Thursday, February 28, 2013

Almost Done

Well dress rehearsal is over, pictures and longer post coming tomorrow. I have someone who has promised to take a picture of us dressed as camels tomorrow during the show.

Still want to bury the director up to her neck in hot sand (I would of course dig her out before too much damage could occur).

This will be my final performance as I am tired of the nitpicking and favorites.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Busy With Rehearsals

I have been extremely busy the last two days. Hmmm, actually I can say I will be busy all this week.

This is the week of our church musical and even though every year I say I am not going to take part, for some reason I get suckered into performing again. However this year really will be the last performance as the old body just can not seem to keep up anymore (and for some reason the other two people I dance with can not seem to get the dance steps...and treat me like I am incompetent when I nicely show them what we are doing wrong). I am so tempted to turn to each of them and let her know I am not an idiot.

I do have pictures and hope to start putting them up tomorrow as there is no practice (the one day this week that I could stay home in the evening and I have a meeting!!).

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Finished the Dusters and Moving On

Today I finished off the dusters. This time I used up some flannel that I had in my sewing room. I am now the proud owner of 10 reusable dusters.

I don't know if I like the flannel ones as much as the green all purpose cleaning cloth ones I made yesterday, but I will give these a try and let you all know how they work.

I have started the Swiffer Sweeper replacement and hope to get that done by this evening. If it does a good job I will make a couple more with my leftover cotton yarn. I hope to have a picture of the finished project to post tomorrow. Well it could be Monday considering I have play practice starting at 5 tomorrow night for who knows how long.

I promised I would post the link to the pattern I used so here it is.

http://www.sew-much-ado.com/2010/02/tutorial-reusable-swiffer-duster-cloths.html

Hope you all give it a try.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Frugality and A Greener Lifestyle

Part of being a frugal person is living a greener lifestyle, and in order to do this I thought I would try to remove some of the throw away life that I have been living.

This is the first of what I hope to be many changes in how I manage to become a greenie.

We use a swifter duster to get to those hard to reach spots almost daily. The cost of the throw away dusters is crazy at 15 for $15.00. That is $1.00 each and you just throw them out.

The internet to the rescue!!!

Today I gathered supplies.

Cut them out into the 8x8 inch squares recommended, and got started making reusable dusters.

Sewed them together a la the suggestions and tried one out.


Look at all the dust it picked up. Harvey and I are very happy with the results. I have another 6 ready to sew up tomorrow!

While the price to start these was about the same, the fact that I can throw them in the wash and reuse them will save us money it the long run.

Harvey now figures I am "The woman."

After I get these done I figure on making some Swifter Sweeper type items and getting rid of more of my throw it out lifestyle.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

A Bookcase and A Pie

A couple of days ago my sweet tooth was acting up so I decided to make a pie. I had some blueberries and some cream cheese that needed to be used up and so I made what has quickly become my favorite type of pie.

A Glazed Blueberry Pie...... Very addictive. Harvey and I have been enjoying a piece for dessert after supper for the last few days. I could quickly gain lots of weight if blueberries and cream cheese went on sale often.

Now on to Harvey's project. Our oldest son Kurt wanted a bookcase for his class and was quite specific in how he wanted it to look.

Here are a few photos of the finished product.

Here is a picture of the front. There are four ledges on which to place the books. Harvey made the ledges adjustable, something Kurt never even thought of.

This is one of the sides. The front sits on brackets and so can be removed for easy transport.

 Here is the back with a couple of shelves so Kurt can store a few books and change up the display every so often.

Turned out pretty darn good.

Harvey's next project is going to be a microwave cabinet for our youngest son Kris. These little projects are keeping him busy and out of my hair during this long cold winter.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.



Monday, February 18, 2013

Menus for the Week of February 17th to 23rd

Once again I am late posting my menus. Got all caught up yesterday in finishing those costumes (camel ones) for the play. But they are all done now and I plan on handing them off tonight to my friend Hannah. She is going to fancy them up for us, you know, tassels, gold cord and such.

I am not posting last nights meal but will start with today.

Monday

Chili, toast and tossed salad.

Tuesday

Leftover Ham Casserole from Sunday nights meal and a tossed salad.

Wednesday

Out for supper we hope to be in Regina shopping and visiting with Kris over a lovely supper before heading home.

Thursday

Leftover Chili from Monday. I always seem to make so much.

Friday

Shake and Bake Fish Fillets along with Oven Fries and some more Coleslaw.

Saturday

Beef Vegetable Soup (found some lovely homemade broth when I cleaned out my freezer) and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Poor Kris

Kris was coming home today until I read on the weather station here on line that a winter storm was going to pay us a visit. While snow is not the best thing to drive through, rain, snow and blowing snow make driving our highways treacherous. He (much to his and our disappointment) decided to stay home and perhaps make the trip down next weekend.

This is what they had planned on doing. Ice fishing on Rafferty Dam. Kris has tried to go fishing with Harvey numerous times this winter and it has never worked out. Hopefully next weekend will be the time they manage to get out on the ice.

While they do not have a wooden ice shack a few years ago I bought an ice tent like this for Harvey's Christmas gift. I have been told it works very well, and they can move it so easily.

We are planning to go to Regina on Wednesday of next week. There are a few things we want to pick up that can only be obtained in a bigger city. We will meet up with Kris for supper, and have a short visit then. All of us are looking forward to the visit and the shopping trip.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Finished Three Costumes

The past few days have seen me in my sewing room getting costumes made for the church musical.

The first one I made was relatively simple. Just a drape to wear over one of the Altar Server robes.
I made a tube of the fabric to hold it on the shoulder. It was simple to make, however the material was very heavy and thus the drape is not what I would like.

The second costume I made was an ivory coloured robe.

I trimmed the bottom with some of the leftover fabric from the first project. But it still needed something.
So I added some embroidery up the front and around the neck. The back still needs a bit of bling so I will think on that for awhile. I may make a belt out of the leftover red just to give it a bit of omph.

Next I started on the robe that caused me more problems than I can talk about. The fabric frayed like crazy and caused me nothing but problems. I ended up using the serger to sew the side seams, but that caused me problems with the armhole openings. Well I did the best I could considering what I was given. I ended up trimming the armholes and the bottom with purple ribbon. Think it turned out pretty good even with all the problems. This is a bit longer and the back will drag on the ground. Hope it lasts through the rehearsals and the play.

Tomorrow I get to start on the camel costumes and if time permits I may just make King Solomon another robe. Just need to figure out how to use up what I have in making it for him.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.




Thursday, February 14, 2013

Finally It Arrived

See this?

It's my payment for my first and only mystery shop so far.

One of the survey sites I enjoy was asking for Mystery Shoppers and picked me!!!!

So for about 20 minutes of my time, I made $20.00. Not too bad at all.

Here is hoping another one comes my way soon as I found this to be an enjoyable experience. Perhaps this could become a new income stream for me. Whatever, I am $20.00 richer.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Changes Already

I have to change my menu for this week already.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday (can't believe I forgot) so as Catholics this is one of the days we are not allowed to eat meat.

I am going to make pancakes for supper instead of the leftovers that I had planned.

That will move my leftover Sausage Casserole to Thursday night.

Friday night will be fish still, as we are into the Fridays of Lent.

Saturday will be the leftovers from our supper tonight.

There are weeks when I still make way too much for a meal for the two of us to consume. One would think that I would be getting better at this by now.

Hope to have some pictures of some finished costumes tomorrow.... Or at least what I hope you all consider as costumes. We will all be wearing the altar server robes as our main costumes so I am making a couple of what are known as drapes (kind of an over robe) and trying to fancy them up. I am also making three camel costumes. Once I get the kings costume changes done I will be starting on the camels. Hope they are liked.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Menus for Feb. 10 to 16, 2013

Here are my menus for this week. I am getting pretty good at sticking to them.

Sunday

Out for supper as we had a very long practice and a gift card to use.

Monday

Roast chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, salad, and green beans. This is what we should have had tonight.

Tuesday

Leftover roast beef sliced thinly with onions and mushrooms in a brown sauce served over pasta. We will finish off the salad.

Wednesday

Leftover sausage casserole.

Thursday

Chicken Cordon Blu, rice and carrots.

Friday

Baked fish, oven fries, and a salad

Saturday

Leftover ham mixed with rice and broccoli in a casserole.

Still trying to stick to using items up in the freezer. Hopefully this will get easier as time goes by.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

An Inexpensive Filling Supper and a Gift Try Out

Kurt gave me a new non stick enamel casserole for Christmas and as it is so big I never had a chance to use it until today.

Tonight for supper I made a Sausage Casserole and needed (well not really) the extra space his gift gave me.

This casserole consisted of a layer of sliced potatoes, a layer of onions, a sprinkle of pepper (make it a good one), a layer of sliced carrots, a layer of frozen peas and of course the small pork sausage. I poured a can of tomato soup mixed with about 1/2 can of water over top.

Put the top on the casserole and baked it for 2 hours at 350 degrees.

Mmmm, was it ever good. Better yet, there is enough left for another meal for Harvey and I.  Total cost was $8.59. So for four meals our cost works out to about $2.19 each. Not bad at all.

To make matters even better clean up was a breeze and the non stick enamel casserole that Kurt bought me really is non stick.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.


Friday, February 8, 2013

Balanced Budget

When Harvey retired in April of last year he made up a spread sheet budget for us to follow. Since he has never really looked after paying bills or saving money once we were married (he never worried about it at all before we were married), it was an eye opener for him.

He didn't realize the water bill came 6 times a year or that grocery prices have been rising for awhile now. Poor boy got quite a shock!!!

Needless to say he learned this factoid very quickly..........

Now Harvey saves all his bills, looks for items at the best possible price and is actually enjoying the hunt.

I don't want him to get so wrapped up in not spending that he doesn't enjoy his hobbies any longer. So I have told him that it is best not to spend so much time searching. After all his time is worth something too (not to mention the fuel usage!!).

I think we might have found the perfect middle ground. We are back to letting me watch the bills, and cut where ever I can without causing us undue difficulty. Over the next year I am going to show him how even small savings can add up to big savings.

After all we want to enjoy our retirement, not worry ourselves sick.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

A Surprise Gift

All of you know that I have been using  Miss. Ellageo to do my machine embroidery. I have her set up and haven't taken the embroidery carriage off in weeks.

She is doing an excellent job on both the church's project and the Girl Guide project (that one has been at a standstill).

Today I dropped off the church project and saw one of the Girl Guide leaders. I mentioned to her the fact that I was waiting for supplies to finish the names on the pockets of the girls ponchos.

Lo and behold she went out to her vehicle and brought in a bag.

This is what was in that bag.

White and black stabilizer, 2 packages of embroidery machine needles, 2 large spools of white embroidery floss, and 4 different colours of embroidery floss. I am in 7th heaven!!!! I never expected such riches to come my way.

I have more than enough white to finish the project now and extras to work on other projects.

Life is good.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Next Project

Today I started the next embroidery project I have to do. This one is for the church.

These are cloths for Baptism. The priest will use them to dry off the babies head after pouring water over them.

I have finished 6 of the 12 and will finish the remainder tomorrow afternoon. Ahhh, it is so nice to be kept busy doing something useful and something I love to do.

I still have a few names to do for the Girl Guide Unit here, but until the white thread gets dropped off that project is at a stand still. Hope to get back to it very, very soon.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Menu Plans For The Week of Feb. 3 to 9

This is a day late, but better late than never in my books.

Sunday

Roast beef, with oven roasted potatoes and carrots.

Monday

Turkey noodle soup with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Tuesday

Leftover ham from the freezer made into a casserole

Wednesday

This is going to be a clean out the fridge night.

Thursday

Baked Pork Chops, rice, green beans and a nice side salad.

Friday

German noodles, boiled potatoes, and fried onions. Served with fried eggs.

Saturday

Pork Sausage Casserole (kind of a seven layer type thing) and the leftover side salad from Thursday.


Couple of meatless meals which help keep down grocery costs along with using up those leftovers that seem to accumulate in my fridge.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

A Typical Sunday In Our House

A typical Sunday in our house begins with coffee in the morning and then a trip to Mass.

This week we had a visiting priest who sang Englbert Humperdink  (is that spelling correct) songs to us as part of his homily. Very entertaining!!!

Then it was home. Harvey got to spend the afternoon relaxing. Me well it was hop in the car after bacon and eggs and head out of town for a Deanery Pastoral Council meeting. The meeting went longer then we are used to.... How does one tell a priest to stop talking?

I came straight home after and Harvey had gotten supper started.

A lovely roast beef surrounded by potatoes and baby carrots. Should be ready shortly. I am getting hungry just looking at it. The leftovers will be packaged for another meal or two down the road.

I finished the blue sweater for Kris and have now started on the next.

This lovely grey one will be for Kurt. Hope to finish it before the end of the month and start another for Harvey. Slowly but surely working my way through my yarn stash. Once I get the sweaters done I really need to make some more mitts. These ones for me.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.




Friday, February 1, 2013

He Made It Home!!!

Well Kris managed to get his car started this morning and arrived home at 5 tonight. Just in time for supper.

So far he has added the Kobo app to my Google Nexxus, as well as showed me how NetFlix would work on said tablet.... Too cool (he used his account to show me).

Now.....

He is buried under pillows and a blanket having a snooze on the love seat.

All is right with my world now that I can see that he is doing just fine. His Dad is going to talk to him while out fishing tomorrow and let him know that depression runs on his side of the family. Hopefully Harvey can get through to him that there is nothing to be ashamed of and medication really helps.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.