I'm Still Here

Some of you may be thinking that I have left already for the West Coast because you have heard nary a word from me; but that is not the case. I'm still here. I am getting ready to leave. I am making a list as I think of things that will need to be done before I leave for three weeks.

To-Do List:

Pick up Avon order.  Done

Pick up packages from post office. 

Pick up Prescription refills.

Vacuum through the whole house. I have vacuumed the downstairs, but not the second story. 

Clean the bathrooms.

Clean the kitchen.

Shred and fry large head of cabbage. I filled two Dutch ovens with all the shredded cabbage and promptly burned the first one to a crisp. (I forgot to turn down the heat when I went outside to hang clothes and then took a phone call). The second pot survived.

Seed and julienne slice 5 1/2 peppers in the fridge for the freezer.

Freeze any leftovers (milk, cheese, veggies) from the fridge before I leave.

Print out Halloween verses for the insides of the kids' Halloween cards. I printed them out and attached to the insides of the cards. 

Write a brief message in each card and sign my name. Address and stamp envelopes. I have addressed and stamped all the envelopes, but I will write messages after I get back and before I send them out.

Attach sentiment to inside of Thanksgiving Day cards, sign and address/stamp envelopes. Finished 14 cards

Make a graduation card for my oldest grand daughter, a birthday card for my daughter,  and make another "Thinking of You" card for family friend with cancer. Send a card to my grand daughter in Germany. 

Mail out cards. I will mail out Friday before I leave town.

Clean stamps and return to drawers. Put away Autumn and Halloween themed papers. I have washed and put away my stamps and gathered up the papers.

 Buy and wrap Advent calendar gifts for my youngest grand daughter. All finished. 

Buy and wrap stocking stuffers for my son and daughter in law. In process

Buy and wrap stocking stuffers for my son's first wife  (the mother of my two older grand daughters). In process

Put away the Christmas papers, wrappings, ribbons, etc. until I get back.

Change out bedding and do up the laundry. Bed is changed. The clean laundry still needs to be folded and put away. At that point I can begin to pack my carry-on.

Pack suitcase and carry-on bag. Not started

Gather up Satchel's belongings (kibble, blanket, leash, collar, treats) in the car.

Cut the lawns again. This will be one of the last things to do. If it doesn't get done? too bad, so sad.

Repot the geraniums, snake plants, and red shamrocks before bringing them inside for the winter.

Print out boarding passes for the train and the plane trip back. Pack my boarding passes and passport in my purse.  Done.

Clean out my purse.

Pack Blackberry, phone and charger in my purse.

Get all the recycling out of the house and  bundle up all the corrugated cardboard.

Gather up all the waste baskets for garbage collection on Thursday morning

Put all garbage and kitchen compost out Friday before I leave.

Close and lock all the windows in the house. Turn off fans and power bars. 

Leave  a  "Please Do" list  for my son while he is checking on the house. Pick up mail, water my indoor plants, check phone messages on my land-line phone, cut the grass?, etc.


I am sure my list will grow as the week progresses, but I have also done a lot to check things off. I will not be finishing up the flower beds before I leave, but I have given it a good start. It has been actually too hot to work outside the last week. This past weekend was the hottest of the summer (we actually broke temperature records), but it was actually the first weekend of Autumn. After all the rain we got over this past summer, we are actually experiencing drought right now. Crazy weather!  So if I am lucky, there may still be some warmish days after mid October that I can spend some time outdoors. But if not, I will be busy getting stuff ready for Halloween, then Christmas. I hope to write again before the end of the week.

Daybook: Monday, September 18/17

It is already 11:45 AM and I am just now writing my Daybook. I have emptied and refilled the dishwasher, but I won't run it until after 7 tonight. I have talked to "Dee" on the phone and called my doctor's office to reschedule my appointment in October. I have read my emails and some blog posts, but not commented yet. I have made out my Avon order (last day to order) and delivered it to my representative on my way to the Post Office to pick up my mail from my PO box. Some mornings are just already scheduled for you. 

Outside my window.....it is another beautiful "Indian Summer" day with lots of sunshine and warm, but not hot, temperatures. My lawns need mowing.

I am thinking.....I don't have too much time left here at home before I leave on the 29th for Bradford, and then the train out West on the 30th.

I am thankful for.....my Dad and "Dee" for taking me with them on the train across country and for my son and DIL for paying for my air fare back.
 
From the kitchen.....I baked one batch of dog biscuits on Saturday for the next two weeks. I shredded and fried a whole head of cabbage from which I have made meals this past weekend. This morning I made my iced tea and took out ground beef to defrost for tonight's dinner. I am craving some Tex-Mex casserole.

I am wearing.....my royal blue Capris and a working T-shirt. I think I wore this last Monday.

I am creating.....cards, cards, and more cards. Because I sliced into my thumb nail on Saturday morning shredding cabbage, I have not been able to go outside to pull weeds. So I have taken advantage of some down time to make up all the Halloween cards for my young grand kids and nephews. I also made some "Thinking of You" cards to mail out. I will be making some Thanksgiving cards soon and I still need to get busy on making a stash of birthday cards for gifting. I have also made up two templates to use to make up Christmas cards with treat boxes.

I am going.....outside today to get both front and back lawns mowed. I didn't do that on the weekend and it is getting bad. I am also completely out of eggs, so I may have to go out today to pick some up.

I am hoping.....to get all the Advent calendar gifts ready for my youngest grand daughter to take with me out West. Ideally, I can also buy and wrap some stocking stuffers to bring for my son and DIL. This was "Dee's" idea to help save me about $40 in shipping and postage charges. I checked my gift trunk yesterday and made a list of what I have acquired already, so I can gather up what I still need and get it wrapped up. The older three grands will receive money again this year instead of an Advent calendar and I still have lots of time to prepare for my two grands and their parents in Bradford.

I am hearing.....crickets outside. I also hear my chimes and the occasional traffic drive by. I have all the windows opened again because of the return of warmer weather.

Around the house.....there is lots of housework that needs doing, especially dusting and vacuuming. I have several kinds of card projects on the go. I have fallen way behind on my Holiday Grand Plan already. I did nothing to clean up my Entry room last week, except to maybe add more papers to the desk tops. This week is Master Bedroom. I have a sinking feeling I won't be starting this one either.

One of my favourite things.....is on-line shopping. I probably love it too much.  I usually go out for one major grocery shop per month with the occasional top up two or three times for eggs, milk and fresh veggies or a really great loss leader; but generally, I  try to stay out of retail stores. Shopping on-line however lets me take my time,  watch for sales, and everything comes to the door or to the post office here in town.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include cutting the grass in both the front and back,  pulling the weeds between the pavers in the sunken patio area, continue weeding  and mulching the back flower beds, buying and wrapping small stocking stuffers to take with me to Vancouver, continue to work on making cards.

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

I went shopping again on Friday morning in Napanee and spent $141.45. I went to three places out of four. I had intended to go to No-Frills but then I was tired of shopping so I came home. At Giant Tiger I spent $65.30 These are the groceries I bought there. The ground beef was only $8 for each bag containing 4 frozen chubs of lean ground beef each. Great bargain.  The peppers, avocados and mushrooms were on sale for less than I paid earlier in the week. The oriental mix was not on sale but I had a craving for chicken curry that day.  I spent $60.05 at Walmart but the largest chunk of that bill was for  the HUGE 20 kg bag of Pedigree dog food and 2 blocks of Old cheddar cheese at only $3.77 for each block of  450 gms  So where did all the money go? Well, I decided to pick up some items that have been on my want list for quite some time (mostly from the Dollarama), plus I bought some items I will use as stocking stuffers for Christmas.

Happy Thursday Everyone

I don't know if it is Happy or not, but Thursday is usually the day in the week that I call my daughter to check in, and I begin the conversation with Happy Thursday. I didn't today because I called her on Monday this time. But I did talk with my friend in Charleston Lake who asked me if I had spoken yet with my BIL in Tampa. She pointed out to me that I hadn't mentioned it yet in a blog post. Instead, I have answered individual comments. However, most of my friends and relatives get my blog post as an email, so naturally they don't see any comments. So yes, I have heard from both of them and they are fine. The storm did not hit Tampa like they had predicted. They didn't lose power, there was no curfew and  there was no damage to the house. In fact, my SIL went to work for a few hours the afternoon following the storm. It was a non-event for them, they tell me. My friend also reminded me that I have not written about our Girls' Night on Saturday. I will have to do that tomorrow, as it is now after 6. I need to warm up my dinner leftovers from last night. Not having lunch today has just hit me. I'm feeling hungry.

I got up this morning feeling so-o-o tired. I read my emails and then fell asleep on the couch. I didn't wake up until several hours later so I didn't bother having lunch. (Besides, I hadn't earned it). I went out for an hour and a half to put down the three bags of mulch in the bed I weeded yesterday afternoon.

Looking directly into the sun...poor quality.

Slowly but surely, it is coming along. It would go faster if I didn't sleep away my days.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I cashed in 2500 of my 2700 points from Pine Cone Research for a $25 e-gift card for Amazon. That will come in handy for buying Christmas gifts for sending directly. For every survey I complete, I get 300 points but I wasn't getting a whole lot of surveys lately. On Monday I received two on the same day. WooHoo.

I have also realized that I never mentioned my friend with cancer. He is back home from the hospital after 13 days inside. He is continuing his radiation therapy as an out-patient like my husband did. His wife keeps me informed by texts every Thursday afternoon, which I really appreciate immensely. He is exhausted and very weak, but it is encouraging to me that he is out of the hospital and at home.

Shopping Day

Since the weekend I have been wanting to go out to pick up a few things, but then I would get started on something else and before I knew it, it was time to start dinner. So this morning, after responding to my emails and reading some favourite blogs, I headed out for Kingston. After checking the on-line flyers, I decided I would pick up some produce at Freshco.

Veggies cost me $12.17

$ 1.13...zucchini  88 cents a pound
     .77...red pepper 97 cents a pound
$1.29...yellow onions
    .72...broccoli crown  97 cents a pound
 2.49...4-pk avocado
 1.99...bagged spinach (regular price)
 2.49...bunch of 3 leeks (regular price)
 1.29...cabbage

Meat cost $32.19

$10.00...4 1- lb. chubs of lean ground chicken
   8.00...frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
 10.20...1/2 pork loin at $1.50 per pound
  3.99...kielbasa sausage (sale priced)

Pantry items cost $21.83

 The Nescafe instant coffee was on sale for $4.99, the tinned pasta was only $1.29 (for the grand kids), and I paid full price for the salted almonds at $7.99  The other items I bought are store brand items because they were more cheaply priced.

I bought 6 boxes of tissues for $3.97

I also picked up some items  that I will put in Christmas stockings, bringing my total bill to $96.50; but food items only cost me $69.83 I also bought 4 liters of milk for $5.13 but forgot to take a photo.  From the grocery store I went across the street to Rhona  where I purchased a 30 liter bag of garden soil and 3  2 cubic foot bags of cedar mulch, which cost me  $12.38

When I got home  I cut the pork loin into 12 thick pork chops and was left with a small roast.  They all went into the freezer.  Lunch was homemade soup at 1:30. I called my sister for a chat before I went outside to pull some more weeds in one of the back flower beds. Tomorrow I should be able to lay down the cedar mulch I bought today. I was wise today by doing my shopping first because had I done the weeding first, there is no way I would have had the energy to drive into town.

Daybook: Monday, Sept. 11/17

Outside my window.....it is calm and sunny with no clouds in the sky.

I am thinking.....of the people I know in Florida and wondering how they are coping this morning. Rick's only brother lives in Tampa and I am hoping he will notify me as soon as he is able.

I am thankful for.....so much in the wake of the several natural disasters that have occurred this summer, including the wildfires out West, hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes. These alone have so much potential for loss of life without even accounting for wars, ethnic cleansings, and terrorist attacks.

From the kitchen.....I was a busy little bee yesterday morning. I shredded and fried the second cabbage I bought last week. I grated two cauliflowers and broke into florets another three cauliflowers for the freezer. I replenished my jar of seasoned salt because I completely ran out late last week. I like to add this seasoning to my omelets in the morning. I made fried cauliflower rice for dinner last night. Yummy! I love this stuff.

I am wearing.....red capris and my old and stained Canada T-shirt. I'm hoping to weed and mulch today.

I am creating.....some more Christmas Cricut die cuts to make cards eventually. Also, I am cutting out some monster die cuts to make the kids Halloween cards when I get back from Vancouver. I continue to make occasion cards as I need them, but I need to get busy on making lots more to use as gifts.

I am going.....out nowhere today except the yard.

I am hoping.....to finish up all the yard work before the end of this month.

I am hearing.....the occasional sound of traffic and the click of my keyboard. It is so very quiet.

Around the house.....I need to vacuum and  I  have laundry to fold from the weekend.

One of my favourite things.....right now on Netflix is the TV series "Suits".

A few plans for the rest of the week.......is to follow the Holiday Grand Plan, which is  "Entry" week. That means that I need to clean this room I am presently in that has my desk top computer and two desks piled high with papers. I would actually feel really accomplished if I could do what needs to be done in this room. This is where the dog's dishes and food is kept, one of my freezers, the coat closet and shelves that hold our boots/shoes/and "hardware" items. I don't have a garage, so this is the room that is the dumping ground for anything coming into the house or where items go before they leave. Because it is the room where people enter the house, it is the first impression they get. On the Christmas side of things, I need to get busy making some gifts ahead.

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

The gravel pile is gone completely from my driveway....that is 5 yards of gravel that I single-handedly moved on my own. The last little bit was used to help fill in this hole where the pond liner used to be. I filled most of the hole Friday morning with bricks, rocks, cement blocks, etc, before layering some gravel over top. I then placed down landscaping fabric before laying the remainder of the gravel on top. As you can see, I will need to order more in the Spring. I am thinking that perhaps once we are past the winter and the gravel has settled, I will order two or three more yards for all the projects I have in mind. (topping up the back where the deck used to be, the whole of this area you are looking at, behind the shed and the remainder in the driveway). I "planted" two very large planters in the gravel where I can put in some more perennials next year (the turquoise one and a black one just beyond the driftwood)

I Can Park in My Driveway

This is just a short blog post this afternoon just to let you know that MOST of the gravel has been moved to the back of my yard. I have purposefully left a small bit which I hope will be adequate to help fill up the hole where my pond used to be. First of all, I will need to fill the bottom with rubble (large stones, broken bricks and pieces of cement blocks). Then I will put what is left of the gravel pile on top. Hopefully this will do the trick until the Spring, when I am sure I will need to bring in another load of gravel....but not until then.  I can now park my van in the driveway, instead of at the back of the property. Yay!

This time I have taken the photo from a different angle. This is from the side of my house looking across the back of my house towards the neighbours. I still haven't moved the steps away from the back door, nor have I put anything else in place. This is taken from the top of the incline that runs down towards the foundation.

The bottom of the gravel area has a gentle slope down to the lawn and flower beds. The back lawn needs to be mowed again but not until I remove all the junk on the grass (that used to be on the deck)  I will have to find new homes for most of it.

I filled out a form for my insurance to reimburse me for the cost of my new glasses and got that off in the mail along with 2 birthday cards for two of my brothers celebrating birthdays this month. I also cut the front lawn. My supper tonight will be the other half of this casserole I baked yesterday, called "Sausages and Vegetables". It is roasted zucchini, onions, garlic, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and hunks of cream cheese in olive oil and basil with another sprinkling of mozzarella cheese. 

I thought I would include this picture because I am sure you are getting tired of seeing photos of gravel. I know I am. Haha.

Not Much Going On

I am waiting for some of that energy that I had last week to come back to me. After taking Saturday off for no good reason except that I didn't want to shovel gravel any more and Sunday off because it was pouring rain, yesterday I forced myself to go outside and move 6 wheel barrow loads to the back. My son and his fiancee were coming out, so I texted them and asked if they would pick up a roll of landscaping fabric for me.  Furthermore, they prepared supper for me again. Am I spoiled or what?

Instead of moving gravel, I asked my son if he would help me clear off the porch. Not only was it the first week of the Holiday Grand Plan, but it was a job that needed to get done. I had dragged my feet long enough. So we both attacked the job and got it done in about an hour....maybe a little more, but not long at all. It was like working with my husband. We made decisions together about what to throw away and what to keep. We loaded up my van with paint cans, oil cans, and an old battery for me to take to the toxic waste dump. I was very careful about what to keep in  the shed out back and we determined that most of the stuff was  trash and went out to the trailer out back. I have asked a friend if he will take it to the Transfer Station with me some day soon.  I still have my garden hand tools out on the porch  because I am still using them. My son is coming back to remove the stuff he wants to keep at his apartment. Then I will need to take a broom out there to bring down the cobwebs, the dust on the siding, and sweep down the floor. 

So when today started out wet and overcast I didn't think I would be moving gravel today either. Instead I  sat at the computer and caught up on blogs. By 2 PM the sun was out, so I went out also. I laid down landscaping fabric on the rest of the space that needs to be covered and forced myself to move 6 more wheel barrows of stone. There isn't much more to cover, so I am hoping to finish it tomorrow.

    Yesterday, we decided to take those stairs right off the back door and put something else in place