Frugal Friday

This used to be one of my happiest days of the week. Work was done for both Harvey and I, and we had a whole two days where we could more or less relax. Now that we are retired Friday is no different than any other day unless Kris comes home. Kind of miss those days.

My frugals for this week.

1.  Working on using up more yarn in my yarn stash. I am making ruffle scarves. They make wonderful small gifts for hostesses, and those whose birthdays I get mysteriously invited to.

2.  Used rain water to water my plants. Great thing was at times I only had to water those plants that are sheltered. We have had rain over the last week at least every second day. Keeping that water barrel full even after it has been used,

3.  Used up most of the frozen packaged up cooked meat in the fridge freezer.

4.  Baked bread on one of our cooler days.

5.  Now I don't know how other Co-ops work, but ours gives a cash back yearly. Usually this is given in June and I collected our cheque. Well when I went shopping I used it to pay for our groceries along with some coupons. Cut our bill by almost $50.00!!

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday Tid Bits

Well the news this morning about Harvey's sister is setting his mind at rest. Though with the amount of bones she has broken (now there is a question about her knees) one has to wonder if she will ever be able to be as active as she was. She is alive though and things could have been so much worse. Now Harvey is hoping they bought extra insurance for their trip as being hospitalized in the United States is an expensive proposition.

Today we closed the prayer shawl knitting group for the summer. We will start up again in the fall. There is only three of us but we are enjoying ourselves immensely. We share bits and bobs of our lives, and laugh at how the three of us are basically introverts and have to force ourselves to meet in a group. Next year instead of Thursday afternoons we will be meeting on Monday afternoons. Must phone the church to get it on the calendar tomorrow.

I have booked our little get away for the beginning of September. Once again we will be heading to the mountains with a stop over at our sons a little over half way there (we will stop on the way back as well). We are heading to Jasper once again. Given a choice between Jasper and Banff, Harvey will pick Jasper every time. It is quieter there and the lodge we stay at quite often has wildlife trotting right by the decks.

Here is a picture of the lodge.

We will be staying in one of the cabins on the property.

I am not too sure what the outside of the cabin will look like, but this is the inside of one of the same types of cabin we have rented.

We both love the fireplace and the lodge supplies us with new wood every night. So nice to snuggle up on the couch, watch a DVD and enjoy the crackling of logs in the fireplace.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Rough Begining

So far this week has not been one of our better weeks.

Ed and Gail have lived across the road from us for 20 years at least. Gail informed us about a month ago that Ed's cancer had returned and was a more aggressive form this time around. He was transferred back home from Regina two weeks ago and Gail hoped the treatment he was undergoing this time around would work. It didn't and Ed passed away Tuesday morning. His funeral will be held on Saturday to give their family time to arrive.

Then today we got an email from Harvey's older sisters letting us know that the sister in between the two of them has been hit by a truck in Kellogg, Idaho. Janice is 73 years old and has been very active all her life. Her husband, a friend, and herself were biking around the area, one of her favorite pastimes'.

The accident caused her to fracture her left arm. She also has multiple fractures in her right arm and will be undergoing surgery for that. Then there are injuries to her pelvis as well. At 73 she is going to have a very tough road ahead of her.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

I have been greeted by a lovely bank of fog this morning. It is keeping it fairly cool, but once the sun breaks through I think we could be in for a very hot and humid day.

I pushed through on the weekend and made my menu plan for next month. Subject to a few changes depending on how long Kurt and Kris plan on visiting for. I hope I remember how to cook for four!

Monday

Leftover beef roast made into a casserole (this could change to leftover chicken). I need to use up some cabbage so a slaw will be wonderful with this.

Tuesday

Leftover ham (last package from the previous ham) will be used up in probably a Scalloped potato and ham casserole. The leftover slaw would round this out nicely.

Wednesday

Clean out the fridge night. Surely there will be leftovers from two casseroles that need to be eaten. I will make a salad to go along with them.

Thursday

Tuna pasta salad. It is that time of year for main dish salads and this is one of our favorites.

Friday

Trout fillets, homemade fries, and salad or perhaps the leftover Tuna pasta salad (I usually make a rather large batch of this).

Saturday

Gone to the city for a football game. We will be eating out.

Sunday

Pork Roast, roasted potatoes and perhaps roasted carrots. I may just make some peas and carrots though.

So there is the last of the June menus and the beginning of July's. 

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Weeding, and Picking

Today after Mass I decided that the perennial bed really needed a bit of weeding. Grass seemed to be growing quickly and weeds were growing like, well, weeds.

While pulling out those pesky weeds I happened to look into the very center where my strawberries are planted. To my surprise I could see bits of red hidden under the green leaves.

Our first bowl of strawberries!! Usually Harvey manages to eat them all before I can get them into the house. Tonight these will be washed and a few will be sliced onto my ice cream. Of course Harvey had to do quality control. He says the one he snuck (only reason I knew was I could see him chewing) had lots of lovely flavour. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Another Storm and the Garden At Night

Dark clouds rolled in just after supper tonight.

The thunder rolled pretty much constantly and I thought we were in for a really bad storm. Instead it rained just a little bit and now it is pretty much back to sunshine. We could use a good steady rain that amounts to more than a dribble in the rain gauge.

Thought I would share with you all what the back yard looks like when it gets a bit dark.

We still need a few lights around the firepit, but things are coming together nicely. Now we just need to be able to go out and enjoy them.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

 

Frugal Friday

Sorry I haven't been around much, but I seem to be developing headaches by mid day and just wanting to crawl into bed and sleep the day away. I have a feeling this is due to our up and down weather systems. Sunny and very hot one day, raining and humid the next. I will try to be around more over the last week of the month.

So what are my frugal 5 for this week....

1. Harvey picked strawberries from our small strawberry bed. We both managed to get a few each as topping on our ice cream.

2. Air conditioning is being turned off at night and I hold off as long as possible before turning it on during the day.

3. Picked some chives from the garden and freeze dried them for use later on.

4. As usual hung all the clothes on the outside lines to dry.

5. Baked 2 loaves of bread this week, I think I may make a batch of buns tomorrow along with a loaf of bread.

Off to spend some time reading what all of you have been up to. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

I must be getting better at making just enough for the two of us meal wise. I may just have to change one days menu this week to something else. Clean out the fridge could be a thing of the past!!!

Monday

Leftover Pork Roast made into a casserole, and the last of the salad I made yesterday.

Tuesday

I plan on making the roast beef today. I didn't make it on Sunday because of the power outage we had during the storm. Roasted potatoes, asparagus and perhaps roasted carrots to go along.

Wednesday

Soup and Sandwiches.... I have some hamburger soup in the freezer so we will use that up. This was clean out the fridge night and if it goes as planned the soup can wait until later.

Thursday

Leftover roast beef. Hot beef sandwiches, homemade fries and coleslaw is on the menu.

Friday

Lazy perogies, or some might call them deconstructed perogies.

Saturday

This was going to be Salmon patties but if Kris is home it could be changed to something more to his liking. Perhaps BBQ hamburgers (I do have some patties to use up as well as buns). Should have a salad as well.

Sunday

Ham, scalloped potatoes, and more asparagus will be served tonight. Not sure if there will be salad leftover, but if there is I will put that out as well.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Thursday Tid Bits

I paid a visit to my physiotherapist today and she is pretty happy how things are going. I have another visit next month and hopefully by then I will be bending the rubber therapy bar no problem.

We had a lovely storm pass through here today. One that had our power off for over three hours. The storm managed to trip all the breakers at our power plant and they had to slowly turn them all back on. Considering that the whole SE of Saskatchewan was without power (and probably parts of North and South Dakota as they buy power from us) it could take awhile before everyone gets it back.

I managed to take a few pictures of the storm as it was moving in. 

By the time the storm reached us at it's full force here we could not see the buildings in the valley, and pea sized hail began to fall. We got about 3/4 of an inch of rain in 20 or so minutes. The basement did not flood so we are happy.

They are not so happy about 9 miles away from us in the small village of Bienfait. The hail was much larger, probably loonie sized and caused a great deal of damage to homes and vehicles.

I also caught a picture of one of the bunnies that are always hopping around when I go for my morning walk.

I think he or she might have been looking for a place to ride out the storm.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Finally!! and Thrifty Tuesday

Yesterday we moved all the totes of yarn downstairs and onto the shelves. I now have my sewing room back and have spent part of today tidying up so that I can once again start sewing in that space. It feels so great to have some room to move around. I plan on doing more organizing of the room tomorrow and should be back sewing in there before more time passes.

This past week has seen me trying to clean out the fridge freezer of all those bags of leftovers. Making a meal out of bits and pieces is the best feeling. I actually feel like I have accomplished something as the drawers slowly empty. 

Harvey had some more socks that as he so elegantly says "Bit the dust" and so I have been busy cutting them up into dust cloths or ties to be used out in the garden. 

I fixed a lovely top that was too low in the arms, repaired another pillow case and turned one of Harvey's very old and ratty t-shirts into rags.

Today I listed another article on the garage sale sites for our city. No bites as of yet, but that could change very quickly.

Some smaller  pieces of fabric have been added to the box to make suitable quilting material. I will cut up the material later when my wrist feels up to it.

A pair of jeans was deconstructed to make quilt squares and the zipper removed to be used once again in another project.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

Another week, and this one is starting out cooler than last week.

Monday

Steak in mushroom sauce, leftover mashed potatoes heated up and the remainder of the bag of frozen peas and carrots.

Tuesday

Leftover roast chicken, pasta, and corn.

Wednesday

Soup and sandwiches. I need to make some chicken stock to clean those chicken carcasses out of the fridge freezer.

Thursday

Clean out the fridge night.

Friday

Gone to a football game and so we will be eating out.

Saturday

Sausages, baked beans and raw veggies or coleslaw.

Sunday

Beef Roast, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and the leftover coleslaw or raw veggies.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

This week has gone by much too quickly, the days since Thursday have sped right on by.

Friday, we headed into Regina, picked up Kris, had supper out and went to the football game. It was disappointing to say the least (not the time spent with Kris, but the game itself). The stadium was pretty empty, and the Roughriders lost the game.... Badly. Thank heavens it was just a preseason game and they have a week to get things together. I hope they play better next Friday.

Saturday I baked bread, picked rhubarb, and the two of us started to clean up the back of the basement. We still have work to do, but it is coming together nicely. I hope we finish it off early next week and I get to move some yarn totes out of the sewing/craft room.

I had every intention of doing some needed sewing. However, my intentions fell by the wayside. Instead I finished off the prayer shawl and started knitting scarves. Perhaps next week (or the week after) I can get back my sewing mojo.

Today, after a lengthy Mass in a very warm church, Harvey mowed the lawn, rototilled between the rows of the garden and bottled his dessert wine (aka Port). Me, well I did the usual Sunday chores, had coffee with a friend, went for a short walk, did my wrist and arm exercises, watered my flowers, made meals and knit. So pretty much a regular Sunday around here.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Continuing The Walk Around The Garden

Hopefully blogger will allow me to upload my remaining photos.

The perennial bed is finally taking off. The strawberries in the center survived our cold winter. I should be picking strawberries shortly.

Cherries forming on my new trees.

What will be the last harvest from the old cherry trees. Sorry the picture is blurry, but a gust of wind came up just as I snapped.

My pear tree is just holding on, but the rhubarb is coming along nicely and the set onions seem to be doing well.

Potatoes starting to bush out. Harvey will have to hill them very soon.

The cucumbers are starting to grow.

Musk melons and watermelons are growing well. We had some lovely fruit last year and we hope for the same kind of harvest this year.

Tomatoes seem to have held up through those nasty winds we had.

The pole beans are finally breaking through the soil. Spotty, but we have extra seed so will be reseeding them. Don't mind the weeds, Harvey has been busy with other things, but should be able to weed in the next few days.

A few of the peppers we planted. There are green peppers, jalapeno peppers and a chili pepper in this mix.

Our red and yellow onions. I seem to have missed the Spanish onions.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

We have been getting lots of rain over the last little while, so the rain barrel is full once again. I will be able to water all my plants with a watering can and free water for the next little while. During the dry season I wish we had a second rain barrel, but having a 250 gallon rain barrel leaves little room for another.

Our cat, Shania, has gone off her cat treats, but always seems to meow for them. I got tired of sweeping most of them up off the floor and decided to do something a bit different. We always have tiny pieces of meat from our meals leftover so I have put them in a container and am using them as her treats. Shania, gobbles them right up and they are probably much better for her than the store bought bags. Poor thing is getting old and deserves a bit of spoiling as she has brought us so much pleasure over the years. Shania will be 18 this year, not sure what that is in cat's years.

I repaired a couple of pillow cases this week, and cut up some of Harvey's old t-shirts to use as work rags.

Last summer our home was reassessed for property taxes. When I told her the front part of the house was built in 1921 (at least that was the first year of tax paid) the lady told me that it would more than likely lower our taxes. Today we got the assessment from the city (not the tax costs) and the assessment is almost $2,600.00 lower. Yes!! This means that we will be paying the same or lower property taxes. Makes me very happy as the tax rate went up a few mills this year. I guess they had the wrong information down on the year the house was built, letting the assessor know was the thrifty thing to do.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

June, a busy time in the garden, traveling two hours to watch Harvey's beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders play football, and days where one just doesn't want to cook, but does anyway.

Monday

Hamburgers along with leftover mashed potatoes, leftover gravy, and a salad.

Tuesday

A package of frozen chicken pulled from the fridge freezer. I think I just might use it to make a pasta sauce, or a cold plate of salad, chicken, corn on the cob (of course that needs to be cooked) and/or boiled eggs could be tasty.

Wednesday

Pork chops done on the BBQ. Add a tinfoil package of potatoes, and carrots and our meal is complete.

Thursday

Since we will be heading into Regina for football on Friday, this will either be a clear out the fridge night, or a soup and sandwich night. Either way I will be clearing out a few more containers from either fridge or freezer.

Friday

Friday night football and we will be eating out.

Saturday

BBQ ribs, tinfoil package of mixed veggies (potatoes, onions, peppers, carrots).

Sunday

Roast pork, roasted potatoes, green beans, and perhaps some corn from the freezer.

So there you have it, my menus for the week. As is usual lunches will be leftovers or sandwiches.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings or A Trip Around the Garden

It has been a couple of weeks since I posted pictures of the garden. Things are a bit rag tag as during our storm on Friday the winds gusted to about 120 km an hour.

But here goes....

Harvey really needs to get the old shop vac off the deck.

I think Harvey put the mop out hoping I would give the deck a wash. Not going to happen, it really needs to be pressure washed before painting.

Look at all the blossoms on my lavender tree!!

The impatient corner is starting to fill out.

These got knocked about a bit by the wind, but they are still blooming and I am so glad that they withstood the winds.

The mint is growing and I am hoping for a good harvest. I need to make mint jelly this year as well as dry some for my winters teas.

My coleus is not growing as well as it should be, but I think the cold rainy weather over the last while has something to do with this.

My herbs seem to be doing well. I am glad that I managed to get another basil plant. This one is doing so much better.

What is a herb garden without oregano? I go through a great deal of this herb dried or fresh.

My side garden that is full of hosta and some chives is a bit slow this year.

Blogger has decided that I have uploaded enough pictures. I will continue with my garden ramble in a few days.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Frugal Friday

Time for my frugal five for this week.

1.  The last two days has seen us keeping the air conditioner off. It has been cool and rainy.

2.  All our meals have been made here at home.

3.  After all the rain the last couple of days the rain barrel is full so we will not be using the hose to do our watering for awhile.

4.  We have been cleaning the basement and have found a few items to list online.

5.  I am using up some leftover bulky yarn knitting this second prayer shawl. Hopefully adding the stripes is enough to extend the length.

Well I am off as the storm is getting worse.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

God bless.