Nina's Soap

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

I spend more time with my family during the holidays. I did some work around the house, work I have been postponing for some years now. First, on Thanksgiving day I woke up early around 4:30 am to paint the half bathroom in the basement. I cleaned the sink, the toilet bowl, replaced the seat and removed the carpet off the floor once the painting was done. I prefer to have the cement floor exposed to minimize the risk of mold under the carpet. I took out the free standing cabinet underneath the sink few years ago when we purchased the house. It is a small bathroom with a toilet and a shower. It looked crowded with a cabinet in it. It does have a medicine cabinet on the wall which would stay.

I painted the wall trim we removed few years ago to change the flooring in the living room and the hallway. There was a carpet in these areas and we replaced it with laminate planks in the living room and vinyl tiles in the hallway. Hopefully, we would put back the trims this winter.

After painting, I cooked French fries and steak for lunch and shepherd’s pie with shredded cooked turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. I made cream cheese cake the night before which my family enjoyed on Thanksgiving. My in-Laws brought us a big turkey over 22 lbs few weeks ago. I cut it in chunks and baked in the oven. I removed the bones and canned 7 quarts and froze the remaining in 2 1- gallon bags. I used the frozen bags to make my dinner on Thanksgiving.

In the afternoon, during my youngest child’s nap time, I painted one wall in the dinning room a chalkboard. Around 9 pm while all my kids went to bed, I put the second coating. Around 3 am on Friday, I woke up and put the third coating. It only requires 2 coatings. However, after the second coating, I have a small amount left and I decided to apply the third coating to finish all the chalkboard paint and get rid of the container. We bought it 3 years ago when we bought the house and I painted a wall in my kids’ room in chalkboard for them. I am glad the remaining paint didn’t dry out and I am able to use it all this time. Hopefully we would use the board a lot. I think it could save on paper, marker, crayons but time would tell. While I make dinner in the evening, I study with my kids.

Friday morning, I sorted our stationary and reorganized my office in the basement with the help of my husband. I brought home a lot of office supplies that would have gone to trash and they cluttered my office for a while. But now everything is organized. They filled up many boxes.

Today Sunday, after lunch, I filled up my 22 quart pot with chicken bones to make bone broth that I will can.  I made a big batch of fruit pie and free some quart jars that I would use to canned my broth.

I have to say that this holiday I used a lot of frozen ingredients which freed space in my freezers. Did I mention that I made bread too? Yes I made sourdough bread on Thanksgiving and sourdough pizza for Friday lunch and Saturday lunch. I have sourdough starter that I made mid July 2016 and I keep in the fridge and feed time to time. Two weeks ago, I took it out and fed it daily. The bread was good chewy and little dense for my liking but I think it is common with sourdough bread. It does have air pockets and a hard crust. The pizza was good with a sour taste. My family ate it without problem. I make pizza from scratch almost once a week. Using sourdough would save me the money I spend on dry yeast.

Despite all the work I did in my house, I rested a lot as well.

During this holiday, I didn’t spend much. I only bought frozen fries at Sam’s Club since the big box was cheaper per oz than the single bag at Walmart as I planned on cooking French fries during the coming holidays and birthdays. I didn’t do any shopping on Black Friday. My husband and I are trying to pay off our debts therefore, I am taking pleasure on paying off debt rather than spending money.

How did you spend your Thanksgiving Holiday?

Happy Thanksgiving!