Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

We really need to figure out a way to cut Bob's claws. He likes to dig them into whatever portion of one's anatomy he comes in contact with. He has also now ripped the tablecloth as he stumbled when trying to get on the table. I hope we can manage to do that very soon. I know it will take the two of us as Bob is a very large cat.

At least Bob has allowed me to work on my weaving, and get a bit of knitting done as well (that is when he decided he just had to climb on my knees and proceed to grab the yarn or dig his mighty claws into my leg and arm). Still it is nice to have a cat in the house for a bit. However Harvey and I wonder if Bob's escapades are the reason his brother wished us good luck as Nancy and he left for their trip to the airport.

I found a new casserole recipe for the leftover chicken to try tonight. We have every single ingredient which is awesome. No substitutions this time at all. I am hopeful that this recipe will give us enough for two meals. I plan on cooking it in the toaster oven as well. There isn't many veggies in it other than onions, green pepper and tomatoes so I plan on adding some celery and mushrooms to the mix. Got to get those veggies in the diet. This will also use up some to the things Nancy brought to clear out their fridge. 

This week the weather is going to be just lovely, but as I knew what would happen, by the middle of next week the temperature drops slightly from above freezing temperatures to temperatures slightly lower and lots of snow. In fact 5 days of snow is forecasted to appear. Winter is coming back and probably coming back for until at least mid March or even later. I do doubt we will get the -40C temperatures, but I have a feeling more snow and ice will be arriving.

Decluttering has taken a back seat for awhile. I want to clear out my stashes right now. There are items in those stashes that have probably been there for years and it is time to use them or give them away. 

I am also thinking that some batch cooking could be a great idea for those snowy days that are coming. I have started a list and will be adding to it as time goes by. Pretty sure I could use up some pork as well as the beef.

I have some black beans that need using as well as some ham broth. There are dried beans that could and should be cooked up and frozen as well. I really need to get some baked beans made as well (adding that to the list). When the weather gets nasty it is good to have things to do so you don't miss going out and about. I also need to use those molds I purchased a bit more as well. I want more pull meals out of the freezer as spring approaches so that we can work in the yard without having to stop and cook.

Harvey had to repair a picture frame today. Bob decided to lick my barefoot as I was dusting them. Startled me so much I jumped and dropped the photo. Fixed and back on the wall.

Off to get together all the necessary ingredients for the casserole and set the table. I will visit you all a bit later.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God Bless.

Menu Monday

 

A new week has arrived, and with this new week new challenges. Like a stuck spacebar. Not to happy about this as it is Bob's fault. I was having a drink and he jumped up and knocked said drink over. I am hoping that the spacebar starts working correctly very soon.

Monday

Chicken Soup and egg salad sandwiches. Or rather buns.

Tuesday

Leftover chicken made into a casserole.

Wednesday

Homemade pizza using up some various meats in the fridge.

Thursday

Leftover Chicken casserole.

Friday

Fish sticks, onion rings, coleslaw.

Saturday

Leftover Pizza  and probably a salad.

Sunday

Beef brisket, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies and the remains of the salad from the night before.

Bob is here visiting and is quite a bit more needy than we were told. He has already dumped a drink on my desk and caused a few problems there. He has not had his claws clipped and managed to give me a lovely scratch. Tried to bite me numerous times when I have been petting him. He has also taken over my chair.... 

Here is Bob, enjoying my chair.

While he is the same colour as Shania, he definitely does not have her lovely temperament. It could be a rough 15 or so days.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 

While I am not feeling 100% I am feeling much better. I am not sure what is wrong with me, but perhaps this old body just needs more rest then I have been giving it over the last while. I did sleep very well last night and I hope that the same happens tonight. 

Tomorrow our small visitor arrives. Nancy (my brother-in-law's wife) will be coming over to drop off Bob the cat. This does mean I will need to straighten the hallway before he arrives and once here will need to find a place for his bed, and scratching post. It really will be lovely to have a cat around for a bit. Looking forward to hopefully getting cuddles and pets in. She says he is very affectionate. 

It has been a fairly quiet day. We did go out to church today and I had to go out later and get Harvey's prescriptions filled. Well the ones for his blood pressure and his anti-depressant. The eye drops will last until after his next appointment with the optometrist. 

Other than those few outdoor things (picked up the mail as well) I have stuck close to home and worked on things like to do lists, looking up recipes, working on projects, and taking things fairly easy. 

Spent a bit of time looking up solar generator things on Amazon. Most need to have the purchase of the solar panels separate from the generator. I do think that is how we would go though if we did the generator thing. It is much less expensive than the gas powered and would actually work in the case of a power outage that lasted a great deal of time. I think we would need a couple of them though. One for the fridge and stove upstairs (and perhaps the computer and printer) and one for the basement freezers and washer/dryer. We face south so charging would not be a problem. 

Still working on using more small appliances to do my cooking. The electric bill did go down a tad this month, but I would love it to go down a bit more. 

I removed the buttons from Harvey's shirts.

Cut up the shirts into useable fabric. That will more than likely be used to make some totes eventually. 

I will pull out the pants to have the zippers and buttons removed tomorrow and those cut down into useable fabric as well. Little things being completed each day. 

The first half of the rug is off the loom and I will continue with warping again tomorrow. My back starts to hurt if I work on that phase for too long. I should also perhaps get the last pair of mittens almost completed as well. 

Little by slow little I am getting projects crossed off my list for the month. Of course there will be a few things carried over, but I hope to finish those next month. Will I add things? More than likely.

Today our sermon at church was letting our light shine, that just saying one is Christian is not enough..... 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

What's With Frugal YouTubers Suddenly Prepping?

 As part of my resting today, I watched some of my favourite YouTube channels and saw something very interesting happening. So many of them have decided to figure out how to prepare for the worst possible scenario's. 

Now as a frugal person I have always tried to prepare for storms, rising prices and any other small challenge that could come my way. The way I see it, if the worst possible happens we probably won't be here to see the results. 

Since these people profess to be frugal, shouldn't they have prepared for those small things already? I do know some have a pantry, but many of them seem to purchase items that need to be frozen (power outages or hacking of the power grid would take those full freezers out right away). 

The cash on hand I think is a great idea, and one that I do just in case. However saying to go to your corner store to purchase groceries if big stores suffer a computer shutdown, won't work in many cases. We have one corner store here in my city, and they no longer sticker price their groceries or cleaning supplies. Most places have gone to the run the barcode and get the selling price. Even our 7-11 stores have moved to this method. No electricity would also mean the stores coolers would no longer work and food would spoil quickly. 

None of them mention getting a generator to run their electric appliances. Some even talk about using their phones to watch movies they have downloaded if the internet goes down. Hmmm, how would they recharge their phones, laptops or tablets with now electric. Yes, if they fill the vehicle with gas they could in fact use the running vehicle to recharge things. Still gas would run out fairly quickly with the constant recharging of phones and such. 

Lately I have been purchasing more canned goods, and making sure I have propane for cooking on my camp stove or on the BBQ. Not many of the YouTubers I watch even mentioned that. They do mention candles and solar powered lanterns and such. They even speak about stocking up on batteries. Yet not many mention purchasing canned goods. Lots of canned meat and veggies to be had for the pantry, and my next $10.00 pantry spend will probably be canned potatoes and canned fruit, if I can get a good deal. 

So do you think one should prepare for the worst possible scenario? Or just prepare for the smaller happenings that we are used to?

Off to get some more sleep as I have been coughing, sneezing, and dang cold. Will try and visit you all, but the way I am feeling that might have to wait until tomorrow.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Not Feeling Well

 The day started out wonderfully. Lots of energy, got lots done. Even managed to get out for a little bit.

Now however all I want to do is sleep (and I still have to get supper on the table as well as wait for a text). I am queasy, and just feeling slightly blah. I am hoping to hold out until after supper, and at least get the yogurt chilling and later draining. But I wonder if that will happen. Maybe the chilling, but not sure about the draining. 

I wonder if I managed to pick something up while shopping yesterday. Mind you if it is a touch of something like the flu, I don't think it would have shown up in a day. Maybe it is just that I had a very restless sleep last night, and since I don't nap (if I do my sleep at night is very bad) the tiredness is catching up with me.

This has been the worst year for me feeling blah in a very long time. I hope this is the last of whatever I seem to be catching. As Harvey says perhaps I should not run so fast (LOL).

There is always tomorrow to continue on my decluttering and getting the sewing/craft room straightened out even more.

Off to visit with some of you and then get supper started.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal

I have really been trying to cut back on spending so far this year. Mainly because the trip we have planned for August is a bit more expensive than we thought it would be. Still I am not going to try and reclaim that money. Rather I will save where and how I can.

Frugal happenings around the old homestead have been more or less the usual for what I have been doing. 

I am continuing to use up all that I can and not purchasing things I do not need.

I actually managed to extend my shopping for groceries by four days, which is awesome. Still prices are rising and getting great deals are few and far between.

Making what I can from scratch, finding simple joys in making those things I need and saving for home improvements and the garden (what we call the backyard here) are making my life very enjoyable. Keeping things as simple as I possibly can.

Today I went shopping, and of course picked up my $10.00 for the pantry. I think next time it will be some canned fruit.

I managed to get 4 cans each of tuna and mushrooms to add to the collection.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

 

Midweek Ramblings

 I have a feeling that this month is going to whiz right by. I have so much to accomplish and I know there is not enough month to get it all done. 

I thought for a change I would share my project goals for the month with you once again. It has been awhile since I did so.

So here goes,

1.  Weave the rug for Kris.

2.  Embroider the last of the blocks for a quilt.

3.  Sew the totes for the Silent Auction.

4.  Make the ornaments for the Silent Auction.

5.  Knit mittens.

6.  Cut the buttons off of the shirts Harvey got rid of that are not decent enough to donate.

7.  Separate the usable fabric from those shirts.

Things are taking a bit longer than I thought they would so I am slightly worried that not all will be done this month. I will however try my best to get most done. 

Tomorrow we will go and pay off the trip, and I will go shopping. This means that not as much will be accomplished around the house other than the usual household tasks. I have been lucky enough to find large enough bits and bobs to make the smallest size mitts however and that is helping me to use things up nicely. Slowly but surely things are being cleared out of my stashes and that is an excellent thing. No matter how long things take I will get my stashes down to something easily handled.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.