May Days Are Here

What a difference two weeks make. I left here on a Friday with ice and snow still on the ground and came back on a Friday two weeks later with green lawns (that already need mowing) and flowers blooming in the garden.  I turned off the furnace straight away....not that it was on, but I make a point of turning it off on the first day in May. I was completely out of everything in my fridge. I pulled 2 liters of milk out of the freezer to defrost so I could have coffee and tea with the few extra packets of Splenda I took from the Tim Hortons coffee shop on my trip home. I  cooked a package of bacon from the freezer and ate that with some mashed turnip for my dinner that night. I didn't feel like going grocery shopping after traveling, and besides that, my van was piled to the ceiling with items that people in Elliot Lake had given me "for my yard sale" I barely had room to stuff my suitcase, so I certainly didn't have room to put a small bag of food. Saturday morning I slept in until after 10 AM and then had a bowl of oatmeal (no eggs) before going out to the van to empty the front passenger seat and the bench seat in the back. I still have the back of the van to empty out, but I will deal with the first load of stuff before I drag anything else into the house. I have been washing and hanging out laundry for the past two days. As I fold it up I am packing it away for my yard sale and for the Thrift Store.

With the van half-way cleaned out, I went to No-Frills to pick up the items on my stock-up list.

 Dairy cost me $32.33  Eggs were NOT on sale for $2.27 each doz. and I paid the regular price for Feta cheese (200 gm) at  $2.97. However, both cottage cheese and plain yoghurt cost $2 each  Not pictured is a block of old cheddar cheese for $5.55

Frozen fruits and veggies cost $19.00  (no-name frozen blueberries, 2 bags of oriental mix stir fry veggies and 2 bags of winter veggies)

Fresh veggies cost $18.65 The bag of carrots and bag of onions were $1 each. I also bought two romaine hearts, bag of sweet peppers, English cucumber, 2 eggplant, 4 zucchini, and two small heads of cabbage.

Meat cost a big $47.42  I picked up 5 packages of lean ground beef for $2 each, a package of Black Forest ham for $2, chicken thighs for $2 a pound, a pork loin for $2 a lb. and a package of Italian sausage. This was a great sale on meat and should hopefully last a while.

Last, but certainly not least, I picked up a box of Stevia for $4.79 making my total  bill $122.20

Today I went back into Kingston and spent another $50 at Staples. I needed  110 pound card stock to replace the package I left with my sister and mom in Elliot Lake so they can continue to make handmade cards in my absence. I discovered that I lost my charger somewhere for my Android tablet, so I picked up another one. If in the meantime it shows up,  I can always use a second one. Now I can message my oldest son tomorrow to wish him a Happy Birthday, since he will certainly not receive his package on time. I plan to mail it out to him tomorrow, ON HIS BIRTHDAY.

I have yet to catch up on all my emails. The family kept me so busy while I was in Elliot Lake, there wasn't much time for anything else. It isn't just my Dad and Dee that live there. It is also my sister and her husband, and my mother who lives there now. I had planned a 10 day trip but clearly that was not an option. I decided to stay another 4 days to make it two weeks. The days and nights were full of activity. I am guessing I lost a bit more weight since I was constantly on the go. I will talk a bit more about it this week while I am catching up on some of your lives in the past little while. Talk to you soon.