Empty Nest Menu #105

A steak dinner with your feet up in front of the TV is a great way to end the day...

Check out the roasted garlic! 

Hubby would've loved this - he would have been 61 today.

Monday - Freezer meal, fresh veggie {Grief Zoom 7 p.m.}

Tuesday - Grilled Chicken, chopped salad

Wednesday - Take-out? {6 p.m. counseling}

Thursday - Dinner with The Girl

Friday - Tilapia with peppers and onions, skillet potatoes, carrots

Saturday - TBD but I have plenty in the freezer to cook

Sunday - TBD {lunch is wine club pick-up}

Gina

5 thing Friday - crafts, tees, cedar chest, purses, wreath

 On Wine Wednesday, The Girl and I socialize and debrief, and she shows me all of the crafty things she's been working on.  I continue to be amazed at all of the sewing skills she learned off You Tube during the pandemic.  She puts my craftiness to shame.

I mean just look at that.

Speaking of crafting, my next big project (after the cross stitch prayer) is to make a tee shirt quilt from Mark's eleventy billion Dad tee shirts.  I washed all of them (OMG the stench of mothballs - not for the faint), then cut them down a bit.  Then I ordered a large square ruler to use as a guide and some interfacing for tee shirt material.  Some of the shirts I just cannot cut.

The one that says "Coach" that he wore for each of his babies' births.  The tie dye one we made him one summer so that he could match the kids when he took them places on summer weekends.  The "Best Dad Ever Hands Down" one that has my kids (and my) handprints in fabric paint on the front.

Tripping down memory lane here.  I pause often and cry.

The cedar chest project is a slow go.  The patch job is not beautiful and I am giving it time to fully dry so I can figure out if I care about it that much.  Its the things in the chest that I was trying to save, not the chest itself.  Which, as it turns out, has extensive damage on the outside, too.  Bummer.  It will work for its intended purpose, its just not pretty.  I resolve to reach a stopping point this weekend, because the next phase is scanning many old documents and portraits.

I put this bottom bar in my closet to good use by hanging my purses and tote bags on it, but something seemed off.  Aside from the fact that I need those hangers, it looked messy.

Behold - the power of 3 inch binder rings.  They are strong, open and close easily, and slide along the rod like buttah.  I am pleased.

The inspiration for my next front door wreath - I am taking down winter decor this weekend and moving forward into pre-Spring.  Is that a thing?

Happy weekend!

Gina

The urge to purge

On Saturday I got a little carried away doing laundry and decided I needed to straighten my drawers and purge some things I would likely never wear again.    January is such a perfect month for doing that!  It didn't take all that long and it made me feel productive.  Once I get the deadwood out, I can see what I need.

I *think* I have a lot of clothes and variety of things to wear, until I actually have to find something and it doesn't match, or its stained, or its not right for the season, or it doesn't fit...and one of the things I am determined to do this year is get my things in order. That includes my clothes and the storage for said clothes.  I hate shopping for clothes, so wish me luck!

Gina

Empty Nest Menu #104

 There's no law that says that leftover crab* puffs, warmed in the oven, and a bowl of mixed berries can't be breakfast.

Think of it as a deconstructed fruit and cream cheese pastry and serve up your coffee to go with.

Monday - Freezer Meal {7 p.m. Grief zoom}

Tuesday - 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken Legs, (freezer) skinny mashed potatoes, (freezer) veggie

Wednesday - Wine Wednesday with The Girl

Thursday - Teriyaki Salmon, fried rice, bok choy

Friday - Chicken Sausage with quick cook quinoa blend, collard greens

Saturday - TBD {grocery shop, take winter decor down}

Sunday - TBD {church?}

Gina

*there's never any actual crab in crab puffs...

5 thing Friday - resin art, Spam, craft closet, friend, cooking

 Sweet resin art made by Dutch!

She made all of us one for Christmas - some were clip-on fobs, some were keychains.  My mother always called her crafts "tacky homemades" but I treasure these types of gifts.  Dutch decided not to continue her Etsy shop, so now we are the lucky recipients!

I cleared all of the zombie apocalypse canned foods out of the barn at Highlands and decided to enjoy some Spam and potatoes with a fried egg.  Say what you want about Spam, I like it.  Does that mean I will start buying it regularly? No.

Part of what I love about being at home on weekends is that I get to be creative.  And now I have a storage space that supports that.  Everything is organized and labeled and I could not be more pleased.

There is a sweet cafe in downtown Giddings that my friend Carol and I like to meet up at.  Apparently they are known for pizza?  We always have sammies.

We ate lunch and chatted for a couple of hours.  Then exchanged "New Year's gifts" and decided to meet up again before too long.  Her daughter is getting married in April, so I might see her a couple of times this year.

Slowly, I'm on the road back to myself.

She's been telling me that she's doing more cooking at home, so I gave her some of my tried and true recipes, along with a pullover apron and some other kitchen goodies.  I think I might go get myself one of those aprons as they can be useful for cleaning, crafting, etc.

Which I am SURE I will be doing this weekend!

Gina

Disaster looming

I guess I could have chosen a less dramatic blog post title.

On Sunday I was intending to clear space in the cedar chest (in the garage).  My idea was to make space for the most important mementos I want the kids to have someday.  Pictured above is a fraction of them.  A little overwhelming.

And in the process, maybe clear out the shelves directly above it, because what sane person needs 2 water buffaloes, 2 water coolers, 2 lunch coolers, and 3 full size coolers IN ADDITION TO the Yeti cooler we were using for Highlands?  

{That's a rhetorical question.}

I need this garage to work for me.  And I need the storage.

I started by pulling everything out of the cedar chest, then came across a layer of what I think used to be a framed certificate and a stack of irreplaceable photos and mementos but who could tell as there were so many larvae and so much debris and rot.  It was sickening.  The smell alone...

I used the shop vac to clean out the dry crap (chewed up paper and wood pulp), then wiped out the inside with a 20% bleach and water solution.

Moths?  Bark beetles?  Not sure.  Whatever it is, they have eaten through a swath of cedar leaving tracks and pits that may well lead to the outside of the chest and now it is up to me to figure out how to repair it.  And don't suggest I hire someone, because that is not in the budget.

My plan:  bug bomb the garage, use wood putty that I tint brown to patch and repair the damage, then seal everything, place it back into the chest, sprinkling moth balls liberally as I go, and hope for the best.  I'm not moving that thing into the house.  It weights a freaking ton.

I guess I'm just glad I discovered it before everything was a total disaster.

I will show you the repair once I get it done...

Gina

Empty Nest Menu #103

Its a good feeling to have Christmas put away!

An even better feeling that I spent very little extra money on stuff.

I'm leaving some winter-y things up until the end of January.

Monday - One of the freezer containers with leftovers, and I am cooking a crockpot of black beans to freeze in baggies {teeth cleaning at 7:15...ugh..}

Tuesday - Chicken Fajita Rice Bowl with black beans, avocado, cheese {Happy Birthday, Firstborn!, p.m. counseling}

Wednesday - Wine Wednesday with The Girl

Thursday - Swedish Meatballs and Pasta, spring mix salad

Friday - Salmon, broccoli, baked potato

Saturday - Chopped Salad with turkey from freezer

Sunday - Birthday dinner for Firstborn! {super early grocery shop today}

Gina

5 thing Friday - bread, disasters, mirror, warm brie dip, dinner grace

A loaf of bread tends to last entirely too long at my house now.

So while its still edible, I have been enjoying a breakfast sammie now and again - this one with avocado and an egg.

I had a feeling that I would regret not checking on Highlands before we had our first hard freeze.  This is what I get for not "bleeding" the outside barn pipes.

Its fixable.  I will get Firstborn to help me.

But it annoys me just the same.

Hubby would have been philosophical about it because he could fix anything.

I know I will make lots of mistakes like this in future.  Oh well.

While I was out there I drove around to the area of Highlands at a bend in CR 137.  The above photo is from me reattaching the chain so the sign would show.  This prevents no one from anything, it just shows that someone owns the space.

Lightening had hit this cedar that Hubby had a chain stretched from.

It followed the chain up to the tree and blew out the lock.  The chain had become fairly embedded in this tree, too.  Just something else I need to address.

This is the view from the road.  You're welcome, new Neighbors who are building nice houses out here.  The clean up of this area is not high on my list.

I bought an $8 mirror for my closet at a thrift shop in Burnet.  I created a sweet space here just to change out my earrings and give myself a pep talk each morning.

The rest of the Christmas brie went into my baby crockpot with some dried apricots, brown sugar, cider vinegar (because I didn't have balsalmic), dried rosemary, and walnuts.  Lunch for one.

I was slightly appalled that none of us could form a decent blessing over the dinner table at Christmas, so we all agreed that we would from here on out recite the Wilderness Prayer.  Otherwise known as the Philmont Grace.  I am working on a sampler of sorts for the dining room.  We know this one.

******

For food,

for raiment,

for life,

for opportunity, 

for friendship and fellowship, 

we thank thee, oh Lord.

Amen.

Gina

Big project: trees

At the end of September, I contacted a tree service to come look at the mess at Camp Rustown.  Lots of deadwood branches, uncontrolled growth over the roof and patio, two trees tangled in each other from the February ice storm, branches extending too far out over the street, a dying oak in the back yard... 

I was thrilled when the day arrived to get it done!

They arrived bright and early and they couldn't have picked a prettier day.

I stayed out of their way and expended some nervous energy by taking Christmas down in the front room.

Let there be light!

I didn't think about how loud it would be to remove a tree, but I hope the neighbors forgive me for chainsaws at 8:30 a.m.  Also?  I knew there would be a mess of leaves and small twigs, but holy cow I had a lot to blow out of the red rocks and rake off the front yard the next day!

Lots of space and light!

Nothing touching the patio roof!

The amazing haircut the front oak got should last it for a couple years...and my lawn will get much needed air, sun, and rain.  There's hope yet for the grass.

No branches to touch my car when they get weighed down with rain or ice.

Hopefully the side of the house will get more sun and air overall - the grass hasn't grown back here in years and there is a green coating on the bricks.  No more branches tangled in the neighbor's flowering shrub and more sun means maybe it will be able to bloom this spring.

They were done in a little over three hours and I got everything ship shape inside, too.  Won't it be nice to have more sun through these windows?  And a view of not just dirt but maybe a healthy lawn?  I am giddy thinking about it!

Hello, sky.

Hello a big thing crossed off the list.

I think Hubby would have approved!

Gina

Empty Nest Menu #102

Last Sunday's soup featured turkey broth, roast turkey, half a packet of au jus mix that I found in the spice cabinet, some frozen spinach, a couple of carrots, the rest of the black eyed peas, and a couple of diced potatoes.  New Year's rolls on the side. It made two meals worth and was very comforting.

Monday - (freezer) Thanksgiving meal 

Tuesday - Stuffed Gnocci with Italian sausage and marinara, green beans

Wednesday - dinner at The Girl's apartment {after my mammo!}

Thursday - (Christmas) Ham, Mediterranean chop'd salad

Friday - Leftover Chicken Enchiladas from Sunday, Mexican street corn

Saturday - TBD but I never ate the tilapia last week!

Sunday - Buttermilk Herb Chicken, rice, roasted carrots

Gina

January cleaning

When January hits, I start cleaning.  I was home bound last Sunday so I focused on the laundry area and the kitchen, both in need of purging and freshening.

In the laundry "nook" I replaced the shelf liner and wiped everything down.

I made space on the upper shelf to store some Christmas stuff.  Along the way I fixed one of the doors that came off the track, replaced the knobs, and used a magic eraser to clean up.

Mischief managed.

In the kitchen I fell down the rabbit hole of 

WHY DO WE HAVE SO MANY COFFEE MUGS

Every time Mark went to a summer camp with the boys, he bought a mug.  Bubbie mentioned he wanted more coffee mugs, so these are earmarked for him.

Please note that I am one person here and I still have Christmas mugs, china cups, pottery mugs, insulated mugs, photo mugs...

This is the rest of the stuff I purged from cabinets and if any of my peeps want it, they better come get it before I make the next run to Goodwill.

Why did I have so many large casserole dishes down here?  Because we were a family of six and they came in handy once upon a time.  I moved them into a far corner for holidays.  There is empty space now and I can easily reach the stuff I use regularly.

Same for the plastic stuff.  A lot of it is holding leftovers in the freezer, tho.

The amount of glassware we have is reedonkerus.  This is after purging.  I don't have to play a game of Tetris to get it to all fit now.

I cleared some space on top of the counters, wiped everything down, put up all of the Christmas kitchen stuff, moved my plant babies to the window seat, ran the dishwasher after I also purged the fridge and freezer, cleaned in the pantry, scrubbed the sink, mopped.

Whew.

The Google Lady kept me focused with smooth jazz...It felt really good to be productive and now I am ready to tackle another area of the house!

Gina