I live in a cozy old home in the Piney Woods of east Texas.
This is my journal
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I’ve had a bag of books that have been sitting on our egg swing for months. Yesterday Donny and I went to go give them to some little libraries.
I was hoping the train station would be open and it finally was. That poor library only had about 8 books in it, so I was able to empty my bag.
I also took 3 books because I’ve heard great things about this author, but as soon as I read then they’ll be going back to the train station.
Thrift stores are in inundated with books. In fact the one closest to me had 5¢ November where every book was only 5 cents. There were boxes and boxes. And boxes. You get the idea. So if there’s a bus station, train station or little library near you, please donate there instead of the thrift store. It’s always fun to find a good book to read when you are heading out on a trip.
I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by, especially December. I had so many Christmasy plans for us to do as a family this Christmas season, but because of my surgery and a nasty cold like bug that hit our house, we were only able to do a few things. The Thursday before Christmas we took the kids to go walk around downtown because they always have gorgeous lights.
No one else wanted to be the gingerbread man. Party Poopers.
Hannah wanted to drive around and show Gavin some of the lights we had seen a few weeks earlier. I loved this church with the luminarias. All in all it was a very good Christmas outing finished off with cookie baking, hot chocolate making and Elf.
On that Friday, I had cleaned the whole house, changed the sheets, dusted, they whole 9 yards. Donny and I were in the living room that evening when we heard a crash. We ran down the hall to see what had happened. Donny got to our bedroom first and asked me, “is that shelf supposed to be broken?”. This shelf had fallen, plant dirt and all, onto our bed.
At first I couldn’t figure out what happened. Our cat Bailey was just laying on the end of our bed. Then it dawned on me. A few days prior, Bailey and I were watching cat videos on Tiktok. She was glued to them. Glued. Unfortunately, they were the ones with the cats behaving badly, running and jumping all over the place. I guess she had decided to give it a try herself. No more videos for her. Ever.
I hope this upcoming year is full of happiness. I made pork, black eyed peas, cabbage and mashed potatoes. I know the first three are supposed to bring good luck. I’m not a big superstitious person, but I didn’t sweep, vacuum, do any laundry or take the trash out yesterday. I also opened up our front and back doors and the stroke of midnight. Bad luck out, good luck in. Okay, maybe I’m a bit superstitious, but it can’t hurt, right?
Today I had to check-in at 1030. Last night I was looking up recovery time for a conization of the cervix. I didn’t realize that I wouldn’t be able to lift anything over 10 pounds and no vacuuming or anything strenuous for over a week.
Hannah was sick today so while Donny took Jack to school I made tea and chocolate chip brownie bars so they could have a treat later on. I couldn’t have anything to eat or drink past midnight so I was nursing an I’m addicted to caffeine and can’t have any headache. Also, I couldn’t even have water so I was parched.
Let’s add to the fact that our water heater had a small fire on the electrical panel yesterday, but we have the BEST landlords and a new one went in last night. Yay hot showers, especially because I had to wash, from the neck down, with this medical soap.
When they called me back to get ready for the surgery my doctor came to talk to me about what he was going to do. Ok, we’d already had this conversation in his office, complete with a diagram he drew. I don’t get nervous because I know I’m going to be asleep and I have already put out of my mind what is actually going to happen. Then when I’m laying there all calm he starts using words like burning the edges, hemorrhaging, you get the idea. Thank God the anesthesiologist came in right after and I was out.
When I woke up they said everything went well. I was rushing trying to get out of there because it was 1:15 and Hannah had a doctor’s appointment at 2:30 and Jack had to be picked up at 2:15. Donny rushed me back home and I laid on the couch resting, cramping, feeling not great. I did have the best Apple juice in the world at the hospital, but the coffee they gave me was not very good. It was however caffeinated so I was grateful.
Now I’m taking my pain pills that aren’t doing their job very well. We watched Bad Santa and I realized laughing hurts so now it’s horror movies.
I’m going to brag on my husband a little bit. Yesterday I did the orange peel challenge. That’s when you ask your significant other to peel your orange. They can either stop what they’re doing and get after it or tell you that you are capable of doing it yourself.
I was in the kitchen. Donny was putting on his socks and shoes getting ready for work. I said, hey will you peel my orange for me? He dropped everything, puts his hands out and said sure, throw it here.
I said, no, that’s all I needed. Y’all, find someone who will peel your orange. Today, he did everything. No complaining, just what can I do for you mentality. He’s a keeper.
Today I had to run to Aldi to pick up a few things. I am the only one in my family that likes shopping there. One of the reasons is that the store is small and the selection is not large which means I can get in and out quickly. I also save quite a bit of money. Let me show you.
A 100 count black tea is $2.09. The cheapest I’ve found it at other stores is $3.68. This box makes 10 gallons of tea and we go through a lot of tea.
The coffee was $5.19. The cheapest I’ve seen other coffee this size is $8.79. Tastes great too.
I needed sausage because I was making Garbage Bread. Donny had picked some Jimmy Dean up at Walmart for another recipe. It was on sale for $3.97. This was regular price $2.09 and it tasted as good, if not better.
I only get my dishwasher pacs from Aldi. They really clean my dishes and an 18 count is only $3.89.
Dollar Tree is in the same strip mall. I stopped in there to try the cleaning paste. It was only $1.25 compared to the almost $10 I paid for the Pink Stuff. Granted the Pink Stuff container is a little bit bigger, but not by that much. I can’t wait to try it out to compare the two.
Don’t sleep on Aldi. Their store brands are actually a lot healthier. The cheese selection is absolutely amazing both in choice and price. Just remember to bring a quarter for the shopping cart 🛒
Last night I made the best breakfast casserole that was so easy. The kids normally don’t like casseroles, but by the end of the night I only had two servings left. Here’s the recipe.
1 can of flaky jumbo biscuits
1 tube of breakfast sausage
5 eggs
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk + 1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp pepper
salt to taste
preheat oven to 350° and grease a 9×13 dish
Brown sausage. After it’s browned add the flour and cook, stirring, for about 4 minutes. Add 2 cups milk, pepper and salt. Stir until thickened.
Cut biscuits into fourths and place in bottom of pan.
Add sausage on top.
Whisk the eggs with 1/2 cup milk. Pour over sausage.
Bake for 30 minutes. I added grated Colby Jack the last 5 minutes.
I just served fruit on the side. It’s really good.
When I put out our nativity set, there was no Mary and one of the wise men was missing. We found them today shacking up on our shed. (I had accidentally dropped the box they were in and didn’t realize they were missing)
The group is back together, except for the Shepard that was lost years ago. I also don’t think it came with a cow. One of the kids took that out of the farm set and added it in many many years ago.
Thursdays are our Saturdays because Donny’s days off are Thursdays and Fridays. Luckily they scheduled my pre-op appointment for today. I didn’t have a choice. When they can get you in, that’s when you go. Donny was able to pick up the kids from school while I was there.
I was given an EKG, x-rayed and blood tested to make sure I was healthy for surgery on the 13th. I don’t remember going through all that when I had my gallbladder removed in Baton Rouge. It was more like sign these papers, you’ll do fine.
I finally finished painting the dresser. It was sitting outside with its first coat on for months.
This is monkey our very needy cat. Will not come inside at all during the summer, but as soon as it gets chilly, she won’t go outside at all. She just wants to sit on you anytime you sit down.
Two weeks ago I had a biopsy done on my cervix because my pap smear came back abnormal. My gyno doctor said he wasn’t going to release the results to my patient portal because he wanted to meet face to face.
Well, I got a call from the billing office telling me that I needed to pay what my insurance didn’t cover so they could make the appointment for my procedure. I asked them what procedure. She said, didn’t the nurse call you?. Nope. She then told me she didn’t know what the procedure was because she only had the code.
She transferred me to the patient coordinator who explained I needed to have a cold knife conization. I paid my portion, but still really had no clue what was going on.
Fast forward to today. I have cim-3 cells. That is not good so I will have surgery to take out a portion of my cervix so they can see how big the area is. It’s very good that we caught this early. My doctor said he would also “tug on my uterus” and if it seems loose he will remove it. That sounds fun!
Now we just wait to see when they can schedule me in.
So after that fun filled afternoon, I decided I wanted to cook. I pulled out my favorite cookbook and made beef enchiladas, beans and rice. It takes forever to make the gravy, but well worth it. Making beans in the insta pot is the only way to go. No soaking overnight.
So much better than the enchiladas I had at Sombreros. Hand grating the cheese makes all the difference.
It turned out to be a pretty good day after all. Cooking does that for me.
Happy 19th birthday to our sweet little Christmas tree. We bought it our first Christmas together on a whim because we weren’t going to get a tree because we were working so much we were never home.
I just couldn’t not have one so I went to Big Lots and bought this one for 10 bucks. It has traveled to several states, many homes and it’s still going strong. Best investment ever. 🎄
Donny called me this morning and asked if I could run by a thrift store and find some Christmas CDs because they needed them at work. Why yes, of course I can.
Jackson wanted to come with me and here’s a few things we found.
I like to collect art. I always feel bad when I see a art project that I know someone has worked hard on and then somehow it ends up at a thrift store. I found this small painting that, I think, looks like sailboats. Bonus that it’s yellow, my favorite color.
We found this guy. Is it a frog? Is it a monster? Who knows? It’s weird and funny and is now my spoon rest.
A house hippo is supposed to bring good luck to your home. I finally found one that I really liked.
And I found all the Christmas CDs, the only real thing I went for, plus a Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt and Melissa Ethridge for me. Fifty cents a piece isn’t bad.
We also saw another balloon.
I have now officially finished all the Christmas decorations. I remembered I had picked up some Christmas albums at an estate sale several months ago.
Jamming to Perry Como puts me in the Christmas spirit. There’s nothing better than old Christmas music, especially playing on my 70’s stereo.
Today I did a load of light colored clothes. They were drying I heard a something banging around. When I checked I found a pen. When I pulled the clothes out there was ink all over them. I was so mad at myself for not checking the pockets.
Wait, it gets better. Next I did a load of dark colors. When I was taking them out of the dryer I had washed one of Hannah’s lipstick. It was bright pink. Luckily it only got on one of Donny’s dress shirts.
It’s been a day. Donny is sick and his ankle has flared up like it does ever year at this time. I was walking out the side door and stepped on our three legged cat and now he won’t come near me.
But, I found the best stain remover ever. It started dissolving the ink as soon as I sprayed it on.
I’m working on the Christmas decorations. Donny thought this is how they were supposed to be. He said, I like how you’ve grouped everything together.
Yeah, I just unpacked it all and put it on the table. I guess I could just leave it like that. It would be much easier.
And Tommy our cat is fine. Nothing broken. He’s resting now. Probably still traumatized. He’ll learn not to sleep on the outside door mat.
The Funky Frugalista 