Jeepers

I sent in a check for the mortgage company to endorse. It arrived back today so I want to hurry and deposit it before Bank of America goes under. LOL, just kidding. Sort of. Anyway it is $15,000 so that brings the debt to the construction company to "only" $47,000. Those big numbers scare the stuffings out of me. 

I'm waiting to go to the bank until this after noon because I NEED a Olive Garden fix tonight for supper. Angel hair pasta and a big salad is calling my name. I also need to stop at the store for some fruit/veg. And I still need a bottle opener. I have 4 of them...in Indiana. 

My construction company is addressing my issue with the insurance company. Something about submitting a supplemental estimate.   There are a few small things the construction company needs to fix. She told me that a 60 day lien wouldn't start until everything is fixed. She said that lien threat is mostly for "deadbeats" to protect their company. I'm not worried about it. Yet. Hopefully insurance will cough up some more money. If I'm not mistaken State Farm agreed to the construction estimate so they need to pay up. 

Son got an offer on their old house. Around twice what they paid for it about 8-9 years ago. One hitch is water in the crawl space that he would have to fix. So, not sure if they are going to accept the offer or not. But it is encouraging. At least there are nibbles out there willing to pay. Gives me hope.  

Forgot to add that the bank said they were going to contact State Farm too. 

Thanks for the info Themartianchick. I knew Violet was a master canner. I donated lids to some of her classes she had for under privileged women. I didn't realize she had passed away.  

We could really rely on her canning expertise.  

Living is a good thing.  

Sometimes that's about the best we can ask for at the moment. 

Yikes Miki. That could have gone south really quick. Thanks for the heads up. 

I didn't like the looks of the smooth sided canning jars. I think Ball issued them with crafters in mind. And to me, that's what they looked like...cheap thinner crafter jars. 

That's probably a misconception but that's what I think of when I see them. 

I prefer Kerr because of their shape. They seem to be just a little more squared. They are embossed on one side only. But that one side makes them easy to hold onto. I wash my jars under hot soapy water after they cool so I need a grip too. 

Kerr is mosty sold out west so I have to order my Kerr jars. I can't find a one in Ohio or Indiana locally. I have to order from either Amazon or Walmart. I'm pretty well stocked up since 2022. 

I worked a little on de-junking one of the bedrooms. Will I ever get through all of this stuff? I seem to get slower and slower. I'm going to store all of the packed up stuff in my master bedroom walk in closet to try to get it all in one place. It's a big closet. Then, lug it to the garage as I find the strength. I hate these steps from upstairs to garage. It doesn't help that I'm not a lite packer. I should probably repack some of the heavy stuff. Especially with the stairs. 

WARNING: long rant ahead. Take a bio break and grab a cuppa.   

More issues with the insurance company. I called the construction company concerning payment and that mechanics lien. I told her of some issues I was having with the house such as leaking drains etc. She said she'd send someone out to do a walk through to get things fixed. And the sixty days toward a lean doesn't start until those are fixed. I told her to not put a lien on the house because I will beg, borrow or steal the money before I let it get that far. She told me to not worry about it yet. They just have to warn their clients it can happen. Deadbeats.  She also said if one is ever put on a property, it can come off within a day or two. I don't want it on my record period. I really don't think they would because I've always given them money when insurance sent it even before they asked me for it and we haven't had any issues. Our working relationship has been very good. Plus I hired and paid them up-front for extra work not related to the flood. 

In theory, I could probably sell the house and use some of that money. But as it stands, four people sort of own this house. Bank of America, insurance company, construction company and finally me. When I sell this house I want to make a clean break and never look back. 

Construction called my insurance company for the money. They said they already paid me the total amount. They said I cashed the checks. Sigh. No they didn't! Construction company was confused. They told me maybe insurance sent the money to my mortgage company. I called them. No they didn't.  Crimony.

For once BoA was nice and helpful. She went through all of the checks insurance had sent us (3). They have to cosign all insurance checks with me because they hold the mortgage. Insurance sends the check to me, I sign it and send it out to California, they sign it and send it back to me and I deposit it in my bank and write the construction company a check. Convoluted. She threw out the thought that maybe insurance was counting all of the money they paid out for a hotel. Could that be possible? I never received any money for that. Insurance paid the hotel directly. 

So now I have a call in to my so called adjuster who will never return any of my calls, to see what is going on. 

BOA was a little angry at the situation. Not at me but toward the insurance company. She told me to tell them I want a tracking number to all of the checks they have issued to me and proof that I cashed them. She went through all of their transactions and they were the same as what I had. If I'm not mistaken, insurance has sent me a total of $58,000 divided into three checks that BoA also had to cosign. Total construction bill is just over $107,000. 

Also, before all the insurance was involved. I set up a separate checking account just for money dealing with this house reconstruction. Now I'm so glad I did! I checked all of the transactions on that account, online. It shows all of the checks photo copied that I received and all of the personal checks I sent to the construction company. The very first check was "only" less than $6,000 for a new furnace. That was about a month into this whole fiasco. A whole year ago.

I feel only slightly better since I can sort of prove I didn't cash any checks. Mainly because any insurance checks were always made out to both me and BoA. I couldn't have cashed them on my own. I couldn't even deposit them without a BoA signature on them. I'm tired of fighting and having to prove myself. My stress level is right around 1000%. 

I really want this D O N E.  I can't sell the house until the construction company is paid because they can come back and put a lien on the house.

Insurance dragged the process out for over 7 months before they even made a decision to pay and another 2 months before they issued any money...except for the furnace. So you know where they can stick that hotel bill.

I detest State Farm. 

I've never seen those root veggies frozen either. Trying to fill up the shelves. 

Maybe for roasted vegetables that is so popular these days. 

Let us know how it turns out. Sounds good!  

I had never heard of it either. Good article Necie.

No matter how long you boil a jar of food, the temp will only reach 212*F.  Pressure canning  temperature reaches 240*F which is considered safe for non acid food preservation. 

I wouldn't trust canning food with this method. I don't even trust non acid food water bathed. But that's just me. I don't take too many chances with home canned food. I'm all for rebel canning to a certain degree when it comes to ingredients, but not when it comes to the safety process. 

Sounds  too much like Russian Roulette to me. In this case, old ways are not better. We have learned safer ways to can food. Also, our food is different these days and new strains of bacteria have mutated. After boiling food for over 3 hours there probably isn't much nutrients left anyway. 

Don't chance it. But if you do, don't share that food with anyone. Nothing is 100% but that method isn't even 50%. 

Well said Necie. 

Not doing much. I still have errands to run. My To-Buy list is getting longer though. Fortunately all small stuff. 

I fixed my new phone the night before I was going to take it in. I lost all of the sound on everything. Went onto the settings and did everything. I went all night with no sound for my old time radio programs. Hint, radio = no video so I couldn't even closed caption it. Then I remembered it went out about the time I almost dropped it and grabbed for it. Long story short. I mashed the volume button and muted the phone. Sigh. Turned the volume up and viola. I need a nanny. 

It's always the fine print...always the fine print. I saw $40 someplace and went with it.  

I'm gonna starve. What did you say your new address was. Asking for a friend.  

It wouldn't have done me any good to take the challenge as I was living in a hotel for the past 13 months. My pantry was 2 small shelves.  One on either side of the microwave. Plus cooking and stocking up for one is a lot different from maintaining a family. In other words. I'm not a very good candidate.  Or rather a good judge of how it can be done. My $40 would have gone to microwave dinners and sandwich stuff. Your new job is going to come in very handy.

Nearly all of my food supply got ruined when my house flooded and I had to throw it all away. So I'll be starting with a pretty bare pantry too. But one good thing for you and me is all of the stuff we add now will all be brand new with new expiration dates. 

If it's electronic you know I have no clue. But I have well over 1600 on my Kindle and it still functions fine. Of course many of those books are pretty short. I really need to go through some of them and read/delete them. Some are cookbooks and I need to write down recipes before I delete them.

98% of all my Kindle books are free and a few are borrowed from Amazon. I'm surprised they never wanted them back after over a year. I probably have about 10 of them. 

 I delete mine from the computer. I think we bought our PaperWhites at about the same time. 

Since it said Classic Spam my first thought would be something more like ham rather than bacon. Most of those ingredients go with a baked ham. Not sure about the chocolate though. 

Oh, girls just wanna have fun...

Congrats MT3B. It sounds perfect. Just long enough to bring in some extra prep money.  

If you get any good scoops be sure and let us know. We won't tell. But we might storm the grocery stores real fast.  LOL

When I worked, a couple pair of black, navy and khaki colored slacks took me through many years of working. Plus weddings, funerals, doctors and dinners out. I really could use a pair of black and navy slacks now. All of mine 'shrunk in the dryer'.  

Midnightmom. I buy that tea too. I already have about 8 boxes of the regular Lipton tea somewhere. I think there are 72 bags per box or something like that. I brew a lot of ice tea in my Mr. Coffee ice tea maker. Then I stumbled on the presweetened tea. I'm thinking I have some pods too. It's a shame I can't remember what all I have. Most of my stuff is in Indiana so I can't even go look. 

MT3B, I hadn't heard of that website but I'll check it out. Occasionally I watch a site called Adventures With Danno. He seems to have some sort of photographic memory. He goes around to different stores that sells food, in the Cinncinati area, and tells what the good buys are. Thing is he remembers the prices in the different stores and also what the prices were months ago. It's pretty interesting except he has started video going to different places he and his wife goes to that isn't food nor price related so I've lost a little interest. But his food prices videos are still good. 

My mom said they used to allow people to pay for a movie ticket with a can of food. This was during WWll and the depression era. Very few people had TV so a can of veggies was a good diversion to see a movie at the theater. The days might have been limited. Maybe a matinee.  Don't know. But I do remember her talking about taking a can of corn to go see a movie. 

I think those people were just selfish and didn't care about anyone else. Typical. They only cared about getting to their destination. The wife was probably using the air plane barf bag. Where is it? If there were splatters, then the blood wasn't just oozing out of the man. 

What sort of hemorrhagic fevers are in Thailand? Where else had he been. Where is his wife? Who was that 'doctor'?  Too many questions. 

Just thinking about the steps each passenger went through; deplaned into the terminal, boarded another plane, entered another terminal upon arrival, perhaps got a connecting flight to their destination involving another terminal, then get a ride home. Perhaps stopping someplace to eat. All in the same clothing and no shower. Times however many people who were on that plane. Then the same plane reloaded with passengers to make another trip. All the while the same air circulating around the plane. How many other other planes did each one of those people board until they finally made it home?  

I hope nothing comes of this but it is the perfect storm.

Me? I'd call for an ambulance explaining the situation and get into the hospital  ASAP. 

Mission accomplished.  

I told ya it works.

I have my stern voice too. Flat, quick and loud. Already grandson tested. Worked. 

My Muffin would only come back if treats were involved. Brat. Beagle = nose activated.

Sorry to hear about your friends grandson. That is happening far too often. 19 is still just a child. IMO. 

I've been hearing a lot about people not being able to find the pellets. Make sure you have enough to get you through winter. Something about them being a seasonal item and stores not reordering then in late winter. .

And No MORE GOATS. Atleast not where you are right now. Too hard to take care of in the winter. And next winter you will be a year older. 

 <- Jeepers giving Mt.Rider 'that' look. 

Heck Euphrasyne, I love raw bell peppers too. Especially the red and yellow ones. The child could be mine.  

That was a jerk move Littlesister. Some people have no manners. I would have stopped and given him "that look" I have. It's horrifying. Just stop dead quiet and stare until you feel a blink coming on. People don't know what to do with it. And don't talk to them or move. Just stare right in eyes. They will either see the error of their ways or think you are crazy. Either way is fine. 

Sorry you are stuck inside Momo. I've been stuck in depression the past couple of weeks. I'm sure it's moving from the hotel back to the house. Changes like that seem to effect me more these days even if they are positive. Plus looking at all the stuff I still have to do. Daunting. But it will pass. I know because it always does. Hope your ride gets fixed soon! 

MT3B, Congrats on your new job!

I finally got my fish meds. They were delivered to Advance Auto Parts (guess they are a drop off station). Sort of glad because they didn't get left on my porch and APA is right down the street. I didn't have to show any ID though. I guess anyone could have said they were me and got the package. Anyway, I only want to make one more small order and then I'm done...famous last words. Assuming they can get the meds in. I discovered one of my fish can tolerate something other than Cipro so I want to get her the alternative med, just in case. Her vet isn't always easy to work with. 

Last Thanksgiving when I was in Indy I went to KFC for their cole slaw. They were out of Pepsi. Today I went to KFC here in Ohio for a pot pie and they didn't have any Pepsi. BTW, as soon as my butt hits the car seat I automatically become absolutely parched. It's like Pavlov's dog. You've seen dogs hanging their head out of a car window with their tongue hanging out? Soon as I pull out of the driveway that's me. Anyway, they had a sign in the window that said they prefer cash but if you pay with a credit card and the amount is over $25.00 then you must present the card and a driver's license. I've never paid for fast food with a credit card so that seemed odd to me. Don't know if that also applied to using an app or not. I'm thinking they are concerned with hackers too.

I've heard that "they" are trying to get people to use up their cash to get the money back into the banks and out of people's hands. Don't know. I also heard one guy tried to cash his paycheck for cash at a Chase bank and the teller told him they didn't have the cash on hand. It was either in New York or California. Can't remember which. 

If they can't secure our credit cards from hackers then I wonder how they plan to secure our digital bank accounts? 

Have lots of errands to catch up with tomorrow.

I get it. I bought a Presto because I needed a second canner and now I only use the Presto. 

I've heard the forjars one is good too. They came out after I bought the Presto. IMO, I'd get one that has a dial gauge and the weighted thingy that has the pressure options. Sorry I can't post pictures on this phone. But not the one that just sits on top of the canner. Like a rocker. Get one where you can chose between 5,10,15 pounds of pressure. That way it will maintain the pressure automatically. Of course you still have to watch it! But once it sets itself with the dial gauge it maintains pretty well without constant watching. They come where you add weights or one that is solid round that you choose the pound you want and set it on the canner. Most new canner just come with that rocker. My weight was $20.00 at Lehmans but well worth it.

I'm in the same position with the house. I keep trying to remind myself that you have to make a mess to clean a mess. I've got the first part of that down very well.  

What parts do you need? My Miro (sp) canner uses my same Presto gaskets. I've had that canner since the 70's-80's and it's still good. I did upgrade to a Presto with a gauge and a weight. It's a game changer. I can keep an eye on the gauge while the weight maintains the pressure. I did have to buy a different weight for it though.

I thought very seriously about an All American canner but they are just too heavy and I'm too short to be reaching behind a hot canner to mess with the toggles. Plus the price!

Or they could make a nice table using Fire Stone.