Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

 Thrifty and Frugal

I have been sticking pretty close to home and trying my best to reign in my spending for the rest of this month. So what thrifty and frugal things have been happening here on the old homestead.

1.  Made more tinkle cloths from some scrap flannelette I found in my stash.

2.  Cut strips and 4" squares out of the scraps that were not suitable for tinkle cloths. I also cut some 2 1/2" squares from the scraps left from cutting those scraps.

3.  Shopping from home before I run out to purchase anything. One can always make substitutions and there is much to use up after the holiday. 

4.  Shopped my fabric to make some more Christmas gifts for Kurt's and Kris's Christmas baskets. I found fabric to make them each 4 placemats, and probably a bit later some hot pads as well. I also have enough fabric to make us some placemats and hot pads as well. I even found some fabric suitable for some more cloth napkins. 

5.  I have made my grocery and stock up list for this week purchasing mostly sale items, and planning ahead.

6.  Using up leftovers effectively for new meals.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Midweek Once Again

 My goodness the days are just whipping by as well as getting much shorter. Soon winter will be upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere bring us time to stay in and get our homes in order for the next set of holidays.

I promised pictures of my sister and I visiting the last two living sisters of our Mom. Both of them lost their husbands many years ago.

First we traveled to Norquay to visit with the youngest of the girls.

Aunt Alice lives in the house she and Uncle Russel moved into when they left the farm right in the village.

This is a picture of my sister, my cousin Brian, Aunt Alice and myself. Her other daughter lives in B.C and was not there at the time we visited.

Here is a picture of her immediate family.

Brian, his wife Joy, Aunt Alice, Velda, her husband Ken.

We laughed and reminisced about our visits when young to the farm. 

Of course they put on coffee for us and you can tell they were farm folk as the table was loaded with squares, cookies, donuts, and so many other lovely edibles. 

As we left we promised to try and visit at least once a year.

We made it to Yorkton in time to visit those that are no longer with us. The cemetery there is so beautiful and very peaceful.

Aunt Alice decided that she wished to be buried near her sisters and so buried her husband amongst all the Koch's. 

The flowers were lovely and we found out that our cousin Greg's wife, Ruby, made all of them when they came up from Chicago to visit Aunt Isabel. 

We then went out for supper and checked into our hotel room.

The next morning we did a bit of window shopping as we did not want to bother Aunt Isabel too early. At 97 she deserves her rest, though I am pretty sure she was up and waiting for us to arrive.

She finally moved from the home her and Uncle Sam (who just happens to be our Dad's brother) moved to about 40 years ago. She is living in one of the two retirement homes in the city of Yorkton and just hates it. The suite she lives in is very nice, but she does not like the meals and says things are stupidly run... If the fire drill we went through while there is any indication, she is quite correct.

Aunt Isabel and I out in the backyard of the home. We were kind of stuck there and could not get to the muster point as the gate was locked. Guess we could have had some bad burns.

After we got back in the residence Aunt Isabel phoned our cousin Cam and we traveled to Bunkers (the business he owns) to visit for awhile. 

After taking her back to her suite, we headed to the restaurant to meet up with our brother's and Jay's significant others and twin girls. Our youngest brother decided not to come, which was a pity.

After our supper (mix up over the time, of course) it was the long journey home.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits And Stuff

 

The house is quiet once again, perhaps too quiet right now. Work, other than slowly hand stitching the quilt went by the wayside this weekend. 

My back was much better, just a twinge now and again. With Kris's help Thanksgiving dinner went well. He helped by putting the turkey in the oven and taking it out. Saved my back for sure.

Kurt was outside helping Harvey cut branches off the trees. Those now need to be cut down, the bigger portions saved for the firepit, and the smaller ones hauled to the dump next weekend. He then raked the leaves and smaller sticks up for easier disposal. 

Eiko, our grandcat is getting more and more used to us being around. She is still a bit skittish, but at least does not attack us, claws out when we walk by. 

I spent some time yesterday cutting scrap fabric into strips, 4" squares and 6" squares. One more project finished this month. Sure glad that I only have a few small ones left to do. The 6" squares are being edged and then I will be using them as tinkle cloths... Should have enough now to last more than a week. I got the first 20 or so done this afternoon. 

There are tomatoes left to either process or eat. I do think there are too many to eat, but shall give that a try. I have made 6 containers of tomato sauce, 6 jars of salsa and have numerous bags in the freezer of frozen tomatoes to use in chilies and stews over the winter. 

The days are drawing in and soon we will be turning on the heat. Not something I am looking forward to, but Harvey is complaining that it is pretty cold in here mornings. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can manage to keep it off until at least the end of this week. The house does warm up considerably during the day. 

Stocking up for the winter will be continuing. Mostly canned items and cold/flu type items are left. Plus a few of the gifts still need to be purchased as well. 

My laptop has been acting up and Kris said it is reaching the end of it's life span. We will be traveling some time soon up to visit with him and he can take me shopping for a new one and then gets the joy of transferring from this one to the new one. He also wants to set me up with the "cloud". Scary proposition as then I would need to learn something else. I do have an external hard drive, so perhaps I can talk him into using that instead. This laptop will be used in my sewing/craft room with my embroidery machine and my Cricut. Should work perfectly fine for those things. 

Tomorrow I will post some pictures of our visit to our (my sister went with me) aunts. One is 92 and the other is 97. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Just thought I would pop in and let you all know I am still around. Company, projects that needed completing, and my bad back have kept me from posting. I hope to get back in the groove tomorrow. 

Wishing all of my Canadian readers a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Menu Monday

 I am in a great deal of pain today. My back is killing me and I don't really know why. I can't sit for very long and need to get up and move around often.

So all I am going to do is post my menus for the week, and hopefully be able to visit with you all tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Monday

Turkey soup and egg salad sandwiches. Something very simple is all that I could manage today.

Tuesday

Leftover roast beef made into a kind of stroganoff. Served with egg noodles, and peas. If I am up to it I will make a coleslaw.

Wednesday

I pulled a container of chili out of the freezer. Probably served with toast. Plus the remains of the slaw.

Thursday 

Leftovers from Tuesday.

Friday

This depends on if Kurt and Kris will be home and want to warm something up. I will either do glace, potatoes and eggs, or pancakes.

Saturday

Smoked brisket, potato salad and baked beans.

Sunday

Turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, stuffing, pickles, and a salad. 

Off to move around.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. See you all tomorrow.

God bless.

Last Day Of Vacation

 I know I usually do a roundup of what has been occurring here on the Phillips Homestead, but thought I would finish with the photos of our last day.

We did a couple of small hikes, I was a bit disappointed that the trails were not clearly marked. One had to kind of guess where they were. No pictures as there really was not much to see. I was hoping for some of those elusive orchids that are only found here, but no such luck.

In the afternoon, we thought a visit to the Lookout Point and Bald Butte were necessary. We were going to hike, but in looking at the map the distance was a bit beyond us oldies. 

One of the signs along the way to the lookout point.

This was located in the lookout point and told the story of how the Cypress Hills was formed. It also mentioned how far one could see from up there. Harvey was amazed that on a clear day one could actually see 100 km away to the Great Sandhills. It was not clear that day, but we could still see Maple Creek, and a couple of the lakes that were 25 and 50 km away.

Next it was off to Bald Butte.

Ignore my finger, I have no way of knowing how it got in the picture.

The Butte is starting to erode so we were warned to stay away from the edge. It was also a very rocky trip to the top. 

After this it was back to the cabin, getting our last meal ready, and Harvey once again feeding all the little squirrels.

If you notice those squirrels are getting much closer.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

More Photos

 Just a couple more photos from our day trip to Fort Walsh.

Remember how the commander of the fort lived. Well this is the enlisted men's quarters.

Pretty spartan really. The beds were hard boards covered by pelts of various fur bearing animals mostly wolf or bison. Those were used to soften the bed. 

This was the bedroom of the leading Sargent, just a curtained off alcove with no heat.

On to our second day.

We started off with a little bit of a hike down into the park itself. Most everything there was closed for the season so no coffee to sit by the water and enjoy.

We did do a drive around the lake after we got back from our afternoon excursion. 

In the afternoon we visited a winery.

No pictures of the inside as I was too busy taste testing. Harvey was driving so did not partake. We bought a few bottles of fruit wine, and some jam and honey that are produced around the area.

After driving around the lake we went to the cabin and relaxed. Once again seeing lots of squirrels (of course Harvey had to feed them) and some deer in the gully below the firepit area.

Supper was once again cooked on our small charcoal BBQ and the firepit grill. Going old school.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.