Britesea - Living the good life in rural Oregon

[Britesea]

@goatgurl I'll have to check whether I can get just the barley and oats separately, I didn't think to ask. It would be much better for my girl if she didn't have corn, especially since sometimes if I'm rushed I will just throw a 1 pound bag of mixed vegetables into her food, and that has corn as well.
We ran out of the cob and didn't have any brown rice; I had to make it using white rice. I knew that would constipate her, so I dug out a big can of pureed pumpkin and tossed that in as well. It seems to have done the trick, and judging by how fast she has been wolfing it down the last few days, I think she liked the new taste.

Rain was off and on today, but at least the winds had died down. It was scary last night, wondering if a tree was going to come down. Several people had trees fall, but I don't know of any that destroyed anything worse than a fence, thank goodness.

I spent most of the day working on our family budget for the new year (yeah, I know I'm a month late!) I was able to pay off the Home Depot credit card- Yay! This was even though I had spent some of the SS check on goodies(it was a pretty small balance). It felt so good to cross that one off the list. The next one will be the Visa card.

I talked with the hospital about hubby's bill and found out that the family income for the 3 of us is low enough that we should be able to get a 100% discount on any amounts left after the insurance company pays. What an incredible relief! I have a bunch of papers to get together for this- 2 years of tax returns, 3 months of paycheck stubs, yada yada yada. But it will be worth it if we don't have to pay the $4K+ bill we are looking at. We will still have the doctor and anethesiologist, but that will be easier to deal with if we don't have the big one.

Another nice goody happened: Hubby was the recipient of a $95 check because he's been accident free at work for 6 years. Woohoo!

It's so nice to have some good things happen after all the negatives last year.

After working on the budget and paying bills, I cut up a bunch of lettuce, celery, and carrots and vacuum sealed them in mason jars to keep them fresh. Maybe I won't have to throw out the last few pieces this time?

Now it's time to work on dinner: Chili Rice Casserole, green salad with vinaigrette, and canned pears with gingersnap cookie crumbs and whipped cream.

 

[Denim Deb]

Glad for the good news. And, dinner sounds yummy!

 

[Britesea]

Yesterday and today were very busy, productive days. Our continuing mouse problem made me remember the sacks of grain I had sitting in the dining room awaiting buckets. Well, it's a good thing I pulled them out, because a mouse had started chewing on one corner of a 50# sack of rice. I don't think he's gotten more than a couple grains out of it as yet- the hole was very small. So yesterday I hauled all the sacks out of the dining room, brought in a slew of buckets from the shed and washed them, found the mylar bags and oxy absorbers, and put up 9 buckets of assorted grains (rice, corn, oats and wheat). I like buying in bulk because it's more economical, but it does require some work. Today, I made up a bunch of meals-in-a-jar, cookie mixes, spice mixtures, etc. and got the kitchen cleaned up.

My seed order showed up at the Post Office this morning. I love sifting through the packets and imagining my garden later in the summer. I'm trying some new things this year- a flour corn that has been developed especially for the short growing season of the mountains, Red Russian Kale (I've always grown Lacinato), and a new early tomato called Latah (5 weeks from 4" pot to harvest- wow). I also plan to grow Rat's Tail radishes again- they did very well and we loved them all summer and into fall, and the Quinoa that I bought seed for last year but never got around to planting.

For dinner, we're having Curried Lentils and Rice, Raita, and Pecan Sandies for dessert.

 

[hqueen13]

Chili rice casserole? Do share!
The tomatoes sounds awesome. Early is good! Red Russian kale is my favorite. It's lighter and not as bitter and the leaves are almost flat so it's much easier to wash!
Yay pay day and getting some breaks!

 

[Britesea]

Just got back from my Water Aerobics class, and making another payment on the property taxes (only 2 more months of payments and I'll be done for this year!). After I get off of the computer, I need to start sorting through the mountain of papers. I'm really bad at this. I will pick up the mail and pull out the bills to take care of them, and leave everything else in a pile. I always plan to get back to it and throw out the junk mail, file the papers that need to be kept... but I never do. Then tax time comes around and I have to look through a whole year's worth of c**p. I can't get my DH to do it because he hates the chore too. *sigh*

@hqueen13 I will post the recipe in the Kitchen thread. It's pretty easy. I can't eat it very often because all the rice tends to make my blood sugar soar. Funny, corn and cornmeal products don't do that to me.

Well, I've finished my lunch and I need to get started on those papers. Send out the cavalry if you don't hear from me in a day or two...

 

[goatgurl]

isn't that weird, rice doesn't bother my blood sugar but corn does. have fun sorting old mail. i hate going to the p.o. and am the worlds worst at sorting mail.

 

[hqueen13]

Crazy that it does the opposite to each of you! I need to figure out things like that....
i don't mind filing and Paperwork. Wish i was closer and could help!

 

[Britesea]

It's good to know what sets your blood sugar off the most, because then you can plan around it. Maybe I ought to try my Chili Rice Casserole with quinoa and see how that does? I haven't tested quinoa for blood sugar spikes yet.
I made Green Smoothies for breakfast this morning because I found a site with tips for how to make a good one. I used 2 cups of spinach, 2 cups of Almond Breeze, 1-1/2 cups each of banana and frozen blueberries, and 1/3 cup peanut butter; whirled in the blender until smooth. It was delicious- no one flavor stood out over the others. We'll see what that much fruit does to me later this afternoon.

I didn't get as much done on the papers as I'd hoped, a friend called and wanted a shoulder to cry on (long story).
Yesterday DS and I went to town to take care of some errands, and I got my hair cut (found a coupon so I only had to pay $7, WooHoo). Came home and ended up taking a much needed break, reading a novel- so I didn't get any paper work done yesterday either. So today I continue with my least favorite job...

 

[Denim Deb]

I hate it as well.

 

[Britesea]

Well, I got a huge amount done on Friday; I took about 10 shopping bags full of junk mail and papers we didn't need anymore, then I took the stuff we needed to keep and got it all filed. Dishes got done, laundry was hung up to dry.

Saturday, we drove to town and took care of a few errands. The Grange CoOp had a bucket sale- buy a 5gallon bucket with lid for $2.99, then everything you can fit into the bucket is 20% off. We bought piggy ears for the dogs (a special treat, we don't usually buy those) and mealworms for the ducks and wild birds, some seed packets and canning supplies. Ended up saving about $25. Then we had to rush home and get cleaned up to go out for dinner. We hadn't planned to go out, but some friends called us because they had 2 extra tickets to the Valentine Dinner at the American Legion. The food was amazingly good- prime rib or a captain's platter. I realized, based on a poster on the wall, that I missed being a Vietnam Era Veteran by 2 months

Today, after dropping some sourdough starter off at a neighbor's house, we started working in the garden. It's been so mild- the soil was a bit too wet but we were primarily doing the cleanup that should have been done last fall and was never done. Once the soil dries some more, I want to dig out the raised beds and lift them up to put weed blocker underneath. I am sick of the couch grass coming up inside the beds and taking over. It's so hard to pull out, because the roots are over a foot deep. Once the weed blocker is in I can put the beds back in place and then sift the soil as I fill them, to make sure I get all those white roots out. That's in the old part of the garden. The newer part has weed blocker in place, and it did a dandy job last year. But the beds themselves in this part of the garden are only 8" deep; not 12" like the older part. So I need to buy some more cedar boards, and some hardware to put a second course of boards around those beds. Then add manure and ground rock minerals and I should be good to go.

So now I'm relaxing a bit before starting dinner(yes, I know some of you were waiting for this part ) : Country Style ribs braised with apples and onions, cornbread stuffing, green salad, broccoli, and rustic apple tart for a proper Sunday Dinner. Follow up is watching Miss Fisher's Mysteries on Netflix.