Littlesister

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.

Don't think I would want to try the Tyndallization method of preserving my food. I think I would rather stick with what I know works. Some interesting ideas for the chickpeas. Might have to give those a try.

I will need to get cabbage also. It should be on a good sale, I hope. Went to Harris Teeter this afternoon to pick up an RX and walked around the store. The had the old ball canning jars only in the pint size. It was only 2 cases, so I jumped on them. All the other sizes were those round plain glass jars. These must have been in back stock or something because last time I checked they had those round smooth glass ones in the pints. They had potatoes also buy one get one free. So tomorrow I will be canning potatoes and cleaning house. Will be a busy Friday.

Babysat my GGD from 10am till 3pm when her daddy picked her up after work. She did good this morning playing and such and then when she got sleepy it was fight on. She will fight sleep like no tomorrow. So, we went for a stroll around the neighborhood. People probably thought I was killing her or something. Every time that child closed her eyes, she realized she was falling asleep and started screaming. But she lost the battle and fell asleep. And a baby bottle is not mom's boob. She wouldn't have anything to do with a bottle and again started crying and then fell asleep for all of 10 minutes and still refused the bottle. Felt sorry for mom when the baby got home as I know she was hungry. We swung in the outdoor swing till daddy came to get her. At least she was quiet and being good then. But then daddy put her in her car seat and that was all she wrote. Started crying again but quieted down soon. She hates the car seat. So, for past 3 days I have not gotten anything done around this house. Floors need mopping, towels need washing and I need to finish up the last of the pantry. So tomorrow I hide from everyone and going to clean house. Not sure yet if GS is off work tomorrow or not. But if so, I will have him work on the wood pile again. He has almost finished one wood holder, so then we can move the wood off the other one to that one and work on the last holder. Then I can finish stacking all the wood. It is still a huge pile and over my head. And I am 5ft tall, if that gives you any indication of how much wood I still have to stack. One thing for sure, between walking the neighborhood with the baby and stacking wood, I should have built up some muscles.

I should check on the prices against the cheapest grocery store I go to Food Lion to see which store is the cheapest. Wal mart verses Food Lion.

We had a high of 75* today with high winds. It knocked over my swing i have on side of house. Just went out and raised it back up a bit ago. Still warm but starting to cool down a bit. Just hanging around house doing absolutely nothing this evening. Nice to just sit and relax a while. Babysitting tomorrow. Then back to work till the weekend. DD and SIL coming into town. DD wants baby time. So might be at GD's house for a while on Sat.

Miki, thank you for that info. I will keep that in mind when I find a good insurance company that won't put me through what Jeepers has had to deal with. She shouldn't have to go through all that. Insurance should have just paid up and not send checks for her to sign and then ship it off for someone else to also sign. Knew up front what had to be done. It seems they were putting the work on Jeepers instead of taken care of it all themselves. That has been a lot to deal with.

I will have to check out Walmart though I hate going to that store. But some fresh root veggies would be great. I don't have a lot of them but then I am the only one that eats them so don't stock to many at a time.

I don't see Kerr jars around here anymore. But on this post, I wasn't thinking about Tantalization I picked up on the different jars available. So turned this I think toward different jars in general and not Tantalization preserving. But you are right about the ball canning jars that are out now. I don't like them either. Round and they don't feel as thick as the old ball canning jars.

Jeepers, that is so crazy what they are doing. Hope they are not trying to swindle themselves out of making the final payment. Now I am wondering if all insurance companies are like this. I am looking into some other insurance companies as I have State Farm. I hope and pray they get it straight soon. Mt. Rider, glad you got everything done safely. We have had rain, and it is now warming up. 75* today. I went to the CHKD thrift store and walked out with nothing. There just wasn't much other than clothes. And I didn't need any clothes. But then that one never did have much of anything. Went to doctor this morning for labs for the family doctor this time. Then left there and got something to eat and went around to stores I haven't been to in a long, long while. Didn't find anything I needed. So came home and starting on another room. A couple of stores weren't open yet so I just figure I will go at a later date. Maybe next week when I see the doctor. I will be in that area again and at a later time. So those stores should be open by the time I get out from Dr. office.

I am working on a new way to keep track of my spending. The first of each month I go to bank and take out the amount of money I need for the month. Plus, a bit extra to put back for emergencies. I have special envelopes that I put the money in. One for groceries and nonfood items, one for gas, one for church ties for the month and one for paying the yard man. I keep a running tab on the amount I spend on each when I use that cash. I have just started doing that so not sure yet how I am going to like it. I try not to do any online shopping but if I need to do any, I will use my Amazon card as that is the only card I will use online. Then when that bill comes in, I just pay it off. I started doing this as there have been a lot of issues at the gas pumps. Seems they are using scanners in Suffolk, Smithfield and other places as well. So now I pay with cash instead of using a card. They are saying that if you don't have those cards in a protective wallet or something, there are people hanging around gas stations with a card reader. They don't need to be near you to use it. Just walk by and they have that info off of your card. I saw where a lady's bank account got wiped out. So don't ever use your debit card to get gas. Now I just go inside to pay. It's a bit of a pain but saves a lot of frustration later down the line. I don't use the excel sheets or anything online because then I forget to post in them. And I just don't like doing any type of banking or anything online either. I either mail my bills or I will call on my house phone and make a payment over the phone for the ones that don't charge a fee to do that. Yep, I found out there are some places that charge you to make a payment by phone. My GS tried to do that with his car payment, and they wanted $15.00 fee to do it. He gave me the money and I wrote a check for him to mail it. It was at the time that something happened to his bank account, and he switched banks because of it. He hasn't had any more issues since then. He does online banking. But whatever happened at that time he was unable to get his car payment through. He did call the loan company where his payment was and explained everything to them so now it is fixed.

Are you talking about the newest ball canning jars that's out now. Round and no markings that I could see?

I pray you get it back as well. I know this can be frustrating when things go wrong.

Mommato3boys for the safety of all the firefighters and also that your home will not be affected by the fires as also any other homes. Glad you survived the grocery store. I also have noticed that the prices on shelves do not reflect the real price of items. I try to watch out for that. Babysat today. Baby got fussy as she fights sleep and didn't want to take a nap. She will fight it tooth and nail. But I put her in stroller and we went for a walk with her bawling and just rubbing her little eyes. She did finally fall asleep for about 20 minutes. Then mom fed her, and I played with her while GD worked. Then she got sleepy again so went outside and swung in the swing. She fell asleep and we just sat there in swing till she woke from her nap. Then it was feeding time again. And then ready to go home. I will be babysitting again on Thursday. GS left for work so hopefully he will work the full day. Sometimes they end up on overtime and then have to cut back a bit and he will come home an hour or two early. That place does not like overtime if they can help it.

I sent a report about it. It looks like we were wiped out from the 15th on. Hope it can be fixed or we might have lost a lot of post.

Something strange is going on with the site. Everything from the 15th to now cannot come up. It says sorry we could not find that post. This is from my E-mail. Then on the site there is nothing past Feb. 15th. No post at all. After that date. It's like all post have been wiped out from the 15th to now.

When I went through all my recipes last night, I went through what I had bought. I also separated what little bit of nonfood items from the food items. So, counting in the weeks I didn't buy food. I added up all the food items and it averaged up to just over $11 a week. I don't buy groceries on a weekly basis anymore. So, I did well. It is just me as GS doesn't eat here other than dinner on his 2 days off. He uses his food stamps at work and lives on junk food. His doctor told him he needs to gain weight. So, junk food will do it. He has gone from 118lbs. to 130lbs. He best slow the junk food down. So, I am trying to use down the pantry. Only things like eggs, milk and coffee creamer have been the bulk of my groceries this past month. Plus, the 2 Boston butts I bought to can. I did buy some butter on sale also.

Mt. Rider, I thought about getting a small storage unit. But then I would just fill it up with more junk. But then that's just me. My DH would not get rid of anything. It was the way he grew up. Parents in depression era. So here I am trying to go through and get rid of it. If I haven't used it in a year it goes. I could just pack it up and put it in a storage unit, but I would just be paying to store something I would never see again. Though it would be good for some things. Christmas stuff and things I only use seasonal. Maybe old tax papers I have to hold on to as well. Would only need the smallest one. Slow start this morning. Can't get it together yet. Stayed up late last night balancing the check book and paying bills by way of phone. I wanted to see how easy that would be now that the stamps have gone up again. The price of stamps is getting ridiculous. Paying by phone doesn't cost anything. Not much to pay but had one charge card I wanted to pay off and I really haven't gotten that bill yet. But was able to do it, and a utility bill as well. That was easy. So might start doing bill s that way instead of mailing them. At least I will save on postage. Going to run a couple of errands this morning soon and then come home and get started on the closet. Maybe by then I will wake up. Mt. Rider, I hope you can get the horse ride in soon.

Not so sure about the chocolate. Someone try it and let us know how it is. Maple syrup maybe. Just not sure about the rest.

Closet is now empty all the way. Sleeping on couch tonight. Bed is loaded with clothes to go through. Yes, I am painting the closet. Yuck. But at least that will be done. Need to go through the clothes that were hanging in closet. There will be a few going to Good Will. GS got his bathroom cleaned and stack some more wood. But couldn't finish. I need to head to Lowe's for cement blocks to fix the last log holder. GS is going to do that on his next day off. So will head to Lowe's either tomorrow or Friday.

I haven't done to bad. Did buy eggs last week and a couple of other things I needed but all was under $15. Haven't been to the store this week and at this point no need of going. I have everything I need right now. the week before I did buy 2 Boston butts and bought those home and canned. Couldn't pass up the manager special. They had 4 more but I passed. The good thing about doing these challenges is it will empty out the pantry. That is a good thing as you are using up the older things in there and it cleans it out enough to reorganize and then restock. On the bad end of this is to restock is going to cost more. I try to keep foods ahead by 2 to 3 years. Though my kids are no longer shopping from my pantry so needing to slow it down now.

Miki, I know what you mean about the running around to get things done. I am still planning that trip to the next town over. It will be an all-day thing. Might see if my next-door neighbor would want to go. I will ask her when I am ready to make the trip. Just waiting now for warmer weather and no rain. Bedroom is now clean, and closet empty. Now for the question, to paint or not to paint. That is the question. I'm not in the mood to paint and the closet isn't that bad. But would be refreshing to have it done. Thinking about it. GS is off today. So, stacking wood and cleaning his bathroom today. He owes me for the 2 pizzas I bought him. It's still a lot of wood to stack.

I haven't checked on that. But right now, if I do get any, I would have to can it. And I really need to finish up on the house first so I can take a week or more to do nothing but can and dehydrate. Once and done as they say.

Congratulations Mommato3boys. I know that job will help with a lot of needs. I am also trying to get my ducks in a row. Organization one room at a time. Started first on my bedroom. Took everything out that was piled in there while cleaning other parts of house. All is now in Living room with the exception of the closet. I will empty that out maybe tomorrow. And put things from there in living room. There is no furniture much in there so I can go through things much easier with everything in one place. So, the living room is my one dumping ground for now. Seems it's the easiest way for me to work things out and organize. GS is off tomorrow So he is going to organize my spices for me. Said he is going to do it like the store does. I put the spice stands together today so that is all set for him to start on tomorrow. Moved my bed around on another wall. Made it easier to clean the floor and things. Dressers will stay in the same place. Not sure now that I can get a chair in there. But maybe could move my sewing machine in there instead of dining room. Will see how that goes later. Washed sheets and blankets this morning. Straighten up the kitchen and started on bedroom early this morning. I am about ready to drop. But still some things to get done. Hoping it will warm up again so I can get some things done outside also. Weather held me back on stacking the rest of the firewood. Next time I won't order it in the wintertime. Lesson learned on that one. I kept a couple of baby blankets I had made, and the rest went to the church for the preg. crises center. Might finish emptying out the bedroom closet in a bit. I needed a breather. I was doing it a little at a time but putting things in corner of bedroom didn't work out to well. Wasn't easy to go through things that way. So will start finishing the closet soon.

You have been busy Miki. Mommato3boys, glad that snow is melting fast. So far, we haven't had anything but rain. GD's DH just picked the baby up a bit ago. He seems to be feeling much better. So might have just had a 24-hour virus type thing. Now I am missing my GGD. We had fun. But there will be other times. Both grandparents are taking turns. Now to get back to working on bedroom closet. Late start but well worth it.