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Managing a Household / Re: Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019

« Last post by pamgonzo on February 12, 2019, 09:25:53 AM »

Good Morning Alice and any others who may join us!

Hope you are able to keep warm Alice.  Did you have to go in to work today?  It is just nasty out there.  I know what you mean about the pre-storm grocery lines.  Thankfully, I didn't have to go this go round.  I will need to go get groceries later this week.  However, if I don't get there, I guess we will survive.  There are just some sales that I would like to take advantage of if I can. 

We will be headed to NC in mid March for a baby shower.  I'm kind of wishing it were sooner than that so we could escape this crazy winter!  Dil's cousin had set the date for the shower, and when I checked the calendar, it was scheduled the same day as a surprise bridal shower for son's fiancee.     That posed a dilemma for me.  What to do??  I told dil, and they ended up changing the date by one week.  That was so nice of them to change their plans so that we could be included.  I am looking forward to both events. 

Not much happening in my world today.  Trying to stay warm and get a few general chores done around here. Nothing too exciting as usual.  On my own for dinner, so I have some vegetable soup going in the crockpot.  Seems like a good thing on a day like today. 

Have a great day everyone, and if you are in this latest storm's path, stay safe and warm!
Pam

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Managing a Household / Re: Monday, Feb. 11, 2019

« Last post by Alice on February 12, 2019, 07:11:33 AM »

Popping in to say "HI PAM". Be safe.

Alice

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Managing a Household / Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019

« Last post by Alice on February 12, 2019, 07:10:53 AM »

Good Morning (maybe),

We are dealing with more dangerous weather conditions again today. We basically had no snow until mid-January and what we got more than made up for what we didn't have earlier. This morning the roads are icy, the wind is blowing, and it's snowing with a possibility of many inches of snow. Lots of schools closed again. I'm tired of shoveling, scraping ice off of our vehicles and being cold. Oh, and we're not done yet. There seems to be a system coming through for the rest of the week.

We try to get things done around the house but we mostly end up outside shoveling. And now I see there are a lot of limbs down from our trees in the back yard. Getting groceries is done in the small window of opportunity between storm systems. I ran to the store last night for a couple of things and the check out lines were very looooooooooooooooong. Everyone has to do the same thing so I don't mind waiting in the long line because they all need stuff too.

My son has transitioned out of an employment agency into regular employee of the same company. This means he may quit his second job which was retail sales. He would come home sad every day from retail due to the expectations of pressure sales which he hates. So I promised we would have a celebratory dinner to coincide with Valentine's day. He does not have a significant other and hubby and I don't celebrate these little cute observances but we will have a little dinner to celebrate and we'll have that tonight. Thursday is much too busy for everyone so we'll have a nice little dinner together at home tonight with something special.

Not much else going on in my world except trying to be very safe and warm.

Alice

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Managing a Household / Monday, Feb. 11, 2019

« Last post by pamgonzo on February 11, 2019, 09:31:52 AM »

Hello Anyone??

I decided to try to get myself back into a little bit of a computer routine.  Or a routine in general.
I've been a little off as of late.  I do think it has to do with the crazy weather we have been dealing with.
I'm just kind of lost as to what I should be doing on a daily basis.  It ends up that I don't get a whole lot accomplished.
Or at least as much as I could or feel like I should.

I am working on a loose weekly schedule with the things I want to get done weekly.  Things like laundry, dusting, floors, bathrooms, etc.

Yesterday I had to drive hubs across the state to his parent's house.  He was meeting up with his co-worker this morning over in that area. So he spent the night there, and his parents took him to the meeting place this morning.  The drive over was nice.  Clear dry roads.  No worries.  Well, the drive home, not so much.  About half way home it started to snow.  There were white out conditions for about 15 miles, and then it started to get icy.  That lasted for about 40 miles.  It was slow going.  Lots of people off in the median and ditch.  About 20 miles from home the roads got better, but I was still taking it slow.  I made it home safely, and have decided to not go anywhere unless I really need to for a couple days!

So, today I am working on my weekly schedule, menu planning and doing a little research that hubs needs. 

I will do a yoga video later today for my daily form of activity/exercise.  I'm trying to get into a routine of getting in some form of activity daily.  I have not been very good about that for a few weeks. (Again, the weather playing with my mind, and me allowing it to.)
Yesterday morning we went to the gym before leaving town, so I'm 1 for 1 so far this week!  LOL!

Hope all of you are doing well.  Would love to hear what you are up to.
Have you been dealing with weather where you are?  *I know you have been Alice since we are in the same area!

Pop in and reconnect if you can!
Pam

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Managing a Household / Re: Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019

« Last post by pamgonzo on February 08, 2019, 09:40:02 AM »

Alice: good to see you have survived the weather as of Tuesday.  It has been so crazy.

I have not really been on my computer much, so I haven't been around here. 

Our power went out yesterday morning around 8:30.  I checked to see when we could expect restoration, and it was saying 11:45 pm.  Yikes!  Not sure why, but the estimation was updated to 1:45 pm, and that's about what time it actually came back on.  It has been on ever since, and I am praying it remains on.  Much of our neighborhood is still out, as is a lot of the West Michigan area.  It is scary because it is so cold.  We have no other source of heating our house without power.  No fireplace, or generator.  it did get a little chilly in here, but really the temp only dropped about 7 degrees by the time the power was restored. 

I am hoping the worst of it is over, but now I am seeing we might be in for more next week.  The schools have been closed so much from this.  In the past 2 weeks our school was only in session one of the 10 days.  Must be rough on the parents!

My days have been at home as well with all of this craziness!  I should have gotten some projects completed, but for some reason it just wasn't happening.  I did complete a 1000 piece puzzle though!    

Not much has been happening here.  Hubby is on the road this week and next for a work project.  I'm kind of concerned about it since who knows how the weather and conditions will be.  Prayers for his safe travels would be appreciated!

Hope everyone is staying safe and warm.  We are doing our best to make it through!
Would love to hear how everyone is.
Pam

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Managing a Household / Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019

« Last post by Alice on February 05, 2019, 07:23:46 AM »

Good Morning,

The Polar Vortex has ended and we began having temps rise to the point of being in the mid to high 40's for the weekend. The drive home from work Friday was very slick as the slush levels were high and cars were just spinning on the slush. Lots of slide offs and bumper boo boo's.  Saturday and Sunday the temps were high enough to begin a BIG melt of all the snow making many of the side streets very slippery. Main roads got better and better as each day progressed. But the moisture....it's everywhere. My garage floor is wet from moisture and the windows are drippy in the garage. My house is fine because of the warm air circulating. I also made sure to rake the roof edges of snow on Friday afternoon so we wouldn't have the problem of ice jams and potential leakage.

We got out of Friday to do returnables, recyclables and get some groceries. Everywhere we went it was busy. Last week during the week no one was safely able to get out so Saturday was the day to get the pantries filled. Every shopping cart was taken and being used and the stores were so full of people. I heard that the stock of food last week didn't happen because the trucks couldn't get in. So finally when the trucks got in to replenish the shelves, people made a beeline to get their shopping done.  We didn't need a lot but a few veggies and some dairy.

Monday, it started to rain and it rained a lot of heavy rain. Today the temps should be a bit cooler and I can see everything starting to dry up. Then we're headed into another weekend of very cold and slippery weather. Ahhhh, Michigan winters.

We have still been working through the freezer but yesterday hubby went to the store and found some deals on chicken so there is a bunch more chicken in the freezer. That's OK because why pay high price when you need as it's better to pay the low price when you don't need it now but will need it later.  He also found a couple of beef steaks. We haven't had beef steak for a while and I think our iron is a bit low so we cooked those up. We had fajitas but also just left a few to be eaten as steak and we all agreed our bodies needed the beef. Oh, and I made a beef stir fry for sometime this week. I found a lot of veggies discounted so he used those in the stir fry. I tried something I have never had before and that is spaghetti squash. I cooked two small ones up last night and I really liked those. I think I will try to make a fettuccini alfredo with spinach and spaghetti squash tonight as I have spinach that needs to be used up. I'm surprised how firm the noodles are as I expected them to be mushy. A nice surprise.

Would love to hear about your day!

Alice

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Managing a Household / Friday, February 1, 2019

« Last post by Alice on February 01, 2019, 09:41:57 AM »

Good Morning, everyone!

Did everyone get a week of interesting weather like we did? We are coming down from the polar vortex here in West Michigan. We've had some of the coldest, snowiest weather we've had in a LONG time. We've had temps around -10 but the wind chill up to about -45 or -50 F during this week. I think all the schools in W. Michigan were closed and so were many businesses. My offices were only open on Tues. but they told us to go home early and we're working today. Three days off is unheard of. Today is still very cold with temps at about 2 F. Then we're in for a warming trend that will bring us up close to 50 F on Monday. That could be really bad so I'm not sure what to think. Right now the roads are completely ice, even highways so if we add rain and warm temps. we might have some serious issues.

My husband and son both needed to work and it was pretty scary. I was home alone and got a little cabin fever. I did have to go get a prescription one morning and some milk but that was about it for me. I don't think I'll be good at retirement.

Our food levels were just fine because we're still trying to eat as much from the freezer and pantry. I see a dent being made in the freezer and am using a lot of things that found their way to the bottom. I thought I was almost out of tomatoes but I dug through to the bottom and found several containers. I also thought I was almost out of green beans but dug a bunch up from the bottom. I have beets and red cabbage and I really need to find a good way to serve beets. I like them but the leach red all over. Same with the red cabbage. I also found a piece of pork that we bought because it was on sale but it is a tougher piece of pork. I ground that up and made pork spaghetti. It was very good. I also had two pie crusts and a couple of apples that were wrinkly. We had an apple tart which was a huge hit.

I shoveled and snow blowed the driveway several times per day but it was much safer to be inside. One night we received an emergency alert that asked us to turn down our furnaces because a station that provides the natural gas had a fire so they needed to reroute the gas to the other stations so they could get us gas consistently. Thankfully a lot of people complied and now a couple of days later, we've been given the OK to raise out temps. again. I figured I could easily put on an extra sweater and put blankets out for our cats to crawl up on. We were fine.

Tell us about how you are doing! Would love to hear from someone today.

Alice

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Managing a Household / Friday, Jan. 25, 2019

« Last post by pamgonzo on January 25, 2019, 10:55:09 AM »

Hello Ladies:

Hope all of you are doing well.  We got another blast of snow and super cold air.  Most schools in the area are closed.  Not our district, but most of the ones in the surrounding area.  I am staying cozy in at home.

Trying to decide what to make for dinner.  Maybe a pot of chili.  Will have to see if I have any ground beef in the freezer.  I really need to do an inventory of what is in there.  Not today though.  The freezer is in the garage, and it is way to cold out there to do anything more that quick grab what I need, or run to jump in the car!

I have a celebration to go to tomorrow afternoon.  My dear friend and her husband have adopted a little boy.  They had been his foster parents pretty much since his birth, and was allowed to adopt him in December.  Some of our girlfriends are having a get together to celebrate for them.  I am hoping the roads are okay for me to be able to go.  My HS bestie is planning on coming to my house and we will go together.  It will be good to spend some time catching up with her. 

Today I did some computer work, and now need to do a quick once over in the downstairs bathroom.  Other than that, the house is in pretty good shape.  I did a good over all cleaning in prep for son & dil's visit.  Have been pretty diligent about keeping it straight.  I could do a quick dusting of a couple spots as well.

Would love to hear about what all of you are up to.
Hope everyone is staying warm and healthy!
Pam

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Managing a Household / Re: Tuesday, January 22, 2019

« Last post by pamgonzo on January 23, 2019, 10:54:44 AM »

Alice: Happy belated birthday!  We love to Traverse City!  There are great things to do there all year long.  Glad you were able to enjoy a nice little getaway!

Son and dil were here from NC this past weekend.  It was so nice to spend time together.  We hadn't seen them since Labor day, and they hadn't been home here since last March.  We enjoyed the time, even though we had a couple of extended family events to attend. 

They flew back Monday afternoon.  Back to the norm now. 

The weather is so crazy right now!  We had a huge cold snap, and icy roads and such.  Now it is actually quite warm (mid 30's), so lots of melting happening right now.  Hoping that it doesn't refreeze, because the roads will get bad if it does.  Glad I can stay home if things get bad.  We have plenty of supplies as far as food goes, so even if we get shut in for a few days, we would be fine.

We are trying to spend less right now until the wedding June 1.  We will have some expenses for that, so we need to be aware of what we are spending to be able to handle it all.  It's all good for me, because that means we will be spending more time at home.  This time of year, that is good news to me!

I am using up leftovers to make chicken enchiladas for dinner tonight.  Another thing I am working on.  Using up food and not throwing food out because it goes unused before spoiling. We are also trying to eat at home exclusively.  Not easy for us, but for sure will save us money.

Hope all of you ladies are doing well. 
Pam

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Managing a Household / Tuesday, January 22, 2019

« Last post by Alice on January 22, 2019, 12:30:12 PM »

Good Afternoon anyone,

I've been missing for a while just doing life. January has been busy but in a good way.

I celebrated a birthday, then my husband and I took a weekend getaway to Traverse City, MI which is a wonderful summer vacation spot but we went in the middle of winter. We had a very good weekend to go and did a ton of things. Work is busy with regular year end stuff, kids are all back to where they need to be, the freezer is being used and I see the levels going down.

The weather changed from barely no snow yet this winter to a winter wonderland with very cold temps. I am thankful because winter could have started several months ago and only began mid-January. I've been needing hot soups lately and my freezer provided enough stock to make a big pot of pea soup with ring sausage and then last night was a big pot of vegetable beef pasta soup (this was a little bit of everything, more like a minestrone) and it was so good. I like soups better the next day. We had some saltines that were in the cupboard for a while but it is so easy to crisp them up in the oven and they were a delicious addition.

We're also on a low spend month and we're doing OK with that. Traverse City, mini vacation, had us buy some cherry salsa and a couple bottles of wine but it was also my birthday weekend so we needed to celebrate a little bit. We live close to our "big" city so we also went out to visit a market this weekend and purchased a couple of things. We both grew up in this city but moved and were gone for 22 years. Only 5 years ago we moved back but have not done a lot of exploring our city. Kids and family kept us from doing that during the 22 years we were gone and the last 5 years so now we're back to exploring.

I have been working on sourdough starter again. I have a starter that I have had 8 years now and have been using it but this weekend I researched a new recipe and it was really good. I really need to bake more of our breads. Life was so busy for a while that I didn't do it often but now I want a really good bread recipe. I did use bread pans this weekend but I want one that just sits on a cookie sheet to rise and bake.

Not much else going on here. Would love to hear from someone today.

Alice