Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

Wow, we actually reached a summer temperature today. It was almost 30C, which is very abnormal. However this will change as a spring storm is moving in which has rain and snow arriving probably on Friday and through the weekend. It seems as if winter never wants to leave, just when the garden is starting to dry up nicely.

Really all I did today was the to do list, bake bread, and work on the weaving. I re-thought getting the cards done, and decided that perhaps this weekend when the weather is blah would be the best time. I would also more than likely be finished one of the scarves and perhaps have the second one warped and ready to go. 

I am pretty sure that I will not be finished all the projects I had listed, but I think the only carry over will be the second scarf. Which really isn't that bad I guess. Definitely going to try and get as much done as possible before it is time to plant. We also want to go up and visit Kris for the Victoria long weekend. Perhaps give him a bit of a hand cleaning up his yard.

Decluttering is going well, I am now up to 215 items. Keeping my fingers crossed that more will either be donated, or tossed, or changed into something else entirely. Also will be using up all the fabric and yarn that I can. I might even make another set of ornaments (if I have enough) for the silent auction. 

I have pulled some more embroidery projects that I inherited from my mother. These are dresser runners, and there are three of them. I am going to embroider them and sew those together, add a border and make a new tablecloth. I find myself replacing tablecloths very often. They seem to get dirty so very easily. I could also make a patchwork cover as well. Making fabric from what fabric I have collected from old clothing. 

Nothing I am planning should really take loads of time, well other than the embroidery portions. To make matters even better, I could actually sit outside and work on a few of these projects. 

Life is good and as I declutter, use up, remake, and simplify things will get even better.

Oh and tonight Harvey is going to BBQ the pork chops which is awesome.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

I went shopping today for all the great meat deals available this week. We are now pretty much stocked up for many weeks and months now. Except for roasts, whole chickens and hams. Which will be easier to find sales on. I am now hoping not to have to go shopping at all until probably the middle of the first full week of May. Keeping my fingers crossed for that.

I will also be working to get more cleared out of the chest freezer. There are lots of ready meals and soups that need to be used up and planting season is coming up. This is true even though the forecast for later this week is calling for snow. Rain first of course.

Now onto this weeks menu.

Monday

Leftover Jambalaya from Saturday and a salad.

Tuesday

Pork chops, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies and any leftover salad.

Wednesday

Sweet and sour meatballs, rice and a tossed salad.

Thursday

Soup and sandwiches. I will probably make egg salad sandwiches. 

Friday

Fish burgers, the remains of the tossed salad, and probably pickles and cheese as I have pickles that need to be used up.

Saturday

Small sausage casserole and as there are loads of veggies in this just some bread or buns to go with.

Sunday

A Roast beef, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and a coleslaw to use up the cabbage.

Some of these meals are leftovers in the fridge freezer, some are new and some are using up things from the pantry and chest freezer. 

I am working on using things up even though I am stocking up at the same time.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 Another quiet day here on the old homestead. I got my lists made up for the coming week, did some of the household tasks to keep the house running smoothly, and worked on a couple of projects. 

Spent a bit of time pondering a few questions that have been on my mind for awhile, and may, just may have come up with an answer to one of them. The other still needs some thought and I am not sure I will ever come to a conclusion on that one. 

I want more time, time to get things completed, time to spend with family, time to enjoy what we have. Time is not infinite, we don't know what awaits us around the corner. I think that is why I have been trying to simplify my life and work towards a more sustainable lifestyle. 

Having more time to work on my projects, find those people who enjoy the same things I do is becoming more important to me. Funnily enough Harvey asked me went the next night I would be going to the knitting/crocheting get together would take place. I told him that will be on Thursday night of next week. I would love to go to The Great Create as well, but Tuesday mornings are not the best for me. Perhaps I should change things around a little bit so I can attend. Another question to ponder. Life often gets in the way of attending a morning get together. I do/did enjoy both those outings. 

Now that the days are longer, I can actually do more of the things I enjoy and once my home is decluttered and made a bit more easily looked after things will change and I will get more time, or at least what seems to be more time.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Weekly Roundup

 

This week has been one of getting little things completed by putzing around the house, taking my time and working a bit here and there to make life a tiny bit simpler and a tiny bit more organized.

I filled some baking containers with the items I bought to restock those. 

Used leftovers to make lovely meals that fed us a couple of suppers and even a couple of lunches. 

Cleaned the stove and oven, did some decluttering, rummaged through my fabric drawers to see what else I could find to use up in clothing making. 

Cut out three patterns to sew next month.

After rummaging through my fabric drawers I found a few more larger sized pieces to make a couple more items and will get those cut out tomorrow. 

Lots of leftover bits and bobs, but I believe the one on top may be enough to make a small jacket with. We shall see once I find that pattern. 

The rest are really too small unless pinned together in a patchwork design, and I found lots more like that which I will probably cut into squares and or strips. Hmmm, perhaps some yarn will be fashioned from these remnants. 

I finished the size 8-10 mittens.

Filled the cookie jar with Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies.

Filled my yarn basket with more yarn, mostly orphan balls and a few that a good friend gave me when she moved away.

There should be enough there to make lots more mittens to send back with Kurt. I believe I now have 80 pair made and I am hoping to reach at least 120 pairs by the time they are needed. I think my next task will be knitting some toques for them as well. Should have enough mittens now to last a good long while. 

Projects are slowly getting completed, though only one scarf will be woven this month, with the second one carried over until next month. I may manage to get the loom warped for it though. 

Thinking through what needs to be used up and planning some meals in my head for next month (though I will have to get those down on paper very soon). I will know more once I get my chest freezer organized and the inventory completed on it. I think there could be many items I have forgotten about hiding in its depths. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Moving Forward

 I love those days where I can just stay home and putter. I usually end up getting a few tasks that I've often thought about doing, but just haven't worked on.

Today I went through a couple of kitchen drawers and managed to find a few more things to declutter as well as a few items from my closet and drawers. Perhaps tomorrow I will go through one of my cupboards. Probably lots more to declutter in there. We shall see. 

The more I can get done inside during rather nasty weather, the more time I can spend outside once the weather improves. There are lots of tasks that will need doing before planting, and enjoying the outdoors. There is painting to do, and lots of weeding. I do have visions of me pulling my sewing table and sewing machine out on the deck during some of our nicer weather. Is that silly of me?? Or sitting with my knitting or embroidery to enjoy the sun on my face and all the fresh air. 

A couple of days ago I took a short walk around the yard, checked on the fruit trees and bushes. All seem to have buds on them, I just need to check the kiwi and see how it is doing. 

The perennial bed needs some weeding, and I am looking forward to planting the Shasta daisies I have started and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the delphinium start to grow. I may just have to purchase some of those. Canary vines are growing like crazy with the grow lights, herbs are coming up and will need planting on as will the annual flowers. The way things are sprouting makes me smile. Such a simple joy. Simple joys are the best of all.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursdays

Thrifty and Frugal 

Welcome to the third thrifty and frugal Thursday of April. Hard to believe how quickly time is passing. Also hard to believe the rather winter-like weather we have been getting here on the Canadian prairies. We have had some lovely days where the sun was shining and the temperatures weren't too bad, and we definitely took advantage. 

So what were the frugal and thrifty happenings around the old homestead this week.

1.  Busy using up bits and bobs from my stash of craft supplies.

2.  Stuck to my list and have hopefully come in under the grocery budget this month. However there is a great meat sale on some cuts at our Co-op and I may just blow the budget and pick some of those up. It could end up saving us a bundle the next few months. We shall see.

3.  Lights have been turned off, clothes hung on the lines downstairs, and solar heat a few days this week kept the furnace from coming on too much during that time.

4.  More of my flowers are popping up. 

5.  Harvey planted some Eggplant and we are hopeful those will sprout as well.

6.  I am up to 13 no spend days so far this month, and pretty sure I can add more to that amount. 

7.  Put $0.45 in the change jars, and added $75.00 to the savings envelope. I use the money in the envelope to purchase fabric and yarn or at times buy new clothing/shoes. The change jars help with paying for the Family reunion every 2 years. 

8.  Fixed a zipper on one of my fleece jackets. I hate fixing zippers!!!

9.  Harvey moved his wine from the primary to the secondary and will probably be bottling either the end of the month or perhaps the end of the first week in May.

10.  Harvey used bits and bobs from his stash of lumber downstairs to build a small stool to use with the grow lights and when outside planting.

So that is pretty much all that has been happening here.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Midweek and Midmonth

 Once again the forecasted rain did not show up. In fact today has been sunny and mild. Enjoying this while it lasts by going for a bit of a walk today. Tomorrow, may not be as nice and you need to take advantage when you can.

The one good thing I can think of bad weather helping is that I get to stay home and work on organizing and beginning to get ahead on making some of my homemade cleaners.

Spray bottles at the ready. Onwards to starting to "Green Up" my household cleaners. At which point I realized there is more that I will need to purchase to make a full set of cleaning supplies.

So today I managed to make two. A window cleaner, and a cleaner to rid the tub and sink of soap scum.

The window cleaner is water, vinegar in equal measure along with a bit of dish soap. 

The soap scum cleaner is just vinegar and a bit of water. 

What do I need to purchase to finish off my cleaning supplies? I need to purchase Borax, liquid Castille Soap, some tea tree oil, lavender oil, and more baking soda. I also need small jars to make various pastes. I can see that this is going to be a learning experience already. Vinegar can etch tiles so I will need to be careful using any cleaners containing that when working around the tiling in the bathroom and kitchen. Still I have made a start on at least giving these greener cleaning supplies a try. 

I have even found a recipe for dishwasher soap that I may have to try out very soon. There is also one for laundry detergent, but I am leery of that one considering how hard our water is. Mind you it is better than it used to be now that we have switched sources. I will think on that one a bit more. 

It isn't that I really need to cut back on spending, more I am going to make it a game just to see how much I can save from our finances and put into our savings account. 

So meals will be stretched, more cooking from scratch, trying to remove more packaged items from my grocery lists, cleaning supplies used up and then replaced by other homemade cleaners, I am also thinking of making those makeup remover pads, and making my own skin cleansing routine. 

Simplifying is what will be happening here. One does not need expensive cleaning supplies or ingredients for a meal. I have found that purchasing grocery items in the international food aisles saves me money. Spices are in larger bags and are less expensive than the bottles or bags in the regular aisle. Rice is also less expensive, mind you I purchased the Great Value rice the last time and it really wasn't too bad in price or taste. 

As far as stretching meals, most of what I make says it will feed 6, so we will eat it the first night, transfer part of what is left into a freezer container (I use/reuse tinfoil containers for this purpose) put the meal into the large chest freezer, and the part that is left will make another meal later that week. 

This isn't doom and gloom, rather it is making sure I am using up all that I have paid for to the best of my ability and trying to keep as much of our hard saved money in our hands instead of the stores getting it.

I have heard of others using one shelf in their fridges for leftovers. If you do this can you tell me how that has worked for you. I hate having items pushed to the back of my fridge and forgotten about. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

It has turned out to be a beautiful day. The sun came out at around noon, and the temperature sky rocketed. We are at 18C right now, but there are snow days ahead. Not looking forward to that at all.

I went shopping today and managed to get some very good on sale and marked down items. However shopping once again took almost 3 hours and my back was not feeling very good after that. Putting things away took some time, and I still have a few items that need to be put in containers, and the meat to be packaged up and put in the upright meat freezer. Tomorrow is soon enough for that.

Here is what was purchased today. Since I have lots in the fridge, freezers and pantry, most of this will be used much later. I could say that I stock up for many months down the road. 

I shopped at Walmart and our local Co-op store. Saw lots of meat mark downs at Walmart, but I know too many people who have gotten food poisoning from their meat so will stick with canned and baked goods. Our Co-op is a bit more costly, but we do get money back at the end of their shopping year (usually June) and get a nice build up of money in their account. I believe that account for me sits at almost $8K which I could pull out tomorrow. 

My Walmart shopping. It really wasn't bad at all this time around, however there were a few things I couldn't pick up. 

Co-op was next and this will be in a few photos.

I did purchase a few quick meals mainly because I was hungry. One should never shop on an empty stomach. As far as meat this shopping trip I got 2 packages of stew meat, a package of pollock fillets, and some split chicken wings. All on sale. I also purchased some luncheon meat, and those Pizza Pops (they were on sale for a really good price).

Not a great deal of fresh produce was purchased, but I am sure I have enough to last for a bit. If not there is always frozen or perhaps canned. 

We picked up our taxes today and I am breathing a sigh of relief. While Harvey has to pay a bit, it is not as much as it has been over the past few years. I even get a decent chunk back as well, which will cover his payment, the accountant payment, and gives a bit to perhaps put in the savings account. Life is good and I can stop worrying about make our money stretch even further, than I have to.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless. 

Menu Monday

 

Wow, it is the middle of the month, or close to it at any rate. One would think more April showers would be happening. While the next three days will have some rain, soon enough we will have lower temperatures and some of the white stuff. Really the type of weather that makes a person want to stay inside. 

So what are we eating this week. I am using a few things up from the fridge freezer and probably one item from the chest freezer. It all depends on if there are enough leftovers from one of my meals.

Monday

Ham and Pasta Bake. This has some extra veggies that I put into the casserole.

Tuesday

Sweet and Sour Ribs and I will pull out a package of frozen leftover rice from the fridge freezer. I will make carrots as a side dish. We do love carrots in this house.

Wednesday

Leftovers from Monday.

Thursday

Leftovers from Tuesday if there is enough for a meal. I may end up pulling a ready made meal from the chest freezer. I may make a salad.

Friday

Salmon patties, homemade hashbrowns (from the chest freezer), and peas. Leftover salad.

Saturday

Jambalaya which will use up some of the smoked garlic sausage from the fridge freezer, the last of the shrimp, and I will make another salad of some kind.

Sunday

Roast chicken, roast potatoes, and roast carrots. Served with any leftover salad.

This will take care of a few items in the fridge, fridge freezer, and the chest freezer as well.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

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.