Trying to build my energy and get on with it...

A cold really saps what you have and without having much reserve to bolster yourself,  can really lay you flat...but I am determined to forge ahead regardless. I get through the nights with great difficulty but come morning, and feeling a bit better, the plans for the day start to emerge without thoughts of the pending night time coming again. We got your Income tax returns back from accountant yesterday and was as I expected, so no surprises and I have to pay again which I'll do closer to end of April.

The radio station has a fund raiser for Association of Developmental Challenged Youth – the organization is volunteered based and assists these youth with equipment and programs. The two morning announcers stay up for 53 hours and broadcast non stop with hope of raising at least $1000.00 an hour. They are now in hour 50 and a bit shy of the goal but see the end of the marathon approaching. Usually at this point some corporate sponsors come forward with large donations and historically the goal is surpassed. Yesterday they had some medical problems – both of them became dehydrated and had to be relieved at different times and it was a big concern – they had the Manager of the station come on air to explain their primary goal would be for the health and safety of their announcers but still totally committed to the telethon continuing. They had another announcer come in to fill in and relieve the other two while each of them took some time to refresh and rehydrate. They are both back on now together to end the show at 10 am but I bet will take the entire weekend to recover.

A bit of snow and very cold temperatures are still apparent here and with not feeling well, it has taken all I had to ensure the greenhouses would survive the cold. I went to change the propane heater last night and noticed that the plants although enduring the weather, are in great need of attention and so hoping perhaps today I can get in there and water and organize a bit. Pinta! I heard from Aunt Evelyn that her neighbours were covering up their tulips etc – forget that here!

Yesterday I pulled out my unfinished quilt and my box of yoyos and attempted to see how many more yoyos I might need to make in order to embellish the quilt top as I envision it to be. A lot of work still required but the thrill was to actually look at it and I did accomplish to make about another half dozen yoyos. The alternative was to go to bed and I really did not want to do that!  So have a good weekend all, and hopefully a few nice bike rides – my bike riding will have to wait for awhile yet. Take care

 

More food!

Today we went grocery shopping.  The last couple of months have been a bit tight, and we've been living out of the freezer.  Well, the "freezer fairy" didn't come and we were forced to re-stock.  We have had bad exeriences buying meat at Super Store, but this week the Freebie" for buying $250 worth of food was a "butter basted turkey".  The last free turkey we got there was inedible--which is why we so much appreciate the turkeys we get through Cathy.  We knew we would be buying a lot and hoped and hoped that we had enough for  a turkey, even if we took it home and ground it up to make turkey burger. Well, she rings it up and the total is $322.00!  OMG! So after the turkey came off it was just under $300.We totaled everything up after we got home. and we put almost 30 meals of meat in the freezer.  Should do for awhile, and only two things of household cleaners--just about all food.  Biggest shopping we have done in months, but some things we only buy once a year.

Self improvement went bust today.  Toast and red jelly for breakfast, a grilled cinnamon bun and cookies for lunch, and pizza and cookies for supper, with Hawkins Cheezies for an evening snack.  But I did walk between Walmart and Superstore, instead of driving the 300'.

The airwaves are alive....

What a thrill to log on and see all the back and forth talk – and especially about food! Of course I think fondly about all those favourites you have mentioned however, it has been my experience over the years that to serve such meals is not received as favourably as you two recount. My kids loved tomato soup on toast with pieces of cheese cut up and melted in the soup. And I always liked the fried potatoes with pieces of bread and cheese – I know it was an attempt to expand the amount but still delicious. And if we think about it enough we might even mention the liver fried to leather!!! (OK, maybe not) How about caramel dumplings? And I loved Uncle Barnies stuffed white fish – either of you remember that?

I am now under the weather catching some of the bugs hanging around the house from Harry and have a bad cold and cough (and ear ache) that kept me awake last night, and thus laggy today. Why does the darn cold always hit you worse at night? We bought some pork chops yesterday and we just had them barbequed – a late lunch/early supper so to speak which is good as Harry has gone to bed and I am able to check the blog. The cold snap seems to be over for awhile and the temps are hovering around the freezing mark which makes it easier for me to regulate the greenhouses. I bought a few more clothes yesterday at Resources /Value Village and plan to actually take stock of what I have but to be fair these purchases are for me to wear now and not necessarily just for the trip although some could serve that purpose as well. So that's it for now – great to hear from you both. Take care

Goulash/hash

I know Mom made it because she didn't remember other things, and this was quick and easy.  I used to make it as a quick easy supper.  Since I retired, I still mainly look for quick and easy ( the more time in the studio), but once in awhile I have the urge to create and make something more time consuming like Rouladen or Pork/Chicken Souvlaki--not that the Souvlaki takes a lot of time, just a lot of planning ahead.  The rest of the time I count on my freezer and the meals I make up and stock-pile during my "power cooking" days.  I never cook just one of something, and make good use of "planned leftovers". Both David and I have found that we like variety, which is why I'm on a constant hunt for reasonable slow cooker recipes--put it together and forget it until it's time to eat.  I've even taken to using Shake'n'Bake with pork chops--put it all in the oven and forget it until the timer rings..   Our routine is evolving, and David is taking over many of the meals that involve using a frying pan at the last minute.

I guess I'm realizing that each of our lives is somewhat different, and our cooking styles reflect what is important in our lives, but there are some old home favourites that each of us continues to use--Peskies,  goulash/hash, and toast with red jelly.  Any others?

Goulash??

If you mean the "goulash" she made with hamburger, mushroom soup, peas, onions, mushrooms and anything else on hand, then yes, It is one of our favourites. Even Jim asks for it since I made it for him (of course he asks for peskies, too). I know we would have it on Thursday, and my friends and I would put it on Pizza on Friday for our card games. No one objected. They all seemed to enjoy it!

Toast for breakfast

I wonder if we go back to toast for breakfast because that was what Mom always fed us--toast with red jelly, and a glass of orange juice. I know that it's my "comfort" food.
Do either of you ever cook that hamburger hash that Mom used to make--day after day after day?  I may make it once or twice a year, and only because "Mince" was a Scottish staple, David had it at home, and my kids even had it at the lake.

Sleep

I was feeling a lot better (physically) yesterday, so we went grocery shopping yesterday afternoon, stopped at the drugstore, stuff like that. I had washed all the bedding yesterday morning, so when we got home I made the bed before supper. I lay down and woke up at 9:00pm. I guess I really must have needed sleep. Needless to say, we had no supper. It was just going to be pizza anyway. I didn't bother getting up at 9. I just got undressed and back into bed. Maybe we will have pizza for breakfast. I, too, am a carb addict. I have to have my toast for breakfast. I would rather have crackers than a chocolate bar. Why can't the good tasting food be what is good for you? Even tonight we are having roast, but it is going to have gravy and mashed potatoes with it! I did buy some veggies and fruit yesterday. That is a start. I guess we will watch the curling today. Or at least the 3-4 game. Hopefully Canada will win that and have a bronze instead of nothing. Winter has come back here again. below 0 at night and a forecast high of 1 for today. They are even talking freezing rain/snow for Monday & Tuesday. Summer was nice while it lasted. The bbq is still on the patio. It will stay there now until next winter. Just in case of a nice day. Rrain had another day of house/cat sitting. Dennis got storm stayed in Saskatchewan and couldn't make it back until today. Lynne is in Barbados... a bit of a trip to come home and feed the cats. The neighbours were over Thursday night. (I had just gone upstairs to go to bed,.... 8pm) They were telling us about their trip to Jamaica. They said that Cuba was really nice, and cheaper than Jamaica, but they are going back to Jamaica again next year. Just to the other side of the island. Maybe for my vacation I will go to the other side of Neepawa! Maybe Eden or Birnie! (whine whine whine). Time for my high carb, delicious breakfast.