Sunday Ramblings

 

It rained a bit overnight, and was cloudy most of the day. Now the sun is out and I am enjoying that I could turn off lights in certain areas of the house. 

My back felt wonderful this morning, so instead of staying home and going to Mass online, off we went to the church. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate in community, however by the end of Mass my back was beginning to spasm. I had to walk very slowly out of the church and going down the stairs was jarring. 

Harvey decided that rather than me cook, or him cook he would take me out for brunch. The padded seats did help my back pain. 

Once home I would work for 15 minutes at a time on the loom and then take a short walk to ease the back. 

I also did the walk when cleaning and tidying the baking shelves in the larger side of the kitchen pantry. When I go shopping, because of all the bending, stretching, and lifting it takes me much longer (okay conversations with friends takes up a lot of time) to shop than it used to. It also causes my back to give me much more pain than usual. This means that when I come home and begin to put away the groceries, I more or less just toss things into the cupboard. Today, everything got put in their correct storage container, and I noticed I really need to get a couple more of those. 

This is the finished tidy.

I am very happy with how it turned out, and I can actually see things a bit easier.

Off to get supper sides started. I have changed my menu slightly as I am not going to waste any food. So instead of roasted potatoes we will be finishing off the pasta salad I made yesterday. I am also going to make some frozen French style cut green beans as those have been in the freezer for a very long time and need using.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

It is really warm today, almost 22 Celsius which is amazing. Just too bad that the cold is going to be returning bringing with it some heavy, wet snow. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will miss us. Heavy, wet snow can cause lots of damage to fruit trees and bushes.

I have actually gotten a few things completed this week project wise to share with all of you, and there will be a picture of the ongoing weaving that I hope will be finished very soon. I would love to get this first scarf completed, and the loom moved out of the way so as to cut out some clothing patterns.

Here are the binders that contain all those recipes and craft projects I printed off. The binder contains the recipes we really enjoyed, and the crafts I want to work on over the coming years. There is still room to add to both as I find recipes we like or crafts that could save us money, or use up items from my various craft stashes.

A new and much more organized inventory of my fridge freezer. Hopefully this will keep me on the straight and narrow. The older one was not easily cleaned and really did not look at all nice.

I have two more small white boards on my shopping list for this week. One for the larger side of my pantry in the kitchen, and the other for the top part over the built in microwave where I keep my pasta. I will next purchase another couple one for the smaller side of the kitchen pantry, and the other for the chest freezer. The one I have on the upright meat freezer is working a treat.

Working on the scarf, I believe I have about 12" completed and there are red stripes on the end you can not see. I am hoping to get at least another 20 to 24 inches done over the week and be able to take this off the loom. 

No picture of the mitts as of yet, just finishing off pair number 9 of this larger size and once pair number 10 is done, a picture will be forthcoming.

I also did lots of bean preparations this week and those are residing in the freezer packaged nicely in the chest freezer. I will try my hand at crackers, tortillas, and will probably make some mini donuts or cookies next week. Heck since I seem to be on a roll lately the black beans and pinto beans will be cooked and frozen as well. 

While my days might seem complicated to many, they really aren't. As I declutter and organize things just seem to get simpler. Cooking in bulk or getting those items necessary for different foods done ahead, make meal prep and meal planning so much easier. I no longer waste time looking for something I need and either not finding it or losing it in the cupboard, fridge, freezer or in the craft room. 

My lists help me concentrate and as I mark items off it makes me smile. I am so glad to know that I am not the only list lover on this planet.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Simple Easy Living

 As the days go by, I have noticed that my lists, and menu plans are becoming more and more condensed. I have been moving towards simpler easy to prepare meals, making large batches of food like soup, chili, and making sure leftovers are frozen and available for another meal or two. 

Of course there can be changes, but I still manage to work my way through the simple meals even if I change the days around. Things still get used during the month. However I think that I am going to have to add an empty out the fridge meal once in awhile. That will be a total surprise and change the monthly menu a little bit. 

As far as doing those tasks that are necessary for the smooth running of the household, this book allows me to do a daily list.

It also enables me to mark off when a task is completed. The one thing I wish this book had was an extra page to put my project list on and the monthly cleaning list.

However, I have found a way to do this without the extra page. I just turn over my monthly menu plan and put them on the back.

Notice that I get to stroke those off as well.

Next up on my organization for a simpler life will be an inventory of the chest freezer as well as a tidy up of the mess it has become. That is one of my extra cleaning tasks for this month.

These lists and bits of organizing keeps me moving towards a life that gives me time to enjoy sitting on the deck, working on those things I love like knitting, sewing and reading. It also gives me the time and inclination to do more decluttering so that my monthly cleaning becomes easier to handle. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal

It has been pretty quiet here so far this week. Of course we took our taxes to the accountant's today so that will be our excitement waiting to see what we owe, and we know we will be owing some. Hopefully, just not as much as last year.

So what new frugal things have I been up to this past week.

1.  I have been making good use of leftovers this past week, and tonight since I do not have enough left from Tuesdays supper I will be pulling out some chicken bites that have been in the freezer for awhile to use up. There is a bit of salad left and I will be cutting up some sweet peppers to use with some dip as another side. I even think there are a few grape tomatoes left to add to this as well. Stretching out the meal with what needs using up.

2.  Cooked up dry kidney beans and got them portioned and frozen to be used later.

3.  Made pork and beans from the dried navy beans and on sale bacon. Those have also been portioned up, frozen and will be used later.

4.  Cut our energy (gas bill) by $7.00 from last month. However cut the electric bill by almost $70.00. Made sure lights were off in rooms not in use, turned lights off during the day when it was sunny, using my small appliances more to do the day to day cooking, and of course hanging what clothing I can on the lines downstairs. Every little bit helps right now.

5.  Harvey made a small stool out of the bits and bobs of lumber he had downstairs. He painted it with paint we already had as well.

6.  Once again I did some clothing repairs. Fixed a hem on one of Harvey's sleep shirt, sewed on a few buttons that had come loose, and fixed a hem on a pair of my summer capris.

I am still walking for free exercise, using up yarn from my stash, and soon will be using up some fabric pieces.....

Life is good, and while I won't bury my head in the sand I am preferring to concentrate on those things I can control like spending, cooking, and a bit of preparing.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.  

Midweek Ramblings

 

It seems as if winter does not want to loosen it's claws on Saskatchewan. We got rain last night and then woke up to snow, wind, blowing snow and at one point almost a mini blizzard. 

This is what it looked like at 8 this morning, before the wind came up and before more snow fell. Now things are melting once again. Who knows what next week will bring. 

It has been a quiet day on the Phillips homestead. Harvey has been fashioning a small stool with bits and bobs of his leftover wood in the workroom. He is also adding more grow lights to his shelving as Kris told him it would be better to have two lights on each shelf.

Me, well I got everything added that needed to be added for our taxes and have told Harvey we will need to take that to the accountant tomorrow. 

Got the pork and beans frozen and repackaged to put in the chest freezer. Did the usual Wednesday household tasks in record time and managed about 1 1/2 hours of weaving. I have even gotten a bit of mitten knitting done. I may need to go through my yarn stash and find a few more orphan balls that need using. I have also been watching/listening to Grace and Father Brown on BritBox. 

I am going to see how long I can last with what is in the house to make meals. I will be shopping but hopefully just for items on sale to be used perhaps months down the road. It has taken me a very long time to build up the freezers and pantries and what is in there would probably last us two or three months, so what I would purchase now meat wise, would not be used for at least three months or slightly longer. Especially since I am on another no waste, use it up year. 

At one point in time I wanted enough food in the house to last us a year or more, but really we do not have enough storage room for that, and having that much food to work my way through is kind of alarming. I did not want to be that much of a "prepper". We have enough in case of emergencies, and enough to help out our sons if need be.

The table is set, the casserole containing the leftovers from Monday is warming up to room temperature before I put it in the microwave to warm up, and I have the recipe for some biscuits to be made first thing tomorrow morning out and ready to go. 

Life is becoming a lot simpler, and the same can be said for most of our meals. Housekeeping is also becoming much easier as I work through decluttering things. I am almost at 200 items for this year. Still hoping to reach the 500 items leaving the house by the end of the year. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 It has once again been a pretty overcast day, and with no sun I find myself getting weary by the mid afternoon. Right now I could probably lay down and have a lovely nap, but I know that would ruin my sleep tonight. 

I was asked if the Grandcat tried to escape when Kris brings her to visit. Actually, I am surprised that she doesn't. Eiko is quite content as long as she can see or hear Kris. Not sure what will happen when the weather is better and Kris spends time outside. She might try and escape at that point. 

I have been working on my various projects and getting some dried beans cooked ahead of time for use in chili and today my homemade baked beans.

These are the kidney beans packaged up to use in chili. I first froze them in the silicone molds.

The baked beans and pork getting started in the slow cooker. They will be ready to put in the molds and freeze sometime after supper. 

Next up I will get the black turtle beans done as I use them in chili as well. I plan on doing those up later in the week. 

I am pulling items out of the chest freezer to use up adding them to the monthly menu. I am not sure there will be enough of the meal I make tonight to have leftovers for the two of us so I may be pulling a ready meal out of the chest freezer. Using up one more item from there. Something I need to do before I inventory it's contents once again and try to straighten the whole thing out once more. I do know there are lots of tomatoes in there so I will probably pull those out very soon and make spaghetti sauce with the vast majority of the bags. 

The days have been slipping by quickly and I have lots of projects to try and complete. I am on mitten pair number 7 of the larger size, and I have completed about 8 inches on the first scarf. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

I hope that all of you had as wonderful an Easter as we did. Kris and our Grandcat made it home around 2 on Good Friday. A bit of excitement as his car was making a dragging noise when he got into the city. Turns out the plastic that was around his front drivers side tire had broken away and was dragging and rubbing on his tire. Yesterday he cut it away, and no noise. He is however going to try and pick up the piece at Princess Auto, and if they don't have it will order it online. He has a garage so will be able to install it himself with the help of YouTube videos. 

I did send a fairly comprehensive care package home with him as well. 

So what are the menus for this week.

Monday

Leftover roast beef from the fridge freezer made into a casserole. Served with the leftover salad from yesterday. There will be enough for another meal later this week (okay on Wednesday).

Tuesday

Leftover chicken made into I think taco meat. I will try my hand at making my own tortillas as well. There will probably be enough leftover for another meal as well, probably Thursday.

Wednesday

Leftovers from Monday.

Thursday

Leftovers from Tuesday.

Friday

Leftover tuna casserole. Sliced veggies and dip, or I will boil up some carrots from the garden that I have frozen in the chest freezer.

Saturday

Hotdogs, baked beans, pasta or fries.

Sunday

Pork roast, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots.

And here is a picture of our Grandcat. My phone is actually sending pictures to my computer once again. Keep your fingers crossed that continues. I do have some photos on the camera that need to be transferred over.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Good Friday

 

I will be taking a short break to spend time with family. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

 Thrifty and Frugal

It is a chilly day today, not at all what we are really used to for the Easter holiday. But since there is no snow or rain forecast I will take it. 

Just the usual frugal practices around the old homestead with perhaps a couple of new things.

1.  Planted some herb seeds this week, and got some other herb seed and another flower seed from a friend. Free is great.

2.  Managed to change emails in most of my bills, might have to phone to get another couple changed eventually. 

3.  Using up all leftovers in meals or frozen to be used later.

4.  Put $3.55 in the change jars this week.

5.  Added $75.00 to my savings envelope. 

6.  Got our water bill and I managed to cut $40.00 from what the last one cost us. 

7.  Harvey is going to use his cash back on his Visa to pay off the bill this coming month (should really not have much to pay on that at all).

8.   Cleaning the print heads on the printer to hopefully extend the printer life. Not going very well really.

10.  Used up another partial orphan ball knitting mitts. 

12.  Planned the months menus to use up items that we already have.

13.  Harvey cleared all the snow and did some repairs on a few woodworking items he had made. 

So that is my list for the week along with the usual things we always do.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Midweek And A New Month

 

The months are whizzing past and here we are 1/4 of the way through 2026 already. My goodness. 

I went shopping today and will not make all of you suffer through pictures of what I purchased. I did pick up 2 tins of tuna at $0.93 each and 3 tins of smoked oysters at just under $2.00 each for the pantry. 

Stocked up on some meat, and bought the flour that was on sale. Still even watching and purchasing on sale items I went through almost half my monthly grocery budget. Mind you that included laundry items, some Kitty Litter,  and a new loaf pan so I can rid myself of the one that is 50 years old (got it as a shower gift) and which is not in the best of shape. Still I am shocked at how much things are costing from week to week. 

It took me almost 3 hours to do my shopping this morning. Of course I had to see people I knew who wanted to talk, and a nice gentleman and I had a lovely talk in the Co-op parking lot about Easter. I really need to hide when I am shopping so as to finish a bit earlier. Harvey asked how many people I had conversations with considering how long I was gone. I also took probably close to an hour to get things away and the meat packaged up for the freezer. 

This meant my back and hips were pretty much shot so most of the afternoon was spent watching video's on the computer. I did manage to wind one of the shuttles for weaving though, so all was not a complete loss. 

Tomorrow I will need to buckle down and get some baking done as well as work on those projects for this month.

Speaking of projects perhaps I should let you all know what is planned to be completed.

1.  Weave the scarves I want to give Kurt and Kris for Christmas.

2.  Knit mitts to use up more of the bits and bobs of yarn.

3.  Get my printed out craft projects from the last year put in binders.

4.  Same goes for those printed recipes I have been saving.

5.  Cut out some clothing patterns to sew next month.

6.  Make Thank you cards using my Cricut.

7.  Make some Birthday cards using the Cricut as well.

That's the plan, and I am so hoping to get things done.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

The heavy, wet snow we got yesterday is melting as the sun is shining. That sun is also keeping the furnace from cutting in much. Natural gas bill for next month should be a bit lower I hope.

I also hope that using small appliances like the electric roaster and toaster oven will bring down the electric costs as well. Especially since our costs for electric will be rising 5% starting April 1st. 

Got our extra medical insurance cost as well. It will of course be going up since we are aging. It went up for Harvey in June of last year, and is going up for me in May. It is getting pretty darn expensive, and I may look into the costs for other insurance, if I can find something that covers us for prior conditions. 

A few of the seeds I planted last week are starting to sprout. I am hoping to save just a bit this year on perennials and plants for my pots. Then next year saving a bit more by using one shelf on Harvey's set up with grow lights. Now if I could remember to save seed, that would even be better.

We were under overall budget for the month once again, but I was very close to going over on the grocery budget line. The fact is I probably will go over budget for the month of April. I want to stock up on items that are going to be very expensive due to transportation costs. 

Where we live in Saskatchewan, every single thing has to be transported. It either comes from out of province or from one of the four larger cities here. 

This, plus the fact that we live in a city where there is lots of oil and people can make a great deal of money does not make it inexpensive to reside here. Per capita, I have heard there are more millionaires here than anywhere else. Not sure if I believe that, but from the homes built and the vehicles driven I can see that many are not hurting at all right now. We did have a problem when the oil bombed, but things have picked up once again. 

I plan on stocking up on canned meats, fresh meat that is on sale (to build up freezer stocks once again), and things like flour, sugar, cheese, toilet paper, paper towels (for the messy things). If I can find olive oil with an extended use by date I will get a couple of those as well. Perhaps some instant coffee will make the list at some point as well. Prices seem to go up each and every week and that is concerning. 

Until the price of fuel falls (if it ever does) I think life is going to be tough for a great many people.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

Oh my, the last few days of the month and now March is going out like a lion and hopefully not bringing April with it. Yep, we got heavy wet snow again, and the chances of snow on the Easter weekend are about 50/50.

Here is my menus for the upcoming week.

Monday

Pork stir fry using up the last package of frozen roast pork, a package of Japanese veggies and some added diced pepper. That will be served over rice.

Tuesday

Pork chops, mashed potatoes, and either frozen corn or frozen carrots.

Wednesday (April 1st)

Leftover pork stir fry and rice. Shopping so something I can just pull out of the fridge and warm up is perfect for today. Heavy on the pork this week.

Thursday

I have a few appetizers that need using up so the meal tonight will be using those up as well as perhaps some fried rice using up more of the rice made on Monday.

Friday

Soup and sandwiches. Probably Cream of Mushroom from the freezer and egg salad sandwiches.

Saturday

Steak in mushroom sauce done in the slow cooker, mashed potatoes, and a salad.

Sunday

Baked ham, scalloped potatoes, mixed veggies, mint jelly, and any leftover salad from last night. 

Lunches will be sandwiches, eggs, or leftovers. Breakfast will be toast or yogurt, or oatmeal. 

I have cookies and rhubarb crisp for desserts and plan on making a cake or puddings as well.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 I really don't know what it is about this winter, but I have been ill or not feeling 100% more than ever before. Heck I even managed to get through Covid times without being ill as often. 

Then once ill it seems to take me longer to get over whatever it is I have managed to come down with. Today was a tummy upset that kept me up most of the night, and tied me to the house. Bummer as it is Palm Sunday and I really enjoy this Mass. I will need to make a trip to the church to see if I can get some palms at some point this week. 

Now I was asked what we use to spray on the Maple bugs/Boxelder Bugs/Halloween Bugs so I will answer here just in case more are interested in that. We mix dish soap and water and that seems to help keep the infestation down a bit. A person needs to keep up with the spraying.

I was also asked about my mini computer. It can in fact be used as a desk computer, but you would need a monitor and a keyboard or mouse to make it work. I have mine hooked up to the television (that acts as a monitor) through an HDMI cable. Kris purchased a wireless keyboard for me to use with it. When I travel I take my Notebook computer from the desk and the mouse/keyboard combination. Or sometimes just the mouse. I have never taken the mini on a trip. 

Off to do a bit of knitting while the potatoes and carrots roast in the pan with the beef. 

I plan on visiting all of you after supper.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Tips for Frugal Living

 

Perhaps the best tip one can give and use is to be organized. Knowing what you have to work with and what you can substitute for items you don't have is absolutely amazing. Even with a well stocked pantry, fridge and freezer if you let things get out of control you waste good money. It took me a few years to learn this, but now for the most part I have this under control.

Instead of allowing food to spoil, chop it up and freeze it or if you have a dehydrator dry it. This year instead of allowing the potatoes we dug out of the garden to go to waste, I made fries and hashbrowns for the freezer. Yes, a few still went to waste but not as much as other years. We really don't eat as many potatoes as we used to. I also diced many a green pepper and got those bagged up and in the freezer. We just could not eat them all.

Rethink having meat at every meal. Since the cost of groceries has risen (especially meat) I have been introducing meatless meals, or meals that use less meat. Leftovers of the meals with meat are kept to be used in another meal or two as well. Leftover roast beef for example, a few slices can be used in soups, some can be thinly sliced again and used in a stroganoff meal (which can be eaten over noodles and the leftovers over baked potatoes). Lots of interesting ways to use up leftover roasts of any kind. 

Most times unless you are working outside, getting dirty and sweaty clothing (not underclothes though) can be worn for more than one day. This cuts down on washing loads.

Find things you can do for free in your city. I live in a very small city in my province and other than the library, walking tract, joining some groups like our Great Create and the Fiber group I recently joined there isn't a great many free things to do. Instead I do hikes around the city, and go to the two free movie nights at a park that we can enjoy. 

Definitely combine errands. Not only does it save you fuel costs, but time as well.

If you can do most of your bill paying online.

I have many free streaming services on my television, plus a mini computer which means I can stream even more free entertainment. Take advantage of those, where I live the winters are long, cold, and quite often stormy. This is our free entertainment, and since we do not attend the cinema our main source of viewing pleasure.  

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Catch up Friday

 It has been a day of slowly getting things done that I have put off for a bit of time. Getting those tasks out of the way that I just don't like to do.

I usually leave the dusting of the entire living room until the end of the month. I really don't know why I dislike doing this so much (I do dust the TV, the tops of the tables, the bases of the lamps, and the fake fireplace three times a week). Yet to do under the tables, the bookcase, and the few shelves seem to be beyond me until the last minute. I think it could be because I have to remove everything, wipe the shelves down and then dust everything I have removed. So much work, but I managed to get that done and out of the way. 

Made those cookies that were on the list to get done earlier in the week. Now I will pull out the shredded zucchini, and some of the other fruits and make a couple of loaves (perhaps even 4) tomorrow. Kris can take some home with him. While he does cook, baking is not something he does with any regularity. So sending him home with some in the care package along with some buns and ready meals will be our Easter gift to him. 

Kurt will soon be taking his students to France. I believe they leave on either the 1st or 2nd of April. Visiting the war memorials for Canadian soldiers. 

Off to get supper into the toaster oven. I used up some leftover carrots, a package of dried cheese, and what was left of the shredded cheese making the tuna casserole. We will have the leftover salad that I made yesterday to round out the meal.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

 Thrifty and Frugal

This is the last Thursday of the month, and while I have been thinking and working on new ways to be thrifty and frugal I seem to be stuck on the old tried and true ways. 

1.  Hung clothing on lines downstairs to dry.

2.  Making sure I have full loads in the washer.

3.  I have been trying to fit as much as possible into the dishwasher as well.

4.  Using up bits and bobs when knitting those mittens for Kurt's school.

5.  Turning off lights in rooms not in use.

6.  Making sure the oven is full before using.

7.  Walking for free exercise.

8.  Trying to get at least two meatless meals a week in.

9.  Harvey has been working on repairing some of the garden decor.

10.  Decluttering my jewelry.

11.  Saving the plastic bags and plastic veggie containers to use to plant on seedlings.

12. Putting off errands where I need to drive until I can do many of them together.

Life is getting a bit more complicated now that the cost of fuel has gone up. Also winter seems to want to stick around much longer than usual which means the furnace is running a bit more.  

Groceries keep going up and so I am going to cook up and freeze some kidney beans, black eyed peas, and some other beans I seem to have collected dried. Really thinking of adding another meatless meal at some point during the upcoming month. Showing Harvey the prices of meat since he came with me shopping has been an eye opener for him and I believe has made him a bit more open to the idea of meatless meals as long as they are filling.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Midweek Ramblings

Quiet days here on the Phillips homestead. Perfect for getting things completed around the house. 

I have been slowly getting a few seeds planted to go under the grow lights. I have finished off the flowers (at least I think I have) and tomorrow will see a few herbs started as well. The next time I go shopping I will pick up some bulbs for the perennial bed.

My menu plan for next month is pretty much completed. I am hoping for not too many changes, though we may take a trip up to visit with Kris near the end of April which could mean a couple of changes will take place. Just have to figure out what will change when the time comes. 

The weather has been up and down lately, and once again the forecast is calling for snow come the Easter weekend. Actually it is calling for rain and snow. Keeping my fingers crossed that this changes once again before that weekend.

I am up to 18 no spend days, including today for the month. Tomorrow I pay bills, do some banking and get my medication. I then hope to finish off the month with no more spending. 

This year I am going to really try hard to put money back into savings as I do not feel at all comfortable with what is in that account right now. I like to have enough to last us for almost a year if the worst happens, at this point in time we have enough to probably last us 2 months at the most. Depleted pretty badly when we paid for our trip. If I can manage to keep expenses down I should be able to build that account back up slowly. 

These are the books I am looking through to see what homemade cleaners suit our lifestyle. Hope to find a few to add to my frugal household. 

We have also been busy taking care of our usual infestation outside of Boxelder Bugs also known up here as Halloween Bugs.

They have decided to visit so much earlier this year.

Off to make supper, and perhaps visit with a few of you before we eat.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

It has been a very windy and cold day, so both Harvey and I have been busy finding things to do inside with just a little going out to get a few things completed out there. 

Harvey has fixed a few of my drawers that he tiny nails were coming out of, took down his "Lazy Cats" off the deck railing and washed them down. He plans on trying to give them a bit of a facelift.

I have sewn the border onto Kris's rug, just have to add some fringe to the border, and planted a few seeds to start under the grow lights. Tomorrow I hope to finish off the seed planting. I also downloaded and printed off the last few bills for the month. Those will be paid on the 26th and then I get to forget about bills for a short period of time. 

I found a few series for Harvey to watch on Netflix, and I will be looking on CBC Gem for a couple of series that I missed the endings too over the past year. While we do pay for Netflix, Gem is free and carries many wonderful Canadian content shows. I am going to try and watch more of those free streaming channels. 

I know I will not finish all the projects this month, but I will make a good start on the carry over for next month. I will definitely be trying to accomplish a bit less project wise. At least at first, or perhaps add a few very quickly done projects rather than all those larger ones I seem to want to do.

Our fuel prices went up another $0.05 a liter. Before the Iran war started we were at $1.24.9 a liter. Now we are at $1.59.9 a liter. It just keeps going right on up. 

Off to get my Chicken Hot Pot in the oven. First time I have ever made this and I sure hope it turns out. There will be enough for two meals and perhaps a bit left for Kris to take home as well. I also made an Apple Crisp (Apple Crumble as some call it). This used up some apple pie filling from the fridge freezer, a bag of leftover chicken from the fridge freezer as well. Always great when a person can use items up and clear out a bit of room.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Menu Monday

 A new week of menus are here and soon I will be doing up the menu for the month of April. My goodness almost done three months of this year. Time is speeding right on by.

Monday

Wraps to use up some items in the fridge and fridge freezer. I will make a salad to go with.

Tuesday

One of the bags of frozen leftover chicken from Sunday. Since it is supposed to be cooler with some snow I will make a casserole. Served with the remains of the salad from yesterday.

Wednesday

Beef Vegetable Soup, and ham salad sandwiches.

Thursday

Any leftover casserole from Tuesday.

Friday 

Tuna Noodle Casserole.

Saturday

The bag of leftover pork roast made into a stir fry. Served over rice.

Sunday 

Roast Beef, roasted potatoes, and roasted carrots.

There are a few ideas percolating in my mind for next month. With Kris being home I want to visit and be able to send food home with him to give him a bit of help.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 It has been cloudy for most of the day. In fact the sun just came out from behind dense cloud cover 30 minutes or so ago. I am not sure how long the sun will be out, or if the sun will show its face tomorrow. We could be getting a bit more snow over the next week so it looks as if winter is not really relaxing its grip on the prairies of Canada. I am still hopeful that the weather will be decent for Kris to get home for Easter. 

My back withstood the hard wooden pews at Mass. I am always surprised when we arrive at the church. Lots of vehicles surround it, but upon entering there is hardly anyone there. Come time for Eucharist the line seems to be never ending. Today the school children did the readings, collection, and were the choir. Did an excellent job each and every one of them.

Now in case the lady who asked about a flimsy was and not check my response to her, I am going to answer it here. A flimsy is what quilters call the quilt top before "sandwiching" it with batting and a back and quilting it all together. Not sure why it is called a flimsy, other than in comparison to a quilt, it is flimsy and easily folded and put aside until ready for the next steps.

I am going to pull out some of my frugal books this week and see what else can be added to my frugal habits. I am really happy with how much we are saving by using cleaning rags, cloth napkins and my lady cloths. I am finding that a little bit here and there can add up to big savings over the entire year. Perhaps making some reusable cloth towels for the kitchen would be a great idea. I would still keep some paper towels for messy tasks. 

I am also thinking of making some more of my own cleaners. The orange and vinegar mixture works on a few things, but there are areas that could use a more potent cleaner. I have a book titled Green Up Your Cleanup  and another titled Baking soda, Banana Peels, Baby Oil and Beyond and it is time to make some use of them for cleaning mixtures.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Round Up

 I am hoping that this is still working, and I may just be doing lots of editing to make sure of that.

It seems to be working. So I will tell you all the story about my leaving the Fiber Friends meeting. The meeting was wonderful, I even learned a few new cast on techniques as well as a new bind of one. I will need to practice those before I use them. The trouble began as I entered the parking lot to leave.

Imagine this rather rounded 70 year old woman walking toward her car and wondering if she had misplaced it. Instead she finds it parked beside two rather large trucks. One truck, the one on the passenger side was there when she had arrived, the other spot had been occupied by an SUV much the same size as hers. Now however this huge monstrosity was parked in its place. To make matters worse this monstrosity was only 6" away from the driver's side of her vehicle.

Yes, she probably could have gone back into the hotel and asked the desk to find the owner, and in hindsight that probably would have been the best thing to do. Or she could have gone in and asked to use the phone, called her husband to pick her up and left the vehicle there until the morning.... 

Was either of those what she chose to do? Nope. Instead after some rather choice words leaving her mouth, she decided to enter through the passenger door, crawl across the center arm rest/can holder, and storage drawer and wiggle her way into the driver's seat. 

She made it after twisting her body in ways that it hadn't been twisted in years and carefully backed out of the space.

Once home she checked (in the dark) to see if the other driver had scratched her car. Really couldn't see too much. Went in and told her husband what had occurred. 

Calmed down a bit by doing some more knitting and then realized her legs were a bit sore. By the middle of the night or rather early morning unable to sleep due to pain, she moved out of the bedroom, took a pain med, and tried to sleep on the chesterfield. Finally falling asleep only to dream about being chased down by huge trucks.

The next morning she went shopping and by the end had such a sore back that it became a problem putting groceries away. 

My back is fine now. Thank heavens.

Now on to what I managed to accomplish as far as projects this week.

Flimsy is made, it needs some ironing.

Ornaments are done as well. These are just a few of them. The others are in a small box. On the back of those who are married is the spouses name. 

Hope to have more finished by the end of the month. 

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

This Is A Test

 Can I post once again using Edge as my Browser? I guess I can now.

Fiber Friends

 I had a great time at the meeting. The ladies were very welcoming. I will probably attend while the weather is good. What I went through when I left was not fun. Hopefully fill you all in on that nasty adventure at another time.

Friday Catch-up

 

Quick post as I am on my phone. The computer is not allowing me to post. 

This is the grocery shop from today. Hopefully I can get blogger to work once again.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

 Thrifty and Frugal

Another Thursday has arrived this month. It is hard to believe we are on the third one this month. Once again the days are slipping by very quickly. 

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

1.  Using up some Cricut supplies, glitter and clear plastic ornaments to make an item for the silent auction.

2.  Added $100.00 to the savings envelope.

3.  The micro computer I ordered was on sale for $100.00 off and free delivery.

4.  Mended a pair of Harvey' pj bottoms.

5.  Used up a ball of yarn knitting the border for the rug, and it was a ball that I have had for years.

6.  I am now up to 14 no spend days so far this month.

7.  Baked bread and baked buns. 

Then of course there were the usual hanging as much as possible on the lines downstairs, combining errands, using up leftovers from the fridge and fridge freezer, as well as walking for my daily exercise. 

Tonight I am attending a "Fiber Friends" get together to see what it is like. I will probably not get a visit with all of you today, but will do so first thing in the morning if I miss you. I am not always comfortable being around strangers but we shall see how things work tonight.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.