Shabbat Shalom! Sunsets

 

We had company this past week. More posts coming soon!

Have a safe and happy weekend,

Mrs. Smith

Shabbat Shalom! Watermelon and Snow!

I purchased a watermelon for Memorial weekend. It weighs nearly 22 lbs. The day after I bought it, it snowed. Go figure... 

The poor hummingbirds...

Shabbat Shalom and have a safe weekend,

Mrs. Smith

Busy Times...

We have been doing a lot of back and forth into the city for appointments and such. It's just a busy time in our lives right now. Our latest appointments were for eyeglasses that had to be redone, so that makes two trips just for that and we are not finished yet. I hope both of my pairs will be right next time or I will have to have different frames. I'm struggling to type this right now due to the placement of the progressive portion of the lenses. The sides blur, so I can't read without turning my head, ugh!

We have been enjoying some retro technology lately.

I need to stay home and do some cooking. We have had to resort to some instant type meals lately. Not super unhealthy, but not great. I failed to lay anything out for the weekend, so we bought healthier sandwich fixings and fruit. The house is clean and I am almost caught up with the laundry. Spending hours and hours on the road has been taxing. I am ready to catch up on some rest this Sabbath. 

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

Sabbath

 

The Apologetics Study Bible review coming soon!

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

Herniated Disks - Pushing Through the Pain

Flour, salt yeast and water.

Tuna melts

I tried my hand at baking bread for the first time since I injured my neck and back. I chose an easy artisan bread recipe. It was a tough task for me, but I didn't realize it until after I was well into the process. 

I also had some potatoes that needed to be used up, so I made a large batch of potato wedges. I put a meal together when the bread and the wedges were finished baking. I made a simple meal out of tuna melts, potato wedges and I threw a salad on the side. It was really good. Number One Husband was happy and full when all was said and done. 

I froze the excess potato wedges.

Once frozen, I bagged up the wedges and put them back into the freezer.

I started some lentil sprouts. 

I was past my limit when I finished. I will have to pace myself better. I have been resting for weeks just doing the bare minimum. I'm tired and have welcomed in the Sabbath with Number One Husband. I will use this time to rest and recover from over doing it. I hope everyone has a blessed weekend.

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

Sabbath, Sunsets and Snow - Just a Few Pictures

 

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

Sunset

 Shabbat Shalom!

Mrs. Smith

Shabbat Shalom!

It has been a very bust week full of appointments, visits, monthly shopping and as always, we are grateful for the Sabbath to prepare us for the upcoming week.

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

Shabbat Shalom!

I threw together some Sabbath meals that included pizza, breakfast gravy and toast, baked hot wings (cheap version made from thighs cut into faux wing portions), waffle fries, coleslaw, hummus and salad. I didn't have anything planned but needed to get some meals and snacks ready for the day of rest and the rest of the weekend. I got a late start, but everything fell into place.

The house is clean and tidy, and I am ready to rest...

Mrs. Smith

Shabbat Shalom!

 

Mrs. Smith

Preparing For the Sabbath - Meal Preps

I really thought I was finished with cooking for the week except for baking bread. I realized that unless I wanted to use up a large portion of my freezer meals, I would need to prepare more foods for the Sabbath.

I defrosted some split chicken breast, started the bread and made plenty of side dishes. I made coleslaw, baked beans and potato salad to go with our BBQ chicken that I baked in the oven. Unfortunately, it was too windy outside to grill. I saved half of the breasts in hopes that Number One Husband could grill out on Sunday if the weather cooperates.

I finished up with cleaning the house after the food was prepared. I spent a bit of time yesterday cleaning before my girlfriend picked me up for an afternoon of thrift shopping. We had a good time and we both found a few items that we were looking for. 

Afterwards, we had a meal of homemade soup that she brought to share, and I made tostadas to round out the meal. All three of us were hungry and ready to eat. It was nice to have healthy foods ready to eat when we got home. All I had to do was heat everything up. The last time that I ate out with a friend, it was $70 bucks just for lunch for the two of us. So, meal prepping pays off especially when hungry. 

Delicious!

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

Shabbat Shalom!

 

Mrs. Smith

Winter Preps - Stocking Up the Freezer

We are now well into September and it's time to prepare for winter. All the forecasts are pointing towards a harsh winter. Number One Husband has ordered the propane, put up the lawn chairs and anything else that could cause drifts. There is more for him to do like change the oil in the gen and replace batteries in the cars. 

I have been washing blankets, organizing closets and making lists to make sure we have everything in place in case we have a rough winter. Winter and summer clothing still needs to be switched out, but we are still in the in-between days. We have graduated from wearing short sleeves and sandals to fleeces and socks and shoes. It's cool in the mornings and warm in the afternoons. 

This weekend we will drop into the low 30's. The house is already cold in the mornings when we wake up. The temp most mornings is 58* inside. I've already added a blanket to our bed and an extra wool cover on Number One Husband's side. 

I took down the hummingbird feeder, cleaned it and stored it away.

Food, water and shelter are important to the human body. We take winter seriously around here. It's not just our home that needs to be readied but our vehicles need attention also. I need to put together our emergency winter car kits. Here are my previous posts about winter preps. Winter 

We had to make an extra trip into town due to pharmacy losing my refill in a computer glitch. Apparently, I was not the only one. This took five days and a couple hours on hold and a new prescription from my doctor and in the meantime, all of the pharmacists quit. 

It wasn't all bad. We were able to top off our gas tanks and gas cans and find a great deal on split chicken breasts and boneless skinless chicken breasts. So good in fact that we made a second trip to top off our freezer after I processed the first batch and discover that I could fit even more chicken in the freezer. We could not pass it up. We didn't get home until midnight. I finished processing the rest of the meat the next morning.  

First load.

Managers Special: Split chicken breasts

Both cuts of chicken breast added together made the cost .50 cents a pound.

2nd load of chicken, plus we topped off our tanks. Gas was $3.19 a gallon. Ridiculous! We also took
advantage of the other sales on cheese and frozen vegetables.

.99 cents a pound is a great bargain, right? When we used our member's card
we got every pack of split breasts for .99 cents a pack. The boneless
skinless breasts were on sale for $2.27 a pound. 

I re-packaged 23 packages of chicken
 for a total of 101 lbs. of chicken.

Number One Husband, aka Gill Master, grilled us some chicken,
potatoes and Vidalia onions. 

I made homemade baked beans and sauteed spinach to
round out our meal.

The cheese that we picked up was $2 off every package. Yea! Another score... We literally cannot squeeze one more thing into our freezer. Our chest freezer is small, but after carefully packing our booty into the small space I was able to fit everything in without one inch to spare.  

Something that absolutely blew my mind at the store was the fact that Blue Bell ice cream is now $10 a carton. It was on sale for $7.99, but that was just getting us ready for the $10 price tag. $10.29 to be exact. 

Our freezer is now full. Over the next two months we will work on topping off the pantry with a few extra canned goods in case we are unable to get to the grocery store for fresh produce. We prefer fresh, then frozen and lastly canned. 

Bonus Pics

We had a downpour of rain and sleet this afternoon. When it was over, the brightest double rainbow formed. It was strange because even though they were side by side the colors were reversed. I love how the rainbow illuminated the mountains. 

Here is the other side of the rainbow.

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith