Empty Nest Menu #103

Its a good feeling to have Christmas put away. And an even better feeling that I spent very little extra money on new 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, too - 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?

Hello, sky.

Hello a big thing crossed off the list.

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 2022 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 I HAVE SO MANY COFFEE MUGS

Every summer camp, a new one came home.  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.

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

Winter art

Last year when I un-decorated for Christmas, I left the gold metal angel art hanging in the front room.  I always meant to get around to moving her, then hanging the clock back up where she had been, but you know what they say about the best of intentions.  It would have left a big empty space over the bookcase*, which is where the clock had been. But I knew I wanted to put it back where it belonged.  And I didn't want to spend any money to put something in that big empty space.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I saw an idea for making snowflakes out of clothespins from this blog.  I had a bunch of well-loved clothespins and made my own shabby chic version.  It was such fun that I made three more!

You can see traces of paint on a couple of them from some long ago art project.  Using the snowflakes, a rustic wood frame, burlap ribbon, faux eucalyptus (all stuff I already had) and an hour of my time I made this:

Its winter-y, not Christmas-y.

And it fits the space and the vibe perfectly.

Since the snowflakes are tied on to the frame with baker's twine, I can easily change them out to something else as the seasons change. 

Whatcha think?

Gina

Shared with:

Handmade Monday

*what's in that bookcase?  Everyone's old yearbooks from grade school on...

Empty Nest Menu #101

For a couple of weeks I tried to wing it with dinners and basically, it was too hard.

 Red Lentil Spaghetti topped with Italian sausage and marinara, side of spinach

I was feeding myself, but I wasn't really enjoying it, since I didn't have a good plan in place for days when I was too tired from work and had nothing prepped.

Dinners seemed like too much trouble.  I can't cook on the fly like that, I get too tired to think.

Leftover chicken strips, salad, a zucchini

Sauteed red pepper, mozzarella stuffed gnocci, tilapia

So.

Back to the Empty Nest menus

 

Monday - Grilled Chicken, Lemon Rosemary Zucchini {on call thru Th}

Tuesday - Jalapeno Salmon Burger with avocado and tomato (and chips, if there are any in the pantry left from Christmas)

Wednesday - Wine Wednesday with The Girl {my first grief counseling appointment, trees pruned, undecorate from Christmas}

Thursday - Poblano Lime Tilapia, side salad {work on the yards day}

Friday - Crock Pot Country Ribs, baked sweet potato, broccoli

Saturday - Freezer clean out item, salad {thrift shop in Burnet, check on Highlands, beer at STW}

Sunday - Chicken Enchiladas, Garden Lime Crunch Chopped Salad, Mexican Street Corn (The Girl is coming to dinner)

Gina