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A wonderful, important post! I've been thinking very similar things lately. We are replacing our back door because it has a window, and we want a solid door for more safety. I have a story about butter. I made a cottage pie for the freezer and wanted to have some frozen cookie dough balls to go with it for a complete meal. Since I'd just had a milk and egg delivery from the local farm, I made some butter from the cream for my cookies, and followed the recipe as written. Even though I used the stated amount of butter for the recipe, it was obvious that there was too much butter in the baked cookies. (I didn't freeze all of the dough.) Then it struck me that my farm milk has a much higher content of fat in the cream, and I should have adjusted!

We have fixed so many things wrong with our house this year that it finally feels comfortable. Comfortable in the way where you don't even have to think about it because everything works. It's the working background for the life inside the home. I finally threw out all of my meal plans and decided to create meals by what is in the garden, and it works a lot better than artificial meal plans. I got this idea from watching YouTube videos, some from people using what inexpensive ingredients they had to make meals, and part from the medieval diet that stayed the same but constantly changed. The basic medieval meal plan was bread and pottage, maybe some stewed meat, dairy, and fruits and nuts when available. The form stayed the same, but the ingredients changed with the seasons. Ruth Goodman in one of her videos pointed out that butter was made in the spring when the fat content was highest in the milk, and cheese was made later. That level of seasonality impressed me. Tomorrow night is chicken and dumplings with lots of vegetables from the garden, and that's our pottage for the day. 

When my house had things wrong with it, I felt like the outside world was intruding on my home since it was the outside world that had built my home so ridiculously, and that I was constantly fighting against the world even in my own home. Now that we've got almost everything fixed, my home feels like a refuge, and I feel safe and confident that I can keep the outside world outside when it belongs! 

After all of the lettuce recalls, I became determined to grow more lettuce. Maybe it's my small act of rebellion against a crazy world! I am experimenting with growing lettuce in a cold frame to see how long it lasts through the winter. I got another arch trellis too, since the winter squash one worked so amazingly well. I will grow peas then cucumbers on the new trellis next year. We grew a good amount of potatoes this year, but it took a lot of space. After watching Ruth Goodman talk about foods in their seasons, I realized that potatoes were for spring and summer, and sweet potatoes, which are ridiculously easy to grow and store well, are for fall and winter. 

I've very much enjoyed the video recommendations from others. I will throw out a recommendation of my own, and it's Ben Maton on YouTube. He goes around to old churches in the UK and plays beautiful music on their organs. He has excellent light commentary about history. His brother, Billy, sometimes sings the old songs, and that's a special treat. Ben attended Oxford.

I have started some fall plantings and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will make it.  The heat has been really hard on my vegetable plants this summer.

I am still clearing out my kitchen cabinets and to some extent, the closets.  I plan to keep this up for as long as I can still find things I can bear to part with. I always feel calmer when there is less clutter. I find that if I return to a de-cluttered spot a few months later, I almost always find something else to sell or give away, that I could have gotten rid of the first time.

I grew up with country cooking and still cook it a lot, but I have added some other dishes.  Picadillo is a favorite, as is jambalaya, shawarma and some curries. I moved to Florida decades ago, so I learned to make things like shrimp and grits, scallops, and different ways to cook fish such as flounder.  As a kid in the upper south, we always only ate fried catfish, which I confess I still love.  My method of cooking these days is mostly to cook once and eat 2 or 3 times, with some exceptions. 

My pear tree has a bit of disease, but every 2 or 3 years I get a decent crop of disease-free pears.  The tree is old and the hurricanes "pruned" it greatly, but I was able to reach and pick a five-gallon bucket full of sand pears, which I then peeled, cored, sliced, cooked down, ran through a food mill and made pear sauce out of them.  I eat it as a side dish or with pork.  I canned 13 pint jars of pear sauce, which will last me a while since I'm the only one here these days.  

I am also getting ready to paint my bathroom.  The walls are washed and the taping is done.  I bought the paint on sale.

I enjoy getting out with a friend or family member and thrifting.  This weekend I went with a family member who is into fitness training and she found a $350 work out bench at an estate sale for $80.  I found a grocery cart with stair-climbing wheels for another family member who wants one.  It was marked $15, but I got it for $10 just by asking.  My goal is to limit what I bring into the house to 95% useful and 5% just because I truly love it.  I usually leave thrift stores and estate sales with nothing, but I still go, because now and then, I find just what I, or someone I know, is looking for.

I have been machine sewing some household items.  I want to learn some other handicraft skills, but I think winter, or at least chilly weather, is a better time for me to do so.  

Having just cleaned out my brother's unit, I don't want a single bit of clutter in my life ever again - I have a very few little keepsakes from my mum and dad and that's it, nothing else.  He died less than a fortnight ago, and I have his ashes here (no funeral, just a bare cremation which none of us attended as it was privately done) and then we've had the absolute nightmare of cleaning out his entire unit - and that equals his entire life.  He had so much junk, we ended up getting professionals in to clear it and as it's in a retirement village it was a matter of doing it then rather than later.  
We still have to get it professionally cleaned as at our age it's too much for us - and then there's the other nightmare of all his banking, paperwork and so on, very much ongoing and I never dreamed it'd be this hard.

Bear in mind that so far we've done four trips in six weeks, before and after his death, and each of those trips means a four hour drive each way - and still more to come.  We're exhausted, mentally and physically.  I'm struggling to even get meals on the table but I'm managing just the same - no take away meals happening here, thank heavens for freezers.

Oh Pam! That sounds so hard. Please be good to yourself during this challenging time.

I made the most wonderful cake for my husband's birthday. My daughter said it was the best cake I've ever made. I don't make cakes very often anymore but I think this will become my signature dessert for special occassions. Somehow it seems right to have one dessert done well than a bunch of different things that no one really stops to appreciate.  I want it to become something they anticipate because it only happens for a special reason. 

Happy that Charles's follow up was positive. You worked hard to tilt a positive outcome in your favor. 

Within the last few hours I've developed a cold. I've tried home remedies and nothing seems to help. 

Thinking of Pam as she negotiates such a tough time.

Good to hear that Charles is healing well and what a tasty looking celebration meal.

With the last day of meteorological summer in the UK we are slowly moving into autumn, the mornings are cooler and here in the east of the country we’ve finally had some rain so the garden is much happier and the Wisteria that grows up the back of the cottage has decided to flower again, lovely.

I am still picking tomatoes and courgettes so plan for today is to make a big batch of ratatouille to portion up & freeze, think I might have enough toms to make some soup as well, we love to have a taste of summer during the cold months especially with a dash of Worcestershire sauce on top.

Hi, Grandma Donna and fellow commentators! :)

First of all, I am happy to hear that Grandpa Charles is recovering well! Praying for both of you!

Here in Portugal and Europe in general, unfortunately criminality has also become higher. In some cases, like in Ceuta right now, people are making justice through their own hands, due to the fear they are feeling and we all know how that ends, so all we can do is make our homes safe and comfortable and the place we can come to at the end of the day and feel at peace.

Regarding your question about other countries, I would love if you both could come to Portugal! I know you would love it! :)

Although we are not in the Mediterranean, we do eat mostly a Mediterranean diet, because of all the sea traveling and faring our ancestors did. So, we eat lots of fish, seafood and yes, we eat snails, too! And they taste delicious, believe me! ;)

But we also eat meat, sweets, vegetables and fruit, which makes it a balanced diet, I think.

And we also eat croissants! Although it is a traditional French recipe, it is spread all over the world as you know and I usually prefer the brioche version over the puff one. But they both taste delicious.

These sites have many of Portugal's traditional recipes and some of our history, because we all know you love history, Grandma Donna! ;) Hope you like it and visit Portugal through it!

https://portuguesecooking.com/

https://onu.missaoportugal.mne.gov.pt/en/about-por...

PS - I sent you an email!

Love, hugs and prayers to you, Grandpa Charles and your furbabies!

Thank you Donna for your inspiring post. I love to hear what you are learning about and your viewpoint on life.  Keep up the good work. 

Pam, I'm so sorry for your loss and I can't imagine how tired you and your family must be feeling right now.

Praying for all of you.

I love to see pictures of the past in your home. Your meals always look delicious and peaceful. That might sound strange but busyness always makes me tense and simplicity relaxes me. I can feel my shoulders and gut relax if things are simple, organized and clean. 

I, recently, made a one bowl chocolate cake from a recipe I found in an old book years and years ago. It was for a birthday gathering and my adult grand daughter is vegan and I am gluten free. I made it both; gluten free and vegan with a vegan cream cheese icing. That works well for people who need to avoid dairy and gluten. It was delicious. Even those who ate the bakery cake wanted some of the chocolate cake and they preferred it. Next time, I will just make the vegan chocolate cake since everyone loved that. I prefer the old recipes, they work good even with substitutions. 

I grind our own gluten free flour. Recently, I have been grinding sorghum berries, millet, teff and sprouted brown rice. Sorghum flour can be used cup for cup in place of regular flour for baked goods. I always add flax seed meal, after putting the ground flour in the container, and mix it in really well. The flax seed is a good thickener and can be used with water as an egg substitute.

     I think alot about alternate ingredients and how to substitute in recipes. If times get to the point where foods are scarce or unavailable it is a good idea to know what to use that still makes a meal delicious and appealing. 

      We have discussed the next years garden, Lord willing. We are both close to 80, but hope to have more years ahead. I suggested to my husband that we do a garage purge this summer in order to make one side (we have a two car garage) a growing space for winter should we need it. My husband starts our seeds early in the garage under grow lights already, so it is not a big jump to grow cool weather crops in there. Our garage is heated and we keep it at 45 in winter. Our past three winters have been mild, but we live in an area where it can drop well below zero.

    I always enjoy your posts gDonna. Thank you.

A wonderful post as always. It's my treat for the day :)

I too have always wanted to travel and experience other places and cultures. I have experienced a bit of that and will forever be grateful for those opportunities. But dealing with airports and all the stress that goes with it has put me off traveling. So now we take trips by car and if you research the areas around where you live, you find all kinds of interesting things to visit. I watch a lot of YouTube videos from other countries and enjoy them very much. Two from Japan that is very calming and inspiring is Kuro and the other is Obayasa. The second one is of an 82 year old grandmother and her grandson. I've learned so much from her about gardening, like using rice husks to improve the soil! 

I grew up in South Africa and left when I was 23 and emigrated to the USA. My mom was an English South African and my dad and Afrikaner. So I had both "cultures" or heritages. From the Afrikaner side we have a few traditional foods: Koeksisters and Milk Tart are desserts; Bobotie and Vetkoek are meals. All of these use basic ingredients that most people have in their pantries. From the English side we had all kinds of hand "pies" like pasties or pie and gravy. (pie is not like the American pies, but closer to pot pies) Let me know if you try any of these!   :)

Stephanie G, thanks for the recommendation for Ben Maton, I love organ music. 

I planted one watermelon plant and it gave me 2 watermelons. They are the Sugar Baby type that are small. Here is a picture of one of them. God put a heart on it for me :) 

Oh by the way, after your last post on the faucet replacing our kitchen faucet started spewing water. So guess who is going to attempt replacing it!

I am going thru a phase of having to fix or replace a few things but am taking the time to look at each situation carefully before deciding if I really need it before replacing.  

I have defrosted and cleaned both freezers and figured out how to fix the lid on the chest freezer with supplies on hand. I also figured out a fix for my spray mop. I can't do my kitchen floor on my knees anymore. I can do a good job with the spray mop. 

Yesterday I made butter in the blender with some half and half. I was given 13 quarts because it was going out of date and I removed a small amount from each container and froze it until I could deal with it. I saved the buttermilk and made a few biscuits and will use some for breading or when I have more I will make a buttermilk pie. I can freeze it until I have more. 

I love being at home and do feel safe but I am not blind to the things going on out in the world. I try to be prudent and cautious but not overly so. I do remind myself daily that this not normal. but I can live in my normal. 

The heat is coming back for us this week, we have had plenty of rain so are fighting mosquitoes. having to stay inside more but I have plenty to do inside.

can someone point me to the post about making sour cream. I thought I had marked it but evidently not

Thank you.

Please forgive the lack of punctuation, my keyboard is messed up. I am getting it replaced this evenin

The pace of the world changing seems to be coming quicker and quicker. There is a lot of violent crime here in Australia as well. I always lock the car doors when I am driving anywhere and check my surrounding when I am walking anywhere. 

G. Donna like yourself and others here we have made our home more comfortable and have added beds and extra comfortable chairs. There is so much that is negative around us. I have been working hard to increase the positives. 

I have been working on myself. I have written on here before about the difficulties I have had with my mother. I have been listening to a podcast about how to care for a mother who did not care for you and it has helped me greatly. 

We have just welcomed our first grandchild and our children are embracing the concept of it takes a village. We are so happy to be part of that journey. Goodness, I was rusty at nappy changing, though. :) It's been a while. 

We go to weekend markets to buy fruit and vegetables from the growers. I am always hoping to find sellers of heirloom vegetable seedlings but there are never any. I thought why don't I do that. If I am looking others might be too. So I did. I have had a stall the last two weeks and people have been happy to see me there. I have made a little money and the sense of community and chatting to like minded people has been really nice. 

Grandma Donna there is so much that you write that I can respond to. Everything you say rings true for me and reaffirms the way I try live my life. 

We are working hard now to set up our lifestyle for when we are both retired. A very simple lifestyle similar to your own. I do not mind that we won't ever go overseas. This is only a recent phenomenon, my grandparents never travelled on a plane and neither of my grandmother's ever drove a car, but both could ride a horse and manage a horse and sulky. 

I am glad to hear that Charles is recovering so well and I send my best wishes to Mrs Margaret Zucchini. 

I am glad Charles is doing well. I am new to your blog and was wondering where you live?
I am on the verge of decciding that travel is not in it for me, except for maaaybe a trip to Germany and Scotland. And other places in the states maybe. 

I am envious of your garden in any form. It is too hot in FL. *Whew*

This week, I cleaned out the pantry and figured out just what all we need to move forward for the year. In FL we can prettym uch buy what we need all the time, unlike say, Alaska, but it is SO hot that the farmer markets are kind of few and far between and I just can't get a good amount to 'can' for the future. So it is canned goods, dehydrating and vacuum sealing pretty much for me. Which is fine too. 

I am working on having a tiny house built this coming year. I have talked with an architect (sp?) and he has all my ideas of what I want, but next year, I will need to sell my home to go forward with this plan. I am debt free so I will pay cash for the little house and my daughter is letting me put it on her property also!

Please don't hate but the majority of my Christmas shopping is done too, lol. I don't have much anymore it seems and of course, there are little edible treats closer to the holidays, but for now most of it is done!

And lastly, a girls trip to the beach! (30 minutes away , lol) My two sisters and a cousin are coming in fron NC and then Dallas and we will go frolic in the waves....or waddle down the beeach in my case, lol. But good food and celebrations will be had

getting my house ready to sell and I will be moving either to a condo or just a rented apartment.  It is sad to give up the yard and the garden but also a relief as it has been harder to care for plus I have to work more hours generally.  I do feel sad about leaving behind many things I enjoyed here like the shore line of a local lake that I regularly used to walk to and see heron waiting for their catch or eagles soaring high overhead.  I have seen fox and huge snapping turtles, and deer, and bear while walking around the neighborhood.  One time I had an entire family of baby red fox pups peeking out at me.  I think they wanted to plan with my dog who wasn't much bigger than they were.  I find this week I am a bit sad about two things - I am trying to find my piano a new home and that is sad but I am not going to lug it to an apartment and also do use one there I would need to create some kind of acoustic barrier.  And I am going to miss playing my fiddle at full volume.  I will need to figure out some kind of solution for that like maybe heading to a local park or something.  And yes, I can use a mute.  On the other hand I will be able to walk many places including local library, book stores, art classes, bakery.  Which I certainly can't do here.  I generally can be happy nearly anywhere but yes, there have been and will continue to be some sad goodbyes...

Margaret P, I hope your cold does not take hold.  My daughter has taken on a cold in just the past three days.  You have to get better, I just named my squash after you.  :)

Barbara D, I live very close to the state line of Florida.  Charles and I live in Dothan Ala.   We are learning to fall and winter garden, we are growing less in the summer and more in the winter, so far it is working.  I cannot take much more of this heat this summer, it has been brutal. 

Michelle K, Congratulations to your first grandchild, believe me you will be right back on track with diaper changes and that rusty skill will be well oiled. :)

Stephanie G, I have never seen Ben Maton on Youtube, I popped over there and will go back and enjoy some of his videos.  Wonderful organ music with history to learn as well. :)

Joan S, best of luck with the painting, you sound very organized with getting it all set up before painting.  

Pam, I am sorry about the loss of your brother.  Charles and I completely understand how overwhelming it is to clean out a family members home.  His unit being overfilled is so overwhelming and to have a time limit to do it makes it more difficult.  No time for proper grieving must feel like a huge weight on you. We will be thinking of you in our hearts while you get through this difficult time.  

I will leave it here, my bread timer is going off.  Hugs to everyone, glad to see you all here in the forum. I am enjoying all of your comments and suggestions and places to check out. 

Grandma Donna

Thank you, Grandma Donna, for your encouraging words. I would love to hear more about your memories of the old days and maybe ideas for how to incorporate those ways into modern life. 

It's so good to hear that Charles is doing so well. The celebratory meal looks delicious- what a great idea to do that! 

I've been trying to not do too much and to sit with my husband on the couch each evening- this pleasant end to our day seems to make everything all right, no matter what has happened.

Grandma Donna, I am so pleased to read that Charles is doing well after his surgery!

I’ve never had much of a travel bug, but I do like learning to cook recipes from other countries and cultures.

We live in an area of the U.S.A. that’s had many of those teen/youth takeovers on the streets and at shopping centers, including in our own town.  I truthfully am unwilling to go to shops in the evenings and even to some shopping centers on weekends.  Another big thing has been stealing catalytic converters, and even wheels off cars in shopping centers.  There is no way to completely protect ourselves or our belongings, but we do have an alarm system with indoor and outdoor cameras, and loud barking dogs.  I think we are pretty safe in terms of harm to our bodies (walking in our neighborhoods is safe), but property theft is a problem.

I’ve been working on more frugal baking recipes.  While our family brownie recipe is already rather frugal for being dairy free and using cocoa powder and oil instead of chocolate chips or baking chocolate and butter, I decided dairy free blondies would be even more economical, and found a recipe that worked well.  I used light olive oil in the trial run and will switch to freshly ground white Sonora wheat next time, to add a bit more nutrition.  I also conquered a dairy free basic drop sugar cookie.  I guess I am doing what some of the news articles I’ve read about grocery prices have mentioned, and shifting down what I cook and bake.  Dairy free chocolate chips are too expensive to use in everyday cookies.

We have found a happy medium with a pescatarian diet at home.  I thought we might spend more eating fish, but three people eating fish 2-3 times a week isn’t any more expensive than me eating some sort of meat everyday, especially since if we eat fish three times in a week the third time is canned tuna.  I have decided to stop worrying about protein and to see the propaganda for what it is — most people in developed nations get more protein than they need, and I know my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents never worried about getting enough protein.  If we cook from scratch using unprocessed and minimally processed foods we’re going to be eating a nutritious diet without having to think about macros.  This simplification has been a huge relief for me.  Baked beans and brown bread is a perfectly acceptable dinner!

I have meal planned with a seasonal template for 20+ years, and now I’ve made it even simpler.  Fish for dinner twice a week, one tilapia, one salmon, and we don’t get bored because I cook them different ways throughout the month.  Pinto beans and rice once a week on Bible study night because it’s easy and we can leave it for our son to eat after he gets home, plus he makes a couple of lunches from the leftovers.  A lentil main dish once a week — there are so many to choose from just from the recipes I know by heart.  Soup on Friday nights, and that same soup again on Sunday night (only in fall and winter) and we could go three or more months without repeating soup recipes if they didn’t have favorites they like me to make.  Then one night for leftovers or freezer leftovers (homemade), or perhaps an egg main dish or a different bean dish.  Each night I decide on a complex carb depending on what we’re in the mood for and what we have on hand.  Brown rice with pinto beans.  Quinoa with fish one night, or potatoes if we have them.  Potatoes or whole wheat toast with eggs.  Cornbread with baked beans.  Whole wheat pita bread with lentil dishes, or perhaps a lentil casserole with brown rice.  Whole wheat rolls with soup, or sometimes a baguette or Italian bread if the soup is based on potatoes and we want to enjoy a white flour bread.  Then I plug in seasonal and sale produce, using frozen if the fresh is too expensive.  I buy cut green beans in 5# bags for $6.49.  They are intended for food service but we like the smaller cut just fine and they also work well in soups/stews/casseroles.  Roasted carrots are inexpensive, as is a bell peppers sliced and sautéed with a couple of onions.  I buy and cook zucchini all summer when the price is good.  Frozen peas go in several dishes.  My husband likes to make salads several times a week which costs more but I make it work with the budget.  I was buying frozen spinach from Walmart but we’ve been a bit worried about loose and processed greens, so I am thinking about buying canned spinach.

We find that the pantry and freezer are quite full, which means money we have spent on food we haven’t eaten, so we are doing a Shelf-tember month (even though the person who originally coined the term no longer posts to her website).  I decided not to tell my son about our challenge, because I don’t think he will even notice.  My husband is 100% on board.  If I break out annual budget out by month we are slightly overspent, but what I have spent to far includes many bulk and sale purchases — we won’t have to buy coffee for the rest of the year, for example.  I am fairly confident I could set the same annual budget for 2027 and still manage with rising grocery prices, as I know we splurged on certain ingredients and treats this year.  We budget $800 per month (but in an annual budget so we can stock up when necessary) for three adults, one of whom is an athlete and eats as much as two adults along with entirely too much breakfast cereal, and that also covers paper products, cleaning products, toiletries, and other sanitary products, and also groceries that I buy for my daughter when her funds are running low.

Something caught my eye this morning when I was checking the weather on line and wanted to share.  It was an ad for an embroidery book kit.  And it was made to appeal  with pictures of nice linen pages with what appeared to be printed embrodiery designs, thread, etc and glowing reviews.  So that made me suspicious.  My usual go to for this type of suspicion is first to see if it is for sale on Amazon and if so what are the reviews.  Similar kits were there, all looking fairly shoddy and with sketchy reviews.  Then I searched for "actual reviews" of the original kit and learned, without surprise, that the reviews were generally terrible.  

I learned basic embroidery I guess about 50 years ago.  First things were pieces of printed fabric where I would basically outline the printed design with floss of my own choosing.  Over the years I have learned to sew, including making my own clothes, curtains, etc.,   I have also learned basic knitting and crochet, cross stitch, weaving, rug making, etc.  Quilting has stuck with me with the other things much more occasional.   Naturally over the many years I have gathered  a fair amount of gear.  I find that I have 3 very full button boxes - Mother's grandmother's and one I found at a yard sale I have packets of needles with advertising on them from the 40s and 50s and craft books going back to the 40s.  Honestly the quality of the needles, which have generally made it this far without even rusting, is better than what I can find locally.   I have kitchen and garden and craft tools that will likely still be useful 50 or 100 years from now and I do still use them.  

So I want to say that if you are young and seeking these things or the knowledge that goes with them, don't trust some of the modern advertising and waste your money on shoddy things.  I recently bought sewing sheers made by wiss for I think $15.  They came in a leather sheath but were fairly discolored.  I had a local man sharpen them and they are in perfect working condition now and lovely for cutting fabric.  I refurbished a vintage singer featherweight machine also.  and I sew with a lovely, heavy, and well balanced thimble from I don't even know what age.  It is engraved with someone's initials.  Asking on a community sharing Facebook page two years ago brought me a vintage quilting hoop in immaculate condition that was quite pricey when I first wanted one 30 years ago but was free for the ask.   So if you are young and want to learn these crafts seek out some of these useful items which will be disappearing more quickly now - estate sales, yard sales, library sales marketplace, asking around. 

I also have some very nice instruments that will need a home eventually.

And if like me you start to get to the end of your interest or use of things, find new homes for them with younger folk when you can.  Don't wait until  you have to get rid of them quickly.  There are people who will treasure them and use them and some of the quality may never be found again.   I have a daughter who has already claimed a few things, lol.  My son up to now has only wanted the most modern but recently he took my old acoustic guitar into the shop for a new set up and strings saying because it was older and therefore better made than what he could afford now (it isn't really all that old - 30 years maybe lol)   But other things I have been happily finding new homes for as I downsize.  I mostly give them away as selling isn't worth the hassles and people are so grateful.  I still think with gratitude of the woman that gave me her aunts beautiful quilting hoop which has now held two quilts to completion. and maybe also give away your talents!  And thank you to G Donna who has been doing that for years : )

That's it, but these AI created books and cheap kits are not worth the money and I think will turn people off the crafts!

Good morning all. The news is so dismal I try not to watch much at all anymore. Most of the really tough stuff I will hear from someone talking about it anyway. Lately I have been so busy that I rarely have time to watch T.V. My daughter watches some of her educational videos but we have been trying to keep the t.v. off as much as possible. 

This month I am starting to watch my electric meter numbers as Grandma Donna has demonstrated before. I was concerned that all my sons medical equipment (two ventilators, two suction pumps, his feeding pump, pulse oxymeter, small refrigerator for his meds and formula, air purifier, AC unit, and microwave and Keurig for the nurses) was going to drive the electric bill real high.  But we were surprised to see not much of an impact this last month. The weather has been fairly decent here in Maryland, USA for August. Which is good because the AC unit we bought for my son's room stopped pushing cold air already! Which I might have mentioned before. That's likely helped our electric bill. I have been hand drying all of our clothes except for my 19 year old son's clothes (he does them himself)  and the dog blankets. Clotheslines do not beat dog fur out of blankets like a drier does. I calculated the cost of running our drier for one hour with our current prices per KWH and it came out to about 75 cents a load. That adds up. 

On the 27th baby Jacob had his first birthday. We had a small BBQ but cooked the burgers on the stove because a storm was rolling in. The storm knocked power went out. It was only out for about an hour and a half but we took note of things we need to prepare better for....lighting was the biggest issue. I have oil lamps but you don't take oil lamps on a room with compressed oxygen! So we need a solar light bulb or battery powered for Jacobs room. We do have a generator now too so we managed to get a small lamp plugged in but I would like another source.

Keeping ourselves busy really does help mentally. I have had to answer some mental health questions when I went to my last doctor's visit at the veterans hospital. They knew everything going on with our family and were scrutinizing my mental health closer than usual to be sure I'm handling it well. They were shocked by my answers because I appear and feel like I am handling things very well. Having witnessed as much hard stuff as we have this year...the hard stuff that we encountered before feels like absolutely nothing to worry about anymore. Plus they noted that I keep busy. I suspect they think I'm going to crash mentally eventually because keeping busy is keeping my mind off of all we've been through and maybe they think I've chose not to process it. I don't think so. I think I've fully processed it all and am just so dang grateful little man made it and we are back home again that there will be no mental crash in the future. I don't see anything wrong with keeping busy. Ruminating on bad stuff all day because we have too much free time is not a healthy way to manage mentality! Focusing on being grateful and handling what is in our control helps too. 

Today is the first day of a new month. I've set goals for the month and will focus on my household and meeting those goals. It feels so good to be home. 

One last thing, someone mentioned a YouTube video about the 1940's house wife in the last forum...I have played that video in my ear more times than I'd like to admit. This last week I bought a new day planner that looks a bit vintage. I was looking at new pencils or pens to go with it and realized I had all kinds of pens and pencils so I was not in need. But then I saw a pack of ordinary pencils on sale for 47 cents. In honor of that video and old times I decided I am only going to use an old fashioned, ordinary pencil in my day planner this year....I will use those pencils down to the stub and care for it as if it is valuable and costly to replace. Sounds silly to most, I'm sure, but at one time pencils were valuable and costly to replace and in some parts of the world, I'm sure they still are. 

Grandma Donna, have you ever attempted to make your own butter? We have a butter churn. With a pint or quart of heavy whipping cream and a little salt (if you like) you and Charles can make your own small batches of butter. Maybe a local dairy sells cream that you can use to make it. You can even get little presses and make little butter patties with vintage designs on them. I might do that again myself. I haven't made butter in forever....

Kieva, it is lovely to hear about Jacob’s first birthday — congratulations and blessings to your family!

I am stopping in to wish everyone a happy and peaceful September, and a blessed fall or spring depending on where you live.  I’d forgotten yesterday to post that I will be offline for September — no social media, no news, no message boards, no blogs, etc.  Once again it feels like the screens have started taking over our lives.  I’m sure in part it is because our dog needed emergency surgery and we are in week three of a four week recovery that requires he be leashed or in a kennel at all times to prevent any running or jumping, which means one of us has had him attached to us from waking to bedtime.  It’s difficult to do things with a dog attached to you, and sitting with a phone or tablet is easy!  But like everyone else, we also fall prey to the intentional addictive nature of the content on phones and computers, with their endless scroll programming.  We can even start to believe that it is how we choose to spend our time, not realizing how it is designed to capture and hold onto our attention.

I have a nice stack of books to read (owned by us and library books), handwork to do, in person social activities, and more.  We have been looking at the things that distract us and pull us to our phones.  The forum experiment last year taught me that the best thing for me to do is leave my phone plugged in and set on its side showing me the day/date and time, like a clock, and then to set a timer (I use a Time Timer visual timer) set for 30 minutes to do any computer work in the morning — updating the budget, checking email, reviewing the meal plan, print recipes, etc.  My goal is to have all of that done before 8:30 a.m. each morning.

My husband started wearing an analog watch with the day and date, since he found himself checking those on his phone.  I am still wearing a digital watch, but I set the complications to show me what I check most often on my phone — the temperature, the UV index, sunrise and sunset times, and three metrics from our solar electric system (how much we have in the battery, how much solar we are making, and how much electricity we are using), plus of course the time, the day, the date, and the month.  This should eliminate 80% of my phone pickups — the complications for the solar electric system are fantastic and until two days ago I didn’t even know they existed.  My watch is a good compromise, as I can’t access a browser or social media apps on it, and it allows me to walk away from my phone and leave it in one spot without worrying about missing calls or texts from family members.

Grandma Donna, thank you again for all of the inspiration and advice you offer!  Having done the technology break with the forum last year made planning this year’s break much easier.  I hope Charles continues to recover well and enjoys his new hip very much!

First, yay for C's good doctor visit :-)

Also, you might laugh Queen's Cake!  That's what it was!  I was looking through a very old cookbook recently and was thinking of you ~ I knew there was a recipe that you were researching at one time and couldn't remember what it was.  So thank you for mentioning it.

Isn't tatting work beautiful.  It's been a while since I've done any so would probably have to do some relearning also.  How wonderful that you and a neighbor sat and tatted for a bit.

Also, I love how you said that, "I have to rearrange my thinking..."  Well said!  I am in need of doing so at times also.  An odd thing you might "get" as I explain ~ I found some old Country Living magazines from the 80s for 2.5 cents each (4 for 10 cents).  I bought the stack.  I began reading them by the month they were published for.  I've found the articles so wholesome.  One by a fella describing how he would take his coffee out and chop some wood and how peaceful it was, another by a gal who went with a friend to some antique shops in search of good gathering baskets.  It seems the language was different then - kinder and less about selling ideas or products.  Anyways, kinda takes me back and is easy to get lost in such things.  Also, it's easy reading so nice in the evening before bed etc.

I have come to similar conclusions about how we live that you express in this article. I am not poor and I am not rich. I live with some ease partly because I live in Canada. But like many present here, I budget. I also cannot dine out. I consider that I have a high standard of living. I am retired, I stay home most of the time. I eat fresh vegetables that I grow and have planted fruit trees that are not yet producing, and like another commenter, I grow different types of lettuce year round, 5 at a time of sowing about every 2 to 3 weeks. I live alone and this is enough. Sometimes I think that to get to this stage of thinking you have to be older and have seen much to know what's actually important. We all go through stages, and sooner or later we realize that money doesn't buy happiness. I kind of think that people with lots of money have much bigger psychological problems than those without. Yes of course we need money, but we shouldn't become slaves to it, and we don't need to be part of the system. Not being part of the system is getting harder. I try to role model what I think. I worry for my kids. I worry for all the animal species. I have a 'dumb' phone. I don't stream anything. I like a book in my hands. And yes, I'm on the iPad too much. I don't tat, but I'm a late bloomer to crochet, and I have to go through a review process every time. A good thing to remember is that the world is what we make it and we can make it differently if we so choose

"Focusing on being grateful and handling what is in our control helps too."

Yes,Kieva this is so true! I've had a couple of times in my life where family was hanging over me concerned about my mental state. They thought I was going to lose it. Never happened. I was fine. I made sure I slept well, I looked forward to many different things and prayed, trusting I'd handle it. 

My husband has (somewhat) installed our new downstairs toilet, after multiple plumbers refused to come in.  It's hooked up to the sewer and hooked up to the cold water feed, but it still leaks slightly from the tank at the top and he's already adjusted the seals twice.  The first time it was pouring water;  now it's just a tiny drip.  Third time lucky?  Although it's not as pretty as I'd like, at least it was cheap:  I had pretty much reached the end of the money I'd earmarked by this point, or within about £100.  We stayed within budget after all.  Saving money for other house repairs/upgrades now, to make it more elderly accessible as we want to live out the rest of our lives here.

Donna, did you make that mochi yourself? 

I was thinking about croissants.
They are definitely very difficult to make 'perfect' as something is always liable to go wrong. For me, usually the butter leaks out in the oven. Probably due to lamination.
I try to rise them in the fridge before baking, and bake in a hot oven, but still.
They are incredibly tasty thankfully.
My recommendation to anyone looking for a very small amount of croissants would be to make a recipe for 6, and then freeze the formed raw croissants, or the cooked ones. Then you have just what you need at one time, and in the future you can bake off a fresh one, or thaw out a cooked one.
And nothing takes over your freezer, as it is 6 total, instead of the usually dozen. (or in my family, 18 :P)

In the US as a whole, groceries are the cheapest they've ever been compared to incomes, though that might not be relevant for folks on a fixed income. Crime is also lower than most of the last century, depending on how you count it, though part of this may be due to people behaving more cautiously. But it could be the opposite in your town specifically. And medical care is undoubtedly more expensive than ever before.

I am sorry that your hopes of visiting places and trying foreign cuisines there are looking unlikely. I think it's a wonderful idea to learn to cook them at home. I did not learn cooking from my parents; I learned to cook from an Indian cookbook I purchased in college at a used library sale. It's my favorite cuisine.

Since most countries are poorer than the US, most of their cuisines have many frugal options. What is cheap in those countries is not always what is cheap here, but variations on beans and rice are near-universal. A favorite dish of mine is Pakistani red lentils, the recipe for which I got from an acquaintance who lived there. Minus the cilantro, it can also be fixed from pantry staples alone, which came in handy for us during the grocery shortages of the pandemic. We like to eat it hot, without rice. The leftovers also make a decent cold dip for tortilla chips.

Pakistani Red Lentils

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

8+ cups water

3 cups red lentils

3 Tbsp olive oil (not extra virgin)

6 onions (3 lbs)

6 cloves garlic

1.5 Tbsp salt

1.5 tsp coriander

1.5 tsp cumin

1-2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder; may substitute ¾-1.5 tsp paprika + ¼-½ tsp cayenne pepper

¾ tsp turmeric (optional)

2 14-oz cans petite diced tomatoes; may substitute fresh tomatoes

1 bunch cilantro

Directions

In a large pot, bring the water and lentils to a gentle boil. Once boiling, simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes until soft. Add more water if necessary.

 Meanwhile, dice the onions.

In a Dutch oven, heat the oil and cook the onions until clear.

Meanwhile, mince the garlic.

Open the cans of tomatoes.

In a small bowl, combine the spices: salt, coriander, cumin, chili, and turmeric.

Chop the cilantro.

When the onions are done, add the garlic and cook for a minute until fragrant.

Add the spices to the onions and cook for another few minutes, then turn off the heat.

Add the tomatoes to the onions and mix.

When the lentils are done, add the onion-tomato mixture and stir well to combine.

Mix in the chopped cilantro after the lentils are partially cooled, or soon before serving.

Julia, thank you for the lentil recipe. I will try it!

lentil soup sounds good—as soon as the temps drop below 96!!   The roofers are here to replace the roof and I feel so sorry for them. 

Regarding crosisants, my recollection is that using French flour is a big part of success.  Just a thought. 

Started a new volunteer position this am at our downtown soup kitchen.  It’s a population of folks that I know well, but it’s always humbling.  We always try to express dignity when food choices are limited.  Witnessing more grief and despair on people’s faces lately.  I served up plates of food today; so hot in the kitchen areas that I was covered in salt crystals when I got home.  But I got to have a cool shower afterwards. The poor are always among us and we must always try to help 

Dear gDonna,
your post really moved me. Yes, the world has gone mad. Here in Germany, and in neighboring countries too, attacks on infrastructure are becoming increasingly frequent. Power substations, the railway system, airports, and the like are being targeted in a deliberate attempt to destabilize the country. So far, the damage has been limited, but that isn't the most important thing. The worst part is that people are feeling less secure. Germany and Russia are closing down each other's representative offices and institutions. Where will this all lead?
On top of that, prices just keep rising.
I get the feeling that many people simply turn a blind eye or distract themselves with endless videos just to feel better. In my opinion, it would be better if they started developing their skills—learning to cook and bake, learning how to mend clothes, and so on.

This week, I continued planting the seedlings I’d raised myself out in the garden. They are meant to help support our food supply through the autumn and winter.
On Monday, I did my monthly grocery run and then processed the items. I do a lot of canning so that I can store the supplies without needing electricity, and so we have something good to eat even if I’m unable to cook.

Barbara D - Having lived in Alaska for many years, I never came across anything I could not find or buy, so I could not follow your meaning there.  I bought tomatoes for $3.69 a pound one time in 1984 and this old man asked if I wanted him to ride shotgun with me to the car!  Haha.  Almost everyone there has a garden of some kind and most have a greenhouse.  If you live on the Kenai Peninsula and the road to Anchorage is closed due to snow, you learn to grow your own or you could starve.  Most people are hunters and meat is plentiful so no problem there.  Living there has always reminded me of living in the 1940s.  Your neighbors always come around to help out without being asked.  Most people move there without family so your neighbors become family quickly.  Most women garden, can, quilt, and keep house.  Many men work at Prudhoe Bay and are gone for weeks at a time.  Women whose husbands are away are called "oil widows" and depend upon each other  for support and companionship.  It is a wonderful place to live but not for everyone.  It can be hard.  I used to sleep with a rifle in bed with me when my husband was away at work as we lived a distance from others.  I may write a book one day about my beloved Alaska, so many stories.  

Lady L - I have Country Living magazines from their first publication to now, many years' worth, that I cannot part with.  To this day, I can pick out any one of those magazines, open it up and come across a new idea or decor I can pick something out to use.  By the way, I got my first Country Living magazine in Alaska.   

So happy Charles is doing well.  My husband is getting over gall bladder surgery and I had cataract surgery Monday and can already see clearly out of that eye, for which I am extremely grateful.  I think in many cases the worst part of surgery is recovery.  We want instant results and are often impatient, but that's only human.

Looking forward to Fall and the lovely Fall colors.  Cooler weather to everyone!

Your post brought back a memory. Over fifty years ago I stayed in a boarding school in Rouen, a cramming course in French language and literature for “A” levels. At breakfast the dinner ladies cut thick slices of newly baked bread, which we had with pale, unsalted butter, dunked in our large bowl of sweet hot chocolate. 

It was such a hot summer, it is a relief to have cooler autumn weather and some rain. Porridge for breakfast with a glass of homemade kefir and some fruit. I gathered the windfall cooking apples from the garden and cut the best bits to simmer with some blackberries. I have been freezing batches of blackberries for our favourite wholemeal, blackberry and apple crumble.

We collected a 16kg sack of strong flour, a lovely birthday present, which, with some wholemeal flour, will make our bread for months. I used a garden centre voucher for 2 packets of dried yeast instead of buying another plant. I simmered the chicken carcass from the Sunday roast, and several dinners from leftovers, for a pot of stock,  and made sweet potato and lentil soup. 

Our younger grandson started senior school today, joining his older brother. We were sent the start of the school year photograph, smart in school uniform. How quickly the seasons and the years are passing. 

Galadriel F, I did not make the Mochi, there is a Korean store in a small town west of us that we go to occasionally and we get a small box of Mochi when we go for a special treat.  

Everyone has such good comments and conversations going here this week as always. :)  I am enjoying reading your comments.  Grandma Donna

Hi Grandma Donna!  It was wonderful to see a post and learn that Charles' recovery is going well.  You were both so diligent in readying him for hip surgery.  I hope his physical therapy increases his strength fast. You are such a terrific care giver.

  We are blessed to have all of our needs met, and some of our "wants" so no, I'm not sad about things I'm unable to do.   I would like to visit all 50 States in America.  I am missing Alaska and Montana.  My hubby is a trucker and I've truck traveled with him thru many States.   (Which isn't like vacation travel. Lot's of interstate highways,  truck stops and industrial areas. It also included two lane roads rolling thru beautiful fields.)  We did a driving vacation to Mount Rushmore, so that checked off lots of States.  I don't think I will get to Alaska.  We tried to book several inexpensive cruises to check that off but they were canceled due to the Pandemic.  I will just be content to watch documentaries or travel vlogs and armchair tour Alaska.

  I have discovered that, in many cases, I get a better tour of a historic home from the videos I watch than going through in person.  For example, when touring Mount Vernon (George Washington's home) we were headed though like cattle and could see much.  

Sometimes I will cook a diner based on a country of interest. We will often play music from that country. Pandora and YouTube are great help in finding the music.   This is a fun way to add to our armchair travels.

Saving money this past week included: making a retirement gift bag for a church friend, from my gift closet stash ** inexpensive/free entertainment- my monthly Bunco game group and water aerobics at a friends pool.

  We have been under a heat dome here just sprinkles of rain (less than an inch) in 30 days.  Crops have died so I am busy watering our bushes, trees and perennial plants so they stay alive. My herbs have survived and I've been dehydrating some for my pantry.

  I think I will try to grow a fall/winter crop of greens and lettuce to supplement our salads.

  Prayers for Charles and baby Jacob for strength and continuing recovery (and Keiva and Grandma Donna too  as well as helpers to uplift them 'cause caregivers need help too ????).

Ellie in AR

Hideously hot here in Cincinnati.  I felt terrible for the roofers in 96 degree weather (the feels like was 106).  Meticulous workers who cleaned up the debris so nicely.
My daughter, spouse and 2 grandsons are coming coming tonight for the long weekend and my in-laws 70th wedding anniversary. You get those when you’re healthy and marry at 18 and 21 ????

My mom used to mix sliced cucumbers and tomatoes and maybe a bit of onion. She did a dressing that was milky looking, likely from mayo and vinegar.  Sound familiar?  Now that I’m wanting to make fresh things in quantity for the soup kitchen, I was hoping this would trigger help from you.  I never made it (liked it) because dh doesn’t like tomatoes.  I am thinking about fruit dishes.  we usually serve 400 eat in meals a day and 300 take out.  

@Kimberly F: Thanks for all the inspiration. These are dishes that are almost entirely unknown to us in Europe. They sound very interesting and economical. I can look up the recipes online and try them out one by one.We'll see what the man of the house has to say about it. 

Julia K, thanks for the lentil recipe.  I will have to try it.  I love lentil soup and often order it when eating out, but every recipe that I've tried has turned out to be not all that good.  So I haven't bothered to use my cooking time for lentil soup in the last several years. 

I wasn't sure whether you drain the lentils and add the tomato mix to that to produce a soup or if the lentils are drained and then mixed with the tomato spice mix and served as a vegetable along with other things for the meal or if it is served over rice as so much Indian food is presented?

I made 2 loaves of sandwich bread today. I'm hoping to get away from buying it at the store. 

I had some sweetened banana chips no one wanted so I found a cookie recipe using chocolate chips, walnuts & chopped banana chips. Of course, everyone likes them.

Chocolate is expensive but so far I've been able to find chocolate on clearance to use in baking. A local chocolate company here had their leftover chocolate drops in their bargain bin for $4/lb. I got 4 pounds and I just chop it up for cookies. My husband's favorite is chocolate chip cookies.If I can't find it on clearance anymore I'll just bake other things.

It's apple picking season here. We're hoping to get apples soon. So delicious straight from the orchard!

Lissa G, to answer your question about the Cucumber, Tomato and Onion salad with the white dressing.  It was most likely Miracle Whip Salad dressing.  This was commonly used in this simple salad.  Some people did not like Miracle Whip and some did like it.  

Miracle Whip came about during the early 1930s great depression.  The same salad was also made with mixing Mayonnaise and Ketchup together and here in the southern U.S. it would have been called French dressing.  But there was a French dressing too but this homemade mayonnaise and ketchup did seem to go over good with the cucumber, tomato and onion salad. 

Also Mayonnaise can be thinned with vinegar and water, or can be thinned with lemon juice and water and a little sugar or honey depending how it was made in each household.  Some people added spices.

Also back in the 1950's a simple lettuce salad wedge with a dollop of mayonnaise was served on our table quite often.  That would be good for the soup kitchen too. 

My Grandmother most always had a vegetable soup on her stove and sometimes it had ground beef in it. One thing that was always in it was okra, tomatoes, corn, butter beans and when there was no meat in it there would be macaroni noodles.  I loved this soup that my Grandmother made. Especially good with leftover cold biscuits and butter from the morning breakfast.  Or more filling she would make a large pan of cornbread.  Oh I could go on.  :)  Grandma Donna

I "stretch" mayonnaise with yogurt—roughly a 1:1 ratio. That makes it a bit runnier and perfect for salads. I season it with salt and pepper, and then—depending on how I’m using it—add tomato paste or herbs.

I am closing the forum for a week, I hope everyone that is celebrating the Labor Day holiday has a safe one.  Charles and I will be home staying cool and tending to things here at home.  I will be back with a post around September 14th.  Grandma Donna