Making Do!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I hope y'all had a fabulous Victoria Day Weekend.

Today was a stay at home kind of day.  I did walk the dog early this morning of course and took my bike out for a bit this afternoon but that is all.

My copy of the Butter Baked Goods cookbook was still out so I made a batch of Sugar Cookies.  I LOVE these sugar cookies; the recipe uses butter and oil and makes a perfectly crisp on the outside soft in the middle cookie.  Perfect for Tea Time:

Between Batches I knit on my XO socks that are from my January 2020 Biscotte Yarns Mystery Box.  Not sure what keeps holding me up on these socks.  Could be the circular needle that does not allow me to knit the left handed way that I want to!  Or....could be that the colour work requires attention:

I have now passed the gusset and so was able to try them on.  OMG are they comfortable!!!  Might spur me on to get this one finished so I can start on the other one☺

For dinner I used freezer food.  Since the 10th of March we have been eating what we have in the pantry and the freezer.  I have had milk and fresh fruits and veggies brought in.  Two trips to Costco since that time and both have been in the last two weeks.  I would like to say that we have made a dent in the freezer....but alas it is still full somehow.  Today I used some Bison sausages, perogies, and green peas from the freezer.   Sauteed onions and mushrooms from the fridge along with sour cream (will need to start a shopping list for this one):

I am not a fan or meat but on occasion for some red meat I will eat a wee bit of bison.  This is kiddos plate; I had a half sausage and might eat the other tomorrow with the leftovers we have.

Heading out to walk doggie now as tomorrow is work and I still have one more load of laundry to put through so that everything is clean!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the BEST Day EVER Tuesday tomorrow.  Stay safe out there!

Kathy

ME Want Cookie!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!!

Today I decided that we needed cookies.  That's right.  NEEDED cookies not just wanted them.  

Had a package of m&m's in the pantry that somehow had escaped my notice..so we made Oatmeal Coconut m&m Cookies:

YUMMY!!!  And yes.... I had more than one of these.🍪

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the BEST Day EVER Friday tomorrow.  

Kathy

What's Cookin'...

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Very low key day today.  Laundry, some house work and of course walk the dog.  

I was craving Cream Cheese Cookies so I made a batch of those this afternoon:

Between Cookie batches I finished the binding on my 2015 52 Week Block Challenge Quilt hosted by A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop:

This quilt has had quite the journey including being lost to me for almost 2 years at the long armers house and then returned to me smelling heavily of doggie #1 and # 2 business.  Lots of Tide and vinegar washes, hanging near the fire pit and draped over the quad runner for a while finally got rid of the smell.  A lady from my quilt guild was able to get it quilted for me in less than 2 weeks and now I have finally put the binding on.  I LOVE how this turned out!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the 

BEST Day EVER Sunday.

Kathy

"Sew" At Home

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today I decided I would have Sew At Home Day.  I would get more accomplished not only sewing wise, and the food and atmosphere is much more lively I think.

For breakfast I made french toast topped with strawberries and cantaloupe and turkey rashers:

YUM!

Then I loaded in some laundry and headed off to my craft room where I made:

One more star and I will have a row!!!

For lunch we had a vegetarian pizza that kiddo and I assembled:

YUM.

After lunch I baked some Chocolate Chunk Cookies and when my dear friend came over this afternoon with some dinner she had cooked for kiddo and I (another reason home was a better Sew Day experience) we had milk and cookies along with the BEST Visit EVER!!

Back to work tomorrow and hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the 

BEST DAY EVER Monday🎉

Kathy

BEST Day EVER Sunday!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Doggie woke me up at regular time to go for a walk....apparently he did not receive the memo that it was THE weekend.

After returning home I decided that I would make French Toast for breakfast and use the fresh raspberries I had in the fridge from earlier this week:

Delicious of course, but this innocent breakfast is responsible for almost everything that happened after.

I used the last pieces of bread to make the French Toast and that meant I needed to make bread:

Dough rising in the sun beam looked so awesome.

Additionally, while I had been getting the raspberries out of the fridge I also remembered the 5 lb bag of beets that I had purchased at the same time as the raspberries because the beets were TOO good a deal.  So.....out came the food processor portion of the Kitchenaid and 5 lbs of beets and 2 lbs of carrots became:

Added some freezer peas,onions, some of the dill I dried last summer and Borscht soup for lunch was a GO!

Bread was baked and turned out FABULOUS.  Doggie was sitting in front of the oven door as usual waiting for it to be done so he could get the heels.  He did of course and was super happy:

Nothing tastes better than fresh bread in my opinion.

The Resident Cookie Monster had also mentioned as I was getting underway with all my baking/cooking projects today that the cookie jar was nearing empty!!!   Horror.  Well.....crisis was averted as I made Sea Salt Caramel Chip Cookies from a package of chips I had in the pantry:

These are pretty tasty!!!  You can try to eat just one......But......

Back to the refrigerator where I took out a zucchini, a red, yellow, and green pepper along with some spinach that was all going to need to be used up this week.  I decided that lasagna for dinner would take care of all of these vegetables and so that is what I made:

This should get us through dinners at least part of the week as it is a five day work week for me and a five day school week for kiddo.  On top of that all extracurricular activities will be resumed this week.  

While all of this baking and cooking was going on I also did an amazing amount of house cleaning!  Everything is washed, vacuumed, polished, scrubbed, and cleaned in some form.  The house looks and smells like HOME which is great because it was three months ago today that we spent our first night in our new home.  🏡

So.........a GREAT day thanks to doggie not getting the weekend notice memo.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the

BEST Day EVER Monday tomorrow.

Kathy

FAST...Forward...

Good Evening Internet Friends.  

Super Crazy busy but hoping in the next month or so things will start to normalize and settle down.

Today although it was Sunday Funday was also Fast Forward Day.

Very busy week ahead with work and school and extra curricular activities.

Last night I shredded via the Kitchenaid 24 + cups of zucchini that my friend Lynn had given me last weekend.  Some of that was used to make 2 Lemon Zucchini loaves today:

I also made Oatmeal Butterscotch chip cookies:

For lunch and for lunches for part of this week I made Macaroni and Cheese:

Always a favourite of kiddo.

In between house work and laundry I did manage to make another three of my 2016 A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop's 52 Week Block Challenge.  No typo.....just got really far behind with other things:

As of this evening I have now completed 43 of the 52 blocks for this quilt!

Getting excited about that as in the next month I am hoping to tidy up a few more loose ends ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Almost...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It is almost Canada Day and I cannot help but remember the excitement of this time last year with us preparing to celebrate Canada Day 150 in Ottawa.

This year will be a little more low key.  However, while making sure I used my Bulk Barn coupon this evening I found these fun red and white maple leaf sprinkles.  

So......arriving home I made cookies while I did laundry:

Delicious!!!!

Happy Canada Day/Bonne Fete du Canada 🍁🍁

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy 

Best Day Ever......(Again)...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was the Best Day Ever (Again)!

My day started off my friend dropping off a whole bunch of home baking that she did this week.  My son thought this was as good as Grandma coming to visit because I only ever make one type of cookie at a time, and today he got:

Chocolate Muffins

Peanut Butter Cookies

m & m Cookies

Chocolate, toffee, hazelnut Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lemon Blueberry loaf (in the freezer)

Along with jello and juice guess what his diet consisted mostly of today???

After lunch I picked up my special promotion boxes of yarn for Local Yarn Shop Day which was today at River City Yarns.  I LOVE that place.  They seriously have the BEST stuff.  Each box contains 5 mini skeins and a cat stitch marker and came with a store bag:

I really want to get started on one of these but alas I am supposed to be studying for my National Re-certification exam in less than a month.

Yesterday my friend Tara (cookie lady) and I were supposed to attend the Drayton Valley Quilt Show but I was unable to attend as my son was ill and needed attending.  Very fortunately another friend was going and she agreed to pick up my pre order from Purple Katz Quilting.  I was able to get this order this evening and now I think I shall head off to my craft room to see what all I can cut with my fancy new Tula Pink Rotary Cutter.  Thanks Liz.

I had pre ordered the Tula Pink All Stars Fat Quarter Bundle to replace the Tabby Road Quilt I had made for my Grammy (long story there), Tim Holtz Wide Backing for my Flowers for My Wedding Ring Quilt, and the rotary cutter as I like having 2 and I like heavy rotary cutters.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sick Day...

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Well, it was bound to happen I guess.  My son came home with a cough, sore throat and woke this morning with a fever.  Poor little tyke looked and sounded terrible.  So, it was a sick day today.  

After lunch he decided that maybe home made cookies would be something he would like so we made some.  Okay, I made them he looked on sickly. 

He ate one and then went and had a nap!  Someone is NOT feeling well.

I asked him what he would like for dinner as food intake was limited most of the day and he wanted Spaghetti Casserole just like him uncle (my brother) makes when he comes to visit.  So, I made Spaghetti casserole and Caesar Salad (although I ate all of the salad):

After dinner we watched a movie and despite it being Friday evening I did not even have to argue about going to bed!  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sunday Funday....

Good Evening Internet Friends....

I can't believe the weekend is over.  Thankfully it is a three day work week this week followed by a 4 day weekend for me😎.

Today of course was back to reality; laundry, get dinners prepped for the week, lunch box items prepared and readied, house work like dusting and wood oiling the furniture and floors and getting son to and from swimming lessons (I did knit a bit while he was at swimming). 🏊

This afternoon I baked Coconut Oatmeal M & M cookies for our lunch boxes this week:

Okay......between kiddo and I there might not be enough left to last the week....🍪

Now I think I shall retire with my knitting and see if I can get another couple of rows completed on a sock that the cat attempted to take a part 😠🐈.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Me Want Cookie.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I LOVE vacation days.

Slept in this morning and in general had a very uneventful day.

This afternoon my son and I made Peppermint Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies:

Yes......we ate TOOOOO many.  But they were delicious.

I did not want to spend a lot of time decorating the cookies or losing the flavour of the cookies so we simple put icing decorations on the mittens.  

My knitting, I mean baking is done.

This evening after dinner we watched A Christmas Story.  It is my most favourite Christmas movie and yet somehow my son has not seen it!  Well, I think I have a convert to loving this movie as well.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's Over......

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Well, it's official I guess.....the weekend is over! 😢

Today was boring ole things like house work and laundry, but I did make Butterfinger cookies for my son (I used the recipe straight off the package) and they turned out DELICIOUS:

Between loads of laundry I assembled my weekly Star Block the 4 Patch Star Block:

Any guesses as to what my favourite colours just might be????  

Yesterday while my son and I were out we went to a couple of the local market gardens and among other things picked up 2 cabbages!!  This afternoon I made cabbage rolls and while they were slowly baking my son and I went for a walk in the River Valley.  Specifically back to the area where I fell off my bike three weeks ago because I did not get to explore there properly last time.  

It was a beautiful day and I probably should have taken along all of my puffers because a lot of leaves have fallen.....😷🍁🍂🍁

Cabbage Rolls for dinner with poached salmon and a green salad was perfect:

The other casserole dish has already ventured to the freezer.

Now to figure out what to do with the other cabbage this week....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

That Kinda Day...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was slightly more productive than yesterday despite being time change day which usually wrecks havoc with my day and psyche. 

I managed to get all the laundry washed, folded and put away!!!  YAY ME!!! ☺

House cleaning also done!  Bonus points here.....

Then I baked Andes Mint Chip Cookies.  I used the recipe on the package but I think for our dry Western Canadian climate next time I will add less flour than what the recipe calls for.  That being said though the cookies are still DELICIOUS:

The recipe made 52 cookies but as you can see a Cookie Monster found them.....

For dinner I made baked sweet potatoes topped with taco beef and toppings which is one of my son's favourite dinners:

He even eats the skin of the sweet potato when served this way .....Super Health Benefits...+++

After dinner I took kiddo and his horse dog for a walk in the -14 Celsius (7 Fahrenheit) temperature and with the windchill it was more like -27 Celsius (-17 Fahrenheit).  Returning home I even shovelled the side walk (I live on a corner lot so extra BONUS points for me for that)!!!!

After getting my son off to bed and organising lunches and such for tomorrow I took a bit of time to spend in my craft room.

Yesterday I showed you the Anne Of Green Gables fabrics.  This evening I made 2 more blocks for the quilt:

And...

I love how these are coming along.

I  hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

A Canuck Kinda Day

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was another successful DO NOTHING DAY.

We slept late, even the dog after the long walk yesterday ☺

One of the things I found while Christmas shopping was:  

A HBC tin (I LOVE HBC for many reasons) filled with:

Cookie Cutters!!!!

This afternoon my son and I baked sugar cookies:

And iced them ....(I ran low on red food colour gel):

After left over turkey for dinner I did the red applique on my Row by Row from Along Came Quilting.

Then I decided to knit while I watched the World Juniors game.  I chose to start a new pair of socks.  I have had this Team Canada Hat Trick yarn in my stash now for close to a year which meant watching the game tonight was the perfect time to start on these socks.  Maybe by the finale I can have these done!!!!!

Likely not, but hey, I have a goal.......

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Birthday!

Good Very Late Evening Internet Friends!

Today was my son's twelfth Birthday!  I cannot believe it!!!!!

Summer birthday's are always hard (I know it personally) so usually I try to have his party the weekend before school is out so that he can have some of his friends attend.  This year however the weekend before school was out was my weekend to work nights.  DRAT.

Not really having any plans for this week also added to the dilemma of what to do.  On Monday I got the bright idea that if we sent out a mass email and some text messages we could see how many of his friends could come and see The Secret Life of Pets movie with him today.

Two of his friends one from his previous school and one from his current school were able to attend which was a nice change from the usual plethora kids I am used to in years past.

Since this was a "Pet" themed birthday my son decided that he wanted a cake that looked like the pink stray cat from the movie.  Well, this is my rendition of it: 

My son thought it was awesome!

For his treat bags he wanted things that looked like they were for pets and he wanted to put them in the bags used for the doggie when we take a walk.  While walking the dog in the River Valley the other evening we stumbled across the perfect bags:

The bags contain dog tennis balls, macaroons (cause they kind of look like you know), blue whales because we could not find fish.  We put the candy into tiny containers that kind of look like mini pet bows, two bone shaped cookies and whistle blower things!

A jumbo bag of cookies!!!

It was a wonderful day and on the way home my son told me it was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Treat Bags...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today has been a very busy day, but somehow it's just before midnight and I have managed to be ready for my son's Birthday Party tomorrow.

Earlier this week I decided that since we will be home for his actual birthday that we should have some kind of a party.  It's always hard with summer birthday's but we were able to get two of his friends to join him tomorrow to see The Secret Life of Pets and then have a Birthday Cake picnic afterwards.  

This evening I baked cookies for the loot bags as my son requested:

We also took the puppy in for a "little" procedure today:

Here he is arriving home, has not slowed down at all and by this evening in typical Lab Dog fashion he has eaten the cone!!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy