More Treasures!

There wasn't many yard sales this weekend. It was at our last yardsale that we struck gold...we, being my mother and I is my yard sale side-kick! Sometimes she finds something I really, really love...but often we are both pretty content with our purchases. She totally understands my need to keep things moving along...and we bite our tongues when one of us takes to long.

I found this amazing painting done by a local artist! I was thrilled! I have it leaning against my mirror until I get it up on the wall.

This is another painting I purchased at the same sale...I plan to change the frame and hang it during the winter. It is by an artist from Chipman, NB.

This is another picture of my beautiful glass mosaic I found last weekend. I hung my summer curtains and bought new pillows for my couch in the states.

Rooms with the Most Amazing View!

I found these two amazing cut glass mosaic window frames that fit perfectly with my two large windows. The one below fit perfectly within the frame of this large picture window square...how lucky is that!

Cut glass window that fit perfectly into my window panes. I paid $5.00!!!!


This is the second large window with cut glass that now hangs in my diningroom. This treasure was only $10!!! Some of the panes depict a scene which is really cool!

This is another picture of my beautiful glass mosaic I found last weekend. I hung my summer curtains and bought new pillows for my couch in the states. I am one lucky girl!

DIY-Grow Your Own Potatoes in Small Spaces

I hope to put in a vegetable garden this year. I have a nice healthy herb garden and only need to expand on it...but my goal for this year is to grow some potatoes, carrots, peas and beans. I would tuck lettuce and a few other small, complimentary veggies alongside them, but I want to keep it managable.

Because our front and back yards are heavily shaded with trees, it creates quite a challenge. I figured I would have to dig up the middle of my back yard as it is the only sunny spot...except, this is where the kids play so I was feeling a bit guilty. So, when I found this article about growing potatoes in plastic bags I was thrilled. It would allow me to take advantage of the narrow sunny spots available in my yard and move them if necessary.



My only concern was the plastic and how heating plastic allows chemicals to leach into soil. I might try to track down burlap bags and if needed, set the burlap bag inside a plastic bag...but maybe I am worrrying about nothing??

Check out the article and attached link as it is very interesting.

Living in the city, it can be hard to find a place in your garden for potatoes. Potatoes, grown conventionally, take up a lot of growing space and are time-intensive when it's time to dig them up. There are benefits to growing your own potatoes though. You have a much wider selection than that which you get in the grocery store. You will also have a ready supply of baby new potatoes, considered an expensive delicacy if you have to purchase them but just another potato in your own garden. There are, however, many different methods to growing potatoes in your small garden that save time, space, and work. I have tried many of these methods but the Garbage Bag method is the easiest and most productive.



To use the Garbage Bag method of growing potatoes, all you need is a sturdy garbage bag, like Glad Force Flex, some compost, shredded leaves and seed potatoes. You can purchase certified seed potatoes from a nursery or use sprouted potatoes from your pantry. Seed potatoes are your best bet as they are certified disease free and come in many varieties and colors, from yellow to pink to purple and blue. Cut larger potatoes into pieces that have two or three eyes each. Let potato pieces sit out to dry overnight.

When you are ready to plant, fill garbage bag four inches deep with compost. Roll down sides of bag until just above the level of the soil. Poke holes with the point of a pair of scissors around the exterior of the bag just below the soil line. Site the bag where it will get at least 6 hours of full sun every day. It can be by a fence, on your balcony, or in a sunny unused area of your yard. Plant three seed potato chunks into the soil and cover shallowly. Water lightly. The black garbage bag will provide extra warmth to the potatoes in the spring and fall and they will grow faster than if they were in the ground.

cont'd here

Springs warmth...

Today was finally warm, sunny and smelled sweetly of spring! I left church today feeling pretty flat and discouraged. However, ella really wanted to go outside, so together we went outside and started weeding the flower bed. It is a huge double sided bed with little flagstone steps seperating the two sides. One side is still wild and overgrown with grasses, and I am hopeful that this spring I will have more time to focus on my garden and make it something to feel proud of.


We spent the afternoon outside enjoying the warmth, working away without jackets and happy to discover the plants sending out their little fresh spring shoots! Ella's two little friends stopped over to play with her and while they played I enjoyed weeding and puttering. I always feel as though my thoughts become clearer as I pull the weeds! I can often work out things that bother me and put all those weedy thoughts into their rightful place!

So, even though half my yard still has snow...I feel hopeful that spring is here. No more looking back!

Dreaming of Camping...

Every year we take our kids camping...all six of us, two tents, sleeping bags, and a million other things you need to camp in comfort and style! It takes me a couple of weeks to prepare and pack, then another week to unpack and put away....so we limit our trips to 3-4 per summer season.

We always look forward to the meals and the fun times around the campfire. This year I definitely intend to try my hand at making bannock over the fire! Bannock is delicious made in the oven, and is one of those easy breads you can make in a pinch.

Irish Bannock

But, I do look forward to seeing the kids making bannock on a stick as a treat by the fire at night or in a fry pan or a dutch oven for breakfast with some bacon and eggs and fresh brewed coffee...yum!

Here are some interesting details and recipes for you to enjoy...I apologize, but I do not remember where I found these recipes or I would also include a link. I had it saved in my camping file.

What is Bannock?
Bannock is a bread that you can cook using little more than a fire
and a stick though it can also be baked or fried. Names for bannock
include bushbread, trail bread, grease bread and galette.

Bannocks origins are lost in the mists of time, but some believe
bannock was first made by the Scotts from the same oat flour that
gave their horses great strength and endurance. With stomachs fed
with hearty oat bannock those who became explorers and mountain men
in the new world introduced the bannock recipe to the Native
Americans and other outdoorsmen who lived in the wilderness.

The most simple bannock recipe consists of just flour of
nearly any kind and water. Kneaded into a dough and wrapped around a
green stick, this most basic bannock cooks into a fine tasting bread
that can be eaten alone or used as a basis for a full course meal.

Bannock on a Green Stick

The following recipe provides enough bannock for one day. Stored in a
waterproof bag, it is easy to carry a week or ten day supply.

1-cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons milk powder

Mix all the ingredients well, making sure the butter is evenly
distributed throughout. Sometimes I will melt the butter before
adding it to the mixture. Then slowly add water while mixing until a
dough ball is formed.

Cooking Bannock...Make the bannock dough into a cigar shape and wrap it
around a green stick. Try to keep the thickness of the dough about ½
inch.

Slowly roast the bannock over a hot fire, rotating occasionally until
it turns a golden brown. You will hear the butter sizzling and your
stomach rumble as the bannock cooks.

Multi-flour Bannock Recipe
This combination of flours, spices, and dried fruit makes the bannock
a delicious meal of itself and makes me hungry just thinking about
it. It can be cooked over an open fire on a green stick or formed
into a loaf and baked and makes a 3-day supply:

1 Cup Barley flour
1 Cup Wheat flour
1/2 Cup Rolled Oats
1 Cup White Sugar
1/2 to 1 Cup Raisins or other dried fruit
1 1/2 Cup Buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tbsp. Coarse Ground Salt
1 tbsp. Cinnamon
1 tbsp. Cloves
1 tbsp. Nutmeg

Fried Bannock
If you like fried foods then you need to try fried Bannock.

4 cups flour
2 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 can milk, mix with water
1/4 cup margarine/butter
2 eggs
1/4 tbsp salt

Mix all the ingredients so a dough ball is formed. Break off pieces
and flatten into rounds about ½ inch thick. Fry to a golden brown in
the oil of your choice.

Every camping enthusiast should know how to make bannock and
cook it over an open fire. The recipe your great grandfather used has
not changed and it remains an excellent food for the hungry survivor:

2.5 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
One cup cold water
Mix and kneed the bannock ingredients. Then place in a greased pan
over a glowing bed of coals; or better yet cook it on a stick.

Prices going up...way up...

Okay, I was at the Superstore yesterday and guess how much a 10kg bag of flour is now...(it was $6.99 at Christmas) drumroll please....$13.49!!!!! I managed to buy the last bag of Five Roses 10kg flour at Walmart today for $9.99! I feel like I got a bargain!

In the US, cattle are being sold younger and young for meat because farmers can't afford the grain prices. Right now beef is affordable...they predict that within 9-12 months there will be a beef shortage and those prices will skyrocket...

So, if ever there was a time to make up a little pantry it is now...if you can afford it on grocery day and you see good nourishing food on sale, buy it...because your guaranteed that grocery bills are going up...way up!

For all those homeschooling mamma's...

I used to have this comic on my fridge when my kids were little...I was uploading photos and came across it...just had to share...

and this one...

Skyrocketing Wheat Prices Hit Home On Arthur Ave.

100-Pound Bag $19.50 One Week, $47-Plus The Next

Kirstin Cole
BRONX (CBS) ―

We've been facing higher grocery prices and gas prices for months now. But some have been quietly dealing with a wheat crisis that is sending prices skyrocketing 150 percent.

CBS 2 HD has learned why you'll be forking over more for some of your favorite foods.

At Addeo's Bakery in the Arthur Avenue section of the Bronx, you'll always find your favorite bread, biscuits and rolls. But customers lately are swallowing higher prices for their daily staples.

"We were spending $19.50 for 100 pounds. It will go up to $47 and change and there is no end in sight," Laurence Addeo said.

At first Addeo let it slide. But eventually the third generation baker had no choice but to pass those higher prices along to his customers. He's even thinking about shutting the shop one extra day a week. Even worse, he's already heard the dreaded "R" word.

"Ration, ration flour," Addeo said. "So if we got 100 bags in a week, we might only get 70."

It's a perfect storm out of the wheat belt. Farmers planted more corn to sell as bio-fuel grain, which fetches higher prices. But there's been a much higher demand for grain from places like China and India. Meanwhile, other countries have stopped exporting wheat completely. Now, the U.S. is left with a shortage of wheat, causing flour prices to explode.

At Borgatti's they're famous for the ravioli on Arthur Avenue but they're having to learn about trickle down economics with the price of eggs, cheese and wheat all rising dramatically.

Mario Borgatti, 90, opened during the Depression and never saw 40 percent price increases until today. So far, the customers roll with the prices.

"I think they're going to go up wherever you are," one customer said.

But Mario knows eventually the business will suffer.

"Right now, we have to lay off people because we won't be doing the business (if we keep raising the prices)," Borgatti said.

"I hope that we can ride this out, and make our customers understand so we can keep selling bread for another generation."

The price of groceries made its highest year to year jump last year since 1990. And experts don't expect to see a reversal in the trend anytime soon.

http://wcbstv.com/local/wheat.price...r.2.658137.html

A Peek into our previous house

This is the second home we built by ourselves...a lot of sweat equity went into this house...and we lived there for four years...three more than planned! We built the house planning to live there one year then sell and build again. However, I got pregnant and had a very rough pregnancy and after ella was born, we decided to stay.










Our livingroom


I loved my kitchen!





Family Room Downstairs. You could walk out the patio doors to the backyard.













I loved my hammock. I would swing with Ella and Jack.


Our deck where we ate supper every sunny day!

Wanna take a peek at my bathroom before I transform it????

Call me crazy...but one thing I appreciate on other people's blogs is real photos...not those perfectly posed, perfectly coiffed rooms that look as though no one lives there...so with that in mind...I have decided to show you my bathroom before I renovate it. It really is a perfectly acceptable bathroom in the scheme of life...I don't plan on spending more than $200 on this room and I hope when I am finished it will look much better.

So, being a nut for honesty, I decided to share my bathroom with you on a typical day. We use this room to do laundry, for the kitty litter, to access my cleaning supplies for the house, for ella to wash her hands fifty million times a day, I put my makeup on here and of course, we use the loo!

Isn't this an awesome shot of my loo..those are my dried hydrangea from my garden. The wall colour is not bad...kind of a coffee cream colour.

These are my white wooden blinds I recently purchased for $5.00!!!! They were a miscut and even though I had to watch and wait, they finally hit a sale price even I never expected! That is my garage in the background.

Okay, I have four kids...doesn't everyone run out of toilet paper...this is being replaced along with the old heater...My sister informed me that the rust is due to pee pee accidents and not condensation as I had always believed...eeew! The rusting came BEFORE we moved in!

Okay, I can't change the tile right now as it runs into the hallway. However, we are painting the vanity a rich chocolate brown and replacing the counter top. Behind the April Cornell fabric is our kitty litter...

I hope to add some moulding around the doors and drawers to give it clean shaker look. Right now the vanity is just a very plain wood.

Okay, why am I showing you this...it is because of the oil leaks we get from our hinges and to point out the lousy paint job done by the last owners...

And they don't even match! We plan to replace the hinges with new dark bronze hinges to match our new door handles.

A shot of your basic door knob...I can't wait to replace them with my rubbed bronze door knobs...they were one of the more expensive items but worth it!

Odd knob number two!

A pile of clean laundry and a shot of my cheap mirror which I will either replace or frame out but going horizontally and centered under the sink.

These lights boxes are a thorn in my side. We have to remove them, gyprock the openings and reposition the light sockets. If possible, we will remove the whole bulk head if we can. That amazing painting of a sunset was painted by my nine year old son Jack!

Another shot of the sink area. I want to position one light socket over the sink. I have new taps to replace the older ones which I bought three years ago when we were planning to build a new house.

We were preparing to paint our ceiling in this shot.

So, there you have it! I could have waited and taken the photos once I had tidied the room and finished painting the ceiling. But, once again, I remembered to take the photos once we got started. I hope my bathroom doesn't offend you all to much!

Rain, rain go away...

This beautiful painting is by local artist sherri burhoe

This past couple of weeks we discovered that our porch leading out of our basement has sprung a leak! The water gurgles in, fast and furious into our family room through the door. It seems to be coming in where the house foundation and the porch foundation meet...it wasn't poured all at once so there is a definite seperation which has allowed water to leak in. Then we had a record breaking rainfall of 78mm and this added to our mess!

Thankfully, a good friend loaned us a pump (not a sump pump) to remove the water from beneath our sub-floor. We put sandbags around our porch to divert the water, we even made a berm around our sub-floor frame to hold the water in to the one area to allow the pump to suck it away...we have spent many hours with two shop vacs sucking up water and dumping them outside in the pouring rain till the wee hours of the morning. This storm we are experiencing today has been very managable and not as stressful!

Knowing this, we will now have to plan on fixing this asap and this will also include new rain gutter as the rain gutter we have is old, leaks and desperately needs replacing. Part of the problem with the leaking is the fact that the rain gutter leaks in the same spot where the foundation leaks. So, the two are related.

So, I have risen to the challenge of cutting corners and really trying to live our lives more simply...I have always enjoyed decorating my homes on a strict yard sale budget. Our goal of renovating this house reflecting our schedule and budget restraints will be revised once more to fix this issue which takes priority over new siding or new windows.

So, as I sit here on another very windy, wet night...I think of sunny days ahead when we will tackle our porch and rebuild it to be strong and water tight! I am grateful that I have a husband who can do much of the work himself which will save us money and the satisfaction we will get from fixing this very stressful and expensive mess!

Snowy Day...

It has been a chilly cold day with a mixture of heavy blowing snow and freezing rain. Right now there is a chicken stew bubbling away on the stove. I still have to make up the dumplings to go with it... and it smells amazing!

I had to clean out the woodstove today...I hate doing that....but it is done and I cleaned all around the fireplace. What a mess! But, you can't beat the heat!

I ventured into my basement today. I want to clear it out...I managed to clean out a filing cabinet. I found lots of beautiful notes from my kids when they were little and some cards that I wrote to my kids...it made me miss my boys when they were little. They were so amazing and sweet and fun...they still are, but I miss so many things from that time.

I have a huge collection of vintage Fisher Price toys that I need to part with. We all played with them as kids and I realize now that I will never get around to selling them on ebay. That hurts, cause you never get as much locally for vintage items. But, I need to raise some cash for a few items on my wish list...Plus, I need to organize my kids huge collection of Star Wars!! When I say huge, I mean huge!

Wish me luck!

The Rising Cost of Food

I don't know if anyone else is noticing the rise in prices at the grocery store. This past year, food items are increasing dramatically. With the rise in oil prices, the increasing demand for grain...especially corn, a possible recession in the horizons, it is time to buckle down and simplify your wants versus needs list...and it can be a painful process for many.

I don't always enjoy grocery shopping but I do enjoy the challenge of using coupons to save money...which on average for us is $15-$20 per grocery order. I have always clipped coupons and I carry my coupon book with me in the van at all times. We also comparison shop and try to buy in bulk items that are a really good deal...especially meat. One thing we do to save money, especially when a good sale falls on a non-pay week is to drop by the grocery store on the very final day of the sale, close to closing time and request rain cheques. This way, we can take advantage of the sale when we can better afford it.

As a family of six, groceries are a major expense!! Milk is a huge expense, almost $7 for 3 litres, so I limit my kids to one glass per day...ouch you say....but trust me, they sneak it when I'm not looking so I do factor that into my cost. I am one of those who does not hold milk in such high esteem as others do and there are many other ways to receive calcium.

My goal is to fine tune my grocery budget even more than we have in the past. I am limiting how much entertaining we do because that has been a huge expense in the past. I plan to retire my hotel standards of what is suitable to serve to guests to a more casual fare such as chili or stews. I hope to tackle our need for meat with every supper. We all enjoy meat and potatoe type meals so my goal is to try new recipes or revisit old ones on a more regular basis such as I did tonight.

Here is what we had tonight for supper tonight:

Baked beans with apple sausages cooked with the beans...it was delicious! $4.00
Corn Bread double batch. $2.00
Pork Tenderloin $4.00 (awesome deal at local grocery store)
Frys $1.50

So, for $11.50 I provided a supper for six people, my husbands work lunch for two days, and lunch for two of my kids. The next time, I will double the batch of beans as this was a new recipe I tried out. I made the frys and tenderloin for my finicky oldest son who dislikes beans and to round out the meal as not everyone loves beans as much as others.

Tomorrow I hope to make a stew which we make at least every two weeks...cooking like this takes extra work compared to convenience foods, but it is worth it both in taste and value.

Merry Christmas Season

I haven't written in a while...I didn't feel like I had much to share...I was hoping to maybe paint the bathroom before christmas, but that isn't likely to happen. However, I have been busy doing my christmas cleaning and decorating. Then to my joy and amazement, we actually got a beautiful, lush snowfall! Never a person to waste a perfect snowfall, that night we put up our tree...I mean, you can't ignore the backdrop of snowflakes falling while Ken & Dolly play in the background...(I play it to irritate my husband and in honour of my parents!)

The photo above of the beautiful Christmas cape cod house was made by my beautiful mother! She did a replica of my house, but in the colour scheme we might like to put on the house once it is finished...right down to the cranberry red door! It is so pretty and I love it so much because she made it for me! Somehow the gene for creating pretty things skipped me and only rested in my mother and sister....which isn't so bad because they take pity on me and make me pretty things!

My decorating ranges from au natural...which is my favourite, to a touch of tacky glitzy...retro 1970's nostalgia! How's that for a description! I love the memory of my sister Linda and I driving around her hometown admiring people's christmas decorations. She remarked at one house "how could anyone like coloured icicle lights!" I took great joy in responding that I do and that I had them all over my house! I was tired from the sea of white light perfection that was the rage back then, and I craved the tacky, but colourful joy of coloured christmas lights...though I can only handle the small twinkle lights and no blinking lights either...drives me crazy!





The kids and I made our gingerbread houses on December 1st! That is always fun and the house smells delicious! I love getting people to guess whose house is whose...and the houses actually are decorated much like their personalities!

Happy Birthday Linda!!!

Linda with my mother & my little girl Ella.


This was a few years ago...just after Ella was born...

Happy Birthday to my beautiful sister! Without you I'd be lost...your my best friend and the one I trust with all my stuff! Your an amazing wife and mother...you always put your family first...your amazing...so loving and kind....and as a sister and best friend...you can't be beat!

Your an amazing writer and decorater and you inspired me so much this past couple of years with your fearlessness in starting your own business and stepping out into new adventures! Sorry I couldn't be with you today, but I'll definitely be there for your 40th birthday bash!

Be sure to drop by her blog to say happy birthday!