August #3- answers to questions, new recipes, an easy child mask

Good morning, 

There is no to do list this week as some of my grands are here and I plan on enjoying this time with them.  

I am concerned as schools are opening that we could have another big Covid spread and then more quarantines,  but I’m not a prophet and hopefully all will just get back to normal. 

Anyway, after we watched church yesterday morning,  I cleaned our house so we are ready for the week.  

They aren’t all here today but all 8 grands were together for an outdoor family  brunch this weekend.  They all look so big,  don’t they? 

They are ages 4 to 11.  

All are healthy and have big personalities.  

I sewed child sized masks to help outfit grands going to school.  

This is the simplest mask I’ve sewn

Use 2 pieces of fabric,  about 8 inches by 6 1/2 inches.  

Put them right sides together and pin in the elastic.  I used 6 1/2 inches elastic and that fits my grands. 

Sew around the edge but leave as space to turn it.  

I rounded the corners as I sewed but you could make right angle corners if you chose.  

Then turn the mask right side out,  iron and iron in 2 pleats.  Just eyeball them.  

Top stitch around the edge and that will close the opening where it was turned right side out.  

And I reinforced the elastic with some back stitching.  

During these hot days,  we’ve mostly had very easy meals like the one above.  Those are Pillsbury crescent rolls

But yesterday I was in a cooking mood and made this recipe I found on Instagram.  I don’t know who to credit it to as I took a screenshot but it was really good.  

If your family doesn’t like spicy, you substitute plain canned diced tomatoes and I’m sure it would still be delicious.  

I also baked a dessert with my husband’s homegrown blackberries and this is a keeper recipe too

➡️➡️   wild blackberry pie recipe link ⬅️⬅️

My recipe copy with notes 

How I make pimento cheese 

I grated cheddar cheese,  maybe 1/2-3/4 pounds

Then I add a drained 4 ounce jar of diced pimentos and a squirt of yellow mustard.  

Stir that up and then add just enough mayonnaise to have it all hold together.  

My pimento cheese is not as mayo-e as commercial pimento cheese.  

Sometimes I add diced jalapeño or dill pickle relish.  

We like it on celery or club crackers.  

Our son likes it on his Dad’s fresh jalapeños,  and don’t worry. These are not crazy hot peppers 

Keeping Produce in the fridge 

I do prep produce almost every week and it keeps just fine for us. 

I think cut up or whole produce lasts much longer in a closed container like Tupperware type containers or zipper bags or glass jars,  with all them sealed up and closed as well as possible. 

Salad usually lasts about 3 days,  if we don’t eat it first. 

Carrots and onions both last a couple weeks or more.  

Tomatoes don’t keep as long and neither does fruit but I think most everything keeps better sealed up in the fridge.  

Way back when we had 4 children at home,  a tiny budget and I had a job,  the main vegetables we ate were potatoes and carrots.  I would peel loads of them and keep them in water in the fridge until I needed them to cook.  This was way before “meal prepping” was all the rage.  I think I usually stored them in gallon jars that I got from the kid’s school cafeteria.  As long as the potatoes and carrots were in water,  they kept until I used them.  

About Jane at Hope and Thrift 

I hope she opens her blog back up but I think for now she is just being quiet and maybe fed up with all the yuck going on.  

Maybe she will leave a comment here.  

Hope you all are fine 

❤️Rhonda 🇺🇸

August #2 - 🌞Good Monday Morning 🌞

Hello everyone

This will be a short post as I’m hoping to get things done today (besides just play Scrabble Go online, which is what I did most of yesterday afternoon) 

My weekly to-do list 

And food preparation for the first of the week 

A big salad - believe it or not, my husband has been eating salad sometimes for breakfast 

Diced Onions- and I did look up my red onions to make sure they were not the brand with salmonella 

Boiled eggs

2 bowls of pimento cheese- I used white cheddar so it’s not as orange as typical pimento cheese (one dish is for my parents) 

And a bowl of fresh salsa before I stirred it up 

We are having a cool front right now,  it’s 66 right now and very pleasant.  I think I’ll open up the windows like I did yesterday and let in more fresh air.  

Have a great Monday everyone 

❤️Rhonda 🇺🇸

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 

July #7 - a new recipe, masks and kid stuff

Hello,  sorry about the long break and no new to-do list this week.  We had places to go 3 days this week and knowing I wouldn’t be home much,  I didn’t even make a list.  I’m just doing what I see needs done,  as I have time, and it will all be fine.  

This recipe was in a Taste of Home magazine and it is so good and easy.  I made it for our supper tonight and will definitely make it again.  

I followed the recipe exactly except I added 2 cans of beans and I used homemade chicken broth instead of purchased broth.  

Red Beans and Rice

I’ve made more veil style masks as they are our current favorite style-much easier to breath in! 

I did lengthen the pattern so they can be tucked into your shirt 

free veil mask pattern

I also made some veil masks from this mustache fabric from Walmart and they turned out especially cute. 

My husband wore a mustache veil mask for his appointment at the VA hospital and he said almost everyone complimented him for the mask.  Sorry I don’t have a photo of him though.....

We saw our 3 grandchildren that live away this week.  It was a fun day too! 

They have a backyard pool and we spent much of the visit there. 

This swim mask is a very clever design,  It completely covers the nose so the swimmer doesn’t get water up their nose.  

Some of the local grands were here this week and they had fun playing with our grocery stockpile.  

They played grocery store (of course) and even made these signs for the door 

Our neighborhood has a private Facebook group.  Most messages are about lost pets or found items.  People also give away things. 

One neighbor offered a bunch of boy toys.  When no one had responded all day,  I asked about them and was happy to get them all.  

And this is just about 1/3 of them.  

It also included a Calico Critters cabin and treehouse with lots of accessories and cute furniture.  

I don’t usually like having this many toys but since we don’t really go anywhere for entertainment, because of the virus,  the extra toys are very welcome.  

And they were all free! 

That’s the highlights from here

Hope everyone is good

❤️ Rhonda