Here we are at the end of another weekend. I have been non-stop busy since the last edition, and am hoping things slow down (just a little) for the next few days. I write this because I am feeling a little drained of energy.
Friday night was so long ago, I honestly don’t even remember what I did. That is how busy the week was. Saturday I slept in a little and got up to volunteer for the Boston Terrier Rescue Canada group. BTRC is run completely by volunteers, and they do whatever they can to raise funds. I was working in a canteen at a local cat show. The SPCA was hosting it and asked us if we would like to help out to split the profits between the two organizations. The message went out late in the week, and I picked my time slot, and off I went.
Let me say, first of all, that I am really proud of myself for looking at all of that food, and ONLY buying an apple. I paid for it and enjoyed it. I ended up with pizza to take home, and it was supper. It has been a while since I had to stand on my feet for a few hours. Although I was glad to have a chair for a couple of necessary but short breaks, I managed OK. I do have nerve pain in one leg and I have finally figured out that my hip flexors are the root cause. If it comes down to it, I tough it out, but I can be in a lot of pain while I am doing so.
Cat Show Poster
Donation sign. Empties for Paws
The Saturday Morning crew
The Saturday afternoon crew
Bin for empties to recycle for BTRC
What does a person do when they go inside the Cat Show after the volunteering is done? Well, if you are me, you look at EVERY cat you can see, and you buy new cute little socks with cats all over them. I wanted the cute change purse too, but I am on a budget and that means I can’t always get everything I want.
My new kitty cat socks!
I bought something practical. I can always use more cute socks.
Today is Sunday. I slept in later today, I needed it. We had been invited to a friend’s house to play board games. It was set as a potluck. I decided to make His & Hers Lasagna. His lasagna is traditional. Mine is THM Lazy Lasagna. No noodles and yes it has spinach.
His & Hers Lasagna going in the oven.
His & Hers Lasagna all cooked.
He helped me with the prep and assembly. I made some guacamole dip and we brought Nacho Scoops for that. It was good. The best part is that there are leftovers of the lasagnas and the guacamole. So I have lunches prepped for the week right now!
We played Cards Against Humanity first. After supper, we played Ticket To Ride, Europe. It was a lot of fun, once we all knew what we were doing. The board game looked like this when it was all over.
Ticket To Ride Europe Game
It was a busy weekend. I didn’t get a lot of cleaning done, but we got the prep cooking started for the week. That’s a wrap for this weekend! What did you do?
Here we go again! It is the middle of a sunny, not too hot but a little too breezy weekend. I say that because it is BEAUTIFUL out, but not quite warm enough for wearing shorts. Perfect weather to cook and clean in. Too bad yesterday was an errands day, so not a lot got done around the house. We did take some time to enjoy the sunshine, though.
We went out to a fundraiser for Great Danes yesterday. Roy bought a t-shirt to support the cause. I am holding off because I would rather buy one from the Boston Terrier Rescue Canada group, BTRC as I volunteer with them. We had lunch and hit up some stores.
There was a bead sale, so I went there first. I then went to Bed Bath and Beyond. I would spend more money in there if I had it to spend, well who am I kidding, I love shopping, and money flows faster than mercury through my hands. Blink twice, and it’s gone, kind of like my awesome time management skills, I have the same ability in both of those areas. Amazing talents to have…not! My husband went to the pet store. He is working really hard on his 75-gallon fish tank set up. I cannot wait to finally post some pics when it is all done! I will share the finished setup photos when he is happy with it and ready to show it off.
At the second store I found some coffee on sale, not as good of a sale as the last time I was there, but still, a sale is better than full price. The reason I went was to get an organizational drawer for my fridge. There is a drawer on a slider in the middle of my fridge, but the space underneath that drawer is a nightmare to keep organized. My husband does not want to open the fridge and see multiple organization containers inside. I see the value of the system, but don’t want to buy more bins for the fridge until he changes his mind. This is the beginning of that transition. It may never proceed past the initial phase, but at least I get to tackle one huge problem area in our fridge.
I started my Sunday off in Church. I do like going and was a little late, but better late than never, I thought. So I went. Then I went to a coffee shop to wait for my ride home. It was a good start to the week, and to my Sunday.
I am headed back into the kitchen today. I NEED to run the dishwasher and get the dishes back under control. I think I am starting to feel better, hurrah for antibiotics and trying a different kind! I am wanting to do things again. Still not feeling completely healthy, but feeling like I want to get some things done around here again is a big plus.
I didn’t get things done last weekend. I was really feeling awful, and sometimes what you need to do has to be prioritized. I needed to rest so that I would get better, and be able to get some spring cleaning done this weekend.
I am not going to focus only on the kitchen today. I have an issue in the Master Bedroom that needs attention. I am notoriously famous for piling things up everywhere I go. My desk, my craft supplies, clothes or anything and everything. I do not like putting things away. So today, I am going to take the time to change the sheets and put my clothes away. Then I can rearrange the dresser and assemble the 6 cube shelving unit I bought a while back. If I really get on a roll, there may be pics here next weekend! I am still not feeling the motivation to finish the kitchen, so I am going to change the plans for today after I get those dishes done. I have some prep cooking to do also. I want the kitchen clean before I start cooking. I have 3 lbs of ground beef and a whole chicken to work with today when prep cooking. The beef will make 2 different meals, and the chicken is going into my crock pot. I really love making this recipe with whole chickens, ever since I found it online a while ago.
So, I intend to fully bounce the house today. That is a Tish-ism. You can read about it here: Bouncing the House. The tunes will be cranked, and I will be doing a little singing and dancing while I work. After all, if it isn’t a little bit fun, I will never get it done!
This Saturday was my 3rd Annual Butt Blitz Event that I volunteered at. Some friends of mine have Boston Terriers, and they are rescue dogs. I have joined them as a volunteer at Boston Terrier Rescue Canada (BTRC) to help with fundraising for the group. This group has no building as an official shelter. They run their non-profit organization completely from the generosity of their members, from donations, and from fundraising events like this one.
A Greener Future sponsors this event and others like it. BTRC enters this and other contests to raise money for the rescue, but also to help the environment. It’s a win-win for everyone.
The Butt Blitz 2017 page has pics from past events (I forgot that I was in a pic there from last year!) Last year it was a sunny, beautiful day. This year, it was raining; so not as many people dropped in for the event this year.
TerraCycle works with A Greener Future to encourage people to recycle various products and clean up the planet. If you want to know what happens to the cigarette butts after we send them to Terra Cycle, check out this link: Cigarette Waste Recycling Program
Some people take the time to count the butts they put in their used containers or sandwich bags. This is fantastic! What about the other bags, the ones without the number of butts written on the bag for us to add up? Well, we have a formula for that!
How we calculate the number of Butts from the weight of the bags
We weigh the bags and convert the weight to ounces. 1lb=16oz. so for example, 1lb, 4.2oz is 16+4.2 = 20.2 ounces. I then needed to calculate the reference weight for 1 cigarette butt. I weighed 6 bags of butts. 3 pairs of the same butt count on them. I then averaged out the results, and the result was that one butt weighs approximately: 0.01095 oz. From that number, I was able to plug in the weights of the bags and come up with a grand total of 45,530 butts sent off to be recycled yesterday. That’s a lot of butt picking and collecting.
Volunteers from BTRC
Donation Drop Off Thank you!
Butt Picking in the Rain
Sorting Butts
Taking a break at the Event Table
Sorting various items for recycling
Calculating the grand total of butts
Ready for shipping to TerraCycle
Thanks to UNB Fredericton for hosting the event again this year! The Student Union Building was our base of operations for the event, and I was happy to have a dry location away from all that rain to run the numbers and calculate the grand total number of butts we sent off to be recycled.
