May news #8 - mostly cooking

Hello everyone 

I finally made the chicken broth this morning.  I used vegetable scraps and chicken backbones, both saved from previous food prep and saved in freezer bags.  I put them in the crockpot and added water and let them cook all day on high.  

After cooking and straining,  there was close to a gallon of rich chicken broth.  I don’t add salt to mine.  The storebought broths are usually so high in sodium and we just don’t need that much extra salt.  

It will stay in the fridge all night.  Tomorrow, I’ll skim off the fat and freeze the broth in meal size containers.  

Homemade broth is easy and is almost free as it’s made from food that many people throw away.  

Supper was meatloaf made with this recipe.  I did alter it a bit,  using whole eggs, omitting the Worcestershire and doubling the recipe.  

Skinny Meatloaf

My husband and I really enjoyed this recipe.  I took some to my parent’s home and our son’s home and they all enjoyed it too.  

I will make this recipe again.  

This week’s to do list 

Hope you all are well

❤️ Rhonda 

May news # 7 - ordinary days

Hello everyone 

From comments from you all,  y’all  seem to like posts about everyday things.  I’m just doing plain, basic stuff right now so that’s what I’ll write about. 

But some people may think this kind of post is as boring as watch paint dry.  

Some of my grandchildren were here for their first sleepover in more than 2 months. They were so happy to be here and I know their parents enjoyed a break.  

We made play dough with corn starch and hair conditioner.  It makes a very soft, fragrant play dough and it cleans up easily.  

I’ve read you can do this with lotion instead of conditioner but I’ve never tried that.

It’s made with equal parts of both ingredients and then just add little dabs if it’s too dry or too wet.  

To make it thrifty,  use a bottle of conditioner from the DollarTree or use a bottle you already have at home but don’t like.  

We went for a walk and this one picked a bouquet of wildflowers for me ❤️

I went to my parent’s retirement home this afternoon and we visited with them on their 2nd floor balcony and me on the ground.  

It’s better than nothing.  They expect to be “Lock in” for 3-4 more weeks but who knows? 

I took them some pizza, art work from the grands,  bottoms of dress pants I hemmed for my son (my mom will use them in her crazy quilts) and newspapers.  

Besides hemming pants,  I altered the waist on a pair of my pants and sewed a simple swim poncho from an extra-long beach towel.  

It’s for the tallest granddaughter.  Her mom bought the towel and I just cut a neck hole and added wide bias tape to finish the seam.  

Her other grandparents have a very nice backyard pool so she can swim even if all the public places are not safe right now.mm

Meals have been simple too. 

Our weather has been mild and we’ve enjoyed outside several meals.

This very basic pepper steak as delicious.  It was diced up cube steak,  bell peppers from last summer’s garden, onions, and a spicy Szechuan sauce from Aldi,  served on rice.  

Those are the highlights from some ordinary days during this pandemic.  

❤️ Rhonda 

May news #6 - home things and books

Hello!

I’m here, just haven’t felt like I had any news to blog.  It’s been a quiet week. My husband had physical therapy twice and I’ve been home.  We’ve both been reading lots on Kindles.  

Last month I showed y’all the mess when I emptied out some kitchen cabinets.  

here

I did get it all put in a much better way, with less stuff and I’m happy with it.  But this is the only cabinet that got new shelf paper.  I ordered some on grocery pickup and it’s very pretty but I’m not fond of it’s  quality at all.  

Below is the baking cabinet and I’m very happy with how easy it is to get just what I need when I’m cooking. 

In the corner is my Kitchenaid mixer bought in 1988 I think.  It’s been used so much and still works perfectly.  

More masks - this style is what my family members like best.  I’ve been adding wire to the nose area and it really helps with fit

A very sweet blog reader in Waco offered to mail me some elastic and I came this week so I’ll be finishing more masks soon.  Thank you so much Stacy!  I mailed you a card yesterday.  

Our dog Ducky loves to chew so I ordered him a Super Chewer Barkbox.  He was very happy with the food products they sent  but he doesn’t like the toys one bit.  Barkbox offers satisfaction guaranteed so I messaged them and that very day they answered and shipped out smaller toys for Ducky.  

So hopefully he will like the smaller toys.  

The Barkbox toys are great and look to me like they will stand up to very aggressive chewing.  

Ducky is going to pass these toys on to his “cousin” dog Murray who lives in Georgia.

Murray is bigger than Ducky, and getting bigger as he’s still a puppy.   

Isn’t Murray a cutie too?  His Mom Megan took this photo 

Remember when I shared the cinnamon rolls our son baked 

here

His sister bakes cinnamon rolls too.  She made several double batches and delivered them with baking instructions for Teacher Appreciation gifts and Mothers Day gifts. 

And they were delicious!

The Recipe  she used 

here.  It’s a great recipe and  she used regular butter frosting, not cream cheese as a family preference 

One of the books I’ve read, and it’s about a pandemic but I really enjoyed it and recommend it.

I ordered mine from Thriftbooks.com but I sure it’s available other places, maybe even the library if they ever open back up.  

 I’m also reading this series 

here 

It’s a very long but interesting series.  

So,  I’m really enjoying reading but I’m not getting a lot else done.  

But during this situation, I think it’s OK.  

Hope you all are fine

❤️Rhonda 

May news #5 - to do list and more plants

Good morning ☀️ 

This week’s to do list- I’ve already done the grocery pickup and went in to Walmart to buy a gift card that we use for our gas purchases.  

I replanted the zinnia patch from last year, with seeds saved from last year’s zinnias.  

Look at all the new baby zinnias- zinnias are so easy to grow from seed and once they start blooming,  they bloom all summer 🌸 

Our breakfast on Sunday- just frozen biscuits with scrambled eggs but it was delicious 😋 

I’m hoping to get lots done today and go for a walk if the rain cooperates with my plans.  

Have a great Monday everyone

May News #4 - flowers and masks

Hello everyone 

If you want to make the simplest mask I’ve seen,  watch this video 

https://youtu.be/0JGQv1hnuH0

Below are small child size ones 

Some very lawyer-ish masks for my son.  He wanted them all solid navy so I added a tiny tag of twill tape to the inside so he can tell which side has been facing out and which side goes on his face.  

Our home so looks so happy with all the spring flowers blooming.  Many of them are perennials my husband bought on clearance at Lowe’s in recent years.  

The bushes with white flowers are Mock Orange and I think they’re so pretty.  

The dianthus came back so big and full this spring -they are the big pink and red clumps.  

Below is a peony that only had one bloom last year.  This year it had more than a dozen buds.  

 

Right by our front door - did  you notice in these photos all our windows were open?  It was breezy and mid-60s yesterday so I opened all our windows and gave the house a good airing out.  

We had a redwood picnic table that was looking so weathered and not in a good way.  

So my husband turned it into a 12 foot planter that fits perfectly where the patio ends and before the fence.  

Then he planted it with more assorted plants from Lowe’s 

And a little funny thing

3 of our grandchildren were here yesterday while their mom had a doctor appointment. 

They were so happy to be here and acted so nice. 

Toward the end of the visit, Elizabeth and JJ were crafting but Elizabeth wasn’t happy that JJ was kind of copying her.  

I told her she was being kind of grouchy.

JJ said "maybe she needs a nap”

Hope you are all well

❤️Rhonda 

May News #3 - weekend painting, more masks 😱 and a new to do list

Hope you all have had a good weekend.  We had a nice one,  quiet one of course.  Are there any other kind during quarantine?  

This is my cactus painting from the free Friday night Facebook class.  It was fun

I keep hearing about people that need masks so I cut out a bunch more 

And my weekly to do list that I already started on today 

Chat with you all soon

❤️ Rhonda 

May News #2 the edible plants

My husband has taken over the outdoor gardening.  His big project this year is putting pavers between the raised beds to cut down on weeding and mowing.  He’s doing it slowly as he has a bad back, bad knees, etc- but considering all that,  I think he made lots of progress doing it all on his own.  

Somehow that silly gnome birdbath came home with is from Lowe’s.  

Some of the tomatoes are just starting to form 

We’ve been eating our lettuce and spinach for several weeks.  We are hoping the heads will grow back and keep replenishing, but who knows?  At least one of them looks very hopeful.  


also in the beds are assorted peppers and onions 

And Potato Land looks be growing so good! 

In the wildest corner of the back yard is a rose Bush we bought at Aldi years ago

We had to get rid of all our knockout roses as they all had that awful rosette disease 

 

And on the picnic table is this year’s fairy garden.  Grands and adults all enjoy rearranging the figures.  

❤️ Rhonda 

May news #1 May Day plants

Good evening everyone 

I’ve been filling pots with plants with a few bought ones and some brought outside from inside our house and some are from our son. 

These are on the patio near the door 

These are also on the patio,  some are succulents that I put in bigger pots and the petunias are from an 8 pack I found on clearance at Lowe’s for $1

All these pots look empty but they are all planted with caladium bulbs.  Our son ordered 35 pounds of caladium bulbs.  He’s planted a lot of them in his yard but 35 pounds is really a lot.  So he’s been sharing them.  

Caladiums are really fun as they all come up with different colors and patterns.  

And a few more pots of succulents and some ground cover I bought and planted last year and it survived all winter.  

In the yard is the berry patch.  The 2 mature blackberry bushes are loaded with new berries and my husband has been rigging up a protection cover to keep birds from eating the blackberries before we do.  

In the ground are strawberries and a few onions 

On the other side of the backyard are the raised beds and containers holding vegetables.  I’ll show those tomorrow.  

And my husband has put in all the work on them, not me.  I pull weeds but other than that,  the food plants are all his effort.  

Tonight I’m doing the Facebook painting party I posted about earlier.  

I see on the news that different areas are having different restrictions and different levels of restrictions being lifted. 

I know everyone wants to get back to normal but that virus is still out there. 

Hope you all are being careful and staying as safe as possible.  

❤️ Rhonda 

Quarantine update #14 - this weeks to do list and more masks and their drama

Hello everyone 

I made a new list for this week and it’s not completed but I’ve made a lot of progress 

I sewed more masks and learned more about them too.  

When I first started making them more than a month ago, the advice said to use flannel on the inside so they will be softer on the wearer’s face.  Well, I wore a flannel lined one when it was 88 degrees outside and that mask was so hot!  Flannel lined masks will just not be a wearable option in Oklahoma during warm weather.  

That spool of elastic I ordered never did come ☹️

I made some masks with some lingerie elastic I had on hand.  The elastic is comfortable but is not suitable for most men as it has a tiny scalloped edge.  

I also made some masks using the 2 mm hair ties/pony tail holders.  I don’t like how they feel on my ears but my husband thinks they are fine.  

I’m now adding a wire near the nose to all my masks as they make for a closer fit and especially help to avoid glasses fogging up if the mask wearer wears glasses 🤓 

Our masks get laundered every time they are worn and they hang in the laundry room, right by the door to our garage, so we always remember to take some when we leave.  

We live in a university town and I made these with a scrap of school logo fabric.  

My husband wore the top mask into CVS to use their ATM.  When he came out, the lady in the car beside us rolled down her window and asked about his mask.  She wants some but I have no more fabric and can’t get any more right now.  

And the other masks are spoken for. 

She was very nice and I would of shared with her if I could.  

So if you’re sewing masks, especially if you are wanting to make a business of it, (I am not)  any fabric design that is popular in your area would most likely be a great seller.  

Also, people that wear masks often will need several as they need to laundered after each use.  

This may sound like I am out a lot but I am not.  In the last 6 weeks,  I have been inside Walmart 2 times, Aldi once and Lowe’s once.  

We’ve done a lot of yard work and gardening this week and I will share those photos tomorrow.  

Hope you are all fine.  

Our state and town are easing up restrictions a little this week and May 1.  

But my husband and I don’t plan to change anything we have been doing just yet.  

❤️ Rhonda 

Quarantine Update #13 - mask problems, a little sewing and question about DIY disinfecting wipes

Not much to talk about- I’ve done some weeding in the flower beds and am so pleased so many of our pretty perennials came back and look good.  

At the beginning of last week,  I ordered a spool of elastic for masks.  I wanted it as soon as possible and paid the $17 for expedited shipping speed - and $17 is almost double what the elastic cost.  This elastic is made in the US and is shipping from the US,  and I bought it through Amazon.  Well,  I’m shaking my head as that elastic has still not arrived and looking at the tracking, I’m not sure it has even actually shipped.  I think the seller made a shipping label for it but the package doesn’t seem to of moved.  

Amazon will make good on the waste of shipping money, if it ever does come or will refund my money if it doesn’t arrive by April 30.  

I still want to sew more masks though.   I did find clothesline cording with a Walmart pickup and will try to sew masks made by this method that Laura showed on her blog  here 

link to mask tutorial

It has a different way of putting in one long string that goes behind your neck and then ties on top of your head.  It also seems to be a very quick simple sew.  

Last month my daughter asked me to sew Easter eggs for a mantel garland.

This week she asked me sew these flowers.  They were simple and fun to make 

    

Disinfecting wipes 

At normal times,  I don’t use disinfecting wipes but now I’d like some and they can’t be found.  My parents wants some too.  

I just watched a YouTube video where  the homemaker poured Lysol and water into a pack of babies wipes and bleach and water into another pack.  Then she was using them to clean her home.  

I like the idea but I know regular bleach breaks down after 24 hours when mixed with anything.   and of course it’s not safe to mix bleach with any other cleanser. 

So I started looking at other advice and saw someone just add a cup of Rubbing Alcohol to pack of baby wipes.  

I have a bunch of baby wipes from a bargain purchase back when we had grandchildren in diapers.  

I like the idea of just using alcohol,  do any of you maybe have a science background and know if they would be effective as a disinfectant?  

And if any of you were going to do the Friday night paint along classes,  it may not happen today as their family has gone camping.  If their internet at the camping place is working, she will host it live on Facebook - Creative Disasters for Beautiful Minds.  

Tonight’s subject is supposed to be a cactus, which is not really my cup of tea.  She did a country church paint along a couple weeks ago and it is on demand on her page.  I’m thinking I’ll play it and paint a church instead of a cactus 🌵 

Hope you all fine. 

And we are one day closer to this situation being over- but I have no idea when that will be............

❤️ Rhonda