WEEKEND RAMBLINGS: October 4-5

Unbelievably we had SNOW flurries here Friday!  It was so dark and dreary that I opened the blinds by my work computer.  They volatile weather we've been having has been causing cluster migraines and I've kept the blinds closed due to light sensitivity.  When I glanced out I thought it was raining until I happened to glance at my neighbor's roof and notice the white blowing across it.  Thankfully no accumulation. Saturday when I took Jordon to work the Jeep said it was 36' out.  Brrr.  Matt thankfully turned the furnace on Saturday morning before I got up. Next week temperatures are expected to be in the 50's with winds up to 40 mph so I think we're safe from any snow for a little bit yet.  Hopefully we get a nice weekend yet so we can clean the windows and possibly power wash the house before winter sets in.

PROJECT:  

I was determined to get the table set done this weekend and I did it!  It took me all of Saturday and left me exhausted but I did it.  I think it turned out really nice.  I painted it antique white.  The antique white is a little bit more white than I'd planned but it looks great. Matt and Jordon carried the table in from the mudroom and Matt put it back together today.  The paint is still a bit tacky today so we weren't able to use it for supper tonight.  I stained in the mudroom to have better ventilation.  I'm asthmatic and I didn't think the stain fumes would be good to be breathing all day and night while the chairs and table dried.  Total cost for this project was somewhere between $40 and $50.  I think it was still a good deal.  The new set definitely brightens up the dining room.

My second project this weekend was putting up the fall/Halloween decorations.  This is my favorite holiday and I'm so disappointed that it's hardly observed here.  We've gotten no trick-or-treaters in the two years we've been here.  I'll have candy on hand just to be safe but I'm sure we'll end up eating it.  Thankfully Jordon enjoys Halloween as much as I do so it made it more exciting to get everything out this year.

Matt and Jordon took our old table to our storage unit and I'm giving it to Jordon to use once he gets his own place.  They also took Jordon's kayak to the storage unit since it's doubtful he'll be using it again this year.  

MENUS:

With my overtime starting to disappear I'm needing to watch my pennies more closely and that means I have to meal plan.  I haven't been doing weekly menus for a while so I'm bringing them back.  Matt looked at the menu plan for the week and informed me he really liked the look of it so this menu is stamped Matt approved.

Sunday: Maple chicken thighs, loaded mashed potatoes, country style green beans and carrot salad.

Monday: Jambalaya

Tuesday: Sausage patties and mac & cheese

Wednesday:  Chicken tortilla soup

Thursday:  Tacos and home canned refried beans with homemade salsa

Friday: Cube steak & pepper sandwiches and steak fries

Saturday: Tortellini and sausage with 3 cheese sauce and asparagus

Sunday:  Homemade fried cod, fried potatoes and cole slaw


READING NOOK:

The Art of Imperfection by Veronique Vienne
This is another little book by author Veronique Vienne.  I really like her little books and grab one whenever I find one I don't have.  This one covers our needing to embrace not being perfect and rejoicing in our imperfections.

The Amish Cook's Anniversary Book - 20 Years of Food, Family and Faith by Lovina Eicher with Kevin Williams
I've really enjoyed reading The Amish Cook since I discovered it a couple months ago.  Kevin Williams worked for a newspaper and wanted to add an Amish recipe section to it and searched and found a woman to write the column.  Elizabeth Coblentz was the original Amish Cook.  Her daughter Lovina Eicher took over on Elizabeth's death and in this book Lovina's oldest daughter, Elizabeth who was named after her Grandmother, would occasionally pen a column for her mother.  The first one she wrote was at age 11 and she even included a recipe for no bake cookies with it.  Besides the newspaper column, they also wrote several cookbooks together which are a wonderful combination of recipes, news about the family and life in the area. They give an interesting glimpse into the Amish life. It's amazing to me to read how people would drop by unexpected for a visit and she'd feed 40+ without much thought.  Reading the work involved with an Amish wedding was fascinating too.

Ramblings May 5th

As much as we love for our friends and family to visit, afterwards we always have that sigh of relief that we have our home to ourselves again.  We are hermits somewhat in this aspect.  My Mom was visiting the past week from Pennsylvania where she is living now.  It was a nice visit and hopefully she enjoyed it.  Thankfully I was able to take time off and spend with her this visit.  She definitely got a dose of North Dakota weather while she was here with everything from snow to rain to a day or 2 of sunny weather in the 60's.

Matt thankfully was able to get the flooring done a couple days before she arrived.  Matt thought I did an excellent job on the room redecorating it, he called it Comfortable Country.  I found the comforter and throw at a thrift shop.  I put the green rug I'd crocheted on the new floor next to the bed. and I also replaced the sheer valance with thermal curtains.  Matt's sister, Bee, gave us the Bentwood rocker several years ago.  With my new desk set up in my office area there was no room for it so I decided it would make a nice addition to the guest room.  The walls will be our next major upgrade once we get a home improvement store in town.  We plan on taking out all the paneling and replacing it with drywall throughout the trailer. Once I get the nasty wallpaper taken down and the drywall up I think I'll do this room possibly in a cream color or a maybe a light green.  I need to get some decorations for the walls now.

Before

After

Matt's birthday was Friday so I took the whole day off.  We had planned initially to go to Valley City antiquing and thrift shopping but the weather was forecast better for Thursday so we went Thursday instead and stayed home on Friday.  I found a really nice top at one of the thrift stores for $1.  Mom had asked for me to make meatloaf while she was here but then changed her mind and wanted a spaghetti dinner so that was her supper the last night.  She enjoys home cooking so we mostly stayed in although we did take her out a couple times.  Friday I sat and watched movies with her and crocheted a jute rug.  It worked up really quickly and is so nice.  I have it outside at our entry door.

Saturday we took a road trip and met one of my sisters in Minnesota so Mom could stay with her for the rest of the time she's visiting.  I'll give more details on that trip in another post.  We met her in Alexandria, Minnesota which is about 3 hours from our home.  It made for a little bit of a long day but the weather was beautiful and sunny although winds were gusting and the temp was only in the 40's so it felt a bit chilly.  I had taken a light sweater with and realized by the time we arrived in Alexandria that it wasn't heavy enough for me to be outside much so we stopped at Fleet Farm and I was able to pick up a fleece lined zip-up sweatshirt.

Sunday was catching up on cleaning and laundry and then kicking back relaxing.  We prefer to do our birthdays privately so we waited until Sunday to celebrate Matt's birthday.  He requested my homemade pizza (no surprise there) and a cake so I made a dark chocolate bundt cake with coconut almond frosting.  I always have a fear when I make bundt cakes that they'll stick to the pan and not come out.  I thoroughly coated my ceramic pan with coconut oil before pouring the batter in.  I forgot to flour it as the instructions called for but it came out great.

Weekend Ramblings April 13

SUNDAY MENUS:

Brunch:    Oven fried potatoes, bacon, eggs, and toast

Supper:  Homemade pizza

We cannot wait until Menard's builds a store here.  It is horrible not having a home improvement store for supplies.  Matt had gone to Fargo with a buddy Thursday and picked up all the flooring and a roll of underlayment for the hallway and guest room.  We had some items leftover from when he did his office.  When he went to put the underlayment down this morning he discovered he was one length short.  He went to 5 stores locally and nobody had what we needed.  Our choices were to drive 200 miles round trip for one roll of underlayment, buy something in town that's different but "might" work, or order online.  Thankfully Menard's has online ordering so that's what we went with.  Shipping was less than what we'd have paid for gas. Unfortunately they're saying approximately 10 days before we get it.  On a good note, other than that snafu, he was able to get the entire hallway done including door stops and just over half of the guest room.  I am so happy to be getting the carpeting out of here. 

While he was working this morning I made us a huge country style brunch of oven fried potatoes with plenty of onions, crispy bacon, eggs over easy and buttery toast.  He needed a good meal for the work he wanted to get done.  We shared a Butter Beer he'd picked up at the party store last night when he took a break.  Those of you that are Harry Potter fans will have heard of Butter Beer before.  It taste sort of like cream soda, Matt described it as butterscotchy in flavor.  It's good but I don't think good enough to pay $2 a bottle for it. It's a novelty item and I might buy some to send the kids for gifts.

My early morning was spent cleaning and doing laundry.  In the afternoon I continued my work on my cross stitch project and watched The Bletchley Circle on Netflix as well as helping Matt whenever he needed my assistance.  It was a 3 part Masterpiece Theatre drama about a group of women that had worked as code breakers during the war and gather back together to find a killer.  They were living ordinary lives while keeping the work they'd done during the war a secret when one of them starts noticing patterns to a series of killings.  I highly recommend it if you like British dramas or period pieces.