Blogidays December 16- pecans, treats and funnies

Hello everyone 

My husband has spent a lot of his recent free time picking out pecans,  He harvested 2 1/2 five gallon buckets full from trees in son Clint’s pastures.  

Most years, those native trees don’t produce much but this year they produced lots. 

 

So far,  we’ve put 4 containers in the freezer.
The container with an aqua lid is big,  it will easily hold 5 pounds of flour.  

I guess I can make about all the pecan treats we want. 

Above are some treat boxes my daughter made for coworkers.  They look yummy, don’t they? 

I started a new jigsaw puzzle.  I made sure to get the border done before grandchildren arrived yesterday.  

This is not a hard puzzle but I get annoyed by puzzles with pieces that have straight sides that aren’t part of the border 😳

  

Don’t those look like they should be in the border? 

I won a Facebook giveaway but I can’t show it yet. 

I also read on Facebook that my cousin in West Texas won this chair.  

It’s a fun looking chair but I’m glad I didn’t win it.  

What would you do with it when it’s not Christmas? 

Just a very funny joke 

And a very appropriate mug for 2020 - I don’t own it,  I just saw it for sale on Mercari 

Hope you are all well 

❤️ Rhonda 

Blogidays - December 15- YouTube channels I like to watch

I like to watch homemaking videos on YouTube.  There are so many channels to choose from and these are a few I have watched for awhile and most of these always have good videos.  

I like homemakers who show real things they are doing - not made up situations just to have something to film.  I also like calm YouTubers,  there is so much drama in the world and I prefer to watch peaceful videos.  

All of these women are homemakers but they have different style homes, different size families,  different cooking styles and live in different parts of the world.  I don’t agree with everything they say but I do learn from and am entertained by all of them.  

But they all seem “real” 

Hillary of Old World Home - she lives in New Jersey and has a beautiful home all done on a budget

Kate lives in California and would be described as a Hippie if  this was a different decade - she can go off on long winded tangents so she’s good watch when you want some thing long to play. 

She’s a vegan married to a man from India.  She gardens a lot! 

This is Lilliana, she is Portuguese and lives on a military base with her British husband and 2 sons.  I first watched her do a British grocery haul and I found it so interesting.

She does thrifting and cooking videos too.

Erika lives in Virginia and does all kind of videos from traveling to decorating to cooking.  They have done many remodeling projects too, all on a low budget.  

I subscribe to a lot of channels but these are the ones I most always watch when they have a new one. 

If you watch Youtube, please tell me who your favorite channels are.  

Merry Christmas 🎄 

❤️ Rhonda 

 

Blogidays December 14 weekly to do list

Hello

Today’s post is short - I spent a good bit of today giving our floors a much needed deep clean.  

My husband cleaned the bathrooms 🥰

Ducky mostly laid around and napped.  

Now we’re watching a very predictable but also very pretty Hallmark movie 

Good evening all 

❤️ Rhonda

PS - we are expecting more snow tonight and tomorrow ⛄️ ❄️ ⛄️

Blogidays December 13 snow, lights and a neat sewing idea

Good evening 

We had a quiet day at home and did get  several inches of fluffy snow 

  

We watched church online 

It was really good message, about how the lineage of Christ is full of imperfect people 

Supper last night was a baked chicken and vegetables 

We had some of the leftover chicken in chef salads for supper tonight.  

Last night before the snow came, we drove through some of our town and saw some really nice Christmas lights 

I like all the lights whether they are multicolor and multi themed or whether they look like a designer did them.  

They all seem to say “merry Christmas” to everyone who sees them

I saw this free standing stocking idea in an email this morning and thought some of y’all might like to see it,  

Everyone doesn’t have a mantle or want to put up stocking hooks so this could be a perfect solution for them 

https://so-sew-easy.com/no-hang-christmas-stocking-no-fire-place/

Merry Christmas everyone 

❤️ Rhonda 

Blogidays December 12 - kiddo fun, groceries, meals and a reply

Hello everyone 

The 3 local grands spent the night with us.  

We worked some of the jigsaw puzzles I bought at the new salvage store 

We made some bead and chenille stem creations 

And I put the littlest guy to work.  This laundry room cabinet is deep and I saw there were 3 jugs of Tide hiding in the very back.

He happily crawled in and pulled them to the front so I can use them 

I did a Walmart grocery pickup this morning.  I got produce for next week and I wanted to get more Hershey chocolate mint candy canes before they are gone- I’m sure they will only be available through Christmas. I also got a box of Oreo candy canes.  

The Oreo ones are OK but not nearly as good as the Hershey chocolate mint ones. 

I got a few substitutes and the best one was getting a 22 ounce box of ham instead of the 9 ounce I ordered and paid for 

The new grapes are very good.

As always,  I rebag the green vegetables and squeeze out all the air.  I think they last a lot longer and are crispier when kept in a sealed container.  

I like these plain storage bags that use a twist tie- they are about .02 each and I think that’s budget friendly.  

I ordered bananas again and today they arrived yellow instead of green like the last green bunch. 

Meals -

The turkey lentil chili was ok but when I make it again,  I will the spice blend I prefer from  flat landers chili  instead of the spice amounts on yesterday’s recipe.  

flat landers chili

Supper last night was hotdogs, chili, corn and oranges. 

Breakfast was scrambled eggs and oven bacon.  The grands had reheated frozen pancakes and I baked the last 2 freezer biscuits for my husband.  I had my eggs and bacon on a pita.  

That meal was enjoyed and used up 4 bags of odds and ends in the freezer.  

Lunch was sandwiches with grapes and the children all had a candy cane for dessert. 

Supper will be a baked chicken with salad and sweet potatoes.  

The weather forecast is for snow tonight.  We do get snow in Oklahoma but not too often so it’s kind of exciting.  And it won’t bother us if the roads get bad because we aren’t going anywhere.  

Replies - 

Thnak you,  you’re very sweet and what an accomplishment to make 4 quilts since September.  

Frugal Things Everyday is still active but she moved to Wordpress instead of Blogger.  Her blog looks different but she is still putting out really good posts. 

https://frugalthingseveryday.com/

I’m not sure but I think you’ll need a Wordpress account if you want to leave her a comment 

The grands have gone home and now I’m going to relax with some hot 🫖 

Hope you’re all having a good Saturday 

❤️Rhonda 

Blogidays December 11 - supper, books and a pretty mantle

Hello everyone 

Tonight we are having chili and hot dogs for supper.  I plan to loosely follow this recipe and cook it on the stovetop and will let you know tomorrow how we like it.

We like lentil taco filling but I’ve never put lentils in chili before. 

turkey lentil chili recipe link ⬅️⬅️⬅️⬅️

Books I’ve been reading 

If My Heart Had Wings

I like 80% of this book.  I liked reading  about how some pilots trained for WWII as I imagined this could of been how one of uncles trained during then. 

The part I didn’t like was the awful 2nd husband of the lead character so I just skimmed through that part. 

But all the history about life during WWII was so interesting.  

I’m in the middle of this book.  

The Darling Dahlias and the Voodoo Lily

This is book #9 in the Darling Dahlias series, set place in a tiny Alabama town in the 1930’s.  Each book is stand alone but I think they are better if you read the whole series.  

I got most of mine from Thriftbooks.com  but I’m pretty sure they are available at public libraries.  

My daughter works in a library and reads a lot.  I knew she would think was funny 

And speaking of my daughter,  below is her 2020 mantel and tree 

I don’t read as much as she does but I have been enjoying reading.  

Any book recommendations?   

Merry Christmas 

❤️ Rhonda 

Blogidays December 10 - a short one today.........

Hello everyone 

Here are a few photos I’ve saved and think they are all cute 

None of these are things I made- just ideas I like 

Lightbulbs painted and dressed like snowmen

Another snowman made from assorted nuts and 1 washer for the hat brim- then painted 

I think this mug display looks great but I can’t imagine storing away this many mugs when it’s not Christmas season 

Both of these made me laugh - and my husband really laughed when I showed him the mug.  He thought it was perfect for homebody me. 

A few replies 

Cheryl - when Walmart substitutes, it will still be at the price you ordered, not at the higher price of the substitution.  Other substitutes ive gotten have been a 72 ounce bag of frozen roll dough when I ordered and paid for the 36 ounce size,  and many more that I just can’t remember.  

Susie- those green things really are bananas and are just now about ripe enough to eat.  

I’ll be back tomorrow

Merry Christmas everyone 

❤️Rhonda 

Blogidays December 9 -

Hello everyone 

I went to see my parents today.  The staff at their retirement home decorate for all the holidays.  It seems they’ve cut back quite a bit this year but these are a few pretty things I saw today 

Cute tree with a snowman topper and train at the base 

I like these faux lampposts too- I saw several of them.  

At home I did a little food prep.

We had egg roll in a bowl for supper so early in the day I chopped the veggies and made a small sandwich topping box. 

 

There are many variations of egg roll in a bowl- I browned 1/2 pound ground beef with grated onion,  then added in 3 grated carrots and a pound of diced cabbage.  Let it all cook covered on medium until done, season with low sodium soy sauce and pepper.  Other variations add in more kinds seasoning and other veggies but we like it just like I cooked.  

That pack of ground beef was 1 1/2 pounds.  I’ll use the rest for burgers tomorrow.  

We went to a new store in our town this afternoon.  It’s a discount and salvage type store,  not a chain but a locally owned small business.  

It’s a very nice store.  Everything I looked at seemed cheaper than I remember from other stores.  

So,  we bought a cart of stuff 

A new to me product found at Walmart pickup is Hershey chocolate mint candy canes,  

To me, they taste just like a York peppermint Patty but take a longer eat for just 50 calories.  

  

Replies will be in tomorrow’s post 

❤️  Rhonda 

Blogidays December 8 - wrapping gifts

Hello everyone 

I spent the afternoon wrapping gifts,  but before I could wrap them,  I had to one box of toys that I put in a safe place but couldn’t remember where I put them 

See that box on the top of the hutch with 30 wrote on it?  That’s where I put them  🤦🏻‍♀️

But first I looked in every closet before I remembered where I stashed them.  

I mostly wrapped grandchildren gifts today.  We usually are all together when we open gifts and I usually get them all the same thing.  

But you all know gatherings are different this year so I got them all different things.  

I’m not showing what the 3 grands that live in our town are getting because sometimes the oldest one reads this blog. 

The boys that have a pond and cattle tank are getting remote control boats.

The 3 that live an hour away are each getting 3 things that I hope they will like.  

Here are most of them,  wrapped and ready to deliver.  

The paper is Dollar Tree roll wrap and the ribbon is assorted ribbons that were thrifted quite a while ago- 

  

Last night I took this funny photo of our dog Ducky, just as he got a new treat.  

Ducky was a tiny puppy when we got him and we’ve had him almost 3 years.  

Merry Christmas everyone 

❤️ Rhonda