Safe

Here we go another Netflix progamme based on a Harlan Coben book.  Once again was clueless until the last episode then everything meshed together.  Also once again there was a twist that no one saw coming until the last moment.  And once again well worth watching as it keeps your brain working trying to figure out who has done what!!!

I can't post the actual video here for some reason, but I did find the theme song to this series quite catchy.  Here is a link to Glitter and Gold.  I have never heard of this artist, Barns Courtney, have you?

Bits and bobs...........

Just having a catch up.  Been a busy weekend with one thing and another.  Snowed on Sunday, so we had a lazy snow day.  Hubby was watching football games from the UK.  He wanted to see the Wrexham game.  We watched the series on Netflix, Welcome to Wrexham, which was interesting.

On Saturday I went to Shopper's Drug Mart to pick up some things that were on sale.  You also got either 20 or 30k in points when you spent over $60.  I was lucky and got the 30k.  I stocked up on toilet paper; had coupons to make them cheaper.  Stocked up on coffee and picked up some "fancier" shampoo that was on clearance, along with the usual eggs.

This is what I spent and how many points I ended up with.

I spent $65.32, and got over 36k in points which is worth $36.  I had already cashed in $60 worth of points the day before, so my balance is down slightly at 313,114 points.  When I was in SDM, I actually stopped in my tracks as I was wandering round as I was shocked at the price increases in a lot of items.  I truly can't believe how much everything has gone up.

Got a couple of book reviews published also on Saturday, you can read them, here and here.

Someone was saying I didn't have much produce in my fridge.  I had a look (Sunday morning) and I have 3 romaine lettuce hearts, 3 sweet peppers, cabbage, carrots, rutabaga, courgette/zucchini, red onions, yellow onions and a cauliflower.  I maybe didn't have much in the photos, here.  I also have mandarins and bananas in the fruit bowl and potatoes in the cupboard.

I am going to make cabbage roll casserole, cauliflower with cheese sauce and garlic bread; shepherds pie, chicken and veggie stir fry this week, so that will use up a lot of veggies.  I may also make a lentil and sweet pepper soup for my lunch this week.  I got the sweet peppers on sale for $1.89 for the 3 which was a super deal.

I am now taking oldest grandson for swimming lessons every Friday, so I will be popping into another store I don't normally drive to, to pick up their deals as well.

I made Cabbage Casserole for supper on Sunday.  It will last us a couple of suppers.  I first posted this recipe here back in August 2008. It takes a while to bake in the oven, so it was good to cook it on a Sunday when the hydro is cheaper.  I love eating the crispy edges!!

It was yummy, been a while since I had made it, so made a lovely change.  Plus there is enough for another meal.

This weekend seems to have flown by.  Going to spend Sunday night doing a bit more cross stitch.  Still have one more book mark to complete after this one.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend? 

Harry and Meghan....

We could all talk about those two until the cows come home and no one will know 100% what is going on in their heads......but I listened to what these guys said and have to agree when Eamonn Holmes says 'This is the biggest acting role she's ever had'

Like them or loathe them, it's a sad state of affairs.......

Controversial Subject......

Over the past week or two I have ran across a couple of video's and articles on the following:

"How often do you change your bedsheets?"

It's funny when watching the video's as to how defensive people are about this subject.  Add in these questions:

"How often do you change your pajamas/nighties?"

"How often do you wash your bath towels?"

Then all hell breaks loose.  As we all know there is no wrong or right answer, it's personal preference.

So here are my answers:

Bedsheets : every Friday........though I would love to have clean line dried cotton sheets on my bed every night.......however that is NEVER EVER going to happen!

PJ's and Nighties : Monday and Friday

Towels : Monday and Friday

I wash four times a week.  Monday and Friday, it's whites/towels/bedding that sort of thing.  Thursday and Sunday it's colour's eg. hubby's work clothes.

Your turn😁

Favourite things #4

 If you have been a follower of my blog for a while, or live in Canada, this won't be an unusual thing.

One of the way's we buy milk here in Canada is in bags.  You get 3 bags of milk which total 4 litres.  This particular bag was $5.69 at Walmart.  Which is the average price for this type of milk.  I bought it on January 10th and it has an expiry date of January 27th.  (I compose posts ahead of time.)

This is what the bags look like and those three bags last around 7 days in this household

I just bought this milk jug; I obviously bought it with the grands in mind.  You pop the bag in and snip the corner of the bag.

So now onto my favourite thing.  I bought this milk bag holder from Amazon.  It wasn't badly priced at $11.99.

I have had it a couple of months now and love it.

It holds the three bags of milk and it stops the bags slipping around the fridge and is much neater.

Here is where I keep it in my fridge.  I have no idea how I managed without it.

We have a Kitchen Aid fridge/freezer.  I wouldn't recommend it, you are paying for the name.  It is just over 4 years old and I think it was around a year ago we had to replace the container that holds the ice.  It had rusted!!  They did it under warranty, but not without a fuss!!  It has a water dispenser and ice maker; both are must haves for us as we use them all the time.  The water is also filtered.  I change the filter twice a year at a cost of around $60 each time.

It holds a lot and the two separate drawers are handy.

This is the freezer section and holds what we need.  I finally got rid of my chest freezer last year as all I was storing in it was some flour and a couple loaves of bread.  I was using this freezer all the time.

We drink/use 1% milk.  Do you drink milk?  Do you buy it in a plastic jug, or bags, or bottles.......can you buy glass bottles of milk?  We can at specialty stores.

When Fannie Farmer and KitchenAid come out to play...

 it means serious business is afoot!!

I got them out last week to make some peanut butter cookies.  I got this cookbook over 30 years ago and honestly the only recipe I use frequently; and now it's rarely, is for the peanut butter cookie recipe.

As you can see by these pages it has been used a lot over the years! I posted the recipe for the first time on this blog in 2008 here.

I had bought some peanut butter to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for one of the grandkids.

I only eat peanut butter if it is mixed in with something else.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is not something we were brought up with.

I will say that the cookies were good and were all gone within a couple of days.....which is why I don't bake often as we eat it all way too fast😊

Have you got or have heard of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook?  Do you like peanut butter and jelly/jam sandwiches?

(oh and for the Canadian's out there, I have a friend who is a buyer for one of the big grocery chains and she was saying that ALL the big grocery/supermarket chains are putting up their prices in February 😡)

The Stranger

Watched this series on Netflix, again adapted from the book, "The Stranger," by Harlan Coben.

Again, very intense.  So many twists and turns.  Had no idea what was going on for the first six episodes.  By the 7th episode things started to click together, and I had figured out some of the things that was happening.  However, even in the 8th episode there were still twists and turns to the very end.  Such a good series, had me on the edge of my seat a few times.

The lead actor in this series Richard Armitage was also one of the lead actors in Stay Close as well.

A good mail day!

 This came in the mail last week and it says it all:

In it was the books for January and February I chose to review.

I wasn't 100% sure which one I would read first, but chose "The Rose and the Thistle," which is a historical romance.  Really enjoyed it and you can read my review here.

I have just finished my second one, "Everything is Just Beginning," and will say that book surprised me, as I wasn't expecting much from it, but it turned into a real page turner.  Again, you can read my review here.

I am a fast reader, and tend to read at night after hubby has gone to bed.  So far this year I have read 7 books.  Things will slow down though with the reading once it gets warmer and the better weather arrives.  Now though, I will read as many books as I can.

Evan's Quilt (Photo heavy!!)

At the end of December I did a post about WIP's.  On my list of things to finish was Evan's first year quilt.  Four of my grands had their photo's taken every month of their first year with a fabric background.  I take each fabric and make a quilt with it.  The quilts are all around the same size, 56 inches wide by 72 inches long.  N, P & L's quilt were all quilted by the same lady, but she is no longer doing the quilting anymore, so I had to find someone else.

I stumbled upon the nicest lady ever; Kathleen from Allotallove.  Not only does she do the long arm quilting, she also sells quilt tops and quilt's from her Etsy Shop.

I used Fireside Backing fabric from Dinky Doo Fabrics. It's so warm and soft, perfect for the backing.

I requested a basic swirl for the quilting as it's a boy's quilt.

The cloud print you see below; I used that for the binding, as I ran out of the plain grey print.

I always put a label on the back, as a reminder of who made it and when.

Overall I am super pleased with how it all came together.  From Evan's mum's choice of fabrics, to how it was quilted and how it looks and feels when finished.

I have a couple of quilt tops just sitting there which I may decide to get Kathleen to quilt for me, as she was very reasonably priced and had a fast turn around.  

Stay Close

Been watching this on Netflix and have to say I didn't realize who "did" it and was surprised when it all came out in the last episode.

This series is based on the book "Stay Close," by Harlan Coben.  Lots of twists and turns and so well worth watching.  One of the lead actors; Richard Armitage, was also in the series "The Stranger."

Have you seen this series?  Have you read any books by Harlan Coben?  I haven't.

Too easy it turns out.

 I bought this puzzle in the sales from Hallmark.

Had it done within a couple of hours, but I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.  Made a change from the 1000 piece puzzles.

Do you enjoy doing puzzles and how many pieces are in your regular puzzles that you make?

Home Phone.......

 Do you remember these phones:

Rotary Phone

The photo above comes from Amazon and is over $100 CDN.

We finally got rid of our home phone line at the end of last year. Hubby was dead against it, but we only had a handful of older relatives that ever called us on it.  So I decided to take the plunge and have to say I have no regrets.  Both dh and I have cell phones so it's no biggie.

The kids got rid of theirs years ago.  It seems very few people actually have a home line.  Due to one family member having a medical issue, I have my phone glued to me at all times though.

I have my ring tone set so it quacks like a duck!!  I know odd but very effective.  If I am out shopping and don't hear it quacking I can guarantee someone else will and will be looking at me strangely.  As they will be looking for the duck in the store!!

You know the funny thing is, I just looked up duck quacking and there are all sorts of free ringtones you can get, didn't know that.  Mine was an option on my I-Phone.  We like the Apple I-Phone in this house as we use the Facetime a lot and dh knows how to use it.

Me, well the flipping phone is smarter than me, but I am getting there with it.  I use the texting a lot, got a few apps installed now that I use on a regular basis.  I take all my photos using the phone, so all in all I am happy with it.  It is an I-Phone 12 mini.

Do you still have a home phone, or just your cell phone?

Favourite Things #3

This week it's a recipe.  It's on the Crisco Shortening package for Crisco No Fail Pie Crust.  

It's exactly what it claims a no fail pie crust.  Super simple and it makes a tender, flaky pie crust.  Since I have discovered this recipe I never buy pie crusts as it takes no time to make.  Even if you are a beginner in making pastry this one is super simple.

Crisco No Fail Pie Crust (the recipe linked is slightly different and is a vegan recipe)

This makes enough for one double crust pie, or two single 9" pie crusts.

2 cups All Purpose/Plain Flour

3/4 tsp Salt

1 cup Crisco All Vegetable Shortening

1 egg

2 TBSP cold water

1 TBSP White Vinegar

1. Combine flour and salt in mixing bowl.  Cut room temperature shortening into flour with pastry blender, (I use my hands to do this) until mixture is uniform and shortening resembles coarse crumbs.  You could also use a food processer to do this as well.

2. Beat egg, water and vinegar together to blend.  Pour all the liquid over flour mixture, stir with fork until mixture is moistened.

3. Divide dough in half and shape into a ball.  Flatten each into a circle about 4 inches.  Wrap and chill dough for 15 minutes for easier rolling.......it is important to do this as it is a moist dough.

4. Use in whatever recipe you want that needs pie dough.

I made a batch the other day and with two thirds of it I made a turkey pot pie.  I had a third left and decided to make a quiche.  A quiche is like a stew; as it's a great way of using up odds and ends.  I wanted a smaller quiche so used the glass lid of a casserole dish I have to make it in.  My rolling pin I think was my mam's.  I have had it donkey's years.

It was a very flaky pastry so had to patch it all as it was so crumbly....but also super tasty when cooked.

I cooked it "blind" for 15 minutes at 425 oF with the baking beans in it. I think I got the baking beans many moons ago at Lakeland Plastics when we lived in the UK. Took them out and cooked it for a further 5 minutes.  Then turned the oven down to 375 oF

I had some fat free cottage cheese leftover in the fridge.  So I pureed it with my hand held blender and added it to the three eggs.  I also added some half and half creamer to thin it out.

I forgot to take a photo before I cut into the quiche.  I had a little bit of ham left over that needed using up.  I cooked some bacon and a diced onion, and added the ham to the eggs, along with salt and pepper.  I sliced a tomato on top as well and cooked it for a further 45 minutes.

There was too much mixture for the pie case, so poured the rest into some silicone baking cups and will put these in hubby's lunch.

The good thing about using the cottage cheese is that I didn't have to add any more cheese like I normally do.  I liked the consistency of using the pureed cottage cheese, it gave the quiche a very creamy quality and as I said this was fat free cottage cheese.

Odd, but so pretty.

I was driving to the store Saturday morning.  It was minus 15 oC without the windchill and super sunny.  I spotted this:

Where this is, is over the lake I think.  It was as though it was a rainbow, without the curve.  It must have been something to do with the temperature etc?

I was either stopped at traffic lights, or I pulled over on the side of the road when taking these.

As you can see we have very little snow for this time of year.  We got around 3 inches from last week.  Very strange weather this year.

The sun was so bright:

First trip to Costco

Hubby and I had our first trip to Costco last Friday.  After wandering around for nearly an hour and again being totally overwhelmed with it all, we walked out with this little lot:

There was one thing missing from that photo and it was the box with the Turbo Tax cd in it.  We buy it every year to do our taxes.  It was $34.99, we normally pay $39.99, so a savings of $5.  All of the things above came to $55.05 (not including the Turbo Tax)

Everything I got was a bit cheaper than if I had purchased them in Wal-Mart.  The 24 packages of yogurt were on for $5.49 with a mid-February expiry date.  We go through a lot of yogurts and I pay that price for 16 yogurts.  The cheese slices were $9.99 for 60.  If I can get them for $3.99 for 24 I am doing well.  The hummus was a good deal at $6.99 for 16 individuals tubs, I pay that for the 12 individual tubs.  The bananas were $1.69 for I am assuming 3lbs which is the going rate.  The 5 pack of deodorant was $12.99 again a good price.  Finally the fruit snacks were $9.49.  I paid 13% tax on the fruit snacks and the deodorant; and of course the tax programme.

Check out was a breeze, we went for 9am and I took your advise and checked prices before I bought.  Produce was big quantities, so unless I am feeding the whole family, I won't be buying there.  The milk was $5.69 (I think) which is what I would normally pay.  However Shopper's Drug Mart quite often has it on sale for that price, so would rather pick it up there and get the points.

I was quite happy with what we got.  I won't have to buy deodorant for quite a few months.  The snacks and hummus will last a while; as will the cheese slices.  Dh takes them as part of his lunch.

It's going to take a bit of getting used to but I can see us using it more and more.

Thank you again for all your advise.

Quick Bake

 I made these cake box cookie's the other morning:

I used a cake mix, two eggs, a package of sugar free jello and 1/2 cup apple sauce.  Mixed them all together with a hand mixer and added a package of choc-chips (not pictured).  Baked them in a 375 oF oven for around 10 to 12 minutes.  They did stick even on parchment paper, just be warned, I would remove them from the tray before they get too cold. I made 30 with my mixture.

They turned out as a cross between cake and cookies.  Very tasty, very raspberry and chocolatey.  Would make them again.

Just finished another book, "A Little Love," by Amanda Prowse.  If you are over 50 you will appreciate this book I think.  It was very sweet.  This is the second book I have read by this author.  The first one was "Clover's Child."  That one took a little more time to get into the story, but well worth the read.  

Fun one that you can join in with...

Saw this on Facebook.   What was the Number 1 song in your country on your 23rd birthday?

This was mine; it was number 1 for two weeks.

What is yours?

Fish Pie

I am in the process of cleaning out my freezer.  Had this fish, there were five fillets in the bag.

I placed them in a pan and covered them in milk, added salt and pepper, and some grated nutmeg.  Simmered them for around 10 to 15 minutes.  I removed the milk and made a white sauce with the milk.  I added a couple tablespoons of dried parsley and some frozen peas in the sauce.  Then flaked the fish and added that to it.

I had enough mixture for a casserole for our supper, and two small portions for hubby's lunch.

Covered each dish with mashed potatoes.  Popped it into the oven at 350oF for 45 minutes.

I have a mini crockpot that hubby uses for work.  We have had it a few years and is worth it's weight in gold!!  Hubby plugs it in when he gets into work and his lunch is all ready at lunch time.

I forgot to take a photo of the cooked fish pie, but it was really good.