Menu Monday

 

A new week has arrived, bring with it a new menu and of course winter temperatures once again.

Monday

Leftovers from Saturday supper served with a salad.

Tuesday

Chicken casserole made with leftover roast chicken from Sunday and the remains of the salad.

Wednesday

Cream of Celery soup and egg salad sandwiches.

Thursday

Leftover chicken casserole and coleslaw. 

Friday

Pancakes. Breakfast for supper, yummy. 

Saturday

Smoked sausages, coleslaw, and probably pasta. 

Sunday

Pork cutlets, mashed potatoes, and green beans. 

So there it is. Still working my way through leftovers and bits and bobs that seem to add up in the fridge freezer each and every week. I think I might give up the roast meals on Sunday for awhile so as to clear things out a bit. I also need to use some of the meals I made when I batch cooked. 

Everybody have a wonderful afternoon/evening.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 

I have been a bit ill over the last couple of days. One day, it was more not enough sleep, but I actually think that was leading up to today. 

I woke up with a major sinus headache, leaning towards a migraine type. I spent much of the morning leaning over the toilet bowl (if you know what I mean). I ended up in our bedroom with a cold compress on my forehead and drapes fully closed. 

Things are better now, but I am being very careful on what I do. Once I started feeling slightly better I did work on a few things. I managed to get some more done on the weaving, got my lists made for next week, brought up the food for next week, and did a tiny bit of journaling. 

Did a tiny bit of work on projects as well once the headache totally disappeared. Still not as much completed as I would have liked.

Sandy asked about my tinkle cloths. Yes Sandy I have cut some lovely soft fabric to use as toilet paper when I tinkle (the rest is regular toilet paper). I probably save at leas two rolls of toilet paper a week doing this.

Harvey has decided to phone and cancel the appointment with our dealership service department over his truck. Things seem to be working perfectly now. A bit of a savings there.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Not Looking Forward To Rising Costs And New Monthly Goals

 

I am not looking forward to the rising costs that will take place due to the blanket tariffs that were supposed to take place today, but now will be announced on Tuesday. Then of course there will be our targeted tariffs in reply. All this will do is make life more expensive for both Canadian and American citizenry. We are a much smaller country population wise and GDP wise so this trade war will cause us more problems than our bigger neighbour. 

Shopping Canadian is not inexpensive, I have found. In each area of my rather large, sparsely populated country Canadian products are sometimes hard to acquire. I joined a Buy Canadian Facebook page and man, those who live in the east, Alberta, British Columbia and even Manitoba have way more choices than poor stuck in the middle Saskatchewan. 

We do have an oil refinery though and the Co-op refinery in Regina hauls gas throughout our province. Surprisingly many of the other provinces do not have that capability as was noted on the "Buy Canadian" page. Thumbs up for that. 

Both Canada and the United States will hopefully get through this. I do know that many of us here in Canada will never feel as close to America again.

I haven't listed my goals/projects/plans in awhile so thought I would do so today.

1.  Continue decluttering.

2.  Finish weaving the placemats (changed from tea towels).

3.  Embroider at least one more rose quilt square.

4.  Knit the second blanket for Kurt's friend.

5.  Cut more scrap fabric up either for use in quilts or for tinkle cloths.

6.  Use the leftover fabric from cutting out my coat pattern to make a car blanket.

7.  Sew the tote bag that I stitched 4" squares for the front. 

There will more than likely be a few additions depending on how quickly I get these listed projects/goals completed.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Friday Frugal Tips

 

I thought that I would share a few more tips that we have used on our Frugal Living journey.

Make homemade gifts. I have found that when I do so I get the satisfaction of creating something, and our sons are so very happy to receive them.

Turn the water heater down a little bit. You can save almost $400.00 a year doing so.

Try not to use paper towels or paper napkins. I do use paper towels for really messy clean ups, but I am thinking of trying to make some cloth ones. I mostly use rags made from old clothes. You could save almost $200.00 a year if you switch to cloth.

Do not let the water run when you handwash dishes.

Change your lightbulbs to LED. Savings could be almost $200.00 by doing so. They also last much longer than regular bulbs or CFL's.

Don't use your credit card unless you can pay it off each and every month.

Practice thrifting or shopping at consignment stores. Now you can also shop garage sales online.

Buy clothing at your favourite stores after a season ends. Clearance racks have awesome reduction in prices.

I hope that some of these tips strike a cord and help you in these trying times.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

 

                                                    Thrifty and Frugal

Trying to stay thrifty and frugal this week. I do have a feeling as time passes there could be a bit of a problem with the frugal part. Thrifty will continue as usual. 

So what thrifty and frugal practices have been happening here on the old homestead. 

1.  Most of this month I have been using those small appliances to cook our meals (mind you I do miss my oven now). Hopefully this will show up as a savings on our electrical bill.

2.  I think I have managed to get Harvey to turn off his lights in the basement mancave. I am of course continuing this upstairs. 

3.  Combined errands in order to save fuel and vehicle wear and tear.

4.  Turned a collar on one of Harvey's dressier shirts. 

5.  Darned a pair of my socks.

6.  Used lots of substitutions while cooking this week. 

7.  Cut a whole pork loin into a roast and 5 meals of pork chops.

8.  I had some wrinkled potatoes and so weighed them and found I had the 2 pounds necessary for potato soup. That was made today and will be put in the freezer after labelling.

9.  Using up leftovers in other meals.

10.  Walking (even if it is in the house) for free and frugal exercise.

11.  Taking advantage of sales, and free entertainment.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Questions Answered

 I thought perhaps I would answer a few questions from my last post here, rather than each individually. If anyone is like me, I sometimes forget to go back and see if there is an answer to my question on a post. So here goes.

1.  I have never even tried to make my own microwave popcorn, but that sounds like a very good idea. Next time I shall pick up some lunch bags and regular popcorn to give it a try. After all I make my own bread, spice mixes, and yogurt this would be just another arrow in the frugal arsenal. 

2.  I know that Walmart and Costco are American stores (so is Home Depot) but Walmart carries lots of Canadian goods and does have a head office here in Canada. I kind of hold off on allowing Galen Weston (owner of No Frills, Loblaws, Super Store and so on) from becoming richer than he already is. He also price gouges. So purchasing a Canadian product in Walmart will still be helping a business in this country.

3. The nearest Giant Tiger is approximately 2 1/2 hours away from us. Perhaps the next time we go to Regina we will pay that store a visit. I did visit the one in Yorkton when we went to visit the Aunts (that is 3 hours away) and liked what I saw.

4. I will probably charge a nominal amount if this knitting class goes ahead. What I gather is that most of the ladies (and gentlemen) that would take it have no knitting experience whatsoever. That could be a challenge. While I have taught girls in the Guiding movement knitting, never have I taught an adult.

I think that what I thought could be tea towels on my loom are going to end up becoming placemats. The fabric just seems slightly too thick to make a good absorbent tea towel. I will be on the lookout for slightly thinner cotton yarn for the weft in order to make those tea towels a bit later on. Pretty sure the next thing I weave will be some kind of fabric to make a belted wrap, or perhaps a poncho, or perhaps another rug for an area in the basement that needs one. So many ideas and so little time. 

In my decluttering I found an old ball point pen that was given to me as a graduation gift from Grade 8 (so very long ago). The inner refill has been gone forever so I decided to see if I could find one in town. I did, but at almost $8.00 I am going to search online for the next one. I purchased the refill and have even done a bit of journaling with it today. So nice to be able to use it once again even with the cost. Oh, yeah, the refill came from France!!!!

I won't be finishing any more of this month's projects. I could perhaps do so if I did not work on the loom or embroider and just stick to knitting, but my hands and back need a change every so often. Hopefully at least the knitting will be completed very soon into February. 

Off to visit you all as supper is cooking and I have time.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 I went to the Great Create again this week and was asked if I would be willing to teach some adults how to knit. Was told that I could probably charge what the lady who taught a class on weaving charged. Not sure I really want to charge anything. What do you all think? The group has some knitting needles and all I would need to supply would be yarn. Now it isn't like I don't have lots of that, could be a way of clearing out the stash a bit. 

Otherwise my morning was taken up with shopping for groceries. That took a great deal of time as I was looking for Canadian substitutions for American products. Now, one would think buying from your own country would be less expensive.... Nope, not really, but some items were on sale so that was a good thing. Also produce and fruit from Canada right now is limited to things like root vegetables, frozen berries/fruit, and apples. The only other fruit that came from somewhere else was bananas and those were from Guatemala. Still I did what I could to keep our economy active. With the threat of tariffs we are being asked to shop Canadian, and that is what I will do.

I haven't done this in awhile, but I thought I would show you all what I got for groceries and other supplies. Plus what it cost me. Much of this will not be eaten for a number of weeks, perhaps months in some cases. The fresh veggies, fruit, and dairy (milk) will be used over the next couple of weeks.

First off my Co-op haul.

Yes, there are a few snacky type items, but that is mainly because I can't really bake any cookies, pita chips, or coffee cakes until my range is repaired and we were getting a bit tired of nothing to nibble on. Total cost of this was $262.20, but I saved $24.97 and once a year I get approximately 5% back on grocery purchases as I am a member of the Co-op.

Next up are my purchases at Walmart. A few things were purchased on sale, and I went through some of their bagged frozen items and may go back by the end of the week and pick some eggrolls, stuffed chicken breasts, and pizza bites up. At $10.00 each for a pretty large bag I think that could be a good deal for us. 

I also got Harvey a puzzle book and some microwave popcorn as he loves that as a night snack. I also got some heavy bristol board for mounting his jigsaw puzzles. Then of course there was the Tylenol Extra Strength and Tylenol Arthritis. I don't use them often so these will last awhile. Total cost was $172.62. 

I also use my credit card, which is paid off monthly to get more back. I usually get enough back by the end of the year to almost pay my groceries for a month. 

So in case any of you are interested in the conversions, here they are:

In U.S. dollars I would have spent in total $245.96.

In U.K pounds sterling I would have spent 242.73 pounds.

In Euros I would have spent 290.86 Euros. 

Living in the center of Canada, in a small city with very few grocery options you can see that things are a little bit costly here even on sale. So I stock up and try my best to get deals on meat, grow lots of my own veggies, dehydrate herbs, and do whatever I can to save money here and there. We have very few yellow sticker items as well. Also remember that much of this will be eaten weeks or months down the road so if something happens we are well prepared, which is what I like. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

Time for the next menu plan. This one goes into next month and the beginning of the tariffs on my country. Most of our meat, and dairy come from companies that are Canadian, or at least have a Canadian presence. However some things are going to be tough to find. Could mean a bit more time spent shopping than I would like.

Monday

Leftover Turkey Chili from Saturday along with some toast.

Tuesday

Leftover Beef Roast made into a casserole (I hope to try something new). It will be served with the remaining coleslaw.

Wednesday

A soup and sandwich meal. I will be making some noodle soup and either chicken or turkey salad sandwiches.

Thursday

Leftovers from Tuesday. I will make some kind of salad to go along with it.

Friday

Salmon casserole, the leftover salad from Thursday, and perhaps a side of corn as well.

Saturday

Pulling a package of frozen leftover ham out and making a pasta casserole. Pretty sure I will make some coleslaw to go along with it.

Sunday

Roast Chicken, along with mashed potatoes and green beans. I may see if the cavity in the chicken is large enough to make stuffing. Gravy for the mashed potatoes would be nice as well.

Breakfasts will be my homemade yogurt, lunches will be any leftovers or sandwiches. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

When working on three projects at once, not a whole lot manages to be completed. But I did finally finish the rose block that I was embroidering.

Please don't mind the wrinkles.

Ironing will take place once I get a couple more completed. I may also begin putting the quilt top together... Depends on how I am feeling.

I started the next block this week.

I work on my weaving for about 2 hours as well. And I think that I will be putting the yarn I wish to use to separate the tea towels in very soon. There are 4 turns of the wheels on the bottom, one more should see the end of the first tea towel. 

So while I will be carrying over this project into next month I am hopeful of getting this project completed early next month.

The blanket being knit is moving along. Pretty sure once this third ball of yarn is done, so will the blanket be. 

I can then start on the second one for Kurt's friend. Hopefully he won't figure out another person who needs one. The great thing is I am actually using up yarn from my stash on these. Now that is excellent. 

Decluttering has continued, and so far this month the donation bags now have 40 items. I hope to get a few more clothing items removed. I just have to try them on first and make a decision. 

Work was done on the project/goal list for next month and that should be completed very soon. I have put in a few quickly completed projects so as to not have a list with nothing stroked off. I will share that with you all at the end of the month.

So that is what I have been up to this week. Hopefully a couple more projects will be either completed or have gotten a head start on next month by the time of the next Roundup post.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Frugal Tips

 It has been awhile since I shared any of my frugal living tips, so I thought I would do so today. Some I have probably shared before, so forgive the repeat.

1. Create a budget. You can use a notebook or like myself a spreadsheet on my computer.

2. Buy generic brands when shopping, or at least try a few out. I purchase generic frozen veggies, generic freezer bags, generic mushrooms and am pretty much willing to give other generic items a try. Some generic brands can save you up to 40%, especially when they are on sale.

3. Stick to your shopping list. That is unless you see something that you use, that was not advertised at a super discount. Then stock up if you are able.

4. Do batch cooking when you can, or even just make larger batches of things like chili, soups, or stews (probably more but just can't think of them right now).

5. Watch your water and electrical usage. Fix those leaky faucets and use LED lightbulbs to save on electrical costs. If you need to use the oven make sure it is full. The same with using your washer make sure it is a full load, and if possible hang clothing to dry.

6. Cook at home. One can make most of what a person orders for take out in your own home and for a lot less money.

7. Drink water instead of sugar laden drinks. Make your own to go coffee.

8. Make your own cleaning products for just pennies.

9. Learn to sew as then you can repair your clothing instead of discarding them and purchasing new. Make your own clothing, or upcycle old clothing into something new.

10. As all of you know I make most of my gifts to give at Christmas. Pretty sure I have saved a bundle doing so.

So there are a few of the tips I have used over the years to save money. More will be shared in later posts.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

P.S.

Got our vehicle back about an hour earlier than they had told us. The bill was about 1/2 of the first estimate, and because they made me wait an extra day.... I was only charged 1 hour for labour. Love my dealership.

Up next is Harvey's partial plate and then we will work on getting our friend to look at the oven. 

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal

 The vehicle is still at the dealership. Turns out all the parts were not delivered, but would have come in now. The dealership asked if they could keep it overnight and I said of course. So we will be picking up the SUV in the early afternoon tomorrow.

So what thrifty and frugal things have I been up to this week.

1.  Made more yogurt. This seems to have turned out to be much thicker. I used some cream added to the milk to see if that would improve the consistency, and it has. So a bit of cream will be added to the mixture from now on. Makes it cost a bit more, but I seem to get more as it is thicker.

2.  Tried baking bread in the electric roaster.... It was baked, but did not have a nicely browned crust. Still, at least it did not burn.

3.  Since my oven is still not working (Harvey did more checking of the wiring and such) I am giving my cooking appliances a great work out. Probably saving quite a bit on the electrical front.

4.  All leftovers are being used in other meals, so no waste is occurring right now.

5.  Of course I am still doing all the little usual frugal habits, like hanging clothes on the lines downstairs, combining errands, paying bills online, and I am using up some instant coffee that I really do not care for.

6.  Saving plastic containers to use to freeze or store leftovers in. 

7.  Made my shopping list today checking out as many sale fliers  as I possibly can. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Midweek, Trying New Things

 

Dear readers, I did go to the Great Create for a bit this morning. Not as much as I would have liked, but enough to get a feel for how things work. I took along the newest rose block I am embroidering, and visited with a few of the ladies attending. I will definitely make an effort to attend next weeks Create and stay longer.

Many of the ladies are painters, and since I can't draw for love or money I found the way they do water colours so very interesting. There were a few people crocheting, and a couple of knitters. One of the ladies who is a friend of mine on Facebook, got very excited to see me. She said she hoped I would bring my loom sometime. I told her only if I had lots of help to get the 48" loom out of the car, through the parking lot, into the building and then into the room they use. Just too big to bring anywhere. Though perhaps sometime I will get a smaller more portable one.

I couldn't stay too long, as my sister had phoned and wanted to drop in and see me. I haven't really seen her since our trip to see the Aunts in October, so of course I said yes. So it was home to get my bread in the electric roaster (baked, but really did not brown very much) and start the draining of my yogurt batch.

My sister and I had a lovely visit. She and her husband will be heading to Spain in a few weeks. While there, their oldest son will join them for a week or so. J lives and works in the Netherlands and so once a year they meet in Europe somewhere, and then once a year he tries to make it home for a couple of weeks to help with harvest.

After Jo left I did a bit of weaving. It got cloudy and snowy once again so the embroidery was set aside, close to hand in case the sun came out once more. It didn't, but that's fine as there is always tomorrow to work on it or I will continue weaving and knitting.

Harvey gave me the wrong date that the SUV is going in to be repaired. Turns out I need to take it in at 9 tomorrow morning. We have appointments to get our hair cuts tomorrow at 11, there is a bit of banking to do, payment of some bills online,  and I want to order our prescriptions and pick them up. Going to be a pretty busy day. I really hope we get the vehicle back the same day we take it in. I hate leaving things overnight at the dealership even though they have security. I will, however, enjoy having a vehicle that can be plugged in to keep the engine warm.

I am not sure what Friday will bring. Probably just a regular day with the added fun of trying to get a grocery list made for the shopping on Tuesday. I really want to get as much in the pantry and freezers as possible before we do a retaliation for the tariffs. There are a few items I purchase that come from the United States and I do know oranges and orange juice will more than likely be one of the targeted items for Canada to place a tariff on. 

Off to visit with you all.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

Going from -34.7C to -14C this morning was quite a shock. In fact right now at just after 4pm my time, it is -1.4C. 

Not too sunny though so in order to do any work on my embroidery I needed to have the light on. Now that I actually managed to finish it, the sun is out but in such a part of the sky that it does not give any light to the chair I craft in. 

We are to be getting snow this next part of the week. Not a great deal, but man next week could be brutal for snow fall. We will never have the same kind of snow we got in the 70's or even 80's but every little bit helps with the moisture level. 

There is something called "The Great Create" happening in the art room at our leisure complex that I think I may start attending. It used to be on Tuesdays, but has been changed to Wednesday mornings. Wednesdays I don't have as long a list to complete, so I may just try it out and see how everything goes. I would at least be meeting different people and perhaps even get some new friendships started. I am afraid over the last few years I have rather limited myself on meeting new people. Who knows I may find another craft (not like I really need another one) that sets my crafting soul on fire. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

Well another colder yet day. It started off at -34C with wind chill feels like temps of -48C. Changed to many of my readers temperatures that would be -29F and -54F. Not complaining as the sun is shining as staying in is me managing to get my household task list completed and more time working on my various projects. 

So what is on the menu for this week.

Monday

Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Tuesday 

The leftover pork from Sunday made into a casserole. I need to use up some broccoli and cauliflower so those will be incorporated into whatever casserole I decide to make.

Wednesday

Cabbage bread and probably a side veggie.

Thursday

Leftover pork casserole.

Friday

Pulled a package of Eggplant Parma from the freezer and will serve this tonight. I might try to make some garlic bread as well.

Saturday

A package of leftover turkey will be made into Tetrazzini. I will plan on having coleslaw with this.

Sunday

Roast beef, roasted carrots and roasted potatoes. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 

A quick post as it is getting late, and I need to do a few things before bed. 

We are in the middle of the polar vortex. This morning when I got up it was -31C, but felt like -43C. We never even stuck a nose out the door. 

I did not sleep very well due to someone playing some rather loud music last night. Not the usual thing in this rather quiet block. I moved from our room to the room Kris uses when home to get away from the thumping of the bass. 

Today, was spent working on various items on my project list, and getting set up for the coming week. Nothing really exciting at all. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

I did not get as many projects finished as I had hoped, however by next week I am sure to have at least one more done.

I promised pictures of what I did manage to get finished though so here are the few I managed.

I added in the small 2" squares from the scraps left from cutting the 4" squares.

Another photo of the 4" squares.

I also managed to cut out the coat that I have procrastinated about for a number of months.

Started my weaving and while this looks crooked it really isn't. 

Made new separators for between my pots to keep them from being scratched. The others were pretty darn stained and dirty for some reason. 

Still working on the embroidery and getting so very close to being finished this block and moving on to another. Considering I will have another twelve to embroider before I can make the quilt I better step up on getting these completed.

The same can be said for the knitted blanket. Close to being completed but still more to get done. 

I am wondering if having so many projects on the go is really allowing me to get the project list completed.... Probably not, but truth be told it keeps me from getting bored.

Everyone have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Simple Living

 

As I slowly declutter my house, I often wonder why on earth I bought what I am delegating to the donation piles (or in my case bags). At the time it must have appealed to me in some manner, but no longer. Time to continue to remove those items I no longer want or use. 

The last couple of days I have been going through my jewelry. Necklaces and bracelets of the fashion type have been added to the pile. There are a few items that have a great deal of sentimental value or are gifts from Kurt and Kris over the years. Pretty sure those will not be hitting the donation bags for awhile yet.

I plan on taking another gander through my recipe books to see if there are more that can be donated. 

I have tossed a few well worn items as well. Which won't be replaced in my wardrobe for a very long time.

I put some bread on to bake in my toaster oven and sat down to do some weaving.

As I moved the shuttle back and forth lifting or dropping the the reed as necessary, I realized how peaceful and meditative the process really is. My weaving isn't crooked, as in measuring, both sides are of equal length. 

Weaving actually gives me time to think and decide on how to move forward in my quest to live a life where I have more time to do the things I really enjoy. To take the time to enjoy what I am doing and immerse myself in whatever that is.

I do know that when I think about my Mom and remember what clothing she had there were the clothes she wore to work around the house, the slightly dressier items she would change into before Dad got home from work and a few very dressy items that she would wear out or to a party in our home. Dad actually took up much more of the closet with his suits for work, dress shirts, ties, and work around the house clothes. People managed with much less and yet seemed very contented. I think my Mom would be shaking her head over what is in my closet.

Food was simple, I really can't remember having a pizza delivered or eating fast food, unless I spent some of my allowance on the way home from high school. Mom cooked every meal and there was no dishwasher in the house (other than her and sometimes myself if I did not have a sports practice). 

However, Mom always found the time to go out and plant flowers, weed those flower beds and have a pot of tea with a few cookies every day around 3pm. She also always managed to watch her favourite soap opera.... As The World Turns. Then there were the monthly meetings with her church ladies group for bible study, and the once a month meeting at the church to roll cancer dressings. 

Dad always had the time to build something, or do renovations on our home. If he ended up having to work on a Saturday, he would usually take one or two of us to the office with him. We got to play on the secretaries typewriters or sometimes visit with other office workers that were there as well. 

I really need to remember that simple living is just enjoying where you are now, and perhaps the getting rid of what is no longer necessary for that enjoyment is the beginning.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal  

It has actually been a lovely week here on the old homestead. That is if you don't count my stove going kaput, and Harvey's truck running into problems today. Both mean more money could be spent over the next while than was planned. If I quit baking I suppose I could go without an oven for a bit longer. I just can't see me baking one tray of 6 cookies at a time. That would not be good use of my time or very frugal. 

So what frugal things have been happening this week on the old homestead.

1.  I purchased on sale pork loins and a roast which I cut into cubes to be used in various recipes. 

2.  Used up all leftovers for our lunches over the week.

3.  Cut out the coat using fabric from my stash. Still have the lining to cut out, but that is in my stash as well.

4.  Using some of the reclaimed cotton yarn to weave the dish towels with.

5.  Bought mostly on sale items this week when grocery shopping and saved $40.18 total. Still the bills were pretty high due to rising prices.

6.  Cut scraps of fabric into squares to be used for quilts later on.

7.  Walked a couple of times to pick up the mail. Good exercise and a savings on gas.

8.  Shoveled off the front deck and steps. More free exercise.

9.  Saved small plastic bags to use when Kris brings Eiko to visit for kitty litter scrapings.

Not really that bad a week all told for being frugal and thrifty. I have also been using my appliances to cook with as well. It will be interesting to see if there is a big savings come the bill next month.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Midweek Madness (Mid Month Madness As Well)

 

I can not believe it is the middle of the week, little lone the middle of the first month of 2025. Where is time going, I want it to slow down!!!!

This week I am trying to get as many of my little projects done as possible so I can spend more time on those longer projects. Problem is, I keep adding projects to the list. 

Most are smaller (well smallish) and I am managing to pull them off along with working on a few of the bigger projects. Still, they do take up time that could be used to get further along on the bigger projects or making sure that nothing foodwise is wasted (that did not go well today as I had to toss a large hunk of cheddar as it was pretty much covered in mold). Fell down on the frugal there. Picking myself up, dusting off and starting over.

I was asked what I meant by "reeds". These are part of my loom and are used to separate the yarn and by moving them up and down on the heddle change the positions so a person can weave. The reed is also used to beat the yarn into position.

I will post a picture of the reeds on Saturday, as well as how far my weaving has progressed. 

Off to visit some of you and then get supper on the table.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits And Stuff

 

It has warmed up so I headed out and managed to get the shopping completed. Most of what I purchased was on sale, except for my new keyboard. I wanted just the keyboard, but ended up purchasing one that also had a mouse. Still having a full keyboard is absolutely lovely. This means I don't have to move the other wireless keyboard between my mini computer and this laptop/monitor combination. Loving it so far. Frugal shopping takes time as I have found the last few times I have ventured out.

I have pretty much finished setting up my loom to make the tea towels and will finish the shuttle tomorrow as well as getting the warp closer together. Weaving is definitely a learning curve. I am not sure how this very thing yarn used for weaving will work as I am having a problem getting the warp to come together in a couple of places.

I got my larger reeds yesterday and am looking forward to using old sheets, strips of fabric and old clothing to make rugs. I will also be able to use thicker wool. I will look into ordering other reeds after I save for them. 

Not much has been accomplished on my various projects, but that should change for the rest of the week. Shopping and household tasks took up most of my morning, and then this afternoon I was processing the meat I purchased for the freezer. I still have the pork loin and a beef roast to process. 

Yesterday I posted a meme on Facebook that stated I was no longer going to argue with anyone. Forgot that for a moment on the forum I belong to...but caught myself mid-post reply and deleted it. Life is to precious to spend arguing with those who can't research or understand.

I am hopeful of having a few projects finished by Saturday for roundup and photos to share.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

My goodness another week of menus coming up.

Monday

Spaghetti and meat sauce (I added in some broccoli to the sauce to use it up and give us some more veggies).

Tuesday

Soup and Sandwiches. I took some mushroom soup out of the freezer, and will probably make grilled cheese sandwiches.

Wednesday

Baked Spaghetti, and a salad.

Thursday 

Leftovers from Wednesday.

Friday

Fish and chips along with coleslaw.

Saturday

Corned Beef Hash along with the remains of the coleslaw.

Sunday

Roast pork, roasted potatoes and carrots. 

Lunches will be sandwiches or leftovers.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

I have been asked a few questions over the last few posts so I think I will answer them first.

Yes, my yogurt maker is a new appliance in my arsenal of trying to make as much as possible here at home.

Now as far as the whey is concerned, I plan on using it in replacement for liquids in baking. It is said you can even use it in your sour dough starter, something I am going to do a bit more research on. Some online sources say you can even drink it as it has lots of vitamins in it as well as other goodies. I can't see that happening. Right now it is sitting in containers in my fridge freezer until I decide to try using it.

None of my bigger projects are even close to being completed this week. It has been cloudy and snowy the last couple of days, which means the light has not been the best for embroidery. Knitting is happening in the evenings, but even that seems to be moving very slowly this time around.

So the past little bit I have been trying to get a few smaller projects completed, and since it isn't supposed to be sunny tomorrow I will try and get a few more of the smaller projects completed.

Started the slow cooker today making supper early this morning.

Got the dough going in the bread machine for two more loaves of bread. I did get an unpleasant surprise though as my oven cut out citing a fault was found. So I had to pull out this...

I did manage to get both loaves in it to bake, but man there really isn't much space at the top when baking two loaves. They got a bit well done on the tops as you can see in this next photo.

It could have been much worse.

Project wise I managed to cut these 4" squares from scraps I had saved. The smaller scraps have been put aside and I hope to cut some 2" squares in the next little while. I still have a few more fabric scraps to cut.

I really need to do a deep dive in my fabric stash to make sure I have all the scraps I saved for this purpose. Pretty sure there are more yet.

I noticed the circles of felt/flannelette that I use between my pots were getting pretty dirty and so made some new ones.

The old ones were tossed and the new ones have replaced them. 

The cloudy days did enable me to copy the recipes from the old cookbooks I wanted to keep, and now they reside in the donation bags.

So this is where I stand on projects finished for the month. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.