HOW MUCH FOOD CAN ONE FAMILY EAT?

 Hello, friends!  First of all, I want to thank all of you for your kind words.  I know I shouldn't let negative people bother me, but I'm human and it does.  But having all of you behind me helps so much.  I'm so grateful and happy that you like my blog (and YouTube) so much.  I am just an ordinary person living an ordinary life in an ordinary part of this wonderful country.  I know that everyone is the same and at the same time different in all the world.  That really blows my mind sometimes.

When I was in college, my history professor went around the room asking each of us why we wanted to major in history.  Different ones said different things of course.  I said because I wanted to learn about people.  All people.  In different times and places.  How they lived.  What they thought.  Who they loved.  Who they hated.  What they wore.  Why?  I love people and wanted to know everything about them.  He told me that I was in the wrong class, that I should be a sociologist!

At any rate, yesterday was a busy day.  It began with me being woken up by a knock at the door.  It was a delivery from Walmart.  Joe had wanted soup and ordered some online.  Lots of soup.  I am not a soup person, but one of them, the chicken pot pie soup, looks interesting.  I may open a can and have it for lunch today.

Then at 9:00 a.m. I had to run to Shoprite to pick up my order.  It is getting harder and harder for me to walk through stores, so I order online and go pick it up.  The girl who checked me out asked if I needed help with getting it into the car and I said no.  But when I got to the car, I found out just how heavy it was.  Next time I'm going to say yes.

When I got home, I filmed it all before I put it away.  I have been looking for something to put up on YouTube and this was perfect.  If you head over to my channel, you can see my entire three orders.  (I went to Lidl the other day and included that too.)

I'm continuing on with my kitchen declutter.  I cancelled Crystal coming over yesterday and made it for Friday.  It is just too much for me.  I think I will make it for Monday and Friday from now on.  I just can't make myself sick in order to get the house under control.  I am making great progress.  Who knew that you could collect so much "junk" in 40 years of living in one place?

Well, I am going to get off of here and get some breakfast.  I was up very late last night.  Joe and I were talking until about 2 a.m.!  But it was a good talk about things we needed to make some decisions on.  I don't have anything planned for today.  The first day all week with nothing going on.  So I needed to sleep in anyway.

See you all soon.

Kathy

WHAT'S HAPPENING

Hello, friends.  Well, obviously I did not make it to posting every day in January.  But I'm back.  I just get tired of people criticizing what I write.  It gets old really fast.  (You don't see the comments because I delete them.  But I see them.)

By the way, for those who suggested I have a charger in the car for my phone, I do have one.  It works too.  But when the phone uses power faster than it charges...  well...  Most of the time it is fine.  But using the GPS takes TONS of power and the charger can't keep up.  Even if the phone is fully charged when I begin, if it is a long ride it isn't enough.  Joe and I often use both of our phones one after the other if it will take awhile.  (One phone charges while the other is used.)  But he wasn't with me.  In any case, I got to Larry's just fine and we had a really good time together.

So on Sunday I had to run some errands after church.  Then Joe and I decided to go out for lunch.  We went to Yamato's.  I've been wanting to go there for awhile.  As usual, everything was so good!  Joe had the beef hibachi and I had vegetable tempura.  I can't tell you how delicious it was.  As we were eating Joe said, "I love this place."  And I do too.

Monday we went to Lidl to get some groceries.  Another store that we like but don't get there often.  I found a beautiful eggplant and even though it wasn't on the shopping list, it found its way into the cart.  We also got poppy seed bread, chocolate brioche from France, a delicious apple turnover, chocolate chip croissants, eggs (the cheapest place to buy eggs), sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and a beautiful package of salmon.

Crystal came over on Monday morning and we tackled the kitchen.  So much stuff we put together for Salvation Army.  Threw a lot of stuff out.  Picked things up and put them away.  Still a way to go, but things look so much better.  Found a lot of stuff too.  She is coming back today and we are going to do the pantry and the counters.  I might start on the pantry before she comes.

I have to be careful, though, because Monday night I was in a lot of pain.  I took some pain killers and went to sleep.  I didn't even eat dinner.  But I felt so much better when I woke up.  I almost never take anything for my pain, but this was so bad I was in tears.  So today I will not push myself so hard.  I need to be good to me.

Yesterday I taught Bible Study.  We are in Matthew 12.  I really wasn't as prepared as I wanted to be.  I am at a part that I find really difficult to explain to someone else.  I understand it, but it is hard.  I think it went OK though.

And of course after I got home we were hit with that horrible storm that has come across the entire country.  So much rain and such high winds.  I haven't looked into the back yard yet.  I'm almost afraid to see what has blown around out there.

But now I think I will get myself up even though it isn't even 6:00 a.m.  I will have a nice leisurely breakfast.  Hope you all have a great day.  See you soon.

Kathy

 

WE GOT SNOW

 

Hello, friends!  Yes, after two years of nothing, we got snow today.  At least not as much as Snoopy seems to have here.  Thank God for that.  

I went to see my brother Larry today.  We weren't able to get together for Christmas and I still had his gifts.  Joe isn't feeling well, so I went by myself.  I haven't been there all that often, so I use the GPS on my phone for directions.  I knew I didn't have a lot of power, but was doing well until I wasn't.  My phone completely died as I came off the highway.  I didn't know how to get to Larry's house.  Turn right?  Turn left?  Straight ahead?  I went straight and pulled into a parking lot.  I thought, I'll just call him and ask for directions.  Duh...  My phone was dead.  

I looked in the glove compartment and I had my old GPS in there.  I plugged it in and entered Larry's address.  But it kept wanting to send me to New Jersey.  NO!  Finally I found where I could tell it I wanted Pennsylvania and then it gave me directions.  I was about 10 minutes from his house, but I would never have found it.

When I pulled up, Larry came out and said, "Look over there.  There are deer."  Sure enough, there were two deer in his neighbor's yard.  I took a picture of it.  This was as close as my camera would take it.  Not much of a zoom lens on it.

But here is Larry's picture which is much better.

"
We opened gifts first.  Larry loved everything.  He had already given Joe and me our Christmas gift.  He got us a year of Britbox for the TV.  But for my birthday he gave me a cookbook.  I love it.  The title is "Amish Christmas Cookbook: Authentic Favorites from Three Generations of Amish Cooks".  The recipes look great.  I'm going to use some for my YouTube channel since everyone seems to like my cooking videos.  Funny enough, I gave Larry a cookbook for his birthday.  I got him "Tasting History" by Max Miller.  Max Miller has a YouTube channel that I watch every Tuesday.  He tells about history and cooks a recipe from that time.

Larry and I went to Collegeville Diner for lunch.  He had a cheeseburger and potato chips and I had breakfast -- poached egg, two links of sausage, hash browns and toast.  Everything was really good.  But so much!  I couldn't finish it all.  But I made a really big dent.

Larry paid for lunch and then we went over to look at the bakery.  There were all kinds of cookies, cupcakes and small cakes.  I pointed out the cookies with eyes looking at us.  Larry liked the rat cakes.  He took a picture of them and sent it to me.  They may look gross, but I'll bet they tasted delicious.

 I hung around for about an hour after we got back.  Larry charged my phone for me so I could use it to get home.  The snow was coming down pretty fast, so I decided to leave before it got too bad.  The streets and sidewalks were already covered.

It took me over an hour to get home.  Everyone was driving slowly, but that was OK with me.  The closer I got to Philadelphia, the less snow there was.  By the time I got home, it was all rain.  That was a relief.  I didn't have to shovel.

And now I have to get off of here and get something to eat.  I hope you all have a great night and I will see you tomorrow.

NOT MUCH GOING ON

 Today was a really mixed up day.  I was all at odds.  Mostly because I woke up, took my first dose of medicine, did a few morning things, and then fell asleep again and didn't wake up until almost 10:00 a.m.!  I jumped out of bed and started to get myself ready for the day.  I was expecting Crystal to come over between 10:00 and 10:30.  But when she didn't show up, I called her.  It turns out she was expecting us to call her and OK her coming.  We thought she was just going to come.  So now it is set for Monday morning for her to come.

I did get one table and the floor around it cleaned off.  Every little thing helps.  Right now I am concentrating on getting the living room cleaned up because that is what you see first when you open the front door.  Although I am thinking of doing the kitchen next week.  I hate the kitchen right now.  I want to change the counter space, get the floor all picked up, get rid of excess plates, cups, etc.  I do love dishes and end up buying all kinds of things because I like them.  Now I have no room!  So maybe we will move out there next week.

But enough of that.  Getting my house under control this year is my New Year's Resolution and I am doing my best to keep it.

I bought a new pair of shoes from Amazon today.  Well I bought them the other day and they were delivered today.  I needed a black pair of shoes.  My old ones are a mess.  The new ones are so comfortable and look so nice.  I am hard on shoes and they don't last very long so I don't usually buy expensive shoes.  I did buy $60 shoes once and they didn't last any longer than my $20 shoes did.  So...

Now I am going to end and get dinner ready.  I have a spaghetti squash that I want to use.  I'm trying to use up all my veggies before they go bad.  So many times I forget what I have and find it ... uh... later.

Trying to blog every day in January and so far, so good.  See you later.

FOUR DAYS IN A ROW

 

Hello, friends.  I am writing to you again.  Four days in a row!  Let's see how long I can keep this up.  I know I have been ignoring this blog for quite awhile.  And while I do enjoy doing YouTube videos, I also enjoy writing.

So how are all of you?  I hope you are doing well in this new year.

Yesterday Joe's cousin Crystal came over to help us clean up the house.  She is one of his younger cousins.  Young enough to be our kid.  And having the young energy around was really great.  She looked around the house, saw how bad it has gotten and instead of judging us, said, "We can do this!"  So encouraging!  We worked picking things up (well she did since I can't bend over without passing out) and going through things for two hours.  We got an entire recycling can full and a trash bag out of the living room.  We recycle way more than we throw out.  When I worked for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, I became very recycling conscious.  She is going to come back a couple of times a week until we have the house cleaned out.  For the first time in a very long time I am hopeful of getting things under control and my spirits are much higher than they have been in a long time.

For Christmas my sister gave me a box of twelve really cute nailpolishes.  They are very small bottles and are great colors.  One color for each month of the year!  I chose the sparkly gold color for January.  It looks great.  I wanted to take a picture of it to show you but...  I can't find my new camera.  

Well, things are so upset from trying to declutter that I can't find much at the moment.  It is going to be a decluttering marathon for several months.  But it will be so much better when we are done.  Then I can clean.

Today Joe wants to run to the Christian bookstore to see about getting a Bible imprinted.  I don't know if that will happen because he is really tired from not being able to sleep last night.  He finally went to bed around 4:30 a.m. after being up and down all night.  He went to bed a decent time, but just couldn't sleep.  He does, however, have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so he has to be up for that.

And then there's the storm coming.  The last I heard was we were going to get mostly rain with maybe a little snow.  But where my sister lives, they are expecting a lot of snow.  Please pray for her because she works a long way from home and has quite a drive in her commute.  Plus she has to shovel out her driveway when she gets home before she can park.

Thank you for all your comments and encouragement as I get back into blogging.  You guys mean so much to me.  I feel as if you are my family.  Thanks for sticking with me.  Last year was hard for me.  This year seems much better.

Until later...

TRYING TO KEEP UP WITH THE YEAR

 

Hello, friends!  Hope you are doing well today.  After not writing for a long time, I now find myself posting every day.  This probably won't last for a long time, but here we are for now.  It is 7:15 a.m. and the sun is just coming up.  The sky is all blue and pink and so pretty.  

I tried to take a picture of this beautiful sky but my new camera is not good with scenery shots.  It came out all gray.  I don't know if I just am not getting how to use it, or if it just is not a good camera for those kind of shots.  In any case, I have bought another camera.  It will be here by the end of the week.  It is a Kodak digital and very like the one I lost (and hopefully will still find).  The Minolta is a great vlogging camera and I will use it for that, but I also need a camera for scenery and distance shots.  Besides, I feel better having two cameras.  One that I plug in is fine, but for going away I want a smaller camera with batteries.  That way I can have two or three batteries with me in case I am somewhere and the power runs out.  With the Minolta, I would have to find somewhere to plug it in and wait an hour.

In any case, I thought I would show you one photo today.  Everyone knows about my Peep addiction.  So Joe and Elaine supplied me with Christmas Peeps.  (They are all gone.  After all, I did have over a week to eat them!)

Snowmen (2 packages), Christmas trees (2 packages), Stockings, and a Peeps Vanilla Cream pop (4 Peeps chicks on a stick).  Yum!

Now I have to wait until Valentine's Day for more Peeps.  It's a good thing they don't sell them year round or I would weigh a ton!

Today Joe's cousin, Crystal, is coming over to help me clean up the house.  I sometimes almost pass out when I lean over to get things off of the floor.  Darn this a-fib.  She is much younger than I am and is going to help me with stuff I can't do anymore.  Growing old is not for the faint of heart.

It is getting late.  Crystal will be here in 2 1/2 hours.  I have to get showered, dressed, feed the cats and eat before she gets here.  I want to run a load of wash and get the dishes done too.  So I am off of here.  Have a wonderful day everyone!

Kathy

2024 DAY TWO

 It is already evening of the second day of this new year.  But it doesn't seem like a new year to me.  It just seems like another day in another month.  Usually the new year is fresh and exciting to me, but for some reason not this year.  Are any of you feeling that way?  Maybe it is me.  Maybe I am strange.

We are expecting a big snow storm this weekend.  It will be the first snow we have had in over 700 days.  Literally two years.  I do not like snow.  It is pretty to look at, but that is about it.  I hope that whatever we get does not last long.  With my bad knees I am hesitant to leave the house when snow is on the ground.  And I don't like driving in it either.

Today I tried to clean up a bit, but didn't get a lot accomplished.  I am still trying though.  A bit here and a bit there and it begins to look better.  Actually, doing my YouTube channel helps because I see things in the video that I don't notice in real life.  I saw that my fridge needed a bit of help (fingerprints and such) so I got that taken care of today.  After dinner I will hopefully do a bit more picking up.  No matter how much I do, there is always more to do.

Since we did not have our pork dinner last night, we are having it tonight.  I am roasting it now and it smells wonderful.  I have fresh Brussels sprouts which I am going to have too.  I was going to have potatoes, but instead I am going to make some garlic bread.  Something a little different.

Sunday I was looking for something to read at breakfast (I usually have a book with me at the table since I eat breakfast alone).  I went to my bookcase and started pulling books out to see what I had.  I found a Debbie Macomber book that I had never read.  It is called "Dashing Through the Snow."  I like Debbie Macomber, so I began reading it.  I am already through chapter 6.  I am limiting myself to two chapters a day to make it last.  It is not the same as a lot of her other books and I am intrigued.  I will let you know about it when I finish.

But now I really smell the pork roast, so I have to go out and take care of it.  Talk to you all again soon.

Kathy

WELCOME 2024

Hello, friends.  And Happy New Year!  It is still pretty early in the day and everyone is asleep I think.  The streets are empty.  Me?  I tried to stay up, but fell asleep.  I woke up with Joe saying, "Happy New Year," but went right back to sleep.

We had a very quiet celebration ourselves.  Joe had never seen the movie "Citizen Kane" and I told him that he had to see the best movie ever made.  So we rented it from Amazon.  My sister had given me a gift certificate for my birthday so I paid for it with that.  But even if I did have to pay for it, it only cost $3.99.  Much cheaper than if we had gone to the movies.

Joe had bought a cheese and sausage package and so we had crackers, cheese, summer sausage and mixed nuts.  So good.

And that's about it.  Not much going on at all.  I need to get up and get going.  Feed the cats.  Get my shower, etc.  Don't know what I am going to have for breakfast but I'm sure I'll find something.  I do want to see at least the string bands in the Mummers Parade, but I think I'll watch some of the Rose Parade also.

Hope you all had a great New Year's Eve and that 2024 is a wonderful year for you.