Month: August 2025

Day #47 – Just Another Manic Monday

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Mondays, oh Mondays. For me it means cleaning the house to start the week off right. I cleaned out the fridge and deep cleaned the kitchen, all because I cannot find the lid to one of our tea containers. Still can’t find the darn thing, but at least everything is straightened up.

While I was dusting I checked some string lights and found out that our little terror kitten had chewed through the wire so only 2 worked.

Solved that problem by just stuffing them all in the owl.

I always change our sheets on Monday and today I had the bright idea to switch our duvet cover. Who needs a gym when you have a duvet? I swear the third ring of hell is just having to put on duvet covers. I had to crawl inside it to get the corners all the way in. Now I know what an earthworm feels like. But, I got it on finally, only to realize that I had never put the new top sheet on.

You can see where I just gave up ironing it.

Because I really needed to go grocery shopping, but it was just too darn hot and I hadn’t finishing my meal planning yet we had breakfast for dinner. I don’t know why breakfast food is only “supposed” to be for breakfast. I hate eating early and I love breakfast foods.

Chili crisp on eggs is the best!

While I was cooking I was opening up a new can of Tony’s and it knocked over and spilled everywhere, including inside my Crocs. Today just really wasn’t my day.

One thing I’m super happy that I DID get done that went perfectly smooth was my meal planning. I’m going to get up early and hit the store before it gets too hot.

Day #46 – Sweet and Sour Pork Chops With Crispy Rice

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Today is Donny’s short day at work so Jackson and I decided to hit Walmart to grab some things that I only buy at Walmart. Unfortunately we didn’t realize it was tax free weekend and the last Sunday before school starts. It was a mad house!!! So basically I just recovered from that experience the rest of the day. I was excited to make the Sweet and Sour Pork chops I’ve had on my meal list for the last 2 weeks. Here’s the recipe.

Here’s the changes I made. I only had 8 thin sliced pork chops. I used sweet chili sauce, no brown sugar, half rice vinegar and half apple cider. I also 1 1/2 the recipe. I actually could have doubled the sauce. I did not simmer for as long as they said to. It was probably only about 30 minutes. They turned out so good!

I made crispy rice to go with it. I just made 1 1/2 cups of rice. (I don’t know how much that actually comes out to, but it’s 1 1/2 cups rice to 3 cups water). I let it cool and then put the rice in a big bowl and added 1 T of sesame oil, a lot of chili crisp because we love it. soy sauce (just use as much as you like). Stirred it all up and spread it out on a baking sheet. Pop it into a preheated 425 oven on the top rung for 15 minutes. After about 8 minutes give it a good shuffle and continue cooking. If it’s not as crispy as you like keep cooking in 5 minute intervals. This will definitely be one of my regular sides.

So so so so good! I also sauteed some broccoli in sesame and olive oil with a little soy sauce.

This will go into my meal rotation because everyone liked it. There’s something to be said for those 1980’s recipes, even if you have to tweak them a little bit.

These are two of the items I used. I got both at Walmart. I’ve seen the exact same chili crisp at the Asian Market, but it’s about 3 dollars more there. I eat the crisp on just about everything;

Day #45 – Best Chicken Fried Rice + Lil Helpers

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A few nights ago I made the best chicken fried rice. I made a huge batch. Hannah and I have eaten on it until now it’s gone. It’s so easy. Here’s how I made it.

In the morning make 1 1/2 cups rice. Put it in the fridge to really cool off.

When you’re ready to make dinner, cook 2 chicken breasts. I did mine in the instant pot. Then shred the chicken.

I just got a bag of mixed vegetables and cooked those and set them aside.

In a very large skillet or wok, heat some oil with a splash of sesame oil. Add a chopped onion and cook until transparent. Add the mixed veggies and cook for a little bit. Scoot all that over to the side and add 2 scrambled eggs. When those are cooked mix it all together.

Add the chicken and the rice and cook until the rice is a little browned. Add soy sauce. What makes it so good also is to add yum yum sauce once you’ve plated it. I’m going to make it again this week it was that good.

I manage to get all of the laundry done. I do not like putting mine and Donny’s laundry away when the drawers aren’t neat so I decided to go ahead and redo our drawers. I got some help with that.

Unfortunately they weren’t that big of a help, but it feels so much better to have everything where it needs to be. I still use the Marie Kondo folding system.

While I was doing laundry I almost had a heart attack because the neighbors dog came running up. I put him back in their backyard and tonight he got out again. He looks just like a coyote. I can’t tell you how many times I thought that’s what he was. He’s so sweet though and doesn’t even bother the cats at all.

I wish I could have gotten a better picture, but he’s still a puppy and hyper.

Day #44 – Sick With the King

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I woke up sick. I think it could have been the chili I ate last night because just the thought of it makes me feel nauseous. I stayed in bed most of the day and was finally hungry around 7:30. Donny went and picked up Rotolo’s which has my very favorite cauliflower crust pizza. I always get the Popeye.

Hannah and I decided to pile in my bed and start the new season of King of the Hill. It has always been one of our favorite shows and the new season is so good. If you liked the original, you’ll like the newest. It’s on Hulu.

Hannah and I both agree that Dale is our favorite character.

Day #43 – So Much Easier

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Today was a run around get stuff done. Donny and I ran to the feed store to pick up some feed for the chickens. Then we had to hit Home Depot for sand also for the chickens. I made the kids appointments to get their meningitis vaccines for school. Next we took Jackson and drove up to Kilgore to turn in his transcript. Hannah’s appointment for her vaccine was today so we went to the doctor and that took a long time because her knee was bothering her and the doctor wanted to check it out. Of course, we can’t leave out grocery shopping on our way home. We are going to completely blow the food budget this month because we were all hungry when we were shopping and I had no list because we were only supposed to be picking up a few things. Oops.

But, the very best thing that happened to day was I bought this beauty.

Y’all I finally pulled the trigger and got a weed eater that I can actually use. It feels like Christmas. After dinner I just had to go try it out. First around the pool gardens.

Then around the patio.

And finally around the garden.

I’m still getting the hang of it, but it’s going to make doing the yard so much faster and easier considering I was doing all of this by hand.

I also picked this spray up at the feed store. We have aphids so bad and I’ve already caught them on my pumpkin sprouts.

I didn’t want actual poison, so fingers crossed this works. My poor pumpkins are trying their best to grow.

But the hydrangeas that were rapidly dying in the pot I had them in are getting new growth like crazy now that they are in the ground.

We will see.

Day #42 – Stick ’em Up

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I was on the phone so much today. It wasn’t even with our Internet provider because that was finally taken care of. We have someone we care about going through a difficult time and we have no answers as of my writing this. Waiting is not my virtue so I tried to keep myself busy.

The clay molds I made the other day we just sitting in the pan so I decided they needed to be used.

I put the stars and moons on the window.

I added these to the planters. Just something fun that makes me happy.

I’ve started watching the Katrina documentary on Hulu. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years. It’s such a good series and I highly recommend it. Except, Cindy, if you read this you probably shouldn’t watch it. It will bring back too many memories of our flood. SO many things are similar. I can’t believe that in a week it will be 9 years since we went through it. Some days it seems like only a few years have passed and other times it seems like a surreal fever dream.

Day #41 – Waiting Game

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Today I spent 5 hours on hold (it was actually a chat) with our Internet provider. We lost Internet and I couldn’t get through on the phone so I used the chat feature. I waited forever and then I was told it was a billing issue and they would transfer me to billing. I had paid my bill, had the confirmation number and the funds were taken out of my bank account. When I logged in it was saying I didn’t pay. I’m so frustrated. I don’t know if it’s because our provider just bought out 3 other companies but I’ve never had this issue before.

i finally gave up around 7 because a Bible kept popping up saying there were 19 people ahead of me, then 63, then 42, then 23, then back to 56. I honestly think they were closed and just left people hanging. So now I’m blogging on my phone which I don’t really like to do. But, while I was waiting I was able to delete 5000 photos that were taking up way too much space.

i also made dinner candle holders. I hate throwing away glass bottles so I just turned some olive oil ones into candle holders.

i found another face and added it

i think they turned out pretty cool. Making then kept me busy while I was waiting on a reply.

i will be in the phone first thing in the morning to get this figured out.

Day #40 – Sprucin’ It Up

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I had a few things on my to-do list today that I wasn’t exactly looking forward to but they needed to get done. I needed to mow first and because it was 79 degrees at 9 am this morning the morning glories were still open. Unfortunately the humidity was at 73.

I knew I needed to start laying the pavers. First I needed to paint them. I would have loved to do a bright color, but the only paint I had enough of was the warm cinnamon. That works.

Next I had to lay them out and dig out the rest of the grass and dirt to try and get them as level as I could.

This took quite a while, but it was so satisfying when it was finally finished.

I brought some rocks from the backyard to the front to just add that little touch to the all gravel part.

Nothing ever grows in the small pots I have hanging by our front door. Since we’ve had some good luck with wandering Jew I decided to try them there.

While I was planting those I noticed our house numbers were looking a bit faded. Since our house is old I didn’t want to completely take them off because who knows If I could even get them back on so I just used a black sharpie.

So much better.

The last thing I had on my list was to pull out the dying cucumber vine, stake up the tomatoes and plant the pumpkins sprouts and marigold seeds.

See the little cat on the left? That’s Monkey and every time I’m pulling weeds or planting anything, mainly when I’m a sweaty mess, she has to come and rub all over me.

I hope the cloches keep the pumpkin sprouts safe until they are bigger. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Day #39 – What a Difference

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I slept 9 hours!!!! I took Nyquil at 9:40 and by 10 I was OUT. I don’t even remember Donny coming in and turning on the TV. I woke up feeling like a different woman. No headache and I felt so much better. I swear when I don’t get enough sleep it wrecks my entire body.

I also managed to get everything on my list checked off. My left speaker on my 1970’s stereo was not working properly. It would cut out and have static randomly. I popped off the front and just wiggled the wires and it worked. I have no idea why, but I’ll take it.

So so so so happy that I can listen to my albums clearly now.

My bathroom cabinets were next. Every thing was just all hully gully and I just could take it anymore.

We apparently were just throwing stuff in with no rhyme or reason.

Still crowded but it is easier to find what we are looking for.

This top one is so hard to reach so I just keep extra mats and our toilet paper up there. Plus the medicine box.

Things would always fall out on my head when I was trying to get something out.

The top of the fridge is just used for storage.

Our bathroom has no window, but it does have an exhaust fan. When we take steamy showers we will start getting mildew. I do treat it with mold spray but I’m always having to repaint. Today I spray painted it with Kilz. It worked great, but my house smelled like a nail salon. If you’ve ever painted with Kilz you know how bad it smells.

SO gross!!!!! I was going to just let the Kilz dry and paint over it with out wall paint, but it actually turned out to be the same color. I’m going to see how well it holds up and go from there.

I think next time I’ll buy the brush on Kilz because I had to wipe down the whole bathroom afterwards. We already had the spray so I wanted to use what we had. Now to get it off of me.

Day #38 – Under the Weather

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This was my best friend today.

I have had a headache for three days now. Last night around midnight the tornado sirens started going off and then again at 1. Needless to say I did not get a restful night sleep and woke up feeling so sick. Just an allover yucky feeling that lasted all day.

I did manage to get cookies baked and veered off my meal list and just made tacos. There was so much on my to-do list, but it is just going to have to wait. I did get our fridge’s magnets and assorted paperwork we have hung on it sorted out.

We like magnets. I hope the putt putt coupon is still valid.

Bit of a mess.

We’ve had the drawing of the pig and rooster on our fridge for years. Hannah drew it and we just think it’s funny to keep it up there.

This is my to-do list for tomorrow, God willing.

Right now I can’t possibly imagine doing any of it, but that’s how I get when I’m sick. Everything feels impossible and unattainable. So now I’m going to go take a hot shower and take a shot of this magic elixir.

Donny takes very good care of me