A Beautiful Evening

A couple of nights ago, I enjoyed sitting out on our deck and watching the sky. The clouds were drifting across the full moon, making for a glorious sight.

It was like those eerie horror movies on television. So very dark out and the clouds silently slipping by the face of the moon. It was probably only a foretelling of the rain we were going to get all yesterday, but so very much fun to watch.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Finishing Up May

So how did I do this month?

1.     Copy and declutter 2 binders of recipes.  Done

2.     Go back and complete some goals from previous months.  Working on still, but I am almost finished my cross stitch. Just have a few finishing touches.

3.     Change my wardrobe over from Fall/Winter to Spring/Summer.  Done

4.     Plant flowers and the veggie garden.   Done

5.    Spray some pots with the Glow In The Dark Paint.  Done

6.     Finish the scanning of pictures.  Done

So pretty well overall.

Goals for this month.

1.     Copy and declutter remaining two binders of recipes.

2.     Scan small recipe booklets.
 
3.     Continue with unfinished goals and projects from other months.

4.     Finish knitting baby sweaters that I want to give to our expected new arrival. A niece is having her first child.

5.     Weed gardens weekly.

Hopefully I will continue to get my goals completed.

Project Declutter is moving right along. I managed to remove another 77 items from the house last month. Mostly clothing that no longer fits or that I do not enjoy any longer. This brings my total to 579 items!!!

I am sure there will be more added to that total this month. Hey, I might actually reach 1000 items with any luck what so ever.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

A new month and another month of menu planning. At least I should be able to get Harvey out to the BBQ a bit more often now.

Monday

Leftover Chili served over pasta and the remaining salad.

Tuesday

Leftover roast beef made into a stir fry (lots of bits of veggies to use up).

Wednesday

I plan on using up the last package of small sausages. Think this will be a layered casserole.

Thursday

Chicken legs done on the BBQ. I will serve them with rice and a salad.

Friday

Baked Cod, mashed potatoes, corn niblets, and a salad (probably leftover salad).

Saturday

Clean out the fridge night of anything left over.

Sunday

Roast Chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and a salad.

Tomorrow I will update everyone on how I did on my goals last month, post my new goals, and update on project declutter.

Everyone have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

I really meant to do a post yesterday but something came up.

Remember how I said my days kind of drift in to each other with nothing really exciting happening. Well I guess I spoke too soon.

Harvey and Kris took off fishing early yesterday morning. Me, why I decided it was the perfect time to weed some of the flower beds in the yard.

First I did the Hosta bed.

Nicely cleaned up and ready for some more mulch once the new fence is put up.

Then I moved on.

The Coleus planter was next. Pretty easy to weed, but with all the elm seeds blowing in it could be a never ending job.

Next was the perennial bed.

Slowly but surely fewer and fewer weeds are popping up in here. Now if I can just keep on top of it.

I moved into the house next and baked a loaf of bread for Kris to take home with him when he left today and after a bit of a break to peruse the internet started on my Rhubarb Sponge Pie. I got the pie into the oven and started it baking. The pie was to bake for 40 minutes, but usually gets too brown in that length of time so I shortened the baking time.

Sat down at the computer to input some numbers into the budget spread sheets and managed to get about 1/2 done when the phone rang.

"Hi, we're stuck. Want to come and get us?"
"Oh."
"See if the tow rope is in the car."

This had me running out to the car to check on a tow rope. Nope, nada, nothing.

"No tow rope. Are you sure it isn't in the truck?"
"No, it isn't there. Come and get us and we will figure something out."
"Okay, give me some directions as to where you are."
"Go 2 miles east on the highway, turn west at the alpaca farm, and then go three miles, turn south and go about a mile. We are in the middle of the road."
"Can you give me sight directions rather then miles?"

I navigate by directions such as turn right at the large elm, go until you see the house with the large barn and turn left sort of thing. Not only that but my vehicle distance is measured in kilometers and not miles. Driving is not conducive to figuring out the difference as you go.

"Okay go past the weigh scales, go past the pulse plant, turn at the farm with the white fence. Go past two roads and turn at the third. There is a house with a red roof that you should be able to see."
"Give me 10 more minutes as I have a pie in the oven that I need to get out first and I will be there."
"Ahh, Jackie remember your cell phone, just in case."
"Why, are you worried I might get lost?"
"There is a chance."

So I locked the back door, the pie was taken out of the oven, and I was on my way. I managed to find my way to the house with the red roof, but took a chance turning as Harvey did not tell me which way to turn.

There my men were lodged in a nice deep rut in the road. I picked them up, and they traveled home covered in mud, dropped me off and went to find a sturdy tow rope.

On the way home Kris kept picking ticks off his clothing and dropping them out the car window.

For those of you that don't know what a tick looks like this picture shows you the blood sucking monsters!! The deer tick can carry Lyme Disease whereas the wood tick just enjoys digging in for a good meal of blood from a warm blooded host.

I think he picked 8 off his clothing on the way home and I picked one out of his hair when we arrived at home.

This morning I was scratching my lower back and I felt something. I asked Kris to take a look, and sure enough a tick had started to bite. He pulled it off and we gave it a burial at sea.

Soon after this he left and the day progressed as a usual Sunday does. That is until supper time.

I happened to look down and there was another tick crawling up the front of my t-shirt. Harvey grabbed it and disposed of said tick.

I really do hate when my men bring unexpected guests home.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Frugal Friday

It has been a fairly frugal week around the old homestead. Since all garden spending was done previously we had a few no spend days this past week. Love those no spend days.

Decluttering has started up again. This time with my spring and summer wardrobe. I managed to fill two bags to take to the upscale second hand store this week.

Hopefully I will have two more bags to take very soon. Slowly but surely I am getting close to that elusive 1000 items. At the end of this month I will have an update as to how close I am getting. I could have listed these items of clothing on our city garage sale site and made a bit of money, but the second hand store I took them to uses the proceeds from sales to support various women's charities in our city. I feel it is important to support what they are doing and this is one way to do so.

Grocery shopping was kept to a minimum this week. I am trying to eat down the pantry and the freezer.

Monday was a beautiful day and I managed to get all but one load out on the clothes lines to dry this week.

I am happy that we managed to use up all the leftovers for meals this week. Sometimes we fail on this and end up wasting food.

I have baked two loaves of bread this week. Strange, as we seem to be using less and less bread every week.

The air conditioners have only been on once this week. I have been opening the windows in the evenings and the house is nice and cool come morning. It stays that way for most of the day.

I have also been using up yarn from my stash, got to love a good stash!!

Kris is home this weekend to help his Dad remove a fence and go fishing. Male bonding time and time alone for me. Something I need every once in awhile.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday Tid Bits

The day started off very quietly. I went for my early morning walk and quite enjoyed the peace and quiet. I love walking early in the morning, there are very few cars out and no people what so ever. The quiet gives me peace and allows me to plan my day.

I spent a bit of time working on decluttering my closet. I managed to get through my trousers, skirts and jackets. I still have dresses to go through and hopefully will be adding more to my donation bag.

This afternoon I worked on my cross stitch for a bit, and then settled in to read. I do enjoy my Kobo ereader and all the free books I get to download.

The late afternoon saw the wind pick up and rain start to fall. The temperature is supposed to drop drastically tonight. There is even a risk of frost, so I spent some time this evening covering my flowers. Harvey on the other hand is going to chance it and not cover any of his vegetables. Sure hope the forecast is wrong.

My days just seem to flow one into the next. Nothing too exciting, just life lived simply and quietly.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Recipe Wednesday

Today I think I will share with you a recipe my mother-in-law made every spring.

Rhubarb is a spring fruit staple in Saskatchewan, heck the whole prairie region of Canada!

I try and make this rhubarb cake two or three times a season. It is always a big hit as you can tell.

Rhubarb Cake

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup shortening (or margarine)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups chopped or thinly sliced rhubarb
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda in 1 cup sour milk

Mix and put in a prepared 9 x 11 pan.

1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp softened margarine

Mix and sprinkle over the top.

Bake 35 min at 350 F.

Cool and enjoy.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.