A Little Bread, Flowers, Squirrel & Bird

Well, as you all know, life continues especially when errands abound! Yep! Errands do not take a day off or asks to wait when you don't have a car. Our day started out slow, but after a great breakfast of pancakes and milk, I baked us a loaf of white bread for some sandwiches! *thanking Michelle for finding recipe online*

Our friend Michelle made a loaf of this the first week she was here, but hers tasted different and came out smooth on top. I followed the recipe exactly, up to the point where it said, "stretch to a rectangle then roll to roughly the size of the pan." Mine came out rough, but I buttered the slit top and it's definitely a white loaf of bread!
The kiddos loved eating their plain cheese sandwiched against two warm, soft slices while we walked to Kroger's.
On our way there, we used the neighboring complex to walk through and since they have more mature oak and other trees, small climbing animals and birds are everywhere, but what caught my attention enough to take pictures, is this cute little squirrel who looked at us first before scampering off on this tree. It was rather humid so I think he's trying to "relax" and cool off. J-Pony said, "Mommy, he's probably dead or dying because he's flat." LOL
When we crossed over to the parking lot of the church on the other side, we couldn't help but notice all these bold yellow and orange lantanas. I love these, we have them in the Philippines and I love trying to grow them along with moss roses. *reminiscing*

So we reach Kroger and fulfill our errand. We bought some Dreyer's Dibs "Nestle Crunch" Flavor" ice cream, bigger but cheaper than the other tub we bought inside Blockbuster, a few weeks back.

On our way back to the church parking lot, I told the kiddos to stand in front of this tree for some pictures. (We always take pictures when we go out). I noticed some birds flying near it but hesitated so looking closer, this bird was relaxing on shaded branch! When I tried to have the kiddos stand in front of it, the bird twitched then flew away...

So they didn't get to have the bird on the background. Oh, well... Don't they look cute in their shades?

Further on, we took another route and noticed these great looking big trees and the little corner garden so I had them stand behind it. More lantanas!

At the other end is the sign for the other complex and it was flanked by two cool fountains. So I had J-Pony and I-Dude stand in front! Look at that garden!

Once inside our own townhome complex, J-Pony notice birds coming in and out of this small tree. So she looked and saw this nest! Albeit, it's empty, but what a great find!

For dinner, we knew we had everything we needed to make a great satisfying meal. We made Jasmine rice and I thawed the beef stew meat we had (1.33 lbs), sliced each piece smaller, halved it and the other half, I sauteed with onions, canola oil, garlic powder and pepper.
Added some frozen veggies, soysauce and water. Simmered on low for 10 minutes and "voila!"
... dinner is served! We made our own "Beef, Veggie & Rice" Bowls, for less than $3 for all four of us!

How you ask? Simple. We already had all of the ingredients, but remembering all the good deals we stumbled upon like B1G1F for the meat-$7 for two, veggies-$1, onion (1/2 lb-15 cents). The soy sauce and the rest we've had for at least two months. And I halved the portions, plus 4 of us ate, there you go!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!