Hooky ~ Shortages/Businesses Closed and othe ramblings

 

We've been having beautiful weather lately.  My garden starts are loving it too.  I'm just starting to get worried about getting the tilling and planting done.

I played hooky and went to the "big city" and had lunch with my bestie from high school.  It was nice for a change, because I have been so busy in the kitchen lately.

I'm seeing more businesses closed, and I'm seeing more shortages of different items as well.   I may need to make my own ricotta.  The last few times I needed some, I had a terrible time finding it.  I filled up the truck yesterday - $4.30/gallon.  Toilet paper we typically by on sale for $7.99 was on sale for $13.99.

I tried a new recipe - Lasagna stuffed chicken.

Organic chicken is very expensive as well, but my husband loved it.  Recipe is online with The Stay at Home Chef.

Birthday ~ Cactus and other ramblings

I decided to bake my husband's most favorite peanut butter cookies for his birthday.  There was just no way to get to my cake decorating tools or cupcake carrier.  

Mom's cactus I inherited is blooming a gorgeous bright pink.  Pink was her favorite color.  It's beautiful!  It's blooming right around Mother's Day too!

Daughter E surprised me with a visit yesterday.  She rode with me to another town to donate my truck full of boxes.  They went to an antique/re-sale store that is owned by my husband's friend (used to work with her many years ago). 

We saw that a pizza shop was open across the street, so we moseyed over there and picked up a pizza for dinner.

Back at the homestead, she wanted to help paint, but I had just washed all my paint brushes for the day prior to her stopping in.  I told her she is welcome to help any day she has off.  I'm working on the upper cabinets, and have 2 more windows to paint.

The drawer knobs have been ordered.  The price finally went to 1/2 off, and yes I paid shipping, but driving all the way to that big city would cost me a lot in gas too.  Gas is going back up over $4/gallon again.  Anyway, that is checked off the to-do list.

I broke one of the hardware pieces on my cupboard door while painting it on the saw horses.  I have ordered replacements for that too.  The ugly bee (stained glass from door) has been donated as well, and the owner actually thought it was beautiful, so hopefully she sells it and all the stuff we donated.

My younger brother told me I had one last "small" pile of stuff to retrieve at Mom's house.  I picked that up this week, but man that was a dirty trick.  It included photos in frames, a photo album and two huge folders.  One folder contained every article I ever wrote (bless her heart), the other was filled with stuff from her grandkids.

Daughter E took a photo and a flash light (she is going camping soon and needed one), and we read thru some of the stuff and got a few laughs.  I'll keep it to have Daughter K go thru it as well.  Now, however I need another box for that, ha ha!

 

Happy Homemaker Monday

I'm joining Sandra today at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy Homemaker Monday. 

Now that we have gotten through Hubby's birthday and mine, and Mother's Day, it's back to the grind.  I was lucky to hear from 3 of my kids on Mother's Day, and a few on my birthday, but tickled that one actually came over to visit me yesterday. 

I just love the wind chime she brought me, along with all the other goodies.

I don't try to expect anything for my birthday nor Mother's Day.  My kids are not the best at calling or even texting, but sure know how to show up when it's their birthdays.  I'll be making changes to that this year.  

Hubby is still working a lot of hours.  He worked 2nd shift last night, getting home after midnight and has to return this morning for first.  But bless is heart for giving some cash to our youngest daughter, so she could go out and buy me a birthday card, cheesecake, flowers and a gift card.  She also wrote me a long Mother's day letter and left it at my "blog station" as she called it.  Bless her heart and for my very tired Hubby making sure I had a nice birthday and Mother's Day.  

And...and yes Hubby gets the award for making my weekend special.  He got home after midnight Saturday night, and got up and made that delicious breakfast (see below), he also took me to a local ice cream shop and brought me home some Amaretto Cherry ice cream.  The business is local, and voted the top ten ice cream stores in the US.  The ice cream was delicious.  He also bought me locally made potato chips and some chicago style popcorn (which is addicting).


On the breakfast plate . . .
Eggs and toast, but this is what Hubby got up and made me for Mother's Day breakfast:

It was so good - potatoes, green bell pepper, onions, bacon, and cheese.  Oh my do I miss his omelets.  It just made my morning.  And toast with wild violet jelly.  Oh my...

The weather . . .
Even though days have passed since I last updated on the rain, as of today, once again 15 days of predicted rain.  We have been hanging around in the lower 50's, cold and cloudy.  We may see a heat up, but the rain hasn't gone away just yet.  I have not even been able to till the garden to prep it for planting.  We should be planting this week.  It's raining this morning.


On my reading pile . . .
A book from the library.  If I get time to start reading it, I'll let you know.


On my TV . . .
Movies we borrowed from the library


On the menu . . .
Chicken spaghetti, asparagus
Tuna and noodle, beets
Pesto past of some sort
....have no idea as we get back to normal around here


New recipe I want to try . . .
Hot Taco Dip, Freezer meat sauce


On my to do list . . .
-master bath
-bedding, laundry
-dust
-tidy up computer area
-try and fix vacuum (urgh)
-make a meat sauce to freeze (may not happen this week)
-check asparagus
-deliver soap saver bags to the massage business to sell
-make granola bars



Looking around the house . . .
I have a vase with a rose in it, and a vase with mixed fresh flowers.  Just makes me smile and gave a good day.


From the camera . . .

A cardinal came to the window last Saturday and chirped until I came to the window.  Just so beautiful.


What I am creating . . .
Still finishing up a knitted dishcloth, and actually had some time alone to start on these new items:

Hand crocheted teabag travel totes.  I'll have them up for sale as soon as I get my house back in order.


One of my simple pleasures . . .
Lighting some candles and taking a long relaxing soak in the tub.


Prayers . . . 
A special request from a friend who said her husband is in the hospital, one friend who had surgery, and other personal requests.

Birthday ~ Sparta ~ This and That

Woke up to a chilly 48°F this morning.  Hubby and I have been getting up earlier and having coffee on the porch.  The sun rises just about the time he rolls out of the driveway for work.  It was beautiful this morning, but right after I took this photo it was cloud cover.

Yesterday was my birthday.  I was home all day waiting for Hubby to get off work.  He had a dentist appt. after work too, so for me, it seemed like a looooooooong day.  I literally did not do any garden work.  It was too wet to weed too.  I did some crocheting on the porch, sat and talked with a few of the kids when they were home, and really just chilled all day.  When Hubby pulled in, he called me to the car, and surprised me with this Harley Davidson gift basket.

Birthday Bang!

Not to let this awesome birthday week end without another "bang" of goodness, I made....

Flourless brownies and whiskey butterscotch sauce for sundaes.  Yes, yes and yes.  I ate them both with organic ice cream (too lazy to make homemade ice cream).

Puttin' Up Pasta Noodles

I am car-less once again.  The minute I got my own car back, it was gone that fast.  I had just finished my workout a few days ago, and Vet-tech Daughter calls.  Her brake line is broke.  Gah!!

Next thing I know, her older sister is driving her to the house to borrow my car.  

Again.  

Sigh.  So I skipped breakfast, skipped my chores, and high-tailed it to the grocery to stock up.  Then I drove over to the library, who had about 10 books in for me, and not willingly gave her my car keys.

Random Tidbits

What's been on the breakfast plate lately?

Eggs over easy with chives, ancient organic grain bread topped with rhubarb-ginger jam.

Christmas Eve has Arrived

The outside Christmas lights have been put up.  Zuri caught a glimpse of Hubby climbing up the ladder and let out a "stranger danger" bark.   

Oldest daughter has been over two times with her new puppy Mia (hope I am spelling that right).  She is also 4 months old.  So, here in the photo, is Mia, Zuri and King.  All relaxing after a fun day of puppy play.  Jesse actually showed the first signs of playing with them, by playing with Mia.   It was refreshing to see Jesse join the fun for once.

My Birthday

 I turned 29 (again) yesterday.  He he!  My 19 year-old gifted me these beautiful flowers.   Aren't they pretty?  My gifts were a complete surprise.  I never expected my kids to buy me anything.  I told them I just wanted a clean house.

My 21 year-old son gifted me a Blue Ray player.  You should have seen me trying to use the remote.  Where's the play button?  Where's the pause button?  Ha ha ha!  The cool part is, is that there is a "netflix" button on it too!  Yay!

My mother and kids gifted me these beautiful cards.  Mom's card contained a little extra somethin' that I will save for my weekend on the island.  My youngest daughter gifted me with a coupon for a breakfast sandwich - Yum!  My 13 year-old's card contained wishes from her school friends.

And I received many Happy Birthday text messages and some Happy Birthday e-mails.

My 11 year-old, with the help of her 16 year-old sister, baked me chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  Yum!  She even hunted down a birthday candle for me.  Then, they filmed me eating it (not so pretty, but funny anyway).

With my birthday yesterday, I thought about a list I started years ago. Kind of like a "bucket" list I guess.  So, last night I started a new list of "Things I want to do" and will compare it to my old list (if I can find it).