Monday, February 23, 2015

Sunshine and Frugal Things

February 2015 Goose Spit Comox


I hope everyone had a great weekend - we certainly did.  Saturday we spent 3 hours cleaning the garage, spider wrangling (hubby had that job) and making room for our new kayaks.  The good news is everything fits nicely, we got rid of some recycling and made a small pile for our next garage sale.  We have a crawlspace under the entire house so have room to store that kind of stuff.  If I didn't we would have driven it straight to the thrift store.  It was tiring but it is so nice to know exactly where everything is in the garage and that it is tidy and organized - it hasn't looked this great since we moved in almost 3 years ago.


I hope to have a garage sale at least once every three years together with my Mother.  This will keep her on track as well as she is definitely a pack rat, one who we successfully downsized last year.  Her condo association is contemplating allowing an association garage sale every May which she voted in favor of but we don't know the final results yet.  That would be great as then it would attract large crowds and would still be acceptable to have smaller tables each year at which we could could purge our accumulated unwanteds and get some cash for things we enjoy doing.

We have hardly eaten out this month.  On Valentines day which we normally don't celebrate we had originally planned on going to the pub for lunch just to get out of the house.  Life overtook us so we ordered takeout from our favorite Greek restaurant instead for dinner and enjoyed it in the comfort of home with a movie afterwards on Netflix.  Total savings?  About 50% of what it would have cost had we eaten in the restaurant:  no tip, no alcohol tab.  I can't recall eating out at all this month except that meal.  We do have a lunch date planned for this coming Friday in Nanaimo(hour drive away) while our puppy Buddy gets his first hair trim by his old human Mom.  She is a dog groomer and Buddy came with a year worth of free dog grooming.  It costs about $10 gas to get there and back and we can have lunch, all for the cost of what a local grooming would be.  Plus, he gets to visit with his little dog buddies including his Mom and Dad who are her pets - a win win for everyone.  I wish to keep this relationship up as she also advised instead of kennel service if we go away we can pay her to keep him.  Something we will likely do in September as we want to go away for a week for our 10th Wedding Anniversary.  I know he would be extremely happy there - his old home away from home.

I mostly cleaned out the freezer this month and did a lot of scratch cooking.  When hubby complained there was no snack food in the house last week I whipped up a lemon cake (using a $1 box cake from 1.5 years ago that needed using up) and instead of frosting used lemon drizzle which consisted of lemon juice and icing sugar - way less than frosting would have required.  Later in the week I made a batch of pumpkin apple raisin muffins with strudel topping - all with things in the cupboards.  That seems like an odd combination but they turned out great.  I used this recipe from allrecipes.com changing the recipe slightly - I used one can of pumpkin puree (again 1.5 years old) and one old apple, plus added in 1/2 cup of raisins, soaked in water for a few minutes before going into the recipe.  No photos, I am not Cretty Bocker, lets just say they were yummy and the last one got eaten with coffee this morning.  Tonight hubby gets salmon and I am going to try and eat up some of the last of veggie patties which we bought and didn't like(not even my Stepdaughter who is mostly vegetarian).  I am not keen on salmon so no point in wasting expensive good fish on me - and I am not throwing out the veggie patties so will BBQ them - no food will be wasted in this house.
February 2015 - Crowded beach at Goose Spit Comox (joking!)


The weather has been amazing the last few days.  Yesterday we played with the dog in the back yard, sat in the sunshine and later took a long walk on the beach at low tide at Goose Spit.  The dog can only handle a couple of blocks so we didn't take him with us yet but will later in the Spring.    It was difficult to get a parking spot there, the busiest we have ever seen it even in summertime.  The good news is that once you get out the parking area if you walk a ways on the beach you still have the beach mostly to yourself.  There was little wind and every time we get to walk on the beach in February to plus 12 degrees celcius and sunshine - we are thankful that we get to live in Paradise! Shhhh.....everyone else from the rest of Canada might just abandon their snowy cold winters and move here.

21 comments:

  1. I'm almost embarrassed to write posts about our weather with our eastern cousins freezing and covered in snow. But it has been nice. Don't you just love this time of year at normally crowded places. I enjoy company, but not big crowds like can happen in summer. Even here is Las Vegas it is almost empty. Don't pack those kayaks too far away. Last week I saw the large outrigger kayaks already on Powell Lake and a car in town with two on the roof. - Margy

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    1. I know exactly what you mean, but think of it this way - when we lived in Alberta we loved coming out here in the winter as a nearby getaway and a promise of our new life to come! I had to dig out a foldable patio chair to sit in the back yard with as all the cushions are put away until rainy season is over - I am sure we are due for a little bit more :)

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  2. I really need to start baking again for my kiddos. Now that they are back in school - I do have the time, it is just the motivation!

    What a wonderful place for Buddy! That is wonderful she is willing to keep him for trips. That was the most difficult part when we had pets - what to do with them when we go on trips!

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    1. I try and make muffins at least once every 10 days as they tend to last a couple of days and are a great way to use up things like old bananas and apples - even jam. There is a local groomer who also does dog sitting and I think we will try and make a relationship with her as well for the odd time we need someone local for a quick night or in case of emergency. Good to investigate these things early!

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  3. It amazes me how different the weather is from one to to the other in Canada. Could you do us a favour, send some good weather our way, we are in the minus 20's here today in Southern Ontario!!

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    1. I certainly would send the weather your way if I could - Air Canada refuses to take it lol

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  4. I'd hate to be able to walk on the beach in February...absolutely hate it! (Yeh ,right!).
    Jane x

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    1. I know, we on the west coast fear blogging these kind of pictures to the rest of the country - very very dangerous :)

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  5. Your views look spectacular, those skies are gorgeous. x

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    1. Crisp but beautiful - and this is only about 2 miles from our home. We are so lucky!

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  6. How awesome that Buddy's human mom offered to board him if you go away. You can't even put a price on that kind of peace of mind. Soon he'll have the stamina to take longer walks. I remember Zoey would just plop down in the grass after just a block or two when she was a puppy. Now she's unstoppable!

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    1. Hubby took him for a six block walk the other day and packed him home as Buddy was done in. He plays hard every day so I am pretty sure he will be able to walk for longer soon.

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  7. I love love love the title. Everything that I long for.
    I think that it is great that you can use the woman that you got your puppy from to dog sit. It is always scary to leave your pet with someone that you don't know and you know she is trustworthy.

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    1. Exactly, she seems really nice and they really made their pets at home in their home, definitely not a puppy factory.

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  8. Depending on what brand of veggie patties they, they might be better cooked in the micowave. Overcooking makes them unappealing. The moisture they are the tastier they are.

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    1. I like them better than hubby - it just requires lots of bbq sauce lol

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  9. I bought veggie burger last week but we haven't tasted them yet. I bet I will end up eating them all by myself!

    But that is okay I like veggie things.

    As much as I 'm tired of the cold, I love seeing snow. It is soooo white and crisp.

    When the thaw comes it all looks so poor and welfareish...

    YUK!

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    1. These tasted good in store when we taste tested them - not so much after we had eaten a whole one. I think the best veggie burgers are ones you make yourself. Stay warm!

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  10. Yes, I don't want to hear about your amazing weather ;) !! I'm like you - I'll eat food up whether I love it or not so as not to waste it. My daughter not so much. She needs all food to be amazingly scrumptious before she'll eat it - luckily her favourite foods are vegetables so she's not just eating chocolate cake and icecream!

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  11. Mmm that cake sounds amazing. We've been devouring pantry food here, too. It feels so good to munch down cheap yet delicious eats.

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  12. I could definitely hold a yard sale. I've acquired too much stuff in the last three years plus now having to clear out my husbands clothing etc.

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