This is a lot of work.....

(no thats not me but I do look similar, right hair color.)


I've been busy the last few days. I spent a lot of last week wandering online and just enjoying the quiet with the man at work. It was nice to only have to think of me till 5pm. Of course we have new hrs and its killing me, but Ill adjust. He gets up at 6am to have some quiet too, with his coffee and computer. I don't mind as long as he shuts the door so I can sleep. At about 7am he comes in to shower tho and I have to get up. I have to make his lunch and let the dog out and things like that. Its how our old routine was until we got lazy being home all the time. Its just hurting us both some. I'm tired and hes sore lol but we will be fine.

And so I tore apart my bathroom last week. It needed a thorough cleaning really bad. I've just been doing what needed doing cuz hes been around here all the time. Its hard to start major projects when you get interrupted alot and have to cook, etc. And so I thought I'd enjoy the weekend but..noooo , he was out of clothes. I just finished the wash. But with him coming home dirty and showering and changing into clean, I forgot I'll have extra loads. So I started the wash Saturday.

I really needed to go grocery shopping too. Mom gave me a few $ for Vday and said I should spend it on me. Well I don't need much but I did want to go to the farmers market this weekend. They are starting an indoor one finally till the weather is nice. So I needed some nice fat crusty bread loaves from my favorite bread lady and I was almost out of local honey. I decided that's what I would use the money for if they were there. And so since I needed other stuff , the man gave me some money to try to fill up the house. So Sat. I went thru the newspaper flyers looking for coupons and sales.

These days I have to shop very very carefully. And I hate it. I haven't had to shop like this is 40yrs. And I'm glad I saw this coming and stocked up this past summer with buying in bulk and canning alot. Its really helping now. But still its hard cuz I'm starting to run out of things I kept around and some I cant replace. By the time I get the basics done, there's no money left. But I think I did pretty good this week.

First I hit the farmers market. My bread lady was there and it was so nice to see her again. She gave me big hugs and asked me how my folks are now. And end of last season I gave her roasted peppers that I canned. She said she loved them so I gave her a jar. She said they were so good, she ate them with cream cheese on the bread. I'm glad she enjoyed them. And so I got two huge loaves, one white and one whole wheat. This bread is like big fat baguettes. They are $6 loaf but so big I can get 4 meals from them. They are almost 6in. wide a a foot and half long and the best damn bread I ever had. And then I wandered around to find the honey people. I had a glass jar from last yr and they give you $1 off if you return it. So I got the big 48oz. jug for $19. I always buy the blackberry honey cuz I think it tastes the best.

And so Ill be set for a couple weeks which is good. The market apparently will be on and off till March, then it will be every weekend. Sadly there were no other food vendors, just lots of craft people. I don't buy any of that , I want a farm market. I thought there might be some who forage there or had greenhouse veggies. But no.......just those two, so I wont be going often till the veggies come in.

And so I headed right home cuz there was an accident. Traffic was really bad. I had two more stops in that area to do but decided Id do it later when things cleared up. And so I came home and made french toast for us. Then I went back out.

But these days I cant shop just in one place. And there are not many shops around here. But I go from store to store, knowing certain ones carry things with better prices. I went to the local BiMart to get some canned clams on sale, cheaper all the time there. I can make clams and linguine this week. Got some medicines too cuz their brand is cheaper. And some tuna, whats with tuna lately? Its higher and higher and the cans are smaller, so when I find a deal, I'm on it. Then I headed off to another local grocery store.

There are certain things I buy from this store now that I didn't before. That's the store that had those huge celerys I blogged about last yr. But I find good deals on produce alot. I got 1lb. bags of Ca. garlic from a place I know for $1.59 a bag. At the same time other stores were charging 99cents for ONE garlic bulb. So I keep grabbing a bag or two when I see it cuz I use alot. But this time I got a huge bag of Roma tomatoes, broccoli heads, cilantro, oranges. They had green peppers 3 for $1 which is cheap around here. Sometimes they charge that for one. Got chicken breasts and bacon cheap too. Oh and then I bought a bag of bananas at 25cents lb. They were pretty ripe but will be good for muffins and even my yogurt. And I'm finding that this store in particular does this. When I was little and shopped with my gramma, she used to look for the racks with day old stuff and produce. I used to think, yuck. But these days most stores don't do that anymore and its a shame. They throw it out. And so Ill be checking this store out more often looking for deals. And so I wandered off to the Grocery Outlet.

Now we had one near me in Ca. The first time I went there everything looked awful and so I never went back. But I guess they have improved. I buy my butter from there now cuz its $2.50 lb. Everywhere else is much higher and its from a dairy in CA. that I know is a good one. I buy bulk sausage meat from them too. Its a brand I know that I cant get anywhere else near me here. Celery was cheap too. And I got a big 3lb. bag of Kielbasa and a big bag of tater tots. Ive been wanting to buy some but the reg. grocery has been really expensive. This was a good deal for $5.99. The reg. stores have been that price for one lb. And then I finally wandered to the grocery near me.

Had to stock up on basics there , bread, milk, coffee, creamer, beef and a few other things. I do it this way so when I hit this store I'm almost out of money. I buy the basics and add it up as I go. Then I see if I can add some of the extras I need depending on how much I spent. Its a lot of work and by the time I get home I'm tired. At least he brings it all in the house for me. But then I have to make dinner and put it all away.

Usually end up doing the big putting away the next day, I just put in the fridge till then. And that's what I'm doing today. I had planned on making stock today.........and Kurt came home early. Why they didn't tell them Fri. they could stay home is beyond me......and so he had to get up just to come home in an hr. and no work means no pay. It sux. And so I had to cook for us and finish laundry and clean up all the mess in the kitchen from yesterday. So I decided to make the stock. Ill take some of that and add fresh veggies and noodles and that will be dinner with some of that yummy bread.

I toss all kinds of chicken bones and skin in the water, along with saved onion skins and pieces, celery trimmings, carrot trimmings, parsley stems and some garlic. I had some limp celery in the fridge I tossed in too. And  I found a bag with some beef bones in it I saved. And then I remembered my SIL gave me a big beef bone from the cow they bought. She didn't know what to do with it. And so this time I put it all in the pot. Funny thing,  I tasted it and it reminded me of my moms chicken soup. And then I remembered....mom used to put beef shin bones in her soup too. I used to love that meat from the soup. Hers wasn't just chicken tho and mine never tasted like hers.........till today. Its really yummy too. So tonight's dinner will be awesome I'm sure.

Once I get all the bread cut up and frozen, and the sausage cut up and frozen and the chicken deboned and frozen and the hamburger patties made and frozen and the bananas frozen too. And I think Ill blanch the broccoli cuz I bought alot and freeze that too. Gotta cut up the peppers too cuz I'm gonna make pepper steak this week with rice. But I look at all that I do these days with shopping and food and trying to make the most of it all and I wonder whats gonna happen if I go to work.  There's just no way Ill be able to do it all ..........