What happened to April?

 April passed in somewhat of a blur.  We had a very good time in Montana and then got home and well I lost my mojo.

It was a cold and very rainy month, and I did not want to cook or really do anything.  I did however work in Sissy's shop and got the basics done.

Our basement leaked twice, thankfully in the unfinished area and we have found the source and are starting repairs. As Gilda was famous for saying " it's always something".

WE ate out way too much and Sissy cooked for me quite a bit which was wonderful.

I finally snapped out of it last week and cooked for two days and made 16 freezer meals.

I had to stop an analyze why the eating out so much and it dawned on me that the 12 or so hours a week I put in at Sissy's shop was pulling at me.  Now I used to work 50 hour weeks and managed to cook, so where was the break down?  Well back east I took one weekend and cooked ahead for the month so all I really had to do was take something out of the freezer in the morning and we had dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes with very little clean up.

Working through the freezer from January to March really used up the meals I had prepped ahead.

I now know what to do and will be better in the future.

The weather finally broke last week and we have had glorious weather for the past three days.

On Friday of last week, Sissy and I were up early, and we went to the dump twice and then to the Garden Center and bought most of our plants.  Then out to a late lunch which also served as dinner, back to my house where we planted all of my pots.

Then to two more garden centers for things we still needed and I planted those. We were tired and sore and very dirty.

Onto Saturday, we went up to Sissy's and Dan mowed and trimmed and we worked on Sissy's pots.

Sissy had some wonderful news and she will share, so the plan was to go out to a fancy dinner...well we were all way to tired.  So, I heated a pan of stuffed cabbage rolls and went to bed.  Best cabbage rolls I have ever made.

Because the weather now gets way too hot to work in the yard by noon (soon to be 10 or 11), I am going to switch up my work hours and work in the yard and my house until noon and then go up and sew in the hot afternoons.  I will try this and see how it works.  My best hours of work come first thing in the morning, after my three cups of coffee.

So, it is now Monday morning, and I have set my budget for the month, am doing, laundry, and my morning chores are done!  Sissy is cooking tonight.  I have donned my gardening clothes and will do two hours of weeding and then must run to Costco for monthly items we need.  Then up to Sissy's to sew.

I will take pictures of our yard work so far and get them uploaded tomorrow.  Will definitely try to blog more often.

I read your blogs every day and sometimes comment but must do this early in the morning.

Now I am off to weed.

God is good!

Kay

Blessings at Easter

 Blessings at Easter to all of you!

It has been a busy time around here.

Sissy is at her oldest daughters and hubs, and I are taking off for Montana after Mass.

We are heading to Troy Montana to see Hubs older brother and our dear sister-in-law.

I have never been to Troy, and it will be a beautiful four-hour drive completely up the pan handle almost to Canada and then we drop down into Montana.

Sissy's shop is completely caught up except for wedding dresses, and it is clean and organized.  I cannot believe we finally got to status quo.  With my taking over the basis mending Sissy can concentrate on the dresses and the stress is off.

I really need to work on zippers when I get back and also prom dresses.  Need to build my confidence.

I have been helping little Sis with massive yard work to get her rental property on the market and I am very sore.

She is going to sell and I am so glad, as it is a stressor for her.

Sissy and I should both be back in town next Thursday!

Eat lots of chocolate and be kind to the Easter Bunny!

Hugs.

Kay

Wow, a busy life! Sissy's Internet is down!

I had no intention of even getting near my computer today, but Sissy's internet is down until at least Monday, so she asked me to reach out!  

Life has been crazy with company and so much work in Sissie's shop that we are a bit overwhelmed.

The weather has been warm but cold and today especially and I am so ready for spring.

I have no idea what we are having for dinner and Sissy will be here tonight as she has a program she wants to watch and she also has no TV.

WE have a busy weekend ahead, but at least we do not have to cook tomorrow night as Sissies middle daughter is throwing a barbecue to celebrate our birthdays.

Like can be crazy and hectic at times, but we are still here.

Hope all is well out there.

God is good!

Kay

Monday the ninth of March!

So what have I been up too?  Well alterations and sewing and cooking and yard work!  Busy as usual.

The pick is of my dear Sissy and her Granddaughter in the suit I altered for her that has been hanging in the shop for three years and I was tired of looking at it!  I could never wear this color, but Sissy can and she looks wonderful!  She is going to be out of town the week of St. Patrick's, so I made her wear it to church yesterday!

Of course, the little charmer next to her is no slouch.  WE dress her like she stepped out of a band box!

The weather was glorious this weekend and I worked in the yard most of Saturday and am paying the price.  I am once again very, very sore.  So sore, it hurts to go "potty" (TMI)!  Second day out and I can still barely move!

I wanted to finish the last garden bed on Sunday and my body rebelled, but I did manage to wipe down the Freddie Krueger stairs to the basement (think old ugly Berber carpet) of the two pounds of cat hair lining the treads.  I could have knit a sweater, and it was disgusting.

Today the weather has turned nasty cold and very windy.  They are right, as "March roars in like a lion and (hopefully) out like a lamb"!

I also managed to make a double batch of date cookies last week for friends and they loved them.  One more one-pound package of dates out of the freezer.

I am continuing to whittle down, and this is taking a long time.  Tonight, we are having chicken cutlets with pesto and pasta.  I have two more servings of pesto from last summer's batch and hope to have twice as much next year.

Husb mowed the back yard and trimmed on Saturday, and it looks so good.  I just sit out there and stare for time at what a job it was and wonderful it turned out.  However, we still have a long way to go with other sections of the lawn.

Now I am off to get a second load of laundry done and some ironing (oh joy)!  As they say, housework is never done!

Have a great day!

God is good!

Kay

 

March First! Can you believe it!

 I have a very busy Gal the past two weeks.  Helping Sissy in the shop four mornings a week has taken up a lot of my leisure time, but I am really enjoying it and learning a lot!

Sissy is completely caught up on all of the mending in the shop and can now just concentrate on Wedding Dresses, of which she has nine in the shop as I type.  The pressure is off and I can tell it is helping her immensely.  It is also helping me fill my time.

I have been working on ceremonial clothes for the Nez Perce Indians, and it has been really fun as I love creative work.

These next two pictures are of Men's shirts done with appliques.

I have many more to make but this is a long-term project that may or may not pan out.

Front of shirt

Rear of shirt.

Then I have completed six ribbon skirts which I did not take very good pictures of, but they turned out beautifully.

These were so much fun to make, and I have so many other ideas, but must meet with a Woman from the tribe to run the ideas past her.

In the meantime, I usually have at least a pile of mending a day and it keeps me hopping.

Tomorrow, I have a fancy ball gown to take the sleeves out of and make a set of long sleeves out of chiffon and a complicated motorcycle outfit that needs work.

I also have some alterations to do for myself.

I altered a Kelly-Green suit for Sissy, and it turned out beautifully, she will wear this next Sunday to Church.

She will take a picture when she wears it to show you!

It has only been hanging in the shop for two years and I got tired of looking at it! She rarely gets anything done for herself.

There are certain things that I cannot do and Sissy loves to put things off, so with my hounding her we have cleared things up.  I want it in and out in a week, and I know the fast turnaround time will help the business to thrive.

Hubby and I also have a had busy nighttime schedules with Lent and charitable endeavors.

At least I did not have to cook three nights this week!

We went to charitable chili cook off that my Lil Sis entered and she won the people's choice award for her white chicken chili.  All of the chilis that I tried were very good, but way to spicey for me and I paid a price for our healthy donation!

Hopefully this week we can slow down some.

I have closed my budget for February and did quite well in the freezer eat down and the grocery spending but still have a long way to go.  Eating out was another disaster but will continue to try and stay out of the Restaurants.

I am going to continue the pantry freezer challenge this month and more than likely into April.

At this point I see our actual grocery budget is going to run around $500.00 per month but we shall see.

I have a ton of ironing to do, and I must go do something with my hair and put my face on.

Hot dogs with coleslaw for dinner tonight!

Now I am off to get some things done.

Happy March everyone!

God is good.

Kay

Happy Valentines Day!

A Picture of the Turtles I made for Sissy's cookie trays.  They are very good.  Although I am not crazy about the Trader Joes Belgium chocolate I used.  Not chocolaty enough.  I will stick with my Aldi German chocolate; both milk and dark mixed in the future.

I need to call my Girlfriend back east to do another Aldi run for me. 

It has been a busy week and a lot has happened.

First of all the old shed on the abandoned property is gone and our fence on the side yard is no longer suffering.

WE are so thankful to have that nasty thing gone, cost some money but well worth it!

The next big news is "the driveway is finished and I can now park in the back of the house and get the car off the Street!

See below!

This is the goal we spent all last spring, summer and fall to accomplish!

The new yard took a little beating, but it will come back strong.

Now we must wait for the weather to warm up and then we can start building our path to the patio from the back gate and get the pavers down under the grill.

We also must tackle the side yard with the Hosta situation and still have not quite decided how to solve it.  But we will live with the space.

I had a productive week in Sissy's shop, and she is really caught up.  Two difficult alterations to do next week, but I will persevere, with Sissy's guidance.

I have been experimenting with Keto bread and pizza dough recipes and am so discourage as they have been a total failure. Almond flour is hard to work with and very expensive, and I have wasted several hours making things that are truly not good.

We love homemade pizza, but the carb content is just too high for the Husb.  I have been making his pizza on low card large tortillas, but he wants a thicker crust.  So, I am going to try and low carb Naan bread and if that is a failure, I am done!

I will use the almond flour purchased for Keto crackers and mix it with gluten free flour for a friend and make some goodies.

Today I must run to Costco and fill my car with gas, I will also run up to Sissy's for a bit and then home to binge watch the last season of the West Wing.  It will be a lazy Saturday, as I do not have to cook dinner, but simply reheat last night's leftover pizza.

Daniel and I do not go out on Valentines Day as we call it amateurs' night, and the Restaurants are packed and the service is awful.

Now I am off to run my errands.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day!

Kay

An exciting week!

Our driveway fence is up! I will soon be able to park off the street.

Now the driveway area has to be graded and that will come soon and then the black gravel will be brought in and spread.

Still, lots of work ahead but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

We are also having the old shed on the abandoned property torn down and hauled away and the fence it was damaging will be repaired.

Worked three days up at Sissy's and had a productive week.

I have plenty to do next week to keep me busy while Sissy concentrates on Wedding Dresses.  I am gaining confidence and it really helps.

Have been eating out of the pantry and freezers religiously and feeling good about that.

I did spend over two hundred dollars at Costco for things that we just needed as I under shopped and over shopped in December.  I need to set a more realistic budget for groceries, and this is just a process I am working towards.

It is Saturday and I am making a pan of caramel to make turtles using leftover pecans from Christmas.

WE are having New York strip steaks and artichokes for dinner.  Got artichokes for 87 cents apiece last week and you can't beat that for a vegetable.  There will be plenty of leftover steak for steak Cesar Salad tomorrow. We have now used up the last of our New Yorks, but still, plenty of Beef to choose from.

We have an overabundance of pork, and we must start using this, but not today.

I made two loaves of orange cranberry walnut bread this week and took it to Seniors, using up the last of my cranberries from Christmas.  One more thing out of the freezer!

Okay the caramel is done and cooling.  I have vacuumed the basement and now must run several errands.  I will then come home and put together my Turtles!  Yum!

God is good!

Kay