Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal

I have closely been watching prices rising, mostly because of the cost of fuel to ship things. I am also noticing more and more Canadian goods on shelves, which is a very good thing. There are times that I wish I lived in a bigger center with more choice, but I will continue to save costs grocery wise where and how I can.

So far the thrifty and frugal things I am doing is making the most of the harvest. I have frozen carrots, and beans. Dehydrated herbs, scraps from onions (ground to make onion powder), and have started to freeze tomatoes (the skins will be dehydrated to make tomato powder). I have made pickled onions, relish, Cowboy candy, salsa, and chili sauce. The way the tomatoes are coming in I will need to find something else to can with those as well. I even froze some corn on the cob!!!

Soon I will be making pumpkin puree as well. I will also be dehydrating lavender leaves. 

Life is just one big harvest right now.

I am using the appliances to cook more of our food, and hope to get used to doing that a great deal more. 

I made a great many ready meals for the freezer and am going to be making a few more. These are in tinfoil containers that I can throw into the toaster oven to reheat.

I am only purchasing meat that is on sale, and trying to stock up on canned meat that is on sale as well. 

I purchased a make your own K-cup and will soon give up purchasing the ready made ones. I need one more plus the paper filters so I can make some ahead and store in airtight containers to save time.

I refashioned one dress into a skirt, and the other dress into a top and skirt (it was a very long dress). 

Walking for exercise and watching what I eat so as to keep up the weight loss.

Not turning on the heat as of yet. It isn't that cold when I get up in the morning that my robe and slippers won't keep me toasty.

Mending some seams and hems, fixed a few buttons, and patched a pair of Harvey's work pants. 

Hung clothes on the lines.

The air conditioning hasn't come on in a couple of days which is great.

That is pretty much all I can remember right now. I will share pictures of the garden processing perhaps tomorrow.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

 

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

Life since we got back from our trip has been trying to get the garden in, processing, catching up on household tasks, and a few appointments. The appointments will end the beginning of October I hope. 

My CT scan came back with a few concerns for me. Now the nodules in my lungs have not grown, so they are now considering them scarring from previous infections. 

But the scan showed a growth on my adrenal gland and the start of stenosis of the liver (Fatty Liver Disease). I believe and so does my doctor that the liver is from me putting on quite a bit of weight over the last couple of years. So I am trying hard to lose some weight and had actually lost 8 pounds from the last time my weight was taken about 2 months ago. Not a large amount, but a start. 

The one that really scared me was the growth on my adrenal gland. Turns out the radiologist and the doctor both tell me it is not cancerous, but rather something that usually happens with age. I was worried because my Mom died of adrenal cancer which is not common. The doctor told me that this type of cancer is not passed down, and she gave me a list of symptoms that I should watch for. She also told me if I become concerned I should call and see her. She would then make me another appointment for a more localized scan. 

I do feel more at ease now, but will keep an eye on my overall health for sure.

We were home for about a week, perhaps a week and a half when I got the news my Mom's youngest sister had died. So as the funeral was early morning, we headed off the night before. Spent one night in a hotel, and then went to the funeral. I was glad that we were able to attend as I got to see many of my cousins, and my 99 year old sister of my Mom. She is the last of the 4 girls left. I also got to see my Mom's youngest sister's daughter, the one who is very close to the same age as me. She is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, and had a mastectomy not too long ago. 

Now we have been home for about another week and things are almost back to normal. Well, as normal as they are for this time of year. We almost had a frost a few days ago, which has speeded up the garden harvest, though with Harvey working on building the new carport, and me helping things are not where I would like them to be. 

I have made many ready meals that are in the freezer, and there are a few more (mostly soups) that I need to get done. That will be after the chili sauce and tomato freezing. I might actually try to can some tomatoes this year. 

Shopping was done today, and I really hope that I will not have to do another until October. My goodness prices of certain items have really risen. Trying to stock up on baking supplies, canned meats, and pasta right now. Pasta, since I can purchase Canadian made is still relatively inexpensive. Canned meats on the other hand have really risen, and baking supplies are getting very hard to find other than flour, sugars, and the very basics. Cocoa seems to have disappeared for now.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless. 

Back to Regular Posts Menu Monday

 Monday

Pork Cutlets, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas and a tossed salad.

Tuesday

Smoked Chicken Sausages, tossed salad from Monday, fried leftover potatoes with onions.

Wednesday

Steak in Mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes, corn.

Thursday

Soup and sandwiches. I will probably make grilled cheese and a Japanese noodle package of soup.

Friday

Fish fillets, fries, and coleslaw.

Saturday

Jambalaya using shrimp and garlic coil sausage. Leftover coleslaw. 

Sunday 

A package of ham from the fridge freezer warmed up, scalloped potatoes, and carrots. This will probably be made into a casserole and there should be enough leftover for a meal in the next week.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Questions About Our Trip Answered

 I have been asked many questions about our trip, how we liked it, how Viking treated us, and is the ship like the pictures one sees online.

Even though we did not get the full cruise experience, we loved our trip. Viking did whatever they possibly could to make the experience wonderful. They added free excursions, gave us a rebate on our trip,  rebate excursions that we could not take due to the level of the river, gave us a rebate on other items we paid ahead for as well. They added special meals, and onboard entertainment as well. 

I will say that when we do our next cruise it will definitely be with Viking. Perhaps not a river cruise, but they do lots of ocean cruises as well. I believe that will be our next holiday. 

There were two places for meals and we usually used the main dining room for our breakfast, and then the other more casual place for our afternoon and evening meals. They served pretty much the same items for those meals, plus the more casual eating establishment had things like hamburgers or panni sandwiches. 

There was a coffee area just outside the lounge where one could get coffee or tea or hot chocolate whenever one wished. There was also a selection of freshly baked goodies to choose from. 

As far as the computer center, there was two computers one could use, but the WIFI was awesome throughout the trip. There was an excellent if small library and many games to choose from if one wanted to play cards, scrabble or even do a puzzle.

The lounge was open all day and in the evenings a piano/singer to entertain us when no extra entertainment was brought in. 

On many cruises the shopping overtakes many areas. Viking has a very small area of shopping. Like one or two racks of shirts and jackets and just a small amount of jewelry. That is a big plus as no one accosts you to purchase things. 

Our room was a bit smaller than we thought it would be, but with the outside balcony was okay. There are bigger suites, but since you really are not in them for very long size is not really a problem. There was also storage space under the beds for our suitcases. 

Laundry is available, but on a river cruise is usually paid for. This time however they were willing to do laundry for nothing if one chose to use this. We didn't but a lady we met did take advantage of the service. 

The sundeck of our ship was not as well set out as another Viking ship that parked near us. While we had lots of covered chairs and lounges as well as shuffleboard and a putting green, the ship that parked beside us had pretty much the same plus a small pool. Mind you considering the heat we faced I am not sure a pool would give us any cooling properties. Harvey and I did take advantage of the walking track early and would on the days we did not have an excursion sit under the shade. 

All in all, I would definitely recommend Viking cruises to all who read my blog. Oh and if you have ever seen an ad where there are two people on the steps walking down them.... Definitely true, those steps are a plus for your voyage.

However do not take a river voyage in the middle of summer. I would do so in the spring or late fall.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Bus Journey to Bucharest and A Final Tour

We caught our bus at 8 in the morning and since we would need to get up at 2 am, cut out the tour we were going to take and did the shorter one arriving at our hotel at around 6. No supper as we had a late lunch at a restaurant while on the tour.

Here are the last of the pictures from our trip.

Sorry for the reflection on the photo, but this is a picture of the Romanian parliament built by Ceausescu. There are 8 stories in the underground of which I think I remember the tour guide saying 3 are flooded. Ceausescu was pulled from the balcony and killed by the people. His wife had her own palace about a block away.

We were entertained by dancers while we were eating our lunch.

This is the canal that travels through Bucharest. Under this canal runs the power and a subway system.

Bucharest is a contradiction in architecture, there are brand new buildings, and then all of a sudden there are the apartment blocks built during the Soviet occupation. Then there are the beautiful older buildings from before the occupation and the Second World War that survived. 

The roads were wide as well, in some sections and very narrow and winding in others.

Slept until it was time to get up and then headed for the airport, where once again we were met by a Viking rep and helped through the check in lines, she also told us how to get to the security section. Got through that fairly quickly except once again I had a bit of a problem with one area. Nothing that kept us from getting on our plane. 

Vienna was strange as the plane stopped on the tarmac and we needed to catch a bus to the terminal. We crossed our fingers and got off when everyone else did, which was the right decision. Found our next gate and soon were on our way home. Well to Canada at least. 

I will try and answer questions in my next post.

Everyone have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.
 

Last Full Day On The Water

 Early this morning we had what could be considered our last walking tour of the voyage (we did get a bus tour the following day). 

Here we visited the Roman runes and a museum of archeological finds after passing through the Iron Gate the day before.

Here are a few pictures of the locks. I could not fight my way to the front so just took pictures of the locks operating as we passed through.

It was really interesting watching the level of the water drop. Notice the top line where the water was when we entered and how far it dropped before we passed through. This happened on all the locks.

The valley leading into this area had very steep sides, more like cliffs with a few homes and a monastery hanging on the side. 

We docked for the night and as I said early next morning we got up for our tour.

The ladies in the picture dressed in their communities traditional Romanian clothing were there to teach some classes on traditional arts and fiber crafts. Oh, how I wish I could have joined in those, but it was not to be.

The above are pictures from the museum. Lots of Roman items.

This is the remains of the only bridge to cross the Danube for many years. Built by the Romans and the footholds still stand on both sides. We were told it took the soldiers just one year to build it. Amazing if true.

We went back to the ship rested, and had a talk by our program director as to how we would be leaving the ship for Bucharest the next day.

My menu seems to be changing daily right now due to harvesting so I am going to redo it and will post it tomorrow along with our last day excursion and bus trip to Bucharest.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Orsova, Romania

 This city was entirely rebuilt in the 1970's. When the dam was built the old city was completely flooded (which happened to many of the small towns and villages at that time). We actually stayed on board once again as I was tired and a bit sore.

We played shuffleboard for a bit and rested on our deck. Later that evening we got our details about disembarking from the ship and the number of the bus we would be on. 

There was also a talk by the Program director about the excursions that would be happening the next day. 

Supper about killed us as far as food and alcohol. We were served two different brandies from Romania, a Romanian wine, three appetizers, a typical Romanian salad, then our taste of Romania main course. To finish all off there were 5 small desserts for each of us. So full I could hardly walk once done (okay slight exaggeration). Later in the evening we went to the lounge and took part in a movie quiz, listened to George play and sing. 

Some pictures of our meal. I seem to have missed the desserts. We left for Turnu Severin at about 5 and docked there at 9 pm. 

Tomorrow we have an excursion early and then head through the Iron Gates. A series of locks to lower us to the rest of the river.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.