Weekend Ramblings August 16th

Menu:
Lunch: Italian on cibatta roll
Supper: Taco Salad with breadsticks

Wow has it been a busy summer! It doesn't feel like it's been that busy but I've been working on little things here and there and it adds up. I've also been in training at work which has added up time wise. Thankfully after the first week they let us train a half day in the office and then all the telecommuters were able to come home and work. Yesterday and today were super humid for North Dakota.  The low humidity here is something I really appreciate. I hear natives complain about how bad it is and can't help but laugh. Michigan's humidity was the worse of all the places I've ever lived and if they think this is bad they need to experience it elsewhere. Otherwise, our weather has been in the mid to low 80's with night temps in the 60's.

Today we had a nice storm pass through. It rained so heavily that the flash flood alarm went off on the TV and cell phones. I'm thankful that I took the pups for a walk before the storm hit. Matt wanted to go to the store and every time he thought it was starting to slow down it would start pouring again.

Water was so deep in the road that it went up over the sidewalk into the yard.  There's a drop down from the step to the road.  Water was up to the bottom of the rims on both our vehicles.

This was totally flooded over for a bit when it was raining the hardest. 

Unfortunately water was going under the skirting on the trailer.

This pitcher was empty before it started raining.

Crafting:

I finished the rug!!!! It was a great feeling when I finished it. I already have the loom warped and another rug started. For my fall project I've started a knitted sample stitch afghan with super bulky yarn.  I wanted something nice and warm to curl up in when it gets cold.

About a month ago we went to a Junk Expo and Matt found a spinning wheel for me. We picked up this beauty for only $75.  I'm not sure what brand it is. I think it might be a Jenny by Sleeping Beauty, which is no long manufactured.  She was dirty and I could tell she'd been sitting in a barn or shed somewhere.  I cleaned her up last week (finally) and hopefully will get her waxed this weekend.  I bought a maintenance kit and she got a tune up after her cleaning.  She's missing a dowel that the brake cord attaches to so Matt is going to fix that but otherwise she appears to be in full working condition. Now I just need to order some roving. The Lazy Kate that she came with is about $75 brand new so I think we got a pretty good deal.

Reading:

I've done a ton of reading.  My latest read was The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club by Wanda Brunstetter. I lucked out and got a Wish List fulfilled notice from PaperBackBookExchange.com letting me know that both it and the sequel had been posted. I will be starting the sequel, The Tattered Quilt, tonight. I find the books interesting in they talk about quilting and these take place close to where I grew up in Indiana. One of these days I'm going to visit Shipshawana.  It brought back memories when one of the characters talked about going shopping at the mall in South Bend, which is the mall we use to go to all the time. I miss the Amish restaurants that serve family style.

Gardening:

My tomato plants have started producing.  The poor plants have been stunted by this odd summer we've had and never got much above 2 feet tall and the fruit is small too.  My Roma tomatoes are like giant grape tomato size. I was getting ready to harvest my peppermint after moving it by the tomato plants when something ate it.  I'm wondering if it wasn't a bunny as I can't think of anything else that would eat it.

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS JUNE 28

SATURDAY MENU:
Lunch: turkey sandwiches on 12 grain bread with pepper jack cheese
Supper: Grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob

We have been having wet, rainy weather of late and have not been able to get much done outside or do much outside.  I try to get walks in with the dogs between fronts.  I'm watching the radar screens more than the TV shows some days so I can plan accordingly. Matt was telling me that they have a ramp that trucks back down into so they can use a forklift to load and unload.  After one of the intense storms this week he said the store manager told him the ramp was flooded up to the electrical socket and they were going to have to manually pump the water out of it.

Jordon hasn't found a job yet.  I'm amazed that Walmart hasn't called they're in such desperate need of people but if I recall right it took them about 2 weeks before they called me after I put an application in there.  Hopefully soon because he's getting bored sitting around the house all the time.  He has been running on a daily basis to get in shape so that's a good thing.

Firework madness has started and poor Tip is cowering and panting heavily under my computer desk as I type.  I need to give him another dose of Rescue Remedy.  I need to order more, between the thunderstorms and now the fireworks I've nearly used all the bottle I have.  I found it on Amazon for about $8 less than I paid for it here in town so I'll definitely be ordering it online.

Grocery Budget:
I went over my new weekly food budget ($100 wk for the 3 of us) by about $20 but I also had over $20 worth of cleaning/non-food items.  I still need to go to Hugo's and pick up a whole chicken (or maybe a couple) as they have them on sale for $4.98 per chicken.  The cheapest Walmart had them today was $9.98 for a whole chicken so definitely worth picking up a couple for future use.  They also had pork loin chops on sale at half Walmart's price.  I'm noticing that buying for 3 people is a lot more difficult, either things come in packages of 2 or family size.  I had $6.05 worth of coupons.  They do not put coupon flyers in the papers here like they do most places on Sunday so I have to print any I can find off the internet.  Now that I'm feeding three of us I need to watch my food budget big time especially with several trips planned in the 18 months.

Gardening News:
The one good thing about the weather is that our tomatoes are starting to produce baby tomatoes.  There's probably over a dozen baby tomatoes on it and a bunch of flowers yet.  Our 2 plants should produce a nice harvest for us this year.  Aren't the baby tomatoes adorable!

 Bad news is something is destroying my basil.  I tried moving the planter but it doesn't seem to be helping. I've looked frequently and can't find anything on the leaves that could be eating them either.

Chives are doing well, I need to get a larger plantar for them as they're quickly outgrowing the small watering can we used to plant them in.  I made mashed potatoes with sour cream and chives in them last week and it was so nice using some of my own chives.  The baskets of flowers we put around the deck railing are blooming beautifully.  Matt's made frequent mention of the fact that it's pretty interesting how after we put out planters and did some yard work all of a sudden several neighbors went out and bought flowers and planters too.  It can only be a good thing for people to be growing things in my opinion especially food.