Midweek Ramble

 A beautiful day today, and we should be having a couple more. Then a bit of a change with lower temperatures and perhaps some snow. 

This week has been one of getting things done around the house, and working on my various projects. I also found something out. My old laptop is of no earthly use in the sewing/craft room. It is just too slow even with the WIFI booster. So I will be using the new one for various crafts that I need a computer for. Not a bad thing, but it means unplugging and plugging in again at my desk when anything is completed. I am almost tempted to purchase a cheap monitor and use the old mini computer until it is no longer useable in there. That could be a bit more of crawling around on the floor to get power packs plugged in than I really care to do. 

This I can say with complete honesty, I need to actually use my Cricut more often as it seems to be that when I don't there is a whole new learning curve. So one month perhaps a project will be making some cards for birthday's, Thank you, Christmas and a few other paper crafts. I should try my hand at doing some embossing with it as well.

I am actually quite happy with how my projects are going this month. I finished the flimsy, have almost finished the ornaments, finished the totes, wove the rug, and am working hard on getting the pieces done to finally finish the rug. All I have left is knitting the next sized mittens, starting to weave the scarves (gift for Kurt and Kris for Christmas) and sewing the rug together. Hope to get a few more of these done before the end of the month. There should be pictures on Saturday to share what I have managed to get done.

Changed a few more email addresses and I plan on doing something about setting up something using Harvey's name for our trip in August. 

Still need to let our travel agent know we need to communicate through a different email address as well. I will probably do so next week.

Enjoying the fact that the weather is changing, and I am completing more things around the house as far as decluttering and organizing goes. I have even managed to clear some items out from under my bed, socks and dishcloths for right now. I hope to put together a few more items for the silent auction from that container as well. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 It actually turned into a very lovely day. Snow is melting and we are in the low double digits. I hope this means that we are finally going to get spring weather. 

I am surprised that with this weather I am once again feeling exhausted. I wonder if it is because I have been moving pretty steadily around the house today, getting household tasks completed, and working on projects. Harvey always says "No rest for the wicked" and I guess in this case wicked could mean wanting to get things done. 

My new mini computer came yesterday evening and it is now on the top of the fake fireplace. I am waiting until Kris comes home and he can set it up. 

Still having trouble with photos from my phone and this phone does not have a cord to use on the computer. So I am emailing and copying to the picture folder. A bit more work, but at least I can manage to get the pictures off. 

Now, I thought I should probably explain about my talking re a condo purchase in the city. Eventually we thought we would move to the city our youngest son lives in. That is where my specialist lives, there is public transportation, and shopping is relatively close no matter where you live. 

We do not own a condo as of yet and more and more we are thinking we could purchase a small one story home for less. The main reason being the fact that one needs to pay a condo fee ranging in price from $400 to $700 a month. That means we would be paying anywhere from $4800 to $8400 in condo fees (or HOA fees). On top of that there are property taxes of anywhere from the least expensive at $2500 to the most expensive of $4500 a year. That is a rather large chunk of money from our savings disappearing each year. Yours truly is shocked at the total cost of what a condo or even an apartment in the city costs. I think we will be staying here for a very long time and hopefully able to make the trip in to see my specialist when necessary. If it ever comes to the point we can't travel the two hours, I am going to see if my doctor here can do the necessary tests. 

Work was done in the sewing/craft room tidying up and putting things away. After the other household tasks were completed I started work on the next project I want crossed off my list. Made good progress on that by getting the first two steps completed. Only two more steps to go, one of which might take a bit longer than a day to complete. This project is also getting some more of my craft supplies used up. Makes more room in that sewing/craft room. Could be working in there again very soon. It is getting easier and easier to move around and find items.

The fridge freezer is getting to the point where I can organize things in there a bit better. My freezer has an upper drawer and then two baskets underneath. The upper drawer is where I freeze things like soup or extra meals, as well as keep frozen veggies, and ice cream. The bottom two drawers are what really needs organizing and using up. Slowly but surely those are getting much easier to find those leftover roast bits and other such items. There is still a great deal in there though and I am working my way through all. Simplifying my storage in there is my purpose for the next while. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

Brrr, another cold but sunny day. Other than going out and getting Harvey's prescriptions for the next month I have stayed home and worked around the house. I still have laundry to fold, and perhaps a bit of putting away in the sewing/craft room, but for the most part tasks are done for today.

So what are we eating this week.

Monday

Leftover jambalaya from Saturday. 

Tuesday

One package of leftover pork roast from Sunday. I was going to make a stir fry, but I think some pulled pork in BBQ sauce in wraps would hit the spot and use up some wraps and frozen veggies like peppers and celery. 

Wednesday

I have one Chicken Parma, and one Broccoli stuffed chicken so will get those out of the freezer as well. Probably served with sliced cucumber and some frozen carrots.

Thursday

I hope there is enough of the pulled pork from Wednesday to serve on open faced bread slices covered with melted cheese, or perhaps I will make some buns and serve. 

Friday

Potato soup, and egg salad or scrambled egg sandwiches. 

Saturday

Homemade pizza. I will see how the dough I made and froze works. If it does I will make some more to put in the larger chest freezer. 

Sunday

Roast chicken, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots.

Everyone have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 

The day once again started of a bit cloudy and pretty darn cold, but it has warmed up a bit and the sun is shining. We are in for a couple of days of cold weather and then a warm up until the end of the month. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the nice weather will last until Kris has been home for Easter, and Kurt gets off on his journey with his students to France and the visits to the Canadian beach, and graveyards of our fallen hero's.

Me, well the next few days being cold I will be staying home, working on the usual household tasks, and of course my projects. 

I should, in fact, finish the flimsy tomorrow and perhaps even get all the necessary items together to work on the ornaments. Those will be another item to add to the silent auction. The more that we have to bid on, the less likely we will need to pay for anything like the Friday night meal or the Saturday larger meal and rental of the building. 

There is also hope that I will be finished the rug for Kris before he comes home. I am about halfway finished the one border. 

Still I have many projects (well a number of them) on my list that I haven't even started yet......

The mini computer for my television has been ordered. Kris looked at the specs I sent him and said it would work perfectly for what I want. I also told him about my email problem and he is going to see if he can fix that as well. Hmm, I think I should have told him about the pictures on Gallery problem as well. Oh well I can manage with the old digital camera just fine for the next while though the camera on the phone takes much better photos. 

Work continues on the decluttering front and my hope to have a much simpler life by the time I am done. Perhaps by doing so we will be able to stay in our home longer as in looking at what the monthly condo fees are and the property taxes on said condos we would actually go through our cash reserves quite quickly..... I think it might be less expensive to rent an apartment in the city.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

I actually got a few projects down to the finish line or completed this week. As well as making some soup that we can eat for a few meals.

First off I used the leftover brisket and made a Vegetable, Barley Beef Soup.

This used up the broccoli in the crisper. While I am not sure I like this soup with broccoli, it at least used up something from the crisper as well as a couple of carrots.

I did sew the rug together and got it measured for the border or borders. Not done yet, but I see the end in sight to this project.

The four totes are sewn for the silent auction this summer. I may break down and do up a denim one later.

The first of the 2 1/2 inch strips have been added to the embroidered blocks and I have started pinning on the next two strips. Hope to get those done tomorrow and perhaps even begin to sew them all together. 

This week also saw me chopping and freezing celery and green peppers before they went bad. This is definitely going to be either use it or freeze it year so there is no waste. Groceries and the cost to get them are just to expensive to waste anything. 

I had to change the menu for tonight, but it does involve using up, or starting to use up some more items in the fridge freezer. There should be enough left from this meal to make us another meal, but we will see.

Hubby is busy putting together a set of shelves to use with the grow lights. He managed to find some on Facebook Marketplace for less than what it would cost to make them. He does need to paint the shelves though so as to make them a bit more waterproof. 

I hope to have some more finished projects this week and that would mean more checked off my project/goal list for the month.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

A Simple Life

 

Life is so much easier now that I am moving closer and closer to a simpler way of living. 

I have always cooked most of my meals from scratch, not so much when we first married, but as my experience at the stove grew so did my scratch cooking. Now it is more just the way I do things. Today I will be making pancakes for our supper and as usual there will be no pancake mix used. I don't think I have ever tasted pancakes from a mix, I know my mom always made hers from scratch as well. 

Moving away from mixes, not only gives me control over the ingredients, but works out to be less expensive than cookie mixes, muffin mixes, cake mixes, and pie crust mixes. Mind you the way flour and sugar are increasing in price that could perhaps change. 

Decluttering is making room in my life for those things I love and passing on those that we no longer need to others who just might. Seeing empty spaces in my closet and drawers makes me happy. It also makes me wonder, why I ever gathered so many things to wear and why I have held onto things that no longer fit or suit the lifestyle I now live. 

I am now able to organize things a bit more. There is loads more to do but I am slowly getting there. Using things up in my craft/sewing room has been an eyeopener. I never realized how much I had gathered over the years. Right now I figure I will be able to be occupied with this for a number of years. The stash will make some lovely gifts over the next few years for sure.

I am hopeful that we will keep moving in this direction which gives us more time to spend together as a family, to enjoy our hobbies more, in fact to perhaps add a hobby or two that will come in useful in the future. 

It will give us time to go out and forage in the summer and fall, something we did in the past, but it has gone by the wayside as we filled our days with busyness and work. 

Life is meant to be enjoyed not rushed through. As we age and the years pass with what seems to be speed, this becomes even more important. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal

The snow arrived at about 6:35 am. At times it was so heavy I could not see clearly down the hill to the gas station in the valley right below. Poor Harvey couldn't check out gas prices today and I was in a bit of a rush while out so didn't check for him. The wind has picked up now and the snow is blowing around. Should be some lovely drifts tomorrow.

So what thrifty and frugal things have I been up to this week.

1.  Adding vegetable scraps to the bag in the freezer. Hope to make veggie stock very soon.

2.  Baked bread and have a loaf in the freezer.

3.  Working on projects to use up all those bits and bobs of fabric and yarn.

4.  Paid the bills online (including the extra car insurance, just had to make up a nickname so I could tell the difference between policies).

5.  Darned a pair of my socks.

6.  Continued the decluttering.

7.  Either using leftovers for another meal or freezing them for use later on.

8.  My exercise has been walking around the house.

9.  Used saved water to water the inside plants. 

10.  As usual hung two loads on the lines downstairs.

11.  Downloaded some more free reading material onto my ereader.

I did go out and do some errands today before the worst of the storm hit. I got our allowances which will be handed out on the 15th and picked up a few items at the grocery. I also picked up the mail and we got a few more necessary forms for our taxes. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening (or late afternoon).

God bless.