Starting April

 

Dr. Huey Roses

The Dr. Huey rose plants are among the most commonly used rootstock roses to graft hybrid tea roses on to as they are very hardy.  In my garden, I have at least six Dr. Huey rose plants happily growing after the hybrid tea roses died out.  M doesn't much care for them and they bloom only once in the year, but, I love them because they are so hardy!  

Being the first of the month, I made milkrice and seeni sambol (a spicy onion relish) for brunch.  I also dusted the living room and picked some fresh flowers to bring indoors:

White Gladioli

M was here to tend to the garden in the afternoon.  Even though we had a shower of rain on Tuesday night (the forecast had said 0.1 inch of rain was expected, but we actually received 0.31 inches!), he watered the garden as the rain hadn't been enough  He also did some weeding and I asked him to prune some of the euphorbia tirucalli plant that was crowding out the nectarine tree.  Finally we transplanted one of the gazania plants that was growing in a pot in the backyard, to one of the front garden beds.  I am hoping that it will grow well there and I'll get more gazania plants in the front.  I used to have gazanias growing in the parkway at one time, but, they died over time.

M enjoyed a slice of the banana bread I had baked on Tuesday evening to use up some very ripe bananas:

Banana and Walnut Bread

Daughter and I had already enjoyed slices of it on Tuesday night while it was still warm from the oven.  We had more banana bread today, too.

In the evening, after a cup of tea, I drove daughter to the Mall where she was meeting two friends to see a movie.  I just dropped her off and came home; one of her friends gave daughter a ride home afterwards.

I spent a quiet evening, watching the news and a few online videos.  After dinner (rice, beef curry, cucumber salad), I did the dishes, wiped down the kitchen counters, and ordered groceries to be delivered on Thursday afternoon.  This time, I was careful to specify which items I didn't want substituted and on those items that I OK'd for substitution, I chose the specific item with which to substitute.  Let's see how that works out.

On the first day of April, I was grateful for:

- The start of a new month

- M's help with the garden
- Water (and some rain) for the garden
- Daughter was able to get together with her friends
- Being able to order groceries online

Wednesday's joyful activities included spending time in the garden.

How was your Wednesday?  Are you excited to start a new month?  

Dr. Huey Red Rose

March Photo Challenge: Drinks

The theme for this month's photo challenge, hosted by Eileen at A Bracelet of Days was "Drinks" (which I had the pleasure of choosing).

Here are my drinks:

Water

Flavored Carbonated Water

Faluda - from the Sri Lankan restaurant

Faluda - Homemade with my homemade rose syrup

Lemonade - from homegrown lemons

Rose Lemonade - with homemade rose syrup 

Passionfruit Nectar

My Cup of Tea

Daughter's Coffee

Thank you Eileen for hosting the monthly photo challenge.  As always, I enjoyed participating in it.  

March Grocery Shopping Part 4 and Week 4 Meal Plan Options

I put in an order for groceries on Saturday and it was delivered today (Sunday).  This time there were a few mishaps because I was not diligent about specifying no substitutions on sales items.  It didn't use to be a problem when the store would substitute for an out of stock item with a similar item and charge the lower amount, whichever that might be.  But, now, the store charges the price of the substituted item, which is often higher than the sale priced item I had ordered.  I forgot to specify no substitutions on this order and so, substitutions were made.  I did receive text messages when items were substituted and I texted back to indicate if I did or didn't want the substitution.  I approved of the substitution for the salmon (the salmon fillet on sale for $9.99/lb. was not available and I said yes to the center cut salmon at $10.99/lb.).  However, the shopper forgot to return the substituted cans of condensed milk (I wanted the brand that was on sale for $2.49/can) and they were included in the shopping.  As a result, I went over my budgeted amount, but, that's a lesson learned and I'll be more diligent to specify no substitutions, next time.

Here's the receipt:

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Order Summary

Original Item Total$80.22

Item Coupons/Sales-$22.01

Fulfillment Fee+$0.00

Sales Tax$0.00

Order Total$58.21

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Item Details

15 Items

10# Smartway Granulated, 10 lbs$7.99

1 x $7.99 each

Cucumber, 1 ct$0.99

1 x $0.99 each

Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk, 14 oz$13.16

4 x $3.29 $4.49 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.20

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.20

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.20

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.20

Fresh Seedless Red Grapes, 1 lb$3.03

1.77 lbs x $1.71 $3.99 each (approx.)

Item Coupon/Sale: -$0.50

Item Coupon/Sale: -$3.53

Kroger® Cage Free Large White Eggs, 18 ct$1.99

1 x $1.99 $4.39 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$2.40

Kroger® California French Style Salad Dressing, 16 fl oz$2.00

1 x $2.00 $2.79 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$0.79

Kroger® Fresh Jumbo Hass Avocados Bag, 5 ct$5.00

1 x $5.00 $9.99 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$4.99

Kroger® Half and Half Half Gallon, 1/2 gal$5.79

1 x $5.79 each

Kroger® Sweet Relish, 10 fl oz$1.99

1 x $1.99 each

Ralphs® Vitamin D Whole Milk Half Gallon, 1/2 gal$2.99

1 x $2.99 each

Royal® Family Size Flan Mix, 3.81 oz$2.29

1 x $2.29 each

Service Counter Fresh Atlantic Salmon Center Cut Loin Farm Raised (never frozen sustainably sourced), 1 lb$10.99

1 lbs x $10.99 $15.99 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$5.00

Total = $58.21

My March grocery budget: $250 + $73.64 carried over from February = $323.64

Total spent to date: $69.63 + $57.54 + $56.93 + $85.03 + $58.21 = $327.34

Balance left = -$3.70

Oops!  I went over the budget!  I will be deducting that $3.70 from my April grocery budget of $250.  

Later in the evening, on Sunday, I did some cooking and baking.  I cooked the salmon, a beef roast, devilled beef, and kept aside the rest of the beef to marinate for a beef curry.  I also baked some banana muffins to have as snacks over the week.

March Week 4 Meal Plan Options:

Brunches:  Bagels with butter or cream cheese, scrambled eggs and toast, tuna salad sandwiches French toast or pancakes, milkrice with seeni sambol or curry or jaggery (onWednesday, April 1), garden salads; roast beef sandwiches

Dinners:  Sauteed salmon with rice, green beans, peach chutney; Devilled beef with rice, green beans, cucumber salad; beef curry with rice, green beans, peach chutney; Roast beef with mashed potatoes and carrots, green peas or salad; leftovers

Snacks/Desserts:  Pumpkin Spice Banana muffins (made from a mix a friend gave me as a gift), fresh fruit,  Sri Lankan sweets, crackers, cereal,etc.

Pumpkin Spice Banana Muffins

How did you do with your March grocery shopping and grocery budget?  Were you able to keep to your budget or did you go over like I did?

Are you making a meal plan for the week ahead?  

Making Cards This Week

 

Birthday Card

It was my half-sister's birthday, this week, and I made her the above card, using leftover papers from scrapbooking and flowers I had pressed, years ago.  The flowers are buttercups and a wildflower.  Growing up, I had read about buttercups, but, had never seen them.  But, when I was in Wisconsin attending university, the grounds around the student apartments where I lived were full of buttercups and I picked a few and pressed them.   Later, I glued them to some writing paper that I had.  I used a few of them whem I wrote letters to friends, but, I still have a few of them in my stationery box.  Some of them are discolored because I didn't separate them and a pressed flower from the paper beneath has stained it.  But I found one sheet of paper with pressed flowers that hadn't been too discolored and cut it down to size.  The card still seemed to need something else, though, and my daughter gave me a butterfly cut out from a package of cut outs that one of her former supervisors had given her.  I think it was just what the card needed to finish it.  I wrote happy birthday at the bottom after I took the photo.

Sister's card was mailed to her.  She didn't mention receiving it when I called to wish her on her birthday, but, I hope she received it!

Then, it was time to make a card for an engagement party that daughter and I have been invited to:

Engagement Card

Once again, leftover scrapbooking paper, some sparkly "rhinestones" I had in my stash, and a heart I drew with a stencil and cut out.  

Daughter made her own card:

Daughter's Card

Daughter chose to draw and color her card with oil pastels and acrylic paint pens.

We both enjoyed making our cards.  Do you make your own cards?  Is that an activity you enjoy doing?

On Wednesday

Purple Martha Washington Geraniums

On Wednesday, M was here to tend to the garden.  I walked around the garden with him, both of us pointing out the new developments we were seeing to the other.  He mentioned that one of his clients wanted some damaged azalea plants taken out and I offered to rehome them.  I had made yogurt on Tuesday and I offered him a bowl of it with my homemade strawberry jam and he enjoyed it.  

I made a flan, too, using the box of flan mix I had bought.  It used to be that this flan mix came with a packet of caramel syrup to be spread on the bottom of the dish before the mixture of flan powder and milk was poured into the dish to set.  Well, apparently, the box of mix no longer includes the packet of caramel!  I'd call it a cost cutting measure, except for the fact that the price of the box of mix, even without the caramel, had increased!  Anyway, I made a caramel syrup and the flan turned out well.  

Daughter made us cold cuts sandwiches to have with our tea in the evening as we had not had a proper brunch (I ate a bowl of yogurt with strawberry jam and daughter ate a bowl of flan!)  For dinner, I cooked half of the green beans that had been delivered on Monday and we ate it with leftover rice and curries.  

I did a little sewing on the quilt top I am making and watched some videos online.  Later, I texted one of my cousins to check on her.

Wednesday was a fairly relaxed, quiet day and I was grateful for:

- A sunny and warm day
- M's help with the garden
- Medications to keep my health maintained
- Emails and texts with friends and family
- Time to sew

Wednesday's joyful activities included tending to the garden with M and sewing.

I'm hoping for another relaxed, quiet day on Thursday, too.

How was your Wednesday?  What are your plans for Thursday?

Still In The Garden

 

The First Tomato Sighting

I'm still in the garden!  Still in the stonery, too!  There are about three or four self-sown tomato plants growing in the stonery and guess what I saw the other day?!  Yes, the first little tomato has been sighted!  It's tiny, less than one inch in diameter, but, it's good to see the first tomato!  I'm hopeful that it will be joined by other baby tomatoes, soon, and they will all grow and ripen.

New Leaves on the Bay Laurel

There are new leaves on the bay laurel tree that M rescued from another client's garden and transplanted in mine in January.  It had been growing in a container in that client's garden and when the container broke, the client apparently didn't want it planted in another container or in the ground and had told M to get rid of it.  He texted me to ask if I would be willing to take it and I said yes!  I am taking the fact that it has new leaves as an indication that the transplanting was successful and the tree is growing.

Feijoa (Pineapple Guava) Flowers

The feijoa (pineapple guava) tree is full of flowers, too.  I am hoping that we will get more feijoa fruit this year than we got last year.  Last year, the tree was covered with flowers, but, there were only about a dozen fruit in total.  They were delicious, though, and I was thankful to have them.  

Daughter watered the garden plants on Sunday and M will be here to water them on Wednesday.  

I am grateful for:

- My garden
- Baby tomatoes
- New bay leaves
- Flowers on the fruit trees
- Water for the garden

My joyful activities have included spending time in the garden; there seems to be something new to see almost daily. 

Are you starting to see anything new in your garden?  Or are you still waiting for spring to arrive? 

March Grocery Shopping Part 3 and Meal Plan Options

On Sunday, I put in an order for groceries to be delivered.

As usual, I wanted to stock up on a few items and to take advantage of sales and coupons.  Beef chuck roast, for example, was on sale this week for $5.99/lb.(regular price $10.99/lb.) and while that is still a rather high price, I decided to get a piece at that price because the next time it goes on sale, it might be priced even higher.

The brand of bar soap I usually use was not on sale, but, I had a coupon for $4 off the purchase of two packets.  I am now stocked up on soap. 

I wanted a cucumber, but, the store was out of both regular and English cucumbers.  And the 10 lb. bag of sugar I wanted was out of stock and I accepted the substitution of a 4 lb. bag of sugar, instead.  

The store notified me when the shopper started the shopping, when she checked out, and when she was on her way.  This time, I was on the look out and made sure I was standing on the doorstep to accept the groceries.

The items were delivered just after 5:30 p.m. and daughter put away the items for me.

Here's my receipt:

Original Item Total$143.95

Item Coupons/Sales-$48.35

Fulfillment Fee+$0.00

Other Fees+$0.80

Sales Tax+$3.21

Order Total$99.61

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Item Details

21 Items

Boneless Beef Chuck Roast, 1 lb$34.50

5.76 lbs x $5.98 $10.99 each (approx.)

Item Coupon/Sale: -$28.80

CA Redem Val$0.60

1 x $0.60 each

Fresh Bunch of Bananas – 5-7 Bananas, 1 bunch$2.19

3.17 lbs x $0.69 each (approx.)

Fresh Green Beans, 1 lb$2.81

1.13 lbs x $2.48 each (approx.)

Irish Spring Bar Soap Original Scent, 8 ct / 3.7 oz$12.98

2 x $6.49 $8.49 each

Kroger® Half and Half Half Gallon, 1/2 gal$5.79

1 x $5.79 each

Kroger® Traditional Favorites Frozen Peas Green, 12 oz$2.50

2 x $1.25 $1.50 each

Kroger® White Sandwich Bread, 20 oz$1.99

1 x $1.99 each

PLANTERS Lower Sodium Whole Dry Roasted Lightly Salted Peanuts, net wt 16 oz (453g)$3.98

2 x $1.99 $5.29 each

Royal® Family Size Flan Mix, 3.81 oz$1.79

1 x $1.79 $2.29 each

Seedless California Cuties® Mandarin Clementine Oranges in 5lb Bag, 5 lb$4.99

1 x $4.99 $8.99 each

Smart Way™ Granulated Sugar, 4 lb$3.49

1 x $3.49 each

Sparkling Ice® Summer LTO Lemonade Variety Pack (Pack of 12), 12 ct / 17 fl oz$12.99

1 x $12.99 $13.99 each

StarKist Reduced Sodium Chunk Light in Water Can, 5 oz$5.00

5 x $1.00 $1.59 each

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Other Fees

$0.80

Bag Fee$0.80

8 x $0.10 each

The total paid was:  $99.61

Of which $12.98  + $1.60 tax was for soap, which doesn't come out of the grocery budget.

Total spent on groceries = $85.03

My March Grocery Budget: $250 + $73.64 carried over from February = $323.64

Spent to date: $69.63 + $57.54 + $56.93 + $85.03 = $269.13

Balance Remaining: $54.51

That amount should be ample for the last week in March.  

March Week 3 Meal Plan Options:

Brunches:  Tuna salad sandwiches; cold cuts sandwiches; bagels; scrambled eggs and turkey bacon with toast; salads; ramen noodles; leftovers

Dinners:  Rice, chicken curry, spicy sauteed potatoes, kale mallung, and moringa curry;  rice, beef curry, sauteed green beans, peach chutney; leftovers; 

Snacks/Desserts: Fruit (bananas, mandarins, grapes, apples, dates, etc.); cereal; kalu dodol; sesame and jaggery candy; cheese crackers;flan

As always, I am grateful for:
- The availability of groceries
- Being able to order online and
- Getting it delivered
- Being able to have a varied diet
- Weekly sales and coupons

How about you?  What are you paying for beef in your area?  Are you finding good bargains at stock up prices?  Are you making a meal plan or meal plan options this week?