Category: Home life

Reinforcement + LJS

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Lately some of our chickens have been very bad. There are 3 ring leaders that insist on flying over the gate and running amok in our yard and all of the neighbors’ yards. I spend a lot of time during my day herding chickens back to their yard. Donny and I spent a lot of the day outside. I was taking down the Christmas lights and he was adding more insulation to the coop because we are supposed to be getting some colder weather later this week. Those 3 chickens plus some other followers in the group kept getting over the gate. Donny realized what a pain it was to be wrangling chickens multiple times. He brought out more chicken wire to raise the gate area even more. We thought that worked until one of the chickens flew right over it. I had had enough. I decided to do whatever it took to keep them in our backyard.Donny told me, “you can be serious?’. Oh, but I was. All it took were 2 brooms and a rake plus several zip ties. I also got our scarecrow out of the shed and made sure to chase the chickens around waving it and growling loudly. I figured if they were scared of it they wouldn’t come near it. This is how it turned out.

Donny’s first reaction when I was finished was, “what are the neighbors going to think?’. I told him I didn’t care because I was sick of chasing chickens. Let’s cross our fingers that this works. Let’s hope the HOA is okay with it. Ha had, just kidding, we could never live with an HOA because I’m pretty sure we would get fined every day and/or kicked out.

Hannah treated her boyfriend to dinner since tomorrow is his birthday and she has to work tomorrow night. Since they were already going to eat we decided to try out our new Long John Silver’s. I know, I know, most people think it’s gross, but it has a special place in our hearts here in Longview. You see almost 2 years ago it was not doing so well and they were going to shut it down. That’s when our Facebook group “All Things Longview” went on a mission to save it. And save it we did. Several months ago they completely tore it down so they could build a new store that wasn’t grimy and greasy like the old one. The brand spanking new LJS opened a few days ago and I’m happy to say that we had to wait in the to-go line for quite a while. Even the inside was full and there was a line in there also.

The food was actually SO good. Everything tasted so fresh and it wasn’t overly greasy. I was quite pleased. They also got the order 100% correct. Go LJS! I hope you stay this busy.

Shrimp Po Boys + Ambien Chair

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Sundays are short days for me. Donny works from 1-5. This Sunday Hannah worked from 8-1:30, but ended up getting out closer to 2. After I made everyone breakfast I ran to Aldi to do a food shop for the week. I had been wanting a shrimp Po boy so that’s what I decided to make for dinner.

Every time I buy bakery bread I’m never quite satisfied with the quality so I decided to make the sandwich buns myself. I had pinned a recipe on Pinterest ages ago.

This was one of the quicker bread recipes. The dough only needed to rest on the board for 10 minutes. After that you just make loaves and let them rise for 30-40 minutes on the baking sheets.

I just egg washed and popped them into the oven for 22 minutes and they turned out great.

I’ll be using the larger loafs for garlic bread in recipes coming up.

You can’t have a shrimp Po boy without remoulade sauce so I whipped that up. I’ve been making my own sauces for a while. They just taste better than anything that comes out of a bottle.

It was a build your own with the sauce, popcorn shrimp from Aldi (seriously so good) and lettuce, tomatoes, onions and pickles. I served a fruit salad on the side. Everyone in the family loved it because it really doesn’t get much better than warm bread right out of the oven.

This morning, though, I woke up not feeling well. I am super congested with body aches. I hope I’m not getting the mysterious virus that is going around. I decided to take it easy and have been in the Ambien chair binge watching Fear Thy Neighbor. It’s actually pretty good if you like true crime.

This is the Ambien chair. We call it that because every single time I sit in it I fall asleep. It doesn’t matter if I’m not even one bit tired, BOOM, I’m asleep. I think it’s just because it’s so comfortable. I got it super cheap on the last day of an estate sale (50% off) when we first moved here. One of my best purchases ever. So I think I’ll just take a little nap now and try to sleep off this sickness.

Breaking It In

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Today we woke up to fog rolling in. It was just a foggy muggy start to the day.

We hadn’t planned on really doing anything, Donny and Hannah were both off. We decided, at almost 1:00, that we should make breakfast. I decided to try out the big griddle for bacon and sausage and the smaller round griddle for french toast.

I think I may have had the heat up too high because the house filled with smoke from the bacon although it turned out good. I love the smaller griddle to make french toast. We kind of had a mess everywhere. One thing I love about cast iron is that the clean up is pretty easy. Just scrub, scrub, scrub and if something is stuck on, use salt.

Donny and I had to run to Drug Emporium and when we got home Hannah was outside drawing on the chalkboard. We have now made her the official chalkboard artist and she will now be handling what goes on it.

I love it when she takes the time to do her drawings. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

For 2025 I’m going to be doing a whole house clean out which means I shouldn’t have purchased what I did at Drug Emporium, but it smelled so good I couldn’t resist.

It’s a new line they are carrying and this was only the second tester I tried, but I knew right when the fragrance hit my nose that it was the one. It smells so good.

Tomorrow I am going to start the clean out on the kitchen. I need to find a place for the huge pot I just got for Christmas. I figured while I’m doing that I might as well do the whole thing.

Has anyone else started season 2 of Squid Game? We just started episode 4 and so far it’s been really good. I also want to recommend Black Doves. We were really impressed by it.

Rough

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It has been a rough several days. Friday I did way too much lifting when I rearranged the shed, which caused by lower back to spasm up again. I do know better, but when I want something done I want it done right then. Plus, I knew that we were going to have bad weather coming.

My goal on Saturday was to go through my closet and clean out all of the summer clothes, which required more lifting. I did get it done and it feels good, like a weight lifted off my shoulders. Since Donny and I share an extremely small closet I have to be intentional about what goes in. I filled a laundry basket full and then emptied the drawer with my swimsuits, tank tops and cover ups.

These space bags worked so well.

Because our closet is so small I store my jeans and pants in baskets I picked up years ago for $3.99 at a thrift store.

I’m a very casual dresser as you can probably tell.

Sunday was Donny’s day off. He gets every third Sunday off. We were out of milk, which I need for my coffee, so he got up early and came back with cream horns that I happily ate at the patio table. They were so flaky and creamy. It was a decadent breakfast, but it was so good.

It was a very grey day with showers predicted in the afternoon. I don’t mind days like this especially when I’m feeling under the weather. It means true Fall weather is on its way.

Donny was able to clean out one of the gardens. We got a nice little haul.

Donny has lost his glasses months ago. He swore he lost them at work. He looked everywhere and I tore the house up also looking for them. Then lo and behold, look what he found in the garden.

We’re not sure how he dropped them out there, but I think I can straighten them out so he can wear them again.

By Sunday night my back was killing me. The TENS unit gave a bit of relief. I got on our shake machine and it helped.

I took a hot bath with a lot of this in it.

I am NOT a bath person, but I was getting desperate. It made it bearable that I took my laptop into the bathroom and watched Twisters while I soaked. It’s actually a good movie and I would have loved to see it in 4D, but we didn’t have anywhere near us that it was showing with those effects.

The bath, shaker and TENS seemed to have done the trick about 60%. I’m just going to need to be very careful until, hopefully, everything heals.

Hangover

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I don’t know about anyone else, but for the last week I’ve woken up daily feeling like I’ve got a hangover. I think it was the whole election. A week ago I was so anxious. I don’t watch main stream media. I find that I’m in a much better head space if I don’t. Donny, however, loves to watch it. He argues loudly with the television and, at times, it can really stress me out. I didn’t really watch any polls. I held steadfast that the candidate I voted for would win even if I live with a slight pessimist that would tell me not to get my hopes up because of what he would see on the news stations. Tuesday night I couldn’t even make dinner so Jackson and I picked up Wing Stop. Then when Donny got home from work we started watching as the polls closed one by one. Because we use streaming services and our local stations can be somewhat spotty, we ended up on CNN, ABC and NBC. I was watching The Charlie Kirk Show live on TikTok. I had been on a prayer Live for three hours the night before as the prayer wave crossed all of the time zones. I was exhausted from that and it didn’t help the headache I was beginning to get. By 11:00 I was done. I just couldn’t stay up any longer. What happens would happen whether or not I was awake or asleep.

The next morning I actually slept in until almost 7. I had only been getting about 5 hours of sleep per night the last week. Donny was still asleep so I quietly got up to go make coffee. When I unlocked my phone, the first text I saw was from my friend in Oklahoma. I hadn’t turned on the news yet. She sent me a TikTok with the election results. All of the stress that I had felt, but just kept to myself, came flooding out of me. I just started crying. I went into the bedroom to tell Donny the good news but I couldn’t even get the words out. He thought something bad had happened. Then the only words I could squeak out was “he won”.

There are so many people devastated by what I consider one of my best mornings ever. I don’t hate them and I don’t blame them for feeling like they do. I did go back to see some of the the highlights of the propaganda they were being sold. It was disgraceful. They were lied to and I can’t even put into words the fear mongering they were subjected to. The main stream media should be ashamed of themselves and I do believe they should be held accountable.

I was raised in a home that openly talked about politics. My dad was a democrat and my mother was a republican. I have voted both ways. I vote for the candidate that I think will do the best job and I think that Trump, with his amazing team, will do just that. No matter what side you are on, pray for unity in our country because it really needs it right now.

My 2016 voting sticker. I loved that it had Blue Dog on it. A blue dog exhibit just opened here and I can’t wait to go see it.

My 2024 sticker.

Now to get on a less serious subject. Donny and I went to Home Goods the other day to pick up some more glass food storage containers. They had just put out carts of 50% off items and I found the best candle ever.

The lid looks just like Milo!

Not only am I having that hangover feeling, but I also hurt my back again. It hasn’t been the same since I face planted on the bounce house slide. Donny picked up this TENS unit from Walgreen’s and boy has it helped. It’s much fancier than the one I used to have because it has so many different modes. I highly recommend getting one if you have any pain.

We’ve been having so much rain these past few days that it has really caused my allergies to flair up. I saw this trend online where you put garlic cloves up you nose. Even though Donny thought I was nuts, it did make my nose run A LOT when I took them out.

And last, but not least, I’m still feeding our little crew of animals. The skunks are definitely the alphas of the group. The other raccoons won’t even come out if the skunks are there. I also found that we have a little mouse living in the coop with the chickens. They aren’t bothered by it. I guess the little guy just snuggles up with them at night.

New Month

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October was a challenging month. Donny’s shoulder got a little better and then it moved to his elbow. He went to the doctor and they ran a complete blood panel and everything came back good. They have no idea what is causing this migratory joint swelling. We went to his family reunion and one of his cousins has the exact same thing and they doctors can’t figure out what causes his symptoms either. Well, since last Sunday, it has left his shoulder and moved into his knee. It’s so painful that he is having a hard time walking. This has been happening since the kids were little. It only happens in either October or November, but it has usually only affected his foot and ankle. The big thrift store is having a 5 cent book sale the month of November. I found this book today. I’m hoping I can find something in it to help him. He does have a follow up appointment on Thursday.

There is a mama cat and her two kittens that hang out across the street. The, what I’m assuming is the dad, has been hanging out on our driveway and patio. I have been putting food and water out for them in our ditch because they feel safer eating where they can’t be seen and have the storm drain to run into if they feel threatened. The neighbor across the street on the corner has set a live trap to try to catch them. Luckily I was notified of this by my other neighbor so I can keep an eye on it. So far she has only trapped a possum. I’m hoping it’s not one of the ones that I feed. I’ve seen the larger possum and thought I saw the smaller one, but I only saw its face so I can’t be sure which one it was. The skunks are getting along with the possum(s) now and I’m still feeding the 3 raccoons. I came out tonight and the largest raccoon was stuffing his mouth with marshmallows like a little kid gorging on candy. Raccoons have a huge sweet tooth.

All of our cats have a 10 o’clock curfew now. I always make coffee and then let our cats outside. I go with them and have my coffee on the patio. The other morning after I let them out they went into the front yard and then bolted past me onto the grill. I stood up to see what was going on and I saw this HUGE coyote coming across my yard. I immediately started yelling at it and chased it down the street. I’m worried about the mama cat, kittens and Mr. Whiskers, the dad. So far everyone is still doing good.

Mr. Whiskers just chilling.

I’m going to be trying to keep up with my blog this month. Donny has been having to sleep on the couch so he doesn’t roll over on his elbow, shoulder and knee which means I’m not sleeping well. I used to think I wanted land to live on, but taking care of the animals we have and everything else while Donny is incapacitated has made me change my mind.

We did early voting last Friday. I think I’m getting election fatigue. I am very ready for November 5th to roll around. Only 4 more days!

And yes, I went to the polls with no makeup and needing to shower but we just wanted to get it over with and avoid the lines on election day.

Chores

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Donny was off today so we decided to tackle some things that have been needing to get done. I’m always the first one up in the mornings. I have a set routine that needs to get done on a daily basis. I always start the coffee when I first get up. Then I let the cats out and make sure they have food and water outside and check and refill their food inside. After that I grab a cup of coffee and wait for the sky to lighten up so that I can let the chickens out of the coop and make sure they have food and clean water.

Since Donny was off, he ran Jackson to school and I started sorting laundry because it’s been a few days since I have done any. I’m embarrassed to show this picture, but it’s real life and boy is this real.

We needed to get the morning glories cut down from the coop and the bottle tree. That is a chore in itself because the vines are so invasive, strong and can wrap themselves so tightly around whatever they are growing on.

By the time I took this Donny had already cleared the bottle tree and had started burning the dead vines in the fire pit.

The smoke was so bad, but they burned off pretty quickly.

While Donny was cutting away more vines in the garden I was inside tackling the laundry. I actually don’t mind laundry day. I use the Zum Laundry Soap and It makes the outside and inside smell so good.

I did decide to take a break because I was getting so hungry. My avocados were finally ripe so I whipped up some guacamole. It’s so sad that I’m the only one in the house that really likes it. Sad for them at least.

Since it’s getting darker so much earlier now, it pushes my nightly chores up about an hour. These are so important though and I’ve added a new one. There is a mama cat with two kittens that hide out across the street. I had put a food bowl and water buy the drainage ditch that they hang out by. Unfortunately ants got into the food. We have a neighbor on the corner who is always out of town so I put them next to her driveway. Of course she came home and threw the bowls into the street. I asked the neighbor beside her if I could put the food and water against his fence. He said yes, so I did. I guess that corner neighbor called animal control and I got a notice that basically said, Whoever is feeding these cats it is trespassing and you need to remove them asap. Well, I didn’t and I won’t because I have permission from the neighbor and I refuse to let animals starve.

So this is what I walk across the street at dusk.

I found that if I float the food bowl in a pan of water the ants can’t get to it.

After I feed the feral cats, I go put the chickens up. Four go in easily. One likes to roost on the air conditioning unit, but she’s finally jumping off when she sees me to go into the coop. Penelope likes to roost on the bottle tree and is not happy when I have to lift her off. After the coyote, we are being cautious. And every night I go give some love to my neighbor’s neglected dog. He is the sweetest thing and they just throw food in his bowl, never walk or pet him. It’s the saddest thing ever.

The best part of the nightly chores is getting the food ready for our two raccoons, the skunk and possum. I have found that the skunk and raccoons LOVE peanut butter. I do a sandwich and peanut butter crackers. The skunk eats it like a kid would eat an oreo. It opens the cracker sandwich, licks the peanut butter out and then eats the crackers.

Tonight’s menu was ham, mashed potatoes, peanut butter sandwich, peanut butter crackers, peanuts, grapes, frosted mini wheats and marshmallows. They also get a bowl of cat food. I was so happy when I saw the skunk and raccoons eating together. It hasn’t always been that was. I think that they have worked out their problems.

Even though the skunk is small it’s a badass and rules the yard.

Coyotes

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Our cats are inside/outside cats. Milo was a stray that we took in. Monkey was from a litter from a cat we rescued after the flood in Baton Rouge, Queso is my daughter’s cat that we are keeping for a while and Tommy is the cat that we have had for 11 years that we got off craigslist when we lived in Corpus Christi. Well, Saturday morning when I went to let the cats in, Tommy was not there.

Tommy and Monkey will stay outside maybe 4 nights a week. Tommy and Milo are best friends and Tommy hated coming in when Milo was outside, so that is why he was outside Friday night. Gavin was over and the kids were up until the wee hours of the morning and didn’t hear any type of ruckus outside. He was just gone. No trace whatsoever.

I put it out on 2 Facebook lost pet groups in my city. I put it on Nextdoor. I found the older gentleman that is always walking the neighborhood and asked if he had seen Tommy. He hadn’t. I asked our mailman. He also hadn’t but said he would keep an eye out for him. We looked EVERYWHERE for him. No trace.

The next morning I went out to let the hens out of the coop and noticed a pile of feathers on our side and our neighbors side of the fence. We have reinforced the fence, but apparently that didn’t stop what I know believe was a coyote. We know there is a den off of the trail where I walk and that they will come out of the park that is adjacent to the trail. To say we are all devastated is an understatement.

Tommy was the sweetest cat ever. He lost his leg 5 years ago when he got it caught in a louvered closet door (at least that is what we think happened since we were all asleep). During the flood when we were stuck on our roof, he fell off the roof and Donny had to wade through 4 feet of water to rescue him. He never hissed, never tried to fight other cats. He loved our dogs. His favorite thing was to climb up in my lap and be held like a baby. I will miss him so much. He was just a kind old soul. I hope he found Bailey in Heaven and they are playing chase.

Through all of the sadness, yesterday morning when I let the cats out Milo was chasing something and came around with a baby bird in his mouth. I chased him trying to get it, but I couldn’t. I went back inside for a few minutes and when I came back out Queso and Milo were both just sitting there staring at the baby bird. I scooped the baby up and put it in a box, covered by a dishtowel, on my bed. I thought for sure it was not going to make it because it did not move a muscle when the cats surrounding it.

I gave the poor creature a few hours to rest and then I went into our bedroom to pick it up and take it outside. That dang bird flew out of the box as soon as i lifted the dish towel. He flew up to my curtain rod, then onto the ceiling fan, then onto my closet door all the while I’m trying to catch it. He then flew behind our chest of drawers that has our TV on top. That thing is so heavy, because it’s an antique, so I had to lift the TV off and take out drawers to be able to move it enough to get my are back there.

He flew out before I could catch him and flew into Hannah’s room where I was finally able to catch him and take him outside. As soon as I opened my hand he just flew off into the great blue yonder. I now know he wasn’t hurt because Milo just wanted to play with him and not consume him. I got my exercise that day for sure.

Big Lots + Progress

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Day before yesterday I went to Big Lots because I needed to get some more yeast. I used to just get it at the grocery store until I found that Big Lots carried it in a much bigger bag for much cheaper. I was getting the 4 oz jars for almost $8. The bag is $5.50 and 8 oz. I bake a lot so I always like having yeast on hand.

Last week when I was there I found a shower curtain on the clearance aisle. We were needing a new one since our other one was 8 years old. I still love our old one, but it’s nice to have one to switch out when I need to. Anyway, this one is thick 100% cotton and was only $8.97. I didn’t really have any bath mats that matched and ours were wearing out anyway so yesterday I found this white pair for $12.99. That’s a pretty good deal since I checked at Walmart and the cheapest, for one, was $12.97 and they weren’t made as well as the ones at Big Lots.

I was also needing only two of the color changing remote controlled LED lights. Just two by themselves is hard to find. Once again Big Lots came through. These are really bright and were only $7.99. After I used them for Halloween they are going into my glass fishes.

Here’s Frankie in the daylight with one of Jackson’s lights in him.

Today when I hiked on the trail I am very proud to announce that there was only ONE piece of trash and it was just a napkin. That is HUGE progress from when I started. It was also such a glorious day. I had never noticed all of the morning glories on the bank of the creek until today.

This tree had fallen onto the path to where you had to duck to go under it last time I was here.

Someone found a forked log and propped it up so we don’t have to duck anymore.

I also found this turtle shell. It was just laying under a tree.

I actually saw 5 people on the trail today which is more than I’ve ever seen in one day. I’m glad more people are going outside to enjoy this beautiful weather.

Home Sweet Home

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Tonight, in Texas, is National Night Out. We didn’t have any parties planned on our street, but that’s ok because we have such great neighbors and we all know each other. We all look out for each other and I know that if I needed anything I could call on them for help.

Our neighbor across the street works for a restaurant food distribution company. A week ago he brought over pizza dough and pizza sausage. Today he brought over these potato wedges. We had them with meatball subs and they were so good.

The neighbor next door to him brings in everyone’s trash can on trash day. She also takes care of our cats when we have to go out of town. She and I are the feeders of the strays. I hope everyone gets out and meets their neighbors. It’s so important to have a good support system where you live. Especially if you’re like us and don’t have family near.

Hannah and I took a walk on the trail. When I first started walking and picking up the trash I could fill a whole trash bag. This time I only filled a grocery bag.

We found some mushrooms, but I don’t know what kind they are.

The light coming through the trees was so pretty.

And one of my favorite time of day is dusk because of the cotton candy skies.

I’d also like to ask anyone who reads here to please pray for everyone affected by Hurricane Helene. I have been through a horrible flood, but it was NOTHING compared to what North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia are experiencing. My heart breaks for these people many who have lost everything. Everything. Also please pray for those who are searching for missing people and are trying to get supplies in.

Because I cannot leave this on a sad note and because it is October 1st here is my Frankie.