Saturday Roundup

 

How in the heck did this month go by so quickly. 

I will share a few pictures with you of what I have been doing. There is lots more being accomplished, but I won't bore you with what has been happening.

More stripes done on the rug. Getting very close to being ready to wash, block and sew some hems on.

Calendula salve made. Mint infused oil started.

Five eggplant parma made. We had one for supper last night and the rest are in the freezer. 

I ordered and got an attachment for my vacuum sealer and now I can do jars. I have done a couple and am totally amazed at how well it works. I will be doing lots more of my dry storage this way, especially my herbs. 

I have frozen beans, and carrots today. Worked on getting the budget up to date (under on almost every line, except for groceries). Made saskatoon pie filling, made blueberry pie filling, used up some leftovers in the fridge for our lunches and of course knit another few pairs of mitts. 

The Weather Network posted something about the Old Farmer's Almanac saying this area is going to have a very wet winter. Not snowy, but wet. To me this means lots of icy roads. Do I like icy roads? Not in the least, so I will be doing some more stocking up on dry goods and such. This does cause me to be a bit over budget on my grocery line, but I have a feeling that it is better to be stocked and off the roads. 

Off to get supper finished (things are just starting to cook) and visit you all between checking on things. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal

It has been a fairly thrifty week even with my going shopping at the beginning of the week. I had my list, lots of items were on sale, and I stuck to my list even if my eyes strayed once in awhile to a goodie or two. Walked right on by.

I portioned up the meat once home and used my FoodSaver in order to do so. 

The garden is producing lots of cucumbers, tomatoes and now bigger handfuls of beans so those are supplementing our evening meals and many of our lunches.

Baked two small loaves of bread and man are they staying nice and moist. I will have to bake a couple tomorrow and will put one in the freezer. 

Leftovers are being used up (by me of course as Harvey seems to forget they are available) for lunches. 

I wanted a lighter grey fabric for the quilt, and found some in my stash.... Decluttered with a purpose as this quilt is a wedding gift for one of Kurt's good friends. 

Have been working on the weaving and enjoying seeing yarn being used up as well. Maggie, I never thought of using rubberized shelf covering for the bottom to make the rug non-skid. Thanks so much for the idea.

Mittens are using up even more of my yarn stash and the bits and bobs that are left will be used in another project I have in my mind. 

Some of the blueberries from last year have now been made into pie filling, and I think I will make a couple of loaves and more muffins with the remaining berries.

Tomorrow's menu has been changed to Eggplant Parma and I will be making some for the freezer as well.

Tomatoes need to be blanched, peeled and frozen so will be adding more to the three packages I did a couple of days ago. 

Walking for exercise and enjoying the cooler mornings.

Fixed a hem on a pair of my pants that was coming down.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Midweek And The Last Week Of August

 

It has been a dark and very cool day. That is probably a good thing all told as the fact is I seem to be coming down with something and have not been able to get my smaller list of household tasks and fun things as completed as I would like. 

I couldn't even weave today as it is so dark even with the lights on. I may end up getting a light to plug in and set up to use by the loom when the weather is like this. 

I did get the peppermint infused oil started, the white clover salve made, and the saskatoons made into pie filling (since that turned out I am going to use last years blueberries and make some more for the freezer). 

I may go out and wipe down the outside furniture and call my day done. 

I really can't get sick as we leave on our get away in a little less than two weeks and I want to be able to hike and see all that the Cypress Hills has to offer. I also can't get sick as the garden is coming fast and furious and needs to be processed as much as possible over the next bit of time. I am also a bit worried as Covid is once again rearing its ugly head in our area. More and more cases are being reported. I don't need to catch that again and so when we are out and around others I will definitely be masking once again

The good (perhaps only good thing) about feeling blah is that I do slow down and rest between tasks. 

I purchased something online today to use with my FoodSaver vacuum sealer. I store a great deal of dry goods in canning jars and there have been a few times where I was unable to use the items up before they became "old" tasting. The item I bought is an attachments that will pull the air out of the jars and seal them. I am hoping that will help cutting down with waste. It will also make storing things like dehydrated fruit chips and veggies so much easier. 

Supper is going to be very easy tonight. I will be making Chicken a la King and since it has loads of extra veggies in it (diced onion, diced celery, and frozen peas) I should not have to make any sides. 

Off to visit as many of you as I can before supper is ready.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits And Stuff

 

Another warm day here on the Canadian prairies. Today I stuck close to home and managed to get a few things accomplished. Still there is a bit left on my daily task list, but I really hope to get a couple more tasks completed. 

I have been asked a few questions and thought today would be the day to answer them.

I am loving the weaving, even though I still make an error every so often. Still no one is perfect and they aren't too noticeable so I am going with the flow. The learning curve is pretty steep and one thing I need to work on a bit more is getting the warp a bit tighter when I work on a larger project. 

I was also asked if the rug I am working on is a gift for someone. In a way it is a gift for Harvey. He really needs another rug downstairs in order to keep his "man cave" a bit cleaner. I will need to figure out a non-slip backing for it though.

I have been processing the garden today. I have done up three bags of tomatoes for the freezer, dehydrated some basil, picked more cucumbers, eggplant, beans, green peppers and jalapeno peppers as well. I will be making some parma on Friday so of course the menu has changed once again for this week. 

I got the labels on the salve I made (put that off way too long), and washed and dried some light grey fabric (cotton) to add to the quilt. Still need to iron and cut this though. 

I did another stripe on the rug and finished off a pair of mittens to rest my shoulders and neck from the weaving. 

On average I am saving 2 rolls of toilet paper each week by using the cloth wipes for my tinkles. It also feels so much softer. I vaguely remember using some type of cotton pads after the children were born. I do need to purchase a larger container to add water/bleach to in order to store them properly once used. 

Once I get a few other projects out of the way I am going to try my hand at making reusable paper towels. I should be able to get rid of a bit more of the fabric I have in my stash that way, and I need to make more cloth napkins and some more placemats (I do have the fabric to make most of these). 

I would also like to make some placemats for Kurt and Kris. Cloth napkins would be lovely as well. I have a few plastic clear Christmas ornaments that I will use to make little gifts for the family when they come for Christmas. Got to clear out more of the things in the sewing/craft room. Kind of decluttering with a purpose really. 

I am really looking at apartments and condo's in the city and man are they expensive overall. Really afraid that we have been spoiled as we have been mortgage free for probably 35 years. Still I will keep searching and perhaps something will jump out at me as just about perfect.

Off to get supper started and then spend a bit of time visiting you all.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

So what are we eating for dinners this week.

Monday

Leftover ribs, sliced cucumbers and sliced tomatoes.

Tuesday

Leftover ham, noodles, and the never ending sliced cucumbers and tomatoes.

Wednesday

I think it might be nice to have leftover chicken on toast along with corn on the cob.

Thursday

Leftover lentil curry, rice and a salad.

Friday

I have fish sticks on the menu, but I have a feeling this will change as I will need to make Eggplant Parma as those are growing like crazy in the heat.

Saturday

Steak In Mushroom Sauce, leftover salad and mashed potatoes. Probably more sliced cucumbers and tomatoes as well.

Sunday

Instead of doing a big roast I think it could be another use up all the leftovers in the fridge. Or I can pull out some leftover pork roast and make Pork Zucchini Bake (need to use up zucchini in the freezer). 

I have also made a decision. Instead of doing a monthly menu plan over the next while I will do a weekly menu plan. I have just been changing things so often to use up leftovers it only makes sense.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

Busy week harvesting, cooking, making salve, knitting, weaving, cleaning and just trying to get a bit ahead. It seems like I am always trying to either catch up or get ahead. One day perhaps I will at least be even.

This week the dehydrating of herbs has continued. I am concentrating on sage, thyme and oregano right now. In another week I will go back to basil, lemon balm and lemon grass. Mint will have to wait for a bit.

I have managed to finally get enough beans from my plants to have a meal. I am hopeful of managing a few more. Since I have a dearth of beans, I went to the Farmer's Market this morning and purchased some. These are now blanched and cooling in some ice water. Packaging and labeling to take place very soon and then they will be placed in the freezer. I may purchase more next week. 

I picked eggplants this week and from the three I picked I made what I call Eggplant Chickpea Stew. Two containers now reside in the freezer. 

Thursday saw me finally making the Lentil Curry. 

Once again after having a meal, the remainder was portioned out and put as more ready meals in the freezer.

Also on Thursday I made my version of a Cherry Strudel. Used some phyllo pastry that needed using and a container of my cherry pie filling. So good.

I continued the stove and oven use by making the calendula salve. Sorry I forgot to take a picture, but once I get them labeled I will snap a pick. I actually got 11 containers so have some to add to Kurt and Kris's baskets at Christmas. 

This is a picture of the 32 pairs of size 8-10 mittens.

And this is the start of what I hope will be an equal amount of size 4-6 mittens.

I also managed to get the pieces cut (strips) for the quilt Kurt has asked me to make for his friend as a wedding gift.

This was just the beginning and I managed to get the white and red strips made as well. 

Weaving is going well. Since this picture was taken I have managed to do another white stripe and have started another black stripe. This is taking a bit longer to weave as the project is much larger than the other two scarves I have made. Still I am liking the way this rug is turning out.

This is my new cutting mat and I am loving the bigger size. It makes cutting strips so much easier. Now I just need one of those rulers that are specially made for cutting strips.

Off to package up the beans (picture to follow one of these days) and start the water boiling for our corn on the cob.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Frugal Tips For Saving On Shopping

 

Or perhaps some tips those of us who have been following the frugal pathway for awhile and have forgotten.

Saving On Grocery Shopping

1.  Start with some basic tasks like creating a grocery list after checking your cupboards, freezer and pantry, use a calculator to check the unit costs, and always check your receipts for errors.

2.  Price match if available where you are.

3.  Comparison shop. Do this while shopping and make a price book of the least expensive.

4.  Use any coupons you can find.

5.  Use cash back credit cards (only if you can pay them off monthly).

6.  Buy in bulk if possible and you have the storage room.

7.  Buy produce in season. One can always freeze or can any extra you can find.

8.  Buy generic, but only if you like that specific item. It is not saving if you try something and waste it because you don't like the taste.

9.  Avoid purchasing pre-packaged food. 

10.  Stock up during sales.

11.  Buy local. This can be done at Farmer's Markets.

12.  Grow your own veggies.

Just a few more money saving ideas. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.