A Soup Kind Of Day

Andy has been feeling a bit under the weather today. I believe he's fighting a spring cold. He didn't feel like eating too much but agreed that chicken soup would taste good.

I dug though what we had and found frozen homemade chicken broth and seasoned cooked and chopped chicken in the freezer and onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms in the fridge. A few seasonings from the spice cupboard rounded it all out.

I chopped up all the veggies and sauteed them in the soup pot in a little olive oil. The veggies always smell and look so tasty during this step!

Lastly, I added broth, chicken and seasonings, brought the soup to a boil and then turned it down and let it simmer.

It was delicious!

Whenever I chop and peel veggies, I save the well-washed peelings/ends and add to a big freezer bag. When I have a bunch of chicken bones, I use this bag of veggie scraps to make delicious homemade broth!

Waste not, want not! 

An Update On Our Family

Some of you have been asking how Andy is doing now. Thank you for asking!

If you saw the picture in this post, you can see that Andy is looking and feeling quite well! We are grateful to be past the 1 year mark of his diagnosis. And last week marked 1 year since he began chemo.

Easter Sunday 2018--The sun was a little bright! ;-)

All scans and blood work continue to come back clear and show no sign of cancer. There is still a very small nodule on his lungs that Andy's oncologist wants to have removed. It is highly unlikely that this nodule is cancerous since all other spots on his lungs disappeared with chemo and this nodule has not changed in size in over a year. The disadvantage of this spot is that it is quite small and located in a hard to reach area, thus making any biopsy nearly impossible unless it is removed. The thoracic surgeon was unsure if he could even find it when we consulted with him last fall. We want to meet with him again to see if his opinion has changed. It is up to us if we decide to go ahead with the surgery or continue with careful observation for the next 12 months.

We appreciate your prayers for wisdom as we make this decision.

In other news, long time readers will remember that we announced 3 years ago (exactly 3 years ago!) that we were in the adoption process to adopt a baby. We went through the homestudy process in 2015 and were approved as a waiting family in October 2015. Since then we have waited for The Call that we have been matched with an expectant mother who has chosen us to parent her child.

After Andy's cancer diagnosis in spring of 2017, we went on hold with the agency as Andy underwent chemo and various surgeries.

Our agency requires certain paperwork to be updated every 365 days so when we began to talk with our adoption worker about going back to active status, she sent us a new packet of paperwork to update. This included 3 doctor's reports, new income tax forms and proof that our dog is current on vaccinations, among other things. Everything had to be redone because of the time that we were doing the paperwork so this packet took WAY longer than any adoption paperwork we have done in the past!

But I'm happy to say that I finished with the paperwork on Monday and it is now en route to our agency. Woo Hoo!

Our adoption worker should be scheduling another home study visit with us soon and hopefully after that, we will once again be a waiting family. We hope to be matched soon!

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family!

On This Day After Earth Day

Earth Day was yesterday. I stopped at the local health food store after church for some bulk spices. I took a reusable bag along for extra points on my rewards account.

At checkout, I was offered a free packet of heirloom tomato seeds in honor of Earth Day. Yes, please.

Some folks are big into Earth Day and loving the earth the other 364. Some folks scoff. Some folks like me, are somewhere in the middle.

I compost. I use reusable water bottles instead of buying bottled water. I use cloth napkins and real dinnerware. I cook from scratch, am careful about food waste, line dry some of my laundry, use reusable lunch containers and shop second hand quite often. I'm careful about the use of chemicals in our home.

Part of my cloth napkin stash. These have been going strong for around 3 years now. They're starting to show some wear from repeated washings. I usually get 3-4 years out of a stack of napkins. When they're worn out, I make new ones.

I grew up on the West Coast where things are just different. Overall, people tend to live a little greener. I hate styrofoam.

I also use some paper towels and paper plates some days. I use some ziploc baggies. We buy packaged food sometimes. I shop at Aldi where the produce is highly packaged but the price is right. Sometimes (like most of last year), I'm just too tired to recycle.

In spite of growing up in Oregon, I'm not a tree hugger. But I can't swing so far over to the extreme where I have no interest in caring for the environment.

This is where we live.  The Earth is one of God's gifts to us. As with all of God's gifts, I wish to be a good steward of what He has given.

On this day after Earth Day, can we all agree to be good stewards of our resources?

• To be intentional with our choices?
• To create more than consume?
• To conserve more than we waste? 
• To save more than we spend?
• To think before we act?

 A "green" smoothie.

Maybe you are full out "green". Or maybe you're like me and make small choices each day to minimize waste and maximize health, both for ourselves, our finances and the environment.

I cannot do everything but I sure can do something.

Maybe I can turn the lights off when I leave the room. Turn off the water instead of letting it run.  Save those veggie scraps to make stock. Walk somewhere instead of drive. Hang those clothes up to dry instead of running the dryer. Plant those tomato seeds already. Just this once.

And tomorrow, make some of the same choices again. 

Little choices add up to create a big impact. 

What will you do on this day after Earth Day?

**You may be interested in another Earth Day post I wrote "back in the day": Kermit, It is Easy Being Green.

Food Lion House Brand Promotion

If you have a Food Lion near you, they are having a House Brand promotion that is going on through April 24th.

For every house brand product you buy, you get 25 cents back. You must buy a minimum of 4 products in one trip to get the rewards and a maximum of 40  per trip. The quarter back rewards are printed as a voucher to use towards your next purchase.

Since Food Lion runs this sale twice a year, I like to use it as a time to stock up on low-priced pantry staples such as canned tomato products, canned beans and canned vegetables. Pasta sauce, pasta, rice and low-priced condiments are also good things to buy.

Purchasing products that are naturally inexpensive gives me more bang for my buck! For example, the cans of tomato sauce I purchased today are 29 cents. With 25 cents back, each can is now 4 cents. The tomato paste was sale priced at 28 cents. After the promotion, these are 3 cents each. The diced tomatoes are 54 cents each. Take 25 cents off and each can is now 29 cents. The green beans were 38 cents each and 13 cents after the rewards.

These are definitely great stock up prices for me! No coupons required!

Not pictured is the brown rice, blocks of cheese and french bread that I also purchased. These were all house brands as well and were, in order listed, 57 cents, $1.25 and $1.25 each after rewards.

I bought my max of 40 items on this trip and received a $10.00 voucher to use on my next shopping trip!

If you have a Food Lion nearby, it may be worth your time to check out this sale!

Catch-Up Week: Day 5

Hooray! It's Friday! Do you have any great plans for the weekend?

We're hoping to get the grass mowed for the first time this spring. A few things around the house and hopefully a movie!

What I accomplished today:

• Prepped dinner--Oven Fajitas. This dish is one of my faves for being budget-friendly and easy to prep ahead and just slide into the oven.
• Washed a load of towels. 
• Cooked some chicken breasts for a new soup recipe I'm planning to try tomorrow. 
• Wiped down refrigerator shelves. 
• Cleaned the bathroom. 

I've been able to get the house into better shape this week. Of course, there's still more to be done but at least some improvements have been made. I will keep working on a few things each day.

Talk to you next week! Have a wonderful and relaxing weekend!

Catch-Up Week: Day 4

 A picture of cute Willie to add interest to this post!:-)

Today wasn't quite as productive as yesterday.

I took the liberty of sleeping in a bit and finishing another library book! So my routine was a bit off. But that's ok sometimes too. ;-)

Here's what I accomplished this morning:

• Hauled trash and recycling to dump.
• Folded and put away all laundry from yesterday's washing. 
• Collected a pile of papers/junk mail and threw them away. 
• Made fruit dip. Today I mixed some leftover cream cheese frosting with some freshly whipped cream and it turned out very tasty. Andy was excited about it!

I meet with a friend on Thursday nights to share our insights from the week's Bible reading so did that tonight. No other housework tonight besides cleaning up kitchen and running the dishwasher.

I just got back from walking Willie and am ready to shower and go to bed.

Have a good night, everyone!

Catch-Up Week: Day 3

Hope everyone has had a good Wednesday!

I did three loads of laundry first thing. I've been hanging up most of our clothing to dry instead of running the dryer. I have a rod for clothes on hangers in the laundry room, then the rest go on two free-standing drying racks. I keep one of the drying racks in the tub of our guest bathroom! It's out of the way there and we don't use this room much on a regular basis. I also hang stuff on the shower curtain rod in there. We had an extra shower rod so I put that above the tub and I can hang laundry there too. Today I put the second drying rack in the guest bathroom too. As you can see, it was full but did the job!

We had a birthday luncheon for a coworker today so we all brought some kind of food to share. Another coworker and I did a fruit tray together as our contribution. She brought cantaloupe, pineapple and strawberries and I brought apples, grapes and fruit dip. I whipped up this "real food" fruit dip from Heavenly Homemakers. The bowl was scraped clean and the small amount I left at home for Andy to eat was also gone by evening! So I guess it was a hit. I have enough ingredients left to make another batch of fruit dip tomorrow as we have some leftover fruit to eat it with.

Other accomplishments today include:

• Calling to cancel an appointment for next week. 
• Placing an online order.
• Vacuuming all the floors. 
• Dusting.
• Spending 10 minutes picking up trash around the house, including breaking down some cardboard boxes to go to dump tomorrow.
• Organizing my shirt drawer--it was a mess but took just a few minutes to straighten it up again. 
• Cooking a quick but healthy meal for dinner--baked fish, sauteed zucchini and mushrooms and steamed asparagus. I prepped the veggies this morning so getting dinner on the table tonight was super fast!
• Making a batch of yogurt in the Instant Pot. 

 Willie isn't as impressed with vacuuming as I am.

Wednesday was productive! What did you do today?

Catch-Up Week: Day 2

Happy Tuesday! I hope you lovely people had a great day.

My mornings start out the same nearly every day--at my kitchen table to spend a few minutes in God's Word.

My big chore of the day was grocery shopping. I headed out to Aldi early--our store now opens at 8am which I love. It works so much better for shopping on weekdays than when they opened at 9am. I only stopped at one store today and got most everything we'll need for the next two weeks. I will make a quick trip to Food Lion another day to get a few things Aldi doesn't carry and take advantage of some sales.

It's piled up pretty good so every item can't be seen but will give you a good idea of what I bought!

A friend from church had surgery last week and I was scheduled to take him a meal today. I started cooking as soon as I returned from the grocery store. It didn't take too long to make sloppy joes, cut up raw veggies, make some dip, and cut up some fresh fruit. I bought hamburger buns, potato chips and a package of sliced cheese to send along as well. It was a very simple meal to make and since I made a big pan of sloppy joe meat, I had enough for our dinner as well. Win, win! We delivered the meal after I came home from work this evening.

Other household accomplishments today:

• Did two loads of laundry.
• Changed sheets on our bed. 
• Made Breakfast Pumpkin Custard for tomorrow morning. We really like to eat this cold. A pan of this will make several breakfasts for the 2 of us. I have made a number of changes to the original recipe by now. :)
• Read a few chapters in my current library book. 

I was hoping to do a few more small tasks tonight but it has been a busy day and I am tired. The same chores will be there for me  in the morning.:)

Have a good night, everyone!

Catch-Up Week: Day 1

As I mentioned earlier today, my goal for this week is to catch up on housekeeping after a very hectic week last week.

I work half-days outside the home right now, so my home hours are limited and a bit split up over the course of the day. With careful diligence though, I am able to keep things in some semblance of order.

This morning, I planned to work around the house before going to work but that changed yesterday when Andy discovered an adult trike for sale on Craigslist. It turned out that we could go look at it this morning--on the other side of Charlotte.

He has been looking for a trike for a long time and had the cash put aside. Because of some physical challenges, he has never been able to ride a traditional bicycle. The trike he found was nearly brand new and was at least half of the price he was expecting to spend (based on others we had seen listed).

So we headed up the interstate, looked at the trike, bought it and brought it home. He is so happy with it and with a couple minor modifications, should be a good fit for him. I hope it works out great for him!

"When I recover from surgery, I want to go to Captain D's", said Andy after his big surgery last August. 

So we stopped there for lunch on the way home today. Our town doesn't have a Captain D's so we waited until we were near one. Andy had been waiting for this for 7+ months! #Goals #WeDon'tGetOutMuch #Finally

By the time we got home, it was time for me to go to work.

This evening, I've been able to do a few things:

• Emptied trash cans.
• Emptied compost bucket.
• Put a few things away that were setting out where they didn't belong. 
• Brought potted plants in from outside as we expect a frost tonight--in April!
• Jotted down a 2 week menu plan and grocery list so I can get groceries tomorrow. 
• Finished a library book!

 I'm trying a 2 week shopping trip this time. 

It's been a good day! 

What did you accomplish today?

A Week Of Catch-Up

Last week was crazy!

The first two days started out pretty good then from Wednesday on, my days rather hectic. I worked a full day on Wednesday then between Thursday-Saturday, the dog had his yearly vet appointment, I had a special baking order to fill (I have a small baking business on the side.), we had a yard sale and this month I am teaching the children at church so I needed to prepare my lesson for Sunday.

I was tempted to postpone the yard sale but we had already postponed it for at least three weeks due to cold and rainy weather. The forecast for this past Saturday was perfect so we forged ahead with our plans even though it was a little nuts. Sometimes that is just what you need to do! We had the yard sale, it was successful, now it is over!

Yard sales are almost always worth it to me. We live in a great location for it so all I have to do is set our stuff out on tables in the driveway, put some signs out by the main road and we get traffic as long as the signs are out. Early spring before the South Carolina humidity sets in is the best time for our sales. It seems like people buy more when yard sale season is just beginning!

Anyway, we sold at least 75% of our stuff and the rest went right to our community thrift store!

Sunday was filled with church and getting ready to go to a surprise 50th birthday party for one of our dearest friends. It was a full but good day.

Now I'm ready for a week with more down time and some serious housework! Time to get back on track!

I always love reading about what other homemakers do on ordinary days at home, so I'll be posting this week about my progress.

Talk to you again soon!