Category: Home life

Bits & Bobs

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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.

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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.

Day In The Life Monday Edition

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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.

Lazy Thanksgiving

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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.

I hope everyone had a really good Thanksgiving.

Halloween 2025

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I am so late posting this, but things have been a bit crazy around here. Hannah decided that we were going to have a Halloween party because in our town there is little for late teen to 21 year olds to do on this holiday. She and Jackson were just going to invite a few of their friends to keep it small. We decorated the backyard so they could hang out around the fire pit, play corn hole and roast hotdogs and make s’mores.

I found this vintage door cover at an estate sale.

Hannah and I carved pumpkins the night before.

Since the party started at 5:30 there was plenty of light to play Cornhole.

They loved the fire pit so much that we had to go get more wood.

They decided to load up in the back of Gavin’s pickup and go trick or treating around the neighborhood. I know some people think they may be too old, but I had seen a post on All Things Longview that was asking if any adults could go trick or treating. The yes response was overwhelming. This is mainly because most kids go to the really big neighborhoods where they block off the streets and are known for their trick or treating. Our little neighborhood has homes that decorate but no one comes.

Hannah was Gumball and her Olivia was Darwin (a fish. she had a fin but you can’t see it from the front) from the Adventures of Gumball.

Gavin and Hannah

The kids ended up with a lot of candy. One house had hotdogs and hot chocolate. After the trick or treating they decided to play some board games.

The festivities ended around midnight and everyone had a great time. I think we’ll have to do this again. I hope everyone else had a happy Halloween.

Runaway Ruth + Homage

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On Thursday Donny took our little rescue kitten out into the backyard with him. Not unusual because she she loves to be carried around. He named her Ruth, and like her Ozark namesake, she is a little spitfire. Well, it’s almost like she recognized where she was because she started fighting to get down, jumped out of his arms, and ran into the neighbors that are catty corner behind us. We immediately went to the fence to see if we could see her with no luck. We drove around to their house and began calling for her and looking in everyone’s backyards on that street. Since it was so hot outside we figured that she was asleep somewhere under something in their yard. They weren’t home so I couldn’t go ask if I could look around. When it was later in the day, Jackson and I drove around to see if we could see the litter that she came from. No luck. That’s when I started walking around our block, with my binoculars, looking like an absolute creeper.

By this time we were all getting very worried because she is just so little. When it became dark I walked up and down our street looking for any sign of her. We had all given up. Then at 11:17 I decided to give it one more shot and went outside. I heard this chirp and when I looked down she was hopping around the patio. What a relief and we all cheered when I brought her in. Donny had said that she would eventually find her way back, but with all of the nighttime predators I wasn’t so sure. She got another bath and then happily snuggled up with Donny.

They like to watch videos together.

She slept curled up under Donny’s chin last night. The other cats are starting to warm up to her finally. She definitely brings happiness to our family.

Just because we have 2 newer cats doesn’t mean that we will ever forget our sweet babies that have passed on. I didn’t want the other cats to forget them either so we did a homage to them. I put them above the cats food station and I have caught Milo looking at them.

I still miss them so much.

On the Hunt

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I love watermelon. It’s definitely my favorite fruit. I had picked one up from Aldi and it was not good. I find that most seedless varieties aren’t. I googled produce near me and it turned up a produce shop right down the road. Donny and I had actually tried to find it last year, but Google maps took us to a completely wrong place. I found it this time.

They had all of their plants outside.

It’s a very rustic place with uneven floors and no air conditioning, but they sell a lot of jarred goods and they produce looked amazing. I honed in on the watermelons that were in the back of the store. That’s where I found my seeded one. I chose one and put it by the register and decided to go look around for anything else that might tempt me. Now here’s the clincher; there are no prices anywhere. There were a few people shopping and I chose my items and got in line behind another woman. She had a small box, not filled all the way, and the cashier told her that her total was $115. Excuse me? I thought I must have just misheard. I didn’t. This is what I purchased at it was $41.

My beautiful toddler sized watermelon.

5 peaches, 2 tomatoes and a bag of fresh butter beans. That’s it. I will say that everything was delicious.

I had one of the tomatoes for dinner.

I love them with fresh basil, feta, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I’m still debating if $41 was a little too high for what I purchased. I guess you pay for higher quality. I will go back for more watermelon though, unless I can find a truck selling them.

We also had a surprise last night. Donny was going to lock the chickens up when he heard a noise coming from the laundry room. He looked in and a little face peeked around from the back of the dryer.

She’s a sweet little girl kitty. I think she is from a litter that we have seen on our street. Donny went out a got some kitten milk and wet food which she devoured. I gave her a bath this morning because she had fleas on her. So far she is doing really well. We just need to come up with a name. I’ve noticed that when we lose one cat, another one just shows up. We lost Bailey and O’Malley showed up. We lost Queso and this one shows up. What are the odds?

King Queso

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I HATE writing this post. Saturday night Queso and Monkey did not want to come in the house. It’s not unusual for them to be outside. Queso was my daughter’s cat that we took in when she moved to the Hill Country. Donny and I both fell asleep in the living room watching a movie. I got up about 1 am and since he looked so comfortable I let him sleep. He later told me that at about 3 am he heard a cat ruckus outside. This isn’t unusual because we have a very cat friendly street and there are a lot of strays that we feed. He went outside to look around to find Queso and Monkey to bring them in. He couldn’t find them.

Sunday morning Milo woke me up to go outside at 6:10. I always start the coffee and then go outside to make sure the cats have food and fresh water. When I walked out onto the patio I saw Queso laying under the big table. I called him but he didn’t respond. I got closer to him and realized that he wasn’t breathing. My heart broke. I went inside and woke Donny up. We picked up Queso’s body to see if we could see anything that would explain what happened to him. Nothing. Not a scratch that we could see. He had looked like he was just sleeping. We wrapped him in his blanket and buried him in the backyard.

This was the last picture I took of him. He was the coolest cat. He weighed 15 pounds and would not take no for an answer. He loved HARD. His favorite place to sleep was on my pillow with his arms wrapped around my neck. He loved to give kisses. He wanted all the other cats to be his friend. He would stand guard on our cars or the trash cans. His favorite place to nap outside was the plant shelf.

Taken during a thunderstorm.

His favorite napping spot.

Always wanting to help.

Late night snuggles.

Loving any basket, bag or box.

He and Milo were best friends. They always wanted to be near each other. Milo is having a hard time with Queso not being here. He wants to be in the same room as I’m in and if he’s not he will loudly meow. We are all going to miss Queso so much. He was definitely one of a kind and it felt like he was always more human than cat.

P.S.

We found some coyote tracks in the ditch mud so now we believe that he tried to fight off a coyote and when he howled he scared it off. There must have been damage that we couldn’t see.

Recipe + Progress

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This morning I needed to make more sweet potatoes. I keep roasted ones in the fridge because I eat them everyday. They are so easy and so good. Anyway, I thought I’d throw in the recipe I use.

About 2 pounds of sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 T olive or avocado oil

1 T pure maple syrup

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cinnamon

!/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

Put everything in a bowl and stir it until everything is coated evenly.

Spread it out on a baking sheet lines with parchment paper.

Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven.

After 15 minutes give them a flip and continue baking for about 10 minutes.

They are so good and so good for you.

Remember the eggs I froze? I thawed out two of them for cookies and you couldn’t even tell the eggs had been frozen.

I quit buying cookies a while ago. I will bake something sweet and that’s the choice my family has until the jar is empty and then I’ll bake something else. It seems to be working out pretty well. Truthfully though, we are not really snackers so they last over a week at least.

My mustard pickled eggs were finally ready to eat. I had one with an apple for lunch and it was so good. I’m trying not to eat a whole lot of meat so this is a good way for me to get protein.

The seeds I planted are sprouting. Donny is off for the next two days so we’ll be working on the garden.

Hopefully something will come of these. Fingers crossed.

The garlic, green onions and celery are growing also. Green onions are so easy to grow. I just stuck the white part in the pot and the green part grows like crazy. I just walk outside and cut off what I need.

Last year our hostas didn’t really take off. I guess they just needed to get used to the pot.

And last, but not least, we have a semi new member of the family.

His name is O’Malley and he is a feral cat that I have been trying to get close to for months. One day he just decided that we weren’t out to kill him and has hung around our patio ever since. He has come into the house 3 times but it still very leery of the indoors. As soon as he gets more comfortable with us I’m going to get his vaccines and neuter. Baby steps.

Use It Up

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I have not wanted to go to the grocery. Aldi has completely rearranged their store and it’s so confusing because items are not grouped together like they should be. I decided that we really need to use up what we have before I actually forced to go shopping. Because the weather has been absolutely beautiful these past few days we have been eating outside and I’ve been sprucing up the patio. The hens have been laying again so that means more meals using our eggs.

Dinner was a hit with everyone. I whipped up a ham and cheese quiche. I pulled some spiral sliced ham out of the freezer and I had cheese in the fridge.

We also had some strawberries and blueberries that needed to be used for something so I added sugar and some water and cooked those down to make a compote for waffles.

It does take a while for the berries to cook down, but it’s so worth it.

I just make the waffles while the quiche is cooking.

I found the best recipe for waffles.

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While I was cleaning out the pantry I found a can of sweetened condensed milk and made some cookies. I had never made these before, but they were so good.

I feel like I’m really late getting my seeds started, but I was able to get a plant table done. We got the mini saw horses at an estate sale last year. I had the boards so I just stained them all dark walnut. I plan on painting the saw horses, but I didn’t have enough paint.

I love sprucing up getting ready for summer. I try to use what we already have. I am planning some fun, funky additions to our little patio. It basically serves as another room since we tend to eat and spend a lot of time out there. I can’t wait to get started.

Hugh x 2 + Al Fresco

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Night before last I stayed up until 2 am watching a limited series. It was so good I didn’t wanted to finish it. It’s 6 parts and I got to the 4th episode before I had to call it quits because I just couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. The next morning I finished the last two. It’s called The Undoing. It stars Hugh Grant, Nicole Kidman and Lily Rabe. It’s a murder mystery with twists and turns. Hugh Grant is amazing and so is Nicole Kidman. This was filmed when Nicole Kidman’s face actually moved and showed emotion. I had watched the series The Perfect Couple that she was in recently and could hardly stand it because her face is so frozen and weird looking now. Anyway, The Undoing is on Max/HBO and I highly recommend it, especially if you like murder mysteries.

Last night I watched The Heretic also starring Hugh Grant. I have been waiting for this to come out on a streaming service and when I saw that it was releasing Friday on Max I planned my evening around watching it. I love horror movies and this particular one was highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes. It was good, but I wish I would have watched this movie before I watched The Undoing because I think I would have liked it so much more. The Undoing was just that good. Hugh Grant was very good in this role. I think the older he gets he can get away from the romcoms that made him famous when he was younger and I like these grittier roles for him.

Before I settle in to watch The Heretic I made Instant pot ribs, baked potatoes and brussel sprouts. It was such a beautiful night that Gavin, Hannah and I decided to dine al fresco.

I picked up this tablecloth months ago at a thrift store and it turned out to be the perfect size. Hopefully we’ll be using a whole lot more since the weather is warming up. We ended up staying outside for quite a while because no one wanted to go inside. I just love nights like this.