Priorities

Baked apple crisp

Oh my gosh people......I am so sorry that I haven't written in a week. I have been so focused on getting all these Advent presents bought, wrapped and shipped out for this week, that there are days when I scarcely have time to change my clothes. Ewwwww  gross. This morning I got up and made a different kind of priorities list. Remember back a few weeks ago when I got four huge bags of apples for free. I did up two right away. I made pies, apple sauce and sliced apples for the freezer . The other two bags of McIntosh I left for later. Well, since returning from Cobden,  I baked up three apple crisps which we ate right away. Last night I noticed that I have lost most of the apples that were left . I managed to bake up another apple crumble, and put enough sliced apple in the freezer for baking later. Usually I peel and slice 4 large apples for a crisp, but these apples are so tiny and damaged, that one pan takes about 12-14  of these smaller apples by the time I cut away the bad parts. I feel really badly about all these apples going into the compost bin, but I did manage to save some of them. I just did not have time to process them all. I love getting free apples, but they arrive in the Fall when I am busy trying to get other things accomplished. 

Other things on my priority list today included cleaning out the cat litter bin. We use the clumping litter which makes daily cleaning up very easy; but every once in a while, you have to dump everything out and fill up with fresh litter. So that is done. 

I picked off the rest of the chicken meat from the thighs that I cooked yesterday. I used some of it last night to make a chicken stir fry over rice noodles. The rest of it is in the freezer to make a chicken pot pie sometime this week. And the bones have been simmering in the crock pot to make a chicken soup for this week's lunches. 

I had to wash a load of towels this morning. I also had a couple of laundry baskets of clothes that needed  folding. I still have some items that need to be done, but I may carry them over to tomorrow morning when I will have more energy. I haven't vacuumed in a week, which you can't ignore when you have both a cat and a dog. I have six very large butternut squash that I have to prepare for a Special Meal the last Sunday in November for our street people who come to St. Andrew's Church. I will cook and mash them for the freezer, so that they will only need to be reheated in the crock pot later. I also put writing a blog post on my list of priorities. 

Last Sunday, I went to Belleville with a friend for a day of shopping. I processed all the photos that I had taken in Cobden so that they could be put into a photo album. I also found a few more items for the kids' Advent calendars. I can report that I have 144 little presents wrapped and ready to pack for shipping. Here are examples of two that are going to University students. . I have to put those 24 little presents into that photo box that I picked up at Michael's. I buy a few when they go on sale  "5 for $10". When Christmas is done, they have a box to keep things in. After a little creative packing, everything fits. 

For my oldest granddaughter. Her stuff fit much more easily. 

The things I pack for the youngest children will not fit inside a shoe box. Their gifts tend to be bigger and bulkier, so they will go into bags for delivering. Also, the "stockings" that I send to my kids, their spouses and my parents must also fit inside these boxes for mailing.  

On the weekend, a group of us went over to Amherst Island for our annual Christmas Craft day and potluck supper. It is always so much fun and we accomplished a lot. We made several different types of crafts for the Christmas Craft and Bake sale which will take place this coming weekend on the Island. I will show some examples next time. Have a great evening. 

More photos of my trip away

Little park in Eganville

We did spend a couple of days driving into surrounding towns Eganville and Renfrew to do a little shopping and visiting the small gift shops to see what they had to offer for sale. I did buy some items in the gift shops, but my shop of choice was a Main Street Dollar Store in Renfrew (not a chain store like Dollar Tree or Dollarama), so I was able to find a few different items I hadn't seen before. These are already wrapped up and recorded for my Advent calendars. After a morning of shopping, we stopped into this little tea shop where I ordered a hot homemade beef barley soup and a Chai Vanilla tea for lunch. It sure hit the spot. 

Tea Shop in Renfrew

A group of women had just left when we arrived. They had been celebrating a special occasion like a birthday or shower. I loved the lace curtains, wainscotting, tiny wallpaper print and all the lovely paintings on the walls. It reminded me of  Grandma's House. I also loved that we got to choose our china teacup from the buffet. 

Tall pines on one of the many walking trails on the resort. 

Not all the trees had lost their leaves

Love the orange against the clear blue of the sky

This particular day the water was as still and clear as glass.

One of the zip lines cross over the lake. 

We spent the last day enjoying the scenery and the walking trails on the Resort property. It was very quiet and a time of rest and reflection. It was a perfect way to end our girls' week away. Lots of pictures and memories to fill our growing stack of albums of all the trips we have spent together. 

Algonquin Park

We spent an entire day driving to Algonquin Park and then through the park from end to end, always hopeful that we would catch a glimpse of bears or moose just off the highway. There are a lot of different trails to walk throughout Algonquin, which is where you are more likely to spot wildlife, but we didn't have time to do that since this was only a day trip. The only stop we made was at the Visitors' Station. We had a picnic in the car, since we found it too cool to eat outside. (braver people than us were eating at the picnic tables.) We had a cup of hot tea in the restaurant before visiting the indoor wildlife displays, the movie theatre and the gift shop.There was lots to see and do during the couple of hours we spent here.

We traveled through the park under a very gray and overcast sky. 

Most of the leaves here were finished, but the scenery was still very lovely. 

A spruce bog

Tree shape and leaf identification

Black bear exhibit at the Visitor Centre

The only moose we saw this day were in this exhibit

It was after 7:30 by the time we made it back. After driving almost 200 kms, it wasn't until we were in the driveway of our resort, that we met a large doe......the only live animal that we saw all day. We got back in time to see the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals.

Our time share in Cobden

Coming down the drive to our villa on the far left.

I am back and ready to start Christmas

It's free. What can I say?

Hello Girls' Week-end

Tomorrow at noon, 5 of us women are leaving for Cobden. Three of us will stay on for the whole week. The car I will be travelling in will take the longer scenic route and picnic on the way. The other car will stop for shopping along the way. The timeshare that we are renting won't be available until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. So this morning after the Costco pickup, I headed to WalMart where I figured I could pick up everything on my list . I needed some toiletries, groceries, dog food and wine. Where else but WalMart sells all of the above. Let me tell you about my best find in groceries. 

Four red peppers and four green peppers for $1

Frugal happenings today and weekend update.

Shopper's Drug Mart  Gift card balance is $22.58

On Saturday we picked up 6 bunches of broccoli from Food Basics at 88 cents each for a total of $5.28. I don't have a photo because I processed the vegetables right away. I took some to my brother's house and the rest is already chopped and frozen. Total grocery spend to date is $198.91
We also made a shopping trip to Shopper's and used our gift certificate to buy 4 litres of skim milk, four litres of 2%, 2 loaves of bread and 2 dozen eggs.

 I also cut my husband's hair with the clippers, saving us the cost of a visit to the salon.

Mince with brown gravy, chili con carne and shepherd's pie

Today, I made freezer meals for the boys to have next week. There are roasts in the freezer, as well as pork chops and leftover turkey, so they won't starve. Tonight I have made a chicken stir fry over ramen noodles.

I picked up the garbage from all the bedrooms and put just one garbage bag at the curb this week. I also put out the Blue Box (cans, glass and plastic containers)

I took the kitchen compost out to the compost bin beside the garden.

I folded yesterday's laundry. I washed a super load of dark clothing and hung them outside on the line. I also stripped the beds and washed the sheets to put in the dryer tonight after 7 P.M. 

I forgot to mention that my Dad was released from hospital on Sunday. It was a case of severe gastro enteritis, but he is feeling so much better. And so am I, knowing that it wasn't more serious than it was. Have a great evening.