Littlesister

Jeepers, both of my bathrooms have windows. I am thinking about putting it in there. But I thought I saw where it said something about double pane windows. So will go back and double check on that. I may have read it wrong. 

Euphrosyne, I think you added work to my list. But those window coverings are so pretty. 

Miki, I always thought you were the busy one. Just much more organized than me.  

I have so much to get done in this house and a zillian interuptions. I have been pushing myself a lot lately. 

Got 10 pints of meatballs in canner and 5 quarts of water. I always can water when I don't have enough for a full canner load. 

GD just texted me. Baby is very cranky and fussy. She caught GD's cold. Not bad but enough to make a baby fussy all day. So, off the hook for that. So will start cleaning up the mess I made in the kitchen soon. I am babysitting tomorrow though. But not canning. 

Will be making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight. Not quite enough meatballs left over to fill a jar. So that will be tonight's dinner. 

Got all the clothes washed and put away.  The beef is ready to go to the pantry. And I found out about 8 pm tonight that GD needs me to babysit the baby. She has a meeting at 2pm. I'm glad it's in the afternoon as I should be done with the canning hopefully by then. I have everything I need out, washed and ready to go early tomorrow. Seems now I can't get a break. But I love having the baby over here. Hard to believe she's almost 5 months old already. I will be babysitting 4 days this week.

GS will be gone Tuesday and Thursday for the test and physical for Coast Guard. I really hope and pray he does well on that test. 

Ambergris that is awful. What is his problem? I hope she can do something to stop it. But doing what she did to keep him from peeking into the windows hopefully will help. 

Around here you cannot fly a drone within 50 ft of someone's house. If they are caught and it is reported, they will be going to court and fined. 

I am wanting to put in some areas that are more controlled for those things that spread. My daughter said they planted a fig tree. It hasn't produced yet but after I made those fig preserves from some figs that was given to her. She is wanting to make fig preserves. They were really good. 

Got the 4 roasts canned all sealed. So just sitting on counter now to cool down. 16 pints of beef. DD and SIL came over for a while. I was just getting the last of the jars in the canner when they got here. My SIL wants to learn to can really bad. He was all over watching that being done. My daughter said she will make jellies and jams, but she doesn't want to can anything else. She said she is going to fill up her freezer. She best be able to keep that freezer going if the lights go out. No backup generator. 

Will be canning 8#'s of hamburger tomorrow morning. But some will be meatballs, some spaghetti sauce, taco hamburger and plain hamburger. So, an all-day canning session tomorrow.  

Will wash clothes in a bit as I won't have time to do that in the morning. Starting right in on the hamburger first thing in the morning. 

Then Tuesday back to babysitting and then Wednesday off to the doctor appt. and then to Newport News to babysit so DGD can go to the eye doctor.  Then babysitting on Thursday. Plus, on Tuesday I have to go vote.  No free days until Friday and Saturday. Hope my energy levels stay up. 

Thank you Mother. I am going to try it that way next time.  I really want to get it to grow as I do use celery in a lot of things.

Thank you, Euphrosyne, that would be great for my bedroom pantry and for my patio door. Though the bedroom window and the picture window both face the street, I think I would do that. I like the flowers they show on amazon for them. Now you have me thinking about buying them. Just need to do a bit of measuring first. 

Mother, I really hope that pans out and grows. I have tried celery many times with no luck. It will start growing then get slimy despite the fact I change the water like it says in the instructions to do that. I want to try it by seeds, but I am also going to look into Thrive market for some freeze dried or dehydrated celery for recipes. I do use a lot of it. But I also want fresh celery. I am going to keep trying till it works. I have done potatoes with good luck and onions all with good luck but celery for some reason is not easy. 

Need to get things together for my garden this year. 

Annarchy,  At the prices for what you got at Sam's was really good. I need to go there to renew my membership. Don't know if I would get those prices on meat here. But I need to go find out. 

Waiting on DD to get here. She didn't give me a time. So, I am waiting. Got everything together to start canning the roast I got yesterday.  Just a matter of getting the meat in the jars and into the canner. So will be making today a canning day. Before I start on another project around here. 

 Something we might want to start thinking about again as things with war is intensifying. Still don't know where this will all lead but I figured out an idea for my picture windows.  I really need new ones anyway. So, thinking of doing a valance across it and putting Velcro across the bottom of the valance. So, during the day my indoor garden will have that sunlight and I can just Velcro the curtain part back onto the bottom of the valance at night.  I think that would work and would be making them from black out material. 

Finished up in pantry and that was about it.  No church tomorrow as DD is coming over from GD's house in the morning. They are going back tomorrow night. She wanted me to go to GD's house to see her, but I was just tired and wanted to catch up around here from last week. This week is not going to be much better. Babysitting Tuesday, Wed. and Thursday. Wed. I go to GD's house to keep the baby as they have eye doctor appts. over there and it would be easier for me to go there than for them to bring the baby to me and then go all the way back.  So, I only have Friday and Saturday to get things. done next week. Will get things ready to can tomorrow and finish up on Monday. 

Mother, not yet. But I have some now. When I bought the Dr. Brown baby bottle, it has the nipples for the different stages of baby's age. She will be 5 months old on the 9th. I bought the stage 3 for a 3-month-old and also the stage 1 which is newborn. I will have her again on Tuesday. So will see how those go. Both sizes are smaller round than the ones my GD has and softer. I hated that I had her from 10am till 3pm and could not get her to take that bottle in any way shape or form. When her dad picked her up, I told him, and he said she is very picky about a bottle verses mom. My GD called me that evening and said she gorged herself till she threw up. That just isn't good. So really hoping these will help. They mimic breast feeding so crossing my fingers. 

After taking my GS over to neighbor's house to get his papers for Coast Guard printed out, we came back home, and I did a little bit around here and then went to the store a little while ago.  Got 4 huge chuck roast and 4lbs of 93% hamburger that was on sale also. So going to can up all of it. I was putting canning on the back burner for a bit till I finished up on a few things in pantry and such. But I keep having this nagging feeling to get the meat and can it as well as the 10lbs of potatoes and then start back on the freezers. What meat I have in freezers are going to make soups, spaghetti sauce, and a few other things. 

Don't know what it is but has been nagging at me for over a week. Think I will follow my gut feeling on this one. But at least I now have some shelving room for it. 

That will work. Just shove them down the steps and let gravity do the rest. 

Midnightmom,  Those in the picture are the very ones my GD is using. The baby just will not latch on to that bottle.  I bought a Dr. Browns bottle that also mimics the breast. So, hoping when I have her on Tuesday, she will take to that one. The nipple is different and a bit smaller. So, hoping that will work. 

Got a late start this morning as I ended up sleeping in which I did not want to do. Rough night last night. Just could not get to sleep.

I wanted to go to store early this morning but now with DD and SIL here I will wait till Monday. I have through Tuesday to get the roast.  They are going to go check on SIL's parents who live in the neighborhood next to mine. So, without warning they will pop in over here. So, don't want to leave house not knowing when they will show up and then miss them. Yeah, I never get much warning. But at least this time DD told me they were coming in. They stay at my GD's house as DD said she needs baby time. Yep, that baby's schedule will be off all weekend. 

So, I am working on house in a few till they get here. After I finish my coffee. Never get in the way of me and my coffee. I'm not awake till I have had that one cup in the morning. 

Annarchy that is a great haul. I like the way they did that brisket. It looked really good when it was done.  And it looks really good also.  Sounds like you have been really busy. 

Jeepers, I don't know what it is like to sleep in a bit late anymore. But once in a while is nice. I did that this morning as the house was a bit cold and good sleeping weather. But it was because the furnace had quit.  But all fixed now and it is too hot in house now. Even for the thermostat being set at 67*. Might just nock that down a notch or two. Have the ceiling fan going which is helping right now but can't get back to sleep. 

Hope you don't end up getting your days and nights mixed up again. That is a mess to straighten out again. 

I keep putting off getting a new computer and printer, not to mention another TV for the den. Just not in shopping mode for that type of stuff right now. 

DD is at GD's house they got in at about 8:30 last night. They are coming over here sometime tomorrow for a while. They are going back home Sunday night. 

I have thought about a storage shed but it is just another bill to store junk I might not ever use again. What I need for in house is already covered. As for garden tools the only thing I need to replace is the hole diggers. Everything else has been replaced that needed to be. I do need some garden hand tools though also. Mine are wearing out. Also, some more tarps Seems lately I have been going through those for one thing or the other.  Good on canning jars but can never have enough lids. I really don't think I need anything else that I can think of. It's just a matter of replacing things around the house that need replacing. The well is done and soon the gutters will be done. Next the outside lights and I will be getting the ones that come on when something or someone is roaming around. I am also going to get some sort of security system but not sure on what yet. Still researching those. Don't want a monthly fee for one. I think I am just to the point now of just securing the house for if it hits the fan as much as I can. And replacing some things like the outside lights and flood lights as well. I want to add flood lights to the bedroom side of the house also. That is the darkest part of the yard at night. Still thinking about running electric to the one shed since that is really the one for storing things like you would if you rented a storage shed each month. But I don't want it to store stuff I will never use. So, working on that again when the weather turns a bit warmer. Need to buy some more garden hoses also. I think that about covers what I need or need to get done. After that is all done, I am going to take a vacation. Just not sure where yet. By the time I get things finished GS will be out on his own. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMO!  

Today has been a crazy day. Nothing I needed to do got done. Furnace went out during the night. So had to call the plumber for that. It needed a new coupling so not bad. All fixed and I now have heat. Then the guy for the gutters came out. Yes, I was tired of nails coming out of them and the cracks are getting worse so needed to just bite the bullet and get it done. So, they will be doing that on the 18th. They are also going to put in a couple of rain barrels for me. They are also going to replace the fissure boards as well. So that will be a two for one deal. I need to replace the siding fissure boards and other places as well, so when I need to get that done the price won't be much as they don't replace siding, but they do replace the fissure boards which is most of my siding anyway. I have a brick house. So that takes care of that. So little by little I am getting things done that need to be fixed or replaced around here but need to get back to cleaning and going through things. And what else happens that I am thinking hard about? Food Lion has roast on sale $3.99 a pound. That is $3 off a pound. So might run to store in the morning and pick up enough to can at least 8 to 16 jars of beef while I can still get it at a cheaper price.  So now I will be canning both potatoes and beef tomorrow. Or I should say I hope I get the canning done tomorrow. As my DD is now on her way here. 

Jeepers, I was a child of depression era parents and grandparents as well. We did make out ok.  I think my DH had it a bit worse as they couldn't even afford a car. They relied on buses to get to work and such. 

Right now, I am looking at how should I prepare if the grid goes down. What will happen if our water supply is down or contaminated. What happens when the stores no longer have food to sell or even cleaning supplies. So, all this stuff in this house, garage, sheds and attic. I look at it all with how I can use this if all the above happens. If I can't use it, trade it for bartering then I don't need it. Thanks to my DD and grandkids, I am good on cleaning supplies but need to go through them and weed out what I can't use. 

What I am doing now is getting rid of what I cannot use and eliminating stuff I haven't used in over a year. If I can't use it for the above things that can happen it's out of here. I am focusing on what I really need for the above issues.  I have all my canning supplies. Ways to cook off grid and things like that. I think I am really just over the having to prepare for the mess this country is in and having all this mess that I need to get rid of as well. It's becoming a give and take situation. Or a dump and add to preps situation. I think I am sat as long as I stay here. It's just getting it all together to see what I have and what I really need. 

Just about the only thing I really need now is a solar generator for back up to the natural gas generator.  And working on DIY stuff. 

My husband believed that you don't throw things away as even though you might not use it for a year or so, you might need it later. Well that never happened and one thing after the other was piling up. He would get rid of some things but not much. So, it all either went in sheds, attic or garage. I think it was the way he grew up. Depression era.  He learned from his parents early on not to throw away anything. So here I am dealing with it. If I haven't used it or worn it in over a year it goes to Good Will or the trash. 

I need to make another Lowes shopping trip before GS gets called into bootcamp. He is my muscles for the heavy loads. He hates shopping but he will help with that. Will need to start getting what he needs for bootcamp together for him within the next couple of weeks or so. 

 that he does well on the test.  He goes to the base for that on the 5th and 6th. Then home to wait for the time he has to leave for boot camp. That will be 8 weeks and then home for 2 weeks and then off to CA for 3 or 4 months of school and then his orders for where he will be stationed. Just hope it will not be here. If in NC he can hopefully either live on base or with his parents. I am hoping on base no matter where he goes.

I don't remember her on here but then I came to this post much later than most of you. Just glad we have all that info on here to keep her knowledge with us will also keep her with us through that knowledge.

Jeepers, I think we were posting at the same time. Sounds like your DS got the house sold at a great price.  Hope all works out for him.

Glad you are getting the payment for the house settled. I know that is a big relieve off of your mind.  I keep looking around at this house and wondering how in the world I have accumulated so much stuff. As much as I got rid of, I would have thought my house would be empty by now. But more still going out. Might go back to working on the garage again. I really need to get that mess out of there. I am tired of just a pathway to get to what I need. Yeah. I moved a lot of crap from one place to the other and it all ended up in the garage. Not to mention GS's mess. Skateboards, exercise bars. His dirty clothes scattered about. Old paint cans and such. What I need is to just disappear for a while and see if I come back and find it all just magically cleaned up. 

There is always a reason to have emergency money on hand.  The boiler went out sometime during the night. No pilot light and it will not relight. Nothing I do will get it going. So called the furnace guy. He will be out this afternoon.  I have been noticing that the boiler was making a lot of noise so may be that something on it has gone bad. So, they will be out this afternoon.  Also, I am getting an estimate on new gutters. So, they will be out this afternoon also. My day is not going as planned. But it is what it is. And I can forget tomorrow and Sunday as my DD and SIL will be in town. So maybe Monday will work out better for me. Like I said there is always something that keeps me from getting things done around here. It is cold in the house right now but not bad. 61* I can handle that. But I do have the small electric heater going in kitchen and den just to take a bit of chill off the bigger rooms. 

Just glad this happened last night and not while the baby was here. 

My GGD, isn't away from mom that often. But today she bought the baby to me and had to go home and work. She's a scribe for all the ER's around here and works from home. She usually just brings her computer to the house and stays and works in dining room. But today she had to catch up on several things as she has had a few meetings this week. So, she pumps and freezes the milk. Breast milk is what she gets in a bottle, but she will not have much to do with it. I told her early on that she needs to pump in order to keep milk in freezer just in case she got sick and couldn't breast feed. That was the intention of her pumping. But then she went back to work thinking she could stop for breaks to feed the baby, but as the baby is getting a bit older, she couldn't work and feed her at the same time. She is hoping to be a stay-at-home mom and quit her job after her DH is out of school for Coast Guard and they are stationed in a more permanent area. She plans to home school and needs to not have a job so she can devote her time to the baby.  They are planning another one around June of this year, I think. But that will remain to be seen. My GD also pumps for her friend that is unable to breast feed. She freezes the milk and then takes it to her on a weekly basis. But she is not sure she can keep it up as her child gets older. But nice she can do it for now. 

I will have to try to find it. There is so much info on here that I miss a great deal of it. 

GD texted me a while ago. Seems the baby started screaming for mom as soon as dad walked in the house with her. So, she sat down and fed her. Yep, she wanted mommy's boob. She drank so much milk that she started spitting up. We need to find a bottle she will except for those days when mommy is working, and I have her. I bought those Dr. Brown's bottles. They are supposed to be the closest thing to mommy. So will see how that goes next week. When I am keeping her again. They are anti colic also. So, keeping my fingers crossed. 

Mom freezes the breast milk and all I have to do is warm it up and put in bottle. Her DH said she will not take that bottle once she has made up her mind it is not mommy. What can I say, she is spoiled rotten already.