Greetings
The groundhog didn't see his shadow & the apple tree in the corner of our yard has buds on it. I'm hoping these are sure signs that we're going to have an early spring this year. I walked over to the salon to make an appointment to get my spring haircut. There was a note on the door telling that the beautician was honeymooning, so my haircut will just have to wait a couple more weeks.
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| I was surprised to see that the apple tree had buds & so did the lilac bushes. |
Grandkids
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| These 2 are gearing up for baseball season. |
Cooking
I cooked a ham roast in the crockpot. While the juice was still hot after taking the ham out of the crockpot, Kevin wanted to cook pinto beans so, we did. I made BBQ sandwiches with some of the ham. Kevin fried tators & onions, that was put up from out of our garden, to go with the sandwiches for supper. We ate ham & eggs for breakfast a couple of mornings. We had leftover BBQ & I made us each a sandwich to take to work for lunch along with some of the beans. Then we had ham & beans for supper. Then I made cowboy beans with leftover beans & added more beans. Then there was that one evening we had a big chocolate ice cream sandwich from the convince store for supper.
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I used Kevin's mother's recipe to make the cowboy beans.
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We were out of any kind of ground meat so, I used our
canned antelope meat. Delicious! The peppers & onions
came out of the freezer put up from our garden.
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Gardening
The garden is still covered with snow looking out the kitchen window. Kevin has several different kinds of seeds drying on the counter under the window. He saved the seeds from last year's garden with plans to replant some of the seeds when the time comes.
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My Moma gave me an Amaryllis bulb for Christmas. Kevin & I have really enjoyed watching the bulb come to life with the stalks growing & then the flowers blooming. The flowers sure added life & color to the short days & long nights of winter. The Christmas cactus has a few flower buds so, we'll see if this year we have a Valentine Cactus.
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Cleaning
I worked on putting stuff away that had collected in the extra bedroom better called catch all-out of site-put away later room. The stuff was mostly Legos, books, puzzles & games from when the Grands were visiting (months ago). We also had a box of picture albums & such from the cleaning out of Kevin's parent's house after the passing of his dad so, I put those items in the closet with my other picture stuff. I also did some other household cleaning that needs to be done routinely but not everyday such as cleaning the bathroom, changing the sheets on the bed & cleaning the inside of the microwave.
Health & Weight Maintenance
I had a couple of cokes & a couple of ice creams not depriving myself of these treats when the opportunity came up. I did my morning stretching & walking in the house most everyday. I walked to work most days then walked some extra during lunch & breaks. My goal the rest of this month is to not have any snacks after supper.
I was reading my retiree e-newsletter & read that February is American Heart Month. Heart disease being the leading cause of death in men & women in the United States. A good reminder for me as to why I need to keep my weight & cholesterol under control. I remember the Valentine Court back in high school. We students voted for representatives from each class. The representatives were in competition to see who could raise the most money. They decorated jars that were placed in businesses to collect donations. The boy & girl that collected the most money was crowed Valentine king & queen. The money collected was donated to the American Heart Association.
I was reading my retiree e-newsletter & read that February is American Heart Month. Heart disease being the leading cause of death in men & women in the United States. A good reminder for me as to why I need to keep my weight & cholesterol under control. I remember the Valentine Court back in high school. We students voted for representatives from each class. The representatives were in competition to see who could raise the most money. They decorated jars that were placed in businesses to collect donations. The boy & girl that collected the most money was crowed Valentine king & queen. The money collected was donated to the American Heart Association.
Frugality, Savings & Spending
I spent $30.60 at the grocery store getting only the items on my list. Also there was a 2-week coupon sale. Several items I normally buy when on sale, were on sale at an even lower sale price. I got pizzas, hotdogs & soup with the coupons. Our favorite kind of dinner party to host is a hotdog roast so, I stocked up on hotdogs. The pizza & soup will be quick fixes on busy days when we're too tired to cook or just simply don't want to cook. Blackberries & raspberries were the fruit special & I wanted to got some of those, but didn't. They had sold out the day before. I'm changing my grocery shopping day to Tuesdays instead of Thursdays. Monday is when the truck comes & by Tuesday the shelves are restocked & not yet sold out. Saltine crackers were on sale & those are Kevin's favorite cracker so, I got extra boxes of those.
I spent $111.16 total in January at our grocery store, shopping each week for items we needed or wanted. We ate mostly from our pantry & freezer making meals with ingredients we had on hand. We're going to continue doing that thru February too. We still have lots of vegetables in the freezer that were put up from out of our garden. Back last November when turkeys were on sale, we got 2 of them & still have 1 in the freezer. That turkey needs cooked before summer so, the extra cooking time needed doesn't heat up the house at a time when we don't want that extra heat. I made a list of items we have to make meals with. We ate leftovers for several days on most the meals that were made so, we barely made a dent in the freezer.
I spent $111.16 total in January at our grocery store, shopping each week for items we needed or wanted. We ate mostly from our pantry & freezer making meals with ingredients we had on hand. We're going to continue doing that thru February too. We still have lots of vegetables in the freezer that were put up from out of our garden. Back last November when turkeys were on sale, we got 2 of them & still have 1 in the freezer. That turkey needs cooked before summer so, the extra cooking time needed doesn't heat up the house at a time when we don't want that extra heat. I made a list of items we have to make meals with. We ate leftovers for several days on most the meals that were made so, we barely made a dent in the freezer.
I made an online order from Walmart doing our spring stock-up spending $203.21. It's about 50 miles to the nearest town that has a little more shopping other than our little grocery & hardware stores. It's more efficient & economical for me most of the time to just order & get the free shipping. I ordered our years supply of toilet paper. I like the Scott brand & our grocery store doesn't have it. I also ordered canned lunch meats for Kevin's lunches that should last till our fall stock-up. Ordering these items in bulk saves a significant amount compared to the individual prices at our grocery store. I also ordered peanut butter & coffee. We like the Skippy brand peanut butter with honey. Our grocery store doesn't have it. This peanut butter is not the cheapest brand but it is one we really like for sandwiches & on graham crackers. I've not ever noticed my coffee on sale at our grocery store & I was almost out so, I went ahead & got 2 jars of it while I was stocking up. Our spring stock-up was planned for March, though we were getting low on toilet paper & canned lunch meats so, I went ahead & made the order. I check our stock about every 6 months. I'll stock up again around August. The fall stock-up will probably include household items such as trash bags & personal items such as shaving cream & whatnot.
Social & Community Service Activities
We met 2 other couples from our Lions Club at a local restaurant to work on the club's Super Bowl Board fundraiser. Kevin & I had cokes & chocolate sundaes using the remaining amount on a gift card we were given back at Christmas. The coke was the 1st I'd had since.... weeks.
Our Lions Club regularly scheduled 1st meeting of the month was canceled due to some members needing to take tickets at the basketball game. The couple I invited to the meeting for their consideration of joining the club, for our end of January service project, graciously declined.
Other Activities
We watched the last 1/2 of the Super Bowl after discovering we could watch it on the computer. I yeahed for each team as they did something good & awhed for each team as they did something not so good. Most folks I talked to that watched the whole game mentioned the last 1/2 was the best. We didn't get to watch the 1/2 time show due to the live stream freezing up. I assumed so many people were watching that the internet was bogged down.
I continued working on the puzzle I've been working on. I continued reading in the book On The Banks Of Plum Creek. My goal is to read at least 1 chapter a day. I searched for words in my giant word search book. I read blogs & organized pictures on my computer. Kevin & I have been watching Roseanne on Vudu free tv. I watched August: Osage County & Tin Cup on Vudu. Kevin & I also watched some more episodes of Medicine Woman on DVD.
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| Making progress 5 or 6 pieces at a time. |
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Shed hunting & taking a Sunday afternoon walk in the backyard.
My sciatic nerve had been giving me some leg pain so, I did easy
walking close to home. I picked up some trash along the way that
had blew in.
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