And Now The End is Here

I will be the first to admit I am glad this pantry challenge is over. The 60 dollar budget for the month was a very difficult thing for me, not because it made our meals any less tasty than they would have been anyway, but because it kept me from impulse buying, which has been my single shopping joy since Covid restrictions began. I allow myself only 15 minutes in the store to minimize my contact with others, but I always came out of the store with something new  that caught my eye. That did not happen this month until Saturday afternoon when all of my February purchases were done and I was starting March's budget. Prior to that I flew into the store, bought the things on my list and left without even looking at other things. It bummed me out a little. Not enough to stop the challenge, but it did make shopping much less fun.

This is what I had planned for the week:
1. Spaghetti sauce over pasta or noodles, tossed salad

2. Italian sausage with peppers, onions and tomatoes,  green beans

3. Lamb chops, tossed salad, mashed potatoes or caulimash

4. coq au vin, rice or caulirice, brussels sprouts

5. Cottage pie, coleslaw

6. Steak, tossed salad, broccoli 

7. Takeout

This is what really happened:

Monday: Label, label, label and use a black Sharpie! I used to be guilty of putting leftovers in a freezer bag thinking I would  remember what was in the bag.  So I have been diligent (or so I thought) about labeling the bags. I did learn that I need to make sure I label them using the black marker rather than the medium blue one, because the blue ink becomes unreadable after a couple of flattened bags are stacked on top of each other. Monday morning I took a bag from the freezer and planned on having a spaghetti dinner. I already knew I had no spaghetti noodles but that was ok. I could still serve it over penne pasta and it would be fine. I had the water boiling and the pasta cooking when I put the thawed spaghetti sauce in a pyrex dish to nuke. Funny! I did not remember putting carrots and peppers in the sauce. Thats because I pulled out the wrong bag. 

Goulash with penne pasta or cauliflower bits, cuke tomato and onion salad

Tuesday: TheHub called to say he was going to be working late. No problem. I had taken out a frozen bag of lamb chops which had thawed and were ready for the grill. A couple of minutes cooking and they would be great, Then it got later and later and later and there was no way I would be firing the grill that late. Instead the meal changed slightly.

Pan seared lamb chops with a red wine glaze, instant mashed potatoes (subtle passive aggressive moment) or cauliflower bits,  3 bean salad over lettuce shreds (another passive aggressive moment)

Wednesday: This time I thawed the correct bag for a very fast meal. Again, TheHub worked much later than normal: additionally we were planning on watching the Alabama basketball game at 8. Since he did not get home until a few minutes after 8, we ate quickly and listened to the game while eating. I am glad I had everything ready and it just needed a quick warm-up, or I would have been a little teed off.

In the summer we do eat very late because we often swim before dinner.  But we eat a lot of salad meals or just throw something on the grill and have a salad with it and I am ok with that because it is still light after 8 and the meals require little prep or cook time.. In the winter cooking seems to require pots and pans   along with longer cooking times and more prep time.  I like to be through and have the kitchen cleaned  by about 7-7:30 and that is not happening right now. 

These long, dark  nights at work are wearing on both of us,  

Spaghetti sauce over spaghetti or spaghetti squash,  chopped salad

Thursday: One of us had to meet banker's who are so appreciative for business that they had to take one of us out to a white tablecloth meal, while the other stayed at home. Understandable, since it was a business dinner and only one of us conducted business with said bankers. The one who stayed at home was evidently supposed to be happy that the one dining out brought home a doggy bag filled with meal remnants.  The one who brought the doggy bag said they thought it would be good for the other's dinner, but at 9:45 the other had already eaten their meal. One of us was neither amused nor particularly appreciative.)

Delicious food while dining at a restaurant or 2 slices of keto bread toast with a smear of cream cheese, pecan bits and sliced olives. (or what I like to call the dinner of disappointment)

Friday:  The day was mostly uneventful but Friday is always date night, even if the nights out have changed considerably since Covid.

Take out Super Chix  Nashville Grilled chicken salad or House salad with fried chicken

Saturday: We had a pretty simple but very enjoyable day. Since we watched the ballgame until later I wanted a quick and easy meal. I actually felt like Clemenza in The Godfather who cooked dinner for the "family" when they "went to the mattresses". (Mob term I understand slightly but can't explain it).

Italian sausage, with peppers, onions and tomatoes, side of coleslaw

Sunday:  We went out riding around to check out a couple of neighborhoods to see if they might be a good fit when we scale down. Nope, neither of them were for us. We got home and ate a late lunch which created a late dinner. I had thawed chicken so I had to cook it, but I did scale down our planned meal.

Coq au vin with broccoli cooked as a one dish meal

Possibilities for this week:

1. Broiled or grilled fish, coleslaw, keto hush puppies (TheHub has been asking for either grouper or snapper)

2. Big salad meal, peanut butter mousse

3, Leftover pork chops, turnip greens, corn bread, applesauce or none

4. Chili, cornbread, coleslaw (weather dependent, it's been kind of hot here lately)

5. Cottage pie, with either coleslaw or tossed salad

6. Something cooked on the grill (possibly tuna steaks or T-bone) over couscous or caulirice, tossed salad, rolls

7. Take out

About the pantry challenge:

What was left from my $60 February budget: 24.94

What I actually spent this week:26.93* 

I had budgeted for several things this week but I did have one surprise item I did not realize was completely gone. It was not in the budget but I had to bit the bullet and buy it because I use it every day when I make tea. Curses! I went over the 60 dollar budget by almost 2  dollars. 

Bought

lettuce

mushrooms

2 cucumbers

3 avocados

coleslaw

sliced ham

celery

grape tomatoes

3 pack bell peppers

1 pack mini peppers 

spring greens mix

spaghetti noodles

bag of Aldi brand Splenda

Used from freezer:

quart bag of Hungarian Goulash

4 lamb chops

quart bag of spaghetti sauce

pack of Italian sausage

pack chicken thighs

bag of cooked spaghetti squash

Used from fridge:

cucumber

cherry tomatoes (previously purchased)

lettuce (remnants from the previous purchase)

radishes

mini sweet peppers (new purchase)

cherry tomatoes (new purchase)

parmesan cheese shreds (finished the package)

bell pepper (purchased for the week)

cherry tomatoes (Purchased for the week)

coleslaw mix (purchased for the week)

mushrooms (purchased for the week)

broccoli (remnants from last week)

butter

lettuce (purchased for the week)

lemon

cream cheese

olives

Used from pantry:

onion

oil

vinegar

spices

herbs

salt

tea

coffee

splenda

instant potato flakes

canned 3 bean salad

red wine

powdered milk (We use almond milk for cereals, and either evaporated or powdered for cooking)

tomato paste (bout 3/4 of the can remain)

chicken broth (1/4 carton)

spaghetti

wine

pecans

What did I learn from this challenge? That I am a serial over-buyer. My freezer and pantry are still full, though I have used the majority of my frozen ground beef. 

 I learned that I need to cook enough slow cooking foods for at least two meals, and I need to prep them for freezing using only a black sharpie to label them. I will continue to cook a little extra with each meal for my lunch the next day, and will keep frozen keto cornbread and keto rolls all the time.

I also learned to buy the biggest heads of broccoli and cauliflower I can find, to have for multi meals.

I need to keep celery washed and ready to eat because it is at least a crunchy keto food, plus it is a pretty good vehicle for keto friendly dip. 

I am going into March and plan on a semi pantry challenge. If I find stock up prices on anything I use regularly I will buy it, and I am going to Trader Joe's for a few indulgent purchases. Other than that I will shop for produce at Aldi and cherry pick Publix (Only if they have a super buy on something we really want or use regularly). The Pig is where I buy all my meat and if they have some super sales I will stock up, but even if I do stockpile meats I will only use those  currently in the freezer for our meal preps.

The one exception is either grouper or snapper from the fish market.

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all!

* I did buy a few additional stock up items which I was allowing myself as long as we did not use them during the challenge month. I only go to the store twice a month now (thanks Covid) so I bought extra produce for next week,  Additionally, I found Aldi seasonal coffee that I love and bought 4 bags of it to add to the storage. I bought 4 cans of tomatoes (Aldi limit and I like to have tomatoes on hand all the time), frozen tuna steaks (I actually had 2 steaks  in the freezer, but the availability at Aldi is hit or miss and they had them the day I was shopping so I grabbed them) I also bought a 24 count box of frozen sausage patties that was a great buy, a pack of frozen hash brown patties TheHub wanted, a can of corned beef hash (another Hub request) a pint of heavy cream, a pint of sour cream, 2 packs of cream cheese (I had used one during the week and they were on sale so I replaced one and added one additional to storage). I bought 2 pounds of Conecuh sausage for the freezer. Aldi had a limit of 2 and it was the lowest price I can ever find it. I also picked up 3 bags of frozen Brussels sprouts. I had not seen them in a while and bought them for freezer storage. I don't think I purchased anything else other than toilet paper and a bottle of wine, (another Hub request)  which was not included in my food budget anyway.

 

Product Review, Where Have You Been All My Life

I am really proud of TheHub because he played along with me during my February pantry challenge and did no recreational shopping for the entire month. Today he only worked a half a day and when he got home one of the first things he wanted to do was go somewhere__anywhere was fine with him as long as we ended our trek at Publix.

First we ran by his barber so he could get a haircut. We took my car this time since his is in the shop and he has a loaner car. I had taken my iPad to sit in the car and read while he got  his "do" in order. One of us forgot our mask, so one of us had to run hame to grab a mask while the other one of us got a haircut wearing a peach floral mask. Oddly, it is not the first time one of us has used that peach floral mask in an emergency, but we can both continue on with our plans because one of us has several masks in their backpack which they had left at home today.

Long story short, one of our heads looks very nice now and one of us did not get to read a single word.

After the haircut, we drove to UPS to return a modem to AT&T. Hell will freeze over before I do business with them again. Let's just say it took about 6 hours of phone calls to rectify their over billing before we cancelled the service at the lake place. They are lucky I am not a lawyer, because if I were I would file a class action suit so quickly it would make their collective heads spin. I just have 3 words about their practices. Bait and Switch

Next we drove to Publix. When TheHub walked in it was like the heavens had opened for him and I am pretty sure he heard the angels welcoming him home. It had been so long since he stopped in that he had to ask the cashier and the bagger their names. They had both started at the beginning of the month and he had never seen them before. 

I do not do this very often, but Publix had a BOGO deal on a product I had never tried before and I was very excited to be able to shop regularly again. I had already purchased everything I needed for my February pantry challenge and finished it spending only 2 bucks over my 60 dollar budget. Although it is still February, TheHub and I went to Publix today with the knowledge that anything we bought would be part of our March food budget.  

Bless him because every time he came up to our buggy (southern for cart) with an item I sort of dashed his joy by telling him we really didn't need whatever it was. Finally he bought what he wanted all along; a multi pack of individual packaged chips and chocolate covered peanuts. Meanwhile I knew fennel bulbs were on sale and there were a couple of other items I could use (need? no way) and the BOGO item I had seen advertised that was yelling at me to buy. 

I am in no way affiliated with Publix nor Pickle de Gallo.  I bought it, actually 2 since there were part of the BOGO ad.  Oh my goodness. This stuff is delicious. Imagine a crispy crunchy, slightly acidic, dill salsa. I just had a taste of it, but I am pretty sure I will plan meals where I can use it. Right now I am imagining pieces of sliced salami topped with this. If you are so inclined and you see it grab it and give it a try. If you hate it, that's ok too, just send it to me!

All the Joys: Week Whatever!

As most of you who read this know, I keep a list of things that happen daily to bring me joy. It was wonderful to read what brought me happiness each day last year, so I am continuing the practice for 2021. Though, if this year continues on its current trajectory, instead of sipping a glass of wine and reading them, New Years Eve might find me doing vodka shots instead.

I imagine like everyone else, this Covid fatigue is getting to me. I spend most of my time during the day alone, TheHub is in the middle of a project that has extended his hours for while, and I am alone even more. 

Though I am able to entertain myself, I have found I do miss his face and talking to him at night. He is putting in 14 hour days and it is wearing on him. He comes in, eats, and falls asleep on the couch until I wake him to go to bed.  It is just for few more weeks and we can certainly make it through those weeks, but I wish we didn't have to.

I will be honest and tell you, between unloading boxes and moving stuff from here to there, it was not the most joyful week but there are still bright spots every day. So these were some of the joys for week 8'

Friday: My neighbor came over to see if we had any furniture her rising college sophomore could use in his apartment next fall. She picked out a few things she thought would work. 

Later, TheHub and I ran to grab something for dinner, because Friday night is date night even if we can't go anywhere. Whoever thought picking up a meal would count as going out? Not me!

Saturday: I got out and drove around, just to see something other than the house and yard.  Pandemic entertainment is such a different animal. 

Sunday: What a difference a day makes. We went to sleep on a cold night and woke to a gorgeous day. My neighbor and her son came by and took several things from the pile I fondly referred to as furniture mountain. I was also able to run some things that I had here for Pip when she was a baby to another of my neighbors who has a brand new granddaughter. Now the baby tub, bumpo, and boppy have a new purpose (and they are out of my house).

 Monday: I watched/listened to Nomadland while I was sorting stuff from the lake boxes. Talked with Son3 and heard that DIL3 was on the downside of Covid, which is the biggest joy of the week.

Tuesday: I finished watching Call My Agent, nodded off for a few minutes on the couch and dreamed in French.  I had no idea what anyone in my dream was saying.  It was still a fun whimsical dream!

Wednesday: The Exchange Club came by to remove most of furniture mountain. When I spoke to them they could be here in one day. Vapor ministries was unable to give me a definite time when they would pick up so the win went to Exchange Club Yay! I can use the basement door now.

It was also an Alabama basketball game night__Arkansas won__oh well! Roll Tide anyway!

Thursday: This was a phone call day. Straight out of the chute I talked with Son3. He told me DIL3 is not only feeling much better, but she is slowly regaining her sense of smell. She shoved  a slice of ginger under her nose and could slightly smell it, which was leaps and bounds above having no sense of smell or taste. Had a delightful phone call with one of my best friends and then another call with one of my favorite bloggers! What a joy it is to talk with humans and laugh.

Now go about your week and look for joy. It is always out there!

Pantry Challenge Success/Keto Fail

As you know I attempt to make a meal plan weekly and follow it sometimes and sometimes just give it the old heave ho and move on to something in an entirely different direction. 

Though this is still my weekly meal plan blog, I thought it might be a decent time for a little explanation of why/how I format my blog posts, before getting into the actual meal plan part of it.

Sometimes I feel very sorry for those of you who read my blog. I love music and listen to it every single day. Then I decided to start incorporating it into my blog posts. Unfortunately for y'all, you get a sneak peek into how my noggin works, because I search for the first song that pops into my head when I am editing my posts. Obviously when the first item on my planned menu was Hungarian beef and potato soup, the only song that jumped into the active part of my brain was Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody. Conversely when I posted about cookies you were "treated" to Cookie Monster's C is for Cookies. All I can do is apologize to you for subjecting you to this, but even though my thought processes amuse/confound me,  I will probably continue.

And now on to the actual menu recap and plan for the week.

This is what was planned:

1. Hungarian Beef and potato soup Happier than a Pig in Mud

2. Leftover ziti and Chicken parm (Sunday lunch), tossed salad 

3. Chili, coleslaw, cornbread

4. Taco salad

5. Pulled pork sandwiches, caulitato salad, pickles

6. Take out

7. Orange glazed chicken, rice or caulirice, broccoli

Then this happened:

Monday: It was a cold, rainy day and I had to make a run to the lake to pack up a few more boxes before the movers would be there. By the time I left it was getting late and I wanted a quick meal that I could make in one pot and we could eat in one bowl. 

Hungarian Beef and potato soup

Tuesday: I woke to snow, oh crap, and I had movers coming to the lake. Laugh if you will, but we do not drive in snow here. There is no snow removal equipment, no salt, no anything to make snow driving safe. I had to be at the lake and when I called Kevin, my favorite mover, he volunteered to have his dad, who was a long distance truck driver to pick me up and take me to the lake to get the house opened so they could begin the moving process. We slid a bit until we got on the interstate and then the roads were fine. Luckily the lake place is just far enough south that the back roads there had no problems.  I was so glad because the driveway there would have been treacherous if it were iced over. After moving all day, and unloading an entire house of furniture into the basement of my current home I was tired. 

TheHub was not able to help with the move so he nuked leftovers for dinner. It was not a great dinner but all I really wanted was to eat, take a shower and go to sleep.

Leftover ziti and leftover chicken parm

Wednesday: After driving back to the lake place to clean it, then stating to tackle the odds and ends in boxes that were/are still all over the house, I forgot to take anything out of the freezer for dinner. While digging around for something to cook I found a package I had bought before Thanksgiving that kept getting pushed back farther in the freezer. Trader Joe's to the dinner rescue!  They come in a pack of two which I placed in small spring form pans and baked in the air fryer.

Odd isn't it, that even though I had to rely on a frozen entree cooked in the air fryer for dinner I still found time to make a pan of brownies in the real oven. What can I say except __ afterthought  and priorities!

Beef and Stout Pie, broccoli, brownies

Thursday: We closed on the lake place, turned the keys and codes over to the new owners. We were the last appointment at the attorney's office and had planned on picking up a celebration dinner, since one of us (me) will still not go into a restaurant. Even though I have been fortunate enough to have been through both phases of the vaccination, we still had three friends die in one week from Covid, and I take the disease seriously. Until there is more data on the effectiveness of the meds, I will not "feel free to move around the country". So our big celebratory dinner was standard take out fare.

Fish dinner from Jack's (local hamburger joint)

 

Friday: I was tired and still moving stuff, incorporating some into our house and getting donation boxes packed. I had already decided we would either have canned soup or go pick something up. TheHub did not want soup so we drove nearby to a BBQ joint.

Full Moon BBQ Stuffed baked potato or smoked wings and coleslaw

Saturday: TheHub worked all day, so I occupied most of the day unloading boxes and containers from the lake. One day I will be finished__maybe! At least I did remember to take something out of the freezer to make for dinner. In the process of unloading lake stuff I found a jar of sauce I had bought for the lake food stash. It was an easy addition to turn something plain into something tasty. Though it was slightly past its expiration date, I decided to live on the edge and use it anyway. I would like to report that we are both alive and suffered no ill effects from consuming out of date sauce.

Chicken with jalfrezi sauce over brown rice, broccoli, cookies

Sunday: This was supposed to be the day of rest and, by golly, I rested. I sat on the couch in the den and binged Call My Agent. Normally I binge listen instead of watching by running the sound through the Dot so I can hear it throughout the main floor of the house. Unfortunately the show is a French production with subtitles, my French is extremely limited virtually nil, and the only way I can keep up with the dialogue is to sit and actively watch/read. So I did. When I was through binging for the day I remembered I still needed to cook dinner. This was when having a pack of frozen ground chuck with taco spices already in the browned meat comes in so handy.

Taco Salad

Plans for this week:

1. Spaghetti sauce over pasta or noodles, tossed salad

2. Italian sausage with peppers, onions and tomatoes,  green beans

3. Lamb chops, tossed salad, mashed potatoes or caulimash

4. coq au vin, rice or caulirice, brussels sprouts

5. Cottage pie, coleslaw

6. Steak, tossed salad, broccoli 

7. Takeout

Additionally to the menu I need to make some sort of keto dessert and more keto dinner rolls.

Used for the week:

From the freezer: 

1 pack ground chuck

1 quart beef broth

Trader Joe's beef and stout pies (BTW I will buy more, they were really good)

1 pack boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 pack browned taco beef

From the fridge:

butter

eggs

2 bell peppers

broccoli (I had a gigantic head of broccoli)

celery

almond milk

lettuce

tomatoes

sharp cheddar

sour cream

heavy cream

avocado

From the pantry:

onions

potatoes

herbs and spices

avocado oil

olive oil

brownie mix

brown rice

flour

sugar

brown sugar

baking powder

baking soda

vanilla

1/2 bag chocolate chips

jarred jalfrezi sauce

cereal

coffee

tea

salsa

leftover Tostito's 

sunflower seed

coconut

As I said before, I am not counting take out meals, nor the 3 bucks I spent on cookies and coffee for my sister and me, as part of the food budget. We have a separate T and E  fund that includes dining out. Pre-Covid we ate out every Friday night, and once a month we ate at a really nice restaurant. Since we have also done no travel, our T and E budget is still untouched except for our takeout meals, most of which are very inexpensive.

Food budget going into the week: 30.95

Purchased:

Oreos  3.28 (Moving day necessity)

bananas 2.73

Remaining in the 60 dollar monthly budget 24.94

Needed to buy for the coming week

bell peppers

cabbage

coleslaw mix

spaghetti noodles

lettuce

broccoli

Salvaged From The Pantry

I was craving cookies, plus baking relaxes me. I had decided to take this week off of keto anyway, so it was a great week to do a little baking. I do keep an overstocked a well stocked pantry and I have an island cabinet I fondly call my baking center. It houses a ridiculous amount of baking supplies. Every so often I have to go through it to inventory and rearrange things that were put back in the wrong place, but also to  see what needs to be used or quickly frozen. Since I have recently added so many things from the lake, it had to be done.

I found a huge jar of raw sunflower seed which has a pretty short shelf life. I ground most of it into flour to tore in the freezer, because it is a pretty decent keto flour. I was packing it in one cup measures and had enough flour for 3 packs, with about a half of a cup of whole seed  leftover that  needed to be used in something else. I had an Aha moment and decided to make some sunflower cookies. I found a couple of recipes online, but did not like the way either sounded so I merged the two and came up with a pretty decent cookie.

Sunflower Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 small egg or half a large one

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup shredded coconut (I used a lingering partial bag of sweetened coconut)

1/2 cup sunflower seed (I had raw but roasted, salted would be delicious too)

Mix the butter and sugars until creamy, add the egg and beat until smooth and well incorporated. Mix the flour, baking soda and baking powder and slowly add to the butter mixture. Use a mixer to combine well then blend in the coconut and sunflower seed.

Place parchment on 2 large cookie sheets. roll the cookies into balls about the size of a large  shooter marble.  Place them fairly far apart because they will spread during the baking process. Slightly flatten the tops of the cookies. (I used my fingers but they were just for TheHub and me. If I had been making these with the ten ton of sharing them, I would have used a tamper or the bottom of a glass. Bake about 13-15 minutes (depends on your personal oven) until the cookies are golden brown. Let them sit on the cookie sheet until they cool a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. (I honestly almost always skip this part, but these cookies crisp so nicely they really do better with the air circulating while they cool)

I did not make these with the intention of having them become a regular in the cookie rotation but they were perfectly crisp, nutty tasting cookies which were delicious with coffee or a cup of tea. I tried it with both for science. Yes, that's what it was__science. Give them a try, you might really like them. I know we did.

• 
  

Week 7 Joys for a Difficult Week

This was a blurry week, filled mainly with comings and goings to and from the lake place as we moved to the final phase__the closing! The joys are different this week because I had little time to stop and reflect on the very simple daily things that bring me pleasures.The joys I found this week are less individual daily joys, but more like a composite picture of the joy of forward movement.

Friday: Facetime with Pip is always a joy. Watching her in the snow was an even greater joy. I worked around the house getting some space ready for the onslaught of items moved from the lake.

Saturday: TheHub and I went to the lake place with a rented panel van and my van We had every single yard tool down there that we have here, not to mention 2 lawnmowers (fortunately before we loaded it Saturday, the home buyer decided he wanted to buy the riding mower) sawhorses, a portable work bench, just a lot of things that would not fit in my passenger van. My vehicle was loaded with tv's and any small furniture that would fit. The only joy was that one more load was finished.

Sunday: We woke at butt early o-thirty, and drove to the lake for another run, to bring more stuff here. All the art work, and decorative items came home with us.

Monday: I went to the lake__again to make sure all the boxes were well packed, any furniture that could be dissembled (beds) were taken apart, to be ready for the movers.

Tuesday: In spite of snow and the cold, the movers came and got everything packed, moved to my house and left without damaging anything (except for one small end table that I did not care about at all) Now that was behind us. A few of the neighbors who wanted a couple of the items I listed to give away came and got them so at least a few things are gone. I am waiting on the pickup which was supposed to happen Thursday but is behind schedule because of the snow, so I am not sure when it will actually be picked up, but at least it is in the basement and not in the main part of the house.

Wednesday: My sister and I went to the lake. She volunteered to help me clean the place. She vacuumed, swept and mopped while I cleaned the bathrooms, oven, refrigerator, kitchen cabinets, etc.  We were there about 2 hours working non stop, but we had a fun trip home laughing and talking. My sons have always said she and I occupy two bodies with one mind. Twice on the drive we started saying the very same thing at the same time. We both love chocolate and I suggested we stop at McDonalds to grab a cup of coffee and a chocolate chip cookie. She agreed and at the same moment we both said "I'm peckish:"  Later we were driving and I mentioned that I was tired of doing most things concerning this move by myself . At that moment we both quoted a line from The Crucible, "I were a good wife, I were" Then we both burst out laughing about how my kids were right!

Thursday: 

And just like that, with a few strokes of a pen, the house now belongs to its new owners and TheHub and I have one less property to worry about. Now it is onward to getting Mom's house sold and getting everything from the lake place dispersed so my primary residence will look like a home again and not a holding station for lake furnishings.

The Final Farewell

 

Today we close the final chapter on the lake place. Closing is set for 4:30 and we anticipate no snafus. The purchasing couple had their final walk through and all is set to close timely and drama free.

Yesterday my beloved sister and I spent the day cleaning it and got to see the view from the house for the final time. Not only was it gorgeous, but a blue heron was at the waters edge the entire time we were there. What a great goodbye!  

I am not sure there is a more beautiful view on the entire lake. You can see glorious sunrises and breathtaking sunsets all from the screened porch. I hope the new owners have many wonderful times there.They are very excited to move in so I know we are leaving it in good hands,

 I am certain I will miss it a bit, but at the same time I am so excited that we no longer have to plan weekend work trips. Until TheHub decides to retire we can enjoy our home, and after retirement adventures await that are not tied to yard work!

And once I get everything from the lake (that is now in my basement) out and gone, and get things back into shape here, I will be thrilled. No! Beyond thrilled! Ecstatic!