What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

This one was heartily recommended by a friend.  I was very happy that it was available at the library with no wait.  I finished it this morning.  ✮✮✮✮

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Poems of Parenting by Loryn Brantz

I bought this as an e-book at a special low price.  I read the sample that Amazon offers online, then I wanted to be able to read its entirety to see if I would want to buy the printed book for a gift.  I enjoyed it.  Humorous.  I enjoyed some of the poems better than others, most of them discussed thoughts that I have had.  Like the kids bringing Mom breakfast in bed on Mothers Day; and Mom smiling as she is thinking, boy that glass of juice is going to be a mess when it spills on the bed linens, and the syrup, oy!  (Not that I have ever been served breakfast in bed.  I'd rather have an extra hour of sleep, while Dad takes the kids out for breakfast!  But you snooze, you lose out on precious memories.)  

I might buy it for a gift, but it would have to be for the right recipient.  I think the parents of toddlers may be about right, or kindergartners.  Parents of younger babies may be too exhausted to take it in.  Not that toddlers and kindergartners aren't exhausting, but parents of toddlers and above have learned some coping skills.  :)

82 Days on Okinawa

by Col. Art Shaw (Ret.) with Robert L Wise

I started reading this one on Sunday.  I'm over halfway through it.  I've been getting a lot of reading done as I have had a stomach ache the past couple of days, and so I've spent a lot of time lying down and reading.  Today I began wondering if maybe my stomach ache was because of this book.

It's not my usual genre.  I picked it up because my dad served in the Battle of Okinawa.  I'm over halfway through it, and I'm feeling like it is a miracle he made it home, and that I (and two of my sisters) were born.  It's very well written, but also definitely enough to give me stomach trouble.  I'm glad to know these things.  I wish I had asked my dad more questions.  I'll be glad to finish this one.

2025 Frugal Friday File, September 26...

 

1.  I keep thinking of things I want to do.  Then when it comes down to it, I don't want to all that bad, and talk myself into putting it off a week.  :)

2.  Reading library book.

3.  Doin' chores.

4.  Haven't killed anybody...saved attorney's fees.

5.  Got my Covid and Flu vaccines.

What we ate this past week:

Saturday:  Family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  Chili

Monday:  frozen beef & broccolli

Tuesday:  Grilled Cheddar & Beau's Smoked Turkey Breast sandwiches, chips, apple

Wednesday:  **Vegetable Stir Fry

Thursday:  Frito Pie (with leftover chili)

Friday:  takeout sandwiches

**designates meatless meal+

Fridge Fare (or using what you have)...

We had a lot of vegetables in the fridge.  I didn't want them to go to waste, and stir fry sounded really good to me last night.  And, most importantly, it's easy and quick.  I even had sugar snap peas.  I didn't have carrots, which is so out of the norm, and while I really wanted some, I did without.

It was exactly what I wanted.  I had looked up an easy stir fry sauce, and added that at the end, and let it thicken a little before removing from the heat.

The easy stir fry sauce is from Simply Whisked.  I threw it together using what I had, and leaving out what I didn't, and it still turned out great.

Recipe as it was published:

1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

1 to 2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

1 Tablespoon minced ginger

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

I had the reduced sodium soy sauce, and used about 1/4 cup.

I used a teaspoon of chicken bouillion powder with about 1/4 cup water.

I had the cornstarch so added it.  (I would consider this essential for thickening, but not at all needed for flavor.)

Did not have time or energy to peel and mince fresh garlic, so I just threw in some dried minced garlic.

Didn't have fresh ginger, so I used about 1/4 teaspoon of really old powdered ginger.

I left out the brown sugar.

I had olive oil so added it.

I had rice wine vinegar so added it.  

I was out of sesame oil, so left it out.  (Though it would have been great!)

I am saying all this because I rarely follow a recipe to the letter, and at least 95% of the time no one but me would ever know.  Don't fret about it unless it's something essential like a leavening agent in a baked good.  In a pinch, I've even used another flavor of extract when I was out of vanilla.

Oh!  Here's a little confession.  For the past 49½ years, I have cooked rice and had it boil over...every...single...time.  I even bought a rice cooker for the microwave, and IT boiled over in the microwave!  Counting yesterday, I have twice prepared rice without a mess.  I've started rinsing the rice before adding it to the water in the saucepan.  It didn't boil over either time, and it didn't stick and clump together.

I'm sure I am the last person on earth to learn this.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Fifty-first challenge finish of the year.

This one has been on my Kindle for exactly ten years (September of 2015).  You've already seen its cover picture a couple times lately on 'What I'm Reading Wednesday' posts.  I took my time reading it, because there were other priorities claiming my time.  

I enjoyed it very much.  The dual timeline was handled in a way that I found much less jarring than many others that I have read.  The characters were such that I would enjoy visiting with them over coffee (or another beverage).  I would happily read others by this author.

Fifty-second challenge finish of the year.

I had never read The Secret Garden.  I have heard a lot about it, but had assumed that it was a children's book.  It would be a good book to read aloud to children; I think a child reading it would have to be a pretty advanced reader to read and understand the Yorkshire accent that a lot of it was written in.  It also had some pretty advanced vocabulary.  Its plot dealt with lack of parental attention, improving health by being out in the sunshine and fresh air, exercise and healthy eating, using self-reflection and the will to change to improve our relationships with others, and treating others with respect.  Reading aloud to a child would be a great opportunity to ask them how they felt about how the characters dealt with these topics and changed through the story.

But it is not just a children's book.  I enjoyed it very, very much.  It was a pretty quick read at 281 pages, and I barely put it down.  I did not own this one, and couldn't find an e-book edition with formatting I liked from the library, so I shelled out a whole 69¢ for it from Amazon.

And that brings me to...

...the end of the challenge.  There have been additional prompts introduced through the year that one can carry on with, but I am happy to have finished the original 52.  There are so many other books I've come across this year that I want to move on to.

Before I heard about the challenge (thanks, Juhli!) my goal was to read 14 books (one per month, and two alternates) that had been lingering on my Kindle unread.  When I decided to do the challenge, I perused the prompts and my Kindle content to match as many prompts as I could with books I already own.  I have cleared at least 22, so exceding my original goal.  :)

Now going forward:

Friedrichsburg: A Novel by Friedrich Armand Strubberg

translated by James C Kearney

This one is a new acquisition at our library.  It is about the German immigrants who colonized the part of Texas we live in (and other parts as well).  So far I am still in the introduction.  The novel itself was published in Germany in 1867 by the first colonial director during the founding of the communities.  It is said to interweave his story with a fictional romance.

We live surrounded by original German settlements.  One church we attended regularly had a German-language service until the 1960s.  One of my favorite things about the area was sitting in the crowd of parents and grandparents (when our kids were younger and involved in community sports) and hearing German, Spanish, and English conversations going on around me.  So I had to be first in line to reserve this new addition to the library.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Restless by William Boyd

Halfway through with this WWII spy story.  Enjoying it.

2025 Frugal Friday File, September 12...

 

1.  I haven't been cooking at all this week, since I'm still having a lot of knee pain.  But having frugal and/or homemade meals in the freezer and ready to pop in the oven helped limit the number of times we had to fall back on takeout.  

2.  I remembered to make dental appointments for each of us this month (prompted by email reminder that we shouldn't let our insurance benefits go unused for the year).  We hadn't used this insurance before, as I think we had to have it for at least a year before coverage kicked in.  I'm not sure that's right, but it was something like that.  So I wasn't sure what it would actually cover, but a preliminary check by the dentist's office was that it would pay 80% of my visit today for exrays and cleaning.  The dentist came in to look at the images, and said I was blessed with really good teeth.  Boy, don't I know it!  Sixty-seven years old and no cavities!  (I did have one small cavity once, but I don't count it because I broke the root of that tooth grinding my teeth in my sleep about twenty years ago, so it is gone and has an implant in its place.)  Carey's appointment is next week.  It will probably be more expensive, because he wasn't quite as lucky in the teeth department.

3.  I have a book ready to pick up at the library tomorrow.  And I found another that I'm looking forward to, but I'm number sixteen in the reserve line for it.  But that's good, because I have plenty of others to finish in the mean time.

4.  We were going to go to the movie theater tomorrow for the Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale opening day.  But with my dodgy knee, I really don't want to do all that walking, so I think I'll wait for streaming release.  Besides, do I need all that expensive, salty, greasy popcorn?  No.  Want it?  YES, but I'll live.  :)

5.  I still have all the ingredients in the fridge, so tonight I think I'll try to replicate the omelet I made last week.

What we ate this past week:

Saturday:  Family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  takeout barbecue baked potato

Monday:  frozen pot pies

Tuesday:  oven-ready meal from grocery: salmon, potatoes, green beans

Wednesday:  homemade meal from freezer: Jambalaya

Thursday:  takeout burgers

Friday:  omelet

**designates meatless meal

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Fiftieth challenge finish of the year.

This one is my book club's selection for October, so it's playing double duty counting it for  my 'Read In A "-ber" Month' prompt.

Really lliked this one.  Good research, likable characters.  I did get a little annoyed with the main character's inability to control the things she said; but offending people was probably all it took for a woman to be arrested as a witch in 1600s New England.

And I always love when the Author's Notes and the Acknowledgements are interesting.

Sunday afternoon...

Sunday afternoon my eldest cousin called me.  He was named after my dad, and has always been the absolute best about keeping in touch.

So he says, two of my siblings (family of 11 kids) want to know why your mother was buried in a little town in Nebraska and not with your dad.  I told him she wasn't.  (Well, she was buried in a little town in Nebraska [still is], but not the one he named.  And she is lying next to my dad.)  He said, "I texted them your number, and said call this number to find out.  But I'd be surprised if they call."  (I'm not even sure he told them whose number he sent them.  LOL)

I told him, "Well if you give me their numbers, I can go one better and preemptively text them a photo of the headstone with both names on it."  He thought that was a great idea, and was tickled that they would receive it out of the blue.

This is where the story gets interesting.  I texted both of his siblings.  My youngest cousin (baby of the 11 kids, and maybe a whole 6 months younger than me) texted back thanks, and we talked a little about our boys (now men).  Then he texts me, "Well, explain this to me," accompanied by a photo of a funeral card with my mother's name on it...almost.  I told him the birth and death dates were not mom's nor was the middle initial.  

He said, "Well, I'll be darned.  I don't know why we have this funeral card.  I guess it's a mystery that will never be solved."  Maybe I should add here that the card was dated 1985, and they had apparently been holding on to it all these years later.

I had to laugh, because my mother would have.  I told him that Mom would have gotten a kick out of his confusion, because she loved to trick people...maybe she still does?  :)

He replied, "Yes, she would."  I could almost see his smile.

It was just a nice little connection with family that hasn't seen or talked with each other for too long, and it reminded us all of our connection, and our parents.

And some unknown lady with a familiar name.  :)

2025 Frugal Friday File, September 5...

1.  I have NOT been in the mood to cook lately.  Today at five forty-five p.m. I hadn't even thought about supper yet.  I had quite a few eggs in the fridge, some bacon ends and pieces, and colorful peppers.  Also had a variety of cubed cheese left from the charcuterie board I made for book club.  I fried some pieces of bacon in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. After cooked to fairly crisp, I set aside on paper towel to wick away grease.  I removed some of the bacon grease from the skillet, and added the chopped onion and pepper to the pan.  When they were tender, I crumbled the bacon and sprinkled it evenly over the top of the onion and peppers.  On top of the bacon, I added some cubes of smoked cheddar, gruyere, and jack cheese about every 3 inches across the top, as the cubes were about 1" cubes, I didn't want to over do it.  Then I poured six beaten eggs over the top.  As the edges cooked, I lifted them  with a spatula to let the uncooked egg flow to the bottom of the pan.  Then I lowered the heat to low, and put a lid on the skillet to let the eggs cook through.  

After a few minutes, I folded the omelet, cut it in half, then plonked the two halves on plates.  We were eating by six thirty.  And actually, this was the best meal I made this week.  The outside of the omelet was tender, but lightly browned from the bacon having been cooked in the pan first.  The cheese cubes melted into little cheesy pools.  The eggs were just perfectly cooked; still moist, but cooked through.

It was possibly the best omelet I've ever made, I didn't have to work too hard, and I used up things from the fridge that needed using.  I'm considering making another one for breakfast in the morning.  😋

2.  After bemoaning the sad state of my bra-drawer contents, I decided to buy a new model to give it a try.  If it passes the comfort and support test, I will get more before letting the old ones go.  

3.  I remembered to water the plants before they croaked.  Honestly, these monsteras are the hardiest plants ever!  

4.  I started the next book for book club.  It was one we chose because it had been an Amazon First Reads option that several of us had clicked on for free (for Prime members), and others of our group were able to get it for free as well after the club met.

5.  I have a 2026 calendar (23" x 34") in my shopping cart.  It's the whole year on one large sheet, and it has daily squares big enough to write a couple of appointments on.  It can just sit there till I have other things to add to the order.  

What we ate this past week:

Saturday:  Family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  leftovers

Monday:  takeout Tex-Mex

Tuesday:  Poppy Seed Chicken, Cranberry Sauce

Wednesday:  grazed the fridge

Thursday:  leftovers

Friday:  Omelet: bacon, onion, yellow bell pepper, variety cubed cheese, eggs

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Forty-eighth challenge finish of the year.

This one has been on my Kindle since early 2018, when I bought it at a Kindle special price.

This is a compilation of blog posts by the author.  I've enjoyed the author's work in the past, and I like that this is blog posts.  The first is about a survey the author was asked to take inquiring about her spare time (hence the title).  Some essays/posts were over my head.  But my favorites were Pard and the Time Machine and Exorcists.  Many were very enjoyable, but those two stood out to me so much that I remembered their names.

Forty-ninth challenge finish of the year.

I read this when I was in high school.  Every once in awhile I've thought of it and wondered how I would feel about it on a second read through. I really didn't remember the young men in the book very much...and it's pretty much only about them.

Let me just say that coming-of-age stories are not my favorite.  I read A Separate Peace by John Knowles, and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger as an adult, and they were a struggle for me to get through.  The self absorbtion of pubescent boys is painful to read.  I have long said that, "I didn't even like teenagers when I was one."  Holds true.

edited to add:  I didn't mean to imply that all pubescent boys are self absorbed.  It's really the way they are written in these coming-of-age novels...all written by men...so I painted with a broad brush in my description.

2025 Frugal Friday File, August 29...

 

1.  Received a notice about my 401k.  I thought it had all been rolled over to an IRA, but I must have earned more last year before I retired from part-time work.  Sure, I'll take another $1,500!

2.  While talking with financial planner (former boss) about rolling it over, we couldn't help talking books.  He asked how many I had read so far this year.  When I told him, he groaned a bit that I was ahead of him again.  We talked about best books we had read this year, and he told me about his favorite so far.  I looked it up later, and it is one of a trilogy about traveling in the U.S.  None are available at our library, so I ordered used, "very good condition" copies of each of the three to put away for somebody's Christmas present.  We've always enjoyed his book recommendations.  (That makes three Christmas gifts so far.)

3.  We still had a $50+ credit at the vet, so that was nice to get subtracted from our bill for Rudy's annual exam and vaccines.

4.  I've lost fifty pounds since I retired from full-time work, and my blue jeans are too big.  I've put off buying new ones, but the time was now or have them fall down.  I received an email this week that offered 40% off denim items, so I took advantage.

5.  I don't frequent Starbucks.  I don't get manis or pedis.  I've gone a loooong time since my last hair cut.  I use the lilbrary as my first choice of obtaining books.

What we ate this past week:

Saturday:  leftovers

Sunday:  takeout barbecue

Monday:  pot pies

Tuesday:  Homecooked meal from the freezer (curry)

Wednesday:  Homecooked meal from the freezer (meatloaf & twice baked potatoes)

Thursday:  15 Bean Soup

Friday:  Linguini with Lemon Cream Sauce w/ Chicken

**designates meatless meal

The lost week...

This is not my photo.  It took it from my pinterest page, and it was for an Etsy item that is no longer for sale, nor can I find the shop it came from.  It reminds me of my mother, because this is the type of clown doll she made for the church bazaar.  She had the whole family making yo-yos and pom-poms for them.  I don't know why I'm using it for this post, except I'm feeling a bit like he looks...kinda worn down.  :)

Well there was no What I'm Reading Wednesday yesterday, because I haven't been reading a lot.  I'm still working on No Time to Spare by Ursela K. Le Guin, and parts of it are pretty deep and require some thought, so I don't read more than one essay a day usually.

Last Friday was our book club here at our house.  I was pleased with how much work I got done around the house, and I haven't re-messed things up yet.  My goal is to keep the dining room table and the kitchen table clear and unburied by mail and packages and mending, etc.  :)  And to continue decluttering, of course.

My knee was extremely painful last weekend (too much cleaning!), and mostly I've just tried to stay off of it.  I had to resort to taking Tylenol and Advil (not at the same time).  Just lying still it was aching badly.  I'm writing this on Wednesday night, and it is much better, but I want to give it the rest of this week to heal before I tax it.  I'm thrilled that I am able to be mobile again without too much pain.

Today I went to a quilt fabric store in the city with my friend Catharine, and we registered to participate in a year long quilt-along that meets monthly.  It's a cute chicken block that we will be making each month, with each block using different colors and prints.  I did buy three non-related pieces of fabric today, and one of them is the perfect color to match another piece I already owned to make a baby quilt.  I felt like it would while I was in the store, and when I got home and put them side by side they were perfect together.  THAT doesn't always happen!

On the way home Catharine and I were talking about a quilt that she is wanting to get finished using fabric inspired by the Outlander books and TV series.  I had also bought the fabric back when she did, but had never settled on a pattern to use, so the fabric remained in the craft room somewhere.  Since Catharine was missing enough fabric to make borders, I told her to come over and we could look through the craft room to try to find my fabrics that matched.  We got back to her house to pick up my car, and I came home to start looking while she followed shortly.  I was ecstatic to find it before she even got here, and I had several prints for her to choose from to finish hers.  

Carey's birthday is in a few days, so I guess I will make him a pie.  He's been working hard to get a fall garden put in.  Oh, and trying to rid us of a pesky, nighttime visitor.  Rudy got sprayed by a skunk TWICE last week!  Luckily we had some odor eliminator that really worked pretty well.  Between that and the air purifiers running non stop, the house smelled fine by book club day.

Yesterday was Rudy's annual vet appointment for vaccines, etc.  Good report.  We saw a new vet in the office, and he was surprised by Rudy's age.  He said he would have guessed he was several years younger.  (And he probably would probably have guessed that Carey and I are several years older.  Both of those assumptions would have been due to Rudy's constant motion and exuberance!  Exhausting.)

Well, this is kind of rambling.  I didn't have a clear idea for a post, I just wanted to reach out, and record the events of the week.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

No Time to Spare:  Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin

I haven't finished either of the books I'm working my way through this week.  This one (above) has been on my Kindle since 2018.  While I have read some of the author's science fiction, this one is a complilation of some of her blog posts.  

I've not had a lot of reading time this week; and I'm dividing it between the above, and also...

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

This one is my book club's selection this month.  I read it back in 2021, so to refresh my memory I checked out the audio book from the library, and while I'm cleaning and getting ready to hold book club, I'm listening to this one.  A story of Appalachia and the remoteness and the poverty of the people, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt traveling library program to reach and educate them.  It is excellent, and I am enjoying it all over again.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Forty-seventh challenge finish of the year.

This one has been on my Kindle since 2017.  It was a pretty good story, I just couldn't go a full four stars.  It was an interesting depiction of a friendship between these two women from American history, and I did believe that it was a true friendship.  I just didn't fully engage with it somehow (but I have been busy and had other things on my mind too).

The actual dressmaker wrote a memoir, Behind the Scenes; Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House by Elizabeth Keckley, which I have added to my wish list at the library.  

2025 Frugal Friday File, August 8...

 

1.  Still doing a bit of decluttering each day.  I'm going pretty deep doing master bathroom cabinets and drawers.  Donated and discarded lots.  Today I started working in the craft room.  That is the worst room in the house.  Oy vey!  (Can't just keep the door closed, because that is where the most convenient restroom for guests is located.)

2.  My sweet husband cleaned the window exteriors; something I would not even think about doing in the summer heat, and I didn't ask him to do it either, but that's just the kind of guy he is, always looking for something to be doing.  Sometimes his hyperactivity makes me crazy (because it makes me feel like a slug staying in air conditioning and reading a good portion of the day, LOL).  I can honestly say that I have never ever nagged him about doing anything...because if I even mention that I'm thinking about doing something, it's done before I know it.

3. As I was doing laundry, I pulled the step stool in and dusted the open shelving and neatened them up.  I wanted something pretty, so looked through the china cabinet and found a hand-painted plate and plate stand.  I was happy for cheap.  Shopped my own inventory. 

4.  I have another Christmas present ticked off the list.  That makes two so far.  :)

5.   Aside from an appointment last week, volunteering at the library, dropping off at Goodwill, and picking up prescriptions and grocery order.  I'm not venturing out much.  This is my estevation season (definition:  [zoology] prolonged torpor or dormancy of an animal during a hot or dry period.  

What we ate this past week:

Saturday:  Family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  out for Mexican food (and was extremely ill that evening and next day).  Our favorite place was closed, so we tried a different place.  :(

Monday:  Turkey & Rice Soup (homemade)

Tuesday:  Spanish Rice

Wednesday:  Charcuterie Board  (test run)

Thursday:  Breakfast for supper

Friday:  Sausage, Rice, & Green Beans stovetop skillet dinner

**designates meatless meal

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Forty-sixth challenge finish of the year.

As I made my way through this book, I thought many times that I would just stop where I was and move on to another book, but I stuck it out.  It wasn't great, but it's been on my Kindle since 2014, and now it's read.

2025 Frugal Friday File, August 1...

 

1.  On Sunday I made a huge pasta, vegetables, and turkey salad; I had to get the BIG stainless steel bowl down from the top of the pantry to be able to toss the salad in.  I mixed together salad dressings that were a couple of weeks in the fridge and needed to be used: cilantro lime, salsa ranch, and some mayonnaise to tone down the salsa ranch which would have been too spicy for Carey.  After we ate, the leftovers were down to what would fit in a large salad bowl (large but not BIG) with a snap on lid.  We'll be eating leftovers for lunches and/or dinners through the week.

2.  I found a way to pay almost half for the bacon I prefer, at least some of the time.  (see Monday's post).

3.  I've reached the end of my rope waiting to get the motivation to get the house decluttered.  My friend Catherine was scheduled to host the next book club meeting, even though she is booked up till just a few days before the meeting.  So I asked her if I could have it at my house this month instead.  I have a serious case of clutter blindness, so I need outside motivation, like public humiliation if it's a wreck when people show up.  :)  Let me assure you in case you are worried, there's no trash, I do throw trash away.  Nor is stuff all over the floor with paths through it.  Good grief, Carey would not put up with that.  It's just that I cover tables, desktops, a couple of chairs, with mail, packages, crafts, books, etc.  Oddly, my closets stay mostly neat and organized...it's the horizontal surfaces out in the open that are a jumble.

So far I'm doing a little bit every day.  The whole house won't be completely decluttered by the 20th, but the rooms people see should be.  And hopefully the forward progress will propel me forward on my journey.

4.  I've already read this month's book club selection, but it's been several years.  I just checked out the audiobook from the library so I can listen while I declutter.

5.  On Fridays after 5pm, Schlotzky pizzas are only $5.  Carey had one of their sandwiches, but I got the personal veggie pizza.  (I know, I know, that is hardly even a fringe frugality.)

What we ate this past week:

Saturday:  Family Supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  Pasta Salad with red, yellow, and green bell peppers, golden Greek peppers, grape tomatoes, red onion, carrot, celery, yellow squash, zuchini, cubed turkey, & dressing

Monday:  Shrimp Gumbo

Tuesday:  leftover pasta salad

Wednesday:  Carey made a sandwich; I ate more pasta salad.

Thursday:  we can't remember...possibly pasta salad...don't judge me, please

Friday:  takeout sandwich/pizza

**designates meatless meal

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.