Cabin Fever & other end of February Happenings

Greetings

We woke up to the coldest temperature of the year & perhaps it will even be the coldest of the entire year.  January's winter was the mildest we've had in the 4 years we've lived here, according to the electric bill, then February gave us this.

A very cold morning.

Grandkids

My daughter & I both like to do cooking activities with the Grands.  This one makes good french toast & spaghetti.  He has a new grilled cheese & over easy egg sandwich that I'm excited for him to make for me.  Over easy being my favorite way to eat eggs.

Each Grand made their own heart shape 
pizza on Valentines Day.

Cooking

I experimented with cooking grouse breast in the crockpot with gravy for supper.  Kevin usually hammers out that meat & fries/sautés it to have for breakfast with eggs.  The grouse came out of the crockpot tender & tasty.  I cooked green beans in the pressure cooker & oven roasted summer & zucchini squash to go with the meat.  The beans & squash were put up out of our garden.  Green beans are a vegetable I like & they don't have many calories so, I can eat as many of those as I want to.

We usually use 8 1/2 inch salad/lunch plates to help with the 

eating of smaller portions.  The plate is full but smaller, rather

than 10 inch dinner plates.

I found a couple of recipes I would like to try that uses yeast.  I've never cooked with yeast.  The word yeast in cooking sounds scary to me.  The ladies giving the step by step instructions with pictures for the recipes makes it look less scary.  I would like to try making these cinnamon & orange rolls & these butternut squash rolls.

Gardening

Still waiting to get the seeds in the ground.  We both kept looking out the window to see if it's time to plant yet.  We've looked through the seed packets in the basket several times to see what we've got.

Tree across the street while the snow 
was coming down.

Cleaning

I added to the box going to Good Will & sent it out.  I got our income taxes completed & sent on their way.  I got back to my cleaning routine.  Not that I do spick & span cleaning.  It's to do something extra in the room other than just tidying such as vacuuming, dusting, wiping or scrubbing.

• Monday - Living Room
• Tuesday - Read Mail, Pay Bills, Balance Check Book, Grocery Shop & Errands
• Wednesday - Bedroom
• Thursday - Kitchen
• Friday - Bathroom 
  

I switched Tuesday & Thursday so, I could grocery shop on Tuesday to have a better chance to get the sale items before they are sold out.   March will be spring cleaning, doing things such as washing the shower curtain & all the bed covers.

Taking a walk to the park & around town during lunch break to get in extra

 walking exercise & to get some sunshine.  The grasses were nice to look at
 along with the ornamental crab apples still hanging in the trees. 

Health & Weight Maintenance

My goal this month to not eat any snacks after supper went good overall, though I did eat several bowls of popcorn during Lions Club bingo.  I did snack after supper several times for different reasons but it was not every night like the bad habit routine I had started getting back into.  I'm going to continue my goal of not snacking after supper though March in attempts to make it a habit.

I've suffered cabin fever & PLOM (Poor Little Ole Me) a time or 2 or 29 this month.  When the episodes occur, I try to keep thinking positive thoughts that it will pass & it does within hours or by the next day.  During the time my winter blues are taking place, it feels never ending.  Some things I do when I realize I've spiraled into a mild winter depression is unplug from electronics & social media other than quickly looking on Facebook to see new pictures of the Grands.  I get my mind busy doing things such as reading in a book, watching TV or taking a walk outside.  Also making a to-do list & doing the things on the list helps.  What I try really hard not to do is whine to my daughter or moma or life-long friend but, sometimes that is what happens.

I did some heavy lifting & moving furniture around at work then I wonder why I have sciatic leg pain.  I read that putting a pillow behind the back while sitting helps support the back & keep it straight or something like that.  I've been putting a pillow behind my back while sitting on the couch reading & it helped, until the heavy lifting & moving of furniture happened.

Over the hill & through the field walking to work I go.

Frugality, Saving & Spending

I spent $18.65 at the grocery store.  The fruit special was grapes, but the grapes were not marked as being on sale so, I got a couple of apples & some bananas instead.  I got a bag of all purpose flour that was on sale.  The flour was on my list & I thought I had checked the pantry.  When putting the groceries away, I realized I already had a bag of that flour unopened.  I decided it would be a good time to make a batch of rhubarb muffins since there was plenty of all purpose flour in the pantry & rhubarb in the freezer that needed to be used up.  Since the oven would be hot, I thought I would go ahead & make 2 batches of muffins while I was at it.  I got the ingredients out & realized there was not enough brown sugar for 2 batches.  I went ahead & made 1 batch of the muffins.  A day or 2 later I got the brown sugar & made the other batch while I was still in the muffin making mood.  We ate some of the muffins & the rest went in the freezer for later.  

            

              Ingredients for rhubarb muffins.

Made 45 muffins.

My total spending at the grocery store this month was $104.47.  I got chex mix to munch on while traveling to my daughter's so, I won't have to buy airport foods.  Frozen pizza's were on sale for $1 each.  I got some of those for times when we need something fast or just don't want to cook for whatever reason.

I made another order online from Walmart & had the stuff sent to my daughter.  Things that I'll be using there during my visit & also to help her out a little as a consolation prize for having to put up with me.  I got things such as laundry detergent, toilet paper, dishwasher tablets & of course some special snacks for the Grands.  I also sent money to help with groceries while I'm there (On vacation drinking lots of coffee & eating lots of popcorn.) & since we're planning to host a cookout & have family & friends over.

I walked to work the days I worked in town.  I had to fill up my car with gas a couple of times due to working out of town a couple days each week.  I get reimbursed for that driving time.  I took all the food & drinks I needed while working so, I didn't spend any money on snacks or eating out for lunch that is until those malted milk balls started calling out my name over & over & over then the girl scouts came by selling their cookies.   I ate some of the malts. The leftovers will travel with me & go to the Grands.  We ate some of the cookies for our Sunday afternoon picnic.  I put the others away to have on our next several picnics.

Saw lots of random cows along the side of the road on my drive to work.

The cows didn't seem to mind the snow collecting on their back.

Social & Community Service Activities

Kevin & I went to the Lions Club regular scheduled 2nd meeting of the month with supper provided.  A few things the club has coming up in the spring is the Happy Day Award fundraiser & roadside trash pick up.  Also talked about during the meeting was the fire department's upcoming annual St Patrick's Day Pancake Supper fundraiser that is held in the Lions building.  I'm looking forward to having one of their big green pancakes for supper that night.  The women chatted after the meeting while cleaning up the kitchen & washing dishes.  The men chatted after the meeting while playing cards.  

Other Activities

I worked on the Farm Life puzzle I started.  I read some more in the 2 books I'm reading, By the Shores of Silver Lake & The Little House Cookbook.  I searched for words in my giant word search book.  I read blogs & organized pictures on the computer.  Kevin & I watched more episodes of Roseanne along with Grace Under Fire on Vudu.  We watched more episodes of Medicine Woman on DVD.

Sunday afternoon 4-wheeler riding, hiking & picnicing in the hills.  

We saw several bald eagles flying.  Kevin wondered if it was their 

mating season.