First Grocery Shop For July

Good thing I chose to go for my groceries today. Apparently that heat wave is moving into our area, and with Sunday being Canada Day, I imagine everyone will be out tomorrow and Saturday to get their shopping done. I found today to be busier than it usually is. The weather today has been very strange.  A few times it has been very warm and sunny. Other times the dark clouds move in and it looks very menacing. There is only a 30% chance of rain and thunder showers today.

I went to three stores today. I started with the furthest one away from me (Freshco) , moved closer to Food Basics, and ended with No Frills which is on the way back home. I had the flyers for the first two stores, but didn't have the one for No Frills. If I'd had the sales flyer for No Frills, I might have made a few different choices. Still, I think I did very well.

Fresh produce cost me $28.42 (large cabbage, avocados, rutabaga, 3 yams,4  sweet peppers, red onion, 5 zucchini and 3 yellow squash, 2 cucumbers, 2 eggplant)  I bought a bag of 4 avocados on sale at Freshco for $2.49 and then at No-Frills I  picked up another bag of  imperfects for 5.97. Don't worry. None of them will spoil.  I love 'em.

Frozen produce cost $18.99 ( 3 bags winter veggies, spinach, more blueberries)

I spent $27.98 on meat (large chicken breasts, Kielbasa, Italian sausage, and ground chicken)

Dairy cost $31.47  I accidentally picked up 2 containers of no fat yoghurt because the containers were the same green as the 3% and they were all together in a chest freezer. I think the store employee made the same mistake as I did, going by colour alone. I picked up some Feta cheese on sale (I see another moussaka in my future) and 3 blocks of cheese (2 of them Monteray Jack with jalapenos) Mmmm. .

Pantry items cost $9.24

Non-food items cost $8.42  I use vinegar to make my weed killer, my Miracle Clean spray and as a rinse agent in my dishwasher and washing machine.
I made a donation of $2 for Wounded Warriors at Freshco, so I spent a total of $125.37

This Sunday is Canada Day, as well as the birthday of a good friend of mine. Every year a group of us women  celebrate by taking the ferry over to Amherst Island for a potluck dinner, a parade, a strawberry social and finally an evening of fireworks. I bought the juices to make a punch for everyone and I will probably bring something that I know that I can eat (maybe cheese and kielbasa with a diet soft drink?)  Potlucks are fun to go to when your diet is restricted, because you have control over the offerings.

Everyone have a great weekend holiday. Stay cool and chillax.

Cold and Rainy

I knew it was going to pour rain today. That is why I transplanted 3 things in my front flower bed late yesterday afternoon. What I was not expecting was the very cool temperatures that are here. I thought this week was really going to warm up with hot humid conditions. How cool is cool? Well, it is presently 17 degrees Celsius, or 63 F. degrees  more like early Spring temperatures) So I dug up the pink lupines from the back garden bed that I plan to turn back into lawn this summer, and moved them into a bare spot in the front garden that used to have way too many globe thistle but from which I removed most of them this Spring. Lupines will seed themselves but once established, really don't like to be moved. I cut back the now finished flower stalks and removed all the grass roots. I watered well, but this day of rain is just what it needs. Another tricky thing to move is my blue flax. One of my clumps had jumped the rock border so yesterday I dug it out of the gravel and put it up close to the house where I also hope it will take root. The third plant is the pot of mums I received on Mother's Day. Amazingly it has been in bloom until just recently, so I just planted it the way it is, right into the garden in front of the "dead looking" lupines. I will cut the flowers back eventually and then hopefully they will give a second bloom in the Fall.

My To-Do list for this week was just basically to vacuum through the house.  It was on my list but I really didn't feel like doing it. So Monday and Tuesday I spent my working hours outside in the gorgeous sunny weather and did some much needed weeding. I thought I would take care of the sunny cooler weather to work outdoors before it got much hotter later this week. I am still hopeful. I pulled weeds from the three flower beds out front and also pulled weeds from the gravel driveway. I also tidied the beds by cutting back the spent perennials like bleeding heart, columbine and allium. The tall dead flower stalks detract from the rest of the flowers, and now there is room for the plants that are flowering now and a little later in the summer. I made two gallons of weed killer and used it all up. All the comings and goings into the house did not seem to deter the robins from nest building. They continued all day Monday until the nest was finished, and then.....I have not seen them since. I am thinking something must have happened to the female robin late Monday. I do not understand how she could be so persistent just to abandon the nest at the end. When I came inside for the day she was sitting quite comfortably in the nest singing her heart out. Now the nest lays empty. It is really kind of sad. 

 With the allium and bleeding heart pruned back, it is time for the primrose and bee balm to bloom.

 Rose Campion is prolific in both the front and back gardens where the Forget-me-nots used to bloom., and now are done. Rose Campion is another plant I need to dig out so it doesn't take over.  In the background you will see that the Snow in Summer is finished. I will find time soon to thin this out drastically by ripping it out by the wheel barrow full.

Because it rained today, I did some vacuuming finally; but just the downstairs rooms. I didn't want to over extend myself. Ha. I gathered the trash throughout the house for collection tomorrow morning and gathered up the papers and cardboard for Recycling. I gathered up the scatter mats and have them soaking in the washer in cold water. I will wash them after 7 o'clock tonight. Lunch was two bowls of my chicken vegetable soup I made Monday morning, and dinner tonight is roasted veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, burgundy beans, carrot coins, spinach and mushrooms) and pork chops in a sour cream sauce with garlic. Lately I have just been making it up as I go with what I have in my fridge and freezer. I am going to have to go grocery shopping again tomorrow. Holy Moly! I eat a lot of veggies each week.

Daybook: Monday, June 25/18

Outside my window.....it is a beautiful clear sunny day after a wet and overcast weekend. Flowers are blooming, but the weeds are thriving as well.

I am thinking.....I have lost the battle with the robins this year. Yesterday I ripped out the start of a nest inside one of my hanging baskets and watered until it poured out the bottom of the planter. This morning they were up before I was, and managed to finish a new nest. They are bound and determined to make this their new home. I will be flying out of Kingston on July 11th, so maybe the babies will be gone before I get back.

I am thankful for.....being able to watch these industrious little robins up close and personal.

From the kitchen.....I have a pot of chicken vegetable soup simmering on the stove. It will be done before 11 AM when the on-peak hydro rates will start. I started with the broth I made yesterday in the crock pot and had in the fridge overnight. I skimmed off the fat that had congealed on top, added frozen broccoli and cauliflower, some dehydrated onion flakes, some celery I had chopped up last week and put into the freezer, some frozen burgundy beans from my garden and two small slightly wilted carrots from the bottom of my crisper. I added lots of chicken meat I took off some of the legs I made the broth from. I still have to remove the rest of the meat to use in future meals. I have brewed my pot of tea for the day, but still have to empty the dishwasher I ran before going to bed last night. My breakfast was a 2-egg omelet (no surprise there) made with fried onion and sliced mushroom using some of the refrigerated bacon fat.

I am wearing.....black yoga capris with my gray Penguin books T-shirt.

I am creating.....a collection of photos to give to my son's fiancee.

I am going.....to the Post Office later to mail off 3 encouragement cards and 1 "congrats" card.  I don't NEED to go anywhere else today.

I am hoping.....to finish vacuuming the floors today.

I am hearing.....the voices of high school students as they walk past the house, occasional traffic passing by, and the robins as they fly back and forth to the nest.

Around the house.....I have a lot of straightening up and cleaning to do now that the yard sale is over and the items are removed from various locations in the house.

One of my favourite things.....right now are the cooler temperatures that have moved in. I don't feel like doing anything when it is too hot in the summer.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....revolve around some housework, some yard work and maybe a little crafting. I have no appointments or dates scheduled. I have already booked my bus to the Toronto airport and my flight to and from Vancouver in July. Since my DIL in Vancouver will be unable to attend my Middle son's wedding (her radiation treatments will end with Tuesday's appointment), I am flying out to Vancouver and driving down with my son and two of my grand daughters. We will travel down the coastal route stopping for 3 nights along the way until we get to our airBnB in Sebastopol. After the wedding, we will "hurry" back to Vancouver. I will stay with the family for a few days before and after the trip. Maybe I will be able to help out some.

Here's the picture I am sharing.....

Fifteen Frugal Things This Weekend

• Starting Friday, I stopped on my way home from the Retirement Party and did my grocery shopping thereby saving myself another trip into Kingston. (combining errands)
• I took some time on Friday afternoon to activate and register on-line all the new loyalty cards I have recently received, so that I do not lose any points or future offers. 
• On Saturday I drove into Amherstview to pick up my phoned-in prescription and take advantage of an offer I learned about at Shopper's Drug Mart. If I spent $50, I could earn 10xs  the loyalty points. I took advantage of the offer to pick up some toiletries and medical supplies that I needed to get. 
• I completed another survey on Pinecone Research. If I get another survey to do, I will have enough to request another $20 credit on Amazon.
• I put 2 trays of chicken legs with backs attached that I bought on Friday, into my crock pot with water. I will make my own chicken stock and pull the meat from the bones to put in the freezer, thereby cooking once during the low peak times during the weekend to make several servings of meat for future weekday meals. 
• I also cooked a pound of ground chicken meat for the same reason.
• I washed my laundry in cold water and hung outside on the line and dried it before the rain started up again. 
• I fried a pound of bacon and put that in the freezer to add to omelets and different casseroles. 
• I saved the bacon fat and put in the refrigerator. Since my diet allows me to have animal fat, I use this to stir fry vegetables and make my omelets in the morning.
• I made another 2 liters of my Miracle Clean spray and refilled all my spray containers...one in the kitchen, one in each bathroom and one in the laundry room for pre-treating stains. 
• I started making my iced tea again now that temperatures are getting warmer.

 

 

• I boil water in my electric kettle in the morning to make a  4 cup pot of tea with one tea bag. That way I only need to microwave each additional cup of tea I have throughout the day and I can keep the kettle unplugged. 
• I pulled weeds from the gravel pathway I have between the sidewalk and my flower bed. Then I used my homemade weed killer to keep them from growing back as quickly. 

• I also weeded my front flower bed and put my saved coffee grounds right in the garden. I use the large tins of ground coffee to fill up my reusable pods for the Keurig. 

• I was able to successfully wash a feather duvet on two gentle cycles of my front loading washer....once with a little liquid detergent, and once with just clean cold water to make sure all the soap was removed. (There are very good instructions on You Tube). 

Partying and Shopping

Yesterday I had a Retirement party that I wanted to attend at Queens University  where I used to work up until I retired 8 years ago. It was for my Library Supervisor at the Health Sciences library. It was great to see everyone there and it was good times catching up on everyone's lives. There were a lot of retirees like myself who had been invited back.

Before I left the house however, I decided to pull everything out from the corners and walls in my Craft Room and gave a good dusting and vacuuming. I was able to organize and condense some of my craft items to basically one side of the room, but still within reach. The other side of the room is reserved with bins and some boxes where I am storing most of the unsold items of the yard sale. To this pile I have already added more items that did not make it into this first sale.

After leaving the library, I drove to No Frills on the way home to pick up some grocery items for this coming week.

Produce cost $34.32  $11 each for 2 Kg of berries, $2 each bag of frozen veggies, $2.88 for 4-pk of sweet peppers and $1.44 for  whole mushrooms.

Dairy cost $18.04  $1.97 for each tub of plain yoghurt, $3.77 for each tub of cottage cheese, and $3.28 each for 2 liters of homo milk. Yes, dairy is expensive.

Sorry for the poor photo. Meat cost me $10.65  I picked up some tilapia fillets (I am having some tonight), and 3 pkgs. of chicken legs with backs attached (only 88 cents a pound.) The total grocery bill came to $63.01

Today has been raining off and on, so I made some cards and wrote notes inside, addressed and stamped them so they are ready to go in the mail on Monday. Three of them are encouragement cards and one is a congratulatory card for a young couple who are expecting their first child. During a break in the rain, I left for Amherstview where I picked up a prescription refill that I phoned in yesterday.  I spent a whopping big $65.49 for a very few grocery items, toiletries and medical supplies that I needed for home. Two  items on sale I am putting away for the kids' Advent calendars. I picked up two more containers of cottage cheese because I thought they were on sale, but when I got home I realized I picked up the wrong variety. Darn it. I was able to get two dozen eggs for $1.88 each. This is the best price for eggs anywhere.

As I type up this blog post, I have a robin looking at me from the railing of the verandah....just five feet away. I know they have nests close by but I haven't found them yet. I keep trying to discourage them from building inside my hanging baskets. They try every year. Also, there is a bunny rabbit in my front yard. It surprises me when they come out to the front yard so close to the highway. Usually they stay in the relative safety of the backyard.

Because of the rain today, I did not make it out to weed the front flower beds. Maybe the bunny will take care of that for me. Hope you are all enjoying your weekend, whatever the weather.

What I Have Been Up To

It is Thursday afternoon already. I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of the week. Mind you, I did lose Monday somewhere as I mentioned in my Tuesday post, but it still surprises me that the week flew by so quickly.Wednesday morning saw me take the two loads of laundry off the line, fold them up and put them away. I next began going through all the unsold items stacked in the entry room. I packed up a huge Rubbermaid bin with the small appliances that did not sell and a few more items that I thought should have sold. Maybe because it was a hot sunny day people were not looking for flannelette sheets and candles, but in September they might. So those are the kind of items I packed up for the second sale. I have also discovered lots of items that were forgotten. Everything else was repacked into cardboard boxes and plastic bags and loaded into my van. There is a LOT of stuff. And yes, a lot of it is good stuff; but as you might remember, it was driving me crazy having it piled up around the house. Well at least 3 people have asked me why I am giving it away to the Thrift store when I plan to have another yard sale later on. So this morning I did not drive into Kingston so I could think about it. Instead I continued my card-making over the last 2 days while I pondered.  I am thinking that maybe tomorrow morning I will go into the Craft Room and organize the space  to make room for some more boxes and bins of the left-overs. I have been purging and organizing my supplies in that room and I now have some empty floor space I could stack "out-of-sight" my collection of yard sale items and add to it throughout the summer.  Then tomorrow afternoon, I am going to the Retirement party for my co-worker.

My grandson who just turned 7 years of age has been very, very busy over the last couple of weeks writing cards to everyone he knows. Awwww. I have received two of  his adorable letters so far. Today I decided to reciprocate with one of my homemade cards to him (and of course one to his sister, because you know...even Steven)  I haven't mailed them a card since Easter, and I know how kids love getting cards in the mail. I am so happy that he has taken on this project of writing. It probably costs my daughter a small fortune in postage stamps, but he is practicing his penmanship in a way that he finds enjoyable. So Yay! In the midst of making more birthday cards for my stash, I stopped to make two "summertime" cards for my two grand kids. Sorry. I keep forgetting to take photos. I wanted to make them and write small notes inside and still make the cut-off time for mailing them out today. When I got back I mowed both lawns, front and back. My dinner tonight is going to be shredded cooked cabbage with hamburger. Today, I decided to cook the shredded cabbage in the crock pot to save using as much Hydro (during peak time 11 AM to 5 PM) and to not heat up the kitchen. I will let you know the result.

 As my red peonies fade away,

my double pink blooms are just opening up.

Daybook: Tuesday, June 19/18

I've lost a day this week already. After coming home from the cottage at Charleston Lake late yesterday morning, I forgot that it was Monday. It was hot, muggy, and rained off and on....a good day to stay indoors and do some crafting. And that is what I did. I planned to straighten up this week after the yard sale on Saturday and that still needs to be done, but yesterday and today has been all about catching up.

Outside my window.....it is a gorgeous day. It is sunny, warm but breezy, and not nearly as  humid as it was yesterday.  My lawn needs to be mowed again and my flower gardens need weeding. It never ends.

I am thinking..... of my successful yard sale from this past weekend, and so so glad that it is over.  I am happy for getting rid of a lot of things and made myself $100 doing it.

I am thankful for.....my friend who came out Friday and stayed overnight to help me get ready for the sale. She stayed with me all day and helped me to bring everything that didn't sell back into the house. We put all the tables back where they belonged and cleaned up the driveway so that it never looked like there had been a sale. I couldn't have done it without her help. I am so very fortunate. I am also thankful for the invitation to spend a quiet weekend at Charleston Lake. It was heavenly.

From the kitchen.....there hasn't been very much cooking going on, and certainly no baking at all. Last night I roasted 6 chicken thighs and a huge vegetable casserole with grated Monterrey Jack with jalapenos. I ate half the casserole last night with 2 thighs. Tonight's dinner will be the same, and there are 2 thighs left over to use in a stir fry tomorrow night. I have been cooking once and eating twice.

I am wearing.....royal blue capris with my printed sparkly tee-shirt I bought while in Elliot Lake. It also has royal blue in the swirly pattern. I am not wearing any shoes or socks in the house.

I am creating.....more cards this week. I made some encouragement cards yesterday and I need to make more birthday cards sometime this week. July is full of birthdays.

I am going.....nowhere else today. Earlier this afternoon, I walked over to the Post Office  to drop off 3 encouragement cards and I picked up mail from my P.O. box. (just flyers and adverts)

I am hoping.....I can get both some indoor housecleaning done this week, as well as some outdoor mowing and weeding during the cooler hours of the day.

I am hearing.....traffic from the end of the work day over the sound of my window fan that is beside me at the computer desk.

Around the house.....I washed my stove top and the counters in the kitchen. I washed the acrylic stamps I have used in the past couple of weeks. I watered my hanging baskets and I took the kitchen compost out to the garden composter. I washed two loads of laundry in cold water and hung outside on the umbrella clothes line (except for my bed sheets, which I will put in the dryer after 7 PM.) I have been catching up on emails and blog posts since Thursday. I was far too busy with getting ready for my yard sale, and leaving town for a bit of a staycation, to check on-line.

One of my favourite things.....is an avocado. I have recently discovered that one of my favourite grocery stores (No Frills), has imperfect avocados for sale. I used to buy their 3 lb. bags of imperfect apples and I presently buy their 2 KG frozen bags of imperfect blueberries. They are offered at a much reduced price and keeps "imperfect" fruits and veggies out of the landfill. I need to keep my eyes open for more offerings like these. Because they are not all of uniform size and they may have a few more lumps and bumps, it does not affect their taste or quality.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include the aforementioned yard work, house work, and card-making.  I have been invited to a retirement party this Friday afternoon for someone I used to work with at the library.

Here's the picture I am sharing.....

 Primrose and Coral Bells are in full bloom.

My Yard Sale

This past week I was in a very dark place. I needed to write a short blog this morning to let everyone know that I am feeling better and coming back from under the funk that had me in hiding. The day after I wrote my last post, things did not get better. I woke up the next day feeling even more miserable and try as I might, could not shake off the doom and gloom, so I went back to bed at 11 AM and stayed there all day. I slept really well all that day and night. There were so many times I wanted to call people to cancel the sale, but it would have been harder to do that, so I gathered all the strength and resolve I had left and marched forward. Friday afternoon, I picked up my friend after work and brought her home to my house. We stayed up 'til past 10PM getting ready. Yesterday morning, to my delight, both my son and his fiancee were here to help us set up 5 tables with all the wares I had ready. I resolved not to stress about not being quite as prepared as I wanted to be, partly because I knew there needed to be a second yard sale later this summer. Five tables wasn't nearly enough display area for everything that was ready for sale, so for the items I didn't  bring out, there is a second chance later in August. My friend stayed with me until the bitter end. She was here to help bring stuff inside and carry the tables back where they belonged. I will be forever grateful. I made $100, which I am thrilled about because most everything was small household items that ranged from 10 cents to a dollar. I had a very few larger items, but nothing was priced over $10  The sales were steady from 8 AM until we quit at 2 PM.  I got rid of lots of stuff and I visited with a lot of my neighbours. The weather was perfect, and I ended the day exhausted. My dinner was ready because I just needed to reheat left overs from the night before.

Today is Father's Day. My friend and her husband in Charleston Lake have invited me over for the day and to sleep over. They are offering me a quiet day at their cottage in the woods and it sounds lovely.......just what I am needing. Tomorrow I will begin the process of going through everything left from the sale. If there was plenty of interest in something, I might save it  for resale. I suspect most of it I will pack up in cardboard boxes and take to  a Thrift Store. Then I will begin to clean up my now empty floor space and call in a couple of realtors for advice. So things continue to move forward;  not as quickly as I first imagined, but forward nonetheless. I may not sell for a year but I can still gather information and work towards the end result. I hope everyone is enjoying their Father's Day weekend and that you are taking it easy.

I think these are Sweet William. I planted them last year (that's why I can't remember), but they have come back this year even better than ever. I am wanting to plant even more of them, so I had better find out what they are.

My Second Year

A warning:  I am feeling sorry for myself and  feeling enough pity to go around, that you are not required to comment or even read any further.

I'm still grieving. I say that as though it is a brand new concept and I suppose it is. I expected that things would get much easier with time, and when I got past the one year anniversary of my husband's passing, it would be like reaching a milestone or crossing a finishing line. But it wasn't. In fact, in some regards it feels harder. I kind of reached that conclusion last night. I had a very tumultuous day. I wished I could have gone back to bed and start all over, except that I had a very fitful sleep the night before and didn't want to face that prospect again. So I am sitting on the couch watching a few more episodes of a TV series....a comedy actually. The story line is about a young mother  who has lost her less-than-one-year-married  husband and now it is three years later and feels she has now "lost" her best friend in the world. They are awkward around each other and the young widow confronts her friend about feeling abandoned by her. She is feeling alone and shunned by her friend, and she blurts out, "you were there in the first year, but the second year was harder." I felt as though I had stumbled upon a great revelation.

In fact, this morning I typed into Google "the second year is harder grieving process" and to my surprise, there were pages of results. I didn't know this was a thing. No one had warned me about the second year. No wonder I am feeling lost, depressed, frustrated, but especially ALONE. It has been so difficult to "move on", and I have been feeling like a failure. Why have I not called in a realtor yet? Why am I dragging my feet about selling on Kijiji? Why have I not priced my items for a yard sale yet? Despite all my hard work lately to move forward, I can't pull myself together enough to hold a simple yard sale. I feel deeply abandoned and I'm not sure why. In the months following Rick's death, there was a lot to keep me busy. Forms needed changing. His name had to be removed from accounts. His clothes and possessions were dispersed. There was a lot of bureaucracy and adjustment to living a life as one, after 47 years of being joined-at-the-hip with my life partner. And I had a lot of help in trying to reach those changes. People were responsive to me . They checked in on me. They were always there for me.  But lately, some people assume that I require less support because I am obviously in a better place right now after so much time has passed, and partly because of my insistence that everything is fine; because after all, things are getting done. When people ask me "how are you doing?" I reply good, great, fine......as in, at this point in my grieving, I think I am where I can expect to be.  But things will NEVER be good, great, fine because a piece of me is gone forever, and it will never be the same. 

The second year is more about coming to grips with being absolutely alone.  I feel angry, a LOT. The simplest things frustrate me. I feel paralyzed at times. I have learned to do so much on my own this past year. I feel proud of my accomplishments. But I am tired too. I am tired of being brave, tired of being lonely, tired of asking for help, tired of not having enough money, but mostly tired  of being the only one responsible for getting things done. There are days lately when I start crying at the drop of a hat. Waves of grief wash over me. I look at couples together and wonder why they are lucky enough to have each other. Why did he have to die and leave me alone? This is what I am having to come to grips with in this second year. Yes, I have made a decision to sell and move into a two-bedroom apartment with a balcony, but the truth is that I haven't decided yet where I am going to move. It is going to take a lot more time to get ready for this change than I first thought.

Daybook: Monday, June 11/18

Outside my window.....it is sunny and breezy. It looks like another gorgeous day. I NEED to get outside to mow the lawns today.

I am thinking.....of the past week and all that got accomplished. I am also thinking of all the cards I worked on this weekend in order to build up my stash once again. I am desperately in need of more encouragement cards to mail out.

I am thankful for.....my son for being able to come out on Thursday to help me in loading up more stuff in the dumpster from the shed. I could not have managed it all on my own.

From the kitchen.....I baked a moussaka last night, enough for two or three meals.

I am wearing.....tan coloured capris and a yellow t-shirt with a loon on the front. It is well stained and works well for wearing around the house. I am in bare feet and wearing my hair in a ponytail.

I am creating.....lots of cards at the present time. I've made birthday cards (including masculine), thinking-of-you cards, and  encouragement cards (again both masculine and feminine)

I am going.....to the post office today. I have nine cards to mail out this morning. I am expecting a call from my daughter this morning, and then I will head outdoors to mow the grass. I was out yesterday to pick up my prescription and some specials from Shopper's Drug Mart, so there is no need to go out today.

I am hoping.....to hold my first yard sale this Saturday. I need to call some friends today to arrange some helpers and check the long-range forecast to see if the weather will co-operate.

I am hearing.....occasional traffic noise and a lawn mower in the distance.

Around the house.....I have lots of boxes and bags of items that will need pricing this week.

One of my favourite things.....is a conversation with my daughter, or a good friend who is willing to let me bend her ear and vent.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....will primarily revolve around getting ready for the yard sale.

Here's the picture I am sharing.....

Bridal veil shrub.

I Had Plans For This Afternoon.

Yesterday I was excited to get a text from my son that he was on his way. He didn't get that call to go in to work, so he was able to help me go through the shed and determine what to do with the stuff inside. He wasn't feeling well when he arrived so took some Tylenol. We only scratched the surface, but we did make some headway.  He took some things away with him, we carried some larger things to the "metal" pile behind the shed, and we put some things in bins to see if they would sell in another yard sale  later in the summer. If they don't sell, then they will also go into the "metal" pile.  My friend in Charleston Lake bought me a beautiful owl sculpture made from broken and rusty tools from an artist that lives near her. I told her that he could help himself to the junk pile for his inspiration and supplies. At the end of the season, I will load up the trailer and have a friend take me to the scrapyard in Napanee to turn the metal into "cash for my pocket."  At least, that is the plan.

So we worked all morning well past one. He left for home and I stopped for lunch. He hadn't felt like eating yet. I continued to carry out pieces from the house during the afternoon, changed my clothes before walking to the polling station to vote, and by this time I was very tired. Fortunately, I had some pork roast in the crock pot and so I just steamed some broccoli and cauliflower for my late dinner. I did not post a blog.

At the end of the day, my dumpster was pretty much filled. Please don't judge me. I know there are things in there that someone could have used on Freecycle. And maybe I could have sold that antique settee for a few dollars. But I have been doing this for a week and I was tired. I have owned these things for a while and never did anything with them and now I want them gone. I don't have time right now for listing things on-line. Yes maybe they would have gone in the yard sale, but if not....Then I would have to get rid of them eventually. Remember. I am basically a hoarder. You can imagine my angst at throwing these things out in the garbage. On the other hand, maybe I should have gotten rid of more.

I was up at 6:30 this morning. I remembered that the dumpster was delivered at 7 AM last Thursday, so I wanted to be here when they arrived. Well, they didn't come until 11:30 AM, so I spent a couple of hours in the backyard pulling weeds. I didn't leave for No-Frills grocers until noon.

Produce (fresh and frozen) cost me $38.67  (two frozen oriental mix veggies, 2 broccoli and cauliflower, one 2-kg. bag of imperfect blueberries, 1 Italian mix veggies, 2 large zucchini, 2 cabbage, 1 small turnip, 4-pk of sweet peppers,   English cucumber,  and 6 count bag of avocados. I like to eat a snack of sliced cold cucumber with cheese, like cheese and crackers.

Meat cost $15.81 (2 trays of chicken thighs at $2/lb. and salami

Dairy cost $19.69  I only picked up 1 dozen eggs for $2.27 because Shopper's usually sell their eggs for $1.88 a doz. on Saturday and Sunday.

Pantry cost me $8.38  More salt (I am completely out) and vinegar to make weed killer. A friend of mine told me to pick up a bag of stevia for home, and just use the box of packets for when I am out. I couldn't believe how much cheaper it is by the bag. I guess I was paying big for the convenience. My total grocery bill came to $82.56

I got home at 1:30 and made a quick lunch of tuna and cottage cheese. I felt like I was going to fall asleep so I made a cup of tea to revive me. I had plans for this afternoon. I was going to call in a prescription to the drug store. I was going to call the company that supplied the dumpster to see what the actual weight was and when I might expect the rest of my deposit back. I wanted to mow both the front and back yards and perhaps continue the weeding of the back gardens. I took one sip of my tea and slept until almost 5 PM. The spirit was strong, but the body gave up before it got out of the starter's gate. I have my veggies with cheese roasting in the oven while I am posting this. I will have leftover pork roast with that and curl up in front of the TV tonight. I don't think I will have any trouble going back to sleep. It has been a particularly busy week. I hope everyone is looking forward to a great weekend. 

Two Days. Two Big Projects.

 This used to be a flower bed. It is now overgrown and I want to turn it back into lawn. However, I need to transplant some of the plants into other beds before I take the weed whacker in. I have to mark these pink lupines as an example, so after they are finished blooming, I can transplant them or give them away to my brother in Smiths Falls. Most of my other lupines are purple, so I will not need to mark them. 

Monday and Tuesday remained  overcast, wet, dreary and COOL  (temperature wise), and yes, rainy as well. After working on Sunday to load up the dumpster, I was feeling tired and sore, and the last thing I wanted to do was continue the work loading up the dumpster. But I pulled on my big girl pants, went down into the basement and cleared it out. You might remember when I first went down there earlier in the year to clean out boxes and bins of STUFF before having the problem of the flooding fixed.( It turned out to be a broken motor on the furnace pump that redirects the condensation that builds up in the gas furnace.) Anyways, all those items were brought upstairs and dealt with at the time so that nothing went back downstairs. It also led to the eventual cleanup of the shelves leading down to the basement and all the hardware being sorted upstairs in the entrance room. I threw out a lot of stuff and collected lots of "toxics" that I was able to load into the van and take to the Recycle plant last month. It was a HUGE job that went on for weeks. However, I left an old carpet and lots of wood down there because I knew that sometime this summer I would bring in a dumpster and I could get rid of it then. Besides, I was deadly tired of working another day down in that dungeon. UGH. UGH. So Monday was the day and I did not stop until the basement was cleaned out....not the sweeping up, mind you. That is for another day.

Yesterday, my carpenter friend, his wife, and young adolescent daughter came over to help. My friend got my small travel trailer opened up. I had not been able to get the door opened on that. My husband and I traveled across Canada one summer and had a wonderful trip in this little trailer for two, but I have lots of photos documented to remember that time. Yesterday, we got everything out of there. Most of it ended up in the dumpster, and some will go into the yard sale. I am giving the trailer away to another neighbour to use as a hunting cabin. Then they helped me take all that wood from the basement from the back of the house where I had piled it up, to the dumpster. I signed over the ownership to the van into his wife's name. We measured up materials to build the back deck so that when I am ready to proceed, I will know how much to order. He is scheduled for brain surgery to remove 3 tumors and open up his skull at the temple, this Friday. He still remains positive but is keenly aware of the risks and possible outcomes of the surgery itself.

After they left I felt emboldened to don my gloves and mask and attempt the project I have been avoiding for days. I was going to tackle the attic. What a mess! I removed the filthy bins and took them downstairs outside the  back door. I knew the stuff inside would be clean and untouched. All the cardboard boxes it seemed were torn apart and strewn everywhere. The contents of the boxes were underneath shredded newspaper, Styrofoam insulation and pink fiberglass insulation.  I was down on my knees looking for the contents (mostly china dishes) and repacking them into boxes and bins before bringing them down to the kitchen. I bagged most of the "crap" into three big garbage bags. (And by crap, I am also referring to raccoon feces). Now that I could see where I was walking, I was able to drag out all of the larger pieces on my own. Those pieces were dusty but clean. Fortunately, the feces were contained to the "litter" they had created on the floor, which was now all swept up. There is nothing left inside the attic.  The job took several hours but it is a big job done.  In the attic I was sweating, so I was thankful it was a very cool day outdoors. I couldn't imagine having to do the same work on a hot summer's day. I stripped off the mask,  stepped out of my clothes, threw them into the washer,  and hit the shower and washed  my hair. I washed up all the dishes, TWICE, in bleach water and then through the dishwasher. Amazingly, only one teacup lost its handle. Today I am left with the task of taking that stuff I left outside the back door out to the dumpster.

It looks like I could open up my very own tea shop, but these are all inherited from family. The yellow one on the left is the broken teacup, but with a little glue, I will probably still use it to grow a succulent inside. The rest of the dishes I washed (not shown) will end up in the yard sale. If they were in the attic, I definitely won't miss them, but I have often thought about these teacups. I MAY hang on to them for a bit longer.

Going up and down the staircase, first to the basement, and yesterday to the attic, has been really hard on my knees. But it feels wonderful to know that I did these very difficult tasks. *patting myself on the back*

The dumpster is filling up. The company will be by Friday morning to take it away for me. I don't know that I can find too much more to fill it up, except from the shed perhaps. I am quickly running out of steam, but I am hoping my son can come out tomorrow. He may have to go into work. This afternoon I have a doctor's appointment, so cannot see myself wanting to do too much today. I will probably take a break. 

Daybook: Monday, June 4/18

Outside my window.....it is a wet, foggy and cool Monday morning.  It started to pour rain late yesterday afternoon and throughout the night.

I am thinking.....of all the work that was accomplished yesterday afternoon before the rains. My friend arrived with  one of his adult sons to help me load the dumpster. My friend actually did not do much of the demolition. I sent him with my van and some cash to go pick up the materials he wanted to finish the step for the front deck. While he was out, he ran into a lot of his contractor friends who wanted to talk and visit with him. He came back energized and I think it did him a world of good.

I am thankful for.....all the help I received from "the hard-working son" who is young and capable and knows a lot about construction and demolition. He is a police officer in Ottawa who came down this weekend to be with his father and instead ended up at my house helping ME out. He told me he had a lot of stress to get out and this was HIS therapy. I only hope I was a help to him.

From the kitchen.....I was able to shred and saute a head of cabbage yesterday morning, and then I roasted 4 chicken legs before dinner.

I am wearing.....black jeans, black socks, and a "working"  t-shirt.  If it clears up, I will do some more outdoor work.

I am creating.....more encouragement  cards and a Father's Day card.  I have five birthday cards to mail out this month.

I am going.....nowhere today.

I am hoping.....for a successful brain surgery for my friend in the next couple of weeks. I am hoping for good blood results for my DIL so they can proceed with the second round of chemo. I am hoping that my son will be able to come out sometime this week to give me a hand with going through the shed and throwing things in the dumpster or deciding what we may be able to sell.  I am hoping I can find a realtor who will advise me on the sale of my house.

I am hearing.....a lot of traffic. Because of construction, or sheer volume of traffic on the 401 highway, this highway #2  is becoming busier all the time. I am also hearing birds close by and my kettle boiling to remind me that I am fixing a cup of tea. BRB.

Around the house.....I managed to vacuum the downstairs floors around the boxes and bins of STUFF going into a yard sale. I caught up all the laundry on Saturday (washed, hung on the line, folded and put away). I made up more weed killer to use this week.

One of my favourite things.....again, is Facebook Messenger that keeps me in touch with family.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include a Doctor's appointment this Wednesday. This is one I missed last month and had to be rescheduled. Otherwise, I will only be concentrating on loading up the dumpster before it has to be picked up by Thursday. There are still items in the basement, as well as the shed,  that need to be cleared out. I need to investigate the cost of taking down a tree branch  and clearing out one section of my property that is overgrown with downed trees and tall weeds. UGH!

Here's the picture I am sharing.....

A Perfect Day For Working Outside

It is sunny and only going to reach a high of 24 C. The low today is only 13C....perfect for sleeping at night. There is a slight breeze and it is just a gorgeous day outside. So why am I finding it so difficult to get outdoors to get some work done? Why am I not motivated today? Even if I decided to stay indoors, it is cool enough to get my vacuuming done without me sweating bricks like I did yesterday when it was so hot and muggy before the rains arrived. I went through all of my picture  frames, of which I own a LOT, and I decided to dust them off and wash all the glass plates for the yard sale. I am taking so very few with me when I leave. I will take some paintings that my mother made for me, but I will likely keep most of my photos in Memory Books, and not on the walls or on top of furniture to collect dust. But that is how I decided to spend my day yesterday and it felt like such a waste of time. I received more bad news. As you know, my friend has been helping me out here at home. Yesterday he was going to be admitted to hospital to receive intravenous antibiotic for some infection that was swelling one side of his face and also his brain. Well, he isn't in the hospital. It isn't infection. He is full of brain cancer. Yes, they took a scan after his radiation of head and neck cancer and found no cancer at all, BUT....they only scanned his neck where he was receiving the radiation. The cancer had moved and NOBODY thought to also scan his head??? It is very invasive and he is currently taking steroids to keep the swelling down. Within the next two weeks, he will require brain surgery to remove the largest tumor and to open the skull for the next round of radiation. I think I am still in shock and I am trying to process this new information.

In the meantime, he is STILL planning on coming here tomorrow with his adult son to fill my dumpster. And his wife is in complete agreement. What the....? His wife and I had a lo-o-ong talk last night. The steroids are giving him LOTS of energy and he is feeling really good. This work is important to him and he is feeling valued and productive. This is a way for him and his son to spend time together. "Going to work" at my place gives him something to look forward to. I am in agreement with all the reasons, but it is awfully hard for me to accept, as it seems like I am the benefactor in this case. I have agreed that until his doctors tell him to quit the physical labour, he will be allowed to come here and do what he wants to do, but the van has been paid for already. He doesn't NEED to come any more.

 Yesterday I was greeted by my first poppy blooms. My late step-father always told me you could set your calendar by the poppies, as they came into bloom on June 1st. So naturally I got to thinking about him. I will more than likely remember June 1st for my step father than the actual date of his death in October. Today there are eleven huge blooms and lots of buds waiting to open. They are gorgeous flowers but only last a little while, so I am always happy to see them.

It is 2 PM. I wrote out a monthly recap this morning on my blog and hung out only one load of laundry on the line. I have stripped the bed and the dining room table and could wash two more loads of laundry this afternoon. I desperately need to clean my floors, so I need to give my head a shake and get moving. As my reward for getting things done, I will make a few more encouragement cards to mail out. I hope everyone is having either a productive weekend or a much needed relaxed weekend. Be happy.

May's Recap

I knew I hadn't written out a list of goals for May, but I was curious to know how my month stacked up against my 2018 goals for the year. Reading through my post for the past month, it felt like I had lived a lifetime. So much had happened since I returned home from my 2 week trip to Elliot Lake.

Environment:
House- I did not get my Spring Cleaning accomplished by May. My circumstances have changed, so I focused more on purging items and downsizing my belongings. I have yet to hold my first yard sale, but I was able to sell some items through the online Kijiji.  Once I am rid of the items destined to leave, I will be able to give the house a good clean, get rid of even more items, and bring in a realtor. But I am pretty sure I have given up the idea of selling this house until early next Spring (March or April).

Garden- I have given up on the idea of growing my veggie garden this summer. I have simply run out of time. To make the property look more attractive to buyers, I will focus on the flower beds, keeping the property mowed and kept up. I have brought in a dumpster to get rid of all the old wood from past projects and lots of other items around the yard, including inside the work shed. I am transplanting some perennials from one of my biggest flower beds so I can turn that garden back into lawn. I will bring in more mulch, after examining whether or not I can find free or cheap mulch sources. I am also thinning out lots of perennials to give away to friends and family. I will be pulling weeds and roto tilling my vegetable garden later in the season so people can see there is a very large vegetable garden. (This is a complete contradiction of my 2018 goals of putting emphasis on my vegetable garden and not in the flower beds) My riding lawn mower is back for servicing, but I have not yet heard back about how much it will cost to repair it. I have people who will show me how to use it. Later this summer, after I have finished using them, I should be able to sell the snow blower, the riding mower, the roto tiller, the pressure washer and the utility trailer.  I will have another yard sale just to sell off the tools from the shed and all the summer outdoor furniture.

Finances:
Spending- This is also a contradiction of my 2018 goals. I am spending money on new (lumber, hardware, and new blades for tools needed to complete the projects) Wherever I can save on materials by re-using old, we are making substitutes.  I am putting money into the property, which I vowed not to do, but again because of changed circumstances, I needed to replace the front and back decks because they were a liability issue before I could sell  the house. However, I was able to trade Rick's van for labour. Other people's help is what I need the most.

I continue to track what I spend on food and non-food items. I have used loyalty points this past month to buy plants, tools, primer, and the like. I received a $25 gift certificate in the mail this past week for a grocery store, after I applied as part of a class action suit. I continue to collect Optimum points when I shop at No-Frills and Shopper's Drug Mart, and I fill in Pinecone Surveys when they come to me on-line. (I receive $3 a survey, but they have not been very plentiful lately)  I am making more birthday gifts for my adult children and my parents. I made some money selling some furniture on Kijiji.

Saving- Although I have been able to squirrel away a few extra dollars each month to apply extra payments to my credit card,  I am spending more right now.

Family and Friends: Facebook messenger has made it much easier to maintain close relationships with my family. I drove up North to spend two weeks with family late in April and beginning of May. I drove to Bradford to spend a weekend with my daughter and family. I attended a lovely Mother's Day dinner with my son and his fiancee. I drove to Charleston Lake to spend a day with friends and made a Memory Book for the birthday recipient. I went out to dinner and a movie with girl friends this past week.  I talked on the phone with one of my husband's cousins, and sent a letter and sent photos to another cousin of his who is battling cancer. I am continuing a card campaign with my DIL in BC, who is now more than halfway through her cancer treatment. I made 6 birthday cards and 6 "gifts" for family members in the past month.

Health: I saw three doctors and missed one (oops1) That one has been rescheduled for this week. I saw the ENT doctor and there is nothing they can do about the loss of smell. I had a colposcopy but don't expect anything as a result of that. I saw my GP and received antibiotics for the tick bite on my back. My thyroid is good and I am still losing weight and inches, but my sugar is creeping back up. Not sure why.

Crafts and Leisure: I made two Memory books as gifts this past month. I finished the embroidered pillow slip for my son's fiancee's birthday. I "made" colour gifts and birthday cards for three male members of my family. One was a box of ALL  yellow gifts with a card that said "sending you sunshine on your birthday."  The other two gifts were boxes of ALL orange gifts with a card that read "Orange you glad it's your birthday?" So easy to do and brings a smile to the birthday boy, especially if some of those coloured gifts are snacks or chocolate. Think Reese's Pieces (orange) or M&M peanuts (yellow). Unfortunately, I don't think I took any photographs of the finished gifts. I continue to make encouragement  cards as I need them, but I still  have a healthy supply of birthday cards.