Last Night's Storm

  Today I'm feeling very blessed. First, I'm very thankful I didn't know how bad the storm was as it was happening last night. We knew we might have severe storms, including a chance of a tornado. We began watching Ryan Hall early in the evening and it seemed the worst of the weather was going to stay south of us in the area around and west of Bentonville, AR and north of us west and into Kansas City. We pretty much let our guard down. Ryan Hall was still on and about 11:00 p.m., he started mentioning Joplin. My phone started going off with alerts from the local weatherman - get to your safe room! The weather radio was going off. Then Vince said "I hear the tornado sirens!" I can't hear them at all from inside the house but Vince can. I know - they're not meant to be heard inside the house. Funny because Vince never hears me when I ask him to do things but he can hear the sirens and I can't!   <G>

I was saying we should go into the safe room, then the electricity went off. Vince said he was NOT going to the safe room. We were already in the basement. I took a battery operated lantern and went and took a shower. I figured I'd just go to bed but by the time I got out of the shower, our power was back on but it was on and off - on just long enough for the internet to reconnect, get the TV on . . then electricity was off again. That happened probably 8 times over the next hour so we went to bed. The storm appeared to be over by then and we did hear that tornado sirens are activated when winds are more than 80 (or was it 85?) mph so it wasn't a tornado in the area that caused them to go off. Now we know we can have sirens without an actual tornado but if winds are 80 or 85 mph, it's probably a good idea to get in the safe room anyway.

This morning I went out expecting to see fence panels missing, trees down, but nothing! I figured the storms weren't that bad and then I looked at Facebook and the news. Oh, my . . I think for half of Joplin, Carthage and the surrounding area - so many are without power and will be for days. Crews have come in from other places to help but lots of power poles have to be replaced; lots of trees on lines and lots of downed lines.

There are so many people in our area with electricity right now. When I walk outside, I hear quite a few generators running. 

We don't have any trees down. We don't have any huge limbs down. One neighbor has quite a few big limbs down and one landed on their fence.  One friend down the road lost four big trees.

The church near us didn't have services this morning because they had flooding; I heard some of the stores in the mall have water in them.

A tornado would have been worse but this was quite a storm and I'm so thankful we didn't have damages.

Stitching, Gardening, Finger Update

Not much around here is newsworthy these days but I wanted to check in.

We'll start with the finger. I am still not 100% convinced that it's gout but I guess time will tell. There is much less pain but there is still pain and swelling and still very sore. We're into the 4th week so I'm sure I don't have to tell you how ready I am for this finger to get back to a point where I can write, type, stitch, and lots of other things without pain. My biggest complaint is that I have lost so much strength in my right hand mainly because I can't grip anything. There are lots worse problems that I could have and I remind myself of that a million times a day so I am not complaining (or I'm trying not to complain) but . . I just want it to go away!

On the garden front . . this evening (Wednesday) after I got home from a day of stitching with Debbie, I pulled out the garlic. I think there's upwards of 150 bulbs of garlic. I would like to have left it in the ground another week or so. It's been weird. The top was dying and the bottom leaves were not dying. I've always pulled it when the bottom third or so leaves were brown but that wasn't happening this year. I think I'm going to find that it would have benefited from another week or so in the ground but if I don't get my okra planted, it's going to be too late to get as much okra as we need for the year. If I had to choose between better garlic or more okra, I vote for more okra so the garlic is out. The okra seeds are soaking and I will plant them tomorrow. 

This evening I dug a few potatoes for tomorrow's dinner, picked four tomatoes and several yellow zucchini. I'm getting lots of peppers. My favorite peppers will probably always be the Giant Marconi but I'm loving snacking on the Bishop's Crown peppers when I'm out working in the garden.

I think I'm supposed to let them get red and they may be much hotter then but Vince and I have both been eating them while outside working.

I don't think it's going to be a good year for the tomatoes. It was so late when I was able to plant them and we're already having temps in the upper 90's and lows in the mid-70's. We are still having a fair amount of rain but I think those temps are not working in my favor with the tomatoes.

The best garden news is that we seem to have control of the squash bugs. I planted lots of mint and basil and fennel and dill - every strong smelling thing I could plant . . and wedged a squash or two in the middle of it all so almost every bed, tub and bucket had at least one squash plant in it. I also have marigolds and other plants that were said to deter insects. So far, I've found squash bug eggs on three leaves and killed two bugs. That's kind of a miracle but . . there's still a long way to go with the squash bug season. I've also been using lots of food grade D.E. out there and Vince came up with a possible solution which I'll talk about more once I know for sure how well it works.

On the stitching news, I am not getting much done. Out of the last 7 days, I've had two stitching days with Debbie and those are the only days I've stitched. Mostly it's because of the finger so I'm hoping very soon I can get back to stitching and have something to share.

Poor Man's Crockpot Beef Ragu

 Chad made this Poor Man's Crockpot Beef Ragu last week and he was telling me how good it was. I made it yesterday for today and it really is good.

The best part: Ever since I met Vince, over 30 year ago, he's told me that every Sunday they ate meatballs and sauce. Apparently they saved the leftover meat during the week - roast beef, steak, pork - whatever, and that went into the sauce. I've tried all kinds of recipes and nothing was ever close to what his dad made. It's kinda hard when I never even tasted it and Vince isn't 100% sure if he even remembers it after all these years.

So . . I made this recipe.

Chad was cooking his in the Instant Pot so he made a few changes.

I made a few changes even though I cooked mine in the crockpot.

1. I had pork . . I call it backbone but I think everyone else calls it some kind of boneless ribs. I cut that into good sized chunks, seasoned it and browned it in beef tallow on the stove. I used this because it was in my fridge and needed to be cooked and my chuck roast was on the smaller side.

2. I also cut the chuck roast into chunks, seasoned it and browned it.

3. I had a bit of ground beef left over from yesterday's grilled hamburgers. Our ground meat is in 1-1/2 pound packages so I usually make hamburgers for us and then use the rest for a meatloaf. Because I'll be gone a couple of days next week, I made extra burgers for Vince to have so I probably had about 1/2 pound of ground beef left. I browned it and added it to the crockpot.

4. I didn't have red chili peppers so I chopped a couple of jalapeno peppers and sauteed them along with the celery in onion in the leftover drippings from Browning the meat.

5. Since I was cooking it yesterday for today, I cooked it (crockpot) on high for 6 hours, then let it all cool, put the whole crockpot container in the fridge overnight, then scooped off as much of the hardened fat at the top, put it back on low and cooked it for several more hours so it would be ready for lunch today.

6. This morning I took it out of the fridge, scooped out all the hardened fat, put it back in the crock pot for about 6 more hours on high. I did add a bit of water.

Before it was done, I decided this would be a good day to make egg pasta so I made that.

I ended up with two nests on two trays for the freezer, and plenty of pasta for us for our meal.

The first bite Vince took, he said "This is as close as any sauce has come to tasting like I remember my dad's sauce tasting!" I was so happy to hear that. I had not been trying to make his dad's sauce and accidentally did it.

Hopefully I can repeat this . . just maybe not every Sunday!

A Little Italian Cream Cake

 Making bread is fun for me. I don't mind making pies but I love eating pies so I gladly make those. I will occasionally make cookies but cakes . . I do not like making cakes. I don't like making icing and I don't like putting it on the cake. So, I rarely make cakes.

There's a lady in a neighboring town and I've seen her cakes on Facebook. She has one that 5 or 6" round and I ordered one - an Italian Cream Cake.

Vince was a little frustrated with me. They are not cheap but neither are the ingredients to make a cake like that and I'm not going to make it and I wanted it so . . what's a girl to do? Vince is perfectly happy with the marked down, past the best buy date cakes from Walmart.

He ended up saying it was probably the best cake he's ever had. We each had one small slice. I saved two slices for tomorrow, sliced the rest and wrapped it - two slices per package wrapped in plastic wrap and then all stuck in a ziplock bag and put it into the freezer. Counting what we had today, what we'll have tomorrow and enough for us each to have a slice three more times, that's 10 servings of cake. 

I think even Vince will agree that it wasn't a bad deal. I may order one for Thanksgiving - a carrot cake! We won't get them often - neither of us needs that much cake but that Italian Cream Cake was so delicious!

Finger Update

I'm hoping this is the end of the finger story.  At this point in my life, I think what scares me the most about aging is the medical care. I am 100% sure there are places where medical care is good. Vince uses doctors in Kansas City, all of whom are associated with KU and the care/service he gets there is amazing.

It took visits to four different doctors in 2-1/2 weeks before I got a diagnosis that I feel is correct and got meds that have helped. The diagnosis is gout! It's certainly painful -- pretty sure some of you have experienced it but I feel like it's better than having rheumatoid arthritis. There are supplements that purport to reduce uric acid levels. I will not start taking those until after I'm done with the Rx med I'm taking to stop the current gout flare. 

There are way worse things that can happen but for a few days, I was pretty sad thinking if this was rheumatoid arthritis, my cross stitching days may be over. I'm a bit more optimistic with the gout diagnosis - not happy about it but, again . . it could be way worse.

Today I'm able to type gently using the bad finger. I was able to use a fork/spoon/knife the way I usually do without the index finger poking out hoping not to be touched.

The good news is that this was painful enough for me to commit to reducing sugar/high fructose corn syrup intake and that means goodbye to my beloved Dr. Peppers. Stopping drinking those is something I've known I've needed to do but hoping to not repeat this painful experience again any time soon, the Dr. Peppers will sit and mock me but I will not give in!  :)

Week 23, 2026 Project - G. Leger by Reflets de Soie

 The project for this week is G. Leger by Reflets de Soie. For the start this week, there are 2,265 stitches made and that's 5.52% completed.

I'm going to change things up a bit this week. My goal for each day (except the day I'm with Debbie) is to stitch 300 stitches on G. Leger. After I've stitched 300 stitches, I will switch to the Cross Stitch Camp project. I'm going to do a separate post about the camp project.

Week 22, 2026 Stitching Report - Autumn Moon

 This is likely the least stitches I've made in a week in a long time. I'm blaming it on my finger! Tomorrow I see yet another doctor for that uncooperative finger! Let's hope there's good news and new meds that do the trick.

I made a total of 1,081 stitches in six days! My goal for every day is 400 stitches. I will still get a few stitches made tonight but not enough to make much of a difference in the numbers.

I thought I would completely fill in the moon. Nope - didn't get half of those done.

I did get a few bricks and a couple of leaves to the left of the roof done.

This one will come up again the first week in August. I don't see it getting finished this year!

Elderberries

 You may remember that the elderberries I planted when we first moved here are gone. They didn't die a natural death and it was not a happy day when it happened. The only reason it was not "less happy" than it was already is that I had planted 7 more elderberries outside the fence.

Our ground here is rock. We cannot dig more than an inch in most places without hitting rock. Planting anything is almost impossible. That's why my garden is all planted in raised beds or in mineral tubs.

There's a retaining wall - I think the original owners made it big enough they could use it for growing some things so there was the wall, and then as it sloped down, there was a lot of dirt added. I don't know how it got there but that's how it is. It's this area right here and the trees are no longer there.

There were two large Bradford Pear trees there when we bought the house. One of the trees was way too close to the house. We thought about just trimming the other one back and keeping it but when the tree guy started trimming it, the inside was hollow and it was not going to make it and we certainly don't grieve the loss of a Bradford Pear! That was all near the end of 2021, that's where I planted three elderberries in the spring of 2022. They grew and produced within a couple of years, as elderberries do. When I cut them back in probably February or March of 2023, I stuck some of the cuttings in a bucket of loose soil thinking Chad might want elderberries. I think everyone should have them . . Chad didn't think so. They grew like crazy so in 2024 when I cut the elderberries back, I thought . . what do I have to lose? I went outside the fence, between the fence and the solar panels, which is maybe about 12 -14 feet of space, and I poked 7 cuttings that were maybe 20" long down in the ground. I didn't dig . . I just poked them in the ground. If I hit a rock, I pulled them out and poked them a few inches over and got all of them deep enough that I thought they would stay.

Last year, they were scraggly. I wasn't sure if between the wood fence on their north side and the solar panels on their south side . . maybe they weren't getting enough sun but I left them alone. 

Since my other elderberries were gone, I went out in late winter and pruned them, then I fertilized them. It's been such a wet spring that I haven't needed to water them so I just left them alone.  A month or so ago, Vince said "Have you seen the elderberries?" I had not but when I went out there, I was shocked at how much they had grown. They are way over the top of the fence now and when I walk out my back door, the fragrance of the blooms is amazing!

That's what I see when I walk over to that side of the house and it makes me so happy!

There they are! Full of blossoms. I'm so thankful I planted those there, never knowing I would end up needing to have them there. Since these are outside the fence, I'm hoping the deer will not devour them all but, if they do, we'll just put up some kind of fence for them next year. You can see the solar panels  there and the fence that's already there so it wouldn't take much to put up a fence around them.

There are some black raspberries growing in that area too. The foxes LOVE those and almost every day during raspberry season, there's a fox out there getting a treat. 

The red raspberries are in the back yard. This is their second year to produce and they're doing great. I had to put bird netting over them. I don't mind sharing a bit but they were getting them all.

We have a lot of grapes on the vines too.

I know that having a lot of grapes at this point doesn't mean we'll get a good grape harvest but I'm hopeful.

If I can get enough to make one batch of grape jelly, I'll be happy.

Last Post - Cooper

 I've mentioned that Cooper is seeing a dog trainer. It hasn't gone smoothly. It's our fault. He's such a sweet and loving little guy but we never have people over. We don't take him anywhere. It's kinda sad . . our life . . it's hard to socialize a dog when we aren't very social and I feel like we failed both dogs. Taking Oscar to the vet this last time was an eye opener and that's when we decided to take Cooper for some socialization/training. 

This week, our assignment was to take Cooper to three places. We did. We took him to Walmart (of course!). Cooper and I sat in the car with the windows down while Vince went inside. People passed by the car, talking, laughing. Cooper paid very close attention but he didn't bark or growl and he wasn't afraid. A lady parked next to us and said something to him and he seriously considered growling but I kept telling him he was a good boy and he was fine.

We took him to the park. That wasn't bad because he's used to being walked on a leash down our little road and around our yard and that wasn't much different. There were no other people out where we were and no other dogs. We walked over near the playground and he watched the kids but didn't growl. There are geese out there and they make such a mess but Cooper was very interested in them. I kept the tension on his leash and he never tried to bolt after them. 

Last, we went to Atwoods. They allow dogs inside but we had planned to just walk around the garden area with him. He did so well, Vince suggested we take him inside. He did great! He wasn't afraid at all. They have those big sliding doors that open when you walk up to them and I thought he might panic with those but he didn't pay any attention to them at all. He didn't pay any attention to the other people in the store. I'm so happy with how well he's doing. We have two more sessions with the trainer and once we finish those, we're going to start working with Oscar ourselves. The trainer is an hour away and it's pretty expensive so I think we've learned enough that we can do it ourselves and, if not, we'll get Oscar registered and take him to class too.

It isn't a two month education period - it's something we're going to have to keep up with both of them. Maybe that means Vince and I can improve on our social skills also.  :)

The Cooking Post

 When Vince and I met, the first thing he talked about was Italian food and I told him I don't like Italian food but later admitted it's just the red sauce I don't like. I grew up where there weren't many (very few!) Italians and there was a real Italian restaurant in Lake Charles but it was high end and that wasn't the kind of place we ever ate. So, Italian food for me was my mom, who didn't like to cook and was not a good cook, opening a can of tomato sauce, pouring it over browned ground beef and serving it over spaghetti with grated cheddar cheese.

Vince has always told me that if I had good, authentic Italian food, I would love it and, he's probably right. We ate at Maggiano's in Overland Park, KS a few months ago and it was delicious but, as far as I know, there's no place around Joplin to get outstanding Italian food.

Somehow last week, Vince came across this YouTube channel - Pasta Grammar. I think Vince watched half a dozen of their videos, then he shared them with me and we have been binge watching. I want to cook everything they make! They also have a website where they share some of their recipes. And, they have a cookbook! I ordered the cookbook and it arrived today and I can't put it down!

Today I made Pesto Alla Trapanese. It's in the book but it's also on the YouTube notes for that video. My book arrived after we had gone to the grocery store so I had to do some subs.

Almonds - I didn't have almonds so I used pistachio nuts.

4 cloves of garlic - I used some of the garlic scape pesto that I made earlier this week. It's all frozen in cubes - 2 T. each.

Pecorino cheese - can't get that hebure so I used an Italian blend from Sam's. 

Busiate - Didn't have that so I used bucatini. It was so delicious. I think I now love Italian food!

Tomorrow I'm making the Italian Stuffed Meatloaf. We watched her make that on the YouTube video and I haven't stopped thinking about it!

I'm having fun cooking the recipes and, of course, Vince is thrilled to be getting lots of Italian food!

A Great Thursday! Cross Stitching

 Today was such a good day! In order to keep this post from being too long, I'm going to make several posts. This first post is going to be about cross stitching. The second will be about cooking and the third will be about Cooper (it's good!)

This morning we went to Sam's Club, got what we needed there. Vince asked me on the way to town if I wanted to go by Hobby Lobby and I said no . . didn't need anything but we were going right by there so I said "OK! Stop!!" We did and I got some inexpensive pieces and decorations to help finishing some of the patriotic pieces I've been working on. I'm still not 100% sure exactly how I'll finish them but I've had fun today playing with them all.

The journal won't be used for my finishing but I'll talk about it at the end of the post.

This is the first stitched piece I started working with:

I had this little wooden piece already but I also have another stand that I may end up using for it. There's a little blue rick rack around it but it isn't attached. See that little knob at the top? I got four of those. They were on sale and only about $2 - $4 each before the sale so I got these:

The one on the left is a deep blue. I thought I would use it on the round piece but then decided I liked the brassy looking one better. There's a light pink one that I thought might work on something for spring and the rabbit - I have several pieces by Brenda Gervais that have rabbits on them. Maybe I can use it one of those.

I thought I could paint some of the stars and use them somewhere along the way. I thought I could paint the spools and glue them on to a wood piece and maybe hang old keys or buttons on something.

I think this board might work for this piece. I'm thinking I'll use white crackle paint on it and maybe use some red trim around the edges of the piece. I may or may not use those bows. They're like little pillows.

My initial plan was to turn this flag piece into a pillow but I kinda dread making a pillow. It might work on this piece.

I love this piece. This tray is only about 2" deep. It looks much deeper in the photo. I'm thinking I would paint the tray white or an eggshell color, then cover a piece to put in the bottom - maybe a tiny red stripe or check. Then mount the stitched piece onto a padded foam core. If I used magnets to attach it, I might could also use it for a Christmas piece too - just pull the patriotic pieces off and attach, also with magnets, a Christmas piece.

Last of the patriotic pieces in this batch is this one!

This is the board.

I like the saying but I'll sand it down and paint it - probably white, maybe crackle or something with texture, then mount the stitched piece on it. I'm thinking I'll probably just make a bow with some patriotic ribbon and call it done.

This last one is one that I finished in 2022 and had never framed it. I know there's more space at the bottom below the stitching than there is at the top but I laced it back in 2022 and wasn't going to re-do it. 

Nice to have it up on the wall!

Now . . the journal. I've tried The Book of Days and I like it ok. The last couple of years I've purchased pages off Etsy that have all spots for all kinds of info - new starts, finishes, purchases, pans, progress, etc. I print them, put them in a Happy Planner cover and I like that it's kind of a lot of trouble setting it all up and by the end of the year, it's pretty ragged with all the pages printed on plain paper. I know - I could use better paper but it would mean changing paper in the printer every time I add something and I know I'm not going to keep that up.

Last year, near the end of 2025, Hobby Lobby had some of the 52 Agenda planners marked way down so I bought one. It's actually an 18 month planner. That one was July - December, 2025 and them all 12 months of 2026. Since I only started it in January, 2026, I kinda felt like it would never be finished so today, when I saw that the 52 Agenda planner was on sale, I got this one - July - December, 2026 and then all of 2027. My plan is to use it through 2027 and then hopefully find a 12 month planner like. That's a while . . I don't have to worry about it for now.

There's so much I like about this planner but I know everyone loves something different in their planners.

Now . . on to the next post!  :)

Baby Oscar

 Yesterday I was going through some pictures and came across two the breeder had sent me when we were thinking about getting Oscar.

He looks so sweet and innocent. Who would have imagined what a difficult puppy he was?

I can't tell you how many times I would tell him . . it's a good thing we got you because not many people would have kept you. He was so destructive but, I don't think he's had an accident in the house since he was five months old. Cooper . . we won't even talk about that. He'll be three years old in July and I don't trust him at all. 

Those ears! I thought for sure he was growing to grow up to have huge ears but he didn't. I didn't realize it at the time how serious he would be but looking at his face, he seemed concerned about something even back then. Maybe it's because I know him . . 

Same picture I shared the other day but you can see his ears are a normal length - maybe a little longer than Cooper's. 

It's very hard to believe Oscar will be five years old this year. Hard to believe we've had him that long and hard to believe he's half of ten years old! Time flies!

We sure love our little boys!

The Finger

 I haven't given more specifics about my finger because I don't know what happened. Here's what I THINK! Either Monday or Tuesday of last week, I would in the back yard. I do try to wear gloves in the garden but sometimes, I stop and make a quick "adjustment" and don't have gloves on. That day I was walking by and saw a weed. I reached down and pulled the weed out but it kinda disrupted one of my small plants so I was poking dirt around it with my finger and I hit something sharp. It was very minor - almost like pricking my finger with a needle. It bled a bit, mostly because I was squeezing it. I went inside, washed it with warm soapy water, dabbed it with alcohol, put some antibiotic ointment on it and put a band-aid on it. Later that same day, I was playing fetch with Cooper. He brought the little boomerang back to me and I reached to get it, he saw the band-aid and apparently both of them think band-aids are scary and should be ripped off. He grabbed for the band-aid before I realized what was happening and he snagged my finger. I couldn't tell if it was bleeding from the initial wound or from his tooth scraping my finger. Back inside - same cleaning routine but it really didn't need a band-aid and, obviously band-aids are dangerous to wear in this house.

Then on Tuesday night I was in the kitchen and I don't even remember what happened but I said "Ouch! That hurt!" I usually don't even say anything when I get hurt so I know it must have hurt a lot. Vince said "What happened?" and I said "I hurt my finger." He asked if it was the finger Cooper had grabbed and I said yes. I finished whatever I was doing but, my ear was hurting and I've been having several ear infections a year so earlier I had called the doctor to see if he could look at it Wednesday. Yes, at 8 a.m.

When I got up Wednesday morning, my finger was swollen, very red and I couldn't bend it so when I got to the doctor, the nurse was going to do the oxygen check gizmo and I said "No, not that finger!" She kinda jumped back and wanted to know what happened.  There was no visible injury. You had to search to see where Cooper had scratched it. Couldn't see at all where I injured it in the garden. I wasn't even thinking about whatever happened in the kitchen Tuesday night - I thought the injury in the garden or my medical assistant's removing the band-aid had caused it to be infected. The doctor also thought the finger was infected, gave me antibiotics and ear drops. Thursday it was more red and swollen. Same Friday so I sent a picture to the doctor and got this back from him:

That's when we went to the ER. The doctor there didn't think it needed to be x-rayed. He again drained it - nothing really to drain, and gave me another antibiotic to take along with the first one.

Then Saturday morning, some of the red and swelling had gone down and it was very purple. I told Vince . . I'm kinda feeling like my finger may be broken. He looked at it and said "Why didn't you tell the doctor you hurt it?" I wasn't thinking about that - I was thinking it was infected from dirt in the garden. Vince said he thought when I hurt it in the kitchen that I had slammed it in the drawer. Maybe. It was late, I was hurrying to finish the kitchen and go to bed.

Today (Monday) I can somewhat bend it. I can touch it on top and bottom but if I push on it from the front (like pushing towards the back) or push in the code on a door lock, or if I use it to scratch something off the counter . . that hurts.

Here's what it looks like today - which is so, so much better than how it looked late last week.

If you see the two little dots at and near the base of my nail, that's from the needle where they drained it.

I guess I'm going to just finish the antibiotics (one Wednesday and one on Friday) and hope for the best.

A New Week - A New WIP

 This past week, I worked on Prairie Life Sampler and got quite a bit done. Here's what it looked like when I started it this past Monday:

Prairie Life Sampler

Here's where I left off:

I got all the words in, stitched a little on the cabin, started another tree over to the right and got almost all the flowers at the top outlined.

The WIP I'll work on this week is Autumn Moon by Plum Street.

I'm using NPI Silks on this one and I love those so I'm looking forward to getting back to it.

A Home Cooked Meal

 Today was the first day I had cooked since Tuesday! I don't even remember what we ate but I know that two days we had pizza that Vince picked up and brought home. The day we went to the doctor - Wednesday, we ate at Panda Express. Friday we went to the ER and got breakfast out. The rest of the time I think Vince ate leftover pizza. I ate toast and jam one night, turkey and pepperoni and cheese one night. I've tried to eat enough yogurt since I'm taking two antibiotics. 

Yesterday, I guess Vince was getting tired of fast food, and he asked if I could find a jar of canned beans and sausage. Oh, yes, I could find that. He said he would help me cook but I knew I could do it if he would help with clean up.

I made a pot of rice.

I ground wheat and cornmeal to make cornbread.

Here it is with the grains ground.

Then I made coleslaw!

The jar of beans and sausage was opened, heated up and dinner was served!

I feel like I'm almost back to normal . . just being very protective of a sore finger. My plan for tomorrow is to can more beans, make whole wheat tortillas, fix chicken tacos with corn relish, open a jar of black beans - a very quick meal with minimal mess to clean up.

When I'm not cooking much, I do miss it but I'm very thankful Vince was ok with me not cooking for a few days.

Things I've Learned This Week

 What is it about May? This is the time of year when I need to spend so much time working in the garden and I have managed to have a hand injury again. Remember two years ago when I had stitches in my hand in May? This year there are no stitches but there's been a trip to the ER and another trip to the doctor and the right hand is definitely out of commission for a while. Thankfully I've figured out how to cross stitch using my thumb and middle finger to hold the needle, though it's slow going.

But here are two things I think everyone should do because you never know or . . maybe it's just me who keeps having these unfortunate events.

First . . learn to use your non-dominant hand for everything! The first time I brushed my teeth with my left hand, I thought I might poke out my eye! How can my left hand be so uncooperative??  My hair is curly and frizzy without using a curling iron or straight iron. After trying almost an entire week, my left hand still cannot handle that. I feel like I need a high chair with a tray to catch the mess when trying to use a fork with my left hand.

Second . . have some pants that you can easily pull on - without any struggle, no buttoning or snapping! I'm a blue jean girl and when I was going to PT, I had to get some pants that I could pull up over my knee. Not only do I not wear shorts in public but I was going to PT during the winter and shorts and snow . . no! I found these pants at Walmart and I'm not usually an advocate for buying clothes at Walmart but I LOVE these pants. The pictures on the page are not very flattering but, at least for me, they're a great fit. I bought one pair during therapy to be sure I liked them and ended up buying three more pairs. Oscar and Cooper have bear claws for nails and I was afraid they would snag the pants. They do not. They wash and dry beautifully. I've washed them dozens of times. I thought they may be hot during the summer but they are no warmer than jeans. They're $12.98 per pair and I'm comfortable wearing them with a T-shirt or with a nice top or even with a little jacket to dress them up a bit. I will wear these anywhere - even places I wouldn't wear jeans. 

I know . . not everyone will like them but I surely do.

Progress on Prairie Life Sampler

I am happy that I got the words stitched.

I didn't chart out the words - just counted spaces and made really weird and not very legible notes. Somehow on the second row, I totally miscounted and it was way off (not centered) and there was a big space on the right side of that row so I just stuck the word "kind" in there at the end of that row and it fit perfectly and makes sense. Yay!

I'm still going to put two more rows of grass under the trees at the top.

This is the whole design - the original design.

I didn't want to stitch the people or the kinda weird horses so I started a few rows lower, changed the spacing on the words and made them 5 rows instead of 4 rows and my words end almost exactly where the words end on the original. 

Next challenge. I don't like all those motifs and flowers. A reader commented and now I see it  . . it's almost like two different charts - the top is very "prairie like" and the bottom is flowers and clutter. (my words not hers).

I still have Saturday and Sunday to work on this project so I'm going to spend that time stitching flowers and leaves in the border and thinking about what I may want to stitch in that bottom portion. I wouldn't mind having a garden with veggies and a few flowers, maybe a chicken pen with some chickens - something more like what would have been found on a homestead back during the days of heading west. Thoughts? Suggestions?? Thanks!

My Favorites to have in Jars

A friend has commented that her mom has recently started canning more than just garden veggies, jams and jellies. I was going to send her an email about my favorite things to have in jars but decided to make a post, which my friend will see, and maybe someone else will find helpful.

Before I get into the recipes, and I know I've said this before, but I try to can enough for two years on many things. That way if I don't grown enough of something one year, I have enough to get me through to the next year AND it's easier to make a large batch of something than it is to make two smaller batches. I do not mind at all keeping food in jars for 2 years.

 My very favorite for the past 10 years or so is Eggplant Salsa. It is super easy to make. Last year I ended up with so much eggplant in the garden and canned over 50 pints of it. I think I planted 6 or 7 eggplants. This year I planted three, knowing I don't need another 50 jars of salsa but I probably will can at least 25 jars. That way I can finish off last year's jars this year and have next year's eggplant salsa ready. When I'm ready to serve this, I use one large chicken breast, slice it into fairly thin slices, sometimes coat it in cornstarch (sometimes I just season it) and brown it. Dump in a jar of the salsa and heat it all up. We serve it over rice or pasta and it is so delicious. In fact, I may cook that today and use a jar of canned chicken since it's already after noon and I don't have anything out for lunch.

This website has so, so many recipes for canning meals. Some are her recipes and some are links to other sites.

Another thing I always have is red beans and sausage, which is from the website mentioned above.  All I have to do is make a pot of rice, make coleslaw, open a jar and heat it up! So good! 

Today I was canning beans and knew I wasn't going to have enough energy to cook dinner AND do all that canning so I went downstairs and grabbed a jar. I'm sure it won't surprise anyone but probably half the jars in my basement aren't labeled. Either I think I'll remember (and never do) or I plan to wait til they cool and then label them and then I get in a hurry and pack them before I ever notice they weren't labeled. It doesn't matter . . it's all good.

I grabbed a quart jar of meat and a pint jar of potatoes. As I was walking upstairs with them, Vince said "What's for lunch?" I said "meat and potatoes!" He wanted to know what kind of meat and I told him I didn't have a clue - pork or beef.

Once I started cooking it, I thought . . black beans would be good in this so I went back down and got a pint of black beans.

We had some leftover corn on the cob so I cut it off the cob and put it in there.

Vince doesn't like jalapeno peppers so I cut one up and sauteed it for my bowl.

I cooked a pot of rice because most everything we eat goes on top of rice. Vince said "Are you supposed to eat potatoes AND rice together?" If you're from southwest Louisiana - yes!! 

When I came upstairs with the jars, I started the rice cooking. Start to finish, it took about 20 minutes.

We all think differently but I'm so thankful to have food in jars, ready to heat and eat . . for so many reasons. As I was heating all this up, the electricity went off . . thankfully for only about 2 minutes but that made me very thankful for a gas stove. Speaking of gas, I checked our tank yesterday. We got it filled in September, 2024. That was 1-1/2 years ago. The only thing we use gas for are the stoves. I can in the basement and that's all I use that stove for but it all comes out of the same tank. Both stoves have gas ovens but the wall oven is electric and that's the oven I use 99% of the time except during the summer when it's so hot and it's nice to keep that extra heat trapped in the basement garage. Anyway . . I'm saying that to say that the propane company will only fill the tank to 85% and the level now is 70%. That means it will probably be at least four more years before the propane company will re-fill the tank. They have a minimum and they want the tank to be at 15% or less before they come out. That all changes if we ever have to run the propane heater - hope that never happens!

Baking, Canning & Freezing.

 The canning (beans) was on my agenda for today. Baking and freezing were not! 

Vince went to pick strawberries. I know he's picked over 50 pounds of then. I've made a triple batch of strawberry syrup, a double batch TWICE of strawberry/rhubarb jam and a double batch of strawberry jalapeno jam. When he left, I said "Please only pick enough for us to eat over the next few days." Nope, he picked 12 pounds. He is 100% sure he never heard me say "don't pick more than we can eat over the next few days!"

The freezers are full; I only have enough jars to can the beans I had planned to get canned this week. I ended up taking a big ham out of the freezer and making room for some strawberries. Vince did the hulling while I was canning beans. Then I chopped the strawberries, kept out 1-1/2 cups for strawberry bread, and put 1-1/2 cups of chopped berries in 15 zipper freezer bags and stuck those in the freezer. I can make strawberry bread, strawberry-rhubarb bread, strawberry ricotta cake - there's all kinds of things I can do with frozen strawberries.

Strawberry Cake before Glaze

Strawberries for the Freezer

For the beans, supposedly 5 pounds of beans will produce 14 pints or 7 quarts of canned beans. Every now and then it works out for me but more often than not, it does not and today . . it did not. When we open a pint of beans, we always leave some - maybe 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup that we don't eat so I thought . . I will use 4 pounds and instead of filling the jar to 1" from the top with soaked and boiled beans, I'll fill the jar 1-1/2" from the top and and extra water. I had 14 pint jars washed and ready. Filled those up and still had beans. There were 2 extra pint jars in the dishwasher (clean) so I filled those. Still had beans so I grabbed a wide mouth pint, filled it; filled another wide mouth pint, and then another! Good grief. I ended up with 19 pints of beans and because three of them were wide mouth, it took two canners to get them all canned. 

Aren't those beautiful canned beans? That's my first batch and it's Anasazi beans. Tomorrow I will can pinto beans and I will use 3.5 pounds and see how that works - hopefully I will end up with 14 pints.

The best news is that strawberry season is winding down. Several of the local farms have already closed so I don't think Vince will be picking more berries. We can hope!

Changes to Prairie Life Sampler

 I'm struggling with Prairie Life Sampler. The design is beautiful and I fell in love with it when I first saw it but, for me, it looks crowded and cluttered. Here's a photo of the cover.

I don't like stitching fiddly stuff. I think the horses, the dog and those people and whatever they're holding -- all that looks fiddly and a bit cluttered to me.

Denise changed hers for that row and it looks great. You can see it here.

I'm thinking of taking a really lazy way out. Here's my plan:

1. Totally leave off the band that has the horses, covered wagon and people.

2. I feel like the words are too close and crowded so I've re-charged those to take up 5 rows with one extra row between them. That would take up some of the space where the horses and people are.

3. In order to use up more space, I'm going to stitch three rows of grass beneath the trees instead of just one.

4. I will leave an extra row (or two) above and below the squiggly line below the text.

5. Because I already have the border stitched, I can't (or won't) make any changes to it but, in that bottom band, I will stitch the very bottom area first (flower baskets) and move them up a row or two so they aren't sitting so close to the border. Some of that "stuff" above the flowers, I will just leave off

My plans may not work. I figure this piece will either get finished, get tossed or go into time out (forever!).  :)

Thoughts?

Here's my plan for now. When I re-charted the text, I didn't really chart every letter. I just counted the spaces and kinda roughly drew it out. I'm going to start in the center of each row and stitch a word or two left and right of center and do that with all five rows.

Then I'm going to stitch a few rows of the squiggly thing beneath the text and see where I end up as far as spacing goes.

I'll keep you posted!