Monday Musings

Thanks for bearing with me as I get adjusted to blogging around a different work schedule!  It's been a challenge, and I thank you for sticking with me as I figure out how to work everything in!  I am debating cutting posts down to Mon-Weds- Fri for a while until I get myself back up to speed.   I've been at this new job for roughly 2 1/2 months now, and the final adjustments are working their way through.  One of these days soon, I hope to get that dinner thing on the table on the Saturdays and Sundays that I work before 9 pm figured out!

Trunk or Treating
Are you familiar with Trunk or Treating?  Is that a thing where you live?  It's an alternative to door to door trick or treating.  I know it's big in rural areas - I don't know about cities.

A group, like a church, or a library, or a high school will sponsor a Trunk or Treat.  Parents and kids show up in costume, and then decorate the trunks of their cars.  The kids then have a parade in their costumes, and go trick or treating from car to car.  Our church adds in games and crafts to the event to allow children time to gather and give adults time to set up their trunks.

Our Trunk or Treating event at church was on Sunday.  My kids (the oldest and youngest) manned the trunk of our car and handed out well over 20 pounds of candy.  The youth group operated the crafts and games.  It was a blast!  I had an absolute hoot watching the kids run around in their costumes!

Look at that adorable little Wonder Woman!

Chili Cook Off
In addition to Trunk or Treating, we had the Chili Cook Off!  I did not gain any notoriety as a chili chef, but over half of my chili pot was gone by the time we were finished, so that's good!  Oldest child was home for the weekend, so we put the leftover chili into two quart size mason jars and sent them back with him - along with a rather large amount of food that I had frozen for him to take back over the past month.  He now has chili, meatloaf, white chicken chili, taco meat, vegetable soup, pumpkin bread, and some arroz con pollo.  Hopefully, this will help him out a little on those nights when he gets home late and realizes that he still has to cook something to eat!

Early Voting
Daughter and I went out on the first day of Early Voting for the State of Maryland.  I've taken the kids with me every time I've voted since they were born.  They've always been there, watched the ballots be marked, and have understood the very serious nature of the vote.  I have taken each of them to the voting booth for their very first time, and last week, my baby got to vote in her very first presidential election.  It was honestly a moment that made me cry.  To think that there was a time when women weren't allowed to vote at all.  And here we were, voting together!  What a time we live in!

Corn Maze and Pumpkin Picking
My oldest child might be 23 years old, but this weekend, there was one thing that he insisted that we do.  He wanted to go out to the Pumpkin Patch, take a hay ride, and run through the corn maze!  On a beautiful warm and sunny Saturday afternoon, we went out to the farm, ran through the corn maze, took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, and came home with some gorgeous pumpkins!  We had a wonderful time, and we really enjoyed watching all of the little kids running around in costumes!  Just so much fun!

 That corn was a good two feet taller than my 6' tall son!

"I'm Michael Jackson"
I had an older patron come into the library last week who had one glove on her left hand.  She saw me look at her hand, and she smiled and looked at me and said "I'm pretending I'm Michael Jackson!  The steering wheel is cold, but I could only find one glove, so I put it on and "Beat it" to the library!"

Quilt Repair

My mother in law made this quilt for my husband when he graduated from high school.  It's a wonderfully warm and heavy quilt, made with pieces of old, worn out, blue jeans.  She cut 5 inch squares of denim, sewed them together, and then tied the quilt together with a skein of blue yarn that she picked up from K-Mart.  For years, this has been one of our favorite quilts!  It's really warm, and durable, and full of warm memories.

30 something years later, this poor quilt was showing the ravages of age.  The backing had been torn to shreds, and the batting had fallen out.  We haven't used it in a couple of years.  I finally have the time, so I'm working on refinishing the quilt.  I've pulled off the backing and the batting.  I had to cut off all of the blue ties.  Ye Gods, that was a more involved task than I thought it was going to be!  

After some serious consideration, we picked up a high quality black sheet from Target's Threshold collection, and I spent Tuesday afternoon pinning the quilt back together.  I had a large expanse of clean floor that I borrowed from my church.  I taped down the sheet, then I taped down the batting on top of the sheet, and then I placed the denim top on top of the sandwich.   I used basting pins to pin the layers together.  30 minutes after I started, I had a pinned quilt, ready to be pulled together!

I've been tying the layers as my mother in law did before me.  I realize now why she didn't want to help me fix the quilt.  Getting that needle through the layers of denim is a tough proposition!  I've been debating using pliers to pull the needle through! It's going to take me a while to get this thing tied together!

Once I take care of that, I have to figure out how to finish the edges.  This is where the only wear and tear on the denim can be seen.  The top and bottom edges had been turned in and sewed together.  If you look closely at the edge, you can see that the denim has torn and worn right along the edges.  So, while I tie the quilt together, I'm going to be contemplating how to finish off the edges of the quilt so that the whole thing will last another 30 years.  Your suggestions on binding the edges are more than welcome!  I certainly have no idea what I'm doing!

Monday Musings

Extra Shifts
So, I picked up a few extra shifts over the last week.  As in, every single day for the last 10 days, I've worked at least 4 hours.  It's nice, and it's really going to help get the money set aside for the renovation of the hallway bathroom.  It's nice to have a job that allows me to pick up some extra hours around my existing schedule!

Teal Pumpkins
If you have a child with life threatening allergies, Trick or Treat can be a challenge - a life threatening challenge.  It doesn't have to be!  Find some non-food, allergy friendly treats and hand those out for Halloween!  I've tried hard not to hand out candy - I have a sad history of eating too many of those treats.  In the past, I've handed out pencils, stickers, bubbles, and the little gift cards to fast food restaurants that cover a treat.  When we lived in our old, kid laden neighborhood, I would pick up school supplies as they went on sale, and then pack little baggies with pencils, stickers, erasers, etc.  Any leftovers went to our local homeless shelter the next morning.

Chili Cook Off
Have you ever entered a chili cook off as a cook?  I think I might try this weekend....  We have a chili cook off coming up at church.  I think my chili is pretty good.  Maybe I'll gain fame outside of my own family?

Update on Coquito
Little Coquito, of Life in Amy's world has Leukemia.  He was in the hospital for a month, home for a couple of days, and is now back in the hospital again.  Please keep him and Amy in your prayers.  It's a tough road to hoe as he struggles with his numbers (blood work) - and there's the ever present risk of infection.

Voting
The election is almost here.  In many states, early voting has already begun.  I hope that you take the time to research the candidates in your area - and that you are putting serious thought into who will be receiving your vote. If you don't participate in the process, you aren't allowed to complain!

Maytag Wringer Washing Machine
I have an old, working wringer washing machine in my basement.  I'd like to sell it to someone who would appreciate it, or could use it.  Aside from putting it in my front yard with a "for sale" sign on it, do you have any suggestions as to how to safely sell it?

Someone Broke Into My Car
When I'm in a hurry, and it's early in the morning, I'll fill a travel mug with oatmeal and almond milk.  It's a relatively thin mixture of oatmeal, and I can sip it while I'm driving.  It allows me to arrive at my destination on time and with food in my stomach.  Unfortunately, I have a very bad habit of leaving said mugs in the car long past their expiration date.  About two weeks ago, I was headed off to staff day for work.  I grabbed my travel mug full of oatmeal and headed out the door.  I left it in the car and forgot about it until last Monday - when I opened the door to the car, the smell almost knocked me over.  Somebody had broken into my car.  I'm assuming they were looking for loose change.  They opened the lid on my travel mug - the lid was on the dashboard - and the mug with it's spilled contents as all over the floor mat on the passenger side of the car.  YUCK.  Thankfully, I was able to pull out the floor mat and wash it out.  The weather was warm enough that between the Febreeze and the open windows, most of the smell dissipated. 

To whatever jerk broke into my car - I hope that smell haunts you for days.....

Taking A Week Off

I'm taking a break for a week! 

I hope you're having a great week!  I'll see you all on Monday!

I've been apple picking this week!  It's the peak of the season!  I hope you've gotten a chance to get out and enjoy this beautiful weather!

Food Stamp Challenge, Day #6

I officially went over my allotment Monday, when I topped out at $86.83.  There are still two days left in the week, and I don't have any money left to spend. I didn't think I was going to be able to pull this off, with this particular challenge set this way.  I typically spend $100/week for groceries, and I buy things on sale.  So, I'll stock up on items as they come up on sale.  I am able to build up my pantry and plan meals based upon what I have on hand.  (Hence why I bought two pork roasts for the price of one.  We ate one, stretched it through two meals, and the second one is in the freezer.)

For the sake of argument, I went out and purchased things for this week.  I didn't pull from our supplies at all.  But, since I was over my budget to the week, dinner has been Chicken Soup pulled from the freezer, split pea soup, and lunch sandwiches consisting of ham that I picked up after Easter - daughter is going to eat peanut butter and jelly as she's a vegetarian. 

Another thing to note is that I made a point of our continuing to eat lots of vegetables.  Even with the astonishingly low price of $25 for a box of produce, we still ended up buying produce to finish out the week.  We're fortunate in that we live in farm country.  Produce is cheaper for us than for those who live further away from cities.

We are fortunate, we have the ability to buy in bulk, and the space to store what we buy until we need it.  Some months we spend more on groceries than other.  Some years, I'm able to grow vegetables in my back yard, which means that I spend even less on groceries as we eat the goodness that we grow.  While I did not grow my own vegetables this year, I did hit up produce stands this year.  I also have set aside $30 this week to pick up a 50 pound bag of potatoes and a 20 pound bag of onions.  We'll be using those potatoes and onions through the end of the year. 

I know it is possible to take the cost of your groceries down further with coupons, but the biggest problem I've found with coupons is that they are mostly for highly processed foods, and I really don't want to eat highly processed foods - I'm not sure it's good for our long term health. 

As far as living on $4 of food per day... I don't know that it's possible anymore.  We successfully did this a few years ago - but the cost of living has gone up since then.  It's difficult to pull together healthy meals for just $4.  That's $1.33 per meal per person. 

How much do you typically spend on groceries in a week?

Monday Musings

Disclosure Notice: This post contains affiliate links.

Prayers
Little Coquito, from Life in Amy's World, is still in the hospital.  He's a sick and grumpy little guy.  Any positive energy you can send his way is greatly appreciated!  Amy got a room in the Ronald McDonald House by the hospital.  While she spends her nights in the hospital with Coquito, she runs over to the RMH during the day to take a shower.  Coquito is holding his own - that stubborn streak of his is turning out to be quite an asset!

Hurricane Matthew
The United States was hit hard by Hurricane Matthew, but the loss of life in the U.S. was minimal.  Haiti did not fare so well.  As of this writing, close to 900 people have lost their lives.  Poor Haiti.  Here in the U.S., we have the option of evacuating away from the shore when a major storm approaches.  Those who live in Haiti have no place to go to.  How do you get 100 miles away from the shore on an island.

Last year, daughter was going to college in Savannah.  She came home at the end of her first semester because the school wasn't a good fit.  The school itself was forced to evacuate to a shelter in Atlanta.  I'm not sure when the kids will be allowed back into their dorms.  The kids were allowed to leave with one blanket, one pillow, and a bag that would fit on their laps.  It doesn't look like there was a lot of damage to the city of Savannah. 

Galaxy Note 7

About 7 years ago, my beloved Nokia flip phone died. I wasn't ready to fork over the cash for a smart phone, so I bought another flip phone - one not manufactured by Nokia or Samsung - and I brought it home. I remember charging it that first night - my phone was too hot to touch. As was the counter surrounding the phone. How nothing caught fire, I don't know. I took my phone back to the AT&T store the next morning demanding a full refund. One very heated argument later, my phone was returned, my money was returned and I bought my iPhone 4s. (Still using that phone, FYI.)  I never heard of any recall on that phone, or on the batteries in that phone. Samsung, you might want to look at the battery manufacturers. I suspect your issues begin with the battery. Wish I could remember the name of the battery company - but if you look at flip phones made about 7 or 8 years ago, (that weren't Samsung or Nokia) you might look into whether it's the same company that is providing your batteries now. 

If you as a consumer ever go to charge electronics and the device is too hot to handle or the countertop underneath gets hot to the touch, don't accept that as an okay thing. Check the batteries and check with the manufacturer of the electronics. That's not a normal thing.

Girl on a Train
So, this is a little bit funny.....

You know the movie that's out right now - Girl On A Train?  It's based on the book of the same name.  I really wanted to read the book, so I put it on hold at the library.  I was shocked to find out that my book came back in so fast - not even a week after I put the book on hold, I had it in my hot little hands.  Really odd considering that there are over 100 holds on the book.  (In the interest of fairness, I didn't bother to check the author - I just saw the title and put the book on hold.)

I had the book on the right.  I took it to the gym with me and started reading it on the bike.  It's an excellent book.  A really good mystery, wrapped up in intrigue, with a nice twisty plot.  The problem?  As I kept reading, I realized that it wasn't the psychological thriller I was expecting.  It wasn't the plot that I had heard described.  Turns out I'd been reading the wrong girl! Lucky me, I found a fantastic book that might otherwise have slipped past me.  What a great mistake!

Food Stamp Challenge Day #5

Brunch
Waffles (Made from ingredients we had on hand.  The GF Waffle mix I use costs $5.03)
Cantaloupe  $2.50

Dinner
Pork Stir Fry
Made with leftover pork roast, 2 scrambled eggs, 1 (16 ounce) bag of of mixed veggies ($1), and the rest of the wild rice blend that I used for the Mushroom Wild Rice stew.

Snack
Yogurt
Apples - 1/2 peck from farm stand, $10

Total Spent to Date:

Today:
$18.53

This Week:
$86.83

Food Stamp Challenge Day #4

Breakfast:
Two Scrambled Eggs
Husband also had oatmeal

Lunch:
Roasted Sweet Potatoes, served with leftover Mushroom Wild Rice stew over top
steamed broccoli
Yogurt

Dinner:
Vegetable Soup - made with vegetables from the produce box, bought a 5 pound bag of Yukon Gold potatoes and a pound of carrots.  Used half of the carrots and potatoes for the soup.  Did not use the green pepper, radishes or acorn squash.

Snacks:
Air Popped Popcorn




Costs so far this week:

Today: $5.50

This Week: $68.30
If I only count one roast used:  $61.80

My Canadian Adventure, Part 2

Husband had a business trip to Ottawa last month.  For the first time ever, I got to tag along on the trip!  We went up a few days early.  We spent a long weekend exploring the Canadian capital, and then I came home on Sunday afternoon so that I could go back to work.

Yesterday, I shared pictures of the Rideau Canal.  It dominates Ottawa, and is a major part of the landscape of the city.  But, there is so much more to this beautiful city than just the canal.  Ottawa is the capital city of Canada.  The Prime Minister's Residence is located within the confines of the town, as is Rideau Hall - the mansion of the Governor General of Canada. Parliament is downtown, as are all of the government buildings.  Not surprisingly, everything has a distinctly British feel.

On my last day in Ottawa, we roamed down to Parliament, where we joined thousands of others in honoring the officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty over the last month.  We watched the parade of officers onto the grounds of Parliament, and they kept coming - from Provinces and Cities all over Canada.  It was a very somber reminder that no matter where you live, we have law enforcement officers who put their lives out their to keep the general public safe every single day.

Our view of Parliament the night we arrived in Ottawa.  Not long after I took this picture, we were hit by a deluge!

These 3-D maps of the historic sites in Ottawa were located throughout the city.

This lovely little park was located across the canal from our hotel.  Love the fountain!

The Supreme Court of Canada.

Do you see the flags on display?  Both Canadian and Chinese flags?  The Chinese Premier was here on official state business at the same time we were.  Funny story here - we took a taxi from the airport to the hotel.  When we got to the hotel, we were not allowed to pull under the portico.  Instead, we had to pull in across the street - directly in front of the protestors.  A guy from the hotel came running across the street, grabbed our bags, and ran back towards the hotel.  So, while husband paid the cabbie, I ran off after the guy with our luggage.  We wove our way across a red carpet, and through a maze of red velvet ropes where we got to the check in desk.  While we were checking in, there was a sudden change in air pressure, people who were milling around the lobby suddenly pressed themselves up against the velvet ropes, and we saw a huge contingent of people walk through.... security people, other people, and a couple of people in uniforms with a huge salad bar of decorations across their chest and the flag of their country on their sleeves.  We were made to wait behind the velvet ropes until everyone went upstairs.  As soon as we got upstairs, I logged into the Wi-Fi, did some research, and discovered that we were staying in the same hotel with the Chinese Premier.  Pretty cool, huh?  Let me tell you, our hotel had some pretty awesome security that first night!

Giant spider statue in front of the art museum.

The bridge across the Rideau River, from Ottawa over to Gatineau.  I am terrified of heights.  Terrified.  Even so, I managed to walk across the bridge, over to Quebec, and we explored the History Museum.  

This is one of the only pictures I took on the grounds of the Rideau House.  Absolutely beautiful!

From the ceremony honoring fallen officers:

One last, beautiful view of the locks, the river, and the bridge across the river.  Parliament is to the left.  The town is behind me.  The series of Locks is to my right.

Food Stamp Challenge Day #3

I picked up a pork tenderloin at the store today.  Not just one, but two.  It was a "Buy One, Get One Free" sale.  So, I spent $13 on two tenderloins.  But the question arises, how do I enter that?   As $6.50 for one tenderloin, or since I dropped $13 in one day, do I count this as $13?  What do I do? 

I picked up a can of tuna and made tuna salad for lunch with mayo.  (69 cents)

Breakfast:
Quaker Gluten Free Instant Oatmeal

Lunch:
Tuna Salad
Apple Slices

Dinner:
Pork Loin Roast - you can find the recipe here:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/roast-pork-loin-with-apples-recipe.html

Snack:
Yogurt

Costs so far this week:

Today: $13.69 
BUT - if I count only the one roast I used, it's  $7.19

This Week: $62.80
If I only count one roast used:  $56.30

Food Stamp Challenge Day #2

I ran to the grocery store to buy a few more necessities:

Quaker Gluten Free Instant Oatmeal, 12 pack, $3.59
Plain Yogurt (for the husband), 32 ounce carton, $2
Coconut Yogurt, 6 containers of strawberry at $1.69 each total:  $10.14

Total spent today:  $15.73

Total spent this week:  $49.11 



Meals today:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal

Lunch:
Leftover Mushroom and Wild Rice Stew  (FYI- husband packs his lunch, he took leftover stew, too.)

Dinner:  Spinach Salad with some of the radishes, tomato, part of the green pepper, part of the onion, and apple slices   (all from the produce box)

Snacks: yogurt, apple.  Husband likes to eat plain yogurt for his snacks, sometimes with a drizzle of honey or jam, sometimes just plain.  Daughter and I each had a container of yogurt.

The Rideau Canal

The Canal

The history of the canal dates back to an ugly period in US/Canadian relations. We're harking all the way back to the War of 1812.  During that time, British North America and the United States were still experiencing some border tensions along the St. Lawrence Seaway.  Concerned that continuing tension could lead to a blockade, which would shut off all water traffic through the Great Lakes, the idea of a separate canal was conceived.

This canal was designed to connect Ottawa and Kingston through a series of existing Lakes, Streams, and Rivers.  The resulting canal was 202 KM long.  It has 47 locks, and was the first canal in North America to be built to handle steam boat traffic.  The canal took 5 years to complete - from 1827-1832.

These beautiful Maple leaves were everywhere!

Today, the canal is used for recreational purposes.  In the winter, when the canal is frozen over, you can find ice skaters zooming up and down.  During the summer, you will find hikers, bikers, and skaters traveling up and down the paths that parallel the canal.

The Rideau Canal was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.



(Source: signs along the canal, an interpreter at the locks, and Canada's History: http://www.canadashistory.ca/Magazine/Online-Extension/Articles/Canal-Rideau)

The canal at the Ottawa end - just past the Locks, across the street from our hotel.

This beautiful bridge is a rebuilt bridge.  Originally, it was a drawbridge.  That part in the middle went straight UP!

The view from the top of the bridge down the locks to the Rideau River.  To put this in perspective, Parliament is just to my left here - and Quebec is just across the river.

Meals for Weds.

Breakfast:
Scrambled Eggs, with spinach, green bell pepper, and onion.

Lunch:
Leftover Chili and Cornbread from dinner Tuesday night.

Dinner:
Wild Rice Mushroom recipe from Vegan Bowl Attack -

Total for the Groceries this Week:
$25 produce box
$5.19 mushroom blend from Wegmans
.69 (1 pound) dry lentils) used half for tonight's recipe
$2.50 Wild Rice Blend - used half for tonight's recipe

Total to date: $33.38

The Food Stamp Challenge

The allotment for a family on Food Stamps is $4/person per day.  For my family, that is a total of $12/day, or $84 a week.

I am going to attempt to do this, and I'm going to use the prices and food that I can find local to me. 

I've been debating whether to break this down by serving, but considering that I only have $84 for the week to work with, I don't really want to quibble over the cost per serving.  If there are leftovers, then the leftovers can be used for a meal on another day.

Setting out to spend only $84/week, I can already see one very big problem.  The planning involved.  Granted, I always plan my meals out a week in advance, and I grocery shop with that week in mind.  That's a lot of time and effort that goes into planning out a week of meals.  I also cook most everything from scratch.  Why?  One, it's cheaper and Two, with our food allergies, it's safer.

We also eat a lot of vegetarian meals.  A plant based diet is healthier for you and for the planet, and its also cheaper.  So, these are our guidelines going into this week.

I went and did my preliminary shopping for the week yesterday.  I went to our local farm store, Local Homestead Products, and bought the weekly box of veggies.  They sell these boxes of produce - it's like a CSA box, but you don't have the up front commitment to pick up a box a week.  You go and buy the box.  It's an excellent deal, and we've been using the produce box for most of the summer - picking one up every couple of weeks.

This week's box contained:

image: Local Homestead Products, LLC

2 onions
2 zucchini
1 squash
1 pepper
2 sweet potatoes
1 acorn squash
1 bunch radish
1 pound green beans
1 bag of spinach
2 tomatoes
1 head of broccoli
1 bag of apples (your choice of variety)
1 dozen eggs

I already see a problem here.  I live in farm country, and this bounty is locally and easily available to me.  Many families around here have gardens in their back yards.  What about families who live in the city, far removed from local farms?  What about those that don't have back yards to grow produce?  What do they do?  Something to think about as we begin our week of eating on a very tight budget....


So, the challenge begins. 

Book Review: Vegan Bowl Attack

Image: Amazon

Disclosure Notice: This post contains Affiliate Links.

What an awesome find!  As you may know, daughter is a Vegetarian and both of us are allergic to dairy.  So, this book seemed like an answer to our "What's for Dinner" dilemma that we face most nights of the week.

The recipes in this book are tasty and easy to follow.  Many vegetarian meals call for extensive chopping and slicing and dicing.  Not this one!  Minimal chopping and slicing and dicing are involved, and the meals are more than filling.  The directions are clear, concise, and easy to follow

While we've tried several of the bowls for both breakfast and dinner, my favorite so far has been the Mushroom Wild Rice Slow Cooker stew.  Oh my stars!  Filled with the rich earthy taste of mushrooms, this bowl was a wonder of tastes that filled us up and kept us going for hours.  I have to admit - I cheated on the mushrooms.  I bought a pound of assorted sliced mushrooms from Wegmans.  I then diced them down before adding them to the stew.  I also neglected to put the ingredients in the slow cooker before I left for work.  So, I came home and tossed everything in a big pot.  One hour, start to finish.  It was amazing!  I already have plans to make it again.  It's in the permanent dinner rotation.

I don't have permission to post any of her recipes directly, but I can link you over to her wonderful blog, the Vegan Yack Attack!  Great name!  Head on over to her site, and take a look.  Not only does she have the most beautiful food pictures I've ever seen, she has posted some recipes.  I now have her top recipe for today - Roasted Carrots and Creamy Quinoa on my list of meals for the week.  It looks so good!

If you are looking for a healthy change of pace to your normal meals, I highly recommend this book!
(I see Christmas presents for the kids!)

2016 Resolutions

September was a wild and crazy ride, and I enjoyed every single moment of it!  I have settled into my new job, and I really enjoy the people I work with, as well as the work that I do.  There are wild and woolly moments, but I come home from work tired, exhausted, and fulfilled.  I feel like I'm where I belong! I even got to spend a day in the New Staff Orientation.  Unfortunately, I got caught in one of those inexplicable traffic messes that happens around here on a regular basis, and what was supposed to be a 45 minute rush hour commute took me an hour and a half.  (The final destination was located 20 miles from my house.  I really need to find the back roads on that side of town!)

Husband and I got away for a long weekend in Ottawa recently.  We had a blast exploring this gorgeous little town.  I'll be sharing some of the pictures that I took with you later this month.  What a beautiful, walkable city Ottawa is!

We had a new Wegman's open up not far from us.  We even got brave enough to try some new produce.  While I'm not a fan of the little melon that tasted like a sweet little cucumber, it wasn't a horrible experience!

This month has been busy beyond words!

But, on to the momentous task at hand - checking in on my 2016 resolutions!  I started making my resolutions public a couple of years ago.  I find that by making them public, and coming back and checking in on them once a month, I actually do a better job of holding myself accountable!

2016 Resolutions:

1) Remodel the Hall Bathroom
Silly girl.  Third year in a row this has been on my list.  I'm still not certain this is going to happen this year.  Our kitchen became a priority this year, and now that we've started it, we need to finish the final touches so that it's not coming back to haunt me in a couple of years!

Middle child has informed us that he's hoping to move back in with us when he graduates in May, and to stay with us until he builds up a decent down payment for a house.  So, fixing up this bathroom now has a target date:  APRIL 2017. We'll have to work within the confines of the budget of whatever we have saved up to that point in time come March.

2) Improve My Health
Looking beyond the numbers on the scale, I am going after the big picture numbers that add up to an overall look at my body chemistry and how my body is functioning as a system.  This led me to three separate categories:

a) Lose Inches Off My Waist
My goal for the year was to lose a total of three inches.  That took longer than I thought it would! Eight months to lose three inches.  I'm happy to see those inches come off!  For now, I am content.  Those were 3 very hard inches to lose! 


b) Get My Blood Pressure Down into the Normal Range
YES!!  120/60!  No lecture from the doctor this year, instead I got a hearty "Keep up the good work!"
This time last year, my blood pressure was at 140/80.  Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

c) Go Down at Least One Clothing Size.  
At least one.  At least two.  I had to go buy pants earlier this month.  I haven't worn my jeans or work pants since last spring.  They literally fell off when I put my cell phone in my pocket.  The hard work of the last year has paid off!  I bought pants in the regular section of the store!!!!  Even better?  No elastic waist on these babies!  Now, the nice to have problem - building up a professional wardrobe.  Nice problem to have!

3) Restart my Vegetable Garden
Due to a very wet spring and a hideous ant problem, no vegetable garden got up and going this year.  I really need to spend some serious time thinking about this for next year.


4) Learn to Pressure Can
SO, we have a glass top stove.  Pressure canners do not work on a glass top stove because they can't consistently keep the temperature up high enough.  This one will be a wash.  Another epic fail.  If I ever do put in an outdoor kitchen, I'm going to make certain I have a propane or gas stove so that I can pressure can - and I'll be able to do it outside and keep the heat out of the house.

5) Daughter's Quilt
This is not going as planned AT ALL.  I had the bandanas cut out, I had the sashing cut out, and I was laying out the blocks when daughter walked through and saw the layout.  She nixed several of the squares, and then went out and bought other fabric and cut it down to size for me to use.  OK, she kept everything in the spirit of what I was going to do - the pink John Deere fabric, the Cow print square, the cartoony cat square.... It's just not the original plan that I had.  It does still represent the things she was passionate about when she was growing up, though.  So, for now, the squares are in a pile, and she is playing with the layout of the squares.  I sincerely hope to have the top sewn together by the end of the month.

6) Clean Out and Organize the Carport
The kids did this for me when they were all home the weekend after Mother's Day.  Thanks guys!

7) Exercise Consistently
4 or 5 days every week.  Even better, I'm now keeping a hard copy journal with me when I go.
I get to visibly see my progress every time I work out.  It's an excellent motivator! 

 
8) Clean Out 23 Things a Week
Originally, the goal was to clean out 23 things a month.  Then I changed it to 23 things a week.  For the entire 52 weeks of the year, that would have required me to get rid of 1196 things for the year.  I met that goal in May.

I did get rid of a lot of stuff in the basement this month.  We had a water leak (Surprise!  Another issue in this house of horrors.)  I threw out two big black plastic garbage bags full of wet stuff, and I sorted through boxes of toys that the kids had when they were little.  The Lincoln Logs have all been tracked down, taken outside and hosed off, and are now residing in a big plastic bin.  I'm currently working on tracking down all of the Playmobil toys.

 9) Participate in the NoSpenduary Challenge.
Thank God I did this, both in February and in March.  It has literally saved our asses as things continue to break and fall apart at an alarming rate.  I originally found this challenge on the Frugal, Debt Free Life Blog. Bless your heart, Lydia.  Because of this challenge, we have not yet gone down the rabbit hole of massive credit card debt with the huge expenses we've had in 2016:  1 abscessed tooth requiring a root canal.  1 crown for said tooth.  The van needing huge repairs not once but TWICE, (once for the a/c, once because it just stopped working late at night when husband was on his way home from choir practice.), AND 1 leaking, moldy mess under the kitchen sink. 



10) Visit One Place on my Bucket List
Niagara Falls!  We spent time on both the Canadian and U.S. side of the Falls.  I loved Niagara State Park.  If you ever have time to go, make a point of heading to the state park and walking the perimeter trail around the island.  It is absolutely gorgeous!

12) Scrapbooking
I need to catch up.  I know I had years that I didn't do this.  I went through all of the albums and found the years that I have not yet finished.  These are the years I am in search of:
2006
2009
2010
2011
2012
2015
As of now, all I need to do is work on the album from our trip to Niagara Falls.  It's been years since I've been this caught up!

13) Walk or Bike a portion of at least 6 Rail Trails

Does the Rideau Canal in Ontario count?  I don't think it's an official Rail Trail, but it is alongside a canal, and at one time, there were rail tracks nearby.  It's officially a World Heritage site, so I'm going to add it.  We hiked a good 10 miles of it while we were in Ottawa!  Such a beautiful place!

A Lime Kiln on the NCR Trail.

1) NCR Rail Trail
2) Rideau Canal 

14) Pay off the big debt and one smaller one-
The big debt is gone.  It's nice to have one monkey off my back! 

The payments on the smaller debt have accelerated.  My goal is to have this paid off by December, but it very well might be Feb. or March of 2017 due to the extenuating circumstances we've had this year.


15) The Recipes Tab
I nicely fixed up the recipe tab so that it is easy to find recipes that I've posted on here before.  For me, this is my online recipe book.  Some of the recipes are my own.  Some, I post direct links to other sites.  You might or might not choose to use it, but I use it on a pretty regular basis, and I've found out that one of the boys does, too.  He likes the fact that most of what I've listed is food he already loves and that everything is fairly easy to make and budget conscious.  (Hey Kiddo!  Glad you stopped by for a while!  Call your mother sometime.  She'd really like to hear from you!)

How are you doing on your goals this year?