Sunday Ramblings

 

Ahh, the last day of a week. Or perhaps the first day depending on your calendar or how you view the week.

I did not make the menu planned for today as it was so freaking hot here. At 3 pm the temperature reached 34C with a feels like temperature of 40C. No way was I going to heat up the house by turning on the oven.

So supper was a kind of sort of mish mash of cold plate and things I could make on top of the stove. The roast meal will probably be done later in the week when temperatures are supposed to drop.

I promised you all some pictures.

Pickles in a bucket...though in my case it is Pickles in a large glass jar. I may be able to add another few slices of cucumber or perhaps a whole small cucumber.

Mint jelly, I just have to label and get them put away.

This is one of two lemon trees that I started from seed this past winter. The other one is twice as tall, but only has one branch so far. It looks a bit strange.

And this is my prize from thirty-one. At first I thought it might be big enough for my phone and with the belt clip would be perfect. Well it is just a touch too small. I need some ideas on what to use it for.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

This week has passed by in a flash. I think it is because I have been busy dehydrating, making mint jelly, and getting those bucket pickles made. No pictures, but I promise to take some tomorrow.

Also our fridge is starting to act up and so most of the week has been spent researching and shopping for a new one. Decision was made today and we purchased a new one that will hopefully be delivered on the 21st of this month. 

This means eating down the food in the fridge right now and trying not to over buy over the next few weeks. Something that I could find difficult since garden produce is coming in hot and heavy.

Mornings have been spent working on harvesting and processing as well as the usual household chores. Afternoons are spent working on projects. I have almost gotten another row of grid done on the t-shirt rug. I thought Harvey would hate it as it is pretty wild, but he seems to really like it. Mind you he does seem to like to ask me if it isn't too much work.

Nights are spent either getting a blog post up and then knitting or just resting and knitting. 

I bought some grocery totes from Thirty-0ne because a good friend was having a party and these totes really interested me. Well this week I found I won a prize.... Picture to come tomorrow and I will be asking for ideas on how to use this.

Off to get knitting.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Frugal Friday

Time for my Frugal Frugal Five for this week. At least I hope for 5 frugal things I managed to get done this week. By the way blogger isn't letting me left align and is doing very weird things. Please bear with me and hopefully things will correct very soon. Trying justify and that seems to be working.

1.  Picked and processed more herbs from the garden.

2. Only spent cash one time this week and stuck to my grocery list.

3. Had the windows open one night this week. Was not cool enough to do this any other night. So saved a bit on air conditioning costs.

4.  We need a new fridge as a few things are going wrong with our old one so have been researching and comparing prices.

5.  Changed our menu tonight to use up a few things. Instead of lazy perogy casserole, I made a shrimp pasta salad. That used up one cuke, some of the tomatoes, and a can of shrimp I found at the back of the pantry shelf that needed to be used.

6.  Still walking for my daily dose of exercise in the early morning and then taking a shorter walk in the evening after supper.

My friends Dad is now in Palliative Care. She had to sign a DNR yesterday morning. Things are not looking very good at all. She is trying to get him sent back here for whatever time is left. I hope to know more in the next few days.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Ah, Midweek and Still Darn Warm

 I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but it is getting dark earlier. This is a photo at around 9:30 a couple of nights ago.

It also shows the fireworks that were happening for some odd reason south of the city. Here is another one or two from that night.

Bit blurry as are the remaining ones. I really need to learn how to take photos or get a better camera.

I tried my hand at arranging flowers, and while not perfect, really isn't bad for a first try. Harvey loved it.

I think he was just trying to make me feel good about it.

Garden harvesting was happening as well.

Cucumbers and peppers getting ready for a bath.

Line up of small tomatoes on the window sill. 

Hopefully I will get more cukes ready to be picked so I can make those pickles in a bucket by the end of the week.

Tomorrow is shopping and there are a few things I need to pick up to make the mint jelly. I was asked what I do with the jelly and mostly I use it on ham, and pork as a condiment. My boys love mint jelly on ham. Gives it a bit of sweetness and I don't have to use a brown sugar glaze.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

 

Most of my thrifty ways were spent using things up in the fridge. Cleaned out a few containers, and used food from the garden. Pretty much everything but the beans are growing.

Checked my canning and found I need to make more mint jelly so that is on the list for this week as well as dehydrating herbs.

Lots of relish and pickles left, except for pickles in a bucket so I will be making some of those as well. Possibly towards the end of the week.

Since I don't need relish most of the tomatoes will go towards making salsa. We love us some salsa and chips (planning on trying to make my own chips from corn tortillas).

I fixed a couple of seams on some of Harvey's shorts to extend their life and darned two pairs of socks.

Working on using up those t-shirt strips making the rug. In doing so today I found I was a bit short on the purple strips so I picked some strips that had purple in them (mostly black though) and used them. Only got 2 squares of the grid completed, but hopefully tomorrow will get at least 3 possibly almost 4 done.

I have a list of books (free of course) to download on my ereader. Getting ready for our trip in September.

So there are my thrifty moves for the last week.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

A new weekly menu and one where I try to clean out the fridge as much as is humanly possible.

Monday

Stir fry using up the green pepper, onion, and celery from the fridge (with the addition of some cauliflower and broccoli along with a can of mushrooms from the pantry).  Also using up the last bag of frozen cooked beef from the freezer. Served over rice.

Tuesday

Leftover ham made into a casserole. Probably the potato/ham one that Harvey likes so much. I have some cucumbers so will probably make a cucumber salad.

Wednesday

Supper will be all the bits and bobs on the shelves of the fridge.

Thursday

Chicken strips, homemade fries and whatever salad I make (could be a kale salad, or a cauliflower/broccoli salad).

Friday

Glace and eggs.

Saturday

Smoked sausage done on the BBQ along with tinfoil veggie packages. Remains of the salad from Thursday.

Sunday

Roast pork, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and probably another cucumber salad.

I am hoping this cleans out the fridge a little bit.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 Just another week getting things either started or completed. 

I was asked why we will catch and release the bunny, fact is they seem to enjoy eating things in the garden, and the bigger they get the more they manage to eat. So just like the one last year, once it gets to the size where he/she is able to survive in the wild we will move him/her out of the city. 

Now on to my goals for the month of July.

1.  Finish quilt top.  Done

pr

2.  Make those cards I planned on doing last month. Not even thought about

3.  Work on the cross stitch.  Done but lots more to go.

4.  Get that rag/t-shirt rug started at least.  Started

5.  Knit 2 more Secret Santa Scarves if not more.  Actually knit three scarves and started a fourth.

6.  If I finish all those start to sandwich the two quilt tops I will have to move onto the next steps. Not done.

Some of these were not completed as I did some little projects instead.

I made new cushion covers for three of the pillows in the living room. I also cut up the jeans that our oldest Kurt brought home. So a bit of a carry over will happen again this month.

On to Augusts monthly goals.

1.  Work on cross stitch.

2.  Make those darn cards I keep putting off.

3.  Work on t-shirt rug.

4.  Sandwich and quilt one top (perhaps even get some binding on it as well).

5.  Cut the denim from those jeans that Kurt brought home into 4" squares.

6.  Knit two scarves. 

7.  Work on processing the garden produce.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.