out_of_the_ordinary

My area has a frost advisory for tonight/tomorrow morning. DH and I picked all of the green peppers. Most were small, but we got a big mixing bowl full. I'm going to work on getting them dehydrated tomorrow. In other cool weather stuff, I wanted to get a couple new (extra) blankets for our bed. I was going to buy Vellux ones, but they are made in China now. I was disappointed, but DH says I shouldn't be surprised. Seems like everyone's blankets are. We did find USA made ones cheap at Walmart. With my skin still in ultra, ultra sensitive mode, I was trying to find things not treated with so many chemicals/pesticides. I'm reacting to even handling clothes in the store. I bought jeans last weekend. I soaked them in a bucket with a couple cups of vinegar. When I drained the bucket, the water was a yellow-green color. No wonder going through the clothes rack at the store was turning my hands red! Next on my prep list for winter is thermal blackout curtains for the living room. The store was out of the size and color I want. Will have to check next week. We already have them in our bedroom and another room. I think they pay themselves off in a winter. Plus, it cuts down on the noise level from the neighbors!

Happy Birthday, ANewMe!!

Happy Birthday, Christy! Happy Birthday, Rosary Chaplet!

Kappydell, you are not useless!! For the help your friends and family are giving you, I think that just goes to show what a wonderful person you are and how highly everyone who knows you must think of you!! Praying for you!

Sounds like you did well, Jeepers! By Winter, who knows what the price of gas will be, so it's good you got things now.

http://www.neosporinfirstaid.com/opportunitycenter.htm click on the right side of the page The coupon is for $2 off any 1 Neosporin antibiotic product.

Yeah, the one I received was the American Community Survey one. Other than the number of people in my home, I answered "refuse" to every question. She did write down my gender and race, though. (Why, yes, I did answer "refuse" to my gender and my race!) The survey person for it was so darn creepy! And she was proud that she had been working in my county for something like 15 years doing this. She told me I could be eligible every 10 years to be "chosen" to get this. Well, for my address. I could be "chosen" again if I moved. I wonder since I wasn't cooperative, that she'll be back on my porch 10 years to the day from the time she was here last time.

We got one of those forms a few years ago. I didn't send it in. The census worker was relentless and CREEPY! She would show up at odd hours and even would pound on our windows instead of knocking on the door. I finally did tell her the number of people that lived here and she wasn't getting any other info. She insisted that she HAD to ask me every question and I could refuse to answer any question. So, I did answer the number of people that lived here and answered "Refuse" for every single question other than that. I think she expected me to answer some of them, but I held my ground. She was very insistent at trying to get my phone number and I refused that one as well. By the way they kept showing up at my house, I wasn't going to have them constantly calling as well. You're right Lumabean, the questions were very intrusive!

Thanks, Cat!

When DH was going to school, he didn't have health insurance. I had to take him to the ER in the middle of the night. It took us a long time to pay all of those hospital bills. We decided when DH graduated, he'd only take jobs offering health insurance. Our insurance is through DH's employer. We pay half, they pay half. We're paying just under $500/month now. That's with a $2,000 deductible. We've never met the deductible, either. Our dental insurance is separate from the health insurance. We don't use the health insurance much. Mostly for my prescriptions (and it doesn't cover much of those!) and for my yearly gyn check-up (which the ins. covers most of; I just have a copay). My doctor (allergy/intergrated medicine doctor) no longer accepts insurance of any kind. It's $190/appointment. That doesn't go towards our deductible. Our insurance went up this past Spring by nearly $150/month. We sure feel that in the paychecks. If O is re-elected, I hate to see what our insurance costs will be next year. Regardless of what company DH works for, they're all small businesses, so they may opt to pay the penalty and not offer health insurance. (This is going to be cheaper for them). Because of DH's trip to the ER years ago, we don't want to go without insurance.

Re-reading Joyce Meyer's Battlefield of the Mind. This book was what I needed to deal with my anxiety and work on changing my way of thinking. It hasn't even made it to a shelf yet. I keep it laying around so I can remember to keep re-reading it!

I don't remember who said it. I don't remember if I'm quoting it exactly, but... "Every time an old man dies, we lose a library of information." I grew up close to my grandparents and close to my great-grandparents' generation (brothers and sisters of my great-grandparents) . They've all passed now, so when I first heard that quote, it really hit home!

Happy Birthday, Arby!

Our weather change came yesterday. Finally--the dew point dropped out of the lower 70s/upper 60s! We were able to open up windows and get the house cooled down and the humidity out! Rain yesterday and rain today! This is my kind of weather.

Happy Anniversary!!!

Thankfully, no signs of them here, yet! We have several traps set, though. After finding the "molding" mouse, I'm keeping up on checking the traps regularly!

It's at the butchers' now! I talked with the lady we've been buying our grass-fed beef from. I told her how I was debating between a quarter and a half. She said she'd work with us on getting a large quarter or a small half. I had the cut order form all filled out and a deposit in. We spoke yesterday and I decided on a half. She said the weights are are little lower than normal. With all the heat we've had this summer, they weren't eating us much. (I don't feel like eating much when it's hot out, either!) We should have it in our freezer before the end of the month.

Happy (belated) Birthday, Westie!

CG, check out this thread. http://mrssurvival.c...=1

Congratulations, Doctor!

(No kids here, but just thinking...) Jell-o mix (the name brand is gluten-free) ginger ale Is there a GF cracker or pretzel that you normally have? I know the GF pretzels are tasty; maybe keep those on hand. tissues with the lotion in them I'd just look at the cold med aisle at the grocery store. Get some kind of fever-reducer and cough/cold meds, but the ones for kids. Soup is good. If you don't can chicken soup yourself, maybe make some soup or stock and have that in the freezer. Instead of regular noodles, have rice handy. I think there is gluten-free chicken stock out there, but I've always made my own, so I've never checked into that. With keeping your kitchen gluten-free, I'd be hesitant to feed them gluten foods (cross-contamination with just them touching stuff).

Are you buying the policy or is this through an employer? Ours is through DH's employer. We had a big jump this year, in additional to having a high deductible. (Thanks, Obama! ) If we don't get rid of Obamacare, I wonder if DH's employer will even be able to afford to offer insurance coverage next contract year.