Lovely Spring Weather

I started my day indoors by.....

• unloading the dishwasher
• watering my indoor plants downstairs
• making a batch of homemade yoghurt
• placing the remainder of a turkey carcass into the crock pot to make broth
• applying the second coat of drywall mud to areas on my kitchen walls
• washing my living room window, inside and out, including all the vinyl casings
• renewing my CAA membership
• warming up a couple of bowls of homemade pea soup from the freezer

After lunch I ventured outside to clean up the front and back yards of garbage and recyclables left behind by the winter winds and snow. I filled a huge green garbage bag with trash and a rubber bin with pieces of shingles and wood and plastic that cannot go into the trash. I wanted to do more cleaning up with a bow rake, but my left hip began to bother me, so I came inside for a hot shower and decided to take it easier for the rest of the day. I will hope for another day tomorrow like this one we had today. I will start by hanging up a load of laundry that I plan on washing tonight after 7 PM.

Daybook :Monday, April 15/19

Outside my window.....the wet rainy weather is continuing from yesterday, though much colder. At least it isn't snow or freezing rain, right? We had lightening and thunder accompany some of the storms last night.

I am thinking.....of how my blood sugar has risen from 5.9 to 6.1 in the last several months and wondering how it is possible having been on this diet faithfully every day. I don't see my GP until May 2nd, so I may as well not fret about it right now; but,  I am very disappointed.

I am thankful for.....being able to sleep very well every night. Some others suffer from sleep issues.

From the kitchen.....I was able to bake a keto loaf on the weekend, as well as shred and saute a head of cabbage yesterday. I meant to make another batch of yoghurt the last two mornings, but time ran out on me. I made a pan of chili last night which will also do for dinner tonight.

I am wearing.....black jeans, black socks and a loose  purple and white polka dot top.

I am creating.....a Welcome Baby card and lots more spring time cards which I attached sentiments and notes to this morning before addressing the envelopes and walking to the post office.

I am going.....nowhere else today.

I am hoping..... to get outdoors in the yard and gardens tomorrow. It is supposed to clear up under sunny skies and reach 13 C (55*F)

I am hearing.....the blower on my furnace. I don't usually turn off the furnace until the first of May, if it is warm enough.

Around the house.....I have some more started projects that I would like to clean up quickly.

One of my favourite things.....is an afternoon nap, which I am tempted to take today. I don't understand WHY I feel so dragged out. (I slept until after 8 this morning). Maybe it is the rain.

A few goals for this week.....

• make masculine birthday cards and mail out two this week 
• take my tax information to my brother's this Easter weekend
• put 2nd and 3rd coats of mud on sections in the kitchen, sand and prime
• wash living room window, inside and out.
• call and make appointment to have my winter tires changed at the end of this month.
• cut two sections of 1"x4" pine board and fit into missing section of spare room baseboard
• do some yard work on the first nice day with picking up trash, picking up tree branches, and removing dead perennial vegetation from the flower beds
• daytime moisturiser with SPF
• long wearing lipstick
• moisturiser at night

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

Against the foundation is Glory-of-the-snow, which is another spring flowering bulb like the crocus. In front of that, just coming up through the mulch, is a clump of blue flax. 

Week End Goals

On Monday I published this list of goals for the week....

• a trip to the lab to have blood work done     Done
• call my GP to make a follow-up appointment     for May 2nd
• call the Breast Screening clinic for my mammogram appointment     For May 29th
• a shopping trip for tinned tomato sauce, cheddar cheese and Stevia sweetener     I have spent $109.80 on food so far this month. 
• order a baking element for my oven at the appliance repair shop     Bought and installed
• make at least 10 cards this week     Most were additional Easter cards and one Baby card
• mail out the long distance Easter cards immediately     Done. More will be mailed tomorrow
• set a timer and do at least two  15 minute declutter jobs this week in the Craft room     No
• wash big kitchen window, inside and out.     Done
• if outdoors, pick up branches from the yard and put on the compost pile. Gather garbage from the yard in a green garbage bag for pickup     Didn't get outside
• start every morning with SPF moisturiser and long wearing lipstick     3 out of 7 mornings
• moisturise every night     No

I think I did very well this week. I did not finish my weekly list, but I did far more than I planned to do on my general monthly goals list, by attacking some home repair/maintenance jobs. On Friday I applied the first coat of mud on the walls, and because I need to buy replacement blades for my roto zip, I am unable at this time to trim out my kitchen window. I instead added a length of 4" pine board to the bottom of a living room wall that is missing its base board. My work may not be pretty, but it is functional. I also used up the other tube of caulking I bought on Thursday. 

Tomorrow I will sand any uneven edges and apply  a second coat of mud.

My niece finally delivered a baby boy (8 lbs. 8 oz.) yesterday morning (Saturday), after going into labour on Thursday morning. It was a long labour but mother and baby are doing fine.  

Shopping on Saturday

I hate going for groceries on the weekend, mainly because everyone else is out shopping on their days off work. I am retired so I can go any other time of the week, and I wished I had. But I was out of eggs and milk, and almost out of butter, so that is where I found myself this morning. I stopped first at the Bulk Barn to buy some almond flour and some dried minced onion flakes. Then I hit NoFrills for the bulk of my supplies.

Meat and dairy cost me $37.83  The smoked ham was $1.47/lb and butter was on sale for $2.77/lb.

Fresh and frozen produce cost $34.17  (cabbage, tomatoes, English cucumber, mixed berries, 2 brussel sprouts, 1 green beans, and 6 winter veggies.)

I forgot about the 2 doz. eggs I also bought, the granulated Stevia, the almond flour and died onion
flakes which cost another $21.46 for a total expenditure today of $93.45 I have only $ 48 remaining in my household budget for the rest of the month.

When I returned home, I baked a loaf of keto bread and sliced up the whole smoked ham to fill 4 quart sized freezer bags with sliced ham. I made myself a ham sandwich for my lunch. Mmmm. It was so good. Today is sunny and fairly mild, but very gusty. I was tempted to go outside with a garbage bag and pick up trash, but it is too windy for that. Besides, a lot more will probably blow in today and fill the yard up again. I hope all of you are enjoying the rays of sunshine at least. Have a great weekend.

Pondering Next Steps

I am still "working" in the kitchen. It would be nice to finish as much as I can in one room before moving on to the next. I looked over the wall in the kitchen to see how I was going to proceed with the drywall mud under the window and a few patch up jobs around the room. The gap between the sill and the top of the drywall is too big to fill with caulking and it is an outside wall. I thought I had a full can of foam insulation, but when I went to check on it, the trigger was missing. I knew I would have to buy a new one. Also, after it cures (tomorrow) I need a very sharp utility cutter. I also knew I had several of those around the house and the shed, but the blades were rusty or broken. I did not want to buy a new cutter, so I looked a little harder and eventually found some brand new blades for a very good X-acto knife that I will be able to cut plaster board. I found an old leaky pair of rubber gloves, so I knew I wouldn't have to buy disposable gloves either.

So first thing this morning, I hung the laundry I washed last night, outside in the sunshine before I proceeded to wash the kitchen counters and different parts of the wall I didn't get to yesterday. They are in very rough shape and are crying out for a new coat of paint....eventually. We never put a backsplash in our kitchen, so I was considering how I might be able to install one and what materials I might use. I also tried to figure out the easiest way to fix my window framing.....both windows actually. So today, not a lot got accomplished because there are times I need to stand back and consider the next steps.

I walked to the post office to mail out the Easter cards I prepared yesterday, and then I continued to walk to our local hardware store. I picked up the foam insulation and another tube of white caulking, for a total of $10.50.  While there I also picked up some paint swatches to look at. I'd like to keep the kitchen walls a very pale creamy yellow. Once home I used the foam insulation in as many places as I could remember that needed it. Tomorrow I can cut the dried foam back even with the plasterboard and then I will be ready to apply the first coat of mud.

While at the post office I received my Spring Sample Box. Here are the goodies that I received.

Arm and Hammer laundry detergent with Oxiclean, Clover Leaf solid chunk tuna, 3 different Nescafe coffee pods for my Keurig, Kashi bar, Sensodyne rapid relief toothpaste, Polident denture wipes and 3 G.U.M soft picks. I also got some high value coupons for a lot of the samples. Then I realized that two other coupons for free product were off camera, so.....

I added this terribly out-of-focus photo to show that I can pick up a free full-size Oxi Clean pre-treat stain remover and a 450 g smooth cottage cheese with blueberry and acai. I hope there is no added sugar, because I would really like to try this latest product. I will give away my kashi bar. I am presently waiting to hear about a new baby in the family. My niece went into labour this afternoon. Hope you all had a great day.

Kitchen Tools

When I talk about kitchen tools, I am not referring to knives, whisks or spatulas. I am talking REAL tools, like hammer, nails, screwdrivers, caulking gun and paint brush.  I used all of them today. The day started out sunny, but still kind of chilly, so I decided to start in my kitchen by pulling out the stove to replace the baking element I bought yesterday. Before I could do that, I took down my very large hanging spider plant and hung it up in the living room window. Then I removed my two curtain rods and lace cafe curtains that hang in the large kitchen window. I will wash those tonight along with the sheets from my bed and some white and light laundry left over from the weekend. If tomorrow turns out to be another sunny day, I will hang them out on the line. Then I pulled out a free standing cupboard into the middle of the room so I had some space to maneuver my stove. All this time I have been thinking that the stove would be too difficult for me to pull out from the corner of the kitchen. I thought I would need help from another person (specifically my son). But I managed just fine. I pulled it out so that I could unplug it. Once the plug was pulled, I changed out the bottom element in the oven. There was a time I couldn't imagine ME doing this. Thank goodness for You Tube. I watched how it was done, and it looked simple enough, so armed with the correct screwdriver, I proceeded to remove the old one and attached the new one.

Once I finished that, I proceeded to wash both sides of the stove, the side of the cupboards, the back wall, the side wall and the floor underneath. It was disgusting. I was going to take a photo, but it was too embarrassing to show anyone the state I had allowed these walls to become. I used my homemade cleaner, hot, hot water, comet, a new scrubbie and a Mr. Clean eraser. Then I got a caulking gun and spread a bead of caulking in every crack I found. I live in a very old house (1840 old) and the walls and floor are very uneven. My husband had built a little platform under the stove so that it would be strong and level. He had planned to rebuild the whole kitchen floor the year he passed away, so it was never finished up properly. Once I caulked all the seams, I decided to put down a layer of primer so it will be easier to deal with in future.

No before photo...just the after picture.

And since I had to pull out a cupboard, I vacuumed and washed the floor underneath it. I also decided to fix the back of it before I pushed it back.

You probably recognise this piece as one of those kits that come in a box and that you need to put together yourself. It is just very cheap melamine shelving with a cardboard back. Well the cardboard was only tacked together in a very few places and was coming away from the back. I took some finishing nails and a hammer and placed a fastener every couple of inches. I didn't have enough room across the top to nail it securely, so I found a piece of trim in the shed and cut it with a saw down to size and nailed the trim in place to hold the backing close to the top of the frame. It is much better looking now.

I was on a roll now, so I caulked all around the inside of the window frame. This is where I hope to finish off the window box itself, and eventually trim out the window, which was never done.

You can see from this photo the raw edge of the gyproc over the old wall. This is where there was a huge gap that I filled in with the caulking gun and smoothed out with a wet finger. I watched my husband do this many times. Then I washed the window inside and out, including the vinyl framing.

So this window is clean but before I rehang the washed curtains, I would like to plaster, sand and prime the gyproc under the sill where the two cats had scratched and destroyed the plaster board. I want to build out the window box so I can attach trim (or those pieces of pine board I primed) as a frame around the window. I finished up by cleaning the rest of the kitchen floor, after plugging the stove back in and pushing the oven back into place on its little platform. I reset the clock, held my breath and turned on the oven. It works, and it is now baking some chicken for my dinner. Yay!

Before I started this post, I wrote out the rest of the Easter cards for the kids in my life. If I don't send cards to my family members, at least the kids are looked after. It was too late to mail them out this afternoon, so that will be a priority tomorrow.

Out and About

It was another dismal wet rainy day, which always casts a shadow over any activities I may have planned  for the day. I struggle with my moods and I wasn't sure if I would go out or not, even though I had mentally prepared for going into LifeLabs for blood work. I would also stop at the post office to mail out 7 Easter cards, stop off at the appliance repair shop on the way in to order a new baking element, and pick up a few groceries I forgot the other day. If I decided not to drive into town, I have a stack of to-dos that would keep me occupied all day. In the end, I went on-line to find out where I would find the model number on my stove (I have been unable to find it in any of the places I guessed). Having the model # and the serial # in hand, and putting on my moisturiser, long-lasting lipstick AND mascara,  I felt I was ready to take the plunge. Also, and this was a very important consideration, I could take care of 4 of my weekly goals all at once. So, I left the house.

First of all, I mailed out some long-distance Easter cards that I had planned to mail yesterday, but ran out of time when I helped "Dee" prepare a written introduction for my dad for an upcoming meeting of the Ontario Retired Teachers Federation. She wrote an excellent paper, but just wanted someone to edit and refine some of it. Next, I stopped off at the appliance repair shop to order an element, but was able to buy one they already had in stock for $56, including tax. I didn't have much of a wait at the lab. I keep a crossword puzzle book in my purse for those waiting times. On the way home, I stopped at NoFrills to buy crushed tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and......I forgot my shopping list so couldn't remember the Stevia sweetener. Fortunately, I have enough to last the rest of the week or longer. Unfortunately, I filled my basket with lettuce, tomatoes, green onion, sweet peppers, cauliflower and rutabaga while waiting for my short term memory to check in.

What I went for.....

and what I also bought, for a total of  $16.35. I see some salads in my future.

I plan to have chili tonight with a salad, so I don't need to replace the element this afternoon. Since I shouldn't be lifting anything heavy because of the blood letting, I don't really want to wrestle with the stove today anyway. Besides, once I pull out the stove, I need to wash the walls and floor underneath, so it won't be a quick job. Tomorrow is soon enough. I do need to make some more Easter cards to get into the mail soon, so that is my planned activity this afternoon, after a couple of bowls of my chicken and vegetable soup. If I remember to call and make two medical appointments this afternoon, I will have crossed 6 items off my to-do list. Go Team!

Daybook: Monday, April 8/19

Outside my window.....it is a wet and rainy day in April. The temperature right now is 3* C (37*F), but will warm up later to 12*C ((53*F).  My lawn is starting to green.

I am thinking.....how quickly I moved into my regular routine after I returned home. I was very sad leaving my daughter's house and fought back some tears, but once I was on my way, I slipped into my comfort zone.

I am thankful for.....another Spring.

From the kitchen.....I made another chicken broth over the weekend, with which to make another pot of chicken soup. I saved the last loaf of keto bread from my oven, which needs me to replace my baking element sometime soon. I prepared all of the weekend meals on top of the stove.

I am wearing....blue denim jeans, a pink long sleeved button down shirt, and black socks.

I am creating.....die-cuts from the Animal Kingdom Cricut cartridge I borrowed from my daughter. I played most of the day yesterday, working through the cartridge methodically, making notes to determine the best size to print out the images for making cards. I have a set of Peachy Keen stamps that are cute animal faces. Some I can use on the outline cut of some of the animals. I am trying to determine the size I need in order to use some of those stamp, if possible.  I will then make several die-cuts of my  favourite images. It has been a lot of fun! I am easily amused.

I am going.....to the post office later today to mail out some cards.

I am hoping.....for sunny, drier days this week.

I am hearing.....traffic on wet pavement outside my window.

Around the house.....my dining table is heaped again with papers, glue and other embellishments from the weekend's activity. My living room needs decluttering and dusting. My kitchen is screaming for attention. I have lots to do to keep me out of trouble.

One of my favourite things.....is to be able to stroll through my gardens again to discover what is growing.

Goals for the week......

• a trip to the lab to have blood work done
• call my GP to make a follow-up appointment
• call the Breast Screening clinic for my mammogram appointment
• a shopping trip for tinned tomato sauce, cheddar cheese and Stevia sweetener
• order a baking element for my oven at the appliance repair shop
• make at least 10 cards this week
• mail out the long distance Easter cards immediately
• set a timer and do at least two  15 minute declutter jobs this week in the Craft room
• wash big kitchen window, inside and out.
• if outdoors, pick up branches from the yard and put on the compost pile. Gather garbage from the yard in a green garbage bag for pickup
• start every morning with SPF moisturiser and long wearing lipstick
• moisturise every night

Photo I am sharing.....

 The first thing I noticed driving up to the house, were these Snow Drops coming up between the rose canes.

Then I found some crocuses blooming. The leaves of daffodils   (top of photo) and allium (in the foreground) are just now trying to push up through the mulch.

My Mile Long To-Do List For April

I have a feeling that my time will be split between working outdoors during the warmer drier days and still quite a bit of time indoors. It will be too early to do any planting, but there is some tidying up to do with fallen branches and garbage that has blown into the yard from the winter storms.  I will be able to clear away the dead vegetation  and prune back more shrubs that I didn't get to in the Fall. I will be hanging my laundry out on the line at every opportunity. Inside, I am hoping to get a good start on my Spring cleaning, and using some spare time to continue with my crafting.

Environment:
House- Spring cleaning chores will be the priority. In April, I need to wash both the inside and outside of my living-room and kitchen windows, which I did not finish in the autumn. I will purge my dressers and closets, while swapping out my colder weather clothing for my summer clothes.  I want to attach the primed pieces of trim to areas around my windows that I will make more energy efficient with foam insulation and caulking. I want to wash the walls in my kitchen, and then PAINT.

Garden- Clean the yard of fallen twigs and branches. Start early with my homemade weed killer on my back patio, brick walkway, and the driveway. Clear the garden beds of dead vegetation and prune back the woody stems of my perennials. Make an appointment to have my winter tires on my van changed sometime after Easter. Have the oil changed at the same time. Watch for sales for bags of garden soil and compost.

Finances
Spending- Print out a new budget for  April. Keep record of all spending on my envelope in which I keep all my receipts. Cash only spending for household and gas expenditures.

Saving- Transfer money into savings and emergency fund. (This is a tiny amount, but doable)  Transfer GST into savings for my gift budget. IF there is money left over at the end of the month, make an extra payment towards cc.

Family and Friends 
I lost a family member to that dreaded cancer last week. I had been sending her cards every other week for the past year. I will continue to send at least three cards out every week, but I will include birthdays, "Thinking of You",seasonal cards and cards that I mail out to my grand kids. I will be attending Easter dinner with my brother and his family in Smith Falls and I need to plan another trip to Elliot Lake to visit with family members. It will be at the end of April or beginning of May.

Health
Go for lab work this week and make an appointment with my GP. Continue with my low carb diet. Start wearing moisturiser with SPF every morning, as well as night time moisturising. Get my hair trimmed and my eyebrows waxed.

Crafts and Leisure

I will continue my resolve to put in at least 6 hours of crafting a week. I will make another 25 cards this month. I will finish the second satin pillow case.

Home This Weekend

I arrived home yesterday. My son-in-law drove me and my belongings all the way from Bradford, turned around and drove straight back. That was a very long drive in Friday afternoon traffic. But it was still early enough for me to drive into Kingston to pick up a few grocery items. I also had 2 weeks of mail to pick up from the post office, and I made a trip to the bank to take out my $360 for April (household expenses and gas money). I called the IT department before I left the house to have my email account reinstated and I checked all my phone messages. My husband's cousin who I have been sending greeting cards to, passed away just this past week. I sent a text message out to people on my list to inform them of my return and I talked to others by phone. I watered the downstairs plants. (After reading that Bless was down to two house plants, I decided to count mine. I have 30, not counting the geraniums upstairs that I am overwintering )  Before I knew it, it was time to make dinner for myself. I had forgotten to eat lunch because I was so busy.

I spent a total of  $51.45 on 6 bags of winter veggies, 2 bags of Oriental mixed veggies, frozen spinach, 2 kg bag of  blueberries, 4 small zucchini, English cucumber, 1 lb of butter and carton of table cream. Also purchased, but not shown, was a package of 4 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts and 2 dozen eggs. It wasn't a complete shopping trip because I did not sit down and write out a shopping list, but I knew that I was completely out of vegetables, butter and eggs and I wasn't sure if the milk I left behind was going to be any good. It was, so I made a batch of yoghurt this morning.  I know already that I need tinned tomato sauce and hard cheese.

When I left for Bradford two weeks ago, I took a lot of food with me. I was determined to follow my diet, but I didn't want to be a financial stress on my daughter. I bought a few items while there like milk, eggs, butter, cabbage and cream but stretched it out nicely so that there was very little I had to bring back, which was basically frozen meat that wasn't all consumed. I am sure I have enough to last a couple of weeks now that I bought the chicken breasts yesterday. They cost $3.77/lb, but that is a good sale here for boneless skinless chicken.

This morning, besides making a batch of yoghurt, I also used 6 eggs and the last of my almond flour to make a keto loaf before discovering that the baking element on my oven had shorted out. Drat! Since the oven had already preheated, I turned off the oven and placed the bread inside anyways, and left it there. After an hour, I finished cooking the loaf for 5 minutes in the microwave. It is very pale looking, but I believe it is cooked through. The texture and height seem the same. I warmed up some leftovers for my lunch and grilled two slices of the bread. It was very good. So I am relieved I did not have to waste those ingredients. I will have to wait until Monday before I can pick up a baking element to replace in the oven. I may also have to wait for my son to come help me pull out the stove so I can unplug the appliance, but I have already been waiting on him so that I can clean the sides, back and floor underneath.

It is a lovely spring day outside, so I did up a small load of dark laundry and hung it up outside. Little things like this give me a great deal of joy. I still have ice on my back patio, but the clothesline is out on the lawn where it catches the sun rays and the breeze. I will take a stroll later to see if any plants are making their way up through the soil. I saw my first robin two weeks ago  (the day I  left), but that is one full month later than usual. I hope the rest of you are enjoying a lovely sunny day and that you have a wonderful weekend.

March Goals Update

Looking back at my mile-long to-do list for the month of March, I didn't expect to be very successful. I surprised myself. The momentum of those first few days helped me to get some things accomplished. I even vacuumed and washed the downstairs floors, which was not on this month's goals, but hooray for me. The end of the month was not a total wipe-out because I decided to come here to my daughter's house to help her out. It is where I wanted to be all along, so I guess we both benefited. She has been able to rest and recuperate and have more energy to get things done, while I try to help out with some housework and entertaining the grands.

House:

• Use my Home Depot gift card to buy some cheap pine lumber to trim out walls, doors or windows.     Done
• Paint those pieces of trim with white primer     Done
• Buy more caulking or wood filler as needed. Use gyproc compound where needed. 
• If I can get into the shed by the end of the month, look for mitre box and saw.
• Purge 30 items. That is only one a day.     Didn't even begin

Garden:

• Buy potting soil     Done
• Repot my aloe plants     Done
• Try starting  plants from seed     No

Spending:

• Print out and follow my budget sheet for March     Done
• I have removed $360 cash from the bank for household expenses and gas.  Keep track of all expenditures in my daily journal.     Done
• Get my taxes done.      No

Savings:

• Put money into savings account and gift accounts     Done
• I won $28 in scratch tickets for my birthday, which I have put into my piggy bank of "found money".     Done
•  I was asked to make feminine birthday cards for my niece for which she is paying me.     Done 

Family and Friends:

• Continue to send out at least 3 "Thinking of You" cards a week to friends or family members 
• Send out birthday cards in a timely fashion     I didn't quite keep up. One birthday card was mailed out late. However, I did send out lots of kid's cards. 

Health:

• Keep the appointment with my psychiatrist this week     Done
• Get blood work done at the end of this month and then make appointment with my GP early in April     Haven't done this yet but will when I return.
• Spend one hour each week on self care and moisturise every night    No
• Lipstick every day and makeup before leaving the house    No   A dismal failure.

Crafts and Leisure:

• Make at least 25 cards this month   Yes, yes, yes.
• Make a baby card and birthday cards for my niece     Not yet.
• Work on the scrapbook....at least another 14 pages     No..a big fat zero
• Work on the embroidered pillow cases     Finished one and still working on second
• Work on Easter or Springtime cards for the middle of next month     Done
• Start a macrame project for an upcoming gift     No

Beach Day

So apparently on the last Friday of the month, there is a theme day at the elementary school that my grand kids attend. Today they could dress as though they were having a day at the beach. It is still winter here, so that kind of limits their wardrobe. My grandson wore a souvenir t-shirt I gave him 2 years ago after I returned from Cuba. He also wanted to wear a pair of shorts, but obviously that was out of the question. His mom did allow him to wear a baseball cap and sunglasses however. He has a hood on his jacket to pull up, and a pair of mitts in his pockets, if he gets cold at recess. The day is very sunny and it will probably warm up quite a bit by afternoon.....still not warm enough for shorts however. 

Apparently, I was supposed to change my password on my email server before I left town. As a result, I have been locked out of my email account. I haven't got my password with me. It's safely locked up at home, so I am kind of stuck without email until I return. To those who haven't heard from me in a while, note that I only have access to Facebook messenger and text by phone.

My daughter had to take my grand daughter into the hospital again today, which was an unexpected 5th consecutive trip this week. On Wednesday, they both had to stay in for an extended stay and eventually returned at seven o'clock that night because a transfusion was needed. My grandson and I had dinner alone. He had spaghetti with tons of parmesan cheese because he loves it (that isn't weird?), and I had shredded cabbage again. Today was just going to be a quick check up for my grand daughter, but unfortunately they determined another transfusion was needed. She has to have another procedure done at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto on Monday, so they want her to be stronger. I can already see where I may be needed here until after Tuesday because of schedule conflicts. No one is kicking me out yet. I guess I haven't outworn my welcome. Ha. But my grand kids do NOT like what I am cooking for myself. My dinners even SMELL weird. Funny, I think they are delicious.

Visiting the Grand Kids

I arrived here on Saturday afternoon. I called my son the night before to see if he would be available to drive me here (or should I take a bus), and he said he was able to drive me here at 10 AM the next morning. That was quicker than I expected, so I packed my things that night and made sure I was at the Bulk Barn first thing the following morning. I needed more almond flour to bake my keto loaves, some black pepper and some chili powder. I stopped at my pharmacy to pick up a prescription refill and my bank, before I headed back home. I drove into the driveway at 10 AM sharp and beat my son's arrival. I packed a lot of food from my freezer to bring with me, so I would have most of the items I needed for my keto diet.

It was a fairly quiet weekend because the "boys" went on another ski weekend, and the girls stayed home and played cards and board games. While my daughter has been taking my grand daughter to medical appointments, I have been walking my grandson to school. Being alone a lot through the day, I have busied myself cleaning and helping out my daughter (since I wasn't doing a very good job for myself). Today my grand daughter and I started a school project on "sound" while her mom had other matters to attend to. Over the weekend, I encouraged my daughter to take some afternoon naps while the kids and I played some games, or watched funny animal videos on the tablet. She has a lot on her plate right now, so I hope my presence is a help rather than a hindrance. I tried to cook a family meal last night, but my efforts were not well received. My chicken tasted "weird", according to my grandson. My daughter suspects it was because it wasn't chicken nuggets or chicken fingers. Lol.

It has a been a busy time but fun to be with the family. They also have bunnies in their back yard, but they are being fed by several neighbours so are very tame. I have been able to see them up close and personal. Have a great week ahead.

Leaving Town This Weekend

Yesterday morning I gathered the trash baskets from throughout the house and put them outside in the garbage bin. There wasn't enough to put out for collection, so I just put out the gray recycle bin for paper and cardboard. I put away the primed 1x2s and 1x3s and brought out the three 1x4s for two coats of primer. Between coats, I baked a loaf of keto bread. Afterwards, I put away all the primed pieces of lumber and cleaned up afterwards. I did manage to get some paint spatters on my chairs, but they were easily removed.

Today I wrote out two "Thinking of You" cards and walked them over to the post office. For the rest of the afternoon I played with my Cricut machine and made some die cut backgrounds for future cards. I am so unmotivated to do any cleaning.  However, I watched some tutorials on YouTube for putting together scrap book pages. In the back of my mind, I really do want to work on the scrap book I started, but I am hoping to learn through osmosis. Ha. Maybe at least I can be inspired by other peoples' enthusiasm.

In the meantime, my daughter has asked me to come this week to Bradford. I'm sure I will be able to help her out, especially since I am useless here at my own house. Another pair of hands to share the work is always helpful. I haven't seen my grand kids since before Christmas, so I am very anxious to be there. I don't know how long I will be needed, but my schedule is fluid. I will be taking my laptop and my tablet, so there shouldn't be an excuse not to keep up with my blog.

Here is the menu plan for the past week: (from Friday to last night)

• shredded sauteed cabbage with pieces of smoked sausage
• porkchops, cheesy veggie casserole and leftover sauteed cabbage
• creamed spinach over turkey slices, with leftover cheesy veggies
• turkey slices with creamed spinach and a side of roasted veggies
• chili with avocado slices and a side of broccoli
• leftover chili with sliced avocados
• veggies in a cream cheese sauce baked with farmers sausage on top

Wednesday morning

It is after noon already. I just don't know where time goes anymore. I have taken a phone call and a face-time message and I have only written one long awaited email response to one of my SILs who is married to my youngest brother. I have quite a few more that I need to write. If I can push away from the computer in the mornings, I seem to get more done. However, there are times when it is important to maintain communications within the family and other things must wait.

Yesterday I had already watered my plants and made a big pot of turkey and vegetable soup by this time. I was also able to scour my bathtub and clean my hanging shower shelves. I got rid of empty containers and product that is very old and which I will not use any more. There were some soap slivers and used razor blades that also went into the trash. I don't know why I don't dispose of them immediately like I do with the contents of my medicine cabinet. I washed the shelves thoroughly of any soap scum, ran it through the dishwasher with my dishes last night and it looks great now. The tub enclosure wasn't bad at all, so I left that for the next time. So there is another item off my to-do list. Yay!

So after lunch yesterday, I prepared some bookplates that I will gift my grandchildren with. I found them on-line as a free colour printable and I thought they were adorable. They are quotations about libraries and books that have been taken from the Lemony Snickett series of books for 8-12 year olds, and right away I thought of one of my grand daughters. So after I printed out the 12 different book plates, I attached 2-way tape to the backs of them so she can sign her name and affix them to the front inside covers of her books at home. After that, I attached some different  printed birthday sentiments inside the birthday cards I have made and constructed a gift box to keep them in. (These are the ones I made for my niece). So this was the "paper work" I got caught up with yesterday.

Before making supper, I laid down some brown paper and newspapers to protect my floor while I put the first coat of primer on some of the 1x2s and 1x3s I bought at the beginning of the month.

Today I hope to get a second coat on and then I will see how I feel about starting something else. It is a bright and sunny day today and that usually inspires me to get things done. Have a great day.

Daybook: Monday, March 18/19

Outside my window.....we have experienced sunshine and we've had snow flurries (heavy at times) all within the same day. It must be spring.

I am thinking.....how tired I'm feeling now at 5 o'clock. I'm just sitting down now at the end of the day to post my blog.

I am thankful for.....longer hours of daylight these days. We are almost at the Equinox.

From the kitchen.....I started my day by straining the turkey stock from the crock pot and I removed all the meat from the carcass to add to the soup I plan to make tomorrow. I hand washed the oven roaster and lid that I roasted the turkey in, the crock pot I made the stock in overnight, and the lid to my yoghurt maker.  I also washed my four Cricut mats to prepare them for more die cuts in the future.

I am wearing.....blue jeans, gray socks,and  gray sweater with flutter sleeves

I am creating.....more cards. On the weekend I made 6 more kids cards and one thank you card.

I am going.....nowhere today, except for a walk to the post office to mail 3 cards and to pick up mail

I am hoping.....to get some emails written tomorrow. I am behind in responding to some I have received recently.

I am hearing.....a lot of traffic right now from people returning home from work

Around the house.....there is always spring cleaning to be done but I don't seem to have either the energy or the motivation to get started on it. I'm afraid we will need to get some more sunshine and warmer temperatures to kick start this operation.

One of my favourite things.....is my working dishwasher. I always appreciate it more after I have had to do up a load of hand washing.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include cleaning up my Craft room.

Goals for this week:

• respond to overdue emails
• give my bathtub and enclosure another good scrub
• vacuum the upstairs and the staircase
• do some tidying up and cleaning in my craft room
• mail at least 2 more "Thinking of You" cards
• try to get one spa hour in this week
• moisturise every night, lipstick every day
• keep journaling every day

Roast Turkey on Sunday

It has been a busy Sunday for me. I slept in until 8:30 this morning, which has put me feeling behind for most of the day. After face messaging with family members, I made a batch of yoghurt and I put the turkey in the oven before I even made my two egg omelette with ham, spinach and mushrooms. I worked on making cards for a while and then I proceeded to cut the pork loin into 2 small roasts, 4 packages of chops and a container of pork chunks to use in a stir fry or pork fried rice later on. I made 3 freezer bags with 3 sausages in each. By that time, my turkey was done. I didn't take into consideration that it would cook faster without the stuffing, so I was surprised how little time it took. I took all the meat off the bones and bagged it. I split the carcass and drippings into 3 sections. One is in the crock pot now turning into broth, while the other two are in the freezer with three very full  quart freezer bags of meat. I kept the fourth bag out for this week. Finally, I put away the two loads of laundry I did yesterday. I was on my feet a lot today, so I am feeling beat.

Here are two cards I made for my 7 year old grand son. He likes receiving fan mail.

Let's look at this week's goals and see how I did.

• Mail out 3 "Thinking of You" cards     No. I'm surprised by this, because I was making cards most every day this week. I did send out a birthday card, but even that was late. 
• Mail out 3 kids' cards     Done
• Gather tax papers together     Kind of. I put them all together as they arrive throughout the year. My brother has offered to do them for me, and I have no plans to go anytime soon. 
• Buy a bag of potting soil this week, as it is on sale at Home Hardware     Done
• Repot some of my aloe plants     Done
• Make a baby card     Not yet. I think I will wait until after the baby is born, so I know the sex.
• Start making feminine birthday cards for my niece     Done
• Purge 15 items this week     No, but the day isn't over yet. 

I may not have accomplished all that was on my to-do list, but I do feel that the week went very well. I was busy and productive and that is what counts the most for me. I was able to stay out of trouble. And how was your weekend?

Shopping This Week's Sales

I left the house pretty early this morning. I wanted to pick up some of this week's grocery specials. The sun was trying very hard to make an appearance, so it kind of looked warm-ish and spring-like out there. It is Saturday and I don't really enjoy doing any grocery shopping on the weekend, but I decided that if I got out there early, I might beat the weekend rush. I stopped in Amerstview first to get some things from DollarWay. It isn't a true dollar store because things cost $1.50, but I like going there because they often have things there that I can't find in other dollar stores. For instance, they still carry my 2-way tape and several other crafting materials. I spent $10.05

I knew that Shoppers was selling a dozen eggs again for $1.88 and I needed some milk, so I stopped there as well, on my way into No-Frills. I am glad I did because I found 2 containers of 2 litres of  whole  milk, with $3 off peelies. My 4 litres of milk only cost me $3.58  I picked up my 1 lb of butter here for $3.99 This was a very successful shop because not only did I save $7.22 off the regular cost, I also earned over 1000 points by buying my milk here today.

So my final stop was No-Frills and I knew they were having a sale of meat for $2 a pound. This is what I bought for $31.77

Two packages of 4 split chicken breasts, another pork loin which I will cut into more pork chops and small roasts for the crock pot, and 9 hot Italian sausage which needs to be divvied up into portion sizes. This is a lot of variety for my ideal price of $2/lb.

 Yoghurt was $2 a tub, so I picked one up. I need more starter to continue making my homemade yoghurt. I got another generic cream cheese for $2.50, because I haven't found a better price for quite some time now. My cost for dairy this week was only $15.83

Produce (fresh, frozen and canned) was only $9.94  Avocados were $2 for a bag of six. I haven't had avocados in a dog's age. What a treat!
Today I spent $67.59, leaving me with only $7.41 for the rest of March. Am I worried? No. I will probably need more vegetables before the end of the month, but I am pretty sure I will not need to spend my $20 remaining from gas money. I have over $40 in points that I can spend at either No Frills or Shoppers. I have savings in the bank and I can "borrow" against next month's groceries. I probably will not do that because I think I have a pretty tight Household budget already. I also have my "found money" in a jar here at home.

Besides shopping, I have washed two loads of laundry and hung both loads up to dry in the loft. I put my bed sheets and 2 towels in my dryer. I can't wait until I can start hanging my laundry outside once more. I will not be doing housework today. What else is new? I am making  more kid's cards to mail out to my grand kids. Have a great rest of the weekend, and to my family......enjoy your St. Paddy's Day tomorrow.

The Ides of March

Hello Friday. We've had some warmer temperatures and rainfall this week although not a lot of sun. The snow is melting very quickly and it is ponding. I showed you a photo of my backyard a couple of weeks ago. Well here is another picture from the same angle showing a lot of melt water sitting on top of the ground. The backyard is still frozen so there is nowhere for the water to go and so it sits on top of the frozen ground. It isn't too bad here, but some areas in the province are definitely flooded and are experiencing problems.

I started my day today by scouring the stainless steel pot that I burned my cabbage in a couple of days ago. It had been soaking in a paste of baking soda and water. I managed to clean it up pretty well. I ran a sink of hot water and proceeded to clean counters, stove top, the fronts of my kitchen cabinets (both top and bottom), the microwave and the exhaust fan over the stove. I emptied the sink and filled it up again to wash all of the stamps I used this week in my card making.

I went out into the front yard to spread crushed egg shells and a full tin of used coffee grounds over my front flower beds. I just threw them on top of the ground and I will work them into the soil this spring after it has has warmed. I baked a loaf of keto bread and shredded the second half of the cabbage head and sauteed. I didn't burn it this time. I will have it tonight for dinner with a smoked sausage I bought last month and some leftover broccoli I cooked earlier this week.  This weekend I will roast the turkey I took out of the freezer  to thaw. I'm not expecting company, but I would like to use the weekend to roast it so I can take all the meat off it and freeze portions of it for later. I can also make a soup broth with the carcass.

Dinners this week (from Friday to last night)
Ham slices and creamed cabbage
Chili with sour cream and grilled keto bread
Porkchops in a cheesy veggie  casserole
Roasted chicken and vegetables
Leftover ham slices with veggies  (green beans, spinach, broccoli and cauli)
Fried ground chicken with creamed cabbage and broccoli
Chili over cauli rice

I still have not introduced new recipes, but I am so enjoying my creamed veggies still.

Coming Up for Air

Oh my. It has been 4 days since I last posted on my blog. The week has just melted away, much like the snow has done over the past couple of days. It is a balmy 10* C right now. If there were sunshine, one could be fooled into thinking that Spring was on its way. After I wrote my Daybook on Monday, I decided that I would drive into Kingston after all to pick up a few things I needed at No Frills. I needed eggs and frozen berries, so I picked those up and then some.

 I spent a total of $27.95 on groceries......2 doz eggs, frozen mixed berries, 3 chicken legs with backs attached, large head of cabbage and cream cheese.

 Before I left town, I stopped at the post office to mail off my 3 kids cards and picked up my mail. I got an envelope with two truvia sweetener samples inside. I then stopped at Home Hardware and bought a bag of potting soil that was on sale for $4.80 including tax.

On Tuesday I got busy making birthday cards. I had chicken in the crockpot making broth while I worked at the dining table. For every card I made for my niece, I made a duplicate one for my own stash. I will likely just take these to her and let her pick out the ones she likes. I don't know her style, so when she picks out her choices I can observe which kind I should turn my attention. This will get her started anyway.

Yesterday, while putting together the cards, I made a big pot of chicken and vegetable soup. I also shredded and "burned" my cabbage because I cannot multi-task, try as I might. Well, I picked out the burned pieces and rescued most of it. I made a cream cheese sauce and drowned the cabbage in that, so it didn't taste too terribly bad. I had the rest of it for lunch today. Thank goodness, I only shredded half of the head of cabbage, so I can try again later.

Today I printed out card inserts with birthday verses. I have them folded and placed inside the cards, but could not tape them down because I ran out of my 2-way tape yet again. I think if I had not  run out of tape, I would still be creating cards. I finished my afternoon by splitting and repotting some of my aloe plants. I have way too many. I just hate throwing them out. Perhaps in the spring, I will leave some out at the curb for anyone to help themselves.

It sure feels like Spring right now. The snow is melting very quickly, and oh....did I mention that the other morning when I got up, I noticed 5 little bunnies playing in my backyard? I don't know how many there are in total, but they have been busy. This doesn't bode well for my plans to grow a veggie garden later this spring. 

Daybook: Monday, March 11/19

Outside my window.....it is overcast, but milder. It is presently 2 * C, which is the high for today.

I am thinking.....about working on some birthday cards this week for my niece.

I am thankful for.....opportunities to sell my homemade cards

From the kitchen.....I baked a keto loaf on Saturday that has lasted more than 2 days *laugh*, and I have made a batch of yoghurt this morning. I could have made it last night and "cooked" it overnight, but there IS some work involved and I was tired last night. I need to heat the milk by stirring constantly and keeping tabs on the temperature. When it reaches 180*-185*, I take it off the stove and place in a sink of cold water.  Stirring constantly I have to bring the temperature back down to 110*, but not lower.  It is work, but worth it for taste and cost.

I am wearing.....black denim jeans, a pink button down shirt, an ivory cardigan and black fuzzy socks. My hair is tied back into a pony tail.

I am creating.....more cards. On the weekend I made two more kids' cards and coloured some stamped images with my alcohol markers.

I am going.....to the post office later. I need to drive into town to  buy some frozen fruit and eggs, but I don't know if that will be today or not.

I am hoping.....for some sunny days soon, to improve my mood.

I am hearing.....tires on wet pavement and the blower on my furnace.

Around the house.....my wooden dining table is already cluttered with card making supplies, but my floors are clean.

One of my favourite things.....is the ability to ask Alexa to play music from some of my favourite artists. Yesterday I listened to Gordon Lightfoot and Evanescence....music to craft by.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....well, I don't have any other than my goals.

Goals this week......from my mile long to-do list for March

• Mail out 3 "Thinking of You" cards
• Mail out 3 kids' cards
• Gather tax papers together
• Buy a bag of potting soil this week, as it is on sale at Home Hardware
• Repot some of my aloe plants
• Make a baby card
• Start making feminine birthday cards for my niece
• Purge 15 items this week

Here is the photo I am sharing.....

For one of my grand daughters. The other slip has the word awesome.

Quick Update on Goals

It is 7:30 on Sunday night, so this will be quick. Tomorrow I will be posting new goals, so I want to get these off my plate first. 

Goals for this week:

Mail out three "Thinking of You" cards      Done

Mail package of new white t-shirts to my two grands in Bradford so they can tie-dye them next week while on their March Break     Done. I actually packaged them up twice.
 
Work on my son's scrapbook     Not one little bit. I moved my craft table back into the room however. 

Work on the embroidered pillow cases some more....maybe finish one this week.     Done

Make another batch of yoghurt     Done. I should have made another batch today, but by the time I got off the phone, it was too late. Yoghurt takes 8 hours to cook. I'll do it tomorrow morning.

Put away the dried laundry hanging in the loft     Done. I have even done yesterday's laundry and put it away.
 
Make at least 6 cards this week.     Done....and then some. 

This afternoon I took it easy and listened to music while I coloured stamped images....for more cards. I got carried away and lost track of time. 

Happy International Woman's Day

It is also my youngest grand daughter's birthday. She is turning seven today. WooHoo.

No major cleaning spurt today. I guess I fizzled out. But I did start the last day of the week by watering all of my downstairs house plants, while on the phone with my friend whose husband died from brain cancer just before Christmas. She calls me every week to stay in touch and it is so very nice to hear from her and see that she is managing very well under the circumstances. Her phone call prompted me to write out two "Thinking of You" cards....one for my mother and the other for my husband's cousin who is dealing with cancer. I try to send a homemade card once every two weeks. It was another clear sunny day, so I walked them to the post office. When I returned I spent the rest of the afternoon working on some hand embroidery on the pillow cases.

Bless over at My Two Cents mentioned that her messy desk represented items that needed attention. Likewise, the papers on my desk were papers that needed filing, reading, or recording. Some papers I had printed out (recipes, patterns, craft ideas, etc.) had to be put into page protectors and put into the appropriate binders. Some of it was mail that I wanted to read and some were bills that had already been paid and dated but had yet to be filed. Some of the bits of paper were cash receipts that needed to be recorded and put away into an envelope.

This is just a used envelope I have recycled for the month of March. At the top is the amount of cash I have on hand for household expenses. Each time I spend money, I deduct the oop from the balance that is left, and place the cash receipt inside. The money stays in my wallet, but I keep the receipts together. Hopefully, the amount showing at the bottom of the column is in fact the amount in my wallet. It is.

The other column is a little confusing. I took out $60 for gas this month, but needed to deposit $40 back into my account the other day. Oopsie. Not to worry. I spent a $25 gift card on gas and still have $20 remaining if I need it.

Meals This Week (last Friday to Thursday)

Dirty rice (made with cauli rice)
A HUGE Cobb salad for my birthday lunch, then later in the evening, leftover dirty rice
Pork chops, creamed spinach and sauteed cabbage
Leftover pork chop, cabbage and broccoli
Meatloaf with a veggie casserole topped with cheddar cheese
Encore presentation (leftovers from the night before)
Sliced dinner ham with veggies in a cream cheese sauce

I should probably mention here that veggie casseroles are usually "above ground" varieties that include some of broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, spinach, green beans, zucchini and red or yellow peppers. If I cook turnip, carrots, asparagus, Brussel sprouts or cabbage, I will usually refer to them specifically.

 Hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend.

Domestic Goddess

Queen of the Domestic Arts. However you want to refer to me is fine. In other words, I did about an hour's worth of housework today. I knew something was amiss this morning when I frittered away the whole morning on my computer. It was as though I was building up stamina to doing something onerous and completely out of character. I must have sensed something in the air because about 11:30 AM, I pulled  up my rugs and scatter mats and hung them outside over the railing on the verandah. I pulled  out the vacuum cleaner and  started cleaning in the downstairs half-bathroom, moved through the computer room, the dining room, kitchen and living room, picking up things and moving furniture as I went. If that wasn't enough, I filled a bucket with very hot water and disinfectant cleaner and wet mop those same floors. I kid you not.

It is amazing how much dirt my pets have left for me in the past. I have known for some time now that I have not been feeling the need to clean as much as I have in the past. It has been almost a year now since I lost my Satchel, and no I have not felt like replacing him yet with another animal. I like this feeling of being able to take off and not need to hurry home.  However, I digress. I figured I was getting terribly lazy in my old age, or at the very least, I had lowered my standards so much, I no longer cared. But after washing all those floors, I was amazed how relatively clean my bucket still was. Now my walls are a different story, but I am hoping to get to those eventually. It must be spring fever.

I unwrapped the parcel I made for my grands yesterday and repackaged them separately today so each shirt was able to fit inside a manilla envelope. I took them back to the post office and mailed them out as oversized mail. The postage for both of them was less than half the price of the package I wanted to mail yesterday. I am so grateful to the post master for suggesting this to me. Better yet, I will have Amazon deliver if there is a next time, and get FREE shipping.

Inspired by Bless over at My Two Cents, (and not to be outdone) I also tackled my desk area. You can see where I am used to filing papers on top of my printer. Unfortunately my desk does not have nice deep drawers like Bless, so I keep my STUFF in a plastic filing bin under the desk, or in photo boxes on top of hanging book shelves, or in binders (scattered all over the house close to where I use them).  Someday I will move the old hard drive and monitor out of there to give me more writing surface, but for now I am using both computers.

Before

After

Wednesday's Doctor's Appointment

This morning when I showered, I washed my hair. I don't wash it every day because it is long and takes forever to dry. In trying to meet my goals, I also put on all-day lipstick and mascara because I knew I would be going out today. I also taped up my thumb because the nail has finally fallen off from back in December when I smashed it in the car door. It looks so-o-o much worse now. It was better looking when it was pure black. Before I came downstairs I gave all my potted geraniums in the loft a really good soaking.

I cleaned off my dining room table (which is really my craft table), took it down and carried it into my craft room where I set it up again. I am hoping to use it this week to do some scrap booking. Back in the dining room, I pulled my small wooden table out from the wall and set it up where the table should be with four chairs around it. When I needed to seat more people for dinner at Christmas, I made the switch and never got around to changing it until today. If I want to make some cards, this surface is big enough. Yesterday I got started on my Easter cards and finished eight.

 I wrapped up the two white t-shirts I bought for my two grand kids in Bradford in one envelope and left for Kingston a little early for my appointment. I wanted to stop at the post office to pick up the mail and send off the package, go to my bank and spend the remaining $8 left on the gift card for Giant Tiger. It seemed to be burning a hole in my wallet. But when I was told it was going to cost over $14 to mail the package (I only spent $10 on both shirts), I brought them back home with me. The post master told me to mail them in separate envelopes (as oversized letters) and it would cost much less. So I will be re-wrapping them tomorrow. So glad he was on my side.

I was still early for my appointment in Kingston, so I visited the Giant Tiger downtown. I picked up a dinner ham for half the price and 3 cartons of cream for only 75 cents each. I also picked up 3 packets of garden seeds for 99 cents. After using up the $8 remaining on the card, I paid only $1.30 oop.

On the way home tonight, I stopped at Canadian Tire to spend another $25 gift card to put gas in my van. I am loving these gift cards.

I did some more shredding this afternoon and filled two grocery bags with shredded paper for my garden this spring. I have taken one garbage bag to the curb as well as the gray box for recycling. Tonight's dinner is warmed over leftovers from last night....meatloaf and cheesy veggie casserole.