Monday, February 6, 2017

[Cheryl]

Good morning!

I am sitting here enjoying the quiet house while trying to finish a library book and have coffee before I get my day started.

We had a mostly quiet, at-home weekend.  Saturday was a bit depressing.  One of our cats that had been missing for a couple of days showed up with a broken jaw, teeth, and part of his gums missing, tongue swollen, and lots more injuries.  We loaded him up and took him to the vet, but there was nothing they could do for him.  His jaw would have to be reconstructed and could not be done locally and the cost would have started in the thousands of dollars and gone up from there.  He was euthanized and I have been down about it ever since.  I will miss seeing him around when I am outside.

It's raining here now and I don't really have a plan for the day.  I have a pork roast thawed that I want to cook on the smoker.  We were going to do that yesterday but ended up having dinner with my mother-in-law instead. 

Well, I am off to read for a little longer.  Hope you all have a great day!

[Alice]

Sorry Cheryl about your cat. We are cat lovers as well and have lost many cats when we lived in the country. Finally, I have two cats that one stays inside all the time and the other one has outdoor privileges but only for a few minutes and then we call her back. She nevers gets to stay outside all night. I just can't lose another cat to the great outdoors. Hope your day gets better.

I woke up this morning very groggy, even my voice was groggy. But I got started with my day. We got our replacement windows ordered on Sat. and hubby added two more projects for the builder and he got two projects himself. There is the possibility of one other bigger project that includes heating and cooling and electric to our big barn. We initially wanted to move but after 1 1/2 years of looking, we are not finding anything that meets our checklist so the decision is to renovate and fix what we have to more fit what we are looking for. I guess it's kind of a relief and now we are moving forward. Maybe this can be done this spring yet (sounds like it might!). The budget is already very tight so we're praying that we will be able to handle what's coming. I suppose we would have paid more if we bought a different house so this is cheaper in the long run.

We had a nice meal with our college kids home for the day. All from the freezer and pantry. We had two small cuts of beef in the Instant Pot which softened them nicely, mashed potatoes, cabbage, and fried rice. We shared one can of pears for a dessert. There were plenty of leftovers for the kids to take back a meal (or two) for the coming week. They often just don't have the time to cook so having a little extra from home saves them time and then I know they aren't eating junk fast food.

I'm going to do a no spend February if I can. Obviously I will have to get a few things but no extras for anything. I have a baby shower that I need a gift for but I found a children's fleece blanket in my linen closet I bought a few years ago because it was on sale. That is part of the gift and the rest is a baby food mill that I ordered online. I had one of those when my kids were little and I loved it so I'm hoping this new mom will too.

I did a little re-arranging in the pantry and my spices. I need to use what we have. The kids pulled a few things from the pantry to take back but I don't have much pre-packaged anything so they didn't get too much. We're almost out of cereal but I don't think I'll buy anymore since we have a lot of oatmeal and cream of wheat. We have to eat that first. I have two potatoes left and I don't think I will buy any since we have to cut our budget to pay for renovations. I have a lot of rice so I will need to get creative with that. I also have a lot of mashed butternut squash in the freezer that will be our potatoes. This could get very interesting but it has to be done.

All in all it was a good weekend. I like simple living.

Alice

[pamgonzo]

Good Morning.

So sorry to hear about your poor kitty Cheryl.  You did what you could, and what was best for your pet. 

Alice: sounds like you have a great plan to get the home you are in turned into the home you want.  Nice your kids can come home for a Sunday afternoon.  I would love that.  Those days are in the past for us I think. 

My local son stopped by for about 7 (maybe 8  ) minutes yesterday.  A local bbq guy wanted to set hubby up with food for the game.  Nice, but he gave us half pans of food!?!  Mac & cheese, baked beans, coleslaw, and a heap of wings.  Way too much for us, so we called our son and had him come get most of it to have with his buddies while they watched the game.  They were all happy, and it didn't go to waste. 

I am up and about finally.  Got a bit of a late start.  But, now I am up, showered and dressed, so on with the day!

I need to do my son's taxes for him.  I will try to get to that today.  It isn't involved or anything, but just taking the time to do them is my challenge.  I will try to buckle down and to that today.

Other than that, mostly just general cleaning chores.  Sweeping, dusting, the bathrooms.  Nothing major.

Need to scan my menu and see what I can make for dinner.  We have leftover guacamole that I had yesterday, so maybe something in the Mexican vein to be able to use that up before it turns. 

It is quite cold here right now, but is suppose to get up to 39 (wow! almost 40!!) so maybe the cold snap is done.  I am hopeful!!
Hope everyone has a great day.
Pam

[4kidsmom]

Good morning!

I took a break from posting last week--now I'm back!

I think I'm starting in on another cold.  My throat feels thick, like it's getting clogged with mucus and my chest hurts a little.  Ugh.  I just got over a cold and still had a bit of a cough, mostly due to the bad air, I think.  Winter inversions are starting to affect me more than they used to.

Today will probably be a light day so I can rest and try to get over this cold.  I bought some Emergen-C--should I start taking it now?

I have laundry to put away and I will probably go ahead and do what's in the baskets, so I can get back on my laundry schedule.  That will be my big thing.  The rest of the day I will just do the small things that I can manage and tonight I'll have the family help pick up the house.

Cheryl, sorry to hear about your cat.

Alice, we are also wanting to do some work on our house too.  Right now I'm working on getting things cleaned up, decluttered and organized so we can paint.  I want to get new flooring on the main floor.  We'll see if we can swing that this year.

Dinner tonight will be pork chops (grilled if it's not raining, baked if it is), red potatoes, salad and fruit.

Merilee

[pamgonzo]

Good to see you Merilee!
Sorry to hear that you are fighting a cold.  I would say start on the emergen-c.  It can't hurt, right?  And maybe it will make the cold shorter. 
I usually use Cold Eezze, or some kind of similar zinc product.  It seems to help shorten a cold.  Hope you can get some relief.  Take it easy, and don't over do it.  Most things can wait if necessary.

Pam