Happy Homemaker Monday

 

I made a batch of refried beans. We eat a lot of beans and greens, especially during the winter.  I use a box of organic dry pinto beans (soak the night before, and drain and rinse), add onion and garlic, cook all day in the crock pot.  I then let it cool, strain off any extra water, and blend in the blender (adding any extra flavorings like "fire powder" to it.  You can freeze extra for another day.  We eat beans with breakfast, lunch, dinner and for a snack.  Much healthier and less expensive than canned refried beans.  

Speaking of freezing food, I need to get more containers.  Someone has not been bringing his breakfast and lunch containers (hmpf).

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

The weather . . .

43/33°F today, and we dip down to the teens at night by the weekend.

As I look outside my window . . .

It's cloudy.

Right now I am . . .

Starting a load of laundry and getting ready to make homemade turkey sausage.  Then I will bake a breakfast casserole.

Thinking and pondering . . .

We are still talking about possible gas fireplaces, but we are also looking at the cost of propane and a propane tank for them.  The costs for the tanks alone have skyrocketed.  The best time to put in your gas lines, is when the floor is open (for us anyway, without an actually crawl space per say).

How I am feeling . . .

Worried the living room subfloor won't be in before the weather dips this coming weekend.

On the breakfast plate . . .

New recipe I've been wanting to try.  Will update later.

What I am wearing  . . .

Long sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, sweatpants and slippers.

On my reading pile . . .

Nothing right now sadly.

On my TV this week . . .

Out for Justice.

On the menu . . .

-Air fryer salmon, air fryer cauliflower (new recipe)
-Chicken bruschetta casserole (new recipe)

-leftovers

Looking around the house . . .

Welcome to week 2 of putting the living room floor back in.  Now our handy man says he's not sure about taking our old popcorn ceiling off, so it's either we do it ourselves, or get a quote from someone else.

On the to-do list . . .

-make breakfast casserole
-make homemade turkey "sausage"
-put stuff back in camper

-clean up boot pile

-vacuum and sweep where I can lol

-make hummus

-purge one dresser drawer, re-organize it

-copy down a recipe from my cousin

-pay some bills

-laundry

-clean both bathrooms

From the camera . . .

I finished another "blessing blanket" to donate.  It will be donated to the same senior center, that we borrowed a transit chair and other supplies from for Mom.  They do a trivia contest with seniors they help, and the winner gets a donated basket of goodies.  This blanket will be in their next "basket" of goodies.

Devotional . . .

All of my books are buried into the office, so I may be looking to buy a new devotional.  

Prayers for me finding more new recipes to cut my husband's sugar/carbs the best I can.  His last report was not good (he was sneaking donuts at work of all things), so I am doing my best to find simple lean meat and veggie recipes.  So far so good.

First Snow

 I finally got to the grocery store.  I noticed that they now only sell one type of tahini now.  They used to carry about 6 different brands.  I also noticed the peanut butter selection is much smaller.  

In the midst of trying to find the tahini, we had a conversation with a woman who was shocked at the price of eggs right now.  Then we were talking about hummus and found out she could not eat chickpeas, so I told her she could make hummus with pumpkin, black beans, beets etc.  She was so happy to find that out and said she grew pumpkins this year.  Anyway, nice lady and I was glad I could share with her.

We had our first snowfall.  It's officially winter.  It snowed all day, but melted away.  Nice big snowflakes too.  They kind that make you want to hunker in and crochet.  I did that too, only due to the fact I can't really do anything, other than tidy up the boot area in the hallway (I may do that today).

I was thankful to have the yarn for this blanket, already downstairs.  I started it last winter, but if you crochet, you know it's hard to crochet large blankets in warmer weather.  She picked out the bright yarn.  Crazy kid.  Anyway, I crocheted while my husband went to work on a niece's car.

Car lights were fixed.  Apparently, it was simply a blown fuse, but since he stayed there gallivanting, there were things here that did not get done (off his honey-do list).

And there is nothing more frustrating, than to get home and realize you forgot something that was actually written on the shopping list - salt for the softener.  Sigh.

I mentioned a new recipe I wanted to try, and have yet to try it.  I am hoping to do that today or tomorrow.  It's a breakfast dish.

 

I also forgot to send some things home with Daughter K, so I am hoping to get another visit from her.  This time, I have used my "notes" on my phone to remind me of what to send with her, ha ha!  

They say more snow is to arrive today, but it tends to make a person stay inside vs. go out.  We'll see what happens today.

This and That

 Daughter K came for a visit.  I completely forgot to have her go thru the Christmas stuff in the garage.  I guess that will be next visit.

The living room floor is ready for it to go back in, but not until starting Monday.  He "doesn't work weekends."  Also, he said his back is hurting.  Not what we wanted to hear.

In the meantime, I have a family member coming out to give us a quote on cleaning the gutters.  The leaves are all down, and it needs to be done.

Daughter E's cat Tiger finally got the vet and got his shot. He's is feeling much better and eating again.  I found his special food online and he's a happy cat (can't find it in any store anymore).

Not sure what the weekend will entail, but I do know we need to get all the porch furniture put into storage for the winter.  Right now the porch is literally the only place to sit, other than in our bedroom.  Yes, it's part of my stir-craziness.  I'm trying to be patient, but....

Cold weather moves in . . .

 

Not the best photo, but one half of the living room is getting new joists.  One broke while our handy man walked on the floor after the under layment was removed.  Anyway, the progress is moving along.  We have more supplies we need.  Some blocks need tuck work, but we got 90% of the wood purchased.

We had trouble locating some of the supplies, such as cement anchors, screws, washers, and other items.  At least we have a Menard's and Lowe's in one town, and a Home Depot in another.  We have Ace as well, although they are the last choice due to prices being high.

Thankfully, our handy man has a trailer, making it easy to get the larger supplies to the house.  Of course we pay him gas money as well.  However, the weather was nice, and the last thing (during this big of a project) is "I'm tapping out early today."  He did.  He wanted to get a motorcycle ride in while the weather was beautiful.  I don't blame him, but we are another day behind now.

We now move into 40°F days and 20°F nights.

Bailey's in my Coffee kind of day . . .

 

We had another beautiful sunrise, and weather in the 70's.  Crazy that it will get so cold at night this weekend.

I dried a bit more sage, but had to use my large dehydrator.  My smaller one is buried until the living room is done.

Speaking of the living room, day 3 of floor removal went well.  Nails had to be pulled etc. However, (the part where I needed Baileys in my coffee), our handy man's vehicle has bad wheel bearings.  Now,  if we were doing this ourselves we would still be using our own truck to haul the old flooring out.  The guy we hired is a friend.  He asked to borrow my truck the other day to buy mold spray and and a new blade.  I agreed.  It was for supplies we needed.  I get it.

But....but...he hauled flooring out to the burn pile and then just left yesterday.  Literally, he just left without asking permission.  I mean I want the floor done, but I was not expecting him to use my truck daily for all his needs.  He went for lunch and bought pop somewhere (a case of it) using our gas and truck.  

Anyway, I am, not going to be sitting in this house for the next month without use of my truck.  We live in the boonies.  I had a discussion about this with my husband already.  I am not one to go out for errands at the end of the day, considering the drive and now it gets darker faster.  Note....he has a truck and trailer of his own.

Okay, I just thought it was very rude, not to mention, wrong.

Off my soapbox.  Onto another day of chaos. 

Moon and other ramblings....,

 

Not the best photo, as I should have been up at 5am for a better photo.

Half the living room floor remains to be removed.  Sigh.  I though it would go much faster and it's driving me nutso.

We believe the original part of the house was built in the 30's.  Apparently this is what was typical to support the center of the floor in each room.  In the living room it's a random stack of wood.  There may be a rock or two as well.  Just one more of those "what in the heck" moments of doing repairs and remodeling.

I ordered a crochet hook from Amazon, and the carrier lost the package.  It was one I did not have either, and I need to keep my sanity during all of this chaos in the house right now. 

I typically find myself baking, but even with the plastic sheeting up to block dust out of the kitchen, that's not going to happen. 

 I have to be super strict with my husband's diet anyway.  His last doctor appt. was not good.  He admitted to eating donuts at work of all things.  He has since promised not to eat them, and today....

...he's getting homemade hummus and celery sticks.  He is well supplied with healthy snacking.  I know work has been stressful, so I have to stay on task with having healthy snacks and his meals packed now.

Living room repairs underway. . .

 All the living room carpet has been ripped out, and about 1/4th of the floor as well.  We have it opened enough to access the situation, and well, we have a lot of work on our hands.  Old farm house problems, or should I say the last people cut corners causing us problems.....

Not the best photo, but we knew that there was an issue around the hearth where the woodstove is.  First discovery - they didn't use concrete anchors (or whatever you call them, can't remember what he called them).  Anyway, they did exactly what we thought.  Well, on one side anyway.  On one side they put in blocks with random stacks of wood that sank over the years, and on the other, there was literally nothing holding the floor up between last joist and hearth.

Our handy man got the underlayment boards removed, only to discover they literally put it on top of the houses original floor, and that was it.  Instead of removing the original floor, and replacing it with new, they covered it with thin underlayment boards and carpet.  Shaking my head.  The original flooring rotted, and our handy man almost fell thru in one area.  So we are removing the entire floor, fixing joists, removing broken joists, etc etc.  He's also using my truck to haul it all out of the house, so I am limited to a day to town for errands.

I'm running upstairs early this morning, just to make sure I have enough yarn for the week (or two).  I may not be able to access the stairway, and I cannot get into my office for anything (where the smaller pantry is as well).  Frustrating, but I know we will have peace of mind when it's finished.

We also discovered a huge random copper pipe under the floor.  The last source of heat was a boiler, and the pipes where just left under the floor.  I'm wondering how the pipes were left and no flooring was lifted out....anyway...

We also discovered there was one patch work done on the floor, letting us know they already had an issue but didn't take care of it properly.  

I'm shocked the floor never caved in when we hosted Christmas and had over 50 people in our house.

Half the living room is crammed into our kitchen, office and bedroom for the time being.  Pray we don't lose sanity and don't go broke getting the floor replaced.   I'm told some lumber prices have gone down.  Also pray that we get the old floor all out and at least subfloor all in by the weekend.  It is going to dip to the 20's by the weekend.