Crockpot Stoup. . .

I am posting twice today trying to get caught up.   I decided since our garden is getting ready to take hold I would use some of my items I had frozen from last year and make some vegetable soup.  The hubby and I went to our local meat market and picked up some tip meat and I decided I would throw that in my soup, now a vegetable beef soup.  
I had some peas and some tomato sauce from last years garden in the freezer so I somewhat thawed my tomato sauce to use as my base for my soup.  I also had some beef broth left over from my roast I had made over the weekend and that went in the pot too.  You could call this a cleaning out the freezer and cabinets soup, which means throw everything in that you have.
Here is how it all went in:
tomato sauce from the freezer, about 2 quarts
3-4 cups of left over beef broth
2 cups of frozen green peas from the garden
1 bag of frozen peas and snaps (store)
1 bag of frozen corn(store)
1 bag of frozen okra (store)
1 can of pinto beans (store)
tomato paste, V8 juice, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, thyme, dry mustard.
I added the tip meat last and this cooked about 8 hours on high.    We have eaten some of it but I am freezing a good portion of it for later.
I try very hard to make soup but inevitably it always ends up much thicker than just soup so my hubbs has nicknamed it stoup.  Too think to be soup and a little thin to be stew.  

Looking forward to our garden this year and we are so very thankful that the hubbs brother came and plowed and planted for us.   The hubbs has been out to check things out and yesterday he was out watering and making sure everything was doing well.  Thank you to my sweet brother-in-law.

Shopping Online. . .

On this Techno Tuesday I am going to talk about shopping online and share some cool sites for tech research and shopping.
All of the sites I share with you are sites that have been shared with me by my instructors and or are sites I frequent myself.  What I am trying to say is that they are safe to shop and use as research tools.  I am not getting any kickbacks from any of these sites. 
The first one is called NewEgg.com, this site sells all sorts of tech equipment, computer parts, and whole computers.  It is good to research parts for your computer and compare prices from other places. 
Download.com is another neat site.  They offer all sorts of downloads, some are free and some come with a fee.  They offer a lot of open source software for free. 

Some of these I may have posted before but they are worth posting again.  digikam.org is an open source program that helps keep your photos organized.  I have not used this one but one of my instructors swears by it.  This one is on my list to try because I have so many pictures and need to get them put in some sort of order.

I have not linked these sites in my post but, all you need to do is type them in your browser.   This is another shopping site, tigerdirect.com.  This site has everything from computer and tech equipment to office supplies. 

Freezing at Baseball. . .

Baseball games have started and the weather is not cooperating.  We have had three games cancelled due to rain and have almost frozen during two games.  
Another crazy week ahead but, I am going to try and stay ahead of everything. 
Classes are winding down for me, this has been a tough semester.    Last of homework is due and exams this week.  Thank goodness all of mine will be over before the kids exams and EOG's start.  
We are gearing up and getting ready to go so hang on for this crazy week.  Here are a couple of shots from the freezing baseball games.

Crazy Week. . .

Sorry I have been absent this week.  Lots going on in our house.  Both boys  playing baseball at different fields and Sprat having football workouts at 6:30am and one driver in the house.  Whewww! 
The hubbs is improving and now has 40 degree range of motion with his brace.  Still cannot fit behind the wheel so I am chauffeur till that changes.  We hope to get to Church this Sunday, all of us.  Thomas starts confirmation class Sunday and this is very exciting.  
We are still having to fight the disability insurance people.   They keep threatening to cut off the hubbs benefits.  I do realize that there are some low life's that milk the system for all it is worth but, that is no reason to assume everyone on disability is doing the same.   When the boys were born he did not use family medical leave,  he took a weeks vacation with each one. Like I said before he can barely fit in the car and certainly cannot fit behind the wheel to drive.  His job depends on him driving and getting in and out of the car all day long, in other words,  he does not have a desk job.   Until that changes I guess I wear the chauffeur's cap and he is at home except for doctor appointments and physical therapy appointments.   There are a lot of those to come.  Thanks everyone for keeping up with us and stay tuned I hope I will be better on track next week.

Paying Cash and Getting Out of Debt. . . .

I meant to post this on Friday.  Sorry, this is my financial Friday post.

When my hubby and I got married, he was of the mind set that if you do not have the cash to pay for something you do not get it.   Luckily he was willing to have a mortgage.   We moved from an apartment to our first house with in our first year of marriage.  We did not have enough furniture for our new house so we had a few empty rooms.  Our beautiful formal living room was empty, except for a little ficus tree my sister had given us.   Because of my hubbys strong feelings of no credit cards it stayed empty for a few years.   When we had saved enough to pay cash we went furniture shopping.   We found some great deals at a little known shop way out of the way and we filled our living room.   I am telling all of this because a friend has just bought a new house that is bigger than their house now and she was worried about how she  would fill it with furniture.  This brought back these fond memories of our first years together.   I always tell things on myself because I feel like it helps others see that it is ok to make mistakes and that there are other people out there struggling too. There is no reason to go into debt to fill your house with furniture either.   There is no shame in having an empty room while you are saving your money to buy furniture.   You can also find great deals at consignment shops and even yard sales.   My empty living room came in handy one winter when our power was out for a few days.  We pulled our mattress into the living room and laid it in front of the fire place to keep warm.  This was the winter we had so much ice.  Our power was only out for three days, there were others that were without power for much longer.  If we had a  living room full of furniture our mattress would not have fit and we would have been very cold and uncomfortable.
Here is another funny about my empty living room.  This was when Christmas Around the World was popular and they had home parties and such.  I decided I would have a Christmas Around the World party.  The representative came in and set her stuff up, luckily she was also a friend of the family, so there was no judging of the empty space.   We all sat on the floor and played bingo for FREE stuff.   Fun was had by all and nobody minded sitting on the floor.
Save your money and pay cash.

Funny Things Kids Say. . .

Here is a great example of why you should rarely believe what children tell you.  If you have been following my blog you know that my hubby fell on the ice and did major damage to his knee.  My youngest, Big T went to school and shared the story with his friends.  The whole incident really bothered Big T, he did not handle his dad being in the hospital and not being able to see him and me not coming home from the hospital till after he had gone to bed.   The day hubbs was coming home from the hospital Big T got sick and ended up not going to school.
Fast forward to this week at the baseball field.  We ran into one of Big T's favorite substitute teachers, she wanted to know how the hubbs was doing and she shared what one of Big T's friends told her happened to his dad.  She said they told her an icicle fell on his dad and that sent him to the hospital.  We all just about fell out laughing.   Kids crack me up with what they get out of things they are told, especially mine.
Occasionally they do get it right.  Sprat came home from elementary school one day and said they had a bomb threat.  I laughed and said, do you mean a bomb drill?  He said no, it was a bomb threat.  I think he was maybe in third grade at this point, so I was a little skeptical.  I asked him what they did.  He said they had to go out on the track outside and that they were out there for a really long time.  A "really" long time to my son is waiting five minutes for me to serve some ice cream.   Then he tells me they bused them to the middle school where they stayed in their gym.  Ok, so evidently he was right and this was indeed a bomb threat.  I freaked just a little bit and Sprat was really freaked.    Some kid had called in a bomb threat and thankfully they took it seriously and got the kids out and away from the school.   Have not had any more of those, thank goodness.
Big T gets his ability to tell a story from me, I think.  When I was in third grade I had to write a story about a super hero.  My super hero was "Big Bad Bernice," Bernice is my mothers' name.  I wrote about my mom.  I did not know they were going to post these stories on the bulletin board in the hall for parent night.  Needless to say, from that point forward my mom was known as "Big Bad Bernice."  My mom, my sister and I all played softball for our Church and that nickname followed mom on to the softball field.  She was one heck of a second baseman.  She played softball until she was mid 60's, she was one tough cookie.   She is still a tough lady but she retired her softball jersey after she suffered a bad broken nose from a ball to the face.  
Mom and dad will be celebrating 60 years of marriage in May.  That says it all.

Punctuation Telling Our Age. . .

Do you leave one or two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence?   Your habit may be telling a prospective employer your age.  If you have been following my blog,  you know I am old.  I leave two spaces after a period.   When I was in high school we took typing and had six classes each day and the only AP class that was offered was biology. 
If you are mid twenties or younger you probably leave only one space after the period. This is what the computer classes are teaching now.  It is in part because they were learning about typing while texting.   With the texting surge the single space conserves space and time. 
Next time you are applying for a job and send an email or cover letter with your resume, use only one space after a period.   

Making progress on Monday. . .

The hubbs making great progress with the knee this week.  He got a fabulous report from his physical therapist.  He can now walk on level ground without his crutches.  I know that does not seem like a lot but since he has been on crutches for over a month now, this is great.   We had a great weekend filled with lots of baseball.  The kids did get back to Church on Sunday so that is good.   Sprat has been fussing because we have not been able to go since the hubbs surgery.   He loves being a part of the youth and being involved in our youth programs.   They are getting ready for the 30 hour famine again in May.  If you work with a youth group you should look into this program.  It raises awareness of people going hungry all over the world especially the children.  As we get closer to the date I will share the website and you can check it out.
At some point my hubby will have to go back to work but, I must admit I have enjoyed having this time together.  If this is a window into retirement, I am ready for him to retire now.   We have been binge watching TV shows on the Roku.  We are almost through Weeds, it is wild.  He has found the music channel and is watching old rock concerts some he went to and some that he did not get to go to.  Since he has improved and does not require a crutch as much, it is easier going places.  We went out to eat to celebrate his good report and the kids grades and he did great.  I am still concerned for him to be out in a crowd because people may not realize how very sensitive that leg is, especially if he is wearing pants and you cannot tell he has on his brace.  His brother took him to the garden store after his therapy visit the other day and he said he felt like a little kid going to the toy store.  He was almost giddy.   He loves gardening and working in the yard.  Today I mowed, which I enjoy , I also trimmed our bushes around the house.   He hates that he cannot help with the mowing and the bushes but, he did come out and offer his expert advice while I was trimming the bushes.
It has been very nice spending this extra time with my dear hubby.  Sometimes I think we find that there is so much going on that you do not really talk with your spouse.  There is a lot going on at our house too and we are both guilty of just going through the motions some days.   We do actively make time for each other but sometimes we can get bogged down in the day to day.  This whole surgery/hospital thing has actually been a blessing because, we have seen what retirement will be like and I think it will be fun.
Here is a shot of my phlox, I absolutely love them, they have such beautiful color.

What's up Wednesday. . .

Meant to post this last night sorry. . .

Not cooking tonight.  We had taco Tuesday yesterday.   The hubbs is progressing along very well this week.  Therapy went great and he is getting around much better.  We went to Big T's baseball game last night,  they got beat but it was a good game.  The hubbs enjoyed being outside after being couped up in the house for a month.
We may be seeing the light at the end of this injured knee tunnel.  Lots of therapy in his future.   The physical therapist was very pleased with his progress in strengthening his quadriceps muscle.  You would not think a muscle that  size would atrophy in 3 weeks but it did. 
One more thing I will pass on to you.  My hubby is a type 2 diabetic.  His is genetic, a long family history of diabetes.   Until this incident with the knee I did not know that trauma and surgery can cause diabetes to go crazy out of control.  I learned this the hard way, experiencing it first hand.  Hubby was a controlled diabetic,  but after surgery his glucose went very high.  They started giving him insulin to get it back under control.  I did not know they would do that either.  He was controlled and did not use insulin.  The whole time he was in the hospital they were giving him insulin.  We were not told this was standard procedure for diabetics after surgery.   I was very concerned and called our family doctor and he explained everything to me.  Very thankful we have such a good family doctor that will take the time to speak to a worried wife.  
When a diabetic has surgery or any type of trauma it sends their glucose out of whack.  If they do not get their glucose under control  it increases the recovery time.  I really wish someone would have shared this with me, it sure would have saved me at least one  sleepless night.  There is a hospital in Arizona that has been studying the effects of trauma and surgery on diabetics.  A non diabetic patient can also have high glucose post surgery or trauma.  This particular hospital in Arizona has also been using insulin in non-diabetic patients to get their glucose under control after surgery.  

We are still fighting to get the hubbs glucose under control, I dread his next check up and A1C.   He was very well controlled before he fell and now I am just thankful he is under 150 for a morning glucose.  That is a far cry from the 400+ it was in the hospital but it is not as good as it was before the fall.   

The hubbs has not been eating pizza either, that was strictly for the kiddos.  Since he has been home from the hospital he has kept himself on a strict low carb and high protein diet.  

Easter Monday. . .

Enjoyed a relaxing weekend with the hubbs and the kids.  The kids did get to participate with the youth in cleaning the graves on Friday.   Enjoyed a wonderful lunch at hubbs sisters on Sunday.  Spent a nice day with the family.   We even did some shoe shopping for the boys.  I think Big T is getting ready to hit a spurt like Sprat did in middle school.  He is eating more and it seems like he grows a little bit each day.   I remember one day  several years ago saying to Big T that he looked like he had grown a foot.  He looked down and stuck his legs out and said, where?  My kids crack me up some days.  I think back about all the things they have said and how funny they are.   I miss them being babies, how cute they were and how good them smelled.  Nothing beats the smell of a little baby.  Now they just smell like ole stinky boys.
They grow up so fast.  Time flies, one minute you are sitting in the car rider line waiting on your kids and the next you are talking about college tours.   It is hard to believe the hubbs and I have been married for 22 years and that my baby will be driving himself to school next year. This is going to be a wild year, especially with hubbs and all of his physical therapy.