Day Book: May 30/16

Before I even drank my morning coffee, I was cleaning my window beside the computer. And so my day begins.

Outside my window....

You cannot see the difference, but I sure can...clean window

I am thinking...of my sweet friend who had abdominal surgery a month ago. She was taken by ambulance back into the hospital Saturday night with low BP, low sodium and low electrolytes, and a high white blood cell count which normally indicates infection. They are unable to find infection but are keeping her in isolation  for a few days. She was severely dehydrated upon entry, so she is hooked up to IV and all kinds of monitors. When I saw her in the unit last night, she was finally able to keep down solid food again and looked so much better than she did on Friday, when we hooked up her AC unit. I regret not forcing her to go with me to Emerg that day, but she appears to be on the mend again. 

I am thankful for....a place to live and food to eat every day. I served 79 street people with my team last night at St. Andrew's church in Kingston. They were given baked chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, wax beans with baby carrots, Caesar salad and a bread roll with butter. Dessert was homemade apple or rhubarb crisp with ice-cream, tea, coffee, or cold juices.  One member of our team is a professional musician who plays guitar and sings during the meal. We are always thanked profusely at the end by our patrons who really seem appreciative of our efforts. 

From the kitchen...I have baked nothing this week. I have not been eating any sugar for a week, and my Sweetie is still working on the 4 liters of ice-cream in the freezer. I was gifted the rest of the mashed potatoes, gravy, cooked veggies, and 3 bread rolls left over from the dinner last night. I froze smaller portions of the gravy last night. The mashed potatoes can cover a half portion of shepherd's pie for my hubby, and the veggies I will put into a soup later in the week. 

I am wearing....black yoga capris and red T-shirt.

I am creating....a "to-do" list of things I really want to accomplish this week before my son and his GF return from California this weekend. I want to have all the main living areas cleaned thoroughly with items for the yard sale neatly stacked away in only ONE room. 

I am going....to the annual Picton Cheese Festival this Sunday with my brother and SIL. They buy me a ticket and take me there as my Christmas present. It has always been a wonderful day long event where we can visit and buy cheeses from all parts of Canada and also wines from the Picton county vineyards. Yum. 

I am reading....my emails and "subscribed to blogs" and nothing more. I don't have time to read. 

I am hoping.....we get rain soon. It is very dry here and is holding up my plans to get my veggie garden in. 

I am hearing.....the dishwasher running. I was too tired last night to load up and wash. The dog is snoring while he sleeps on the tile floor beneath my feet. I hear a jet plane flying overhead, and when there is no traffic noise from the road just outside my window, I can hear birds calling to each other from my backyard. 

Around the house....there is a big fat mess. Sometimes it just feels overwhelming to me. Where do I start? A "to-do" list might keep me on track to success. 

One of my favourite things.... is my AC window unit in my bedroom. We have had to use it every night this week to cool the room down for sleeping. We don't have central air  (Mind you I wouldn't say no to central air); but fortunately, it is not yet a need. With windows open and  electric fans circulating the air, it is still comfortable enough inside. 

A few plans for the rest of the week.....Between my hubby and myself, there are medical appointments every day this week. The rest of the time, I will keep slugging away at my "to-do" list. 

Here is a picture I am sharing... It is a photo of my front "lawn" in front of the main house. I used to have grass in front of the house, but then decided to turn this smaller portion into all flower bed. In the forefront of the picture is Flax. It blooms all summer and I love the colour of blue. The large drifts of white is Snow-in-Summer. I have a two tiered planter crying out to be planted and some dead stuff that I pulled last week and never removed to the compost. *laugh*

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It's too hot outside

I haven't written in a few days, not since Wednesday. On Thursday, I decided to go in to Kingston to see my friend who is recuperating from abdominal surgery. It had been a week since I was last in. She told me she didn't need any more groceries since her neighbours were taking very good care to make sure she had everything. But she did have more laundry for me to do up; and while I was there, I decided to clean her bathtub and sink. I left with all her recycling to deposit in the bins as I was leaving her apartment. I also checked with her superintendent to see if I could install her window AC unit before June 1st, and yes I could. My friend had an electric fan but I knew this weekend was expected to be a scorcher. 

So yesterday morning (Friday), my Sweetie and I took our trailer load of yard trash into the Transfer Station and headed over to the apartment afterwards to install the AC unit and duct tape around all the seams. On the way home, we picked up a yard of garden mix.  Doesn't it look wonderful? I will use some of it for my planters, but most of it will go on top of the veggie garden to help enhance the soil. But not today. It is just too hot to be shoveling dirt.                                   

I got the best work done yesterday morning before we took the trailer into town. I decided to get our own AC unit installed in our bedroom window. I washed a load of whites and lights and hung them on the clothesline. I folded and put away two loads taken off the line. I cleaned out my son's bedroom dresser since he is no longer using it, and moved it downstairs to the front hall alcove.....more storage for miscellaneous items that have no home like lightbulbs and a few winter throws and cushion covers that are not needed right now. I will find things to fit into those four drawers...guaranteed. I managed to fill ONE box for the yard sale with washed and clean fleece throws that we do not need. I have started a garbage bag of clothes to donate to a thrift store. I have items set aside to go into the attic. I gathered up some items I have been picking up here and there for gifts and Advent calendars, and put them in my gift trunk out of the way. I made a second batch of beef soup and made a beef stew in the crock pot for dinner last night.  

This morning at 8 AM,we headed into town again. My Sweetie is trying to fix my favourite wheelbarrow which needed both a new tire and a new axle. Unfortunately, you cannot buy parts for this wheelbarrow. You need to buy a whole new wheelbarrow. Well I don't want to, as it would cost over $100 now to replace it. Why are more and more manufacturers making these "disposable" products? It is very difficult to fix what you have and "make do". So my husband is buying a new tire and cobbling together some rods or pipes to fashion his own axle for the wheel barrow. Keeping my fingers crossed. While he was at the auto parts store figuring this out, I was at Shopper's Drug Mart for their one day sale event. If you spend $50, you get 20Xs the points. I picked up 8 liters of milk (both skim and 2%) and eggs, which I always buy from this store, and then bought sale items. My hair colour, low dose aspirin and Cashmere TP was on sale. Kraft peanut butter, Lantic sugar, and Whiskas kitty treats were terrific prices so I bought more than one of each. After spending $55 before taxes, I saved $36.20 by buying those sale items. And the 20Xs points I earned will give me free merchandise closer to Christmas when I buy at one of their "Spend your points events". On those days, the point totals buy even more than usual. Win-win-win. I also bought a $25 gift card to buy milk and bread the rest of June. I get points now (though not 20Xs) and points later when I buy merchandise with the gift card. When I got back home, I decided it was too hot to work outside, so I just did a "walkabout" in the garden. 

Perennial bachelor button

My lupines are starting to flower

My Bridal Veil shrub

Allium growing up through my snowball hydrangea bush

Have a great weekend and stay cool. I will be serving a Special Meal tomorrow at St. Andrew's church for our street people in Kingston. Our team is made up of residents from Amherst Island and those who "wannabe"

It is getting warmer and drier.

We emptied the trailer yesterday morning and this morning we filled it up again. This is mostly aluminum siding that still has wooden framing attached to it that we couldn't remove, so we were unable to take it to the scrapyard. There is also linoleum and plastics tossed in there. My son and his GF took several loads to the Transfer Station last year, but as you can see, there is still a lot left. Tomorrow we will load it down with some brick and tile, as we will have to pay the minimum weight charge anyway.There may be another load to go once my Sweetie cleans out his shed, but I think this will be the last one for this week. I would still like to bring in a yard of garden soil. We tested the roto-tiller this morning after my hubby fixed it the other day. The garden is so dry, we just sent up clouds of dust. We could use some rain. Notice the grass turning brown already, and it isn't yet June.

Our trailer is full already.

Piece of our back property where the trailer (camper) was demolished last year. 

Once I have raked up this area  (where the trailer stood for a couple of years) and remove the remaining bits and pieces of building debris,  I should be able to get in there to level it out, mow down the weeds in the background and lay some grass seed on it.

This is a little area that juts off the side of our backyard property. Once we cut down those dying apple trees, it should be a nice private lot for the tiny house. And no, nothing has been started yet this Spring on the construction. It will have to wait until after our yard sale early in June.

I have an appointment in town later this afternoon, so I have finished working outdoors. I've showered, washed my hair, and changed my clothes. I hung the dark load I washed last night, and I have another load of whites and lights to hang.

I made beef soup with the stock I made last night and  lots of bits and pieces of veggies from my freezer. I haven't got any brown rice and I didn't want to use barley or pasta, so I used quinoa as a filler, since it is considered a super grain high in protein. I have been eating oatmeal for breakfast and homemade soups for lunch. Dinner is the same as my husband, but I have turned down all desserts. Dinner tonight will be grilled Octoberfest sausage with baked potato (I will have sweet potato) and peas. Have a great evening.

 

Off to the Scrapyard

Turned in our scrap metal from the yard into cold hard cash

Yesterday was not Domestic Monday as far as this house was concerned. I did what we are expected to do on this holiday Monday. I put flowers in my planters and watered them. Then we hit the road for Charleston Lake to have a BBQ with our good friends. It was an opportunity to visit with my girl friend who recently had surgery on her foot, but it was also his  birthday. I'd sent him a card, but he hadn't received it yet. So I took him some chocolate and two lottery tickets. Three other friends had been invited to come over (not a birthday party). They brought salads, but when I asked my friend what I could bring, she just said "more hot dogs and buns". *laugh*  It was a lovely time sitting on the large deck of their log home in the middle of a forested area outside of a Provincial Park. She is constantly surrounded by nature. She is only half-way through her recuperation, so will remain house-bound for a few more weeks. I know it was tiring having to deal with that many people at once, but we tried to be helpful and she thoroughly enjoyed having the diversion. Everyone stayed until around 8 PM. 

Yesterday morning my Sweetie and I took the trailer load of scrap metal into Napanee and unloaded it at the scrapyard. In turn, we received $46. Not bad for clearing it out of our yard. It bought another eye of round beef roast, 4 litres of milk and $20 worth of gas. AND IT IS OUT OF OUR YARD. Bonus! When I got home, I fired up the lawn mower and tackled the lawns again. 

Mowing the yard of dandelions.....again

Since the morning was taken up with outside work, there wasn't a whole lot of domesticity going on inside. Let's see what I did. 

• I cleaned my counters and stovetop once again while loading up the dishwasher.
• I cleaned the inside of my microwave oven.
• I made a double batch of weed killer.
• I trimmed out the roast and cut into three smaller roasts for my freezer. I placed the trimmings in the stockpot again, and made a lovely beef stock for soup. 
• I cleaned out both litter boxes and replaced with new clean litter.
• Took the kitchen compost out to the large garden composter.
• Threw a load of dark wash into the washer with my homemade laundry detergent and vinegar as softener, to turn on after 7 P.M. 
• Made butter chicken with two small breasts of chicken, some frozen stir fry veggies and the free sample of VH sauce I received in the mail from Sample Source. It was so-o-o good. I served it over ramen noodles instead of rice. 

Butter chicken over ramen noodles for dinner

And that is it for Domestic Tuesday. Have a great evening. 

Day Book: May 23/16

Outside my window.....it is a sunny and warm day. There are no clouds in the sky but my window is still dirty. I did not wash it this week like I intended. My front lawn needs to be mowed and trimmed.

I am thinking.....that I need to buckle down this week and get things done while my son and his GF are away. When they return, we are supposed to have a yard sale.

I am thankful for......sunny days with comfortable temperatures for getting work done outside.

From the kitchen.....I made another batch of doggie biscuits and homemade pizza yesterday afternoon. One of those pizzas I was able to freeze for a quick "take-out" meal later. Maybe one of those days I am busy outside pulling weeds, or a day when I have cleaned through a room and packed boxes of things I will get rid of. My counter still has flour on it from rolling out the pizza dough.

I am wearing.....dark denim capris, bright yellow button down camp shirt, and barefoot.

I am creating.....planters with the wave petunias I bought on Saturday.

I am going.....to Charleston Lake to visit with my friend who is house-bound due to her recent foot surgery.

I am reading......my favourite blogs and commenting on a few of them.

I am hoping.....I can maintain the self-discipline I need to lose a few pounds over the summer.

I am hearing.....a few cars passing the house (the window is open), the click-click of the dog's nails on the laminate flooring, and the sound of someone's whipper-snipper nearby as they are edging their lawn.

Around the house.....my Sweetie and I have loaded up the trailer once again with metal from the yard. ( For instance, there were the old appliances from the trailer that my son and his GF demolished last summer.) We will take these to the scrapyard tomorrow. We also pulled weeds in the veggie garden and he fixed our roto tiller so that I can plow later this afternoon. He repaired  a flat tire on our riding lawn mower and used it to cut part of the back property. Inside, I am barely keeping up with laundry, dishes, and making dinner. I need more energy, please.

One of my favourite things......this week, is my umbrella clothesline. I love being able to hang my laundry outdoors. Everything smells so delightful and the sun is a natural disinfectant.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include packing up some items from the house for the yard sale, and cleaning out some long neglected areas of the house. After the trailer is emptied, I'd like to bring in a load of compost or garden soil to add to our veggie garden before planting.

Here is a picture I am sharing.....

One of my planters.....Hope it fills out nicely. Looks kind of sad right now. 

Shopping Day

I was not going to do a major shop until June's grocery budget; however, there were a couple of great sales on this weekend. I was completely out of dishwasher tabs but I was making do with my homemade dishwasher detergent. I decided to bite the bullet and stock up. I ended up going to three different grocery stores.

The big sale that drew me out of the house this weekend was this one at No Frills. Whole eye of round roasts were $2.97 a pound. I should have got more than these two large roasts. They sliced up beautifully into 24 steaks. I cut the tips of each end of the roasts to cut into stewing meat, and the rest went into steaks. I put the "trimmings" into the stockpot with some frozen vegetable peelings to make soup stock. If I buy anymore this week, I will cut into some smaller roasts

Proteins $55.91
Giant Tiger had 4 one pound chubs of lean ground meat on for $10 (usually $14), frozen chicken for $5 (50% off) and hotdogs for $1.99  Total meat purchases came to $55.91

Produce cost $10.68
I had to pay $3.27 for 10 pounds of russet potatoes. I was not happy about that, but we were completely out.  English cucumber was 88 cents, 2 lb. bag of carrots was $1.47. 3 yellow onions cost $1.25, 2 sweet potatoes were $1.61, and the small head of cabbage cost me $2.20 I really noticed the price increase this week on fresh veggies, but my son and his GF left some fresh veggies in the fridge that we have to use up.

Pantry items cost $$20.39

The noodles are for serving stir fries over, instead of rice. The vinegar and salt will be made into weed-killer. The sugar and shortening are for baking, and I pretty much settled with no-name brands for the rest. The peanuts are a treat for my Sweetie. They were less than $2 on sale. 

Non-food items came to $12.72, but they still come out of my grocery budget. 

Dairy came to $17.88, which is all you see here. I try to stick with Becel margarine for everyday, but I like to buy the Imperial margarine for baking because it is packaged into 1/4 lb. or 1/2 cup measures. The block of Armstrong cheese was only $3.97 and the 24 slices of plastic cheese was $2.99  If I had remembered to bring my flyers with me, I could have price-matched with Metro for only $1.99  Arghhh!

The reason I have the dairy purchases in two separate photos is because I wanted to show you my FREE food. You might remember that I had a coupon printed on a box of cereal a couple of weeks ago for a free 2 liters of chocolate milk....well not entirely free, because I had to buy a box of cereal today. But I needed to buy some more Cheerios anyway. But the 4 liters of Chapman's ice cream is entirely free. Every year just after New Years, I contact Chapman's and request a coupon for their product. (You are allowed one a year) They used to give a $5 coupon in the mail, but 2 years ago, they cut it back to a $4 coupon. As more and more people heard about the offer, more and more people began taking the offer. This week, Freshco had their Chapman's ice cream on sale for $1.97 a carton. That translated into 2 cartons of ice cream for me, completely FREE.  Yippee! 

After spending another $5.48 on a package of hot dog buns and a box of Cheerios, my total came to $123.06  I am still within my budget for May. 

Remember we bought laminate flooring for the renovation in the upstairs bedroom? Well, we had one full unopened package left over, which my Sweetie took back for a store credit. I used that credit today to buy a round pointed shovel and two 6-packs of wave petunias...one red and one white. I spent another $6 + tax OOP to buy a pack of pink ones as well. I will use these to put in my planters this weekend. All in all, it was a successful shop. And how is your weekend going so far?

A more laid back day

After the whirlwind that was yesterday, today was much more relaxed. I visited my friend who just got back from hospital. I took her some whole wheat bagels, whole wheat Triscuit crackers, a block of marble cheddar cheese, some pro-biotic yoghurt and some sliced roast beef for sandwiches. I know that she has many friends and neighbours that are looking after her, but I took note that her health care workers want her to gain some weight back, and because she is on antibiotics, she needs to return some bacteria into her gut.

When I arrived, she was still lying on her couch where she was when the nurses had  seen her this morning. They had just left. I washed up the dishes in the sink, did a load of laundry for her, removed the garbage, and sorted and removed all the recycling. I made us both some lunch and we had a lovely visit. I know that when I left, she was feeling very tired, and was going to have a sleep back in her bedroom. It is going to take a few days for her to recover some of her strength, but she is doing very well. It was raining when I left her place for home, but it has since cleared up nicely and the sun is shining again. Please enjoy some of these flowers with me. I wish you could smell my backyard. The lilacs, apple blossoms and lily of the valley always bloom at the same time, and it smells just heavenly here. 

Can you smell these lilacs?

Pretty apple blossoms

We have lots of blossoms on our trees, but the apples are not good....not even for applesauce. 

Self-seeded violas are the only flowers in my planters so far. 

Lily of the Valley are very invasive plants, but the perfume is intoxicating. 

Forget me nots grow everywhere and anywhere, but I love them.

 Has anyone got plans for the long week-end?  It is traditionally the time for planting the flower beds, so I will probably visit my local nursery to have a look-see. In any event, I will try to go out into the flower beds to prepare them. Whatever your plans, have a great Victoria Day weekend. 

Multi-tasking

It was one of those days. 

I sat down this morning to check my email with a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal. The dishwasher was already cleaned up because while the kettle is boiling, I put away the dishes and start loading up the dishwasher again. I just barely finished my cereal when the dog wanted outside again. I noticed the clothesline with the laundry hanging from yesterday. (It had rained late in the afternoon yesterday before I remembered I had some clothes drying on the line). I brought those upstairs and proceeded to gather another load of dark wash. I came down to finish reading a blog posting. My Sweetie announced that he was going into town to take in a compressor to his brother's place. I helped him load the compressor into the van and then went into the backyard to gather all the bags I wanted taken into the recycling facility. He could take those in for me, since I had sorted them all the day before.

Off he went while I went back to reading my favourite blog. My dad and "Dee" called on the Blackberry. It is my Dad's birthday today and the card I sent him had just arrived, so he called to thank me. "Dee" and I chatted and I was reminded that I was making a birthday dinner for my son's GF tonight. The meal was planned, but my dining room was still a mess after having pulled everything out from under the staircase. After I finished talking, I tackled that problem area. I put back only the ironing board, two table leaves, and one box of mason jars under the stairs, cleaned off the table, and "dealt" with the remaining boxes and bins by moving them into different areas of the house. I was just finishing up, when my Sweetie came home with the mail. 

One of the envelopes contained a wedding shower invitation. This was one of the personal phone calls I needed to make today. I made a phone call to one friend who was supposed to be home after a long stay in hospital, only to learn that she had gone back into hospital after being home only one day. That was upsetting news. I called the second friend to accept the invitation to the shower and have the chat that I had intended. In the back of my mind, I knew I should call a third friend and my daughter, but I will call tomorrow. I hung out my load of dark wash and made myself lunch. 

While I was in the kitchen, I looked for the cake mix I thought I had in the pantry. It wasn't there. I knew I would have to make a cake from scratch so I looked for a recipe in my files. While that was baking, I peeled the carrots and potatoes and left them sitting in water on the stove. After the two cake layers were cooled, I turned them onto plates and put both of them in the microwave (so the cats and the dog wouldn't get them), and I left for Amerstview to go to the bank and the grocery store to pick up some broccoli, bread and milk. I intended to put some money inside a birthday card as her birthday gift. Once home, I made the dressing and stuffed the chicken and placed in the roasting pan in the oven. I washed and cut the broccoli and had it ready to go. I set the table, threw up a very few decorations, and iced and decorated the cake. By now it was five o'clock. I wouldn't cook the vegetables until 5:15, so I went back to the computer and finished reading the blog I started this morning and commented on it. After dinner, I brought in my laundry from the clothesline and placed the rest of the chicken in the crock pot to make a nice rich chicken broth overnight. It is now 10:00 and I am going to watch one hour of television before bed. Goodnight all.

Catching up

It's been almost a week since my last post. I actually had to go back and read the last post to help me remember most of what has happened since then. I have cut the grass (all of it) again this week. I have not pulled any more weeds from the beds. I have pulled more rhubarb though....gave some away, froze two more quarts and made a rhubarb crumble. I made two pies last week after my last post.

Two rhubarb pies and doggie treats out of the oven.

I still have some pastry left in the fridge to make at least one more pie this week. Yes, my pastry was a little pale. That's because I left the tin foil on it too long. It was still fully baked however and it didn't affect the flavour any, because both pies are GONE.

On Thursday I decided to pull everything out of the closet under the stairs. My plan is to put back only those items that I wish to store under there and get rid of the rest. The dining room is still full of "stuff" I need to go through. When my son and his GF come back from California in two weeks, we are going to have a huge yard sale, starting with the stuff I am purging from this closet......if I can let go of it.   

 During the renovation of the bedroom, we put building material and other large broken pieces into our trailer. On Friday, my Sweetie and I loaded up more junk from the yard. While I finished cutting the rest of the lawn, my husband attached a trailer hitch  and wiring harness to the back of his van, so that early Saturday morning we could take the trailer to the Transfer Station to dump our first load of the year.

 As soon as we finished that, we took off towards Toronto. I picked up a bouquet of flowers and the card I made for Mother's Day, and brought them to the Retirement home in Cobourg where my mother lives. They were just finishing up lunch in the Dining room when we arrived. We did not stay long, but we had a very nice visit. Then off we went to the kids' gymnastics club in Bradford where my young grandson and his twelve invited guests were celebrating his fifth birthday party. The staff showed them around the foam pit, the parachute, the trampoline, etc. My daughter provided the food, cake, colouring activities and loot bags during the final hour inside the party room. After the party, we moved everything back to my daughter's place, ordered pizza, and had a family birthday party when his other grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins arrived. We didn't get home until after 10:30 that night.

Sunday was a lot quieter. It was pouring rain and so I tried reading more of my favourite blogs and we watched a few shows "On Demand" that we missed while out West. I also got some vacuuming done. Yesterday the lawn needed to be cut again after a weekend of rain. I also got a load of laundry washed and hung outside. We had a surprise visit from an old friend of ours who lives up north now, so we whiled away a couple of hours visiting. I have been making up a few shopping lists for when we go into town this week, but it isn't urgent that we go. I still have no need for groceries yet. 

 

Day Book - Tuesday, May 17/16

I am writing a day book today as a response to a challenge made by Natalie at Imperfectly Frugally.

Outside my window......It is a lovely sunny day with a slight breeze. (great clothesline drying day). I see my front lawn freshly mowed from yesterday and I see my front porch railing that needs painting. There are daffodils that are finished blooming for the season and the flower heads need to be removed.  I also see a dirty window that needs washing.

I am thinking.....that it is always easy for me to see the work that needs doing. Why don't I have the energy and motivation to do?

I am thankful for.......good friends, and of course my family.

From the learning rooms......my Sweetie checked You Tube for videos on how to change out the wheel cylinder and muffler on the year and model of his "new to him" van, so he can finish the work needed to get the safety done on his vehicle this week. He is a mechanic but each vehicle can have different ways of taking apart its components. I have bookmarked a video series on building a tiny home and I have become lost on pinterest looking at different homemade cards.

From the kitchen....I have unloaded the dishwasher and started loading back up again. I removed everything from the counters and scrubbed them down with my Miracle Wash. I also washed the fronts of the lower cabinet doors.

I am wearing.....jeans, bright pink T-shirt, pale pink short sleeved button down shirt and black socks. I have worn this two days in a row. It has been cool these past few days.

I am creating.....a mess in the dining room. I emptied the closet under the stairs and pulled everything out into the dining room. I don't want to put anything back unless it belongs there, and there are many bins that I need to go through first.

I am going.....nowhere today, I don't think. But I am making up lists of things I need to pick up IF we go into town. I also have sorted through some recycling and bagged it up to take to the recycling plant.

I am reading.....nothing at the moment. I am not a big reader of novels. I do read when I am on vacation however. The last book I finished was Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George.

I am hoping......I can get outside today to pull a few weeds.

I am hearing.....traffic passing our house. We live on the main street through town, which is also a major highway. I also hear my son using the whirlpool tub upstairs.

Around the house......I have two loads of laundry drying on the line outside. Both cats and the dog are sleeping. I have four kitchen cabinet doors in the dining room that needs the adjustable hinges removed. We don't need the doors, but we (or the tiny house) might need the hinges in a future project. I might use the door panels to make some outdoor signs for the garden, for myself or as a gift to someone.

One of my favourite things........right now, is my Contigo water bottle. It was a gift to me from my DIL in Vancouver while I was out there. It is spill proof and holds a liter of water at a time.

A few plans for the rest of the week........I have some personal phone calls to make in the next couple of days. My son and his GF are leaving Friday for two weeks in California. While away, the GF will be celebrating her birthday, so I will fix a birthday supper for her tomorrow. Fortunately, I made all those cards before I left for Vancouver. We've had six birthdays and Mother's Day since we've come back. Whew!
There is always OUTDOORS work to be done.

Here is a picture I am sharing....

Cookies my daughter made for her son's fifth birthday (theme was LEGO police)

Rhubarb harvest

Rhubarb has been one of my most WASTED resources. I have a lovely big patch, but only manage to make a couple of pies or fruit crumbles during the season, and I let the rest of it bolt and eventually die off.. Well this year I will resolve to do better. I have decided that since I have another freezer this year, I will take advantage and freeze as much rhubarb as I can when I am not using it up in my baking. 

I was feeling my age and a lot of sore muscles this morning when I got up, so I decided I would take a break from all the yard work that needs doing. We went into Kingston to pick up my new license plate sticker. The one I bought in Elliot Lake was just a 10 day trip permit so that I could get it back home and have the car safety-ed. My appointment was yesterday. While the car was on the hoist and one wheel was off, they discovered that the wheel cylinder was leaking. Coincidentally, there was already a brand new wheel cylinder in the back of my van because my Sweetie also needed one for his vehicle. They installed that one and only charged one hours labour. So my vehicle is fit and licensed. Yay! My Sweetie will have to pick up another one for his vehicle when he gets his van in for his safety. 

From there I went to the Bulk Barn to buy oatmeal, cornmeal, chocolate chips, split peas, ground black pepper and smoked paprika. I also bought a couple more vanilla beans and some essential oil, which brought my total up to $42. But I got a senior's discount of 10%. bringing it back down to $38.92  This afternoon I cut, washed, and chopped four quarts of rhubarb ready to make pies. I prepared my pie crust for rolling out tonight after seven o'clock. Our Hydro summer schedule started May 1st, so our high peak time is now 11 AM to 5 PM. (the opposite of our winter schedule) I also made doggie biscuits to go into the oven after the pies. After 20 minutes, I will shut off the oven and leave the biscuits in there overnight to harden.

Four quarts of chopped rhubarb for the freezer, or pies.

My rhubarb patch...In a couple of days, I will be able to harvest even more.

I was able to get another load of laundry washed in cold water with my homemade laundry detergent and vinegar for softener, and hung outside on the clothesline. I folded and put away the laundry I hung yesterday. 

Supper tonight is meatloaf, boiled potatoes and carrot coins prepared this afternoon so it would be ready to cook at 5 PM (mid-rate for Hydro)

I sorted the recycling bins for pickup tomorrow and brought down all the garbage to put out at the curb tonight before bed.

I am still hoping that I will be able to do more yard work tomorrow.

In the garden

I spent another three hours outdoors today. I planned to clean up our gravel driveway, but I didn't have the proper tools for the job. So I started to pull weeds around the backyard pond instead. I haven't finished yet. It is a huge job and I also need to pick up more vinegar to make my weed-killer. I also helped my Sweetie with putting together a metal frame for a gazebo we got from "Dee" last year from one of the Elliot Lake yard sales. We didn't get that finished either. Hopefully, tomorrow will remain clear and sunny.

I hung out a load of wash I did last night. I washed another dishwasher load of dishes since last night, and I cleaned the filters of the fish aquarium this morning. Three hours pulling weeds in the bright sun has tuckered me out. I will show you the garden spaces that I worked on yesterday in the front yard.

Pasque flower in the foreground and blue windflowers to the back.

This area still needs me to clean out the dead twigs of last year's growth of beebalm and common primrose, but the area is green with narcissus and allium. 

These daffodils are surrounded on one side by blooming aubrieta deltoids and later blooming lavender. 

I have both white and pink bleeding hearts . To the left you can see some globe thistle coming up. I want to thin these plants soon, and move some to the back. These are self-seeding and will soon take over this flower bed if I don't get rid of them. 

I have blue forget-me-nots growing in the lawn and in my driveway that I need to transplant back into my garden

Golden alyssum and blue deltoids

Grape hyacinths among the large spiky leaves of the yucca plants. 

Mother's Day and Elliot Lake yard sale

I got two of these hanging planters for my veranda on Mother's Day. 

Things are not settled down yet

I got home Wednesday afternoon and caught up on some phone calls to friends and family to let them know I was back and asked about the events in their lives. A very dear friend had surgery scheduled for while I was away and I was a little surprised to learn that she was still in hospital. Thursday morning I went to visit her. I came home and crashed. I guess I was recuperating from the long days of travelling across the country.

Yesterday morning my Sweetie and I left without coffee or breakfast for the hospital in Napanee. My husband had a terrible night. He had pain in his foot that started in his ankle and spread halfway up his calf and all the way into his toes. His foot was swollen twice its size and was red and hot. While in the waiting room, he had chills so bad that the warmed blanket they gave him was not enough to warm him. I retrieved a wool blanket from the van to wrap him in. It turned out to be gout, but they couldn't take a chance that it might also be an infection; so, we had to wait for the results of the blood work from the lab. They prescribed a higher dosage of prednisone and percocet for the pain. We were gone from home from 7:30 'til after 4 p.m. It was not the way either one of us had planned to spend our day.

 Today I did my first shop at a grocery store. I had to drive into Kingston anyway to pick up a part we ordered for our dishwasher, and car parts needed to get one of our vans certified before we can buy Ontario plates. I knew I needed a couple of things without taking a shopping list, or deciding what the menu plan will look like this week, so I went to the nearest grocery store (Freshco) and picked up those items and their weekly loss leaders. This is what it looked like.

Bread cost $8.11

Three loaves of brown bread were $1.94 each and hot dog buns were $2.29  I will never get the deals that Nathalie does in Central Florida. 

Proteins cost $16.99

This was not a great deal. This is the result of not having a shopping list and just buying what looked good to me.

Produce cost $23.57

Red seedless grapes at $1.99/lb. were $5.84,  3 frozen juice concentrates cost $3.53, frozen stir-fry veggies were $7.99, frozen peas and carrots cost $2.49 and two peppers cost $1.73 I also bought a 3 pound bag of fresh carrots for  $1.99 (not pictured) 

Dairy was $5.76
The margarine was 97 cents and the cheese was marked down to only $4.79

Pantry items cost $7.72

The multi-grain Cheerios are a favourite. The large 560 gm box was on sale for $3.99 with a coupon for a free 2 litres of choco milk next time I shop. Sugar is $1.97 and the tins of diced tomatoes were only 88 cents a tin. 

Sundries cost $3.96

These also were not great deals, but these are the items (vinegar and tin foil) I needed this week. 

Total expenditure on groceries was $66.11

My Sweetie was feeling so much better today. He didn't get out of the van, but he came with me on my errands. Once home, he installed the small part needed to fix the dishwasher. I have done two loads of dishes so far today. He tuned up the lawnmower for me so I cut some of the lawn but not all of it. The grass was so thick, the mower kept stalling on me. I have the worst of it done. And I have made up more of my homemade laundry detergent and  washed two loads of laundry which I have hanging outside on the clothesline. Tonight's supper will be an easy pasta bake. 

I'm home again.

But just barely home. I arrived early this afternoon;so Nathalie, don't expect any comments on your blog because I won't be doing that until tomorrow. I haven't even unpacked the car yet. We made the trip across Canada to Northern Ontario in only four days. We spent the weekend at my Dad's house and rested. But I have to tell you about some "gifts" I received while I was there. On Friday night, we attended a trade show where I received a $10 gift certificate to Shoppers Drug Mart that was good only on Saturday. I used it to buy some food items. Free stuff.

Ten dollars bought this and a bag of potato chips which we ate the first night. 

I entered a few draws and was lucky enough to win a $25 gift certificate to another store in town. On Monday I went in to spend it all on merchandise. More free stuff. 

While I was away, I received my Sample Source package in the mail, filled with more freebies.

One Melitta coffee pod. large 90 gm Brookside dark chocolate, raspberry lemonade drink you mix with water for a full days multi vitamin, sample of dog food, two new VH sauces to make butter chicken and teriyaki, Qia protein bar, samples of breathe right strips, coupon for free box of Catelli super green pasta, and a few high value coupons . I love getting free stuff in the mail. 

And need I remind you all that my husband received my son's Dodge Caravan to drive us home. Today, he got a list of what needs to be changed out before it can be certified and the emissions test before licencing. And I received my Dad's Dodge Caravan for myself. The appointment for my emissions test and safety is next Tuesday. Two free vehicles came at the best time, as our Jeep finally gave up the ghost just before I left for my trip to Egypt. It is only costing us the price of registering ownerships, the emissions tests,  the cost of parts and labour to certify the vehicles, and new plates. They should last us for several more years.

While in Elliot Lake, I went to a few yard sales as well. I will share my treasures with you later in the week, after I have unpacked.