5 thing Friday - guitar store, closing, car titles, happy hour, supplements

Update from last week: I did sell that guitar and mandolin.

It took over an hour and I spent that entire time standing at this counter, listening to very loud music of all kinds while the (new?) music store employee exhaustively looked up info on line, examining the instruments several times and finally calling over the manager to help him.  Meanwhile, people kept lining up behind me, so there was more than one annoyed person standing there.

Glad that's over.

Scout came with me to Highlands for the last time.  We gathered a few things up then said goodbye to it.  Closing was a couple of days later and went smoothly, which was a blessing as the days leading up to it were filled with me rushing to get this document or that, faxing things, jumping through hoops, crying.  What an absolute ordeal.

One of frogs I swallowed this week was getting all four vehicle titles put in my name.  But there was a slight snag with each one and I had to produce court documents yet again.  I was also told I had to get new plates for the truck as they were radio operator vanity plates with Mark's call sign.  It took an hour standing at a very nice lady's window, filling out forms, signing things, paying $200 for three of the four and I still am not done because Bubbie did not yet have the emissions test done on the Baja so I could not pay the overdue registration tags and get it put into my name. Deep breaths. It will get done. Eventually.

On the bright side: there was little wait for me when I got there, but a considerably full waiting area when I left.  I went promptly home and layed on my couch for an hour.  Its so hot here, you don't feel like doing much else.

Yesterday's happy hour was courtesy of an $11 bottle of Becker Viognier, some assorted crackers I already had, and this nub of Sartori Bellavitano Merlot cheese for $1.53 at the HEB deli counter.  A nice cool and calm glass of wine with cheese and crackers mid afternoon is a beautiful snack.

Seems like the older I get, the more pills I have to swallow.  This little IKEA bowl holds my supplements and vitamins, which I am trying to get better about taking daily.  I'm not 100% sold on the hair vitamins and the Ashwaganda chews, so when those run out, I'm scaling back to calcium chews and fish oil and calling it good.  Have a good weekend!

Gina

Monday menus #28

 The buyer for Highlands is also interested in the trailer and the canoe.

This is a load off my mind as trying to learn to hook up a trailer, drive it down the gravel drive and make the sharp turn to the right, then get it to a place I could park it to sell it?  That was going to present a challenge. 

Monday - (kitchen closed)

Tuesday - Shake and Bake (homemade) Chicken, seasoned baby potatoes, broccoli {visit Bubbie in San Marcos}

Wednesday - Beef Tacos, street corn {checking on Highlands}

Thursday - Veggie Stir Fry/Lo Mein {going to check on my mother, pick up groceries, go get my car inspected}

Friday - Pan Fried Pork Chops, yellow squash, butter beans {yardwork, might go get a pedicure!, meal prep}

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed

Heavier than it looks.

Gina

Monday menus #26

Right where I stood to take this photo is where our future house was going to be built.  A barndominium with three bedrooms, two baths, a shop big enough to also provide parking.  A deck that wrapped around. Garage door "windows" that we could open completely in cool weather, natural landscaping, a red front door.  So many dreams and plans. 

But last week, Highlands officially went on the market.  

Monday - kitchen closed - take-out to the rescue!

Tuesday - Fruited Chicken Salad on rest of the croissants, citrus and cayenne chips, carrot sticks {working a 12 hour day because I am a glutton for punishment}

Wednesday - Stuffed Bell Peppers, the collards I never cooked {on call tonight and might have to work overnight which makes me all kinds of sad}

Thursday - Skillet Chicken with red potatoes and carrots, a croissant on the side 

Friday - Creamy Pesto Shrimp, zucchini

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed

Gina

5 thing Friday - Highlands, grilling, painting the back door, fortune cookie, FB

 Today's plan is to run up to Highlands and tie up a few loose ends as it goes on the market. For example: turn the pump back on and open the water main, move the BBQ grill, try to disassemble the swing, clean and freshen the barn and pumphouse, put a "For Sale" sign on the trailer and the canoe, say goodbye.

I hope Highlands will be for the new owners what it was for Mark.  He was so excited to drive me up there and walk me around the property, telling me all the names he planned for all of the spaces - The Barn, Hidden Meadow, Sunset Point, Moonlit Bluff.  What a romantic.

One of my favorite veggies to grill is okra.

On Wednesday, I grilled in the afternoon, before it got too hot.  Texas style pork chops, okra, and twice baked potatoes from the freezer.  It was a good thing I grilled early - we had a raging thunderstorm come through at dinnertime.

I also tried my hand at a chocolate chip cookie, but it got a little overcooked in my cast iron dish.  Cast iron keeps cooking even after you take it off the grill so the timing is important. 

I'm giving the outside of the backdoor a fresh coat of paint soon and Dark Everglade is the closest I could match the color. Coincidentally its a close match to the kitchen backsplash accent tiles which are staying.  I have plans to have the wallpaper removed, walls textured and painted, new pendant hung, rug and large wall clock added, maybe a smaller kitchen table and chairs.

On Tuesday, my smashed fortune cookie included this: "The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see". I'm not exactly sure I can agree with that.  I have spent a lot of time lately thinking about the past while trying to envision the future and I think that what I see is holding me up a bit.

my Facebook selfie on a happy day

After deleting many of my old posts, I took myself off Facebook yesterday.  I got to thinking about how FB is a place where people appear not who they really are, or maybe they are, who really knows?  I'm thinking about harvesting my photos on FB, then deactivating my account.

Gina

5 thing Friday - big cookie, pipe fixed, nail gun, coffee tables, college loans

 I've been really craving sweets every day after dinner.  At first I tried dried fruit with a few chocolate chips mixed in.

Then I thought, "why am I denying myself something good?" like a reasonable person would wonder, and I found a recipe for a giant one to two person cookie in 17 minutes.

It makes exactly enough for Scout and myself and is so delicious when warm from the oven.  A basic recipe and high quality chocolate chips is all you really need.

{2 T soft butter, 2 T brown sugar, 2 T white sugar, creamed.  Add one egg yolk, 1/4 t. vanilla, dash salt, 1/2 t. each baking soda and cornstarch, 1/3 c. flour, chocolate chips, 15 minutes at 350}

The saga of the broken pipe from New Years Eve is complete.  It cost me $200, hurt my relationship with my daughter, and was on my to do list for 5 months. I came across a name in Mark's handwriting for a handyman.  Long story short, I called him, he fixed it, he was very weird, made me feel uncomfortable, I'm never calling him again.

So many lessons learned.

I know I said I wouldn't lend anything again.  And I may be sorry I did lend this nail gun.  But the trade off (hopefully) is that I will foster goodwill, get some tips on how to use it myself, and help another single lady with limited income to learn to do for herself. What good does it do to let things rot in your garage when they could bless someone else, if only on loan?

I was so proud of myself for doing the kitchen cabinets that I also did the ancient coffee table in the den, ca. 1989.  I don't have a before shot but it had seen some things, man.  Its older than all of my kids...

It really needs a rug in here to break up all that brown.

The before on the living room coffee table - dated April 1960 on the underside.

The after.  Less impressive results than the den table.

But since it was an "add on" project, it cost me nothing and it looks nicer than it did.

Aaanndd this room could use a rug, too.

12 years ago, The Girl was accepted to Baylor and just this week, she told me her student loan to the State of Texas is paid in full.  Through scholarships, grants, part-time jobs, and parents she did finish at Baylor and is a full-fledged CPA.  But yes, sadly, there is still an outstanding student loan.  I have no doubt it will be paid off, too.  And it was well worth the investment.

Gina 

5 thing Friday - Mother, bluebonnets, memories, wine, cholesterol

When I visited my mother, she had several places she needed to go - the vet, the CPA that does her taxes, HEB...and if you are in front of her at the grocery store, you better move fast, because she is notorious for running folks down!

I am a little worried about her.  Most of the time she's very "with it".  But other times she does things like fall asleep at the kitchen table while filling the dog treats jar.  Then she startles when I knock, even though she knew I was coming.  

Last Sunday I visited Highlands.

I had been putting it off, but I wanted to see the bluebonnets.

Last time I was here I had a pipe burst and water was flooding the top of my hill, draining my well.  I panicked, then got in big trouble with The Girl.

 

Highlands is a place I still need to reconcile.  One minute I am sure I need to sell it, the next, I am captivated by its beauty and memories.  Mark loved it here yet I know that's not a reason to keep it.

On Sunday, it will be one year since his memorial here.  The Etsy shop I ordered the engraved brass plate from abbreviated his birth year, and not the other.  So this one lives on a cedar up at Highlands.  How is it that's its been a year since I felt ready to have the memorial?  I waited 8 months and it was still so hard I could barely get through the day.  But I did, and I continue getting through all of the days and that has to count for something.

I attended "finishing trials" at my favorite winery.  We sampled Viognier, 2 Picpoul Blancs, a Marsanne, and Aglianico Rose.  Very educational!

The tank room is cool and quiet and has the most wonderful smell to it.  And the size of those tanks is impressive!

I met some people, had some fun, and got out into the world.

Sadly, my efforts to improve my cholesterol aren't doing enough so I started on a statin yesterday.  I could be sad about this (and I am) but I also feel empowered to do something for my health that may help me make it as long as my mother has.  Since eggs are no longer considered the enemy, I am enjoying some fresh ones from her chickens.  But I will also get myself back on track with other things I know I should be doing.

Gina

5 thing Friday - sparkling wine, flashbacks, sales, disaster, New Year's Day

Long story: Mark handed this bottle of champagne to my brother at our wedding and told him to "hold on to it".  Then he forgot all about it, as I guess so did my brother, until last year when he had my sister bring it to my mother's house .  It's been in mom's fridge for weeks. 

 

On a recent visit to her I opened it.  There was zero fizz and it had turned brown, but before I could stop her, my mother grabbed the bottle from me and took a swig of it!

She missed the wedding, so she finally got to toast me with my wedding champagne, 37 years later.  And the rest of it got poured around her yard!

Ambulance lights bouncing off the house next door and lighting up my front windows gives me that flashback feeling of doom.  And in this case, it was my next door neighbor who has cognitive decline and was so weak from covid that her husband could not get her into the car.

HEB apparently thought everyone in Austin, Texas was going to make a gingerbread house this year, so they had a bunch of different types of them on clearance and I bought one for The Girl for next year.  That and a roll of wired ribbon constituted the extent of my after Christmas sales shopping.

Another freeze, and this time the pipe broke below the cutoff valve.

The top of my hill was a flooded mess.  The only thing I knew to do was call The Girl for advice, shut off the main water, and turn off all the breakers in the pumphouse.  {in hindsight, I could have skipped step one above}  There's no sense in me berating myself for not fixing the pipe once and for all, then wrapping it securely in insulation.  It didn't happen.  Now I have a new project out there.

To work off extra energy I gathered up a load of things to take home: all of the remaining firewood, the windchimes, the sink table from back here, the 5 gal bucket, most of the extension cords, and other crap.  I will continue carting off my old life at Highlands one pick-up load at a time, I guess.

On NY day I got up at my regular time and starting my yearly cleaning, organizing, and purging.

The Christmas tree went back to to the garage, and I decided to put the fiddle leaf fig in the front room and remove a small side table. Everything got dusted, vacuumed, or wiped down. 

I made the best skillet of sauteed cabbage I ever have, and enjoyed my Swedish ham balls, black eyed peas, and wine as I sat out on my patio.  Then I read for a while and went to bed by 9:30.  An altogether pleasant start to the year.  And whether good things or bad things happen this year, I am going to do a better job of dealing with life.

My peeps are ready to move forward - and so am I.

Gina 

Empty Nest menu #146

Six of us this year and a very simple table setting - I am looking forward to connecting with my peeps and spending time with my feet up just before the holiday crush...

Monday - (freezer) Spicy Beef Tacos, broccoli

Tuesday - (freezer) a leftover meal - not sure which one will be left

Wednesday - Ordering pizza out

Thursday - Thanksgiving Meal - I'm making the turkey, dressing, gravy, and cranberry sauce.  My peeps are bringing a dish to share and I have no idea what each one is bringing!

Friday - Pulled Pork Sammies, chips, pickles and onions

Saturday - Fried Chicken Bowls (a la KFC)

Sunday - Turkey Soup

these kitty wine glass charms were gifted to me by The Girl one Christmas

What you get when you mix Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree, and vintage sterling!

By mid week I should have a fairly large selection of freezer containers empty, washed, and ready for Thanksgiving leftovers.  The fridge and freezer are both clean, the shopping is done.  Now all that's left to do is buy ice for the cooler.

{P.S. Happy Birthday to me today!}

Gina