August #6

Good morning 

I didn’t mean to disappear but last week was different than I thought it would be.  The 3 grands that live in our school district were here 3 days and then they went to school for 2 days,  and now, in person schools are already closed again because Covid rates jumped way higher in our town.  Our schools will be doing virtual learning for a while.  

My husband made a last minute and unexpected trip to his parents in Arkansas.  He is home now.  

Anyway,  the theme of 2020 seems to be plans change at the drop of a hat.  

So, here is my new to do list - notice the repeats of the meals because they didn’t get cooked last week.  

The empty circle doesn’t mean anything- I’ll write something in it later.  

➡️➡️➡️link for a new mask style ⬅️⬅️⬅️

My daughter asked me to sew this style mask.  The pleats are vertical instead of horizontal and it’s supposed to fit looser over the wearer’s mouth.  

I made just one and she tried it on and thought she liked it better so I’ll sew up a couple more this week.  

And if you follow this video and pattern,  the mask is fine but she says 2.6 inches and 1.8 inches 🤔 ( not exactly how Americans do fractions). So I just got as close as I could.  The video maker normally uses metric.   And I lengthened the elastic to 7 inches instead of 6 as specified.  

Speaking of masks,  this is how my daughter is keeping up with her family of 5 and their masks - who ever imagined we would need masks organization?  But we do! 

The bag is for masks that need laundered,  I think that’s a great idea.  

My husband picked these beautiful peppers and scrawny radishes this morning.  So I’ll be processing some of them this week.  

And last week was so weird, so I worked 2 puzzles,  with a little help from grandchildren and Nina.  

This one was a really nice puzzle with big, sturdy pieces.  I think it was a handmedown puzzle as when I buy puzzles,  I buy mine at Dollar Tree or Walmart and this was a much higher quality one.  

Hope you all have a good week.  

I’ll be staying home until virus  things settle down in our town

❤️ Rhonda 🏠

August #5 - to do list

Good morning everyone 

3 grands will be here some this week and then they start school Thursday.   

We had scrambled eggs and English muffins for breakfast because on my Walmart pickup order, they were out of the 1 package of name brand muffins I ordered so they substituted 6 packages of Great Value muffins instead, for the price of the 1 name brand package.  

That’s a lot of muffins, right?

The 3 grands that are here today attend a brand new school that was just completed during last school year.  

The architect firm took some professional photos to showcase their work. 

Because my daughter is a school employee,  she signed up her children to model.  

Isn’t that an amazing elementary library?  It’s a shame the virus is keeping it from being used.  

Have a good Monday everyone!

So many of you have left the sweetest comments.  I’m glad my blog brings some help and happiness to you.  

Thank you all for your kind words.  

❤️Rhonda 🇺🇸

August #4- a good and productive day

Hello everyone 

Grandchildren were here during the week so not much housework was done,  but today had no commitments so first thing this morning,  I picked up a grocery order at Walmart.  

Then I came home, put away the groceries and got laundry started.  

Next errand was to the bank drive through for some cash and then I browsed at Dollar Tree and made another stop at Walmart for a few things I forgot to put on my pickup order.  

Breakfast was leftover biscuits with turkey sausage

Lunch was sandwiches with lettuce and garden tomatoes 

Supper was crockpot roast, potatoes and carrots and corn on the cob and watermelon 🍉 

Husband mowed the yard.  

Inside, I cleaned our home from one end to the other.  I didn’t take before photos but I did take afters.  

And because I’m noisy and like to peek in other homes,  I’ll show you our home 

Master bath 

Master bedroom - and Ducky got a bath today at home 

Laundry room - all the baskets are empty except for a few kitchen towels 

Dining room  - there is a jigsaw puzzle in progress on one end of the table.  A granddaughter started it and she asked me to leave it until she comes back,  so I will.  

Breakfast room 

Kitchen 

Kitchen pantry 

Living room  -my husband is reading while we waited for church to start - we like a service from Australia and their Sunday morning is our Saturday evening.  

Guest room and food storage room 

I may of gotten a bit carried away with food stocking up, time will tell,  

  

Grandchildren room

   

Hall 

Hall bath

Back bedroom with my craft-sewing stuff 

  

And the other side has a desktop and the gravity hanger thingy for my husband’s bad back 

Hope you enjoyed touring our comfortable home- 

It feels really good to be going into a new week with a clean home.

❤️Rhonda 🇺🇸

August #3- answers to questions, new recipes, an easy child mask

Good morning, 

There is no to do list this week as some of my grands are here and I plan on enjoying this time with them.  

I am concerned as schools are opening that we could have another big Covid spread and then more quarantines,  but I’m not a prophet and hopefully all will just get back to normal. 

Anyway, after we watched church yesterday morning,  I cleaned our house so we are ready for the week.  

They aren’t all here today but all 8 grands were together for an outdoor family  brunch this weekend.  They all look so big,  don’t they? 

They are ages 4 to 11.  

All are healthy and have big personalities.  

I sewed child sized masks to help outfit grands going to school.  

This is the simplest mask I’ve sewn

Use 2 pieces of fabric,  about 8 inches by 6 1/2 inches.  

Put them right sides together and pin in the elastic.  I used 6 1/2 inches elastic and that fits my grands. 

Sew around the edge but leave as space to turn it.  

I rounded the corners as I sewed but you could make right angle corners if you chose.  

Then turn the mask right side out,  iron and iron in 2 pleats.  Just eyeball them.  

Top stitch around the edge and that will close the opening where it was turned right side out.  

And I reinforced the elastic with some back stitching.  

During these hot days,  we’ve mostly had very easy meals like the one above.  Those are Pillsbury crescent rolls

But yesterday I was in a cooking mood and made this recipe I found on Instagram.  I don’t know who to credit it to as I took a screenshot but it was really good.  

If your family doesn’t like spicy, you substitute plain canned diced tomatoes and I’m sure it would still be delicious.  

I also baked a dessert with my husband’s homegrown blackberries and this is a keeper recipe too

➡️➡️   wild blackberry pie recipe link ⬅️⬅️

My recipe copy with notes 

How I make pimento cheese 

I grated cheddar cheese,  maybe 1/2-3/4 pounds

Then I add a drained 4 ounce jar of diced pimentos and a squirt of yellow mustard.  

Stir that up and then add just enough mayonnaise to have it all hold together.  

My pimento cheese is not as mayo-e as commercial pimento cheese.  

Sometimes I add diced jalapeño or dill pickle relish.  

We like it on celery or club crackers.  

Our son likes it on his Dad’s fresh jalapeños,  and don’t worry. These are not crazy hot peppers 

Keeping Produce in the fridge 

I do prep produce almost every week and it keeps just fine for us. 

I think cut up or whole produce lasts much longer in a closed container like Tupperware type containers or zipper bags or glass jars,  with all them sealed up and closed as well as possible. 

Salad usually lasts about 3 days,  if we don’t eat it first. 

Carrots and onions both last a couple weeks or more.  

Tomatoes don’t keep as long and neither does fruit but I think most everything keeps better sealed up in the fridge.  

Way back when we had 4 children at home,  a tiny budget and I had a job,  the main vegetables we ate were potatoes and carrots.  I would peel loads of them and keep them in water in the fridge until I needed them to cook.  This was way before “meal prepping” was all the rage.  I think I usually stored them in gallon jars that I got from the kid’s school cafeteria.  As long as the potatoes and carrots were in water,  they kept until I used them.  

About Jane at Hope and Thrift 

I hope she opens her blog back up but I think for now she is just being quiet and maybe fed up with all the yuck going on.  

Maybe she will leave a comment here.  

Hope you all are fine 

❤️Rhonda 🇺🇸

August #2 - 🌞Good Monday Morning 🌞

Hello everyone

This will be a short post as I’m hoping to get things done today (besides just play Scrabble Go online, which is what I did most of yesterday afternoon) 

My weekly to-do list 

And food preparation for the first of the week 

A big salad - believe it or not, my husband has been eating salad sometimes for breakfast 

Diced Onions- and I did look up my red onions to make sure they were not the brand with salmonella 

Boiled eggs

2 bowls of pimento cheese- I used white cheddar so it’s not as orange as typical pimento cheese (one dish is for my parents) 

And a bowl of fresh salsa before I stirred it up 

We are having a cool front right now,  it’s 66 right now and very pleasant.  I think I’ll open up the windows like I did yesterday and let in more fresh air.  

Have a great Monday everyone 

❤️Rhonda 🇺🇸

August #1 - hoping for a great month

Hello everyone 

Here are before and after photos of the front flower beds

  

The mock orange bushes were too tall, the crinums were turning into monster size bulbs and the bulbs that have bloomed needed trimmed.

In the other bed,  the volunteer zinnias were overtaking the sidewalk.  

Now the bushes are trimmed and unwanted things were removed 

And people can safely walk on the sidewalk without tripping on zinnias.  

3 grands were here and they helped fill up trash bags with the clippings and they made bouquets  from the zinnias.  

Those zinnias were hiding this pretty plant that is currently in full bloom 

Today,  I did one more big Walmart grocery pickup and I think we should be good for quite awhile,  come what may 🤷🏻‍♀️

The frozen things and paper good had already been put away before I took this photo 

We live in a college town and the students will be returning soon.  They wipe out the grocery stores every August so with the other shortages we’ve had,  I’m trying to be ahead of any possible future shortages or shut downs.  

This kindle  book is free on Amazon right now- the price could change so be careful if you don’t want to spend money,  

If you need to live off strictly pantry items,  this book has very easy recipes to make all kinds of family meals.  

  ➡️➡️100-Day Pantry book on Amazon ⬅️⬅️  Link ⬅️

Hope you’re all having a good weekend 

❤️ Rhonda 🇺🇸