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We have homemade toast or biscuits- not cookies- with homemade jam for breakfast and sometimes a boiled egg. Our main meal is around 4:30 because at lunch we’re busy with the grandchild. I am already missing November posts. Not many older folks blog. 

You have such a cozy house! 

I am learning lessons today. I learned that you are supposed to replace car batteries when they are five years old. If you wait until they are seven years old, they will probably quit right when you are trying to leave for an appointment. :) 

I tried using our electric jump starter on the battery, but it wouldn't work. After the internet told me a seven year old battery is way past its lifespan, I had to figure out what to do. My husband is away on his job. Our friends are too far for me to feel comfortable asking them for help, plus I wanted to fix this myself. I told my son to get the bike out. He said the tires needed pumping. I said okay, pump them up. He said the pump works off of the car. :) I said okay we can walk the three miles to get the battery. He said batteries are heavy. I had a bike basket and a cargo rack on my list of things to buy, but we don't have them. I finally decided to go to Amazon and order an old school tire pump, a bike cargo rack that holds up to 115 lbs., some bungee cords, and chose next day delivery. Once these things arrive, I can go get cash from the bank because we locked our credit cards up, and my son can go through the neighborhood on the bike to get the battery. He's already watching videos on how to install it in the car. 

I am glad this situation made me get more self-reliant and learn about things I hadn't considered yet. 

I'm doing the retirement readiness, too, although mine is about 6 months away.

I don't know how long I will live - none of us does as a rule! - but people in my family on both sides often live past 90 (7  of them, in just my grandparents and my parents' generations) and three of them passed 100.  I must remember that I may have to make my retirement fund stretch.

I have a one-and-a-half story house and the bedroom is upstairs.  I fully expect to move downstairs into a bedroom down there at some point.  Then the upstairs will be a guest suite, but I will miss it.  I love looking out the windows from up there. I have a programmable thermostat up there already that lets me keep the upstairs quite warm during the day in summer, quite cool during winter, but have the room cooling off or warming up for bedtime.  I noticed a drop in my electric bill when I started using the programmable thermostat.

Answering your questions:

I eat three meals a day, and I call them breakfast, lunch (also called dinner), and supper.  It's how I was raised.  I eat vegetables and a protein at all three meals these days, so I don't really have an actual main meal anymore.  Years ago, supper in the evening was always the main meal and as a kid, we ate it around 5:30 pm.  When I was a busy working mom, my family and I ate it around 6:30 to 7 on most nights.   I grew up eating eggs, eggs and toast, eggs and bacon/sausage, rice with milk and sugar, or oatmeal for breakfast as a rule. Not cereal!

I dry 95% or more of my laundry on racks and clotheslines.

A biscuit for me is a quick bread made of flour, fat, baking powder/baking soda, salt, buttermilk or milk, and butter, lard or shortening, mixed together and gently patted into a disk, then cut out with a circular cutter and baked in a hot oven until nicely golden on top.  Best served hot with real butter, honey, molasses/cane syrup, maple syrup, jelly or jam. 

Having tea for me means having a glass of iced tea with or without a meal, or in winter,  having the occasional cup of hot tea.  There is no tradition in my family of a tea time.

 What do you eat for a normal everyday breakfast? We either eat toast and jam or marmalade, cereal or a boiled egg and toast. We always have a cup of tea as well- English breakfast tea and milk normally.

How many meals do you eat per day?  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner? 3 meals a day for us. I had this conversation with my friends recently -I have always used Breakfast as the name for the first meal of the day, and then we have one main meal and one light meal. Dinner is what I call the main meal and it can be in the middle of the day or evening. If the meal in the middle of the day is small then it is called lunch and if the light meal is in the evening it is called supper but my friends all tell me this is quite an old fashioned term. Most people here (England) call their evening meal tea, or tea time and in the North of England supper would only be used to mean a small late night snack if you were hungry still at bedtime.

What time of day do you eat your main meal?  Mostly we have the main meal in the evening in work days and in the middle of the day at the weekend.

How do you dry your laundry? Usually either outside on the line or inside on an airer, in the winter I have airer that goes over our oven which also heats our kitchen as it is constantly on (an Electric Aga). If I have been very busy then I will use the tumble dryer but I try to avoid using it.

What is a biscuit? A sweet hard cracker such as a chocolate digestive or cookie.

Most importantly, what do you consider having tea means? If someone here says they are having tea I would assume they are having their evening meal.

I eat breakfast between and and 7 am as I start work (from home) at 8:30. Lunch is around noon.  Sometimes I will have something cooking while I am working and will plan to have it ready at noon.  Supper is a light meal around 4 and that is usually it for eating for the day as I am trying to give myself a longer fasting period.  

I use inside racks to dry my laundry (sometimes with a fan pointing at them) or I hang them on the outside line.   I prefer the outside line as there are often hummingbirds and dragonflies that visit me while I hang things.  And in October there are often really stunning cobwebs to admire hanging from the lines.  

A biscuit is a flour and butter bread quick bread made with baking powder.  Sometimes, my biscuits are made with sourdough.

Having tea for me means green tea; generally 2 cups with breakfast and one after lunch.  Occasionally I drink iced black tea in warmer weather. 

We are seven years retired and have slowly come to a schedule that suits us both. I am a morning person; he is a night person. I seldom make us breakfast for both of us. I have oatmeal or cream of wheat w/ fruits, molasses, and nuts; veggie omelets (especially mushroom, onion, and sweet pepper with a bit of fresh parmesan on top) and homemade bread toast w/fruit; English muffin w/ bacon or sausage w/ fruit;  yogurt w/ fruit and granola; or biscuits and sausage gravy. I eat at 7; he makes his breakfast at 9.
Our dinner (lunch) will either be light w/ a protein and fruit and side salad or a sandwich w/salad or a bigger meal such as meatloaf w/potatoes and a veggie. Dessert is served either at dinner or supper; never both. Dinner is strictly at noon. Supper is always at 4:30 and will rotate light or main depending on which we had at lunch. Tonight we had a main meal of fried chicken, California veg mix, mashed potatoes and biscuits. Lunch today was a small homemade meatball sub w/ apple, onion, pecan, and butter lettuce salad sprinkled w/ feta. I bake once a week making our bread and dessert (cake, pie, cookies)….

Our snacks are a small protein and fruit. You could say our evening one is our fika!

We live on a farm and I did milk and make all our butter and cheese until my cow had twins and it was too much for her. We have hens and goats as well. We raise a pig every other year. Usually I have a huge garden, but I had a stroke in May and wasn’t able to grow one. Thank goodness we have a lot of canned goods from last year and will be just fine. Next year, though, it will be all hands on deck to grow a big garden and can everything that doesn’t run away! 
Biscuits are bread made with lard, flour, and buttermilk! Lol 
Sorry this got long… it’s fun to see what everyone eats and when and how! 
I guess you can figure I’m a southern Mtn girl from our diet! Lol

The reason people went to the movies three times a week was to see the news reels which usually changed three times a week.  My dad used to go long enough to see the news reel without staying for the movie.  Back then source of news was newspapers, radio or magazines.  Seeing moving pictures of the news was to them what watching the evening news is today.  (Not that I watch it today as it seems more propaganda than news.)

I usually have 3 meals a day although sometimes just 2.  Breakfast varies from cereal to eggs to toast or whatever takes my fancy.  Lunch leftovers or a sandwich.  Evening meat, starch, veggie and sometimes dessert.  

Main meal is supper between 6 and 7 in the evening.

I dry laundry on outside lines in decent weather and in my gas dryer otherwise.  It doesn't use much electricity.  I have clotheslines in the basement but at 82 have no desire to risk carrying laundry down the stairs to hang it.  I have hung clothes all over the place on racks, but as long as I can afford the dryer, that is what I'll use.  

Biscuit to me is baking powder biscuit.  English version would equal to our cookies.

Having tea would equate to a mid-afternoon break. I usually have my daily (only) Pepsi then.  Yes, I know not good for me, but I'm no longer allowed tea due to the type of kidney stones I have.  I consider Pepsi a luxury, and the cost goes into miscellaneous not food budget.  When I used to have tea, I would usually have a cookie or two with it.  The Pepsi has enough sugar without adding anything else.

What do you eat for a normal everyday breakfast? Porridge made with oats, a few slivers of fresh ginger, a few chopped prunes, and blueberries. Plain yoghurt on top. I'm not much of a sweet tooth. The prunes add fibre and the ginger and yoghurt offset the sweetness of the prunes. 

How many meals do you eat per day?  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner? Two only if I'm  home alone: breakfast and late lunch/dinner. Three when my husband and/or daughter are home.

What time of day do you eat your main meal? 4:30 when alone; either 1pm or 6pm if others are home, depending on whether it suits me to stop for a big lunch. I often prefer that, and a simple meal at the end if the day.

How do you dry your laundry? From around March to October (Southern Hemisphere): either on racks by the slow-combustion stove in the kitchen/dining area, or out on the clothesline, or a combination. In the warmer weather, outside on racks undercover or on the clothesline in the sun. Very rarely I will finish something off in the electric dryer, which is out in the garage.

What is a biscuit? Here, it's the same as a cookie or a cracker in the USA, I think. A sweet treat to have with tea or coffee, or a savoury thing you might have with cheese or some other savoury topping. I can't think of any that don't have a firm (eg shortbread) or crunchy texture. 

Most importantly, what do you consider having tea means?  When I was growing up, it was the evening meal - we now call that dinner usually, although sometimes the word "tea" pops out! Now I would mostly say it in reference to morning or afternoon  tea, when we break for a hot drink and sometimes something small to eat (such as a sweet biscuit). Even though I call it "morning tea" or "afternoon tea", people often drink coffee instead, these days. That is rarely me; I prefer tea made in a pot. We keep Earl Grey and English Breakfast tea leaves in the house. 

If people go out to a cafe for morning or afternoon tea (as opposed to having it at someone's house), they'd say they're going out for coffee. :)

Grandma Donna, this was an especially uplifting and inspiring post!

We are also wondering what life is going to look like when my husband retires.  We had chosen one date for the end, but ended up adjusting it.  There are several benefits to waiting, so the decision was made to put it off a bit longer.

Unfortunately, I had to stop taking an adjunct medication due to long term side effects, and without it I’m experiencing mild flare symptoms, so I have to change my diet again.  I had been eating more vegetarian meals and in particular eating very little beef because it is so expensive now.  I was also adding in some lower fiber produce, some whole grains, and rice.  We’ve decided I will increase my beef and other animal protein intake for the rest of September and also eliminate grains to see what the results are.  I did very well eating this way last year before starting my main medication.  I’m very happy I underspent our grocery budget last month (which I base on the SNAP benefit in my state for 3 adults), because I have some funds to purchase meat with.  I’m going to try chicken again and am desperately hoping I won’t react to it, as it is the least expensive animal protein I can buy, even less expensive than eggs on a grams of protein per dollar basis.

I’ll still be baking bread and other baked goods for my family.  At this point I’m accustomed to cooking differently for them than for myself.  My goal is to stay within the grocery budget I set even though I will need to buy meat again.

How many meals do you eat per day?  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner?  I had been eating three meals per day, but most likely will fluctuate between two and three now, since eating more protein leaves me feeling full.  We call the meals breakfast, lunch, and dinner or supper.

What time of day do you eat your main meal?  My husband and son eat their main meal at in the evening after my son gets home from work.  With changing what I eat, I’ll probably eat my main meal around noon, when my husband has his lunch — this helps break up the cooking for me.  Then when they have their dinner I’ll have a small snack to join them at the table.  In the past we’ve eaten our main meal at noon (for about 10-15 years as the kids were growing up), and called it dinner, which is probably why I’m in the habit of calling the evening meal supper.  At present my husband prefers his main meal in the evening, mostly so he has time to make a nice salad, and also so he can be the one to do the dishes.

How do you dry your laundry?  We exclusively line dry all of our laundry and do not own an automatic clothes dryer.

What is a biscuit?  For us, a biscuit is a quick bread made with flour, fat, salt, baking powder (and sometimes baking soda), and milk (fresh or buttermilk).  I mostly make cut out biscuits, but do make drop biscuits occasionally.  Biscuits can be the bread served with a meal, part of a dessert, a snack, the base for a sandwich, etc.  Fun fact: I didn’t grow up eating biscuits, but learned to make them properly as an adult after researching my ancestry and learning about my ancestors from the south.

Most importantly, what do you consider having tea means?  For us at present, “having tea” refers to having a cup of hot tea, either from tea leaves or herbs, and for my husband, it also typically includes a small snack.  It’s something we do that is relaxing and has some ritual to it.  Just Sunday at the beach I was cold, so I made a cup of tea and “had tea” sitting on the beach, looking and listening to the waves and people watching.  I like to be very present when I have tea, either to the people I’m with or the place I am in.  We do drink iced tea, but don’t call it “having tea”.  When my children were growing up, “having tea” involved hot tea and a light spread of snacks, along with reading aloud.  It was an afternoon “meal” we would have to help tide them over until supper-time.

I sometimes only eat once a day but mostly 2 times a day. I don't eat breakfast, never have...it just doesn't set well with me.

I have a smoothie sometime between 11 and 12:30 made of homemade yogurt, frozen fruit from my freezer, and half of a banana. Sometimes with the addition of 1/4 cup cottage cheese and always with my collagen powder as it helps my joints and pain points.

I call my other meal supper and it is usually between 5:30 and 7PM??? depends so much on my appetite and what I have going on, and during canning season it seems I always have something going on. LOL Sometimes it is a full meal sometimes I am happy and content with either oatmeal or cream of wheat or rice.

A biscuit for me is made with flour, butter/lard and buttermilk. I love biscuits.

We call our tea time "coffee o'clock" and it is a chance to set and rest, visit and go over our day.  We mostly will have a cup of coffee but sometimes a pot of hot tea. I live alone and have my coffee many times alone but sometimes I will go to the DD's and we have coffee. Just depends on how tired I am on that day or if they have had to work over.

I dry my laundry on lines outside or racks inside. I have a dryer but it's more like a decoration at this point. In winter I hang things around my woodstove or in doorways on hangers.

I feel like my home is very cozy and a reflection of my personality. I love antiques and vintage and use what I have.  It's the calm and peace that I need.  I don't do well in large crowds or gatherings. I prefer a small circle of like-minded people.

I am the one with food allergies in my family, so I typically only make dinner for everyone. That way my husband and son aren't stuck with only the foods I can eat. They love my oatmeal pancakes with no wheat in them, so I make those for everyone on the weekends for breakfast. 

Sometimes I eat breakfast, and sometimes I don't. I usually have a scrambled egg and hash browns and fruit for breakfast. Sometimes I'll scramble my egg in some Mexican rice for a change, or have a smoothie. 

Dinner is the main meal in the evening. 

A biscuit is a Grandma Donna's recipe for buttermilk biscuits. 

Having tea means I have a tummyache, and have made some tea with mint from the garden. 

I mostly dry my laundry outside. With winter coming, I've been thinking about how to dry it in the house. I don't have a way to boil my laundry so I've started getting myself into the habit of ironing. I have a steam iron, and that is supposed to be effective for getting rid of germs. I have put a portable heater near my drying rack to dry clothes before. I think a combination of that and the ironing should be good. I'm going to have a line put in my bedroom for drying laundry this winter. Maybe two lines, depending on where I find the studs. 

I get up at 4:30am and breakfast is at 5am.  Oatmeal with b blueberries and walnuts.  I watch Adam 12.

Three meals is the usual.  A light lunch at noon and then dinner.  My larger meal varies, depending on what the menu is.  Dinner is usually at 5pm and my stomach is generally growling when I finish reading at 8:30 pm.

I use the dryer only for my husband's work clothes.  And only long enough so they don't wrinkle.  I hang everything else indoors.  Yup, sheets, too!!

Biscuits are not sweet.  They're a smaller version of regular bread, I'd say.  They taste great with gravy for dinner or jam for breakfast.  I don't eat a lot of bread.

I'm a summer drinker of iced tea, but I love hot tea in winter with a shortbread cookie.   When I lived in Los Angeles, there was a wonderful tea house that served little sandwiches, scones and cream, and a variety of bite sized desserts.  That was a wonderful way to spend time with friends!  I'm strictly a morning coffee drinker.  

My favorite hot tea is elderberry and my favorite hot coffee is Irish Cream.

Dear Grandma Donna ,  I have a question, hoping you will answer. We've been going through our dishes and trying to rid ourselves of anything withe lead, yet not wanting to repurchase a bunch of dishes! They really add up for a larger family.

Do you have any advice on this topic? Do you and Charles concern yourselves with this when it comes to dishes, cutlery, etc?

God bless

Rose

I would like to answer a few of your questions.

We eat 2 meals a day.

10:00 and 6:00--main meal being 6:00

Usually no snacks, maybe a plain homeade biscuit. These are old fashioned baking powder biscuits.

We eat lots and lots of potatoes and eggs! Homemade Bread from scratch everyday. We also eat a lot of chicken.

Believe it or not, I haven't owned a dryer since 2008. I truly haven't! I do all of our laundry by hand, and hang my laundry . In the winter up North, I would hang it inside in the kitchen by the wood burner. Now I do the same, here in the south ,but I just don't do as much at one time.

Another wonderful post, Donna. I, too, scroll too much and have been convicted of it. The Lord has laid on my heart to stop wasting precious time. I, most likely, won't have ten years left and I do have things I want to complete.

I think of a biscuit in two ways now. Either the fluffy American kind or a British cookie. I don't drink tea as it is full of tannin, unless herbal. I do drink one cup per day of tulsi herbal tea.

Our city has an ordinance that won't allow clothes lines or hanging any clothing items outside. Hence, we use our dryer. I do have an extra large clothes drying rack and space in several rooms to use it if necessary.

I eat three breakfast cookies, for breakfast, that contain granola, bananas, very little sugar, flax seed meal and are gluten free. I grind sorghum berries and my husband is a good baker. I can't eat eggs, so we either substitute with mashed bananas or ground flax seed. Flax seed is a good source of omega 3, which helps with inflammation; I need that for the arthritis in my body.

We eat our main meal at noon each day. Around 4 or 5, in the late afternoon, we will each get a small snack for the evening meal. We usually arise sometime between 4 or 5 in the morning, so our day starts early.

Thank you, again, for your post.

Such wonderful photos, I love looking at them while I read. 

How many meals do you eat per day?  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner?

 I eat two and a snack. I have the same thing for breakfast pretty  much daily, after I workout and get the pets fed and I shower, around 730am.. A mashed banana with collagen powder, homemade yogurt, blueberries and strawberries (fresh or the ones I froze during the season for winter) and a sprinkle of homemade granola with home made london fog hot tea. On a very rare occasion I will have oatmeal. For second meal I have my go tos: salad or homemade chili or homemade soup or homemade rice and beans. I eat that around 1:30. I then have a cup of hot tea (earl grey or chai) before work. I work from home from 3-1130pm. Sometimes I add a piece of homemade sugarfree and gluten free banana oat bread as a treat. I don't eat after this. 

I both machine and line dry my laundry. I dry my clothes on the line. I do towels in the dryer, but there aren't a ton so it goes quickly and I do laundry once a week. My skin just couldn't handle the roughness of the towels. 

What is a biscuit? Is not sweet, like a bread...I miss them!

Most importantly, what do you consider having tea means? To me having tea means having a hot cup of tea twice a day. I call my meals breakfast and lunch. 

I would love to read by candlelight, but I just can't see!!! I do need to go to the eye dr for new prescription though...lol

I do not have the regular social medias (like facebook, insta etc) I do watch some you tube videos (I love Real vintage Dolls house, she is awesome and does rationing weeks and experiments like that, she lives vintage lifestyle). I can find myself scrolling my phone  for information though. I would love to get rid of all the tech stuff like computers and phone etc. but I work from home and pay bills on it. My cell is a smartphone because my youngest in still in college and likes to facetime me a couple times a week to catch up and I wouldn't give that up for anything!!!!! I tend to live slower, I don't shop unless I truly need something. I do grocery shop twice a month. I try to make my life slow and quiet. I still have a landline as my mom is hard of hearing and has trouble hearing me on the cell (and we don't have the greatest reception in this area). I love the blogs and the forum!!!

Thank you, Grandma Donna - I am loving this topic, and so interested to see everyone's responses.  

I turn 50 in a year, and live alone now. My meals are a little bit in flux, as my only child left for college a month ago (single mom). For the first time in a couple of decades, I can have whatever meal schedule I like. :-) 

My normal everyday breakfast has typically been oatmeal or some kind of overnight oats, oat-bread toast, granola, granola bars; my Scots heritage runs strong and I'm more content with some kind of oaty fiber in the morning. Eggs, pancakes, waffles, muffins are common on weekends. Oh, and coffee. I relish my single cup of coffee every morning.

I have eaten 2-3 meals per day, either a late brunch-ish meal (around 11) with a mid-afternoon snack, and then dinner, or a traditional three meals.  I'm still figuring out what works best for me now. My main meal has always been dinner (evening meal here, 6-8 PM) tho I'm reconsidering this. 

I dry cotton and linen items in my electric tumble dryer, and everything else (wool, synthetics, etc) is hung to dry on the very long clothesline in my basement.  I am blessed with extremely low electric rates, here in my small town in western New York State; nearly all of our electricity comes from Niagara Falls.  In addition I have a very dry basement, especially in cooler weather. It costs me $2-$4 per month to run the tumble dryer.  I am lazy enough to be content with that (I work full-time, hybrid). 

A biscuit is a savory item made with flour, baking powder, butter, salt, milk, usually a drop biscuit, often I add cheese.  I eat them with homemade soup. 

I'm American, so tea is a beverage for me, not a meal or a time of day. I drink a ton of tea in cool weather.  Tea can mean a large mug of mint, echinacea, lemon, and elderberry, to ward off colds, or a pleasant herbal blend to warm the soul, or a large pot of decaf black and cinnamon tea, with milk and sugar, in my grandmother's inherited bone china cups and saucers.  

Oh I completely agree with you. I am trying to break myself of the scrolling thing. It’s mostly in the evenings, but I find I sleep better if I don’t have my phone before bed. I leave it in the front room during the night so not on the bedside.  
Your “apartment” is looking cozy :-)

If we aren’t working, we default to brunch and linner (haha).  When working it’s breakfast and lunch and hubby will have a little snack in the evening.  My typical breakfast is two eggs sprinkled with Parmesan

I hang my clothes, but funny enough, as I’m reading this I have the dryer going because I washed the bathmats and wanted them soft. 
Bet Charles (& you too) is counting the days.  Congrats to you both.  

I live in the US -midwest. I usually eat 3 meals a day. But often will skip any one of those depending on how busy I am. 

I love picnics. But don't get to have one very often.

I use our gas dryer. I do occassionally hang things on our rack on the porch. If I had a clothesline I'd use it.