Big project to be crossed off the list: the trees

On my on-going "frog" list I have many things that seem, frankly, over my head.  But I often reason with myself that Hubby didn't start out in life knowing everything he would need to know about managing a home or finances or vehicles or property or insurance or just about anything else.  He had to start from some point of reference, do his homework, and make the best decisions he could.

And so will I.

I love my home and I want to take care of it, so the first of many frogs to eat is getting some things repaired and taken care of.  Starting with the yards, which are not in good shape.  Last weekend, with the help of The Girl, we mowed again, edged, raked, and spread some grass seed.

I also had an arborist come look at all of my trees and give me recommendations for pruning.  Its going to be a huge job as Hubby and I had never had a professional do the job, so the trees were not being managed well.  

The oaks in back have exploded in growth and are getting tangled up with other trees.  Not to mention they are touching the patio and house roof and one of them is suffering insects and fungi and is too close to the house so it must go.  (You can also see a pecan tree on the fence line in the above photo - I will have to trim the fence boards to accommodate its growth!)

The front yard tree will require an extensive "haircut" that will allow for street and driveway clearance as well as allow some sun to help the lawn recover. 

Its going to be expensive, to say the least.  But its something I can save for, as they will be coming out in January.  Time to stop putting off these frogs and move forward.  Think how pretty it will all look in Spring!

Gina

New life meal plan #5

 Soon it will be time to mow Highlands but I may wait for cooler weather...

Monday - Mole Chicken Drums (crockpot), chard, steamed carrots

Tuesday - Apple Gouda Chicken Sausage with charro beans, spring mix salad

Wednesday - Tilapia with onions and peppers, skillet potatoes, broccoli

Thursday - Turkey burger on ciabatta, sliced onion and tomato, tortilla chips and guacamole {mom on-call}

Friday - Cranberry Gorgonzola Salmon Patties, green beans, acorn squash {mom on call}

Saturday - {mom on call} TBD

Sunday - wine club pick-up for lunch, probably take-out for dinner

Gina

5 thing Friday - burger, breakfast, pampering, crafts, Teddy

Last Saturday, The Girl and I went to a wine club pick-up in Burnet.  

We had a prime spot on a picnic table under a big oak.

And enjoyed some burgers!  And lately, burgers are quite the treat for me, since we aren't eating fast food Monday through Friday.  So they seem exotic and special and DELISH.

The next day, I went to check on Highlands and stopped by a favorite local place for breakfast.  Was I eating breakfast alone in a restaurant full of families and couples?  Yes.  But the service is always friendly and the food is amazing, and I thought happy thoughts about Hubby the whole time.  It was actually the plan to eat breakfast here the morning of July 24th.  

But I can't dwell on that or I start to sink...

At Highlands, I putseyed around getting some things done here and there.  Then I parked myself in a lawn chair and read a book while I did a spa treatment on my feet.  It was a very needed relaxing day.

Its not home, but it feels like it, you know?  Like I have an extra back yard in this special place that is private and where I can breathe freely.  Ahhh...

The Girl has been heavy into needlework and sewing and crafts.  {that's amazing to me in its own right!} She made this sweet owl needle punch, so I hung it by the shelves over where Hubby's desk used to be.  I added a piece of burlap to it.  So sweet.

We had a scare this week when Teddy decided to wake up and puke a few times...

He has been high anxiety so maybe he is reading the room (house).  He was already struggling with the move from Houston, and now 2 new homes in 2 months.  So for now, no Google lady playing music, special food to calm his stomach, maybe some happy meds, and extra pets and love.

Better days are coming for Ted, too.

Gina

An actual closet

 I've been as busy in this closet as I have in the garage.  And although I'm done in here for now, there are a few things I would still like to do in here.  Nothing fancy.  Just having it clean and neat is a big deal to me.  For years it was absolutely stuffed - we had no where for Hubby to have a desk or "ham shack" for his amateur radios, so our closet did double duty. {you can still see cords hanging down from the attic, I have no idea how I'm going to address that just yet}

I removed some stacking steel shelves in here and stored or donated a bunch of stuff that was still on them.  I pulled all of my huge storage boxes of Christmas down so I wouldn't have to climb on a chair to reach them this year.  {might make a curtain to hide them, I dunno}

We had several of these stacking crates from The Container Store - I think the boys used them for magazines and such - might as well use what I've got for now.  They are home to flip flops and tennies.

Years ago I bought this chair at Goodwill and spruced it up to make a space for Hubby to put on his shoes in the mornings - it was my attempt to pretty up the closet after I convinced him to take the desk out!

Above the hanging clothes there is now mostly empty space.  I bought a few more white hangers because the multi-colored ones weren't doing it for me, but I realized that now I have space to add some new things to wear - previously we both just had too many clothes for this closet and Hubby never wanted to get rid of the things he thought he might be able to wear again someday.

I re-configured a couple of closet rods to better match what I was storing, and patched and painted a million small holes left by cup hooks for Hubby's hat collection above the door.

There's a mostly empty shelf space that I may pretty up to be a sort of dresser table with a small mirror and something pretty for the wall.  Meanwhile, I found two OLD collage frames of family photos that I went ahead and hung on the wall over my clothes.  The walls look pretty bare in here and that's not a bad thing, but those photos make me smile.

This clock does not work, but maybe I will take it in for repair...

I was trying to get away from storing anything in here but clothes, but for now its the best place for the Christmas stuff and a box of Hubby's various scout, etc. tee shirts which will be fashioned into a quilt.  Its not the prettiest closet ever, but it does smell nice and I know where everything is.

On to the next project.

Gina

New life meal plan #4

 I took lunch to my mom recently.  The first time I have gone to visit her since 2 weeks before Hubby passed.  A lifetime ago.  Or 51 days.  Same, same.

 We enjoyed brisket sammies with potato salad, which she said wasn't as good as hers, because it didn't have chopped celery or onion.  Even though you can clearly see that it did.  No sense in pointing that out.

Oh, mothers...keeping us grounded.

******

Monday - Dr. Martin's Mix, Chard

Tuesday - 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken Legs, baked sweet potato, salad

Wednesday - Salmon Patties, twice baked potato half, pintos

Thursday - Crockpot Stew for Two, biscuit

Friday - Grilled Chicken, Tuscan chopped salad

Saturday - TBD {putseying around the house}

Sunday - ditto {definitely not putseying around the house}

Gina

5 thing Friday - files, new shredder, disasters, trees, me

I have been a busy bee in the garage.  I purged from our shared files and I completely emptied Hubby's.  The man never shredded anything, but made copies and printed and saved everything.  There are things in there that can't simply be recycled - from scouting, insurance, emergency radio service, licenses, all sorts of documents relating to all sorts of things for YEARS.

It is overwhelming to go through it all. 

I ordered a new shredder when it became apparent that my little tooty one wasn't up to the job.  Bigger, handles more pages at a time, bigger bin.  I love it. 

I've been spending an hour or so daily, running the shredder as I listen to music and have a glass of wine.  The garage is clean and organized (thank goodness for Big Trash day!) so its not terrible.  Slowly I am getting a handle on things.  But I have many more boxes of files to go through.

Tuesday morning felt like a Monday with a nail in a tire.  Thank goodness Hubby had me buy the road hazard insurance for my new tires.  In fact, every day this week there has been some minor disaster of some sort.  A window frame breaks.  The glass shower wall starts leaking.  The lock on my locker at work fails.  

Just keep swimming.

We may not have a beautiful lawn (yet - I will work on it) but the trees are insane and in need of attention.  So yesterday I had a service come out and give me a quote to trim this one and the several in the back yard.  I want to love my house and take care of it, including the trees.

I see myself in the mirror and I feel like I have aged terribly the last few weeks.  I am doing all of the things I know I should: eating right, taking my vitamins, getting enough sleep.  I don't smoke, I don't drink too much, and I try to live life as un-risky as I possibly can.  But life does take its toll.

Better days are coming, right?

Gina

Harvest

It was late in the season to harvest grapes, but it was such a weird spring and summer, weather-wise. What with tragedy at my house and all else, I really thought I had missed out on helping out my favorite winery with it.  So when I got the email last week for a call to help, I jumped at it.  No other way to feel normal than to get back to life, and Hubby would have encouraged me to go.

I grabbed a couple of bottles of ice water, put on my tennies, and left the house at 5:15 a.m. to drive to Perissos in Burnet.

I made it just before daybreak.

And jumped right in.

We  worked the Aglianico vines - there were maybe 50 wine club members there to pick.  Lots of couples or girl groups.  I worked alongside other people, but I was mostly alone and it was OK.

The vines were loaded with grapes.  We will likely not enjoy the wine made with these grapes for another 4 years.  {Wonder what life will be like in four years?  If I'm around I will have to go drink some of this wine!}

Pretty, no?  They can be devilishly hard to harvest when they grow tightly along the wires, so you get squirted fairly often with grape juice!  I was sticky and dirty at the end of 4 hours.  But I had a good time, and I felt healthy and strong enough to work hard.

We picked 9-10 tons.

I didn't stomp grapes, though. 

I took this photo and was sitting there resting, enjoying a glass, and who walks right up to me?  My sister Maggie!  She and her Hubby decided to re-join the wine club and since they knew I was there, decided to surprise me.  We sat at a picnic table, enjoying snacks until it was too hot to stay outside, then said our goodbyes so I could go check on Highlands.

It made me feel normal and was a good break from my house.

And I'm looking forward to more of that feeling.

Gina

New life meal plan #3

Monday - Rotisserie Chicken and a chopped salad (easy peasy Monday)

Tuesday - Tilapia Mexicano, broccoli, garlic ciabatta toast

Wednesday -  Pork Chop, seasoned pintos, collards

Thursday - Taco Salads with ground beef, cheese, avocado, tomato

Friday - Chicken and Rice Skillet with carrots and peas

Saturday - TBD {morning file shredding, wine club pick-up for lunch!}

Sunday - TBD, but I am doing yard work today

Gina

5 thing Friday - lunch, mower, breakfast, closet, The Girl

 Lunch al fresco is still better than sitting in a cramped and sad breakroom with awkward co-workers.  Even in September in Central Texas.

The key is to pack something cool to eat, like a salad with chickpeas and tuna in lemon and dill olive oil.  Deelish.

Behold: the riding lawnmower at Highlands.

Hubby mowed Highlands the weekend before he passed.  So the grass is getting tall again, and I can't put off learning how to do things forever.  Enter The Girl and her love of learning all things via YouTube.  It doesn't take whiskers to mow.  Wish us luck!

A gorgeous old tree near Bubbie's apartment in San Marcos.  It was just across the street from a cute little coffee shop in an old house that served breakfast.

It was nice to catch up with him and see that he is doing OK.  I worry about all of my kids and remind them regularly to keep up with each other and with me.

I will eventually finish working on my closet.  Its come a long way from being a closet/office/bookshelf storage space for two people.  Recently, I tossed all of the multi-colored hangers from years of kid-raising and switched out to white ones, which I had plenty of.  My closet will not be Pinterest-worthy, but it is large, smells nice, and has mostly clothes in it. I will post an update when I finish.

It has been a blessing to have The Girl and Teddy here for the last 7 weeks.

The three of us have kept each other sane.  She will have a big birthday on Sunday and I know it will be rough for her.  But I will make her a cake, take her out to eat, and shower her with gifties.  I can't make it all better, but I can celebrate her on her day and we will get through this.

Gina

What to do with your kids' art? Frame it!

I see a lot of blog posts about "what to do with your kids' art".  See those colorful squares on the wall, next to the window in Bubbie's room?    They are pieces of art he drew just for fun, not as part of a class in school, and they've been taped on the wall for about three years now.  They were so detailed and creative that I had left them up.

Last week I decided I was going to frame them - it was a cheap and easy creative thing to do.  Much more fun than cleaning out file cabinets and closets!

I bought two inexpensive 16x20 frames at Wal-Mart, a craft glue stick, and some white posterboard.  I carefully carefully peeled each piece of art from the wall.  Then I spread everything out on the dining table.  I used the paper that came in the frame as a guide for cutting the posterboard to the right size.

Basically, I just laid them out on the posterboard according to what looked good together.  There were a few leftovers and I haven't decided what to do with those just yet - maybe they will live on my office bulletin board.

I used a ruler to make sure the border of white posterboard was the same on each collection.  Then I carefully glued each one down so it wouldn't shift around - I think it worked better than double-sided tape would have.

It took an hour, all told, then I hung them up in his room.  I almost hope he doesn't want to take these with him someday - I really love the art my kids created in school and have it all over the house in some form or fashion.

Gina

New life meal plan #2

After I cleaned out my closet and and put everything on the dozens of white hangers I already owned, I was left with this pile of multi-color hangers.

And they will find a new home, some of them going to Bubbie and my mother, others destined for Goodwill.

Monday - Grilled Chicken, collard greens, small potato

Tuesday - Skinny Burger (bun-less), salad with avocado and tomato

Wednesday - Tilapia, onions and peppers, seasoned pintos

Thursday - Crock Pot Pork Chops, butternut squash, maybe a salad

Friday - Chicken Alfredo Linguini, peas or green beans from the freezer

Just for grins, here's what my menu planning page looks like:

Rustown Menus

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Mom Breakfasts:

M – oatmeal or cereal

T – smoothie

W – 2 eggs and toast/waffle

Th – smoothie

F – oatmeal or cereal

S – free choice

S – free choice

Weekly menus to include:

oats/barley/grains/chia

eggplant/okra/leafy greens

nuts

apples/grapes/citrus/berries

lentils/beans

fish 2-3x/week

You can't go back and make a new start,

but you can start right now and make a brand new ending.

I'm still posting menus - it helps me to know "what's for dinner" at the end of my work day.  I print out this plan, fill in the spaces, write out my grocery list, then post this on the fridge.  I also "plan" lunches based on what leftovers I might have.  Then I can fill in the blanks for foods I want to add into my week and put those foods on the list, too.  Works great!

Gina

5 thing Friday - piles, purging, yard, pendant, Teddy

Thank goodness I got most of the cleaning and purging out of my system before returning to work...

******

Weeks ago Hubby and I talked about paring down some of what we owned in advance of getting ready to sell our house.  I won't say he was a hoarder, but the man never went through things to organize and purge.  So the task falls on me now.  

So. Much. Stuff.

I have made a half dozen trips to Goodwill and I have to say, I think I'm done with it for now.  Done with the piles, done with cleaning closets, done with loading and unloading my car.  And don't get me started on the state of the garage!  It will take me months to get everything done in there.  One weekend at a time.

I cleared out the office almost right away - it was too hard to look at.  We unplugged the phone that kept ringing.  Dismantled the desk.  Packed boxes.  And it did feel overwhelming. Methodically, I am shredding things and storing things and will eventually gain the upper hand on it.

Hubby spent most of his time in shorts and tees.  He hadn't worn a suit, dress shirt, or shoes other than flip flops since the pandemic began. So 99% of the hanging clothes went, and I have room in the closet to hang everything I wear with space to spare.  Would I rather have him back and deal with the stuffed closet?  Yes. But do I also appreciate that this closet doesn't induce an anxiety attack when I walk into it?  Also yes.  I'm going to patch some nail holes and give it a fresh coat of paint, too.

I learned how to mow and edge under the watchful eyes of Firstborn and The Girl.  I mulched my lariope, spread some weed and feed, and repaired a sprinkler head.   Next up will be hire someone to trim the trees, then I will powerwash the patio.  Looks like I will be staying in this house a while, might as well stay busy and get some things done.

I bought this pendant for Hubby for some occasion - anniversary?  He wore it twice and was annoyed that it tarnished so quickly.  I took it over to James Avery to get it cleaned up and engraved on the back.  It will have longitude and latitude for Highlands.  Then I will wear it I think.

When we go out to do errands, we take Teddy.  He hops right up into the front seat while I'm gone and waits for me.  After the first of the year I will consider getting a dog.  It was something Hubby and I had just starting thinking about.  We'll see...

TGIF

Gina