Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 3:35 pm on March 6, 2026 Permalink  

  Plugging Away 

  I don’t know about you on this damp gray day, but  am still plugging away condensing the contents of our home.

  Our home does have a walk-up attic with about a 75 % basement.  I tend to feel more comfortable storing items in our basement than the attic.  The attic is stuffy with no measurable air movement.  Our basement has had good work done to it.

  When we had the tile put around that 75% basement, we also opted for new basement windows and a vapor barrier job under the remainder 25% of the home.  All of the work was done by Complete Basements of Mankato.  One company for the work means one contact if we have questions.  The dehumidifier that Complete Basements installed is geared for a much larger area than it services.

  What I am getting at is that when I store items, no matter what . . . there is no basement stuffy air to be absorbed.  There are two fans than run 24/7.  Ya know . . . for a home that is over a hundred years old, it offers pretty sweet living.  We couldn’t ask for anything more as that would mean more square footage to take care of and more items to bring into today’s level of safety and upgrads where it is needed.

  When I was working and homes were assessed for their value that would drive real estate taxes, some of the most important items to look at was plumbing, wiring and heat source.  Kevin replaced all of our plumbing and upgraded wiring to have the inspector put his stamp on it.  We rely on the Watson boys to check on our furnace and AC plus any new additions that we need installed.

  Life on Stauffer, the most sought off location in town.  Tee hee.

  With that I will take my leave. ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:20 pm on March 5, 2026 Permalink  

  Birds 

  Do the birds think spring is here?  They are all very busy fliting from tree to tree.  The squirrels never did acknowledge our winter.

  This afternoon the house is filled with the aroma of cinnamon rolls that just came out of the oven.  The frozen Rhodes can’t be beat.  They come twelve to a frozen package.  Doing six at a times works best for Dennis and his breakfast box.  There are two bags of cream cheese frosting included.  I had this bag in the freezer for some time and today I checked the expiration date . . . Sept. of 2o26.

  The diced pork roast oven dish of last night was a win.  Leftovers for this evening . . . can’t beat it.

  As we, mostly me, take notice of our first floor, decisions needed to be made.  Furniture designed for larger homes than what our 720 sq. ft. can handle works for only so long.  It may be that Dennis has been prone to falls and thus furniture with sharp corners has been put out of his reach, as much as possible.  That is not to say that the situation may flip in times to come.  Being realistic is what I do . . . for the both of us.

  Today, I sifted and sorted much.  Not necessarily throwing anything out, just using what room we have wiser.  Putting things where they were taken from is the key.

  I feel very good about making the best and the most of our home.

  With that I will take my leave. ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:38 pm on March 4, 2026 Permalink  

  Again! 

  Again, our snow bas disappeared.  I don’t think anyone is upset about that.

  When I look out my kitchen window, Jan and Randy’s yard is one huge mud puddle.  Our concrete makes our coming and going really easy as well as anyone stopping in.

  Dennis has been out and about making his rounds.  Of course one stop is always at nephew Brett’s concrete shop.

  I have spent some time on the world wide web today.  I have several sites that I have used when I need some fabric.  Going onto Etsy’s site today, I found what will work for Nicholas’ quilt to fill in from what I have pulled together here.  One step at a time.  I had yardage info from the actual quilt pattern.  The fabric is coming from several locations and it is now “hurry up and wait.”

  I have never had any trouble finding things to keep me going.

  This morning I pulled out the container of the diced pork roast from a bit ago from the freezer.  A half bag of frozen peas and carrots with cooked pasta is in the works for a three item oven meal.  I had saved the juice of the crockpot’s pork roast and that had been in a freezer bag.  Using corn starch to thicken the drippings worked well.  Using heavy cream with additional corn starch, I came up with my own Alfredo sauce.  Dissolving corn starch in either cold water or cold cream and adding it to the hot juice worked well.  I know the pork roast drippings had a great flavor.  I continued stirring the sauce and it got thicker by the minute.  A good supper is forthcoming.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 4:23 pm on March 3, 2026 Permalink  

  Tuesday the 3rd of March 

   A morning in the studio as everything went according to plan.  Such a good feeling.

  The next step was to take out my favorite quilt pattern:  the log cabin.  I have made that pattern often, but never using the same color-way.  One was for Carrie using appliqued snowflakes as well.  One was for Kevin using a twist for a red, white and blue theme.  I checked and checked, there was nothing of enough yardage or color-way.  Not to worry.  There is no time crunch.

  When Dennis came in at noon, he asked if I would take a road trip with him.  We were going to go looking at chairs for me that would fit my criteria.  Away we went.  I had my phone and extra catheters and Dennis had his wallet, as he was buying.  Couldn’t beat that!

  When we got to the furniture store, Dennis found a comfortable chair while the sales gal, took me by the arm.  I sat in many chairs of all shapes, sizes and colors.  My main concern was that I could get out of the chair without using my shoulders.  The next concern was that my neck would not be thrust foreword as I leaned back into the chair.  I didn’t care if the chair was a recliner or not as I knew I wouldn’t be able to use the lever towards the bottom on the righthand side.  I didn’t need a chair that had huge armrests.  Trial and error. 

  It was down to two.  The chair that fit my needs the best, happens to be an electric chair with buttons just below the right hand side of the armrest to raise the feet.  The contour of the back of the chair by my neck did not change as the foot rest went up.  Dennis bought Grammie a chair!!

  This will be the first chair of comfort for me, picked out by me . . . ever.  Sweet.

  The chair will be delivered sometime either late this week or next.

  To celebrate we are having Subway for supper.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:31 pm on March 2, 2026 Permalink  

  The Secret 

  The secret for me getting up before eight in the morning, is to drink a glass of water when I do a bathroom call at three in the morning.  I do enjoy getting up earlier than eight, but it just feels so comfy, I can look out the window and the evergreen boughs lull me back to snoozing.

  All of the laundry was done by noon.  In between swapping out loads, I filled the last of my mini pillows with crushed walnut shells and glued the openings shut.  What remains is a bit of trim around all sides.  My mini pillow phase is nearing an end.

  The next chapter in the studio is going to be a quilt.  I know just what box to take off of the west shelves in the studio.  I am seeking orange fabric and that which may be companion hues or colors.  Orange is the color of Nicholas’ University of Tennessee.   I have researched the motto.  This project may well keep me out of trouble for some time. 

  This evening we are having the remaining Manwich meat with the remaining beans, mixing both together for a supper with some spinach dip and chips.  Kind of like a home on the range supper. 

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 4:03 pm on March 1, 2026 Permalink  

  Hello Sunday 

  This scattered winter has moved right on into March 1st.

  Though nothing earth shattering occurred this winter, I feel as if the time has gone swiftly.  When I look about there have been quite a few finished stitched items hanging about.  They have been completed by one “x” at a time. 

  Dennis brought up the idea of us going back to The Furniture Mart in Sleepy Eye for a new chair for me.  I have him on pause with that.  Dennis’ Lazy Boy recliner . . . I cannot sit in, as I cannot get myself up and out of it independently.  Secondly, the head rest is puffy enough that it tilts my neck forward just enough to cause a headache.  

  There are two items my chair must insure:  I can get out of it and having the neck support.  In thinking, the chair need not be a recliner.  A soft chair with a high enough padded back that I could lean my head back and have it fit my neck.  That spurred on an experiment.  My teak rocker’s seat is the perfect height for me to sit down on and get up from.  Truth to tell, I didn’t sit in it for any length of time as a headache took over.  I dug out two of those support bands that medical people use to stabilize patients.  Dennis worked the buckles while I held a stuffed small pillow in the area of a head rest.  Trial and error we got the fit right . . . for now.  As I use the rocker with the captured pillow, time will tell.

  Calvin called this afternoon.  Nothing exciting for either of us to report, just a good old catching up.  Eric, now a widower, left for a job trip down to the southern states.  I know his job has something to do with hard metal detection and he travels a lot.

  We are doing Manwich’s and beans for supper.  I browned the hamburger, added the can of sauce and put the kettle in the oven at 250.  It is a way for flavors to really get co-mingled without scorching the kettle as it would on the stovetop.  The gas flame doesn’t like such a low setting.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:25 pm on February 28, 2026 Permalink  

  And Then —- 

  And then it was totally white.  At a bit after four this morning when I got up to use the bathroom, there was no snow.  It really packed in fast after that.  It’s a very wet snow, nothing that a snow blower would be happy with.  Our leaf blower came in very handy today.  Our cement is wet but bare of snow.  Our streets are a slushy mess.  What a difference a day makes . . . I can hear that tune in my mind.

  Dennis had company in the patio porch.  Neighbor Randy and Dennis solved all the world’s issues.  Randy has been retired from John Deere for two years.  

  Yesterday I had stayed on our first floor.  Not so much today.  I feel more settled if I stick to my schedule of having diverse tasks.  I like being among my threads and fuzz.   

  Dennis and I had a coffee date this afternoon.  A small piece of pumpkin pie and coffee.  Good company and a tasty break.  Our supper is going to be ham and bean soup with a half fried egg sandwich.  Perfect for a no account day.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥ 

   

   

   
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  Noreen 3:23 pm on February 27, 2026 Permalink  

  Friday the 27th 

  Not much doing here on Stauffer Avenue on this Friday.

  Nothing worse than getting a bill in the post that has already been paid by a check that has already been cleared by our bank.  Never can you take your household accounts for granted.

  Dennis used the leaf blower to clear leaves, twigs, and pine cones away from the back door this noon before we get snow to muck up the mix.  Right after that the wind came up from the northwest much like a dry blizzard.  It didn’t keep up with that velocity, but it hasn’t simmered down either.  Dennis might tell me when he comes in this afternoon that it has all blown back into the back door area.

  I didn’t leave our first floor today.  Completed projects brought about contemplation.  Now that I know Nicholas will be attending the University of Tennessee, I will soon be starting a quilt for him as I did when Megan was at that point.  Mulling things over.  Making good plans and not rushing into anything.

  With that plan in the mix, I am going to make an appointment to take my sewing machine in for its yearly checkup.  It has actually been a bit over a year.  I checked and Creative Stitches is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the month of March.  I will give Kelly and Amanda a call on Tuesday to set something up.  My machine has given me zero problems and I would like to leave it that way.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:38 pm on February 26, 2026 Permalink  

  Thursday the 26th 

  We are rounding down on the shortest month of our year.  A month of some cold interspersed with unusual warmth.  Today there is a patch of snow no larger that six inches square on our front yard.  Even where snow had been pushed and piled . . . there is nothing.  How blessed we are.

  I have resources in the studio that serve me well.  Older picture frames that I had hung on a nail in the cistern closet.  I re-measured my stitched design that was inline to be stretched and pinned.  Short memory that got a jog.  It measures 14.50 x 10.50.  After stretching and pinning, I have a scant quarter inch showing of the width of the base fabric and a half inch on the length showing.  I am very happy with that.  There was a piece of foam board that was cut to put on the back.  The frame that I used already had the saw-tooth metal hanger on the frame.  Hmm.  Above the thermostat in the living room was a nail.  I feared the length of the frame needed more room than there was.  Nope, there is even a few inches to spare.  Everything fell into place.

  This newly hung project is the second such project that took months to stitch.  I did enjoy doing them.  It brought great satisfaction that I could manage getting them from a wrinkled finished stitched piece to a framed addition to our home.  

  I know I will have a new stitched design in place before long.  My break of doing heavy duty stitching, brought about mini pillows that are also finished.  Having items finished is important to me.  Going forward it will be more difficult throwing out finished items than a wrinkled mess with frayed edges. 

  All of my endeavors are about keeping me content with having something to show for my days.  My grandmother, Laura Wendlandt, who lived her days of 90 plus while being wheelchair bound, always, yes always, stressed to me that if God gave you a day, you had to show something for that gift.  As she dispensed her wisdom she would be rolling back and forth just by inches in her wheelchair.  I cherished her.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:51 pm on February 25, 2026 Permalink  

  Night’s Rest 

  A good night’s rest brought kitchen duty for tidy, tidy.  Our preferred method of cooking is either via the crock pot or the oven.  We do however use our cook top.  This morning it was bubbles and elbow movement.   Dennis needs to stand against something solid to get his jacket zipped up to head out to the patio porch for his breakfast routine.  It works to prevent falls.  This morning I surrendered.  All of the remaining items left on the front of the refrigerator after a goodly amount hit the floor as Dennis and his jacket swiped on by.

  The best way to allow safety is to have nothing on the front of the refrigerator to be swiped or pushed off.  It was also a way for me to do a full frontal cleaning of our Samsung stainless steel refrigerator.  The surface is streak prof.  All of the removed items are in a far, far better place.

  The studio went well.  Working with crushed walnut shells and glue in somewhat of the same vicinity can be problematic.  My fingers could resemble a suet treat.  As of today, all of my small pillows have reached the finish line.  The WIPS:  works in progress: mission completion.  My next course of action is to stretch and pin the last stitched design that measures 10.75 x 5.75.  I have my foam board for the design to be pinned onto, to fit a frame I have saved.  That will be a slow process.  Two pins on all four sides and then adding more pins on all four sides.  Let the stretching begin!

  I am fixing baked porkchops for supper.  Two boneless chops, I couldn’t believe how thick they were, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 package of Lipton’s dry soup mix.  I did brown the chops in the fry pan a bit.  I am also using some heavy cream into the combination for baking.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥