Monday = new to do list

Good morning

Google-Blogger-Blogspot is still not updating new posts on sidebars yet.  In my past experience,  they never seem to respond to problems but maybe they will get it fixed.  I just don’t know and am not very hopeful.  

But on to what I can do…..

My new list for this week-  it’s not heavy as I know it won’t get done if I put everything on there that I could.  

I started some scrap quilts for the 2 twin beds in one of our bedrooms months ago. The quilt tops are done.

Yesterday I sewed up fabric big enough to make the backings on both of them.

So I need to get them sandwiched onto the kitchen table- If you don’t quilt, sandwiching means layering the backing fabric, then the batting and then the quilt top.

These will just get tied with crochet thread, and then I’ll need to sew the bindings.  

my goal is to finish both of these quilts in September.  

I will certainly post photos when I finish them.

So if y’all don’t see photos, soon of finished quilt, y’all nag me OK?

the quilt tops - folded and under that basket 

hope you all have a really good Monday
❤️ Rhonda 

Friday Fun

hello everyone!

Today is Friday. Fridays used to always mean a grandchildren sleepover. That doesn’t happen as often anymore, but it does today

first I baked a pan of brownies using a mix.
Some of us like pecans, some of us prefer chocolate chips, and some of us prefer M&Ms
So I just put some of each topping on three different sections
I made the box mix just like it said, but I did add a teaspoon of vanilla.
They turned out great!

we went to Branson this summer and shopped at an Aldi grocery store

This melamine lazy Susan was on their specials aisle.  I’ve always liked patriotic things and  quilt designs and I’m very glad I found this and bought it.  

Today I filled it with fresh fruit because we all like fresh fruit about our oldest granddaughter especially likes fresh fruit.. 

Everyone was in a good mood at supper. All of the food was a crowd pleaser.

Can you longtime blog readers, believe that my grandchildren are so big?  

Our oldest grandson is a senior in high school, this granddaughter in the picture is a junior.

These boys are in junior high and middle school.

Our youngest granddaughter is in second grade in another state

We have nine total grandchildren.  

Hope you all are having a good Friday

Thank you so much for all the people who have viewed my blog since yesterday. I checked my stats and I’m shocked at how many of you read my first post in six months yesterday

I promise all the post will not involve desserts.  

PS I’ve come back to add this after looking at several blogs on my sidebar.  It seems no one’s Blog list are updating.

People are writing new post, but they are not coming up inside bars.  So if you want to see if some of your favorite bloggers have  a recent post, Everybody works together

I think you’ll just have to click on their old post and look around and see if there are some more new ones.  

Very frustrating I know 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

This seems to be a glitch with blogspot/blogger/Google.  Hopefully, they will get it fixed soon

❤️ Rhonda 
 

It’s been almost 6 months

Hello everyone,

I want to get back to blogging and I wondered if I should about highlight from the last 6 months but that seems daunting so I just going to jump back in with today.  

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It has been such a hot and dry long summer in Oklahoma.  
I’ve done almost zero baking and meals have mostly been low-prep dishes cooked in a slow cooker to keep the house from heating up even more.  

But praise God,  we woke up to rain and the coolest temperatures we’ve had since May.  
So,  it seemed like a great time to bake a real dessert.mm
My husband said peach cobbler sounded best to him.  
I put almost 40 pounds of Colorado peaches in the freezer this summer so I used some of them in a Fannie Farmer recipe.  

I made half a recipe and baked them in 4 little pie pans.  
They were delicious and hit the spot after not having fresh baked desserts all summer.  
This crust was different from traditional crust as it called for baking powder, sugar, butter and cream.  

It’s a good recipe but I think we prefer a regular pie crust that uses just flour, salt, shortening and ice water.  

 This post is formatting weird,  It shows how rusty I am at blogging.  

But I really do plan to start posting  regularly.  

❤️ Rhonda 

First day of Spring 🌹 ☔️ 🐣

Hello everyone 👋🏻 

I’m still here and I’ll explain a little farther down.    Today was one of the only days I’ve left home in 2 weeks.  I went to my mother’s retirement home for their Spring Tea.  

This hay bale is always outside,  decorated for the seasons,  and I think this bunny costume is one of the cutest the hay bale has ever worn.  

The spring tea was as nice as can be.  

The ladies behind this bar are some the workers and they had such a nice party set up.  

There was hot tea on every table and so many yummy treats.  

They brought around the food and served us all.  
Below is my plate.  I also had a tiny blueberry scone and a thumbprint cookie.  Everything was delicious and I think all resident women enjoyed it very much.  All the men residents were invited  too but only 1 man attended.  

I had black tea,  a little croissant with chicken salad,  a veggie stick cup with hummus dip in the bottom and fruit salad.  The fruit salad was delicious.  The young woman that made it said the secret ingredient was peach pie filling and I assume she means canned pie filling.  

At home I’m still cutting up lots of fruit and vegetables.  These Tangelo oranges are delicious but very hard to peel.  

I’ve got mostly pepper and tomato seeds started in the house.  I’m really pleased with how well they are growing.  

This is why I’ve been away from blogging.  My husband had a laminectomy back surgery.    He’s been in continuous pain for  about 3 years.  He’s been to different doctors and a chiropractor.  He’s has had physical therapy and multiple prescription and homeopathic pain relievers.  He’s has used a back brace and a special chair.  He traded in his pickup for a more comfortable car.  

He’s had multiple pain shots and multiple spine ablations.  

After trying everything,  he saw a surgeon that several of our friends have successfully been treated by.  The surgeon said he thought he could help him and we decided to.  

It was not easy decision but my husband really felt it was the only option.  

This surgery has a different recovery period than other surgeries.  He’s is supposed to just take it easy until his 2 week post surgery checkup next week.  He’s can’t drive or lift anything over 5 pounds.  

So far,  he is feeling really good.  He is having discomfort from the surgery but he says all the back pain is gone.  

below is his incision and I hope it doesn’t gross any of out too much.  

I think it’s healing up nicely and an RN friend also thinks it looks good.  

What would you all call this outfit below?  

I stopped at Walmart to pick up a prescription and a woman shopper was wearing this very outfit.

  It did not look like she had just rolled out of bed.  Her hair was styled and she was wearing real shoes.  

It looks like pajamas to me.  I live in a college town and I’ve seen people wearing pajama pants in public for years 

But this was new to me,  seeing someone actually wearing a pajama outfit  as streetwear.  

Maybe I’m just out of the loop.  

Or is this a thing people are doing everywhere?   

Happy first day of Spring everyone 

❤️ Rhonda 

Meals this week

Hello everyone 

Here is what we ate for our main meals this week 

This was a white chicken chili (that looks more green than white) It was based off of several recipes and contained white chicken, white beans,  green chili verde sauce, onions, green chilis, corn, chicken broth and taco seasoning 

Tuesday we had cheeseburger bowls- just everything that goes on a cheeseburger but no bun and served in a bowl.  

Wednesday was dill pickle chicken- I save pickle jars and juice when the pickles are gone.  Then chicken gets marinated in the refrigerator in that dill pickle juice for 8 or more hours.  
I put a light coating of seasoned flour on each piece of chicken and then fried them in just enough oil to keep them from sticking.  

we had some steamed vegetables and little oranges with the chicken strips.  

Thursday is the day we went to the commissary.  

That day we gate lunch at Cheddars that is just outside the Air Force base main gate.  

My husband had a cheeseburger,  I had blackened fish and we both had cole slaw.  

It was a really tasty meal.  

Friday night 2 grandchildren were here.  We had homemade pizza.  

The grownups like onions, peppers and jalapeños on theirs.  The grandchildren wanted just meat and cheese.  

Saturday morning breakfast was also eaten by the 2 grandchildren that slept over.  

We all had some french puff muffins.  Some of us had sausage, some had eggs.  

When their dad picked them shortly after we ate,  He ate a leftover muffin and the last of the sausage and he took the last muffin to our daughter.  

Then Saturday,  I cooked a new recipe with some of that stew meat in the meat bargain box.  I was sure we would like it so I made a double batch.  

It turned out really good!  

We’ve ate it Saturday and Sunday and I put 2 meal size portions in the freezer.  

https://southernbite.com/slow-cooker-beef-and-noodles/

What have y’all been cooking? 

❤️ Rhonda 

Thankful for some bargains

My husband’s back is making him miserable.  He just had an MRI and we aren’t medically trained but we can see from the MRI,  he has problems.  He has an appointment with a surgeon next week .  

He hurts when he sits still and he hurts when he moves around,  so to give him a distraction,  we drove about an hour to the Tinker Air Force Base to shop.  

Their commissary has always had good beef.  I’m sure you all know how expensive beef is right now,  I haven’t bought any for a while and beef was the main thing on my list.  

The Tinker meat department is huge- probably 100 feet or more long.  

They sometimes have these discount boxes made up.  I’ve bought them before and I remember one time,  they made 2 for me,  

Anyway,  they had 2 made up and I bought them both.  

I trust their quality and I’ll just cook whatever is in them.  

this box is all beef 
this one is pork and beef 
$74 seems expensive but it was heavy- so I bought it.  

Inside this one was 4 rolls of ground beef,  3 packs of boneless pork, a big pork tenderloin, 2 stew meat and a small beef roast.  

I added up the price stickers and these would have sold individually for $67.63—-instead of the $55 on the box price tag.  
This all beef box had a large ground beef, 4 assorted roasts and 3 more packs of stew meat.  

They added up to $128.51 —-a huge savings since I paid $77.  

If you’re wondering if this meat was past its best date- No, not at all.  I shopped on the 12th and this roast was packed on the 11th.  

When we got home,  I double- bagged some of these packages and put them straight away in the freezer.  

I put the ground beef and stew meat in the fridge and I may cook some it before freezing.  

I also have some chicken to repackage.  

If you have elgibility and access to a military commissary,  you might want to see what you can find.  

In general,  the current prices on most items are similar to civilian stores.  I mainly commissary shop for meat.  I think all the meat I browsed was lower than current store prices.  

I need to get busy.  That meat needs to be dealt with.  

But I won’t need to shop for meat again for months! 

❤️ Rhonda

Valentines fun

Our Christmas tree is still up in our living room.  I took off the Christmas ornaments and then put on winter themed ones.

In February,  I put away  the winter themed ones and put hearts on the tree.  

Who knows,  I may switch it to Easter things come March but I may pack it all away.  

For now,  it’s a fun decoration.  I especially enjoy the twinkle lights in the evening.  
there are a few Valentine decorations on our mantel.  The valentines pillows are just zippered covers that are very easy to change.  

Years ago,  we homeschooled for 2 years.  Our children enjoyed it and really benefited from it,  What they missed most about school was the themed parties.  

So we had our own Valentines party that first year of homeschool.  We all made a valentine box,  just like school,  and then we put little treats in everyone’s box.  

My children are all creative and so are their children.  

Before we opened our boxes at this year’s party,  we decorated gingerbread houses in Valentine themes.  

I bought the kits at Walmart- 90% off - and  I assembled them with a hot glue gun before the party.  

Below are our boxes.  
I wasn’t kidding when I said my children are creative.  My daughter bakes so she made her box like an oven.  

Her husband is a sports fan and his looks an Olympic curling arena.  
The green is a Minecraft creature,  a Minion and a very festive dragon.  

Decorating the houses was fun - sorry no faces but some of our family members have privacy concerns- 

There were 9 of at this party.  After the sweet fun,  we had a taco bar from Fuzzy’s.  

I sent some gel window stickers to our granddaughter in Indiana.  She really likes rearranging them on their dining room windows.  

Look at all their ⛄️ ❄️ ❄️! 

grandparent tip- window gels are fun and very easy to mail if you want to send a gift 

links to two different parties we had in the past

https://ifyoudostuff.blogspot.com/2020/02/valentines-gingerbread-house-party.html

https://ifyoudostuff.blogspot.com/2015/02/happy-valentines-day-2015.html

Valentines party are fun!  It’s not too late for you to plan one for your family.  ❤️

❤️ Rhonda ❤️

meals and valentines

as I started writing this post, it got very photo-heavy. So it will mostly be about meals and I’ll do a valentine post hopefully  tomorrow

We had a lot of snow toward the end of January.

I also got my final Kroger delivery as they will no longer be doing deliveries in my state.  I ordered a good bit on this final delivery and I’m not sure what I’m going to do about groceries. I really do not like shopping in the store anymore.

 Below are the meals we had this week- nothing remarkable but we enjoyed all of them.

On Sunday, we had some boneless pork chops cooked in sauerkraut with mashed potatoes and biscuits
Monday, we had the leftover pork, kraut and potatoes. I also baked a batch of banana muffins with two very overripe bananas, and a pan of blonde brownies.  Only my husband and I ate the meal, but my daughter and two grandchildren stopped over that afternoon and they were very happy to eat fresh muffins and brownies.  It was nice seeing them enjoy eating the baked goods.  
On Tuesday, I made a batch of coleslaw and some pickled red onions.

The onions were very simple.- thinly sliced red onion in a jar and then topped with 3/4 cup of Apple cider vinegar, a quarter cup of water, a tablespoon of sugar, salt and black pepper that had been boiled together 
I also peeled and cut up two large sweet potatoes and intended to cook salmon patties that night.  

But I had a few errands to run that day and by the time I got home, I didn’t want to even  cook simple salmon patties
So Wednesday we took a little ham steak from the freezer, baked a few biscuits, and served it with the coleslaw and onions.
Thursday,  I made a double batch of tasty lentil tacos in the slow cooker.  I have made these many times and the recipe is here on the blog

I kept out a dish and the rest went in the freezer for future meal
so we had lentil taco salads that night.  
Friday, I finally cooked the salmon patties.  I don’t like cooking them in the house just because the smell lingers so long.

This ninja cooker is a slow cooker, but it also has a braise cycle so it will work like a skillet.  The downside is it has a very short cord.

I took it to the patio and the only way I could use it at that plug without an extension cord was to set the cooker on a bucket.  

There were no children or pets roaming around. The cooker worked great and I think I will always cook salmon patties on the patio from now on
We had baked sweet potato fries with the salmon patties

My husband cooked a pork tenderloin outside. We ate it with salad.  

I’ve got a few valentine decorations up and we have had a very fun family valentine party.

I will blog about that very soon

talk with you all soon 

❤️ Rhonda