July #8 - last day of this month

I’m sure you’ve all had days like the poor woman above 😂  so we will just continue to grin and bear it.  

But never order chocolate from Amazon during an Oklahoma summer as I’m sure it would arrive very melted.  

We’ve had lots of rain this month and some of our plants are loving it 

But others, not so much 

The 5 local grands were here for a play day that turned into a sleepover.  

It was a good opportunity to do our traditional back to school shoe shopping.  I didn’t get photos but all their feet but here are the 8 year old grandson’s

I’m not sure they are practical shoes for a farm boy but he really wanted them and I don’t say no to Old Glory 🇺🇸

Schools are planning to open in late August but who knows how that will go.

  I’m very concerned about my daughter, 2 son in-laws and brother who all work in education as they will be exposed to many students.  

But as I said,  who knows what will happen.  

For their breakfast after the sleepover,  I baked a double batch of Struesel Puffs 
  

➡️Struesel Puffs Recipe ⬅️⬅️link here 

They are a really tasty muffin,  made a bit different from other muffin recipes,  and you probably have all the ingredients on hand to bake them for your family ❤️

We all enjoyed eating the muffins and we dropped off some to one of their mothers and my parents.  (See the rain outside?) 

My husband’s summer garden plants are about done and he brought in a big pile of produce,  so yesterday I froze tomatoes, bell and poblano peppers,  and canned jalapeños.  

We have ate lots of fresh salsa this summer.  We like cilantro in our salsa but it seems to go slimy in our fridge.  

I tried this dried cilantro and we like it just fine- it’s much milder but still adds the cilantro flavor- and it’s much easier 

Above is this week’s to do list - yes,  I’ve done some of it but that is marked off on the paper copy 

It is a shorter list than usual.  

Today is cooler and the ground is mushy from rain,  so I’m planning on working in the front flower beds this morning,  

I’ll try to take before and after photos as I hope it will look a lot different 

Have a great Friday everyone 

❤️Rhonda 

July #7 - a new recipe, masks and kid stuff

Hello,  sorry about the long break and no new to-do list this week.  We had places to go 3 days this week and knowing I wouldn’t be home much,  I didn’t even make a list.  I’m just doing what I see needs done,  as I have time, and it will all be fine.  

This recipe was in a Taste of Home magazine and it is so good and easy.  I made it for our supper tonight and will definitely make it again.  

I followed the recipe exactly except I added 2 cans of beans and I used homemade chicken broth instead of purchased broth.  

Red Beans and Rice

I’ve made more veil style masks as they are our current favorite style-much easier to breath in! 

I did lengthen the pattern so they can be tucked into your shirt 

free veil mask pattern

I also made some veil masks from this mustache fabric from Walmart and they turned out especially cute. 

My husband wore a mustache veil mask for his appointment at the VA hospital and he said almost everyone complimented him for the mask.  Sorry I don’t have a photo of him though.....

We saw our 3 grandchildren that live away this week.  It was a fun day too! 

They have a backyard pool and we spent much of the visit there. 

This swim mask is a very clever design,  It completely covers the nose so the swimmer doesn’t get water up their nose.  

Some of the local grands were here this week and they had fun playing with our grocery stockpile.  

They played grocery store (of course) and even made these signs for the door 

Our neighborhood has a private Facebook group.  Most messages are about lost pets or found items.  People also give away things. 

One neighbor offered a bunch of boy toys.  When no one had responded all day,  I asked about them and was happy to get them all.  

And this is just about 1/3 of them.  

It also included a Calico Critters cabin and treehouse with lots of accessories and cute furniture.  

I don’t usually like having this many toys but since we don’t really go anywhere for entertainment, because of the virus,  the extra toys are very welcome.  

And they were all free! 

That’s the highlights from here

Hope everyone is good

❤️ Rhonda 

July #6 - summer foods

Hello everyone 

Below is where I usually do my chopping and peeling, etc.  

I set everything up on the breakfast table and sit down to work because it does take me awhile.  

Sometimes I watch YouTube on an iPad while I work.  

Today- I made another batch of fresh salsa and cut up one cantaloupe.  

It was a bit green but it still tastes really good.  I will let the others ripen a couple days before I cut them.  

  All waiting in fridge until time to eat 

Supper was cornbread muffins,  canned pinto beans seasoned with onion, bell pepper and spicy tomato sauce, with fresh salsa to spoon on top.  It was really good! 

Below is what my husband harvested today - minus some onions he ate at lunch and jalapeños I put in the salsa.  

He planted potatoes in tubs to hopefully harvest this fall.  

A few replies 

 Terri- I know it’s a lot of melon but we will share it with family and it will all get eaten fresh.  

Angela, yes- we like our air fryer.  I can cube up potatoes, spray them with olive oil and in 10 minutes,  they are browned, delicious  and a very easy no fuss side dish.  

  Yesterday,  my 3 grands got school sack lunches and the entree was a chicken patty and bun.  I put the patties in the air fryer and they were ready to eat in 5 minutes.  

  I use the air fryer almost daily.  

❤️ Rhonda 

July #5 - cleaned out my purse

Hello everyone 

I took a few photos today so I’ll write a short post 

My husband bought some huge local melons off a trailer in a church parking lot this afternoon 

That’s a 24 ounce cottage cheese tub as a size reference.  I weighed one cantaloupe at 8.07 pounds. My husband thinks the watermelon is 30-40 pounds.  

My purse has been used very little during this virus stuff.  On the rare occasions I have used it while in a store,  I have just dropped the receipt and change in so as not to touch them unnecessarily.  After 3 months or so of neglect,  it did need cleaned out.  

So I dumped everything on the table 

Then I sorted it and threw away the trash 

And put everything back in 

I didn’t put all the change that was in the bottom of my purse back in,  I put it a jar where my husband saves change,  

I’ve heard we’re have a coin shortage in the US but I’m afraid I don’t want to handle coins until this health situation is better 

My purse did feel a lot lighter with all these coins out 

I don’t normally pay attention to fancy vehicles but I saw this ad today and I was so interested.  I have short legs and getting into tall vehicles can be a trick.  

Aren’t the steps on this new model amazing?  

I don’t need a new vehicle and I have zero plans to buy this fancy Lincoln but it sure looks nice.  The car engineers did a great job, I think.

The funny part of the ad is it’s described as affordable,  my guess is the price would be in the $60000 range,  sooo affordable, right? 

Supper was a smoked chicken sandwich, homemade salsa on cottage cheese and air-fried potatoes and carrots.  

❤️Rhonda 

July #4 - a new week

Hello everyone,  

I get so my comments on my to do lists so here is the one I just wrote for this week.  I’m sure I won’t get all of it done and I’m pretty  sure I’ll do some tasks that aren’t on the list.  But it’s a guideline and it does help keep me on track.  

We had 2 big but unexpected rainfalls Friday and Saturday.

The rain on Friday made it so dark outside.  You can’t really tell it’s dark In this photo at 10 in the morning but you can see lights burning inside the house across the street and the streetlight that runs on a sensor is also on.  

We got 4 inches of rain on Friday and 2+inches Saturday night - very needed and now everything growing outside is happier.  

Hope you all had a good weekend

❤️ Rhonda 

July #3- more plants, a new mask and a DIY scooter rack

Hello everyone 

This is our zinnia patch-the easiest, least amount of effort for a field of flowers that bloom all summer.  

They are grown from seeds that I save each year.  

 Ducky posing with the flowers 

New veil mask sewn this afternoon and I really like it.  

 

veil mask instructions from JenniferMaker.com

It fits closer at the bottom than it looks like but is cooler and more breathable than other masks I’ve sewn.  

I plan to sew some more and make them an inch longer so I can tuck the bottom of the mask into whatever shirt I am wearing.  

My husband tried it and he thinks it’s great too.  

I did not put nose wire in,  the tuck at the top makes the mask fit closely.  

I used elastic for the ears and didn’t add the optional filter pocket.  

The designer says this mask can be sewn by hand and I agree with her.  If you need a mask and don’t machine sew,  I think her free pattern and instructions could help you make one.  

I’m afraid we are going to be needing masks a long time.......

This would also look much better if this mask didn’t clash with my shirt .  

We keep scooters here for the grands to ride (not that they have been here much with all the shutdowns and such 😡)

None of our scooters have kickstands and they make a big mess pile without something to stand them up.   Believe it or not, we have even more scooters but they are in a shed.  

My husband built this nifty scooter stand from scraps of 2 by 4s.  

It works perfectly and keeps the scooters upright and out of the way. 

Below is another oddball plant called a Mules Ear.  It seems to reproduce new plants on the end of the leaves.  

When it makes a new plant,  the leaf gets heavy and it drops down and I’m assuming if this was planted in the ground,  then the new plant would just grow from there.  

I plan to cut some of the babies off and put them in small pots.  



There are tiny roots coming out of the underside.  

Hope you’re all well, staying as busy as you want to be and also finding some good things to enjoy during this hard time 

❤️ Rhonda 

July things #2- food and oddball plants

Hello everyone 

Below is the produce I prepped at the first of this week 

The square dish is fresh salsa made with many grape tomatoes from our garden and they are so good! 

The grandchildren all enjoy the fairy gardens but they haven’t been here much because of covid.  I enjoy these dish gardens,  they’re just fun to rearrange and play with when we’re sitting at the patio table.  

So,  I made a second one.  I used a big a Tupperware lid that was in our discard pile and this one mainly has a turtle theme as one grandson is very fond of “tuttles”. 

And the original one 

You can buy things for fairy gardens but a lot of the stuff in ours is doodads we already had,  seashells,  little found rocks,  a sign made by a granddaughter 

We have some odd plants this summer 

This pot started out with one small succulent on the left and a painted plant my husband bought last summer. 

Both have doubled, maybe tripled in size this spring/summer. 

The one on the right has a bloom starting, similar to how a hosta blooms.  

Leaves that fell off the left succulent and landed in the pot have started many new plants,  all on their own with no help from me.

Succulents do OK inside during cold months but they really thrive outdoors in warm weather.  

2 more odd plants are Mother of Millions and Mother of Thousands.  

They both reproduce by growing baby plants along the edge of their leaves.  Then the baby plants grow into big plants when they fall in the dirt. 

These 2 plants are considered invasion in really warm climates and should be kept in pots to prevent them from taking over. 

And it’s hot here and getting hotter- but we are enjoying being outside early mornings and late evenings.  

Hope you are all well

❤️ Rhonda 

July things #1 - First to do list

Weeding

  Under bushes and move caladium pots 

 Under the tree that turned into a bush 

   Berry patch                   Mow? 

Kitchen 

  Boil eggs           Bottle water in kitchen 

  Make salad        Make veggie tray and dip 

  Make fresh salsa            Bake dessert 

  Make chicken veg soup maybe 

Plan meals 

  Turkey sloppy joes 

  Turkey lasagna 

  Burgers 

  Roast 

   Whole chicken 

    

Housekeeping 

  Guest room bedding     

   Hall bath

   Master bath 

   Vac            Mop 

   Dust 

   Laundry      Master sheets 

Extras 

Ducky to Spa 

Pay bills 

Grocery pickup end of week? 

Amazon thingie straightened out 

Hello everyone,  I’ve been busy with lots of yard and garden work,  and also feeling at my wit’s end deciphering this Covid yuck and how to live the new normal as people in the higher risk group.    I’m guessing a lot of you can say the exact thing.  

Anyway,  above is my to do list before I print it out and hang it in our kitchen.  

I’m still doing some food prep to make meals easier.  

Below is last week’s ......

We especially liked the hard boiled eggs with salad and sandwiches.  

Also a big bowl of naval oranges for snacking 

Some of our grandsons are playing baseball and one of them loves to slide in the Oklahoma red dirt when he crosses home plate (even when he doesn’t need to) in his white baseball pants.  

His mom asked if I could get his white pants cleaner than she was.  

First I washed them in Tide, my go-to stain remover and it helped but didn’t clean the red dirt from the knees.  

So I did some research and saw Out White Brite was recommended by other people washing white ball pants.  

Out White Brite is a powder and is sold at Walmart for less than $4.  I’m sure it’s sold other places too but my town has 3 Walmarts and not a lot of other stores so it’s where I mostly shop.  

I put 1/2 cup of it with hot tap water in a big bowl and soaked the pants an hour or so and they came remarkably cleaner!  

The only bad part is the cleaner has the same scent of hair permanent solution but the scent does wash out.  

Hope you’re all fine and enjoying summer 🌻🍉⛱ 🌞🏡🗽🇺🇸

❤️Rhonda