Sunshine Sunday

Sorry, no photos today. I need a new charger for my Blackberry. So enjoy this clipart I found of me...the turkey neck is me, the glasses are me, the pudge is me. My hair is longer. 

Cooler temps bring on desire for baking

It is Sunday late afternoon. My Sweetie has been on a clear liquid diet all day in preparation for a colonoscopy tomorrow that I am not sure is going to happen. He is still coughing from his boots and is moving like a very old man. Yesterday was a very wet and rainy day, but I had to go to Shopper's Drug Mart to pick up his liquid diet and two kinds of OTC medications. I got 4 cans of clear consomme (two of beef and two of chicken), 3 2 liter bottles of ginger ale, 2 packages of yellow Jello gelatin, and a package of Chapman's sport Popsicles with electrolytes (kind of like frozen Gatorade) which my husband says are really delicious. I was so very lucky to find out that everything food I bought was on sale except for the yellow Jello. Of course the medications are pricey, but I needed them. I spent the last of my gift card on the medicines, and spent slightly less than $20 on the food stuffs, including some Becel that we were low on.

Because it was rainy, I spent most of the day in the kitchen. I baked  peanut butter cookies and one dozen whole wheat hamburger buns because I cooked hamburgers for dinner last night. I wanted his last meal to be a favourite. *laugh* However he wasn't feeling great, so he only ate a half of one.

Today turned out sunny, so I did a large load of whites and lights, with a change of bed sheets, and hung them outside. I read some blog posts and was inspired by Laura over on today's blog with her Autumn Joy List. It is a list of fun and social events that she wants to partake in to celebrate the season.....sort of like a bucket list for the short term. So I took her lead and baked some pumpkin and raisin muffins this afternoon. For dinner tonight, because it is just myself, I will probably finish off the rest of the split pea soup I made on Friday. My Sweetie and I finished off Homeland on Netflix on Friday night. The new fall lineup of cable TV shows are starting this week, so we didn't really want to start a new TV series just yet, so last night we watched "The Revenant" with Leo diCaprio. It was good. He won the Oscar that year; but it is very bloody and intense. We may take some time to watch a few Netflix movies for a while. But on September 23rd, the fifth season of Longmire will come out here in Canada, so we will be watching that.

Friday Jitters

One of my automatic daily jobs

Today I had the "heebie jeebies"....just a lot of pent up nervous energy. I'm not sure why, but I can tell you I missed a golden opportunity. I should have hit the Craft Room until it wore off. But instead I was at the computer trying to read my email and respond with comments to some blogs that I have neglected all week. I would read some and then jump up and do a chore and come back to sit down and read a little more. It could be that I was a little worried about my Sweetie. He has slept an awful lot today, but says he is feeling a little bit better. Well his colonoscopy is Monday, so he had better be feeling a whole lot better soon. We have waited several months for this appointment. The other thing that is different from the normal is that when I got up this morning at 7:15, my son and his GF had already left for the weekend for New York. They have done this before without incident, so I don't think that is what had me feeling anxious. I did my usual morning tasks that I do without needing to think about it. I unloaded the dishwasher and started to fill it up again. I do this as I make my breakfast and coffee. I made my iced tea and I cleaned the downstairs litter box. 

If only I could teach my dog to bake

I tried reading my email but left a couple of times to bake a batch of dog biscuits, wash a large load of dark clothes and put them outside on the line, wash a second load of dishes, wash the counter tops, and put the ingredients in the crock pot to make split pea soup. I wanted to go upstairs and wash the two windows in my bedroom and the one in our master bathroom, but my Sweetie had gone back to bed. So maybe later this weekend, I will try again.

Mowing grass

After lunch, I thought that I could perhaps lie down for a nap. But no, that didn't happen. I went outside to mow the back yard.  It was a perfectly lovely day outside. The days are sunny and warm, (not hot and humid.)  The evenings are very cool for sleeping. With the recent rains we've had, the grass has grown very tall, so I stalled out the push mower a few times. Ha. So even though the afternoon was still lovely and warm, you can tell that Autumn is here. By 1 PM, half the clothes line was in the shade because of the angle of the sun. I will have to bring in the clothes before dinner and perhaps check out the garden again. Does anyone have any plans for the weekend? Have a great one!

Project Thursday

I am afraid that when the end of September comes and I look over my list of goals, I will not have completed even one of them. I will only have a little bit accomplished in each area. But they are goals after all, so I guess I have given myself something to work towards. 

This morning I emptied the dishwasher and loaded it up again for a second wash. I made my iced tea. I cleaned the downstairs litter box and washed the downstairs bathroom. 

Then I washed two windows in the front entry room, both inside and outside with frames, tracks and sills.  You might remember that I washed a third one in that room earlier in the summer (the one right beside the computer) because I couldn't stand looking at the dirt anymore. I also washed the exterior door with decorative glass insert, inside and outside, frame and threshold. The pail of water was absolutely disgusting. I considered filling it up with hot soapy water again to repeat the third window , but decided it looked good enough. That was my entire morning. 

After lunch I tackled the Craft Room once again. If I finish one goal, this is the one I want to be successful with. I purged some more items, moved some storage cases around and even got to the point where I could vacuum half the floor area. I am very happy with how much was accomplished today, even if no one else can see a difference. I cannot show you any pictures just yet because it looks even worse than it did. The surfaces that I had previously cleaned, now have items piled back on top as I am in the midst of sorting. But it is coming....very slowly. 

More items purged for the donation box

Fiskars shape cutter and two blades, Santa boot planter, 2 activity kits, a mosaic kit with book, scrap booking glue, iron-on transfers, a birdhouse, more stencils, a small wind chime, 4 floral water tubes and a fabric doll brooch. 

My Sweetie was not feeling well today. He has a very nasty cough and a low grade fever. He slept most of the day and is not feeling up to eating anything. I will warm up some leftover beef stew from last night for myself and heat up a tin of tomato soup for him later this evening. Hopefully, he will feel more like eating something later on. 

Domestic Wednesday Morning

Natalie made a remark recently about doing the "domestic thing" until noon, by doing as much as you can from your to-do list until lunchtime. That sounded like a fantastic idea to me because after I have eaten lunch, I am generally too pooped to do anything else but make dinner. Besides that, I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon at 3 o'clock and needed to be out of here by 2:15. So with that in mind, I.....

emptied the dishwasher and started loading it up again.

made my iced tea

sorted the recycling for tomorrow morning (Blue box for glass, tin and plastic)

brought down the upstairs garbage to the outdoor bins for tomorrow  morning's collection

took the kitchen compost out to the garden composter

made a beef stew for the crock pot adding potatoes, carrots, tomato, and beans from the garden and onions, broccoli, and celery from the pantry.

wrote a sentiment in a handmade birthday card, addressed and mailed it out to one of my brothers

cleaned the downstairs litter box

made my homemade Taco seasoning mix and beef seasoning mix to replace my empty jars

harvested more tomatoes, beans, and peppers

froze a medium freezer bag (quart sized?) of pepper strips, and one of tomatoes

washed and snipped both ends off the beans with my thumbnail against my forefinger. This took about an hour with my hands in the water the whole time getting all prune-like.

I warmed up the last of my turkey soup for lunch at 2 PM and left for my appointment

Can you believe how many beans I am still getting?

Making my homemade seasoning mixes

Yesterday I did nothing. We left the house at 8:30 for a 9:15 appointment at the eye clinic. We were in the waiting room for  2 hours and in the doctor's office for  2 hours. My Sweetie will have two more appointments made for him....one for a plastic surgeon to remove the drooping eyelid and the fluid sack under the eye. They don't know why this has developed but the eye itself is okay.  He will also go to an ophthalmologist to see if that eye is developing glaucoma, or at the very least, they will measure a baseline so they can watch for any further deterioration.

After my husband's appointment, I drove to LifeLabs for some blood work for myself. There was a half hour wait there, so we didn't get home yesterday until 2:30 PM. I don't understand how sitting around doing absolutely nothing, can be so darn tiring. 

Crafting:  nothing

September goals:  did one hour's weeding on Monday until the mosquitoes drove me inside

Maintenance and Preparedness: homemade seasoning mixes today and more veggies for the freezer

Organizing and Purging:  nothing

Cleaning: a super load of laundry ( including bedsheets) washed and hung to dry on Monday

Spending money:  Today at Giant Tiger, I spent $19.60 for 14 kg of kitty litter ($6.99) , 6 tins of salted peanuts ($1 each), and 3 loaves of Country Harvest bread ($1.64 each) All were half price. 

Daybook: Monday, Sept. 12/16

Outside my window......it is bright and sunny and cool outside.

I am thinking........that I need to get commenting on blogs but the weather is so nice for getting house and garden work done, I am conflicted.

I am thankful for....cooler Fall weather.

From the kitchen......the dishwasher is finished doing up a load from this morning. I baked a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies this weekend and made a batch of cranberry almond granola this morning. The iced tea I made this morning is getting cold in the fridge. I bagged up three lots of burgundy beans and one large freezer bag of more ripened tomatoes from yesterday's harvest.

I am wearing.....black capris, a red printed top and slippers. The tiles actually felt cold to walk on this morning.

I am creating......nothing. But I want to.

I am going......outside to pull weeds in the veggie garden because it is another goal I made for September.

I am hoping.....that I am able to accomplish my September goals this month, especially the Craft room.

I am hearing.....the usual road traffic in front of the house and  lots of crickets this time of year.

One of my favourite things..... right now is a veggie garden that is producing lots of produce right now.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include an appointment  Tuesday for my husband with the eye specialist, an appointment for me on Wednesday with my doctor, and an upcoming appointment for a colonoscopy for my husband next Monday and all the preparation for that. I want to work on achieving some of my goals this week, as it is approaching mid-month.

Here is a picture I am sharing..... my miniature rosebush has come back after the huge storms we had on Saturday.

Fearless Friday

 My Sweetie got up with the dog this morning, leaving me to sleep in until 9:30. Woohoo! Guess where I found him when I got up? That's right. Outside in the back yard sitting in front of the riding lawn mower tinkering with the motor again. He had already taken  the carburetor apart, cleaned it and was putting it back together when I came out to see what he was up to. About the same time that I got up to check on him, the weather got too hot to continue, so he decided to stop for the day and finish up later. *ahem*.

Cleaning the carburetor

I did the usual unload the dishwasher and make my iced tea. I didn't feel like starting my Craft Room. It was hot today but not as humid as yesterday, so I decided I might wash the other kitchen window facing the back of the house. You might remember that I washed the first one last week. When that one was finished, I decided I might as well tackle both the screen door and the security door that opens onto the deck. When I wash windows, I use a bucket of soapy water and a sponge with a bristle edge, a scrub brush and a toothbrush. I wash the tracks, frames and sills both inside and outside. When I was done with that, I needed to empty the pail of grimy water. I was on a roll, so I filled the pail back up and tackled both the living room and dining room windows. Our windows get so very dirty I think because we live alongside the highway and get a lot of traffic by our house. When looking for clip art showing a woman washing windows, nearly all of them showed cute little ladies (some in French maid costumes) with a rag in one hand and Windex in the other. That's not me. I am more like this lady doing battle against the elements, sweating like a race horse. Since the water was disgusting again, I dumped the pail and decided the rest of the windows downstairs can be done another day.

After lunch I decided I could face my Craft Room again. I didn't do a lot, but I did empty that bin I brought down last week. It was filled with Christmas wrappings and boxes just as I had left it nine months ago. I have now incorporated all of that and my  birthday and occasional  wrappings/decorations/embellishments into appropriate drawers and bins in my crafting area. I should now be able to make cards and wrap gifts at the crafting table. I tossed garbage, threw gift boxes into recycling bins and purged some more items for the donation box. 

More items purged from the Craft Room

Balloon weights, wall hooks, craft sticks, plastic lacing, and pipe cleaners.

Spending money:  Yesterday I spent $50.42 at Walmart on dog food, tin foil, 3 boxes of freezer bags, and 400 gms of Old cheddar cheese. I spent $1.15 in the vending machine for a cold drink at the hospital where I went to visit a friend recovering from a hip replacement. Today my Sweetie picked up bread with our gift card. (no OOP)

Maintenance and preparedness: Sweetie is trying to clean the carburetor on the lawn mower to save us from having to replace it. I made a batch of chicken broth in the crock pot yesterday and put it  in the freezer. I used the turkey broth I made a couple of weeks ago to make homemade turkey and vegetable soup last night to go with our roasted cheese sandwiches for dinner. I froze two quarts of burgundy beans from the last harvest. I did not check the garden today. 

Crafting: none 

Purging and organization: my Craft Room (part of my September goals)

Cleaning:  washed windows  (part of  my September goals)

Domestic Wednesday

Today I......

made a pitcher of my iced tea and enjoyed it all afternoon.

 unloaded the dishwasher twice and filled it up twice more.

made bread pudding and chocolate chip cookies.  I put another tin of 3 dozen in the freezer.

scrubbed down all the counters, the stove and the inside of the microwave.

washed out the dog's water and food  bowls

sorted all the recycling and took the gray box (paper and cardboard) to the curb

brought down all the garbage from upstairs and put 3 bags out to the curb last night

took the kitchen compost out to the garden compost

watered all the indoor plants, including the ones I have taken outdoors to the veranda this summer.

picked some more produce from the garden including another cucumber.

and beans. The longer the season goes, the bigger the yields. 

brought a load of laundry in off the clothesline.

vacuumed three rooms, and washed the floors of the kitchen and living room.

picked the meat off the roast chicken of two nights ago and made a chicken pot pie for dinner tonight. I will make a chicken stock with the rest. 

My Sweetie, in the meantime, was outside working on the carburetor of the riding lawn mower until he sliced his arm open. He drove himself to Emergency and sat there all afternoon. It required 8 stitches to close him up. I felt a little guilty sending him on his own, but he needs to learn he can't be doing these things anymore. Poor guy! I understand how he feels though. 

And how was your day?