Unfocused!: Weekly Recap #23 and #24

{June 6 through June 12, 2016}
{June 13 through June 19, 2016}

General

I struggled most of these two weeks with one week being pretty much shot. I was very sick for awhile with IBS and Diverticulitis. And, then I got severely depressed. I ended up reading and watching TV. I got sucked into a series called Gravity Falls while I was sick and depressed. I am not going to say much more other than to say not much got accomplished.

Gardening; Yardwork

We did some canning. We made two jars of pickled green beans (pictured on the left) one evening. We also pickled the rest of the cucumbers from the garden another evening. I tried a cider vinegar recipe this time around and we have yet to try them. I am hoping they turned out well. By the way, I have used up all our pint jars.

I finished mowing our huge yard. I did this work in sections. I worked on the front, the sides and around the barn (shed) and finally the immediate back yard. Dan does a itty bitty section out front that I am not confident in mowing. I ended up doing most of the mowing in the mornings instead of the evenings.

Kitchen (New Recipes)

It is not often I try new recipes; but, I am making an effort to come up with new dinners to have that are both delicious and gluten free. Dan and I made two this past weekend.

I tried a new recipe, Salisbury Steak, this past Saturday that was absolutely delicious! We made mashed red potatoes and had some of our pickled green beans for a side. Note: I like my "steak" on top of the 'taters. Dan likes his on the side with some beer.
We also tried making some Baked Chicken and Black Bean Taquitos. These were delicious too! A thousand times better than the store bought gluten free kind. However, they are time consuming to make! So, this is a good recipe to make in advance. I'd make them for dinner and freeze the rest. We had thirteen left over and I froze all but three (going to have some for lunch soon). If these turned out great, I will be a very happy camper because I prefer these over the store bought kind.

DIY Shed aka "The Barn"

The porch roof is now up and it looks wonderful. The roof work was so much slower mainly due to the fact that I am a coward (afraid of heights). Dan did the vast majority of that work by himself while I kept him company when I could.
We also painted most of the barn this past weekend. We were very fortunate that a co-worker had a much bigger paint sprayer than ours. Now that I have used one of these tools, I am wanting one of our own. I think it's worth the cost. We still need to paint our house and shutters. It makes the work go a lot smoother not to mention quicker!
All that is left is touch up of the paint, finishing/staining the deck, and getting the roof on the main structure. I will post pictures of the barn soon.

Miscellaneous

I read The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society by Beth Pattillo. This book was a fairly quick and easily forgettable read. A few ladies within the community would get together to share their latest knitting project and discuss the assigned book to read. But, it turned out to be much more than that when the leader brought a rebellious teen into the group. It is considered to be Christian fiction. I would add "with a touch of clean romance". I gave it three stars on Goodreads.
I also read The Dog Who Saved Me by Susan Wilson. Another quick read but much better than the first (above). A K-9 cop "retired" and reluctantly returned back to his hometown as an "animal control officer" and avoided both his father (former alcoholic) and brother (a bad dude). This is fiction, romance, and animals I gave it four stars on Goodreads.