Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 So, I was slowly getting better, until this morning. Woke up and my back is killing me. Not because I have done too much, rather because of the upcoming weather.

While the next couple of days are going to be just lovely, the Weather Network is forecasting snow starting Saturday night, Sunday and even part of Monday for my area and for Kris's city as well. Kurt will have even more snow fall on his town/city (I never know what to call Drumheller). It is a good thing that I really hope to have any outside errands done by Thursday, I can then stay home and rest my back as much as possible before the visit begins.

This also means that I can no longer put off getting things done outside. I will need to do a bit each day and hopefully when our sons are home I can get them to help with the clean up of flowers and furniture. Though the deck furniture might need to wait until everything dries once again before being covered and stacked.

I have been working in 15 minute bits and then changing position. That could mean moving from standing to sitting, sitting to walking and doing a few stretches as well. 

I have also been going over our budget to see where cuts can be made. As long as the stock market is going crazy we will be losing finances. This means we will need to get creative on meals, driving, water, power, and energy (natural gas). Most will not be hard to cut back a bit on, but considering winter is arriving and we are never sure about the weather or temperatures the heating portion of my planned frugality could definitely take a hit. One thing I do know is that even more appliance cooking will be taking place, the oven will be filled completely as will the dishwasher and washer. I may even hang a bit more on the lines downstairs if at all possible. 

Supper tonight is soup and grilled sandwiches. I only used about 1/2 the cauliflower, so there will be another recipe to use the remainder this week. Just not sure what.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Menu Monday

 I have made a few changes to the monthly menu already, and here it is only the 5th. Changes will use a few items up in the fridge freezer, and fridge itself. The reason being is that we had leftovers that took a couple of days to get through so main courses were moved a couple of days. 

Monday

The leftover ham I was going to use on Sunday is being used tonight. It will be diced up, and mixed with some frozen peas, finely diced onion, sliced fresh mushrooms, and the cheesy macaroni from last night to make a warming casserole.

Tuesday

Soup and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.

Wednesday

Some smoked hamburgers on buns with pickles, cheese and whatever spread we want on them. I will make some fries to go along and cut up a cucumber and tomato (or tomatoes) as sides.

Thursday

I pulled a pizza from the freezer and will add some toppings to it. Mushrooms, ham, cheese, onion and some green pepper strips from the fridge freezer.

Friday

Making probably Glace as it can be warmed up as Kurt and Kris arrive home. If they do not want that I am sure there will be sandwich fixings and probably some leftover soup.

Saturday

Harvey is going to smoke pork chops, I will make a potato salad or coleslaw, and there will be corn on the cob to munch on as well. Dessert will more than likely be a birthday cake as both celebrate their birthday the end of next week.

Sunday

Thanksgiving. I will be making a turkey, stuffing, salad, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, and gravy. Dessert can be cake or pumpkin pie with whipped cream or ice cream. Turkey leftovers will be packaged up and both Kurt and Kris can take some home with them when they leave on the Monday. 

I have noticed as I cleaned and organized the chest freezer that I am out of turkey and chicken bone broth and so after Thanksgiving I will be using the carcasses I have in the fridge freezer to make some replacement broth. 

I will need to tighten the frugal belt a bit more, as I had an expense that is a bit higher than I thought it would be. Explanation tomorrow on that.

I am feeling much better overall, but still not totally myself. Not good as there is much to do before the holiday.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Weekly Roundup

 

I have had a busy week trying to get things in from the garden. I managed to get all the tomatoes picked and into boxes. They are ripening very slowly, but they are ripening. I am hopeful that there will be enough to make one batch of the condensed soup I freeze tomorrow. 

Also the freezer is slowly getting organized. I am pulling older items out to use up and make room for the new items I am putting in for the winter. 

Some pumpkins have been processed and the puree is frozen. Pretty sure another two will be ready this week so more for the freezer and some to get those pies ready for Thanksgiving. 

Been baking buns and bread, trying to stockpile for when our sons are home on the 9th.

Some of the plants have been pulled or cut down on the deck, more from the herb boxes will be done tomorrow morning. 

The sewing/craft room is getting more and more organized. I work perhaps 15 minutes a day in there and it is really making a difference. Of course there are things that need to be used and turned into something that can be used in the house or given away. Hence my knitting toques, and as of today I have 13 made and another on my needles. 

Embroidery on the other hand has kind of taken a back seat. I can't work on it when the day is dark and we have had a number of those. The days I could have worked on the block have been days I have been removing things from the garden, or processing things from the garden, or even baking. 

Grocery shopping on one day, and man things are really increasing in price. I did purchase a few items ($10.00 worth) for the pantry. I actually found canned potatoes finally so picked up a can of those, plus brown sugar, icing sugar and a can of evaporated milk. Doesn't seem like much for $10.00 does it? When I look at some of the items I have bought over the years I am completely shocked at how much things have gone up in price. However yesterday I noticed that our fuel price dropped $0.03 a liter. Not much, but man a welcome sight these days. 

I know I promised pictures, but forgot to keep track of all I did this week. Next week for sure.

Please forgive me if I don't get to visit you tonight as I really am not feeling very well. I have developed a really bad headache, and that is causing my stomach to do flip flops.... Not at all what I had thought my day would end.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursdays

 Thrifty and Frugal

My goodness the weather has certainly changed. We got a bit of frost last night and today we will get more. We are covering the ground cherries to see if we can actually get a crop or at least a few that we can dehydrate and use during the winter.

The usual frugal happenings on the old homestead. I am putting up whatever I can in preparation for the winter, heck pretty much in prep for whatever is going to happen.

Clothes are being hung on the downstairs lines as the weather has not really been good to hang items outside. 

Errands once again are being done together as much as possible. 

My exercise is still walking and I managed to get the same or just above number of steps all month. This month I will add another 1k to the total and hit all those the entire month.

Organized and tidied the sewing/craft room.

Organizing the chest freezer (that still has a ways to go). 

We were under total budget last month, but I am doing a bigger stock up this month so I am hoping to be at budget or just a tad under.

Moved money into the savings account. It wasn't a great deal, but it was something.

Using up all leftovers in other meals to feed the two of us, or eating smaller amounts for my lunch. 

Cooked some ready meals for the freezer.

Will be doing some baking to use up a few things in the chest freezer. 

Working on the yarn stash, and planning some sewing to use up some of my fabric. 

Used up some embroidery thread working on the quilt blocks. 

Mended a small shrug that I knit years ago and never got around to repairing.

Now the unfrugal things. Spent way too much on groceries today, and missed a few items off my list. My back got sore so I did not want to be heaving bread flour or sugar into the cart. I can manage until the next time I go shopping. I also bought a new hand mixer. I didn't price check with other stores, just picked up the one I liked in the store. My old one the beaters were starting to rust (it is about 40 years old) and I will put it aside to use when making lotions and potions. 

Our finances have taken a real beating this quarter, mostly because of what is happening in the world. This makes it even more important that I keep to my budget as much as possible. I also have an eye appointment on Monday and I am pretty sure I need new lenses. I just hope they can put them in the frames I already have. Frames are actually what cost the most for me. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 It was fairly chilly when I awoke at 5:30 am. I got up early as I had an early morning appointment at the dentist. I got a bit carried away trying to get a few things done before I would be attending that. I had to do a very quick brushing of teeth, and dressing but made it in time. 

I was in and out in well less than an hour. It seems like every time I go I spend less and less time in the chair. I am holding my own, getting the plaque to be less and less. I am also having fewer problems with inflammation in my gums so much less bleeding is happening. All are very good things.

Once home I continued with my household tasks. I am afraid I am a very boring person all told. Being home and in my own space is what makes me feel so very comfortable. 

I brought in three pumpkins to process tomorrow and Harvey actually brought in the rest for me. I checked out our potato harvest and we may have enough to last through until the end of December. Other years we had enough for me to make hash browns and fries with to freeze, not this year. Not really looking forward to having to purchase them at all. This past year there have been many not good ones in the bags and I end up wasting a great deal of them. 

Now about the apples in the neighbours yard.... I have gone over a few times, once with cookies, once with a banana loaf and once with some muffins. Only to find she is not at home. Our neighbour is probably in her late 20's and has two rather large dogs. One time I saw her outside working in the front yard and decided to try once again to introduce myself.... She saw me coming over and quickly went into her house. Believe me at 5'4" I am not a scary person so I do not know what the problem is. I will try once again in the spring of next year and I have always gotten along very well with my neighbours.

I usually finish my daily to do lists, but lately it has been a stretch. I seem to keep adding items to each day making the day's work take a bit longer.

I warped my loom today for my next project and kept making errors in doing that. So my next project will need to be done in two parts, or at least I hope it will be done in two parts as I am not too sure about the tension of my warp. I want to make a poncho/wrap for myself so if it isn't perfect that is okay. Yet, one would think the more one weaves the easier and closer to being the right tension would happen.

The trade war, if I may be so bold as to call it that, between my country and our southern neighbour is getting worse. I am still working on preparing for whatever happens the rest of this year. It is just so tiring and the news does not always sound conducive to a quick end. Contrary to what Mr. Trump expects I highly doubt that we will come on bended knee and say "We are sorry." Life just doesn't move in that direction up here. We are hurt, and wonder why it is forgotten that we were the first country to join the United States after 9/11, we opened up our homes to planes that were stranded across Canada, and have always been there when needed. 

I will keep on using things up, making do, fixing what I can and making the best of what is a horrible situation for both countries. I am supporting my country in the only way I am able to now with the money I spend and I am sorry for those states that this is really hurting. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

It is getting cooler and frost or near frost conditions are headed our way. Harvey has picked all the potatoes, and we will have to cover the ground cherries (hopefully covering them keeps them safe). The lemon trees will be coming in tomorrow after the second spray of insecticidal soap. I was hoping for a few more weeks of well above freezing temperatures at nigh, but I guess that for the foreseeable future that is not going to happen.

But at least colder weather means soup and hearty stick to the ribs meals.

Monday

Split pea soup, served with Chicken Pesto muffins (first time I have made those muffins so I hope we like them). 

Tuesday

Stir fry using the leftover pork from Sunday. Served with rice.

Wednesday

I will be making Cabbage Bread (buns stuffed with cabbage, ground meat and onion, seasoned with salt and pepper) so we will have those for our meal.

Thursday

Leftovers from Tuesday nights supper. 

Friday

Eggplant Parma, probably with some kind of raw veggies on the side with some dip.

Saturday

Chicken Wings marinated and cooked in Garlic sauce. I think a salad would be lovely with this and perhaps some fries.

Sunday

A bag of the leftover ham warmed up, mashed potatoes, carrots from the freezer that I froze from this years harvest. 

I am trying to use up as much as possible from the chest freezer and have brought up some frozen saskatoon pie filling to make a crisp for desserts, plus some blueberries to have with my morning yogurt. I may also make some cherry loaf on one of the days to use up the dried cherries in the fridge.

Being a frugal cook means making the most of what you have and making sure you are using everything you have. Meals can be simple but filling when you cook ahead, make extra and plan on using leftovers in new ways. 

I will be taking a look at what I have for roasts and hoping for a good sale this week. Pretty much cleared all those out and they will need replacing sooner or later. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Slow and Steady

 

As this year draws to a close (after all there are only just a tad over three months left), my journey towards a simpler life is steadily becoming more attainable. 

I have been decluttering and have reached 290 items out of the house.

Moved toward more big batch cooking every second month or so which enables me to have the time, especially when things seem to pile up, to put a great and filling meal on the table.

Monthly menu planning is becoming much easier, though I need to make sure to add more meatless or vegetarian options. Meat is becoming very expensive and will need to be stretched even more. 

Fuel here is now $1.90 a liter (so about $7.60 a United States gallon, or $9.50 and Imperial gallon which is what we use here in Canada, follows our British traditions) this means that keeping errands and shopping to a minimum really helps with the simplicity of day to day living. 

I am finding it much easier to find something in my closet or cupboards when the urge to go and spend money occurs. I don't want to go shopping just to fill time, shopping is something that is necessary, but not necessary for fun. Fun is realizing that you have just what you need already.

This past month I have also learned that you can do something over the course of a few days. This is what I am doing with the cleaning of the fridge, and the organizing of the sewing/craft room. In the organizing sessions I have found lots of projects I set aside to do "later" and now is the time to get those completed or at least get a few of them done and either in use or framed and on the wall. 

I have been enjoying the "me" time I have gotten this month. Most of that is working on projects, walking, or reading. Things that got set aside in my rush to complete daily tasks. Now I carry things over from day to day.

Simplicity does not mean forgetting about preparing, instead to me it means being prepared at all times for all things. This is probably why I decided to make sewing kits and first aid kits as part of Kurt's and Kris's gift baskets for Christmas. I also need to update ours as well. My fall while on our trip definitely pointed that out to me. 

Slow and steady, I will finally reach what I consider a simple and frugal lifestyle.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.