Wrap It Up Wednesday

Today was spent getting a few things wrapped up and crossed off the "To Do" list. It was also a day of starts.

First off I got the gifts wrapped for my brothers and nieces.

These are the hooded cowls I made for the girls.

Then it was moving on to getting the Christmas cards stamped.

All this done while enjoying my morning coffee in the mug I bought myself for Christmas.

Somehow this just seemed so appropriate!!!

I then moved on to some baking. We needed bread and since I hadn't started my Christmas goodie making as of yet I decided to make these first....

Tiny little butter tarts. I made 4 dozen which is cutting back from the 5 dozen I usually make. I also made 2" ones instead of 3"ones.

Yesterday was my friend's and I annual trip to go Christmas shopping. While I was done she wasn't and so I had great fun helping her pick out gifts for her grandchildren. I did however buy something....

This rather large pile of yarn to make cowls with. The correct yarn size even!! To make matters even better it was all on sale.

With all the wrapping up going on I did not forget my give away challenge.

These two books, one of which we will be taking to Kurt for his in class library, while the other one is in the donation bag.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

Ahh, the beginning of a new week of menus.

Monday

Leftover ham made into Scalloped Potatoes and Ham with the help of potatoes and onions from the garden. Thinking this will cost around $4.00 to make and serve 4. That's a cost of $1.00 a serving. The total cost is well below the $7.00 limit I am setting myself.

Tuesday

Some leftover roast beef from Sunday served thinly sliced with gravy and onions on homemade bread with a lovely side salad. Cost of this meal is roughly $6.50 and will give me another 3 servings (Harvey loves this so I am not counting for many leftovers). Cost per serving $2.20. Mind you I am going shopping in Regina with a friend so this meal could be changed.

Wednesday

This is clean out the fridge night and we will either split what is leftover of Monday's meal or I will stretch out Tuesdays meal by turning it into something else and serving it over noodles.

Thursday

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans. Probably one of the more expensive meals of the week. The ground beef was on sale for $3.99 a pound. So the meatloaf will cost around the $4.50 mark after adding in the cost of bread crumbs (made from the heels of dried out leftover bread), some onion, an egg, and some ketchup for the top. Pennies for the potatoes, and green beans as they came from our garden. Total cost will roughly be $5.00 for 4 servings or $1.25 a serving.

Friday

A short cut meal made from the last of the BOGO bags of perogies. Adding some onion and some butter as well as a side salad, the meal will cost under $3.00 for 3 servings. That is $1.00 a serving well under the amount I am setting aside for this meal.

Saturday

Sausage casserole. I have not figured out the price of this yet, but take my word for it this should not be over the budget I have set for this month. This should also make 4 servings.

Sunday

Roast Chicken, roasted potatoes, corn, gravy. This will serve us tonight and give leftovers to be put away in 2 cup packages and used for other meals. The chicken cost me $18.00, but divide this by 5 (one meal for the two of us and 3 bags of leftover meat plus a carcass for soup making) and the cost is $3.60 a meal for the protein. Pennies for the veggies and the gravy brings the cost of the first meal to $4.50 at the most. Once again under the budget.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

This Sunday marks the Second Sunday in Advent. The readings were all about preparing...preparing for the first coming of Christ and preparing for his next coming.

In the rush to get ready for Christmas, all the decorating, baking and shopping I sometimes forget that what this is all leading up to is the birth of a baby. A baby born to die for us all to save us.

This year I am spending more time thinking of this and wondering if I am preparing properly for His coming. I decided that I was going to give something away every day this Advent season, much like the UK bloggers are. There aren't as many places to give things away here, but I am going to try and vary things as much as possible.

So far I have given to the Salvation Army here in Estevan a cup cake display, a tray that a person puts pictures in, a mail tray, a hang up mail sorter, a lovely kit to make marble coasters, a box of exercise cards along with an elastic band to do them with, and a Christmas turntable. I am hoping that the Salvation Army can make a bit on these items to help fund their various projects.

I am think I will take some books to the hospital so that they can add them to their library as my next preparation. They always seem to need reading material for their residents....

I have also started my prayer time again everyday. This has fallen by the wayside lately and I can feel the difference in my life. I need that personal relationship and talk with God and our saviour Christ the Lord.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

A Perfect End To The Day

A beautiful day here in the Southeast corner of Saskatchewan. The sun was shining for most of the day, the temperature reached just below freezing for a high, and blessedly there was no wind!!!

I manage to complete all my Christmas cards (well all but two, but they need a nice long letter included in them) and I even finished a cowl and started a new one. Pretty soon they will be wrapped, along with the gifts for my brothers and mailed out.

A perfect day as far as I am concerned!!

To make matters even better, my favorite of all Christmas movies is on......

It's A Wonderful Life. I can sit and smile, cry, and just be while watching. I have always loved this movie and watch it every Christmas season, much to the dismay of Kurt and Harvey. I think it appeals to me because of how it shows that it is not what you have that matters, but who you are and what you do with what you have.

Off to make a cup of tea and enjoy the show.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I spent a bit of time decorating the house for Christmas. Not much as we are going away for the holiday and I am leaving it up to Kurt to put up a tree. I do feel slightly guilty about it, but we really won't have much time to enjoy our tree here at home.

So this is just a few pictures of what my house looks like right now.

Can you tell I love candles?

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday Tid Bits

Today has been one of catching up, and finishing up around the old homestead.

I did a bit of baking today, something I have not made in many years.

I made a dozen cinnamon buns..... I really need to get better at rolling them tighter. Still they tasted wonderful and I think I will make a couple of dozen to take to Kurt's at Christmas. They will make a couple of wonderful breakfasts while we are there.

I worked on making up my daily planner for next year. I think it is just the way I wanted....

Each month starts with two calendars. One calendar for appointments, and subbing jobs. The other is for my monthly menus.

Then comes some pages where I can put my to do lists.

I then have some blank pages on which to write extra cleaning or craft jobs on.

Since I always seem to forget my passwords for various sites on the web I made some sheets to keep track of those. This can be moved to the next planner I make.

Lastly.....

An address book. I will be adding to this any new addresses over the year, before putting them in my main address book.

I have a feeling that this will suit me much better than a purchased book and I got to recycle a binder. Not sure if it works out to be less expensive, but it was more enjoyable and more suited for what I want and need.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

The Greening of the Old Homestead and Other Happenings

Each year I try and overwinter more of my plants. This year it has not been a total success. I brought in two of the larger plants that proceeded to die. Sad really as one of them I have managed to overwinter for two years.

However I did have some success with some of the vines.

I have 5 of these started and hopefully by the end of winter I will have another 3 or 4. Doing the cutting and rooting of older plants manages to save me quite a bit in the spring. I also get a really good start on bedding plants for my deck and hanging baskets. Above all though this helps me remember how wonderful it is to sit on the deck enjoying all the colour of a beautiful spring or summer day.

I also started something else today.

Monthly calendars for next year. I am going to try and make my own daily planner..... Should be interesting to say the least, but hopefully something I will not have to add to the landfill every year. Not saying that it will cost less, but it just could be something that I can add pages to when I realize they are necessary. This is my start, next will be the daily to do lists........

Just a few goals for this month

1.  Continue with any unfinished projects.

2.  Get my Christmas Cards out within a couple of weeks.

3. Work on my own Daily Planner.

4.  Try for 18 no spend days this month (it will be very tough, but doable I hope).

Short list for a very, very, busy month.


Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.