Menu Monday

Good morning everyone on this wonderful new week.

I have been called in to sub for the entire week and so this menu could change with how I am feeling once I get home.

Monday

Moussaka (need desperately to use up the eggplants in the fridge).

Tuesday

The last package of cabbage rolls I froze last fall. They need to be out before I start the new ones.

Wednesday

Sausage casserole, nothing very hard about this one and other than slicing the carrots and potatoes a snap to make.

Thursday

The leftover frozen roast beef and gravy. I will make egg noodle to serve this over. As well as some asparagus.

Friday

Fish Fillets, rice, and asparagus. Just not sure which fillets I will use. I am leaning towards some of the trout we bought at Costco.

Saturday

If it is nice grilled steak, and tin foil packets of veggies on the BBQ. If it isn't nice I will save this for another meal next week and do a clean out the fridge night if possible.

Sunday

Since the pork roast was not cooked the previous Sunday that is what I will make here.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

It has been a busy day on the old homestead. I even managed to get these done before we left for Mass today.

So now I have 12 of the bags of tomatoes I plan on having residing in the freezer. After Mass and a bit of running around I even got more tomatoes picked to work on tomorrow or the next day.

Mass today was very interesting. Father Brian kept referring to the first reading and saying we were to be "watchmen" for Christ. Watching for sinners and setting them on the right road in the way Christ would, gently without recriminations or judgement. Something all of us find hard to do even in the best of times. We are not to gossip or spread rumors about others short comings or sins, but rather to look into our own. I will be spending lots of time trying to figure this one out for sure.....

Now I think I will share how far I have gotten on my rug project and my cross stitch project.

First the rug project.

I am still trying to decide if I want to use up two balls of this colour of yarn and then go to the darker brown or trade and use the darker brown when I am done this ball.

Now the cross stitch project.

Slowly but surely, stitch by stitch it is being finished. I am hoping that it will only take me a couple more months to finish it (keeping my fingers crossed for this month and next). No matter how many stitches I complete, it seems like I am at a stand still right now. Guess it is because I am so very close to the end.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Frugal or Not

Today we traveled up to Regina and spent the day with Kris. What did we do that makes me question whether it is a frugal trip or not is the fact that we visited.......Costco.

I did a major stock up and hopefully will not have to spend our hard earned cash on some items for a year and others months. I bought enough laundry detergent for probably close to 600 loads!!! Dish soap to last at least 8 months if not longer, freezer bags, K cups for our machine, meat at a much lower rate than we would be paying here, and sandwich meat that should last at least 2 or 3 months. Whew, I almost hit the floor when the total appeared. I still have a few things to get this week, but the total spent should not exceed the monthly budget by too much and the following months should be much lower.

I will also be spending the next week working in one of our schools.... So lots to do before Monday, slicing meat, bacon and freezing veggies from the garden.

At least we are very well stocked for the next little while.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Mini Vacation

This past weekend we went to the spa in Moose Jaw. What a wonderful adventure.

We arrived at just about 5 pm and checked into the hotel. As they were doing reno's on one of the floors our room was upgraded. To our surprise when we walked into our room we were greeted by this.....

Our own giant two person whirlpool spa!!!

Of course we had to try it out that evening.

Of course Harvey had to manage to get in before I did. It was a wonderful experience to just lay back in the water and relax!

The next morning we traveled about a block away to a lovely park.

Most of the back alleys were adorned with murals and statues. This one was very close to our hotel. In fact the best picture of it I could get was from our window.

All of the murals were done by Saskatchewan artists many of whom live in the city of Moose Jaw which has a vibrant art community.

We toured the tunnels where we learned about the life of our Chinese Immigrants. We really did not treat them well at all. Also learned about the bootlegging history of this city. I ended up being dragged into the story of the bootleggers, but it really was a great deal of fun. We were not allowed to take pictures in the tunnels so I am relying on some pictures already posted by them on their site.

Most of them are from the Capone Tunnels. Yep that's right, Al Capone used to come up to Moose Jaw to collect his booze during prohibition.

Harvey was standing right in front of this fire place when it slid back.
 

I got to be the bodyguard in this area (where the flapper is standing). We even got to all touch a Tommy Gun.

Looking forward to our next mini vacation come October. We are heading to Banff in Alberta. This is where we went for our honeymoon many years ago. Should be interesting to see if it has changed at all in almost 39 years.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

September Goals

I am a bit late getting these posted but here they are in no specific order.

1. Sew the top I have cut out...... This has been on my list for the last couple of months.

2. Cut out a coat and start sewing it. This is the pattern and the fabric I plan on using.

Not sure which view I will be making, but I love the way this coat seems to drape. Not sure how long it will take to sew either.

3. Continue with the rug project. This is slowly but surely growing and will be ready for Kris for Christmas.

4. Continue with the cross stitch project and when (if I manage to get it done before the end of the month) done start on the second unfinished cross stitch project.

5. Plan out the quilt for our bedroom.

6. Freeze at least 24 bags of tomatoes for use this winter.

7. Make and freeze cabbage rolls.

8 Make and freeze cabbage bread.

This list should keep me very busy, but at least the freezing of tomatoes has already been started. I will be doing this one piecemeal throughout the month as tomatoes ripen.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

September Begins.......

Spent part of the morning harvesting the garden.

Picked the last of the cucumbers.

Gave some of these to the neighbours as I don't want them to go to waste. I still have more than enough to keep the two of us happy.

Then moved on to the next plant. The dreaded zucchini! I picked what was left and had Harvey cut it down.

How that huge two foot one hid on me I will never know. Guess I have some shredding to do tomorrow. Thank goodness for the food processor. It cuts shredding time considerably.

The tomato patch was next.

Almost half of these have been processed already and reside in the freezer downstairs. The rest have to ripen a bit more. But lord love me there are plenty more where these came from.

I decided since I was already itchy from picking that I would tackle the eggplants as well.

For some reason my eggplants are not getting very large this year. But I can see a change in the menu for this week already. I will more than likely be making moussaka again shortly.

As I was picking I glanced at the carrots and I think Harvey could begin picking those as well. Might have to get a few more freezer bags.

I might (okay will be) be pretty busy for awhile. Oh well, veggies to last us over the winter is a very good thing for our health and the budget.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

I just can not believe that September has arrived!!! Seems as if summer really just started.

My menus really don't change that much through the year, perhaps a few more casseroles and stews in the winter, but that is about it.

 With that being said, here are my menus for the upcoming week. Just the supper menus as usual, cause lunches are either leftovers or a sandwich.

Monday

Leftover chicken from the fridge freezer. I am craving a pasta type dish using this up.

Tuesday

Leftover ham from the fridge freezer (just added three packages of leftovers from Sunday's supper). I think that Scalloped Potatoes and Ham sounds awfully good, especially using fresh potatoes from the garden.

Wednesday

Clean out the fridge night. All those leftovers from Monday and Tuesday will be gone tonight.

Thursday

Hubby can grill some pork chops. I think I just might make a potato salad and have some fresh tomatoes and cucumbers on the side.

Friday

Salmon Patties, rice and peas sound perfect.

Saturday

We are going out of town to do our big trimonthly or so shop in the capitol city. Guess we will be meeting up with Kris and going out for a bite before we head home.

Sunday

Pork roast, roasted potatoes, roasted zucchini and roasted onions. A one pan meal hopefully.

Everyone have a wonderful day.

God bless.