Homesteader

I love reading about everyone's exciting life. I'm afraid Jeepers wouldn't want me shopping around her. I don't get out enough and tie a mask to my car keys just to remember the mask. Then I don't wear it over my nose due to lung damage. Then I'm on top of others at checkout because I'm already into working on tomorrow's tasks in my head. I guess I don't follow directions very well. Since we're so isolated 24/7, I really don't care. Mom went on Hospice today. Oxygen arrives this afternoon and her regular nurse next week to access her needs for appliances/supplies. It has been quite seamless and mom made the decision, not me. I took mom to the doctor last week. I was ordered to remove my mask and wear one of theirs. I don't like those throwaway masks because I can't breath. Maybe it was the saying on the front of mine that bothered them?? "Keep America Great" I actually thought it would be fun to faint in front of them, and say "I TOLD YOU SO". I can't breathe in them. And no, I'm not taking the vaccine.

Gilroy, California. I took my mom out there to visit my cousin in San Juan. She took us to Gilroy and we filled up on everything garlic. I just bought a jar from our local organic store and the garlic came from Gilroy. I was

My mom's doc put her on Isosorbide Mononitrate, one at bedtime, several months ago. It helps with her angina and CHF. Doc explained to her that it was like a 'cousin' to the nitro. She understands as she takes several times a week. It seems to work for her as she's not out of breath by the time I get her from the chair to the bathroom to the bedroom.

The last 3 weeks Aldi hasn't had 2# carrot pkgs for .99. I remember earlier in the pandemic the Ag dept was talking abt all the fields being plowed under due to lack of pickers and disrupted transportation. Maybe carrots is one of the victims? I did notice that the romaine lettuce is much smaller at Aldi. I remember articles talking abt lost produce crops due to covid. The replanting would require early picking so that there was always fresh produce even though sizes would be much smaller. We may be seeing that delay now.

I submitted my order yesterday. There is NO SHIPPING CHARGES on my order. That's a big difference from last year. I guess the $2 per packet is much easier for my credit card to accept.

FYI - MiGardener has garden seeds available once again. I'm starting early because they will probably disappear as fast as TP and canning lids. I was sad to see that he's doubled his prices this year, but it's not unexpected. The packets are now $2.00 each which is a fraction of Burpee, Parks, Jungs, etc. The seeds are all heirloom and he is generous with the seeds. I think he just celebrated 10 years in business. A great guy who knows how to market his projects. He's also great at gardening. You can find hundreds of his vids on YouTube, too. His website is Migardener.com. And yes, he lives in Michigan. Cute name to his website.

I still use the pie making recipe you gave me YEARS ago. The pie is put together and then popped in the freezer. I'm starting to move toward the pie-in-a-muffin-tin recipes. DH doesn't need the extra sugar with his diabetes, and mom doesn't eat much. He thinks he can help us out and eat some of our pie slices.

I probably missed it but do you have a timeline for your move?

Me too this year. Finally made the decision for mom that we're not going to the big family bash tomorrow. It's about 70 miles away, about 10 noise children, and a small toilet she can't maneuver. So, she will go HOURS and not drink or go to the bathroom so that she doesn't have to deal with short toilets. I was so exhausted over all the theatrics, I just went and took a nap today. Tomorrow, I'll bake, make several salads and some turkey meat. We have lots of potatoes from the garden and canned jars of turkey broth for gravy. We'll survive. I just get tired of all the emotional baggage she carries. Hopefully, Christmas won't be so dramatic. Between patient care and the virus, I'm tired.

At our last township monthly meeting, the chairman announced that we've had 7 deaths to covid and 7 deaths to the flu. Now that people are more careful with germs, maybe the flu season won't be so deadly this year. It averages between 60,000 and 80,000 per year. I have this gnawing feeling that if we say 'no' to the vaccine we will eventually be refused services. People are putting too much money into this miracle drug not to force us to take it.

I was listening to a report by a virologist, yesterday. He says that the covid tests are now so sensitive that they can pick up just a few cells within a body. The person never gets sick because there weren't enough covid cells to multiply quickly. Enjoy your Thanksgiving with your family.

Living in the Dairy State helps. I usually have enough butter in the freezer for *cough* a long time. At $1.79 a pound, I just stock up, freeze it, and keep the inventory on the door of the freezer. When everything else is gone (oils, shortening), I can always fall back on butter. Did I mention that whole milk is $1.65 gallon? I keep us in yogurt, too.

I'm trying to get back into it because my mom lives with us now. We have totes of history from her when we moved her in with us. What a perfect time to get back to it. I feel exhausted all the time, though ..... virus news, election fiasco, Thanksgiving cancelled, Christmas right around the corner. I need a break and get back into those old photo albums that hold many of the wonderful stories of my family history.

Remember that it's holiday season so pace yourself. We're also loaded down with info on the virus and the election. I found that I can give myself a break, too.

Today, I had a meeting at church with a another lady on my mission's committee. We were commenting about being tired all the time. Yes, much of it is physical but we both touched on the mental stress we're all under these days. It's almost impossible to process how quickly everything is coming at us. I think we get a little touch of what soldiers go through, only they get no break during a war. I know I spend much more time in the Bible and prayer these days. Only God knows the beginning from the end and none of this surprises Him. Hopefully, we each grow spiritually through these trying times. There's nothing new under the sun.

We didn't vfinish the ramp on the deck. Mom is still good on the special stairs. The ramp would be 60' long. Carpenter friend said the wood prices are 300% higher than pre pandemic. The kitchen needs ceiling and partial wall painted and then we can lay the floor tiles that we've stored for 1.5 years. Will wait until after holidays. Mom wants us to start selling her stuff. I need 36 hours in a day. 😂

Mom has been wanting a whole chicken baked for months. I finally found a decent price at the store and bought three birds. I baked the first one the other night and even included stuffing for her. I'm finding that I have to add gravy to most of her meats and dry sides. SIL said to make small batches and freeze them into ice cube trays. I researched it and found that non-dairy gravies are the best. They don't separate. Now she gets a dab of gravy on her food. I stripped the chicken and popped the bones and skin into the crockpot. Cooked it all night on low and woke up to a wonderful smell in the morning. That's scary sometimes because I'm the only cook in the house. I canned the broth and made 7 pints for future soups and gravies. Mom doesn't think I come up out of the kitchen very often. She's right. I'm thankful I have plenty of jars and lids. Many times I reuse lids that pass the eagle-eye inspection. I learned that trick after the last lid shortage several decades ago and has been one of the best tips I've used since then.

Went to ALDI yesterday while DH watched mom. I was really surprised to see how empty the veggie aisle was. They restock starting on Tues night. I guess the truck didn't come. Lots of fruits, just short on veggies. DH read an article that said that paper products will be in short supply again. I think we're caught up, but will save some old newspapers, just in case.

I was wondering why I wasn't receiving notifications lately. Somehow the site dropped out the fact that I was 'following' this thread. I'm back, but too busy to post much with all the harvesting, canning, and keeping mama alive. At least I know the world hasn't ended.

If you are refunded and don't have to send it back, I would use it. That's based on my experience of living in third-world countries. We ate whatever was put on our plates (as long as it wasn't still crawling). If you're hungry enough, you'll eat it. I would suggest using that butter first, even if it would have to be done in cooking only. I remember when we had bugs in the oatmeal in SE Asia and ......................

DH read where Amazon got burned on Ball knock off from China. I ended up with ones like yours through Walmart a few years ago. Some of the quart jars broke in the pressure canner and some of the lids buckled. I finally recycled them to either water bath or dry food storage. 😑

How dumb to think I could turn off the second refrig for the year. My SIL comes once a week and helps me and my mom. I've always kept her in the loop since my brother died of pancreatic cancer 5 years ago. She has been like a sister for 47 years, and we spend a lot of time working and laughing together. We cleaned out the garden due to a pending freeze. Hense, I had to leave the 2nd refrig plugged in until everything is canned, dehydrated, and frozen. Tomorrow I will travel 1.5 hours to pick up our 1/4 beef. My nephew raises the BEST!

All of my classes in Marketing says that you're spot on about your grocery economics.

I feel your pain on the paperwork nightmare. I was behind on getting my mom's cable TV equipment shipped back to Charter. Suddenly, she receives a collection notice in the mail. She was very upset and wanted action (mine) right away. She also wanted verification that her credit wasn't affected. I have no idea how to do that, and with her living with us and about to sign up for Hospice, I'm not taking the time to check her credit. I did get it cleared right up with ONE email to the credit company with all the facts, ship date, etc and they wrote right back and said that Charter had a $0 balance on mom's account. Everything is so delayed with this Covid mess. No wonder people are taking their own lives from the stress. I just reminded myself this morning that I haven't balanced our checkbook in months. Thankfully, incoming is more than outgoing because we don't shop anymore.

I try to tell my mom of the bare spots on the shelves. She just doesn't understand since she stopped shopping last year. When she runs out of something at our place, she thinks I can just drive down to the store and pick it up. Since I don't wear a mask, I generally stay out of the stores.