Jeepers

Hi Janieha and ------->

I'm starting to think about quilting again. I haven't done it in quite a few years. I like to make the tops in the summer and quilt them in the winter when the weather is cooler and I have more time. I plan to make some lap quilts or throws. I came upon this site that has tons of free patterns to download or print out. You can't turn the music off on the site so I just mute the computer.

http://www.quilterscache.com/QuiltBlocksGalore.html

When I dried mine, I let them dry on the vine until the plant was dead. Then I ripped the whole plant out of the ground and put them in my garage to be shelled when I had the time. I watched them to make sure the pods weren't opening too much because I didn't want the beans to drop out on the ground.

I did the same thing with my great northern/soup beans.

Good idea CoM!

I saw a YouTube about putting powdery stuff, like spices or cake mix etc. in a small jar with a lid (no band) and putting that jar inside the canister and sealing it. If any stuff comes out of the jar during sealing, it's supposed to go in the canister first an not in the Food Saver unit. The inside jar, with the powdery stuff, gets sealed. I haven't tried it but I would. Especially if it saved the life of the Food Saver.

I can't find the video but I'll keep looking.

I got another free tank of gas yesterday.

Our grocery store gives .10 off of every gallon of gas at their station for every 50.00 you spend. You can save it up for three months at a time and have to use it all at once. I saved up to 2.90 a gallon and gas was 2.87.

It doesn't happen very often that I can get enough saved up for a whole tank but I was doing some stocking up over the last few months.

I ate my cookie dough raw so I didn't have to pay for the electricity to cook it!

I'm doing everything already mentioned. I'm a big list maker. Spreadsheets are my friend!

I also keep up with the dishes and laundry in case water becomes an issue.

I'm in the process of decluttering my house. It's a real hot mess let me tell ya. The last thing in an emergency situation I want to do is worry about cleaning the house or stumbling around in it in the dark.

I'm also taking special care of my teeth and next week I start on an exercise program. Nothing fancy, just DVD's I already have here at home. I want to build up my strength and try to get off some of my meds. I really need to lose about 20 pounds too.

In the fall I collect mature pinecones to use in the fireplace as kindling. They look nice sitting in a basket on the hearth too.

I noticed the same thing at our Walmart, Virginia. I've never seen that much canning stock in my life at a Walmart. I noticed a lot of lids.

When I had mine in the 1970's we lived in very small university housing. No yard, no garden, videos hadn't been invented yet, no money...no nothing.

Except door knobs.

But But But, if you have OCD all of the slices have to be the same size.

They. have. to. be. the. same. size.

Or in my case, they have to be the same size just in case I decide to dehydrate some.

Size does matter ya know!

I guess everything has a purpose and a need somewhere for someone. Most of the people here still have families at home and some of those families are large. With all of us baby boomers coming of age, (ahem, empty nester seniors) A lot of those products mentioned make perfect sense. I live alone and buying one potato to bake fits my lifestyle. Unless I'm canning, freezing or dehydrating, I would only use 1-2 potatoes in 5 pound bag before the rest would rot.

The same for those individual wrapped hot dogs you zap. I eat about 3-4 hot dogs a month. No way would I use a whole package if I boiled them all at once. The individual wrapped ones stay fresh in my meat department thingy in the fridge until I use them. So, 30 seconds in a microwave is fast and cheaper than the gas it would take to boil the hot dogs that I couldn't finish off in the first place. Haven't lost a dog yet.

Regular size and bulk buying is only economical if you use the product before it is ruined and ends up in the trash. There are a lot of older single households out there. So, marketing filled the niche.

There, I stand behind the spaghetti-o theory.

Power to the O's ~ viva la O

Long live...The O

Okay...I see you up there! Spaghetti-o's saved me from starvation last night. I heated them up and everything. Then I had a bowl of Cheerios for dessert. I had nothing else in this house to eat.

Leave the 'O-s' alone.

Oh Wow! I finally know what to do with all of those canning jar lids.

You're supposed to clean those?! But, but, but there is already a lot of water sloshing around in that washer and the clothes are clean that go in the dryer.

I'm sticking with that way of thinking ya know...

Please don't tell me you're supposed to clean the dish washer too!

Awwwww. That is so cute!

Thanks Fritz. We have plenty of garden centers around here. I never thought about them. I think I'm getting dull these days. I don't seem to be able to come up with alternative ideas lately.

I like that pod, Fritz. I didn't even know there was anything like that. Thanks for the link.

I wanted to buy some of those plastic blue barrels for gray water. Shipping is just too high. I went to our local TS_ (can't remember what it's called) and they don't carry anything like that. I looked up Farm Fleet and Agway on line and they didn't have anything either. I don't know what kind of place would carry them now. I thought sure the farm supply places would.

Wow Twilight, I never even thought about field corn being genetically modified! I've just been thinking about the fresh fruits and veggies in the market. Probably should think about wheat and oats too, huh?

Monsanto

I'll see you one Electric Slide and raise you one Hustle!

I don't have a Presto but I have a Mirro that just has a weight. It's so easy to use. You just turn your fire up until it starts to jiggle and makes a hissing sound. Then you adjust your heat so it only jiggles a time or two a minute. In other words it isn't a constant jiggling noise. Then you just time your canning from the time you got your jiggle amount set. No gauges to watch or have calibrated. I really like my canner.

Mine is a round disk with 3 holes in it. It has marks on it so you can put it it over the vent thing at 5, 10 or 15 pounds of pressure.

Ohhhh a tank cozy....