Happy Thanksgiving

 Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers. It is a day early, but since Kris will be leaving tomorrow, our feast is today.

I will visit you all tomorrow.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

I had better make this post while I still have a bit of time. Supper prep will be taking place very soon and then there is always the clean up after. 

Having Kurt and Kris home is wonderful, but now I have to get used to cooking for 4 once again. Knowing me I will be cooking so much more than I need to as well. Lots of leftovers ahead I guess. 

Found out that Kurt's mortgage payments are $1.8K a month so hopefully he gets back to work very soon. 

Shopped at home today and made my own chili sauce and dry onion soup mix. Hopefully this tastes great on the brisket.

So what projects did I manage to complete this week. Well, mostly baking (some of which I did not get photos of). I made two pies, made my version of an apple strudel, made buns for each of the sons to take home, unbaked cookies as well as those flatbreads. 

I also made lots and lots of soup.

I also finished off the 10 pairs of mitts.

The mitten yarn is put away now and I am working on the binding of the last firepit quilt, and some knitted dishcloths, as well as the embroidery. I am finding it very difficult to get through the backing on this firepit quilt and because of that can only do a little each day. 

I hope to get as many projects done as possible since I want as little carry over as possible this month. After all there is Christmas baking to do as well as more gifts to make. 

Kris got Harvey's camera working on the drone and now there is another play thing in the house. That will keep Harvey occupied for awhile. Playing around.

Off to set the table, cut up the pickles and cheese. Hope to get to visit you all shortly.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal

Thrifty and Frugal 

This should have been the post I put up yesterday, but for some reason I lost track of the days going by. So you get my thrifty/frugal practices for this week today.

1. Hung three loads on the lines downstairs. 

2.  Combined errands once again.

3.  Using up the items in the fridge for making new meals or to make soup.

4.  Batch cooking and baking where possible. 

5.  Windows open to cool off the house, no air conditioning at all this week.

6.  Furnace on just to take the chill off the house in the morning.

7.  Free coffee at a friends.

8.  Researching reusable K-cups so as to be able to make my own instead of purchasing. 

9.  Shopping my craft supplies for fabric and yarn to continue making Christmas gifts.

10.  I pulled out my regular cotton batting and will end up stitching some together in order to make the oven mitts, but I will not waste batting under any circumstances. This is very expensive and I will use up all I possibly can.

11. Starting to make my own cleaners. I am making some orange cleaner right now.

So these are what I can remember right now. I really need to add some new frugal and thrifty ideas. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Household Chores

 

We all want to spend less time cleaning and doing household chores so that we can spend more time doing the things we enjoy. This could be taking a walk or hike, sitting outside enjoying the fall colours, working on our hobbies, or even cooking and baking. 

I don't know about the rest of you, but I sort of follow what my mom did. Certain days are for certain tasks around the house. However, I can remember Mom removing wax build up on our kitchen floors late at night so as to keep us kids safe from the ammonia she used. Even with windows open one could smell it. She would be on her hands and knees applying the ammonia mixture and scrapping the old was off with a knife. I swore I would never, ever do that. Kept that promise too.

I keep a diary and every day there are certain tasks I do on that day. I also write down any appointments in there as well. 

Once I have those written in I add the extra's like shopping, baking, working in the garden (in season), doing up the monthly budget and any extra cleaning tasks that need to be done. 

Sure I do not get all things done every single day, but I have added a category called "unfinished" to some days that take care of those tasks.  

Sometimes I even write down what the weather is like. That usually happens in the winter or when we have a heavy rain or strong wind. 

By doing this most afternoons or late mornings I can take a walk or work on my hobbies until it is time to start the menu planned supper.

I am not sure if this would work for everyone, but perhaps you could try it out and see how this idea would work for you.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Fighting Against Rising Prices

 

Costs in Canada, and I believe around the world are rising and many are wondering how they will heat their homes, pay for medications or put food on the table. 

I know in Canada many of the food banks can not keep up with the growing requests. Some from what I have read have even shut down. 

Yet there are ways to save and even thrive during these hard times. We are lucky in that we, or rather I have always been frugal and over the last 15 years I have finally managed to get Harvey onboard. It took him retiring however to really get him onto the frugal path. 

One of the best ways to thrive in this uncertain time is to plan your menus and leftovers are always to be kept and made into another meal or two. I have gotten very good at the planning ahead and using things up. Today with a couple of slices of leftover roast beef I managed to make two containers of Beef Barley soup for us and a smaller container for Kurt (he will probably need more help than Kris right now). I still have 5 slices of roast beef left which will make sandwiches for a number of days. Out of a butternut squash that cost me $1.49, I made two containers of soup for the boys, and a large container for us. That large container will give us two meals stretched with crusty bread (made at home) or a sandwich. 

All bones from chickens, turkeys or ham are saved and I make broth from them. Saves not having to purchase broth from the store. One of these days I will try my hand at using peelings and such from veggies to make veggie stock. Just not too sure about doing so yet.

Eggs are still one of the least expensive forms of protein so breakfast for supper is awesome and very filling. 

There are lots of recipes out there for cleaning products and now that I have some spray bottles I will start doing that. Right now I have some orange peels in vinegar to make an orange cleaner. 

Purchase in bulk when you can. I do this for dish washing soap and save a few dollars. I also buy larger packages of hand soap, shampoo, and toothpaste (the ones that are two, three or four packages). These work out to be much less expensive than individual packages.

I try to never spend full price, but as all of you know, sometimes it is unavoidable but I always make sure to get the best deal that I can.

Old sheets become the backing for my quilts, sometimes even pajamas for either Harvey or I. Old clothing is cut into rags or into useable quilt fabric. I am even contemplating using those usable squares as fabric to sew clothing. I already make totes from some of them. 

Whatever jobs around the house we can do on our own we do. As we age however things are getting a bit tougher and so we will be searching for the best people to do the tasks we can't. 

As far as entertainment we only go to the live theater here in the summer. No movie theater for us, it is much too expensive. We do have a television package, but really it is the only source of entertainment we have and is well worth what it costs. 

Those are just a few of the ways we are saving money during this expensive time. I hope we can save even more as I figure out ways to live a bit more simply, frugally and thrifty.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

Another lovely and quiet, but busy day here on the old homestead. I was busy most of the day baking buns, making lentil soup and the chicken veggie/pasta soup for our supper tonight. I also did manage to get all the household tasks done as well. The yogurt is draining in the fridge as well. There were some lovely smells coming out of the kitchen for sure.

As I said before (or at least I think I did) this week will be one of staying home and getting the preparations done for the Thanksgiving holiday. The day itself is on Monday, but as Kris will need to be at work on Tuesday we will have the meal on Sunday. Not sure about Kurt, but he will probably head back on that day as well just in case they have to vote on a contract or if they are forced back to work. 

Another frosty morning, my outside plants are definitely gone. Harvey is hoping that the boys will help him dump them out into the garden and then he will do the final tilling the following week.

Project wise the binding on the firepit quilt will have to wait awhile. When I bake or batch cook I am up and down a great deal, so I am knitting dishcloths, and doing some embroidery. Once I get things completed I will be back working on that. I also need to cut out the pajama bottoms, as well as the two pairs of double oven mitts. I am trying to figure out why one would need batting as well as the heat resistant batting. Any ideas out there on why this pattern calls for that? 

I was asked what Glace was. Here goes and I hope I explain it properly. This is something my German Grandma made when money was fairly tight. 

Get a big pot of water boiling and add a couple of diced potatoes. In a bowl mix flour, and eggs to a stiff dough. I usually use about 2 cups of regular flour and 6 or 7 eggs. Drop the mixture by tablespoonfuls on top of the boiling water. Boil until they rise to the top. Drain the potatoes and glace. Fry onions in butter and pour over top. Then make eggs to eat with the glace. Not something that we have often as it is cholesterol heavy, but once in awhile is something we all enjoy. Me for the memories, the sons because to them it is special and to Harvey because it is something that his German parents did not make. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

Life will get very hectic this week and after my appointment and shopping today, I will be glad to stay home and prepare for family visits.

It has gotten very cold, we had a hard frost last night and I don't think it will get much warmer at night. We are into the start of fall and perhaps even the start of winter. Meals will be slightly hardier.

Monday

Hot dogs, buns, macaroni/cheese with some broccoli mixed in the macaroni/cheese for more veggies.

Tuesday

Soup and sandwiches. I brought a container of frozen chicken broth upstairs and will make a hearty veggie, noodle, chicken soup.

Wednesday

Leftover beef roast, made into hot beef sandwiches served with fries, and brussels sprouts.

Thursday

Chicken drumsticks, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots. 

Friday 

Glace and eggs. Something our sons ask for every time they are home.

Saturday

Smoked brisket, tossed salad and potato salad.

Sunday

Roast turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, salad, stuffing, pumpkin pie/whipped cream. There will be cranberries, and pickles plus cheese. 

I know Kris will be heading home on Monday and I am pretty sure Kurt will be as well. Sending home lots of goodies with each of them. It will make me feel better as I will know they have food to last for a few meals and treats to keep them happy.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.