Travel meds for Mabel

Most of the things I need over a weekend at Highlands fits into my hanging organizer.  But occasionally I would rummage through there and not find something either Hubby or I needed...and it seems like I was running out of room.  Sometimes I would run across something I needed in one of the trailer's overhead bins.  Or the big first aid kit in the barn. But there had to be a better way to get organized.

My toiletries hanging organizer is a great place for a couple of things for me, and Hubby has his own overnight tote, too.  But it would be better to have a central stash of stuff we could keep in Mabel - things we seem to need every weekend.

I found this cute first aid travel case at Target and thought "PERFECT!".  For $3, I could put together some basic meds that can live in the trailer - things we wouldn't forget if we were just up there for a day.

It's pretty flat, so I organized the meds in zip locs.  I pulled out an assortment of the things we seem to need most often:

Ibuprofen, acetominophen, Rolaids, Sudafed, Benedryl, omeprazole, Alka-Seltzer, and some other miscellany that is good to have on hand.  While we do have a full-out first aid kit in the barn, it's a pain to go digging through it late at night when you just want headache or tummy or allergy relief!

I labeled all of the bags and wrote expiration dates - very important.  Then placed all of the ziplocs into the pouch.  Had I had those snack ziplocs it might have been less snug.  But I didn't - haven't bought those since my peeps were little!

 All packed up!

 

 And loaded into my travel tote - ready to be taken to Mabel!

Weekend re-cap - Bell Springs and bust...

{I took pitifully few pics from the weekend...}

I had pretty high hopes for a relaxing and fun Saturday with my peeps!  I was so happy it was finally Friday!  The crock pot pork tacos for dinner were wonderful and I got to sit and chat with The Girl and Firstborn for awhile afterwards.  I went to bed at a reasonable time and didn't feel particularly tired or bad at all...

Then Saturday arrived.  I felt queasy right off the bat, but attributed it to needing breakfast.  Hubby made us all giant pancakes with blueberry syrup, and I seemed to feel a little worse after eating, so I lay down for a little while.  But I got up and at 'em after a shower, packed our picnic tote with snacks, and we headed out to Dripping Springs.

We got all settled in at the winery, got our wine, got our lunches...and I thought "I really feel terrible".  The heat wasn't excessive and there was a nice breeze...live music...happy people...but I was struggling.  We had been there maybe an hour when suddenly I felt like I was going to vomit - and I did - into a spare grocery sack I had brought with our picnic snacks. 

So random.  I never do that.

(It's weird that the other folks out there didn't seem to notice...) We stayed for a little while longer, but I couldn't eat or drink a drop and was fading fast.  Hubby picked up our wine and we headed home.  I lay down in my bed at 3 p.m. and was asleep until 8 the next morning.  Hubby and The Girl went to a local craft brewery for the rest of the afternoon on Saturday, then he grilled some bacon wrapped burgers and corn on the cob.  Scout and Dutch forgot they were supposed to come for dinner - just as well, I guess.  On Sunday we did nothing but relax, and The Girl headed back to Houston around lunch time.  And I was back in bed by 6 p.m.  So I didn't work Sunday as planned, and I called out for Monday, too. Not a stellar weekend.

I feel like the weekend as a whole was a bust, but at least I was the only one sick!  The Girl assures me she will be back in a couple of weeks, so I can look forward to a do-over!  

Mealplan Monday #199

Monday - Shredded Korean Beef Tacos, chopped salad
Tuesday - Pork Fajita Alamo Bowls
Wednesday - Easy Chicken Enchiladas, veggie
Thursday - One Pot Spaghetti*, salad
Friday - Tuna Salad on butter bread, chips, fresh fruit
Saturday - YOYO
Sunday - Garlic Parmesan Chicken, Corn Casserole, Carrots (all in the oven)

******

Looks like I'm going to use the oven twice in a week...Also, I guess I have never posted this spaghetti recipe, though it is a family favorite.  You would never know that it contains no jarred pasta sauce and it is so good!  Will post soon!

5 thing Friday - breakfast, movie popcorn, jewelry contest, backyard view, Mojo Pork

 I've been really good about not eating breakfast out on my way to work lately.  We have plenty of food here, I just need to give myself 10 minutes to put something together and eat it before I get dressed to go.  My favorite thing to do is add egg and cheese to two waffles and eat it like a sammie.

But one morning I used up a too ripe banana, some peanut butter, and some chocolate spread.  It was divine.  It's such a long time until lunch (3 p.m.) so I really need to make time for eating breakfast each day!

Large popcorn for one, please.

I have a thing about popcorn - I could eat it every day.  I took myself to see The Incredibles 2 on Monday.  I wasn't the only single lady there eating popcorn, fyi, and the movie was just "ok" but the Pixar short made me shed a tear.

My favorite jewelry store is having an Instagram giveaway this summer.  There will be two winners every week for a $250 gift card and you can enter as many times as you want.  I posted this blurry pic on Instagram as my first entry, but I will take a couple more.  How great would that be to win?!  I always have a long list of things to want from James Avery.

The view of the backyard from the den is much improved with the new deck.  I still haven't planted new grass, but I may wait til Fall.  Still, I love looking out there now.  And those bamboo blinds are still my favorite thing.

Tonight The Girl is coming home!  We will take she and Firstborn to Bell Springs for the pick-up tomorrow and eat delicious snacks, but for tonight I made Mojo Pork in the crock pot to have as tacos.  It called for fresh orange juice, lime juice, cumin, garlic, and oregano.  Smells so good!  And now that the crock pot is going, the house is clean, and I am dressed, it's off to work. TGIF!!

Weekend re-cap - Johnson City eats and drinks, Highlands

On Saturday, I purposely ended my hard stop early so that we could leave around 11 a.m. and grab a bite to eat in Johnson City, on our way to try out a couple of new-to-us wineries.

 We landed at Pecan Street Brewing Company, apparently just before the lunch rush!

Hubby and I enjoyed a Red Devil Red Ale.  I wish I had taken a pic of our food - I always feel silly doing that, but it was so good!  He had fresh seared tuna on a bed of arugula, and I had the Korean pork ribs with Caesar salad and a side of baked squash.  All of it was wonderful and the wait staff was very friendly!

Just next door is a very tiny winery, owned by a gentleman whose family were close friends to the Johnson family.  As in President Johnson.  In between free tastings of his wines, the owner pulled out memorabilia and photos to show us.  The wine was good and the mini history tour was sweet!  We were the only ones in there, so we had it all to ourselves.

Mr. Hahne is a former attorney who switched gears, studied viticulture, and now grows grapes on his land in Mason. He told us that he handmade all of the wine racks on the walls, and he put that very unusual ceiling in.  He was a nice guy.

 His mother crochets these crosses, and he let me pick one out from a shoebox full of them.  There are several of her crochet tapestries hanging on the walls, and several more in churches in the area.

Next stop was Hye Meadow Winery.  Not nearly as quaint and cozy,  (looks like an event venue) but a very pretty place with much wide open space in the back, friendly people, and live music on the patio.

Lots of big, shady oaks, too. The tastings were very pricey ($20 each!), so we elected to have a glass only, enjoyed out in the back.  I had a nice Dolcetto, Hubby a Montepulciano.  Good wine, but $13 a glass so we only had one.  They have a decent wine club and look like a great place to hang out....we will visit again.

 I so love big oaks and wide open spaces!

Next stop was Lewis Wines. Set off 290 a bit, down a winding road, and not much to look at from the back where you park...

...but as you round the corner, you come into this massive covered area with lots of seating options and check out that chandelier!

Inside, I loved the lighting and the dimensional shiplap wall - in fact I really enjoyed everything about this place.  We thought $15 a tasting was high, so the girl at the bar offered us a mini taste to compare two reds we were interested in.  Tempranillo won out.

 

We took our bottle and some water (so hot out!) to a shady spot overlooking the vineyards and watched storm clouds move over the area.  No rain, though.

 We will definitely visit here again.

Far off tables and chairs = perfect spot to sit and eat a brisket sammie picnic with your wine.  We could have stayed in this neck of the woods - there are many more wineries to try - but it was getting late in the afternoon.

From Johnson City we headed back towards Burnet for a stop at Save The World to put a little bling on our beer club glasses.  They had a New Orleans style food trailer out front, so we bought some crawfish mac and cheese to enjoy with our dinner.

We grilled salmon, butternut squash, and jalapeno poppers.  So good, but so much food! We saved some of the salmon to enjoy with cheese and crackers the next day at lunch while we sat in another random meadow and drank Mr. Hahne's Blanco wine.  For breakfast, we ate at El Rancho - first time in a while.  We got zero chores at Highlands done since it was Father's Day, however, we did bop around the area a bit.

We found a tree that dropped fruit that looks very much like a pomegranate - I will have to look up some info on it.  There is only one tree, but it's pretty big!  We were home by 5 p.m., and I made Mexican Lasagna with a salad and guacamole for Father's Day.  Scout and Dutch came over and we all enjoyed dinner and each others' company.  A nice weekend, and an even better Monday since I was off! 

Mealplan Monday #198

Monday - Burgers, chips, cantaloupe
Tuesday - One Pot Tortellini and Sausage
Wednesday - Leftovers night
Thursday - Swiss Steak, rice, zucchini (we never had this last week)
Friday - White Chicken Chili, with shredded cheese, onions and cilantro
Saturday - Bell Springs Pick-up, so we will get takeout
Sunday - Baked Mexican Tilapia, garlic green beans, mac and cheese

A plan for the sand...

I come from a long line of DIYers, so it's hard for me to pay someone to do a task I can perfectly well do for myself - pedicures, for example.  But also yardwork, deck-building, and and things like this:

My front door project is momentarily on hold due to heavy rain in the forecast on my few days off, so I am determined to switch gears and get the sand out of this area.  I have already started scooping it up and it looks like it's going to morph into a big job.  After all, I have to find a place to put that sand!  I have a plan, though.  I just need it not to rain from now until Saturday at our agreed hard stop time.  Wish me luck.  And happy weekend - it's been a loooong week!

Weekend re-cap - Save the World, Highlands, Camp Rustown

On Saturdays and Sundays we have a "hard stop" rule at noon - that way we can get things done and chores don't bleed over into the heat of the afternoon.  What doesn't get done by noon can be picked up again the next day.  Hubby went with Bubbie to get the Baja inspected and did a couple of odd jobs.  I cleaned out the freezer and fridge, and did some other small chores I can't remember now...  At noon thirty we hit the road, stopping in Liberty Hill to buy ice, then Bertram for a burn barrel.  Then we drove through Chicken Express to get lunch for our next stop:

Save the World Brewing Co.  

It wasn't crowded inside in the A/C, but its easier to have a conversation out in the tank room.  We played some cards, ate our chicken, met some new folks.  (Turns out, two of the people we met had some recent misfortune with a burn barrel, and we had just been talking about how we were going to construct and use ours)

We enjoyed some Peach Saison, some Coconut Milk Lux, and Cherry Bonus Pastor.  All very delicious on a hot day.  And its nice to meet new people from the area and learn more about the place where we will finally land.

 That evening we sat out at Highlands to watch the sunset - too hot to do anything else.

 We heard an owl, a boat now and again, traffic on 2341.

 It was very peaceful.

We did end up building a fire but while the sun was going down a candle was all we needed.  I have zero pics of dinner, but it was grilled chicken thighs with zucchini.  We went to bed late because we wanted to make sure the fire was burned down sufficiently.

The next day, after we cooked breakfast, Hubby got the burn barrel going.  He used materials found in the property dump (some odds and ends of rebar and steel fencing, as well as an old A/C drip pan), and we proceeded to burn some things.  I continued working on removal of nails and screws around the area of the barn.  The previous owner did not use a burn barrel, and every time it rains some new metal odds and ends seem to appear.  I sure don't want Hubby or anyone else getting a flat out there because of it.  I use one of those retractable magnet tools and it works great.

We didn't see many critters this time around - they are probably hiding in the shade - but I did find a snake molt near the barn.   We again stopped at noon, ate lunch, got some sun, took a shower, and headed to Sonic for a cold drink.  We didn't get as much done this weekend but oh, how the heat takes it out of you!  We had a wonderful dinner of French Onion Chicken, Loaded Mashed Potatoes, and broccoli/cauliflower, followed by chocolate cream pie.  
And ended Sunday on an exhausted and happy note.