I Made It

I made it through another two weeks without having to do any grocery shopping. I think that this is saving me some money by not running out to pick up stuff I have run out of. Because as you know, if you go out for ONE thing, you end up with ten. I will have to continue doing this for a couple of months to see if I can establish a realistic food budget for the new diet. At 9 AM this morning I was driving into the city to shop at two different stores: Freshco and No Frills.  I had run out of a lot of things by "making do", so I did end up spending quite a lot today. I spent a total of $207.28   I spent $99.15 at Freshco and $108.13 at No Frills. When I opened my wallet at No Frills, I know that I lost the first receipt from Freshco, but try as I might, I could not find it ANYWHERE. It wasn't on the floor or my cart or anywhere that was obvious; therefore, I don't know if I am  able to break up the costs of each category.

Frozen produce cost  $46.  I know that because I bought no-name produce from No Frills. The blueberries are $11 a bag, the veggies are $2 a bag and the spinach is $1

The cauliflower cost only $1.88 a head and the 10 lb bag of carrots was also only $1.88  Cremini mushrooms were only $1.27 If my calculations are correct on the rest of the groceries, then I spent only $13.34 on fresh produce.

I bought 4 lbs of ground chicken (because ground beef is way too expensive anymore). The smoked ham ($1.88/lb.), eye of round roast ($2.88/lb.), and the half loin of pork $1.44/lb.) were all on sale, as was the kielbasa ($3) and salami (2.99). So meat cost me $66.90

I spent a LOT on dairy because there were some very good sales. The butter was $2.88 each pound, the eggs were $2.88 for 18 count, the sour cream was $1.49 and each tub of cream cheese was just $2.49 (which was cheaper than the no-name brand). Dairy cost $64.24

Pantry items cost $16.80  The coffee was on sale for only $6.88 and salmon was less than $3 a tin. If I am trying to keep my monthly budget to $300, I hope my big spend at the first of the month will last well into the second half of the month. I will need to top up my dispenser for my washing machine with vinegar (I use it in the rinse) and I need to make myself more Miracle Spray cleaner for my spray bottles, but the rest of the vinegar I will use as my weed killer.

I did well yesterday. I started the day with paying my bills on-line. I printed out the usual "Stocking Stuffers" list from Organized Christmas so that I can start keeping track of gifts I make and/or buy in stores or as they arrive from Amazon. I shredded my last cabbage and sauteed in butter. Then I headed outside to tackle the largest outdoor project.....my veggie bed that I have not dealt with in two full years. After receiving two days of rain, the weeds that were taller than me came out very easily by the roots. Only two had to be dug out with a spade. No I am not finished. It is going to take several days, but I stayed out until 2 PM working on it and it felt so good to manage all that I accomplished. When I came inside, I was very sore and wanted a wee nap. But instead, I got a good start on my first Christmas craft project.

Today, as I have stated, I got an early start on my grocery shopping. After organizing, taking pictures and putting everything away, it was already noon. So I had sauteed shredded cabbage for my brunch. Although it started as mostly cloudy, it looks as though the sun is out to stay. I could go outside and continue with the weeding, but my muscles still ache, AND I have a lot of food prep to do. I have to peel and cut 10 pounds of carrots for the freezer. I have 4 cauliflower to grate. I need to slice up the smoked ham and butcher both the roast beef and the half loin of pork into chops/roasts. If any time remains after that, I will continue working on my Christmas project. It is Friday. Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Rainy Day Activities

It was raining before I got up yesterday morning and it continued most of the day. I could have written up  my Mile-long list of things I need to get done between now and Christmas Eve. I could have wrapped up the Advent calendar gifts that I have already bought for the kids. I could have started my hand-made gifts that I plan to craft for Christmas. Heck, I could even have got some housework done since I couldn't go outside to work. But I didn't do any of those things. I just frittered away the whole day. I stayed on my butt in front of the computer and vegetated.

So today, after I talked with "Dee" on Facebook Messenger, I got busy. I  wrote out a birthday card for my daughter whose birthday falls on Saturday this year. I made three more Thanksgiving Day cards and a Halloween card that I will send to my mother. The young kids will get "spooky" cards, but I made a "cute" one for my mom.

I sorted all of the little Advent gifts in the appropriate bags after I wrote in my Xmas book what I have bought already for each child, and was pleasantly surprised to find I have 16 gifts already for each of them. I am more than half way there. I carry the book with me in my purse so that when I am out, I know what I have and what is left to get.

After lunch, the rains stopped again and the sun came out. I walked to the post office to mail my daughter's card and picked up another Amazon order. I then walked over to a friend's house to drop off my Avon order for this month. They are small stocking stuffers that will be mailed out. When I got back home I washed my dining room window, inside and out, with the same diligence and detail that I have used on all the windows so far. But then I decided I would wash the back exterior steel door and the screened back door as well. I must have spent at least two hours on cleaning those doors. I finally quit at 5:30 and made my supper of salmon and greens (spinach, green beans, broccoli and brussel sprouts) covered in Pepper Jack cheese. I think I earned my keep today.

Daybook: Monday, Sept. 24/18

Outside my window.....the sun is setting at 6:30 PM. It was another lovely, sunny day, but now the temperature is falling.

I am thinking.....of my own mile long Autumn To-Do list, having just read about Bless' list over at My Two Cents.  I am also thinking about how this is the final week in September.  My friend with brain cancer is back in the hospital and he is not doing well. My mother is also not doing terribly well as the doctor tries to find and adjust medication to keep her calm and restrained.

I am thankful for.....the many chores on my list of to-dos that keep my mind focused on what needs to be done and not dwell too much on the negatives.

From the kitchen.....my dinner is presently in the oven. I am having another cheesy veggie casserole of zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli and sweet peppers with tilapia fillets. I finished the last of the soup for lunch today.

I am wearing.....black jeans, black socks, a gray long sleeved t-shirt. I just put on a red zippered hoody because it is getting cooler now that the sun is gone.

I am creating.....some Christmas gifts and I have started picking up some little presents for the kids' Advent calendars. I mailed another card to my mom this afternoon.

I am going.....nowhere tonight. But after lunch, I drove into Kingston to run some errands and spend money. I stopped in first at the post office to mail my mother's card and pick up my mail. I went to Rona where I bought the rake and asked if they would repair it. When she said no, I walked out and drove to Canadian Tire where I bought  their Yard Works bow rake. I applied the $11 left on my points total, so paid only $14.78 oop. The rake has a 4 year warranty. Then I drove to Michael's and picked up some black card stock and a 6x6 Halloween paper pad  double-sided for only $5.39 (40% off)  From there I went to the Dollar Tree, where I picked up from my list that I keep in my purse for whenever I am by there. I also started buying Advent calendar gifts for my 3 youngest grand children. Yippee! That's exciting.

I am hoping.....we continue to get fine weather for the rest of the week. I was able to do more than 2 hours outdoors this morning. I pruned more lilacs and pulled the suckers and some weeds from that  flower bed.

I am hearing.....the hum from the freezer in this room. It is very quiet. There isn't any traffic right now.

Around the house.....the housework is taking a back seat for the moment. I have some draperies I need to iron and rehang in the upstairs windows.

One of my favourite things.....I am too hungry to think right now. My supper is ready to eat and it is now 7:15.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include serving dinner on Sunday to our clients at Special Meals. There are no medical appointments scheduled. I will have to buy groceries at the end of the week as it will have been two weeks since my last shop.

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

Here is one of my hanging planters.The geraniums are still blooming, but the other plants never came back from the long drought, when I was unable to water because of  the robins. I left the nest as you can see because the geranium grew right through the side of it. I will remove the nest when I bring the geranium inside to repot.

Another Weekend Over

It is late Sunday afternoon. I have been meaning to write a blog post over the weekend, but obviously didn't. So here I am. The last few days have  been gorgeous Fall weather.....sunny and cooler temperatures, which beckoned me outdoors to play in the dirt on Friday. I spent long hours outdoors (though it was very windy) and dug up and transplanted different perennials. Some were taken from that old garden bed in the back that I plan on turning back into lawn. I removed statice, euonymous, and day lilies from there and transplanted into my front flower beds after removing even more of my snow-in-summer.  I transplanted deep purple iris from the front to an area in the back. I have even more pots of transplants ready to donate to family members.

 I have transplants ready to give. In the photo I have pink spirea, balloon flowers, golden basket, aubrieta,  rose campion,  purple iris, Pasque flower,  cranesbill geranium, snow-in-summer, rhubarb,  Adam's needle, bee balm and dragon's blood. My sister has also asked for horse radish which I have lots of but haven't dug up yet. There are still many, many more plants to dig up.  I would like to accomplish that as soon as possible to give the plants a good chance of surviving in the pots. Thanksgiving is just two weeks away.

I cleaned up some more of my front flower bed by pruning back the spent flowers, pulling weeds, and thinning out a lot of "extra" plant material by ripping it out.  This is where I transplanted some plant material from the back flower bed that I am getting rid of. This area is now ready to lay down some more  wood chips before the snow.

Saturday I started my day doing two very large loads of  laundry in cold water and hanging them out on the line to dry. I mowed the front and back lawns until I ran out of gas. My gas can is also empty and I don't really want to overwinter any gas in my shed, so if I do any more grass cutting this Fall, I will only be buying very little.  I  pulled a few weeds in the back before coming inside. That is when I discovered that my son had called while I was out. He and his wife were coming after work for dinner and laundry, so I stayed inside and prepared three projects for Christmas so I could remove any trace of what I was crafting before they arrived. I also  brought my laundry back in.

Today was another sunny, cool day perfect for working outside. I pruned back  two of my shrubs, cleaned up another flower bed for mulching, and removed   two very large branches from one of my lilac trees. There is still a lot of pruning to do on those trees and lots of suckers to pull out of the ground.  I put away the laundry from yesterday and caught up on some news from the family.  My mother was put on another medication to try and sedate her   so they could release her from hospital. She was returned to the Assisted Living Home on Wednesday, but yesterday it was reported that the medication was not working. I haven't heard any news today about whether or not she is going back into the hospital. Her dementia is getting much worse. It is a wonder that my sister managed to look after her for as long as she did, because the Home is not going to be able to supervise her for too much longer. She may be forced into a long-term care facility.  I have been feeling very restless this past weekend, and hope to be able to travel to Elliot Lake soon.

My low carb, high fat diet for the past week:

Saturday- omelet made with zucchini and sliced fresh mushrooms, lunch was cheesy vegetables leftover from  Friday night, dinner was 2 chicken thighs, mashed turnip and green beans

Sunday- noon time brunch was an omelet with zucchini, mushroom and crumbled bacon, dinner was Shepherd's Pie made with fried hamburger, cut green beans topped with mashed cauliflower.

Monday- breakfast was omelet made with zucchini and spinach, lunch was leftover Shepherd's Pie and dinner was chicken in cream cheese sauce, mashed turnip and roasted broccoli and cauliflower with shredded cheese on top.

Tuesday- breakfast was another zucchini and spinach omelet, lunch was  salami and cheese wraps with Romaine lettuce, and dinner was tilapia and veggies in cream cheese sauce.

Wednesday- omelet made with zucchini and sliced mushrooms, lunch was more salami and cheese wraps, and dinner was pork roast with the last of the mashed turnip and green beans.

Thursday- omelet made with zucchini, mushrooms and bacon, lunch was some of the chicken veggie soup that I made that morning, and dinner was sauteed shredded cabbage with fried ground meat.

Friday- omelet was made with zucchini, spinach and cheese, lunch was sauteed shredded cabbage and dinner was some of the leftover pork roast from Wednesday and creamed veggies from Monday.

Saturday- omelet was made again with zucchini, spinach and cheese, lunch was soup, and dinner for company was roasted green beans, cauliflower and broccoli with lots of shredded cheese and Italian sausages on top. There were even some veggies left over.

Hearty bowl of chicken soup with celery, carrots, green beans, broccoli and cauliflower.

Trying to Figure Out Technology

I  was like a dog with a bone this morning. I became obsessed with figuring out why my family were not able to get my blog posts anymore.  I had put them on an email list but one by one they were reporting that I was no longer blogging. Yes I am. I know that notifications haven't been going out to people who go through FeedBurner, but why are people on the email list not getting emails? More of my family have joined Facebook (which I don't use very often) and through Google Plus. There has to be a way of reaching them through Google. Well, as you know, I am not very tech savvy. In fact, among the family, it is a joke. But I was determined to figure it out.  It took me all day but I can now post these on Google Plus. And yes, I found the original email list of notifications and there were only two names left on it. I don't know how, when or why the names were dropped, but I have added  some of them again. Now we shall see if all the work I did today will fix the problem.

I did get outside for just a little bit. I got the garbage and the paper recycling out to the curb and I moved some gravel from the driveway into the back yard and I pulled a few weeds. I watered my indoor plants. In the kitchen, I used the chicken broth I made on the weekend to make a chicken vegetable soup, and I shredded a cabbage to saute on the stove. I will add some fried ground beef with it for tonight's dinner.

Sedum Autumn Joy

Ripping and Pruning

You know that I am preparing my garden beds for cooler weather when I start removing vegetation....no, not just pulling out grass and weeds, but the plants themselves. I removed wheel barrow loads of plant material this morning. I pulled out armfuls of  "snow-in-summer" and I dug up and transplanted mini irises into pots for giving away. The snow-in-summer doubles itself every year and though I have already transplanted some of it, I need to destroy most of it or it will take over the whole bed.

I also got out the bypass pruning shears and took out most of my shrub rose bush. I have cut the canes to about 18 inches  and most of the leaves are gone. I also pruned back hard  my Forsythia bush and removed a lot of the dead wood at the base. I still have more shrubs I need to prune before the cold weather. Yesterday I worked my two hours pulling weeds again from the driveway and then applying one and a half gallons of my weed killer.  I have noticed this summer in particular that each time I go out to weed the driveway, there are fewer weeds to pull. That is partly because of the vinegar, and partly because I have gone out to weed more often before the weed seeds can spread.

Yesterday I deleted some documents on my computer that I didn't need. Hopefully, I will be able to delete a few photos in the future that are no longer necessary from my downloads. I received one of my Amazon deliveries already, so I can soon start my Christmas projects. But this afternoon I had a doctor's appointment, so didn't have time to do much else today. I have another small pork roast in the crock pot for dinner tonight to go with leftover mashed turnip and steamed green beans.

Daybook: Monday, Sept. 17/18

Outside my window.....it is another lovely warm, sunny day. It is just after 1 o'clock in the afternoon, so there are high school kids walking past during their lunch hour break. The lawn is cut, but I am noticing the rose bush that is not pruned back yet and the weeds coming back in my driveway.

I am thinking.....about the few ideas I found on the weekend for gift making and giving at Christmas.

I am thankful for.....the gorgeous autumn weather we have been having. I haven't noticed any trees starting to turn colour yet. Everything is still summer green. We are still in our shorts and tanks.

From the kitchen.....I have 3 huge chicken breasts in the crock pot. My son and his new wife are coming in about an hour to do up their laundry and stay for supper.   I did a deep clean of the kitchen counters and stove top this morning, which means removing everything and disinfecting every surface. I took the kitchen compost out to the garden composter and removed the kitchen garbage.  I made 2 more gallons of my home-made weed killer and unloaded the dishwasher. I  vacuumed the kitchen floor.  I was busy in the kitchen this morning.

I am wearing.....a pair of gray capris and a gray striped top to match. I'm in bare feet again.

I am creating.....Christmas lists....lots and lots of Christmas lists.

I am going.....nowhere today. I invited  company.  I also told my BIL that I would stay home today in case he decided to pop by.

I am hoping.....September's weather remains sunny and dry, but it could cool down a bit.

I am hearing.....both the fan going beside me and the portable A/C unit running in the dining room.

Around the house.....I vacuumed all the downstairs floors this morning. I still need to clear off the dining room table because it is heaped with my card making supplies yet.

One of my favourite things.....I don't know if it is a favourite thing, but since breaking my bow rake, I realize how much I use it and how much I miss having one. I haven't been outside much since then.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include a doctor's appointment with my shrink on Wednesday.  I am expecting two Amazon deliveries this week with supplies I will need for different projects.  I will have to replace my bow rake at some point. I will probably buy one from Canadian Tire and offset the cost with my remaining $10 worth of points.

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

My usual "recipe" for Shepherd's Pie is to mix cooked ground meat with ketchup and add cooked veggies like peas, corn and diced carrots topped with mashed potatoes. My NEW casserole that I made last night is cooked ground meat with some of that creamy white sauce I make with cream cheese and added sliced green beans and topped with mashed cauliflower. OMG. It was so delicious. As you can see, the topping browned beautifully. I only added enough sauce to hold the mixture of meat and green beans together, so I suppose I could have added some shredded cheddar on top, but there was no need. It tasted so good. I have to wonder though that if I had made this concoction two years ago, would it still be as delicious? Have my taste buds altered so dramatically?

A Lovely Weekend

It has been a gorgeous couple of days, weather-wise. Unfortunately, I chose to work indoors during most of that time.  Yesterday I was pretty much tied to the kitchen. I put the last 3 chicken thighs from the last grocery haul two weeks ago, into my crock pot to make another chicken stock. I washed and cut up the 3 bunches of broccoli (7 heads) into florets. Then I peeled the woody stems and cut them up into coins to throw into homemade soups. I also washed and removed the membranes and seeds from 10 rainbow (sweet) peppers, sliced and froze them as well.

 While I was moving items around in my freezer, I found two unidentified containers that I had neglected to attach labels to, so I removed them to defrost.  I knew they were leftovers, but wasn't exactly sure what they were.  I washed my stamps that I took off the dining room table. These were the ones I used to make my Thanksgiving and Halloween cards. I was able to talk with "Dee", my daughter and my eldest son on Facebook Messenger throughout the afternoon, while simultaneously putting together some die cuts for future cards. I made a batch of homemade vanilla extract, using 4 beans to 200 ml of vodka, and placed in a glass jar in my baking cupboard. I will give this a good shake every few days and it should be ready by Christmas.

I did go outside for about an hour so that I could mow both the front and back lawns, before it was time to make dinner.  One of the mystery containers from the freezer turned out to be fried ground chicken and the other container contained mashed turnip. For supper last night I heated up the turnip, some whole green beans and two of the chicken thighs from the crock pot. I placed the broth and the third chicken thigh in the fridge to make a soup later on.  Tonight I have made up another dish of creamy white sauce with the cream cheese and mixed together cut green beans with the fried ground chicken, placed a layer of mashed cauliflower on top and made my version of Shepherd's Pie. It is in the oven now warming up.

Today was a wacky kind of day. Although I was up, showered and dressed by 7:30 this morning, I didn't get my breakfast until noon. All the family members I didn't get to talk to yesterday, called me this morning. One of those callers was my sister. My mother was taken by ambulance to the hospital over the weekend for further evaluation. It isn't working out at the Assisted Living Facility and she may have to be placed in a long-term care facility. That kind of news is just very upsetting. Then this afternoon, my husband's brother called and talked for about 2 hours. He arrived in Kingston a  few days ago but both he and his wife have been very sick. I had no idea. He will try to get out to see me tomorrow; but if they're able,  they are driving back home to Florida on Wednesday. So in essence, I haven't accomplished  a thing today. Some days are like that. It is just impossible to get started.

Two Week Grocery Shop

Sorry. I have been MIA, which is technically incorrect. Truthfully, I have been "missing in INaction" because I don't really have any real accomplishments to show for myself. When I wash windows, I can report having x number of windows done. If I pull weeds, I can report having worked for x number of hours. Even by crafting, I can say I made x number of cards and I may have photos to prove it. But I feel differently when I say I sat on my butt in front of the computer for x number of afternoons, glued to a computer screen and jotting down a few notes. But really, I consider it ALL important work. I am looking for ideas to make future projects go more smoothly. I was looking for ideas for Christmas gifts and cards and various decorating ideas, etc. And yes, I know it is early in September and the kids just got back into school, but I really need to start early if I am going to get things done in time.

So I did no windows downstairs yet. I took my bow rake into the hardware store to see if they could put on a new handle, but the clerk just looked at me like I had two heads. I guess I need to buy a new rake. Apparently, hardware stores don't do that kind of service any more. Excuse me, did my age just show??  I remember a time (I didn't think too long ago) when you took your tools to the country hardware store to have them fixed. Now, they just sell you tools. Anyways, I haven't bought a new one yet so I haven't cleared any more of my back yard of rocks, branches, etc. after the vegetation was cut down. I did manage to move about 6 wheel barrow loads of gravel from the pile in the driveway one afternoon, but it was too hot to continue working. Yesterday was another gorgeous day and I should have cut my lawn again, but I didn't. So I hate myself for that. I feel my priorities are not in line.

On the plus side, I was successful in lasting two weeks before going out to do a major grocery shopping trip yesterday morning after my second medical appointment of the week with the nurse practitioner. She was able to unblock my ear canal. Yay!  I shopped at two stores...Food Basics and No Frills.

Frozen produce cost me $44.00  Three packages of winter vegetables and 2 pkgs. of green beans for $2 each, frozen spinach for $1 and 3 bags of imperfect frozen fruit for $11 each. These are all no-name brands. It doesn't get cheaper than this.

Fresh veggies cost $13.70  Broccoli was on sale for 88 cents each (I bought 3), romaine lettuce was only 87 cents, zucchini was on sale for 98 cents a pound, local cabbage was only 89 cents a pound, and rainbow peppers were even cheaper than Giant Tiger at only $1.88,  so I bought another pkg. Fresh mushrooms were also on sale for $1.67

Dairy cost $45.39   That is  a whole week's budget right there. Cheese at the lowest price in town at $4.44 each 400 gm block, yoghurt and cream cheese on sale for $1.97 each. Cream was on sale for $2.49. I paid full price for homo milk, 2 dozen eggs, and no-name cottage cheese.

I paid a total of $27.77 for meat. I only paid regular price for the sausage. Everything else was on sale.

Pantry items cost $8.96  Cans of tomato cost 87 cents each.

Non-food items cost $6.97  Today's shopping cost me $ 147.31  Add on the mini shops from Giant Tiger twice over the past week ($6.95  + $17.30) ,  and my total is now  $171.56  My first shop of September I  spent $105.84, so my total so far this month is now $277.40  That is well above my "budget"  of $50 a week. I will have to continue this exercise of shopping every other week in order to work out a more realistic budget for myself.  By not shopping EVERY week, I do think I saved more money. I usually buy no-name or store-brands because they still cost less than using coupons. If a brand name is cheaper by being on sale, I will buy that item.

Bless from My Two Cents has been following my menu reports to see how I have been using up my groceries, so I need to catch her up on what I have been eating the last few days.

Monday: I had the last two bowls of chicken veggie soup for lunch. Dinner was pork chops with veggies in a cream sauce (butter and  cream cheese melted with Parmesan and milk added)

Tuesday: sauteed shredded cabbage from the freezer with cream sauce added.  Dinner was the last of the cream sauce baked over frozen veggies and the last 3 Italian sausage.  I loved that cream sauce.

Wednesday: Lunch was leftovers from Tuesday  night  and dinner was chicken stir-fry over cauliflower rice.  The chicken meat was also taken from the freezer from when I made my last crock pot of chicken broth the week before. 

Thursday: I made a huge pan of dirty rice with a pound of hamburger  fried with a little onion and seasoned salt and simmered with 1/2 can of stewed tomatoes from the freezer. I mixed it in with a container of cauliflower rice. Yummy.  It made lots, so I ate the rest of it for dinner.

Friday: I had eaten the last two eggs on Thursday morning, so for breakfast I warmed up 2 slices of bacon from that package I bought at Giant Tiger on Wednesday and fried for the freezer, with a bowl of steamed cauliflower. It was already past noon when I returned from grocery shopping, so I ate a large bowl of cottage cheese for lunch. For dinner, I roasted some frozen veggies with shredded cheese on top and 3 Italian sausage. There are leftovers for my lunch today.

Once Was Not Enough

I made it to my appointment with the nurse this morning, with time to spare. I went early again as the parking is always a problem. I stopped into Giant Tiger to buy their weekly specials because I needed to use their parking lot again. I bought the bag of groceries and took it with me to my medical appointment. It would cost me something for parking at the doctor's office. This parking is free for customers. Normally I wouldn't pay so much for parking, so I look at it as high costs for parking but with free groceries. Haha. 

The rainbow peppers were only 4 for $1.98, so I bought 2 bags. I am filling my pantry with more proteins...flakes of ham, turkey and chicken for 99 cents a tin and a canned ham for only $3.97. The can of roasted almonds was $2.99  This will come out of the next week's grocery money, but it was just a mini shop for the sale items so I could use the free parking.

The nurse tried to clear my right ear for 15 solid minutes. She ran out of warm water twice during the procedure. The wax is really impacted, but she was able to dislodge it. I became slightly deaf in that ear because the plug has moved up the ear canal and my ear is water logged behind it. So I am going to have to return on Friday morning at 10:30 and use the next two days to keep oil in my ear to try and soften the wax. For most of the afternoon, the feeling of having my ear plugged up was driving me crazy., and I did not feel like doing anything at all. So I dragged out some card crafting supplies and played this afternoon.  It is feeling a lot better now. Sometime during my crafting, the ear has cleared itself. The water must have drained out, although I will still have to apply the oil drops.

 I was colouring with the alcohol markers and cutting out some of my smaller images . I also created some stamping masks which I will keep with the appropriate stamp sets. Basically, I just need to play with my supplies to find the best combinations and try out a few ideas to make the card making go more smoothly when I am ready to go.

Testing my inks for the best impression for my new "Snowy Cabin" stamp.

Warmer on Tuesday

Have I mentioned how much colder it got over the past weekend? Remembering that it was 29 C degrees last week, the temperature dropped to only 9 C degrees. I refused to turn on my furnace yesterday. Instead I wore clothes from my winter closet, a sweater and I put another comforter on the bed. I must have been toasty warm because I slept in until 9:20 this morning. While I was getting dressed, I noticed a Fed-Ex van outside my house. I ran downstairs just in time to answer the door. I received a package from Amazon.

I ordered 3 things: a 6x6 patterned card stock pad (which I really didn't need, but I have been watching the price on this go down every week and I grabbed it before it was gone), an Inkadinkado stamp of a snowy cabin (for winter cards, Christmas, and masculine cards) and some more scor tape (which I will need to put together my Christmas boxes that I make). The scor tape will arrive at a later date.  The Doodlebug Design card stock will be perfect to make card sets, because all the sheets co-ordinate with each other and because the price was too perfect to pass up. I applied the $20 gift certificate that I earned from doing Pine Cone surveys, so I only paid oop for half the cost of my total order.  

Because I slept in, I also missed a call from my daughter. She left a message that she will try again later. I don't think that I was overly tired last night. It wasn't as though I exerted myself too much yesterday. I did wash two more windows upstairs....a spare bedroom and the loft (room at the top of the stairs). I also threw the two sets of drapes and bathroom curtains in with some other light washables into the washing machine, which I turned on last night before going to bed. But for the most part, I just sat at the computer looking for ideas for making Christmas gifts and making lists. It started to rain before noon and continued all through the day and night. So when I awoke this morning, it was wet and overcast, but I hung out the laundry anyway. When it dries eventually, it will smell fresh like autumn rains. It was while I was outside hanging clothes that I realized how much warmer it was from yesterday. Still, not a good day to work outdoors so I washed the last two windows upstairs....a spare bedroom and the laundry room. Now I can concentrate on finishing the windows downstairs. I will continue to clean just two windows at a time.

Last night for dinner, I melted 1/2 cup of butter with 8 oz. of cream cheese  before thinning it out with milk. I added some garlic and Parmesan cheese to make a cheesy white sauce, or Alfredo sauce. I poured this over some broccoli and cauliflower to eat with my small roast pork from the crock pot. It tasted really yummy and made lots, so today's lunch was creamed cabbage. I finished off the last two bowls of chicken soup for lunch yesterday and hadn't planned ahead for lunch today.  I am so glad I froze a portion of sauteed cabbage  the other day. Tonight I will roast some veggies with sausage and make sure there will be leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  I am still trying to use up what I have before going to the store before the end of this week. 

Daybook: Monday, Sept. 10/18

Outside my window.....(my very sparkling clean window) I can see that it is a dark and overcast day with some rain predicted later on. We could do with a little rain despite the fact that it rained so much in August. Everything is very dry and dusty right now. It would make pulling weeds a whole lot easier.

I am thinking.....that if these cooler temperatures persist through September, I have a good chance of getting a lot of work done outside. I managed a lot over the weekend.

I am thankful for.....my friend and his brother coming over on Saturday to help me out with the yard work. My friend can no longer do any of the work, but he had his brother (and myself) busy doing work under his supervision. The brother installed the aluminum caps around the frame of my front door and cleared a lot of my overgrown property with the whipper snipper, while I took the tree loppers and cleared out a lot of branches and small sumac shrubs. We worked for 4 hours solid. I felt badly for his brother who traveled down from Montreal to spend the day with his sick brother, only to be doing work for ME. But he said that he was spending time with his brother and helping him out by bringing him here.

From the kitchen.....I shredded a head of cabbage yesterday and sauteed in butter. I had half of it for dinner last night with another portion of fried ground beef.  The other half will be eaten at a later date. I have a small piece of pork roast in the crock pot for dinner.

I am wearing.....black denim jeans, socks, and a purple knit top. Cooler temperatures have moved in.

I am creating.....nothing since Friday. I need to prioritize the projects I want to do.

I am going.....nowhere outside of Odessa today. I broke my bow rake yesterday, so I may take it to the hardware store to have a new handle put on it. Even without the rake, I have lots of outdoor jobs I could be working on.

I am hoping.....lots of sunny days and cooler temperatures keep me motivated to get some work done.

I am hearing.....lots of quiet....no fans on, no crickets today, just the occasional traffic noise outside.

Around the house.....I need to vacuum downstairs again, and perhaps wet mop my floors. I may be able to get some more windows washed this week. Maybe I won't continue doing 3 windows at a time. It may be easier to tackle only two.

One of my favourite things.....this past little while, has been my wheel barrow. It allows me to move things around on my own. I have been taking branches, weeds, pieces of wood, gravel and stone from one place to another. A wheel barrow allows me to do this more easily.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include an appointment with the nurse practitioner on
Wednesday. I need to mail out two birthday cards and more "Thinking of You" cards. I will try not to do any grocery shopping until the end of this week. I need to sit down and plan a budget and a schedule for Christmas projects.

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

Pink phlox......one of my remaining summer flowers.

A Little Bit of Everything

With cooler weather today, my Mojo was revved up. I managed to do a little of this and a little of that and managed to get a few things accomplished.

• While making breakfast, I emptied the dishwasher and made my iced tea. 
• I used the chicken broth I made in the crock pot on Tuesday to make a big pot of chicken soup with veggies. 
• I made two more encouragement cards and wrote in a card for my mother. 
• I watered my indoor plants
• I washed 3 more windows, inside and outside, including frames, tracks, and sills. The three windows were upstairs...two in my bedroom and one in my bathroom.  The wash water was disgustingly dirty. 
• While I was up there, I put away the laundry I did yesterday and brought down the garbage from the waste baskets in my bedroom, the bathroom and the laundry room. 
• I ate 2 bowls of my chicken soup for lunch. 
• I walked to the Post Office and mailed away two cards and picked up some mail.
• I mowed the back lawn
• I did some more weeding. I didn't watch the time, so I don't know how long I spent out there, but I am feeling very tired right now. I took a shower and washed my hair.

For dinner tonight I am making pork chops with mashed cauliflower and brussel sprouts. I heard from my friend's wife today. He was back in hospital since the last time he was out here.  His doctor had taken him off the steroids but then his brain became enlarged again applying pressure to his skull, so now he is back on them. He wants to come out to my place tomorrow with his brother to "do a few things" and of course I am feeling very anxious about it, but there is no way anyone can stop him. I know his wife needs a break from having him at home all the time. The steroids make him fidgety and he needs to be doing something, and as long as his brother is here helping  him, I can comply. It will be another busy weekend for me. I hope you all get to enjoy your weekend. Do you have any plans? 

Five Things I Accomplished

I did not wash windows, nor did I work outside doing yard work. This is what I did do....

• I paid my hydro, gas and water bills on-line
• I hung out a dark load wash on the clothesline and brought them in after dried.
• I unloaded my dishwasher.
• I unloaded the 10 bags of mulch from the back of my van
• I made 3 more Halloween cards for a total of 10 cards. I printed verses inside, wrote a sentiment in each one for the recipient, put each into an envelope and addressed. That is the end of the Halloween cards. I will not mail them until mid October, but they are ready. Now I will be able to work on cards for gifting.  

 

 Ten bags of forest brown mulch

 Bless, here is a "fancy-fold" card called a gate-fold card. Open up the window shutters, and...

I placed a piece of acetate under the black window frame to resemble glass. I made this for my oldest grand daughter. She makes beautiful cards herself, so I thought she would appreciate this one. I took this photo before I finished off the inside with a verse and sentiment.

This was my lunch today. Yes, it is a lot of food and it is filling. However, these veggies are very low carb. (except for the carrots). Last night I ate this with 2 small pieces of salmon. Today there is no fish or meat, and the only protein is some shredded cheese on top. Tonight I am eating a chicken stir fry by itself. I decided not to make fried cauliflower rice because it is now 7:30 and I am feeling hungry NOW.

Doctor's Appointment

I made my 2-egg omelet with zucchini and shredded cheese this morning while talking on the phone with my friend from Charleston Lake. She was firming up plans with me for her afternoon Thanksgiving Day meal. I left at 9:30 for my 10:15 appointment in Kingston. I like to go a little earlier than necessary because parking is a big problem. Sometimes I have to circle around the lot and wait for a spot to become available, even first thing in the morning. There was no parking spot available and so I drove next door to park in the lot behind Giant Tiger, which is reserved for shoppers only. I went inside quickly to pick up some grocery specials. Bacon was only $3.47 (less $2) and canned whole mushrooms were 2 cans for $1.50. I bought four and spent a total of $6.95. I brought the shopping bag with me to my Doctor's appointment and was called in right away. I was 5 minutes early.

My doctor and I are very pleased with my blood sugar results. I have not been below 6 for ten years apparently, so this is great news. I remember always being pre-diabetic, so the fact that this diet is lowering blood sugar is very promising and exciting. I am not losing any more weight. I have plateaued at 27 pounds lost and it has remained the same for months now. People have been telling me that I am still losing, but in fact, it is just redistributing as my body is adjusting to this amount of insulin. I still carry fat around my middle, but the doctor says that in fact I have been losing inches there. She is happy, so I am happy. She applied some frozen nitrogen to a wart that has developed on the side of my ankle. It lies under the strap of my sandals and is constantly being rubbed. It's uncomfortable. I also made an appointment with the nurse practitioner for next Wednesday to have my ears cleaned and for her to check out the wart as well. 

On the way home, I stopped at Canadian Tire and picked up 10 bags of mulch at $3.99 a bag. I paid for all of it with points from my Options card. No oop. It was much to hot to work outside today, so I just left all the bags in the van and came inside. It was supposed to reach a high today of 29 C degrees. I haven't checked to see what the temperature actually was, but it felt like it had already reached that by 11 AM. I felt a little guilty not going out to do yard work, so I decided I would start washing windows. It took an hour or more to wash the three windows here in the computer room. I washed with my Miracle spray and a bucket of hot water, a toothbrush, a scouring sponge, and a rag both inside and outside, in the window tracks and the sills and window frames. Only then did I bring out the Windex and paper towels. These three windows absolutely sparkle. They should be done twice a year, but I know I didn't get around to these ones last year.

I talked to my daughter on Face time, had some lunch leftover from last night's dinner (Tex-Mex chili), cleaned the stove top and counters, and worked on a couple more Halloween cards.

My photo doesn't really show much detail, but the black Jack 'o lanterns have  red shimmer (not silver) behind the faces. They are not on a white card stock but an ivory colour with tiny bone fractures. The skeleton is dressed as Dracula and the orange pumpkin has black shimmer behind the face

Daybook: Tuesday, Sept. 4/18

Yes I had every intention of writing a Daybook post yesterday on Labour Day Monday, but my son and DIL arrived in the morning with a trunk full of laundry to do up, and I wasn't quite ready to start my day yet. I had a load of my own laundry still in the machine and I hadn't even showered yet. It would have been poor manners to ignore my company to write a blog post, which is a solitary endeavour. Instead, I got my DIL to help me put together some cards I was making ahead for my mother.  On Sunday I had spent some time cutting images I liked from store-bought cards that were given to me. If you have bought cards recently you know they are quite lovely, but also very pricey. It isn't possible to save every card, although I would love to, so I decided to cut down some of my favourites and re-use the images in some of my cards, add a few embellishments and a greeting and presto...a note card that I know my mother will love. Since I have recently added her to my weekly card list, I am making a few cards ahead so I can jot down a few lines for her on mailing day. My DIL is very artistic and also has begun making her own cards this past year. So I was able to get her ideas on which colour cardstock to use as a base for the individual images, and then she dry embossed a texture for me to use behind it. They turned out lovely.  We were all invited to her parents' house for dinner, so after showering and changing, I left with them at 4:30 for their house and didn't return until after dark.

Outside my window.....it is clear and sunny. I have been watching the kids pass by my house on the way to their first day of school. It is a cooler 17 C degrees right now, but will rise to 26 C. If it is as humid again today, it will feel much warmer. I have the windows open right now.

I am thinking.....about Labour Day weekend and what it has always meant to me in the past. Its origins have been in the Labour movement, but I have only participated once in a parade in my entire life. For me,
it has always  meant back to school and  the unofficial end of summer.  Things will now become terribly busy.

I am thankful for.....the lovely day I spent with my son and DIL yesterday.

From the kitchen.....I presently have 4 chicken thighs in a crock pot of water to make a chicken soup stock and some extra cooked chicken I can use this week in a dinner recipe.

I am wearing.....gray capris and a gray striped top with capped sleeves.

I am creating.....note cards for my mother using recycled card images, Halloween cards and some more Thanksgiving cards (I have 9 cards already). I  have been invited to two places for Thanksgiving dinner on the same day. I will be waddling from one place to the next.

I am going.....nowhere today except perhaps outside to do some more yard work. I didn't go outside at all over the weekend.

I am hoping.....I can keep myself motivated to work in the yard until I finish up what I want to get accomplished before winter.

I am hearing.....the sound of crickets  (always in the background), my fan blowing across me, and the sounds of traffic.

Around the house..... I have lots of projects I want to start but I need to focus on getting the yard work done.

One of my favourite things.....is being able to facebook message my family.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. My lab results show that my sugar is down below 6 for the first time in "forever". I am so happy the diet is working.

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

 Note cards made from using old recycled cards. My mother will not care that these are not original.

First Grocery Shop For September

I wanted to get an early start to my grocery shopping this morning. It is a Saturday on a long weekend, and I suspect it will get pretty busy later in the day. I went to No Frills in Kingston and stopped at Shopper's Drug Mart on the way back home.

Dairy cost me $32.68  The eggs ($1.88/doz), butter (2.99 each) and cream (2 for $3) were all on sale at Shoppers. The rest I bought at No Frills

Lean ground beef was on sale for $2.72/lb. and the four fillets of salmon cost $6.99 for a total of $17.83

Frozen produce cost $35.97 I picked up 2 bags of 1 kg blueberries, 1 bag of 2 Kg California mix (broccoli, cauliflower and carrot coins), 3 bags of winter mix (broccoli and cauliflower) and 2 bags of garden mix (green and yellow wax beans with baby carrots).

Fresh produce (cabbage, turnip, zucchini and cucumbers) cost $12.56

I spent $6.31 on pantry items. Over on Bless' Blog earlier in the week, we had a discussion about preparedness and I realized that I no longer have a pantry of staples should I not be able to leave the house because of an emergency or crisis. I resolved that I should probably stock up on canned items that I can eat on my diet, and tuna fish is one of those items. My total spend on groceries today was $105.84  I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will last me for two weeks. Not being able to eat any flours or grains is very expensive, but perhaps I can keep my budget down to $50 a week. I have accumulated more Optimum points and I am already up to 18, 587