A Big Thank You and Catch Up

 

   I want to thank everyone who has commented, prayed and kept our family in your thoughts.  It has not been easy.  I did not realize how much it was affecting me until I hit day 4 of not showering and just staying in the same pajamas.  I knew I had to claw my way back up and out of the depression spiral.  I can "mask" things pretty well with a smile, concentrating on helping others, etc. all the while slowing being sucked down myself. Not even my sweet hubby knows how deep the hurt is until I finally open up and tell him.  I then find out that he is hurting very deeply also.  So today, I finally took a long shower and tried to scrub away the pain.  Did it work?  No, but I am clean now and am able to post here again, so I would say that I am moving in the right direction.

   Jeff and I have been working on projects around the house, trying to get things back in order after almost a year of just not having the energy physically or mentally to do "all the things".  None of the projects are huge, just time consuming.  There has been lots of cleaning, purging, reorganizing and making lists of other projects that need to be done.  I'm sure many can relate to this.

   Jeff and I did go on a real "date" last Friday.  We went to one of our favorite breweries for their Saint Paddy's Day dinner.  Well, I ordered the traditional corned beef dinner, Jeff had a burger and then finished the rest of my dinner because there was just so much food! They also had green beer in very tall pilsner glasses and it was really good.  Dessert was Green Velvet cake with vanilla bean ice cream.  YUM!  Jeff and I shared that because it was a huge piece.  We waddled out of there happy and came home to our recliners and watched Moana 2.  

   Earlier this week I got a message from our son Josh who said that our youngest grandkids wanted to talk to Grammie and Gpa.  I got the computer all loaded up and we Facetimed with them.  First thing our little Miss Peyton says is "Where's Gpa?" since he was turning on a light and was not in frame.  Yes, she is Gpa's girl!  She then modeled her Snow White princess dress for us.  Tate, who is Grammie's buddy, decided to take the phone from his father and give us a "tour" of the cool new vacuum that  his mom got.  LOL!  This is a boy who loves cleaning gadgets and was very excited about them having a new one. ')    Those grandbabies, along with our other 3 older ones, are helping motivate me to come up to the surface once again. :)

   There have frugal doings around here too.  I cut up, sugared and froze 4 pints of strawberries. I made Belgium Waffles with some mix that I found in my pantry that I had forgotten about and served that with homemade maple syrup along with some cherry syrup I made with some of my mom's homemade cherry jam.  Jeff used up the last of the syrup, so I made more to have on hand.  We got in on a really good chicken deal.  I got the chicken hindquarters for $1.57 a pound with $1.00 off the package.  Apparently, they had a lot of chicken to sell quickly, so they also had a buy one family pack, get one free deal.  I froze one of the packages and made shoyu chicken with the other.  We had shoyu chicken over rice for one meal and I then froze the rest for another meal.  I love having fully cooked meals I can pull out of the freezer and just add a side dish to it.  The leftover rice was used for 2 meals of chili and rice. Cabbage was on sale, so I bought 3 of them.  I used half of one to make coleslaw, and will use the other half in another dish.  The 2 remaining cabbages will be used for a cabbage salad, while most of it will be blanched and the dehydrated so I can add it to soups, stews, etc. at a later date. I made a nice dinner with broiled asparagus and lobster ravioli.  I also made another nice homemade alfredo pasta dish and served that with a nice crisp salad. We ordered another hose online for Jeff's cpap machine saving ourselves about $40 there.  I have been using decor that I have on hand here to change out my Winter decor and bring our some of the Spring stuff.  Jeff found some watercolor prints from Hawaii that I will be framing and putting up in our guest bathroom.  They are bright and cheery and remind me of happy times in my life growing up.  I finally found a pair of jeans that fit me and Jeff found some lounging type pants at the thrift store.  Oh, I also found more new canning lids and rings.  I love to have lots of these on hand.

   I had better go and figure out dinner for tonight.  Be blessed all and thank you once again.

   

   

More Deaths in our Family

                                                                             😭

   We sadly have lost two more family members this past week.  We lost my Uncle Gary (my father's youngest brother) and my hanai Auntie Toots.  Both of them were so important to me and shared nothing but unconditional love, support and laughter.  I was sure when my mother gave me the news about my Uncle Gary, that she was calling to tell me that my Uncle Ed had passed away.  Uncle Ed is still holding on though, and is back in the hospital once more.  It is hard to be losing so many people that we love so close together.  Jeff and I were hoping this would be a good year for us, but it seems to be off to a rough start.  Prayers would be appreciated for my family.  There are so many people hurting right now.  Thank you.

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 2/21/25

    

Hello all, I hope you have had a good week.  It has been a productive one around here with little projects getting done.  Jeff is also finally processing his father's passing away (he died at the start of January).  I knew it would take him time to really come to terms with it.  My husband tends to hold things in and put them away in "little boxes" in his mind.  I understand this all too well, as I also do the same thing.  I am glad that he is able to talk about some good memories and some things that he cherishes that his father gave him when he was still allowed to have a relationship with him.  We talked about how we are breaking that generational curse with our own children and grandchildren.  And now, onto the savings this week.

~Saturday Jeff and I took a quick trip into town to both get me out of the house for a bit and to pick up a few things.  We found some great deals at the grocery store and ran into one of our neighbors there. 😄

~The snow came in over the weekend and Jeff got the driveway and walkways shoveled out.  He also got the lower driveway of our shared driveway with the neighbors done and shoveled out a walkway for the to their back door.  The have a baby and Jeff is always trying to find ways to make their lives easier and safer.  How I love that man of mine!

~For Valentine's Day (one day late), I cooked up some lamb chops, red skinned mashed potatoes from scratch (using up the rest of my half and half that needed to be used) and green beans.  I made a double batch of both the lamb chops and potatoes so that we could have them again on Monday.  The lamb chops were bought on sale a few months ago and frozen until they were pulled out again for a treat like this.

~We watched several movies over the weekend in the comfort of our home and recliners.

~Jeff and I cut each other's hair.  It feels so good to have my hair short once again.

~More bread was made.  Jeff loves my homemade bread.

~I took the bones from the lamb chops, added some celery, onion and parsley, along with some seasonings, put them in the slow cooker, and set it on low for 24 hours.  It made a very rich broth.

~We do not take Maggie to the groomers to have her claws clipped.  We did them ourselves on Thursday.

~Jeff reglued the joints on my larger antique rocker that has been in my family for generations.  It is an old Windsor style and I absolutely treasure it.  I put a pillow on the seat of it to help protect it and a sheepskin on the back to keep the drafts off your back in the cold weather months.  I brought it out here for extra seating for humans, but the cats have taken it over.  At least it is being enjoyed on a regular basis, right? 😉

~I used my Trac Phone rewards to cash in for a $25 Applebee's digital gift card.  I also was able to get 2 free digital magazine subscriptions, including Magnolia magazine.

~Jeff and I talked to Bradley and Isaiah about G-pa (Jeff) teaching them some basic car repairs on our little car that the boys will be getting within the next year.  Chris is too busy to do his own car stuff and takes their cars to a mechanic, so the boys have not been taught these skills.  We will pay for all the parts and things, and they will help with the labor.  Jeff will also be teaching them how to drive a stick shift (which is what this car is).  Both boys were very excited and both want G-pa's car.  They do have another car from Aunt Helen, but it is not "cool" like G-pa's car.  LOL!  It looks like they are going to have to take turns.  

~We have so many CDs.  I am trying to play them and see which ones I want to keep, and which I want to try and sell.  We are trying to do the same with some of our DVDs and Blu-ray movies.

~I received 2 refund checks in the mail from our doctor's office.  They had charged me for 2 office visits, both which should have been free.  These happened months ago and to be honest I had forgotten about them.  The checks added up to about $60, so that was a nice surprise!

   I'd better go and get the dog's tennis ball back from Patchy cat.  She and Midgey like to steal Maggie's toys and play with them, much to Maggie's dismay.  I have put extra balls out, but Maggie has a favorite ball and the cats seem to love that one too.  Go figure!  Have a great weekend and stay safe and warm.

   

   

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 2/14/25

 

   I was watching a video on YouTube the other day that really made me think deeply about life and "stuff".  The YouTube channel is Pinball Preparedness, and I really like his direct no nonsense approach to life, even in some of the few instances where I did not agree with his point of view. 😉 Anyway, he was talking about how we work so hard to accumulate "stuff" over our lifetimes, and want the bigger how, the latest "thing", car, etc. and go into deep debt doing so.  We then come to our retirement age and if we still owe on the house, cars, and stuff, we may not be able to retire when we become eligible to do so.  He quoted the  average life expectancy and how in reality, we don't have a lot of years left to enjoy our retirements.  It made me so thankful that our home is paid for and that we are paying off my car.  When Jeff fully retires (or maybe sooner), we will be giving the oldest 2 grandsons his commuter car.  We will then  have my car and the truck (which we need to haul the pop up tent trailer and bring home pellets for our pellet stove, haul yard waste, etc.).  Since we live in a smaller home and have a nice garden, and live a frugal life, our bills are pretty low by comparison to many around us.  However, we can do better and that is my goal!  I want to have us in a position where Jeff can fully retire.  I really do love having him home with me!

Here are some of the frugal things we have done this week:

~I took down the last of the Poinsettia garlands and put up new decor including the bronze statue of the Hawaii Io (hawk) that my parents gave us for Christmas. I continued the bird theme by setting out a gorgeous Asian vase with white peacocks on it.  I replaced the picture in our bathroom with one that has hummingbirds on it, also in the Asian theme.  Soon I will be putting the needlepoint picture that my grandmother made for me, which features an Asian pheasant, back up in the living room.  I also put up my beautiful Asian themes watercolor painting that used to belong to my grandparents, up in the living room.  I rotate my art by the seasons and yes, I do love Hawaiian and Asian themed art.  I grew up with these and they remind me of Hawaii and the people and places I hold dearly.

~Jeff got the pantry all cleaned and organized for me.  It makes it so much easier to go in there and pull things for dinner.  For example, Wednesday night I pulled cream of mushroom soup, enchilada sauce, tortillas, and canned chicken out of there.  I added some leftover rice and sour cream, along with some seasonings, and was able to make creamy chicken enchiladas for dinner.  It was great comfort food on a bitterly cold day and was absolutely delicious!

~Jeff had his appointment with the orthopedic surgeon about his knee.  He definitely has a torn meniscus, along with bone spurs, and will need orthoscopic surgery.  His surgeon told him that he will not do unnecessary whole knee replacement, like the insurance company insisted on with his other knee.  We are now waiting for the approval from the insurance company so that he can have it done in late April/early May.  This way he will have it after our trip down to help with our youngest grandchildren and be healed up before camping season goes into full swing.

~It has been so cold here with temps dipping down into the below zero range.  I have been bundling up while at home and wearing cozy socks.  I have not gone outside much because the cold makes my muscles contract and is very painful for me (it's a fibromyalgia thing).

~My 11-year-old grandson Isaiah has a school project where he has to interview someone and he chose to interview me because he wants to know more about my childhood through today.  It has been great fun with him sending me questions via email, which I then answer.  We have kept this chain of emails going to make it easier for him to have all the info on hand in writing so that he can then type up the completed interview.    I love this boy so very much!

~Rachel and Jaysn surprised me with some lobster ravioli from Costco.  All our kids spoil us rotten. :)

~Jeff and I have been enjoying our blankets that my mother made for us.  They keep us nice and cozy warm when we are in our recliners.

~I've been reading some of the many books that I have here at home.  I take great joy in getting lost in a good book.  It is the perfect little escape as I sip on some hot tea while I read.

~Jeff and I have been missing meatloaf, so Jeff pulled some ground venison from the freezer, and I made a teriyaki meatloaf and served it with rice and corn.  We had enough left over for another serving the next day.  I did use half an onion in the meatloaf and cut up the other half of the onion and froze it.  I would usually use green onions, but I did not have any on hand.

~Jeff and I watched several movies over the weekend.  I made up a cheese and sausage platter to have for a snacky dinner one night and popped up a bunch of regular popcorn to have with another movie the next night.  We do love popcorn in this house and it really does not take much time to pop some up from scratch.

~Our Ethan Allen headboard on our bed had cracked across where it had been glued together when it was made.  I have no idea how old it is because my parents bought it used when they were first married and then gave it to us when they got a new Koa wood four poster bed.  Jeff managed to get it glued back together.  He did have to buy some longer clamps for this project, but he will use them for years to come on other projects.  He also got them at the employee discounted price.

~I went into our subscription account for Maggie's CBD tincture that helps with pain and nervousness and changed it to every other month rather than monthly.  We are finding that we are already ahead by a month.  This will save us about $30 a month.

~Snow came in Thursday night and will continue for days!  It honestly is a welcome relief after the below zero temps that froze up our hot water in our master bedroom bathroom.  I had Jeff pick up my prescriptions and a huge bag of dog food for Maggie Thursday since it is his bowling night and I really do not want to go anywhere in the snow.  I am more than happy to make it a movie marathon when he is home.  It also saves us gas money and unnecessary spending.

~I went through more of my books and made a stack of the Jason Bourne series that I have not read yet.  I really want to get to those.

~Jaysn got ahold of us and asked if we could watch Steven this coming Monday.  Jeff is working that day so I will have my bubby here to keep me company!  Yay!!!!

~I have lots of beautiful cut glass pitchers, bowls, vases, trays, etc.  I got one of the pretty little creamer pitchers and put a battery powered tea light in it.  I love the way the cut glass looks at night when the tea light is on.  I am going to try to use my pretty things on a regular basis and not just have them stored away in our buffet.

~There were only 3 items on my grocery list for this week.  Jeff picked them up for me before his bowling league on Thursday night.  All of the items were on sale at Safeway and I cashed in some of my reward points and combined that with a sale in the bakery so we could buy a small cheesecake.

   I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!  Stay warm and safe.

 

Memories

 

I recently bought myself a present on Etsy.  I found this wonderful print by a local artist in Kona, Hawaii.  The print is of the old swimming pool at Kona Village resort as it appeared before the tsunami took it out years ago.

The pool (and the resort) have now been rebuilt.  The old pool is now long gone and a new modern high end resort type pool has replaced the beautiful pool of my childhood.  

My father started working at this resort as the assistant manager when I was 3 years old.  He later worked his way up to the manager position.  He was there for 38 years when he finally retired.

This resort was so isolated at first and everything and everyone had to flown in.  There also had to be a manager or assistant manager on hand 24/7.  Kona Village became my second home and I literally grew up there.  I spent a good amount of my time over the years swimming in this pool.  My brothers learned to swim there and I got meet and played with many people from all over the world including princes and princesses from the Middle East when they, and I, were children.  I also swam with a dolphin in this pool as we waited for the Navy to come and retrieve it and it's mate after they got lost in a storm and arrived at Kahuwai Bay.  They had to get at least one of the dolphins in the pool so they both would not swim away.  They belonged to the Navy and were highly trained.  I loved being able to pet it and keep it calm.

I remember being the official taste tester of the fruit at the real shipwreck bar.  My "pay" for my hard work 😉was a Shirley Temple drink.  I was also limited to one drink a day by my father that he paid for so getting that extra drink was a huge bonus!  I love the bartenders and one of them even brough his girls down sometimes with him and we would spend the day playing and swimming.  Such wonderful memories!

Fresh Start February

 

   As we waved goodbye to a very sad and stressful January, we also welcomed in February with open arms.  We hope and pray that this month will be much kinder and gentler to us.  God knows that we need that in our lives right now.

   We are so very grateful for God's love and mercy, along with answered prayers.  One of my beloved uncles was hospitalized, fighting for his life.  The news was very bleak at first, but then came along a doctor who was able to help him at least get to the point where he was able to go home again.  My uncle is battling cancer and my sweet aunt has been there with him throughout all of it.  Please keep them both in your prayers.

   I have been battling some health issues, along with a very bad bout of the flu.  The flu is gone now, and I am trying to deal with the other things.  It has given me time to really rest, think, and realize that I have to take better care of myself and also give myself grace.  Superwoman I am not, and that is something that I have to remember. 😉

   Jeff and I have tackled some long overdue projects.  We are slowly getting our house back in order and doing more needed purging of things that we do now use or that have no sentimental value. We are also getting back into a routine once again and trying to get my sleep schedule back on track.  It has not only gone off the rails, but also took off on a vacation.  It likes to do this when I have been under a lot of stress.  It is both fibro related and another bad learned coping mechanism for me. 

   We are continuing to fill our box of things for our pop up tent trailer.  We have added a mini Ninja blender (gotta have that for adult beverages, along with smoothies and slushies for the grandkids) given to me by our Rachel, a coffee maker, paper plate holders, a really nice afghan that I got for $1.99 at the thrift store, food storage containers that with fit in the small refrigerator, cups, thermal mugs, plastic plates, forks and knives, and some other items.  I will continue to add to the big box as we go along.  I have made a list of all the items I want in there and luckily we have most of them on hand here at home.  There are just a few more that I need to purchase and I am looking at thrift stores for them.  I just cannot wait for camping season to start!😊

   Josh called me today and told me my youngest grandson has been sent home from his preschool on base for the 4th day in a row.   Apparently, they divided up his class and the teacher he really connected well with and would listen to, went with the other half of his former class and he had all new people there.  He has been running out of the room after his favorite teacher left  in order to get some of his energy out, which is an automatic "send the kid home" for the rest of the day rule.  Josh and Lauren understand that this is a big change for Tate and that he does not understand how to handle all of this at once.  They have been trying to find ways to deal with his behavior at school.  He does not act out in this manner at home (where he feels secure).  Tomorrow there will be a whole new group of teachers in his room and we hope it goes better with them.  Josh and Lauren are meeting with the new teachers and the counselor on Monday to come up with a plan to help Tate release some of that pent up energy he gets when he is not engaged in an activity.   Tate and I also had a talk about how it makes teachers sad and that they sometimes cry when kids are being mean to them.  I told him I used to be a teacher and that sometimes I would cry to because I tried so hard to be kind, understanding and teach the kids in my classes.  That really got to him, knowing that Grammie used to cry, and Josh helped him make the connection to how sad it made his teachers when he acted out.  Praying here that tomorrow will be a better day for everyone involved.  I did offer to come down if needed to help because I know my grandson well and that change is hard for him, along with him being way too smart, having lots of energy, and needing to be engaged in things.  I have worked with kids like him in the past and even have some of my own. ;)

   We did get some snow here in the last few days and I am enjoying the beauty of it.  Add about 3 inches to the picture at the top of the post and that is what I am currently looking at.  Jeff ended up taking our truck, with the four-wheel drive to work yesterday, just in case.  There were school closures and delays all over this area.  I have been more than happy to stay home, bake bread, make soup and other filling meals, and have Jeff pick up anything that we may need from the store.  Luckily for us, our pantry is well stocked and organized, so we do not have to pick up much.  While I was sick with the flu, I had Jeff pick up a Stouffers frozen lasagna, which I have not had in over 20 years now, and will never be buying another again.  It was awful and just ick!  It tasted like "fake" food to me.  I guess Jeff and I are just spoiled since I usually make my own here at home.  Anyone else have that experience with Stouffers?

    Well, the fur babies are trying to get my attention, so I had better get going.  They are cooped up here in the house along with me, and I know they want to be out on the back porch and the dog wants to be left out in the yard.  It is way too cold for that at the moment.  Be blessed my sweet friends and try to stay warm.

    

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Thoughts, Thrifting and the Start of Healing

 

   Yes, I am finally popping my head back into my sweet blog.  It seems that this blog has been a long journey of emotions for 13 years now.  There have been such highs as we added our beautiful girls to our family and were blessed with 5 amazing, funny, smart and loving grandchildren.  If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time, you already know what the lows are and how that took a huge toll emotionally and even financially on our family and health-wise also for me. Throughout it all, our kid, grandkids, my brother Fritz and my parents grew even closer.  We were so blessed to have had my sister come for a visit several years ago, which meant everything to both she and I.  Now that she is battling cancer once more, it means even more to us.  We have strengthened our relationship and she has been blessed with a beautiful daughter who married into her family and a adorable granddaughter of her own.  She is now experiencing the same joy that I have been for all these years.  Grandchildren are the best!

   I am starting to finally let go of the pain of losing both Jeff's parents, his aunt Helen, and my cousin Jeremy.  There are still moments when I see something and here something that reminds me of my dear cousin and I want to pick up the phone and call him.  I know that is not possible, so I remind myself that I get to enjoy it for the both of us and that he would want me to have that giggle, stare in awe at a beautiful piece of art soaking it all in and continue to love on and enjoy the antics of Maggie Mae.  It has taken me a long time to get to this point and to also not shed a tear when I think of our one-of-a-kind Aunt Helen.  I am so very thankful for that short time we had with her.  As for Jeff's parents...I realized that I had been so worried about my husband and kids losing them that I had not taken the time to personally grieve for both his parents.  Jeff and I had many long talks, and I realized that I needed closure.  I think I finally got it by going to his grandparents' gravesite where his parents' ashes will be interned.  I had not been there is over 40 years, but I made a promise to his mom that I would make sure that Jeff and the kids would always know where it was.  It helped me to let go of the hurt and anger that I had towards them and let the love and good memories (and there were many of them) take their place within my heart.  It feels like a huge weight had been lifted off of me.

   Jeff and I have done some thrifting lately and have found many cool things.  We found the pair of pillows pictured above that will be a perfect birthday gift for our fishing and hunting crazy grandson Isaiah.  His room is decorated in that style, and I checked with Heather and she told me she thought he would love them.  So they shall be his!!!!  We also found some really good kneepads for Jeff, a brand new large soft and fuzzy throw blanket, a blender, a large coffee maker to keep in the tent trailer, a gorgeous planter, some clothing, a pretty basket, some picnic plate holders (again for the tent trailer), a small lantern that puts out a tremendous amount of light and an Ethan Allen decorating book.  I really enjoy that style and I think it may be genetic since that seems to have been something that even my great-grandmother loved.

   Jeff and I have been talking about how he wants to fully retire within the next few years, as soon as he can get his full retirement amount.  I have to look into when I can also start taking retirement and what time that will be to make the most of it.  We talked about what full retirement will look like and ways that we can save even more money as to make it possible sooner.  We have been thinking of side hustles, how to make the most of our garden and help it be more productive.  All of these things are very important for us.  We are getting better about not eating out at much.  I'm trying to make sure that we have some quick to make meals here on the ready at home.  Today I made two loaves of bread and took some homemade chicken noodle out of the freezer to make for dinner.  I also threw an acorn squash in the oven too bake so that I have that ready for another meal.  There are two bags of raspberries from our garden thawing on the counter and I will use them to make some raspberry infused gin (a huge favorite of mine and Chris').  It also makes great gifts for loved ones.  I had bought the bottles for it from Amazon awhile back and have also been collecting larger bottles with stoppers on them for keeping it in here at home.  I still have lots of fruit to use in this manner for both gin and vodka.  I would like to get it all made and ready for this year.  Between the blackberries and raspberry stash I have in the freezers, I should be able to make enough for a while year for myself and others.

   I hope that things are going well for all of you who read my ramblings.  As you can see, I am in a much better headspace now.  It has been a long time coming, but the sweet relief now that it is here is incredible.  Thank you to Jesus for your healing and to my amazing family and friend for loving me through it.  Be blessed all.