Wednesday, September 07, 2022

{ Homemaking halted by allergies.....ugh! }

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My day started bright and early, or rather, dark and early, because when we get up at 6am, it is still pitch black outside.  

We have our morning routine down to a tee, matter of fact, I think our bodies pretty much just move themselves through the early morning hour between 6 and 7.  Alarm goes off, we get up, Curt heads straight to the bathroom to get ready for work, then takes Kaia out to potty.

While he does that, I head to the kitchen, give Elliott some morning hugs and kisses, give him a treat, and feed him his breakfast.  I then put Kaia's breakfast in her bowl, get the water boiling, prepare our cups of coffee, get Curt's lunch ready.  At this time Kaia is usually back inside and looking for her morning treat, which I give her, along with lots of cuddle and kisses.

Then we move back to the bedroom.  I hand Curt his lunch and his coffee, he works at his computer for a few minutes while drinking his coffee and leaving for work.

I sit on my bed with both Kaia and Elliott, drink my coffee, and look through my phone, say goodbye to Curt and then finish my coffee, watch some youtube videos and around 7:30am, get up, and get my day started.

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Just like that, every morning.  There's something comforting about that well known routine.

This morning, I sat and watched the doves in my yard.  Yesterday, I had gone out for an errand and when I returned home, my entire property, roof of the house, and yards were covered in doves.  I have never seen so many in my life, it was amazing and I felt such peace as well.  I strongly believe that doves are very much connected to the Holy Spirit.
 

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I turned back around to see these two, staring at me from inside.  They are so cute, just look at those faces.

I got dressed, made the bed, cleaned the bathroom, then went to fill my new rice tub.  I ordered it from Amazon and it arrived yesterday afternoon.  I wasn't sure if it would work or how good it was, but it actually is just what I was looking for, and I love that it has wheels, which make it easier to move around.
 

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I got 3 of these scoops as well, one for the rice, and one each for Kaia and Elliot.  Once I got the rice all moved to the tub, and into the pantry, I got more water boiling for my second cup of coffee, emptied the dishwasher and refilled it, gave the counters a good wipe down and took out my chicken for dinner.
 
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Oh coffee!!!

The practice of making a pour over cup of coffee, is one I've loved since I was little.  Maybe it's a Portuguese thing, or a European thing, but these machine coffees are just not my cup of tea.  I do have a Keurig and I'll tell you, I hardly ever use it, same as for my coffee machines.

I just find that a cup of poured coffee is a million times better.  But that's just my own opinion.

This morning I had a Kahlua French Vanilla coffee, and a bagel with cream cheese and some of my homemade apple butter.  Perfect breakfast!

I grew up in Portugal, and breakfast for us was always a cup of coffee and some kind of bread, either toast, or a bread roll with ham and cheese, or quince paste and cheese, or jam.  That was basically our to go breakfast, not until I moved to the USA did I even think of a heartier breakfast.  

The whole sausage and bacon, and eggs, biscuits and gravy etc, is something I wasn't used to, I do love, but I definitely can't eat it everyday.  It's far too much for me. 

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I jumped right into my homemaking after breakfast.  Got the house clean, watered all the plants outside, and then got busy cleaning and organizing a shelf under my wall oven.  It's something I've needed to do for a while now, but kept forgetting about it.

I went through, cleaned, and moved everything that was under there into some pretty woven baskets.  It looks so much better.

Because it hadn't been done in a few months, it had a lot of dust and I should have known it would affect me, since one of the allergies I have, is to dust.  I wasn't even thinking, but right after I finished, my nose started feeling congested, I started sneezing and I then I couldn't breathe.  

I managed to quickly make us some lunch, pigs in a blanket.  Ate a few pieces and then made a beeline for the bedroom to my allergy pills.  And that was where my day practically ended.

The thing with my allergies, is that when they get this bad, I have to take my pill, and it completely knocks me out, within 20 minutes.

I figured since I was going to be forced into a nap, I might as well do my devotionals and Bible reading while Kaia and Elliott settled in for their naps, and I waited for mine to kick in.

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By the time I woke up, I had to get dinner started.  I've had a pounding headache since then, the congestion is still hounding me and my asthma is having a field day.....all because of dust.  It is fascinating to me, how our bodies work.  I can't stand my allergies and how my body reacts to certain particles and things, but at the same time, I think it's amazing how our bodies are made.  Don't you?

Anyway, I dragged myself into the kitchen and began the process of making dinner, which just as it always happens, it was something that would need work and attention and more effort than I really wanted to put in, considering the way I'm feeling, but I just set to work.
 

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So what was dinner tonight?  Well, it was chicken fried chicken, gravy, a potato bake and some green beans.  By the way if you want to see my dinners every night, be sure to follow me on Instagram.  I usually show myself preparing our meals, and then show the dinner plate too.  

It seems to be one of the things my followers over there most like seeing.  I'll be honest, I love food, so I too love seeing what others are eating or making in their homes.

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Dinner took quite a while to prepare, and after we ate, came the long process of doing dishes, cleaning the stove, packing lunches for tomorrow, and putting my kitchen to sleep.  

I always love taking one last look at my kitchen before turning the light off, for the night.

I made my way to my room, and marked off more things off the daily to do list.  Ok, so let's quickly talk about the to do list.  I've never been one to follow lists, I love making them, but I never followed them.  But the past month or so, I have gotten into the habit of actually making a daily list, and adding everything that I want to get done that day, then crossing off with a highlighter as I do them.

Sometimes I miss a thing or two, just like today, I ended up not making French Bread for dinner, and I didn't get to vacuum the carpets either.  Those will move to tomorrow's list.  But basically everything I can think of that I want to do, I write down.

I've noticed as I've gotten older, I tend to forget more Hahahaha

And not only that, but as moms we are so busy during the day, and trying to do so many things at once, I tend to think of something that needs my attention, but then walk into a different room and see something else, and start on that, sometimes completely forgetting why I even went in that room to begin with.

Anyone else like this?

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Making these daily lists has helped me stay on track and put my thoughts down on paper, all I have to do is look back at the list during the day, and cross off chores as I finish them. 

For now, it is working for me.  If in the future it stops working, then I'll figure something else out, but I'm quite happy with this system for the moment.

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And with that, my Wednesday comes to an end.  My allergies are still raging, my headache is still pounding, and if you have allergies or sinus issues you know what these headaches feel like, every time you sniff or try to breathe in, it feels like a vice grip around the head.  Ouch!!!

I've just taken another allergy pill, and no doubt it will be knocking me out in the next 30 minutes, so I better close this out before I fall asleep and slam my head on the keyboard.  

Have a great night ladies, I'll be back in the morning with a recipe to share for our Cooking Thursday!

Tuesday, September 06, 2022

{ Our long weekend and email subscriptions }

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I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend.  We spent ours at home, just relaxing, doing things around here, and enjoying our time together.  We were supposed to have a barbecue at my niece's house, but unfortunately my sister in law is sick, and so it was moved to next weekend.

Usually we would barbecue something at home, but it so happens that we are out of gas, and still haven't refilled the bottle.  We decided we are going to refill it anyway, even though summer is coming to and end, because you never know if you'll lose power in the Winter, and at least that way, we can use the grill to cook, if need be.

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My boys worked hard on Saturday, mowing our 3 acres.  They took turns on the mower, replaced the blades which is a whole project in itself, weed eated, watered, took trash to the dump and so forth.

I know I don't show Nick on here much, he doesn't like being on camera at all, but he didn't mind me taking these pics.  It's so surreal to me looking at my son, knowing he is 19 years old, when just yesterday he was a little baby.  If you've followed me from the beginning, you know he was just 3 years old when I started blogging.  Crazy huh?
 

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While they worked outside, I worked inside.  I have been wanting to clean out and organize my laundry area cabinets.  They've been needing a good cleaning, and one of them has become a catch all for random items.  My idea is to get some of the little organizer baskets from Dollar Tree, but in the meantime, I am using some extra ones that I have laying around.

I also refilled my glass pitcher with the laundry detergent.  I've had this pitcher for a while, and it's missing the metal lid.  I was going to get rid of it, but then decided to use it for the soap instead.  I was going to use a little bit of fabric as a lid, but then found a plastic twist lid from a different container, and it fits perfectly.  (It was from one of those mixed nut containers, from Sam's club).

You know me, I'm a huge believer in using what we already have on hand, and not wasting.


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I still have one more cabinet to go through this week, and hopefully I'll make it to Dollar Tree to grab some of the cheap organizers.  I would like to get some blue ones, to match my laundry area and kitchen.


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I baked some cinnamon rolls, made a delicious curry for dinner and spent the afternoon ironing.  I know, some of you hate it, but I love ironing.  I learned from a very young age to iron, and just grew to love it.  Maybe I'm crazy, but I find there is something so calming about the process of ironing clothes.

The way the iron moves back and forth, slowly, removing every line and crease.  Folding the clothes into a neat pile, then packing them away in their drawers.  You know how clothes dried out on a line have a certain scent to them?

I think ironed clothes have that too. 

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Sunday, we had church in the morning, then came home, and did practically nothing.  Like nothing, nothingggggg.  Have you ever had one of those days, where the extent of your doing is basically keeping yourself alive, eating and sleeping?  Yeah, one of those!

Monday morning, we went to breakfast, just Curt and I, then came home and worked on the back yard.  We took turns mowing, and watering the veggie garden, then came back in, took our showers, I made us a yummy Instant Pot Chili Mac for dinner, and that was it.  

So yeah, a very easy, chill long weekend, which we very much enjoyed.

Now, before I close off this post, I want to point your attention to my sidebar real quick.  If you look over to your right side, at the very top, you will a new widget to Subscribe to new Posts through email.

A couple of you have reached out to me, both here, through email and on Instagram, to let me know that you are no longer receiving email notifications when I publish a new post.  

I checked on my side, and everything is fine, I haven't changed anything that would affect that function at all.  So I went looking for answers, contacted blogger and google, and did some research.  It turns out that the email notifications through feedburner have been discontinued.  Which means, if you subscribed to my blog through email before, you will no longer receive notifications.

They don't plan on bringing it back or fixing it.  It's basically a "You're on your own", kinda deal.   Bummer!!!

I sat for about an hour earlier today, and found a different website that offers email subscriptions and have installed that one for you.  All you have to do is subscribe again through that little box on the right, and hopefully, each time I publish a new post, you will get an email notification.

I say hopefully, because I've never used this new website and really don't know if it will work the same way, it is supposed to, so we will see.  I actually signed up for my own blog, and will check after this post is up, if I get notified or not.

I really do hope this sorts the problem out for you all, if not, I don't know what else to do.  I don't know why google would decide that ending that function was a good idea.  No clue!!!

Anyway, please let me know if you do sign up, and if it does work, especially for those of you having issues with the email subscriptions.

I'm an going to close this off for the night, I can feel a headache coming on, and being on the computer just makes it worse.  I guess it's time to put technology to bed, and go enjoy the rest of my night.

Have a wonderful evening everyone, see you all tomorrow!!!

Monday, September 05, 2022

{ Happy Homemaker Monday - 09/05/2022 }

 
 
Good morning sweet ladies, welcome back to my blog.  Grab yourselves a cup of coffee or tea, and let's sit a bit, visit and see what we have going on around our homes, this week.
 
First, I apologize that this post is going up a little later than usual, but my sweet hubby took me to breakfast this morning.  It's something we haven't been able to do in a while, so I was very excited to go spend this time with him.  
 
Now we are back home, and ready to start the day.  He is off today, Happy Labor Day to you all, and he has spent the weekend doing outside chores, so he's doing nothing but relaxing today.  Good for him!
 
I have my usual homemaking chores to attend to, and I also want to mow my back yard, but other than that, I am also going to relax, watch some tv and continue on with my knitted dishcloth. 
 
I hope you all have a very blessed week ahead. 




♥♥ The Weather ♥♥
It's been perfect.  The temperatures have dropped, we are sticking around the low 90's, we have also had some rain here and there which has cooled things down dramatically.  Looks like we are finally leaving summer and easing into Fall.  

Monday - Sunny to partly cloudy, 93
Tuesday - Sunny, 95
Wednesday - Sunny, 96
Thursday - Sunny, 93
Friday - Sunny, 95
Saturday - Sunny, 94
Sunday - Mostly sunny, 92



♥♥ As I look outside my window ♥♥
The grass has grown and is this beautiful lush green.  There are dewdrops as well, making it look like a blanket of diamonds was placed upon the lawn.  
 
There are two squirrels playing on the fence, and some birds chirping on a nearby tree.  
 


♥♥ Right now I am ♥♥
Sitting on my bed, with my laptop, working on this post, while listening to a true crime video on Youtube.



♥♥ Thinking and pondering ♥♥
I am trying to decide if I want to start writing out the Bible, or do a journal type of entry in my pretty notebooks, where every day, I enter the date, what passage I read and whatever verse or quote from my devotionals, stuck out that day.
 
Decisions, decisions.  



♥♥ How am I feeling ♥♥
I'm feeling blessed this morning.  I have my family, I have my health, I have the sweetest pets, and a beautiful home.  Have you thanked God lately for what you have?  
 


♥♥ On the breakfast plate ♥♥
Had breakfast at Denny's with my hubby.  We both had the grand slam, with eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, sausage and pancakes.  I filled my tummy, and that is going to be my breakfast AND lunch for today.  I'm stuffed.  



♥♥ On the lunch plate ♥♥

See previous post......I don't think I'll be having anything, as I'm quite full and had a big breakfast.    



♥♥ On the dinner plate ♥♥

Instant Pot Chili Mac, Sauteed Cabbage, Garlic Bread.  

 
 
♥♥ What I'm wearing ♥♥
Grey and white striped casual pants, black top and slippers.  
 


♥♥ On my reading pile ♥♥

Still reading through Isaiah.
Paul David Tripp New Morning Mercies devotional.
Morning and Evening Devotional by Charles Spurgeon.  



♥♥ On my TV this week ♥♥
Mad About You - last episodes.  
Homemaking vlogs
House of Dragons
The Lord of the Rings Series on Amazon Prime



♥♥ On the menu ♥♥
 
Monday - Instant Pot Chili Mac, Sauteed Cabbage, Garlic Bread 
Tuesday - Sausage and Potatoes Skillet, Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Wednesday - Chicken Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
Thursday - Swedish Meatballs, Egg Noodles, Steamed Broccoli
Friday - Pepperoni, Salami and Cheese Stromboli
Saturday - Instant Pot Spaghetti, Salad
Sunday - Coney Island Chili Dog Tacos (this has been on the menu for a couple weeks, but keeps being pushed around)



♥♥ Looking around the house ♥♥
The living room needs tidying.  Kaia got hold of an empty toilet roll and tore it to pieces, while we were at breakfast.  
 
I need to open curtains and windows, also need to vacuum.  The rest of the house is clean and tidy.



♥♥ To Do List ♥♥

- Pick up living room and dining room
- Vacuum carpets
- Clean bathtub and mop floor in bathroom
- Mow back yard


 
♥♥ From the camera ♥♥
My husband and son were doing yard work on Saturday, and I snapped this picture, right as Nick started the mower.  I love how it turned out.   



 
♥♥ Devotional ♥♥ 
They had to hazard theirs lives unto the death in the high places of the field, and you will not be crowned till you also have endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, "stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."    
 
— Morning and evening by Charles Spurgeon  


Thursday, September 01, 2022

{ Cooking Thursday - Macaroni and Cheese Meatloaf Casserole }

 

 
Good morning everyone, welcome back to another Cooking Thursday.  

I have been enjoying sharing recipes every Thursday, and even if you don't join in on your own blogs, I'm hoping you're enjoying the ones I'm sharing, and maybe even finding one or two that sound good.

Today's recipe is one that I am sure all the mac and cheese and meatloaf fans, will enjoy.  It's not only easy to make but can be easily adapted to use your favorite meatloaf recipe, and to feed a large crowd.

It may seem a bit strange at first, but trust me, your family will love it.

 
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Macaroni and Cheese Meatfloaf Casserole 
 
 
 
Ingredients 
1 cup ketchup 
1 cup Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory & Brown Sugar barbecue sauce 
2 lbs lean ground beef 
30 Ritz Crackers 
2 oz Lipton onion soup mix 
2 eggs 
3 cups macaroni noodles 
2 cups milk 
10.5 oz condensed cheddar cheese soup 
1 tsp salt 
1 tsp pepper 
1 tbsp garlic powder 
1 tbsp onion powder 
4 cups shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese blend 
 
 
Instructions 
 
Preheat oven to 350F. Dump ketchup and barbecue sauce into a medium mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Set aside. Dump ground beef into a large mixing bowl. Place Ritz crackers in a large Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them. Pour the cracker crumbs into the bowl with the ground beef. 
 
Add the onion soup mix and eggs to the bowl with the ground beef. Add 1/2 cup of the ketchup and barbecue sauce mixture to the bowl with the ground beef. Use your hands to mix all of the ingredients together until fully combined. 
 
Dump the meatloaf mixture into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish and press it out evenly. Spread the rest of the ketchup and barbecue sauce mixture on top of the meatloaf. Place the dish in the oven and bake the meatloaf for 30 minutes. 
 
While the meatloaf is in the oven, cook the macaroni noodles according to the directions on the package and then drain. Pour the milk and cheddar soup into a large mixing bowl. Whisk until no lumps remain. Add the salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to the bowl and whisk well again. 
 
Add the cooked macaroni noodles to the bowl and stir until all of the noodles are coated in the liquid. Add 2 cups of the shredded cheese to the bowl and stir well again. Once the meatloaf has baked for 30 minutes, remove it from the oven. 
 
Pour the macaroni mixture on top of the meatloaf and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle the remaining 2 cups of shredded cheese on top of the meatloaf. Return the dish to the oven and bake until the cheese on top is completely melted and just starting to brown. 17-20 minutes. 
 
 Remove the casserole from the oven and leave it to sit for a few minutes before slicing and serving. 
 
 Enjoy! 
 
 
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