Happenings on the Homestead

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from North Carolina.  How you doing this 8th week of 2023? I made it to my destination, driving 1,610 miles to get to Moma's house.  I'll be staying with her for a few weeks till I can move into the house we bought in Georgia.  The drive took about 24 hours, though I made the journey in 2 nights & 3 days, driving during the daylight hours.  I left winter weather behind & arrived to spring.  I left 3 days earlier than planned due to the predicted snowstorms moving in.  I'm glad I did. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground the day I had planned to leave with another 6 to 8 inches expected.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you more about my travels this week, come walk with me...

I made it! 

*  I helped Kevin pack some more totes.  I invited several friends to the house so that we could say our goodbyes & tell them we were moving.  We had good visits & I wished that we would have had friends over more often just to chit chat about nothing & everything.  My boss brought in fruit & vegetable trays for employee appreciation.  I was able to lure in all my coworkers to tell them about my last days of work in the office, that I had been accepted for the job transfer that I had put in for back in October.

*  We went to Lions Club bingo that turned into a farewell party of the sorts. There was a good turnout being that it was my last night in South Dakota.  Members brought special foods to share.  I had leftovers for my road trip.  There were fresh baked sweet buns with choice of ham or egg salad.  There were lemon bars & brownies.  There were cookies, punch & coffee along with the usual popcorn & seasonings.  It was a fun-filled evening even if I didn't get a bingo, though tears were shed.

Coworkers & Friends

*  Driving went good overall.  I drove about 10 hours the 1st day.  I drove about 8 hours the 2nd day.  The last day was about 6 hours of driving.  I think I went the wrong direction 2 times.  I was able to get turned around quickly & get going again the right way.  I had 2 mapping systems just in case one conked out for some reason.  I brought along the atlas & had wrote down the road numbers to be familiar with as they came up.  I had also familiarized myself with towns & cities along the way that made travel a little more comforting knowing where I was. There was a slight chance of rain expected on the last day of driving.  Kevin had replaced my windshield wiper blades just in case.  Luckily, I only had to use the wipers to clean the windshield a few times.

Then this happened.

The 2nd morning the sky was filled
with lots of geese going north.

I listened to 4 books & had lots of
good eats from friends & home.

There was a Bark Park along the way
for Rose to walk around off leash 
for a few minutes.

  

Several interesting sites along the way.

It was springtime weather at
Moma's house when I arrived.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Happenings on the Homestead

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from South Dakota.  How you doing this 7th week of 2023? There wasn't any exploring done on the prairie for us again this week. We showed our house to a young couple that is interested in buying it.  We bought a house in Georgia & we're moving our homestead there.  This was my last week in the mid-west.  I made a photo book a couple years back about "That time we lived in South Dakota".  I'm transferring through my job that gets us closer to family & new places to explore. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about a few other things that went on around my place this week, mostly involving last minute moving things, come walk with me...

Shelves & most of the walls are bare
as we prepare for the move.  Most
of the furniture will stay with the 
house since the house we are buying
is furnished.  

*  I had follow up blood work done after the yearly checkup I had a couple weeks ago that indicated I might have been a little dehydrated.  I've been drinking lots more water. The results the 2nd time around were good, no Fs for failed or flagged.

*  I did a little extra deep cleaning around in the house that included scrubbing the bathtub along with the regular vacuuming, tidying & laundry.  I wanted to clean the oven but didn't get around to it so I'm hoping Kevin will be able to get around to it before he heads south.  I gathered those important papers I'll be needing to prove who I am to get a new driver's license & such... marriage certificate, birth certificate... Kevin asked how he was going to prove who he was if I took our marriage license, well, hummmm, he has never had a name change that he would have to prove.  

Grand did some cooking making
 an authentic Jamaican food recipe
that had several ingredients
Daughter said she had never
 heard of.

                             

Happy Valentines Day!  I made the fudge, Kevin
provided the flower.

Rose noticed her football in the
trash, she snuck & got it out,
then wanted me to play.

We got more packing done than Kevin 
thought we would.  We got at it 1st thing
several mornings in a row before going 
to work.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Happenings on the Homestead

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from South Dakota.  How you doing this 6th week of 2023?  Kevin still felt kind of weak & down & out from his trip to the ER last week, so there wasn't any exploring done on the prairie.  I encouraged Kevin to drink more water & that's a thing he'll have to get used to.  He got a glucose monitor & has started checking his sugar every morning.  I researched for low sugar low carb recipes & tried a few.  The pizza casserole was a good substitute for pizza, now if I could find low carb recipes for the rest of our favorite foods, I'll be my own hero.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about a few other things that went on around my place this week, come walk with me... 

I made this Pizza Casserole that
uses rice cauliflower for the crust, 
Kevin grilled bacon wrapped doves.
Other things on the menu this week
were roasted radishes that compare
to tators & pepperoni chips since
there was leftover pepperoni
 from the casserole.

* I discovered carbquick that is comparable to bisquick for making biscuits & pancakes.  I watched a video of 10 low carb freezer meals & got the recipes to try.  Kevin discovered diet Pepsi with 0 sugar 0 carbs.  He is on the fence if he can tolerate the difference in the taste from a regular Pepsi.  I got him some peach protein drinks, so I'll see if that helps with having a drink other than just water.  

The youngest Grand had his 4 months old
photo shoot. Daughter says he is
super smiley super often. 2 of the
 middle Grands made the middle
 school basketball team.

*  We had our Lions Club potluck Christmas dinner.  One Member & Wife wasn't able to make it, but it was decided to go ahead & have the dinner anyways.  I think Kevin & I did good with our eating of more protein for the past week & less sugar & carbs.  We both ate tators, pie & cake at the dinner.  It gave Kevin an idea of how eating sugars & starches raise his sugar level.  I was surprised the monitor showed only 10 points higher the next morning verses 100, so that was good to see.  

I took my poinsettia for decoration 
to the dinner because after all, it was a
Christmas dinner. The plant is still looking
pretty good, a few leaves have fell off. 
I've still been watering it with melted snow.

I made deviled eggs for the Christmas
dinner & a jug of lemonade, Kevin 
cooked tators that were gown in our garden.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Happenings on the Homestead

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from South Dakota.  How you doing this 5th week of 2023?  I challenged myself to take Rose for a walk beyond the limits of our yard every day in January for January's Walk Your Pet Month.  We walked out of the yard every day in January except for that one Monday that Rose didn't want to walk.  I waited at the door with my coat & shoes on.  She didn't come bouncing with eager & joy like she usually does when I say, " Let's go outside".  I guess pets have those kinds of Mondays too every once in a while.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about a few other things that went on around my place this week, come walk with me... 

*  Here are a few memories from my Walk Your Pet Month challenge:

Kevin made his Sunday snowday
chocolate gravy & biscuit bread.  Other
things on the menu were pork chops 
& salads made with blueberries.
that were on sale. 

*  It was too cold & snowy to get out to do any exploring on the prairie, so instead, there was napping, eating all the leftovers, reading & watching episodes of That 90s Show, brownies were made & only some of them were ate.

Starting the day with some jokes.  
Q:  What did one magnet say to the
other magnet?  A:  "I'm very attracted
to you!"  😂

Grand's team's robotic in
action retrieving dice.

*  Grand's Lego Robotic team competed in the Tennessee Valley Regionals.  There were 30 of the best teams from 7 states in the competition.  Only one team got to advance to the Nationals.  Daughter sent me pictures & videos of the day's events. 

Everyone got a little
robot figurine.

*  I had my yearly physical, Kevin took an unexpected trip to the ER in a not so fun & joyful ride in the back of an ambulance.  Everything checked out good for both of us for the most part.  I need to look into taking some vitamin D & calcium & set up an appointment for a yearly mammogram.  I have to go back in 2 weeks to have some things checks again, seems I might have been a little dehydrated.  Kevin had some issues with high sugar & severer dehydration that caused him to pass out while he was at work.  We'll be looking into changing our eating habits drastically & are researching ideas for different low sugar low carb foods & recipe ideas.  Those leftover brownies went in the trash, along with some other sweets & high carb foods within reach.  I don't like to waste food, but our health is more important.  It seems this dry air humidity is affecting both of us inside & out.  My fingertips have started splitting open & bleeding again even though we're using the humidifier, putting water on the heating stove, using vapor rub & lotions.  I end the week with dry chapped lips.

As I look out my kitchen window....  I see the deer bedded down.  It's very cold &
there is still plenty of snow hanging around.  The stick in the front is a measurement
marker for Kevin's archery target practice.  The deer around town are very trusting &
they know when the garden is ready for their scavenging.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?