Shopping This Week's Sales

I left the house pretty early this morning. I wanted to pick up some of this week's grocery specials. The sun was trying very hard to make an appearance, so it kind of looked warm-ish and spring-like out there. It is Saturday and I don't really enjoy doing any grocery shopping on the weekend, but I decided that if I got out there early, I might beat the weekend rush. I stopped in Amerstview first to get some things from DollarWay. It isn't a true dollar store because things cost $1.50, but I like going there because they often have things there that I can't find in other dollar stores. For instance, they still carry my 2-way tape and several other crafting materials. I spent $10.05

I knew that Shoppers was selling a dozen eggs again for $1.88 and I needed some milk, so I stopped there as well, on my way into No-Frills. I am glad I did because I found 2 containers of 2 litres of  whole  milk, with $3 off peelies. My 4 litres of milk only cost me $3.58  I picked up my 1 lb of butter here for $3.99 This was a very successful shop because not only did I save $7.22 off the regular cost, I also earned over 1000 points by buying my milk here today.

So my final stop was No-Frills and I knew they were having a sale of meat for $2 a pound. This is what I bought for $31.77

Two packages of 4 split chicken breasts, another pork loin which I will cut into more pork chops and small roasts for the crock pot, and 9 hot Italian sausage which needs to be divvied up into portion sizes. This is a lot of variety for my ideal price of $2/lb.

 Yoghurt was $2 a tub, so I picked one up. I need more starter to continue making my homemade yoghurt. I got another generic cream cheese for $2.50, because I haven't found a better price for quite some time now. My cost for dairy this week was only $15.83

Produce (fresh, frozen and canned) was only $9.94  Avocados were $2 for a bag of six. I haven't had avocados in a dog's age. What a treat!
Today I spent $67.59, leaving me with only $7.41 for the rest of March. Am I worried? No. I will probably need more vegetables before the end of the month, but I am pretty sure I will not need to spend my $20 remaining from gas money. I have over $40 in points that I can spend at either No Frills or Shoppers. I have savings in the bank and I can "borrow" against next month's groceries. I probably will not do that because I think I have a pretty tight Household budget already. I also have my "found money" in a jar here at home.

Besides shopping, I have washed two loads of laundry and hung both loads up to dry in the loft. I put my bed sheets and 2 towels in my dryer. I can't wait until I can start hanging my laundry outside once more. I will not be doing housework today. What else is new? I am making  more kid's cards to mail out to my grand kids. Have a great rest of the weekend, and to my family......enjoy your St. Paddy's Day tomorrow.

The Ides of March

Hello Friday. We've had some warmer temperatures and rainfall this week although not a lot of sun. The snow is melting very quickly and it is ponding. I showed you a photo of my backyard a couple of weeks ago. Well here is another picture from the same angle showing a lot of melt water sitting on top of the ground. The backyard is still frozen so there is nowhere for the water to go and so it sits on top of the frozen ground. It isn't too bad here, but some areas in the province are definitely flooded and are experiencing problems.

I started my day today by scouring the stainless steel pot that I burned my cabbage in a couple of days ago. It had been soaking in a paste of baking soda and water. I managed to clean it up pretty well. I ran a sink of hot water and proceeded to clean counters, stove top, the fronts of my kitchen cabinets (both top and bottom), the microwave and the exhaust fan over the stove. I emptied the sink and filled it up again to wash all of the stamps I used this week in my card making.

I went out into the front yard to spread crushed egg shells and a full tin of used coffee grounds over my front flower beds. I just threw them on top of the ground and I will work them into the soil this spring after it has has warmed. I baked a loaf of keto bread and shredded the second half of the cabbage head and sauteed. I didn't burn it this time. I will have it tonight for dinner with a smoked sausage I bought last month and some leftover broccoli I cooked earlier this week.  This weekend I will roast the turkey I took out of the freezer  to thaw. I'm not expecting company, but I would like to use the weekend to roast it so I can take all the meat off it and freeze portions of it for later. I can also make a soup broth with the carcass.

Dinners this week (from Friday to last night)
Ham slices and creamed cabbage
Chili with sour cream and grilled keto bread
Porkchops in a cheesy veggie  casserole
Roasted chicken and vegetables
Leftover ham slices with veggies  (green beans, spinach, broccoli and cauli)
Fried ground chicken with creamed cabbage and broccoli
Chili over cauli rice

I still have not introduced new recipes, but I am so enjoying my creamed veggies still.

Coming Up for Air

Oh my. It has been 4 days since I last posted on my blog. The week has just melted away, much like the snow has done over the past couple of days. It is a balmy 10* C right now. If there were sunshine, one could be fooled into thinking that Spring was on its way. After I wrote my Daybook on Monday, I decided that I would drive into Kingston after all to pick up a few things I needed at No Frills. I needed eggs and frozen berries, so I picked those up and then some.

 I spent a total of $27.95 on groceries......2 doz eggs, frozen mixed berries, 3 chicken legs with backs attached, large head of cabbage and cream cheese.

 Before I left town, I stopped at the post office to mail off my 3 kids cards and picked up my mail. I got an envelope with two truvia sweetener samples inside. I then stopped at Home Hardware and bought a bag of potting soil that was on sale for $4.80 including tax.

On Tuesday I got busy making birthday cards. I had chicken in the crockpot making broth while I worked at the dining table. For every card I made for my niece, I made a duplicate one for my own stash. I will likely just take these to her and let her pick out the ones she likes. I don't know her style, so when she picks out her choices I can observe which kind I should turn my attention. This will get her started anyway.

Yesterday, while putting together the cards, I made a big pot of chicken and vegetable soup. I also shredded and "burned" my cabbage because I cannot multi-task, try as I might. Well, I picked out the burned pieces and rescued most of it. I made a cream cheese sauce and drowned the cabbage in that, so it didn't taste too terribly bad. I had the rest of it for lunch today. Thank goodness, I only shredded half of the head of cabbage, so I can try again later.

Today I printed out card inserts with birthday verses. I have them folded and placed inside the cards, but could not tape them down because I ran out of my 2-way tape yet again. I think if I had not  run out of tape, I would still be creating cards. I finished my afternoon by splitting and repotting some of my aloe plants. I have way too many. I just hate throwing them out. Perhaps in the spring, I will leave some out at the curb for anyone to help themselves.

It sure feels like Spring right now. The snow is melting very quickly, and oh....did I mention that the other morning when I got up, I noticed 5 little bunnies playing in my backyard? I don't know how many there are in total, but they have been busy. This doesn't bode well for my plans to grow a veggie garden later this spring. 

Daybook: Monday, March 11/19

Outside my window.....it is overcast, but milder. It is presently 2 * C, which is the high for today.

I am thinking.....about working on some birthday cards this week for my niece.

I am thankful for.....opportunities to sell my homemade cards

From the kitchen.....I baked a keto loaf on Saturday that has lasted more than 2 days *laugh*, and I have made a batch of yoghurt this morning. I could have made it last night and "cooked" it overnight, but there IS some work involved and I was tired last night. I need to heat the milk by stirring constantly and keeping tabs on the temperature. When it reaches 180*-185*, I take it off the stove and place in a sink of cold water.  Stirring constantly I have to bring the temperature back down to 110*, but not lower.  It is work, but worth it for taste and cost.

I am wearing.....black denim jeans, a pink button down shirt, an ivory cardigan and black fuzzy socks. My hair is tied back into a pony tail.

I am creating.....more cards. On the weekend I made two more kids' cards and coloured some stamped images with my alcohol markers.

I am going.....to the post office later. I need to drive into town to  buy some frozen fruit and eggs, but I don't know if that will be today or not.

I am hoping.....for some sunny days soon, to improve my mood.

I am hearing.....tires on wet pavement and the blower on my furnace.

Around the house.....my wooden dining table is already cluttered with card making supplies, but my floors are clean.

One of my favourite things.....is the ability to ask Alexa to play music from some of my favourite artists. Yesterday I listened to Gordon Lightfoot and Evanescence....music to craft by.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....well, I don't have any other than my goals.

Goals this week......from my mile long to-do list for March

• Mail out 3 "Thinking of You" cards
• Mail out 3 kids' cards
• Gather tax papers together
• Buy a bag of potting soil this week, as it is on sale at Home Hardware
• Repot some of my aloe plants
• Make a baby card
• Start making feminine birthday cards for my niece
• Purge 15 items this week

Here is the photo I am sharing.....

For one of my grand daughters. The other slip has the word awesome.

Quick Update on Goals

It is 7:30 on Sunday night, so this will be quick. Tomorrow I will be posting new goals, so I want to get these off my plate first. 

Goals for this week:

Mail out three "Thinking of You" cards      Done

Mail package of new white t-shirts to my two grands in Bradford so they can tie-dye them next week while on their March Break     Done. I actually packaged them up twice.
 
Work on my son's scrapbook     Not one little bit. I moved my craft table back into the room however. 

Work on the embroidered pillow cases some more....maybe finish one this week.     Done

Make another batch of yoghurt     Done. I should have made another batch today, but by the time I got off the phone, it was too late. Yoghurt takes 8 hours to cook. I'll do it tomorrow morning.

Put away the dried laundry hanging in the loft     Done. I have even done yesterday's laundry and put it away.
 
Make at least 6 cards this week.     Done....and then some. 

This afternoon I took it easy and listened to music while I coloured stamped images....for more cards. I got carried away and lost track of time. 

Happy International Woman's Day

It is also my youngest grand daughter's birthday. She is turning seven today. WooHoo.

No major cleaning spurt today. I guess I fizzled out. But I did start the last day of the week by watering all of my downstairs house plants, while on the phone with my friend whose husband died from brain cancer just before Christmas. She calls me every week to stay in touch and it is so very nice to hear from her and see that she is managing very well under the circumstances. Her phone call prompted me to write out two "Thinking of You" cards....one for my mother and the other for my husband's cousin who is dealing with cancer. I try to send a homemade card once every two weeks. It was another clear sunny day, so I walked them to the post office. When I returned I spent the rest of the afternoon working on some hand embroidery on the pillow cases.

Bless over at My Two Cents mentioned that her messy desk represented items that needed attention. Likewise, the papers on my desk were papers that needed filing, reading, or recording. Some papers I had printed out (recipes, patterns, craft ideas, etc.) had to be put into page protectors and put into the appropriate binders. Some of it was mail that I wanted to read and some were bills that had already been paid and dated but had yet to be filed. Some of the bits of paper were cash receipts that needed to be recorded and put away into an envelope.

This is just a used envelope I have recycled for the month of March. At the top is the amount of cash I have on hand for household expenses. Each time I spend money, I deduct the oop from the balance that is left, and place the cash receipt inside. The money stays in my wallet, but I keep the receipts together. Hopefully, the amount showing at the bottom of the column is in fact the amount in my wallet. It is.

The other column is a little confusing. I took out $60 for gas this month, but needed to deposit $40 back into my account the other day. Oopsie. Not to worry. I spent a $25 gift card on gas and still have $20 remaining if I need it.

Meals This Week (last Friday to Thursday)

Dirty rice (made with cauli rice)
A HUGE Cobb salad for my birthday lunch, then later in the evening, leftover dirty rice
Pork chops, creamed spinach and sauteed cabbage
Leftover pork chop, cabbage and broccoli
Meatloaf with a veggie casserole topped with cheddar cheese
Encore presentation (leftovers from the night before)
Sliced dinner ham with veggies in a cream cheese sauce

I should probably mention here that veggie casseroles are usually "above ground" varieties that include some of broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, spinach, green beans, zucchini and red or yellow peppers. If I cook turnip, carrots, asparagus, Brussel sprouts or cabbage, I will usually refer to them specifically.

 Hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend.

Domestic Goddess

Queen of the Domestic Arts. However you want to refer to me is fine. In other words, I did about an hour's worth of housework today. I knew something was amiss this morning when I frittered away the whole morning on my computer. It was as though I was building up stamina to doing something onerous and completely out of character. I must have sensed something in the air because about 11:30 AM, I pulled  up my rugs and scatter mats and hung them outside over the railing on the verandah. I pulled  out the vacuum cleaner and  started cleaning in the downstairs half-bathroom, moved through the computer room, the dining room, kitchen and living room, picking up things and moving furniture as I went. If that wasn't enough, I filled a bucket with very hot water and disinfectant cleaner and wet mop those same floors. I kid you not.

It is amazing how much dirt my pets have left for me in the past. I have known for some time now that I have not been feeling the need to clean as much as I have in the past. It has been almost a year now since I lost my Satchel, and no I have not felt like replacing him yet with another animal. I like this feeling of being able to take off and not need to hurry home.  However, I digress. I figured I was getting terribly lazy in my old age, or at the very least, I had lowered my standards so much, I no longer cared. But after washing all those floors, I was amazed how relatively clean my bucket still was. Now my walls are a different story, but I am hoping to get to those eventually. It must be spring fever.

I unwrapped the parcel I made for my grands yesterday and repackaged them separately today so each shirt was able to fit inside a manilla envelope. I took them back to the post office and mailed them out as oversized mail. The postage for both of them was less than half the price of the package I wanted to mail yesterday. I am so grateful to the post master for suggesting this to me. Better yet, I will have Amazon deliver if there is a next time, and get FREE shipping.

Inspired by Bless over at My Two Cents, (and not to be outdone) I also tackled my desk area. You can see where I am used to filing papers on top of my printer. Unfortunately my desk does not have nice deep drawers like Bless, so I keep my STUFF in a plastic filing bin under the desk, or in photo boxes on top of hanging book shelves, or in binders (scattered all over the house close to where I use them).  Someday I will move the old hard drive and monitor out of there to give me more writing surface, but for now I am using both computers.

Before

After