Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

Getting ready for the next winter storm to hit. Hopefully not as hard as has been forecast. So far we have not had the rain that was predicted, so that is a good thing. Yet tomorrow more light rain is predicted. 

Streets were very sloppy earlier today, but from above freezing temperatures we have dropped to below freezing so what was water is now beginning to freeze into ice. 

I went out shopping today and now should be able to stay home during the Christmas week. I did purchase bread, but I think I will need to bake a few loaves and put them in the freezer. Kurt and Kris will be arriving a bit earlier than I thought so more bread will be needed and the menu will need a bit of a tweak on a couple of days. 

Really thought that if I got out early enough the stores would be reasonably easy to get around in. Hmmm, I think everybody had the same idea as all places were relatively crowded. I tried to stay as far away from people as possible mainly because of the flu and colds that are circulating around. I don't want to be ill over the holidays and miss spending time with the sons or extended family. 

This was our sunrise this morning. It did not happen until almost 9 am. Also if you notice over the last few days our snow has started to melt. Don't worry, according to our weather people we are going to get more. Perhaps a great deal more in some areas before Christmas. The ridge of ice in the middle of the road has since been picked up. 

After shopping, since I managed to get most of the daily to do list completed I got to roll up the reclaimed yarn into balls. I hope to get the pieces of the 4th sweater done today and tomorrow take apart the last sweater and begin the process of winding that yarn into balls. 

Off to set the table, wash and soak the rice. We are having a stir fry to use up the leftover pork from Sunday. Gradually using things up from the fridge freezer. 

My challenge is to use up all that I can in the fridge freezer and the chest freezer over the month of January. So much food, and it needs to be used. Perhaps even have couple of weeks to start the month off where I do not have to shop at all (fresh items and dairy exempt). Just need to figure out how to go about one of those, it is something I have never done before.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

The next two weeks I am trying to clear a few things out of the fridge freezer and after moving things around yesterday in my meat freezer I think I better plan on eating that down a bit. I would like to have a January where we use very little of the grocery budget. I think I can manage to go with dairy, fruit, and veggies with the occasional stock pile item replacement. 

Most of the meals except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be me using things up in the way of the many leftovers there still are in the freezer and the ready made meals in the larger freezer. 

I plan on shopping tomorrow so that I will not have to enter a store during the busy time leading up to Christmas. I am actually going to try and freeze milk in containers this time around. Should keep me out of the stores a bit longer.

So here are my menus for this week.

Monday

Leftover small sausage casserole.

Tuesday

Leftover pork made into a stir fry served over rice.

Wednesday

Lentil curry, over rice (I will make extra on Tuesday). Cooked frozen broccoli.

Thursday

Hot dogs, baked beans and perhaps the remainder of the mini hashbrowns.

Friday

Perogies, fried onions and sour cream.

Saturday

The last of the lentil curry or perhaps some pea soup and egg salad sandwiches.

Sunday

Chicken stuffed with broccoli and cheese, mashed potatoes, peas.

That will clear a bit out of the fridge freezer and make room for the leftovers from the upcoming week and Christmas. 

I asked Harvey if instead of a tossed salad I could make a coleslaw as the salad for Christmas dinner, mainly because the cabbage would last in the fridge from shopping this week until that meal. He said go for it. The sons should be quite okay with that as well. 

I have enough yogurt making supplies to make another batch of Greek style yogurt and when that runs out I will have toast, muffins, cinnamon buns, or oatmeal for my breakfasts. 

Pretty sure we will not starve if I keep out of the stores for the next while (would like to manage until after the new year). 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Rambling Thoughts

 

As the week ends here on the old homestead, I am reminded of days of yore when the boys were young, home and yours truly was driving for hockey practice or games. Things have certainly changed from those days and I am constantly surprised at the weather I used to drive through in order to get them to games or practices. Then again I think about the friends we made, the joy of watching them both play and how young both we and our sons were.

Today was actually a pretty nice day even with the wind chill and the next two days are supposed to be just gorgeous. That leading up to some rather nasty weather the week before the holiday. In fact we are supposed to get (according to the long range forecast) rain and lots of snow midweek. not at all what we want to see in the week before travel home begins for the holiday.

I worked on various projects today and while nothing was completed I am more than happy what was accomplished. I am not going to rush things, more take a slow and work towards an end goal of using up items or recycling what I already have. 

Over the last little while I have sort of pushed aside using my appliances to do my cooking for me (other than the yogurt maker and bread machine) and so I have decided that it is time to pull out all those appliances and use them to make our meals. Most of my menu plan can be done with an appliance or on the stove top. Time to see if during this winter I can cut our power bill by using those appliances to make our suppers. 

Moving things around in the upright freezer I noticed that I have way more in the way of main dish meats than I thought I had. Heaven only knows what is in the chest freezer. So now it is time to use things up and save on grocery costs. I work so hard in saving on other ways that this way with rising costs sometimes get pushed aside. Clearing out the freezers will be a great way to begin the savings for the new year. 

Life is getting simpler and more frugal, but I need to pay more attention.

The Third Sunday of Advent candle has been lit. 

The third candle of Advent is lit during the third week of Advent  and is often referred to as the Shepherd Candle. This candle  represents the joy that comes with the arrival of Jesus Christ.  The color of this candle is traditionally pink, which signifies joy  and celebration, contrasting with the purple candles that  represent hope, peace, and love during the other weeks of  Advent.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 Today I will share with you what I have managed to get done decorating. Mostly of course the living room and starting the dining room. Next week I plan on working on the hall way (a bit of a tidy needed out there once again) and perhaps I will be lucky and get a few things done in the kitchen as well.

This is most of what I have managed to get accomplished in the living room and dining room. I am going to add some beads to the garland above my curio cabinet and the hutch.

This is about as far as I have gotten in the hall way right now.

I will be making a wreath for above the seat, and I hope to add some decor to the hall window as well. I will say that Mrs. Snowlady does not seem to be appearing in my gallery pictures. If she ever does I will add her to my other decor pictures.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

A Simple Life

 

My moving towards a more simple life, is probably not the same as most people. I am not madly going through closets and cupboards getting rid of items. Instead I am methodically deciding what will help make my life easier and what is cluttering it into chaos. 

In reading the book on minimalism I have started to chose those things that make sense to my standard of living and what makes me happy. 

One of the things the book talks about is the turning of hangers so what one knows what one wears in a month or two in your closet. Hello, I live in four seasons and my closet contains summer sundresses. There is no way I would be wearing those in the feels like -40C weather (or colder) that we go through in the winter. Thus those hangers would never be turned around. Same can be said for winter wear when it is 40C above. So I will just continue the trying on and if it does not fit or bring me joy things will be gone in the various seasons. 

Perhaps my most definite move towards a simpler life is enjoying what I already have. That includes those appliances that make my life easier. My wrists since I broke one twice are no longer able to knead dough for bread or buns like they used to. My bread machine and KitchenAid help immensely in that area. My yogurt maker works wonders when I make Greek yogurt every second week for pennies a batch. 

Using my electric roaster or the toaster oven help me save on using the big oven on my stove. I need to do this rather simple thing a bit more often during the year. 

Over the years I have either inherited or purchased yarn and fabric. It does not make frugal sense to bundle those up and give them away. Simple living means making the most of those items by using them for clothing, gifts or knitting/weaving/sewing for charity. One of my projects for this month is to recycle handknits into balls for new projects in the coming year.

One thing I have learned on this journey is that simplicity and simple living means different things to different people. 

I will of course keep using items up, enjoying what I have and moving towards making and enjoying the quiet times that simple living means. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal

The weeks are passing by so very quickly even though I have been staying in due to road conditions and the cold I seem to have developed. The cold is mostly located in my head so I have been blowing my nose, and taking Tylenol for the sinus headache I seem to have developed over the past couple of days. Still I do seem to be on the mend for the most part. 

First of I would like to apologize that a few replies to my posts were not showing up. Blogger has been moving many to the spam folder, and a couple did not show up until much later in the day or in a couple of cases not until the next day. Strange. Still I think I managed to get all of them up and posted. 

So other than the usual frugal and thrifty past times here on the old homestead, what have I been up to?

1.  I have gone no where so the car was started once this week. I really will need to go and get the mail tomorrow.

2.  Finding new uses for the decor I used on two trees. The house is beginning to look very festive. Each day I find a new use for some of the ornaments and get a bit more joy in seeing the house transformed. I have also been finding ribbon, wreath forms, and other items which uses up some of my stashes and gives those items new life. 

3.  Making the best use of leftovers that I can. I am cutting back on the amount of meat in a casserole and Harvey doesn't even notice that lack. 

4.  Using microfiber cloths to dust and clean much more often.

5.  Saving the water to water the few indoor plants I have, while waiting for the water to warm up for dishwashing.

6.  Lights are being turned off when the room is not in use.

7.  Hand stitched/darned a small hole closed in a sweater that I love.

So there are the things I can remember that are new. I am also back to using my toaster oven and other appliances a bit more.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

 

Midweek Yet Again

 

We had a few power flickers last night, but the power stayed on which was a very good thing as with the wind it was very cold. Today has been dark and gloomy, perfect for staying inside cleaning, baking and working on projects. Though I have been kind of scattered about the project part. 

Some of the peppers I purchased a week or so ago, were starting to get soft and wrinkled so I chopped them up and put them in the fridge freezer. 

Redid my menu plan to use up as much from the fridge freezer as possible before Kurt and Kris come home for Christmas, and I believe I will be hauling some containers out of the chest freezer downstairs to make some room for turkey and a few other items for over the holidays. I just cannot believe how much I have accumulated once again in both of those freezers. Not wasting anything sure adds up.

The book I am reading is titled 

minimalism

The Path to an Organized, Stress-free and Decluttered Life by Gwyneth Snow

Now I am not too sure I will totally embrace the concept, but there are definite areas in my life that I will be using some of the ideas in this book. I am about half way through and she keeps stressing that baby steps are what is necessary so as not to fall back on a life of consumerism. It is definitely baby steps happening here at this time. I am starting with the decluttering and working towards the organized. 

Part of my decluttering is using up what I already have. I spent good, hard earned cash and just will not give it all away. Especially if it can be used by me to make something to help others or give as gifts. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.