Coral Bells
Saturday was so hot and humid, it drove me indoors. It was too hot to cook, so we had homemade potato salad (potatoes were boiled the day before), cabbage slaw with my own homemade dressing and baked beans (made weeks ago and frozen in smaller servings) with grilled Italian sausage. The rain brought colder temperatures. Sunday was sweater weather at only 8 degrees Celsius. Brrr. The poor school children walked past our house this morning in their warm jackets and long pants. Did I mention the crazy weather?
Saturday morning I did go grocery shopping as planned. I got some great deals at Giant Tiger. This week Lactantia cream cheese is only $1.50 a 250 gm block, Maple Leaf beef wieners only $2.47 a package, 400 gm of Colby cheese only $3.97, and Asian blend frozen veggies were less than half price at only $1.43 I picked up 2 Dove women's travel packs at half price each, which I put into my "Gift Trunk". I will probably use them as part of my Advent presents at Christmas time. Leadbetters Cowboy burgers were on sale.(only $8 for 12 burgers) Seeds were selling for 33 cents each. There wasn't a great variety but I did pick up turnip, cabbage and green onion. My receipt came to $48.55 At No Frills I just picked up the rest of the needed items on my grocery list and some VH stir fry sauces that were on for $2.50 a jar. That was kind of a splurge because I am sure I could find some great recipes online to make my own. That bill came to $66.48 Besides having enough meat for the next few weeks, I have also managed to squirrel away some steaks, burgers and Octoberfest sausage for planned BBQs with out of town guests this summer. It won't come as a huge cost later in the season; if I can buy it now, a little bit at a time.
So my plan on Saturday, after shopping, was laying out some compost, manure and peat moss on the vegetable garden. After digging out two wheel barrow loads and spreading it in that terrible heat, I gave up. I discovered later that I had strained my lower back. Yesterday it rained. Yay! It was hard for me to move around, so I took some extra strength Tylenol, washed and peeled my 20 pounds of potatoes, and went to the church in Kingston to feed the street people. There were 50 that showed up last night and they were very appreciative. Our team really works well together when it is our turn to make the dinner, and yesterday was no exception. One of the men on our team plays guitar, and he entertains our guests. Sometimes the servers (that's us) sing along with him. Our clients really seem to enjoy.
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Hi Susan! Thanks so much for your kind words! I'm happy I was able to help you with something. Isn't that the best part of the internet? Connecting with people in other parts of the world, seeing how they live, getting inspiration and help? I love it. In real life, not so much, hahaha.
ReplyDeleteI hope your back is better now. When I hurt my lower back (while playing putt-putt!) several years ago, the doctor told me the best thing you can do for it is to keep moving despite the instinct to just sit down and rest. I was puzzled, but in my case, it did help somewhat. You probably shouldn't be carrying anything heavy for a while though.
I was reading your past entries and I'm so in awe of the fact that you do Advent calendars for all your grandchildren and nieces (I think? I've been reading a lot of blogs over the past couple of days so hopefully I didn't get confused!). That's an incredible amount of work though... and what a dose of creativity/inspiration you must have! I'd love to do that for my kids too (no grandchildren yet) but with young adults and teens, I'm not so sure what I could give them aside from cash and candy, hahaha. I'll have to think about it though, I know they would love it. I had lots of Christmas traditions like these when they were little, but now that they're grown (or almost), I'm actually downsizing the end of year holiday hoopla quite a bit because it just stresses me. But I still love the idea of the Advent calendars :)
Have a great day, hope you're feeling better. Oh and thank you for posting the names of all the flowers that you photograph, it's really useful to novices like me!
Nathalie,
DeleteMy back is much better thank you. And yes, I always find it helps to "work through the pain" I only took the Tylenol because I had to go out on Sunday, but yesterday I just took it easier than usual without any pain killers.
I have grandkids in their early twenties going to University out West in BC. But even before I retired at 60, I was still sending Advent calendars to my kids and their spouses. It got to be too much work (and money) to continue after I retired. So I announced that only my 6 grandkids would get Advent presents...and that is plenty. You see I give their parents money to buy what they need at Christmas.Sometimes it is a toy or sometimes it is an experience or maybe swimming lessons...you get the picture. So my Advent calendars are my way of sending little gifts to them. Teens and young adults can be easy sometimes. I try to keep each gift a dollar or under. Sometimes it can cost a little more, sometimes less, but the 24 gifts will even out cost-wise in the end. Everybody gets a new toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste and a Christmas ornament (3 pockets) Girls like lip balm, hand lotion, deodorant, a razor, small packet of kleenex for their purse, mini bubble bath (I buy a lot of Avon specials for 79 or 89 cents each) Boys can be a little harder. I buy travel sizes of Tylenol, shampoo and conditioner, a scratch ticket, deck of cards, Dell pocket books for crosswords or find-a-word, school supplies like highlighters, post-its, gluesticks. Food items like hot chocolate packets, microwave popcorn, or candy is always appreciated.I can give more examples, but if you start collecting over the summer, you will be finished in no time. Extras can go into their stockings. You are the Queen of Freebies. Start squirreling those samples away. Watch the back-to-school sales for supplies. If something comes in bulk (like pens), break them up into smaller quantities to fill more pockets. Do they have hobbies? I buy my older granddaughters scrap-booking embellishments at Michael's or Walmart from the 50 cent bin. And if all else fails, check out the Dollar Store. I have seen other Advent calendar ideas which do not involve any money. (Check out the Prudent Homemaker.) But I enjoy making a few of the little gifts as well, like the Christmas ornaments or little pieces of jewelry. Good luck. I think you will enjoy this.
This is great Susan, thanks for explaining all of this! The great news is that most of what you buy are things that I do buy for the kids but that I put in their stockings since I do see them at Christmas usually. But I really like the idea of an advent calendar instead so I may just give them 24 of those small gifts (if I can make myself wrap them!) at Thanksgiving so they open one every day. I think they would really like that. When my 13 y/o was a little younger, he enjoyed the LEGO or Playmobil Advent calendars.
DeleteI have tons of school supplies (with 6 kids at home, at one time, I was stocking up like crazy during Walmart's Back to School sale and I still have tons of things).
So thanks for the ideas again, I think this will be fun!