Saturday, April 30, 2016

Saturday Roundup

This week has seen a few finishes on projects.

I finally finished my knitted wrap (still need to take a picture of it), and the extra yarn is being used to knit myself a pair of socks. I may even get two pairs out of what is leftover.

I started sewing the quilt blocks together to form the top of my quilt.

The strips were then sewn together to form this top. I managed to get the borders put on this morning. Now comes the fun part. I just need to find a space big enough to lay everything out to sandwich. And of course figure out how I am going to quilt it.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.


Friday, April 29, 2016

Frugal Friday

1.   Managed to get a few extra items in my pantry stock up yesterday due to the BOGO sale at my favorite grocery store.

2.   Packed my lunch for work using leftovers from supper the night before.

3.  Have had a few more no spend days this past week, bringing me beyond my goal for the month.

4.  Came in under budget for the month thanks to an income tax refund instead of payment.

5.  Started some flowers and veggies for the garden.

6.  Harvey planted the potatoes this week.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Thursday Tid Bits

Not a whole lot going on around the old homestead. I did manage to finish my wrap and pinned together the blocks for my quilt top. Tomorrow I hope to get the strips sewn and pinned together once again to finish sewing on Saturday. I am still waffling on the inner border, but hopefully when I look at my strips I will have a better idea on how it will be designed.

I did my shopping today and stuck to my list. I managed to pick up some lovely BOGO to have a small stock up on some items. Toilet paper (toilet tissue) was sold out and from what I overheard was not expected in for quite awhile.

Change was emptied from my purse into the various jars and containers. I am hoping for a nice build up for next summer and the two family reunions we will be attending. Perhaps enough at least to pay for our hotel rooms on both occasions.

I actually phoned my sister today and we had a lovely gab fest. I really should travel the 30 miles or so for a visit one of these days.

My seedlings are breaking through the soil. I am hoping that the eggplant Harvey planted comes up. So far there is no sign of any growth in the pots. We had this problem another year and ended up buying starters.

So, as you can see a very quiet day.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Latest Text Messages From Our Youngest

Two nights ago my phone went off with a text message from Kris.

This is our conversation.

Kris: Damn it. The pigeons are back and I didn't notice right away. Now the eggs they laid have already hatched. :(
          Baby pigeons.
          are kind of cute.

Me: Crap. What are you going to do?
       Guess you could destroy the nest and babies. But that would be mean.

Kris: Sigh. I moved my bags of cans outside and they built the nest nestled in the corner so I could see them. Noticed all the ##&@ when I went out to BBQ tonight. I will think on it tonight but am leaning towards destroying the nest/babies.
         Maybe they'll get the message if I do that.

Me: You do need to get rid of them somehow. Too bad you didn't notice before.

Kris: Yep....feel a lot less guilty about just destroying the eggs.

Me: Are Mom and Dad flying around you when you are outside.

Kris: No they scatter as soon as they see me.

Me: Just one pair then. Hopefully you can touch the nest without them attacking you.
       Let us know how it goes.

The conversation ended with him saying he was going to get rid of them yesterday night.......

Got a text yesterday saying he had to work late so would take care of it tonight and would phone when the deed was done.

Phone call came tonight just after we finished supper. Kris had just finished his supper and said that he would be taking care of his bird problem tonight......

Wonder what his next message to me will be.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Back to Reglarly Scheduled Posts

Now that we are home once again and pretty much back to normal, my thrifty gene is coming out once again.

I am being a bit more thrifty with my time this month. Daily household chores are being completed in the early mornings leaving me time to work on my unfinished projects.

While I can safely say things are being worked on, nothing is really being completed. Still getting things to a position where they can be said to be almost done is making me happy. There are still a few days in the month and I hope to be able to say things are done when the end of the month rolls around.

I am also really watching what money goes out this month. Grocery lists are made and stuck to. Leftovers are correctly stored and used to make another meal or in some cases even two meals. This saves me cooking time and gives me more time to work on my more interesting projects.

I continue with Neilson Home Scan and have managed to get a free Pandora bracelet which should arrive sometime in the next couple of weeks. Free is always good!

Clothing is being repaired using buttons and such that I already have in stock. I have even made a list of clothing items to keep my eyes open for on sale at thrift stores or yard sales.

Nursing my washer along so that we will not have to buy a new one in the next month or so. The door may be getting harder to close, but it still closes and there are no leaks. Hopefully I can keep it going until the fall, by then I should have saved the cash necessary to buy a new one.

Also nursing my lovely bread maker along. I am hoping that my Black and Decker (cheap model) lasts until we manage a stock up trip to the big city. Harvey figures we should spend a bit more on the next one as I use it so often.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Monday, April 25, 2016

Madrid Sightseeing and Segovia

This morning the whole group went on a tour of Madrid.

We visited the Cervantes monument first.

Looking up at one of the buildings surrounding the square I noticed something strange.

At first I thought that there were trees growing out of a ledge and then I realized this was some art. I figure the trees were made out of some sort of metal.

Can you see the white building in the background? That is the Royal Palace, roads were blocked around it so this was as close as we were able to get today. Our tour of the grounds of the Palace had been cancelled early in the morning. It turned out the King of Spain was making a visit to meet with some dignitaries, they had changed the day of the week this happened. We did manage to see the Palace guards riding to the palace and a covered carriage following close behind. The carriage held the King!!! Didn't get a picture as the guide was kind of afraid to let anyone off the bus.

We had decided to take the additional tour to Segovia and so after dropping off those who did not want to attend we were off. Climbing the mountains, and arriving in Segovia just before 11.

 As we neared the city this met our eyes.

A wonderful Roman Aquaduct that is still intact!!! Hard to believe that it is still standing and no mortar is used at all.

 Romulus and Remus.

We continued on foot up what seemed to be hill after hill until we reached a square. This is where we divided up for our noon meal planning on meeting up in 1 hour.

Harvey and I headed for a small eatery for some tapas. We ended up having 6 tapas and two beer for only 5 Euro's. Possibly the most inexpensive meal we had our entire trip.

This is the Cathedral on the square.
 After the group gathered we continued our walk towards the castle.

Hmmm, does this castle kind of remind you of a Disney castle???? It even had a moat, which was empty I have been told (Harvey told me not to look. He knows my fear of heights all to well).

At one point in time the castle was used to train soldiers and as an armory.

Here are a few pictures of the interior.

Isabella being crowned Queen of Castile.

Just a couple of the lovely stained glass windows we saw.

All too soon it was time to head back to Madrid and our farewell dinner.

We made some lovely friends and had a great experience.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.








Sunday, April 24, 2016

Salamanca - Toledo - Madrid

In the morning we left Salamanca for Madrid with a couple of stops along the way.

First was the walled city of Avila and the hiding place of St. Theresa.

This photo was taken across the valley from the city.

A closer picture of the surrounding walls.

The monument built above the cave in which the young Theresa hid with her brother when she decided to become a martyr for her faith. She was going to give herself over to the Moors to be tortured and beheaded.

The monument is on the road that Queen Isabella of Spain traveled after her death from Madrid to her home in Castile.

We got on the bus and continued our journey to Toledo.

Here we had a walking tour.

We visited the church of San Tomao which is the home of El Greco's most famous painting, The Burial of Count Orgaz. We were not allowed to photograph the painting so I am borrowing a picture from the internet.

We followed pathways through the city to see the various areas.

This is a picture of us entering the old Jewish section of the city on our way to the Synagogue.
Some pictures of the restored Synagogue. It seems that Napoleon used it as a stable for many years.

Notice the Moorish influence, probably because the builders were Moors. Still it was a beautiful building, peaceful and cool.

The next place we visited was a factory that did beautiful jewellery out of Toledo Steel and thin bands of gold and silver that were hammered into the softer metal. Harvey bought me a beautiful bracelet for my birthday and our anniversary (only 9 and 10 months ahead of those dates).

We entered Madrid just before supper and had a quiet night eating at the hotel rather then trying to find a place outside.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.







Saturday, April 23, 2016

Lisbon - Fatima - Salamanca

We left Lisbon for Fatima early in the morning.

A beautiful, sunny and warm day lay ahead. It was very windy however as we made our way over the Serra d'Aire mountains.

Fatima was lovely. We actually attended Mass there, didn't understand a word once again, but Mass is easily recognizable in any language. The Mass was held in the chapel built in the location where the children saw the vision of the Virgin Mary.

The chapel was made of large glass panes.

We lit candles and said prayers for Harvey's parents and mine.

The old Basilica in the background is being worked on for the 100th Anniversary of Fatima next year. It was closed so we were unable to get in, or at least it was supposed to be closed. Turns out some of our group managed to sneak in via  back door.

However Harvey did manage to get a few pictures of he interior of the new Basilica.
Harvey said that he read somewhere that it could hold 5000 people and after being inside of it he was sure the church could hold even more.

Back on the bus and more traveling. We crossed the border back into Spain (and at the border watched another bus being torn apart by the Spanish guards) and got to Salamanca by the early afternoon. After a rest of about 30 minutes we were starting our walking tour of the city.

An old palace.

One of the arches in the Plaza Major. Each side of the plaza is adorned with medallions. This is a medallion of Cervantes as this side honours all writers and poets.

This is a picture of the shell house. It is decorated with clam shell replicas.

The Cathedral of Salamanca. It seems the plaza around the Cathedral is a meeting place for all types and while we were there a demonstration was happening.

We headed back to the hotel and were served dinner.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.







Friday, April 22, 2016

Lisbon - Cascais - Sintra

This is the only day that we had rain in our entire trip. It didn't put a damper on us exploring wonderful and new places.

Here are some inside shots of the castle we visited in Sintra.

One from one of the windows showing the chimneys from the kitchen out of one of the windows.

Completely tiled walls were throughout the building.

Pottery lined the walls of one room. Beautiful examples of Moorish pottery and some Roman pieces as well.

A lovely ivory replica of the palace sent from China many years ago.

The ovens under those huge stacks.

Hubby seems to be having trouble with his camera here. The pictures are pretty blurry.

We then had a bit of spare time before we had to load ourselves on the bus once again. We had coffee in a lovely little place and then did a bit of shopping. I found a tiny Nativity made out of cork here.

On the bus once again we headed to Cascais where we viewed the Atlantic Ocean. The water was in a bit of a turmoil, or as Harvey would say "We got to see the angry sea."

We even got to see a few surfers trying their luck with the waves.

There were lots of rocks in the water so I admire the surfers for even trying to surf. I would be afraid my body and board would be dashed against the rocks and I would either drown or be very badly injured.

We followed the coast for awhile and then headed back to Lisbon for a quiet supper by ourselves in the hotel. Also had an early to bed night, not that I slept, but at least I rested.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.






Thursday, April 21, 2016

Algarve - Lisbon

In the morning we had to leave our wonderful private villa and head into Lisbon

On the way we saw the Hieronymite Monastery as well as the Belem Tower.


 Inside the monastery was Cervantes tomb.


 Vasco De Gama's tomb was there as well.


Just a few more pictures from the days sightseeing next.



Then in the evening we attended a Fado. As our Portuguese guide said this was the heart and soul of the Portuguese people.

Once again we were right in front and got to hear 5 wonderful singers. Couldn't understand a word they say, but their voices were heavenly.


This last gentleman even got the crowd singing with him.

A wonderful way to end a glorious day.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.