We enjoyed
another HOT week last week and I spent a great deal of time making sure the
animals were well hydrated as well as the garden and my flowerbeds. It’s what you do this time of year.
Despite the heat
I did not let that deter me from getting busy early last Saturday morning and
canning eighteen pint jars of dry beans.
I was down to my last two jars son I wanted to get some more on the
shelf before I ran completely out. did
navy beans, black beans, pinto beans and a combination of black and pinto beans
that I like to use for a quick batch of refried beans. My last batch of refried beans I made I went through really fast and I actually didn’t
quite have enough when I needed them to take to a baby shower so I grabbed a
jar off the shelf and I was back in business. A perfect example of why I like to keep home canned
beans in the pantry and LTFS. It feels
very nice to have that gap filled in now.
Stella loves to help me
On Sunday I was
able to tick a few more items off my quarterly housekeeping checklist. I
washed all of my bedding including the mattress pad and pillows. At the beginning of the year and midway I
also like to rotate my mattress, vacuum it really good and clean underneath the
bed. I’ve figured out a good method for
me that works well to stand my mattress and box spring on end and lean it
against the wall so I can clean underneath the bed without too much effort.
In the garage I
purged and reorganized my stash of shipping supplies I like to keep on
hand. I reorganized my canning and
preserving supplies a little bit while I was out there. On the way home from work one day I stopped
and dropped off my glass recycling. When
I got home both the glass recycling collection bin and my regular one got a
good scrubbing with some hot soapy water and then air dried outside. More items checked off the list.
Meals I Prepared:
I
began the week by thawing and baking one of the mini tater tot casseroles I’d
meal prepped and put away in the freezer.
I’m not even going to apologize for enjoying every last bit of that thing. It was good!
Next
I needed to finish up some leftovers, including the rotisserie chicken I had
bought at Costco. I made myself a
chicken sandwich, put some of the chicken away in the freezer for later and
used the rest in a pasta salad that was nice and refreshing on a hot summer
day.
A
jar of home canned sloppy joe filling made for an easy meal a few nights and
allowed me use up three hamburger buns I had in the fridge. I toasted the buns, heated up the sloppy joe
filling and then enjoyed it along with a little green salad and a few tater
tots on the side.
I refilled the
shampoo and conditioner pump bottles I like to keep in my shower. Once again the product was so thick I could
barely get it squeezed out of the bottles so of course I watered it down to a
nice consistency. The last bottles of
shampoo and conditioner ended up lasting me about a year and a half by doing
this so I’m definitely not complaining.
While I was in
refill mode I went ahead and made up another batch of my homemade laundry detergent. I still had a third of a half
gallon jar left from the last batch I made so I dumped it into the new batch
and stirred it all up together. I ended
up filling two half gallon Mason jars so I’ll be well set for quite a
while. I then refilled the stain spray bottle
and the bleach. I don’t know why it
feels so good to get those little things done around the house, but it sure
does. I always feel so accomplished. Do you feel that way too?
Early Wednesday
morning I got up and opened all of the windows downstairs and set the box fan
at the back door to blow in the cool air while I whipped up a batch of
blueberry muffins and got those all baked up.
I’d been craving muffins (recipe is coming!) for a while so I decided to
not let a heat wave deter me, turned on the oven and baked some anyway. I’m glad I did because they were delicious
and I didn’t really heat up the house either.
Even when it is hot outside Jack still wants to snuggle
I sure hope you all had a wonderful week. Take care, stay well hydrated and stay cool!
FYI
- My retirement week runs from Friday through Thursday.
I knew you could extend the life of a bottle of shower gel/body wash by watering it down (which I do - thank you for the great tip) but I didn't know you could do the same with shampoo. I am going to try that. Would half a bottle of shampoo to half a bottle of water work? Have you used it on hair conditioners as well? This will save me a lot of money - thanks! Love your blog, by the way.
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth! It depends on how thick it is, but I usually cut both the shampoo and the conditioner with about 1/3 with water. If it is still thick I'll add a little bit more until its the consistency of runny pancake batter. Thank you for following my blog! :)
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