It is December! In
fact, the first week is pretty much done.
Can you even believe it?! For me,
it was another busy week in my tireless retired life and I am sitting here
feeling very satisfied.
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| Thanksgiving Day leftovers |
The day after Thanksgiving I spent some time going through
all of the leftovers and putting together a couple meals to reheat and eat
(they were delicious!). I had just
enough leftovers for two complete dinners, which was really nice to have on
hand. The rest of the chicken was cut
up, wrapped and tucked away into the freezer for future meals. I had two hard boiled eggs in the fridge so I
decided to turn them into deviled eggs to go with my two dinners. The two leftover dinner rolls were just right
to have with them too. I used the
vegetables from the veggie tray someone brought to add to red potatoes and
roasted them in the oven to make a sheet pan dinner later in the week. The rest of the veggies made great snacks.
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| Veggie scraps & chicken bones to make stock |
I took all of the chicken bones plus the bag I keep in the
freezer which was stuffed full of veggie scraps and put it all in my largest
slow cooker to cook down overnight to make stock. I even added a sprig of rosemary from my
garden. Once the broth was ready I
strained it and put it away in freezer containers. I have big plans for all of that delicious
brothy goodness this coming winter. Yum!
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On the way to meet friends for dinner I stopped at
Fred Meyer to pick up oranges & milk that were on sale |
On Black Friday evening I met my gal pals for dinner out at
a nearby restaurant. Then I spent Saturday
afternoon helping a friend with a drywall repair project in her bathroom. Once we got that little chore done she
treated me to pizza and salad bar for lunch.
After lunch we stopped into Home Depot to pick up a few supplies and
then back at her house I replaced a couple of light switches in her front
entryway. She seemed rather pleased with
my handywoman skills as she ticked those items off of her “to do” list.
I treated myself to something on Black Friday, actually it
was Sunday, but it was a Black Friday special.
I signed up for a year subscription of Hulu & Disney + for $2.99 a
month. I could’ve done just Hulu for 99¢
a month, but I decided not to cheap out – Ha, ha! I wanted to reward myself for having a really
good 2024 and celebrate all that I’ve accomplished this year! I’m thoroughly enjoying my new TV subscription.
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| Time to put Fall away! |
Last Sunday morning found me gathering up and putting away
all of the Fall décor that was scattered throughout my house. Once all of that was tucked back into its bin
and put back on the shelf in the garage I carried in the Christmas bin. Needless to say, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! My tree is up and I even managed to get my
fruitcakes made using my grandma’s recipe. They don’t taste as good as
hers, but they’ll do. Especially once I
soak them in the brandy I bought.
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I've done a good job streamlining my Christmas decor
down to these two bins which includes my tree & wreath |
I worked all day Monday and had Tuesday and Wednesday off,
then worked a half day on Thursday. That
was just the right amount of “working” this past week along with the long
holiday weekend. I had other things to
do. I literally spent the majority of
Tuesday relaxing, watching TV and snuggling with my kitties.
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| I tested the fruitcake! |
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| And made myself a new candle |
On Wednesday morning I gathered up a couple of spent jar
candles that still had quite a bit of wax left in them as well as my small bin
of candle supplies and decided to make a couple new candles. I placed the jars in my slow cooker to melt
the wax and once melted I poured them together (vanilla + hazelnut crème) to
make two small nice smelling candles to burn this Christmas season.
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| A foggy morning |
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While I worked to clean up the last of the leaves a flock of birds flew
overhead and $h!t all over me. Then they came back and did it again!
No good deed goes unpunished! 😂 |
It was a very foggy morning, but I was able to turn my
attention later in the afternoon to cleaning up leaves in my yard anyway. I got out the mulcher to suck up a pile of
leaves and filled up the trash can I keep in the backyard. The chickens will have plenty to leaf litter
to put down and scratch around in this winter and spring.
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| At least the chickens got some leaves to play in |
After work on Thursday afternoon I walked over to Winco and
got some fresh produce before walking downtown to the bus station and catching
a ride home. By the time I got home it
was dark, pretty chilly and the fog was rolling back in again. It made for a nice wintry walk from the bus
stop to my house.
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| Cornbread & beans |
Meals I Prepared:
After finishing up the
Thanksgiving Day leftovers I was in a mood for some yummy hot soup. I thawed and reheated a container of Thai
Curry Soup I had put away in the freezer.
I ate that with the last of the holiday dinner rolls. I also thawed a ham steak I had cut off the Easter
ham and put away in my freezer and used it along with a cup of navy beans, some
diced onion and carrots to make a small pot of soup. I baked a batch of cornbread to go with that
soup and it was delicious.
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| I also made this small batch of spanish rice using up leftovers |
One evening I pan fried a couple
of burger patties and baked a potato in the microwave. I cleared the remaining vegetables from the
crisper drawer to roast in the oven as a side dish. I used one burger patty, half of the potato
and a nice sized serving of the roasted vegetables to make a nice dinner.
That pretty well sums up my latest week of retirement. I absolutely love how my home looks and feels
right now. I am feeling very Christmas
ready this year and I am looking forward to everything the season has to offer. Have you put up your tree yet or done any
decorating?
