That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It

As I said in yesterdays post I didn't post much last week. Not only was I busy (surprisingly enough), but I was also getting used to these.....

Yes, my new glasses..... The optometrist calls them progressive lenses, I on the other hand call them trifocals. You know the saying "A rose by any other name....." I am finding it very hard to focus on anything with them. I seem to find the sweet spot, then glance away and when I come back I have lost the area I need to use. People keep telling me to give it time, but this is crazy. Even now I lose the area I need and things get blurry. Hard to concentrate on something long enough to get anything completed. Guess I am getting old.

I did manage to complete a few things over the past week.

First I finished off a skirt.

Nice and light, perfect for the upcoming summer. If it ever arrives. Summer that is.

Next I finished off a pair of shorts.

A nice bright blue. I may just have to make a summery top to go along with these.

I also tried a new recipe tonight for supper. It is a keeper, quick, easy to make and it tasted just great.

Almost like a turkey stew, but a lot spicier. I got the recipe from an old cookbook I picked up at the Salvation Army.

In case anyone wants to give it a try. Here is the recipe.

Spicy Curried Chicken With Tomatoes

1/4 cup oil
1 medium onion chopped coarsely
2 medium green peppers, cored, seeded and chopped
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups cubed cooked chicken (I used turkey instead)
28 oz can tomatoes with their juice
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and green peppers and cook, covered for 5 minutes or until the onion is soft.
Add the garlic, cumin, cayenne pepper, paprika, curry powder, ginger and salt. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, 8 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
Put the chicken and tomatoes with their juice into the skillet. Simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes, or until the chicken is heated through and the liquid has thickened slightly.
Stir in the lemon juice. Serve with rice, noodles or potatoes.

You can use beef or lamb instead of the chicken or turkey.

This was a great way to use up leftovers and I have enough leftover for another meal. It also really did not take much time to put together. I think I could manage this even on a busy day.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

My how the time flies. I haven't been posting much this past week due to Kris fixing our computer on the weekend, and more or less living at the church. I hope to get back on track this week, but we shall see.


On with my weekly menus.

Monday

Pork chops, rice and either peas and carrots or the leftover salad from Easter.

Tuesday

Leftover chicken made into a casserole.

Wednesday

Clean out the fridge night. Should have lots of leftovers to get cleared out.

Thursday

Hamburgers and pasta if it is nice enough to BBQ, Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and a salad if not.

Friday

Vegetable Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

Saturday

Something using the Italian Sausage I bought. Perhaps a home made pizza.

Sunday

Beef Roast, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, and gravy.

Everyone have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Wednesday Is Here

This week is flying by. Soon Kris will be home and Kurt will be winging his way to Greece with his students. The Tridium starts tomorrow with Holy Thursday and my glasses are in as well.

Today I only worked in the office for a couple of hours and then headed home. I have a slight tickle in my throat so I hope I am not coming down with anything at this busy time.

Once home I completed my computer work for the Dogmatic Theology course next week and continued getting ready for the Easter Vigil.

Gifts for the RCIA participants from the parish are now wrapped and ready to give them that evening.

Wrapped in plain white tissue with a card that reads "God loves you". Perfect as that is what most of the course was about. The fact that God loves you just as you are, with all your defects and quirks.

My starter plants are coming along nicely.

Well all but the mint that is. Looks like I will be watering them tomorrow.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 It is that time of the week once again. Last week I stuck to my menu plans very well. One day however, instead of the planned Chicken Wings we ate up the last of the chili. I also froze a package of chili and pasta for Kris to take home with him.

Monday

Leftover beef roast made into a pot pie with carrots, frozen peas, leftover corn and potatoes.

Tuesday

Spaghetti and meat sauce. I will make a salad to go with this.

Wednesday

Chicken Fingers, Oven Fries and the last of the salad.

Thursday

Baked Spaghetti.

Friday

Glace and eggs.

Saturday

We will be having our Easter dinner today as Kris will be heading back to Regina sometime Sunday morning.
Ham, potatoes, carrots, a salad, pickles, and more than likely a pie or crisp for dessert or perhaps a cake????

Sunday

Leftover ham and scalloped potatoes.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God Bless.

Sunday Ramblings

Today we start the Celebration of Christ's last week of life. This Sunday commemorates Christ's entrance into Jerusalem.

We heard the Passion story and listened to the reading from the Old Testament that spoke about his upcoming death.

Just thinking about what he will go through for our sins makes me grateful that God (cause Christ was God in human form) loved us all so very much. We need to pick up our cross and follow him.

It was a quiet day overall with just a few household tasks. Making my list of chores for next week and stripping and remaking my bed. Otherwise I really did not do very much at all, quite in keeping with a day of rest.

I did pull out the turkey carcasses from the freezer in the basement and make some stock.

Here is a picture of it boiling to concentrate it a little bit. I managed to get 4 1/2 containers which are cooling on my counter. I will be putting them in the fridge and then tomorrow in the freezer.

These are the bones, cooling and getting ready for me to pick the meat off them. I have enough meat picked off to add to two big pots of soup in the coming weeks. Frugal as my soup will only cost me pennies and homemade is always better tasting.

Then it was time to sit and have a bit of a rest.

What better way than a pot of tea and contemplation of life.

Yesterday I sewed some more of the burgundy cord on my rug project. Here is my weekly update.

Just a short piece of the burgundy left and I have already added in the sage green. The rug is now 3 feet across, so it is growing. Not quickly, but it is growing.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

No Waste Day

It's Saturday on the old Homestead and things moved along quite nicely.

I lost my gadget that said what blogs I was following so I have started to do it over. You will notice some are missing, but slowly I hope to get them all back up as well as some new ones. This is cleaning up my bookmarks as well. If I haven't gotten you on the blog roll as of yet, don't worry you will be back again soon.

I am happy to announce that we are more or less finished the big pot of chili I made a few days ago. Three meals for Harvey and I, plus a TV type meal to give to Kris when he comes home next weekend for Easter.

Oops, just noticed that I dated this wrong!!! Oh well, only out by a day. This meal for one used up the remaining pasta in the fridge and the last of the pot of chili. I love when I have no waste!!!

I also spent time in the sewing/craft room doing what I love. I finished off the shorts (though why I was concerned about getting them finished when we are now at -2 C I will never know) and a little dress.

I am moving right along getting this months goal completed, as far as sewing is concerned. As long as the patterns are simple I should be just fine.

All scraps from cutting out patterns over the last two months have been folded and put away. I am sure that I will find a use for every piece eventually.

I even finished making cord with the burgundy yarn late this afternoon. Now I just have to sew what is made onto the rug and I can add the sage green yarn. I am beginning to think more and more that work just cuts into my craft time. Guess it is time to figure out if I want to work or if I want to spend more time at home doing these types of activities. I hope to figure this out by the end of June, if not sooner.

Tomorrow I plan on doing a bit more sewing. I have a few patterns cut out that need to be sewn with blue thread so I hope to be able to do most of them with the same colour.

 Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless

Friday Snippets

Today has been fairly quiet. I have spent time in the sewing/craft room straightening things up. I also spent a bit of time sewing. I could have finished sewing my first pair of shorts today, but decided after doing a bit of sewing and tidying it was time to move on to something else.

While shopping today I picked up these beauties.

I definitely needed something to remind me that it was spring. After a few days of lovely warm weather, we are now under a snow advisory..... Some areas of the province are expected to get up to 15 cm of snow tonight and tomorrow. Not us thank heavens, but where my brothers live the weather is supposed to be just terrible.

It is April for crying out loud and it is raining right now. I foresee some seriously bad road conditions ahead. Add snow on top of ice slicked roads and accidents are sure to happen.

I also said good bye to my old purse. She was 5 years old and getting pretty worn out. Here is my new one.

Another reminder that spring should actually be here. I bought this at our family reunion 4 years ago and am really looking forward to using it over the next while.

Hubby bought me a special gift today, and I enjoyed a glass before supper.

Chocolate wine!!!! I couldn't wait for it to chill so I added a few ice cubes to it. I can hardly wait until I can enjoy a glass or two on the deck.

Every spring we are visited by two very special birds. Hubby actually thinks they have a nest in the rather large evergreen in the neighbours yard. This is actually the first time I have ever seen the two of them together rather than just hearing them coo.

Two fat and sassy Mourning Doves. The picture is not the best as it was getting dark out but still shows our yearly visitors. The greet us every morning with their call and are a sure sign that spring is actually here.

Last night we had our second last RCIA meeting. I have extended it one more meeting in order to do a bit of a wrap up. The participants will be confirmed at the Vigil and we are all very excited. I will really miss these two participants, they were willing to discuss absolutely everything and are so excited about the Tridium.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.