Thoughts and Plans

 

As life and living becomes simpler, I am considering changing up my blog. I will probably keep my menu plan Monday, and the thrifty and frugal Thursdays, but the rest of my posts just might be changing just a tad. 

Don't worry, I will always follow a frugal and thrifty lifestyle, but times are changing. I will perhaps be adding more shopping tips, working on project tips (clearing out our stashes) and how to live a simpler life. 

The other thing is I might not be posting every day anymore. In entering a simpler life things are changing in my world and some of them really are not at all very interesting, or something I care to blog about. 

While I have been open about my lifestyle and spending, over the years I have found that not as many people are interested in a day to day lifestyle. People would much rather see things about decluttering, saving money, or living a much simpler life style. 

Forgive me if I miss a few posts over the next while, I will be working behind the scenes to get things to the point where I don't feel almost forced to post, and figuring out what my readers really want.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless. 

Friday, Moving Towards A Simple Life

 

I am loving that most of my days move along smoothly and simply. I get to take walks, not only do big things to get our lives in order, but do those little things that just make life a tiny bit simpler. 

Whether it be having a ready meal to pull out of the freezer on those busier days, or forming buns to bake in the oven. Each small step or increment moves me that much closer to enjoying life even more. 

One of the ways I have made our lives a bit simpler is only going shopping every two weeks. My back might cause me angst after the shopping trip, but one day out of 14 or more is not something that I can't live with. 

Having to rest after serious cleaning is awesome. It gives me the time to enjoy my home, or the outside. And really that 15 minute rest helps me concentrate on getting little things straight in my mind. 

The weather is warming and soon we will be planting outside. I am a little sad that not as much will be planted this year, due to us going on our trip and not wanting to bother anyone to, well water the garden and flowers. I may ask Kris if he would be willing to come home on the weekend and water all for us, and I might have figured out a way to keep many things watered, but we shall see. 

Life is good, and even with costs rising, one can find joy and pleasure in a sunrise, a sunset, sunshine throughout the day, smiling at strangers, and just taking the time to be grateful.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

 Thrifty and Frugal 

I can't remember another month where the last day coincided with Thrifty and Frugal Thursday. Mind you my mind might be going a little bit.

We have had a few frugal and thrifty wins here on the old homestead, but of course there is always a catch and that was today. We needed to have 2 batteries put into the tire sensors, and they were ridiculously expensive. However there was one thrifty/frugal thing that happened while the vehicle was in.

On to my list.

1.  Straightened up some cupboards and managed to fill a few containers. Thank heavens for step ladders as I would never be able to reach these two cupboards without it.

2.  I managed to go 24 days without spending any money. May is going to be a tougher month, but I will try my best to get at least 20 no spend days. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

3.  Working on my projects and using up more yarn. Slowly but surely that stash is kind of shrinking. Hoping to have even more gone very soon. One would think after what will be 120 pairs of mittens knitted, things would really be used up.... Not true in reality. So I will knit some hats next for the school. They should be kind of funky looking and all sorts of colours.

4.  I put another $100.00 in the savings envelope. I also put $2.35 in the change jars. 

5.  Leftovers are being made into new meals, and those new meals actually end up feeding us another time. Nothing is being tossed. 

6.  Making bread and buns and eventually I will try and make bagels once again. 

7.  Darned another pair of my socks, and fixed a seam on one of Harvey's shirts.

8.  Now while this was not an inexpensive trip to the dealership for our vehicle. My advisor did not charge for his labour in replacing the sensor batteries. That was more than likely a savings of around $50.00. So nice of him.

So that is some of the new things happening here on the old homestead. Of course we are still following the tried and true frugal and thrifty things we have been doing for years.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Midweek/End of the Month

 The middle of the last week of the month of April is upon us. Not only is it the middle of the week, but we only have 1 day left this month. Wow, where is time going?

There will be a couple of tasks (projects) that will be carried over to next month, but I have come to the realization that what will be done is what I can manage. I can make long lists, but if I want to enjoy what I am doing I will need to manage my expectations of the time I actually have. Still, things are getting completed, I am enjoying the process of creating something, and slowly but surely decluttering and making my life just a tad simpler with each declutter and using up of what I have. 

Tomorrow we take the car in to get the winter tires off and the other tires put on. We will also get them to service the tire monitor system. The appointment is at 10 am, so I hope to have the vehicle back sometime in the afternoon. 

I have pushed my shopping until Friday which is actually 3 days later than the two weeks I usually go. I am hoping to be able to do so even more often.

The sauces/coatings/cracker cupboard is cleaned up, now I will go back to seeing what can be cleaned, refilled, and labeled in the pasta cupboard. Part of my organizing to make things just that little bit easier as life goes on. 

Enough rambling, I am off to set the table and get the step ladder to complete the organizing.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 Quiet reigns on the old homestead. I have been trying to get lots of little things done around the house. You know the things we keep putting off each and every day. Getting those little things completed is easing my stress level each and every day. 

I am still getting my regular tasks done and I am slowly learning to pace myself. Taking rests between tasks and finding ways to complete something with the least effort. This will not last as soon I will be washing walls, painting outside, planting, and getting the deck set up for use. I will also be pulling firewood from the wood box and resupplying the holder near our firepit. Must remember to get Harvey to split some as full logs don't start a fire very well. 

Work on projects is ongoing, and I now realize that I will not finish all that I had planned to do. Still I did manage to get a few completed, and some ready for the next step. That is pretty much all I can ask of myself at this point in my life. I am getting too old to go, go, go, each and every day and resting is imperative I find. Too much on my plate just seems to frustrate me in trying to get all done. 

This means my projects/goals list will contain things that I can get done quickly as well as those that will take a bit longer to complete. It is also making me rethink things like making cards (which I will still do) after I use up all the cardstock I have. In fact I am thinking that using some of the cardstock to make flowers might be a great way to clean that bit of my stash out. I am also considering sticking to cleaning out the yarn stash even more as that has really gotten out of hand over the past few years. Bits/bobs and orphan balls really add up and take up lots of valuable space. Hence why once I finish the 120 pairs of mittens I am going to try and get some toques made for Kurt's K-12 school. Might even make some colourful knit blankets to rid myself of even more. 

I no longer want to do things that do not bring me peace or joy, and am finding it extremely difficult to even read family members posts on Facebook. Perhaps it is time to take a step back and evaluate if that social media is serving it's purpose any longer. Could be the time to block some of the family.

At 70 years of age I want peace, joy, humanity, and love. I don't need complaints, hatred of people who don't follow the same political leaning, and those who want to drag the country down. 

Life is meant to be lived and enjoyed.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

The last week of the month of April is here. Even with the rather crappy weather we have had this month seems to have passed by quickly.

So what are we eating this week, lots of leftovers of course and items from the chest freezer made a bit ago.

Monday

Leftover sausage casserole, and because of all the veggies in it I will not be making a side.

Tuesday

Leftover Roast Beef from Sunday. I will probably thinly slice it, add mushrooms, sauté some onion, add some gravy (make a bit more and add that along with the leftover gravy), and a bit of sour cream. This time instead of noodles I will serve it over mashed potatoes. Perhaps a side of the leftover cauliflower and broccoli in a cheesy sauce. 

Wednesday

A package of the Buns filled with ground beef and cabbage I made in I believe November or December. Not sure if I will make a side or not.

Thursday

Leftovers from Tuesday this time served over noodles, with a side of green beans.

Friday

Lazy Perogy Casserole with fried onions, butter and sour cream.

Saturday

I plan on making a big pot of chili. Served with toast. To stretch the meat slightly I will probably add lots of beans.

Sunday

Pork roast, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots, and a salad. This is if I can find a decently priced pork roast. If not I will be getting Hubby to BBQ some bacon wrapped beef medalions and doing potatoes and carrots on the BBQ as well.

Oh here is a picture of what our weather was like at around supper time last night.

Yes that is snow, it is all gone now thank heavens. The rest of the week looks pretty good, except for Wednesday night. We could get a bit more snow. Boooo.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

 

Sunday Ramblings

 I am still not feeling tip top, but at least now that the weather is no longer as windy and the air pressure has steadied my back is not as much of a problem. 

So today was a day of rest, I did the bare minimum to keep the old homestead running fairly smoothly, went to Mass (Harvey was ill, probably caught it from me) alone and spent most of the rest of today knitting and setting up a design on my Cricut desk top app to get started on the Thank you cards. 

I do feel much more at ease and not as stressed out even though the nutter who went after Kurt awhile back is at it once again. Guess his probation is over, but Kurt has been talking to the lawyer once again and if it gets too bad the nutter will be slapped with a cease and desist letter. If that doesn't work he will be back in court on charges as he admitted to giving out Kurt's name, place of employment, and home address to some very not nice people. 

Kurt finds in amusing as he has only mentioned this person twice on his blog years and years ago, and once he found out the person had a learning disability never mentioned him again. Kurt also says he has more or less retired from Nazi and fascist hunting for the past three years so why this is happening again is crazy. 

Hoping the weather gets much warmer as Harvey wants to work up the garden and plant his potatoes. He usually does them about now so they are quite large by the fall.

Me, well I just want to be able to enjoy sitting on the deck and hanging clothes on the lines.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.