May 8- to do lists

Good morning!  So far we’ve had a very mild spring with no need for the air conditioning and little need for the heater.  

But warm weather is here so now the grass and things outside will start growing.  

I said last week that I thought I would accomplish everything on that to do list,  well- 2 things didn’t get done.  

I didn’t finish one top I’m sewing and the hall bathroom paint didn’t get touched up.  I’ll try to get to those this week. 

Also I never made a sandwich toppings box but I did use those ingredients for something else. 

That’s what my lists look like as the week goes on. 

Here’s my new to-do list. 

Hope you all have a productive and pleasant week 

❤️ Rhonda 

May 5- freezer cooking and food storage

Hello 

When we visited our son in January,  I looked through a few of their cookbooks.  I found a slightly different way to cook beans, especially to I

use the beans in future dishes.  I bought quite a few dry beans during the pandemic and with meat so expensive, this seems like the perfect time to eat those beans 

I don’t know what cook book published this- I just took a few phone photos of the recipes I was interested 

I did red beans, just like the recipe except no garlic and I used 2 bay leaves. 

I’ve always presoaked dry beans and I’ve never put in the salt until the beans were cooked tender.  

But this method worked great! 

I think I ended up with the equivalent of about 10 regular size cans of beans with one recipe.  

While I had the 4 quart crock pot cooking red beans, I made a big batch of pasta sauce in the bigger crock pot, 

 also to put in the freezer.  

http://ahomewithasmile.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-ive-been-up-to.html

Above is a link to my first blog where I explained my method for making what we call Roma Sauce (other people just call is spaghetti sauce 😉)

Another task on my weekly to do list was to look over our canned goods and food storage, to kind of check dates, quantities and if we short on something important.  It’s truly hard to know how much to have on hand.

I straighten everything up in the sewing room closet and the kitchen pantry.  

For 2 people living in our household,  I think we have plenty.

That shelf has canned meat and tomatoes. 

Lots of canned goods in the cubbies- each shelf will hold 32 regular 15-16 ounce cans- plenty of soup, vegetables, fruit

And probably more fabric than I will ever sew up 

Kitchen pantry - 

I don’t think you can really see everything in the photos - but after straightening everything, the only thing I put on my future grocery list is olive oil.  

I’m just showing this in case it’s helpful to anyone.  

And because it’s Cinco de Mayo, we had a sort of Mexican inspired supper.

2 grandsons are here and we ate late, after their ball practice 

Our favorite kind of nachos

Tortilla chips topped with refried beans, a jalapeño slice for people who like them and any kind of cheese

Then bake or broil until the cheese melts and the chips toast a little.  

Serve with toppings like salsa, etc if desired 

These are so yummy! 

❤️Rhonda 

May 2 - washer issue and school pick up lines 😱

Hello everyone 

The appliance repairman came yesterday and fixed the problem.

This little screen that goes somewhere was full and crusted with “sediment”

It’s a tiny little filter but it was just full of packed sand.  And that’s why the cycles weren’t working.

He put a new one on.

I’ve done laundry all day and every load washed just like it was supposed to. 

It’s funny because I had an anonymous blog comment 2 days ago and they said their repairman cleaned out a bunch of sediment in their washer too.  

My town has a big shortage of school bus drivers.  So this spring,  the school district decided to rotate areas of service.  

It’s a big problem for people without vehicles or relatives willing to help. 

But I’m happy to pickup 2 grands who are without a bus for a week or 2. 

One of their parents take them to school and I just need to pick them up.  

I knew lots of people would be picking up kids but I was surprised by this line.  

I got there 20 minutes early and the pickup line was already 3 1/2 blocks from the school!  And there are 2 pickup lines on different sides of the school depending on the students last names. 

Once school let out, actual pickup went smooth and pretty fast.  

I’ve been busy today.  My big accomplishments were deep cleaning our bathroom and bedroom.  

No photos but I was behind on cleaning and it feels so much nicer and fresher.  

❤️Rhonda 

May Day 2023

Good morning ☀️ 

First here is this week’s to do list 

Sometimes I put so many things on the list, I know they won’t get done that week. But this week is a shorter list, and I do hope to accomplish all of it. 

We will see!

There are many stores to shop at in Branson Missouri. We only went to a Walmart twice to get groceries.

 We also went to two thrift stores in Branson. I am very selective about what I bring home anymore.

One of the thrift stores had quite a few rubber stamps. I looked through all of them and only bought this set of three. The set was five dollars.

Three skeins of cotton yarn, one dollar each.

I don’t crochet much, but I do like cotton dish cloths, and I like the colors of these yarns. 

I also bought about 10 cotton bandannas from the women’s accessories department.

 My husband likes to use bandannas for handkerchiefs, and 100% cotton ones are very hard to find. He was happy with this find!

I also bought him at a large coffee mug for a Quarter. All of the coffee cups in our rented condo were tiny  and he likes a big mug. 

Happy May Day, everyone🌸🪻🌷

❤️Rhonda 

April 2023 Highlights

Hello everyone 

April went by so fast! I want to blog one last time this month so I’m going to just post a bunch of things from our April 

Easter was fun.  We had a smaller family gathering with very easy food and some egg things.

  

Remember those little guys from what seems like just a few weeks ago?

Now they look like this….

They are 10, 11 and 14 now.  

Our youngest grand, Cora was here for a very short visit (like 36 hours) this month.  We were so busy the whole time but by evening,  she and cousin Jackson were both so tired.  

They were both waiting on their parents.  So these  2 finally laid down and watched tv and I don’t know how they stayed awake.  They were still excited and just happy to see each other 

Not good things this month- the hot water heater broke but thankfully my husband and stepson were able to replace it.  The old one was 9 years old. 

And the washing machine is not working right.  It’s about 2 years old but we bought a 5 year warranty as our appliances never seem to last long.  Repair person is coming tomorrow. 

We took a trip to Branson, Missouri- I guess it’s our favorite vacation place as we never go anywhere else.  

We like to see the live music and comedy shows that Branson is famous for.  

We stayed a full week and saw 15 shows and below are photos from a few of them. 

Hits of the 80s at the American Theater 

Acrobats from somewhere in China at the Mickey Gilley Theatre 

Clay Cooper with part of his cast 

The Haywood’s at Clay Cooper’s Theatre 

Back to the 6o’s, also at Clay Cooper

Country Jamboree at Grand Country Music Hall

There are lots of things to do in Branson like golf, water activities, fishing, arcades, so much shopping!  But we like the shows best of all.  

At home, we’ve started just a bit of gardening.  

And there are always things to do around our house, yours too I imagine? 

I’ll be back tomorrow with a new week’s to do list.  

Good night everyone 

❤️ Rhonda