Tag Archives: house

House Projects, Menu plans, Uncategorized

Time To Clean the Fridge and Menu Plan

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I made a menu plan a couple of weeks ago.  That week, I cooked a lot of food, and then cruised along on the leftovers this past week.  For instance, I ate the last piece of lasagna last night for dinner along with some green beans.  I did have to cook some things, but it was minimal.  Today, when I went to make a menu plan, I quickly realized I could not make a grocery list because there was NO WAY to tell what I had or didn’t have in that over-stuffed, disorganized fridge.

So, I spent the morning cleaning it out.  I found things to toss.  I found lots of yucky stuff that had gotten tipped over, ran down the fridge, and settled into unidentifiable masses on the bottom.  There were crumbs, smears, and what looked like relish all over the shelves, and plastered to the door, even.  The leftovers were piled in stacks in no apparent order, random things like bowls of rice were piled onto mostly empty bowls of chili…..you get the idea!  So, I sorted, discarded, put contents of bottles together when people had opened new ones even though there was still some in the old one, washed and scrubbed, and ended up with a clean fridge.  Now I know exactly what I have to work with and I had a feel-good morning.  There’s nothing like clearing up a big mess to make me feel virtuous. Then,  I made a menu plan.

I am continuing with the theme I’ve had for the past couple of weeks–clean it out and use it up from the freezers, pantry and canning cupboard in preparation for summer, when I will grow a garden.

Breakfasts are choice of:  oatmeal, muffins, eggs with ham bits, homemade granola, cereal

Lunches are: leftovers such as soup, scalloped potatoes, salad, etc.

Dinners:

Today:  Rob barbecued chicken drumsticks, veggies, brown rice I cooked last week

Sunday:  Not sure yet–my sister and I still have to decide, but I’ll take whatever she tells me to bring

Monday:  Sausage and beans, using frozen pinto beans Rob cooked a few weeks ago, veggies

Tuesday:  Enchiladas, using some meat and bean mixture that was leftover from the chili-mac I made Thursday, veggies

Wednesday:  Roast beef, carrots and potatoes in crock pot

Thursday:  French Dip from leftover roast beef, carrot sticks

Friday:  Beef soup/stew with remaining beef–in Crock Pot

Saturday:  Home-made chicken nuggets, green beans, home-made fries

Veggies consist of my home-canned and frozen veggies, plus a huge bag of carrots I have.  I also have some salad greens and a cauliflower

To Make:  muffins, scalloped potatoes with ham (for lunches when there are not enough leftovers), big container of cut-up carrot and celery sticks for people to munch on, apple crisp with some apples that are getting a little wilty, roasted hazelnuts (from a bag I discovered in the freezer), and Chex Mix.

I need to buy:  1/2 and 1/2, milk, French dip buns, celery, look for potatoes on sale, and a few non-grocery items.  If I see something I regularly use on a super good sale, I may get a few more things, but I’m very pleased with the shortness of this list.  Any extra grocery money I may save will be put towards a Costco trip in a week or so.   It’s not hard to use up excess money.

So, here’s your challenge!  Does your fridge need cleaning?  Why don’t you go see what treasures you discover when you do?  It’s a feel-good job that you can accomplish in a couple of hours and you will feel “oh-so-successful” and thrifty when you do.

 

Life changes, moving

House Hunting–It Starts

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Where I live now is next to a beautiful garden.  It’s kind of small–but is clean and comfortable.  However, we are looking for our new house.  We started our quest last Monday, in earnest.  We have been spending  a lot of time on the internet looking at houses, but know it’s time to physically look at houses, in person.

We drove by one on our way home from Eastern Oregon last weekend.  After calling the realtor, we stated that we didn’t see much wrong with it from the outside, and it had an acre with it.  It was, however, far from any town, which is not our plan this time around if we can find anything closer in.  For the record, Rob and I love living out in the country, but we do still have kids to raise who like being active and it’s hard to drive so far for all of their activities.  After a conversation, the realtor admitted that the reason there were only 2 interior pictures of it on the internet was because that’s all he dared to put up.  There was very little sheetrock, places with leaks, etc., etc., etc.  So, unless they lower the price a lot, that one’s out.

Monday, we needed to come back from the beach where we were camping for a family event.  Our nephew, Jake, was adopted.  Yea!  He was hung up in the legal system for a long time, but things finally came to a conclusion on Monday.

We set up some showings.  I was very discouraged after that.  Those houses were even farther out than the first one, and in very poor condition, or very small.  VERY small, with no usable yard, no place for a garden, and the house had structural issues.  The other one had a nice big lot, but reeked of animal urine, probably had asbestos issues, and needed major structural repairs, such as a roof.  It was very far away as well.  I am beginning to appreciate my camper more and more.

Did I forget to mention the other option–the one where the well had failed and a car had driven through the side of the house, leaving a gaping hole.  We didn’t even ask to go in to that one:)

Yesterday, we had 3 houses set up to view.  We got to see 1.  By the time we got to our appointment, one had 7 offers on it, and the other one had an accepted offer.  The one we saw had a 1/3 acre lot, so nice and big, but the house was needing a lot.  The floor has soft spots, the roof is shot, there is asbestos that would need to be addressed, and there is an added-on area that we wonder if they got permits for, as the square footage is not adding up.  So, more info needed on that one, and they would have to come way down on price for us to be able to afford the  house and the repairs.  It was in a good location, though, and I liked the house.

We go again tomorrow.  Hopefully, it will be better:)  We understand that this is going to be difficult and that we are going to have to compromise greatly from what we really want.  That being said, we trust that God has a place for us out there.  We are beginning to appreciate what a challenge it may be to find it, though.  Here’s hoping…..