Glasses

I have a GAZILLION things to do today.

So what am I doing???

Deciding which glasses to wear 

this weekend while I'm teaching.

Hahahahahaha

Choice #1

I call these my Harry Potter glasses.

Brown and round.

Choice #2

Squarish and although it doesn't show up

well in the photo, they are blue.

Choice #3

Larger squarish and red.

I like the red color, but the small round shape...

I'll pack the all (like I usually do...)

but I'm thinking round / brown.

I haven't worn them in a LONG time.

This particular pair lives on my

dresser in my bedroom.

I also have a cute clear frame pair

in the bathroom, but they are scratched.

And a really DARK black/blue pair that

live on the end table next to my chair

in the living room.

And an ugly pair that lives on top of

the canisters in the kitchen.

The red ones live in my purse for when

I'm out and about.

The blue ones live in my teaching bag for

those awful times when I open my purse

and realize there are NO GLASSES in the case.

And I think I have another pair in the 

center console in my car for when I 

need a little extra help with my GPS screen.

How many pairs do YOU have?

*disclaimer - they are all WalMart cheaters...

**disclaimer #2 - IGNORE MY BANGS!

They are getting long AND I only wash my hair

once a week / Sat morning if I'm teaching,

Sun morning if I'm not...

They could use a wash / brush.

But that would require walking to the bathroom

and I'm not THAT interested in this project.

See above GAZILLION things to do today.

Grocery Trip

This is probably boring to you...

but it helps me remember what I bought

and what I was planning to cook this week.

This is $79.00 worth of food.

And yes, I'm still buying eggs.

Fresh spinach for a big pan of Lazy Lasagna.

Mandarin Oranges for snacking.

2 tubs of Fat Free Cottage Cheese.

1 box Instant Brown Rice

2 boxes reduced sodium chicken broth

1 carton of Heavy Whipping Cream

1 carton of Egg Whites

4 bags of frozen Cauliflower

1 package of Jalapeno Cheddar brats

1 big pkg baked ham deli meat

1 pkg thin sliced provolone cheese

1 pkg Joseph low carb Pita Bread

4 bananas

4 small cans tomato sauce

2 cans red kidney beans - Pearl's Chili

2 cans garbonzo beans - Air Fryer snack

2 dozen eggs (hard boiled / egg salad / cake etc)

2 jugs unsweetened almond milk

1 pkg celery sticks

1 bag BBQ flavored pork rinds (car snack this weekend)

Out of this I plan to make a big pan of Lazy Lasagna,

a pressure cooker full of Pearl's Chili,

a bunch of ham and cheese pita sandwiches

a big tub of egg salad (Rod loves it)

2 tubs of apple/celery waldorf salad

THM friendly pancakes...

Right now there is a rasher of bacon in the oven.

I just finished making 2 tubs of waldorf salad 

with just enough left over for a nice big bowl

for my lunch today...

When I'm done eating that... its back into the kitchen.

I'll make the lasagna, egg salad and chili so Rod

will have something to eat this weekend

while I'm out of town...

I'll probably make the pancakes tomorrow.

I like to make a BIG batch and then I

keep them in a bag in the fridge so Rod

can just grab a couple to heat up,

add a slice or two of bacon and

breakfast is done.

I made a chocolate cake earlier in the week

and cut it into snack sizes - they are in 

zippie bags in the fridge for us to grab

as a quick snack with our lunches.

(I've been working at the Town this

past couple of weeks... I'm back to

making bag lunches!)

The cans of tomato sauce and the whipping cream

makes an AMAZING bowl of 

"Just Like Campbell's Tomato Soup".

(Except I think its better...)

A good, quick lunch or dinner...

Anyhow.

I love doing a big cooking day

(or two).

It feels great to open the fridge/freezer

and see food ready for my family.

Oh yeah.

I also caught the Falcon 9 launch this morning.

I was out feeding the animals so had to

run back into the house to get my phone...

I LOVE living on the Space Coast!

Winter - No Summer - Nope Winter again...

We are in that time of year when Florida

can't pick a season!

It's going to be 80 degrees.

No its going to be 40 degrees.

But tomorrow it will be 80 degrees.

And the day after that we might hit 60.

Last week it was FREEEEZING!

Yes, we have established than I'm a pansy.

But at least I was WARM...

I had gloves too, but can't work my

camera / phone with them on.

It is once again in the 70's today.

But tomorrow they are saying rain and chilly.

And this weekend it will rain the whole time.

I'll be on the south west coast, but they

are going to get rain all weekend.

At least it (might) be a little warmer...

Kyle is finally almost over his cold.

I felt one coming on Friday so while

we were out running errands I stopped at

the health food store and bought some

more Oil of Oregano - took 3 of them

with my Subway sandwich and it

never went any further... 

Dodged THAT bullet!

But everyone at the Town Hall is sick.

I spent the day there today.

I told them I would come in for a bit

tomorrow, but I'm going to have a can of

Lysol following me around.

I only have 10 students registered for this

weekend's class, but anybody I meet at the

door who looks / sounds sick... OUT YOU GO!

(grin)

Bonfire

A couple of weeks ago, when Kyle

was in town, he cut down a bunch

of old dead trees, dug a BIG trench,

and filled it with the trees and

other random wood laying around

in the VERY back pasture.

Hmmmm.

No before pictures.

Anyhow.

This weekend he got to be here

for a day or two.

Rod and I drove up to the ranch on Saturday,

loaded up his furniture

and he loaded up his trailer with a

bunch of hay for the town farm

and we headed south.

(The ranch truck is having mechanical

issues - we brought up a new part

that he installed, but the other problem

requires a diagnostic computer...)

Sunday afternoon he decided

to light the wood on fire and

see what happened.

(The trench is half full of water, so

he wasn't confident anything would happen...)

Surprise!!! 

It burned really well!

It was smoky... but it burned.

(This is after a couple of hours...)

We pulled up some chairs and enjoyed it.

Tip your head to the right and look in the middle of the fire.
See the cat?

At the bottom of the pile

(or at least a couple of layers down...)

there was a PVC pipe.

Once that caught on fire, the flames

were really pretty!

Toxic... but pretty!

(So we made sure to stay up wind...)

Rod went out and poured water on it

and made sure it was out before

he went to bed.

This morning we checked it again 

before Kyle had to head back up north.

He will be home next Monday for a couple

of weeks... months... who knows...

and he'll put some more wood in there

for Bonfire 2.0

And then he'll push all the dirt back in the hole.

DONE.

LONG Tuesday!

I set an alarm clock this morning!

Woke up about an hour before it

went off, but it was chilly in my room,

so I stayed in bed all snuggled up

until it went off.

And then I got up.

It was 7:00.

It was 43 degrees outside.

BRRRRRR!

I pulled out my giant puffy coat,

hat, scarf, gloves, SOCKS and barn shoes.

Headed out into the great white north

(oh wait, that's not right...)

Headed out in the freezing green yard

(with a cold wind whistling down from ALASKA)

to feed the animals.

Done in RECORD TIME!

(no kidding!)

Back into the house to get the big green

trash can and drag it to the road.

Back into the house to let the dogs out.

Back into the house to cook my okra and eggs.

While that was cooking I did some email stuff.

When it was all done, I brought the dogs

back in, fed them and then walked outside

to let the horses out.

(While my breakfast cooled a bit...)

Ate my breakfast while doing my morning

reading and then headed in to take a shower.

While I was getting dressed I remembered

I didn't have a "name" so ran to print a card

and then jumped in the car to drive to Linda's

so we could head to Orlando to the Temple.

It was a really nice drive.

We always have a good time visiting on

the drive over and back again.

She has had a house full of family since

before the holidays.

Gina, Colton and their baby Lucy are 

still living with her until the end of the

month when they will move to the ranch.

They are moving into Kyle's house.

(He is moving home)

They are helping her go through the stuff

in her garage prior to her moving to her

new house she is building.

Whew!

Anyhow.

We had a nice visit.

And when we got to the Temple it was BUSY!

The session was FULL!

I haven't seen that in a long time!

It was a nice session.

Meanwhile... Rod is working on the ceiling in the

tack room in preparation for a home inspection.

(Possibly changing home owners insurance...)

It's been a JOB!

This tile split YEARS ago and then it looked like

it got moldy. But its in the tack room so we

didn't really worry about it much.

Last weekend while I was out of town,

he pulled it down, expecting to find the

ceiling full of black mold.

Much to our surprise (and delight)

this is what he found!

Not a speck of mold!!!!

YEA!!!

He went to the rental place and got a nifty tool.

He loves tools.

Especially THIS tool since it allowed him

to put up a 4x8 sheet of drywall in the ceiling

by himself!

(Kyle is still on Calf Duty at the ranch...)

Got it all screwed in.

The next day he started filling in the holes

around the sheet and then taped and mudded.

The next day (after work) he got the first 

coat of paint on it.

He just got home from work and is back out there

putting on another coat of paint.

This one is textured so it matches the rest of the ceiling.

I'm going to make him a nice big steak.

He has EARNED it!!!

Budget

One of my monthly goals is to make and

then stick to a grocery budget.

It was payday today so I put $200 in 

the grocery account

and then I headed to Walmart.

We have a freezer FULL of meat.

But we are running very low on veggies...

Here was my "haul" for today.

Mandarin oranges (we eat them like candy...)

Bananas

Raspberries and wild blueberries for

"Cottage Berry Whip".

Splurged on a bag of frozen diced avocados.

We'll see if I ever buy them again...

And frozen asparagus spears for the air fryer.

3 bags of fine green beans

a bag of brocoli florets (I have 4 more in the freezer)

2 bags of mixed vegetables

2 bags frozen sweet peas.

2 bags of the ever present cut okra

2 tubs of fat free cottage cheese 

(for the aforementioned cottage berry whip)

a dozen eggs - the girls have started laying

but Rod has been selling them at work

2 cans of diced petite tomatoes

2 cans mild rotel knock-off

a bag of wild/black rice

(for chicken and wild rice soup this weekend,

we are expecting a cold front... SOUP!)

5# of parboiled brown rice

ranch dressing (Rod's preferred dressing)

blue cheese dressing (my preferred dressing)

a 6 pack of raspberry flavored sugar free sparkling water

(an experiment...)

Not pictured - 2 jugs of unsweetened almond milk.

12 cans of wet dog food 

And then the non-food items:

a box of 5 hour energy for Rod

dish washing liquid

dish washer cleaner tablets

Lysol toilet bowl cleaner.

Total $119.23

Not bad, I'm hoping it will last us until next payday.

Except for the almond milk.

And the eggs... we'll see - I use Walmart eggs

for Rod's egg salad but like to use our eggs

if I'm making fried or scrambled.

Wish me luck!

SUNSHINE

We are at the end of a lovely heat wave.

Some people aren't loving it, but I sure have been!

Yesterday it was 86.

In January!

(It was 90 in Bonita Springs over the weekend!)

So I took full advantage.

Kyle's neck was really causing him pain

on Tuesday, so he hopped in his car and

drove home to see his chiropractor.

And then Wednesday morning we went

to our HAPPY PLACE.

It was a beautiful, nearly cloudless day.

It felt so good to have that sun on my skin!

I even caught a quick pic of Kyle.

He was watching a baby ghost crab...

We only stayed for an hour and a half 

(we both wanted MORE but 

1. we were burning (it's been 2 months

since our last visit)

2. He had to get back to the ranch...)

It was so relaxing.

After he headed north, I got busy

tidying up the house and tossed

a chuck roast in the pressure cooker.

We had the Elders over for dinner.

Then I went outside to mow the yard,

but the battery is DEAD so instead

I let all the pasture animals into the

backyard so they could enjoy the grass.

When Rod got home, we harvested our

lemon tree.

We picked 12 nice big lemons - there are

still 3 left on the tree to grow a bit more...

These guys were ready though!

He's HUGE!

And sweet.

And delicious.

So the theme for the day was sunshine.

In the air AND in my bowl.

(And my glass - I made a "Boost Juice"

the juice of half a lemon, a tsp of baobab powder

and some sweetener, an ice cube and water.

DELICIOUS!)

I'm just finishing my breakfast.

Then it's laundry day.

And I'm going to try again with the mower.

It's been on the charger over night.

The horses and cows are in the middle yard

again, but the cows found one of my

ornamental trees so I had to chase them off.

If they head back over again they lose

backyard privileges.

Back out to their pasture they'll have to go.

And tonight there is a cold front moving in.

All that FREEZING weather from Calgary

has decided to head to Florida.

Oh goody.

Teeny Tiny Class

I finished up my teeny tiny class yesterday.

Hopefully the next classes will be larger!

I ended up with 5 students.

That's pretty small.

One had to leave and rescue her Mom

who locked her keys in her car.

And the engine was running.

It was 45 miles away.

So then there were 4.

(for the final exam)

Three did really well.

And one didn't.

I have 2 taking the state exam today

and 2 taking it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, BIG NEWS.

I talked to the boss' assistant last week

about FINALLY getting me a tall chair 

to sit on while teaching and she 

got back to me on Friday and said

they don't provide those anymore so

just buy one and expense it.

Amazon Prime here I come!!!

Sunday morning (luckily at break)

the mailman showed up with a big box.

(Saturday night I went out and bought

a couple of screw drivers...)

Over lunch break I put it together.

Houston - we have a CHAIR!

(with my blazer thrown over the back...)

So excited!!!

This morning I got up, did a workout using

a digital T-Tapp workout on my iPad,

and then went to Mel's Diner for a 

yummy "Club Benedict".

It was delicious!

Kyle called while I was eating and we

had a nice visit while I finished and then

I drove over to Rural King and loaded

up on horse, cow and chicken feed.

He and I chatted most of the drive home.

And now I'm here.

I've submitted my class paperwork.

Submitted my expense report (massive).

Submitted my 30 day challenge results.

And now I'm going to go unload the feed,

feed the animals,

and make dinner.

Here's to fabulous new furniture!

(And 2 weekends off...)

Health Update

I went to the doctor this morning 

for my annual wellness checkup.

She was IMPRESSED!

All my numbers were glorious.

Not only in the healthy range,

but numbers she said she rarely sees!

Thank you Trim Healthy Mama

and T-Tapp!

After I finished there, I hopped on the

highway and ran into town to Sams.

I have a couple of YouTube moms I 

follow and they are always doing

"grocery hauls".

(Show and tell on their groceries...)

So here's mine.

I love my LONG counter top.

Starting at the right I have a big pack of bacon.

I'll back some bacon this afternoon.

And then some chicken breasts. At $1.98/lb

it's a good, inexpensive protein choice.

And then two flank steaks. 

I usually don't buy steak since we have a

freezer FULL of beef, but Rod likes to

cook up a steak on Sunday evening when I'm gone

and all we have left are T-bones.

1. There are 2 in a packet

2. SAVE THEM FOR US TOGETHER!

(hahahaha)

Last year I didn't get ANY t-bone.

He and Kyle ate all of them!

Then for the produce...

We have a bag of little oranges,

a pack of cherry tomatoes, a bucket of mushrooms

(the mushrooms and tomatoes are in the window

getting "sun tanned" to increase their Vitamin D levels)

a BIG bag of organic baby carrots,

a bag of colored mini peppers,

a hand of green bananas (our bananas ripen SO fast here!),

2 bags of lettuce and 1 bag of coleslaw,

a bag of frozen "zoodles" and a bag of beef jerky.

Plus a 55 lb bag of dog food.

Still in the trunk...

Total spent? $133.32.

Not bad. I got a lot of meat this time

which I don't usually do.

After I got it all put away

(and put in a load of laundry)

I made some lunch.

Two "wonder wraps" filled with turkey breast,

some romaine lettuce and mustard.

Carrots, baby peppers and tomatoes for

dipping in the little bucket of ranch dressing,

and two homemade chocolates for desert.

(Dark chocolate and peanut flour for a yummy

reeses sort of bite...)

And now?

I need to divide up the meats and get

those in the fridge / freezer.

Finish the laundry,

and clean the bathroom.

Rod will be home in about an hour

and then he has High Council and I have

a conference call for school.

So that's TODAY!

Another Ranch Trip

I spent the weekend teaching my first class

of 2020! Being the first weekend of the

month (and lots of people aren't even back

from vacation since school didn't start 

until Tuesday...) I was happy to have

a small group of 6 people.

(Although I still only had 2 just before

8:00 and was getting super nervous!)

Anyhow.

Monday morning I slept in and 

then got up, packed up my stuff

and got ready to head up to the ranch.

It's 4 hours from school to our house.

OR its 4 hours from school to the ranch.

As I was getting ready to head out,

Kyle called and said the women

had just let him know they were going

to be there around 4:00 and wanted to

work the cows then instead of Tuesday

morning - which was fine since I was

going to be up there by 2-ish anyway.

When I got up there the weather was PERFECT!

 

Kyle picked up a bag of feed to toss in the
back of the UTV I was going to drive and put
his finger through a spider web.

Dropped the back and sure enough.

There she was.

a Brown Widow.

(His shop is INFESTED with these things...)

The internet says they are more poisonous

than black widows, but they don't inject the

same amount of neurotoxin.

So they COULD kill you if they wanted to...

but they don't.

Whew!

EEEEEEWWWWWW.

Once I took some pictures, he dispatched it.

And we headed out to gather up the cows.

The cows we were working this time were

the 7 girls Kyle has brought up from the

town farm over the past few months.

These all needed to be vaccinated and have

seeders placed. Next Monday they get

another shot and the seeders pulled and

then the bull shows up that afternoon.

He will be on the ranch for 60 days.

So... that's what was on tap.

Since these girls are what Linda calls 

"Wellfare cows" - in other words, she feeds

them every day (and they have come to expect it)

they are usually pretty anxious to run TO

the UTV and follow it in hopes of food.

So we had a bag to rattle if we needed it,

but we were pretty confident they would just

see us, come running, and follow us up to 

the facility.

HA!

As if.....

We ended up rounding them up like we would

the other herd.

It wasn't hard.

Just unexpected.

But we had them all in the facility and

waiting quietly by the time Linda and Gina

showed up. 

At which point Gina remembered that she

left the vaccination gun in the freezer

back at the town farm.

So Linda had to run into town and buy

some syringes.

But that was also ok because we had a few

minutes to kill until Mason showed up.

(He is the college student who worked 

for Linda in town over the summer and

who helps out Kyle once in awhile when 

he needs it. It was nice that he was there because

he did the ear tags and ran the chute so

Kyle didn't have to be everywhere.)

Gina, waiting for Mason to place the

new ear tag before inserting the seeder.

My tools, the hot shot and fly pour on.

And one of the cows waiting her turn...

Mason up front waiting while Gina does her thing.

Mason and Gina at work.

(Linda was on the other side taking pictures.)

The yellow box is the electronics for

the scales, a cow steps on, you enter her

tag number, wait for her to stand still

and then push the button my record her weight.

Usually my job, but Linda was doing it this time.

This cow wasn't too excited about her

new earring... Mason had to work for this one.

When we were all done we headed out back

to see the babies.

There are 16 on the ground now.

Cute little critters!

The sun was going down and it was cooling off,

but everybody had a good time checking

out the cows.

#2 was coming over to see what I was doing.

Looks like a cow on a mission, eh? (grin)

All in all, a successful afternoon/evening's work.

Linda, Gina, her husband and baby all left

and Kyle, Mason and I stood out in the pasture

for another hour or so and visited by

the light of a beautiful 3/4 moon.

Until we were FROZEN SOLID.

And then we came in, put everything away,

went in the house to heat up some dinner

and wrap up in blankets to thaw out.

Tuesday morning I helped him put

the rest of the stuff away and then

I said "bye" and headed back down south.

Today I'm busy doing all the chores I usually

spread out over the week.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow

morning (check up) and then a meeting

tomorrow night.

And then it's Friday again and time to head

south to teach school again.

Whew!!!

And now I have to run into town to drop off

some stuff Rod forgot and swing by the

VW dealership to see Jim and pay for some

parts Kyle ordered that finally came in.

And then WalMart to pick up my synthroid.

And probably get some FOOD for Rod to

eat over the weekend.

Talk again tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Sondra

Happy Birthday Sondra!!!

And conveniently it's THURSDAY,

so she called me, as she always does...

we had a really nice visit and came

to the conclusion that we are getting old.

But it's ok, because we have a plan!

Isn't she beautiful???

 I am so looking forward to getting together

again this spring!!!

I am seriously the WORST selfie taker!

She is already an amazing woman.

I can't wait to see what this decade brings!

Sondra was so helpful when Kyle was

dealing with the craziness that was

his life over the summer (and the past year).

She is so kind but firm.

Thoughtful and guiding.

Loving and gentle.

But totally not a pushover.

This was "yesterday's hike".

She's so cute!!!

(And brave...)

(Yesterday I was wearing shorts...)

Happy Birthday Darling!

Happy New Year!

It was a BUSY day today!

Rod continued with his home improvements.

The back door into our tack room was

never right. We replaced the door this

summer, but it wasn't framed in right

so that was the project he tackled today.

He had to grind through inches and inches

of stucco that Bill (previous owner) put on.

And then figure out what silly thoughts

Bill was thinking when he built this room.

(Bill was the KING of building stuff

in the middle of the night so he didn't

need to pull a permit...

One day there was a patio, the next there

was a ROOM!)

(kind of)

Anyhow.

It was a much bigger project than he thought,

but its nearly done and good enough to get

him through until the weekend.

Meanwhile, I swept and mopped all

the floors in the house,

took down the Christmas tree

and all the decorations on the barn / front gate.

And then I hit the kitchen.

I just learned how to make "Wonder Wraps"

(a trim healthy recipe) on my fancy griddle

so today I made a double batch and they

turned out really well!

I'm getting better at making them round!

While those were cooking I was also doing

a big batch of black beans in my pressure 

cooker - my freezer stash was GONE so 

it was time to refill it.

And then I made a nice big "sheet pan dinner".

It's ready to eat... here's hoping its good.

Chicken thighs on top of roasted

brussel sprouts and cauliflower with bacon.

I forgot to mention Kyle made soap for

his Christmas gifts this year!

The green birchwood one smells especially yummy!

And it's shea butter, so it's pretty awesome.

This morning he, Jim and Jim's friend Tom went

down to Wabaso (on the river by Vero Beach)

and went fishing.

They didn't catch any fish.

Jim caught a crab.

But they had a GREAT TIME getting

away from work.

Both Jim and Kyle work WAY too many 

hours each week.

So it was a welcome break.