Well, here we are at Mist Cottage, planning our first Thanksgiving Dinner as permanent residents. Today we will have the full feast, roast turkey, potatoes, green beans, and pumpkin squares for dessert. All this prepared on about two square feet of counter space. All of the food will come from our freezer or our garden. We can do it!
The car maintenance has changed our financial landscape for the moment. It was close to $1000, yikes, a new wheel bearing and new rear wheel brake pads were installed, and they did an oil, lube, and filter. I admit to reacting with sticker shock. All of this was needed to keep the car running well, as Attila relies on it to get to and from work, it isn’t a luxury, it is a necessity.
So, the reality of living on minimum wage is sinking in. We have a LOT of adjusting to do. Attila has not been spending time looking for higher paid work, he tends to settle into a situation and make the best of it. Our adjustments just might be a permanent lifestyle change.
The first draft of my book looks very good, and I am pleased with it. The layout needs extensive tweaking, so I will be spending quite a bit of time getting that sorted out. I am tickled to have gotten this far with it.
Attila has a three day weekend this weekend! We plan on taking one of those days as a recreation day. The activity we decide upon will have to be free, and fairly local, so as not to use very much fuel in the car. We are thinking of going for a long walk, and sharing a picnic. My research brought to light a nearby Conservation area that does not charge people to walk there, most of the other Conservation areas charge $5.50 per person per day, beyond our present means.
The weekend is shaping up: turkey dinner with all the trimmings today, and a picnic in the park tomorrow. I love living here!
News Flash: 🙂 We ate our first meal, since the beginning of the move at the beginning of September, at the kitchen table! We had been eating with our plates on our laps up until now. Thanksgiving Dinner at the table, yay!
Worldly Distractions
Weather
9°C
Date: 1:00 PM EDT Saturday 10 October 2015
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.2 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 8.9°C
Dewpoint: 2.3°C
Humidity: 63%
Wind: SSW 14 km/h
Quote
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
Louisa May Alcott
1832 – 1888
Hi Maggie,
Congrats on the first meal with the kitchen table! Yay! Dinner sounded delicious. Two feet of counter space made me laugh because that is about what I have here that is ‘workable’. You can get a lot done though with that amount of space.
Ouch on the car expense. I hope that this will be the last big bill. Our last car (used) started to become expensive to maintain and finally we had to let it go.
Glad you are pleased with the way your first draft looks. All that hard work is paying off now.
Hope your picnic is restful and pleasant. I could not drag my husband out to picnic so I envy you!
x0x0x0x0x
Nora
What resilient people you are! An inspiration to all of us.
Whenever you write about your careful marshalling of dollars, it reminds me of the careful discipline of the main character in the novel Black Like Me.
Nora, it is amazing what you can accomplish in a small space, isn’t it! It reminds me of camping, where everything from soup to nuts is spread out on a single picnic table, and some pretty fine meals are produced while camping.
We evolved into picnicking because of my anaphylaxis, I cannot eat at restaurants, so we carry food with us if we are away for very long. We have become accustomed to carrying all our food with us, all the time, and the picnic is a natural extension of that.
Hope you are having a good weekend!
Diane, Attila’s favourite story, as a child, was Stone Soup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Soup.
My favourite song as a child was, Side By Side, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjNX_gayY1E.
Perhaps we were prescient, or our predilections were self-fulfilling, we will never really know!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Kate, that is a book I have not read. It sounds like I might enjoy it, so I’ll look for it at the Ontario Library Service. Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Great to find free recreational activities. A walk sound divine, I wish I could do one! It’s the little things in life that are of the most value… like mobility. A picnic sounds fun too. Oh, I am trying to be pleasant while my dogs are barking out the door and in between typing words I am screaming at them! So enough…have fun! xxxx
Happy Thanksgiving to you Bex, early I think, as it is closer to Christmas in your neck of the woods.
I know what you mean about being able to go for a walk! After my back injury in 1994/5 I wondered if I would ever be able to go for a walk again. I eventually worked my way back to walking, but it is on the downhill slide now again with the knee issues. Still I can go for a bit and that is a real pleasure. We have folding stools, and so will bring one so I can rest if I need to, that should help.
What a riot, the dogs, the yelling, the typing, you crack me up Bex! 🙂
I have had less than 2 feet of counter space for so long, that I will not know what to do with a full size counter! It does sound like you and Attila have a lovely weekend planned, enjoy!
Happy Thanksgiving to you! (Yes, it is in late November here in the States.) I hope that car behaves now after so much expense.
Thanks Joan! The car seems to be running much better! Fingers crossed that it runs that way for a long long time. 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Glad you’re having a lovely Thanksgiving, Maggie! We’re making our dinner on Sunday, but the 3 day weekend is great.
Ugh. Sorry to hear about your expensive car repair! That’ll take a bit to catch up on, I’m sure. Over here, we’ve been babying along a needed brake job, due to the expense. DH’s car gives some squeaks and rubs now and again, so we know the day is coming though it’s not here yet. But we’ll also be taking my car to the States when we go on our cruise, rather than tempting Fate.
Lee Ann, you must be into your move soon, I hope you found a great place to live, with a lot of counter space!
Have a good weekend!
Teri, a three day weekend is amazing!
Yes, the car repair bill was quite a shock. We knew something was wrong, it developed as I was driving back from the storage locker last Saturday, so I think I am lucky that I made it home without issues! It works like new again now. The mechanic told us if it had been left any longer it would have damaged the rotors, which is really expensive. So we are lucky in many ways, just not with the bill.
Our move is on 10/21. Cleaning and packing commence tomorrow!
Lee Ann, that date fast approaches! Wishing you all the best in your cleaning and packing and moving. A busy time for you and your partner.
Hi Maggie,
Gosh, I am sorry…Happy Thanksgiving a little late. I don’t know why I thought it was later on in the month.
Thanks Nora! It is confusing when some of us celebrate Thanksgiving in October, and some of us celebrate Thanksgiving in November. I don’t have a clear idea of when the US Thanksgiving takes place, the media usually alerts me. We have US relatives, and I like to send them cards and greetings on their Thanksgiving.
Maggie,
I am awful at times with holidays. I think Thanksgiving is always the third Thursday of Nov. To be sure I looked on the calendar and it is the fourth Thursday in Nov., the 26th! Now that’s embarrassing. 🙂 At least I got the day of the week right.