Archive | Onisha Ellis On the Porch- Thursday RSS feed for this section

Roast Beef and Bare Toes

6 Feb

I don’t know about you but the crazy grocery prices have been challenging our budget. In the past I was pretty good at stretching our food dollars when the rising cost of food was exceeding our budget. Rice, potatoes, pasta, dried beens and even bread were effective budget stretchers. Now, we try to eat low carb and those items while delicious aren’t low carb.

Lately I have been craving a nice roast beef, that is, until I look at the price in the store. Roast beef has fallen into the window shopping category. Occasionally I have enjoyed a pot roast beef sandwich at Culvers, but it just isn’t the same.

Photo Credit: Culver’s online order page.

Two weeks ago Winn-Dixie ran a shoulder beef roast on sale at a price I could afford. Hallelujah. It wasn’t a cut I was familiar with but thinking that cooking it on low in the crock pot would tenderize it. I took a chance and bought two.

PS Don’t get me started on the cost of eggs.

I put one in the freezer and cooked one. Since potatoes are a no-no, I cooked it with radishes. Surprisingly after hours in the crock pot, the radishes were good. I had a partial package of sun dried tomatoes and decided to toss them in along with a stick of butter and a little bit of red wine I found that was leftover from a meal our daughter cooked the day before.

I was a bit apprehensive when I removed it from the crockpot. Would it be tough and stringy? It wasn’t. It was delicious, juicy and tender.

It did not look like the picture below but it was the best photo Word Press A.I. came up with.

Last week was also momentous.The temperature rose to bare toes weather. Since we arrived in Florida in mid January, the weather has been windy and chilly. My flip-flops remained in the suitcase and instead I pulled out my cozy Cuddledud socks and slip on Sketchers. My poor toes hadn’t seen sunlight since November.

In typical Florida fashion we went from put a blanket on the bed, to turn on the A/C. My flip flops came out of the suitcase and my toes are free!

Word Press A.I.

I looked at the 10 day weather forecast last night. Highs will be 80 degrees or more. I wanted some bare toes weather but 70s would have been perfect. On the positive side, I will be getting plenty of Vitamin D on walks with our grand dog, Ollie.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2024 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

The Snow Followed Us!

23 Jan

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Did you see the crazy pictures of the snow in the Gulf coast and Florida?

I wanted to upload some, but couldn’t find any that were free to share and use. The Pensacola News Journal has some good photos. I enjoyed seeing pictures on Facebook of people making snowballs and measuring how many inches. It was a historical snow event and will be remembered and talked about for many years.

We left our mountain home on January 16th to spend time in Florida with our daughter. We enjoyed our snow days but after 5 days in the house I was getting (crazy) restless. By day three my husband decided it was time to shovel the driveway. I stayed inside because someone had to be standing by to call 911.

I was worried about his safety since there was ice under the snow and as I have mentioned I don’t do ice. But Mike seemed to enjoy the shoveling.

We share a driveway with a neighbor and their teenage son shoveled the stretch from their driveway to the road.

The local Facebook page was very helpful with road updates The main road was cleared quickly but there was still morning ice. When our neighbor ventured out we waited a day and set out to check the road conditions for our route back to Florida. There was still some ice but it was easy to avoid. We ran a couple of errands and it was so good to interact with people!

Two days later we left for home. It was time. Another winter storm was expected on the weekend. We enjoyed the snow, but once was enough.

Neighbor’s table
Main road from our neighborhood

I was sad and happy to leave. Florida was calling and after days in the house I was ready for some sunny vitamin D. But the Vitamin D will have to wait as the weather has been cloudy, windy and cold. We are further south than the snow line and I am good with that.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2024 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Snow Arrived

11 Jan

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

The snow arrived a little earlier than expected yesterday.

I was sitting on my bed with the window blinds open, ready for the show to begin. According the my weather app it would arrive at 12 noon. At 11:00 am my husband came into the room and announced it is snowing. I looked out my window and the roof of my husband’s shop was beginning to turn white. How did that happen so fast? The snow was very fine and I wasn’t sure it was snow but since it was sticking on the shop, I made the decision it was snow. I am bummed I didn’t take a photo.

I had no idea how much snow we might get so I did snap a picture of our walkway.

The driveway is black asphalt.

The snow set in with short intervals of no snow. For the most part the snow was very fine but we didn’t have a few moments of the beautiful large flakes.

Back yard

Our driveway has a slope and I don’t see us driving down it until the snow melts. We wanted to walk around outside but decided to attempt to be responsible old people. We have a package being delivered to our mailbox on Monday. We are plotting a route to walk down to the mailbox. It’s hard being responsible old people.

An update on the people in the disaster area of the Blue Ridge mountains.

FEMA announced today, Saturday January 11, that they are extending hotel vouchers until January 14th. They put out a message to call them if one has a problem. The message didn’t mention that their office has closed down due to the storm. Please remember the people in our prayers and the volunteers who are exhausted.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Will the Snow Arrive?

9 Jan

On the Porch

Onisha Eillis

As I write this, western North Carolina is hunkering down for a big winter storm. Hunker down is a Florida phrase in hurricane season. I’m not sure what the proper term is here so until I know better, I’m hunkering down.

HUNKER DOWN!

Photo is AI generated

In Florida my hunker down prep was all about food. I started with the most basic, coffee. Must have coffee. At the start of hurricane season we made sure we had propane for our Coleman camp stove so making coffee would be no problem. Hurricane stress requires snacks. Lots of snacks. Highly processed lunch meats and hot dogs are awful, but they don’t spoil easily. Of course, plenty of Peanut butter and bread are a must along with bottles of water. Oh, and must not forget ice for keeping foods chilled in the ice chest.

Photo is AI generated

Hunkering down for a snow storm is different. Our biggest concern is water. Our water is supplied by a community well and that pump does not like cold weather. Usually there is a switch that needs to be flipped back on but last year it froze. Some of the men used hair blow dryers to thaw it.

We’ve filled empty gallon water jugs with water for dish washing and er…other things. In the kitchen I filled up pitchers with water because coffee must be available!

Photo is AI generated

I don’t need to worry about food spoilage. The garage is colder than the refrigerator. I didn’t stock up on snacks since we are trying to eat very low carb. I may come to seriously regret this decision.

I’ve loaded my iPad and my Kindle with books to read should the power go out. I have also charged up my battery power bank. Unlike during a hurricane power outages with miserable heat, I can snuggle under blankets and read.

Even if we don’t lose power, I should have a lot of reading time. The weather predicts that after the snow, there may be ice and that will prolong thawing and as I said, this Florida girl does not drive on ice.

11:00 pm- My phone just buzzed with this warning.

CODE RED WEATHER WARNING.

The warning sounds ominous. So far the skies are mostly clear. The warning goes from 7:00 am tomorrow the 10th to 7:00 am on the 11th.

I really want the snow to arrive. We extended our stay in the mountains in the hope of snow. We didn’t exactly ask for a strong winter storm mixed with ice.

On the other hand, I don’t want the snow to arrive. The people living east of us in the area devastated by Hurricane Helene don’t need this storm. There are still people living in tents. There are people who have no place to sleep being housed in hotels paid for by FEMA. Today FEMA announced they were discontinuing paying for the hotel rooms after previously saying they were extending the vouchers. A huge outcry went up. Volunteers were frantically trying to find funding to keep the people safe. Mercury 1 Charity stepped in to pay for the rooms. By late evening FEMA relented to give the people another 24 hours.

In our 14 years of spending time in the mountains, we have only experienced one big snow storm. Snow makes everything beautiful. And if the storm does arrive, we will be enjoying the beauty for several days because like I said, this Florida girl (and her husband) don’t drive on ice.

This was in 2014.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2024 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Christmas and Beyond

2 Jan

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Where did December go? Wasn’t it Thanksgiving just a week or so ago? Surely I am not the only one feeling this way.

December was a busy month at our house. Our daughter invited us to join her on a week long Caribbean cruise during the first week of December and of course we said yes.

The weather was perfect, sunny with highs in the mid 70s. We had a very pleasant time. I did a lot of reading and sleeping. And of course eating. I think my husband had four desserts before we left the port.

Speaking of the port, we cruised out of Port Canaveral which is not only a cruise terminal but Space X launches from there.

The large vessel attached to the tug boat is the barge rocket boosters land on after launching. Three boosters are behind the barge. Space X reuses the boosters. As a side note, Space X launches Starlink satellites from here. After Hurricane Helene, Elon’s Starlink provided communication in the mountain disaster areas. He also provided reduced pricing on the equipment and gave service for free to hard hit areas.

A few of pictures from the cruise.

Made from a decorative throw at the botton of the bed. Cute
Private island Christmas decoration.
I liked the ornaments
I’m surprised they weren’t Mickey and Minnie snowmen.

After the cruise we took a day to rest then drove back to our place in the mountains to get ready for Christmas. Of course we had to throw in some out of town doctor visits just to keep life interesting.

And then it was Christmas and then it was our daughter’s birthday. It was a milestone birthday so we wanted to do something special. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate with any plans we made. Finally after checking and rechecking the weather projections we decided to celebrate on the day before her big day. Rain was supposed to hold off until evening. Except it didn’t. A cold, drizzle began shortly after leaving home and followed us all the way to Dahlonega, Georgia.

One of her friends had recommended a family style restaurant there. It did not disappoint. Beside being a restaurant it is also an Inn.

Love that Santa is the picture above the mantle.

We had not visited this cute town but we plan to go back in the spring. Want to know more about Dahlonega, here’s a recent article from The Detailed Traveler. An interesting tidbit, the town was the home of the first Gold Rush.

And then time spun away and our daughter returned to Florida and now it is 2025. The weather has been sunny, windy and cold. There is a possibility of snow over the weekend. One would think that living in the mountains we would get a lot of snow, but we don’t. I plan to drink coffee and hot chocolate, watch the snow (if it comes) and have a pajama weekend. And read, of course.

After thought, when visiting with a friend after Christmas, she asked what i got for Christmas. My mind went blank. That’s embarrassing. The first thing that came to my mind was this.

My friend was a little envious.

My husband had asked what I would like for Christmas and I told him Sharpies. After 52 years of marriage he realized I was serious.

I hope each of you had a lovely Christmas and I wish you blessings in this new year of 2025.

If we get snow, I will post the pictures.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2024 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Choose Hope for 2025

31 Dec

It’s 8:30 pm on New Year’s Eve and I haven’t heard any booms or bangs celebrating the passing of the old year and the beginning of the new.

I am a bit surprised at the quiet. I live in a rural area where the sound of target shooting is the norm and fireworks are ignited for any celebration. I really don’t mind the booms and bangs. To me they are happy sounds.

I’m sure a lot of words will be written, breaking down and analyzing 2024. This can indeed be useful, but it need not be all consuming.

Let’s choose hope for 2025. I take hope in this verse from Isaiah.

So from all of us at Old Things R New, we wish you a very happy and blessed New Year.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Come Let Us Go and See

24 Dec

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Tags: , ,

Rediscovering the Joy of Reading: My Personal Journey

30 Oct

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I remember vividly the wonder I felt when I learned to read. Oddly enough, my reading journey began in fear and trepidation. As a timid first grade student, I was frightened of a tall red haired teacher who would shout and shake her hand at students when we were too noisy in the lunch room. She was almost as scary as the gray haired first grade teacher who taught the other first grade class. She was mean!

We didn’t know who would be our teacher until the first day of school. On that day we were gathered in the school auditorium and seated by grade. Then the teachers would call out the names of the students in their class. Once the teacher had all of her students they would march us to our new classroom. To my utter horror, the tall red haired teacher called my name. I may have cried.

My next memory of second grade is being divided up in reading groups. I was seriously motivated to learn to read.

A.I. generated image.

At that time Saturday cartoons had titles. For example, “Tom and Jerry Hunting a Tweety Bird.” I knew the writing on the screen was important but my older brothers would ignore my pleadings to read it to me.

A.I. generated image

I don’t know if I was a star reader but I do know that I learned quickly and it wasn’t long before I was a regular at the school library.

My thirst for reading never went away. During the child rearing days I had to get a little creative to find reading opportunities. I often read late into the night even though my son was an early riser.

Then sometime in late 2018 I lost my thirst for reading. It was like that part of my brain was wiped clean. I honestly don’t know how I survived.

I suspect that feeling the need to write book reviews, which I do poorly stifled my reading urge. Eventually my mind began to crave reading and when I abandoned my efforts to write reviews, the thirst returned.

Due to vision issues I read now on my iPad using the Kindle app.

A.I generated image

Recently I noticed that Kindle was tracking the number of books I was reading.

  • 2019 Nine booksed
  • 2020 Seven books
  • 2021 Eighteen books
  • 2022 Fifty four books
  • 2023 Seventy three books
  • 2024 Fifty six books so far, plus around 90 audio books.

I am a bit shocked about the number of audio books. I may have counted some from 2023. Thank goodness I can get audio books for free through the Hoopla app.. If one has a library card and your library participates, you can access Hoopla and I recommend it!

It is normal for me to be reading a book on my iPad and when not reading, listening to a book. Just recently I wasn’t paying attention and was reading a book on my iPad and a different book on my phone. I was a little disconcerted when I realized it, but decided, no big deal… read on.

The question is why am I immersing myself in novels? I think I am escaping. I know I am escaping. I gravitate toward cozy mysteries with senior sleuths. Throw in a sarcastic cat or a clever canine and I’ll read the whole series. These stories are not real life and that is fine with me. Real life in 2024 is way too contentious for my psyche. I do throw in some historical fiction and more serious mysteries to keep me grounded. Too many animal involved mysteries and I begin wondering if my grand-dog, Ollie, might have super powers.

I am only able to indulge my reading obsession through the Kindle Unlimited plan on Amazon. It costs me $11.99 per month and I have an endless and instant supply of books. I especially like that Indie authors have books in Kindle Unlimited. The publishing houses determine the types of books we read and these days, I seldom like their choices. Indie authors have the freedom to write whatever their muse inspires.

Sixty-five years ago a scary, tall, red haired teacher gave me the wonderful gift of reading. I can’t imagine my life without books.

Our daughter, Rebekah participated in a book promotion that asked authors to share their current three favorite reads. You can read about hers at Shepherd.com.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2024 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hurricane Helene and Milton: Personal Reflections

22 Oct

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Hurricane Helene skimmed the west coast of Florida before making landfall in the big bend area on September 26th. We were thankful that our family on Florida’s West coast didn’t experience any severe winds.

From our home in Western North Carolina we followed the progress of Helene as the storm made its way to inland Georgia. Here in the mountains rainfall totals from a cold front moving through were already at 10 inches, with more to come with Helene.

At some point after we went to bed, in the early morning hours I began receiving flash flood warnings on my phone. We don’t live near water, so I wasn’t concerned for us, but I was for the community. Our town is in a valley with lots of streams.

As we slept, Helene moved to a more eastward track. We woke up to light rain and mild wind gusts. Shortly after arising, our electricity went out. We have underground power so a tree or trees near a feeder line must have come down.

This is all of the yard debris

We were two days without power and three days without phones or internet. Fortunately, a friend in South Carolina didn’t lose any services and suggested we come stay with them. We emptied our freezers into ice chests, gathered up some clothes, loaded the car and with hearts full of gratitude drove to their home.

Once we drove south, we began to have intermittent cell service and I was able to let family and friends know that we were ok.

I checked social media and was horrified to find out about the devastation to the mountains east of us. To this day I am horrified at the death and destruction.

As I write this, I am watching 60 Minutes TV show. It doesn’t even come close to showing the horror. Prayers are appreciated. Donations to organizations like Samaritan’s Purse are still needed. A major need is propane heaters as it is now cold in the mountains and some are living in tents.

Following on the heels of Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton flared up in the Caribbean. There was quite a lot of fear about this storm as it rapidly developed into a category 5 hurricane and began a track to Florida’s West coast.

We have family on the West coast and a daughter on the East coast and the track was predicted to move onto land where the West coast family lives and exit on the East coast over where our daughter lives.

Our daughter would be going through the storm on her own, just herself and her dog, Ollie.

Our daughter did her storm preps and prepared to hunker down. I asked if she had hurricane snack foods and she didn’t have any! She worked up until the day of the storm and didn’t have the energy to fight the pre-storm crowds. Well that would not do!

I was able to place a Walmart delivery order that would arrive around 8:30 pm.

I know, a lot of cookies but I wasn’t sure which ones would be available.

Hurricanes tend to spin up tornadoes. As Milton moved through the state, several large, damaging tornadoes touched down south of our daughter’s county. She had prepared for this by creating a “safe place” in her bathroom. She had books, blankets, pillows, candles and even treats for Ollie.

I barely slept the night Milton was crossing Florida. Would she lose power, are there tornadoes near her, what about her car, did anything hit it? I slept better during Helene.

When she called the next morning to say she was fine and had power, I sent up a thank you, God prayer.

The storm wasn’t finished but it would be moving out to sea soon. I was exhausted. Hurricane fatigue is real. Ask anyone who lived in Florida during 2004.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s the Most Confusing Time of the Year

20 Sep

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

A popular Christmas song declares “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

For seniors and especially those new to Medicare Open Enrollment which begins October 15 and runs through December 7th it can definitely be the most confusing time of the year.

Photo Credit:Pixabay and Canva

I remember when my husband turned 65, I was so confused. I spent hours making lists and comparing. This past year I discovered the You Tube channel, Medicare School. and it has been a good resource for me and best of all, their videos tend to be short, especially updates. Full disclosure, they are independent insurance brokers, but the information videos aren’t sales pitches.

Photo Credit:Image by healthguru from Pixabay

Here is a word of warning for those new to Medicare this year. You must sign up for a prescription plan. This can be included in a Medicare Advantage plan or If you go the Medigap/supplement route you need to choose a Plan D drug plan. My friend refused to choose a plan, claiming he only took one medication and it was cheap. I warned him it was mandatory and he now has to pay a monthly penalty fee along with the plan premium.

Medicare dot gov is a good tool for choosing a drug plan. If you take several medications it can be tedious typing them in, but it is worth the effort as the website will show a cost comparison between drug plans and your selected pharmacies.

Finally, my favorite tool, Good RX. It is a legitimate savings program and not limited to Medicare. I regularly compare the cost of a medication with insurance and with Good RX. Just this week our daughter went to pick up a prescription and ithe insurance copay was $30.00 and the Good RX cost was $15.00.

I use my card at Publix with no issues.

When Good RX first became available, some pharmacies were not participating but now most are happy to take it. Some even offer to check the Good RX price for me.

To use Good RX there are two choices. One, you can go the the website GoodRx.com enter your prescription, your location and you will see a list of local pharmacies and their price. Here is a link to the common drug, Lipitor. When you choose the deal you will be given options to print, email, or text it to phone.

The second option is to download the app. When I choose a deal I show it to the pharmacy and I am charged the Good RX price.

There are other discount cards out there but I have found Good RX to be consistently cheaper.

I hope this post will be helpful. I encourage you to give Good RX a try. It saves us a lot of money.

I forgot to mention that the Medicare School also has a Facebook page.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2024 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →