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.