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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I hope you all had a lovely weekend? 

Follow up from yesterday........

I had a comment from Margie that she does not use Facebook, and she is not the only one out there.  So if you would like to donate items to various groups/causes Up North please let me know in a comment what you are willing to donate/where you are willing to donate and give me your email address (I will not publish it) and I will email you addresses and more specifics for you to chose from.

Some things that are requested are as follows:

DVD's for 15 to 18 year olds for movie nights hosted by the RCMP.  Along with popcorn and various snacks.

Craft items, things like needles, yarn, embroidery threads, paints, beads.

Food for various food banks and soup kitchen, for example yeast, flour dried beans, peas.

Clothing items, especially socks, hats & mitts.  For all age groups and both males and females. Underwear for all age groups and pull on bras for the elderly women.

Winter clothing, jackets, boots, snow pants; remember it gets pretty cold where they live.

Books, small dollar store toys, little Hot Wheels cars.

Toiletries of all kinds.

Vegetable seeds for various organizations.

Certain places put together "Kindness Kits" which can include the following depending on what's donated:

Here are some content suggestions:
• Hand warmers
• Batteries
• Flashlights
• Toothbrush/Toothpaste
• Moist wipes
• Neck Warmers
• Hat Gloves
• Scarves
• Indoor or Outdoor socks (Often socks are layered on extremely cold days)
• Soap
• Swiss army knife or a multi tool
• Bandaids/Small first aid kit
• Deck of cards
• Sample size shampoo or deodorant
• Camping utensils spoons, forks, sporks ;-)
• Simple household gadgets like a can opener
• Kleenex packs
• Nail clippers
• Canvas compact shopping bag
• Fishing hooks/lures/line
• Sunglasses
• Small reusable traveling water bottle
• Wash cloth
• Chapstick
• Razors
• Tampons or Feminine Hygiene Products
• Single Use Tide powder to have the opportunity to wash clothes
• Brush/comb
• Envelope/Pen/Stamp—So someone can write home to family
• Hot Chocolate/ Individual Coffee packs
• Snacks—instant oatmeal, dried fruit (Anything with nuts should be clearly marked)

I sewed a number (22) of bookmarks and got them off in the mail on Thursday.  I tried to do a mix of fabrics to suit both boys and girls.

All were made from scraps of fabric I had on hand; same with the ribbon trims.  If you have any questions ask away.

Would you like to help?

Back here I posted about the Northern Birthday Box Project, where you are matched with a child in Nunavut and you send up a box of items for them to have a birthday party.  I got a message that the box was received took under two weeks, so pleased about that.

Through that site I discovered another Facebook group called Northern Canada Mini Projects.  This group deals with different projects in different areas of the far north.  Again you do have to join the group to see all the posts and get further details on what they are looking for.

Some of the projects are:

Naujaat Summer Literacy Help

Inuvik Feast and Foodbank Sale

Northern Manitoba Little Ladies Club <3 span="">

Good Hope NWT Summer of Fun and Fitness Support needed

Hall Beach and Clyde River Food Bank Fundraiser Sale

Attawapiskat Summer Art and Baking Supplies Request

Port Good Hope NWT Warm Clothing and Elderwear Drive

Active Soup Kitchen Support (Sandy Lake, Baker Lake and Attawapiskat)

Active Food Bank Support

Rankin Inlet Women’s Shelter

Rankin Inlet--Adult Group Home

Sandy Lake Clothing Drive

Seeds of Love/ Greenhouse Support

Arctic Bay Women’s and Art Classes Help needed

I decided to donate to the Naujaat Summer Literacy Programme.  I ordered a number of books from Book Outlet Canada as they are having a 25% off sale on children's books and they offer free shipping in Canada with orders over $45.  If I had, had to pay for the shipping it would have been another $50.........so not going to happen😏

All are worthy causes and there are many more.  Amazon does deliver to certain places up North free of charge with a minimum order.  Walmart charges $10 and a number of the clothing stores deliver free of charge again with a minimum order.

So especially people who read this and are in Canada please think about helping out in some way; even if it is just posting a link to this blog post of mine on your blog page or on your Facebook page.  Every little helps.

Another little thing I am doing is making bookmarks for the kids using scraps of fabric I have on hand.......and believe me I have a lot!!

What you need is:

2 pieces of fabric (or scraps of fabric) 2 1/4 inches by 6 inches
1 piece of card stock paper, or light cardboard 1 1/2 inches by 5 1/4 inches
Piece of trim/ribbon/lace 5 inches

This is what it looks like when done:

That was just a sample to see what the pattern turned out like.  If you need more detail on how to make these let me know and I'll explain it step by step.

Now to make a pile more and pop them into an envelope and ship up north.