Good day to all! Hope this finds you all well and healthy and safe.
I am doing pretty well. We have had decent weather for the beginning of December. The first of the week was a bit icky, but we have mellowed to having days in the 40's and nights in the 20's and on and off sunshine. Had a brief flurry on Monday (I believe), but nothing stuck.
According to the weatherman the month of December may be warmer and drier than normal in our area. OK! Sounds good to me.
There was a couple days that I heard the call of crows/ravens (whatever they are). Looking out back, there were a good dozen or more between my yard and the neighbors. They were huge!!!! I watched one walking down the alley as if he owned it. Just kind of strutting along. There is just something ominous about them to me. I don't know why - they just give me the creeps. Thank goodness they were just passing through.
It is funny - we have lots of doves and pigeons that show up as well as all the littler birds. Blackie could care less - he lays out there under a bush with pigeons and doves eating right next to him. BUT - let the hawk show up, and he is up and moving! I have a very large adult hawk and a younger one that comes by from time to time. I mean this would be paradise to them - so many small birds. Blackie is not having it. He does all he can to scare/chase them off. I just wonder if he senses that they are predators and not friendly. It is really strange to watch.
My nephew came into town Saturday for business and came by for a nice visit. It was great to see him. We had some great conversation. Usually only get that opportunity on the phone. Super enjoyed the visit. Great way to end the week.
This week - nothing major to report. Just a lot of small things - none of which took a lot of time - but needed done.
- My biggie - didn't leave the property all week and spent ZERO money!!!!
- I froze turkey pieces for wraps and some for soup (chopped)
- Made a small pot of turkey and noodles
- Got more items together for donations
- Made some cuttings of some very old house plants that I have - to root in water
- Printed out some recipes I found
- Have had FREE premium channels all week and have been recording some movies to watch later
- Put together new bottles of dish soap and shampoo - both with a bit of vinegar added
- I spent about a day and a half straightening all the pantry stock. Upstairs daily pantry, basement stock and second bedroom pantry over flow. I brought up a lot from downstairs. Organized, cleaned, inventoried and re-arranged and rotated.
- I jarred up a bunch more pasta. Did a gallon glass jar of veggie rotini and a gallon pf thin spaghetti. Spaghetti is a pain - so stopped after one gallon jar - as it doesn't fit and you have to break it all to fit in jar. Brought the balance of boxes upstairs. I refilled all my kitchen jars as well.
- Started working on my jar recipes for gifting.
- Found a good Christmas music channel on cable and have been listening to many oldies.
- Just doing all the basics of everyday life. Not a lot of excitement at my house!!
Meals this past week:
Turkey and noodles and slaw
Fried garbanzo beans topped with taco meat, cheese and diced tomatoes
Hash browns and southwest pinto beans (canned)
Cheeseburger 'sloppy Joes' and fries
Rice mixed with leftover Joe mix & cheese and salad
Meat/cheese and veggie wrap
Fried rice with mixed veggies and ham pcs. added
**Finished up the desserts left from Thanksgiving as snacks
How has your week been? What is everyone up to? Baking, shopping, crafting, wrapping or just snuggling for a long winter nap?
I pray you all have good and thrifty week ahead. Stay well.
Blessings to you and yours from my humble little home to yours.
Thank you Lord for ALL our blessings. Amen
Be glad you don't have 10,000 crows roosting in your neighborhood every night. That is happening in the big city near me. I don't like crows, either.
ReplyDeleteHadn't gone out for 8 days, but had to run errands this week. Got 8 bottles of husband's prune juice from WalMart, saving over $1/bottle versus our local grocery. Returned library books on the way there, saving another trip.
Someone had put their food pantry rejects at our community mailboxes. I took a 5-lb bag of flour and a couple of cans of cherry pie filling. There was a lot of good, nutritious food in the box, but I noticed the junk food was gone first.
I cleaned out pants and nice jeans from my working days and donated them. They were all at least two sizes too big!
Shopped at St. Vinnie's yesterday and got 5 books, 2 sheets, and 3 tea towels for less than $12. One of the books is a 1972 updated reprint of a 1950 Mennonite cookbook with over 1100 recipes. Lots of yummy ideas!
Been finding lots of change in the street lately. It pays to walk! Also took 2 abandoned Aldi shopping carts in from the parking lot and made 50 cents. Every little bit helps.
Got a $20 credit on the natural gas bill because the company had been bought, triggering some sort of regulatory issue requiring a refund.
Cleaned out my kitchen pantry and other food storage and reorganized by date. Also did the deep freezer, organizing things into plastic bins (that I already had). Discovered a number of things that I will not need to buy for a while. That freezer sure has been a blessing!
A few weeks ago, I cancelled the order for the new refrigerator, since they weren't going to be able to get one in until at least January. I'd ordered it in July and put 50% down, and they refunded my money. The old refrigerator is working better now that it is not overloaded, so I'm going to wait on ordering a new one. I doubt a new one will be as well made as the old one is.
I took a look at some of our routines and made some changes in order to save money. I had been doing laundry on a weekly basis for so long because that worked best when I was employed. Now I am doing it every 9 days. That will reduce the water and electric bills by about 4 loads a month. I also reduced the number of showers I'm taking by 1/3. When the warm weather returns, I will have to increase it again, but it will save money and dry my skin less in the winter.
Hope everyone has a safe and frugal week!
Good to see you post. 10,000 crows no thank you!! EEK!
DeletePantry rejects and you got flour and cherry pie filling? That is good stuff - who is crazy enough to reject things like that? SMH
It does pay to watch where you are walking. I generally always find some change when I am out - and I pick it up too!
Good going on organizing - it sure does feel good to do that. It is nice knowing what you have on hand.
I don't blame on canceling the frig. Good job.
Sometimes I don't do laundry but every 2 weeks. I have enough clothes and towels to last - so I wait.
It is amazing how all the little things add up. Way to stay frugal! Have a good week.
Your week sounds lovely. We have a hawk that frequents our yard and I watched him carry off a cardinal one day. Nature can be cruel.
ReplyDeleteOh no. I saw a hawk grab a pigeon one day and it flew a few feet and decided it was not the best idea. Dropped the pigeon and boy did that baby fly off quickly!
DeleteI guess everything is part of the circle of life and has it's purposed - doesn't mean we have to like it.
Have a good one.
Yes, a hawk grabbed a pigeon in my yard. I spotted it before the hawk took off again and tried to think what I could do to save the pigeon, but two seconds later the hawk and his dinner were gone.
DeleteOh no. Whenever I see the hawk I go out and shoo them away - not sure how much that helps. At least during that moment I saved something. Maybe it will get tired of being shoo'd off!
DeleteSounds like a good week to me. I don't like those big blackbirds either. We were always told that when there were only 3 of them grouped together it heralded an impending death...maybe that is what freaked me out from when I was a kid. lol
ReplyDeleteHope you have a blessed Sunday-xo Diana
Well I am glad there were a lot of them then, I guess! LOL
DeleteIt was a nice quiet week and felt a little accomplished.
Have a great week.
We used to have crows here all the time for a few years. When they started carrying on I would go out back and call back to them and they would fly off. I guess after a long time of me heckling them they moved on. Then we had crows at our house at the lake and we laughed that they had followed us there but I did not feel amused at all. Thankfully we have not heard or seen any for about a year but I agree that they give me the creeps. I always think of Poe's creepy poem 'The Raven.'
ReplyDeleteSpaghetti is a huge pain to store. Walmart had one pound pkgs in bags for .25 each back on October and we bought a dozen and they sat in the kitchen for several weeks because they just did not work in the pantry. Everywhere we stacked them they slid around. Finally I put them in a drawstring bag that pink salt had come in and they stayed on the shelf. We looked through every storage container and jar we had and it would not fit. But, we won't need to buy it for a long time since we already had a good supply.
That is what I think about as well - that poem always creeped me out.
DeleteYes it is a pain. I finally found a box and just stacked the rest of it on end in the box. I have some tall tins - yet just an inch or so too short. Grrrr. I think it's a mad plot!!!!! LOL
My goodness I probably won't need to buy any for years.
SMILES
I just received two containers from Amazon that work for my spaghetti and lasagna noodles. They are snack lock containers and I'm quite pleased with them.
ReplyDeleteTuesday I made the round of small shops up the road from me - the Liquor store, ATM, drugstore, Fruit & veg mart and the library - in and out of each in under 10 minutes for each stop. This morning I went to the grocery store - first time in nearly two weeks. No particular deals but got what I needed - in and out in under 20 minutes and it was very quiet. I can do these sorts of stops using just one transit fare if I can be headed home in under 2 hours - I can make lots of stops along the way but get off and on for one fare within that 2 hr. limit. This morning I got on the train home with about 7 minutes to spare - some days I've made it back on to my final train with about a minute to spare! :-)
I've also started doing laundry mush less often and usually only once every 10 days. I liv win an apt. building with a laundry room in the basement so it takes a bit of planning. I've organized things so that I'll probably do 3 loads at the end of this week and won't go back down again until the New Year. I always stock up on things like socks and undies - I wear day to day things over and over again as I'm mostly working from home and I'm only sitting at a computer. I also tend to shower every other day now and wash my hair every third day - saves water and shampoo!
Used up soup and stew from the freezer for some meals - cooked some sausages to have with ratatouille (from the freezer) over pasta one night and had pirogues twice for vegetarian meals.
Paid my bills online and walked with a friend for entertainment so not an expensive week!
I guess I will keep looking for containers.
DeleteThat is neat that you have a 2 hour period on one ticket to get things done. I hope they keep your train cleaned!
I often wear things a couple days as well. If I am not out working in the yard and getting all sweaty - why not? I do my hair about every 2-3 days depending on if I am going out.
Glad you got to use up freezer food. That is always so frugal.
Have a good one.
Good for Blackie! Obviously the hawks haven't attempted to attack him yet. One of my brother's cat suffered a serious injury to her back leg, but survived an attack several years ago. Scary!
ReplyDeleteHave a good week ahead, take care and stay well!
I would be VERY angry if one of the hawks went after a cat. The cats are all pretty decent size. I have been surprised they haven't gone after squirrels myself.
DeleteTake care
Learn something new today.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sciencealert.com/crows-ravens-corvids-best-birds-animal-intelligence
That is interesting. I knew they could use deductive reasoning and utilize 'tools'. Amazing. They are still creepy!!!!!
DeleteThanks
It is almost impossibl e to find something glass to store spaghetti!
ReplyDeleteYes it is. Glass or metal - just not tall enough.
DeleteGuess that is why we improvise.
Have a good one.
So glad you had a nice visit with your nephew! I know it did your heart good. Sounds like Blackie is a good protector. Smart kitty.
ReplyDeleteWhere we used to camp when the kids were little, there were always crows roosting in the tree above us, and they would start cawing at 5 am every morning. But the creepiest thing, we were outside cleaning the porch lights, and I looked up and there were 3 vultures spaced evenly across the peak of my roof. Sooo creepy, I hope it wasn't an omen. I'll be glad when this year is over
Oh it did. I was so happy to see him.
DeleteOh my goodness. As creepy as I think crows are - vultures are just NO! They are so ugly. I would just cr*p if I saw one in my yard!
Thank goodness that is something I have never seen around my neighborhood. I have seen them at the big cemetery downtown - but that is as close to home as I have seen.
STAY SAFE!
Wonderful you got to visit with your nephew face-to-face. Zoom and Facetime are okay but nothing like the real thing.
ReplyDeleteCrows were plentiful on the farm where I grew up. This is some information I gleaned from the Audubon Society. "What is the difference between a raven and a crow? You probably know that ravens are larger, the size of a Red-tailed Hawk. Ravens often travel in pairs, while crows are seen in larger groups. Also, watch the bird's tail as it flies overhead. The crow's tail feathers are basically the same length, so when the bird spreads its tail, it opens like a fan". Whichever it is, they are still reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe. A group of crows is called a murder, which adds to the creepy factor. If we spot a very large bird flying over, we bring the Chihuahuas in. They are heavy enough that it would be difficult for a bird to pick them up but they could do some serious damage.
You keep very busy and so do your readers! It would be lovely to sit and have tea with these very intelligent ladies, discussing all sorts of topics.
We had a roasted chicken on Saturday for the Sabbath and are still picking bits off the carcass. I may use the last to make a small batch of chicken and noodles today for lunch. Made potato cakes yesterday with onion, mild jalapenos chopped, red pepper, Chalula, cheddar cheese and taco cheese. The red pepper was one of the last ones from the garden.
Gloomy today but a good day to work inside. If we get the warmer temps midweek, outdoors we go to do some more cleanup.
Very interesting. A murder huh? Well, just another reason to think creepy.
DeleteI have thought that so often - wish we all lived close together and could share ideas and a cup of ---- whenever we wanted. Could make our own neighborhood!!! LOL
You meals sound so good. I love potato cakes.
I have been doing inside work today. Just dreary out. Blah.
Have a good one.
The weather is much different than last year. I actually think the South is having our weather! I'm glad you had a great visit.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I will take this weather for sure.
DeleteI have been doing a bit of baking, a bit of sewing, and of course cleaning. Still lots to do before Christmas.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Glad to hear you are getting into the holiday spirit!
DeleteBlessings
Over the weekend I deep cleaned my bathroom and did my normal cleaning in the rest of the house. I made 2 Dutch Apple pies, one for ds2 & family and one for Farmer's cousin. I also made turkey noodle soup for me and for ds2. And we had picked up organic blueberries and mangos for ddil (pregnant and sick right now. the only thing she can keep down is smoothies), so i cleaned them and flash froze them. In the afternoon I took all my goodies to DS2's and babysat the Littles while the parents were out.
ReplyDeleteI came home at dusk so helped chore and then we were in for the night.
Sunday I made blueberry muffins for us. We watched church on the computer. Farmer watched football. We talked to ds1. Made an Air Fryer meal for supper.
I had hoped to wrap gifts on Saturday but ran out of time. I am taking this Friday off from work and will do that then. We will be addressing cards in the evenings this week and will get them in the mail next Monday.
Our youngest grandson's 4th bday is next Thursday so we need to get his gift wrapped and find out what cake or dessert he wants. With mommy being preg. I'm pretty sure Grammie will be making it.
Enjoying the nice weather this week before the change comes next weekend.
All your food sounds yummy. You are really ambitious! So nice of you to get things to help your dil.'
DeleteI am sure grandson will love whatever Grammie makes.
Have a good one.
My first attempt to post went poof! How sweet Blackie protects the birds. Sounds like a blissful environment for the animals that come to you. We've really been enjoying our crow family this year. Their antics are adorable - they have so much personality. We've always put out scraps for them, but this year we started giving them actual bird food and dried worms...sounds gross, I know! My husband recently discovered that they love dog food! Ha! Hope they don't start barking ;)
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful you got to visit with your nephew...a gift that keeps on giving as you think on it. You've surely been a busy bee--I love that you have multiple pantries.
Our weather here has been cooler (thankfully)...38* around 6 a.m. and into the 70s at the warmest part of the day. Grateful, just wish the strong winds would go away!
Stay well - your fur and feather babies need you!!
I think crows will eat about anything!
DeleteOh how I miss the 70's. That is perfect weather to me.
Yes my fur babies need me and I need them!!!!
Thanks
Crow, in Animal medicine, is the bringer of change and Law. They are good creatures, if not a little scary looking, lol.
ReplyDeleteToday was my birthday and I enjoyed every blessed moment...
Well, shoot, Cheryl...quoth the raven, "nevermore."
ReplyDelete