SUNDAY MORNING RAMBLINGS

Yesterday was Matt's and my five year anniversary of our first date.  Hard to believe it's been five years already.  So yesterday we went exploring and thrift storing, which are two of my favorite activities.  It was a beautiful sunny day although chilly with a temp of 9 and wind chill of -9.

I guess I can mention that dressing to go out here in North Dakota is different.  People are use to the cold temps and dress appropriately.  With temps in this range women don't dress in flimsy little tops to impress the guys, we dress in multiple layers for warmth.  Unfortunately most seem to think this means hooded sweatshirts nearly exclusively but for me it means beautiful sweaters.  To keep warm yesterday I wore a mock turtleneck under a hooded sweater with faux fur around the hood along with flannel lined jeans over which I wore my long down coat, which kept me warm and comfortable walking around town.

Even though we live only about 25 minutes away from Valley City, we haven't been there.  I'd heard they had a lot of neat little antique shops but hadn't heard much else about it so we decided to do some exploring.  They're also known as the City of Bridges.  Due to the chilly temps we didn't explore those but will wait until it's warmer out.  We'd heard from several people about Four Corner Pizza so we decided to stop there for lunch.  The thin crust pizza was awesome.  I'm not a fan of thin crust but I really liked their pizza, TONS of vegetables loaded on it, and the perfect amount of sauce. They slice the pizza in small squares which I liked but Matt would have preferred larger slices.

After fueling up we headed out to explore. Of course I then realized I had forgotten my camera and couldn't take pictures.  My phone has a decent camera but with the bright light yesterday it makes the screen impossible to see to take pictures.  The first thing that caught our attention, besides the jet displayed at the Veteran's Memorial Park across from the pizza joint, was the old buildings.  I love old buildings and especially the ones that were built with the original occupant's names on their fronts.

The antique shops were awesome.  I could have spent a fortune at one of them if I'd had a fortune to spend.  I have a feeling I'll be going back to pick up a couple things if she still has them.  There's a beautiful wood table at the one shop I'd love to get.  She also has 6 chairs with it (sold separately) that are pretty nice looking too.  I'd mentioned to Matt that I'd like to get a new tablet set this year and this one definitely grabbed my eye. 

We explored several thrift shops and a quilt store.  The quilt store had a huge selection of fabrics so I know where I will be going for fabric now if I can't get to Fargo.  Matt was quite impressed with their kitchen items at the front of the store.  We picked up several finds at the thrift stores including this beautiful log cabin tea pot ($5) and set of nutcracker salt & pepper shakers ($3) to add to my collections.  Matt picked up several books to read, so he should be set through at least the end of the year.  For my present to him I bought him a bookcase for his office/man cave to put his books in so now he needs to work on filling it up.

We ended the evening by going to City Lights for supper.  The food was good although not fabulous.  Matt ordered garlic mashed potatoes and was disappointed to find they were instant garlic flavored potatoes.  Considering the cost of their meals, they should be serving the real stuff.  I had similar problems with my loaded baked potato which just had cheese and bacon on it - they forgot the sour cream and butter so it was dry to say the least and the cheese was rubbery.  Our steaks were extremely good as was our dessert, a triple berry torte with ice cream, when we finally got it.  Matt's issue with his steak was that he'd ordered a ribeye and there was no bone in it.  I tried their tiramisu martini and loved it, it really tasted like tiramisu.  Our service initially was good but our waitress was the bartender and after the bar and restaurant started getting busy we didn't see her again.  It took nearly 45 minutes to get our dessert after we ordered it and we had to wait nearly that long to get our check so we could leave and Matt had to flag down another waitress to get it.  It was nice to try a new restaurant but I doubt we'll go back. 

SATURDAY RAMBLINGS AND NESTING

Today was my first weekend off in over seven months.  It felt so nice to be able to kick back in my pj's for the morning and just  relax.  I considered going into work for extra overtime but decided I really needed this weekend off to mentally recharged.  Next week starts mandatory overtime so I may not get a full weekend off again.  For me recharging can take many forms and this weekend I'm finding I need to nest before I can relax. 

I've been so busy I haven't gotten my fall cleaning done, so I started that this morning.  I didn't go crazy and do the whole house or even attempt to, I just started with the living room.  I think a room a weekend is probably reasonable.  I took down the curtains, washed them, and hung them back up wet so I wouldn't damage the thermal lining by drying them.  I had to run out for more pinched pleat hangers since they used the wrong ones and they were all bent from the weight of the curtains.  Unfortunately I had to get the same type because Walmart didn't have the ones I needed.  On our next trip to Fargo I'll see if I can find some or break down and order the ones I need.  I conditioned the leather couch.  Pulled most of the furniture out and vacuumed under it.  Dusted everything thoroughly and washed the dog beds from the living room and the throws I keep on the chairs. 

While I was at Walmart picking up the curtain hangers I also picked up a wooden circular candle holder and four dark green candles of various heights (evergreen scent) to put in it which I placed on the ottoman for a little decoration.  I need to get some evergreens or something to put around it for a bit of color.  I also picked up a small 3" candle to put in my candle holder on the dining room table. 

My second project today included cleaning and inventorying the chest freezer.  I bought two freezer baskets to help organize it from Walmart that are great.  I wish they had baskets with handles on them like the single basket it came with so I could hang one more basket.  I may pick up a couple more to use in the side-by-side if they fit.

While the pizza was cooking I started the dishwasher and cleaned off one of the counter tops in the kitchen.  One of my glass containers that I put flour in broke a couple weeks ago and I'd bought a replacement but hadn't gotten it put in the dishwasher yet so I could use it.  Tomorrow I'll put the flour in it so that counter is straightened up and looking better.

This past week both Matt and I have not felt particular well.  He's been outright sick with a fever that came and went and a lot of coughing while I've felt exhausted from fighting to keep from getting full blown sick.  Tuesday I felt horrible, all foggy and fatigued, and just wanted comfort food so Matt made me tuna noodle casserole.  For some reason it's a casserole I've never made since we've been together but it was what I was craving.  I had pulled a roasting chicken out last Friday to make soup but it took until Wednesday before it was thawed enough to roast.  I roasted it after massaging it with olive oil and Herb de Provence, stuffing it with onion and celery, and then sprinkling rosemary sprigs over it. I used a little bit of the chicken to make chicken salad with red grapes for my lunch Thursday and Matt put the leftover carcass in the pressure cooker and reduced it down to stock which he used Friday to make chicken noodle soup. I served this with a large mason jar mug of apple cider.  The perfect combination.  Lunch today was leftover chicken noodle soup and garlic naan bread (that I picked up on clearance at Walmart) baked with provolone slices on it which makes a great substitute for grilled cheese.  Dessert was red velvet cupcakes (four pack that I also picked up on clearance). I absolutely love these red ceramic soup bowls.  The perfect size for soups and stews.

 Supper tonight was homemade pizza with fresh mozzarella slices along with pepperoni and green peppers (freezer stash).  We picked up a the mozzarella while at Costco last weekend.  If you've never tried it, it's wonderful although more expensive then buying shredded.  Dessert was the last two cupcakes.

This is the pizza I made last week that's half pepperoni and half sausage.  I bought some great bulk Italian sausage at Hugo's that I used.  This was probably one of my best pizzas so far.  Matt's not a big sausage fan but I love it so that's why I only did half with sausage.  I use Fleishman's Pizza Yeast (3-pack) and the recipe on the back of the package for the dough.  Matt absolutely loves this crust.  I prefer a doughier crust myself but this is good.  Depending on what you put on your pizza and how much you typically pay if you purchase one, homemade pizzas may or may not be cheaper.  I think I've mentioned before we do not have many pizza options in town and none are great so even if I pay more to make one at home it's far superior taste and knowing I used good ingredients makes it worth the expense.

MONDAY'S RAMBLINGS

Before I start my ramblings I'd like to extend a Happy Veteran's Day to all my fellow Vets out there!  They go unappreciated for the most part and deserve to be honored for what they're willing to give up - their lives.

Well my best attempt at denial has failed.  I was firmly hoping if I denied winter was almost here or worse yet that it was actually here that it would stay away for a while until I was ready; although, I'm not sure when that would be.  This morning we woke to a temp of 6'.  As the radio announcer said, "At least it's positive 6'."  My tree has lost nearly all it's leaves now, even it could no longer deny winter's grasp.  The one blessing has been that we haven't gotten any snow yet.  I know, I know, it's coming.  I can't help but laugh that Michigan, were we moved from, has gotten snow before us this year.

Matt's had a cold for the past week with lots of coughing.  By Friday I was feeling a bit achy; although, not full out achy.  Today I feel blah.  Not totally sick, but my body is fighting it with everything it has and I'm exhausted and just a bit headachy and a bit foggy.  All I want to do is curl up with my blanket and dog in my recliner and veg until I feel better.  Debating on taking NyQuil before I go to bed tonight.  With his nighttime hacking waking me up it might be a good idea, that or a hot toddy.  Unfortunately I can't miss any days at work right now or I'll be short paid time off for my son's wedding.  I'm trying to keep my Vitamin C level up by eating kiwi for breakfast.

Saturday was my last day working at my second job!  I'm so excited to get my weekends back.  Now I can choose when I want to do extra overtime with my primary job.  Sunday we decided to celebrate and go to Fargo.  I needed to get a dress for the wedding.  Since I have been working 7 days a week, my schedule just didn't allow a trip for shopping unfortunately.  Thankfully I found a beautiful dress.  It was at the top of my price range that I wanted to spend but I'm okay with that, it's beautiful and I feel great in it.  By the time we got done at the mall we were both exhausted and still had the Costco stop to make. 

I detest shopping to say the least so thankfully these trips are rare.  The mall was busy which made me feel claustrophobic.  We really need to start planning regular trips there if we're going to keep our Costco memberships to pick up necessities like toilet paper, paper towel, and the most important item is my Tazo Chai Tea Concentrate.  To avoid weekend crowds we may start taking days off and going during the week.

Well the sand man is sprinkling his dust and my eyes are drooping so I think I will end this rambling and go get some much needed rest.

THURSDAY'S MEANDERING THOUGHTS

It's been a long week and exhaustion is plaguing me both physically and emotionally.  I will be so happy to be done working two jobs next week.  The exhaustion is preventing me from being as organized and prepped as I would like to be, which is causing more exhaustion in many ways.  Even if it's store bought frozen dinners everybody should have a couple emergency meals available.  If I had food put up that I could pull out on nights I can barely stay awake it would be so helpful.  I will plan on working on this on the weekends now that they'll be free.  Canning beans, stews, and soups up so we have meals at hand will be a huge time and money saver.  I'm sure Matt wouldn't mind if I made up a lasagna one night and froze a couple for future meals.  For us, loaf pans of lasagna are the perfect size and freeze easily so a regular size batch of lasagna will actually net us 3 to 4 meals.  Since we don't have any pizza joints in town that we really like I might try my hand at making and freezing up some for future meals.

Another thing that has been bothering me has been how much food we've been wasting lately.  I'm sure everybody has seen the Ziplock commercial where they say the average family throws out $400 worth of food every year.  I could do a lot with $400!  Our waste takes many forms from forgetting to put food away after supper, putting things in the fridge and forgetting, and buying fruit and not eating it (I'm guilty of this since Matt doesn't eat much fruit).  So I've decided to start focusing on this. 

This afternoon I realized I'd forgotten to take anything out for supper.  Since I don't have much in emergency food supplies I had to think about what was in the fridge and cupboards and plan a meal.  I had about 1/2 pound of sausage, maybe a little less, that I wanted to use up which was left over from making pizza Tuesday night.  I discussed it with Matt after he got home.  I suggested we use the sausage to make patties and serve it with a box of mac & cheese from the cabinet and some type of vegetable.  He came up with a better idea, he fried the sausage up with some peppers from our frozen stash in the freezer and some onion and put it in some brat rolls we had left over from last week.  This yummy sandwich served with ranch was something he'd eaten at a bar years ago and came to mind when we were talking about options.  It was an excellent use of what we had on hand and used up a couple items before they went bad. 

Sunday I didn't have time to start anything before I left for work so Matt said he'd take care of it.  I had some chicken tenders in the fridge he pulled out and grilled.  There were several left over that would have typically been thrown out.  Instead I made sure to incorporate them into my lunches this week.  Monday I chopped up two of the tenders and put it on top of a salad for a protein source.  Wednesday I made a quesadilla with the last tender and some of the frozen green peppers with sides of sour cream and leftover home canned salsa.  I also bought some mini guacamole containers to try and took one of those and some leftover chips that are starting to go stale.  Excellent meals at no cost and using up items I already had on hand.  Hopefully I stay diligent about using things up. 

I normally frown on wasting money on single serve containers because they're so much more expensive than a large size that I can break into servings here at the house.  I love homemade guacamole but don't have time to make it fresh all the time.  I also haven't tried the store versions so I wasn't sure if I would like it and I also know I probably wouldn't eat a whole container before it went bad.  This way I can spread my guacamole servings over a longer period of time without the worry they will go bad.  I may do the same thing with hummus.  It also helps prevent me from overeating.

SATURDAY MORNING FALL MEANDERING THOUGHTS

I was trying to sleep in this morning since I don't have to be to work until late this afternoon BUT of course that didn't happen.  The furkids cooperated for a change but I was awake at 6 am and then the man's phone went off at 45 minutes later calling him into work so I gave up on the thought of staying in my nice cozy bed and decided to be productive.  I will admit I'm a little disorientated with it still being dark out this time of day.

The nights are getting chillier here and I desperately need to pull all my winter clothes out and go through them as well as getting the house cleaned and winterized.  I need to order some new clothes.  I have pulled out the fleece sheets, washed them and have them on the bed.  It's so much nicer climbing into bed on flannel or fleece sheets and having that warmth over climbing into bed with the chill of cotton sheets in the winter.  I have also pulled out my light winter coat and have started wearing it.  I realize that many here wear fleece until temps hit zero or below but I'm not that warm blooded and need a heavier coat.

Fall is such a wonderful transitioning time, unfortunately our fall has been rainy and short this year which hasn't been helped by the fact that I work seven days a week.  I should have had all the outside windows cleaned before now.  With temps so cold I'm not sure I'll be able to do it until spring now.  Lawn furniture needs to be stored and the leaves will need to be raked soon.  We have a leak in the mudroom roof that needs to be checked on and dealt with before the snow starts.

As for the inside of the home, I love the transition of moving from summer into the cozy winter mood.  Quilts, blankets, and afghans to cuddle up in.  I miss having a fireplace to have the season's first fire in.  I normally would have my harvest and Halloween decor out but that's something I may work on today.  We're having a Halloween decorating contest at work for our cubicles so I need to see what I have and decide if I want to participate in that.  I need to plan some crafts and get supplies ordered in to make them.  Stocking up on reading material is also a good idea.  I like to keep my reading balanced so I alternate genres; mystery, biographies, history, fiction, self-help, etc.

This is a wonderful time to do some home cleansing; both physically cleaning and spiritually cleaning.  Getting the carpets cleaned in preparation for the holidays, taking screens out for the winter and washing the windows before putting up plastic (if you do), and getting the cabinets in order for stocking up for the winter.  I've been picking up extra cans each week while grocery shopping in preparation.  Samhain (Halloween) is considered the pagan New Year and is the perfect time to do some spiritual cleansings and blessings. Sage-ing your home for spiritual cleansing should be a routine ritual for getting the negativity out. 

My menus start to shift from lighter meals to heartier ones.  Stews and soups appear regularly now in some form.  Lemonade gives way to hot apple cider and hot teas.  This is also the perfect time to rethink vitamins and supplements you're taking (or not).  With cold and flu season here already, a well stocked vitamin and supplement cabinet can be a wonderful thing.  Stocking up for hot toddy makings is mandatory for me as well as making sure I have echinacea and goldenseal tablets or tincture on hand.  I also have a lung support supplement that I bought from Mountain Rose Herbs to hopefully help prevent bronchitis if I do get sick.  Basics like Motrin, NyQuil, Robitussin, and such also need to be restocked.

Well my laundry is done and Matt's kindly toasted me a piece of homemade raisin bread so my meanders are at an end.

THE START OF AUTUMN

The nights and mornings are starting to get crisp and chilly again.  This is the time of year I love.  I can feel the snap of cold in the air.  The changing energy is so strong.  The leaves are starting to change.  The scent of autumn is so unique.  The windows are open and the chilly air flows through the house.  I live close to I94 so there are a lot of semis rumbling by and I've discovered an odd liking for the sounds of their air brakes rumbling as they come off the freeway.

I'm already missing the longer sunlit evenings though.  The furkids don't like walking in the dark and it's getting harder to get out and walk them before it does get dark.  The positive is that I'm not awakening in the wee hours because the sun is spilling through the windows or because the furkids think it's time to get up because the sun is up.


Having moved to the Prairie a year ago, I'm missing my fall walks through the forest.  People keep telling me we have trees here, but scattered trees are not a forest and there's a special magick walking through a heavy forest canopy that can't be had here.  As I was driving to Bismarck over the weekend, the wind was blowing through the tall grasses and it reminded me of ocean waves.  In the book and movie Sarah Plain and Tall, Sarah mentions about the prairie reminding her of ocean waves and as I was driving I recalled that passage of the book and movie and understood what she meant having lived by the ocean in Virginia and Maine.  There's a field by the friends I was visiting and listening to the winds in the grasses was similar to ocean waves as strange as I'm sure that sounds.

This crisp weather already has me craving heartier meals; chili, thick soups, stews.   I relish being able to use the oven again without having to turn the air conditioning up.  Bread making is soon to commence.  Homemade pizza will start being crafted on a regular basis.  A good pizza is one thing I have not been able to find locally.  Last week I made a Canadian bacon and green pepper pizza that was quite tasty.  I tried a mac and cheese at Applebee's last week that I want to try and duplicate.  It had a wonderful smoky cheddar taste with the sweetness of the honey pepper sauce.  I also want to duplicate their beer pub pretzels.

This time of year is when I start itching to work on what use to be considered winter activities; quilting, spinning, and knitting.  I haven't made a quilt in over 10 years but have been itching for at least a year now to make one.  I want to work on learning to spin more this winter and of course work on my knitting.  I know I'll be needing thick, warm wool socks for winter so the itch to start sock knitting starts.  Since we have no yarn stores locally I'll either have to make a trip to Bismarck or Fargo to check out yarn stores or place an order so I have it on hand.  I'm starting to get the soapmaking itch too.  All activities that seem to fit well with autumn and autumn energies.