Kitty in a basket

I just could not, not post this because in my eyes it is one of the most adorable things of 2013.

In my house of course!

Feast your eyes on this!

                My little princess Yoda!

                                            Here Dan is trying to get her attention.
                                            She's the real ruler of the clodder since Pinotte flew to heaven
                                             back in October.
                                            The guys need to walk straight!


                                             Be well, sleep tight! I can't believe I have to work tomorrow :(

                                             Oh well  ! It is what it is!

Boxing week deals

I hope everyone and a wonderful Xmas  and had the opportunity to rest a bit.

Today I'm happy to say that I rested and did stuff not related to the Holidays. Don't get me wrong!
I loooooovvvveeee Xmas but I find that I need more time to prepare joyfully.

We have been engaged  in a wintery marathon of shopping,working,baking,cooking,shovelling, de-icing, working,decorating and trying to stay thrifty and sane.

And even with all the running around the house was not as christmassy as I wanted it!

   

                                            Here is a little Xmas vignette in the hall
 

                                            Do you recognize Henry the Xmas Elf?

                                            Now this being Boxing week, I was curious to see what had happened
                                              to the $120 cookies! The glass jars were gone.....all of them
                                             But  spotted this                             

                                               This is the sibbling of he glass jar $120 also

                                              A bargain at $59.00

Now for that furry frend in your life....

 A steal at $49.00!!!

Now just down the road is Ogilvy's another luxury departement store....

It is as you remember the place where I saw the $145 pannetone. That was gone too!

But I saw something far better!

I give you the most cake (pannetone) I have ever seen

 

Your eyes are not deceiving yourself!

 

And it was sitting on this cake stand

 

And since the cake was so expensive, I for just a minute, thought that

the cake stand was included

But no

 

From $95 reduced to $66.50

 

YIKES!

 I got my cake stand for $3 in an flea market....

 

Makes you think!

 

I might get to thrift later this afternoon

 

Celebrate!

You just never know

Saturday was the most amazing day!

We got up early and finished the Xmas lights outside, in minus 20 Celsius, this is quite an achievement....

Then we brought the Xmas tree from the basement, and installed it (still not finished but working on it).

Later that day we had a line dancing party and on our way, it was still quite early, we spotted a thrift shop (squeals of joy)

I found this cutie pie...

                                             I had never seen one like this before. I plan to group
                                            Santa blowmolds in a gaggle or clodder.
                                             Now what do you call a group of Santas???

                                At the party I won this HUGE fruit basket!

                                 I gave some to a friend but I am still struggling with finding uses for all this fruit!

There will be cinamon apples and pear compote! NICE

Have a great night and stay warm!!!

Balls of meat

Yes ok that is a strange title and could generate improper thoughts....

As usual every year around this time I make Tourtiere; the traditionnal french canadian meat pie.

The dough was ready and so was the meat...

When I realized that I had no small aluminum foil plates left.....

I had a couple of large ones...but no small. I then remembered that last year I ran out and had to use Pyrex Pixies to make the pies.

So I used my large foil plates then the Pyrex Pixies....By then I still had meat and dough!

That is when I came up with balls of meat!

Actually tourtiere meat encased in pie crust.

       They were delicious! That is thrifty ingenuity incarnate, yep!

       Today I went to the dollar store and picked up 16 small aluminum foil pie plates, I like to be prepared....But Dan doubts I will remember where I stashed them next December!

We will see. I will surely do another meat pie post....and I will make some french canadian balles of meat for sure!

Be well, be safe and be thrifty!

Winterish

I had a study day today to study and prepare for an insurance exam.

I was up at the crack of dawn (as usual) to prepare for Dan's day and my own. Hey I figure if Dan's morning goes smoothly, then I can go on with my business!

So at 6:30 am I was sitting in front of the computer ready to learn......I learned a lot of things relevant to my job....But it seemed to go on forever!

I took a break to walk....walk to my fave wednesday morning destination!

The church basement!

                                As you can see it is Winter here. We have snow ad the river is
                                starting to freeze

                                The air was so crisp and delicious!

 

I saw this tackylicous vintage carpet on a very un-vintage house.

And I thought of my friend Josée who got something similar in a job gift exchange.

 

I couldn't get closer because there was a car in the driveway and a lady in the kitchen!

 

The Xmas table in the church basement was pathetic.....

 

But there's always next time!  

They're baaaaaacccckkkkk!

Yes they are and I took a picture of them at lunch.

                                             Do you see them? no? Let.s have a closer look

                                             Yes the $120 cookies are back. Same price as last year, still not
                                                going to buy them. E-V-E-R!!!

                                            $120 gets a ot of groceries or clothes....

                                             Today I also saw a $145 Pannetone, yes you read right
                                             I couldn't take a picture because the saes clerk was gawking.

                                             I'll get my chance I'm not worried.
                                           
                                              Sleep tight  :)

Accidental Thrifting

Once a year I have a lung doctor appointment in the east of Montreal. I'm not saying the East End because it is an entirely different neighbourhood.

So I leave work early and decide to get off at the Beaudry Metro station (one stop earlier) and walk.

I was in for qute a shock! I found the area so dingy, sad, poor,desperate....I used to work in the vicinity in the late 80's.

It is known as the Gay Village and was, when I worked there. Now I understand the need to gather with same interest people but I can't understand the need to live in such depressing streets and why the area is so rundown!

It is as if nobody cares! 1 in 3 stores or restaurant are for rent or for sale and the residential building are oh so sad....

Well in all my walking and interior rambling I got lost....and making my way back to the hospital....

I saw a thrift shop, a st vinny ; which we don't really have a lot of in Montreal.

So I went in and conquered!

 
                               Will you take me home with you? For supper? Of course!

                                             Now Santa is a bit tired of riding in the bus...

                                             Santa is not so sure he likes public transit!

I also found a 1970's plastic Xmas village. It is now in my office and I will post pictures when it is all set up.

So dream peaceful, dream big my faithful friends and readers! Remember I am making lists and I am checking them twice! 

S-C-O-R-E!!!

There are a lot of rummage/church basement/craft sales at this time of year.

The Montreal Gazette publishes a list every October so fans can plan their thrifting outtings.

So I had a couple of sales planned for last friday. The wind was really bad in the Montreal region and flashing was flying, signs were rattling and walking was precarious!

The first church sale had mostly crafts and baked goods, I bought lemon cake , pepper jelly and a crocheted mouse for the kitties.

Second church had been a personnal holy grail for me as I bought my first piece of Delphite there; a 502 fridgie for $2;  about 23 years ago.....

So I was ready for more! After being rattled and shaken by the crazy wind... I made my way to the basement and I could've sworn I hear the Pyrex angels playing harp and singing!

                                 A nearly new Tree of Life Pyrex Promo Casserole!
                                    It seems that the real name is really Saxony
                                     which in my opinion is not as nice....
                                      The condition is great and it $6.00 !!!

                                 It is so nice to find a piece I don't have :)

                                      Time for me to go beddy bye

                                      Sleep tight!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I wish you all a very fun and safe Halloween!

I'm heading off to work as usual today and even if there's nothing planned for the occasion, I'm sure I'll get to eat plenty of goodies!

                                I took these cute pictures near a restaurant downtown on my
                                 luch time walk

                               See you soon!

Sunday

Don't you love Sunday?

I DO!

I get to visit with Joel Olsteen, veg out, hang out with the cats, cook and watch movies on TV.

Today I I tried a new breakfast recipe...for Canadian Farmhouse Eggs

                                             It was a delicious mix of egg, potato, ham salsa and chili sauce

                                             Here's the link HERE
                                             Now of course I changed the the recipe: I used ham instead of canadian bacon, I mixed salsa with chili sauce (because I was certain the recipe called for salsa) and one egg per casserole instead of 2. It was delicious!

 Now from the thrift store....Can you believe this Tupperware container without a lid.....

                         
                                                    For this price????

                Ok last but not least....
                                                    This is a seen around picture
                                                      

This poor chap didn't have a chance!

 

Now i've been thinking and talking about Halloween lately....

I remember when I was a kid, you just had to have a carved pumpkin with a candle and you

were in business.

My mom would hand out: Peanuts in the shell,molasses taffy, bubble gum, rockets and lollipops.

 

Individual chocolate bars were virtually unheard of....You had to go in the really rich neighborhoods to get these....

 

Today I read that in North America we spend 6.1 BILLIONS in Halloween candy!

 

Isn't that crazy???

 

And kids are going hungry

 

Go figure

 

It makes me sad 

Pictures from Maine

                                          So today I tought I would show you some pictures
                                           of our long weekend in Maine
                                          First picture is from a really sad yard sale. Everything was stale
                                          and cigarette stinky. The boxes were a real mish mash of unrelated stuff:
                                          dishes and allen keys and sparkplugs.

                                You know how I am a Pumpkin pie spice everything fan so I tried it and it did not
                                 taste like pumpkin anything. It was nice but no cigar.

                               Awesome Que from Famous Dave in Scarborough, Maine
                                It was truly delicious and as close to real Que as will have for quite a while.

                               Autumn Harvest 443 Cinderella bowl seen in our motel room.

                                 Footsteps on the beach

And last but not least....

This amazing Pyrex bowl Federal Eagle

I left it there because it was too expensive!

 

So have a nice evening and a nice night!

Be well my friends and see you soon :)

 

Crazy

Crazy!!!

 I have to wake up at the crack of dawn to go to work!|

A week's vacation is real short considering what we lived through.

But a girl has to do what a girl has to do. I will wake up, drink coffee, get dressed , get on the train, and walk up that !"/$%?&*( hill!

It was not crazy shopping vacation and we were okay with that, we do need to wear the clothes we bought in April and July.

But I did buy some booties at a considerable discount rom a store chain from Quebec (Aldo).

                                            For some reason I wanted to get a full Mason jar of licorice
                                            pastels from the OOB candy store.
                                              In this pic Dan has already made a dent in it. From the Xmas Trees store some tackylicious Santa and Mrs Claus mugs; I'm sure that coffee will be delicious in those.
 

                                Now for a poisonned gift....Last Xmas I gave my step daughter a huge
                                decal of The Boondocks Saints...It had to be installed on her dinning room wall.
                                 Back in August we came and painted the wall that had a very orange circle on it.
                                 As per the instructions we had to wait at least 3 weeks to install the decal.

                                It took us at least 4 hours to install that darn thing; it was really intense.
                                here I took a pic of the chair so you can better judge the size of it.

                                Word of advice: If someone you know wants one, just smile and walk away.

                                It looks great by the way!

                                 Sleep tight!

Quite a week

Thank you to all who sent us condolences.

For us loosing a cat is just as bad as loosing a family member. I know it sounds crazy to some but it is the way it is.

I am so grateful that we were on vacation while we were going throught all those emotions.

And people at my work wouldn't understand. People who don't have pets and don't like pets just don't know.

At my work place if you don't have kids you're weird, and if you don't go to church every Sunday you might as well be Satan.

We decided that since Pinotte (Peanut) love dthe yard and flowers so much we would dig a hole and bury her in the yard.

It was probably the grief thinking on our behalf....It took us most of the week to dig the hole because the ground is full of rocks and clay.

Finally we put Pinotte in the ground yesterday and we have been able to resume life slowly.

                                   Waves crashing in OOB

                                Sun setting on highway 30 on our way back from OOB
       

                   Be well

                   and sleep tight. Take the opportunity to hug your spouse/kids/pets

                    :)

So Long Precious Friend

I haven't posted this weekend because we escaped to Maine for a fall gateaway.

We just relaxed and hung out.

It was fabulous in a very simple and thrifty kind of way.

I was also really excited to see The Walking Dead season premiere tonight as aired by AMC at 9:00 pm.

We saw some but we got a really sad call around 9:45 pm...Vero , my step daughter and cat-house sitter.

Pinotte (Peanut) our lovely cat was dead on a pillow in The Beach bedroom.

We are still crying

We are grateful that she wasn't sick and died at home with her cat friends in her sleep.

                                 We love you

Yummy in my Tummy!

I subscribe to Kraft's What's Cooking magazine and generally I don't really like their recipes even if I know they are crowd favorites.

TOO MUCH CHEESE! TOO MUCH PROCESSED FOOD!

 But I have to admit that in their quest to make us buy their products they come up with pretty interesting recipes.

Like this one

Make-ahead pumpkin french toast

Of course i had to bend the recipe to my specs! First, I didn't have any canned pumpkin in the house, nor cream cheese...but I think it would've been overkill

My bread was pre-sliced and way to thin so I didn't soak it overnight,I made the liquid part the night before with  3 eggs, 1/2 cup of milk, 2 TBSP of sugar, a good glug of maple syrup, some vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.

Which I did not have, but I was so sure I had some from my last trip to Maine. Well anyways....I made my own! I had the ingredients, so no money spent there.

I dipped the bread maybe 45 minutes before then browned it in a pan.

Here's the link for the recipe  Pumpkin pie spice

Here's the result

I made enough that we were able to bring some the next day for breakfast!

                                 So good!

Holy Jadeite Batman!!!

Thursday night at my usual weekly thrifting venture, my eye caught a glimpse of a familiar and very loved color....

So I saw one, no two, no four , no eight....OMG 10 Fireking jadeite mugs....

What? WHAT?? WHAT???

Are my eye deceiving me??? Then it hit me! I should just shut up ad scoop them up while nobody was taking an interest!

While I was putting them in my cart, a lady told me....You know, these are very old and made of Pyrex!
                                             This is truly once in a lifetime find!

                                           I'm still pincing myself about this find

                                  An orgy of Jadeite goodness

                               To tell you the truth, I paid such a low price for these that I'm doubting these are
                               real, they might be repros. But then I think that the people that work at               Renaissance don't kow shit about these things , so they might be totally real!
                                
                               I compared one with one I already had and I can't say I see a difference.
                              
                              So I will be keeping 2 and putting the balance in the shop.

                              If someone is interested, just contact me and I'll be happy to wheel and deal.

                             Tonight I'll be attempting to prepare oven baked french toast, so I'll keep you posted about that!

                                Sleep peacefully

Bacontastic lattice of goodness

Sunday, after watching 2 back to back episodes of Feed the Beast I was inspired to try something new.

I decide to wrap a deboned turkey breast in a latttice of sweet bacon and grill it.

                                Ok the bacon lattice is not perfect....lol

                                I placed the turkey breast on top with some Pixie Dust and Chick Magnet

                                 Wrapped everything up and tied it with bucher's twine (you don't want stuff to    fall away)

                                            Here's the finished product! Delicious!

                                            Now about the Pixie Dust and the Chick Magnet, these rubs are made in Maine by Denny Mikes . When ever I go, I make sure to stock up and so should you!

Well gotta go the morning comes fast....Sleep tight!