Wednesday Snap Shot

Today's blog post has a few affiliate links of some fun things I wanted to share with you :)  You can read my disclosure HERE

 

Good morning! I hope you are having a good week so far. I'm sitting here at my computer with my cup of coffee, enjoying the cool morning and listening to my wind chimes softly blowing and train horns in the distance.

My week has been busy. After my family all left I focused on getting life back to our normal routine. The guest rooms are now in order and ready for any new guests that may arrive.

The weather here has been beautiful, lots of sunshine and warm days. Summer is my favorite season. However, without air conditioning the house gets pretty warm by the end of the day. I've been getting up earlier so I can get things done while it's still cool. The nice part is the nights cool off very nicely. When I grew up I didn't know anyone who had air conditioning. The super hot days are few and it's not really needed. There are times when I think it would be nice, but we do fine without it. When the day heats up hubby and I head to the pond to cool off.

I've really been enjoying my new little kitten. She has quite the story. While we were down in Sacramento when my daughter Emily had her baby we also spent time visiting with our daughter Leanne. She had a little kitten, maybe 6 to 8 weeks old. They could not keep her and asked if we wanted her. After hearing the story of how they came to have this little one we said yes we'll take her.

Leanne's husband does a little Uber driving. He had spent a long hot day in Sacramento driving around. When he finished his day he decided to go and get an oil change. When they opened the hood of his car, there was a tiny little black kitten on the battery. He figured that at some point in the day the kitten had crawled up in his car and had been driving around with him all day. Between the hot day and the hot car her little face, around her jaw, had completely melted off and the skin was just hanging there.

My son in law saw this and knew if he took her to a shelter they would probably put her down so he took her to a vet instead. They said they could do surgery for a couple hundred dollars or they could use a glue to attach the skin that had melted off for less then $100. He went with the glue. The fix worked although she has no bottom lip. They tried to find a home for her and could not because no one wanted to deal with any possible issues she may have.

By the time we were there she looked as though she was healing up just fine and we brought her back to our home (a 12 drive and she did great). Since being here now for the last month or so she is doing so good. She provides us with constant entertainment as she's very playful.

My daughter Leanne named her Pila, which she said means 'battery' in Spanish.. Ha, ha!

It's hard to get a good picture of her but I tried this morning. She's always on the move :)  Next to her is her favorite sock toy I made for her....

Goals

Today my goals are pretty simple..

~finish up a couple loads of laundry

~make lemonade for my hubby's work lunches

~make a jar of pickled onions

~vacuum the living room

Dinner tonight is an easy one, we're BBQ'ing some burgers and will have that with macaroni salad (which I made yesterday) a green salad and some fruit.

After that it will be time to cool off and swim in our pond.

For the Love of Books!

I came across two books recently that caught my attention and I took a break from reading classics to read them.

The first one is called: Runaway Amish Girl: The Great Escape I really liked this book. It's a true story of a girl who was born into an Amish home and left that life. So many books romanticize Amish life. I found it fascinating to read a story based on someone's true account of life with the Amish. Very different from the novels that are out there. The book is not currently available as a paperback but is still available as a Kindle book. It was not expensive at all and well worth the cost and time to read it. 

  

 

The second book, which I'm still currently reading is called: A Quiet Life in the Country (A Lady Hardcastle Mystery Book 1) This is fiction and a very fun read. It's the first of a series of books set in England in the early 1900's and is a murder mystery series. I enjoy these types of books because I love a good mystery and this is a quick read with likable characters. 

 

Frugal Living

I'm really excited about this frugal change we've made.

We are not big television watchers. For the first 15 or so years we lived here we had no local tv reception (we live too far away). If we wanted to watch something it was either VHS or DVD movies and shows. Since we were homeschooling we had decided that our family could better use it's time doing other activities so this worked fine for us.

About 5 or 6 years ago my father in law moved in with us and he enjoyed watching TV. So we signed up for satellite TV service. We purchased the minimum package and would enjoy watching a few things now and again. We've continued the service and our bill has more than doubled since we began.

I set out to find another option that would be less expensive and I discovered ROKU (Roku Express | 5X more powerful HD Streaming ). I'm sure I'm behind the times as it's not something new and since TV is not a big deal to us, I've not kept up with the latest and greatest options available.

It arrived this week and I got it all set up on our TV. I'm so happy with this option. We have thousands of shows and movies and news information to choose from. The cost of basic ROKU device that I ordered was $30. My monthly satellite bill is $45. This is a huge frugal savings as ROKU has no monthly fees. You can opt to purchase monthly subscriptions from various channels available but there is more than enough free options to make us happy. I can now get rid of my my satellite for good and save a whooping $45 a month.

We have a smart TV so all we needed was the basic ROKU plug in. This is the one we purchased..

I'm now looking into a digital antenna to see if I am able to pick up any local stations for news. I live in an area with mountains and trees so I'm not sure if I will have success. If you have any knowledge or info to share with me on this I'd love to hear it!

Fitness and Health

With the hot days I find it hard to be motivated to get out and walk in scorching sun. I've done a few of my Leslie Sansone walks but other than that, my walking routine is not where I'd like to see it. Hopefully as the weather starts to cool down some I can resume my walks better.

I am working on my diet. I've talked before that I found a nice balance that works for me in regards to eating healthy. Of course everyone has to do what is right for them, but for me I've found eating a diet that is high in plant based foods (I aim for 75% or more of my daily diet to be from plants)to be a great choice. I feel better when I eat this way, I don't have weight issues, I feel satisfied and it's a very livable way to eat.

The other morning I was thinking of what I wanted for my breakfast/lunch (it was almost 11:00 before I had started to feel hungry so it was more of a brunch :). I came up with this combo that I'm now in love with.

I smashed up some garbanzo beans and mixed guacamole with them until it was spreadable. I put this on toast and had an orange with it. It was so good and so satisfying. The same thing could be done with an avocado instead of the guac, and you could add your own choice of spices to it. 

 

View from my Deck

The sun is just beginning to peek out and there are a few clouds that I do believe will clear soon. It's 59 degrees out currently and such a pleasant morning.

Today's HIGH: 84 LOW: 59

That is all for this weeks Wednesday Snap Shot.