Tidbits And Stuff

 

It has been a treat to have Kurt home so soon after his last visit. He has helped in the yard (and will do some more today), enjoyed talking with us, helped Harvey bottle the beer, and even washed dishes by hand. He leaves at some point tomorrow and we probably won't see him again until Thanksgiving.

I did not get all my projects and goals finished in June. I have carried over the weaving, and embroidery. I also did not get the fries ready for the freezer either. Still I did manage to cut the pieces of chunky/bulky yarn to be used in a future project, declutter, work on clearing out and organizing the sewing/craft room, knit 10 pairs of mittens, get some infused oils started, and a couple of small projects that I added on done as well. 

July will hopefully see me finish the weaving, finish the one block and start another, sandwich the 4 quilt tops, copy out another 20 or so recipes, get some patterns organized and in a binder, dehydrate more herbs, knit some more mittens in the next size, and start Kris's woven rug. Looks like another very busy month. I should be able to make some of the herbal salves as well. 

I did up the budget today for the month of June and surprisingly we were under budget once again. I had hoped that I would do better with the grocery line, considering we had company twice that month being about $250 under budget was quite good. The savings on the grocery budget for the last few months have paid back what we spent on the new dining room chairs, and has actually given me $50 towards the cost of the new range. I should have the range paid off in about 4 or 5 months. What we save on other budget lines is helping pay off Harvey's two partial plates. 

After a big loss on our investments in the first quarter, things are starting to rebound this quarter. We have almost made the losses back, just a bit more to go. I am keeping my fingers crossed on that front, with various tariffs it is hard to know what will happen. 

Using up lots of bits and bobs from the fridge, freezers, and pantry. This saves on the grocery budget a great deal. Perhaps not as much as I would like, but enough to make a difference, even if just a slight one. 

Foraging will be taking place over the next while. My BIL says I can come out any time and pick chokecherries from their bushes. Probably will be doing so in the next few weeks. I see jelly and syrup in the future stocked in the pantry. In a week or two I will also be picking mint to make mint jelly. I will dry some for tea after the jelly making. 

Weeding and watering will also be taking place much more frequently as it is warming up so much. Also because of the warm up the mosquitos are out and biting early in the mornings or if I am in the shade. 

Life is about to get much more complicated especially as I want to get as much done as humanly possible before the end of the year. Add in Christmas gift making, harvesting/processing and I am going to be a very busy person the next while.

Next week I get a phone appointment with my doctor and the Echocardiogram at the end of the week. Of course, there will be another phone appointment with the doctor after that. My dental appointment for a cleaning has been moved until August. That is probably a good thing in my mind. Too many appointments drive me crazy. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

Oh my goodness, we are half way through the year already. Time sure flies.

Monday

Soup and sandwiches. I will be using up a container of soup from the fridge and stretching it with a bit more broth, some chicken pieces, and probably a bit of rice. Sandwiches are going to be grilled cheese.

Tuesday

A bag of leftover ham made into a casserole, and hopefully the remainder of the salad. Kurt leaves tomorrow so I think I just might make some appetizers for before the meal.

Wednesday

Stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and sliced raw veggies or perhaps coleslaw. 

Thursday

Smoked hamburgers on homemade buns with coleslaw, pickles, and probably mini hash brown patties. Unless there are lots of leftover ham casserole then that plus the coleslaw will be the meal.

Friday

Perogies, fried onions and some sour cream.

Saturday

If we eat leftover ham casserole on Thursday, today will be the hamburger meal, if not I will pull a container of chili out of the freezer for supper. Serve it over macaroni.

Sunday

Roast beef, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots. The old roast meal. I may make gravy if there are enough drippings.

So I am hoping to make a few main dish salads for the month of July. Things will be getting very warm, and hopefully we will have some garden produce coming in.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 

As another week draws to an end and the month closes down, I am working on getting a few things completed, or started, and trying my best to not feel abused and left out by Harvey's female portion of the extended family. It seems like the females (even the in-law portion other than myself) keep in constant touch. That really makes it tough to feel a part of this family. I do try, but get shot down most of the time. This weekend really showed how much this happens. After the first round of hugs I was either totally ignored or talked down to. Something I should be used to but every so often feels like a kick in the teeth. 

I am so glad that I have nieces, nephews and their spouses that make up for this lack of family feeling. They are just so wonderful to me at all times. 

So I will share a few pictures of the celebration with all of you.

Harvey's two cousins that lived on a farm only a few miles from them are included in this photo.

All the family was there which of course surprised pretty much the entire village. 

These pictures were taken in one of the BIL's yards. 

Now some pictures of old vehicles that paraded around the village. I heard there were close to 100 in the car show.

Just a few of the older vehicles that toured the village in a parade later in the afternoon. 

That first photo is pretty special to me. An old friend has many old vehicles that he has restored over the years. Not too sure what year this Model T (he has three he has restored) is, but I got a ride in it after the parade. I was the only one after his wife (also a friend) who got to go around the town. That was so nice of them. The ride was a bit rough, but my back managed just fine. His wife was pretty disappointed that she didn't get a picture of me in the vehicle. I said that was perfectly okay.

We also attended the polka Mass (not my favourite of Mass types) so as we could use the online Mass this morning.

More pictures of the program and the live concert the Johner Brothers/Boys later that night coming tomorrow or perhaps the next day.

We didn't stay for the whole concert, but came home before it got too dark.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Catch Up Friday

 

It's been a quiet day of getting a few things done around the house. I did a bit of decluttering, worked on tidying and organizing the sewing/craft room. I picked herbs to dry (need to put the comfrey in the dehydrator), walked around the garden and backyard making a few plans for next year. Pretty sure more food will be planted and I am thinking of getting one of those tower Aerogrow things. In order to try and save a bit on greens this winter. I will need to price that out.

I will do a bit more organizing in the sewing/craft room in a bit since supper is made and the table set. We are both now waiting for Kurt to arrive and then after he has rested a bit, supper will be served. 

We got almost half an inch of rain last night, so the rhubarb patch was a bit wet this morning. No rain today, even though we had some pretty black sky this afternoon so I am kind of hopeful of getting some picked a bit later or first thing tomorrow morning. 

I, sort of hate that we have the Torquay Village 100th Celebration tomorrow. It means we will be leaving Kurt by himself, and missing out on a days visit with him. Considering he is only here for 5 nights and 4 days this time around I find it hard to not want to spend as much of that time as possible visiting. 

The lists for next month's extra cleaning and goals/projects has been completed as well. Monthly menus are done and whenever there is a cooler day, batch cooking will be happening. More main dish salads are going to be made as well. Of course my menu plans are pretty interchangeable and as long as all I have planned to make is actually made, it really does not matter what day it is made on. Things need to be used up, of course, but most of my recipes or menus do enable me to use up what needs to be used. 

Life is actually getting simpler as I realize that organizing, decluttering, having menu plans, cleaning lists, projects, and garden harvesting can not be as complicated as I made it. Sure it is work, but work for the most part that I enjoy.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursdays

Thrifty and Frugal

Made a slight mistake via credit card. Hopefully the payment and the payment from us goes through okay. Man I guess I didn't read things correctly. Not a frugal or thrifty thing to do at all as we could be charged interest on the overage. 

I did have some thrifty and frugal happenings here though. 

1. Decluttered a few more items and gained some space in a couple of areas.

2. Been using up various food and non food items. Ended up not having an entirely wasteless week as a small piece of cheese had gotten pushed to the back of the fridge and dried out (mainly because Harvey forgot to close the bag).

3. Picked sage, oregano, and thyme to dehydrate. Used some of the older dehydrated leaves to make infused oils (sage and oregano). 

4. Hung clothing on the lines to dry.

5. Working on turning off lights which most of the time is going great.

6. Harvey making beer from a kit he got from Kris for Christmas. It can be said it is almost free (except we needed to buy filtered water).

7. Darned a pair of socks.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Midweek

 

I am really needing to stay calm since this is the last full week of the month, and of course as is usual I gave myself way too many projects to try and finish. Most of the projects this month have been fairly large and there is hope that I will get a few more of the smaller ones completed yet.

It has been awhile since I shared any thrifty and frugal tips with all of you so I decided to share a few that I don't think (though one never knows as my mind seems to forget things) I have shared before. 

Here goes.

1. Never buy anything at full price if at all possible. When it comes to big ticket items, we never pay full price. Always wait for a sale if possible. Now, saying that, I always end up paying full price for my milk and a few other basics. This is because in Canada milk prices (at least where I live) never go on sale, and bread flour rarely. 

2.  Invest your money into quality items that you use all the time. While I did get many of my appliances on sale, I bought the best that I possibly could. My bread maker was fairly expensive when I purchased it 10 years ago to replace a less costly one (that one broke down in 4 years) and use it at least 3 days a week. Same can be said for the toaster oven and other such items. My hand mixer is probably 30 years old, and I am thinking finally might need to be replaced so I am looking at sales to get the best quality possible for the lowest cost.

3. Avoid purchasing convenience food. By batch cooking one can have homemade convenience food.

4. Use any credit cards for the points and pay the card off every month.

5. I also use old technology as long as I possibly can. This is especially true with our phones. Heck as long as they work who cares if they don't have all the bells and whistles of the new ones.

6. It isn't that I love working on my budget, but I have found that paying attention to it and tweaking it where I can makes a difference.

7. Save your change, and any change you find on your walks. I do this and what we have saved does pay for our family reunion every two years.

Hope those help and there are a few new ideas.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tidbits and Stuff

 

My new pear tree is in the ground, just a bit of work needed to fill in the hole with some wood chips as the landscape fabric is tacked in already. Now hopefully with this tree we will be lucky and get some pears very soon. 

Harvey mentioned that there were plum trees and apple trees at the beginning of the season as well. I told him that perhaps we should make an orchard of the backyard (or back garden as people in the UK call this area). Still working on moving things around and putting things together properly. That tree overhanging our yard will be getting a clipping very soon. 

We will be trying to cut down on lawn filled areas, but this is a big area to control. 

My sister stopped in for a visit and it was wonderful to catch up before the celebrations in the village Harvey comes from and she still lives in. It is really not a place that I have called home, and I don't think our oldest son does either. This is even though he spent the first 3 years of his life there. I have a feeling Estevan and perhaps Shaunavon feel more like home to him. Youngest really would only remember Estevan as being home. 

Kurt will be back here sometime on Friday so we will need to figure out some way for him to get into the house as we won't be home until fairly late (well late for me in any case). I think just using the code lock on the door would be our best choice. Just have to give him the code and I am pretty sure he knows how to work that type of lock. 

No dehydrating done the past couple of days. I will pick oregano tomorrow morning and get that started before I head out to do some errands. One of which is to pay for our trip. I couldn't do that today as the travel agent was not at work, it was her day off. So paying that and getting some groceries will be done tomorrow. 

Off to visit, and then get supper started. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.