Last Day of the Month

It may be the last day of August, but it sure isn't the last day of summer...yet.  It was another overcast day but it was warmer than yesterday....much warmer with the humidity. The mosquitoes were out in droves, and as long as there are mosquitoes, there is still summer. I only did some weeding and transplanting for a little over an hour because I  couldn't take them anymore.  My husband used to say that I had a good time outdoors when I came in burned, bruised and bleeding. Well I certainly have new bruises and fresh scratches, but I wasn't burned today. There wasn't enough sun. But I sure was bitten. I have since taken a shower and rubbed myself down with a tube of ointment I bought in Egypt a few years ago. It takes away the itch. Good stuff.

 This is the bed I am finally tackling. We took out a huge yellow twigged dogwood last weekend. It will still come back next year, but will be much smaller and more manageable. I pulled a lot of grass and weeds, but I think I will be removing all the salvageable plants and turning this back to lawn.

I also made a thank you card with a note for my friend with brain cancer. I want him to know just how grateful I am for all the work he has done for me this past summer. Remember the raccoons in my attic? He took care of that problem for me by getting them out of there and then installing the hardware cloth to keep the critters out. He took down my dilapidated window shutters and crumbling front stoop and replaced it with a beautiful deck area and now with the walkway/staircase, it looks wonderful. He brought out some aluminum capping to frame out my front door and he installed my gate for me from the driveway. With his son's help, we did a complete junk removal into the dumpster and the dead branches are down off the tree. He moved our little travel trailer to my neighbour's who wants to use it as a hunting camp. He has inspired me to work hard to fix up my property the best that I can with the resources I have. There are not enough words in the English language to express my gratitude, but I hope he knows how thankful I am.

I also  wrote a note in the encouragement card I made yesterday and I made another "Thinking of you" card  that I wrote a message in for my mother. I walked to the Post Office to mail out all three of them. Initially, I was going to drop them off on my way into town to do some grocery shopping; but I have since decided to go in tomorrow morning so I can drop by Shopper's Drug Mart for their one-day sale on eggs and butter. There is no point in making two trips. For supper tonight I am eating some shredded sauteed cabbage and hamburger. I haven't had that in a while.

It is the long Labour Day weekend and as long as the weather allows, I will probably be labouring outside some more. Otherwise, maybe I can start washing my windows. Have a great weekend everyone, whatever you decide to do.

Have I mentioned how well my geraniums are doing? They have been loving the rain. 

Medical Orders

I went yesterday (Wednesday) to LifeLabs to have blood drawn. Each time I go, the technician always reminds me not to do any heavy lifting for a few hours afterwards. So I asked half-jokingly if that included mowing the lawn as I planned to do that after I got back home. She answered with "yes, that includes mowing the lawn", seriously. I was very surprised, but since they were medical orders I obediently complied. All that to say, I did nothing yesterday. I face messaged my oldest son in Vancouver (and youngest grand daughter), my daughter and her two kids who had just returned from shopping for new school clothes and shoes, my sister, and "Dee". Between conversations I worked on designing some Halloween cards because before I know it, Fall will be upon us and I will need to send them out shortly after our Thanksgiving weekend. I would like to have them finished and addressed by then. I forgot to mention that the other night when I was out for dinner for a friend's birthday, I made $20 from the sale of some blank all-occasion cards and a few thank you cards. (It paid for dinner). 

This morning when I woke up at 6:30 and took the garbage out to the curb, I noticed that it was downright chilly outside...perfect working outside weather. So after coffee and breakfast I headed out at 9:45 and worked until noon pulling weeds from all three front flower beds, and then I pruned back hard my white snowball hydrangea. As I pulled weeds, I also transplanted some of my perennials into large pots so they will have a good start before I give them away on Thanksgiving weekend (which is a little over a month away) I am giving away some "snow-in-summer", Pasque flower, pink spirea,  and some mauve coloured bee balm.  I must have spent 2 full hours on the flower bed at the end of the driveway. This is one I couldn't get to last summer and I didn't have enough mulch to put down last Fall, so it was in terrible shape overall and needed a tremendous amount of work. I have over $50 in loyalty  points at Canadian Tire, so I hope I can pick up some mulch with that, unless it is too late in the season.  I still have some pruning to do in the front yard, but I think I will move on to the back gardens to do some weeding there.

After lunch I made an encouragement card for a friend and then moved on to making more Halloween themed cards. At 3:30 I felt that the back lawn had a full day of sun and breezy conditions that it was dried up enough to mow. It sure grew a lot in only a week, but we had a LOT of rain as well. I'm not getting a lot of domestic chores done this week, but what else is new?

Some Halloween cards for the kids. The gargoyle is my favourite so far. It has 4 layers of dimension and really sticks out from the page. The bat and the crow have small red jewels for eyes. 

A Little Break in the Weather

When I last looked at the weather forecast, I was sure it was calling for either rain or overcast skies for the rest of this week. Last night it just poured down rain and I fell asleep to thunder storms rolling through our area. So when I talked to "Dee" on Facebook Messenger while drinking my coffee this morning and it was sunny skies, I told her of my plans to pick up all the rest of the brush and branches from the tree and shrubs that were pruned back hard this past weekend. Before the conversation was over, the skies became overcast and the wind was picking up. Before even making breakfast, I decided to get outside and get that job done. The last thing I needed was more rain preventing me from picking up (or dragging) all those branches off the lawn. I need that back yard cleaned up so I can mow the lawn again once it has a chance to dry out. I worked for two solid hours. I even pruned back some more branches and took them back to my compost pile. I cannot get any more into the utility trailer. Well, the rain never came and the wind has been doing a good job of drying things out, so maybe tomorrow I will be able to cut more grass. Right now, in the late afternoon, it is actually more sunny than overcast.

I ate my two-egg omelet breakfast at noon. I am going out for a birthday dinner tonight for one of my friends for 5:30, so I didn't have lunch. After showering, and changing my clothes, I made my friend's birthday card, a "Going back to school" card,  and  some blank cards for another friend who commissioned them for tonight. I also got all of the laundry from the weekend folded and put away. These were jobs that I had planned on doing yesterday but didn't feel up to because I obviously am not used to the hard physical labour  of hauling gravel and setting patio stones into place.

The rain has been good for my planters. My geraniums and petunias are coming back into bloom after I thought I'd lost them during my 3 weeks away this summer.

Daybook: Monday, August 27/18

Outside my window.....it is overcast. My front lawn is cut but desperately needs a trim around the edges.

I am thinking.....it might rain later on this afternoon but I was out doors working this morning already.

I am thankful for.....all the help I have received this past weekend.

From the kitchen.....I have lots of leftovers to eat up over the next couple of days. Tonight I will warm up some veggies with Italian sausage  and tomorrow night I will finish some more veggies and chicken thighs that I roasted yesterday for my son and DIL. I still have some more chicken veggie soup to use up for lunches.

I am wearing.....the same working clothes I had on yesterday when I moved furniture and cleaned house. They are tan capris and a white garden themed T-shirt.

I am creating.....another birthday card, a "back to School" card for my youngest grand daughter, and a set of thank you and all occasion cards for a friend. She has commissioned me.

I am going.....probably nowhere today. I may or may not have a wee lie down as I am feeling really tired after working outside this morning.

I am hoping.....that the weather remains fair this week as I have lots of out-door projects to clean up and lots of weeding and transplanting I want to get started on.

I am hearing.....the sound of my fan blowing across me as I sit at the computer. I also can hear the sound of crickets outside over all the other noise of traffic. It is that time of year for crickets.

Around the house.....I got a lot accomplished inside yesterday. I did a lot of packing and organizing of stuff to clear the main living areas and move it into one half of my crafting room, where I am setting up an area to collect "future" yard sale items.  I moved some furniture out of the living room and set it up in the computer room. I will probably sell this stuff on Kijiji eventually. My living room is looking very spacious right now. My son set up my television yesterday with the Amazon Fire Stick so I can now watch Netflix, You Tube and Amazon Prime. He also moved two bench seats back into the van, so my computer room is also looking spacious, even though I have since moved more furniture in there. The bench seats were removed from the van so that he could move out his grow cabinet from the craft room and into HIS place. Yay!

One of my favourite things.....has been the new alcohol markers I bought a couple of weeks ago. I have been colouring some of my stamped images and practicing my shading and highlighting so I can have some images set aside to make cards in the future.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include dinner out tomorrow night with the girls to celebrate a birthday. I also need to have some lab work done early this week for a doctor's appointment next week.

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

This morning I put down another length of landscape fabric and several wheel barrow loads of gravel to fill the framed timbers before laying down four 18" square patio stones to fill in the walkway and steps leading from the sidewalk to my front door stoop. I still need to wash the patio tiles, but that will be for another day.

Exhausted

It is a Saturday evening. I am going to sit down now and eat my supper and then watch some Netflix. I am so tired and sore, I can barely move. It was just my friend and his son that came to work at my house today. I dragged heavy branches and lifted them into the trailer in the back yard. We won't have a chain saw for a couple of weeks, but all the smaller branches have been removed. If the tree comes down, it cannot do very much damage.

The very large branches are laid bare and it will be easy to remove in about 3 weeks time. I still have brush to remove over the next few days and then I will be able to get a lawn mower in close. Homework assignment #1.
We also measured and cut all the timbers for the walkway and steps for the front of the house. I now know what his vision was for finishing this project, so I will be able to fill the structure with gravel and patio stones to finish it off. Assignment #2. I will be able to finish these off myself now. I am so grateful for all the help today. I spent about 6 hours working outdoors today, and have I mentioned that I can barely move?

I will add more landscaping fabric to the area on the right so there will be roughly the same area on both sides of the walkway covered in gravel.

Week-end Plans

Today I was back to normal, feeling more like myself. I basically followed my schedule of 2 hours outdoors, 1 hour doing "domestic stuff", and an hour in the kitchen. There was no crafting, but I sort of made up for the lack of it today by making cards and colouring in stamped images over the past two days when I wasn't feeling up to par. I still have to make another birthday card for next week and a card for my youngest grand daughter out in Vancouver who will be going into grade one on September 4th. I made two for my grand kids in Bradford, so today I wrote them each a note inside so I could take them to the Post Office on my way into Kingston.  While at the Post Office, I picked up a parcel from Amazon which has arrived earlier than expected. This is great because I have invited my son and my DIL for dinner on Sunday and he will be able to install it for me and get the menu set up so I can watch Netflix, Amazon Prime and You Tube on my television screen. I may never leave my couch again. Haha.

I hadn't planned on going into town today, but I decided I needed to buy more groceries for the company I am expecting this weekend.  First of all, my friend is showing up tomorrow with his BIL and his son from Ottawa to help me clean things up around the yard. Hopefully they will take down half of the tree in the backyard that is falling down. One main trunk is dead and has split away from the other trunk. One strong wind could easily bring it down and perhaps take my neighbour's fence with it, causing a lot of damage. My friend wants to finish the work he started on my front stoop before he was called away for surgery and more radiation. In case you are wondering where my priorities lay, several people (including his wife) have assured me that this work is therapeutic for my friend. He wants to do this to help me. The very least I can do for him is to feed him tomorrow. So today I picked up some bread (I don't have any in the house) and some sandwich fixings, as well as some cold soft drinks to offer them. Whatever is left over, I can send home with them.

The 2 liter bottles were on sale for 95 cents each and the bread was only $1.76

Meat cost me $33.42  I bought Italian sausage, 2 trays of chicken thighs and 2 packages of lunch meat. I repackaged the sausage and one tray of chicken thighs into smaller serves for the freezer, but I am cooking one of the trays of chicken on Sunday for dinner.

I bought more cottage cheese and 2 containers of Feta cheese for a total of $13.74

I paid $3 for the bag of brussels sprouts (not on sale, but I wanted them) but only 96 cents for each head of cauliflower....so I bought six. I paid $8.76 for produce. I paid a total of $59.83 and took out $40 in cash for the weekend. My friend said he might have to buy a new $20 blade for his saw, so I will reimburse him.

I grated 4 of those lovely cauliflower into cauliflower rice, broke up the other two into florets for the freezer and kept the bits and pieces of cauliflower from grating, for future soups.

Speaking of soups, I made a big batch of chicken veggie soup first thing this morning with the broth I made from cooking the 3 chicken legs, with backs attached, in the crock pot on Wednesday. I used most of the cooked meat to make a chicken stir fry over fried cauliflower rice on Wednesday night, with enough left over to have it again last night. I added the remaining chicken  and some cauliflower rice to the soup this morning. Mmmm yummy. The cauliflower rice made it a very hearty soup with lots of vegetables. Most of my "domestic stuff" was spent shopping and in the kitchen, but it still counts.

How did I spend my two hours out of doors?  Well, I mowed the front lawn again and I removed four huge wheel barrow loads of sod from the front lawn. It was a lot of hard work in the sun. I am not sure exactly what my friend has in mind to finish off the front stoop, but I know he wanted the sod removed (and maybe some dirt) to lay down the gravel that is still sitting in the driveway. So now we have a head start on the project. If he wants more of the dirt removed, I can do that before we lay down the weed barrier. I think it is going to look really nice with the 6x6 timbers and the one step up to the decking.  I will probably have a picture tomorrow of the finished project.

My Push Mower is Back

I got a call this morning that my lawnmower was finally ready for pick up. Unfortunately, I couldn't go right away because my van was loaded up with pieces of a sectional sofa that my son was getting rid of at the dump today on his day off. So I texted him to see how soon he might be able to come in.  He was already on his way. My friend (with brain cancer) also dropped in this morning. I told him I was not putting in the back deck this fall. I will wait until Spring because I just don't think I can afford to do this right now. He said he could still do lots on Saturday anyways, without building the deck. He is bringing his son and his brother-in-law to help him, and they will do some yard work around the house to help me out. There is still that issue with the dead tree in my yard that has me concerned, so they will take down all the dead branches and prune it back. So yay! I am very happy about that.

So this afternoon I picked up the lawn mower and paid for the repairs on that one and the riding mower that had to go back in two weeks ago. Will it ever end?? I am happy to say that I got MOST of the two lawns done, but the grass was so long it will definitely need a second run tomorrow. You will see in this photo that some of the grass was just pushed down and over because it was so long. Tomorrow it will be standing up again and I can get it done a second time. The mower stalled so many times and took so long to cut that I finally gave up after several hours. Tomorrow is another day....IF it doesn't rain again.

Rolling With the Punches

After writing my Daybook on Monday and expressing my motivation to keep on track with my daily goals of  balancing yard work with housework with crafting, etc. things kind of ended up sideways, as they often do. I did do my two hours pulling weeds (probably a little more than two hours) and I also had a long "over the back yard fence" visit with a next door neighbour. By the time I got inside and had lunch, it was 2 in the afternoon, and I just could not keep my eyes open. I had planned to wash some windows and I needed to do some grocery shopping, but instead I took a 3 hour nap on the sofa.  No, it did not stop me from going to sleep that night at my usual time.

Yesterday morning I left the house by 9 AM to pick up some groceries and get that out of the way. It was supposed to rain AGAIN, and I wanted to beat the downpour.

Frozen produce cost $30.00  $11 for each 2kg bag of frozen berries, and $2 for each bag of "no name" veggies.

Fresh veggies cost $10.13  (6 avocados, 2 green zucchini, 2 yellow, and another package of 4 sweet peppers)

Dairy was only $30.10  I bought 3 (450 gm) blocks of cheese for $3.77 each and 8 (500 gm) containers of plain yoghurt for only 33 cents each. Dairy is usually my largest expenditure.

Meat cost $15.00  Pork loin was $1.44 a pound and I also picked up 3 chicken legs with backs attached.

I bought another 2 gallons of vinegar for $3.94, bringing my total bill to 89.17  I used $60 worth of points and only had to pay $29.17 OOP. I got home before it started pouring rain and was eating my 2 egg omelet by 10:30   I wasn't feeling great, and because of all the sleep I had the night before, I think I had some kind of bug. So I gave myself permission to craft for the rest of the day. I made a masculine birthday card and 4 Fall-themed cards.  I did cut up the pork loin into roasts and pork chops for the freezer and this morning the chicken legs are in the crock pot, but I am still feeling kind of "draggy", so I don't know what the day will bring. I still do not have my push mower. 

Daybook: Monday, Aug. 20/18

Outside my window.....it is sunny, warm but not as hot as it has been, with a slight breeze. The grass is desperately long and my push mower is not ready yet.

I am thinking....about the wonderful time we had in Ottawa yesterday at the baby shower.  The new mother's grandmother held it at her house, and her mother organized it. There was a lot of effort that went into the games and decorations, etc. One of the friends I traveled with  was the other grandma, from the father's side. She is a first time grand parent.

I am thankful for.....a safe travel yesterday and another opportunity to be with friends.

From the kitchen.....there was absolutely nothing going on this weekend. When I arrived last night, I heated up the second fried cabbage and ground meat casserole I had placed in the freezer a couple of weeks back. Saturday's dinner was chicken and a baked sweet potato with leftover veggie casserole.

I am wearing.....red capris and my souvenir t-shirt from my Alaskan cruise.

I am creating.....more birthday cards this week. I have one more birthday in August and three in September. I need to make more "Thinking of You" or encouragement cards to mail out this week, and some "Back to School" cards for my youngest grand kids. My mother moved into a long-term care facility on Monday and I will need to add her to my weekly card list. She has become too much for my sister and her husband to care for her any longer. I am surprised my sister has lasted this long. Anyways, I know my mother will appreciate getting cards in the mail, even if she doesn't know who is sending them to her. I need to begin my Thanksgiving and Halloween cards very soon and also my all-occasion cards that I will be gifting as Christmas presents. Yes, I said it. It is August and I need to begin thinking about Christmas and Advent calendars. This is when I really start to get busy.

I am going.....to No Frills today to pick up more frozen produce, yoghurt,  and pork loin that is on sale for $1.44 a pound.

I am hoping.....that I hear from the Repair shop today about my push mower.

I am hearing.....the fan that is blowing across me as I type this post.  I have not needed to put the a/c unit on yet today.

Around the house.....I will try to keep up my schedule this week of two hours outdoors, one hour doing housework, one hour crafting and one hour in the kitchen. I have never explained what I do in the kitchen; but I easily spend an hour in there every day by preparing meals, making my daily pitcher of iced tea, washing counter tops, stove top, inside the microwave, etc. I also empty and/or refill the dishwasher, take out garbage and take the kitchen compost out to the garden composter.

One of my favourite things.....is writing my Daybook posts, as it summarizes my weekend and sets up my goals for the coming week. It makes me stop to figure out and organize my time in the next few days.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include organizing a cleaning schedule and a time frame for making cards and homemade gifts from now until the first of December. There are no appointments scheduled for this week but my friend (who has brain cancer) wants to come out with his son this coming weekend to do the deck out the back. I need to decide whether I will go through with it or not. I would rather wait until Spring now so I can save up some more money.

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

I won a prize in one of the shower games yesterday....a scented candle, a facial sunscreen of 60 SPF from Vichy, and a diffuser with a lovely scent of cotton sheets (one of my favourites).

Resting on the Weekend

Yesterday as I already explained was a very rainy and wet day. I could not go outside to weed and my push mower STILL has not arrived. I started my day with an hour's worth of housework, though I was not motivated at all. I  moved furniture upstairs to vacuum under and around things, but I did not dust. I will do that as I deep clean each room. I am noticing how shabby the walls are looking and dreaming of how I might paint them this winter. I did not feel like cleaning another bathroom so I will leave that for Monday (as long as it is cool enough), but I did vacuum that floor, the laundry room, two spare bedrooms, the loft area and the staircase. I am also leaving my bedroom for another day (or week) depending on how much I can do in an hour. I also want to wash all the windows upstairs. They are newer windows that I can do both inside and outside of the glass.

I spent my "outdoor" two hours or more, sorting through my photos (from my tablet, my camera and ones I have received from my son and grand daughter) and I posted a blog yesterday about the third day of the trip.  For my hour of crafting, I made a very simple card for my middle son. Today is his birthday.

I embossed a wood grain pattern into the card stock and stamped the old barn with brown ink.  Now that I am looking at it, the tag seems lop-sided to me. Oh well. Proof that it is home-made, eh?

Today is the start of the week-end. Had my push mower arrived today, I would have cut the lawns. I only spent about half an hour pulling weeds in the back until I couldn't stand the mosquitoes any longer. I filled two big baskets  full of weeds. My domestic arts  part of my day was a load of laundry which I hung  on the line and took  down at the end of the day. Big whoop! It's the week-end.

I did some crafting today. I have wanted to make some all-occasion cards as a thank you gift but a friend suggested that the recipient wanted only blank cards to use as note cards for whatever the occasion called for. I was sort of at a loss until I saw a very simple idea on Pinterest this week. All I did was cut some heavy patterned card stock from DCWV called "Lace and Linen" into A2 sized cards, rounded the corners and inked the edges. I made a simple folder to keep them in using up some of the papers that the cards were cut from. There are 3 cards and 3 envelopes in each side and tied closed with a ribbon. I hope she likes them.

Sorry about the quality of the photos. One of these days......

Day 3: From Reedsport to Sunny California

Today is not conducive to working outdoors weeding because of MORE rain, so I am using my time to sort through more of my holiday photos. In Reedsport, after a relaxing morning and a yummy continental breakfast included in the cost of the room, we headed out to the sand dunes.

 We rented a 4 seat dune buggy. I took a photo of one other that we saw on the dunes, but I don't have a picture of ours without us in it. The top photo doesn't even look real but I can assure you it is. The sand is that white and the sky was that blue. That is the back of my son's helmet in the second photo.

It is really windy here and the sands are constantly moving. What sometimes looks like a blurry picture is actually blowing fine sand. We are driving up to the crest of a sand dune here.

This looks more like a winter scene. I couldn't drive because  I only had sandals. But that was okay because I could take all these wonderful photos, and a whole lot more, from the back of the open dune buggy. Everyone had to wear a helmet, goggles or sun glasses, and a sweater or light jacket to protect against the bright white blowing sands. We rented for one hour but the time just slipped away very quickly. It was SO much fun. 

 

 

 

My 6 year old grand daughter wrote about her experiences in her journal.  If you have an opportunity, you should totally do this. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we hit the coastal highway again we followed the gorgeous shoreline for most of the afternoon. 

The highway closely followed the shoreline before it wandered into lush redwood forests.

 We took a small detour to go through Chandelier tree, which is one of the trees you can actually drive a car through. The line moved through fairly quickly and on the other side was a touist shop where we could buy snacks, drinks, souvenirs and use the facilities. This was our last stop before we reached Sebastopol and our airbnb.

Passing through the tree, I took a photo up through the the bottom of the trunk from the skylight.

I also took a picture of another car coming through behind us. 

 

 

 

Anyone Have Goats They Can Rent to Me?

I moved my wheelbarrow into the picture for scale. I want you to see just how tall that grass and those weeds are in my back yard. The front lawn is just as bad. I finally broke down this afternoon and called the Repair Shop to make certain that I had not missed a call from them. I hadn't. They need to clean up my carburetor before they can install the new cable they ordered last Friday. I may get the lawn mower back tomorrow or on the weekend. All the rain and heat we have had over the past week has brought back the grass that was once brown and crunchy when I returned from my trip out West. This morning I went outside to pull weeds from this graveled area in the back yard that once held a pond in the centre, and that I removed last summer and filled in the hole with rocks and gravel. Remember that? That was one year ago. I only spent 30 minutes out there before I got very hot and sweaty and came in for lunch, but at least I got this area cleaned up. That overturned black basket is filled to the brim with weeds I pulled.

I began the day by sorting out the recycling and putting out the Blue Box at the curb for collection. Then I changed up my day by beginning with two hours of housework.

1. washed the toilet, pedestal sink, and bath tub in my Master Bath
2. washed the tub surround, the inside of the sliding doors and the grungy door tracks
3. washed down the walls and door frame from ceiling to floor to remove the dust and dirt
4. removed a bathroom shelf and took it outside to scrub down
5. vacuumed and washed the floor
6. threw the bath mat and towels into the wash to do up tonight after seven
7. put the bathroom light fixture in the dishwasher
8. gathered all the waste baskets in the house and put into the garbage can
9. spent the last 15 minutes watering my indoor plants and my two outside hanging baskets

After lunch I wrote out another "Thinking of You" card and posted it on my way out of town to pick up some wrapping supplies at another Dollar Store and some milk and eggs from Shopper's Drug Mart. So I didn't get my two hours of weeding done today. If I had my lawn mower, I would have easily done two hours. So I guess I used part of my time running errands. I spent approximately $8.25 on baby shower wrapping paper and curly ribbon and 3 rolls of 2-way tape (the Dollar Tree is no longer carrying this tape). At SDM I bought my l'Oreal Preference hair dye because it was on sale for $9.99 and was worth a bonus 1200 Optimum points. I bought one dozen eggs, a litre of cream and 4 liters of milk for a total of $21.25  In the mail I received a bill for road tolls going to Bradford last month, which I have paid. I also got another card from my grandson. He told me to stay cool.

In my one  hour of crafting this afternoon, I wrapped the shower gift and made a card to go with the gift. I forgot to take a photo before sealing the envelope with little blue safety pin stickers.

Another Wet Wednesday After a Spendy Tuesday

Yesterday I was out in the morning spending money. I went to the Dollar Tree and spent $11.30 on craft supplies. I put $50 worth of gas in my van. I picked up two prescription refills that I called in earlier in the morning. (no OOP) I picked up a few groceries from Food Basics.

 Meat and dairy cost $26.08  Lean ground beef was $2.88/lb., cheese was $3.88 each 450 gm block, whole milk yoghurt was $1.74, kielbasa was $4.99 and cottage cheese was $2.99

Produce cost $29.33  Cauliflower was $1.98 each. I paid $5 for 12 avocados. I bought frozen blueberries, 2 pkgs. of mushrooms, 4 sweet peppers, 3 green zucchini and 3 sweet potatoes.
Total expenditure was $59.90 because I also picked up 2 more gallons of white vinegar to make more homemade weed killer and a small can of tomato paste. (not shown) Last night I fried four hamburgers and wrapped them in romaine leaves instead of buns. I also had a side of cottage cheese. Today's lunch was the same.

This morning was hot and humid and sunny. Now that I am preparing dinner, a few thunderstorms have passed through our area, bringing lots of drenching rain again. I hope that means cooler temperatures coming.

Bless has made me see another way of breaking up my day and getting things done, since I don't seem to do well with setting goals. She suggested that I spend an hour a day pulling weeds (if weather permitted). Well I quickly discovered that one hour wasn't enough time outdoors with the amount of work that needs doing, so I have been going out for two hours and accomplishing quite a lot. I took it another step further today. I decided I would do housework for one hour a day, crafting for one hour and working in the kitchen for one hour. I can work from a list, or not. This seems to work because as long as I do something for that time allotted, it is bound to make some kind of difference.

This morning found me outside pulling weeds from the driveway again. When I tired of that, I went to the front flower bed and pulled some from there as well.  I pulled more cornflowers from my lawn. I used up half a gallon of my homemade weed killer on the gravel areas that I had worked on this morning. I may be all over the place, but by spending two hours pulling weeds it has to make a difference over all.

I came in for lunch and some iced tea while talking with "Dee" on Facebook Messaging. Then I marked the time and began doing housework. I cleaned my half bath here downstairs by washing the sink vanity and toilet, vacuumed the walls and floor before washing the floor. Then I vacuumed the kitchen and dining room floors. I tackled the cabinet that the fish aquarium sat on and put it outside (never to come inside again). I may put it on the side of the road with "free" on it and see if someone will take it. I also emptied a corner cabinet that sat beside that and moved it out away from the wall. I vacuumed the walls and floor and scrubbed  underneath both of those cabinets. I moved the corner cabinet back in after washing the shelves and moved a wing backed chair into the space where the aquarium used to sit. All of this took closer to two hours instead of one, but I gave myself permission to STOP, since I had done my hour's work.

One of these days I will have to learn HOW to take photos with my tablet. I can't seem to get the auto focus to work when I want it to. Oh well.

My hour crafting was kind of disappointing because I didn't accomplish anything. ( ie.I didn't produce a card.)  However, I stamped some fall images and coloured them with my new alcohol markers and made notes about the different colours I used so I won't forget when it comes time to colouring them in the future. So I got to play even if I don't have a finished project today.

Daybook: Monday, August 13/18

Outside my window.....it is clouded over after starting out very sunny and a gorgeous day, temperature wise. My front lawn is desperately needing a haircut, but my push mower is still away being fixed. They had to order in a part for it.

I am thinking.....of all the blog posts that I need to write this week to get caught up. Besides posting about my trip to California and my son's wedding, I now have photos to put on my blog about the great girls' weekend I just had in Merrickville. We had such a great time.

I am thankful for.....the cooler, less humid weather we have had lately. We have even had some rain in the last week, so the grass is actually coming back and looking green. Of course, the weeds are also growing gangbusters.

From the kitchen.....there has been no food prep going on this past weekend because I haven't been home. Because I didn't get home until dinner time, I was lucky enough to pull some shredded cabbage and cooked ground meat out of the freezer to warm up in the microwave so I could enjoy a fast meal. Tonight I will put a veggie casserole with Italian sausage in the oven.

I am wearing.....tan capris with an ivory coloured Northern Reflections t-shirt covered with daisies.

I am creating.....nothing lately, although I am dying to start making more all-occasion cards. I have sent off two "Thinking of You" cards in the mail in the last five days.

I am going.....nowhere today. I just walked back from the Post Office and I will need to visit a grocery store tomorrow morning to pick up a few items from a list I have started.

I am hoping.....to get some more weeding accomplished this week. Bless suggested that I spend only one hour a day outside to pull weeds. Well, one hour doesn't seem to make a dent, but two hours of pulling weeds makes enough of a difference that I feel I can stop for the day.

I am hearing.....a LOT of traffic outside, especially with the passing of large transport trucks. I am not sure why all the extra traffic. I never heard the paramedics respond to an emergency call, so I am wondering if the traffic is moving off on their own volition to avoid construction on the 401.

Around the house.....I have vacuuming to do, like everyone else it seems;  but, I don't feel like doing it. I have dusting to do and bathrooms to wash, but my priorities this week will be outdoor projects. I have lawns to mow as soon as my push mower arrives, and I will continue to pull weeds for two hours a day if it is not raining outside. It is also that time of year to prune my shrubs.

One of my favourite things.....since returning from my holiday trip out west is my tablet. Until Amazon restocks and sends out to me an Amazon Firestick, it is the only way I can watch Netflix these days. Apparently my Blueray DVD player is so old it could not handle the lastest Netflix update, so I can no longer receive it on my TV.  I don't mind watching on the small screen, but it will be nice again to watch movies on a large screen.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include another grocery shopping trip and a baby shower in Ottawa this Sunday. I will be traveling with a group of attendees. I also need to fill up my van with gas and call in and pick up two more prescription refills. Otherwise, it is just doing yard work to catch up from my time away.

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

The Anarchy Loft is a small boutique at street level selling clothes, home decor and gift items. The three windows above (with the star lanterns) were our living room windows. The kitchen and dining room were at the back of the building. The bedrooms and gorgeous bathroom were upstairs in the loft area. Everything was newly renovated. The Ikea kitchen had an island with stove top and a microwave oven. It also had high end appliances and granite counter tops, which is always appreciated by us as we generally only go out once to eat and the remainder of the time we do our own food prep.