That British Woman

A Big Thank You........

2012-01-29T01:00:00.017-05:00

for everyone that pops by and visits me at my blog. However don't be shy in leaving a comment, even if all you say is hello.........

To all my new followers, a big thank you as well, I would love to get above 300 followers, that's my next goal.

I have set myself a challenge which will be good for me, and that is not having anything to eat after my supper. I have a habit of snacking while I am watching tv, which is a bad habit. It's been nearly a week now and although I have had the urge to snack I have been good and haven't. It's not a lot but it's a start. I also want to cut out having a snack in the afternoon next when I have a cup of tea. I'll start on that next week, as having a cup of tea generally means having a cookie or a piece of cake.

I am taking baby steps and don't want to tell myself I am going on a diet, as that will totally put me off and I won't do it. It's a mind game thing with me, because as soon as I think of the word diet, it means I can't have anything to eat. So I will try it this way to see how things go.

Cindy posted a good recipe on her blog the other day. She actually posts good recipes on her blog most days. Anyhow, I did "my version" of her recipe by using and Old El Paso Taco kit instead. It was not too bad, I didn't use the full seasoning package that came with the kit as I find it too spicy for me. This is what mine looked like, click on the link above to see what the original looks like.

I know no low calorie, but remember I'm not actually on a diet per se!!!

Why I bulk buy certain things and other bits and bobs.

2012-01-28T01:00:00.024-05:00

First of all I moderate my comments as it's my blog and I can do what I want....right....LOL

Occasionally my brother leaves me messages and he left me this one:

i have decided i had better not try any of those recipes just in case as i only have a weeks supply of toilet roll in !
they cant be that good if the author needs a back up supply like that !
just how long does it take to get over each one ?
ha!ha!.... nick

That was in reply to this post. Now I know he was joking around, but I'm not sure he understands why I do what I do. So I thought I'd explain.

I mentioned in that post I had enough toilet paper stocked up for six months. On that shopping trip I picked up 4 packs of 12 double rolls of toilet paper, which should last us 4 months, if not more. Generally I think they cost around $5.99 to $6.99 a package (they may be more I never pay full price). So we'll use the $5.99 price here. They were on sale for $4.99 per package and I had a $1 coupon, so all in all I saved $2 per package on the regular price, saving me a total of $8.

Another thing we use a lot of is I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. We average a 1lb tub a week. It is normally around $2.49 a tub, but comes on sale every three to four month at $1 per tub. I generally stock up and buy 12 tubs at a time, which will last us 3 months. By buying them on sale I save $18.88. So just on those two items alone, which we use and a regular basis and I have room to store I have an extra $26.88 in our pocket.

Granted if I had a very small fridge and no room to store these items I couldn't take advantage of these deals, but I am lucky enough to have both. What this means though, is that if a nutritionist looked at my weekly grocery shop it would be very unbalanced as I will buy things on sale, so some weeks it looks as though I haven't bought fruit, where in reality I already have fruit in the fridge or freezer from a prior week when I stocked up on it when it was on sale.

I have been shopping like this for years and wouldn't do it any other way, as I hate paying full price for things, especially food. Also this system works for me, and I am happy with it.

Do you want free onions, see this post over here. I have never heard of doing this before, but when I next buy green salad onions, I'll give it a go. Also cathy@home grows potatoes from potato peelings, see this post. For more detail on how to do it read this I think I will try this, this year.

I would also like to thank Juliebadoolie for signing up using my referral for Swagbucks. If you have any questions please just let me know. If anyone else wants any tips regarding Swagbucks just leave me your email address in a comment (I WILL NOT PUBLISH IT) and I will get back to you. If anyone would like to sign up I would really appreciate it, if you would sign up under my referral code: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Appleby

Swagbucks is a great way of earning free things, in my case $5 Amazon.ca gift cards for being on the computer. If you live in Britain, the States or Canada, you can participate. I have now earned $500 in Amazon.ca gift cards since I signed up in December of 2009.

Home and Condo of the week and planning my grocery list

2012-01-27T01:00:00.002-05:00

Well this week's "Home of the Week," is well.........um.....I actually don't know how to describe it.....I know a few boxes on stilts. I actually could probably afford this one, which is a first, but never in a month of Sunday's would I buy it. How on earth it got planning permission is beyond me for one thing. Also it says a couple with two kids want to buy it. Any ideas where the two kids will be sleeping? As always read the comments, always an eye opener!!

The "Condo of the Week," as always over priced. First the good points, just love the terrace, I mean look at the views. That photo at night with the CN Tower lit up was rather neat. Now the negative points. Who in their right minds wants a shower two feet from their bed? Also when I go to the bathroom I like privacy, don't you? The kitchen is an accident waiting to happen with that step; why would you put a step in the kitchen in the first place? The living room reminds me of a bowling alley; it is not decorated for people to live in, it rather reminds me of a very upmarket doctors waiting room? Think I'll pass on this one as well.

The flyers came on Thursday, so I looked through them to plan my grocery shopping trip this week. It's going to be on Monday as I want to take part in the bonus points deal at Shopper's Drug Mart that they are having Monday through Friday of next week. If you spend $50 BEFORE COUPONS you get a bonus of 8,000 points. My total before taxes and coupons is close to $51. After taxes and coupons it will be $37.85 or there abouts.

I will be getting us new tooth brushes, toothpaste for dh, and deodorant for dh, plus a number of other things. They have eggs also on sale for $1.88 a dozen on Sunday and Monday, so make sure you use your $1 off coupon. Milk is also cheaper for me there at $4.19 a 4 litre bag.

The other place I am going is the dreaded Wal-Mart as I can price match other stores there and it's reasonably close to Shopper's, so have a list of things I want to get. I am just hoping they will have everything in stock on Monday morning; I'm not counting on it though!!!

More photos and a recipe.....

2012-01-26T01:00:00.003-05:00

A couple more photos from the wedding.

The wedding cake, please look at the wedding toppers, it goes with the theme "A Perfect Pair."

One of the tables in the venue. They overlooked the golf course and at night you could see the CN Tower (downtown Toronto) all lit up.

The small brown boxes is the jam wedding favour.

Tomato Chick Pea Salad

1 can (19 oz/540ml) Chickpea's, drained and rinsed
1 cup chopped parsley
4 Tomatoes, cut into large dice
1 cup chopped, Cucumber
6 green onions, sliced
1 cup Cheddar Cheese, cubed

Dressing:

1/3 cup olive oil
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried tarragon leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp freshly ground mustard
pinch cayenne pepper

In a large bowl, combine chick peas, parsley, tomatoes, cucumber, onions and cheese.

Mix together oil, vinegar, garlic and seasonings to make dressing. Toss dressing with salad ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for several hours.

As with any recipes I post, change it up to suit you. I had a container of small grape tomatoes, so I used them, along with a whole cucumber. I didn't have parsley, or tarragon leaves, or dry mustard. So left them out. I also used red onion instead of the green onions and it still tasted really good in my humble opinion.

For those of you who are following my grocery challenge, the tomatoes and cucumber were left over from the week before.

***GOOD NEWS SOLD BOTH THE STANDS AND THE AISLE RUNNER, will use the money for a hair cut in February*****

Wedding Photos and challenges.....

2012-01-25T01:00:00.006-05:00

I was asked yesterday for a photo of me in my dress for the wedding. Dd does not want her photo on my blog, so I cropped her out of the photo. I was pretty impressed with myself that I was able to do that. Oh and the dress now is just above knee length as I had it shortened.

This was the room that dd and hubby got married in. At first I wasn't sure if it would be fine, but when it was all decorated it looked lovely:

Carla over at 1/2 Dozen Daily is having two challenges for the month of February, a "Low (no) spend Challenge" and a "Decluttering Challenge." So I thought I'd get a jump start on it. Now what has that got to do with the photo below?

In our living room since after the wedding has been the 8 stands you see in the photo with the flowers hanging off of them. I don't particularly want them, neither does dd. All the pots with the flowers in them, people took the night of the wedding. So I posted them on Kijiji on Tuesday, along with the aisle runner dd bought, monogrammed and then decided not to use. There is still 21 usable feet of aisle runner, so someone may find it useful.

By the way the stands were from Michael's and were black. Dd spray painted them cream then over sprayed them with a stone effect paint. The containers that the flowers were in are from Ikea. The florist did the arrangements.

That is part of the decluttering challenge. I feel I will have no problem completing that challenge. If you want to join up, just pop over and sign up for it.

**There will be a recipe on tomorrow's post.**

Gorgeous gift........

2012-01-24T01:00:00.013-05:00

(The header photo is of dd wedding bouquet)

When dd and hubby came over on Saturday night they brought us the most fantastic gift a photo book of the wedding. There are some stunning photos in there. They also brought us a USB stick of the wedding photos, all 700 of them. I have to go through them when I get time, as I want one enlarged to hang on the wall. Here is the front cover of the book:

I am still having trouble commenting on people's blogs. One Simple Farmgirl, you're one of them. I can read your blog, but when I come to comment I get a white blank page and that is it? I have no idea what the problem is, hopefully Blogger will figure it out, or if anyone knows what is wrong could you let me know?

Also just a heads up I am going to be having a really good giveaway on my blog in the next couple of weeks, and it has something to do with this: http://thatbritishwoman.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-paintings.html

Good news I am up to $30 in my Amazon.ca account thanks to Swagbucks!!!! Have another $5 to come and hoping to cash in my swagbucks before the end of the month for another $5.

Flipping heck.......

2012-01-23T01:00:00.044-05:00

So I wrote myself a list for when I went grocery shopping. Had it all worked out to the penny.....well sort of. Wanted to take advantage of the bonus points at Shopper's Drug Mart and came out of there spending $71.84 and using $24.89 in coupons and earning another 20,040 worth of points. So far so good.

I knew I had another $3.16 left out of my $75 budget so I popped into Zehrs to get some banana's and mushrooms, and spent $3.63. So I over spent by 47 cents this week. If I hadn't picked up two bunches of bananas I would have been under. So close but still so far, drat, drat and double drat.

This week I stocked up on toilet paper, have enough stock piled for around six months now. Picked up a 40 bag box of garbage bags, which will last us a year. We only have one garbage bag and a water softener salt bag of garbage every other week.

I didn't buy meat this week as using up in the freezer; and other than the bananas and mushrooms, we will be eating frozen veggies or fruit this week. I also remembered to update my side bars for the Shopper's Drug Mart and Grocery total challenges. I am still under budget for my weekly budget goal, but only just.

Had at least three no spend days this week, and put money in all my various pots.

Sorted out the tomato sauce I made on Saturday. Put plain sauce in two 700ml Tupperware containers to freeze. Took out two packages of ground.minced beef and made a large lasagna, had hoped to make two but didn't have enough lasagna noodles for two, and bolognase sauce for two meals.

I thought I had shared the lasagna recipe with you but I couldn't find it. It's a basic recipe but you can change it up any way you want.

Easy Lasagna

1 lb lean ground/minced beef
1 onion, chopped
700 ml Pasta Sauce (that's why I put the sauce in 700 ml containers for later use)
500 grams/2cups Cottage Cheese
1 cup grated/shredded Cheddar Cheese
9 pieces Lasagna noodles, cooked according to package directions
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated (I use Mozzarella instead)

Preheat oven to 350 oF and grease a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish.

In a frying pan, cook beef and onion over medium heat stirring to break up meat until browned and onion is softened. Drain fat from pan and stir in pasta sauce; bring to the boil and reduce heat to simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

In a bowl stir together cottage and cheddar cheeses.

Spread 1/2 cup of meat sauce over bottom of prepared pan. Top with 3 noodles, then 1/2 of the cheese mixture and 1/3 of meat sauce. Repeat noodle, cheese, sauce layers. Top with the last 3 noodles, remaining meat sauce and Parmesan cheese. Cover pan with foil.

Bake in centre of oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until cheese is browned and lasagna is heated through. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

It will serve four comfortably. I don't put my cheese on until I take the foil off.

As I said before this is a basic recipe that you can alter to suit your taste.

For the British folk and all of us who are fed up with our Governments......

2012-01-22T21:06:00.000-05:00

Got this in an email:

Dear Mr. Cameron,

Please find below our suggestion for fixing the UK 's economy.

Instead of giving billions of pounds to banks that will squander the
money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 10 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them £1 million each severance for early retirement with the
following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire.
Ten million job openings - unemployment fixed

2) They MUST buy a new British car.
Ten million cars ordered - Car Industry fixed

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage -
Housing Crisis fixed

4) They MUST send their kids to school/college/university -
Crime rate fixed

5) They MUST buy £100 WORTH of alcohol/tobacco a week .....
And there's your money back in duty/tax etc

It can't get any easier than that!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members of parliament pay back
their falsely claimed expenses and second home allowances

If you think this would work, please forward to everyone you know.

Also………..
Let's put the pensioners in jail and the criminals in a nursing home.

This way the pensioners would have access to showers, hobbies and
walks.

They'd receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical
treatment, wheel chairs etc and they'd receive money instead of paying
it out.

They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped
instantly, if they fell, or needed assistance.

Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be ironed
and returned to them.

A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals and
snacks to their cell.

They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.

They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual
counselling, pool and education.

Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, PJ's and legal aid would be free, on
request.

Private, secure rooms for all, with an exercise outdoor yard, with
gardens.

Each senior could have a PC a TV radio and daily phone calls.

There would be a board of directors to hear complaints, and the guards
would have a code of conduct that would be strictly adhered to.

The criminals would get cold food, be left all alone and unsupervised.
Lights off at 8pm, and showers once a week. Live in a tiny room and
pay £600.00 per week and have no hope of ever getting out.

Think about this (more points of contention):

COWS
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad
cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Appleby
almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the
county of Cumbria?

And, they even tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable
to locate 125,000 illegal immigrants wandering around our country.
Maybe we should give each of them a cow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also;
Think about this ... If you don't want to forward this for fear of
offending someone -- YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM! It is time for us
grumpy old folk of Britain to speak up!

Stew, Sauce, and a sign

2012-01-22T07:35:00.001-05:00

No we didn't have them both yesterday...LOL

Dd and hubby came for dinner last night so I made beef stew in the crock pot for dinner along with garlic bread, the Ace Bakery brand which is the best I may add. Have enough leftover for another meal and it was a perfect meal on a cold winters night.

As I mentioned yesterday I was defrosting tomatoes in front of the wood stove as I forgot to get them out of the freezer the night before. When I have a surplus of tomatoes in the summer I just throw them in a bag in the freezer as is and during the winter when I have more time I hunt them out, the skin falls off, I pull out the core with my hands and put them in a pan along with part cooked peppers and onions, add some Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper. Simmer for a couple of hours and then using my stick blender, blend it all until it looks like this:

It freezes great, and I will use some today to make a couple of lasagnas, one for supper and one for the freezer.

I bet you haven't seen a sign like this before:

We were going through an Indian Reservation the other week as a cut through to another place and saw this sign. Luckily for me it was cold, so the snakes are all hibernating!!

Lovely day today weather wise (photos)

2012-01-21T12:25:00.000-05:00

Tomatoes defrosting in front of the fire, ready to make tomato sauce. Kettle also on top of the stove top bubbling away ready to make the next pot of tea:

All the Ziploc bags washed and drying in the window sill from the tomatoes and peppers:

Clear blue skies and barely a breath of wind:

It looks as though there are diamonds shining brightly on top of the snow:

Even Molly was enjoying the weather:

Good day to be alive!!

Rest in Peace, Etta.........

2012-01-21T01:00:00.001-05:00

01/25/1938 - 01/20/2012

Home and condo of the week.......

2012-01-20T01:01:00.003-05:00

This week's "Home of the Week," is so overpriced it's flipping crazy. It's only 45 minutes north of us and yes it's a lovely area, but is it worth 5 million, I don't think so. However please correct me if I'm wrong here. Also why call it a cottage? That is not a cottage it's a mansion.

Then there is the condo of the week a "deal" at only 2.5 million!!!!! This looks as though someone got a deal on cream paint and furniture? Talk about bland and flipping expensive. Nice views though from the place and a large balcony for those not afraid of heights. I think I'll pass on this one as well!!

Things are quiet around here. The weather is so up and down, you don't know whether you are coming or going with it.

I have been hibernating and haven't been on the computer much, so I owe a lot of you comments on your blogs. My apologies, I hope to get around to it over the weekend.

A View from Molly's Window and Skywatch Friday

2012-01-19T14:53:00.000-05:00

This was taken the other day as the sun was setting:

For more "Views from my window" pop by Jane's blog here and to see more Skywatch Friday photos click on this link.

Writing and mailing letters.......

2012-01-19T07:56:00.000-05:00

(photo credit)

It's not something I do that often, in fact I only correspond on a regular basis with our next door neighbour in England; and by regular I mean I send a letter maybe four or five times a year. On Tuesday I sat down and wrote a letter to them; then while I was cleaning out a drawer I found another note card from an acquaintance in the States, so I also wrote a note to her.

I went to the post office on Wednesday and discovered that the cost of mailing these letters has increased again. It now costs $1.80 plus tax to mail a letter to Britain, and $1.05 plus tax to mail a letter to the States. Even sending a letter in Canada costs 61 cents.

With these prices I am guessing it is one reason that sending an email is so popular. Though I will say I find an email not as personal and would prefer people to call me to talk. Must admit though, it is nice to sit down with a cup of tea and a biscuit, reading a letter.

Do you write letters or notes and mail to people?

FYI: Shopper's Drug Mart is having a "Spend $75 and get 18,500 Points," this weekend. So hunt out your coupons and match them with the deals and earn those points. Oh, and don't forget to buy a Shopper's gift card first to pay for your groceries, and get points for buying it.

I am hoping to use $10 worth of coupons, to bring my total including taxes below my $75 weekly budget.

Book Review, and a good deal.....

2012-01-18T01:00:00.017-05:00

I got a "good freebie" on Tuesday. It arrived by Purolator. It's 96 Keurig cups of coffee. 48 of some Pumpkin Flavour and 48 of decaffeinated. One tiny little problem I don't have a Keurig coffee maker. However dd does and it's at our house along with her other wedding presents!! So I called her about my predicament and she said I could use her coffee maker. Isn't dd a trooper!!!

"7 Money Rules for Life," by Mary Hunt

In her warm and encouraging style, financial expert Mary Hunt shows you how to master the essentials to get your money under control and prepare financially for the rest of your life. She shows you how to apply each of the 7 Rules, starting today, as well as how to recover from past financial mistakes. With Mary on your side, you'll learn how to

Spend less than you earn

Save for the future

Give some away

Anticipate your irregular expenses

Tell your money where to go

Manage your credit

Borrow only what you know you can repay

Money mastery isn't hard when you know the rules. Let 7 Money Rules for Life change your future from uncertain to rock-solid--no matter what your income level.

I have to say I am a fan of Mary Hunt's work, so was looking forward to reading and reviewing this book. In my humble opinion this book is good for those of you who are just realizing you have to do something about the way you spend your money and deal with your debt.

For those of us who have been there and done that and have sort of figured it out, this book would be a refresher of what information you already know and maybe what you have stored in the back of your mind to pull out and use one day.

I do prefer her other books especially "The Cheap-Skate Monthly Money Makeover" by Mary Hunt as that features more personalized stories and situations.

Stars out of 5 : 4 not a bad book, very helpful and worth while buying or borrowing, as even if we think we know it all, we always have room to learn something new.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

There is a great deal on at Groupon, $15 for $30 worth of books at BookCloseOuts.com

Great site use it a lot. Good for both Canada and the States, it does bill in US Dollars and for us in Canada, it's shipped out of Southern Ontario and comes really fast. Not sure if you can use the following with the Groupon, but I do have TWO $7 off codes when you buy $35 worth of books. Just let me know if you would like one, by leaving me a separate comment with your email address in it, I won't publish it. First come first served basis.

Couple of quick and easy recipes and a really neat video

2012-01-17T01:00:00.004-05:00

Want a quick dessert that takes no time at all to put together.

Make cupcakes, use a packet mix. Cut a small scoop of cake out of the top of the cupcake (see photo).

Fill in the hole with half a teaspoon of jam and top with a bit of frosting. I like the Betty Crocker whipped frosting. Cut the scoop of cake into two and place on top of the cupcake. Sieve icing/powdered sugar over the top and place a small piece of glace cherry or a spot of red icing in the middle of the "wings."

Butterfly buns or Fairy cakes are a standard cake in Britain.

I made a quick bean salad the other day. Hey why not it was minus goodness knows what, so why not make salad on the coldest day of the year!!!

Bean Salad

Ingredients:

Can of mixed beans
1/2 green pepper chopped
1/4 red onion chopped
dash olive oil
dash white vinegar
salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Put it in the fridge to let the flavours blend for an hour or so. Very tasty.

I love recipes that come together really fast and taste yummy.........

Have you heard of Harlequin Books? They have a reader panel, that you can join and you answer surveys and occasionally they send out books for you to read and review. Here is a link if you're interested.

Finally a great video. First saw it over on Fraise Lachrymose blog:

A Must Read Book and a recipe

2012-01-16T01:00:00.003-05:00

"The Emancipation of Robert Sadler," by Rober Sadler with Marie Chapian

So many thoughts twirl in my head...I want to think back as far as I can remember--think on things I had long ago buried and let stay buried. There were things I never told anyone. Now is the time to tell it, though. Help me remember it, Lord, so I can tell it just the way it was.

Over fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Robert Sadler was sold into slavery at the age of five--by his own father. Originally published in 1975, this is the no-holds-barred tale of those dark days, his quest for freedom, and the determination to serve others borne out of his experience. You won't forget this poignant true story of good triumphing over evil, of God's grace, and of an extraordinary life of ministry.

This is one book I would say you must read as it is a true eye opener. For a start who in their right mind sells their children into slavery in 1916 for $85? What sort of Father does that? Who treats their slaves as though they are animals by mistreating them? This true story will make you shake your head with astonishment time after time, after time.

The book is split into three parts. Part one is about when Robert and his two sisters were sold into slavery to a plantation owner and what happens during that time. Part two is when Robert leaves/escapes the plantation and makes his way in the world. Part three is when Robert decides to devote his life to preaching about God and ministering to the less fortunate.

Part's one and two were really interesting and thought provoking. Part three though I found hard to believe. Not that I am saying Robert wasn't telling the truth, I just found some of the things a bit far fetched for me.

I found the cruelty of the plantation owners and the southern white people portrayed in this book just awful. This is so foreign to me as we were brought up to treat people of other nationalities and colours equally. I am not that naive to realize that racism and prejudices still occur throughout the world, this book made me think about it more.

Stars out of 5: 5 A must read, and I think it should be on the curriculum in high schools as it is such a powerful and thought provoking book. If you don't read any other book this year, please try and read this, it really is worth while.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

Made a tuna braid the other day.

The ingredients are:

2 cans tuna
small onion, chopped,
cup shredded/grated cheese
salt and pepper
squeeze of lemon juice
pastry - I used a package of puff pastry

Mix together tuna, onion, cheese salt, pepper and lemon juice in a bowl - I didn't have lemon juice this time.

Roll out pastry into a 16 inch by 10 inch rectangle, all sizes approximate. You could use regular short crust pastry. When you have rolled out the pastry slice the side of the pastry as in the photo below.

Put the tuna mixture down the middle of the pastry and braid the pastry over the top.

Glaze the top with milk or egg and put into a 450 oF oven for around 25 minutes.

Serve hot or cold. We had ours with garden salad and baked potatoes.

***LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE I AM STRUGGLING TO LEAVE COMMENTS ON A LOT OF PEOPLES BLOGS AT THE MOMENT***

Saving Money with Groupon, Swagbucks, Coupons

2012-01-15T01:00:00.005-05:00

I got the info below in an email. I have bought a number of deals from Groupon as I find them good value and of interest. For Christmas I got my dear friends snow shoeing lessons from Groupon. We got a great deal for a trip to Johnston's Cranberry Marsh and I do believe, there is another deal for them for there. So take a peek and maybe you might find something of interest for you in your area. If you do sign up, could you do it under my referral link? I would really appreciate it, please and thanks.

View this email in a browser | Unsubscribe

Earn ^$20 in Groupon Bucks

when you refer a friend^*

Dear Gillian,

For a limited time, you can earn $20 in Groupon Bucks when you refer someone new to Groupon.* That's twice the normal reward!

Your personal referral link:

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu33522661

Post to Facebook Tweet this

Tell your friends to click your personal referral link above to subscribe. If they buy their first Groupon deal by January 25, 2012, we'll reward you with $20 in Groupon Bucks.*

Hurry—this offer is only good through January 25, 2012. Learn more here.

Sincerely,
Groupon Rewards
www.groupon.com

Need help? Have feedback? Feel free to Contact Us

For those of you who are into Swagbucks, I have found the easiest way to accumulate Swagbucks is if you have a laptop, have it on Swagbucks tv when you are sat down, reading, watching tv etc, and have it continually going. My total is coming up nicely and you will see I am ready to cash in again for another $5 gift card.

Some of you were asking where I get coupons from. Our local paper has flyers in them certain times of the year.

(photo credit)

I order coupons online, doesn't cost a cent and sometimes you can get really good ones. At the moment on Websaver there is a coupon for $1.00 off two dozen eggs. Save.ca is also a place where I order coupons from, and Go Coupons has a lot of Royale paper product coupons. I use them when Shopper's has toilet paper on sale.

By the way I ordered more coupons while looking up the sites!! The cheese coupon I received as I purchased Silani's sliced cheese and there was no paper in between the slices so it was one big lump. I called the company to tell them and they sent me a $5 money off coupon. It doesn't hurt to call the 1-800 number on products that you use and like and ask them if they have any coupons they could send you. Also if you do have a problem with a product call the company and tell them more often than not they will compensate you with either Free Product Coupons or money off coupons.

I also swear by a couple of sites that let you know about deals in Canada. Smart Canucks and Mrs. January are my favourite and I subscribe to both. Although I am not a fan of Facebook, you can find some good deals on there as well.

I know some of these ideas are no applicable to everyone, calling companies is something everyone can do regardless of where they live.

Grocery shopping and money.......

2012-01-14T01:03:00.003-05:00

It was a dollar sale at No Frills this week, so stocked up on canned meat (for dh's lunches), bread and other things. Best deal from there, would be 70 gram packages of shredded (grated) cheese for $1 per package. I had a $5 off coupon, so got five packages for free.

Zehrs was also having a dollar sale and when I went into town I called in there. Picked up a package of Special K cereal, a package of Fibre Plus cereal and a package of Special K Crisps strawberry bars, and after coupons I paid $5.48 for all three.

I went over budget this week and ended up spending $90.85, all was food other than $10.30 and that was for some Glucosamine. I used $14.47 in coupons, bringing my monthly total to $138.59 spent (still under my $75 week budget) and a total of $31.99 in coupons and savings.

I had three no spend days, Monday through Wednesday. Put money in both my sealed pot jar, which I have finally sealed up so I don't keep counting it (fyi: have over $11 in there) and put money in my loonie and twoonie pot, have over $30 in there. Put money in my birthday, Christmas and other pot. Did the last three digit move from chequing to savings account.

Got a coupon in with the flyers for 12 x Canadian Tire money when filling the car with gas. Ended up putting $60 in gas in the car, I was running on fumes!! So I got $2.40 in Canadian Tire money. They gave me a $2 note, I have never had or seen one of those before. Saving my Canadian Tire money up for either gardening or canning items.

My appointment was for 1:45pm.........

2012-01-13T01:01:00.002-05:00

I finally got to see the doctor at 4:15pm....... I had to go to the hospital for a check up on my hand and my appointment was for 1:45pm. I have been at work this week, so left work at 12:45pm so I wouldn't be late. She was running way behind and when I did finally see her I was in and out in less than five flipping minutes. It then cost me $15 for the sodding parking. I even managed to read half a book while there. Don't doctors realize that our time is as important as theirs?

Is actually rather nice, here is the link to it. Although it isn't my style of interior decorating and way too modern I think you could get away with putting older pieces of furniture in it? I love the expanse of glass in the house letting all the light in and letting the neighbours have a good look at the same time!!!! The bathrooms and kitchen are nice, but does anyone actually live there, as everything looks so perfect and clean???

The condo of the week is well, very overpriced if you ask me. I like the exposed brick work, but am not keen on the kitchen. It looks like it's a show room condo, not one that people actually live in, and if it wasn't for the bunk beds, I wouldn't have guessed there were children living there either. I wonder if the ping pong dining table is a joke or the best thing they had on hand to "show" where the dining area is supposed to be?

A View from Molly's Window and a book review

2012-01-12T01:00:00.002-05:00

Took this photo around 5pm on Wednesday. The nights are starting to get lighter which is really nice.

Over at Jane's there are links to more people's views from their windows.

"The Maid of Fairbourne Hall," by Julie Klassen

To escape a scheme to marry her off to a dishonorable man, Margaret Macy flees London disguised as a housemaid. If she can remain unwed until her next birthday, she will receive an inheritance, and with it, sweet independence. But she never planned on actually working as a servant. And certainly not in the home of Nathaniel and Lewis Upchurch--both former suitors.

As she fumbles through the first real work of her life, Margaret struggles to keep her identity secret when suspicions arise and prying eyes visit Fairbourne Hall. Can she avoid a trap meant to force her from hiding?

Brimming with romance and danger, The Maid of Fairbourne Hall takes readers inside the fascinating below stairs world of a 19th-century English manor, where appearances can be deceiving.

This was an interesting book with great characters and a lot, and I mean an awful lot of information. The author had really done her research on how a house was run "below stairs" in the early 1800's. The thing is it was a bit too much information and it weighed the book down a lot and made it a little hard work.

Saying that I couldn't put the book down, I HAD to know what happened next, as all was not as it seemed. Margaret/Nora makes the perfect lead character, and you really believed in her and wanted her to succeed. You knew she was trying to fit in and even the other maids started to both like and trust her. Nathaniel was a little weak as a lead character and it was obvious what was going to happen with him and Margaret.

However overall it was a both that I wanted and HAD to keep on reading, so in my eyes it was a successful book.

Stars out of 5 : 4.5 Really worth while reading if you enjoy historical romances set in the 1800's in Britain. Be prepared to stick it out over the first few chapters until the story gets going. Once Margaret/Nora gets to Maidstone the story really gets interesting.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

Pizzas and a book review....

2012-01-11T01:00:00.003-05:00

Must say the pizza's were good and a nice change from the usual pizzas that you buy. Next time I will make my own pizza dough. I had the pizza shells in the freezer and they wanted using up.

"The Keeper," by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Life on Windmill Farm hasn't been the same since Julia Lapp's father has had trouble with his heart. But that doesn't stop Julia from hoping for a bright future. She has planned on marrying Paul Fisher since she was a girl. Now twenty-one, she looks forward to their wedding with giddy anticipation. But when Paul tells her he wants to postpone the wedding--again--she is determined to change his mind. She knows who is to blame for Paul's sudden reluctance to wed: the Bee Man.

Roman Troyer, the Bee Man, travels through the Amish communities of Ohio and Pennsylvania with his hives full of bees, renting them out to farmers in need of pollinators. A mysterious man who relishes his nomadic life, Roman especially enjoys bringing his bees to Stoney Ridge each year. But with Julia seriously at odds with him, Windmill Farm is looking decidedly less appealing.

Can Julia secure the future she's always dreamed of? Or does God have something else in mind?

The title of the book says it all, it's a "keeper." This book will have you both hooked and charmed right away. The character's are so believable and each one is as special as the other. The two main characters in this book Julia and Rome are just perfect; and the way the author describes them makes them even more believable.

This story is not as straight forward as it seems with a few twists and turns even I didn't anticipate. However it both made me laugh and cry. It is the first book in a series with the second one coming out in August of 2012. I will say though this book closed off in a way that I wasn't annoyed with, you know what is going to happen next. I have been disappointed by a number of books recently where you had no idea what was going to happen next to the main characters, in this one you do.

Stars out of 5: 10..okay I know I can't give 10, so a very resounding 5 This book had everything in it, romance, sadness, interesting facts about bee keeping, the Amish way of life and more of it to come in the other books of the series. One I would highly recommend you either buy or borrow from your local library.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

Christmas Cards and a book review......

2012-01-10T01:00:00.003-05:00

***THE HEADER PHOTO IS THE BRIDESMAIDS BOUQUETS***

I had a funny sort of day on Monday. One where it set off looking as though I wasn't going to achieve much. However it all turned around and I got all sorts done including sorting out my Christmas cards. I have a folder on Excel, where I list who we received Christmas cards from. I also note if we got photos, letters or a note written in the card. Must say only two people sent letters this year. I am beginning to think Christmas cards will be things of the past very shortly. I did a post way back when about recycling Christmas cards, here

Do you do anything with your Christmas cards?

"The Rose of Winslow Street," by Elizabeth Camden

In the small town of Colden, Massachusetts, Libby Sawyer leads a quiet, predictable life. Yet beneath the surface, she is haunted by a secret.

Newly arrived on American shores, Michael Dobrescu is far from predictable, and his arrival in Colden is anything but quiet. Michael's shocking claim to be the rightful owner of Libby's father's house immediately alienates him from the appalled citizens of Colden.

Despite her own outrage, Libby is unwittingly fascinated by this enigmatic man who seems equally intrigued by her. As the court's decision about the house looms and the layers of mystery surrounding Michael's past are unveiled, Libby's loyalties are tested in ways she never imagined.

Must say I wasn't too sure when I started this book, however by the second chapter, I was sucked right in. Loved the main character Libby and you can't help but love the description of Michael, a typical hero in a romance novel!!!

There is enough mystery and intrigue that keeps you wanting to read what happens next. I didn't guess the mystery of the house and thought the story was going one way, but then it veered off into another direction. That made the story even more interesting to my mind.

Stars out of 5 : 4.5 The start was a little weak, but once the story got going it hooked you. One that is definitely worth the read.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

3 Chicken Breasts = 3 + meals

2012-01-09T01:00:00.014-05:00

Skin on, bone in Chicken Breasts were on sale in No Frills, so I picked up a pack of three breasts for just over $4.

Dh won't eat anything with a bone in it, so there is no use in just plopping one of these suckers fully cooked on his plate as he wouldn't touch it. So decided to have a cooking session and make some meals from them.

First thing I did was take the skin off them, and pop them in a pan of water with some salt and pepper and poach them for around 40 minutes until they were cooked through. Took them out of the pan and put them on a plate and tipped the cooking liquid in a jug.

In the same pan I put probably 2 or 3 tablespoons of margarine in there along with a couple of small onions chopped up. Softened them and then added around 3/4 cup of brown rice. Stirred them together and then added around 6 cups of the cooking liquid and brought to the boil and simmered for around 40 minutes. I then added a cup or so of frozen corn and one of the chicken breasts that I had taken off the bone and chopped up. Seasoned with salt, pepper and ground nutmeg, and added around a cup of half and half cream, and cooked a bit more. There is one meal, plus a couple of lunches of Chicken, Corn and Rice soup.

In another pan I put around 4 tablespoons of margarine, let it melt and added 4 small onions chopped, and half a pound of mushrooms also chopped. Let them soften up. Meanwhile I cut up two bunches off broccoli and steamed them in the microwave for five minutes. I took 1/3 cup of flour and stirred it into onion and mushroom mixture and let it cook for a minute.

I then added in the remainder of the poaching liquid and the liquid from steaming the broccoli. That made a thick sauce or roux. I added the broccoli and the other two chicken breasts which I had taken off the bone and cut up. I poured in a cup of half and half cream to lighten up the sauce and seasoned.

After the mixture had cooled I popped it in a Tupperware container and put it into the fridge. This mixture is the base for a couple of meals. I have some small pizza shells I got on clearance in the freezer. I will put a little of this mixture on top of the pizza bases and top with a little mozzarella cheese and have those with salad.

I am going to make a chicken pot pie with some more of the chicken and broccoli mixture and add more vegetables to it, to stretch it and top with some puffed pastry I have in the freezer. With the remainder I will thin the sauce out with some half and half cream and maybe add some peas and serve it over rice.

Overall I don't think that's too bad from three chicken breasts, do you? I would think the cost of all these meals along with the accompaniments would be less than $20.

I put the bread maker on and made a loaf of whole wheat bread to go with the soup on Sunday night and it was yummy!!! Left over bread will be used in sandwiches.

Menu Plan for the week:

Chicken, rice and sweet corn soup with homemade whole wheat bread

Chicken pizzas & salad

Chicken pot pie

Chicken and veggies over rice

Turkey soup (made from left over turkey carcass from Christmas)

Sausages, fries and beans

Cheese Omelette and salad

Dessert will be:

yogurt or cookies or gingerbread or ice cream

Breakfast for me will be cereal (Special K) and a cup of tea.

lunch for me will be leftovers or homemade turkey soup

Last three digit savings plan............

2012-01-08T07:40:00.000-05:00

(photo credit)

I thought I'd explain more about this, as Lindsay brought this up yesterday. It was something I had talked about way back in the day!! It is such an easy think to do and pretty painless with super results, as Lindsay said yesterday, she has saved five thousand pounds in three years.

I do my banking once a week online on a Wednesday as that is when dh gets paid. After I have sorted out what goes where etc I see how much money we have left in our chequing account. If it is $599.75, I will transfer $9.75 so our balance is $590.00 even. If it were $593.75, I would transfer $13.75. You want an even number as your balance because it makes more sense right!!! LOL

It may not seem like a lot you are saving, but believe me, those small amounts add up over time, as Lindsay can attest too.

It's not a big thing, but it's a good thing right?

All about money...............

2012-01-07T07:11:00.000-05:00

Good news first I guess.

Went grocery shopping and only spent $42.22 and had coupon and discount savings of $11.78, bringing my monthly grocery spending up to $47.74, with savings of $17.52. There were no cleaning or toiletries bought though this week, that was all food and included some ground flax seed for Molly.

However did get fresh meat, veggies, fruit and milk, plus numerous other items. I am going to have a baking and cooking session on Sunday and will do my meal planning for the week then. My best deal for the week was picking up 2 x Special K cereal and a package of Special K Fruit Crisps, which are a cereal bar and actually very yummy, all for $2.99, thanks to a FPC for one cereal, a FPC for the bars when you buy a Special K cereal and a $1 off coupon for the actual cereal. I was a little surprised they took all coupons? While I was in No Frills yesterday a woman in front of me gave me another coupon for another FPC for the bars when I buy more cereal. In return I let her take all the diaper coupons from my P & G brand coupon flyer I had with me.

My sealed jar is filling up nicely seen as I have dh on board with that, he is putting his silver in there. My other pot for the loonies and twoonies isn't doing as well, as I haven't had any in my change this week. So I think that only grew by around a dollar or two.

Put my money in my birthday, Christmas and whatever pots. I only have two more weeks and will have saved enough up in my whatever pot for the wedding gift in February. So that will be another thing out of the way.

Got the oil tank filled, first time in two months which is a surprise as this time a year we normally fill every month. Anyhow, it cost just over $400 for the past two months worth of oil which is really, really good. It helped also that the price of oil had gone down by 3 cents per litre from last time I bought it. It is certainly paying off all the work we did to insulate this house.

My no spend days though were practically non existent this week, as despite me not leaving the house a couple of days, I still managed to pay bills online. I think I ended up with having two no spend days, Tuesday and Thursday.

I did however earn money as I worked on Thursday, so will get paid at some point for that.

All in all though not too bad a week. Money was put in the savings, mortgage payment increased. Came in well under for my grocery total. Paid bills that were due, and put all the money in my pots. Plus we had hot meals on the table and a warm house to live in, all in all life isn't bad!!

How was your week money wise?

***FPC = Free Product Coupon

Home and Condo of the week and mortgages

2012-01-06T01:00:00.002-05:00

Love this weeks "Home of The Week," despite it's price tag and lack of outside space. Bit too modern in some places for me, but the size of the bedrooms and the principal rooms make up for that. At least they did leave some of the architectural details and the details on the outside of the house is really nice.

The Condo of The Week, I could live without. Although it is a good price for the size of the condo and the location. It's just way too open for my liking, and if they are putting another two condo towers in there that could block whatever view you have that would not be a good thing.

Think I'll stick with my place in the country!!!

Over at Saving For Travels blog she talks about her mortgage and rounding down her total owed. I did something similar this week. We pay our mortgage weekly and it is an uneven number, meaning it isn't a straight $100 (only an example, I wish it were that little!!) So I rounded it up and added an extra $9.17 per week to it, which may not seem a lot per week, but over the life time of our mortgage it will knock off around three weeks. We are pretty fortunate, as we hope to have our mortgage paid off before the end of 2013. So even if you can only afford to put an extra $10 per week/two weeks/per month, it may be worth while doing it?

"The Captive Heart, " by Dale Cramer

2012-01-05T01:03:00.001-05:00

"The Captive Heart, " by Dale Cramer

Ravaged by disease, preyed upon by ruthless bandits, the Bender family's second year in Mexico has taken a grievous turn. Faced with impossible choices, the expatriate Amish discover, more than ever before, what it means to live by faith and not by sight

But it's Miriam who must make the hardest choice as her heart takes her on a new and dangerous course. Domingo. "He is gentle," his sister said, "until someone he loves is threatened." Is Miriam that someone?

"Cualnezqui," he often calls her--the Nahuatl word for Beautiful one. The chiseled native has proven himself a man of principle, grace and power, yet is he the pearl of great price for whom Miriam would sacrifice everything, or is he merely a friend? Tormented by conflicting emotions, she's haunted by vivid dreams: Dressed in the coarse cotton pants and shirt of a peasant, she stands on the precipice of a sun-washed ridge searching desperately for Domingo. Domingo the fierce. Domingo the protector.

Domingo the forbidden.

This is the second book in "Daughter of Caleb Bender" series. As it was a year ago when I read book one, it did take a couple of chapters to familiarize myself with the characters and that was a shame. It would be nice to read one book after another.

The book had it's high and lows and the drama did keep you wanting to read more. If I had a negative comment it would be the ending of the book. Without giving the story away, I had thought there would be closure on the main characters, but you will have to read the next book to see what happens next to them.

I will say, this book does stress how the Amish abhorred violence and showed how deeply they lived by their religion. It is worth reading, but do read book one first, "Paradise Valley."

Stars out of 5 : 4 If you love reading about the Amish, you will love this book. Would recommend reading the first book first though. Just a shame about the ending with this book though.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

Flipping cold and a tip about cooking.........

2012-01-04T01:00:00.007-05:00

Woke up on Tuesday to flipping cold weather, so cold that any moisture up your nose froze instantly. Also snowed the night before and so the driveway was to plow out as well. It does look pretty, when you are inside and sitting in front of the fire!!!

I pulled a pound of ground beef/mince out of the freezer to make a shepherd's pie and some spaghetti sauce. To stretch the spaghetti sauce I added both mushrooms and finely chopped carrots. I also added around 1/2 cup of Renee's Cesar Salad dressing to make a rose sauce.

Renee's Cesar salad dressing is a creamy dressing and has a garlicky taste so adds that bit extra to a cheap spaghetti sauce it also stretches it further.

Oh it's my brother Nick's birthday today, if you have time pop over to his blog and wish him a Happy Birthday. You didn't hear it from me, but I have a feeling two four's could be in his age this year!!!!

Update on Molly: she is perfectly fine, though that guilty look on her face still seems to be there........GOOD I say!!

Another recipe, sort of and my new kettle and trivet...........

2012-01-03T01:00:00.001-05:00

Picked up a packet of thick pork chops the other week on sale and paid around $7 for the five. Had hoped to use them while my mam was here, but never got around to it. So pulled them out of the freezer and defrosted them. With two of them I browned them in the frying pan (no oil used). Chopped a couple of small onions and sliced half a pound of mushrooms, and put them in the bottom of a casserole dish. Popped the chops on top and topped with gravy made from a packet. Cooked them in my toaster/convection oven at 325 oF for an hour and a half. They were so tender they just fell apart. Had them with mashed potatoes and mashed carrot and turnip; which was leftover from Christmas (had put them in the freezer.

It was yummy and a cheap meal. I made double the mashed potatoes and will use them along with the left over carrot and turnip to top a shepherd's pie.

On Monday I popped the other three chops in the slow cooker with bbq sauce and had pulled pork sandwiches with salad. The left over meat will be put into sandwiches for dh's lunch.

I bought a stainless steel kettle the other day to heat water on top of the wood stove and it works a treat.

I picked up this trivet to put it on, it's a turtle:

Monday was a spend day as we picked up more wood for the basement, had lunch out and bought the trivet.......oh well there is always tomorrow I guess?

This daft dog of ours will be the death of me I swear!!!

2012-01-02T07:59:00.001-05:00

Why you ask, well last night she decided to eat a full box of Pot of Gold Chocolates and a box of After Eight Mints................so she is suffering.......I totally forgot about them, as they weren't open. She has been up and down all night and I have no sympathy for her at the moment!!!!

Then to add to it all, I had her to the vets on Saturday, again, as this time she has an urinary tract infection, so along with the antibiotics and I got three months of her allergy pills, that came to another $220+. So those two vets visits cost over $300.

I know by the sorrowful look in her eyes I should have sympathy but I haven't as it was her own daft fault.................

Actually she did me a favour, as I don't like Pot Of Gold Chocolates, and although I love mint and chocolate, I really don't need to eat anymore chocolates at the moment!!

New Years Day - time to get back to normal.........

2012-01-02T01:00:00.003-05:00

By that I mean take down all the Christmas decorations and move everything back to it's original place. I really need to have a clean out of Christmas decorations as I don't use a number of them, but am not sure what to do with them? Who buys Christmas decorations?

I also cleaned out our medicine cabinet and now have a bag full of medications that are out dated. I will drop them off at our pharmacy next time I am passing and they will dispose of them safely.

I also put up our new calendar in the kitchen and transferred all the important dates from one calendar to the other.

A couple of weeks ago a friend was cleaning out her china cabinet and gave me a couple of her vases. Neither are that old but are lovely and will remind me of her forever.

Had hoped to have a no spend day on Sunday as I never left the house all day, but ended up spending $5 on shipping and handling on a magazine subscription I paid for earlier on in December.

I ended up getting a two year subscription for Canadian Living for $24 plus $5 shipping.

Happy New Year - Welcome to 2012

2012-01-01T01:00:00.008-05:00

Although the time this post was posted at 1am today, I wasn't up, I haven't seen a New Year in, in years now.

So on Friday I had to go into the city for an appointment and figured I would do some running around while there. Dragged dh with me as he took Friday off.

One of the places I wanted to go was Sears. I hadn't been in there in ages and it looked as though a tornado had blown through it, with empty shelves, things laying all over the place. There had been a lot of good deals on earlier in the week so a staff member told me.

Anyhow I had a list of things I wanted to buy so off we went around the store. I ended up with a new pillow and pillow case protector for dh. Four pair of underwear for dh, 4 pairs of socks for me, a top for me and a three piece baby outfit and a one piece baby outfit (friend had a baby girl, Avery Elizabeth, super cute name I think) and including taxes I paid $115.47 for all of that. I also had a coupon for $25 worth of Sears points when I spent $100. The good news was we were given $100 in cash for Christmas, so all in all it technically only cost us just over $15 out of pocket. I worked out that if I had paid full price for everything it would have cost us $197.21 (taxes included)

I bought a stainless steel kettle so I can heat water on top of the wood stove, should have been $30 I paid $19.99 plus taxes. We had lunch out and paid for that with what was left on a gift card, plus gave the server $2 cash as part of her tip (the rest came off the gift card). Filled in a survey online from the receipt from the restaurant and got a code for a free appetizer on our next visit, which happened to be last night.

Went to Shopper's to participate in the 20 x the points event (all recorded in my side bar) and ended up spending $51.98 after coupons and taxes. Only used $4.00 in coupons, but better than nothing. Stocked up on facial tissue (Kleenex), shampoo and conditioner for me and just general stuff. Best deal a tube of toothpaste for 38 cents after the coupon. By the way I bought a $50 gift card so I could get an extra 500 points.

Then popped into Zehrs and spent $28.34 and used $2.25 in coupons and saved $2.60 in store savings. Although I haven't officially started my only spending $75 a week, I had hoped to do it this week. Only I went over when I bought 8 long bread rolls for the price of 4, it wasn't on my list!!! So all in all this week I spent $80.32 which is $5.32 over my ideal budget. I used $6.25 in coupons.

I also went through my coupon binder last night and got rid of all the 2011 coupons, so no confusion when I go shopping next!!!

Last day of the year, so lots of planning to do...

2011-12-31T01:00:00.047-05:00

I want to achieve/do a number of things this year and have been thinking/planning for them.

I want to try and keep our grocery/cleaning items/personal items budget down to $75 a week for the two of us. I plan on keeping track of that on the sidebar. I also want to make sure I participate in the 20 x the points events at Shopper's Drug Mart to build my points up for the next Mega Redemption day, hopefully in December of 2012. By the way there is a 20 x the points at Shopper's today. I figure, even if I only do it ten times, with what points I already have I could end up with enough points to do two redemption's next December, which would be $500 worth of free product, if it was the same as this year. I will put a running total of what I have spent and how many points earned this year to see what all this will cost.

I want to carry on with Swagbucks as I am getting $10 to $15 worth of Amazon gift cards per month for doing very little. If anyone from Canada, the States or Britain wants to get gift cards for free just let me know. I enjoy doing the Pinecone surveys and I think this year I was able to earn around $75 from them, without even leaving the house. All that money went into the saving's account.

I want to continue reviewing books, as I love reading and I also love being able to donate the books to our local library, as they are averaging around 4 books per month from me, saving at least $60 per month.

I am participating in Carla's "No (low) spend January" to try and keep me accountable. I am also participating in Saving To Travels THE NEW SEALED POT CHALLENGE

WHAT'S IT ABOUT????

Well,little bits and bobs of money are squirrelled away in an assortment of SEALED POTS and the result is....A NICE CHUNK OF MONEY JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS, OR TO PUT TOWARDS HOLIDAYS... OR A TREAT, OR LOTS OF FUN when we open them in DEC 2012!
Following the CHALLENGE couldn't be easier as you simply get a pot (mine is an old gravt tub but others have posher types), make a hole for cash (if not provided), make sure it's sealed so you can't open it, chuck your spare cash in it and then ON THE 3RD DEC WE WILL OPEN THEM TOGETHER! It's not a competition, we just will support each other here to keep going with ANOTHER CRAZY SCHEME TO SAVE MONEY!

My sealed pot is a plastic Quality Street container that I "artfully" stuck bits of paper tissue over it to cover the clear plastic, so I couldn't see in it. Molly helped out by doing her Vanna White impression for me:

I have no idea what we'll do with the money, it will all depend on how much we save. I do know though that I am only putting 5, 10 and 25 cent coins in the pot. By the way I am saying "we" as I am hoping dh will pop the odd coin in there!!

I do want to have a full veggie garden this year and dh has offered to help me with that. I know we will have an abundance of fruit, as I don't have to make jam for a wedding this year, so will be able to freeze a lot.

I am still putting $20 away each week for birthday's and for Christmas. Also putting $50 a week away for "special" things, like a wedding we are going to at the end of February, that will cost $300 for the "wedding present envelope." Then I hope to save spending money to go away on vacation later on in the year.

I will of course try and cut back on our utilities but with rising costs that is proving harder and harder and here is a prime example.

In 2010 it cost us $1,788.29 for 1922 litres of heating oil.

In 2011 it cost us $1,859.54 for 1625.3 litres of heating oil.

As you can see we used nearly 300 litres less in heating oil in 2011, but it still cost us over $71.00 more due to the rise in oil prices.

I want to put loonies ($1) and twoonies ($2) in my pot every week to save up for gardening supplies in April/May and hope to have $150 saved by then.

I plan on doing an inventory of my freezers and clean them out. Same with the pantry need to sort out what it in there. Do more menu planning if possible so I am more organized and not tempted to eat out.

We got four $50 restaurant gift cards from the kids for Christmas so that will be our treat for eating out.

I know I have more things I want to plan/do but this is a start.

How about you?

Good news for Molly

2011-12-30T01:00:00.011-05:00

Took Molly to the vets on Thursday and she did biopsies on three of her lumps and they came out cancer free......YEAH!!!!!!

However, still puzzled why her lymph nodes are so enlarged, and we go back in a month to see if there is any change. She is concerned about the size of Molly's stomach, but as I said she is just hungry all the time. I am feeding her 1 cup of food twice a day, which is normal for a 40 lb dog. The Vanectyl P pills are a steroid and she is having one twice a day and her allergies are still bad. We are also going to do blood work to make sure her liver is still working well, as that is also a side effect of these pills.

Molly did very well during her examination and prodding and poking. Though by the time the vet stuck the thermometer up her butt I think she had, had enough and made her feelings known!!! So it was quite a relief to us that she is cancer free and a relief to our bank account that it only cost $75 instead of the $1,100 it would of cost if she had, had to have surgery.

Bit of a mystery around here. I have mouse traps set in the old basement and two have disappeared. I have looked high and low for them and can't find them. They were all set to catch mice, so have no idea what on earth has happened?

Molly's View From her window and Skywatch Friday........

2011-12-29T06:47:00.000-05:00

Had our first real winter snow storm on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Looks like a winter wonderland until you had to go out and plow the driveway and brave the minus whatever temperatures!!! Then it's a bloody freezing cold winter wonderland. Roll on April!!!

These photos were taken around 4pm on Wednesday, and yes it was still freezing bloody cold!!!

To the north:

To the south:

To the west:

For more "Views from my window" pop by Jane's blog here and to see more Skywatch Friday photos click on this link.

Turkey again???

2011-12-28T01:00:00.001-05:00

I am sure eveyone is probably fed up of turkey by now? I put together a couple of casseroles with the leftovers for the freezer, but still have some turkey leftover. Will use some of it for sandwiches and will add the rest to recipes.

I made this on Tuesday night for supper and it is super simple to make:

I had a can of Pillsbury Biscuits. For anyone who deosn't live in the States or Canada, scones will do, just make sure they don't have sugar in them.

Cook the biscuits/scones as per the recipe or on the can in my case.

To make the topping you need:

1 onion, chopped
1 rasher of bacon, chopped, or leftover bacon from the roast turkey
1 can condensed Mushroom Soup
1/2 soup can milk
1 cup or as much as you want of cooked turkey
1 cup or as much as you want frozen mixed veggies

Put bacon and onion in a pan and cook on medium heat until softened. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until warmed through.

Slice biscuits in half and top with the turkey sauce.

Boxing Day Sales = Thumbs Down......

2011-12-27T14:10:00.001-05:00

well at least for us. I guess part of the problem is I won't line up in huge line's. The line up outside of the Coach outlet store was just plain crazy and a lot of the other stores were just as bad. I did pick up a couple of Christmas decorations at half price, but otherwise nothing else. We are lucky I guess in Canada as we have good sales all the time.

My mam sent me another ornament for Christmas, another Waterford one. It is gorgeous:

I have also been busy running back and forward to the local hospital as one of our dear friends has had a bad stroke. Although no relation we are pretty close and he keeps asking for me. So please say a prayer for him as he has a long road ahead of him. He is paralysed down the left hand side and his speech is slurred, although I have no problem understanding him.

Christmas at That British Woman's House.......

2011-12-26T07:14:00.000-05:00

Got up around 6am to make stuffing to stuff the turkey and do a couple of other things, so I could get the turkey in the oven at 7:30am. Dh materialized just in time to pop it in the oven for me. Mind you, you don't just "pop" a 16lb turkey anywhere, as it's bloody heavy.

Dd up next around 8-ish, closely followed by son-in-law. Ds had to be kicked out of bed, otherwise he would have never got up!!! Had breakfast of Cinnabons which dd had picked up and they were yummy!!

The phone then rang so that kept us all occupied for half an hour. Finally we got around to opening the gifts, but first we gave Molly her new toys. Dd got her the Christmas lady hedgehog and we got her the pink Gingerbread lady.

Side note: Molly isn't well, so will have to take her to the vet's this week, her lumps in her mammary glands have grown a lot.

One of the gifts I got from the kids was this:

So what you ask. Well when I opened it this was what was inside:

Dd had decided to sample some to make sure they were alright and had eaten all the good ones and graciously left me all the "Popcorn" flavoured ones amongst others!!! Will say she then gave me a even bigger box of them, this time not opened.

By the time we had opened all the presents, the phone rang again and so we talked and relaxed and generally spent a quiet morning doing little to nothing, while the turkey was cooking away.

I made a start in the kitchen around 11.30 am with a brief pause to listen to the Queen's speech. Everything stops for the Queen's speech in our house. Here's hoping Prince Phillip gets out of hospital soon.

I made dessert, which was a sponge cake filled with fresh cream and raspberries picked from the garden in the summer and covered with fresh cream, raspberries and grated chocolate, it was good. My mam had sent me over these cakes pans from Lakeland to make this with.

We finally got sat down to our turkey dinner at 2pm and were probably finished eating by 2:30pm. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrot and turnip mashed, bread sauce and gravy. We don't have too much as we don't want to be eating it for weeks to come. For dessert there was the cake and a fresh fruit platter. As everyone washed up, I stripped the turkey and put the carcass in the freezer to make soup with later. Made up two plates of left overs for the kids to take home. Put together two casseroles for the freezer, so all we are left with is a large plate of turkey and stuffing for sandwiches.

By the time everything was cleared away it was probably close to 3:30pm. The kids were watching a movie, and as I had been sipping on a glass of wine.......which believe me is very unusual for me to drink alcohol....I ended up going in the living room as I said it was too warm in the family room, and fell asleep for a while. Alcohol makes me sleepy.

Dd and son-in-law left at 5pm to go to their next port of call, son-in-law's dad's side of the family. Ds left sometime after 6pm to go home and probably sleep. We sat down and watched Marley and Me, which wasn't the best idea as it ended sadly and so I had a cry!!!

Went to bed straight after watching that, as both of us were worn out by another Christmas Day!!!!

I hope you had a lovely Christmas day, as I did enjoy ours, other than the ending of the movie!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours...........

2011-12-24T05:55:00.000-05:00

The True Meaning Of Christmas
by Brian K. Walters

In todays' day and time,
it's easy to lose sight,
of the true meaning of Christmas
and one special night.

When we go shopping,
We say "How much will it cost?"
Then the true meaning of Christmas,
Somehow becomes lost.

Amidst the tinsel, glitter
And ribbons of gold,
We forget about the child,
born on a night so cold.

The children look for Santa
In his big, red sleigh
Never thinking of the child
Whose bed was made of hay.

In reality,
When we look into the night sky,
We don't see a sleigh
But a star, burning bright and high.

A faithful reminder,
Of that night so long ago,
And of the child we call Jesus,
Whose love, the world would know.

and finally one of my favourite Christmas songs, please listen to the words:

I just sat there with my mouth open........

2011-12-22T07:18:00.001-05:00

Please, please, please click on the link for the condo of the week, I have NEVER seen anything like it, here is the link Each room just made my mouth drop open even more and not really in a good way I may add. I guess it takes all sorts to make a world, but I think I'll keep my $3 million dollars (if I had that much money) for another house.............

As per one of the comments on the condo site it belonged to this man: http://realscreen.com/2011/07/20/history-television-canadas-head-hunters-hit-by-untimely-death/

The home of the week although nice wasn't my cup of tea, as I think like one of the comments said I would prefer more than five feet between my neighbours for that sort of price, here is a link to it. I am assuming there was an old house there before hand and it was torn down and this put up in it's place.

Cookies and good advise, worth reading..........

2011-12-22T01:01:00.002-05:00

Dd loves to bake and at Christmas she gives gifts of cookies to various people. Here is a tray of her cookies.

From left to right are, shortbread cookies, chocolate crinkle cookies, jam filled sandwich cookies, cranberry white chocolate chip cookies, cranberry pistachio bark, and red velvet whoopie pies.

Got this in an email and thought it was worthwhile sharing:

BANK ACCOUNT!!!

This is AWESOME ... something we should all remember.

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.

His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.

As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window. I love it,' he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

Mr.. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait.'

'That doesn't have anything to do with it,' he replied.

Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time.
Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged ... it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. 'It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away.. Just for this time in my life.

Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in.

So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!

Thank you for your part in filling my Memory Bank. I am still depositing.

'Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

Makes you think doesn't it?

I'm a walking disaster..........

2011-12-21T01:00:00.000-05:00

Last week I went and dropped a log on my foot and it bloody well hurt. When I was in the shower the other day I couldn't understand why my foot was so dirty. Well of course it wasn't dirty it was/is bruised.

Oh and yes it is flipping swollen.

My goodness me, I have ugly feet don't I? I really need a pedicure I think...LOL

On a more positive note my hand is getting better, slowly but surely.

Hobby Farm Home Magazine

2011-12-20T01:00:00.002-05:00

I picked up the January/February 2012 issue of Hobby Farm Home Magazine on Sunday and once again it is full of interesting subjects and links to various websites.

I loved this rug they featured from Garnet Hill

Can't say I have ever heard of that site before, but has some cute stuff on there, bit expensive though?

There was an article all about coupons and it had some interesting links to various money savings websites and blogs. This one is American, but even if you're not from the States, you may find some posts useful: The Frugalette They mention a site called Mambo Sprouts which is an organic site, with all sorts of deals, info and recipes. They have a really neat post about Bird Friendly Holiday Decor and another called Celebrate & Save: 5 Keys to a Merry, Thrifty Holiday, try and find time to read both posts.

Eat Wild is a site where you can find local farms where you can buy directly from the farm, here is a link There are actually a number of farms close or pretty close to where we live.

All in all I am seriously considering subscribing to the magazine as it would be cheaper than buying it from the store.

Merry Christmas to Dh and I.......

2011-12-19T01:00:00.006-05:00

We bought our Christmas present to ourselves on Sunday morning. 10 sheets of drywall/plasterboard:

We also bought a carry handle thingy to carry the drywall, which turns out to be the best $7 we have spent as per dh:

Here is a close up of the writing:

This is something we will use over and over, and as I couldn't help dh lift the drywall this was worth every penny.

Dh's goal is to have the rest of the new basement drywalled, taped and sanded before Spring.

In case you think that's an awful gift, if we want anything we generally just go out and buy it when we see it, if it's in the budget, and we don't really want anything at the moment. So we thought drywall was the perfect gift.

However, we are giving one another a $40 budget each to go out and buy a couple of small things for one another. I am getting dh another book on renovating; they are actually the only books he will actually read. Plus some scratch and (hopefully) win cards, and I am not 100% sure what else yet.

Bad news, good news..........

2011-12-17T01:00:00.001-05:00

Went to get my snow tires put on and an oil change and ended up having to have other things done, which ended up with a bill for $400......what the heck............I am clueless when it comes to anything mechanical. Made the mechanic talk to dh to explain what he was doing and dh gave him the go ahead. Could have done without this bill though.

Good news, gas/petrol prices have dropped to $1.149 a litre. Good news, picked up my dress I wore for the wedding and it only cost me $20 to get it shortened. Good news my total for grocery shopping this week was $56.18, only used $2 in coupons though. There wasn't much on sale this week, though I did stock up on cheese.

There was a good sale at the end of November at Book Close Outs, and I bought 12 books for around $35, you can't beat that. I will of course donate them to the library when I have read them. Dropped off another couple of books there today.

Lots and lots of cream will be the answer,,,,,,,,,,,,

2011-12-16T07:39:00.000-05:00

to make this look a lot better:

sorry if this grossed you out.........

Cast is off thank goodness......

2011-12-15T17:58:00.000-05:00

the hand is sore though, as she had to take out ten stitches. As they were were in my palm and wrist it was flipping painful. I had to lay down afterwards, as I wasn't sure if I was going to faint or vomit. Never had something like that happen to me before.......

Have to go back in a month to have them check my hand, and I have got the go ahead to have the other hand operated on any time from February onwards. I just have to make the appointment next week. I have not to lift anything over 10 lbs but otherwise I can do everything else, including drive...YEAH!!!

I will post a photo tomorrow as I have a large bandaid/plaster over the incision for the rest of today. I must say I am not thrilled with how it looks, and I hope it will look better in time.

By the way I will be telling her to not put in as many stitches next time, as that is very painful taking them out! Oh and she was pleased with the flexibility I had with my hand, so it was a success.

Big day today..

2011-12-15T01:00:00.002-05:00

I get my flipping cast off, roll on 1:15pm the time of my appointment.

I managed to get the rest of the Christmas presents wrapped on Wednesday, and for once it took very little time as we have cut back such a lot this year. Infact I won't be buying any wrapping paper or Christmas cards in the Boxing Day sales this year, as I have plenty left.

I read this article online about how a woman's mother cancelled Christmas many years ago as her father was sick and they just couldn't afford to buy presents. Read about it here I have said for many years that the true meaning of Christmas has been lost. There is even a poll on this site asking "would you cancel Christmas."

I personally wouldn't cancel Christmas, but would like to tone it down. One thing I do though is make sure we don't spend too much and make sure it's all paid for, as the last thing I want is to be paying for it for the rest of the year.

Finally, does anyone have a good Bread Pudding recipe, one that does not contain dried fruit. I have a craving for Bread pudding and we do not like sultana's or raisins.

Book Review and a "No Spend January,"

2011-12-14T01:00:00.003-05:00

"A Lasting Impression," by Tamera Alexander

Claire Laurent's greatest aspiration is to paint something that will bring her acclaim. Yet her father insists she work as a copyist. A forger. When she's forced to flee from New Orleans to Nashville only a year after the War Between the States has ended, her path collides with attorney Sutton Monroe. She considers him a godsend for not turning her in to the authorities. But after he later refuses to come to her aid, Claire fears she's sorely misjudged the man. Finding herself among the elite of Nashville's society, Claire believes her dream to create a lasting impression in the world of art is within reach--but only if her fraudulent past remains hidden.

The Federal Army has destroyed Sutton's home and confiscated his land, and threatens to destroy his family's honor. His determination to reclaim what belongs to him and to right a grievous wrong reveals a truth that may cost him more than he ever imagined--as well as the woman he loves.

Set at Nashville's historic Belmont Mansion, a stunning antebellum manor built by Mrs. Adelicia Acklen, A Lasting Impression is a sweeping love story about a nation mending after war, the redemption of those wounded, and the courage of a man and woman to see themselves--and each other--for who they really are.

What a super book, if you love the Southern States, and the history of the mid 1800's, this book is for you. It takes you back to Nashville in the 1860's, and the attention to detail that the author has put into the book is just superb. Add to that a bit of mystery and intrigue, and a dollop of love and you have a great book.

You just want Claire to succeed, and Sutton makes a very dashing lead character. Not that this has to do with the actual story by I love that dress the lady is wearing on the front of the book cover.

Stars out of 5 : a very solid 5 I have nothing bad to say about this book, an easy read with a story that hooks you right away.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

Carla is having a "No Spend January Challenge," in January.....of course!! She has listed the rules etc., but honestly you do as much or as little as you want. If you want to join in just pop by her blog and post a comment. It's a good idea to start the new year. I have to figure out what my goal will be, although I do know there is one thing I will do and that is try to eat out of our pantry and freezer for as much of January as I can, as it wants a good clean out!!!

Also only one more sleep and I get this rotten cast off.......... YEAH!!!!!

Our Molly............

2011-12-13T07:19:00.000-05:00

As I am typing this Molly is "burying" her bone in her basket, silly doggy.....

I took a couple of photos of her on Monday. Dh had let her "sleep" on the sofa and had left her blanket on there. So I covered her with the blanket to make her more snuggly!

She was laying on her ottoman in the afternoon with her rabbit:

Couldn't resist taking a close up of her face...

"Valley of Dreams," by Lauraine Snelling

2011-12-12T01:00:00.001-05:00

"Valley of Dreams," by Lauraine Snelling

When Cassie Lockwood's mother died, Cassie began travelling with her father's Wild West Show. Along the way, she became an amazingly skillful trick rider and sharpshooter, likened by some to the famous Annie Oakley. When her father passed away, she continued to work with the show, having nowhere else to go.

Now Cassie has discovered that "Uncle" Jason, the show's manager, has driven the show into debt, and he's absconded with what little money was left. Devastated, Cassie decides to try to find the hidden valley in the Black Hills of South Dakota where her father had dreamed of setting down roots. She has only one clue. She needs to find three huge stones that look like fingers on a giant hand. With Chief, a Sioux Indian who's been with the act for twenty years, and Micah, the head wrangler, she leaves the show and a bundle of heartache behind and begins a wild and daring adventure.

Will they find the valley before winter closes in on them?

I found this book a little hard to get into, but by Chapter 7, I was getting there, and then in Chapter 8, didn't the author go and introduce another set of characters? Confused the heck out of me, but it finally dawned on me what one set of characters had to do with the other. By the end you are wanting to know what happens next; then boom it's the end of the book. Turns out it is the first in the series of books and the next one isn't published until August 2012 :0( I was not happy, as I feel you are left hanging there.

Stars out of 5 : 4, I enjoyed the story but I wasn't happy where the book left off, and I really don't want to wait until next August to see what happens next.........
"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

If you have a Kindle, or even if you want to download and read it on your PC, this sounds like a good book and it's free: Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum by Mark Stevens Bit of a strange subject, but I thought interesting......

Grocery shopping, coupons and deals.........

2011-12-10T19:20:00.000-05:00

I do feel for my poor dh, as yet again had to take me grocery shopping today as I still can't drive. Of course I didn't want to go to just the one store, I had to go to numerous stores and when I told dh that, he was ever so pleased!!! Bless him though he didn't complain, but he personally couldn't see the point of shopping at various stores.

Our first port of call was the dreaded Wal-Mart, where they had turkey's on for 95 cents per pound. Dh picked up a one that is at least 16lbs as it was $15.32, also picked up a couple of other things and my total came to $16.79. Paid that with the money I had saved up in my pot and used a $1.00 off coupon for one of the items.

We then headed to Shopper's Drug Mart where they has a 20 x the points event when you spent $75. One of the best things you can do is use all your high value coupons at the 20 x the points events, as the total is before coupons. I had three $15 off coupons for vitamins and a $2 and a $1 coupon. So the total of my bill before coupons was $84.36 - $48 in coupons = $36.36 I am also mailing in my receipt for a $4.79 mail in rebate on the Quantum Finish Dishwasher Cleaner I may be giving that as a joke Christmas gift to our son-in-law. I of course purchased a $50 SDM gift card before buying anything, so I could get another 500 points, and altogether earned another 15,500 points today.

We then popped into to Zehrs and spent another $16.79 there, and they had 10 lb bags of potatoes on for $1.77 a bag. Everything else we purchased had 50% off so saved another $12.13 there, plus will be giving my receipt to the church as always.

We finally popped into Sobeys and I spent $16.78 there, my main purchase there was Lean Ground Beef that was on sale, for $1.79 a pound, so picked up nearly 5lbs of that, and I saw sausage meat for my stuffing. I didn't use any coupons there, but have accumulated enough points to cash in for $10 off my next bill if I want. I am going to keep on collecting them and cash in at a later date, for more info on those click on this link.

By the way if you have a Food Basics near you, they have turkeys on sale for 77 cents a lb. I neither have a Food Basics close to me, nor do I get a flyer, so I can't price match either.

So all in all I spent $86.01 buying groceries and personal items and cleaning products this week. I had coupons and stickered savings of $61.13 and will be receiving a cheque for $4.79 from the mail in rebate. The envelope I am mailing my MIR in was free, ask you local greeting card shop if they have any spare envelopes they don't want, and they'll probably give you a bunch. The stamp I will be using I bought them when they were 10% off, so saved money there also.

So as far a the Christmas Day lunch is concerned the only thing I need to get now is some white bread for the bread sauce and a loaf of white or brown bread for the stuffing. I still have $56 in my pot that I had saved up for the groceries, so all in all things are looking good.

Starting January 1st I am going to keep a running total of what I spend each week and what savings I have. I am hoping to spend only $75 a week. I want to be more organized with my menu planning as well. In fact I basically want to be more organized period in every aspect of my life...........

A View From Molly's Window and Skywatch Friday

2011-12-08T14:07:00.000-05:00

I'm combining two photo Meme's today, "A View From My Window or in this case Molly's Window," and Skywatch Friday

It's bitter cold here today, with high winds, but at least the sun is shining.

Looking south:

Looking west:

Looking north:

We have a sprinkling of snow, but nothing much.

I hope you will click on the links to see everyone elses photos.

Please take the time to read this....makes you think

2011-12-08T07:45:00.000-05:00

The Cab Ride

I arrived at the address and honked the horn.

after waiting a few minutes

I walked to the

door and knocked.. 'Just a minute', answered a

frail, elderly voice. I could hear something

being dragged across the floor.

After

a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in

her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a

print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned

on it, like somebody out of a 1940's

movie.

By her side was a small nylon

suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had

lived in it for years. All the furniture was

covered with sheets.

There were no

clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils

on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard

box filled with photos and

glassware..

'Would you carry my bag

out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase

to the cab, then returned to assist the

woman.

She took my arm and we walked

slowly toward the curb.

She kept

thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I

told her.. 'I just try to treat my passengers

the way I would want my mother to be

treated.'

'Oh, you're such a good

boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave

me an address and then asked, 'Could you drive

through downtown?'

'It's not the

shortest way,' I answered

quickly..

'Oh, I don't mind,' she

said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a

hospice.

I looked in the rear-view

mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have

any family left,' she continued in a soft

voice.. 'The doctor says I don't have very

long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the

meter.

'What route would you like me

to take?' I asked.

For the next two

hours, we drove through the city. She showed me

the building where she had once worked as an

elevator operator.

We drove through the

neighbourhood where she and her husband had lived

when they were newlyweds She had me pull up in

front of a furniture warehouse that had once

been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a

girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow

in front of a particular building or corner and

would sit staring into the darkness, saying

nothing.

As the first hint of sun was

creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm

tired. Let's go now'.

We drove in

silence to the address she had given me. It was

a low building, like a small convalescent home,

with a driveway that passed under a

portico.

Two orderlies came out to

the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were

solicitous and intent, watching her every move.

They must have been expecting her.

opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to

the door. The woman was already seated in a

wheelchair.

'How much do I owe you?'

She asked, reaching into her

purse.

'Nothing,' I

said

'You have to make a living,' she

answered.

'There are other

passengers,' I responded.

Almost

without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She

held onto me tightly.

'You gave an

old woman a little moment of joy,' she

said

'Thank you.'

I squeezed her

hand, and then walked into the dim morning

light.. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound

of the closing of a life..

I didn't

pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove

aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that

day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had

gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient

to end his shift?

What

if I had refused to take the run, or had honked

once, then driven away?

On a quick

review, I don't think that I have done anything

more important in my life.

We're

conditioned to think that our lives revolve

around great moments.

But great

moments often catch us unaware-beautifully

wrapped in what others may consider a small

one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY

WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID ~BUT~THEY WILL

ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM

FEEL

You won't get any big surprise

in 10 days if you send this to ten people. But,

you might help make the world a little kinder

and more compassionate by sending.

it on and

reminding us that often it is the random acts of

kindness that most benefit all of

us.

More Wedgwood Ornaments......

2011-12-06T11:34:00.000-05:00

Here are the rest of my ornaments.....

and the new one:

Chocolate is in the fridge why I consider my options..........oh and I prefer my chocolate cold!!!

It's a start I guess.........

2011-12-05T15:30:00.001-05:00

Dh hauled up the Christmas tree from the basement for me. It still needs to be "fluffed out."

The one ornament on the tree is my new Wedgwood ball for this year:

I will decorate the tree throughout the week, when I have more energy.

My mam brought over some Cadburys chocolate decorations for the tree. Mind you just discovered that the strings are to tie on them, so those will have to wait until I get my cast off. Or should I just eat them?? Decisions, decisions.........

Things are improving with my hand. Still can't do a lot of things, and when I do too much my hand tells me!!! Only 10 more sleeps and the cast will be removed!!!

Don't have my tree up yet so here is dd tree......

2011-12-05T06:59:00.000-05:00

They live in a condo 21st floor and they don't have too much room. She changed her colours this year, and got all her decorations and ribbon at Michael's for at least 70% off, she is a good shopper!!

She even decorates all her presents and colour co-ordinates them, you don't want to open your gift as it is so pretty. By the look of it, she has made her gift tags as well. I wonder who that big present is for on the top left hand side? Actually I think it's for her in-laws as I know what she got them.

If you have your tree up, let me know and post a photo on your blog.

Dear daughter's Christmas cards......

2011-12-04T13:24:00.000-05:00

Oh to be as talented as dd!!! Here are the cards she made this year:

Two thoughts passed through my mind.....

2011-12-03T16:16:00.000-05:00

When I agreed to have my hand operated on:

1. What will we eat for nearly three weeks as dh doesn't cook....I prepared meals on the Monday afternoon.

2. Will dh take me to SDM on Saturday for the Mega bonus redemption as I won't be able to drive.....he did and I kept him busy by calculating how much the shop was costing.

On a normal day when you cash in 95,000 points you get $170 in free products. On a bonus redemption day they up it to $200 in free product, for MEGA bonus redemption day it's $250!!!
I only had enough for one bonus redemption of $250. Here is what I got:

4 x Peak Freans cookies @ $1.99 each

2 x Dempsters Bread @ $2.49 each

2 x 16 pack Silhouette yogurt @ $3.99 each, have enough codes now for a free year of a magazine

1 x orange juice @ $1.99

2 x Half and Half @ $1.99 each

4 x french Fries @ $1.99 each

1 x sweet corn @ $1.99

1 x Mixed veg @ $1.99

1 x 4 litre bag milk $4.19

3 x Bags of chips 3 for $5

4 x Swiffer cloths @ $5.49 each

1 x Lysol Wipes @ $3.99

3 x Gillette Razor Blades 12 pack @ $37.99 each, flipping expensive, but got 15 x the points on them

6 x Herbal Essences shampoo @ $2.99 each

1 x Scott Paper Towel @ $4.99

Subtotal: $293.77

HST : $28.96

Total: $322.73

- $250 in points = $72.73 out of pocket

Now if you're puzzled that the above list doesn't add up, you're right it doesn't as I had to take out around $85 worth of product as it's Christmas gifts and a certain person reads my blog, dd!!!

I only had $2 worth of coupons I could use though which sucked.

However dh has enough razor blades to hopefully last him the year, with what he also had in the house. He has enough shampoo to last a while. Oh and I earned 15,690 in points bringing me back up to 25,905.

We also went out in the afternoon and I took advantage of a good sale at Mark's Work Wearhouse and saved at least $45 there. Also picked up another Christmas gift for someone else. I am more or less done with my Christmas shopping, just got a couple of small things to buy. I have done a bit of shopping online this year and took advantage of another great deal on Groupon for a couple's Christmas gift. Again I can't tell you as she may read my blog!!

BY THE WAY FROM WHAT I CAN GATHER, THIS IS THE SECOND YEAR SDM HAS DONE THIS MEGA BONUS REDEMPTION, SO HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE AN ANNUAL THING?

Catching up..........

2011-12-01T18:07:00.000-05:00

things are wandering along with my recovery. I have the use of the tips of my fingers on my right hand now, so that helps. The fingers are still swollen but I have good motion with them. The stinging in my palm area has more or less gone, I only feel it when I try and do something with my hand I shouldn't......like typing with both hands!!!

Dh is a love and a big help. He did laundry for me and has been washing up all the dishes. The meals have all been just to heat up in the microwave. I had a shower last night with the help of dh. I cannot drive until I get the cast off on the 15th, so it's a case of wait and heal!!!

thanks for all your good wishes.........

Gill

Thank you card.......

2011-11-30T01:00:00.001-05:00

We got a lovely thank you card in the mail on Monday from dd and her hubby. She made them for everyone using her Cricut.

The theme of her wedding was "The Perfect Pair."

2011-11-29T16:14:00.000-05:00

surgery went well. typing with one hand sucks!!! pink stuff on fingers is disinfectant. have the bandage taken off on 15th of December.....

Received a telephone call on Monday......

2011-11-29T01:00:00.001-05:00

and that totally upset all the plans I had for the week. The telephone call was from the surgeons office and someone had cancelled their appointment for surgery on Tuesday and did I want the appointment. After a quick phone call to dh to see if he could drive me to and from hospital on Tuesday I accepted the appointment. So at 2pm today I will be having my right hand operated on. It only takes around half an hour, and I hope to be home by supper time.

Obviously I wasn't expecting this and it threw a bit of a monkey wrench into my plans for the day. As you know my dh is very talented when it comes to renovations but the one thing he can't and won't do is cook. So I pulled a few things out of the freezer and got busy making some meals.

Took me around 3 hours, but I got a bit done. Below are two shepherd's pies, a bowl of rice, a bowl of mashed potatoes. Two containers of liver, onion, mushrooms and bacon casserole, a lasagna and chicken and veggies in a mushroom Alfredo sauce. All in all there are around nine meals there for the two of us.

I also made a big pot of ham and leek soup with a couple of ham hocks. So probably another meal there and lunch for me for the week.

I must admit, I felt very blessed to be able to pull things out of the freezer and make enough meals to last more than a week in just a few hours.

As it's my right hand that is being operated on and I am right handed things won't be as easy to do. In theory I won't be able to drive for at least a couple of weeks, but I'll play that by ear. I will have my hand bandaged up for two weeks, and I haven't to do any heavy lifting for 6 weeks. So no snow blowing for me!!!

I am hoping after a couple of days though to be able to type and to try and comment on everyone's blog.

Gill's Bean and Sausage Casserole

2011-11-28T01:03:00.002-05:00

Couldn't decide what to call it and saying it's an actual recipe is a bit of a stretch, but thought I'd share it with you. Here is what it looks like:

Gill's Bean and Sausage Casserole

Ingredients:

Potatoes, peeled and sliced , use as many as you think people will eat
1 or 2 onions peeled and sliced, or if you like onions use more
Red or Green pepper sliced
1 package sausages cut into thirds, depending on how many people you are feeding you may need more than one package
2 cans Heinz Baked Beans in tomato sauce, or whatever brand you prefer, they do need to be in tomato sauce though
Seasonings.....

This is cooked in a slow cooker. Place the potatoes and onions in the bottom of the slow cooker, season. I used salt and pepper and garlic powder. Chilli powder would be good if you like a bit of a kick. Place the sausages on top of the potato and onion mixture, then top with the cans of baked beans.

Cook on low for around 10 hours. I used around half a dozen potatoes, one onion, 5 sausages and two cans of baked beans and that fed the two of us, and there is enough left over for dh a filling meal later on in the week. It's a comfort meal for a cold day and very simple to make. I did not put any red or green pepper in mine as I forgot about it.

Also I bought Presidents Choice English Bangers as I really enjoy them for this dish. However I think they were labeled wrong as they were spicy like a mild Italian sausage, so that spoiled the dish for me, as I don't do spice!!

A road trip to the cranberry marsh (lots of photos).......

2011-11-27T07:34:00.001-05:00

Back in October I purchased a couple of Groupon deals to Johnston's Cranberry Marsh We were supposed to go at the beginning of November when our family were here from Britain, but due to my step-father taking ill we never got.

As the weather was going to be nice we decided to go on Saturday. We got there a little early so headed into Port Carling for lunch, which is around 15 minutes from the marsh. The "tour" was scheduled for 1pm and that was part of our deal. There was only us and another couple and the tour very very informal because of that. Will mention there are a lot of trails around the marshes that you can go by yourself unguided and there are plenty of information signs throughout those trails that will tell you about the area and cranberries.

The marsh was started back in 1952 and it took two years to set everything up and then another 5 years before the first crop was ready to harvest. Cranberry bushes are evergreen and the leaves go red in the fall. This is a photo of the original marsh, they have three or four others, covering a total of 27 acres. However the property is 300 acres as it takes those extra acres to sustain the marshes.

Here is a close up of a bush, they are very close to the ground and spread along the ground rather than grow higher.

The best time to go is in October when they are harvesting the crop. Bala the local town has a cranberry festival the weekend after Thanksgiving, so that would be a great time to visit as well. I noticed that although that had finished the harvest there were still a lot of cranberries on the bushes.

There were signs all over the place telling you about the place and what they do. Not sure if you will be able to read them though? This one tells you about the winery that they have.

This one explains about the harvesting, as they use rakes rather than beaters to harvest the berries, so not to damage the fruit.

They also had the original truck parked there that is a 1948 Ford. It doesn't work but is a great reminder of the beginning of the marsh.

After the tour we went back into the store and did some wine tasting. It's normally $3 a person and she didn't want to see our ID? I wonder why!!!! We got this free as part of our deal. We also got a $20 gift certificate for the store. We bought a couple bottles of wine, one a Cranberry Wine and one a Cranberry and Blueberry Wine to have with our Christmas Lunch. These wines are available at the LCBO for folks in Canada. I love the art work on the bottles, so neat.

Part of our deal was a free bag of cranberries. It was a huge bag, over 4lbs and would normally cost $12.75. Not too sure what I am going to do with them yet.

I also picked up a bag of chocolate covered dried cranberries, they are so good, but flipping expensive at nearly $8 a small bag.

We really enjoyed ourselves and we travelled up Hwy 400 to get there and came back via Gravenhurst and down Hwy 11 to get home. It is around an hour and a half north of Barrie, so took us nearly two hours to get there.

Its a place we are going to visit in the summer as there is so much to see and do in that area

***HAVING ISSUES WITH MY HEADER PHOTO***

Record breaking temperatures on Friday......

2011-11-26T01:07:00.004-05:00

It was a super day on Friday with temperatures in the mid-teens. I got all my laundry dried outside, as it was so windy along with lovely temperatures. Of course with a gorgeous day comes a glorious sunset:

We are so very lucky to see these gorgeous sunsets.