Saturday Roundup

Sorry I haven't  been posting more, or visiting all of you as much as I should be. Just using the phone is a bit of a pain, that takes me twice as long to get things done.

It has been a relatively quiet week. Mostly just working around the house, realizing that next month I will need to frugal my heart out, and use what I have for meals and crafts for Christmas. What with the water heater quiting, and the necessary tires for Harv's  truck to make it safe to drive and an over abundance of grocery purchases due to the holiday, we were over budget by a great deal.

This month we have to pay the house insurance and that went up almost $200.00. Guess we are paying for those that had damage in that last hail storm. I do know that there was hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage here. We had none though.

I did my batch cooking today and I can see why people like it. Today was just meals using ground beef, next week I will spend a day making soups and later on some casseroles using up bags of leftovers in the fridge freezer. I am hoping to cut back on cooking times and the use of the big oven. Most of what I made can be warmed up on the stove top or the toaster oven.

So, what did I make today?

I made 3 containers of meaty spaghetti sauce, a container of taco meat, 3 trays of stuffed pasta shells, 2 meatloaves, 3 trays of mushroom meatballs, and 3 containers of chili as well as enough for our supper tonight.

A great start on filling the freezer for days that I don't  want to spend all afternoon cooking.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 The day has been very cloudy and dark. Harvey has told me to take my laptop to the shop to see if they can get it up and running.  A friend on the forum I frequent said that all we need is a working computer a USB drive and make a recovery thumb drive. Beyond me, but I don't  have the skill for that. Then my files could be recovered and Kris would be able to transfer everything to a new computer. Tomorrow will see me taking it in.

To top it all off my InstantPot made some funny noises yesterday and let off pressure way too soon without my doing anything. I have changed the silicone seal so I hope that has fixed the problem.

Shopping was an adventure today. It seems my shopping list grew feet and wondered away. So, yours truly tried to remember all that was on it. Pretty sure I missed things and many of the items that I did remember were not available. I will do without.

Yesterday I decided to finish knitting the blanket before sewing the dress. Now it seems like my ball of yarn is never ending. No matter how many rows I complete my yarn never seems to get smaller. In reality I know it is, but when I look at it the size seems to be the exact same as when I started. I will get it completed though and completed as quickly as possible.

Off to get a bit more done before making supper. I will visit you all later.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

Well, my laptop gave up a few moments ago, which means I am using my phone to post and read. You will all have to forgive me if my fat fingers make a mistake typing.

People are saying that I must be pretty organized to do a monthly menu. It has taken a very long time to get to this point. Years in fact. It is all due to my being able to stock up on various proteins. When I grocery shop I can plan almost 2 months in advance which is lovely. 

Here are the menus for our suppers this week. Lunches are either some type of sandwich or leftovers from suppers.

Monday

Chicken legs with back attached, baked. Served with rice and peas.

Tuesday

Leftover ham casserole from Sunday. Served with carrots.

Wednesday

Soup and eggsalad sandwiches.

Thursday

Hamburgers, pickles, sliced tomatoes and fries done in the air fryer.

Friday

Fish Fillets, baked, rice and carrots.

Saturday

Chili and toast. This is also the day I will be doing a big batch cook.

Sunday

Roast beef, roast potatoes, roast carrots, and a salad.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

It has been a so so week on getting projects completed and starting new ones. Still it has been a good week. Cloth napkins cut and sewn, the dress cut out to start sewing tomorrow, baking done, bread made, and I finally got my mint salve made. 

Also cleaned up outside (all those little sticks from the trees), covered and moved the deck furniture, and moved the one lavender into the perennial bed to see if the plant will last the winter. 

I washed all the stuffed toys, and mended an outdoor cushion as well as our daughters Cabbage Patch doll. Darned a pair of my socks as well. 

Even managed to get out and have coffee with friends a couple of times this week. While I do love visiting, I am finding that staying home a few days a week enables me to get much more accomplished. That is a "very good thing" as Martha would say. 

My wardrobe has been switched to fall/winter clothing and all the spring/summer items are away now. While doing so I managed to declutter a few more items from my clothing. It was then I noticed that I really could use a few more winter type tops and a few pairs of sweatpants.

Found a few interesting places in Regina that are reasonably priced and some of the condos are actually quite nice. The HOA fees aren't that bad either. When I told Harvey that most only have one parking space, he mentioned leaving the truck at our sons and having it become a joint use vehicle. I have a feeling that Kris would be using it much more than we would unless we purchased a small home. 

I have made my menu for November using the basics we already have in the house. I also picked the days that I will be doing batch cooking. The first day that I plan on having soup and sandwiches for a meal will be my big batch soup making day. Then a bit later there is a day I want to make chili, so that will be my big ground beef batch cooking day. I have also picked a day to use up all those bags of frozen leftovers in the fridge, and that will be a casserole making day. I am hoping that this will simplify cooking around this house. I can pretty much count on both hands and two toes the days we order in, and when we do there is usually enough for at least 2 more meals if not more. 

One of the replies on my last post questioned why basements are never included in the square footage of a home as that would double the amount of space a home has. In this home's case our basement is really only suitable for storage since the windows are not the right size to escape through in case of fire. We did put a larger window in the room Kurt uses when home, but even that one may not be the proper size. Harvey does have his mancave down there, but since it is only used when he is awake that is okay according to the fire department. Even if we add in that square footage we would still be under 1400 square feet. 

Next week I will post pictures of what I have accomplished since my last photo drop. 

Off to visit with all of you.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Simple Living

 

Why is it the more I try to head towards simple living, the more complicated it gets? 

I have been trying to move away from disposable paper items and while that is a wonderful idea, I am beginning to think things get complicated first.

I made that first batch of tinkle cloths, and while there was enough to last just over a week, me being me thought perhaps more would be much better. After all having enough for almost two weeks would be wonderful... Right?

Then there was the wish to have cloth napkins. I had cut apart an old tablecloth that wasn't being used and got 15 made, but was that enough? So this month I went through my fabric and found smaller Christmas fabric pieces, and a cotton plaid fabric that wasn't big enough for anything really clothing wise and made another 14 napkins. 

Now I know this will actually simplify my life eventually and also be cost effective, but right now it seems that living simply is a touch more difficult than I thought. Is cutting down on paper products actually a way to simplify or is it more of a cost cutting endeavor? 

Is decluttering really simplifying, or is it just ridding the house and myself of things that I no longer find useful? Is cooking every day a way of living simply, or is it something that I need to work on by doing a couple of days batch cooking a month. 

We always look back at our parents/grandparents and think how wonderfully simple their lives were. But were they really? I can remember my mother scraping wax off the floors when all of us kids were in bed, because there was too big a build up on the floors and she had to wax them the next day to get the shine back. I also remember her polishing the hardwood floors and the sound of the floor polisher late at night. 

I can pretty much count on one hand the number of times we had food delivery, Mom cooked every night that I can remember. There were times I got home from school late and had to make my own meal because Mom and Dad had taken my brother to his hocky game. Thank heavens for eggs and hot dogs. Ate a great many meals using those items along with cheese.

I can remember her sprinkling clothes and getting them ready to iron the next day. She ironed almost everything, even my bras. 

The more I think of life growing up the more I realize what seemed to be simple living really wasn't in the term I think of. It might have been simple for me, but not for my parents. At least unlike my grandparents Mom did not have to cook on a wood stove, we did not have to heat water and fill a tub for baths and dishwashing. Meals were hearty but simple and budgets were followed to the letter. 

However simple living right now to me means using what I have to the best of my ability. Sewing by hand when I can, learning to weave to make my own fabric eventually, learning new skills to depend a little less on stores, and taking advantage of every day to be thankful for what I have and what I can do to slow down the pace of everyday life and enjoy the moment. Now that last is something I need to work on a bit harder.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Everybody have

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

 Thrifty and Frugal

It has been a slow day. My list of household tasks were not many and since I had a slight backache upon arising I have put off cleaning and organizing the chest freezer.

So what thrifty and frugal things have been happening here on the Phillips homestead. 

1.  Sticking close to home. The only time I drove the vehicle was to go to the dentist on the other side of the city. I make that sound like a really long drive while it only takes me 10 minutes or less to get there.

2.  As usual using up all leftovers in either a new meal, or for lunches. 

3.  I bought some sandwich meat on sale and yuck is it ever salty. Quite a surprise to me as I haven't made a sandwich with processed luncheon meat for myself in a very, very long time. I think I will be sticking to leftover roasts, and making egg, tuna or salmon salad to use. 

4.  Mending a few stuffed toys and the Cabbage Patch doll. I also darned a pair of my socks. 

5.  I got free floss, free floss picks, and free interstitial brushes from my visit to the dentist. 

6.  Drapes open during the day for light and to heat the house. Right now it is 25C in here and 9C outside.

7.  Baked bread twice, and I even tried to make hotdog buns once again. Getting a bit better at the hotdog buns thing. Still need to work at it though. 

8.  Pulled the frozen cake and iced it for dessert the beginning of the week. I am now making a rhubarb crisp for dessert for the rest of the week. 

9.  Using up small bits of fabric from my stash to make cloth napkins. Only a few more to go and I will call that project done and dusted. 

So all in all a pretty decent frugal and thrifty week here. Hope all of you have had the same.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Midweek, Oh My

 

I think that pretty soon panic is going to set in. I am in no way ready for winter or Christmas and both are coming up very quickly. 

Not only is it midweek again, but it is almost the end of this month. Yikes time is just flying right by. Still lots I want to get done this month. Hopefully everything will actually be accomplished. Perhaps even a few of the smaller tasks from next month if I am really lucky.

It seems as if there is never enough hours in a day to get things done and dusted. I believe it is because it stays darker in the mornings and gets dark early at night. Some things just need the light of day in order to get done. I do have a very decent light in the sewing/craft room, but some items are just too large to sew or craft in there. This means I have a large folding table in the living room to work on during the sunny portions of the day. 

The weather has changed. It is very cold, below freezing most nights lately and so the heat has been turned on. Still we are keeping that fairly low and I am thinking that perhaps we should use the timer this year a bit more. 

I have been working on getting some cleaning done that really hasn't been done in awhile. I have washed all the doll clothes my Mom made for Krista's Cabbage Patch doll, cleaned that tote, washed all the stuffed toys (need to mend her Care Bear) and tomorrow will wash the Cabbage Patch doll. The tote the stuffies were in has been cleaned as well and once the last few stuffed toys are added can be put away. 

The yard is cleaned up, flower pots, baskets and such have been emptied and all summer decor is put away or covered up on the deck. 

Guess things are moving along for now, but so much more needs to be done to be ready for the dark, cold and snowy days of a Canadian prairie winter.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.