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.