Midweek

Well we are half way through our delivery of Meals on Wheels. It is all down hill from here and the weather while cold will not be the snow storm I delivered on yesterday and hopefully there will be no mix ups like there was on Tuesday.

Mix ups with meals do not happen often but when they do it is usually a big one. One lady who we had a meal for said she wasn't supposed to get one until next week. So since we were short a meal for another gentleman we decided to use that meal for him (both were regular meals) and explain what we did when we got back to where we pick up the meals. Well, I stood in the snow, and wind knocking on the gentleman's door for around 10 minutes and there was no answer. Turns out he was upstairs in the Dialysis unit and the girls in the kitchen took his meal up to him. Forgetting to take his name off our list..... While I know the kitchen staff work wonders getting all the meals made, it takes a matter of seconds to scribble out a name.

I have started to move bits and bobs into the living room. All our DVD's, music CD's, and cassette tapes are now put away. Still lots to do but we shall get it all completed very soon. Our new furniture should arrive within the next couple of weeks. All set to hold Christmas for everyone. I just have to find a new chair for myself and we are done.

Next will be new flooring for the kitchen. The lino is as old if not older than the carpet and the lovely shine when it was new is now worn off. I am really liking how things are coming together.

Last night was one of my sleepless nights. I did fall asleep very well, but woke up at 1:30 am and couldn't fall back asleep. So rather than toss and turn I got up and read my library book until 4 in the morning. Crawled back into the spare bed and might have managed another hour of sleep. Right now I think I just might be running on empty though.

I have a few chores that have been carried over that need to be completed tomorrow and they will be. Sewing has not been done so I hope to get a bit of that done as well. Pictures to be posted soon.

Tomorrow is Halloween and I hope we get a few ghosts, goblins or super hero types knocking on our door.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

This is not going to be a particularly thrifty or frugal week. The carpeting has been laid and tomorrow I need to go pay for it. Then we are running the car everyday delivering Meals on Wheels.

Still a few thrifty happenings since the last time.

I took in a pair of pants for myself, repaired a zipper using zippers I inherited from Mom, darned a pair of socks, and cut up a sock into rings to be used next summer to help hold up our plants.

Still using up those bags of frozen meat in the fridge freezer.

Saved the thick elastics that are used to hold veggies together.

Saved the twist ties on packages to reseal other packages.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

I have had a pretty busy day so far. Harvey and I delivered 15 hot meals to shut ins for their lunches. Then we have spent the better part of the afternoon moving furniture out of the living room and lifting the last remnants of the carpets out.  Just a few last minute removals early tomorrow morning, before the carpet installers arrive.

On with my up coming menus this last week in October and the first few days of November.

Monday

Date night so dinner out. Would be pretty difficult to cook right now.

Tuesday

Leftover bag of frozen baked ham from the fridge freezer. Paired with the leftover mashed potatoes, some leftover peas and the puff pastry. I see some pasty meals coming up. 

Wednesday

Leftover bag of chicken from the fridge freezer. I will be making Chicken a la king. Might just serve it on some buns from the freezer downstairs.

Thursday

Leftover ham pasty meal. We should have enough left from Tuesday to fill us up tonight.

Friday

Breakfast for dinner. Tonight we will have pancakes.

Saturday

Leftover Chicken a la King. If not enough I do have a container of chili in the fridge freezer we can have instead.

Sunday

I will break down and make a roast pork loin today, along with roasted potatoes, and roasted carrots.

As you can all see I am still trying to clean up the fridge freezer, and each time I do so I always say that I will keep things in order and fail miserably. But at least we are saving money over the last couple of weeks (including this one) using up what we already have.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

Well the Bible study on Prayer is now over. My Thursdays are once again my own!! It will be so nice not to be constantly in and out on that day and I will be able to get back into my regular daily pattern of cleaning and then working on my projects. I have decided I am more a hands on type of person. I would much rather be knitting my prayer shawls, knitting scarves for those that need them, or just plain delivering meals for shut ins. That is my type of service and prayer.

I have also decided that whatever is bothering my priest is not my fault, and just practice "being". After all he will probably be leaving in a few years and we will be getting a new one, with other ideas and foibles. I just have to breathe and practice my faith in my usual manner. I will be meeting with my spiritual director a bit more often, and perhaps will with her help and guidance be able to withstand all that could be put in my way.

I have been busy sewing this week and have managed to finish off 4 of the cut out patterns that have been lying around just waiting for me to get started. Two new skirts, a pair of pants and a top are now residing in the clothes hamper to be washed and pressed. I only have the dress to do now and I hope to get it finished tomorrow.

Harvey's Christmas sweater vest is coming along nicely. I should be done that by the end of the month as well.

Yesterday Harvey decided to go out and get a couple of pictures of the snow geese on Rafferty Dam.

Thousands of them along with Canadian geese use the water as a resting place during their journey south. Even sitting in the car we could hear the beating of their wings as they approached the water to land.

The challenge of using up those bits and bobs in the fridge freezer is coming along nicely. I can already see a big difference in only a few days. I will be continuing this for at least another week. That means no roast meal tomorrow, but I doubt Harvey will mind in the least.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Frugal Friday

This has been a strange week. Not only the weather has been strange, but the overall feeling has been different. I will post about that later.

I will list what frugal things have been happening here.

1.  Got a free travel coffee mug when buying my groceries.

2.  Managed to save $8.29 on my groceries this week (just on sale items alone).

3.  I have been using up the bits and bobs from the fridge freezer and I think I can get another weeks meals from everything in there.

4.  I sewed two skirts (though one needs to be hemmed and they are both blue) and am hemming the pants I finished sewing. I will post pictures once everything is hemmed, washed, and pressed.

5.  Started to bake bread once again and will continue to do so.

6.  Opened the drapes on those lovely sunny days to take advantage of the production of solar heat. 

7.  Went to the library for some reading material.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Cleaning Out the Fridge Freezer

I am making a concerted effort to clear out the bits and bobs in the fridge freezer as I have previously posted.

So far I have used up a bag of frozen baked ham, and a small bag of what I think was frozen chicken but was probably frozen turkey (yours truly forgot to label them, I do that quite often). One of these days I will pull something out that is a big surprise.

Tonight I made something called Dump and Bake Alfredo Casserole. I cut the recipe in half as the first time I made it we were eating it for three days. It doesn't freeze very well either (I discovered this with the third serving).

The picture was found online and looks a great deal like what I made. I didn't have rotini pasta, so I used penne and it turned out very well. I will give you all the recipe that I cut it down to. Just double the amounts for a regular recipe.

8 oz rotini pasta

11 oz jar of Alfredo sauce

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 cup diced chicken

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese for garnish

Heat oven to 425*F. In medium casserole stir together all ingredients except for the cheeses. Cover and bake 30 min. or until the pasta is al dente. Sprinkle Mozzarella cheese on top and bake uncovered 10 min. Garnish with Parmesan.

Enjoy.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

Another week has drifted by. Amazing how time flies.

Thrifty moves for this week are more hemming of my pants, turning a collar on one of Harvey's work shirts, and starting the use it up of all those bits and bobs in the fridge freezer.

Speaking of those bits and bobs, I have a funny feeling we will be eating on those for awhile. Sure will be nice to have low grocery costs once again this month.

Another thrifty move is having big south facing windows. This means that our furnace does not cut in much on sunny days. It ran for awhile this morning until the sun hit those windows and then after heating the house all day I pulled our thermal drapes closed and have been keeping the residual heat inside. Still no running furnace and the temperature has dropped with the dropping of the sun. Got to love when you can heat your home for free.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.