Happy New Year 2024

 What will you do

With this year that's so new?

The choice is yours -

God leaves that to you!

Helen Steiner Rice

The holidays are over. I had a fun Christmas volunteering with some friends to help a church group make 510 ham dinners to deliver to people who were alone, maybe unable to get out on their own, etc. It was fun being a part of a group which was well organized. Even the teens took part, doing a lot of the legwork. When I complimented one of the leaders, he said that they should know what they're doing by now, because they've been doing this for 34 years. Imagine!

I don't post photos of people as a rule, but I knew these good folks wouldn't mind. 

Two styrofoam take-out clamshells - one for hot food, one for cold. The cold one contained a roll, butter, cookies, plastic tableware and a napkin, a peppermint, and a flyer from the church wishing a Merry Christmas.

The hot container had ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and corn.

Then Elly and I picked up sixteen dinners to deliver to her senior apartments; EB and Leroy took twenty-five dinners to their senior apartments. Then I went home and got changed to go pick up Rita (she still hasn't been released to drive after her mini-stroke), and we met Elly at Springfield Family Restaurant for lunch.

January 1:

I made lunch for New Year's Day - my usual ham, black-eyed peas for good luck, rice for good health, collard greens for money, grilled pineapple slices, sweet potatoes, pickled cucumbers and onions, corn muffins, lemon pudding cake, and sparkling white grape juice.

Elly was my only guest. I couldn't leave to get Rita because I was too busy in the kitchen, Terri was having unexpected last minute guests, and EB was coming down with a cold. We spent the afternoon eating, gossiping, making cardstock snowflakes with rubber stamps and dies for her winter table setting.

I got rid of my New Year decorations, and I had sworn that I wouldn't buy more, as I thought I was giving up holiday dinners (too boring after all these years), but old habits die hard.

I gave myself an F for 2023, so I'm going to try to raise my grade this year. Lots of plans. We'll see what transpires.

January 2:

I'm behind a day because of the holiday. I stripped the bed, did laundry, took the photos above, cleared the table, washed dirty dishes, put the house things away.

I updated my records and prepared new spreadsheets for 2024.

Mailed thank you notes to Bill for trash bags and Elly for gift card to Dickie's. Sent an ecard thank you to Bud for bringing in my trash cans all year. Talked to David, Audell, Reba, Rita, Terri, Joey. Can't seem to get off the ground.

Left from the table - I love fresh flowers in the house.

January 3:

I took the table things to the garage and put the yard waste trash bag and box of glass in the trunk for recycling.

Took Rita her New Year dinner, went to library and returned her book and picked up one I ordered in, went to recycle, then the thrift store in Nixa to look for a wreath. 

I was looking for an evergreen wreath, but found this instead for $6.

And a bag of shamrocks for $2.

Cake pans on sale right now - 2 for $1

Plus three Corel saucers for the cats at 50 cents each. Good haul.

My first stop in Springfield was Michaels to look for the evergreen wreath. Bingo! and 60% off, so I paid $3.46. Now to get it ready and on the door. 

My ten reams (5,000 sheets) of computer paper arrived, and I ordered ink cartridges for the printer - $323, but the last order was March, 2021; so it's a lot up front, but lasts a long time.

I finished my book - but time for bed.

 

Tomorrow we cook!

January 4:

And cook I did. One of my goals for 2024 is DO NOT WASTE FOOD. I have a feeling this goal does not work well with REDUCE YOUR WEIGHT. We'll see.

First I  froze the rest of the black-eyed peas, then cooked the 1/2 pound of bacon left over from the collard greens to crumble on potato soup; then I cooked the 24 oz package I bought on sale for bacon slices for BLT Salad and then partially cooked slices for Mirowave Ready to use for whatever.

I made potato soup to use up my excess potatoes and some of the milk which was nearing its end.

I used the balance of the milk and some of the leftover rice from New Years and made Rice Pudding. 

I had a partially eaten rotisserie chicken which I bought to give the cats treats, so I took off the large pieces and put the rest of it in a big soup pot to simmer. I added some Better Than Boullion to give the broth more flavor. 

When it was finished, I strained it, then chopped carrots, onions, and celery to add to the broth with some salt and a little tarrogan. In the meantime I cut up the reserved chicken into bite-sized pieces, and when the veggies were tender, I added it and the balance of the NY rice and now I have soup for several days. I'll probably freeze one container.

I picked all the leftover meat off the carcass, and added it to the chopped skin for the outdoor kitties. Everyone was happy.

I unboxed and stored my paper in the office closet, where I found I still had three reams, so now I have 6,500 sheets of paper for copying and printing. Yay! Then I ordered the four-color ink cartridge pack which cost $323, but I checked and the last time I bought ink was March of 2021, and I still have some left in the printer. Now to find a new off-site backup service, as CrashPlan is unresponsive. They really want to just cater to businesses now.

January 5:

The first real snow of the year. We'll probably have more throughout the day.

January 6:

I finally got started on my goal to study American History. I just can't stay focused. Rita and I talk history, and we started with Columbus. Did he actually ever touch the North American continent? Why was America named after Amerigo Vespucci? So I started looking at explorers, and I'm still stuck there. I ran across Gertrude Bell who was associated with Lawrence of Arabia, but did you ever hear of her? No. And it was her insight into the tribes who could be fired up to overthrow the Turks which was the largest single factor in taking down the Ottoman Empire. However, they did finally make a movie about her - The Queen of the Desert, starring Nicole Kidman which is free with ads on YouTube. I'll try to watch it tomorrow.

I made chili with hamburger from the freezer. I'm on a quest to use up what I have in the freezer and in the pantry. I threw out a can of expired pinto beans in the process, and gave myself a scolding.

Tom told me about this book, which might be the basis for Covid. It was copyrighted 1981. Naturally, I was interested (nosy), so I checked it out at the library, and started reading. I planned to read a little after lunch, but Stormy climbed up on my lap and went to sleep, so I just kept reading. I was so hooked, I couldn't stop, but I'm over 200 pages into the book now and still no virus. At least I know that there's some sort of government coverup going on, which will have to wait as I have a date with the Queen of the Desert.

And I just found the best juice ever at Aldi.

I'm still working on eating the rainbow, which led me to discover that pears are really good in tossed salad.

A salad I put together and felt it was worth saving.

  FRUIT AND NUT SALAD

Green leaf or Romaine lettuce

2 ripe but firm pears, peeled, cored, and chopped

2 small apples, peeled or not, cored, and chopped

1 cup fresh or thawed frozen blueberries, rinsed 

Grapes, halved (optional)

Pecans or walnuts or nuts of choice 

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 oz fruit juice of choice

1 Tbs sugar or sweetener, or to taste 

Line a salad bowl or individual salad plates with lettuce. 

Top the lettuce with the apples and pears. Add grapes if you wish. 

Sprinkle on blueberries. 

Mix dressing ingredients and spoon over and toss if in a bowl, OR serve separately if using plates. 

Garnish with nuts.

The Queen of the Desert was entertaining, but not as much political information as I would have liked.

Back to exploring the explorers.