Taking a Page from Patsy

Patsy from A Working Pantry Blog recently posted about her prepared ahead lunches.This idea has been in the back of my mind since I read the post. My days are currently busy and I haven't been the best at making sure I eat a good lunch. 

I grocery shop every two weeks, usually on Friday. This week I went today as Thursday and Friday I have a full schedule. Anyway, since I just went to the store I decided to prep my fresh foods and make some prepared ahead lunches.

First I prepped my lettuce and then gathered my other ingredients. The tomatoes and broccoli are fresh from the garden, the eggs are from our chickens, and the grilled chicken is leftover from a recent dinner.

Once things were prepped I put together salads in a jar. 

While this was all happening I had mini bow tie noodles cooking. Pasta Salad was requested by Megan. 

I hard boiled a couple extra eggs and made egg salad. This will be my lunch tomorrow. 

I purchased a package of wraps and made a couple jars of diced lunch meat (ham and turkey), shredded lettuce and freshly shredded cheese. Easy to open, dump and no slicing or dicing while in a time crunch. 

This is the finished product. 

I ended up with three salads, seven servings of pasta salad, two jars ready for wraps, and and one meal of egg salad. 

It makes me so happy to all of this lined up in my fridge ready to go. Thanks for the inspiration, Patsy!

Wendi 

Back At It

As I'm typing this post the house is quiet. Megan is still asleep and Chuck has returned to work after three weeks off. He was asked to apply for a different position before we left for vacation. He will now be part of the management team. He had declined taking a higher position for years. I guess they caught him on a good day as he agreed to apply. *smile* Honestly, the applying was only a formality for HR. He starts his new position today. 

When we returned home it has hot and nasty. A storm rolled through the other night and has cooled things down. There were confirmed tormados not far from us, thankfully we only had high winds and rain. Our only issue was a downed tree branch. It did hit the fence, but caused no damage. 

Chuck made a couple of steel runs. He did well, and we were able to reach another financial goal. Yeah!

I think that I mentioned that our beloved neighbors are planning to move. Well, we came back to the news that they have an offer and the home inspection will be this week. That spurred us to do and unplanned project. 

The fence between our property is partially picket with some panels of privacy fencing. We knew we wanted to add a few more panels of privacy to block our back porch and pool. 

As you can tell from the picture most of the pickets have seen better days. So, the decision was made to go ahead and repair the fence on this side before we have new neighbors. You just never know what new neighbors will be like. It's better to, hopefully, get this taken care of before they move in. 

I removed all of the pickets on the front portion of the fence and then pressure washed the post and 2x4's, along with the privacy fence.

There is nothng as satifying as watching the dirt get stripped away! Pickets have been picked up for the first section. 

We could not find the correct width which means Chuck will have to cut down all of the pickets. Yuck! 

 This time the fence is going to be white. I really wanted a white fence to begin with. Someone talked us out of it saying it would be hard to maintain. We went with a suggested "cedar" stain that ended up looking more orange and I have hated it for the past 15 years! Now if only we could get a dry stretch I will be able to start painting. 

Since I've been spending so much time outside, today will be a day of housework. I'm planning to do a little reset and clean out a few areas. It feels good to be back at it!

Wendi 

Scenes from the Beach

Saturday morning we left Hatteras, NC sun kissed, sand dusted, and happily exhausted!

The view from our top deck. 

The area we stay in is sandwiched between the ocean and the sound. We love to go down to the dock on the sound side and watch the fishing vessels. 

You are able to walk to the end of island. Once there you can see the ocean and then scan right and see it meet the sound. It's amazing to see the island circled by water. I tried hard to get a picture, but it's one of those things that must be seen in person. In all the years we have been coming we've never walked all the way to the end. 

The closer we came to the end of the island the harded the sand was packed.  The landscape also changed with areas of trees and driftwood. It was quite different from anything I've experienced. 

As neat as it was we all agreed we probably won't make the walk to the end of island again. It was a five mile walk and wasn't alway easy. We'll call it a one in a lifetime experience. 

Megan loves to fish and had to opportunity to drop a line almost every where we went. That made her a happy girl. 

On Wednesday the island was under a Gale Warning. There were 30 mile an hour winds, and waves 6-11 feet tall. It stunk to lose a day of sun and fun, but it was something to experience. The waves seemed angry and we could feel the house sway slightly. I can't imagine being here during a hurricane!

Thankfully the next day was beautiful and we were back to fun in the sun!

The moon was incredible almost every night. I woke up one night and this was the view out of our window. I went out on the deck to snap this picture. Simply beautiful!

It's was a great trip! As always, the Outer Banks doesn't disappoint. I'm thankful for the memories made. 

Wendi

The Story of my Hoe

Every year when we start working in the garden, Chuck says I need a new handle for my hoe. It might be a little wobbly, but it's not happening. 

 You see, it belonged to my grandfather.  Pop grew up in a make-do generation. 

Every time I see the electrical tape and the bent nails it reminds me of him. Pop grew up on a farm during the Great Depression. He was a newly married man, farming his own piece of land during World War II. 

He and my grandmother never talked about living a frugal life. It was ingrained in the way they had always lived. Growing up I never realized how much I was learning from Mom and Pop. It's a great reminder that it's not about what we say, it's about what we do that makes the biggest impact.

I imagine Chuck will still comment on my hoe each year and I will smile, and keep using my hoe as is as I cherish my memories of Pop. 

Wendi 

Joy in the Ordinary

 Some ordinary, yet joyful moments from my week. 

Hello friends, after a cool start to spring, it's starting to warm up. This summer loving girl is ready for some warmth. 

Although short lived, peonys are sooo beautiful. And the fragrance is devine!

I love being able to get outside before lunch. While Mr. Ben plays I'm able to spend time in the Word. 

Just because I never get tired of seeing fresh eggs in my kitchen. *smile*

Mother's Day was delightful. Chuck and I took my parents out for lunch. (Megan was working.) I received a lovely homemade card from Megan. She drew the chicken. I also received gifts for my garden. 

Speaking of gardening... here I am ready to go to my happy place. 

Posing with the flowers for my window boxes and the veggies I grew myself. All of my flowers are planted and the plan is the have the planting of the garden completed by the weekend. I hope Mother Nature got the memo that's the plan!

Look around, really look around and you will find joy... joy in thee every day, joy in the ordinary. 

Wendi 

100 Miles An Hour

Things have been busy around here. 100 miles an hour feels like an understatement most days. Let's start off with today... Chuck and I celebrated our 25th anniversary! Nothing fancy happened. We had thought about a get away, but with an upcoming beach vacation we opted to stay home.  Chuck took the day off, we did some projects, ran a few errands, and ended the night at our favorite pizza restaurant. 

Lots of outside work has been happening. 

The garden has been tilled and broccoli and cabbage plants have been planted. 

There is kale in the gutter garden. I have also planted lettuce and spinach. Those are making a slower appearance. 

Potatoes are growing well, and so is the lettuce that I started indoors. The lettuce had been under a frost cover until today. 

I've looked at the long range forecast and I should be able to plant my garden in the next two weeks. That means it's time to harden off my seedlings. 

They are more than ready to go in the ground. 

The pressure washer has been pulled out and the porch received it's yearly cleaning. 

While everything was off of the porch I wiped things down and any maintenance was preformed. The first thing completed was a fresh coat of paint on the planters. 

I've wanted to paint the stand for this swing for years. This was the year! Chuck washed, sanded, and painted the frame. I had him use the same color as the planters. 

Once that was complete I knew the swing was getting a coat of paint also. 

I have loved a white swing since I was a little girl. I remember going to visit a relative we called Cousin Edna. She had a white swing with a green cushion on her front porch. I found it so charming!

While I was in the painting mode I touched up some furniture. 

Fresh mulch was placed in all of the flower beds. 

Megan gave me a watering can and twinkle lights for Mother's Day last year. I had a plan for it, but I needed a shepherds hook. I finally found one tall enough. 

It turned out so cute!!

The swing set was pressure washed. This swing set was built by my father-in-law in 1990 for his first grandchild. She was grown by the time we purchased this house and they gave the swing set to us. 

Over the years we've had to replace the tarp and swings. The wood is still in great shape and it looks brand new after being cleaned. 

Beside our already scheduled trip to the beach we have no plans for travel this summer. With the state of things we will be staying home. I am completely fine with that, as I am a homebody.  The plan is to maintain the things we have. 

We are still working on the kitchen remodel with our neighbors. The countertop was slightly delayed. Once that is installed we need to help with the back splash and then we are done. Yeah! The plan was to help them with this remodel and then they would do a few more upgrades and put their house on the market in a couple of years.

Well, that has changed and it is going on the market as soon as the kitchen is complete. We are sad, yet we understand. That has lead us to a project that we had hoped to put off... our fence.  It needs some maintenance. Some of the pickets need replaced and it needs painted. Since our beloved neighbors are moving we have decided to add a few more privacey panels. 

You never know what kind of neighbor you will get. So, we thought it best to go ahead and do the maintenance on that side of the fence and to extend some privacy for our back porch and pool. I guess you could say we are planning for the worse and praying for the best when it comes to new neighbors!

Here is my girl going on her first interview for what I am calling a big girl job. 

She has applied at several banks. So far she's had three interviews and no offers.  As I was texting with her after an interview today... I told her I am praying for God's will when it comes to a job offer. So, if they aren't coming it's not God's will. She replied you're right. Trusing God for his plan and timing isn't always easy. *smile*

Besides everything I've shared our calendar is full for the month.  There are many nights I'm not sitting down until after 8. I know this pace is end in three weeks. I might be counting down the day!

Wendi 

Joy in the Ordinary

 Some ordinary, yet joyful moments from my week. 

Beautiful artwork left by one of the five year old twins who live next door. 

It brought joy to this sunshine loving girl!

There were a couple of bumps in the road this week. I asked Chuck to get the mop out of the utility closet and he spotted this on the furnace flue.

That's something I probably wouldn't have noticed. He made a list and then the plan was to take my car to the hardware store for parts and fill up my gas tank. Nope. We hopped in and my car wouldn't start. 

On to plan B. We hopped into his car and were off to get the parts. 

My handy guy was able to get the pipe whipped back in shape. My car ended up in the shop. Thankfully it was an easy fix and I was back in business by the next afternoon. 

Several day it was window open weather. 

It was warm and sunny. The perfect ice cream kind of day!

The highlight of the week was the empty grave and our risen Savior. Hallelujah!

My contribution to our extended family dinner was desserts. 

It was a great day and wonderful week. 

Look around, really look around and you will find joy... joy in the every day, joy in the ordinary.

Wendi