Littlesister

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Kappy, hope you feel better soon and glad you can get some of those free chickens. That is a plus. Grandson had to work on the 4th, so we celebrated on Sat. DD and her DH came in and GS cooked ribs on the grill. We had a great time. Then on Sunday after Church service we had a church gathering with a cookout of hotdogs and hamburgers after the service. Had a great time there as well. The 4th was quiet as GS had to work but watched the fireworks from a neighbor across from me doing some powerful fireworks in her back yard. I had to pull all the hoses and turn water on to be ready. The embers were blowing all over my roof and car. What a mess. And to make matters worse, my neighbor's dog managed to get out of house running from fireworks as she doesn't like the sound and got scared. Unfortunately, she got up on highway and got killed. So, when people do fireworks that close to the neighbors houses it does have consequences. That neighbor that lost his dog lives right next door to her. She had some powerful fireworks. Very loud and more like what they use at the parades. I had to wash car this morning to get all the ash off the windshield and stuff. It is all over the roof of house as well. Still trying to get things back together. No contractors again today. He says he is still waiting on the fan to come in. He is just putting me off as he ordered both fans at same time. They are the same fan just one with light and one without. He has contractors working on the other 3 houses he just took on a week or so ago and using the fan to hold me off till they get those houses going before he starts doing to them what he is doing with the other 6 houses. A little at this house then off to do a little at another house, etc. Nothing gets finished in a timely minor.

Kappy, I heard about that years ago. Couldn't remember what vaccine it was or if there was more than one. But yes, I do remember Africa kicking him out. Also, it seems that Africa was the one country that these newer vaccines were used on for a trial run. Wonder if I could still find the article about that. Will have to see if I can find it. That has been a long while ago.

The Roma tomatoes are loaded, but not ripe yet. So, kitchen was a must to get it back together. Becca Anne, sounds like you are going through some of what I have been going through. Ordering the wrong thing or something didn't come in when it was supposed to and of course taking contractors off my job to go work on another job and then pulling them from that job to go work on a third job and so on till no one is getting their jobs done in a timely manner. I put my foot down on the owner and that got the ball rolling again, but only for a couple of days. He is waiting on the fan that he did the wrong order on, and they won't be back to finish up till that comes in. Doesn't seem to matter to him that they still have to finish putting down the shoe molding, hook up the exhaust fans in both bathrooms and other small things that could be done while waiting on that one fan. The fan for the den is here sitting in garage. But no, they have to wait till the bedroom fan comes in to finish and again he said it can all be done in a day. Where have I heard that story before. They get here around 8:30 am, work for a while, then go to lunch for an hour and then by 2pm they are packing up to leave. So, no way will the rest of this get done in a day. This is what I have been dealing with for a few months. And the fireplace hasn't been started yet. But he says he's working on the plans. So, when am I going to know about these plans is anyone's guess? He will keep me guessing to stall for time to work on the other houses and he has now taken on 3 more houses before he has finished the work on what he already has for 5 or 6 other jobs. None are getting done according to contractors that come out. They are getting frustrated with the owner because they can't even get tile work finished in one house before he sends them to another house to do a little bit before sending them again to a 3ed house and so it goes. I think a lot of homeowners are on his case and he doesn't know what to do. I think it is called stop micromanaging your workers and let them get the work done like it should be.

Dee, I do remember back then, and I got that polio vaccine. But they are going to introduce a new vaccine for this, and I am not sure how that will play out. They say the old vaccine will not protect you from this type of polio that is coming from monkeypox supposedly. Right now, I am trying to find research on it. But is still hard to find out about this new vaccine. Has it been tested, I don't know? But to take another vaccine that is experimental is something I won't do. Yes, we all have to make these decisions, but I would prefer to know how safe it is. As things stand now with the corvid vaccine a lot of bad stuff is coming out now. And it is not good. So as time goes by on these experimental vaccines, we will find out more and more about them. If they are going to give the old polio vaccine from the 50's I would more than likely get that again, but not one that has yet to be tested.

That is what I need to be doing. I have some boxes of waffle mix that I need to make up and freeze for fast breakfast. I have a little room in freezer now so I might next week if things go well start doing that. I would rather make the waffles and freeze them than to just package it all up for long term use.

There is nothing to fear but fear itself. I will not be led into panic for this either. I will take any precautions that I might need to but that is as far as I go. I am over our gov. looking for ways to put fear and panic in everyone just so they can take away our rights little by little. And another vac. so the pharmaceuticals can get rich off our dime.

For everyone that is traveling, be safe and have fun. Been working on kitchen today. Getting things back in order now. And set up before the canning starts. Garden is just starting to produce. So, it won't be long now. If all the Roma tomatoes ripen at once, it will be lots of canned tomatoes, salsa and spaghetti sauce to get canned. Not to mention soups. Might make more ketchup depending on how far the tomatoes go. Taking a much-needed break right now. Getting ready to work on front bedroom again soon. Trying to get everything out of that bedroom and rearrange the furniture to fit better in that room. Daughter and her DH are coming into town tomorrow, so going to plan a cookout while they are here. then Sunday it's Church and a cookout after service as well. Need to bake brownies tomorrow for that also. Better make extras for family also. SIL loves brownies. GS is still asleep as he didn't get home till after 4am from work and went to bed just after 7am this morning. He is off today and tomorrow and should be getting up soon. Going to cook him a fish dinner tonight. He loves fish and could eat it every day. Once a week is enough for me, I'm not a huge fish eater. And yes, the grocery stores are outrageous on prices. Went to store for just a few things this morning and prices just keep going up. Produce is really bad. Frozen foods were not much better than last week. Don't know what is going on with that. They did have the 15oz. cans of pineapple on sale 5 for $5.00. So, I bought 5 cans. Beats paying $1.69 a can. Pineapple upside down cake sounds pretty good.

Jeepers you sure know how to lift a person up. I am having to work out a schedule with grandson sleeping during the day and still on couch in living room, construction still going on. And so much more. Seems that since DH passed, it has been one struggle after the other. Granddaughter and her DH moved in for 4 months and now grandson. GD and her DH are now in SC, and she has reapplied for PA school for this fall. They are holding off on buying a house now that the market has gone crazy and interest rates are rising. I feel like I really haven't had the time to myself since DH passed to even think of things I want to do and get done other than the remodel that DH and I had talked about before he took sick. And yes, I am doing more remodeling than DH and I had talked about, but it really needed to be done. Glad I decided to do it all at once though there are still other things, I need to have done but won't be as bad as this has been. After GS gets his own apt. hopefully within the next couple of years, I can settle down with the struggles I am going through. I love my grandkids but don't think I will be letting any of them move in with me again. Too much work on me with them here. And the fact that with this area growing up like it is, I have not totally given up on moving. Where I want to move in Montana may be a pipe dream, but something keeps nagging me about that move. At my age, I doubt that will happen.

welcome back, Kimba. Hope to see you posting.

Happy belated birthday euphrasyne, I seem to have missed it. Hope you had a wonderful day.

No contractors today, so I have started unpacking stuff and getting it all put away. Owner said they won't be back till the bedroom fan comes in and then they will be here to finish up everything in one day. Gee, where have I heard that before. Contractors need to get in attic for past 3 months and kept saying owner needs to get someone out that can move the wood stove as it is sitting in garage under the opening to the attic. I am so tired of the excuses. The stove is on a pallet. So, I went out this morning and slid it out of the way. Seems it just takes a woman to get things done these days. Those men could have done that, but they said they couldn't do it as it weighs 350lbs and they just won't be able to do it. I am in my 70's and I could move it with no help. Slides really easy on a pallet. Got the linen closet that is outside of main bathroom all cleaned out and that now only has pillows, sheets and blankets mostly in it. All towels and washcloths are now split up into both bathroom linen closets. So much better now. Put a huge dent in the front bedroom that I am trying to get setup for grandson. Hopefully it will be ready for him in a week or so. My dressers are on a few days delay so hoping next week they will be here for sure. Then I can empty the other dressers for grandson to use and get all my clothes back into my room. Hoping after that I can start on the small bedroom and get that set up. I really feel like I am moving with all the packing up I had to do for construction and now having to get it all unpacked. Once I get grandson out of the living room and into his bedroom, I can start working on getting the living room set up for a more useable room. Will need to get the couch into the den and sell the end tables that are in there. I am going to maybe be having a huge yard sale this fall or next spring, depending on if I can get everything together, I want to get rid of. Thinking about waiting to go through the sheds and getting all that sorted out. I will need a break once I get the house back together.

Joyfield the garden looks great. Just went out a while ago and checked my garden. Green beans are now starting to fill out as well as butterbeans. There are some tiny squashes on plants now. So far, I have only gotten zucchini, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. The Roma tomato plants are loaded but not ripe yet. Hoping they will mostly ripen at one time so I can get them all canned at one time and to make spaghetti sauce to can as well.

Contractors were here today. Hoping they will be back tomorrow to finish up. Both bathrooms are now done. Still putting down the shoe molding. Almost finished kitchen and then the den, hall and foyer and one closet to get done. Hoping all will be done tomorrow if they show. Then the fans in bedroom and den to go up. Owner messed up on one fan and had to reorder. So, waiting for that one to come in. Then it is touch up paint and the fireplace to get started on and I hope that will be soon. He said it should take about one or two days, but he didn't order the mat that goes under the stove a month ago like he was supposed to, so that won't be here till end of July. This is how it has been going. He waits till last minute to order and then the contractors can't get things done because they don't have what they need when it is needed. it has been a long 6 months of this. Though on the bright side I am able to start getting things put away now. Still a long way to go and trying to figure out where to put things. Organizing is a hassle. And I am sure that down the road if something that I put in one place doesn't work out, I will be moving things around till I can get it organized like I need. Becca Anne. enjoy your vacation. I am sure it is well needed. Jeepers have a safe trip and hope you get things moved in and ready to go soon. Euphrosyne, I am so glad you didn't break anything when you fell. I am thinking we are all going to have to save our bubble wrap for you and come wrap you up in it before you go out of door. You are accident prone for sure. Be careful. You have had enough setbacks.

Ambergris, have a safe and fun trip. TheCG, you don't get corvid and that your family is getting much better. Taking a break for now. Been unpacking boxes and trying to get what I can put away. Still a long way to go. But at least with construction that is done I can start moving things and putting it away. Trying to organize it is another story. Will more than likely reorganize somethings if it doesn't work where I put it. Having a linen closet inside of both bathrooms now is great. And the cabinets they put over both toilets are huge. So, lots of storage. Sill have the hall linen closet just outside of main bathroom that will be used for sheets, blankets, pillows and such. But all towels, washcloths, etc. are now situated in each bathroom. The long closet that I have always used as my pantry now has all my pasta, dried beans, and some long-term foods on top shelf in there. Once I get the small bedroom cleaned out and the desk, dresser and another file cabinet out of that room and more shelving units up, I might move that food from that closet into the small bedroom and set that closet up for first aid and OTC's and RX's. Then I can see at a glance what I have. Trying to get things organized and put away is a hassle. And with grandson sleeping during the day because of working at night, I am trying to do this quietly and by myself. Maybe once he gets his schedule Straight, and his sleeping pattern better established, he will be able to help me more. He does go and check the garden before going into work every day. He comes and tells me that something might need to be picked as he won't pick anything because he is not sure if it is ready or not. So at least I know what to look for after he tells me.

Happy Birthday.

Congratulations Joyfield. I know your daughter and soon to be husband will be really happy. The memories are what counts and knowing they will be happy together. You are doing great keeping cost down. It's not the cost of a wedding but all those memories that will be cherished. The time is getting closer. But you will have it all together in no time. And yes pictures please.

Garden is doing well so far. Have harvested a few cucumbers and a couple of zucchinis so far. Tomatoes are full but not ripe yet and the green beans are just starting. Have a few green peppers that I should be able to pick in a couple of weeks. Not sure about butter beans as of yet. They may or may not produce as I had to replant them when raised bed collapsed, but they do have a few blooms. So hopeful.

Euphresyne, the food looks great, though I can't do the hot stuff. But desert I can go for. Love sweets but have to be careful with being diabetic. The hotdog rolls look yummy also. TheCG. Hope you and your family are doing much better from covid. that you are all doing much better and that you didn't get it. Dogmom4, I have used Etsy many times with no issues. Sorry, that happened to you. I do know that sometimes you can get a page that looks legit but is not the page but a fake one. That happened to me once before. So, you think you are ordering from a company and the page you are on is a fake. Therefore, they steal your card number and have a field day. It is very hard to tell the fake page from the real page you are ordering from. Becca Anne, glad you got your freezer in that small door, and it is working out well for you. Hoping your DH is doing much better. Sorry to hear you are on hold getting your house together as well. It seems that is a huge problem with getting anything done any longer. Been 5 months for me and going on 6 months now. Not easy when you have to have your whole house torn up for that long and can't find or get to anything. Been a busy few days. After going after the construction owner, he started sending people back over after 3 weeks of nothing being done. So it is starting to come to an end, except for fireplace. He finally sent the chimney people out to see what had to be done. So just setting up a time to get stove installed now. But instead of him ordering the fire pad that goes under the stove that I picked out and thought he ordered a month ago. He just ordered and it won't be here for at least 30 days. He should have ordered it a month ago. But this is how it is with him. He waits till the last minute to get things ordered and then it is the waiting game to get things done again. So it will more than likely take another 2 or 3 months to complete the fireplace. But at least that won't keep me from getting the house back together. Also found out today that my dressers that I have been waiting on for over a year is at the dock and there is a delay in getting them on truck and getting them to the store for delivery to me. I am over the wait on the furniture. contractor didn't come out till 2:30 today, so went out and got garden weeded this morning. Still a bit wet but dry enough I could get it done. Green beans are just starting and the Roma tomatoes are loaded but not ripe. cherry tomatoes are just starting to turn, and the big boy tomatoes are full now but not ripe yet. So won't be too much longer before I will be doing canning again. Butter beans are in bloom but not sure if they will produce as after the raised bed box fell apart and they were well established at the time and then replanted, not sure if I will get much off of them or not. The box the green beans are in is starting to come apart as well, but the construction guys saw it and fixed it temporary so it will at least hold up till beans are done and I can later remove the soil and redo it. Don't think I will buy anymore raised bed boxes from Tractor Supply. The type of wood and the screws are horrible.

MMM, No I am not sure they will be done with this house. I am thinking he lied about someone coming to look at the fireplace. No one showed up and he never called me back to let me know if they were coming at all. After I called and told him no one showed up he said he was going to call me and let me know if they were coming. No phone call and no text message either. So just another one of his lies. They have not been here for 2 weeks now. This has been going on to a point I am going to start thinking hard about a lawyer. I have already stopped payments on him and told him no more payments till the job is done. I am betting he took on another job and has what few contractors he has all over there on that job or they all quit. At this point who knows. I texted him this morning and asked if anyone was coming today and he never texted back. So, I have decided he will not be doing the fireplace. But must finish up the floor and get the shower door installed. Plus, the other few things he is supposed be doing. He claims it can all be done in a day. No, it will take a few days for the fireplace. So that is now off the table. This has been 6 months of this house being torn apart and I can't get anything done till they finish. 3 closets I can't use till they get the shoe molding in. I don't want to be putting things in closet just to have to remove it all again for that. I am going to call his wife and get an itemized bill from her on what I have paid for everything and the cost of labor as well. I want to know where all my money is going and how much I have paid for everything. This has gone on for too long. Can you tell I am very mad about this? Wishing I had gone with Additions Unlimited even though they were much higher in price. The owner's parents live in my neighborhood. So at least I would know the job would get done. Heading out to Market. Later and don't get over heated. We have now hit the triple digits for a couple of days.

I also have a gas top stove and love it. Also have a propane grill with a side burner but never tried canning with that. Waiting for sales for propane crab or turkey burners with high BTU ratings to go on sale. Might get a couple of them and a couple more propane tanks. Euphrosyne, I feel for you with this hot humid weather. going to get up to 100* today and humid as well. I can no longer handle this humidity. That is what gets me the worst. Have been for a few years thinking about Montana. Kids and grandkids are all grown and are now living in 4 different states. GS is right now living with me till he can get on his feet, and I am hoping within one or two years he will be there. He loves his job and making good money and is now working on getting his bills caught up and paid off. So, hoping he will really be out of here within a year. DH and I had talked about moving to the country back a few years after we were married. But he had a major stoke 8 years after our marriage. And that ended that. The Montana thing is something I had been thinking about for over 10 years but never said anything to DH because of his heath and by then a major heart attack. That trip would be hard to do at my age almost 72 but still on my mind. DH and I did the beach thing because it was what the kids liked But neither of us were the beach sort of people. But love the mountains also. GS doesn't like the beach but loves the mountains. But he is not going to be coming with me if I make a move to Montana. I have been thinking about how this area is growing and getting much worse. I will have to go around and take pictures of what is happening around here. It's really bad. GS was in Washington state for just over a year and when he got back and started to ride around a bit around his old neighborhood and through Smithfield where he went to school, he was shocked. Just up at Carrollton Blvd. the Apts. have already been built and they are not done yet. They have Plans to make Rt. 17 a 6-lane highway from College Dr. to the James River bridge. Tolls will be put on everything here. James River Bridge, Monitor Merrimac, and other bridges will all have a toll. So, I would not be able to go far without paying tolls later down the line. And going all the way to end of college drive and Harborview Blvd. is a nightmare with what they are building. It's like its own little town. They are still working on that so not open yet. Apt; houses, stores, restaurants and so much more. It will be a huge area and Suffolk does not have the schools, roads or anything else to handle all this. Low-income houses are being mixed in with higher priced houses now. I would think that would bring down the cost of the higher priced houses, but that isn't the issue, it's the fact that there are still a lot of country roads and schools cannot handle all the kids coming here from who knows where. Plus, it is already a bottle neck issue here if we ever have to evacuate for any reason. Whatever I decide to do I will be making sure I can have natural gas for canning, geothermal heat and air and backup generator and solar. And yes, I still want a wood burning stove.

Thunderstorms and rain this morning. In the 80's but not bad. I think tomorrow and Sat. will be the hot days. Was hoping for contractors to come today but it didn't happen. After I fired off at the construction guy over the lie he told, He called me a bit later and said 2 guys were coming to see what needed to be done on the fireplace. Well of course they never showed up and I called. He said he would call to see if they were still coming or not. This was just after 4 pm. Owner never even called me back to tell me they weren't coming nor if they were coming today. So, I am calling him tomorrow to tell him he will not be putting in the stove that I am tired of the lies, and he had no intentions of sending anyone out here yesterday. I will have my chimney guy put it in for me. At least I will know it is done right. Becca Anne, how is that freezer. Hope you got a nice big one. My neighborhood has about 285 houses I think in it. And only 2 other neighbors are doing a very small garden. Not enough to get them through the summer though. I need to seriously start thinking and praying about moving out from here. The area is growing like crazy, traffic is really bad, And I am in bottleneck area if anything happens. I would never be able to get out of here if we had to evacuate. Yep, it is that bad and getting worse. I have lived here 40 years now. Got married in this house. Lots of memories, kids, grandkids. But times around the area are changing. I want to stay but something is nagging me to move sometime down the line. I am sure a lot of you have had those feelings. So, I just need to figure out if it is just me or something more to it. Could just be the thought of war, inflation in general and all that is going on in this world that is driving that gut feeling. But not making any decisions right now. Need to pray about it. At least by the time I make a decision all the work will be done on house.

Happy Birthday to all of you. Hope your day was a great one.

Well, it's not over with the construction guy yet. He called me about 10:30 this morning saying that a couple of guys are coming out today to look at fireplace to see what all they need to do. Never showed up. Called owner of construction company and he said he would call and find out if they are still coming. If that was supposed to pacify me because I went off on him about not getting this job done. It didn't work. So, I am not saying anything else to him. End of June he is done, and I will get someone else to do the fireplace. Which I have already gotten someone lined up for just in case. He knows I will call him if this guy falls through. I will let him get the shower door and a few other things they need to finish up since he claims they can do it all in a day. After that they are out. I have all summer to get the wood stove in, so not worried about it. That's better than having these guys all over my house and not finishing up because they have to stop early to pack up and get back to VA Beach. Just to not come back for a few days and leaving me in a mess. Went for that walk this morning. Walked the whole neighborhood. I couldn't tell if anyone with a privacy fence had a garden, but that was only 4 or 5 houses. All the rest no gardens other than 2 that had very small, raised boxes one with nothing growing in it and the other house had a few things that looked like cucumbers, one tomato plant in a bucket and that was about it. So, I am the only one with a big garden and there is a huge neighborhood next to mine that has a short street connecting them to us as our emergency way out. I don't know if anyone in Nansemond Shores has a garden. That neighborhood is much bigger than mine. My whole neighborhood is a mile long. So, when I walk the whole thing, I know I have walked a mile. Need to walk it both morning and evening. I think that could present a problem down the line if things go south. Desperate people do desperate things. And our new neighbor that moved in across from my driveway. Well, I have met her, and she seems really nice. Her Dh is in Army and is an army policeman. They are giving their neighbor a hard time because she has a dog that is in an invisible fence. That neighbor is the one that helps me out when I need help and I help her out when she needs help. She had to call the company for the invisible fence and have everything moved to get neighbor off her back. That dog would not hurt a flee. But they don't seem to like dogs. Just hope they don't give me any issues.

Prayers for those people. . They say our weather patterns will be bad this year. Hurricanes will be stronger, etc. Hope and pray they are wrong. I had it out with the owner of construction company. He lied again and I called him on it. No one showed up last week and so far, not this week either. I always text him so I will have record of conversation. He's busted. He said they will be out to finish job when the shower door comes in. Well, last week he said there was a hold up because the company making the door shut down for a week because they had no electricity. Ok I questioned that but was possible. But today when I texted him to find out if anyone was coming today, I got the company making the door closed down for 3 weeks due to them losing internet connection. So, he is lying about it and got me on hold for another job. I called him on the lie and told him to tell me straight out when the job would be finished as of July 1st he is done and out of my house. I have had enough of this. Reminded him this job started in January and by contract was supposed to be finished on April 17th and now it is middle of June. So, he now has till end of June to finish, and I will just get someone else to install the wood stove. I really don't trust him doing it as he won't tell me if he is having a professional install it or not and from what he has said it didn't sound like he has ever done one before. My chimney guy does install them and when he was here, we talked about it. So I know what has to be done. I reminded him I am not paying another dime until the job is finished. Ok rant over. Got a little bit of weeding done last night and today it is already getting hot. Not bad out there right now so might take that walk around neighborhood shortly. I need to do that more often as I feel like I am not getting enough exercise with all this construction. It has played on me by not knowing from day to day when they are coming out so I can leave house and not having to be here to let them in. But looks like I am a free bird this whole week. So, I am taking off for a bit. Need to get out of house and don't want to use gas to go anywhere. So the walk will be good. Want to see how many neighbors are doing a garden this year.

I agree. Wow Jeepers I wish I had a bank like yours. My Discover card does the cash thing but now they put a cap of $1,500 and every 3 or 4 months they have a list of what you must use it at to get the 5% cash back. I only would make out on that when it is gas and groceries. But that isn't enough to get the 1,500 back on it. I have always paid my cards off each month, so no interest to pay. But with the way things are going now I am putting my credit cards away and not going to use them for anything now. Going all cash and debit card only. I will do without till I have the money to pay up front now. Cards will only be in a dire emergency. Not going to carry them with me either as I don't want to have the temptation with me when I go to store. I am putting a cap on groceries when I shop as I have well over a years' worth of food in house and even though GS is living here, he has been buying the foods he likes, so that is not a problem. I do have some cash that I keep on me for an emergency if car breaks down while I am out. I am concentrating on getting the construction paid off. It is over 3/4 paid so need to work on getting that paid off. As for the rest of house, I have painted it before so I will paint the other rooms myself. Will take me much longer and I don't have the steady hand I used to, so it will be slow going at wall to ceiling. But I will get it done a room at a time.