Thursday Tidbits

 

The end of another month has arrived. Time to fess up to how well or not well I managed to do with my project goals this month.

So onto the goals for this month.

1.  Cut the clothing my friend bought that belonged to her Dad to make a quilt for remembrance. Done.

2.  Start the quilt and finish it. Done.

3.  Work on T-shirt rug. Started yesterday and will continue until the end of this week.

4.  Watch the Bible Study Video's and chose which one/ones I would like to lead and pick which time I will attend. Done, I will be letting them know which I want to lead and the time I will be able to attend tomorrow at our meeting.

5.  Work on Cross Stitch. Nada

6.  Make Salsa. Done

7. Knit two scarves. Managed to knit 4.

8.  Finish little guys prayer shawl. Done.

9.  Sew labels on finished prayer shawls and drop them at the church. Done.

10.  Sandwich the quilt top that is in the sewing/craft room. Perhaps even get it quilted and bound (that could be pressing things though). Quilt is sandwiched and ready for the next steps.

11.  Make Eggplant Parma for the freezer. Done.

So all in all a good month for projects. I hope that next months projects go as nicely.

Here are a few pictures of the projects this month. Scarf wise I think this is two months worth as I am not sure if I posted my August scarves. And I forgot to ask my friend for a picture of the quilt I made for her.

Scarves to add to the collection.

The t-shirt rug as far as I have gotten.

And lastly while not a project I thought I would show you how big my lemon trees have gotten, and the two succulents I brought in to overwinter.

Oops forgot the picture of my sandwiched quilt.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Mid Week and Almost Month End.... Wow

 My back feels better today, not that I ever manage to get through a day without an aching back and sore hips, but at least the pain level has dropped. However sleep is not something that is happening right now. At least not uninterrupted for many hours sleep. I do hope that improves very soon as it is not nice to feel exhausted all day and not have much interest in getting things completed. This is not me at all.

Then last night Harvey hurt his knee coming up the stairs and is still in considerable pain. He won't go to the emergency here in the city as the wait times are terrible, and is using heat, ice and gentle walking to keep the pain at bay. Seems to be working, but as he says he has a very low pain tolerance so things are rough right now. 

The day has been pretty overcast and I have stayed very close to home, talking to family on the phone, working on a couple of crafts, tidying the sewing/craft room, and of course cooking. I just can not concentrate on anything for any length of time.

I was asked how I made my coleslaw and my baked spaghetti. So I will try to answer.

For coleslaw I usually very thinly slice cabbage and then grate a couple of carrots into the thinly sliced cabbage. Stir to combine them. Then I make a vinegar dressing to pour over and put in the fridge to allow the dressing to meld (not the correct word but all I can think of right now) with the vegetables. Harvey likes a creamy dressing and so every once in awhile and when Kraft Coleslaw dressing goes on sale I purchase a few bottles to give him his fav.

Baked Spaghetti is super easy. I take leftover spaghetti (I always make more than we need) and leftover sauce, mix them together in a bowl. Then using waxed paper to press everything down put it in a 9X9 pan and make sure I have pressed it well so it holds. Then I use a sprinkle of parmesan over top, and a good layer of cheddar cheese grated over that. Stick it in the oven and cook until cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling. Usually about 30 or so minutes. Let sit for a few minutes and then cut in squares.

We had another 10 cases here in my corner of the southeast of my province. The whole of the southeast corner is getting bad and we have fewer and fewer people being vaccinated. I am really glad that I decided to try and stay out of stores as much as possible. Even shopping yesterday, while all were following masking rules, many were not following directional arrows. I was beginning to lose it and really felt like screaming.

The few things I could not find and a couple that I forgot to add to the list are down on the list for the next shopping trip. I am almost tempted to try for a month between but I do not think that is doable right now.

Tomorrow I hope to have pictures of finished projects to share with you. Though I did forget to take a picture of my friends quilt. Perhaps I can get one tomorrow.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

 This is going to be a short post. I did something to my back while shopping today (and it was a massive spending spree mainly because prices have risen so very much even in the past week). I do believe that I did get enough for the two weeks, perhaps even a bit longer in some cases. I am also hopeful that with fewer shopping trips less "wants" will end up in the cart.

While there didn't seem to be any empty shelves there were a couple of items I could not seem to find. One was shelf stable milk and the other was green peppers.

Today I darned another sock (my socks seem to be wearing out with great regularity). 

Fixed some hooks on a bra.

Used up lots of leftovers for lunches. 

Moved the ripening tomatoes to a place that I can easily see them and use them up.

Got the gladiolus bulbs drying so I can store them downstairs for the winter. 

Sewed batting together to have a big enough piece for my friends quilt. Collected the bits to use in other projects.

Saved the plastic bags to use for recycling, and to clean the kitty litter when Kris brings Eiko, the grandcat to visit.

We had a meeting with our financial planner as Harvey has reached the age where he had to move retirement savings into another vehicle instead of an RRSP. We moved the one into my name as I would be paying the lower tax.

Hopefully my back will be feeling better tomorrow so I can continue on my quest to get a few more of this months projects completed.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

A new week, a new menu and one that starts off the next month as well. Seems as if time is just flying right by. 

Monday

Leftover sausage casserole. 

Tuesday

Butter chicken, rice (or maybe noodles), frozen mixed vegetables.

Wednesday

Spaghetti and meat sauce served with a salad.

Thursday

Leftover Butter Chicken, either leftover rice or leftover noodles, and the remains of the salad.

Friday (my goodness it is October and Thanksgiving is only 10 days away up here in Canada)

Fish Fillets, homemade fries, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers (yep still trying to use those cukes up).

Saturday

Baked Spaghetti, coleslaw. Some of the Baked Spaghetti will be put into a container and frozen to be eaten later.

Sunday

Roast pork, roasted potatoes and carrots. We will use up the coleslaw as well.

So there are my meals for the next week. At some point I will need to do some baking. I am very hopeful that both Kurt and Kris will be home for Thanksgiving. Close enough to their birthdays (16th, and 17th of October) that I can give them their birthday gifts as well. Usually just some money as they really are getting hard to buy for.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

 

We are back to wearing masks and social distancing at Mass once again. Not that Harvey and I really ever took them off, but it was very nice that Father could speak without one. By the end of his sermon he is hard enough to understand due to his getting excited without a mask, little lone wearing one. 

We have a meeting on Friday as to how we are going to present the bible study. With cases rising and mandates being reinstated for some things, it might be that we end up having to cancel half way through this bible study. That has happened with some of the previous studies. It would be too bad if this happens yet again as people pay quite a bit to attend.

Cases keep rising and our little 31,000 population area is almost at 90 cases. However our neighbouring 21,000 population area is at 126 cases so there is that. The southeast corner of my province and where we live is, well, made up of a great many anti whatever's. In fact some are so anti-vaccine they are giving up their jobs. I wonder if they realize they will not be eligible for unemployment if they quit. As my Mom would have said some people are not the brightest crayons in the box.

I finished the quilt today and will be dropping it off at my friends some time tomorrow. Now I get to work on my own projects and hopefully make some headway on them. The t-shirt rug, my cross stitch and my own quilt are calling me. I also need to get started on my Christmas gift list. Things are moving quickly towards that holiday and the end of the year.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

This week has been busy, but after the marathon chopping session at the beginning of the week I have cut back on getting things done. There is always tomorrow (but I do want more of my monthly projects completed).

We had frost one night this week and right now my bell peppers and eggplant don't look too good. I am hoping we can nurse them along so I can get at least one more pick.

I am also happy to say that by tomorrow afternoon the quilt for my friend will be done. I am hopeful that by the end of the day I will have a little pillow made to accompany it. This will be leaving my home along with the small prayer shawl for the little fellow. It is D's nephew and I am sure she will see that he gets it.

I have pretty much made up my lists for the couple of stores I will be hitting next week and my lord they are long. Many of the items will last longer than the two weeks, but do need to be replaced in the pantry. If I had been planning on my usual shopping the list would be half as long, but since I am trying the two week thing between trips well this is what I will need to get used to. Rather large orders to begin with and then things getting a bit better as I get used to shopping this way once again. Both sides of my paper are pretty much filled. Scary at what this could cost this time.

All appointments for the remaining month are set up, and I am hopeful that we will be able to arrange next months visits with ease. Mind you that all depends on whether or not face to face appointments will be allowed. I have the feeling as the number of cases rise in my province we could be back to just phone appointments with doctors, no hair salon appointments, and definitely no dental appointments (I have a cleaning and check up next month).

Still working on using up as much as I can, wearing out and mending all that is possible. Stretching meals, and saving on electrical costs where I can. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Frugal Friday

 

It is cold today, in fact we had frost overnight and of course I did not cover my eggplant or peppers. They don't look too bad, but I am really hoping there is no frost tonight or we can say good bye to any more harvesting.

Harvey decided that tonight we are ordering in. I plan on ordering from our favourite pizza place as we will get free dry ribs with our order. I have even found a coupon that we can use as well. Still have salad from last night so we will be eating very well tonight.

Now for the very few frugal moves this week.

1.  Harvested all tomatoes and will be processing them as they ripen (though I did find a recipe for green salsa to use up some of them). 

2.  Windows open most days to keep the house cool.

3.  Made some bread crumbs from leftover bread.

4.  Used up all leftovers in the fridge for lunches or other meals this week.

5.  Working on getting all my projects done and made a list of groceries using the fliers to get this week. Since I will not be shopping the week before Thanksgiving I will be purchasing all necessary for that meal and trying to stock up on sale items for baking. I think this could be a fairly high bill.

Now to explain why I am trying so hard to only go shopping twice a month. This is something that I used to do when we lived 30 miles from the nearest grocery and there has been a big uptick in cases of Covid in my little area of southeast Saskatchewan. The more I can stay away from places where crazy anti-maskers and anti-vaccine people could be going is really in my best interest. Really my only trips out are to the grocery store, church and bank. The only one I worry about is the grocery store as people refuse to follow the arrows on the floor and really press against the social distancing thing. 

I am also trying to stock up on items in case the worst happens and the shelves start to empty. I know the harvests have not been as good as usual so flour, canola oil, and such will not be as easily available. Also ranchers are selling off their stock which could be making buying beef a treat rather than a usual shopping item. 

I will let you know how everything goes this week. Lots to purchase, lots to wonder if it is a need or a want. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.