Littlesister

Jeepers, you will get there. And much sooner now that things are wrapping up. Glad you are getting the phone figured out. Finished the canning this evening. Still a lot to get done though. Not much of a dent in freezer yet. Where the green peppers are concerned, I had made the unstuffed peppers and today canned more meat. I kept out 2 more gals. of peppers to can something with but don't know yet. They are in fridge still frozen. Maybe some spaghetti sauce. I am very low on that. Only one jar left. Need to find more recipes for green peppers. Won't be canning or anything tomorrow. Church and then funeral home in afternoon. My next-door neighbor passed a few days ago. At least he made it passed covid restrictions. I still haven't gotten over how it was for my DH. Don't know if I ever will but trying hard to let it go. It was what it was but a lot of it was not necessary. And only 2 choices of coffins because they couldn't get any more in. Though I could have gotten a $20,000 to $30,000 one. Yeah, they have some high dollar ones in there.

Been canning all day today. Pulled out more green peppers to use to can something else but not sure what yet. I already did the unstuffed green peppers. That turned out good, but I don't think I will put the Italian seasoning in it next time. But it is still good. I always tend to follow a new recipe to the letter the first time then next time I tweet it a bit. But overall, it is good. While canning the insurance person called. So, I put speaker on so I could hear him while I was canning. I was told a few years ago that I couldn't get long term health care after I think it was 65 at that time. Well after reading some post, I decided to check that out. Yes, I can get it and am working on that now. With DD living in another state and that possibility that my GD that lives here could get transferred, that leaves me on my own with no help from family. So decided to check it out. I will be covered for nursing home, 24/7 home nursing care also. And home nursing care is the one I am wanting. Not going into a nursing home around here. I hate having to buy a new cell phone. Having to start over is no fun. But had no choice a few months ago. Mine was dying a slow death. I didn't get a smart phone. Too much to deal with on them. I stuck with an android. I can do almost anything on an android that I could on a smart phone. And for what I use mine for a smart phone made no since to me.

Got pressure cooker going early this morning. And went through a couple of boxes. Going to have to make another Good Will trip soon. Raining here now and yes, I should have bought in more wood yesterday. But it was really cold out. Now it is raining. But it is supposed to be near 60* today. So will not start the wood stove back up today. GS has a cold, so I let him sleep on couch last night. Don't think it would be a good idea for him to sleep in a cold car with a cold as I don't want him to get pneumonia either. He's been coughing and sneezing as well as a stuffy nose. No fever so just a cold. I have been spraying everything down with Lysol and forcing him to wash his hands all the time. Don't even come into my kitchen without washing your hands. He is hardheaded when it comes to something as simple as washing hands to not spreading germs around. I woke up early this morning to my ear being all wet. My ear was draining and feels weird this morning. It doesn't hurt or anything just still feels wet deep down inside. I might have gotten water in it when I took a shower, and I forgot what to put in it to dry it up. I will take care of it later.

Lots of great ideas on here. I didn't think about Texas toast but that is a great idea.

Another one is porkchop, Au gratin potatoes, applesauce and whatever veggie you like with it. I also do beef stew and soups like that. I like to buy the applesauce in those small plastic single containers since it is just me. My GS had started buying those single cups of mashed potatoes and mac and cheese for work. So, I picked some up on sale to use as something quick when not feeling like cooking up anything along with my canned meats and veggies. So, it is just enough for a couple of meals that way. Still don't have enough freezer room to do up the meals like that. But working on it. I canned up some small boneless steak a few days ago. So that is what I will be eating on those days I don't want to cook. Just heat and serve.

This morning I worked on business stuff. I hate that but it must be done. So now I have everything set up for 2024. I started doing that in December but was unable to get it finished do to waiting on some paperwork. The only thing is that for my BC secondary insurance I wanted it to be on auto pay and my bank is being a butt about it. So, need to go to bank and see what is going on with that. Calling them on phone didn't work. I had to get a new cell phone a few. months ago. I got the Galaxy Z flip 5 phone. I like it but like you said, had to learn it all over again. Taking a break for now and will finish packing up what I am keeping of the Christmas things. Then will get them back to the shed. Tomorrow will be a canning day. Will be canning most of the day. More stuff coming out of freezer to the canner.

Jeepers, sorry about the phone. Did you check under bed and emptied your purse to see if maybe you dropped in another area of purse. What about pants or jacket pockets? There are all kinds of places you won't expect to find a phone. Ask me how I know. Could you have dropped it on the ground going from jeep to hotel room. You could check to see if anyone turned it in to the office. I know about having to get a new phone. It's a pain. I had to do that about 3 or 4 months ago. I hate having to learn new things like that. Going through more boxes today. That is mostly what I will be doing today. GS is working this afternoon. So will have the house to myself today. He is still asleep in his car. I can't believe he stays warm but when I look in his window to check on him. He doesn't have a shirt on. And he said he is fine and not cold. The car is in a sunny location of the driveway. So, I guess that helps.

Had to stop on the closet. My shoulder is killing me. Took some Aleve and used one of those salonpas patches on it. Hopefully it will stop hurting soon. Think I lifted up a box that was a bit too heavy. GS finally woke up. Going to take him to store shortly to help him buy some things and something for his ankle. He always wants me to go with him now to help him with sales and such. He really doesn't know how to shop for food. To him it's just a price. To me it cost too much and wait for the sales. I really need to finish the closet but will let shoulder calm down first. Then it's back to canning. Jeepers, do you have anyone that can call your phone while you are in the hotel room. If so, do that to see if it fell behind something. If you don't hear it ring, then when you go to house have someone call the number there if you don't see it. That's what I do when I misplace my phone.

My front yard is becoming a parking lot. But I know it is only temporary. But they will be having family coming in from out of town also. Hopefully most of them will park on street. Most people do. I already have their daughter's old car parked in front of my house. Been there now for 3 or 4 years. They abandoned it there; I think. Flat tires and the car got so hot inside that it is falling apart around the front window. Hope the window doesn't fall out next. They need to have it towed to a dump. Went to Harris Teeter to pick up RX and got my copy of all the RX's for 2023 for taxes. So that much is out of the way. I said I wasn't shopping for anymore groceries, but I couldn't resist some of the good sales. Talked with one of the stockers for a bit. I think he was one of the managers as he was removing a lot of items from the shelves. He told me they were going on the clearance table, and you know I will be back to go through it. We were talking about the prices going up so high and he said there will be more shortages and higher prices. And that it will not end till we get a new president, and he was worried about another fraudulent voting system. Guess we will see come November. Getting ready to clean out the bedroom closet. Bought a pizza for lunch. So, lunch is now over and it's back to work.

Seems earthquakes are suddenly becoming more frequent for 2024.

The doctor I worked for was Japanese. His brother was a diplomat. I met him a couple of times when his niece was found dead in her college dorm room in Maryland. When they came to the office, I couldn't understand anything they said. They didn't speak English and none of us other than the doctor spoke Japanese. One of my neighbors is now a contractor for the Navy and has been sent to Japan several times. I saw pictures of the area of the earthquake. It is bad over there.

Got a call early this morning that my next-door neighbor passed away. He had been in and out of the hospital for a couple of years or more. He did get to come home for Christmas from hospital and then had to go back. Two days after he went back to hospital he ended up in ICU and it just went downhill from there. That family needs some serious prayers as his hospital bills were over half a million dollars. Don't know what type of insurance they had but it doesn't seem like it paid very well. But in all, at least he isn't suffering anymore. He had been through the ringer ten times over. Nothing left of him but a shell. Skin and bones. Going to pick up RX in a bit. It is really cold outside this morning. I think it made it back up to 29* now. Heavy frost. Grandson has strained his muscle in ankle playing on the skateboard. So, he has been limping pretty bad the past few days. I'm going to give him a muscle relaxer and put a wrap on it to see if that helps. It had been years since he played on one and he should have gone easy on it. Kids never learn even when they are grown. But that to will heal. He is getting a promotion and has only been on this job just over a month now. He will be the team leader working just under the manager. They don't call them assistant managers there. Will start working on cleaning out my bedroom closet after I get home from store. It is still packed up from stuff all over the house for the construction on house. Time to get that job done.

There were small earthquakes in CA and in Maryland. No damage.

Getting really cold outside. Got the firewood stacked and ready to go for when it gets colder. Probably tomorrow morning will start a fire in wood stove if it is still cold. I only use it when it gets really cold. Wanting to stretch my wood right now. Hopefully the well guy will be here first of the week. He's getting things together. Still looking for someone to replace the garage sink. It has to be someone that can tear out a cabinet and the sink. Then put in a new utility sink. I think I will call the guy that put in the ramp for DH to see if he does things like that. Hope he can as he is good at what he does. Might talk to him also about a lean too for firewood, but one that could be enclosed. That way I won't have to use my garden shed as a woodshed. But will see what he says. Trying to figure out a few things around here has not been easy to plan out. But will get there soon. GS said he will bring more firewood into garage tomorrow if he is off work. He has worked every day since last Saturday with no time off. So, he thinks he will be off tomorrow. Said he will help me with some other things as well. He must be getting hungry for real food.

I replaced all of my carbon monoxide detectors and fire alarms about 4 months ago. Had one that was replaced over a year ago because of the wood stove. Didn't want to use it till I had a fire alarm and carbon monoxide detector set up for that. Now they are all replaced. Scrubbed down the kitchen this morning. Will be mopping the kitchen floor in a bit. Waiting for GS to get his coffee and eat before doing that. He just woke up. Not sure what else I am going to do yet. But something tells me to bring more wood up to the house. We could be in for some snow if what I heard was right. So will be getting things together just in case. It could just be a dusting if we get any at all. But we have been known to get a good couple of inches also. It's just been a few years since that has happened.

Nope, I didn't catch the candy canes either.

You are missing the side yard to the right in pic 4, The Grinch came back and stole the sidewalk again in Pic. 4 And your reflection disappeared in pic. 4.

Already took care of the gas leak. GS helped me move the dryer and it was a very small leak around a connection. Yep, Found DH's stuff to fix leaks and now it is fixed. No more gas leak. DH was the gas man and taught me a lot about natural gas. So, no more gas smell either. I used the dryer after fixing it and no issues.

Like the cats, That's cute. Love Home Free that is a really good one. Mt.Rider, the new year will bring flower, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and so much more. May 2024, bring lots of blessings, protection and great gardens this year also.

I heard something about it a couple of hours ago. Prayers for those people in Japan and that the nuclear reactors will be ok. I need to turn the news on. I haven't done that much in the past 2 months.

Got all the Christmas decorations all put away this morning. Talked with 2 of 3 grandchildren and DD. Not sure where the one that lives here is. But they are probably out getting boxes for their Christmas decorations. They had a live tree, and everyone passed some decorations to them. From all sides of the family. Had one jar of chicken that didn't seal. So that was put in fridge early this morning. So only 5 jars of chicken. But there is more in freezer. Just cleaning up today and then tonight I will get some green peppers out of freezer to thaw in fridge. Then make the unstuffed peppers tomorrow. Later today will pay a bill to put in mail tomorrow and check all my deposits. Will be calling the well guy in the morning also as well as a plumber for sink and gas leak.

Just wanted to pop in and say: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Just turned the pressure canner off a few minutes ago. So, waiting for pressure to go down. Taking a break tomorrow as I need to get some Christmas boxes back into the shed. Then on Tuesday I make my phone calls. Gas leak (but not too bad) around the dryer, calling the well guy and the plumber I hope can do the gas leak and the garage sink. Once those 3 things are done and out of the way I can start on clearing out the rest of the boxes in house and shed and getting rid of a lot more stuff. Can't wait to get all of that behind me. Then it will be off to the sewing machine if nothing else comes up. Just sewing and canning for a while.

Got the chicken canned after DGD left. She and the baby were here for about 3 hours. So, I played with the baby the whole time. Isn't that what great grandmas are supposed to do. Spoil them rotten and give them back to mama. Can't believe she will be 3 months old on the 9th. She has started rolling over now. So, after they left, I got the chicken in the canner. I just turned it off. So now waiting on the pressure to go down. Got the beef canned yesterday. Tomorrow I might take a break and then on Tuesday after I call the well guy, a plumber for both the garage sink and gas leak, I will make that unstuffed peppers and can it. I am trying to get on a roll now. I have about 15 1 gal. bags of green peppers. So, I will use about half of them for the unstuffed peppers. I think the recipe called for 6 cups. So that should get a lot of them out of freezer. I do have one corn beef brisket in freezer but not sure if that will be enough to do anything with yet. Might have to buy one or two more of those.

Jeepers, I know what you meant. But at least I could stay at my house while everything was going on. And I guess you could count my GS moving here from Washington in the middle of the construction. Yep, group therapy for all that has been having issues. I think we all need that sometimes. But here's to a new year and hopefully things will go better. (Just Kidding) The list of shortages for next year is bad. Meat, rice, sugar, canned goods, it just doesn't end. Get those gardens going this spring and keep the pressure cookers going. Things are going to heat up. But still, we can make this a great New Year despite all the issues that lay ahead. Stay positive and keep Jesus in the plans.