July 2 doings

Hello again 

So far in 2025,  we have had 3 nests of robins in our backyard pergola.  

Last year we had 5 nests.  

Sometimes the babies fly off without much coaxing. 

 Sometimes the parents really have to talk the babies  into flying off the beam.  

This was the last one of the current nest.  I watched it sit on the beam for awhile.  

Our visiting dog was taking a sunbath and that didn’t phase the baby robin. 

Then my husband went outside and said “baby bird, it’s time for you to fly away”. 

And it did and he was there to watch it.  


I bought a monster watermelon at Walmart yesterday. 

I had to cut it to get in the fridge.  

That’s a quart jar beside to help show how it big it was.  

I cut it,  was happy to see it didn’t have very many seeds and it’s really tasty.  

Doll House progress-  all the wallpaper and floor coverings are installed.  

It need the baseboards and roof shingles, paint touch ups,  curtains - I’ve thought of so many things!  

But we are just trying to get the bones in place and our granddaughter can add all the doodads and embellishments she wants to. 

I thawed out 1 package of chicken breasts yesterday.  

This morning,  I cut one of them into tenders and then put them in that pickle jar of leftover pickle juice to marinade all day. 

The other breast went into the crockpot with carrots, celery and water and cooked until it was shreddable.  

It went back in the fridge and tomorrow’s meal will be made with it 

Tonight’s supper was those dill pickle chicken tenders with corn on the cob

also a leftover baked potato cooked with an onion and 2 bell peppers from our back yard.  ]



Hope you all have a good Wednesday 

❤️Rhonda 

July 1 doings

Hello everyone 

interested in what we did July 1? 

I started the day with a long list of errands 

My husband drove me and we did every errand except we didn’t buy a few things that I thought we might. 

I’m still wearing Kiss press on nails.  

This pattern is called Hearts Aflutter.  

Their names make no sense.

  I would have named these Gingham & Fruit.  

I’ve been doing some small coupon shopping trips.  This is what I bought July 1, plus 2 6 packs of paper towels not pictured 

I spent $7 at Walgreens and $15.33 at CVS 

If you’re interested in coupon shopping, there are many online experts.  My favorites are Savvy Coupon Shopper and LASavings.  Both are on Youtube  and Instagram, Facebook etc

Look at the deals they suggest and do a small trip.  I like to do deals that give store money back.  That money makes the next week’s purchase cost less.  

I share my extras with family members.  

Our ten year grandson is especially fond of a pump bottles of Irish Spring 5 in 1 shampoo, conditioner, body wash, face wash and I don’t remember what the 5th thing does. 

 He thinks it’s very efficient 😊

My husband and I are working on a doll house that belongs to our oldest granddaughter.  

By her request, it stays at our house.  

she started painting it a while ago but didn’t finish.  

so we are doing exterior paint, flooring, roof shingles and wallpaper while she is away this summer.  

it’s fun.  

if you didn’t know,  dollhouses and miniatures are a big deal right now.  Look on Pinterest if you have a few hours to spare.  

Hope you are all well

❤️

Rhonda 

our garden, another grocery delivery and some baking

Hello everyone 

I normally look at the new Kroger sale ad on Wednesday and place an order to come Thursday.

Last week,  I guess they were closed or something last week as I could not get my delivery until Monday.  

I didn’t plan to get another order so soon but this week’s  ad had some great sales so I put in a small order.  

a spiral ham probably for Easter,  ice cream sandwiches were $1.99 a box 

the flour was $2.19 (I don’t think that’s super low but I do like this unbleached flour) 

You can see part of the sale add below 

Kroger Math is crazy!  they don’t show the actual total until checkout but I’m very happy with all this for $35.78.  

It took me 2 days but all the tomato, pepper, herb and flower plants are in the ground or big pots.  

green beans, tomatoes and peppers here, and a few short zinnias 

more peppers and tomatoes on this end

The 70 MPH we had a couple weeks damaged our fence 😵‍💫😱

but these faux barrels have tomato plants in them 

The clear tub is a few potatoes,  the barrel on the far left is pink peonies that should be blooming soon 

Our favorite OKC meteorologist is about an hour south and he said he saw his first hummingbird yesterday.  

So I made some nectar and hung up 1 of ours.  

I sure hope they come back, they are so fun to watch.  

The back treatment my husband had about 2 weeks had a possibility of a year of pain relief.  

Sadly, he only had about a week.

He will be seeing the doctor again soon.  

It very frustrating to have tried so many things but he is still miserable.  

Supper tonight was burgers on another batch of homemade buns.  

Isn’t this towel cute?  I made it years ago with some vintage fabric either from a thrift store or rummage sale.  

Some of that older fabric was so high quality,  it just lasts and lasts.  

That’s all the news from here

hope you are all having a good week 

❤️ Rhonda 

Easy fast Green Chili casserole

hello everyone

We have a variation of this meal often. 

Sometimes I use a can of white chicken meat.

I cooked a whole chicken yesterday so I used some of that meat today.

To make this you need cooked chicken, corn tortillas, green chili salsa and mozzarella 

Tonight I used a pan that is about 8 by 10 inches.

I put 3 corn tortillas, tearing one in half, to cover the bottom of the pan.

Then the chicken, some diced onions ( optional but we like onions) and another layer of corn tortillas.  

Then I topped it with the whole jar of green salsa and 1 cup of grated mozzarella.  

Then just bake until it’s bubbly and starting to brown.

It bakes quick as the ingredients are all close to  room temperature.  

If you’re feeding more people,  just use more tortillas and ingredients and bake in a bigger pan.  

This is the salsa I used today.  It was Mild,  some brands are Medium.  

We’ve used different brands and sometimes I buy it in cans.  We like them all and don’t have a preference.

I mainly buy the salsa that is the lowest price.  

It’s good with lettuce and tomato and sour cream if you have them.  

The rice was left from Friday.  

This is a meal we really enjoy and it’s so quick and easy.  

The leftovers are great too.  

❤️Rhonda 

Monday Monday

Hello Everyone,

I got up early and did several things on my to do list,  including fixing Jello cups, hard cooked eggs and veggies sticks for snacks and lunches 

Kroger delivered today -still have no idea why there was a wait time but I’m happy with Kroger anyway.  

no meat because we have enough meat in the freezer to last for awhile.  

Even with some good Kroger specials,  this order was $106.  

in 2025,  I’ve been keeping this devotional book on a small easel in the kitchen.  

I usually read it first thing in the morning when I set out our morning medicines.  

Then I usually re-read it when I have a pause while doing kitchen work.  

This book is published by Mrs. Sharon White, a longtime blogger @ Legacy of Home 

In this post she tells how they republished this 1800’s book 

https://thelegacyofhome.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-year-of-blessings-our-new-book.html

A Year Of Blessings on Amazon

Supper was simple but good.  I cooked a whole chicken in a slow cooker,  miscrowaved a bag of frozen peas and carrots and cooked rice for 2.  

There was some very nice broth from the cooked chicken and I think we only ate about 1/4 of the chicken. 

 So that broth and some of that  leftover chicken will probably be the base of Tuesday’s supper.  

good night 

❤️ Rhonda 

ready for next week

Hello everyone 

I wrote out a new to do list for next week.

I’ve tried a couple other methods but this hand written list on a clipboard works best for me.  

But I’m 100% certain I won’t accomplish all of it.  



Some of the grands spent Friday night here so I cooked pancakes and sausage for breakfast.  

This recipe is from my Uncle Jarvis.  He was WWII Marine, father of 6 and a scout master.  

I served these pancakes to my children when they were growing up, probably at least once a week.  

I think the brown sugar and vanilla are what makes these pancakes taste so good.  

Uncle Jarvis said to use oil but I used melted butter.  



The grandsons wanted chocolate chips on theirs and plenty of butter.  

It was good to go church in person this morning.  Sitting a pew just was not doable when my husband’s back was so bad.  

I’m thankful our church livestreams services but being there in person is just special.  

Hope you all have had a good weekend and are ready for Monday 

❤️ Rhonda 

Friday things

hello everyone 

today has been a mostly quiet, rainy day.

I baked a batch of sandwich buns and an angel food cake- I used a Betty Crocker cake mix and it is delicious 

My buns recipes are in an old post I did in 2014 

https://ifyoudostuff.blogspot.com/2014/02/frugal-february-homemade-sandwich-buns.html

I picked up 3 of grands after school.  One of them has a birthday soon.  He has a friend with a 3D printer who gifted him this very nice turtle and shark.  

The turtle’s back comes off and can hold some little trinkets and his legs move.  The shark is flexible.  

They are really nice quality.  I’ve heard of 3D printers but don’t know anything about them.  I can’t imagine owning one but I do like these little doo-dads.  

We are having stormy weather and I’ve been keeping my purse, shoes and flashlight by the back door just in case we need head to our storm shelter in a hurry.

I told my grands why and to put their shoes there too,  

 🙄  It took me 15 seconds to make it safer 

Supper was chicken fajitas with rice and beans.  

and of course cake for dessert 

almost 15 year old granddaughter- she used to pose a lot more willingly ❤️

Have a good weekend everyone 

❤️Rhonda 

Thursday - time to do a better job

Hello everyone 

I took this photo of myself with the timer on my ipad camera.  It’s rainy and quite cool so my flannel shirt feels cozy today.  

Then I cooked breakfast. 

I saw this biscuit recipe from Laura@HarvestLaneCottage and decided to bake a 1/2 recipe of them.  

https://harvestlanecottage.blogspot.com/2025/03/a-very-old-biscuit-recipe.html

I followed her recipe exactly except I cut mine with a biscuit cutter.  

They use a lot less fat than most recipes but they were quite delicious!  

So if you like the idea of using less fat either for finances or dietary issues,  you might like this recipe too.  

I can vouch it’s a tried and true recipe.  

After breakfast was eaten and cleaned up,  I got busy in the fridge- mainly the produce drawer.  

The top layer doesn’t look bad but I was pretty sure there were some spoiled things underneath 


all of these vegetables are fine 

but this was 2 bags of cucumbers, a partial cabbage and some green onions that were 100% spoiled.  

I made the photo black and white because yall don’t need to see gross stuff.  

There was 1 bell pepper that had a short life left so I sliced it and an onion up and we will have fajitas soon.  

Then for supper tonight,  we had the rest of the chicken dressing and mashed potatoes, I added a can of green beans and sautéed the last of that shredded cabbage with a little butter and diced onion.  It wasn’t a fancy meal but it fed us and we are happy.  

I made a list of all our fresh produce so I can hopefully use it instead of letting it spoil.  

I wrote the menu list a few weeks ago and we’ve already had some of those meals but we could still have others.  

I still can’t get my Kroger delivery before Monday.  It’s fine but it is weird. 

My husband is still feeling so good!  

Hope you all have had a good Thursday 

❤️ Rhonda