Author: thefunkyfrugalista

I live in a cozy old home in the Piney Woods of east Texas. This is my journal Follow me on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/stacy.kappelmanbruce Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefunkyfrugalista

Day #78 – Shakespeare Garden

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I’m on day 3 of feeling unwell. Yesterday I had to go pick Jackson up from school and ended up getting there a bit early. He had told me about the Shakespeare Garden that was right by the art building. I decided to take a look while I was waiting.

You pick up a sheet that’s on the gate and just follow the path.

It’s so pretty and serene. There are benches placed throughout the pathways.

I loved the butterfly house.

Because it is later in the season there is not a lot blooming right now.

I just love that they have this on campus.

Today was Donny’s day off (yes, he did have to go in for a few hours due to some unforeseen issues) but before that we decided to stop by an estate sale that he had seen online. It had a clown painting that he thought I’d like. Oh, and I did. Too bad it was $140. We always go to this company’s estate sales that they put on, but lately the prices have gotten outrageous. We ended up leaving empty handed. However, as we were walking to the car I saw the first Halloween decorations of the season.

I love Halloween, but Fall doesn’t begin until September 22nd. I just cannot get myself to put up Halloween decorations when it’s still technically summer. It just feels so wrong to me. These were really cool though.

Since my pumpkin vine is getting longer we decided I needed some pollinators. We went to Home Depot and picked up some mums and marigolds. My marigolds are still growing and not yet near the bloom phase. I need so insects to have something sooner so maybe when the pumpkin vine flowers it will get pollinated.

I had to get yellow since it’s my favorite color. Fingers crossed I’ll feel well enough to get this planted tomorrow.

Day #77 – Humanity vs Insanity

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Yesterday was HEAVY. I wish I could say I know what is going on in our country, but I cannot. From seeing what happened to Charlie Kirk to the school shooting in Evergreen Colorado to the beheading of a person in a hotel in Dallas to the shooting of an officer in Zilker Park in Austin.

I am sickened by people rejoicing over what happened in Utah. Why do people think this is okay? Why as a semi conservative person do I feel that I cannot express my feeling, whether online or in public, without being harassed by people who are so far left they have lost their minds.

This is my opinion and I will state it on MY page in my little tiny corner of the internet. This country is being divided. I believe in God. I believe that Jesus died for our sins. I also believe that God is being pushed out and we cannot let that happen. I believe that there are psyops everywhere that are pushing rhetoric to speed up the division of our country. We cannot let this happen. It’s time for Christians to stand up for what we believe in. If we don’t stand up we could be in real trouble. I’m tired. I’m tired of seeing people mock the flag, mock God, mock our president, mock the assassination of a good man.

Please pray for our country. The power of prayer is strong and right now we need it more than ever.

Day #76 – It Started Off Great

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Yesterday started off perfectly. It was 63 degrees when I woke up. I dropped Hannah off at school and her boyfriend was picking her up afterwards. I needed to get Nikki’s gift mailed to her because I had accidentally mailed it to myself when I ordered it.

I used to go to the post office that was a pain to get to. One day I googled where another post office was and saw that we had one smack in the middle of downtown. It was the same distance from our home that the other office was. This one is just so much better. It’s never busy and it’s got that old timey feel to it that I just love.

I love our downtown area. It’s just so pretty with all of the parks and trees.

The post office is also only one street over from our doctor’s office. When Jackson got his meningitis vaccine and they printed off his shot record, they forgot to add that one. He has to turn it in to Kilgore College by the 22nd. So that was an easy trip.

Everything was still going smoothly. I went to Aldi to grab some groceries to make hamburgers for dinner. Then about 3:00 I started feeling just awful. Stomach pain and nausea. I made dinner, made sure everyone was fed, took my nausea medicine and headed to bed. That is why my blog post is a day late. When I woke up I still have stomach pain and nausea. I’m going to give it a few days and if I’m not better I’ll make a doctor’s appointment. I’m hoping it’s just a stomach bug.

I washed and dried out duvet cover and guess who found it before I could get it folded and put away?

Baby Ruth is never far from her favorite toy – her stuffed soy sauce packet. We’ll ask her where her soy sauce is and she’ll go get it. She such a funny little kitten.

Day #75 – Pumpkin Update

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Even though I got the seeds started when I was supposed to, I don’t think I’m going to have a pumpkin by Halloween. Only one vine survived and it’s growing but It’s not growing as fast as it should.

The tomato’s have blooms, but still no tomatoes. I think nothing is getting pollinated. I going to have to get some flowers to attracted more pollinators.

It’s kind of a mess right now.

I definitely need to harvest my basil. The big rainstorm we had did a number on it.

My first avocado see I planted is still going strong.

I’m sure I’m probably the last to try this, but I need to shred some chicken for the fried rice and I used my hand mixer. It was so fast and it shredded it exactly how I like it.

Chicken Fried Rice is so easy and I needed easy after mowing today. My legs are so sore and I’m ready for bed.

Day #74 – Birthday Time

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Today is Donny’s birthday. Unfortunately he has to work 1-5. I got up early and went to get sausage kolaches and donuts for breakfast.

I am so happy that the Donut Box is back open. They had a fire and were closed for quite a while. The family that owns it are so nice and their bakery goods are yummy. Also, the temperature was 66 this morning. I feel Fall in the air even if it’s only until about 11 am when it starts heating up quickly.

The mural is so cute! We drive by it when we go to Kilgore and it always makes me smile.

Our tradition, on your birthday, is you get to choose where to have dinner. Donny decided he wanted Fun Noodle Bar. It’s so good. We always get the sushi. Plus, he thought I’d be able to tolerate this better than most places with my stomach acting up. He was right.

The kids love coming here also. It’s just a really fun place.

We are so thankful that we have such great kids who actually like spending time with us. I’m so proud of them both.

I think I really need to clean the selfie side of my camera because every time I take a picture from that side, we look ghostly. But I couldn’t not take a semi 2 picture family shot.

You can also watch them twist and make the noodles. We watched for a little while while Donny was paying the check.

We have a cookies and cream icecream cake, but everyone it too full to eat any of it. Maybe later once we’ve had a rest. Also, the moon is HUGE tonight!!!!! It’s crazy looking.

Day #73 – Lil of This, Lil of That

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Today I snapped out of slug mode and tackled the house cleaning. I had noticed that my oven had gotten so dirty.

I don’t know how this happens considering the inside is clean. We have a vintage gas stove. It keeps perfect temperature so its little idiosyncrasies don’t bother me that much.

I just used my pumice stone and got most of it off.

I lifted up the stove top and ewwwww.

I just used my vacuum and a little elbow grease.

Donny got off at 5. We played Uber driver and picked up one of Jackson’s friends then drove to Kilgore and picked up another one. They went to see Weapons. Donny and I had been wanting to drive around the historic neighborhood by the campus. There are some cool houses. All of them have name plates that tells when they were built and the name of the original owners.

We had a few hours to kill so we drove back home. I have been out of my ox bile for about a month. I thought it wouldn’t make that much of a difference. I was so wrong. If you don’t have a gallbladder I highly recommend ox bile because it makes a world of difference.

I have been really sleeping on Vitamin Plus’s gluten free options. I got these to try when I really want a cookie. They look so good. I hope they are.

I also had an earring that didn’t have its mate so I just turned it into a ring.

I think it’s fun!

Day #72 – Slug Day

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This morning I woke up with a killer headache. I think it was spurned on by the popcorn I ate last night. I made Donny and I breakfast, took two aspirin, and went back to bed to try and sleep it away. When I woke up I still didn’t feel well. Donny and Jackson went to the store because Donny had decided, last night, that he was going to make dinner tonight.

It was so good. I think food always taste better when you don’t make it yourself. Right? By this time I was feeling better. Hannah had gone to stay in a cabin on Caddo lake with her boyfriend and his family so it was just the three of us left. Donny and I decided to make a sonic run for dessert.

Chocolate banana shake and Dateline is my perfect way to end a slug day. Sometimes I think we all just need one of these kind of days, minus the headache of course.

Day #71 – Weapons

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Donny and I decided to have a date night. I have been wanting to see the movie Weapons since I first saw the trailer months ago. Tonight was the last night it would be showing at The Morris Theatre. I knew Jackson wanted to see it also, but he and his friends had already made plans to see it Saturday in Kilgore. The Morris has short runs of movies because they only have 2 screens so if we want to see a movie there we have to go pretty quickly.

The drive to Daingerfield is so pretty.

I love the lakes.

We got there very early. When I know we’re coming the The Morris I don’t eat dinner because I love their popcorn. If you know me, you know just how much I love popcorn and they have some of the best.

No idea why Donny looks so spooky in that picture. I think I love this theatre so much because it just feels so nostalgic It reminds me so much of the theatre that I used to go to as a little girl. Our parents would just drop us off on Saturdays with our 2 dollars and we would get a ticket and snacks. There were no cell phones back then so we would just wait outside for our parents to come pick us up after the movie was over.

It was only the 4 of us for a long time. They do not show movie previews, just commercials for different businesses in town. By the time the movie started there were 14 of us total. I was a little worried that Donny wouldn’t like it, but he actually enjoyed it. I absolutely love Julia Garner and will see anything she is in. It wasn’t exactly a horror movie because it had some really funny parts. I highly recommend it.

By the time we were leaving they had already changed the marquee.

Now I just need to find someone to see the Conjuring with me since Donny and Jackson are definitely out on that one. I cannot wait to see it!!!!

On the way home I noticed that our headlights were extremely bright and asked Donny if he had the high beams on. He didn’t but said that we might be one of those annoying cars with the really bright headlights. I hope we aren’t. Maybe it just that I was used to my slightly cloudy dim lights on my little hatchback which I miss. Especially my CD player.

Day #70 – Black Beans

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I love beans. I, however, do not like canned beans. To me they just have a metallic taste to them. When I used to make beans in either my crockpot or on the stove top, it really only depended on if I remembered to soak them the night before. Ever since I got my Instant Pot I always seem to have beans ready to go. It’s so easy. You just have to rinse your beans, put them in the pot. I add about an inch and a half of water. My secret weapon are these.

I add a couple of spoonfuls of the chicken bouillon and then a generous sprinkling of the Badia. Set the manual time to 70 minutes and do a natural release.

I made these ahead of time because I was also making the meat in the instant pot. We got the burria roast from Aldi. It was so good. I just added about a cup and a half of water and put the meat in for 85 minutes with a natural release. It was so tender. I just made a bowl with the beans, some chopped onions, meat and shredded Monterey Jack. If you like refried beans, you just cook the pinto beans the same way and use an immersion blender to emulsify them. You can also use a blender.

I’m so picky about the meat I eat and this had almost no fat on it.

On another note, the oil face wash I made also makes an excellent moisturizer. I’ve been using it at night and my skin feels so soft. I still use my Mad Hippie Triple C night cream, but sometimes I feel like I just need a good oil.

Day #69 – Supplements

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This morning I decided to take an inventory of our supplements. I haven’t been consistent with taking them like I used to be and I can tell.

There’s a lot. Some are Donny’s that he takes. I just wanted to make sure that the ones I put back into rotation were the ones that I will benefit the most from.

I love this book.

I narrowed it down to these.

Because I despise swallowing pills I had to break them down into 3 groups: morning, afternoon and night.

And because I didn’t want to have to lift every single bottle to find the right one, I labeled the tops.

I’m trying to eat more and cleaner. It’s hard because sometimes after I make everyone else’s food I just don’t feel like making my own so it ends up being a slice of cheese or something along those lines. Today this is what I had.

Breakfast: Greek Yogurt and granola

Lunch: eggs and avocado

I snacked on some sunflower seeds and then for dinner I had an apple and some peanut butter.

I always buy cosmic crisp apples. They are sweet and go well with my peanut butter. This one was not like that. It was either just really sour or poisoned. I hoping for the first choice. I guess we’ll know tomorrow if I don’t post it was the latter. At least today I didn’t skip a meal and actually feel good.