I live in a cozy old home in the Piney Woods of east Texas.
This is my journal
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This weekend I noticed that the wound that Milo, our tuxedo cat, had on his lower spine was not healing as fast as I’d like it to. I had been doctoring it, but on Monday when I went to look at it I noticed it felt spongy. I was moving his hair around and it started oozing. I doctored it some more decided to give it a day to see if it was any better. By Tuesday I decided to call our vet. They asked for me to send in a picture so the vet could look at it and make a decision if we needed to come in or not.
Because his hair is thick and black it was hard to actually see what the wound looked like. The vet called and said it would be best to bring him in, especially with his wound history. (that’s how he became our cat. He wandered up with a horrible neck wound that almost killed him)
I got an appointment for 3:40 that afternoon. At 3 I got out our cat carrier. Because Milo is SO docile I thought, for sure, he would go right in with no problem. Boy, was I wrong. It was like trying to get a angry octopus in a bag. I had the kids try to help me. We took the lid off and put him in. Nope, he almost broke the carrier. Jackson suggested tipping it over and dropping his through the opening. That sure didn’t work. By this time it was 12 minutes until my appointment. I called the vet frantic because I didn’t know what to do. They said just put him in anything that I had. Say less. I remembered a Chik-fil-a catering bag that I had.
To say he was not happy would be an understatement, but I got him there. He actually did so well at the vet. The vet and I agreed that he caught his back going under the chain link fence. The vet shaved the area, flushed it out and gave him an antibiotic shot.
He just chilled out the rest of the night.
Guess who did like the carrier?
I’m glad because after Christmas she’s going in to get spayed.
There is a virus that went around the kids college. Jackson missed a few days of school and many students were absent because of it. Well, it hit Donny yesterday. It’s a really bad sore throat and cough. The kids were out all day with their friends doing a clean up at the college and then while I was grocery shopping Donny texted me to tell me that the kids were going out to get Chinese. Perfect because I wanted to make a big pot of vegetable soup.
Donny doesn’t really like soup where as I could eat it every meal. The one I made is so easy. You just use vegetables that you like, add some broth and let it simmer for about an hour.
I chopped up an onion, celery and garlic and sauteed that in some olive oil. Then I added about 4 carrots, a yellow squash, a calabaza squash and sliced mushrooms. I poured in a a whole box of vegetable broth. To season I added quite a bit of turmeric, some celtic sea salt and a generous amount of pepper. When it had simmered about 20 minutes, I threw in about 3 handfuls of spinach. That’s it.
I added a squeeze of lemon to mine and Donny added hot sauce to his. He loved it. It was so good and flavorful. I think I’ll just always keep soup in the fridge because for these colder days it’s perfect.
It has been a hot minute since I’ve posted anything. We are just trying to get Christmas shopping done and get everyone well. The kids finished their Fall semester and have registered for Spring. Luckily they have classes at the same time so there won’t be any big gaps like there were this past semester. On Mondays and Wednesdays the week before last I had just been taking Jackson at 8:30 then coming back home, getting stuff done around here and then taking Hannah back at 1:00 for her class. I then just hung out in Kilgore. That tends to be dangerous for me since I don’t like retail shopping, but love thrifting. On the last day I found some cute things.
I found these 2 light weight sweaters in the colors I like to wear.
I know this one is very summery, but it’s so cute I couldn’t pass it up. It’s also suppose to hit 70 this week. I love a good cream long sleeve and this one fit the bill.
These candles were from 2005 and I just love the colors. I will pick up anything that looks rustic and celestial.
Donny and I took Friday to go get the grandkids gifts. That meant going to Target, one of my least favorite stores. The saving grace was a peppermint mocha. Even Starbucks can’t mess that up.
We didn’t find what we were looking for at Kohl’s (my second least favorite store) but we did find Donny some sweaters and a shirt for work.
I talked Donny into going to Ollie’s. That’s on his least favorite store list. I always hit the book section and Donny was thrilled to find my doppelganger.
We made a trip to Academy where we found the last gift. Thank goodness because shopping wears me out. The kids were at an art gallery for the evening so we decided to go get some nachos and an adult icee at Fuzzy’s.
I’ve been so disappointed in the weather apps. This was the sunny day that was on all of them.
I’ve also found two new favorite foods. Beans on toast because I like to pretend like I’m British. LOL
It’s like the perfect brunch food and it really sticks to your bones. I don’t eat breakfast but prefer brunch.
I found this recipe on Tiktok. Baked sweet potato with a yogurt sauce (plain yogurt with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and dill) topped with roasted chickpeas. This is the bomb and I made enough to have it again tomorrow.
I let the kids pick out their gifts this year because it’s just easier and they actually like it. Jackson has been after me for a while to get new bookshelves for his room. He wanted certain ones from that certain Swedish store. Well, since we don’t have an Ikea close to us I found some, almost the same, I thought were better bookcases. Nope he had his heart set on these certain ones. I did an online order because, guess what, they deliver now. My bank immediately cancelled the order. So I had to call and make sure it didn’t go through so I could pay again. I guess they thought what stupid moron would pay more for shipping than the actual items cost. Hi, I’m that stupid moron. I think it would have been cheaper to rent a U-Haul and drive to Grand Prairie and pick them up. I know it’s what he has really been wanting so it’s okay. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m still freaked out especially because we will be driving right by the store a week from Friday.
But, even with all of that, we are nearing the end and I am ready for that. I’m not into the hustle and bustle of the holidays. I’d rather just sit around and watch Christmas movies. Maybe on December 26th.
On Mondays and Wednesdays Jackson’s classes start at 8:30. Hannah’s only class that day starts at 1:00. Gavin will normally pick Hannah up on those days because he does some work in Kilgore. Yesterday he couldn’t so I decided to take Hannah later and do a little shopping while they were in class. Of course it was just some thrifting. I hit up Hope’s Closet first. There is one here in Longview and I can always find some good deals, but I really like the one in Kilgore. It’s smaller, cozier, still has good stuff and the staff is incredibly nice.
I went to Goodwill next. I’m not a huge fan of either the Goodwill in Kilgore or Longview, but I did find a few things.
I found these Dear John Giselle jeans in a color I don’t have. They fit perfectly.
I picked up two basic tees for myself and this Luckenbach shirt for Donny.
I also found Hannah and black crocheted poncho, pleated lined miniskirt and some Democracy dark plaid jeans. She loved everything.
I have been needing a trivet for the airfryer tray and I just love this one. It was only $.99.
I also found this 2015 Starbucks mug. I am not a fan of Starbucks, but I really loved this mug.
I washed it and had my coffee in it this morning. I also picked up this wooden tray for my candles because the plate I had just wasn’t large enough.
The tray was $4.99 and the mug was 99 cents.
I rushed to the school to pick up the kids and they were with their advisor registering for next semesters classes. I can’t believe it already that time. I had some time to kill so I went into the art building to see the new exhibit they have up.
This is my hair stylist. Her friend is the artist.
I love this little truck that I see all over campus.
It was so dreary yesterday and it looks like the same forecast for today.
Hannah and I always say that this particular spot is Fall.
Remember the tent bed I got for the cats that only Monkey slept in for ONE night only. Well, I put it outside and covered the extra entrance with a heavy curtain. Milo has claimed it now. He got out of it last night and O’malley climbed in.
As soon as O’malley got out Milo excitedly climbed back in. Cats are funny creatures.
Maybe I’m just nosy, but I always like taking a peep into people’s life. My life is generally pretty ho hum, but this is what my typical Monday looks like. It’s the day that I try to get everything done for the week ahead. I know a lot of people do this on Sundays, but Sundays are Donny’s short days so I save all the big stuff for Mondays.
I wake up every day between 5:00 and 6:00. Today Milo woke me up at 5:00 because he needed to go outside. He is my only cat that tells me when he needs to go do his business. The other 3 cats use the litter boxes.
Next I made coffee and fed all of the cats. We have a feral cat community that neighbor across the street and myself feed daily. They will be waiting for me in the mornings. Today it was nasty cold, windy and rainy but two of them were waiting for their breakfast. I’ll sit outside and love on them while everyone is still sleeping. Once Donny is up I go get dressed and start making breakfasts.
Today Hannah wanted a quesadilla and Jackson wanted a breakfast taco. Once they are fed I start on Donny’s food. He eats the same breakfast every morning, eggs and bacon. I also pack his lunch. He’ll eat both at work.
I always make sure I make extra for dinner so he can take the leftovers. Today for lunch he had Korean beef and rice.
The kids and I leave the house at 8. Today it was pouring rain so it took us a little longer than usual. On Mondays Donny has a meeting at 9 so he was ready when I swung by and picked him up. By 9:15 I’m ready to start my day.
I knew I had to go to get groceries but first I had to start the laundry (there was a lot) and get the fridge cleaned out.
I put a load in and started on the fridge clean out.
I had forgotten that we had some hummus we got at Rottollo’s last night so I had some of that for breakfast.
The rain had died down so I decided it was now or never to go run errands. First I had to change shoes. I decided on a hat so my hair wouldn’t completely frizz out.
I headed to Walmart first and picked up cat food, flea medication, coffee and some Christmas gifts. Right as I was checking out the sky opened up and it started pouring again. I debated if I wanted to go to Aldi, but I knew I couldn’t put it off. The rain had let up a little bit. I got a very close to the door parking place. Again, as I was checking out, the rain started full force. I loaded the car as fast as I could and headed home.
Even Aldi’s prices have gone up considerably. This is what $160 will buy that used to cost about $130.
I separated the meats, washed the fruit, and by this time I was hungry.
A honey crisp apple and a pepper with cream cheese hit the spot.
I switched out and folded laundry, cleaned the bathroom, hand washed the dishes that couldn’t go into the dishwasher and by this time it was 2:00 and time to head to Kilgore to pick up the kids. On the way home I realized I had forgotten to get Donny Listerine (he is getting a sore throat) so we headed to Drug Emporium. Look what I found there.
I cannot wait to try these flavors.
It’s 3:00 now so while I’m folding laundry and putting it away I take a juice break. It’s about 1/2″ of cranberry juice and the rest water.
At 4:00 I bake some blonde brownies and make Hannah’s coffee drink.
While that was baking I have a snack.
More hummus because it was so good.
Time to start dinner. I put the ham in the oven and start on the potatoes. (Aldi has these small hams that are so perfect for our family of 4 with enough leftovers for Donny’s lunch.) Everything is just keeping warm while I leave at 6:55 to go get Donny.
I cleaned the kitchen and am now getting ready to fold the last load which thankfully is towels.
And that is a typical Monday. Kinda boring but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
When I woke up I knew that today was the day that I’d put out all the Christmas decorations. I started by just setting up the tree. It needed to be fluffed out and we also wanted to see how Baby Ruth would react to it.
She was very interested in it but never tried to climb it. I felt better knowing that.
I was separating the ornaments by breakable ones that I knew needed to go on upper branches. We have never had a themed tree. It’s more like just put it all on, the gaudier the better.
When we decorate for Christmas I have to pack up and store our normal decor which makes a lot of work.
Poor Mary, I think Joseph went out for milk. But seriously, he’s somewhere in the house.
Baby Ruth loves the candles and will just stare at them.
I was really wanting to get everything out and then get all of the totes back into the shed. It was so windy all day that I thought I couldn’t get the lights outside put up. The wind finally died down about 3:30 so I was able to get the lights up and still get all of the boxes back into the shed.
One thing I did not think about was the projector lights.
Because guess who thinks it a toy for her?
Since I had been going non stop all day we decided to go get Rotolo’s when Donny got home. Best cauliflower crust around.
Everything goes back to regularly scheduled program tomorrow because the kids go back to school.
We woke up to a cold, gray, drizzly day. The perfect day to do some craft projects I’ve set aside for a while.
First I wanted to get some oranges dried.
I used my mandolin to get uniformed slices. Only a couple got a little dark. They turned out pretty good.
Next I made some cinnamon ornaments.
They smell so good but I can tell they are going to take a few days to fully dry out. I want to make a garland with the oranges and these.
I also wanted to make some orange pomanders. I only had enough cloves for two, but these also smell so good.
After a quick kitchen clean up I finished the episode I started last night.
I did end up finishing the episodes this evening. I am not a fan of breaking the season up into two blocks and then having the finale on January 1st. I wish they would just stream all of the episodes. It’s so good though. I think it is one of my favorite seasons. Donny doesn’t watch Stranger Things, but he is a good sport and when it hit Netflix on Wednesday he asked me if I wanted to watch Weird Stuff before bed. He only lasted about 5 minutes before he was sound asleep.
The kids and I did go back to the mall so Jackson could use his coupon at MiniSo. I was happy to say that there were quite a lot of people. Our mall is small but mighty. It was about to go under until Dillard’s and another investment group bought it. There are more stores and now more people. Progress!
This is the second night my cat Monkey has given me a heart attack.
I woke Jackson up around 8 so that we could go to the mall after I dropped Donny off at work. He works less than 2 miles away and the mall is a little under 3 miles. I was surprised that it wasn’t super packed. I think that every time Entertainmart has a sale we are a bit disappointed. It was buy 2 get 3 free on red ticketed items. The thing is, you have to look everywhere to find a red ticketed item and it gets frustrating. We looked around there for a while and then headed into the mall.
JCPenney always has some pretty decent deals. I found some bath towels that I really liked. I cannot stand fluffy towels. They also cannot be soft. It just grosses me out. I found the perfect ones on sale for $2.99. I only got 4 because that’s all I needed to replace.
I also found Donny some shirts and pajama bottoms for Christmas. Next Jackson wanted to go to Hot Topic. It was buy one get one half off. He found a belt and a shirt. I got Hannah some Christmas gifts there also. MiniSo was actually having their Black Friday sale tomorrow so we’ll go back because there are some items the kids want to get their friends. That’s all the shopping we actually did because a designer that Jackson loves was having a sale that started at 10 am. Some people might think it’s weird to let him pick out what he is getting for Christmas, but designer clothes aren’t cheap and I wanted to make sure it would be something he would definitely wear. Even though he knows what it is the clothes will still go under the tree.
After Jackson and I got home we ran to the thrift store because I needed to get a plate for my candles. I did find one and I also found some burlap for $2.00.
I had wanted something to put on the back of one of my bookshelves. I always use a dark walnut stain and because I have a lot of dark items it’s hard to actually see them. I measured the area, cut the fabric and used spray adhesive to get it to stick.
I think it turned out pretty good.
I also put together my candle plate.
I’ll end up switching out the candles as they burn down but it adds such a happy glow to the kitchen area.
The weather has also gotten much colder so that means bringing in all of my delicate plants from the patio. It’s supposed to be near and below freezing until the 10th. Winter in our home means it’s going to get a little plant crowded. I brought in one of my shelf tables from outside so that I had a place to put them.
We just always have to make it work.
Does anyone else cut up old sweat pants to make dusting rags? I swear they are the best rags. Jackson had a pair of sweats that didn’t fit him anymore so I cut them up.
I like to use the legs for ceiling fan dusting. Saved from the landfill and given new life.
Since either Donny or myself have always had to work the day after Thanksgiving we’ve never really traveled on this holiday. None of us really like traditional Thanksgiving food so for many years we’ve just always gone to Cracker Barrel. This year we decided to do something different.
I waited in the car while Donny picked up our order. Best decision ever. The food was exactly what we ordered. Everyone got what they wanted and it was so good. We watched football and napped. I had picked up a pumpkin pie so there was zero cooking on my part, which was greatly appreciated by me.
Jackson hit me up to go to the mall for some sales he had seen at Entertainmart. So we will be fighting the crowds in the morning. Are there still even Black Friday crowds? I can remember when it used to be a big deal to pick up the Thanksgiving day newspaper so you could scour the ads and make a game plan on which stores to hit first. Now it seems as though Black Friday starts the first of November. I guess we’ll see.
We did do a little bit of Black Friday shopping earlier in the week. Well, I wouldn’t really call it that because it was just some Halloween things at 80% off. The kids and I had to run to Michaels to get new portfolios for them because the ones I got them at the beginning of school weren’t holding up with their easels in them. You can always spot art students because they lug these giant things around.
Jackson and I are always looking for the Spooky Town houses. We found these to add to our collection.
Hannah also picked up a few things Halloweeny for her room. She likes all things spooky.
Unlike most people I’ve seen online I have not put our Christmas tree up yet. I did however get all of the boxes out of the shed but so far that’s it. I just cannot do it before Thanksgiving. It just seems so wrong to me. I’m hoping to get it up by Saturday or Sunday. We are all also worried about our kitten because she climbs everything and I don’t know how we are going to keep her off the tree.
And just because I thought our house looked cool in the dark when we drove up.
Last Sunday I woke up not feeling well. I was having really bad back and lower abdomen cramps. I had had them on and off the week before but just thought they were gas pains. This day though, my whole body felt “off”. I went to bed early and Monday I was sure I had a UTI. I had all of the symptoms so I started AZO. For some reason it just wasn’t working, but I thought I could just power through.
Tuesday and there was still no relief and I started getting extremely nauseated. I decided to go the the grocery and pick up some cranberry juice. I was basically living on AZO, aspirin and cranberry juice by this point. The UTI was not letting up. I would have called to make a doctor’s appointment, but I already had my 6 month thyroid one scheduled for Friday morning.
Wednesday and nothing had changed, only gotten worse. I drank a half gallon of juice. I couldn’t eat because I felt so sick. My lower abdomen, side and lower back were killing me. That night I contemplated going the the ER but decided I could stick it out until Friday.
Thursday morning I woke up still hurting. I was having the worse UTI I have ever had in my life with not relief from anything. I went to the bathroom to pee and immediately felt better. I look in the toilet and lo and behold there was a kidney stone.
I still wasn’t feeling super great so I was ready for my appointment on Friday. They tested my urine and found blood in it. By this time though, my UTI symptoms had basically vanished. (kidney stones can cause UTI symptoms) The doctor (if you read here you know we don’t have a great relationship) stepped out of the room to make a referral for me to get an x-ray and call in an antibiotic for me.
My phone was on 1% when I got the text from Walgreens that my prescription was accepted. I clicked on the Rx site to see what he had prescribed. I am so thankful that I did because he had prescribed Cipro. About a year ago I saw a TikTok video about how dangerous Cipro is. Sixteen years ago the FDA warned doctors about the very bad side effects that this drug can cause. It’s a Black Box Warning antibiotic.
It’s also not just a run of the mill antibiotic that you would prescribe for something that is on the mend but you just want to make sure it gets cleared up. It’s BAD!!!!
His assistant popped in to tell me it would just be a few more minutes and I told her that I was not going to accept the Cipro and could he please prescribe me something not as dangerous such as Bactrim. I expected a fight from him, but he did it. I cannot express enough to advocate for your health. If you feel something is wrong or you are not getting the care you feel you need SPEAK OUT. Don’t just blindly accept what a health care worker tells you.
I got my kidney x-ray done so I guess I’ll find out later this week if everything is okay. I actually feel better today than I have in about a week and a half.
The Funky Frugalista 