Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate the holiday at this time of year. My thanks to each of you for dropping by.

God bless.

A Bit More Progress and Questions

I have finished the purple stripe and the smaller cream stripe on the afghan. A tiny bit of progress on the Christmas gift for Kris. I hope to have most of the second grey stripe done by the weekend. Whew, just may get finished after all.

One step forward and two back however. I stripped the bedding off our bed and put it in the washer..... Well the catch broke and so now I am without a washer until the part comes in. This washer is only 4 years old and should not be falling apart as of yet. Guess it is true that things are not made as well as they used to be. Our dryer is about 15 years old and still going strong. Has anyone else noticed this?????

My other question has to do with Christmas. Around our house Christmas has always been a big deal. It is a time that the entire family can get together and enjoy each others company. The size of the gift does not matter, it is the thought that counts in choosing the gift.

What I am having trouble with this year is how some bloggers will one minute talk about how Christmas is a commercial holiday, a grab for our money and the next talk about how their next blog post will be about getting ready for a wonderful celebration. In fact in previous posts some of these bloggers call Christmas a bank holiday and cut down those of us that do celebrate the holiday. How on earth can they reconcile those two totally different thoughts? Does anyone else see something wrong with this?

I am still going to Celebrate the birth of my savior with my family in the best way I can. Cherishing each moment that we have together because time is too short to not do so every chance we get. We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and retirements can we do anything but celebrate during the Christmas season as well?

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

Monday has rolled around once again (much too quickly for my taste) and it is time for me to post my weekly menus.

Monday

Baked Spaghetti using up the leftovers from Saturday night. Mind you there will be enough for another meal of this as well. Plan on making a salad to round out the meal.

Tuesday

Leftover Pork Roast from our Sunday supper made into a stir fry and served over a bed of rice.

Wednesday

Leftover Baked Spaghetti and some more salad.

Thursday

Leftover Stir Fry and rice.

Friday

We will be out for a meal. It will be the Christmas party for the company Harvey used to work for and retirees are always invited.

Saturday

I am pulling out the ham bone and making Split Pea Soup. I think that Grilled Cheese Sandwiches sound perfect.

Sunday

Beef Roast, mashed potatoes and either green beans or carrots.

So there it is, my fairly repetitive menu for the week. I am really trying to cut down on waste and on the grocery budget. Nothing seems to cost less, and the only way to combat rising prices is to shop smart and use up everything you possibly can.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

As I left for Mass today the sky was overcast and it started to rain. Not the best weather for a cold November day and really at that moment in time I confess I was a little put out thinking we would have another year of ice driving.

I was one of the lectors at Mass today, and as I was reading the sun came out and started to shine in the windows of the church. By the time Father Brian started the gospel the church was awash with colour through the stained glass. I guess I should trust in the Lord a bit more when the skies are cloudy and the day is dull.

Thought I would share a picture of the front of my church with you all.

I just love the way the light shines through the windows.

This is a picture of the church entrance.

 

Not really clear, but it gives you a bit of an idea of what the church I attend looks like. 

Today Father Brian ended his homily with a question (he usually does this). His question was how can we show the faith and love that the thief showed when he asked Christ to remember him to his Father in heaven. 

Once again Father Brian opened our eyes to the fact that celebrating as a community is great, but it is just as important that we carry the gospel outside of the church and live it in our every day lives.

It has been a quiet day. 

I did make some candy today, but only one batch. 

 This will be broken up tonight and placed in the freezer.

The rest of the day I have spent knitting. Here is a picture of the afghan so far.

Long way to go yet and so I think I will put aside baking for awhile and concentrate on getting this gift finished.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Slowly But Surely

"Slowly, but surely" can be used in a number of ways on the Phillips homestead. Today, however it is being used for my Christmas baking and candy making..... Slowly but surely I am getting it all done and into the freezer.

Today was another cold day on the prairies and the best thing was to stay in, keep warm and do some Christmasy (is this even a word...blogger doesn't think so) things.

I found it to be another productive day in the kitchen.

First I made these flat Truffles.

Now they are cut and ready to go into the freezer.

I moved on to Peanut Butter Cups, Only this time I made them as squares.

These still have to be sliced and put in a container. I will do that later tonight. Saved lots of time doing them this way for a change.

Onto the next goodie for the freezer. Chocolate Mint Snowballs.

These lovely morsels of chocolate goodness will be rolled in icing sugar just before serving.

Lastly I made something I did not get a chance to make last year and they were dearly missed by everybody in the family. Caramels!!!!!

These still have to cool a bit before cutting and wrapping. I know what I will be busy doing tomorrow after Mass.

Just a few things left to do and I can safely say my baking and candy making is done for the holiday season.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday Tidbits

I have had back pain this week and today is actually the first day I have been pain free. In fact I feel wonderful.

I don't know whether our cat Shania was sick in sympathy with me or not, but after a week of her.....well vomiting, and other not so nice things happening she seems better today as well.

 

Here she is after getting fed her treats and me stepping on a couple and smashing them to bits. She is not impressed with me and the mess I made at all.

The rest of the day was spent doing my regular Thursday chores and smelling the glue that Harvey is using to do some woodworking in the basement.

I did manage to get most of the Christmas cards ready for the mail, and a parcel as well.

Only a couple left and those get a nice long letter. They are for two girls I went to University with, oh so many years ago.

Well it is time to get back to my knitting. This afghan for Kris is taking so much longer than the others. Hope I can get it done in time.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Middle of the Week

It is the middle of the week and I am busy attending meetings, doing my regular household chores and of course getting baking and candy making underway for when Kurt and Kris come home. I have even started my Christmas Cards and hope to get them done by tomorrow (sure helps that I have cut down the number of people I send to over the years).

The snow has been coming down since noon today and the temperature has dropped considerably. I think winter has arrived!

Today I made Melting Moment Cookies (a type of shortbread cookie) and Peanut Brittle.

Here is a picture of the pile of cookies.

And here is a picture of the Peanut Brittle.

Tomorrow I think I will make some truffles and Sugar Cookies.

I love how my house smells this time of year.

My evenings are spent knitting. I sure hope that I can get the afghan finished for Kris in time!!! This one seems to be taking much longer to do. Procrastination is not a good thing.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.