Midweek

 Today was a baking day, or rather a stay in and get some baking and some stovetop Christmas things completed. Bread was baked, some marshmallow squares made and I am still waiting for the pumpkin puree to thaw so I can make two pies for our Christmas meals. 

Since tomorrow is supposed to be very cold, staying home and getting more baking prepared for Christmas. Hopefully I remember to take pictures. There are not a great many eggs in the house so tomorrow will be a no using eggs baking day. Whipped shortbread cookies, a recipe of what is called English Shortbread, and some Chocolate Drops. Must remember to get the butter out to soften overnight.

Knitting will continue and I am very hopeful that this blanket will be finished before the end of the month. Then I will start another as well as toques and mittens for Kurt and Kris. I think I will start the ornaments for the family that will be visiting at Christmas as well. I should be able to get the first step done easily tomorrow between baking/cooking sprees. It really is getting down to the knitty gritty, must be prepared for Christmas. Right now I feel very unprepared. 

Using another batch cooked item tonight. I am making spaghetti and meat sauce. Warming up the spaghetti sauce, getting the water to the point where I can add the pasta, and the salad is made and in the fridge. A very easy meal. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

I am surprised that I have managed to get all my daily tasks done already as well as a few extra cleaning/decluttering tasks as well. I have even knit a bit while waiting for my vehicle to have its oil change and tire swap. 

It is snowing, blowing and icy out so I am certainly glad that the winter tires are now on the SUV. The drive home from the dealer while not relaxing was much less white knuckled than the drive to the dealership.

Nesting will be beginning very soon. When winter draws in I seem to be happiest staying close to home and getting on with projects, baking and cooking. Mostly a homebody here and am quite content to be so. 

Once the snow stops a bit (well that will not happen until late tonight or early tomorrow morning) we will head out and do a bit of shoveling. This is heavy, wet snow so it will be fun to move.

Looking online I have found a place that I can purchase more batting for the potato bags. Thoughts are running through my head that I could perhaps make some and sell them online. Many other people do not too badly selling their craft items. These would not be overly costly to make or for people to purchase. Just something to be considered. I might even try some other small crafts and see how they go. 

Since I found the batting I am going to see if I can find the embroidery thread for my machine. To my dismay I found out that Fabricland no longer carried it. While there is lots in the case, there are a few colours that will need replacing very soon. Amazon is a big rabbit hole where one could disappear for days and spend oodles of cash without leaving the comfort of your home.

Everybody have a wonderful afternoon or evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

Strange as it seems, I had to redo this weeks menus once again. There is reason behind my madness, it just seems as if I can not for the life of me only cook for two people. So there are lots of leftovers, and probably more before the week is over. I may have to figure out a biweekly making of a menu... Yet I would probably still be changing things around.

Monday

I am using some fake crab and making a quiche. Doing that will give us two more meals, which of course will need eating later this week. I will probably have the leftovers for supper on Thursday and forgo the soup and sandwiches. Serving it both times with a salad. Tonight we will finish off the kale salad and I will be making a tossed salad on Wednesday so will have that again on Thursday.

Tuesday

There is leftover taco meat, so I will be making Nachos for supper using that up as well as the remainder of the toppings I cut up for our soft tacos.

Wednesday

I pulled a container of meaty spaghetti sauce out of the freezer so it will be spaghetti with meat sauce and a tossed salad. This is one of the planned meals for the week.

Thursday

The last of the quiche and the remains of the tossed salad. 

Friday

Back to what I planned, I will be making a salmon casserole and will make corn as the side. There are already peas in the casserole as well as mushrooms.

Saturday

Baked spaghetti, and a side of coleslaw. 

Sunday

The roast chicken that I was going to make a few weeks ago. The bones will be set aside for bone broth. Serving this with roasted potatoes, and the remains of the coleslaw.

Breakfasts will be toast, oatmeal or yogurt. I am pretty much the only breakfast eater in the house. Lunches will be any leftovers, and the usual sandwiches.

I made a spice cake which will be served for dessert. Not sure if I will ice it or make the caramel sauce that my Mom always put on her spice cakes.

Off to get started folding clothes and then preparing the quiche. Then to visit all of you while the quiche is cooking.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 

I did get out for a bit of a walk today, the ice had mostly melted on our roads due to the sunshine. This isn't going to last too long as snow and clouds will be arriving again tonight and for many days next week. Of course it will be just warm enough for rain to fall first. Things are going to be slushy and icy for the rest of the winter.

Right now I am pretty sure that I have managed to get everything I need on this computer. I do have an error coming up with my "vault", it says I can't use the nomenclature that Kris set up. Hopefully I can figure out " to fix it.... Might need to wait until Kris gets home. However this does mean nothing is being saved to "the cloud" and I just may have to figure this out myself. 

Today is another day of decluttering and downsizing. This time it is mostly my clothing. I have one more drawer that I need to declutter today. Most clothing will be donated, but if there are a few items I can cut down into usable fabric I will stack those in my sewing/craft room to do a bit later. 

This next week I hope to get a good start on the remainders of my projects for this month. I won't be able to do the Christmas cards this year as our postal carrier is on strike. This will mean phone calls or a card on Facebook. 

Harvey will be watching the Grey Cup tonight, but as he really does not care if he misses some of the game supper will be upstairs. It will be tacos so if he decides he needs to watch the game, well this is easily carried to his man cave once made up.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

It has been snowing and raining here for most of the day. This means I have managed to get some decluttering done, organized the folders containing various recipes and crafts. I actually got everything into one folder and lots of double recipes were tossed. The crafty things were put into plastic sleeves and put in a binder. 

Also, while going through the books on the bookcase to declutter it a bit more, I found the book that I was listing UFP's in. Must at some point figure out if I actually completed any of them and add some new ones that are lying around the house.

Promised you all some pictures of what I have been up to this past week as far as projects are concerned. I will be starting the list from last Wednesday as I did not do a Round-up post last week. 

First off I finished sewing the knit Christmas dress.

I still have to make a belt for this and I think it might just be an I-cord type to use up some sparkly yarn I have.

I finished the knitted blanket for one of Kurt's good friends (another is on my needles right now), the patchwork item beside is going to be used to make a bag front. Got to get using up those 4" squares in something other than a quilt.

These are the microwavable bags for baked potatoes. One each for Kurt and Kris, and I think two for us. I loved making these and I think I will make some more for the silent auction in a year or two. 

These are the hot pads I made for us. The ones I made for Kurt and Kris are identical material but much larger so as to protect their tables or countertops.

I also got three casseroles out of the leftover bags of ham in the fridge freezer. 

All in all a pretty good week of finishes. Hopefully there will be a few more for next week. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Simple Living

 

Right now my simple living is decluttering, and using things up in the stashes. I think the less I have to worry about the simpler my life will be. 

So today I went through the bookcase in the living room and started clearing things out or putting items where they really belong. I think I will probably continue with this tomorrow and then move on to my closet and drawers. I really do have lots of clothes, many of which are pretty worn or I never wear anymore. Time to simplify my wardrobe, I keep thinking how wonderful it will be when I can just keep all my clothing in the closet, instead of moving it every two seasons.

I actually found the book that I used to write down my UFP's in and I am considering doing that once again. I need a record of what I need finished and the ability to cross the finished projects off or I just forget all about them. This will simplify most project finishes for me. 

Now that the weather is once again changing I really feel like drawing in and getting even more ready for the winter. There are still things that need doing around here to make our home cozy for the winter season. I would love some new heavier curtains in a few of our windows to block out the cold. I will look at the Salvation Army and the other secondhand store we have in the city. 

I just want to stay home, do my exercise indoors, and wrap up in a shawl or nice warm lap blanket. This is going to be an interesting winter as I really do not want to go anywhere.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Thrifty And Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal

Another week has gone by and we are halfway through the month already.

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

I managed to go two days beyond my last shopping trip which was awesome. Even got lots of items on sale (though the sale price now seems to be even higher than the old regular price).

Continued walking for free exercise.

Managed to get this new laptop at the "Black Friday" cost, plus another deduction of $140.00.

Hung more clothing on the lines downstairs.

Used up the bits and bobs of leftover roasts I had bagged and in the fridge freezer making casseroles. I hope to do that more often each month.

Saved the plastic bags that the produce comes in to use for scooping kitty litter when Kris brings Eiko to visit.

Fixed a seam on a pair of Harvey's pajamas.

Bought on sale produce and got some great deals, we should be able to have salads for a good long time.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.