Last Groceries For The Year.

Well, this week we did our last shopping for the year. For a change, I was able to go with Hubby who usually does it by himself after work. Shopping is just another chore for him but because I only go while I'm on holiday I always look forward to it. I love to go and read all the labels and squeeze all the fruit; Hubby just fumes and tries to get it over with as quick as possible!

"Grocery" shopping at Shopper's Drug Mart

This week Shopper's Drug Mart had great sales on coffee, peanut butter, paper towels and toilet paper. I saved $56.90 on just 14 items! As an added bonus they were having one of their 20X Optimum point promotions and now I am only a few points shy of saving another $60.00. It still feels weird though to be doing this kind of shopping in a drug store.

Shopper's bill

We were shopping in the Big City this week, and because it is cold outside, we were able to get to our favourite fish mart. They close so early on the weekend that we are usually not finished with our day by that timeand you really don't want to have a bag of fish sitting in a hot car for hours so we come home fishless. This week Hubby bought six pieces of salmon side fillet (enough for three meals) for about $24.00. I'm looking forward to a salmon dinner later in the week.

Yummy, yummy salmon fillets!

The rest of the shopping.

The rest of the shopping was done at the regular old grocery store and while the bill was over $108.00 it did include some expensive items like freezer bags, parchment paper, cocoa powder and corn flake crumbs. Nothing much was really on sale except for the cheese slices and the steak (4 striploins for $11.50). I'm all set now for a good start going into January. It's time to use up the freezer stuff. You know the items bought weeks ago that have migrated really far down to the bottom of the freezer. Yeah,  those items. Time for them to come to the top and get ready for menu planning. I'm not going to buy any meat for at least two weeks.

Superstore grocery bill.

I don't know about you but I  haven’t made any resolutions for 2013 because I really don’t stick to whatever plan I come up with. That in itself can feel disappointing. Lead a good life, appreciate what I have and love the people around me, that's essentially what I try to do every day anyway. So I'm going to go with that. What about you, dear reader? Have you made any resolutions, or any that you think you will be able to keep?

One thing that I am going to do next year is to try some new recipes. This week I am going to make a dish from the Pioneer Woman's site for "Zannie's Black-Eyed Pea Dip". It looks delicious and a good way to start the New Year off with some good luck from eating the black-eyed peas.

So, New Year's Eve is tonight and usually I would maybe have a visit from Granny New Years but, honestly, I have it all and don’t need anything else but love, good health and great friendships and the odd funny joke and a game to be played. C'mon Granny, bring me all that you can of that! Life is good.

Happy New Year!!!

Gazebo Progress

I'm sorry to have missed posting last week but the weather has been just too nice here on the Witch's Island to spend my weekend typing at the computer. Instead, I have been puttering around the yard and garden and just enjoying being outside. Last weekend I scrubbed down the front porch and half of the back deck and then sprayed on a new coating of water sealer. It was a lot of hard work but they turned out looking great and I'm pretty proud of my effort. Now that I have part of the back deck done I can rearrange the furniture onto the completed part and then tackle the lower part. Now if I could only convince Hubby to hurry up and get the cedar boards off the upper deck and onto the gazebo floor...

Speaking of the gazebo, he has been making some progress this week but it has been tough getting any build time now that his vacation is over and he is working overtime most days. That said, he did finish installing the plywood sheathing on the lower roof and the pine facsia boards on the upper roof. The soffits are all installed and he has actually started shingling! He had to make a small wooden stage to get up to the peak because the ladders just won't handle the shape of the roof. It looks scary when he is standing on it but he says it is sturdy and solid. It seems to be working, too. Yesterday he completed two triangular segments but had to stop when a thunderstorm blew in. Besides, it was Friday afternoon and our 31st wedding anniversary so we sat in the gazebo on some temporary plywood flooring and had a drink to toast ourselves. It was fun and surprizingly dry!






I got a big surprize for my anniversary. I have been mentioning to Hubby for the past couple of months that I would like to have a KitchenAid stand mixer. They look to be very sturdy and well made and the model I'm interested in comes in a bunch of great colours. We had looked at them quite a few times in the store but they're expensive and I could not convince myself to spend the money. So on Tuesday this week Hubby told me that he had to go to the Big City to get materials for the gazebo and after work we drove down to get them. Instead of going to the lumberyard, the first place we stopped was the Bed, Bath & Beyond. "We're here to get a stand mixer for your anniversary present." he said when I asked why we were there. He had checked prices, colours and models at some places already and had only this place and Sears left to look at. At Sears there was only a few colours available in the store but the price was $499! Right next door the same machine was $379. Guess where we bought? The only drawback was that the colour I wanted, tangerine, wasn't available in the store and would have to be ordered in and would take up to 15 buisness days to arrive at the house. Valerie in the customer service department was very helpful in submitting our order and processing the sale. She even pointed out that by signing up for e-mail offers from the store we would receive a 20% discount coupon online. That little hint was worth about $80! Thanks, Valerie! I can hardly wait for it to be delivered!

Barney Towels

This week I convinced my boss that he could give me Friday off from accumulated overtime without the business coming to a complete standstill so I’ve been enjoying a beautiful long weekend. We took a trip across to the far distant land and had a great day of shopping and eating. We had breakfast at a truck stop on the way over and they gave us so much food that we could have easily shared one plate. We both kind of waddled back to the truck when we were done. Thankfully we had an hour or so to digest on the drive in before the serious work of shopping began.


We started off at the building centre where Hubby went hunting for a finial for the top of the king-post in the gazebo. He hadn’t been able to find one of the right size at home but he came up with the perfect one right away, so he was happy. Then it was off to Costco where I got some new t-shirts for myself and a few other things. After that we went to Homesense where I bought some new towels in a bright purple colour. The salesclerk who was ringing in the purchase said something about the colour looking like Barney the dinosaur and Hubby quipped back that he would never be able to look at the towels again without thinking about what she had said. The poor girl, she took him seriously and got all worried that she had insulted us. We spent 5 minutes trying to convince her that he had been joking with her but I’m not sure she believed us. Anyway, my new towels are much more “aubergine” than “Barney”.




After that I went to the Value Village while Hubby toured around the Future shop. I got myself a great pair of denim shorts but he came back empty-handed. Princess Auto and the pawn shop were next but there was nothing we wanted there. So it was off to the big mall where we sped around all 130+ stores in about half an hour. The only reason that I was in there any longer was that Hubby convinced me that I should take the opportunity to get my hair cut. Mastercuts had an opening so I took it and $50 and 20 minutes later I had a new ‘do. On my way out of the mall I bought a new quilted wall hanging to replace the snowman one that has been on the wall in the family room for the last 8 months and then went to collect Hubby from Chapters where he had been waiting out the make-over.


At that point it was time for supper at my favourite Chinese restaurant where we had our favourite dinner; the Schezuan Combo. Mmmm... My mouth is watering just remembering; I didn’t slobber on your monitor just now, did I? At the end of supper, as I was reading my fortune cookie message which said that I should be open to new ideas, Hubby said that he would like us to go to the new casino before going home. Well, what could I say but okay. We agreed that we would spend up to $20 and then quit. We actually spent $25 but we had a great time buzzing from one machine to another and we were there for over an hour and a half. We both agreed that that was enough and if we were to stay any longer it would likely become boring. It was fun while we were there, though!

On Saturday, Hubby worked away most of the day on the gazebo. He spent hours redesigning the secondary roof because he thought the first design looked too much like a space ship had landed on top. I’m glad too because I was thinking this all along but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings by saying so. I spent my day going from nursery to nursery looking for some last minute bargains to fill out the few bare spots left in the veggie garden. I’m glad I went too because I found some awesome yard sales that I didn’t know were on. I got a great old enamelware pot for cooking mussels or clams that will double as a witch’s cauldron at Halowe’en, some beach glass earrings and a few other baubles. I had to go around one place three times before I was sure I had seen it all! Did I mention that I love yard sales? We had BBQ’d hamburgers and fresh beets and carrots for supper. The garden is doing great this year and this may be the earliest we have ever harvested beets. They were very tasty and I had a big helping of greens to go with them. The tomatoes, cucumbers and the gourds are doing great, too as you can see in the pictures. We ended the day with a huge fire in my outdoor fireplace and toasted up a few marshmallows before going inside.







On Sunday we declared a moratorium on the usual housework because it was going be just a scorching day. Hubby cut the grass while the temperature was still relatively cool and I made a nice lunch and did a bit of laundry and then it was off to the beach! It was a perfect day at the shore; the water was warm and clear (although there were a few too many jelly fish) and we found a nice secluded section of sand to lie out under the umbrella. Hubby got to swim on and off all afternoon and he even convinced me to wade in a couple of times. Of course, as soon as I got in up to my waist I noticed two crabs edging over on the sandy bottom to get my toes so my swim only lasted a few minutes. It was refreshing while I was in there though. Dinner was BBQ’d spareribs with more of those beets and carrots. The weekend finished up with a glass of wine out on the front porch looking at the moon and stars.
I can see more long weekends coming up soon.

Scrub Pads and Shopping Bags.

It’s the time of year now where we are really starting to enjoy the gardens, especially the flower gardens. Everything is starting to blossom and I can hardly wait to harvest some to bring the beauty inside. I try to arrange a new bouquet in my ikebana every few days. This one is a little different though, can you see why?





Growing amongst my flowers are a pair of scrubbies and a shopping bag! They are there in the middle, just above the bright orange lily. The shopping bag is in the big purple rose and the white flower to its left and the purple flower to its right are the scrub pads. The scrubbies were handmade and so beautiful that it is such a shame to use them but I can’t wait to try. The friend who sent them made them herself and it doesn’t sound like it was much fun. This is the way she described it in an email she sent;

“Two years ago when we were in Mexico and I had that horrible fall, I was really stuck spending a lot of time in my room. An older Canadian tourist from Vancouver had given me a couple of the scubbies and I thought they were really cute. She knew how bored I was and told me she'd show me how to make them. I've done a bit of crocheting during the years and figured it would not only be fun but a great idea for our church bazaar. FUN???????????? It was NOT!!! I had no clue how involved this was going to be. They sure looked simple enough. I figured she used some special kind of yarn. I couldn't believe what you had to do. First you had to buy material that looks like the crinolines I used to wear when I was a teenager. It comes in all different colours and is fairly stiff. You have to get about 3 metres of it and then cut it all up in narrow strips. Well it AIN'T that easy because if you visualize it, the edges are all jagged when you cut it so when you try to fold up the strips they are all sharp and when you take a strip and try to crochet with it, it's such a treat. The edges stick to your clothes or the chesterfield or whatever it can. Forget trying to keep nail polish on your nails. Then periodically you have to tie another strip on. Not only does it prickle you wherever it touches but the strength it takes in your hands and fingers to try to make it loop means you're lucky to make one of those things a day and if on top of that you happen to have arthritic fingers, boy in the morning you can sure feel it. Once you get the circles made you then have to crochet them together but try to stuff them as you go along.”

I don’t think that I’m going to be making any of these myself any time soon!



The purple rose shopping bag is so cool, too. While it is not homemade it is very light and it has a clip on the side so that it can be attached to a purse strap or a belt loop. I’ll never have to worry about having a shopping bag with me again.






These little gifts came as a complete surprise and they brightened my day more than words can say. Sometimes the simplest act of kindness will stand out and you will remember the moment for a lifetime. I guess I’m having one of these moments and wanted you all to experience it with me. Hope you have enjoyed the ride.

Weekend Get-Away

The Witch, her Hubby and her broom (okay, it was Big Red) went flying off Witch's Island this weekend for some shopping and some fun in the far-off city and we had a great time! Hubby suggested that we should go away on Friday afternoon and spend the night rather than just dashing over for the day on Saturday. He left it up to me to decide but it didn’t take much convincing to get the Witch to fly!

While he was still at work I checked the ‘net for places to stay, found one I liked and booked a room. Hubby got home nice and early and before he could even get the truck in the garage I came out the door and said "Leave ‘er out there. We’re going!" He was a little shocked but away he went to get ready. I had everything I needed packed and waiting at the door.

The afternoon was beautiful, weather-wise and we had a quick and comfy cruise to the motel where we signed in and dumped our bags. Then it was off to Costco! My sweet little brother gave us a membership voucher and gift cards for Christmas knowing that we are too cheap to buy into a membership ourselves. He is our Costco evangelist and routinely informs us of the amazing deals he finds there. We have been looking forward since December to becoming converts.

In the past we have snuck into the store just to see what the excitement was all about but we knew that we weren’t going to be able to buy anything. Not this time, though. We got our membership cards (and we even got a refund of $5.00 because of where we live) and then headed off into the store to inspect the goods. I loved it!

Oh yeah, we purchased quite a few things. I scored big on some new heavy duty baking sheets. They weigh a ton so these suckers aren't going to twist in the oven. The old ones will go in to our flea market box with the old pots. Hubby got some new windshield wiper blades. We saw lots of interesting grocery items, too but we left them for the next day. So, were there lots of bargains to be had? Well, not as many as I expected but there was a great variety of brands and products that we just don’t see on the Witch’s Island.

After shopping we went back to the motel and parked the truck and then it was off to our favourite Chinese restaurant where we had a great meal and a nice bottle of wine. The evening was so warm that we were able to walk a mile to a pool hall to play a few games. I love billiards but Hubby was hot and I was no match for his superior playing that night.

The next morning we were up early and off to the Farmer’s Market. Every other time we have been to this one it has been later in the morning and it is so crowded that it is hard to get up and down the aisles. This time there were very few customers and we just breezed through! We bought three loaves of bread and a big bag of Honey Crisp apples.

After that we toured around some furniture stores looking for new tables for the TV room but we didn’t find anything we liked. We went to a few other stores including a big building supply chain where Hubby got to look at the power tools (gotta keep your man happy) but the only thing we bought was a planter for the kitchen windowsill and some new plants. Then, we went shopping again at Costco! This time I actually bought quite a bit of food, mostly baking supplies (nuts, vanilla, and SunMaid raisins), oranges and a big bottle of whole cashews. Next we cruised through the mall and bought nothing though Danier Leather had a fitted red jacket that I would have died for but I'm glad I managed to pry myself away. Okay, Hubby, you can stop slapping my fingers now! The thrift stores were next. I bought jeans, one top, a brand new white ball cap, and a flower pot.



By this time it was getting late in the day and we were getting hungry so it was back to Lam’s for dinner (we ordered extra to take home, too) and then we loaded up the broom to fly back home. It was a great little unplanned get-away and I'm still loving it.

Some thoughts For Saturday

I'm having a lazy Saturday and I'm really enjoying the downtime. I'm using the time to look around at a few new blog sites. Boy, there are some talented people out there in the blogsphere. Sometime soon I'm going to update my side bars to show some new sites, maybe later this week.

I got up nice and early this morning so I did some laundry and then we ran into the little city to visit my Granny and do some shopping. Of course, we went to the farmer's market and bought some salmon for supper tonight. I think that it will be great with some oven-fries and a light salad. I even had time to bake an apple pie for dessert. Easy.

Tomorrow we're going to make a nice beef stew and while the oven is on I will also bake some beans. This kind of comfort food is low effort and will last for a couple of days next week. That'll give us the time to watch some of the Olympics and, yeah, I guess maybe do a little housekeeping, too. It's only Saturday afternoon and I can already see the start of the workweek looming. Why is it the weekends always seem to go so fast?

I've added a joke that I read on "That British Woman"'s blog site. I laughed so hard that I was smiling most of the day over it. Thanks, Gill.

A man was driving along the highway, and saw a rabbit hoping across the middle of the road. He swerved to avoid hitting the rabbit, but unfortunately the rabbit jumped in front of the car and was hit. The driver, being a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulled over to the side of the road and got out to see what had become of the rabbit.
Much to his dismay, the rabbit was dead. The driver felt so awful be began to cry.
A woman driving down the highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and pulled over. She stepped out of her car and asked the man what was wrong.
"I feel terrible," he explained. "I accidentally hit this rabbit and killed it."
The woman told the man not to worry. She knew what to do. She went to her car trunk and pulled out a spray can. She walked over to the limp, dead rabbit, and sprayed the contents of the can onto the rabbit.
Miraculously, the rabbit came to life, jumped up, waved its paw at the two humans and hopped down the road. Fifty feet away the rabbit stopped, turned around, waved at the two again, hopped down the road another 50 feet, turned, waved, and hoped another 50 feet.
The man was astonished. He couldn't figure out what substance could be in the woman's spray can! He ran over to the woman and demanded, "What was your spray can? What did you spray onto that rabbit?"
The woman turned the can around so that the man could read the label. It said: "Hare Spray Restores Life to Dead Hare. Adds Permanent Wave."

Every time I read it it makes me smile. Enjoy the apple pie pictures.

Saturday Shopping in the Little City

Wow, what did you think of the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games? I thought they were short and sweet and of course, our athletes were the best dressed. Brian Adams and Nellie Fertado sang well together. It was awfully late though. By the time we went to bed I was so beat that I slept in really late this morning.

We went to the farmers market in the little city just before lunch. We bought a nice looking eye-of-round roast for our fondue tonight. The only one that was on display was three times what we needed so we asked if the butcher would cut off a portion for us. He said he would but if we took the whole thing he would reduce the price by $4. I guess that he really didn’t want to take it home with him. It was a great deal for us, too. We just cut the roast into three portions when we got home and we’re set for another two fondues. While we were there we also bought some bacon, haddock filets, lobster meat and eggs. We are planning to make seafood chowder for our Valentine’s Day supper so we’ll be using most of this tomorrow. Mmm… seafood chowder.

Next up was a trip to the grocery store where we bought the rest of our supplies for the week. This was a much better experience than in the big city last week. The store was almost empty and we found an open cashier when we were ready to check out. Hubby actually made it out of the store in a good humour.



We found some good deals on produce. We got 4 red peppers and 4 green peppers for $5 so I guess we will be having some stir fries this week. Maybe some quesadillas again, they’re always great. The grapes and the bananas were also on sale. We won’t have to shop now for another week because I have lots of meat in the freezer and there will be leftovers from fondue tonight. The total damage for groceries at the store was $60.04 and $35.25 at the farmer’s market



Stay tuned for some pictures of our fondue. I’m going to go get it ready now and then watch some of the Olympics.

Grocery Shopping For The Week

We had our first big snow storm for the season last week. That is pretty amazing when I think about it. By this time last year we had had snow on the ground for almost three months!

On Friday some stores closed early in the day due to the weather, which made Saturday's grocery shopping an awful chore. The store was so busy that there were no shopping buggies to be had. People were actually lining up to wait for the cart wranglers to bring some in from the parking lot. Hubby cut to the chase and just went out and got his own. The check out lines were crazy, every cashier had at least ten people waiting. Never again will I be shopping on a Saturday after a storm.



I did get some good deals because they were having a B.O.G.O. event (you know, Buy One, Get One) which may have also contributed to the crowds. Anyway I'm all stocked-up for now. The cost for our little adventure was $114.27 and you can see for yourself what that gets you here on The Witch's Island.



I thought I would share a few pictures with you of Hubby blowing out the driveway. He had to do it three times over two days, poor fella. He didn't mind, though. Any reason to play with the power tools is a good one.

Christmas Time and Boxing Day

Merry Christmas
Season's Greetings
Joyeux Noel
Happy Boxing Day???

I'm a day late in wishing everyone a Merry Christmas but I know you'll all forgive me. We have been so busy that it is hard to believe the day is over. :-( Hubby made his traditional Wife Savers breakfast which once again saved his ass come X-mas morning.



We opened some gifts and then talked all day on the telephone to family and friends. I didn't even open my e-mail or even have the computer on the last two days so I have a lot of catching up to do. I even missed what Google did on their main page for Christmas. Please let me know.

Today I have some boxes to break down and put away, which is good because it is Boxing Day. Then I want to do some budgeting for the coming year and see how much I can squeeze our budget so we can save for a nice vacation to see family and friends back home. I also want to make a list of items which need to be replaced such as the old chipped Corel bowls. They are going bye bye. Plus, I'm going to start X-mas shopping earlier even if I only buy one gift card a month. I have all kinds of gardening ideas I have to start saving for, too.



Already I feel I'm going to run out of time planning.
As always I will keep you all posted.

Happy Boxing Day everyone!!!!

The BBQ - Just One More Time!

The night was beautiful. It had been a warm sunny day all day on Friday here on The Witch's Island and it felt even better considering that it is the middle of November. We thought to ourselves that it would be lovely to cook a couple of big old steaks on the BBQ for dinner. So, that's what we did; pulled one last meal out of the old beast. We even took a picture or two but look at the poor thing. This picture says it all. What a shame. The meal turned out great, though. Big rib steaks grilled to medium rare with garlic bread and cheese and a side of Caesar salad. The owls where hooting somewhere out in the woods as we cooked. I was warm in Hubby's old canvas coat, even as the temperature started dipping towards real November levels.

The night was magical really. Sometimes you have to look around you and realize how very lucky you are, even with a funky old BBQ. I seem to be doing this a lot more often.

Yesterday I finished the last of the Christmas shopping for my family back home and this afternoon I finished wrapping it all. Ya HOOO!!!!! All I have to do now is mail it off and then I just have hubby to buy for. Next week I'll start my Christmas baking and then I'll be mailing another parcel home. Oh, what a busy girl I am!

Last night for dinner we made pizza and it turned out to be quite a marathon event. We bought some dough for the shells from the local bakery but when we started rolling it out we found that it was contaminated with streaks of something black. It sure looked like mouse shit even if it was something else. So, we had to choose whether to abandon pizza completely or make our own dough from scratch. We chose to do our own but, start to finish, dinner took us almost three and a half hours. Today we are making homemade baked beans and oven-baked bbq ribs. Much less hands-on thankfully. There will be lots of left overs to freeze, too. That's great at this busy time of the year.



I planted my Amaryllis bulb this afternoon. It had already stated to grow inside the box so I guess it's getting a head start this year. My Christmas cactus, which has been in the family for years, has also started to bud out. I'm in such a Christmas mode I might even decorate the house next week.

Plastic bags.

Years ago my sister would always take her own bags with her, canvas bags or otherwise, when she went shopping. The store clerks, especially the younger ones, would always try to give her new bags. They didn’t seem to understand the concept of what she was asking them to do. I guess it seemed pretty strange at the time.

Now “bring your own” has become a big deal but, for some stores, it seems more of a way to screw the consumer out of a few more pennies than as a way to save the environment. I have been using bins for years and I find them very handy. I remember at first the stores gave me points for having these bins then they fazed it out (shame on you). Now it's the in thing and the big stores say that the money they get from people buying their plastic bags will be put back into the environment. Really!? I'll be waiting to see if they publish the numbers on this one. I, as a consumer, still use my bins, and the cashiers seem to really like them better than the bags. When I see people still paying for these bags I have this picture in my head and it is not pretty, but it really hits home.

Past the Middle of the Month Already???

Wow, January is flying by, and I'm glad because the quicker the months go the closer it is to Winter being over and the start of Spring. Yes, I know I'm jumping way ahead, but what the hell! Not everyone is into Winter. Believe me, I've tried to be positive about it but something about -20C temperatures and high winds just don't agree with me.


I've started to knit a scarf which I'm really pleased with so far. It is nice to be creative again with my hands. I wish I could go to community school this year but with the shifts I work I would miss every second week, so why bother. It's too bad because I went to community school for over 10 years and every year I learned a new skill. I also had alot of fun meeting new people. Man, I can hardly wait to retire to be able to do that again! I guess I didn't realize how much I missed it till now (ugh.)

Hubby and I cleaned the house from top to bottom today. All the floors were washed too. The place looks and smells great. Every Sunday is our cleaning day and then its just recreation time after that.

I made some brownies today which turned out very good. I was going to make bread but didn't have enough milk and I really didn't want to drive into town or spend any money today. I didn't get the bread done but I at least accomplished something!

This morning I wrote a response to the performance review from my job. I was happy with the overall review (much better than last year), now just SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!! (and lots of it would be nice). Anyway it will be what it is and with the times ahead I'll be happy with any amount I actually get. It will probably go towards the mortgage, anyway. It's all about getting that paid off in FIVE years so I can retire or move on to something I will enjoy working at more.

This week I'm training another person in our department and we are having a 5S revision done in our shop. Oh Joy!! You don't want me to start on that.

We went shopping in the Big City on Saturday I made a great haul at Value Village, thanks to my Christmas gift certificates. You just gotta love them. The spirit of Christmas just keeps going and going. I'm planning a day trip across the puddle sometime in Febuary and I'm reallly looking forward to it. Maybe I'll spend the rest of my stash then!

Christmas is Coming

Yes it has been awhile since I've blogged at all. Where does the time go? I've been busy doing my annual Christmas baking to be sent to all my loved ones in a far away land (okay… Toronto). Again, I have seemed to have taken on more than I can manage at this busy time but I do it ever year so I guess I will stop complaining and suck it up. I have baked gingerbread cookies, orange raisin cookies dipped in white chocolate, shortbread dipped in dark chocolate and crushed almonds, banana loaf, and a cranberry-orange loaf. I haven't finished yet. There is still my meat pie to make for Hubby and I on Christmas Eve, plus I might even try a new recipe along the way. There is always room for new ideas in this house.
Next week I hope to get our tree up and start decorating the house. I love this part of the holidays I just don't really like the shopping part, but I have that all finished and mailed off so there is just Hubby left. THE REALLY IMPORTANT ONE!!!!
Yesterday I made lasagna for dinner and pumpkin pie for dessert and it was fantastic. I really don't understand why Martha Stewart has not found out about me yet! That would be my dream spot on T.V. to work alongside her. Dreams have a way of coming true.
Work, well let’s not ruin my day, so we won't go there. The Annual Christmas party was last night so I'll hear all about it on Monday. There is always someone who wishes they had not gone.
I'm going to start my new savings budget for January, so it may be a while ‘til I update my sidebars.
Hopefully soon I will start posting this out. Still a little shy.

Rememberance Day

On the eleventh month of the eleventh day at the eleventh hour it is time to remember all the veterans and peacekeepers who bravely fought for the freedom we enjoy today. I think about this more and more as I get older and realize how much these men and women truly gave and believed in to make this a better country. I thank-you.

Haven't blogged for awhile I guess I have been just too plain lazy. Lately, I haven't had a lot of
energy and I think that just comes with this time of year. Today it's cold, windy and raining, not a promising day.

I've found some interesting sites on Geo Caching and I'm dying to try this game out. I found some great areas close to home but I'll have to wait to get a GPS to join in on the fun. Something for me to look forward to in the New Year

Went Christmas shopping yesterday as I had the day off. Got a few nice presents but mostly just stuck with gift certificates from their favorite haunts. Seems like such a waste to buy these and mail them while they will be doing the same for us. What we do to keep family happy.

Oh well I should be happy I have my family, I just wish at times we didn't live so far away.
I'm trying to get this finished early this year so I can start my Christmas baking. I really enjoy the baking and decorating the house and tree but the rest is so commercialized it can really spoil the season and meaning of the holiday.
Not like Halloween!!!!!