Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from February, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 3:30 pm on February 27, 2023 Permalink  

  A Typical Monday 

  A typical Monday means lots of bubbles in the washing machine.  I enjoy doing the laundry.  I can see lots of progress as the piles of clean folded clothes grows on the dining room table.

  While the laundry is going, it gives me a chance to do something with the kitchen floor.  With Dennis needing to wear his Velcro boot, it’s amazing of all the little bits of grit that come into the house.  You’ve got it!  There are two rugs for him to scuff the boot before entering too far into the kitchen.  Hey . . . the foot is healing.  Praise God!  Tidy, tidy is a small price to pay.

  By twelve noon Dennis was home from taking his friend Dwayne for coffee at McDonald’s.  The fellows have coffee and an egg McMuffin and drive around town to see what is new since last week.  Dwayne no longer drives and he thanks Dennis over and over for the time they spend together.  Other than Dennis he gets as far as their apartment and the Catholic church.

  This afternoon I needed to reacquaint myself with the embroidery module on the sewing machine.  It has been awhile.  Right off the bat, check the oil and put in a new needle.  An order from Amazon has kept me sharp in stitching.

  Supper is a bag of chili out of the freezer.  The freezer options are fantastic.  

  The rain we had overnight did shrink the snow some.  Just so it stays warm enough for several days and not have it turn to ice.  There is plenty of that under the snow.

  This is me signing off as the embroidery is busy at work.  It pays to keep an eye on things.

   
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  Noreen 2:38 pm on February 17, 2023 Permalink  

  We Did It 

  We got Dennis into bed last night – less his heavy Velcro boot.  I think he was asleep before I got to my bed.  This morning at six, I heard my name being called.  We got that boot back on Dennis’ foot in record time.  We have both agreed the first thing we are going to ask the surgeon’s second in command on Tuesday is if Dennis can take several steps out of the boot.  Hey . . .  it can’t hurt to ask. 

  Dennis has cat napped today, but I am not one to nap during the day.

  I did get a kettle of potatoes peeled this morning for supper.  Supper is going to be boiled potatoes and some Gorton’s fish filets in the oven and cranberries.  

  Off and on today I have been reading in my bedroom porch.  As cold as it was when we got up, the sun is coming through the south windows, being right next to my reading table.  The sun felt great.

  I missed the stitcher’s luncheon yesterday in Mankato.  I knew where I would feel the most content . . . at home.  Sometimes, there is nothing that is needed, other than being at home with what needs to be taken care with the one that is the other half of you.  Priceless.

  I have supper taken care of for this evening and Dennis has taken care of the dishes that were from last evening.  In doing Dennis’ bedding yesterday, I decided to do my bedding as well.  Yes, the washing machine is push button.  Moving the loads of laundry to get them swapped out can take its tole on my arms.  Both of us work together at getting the bedding back onto the beds.  A small home does not allow for a lot of extra real estate around the perimeters of the beds.  I will admit when supper was over last night, I chose not to see the dishes in the sink.

  All is well at Stauffer Avenue.

   
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  Noreen 4:05 pm on February 6, 2023 Permalink  

  A Helping Hand 

  With several loads of laundry and an oven meal to prepare, I had a helping hand that volunteered to vacuum the floors.

  Dennis has become quite mobile wearing the 24/7 boot.  He had realized that I had not said one word in regard to what may have been tracked in.  The tracking can’t be helped.  I think it’s wonderful that he is out and about taking care of what this little household needs in the errand department.  It is a blessing that we have no carpeting and only two scatter rugs that need shaking.  Of course there was a trade-off.

  Dennis requested that I stay busy in the studio while he vacuumed the floors, and . . . he did do all the floors.  Tomorrow we check in with the surgeon’s second in command and both of us are eager for the update.  After the vac was back in its storage spot, Dennis announced that Wednesday he would be doing the damp mopping throughout the house.  I do appreciate the fact that he does notice and is willing to help.

  When the boot gets to be retired, both of us will celebrate as it means the healing is complete and the foot can have the pressure of wearing a normal shoe.  That normal shoe will be after it has been fitted for an orthotic to make up for the loss of the length in that foot.

  I will be putting out an update after tomorrow. 

  Right now, it looks as if the forecast of rain may be spot on.  Gray skies while it is 35 degrees.  I am hoping that if there is something falling from above, the roads will be good early tomorrow for traveling to Mankato.

  By the way, the oven meal for today’s supper is in part cubed chicken from the freezer when we had had a broasted chicken from the deli and the excess was cubed and labeled for such a day as this.  I parboiled two cups of carrots and opened a jar of Alfredo sauce, a heaping teaspoon of Better than Bullion roasted chicken flavor, and two cups of pasta boiled, tender to the taste.  It was mixed and blended as it went into my blue speckled round roaster. 

  Four thirty at 350 degrees will have supper ready when the contents reach 155 degrees, or thereabouts.

   
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  Noreen 3:40 pm on February 4, 2023 Permalink  

  A Waft of Spring 

  By golly, I stuck my head out this afternoon to add to the recycling bin and I got a waft of spring.  This morning it was 8° above and now it is 32° and balmy.

  Dennis and Dwayne had a coffee date at McDonald’s this morning.  When Dennis came home at noon, he told me he was leaving to get the car into the car wash.  He and Dwayne had already gotten the little red pickup run through.  Yes, the ultimate wash has been raised to $11.00.  Dennis will pay that as it gets some of the crud under the body washed off.  Getting each vehicle back into the garage where it was warm enough to not have the doors freeze shut.  That would be hard on the rubber seals.

  I also had a productive day.  The studio had sun shining into the south windows.  That in itself was a good motivator as well as the heat on my legs from the electric jobbie under the sewing table.  What allows me to have a bit more time sewing is to have the sewing chair tricked out with two balls to sit upon.  It does help to keep the pain at bay as well as stitching a bit and then getting up to iron the seams that were just stitched.  Never sitting in any one spot for very long is the tip for the day.

  With the 24 blocks of the log cabin pattern stitched, I got out the booklet and decided the sequence of the blocks when stitched together.  With 24 blocks, I did have choices.  I decided on the Starlight choice.  That stitching will be for another day, as each block may need to be trimmed a bit.  Keeping the 1/4 ” seam is desirable . . . but also does not to need to be perfect.

  The aroma in the kitchen is beckoning.  I browned two center cut boneless porkchops for just a hint of color, which is not mandatory.  With the crockpot sprayed with Pam, the chops were added with a bit of seasoned salt sprinkled on.  A can of cream of mushroom soup was spread evenly on top.  The setting of low was applied at nine this morning.  The chops will be falling apart by five thirty.  To round out supper, Dennis is going to fix a box of Stove Top dressing.  Does it matter that the flavor of the pantry was chicken?  No!  The remainder in a dish of cranberries in the frig will top supper out perfectly.

  I keep the crockpot on the kitchen counter 24/7.  It is amazing what can be fixed with no mess and many hours to bring the dishes to perfection.  If in doubt, the internet has the answers.

  This entire next week seems to promise a chance of the furnace getting a break.  Sweet.

   
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  Noreen 3:27 pm on January 27, 2023 Permalink  

  Bright Sun 

  The sun is so bright today.  If I don’t look at the temps, I would think spring has begun.  Not so fast!

  This weekend has a cold snap planned that should and would keep everyone safe and sound within their own homes.  Not even brand new vehicles are hardy enough to ensure safety in the bitter cold.  This would be a home sweet home weekend.  The strong winds of today are making travel risky north of us.  Amanda at the sewing shop in Bird Island, closed the shop due to road conditions.   

  Last night we had a sampling of our hearty beef soup out of the ever humble crock pot.  It was tasty.  The carrots, potatoes, and green beans were tender and the perfect addition.  I was happy I did not add the celery.  Celery really overtakes in the flavor department.  After supper out came my containers for putting a bit of this tastiness into the freezer.  We will have a second helping of this soup this evening and then move on for supper fare for the weekend.

  This morning I was pumped to get into the studio.  I had previously everything cut for a log cabin pattern in the hues of tan to brown.  I stitched six inches and all stopped.  I began checking out the electrical aspects.  Sure enough the box on the post in the center of the room had no life.  I double checked the power strip that had been connected to it.  It worked fine when I plugged in across the room to that existing box.  

  At noon I called our electrician, Dale.  Dale will be over next week and we will be back in service.  The box that went kaput has the old fabric covered wiring going to it.  Better to be safe than sorry.  Much depends on those items that I expect to work when a switch is flipped.  I do have the two most important items, the sewing machine and the iron, rigged to work until next week.  Nothing running across the walkways on the floor.  I have until next week to check over the studio to see where extra boxes would be needed.  

  Life is always open for challenges.  I do like the fact that self reliance serves me well.

   
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  Noreen 1:49 pm on January 20, 2023 Permalink  

  The Grammie on Board 

  The Grammie is on board for wound dressing for Dennis.  This was the first time for me since his surgical day of January 11th.  I had watched very carefully when it was done in Mankato on the 17th.  That was the first dressing change and I was thankful it was done by a doctor. 

  Today, out came the wicker basket with my supplies.  Thankfully I had enough left over from previous that I have it covered until we travel back to Mankato on the 24th.  The doctor had sent over a prescription to the Mayo Store for the supplies to take us into several weeks.  The prescription is for three months.  I hope we won’t need supplies for that long.  We knew there would be a delay from point A to point B, so we came directly home on Tuesday.

  I called the Mayo Store today and asked in regard to the supplies, if I would need to shop the shelves seeking what was needed.  She assured me the supplies would be bagged up ready for us on the 24th.  Sweet!

  With all that has happened over the last month or so, the days seem to fly by.  Where does the 24 hours go?  Just as well that there is nothing in the studio that is on a schedule.  I will have plenty of time after we have seen a month of “Grammie Care.”  Time will tell.

  I remain on livestock chores.  It feels good that Dennis can be out in the patio porch while I am doing them.  You cannot believe the TLC the kitties are requiring.  Short visits is the plan.

  I have an oven meal ready.  I had one pound of hamburger meat that I browned.  1 good tablespoon of Better than Bullion in the roasted onion flavor went into the hot meat.  Several shakes of Soy sauce.  The pasta boxes hold four cups of the dry pasta and I used two cups to bring it to fruition.  A jar of Classico basil red sauce.  When all folded into each other, it will be popped in at 4:15 at 350 degrees.

  The next trip to Mankato will need a stop at Hy-Vee for several different flavors of the Better than Bullion.  It really does add a lot of extra flavor to our oven meals.  It has a long shelf life in the refrigerator.

  I was surprised that we have had a freezing mist all day today.  There goes my nice clean path to the garage.

  The weekend is upon us.  January is quickly being left in what it does best . . . yuck weather and very little sunshine.

   
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  Noreen 3:35 pm on January 9, 2023 Permalink  

  Monday the Gift 

  What a great Monday.  There is so much ice that is being cleared from doorways and ours is one of them.

  As soon as a bit of thawed snow turns liquid and gets a chance to find its way under the thickest of ice, there is a chance that the battle can begin.  An ice cream pail of salt from the softener brine tank helped as well.  Salt is not kind to concrete and I know decades ago we made dang sure to have a brand of ice melt called Zero.  Dennis had gotten a product from Fleet and farm that was to be kind to concrete and it had ground corn cobs in it.  Man did that drag into the house under the feet.  For this one time, the salt did the trick.

  One of my favorite television shows in days of old was Columbo.  An ace detective with a bit of humor.  Last weekend I was surfing what was on Samsung television.  British shows on PBS included one “Jack Frost.”  Much like Columbo, including multiple pockets full of notes for crime solutions.  Variety in the shows is good.  Dennis’ favorite is Kriminal, with a “K”, that he catches on the Godahl tower offerings. 

  Last night we reminisced about the year when KEYC, channel 12, from Mankato was all that there was, complete with the Band Wagon.  The old time bands had quite a few toes tapping in their living rooms as they watched. 

  We are doing a meal in a pan this evening.  I have a bag of refrigerated hash browns from Christmas that needs to be used.  My plan is to chop up four precooked Jimmy Dean Sausages as the potatoes are toward being finished.  Stir them up, mix them up and sprinkle some shredded cheese on top as it goes to the table.  Meal planning 101.

  With this day being such a gift, I hope the remainder of the week is kind to us as well.

   
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  Noreen 2:29 pm on January 2, 2023 Permalink  

  To Decide 

  Yesterday I posted a photo of a pillow I had stitched out.  I was thinking about gluing buttons on to fill in the “O”.  As I did several loads of laundry this morning I kept thinking on it.  I made a kettle of soup . . . still thinking on it.

  Several hours was spent this afternoon sorting through possibilities of buttons.  Some of the buttons would have come from the cards of buttons on the Fairfax button tree.  Some would have come from Lena’s jar of saved buttons.  After getting a cup of cold breakfast coffee down to the studio, I sat and looked back and forth from the pillow as finished and then the pile of odds and ends of red buttons.

  I have decided less is more.  There was a whole lot of food for thought going on.  No buttons will be glued to the pillow top.  What I will do is put the loose red buttons in a bag . . .  just in case something else would ever come up needing red buttons.  The red buttons on the small cardboard cards will continue looking smart as they hang on the button tree.

  As I mentioned, I made a kettle of soup.  Occasionally I will buy a bag of mixed vegetables to steam within the bag via the microwave.  I had also fixed a pork steak in the blue speckled roaster with baby carrots.  The drippings in the roaster of the pork steak were too tasty to pitch.  I felt a home made soup coming on.  I browned a pound of hamburger meat this morning.  I tossed all of the leftover vegetables in a sauce pan with the meat and the saved drippings.  I was short liquid in the saucepan.  I was also short flavor.  No way was a trip to the grocery store to be had to buy a box of broth.  I added water to cover the contents by a good two inches.  Out of the refrig came the jar of onion roasted flavored Better Than Bullion.  Two spoons full got plopped in.  A generous shake of seasoned salt, a guess of ground pepper and very generous shakes of soy sauce.  I put the sauce pan and ingredients on simmer.  We have a tasty soup for supper.  I cook like Lena, not with a recipe.

  The cement drive began showing wet at 1:30, what will follow is anyone’s guess.  We have had plenty of warning.

   
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  Noreen 1:58 pm on October 25, 2022 Permalink  

  Bright Sun 

  The day always goes better when there is bright sun . . . even if I spent most of my time in the studio enjoying the sun as it came through the south windows.

  The Bernina site on YouTube got quite a bit of my morning.  I have had my sewing machine and embroidery module for six years and I am still learning.  Learning by seeing and hearing via YouTube is the best.

  This day was spent on making sure that the project set to go under the needle was going to be a “one time and done.”  There was not going to be a practice session of spending three hours of stitching and then feeding the circular file.

  This afternoon with stopping the stitching several times to refill the coffee cup, I can happily say, “Mission Completion.”  The embroidery stitching is complete and now comes the task of deciding how to finish off the project once it comes out of the hoop so it can be handled off to the recipients.  Nah . . . no pillow.  Tomorrow I will scrounge in the closet here in the studio looking for the perfect frame.

  Perhaps by tomorrow’s post, I may have the project to share.

  Now, I am off to the kitchen to think on putting a supper on the table.  There too, I need to get it done right.  I am very aware of the price of groceries being off the rails.  One of our favorite supper meals is chicken tenders.  Yes . . . they are what their name implies.  They are far more tender than the entire breast.  Supper is several hours away but I need to close down shop here in the studio so as to acclimate to life on the first floor of our home.

  Catch you tomorrow!

   
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  Noreen 1:55 pm on October 7, 2022 Permalink  

  Feeling the Chilly 

  This morning, no one could help but feel the chilly air.  I do believe tomorrow morning is going to be chillier yet.

  I did turn the furnace on and set the thermostat at 60 degrees.  Just enough to take the chill off.  Lena used to open the oven door on mornings such as this and set the oven at 250 degrees to take the chill off.  Same difference.

  Dennis headed to Madelia Ford this morning with his letter in hand.  There was a recall on the air bags for his little red pickup.  Dennis needed to make an appointment for October 12th.

  My time was spent in the studio.  There now is quilt binding cut, folded and ironed for a time when the purple quilt has been quilted.  There was also some much needed organization that was on the docket.  When organization is done correctly, I do not need to get rid of any more items than I already have.  It’s all about the eye appeal.  Standing on the bottom basement step, first impressions tell the rest of the story.  Yes . . . I think I could also sell ice cubes to the Eskimos. 

  When Dennis came home, I hitched a ride with him to the grocery store.  My one big ticket item was a dozen of eggs . . . $4.69.  Wow.  I can understand why there are quite a few small cities pondering ordinances to allow chickens in the backyards.

  Supper is going to be some Hormel Beef Tips in gravy and instant mashed potatoes.  I still have some brussel sprouts to adorn my fare.  Dennis will brighten up his plate with a piece of strawberry jam bread.  To each his own.