Week in review

My where has the time gone? It just seems I was writing and it's already a week ago.

The past week Ken's baby, our 1969 International Scout, got a little worse for wear. The master cylinder went. No problem , we'd get another one, or replacement parts. Oh, yea. They don't make them anymore. We have phoned all over, I went down to Bonner's Ferry as they had one. Got there and it was the wrong one. Came home and Ken has started looking again. Found a place that had the replacement parts. went and got it, nope wrong ones. Then they found the right picture in one of the books and have now ordered the parts. They should be here this coming Tuesday. Seeing as I have always been told is believing. I hope it is the right one. The "Whoopee" is Ken's Baby. It takes him all over the country side, on his morning trips around our little community, brings in our winter's wood takes him hunting in the fall. I don't know what he'd do without it. for sure he'd have a lot less fun. I love going for rides in it and taking our dog out for a "run".

Oh, I cooked up a friends Tina's soup recipe. I don't know where Tina got it from, but since Ken likes Cauliflower, and I had one that I had to use up I made this. 5 stars from our family. And I will make it again.

Tina's Cream of Cauliflower Soup

2 med. onions chopped
2 med. carrots grated
2 celery ribs sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
1/4 cup + 6 Tablespoons butter, divided
1 medium head cauliflower chopped
5 cups of chicken broth
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt ( I never use this much!)
1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper ( again I just use my shaker and if I need a bit more I shake it again)
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried tarragon]6 tbsp. flour
1 cup milk
1/2 c/ heavy whipping cream ( I used what I had it was 10 % coffee cream)
1/4 cup. sour cream ( DH walked in just when I was going to add this, he wouldn't have even tried it if he had seen it go in so I left it out, but it is good with it in)

Saute onions carrots celery and garlic in 1/4 cup butter, in a large heavy bottomed pot.
Add cauliflower, broth, parsley, salt and pepper , basil and tarragon.
Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until veges are tender.

Meanwhile in a saucepan melt remaining butter, stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk and cream.
Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Add to cauliflower mixture.
cook for 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat, stir in sour cream.

Serve.



Pat's notes. I put my notes in brackets above. also, Cauliflower was on sale here for $1.89 each, so I always buy the biggest one I can find. It was twice as big as some of them. I used Little over 1/2 the cauliflower ( the rest I had cooked for a company supper. ) in summer you could grow your own or buy them for less.

This makes a lot of soup. I fed 3 of us for lunch today and we had big bowls of soup. I still have about 1/2 the pot or a little more left.

There were some other things that happened this past week, but I will sign off for today. It's January and my month to re-read the Tight Wad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. I started reading it yearly back when I first bought it in 1998 I believe it was. So that's my January book. Helps to refocus my ideas, and if I have gone too far from frugal thinking gets me back to living a better lifestyle. Also helps me to focus since I retired at 56 not 65! Then we moved to where we wanted to spend our retirement, and I am so glad we made that move. What could be better, hmmmmmmm,
OK, well, gardening time is coming soon.

Quiet , Peaceful Sunday Morning

It is early yet, and everything is quiet. We have had the lightest sprinkles of snow, that just touches the tin roof gently and adds a whiteness to the tin. I hope that the temperature will be high enough today that by noon it is all gone again. We still have piles of snow, but with the melting it was looking quite dirty, this morning every thing is clean looking again.

I have been busy surfing the net and reading from different sites, and of course my e-mails. There is much gloom and doom about the economy everywhere. But this has been comming for a long time now? Where has everyone been??? I was thinking about my family durring the depression and although I wasn't born yet, the thing that came across to me was, to be as prepared as possible, to make the most out of what you had, and that it wasn't so bad, because everyone you knew was in the same boat.
My family talked about how they had potlucks and made thier own fun. Of course there was the use it up, make do, and do without, but they used a lot of creativity in what they did too. How can it be so bad when we already have so much more to work with than they did? We have so many types of entertainment at our fingertips. Time to sit back , put our thinking caps on, list our blessings, list the real needs, not just the wants. Then figure out what we will do and how to best do it.
As DH puts it. Have you got a roof over your head? food to eat, a table to put the food on and a chair to sit on, and a place to cook the food? A bed to sleep on, and clothes to wear? What more do you Need??
Yes we have all this and more!
The news is still gloom and doom for the future, but doesn't the news reflect the past? We are starting a New Year, and we need a new perspective. What can we do to change the here and now, and there by change our own future? Science tell us for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. How is this going to work in todays situation?
During the war years the catch phrase was, " The Victory Garden", And before that during the depression it was, "A Chicken in Every Pot". I wonder will the expression for our time period be from Oboma's speach in the United States be, "Yes, we can"?
What exciting times we live in. This next year should be very exciting, with lots going on. A year that we will talk about to future generations I'm sure, as part of "the good old days of the recession of 2009".

Since my last post 2 days ago much, weather wise, has happened. Overnight from Monday till Tuesday we got just over 14 inches of snow. What a mess. Our carport hasn't shed any snow like it does most winters. So we paid a neighbour to shovel it. Well, at least the bottom 1/2 of each side. That has removed enough weight that the rest will be able to slide off down the metal roof. Then in the afternoon just after he finnished shoveling it started to rain, and it has rained on and off ever since! It is helping cut the snow, but also makes it very heavy.

We have been loosing power for short periods of time. Last night it went out for 1 1/2 hours. Glad to have it back on.

This morning we had a call from Debbie, one of my friends daughter's. Debbie needed some help with her driveway so Ken has gone with the tractor to plough her out. We have had so much help from friends around here it's nice to be able to give some help inreturn.

Today Ken wants to go into town. The highways should be bare, and I have a parcel to pick up. It is from Michaele, it is a Christmas gift from her and it is comming from Hickory Farms. I recieved a note from the Farms before Christmas that it was comming so will be interested to see what's in it.

Off to wash the floors. With all this wet weather and a dog and cat, and people the floors sure take a beating.

Frugal living thoughts and ideas

First Monday of the new year. Reading over some of the groups and lists I am on a re occurring thought is frugality verses just being cheap.


The goal I would like to keep pursuing is to live as well as we can, on the resources that are available to us. That includes going out for the odd lunch with Dh or my friends and family. Taking the odd trip to see family, and to enjoy some of those things that require some finances other than just what is needed to survive.


We don't recycle as much as in some places, but then what do you do with all the things you recycle? Here many of the items end up in the dump. However that being said. i compost, and take many things to Gleaners. Gleaners is our local thrift shop. Here in Canada you do not get a tax receipt for donations. But all the money made at Gleaners .after expenses to keep the store going, goes to our local Food bank. The workers at Gleaners are volunteers. So whether you are donating goods, or buying you know that you are helping someone as well as yourself. Another neighbours son is taking bottles, cans, and juice containers to town several times a year for extra spending money. I save mine and drop them off in their driveway whenever I get a garbage bag full. That at least recycles them and someone benefits a little.


We are also on free cycle. I personally only posted there once, and that time the site was going through a change of owners, and my post never got posted. So how well our free cycle actually works I still have to learn.


I did learn though that if you let your friends know you are looking for something you'd better have a spot for extras! I put the word out that I wanted a new greenhouse ( my previous one blew away in a wind storm!)
Dh had purchased an8 by 12, 2x4 wooden frame for a car port for 35$. I needed to get glass and a door. Well, within a week I had all I needed, including a glass door. several glass windows with sliders so they can be opened in the hot weather and 1 very long window with louvers so that it can be opened and the windows open out on an angle. I think it will work very well for the hot, hot days of summer. I'd like the louvers to be put on the roof, but will it be water tight?



Another thought sparked by reading one of my groups. What could you do with a Dollar? The poster went on to say she would spend it on garden seeds and what she would plant and how much you could expect to harvest from that amount of seed. I thought that she would get very good value. She could get 10 packets of seed for $1. Here the best I saw last year was 4 packets of seed for $1. even that would give wonderful returns . I think some lettus and green onions, carrots and zucchini would be my pick from 4 packets. By early summer I can hardly wait for fresh lettus. If you try and eat locally, and eat by season greens are something you long for by spring. I usually am out early getting new dandelion greens for salad and sandwiches as soon as I see them in spring. I plant Chard and beets too. but they come later in the season. But I love the beet tops as much or more than the beet roots. A very efficient plant for growing so much is edible.
What about free plants? That's a better price. Let's see what I have gotten and traded for free. Mostly perennials. Like raspberries, strawberry, gooseberry, red current, and black current, and black berries ( If I didn't kill it last year ), and rhubarb. Then there's the horseradish , Jerusalem artichokes ( is that a blessing or a curse?????) chives, sage, and Lovage and perennial onions ( when they were given to me they were called Egyptian Onions that's when I lived in Northern BC, then we moved south and they were Called Yukon onions ???? So I guess where ever you live and you dream of some other place, that's where the onions must come from LOL). Not to mention all the flowers that I have been given and traded with friends. Each flower has a memory, so and so gave me this from their flower bed, I got this when....... those are things you can't put a price on ..... the good feelings you get from the memories.
Last year I bit the Bullet and trough out all my old seeds. i hadn't put dates on them and The number of seed packets was getting over whelming. This year as I buy them they are getting dated. That way I'll know when they are getting too old. Growing season is too short to waste time planting seeds that are too old to grow. Most often there are far more seeds in a package than you need to plant for 1 years harvest. I mean really how many zucchini do you need????? I have had years when I've had 4 plants and taken 5 gallon pails to my friends every 3 days. One friend said she'd take all my extras for herself and her DIL. That lasted only 6 pails till she said enough! But I love a few for Zesty Zucchini Relish. Oh, I love that stuff. But if we get an extra long hot summer we get over run with the lovely things.

I want to go outside now and pull snow off the carport. DH has finnished ploughing so I can get around the carport to pull the snow. Ugh, enough snow already. If April Showers Bring May Flowers then what does January Snow bring??????????

Would you believe it??? Another Snowy day!!!! The tractor got finished, and we had a rest day for Sunday. roast Beef dinner with roasted potatoes, carrots, peas and gravy. Then later this evening I made some wonderful baking powder biscuits. You know the type you make once and then never want to make them again, because you know they will never be that good again and DH will expect them to be so light and fluffy. I used butter flavoured Crisco shortening ( because I had some left from Christmas baking, and about 1/4 cup or so of candied fruit... also left from Christmas) They were wonderful. i made a double batch so there will be a few left unless the other half gets up in the night. LOL



Also I have a rice pudding made up and will turn the crock pot on when I go to bed. Then there will be lovely rice pudding ready for breakfast. Are we nuts? Well, rice pudding has milk, rice, eggs and vanilla and raisins in. When it's hot it makes a lovely breakfast and we have the day to work the calories off. Another day of good eating and I still haven't been to the stores this year!

There are some good sales this week, so I will go in and pick up some specials, but i am making a real effort to keep my grocery budget the same as last year. Not easy with all the prices jumping as high and as quickly as they have. We rarely go out to eat any more. I am making more soups, I find we both are happy having a bun and soup for lunch, so am making left over soups often Where before we'd stop at the restaurant for soup, a bun and coffee. $5.95 for soup and a bun, and $1.50 for coffee, then taxes on top of that and that is for each of us.
I can make soup all week for that and the buns and coffee, just for the price of one lunch out. Some how it just doesn't seem right. I know it must cost a lot for wages, and upkeep of the restaurant, and of course the groceries, but still it seems a lot.

Time to put some more wood on the fire, and get it ready for the night. I will also plug in the pudding. Love that crock pot! The dog and cat have both curled up for the night, DH is asleep and I'm starting to get drowsy. I can hear the train droning away in the back ground. I think I am very glad I'm not on a train going through all the snowy back country tonight. I think it would be a cold ride, perhaps not for everyone, but I seem to feel the cold so much more than I did when I was younger. although I have always been cold and loved the hot summer weather. I feel best when it is about 30C. DH can't believe it I finally get energy to get going and I love it. LOL good thing we're not all alike.

Belated Happy New Year!

January 3, 2009! Where did the time go? It was New Years Eve, and then wham it's the 3rd of January. I spent the past couple of days with a sinus infection, still a little sore, but I can see better today. Black eye's like I've been in a fight! LOL I must look a sight, little old lady with shiners.

We have had snow, snow, and more snow. Yesterday when Ken was ploughing us out the tractor just would not work right. Finally he and Jack tore the tractor apart, and this morning Ken has gone in for parts. they think it is only a thermostat and and the cap that need to be replaced. All the rest of the system seems to be OK. They were worried that the block had cracked,but when they tore everything apart it looked fine and there were no leaks coming from there, or the hoses or the pump. Now in -23C they will try and get things working and put back together! Not a fun task to be sure. Having guys that can fix things and that are mechanical is frugal for sure! I'm afraid that is not one of my talents. I am not in the least mechanical. I try and help when DH doesn't have any help, but I think most times he'd rather do it himself. I am a good gofer, I can go fer this and that, and save him lots of steps. But that's it.

On the other hand I am good with the gardens. While DH bless his heart will carefully weed, and when he's finished the weeds are still there and the plants are gone! I know spring is coming even if everything is under 3-4 feet of snow and we have another snow storm on it's way! How do I know? Well, DH , picked up the mail yesterday and there was my first gardening catalogue of the year! It is my favorite to boot! So there I sat with my feet up, my reading glasses on my sinuses pounding ( and only letting me wear my glasses for a few minutes at a time) looking over the gardening catalogue! I have bought things from the Lindenberg Seeds Limited , several times, and always with good results. I'm sure I will again this year.

Had to leave for a time and now I'm back I will finish today's news.
The fellows fixed the tractor and put it back together except the hood and that they will put on tomorrow. First they wanted to make sure it would still work so they finished ploughing the snow. And scraping the snow off the portable garage, and the satellite dish. No new snow has fallen today so that is a plus.

By 10 this morning Gege stopped by and had a coffee I asked if she wanted to play domino's and she said yes. I stopped and made some corn chowder for our lunch and that bread and butter and coffee was what we had. Jack wouldn't have lunch he said he had, had a late breakfast, so just worked through and finished and went home about 1. Ken did stop and have lunch with us. Gege stayed till 2:30 and then headed home. The day went so fast! I put the chicken in the oven and some potatoes. But by supper time Ken just wanted bed, he was in a lot of pain. I made soup out of the chicken juice and the leftover rice, a little chopped up celery, onion, and carrots and salt and pepper. Later Ken got up and had a bowl of that. I know if he can't eat a meal he will often be able to eat some soup.
According to the weather reports the weather should warm up in a couple of days and be above freezing in the day time. I sure hope so, we could do with some melting. I keep looking out the windows to see a sign that winters leaving, or the days are getting longer...... I know I'm rushing the season, but a girl can always hope. till next time......