Mid week update

 Well, one of the orange string of beads block is completed.

I also made 4 BITA blocks. I 'think' I need one more but will lay them all out tomorrow to make sure.

I have 4 more of these sage colors in the alternate block just waiting on the big triangle to be cut and attached.

Meals this week - the pulled pork on the smoker was ready really late on Sunday night (9PM) so that was dinner on Monday night. Tuesday was some lemon chicken piccata with capers over angel hair pasta. Tonight, I tried a new to us recipe - Cuban chicken and rice. I expected more flavor, but it was a nice blend. It made a lot! I had the seal a meal out for the rest of the pulled pork into packets for the freezer. I also did a bag of rice and chicken pulled off the bone for the freezer and the rest went into the fridge for lunch tomorrow. There was 2 things in this recipe that I found at my Publix in the spice aisle, rather than the international aisle like I was thinking.

The other one was 7 ounces of whole pimentos; I had a jar of them in my hand but kept looking and found a 7 ounce can of whole ones for about $1. That was much better on the budget than the $3.50 jar for about half of that amount! When I opened the can... it got me wondering if it was any different from roasted red peppers. It appears it is! It is a separate type of pepper. Who knew? I picked up 2 cans of them, just in case we liked it.... since I now have 7 more packets of this spice. I do think I'll use it again, as it did add a neat flavor. Maybe for a stuffed peppers. Yum. 

I only cooked the rice for 30 minutes, since I used basmati rice rather than long grain rice, so the 40 minute cook time was not needed. The chicken was cooked through, and the rice was perfect. I used bone in chicken thighs for mine and pulled the meat off the bone before I put it away in the freezer and fridge.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for the kids. Aidan is heading up to Gainesville with his buddies for dinner at a place up there. Emily is going to drive the truck to school and get herself home. All the seniors are done so there is plenty of parking this week. Greg and I will head over to see how my FIL is doing. We went Tuesday afternoon, and it seems when they finally took his laundry down, it never made it back to his room, so he was without clothes all weekend. Not a single call to us. They managed and found some extra clothes and used some gowns so he could do PT. He indicated he had not done PT since last Wednesday and a Shower on Thursday. I chatted with the CNA - nope, he had been to PT every day and she told me of the gowns for one day and getting some clothes for the other days. She then (with prompting) managed to track down his clothing but it was behind locked doors of the housekeeping. We will check Thursday to make sure they are all there and back... we had a few days worth from home and then purchased a few more each of shirts and sweats for him. I did mention he seemed to be having memory issues so they should check for a UTI. We never did get a call today from PT with an update and Greg has called a few times with no return calls. So, we will go tomorrow and see how things are. 

This next part might be TMI.

 I was having a horrible weekend - this phase before being in menopause is the pits. Yes, I am 52 and will be 53 later this year. My sisters went into menopause before age 50. My Mom had a full hysterectomy in her mid 40's.  I enjoy the no period months that happen occasionally (Jan,Feb and April) but goodness. Friday night until Sunday was brutal. Such heavy bleeding, I was changing things every 2-3 hours for a good 48 hours before it slowed down. No sleep, no energy and drained. Thank goodness my sister mentioned this happened to her, so I was not too freaked out. Fingers crossed I get the next month or two off. I did chat with a few ladies at Sisters Retreat and one said it did not happen fully for her until age 57! Please God, I hope that is not my fate.