Empty Nest Menu #43

I added a couple of new recipes to my menus for the week, hoping it would break me out of the mealtime funk.  And after this round of meals we will stop using the oven.  Its just too hot outside!

Monday - Pinto Bean Soup, corn muffins {gonna start my Christmas shopping}

Tuesday - Pork Rib Chops, Copper Pennies, sauteed garlicky chard
Wednesday - Crockpot Brisket and Onions, BBQ beans, broccoli with lemon butter
Thursday - Overnight Mac and Cheese, leftover brisket, green beans
Friday - Turkey Sloppy Joes, avocado and low salt chips, skillet squash
Saturday - Pineapple BBQ Chicken Foil Packets {going to Perisso's for wine and live music in the afternoon}
Sunday - Eat here, or get a burger to go on our way home from Highlands

Gina

A small and thrifty sewing project

 When I recently visited my mother, I helped her do some cleaning and dirtied up all of her cleaning rags.  I use them for everything and I usually wash them in hot bleach-y soapy water and hang them on the line to dry when we are done.  But I noticed that they were in pretty sad shape. Time to make her some new ones, and as fate would have it, I had also ordered some new bath towels for Camp Rustown.  Meaning I could use one of the older towels to make cleaning rags.

I pulled out all of the cleaning rags I already owned and made sure they were all still useable. I trimmed off the stringy edges, folded them, and stacked them in that little white basket you see.  It lives under the kitchen sink.  I keep some in each bathroom, too - they are strictly for cleaning things, not people.  Then I kept out one of the ratty ones to use as a pattern of sorts.  I'll just save it in my sewing box as I'm sure I will do this little task for years to come!

Using my rotary cutter and mat, I got 15 new cloths out of one of the old towels I pulled from house circulation.  I used to purchase cleaning rags in packs of 10 at Wally World for about 5 bucks.  But why should I when I can just make them for nothing?  I also used to buy colored bath towels, but white ones make so much more sense - easy to see when they are dirty, easy to bleach, and easy to hang in the sun.

Then I sat at my machine in Bubbie's room and gave each of them a zig zag stitch, close to the edges to minimize fraying.  Fifteen new cleaning rags for my mother's house and few minutes feeling crafty and frugal before I cleaned it all up and went to work for the day.  These little projects do a lot to help me feel normal in these crazy times.  And it got me to thinking about what I want to sew and craft next.

Gina

Shared with:
Life and Linda

Weekend re-cap: much of nothing

 It was a week of drudge for both of us, so we were looking forward to getting out of town on Saturday!  We grabbed a taco breakfast in Bertram along the way.

Second stop was 7 Creeks, as they were going to be grilling hot dogs and had live music.  Who doesn't love a good grilled hot dog with their wine, I ask you?

 This is becoming one of our favorite places.

It was hotter outside than it looks (94) and the humidity was high.  In fact, the rest of June it will be in the 90's so I guess summer has started!  From 7 Creeks, we popped over to Torr Na Lochs as we haven't been there in months and it is just down the road.

 

There were not as many folks there as we thought there would be, though they had live music, too, just up on that covered stone patio.

 

We headed to Highlands to putsey around for the afternoon, and I made a sausage and peppers skillet for dinner that we ate around the campfire.  Though we never saw him (or her) we "talked" to a Great Horned Owl, trading hoots just after sundown.

 The next morning we put some cocoa spice rubbed ribs on the grill and did some chores.  We hadn't planned to spend a lot of time on work, but the day kind of got away from us.  Hubby was going to do a quick once over with the riding mower, but he hit a large rock and spent an hour or so repairing a blade.  Meanwhile, I was gathering down wood and feeding the burn barrel.  He also gave the front of the barn a once-over with the powerwasher. 

 We stopped around 1, showered, and ate the ribs with some crock pot pintos. Hooray for grilling season, and I think we may also do some smoking next weekend.

 As we sat there we talked about plans to continue to work on the barn.  We still need to put a floor in, add metal corrugated tin on the outside, and extend the patio pavers.  As you can see below, we have removed the window A/C unit.  None of the outside work should be done until Fall - its just too hot and the humidity was fierce.

Neither one of us realized we were sunburned from all of our outside work until late afternoon!  We came home, ate dinner, and were asleep pretty early.  Two days go by in a flash, but this is only a three day work-week for us and we vow that this coming weekend will not have big chores!

Gina

Empty Nest Menu #42

Still trying to keep it simple.  A bacon and tomato sandwich with cheese kind of simple.  I need to add bacon to my next grocery list!

Monday - Salmon Burger Patties, spicy black beans with cilantro and green onion {order my Imperfect Foods box}
Tuesday - Lentil Soup {this version with homemade stock and plenty o' peppers}
Wednesday - Chicken breast cubes with mushroom sauce over rice, salad of romaine and tomatoes
Thursday - Sliced Ham (when will we ever finish this), small baked potato, sauteed squash {off today!  Going to Spring Branch to this vineyard.  Taking a smoked salmon and cheese lunch with crackers}
Friday - Pesto Cod with seasoned cannellini beans, some fresh veg {off today, too!}
Saturday - Pizzas with homemade tomato sauce, mozzarella, and chicken sausage
Sunday - Pulled Pork Sammies on onion buns, grapes

Gina

Portrait album

The family portrait album is complete for now.  

This is my family of 5 - Jeannette, Marlin, Gina, Melissa, ca. 1964 (my mother was expecting my brother, Kurt) and the portrait on the right is the only picture of all of my mother's children in one place, ca. 1976.

 Hubby as an infant and his mother's second wedding.

Casual family portraits made their way in, too

School portraits of The Girl - I had so. many. school. portraits.  

  

Here are some of my favorite portraits that I have missed seeing:

Firstborn and The Girl, 1993.  

Scout and Bubbie, age 5 and 3.

 Bubbie and me - I had a feeling he wouldn't pose by himself.

Our young family: The Girl on the way and Firstborn on my lap.  

Now all that's left to do is get a vinyl transfer for the front of the album that says "The Cannary Family" and I have a favorite Etsy shop I order from for that.  The album will live in the lower shelf built into the coffee table in the front room.  And whenever anyone wants to trip down memory lane, it will be there. I am happy to have this project crossed off my list!

Gina

Weekend re-cap: all Camp Rustown

I started out Saturday by organizing all of the things in the fridge.  I found carrots and celery that were meant to be prepped and bagged up for lunches (oops), produce that needed to be cooked very soon (another oops) and some leftovers to be placed in containers for lunches.  Since I also needed to prep for dinner I spent some time in there doing all of that while wiping out the fridge interior. 

 My mother gave me this very old speckleware colander and it is the new home of all of the peppers I've been ordering from Imperfect.  Peppers are so good in lots of things! Next up:

 Figuring out a space for me to sew and craft since Hubby is still working from home.  The Lounge is getting crowded and I can no longer access the small area next to the printer.

Plus, my sewing and crafts closet was a wreck.  A somewhat neat wreck, but still, not really a good system.  And not a good way to store my machine.

 I cleaned it out and set the sewing stuff aside.  I need to root around in the garage and find the board for the shelf that was originally in here when we bought the house.  An extra shelf would make things more accessible.  Most of the photo albums live in this closet, too.

Bubbie's room seemed like the most logical place to set up my sewing area, if only temporarily.  I asked him if he would mind and he said no.  I don't need drawers, just an outlet for the machine and the iron.

When he comes home to visit, I can move all of it out of the way.  And speaking of the iron...

 ...there had been a basket of ironing sitting on the floor of the Lounge for weeks.  I just went ahead and ironed all of the things.

 Then I moved the ironing board and iron out of the room and set the empty basket in the cleared out closet.  And now the bottom shelf has less crap.

 I finished up the family portrait album I had been working on, did some filing, and made us some Porcupine Meatballs for dinner.  And finally got my hair cut!  Then we filled our growler at a favorite place and headed home to watch the sunset from the backyard while dinner cooked.  The meatballs were very good so I will definitely save that recipe!

The next day we did various yardwork items then stopped for lunch at 2:30 at Luby's for a liver and onion comfort lunch (we LOVE it) followed by naps at home.  We decided that we cannot let things go for so long and expect to get it all done in one day.  We still have plenty more to do but there's always next weekend.  Hubby cooked a late dinner and we called it an early night.  No call-in's for me, so I was ready to roll in on Monday.  A little tired, but happy with having tied up some loose ends around the house!

Gina

Empty Nest Menu #41

ITS JUNE!!
I will be shopping from our freezer and pantry this week, and relying on my Imperfect Foods box.

Monday - Enchilada Chicken (using this sauce recipe) , rice, chopped fresh peppers, onion, and cilantro
Tuesday - Omelettes, Superfood Salad, sliced tomatoes
Wednesday - Gyros with cucumber and avocado,  tomato chickpea salad, the rest of the sweet potato fries from the freezer
Thursday - Tater Tot Casserole for two {last night of call for me}
Friday - A pot of beans, corn muffins (serve two big bowls, freeze the rest) {payday}
Saturday - {Highlands} grilled baby back ribs, sweet peppers skillet
Sunday - Fried fish, creamy corn, baked potato

Gina