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 🇺🇸

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