Wednesday Snap Shot

-



Wednesday Snap Shot is a quick peek into my week.

If you'd like to join in on my Wednesday Snap Shot.. copy and paste my post, add your answers (you can also copy the pic..BUT Please download the picture to your computer first.. do not just directly copy and paste.. otherwise you are using my bandwidth..thank you! :).. link your post to my blog and then come back and let me know you shared your week. I'll come and visit you and read about your homemaking week!! :)


So Far This Week
I had a super nice week. It was quiet in some ways. My son left to go see his sister in Sacramento. He was accompanying my daughter Hannah and her children. And she was very thankful to have him join her. She was going to go on her own, as her hubby had to work. In the end she was so grateful for his help. A 12 hour road trip with 4 children is not easy, especially if you are on your own! :)

While he was gone the house was quiet. It was just me and hubby. We enjoyed it but we also spent a good deal of time reminiscing about all the years of raising 8 children and the noise and activity, and energy. Being in our 50's now we enjoy the peace and quiet! :) but in so many ways we both miss the “good ol' days”.. :)

One thing about becoming an empty nester is that you realize the value of what you had more so and you know that God is opening new doors to a new season of life. And that season also has it's joys, they are just different now. I think it takes some time to adjust to it.

I was wishing I could have been there with them! But, I feel extremely blessed that my children all have a close relationship with each other and that they desire to spend time together.

Here are few pics of my grandchildren (and son) on their trip.






On My To-Do List
It's grocery shopping day and I'm finishing up my grocery list this morning before heading out.

I have a chicken to cook today. I'll cook it in my Instant Pot and then debone it and freeze in meal size portions.

I did a good cleaning of the house on Monday. But I have company coming soon and I need to go and remake the guest room beds (I've had a few kids visiting recently) and prepare for them all.

Other then that, it will be making something yummy for dinner! :) I'm thinking of using some of the chicken for enchiladas.



Projects I'm Working On
I started tackling my basement clean up. I have a nice size load ready to take to Good Will and I was able to throw away a lot of things.

One thing I have to say is I crave simplicity. Having things in my home that I don't use and that take up space robs me from the simplicity that I desire. Every time I take a load of usable items to Good Will I feel a lot of freedom and I always say a prayer that somebody, somewhere is blessed by the items and can use them.

My goal for this upcoming week is to keep working on this project and prepare another car load of items to donate.



Today's Weather
We've had some lovely summer days, but today... not so much. It's overcast and I'm not sure if it will clear up before the day is over. Living realitively close to the Pacific Ocean we can get a lot of marine air coming in the mornings. In the summer time this usually clears up by afternoon.

Today's High, 72 Low, 55



The View from my Deck (or window)






What I'm Reading
I love reading, but this week has had so much going on that I've really not tackled much reading. So, time to get back at it!



What I'm Listening To
I have a window open in my living room and I'm listening to the birds singing. I can also hear my hubby loading up car with the items to take to Good Will.



Something Frugal I've Done This Week
This is another frugal cleaning tip. I had a bathroom sink that was draining quite slow. And it was getting worse by the day. I did what I normally do when this happens. I sprinkled some baking soda down the drain and then followed that with pouring some vinegar down. It fizzed and bubbled and yucky stuff was spewing up. And that helped a lot, but it was not draining as well as I wanted. I then poured a teapot full of boiling water down, and that helped. Then I repeated it all again. And, like magic.. the drain was back to normal! :) I spent pennies to take care of this issue and did not have to buy expensive drain cleaners.



Fitness and Health for the Week
I wanted to do more.. but, don't we all have those weeks? I think it has been one of those weeks for me. I struggled to make sure I was eating my veggies and fruit, I've struggled to go above and beyond in exercising... and was not very successful at it. So, this week, it's time for me to get serious again!!


That is all for this week! Hope you all are having a great week.


Comments

  1. MonicaJune 29, 2017 at 8:34 AM

    Enjoyed your Snap shot post! Pictures of children/babies make me smile! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalJuly 25, 2017 at 8:24 PM

      Thanks Monica! They make me smile too.. :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

All messages are moderated. After approval your message will be posted. Thank you for your comments!! Crystal :)

Popular posts from this blog

Canning Cabbage

-
Image
I had 4 large heads of cabbage that weighted about 25 pounds. We had some really hot days and I figured I better get the last of them picked soon. My daughter Sierra and I ended up processing 3 of them yesterday and I have one left for a meal on my menu this week. I made pickled cabbage and then canned up the last of the cabbage. Here is the recipe for the pickled cabbage (according to how I made it)… 8 pounds cabbage 1 large onion 1 ½ red peppers 1 lb carrots ¾ cup salt 9 cups water 12 cups white vinegar 10 cups sugar 1t mustard seed 1t celery seed Slice cabbage thinly. Slice onion and peppers. Grate carrots. Mix all veggies together in a very large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix in well. Let sit for 2 hours to soften veggies. Rinse veggies well.  In a large stock pot (mine was 14 quarts) combine water, vinegar, sugar, spices. Bring to a boil. Add cabbage/veggies. Bring to a boil. Fill hot pint jars with veggies using a slotted spoon. Fill jar with brine to
Read more

Canning Chicken Noodle-less Soup

-
Image
Today was one of those busy days that it seemed I was moving from the time my feet hit the floor until this evening.. But, I got so much done and that is a great feeling! :) One of my accomplishments today was canning 14 jars of chicken noodle-less soup. I call it “noodle-less” because you can’t can noodles. They end up falling apart. So I canned the chicken, veggies and broth. When I go to use the soup I will bring it to a boil and then add a handful of noodles (any type of pasta will work) and cook it until the noodles are done. Because I plan to add the pasta after the fact I wanted to make sure there was enough chicken broth to do this. So I only filled my jars about half to two thirds with chicken and veggies and then filled with chicken broth. Here is how I did this…. I started off with 2 chickens that were a total weight of about 10lbs. I put them in my 14 quart stock pot… I then added 2 gallons of water.. And 3 tablespoons salt.. I brought this
Read more

Dishwasher Soap Sub

-
Image
One of the most common emails I receive is ladies asking if I have a good homemade substitute for dishwasher detergent. After making my own homemade laundry detergent and having such great success I was eager to try and find something that worked as well in my dishwasher. I found and tried a couple different recipes. I was not happy with the results at all. The most common recipe I came across was a combination of washing soda, borax and citric acid (some recipes used Kool-Aid in place of the citric acid). What I discovered is that this combination left a cloudy film all over my dishes that was hard as heck to remove. I quickly went back to Cascade and gave up trying to find a substitute. Well, last week I ran out of dishwasher soap. Because I live rurally just hopping in the car to run and pick up one item is out of the question. Plus, at that point my hand had not healed enough to be able to drive (I have a stick shift and could not shift with my right hand). I had
Read more