Thursday, March 23, 2017

[Cheryl]

Good morning!

It looks like it will be another beautiful day.  I have a load of laundry finishing up, and will hang it on the line in a few minutes.  We are in spring cleaning mode around here.  We have so many home and yard projects we want to do.  Finding the time and money to do them all will be the challenge. 

I have been doing what I can while my husband's at work.  Yesterday and Tuesday I cleaned along our fence lines, cutting back brush and pruning.  I was so sore in my arms and shoulders after doing that, but I slept so much better!  We will work on getting the garden started this week. 

The inside projects we hope to do are finish the flooring in the master bedroom., building a closet, painting in there, and putting up new trim.  The bathroom needs a new door, Emily's room needs new trim, and several other little items.

Our big outdoor projects include a new roof, sprucing up the front porch, putting an addition onto the barn, and possibly building the greenhouse we have been wanting.  We want to sell the camper we never use too.

Oh well, I have big dreams but we will see what we can actually accomplish. 

[Alice]

Cheryl, that's an amazing list you have there! It's just as long as my list except we can't do half the stuff ourselves so ours will cost a lot by hiring it out. The newest thing is that we have the old "Federal Pacific" electric box that needs to be upgraded along with that is that the underground electric and gas line to the garage out back isn't up to code so there will be digging a new trench to accomodate this upgrade. We need electric to the shop and it would be nice to have the heat so we're going for it.

Hubby started a new job and he can't be there when this all happens and I don't want to be there since stuff like this makes me very upset and nervous. But it looks like it will be me after all. My guess is that this will be an incredible mess and that there will be a lot of cleanup. I'm glad summer is coming so we'll work through it then.

Hubby and I walked to the grocery store for a gallon of milk last night and a couple of other things. We took a backpack and he carried it home. So we got our walk in as well as the needed milk. We had dinner first which was Lomo Saltado but it was made with pork instead of beef, yellow onions instead of red, and canned tomatoes instead of fresh. It was so good. Now I have to think of something for tonight. I only have ground beef, chicken and pork in the freezer and we used the last of the potatoes last night. I'm cutting out a lot of groceries so I can pay for all the upgrades we have to do. Thankfully dad has a garden and we get stuff but we have to wait until mid-summer for anything.

Nothing exciting so that's it for my day!

Alice

[pamgonzo]

Good Morning Cheryl & Alice and any who follow!
Sounds like both of you ladies have a long list of projects on your plates!  Good luck with all of them.  I'm sure it will be such a sense of accomplishment when you can check each one off your list.

I have to run a quick errand today.  I need to go to the meat market where I buy most of my meat.  They have a sale on 93% lean ground sirloin for $3.49 a pound.  We only eat 93% lean, so whenever they have it on sale, I try to stock up.  My parents give us a $200 gift card from there for Christmas every year, so it's extra nice that I won't have to come up with any out of pocket to get it.  They have boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.49 a pound or 40# for $50.  The last time I bought those, each breast was huge - nearly a pound each, so I could use one breast for a meal for both of us.  I don't think I can store 40# worth even though it would be cheaper, so I will probably just get 20#.  I will pick up a roast or two, and then maybe a couple of thin steaks that I can cut up for fajitas or beef & broccoli or the like.  It will be a big stock up, but it is quite a drive out there, (about a half hour one way), so I don't go very often.  This meat should keep us set at least through the summer.

Other than that, I am going to put on a pot of pinto beans.  We are going to our son's baseball games tomorrow, so I will make up a batch of burritos to take to him, and we can have wet burritos or chicken fajitas for dinner.  (that reminds me, that I need to stop at Aldi to get tortillas and freezer bags for the chicken breasts).  Maybe I will make him some scotcharoos as well since he likes those. (add rice krispies to the Aldi list!)

So, I guess I will be spending a good part of the day running errands and in the kitchen.
Not sure what else I will get to.  I got a late start, so I need to get a move on!

Hope everyone has a great day!
Pam

[Alice]

Pam, is that store near me? Care to share?

Alice

[4kidsmom]

Good morning!

First day of spring break!!  Well, technically spring break starts tomorrow because today is teacher workday.  Whatever, there's no school today!  It was so nice to sleep in till 8!

I have a huge list of things I want to get done or at least started over the next 11 days.  A lot of them are little jobs that won't take long--I just like to get everything onto a list so I don't forget what I want to do.  I've got all my weekly and monthly chores on there, as well as some specific things I want to do in nearly every room of the house.  There's also yard and garden work, automotive, and house maintenance in there.  I don't know if I'll get it all done during spring break but I should be able to get a lot done, especially since I'll have the kids here to help with some of it.  They're not going to spend their entire break playing!

We *are* going to play too.   Tonight I'm going to my hometown with three of the kids.  Tomorrow is the day when prospective students can participate in actual college activities to see what college is like.  My daughter will be doing that.  While she is at the university, the younger boys and I will be at my parents' house.  I told my mom I'd be happy to help with any projects she and my dad have that they need help with.  It'll be fun to visit with them.

Saturday is my daughter's birthday so we'll celebrate that.  Monday I'm taking the younger boys to the children's museum. We bought them year passes for Christmas.  Tuesday we're going to see Beauty and the Beast.  I'm sure we'll do some other fun things during the break, so it won't be all work!

I probably won't be here tomorrow, so, have a fabulous weekend!

Merilee

[pamgonzo]

Merilee, enjoy your Spring Break!  Sounds like you have a lot of fun and productive things planned.

Alice - the meat store I go to is in Howard City.  It is a bit of a drive, but I only go maybe twice a year, so it is worth it for us.
Here is their website:  http://birdfarmmeats.com/

My trip was a partial bust.  The chicken wasn't in yet, they were waiting for the truck to come in sometime this afternoon.  The store is in the middle of nowhere - literally - so it wasn't like I could go run to another store or anything to wait it out, so I just came home.  I may call in the morning to see if it came in, and run up there before we leave for South Bend for the baseball games.  Just depends on how I feel about the extra driving.  But bonus, they had eckrich smokey links for $1.50 a package.  Those are our favorite, but I rarely get them because they are pricey (regular $3.69 at my grocery store).  I do not buy them at that price!

Two pans of scotcharoos are cooling on the table, so my kid will be happy tomorrow!  Will make up burritos for him after dinner. 

Enjoy the rest of your day and evening everyone!
Pam