What I'm reading Wednesday...

Forty-fifth challenge finish of the year.

This one has been on my Kindle since January of 2024, so not the oldest, but still I am so excited to have another one with the "Read" banner across the corner of its cover's thumbnail on my Kindle's home screen!  In this case the storm was the non-human antagonist.  The subject was the 1900 hurricane that had a death toll of more than six-thousand (some say eight- to twelve-thousand) people.

Reading this so close upon the heels of the flash flooding that occurred so near us was a bit difficult.  The descriptions of the storm's suddenness, the children and families lost, the loved ones searching and waiting for news.  So very sad.

I feel like a traitor just giving it three and a half stars, because I really admire the author's work in literary non-fiction.  But this one was very history, technical, and climate science heavy and bogged me down a bit in the first half, and I found myself playing on my phone rather than reading.  But the second half was really gripping.  The very well researched descriptions of the violence and devastation the storm assaulted the island with had me reading with one hand covering my mouth.

Bacon me hungry...

I'm kind of a bacon snob.  I hate the paper thin slices, they burn so easy.  So I always buy thick cut, and my favorite brand is Wright's.  On the rare occasion it is on sale, I stock up and keep it in the freezer.  This is the package I usually buy, as we don't go through a larger package within best-buy date.  One and a half pounds is currently $10.23 (or $0.43 an ounce).  Oddly the two and a half pound package is $0.48 an ounce.

On my last grocery order, the photo above caught my eye on the store's website.  And I thought, I usually end up cutting the slices into pieces anyway (at least when I'm using it in a recipe), so why am I paying almost twice as much when it's not what I really need.  So I bought the ends-and-pieces package (which is three pounds).  

It comes vacuum sealed, so it's kind of a block that has to be worked apart.  But I think the fat to lean ratio is pretty comparable to the all sliced package that costs almost twice as much per ounce.  

I won't stop buying slices for things like breakfast or sandwiches, but a lot of the time that I use bacon is in things like soup, cooking dry beans, gumbo and the like.  And these "ends and pieces"  are fine for those purposes.  In fact I have a pot of gumbo on the stove as I type.

So from a three pound package, I used some immediately for the gumbo, and the rest I vacuum sealed into four half-pound (a little over half pound) packages for including in recipes.

I'm very happy to have finally realized that there is a way to save on my favorite bacon even when it's not on sale.

2025 Frugal Friday File, July 25...

 

1.  Carey loves meatloaf.  This week instead of making it in a loaf pan like I usually do, I made it in a smallish (maybe 8" x 10") metal baking pan that has a snap on plastic lid with a silicone sealed rim.  I usually use these pans for casseroles that I put in the freezer.  This time I divided the uncooked meatloaf into two loaves and placed them in the pan running from short side to short side.  Leaving the lid off, I put them in the oven to bake along with four potatoes.  

     When the potatoes were fully baked, I removed all from the oven.  I added ketchup to the top of the meatloaves and put them back in the oven.  Then I removed the flesh from the jackets of the potatoes.  I mashed the potato flesh with butter, shredded cheese, sour cream, and dry ranch dressing mix.  I put the seasoned potato flesh back into the potato jackets, added a little more cheese to the top, and put them back into the oven to warm through again.

     We ate about half of one of the meatloaves, and two of the potatoes for dinner.  After which I removed the partial meatloaf from the pan to a small plate, and stored it in the fridge for sandwiches.  I placed the two twice-baked potatoes that were left into the same pan with the remaining uncut meatloaf.  Once cooled I snapped the lid into place, and labeled with the contents, then it went straight into the freezer.  

     Yay for taking a very few minutes in today's meal prep, so that we can have a repeat homecooked meal another night with absolutely no effort at all on my part.

2.  Received an Amazon purchase this week.  Quite frequently, if I know what's in the package and I don't have an immediate need for its contents, I will leave the box unopened until a more convenient time.  Happily I didn't do that this time; I'm trying to practice the "Do It Now" rule more frequently.    Once open, I realized that I had ordered a different item than the one intended.  RIGHT then, I repackaged it, printed the return label, and got the package sealed up and ready to return.  Dropped it off at UPS store the next morning while out running errands.  Already have been refunded, and reordered and received the correct item.

3.  I've resisted the temptation to pre-order the new Ken Follett book coming out in September.  I know the library will get it pretty quickly, so I'll just watch the new acquisitions list to get on the reserve list early.

4.  I haven't purchased any craft and/or hobby items.  I'm not being very creatively productive since I've spent so much time reading this year.

5.  Received a refund check of $89 from dealership where new car was purchased.  Not sure why, but I'll take it!

What we ate this past week:

Saturday:  Family Supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  leftover quiche for C; turkey sandwich for me

Monday:  frozen pot pies

Tuesday:  Meatloaf, Twice Baked Potatoes, Corn

Wednesday:  Salmon, Rice Pilaf, Green Beans

Thursday:  out for burgers

Friday:  Spanish Rice

**designates meatless meal

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Forty-fourth challenge finish of the year.

I knew exactly which book I wanted to read for this prompt, as it technically has zero letters in the title, just numbers.  :)  This one has been on my Kindle since 2013...11/22/13 to be precise.  They must have offered it at a special price on the fiftieth anniversary of JFK's assassination (I paid $2.95).  

I've read a lot of long books over the years: all of Jean Auel's Earth's Children series books, all of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series books, AND all five of the Kingsbridge series books by Ken Follett, four of which were over 900 pages each (and one of those I've read three times).  But I don't think I've ever read as many long books in a single year as I have this year!  This one came in at 877 pages, and I loved every one of them!

You may ask if I loved it so much, why did I only give it four stars?  Well, because I only give five star ratings to books that I love so much I want to read them again sometime in the future.  The majority of the books I've read this year I have rated four stars.  That kind of amazes me, usually I have more clunkers mixed in.

(Wouldn't you know that as I was refreshing my memory as to how many books were in Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series and their lengths, I see that he has a new book coming out in September of this year which will be 704 pages, and is a novel about the building of Stonehenge...right up my alley!  So there may be another fairly long one in my reading for the year.)

2025 Frugal Friday File, July 18...

 

1.  I came across two puzzles from when the grandkids were little that I thought I could donate to the library if all the pieces were in their boxes.  One was less than 50 pieces, and featured Elsa and Olaf from Frozen.  I put it together, and it was missing one piece.  :(  The other was a round puzzle with 101 pieces and was an image of a U.S. penny.  I started putting it together and found all the edge pieces.  When Carey came in, he finished putting it together, and all the pieces were there.  As he was dissassembling the puzzle and putting the pieces back in the box, he turns to me and says, "You know, it would have been a lot quicker to just count the pieces instead of putting them together."  Head slap moment!  

    Oh well, the one with all the pieces can be donated to the library now.  LOL

2.  I did a rough inventory of the chest freezer.  I had a sale turkey from 2024 holiday season in there taking up a good portion of the space.  I decided to bite the bullet and roast it and use the FoodSaver to prepare small, usable amounts of the meat, and freeze them ready to use  for casseroles and salads and sandwiches.  

     Additionally there is 20 pounds of flour in the freezer, along with several packages of bacon,  sausages, a couple of large bags of pecans from Costco, various bags of frozen vegetables, and three Dreamsicles.  

      In my opinion upright freezers are much more efficient to organize and access, and the most useful thing about a chest freezer would be a scenario where you might have a dead body that need's hiding. I would dearly love to have an upright freezer, but as long as this one does the job it can stay. 

3.  Grocery total this month is lower than expected.  I'm not sure why, but I've been a little creative in cooking with what we have.  Mostly because I don't want to go out into the heat to restock.  

4.  Frugal fail: Carey took the new car in to get an estimate on replacing the passenger side external rearview mirror.  Wish I didn't have to claim responsibility for that one...it was sheared off by the menu board/speaker while I was backing out of a Sonic parking spot.  $1,200+.

5.  Frugal fail: I caved and resubscribed to Audible.  I have projects to do, but I need to be reading!  I checked the library for the audio book, but I was something like 21 on the waiting list.  :(  Now if I can just find my earbuds.  Found 'em!  :)

On the menu this week:

Saturday:  Family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  BLTs

Monday:  Quiche (red onion, bell pepper, broccoli, cheddar & parm)

Tuesday:  leftovers

Wednesday:  Turkey Penne Casserole

Thursday:  out for Tex-Mex

Friday:  leftovers

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Forty-second challenge finish of the year.

This is another one that has been on my Kindle since 2014.  Subject matter was about the sudden death of a man, and how he and his family grieved the end of life as they knew it, and grew through their grief.  It was okay.  The formatting was a little confusing.  

Forty-third challenge finish of the year.

When I chose this book (on my Kindle since 2023) I had intended it for the 'starts with the letter M' prompt, but before I got to the first page, I realized that it had an epigraph and that that prompt hadn't been filled yet either.  There were others on my Kindle that started with an 'M' so that prompt got put on hold for a bit.

I enjoyed it.  The story started in early 2020 with the beginning of Covid.  The two main characters were a resident of an assisted living facility and a nursing assistant at that same facility.  Both were in difficult personal situations, and the pandemic brought them together.

It's amazing how I had blocked the beginning impacts of Covid from my mind...the toilet paper, disinfectant, sanitizer, and mask shortages...the quarantining of the aged in facilities...the effects on essential and non-essential workers...the lack of hugs.

2025 Frugal Friday File, July 11...

 

1.  My first grandson's birthday was this week, and we celebrated it on Saturday night at Kasey and Beau's.  I made him a card, a batch of Snack Crackers, and a pair of funny socks I had put back for him.  He works with special-needs kids, and him wearing funny socks is one way to engage them.

2.  Drove 500 miles to spend my sister's birthday with her.  She broke her wrist a couple of weeks ago, so I was hoping I could be helpful to her, but she didn't let me do much.  It was very nice to visit with her, and I loved getting to see her grandson (whom I hadn't seen since he was a little guy) and got to meet his wife and kiddoes.

    My sister had supper planned for all of us, and only needed a little help in the kitchen.  I had baked a cake at home before we left, and took it to have.  I also took a couple of homecooked meals from our freezer, so she could take a couple of nights off from cooking when she wants to.  Went back to see sis again, and got in another afternoon visit before heading back home.

3.  A great friend of mine lives near my sister, so we got to meet for lunch while I was there, and talked non-stop.

4.  While we were gone, Jared took care of Rudy for us.  

5.  Picked up sewing machines (2) from repairman yesterday.  Not cheap, but worth it; and I'm really pleased to have found a good repair option.  I have a backlog of projects to get going on.

What we ate this week:

Saturday:  Family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  leftovers

Monday:  supper at my sister's house

Tuesday:  big lunch out w/ friend, so skipped supper

Wednesday:  Tuna Salad Sandwiches

Thursday:  Tuna Salad Sandwiches again (we love them)

Friday:  Green Salad w/ remainders of vegetable tray I took to book club today.

**designates meatless meal

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Fortieth challenge finish of the year.

Has been on my Kindle since 2019.  I'm not sure how to describe this one.  I did enjoy it, because the four main characters were so entirely likable.  Well, one of the four might not have been entirely likable, but his relationship with his dog kept him in the likable category for me.  :)

The title character was terribly injured in a fire when he was sixteen years old.  The relationships around him deal a lot with loneliness, grief, and self-imposed solitude; and yet it is told with humor.  Since one of the main characters is a nurse (as was the author), there are some stories of strange hospital/patient happenings.

Forty-first challenge finish of the year.

I read somewhere recently about how much someone (I can't even remember who it was) loved Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell, so I looked to see if it was available through our library, and it was available, so I decided to fit it into the challenge reads.  I enjoyed it.  I've read some of Shakespeare's sonnets and a few of his plays, but didn't really know much about about him or his family.

This is a work of fiction, but was engaging and made me think about the life (and times) of Shakespeare the man.  The author did a good job of presenting him in an interesting and entertaining way, as long as one remembers that it is not necessarily all fact.

2025 Frugal Friday File, July 4...

 

Happy 4th of July!  Hope everyone has a fun and safe long weekend.

1.  I've mentioned before that our phone/internet/cable are provided by a co-op which we have belonged to since 1999.  They just had their annual meeting, and released their/our capital credits which they apply to our account.  Last year the capital credits paid for all but $10 of our June 2024 bill.  This year it paid for ALL of our June bill ($236.22), and carries forward a credit of  $28+/- to pay toward next month's bill.  It's not all rainbows and sunshine with this co-op, but it's the only game in town, so I'm always glad to get credits applied to the bill.  Husband insists on keeping cable, and I'm keeping landline, just because who knows what is going to happen these days.

2.  Speaking of phone bills...back in the day, my sister and I would have to try to never let our husbands get the mail for fear they would see our phone bills.  Those were some big phone bills.  In the past week, I have talked to her for about three hours (combined total), and to the other Kathleen for about an hour and a half (combined total).  I am SO very happy we have unlimited talk and text nowadays. 

     I don't care that Carey gets the mail these days.  Because not only are the phone bills lower now than they used to be, the bills come to my email inbox not the post box.  LOL

3.  There wasn't anything on the calendar this week, so mostly hung around the house; read,  laundry, repeat.

4.  I've been using the dregs of a bottle of shower gel (diluted) to clean the toilet.  I don't do that if the toilet gets really dirty, but as per my FlyLady days, if you 'swish and swipe' the toilet daily, it never gets really dirty, and she also said "Soap is soap, so use up what you have."

5.  I've kept the houseplants that I bought in spring 2024 alive for over a year now.  My son thought all this time that the large monsteras (2) in the living room were artificial!  He has not paid attention to how much they've grown!  I saw a really large monstera either on the web or tv recently, and it scared me how big they get!  If mine get much bigger, I may have to adopt them out to new homes before we have to carry machetes to hack our way through the jungle.  :)

What we ate this week:

Saturday:  Family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  Tortilla Soup

Monday:  leftovers

Tuesday:  takeout fried chicken

Wednesday:  leftover Tortilla Soup

Thursday:  takeout sandwiches

Friday:  Chicken Curry

**designates meatless meal

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Thirty-eighth challenge finish of the year.

You may remember that I found this at our library's used book section awhile back.  I don't think the author would necessarily consider himself a celebrity, but he is very well known for an act of heroism one tragic day in Texas, and one of the facts that I learned about in the book is that he and his wife were portrayed in a movie about the event, so I think that counts as enough of a celebrity to use for this prompt (even though he thought the movie was so bad that he and his wife sued over the inaccuracy and the racially stereotyped portrayal of his wife in the movie).

I really enjoyed reading this one!  I knew parts of it from talking to the author.  We met a couple of times years ago and talked about spending time in a common location...him working in the location on a case, and me living nearby...so it was really interesting reading more about his work there.  And I was impressed by how well written it was (unlike my crazy run-on sentences in this post); as I understand it, he did the writing himself.  It was very well organized and presented, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Thirty-ninth challenge finish of the year.

This one has been on my Kindle since 2014.  The first half was good.  The second half I kept rolling my eyes, because these characters never seemed to learn from their experiences!  Then the ending was infuriating.  The main character--The Flyer--was in the middle of an air battle, and it ended.  I'm giving a HUGE spoiler here, but I do NOT recommend anyone read this book, so I just don't care.  He was almost in range of his enemy target--he gripped his trigger--and that is where the damn thing ended!!!  Was he beamed up by aliens?  Geesh!  Then it went to an epilogue where he was just missing, and a couple of othe characters were discussing him.  It did have a slight sense of closing at the end of the epilogue, but what a CHEAT!  

I gave it 2½ stars because I liked the first half, but boy was the second half lame, and I hated the ending.  I will NOT be reading the sequel.

I'm about halfway through my current book, which has also been on my Kindle for years.

Fiddledeedee...let's try this again...grrrr...

Prompts that have been completed are preceded by a black dot.

I did a complete post.  I proofread and made edits several times.  I was sure I saved and posted it.  Then my sister called, and we talked for an hour, and now I can't find the darn post.  Grrrrr!

So here's an abridged version.

Half of the year is over.  The goals this year are pretty ambitious.  This is a difficult year, so I'm giving myself some grace.

The 52 Book Club's 2025 Challenge: 39 books read out of the 52.  Eleven of the ones I've read were previously purchased ebooks on my Kindle, so I'm glad to have them read finally.

Other goals for the year:

Delete time wasters from my phone:  Some are gone, some are back.  I'm a backslider and I don't care...it keeps me from thinking about the news 24/7.

Bake bread at least once a month:  Not killing it.  Only baked twice so far.

Finish two quilts:  Zippo have been completed so far.

Complete the Storyworth project and have printed:  Missed my self-imposed May deadline.

Start volunteering:  Volunteering at library once a week.  Bam!

Find a new reflexologist:  Not yet.

Relearn Canasta:  Not yet.

Get Singer Featherweight up and running:  It and another machine of mine are at the repairman's as of this update.  Due home soon.

Make progress on family trees:  Not much if any.

Check out local Farmer's Market:  Haven't made it yet.

Send 52 cards in 52 weeks:  Behind, but plugging along.

Be more social:  Between volunteering, joining book club, and attending political meetings I've met a lot of people, and have 'clicked' with a few.  Bam!

2025 Frugal Friday File, June 27...

 

1.  Sunday I put four chicken breast halves in the slow cooker with part of a jar of picante sauce and a packet of Italian dressing mix.  After four hours, I shredded two of them and diced two of them.  The diced meat was added to a pasta salad to be eaten through the week.  The shredded meat will be added to quesadillas another night and maybe some soup (which I saved the liquid from the slow cooker for) another night.  I love having a headstart on meals for the week.

2.  Aside from groceries and bills, I only spent $2.15 for a Kindle book.

3.  No takeout or meals out this week.  

4.  I put two birthday cards in the mail this week.  One of them late, but oh well.  

Speaking of mail, the postage rates are going up again on July 13 -- a one ounce letter will go from 73¢ to 78¢.  I still have plenty of forever stamps to last a good while.

5.  I have thought about getting my hair cut every day this week, but I continue to put it off.  It's hot, and all I do is pull it up off my neck anyway.  For sure I'll get it cut sometime before grandson's December's wedding.  :)

This week we ate:

Saturday:  Family dinner at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  Summery Pasta Salad w/ Chicken

Monday:  Honey Garlic Chicken

Tuesday:  Quesadillas w/ Guacamole

Wednesday:  leftover pasta salad

Thursday:  Mexican Cornbread Casserole

Friday:  leftovers

**designates meatless meal

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Thirty-seventh challenge finish of the year.

I think I've read all of this author's work.  It's been a decade or so I think, and as I started this one, it occurred to me that maybe I've outgrown this type of book.  It was good, but had a slightly insipid start.  I kept reading.  

The characters were likeable, and it definitely finished stronger than it started.  And the author's notes at the end were excellent, discussing how she found a resource book that brought inspiration, and explained some of the history of the Royal Messenger service, couriers of important documents for the monarch.

In case you are not sure what a "sprayed edge" is (I had no idea), it's when the edges of the book are decorated.  This photo doesn't give much of an image of the edge, but hopefully will give you some idea.  I believe only the first run (or some limited number) actually had the edges decorated.

2025 Frugal Friday File, June 20...

 

1.  Doctor appointment Wednesday.  Afterward I left them a pint of my blood; sadly, they just throw it away.  This is a pretty regular thing for my "condition".  Though in the past I have always felt fine afterward, this time I did not feel good, and felt pretty wrung out Thursday as well.  I don't remember having that reaction before, but I'm drinking extra fluids (as I have been for the past week).  I'm not upping intake of red meat or green vegetables, because I don't need any more iron, that's why I had to give up the blood in the first place.  Have to keep the amounts pretty consistently balanced since I'm also on blood thinner for yet another "condition". 

    Essential self care is frugal when it reduces the risk of organ damage (in my case).  My mother had lost eighty percent of her liver function before she ever went to the doctor.  They never diagnosed her with what I have, but since they can tell that I got the same mutated gene from each of my parents, I suspect that she did, since liver damage is a not-infrequent result, and mom was essentially a teetotaler.

2.  I have not given up Sonic ice, but I've given up getting it from my local drive-in where the customer service is sorely lacking.  I only stop by ones in other communities when I have a valid reason to be there.  That means the frequency and ice outlay has been drastically reduced.

    (Attention Gina:  this is one of those times my mother would say, "You would bite off your nose to spite your face!)  😉

3.  Today is book club, and this time it is in the city.  Carpooling with friends.

4.  Saw a new book is coming out in September that I know Carey would like.  I don't want to pay full price for pre-ordering, so I added it to my book wish list on Amazon so I won't forget about it.  I'll cross my fingers that it is on Amazon First Reads, but if it's not I'll see if the library will order it, or barring all else I will get it for him for Christmas.

5.  Menu planned and placed grocery order.  Easier to resist takeout when a plan is in place and groceries in the pantry/fridge.

This week we ate:

Saturday:  Chicken Burgers and leftover Tomato Pie

Sunday:  Sunday family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Monday:  Spanish Rice    

Tuesday:  **frozen eggplant parmesan w/ salad

Wednesday:  takeout Schlotzky sandwiches

Thursday: grocery store sushi

Friday:  potluck for me, baseball park hot dogs for C

**designates meatless meal

What I'm Reading Wednesday...

Thirty-sixth challenge finish of the year.

I had a really hard time selecting a book to fit this prompt.  A friend has been recommending this series for about a year now.  It's not a genre I usually reach for, but for historical/magical fiction it's done well.  I like the characters.  I like the writing.  Good story.

On the other hand, it is long at 694 pages.  It has a lot of wizard, dwarf, elfen, and magical creatures that have names that are hard to decide how to pronounce, and I believe I've said here before that if I don't have a fixed pronunciation in my mind, I stumble over it every time I come across it in the story.  It makes a long book even longer for me.

I'm not ruling out reading the next in the series sometime, but I don't think it will be this year.

Tuesday treasure...

 

Fresh linens on the bed.  There's not much I love more than climbing into a bed with clean sheets.  💓

I found this antique bed at an auction about 20 years ago.  My mother had always talked wistfully about her grandparents tall bed that had to be cut down to fit when they moved from the farm to a small house in town.  She would have loved this.

This is the 'guest' room.  It only is a full size mattress, but we rarely have overnight guests anymore, and when we do it's just one at a time.  Back when my mother-in-law was able to visit, I invested in a sleep number mattress so that she and other guests could adjust the firmness to their own taste.  It is  also adjustable, so the head and foot of the bed can be raised or lowered.  When I broke my shoulder, I moved to this bed until I healed...and I'm still in it.  :)

2025 Frugal Friday File on Saturday, June 14...

 

1.  Last Saturday was Caitlyn's birthday and all but the oldest sibling was home for family supper.  Beau grilled/smoked a carnivore's feast with absolutely delicious ribs, beans, and jalapeno poppers, while Kasey made everybody's favorite potato salad.  

    Since we had kind of OD'ed on meat on Saturday, we then had two meatless meals in a row with breakfast for dinner on Sunday, and Tomato Pie on Monday.  Both were using things that were on hand, and didn't require a grocery run.  I used our harvested cherry tomatoes plus the remainder of store-bought cherry tomatoes purchased before our homegrown ones started producing every day...they were just on the verge of old age, so needed to use them up.  Also used jalapenos from our container garden, along with onions, and corn from fridge/freezer.  I sauteed the onions & jalapeno, when they were soft I added the halved cherry tomatoes, then when they cooked down a bit, I added about a third of a bag of frozen corn that I came across.  This was different from the Tomato Pie I usually make, but again, wanted to make do with what I had here at home.

2.  Made a menu plan for the next week or so, and I placed my grocery order.  Picked it up on Wednesday, so we are set for awhile now.  I even have a plan for dessert for Saturday's family supper...I usually don't decide till Saturday morning.  :)

3.  Tax refund finally arrived...only three weeks since proving my identity...not the nine they said it might be.  Saving it to go toward our annual LTC insurance premium.

4.  Placed one single online order this week; it is for a Christmas gift for family member.  Starting early.

5.  I signed up to take a salad for the coming week's pot luck lunch.  The person bringing the main dish said it would be a southwest-type casserole.  So I thought I'd try something new, and looked for something that seemed to be a good match, Mexican Rice Salad.  I don't like to take things that I haven't tested ahead of time, so I made it this week.  It was okay, but not great.  We ate it accompanying two meals on separate nights.  I think I'll take a green salad to book club.  :)

This week we ate:

Saturday:  Family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  **Pancakes & Eggs (no bacon thawed, so did without)

Monday:  **Tomato Pie

Tuesday:  out for Tex-Mex

Wednesday:  Salmon, Rice Pilaf, Salad

Thursday:  Homemade hamburgers, Mexican Rice Salad

Friday:  Frozen Enchiladas and leftover Mexican Rice Salad

**designates meatless meal

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Thirty-fifth challenge finish of the year.

Alice Hoffman's "Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories" series, books 1 through 4.  Included titles:  The Bookstore Sisters, The Bookstore Wedding, The Bookstore Keepers, and The Bookstore Family.

All four were available through Kindle Unlimited.  I like Alice Hoffman's work, so I tried the first one and liked it, then I read the rest of the series.  I believe they contained from 36 to 54 pages each.  I remember when I added them together they totaled 153 pages.

Now I'm reading Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan.  Not my usual genre, but I was struggling to fill the prompt "a character is a magician," and a friend recommended this one.  It is almost 700 pages long, so that will make up for the short Alice Hoffman series.  :)

2025 Frugal Friday File on Saturday, June 7...

 

1.  I took two sewing machines in for repairs, or tune ups, or whatever they need.  Hopefully he will be able to have them ready to pick up in a couple of weeks.

The repair service is in the next town over.  Which also has the nearest locksmith, so to make the most I could out of errand batching miles, I took my great-great-grandfather's document box to see if they could open it for me.  They said they could not without breaking the lock.  So I will have to hope I come across the key (which I actually thought I had stored inside the box, so I don't know how the box was locked), or do some research to find a specialist in antique locks.  It does not have anything of monetary value locked inside, just sentimental family photos and WWII war souveniers of my dad's.  :(  

2.  A whole lotta leftovers were eaten here this week.

3.  Cherry tomatoes are continuing to produce, and now we have some peppers ripening as well.

4.  Reading, reading, reading.  Again.  Still.

5.  Except for food and monthly bills, it's been a no spend week.

On the menu this week:

Saturday:  Saturday family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  leftover pasta salad

Monday:  leftover pasta salad (yes, I made him eat it again!  But I kept adding fresh fruit/veg.  It was the never-ending pasta salad!)

Tuesday:   Sheet pan dinner: Smoked sausage, sweet potatoes, 1" thick cabbage slices; and from the stove top, creamed corn (not canned...frozen corn in a homemade bechamel sauce)

Wednesday: takeout burgers

Thursday:  leftovers

Friday:  pot pies

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Thirty-second challenge finish of the year.

Though "Prompt #31 - Audio Book Has Multiple Narrators" seems to be a direction to listen to it as an audio book, I checked the list of rules, and as long as there is an audio version that has multiple narrators, it is allowed to read the the physical book.  I wasn't in the mood to listen, so I checked out the hard-cover book from the library.

I found it difficult getting used to the format the author used, of laying out the chapters in only quotes of the characters...as if the author/interviewer asked each of the characters about a particular event, and then transcribed all of their answers and grouped them on the page...prefaced only by the speaking character's name.  I may not be describing that well, but it took me over a hundred pages to get somewhat comfortable with it.  It was interesting seeing how the different characters each interpretted a memory from their own (and sometimes conflicting) viewpoint.

I did like it, but it was a little challenging.

Thirty-third challenge finish of the year.

When my friend, the other Kathleen, finds out I liked, no loved this one, she will not believe it.  Why?  Because I have told her so many times that I never want to read another book hyped as a literary award winner or finalist.  I might not have read it if it wasn't our book club's selection for July.  Generally I find award winners either really depressing, or too high brow to enjoy.  

This starts out with the characters of Huckleberry Finn and Jim hiding out on the Mississippi River, and it is a true adventure story.  Two or three events were far fetched, but probably no more so than Mark Twain's version. 

I could not put this down.  I read about a quarter of it in one evening, and then the next morning I picked it back up, and could not put it down until I got to the end.  At almost the end, another character said, "Who are you?"  By now,  James was seeming like such a super hero to me, that in my head I almost expected him to growl out, "I'm Batman!"  LOL   Now, this is in no way a super-hero story, but the character of James started out strong, and grows throughout the story, hence to me he almost seemed like a super-hero by the end.

Thirty-fourth challenge finish of the year.

I read the first book in this series in 2016, and this one has been on my Kindle almost that long.  So, I'm extremely happy to have finally gotten to it.  Very likeable characters (except for the villain), and easy reading escapism.

2025 Frugal Friday File, May 30...

 

1.  Made (and divided into 12 oz containers) a big batch of Rudy food and put it in the freezer to take out as needed.

2.  In lieu of going on a statin (which I do not want to do), doctor and I compromised on me having a CT scan to determine my Cardiac Calcium Score before making a firm decision.  He warned me that I would probably have to pay out of pocket for it, but it wasn't terribly expensive.  I had the scan done a couple of weeks ago, and I had a follow-up appointment with doc this week.  Anything below a score of 100 was acceptable; my score was really low...like really low.  So YAY no statin prescription, AND my insurance covered the cost of the scan with no OOP expense.

3.  I was able to reserve two books at the library, and I picked them up when I went to volunteer there this week.  Both are for the 2025 Challenge, and one of the two is also for July's book club selection.  YAY for lending libraries, and also for combining two trips into one!

4.  Yesterday I made another big pasta salad.  This one with bowtie pasta, orange sections, red grapes, apples, blanched broccoli, celery, carrots, cucumber, red onion, chicken breast, and mayo whisked with Italian dressing to dress it...to the individual servings I added feta cheese and pecans also.  There is plenty for the two of us to have tonight, and probably another day.  Thank you, yesterday's me, for putting in the work, so today I don't have to.

5.  Carey just got home from another week with his sister and b-i-l.  They are both improving since their car accident.  I'm so glad he could help them out.  He was invaluable when I was injured in my rollover car accident back in 2008 (?), so he has had practice.  Another brother was able to help them in between Carey's visits.  And I'm also glad that he took our old car which gets much better gas mileage than his huge truck.  Now whether it's wise to be paying insurance for all three vehicles we now own...we will have to get that figured out.

On the menu this week was:

Saturday:  we shared a takeout sandwich

Sunday:  grocery-store sushi

Monday:  grazed

Tuesday:  Spanish Rice

Wednesday:  leftovers

Thursday:  Pasta Salad

Friday:  Leftover Pasta Salad

**designates meatless meal

What I am reading Wednesday...

Thirtieth challenge finish of the year.

I started this one in 2024, but with the news cycle of the campaigns and all, I had to put it down; I was just not in a place where I could deal with the topic.  (There were a couple of other books that I had to push to the bottom of the pile also for similar reason.)

Once I got back to it (for the 'Climate Fiction' prompt of the challenge), it took FOR. EVER.  I read it in ebook form, but the hard cover and paperback both indicated 576 pages; and reviews indicated the font size on those pages was very tiny, so no wonder it took forever to get through. Long.  Long.  Looooooong  Like Moby Dick, it seemed as if the author got paid by the word.  Also like Moby Dick, I had to resort to reading a few chapters of it in the morning, and then read other books the rest of the day.

It started out strong with a traumatic fictional heat event that killed millions.  But after that, it kind of wandered off course.  It jumped around, and the characters weren't really well developed.  It gave a TON of scientific information which was over my head.  Sometimes I read reviews of books after I finish them just to see what other people thought of them.  One review mentioned, "as a story it gets 2 stars, but I added another star for the subject matter."  I can completelty agree with that statement.

 

Thirty-first challenge finish of the year.

As the title indicates, this book IS actually about a feather thief.  A young American man who has an obsession with tying fly-fishing lures, burgles a natural history museum in England to obtain a lifetime supply of feathers that are illegal to obtain on the open market due to wildlife conservations laws, and also to sell some of them to raise cash.

Very interesting, and I read it within two days.  I kept stumbling over the word 'tiers' which I heard in my head as TEE-ers (like the levels of a structure), but which in this case is pronounced TIE-ers.  Turns out that is the preferred spelling for those who tie fly-fishing lures.  

Does anyone else stumble over word pronunciations while reading silently?  Don't even get me started on unusual name pronunciations!  (Dr. Zhivago took me forever to get through.)

Looking forward to reading more of this author's work in the future.  He did a good job with the literary non-fiction (blends historical accuracy with compelling narrative).  I love authors who do a great job with this genre...Tracy Kidder...Erik Larson...Brian Hicks...to name a few.

Tuesday treasure...

Singing with the boy!

2025 Frugal Friday File, May 23...

 

1.  While Carey was helping out his sister and b-i-l, among other things he helped out with, he harvested what was ripe from their garden for them.  They made him bring home chard and kale.  The kale was so young and tender.  I made a big salad with kale, chard, and a lot of stuff I found in the fridge: apple, red onion, carrot, celery, cherry tomatoes, chicken, and homemade honey-mustard dressing.

2.  Spent a lovely couple of hours (sarcasm) trying to track down our tax refund.  Jumped through their hoops.  Proved who we were.  And as per the finish notice, we should see it within the next NINE WEEKS!  Grrrrr.  Can't help it; feels like DOGE trouble to me.

3.  Social Security checks (his & mine) were deposited.  Every month now I hold my breath fearing that something will go wrong with it.

4.  Waited till my volunteer day at the library, to pick up a book that I reserved.  No special trip.

5.  Adjusted my subscription for laundry detergent sheets.  It was set at one box every two months, but we ran out.  Setting it for every six weeks was not an option, so I bought an individual box to get us by, then set subscription for 2 boxes every 3 months.  

On the menu this week--     

Saturday:  out for breakfast for dinner at IHOP (Carey's choice)

Sunday:  Big Salad

Monday:  me: leftovers,  C: frozen pot pie

Tuesday:  shared a takeout sandwich

Wednesday:  Quiche w/ Garlic Green Beans

Thursday:  Chicken Burgers (frozen chicken patties)

Friday:  leftovers

**designates meatless meal