The Furniture Shuffle

 We've probably just decided we're never moving again and if we do, it will not be by choice. Just moving things around to get rid of the old chairs and bring in the new chairs has been a huge chore - but mostly because of the "stuff". Normally when adding furniture downstairs, the delivery folks will want to come in through the basement and the easiest way is to come in through the sewing room and then into the family room or a bedroom. The sewing room has truly filled up to the brim with "stuff" that does not need to be in there.

Of course, there's a sewing machine, a cover stitch machine, a serger, a longarm that has never been fully set up in the six years we've lived here but the table is set up taking up 12' x 4 or 5 feet of space! Then there's a cutting table and an ironing table that I made years and years ago.

There are at least 6 of the shelf units with quilting fabric and linen on them. 

Then . . things that do not need to be in the sewing room - a love seat with a console in the middle, a recliner, a bed, two end tables, LOTS of jars of canned food . . and I somehow had to make a path big enough for two guys to bring recliners in and our. It's hard enough to walk through there without carrying anything.

So, I spent all day Saturday, most of Sunday and Monday morning cleaning, tossing stuff, filling bags for donation - making a path through the sewing room. There was so much that needed to be thrown out and so much that needed to be donated and there's still so much in there. 

Monday about noon, the furniture store called and wanted to know if they could bring the chairs Monday afternoon. Oh, YES!! The sooner those chairs are here, the sooner I can sit down and stop cleaning because there was no stopping point in that sewing room!

The chairs arrived and Vince and I are both seriously impressed. Vince can't believe the difference in these chairs and the ones we've been buying.

We've only had them less than 24 hours but . . as of now, we're very pleased. It's a Zecliner by Flexsteel and there are several models. This chart provides a comparison among the various models. We got the Model 2 (Standard). The only things I see that Model 2-Advanced and Model 3 have that our model doesn't have are: (1) Cooling Pillow - These chairs are in the basement - everything stays plenty cool down here. (2) Nanobionic fabric - Our store didn't have this and we weren't willing to wait 5 - 7 months (or longer) to get a chair that wasn't in stock. (3) Heat - Don't need that. I have two dogs and a heated small blanket/throw that I use if it's cold. There are times Vince might like heat on his back but he will use a heating pad for that. (4) Air Massage - We might have liked that but, again, it wasn't in stock here. (5)  Lift - Nope, didn't need that . . at least not now. (6) Rocker - Definitely NOT! That's one thing I absolutely didn't want because dogs wiggle and that makes the chair moved when I'm trying to stitch!

Probably if a 2-Advanced had been available, we might have considered that but, for the extra $$, maybe not. We won't be missing what we didn't get.

The literature says this chair is for people 5'6" to 6'. I am not 5'6" and it seems fine to me.  

One more thing - the specs say the chair is 40". I have not measured it but it is probably at least 5" wider than the chairs we had, which caused a bit more furniture shuffle once the chairs arrived but the chairs really are SO comfortable.

I'll try to post again after a month of using it.

September 18, 2026 - Another Stitching Chair

 I just had to look at my phone to make sure the date was right! How on earth is the first half of September (plus a few days) already gone? Time truly flies.

There has to be a point where I find the perfect stitching chair. Heck, I don't even mind if it isn't perfect . . halfway perfect would make me happy.

In the past five years, I've tried an electric recliner that I didn't like because I got it before we got Oscar and it swiveled and rocked so any move he made while sitting with me caused the chair to wiggle and you know that's not good for stitching.

Next I got a love seat with an ottoman thinking that might work. I don't even remember why I didn't like that one but I didn't.

By then, we had Cooper so I got an oversized recliner and it wasn't comfortable at all for stitching.

Then I got a love seat that had recliners on each end but to put the legs down, you have to use your feet so once I hurt my knee, that didn't work.

I've been using one of the old recliners that the people we bought this house from left (after asking us if we wanted them and we said yes). Now, they're really old and I thought it had gotten terribly uncomfortable so a couple of weeks ago, I moved the love seat over to my stitching spot - the one you have to use your feet to put down, and put the ottoman in front of it so I can rest my legs on the ottoman. Cooper has decided he wants to sleep right at the edge of the chair, half on the ottoman and half on the chair but it doesn't take long until the ottoman has moved just a small amount and Cooper is falling through. I have to put my stitching frame to the side, move the stand that holds the tablet, gently hold on to Cooper while I push the ottoman way with my feet. I know - there are plenty of people in this world who wish their troubles were so small.

Last night I was sitting and thinking . . maybe the problem is that both the reclining love seats and all the recliners kinda lean back a bit when in the reclining position so I'm having to stay hunched over a bit to stitch plus, I keep sliding towards the end of the chair and probably my feet are pushing the ottoman away and that's what's causing Cooper to fall.

I decided what I need is a recliner that the back doesn't lean back when I put the foot/leg rest out. I was thinking even a chaise lounger type chair might work. We were going to town anyway so I asked Vince if he minded going by a furniture store or two. He didn't mind going by a furniture store but he was NOT happy that I wanted yet another chair!

It isn't like I buy new furniture often or just for the sake of having new furniture. Our sofa was 30 years old when we got rid of that. Our breakfast room table is 20+ years old. Pretty much everything we have in this house is 20+ years old and most of our other furniture is even older. If I could find a comfy chair, we'll probably never buy any more furniture.

So, we went to the first furniture store and the lady there showed me the chaise loungers. None of those were what I wanted. I explained about wanting something where the back didn't recline and she went straight to a sofa, love seat and recliner that were all electric, had one button for the feet/legs; one for the back to change the reclining position; one for the lumbar area. It was so comfy and I loved it but there isn't room for the loveseat (it has a console in the middle with a place to stash floss, needles and scissors and it has two cup holders. I liked that idea but it wouldn't fit in the space where I want to put it. In the family room downstairs, there's one area where I can put my chair. The other wall has the TV; the other wall has a fireplace and the other wall . . if I put it there, the magnifying light bothers Vince when he's watching TV so . . the love seat was too long for the spot I have. The recliner was fairly narrow and it would be tight for me to stitch in it with two dogs. We said we would talk about it . . and we did . . but we decided to go to the furniture store closer to our house. It has free delivery (the place in town wanted $150 to deliver) and the place closer to us isn't in the city so there are no city taxes so that saves about 5%.

We got there and they took us to two recliners. The first one had an open space between the two sections of the feet/leg rest. That won't work with the dogs. They will either fall asleep and fall through or be running and jumping and land in the open space and potentially cause a back injury. 

The other recliner seemed perfect!! I went on to look at others because I was hoping to pay less than what they wanted for this one.

We checked out a few others and they weren't great. Vince sat in it and loved it. He talked me into getting this one. Then he was talking about how bad his chair is. Yes, it's as old as the one I was using. It is worn out too. They said they had two still in boxes. Hmm .. we'd have to think about it.

We keep slipcovers on our furniture so I'm not worried about the color or the fabric. It is electric. It has the lumbar support so I can be sitting with my legs propped up AND have the back straight up with extra support.

On both sides, it has the horizontal pocket on both sides - probably for the remove but I can also put TV remotes in there; then there's also a regular pocket just below the horizontal pocket . . on both sides! I can stash my project bag for whatever I'm working on in there so the dogs don't bother it.

It's scheduled to be delivered Tuesday. I'm so hoping this will be the perfect recliner! Really hoping . . because Vince decided he needed on too so we got both of the ones still in boxes. When he paid for them, he said "I just spent more for two chairs than I spent on my first new car!" Yes, that's what I say every time I go to the grocery store!  :)

So hoping we both love these chairs . . and love them for a very long time.

Fire Cider, Salves and Tinctures

 It's that time of year when I make fire cider to get us through winter and harvest the things I need for tinctures and salves. Most anything within reason can be used in fire cider. Today I used oranges, lemons, garlic, horseradish, turmeric, rosemary, ginger, onion, dried elderberries and jalapeno peppers. Everything except the oranges and lemons came from our garden.

Left side is rosemary in vodka which will sit for at least two months, probably three or four because I still have plenty of this tincture left. I made it today because the rosemary needed trimming.  The center jar is the fire cider. The jar on the right is a jar of olive oil with dried American Beauty Berry leaves which will steep for about six months before I make that into a salve. Also, there's another jar that was upstairs and didn't get into the picture that has American Beauty Berry leaves that are infusing into witch hazel and that will be our bug spray for next year.

I will make another jar of fire cider. One will not be enough if both of us it daily but, I'm out of half gallon jars. I have more on my next Azure Standard order but I'm sure I'll empty one soon and can use it to make more cider. 

It's been a fun day in the kitchen!

Okra!

 Vince tells me that every year, I'm in a panic because the okra isn't growing and producing as I want it to do . . and every year by the time that first frost comes along and wipes it out, I'm happy with the okra we got and glad to see the plants go! Okra is the last thing left in the garden . . I guess it's the last thing I really care about at this point. There are still peppers, still lots of those crazy tomatoes Cooper loves and I still have to dig the sweet potatoes. I planted a late crop of cow peas, which may or may not produce but I wanted them mostly to add nitrogen to the soil so I planted those after most everything else was pulled out. 

For the okra, I started out blanching, slicing, flash freezing and putting it in vacuum seal bags. I ended up with about 45 pints. I will use that for "frying". I take the lazy route - add a little oil to the pot, put the okra in and stir it til it's done, add a bit more oil and some cornmeal, lightly brown that and even though each piece wasn't battered and fried, it tastes just like fried okra and is much easier.

There's plenty of freeze dried okra from last year so I'm not freeze drying any of it this year. I did run out of okra in the freezer this year and used some of the freeze dried for rehydrating and frying. 

Saturday I canned 19 half pints of stewed okra. I will use those in soups and gumbo.

Everything I get now I will can in pints and those will be jars I open up, add tomatoes . . or not, and we eat as a side dish.

I have to cut the okra every day and what I got yesterday and today was enough for 7 pints. I'm hoping to get at least 30 pints total before the first frost. I save seeds from one year to the next and I've already got the seed pods for next year. I managed to miss too many pods and they got huge so that will be what I use for next year's seeds.

We both love okra so I will put up all I can get.

September 8, 2026 - Bread - Buns and Rolls

 Since yesterday was our Azure pickup, put the spelt in a bucket this morning and realized it looked a little wimpy. I'm guessing it's because so much of the grain this year has been grown in drought conditions but I wanted to test it and make sure it's ok.

I don't know if you can see it but the grain in the white lid is grain from last year and the grain in the bucket is the new grain.

I figured the best way to test it was to make a tried and true recipe I've made often - Hamburger buns made with hard white wheat and spelt.

I've been having a problem with my right ear - it pops sometimes but this morning it was popping way more than normal. Every step I took, the ear popped. I had just shaped the buns and rolls to rise and decided I should have the doctor look at the ear. I called and the lady said "Can you be here in 30 minutes?" I wanted to say "No! I'm farther away than 30 minutes." But, I said YES because I was about to scream with that ear popping constantly.

I stuck the rolls, that had just started rising, in the fridge and went to see the doctor.

You know sometimes weird things happen to me. The doctor came in and looked in my ear and said "There's a hair in your ear." I thought "Oh, great . . does hair growing in my ears come with old age?" Nope, not growing - just a hair resting on my ear drum and every time I took a step, that hair was kinda like it was beating a drum! They did an "ear flush". Guess where the hair came from! Cooper! It was a Cooper hair in my ear. Who would ever have thought that could happen? Hopefully it never happens again.

Came home, got the rolls out of the fridge, let them rise, baked them and here they are:

Five hamburger buns and four little rolls. 

I cut the smallest roll in half, added way too much butter and it was delicious. I love the nutty, buttery flavor of spelt. I love making bread! 

September 8, 2026 - Weather

 Is everyone's weather crazy? Ours sure is. We've had weeks and weeks of temps over 100. Our home weather station has shown temps as high as 115. I don't even remember the last time it wasn't over 100 in the daytime - it's probably been well over a month. And the last time we had rain . . I would guess two months and my water bill will confirm that guess!  :)

Tomorrow we're supposed to break yet another record. The weather guy says 102 for a high but I'm betting at our house, it will be warmer. We're in a valley and it always seems to be a few degrees colder than it is in town and apparently in the summer, we're a few degrees warmer.

Then, look at our low for 9/20 -- just 12 days later.

Many nights that low and my okra will be done. When the okra is done, that's the end of the garden for me. I'll put the rosemary in the greenhouse. It's all in small pots but I'm pretty much ready for this year's gardening season to be over . . though I do hate to lose my okra this early. One 47 degree night may not hurt it but several in a row will and if the forecast says 47, it well might be 43 at our house. 

It's ok . . not much I can do about it but I'm ready to get out the sweaters and wool socks and sit and cross stitch all day vs. pulling weeds, squishing bugs and watering plants!

September 7, 2026 - A New to Us Breakfast Recipe

 Last night Vince sent me this video and said it looks good. It did look good so I told him I would make it for breakfast this morning. I did and it was super easy and delicious! I will make it again but I think I will add jalapeno peppers next time.

The stuff that looks like icing on top is actually melted cheese. I love the Rumiano mozzarella. I like it so much that I try to not even buy it!

There was over half of it leftover and I think it will be great reheated in the air fryer.

Our Azure pickup was supposed to happen today at 12:30. We had decided we would eat in Lamar (that's where we pickup) and Vince had found a Mexican restaurant to try. About 7:30 we got an email that our delivery was delayed because the truck had been damaged in a storm last night and they would let us know when they knew more. About 1:30, we hadn't heard anything and I hadn't planned lunch so I told Vince I'd grab a jar of something. 

I wanted red beans, sausage and rice so I got a jar of red beans and sausage and I add ground beef to it when I'm canning it. I wanted to add extra sausage so I got a package of sausage. I made coleslaw and dressing, rice and cornbread using soft white wheat and dried dent corn.

This is one of my favorite meals! Before we were quite finished eating, we got an email that the Azure truck was fixed and would be at the drop off location by 3 p.m. Oops . . that was about 45 minutes from when I got the email and we're 45 minutes from the drop so we finished eating, put the coolers and ice packs in the car and took off. It's a good thing I cooked because there was nothing but fast food open in that little town. The Mexican place was closed. The BBQ place we like was closed . . we would probably have come home and had a sandwich.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), I don't think we have to leave the house . . that's my hope anyway.