Plumber's Assistant

While waiting for my BIL to arrive this morning, I started on the second bag of rutabaga. They were small and unwaxed, so they needed to be processed before they went bad on me. Large rutabaga are very difficult for me to cut into, so I love this size. I peeled, diced, boiled and mashed in my larger pot before transferring them to the freezer in smaller portion sizes.

Five pounds of rutabaga.

I got a call from my sister during this time to inform me that her husband wouldn't be here for another hour because he was taking Rocky into the pet groomer. My first reaction was to leave for the post office to pick up a package that I missed delivery on while I was staying at my dad's house yesterday. I have no idea what the package might be and I am very curious, but then I remembered that Wednesday morning is the time I have put aside to talk with an old friend from Kingston. She would be calling any moment now, so I decided to bake another loaf of almond bread and fried up a package of bacon while I waited. As it turned out, she did not phone until this afternoon.

 When my BIL  arrived I was prepared to help him out the best I could as his unpaid help, ha,ha. I felt like I was in surgery as he called out for tools and supplies and "more light".  I even provided some muscle power as we pulled the shower out of the closet. It did not break and the good news is that we can relocate this shower downstairs to be used along with my second bathroom. Great news. He soldered caps on the hot and cold water pipes inside the wall, cut the drain out and capped the air vent.

 It doesn't look like a closet yet. I will need some drywall around the base of the walls and the cutout where the pipes were capped. I have to remove some latex caulking and sand the walls to remove the glue. There is a hole in the floor that will have to be covered with more laminate flooring, but it is a nice deep closet like all the other closets in the house.

Downstairs I will need to remove some shelving that presently holds all of my coloured card stock, both 12x12 inch and 11x8 1/2 inch, because that is the perfect wall to build the new shower stall into.

After my BIL left for the day, I talked with my friend from Kingston, fried some ground beef and made a cream cheese sauce to make my dinner tonight. My sister came over for a cup of tea and is now downstairs picking up some more supplies to make cards at her house this evening. I will join her now to start removing all of that card stock in order to remove the shelving for next steps.

The mysterious package will have to wait another day before I can pick it up. Have a good evening.

Out on Tuesday

After finishing my post last night in which I stated I had no plans to go out today, my sister phoned. She and "Dee" were both going in to have some lab work done this morning. Would I mind going over to the house and sit with my dad? Of course I would love to go over. Well, for whatever reason, Tuesday morning is very busy for lab work. Who knew? They had to sit and wait for over an hour and a half before they were called in. I'm sure they would have turned around and come home, but knowing I was with my father, they stayed. My dad and I had a great conversation for almost an hour before he got fatigued and fell asleep. I could have kicked myself for not having brought some work with me. When I stayed with my husband, I always had some knitting or my tablet with me so I could be productive. Not today. So I found myself sitting in front of the TV thinking of all the stuff I could be doing.

When I finally got home I decided I had to get started on those 2 bags of rutabaga I bought last week. I peeled, diced, cooked and mashed one bag weighing 5 pounds. I put one portion in the fridge for tomorrow and froze the rest. I still had roasted veggies that I had to use up tonight with my angus burgers with fried mushrooms. Tomorrow I will deal with the other 5 pounds of rutabaga when I'm not helping my BIL remove the shower from the bedroom closet.

Sorry. No photos today. My cell phone is refusing to transfer any pictures to my computer today. I guess one of us is tired.  I've  put the dishwasher on and now I will go to bed.

Daybook: Monday, Feb. 24/20

Outside my window.....well, I'll have to get up and have a look-see. I already have the drapes drawn because it is 7 PM, and I am  just now getting around to writing. It is pitch dark. The street lights are bright enough though to see that the pavement is still wet with snow run off. The temperatures have been very mild the last few days causing a lot of melting. There's still LOTS of snow however.

I am thinking..... that I was busy enough today but I don't know that I accomplished a whole lot.

I am thankful for.....my good health that allows me to still do the things I want to do.

From the kitchen.....I warmed up leftovers for dinner tonight from the cooking I did over the weekend. I sauteed some shredded cabbage. I roasted some chicken breast and sausage with vegetables and baked another keto loaf of bread.

I am wearing.....black jeans, gray socks and a gray knit sweater with flutter sleeves.

I am creating.....some Easter and Springtime cards. I also made two more cards this morning specifically for two of my grand kids and a birthday card for a third grand child. I also mailed out 3 birthday cards I made for adult family members.

I am going.....nowhere planned for tomorrow. Today I accompanied my sister to No-Frills where I bought another 2 kg bag of frozen blueberries. We also picked up a prescription that I phoned in this morning.

I am hoping..... to prepare an end-of-month financial statement to show where I went over budget and how to avoid it in the future.

I am hearing.....songs from Abba that Alexa is playing in the background. I am listening to "Fernando" this very moment.

Around the house.....I have too many things strewn about. I need to do a tidy-up when I finish this post. Tomorrow is garbage and recycling day. We cannot put anything outside until tomorrow morning because of the wildlife. Garbage attracts crows, raccoons and bears.

One of my favourite things.....is Face Time with the grand kids.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include removing the shower from the bedroom closet and finally finishing up my lower kitchen cabinets.

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

Two Easter cards for kids. Both have grass and cloudy sky backgrounds that I inked in with my new makeup brushes. The cute little critters are made with my Cricut machine.

Here I am Again

 If you came here to find out how I spent the last few days in the Big City, you came to the wrong place. If you thought I hadn't been posting because I was having too great a time shopping and dining, I am sorry to disappoint. We ended up NOT going after all. The main reason we were going to the Sault, was to drive "Dee's" brother back home. He had surgery on his hand for carpal tunnel last week. He couldn't drive but he had the opportunity to get a ride to Elliot Lake and stay here for a week to recuperate. We were going to drive him back; but in the end, he was able to get a ride back with someone else. That was very fortunate because my dad is not very well lately, and he was feeling particularly rough that day and not up to travelling at all. We were all relieved. And since I had nothing else planned for the day, after my tea with a friend at the local tea shop, I used those few hours to catch an afternoon nap. That evening, I caught up with lots of well wishes from friends and family by phone, email and face-time. I received a lot of cards and e-cards, and felt especially blessed.

Friday morning started early with a trip to a local thrift store because my sister had some "inside information" about a lot of crafting and card-making supplies having arrived for donation. They were already out on the floor, but we were there bright and early for first pickings and got some great deals on stuff we use. While we were down there, I went next door to the deli where I still had some money left on a gift card. I bought 4 chicken breasts, 4 hot Italian sausages, and four sausages with jalapeno.
I also picked up two packages of pepperoni marked down to $5 each, to use up the last bit of the gc. Then we went back to my place to hold a marathon card-making day to start our Easter cards. I also stamped a few images on card stock so I would have some colouring to do for yesterday's card-making club. I ate supper late and then answered some more emails and phone messages before falling into bed.

Here is the card I made for my sister. I love  "house mouse"  designs for stamping and colouring.

Yesterday morning I drove over to my dad's house for 8:30. My dad had decided he wanted to go out for coffee and breakfast with the members of his ham radio club, but by the time I got there, he had changed his mind. He thinks he really wants to do things, but the body is weak. "Dee" needed a break, so we went out anyway. After breakfast, she went to her bank while I went to Rexall for the weekend specials. (eggs for $1.99 a doz., Black Diamond cheese for only $3.99, and Greek yoghurt reduced to $2 for each container) I also picked up 2 9-volt batteries for the smoke detectors. The one outside my bedroom began its annoying "beep" because the battery was low. And yes, I am over my monthly budget.

Yesterday was card-making and scrap-booking club, and it was a full house. The nice sunny "spring-like" weather brought everyone out in droves. All those people who spend their winters inside hibernating have begun to stir, ha,ha. It's a false alarm, however. There are still two more months of snow. Last night I just relaxed and unwound by playing solitaire and had Alexa play some Abba songs. I like to play solitaire when I feel too tired to do anything else. I haven't made any plans yet for today. I only have one more week remaining in the month of February. Gotta get 'er done.

My Sister's Birthday

We are going over to my Dad's house again for dinner. "Dee" is roasting a turkey dinner for us and making a keto dessert for the birthday dinner. My sister is contributing a cauliflower dish and I will make the keto gravy. I made my sister a birthday card yesterday. I took a photo but won't show it until tomorrow, after she has received it.

Today I picked up my sister in the van and drove over to No-Frills, after baking another keto loaf of bread.  I didn't think I would need to pick up groceries this week, but I really did need to buy coffee (which I forgot about last week) and more eggs for the week. But unfortunately, I did not just stick to my list. I picked up a few specials and things I thought I needed.

 Veggies (fresh and frozen) for $17.80 and bacon for $3.  I bought 10 lbs of rutabaga for $5.94. Later,  I will peel, dice, cook, mash, and freeze in portions. I bought 2 bags of oriental mix, red onion, more cabbage and a bag of riced cauliflower. That was a splurge at $3.97

Dairy cost $13.45  The smaller containers cost less than the usual large containers I buy, AND the cottage cheese has also gone up in price. I really notice the price increases now on the products I am always buying. 

Pantry items cost me $24.21  Folgers coffee was the cheapest ground coffee to buy this week at $7.97
My 30 coffee pods that I buy for company cost $11.97  The baking soda was $1 and no name baking powder was $3.27  I spent a total of $58.45 incl. taxes on groceries this week, which leaves me a total of $15 for the rest of the month. Of course I can go over if I need to, but I will try not to. That is the whole idea of trying to live on a budget. At the end of the month, I will give a clearer picture of my spending, what I learned and how to do better.

When I returned home, I made a tuna salad sandwich with my freshly baked loaf and my keto mayonnaise that I order through Amazon. I also had a side of cottage cheese. I cleared more snow from the top of my driveway so I can drive up further. We were going to travel to the Sault today, but that has been postponed until tomorrow, as more snow was predicted. Tomorrow is MY turn to have a birthday. I will be turning 70...seven...zero. I've been spoiled all week with lots of cards and gifts coming in the mail. I'll be meeting a friend for tea in the morning and then we will leave in the afternoon for an overnight stay in Sault Ste Marie. Have a great evening and I may or may not be posting tomorrow.

Family Day

One of the blogs I check out from time to time is Thrifty Mom in Boise, by a single woman with two girls. They all pitch in for only 15 minutes a day to do housecleaning chores to keep on top of things. Well I can tell you right now that 15 minutes a day would not begin to cut it for me. It takes me forever to get things done. It would take me the whole 15 minutes just to wash down one of my kitchen shelves.  But yesterday morning, I decided to give it a try anyway.

In my Daybook post, I identified a few little jobs that needed doing in my "around the house...".  I said that I still needed to make my bed, vacuum up the front door hallway, wash down the kitchen counters, and pick up the paper strips and scraps that littered my dining table. If I set a timer, surely I could do that in 15 minutes. Here is how that experiment went.

It started out great. I started out making my bed and then I grabbed the vacuum cleaner from the closet in the back bedroom. I vacuumed the mat  and the surrounding tile at the front door, and as long as I already had the vacuum out, I could quickly do the kitchen floor and the mat at the side door. It would only take a few seconds more. Since my deep cleaning job for the day was to scrub down the spice cabinet shelves, I should take the opportunity to vacuum out those shelves before I washed them. But first I would need to take all the spice jars out. Well, I could do that and just take that time off the 15 minute time limit. And if I was going to prepare the spice cabinet for a scrub, I should also remove all the items from the top of my pantry cupboards, so when I ran my bucket of hot water I could just do both jobs quickly. I could spritz my homemade cleaner on the surfaces to begin the process. But as I was removing the potted aloe, the top heavy plant shifted in the clay pot and spilled over.

Now I had aloe plants and dirt all over the floor that I had just vacuumed. Thank goodness I had bags of potting soil and empty plant pots in the back bedroom.  I repotted the aloe into a bigger container and the little babies were put back into the smaller clay pot, so now I could redo the kitchen floor and wipe up all the kitchen counters. My experiment was already shot, so I gave up and began my deep cleaning of the cabinets.

The top of these cabinets took a lot of work, so after they were scrubbed and dried, I lay down pieces of rubberised shelf liners. Next time I will just throw those in the washing machine to clean. By this time, it was 12:45 and I was expecting company to arrive after one o'clock. The papers were still on the dining table, so I made lunch instead.

One of my afternoon visitors was my sister. We went down to the craft room and I finished off my first mini scrapbook.

 The covers are pages of a child's board book. I pick them up very cheaply at thrift stores and yard sales, and then cover them with scrapbook paper. The binding is layered duct tape (I used white for this book, and hot glued some brown twill ribbon over the seam.)

 Here is a picture inside the first page. There are 3 page "assemblies" in this book. I use the envelope mini scrapbook by Kathy Orta on You Tube and I use her hinge and binding system. These are 5x7 inch black envelopes and notecards from Michaels.

 One page assembly holds 18 large photos, not counting the little mats. ("This is my story" card you see in this photo) These smaller mats that I have included, can be tucked into the bottom pockets. These are also matted on both sides to include smaller photos or some journalling.  The double pocket insert with the two larger photo mats seen here is made from one 12x12 inch piece of black cardstock.  The double pocket  is attached to the flaps of the two envelopes, and then matted with decorative paper to hide the "mechanics" of gluing the envelopes and card stock together. 

Different sized photo mats are included within the album. The note cards hold photos as large as 4x6, four photos per notecard. The tall photo mat (mustaches) is 7x4 1/2 inches, so could hold one large photo with journalling, or two smaller photos, on both sides. The next size is also for a 4x6 photo, and the small tag is just under 3x4 inches.  All the mats are decorated front and back to hold photos. The actual envelope pages are for 5x7 photos. I have made several of these books as gifts. Some I have already filled with photos, and some are for filling by the recipient. I have decorated for masculine, girly-girly,  every day and graduation pictures. Some have been 3 pages assemblies and some hold only two (for 36 plus).

These are easy to make, but time consuming and repetitious. So I will be making Easter cards now for a while before I begin my next mini photo album. Today's activity will be snow shovelling. It is really coming down right now.

Daybook: Monday, Feb. 17/20

Outside my window.....it is a clear, sunny day with a current temperature of minus 13 degrees. The snow outside my living room window is almost as high as the bottom ledge.

I am thinking.....that I won't be able to remove my Christmas lights for maybe another two months because they are buried in snow and ice.

I am thankful for.....lots of bright sunny days. Although colder, they are better than overcast, snowy days.

From the kitchen.....there hasn't been a lot of cooking going on the past few days. I baked a loaf of keto bread and made chili on Saturday, but last night we enjoyed another great meal by my sister at Dad and Dee's house. It was the meal she prepared for Bingo night, but we couldn't have,  due to the weather. She sent leftovers home with me for tonight's dinner.

I am wearing.....black jeans, black socks, and a dark gray thin knit pullover sweater with draped neckline.

I am creating.....some mini scrapbooks decorated with masculine papers for future projects. I will soon have to start some Spring and Easter cards for the kids and family members.

I am going......nowhere planned today as it is a provincial holiday called Family Day. I believe the stores are closed and I don't need anything. I will face time with my kids later today.

I am hoping.....to clean more kitchen cabinets today, as I did not get to them on the weekend.

I am hearing.....the ticking of my mantle clock. I don't usually think of asking Alexa to play music unless I am crafting. I love the sound of silence.

Around the house.....my bed still needs to be made, the front door  hallway needs to be vacuumed again, and the kitchen counters need to be wiped down after I opened my used coffee pods this morning to save the grounds for my garden (to be). I have some decorative scrapbook paper strips still left on the dining table that I will paste together to make background mats for future cards.

One of my favourite things.....is still my crafting space downstairs.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include a day trip to Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday (weather dependent) and meeting my friend at a downtown tea shop on Thursday. She was meeting with friends this morning whom she hasn't seen for quite a while, and so we moved our Monday morning date to Thursday.

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

View from my patio door this morning. Sometimes, I wonder if I will ever be able to sit out on the patio this summer. That is my BBQ just to the left. On the right hand side is my round patio table. The snow is higher than the top of the table. But notice that there are no houses immediately behind my house. It is just an open field...very private.