Some works done

Yesterday I decided I need to get ys's room done. Now it's just half-built walls, no ceiling and no flooring.
I taped and put plastic to cover the window, taped and covered with building paper the only ready-to-be-painted wall and asked hb to mix a batch of cement filler and set to work (I have grinded that cinder block wall already). Now wall with a window is plastered, and window opening is almost done. Sounds simple, but me being a short type of a human it took quite a lot climbing ladders up and down. My legs hurt now.
Of course it needs windowsill and before that sides needs anothed go with filler, but it's an improvement, anyway.
And I think I have some arthritis in my right thumb, it was painful to use it. I just hope I can get this houde done before I'm seriously affected (my mother and my brother have it).

Ys wants back wall (which will be built of plain planks) painted/treated dark brown or grey, and two other walls (plasterboard) painted dark grey. I asked him to consider again, because that would make the room look really dark...
Floor will be the same vinyl flooring we have here at dining(livin room), anf ceiling will be also the same white plywood, i have plywood ready and painted.

Of course everything needs a lot time because hb doens't want to do anything, next time I have to make mix by myself - I just hate to attach any equipment to drill, never get it done right on first try. I need somehow to make hb to put up the ceiling, I just can't do it myself (not even with ladders, I'm just too short). Then there's bathroom, kitchen, foyer and stairs. Haha, kitchen kabinets have been in their boxes for three years... Luckily I still like them.

18 years

On Monday I made another burthday cake, this time 18th birthday cake. Even if birthday boys weren't there to eat the cake with us, I wanted to make it - and os will eat their portions, too, so no worry.

Hb bought two cans of beer and took them to the grave, poured half to the ground and left cans there. At 18 you can buy and drink beer legally.

Moose soup

Nothing more warming in this endless November than soup. And on a lazy Saturday I can spend my time cooking, it's a process, not a task.

It all started with those sad and miserable carrots I found (I got them from my co-worker in October I think). The very last of that free stuff, may I say - I've been using those carrots diligently. Also was found last swede from that free bag I got before Christmas. Nice start. Some potatoes (from Old Man, so free, too). A forgotten mostly empty bag of peas from freezer? A beet getting soft. Both not free but about 10cents at most. Cabbage, first "cheap" cabbage for this winter, 0,89/kg, so far it's been 1,39/kg. Maybe a fifth of that cabbage head? Lets say 50cents.
If I would have been the only one to eat, this would have been enough. Some seasoning, herbs, and thats it. But others want something more.

So, I have freezer full to the brim and bank balance not so great after long Christmas and all birthdays we have around it. And to be honest I'm fed up with pork - no wonder after two hams...? We have been fortunate to get a lot of moose meat (mostly minced) this year. Over 2kg we recevied as a compensation of using our forest for the hunt, and then we got some from hb's co-worker as a thanks, and then  as a gift from our electricians (hb's nephew) new girlfriend.

Minced moose meat is really fat-free, at least this batch that we have, is. Therefore I dug freezer to get a packet of diced bacon I bought some time ago 50cents/pack. Stock cube, salt, pepper. From the fridge I took two totally empty ketchup bottles and rinsed them with a little bit of water - there's always something left on empty ketchup bottles! So two bottles to recycling and some seasoning to my soup.

I tried to make a small batch, because d was away to watch hockey game with her friends, and os and sys don't eat soup unless it's split pea soup. For os and sys I cooked some pasta and fried moose mince, and carrot sticks (those carrots I bought this week because those remaining free carrots were limp and suspicious looking, so I didn't want them to eat them raw).
Small batck ended up to be 10 portions, so I put few portions into containers to freeze, I'll eat them as my lunch at work.

All and all, soup was about max 2€, so 20c/portion. Maybe this makes up that fact I have to eat out twice this week because I have to travel to head office on two days.

Breakfast smoothie for kids

Oven a year my children have been drinkin smoothie as breakfast. Occasionally they want cereals, or toast, or even (oat)porridge, but eventually they end up wanting smoothie.

Buying smoothie is something I just can't do. I made a wild guess one portion smoothie is about 1,5€, and that's mostly fruits (I checked this from local price comparing site which has also ingredients listed). So 3x1,5€ every day is a bit too pricey for me, and kids would have needed something else to keep their hunger at bay (they eat breakfast about 6.30am and have school lunch at 11am or at noon - that's more than five hours between meals).

I've made this same smoothie with small variations over 200 times now!

Breakfast smoothie (2 portions á 3dl) in Ulv's Lair:

1 rather big banana
handful of frozen strawberries
1dl of frozen lingonberries
1dl of frozen currants (kids prefer black currants, but white and red will do, haven't got any green but I guess they'll do, too, because they taste a lot like black currants)
two small handfuls of oats (instant oats are fine, as well as rolled flakes of other grains like rye, barley, wheat - not cereals but ones ment for porridge)
vanilla yoghurt (or plain yoghurt and some vanilla)

I thaw frozen berries in microwave oven for about a minute, then toss everything into bender. Never used frozen bananas and never ever have I added ice to this smoothie!
Banana brings sweetness which children like (excluding os who is allergic to bananas). I ran out or lingonberries last spring, and kids weren't happy. I almost went to Ikea to find lingonberries! My colleague brought me some in autunm so now I have their dose of tartness again.

I have found that banana, strawberries, lingonberries and currants make the best mix. Usually I add some other fruits (apple, pineapple, pomegranade, plums etc) or berries, what I have in hand. Sometimes I add zucchini, or kale or spinach or chard. Or pinch of dried nettles. I have added ground crickets, too. Anything that blends well.
Oats are needed because they keep hunger away (as well as yoghurt).
Sometimes I add milk, or orange juice (or any other juice I happen to have), or if I don't have yoghurt, I use buttermilk.

It is easy to make this too thick, but it is easily solved by adding more fluid, like juice or milk.
This thickens in fridge, so in the evening spoon is maybe needed. My children drink this with stainless steel straws they got a year ago at christmas.

And last but important note: rinse bender right away or this will stick to it forever. Also rinse straws immediately after use. So much easier.

The not-winter of 2019-2020 so far

This endless November is depressing.  We get snow, it stays for three days max and then comes rain and all white and light is gone again. At least now we had few bright nights with full moon, so no need for torch while on 'Sumawalk.

 Lack of snow means lack of light. I take torch to 'Sumawalks, if I go to forest or if it really is too dark to see. If there's some clouds, but not too much, I get my "streetlights" from neaby town:

Town center is about 5km ahead (little lights are our house). Talking about light pollution! This picture is taken 4.50pm on 4th Dec.

This one was taken 1st dec 10.45am. We have had some sun! And snow!

This was taken on Friday morning, when we walked to taxi stop with sys and 'Suma.

Friday morning, 1,5h later with ys and 'Suma on our way to taxi stop. Same moon, although you have to imagine to see anything. That light spot. And no snow.

A year ago. So much snow and frost.

Lack of frosts and deep freeze is beneficial to our wood stores. I have used only one pile of wood, storage behind garage is stayed untouched since October (I used some of it when everything else was too wet or hard to get, but then we had a brief spur of frosts and I managed to shelter dry-but-left-under-open-sky-pile and when rainwater was dried off it's now usable wood for our woodburners. It's been seasoning it's time already.)
There's been winters I have had to lit fire to three woodburnes every day (stove or sauna and fireplace in the old side of the house and woodburner on the extension), now I don't need to lit a fire every day at all!

If this endless November continues, I might not need to chop any excess of wood this spring, it would be enough just to cut damaged forest trees and fell those trees around the field left untouched last spring. Which would be a good thing because old man can't help this spring.
I need to buy a decent battery chainsaw and learn how to use it. We have electric chainsaw but it's basically a toy, can't use it to cut wood thicker than 15cm.

I have been using my woodburning stove, I roasted two hams (for Christmas and for New Year) and at least twice a week I have been cooking dinner with it (it has an oven and a stove).

Frying potatoes and pasta and boiling broccoli

 I knitted only three pairs of socks for Christmas presents:

My three boys got socks. Sys asked for sig-sag stripes.

These are crocheted:

Jolly rogers reflectors - can be used as tree decorations, too.

Our Christmas tree was beautiful:

From our back yard! But no skull decorations.

These were gift to myself:

New kitchen clothes in colours I like. White cotton was bought over 25 years ago, I was living in a big town.

But I wanted to knit socks, so I did:

Actually, there's three more pairs, but can't find pictures... These are children sized and female sized.

Found this one, but two more are missing. These are men size pair.

Os had 20th birthday, I baked him a cake like I have done every year.

I accidentally dropped some whipped cream on top. Who cares. Cake was eaten, two pieces for os and others had one. No leftovers.