Name three things - 2017

[micknsnicks2mom]

today i'll make a batch of ranch salad dressing, then wash the dishes, scoop the litter boxes, and take the trash and recycling out.

 

[Winchester]

Boy, I'm out of it. On Monday, I kept thinking it was Tuesday. On Tuesday, I was OK. This morning, I kept thinking it was Tuesday, to the point where I started sorting through laundry, then put it all in the hamper again....because it was Tuesday. Then I realized I was having a serious moment and had to start sorting laundry again. It really is Wednesday. Two more days to the work week. And I have no idea what's going on anymore.

• Breakfast for the kids, made the bed, scooped the boxes, general clean-up in the kitchen
• Laundry tonight
• Trash tonight

 

[Mother Dragon]

We measure our days in strange ways, don't we? For me, Wednesday is sewing night; Thursday is karate. Some Tuesdays are Maritime Museum Lecture nights, Tuesday is the computer columns in the newspaper. Wednesday is grocery ads and the so-called cooking section. Saturdays are sometimes gardening lecture days. Tuesday is trash and recycling. Friday is trash only. Sunday is the shrinking big newspaper. I guess I wouldn't know what day it is without them.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

not much, that's what i've got planned for today! i'll vacuum seal batches of the homemade grape nuts i baked yesterday, and finish making the ranch salad dressing. other than that, it's just washing the dishes and scooping the litter boxes.

it's forecast to get to low 70's today and low chance of rain, so the windows will be open for us here. i'm going to read a bit and play some computer games, maybe watch a little tv too.

 

[Winchester]

Rick's cell phone rang this morning and I rolled over and said, "Nooo!" I was not ready yet. He has bloodwork this morning, so he's starving to death; thank goodness, his appointment is at 9:10, so he can have it done and then walk over to the canteen machines for some snacks. He wasn't happy about missing breakfast.

• Breakfast for the kids, emptied the dishwasher, made the bed, did a bit of walking (not on the treadmill), grabbed my shower
• I'd like to hit the mall tonight, maybe Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Target. Am in dire need of some tablecloths.

I hear you about days, Mother Dragon . Mondays are groceries, Tuesday are for mowing, Wednesdays are trash night and laundry night, Thursdays are for whatever we feel like doing, Fridays are for just hanging out. Saturday is my cleaning day and Sunday is another laundry day.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

if my two jars of spaghetti sauce are thawed by around noon-ish, i'll go ahead and cook some pasta and mix the two together -- otherwise, i'll do that tomorrow. i'll also do the basics: wash the dishes, scoop the litter boxes, and take out the trash and recycling.

today i'll re-read the instructions for putting in the (new) window ac, specifically for those who have vinyl windows. i'm not concerned about that part, it's removing the full-length screen that's looking a bit more complex. all i've got to go on is that there's supposed to be a spring-loaded mechanism on one side of the screen (in the surrounding frame), and you're supposed to shift the screen at the bottom towards one side to...whatever, that then releases the screen. it's a one sentence explanation/instruction, not particularly helpful. but i'm sure i'll figure it out.

well, i just found a couple youtube videos about removing the window screen for my window -- they were helpful.

 

[Winchester]

TGIF! I don't know why I'm always happy about Fridays because I always end up working like crazy over the weekend, trying to get stuff done that I can do during the week. But today's payday, so that's good, I guess.

• Breakfast for the kids, emptied the dishwasher, scooped the boxes, made the bed, grabbed my shower
• Ms. Pepe has a vet appt tonight (I think she has a toofer problem, plus she's bleeding from her vagina again, and she's drinking like crazy. Pepe just turned 21 in February and she still has a great appetite, she knows everything that's going on, and she's still really alert. But she's losing weight and that bothers me, too.) Ms. Pepe is the last of the original RugCats from 20+ years ago; we'd like to keep our girl around for a while.
• Depending on what time we get home from the vet (and since I'm sure they'll be doing bloodwork, it will be a while), I'd like to start working on mowing lawn tonight.

 

[foxxycat]

Finally got back on here-
last week- took care of planting petunias in my flower containers/boxes and around the huge boulder=they now have tidal waves in a deep red color- noticed the lupines are getting ready to bloom-my yard is always 2 weeks behind everyone elses.
Tuesday=vacuumed livingroom/hallway/kitchen.
Today=applied for another position at GE.
got the weekend off-plan on yard sales sat morning and yard work sat afternoon
today=got to call ortho weenie about my foot-went to walkin express to get xray because it's been bothering me for some time-no stress cracks-gave me crotches and ace wrap. gave a script for some other pain reliever never heard of. They want me to go to PT so I can learn how to handle recovery-I will watch some videos on youtube.

They have lots of things to learn on there. While I still have time at work-going to brush up my biology class work and see about CLEP testing for Bio 101 and Bio 102. I hope to figure out a way to find offshift work and take vet tech class during day.

I really belong in biology related trade=don't mind welding but it's hot and nasty work. So working on networks and skills next week. Back to Weld lab to continue welding stainless piping with thin material. Have only experience welding 2" or thicker stainless plate. Not much experience with sheetmetal but I did play around with welding on aluminum in college-I helped fabricate one of the college sculptures out on the front lawn.

Can't decide to stay until the hammer drops=collect my severance pay or jump into the pool with the other job seekers and see what I find.

Decisions. Decisions. I just hate dress clothes so any office work is OUT. I prefer work boots or sneakers and casual dress. I am not a girlie girl and couldn't do the office politics and makeup-hair thingy. I am definitely an earth girl. Not afraid to get dirty-cars, fabrication, gardening or pet medicine. Choices. choices.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

today i've got a list of things to get done. i'll mow the lawn, get the window ac put in, move (possibly the last of the) firewood then rake the driveway (lots of wood debris there, like bark), pick up the mail at the post office, rearrange the bulk cinnamon chips and walnuts in the freezers (bought 25 lbs of each, at an excellent price per pound). i'll also do a quick tour through the house with the vacuum, and wash the dishes and scoop the litter boxes. i'll see if i have time to do a little rearranging in the downstairs bedroom today too.

i'd also like to locate the box of spaghetti. it was a 4 lb box, that has 3 lbs left in it. i'm sure i moved it somewhere that made sense at the time, but it's now MIA.

 

[Winchester]

micknsnicks2mom , what do you do with that many cinnamon chips? I use them in a couple cookie recipes and there's a delicious biscotti recipe, too. What else? I used to buy pounds and pounds and pounds of pecans from a woman with whom Rick works; she sold them at such a good price as fundraiser. I always had pecans in the freezer. Alas, she quit selling them and the other week, for the first time in years, I had to buy pecans at the store for a recipe. Sure wish I could find a place that sells them in bulk as we use a lot of pecans.

There is a Con Agra plant fairly close to us and employees can get dried pastas, Chef Boyardee products and the like. My cousin used to get tons of spaghetti and she always shared with the family. And I have to say that, sometimes, I really enjoyed a box of Fiddle Faddle . She has since retired, so we don't get anything like that anymore. I really liked the spaghetti...it came in long bags, nothing like the short boxes from the stores. She got other stuff, too, but I only really took the spaghetti and, sometimes a box of Fiddle Faddle. She used to give Mom pounds of grated cheese.

foxxycat , I'm the furthest thing from a girlie-girl, too, so I understand. I never thought I work fit in an office, but surprisingly it's OK. While I do have an office job, I haven't worn a dress or skirt in years now. It's very casual pants, Dockers or pants from Coldwater Creek or Worthington from JCP (I'm hard to fit with pants). Sweaters or, in warmer weather, tops with 3/4 length sleeves. Boots in the winter, flats and sandals in the summer. And when I go out on site inspections around retention ponds and the like, it's always in jeans and hikers and long-sleeved shirts...doesn't matter the temperature because I worry about ticks and such. I also don't do makeup; I use moisturizer and that's pretty much it. Not good with the office politics either, so I get that, too. I don't hang out in the cafe and shoot the breeze; I don't take part in the lunches and such. I stay in my cube and work. I do enjoy getting out for inspections and I prefer to go by myself. I live for Fridays because I'm allowed to wear jeans (and sometimes during the week, I might throw a pair of jeans on and hope nobody notices). I am basically a jeans and a t-shirt person and I don't like "getting dressed up" at all.

I'm at the age now where I'd be hard-pressed to go back into factory work; my back and my legs wouldn't take it anymore. So believe me, I am thankful for my job. Like I said, I never thought I could handle an office, but as long as I do my work and mind my own business, it's OK.

Good luck with your foot; you've been dealing with that foot for a while now.

Anyway, we had rain during the night/early morning, so I was out of bed, shutting windows. The cats were not amused and they let me know it. Tabby even hissed at me when I moved her out of the window, so I could close it. And it's thundering now....just heard a loud crack. Thankfully, Rick left work at noon yesterday, came home and mowed the lawn. We just have to push-mow now to do a bit of trimming.

• Breakfast for the kids, emptied the dishwasher, put a mask on my hair and grabbed a shower. I fed my sourdough starter yesterday and then fed it again this morning. It's all nice and bubbly. Looks good!
• Rick and I have eye appointments later on this morning and then he wants to go out somewhere for lunch. And while we're down that way, I'm going to look for tablecloths since we didn't make it to the mall last night (Pepe's vet appt took longer than expected; it usually does).
• A quick vacuum about the house later on today, followed by a Swiffer. We really do need to get to the recycling center!

And I think that's pretty much it for today.

 

[Winchester]

Busy day today....

• Breakfast for the kids, emptied the dishwasher, stripped the bed down for laundry (Rick just finished scooping the boxes)
• Four loads of laundry today
• Vacuum, dust, wipe the kitchen and bathroom, remake the bed (we are wondering about staying with the flannel sheets or putting regular sheets on the bed as we are to be in the 90s most of this week)
• Rick took the cover off the pool last night. Today he will vacuum the pool, then shovel out the flowerbed by the east side of the pool and we will plant our cannas; we have enough cannas to go all the way along the side in the bed. While he's working on that, I will be working on weeding and such for the afternoon and early evening.
• There's an area at the top of the driveway where we had planted spreading junipers many decades ago. Well, the junipers have seen better days and they now need to be removed. We're not sure what we're going to put in their place, other than a path coming from the top of the steps from the basement to the end of the pool. How we're going to design said path and what will be planted is unknown yet. We need to get those junipers out of there before we do anything.
• Manicure tonight, and I'm sure that my hands will need it after being outside all afternoon. I do wear gloves for the most part.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

micknsnicks2mom , what do you do with that many cinnamon chips? I use them in a couple cookie recipes and there's a delicious biscotti recipe, too. What else? I used to buy pounds and pounds and pounds of pecans from a woman with whom Rick works; she sold them at such a good price as fundraiser. I always had pecans in the freezer. Alas, she quit selling them and the other week, for the first time in years, I had to buy pecans at the store for a recipe. Sure wish I could find a place that sells them in bulk as we use a lot of pecans.

There is a Con Agra plant fairly close to us and employees can get dried pastas, Chef Boyardee products and the like. My cousin used to get tons of spaghetti and she always shared with the family. And I have to say that, sometimes, I really enjoyed a box of Fiddle Faddle . She has since retired, so we don't get anything like that anymore. I really liked the spaghetti...it came in long bags, nothing like the short boxes from the stores. She got other stuff, too, but I only really took the spaghetti and, sometimes a box of Fiddle Faddle. She used to give Mom pounds of grated cheese.

<snip>

oh, they'll last me probably 2 years, same with the walnuts. i store them in the freezer. i'll use the cinnamon chips in cookies, definitely in blondies, banana bread, as a topping for cakes (sprinkled over the frosting -- they're mini chips), with vanilla yogurt , and i'm thinking of making a variation on Nanaimo Bars -- middle layer with some cinnamon chips in it, and possibly the top layer using them too.

i bought my bulk cinnamon chips and walnuts at webstaurantstore dot com. i've also bought bulk items at allbulkfoods dot com. i think it's important, when buying in bulk online, to calculate the cost (per pound, or etc) including shipping cost. there are good/very good prices to be found, but in my experience it takes some work to find the websites, find the website with the best price as well as shipping cost, and compare prices (including shipping) to the best prices you can find in your area (brick and mortar stores, as well as distributors that offer 'cash and carry'). and of course, it's important to know what you're going to do with the bulk items, be sure that you'll use them all.

if you could locate another fundraiser selling pecans in your area...? or if you know of anyone in an organization which does these kind of fundraisers (like the Elks, Lions, churches, schools, and etc), you might offer them the idea of a pecan or nuts fundraiser.

that's really interesting, about your cousin and the Con Agra plant. there are quite a few people in my general area who work at the Mott's plant.



today i haven't got much planned, which is good because i'm pooped from everything i did yesterday -- plus it was quite warm yesterday too... i did get the ac in the window yesterday, and removing the window screen only took a couple minutes. and a good thing i got that done too, as we're forecast to have HOT weather for the next few days.

i'll wash the dishes, scoop the litter boxes, and cook another small batch of pasta (and mix the second jar of spaghetti sauce with it). after that, i'd like to play some computer games and read.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

today i'll slice the bread machine bread i made yesterday, make a phone call, and i've got a package set to be delivered. i'll fold and put away the load of laundry i washed and dried already. i'll also wash the dishes, scoop the litter boxes, and take out the trash and recycling.

 

[Winchester]

Our local Kiwaniis sells blueberries as a fundraiser and they are gorgeous berries: nice and big and blue. Just beautiful. A 10-pound box for $31 and well worth the money. Two boxes, in addition to what our bushes provide, give me enough berries for a year until it's time to order again, especially since Dear Richard has decided that, you know, blueberries aren't all that bad (after 60 years!). I just did the order for in here at work and the berries will come on July 5th. I put them into freezer bags, two cups to a bag (two cups is what most recipes use) and toss into the freezer. I love to eat them frozen, too, and will often grab a cup of frozen blueberries as a snack. We have asked around to see if an organization is either selling pecans or seems interested and can't get any takers.

We have a lot of Amish bulk food stores around here, but I've never checked for pecans. I'll have to ask around. I don't like having to buy them at the supermarket (way, too expensive!) when I used to be able to just run down to the freezer and grab a bag as needed.

My DIL used to work for Hershey and she was able to get me all the chips I ever needed. Especially the cinnamon chips as they've been all that popular around here.....only with me, it seems.

We were able to spend the day outside yesterday. Rick got the cannas planted and the pool opened and vacuumed; the water is clearly up nicely and I'm thinking that, by Wednesday/Thursday night, I might be able to swim. I spent the afternoon up in the strawberry patch picking berries (and eating as I picked!) and weeding. We had enough for strawberry shortcake cake last night (my version of strawberry shortcake is simply a recipe for sweet muffins, broken apart in a bowl, slathered in strawberries and vanilla bean ice cream). It was good, even though we had chocolate marshmallow ice cream instead of vanilla bean. Rick put milk on his shortcake; I used the choc marsh ice cream; there's no bad time for choc marsh! Yum!

We dragged our sorry butts out of bed this morning. I have to go until Wednesday when my work year begins anew, then I get full vacation time again. And I am counting the days. Rick has already put in for vacation days every Monday in July and August. I may be joining him for some of those Mondays and taking some long weekends. Rick gets six weeks of vacation time; I only get 3-1/2 weeks, so thank goodness for those federal holidays!

• Breakfast for the kids, emptied the dishwasher, 2 miles on the treadmill, scooped the boxes, made the bed, and grabbed a shower
• Tonight is grocery night
• We may go into see Rick's mother tonight; while we're in town, Clarence needs gas and I need to mail some letters off; I was going to get those things done this morning, but I ran out of time.

 

[Winchester]

Awakened with a bad headache this morning; I think it's from the heat and humidity. I saw that today is the last day of 90s for a while. We slept with the fan on in the bedroom and now Rick has sinus problems and I've the headache.

We didn't get to visit Rick's mother last night; til I got out of my meeting and then we got home from grocery shopping and got the blasted dog calmed back down, we weren't going to leave the house and get her all riled up again. She was positively insane last night and it wasn't worth leaving her again. Rick called his mom and talked to her on the phone.

• Breakfast for the kids, 2 miles on the treadmill, made the bed, scooped the boxes, grabbed my shower, stopped for gas and mailed my letter.
• Must run over to the pool place tonight for chemicals and shock.
• If I feel any better tonight, I'll work in the strawberry patch again. I probably got half of it weeded out on Sunday.

 

[AbbysMom]

- I've got to go to UPS and pick up a package
- I've got to go somewhere and buy a large floor fan because Aaron broke ours last night
- Get trash and recyclables together

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Our local Kiwaniis sells blueberries as a fundraiser and they are gorgeous berries: nice and big and blue. Just beautiful. A 10-pound box for $31 and well worth the money. Two boxes, in addition to what our bushes provide, give me enough berries for a year until it's time to order again, especially since Dear Richard has decided that, you know, blueberries aren't all that bad (after 60 years!). I just did the order for in here at work and the berries will come on July 5th. I put them into freezer bags, two cups to a bag (two cups is what most recipes use) and toss into the freezer. I love to eat them frozen, too, and will often grab a cup of frozen blueberries as a snack. We have asked around to see if an organization is either selling pecans or seems interested and can't get any takers.

We have a lot of Amish bulk food stores around here, but I've never checked for pecans. I'll have to ask around. I don't like having to buy them at the supermarket (way, too expensive!) when I used to be able to just run down to the freezer and grab a bag as needed.

My DIL used to work for Hershey and she was able to get me all the chips I ever needed. Especially the cinnamon chips as they've been all that popular around here.....only with me, it seems.

<snip>

wow!!! that sounds like an excellent price for a 10-lb box of blueberries! i go to a pick your own blueberry place close to me, and it's $15 per 'bucket' (holds 15 cups, or 7 1/2 pints) -- not sure how many pounds that works out to.

hmmm...you might try checking around online, and that might take some time. i just did a quick look over at one bulk website, but i don't know what a good price for pecans would be (i don't care for them myself). aren't pecans generally a bit more expensive than walnuts? what would a good price per pound be for pecans? or rather, what is your local supermarket's price? my goal is always to find a lower cost (including shipping) than i can get locally.

oh, yes!!! the Amish bulk food stores sound like a great place to look for pecans at a reasonable price!

so, you're also no longer able to get your cinnamon chips, and other (baking) chips, at a better than grocery store price either? if i remember correctly, you mentioned that there's an Aldi's store in your area, but that you haven't checked it out yet? they might have pretty good prices on items, possibly cinnamon chips and pecans. that might be worth looking into. i do a yearly baking supplies shopping at Aldi's (just the supplies that go on sale, not things like baking powder and baking soda), just started that last November/December. here, the Aldi's has all purpose flour 5 lb bags for 89 cents each and 4lb bags of white sugar for $1.29 each (and no limit) during the holidays season. i set aside money each month in my budget for that yearly baking supplies shopping trip.



today i'll wash the dishes, scoop the litter boxes, and might bake a sheet of oatmeal peanut butter cookies in the toaster oven (forecast to be a high of 72 degrees F today, so would be a reasonable day to bake). i'll have to grab some dough balls out of the freezer shortly, if i want to bake them in the early afternoon today.

i did a grocery shopping yesterday, as well as changed the bedding over to summer (lightweight) bedding, so i'm tired today. so i'll probably just watch some tv later this afternoon.

 

[Mother Dragon]

I think SAMS or Costco always has pecan halves for about $14.50 for a 2-lb. package. In the fall there's a place that shells them right at the grove. I've never gone there, but I hear the prices are decent. Pecans are out of season here. November - January is our season. That's the time to stock up from the growers.

I shopped the internet and found the Costco prices to be the best at $7.25/lb. If the Costco prices are good, I'd be glad to send some to you. I'm not sure if postage would would make it worth the price, but I'd be glad to do it. Walnuts are a couple of dollars cheaper. You may be able to order directly online, too, but you might have to buy a membership. I don't know. I see three within reasonable driving distance of you, depending on what you consider reasonable. They have a lot of bulk baking items.

Cinnamon chips are seasonal, too. You might try here. These are $037/oz. Hershey's are $0.58 at the cheapest I could find.

Cinnamon Chips. (Large 30 oz. triple-size pack) Special..

For excitement yesterday I cooked about 10 lbs. of bone-in chicken breasts and boned them. I used about three pounds for chicken pot pie that will last about three meals. The rest will be made into a mega-pot of chicken and dumplings, most of which will go to our neighbors across the street who watched the house and took in the paper and mail while Robert was in the hospital. No matter how much I send over there (I've sent over a gallon several times) she eats almost all of it so he barely gets a taste. We'll have to find something else for him.

Tonight is Robert's sewing class but I don't think his hand is quite up to it. A lot of the swelling is gone from the hand, but the pinkie is still fairly swollen and not completely flexible. At least the purple color is almost gone and it's more light red. The cat, however, has no ill effects from the incident at all.

It's catchup day today. Time to change the bed linen and boil the sheets, wash some clothes so we don't shock folks with what we smell like, harvest the garden, and check the weekly grocery ads to see what's on sale that we don't need. I would have liked to have gotten a couple more packages of those chicken breasts for $1/lb. Oh, well...

 

[Winchester]

We have a Costco in Harrisburg, only about 60 miles away; we've never gotten a membership though. Thanks anyway; the shipping would negate any savings. But I thank you! (The cinnamon chips I was able to get for free bc my DIL worked at Hershey. Now I have to pay for them, too. It's funny when you get so used to having things that when you no longer have them, you kind of miss them....if that makes any sense. Thanks for the heads-up! A few months ago, our Giant had Hershey's cinnamon chips on sale for $1 a bag and I bought ten bags and stuck them in freezer bags and threw them in the freezer.)

We have a bearing Black Walnut tree in our side yard. We planted it the first year we lived here, simply because my dad loved walnuts so much. I hate the things, so we let them for the squirrels to chomp on. They eat them, they hide them. And then we've got little walnut trees sprouting up here and there throughout our yard. Same with little oak trees from the acorns the squirrels and the deer take. We've tried planting the little oaks, but they never seem to make it.

My thanks to you both Mother Dragon and micknsnicks2mom for your suggestions! I really need to get my butt into Aldi's! I'm pretty picky about flour; sugar, well, I'll buy the store brand, but I only use King Arthur flour for regular baking and White Lily for my biscuits and such. I can't even say it's what my mom used because she didn't care much. For some reason, I've stuck with those flours. (Before we could get White Lily around here, the only place we could find it was in Virginia and, every time poor Rick went to Virginia for union e-board meetings, he had to bring me a couple bags of White Lily. And when I met Rick's Executive Director in Virginia, he gave me a couple bags of White Lily flour. And asked for cookies in return. He was quite the character.)

I'm glad Robert's hand is doing better and I take it that he did come home yesterday since you're doing laundry and other chores. Good. I'm glad he's out of that place. Of course, Darwin isn't worried about his dad's hand in the slightest.

So....my headache feels better this morning than it did when I went to bed last night. By the end of the day yesterday, I was nauseous. This morning is better; it's still there, though, lurking. I can feel it.

• Breakfast for the kids (today was Ms. Pepe's first meal with the Royal Canin Renal Support canned food; she scarfed everything and her plate was licked clean), 2.5 miles on the treadmill, made the bed, general clean-up, sorted laundry, grabbed a quick shower
• Rick didn't make it down for pool chemicals last night; we forgot that The Beast's vet appt was at 6:15 and til we got back home, there was no time. He's going down tonight and he also has to go back to the vet; Ms. Pepe is on Amoxi for a bladder infection and they didn't include the Amoxi in the bag; the syringe was there, but no meds. So there's another trip tonight.
• Trash night
• Laundry night (this is the first time since last year that there are no sweatshirts or sweat pants in the laundry. All shorts and t-shirts with my casual work clothes. I don't think there's even any of Rick's flannel shirts; I guess summer is officially here.)

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

I wish some of you who are talking about pecans could be here when I have to pick them up off the ground and put them in buckets. We only have one tree, but it produces a crop every year. Some year, it is abundantly above all that I need.
I take them to church and beg people to get them.

Today, I am doing laundry. I have the living room half vacuumed, so I have to finish that. Then it is me and the ironing board for a while. Yuck. I hate ironing worse than cleaning the toilets.