Sunny Friday Morning

There's lots to do in sunny Odessa.

I'm back in more ways than one

Memories Caribe Beach resort

That's enough exerciseFortun

Fortunately, it wasn't a great deal of snow that fell yesterday and during the night; but, it is a big expanse of driveway that needs to be cleared. Living on Highway 2 means that the plows and sanders are constantly depositing that really heavy stuff right at the end of  the driveway. When I am finally finished shovelling, I am really and truly finished. I need a long winter's nap.

 Except that my SP (sweetie pie) came home and I had to help organize the Costco pickup into different piles of goodies to give away. For those who don't know, a friend of mine is the co-ordinator of  Special Meals at St. Andrew's church in Kingston. I help occasionally in serving some of those meals. She gets donations every Friday morning from Costco for her clients, and oftentimes there is more than what will fit in all those freezers at the Church. Sometimes some of the surplus goes to Martha's table and  some to the Native Friendship centre. Every once in a while, I would be asked to take some of the surplus. We do not want to see food going to the landfill when so many could use a little help (myself included). So my husband now goes every Friday morning to take any surplus after the other organizations are looked after. We have given a lot to friends and/or neighbours who will use it. We also have recently found that the pastor of the Methodist Church is willing to take some.  At Christmas, he was able to deliver some pies (courtesy of the Costco pickup) along with the turkeys that his congregation had managed to buy for families in the area.  He will make sure that  the surplus bakery items we bring home, will go to families who could really use it up. 

By the time the deliveries were finished, I was ready for lunch. And now, I am really ready for a nap.  I didn't finish the knitting last night. I fell asleep on the couch. I didn't wash a door. But I must have accomplished something because I went to bed exhausted. Talk later. 

Getting ready for travel

Half a dishcloth.

Double French doors with glass side lights.

Kielbasa stew in the crockpot.

Sunny and -11 degrees COLD

Six pounds of carrots, peeled and sliced for the freezer.

Goals for January

I have decided I want to be more accountable to myself in 2015. A couple of years ago I printed  out weekly calendars from the  Web on which I would write down what I accomplished during the day, what I prepared for dinner, my appointments and errands, and maybe a small description of the weather that day. It was a lazy woman's journal of sorts; but it was fun to look back over at the end of the month, and I discovered that I accomplished quite a bit when I was actually writing it down. So I am hoping that I can reconnect with that type of journaling by writing these blog posts. I will set myself weekly goals in the areas of cleaning, organizing and purging, preparedness and maintenance, crafting and of course my finances. 

 In the area of cleaning, besides my regular must-do house work, I have decided this month to tackle my doors. My doors get really dirty. Some of it is dirty greasy fingerprints, but most of it is due to owning a Boxer dog. So one of my goals for January is to wash every door in the house (both sides). Yesterday I washed the downstairs bathroom door. (It really, really needs some paint) In the area of organizing and purging, I want to tackle one drawer, one shelf, one basket or box each day. Yesterday I really tackled my preparedness and maintenance tasks. In the photo above, you will see that I baked a batch of doggie treats for the next 2 weeks. I made a pot of turkey soup.  I cooked up 3 pounds of ground meat with onion, celery and carrots to make 4 servings of cooked hamburger for casseroles and the like. I also grated the remaining mozzarella and cheddar cheese from the Christmas holidays into 1 cup portions for the freezer. Last night we had the turkey soup with cheese and onion biscuits.

Because I didn't do any crafting yesterday, I decided to make 4 Christmas cards today....yes I said Christmas cards. I think I will make things a little easier on myself next year, if I make a few at a time throughout the year. People are always telling me to take photos of my cards, and I always forget. Usually they are already sealed inside the envelope by the time I think of it. If I do them throughout the year I will have a better chance of remembering to snap a picture. 

Because yesterday I didn't do any organizing/purging, I did all of my kitchen drawers today. I found  quite a few things that I could part with.......garbage, give away, or save for my big yard sale in the Spring. In the area of  preparedness, I made another batch of Bisquick mix in the big glass jar that I keep refrigerated.  I used up the last of it last night when I made the cheesy garlic biscuits. I used some of it tonight to make the Impossible cheeseburger pie with a baked potato and niblets corn on the side. I washed the exterior back door with the glass insert (both sides) while the cheeseburger pie was baking. 

In the area of finances, I didn't spend any cash in the last two days but....... I ordered some Verve stamps that were on sale for 60% off. I am feeling a little guilty about that, so I will promise not to order any more crafting material from the Web for the rest of this year. No more. I have enough. That's it. You heard it here folks. I told you I wanted to be more accountable and you will be helping me with that. I'll be back tomorrow.  

A New Year

We had a major snow squall yesterday.