JANE LEE LOGAN – Chasing MY Life WHEREVER it Leads ME

BLOG 365.12 ~ HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY ~ week 2 of 2026 ~ with MENUS & RECIPE LINKS

Be sure to join Happy Homemaker Monday with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

LAST WEEK RECAPPED

The first part of the week was full of errands and trying to get back on track with a routine. My girlfriend and I ventured to the BIG (ha 😂 ha) city on Wednesday to go shopping at the mall and have a nice lunch. Then we stopped at the Chef’s store (Cash & Carry, Smart & Final) to get the food for our Friday dinner and the rest of the month’s shopping for the Eagle’s kitchen. YAY my last time shopping for the kitchen, but at least I was able to set them up for success, now it’s on them to find the wherewithal to follow thru and keep it going “correctly” without getting lazy and short cutting everything which unfortunately is the tendancy. Thursday was the shopping for the Eagle’s bar, my girlfriend’s bar & grill and some food prep for Friday’s meal.

I cannot believe the first full week of January flew by that quickly! I NEED things to slow down a bit so I can catch up!

We’re NOT really college football watchers other than the Rose Bowl, but we live in a small town only an hour or so away from the Oregon University Ducks, so they are a BIG deal around here. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, they played Friday evening during the Auxiliary charity dinner that my girl friend and I were preparing so we ended up twice as busy as we’ve been in recent months. The unfortunate part is that we didn’t plan for that many people, but, the fortunate part is that we SOLD OUT and didn’t have leftovers 🙂

Saturday I was finally able to get my own shopping and errands accomplished and picked up some fried chicken for lunch on the way back so hubby and I could watch WILD CARD NFL games. 4 of the 5 times we rooted for won 🙂 Sunday was more football with friends and then some relaxing before the week started all over again. I did get some meal planning done and a few odd organizational tasks accomplished.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

Last Friday we finally woke to the first snow of the winter, NOT on the valley floor, but absolutely beautiful none the less on the hills around us. Our rain is gone for the next week or so, but it’s not full sun either. All week should be highs in the 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Lots of layering still going on here.

TO DO, APPOINTMENTS, DVR/TV & PROJECTS

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS, APPOINTMENTS & DVR/TV

LAUNDRY & CLEANING Laundry is done and I’m hoping to finish the holiday clean-up today 🙂
GROCERIES & ERRANDS Up to date on my personal shopping. I just have the business shopping to do. I have 2 meetings today, but may skip them both under the current political climate. I was going to skip the 2nd one anyway to go and support my friend’s new “Trivia Night” at the bar and grill she manages. But… ??????
PROJECTS & TRAVELS Need to make reservations for the trip next month.
RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING I’m working on a couple of new and unusual recipes to combat winter doldrums of the same old soup and stew flavor profile.
DVR/TV We watched BEST MEDICINE last week and will give it another try this week, but so far it isn’t as good as the original, DOC MARTIN. Also have a few cooking shows to catch up on as well as the regular season shows that have started again.
THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY A rainy Sunday in yoga pants, fuzzy socks and Football… brunch with good friends and Football… puppy kisses… clean sheets and cozy quilt…
ON MY MIND I’m not technically an officer at the Eagles, but I do have many responsibilities and am the “back up” secretary for my friend. She asked me to go to the officer’s meeting today in her place and I’m a bit concerned about saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. From a business standpoint there are some really poor choices being made and as the saying goes, you can read the writing on the wall if they follow down this path. But, as the other saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink…Que sera…

READING TIME

Book club was kind of a wash I guess and they haven’t picked a new book ::SIGH:: so I’ve just bee reading whatever strikes my fancy. Right now I’m reading WHY I HOLD YOUR HAND by Augusta Reily.

FUNNIES

MENU PLANS

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀

	1/12 MONDAY	1/13 TUESDAY	1/14 WEDNESDAY	1/15 THURSDAY	1/16 FRIDAY	1/17 SATURDAY	1/18 SUNDAY
DINNER	CORN/YOYO	BEST MEATBALLS and PASTA	MARRY ME CHICKEN & NOODLES	ASIAN POT PIE and SALAD	CORN/YOYO	CHICKEN FETTUCCINE CARBONARA	ORICIETTE with BROWN BUTTER WALNUT SAUCE
DESSERT			PUMPKIN APPLE POKE CAKE

FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM THE CAMERA

Incredible sunsets over the pond again this past weekend!!!

INSPIRATIONS

LIFE TIP

HOMEMAKING / COOKING TIP

COOKING THURSDAY RECIPES COMING UP THIS WEEK

CREAMY TUSCAN TORTELLINI SOUP
APPLEBEE’S COPY CAT ORIENTAL CHICKEN SALAD DRESSING

COOKING THURSDAY RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

WEEKLY FEATURED PARTY LINKS

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY ~ BLOG 365.344

SATURDAY COFFEE TIME ~ BLOG 365.340

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY ~ BLOG 365.323

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY ~ BLOG 365.309

SATURDAY COFFEE TIME ~ BLOG 365.298

HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY with MENUS & RECIPE LINKS week 40 of 2025 ~ BLOG 365.279

Be sure to join Happy Homemaker Monday with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

LAST WEEK RECAPPED

GOOD MORNING!! Welcome, grab some coffee and let’s chat.

We went to the Farmer’s Market and Oktoberfest on Saturday, but it was pretty rainy and we ended up quickly only picking up what I needed for the menu and heading out to a neighboring town for lunch with a stop along the way at a favorite junk store where I scored a few favorite things and a couple pieces of “brand new” vintage ™Tupperware.

WOW, is it really the first Monday in October already? Last week was busy, BUT, I did something yesterday that I’m always threatening to do, but rarely get the chance to. I got up without an alarm, made coffee, threw things in the slow cooker for some soup, wrote some recipes, watched a NASCAR race and a football game before I ever considered taking a shower and getting dressed. It was the most relaxed I have been in months!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

Today is going to be gorgeous (high 70’s) as is tomorrow and then we take a MAJOR dip in temperatures (low 50’s) and some more rain. I’m good with that as I just finished washing and hanging my cold weather gear.

TO DO, APPOINTMENTS, DVR/TV & PROJECTS

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS, APPOINTMENTS & DVR/TV

LAUNDRY & CLEANING Despite taking and relaxing all day yesterday I was able to do the laundry. Tomorrow is cleaning day after taco Tuesday.
GROCERIES & ERRANDS I’m headed to the grocery store in a bit as well as run errands. I’m hoping to finish cleaning out the rest of the estate sale items today and tomorrow for delivery to the abused women’s center on Wednesday. Our auxiliary is supporting this center this year and going out of our way to send them everything we can.
PROJECTS & TRAVELS I made our reservations for the trip to the Junk Hunt and antiquing with my girlfriend.
RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING I’m delving into my new recipe box of tricks with high hopes for some new fall recipes. I’m also going to be joining in on A Simple Life’s BLOGTOBER prompts where I can.
DVR/TV The new season has began, but we have yet to get into a routine. I have been keeping up with Halloween Wars and Halloween Baking Championship so far.

READING TIME

FUNNIES

MENU PLANS

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀

	10/6 MONDAY	10/7 TUESDAY	10/8 WEDNESDAY	10/9 THURSDAY	10/10 FRIDAY	10/11 SATURDAY	10/12 SUNDAY
DINNER	TUSCAN CHICKEN PASTA SALAD	I’m cooking PORK POZOLE at the Eagles	CHICKEN PAPRIKASH SOUP	CHICKEN MARSALA BAKE	CORN/YOYO Clean out refrigerator night or you’re on your own – cooking GRAN’S CHICKEN & NOODLES at the Eagles with PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE BARS	CRANBERRY CHICKEN (SLOW COOKER)	MUSHROOM BEEF STROGANOFF (SLOW COOKER)
DESSERT		MAGIC COOKIE BARS		BLUE CARROT BUNDT CAKE

FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM THE CAMERA

Most of you know how much I LOVE old handwritten recipes and then re-creating them. We are going to a Great Junk Hunt in a couple weeks and I will search for more, BUT we stopped in a favorite little junk store to browse during last Saturday’s rain and I made an early score with not one, but two boxes stuffed full of yummy recipes, most of which were not only dated but had names like Aunt Helen’s… as well as descriptive adjectives like “excellent – make again”. Plus, they were really cute boxes in great shape.

I’ve sorted them out to those I want to re-create for myself and the blog and have an additional stack that will be coming your way Jean. 🙂

INSPIRATIONS

LIFE TIP

Fantasy Landscape in the road on a cloudy day

HOMEMAKING / COOKING TIP

RECIPES COMING UP THIS WEEK

EVERYMAN STEAKS, MUSHROOM GRAVY & MUSTARD EGG NOODLES
BAKED CRACK CHICKEN

RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

WEEKLY FEATURED PARTY LINKS

SATURDAY COFFEE ~ BLOG 365.172

HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY, RECIPES & MENU week 22 of 2025 ~ BLOG 365.153

Be sure to join Happy Homemaker Monday with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

LAST WEEK RECAPPED & ON MY MIND

GOOD MORNING dear friends. I feel like I’ve been neglecting blogland because I’ve been so busy. I hope to visit you all tonight!

YAY!!! The wedding I catered this past weekend is over and went off without a hitch. The estate sale my friends and I have been working on is over (for the public part) and felt like it lasted FOREVER with quite rude and demanding people!! And last Friday’s dinner that my girlfriend and I made SOLD OUT. I have another fundraising dinner this Friday and I’m filling in for a friend on Tuesday as well as the last cribbage tournament at the end of the month, but then I’ll be taking some breaks for my sanity. The candle I’ve been burning at both ends is running out of wick!!!!!

Life is still quite uncertain for us and everything is on a day to day basis as my stepdad’s condition continues to deteriorate. Health care here is horrible and as I’ve said before borders on negligence in this county. I actually received a phone call from the ONLY home health agency in the county asking to put him on a “robotic” maintenance since they can’t attend to him as regularly as the doctor prescribed.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

We’re finally approaching spring weather and are expecting some low 80’s this week with constant sunshine. We’ve been having some really cool winds this past week, but LOTS of sunshine so I’m happy!

TO DO LIST, TV/DVR, APPOINTMENTS & PROJECTS

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS

LAUNDRY & CLEANING YAY! Done for a few days.
GROCERIES & ERRANDS I’ll be shopping later today and getting a few things for my mom also.
RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING I’m looking for some lighter meals and salads for the summer.

TV/DVR

Just a few cooking shows to catch up on

READING TIME

I’m trying to finish FOREST TRAP the ROSE LANDGREEN MYSTERIES by SIGRID HOLM, but keep falling asleep before I finish a paragraph…

FUNNIES

MENU PLANS

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀

	6/2 MONDAY	6/3 TUESDAY	6/4 WEDNESDAY	6/5 THURSDAY	6/6 FRIDAY	6/7 SATURDAY	6/8 SUNDAY
DINNER	PORK CHOPS and GLAZED CARROTS	BLT WRAPS & FRUIT SALAD	OUT with FRIENDS	BUNLESS BURGERS & BBQ BAKED BEANS	cooking at the Eagles MEXICAN CHICKEN COBB SALAD, homemade TORTILLA CHIPS & SALSA with CHEESECAKE	STRAWBERRY SPINACH SALAD	FRIED CHICKEN & BEAN SALAD
DESSERT		PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIES

FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM THE CAMERA

KitKat is one of my favorite felines! I’ll be watching her for another 2 weeks while mom and dad go gallivanting around the countryside!

INSPIRATIONS

LIFE TIP

HOMEMAKING / COOKING TIP

RECIPES COMING UP THIS WEEK

BAKED PORK CHOPS with APPLE STUFFING
TEXAS BUTTERMILK SHEET CAKE BROWNIES

RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

WEEKLY FEATURED PARTY LINKS

TGIF ~ BLOG 365.115

HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY, MENU & RECIPES week 15 of 2025 ~ BLOG 365.104

Be sure to join Happy Homemaker Monday with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

LAST WEEK RECAPPED

I can’t believe we’re already half way through April!! I worked several events at the Eagle’s last week on top of my normal duties. It seems like every minute was spoken for. I did get the tomato seedlings planted and the wrought iron porch furniture painted with fresh Rustoleum™ to cover the winter rust that settled in.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

I’m afraid to trust the weather prediction! Supposedly it will NOT rain this week, just be cloudy and is supposed to be in the 60’s and low 70’s. We’ll see – yesterday it said it was going to be sunny all week and in the upper 70’s and 80’s – it changed that quickly!

It’s still supposed to be in the high 30’s at night so each day will take a while to warm up and the breeze has been down right cold. Even working up a sweat yesterday while taking care of very manual labor, the minute I quit working and stood still for five minutes I had to put my sweatshirt back on.

TO DO LIST, APPOINTMENTS & PROJECTS

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS

LAUNDRY & CLEANING I’m still working on de-cluttering and spring cleaning.
GROCERIES & ERRANDS I have early morning doctor appointments on BOTH Tuesday and Wednesday so will pick up what I need for Easter dinner and the errands at that time. I also have an Eagle’s meeting tonight.
RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING I have nothing planned past this week so really need to get that handled tonight.

DVR/TV TIME

WHAT’S ON THE DVR/TV

STREAMING We’re still working on GILMORE GIRLS at night. We’re thinking about getting a new streaming service and seeing some shows we’ve been wanting to watch.
CABLE The DVR is all but empty and most shows will be going on spring hiatus this week or next.

READING TIME

I need to start the book for book club, but right now I’m reading The Wyvern Protection Unit by C.D. Corri

FUNNIES

MENU PLANS

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀

	4/14 MONDAY	4/15 TUESDAY	4/16 WEDNESDAY	4/17 THURSDAY	4/18 FRIDAY	4/19 SATURDAY	4/20 SUNDAY
DINNER	MEATBALLS SANDWICHES	BLACKBERRY BAKED CHICKEN and FRIED CORN	YUMMY BALLS aka OLD FASHIONED PORCUPINE BALLS	CHICKEN PARMESAN	working at the EAGLES CHILI BURGERS	MEXICAN STUFFED PEPPERS	~EASTER~ PINEAPPLE GLAZED HAM, MASHED POTATOES, GLAZED CARROTS
DESSERT							APPLE WALNUT CARROT CAKE with CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM THE CAMERA

Worked at the cemetery yesterday to help my girlfriend and her hubby clean up the winter debris. We had an extremely stormy, windy and wet winter that took down a few of the BIG trees and tons of limbs that had to be cleaned up. I should have taken a picture of the burn pile that we’ll do later with hot dogs and marshmallows. 🙂 The burn pile is about 8 feet tall, 40 feet long and 20 feet wide! That doesn’t include the big tree pieces that she’s trying to give away for firewood.

Her family has “owned” the cemetery since 1926 and someone from her immediate family has been the caretaker ever since. Al and Mary Pepiot were her parents and she maintains the family plots. They sell affordable plots with deeds and each plot is maintained by that family, but she does the overall mowing and general clean-up of the overall cemetery.

I especially love her aunt’s headstone. One side looks so traditional and then the backside lists all the men she was married to over the years. The oldest headstone I could find was mid 1800’s. Unfortunately a few years back some teenagers went out and broke several of the older headstones 🙁

So I did the drastic change. It’s supposed to be a silver/gray sable combo. Unfortunately, my hair doesn’t take dye well and I’ll probably be back to my god given beach blonde within the month. Oh well.