Veggie casserole - this is a breakfast egg casserole with NO bread and a lot of veggies.

Here is the original recipe

https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-veggie-supreme-egg-bake-242506

 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for the baking dish
 8 ounces sliced white or brown mushrooms
 2 cups shredded carrots
 5 ounces baby spinach (about 5 packed cups)
 2 cups frozen diced potatoes (do not thaw)
 1 cup roasted red pepper strips
 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
 12 large eggs
 2 cups half-and-half
 2 teaspoons kosher salt
 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


 I do this -
Spray the pans instead of olive oil.

Use fresh organic (except for the spinach where I use a whole package of frozen organic loose leaf).

I use small amount of chopped red skinned potato (not peeled) instead of frozen Potatoes.

I use skim milk instead of half and half.

I sometimes use half eggs and half egg whites depending on who I am feeding (if it is going to be gone immediately, and I am only eating one piece, I use all eggs. If I might be eating a lot of leftovers, I use half egg whites).

I use lower fat Colby cheese instead of sharp cheddar.

I add asparagus or broccoli or both.

I add a lot more mushrooms.

I add a whole chopped onion.


This is a beautiful, colorful breakfast casserole with lots of veggies and NO bread.

Refrigerator make over

Clean slate.

Dingless

I can no longer hear the buzzer/bell on the microwave unless I am in the same room (with it).

Neither can my husband.

The kids (when they are home) however, can hear it all over the house.

And our microwave keeps dinging until someone attends to it.

So we turned off the microwave sounds. It is now dingless. No sounds as you push the buttons. No sounds to say it is finished.

And something interesting happened.

I now remember things in the microwave MUCH BETTER than when I counted on the ding (which I could not hear as soon as I left the kitchen).

The thing, I put in the microwave most often, are cherry pit bags. I put one in, hit 2 minutes, and then run to pee or brush my teeth or something. Except now I come right back and am usually there very close to the 2 minute mark. With the dinger operational, I would forget (until someone yelled - mom, the microwave is calling you).

I guess dingless made me more accountable or something. And it is very nice to have no dinging. Every kid agrees.

new winter boots

New boots. I bought them last spring when my very good shoe store was having clearance on winter boots. I did not compromise. I needed wide, water proof, warm, great tread, very good support. I got all of that. Plus there is no fuss. I simply step into them and go.

These are the pair being replaced. Oh how I loved them.

 I am not sure if you can tell fully from the picture - but the tread/traction was SHOT.

I can still wear them when there is no ice or snow.

I have support inserts in every pair of boots. Huge difference.

We learned - showers

Middle went to a baby shower given by mother of the soon to be new dad. So this was a young pregnant girl being given a baby shower by her mother in law.




We have seen this happen before, so it is a thing. And that is why I am making note.

The couple is young and does not have a lot of $$$ and she was upset with the gifts she received. She was counting on getting new baby staples. And she got mostly fluffy baby stuff. 

The baby is due in a month. They were counting on the shower.

Now, yes, there is the whole - maybe you should have waited a bit to have a baby - topic. But this couple has actually been married for several years and this is a planned baby.

But I am here to say, in these circumstances if you are the grandmother to be, giving a shower, sit down with the couple and help them make a very very good list of only the things they REALLY NEED. Then help them or have someone else help them get their gift registry set up right. And then contact all the family and friends you know well enough to call. And make sure they are only getting very practical things, on the list.

And introduce couple to garage sales if they are pregnant in the right months. Ore resale shops in the winter.  Help them make their list and teach them to barter and to be very picky on quality. And save the things that should only be bought new for the shower - like car seats, diapers, pacifiers, bottles, etc.




After the shower, helping the mother to me, middle heard  how worried and upset this girl was. 

Middle was able to tell them - my mother had the bare minimum of baby stuff - on purpose - three times. 

Because I did not have all the seats and pillows and stations and equipment stuff. At all. (I did not even have cradles or cribs, but I do not recommend co-sleeping even to my own kids). I had car seats, high chair, baby bath tub. That was about IT on furniture/equipment.

We learned - college move in and move out extensions

It is fairly inexpensive and sometimes free to move into college dorms early.

There are a variety of activities that sometimes have early move in as part of the benefit of the group. Like honors. The honors kids often can move in a day or two early. Or sometimes you can move in early if you volunteer to help everyone else on the regular move in date.




Many colleges the rule is you have 24 hours after your last final to move out of your dorm -  at the end of the school year.

Youngest college, which was also oldest’s College, NO.

So far, each year, youngest has had a 2:30 final and needed to be out by 6pm the same day. Which is really awful.

We are slow learners, but now we are paying for a one day extension, and moving her the next day, all the rest of her college move out days.

IN THE DARK

http://www.keepingthepoundsoff.com/2011/10/illumination-light-changes-things.html

Jane wrote about turning off the lights and looking for a missing object with a flashlight. Highly effective. I have done that. It works.

I found another effective one, over the weekend, vacuuming in the dark.

Of course your vacuum has to have a light on it for this to work. One of mine does. Usually that vacuum is upstairs, but middle was using the downstairs one and I brought the one with the light down to get the kitchen and hall rugs and the living room.

WARNING - you have to be sure all the charger cords and anything else that might come to harm is put away because you can only see a small area as you go.

But then if you turn off the lights and vacuum only by the light of the machine on the floor, you are going to see things you have never seen before, so much dirt.

WOW.

Very shocking.

This focused light method shows dust and hair and the like that cannot be seen normally. Like it is not enough to vacuum the rugs, the floor needs to be dust mopped extensively.

Evidently my laminate floors do not show dust, blond hair, or either of the dogs' hair. At all. All of that shows on the rugs. And I vacuum the rugs a lot. But the floor usually looks pretty good and does not get much attention.

medical binders and recipe binders

Four of us now each have a medical binder. They are three ring binders filled with sleeve/page protectors. Medical forms go in the sleeves. There are sections, labeled wide dividers (that are made to work with sleeve/page protectors). We buy the dividers with the half circle labels so the labels do not slide out. Office Depot.  Sections include - immunizations, family records, lab work, Ortho, neuro, asthma/allergist, gyn, ENT, eye, GI, etc. Each binder has slightly different sections as we have different doctors.

Very pleased. I take my binder to doctor’s appointments. If I need to find information, I have it with me. I ask for copies of things and put it directly into a sheet protector in the binder, while I am there. No loose papers/records floating around the house.

(EOB’s and receipts/bills go in a hanging file in my file cabinet by year. Many years ago I made all the hanging files. Like 2000-2019.)

The girls use their binders exactly as I use mine. They keep their own binders. I only keep my own.



AND


I went thru two fat binders of recipes in my kitchen. They took up a lot of room. I realized I used the recipes in one binder much more than the other. I cleaned out a lot of weird things and got myself down to one 2” binder. I kept about 1/3 of the recipes and got rid of 2/3.

Middle made a recipe binder for herself and one for youngest. They all have overlapping recipes and they have unique recipes. So not exact duplicates.

Very pleased.

We are over populated with chipmunks, we have had hundreds of $$$ damage to car

There are five houses. I was in my bare feet when I took these pictures, so I did not photograph the ones in the backyard. The three below are all near the driveway.

The dogs cannot get in them.

I don't think a cat could get in them.

We have not yet had a squirrel in one. But we would not be sad if we did. Too many squirrels (in my opinion).

This is the trap that is in each stone house. They are all baited with peanut butter.

We sold (probably hundreds of) things over the summer.

Four day serious garage sale.

And then I have been systematic listing things (left from sale) on Facebook marketplace, ever since.

For the last several months those things have sold slow but steadily.

Really pleased. More to go.

Vacuuming

My rugs on the inside and outside of the backdoor are very dark and a solid color. They show dirt and hair and stray grass and things that come in on people’s feet. They show everything.

And I get such satisfaction in vacuuming those rugs. Because they go from dirty to very clean, and I can see it. Those rugs get vacuumed at least once a week. (And that is very often for me.)

The carpeting, in the bedrooms and living room and loft, does not provide the same satisfaction. It is neutral. And it shows no dirt.

If I vacuum and there are a lot of zing noises, I have satisfaction. But visually, there is little reward.

So I am unmotivated to vacuum the neutral carpeting. It rarely gets done. In fact when I vacuum carpeting, I am usually moving furniture and deep cleaning.

A carpet salesman or an interior designer would probably recommend my carpeting to clients. They would say - it does not show the dirt and it wears very well.

But I suspect that carpeting actually means we are living with dirty floors. Way dirtier than we realize.

There is a correlation in here somewhere with getting on the scale. And taking pictures. And wearing the most fitted clothes in your closet.

Pantry, added six tiny shelves

An 8" shelf will be added to the very top. (The current top shelf is very full of clear glass serving pieces; they don't really show in these pictures.)

The little shelves, tucked under the big shelves, my husband added this fall to the pantry. There are six of them, three on each side. They add so much more storage space, maximizing what is on the big shelves.

He did a great job, I was able to match paint, they absolutely look like they have always been there.

Food organization - yes, I am channeling Tracy Benjamin with the labels. (I love her.)

I put a basket which is sturdy and attractive and has a lid, on top the little refrigerator in the kitchen. And I put the things that other people eat, but I do not want to see nor eat, in this basket. Pretzels, crackers, cereal, pita crisps, etc.

And both refrigerators now look like an Alzheimer patient lives here.

I labeled shelves.

With three of us using two refrigerators, things were getting ignored. Lost in the shuffle. So now everything has a spot.

And labeled shelves is sort of like the basket. I eat things off that shelf. I do not eat anything from those shelves. Simple but effective on several levels.

Medication is in the drawer on the upper left.
The cases of water are to help regulate the temperature of this refrigerator.
 

The fall

The end of the story is - the next day, today, I had no pain and no lingering issues. Not back, not knees.

Wednesday, 10:30am, walking down the sidewalk, within a block of our house, headed home, the dogs (golden retrievers) and I saw a dog in his own yard.

We had not see him all summer. And I had actually thought maybe he had died over the winter. A dark brown lab. Big. Solid.

There is a sign in the front yard and the back yard, of that house, that they have an electric fence. And while the dog charges to the front of his yard when he sees us, and barks, we had never seen him out of his yard.

Wednesday, he charged forward, to the end of his driveway, but I do not think he barked.

And we were on the opposite sidewalk, across the street.

So I did not give him a lot of thought.

We passed the house and were on our way down the block when I suddenly was knocked down, hard.

I landed full weight, hard on both knees, on the sidewalk. Sudden. Like a linebacker hit me from behind. There was no catching myself.

And I had one leash in each hand. (And a poop bag). I held on to the dogs tighter. I did not drop either leash. (Nor the poop bag.)

As soon as I hit, I rolled to sit down and grabbed for the pup. She was frantic. Going every which way. I pulled her in my lap and wrapped both arms around her, tight.

I saw out of the corner of my eye that the older dog was on her feet and still with me. I saw the brown lab was right with us, moving. Like so close he was touching all of us.

The older dog was standing still and did not look too afraid. She was not cowering. She was not barking. She was just calmly staying with me.

The pup was frantic. I think she thought - he is going to eat me.

So I sat on the sidewalk, holding her as tight as I could, eyeing the lab, and yelling for help.

An old man and a woman, from two different houses, came to help.

He chased the lab back to his own yard and pounded on their doors. Front and inside garage, the big garage door was open. Really pounded. And yelled. No one came. He was afraid to open the door, to put the dog in the house, because his hackles were raised.

Then the old man came back to us. Still yelling at the dog to stay home. And he asked if I wanted him to call and ambulance, he said - you went down really hard.

I said - Let me get up on my feet and see.

He said he would hang on to the pup. And I showed him how.

The lady said she would hang on to the older dog and I said, she will just stay with me.

And I got to my feet, watching the pup closely. She was still clearly thinking - he might come back over here and eat me. 

I was very shocked to have no pain in either knee. I could stand. I could walk.

They both said they would walk home with me. I said I thought I was okay and was almost home.

When we got home, my right knee started to hurt. Not like bone hurt. But like scrapped knee hurt. (I was wearing pants). I did not even look. I got two soft ice packs and strapped them to my knees and sat down.

When I looked later the right knee was scraped.

And my husband stopped on his way home, after work,  and knocked on their door. He said - telling point - they had to come out on the porch to talk, the dog was going nuts inside.

My husband is very nice and very diplomatic. But he can also be very clear.

He told them what happened. He told them he was as concerned for the dogs as he was for me. He told them two neighbors had to help me. One had to chase their dog home so I could even get up. And he told them they needed to fix whatever was going on so people could walk down the sidewalk with their dogs, safely.

They were an older couple who spends most of the year in Florida (who summers in Florida!?!). They have been home for about ten days.

And they were really horrified by what had happened. Aghast. They had no idea. 

So neither of their neighbors went (after my fall) and found them later. The woman (who helped me) told me the dog has left its yard four times with her. I don't know if it knocked her down. I don’t know if that is four times in the last ten days or since she has lived there. Clearly she did not tell them. 

I had told my husband that I had no idea what the dog’s intentions were. Still. It might have been friendly and just over exuberant. It might have been hostile. No idea. And I wonder if the electric fence is not working (since they got home), and they don’t know it.

I did not have my pepper spray with me. But even if I had, I could not have used it. It was all I could do to hang on to the pup. And the lab was constant motion, all around us, very close.

26,000

Middle has a Fitbit.

She has had many fitbits. On 4th, 5th or 6th one in fact. (We only paid for the first One. Best Buy with extended warranty. They die within a year for her. Best Buy replaces and starts warrantee over each time. One time they gave her a new one plus $20 because the price had gone down. They have upgraded her a couple times because the models have changed. It is the gift that keeps on giving.)

Youngest had one. BIG MISTAKE - We bought it at Target. They refer us to the manufacturer when it dies. They would only replace one. Very sad. Hers die very similar schedule to middle's. She is currently without. She does not use it as much as middle does. (She has an android phone, so that might be part of it.)

Moral of that story, only buy at Best Buy. (check to see if this is still in place before you buy, though).

Back to middle. She really uses her Fitbit. Steps. Sleep. Incoming texts and phone calls.

And on Sunday, at the home and garden tour, she says we walked 26,000 steps that day.

When we went, I was not (at all) sure I would be able to do it. So many stairs.

One thing that helped was bad weather and low turn out. So we did not stand in many lines. We could just keep walking.and it is very distracting. You want to go up and down the stairs to see everything.

And there was one stop/tour that was very far from the others and we drove to that one.

So I did fine. I did not even think about finding a chair. I did not even consider skipping any of the houses.

I painted this week

Two weeks ago, I would not have been able to do it. Paint. At the community theater.

Moving ladders, up and down ladders, standing on ladders, painting over my head.

This week, I made it just fine. (Middle went with me. Both times.)

On Tuesday, I walked the dogs early, painted (2 hours) in the late morning***, ran a couple errands, and then sat outside with the dog’s for about an hour.  Then, I worked on copying photos over to Shutterfly. (I am up to 2012.) I did not let myself take a nap.

On Wednesday the dogs went to the beauty parlor, so I had the day off.

We painted (4 hours) in the afternoon. Then ran errands. I did not let myself take a nap (again). And it was easier than it had been on Tuesday (to stay awake and then go to bed st a normal time).

I purposely did not do any arm weights all week. Painting, particularly over your head, for hours at a time, is  tough.

Sunday and Monday, I tried not to take a nap. I might have dozed a little in the evenings.

So noticeably better this week.

And this was the first week of weaning off my last steroid inhaler. One puff twice a day. Two weeks at that level and then I try to stop.

To recap - major asthma trouble most of July. Major steroids. It took me all of August and will take nearly half of September to wean myself off oral, nebulizer, and two inhalers. Goodness.

***I figured out that if I walk the dogs early, we can paint for two hours (morning volunteer shift is 10am-12pm) and then let the dogs out when we get home. I am not sure why that did not occur to me.  So I can go paint a couple times a week. Two hours of painting is more pleasant than four also.

Proactive fix - drying racks

I have four drying racks. The standing kind.

They get a lot of use. Drying big quilts, comforters, sleeping bags, mattress pad covers. I set up all four and drape the big thing over them. Often I put one or two box fans under there too.

Sometimes when everyone is home, all four are full of pool towels. Sometimes one is full of bras. Or several are full of sweaters.

But where to store them has always been an issue. Cleaning out the tool cabinet, when we got the work bench this spring, I found two bike hangers. These were intended for hanging bikes on a wall, which my husband vetoed.

They were perfect for hanging the drying racks on the laundry room wall. My husband mounted them in a stud. They are super sturdy.

A set of hooks were moved from the laundry room to the garage. The hooks, mounted in the garage, now hold dog walking supplies.

And in their place, back in the laundry room, went a pull out, wall mounted drying rack for small things. Very very handy.

This mounted upside down, so it pulls up instead of down.
We wanted to hang it higher. 

And now the rod above the washer and dryer is 100% available for extra hangers. So when I am hanging things, fresh from the dryer, the needed hanger is right there. Very much appreciated.

A fix

I ended up with piles at the bottom of the stairs that just sort of lived there. My dog walking clothes, things headed up stairs.

The fix is two sets of hangers on the back door.

So now the banister and the stairs, can look like this -

The kids needed something to set things on in the living room, that was sturdy and carefree

For $10, I was able to buy an unfinished top from the lumber yard. Round and nicely sanded. And it was pine. So I was not going to be worried about it, at all. I was okay with it being painted.

It took middle about five coats to cover the (originally) red legs. The yellow is nearly the color of the walls.

This was a $10 redo, just the price of the top. We had the paint. We had brushes and sandpaper. Youngest was able to reuse all the bolts and screws to trade out the tops.

Stool with the original top, so you can see the size difference.

English style gardens

Over planted, lush, full. Lots of varieties. One plant here, another variety next to it. Lots of types all squished in together.

When we plant in that format, in the spring when things come up, we cannot tell the weed from “good” plant. We are afraid to pull anything. And we end up with a weed patch.

A large section of pachysandra in the front, showed me a different option.  It is so full that it keeps the weeds down. And if one pops up, it is easy to identify, and gets pulled immediately.

That has lead to our planting large sections of one plant only.

We can identify weeds in those sections. And if something “good” pops up, from a neighboring area, we can transplant it. Or give it to a neighbor.

And we still get that “full look”.

The secret to the English garden look I love, I think, is not being able to see the dirt.