Simple Living

 

As I slowly declutter my house, I often wonder why on earth I bought what I am delegating to the donation piles (or in my case bags). At the time it must have appealed to me in some manner, but no longer. Time to continue to remove those items I no longer want or use. 

The last couple of days I have been going through my jewelry. Necklaces and bracelets of the fashion type have been added to the pile. There are a few items that have a great deal of sentimental value or are gifts from Kurt and Kris over the years. Pretty sure those will not be hitting the donation bags for awhile yet.

I plan on taking another gander through my recipe books to see if there are more that can be donated. 

I have tossed a few well worn items as well. Which won't be replaced in my wardrobe for a very long time.

I put some bread on to bake in my toaster oven and sat down to do some weaving.

As I moved the shuttle back and forth lifting or dropping the the reed as necessary, I realized how peaceful and meditative the process really is. My weaving isn't crooked, as in measuring, both sides are of equal length. 

Weaving actually gives me time to think and decide on how to move forward in my quest to live a life where I have more time to do the things I really enjoy. To take the time to enjoy what I am doing and immerse myself in whatever that is.

I do know that when I think about my Mom and remember what clothing she had there were the clothes she wore to work around the house, the slightly dressier items she would change into before Dad got home from work and a few very dressy items that she would wear out or to a party in our home. Dad actually took up much more of the closet with his suits for work, dress shirts, ties, and work around the house clothes. People managed with much less and yet seemed very contented. I think my Mom would be shaking her head over what is in my closet.

Food was simple, I really can't remember having a pizza delivered or eating fast food, unless I spent some of my allowance on the way home from high school. Mom cooked every meal and there was no dishwasher in the house (other than her and sometimes myself if I did not have a sports practice). 

However, Mom always found the time to go out and plant flowers, weed those flower beds and have a pot of tea with a few cookies every day around 3pm. She also always managed to watch her favourite soap opera.... As The World Turns. Then there were the monthly meetings with her church ladies group for bible study, and the once a month meeting at the church to roll cancer dressings. 

Dad always had the time to build something, or do renovations on our home. If he ended up having to work on a Saturday, he would usually take one or two of us to the office with him. We got to play on the secretaries typewriters or sometimes visit with other office workers that were there as well. 

I really need to remember that simple living is just enjoying where you are now, and perhaps the getting rid of what is no longer necessary for that enjoyment is the beginning.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal  

It has actually been a lovely week here on the old homestead. That is if you don't count my stove going kaput, and Harvey's truck running into problems today. Both mean more money could be spent over the next while than was planned. If I quit baking I suppose I could go without an oven for a bit longer. I just can't see me baking one tray of 6 cookies at a time. That would not be good use of my time or very frugal. 

So what frugal things have been happening this week on the old homestead.

1.  I purchased on sale pork loins and a roast which I cut into cubes to be used in various recipes. 

2.  Used up all leftovers for our lunches over the week.

3.  Cut out the coat using fabric from my stash. Still have the lining to cut out, but that is in my stash as well.

4.  Using some of the reclaimed cotton yarn to weave the dish towels with.

5.  Bought mostly on sale items this week when grocery shopping and saved $40.18 total. Still the bills were pretty high due to rising prices.

6.  Cut scraps of fabric into squares to be used for quilts later on.

7.  Walked a couple of times to pick up the mail. Good exercise and a savings on gas.

8.  Shoveled off the front deck and steps. More free exercise.

9.  Saved small plastic bags to use when Kris brings Eiko to visit for kitty litter scrapings.

Not really that bad a week all told for being frugal and thrifty. I have also been using my appliances to cook with as well. It will be interesting to see if there is a big savings come the bill next month.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Midweek Madness (Mid Month Madness As Well)

 

I can not believe it is the middle of the week, little lone the middle of the first month of 2025. Where is time going, I want it to slow down!!!!

This week I am trying to get as many of my little projects done as possible so I can spend more time on those longer projects. Problem is, I keep adding projects to the list. 

Most are smaller (well smallish) and I am managing to pull them off along with working on a few of the bigger projects. Still, they do take up time that could be used to get further along on the bigger projects or making sure that nothing foodwise is wasted (that did not go well today as I had to toss a large hunk of cheddar as it was pretty much covered in mold). Fell down on the frugal there. Picking myself up, dusting off and starting over.

I was asked what I meant by "reeds". These are part of my loom and are used to separate the yarn and by moving them up and down on the heddle change the positions so a person can weave. The reed is also used to beat the yarn into position.

I will post a picture of the reeds on Saturday, as well as how far my weaving has progressed. 

Off to visit some of you and then get supper on the table.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits And Stuff

 

It has warmed up so I headed out and managed to get the shopping completed. Most of what I purchased was on sale, except for my new keyboard. I wanted just the keyboard, but ended up purchasing one that also had a mouse. Still having a full keyboard is absolutely lovely. This means I don't have to move the other wireless keyboard between my mini computer and this laptop/monitor combination. Loving it so far. Frugal shopping takes time as I have found the last few times I have ventured out.

I have pretty much finished setting up my loom to make the tea towels and will finish the shuttle tomorrow as well as getting the warp closer together. Weaving is definitely a learning curve. I am not sure how this very thing yarn used for weaving will work as I am having a problem getting the warp to come together in a couple of places.

I got my larger reeds yesterday and am looking forward to using old sheets, strips of fabric and old clothing to make rugs. I will also be able to use thicker wool. I will look into ordering other reeds after I save for them. 

Not much has been accomplished on my various projects, but that should change for the rest of the week. Shopping and household tasks took up most of my morning, and then this afternoon I was processing the meat I purchased for the freezer. I still have the pork loin and a beef roast to process. 

Yesterday I posted a meme on Facebook that stated I was no longer going to argue with anyone. Forgot that for a moment on the forum I belong to...but caught myself mid-post reply and deleted it. Life is to precious to spend arguing with those who can't research or understand.

I am hopeful of having a few projects finished by Saturday for roundup and photos to share.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

My goodness another week of menus coming up.

Monday

Spaghetti and meat sauce (I added in some broccoli to the sauce to use it up and give us some more veggies).

Tuesday

Soup and Sandwiches. I took some mushroom soup out of the freezer, and will probably make grilled cheese sandwiches.

Wednesday

Baked Spaghetti, and a salad.

Thursday 

Leftovers from Wednesday.

Friday

Fish and chips along with coleslaw.

Saturday

Corned Beef Hash along with the remains of the coleslaw.

Sunday

Roast pork, roasted potatoes and carrots. 

Lunches will be sandwiches or leftovers.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

I have been asked a few questions over the last few posts so I think I will answer them first.

Yes, my yogurt maker is a new appliance in my arsenal of trying to make as much as possible here at home.

Now as far as the whey is concerned, I plan on using it in replacement for liquids in baking. It is said you can even use it in your sour dough starter, something I am going to do a bit more research on. Some online sources say you can even drink it as it has lots of vitamins in it as well as other goodies. I can't see that happening. Right now it is sitting in containers in my fridge freezer until I decide to try using it.

None of my bigger projects are even close to being completed this week. It has been cloudy and snowy the last couple of days, which means the light has not been the best for embroidery. Knitting is happening in the evenings, but even that seems to be moving very slowly this time around.

So the past little bit I have been trying to get a few smaller projects completed, and since it isn't supposed to be sunny tomorrow I will try and get a few more of the smaller projects completed.

Started the slow cooker today making supper early this morning.

Got the dough going in the bread machine for two more loaves of bread. I did get an unpleasant surprise though as my oven cut out citing a fault was found. So I had to pull out this...

I did manage to get both loaves in it to bake, but man there really isn't much space at the top when baking two loaves. They got a bit well done on the tops as you can see in this next photo.

It could have been much worse.

Project wise I managed to cut these 4" squares from scraps I had saved. The smaller scraps have been put aside and I hope to cut some 2" squares in the next little while. I still have a few more fabric scraps to cut.

I really need to do a deep dive in my fabric stash to make sure I have all the scraps I saved for this purpose. Pretty sure there are more yet.

I noticed the circles of felt/flannelette that I use between my pots were getting pretty dirty and so made some new ones.

The old ones were tossed and the new ones have replaced them. 

The cloudy days did enable me to copy the recipes from the old cookbooks I wanted to keep, and now they reside in the donation bags.

So this is where I stand on projects finished for the month. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Costs Rising

 

I mentioned on a forum I belong to that I was preparing for the worst and hoping for the best, this coming year. 

Our property taxes are going up again this year. Last year they went up 2% and this year will be the same. I had figured in a 5% increase last year, so I am leaving that budget line as is. We will still be under with a bit of leeway if it actually goes up a bit more.

Grocery prices are rising every week, so shopping sales will be very important as well as stretching whatever we can purchase. I am hopeful of growing more fruit and veg this year as well. I will be dehydrating more of what I purchase before it goes bad, and making lots of my own spice combinations (taco seasoning, sloppy joe seasoning). 

Working towards a simpler life as well, even though right now that means decluttering what we don't need or haven't used in awhile. 

More cooking from scratch, though I really already do a great deal of that. Must learn how to make pie crust and rough puff. Need to work on hotdog buns as well, my hamburger buns are just fine. Bagels are on the list to learn how to make as well. 

I have gotten two batches of yogurt made, and I think I like it better with real fruit in it instead of jam. I will make granola one day soon and try it with that.

The machine is not large so will be easy to store as you can see in the first photo. The second photo is the yogurt poured into the strainer to thicken it up even more. This is my first "learning something new" this year and from the looks of my previous list, it won't be the last.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.