Layout:
Home > Archive: April, 2014

Archive for April, 2014

Catching up...

April 27th, 2014 at 08:50 pm

It is has been a hectic couple of weeks around here. School has kept me quite busy and then Easter. Last week we received a call saying the flooring guys would come Monday to lay the vinyl. On Saturday we received a call saying the carpeting came in and they would also lay it so Saturday afternoon and evening was spent moving stuff to prepare the areas.

We were concerned that our house would be torn up for days with work in 3 rooms. Two are small, but still...

We received a call saying they would come at 1 p.m. on Monday. DH and I looked at each other and figured they would come, deliver the stuff, tear up a room and leave.

The three rooms were the laundry room, a very small bathroom, and a bedroom. The first two were vinyl and the second was carpeting. The guys unloaded and the next thing we knew, all three rooms were torn up.

Yikes...but we were pleasantly surprised...the guys worked until 8:30 and finished everything. I'm probably going to offend some folks here, but not once did I see them take out their cell phones to check to their messages!!!!! Could it be they decided it made more sense to be productive?

Anyway, we were delighted and my husband gave them some money to get some food on the way home. It has taken the past few days to get everything in place, but we are extremely pleased. We have lived in our home for 16 years and we have replaced all the flooring. Some of it needed to be replaced before we did it, but we always save up and pay cash for it.

Last weekend before we moved everything I decided to try and organize my kitchen a little better. I checked out books from the library and studied them. I can say I was frustrated because these pantries and drawers looked perfect, then it dawned on me if they were being photographed for a book, of course they were show room perfect. DUH! Anyway, I have some things to donate and my pantry is a little better organized. I also re-seasoned my cast iron skillets since I was cleaning and organizing. I have decided that my pantry will not look show room perfect, but it works for me. Plus, many of my items aren't in perfect containers. I have many of my pastas in jars to keep them fresh and bug free. I do use my pantry and it isn't for show.

I saw a recipe on Facebook for making zucchini chips. Slice them thin, mix with 1 T of olive oil and salt and pepper, bake at 450...sounds yummy. I just happen to have some zucchini in the fridge so I think we will be trying this.

Getting around and gardening too

April 13th, 2014 at 09:22 pm

I had to share this chuckle before I write anything else...the neighbor was complaining that is seems like her kids' school is always sending home something for them to buy. I chuckled because every time these kids have a fundraiser, this parent sends them over to us to buy something...I believe the irony was lost on her, but I did get a chuckle out of it anyway.

We hit a bunch of different stores this weekend. Two are our regular haunts, but there were things on sale at others that we wanted, so we stopped and bought there as well.

I made out my grocery list for this week and planned the weekly menus:

Sunday brunch: scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, fruit
Sunday supper: sloppy chicks, salad, chips
Monday: chicken tenders with barbecue sauce, baked potatoes, green beans
Tuesday: pork tenderloin roast with carrots and onions, fingerling potatoes, green beans
Wednesday: pork stew made with leftover pork, carrots, onions, potatoes and zucchini and celery added.
Thursday: Salmon patties, cous cous, green beans, cottage cheese
Friday: Quiche made with leftover sausage, salad

Lunches will be made up of leftovers. I had scrambled eggs, sausage and pancakes leftover for two lunches.

Walgreens has eggs for 99 cents a dozen and they had canned salmon on sale. For Easter dinner we are going to have a ham; one of our extra stops was to buy a small ham before they are all picked over. Hence, so many stops.

DH planted onion sets yesterday. He had hoped to plant lettuce, radishes, and carrots today, but it rained pretty hard around lunch time today and things are kind of muddy. We don't have a huge garden spot, but DH uses what he has and I think it really helps with the grocery bills. We are starting some herbs from seeds too. Are you planting a garden this year?

Potpourri

April 6th, 2014 at 06:56 pm

Just typing the title makes me chuckle. It goes back many years ago when the rage was getting those electric warmers and buying those wax things to make your house smell nice...long before Scentsy...which was then a step up from buying dried leaves, buds, and flowers and soaking them in water and warming on the stove. A friend of ours wanted to know what that good smelling stuff was and we told him potpourri. He, though, to be the weirdo that he was, would pronounce it POT pooree. OK, I digress.

Another busy week at work, but that is OK. I did have some random thoughts this week.

We have a mix of ages at work. We have some young staff who are in the 20s, then we have a couple in the 30s, and the age goes all the way to 67. We have one gal who is near 50 and loves to brag that she wears her high school daughter's clothing. I've concluded that the fashion industry truly hates women. The whole skinny jean or skinny pant is one example. We have some gals who are not heavy or overweight, but when they wear these skinny jeans, it shows bulges and lumps and makes them look odd shaped. We have some who are wearing tights and are wearing either shirts or very short minidresses and there isn't much left to the imagination. Then there are those of us who are overweight. Recently there was an article in the paper saying that plus size teens are finding it difficult to locate age appropriate prom dresses simply because they aren't being made. I am not in the market for a prom dress, but I can tell you finding clothing if you are short and overweight is very difficult unless you want to wear stuff that is either ill fitting or huge designs. And I could go on about how much more clothing costs for women than men, but that is another post. Sheesh!

We hit a few flea markets and thrift shops yesterday. We didn't buy a whole lot, but it was nice getting out in the sunshine.

DH has been cleaning up the yard. It has been a hard winter for us and the yard and trees and bushes have taken a beating. But he did come in and tell me some good news! The garlic we planted last fall is coming up! Hope springs! He is now encouraged and is planning his vegetable garden.