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Wednesday, August 20, 2025

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.

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

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.  

Friday, August 8, 2025

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

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

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.

Friday, August 1, 2025

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

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