SHEs Organized

I have to admit cooking has become a longer process as I haven't cooked all of the garden season (no much at least). Heaven to Betsy's (my grandmothers saying on my d dad's side) it took a long time!!!

I made a bean soup with toppings tonight: chorizo for dh/dd older -, green onion, cheese for me/dh, tomato, cilantro
lime juice goes in at the end.
I also made Mexican rice for tonight and the freezer
made some up veggies for tonight and this weekend.
it's amazing what dishes are made when I don't prep ahead of time.

tomorrow - simple quiche, left over cut up veggies.

Sunday: I will figure out a menu for next week.

dh is washing the pots - thank goodness!!!

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next clean the kitchen
go outside no matter what
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hello d twins.
hello d rose
hello d harmony
hello d lady
hello d harriet
hello d Kathryn
hello d Lucy
hello d dee
hello d Nancy
hello d everyone!!!!

(((Twins))) (I'm speaking softly, as you adjust to the hearing aids.)
My goodness, I can't imagine doing as much socializing and entertaining as your dh likes to do! Good for you on putting the brakes on for tonight!

I can imagine, however, that LadyM is having a good time with her dsis and sil. That sounds like a nice outing.

Hope you're feeling better, Rose. Glad you were able to get out and about this morning.

(((Harmony))) I'm sure everything just feels all out of order all around you... and then to have car troubles on top of everything else. That's just not fair!

Glad the kitchen problem was quickly solved, Harriet. Thanks for starting us off this morning!

Sounds like you're off to a good start, too, blessed! Kudos to dd for setting up the Excel budget! I'd love to do that here, but I think "Sheldon" just keeps the budget in his head. I mean, I pay all the bills and keep up with the checkbook; I always know how much money we have and I spend whatever I want/need... but as far as thinking ahead to how much we should be saving, I must admit, I leave that up to him.

Nancy -- wow -- you've been busy! I've been meaning to ask you -- do you write for publication anywhere (you don't have to say where if you don't want to) -- I was just curious because you are so good with your journaling. I just wondered if your journals were the basis for more other writing.

Also sorry to hear the apple orchard was cancelled, Kathryn. DGD was supposed to go on a field trip with her class to a pumpkin patch this week. She had to miss out on that because of a sinus infection.

Well -- I have very little to tell so far, but I am s2s and I've done my Bible reading.
AND -- it's a miracle -- Sheldon apparently has recovered from gout! He managed yesterday without walker or cane, and today, he got up, ate breakfast, showered, *dried his shower himself * and has gone to eat lunch with his football buddies!!! (This is a group of men who all played for the same coach during the late 60s. They get together once a month, I think.)
So the house is quiet, and I'm just enjoying it.
DGD will be here tonight, dgs tomorrow night. And next weekend, we go back to College Town... so I am definitely grateful for a quiet Friday.

Got dressed, went to dd's, hugged the grands (both are sick but don't seem sick), dropped off one car seat, got the other flipped around, went to a warehouse store to get dh his V8s now that Costco no longer carries them. Took the car to the car wash and signed up again for the monthly package. I have to go 3x per month to break even but can go daily if I want. Sometimes in the winter, we do go more than once a week. Sometimes when I go, the attendant makes a big deal of looking for dirt on the car!

Once home (1:30) I finally had my breakfast.

At this point there are three paths I could take:

Path 1. kitchen weekly chores - 30 minutes

Path 2. Paperwork - infinite minutes

Path 3. Weekly zone work - 30 - 60 minutes.

I am looking for information and/or experiences with using wax melts & warmers.
I have never used them until this week. The last time I was at WM I was waiting for someone to move and saw the warmers/melts on a shelf next to me. On a whim I picked an inexpensive warmer and a couple melts. I have discovered that I love the smell it creates, and now I'm interested in putting a couple more warmers/melts in the house. Do you have a favorite? Any advice?

Lunch with DSis and DSisIL was predictable. They do things together all the time and don't invite me. I listened to them talk about their joint adventures and gave them positive feedback. Their interests and lives are different than mine, so we don't have much in common. It was good to connect with them and catch up on news of extended family members.

It is 92F today with bright sunshine. It feels wonderful to be outside.

Wondering which path Kathryn will take.....

We almost finished another post but encountered another problem with this one so didn't finish. DH discovered the ball of concrete he made around the post at the bottom is too far down in the dirt. He thinks they dug the hole too deep to start with. So he's off to get a couple bags of sakrete to put more concrete up farther on the post. That will hold it better if - oh my I hope not - we get another hurricane like this one.

After this one we have one more post to remove and replace. We have started that process but that will be tomorrow's job because now we're doing the concrete.

I'm pretty tired. Need to check the stuff in the dryer and maybe do a load of DH's work clothes.

Both of us were up in the night, unable to sleep. I got about half what I usually do and DH the same. I guess we both had a lot on our minds.

LadyM, I like vanilla and cranberry. Just about any are ok, but I don't like pumpkin spice. I have hand soap and lotion with that scent and nope, I don't want to smell like a pie. Scents are a very personal decision. People with allergies might not like any of them. Eucalyptus smells like Vicks to me. Some people like that one though.

- just curious. is this your sis in law or your d sis's sis in law.

I give you a lot of credit - for just enjoying their company. I understand how hard this can be - I respect you tremendously

I am so glad you enjoyed your weather.
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I

UGH. Got the hearing aids paired with phone but now somehow they need to connect to the app and that's not happening. But I'm hanging in there otherwise. There sure are a lot of noises.

Lucylee, now dh wants a fire outside tonight. It's always something. I feel like I can't keep up with this man.

Need to start out supper in a minute.

I've been all day before I was able to get here.

First wanted to wish Lord and Lady M a very happy anniversary.

I've just been moving all day from one thing to the 'what's next'. Have a good long list of "ta-da's" to account for it. First day I've really felt good since a couple days after my flu shot. Now to figure out when to get my booster vaccine. I'm really leaning toward waiting till I get to FL to have it. Figure then if I have a reaction of not feeling well, at least it won't interfere with my getting things ready to go.

Got our car cleaned out. Couldn't believe how many 'shopping bags' were in there. Put a bunch in a bag to go with our donations to G oodwill probably tomorrow. I need to take a pair of boots back to W Mart, need to feed our car's gas tank. Totally in opposite directions.

Had dinner out with our good neighbors and brought home enough for at least 2 more meals. I've looked forward to this meal for the last couple of months at least. So good! Managed to leave the restaurant at 6:14 and got home just before dark.

Tomorrow night we have the "200 Club" at dh's fire department. There's raffles, a meal, and different drawings. It will mean we're driving home in the dark and I dread that. But it is what it is.
Hate to think we're at this stage of our lives. When I think about how long we've all been here on this SHE board I'm really amazed.

Thanks for the Anniversary wishes but ours is in July.

- just curious. is this your sis in law or your d sis's sis in law.

It was my DSis and the widow of our older DBrother.

I cooked a big meal for everyone, and it turned out well.

My evening has been nonstop phone calls.

LadyM: I have an evergreen one I use at Christmas (since I can't have live cut greenery to get the smell.) I have a couple of sugar cookie ones as well. I have to be careful, Yankee Candle ones don't make me sick, cheap ones do.

Harmony: you comment about handsoap made me smile. I'm the same way. Somehow we got two different ones (Bath and Body Works, so a good brand) and the smell gives me a headache. Not using it doesn't help, if my guests use it (it is in the guest bathroom), I get sick. This hasn't been an issue for 2.5 years but I recently pulled one out (the other I hate so much it was hidden away) and the grands use it. So I've had to hide it away too.

This week's zone focus is bedroom and bathrooms so I pulled them out and I'm now thinking about how to dispose of them. This evening it occurred to me that I could take them to the laundry room and flush them down that sink. If I can de-stink the BBW container, I might use it for a hand soap I can use since it has that neat foaming dispenser feature.

Dh had a wonderful Winter White Woods scent he loved that BBW doesn't make any more. It is birch, juniper berry and vanilla. They have one called Winter which is spiced orange, balsam and something else. I mix that with vanilla and it comes close to the Winter White Woods. So I keep the old container for reference (dh had been watering it down to be able to keep using it) and have a container of vanilla and this Winter and mix them into a third container I had on hand.

Speaking of soap: Twice since I joined Costco in 1998, we had bought the 16 bars of Dove from Costco. The second time, probably around 2010 (I know I moved the bars here from the house), I was convinced it was a lifetime supply. Then came Covid and we were home all the time. Between being here all the time, needing more soap because of Covid handwashing, and not bringing home soap from our hotel stays, dh opened the last bar of Dove last week.

Almost all the hotel soaps are also used up, since I used up the ones I knew I liked over the past few years and haven't been refilling that drawer. I will say, using a full-size bar of soap always feels odd to us and a bit of a luxury! So I picked up our third package of 16 bars of soap this week and stored them away in the cupboard and soap drawer.

Does anyone else save the slivers of soap and make new bars from them by melting them down and putting them in a mold? That's an example of how frugal I am. We obviously get more slivers than normal families since we are starting with much smaller bars to begin with. Surprisingly, dh and I both love the amalgam bars I make the best. By mixing so many different brands it has a unique lather to it. But I usually only have enough to make a bar or two a year.

This afternoon I missed out on a walk but got the bedroom zone chores finished, the dusting done, the kitchen chores done and a load of laundry.

This evening I shopped online for cloth napkins and chair pads. I'll have to find those in actual stores, the online prices seem ridiculous.

Now I'm off to bed.