Yippee!

The heavy snowfall warning is ended. It is headed north of us.  This is one time I really hope the weather report is right!

Spring, take 2

Well, here we are at Easter, and under a heavy snowfall warning yet again.  This is really starting to get me down.  Kris and I traded yard pictures on Tuesday. There were taken within minutes of each other.  His yard had no snow at all, and he had a lawn chair out on his deck.  My SNOW has no yard at all, and my patio table is just appearing out of the snow bank it has been buried in all winter.  I guess it will disappear again tonight :( 

I did another power cooking today.    2 big bags of crockpot stew, 4- 4 cup bags of chili and 4 - 8 x 8 lasagne.  I am all set to make a couple of quiches, but I have to wait for what I have done to freeze so I can stack it and have a flat surface to freeze the quiches on.  If I am ambitious I will do some chicken tomorrow or maybe Monday.  Rrain is coming over for supper on Sunday.  When the forecast was for 14 degrees we decided on BBQ steak and chicken pieces wrapped in bacon .  Good thing Jim still has the BBQ inside the garage door.  He should be able to get to it, but it won't be the outdoor meal we had planned.  Since I am on this cooking spree I think I will make a bumble berry pie for desert.  The last one disappeared really fast, so I guess people like it.  (No wonder I have gained so much weight!  I seem to be obsessed with food!) The really sad thing is that I don't have anything for supper tonight!  I think I mentioned that we ordered new windows.  Unfortunately, because of the weather, they can't install them yet.  Firstly, because it is still too cold to leave the house open and secondly, the snow is still to deep for them to work.  And now I get to call MTS cause I managed to lock my voicemail.  Some days you wonder why you got out of bed.  At least it is a nice long weekend and maybe I can sleep in one day.  Love Ya

A tough decision made

Yesterday we spent a good part of the day checking out chairs in the furniture stores in the Polo Park area.  As we found around here, there was no evidence of the sort of chair I have in mind.  The feedback from salespeople has been telling us the same thing.  We also recognize that we are at a stage in life when we should be down-sizing, not buying furniture.  So we decided to go no further.  The chair we have ordered will do fine, for somewhere for me to sit in the living room, and should serve me well in terms of the after effects of my pending surgery and the rehab process.  My small wing chair from the basement will do fine as a second chair in the area formerly taken up by the couch--which has now gone to thrift store heaven along with the matching chair and a dresser that has been in the garage--here and on Woodside,--for ever 25 years.  The decision from my perspective was to settle for a living room full of mis-matched furniture, or make myself crazy searching for the right colour.  But--I have always had a touch of smokey blue in my living room, --now there will be more--along with a blueish burgundy.  Thank Goodness, my larger wing chair is a nice neutral ivory.

We were out and about right after breakfast, today, thinking that we would be better to grocery shop early in the day, than later.  We found out that gas has gone up 6 cents a litre over night--Bah!  Humbug!  Since I have so much that I want to do over the weekend, we decided to cook both a ham and a turkey, and dine  on leftovers over the next few day, but still had to stock up on fruit and veggies.  Now I am waiting to hear about my sewing machine.  I'm hoping to get it back today, otherwise it will probably be next week.  But, I have to say that my old Pfaff is just trucking along, and doing fine.  I did a good portion of the quilting on my last quilt using the Pfaff, and it looks good.  ( Maybe better?? fewer thread nests on the back.)  About the only thing I really miss, right now, is the larger harp on the Janome.

So now I am off to the studio.  I have a couple of "arty" ideas--finally!

Winter is finally here......

.....with snow, blowing snow, and more windy blowing snow. Thank goodness I heard the forecast and covered the greenhouses best I could last night. So hard to believe that yesterday we were working outside, shovelling rain that came in torrents, and transplanting in the greenhouses and mixing soil, and filling watering cans. This morning I had to shovel the snow accumulated at the front door in order to take the dog out first thing. I know it is no different with you folks, but enough already! I had a little Birthday party with Mike and Erin yesterday in North Bay. I had to go up early so dropped in at their place after my chores were done, and had coffee and Birthday cake and presents. It was so nice to visit and relax and enjoy.
Today must go to Burk's Falls to pick up our Income Taxes that are completed - they phoned Friday to give me a heads up that both Harry and I have to pay mucho dollars this year.
So spoiler alert - and a heads up for you folks as well, I must re evaluate my plans to come to Winnipeg this year and at this point, realize that the trip will be too much of a challenge for me for a number of reasons, and therefore, plan to cancel plans. Glad that we didn't make any firm commitments. Also glad Cathy is already planning her vacation getaway to meet with Tim and family. You will have a wonderful trip Cathy. For my part, I still look forward to a Christmas trip to Winnipeg for 2015 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary!!  Take care
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Another birthday!

Have a great day Beth.  Maybe enjoy a little Black Forest cake?

When we were in buying my chair, the salesman and I spent a couple of minutes reminiscing, mainly about people we knew "in the day".  One I mentioned was our cousin Ian Cochrane, and darned if I didn't find Ian's obituary in Saturday's paper.  He was married to Catherine McIntyre, who was daughter to Lori and Sandy McIntyre.  Lori was a niece/cousin to Grannie McGrath, and the two had been of an age, so were raised almost as sisters.  Lori gave her name to Lorraine, and perhaps, Laurence as well.  Certainly there have been a string of Catherines in the family, on both sides, if you remember Auntie Cay, Grandpa McGrath's sister.  In any case, Catherine McIntyre was an OT and was responsible for getting me into the profession.  We used to see each other at meetings, etc, and she was very much a mentor to me.  She died in middle age of Cancer of the Pancreas.  David and I took Lorraine to the funeral.  Lori was there at quite an old age, and seemed to think it was a social occasion.

I'm trying to think about what you could freeze, Cathy.  I freeze a lot of casseroles.  I will mix them up and put them in casserole dishes ready to cook and then freeze them.  If there are left overs, we freeze them, and then just heat them in the microwave.

The old stand-by, chicken, rice and mushroom, with mushroom soup freezes well.  My Kraft dinner casserole actually lasts us for two meals, so half gets frozen,  That is: one box of Kraft dinner cooked according to package.  Mix in meat scraps (Ham is best, but chicken, turkey, salmon work well), and a bit of chopped celery or green pepper.  Then add a can of Cream of Celery soup, and about 1/2 can of milk. Pour into a casserole and add a few bread crumbs on top ( I have also used a half can of French's French Fried Onions, on top.  WOW!).  Bake for about 40 minutes, or until warmed through.

Another one we make is "That Wild Rice Thing"
Crumble and brown 4 oz of Italian sausage.  (I use "mild")  Cook 1/2 cup white rice in 1 cup water, cook 1/3 cup wild rice in 1 1/3 cup water.  Prepare one package of French's onion Gravy mix according to package directions.  Mix everything together,  adding 1/2 can of French's French Fried Onions.  Pour into a casserole dish and cook covered for about an hour.  Remove the lid and sprinkle the other half can of fried onions over the top and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Do you have Daddy's recipe for Seven Layer Dinner?  Some people call it "Shipwreck".  Raw potatoes don't freeze well, but the casserole, itself, freezes nicely, once cooked.  We'll be having it later this week--provided I can find the sausages in the freezer.  We still haven't sorted that out.

I also freeze things like cooked rice in meal size packages.  What sort of meats are you freezing?  I often freeze sliced pork tenderloin cooked in French's Mushroom gravy mix, with canned mushrooms mixed in.  Daddy's ribs freeze well.

French's gravy mixes can be expensive, but I buy them at Dollarama for 2/$1.25.  French's French Fried Onions, are sometimes found in stores with canned vegetables, but more often with salad dressings.

Let me know if this helps.  David is off right now trying to buy Hot Cross buns, on sale at Safeway.  If he gets any we plan to freeze those, as well.

Another day of celebration in our family

Happy Birthday Beth.  I hope it is a fun day for you.  Maybe even another fire.  Our firepit is out of the snow now. Or at least the snow is below the top of it for a change.  Yesterday's snow melted off the roads quickly, but is still covering all of our yard.  It is not supposed to get above 0 here until next Saturday.  I wasn't able to find a small turkey here, so our Easter dinner is going to be bbq steak and bacon wrapped chicken pieces.  If the forecast holds true it will be 11 on Easter Sunday.  Enjoy your birthday, Beth, and hopefully Pati's day will be just as nice

Anticipating plus plus rainfall....

...and not very pleased with prospect of pumping and shovelling. Just read Wpg Free Press and following news about your snowstorm, and the potential for flooding on Assiniboine River as water levels are rising quickly. Apparently Highway 5 south was closed - I expect this doesn't affect you Cathy? Also says they may open Portage Diversion within 24 hours to help with expected water and ice jams.  I guess in our desire to be done with Winter and get on with Spring we forget to remember that with Spring comes rain and water and flooding etc etc.
Well, as a sort of ritual I went out to my stove and made a fire just now. I have been thinking about this for some time now, and tonight seemed like the right time to light up my very first fire for this year. It felt good. A neighbour walked by and talked to me through the trees so I guess I wasn't really alone, was I?  The other day I prepared by shoveling a path to the stove and my bench, and gathered up some dead sticks lying all over the snow from Winter windfall. I really like this new stove, and hopefully will be able to spend many an evening of enjoyment during the Summer as last Fall when we got it, I didn't get to try it out much.
Hope you recover from your rogue storm Cathy, and hope that Pati was not affected with the weather for her day of volunteering at the studio. Take care