Springtime Gardening

Monday night I fell into bed and was asleep before my head hit the pillow. After I wrote my Monday Daybook, I went outside to pull weeds from the long winding garden bed that goes back to the end of the yard. I pulled couch grass, dandelions and a tall flowering weed that I don't know the name of, but it was trying to choke out everything in its path. I needed to get it pulled up before it went to seed. For the rest of the summer I will have to check out that bed occasionally and keep pulling them out by the roots every time I find one. I would love to put down some mulch but it would cost too much, so I will continue to put down my shredded paper as mulch. (I have been collecting it all winter). I spent 3 or 3 1/2 hours outside pulling weeds and my muscles were very sore by the end of it.

 Bleeding hearts are really doing well in the side garden.

 My front garden bed.  The golden alyssum is blooming since the week-end and the forget-me-nots are spilling over the border.

These pink tulips showed up in the back garden bed that I weeded on Monday. I didn't plant them, so I am guessing the squirrels have been busily planting  for me.

I face timed my sister and mother before making dinner of pork chops and roasted vegetables.

Yesterday it rained almost the whole day. It would have been the perfect day to do some housework indoors, but I decided instead  to read and answer some emails and make out a card for my DIL in Vancouver. I got it in the post just in time for mail pickup. I cleaned off my kitchen counters and washed them down before having leftover pork chops and veggies for supper.

Today was another beautiful sunny day. I hung out a load of laundry before I decided to get my lab work done this morning.  I drove to First Choice Hair Cutters on the way home to have my hair trimmed ($22 with tip). Once home, I changed into some work clothes and went outside to cut the front and back lawns. I also weeded some more garden beds in the back yard. I made up a gallon of salted vinegar and applied some to my brick walkway but didn't finish because I got talking with my next door neighbour. I came inside to make up some more weed killer when my friend arrived for a visit. (He has recently been told his cancer is in remission, but his energy has not yet returned.) He told me he would still like to buy Rick's van but money is very tight right now because he hasn't been able to return to work. We talked about the possibility of him doing some work around the house in exchange for the van and some of the tools in the shed. I would buy the materials and he could pick the days when he felt up to working a few hours. I think we could both benefit. Hopefully we can come to an arrangement that will make us both happy, as long as it doesn't interfere with his recuperation.

I have broken down some corrugated cardboard boxes and tied them up into bundles for paper recycling tomorrow. I have also set out two recycle boxes of  thin cardboard and newspaper. I still have to walk over to the Pop In Convenience store to pick up my garbage tags. Still have not done that. Then I can stop for the day. Supper is a veggie stir fry with chicken thighs baked with Nathalie's 10 Things Farm Chicken Seasoning. Love that stuff.

Mother's Day Weekend

What a great weekend I had.  I got up Friday, showered, made a birthday card for my grandson, and then off to Walmart to find a birthday present. Usually I give money to the parents to buy something that the child needs or wants, since the parents should have the final word anyways. But this time, all my grandson would say was that he wanted Nerf guns. My daughter had already fulfilled that wish so she was at a loss for suggestions. His dad on the other hand thought that he had enough and didn't need anything more. Well, that was no help. Grandmas are supposed to buy toys as birthday gifts. At the last minute, my daughter came up with a winning idea....something she overheard him remarking on. So Friday morning I was in Walmart buying "Stick-Bots" ($50 worth of stick bots and accessories, which may sound like a lot, but really isn't) I was happy. My grandson was happy. My 8 year old grand daughter was even happier.

While my grandson and I were off shooting storm troopers with Nerf guns, my grand daughter was "filming" scenes with these stik bots and her mother's phone.

 I was able to fill some helium balloons and tie them with ribbon. That was one of my preparations for the party. My daughter was able to draw storm trooper faces on some of the white balloons which were weighted down so the kids and some of the big people too could shoot at them with Nerf guns or fight them off with light sabers. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of those.

This HUGE R2D2 was a hit at the party. 

 These honeycomb decorations I put together on Friday night and hung them up so my grandson would see them first thing on Saturday morning when he came down to wake me up.

My daughter made this BB8 droid cake  by herself. She has always made her own cakes for the kids' birthday parties.

 Sugar cookies have always been her specialty. She has decorated these ones to look like storm troopers, C3PO, R2D2, and Boba Fett  (characters from the Star Wars series).
The kids had a great time, and so did grandma. My daughter made me my own special pizza crust using keto ingredients like almond flour and psyllium husks. What a special treat for me. On Friday night after I arrived, she made me hamburgers on keto buns she had baked for me. It was the first "bread" I have had in almost a year, which was  really delicious. I have never taken the time to bake myself substitute breads, so I was really beyond excited that she did this for me. And she did it while already being busy with all the party preparations. I stayed a night longer than I had intended and left around 8 o'clock on Sunday morning. My daughter gave me a lovely Mother's Day card and 3 scratch tickets that won me $15. Yay! I stopped at Napanee to pick up a few more groceries for this week.

Fresh veggies cost me $13.16  The bag of sweet peppers and the carton of white mushrooms were on sale for $1.97 each. The avocados were 50% off , so I got two bags.

Dairy cost $16.63

I picked up more stevia and two tins of tuna for $7.33  This stevia I have discovered is not the best buy I could be making. Each packet is equal to 1 tsp of sugar. Usually each packet of sweetener is equal to two tsp., so I have been paying the same for only half the product. Lesson learned. My total groceries cost me $37.12  I also picked up a couple of non-food items for a package I have put together to go up North with my son this coming weekend.

My day ended with my dinner prepared for me at my son's and his fiancee's apartment. It was a wonderful meal and a lovely evening. They had also invited over her family and they are always great company. I stayed behind for a few more minutes so that I could pack up a small parcel for my Dad's birthday, with a card I made earlier in the day. I also wanted to send up the Memory Book I made for my mother with photos of us five small children growing up at home. My son and his fiancee enjoyed looking through those old pictures and they could see a lot of familial features in the generations that I normally would not see until they were pointed out. It was a great reminiscence. I am sure my mom and my sister will appreciate seeing them.

So that was my weekend. How was yours?

Daybook: Monday, May 14/18

Outside my window.....it is another bright and sunny day. The flowers are coming up gangbusters and so is the grass. It needs mowing.....again.

I am thinking.....of the wonderful Mother's Day weekend I just had.  I stayed in Bradford for two sleepovers on Friday and Saturday nights. I "helped" with some of the birthday preparations for the party on Saturday and I stayed over until my grandson's actual birthday on Sunday, because it appeared to be important to him that I be there on the actual day he turned seven. I left just after 8 AM, and stopping for a short while in Napanee for a few extra groceries, I was home by noon. After lunch I lay down and slept for 3 hours before getting ready to have dinner at my son's and his fiancee's place. (Tuscan salmon with fresh green beans, followed by a fruit salad for dessert. Yum)

I am thankful for.....a safe drive on the 400 highways to and from Bradford.

From the kitchen.....I made my two egg omelet this morning with onion, zucchini and shredded cheese. I have taken out pork chops to defrost for dinner tonight.

I am wearing.....tan capris and a dark brown short-sleeved blouse, no socks but slippers on my feet.  My hair (which desperately needs a trim) is fastened in a bun.

I was creating.....this past weekend, a birthday card for my grandson and a birthday card and parcel for my Dad's birthday next weekend.  I took these things for my Dad and the finished memory book for my Mom over to my son's place so he can deliver them personally when he drives up there this coming weekend.

I am going.....nowhere today. At least I have no plans for going out. Lately my plans of combining errands has not been working out very well because of the urgency of needing to get things done asap. I need to get back to better planning on my part.

I am hoping.....that my daughter-in-law finds the help and inner strength to get through her cancer treatments that have begun with a vengeance.

I am hearing.....only occasional traffic noises (which I normally block out) and the tapping of the computer keys. It is very quiet here, but I am grateful for my sense of hearing that allows me to enjoy life to the fullest.

Around the house.....I have hung up two loads of laundry outside on the line and  emptied the dishwasher that I filled before leaving the house on Friday. I need to start pulling weeds in the back gardens, mow the lawns, and continue to plan for the upcoming yard sale. My floors need to be vacuumed and mopped very badly. I could also plant my geraniums that I over-wintered inside and get them out of the house to free up more space. All my indoor plants need watering again.

One of my favourite things.....is my outdoor clothes line. I love hanging my laundry out and I will miss that if  I move to an apartment.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include mailing out another card to my DIL, go to the lab for more blood work before making my next appointment with my GP (She wanted to see me mid-May), and work on my goals list for this week.

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

Beautiful potted Mums from my son and his fiancee. I will plant them in my garden in a few weeks so I may enjoy a second bloom in the Fall.

Working On Getting My Weekly Chores Done

Yesterday turned into a very busy day. I wrote down what I hoped to accomplish but didn't get through half the list. I guess I expected too much of myself, and I certainly didn't account for all the time needed to complete all the items.

I started by trimming the front lawn that I had mowed the day before. I cannot operate the gas powered trimmer, so I use grass shears to trim around the edges....takes FOR.EV.ER, but it looks great. And now all the flower beds in the front yard are weeded and looking wonderful. I even managed to dig up some of the weeds in the driveway. Note to self....I need to make some more of my salt and vinegar weed killer. I sprayed myself with bug repellent before going outside, but I still managed to get bitten badly. I got a couple of bites behind one ear, and they are driving me crazy.

I also rooted out some dead wood from one of my shrubs and picked up a lot of dead twigs and branches that came down during the winter. When I took wheel barrow loads back to my compost pile, I noticed that a huge major branch came down in last Friday's wind storm. My neighbour offered to cut down that tree last summer but hadn't got around to it yet. I am thinking that he will likely want to get it done now. All in all, I spent 3 hours out of doors yesterday morning and didn't come in for lunch until 1 o'clock.

 My Bleeding Hearts are just starting to come out in the background, with daffodils still blooming.

 One of my circular beds with edges trimmed and grass removed from between the edging blocks.

Forget-me-nots just starting to bloom. I love Spring for the number of new blooms that appear each day.

I am just dying to start in the backyard where I have not yet cleaned up the flower beds and they are already filling out with Springtime blooms.

Back indoors, I cut up the pork loin into chops and one small roast. I shredded a cabbage and sauteed in butter, to which I added cooked ground beef and onions for dinner last night. I worked all afternoon on finishing up the Memory Book for my Mom by adding names to the photos and embellishments to the pages. I didn't stop for dinner until 8 o'clock. She will not be receiving it in time for Mother's Day, so I will send it along with my son when he goes up north to Elliot Lake two weeks from now. In the meantime, I ordered some cut flowers to be delivered tomorrow for my Mom and made a handmade card for her today. That also will not be received for Mother's Day, so I explained in the card that my intention was to stretch out her Special Day for as long as possible. After all, I just spent two weeks up there with her. That should also count for something. I went to the Post Office to mail the card and also to pick up another roll of 50 stamps because I am completely out. The only "break" I took was to drive into Amerstview to pick up a prescription.

Before I make my veggie and sausage casserole with cheese for dinner, I would like to go outside to trim back my clematis. I noticed yesterday that it has already started new growth. It is too late to trim my hydrangea,  so I will just let it go for this summer. I also forgot to pick up new garbage bags since coming back home, so I was not able to put out my garbage this morning. I have since added it to my To-Do list. I was able to pick up a clear plastic filing bin while in Elliot Lake, so I have been able to start my paper filing. I sold my antique desk with drawers, so now I need an alternative solution to filing my little bit of paperwork. My present desk holds my desktop computer with hideaway keyboard shelf, but no drawers. Tomorrow I will be heading off to Bradford to have a sleep-over with the grand kids and help prepare for the Star Wars birthday party for my grandson turning seven. I guess I need to make another birthday card tonight. I will probably return Saturday late afternoon after the party because I am invited to my son's and fiancee's for Mother's Day on Sunday. Have a wonderful weekend and I will catch up with you later.

Blackflies

Today was another gorgeous, sunny and warm Spring day, and with it came the inevitable black flies. They are pesky, biting insects that swarm around your head and will drive you mad. Instead of coming inside to douse myself with insect repellent, I stayed outdoors like an idiot and continued to pull weeds and curse them. Tomorrow will be different. I won't go outside until after I have armed myself with bug repellent and light coloured clothing to fend them off. It was such a beautiful day I couldn't resist going out to play.

My doctor's appointment with the ENT was for 12:50 this afternoon at the hospital. Good news is that I do NOT have nasal polyps. Bad news is that I have lost my sense of smell and there isn't anything they can do about it. After that horrendous cold I had 18 months ago, I probably "burned" the nerve receptors in my nose due to the inflammation from the virus. It isn't a big deal....just an inconvenience, an annoyance. The doctor will keep my file open for 12 months in case symptoms get worse or I am worried that there is more to it than just a loss of smell. When I got home, I had some cheese and ham rolled up in Romaine leaves for lunch, changed my t-shirt, and went out to drag the lawn mower out from the shed. I cut the front lawn and then proceeded to pull weeds from the front garden beds. I also dug out some Globe Thistle plants that were slowly taking over one of my beds. I have thinned them out pretty well now. The mulch I laid down in the fall made pulling out the weeds much easier.

 Wind flowers are doing well. I have pulled all of that grass between the blocks.

Passion flower is now cleaned up and growing well.

When I first arrived in Elliot Lake two weeks ago, people were still ice fishing on the lakes. While there, Spring arrived with a vengeance and I found myself in need of more appropriate summer tops. I went to the Salvation Army and picked up these three short sleeved tops for only $7 for all three. I wore the green one today to go to my doctor's appointment. Most of my summer shirts are "outdoor work" shirts, so it was nice to pick up some nice ones for leaving the house. The price was right. Now if only I can keep them looking nice by not wearing them to work in the garden. Tonight I will be having leftover moussaka that I made last night. Yum!  It is a lot of work but so worth it.

Daybook: Monday, May 7/18

Please bear with me. I still have not read my usual blogs. I am still replying to emails and phone calls from friends and other family members who have discovered I am back home. I have finally emptied the van and continue to wash up items that were packed up for me to bring back. I have been asked when I am going to have my yard sale, but the short answer is that I am still not sure. It was going to be this past Saturday but unforeseen circumstances interrupted that plan. My SIL and my niece were going to help me, but my brother who was going to have his back operation did in fact have that surgery. Coincidentally, it turned out he was finally called in the same day I left Bradford for the second leg of my my trip. The surgery was a success and two days later he was released from hospital. Two days after that, my SIL took him back in through Emergency very ill and severely dehydrated.  He was admitted and ran through a series of tests to discover WHY he couldn't stop retching. His white blood cell count was through the ceiling, but no fever. He couldn't keep anything down so he was fitted for total parenteral nutrition (TPN). Finally, after a week, he was able to eat something by mouth. They STILL have no idea what caused this very serious situation, but this past Friday he asked to be sent home after spending 24 hours without incident. He is now recovering at home feeling much more like himself and grateful that he has finally rounded the corner.  We are all very relieved.

Outside my window.....The day has been gorgeous. Temperatures were 14 degrees Celsius and sunny all day.  The grass is green and definitely needs mowing.

I am thinking.....I could definitely be outside right now to pull a few weeds, prune some bushes, and generally enjoy being outside again, but I have other work to do right now.

I am thankful for.....my general good health and ability to do things for myself.

From the kitchen.....I have made another big pot of chicken vegetable soup which I am going to freeze. I have frozen four of the packages of  ground beef and I have divided and frozen 2 packages of 3 sausages each. I have yet to slice up the pork loin into chops and roasts for the freezer (maybe later tonight). I roasted one of the trays of chicken thighs and had some for dinner on Saturday, used the meat from some for the chicken soup and still have some meat for a stir fry later on. Last night I made a sausage casserole and tonight I am hoping to make a moussaka.

I am wearing.....blue jeans and a printed pink t-shirt. I am still wearing socks which indicates that it is not quite summer.

I am creating.....a family scrapbook for my mom for Mother's Day. I took the scrapbook  with me to Elliot Lake, with blown up photos of the five of us children when we were very young.  My plan was to decorate the pages in the album and leave it with my mom. I was kept so busy while I was there, that I had very little time to work on it. I brought it back home and plan to finish it here, then mail it tomorrow (hopefully) with her Mother's Day card. She won't get it in time, but I think my family has come to expect everything from me to be late in arriving. That includes my son as well. His birthday is today and I just sent out his package this afternoon. I also took a finished card for my DIL (who begins her chemo and first radiation treatment today) to Elliot Lake as well. My plan at the beginning of this was to send her a card every week. I have been very good until I left on my trip. My intentions were good, but again, I didn't have a chance to mail it while I was away.

I am going.....nowhere else today. I have been to the post office.

I am hoping.....to get my chores caught up this week.

I am hearing.....just the sounds of traffic outside.

Around the house.....I am making preparations for a yard sale in the next couple of weeks.

One of my favourite things.....is Facebook Messenger on my tablet which allows me to face-time with my family and grand kids.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include my appointment with the ENT (ears, nose, throat) tomorrow afternoon, picking up a prescription, a visit from a friend who I sent cards to over the past 8 months and who has been declared "cancer free"  at his last appointment,  my grandson's 7th birthday in Bradford this weekend  (I have been invited to his Star Wars party on Saturday), and dinner on Mother's Day at my son's and his fiancee's. It will be a full week.

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

Some blooms that greeted me on my return home this weekend.

May Days Are Here

What a difference two weeks make. I left here on a Friday with ice and snow still on the ground and came back on a Friday two weeks later with green lawns (that already need mowing) and flowers blooming in the garden.  I turned off the furnace straight away....not that it was on, but I make a point of turning it off on the first day in May. I was completely out of everything in my fridge. I pulled 2 liters of milk out of the freezer to defrost so I could have coffee and tea with the few extra packets of Splenda I took from the Tim Hortons coffee shop on my trip home. I  cooked a package of bacon from the freezer and ate that with some mashed turnip for my dinner that night. I didn't feel like going grocery shopping after traveling, and besides that, my van was piled to the ceiling with items that people in Elliot Lake had given me "for my yard sale" I barely had room to stuff my suitcase, so I certainly didn't have room to put a small bag of food. Saturday morning I slept in until after 10 AM and then had a bowl of oatmeal (no eggs) before going out to the van to empty the front passenger seat and the bench seat in the back. I still have the back of the van to empty out, but I will deal with the first load of stuff before I drag anything else into the house. I have been washing and hanging out laundry for the past two days. As I fold it up I am packing it away for my yard sale and for the Thrift Store.

With the van half-way cleaned out, I went to No-Frills to pick up the items on my stock-up list.

 Dairy cost me $32.33  Eggs were NOT on sale for $2.27 each doz. and I paid the regular price for Feta cheese (200 gm) at  $2.97. However, both cottage cheese and plain yoghurt cost $2 each  Not pictured is a block of old cheddar cheese for $5.55

Frozen fruits and veggies cost $19.00  (no-name frozen blueberries, 2 bags of oriental mix stir fry veggies and 2 bags of winter veggies)

Fresh veggies cost $18.65 The bag of carrots and bag of onions were $1 each. I also bought two romaine hearts, bag of sweet peppers, English cucumber, 2 eggplant, 4 zucchini, and two small heads of cabbage.

Meat cost a big $47.42  I picked up 5 packages of lean ground beef for $2 each, a package of Black Forest ham for $2, chicken thighs for $2 a pound, a pork loin for $2 a lb. and a package of Italian sausage. This was a great sale on meat and should hopefully last a while.

Last, but certainly not least, I picked up a box of Stevia for $4.79 making my total  bill $122.20

Today I went back into Kingston and spent another $50 at Staples. I needed  110 pound card stock to replace the package I left with my sister and mom in Elliot Lake so they can continue to make handmade cards in my absence. I discovered that I lost my charger somewhere for my Android tablet, so I picked up another one. If in the meantime it shows up,  I can always use a second one. Now I can message my oldest son tomorrow to wish him a Happy Birthday, since he will certainly not receive his package on time. I plan to mail it out to him tomorrow, ON HIS BIRTHDAY.

I have yet to catch up on all my emails. The family kept me so busy while I was in Elliot Lake, there wasn't much time for anything else. It isn't just my Dad and Dee that live there. It is also my sister and her husband, and my mother who lives there now. I had planned a 10 day trip but clearly that was not an option. I decided to stay another 4 days to make it two weeks. The days and nights were full of activity. I am guessing I lost a bit more weight since I was constantly on the go. I will talk a bit more about it this week while I am catching up on some of your lives in the past little while. Talk to you soon.