Today we had brunch: large veggie omelettes, toast with peanut butter, and some fried potatoes done in the air fryer. Tonight was veggie pizza. I make a yummy homemade sauce and we each like saucy pizza so we probably had 3/4 of a cup on each of our personal size pizzas. Feta cheese, spinach, green olives, parmesan, bell pepper, portabellas, green onions, and for Mark, banana peppers. I started out the day doing some mending, then made some cookie dough to put in the freezer go await Christmas Eve day, and then quilted steadily. No time for snacks. Mark had some trail mix.

Another one done. I am NOT happy with my work. I don't have stretcher bars or even clamps that truly work for holding the fabric taut while it is pinned. None of the quilts I have made this past month have turned out as I would like them to. I am just hoping they pass muster because they are only lap/couch quilts, never meant to be heirloom quality, and supposed to be machine washed for easy care. At least the themes meet the personalities and preferences of the people for whom they are intended. Mark is holding it up for the photo. It does look better laying down.

This is being popularized right now among IBLP folks. Jim Bob Duggar has been posting on social media that he lost 35 lbs in a month on a beef broth only fast that made him more spiritual 🙄🙄🙄 Apparently, the concept of losing weight from starving the body is lost on him. LOL, the funny thing is his before and after pics do not really look any different. Makes one question if he can read a scale or not! Personally, if I can only have one meat, it would be fish or chicken. 😁

My husband says they have it all wrong. Bacon. Bacon is the way. It is all you need. Like a massive mega-vitamin in every bite. 😁

Yes, make sure to let them know they are not beneficiaries on your life insurance policy! 😂

Thursday: Mark is traveling for work today. I made a pot of chicken, vegetable, dumpling soup and will be eating on it throughout the day. It was scrumptious a few minutes ago for lunch, so it should be extra savory by supper. I used onions, celery, carrots, green beans, red pepper, parsley, and fresh garlic, salute veggies in just enough olive oil to keep them from sticking to the pan, and a pint jar of my home canned chicken breast. I used the broth from the jar, and then added vegetable broth. I Iet it simmer until it was aromatic, added a little salt, and then thickened slightly with a little skim milk and cornstarch after letting the dumplings cook through.

I usually give a small gift card to somewhere they like, a personalized mug or themed one that they would enjoy, gourmet hot cocoa, and candy. Last year before soon to be daughter in law was still a girlfriend, I actually gave her a box of non perishable snacks for her dorm room (she is younger than our son and was still in college), Starbucks card, and slippers and fuzzy socks because ds mentioned hers were worn out, and she always has cold feet. This year they are engaged - and we love her to pieces - so I made her a beautiful quilt.

I am not a fan of Jeff B. so in a perfect world, I would not use it. But we live in a rural area without shopping options, a really dead area, so I feel like I do not have a choice. We have our adult children as secondary account holders so they can stream off it, and it is easy for us to send each other packages. Between shipping and the points we earn (we have an Amazon Chase card that we put all of our bills on, then pay off each month so we get a ton of points), it pays for itself. I would personally love it if I had options to support other retailers.

Tuesday: We ate on the leftover spinach and artichoke dip. I made some stuffed mushrooms and stuffed mini bell peppers for supper to go with hot and sour soup. Wednesday: Today, I have some tomato soup with gf croutons and a broccoli topped baked potato for lunch. Mark is at his mother's so I have no idea what he will be eating. Dinner will be wet bean burritos topped with salute onions, grape tomatoes, and green bell pepper, dollop of Greek yogurt, and a small amount of shredded cheddar cheese.

Might the children like to take up bagpipes perhaps?

This is how my work is going. 🙄 She has been a real pain today!

This is absolutely, perfectly cute!

I agree. My receipts indicate that groceries have inflated much higher than many other necessities.

Mine are so dense, the doctor doesn't even bother with mammograms. It is a useless test. Breast ultrasound is ordered for me.

Mark's cousin whom I have become really close to and whose company I very much enjoy, invited me to come to Colorado in late May and do a bunch of kayaking. She is an advanced, well trained kayaker. I am an out of shape beginner who currently can only manage 2-3miles per day, and am sore doing that much. I was very much worried about slowing her down or the adventure being disappointing for her. Ottakee and several others encouraged me to accept her offer, and then do whatever I can now to get into better shape between now and then.

I hate hose with the fire of a thousand suns. So when I perform, ankle or floor length attire, no hose.

Thanks to all of you for encouraging me to try to train for it, and make the trip. I have been waffling back and forth, and then last week I found these easy training exercises for building paddling endurance. They are from REI, and totally something doable in this space. I am trying to NOT overdue it and make myself really sore. It is easy to push too hard because I feel apprehensive about getting in shape with only 5-6 months until we will go. https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/how-to-train-for-kayaking.html

Poor baby! I have an extra special spot spot for calico kittens.

Mother in law had houseguests over the weekend, and wanted us to eat with them. Her meal plans were NOT health friendly! Yikes. Today we each ate a boiled egg at breakfast. I made a pan of spinach, artichoke dip with homemade, low fat Alfredo sauce, parmsesan, low fat mozzarella, and asiago. Heavy on the artichoke because we love that flavor. We ate on it throughout the day with carrot and bell pepper sticks, and some gluten free pita chips. It was so nice, and only a few dishes which makes me happy.

As a professional musician, I get stuck wearing it some what regularly if I am performing. There is a cultural expectation as well as lighting that makes you look like Casper the ghost. But, for everyday, I prefer not. I tend not to notice what others are doing these days. I wouldn't be able to name a make up trend if my life depended on it.

I am considering trying to plant some spinach or leaf lettuce in a long, rectangular planted inside. My issue is that my east windows are the only ones that get decent sunlight, and even then, I am not sure we will.be getting enough here in Michigan. I have basil, oregano, mint, chives, and am starting green onions. Hopefully, I have room for the planter. I would like to give it a try. Stamina at harvest time is a thing. I told Mark he will simply have to help on weekends and in the evenings. If I grow green beans, my mom will can some, and freeze the rest. She likes to sit and snap beans. She doesn't mind canning pints which do not have to process long. I will probably have two of my sons home for sailing and kayaking over Labor Day weekend, and my intention is to have a day of all hands on deck to get cherry tomatoes and apples into the dehydrators, and make a huge push on making pasta sauce, salsa, and plaintiffs tomatoes to can. We can break it up between our kitchen and my mom's kitchen so we can have two teams working simultaneously.

I just shopped today. Cans of pinto, red kidney, and black beans are up 20c a can since the beginning of September. Baking flour is up another 50c per lb/.113 kg at the Mennonite bulk food store for 10-20lb/4.53-9 kg bags of nice flours like King Arthur. Rice held steady at $22 for the 25 lb/11.33 kg bag of basamati. Eggs have stabilized at $3.00 a dozen for regular, and $6.00 for organic. Any kind of seafood just keeps going up and up. Mark and I would like to eat more seafood and less of any other kind of meat, but we also have incurred some pretty major expenses having to do an emergency re-roofing on have the house here in Michigan, and all my travel back and forth from Alabama when dd was still struggling with long covid. The grocery bill for putting on Danish Smorrebrod for Christmas Eve is going to be wretched, so I am not buying any fish or shrimp for a good long time. Mark says next fall he is going to take up salmon fishing and will see if he can get some to freeze, and may go perch and bass fishing this spring. He is a good fisherman so we have some hope of success. He has all the gear so apart from his fishing license fee, there isn't any cost to it other than fuel to get to his favorite fishing holes. I noticed absolute scarcity of canned clams and clam juice. We love clam chowder with big salads for lunch, and a small pot will feed us for two days. Due to climate change and rising ocean temperature, I think our days of New England clam chowder are numbered. Cream cheese - off brand - was up to $3.00 for 8 oz (.113 kg), and $4.00 for Philly. These were $2.50 and 3.50 back in September. Cheddar and mozzarella has been stable for a while, but I noted that shredded parmesan was up $1 a lb./.226 kg Frozen spinach was on sale for 99c per 10 oz/.28 kg package. I bought 8 pkgs, and will use them for spinach lasagna, spinach and artichoke dip, quiche, and mini-spinach pies (Middle Eastern seasoning). Gluten free brown rice spaghetti noodles were $3.99 for 11 oz/.31kg in September, and $4.99 today. Another 25% increase. Apples are up another 25%. I am glad so dehydrated all those honey crisps from my tree. I easily ended up processing two bushels of apples, and that amount would be $128-150 if purchased. My grandsons love to snack on apples, and in Huntsville not only are apple varieties not prolific, the price tag is high. $4.25 a lb for a honey crisp there -if Kroger or Publix had them - and an average size ie .33 of a lb. Three apples for $4.25. I took 15 quarts of dehydrated apples to them. Mark says I should make a business out of it next year because dehydrated apple chips made from cheaper apple varieties have reached an insane price. Nope. I will pick that tree absolutely to the bone next year to feed my family. Carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, fresh herbs, and salad greens are all up 25-50%. Some of that is the usual price hike of Michigan harvest season being over so except for some Michigan grown greenhouse stuff, it is now being shipped from out west. We really need to build a lot more solar greenhouses here. The price was already nearly double that of the previous year so with the price hike, it is getting hard on folks. Salad greens aren't even worth buying. A head of iceberg lettuce or romaine or bag of greens is running $5, and it is all in terrible shape. We are just going to have to stop eating so many salads. I will occasionally splurge for hothouse raised butter lettuce heads from Meijer because it is my favorite, but I think I am going to convert our salad at lunch habit to stir fry vegetables over rice or polenta for a while. I have a lot of frozen veggies that will still stir fry well, and bell peppers are still affordable. So I can thaw some green beans, broccoli, and carrots, throw in a pan with red pepper, and then eat that up or since it is winter, eat a lot of veggie soups at lunch. I am thankful not to have to worry about my two underweight adult sons. They are in a very fortunate position to be sharing an apartment/expenses, and to both have solid, middle class income jobs. They have no life partners/families and low student loan debt. Apart from keeping themselves in cars with car insurance, their expenses are low since they are under 26 and still on our medical insurance. Though prices keep going up, they can afford to not ration food. I am really concerned about a lot of people. I have noticed my mom cutting back at the grocery store, and now eating more simple carbs. Her last A1C, despite meds, was not good. I am going to need to have her over here to eat more often so she is getting more protein and healthy fats, less carbs. Next summer I am expanding from 2 raised beds plus a bunch of pots, to 12 raised beds, and my flower pots will be full of herbs. I will be growing more as well as buying more produce at the farm market and "putting up the harvest" as the saying goes even more so than I have done in the past so I have a lot to share with my adult kids and my mother as well as to share with neighbors when I hear of a need. I would donate to food pantries but many of the local ones do not have refrigeration and only take non perishables then send people to the grocery with prepaid certificates for milk, butter, cheese, and fruit/veg.

That is a lot! And yes, exhaustion is it. My sister and I cried at our father's funeral for absolutely no other reason than that. Many, many hugs!

No. I didn't know that was am option.

Cute! Wide leg is comfy so don't worry about it.