Littlesister

Miki, I hope your foot heals fast. Nothing worse than having your feet hurt no matter how it happened. Got 10 pints of green beans out of that bag. it was a 5lb bag. So, all of that will go toward GS's food preps. He said he didn't want any of it, but I think if things really get bad, he will start eating some of it. Pressure canner is going now. I have a spot in pantry set up for his special foods and this will just help to stock him up for emergencies. Going to be a long night.

A pan of stew and hot chocolate to keep warm on stove sounds great. With GS coming in from work anywhere from 2am to 4 am that is a great way to keep food hot for his dinner. And there will be coffee on there to keep warm all winter. I do drink more coffee in wintertime. and GS drinks it once in a while. So stove is going to be a good learning process. for using the flat top for food.

Green beans are in the canner now. 10 pints is not bad for what he bought home. It's funny, because his dad also works in food distribution but a different company. They only give out a turkey. GS's company gives the whole meal right down to the pie. So now I have 5 turkeys in freezer, and I will have to can them when I get back into town this weekend. But well worth it. Four of them I bought last year right after Christmas. Never got around to canning them. I have 5 lbs. of potatoes I had just bought, and he came home early this morning with 10 lbs. more. So, I will be canning 15 lbs. of potatoes and 5 turkeys plus broth. Going to be a busy week next week. Will put one turkey in fridge tomorrow before leaving for NC. It will still be frozen in middle, but I will be able to get one canned while the next one is thawing. DD didn't want any of it as she said she had everything, and she will not can anything. GS's company really went all out with giving the employees food. Wondering now what he will be bringing home for Christmas. This will all be a good start for his food preps. Need to go through my canning books to see all the different ways I can can up turkey. I have no freezer room. So that is a bummer for pre maid meals. I am going to have to teach grandson how to use canned potatoes. He has seen me take a can of potatoes and fry up with onions. And he loved that. So will be giving cooking lessons soon.

Happy Birthday UKGuy, I never saw you on here but have read some of your post in across the pond. They were really good.

Joyfilled, you really caught on fast cooking on a wood stove. And I agree with everyone else. Those pies look great. I am so going to try your recipe. Yesterday I cleaned ashes out of wood stove and spread them over the larger garden area. they say wood ash is good for a garden but not to use to much as it makes the soil aquiline or something. Will need to read up on that. But the ground could use some of anything at this point. If I do end up doing a garden even though my plan was to just take a break next spring, I am thinking I will be doing one with prices like they are and going to get much worse. So, I haven't started another fire yet. But still want to try the biscuits. Will now be just waiting till I get back from DD's house as GS left me a lot of work to do with the food, he bought home.

Dee that looks so good. I am coming to your house for lunch. I am going to be up to my eyeballs in cooking and canning very soon. Very unexpected. GS works in a food distribution center. He bought home a pumpkin pie, 15lb turkey, 2 boxes of stove top stuffing, a 4 or 5lb bag of fresh green beans, 10lbs of white potatoes, and 5lbs of sweet potatoes. All free from his company. This is a first for him as he hasn't been there a year yet. So, this will be going on even after he gets his apt. He would just come by here in middle of night put it all away and I will wake up to free food as he doesn't know how to cook any of it. But I will take care of that for him. It will be part of his food storage. Seems they do this every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Seems this is the year to be busy. Mt. Rider hope all goes well at the councilor's visit. And yes, what Jeepers said. Well, my plans changed for today and tomorrow. GS came home at around 3 am. He works in food distribution. I now have a 15lb. turkey in freezer along with a pumpkin pie. Opened up the fridge and I have 10 lbs. of white potatoes, a huge bag of fresh green beans. Looks to be maybe 5lbs. and 5lbs. of sweet potatoes. Plus 2 boxes of stove top stuffing. So, I will be canning today and tomorrow. That is not what I had in mind, but free food and a lot of it. Will call DD after I talk with GS as to what he wants to do as it is all his food. But he doesn't eat much of it. So, will can up what he likes and the way he likes it for him to take with him to his apt. when he moves. That is if he wants it. He doesn't eat green beans and doesn't know how to cook regular potatoes unless it's baked in a microwave. Same with sweet potatoes. He doesn't know how to cook a turkey for sure. But he can follow directions for the stove top stuffing, and I haven't ever known him to eat that. But at least he brought it home. I think this might happen again at Christmas. But hoping they will give him a ham as he does love ham and I can fix that up for him with no problem. He does eat turkey but only the legs. So, my mind is twirling as to how to can all this up so he will eat it. Got jars in dishwasher now. And waiting on those to finish. And I really want to talk with him before I start on it. So, waiting for him to wake up. His company seems to have supplied Thanksgiving dinner for us. Mt. Rider, I hope your son and his wife get over that virus fast. Not the time of year to be sick.

It is hard when you lose loved ones. My Dh cooked certain things for dinner at times that I did not know how to do. When he started to get sick and was not able to do things, I started making those things with him telling me what to do. I wrote down everything he made but still it's not as good as his. Those are sad time indeed. Miss him dearly. It's hard when you do everything with your DH and now you are having to do it all alone. But recipes to pass down to children to keep in family. DH didn't do a lot of cooking, but he did have his specials he liked to cook. I also save the turkey bones for broth and soup. But Dee you got lucky on that. Lots of things you can do with what someone else might consider being trashed. Our Church had our gathering this past Sunday night. The church furnishes the turkey, dressing, rolls and drinks and then everyone brings a dish plus a desert. We are a small church so no leftovers to bring home. We take what is left and fix up plates to take to our home bound members. Lots of fun.

Mt. Rider, I also didn't see where you had falling. Hope you are doing much better from that. I know that left a bad bruise. I think I got bit by a spider or something. Finger is red and itching like crazy. And a bit swollen. Though I never saw a spider. So not sure what bit me. Was going through all my canning supplies today. I have more lids than I know what to do with. And I think there are still more in the shed I need to get out. I am trying to gather them all in one place and have the large mouth and small mouth in separate bins. then there are the large and small tattler lids that I am separating into separate bins. To go in the pantry where I can get to them easier without running to the shed all the time. Not going to do much else as I will be leaving for DD's house on Thanksgiving Day. So don't want to start on anything else. Only reason I have been able to keep pushing to get things organized is because I don't have to cook this year. Usually when DD was living 15 minutes away from me, I would take some food to her house that I made. But 2 and a half hours on road would be a bit much. Don't think things would get there in the best of shape. But I do have Christmas to contend with. So, after Thanksgiving I will be getting house decorated and start planning for Christmas dinner and finish doing the Christmas shopping. Still stuck on one GD and her DH as to what I want to give them for Christmas. But I will have it figured out shortly. As soon as I get home I need to go ahead and order for the GD and her DH in CA and the one in Washington State. Need plenty of time to get there. This has been one busy year for me with all that construction and then the cleaning up from it and unpacking stuff to get put away again. And now with Thanksgiving and Christmas there is no rest for the weary. But will be lots of fun and I can rest up after the first of the year.

Dee the flat top wood stove is what I have to heat house with. And yes, I used it for 2 days straight and it was down in 20"s night before last, and the furnace never came on. Cooked chicken on it the other night. Didn't start it up today as I needed to clean it out. I buy my wood by the cord. Not cheap but I got over a cord and a half for $300. The stove is set to burn slow and it last much longer than I thought it would be before having to add anymore wood to it. Will be ordering another cord or two next year. Maybe more as I don't know if wood will go up or not. Hoping it won't. Hoping to see a very low gas bill this winter. But so far, my gas bills for winter use haven't been bad. Got the wood stove mainly because depending on a fireplace just wasn't an option as your heat goes up the chimney. So, that was to solve that issue and keep the heat in house and not up the chimney. But now that I know for sure I can heat and cook on it, I'm all in. SIL said to get a cast iron trivet to put the pots on, so things won't burn on bottom of pan. Might be a good idea. Going to give that a try and the top of that stove gets very hot and no way to turn down the heat except by way of the amount of wood you put in it. It's a learning curve for sure.

I can believe the 5 men to get it up in house. It took 4 men to get mine which is smaller than yours up the steps into the den. That stove weighed over 500 lbs. That's a lot of weight. But well worth it and I am very thankful for what I have. And I know you are as well. God is good. He knows our needs even before we do.

I have a few of what they call the Lost books. They are good books, but I am not familiar with that sight. But I do know those books are good ones.

Joyfilled, you made the right move with that stove. I don't have any way of putting something like that in my kitchen and the one I got was to be a fireplace insert but ended up being free standing which worked out better. But if I could get something like yours it would have to be set up outside on back patio and I don't know how that would work as it would need to be protected from weather.

I'm thinking at that price if you get both the small mouth and the wide mouth it might come to the $50 needed for free shipping. I will be looking into this as I do want to get them. will look at what else they have that I could use that might push it over the $50 amount to get the free shipping but not sure what else they sell yet. Will look around at the sight to see best way to go.

euphrasgne, keep after your DH. Hopefully he will give in and get one. Mine is not what Joyfilled has, and I would love to have one of those. But this is in my den. And was mostly for heating the house. It is doing great for heating house so hopefully. I cooked chicken on it today. And it turned out great. The top is flat so using my cast iron pans is working great. When it is just the embers in stove, I think I can set a pot inside the stove and cook something up, but not sure on that yet. Don't know what made me decide to try chicken on it as there are other things that might have been easier to do for doing it the first time. But it worked out great. Chicken was done and very tender. Need to go out to shed and get the rest of my cast iron pots. I put them in there for safe keeping during construction. Or to hide from SIL Yes, he loves cast iron pots and will one day he and GS will inherit them. Plenty for both of them. I need to find a place to store them when I bring them in. No room in kitchen for them as they are a huge roasting pan, to small Dutch oven to a large Dutch oven. I think I have about 4 different sizes. I will be using the smallest one the most. I do have a lot of cast iron of all types. Other than cooking chicken on wood stove. I have had the CD player going and just relaxing. For some reason it just feels like an Eary day. Just to quiet even with the CD player going. Did some Bible reading and just relaxed for most of the day. Tomorrow it's back to work. DD and SIL left for home later last night and got home around 9pm. Need to get ready to leave for DD's house Thursday morning. Won't be back till sometime Sat. evening. This will be my first time driving there so hope I don't get lost. But think I will do ok. Been a long time since I drove any distance but is only 2 and a half hours away. Not the 5 or 6 hours I used to drive to grandparents' house years ago.

Mine is not a stove like that but just a flat top wood stove to heat house. But I did cook chicken on top of it. It has no burners or an oven. But I think when it is just hot embers, I could cook on that. But for the flat top of the stove, I decided to try cooking chicken. Figured if it didn't work out, I could finish off in oven. But the chicken cooked through and was very tender. Great flavor. Can't bake in it but might think about stove pipe oven. would have to have chimney guy come and install it but would be worth it. The stove is at fireplace in den on far side of kitchen. It is heating the whole house. The furnace has not come on all day. it is comfortable 72*in house right now. Joyfilled, that meal looks great. I love the wood cooking stove. Maybe I might have one like that in my future. But at my age and lack of funds for one like that I will settle for my regular wood stove. And yes, thinking the Lord every day for being able to have one. Will try to get pictures on here when I get the problem fixed with that. Computer keeps saying my pictures are full. Don't think that is the problem.

Mt. Rider, glad you were able to get some sleep. Becca Anne, it's good to be able to get someone over there to get those things taken care of. Plexiglass is a great idea. And yes, it does insulate well. Fired up the new wood stove today. SIL couldn't stand it. He had to check it out and he wants one. They have a natural gas fireplace, and he wants to change it out for a free-standing wood stove. Seems he and DD has finally woken up to reality and stocking food and thinking about ways to keep warm without current of any kind. So that is a start. We are working on getting GS set up with everything he needs to be on his own. That fireplace will run you out if not careful. Still have to get fans situated and such. But being the first time using it and getting the feel for how it is going to do was the main part. And Mother is right. I will be able to cook on it and put a cast iron pot inside when it gets down to embers to cook something inside the stove. Wondering how bread in a cast iron pan would work in there. SIL thinks I should get that oven that goes onto the pipe going up into chimney also. He said he has cooked on one before. I might think about that. House is now up to 70*. And that is in back of house which is usually a bit colder than front of house. So, working good for keeping whole house warm. They saw my bedroom pantry for first time finished up and they love it. SIL has his brain going on what they need to do now. He has known for a long time that they need to start prepping but DD was never on board. It was always it will be fine. This won't last. Now they see it will last and no end in sight. She went to store and got sticker shock. I think that got her on board. She still won't do canning, so I am introducing her to dehydrating. I think she will be on board for that.

GS is off for Thanksgiving Day. So we are leaving on Thanksgiving Day at around 8 am on Thursday. Since this is my first time driving there and I have no idea where I am going, I figure we should get there by 11 am at the earliest. Google maps better not fail me. Friday will now be a shopping day for us girls. Should be back sometime Sat. night as GS is working on Sunday night and wants to come home on Sat. instead of Sun. This will be my first outing in a long, long while. Might just do me some good to get away for a few days. Got house cleaned up today. Mopped floors and dusted. Went through a few more things also and got that put away. My CD player must have gotten that cement dust in it even though it was covered and in living room during construction. It is a Bose, and I can't afford to replace it. So took a chance and took it apart to clean it. It was full of dust. But it is now working again. So been playing CD's most of the day. I have been being as quiet as possible with GS sleeping during the day. But it is just too quiet. So, the CD player played all day, and he didn't wake up. Can't handle that much quiet. Have always had the CD player a radio or the TV on during the day. Guess I got used to DH having the TV on all day watching his cowboys and Indians all day. Just got used to the noise, I guess.

Never been to a cookie exchange before either. But we have done cake walks at our church.

We just had a change of plans for Thanksgiving. GS said he found out tonight he will be off for Thanksgiving Day. So, we are leaving for DD's house on Thanksgiving Day. Hoping all plans go well. So now DD and I can go do a little shopping on Friday instead of having Thanksgiving on the day after Thanksgiving. When the grandchildren were younger, we used to get together and leave house at 6 am and head to the Williamsburg outlet mall. We would be gone all day and not get back sometimes till around 11 pm. Would stop at Patrick Henry Mall in Hampton on way back from Williamsburg. So maybe we can do some shopping like that again Friday next week. But not as late. Don't think at my age now I could handle all day like that again. But it sure was fun. Maybe this will be the start of a new tradition moving forward. Seems my life has changed so much now that it will be another hard time over the holidays, but I really need to start moving forward now. Not as easy as it sounds but working on it.

My traditions are changing for the second time. But we used to use the fine China and things as well. Used to have 25 to 30 family members here for Thanksgiving. Cooked Turkey, dressing outside of the bird, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green beans but not the casserole as grandkids are picky. Cranberry sauce, butter beans, corn, and rolls. We had, lemon meringue pie, both sweet potato and pumpkin pie for dessert. With picky eaters I always had to keep it simple. Then over the years as family members passed on and grandchildren grew up, got married and moved away to other states, The amount of people here got smaller and then DD decided that she would do Thanksgiving at her house, and I do Christmas at my house. That has worked out well for us for a few years. Now that another GD has gotten married and moved to SC and the only one here now is GS. We are figuring out new plans. GD and her DH will be heading to DD's house sometime late on Thanksgiving Day. It is about a 4-hour drive to DD house. For me and GS it will be a 2-and-a-half-hour drive. And with GS working on Thanksgiving and not get home till around 3 am on Friday morning. We will be leaving around 8 am on Friday morning. Not sure yet if this will be a tradition yet or not as we are using this year to work out new traditions again. DD, GD and I will be all in kitchen cooking up a great Thanksgiving meal.

Went to store yesterday to pick up some drinks and a few other things for GS. They had frozen mixed veggies and butterbeans on sale 2lb bags at 2 for $5.00. Haven't seen them that cheap in a while. So bought 2 of each and came home and got them in dehydrator. Since it was rather late when I got them in there, I let it run all night. Got them jarred and sealed early this morning. Butterbeans did take a little longer, but they are all done. Cleaning house rest of day and going through more things. DD and SIL will be here early tomorrow morning as we are taking GS out to lunch for his birthday. Since GS is working on Thanksgiving, we are leaving early Friday morning heading to DD's house for Thanksgiving. We will come back I thought late Sat. night since GS is working Sunday but does not leave for work till 4 pm. DD wants us to stay and come home early Sunday morning. Then GS can sleep till almost time to leave for work. I have to think about that. But works for me. Will see how it goes.

Now I am hungry for something sweet. That looks really good. I haven't made cobbler or jelly in a long time but will be keeping all this in mind if it doesn't work out right.

Cricket, those all-nighters are rough. Went through a lot of those in 2020 and early2021. Don't think I have recuperated yet. My health went down because of it. But it was what it was. Started going through boxes in garage. Found the CD's and DVD's and brought those in house and got them put away. Working on getting my bedroom back together again. Got one picture hung up in there for now. It was in my way. All my CD's I would like to have in the den as that is where my CD player is. Got to get the racks for them cleaned up and bought back into house. Then I can sort through and get them back on rack. Right now, they are sitting in bedroom on top of the TV stand. That will work for now. More stuff for Good Will to go out. Box is getting full so might just take that box to Good will tomorrow and start a new one. Hoping tomorrow to start going through the rest of the OTC meds and organize those. Was hoping they would work out on the hall closet but not enough space. So, will get them set up in bedroom closet shelve. Got everything I need to get them organized. Plastic shoe box size containers to hold each one. Vit. D in one, Vit. C in another and so on. That way they won't be falling down, and I can label the boxes at the end so I can find what I need quickly. Daughter and SIL will be here Sat. Morning. We are taking GS out to dinner for his birthday. That little brat couldn't wait to try out being 21 years old. He stopped at 7 11 and bought a 6 pack of that Mikes hard lemonade. Yuk! He said he had fun doing it. Girl asked for ID, and he slowly pulled out his drivers lic. and slowly laid it on the counter for her. She said today is your birthday and he said yep and he's trying it out for fun. He said the girl said he made her day.

Thanks, Jeepers. I got the book 1929. It was really good. Started off funny and then got so sad. But was a really great book. And it does give an idea of how things can go south in a stock market crash. Lost jobs, etc. Worth the read.