July #4 - a new week

Hello everyone,  

I get so my comments on my to do lists so here is the one I just wrote for this week.  I’m sure I won’t get all of it done and I’m pretty  sure I’ll do some tasks that aren’t on the list.  But it’s a guideline and it does help keep me on track.  

We had 2 big but unexpected rainfalls Friday and Saturday.

The rain on Friday made it so dark outside.  You can’t really tell it’s dark In this photo at 10 in the morning but you can see lights burning inside the house across the street and the streetlight that runs on a sensor is also on.  

We got 4 inches of rain on Friday and 2+inches Saturday night - very needed and now everything growing outside is happier.  

Hope you all had a good weekend

❤️ Rhonda 

July #3- more plants, a new mask and a DIY scooter rack

Hello everyone 

This is our zinnia patch-the easiest, least amount of effort for a field of flowers that bloom all summer.  

They are grown from seeds that I save each year.  

 Ducky posing with the flowers 

New veil mask sewn this afternoon and I really like it.  

 

veil mask instructions from JenniferMaker.com

It fits closer at the bottom than it looks like but is cooler and more breathable than other masks I’ve sewn.  

I plan to sew some more and make them an inch longer so I can tuck the bottom of the mask into whatever shirt I am wearing.  

My husband tried it and he thinks it’s great too.  

I did not put nose wire in,  the tuck at the top makes the mask fit closely.  

I used elastic for the ears and didn’t add the optional filter pocket.  

The designer says this mask can be sewn by hand and I agree with her.  If you need a mask and don’t machine sew,  I think her free pattern and instructions could help you make one.  

I’m afraid we are going to be needing masks a long time.......

This would also look much better if this mask didn’t clash with my shirt .  

We keep scooters here for the grands to ride (not that they have been here much with all the shutdowns and such 😡)

None of our scooters have kickstands and they make a big mess pile without something to stand them up.   Believe it or not, we have even more scooters but they are in a shed.  

My husband built this nifty scooter stand from scraps of 2 by 4s.  

It works perfectly and keeps the scooters upright and out of the way. 

Below is another oddball plant called a Mules Ear.  It seems to reproduce new plants on the end of the leaves.  

When it makes a new plant,  the leaf gets heavy and it drops down and I’m assuming if this was planted in the ground,  then the new plant would just grow from there.  

I plan to cut some of the babies off and put them in small pots.  



There are tiny roots coming out of the underside.  

Hope you’re all well, staying as busy as you want to be and also finding some good things to enjoy during this hard time 

❤️ Rhonda 

July things #2- food and oddball plants

Hello everyone 

Below is the produce I prepped at the first of this week 

The square dish is fresh salsa made with many grape tomatoes from our garden and they are so good! 

The grandchildren all enjoy the fairy gardens but they haven’t been here much because of covid.  I enjoy these dish gardens,  they’re just fun to rearrange and play with when we’re sitting at the patio table.  

So,  I made a second one.  I used a big a Tupperware lid that was in our discard pile and this one mainly has a turtle theme as one grandson is very fond of “tuttles”. 

And the original one 

You can buy things for fairy gardens but a lot of the stuff in ours is doodads we already had,  seashells,  little found rocks,  a sign made by a granddaughter 

We have some odd plants this summer 

This pot started out with one small succulent on the left and a painted plant my husband bought last summer. 

Both have doubled, maybe tripled in size this spring/summer. 

The one on the right has a bloom starting, similar to how a hosta blooms.  

Leaves that fell off the left succulent and landed in the pot have started many new plants,  all on their own with no help from me.

Succulents do OK inside during cold months but they really thrive outdoors in warm weather.  

2 more odd plants are Mother of Millions and Mother of Thousands.  

They both reproduce by growing baby plants along the edge of their leaves.  Then the baby plants grow into big plants when they fall in the dirt. 

These 2 plants are considered invasion in really warm climates and should be kept in pots to prevent them from taking over. 

And it’s hot here and getting hotter- but we are enjoying being outside early mornings and late evenings.  

Hope you are all well

❤️ Rhonda 

July things #1 - First to do list

Weeding

  Under bushes and move caladium pots 

 Under the tree that turned into a bush 

   Berry patch                   Mow? 

Kitchen 

  Boil eggs           Bottle water in kitchen 

  Make salad        Make veggie tray and dip 

  Make fresh salsa            Bake dessert 

  Make chicken veg soup maybe 

Plan meals 

  Turkey sloppy joes 

  Turkey lasagna 

  Burgers 

  Roast 

   Whole chicken 

    

Housekeeping 

  Guest room bedding     

   Hall bath

   Master bath 

   Vac            Mop 

   Dust 

   Laundry      Master sheets 

Extras 

Ducky to Spa 

Pay bills 

Grocery pickup end of week? 

Amazon thingie straightened out 

Hello everyone,  I’ve been busy with lots of yard and garden work,  and also feeling at my wit’s end deciphering this Covid yuck and how to live the new normal as people in the higher risk group.    I’m guessing a lot of you can say the exact thing.  

Anyway,  above is my to do list before I print it out and hang it in our kitchen.  

I’m still doing some food prep to make meals easier.  

Below is last week’s ......

We especially liked the hard boiled eggs with salad and sandwiches.  

Also a big bowl of naval oranges for snacking 

Some of our grandsons are playing baseball and one of them loves to slide in the Oklahoma red dirt when he crosses home plate (even when he doesn’t need to) in his white baseball pants.  

His mom asked if I could get his white pants cleaner than she was.  

First I washed them in Tide, my go-to stain remover and it helped but didn’t clean the red dirt from the knees.  

So I did some research and saw Out White Brite was recommended by other people washing white ball pants.  

Out White Brite is a powder and is sold at Walmart for less than $4.  I’m sure it’s sold other places too but my town has 3 Walmarts and not a lot of other stores so it’s where I mostly shop.  

I put 1/2 cup of it with hot tap water in a big bowl and soaked the pants an hour or so and they came remarkably cleaner!  

The only bad part is the cleaner has the same scent of hair permanent solution but the scent does wash out.  

Hope you’re all fine and enjoying summer 🌻🍉⛱ 🌞🏡🗽🇺🇸

❤️Rhonda 

June Homemaking #4- sewing, a frog and a Stromboli

This weeks finished sewing so far- 

16 off white napkins

9 checkerboard napkins

4 kitchen towels

All made with fabric on hand that I got who knows where 

All will be used in my kitchen 

Can you see the tiny tree frog sitting on top of this ceramic tile sign?  

At first I thought it was a leaf and almost brushed it off.  

He was sitting on top of the outdoor smoker last week.  

Homemade Stromboli by my daughter and son in law 

link to the crust recipe they used

 "we just rolled the dough out on the counter, put on sauce, cheese and toppings, then you roll it up like a cinnamon roll.  Seal the edges and the end and put it on a baking sheet.  I brushed the outside with an egg wash and sprinkled with garlic powder and Italian seasoning.  Then I baked it for 10 minutes at 500°, then for about 15 minutes at 375°."

Covid cases are going crazy in our little town- 25 new positives in the last 2 days- 

I thought we were almost in the clear but apparently we are not.  

I’ll just keep staying home and taking all the precautions we know to do.  

Let’s stay home ❤️ 🏠❤️

Rhonda  

June homemaking #3 - just a jumble of stuff

Good morning 🌞

First, here is my new to do list 

I’ve been busy already and have walked and weeded and have a red, sweaty face to show for it 

My husband picked a few edibles this morning 

And he picked up our weekly Walmart

It’s not much but we had plenty of other stuff on hand.  Not shown- 3 boxes of Great Value ice cream sandwiches already in the freezer 

I’ve talked about zinnias many times. I’m so happy this batch of  volunteer zinnias in a front flower bed are starting to bloom. 

I didn’t plant this batch this year,  they grew from seeds spread from last year’s zinnias. 

He’s a little late but one solitary Easter lily is also blooming in that front bed 

Here’s a quick meal a put together in about 10 minutes.  Our oldest and 2 grandsons were here one day helping with a backyard irrigation pump (in the end it didn’t work though and the pump is going back to Amazon)

The veggie tray was already made and the onions cut up.  

I took 2 packs of franks and 1 pack of buns from the freezer- cooked the franks in water on the stovetop and toasted the buns in the broiler.  

We ate on the patio and there were no leftovers except chips.  

We have enjoyed so many meals on the patio this spring but summer heat is here now and we probably won’t be eating out there much at all.  

I hope you all are fine. 

I must confess I have had some “down” days,  just feeling so bad about so many things.  

But staying busy helps much more that just sitting so that’s my plan.  

❤️ Rhonda 

June Homemaking #2 - vegetables

Hello everyone,  

Today I prepared vegetables to eat today and to have for meals during the week.  

I made more pico de Gallo as there were some tomatoes in the fridge that needed to be used and we have cilantro growing in the backyard.  

My husband ate some with chips for an afternoon snack. 

I used all the chopped onions I showed last week so I chopped more today. 

I also fixed a simple crudités platter for lunches and snacks. 

A very simple dip to eat with those vegetables- about a cup of nonfat Greek yogurt and 2 teaspoons of dry Ranch mix.  

All these veggies made me want veggie soup so I made a half pot full of  basic veggie soup with ingredients on hand

It was carrots, onions, celery, cabbage, a few new potatoes, frozen green peas and corn —the wet ingredients were a 8 ounce can tomato sauce,  a 16 ounce can diced tomatoes and enough water to make it all soupy.  The seasoning was 2 tablespoons of dry onion soup mix, salt and pepper.  

We enjoyed it very much even if it was 88 degrees outside.  

What did you all cook today? 

❤️ Rhonda 

June homemaking #1 - to do list and a link to a good recipe

Good afternoon 🌞 

What a weekend, right?  And that’s all the political talk you will read from me.  

This is a homemaking and family blog only.  

 

I didn’t take a photo because it’s not a photogenic dish but I made LiteCraving’s 

Copycat Panda Express Chow Mein.  ◀️ Click on the blue words to go directly to original recipe 

and it’s really good!  I made it like the recipe except I cut up a head of cabbage instead of using a bag of cole slaw.  The only really odd ingredient is the sesame oil and I think it could easily be left out.  I couldn’t even taste it anyway.  Next time,  I’d like to add carrots and maybe mushrooms.  

Hope you all are fine 

❤️Rhonda 

May News #11 weekend reading

Posting about noteworthy internet things for Weekend Reading is something Terri  @ Blue House Journal and Down To Earth  do and I’m going to share one to start.  

Like Merchant Ships  was one of the first blogs I ever read.  Meridith was the author and she published between 2005-2010.  She lived a very frugal life and did it with much beauty and class. 

She doesn’t seem to be still be blogging but does very occasionally post a link on Tumblr and that is linked in my favorites in the sidebar here. 

Meredith has beautiful photos and isn’t long winded so it’s easy to read her blog like a magazine.  I think most of her ideas are timeless too.  

I find her very inspirational and just pleasant to read.  

Look up  

Like Merchant Ships - I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.  

Do any of you know if she is still online anywhere? 

It’s been a busy week here.  Grandchildren were here lots while one of their parent’s  had outpatient surgery and is recovery very nicely now.  

We had fun going on walks,  making lots of Perler bead things and eating most meals on the patio.  

I’m afraid I let them use devices quite a bit too but I do monitor what they’re playing. 

3 little boys all clean after evening showers 

Yesterday was just my husband and I.  

I made some fresh salsa- or pico de gallo 

I used grape tomatoes because they were on sale and have lots of flavor, garlic powder, red onion, fresh jalapeño, fresh cilantro  and lime juice.  

The tomatoes are a bit tedious to chop but with a sharp knife, it goes fast.  

There are no specific amounts - I used 2 boxes of tomatoes, about 2/3 onion, all of the jalapeño (it was a mild one) and all the cilantro in the photo.  Then add garlic salt and lime to taste,  

We had it was a pantry meal - what we call nachos.  

Spread refried beans on tortilla chips, tostado shells or taco shell broken in half.  Top with jalapeños as desired and grated cheese as desired.  

Bake at 400 degrees until hot. 

Last night we used jarred nacho cheese sauce instead of fresh cheese and it was delicious. 

Serve with fresh salsa and it was so good! 

This is a quick meal when you need to feed people and don’t want to serve meat or don’t have meat thawed out.  

Hope you all have  a nice weekend 

❤️ Rhonda 

May news #10

Good morning ☀️  

First is my weekly to do list

We had a great visit Friday evening with our son and the 3 grands that don’t live in our town 

The weather was nice and we stayed on the patio.  My husband grilled some burgers and sausages.  The kids played and desssert was ice cream treats from the freezer.  

It’s hard to get a photo with them all 3 smiling but RJ is really a very happy kid,  but like so many of us, he’s not crazy about being told to do something 

Aren’t these pretty biscuits?  Sorry, they are not from scratch........

  I just baked them, they are Walmart frozen biscuits and are really good.  

I filled them all with a slice of Canadian bacon and 1/2 slice of cheese and then froze them again. 

They reheat in the microwave in 90 seconds and my husband is happy to have them for breakfast.  

Yesterday was a grocery pickup day.  It was mostly fresh stuff as we have plenty of staples.  

Not shown are some mini ice cream sandwiches and sodas.  

More grandchildren will be here this week and they are all fans of the little yogurts with M&Ms.  



A little more food prep was making a big salad and dicing 4 big onions. 

I like to dice them all at once and have them ready for cooking- makes cooking meals one step quicker.  



I didn’t take a photo but last’s nights supper was really good.  

I did make a few changes- I used ground turkey and added onions.   I also skipped using a mixing bowl,  just added all the wet ingredients to the pan with the cooked meat and onions and then poured it into the baking dish. 

baked taco rice casserole

Mine filled a 13x9 casserole almost 1/2 full and I think it would be a great family meal.  

And a retro photo- my cousin posted this on Facebook.  I’m the little girl,  I’m guessing I’m about 8.  

My mom and dad were always the most glamorous people in our little town even though they didn’t really try to be,  they just were.  

Mom sewed both our dresses.  

People make fun of June Cleaver because she wore heels and pearls all the time,  I don’t think my mom usually was that dressed up but she always looked and dressed nice ❤️ 

Hope you’re all well ❤️

Rhonda 

May news #9 - purchases

Good evening,  

I didn’t take any photos but we spent today with 2 grandsons that we’ve barely seen during this quarantine.  That was really nice! 

Back around the first of March,  our 10 year old Bosch dishwasher started leaking.  My husband said to buy a new one.  So we went to Lowe’s where the selection was quite limited.  Even so, it worked out for the best as I’m so happy with the new dishwasher we did pick out.  

It is also a Bosch and it has a feature I didn’t even know existed on dishwashers- a 3rd pull out rack.  

I use that third rack all the time.  Sometime I put shallow dishes on the top rack.  

Sometimes I take the silverware basket out of the bottom rack to make room for more big dishes and then load all our silverware and utensils in the top rack.  

The dishwasher was not frugal but it was on sale and to spend even less,  we brought it home in the back of husband’s pickup and then he installed it to save on delivery and installation.  

Other brands also had the third rack.  So if you plan on buying a new dishwasher,  I’m a big fan of this style.  

The disruption in the supply chain during this quarantine and not being to really shop in person has really concerned me.  

I’ve been keeping a full pantry and freezer and couponing stockpile for years,  but the shortages we’ve been seeing made both my husband and I want to increase our food storage at home.  

So,  we’ve added more food storage in our guest room.  

In the flat storage containers are different kinds of rice, beans, sugars. 

There are extra spices to flavor all those beans, plenty of coffee and tea, pet food, canned soups, meats, fruits and veggies and assorted household items.  

I have no idea if this was the right thing to do but except for some canned meats,  all the products are things we regularly use.  

I didn’t buy this in one shopping trip.  The stores in my towns have limits.  Most of it was was bought week by week through the Walmart grocery pickup.  

Have any of y’all felt the need to stock up more than usual? 

Time will tell if it’s necessary but if things do all get better,  we will just use these things in the future and be ahead on grocery shopping 

❤️ Rhonda