2022 Resolutions - February Update (1 Day Early....)

How are you doing on your Resolutions? I have a list of 12 things I wanted to accomplish this year. Just 12. That's one per month.  There are some big goals on here, but I think that we can manage them!

1) Post 1 book review a month on my YA blog. 

I have kept a YA Book Blog since I was in grad school. Circumstances have prevented me from publishing anything to that blog for the last year or so. My goal is to review at least one book a month this coming year.  There are so many good books out there! 

This hasn't happened this month.  Considering that I haven't posted anything on this blog in over a year, I will need to rethink what and how I am doing this. It's an excellent platform for sharing books. But, am I reaching any teens with this platform?  There's something I need to evaluate.

2) Renovate the Master Bedroom & Bathroom. 

This is a huge goal many years in the making. There have been issues with that bathroom since we bought the house. 16 years later, and we are finally going to get it fixed!

3) Find good homes for the books  

I've been on a committee that has gifted me with thousands of new children's books. While my work on the committee will soon be finished, I need to find a home for all of the books. There are children out there who need good books.

4) Go explore 2 new to me places  

Who doesn't love an adventure? I have a list of places that I want to go see. I'm going to put out a map, and get some darts, and see where we end up.

5) 40 Bags in 40 Days Lenten Challenge

Have you done this challenge before? For the 40 days of Lent, you get one bag of junk out of your house. I've done this challenge before. Sometimes, I don't get the last bag out of the house until June, but wow.... it really does feel good to get 40 bags of junk out of the house. I'm thinking that some of these boxes of books will be counting up in the total count. I've got a lot of books.....

6) Get together with 1 friend each month  

I don't think I should have to write this down, but you know, it's been a weird couple of years. I want to make seeing people we love a priority. Doing this around COVID Restrictions is going to make this an extra special challenge.

January - Jim & Kathy! We had a fire outside in the firepit and got to catch up over a couple of hours!

7) Another stamp in my National Park Passport

The Mission Trail in San Antonio!

8) Landscape Front Yard 

This has been on the list for several years now. I really want to get this checked off this year!

9) Clean out the Garage

If you've read the blog for any length of time, you know that we bought this house 16 years ago from my in-laws. And you also know that they were borderline hoarders. We've made progress in the house, and while there is still clutter in the basement, I believe that we will have the last of it out by the end of this year. (See the 40 bags in 40 days challenge.) But the garage is another story. 16 years, and we have not yet been able to park our cars in the garage because of the amount of their stuff. Our goal is to be able to park a car in the garage by the end of the year.

10) Get the kayak out in the water once each month during May, June, July, August, September, and October.

Seriously, we have a kayak.  Why aren't we getting out in the water with the kayak more often? What is our excuse? The kids have moved out. We don't have to worry about finding a sitter or getting an extra kayak for them.

11) Get my Bike fixed and get out for some bike rides.

I bought my bike over 30 years ago. I rode it a lot before the kids got busy in high school. Now that everyone is out of the house, it is time to pull out some of the things I really used to love. The top of that list is riding my bike. In order to do that, I need to get the bike fixed. The tires are dry rotted, and I'm sure it's got a host of other issues going on.

12) Visit My Cousins in Texas (a trip postponed from 2020)

Done! We made it down over a long weekend in January! It was so good to see my cousins and my aunts and uncles!  I even posted a few pictures from the River Walk in San Antonio. It's been 10 years since I last got down here. I can't wait another 10 years to get back. Family is too important. And time is fleeting.

Breckinridge Park! We met up with my cousins at the same outdoor pavilion where I had my 5th birthday party! That pavilion is just off to the right from this picture.

Other Goals:

I’ve got a couple of other goals I would like to accomplish this year, but I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to get to them. If I do, I’ll be thrilled beyond words. If not? I’ll add them to the list of things I want to get to in 2023.

This is going to be so much fun!

Bean Bowl

In my quest to go to the grocery store as little as possible, we made bean bowls this week. Some of you might call them Protein Bowls.)  Whatever you call them, I call them a quick and easy dinner to put on the table on a weeknight.

I started with the Tejano Beans we had made earlier in the week.  

We cooked up some rice, and sliced up an onion. I had leftover Vegan Cheese Shreds in the fridge, along with salsa and some guacamole.  If I'd had bell pepper in the fridge, I would have added that, but I really am working on staying away from the grocery store.

When everything was layered into the bowl, we had a pot of warm and comforting goodness that was perfect for a winter night.  Since we were using leftovers, our total time to put this together was the time that it took us to cook the rice.  20 minutes.

The Tejano Bean Recipe - this is not my recipe, but it is as close to what I remember my Mom making as I've ever gotten!  https://thefoodcharlatan.com/traditional-tejano-pinto-beans-slow-cooker-recipe/

Other Stuff:

1 cup of rice, uncooked

Vegan Cheese Shreds

Onion

Salsa

Bonus Items I found in the fridge:

Salsa

Guacamole

Feel free to mix this up however you want.  If you've got some incredibly wonderful variation you'd like to share, post it below!

The High Cost of Everything

When I began this blog oh, so many years ago, one of the things I regularly highlighted was stretching a food dollar and eating healthy. I had 3 growing kids (2 boys, 1 girl) at  home, and a husband who still eats like a teenager. I got away from that as they moved out of the house and this was no longer a huge issue for me.

And then, I went to the grocery store and did that eye pop thing that cartoon characters do when I took a good look around the store. There are empty spots everywhere on the  shelves. Even the meat section is wiped out. And the prices? Holy cow, the prices are unbelievable.

I still cook like I'm cooking for an army of teenagers. And I feel like I can squeeze pennies until they pop. So I figured, why not get back to my roots and the origin of this blog and share that with you?

There are currently 3 of us living at home: me and the husband and our oldest child. (He's with us until this weekend.)

I went grocery shopping last week and spent $39.50.

Here's what I bought:

1 chuck roast, on sale for $15

1 5 pound bag of russet potatoes

1 5 pound bag of sweet potatoes

1 pound bag of carrots

2 pound bag of onions

1 bag of celery

1 bunch of bananas

1 carton of coconut milk

1 bag of lentils

1 box of mushrooms 

2 pounds of Italian Sausage (on sale) for dinner next week

Here's what we made:

Mississippi Pot Roast with roasted sweet potatoes and frozen vegetables from the freezer.

How do you make Mississippi Pot Roast?

You put a chuck roast in the bottom of a crock pot. Cover it with a packet of ranch dressing and au jus mixes. Add 1/4 butter, cut up into cubes over the top. Add 8-19 pepperocini  peppers and 1 can of diced jalapenos. Cook over low heat for 8 hours. (Husband really likes the pepperocini peppers!)

*Mississippi Pot Roast calls for dry au jus seasoning and ranch dressing mix and butter. All of those things are laden with all kinds of things I can't eat.  I used these recipes to make safe alternatives for me:

https://40aprons.com/au-jus-recipe/

https://www.wickedspatula.com/homemade-ranch-seasoning/ 

I used Miyokos plant butter.

I didn't have any canned jalapenos, so I used a fresh one I had in the fridge.  

Please note that I already had the peppers, jalapenos, and fake butter in the house.

Beef Stew

Leftover pot roast

Beef broth left over from the roast 

Carrots

Russet Potatoes

Celery 

Onions

 

Ethiopian Lentils

Note: I did not have fresh tomatoes. I used canned tomatoes that were in the cupboard.

I also couldn't find spinach at the store, so I didn't use it.  It's still good anyway!

https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/spicy-ethiopian-lentil-stew/ 

Black Beluga Lentil Mushroom Stew

recipe here: https://rainbowplantlife.com/creamy-mushroom-and-black-beluga-lentil-stew/

 

Pinto Beans

I used the ham bone leftover from our Christmas Ham and made this recipe, which I really love!

https://thefoodcharlatan.com/traditional-tejano-pinto-beans-slow-cooker-recipe/ 

Enchiladas

I used the leftover pinto beans to make Enchiladas, with corn tortillas I had in the fridge and homemade gluten free enchilada sauce.

Baked Potato Soup

I skipped the tempeh bacon since I didn't have any in the house.

https://ilovevegan.com/vegan-loaded-baked-potato-soup/

With 3 of us living at home, that was 4 meals. (Not counting leftovers for lunch.)

So, we came out to $5.64 per meal.  With 3 of us, living at home that came out to $1.88 per serving. (Again, not counting the leftovers we ate for lunch.)

The biggest problem with cooking like this is that you are cooking from scratch, and that means that you have to plan your meals out well in advance and do some serious meal prep on the weekends so that pulling something like this together on a weeknight is easy.

What are you doing to stretch your dollar at the grocery store?

Random San Antonio Pictures

 

This adorable squirrel was playing peek a boo with us!

The Mercado!

Ah, the Riverwalk! It’s was 78*. In January. At home in Maryland, it was 12*. 

More Riverwalk. This is my Moms favorite spot on the River. 

The original bells from the Mission, on display down at the River. 

San Fernando Cathedral..

The Tea Garden at Breckinridge Park.

The Alamo! Above & below!

Mission Trail in San Antonio

 San Antonio. Such a beautiful city. It is the home where my mother was born, and it’s my ancestral family home. For the first time in years, I was able to get back down there. I was able to visit my grandparents grave, and pay my respects to Moms brothers who were buried near by. It was wonderful! We spent time walking up and down the Riverwalk and the neighborhoods around the Riverwalk as well as the Mission Trail.

The Mission Trail was awesome! 5 missions that were built about 300 years ago. Each mission was integral to the community, providing a community protection and trade. They were absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed walking around each of the missions. Some were in better shape than others, but each mission property had something beautiful and worth exploring.

The best part of all?  I was able to meet up in the park with some of my cousins and we were able to catch up with each other. It was just so much fun! 

I’ve included pictures from the Mission Trail below. Enjoy!

Book Review - The Personal Librarian

Belle De La Costa Greene was the Personal Librarian for J.P. Morgan. At a time when career women were rare, she held a job most people could only dream about. She was responsible for purchasing rare manuscripts and books for the Pierpont Morgan Library. Traveling around the world, she used the power of J.P. Morgan's money to acquire rare and one of a kind items that would enhance the standing of her library.

The character of Belle De La Costa Greene is based upon the real person, who worked for the Pierpont Morgan Library until 1948 - for a total of 43 years. What many people do not know about Belle is that she was born Belle Greener. Both of her parents were of mixed race, and Belle was light skinned and passed as white throughout her career. 

While the story in the book is Historic Fiction, the authors did extensive work to make certain that they matched the historic details of her life as closely as possible. The book itself is a fascinating look at race relations in the early 20th century, as well as the inner workings of a private library and the work that goes into acquiring new materials for a collection of historic books. Remember that Belle was a groundbreaker. A career woman in the early 20th century was a rarity. This book delves into the decisions that she had to make on a personal and professional basis. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something to brighten these cold winter days!

Pierpont Morgan Library has become the Morgan Library. You can find their webpage here:

https://www.themorgan.org/

The NPR News Story about this book can be found here:

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/04/1012600661/j-p-morgans-personal-librarian-was-a-black-woman-this-is-her-story

Author Marie Benedict Website: https://www.authormariebenedict.com/the-personal-librarian.html

Author Victoria Christopher Murray Website: https://victoriachristophermurray.com/ 

AACPL Challenge #42- Read a book by 2 authors. 

Vermont

 We stopped for a few days in Stowe, Vermont. While it is known primarily as a ski town, in the summer the hills are filled with beautiful trails to hike and a small city with so much to see. This beautiful mountain town was a wonderful place to explore! We drove across New Hampshire to get to Vermont. I didn't get pictures of New Hampshire - I was entirely too busy gawking at the beautiful scenery that is New Hampshire. We did not make it to the top of Mount Washington. at that point, I was getting a little car sick. Instead, we stopped in town, walked around for a while and got a meal to eat. 

We did stop by the Trapp Family Inn for a quick look-see. It's a gorgeous Inn, with beautiful views overlooking the mountains. I didn't take any pictures while I was there. I kept getting drawn in by the views. I love Vermont! I'll be back!

Smuggler's Notch State Park.

Upstream from the waterfall.

Along the creek in the park in the middle of Stowe.

We made a stop at Ben & Jerry's. While there were no factory tours due to CoVid, the store was open! They even had Dairy Free Sorbet!

Another one of those beautiful trails! This is supposed to be a snowshoe trail in the winter.

It really seems kind of rocky for snowshoes or cross country skis.

And then we found this wonderful place, the Stowe Mercantile. They had a little bit of everything in the store. Penny Candy! Maple Syrup everything! Knick-knacks, shirts, books, stickers, everything you can posibly imagine. I spent a couple of hours exploring this fantastic place! (Pictures above and below. I have a couple hundred more pictures in my phone, but do we really need that many pictures?)

Acadia National Park, Part 2

I took so many pictures while roaming around the park. There were beautiful views just about everywhere you turned. So many things to see, so much scenery everywhere you looked. And it was Lupine season. I have heard stories of these beautiful flowers for years. But to see them growing in the wild was absolutely divine. 

I'm including a handful of pictures. Like I said before, looking back on the pictures, I do have an awful lot of pictures of rocks! Granted, the rocks are in the ocean, and pictures with ocean water crashing on the rocks are really nice. But when you have 500 or so of them? Not quite as engaging as one would think!

So, here's my first set of pictures of some rocks!

The view down to Bar Harbor from the top of Cadillac Mountain.

I don't remember where this was - we found a tiny parking lot and followed the trail to the end.

Lupines!

The Ocean Path. I could walk this every day.

More from the Ocean Path headed up to Otter Peaks.

Love the views!

Sand Beach

Low tide on the Schoodic Penninsula.

Bubbles reflected in Jordan Pond. 

We walked down these steps to the beach. Wish I remembered the name of the stop! It was on the loop road, and was a pull off after Thunder Hole. 

The bench mark at the top of Cadillac Mountain.

Acadia National Park, part 1

Bar Harbor, Maine.

This was my very first trip to Maine. With any luck, it will not be my last. I love Maine, and there is so much more that I need to see! I feel like I only scratched the surface of this beautiful state.

We spent several days in Acadia National Park.  And I DID get the Park Stamps! Acadia is so lovely.  We hiked. We walked carriage trails. We visited the quiet side. We went to Schoodic. We went to the top of  Cadillac Mountain. And the wildlife! There was so much to see, everywhere. We even got to see the Nesting Peregrine Falcons on one of the mountains that leads up the Precipice Trail. The Park Rangers were in the parking lot with their high powered binoculars they had mounted on tripods and trained on the Falcon Nest. We couldn't see the babies but we did get to see Mom and Dad landing on the ledge with fresh, wiggling food for their babies.

Bar Harbor is a cute little town. We spent a lot of time wandering around town and exploring. I managed to find food that I could safely eat. We ate indoors once, packed lunches and ate on the trail, and picked up carry out a few times and ate on the village green or down on the Ocean Path. 

We never made a sunrise. We were close to the Summer Solstice and I simply could not wake up early enough to see the sky before sunrise. Our hotel room faced East, and every morning we were there, I managed to wake up early enough to see the sun moments after it breached the horizon.

I'll do my best to share a few of my favorite pictures this week. I don't want to do a massive photo dump all at once. That would be overwhelming. Not only for you to look at - but also for the blogger platform to attempt to handle. 

 One really funny thing to note - when we were by the ocean, I kept trying to take pictures of the waves crashing on the rocks. I told husband at the time that I was going to look back at the pictures in about 6 months and say "wow, that's a lot of rocks". January of 2022 as I'm looking back at the pictures, all I can think is "wow, that's a lot of rocks".

So today, here's a few pictures of Bar Harbor. 

 A moments after sunrise view from our hotel window.

Downtown on the green grass, looking out towards Bar Island. Note: parking is a bear.

Yet another attempt at a sunrise.

Moose over Bar Harbor!

Sunset

Such a cute town! 

Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge

We stumbled across this gorgeous Wildlife Refuge, just outside of Newport! Unfortunately, I was not able to get a tamp for my Parks Passport from this park. The visitors center was still closed to the public. But the trails!  Oh my, the trails were absolutely lovely!  I have to admit that it was a little shocking as we were walking down a trail to the ocean to see a sign that said "Never turn your back on the ocean".  As we got down to the waterside trails and I saw the waves and the rocks, I could easily imagine just how dangerous the water can be when storms are approaching. Fortunately, we were there on a day when the weather was beautiful and the ocean was calm We had a fantastic time! We walked the full length of the perimeter trail twice, and then we found a place to break open our picnic basket and eat our lunch.

If you'd like to visit the website for the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge, you will find it here: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/sachuest_point/

Below you will see some of the pictures that I took at Sachuest Point! 

 

 

Newport

For our 30th anniversary celebration, (which was delayed by a year), we toured through New England.  It took us two weeks, we thoroughly enjoyed every single minute, and we can't wait to go back to some of our favorite spots!

Our first stop was in Newport, RI. My husband had an internship in Newport when we were in college. The town has changed somewhat in the intervening years, but Newport is a timeless city and much remained the same. The business he worked for has since moved on and the room that he rented was in a house that 30 years later, looked like every other house on the block. He wasn't sure which house he was in, but I did get to walk through the neighborhood with him as he reminisced about walking to church on Sunday mornings and carrying his laundry 2 miles through town to the closest laundromat. 

It's funny, I would have made certain I had enough clothes for 2 or 3 weeks and then bemoaned the distance from my lodgings to the laundromat while carrying the laundry. He had enough clothes for 7 days, and he made certain everything was either white or dark so that he could do only 2 loads. He explained his logic to me as a stared at him in bemused disbelief. He was in Newport during the winter months, so he was able to wear nice sweaters with white dress shirts underneath. Since he was wearing them under sweaters, he wasn't worried if they got wrinkled after he folded them and put them in his duffel bag.  He gleefully explained that he had 7 dress sweaters, 6 white shirts, 7 pairs of underwear, 7 pairs of socks, 7 t-shirts, 1 pair of jeans and 3 pairs of dress pants. He had bought Dockers, which didn't wrinkle "that much" in the duffel bag on the way home.  

 

I fell in love with the charm of Newport. There were so many things to see, and the business district along the waterfront was bustling. 

 

With COVID restrictions in effect, we were masked when we went into the buildings and we picked up carry out from restaurants and ate down by the waterfront, fighting off the seagulls for possession of our food. You need to be quick with the gulls! I would open my container long enough to get a forkful of food out, and then quickly shut it again so that they wouldn't get into the box.  You'd think they would be wary of people, but no.  They get so much food from people that they see us as such and easy mark. After a couple of minutes of my aggressive food covering, they left us alone and moved on to easier pickings.

 

 

 

By far, one of my favorite walks was along the Cliff Walk. This paved path hugs the cliffs to the ocean on one side, and has the large mansions on the other. My husband remembers being able to see wide swaths of lawn and the big houses from the path. Unfortunately, Hurricane Sandy did a LOT of damage to the cliffs and the landscape has changed. Some of the wide swaths of lawn are gone forever. And many of the big houses now have shrubbery and fences along the cliff walk. I did appreciate the homes that I could see! They are beautiful!  And the ocean.... Oh, any view of the ocean is a good view.  The day we walked along the cliff walk and explored the inland neighborhood, I ended up with blisters on my blisters.  My pedometer said that I had walked 30,000 steps that day.  

 

Late spring/early summer in Newport. aahhh.....