Frugal Friday

In answer to a question Harvey breaks the USB ports on his laptop by forgetting that he has something plugged in and pulling it out by accident with his foot or hand. Other times he has broken it just exchanging the wireless plug for his mouse.

Now what have I done that has been in the least frugal.

1.  Cut up more wood to season for next years fires. Free wood is always good.

2.  Knitting socks. I probably won't be wearing them until next winter, but I won't have to buy new ones.

3.  Cut out a pair of shorts for summer from a rather large remnant of fabric.

4.  Packaged up the leftover pork roast to be used in other meals.

5.  Only drove once this week, combined errands and stuck to my shopping list (well mostly).

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Lazy Day

First off I will answer a question from my last post. The smoker is totally separate from the BBQ, however he has both of them right across from each other. The smoker also runs on electricity while the BBQ runs on propane. The brand name of the smoker is Pit Boss.

I got my feather bed topper today so put it on the rather bumpy mattress. Harvey says that when he used to go to meetings in Alberta for work the hotel they stayed in had them and they were wonderful. We shall see if I can manage to sleep better with it. Sure hope so, I could use a more comfortable sleep.

Harvey also got his USB hub as well. So he is a happy camper. He has a habit of breaking the USB ports in any computer he has. Hopefully this hub works for him.

I have had a very lazy day over all. I did little things around the house, made my grocery list, ordered some mask filters on Amazon (that are going to take at least a month to get here). I tidied the sewing/ craft room, started to knit a pair of socks, did some walking, and got my letter ready to mail to the United Kingdom.

I also set up the new propane fire table and lit it with Harvey's help. Hopefully the weather warms up enough to have fires very soon. 

Pictures of the fire table and smoker coming soon. The weather is not really cooperating.

Tomorrow after shopping, Harvey and I will head across the street to cut down a few branches from the willow trees at another neighbours. More wood to season and use next year once it is seasoned. Hopefully we can find a few more branches on our own maples that need trimming.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

Saskatchewan is not having the best of weather right now. The sun does shine for a bit each day, but it is cold and dreary for most hours in the day. So looking forward to nicer weather, sitting on the deck, or by the fire pit. To think we haven't even had a fire yet this spring.

1.  Harvey's smoker is wonderful. The meat is so very tender and really it doesn't seem to use a whole lot of pellets.

2.  Cut up all the crab apple branches today and stored them to season. Hopefully soon we will be able to get to the other neighbours to cut the few branches off her willow trees that she wants down. This will give us a bit more wood to season for next year.

3.  Mended a couple of pillowcases that had the seams letting go.

4.  Used the lines downstairs to hang up a few loads of clothing on Monday.

5.  Part of my Christmas gift from Kris a few years ago was him adding a couple more members to his Netflix account. So I get to watch for free and am really enjoying the various series during this time of lockdown/social distancing.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Menu Monday

I almost skipped today's post as my menus from this week ( I make up a months menus at the beginning of the month) and it has taken me awhile today to get things sort of back on track. 

You might think I am a bit crazy for making my menus for a month, but this enables me to use up leftovers a bit more efficiently as well as what is in my freezers. 

Any how I think I have gotten everything back and running smoothly (well at least until I head up to Kris's again).

Monday

Pork roast, roasted carrots and the leftover potato salad.

Tuesday

Leftover steak from Sunday, tossed salad, and potato patties. This means boiling up some potatoes earlier in the day, but if I am lucky there will be some patties leftover to warm up later in the week.

Wednesday

Turkey/chicken tetrazzini, leftover salad. I am hoping to make enough tetrazzini to have another meal. I will just make sure I use my larger casserole.

Thursday

Leftover tetrazzini, sliced raw veggies and dip.

Friday

Fish and homemade fries. I will make peas to go along with these.

Saturday

Smoked sausage, pasta, and coleslaw. 

Sunday

Roast beef, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots. Perhaps I will try my hand at Yorkshire Puddings.

I will be heading up to Regina sometime from the 18th to the 22nd/23rd, just not sure of the days. I will need to make sure Hubby has enough leftovers to keep him in food while I am gone. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless. 

Oh yeah still have my silly cold. No better, but no worse either.

Saturday Roundup

This week has had it's ups and downs.

Ups were Kris's wonderful news from the doctor, getting free fire wood and having more come our way early next week. Another up was getting a few small projects completed around the house and Harvey being extremely happy with his new smoker (you just know he had to try it out almost immediately upon getting it together).

I even got to talk with the neighbours yesterday.....physically distancing of course.

A few plants have been purchased, and I will be looking for a few more the next time I go shopping. Colour is definitely needed after the long winter. I just hope I can keep everything alive until planting time. I would hate to have everything die due to the cold and lack of sun.

Downs were the miserable weather we have had since we got back from Regina. Cold, windy, snow and rain. Mind you I am thinking the moisture from the final two is welcome.

I have also gotten a bit of a cold from the extreme changes in our weather. At least I think it is a cold and nothing worse. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

Pretty sure physical distancing is getting to me. I so wanted to give Kris a hug when we left, and the thought of not seeing our oldest son this summer is wearing.

The longer time it takes to follow the arrows in stores is beginning to annoy me. Not that I would take my annoyance out on the staff, but following the arrows and then seeing other shoppers go willy nilly through the store not following the arrows is trying my patience. At least this week I did not get pushed out of the way by another shopper.

All the false information online is making me shake my head. I always tell myself not to look at such things, but when others post them as truth sometimes instead of deleting them right away, I read them and then get angry. As our oldest, Kurt says, "Mom you just have to let those types of posts go." But sometimes I can't. Sighs.

I will keep on keeping on as that is all I can or want to do.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Frugal Friday

I was asked a question about Lazy Perogies that I will answer first.

Lazy perogies could be considered to be a deconstructed perogy. I first put some melted butter on the bottom of whatever sized baking dish I am using. Then I put a layer of cooked lasagna noodles. The lasagna noodles are covered with a layer of mashed potatoes with cheese, another layer of cooked lasagna noodles, and if you wish a layer of cottage cheese (I use dry mixed with an egg). Top this all with a last layer of the cooked lasagna noodles. Melt about 1/2 cup of butter and fry some chopped onion. Pour this over top of the last lasagna noodle layer. Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes to heat through. Let sit for a bit and then serve with sour cream.

My frugal 5 for this week are:

1.  Mending a couple of Kris's quilts while I was there and planning on what I need to mend a couple more.

2.  Saving $15.37 on groceries this week.

3.  Drapes open for solar heat to the living room and rest of the front part of the house.

4.  Using up leftovers in new ways for meals.

5.  Watching how I spend money buying starter plants for my baskets.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Thursday Tidbits

First I will answer a question from my last post. The clam shells I am talking about are the plastic containers that some veggies, baked goods or fruits come in. They usually snap together hence the moniker clam shell here in Canada.

We got back from Regina early this afternoon. I managed to clean Kris's apartment and straighten out his linen closet as well. 

Good news on Kris's healing. He is now allowed to put 50% of his weight on his leg and even drive. This makes us all very happy. Harvey said the one thing he was really worried about was that the injury was not healing correctly. So hearing that it is healing properly and Kris has now moved on to the next part of the journey is wonderful. It was also great to see a smile on his face as he limped around the room to practice walking. Physio is still closed down here so it could be awhile before he gets started on that level of recuperation.

Turns out he has three rods in his hip and 4 screws. A much more difficult surgery than we had first thought. 

I will still be going up every so often as he would have a great deal of trouble negotiating the stairs to his apartment with groceries or bags of garbage. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

Another week has gone by and it is time I listed what I have done that is thrifty on the old homestead.

I have washed and put away all the elastics that were taken off various bundles of veggies. They will come in handy this summer bundling up veggies to bring in.

Since we are no longer able to use our own reusable bags for groceries all plastic bags are being stored to be used for kitty litter clean up. They are also free once again.

Twist ties are being saved and will be used to close the bag used to store homemade bread.

Clam shells that contained fruit or veggies have been washed in hot soapy water, dried and will be used to store baking in for transport to Kris's this week.

All in all I have been thrifty in little ways if not big ones.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

The first full week of the month and already I will be making changes to my monthly menu plans. Must always use up all leftovers so changes will be necessary.

Monday

Leftover BBQ ribs from Saturday along with the leftover salad, and I will probably cook some kind of pasta.

Tuesday

Leftover ham made into a casserole. The extra of which I shall make into a tin foil meal for Kris as we are heading up there on Wednesday. I might try my hand at making a marinated salad (have some cauliflower and broccoli to use up).

Wednesday

In Regina, visiting/taking Kris to specialist/cleaning his apartment. Supper ordered in or I will make something once there.

Thursday

Home from Regina, but I probably won't want to cook very much. I will make soup and sandwiches. 

Friday

Lazy perogy casserole. 

Saturday

Pork chops, rice, and mixed veggies.

Sunday

Roast beef, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and a tossed salad.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

A quiet day here on the old homestead. I finished moving all my wardrobes around, something that needs to be done twice a year because of our weather. 

As I was moving my spring and summer clothes into closet and drawers I came to a conclusion. All I really need to sew is a couple pairs of shorts and perhaps a pair or two of capris. All the fabric I pulled to work with will be sorted and returned to storage. As I have so little to sew, I will probably stick with getting a denim quilt for outside done and a couple of other quilts sewn to use up many of the fabric scraps. After all can one ever have too many quilts?

I will also stick with working on my cross stitch projects this summer. I hope to get a few completed as well as some knitting for Christmas gifts. Perhaps some odds and ends of sewing as well after all it keeps me busy and out of trouble for the most part.

The past week I have been thinking about how the world is going to be once lock down is over. In everything I have read the scientists are warning that this social distancing thing could and probably will be a regular occurrence. This gives me some concern and really makes me want to extend the garden or perhaps grow even more food in containers. I will be making a list of what I want to stock up on. Never again do I want to be caught low on any ingredient. Seeing empty shelves scares me, nothing in my life compares to this time at all. We have never had limits on what we can purchase, rarely have the people in my life had to worry where their next meal was coming from or how to keep a roof over their heads and still pay bills. 

I have never had to spend this much money to buy just the regular things needed for our daily life and when I managed to buy items on sale back in the past, well they really seemed to be on sale. Now the sale price is what we used to see as the regular cost. 

Before I was worried about inflation, now I am more worried about deflation and our money being worth pennies on the dollar. I do not want to see my country become like others where a loaf of bread costs more than a weeks salary. 

Time to pull the belt tighter, get used to stretching things (both food and clothing) as far as one possibly can. 

There is a bright side to this. People will be shopping for clothing and such in second hand stores or garage sales (providing second hand stores open once again). Being frugal will become the norm and hopefully there will be no more "Keeping up with the Jones's". I hope we have learned to be kinder to others, to realize all have a role to play in making this world a better place. Perhaps people will even go back to doing new things like baking bread, mending their clothing, combining trips to save gas and realizing new is not necessarily better. I also hope that people have learned we only have one world and we need to look after it.

Here is hoping for a bright new world and a future of endless possibilities.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Frugal Friday

My frugal five for this week.

1.  Used up all leftovers.

2.  Had two meatless meals over the last week.

3.  Got at least 10k steps in a day during my walks and regular household chores.

4.  Used up a small piece of fabric I got from a church rummage sale and made a tank top.

5.  Had a free cup of coffee from a friend. She left it on my front steps as we are still physically distancing.

and one more

6.  Saved $18.72 on my grocery bills buying on sale.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.