to make hot pepper jelly.  I guess time will tell.  I also froze 2# of carrots.


More tomatoes are rolling in, but I've only harvested about 14# so far.  I hope to be canning something soon with them.  The Amish paste in the photo is from the plants I grew from seed this year.

The ladies have been very happy this week with all the squash freezing going on.




Wednesday, August 18, 2021

More Squash ~ Crazy World and No Cashiers at Wal-mart and other Tidbits

My husband brought home more yellow squash and zucchini.  So happy to get it, so  I'm blanching and freezing almost daily.  The hot peppers are rolling in daily too.

I've been pretty good at keeping my cell phone charged and on me.  Mom's blood pressure dipped and when she couldn't get ahold of any of us kids, she went into panic mode.  I'm making sure she has all are cell numbers in case she has to call from her house phone.  Last time I called, she was feeling a bit better. (I drafted this post before the event at the end of this post happened)

I had to order new shelves online.  The stores are pretty limited (again).  Daughter K could not even get them at her store.  I have more totes of yarn waiting to be moved upstairs.

Not sure what's going on in your neck of the woods, but here it's back to restaurants going curbside.  Meanwhile this coming weekend the National Tractor Pulls is happening with thousands of people gathering from all over.  I'm not sure if the Canadians will be there, but it's crazy.  I have a bad feeling the gathering will be a super spreader and that is not good.  There are fairs still going on in our area as well, and a big street event in the "Big City" next month.  

Daughter E went to the local Wal-mart and bought a lot of stuff for her apartment.  She said every single cashier manned check out was closed.  Everyone had to use the self-check out.  She was not happy, because her cart was very full.  Crazy times we are in.

We have a few more camping trips booked, but we are monitoring the parks to see if they close.

I've decided to make a 3rd batch of Four Thieves.  Just in case, as my husband reminded me.  At least I have two and not three people here working full time.

We had plans to take a longer motorcycle ride for dinner, and at the last minute changed plans for a much shorter one.  Thank goodness we did.

Mom called (and had we taken the longer ride, I would not have answered my cell phone) and we had to run up and take her to the ER.  They admitted her.  Three doctors (Heart, Kidney and Endocrinologist, for thyroid) will be called in this morning to access what she needs. 

We were there for almost 4 hours and got home very late. We are running on 5 hours of sleep (or less).  Please keep her in your prayers, send good mojo and good thoughts.  Please keep my husband and I in your prayers as we are running on no sleep and he had to work today.  We are running on zero energy and sleep and feel like zombies today.

We both literally left the house to get her wearing slippers.  We went out the door that quick.  When we got home around 11:30pm, I saw that my chickens were still out in the run.  Gonna be a long day.

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Canning ~ Breakfast Frittata and other Kitchen Stuff


 My hot peppers are rolling in like crazy.  I'm thankful for that.



I canned some hot pepper mustard sauce with the hot banana peppers.



I also made fresh salsa, and now have tomatoes on the table ready to can more stuff.  Feels strange to be canning again, but very thankful.



My zucchini plants are dying, but thankful I picked up some free zucchini.



Breakfast frittata with zucchini, leftover taco meat, jalapenos and cherry tomatoes from the garden.


Got some jalapenos frozen as well.


Monday, August 16, 2021

Deer ~ Weekend

 


Chased this bugger off.  She was hanging out with the apple trees and berry bushes.

We had busy weekend.  I worked more in the upstairs, cleaning carpets, and moving totes of yarn.  We attempted to dismantle a desk and move it to Daughter E's apartment, but it basically fell apart.  We do have another desk she can have. 

We picked up a new jack for the camper, so that will get installed soon.  We checked more produce stands as well.

We visited Mom and my husband installed a new dryer cover for her, then took a late birthday gift over to Daughter T.

I'm so glad I am getting my yarn moved and into the upstairs.  I had so much shoved into our closet I can now better see what supply I have.  I had way more #10 thread than I thought.

My closet will soon be much better organized and with space to walk in and out again.  Golly, it was so over due.

Sunday evening we did a quick check on the garden and hauled in 7.14# of tomatoes and a lot of hot peppers.

We have rain and thunderstorms today.

Prayer list:  Daughter T's (my step daughter) sister J who is pregnant and has covid, little man grandson D who is sick with a fever and grand daughter A who has been having stomach problems, and my Mom who hasn't been feeling well and struggling with some issues.  Since she got her jab, she's recently been dealing with more health issues, and one is heart failure.  Three people we know who got the jab are having heart problems (praying for them all).

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Shopping Adventures ~ First Cruise In

During my last trip to the store (2nd attempt at another store), I bought the very last bottle of classic pectin.  However, I am still unable to find a vegetable brush for the camper (3 attempts).  

As far as produce?  I have not found what I need other than I found a half dozen ears of corn to grill.  

Although I have no photos to share today, I have a funny story to share.

We went out with friends to our first cruise in.  It is where the town has all older cars drive up and down main street.  People park along the roads and sit and watch.  Well, we decided to eat out before that.  

It's sort of funny, yet frustrating.  First we asked for silverware while we were ordering drinks.  Didn't get them.  I got my crowne royal served without the "rocks" so I fished them out of my ice water and added them.  We ordered 2 appetizers.  One arrived cold.  The other never arrived at all.

We asked for silverware again.  He brought one set.  We asked again.  He later brought 2 more.  We still need one more set.

Oh, and the complimentary bread they bring in the very beginning?  He brought 2 on a plate and there were 4 of us.

So, the food arrives.  Only one person got exactly what he ordered.  My husband ordered steak and he got ribs.  One ordered a burger and fries - no fries and over cooked burger.  Me, ha ha ha!  Here comes the funny part.  I look at my plate and there are no mashed potatoes and no gravy and half of my plate is filled with fries.

I give half the fries to the one that got no fries, and lift up my dry chicken.  I'm like what???



There is literally a piece of dry toasted Texas toast under it.  And yes, it was listed on our bill.

My husband took a bite to see if it was garlic bread.  Nope.  Dry, toasted, Texas toast.  Oh, and he served me with a tiny side of teriyaki sauce.  Who puts that on their country fried chicken????

I have no idea what in the blankety blank was going on.  Was the server not able to know what to write on our order or did the cook not read our order right?  I don't know, but we'll forever be talking about the Texas Toast on my plate and getting charged for it.  

We won't be back.  Just too much waiting around for not getting what you want, but bless the kid's heart for working.  Too bad they didn't train him well, but anyway, I suggested we pack a picnic or gather at one's house next event.

Oh, and getting the check?  It seems to take forever to get it anymore.  Then you pay at the table with a gizmo.  Paying cash is almost obsolete or you have to wait and wait.

Oh boy.   Today is a busy day, and all I want to do is sit and play cards on the porch.  It's a beautiful (what I call) camping weather day.


Saturday, August 14, 2021

Hot!

 Our weather continues to swelter us.  The storms continue, so weeding is not happening yet again today.

The world has gone mad (again).  Daughter K was forced to once again don a face mask at work.  

Daughter K's job involved loading and unloading heavy furniture in our 102°F heat index heat.


  

Although she found this very nice, rechargeable neck fan, she continues to struggle to breathe in the heat and of course out breath from her work.  Within a week however, she is sick.  Congested, runny nose, cough, etc.  It breaks my heart that this is happening again.  She does have the possibility to get a new job, but she plans to move in about 4-5 months too.

I have no new updates on the garden today.  I'll be out to check it today though.  

My husband's best friend's father's funeral was yesterday, and when we got home it was late and we were pretty tired. He's having issues with one eye contac and one eye, so I'm not sure we'll get a whole lot done today.  I suggested he see his eye doctor today, but we'll see.

Friday, August 13, 2021

Weeds, Ticks, Mosquitoes! Oh my....



Now that we are getting a load of rain, there has been no time to keep up with the weeds in the gardens.  They are full of ticks now, so repairing the weed whacker is on top of the to-do list.  I went out to check tomatoes and got attacked by ticks.  Literally.  I forgot to put my tick oil on.  

Anyway, the tomatoes are just now starting to turn in color.  Nothing ready to harvest, but turning red anyway.


(Hot peppers are so far doing the best)

Green beans and zucchini are a joke this year.  I don't know if I planted too late or it's just this darn weather.  So frustrating.  The rain could change that, but....

The rabbits tore my greens to shreds, so fencing is the only way if I plant next year.  I have no idea if the potatoes have made it, due to the massive weeds in that bed as well.

Well shoot, I thought the year started great this year, but now I need to find zucchini and green beans to stock up.  Sheesh.

Also, I planted 6 cherry bomb pepper plants ( that I started from seed) and was devastated to see one eaten to the quick.  What eats hot pepper plants?   I have no idea, other than grasshoppers.  So sad and so frustrating.

I planted one single grow bag of carrots this year and the buggers are leaving it alone for some reason.  I guess that is good news, other than I didn't plant enough to freeze.

My husband brought home one lonely yellow squash.  Co-workers often bring in extra veggies.   I sliced it and it's now blanched and in the freezer.

I am writing out another list for the next trip out.  I plan on stopping at some produce stands as well.  Gosh, I am way behind on winter stock up, but gaining.

I totally forgot I had this photo on my camera. I saw this crawling up the side of the house when I was taking laundry out to the clothesline.  According to my research, it's not something you want to touch.  I have never seen this here before.  Crazy.


Thursday, August 12, 2021

Kitchen-ness and other ramblings

I ran out of time in the kitchen, so I finally finished up with what I brought home from the grocery store.

Put a head of cauliflower in the freezer, 


...as well as some broccoli (all organic of course).


Froze a bit of diced celery as well, and....



Last year I hosted an online pampered chef party to help out a friend.  I got these for free.  The rubber white tubing is used to shell the garlic clove (works great), and the other slices it.  These made my life so much easier when making garlic powder.  Note:  I didn't know until I had the party, but all of their stuff is made in China, so you may want to check for USA products online.  Anyway, it was so much easier filling a 9 tray dehydrator of sliced garlic.

...filled the dehydrator with garlic to grind into garlic powder.

I boiled more eggs for egg salad.  It's a great meal for our very hot days here.  My husband works outside and next to very hot equipment and doesn't want to eat "hot" food when he gets home.

There are items I am still not able to find in stores, but I'm constantly checking other resources.  

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Tidbits

I put more stuff by the road and it was all gone by evening.  I'm so glad that someone can use it or scrap it, and it's out of the garage.

We hit a whopping heat index of 102°F yesterday.  Hot and very very humid.  

Prices are soaring.  Daughter K bought a 2 1/2 oz. bag of cotton candy last week at the fair and it cost her $7.00!!  Outrageous.

I made a trip to the "Big City" and restocked groceries and other items.  We ran out of trash bags while cleaning the garage last weekend.



I froze 2 bunches of organic asparagus, 2 bunches or organic dandelion greens, and a few organic red bell peppers.  These are not items I have from my garden, so I am stocking up when I see them available.  

Thunderstorms continued through out the evening and may continue into today.  They say we'll have higher temperatures tomorrow.  It will either make or break the garden this year.
 


Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Organizing my Yarn and other ramblings

 The first thing I needed to do was bake a breakfast for us.

I used the teeny tomatoes from the garden, asparagus and fresh basil for this one.  Oh, and sausage on the bottom layer.

Next?  I put up shelves upstairs and started the process of moving totes of yarn and getting that organized.  It may be a week long job (or more due to carpet cleaning, which we do plan to replace when the last kid is out), but so excited to get started.


. . . meanwhile, in the garden.



We finally got some glorious rain, so I sure hope it gives the garden what it needs to give us a bounty this summer.



My husband, Daughter K and myself went to the last day of the fair to watch the demolition derby.  We had 4 family/friends in the derby this year.  The best part is we bought pit passes and drove the truck right into the arena area and sat on the tool box to watch.  We didn't have to sit in the crowded stadium.  It was great.  My husband's Godson won 1st place and $650, our nephew won 2nd and another nephew won 3rd.  Great night.

We woke up to thunderstorms, so I am very thankful for the rain again.  It'll taper off, but it may rain later in the afternoon.  The gardens are happy.

Monday, August 9, 2021

Happy Homemaker Monday

Our morning yesterday started out with watering everything.  However, we may see rain today or later this week thankfully.

We can mark one big job off the "to-do" list now.  The garage is cleaned up, aside from a few totes the kids left (have to wash stuff up and donate).  There are several bags of trash to go out to the curb, but I would say 98% is done.  

Everything we put by the curb for free is gone except our old computer chair.

We are asking family and friends if they need softball, t-ball or baseball items.  If they do not, it will be donated to our school.

Any tote that was emptied was saved, considering store have about zero on their shelves right now.

A photo of our trip to Wal-mart over the weekend.  I needed a few for yarn, and well, I didn't get any the size I needed.  We even went to a bigger city.

My next "big" cleaning job is to clean out the refrigerator.  It's a battle with a daughter living here for sure.  I'm not used to another person shopping and adding items that crowd my space.  It may be a few weeks for that to happen.  We are going to be getting very hot weather again, and I prefer a cooler day to clean out the fridge.  Even with AC on, it's gotta be cooler to leave the door open for long periods of time.

We are making progress though - utility room done, garage done...things are actually happening.

Before we started back up on Sunday, I spent the morning vacuuming the carpet in Daughter E's old bedroom.  Half of the room has been shampooed now.  Once she comes for her desk and the last of her stuff, I'll finish the other half and start putting up shelves for my yarn totes.

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  I'll link up after she posts this morning.


The weather . . .
87°F/73°F, scattered rain.  It's the last day of our fair (free day), and the Demolition Derby.  We'll see if the rain arrives or not.


How I am feeling this morning. . . .
Exhausted with a capital "E" (from cleaning and purging the garage).  What didn't go in the Goodwill box, went to the curb for free, or in a trash bag or in the burn pile.


On the breakfast plate . . .
Not sure yet.  Possibly eggs, toast and coffee.  I do need a breakfast casserole for a few days, so my husband has a "to-go" breakfast for work.

Looking around the house . . . .
Daughter K had several boxes of her stuff in the garage.  We had her bring it all inside to look at and purge.  It's all over the living room, but she'll either donate stuff or put it in her room now.


On my reading pile  . . .
Nothing lately.  I've been doing more of our extreme cleaning.

On my TV . . .
All American, Netflix

On the menu . . .
Baked walleye, veggie
Potatoes, bacon and green beans
Meatballs, hot pepper mustard sauce, quinoa and a carrots
Egg salad sandwiches
Leftovers
 


From the camera . . .

Not my photo, but my husband did a thing, which prompted the garage clean up.  We owned a Chevelle back with the kids were very young, and sold it, but he's got another one again now.  He is so happy.  It's not a '69, but he's a happy man.  We've already taken her out a few times.  

I am thankful for . . .
Getting the garage cleaned out.   We started on it last year, and finished it up over the weekend. Three kids left stuff in totes that that they didn't want to take.   This is why I'm making sure Daughter E takes everything.  If she doesn't want it, it's her problem to deal with.  I have a tote of winter wear that will be washed up and donated, and another of hand crocheted blankets I make for another daughter, plus a handmade apron, I bought for her.  It's all going to be donated.


I am hoping to . . .
Get to the craft store one day this week, and set up shelves upstairs to move my yarn and have it stored in a nice fashion for once in my life.


Prayer list . . .
Daughter E, as she sets up her new apartment and begins her adult life with adult independence and adult bills.  She'll be paying her own car insurance this week, so that will be new to her.