What the Holidays do to the budget!

We went to the grocery stores the day after Thanksgiving.  There were some specials.  And we had made special trips to buy specials even before Thanksgiving, soft drinks, 4 12 packs for $10 which used to be a common price but now not so much!  Now I had resolved to spend $167 per month, having bought three months' meat at the Butcher's Block already.  And despite temptation, we still have enough meat left for another two months, if I'm careful.  But this is Christmas too.  There were some things I knew I wanted to have.  Fruit cake.  Several kinds of cookies. Caramel corn.  Mincemeat pies.  And for Christmas dinner, shrimp cocktail!
We bought some steak too, very marked down.  So between specials and compulsive items, we spent, when it was all added together, $192.65.  So about $25 above budget.  So what, about 14% above estimate?  It's not that I am sorry, exactly but I want to figure out if and when I will need to increase the budget.  All sorts of questions have to be answered including whether we want to increase our standard of living.  Remember, we don't budget because we don't have the money, we do it to prove we can!
Inflation is difficult to measure.  Some commentators estimated that the Thanksgiving feast this year would cost between 13% and 17% more.  But it's not so simple.  A lot depends on how much of the food is prepared before you buy it.  I understand that one week, Meijer's had turkey for $.32 a pound.  Now we don't have a Meijers  here but we do have a Walmart, which will match all sale prices.  Kroger had sweet potatoes for $.19 a pound.  With some travel, We could have bought traditional fare for traditional prices.  If I were going traditional.  We had chicken though, which I had bought at the sale price of $1 a pound.  Potatoes, home canned green beans, home-made fried onion rings and the Halloween pumpkin were very cost effective.  Last month we provided for a Holiday feast without increasing the budget.  But apparently I don't feel the same about Christmas.  Or we shopped when we were hungry.  Or were in an ornery mood?  I assure you, the decision to budget is very fragile!

I have spent money on Christmas decor too.  I bought this tree for the Nuthead dolls at Elegant Options.  I plan to make tiny paper ornaments and mock popcorn strings to go with the apparent poverty that Nutheads nearly always depict.  I only have four, because though they are cheap, they are exceedingly rare.  Tomorrow I plan to refresh the paint on the wooden stars and snowflakes I usually hang from the light fixtures.  But it's not time for the tree yet!  Note the blooming geranium we had on the table for Thanksgiving.  The prospect of some snow this week really sparks my Christmas Spirit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A few weeks ago we drove over to Gosport, Indiana, to visit Nate's Candy Jar, which specializes in home-made candy.  Bill is quite smitten with their caramels, softer and larger than the little squares we buy at the grocery.  When we walked in, it smelled like Heaven.  Alyssa was just wrapping these fancy candied apples for Halloween!  Fresh cupcakes are under the dome.  The bottle of hand lotion is one of the things I took home that day.  She sells Watkins too, whose products I have always liked.  I have their lovely vanilla from her too.

Look how many old fashioned candies they have!

They have all kinds of candy!  And every bit tempting and luscious!  Worth the 22 mile trip, I assure you.

Today I have finished the pies for tomorrow, pumpkin, of course, then sweet potato and cheesecake with pineapple sauce. There are cookies too, Alexander Tortes (from my Russian cookbook) with an apple filling. The cranberry chutney is done.  The chicken breasts are marinating in orange juice, soy and garlic. Tomorrow morning I will start by frying the onion rings for the green bean casserole, cutting up bread for the dressing and setting some white yeast dough for hot rolls.  While the chicken and dressing and rolls are baking, we'll make the whipped potatoes and gravey.  My daughter is bringing things too, fruit salad and olives and celery and I don't know what else!  We will have a feast.
And about time, I've been getting ready and we've been eating frozen pizza, soup, and leftover salmon patties all week!

So here are the menus:
Thanks giving:  Baked marinated chicken breasts, sage dressing, green bean casserole with extra mushrooms and home-made fried onion rings, whipped potatoes with  gravy, hot rolls, relish tray, cranberry chutney, fruit salad and for dessert, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, and pineapple sauced cheesecake.
Friday:Leftovers of the very best sort.
Saturday: Home-made vegetable soup and toasted cheese sandwiches
Sunday Italian spaghetti, tossed salad
Monday, Hoppin John with sausage, rice and black-eyed peas, tossed salad
Tuesday:  Baked Pasta with cheese, tossed salad
Wednesday:  Hoppin' John, tossed salad


I have made the sweet potato pie by a Southern recipe calling for butter, vanilla, white sugar, eggs, milk and nutmeg.  I had not made a distinction between pumpkin and sweet potato before but this recipe is delicious!  How do I know?  Well, I licked the bowl, of course!  The pumpkin pie was made with frozen Halloween pumpkin, the very one Eliyah decorated with a black marker.  There is an easy way to do this.  I did a pumpkin and a pie squash at the same time.  Split each one and scrape out the seeds.  Save to toast in the oven if you like.  Put the halves in baking pans with sides (to catch the juice) and bake at 350 for about an hour, or until soft.  Remove from the oven and let cool.  Then just scoop out the soft flesh with a spoon and put it into plastic sandwich bags, 2 cups to each, lay flat on a cookie sheet and freeze.  2 cups will make a regular sized pie.  If you like it smoother, mix up the filling in your blender!  There is almost no waste in doing this.

Ready for freezing.  The squash is a darker color than the pumpkin.   Notice my thick stemmed geraniums, just starting to bloom again  now that they have come inside!

Just the empty skins left.

Here's hoping you have many things to be thankful for this year,  I know I do.  And many happy returns!

Seasons

Cold Weather

It was 42 degrees this morning when I got up.  Outdoors, I mean.  In the house it was about 60 but it didn't feel appreciably warmer.  Cold damp air seeped in around the door.  There's no heating to turn on but there's plenty of wood stacked up beside the stove.  I hate to build the first fire of the season though.  It usually warms up by the middle of the day and then the house is too hot!  I burrow under a throw on the couch, drinking hot coffee and watching the news.  "Frost on Friday"!  "Oh, I'll have to bring in the house plants this week"  I think

The summer has grown tiresomely long in it's heat and dryness.  The warm weather I waited for so anxiously last spring has become like a drug on the market.  Now, as the coffee fogs my glasses, I anticipate the cosiness of winter,  ther fire toasting my face and hot beverages warming the rest of me.  And then there's Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, not to mention our Birthdays and Anniversary.  Ah, my favorite time of year! 

Of course I remember that in February last year I moaned about Spring, the blue skies, the knock-your-eye-out bright green grass, Easter, Mother's Day. . . .Ah, my favorite time of year!

And then Summer, the picnics, grilling out, flowers and more flowers - my favorite time of year!  So how is it then that by the end of each season I'm so worn out, so tired of it - so ready for the next season?  It almost seems planned . . . .

My last rose of Summer!