Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

Still cold, but things look to be turning around tomorrow and better yet come the weekend and into the next week.

Finished tidying the pantries and the home canned items as well. Then I moved on the the fridge freezer basket. There are two reasonably large baskets under a pull out shelf. One contains the meals for the week, and the other contains the bits and bobs from leftover roasts, chicken, broth making bones, and things like puff pastry. I am always amazed at how much in the way of leftover food can be put in that basket. 

I am pretty sure that I will be able to feed us for a couple of weeks on on the goodies I found. And after the pork roast on Sunday there will be even more bags to use up. There are a few items in my pantry that need using as well so I will be busy trying to find new and interesting ways to use everything. I also know many meals will have leftovers that will be used for another meal or for lunches. 

Funny thing is I always swear that this overly packed basket  won't get ahead of me and somehow it does. At least 4 times a year. 

Then of course there are all the lentils, rice, beans, pasta and canned meat in the pantry. I have way too many cans of salmon and almost as many cans of tuna. 

The first two weeks of March I will be clearing out a few things. this means no monthly menu as such. Rather I will do a weeks plan at a time so as to take advantage of all the riches I have found. This should save us some money as well this coming month as all I will probably be purchasing is some dairy, produce and fruit.

Really happy here as it looks as if I will actually have 4 placemats made out of this loom warp. I hope to finish them off by Friday and have pictures to share of what projects I have been working away on. The only good thing about cold weather and vehicles that won't start, is that one stays home and gets things done. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 

The temperatures are rising, but that will be bringing snow and cloudy sky. I was hoping to be able to finish my rose quilt square this month and start on another, but that might not happen. Still I have things on my project/goals list that I can work on and perhaps even complete. I really should post my goals here at some point, perhaps on Tuesday.

I have also been tidying the sewing/craft room and making an inventory of various craft supplies. There are very few items I need, but there are some that would be very nice to have. I might continue to save in order to purchase some of those "nice to have" items at some point this year. I would love a heat press and mat for Cricut t-shirts and things of that nature. A mug press would be lovely as well. I do have aida cloth and linen for cross stitch but could always use some more in different stitch sizes. 

Yarn, well I am good for probably the next 4 or 5 years as people keep gifting me yarn that they are not using. Fabric, probably enough to last at least a year for myself, but if I want to make anything for Harvey, Kurt or Kris, I will need to purchase. Still I will use up what I have and of course, since I am on a no waste year, the scraps will be used as well for quilts, runners and perhaps even a bag or three. 

I will need to inventory my lotions and potions next. Not that I have that much in the potion category, but I need to take a closer look at those cleansers, masks and facial things. My skin is really drying out this winter so I am using much more hand and body lotion than usual for me. 

There are certain areas of the meat freezer that need a bit of restocking so I am really hoping for some great sales on beef and pork over the coming months. 

Harvey almost has my table ready to put back in the dining room, and I think I will make a few more table cloths and placemats to protect the surface. I believe that was the problem to begin with. He will also need to fix a few things on the cabinet and the buffet. 

As far as books for my other hobby, I will continue to download as many free ones as possible, though there are a few of my favourite authors that I will need to purchase. Still it is less expensive to purchase the ebook, and so I will continue to do this.

So far this year (of course it is only 5 days into the year) I have used appliances to cook dinner 3 of those days and expect to do so much more often. In fact this upcoming week I will be appliance cooking most days, and only using the oven to bake some pies and bread all on the same day and filling the oven. 

So enough of my rambling thoughts, and off to make our supper which will consist of stuffed chicken breasts done in the toaster oven, the leftover rice and noodles, and the leftover salad.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

Nothing really completed this week, just the working on the pantry items and getting an inventory made of all that we have, and all that we are short on. I am hoping that this helps Thus (well me really) with the using up and shopping at home first. I really need to be more aware of what needs to be used.

This week I will try and get the two freezers in the basement tidied and an inventory of each made. This will enable me to use items up before frost damage and before spring arrives and the garden planning begins. I really need to know what needs using up before we start stocking things once again. Pretty sure there will be more items than I figure on. 

I have been knitting and working on the counted cross stitch. Not getting as much done on either as I would like. Next cloudy day I will be copying some of the recipes we have tried that were absolutely wonderful. I also have some new recipes that I will need to try out over the next little while. 

While I am trying to make my life simpler, I don't want to do anything too quickly or get rid of items that would actually be useful in a simpler life. I actually think that attaining a simple life is not quite as "simple" as it is made out to be.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Midweek

 

Here we are at the first midweek of another month. I have a feeling that even though we are becoming snowed in a bit this is another month that will whiz right by.

We got snow late last night that kept right on falling for most of the day. Harvey and I shoveled again today. Not as much as the first big snowfall, but about 4". One more cold day and then the temperature starts to rise once again. We will be over the freezing mark during the day for the rest of the week and hopefully beyond. 

It was overcast for most of the day so no cross stitching took place. Still there were a few projects I could work on that not much light was needed. Of course one of those projects was knitting (which will continue this evening) and I worked on cleaning and inventorying the pantry in the kitchen. No before picture, but here's a picture of the finished kitchen pantry.

While I can't see every item, thanks to the clean up I know where everything is and thanks to the inventory I know how much we have of each item. This also helped me see what I need to look for when things are on sale to restock some items that have gotten low.

I don't know why the first photo is so blurry. Must have moved the camera slightly.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.