Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

I am a bit achy and very tired today. I know it is because I have overdone things the past two days, and the weather is very up and down. 

Tonight we are going to be attending one of our summer theater productions. This one is based on the music of Abba and of course Momma Mia. It should be good, if I can manage to stay awake. 

I have been working out a few more details about Jerry as well. I am sorry but I forgot who mentioned our names all start with "J". Actually my Dad's name was Jack (Jacob) and my Mom's name was Jean. We were always known as "The 6 J's" among family and friends. Strangely I hadn't thought of that in years. 

We have been working on getting some very necessary painting done outside. I am not sure if the deck will be repainted totally this year, but the railing and wooden furniture will be. I will also get the wooden windows painted as well. 

I have begun to do the dehydrating of herbs. Today I did some basil, mint, and oregano. Tomorrow I hope to do some thyme, more oregano and some parsley. Definitely need to keep up with that this year. The last few years have not been good for growing basil for some reason. I am hoping that this year is better. 

There are only a few (well tonight, tomorrow, and part of Thursday) to get ready for the reunion. Pretty sure I will make it, but man things are getting much more complicated every time we do this (and we do this every second year in Harvey's family). 

I find that the pressure to get things together, and make meals or pack food is slowly grinding me down. I am also the last one to learn anything or hear anything so these reunions are very hard on my nerves. I don't want to say or do anything wrong or his family looks down their noses at me. Stressful really. Harvey used to say that it was my imagination, but one time he really noticed how I was being treated and realized what had been going on pretty much since his parents passed away. I keep on plugging away though spreading cheer whenever I can.

I have gotten supper started, and we should be eating with enough time left for me to get dishes cleared away before it is time to leave. I will let you all know how the production was.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. God bless.

 

Saturday Roundup

 

It has been a pretty quiet week. Nothing project wise is finished, but a few things are getting very close. Hopefully pictures of those next week. 

Working in the garden and with the herbs in the morning. Slowly but surely dehydrating is filling the herb jars for next year. With the heat we have been having it is very hard to get motivated to do any real processing of food stuffs. 

Even cooking has been a challenge this week. Thank heavens for main dish salads and previously frozen foods that just need warming up. I do have the steeped mint liquid that needs to be made into jelly at some point, as well as a great many bags of frozen tomatoes that need to be made into sauce. I did manage to get the comfrey salve made early this morning.

Eight tins for now, with probably more to come. These need to be labeled tonight. 

I think along with the mint jelly tomorrow I will make the oregano salve which would just leave the sage for another day. 

I have been keeping a very close eye on costs over the last 7 months and was pleasantly surprised with our meal last night. Most eating establishments have been gradually raising the cost of their meals, and the one we went to last night was totally different. While the meals were a bit more, they were actually lower than other places. The amount of food was amazing, and the service over and above. We will go there again and as we were leaving we noticed they had a buffet on Sundays and so will give that a try after Mass the next time. After all saving a few dollars, eating out, and having a rest from cooking is awesome. 

However, other prices are rising. I usually giggle at the X (Twitter) folk, mainly because they post the highest prices that they can on premium cuts of meat. That being said, the cost of beef is slowly growing beyond what a regular person can afford. The same could be said for regular pork and poultry prices. One needs to learn to shop the sales, use up every bit, and stretch what one uses.

Still, purchasing a Tomahawk Steak is not something I would ever consider, so complaining about the price means nothing to me. If you could afford that cut to begin with, you are not in the same economic level as the usual shopper. Grow up and join mainstream shoppers. Learn to budget and spend wisely.

We really enjoyed the show last night. I even got to see so many of the youth I worked with (getting hugs from most of them) as well as people I had not seen in many a year. Most were aides with me in the classroom. 

Harvey told me to purchase tickets for the next show which is titled "Golden Girls on Vacation". That does not happen until the beginning of August, but I think I will get tickets for this production very soon. Two nights out has been unheard of for a number of years. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.