The WE2's

Jarred up another 12 half pints of butter. Still have one more session to do...then it's back to turkeys! Still have 5 of them (?) in the chest freezer at the homestead. Hubby is taking extra caution now while working in the basement on the wiring issue. The homestead was built in the early 1900's and probably had no (or very little) electricity...or plumbing. Everything has been "added" on by various carpenters with (again) little to no skills. He's using his tester to test each and every piece of wire he finds if it's "hot" he tries to run it down so he can disconnect it without calling a halt to his remodeling etc. He'll get it done...and we'll be safe I'm sure!

Yesterday I took some of my home made greek yogurt, mixed in some strawberries that I had jarred up, put it in a small blender and froze it. OH MY...just like sherbert only better for us!

Made a thermos full of yogurt and it's wrapped and will be ready for the frig in the morning. We really enjoy our homemade greek yogurt. Also jarred up 12 half pints of butter. Dried laundry at the homestead while hubby worked and grabbed a jar of beef chunks from 2013! Hiding! Anyway...we had beef chunks with noodles, alfredo sauce and some parm sprinkled on top. Also got some Mung bean sprouts started so rinsed them out for the day (I rinse sprouts twice a day). He You can't imagine what hubby found when trying to run "another" loose wire! It ran up to the apartment area, down the inside of the living room wall (behind sheetrock!) to a receptacle that is under a window...in the livingroom! Joy! So now what? We need that receptacle so he's got to figure out how to disconnect it from the loose one that's hanging, and connect it to a proper junction box. What were these builders thinking and remodeling carpenters must have been off their gords!

Hubby is the king of Okra eaters! He absolutely loves the stuff when I fry it up. I also jar it up with tomatoes and corn...it's wonderful over pasta. I use store bought corn though to make sure it's safe (in my opinion). When I jar it up by itself I use The Old Alabama Gardner's method. It really works.

Hubby worked at the homestead...goodie, goodie! I got some things done around here. Made another loaf of bread, made up some lemon gelatin (we buy the Mennonite bags so we get a lot for our dollars), started some Mung beans for sprouting (staying away from lettuce recalls!), made another batch of granola and just finished a load of laundry to take to the homestead in the morning. Didn't get my yogurt made but I can do that tomorrow after I get home...then...I'm gorilla jarring some half pints of butter. As I've said before, I've done my research and have two cases of butter put back...I try to do at lease a case a year. I only use the commercial butter since it's already pasturized etc. I wouldn't do it with raw cow's milk. We've still got quite a bit of snow on the ground. It's been cold and cloudy so no sun to melt anything off. Still haven't heard a thing about the boom booms...guess the news people didn't find it worthy of printing or reporting. Lots of people being arrested for drugs, driving intoxicated, driving w/o licenses, stealing from stores and stealing vehicles. Lots of stuff for a small city.

Wasn't snowing this morning so washed a load of clothes and went with hubby to the homestead. The main roads were cleared but none of the side ones...including the one at the homestead. He worked again on the basement/cellar project, putting in supports because he's widening the steps down (they are so narrow you can almost touch your shoulders to the sides, then lower down there are no sides...only a single clumsy rail. He'll be putting in hand rails on both sides ... for our safety. Such a project when you're dealing with a house that was built in the early 1900's and lots of the "work" was done with whatever wood they could get their hands on. There's just so much we HAVE to do for our own safety before we move in. While he was working and I was waiting for the dryer, I did some inventory work in the pantry. When we got ready to leave it had started snowing again. After a late lunch it was still snowing and we noticed the snow route out front here hadn't been cleared...so we knew the road at the homestead was only going to get worse...so "we" decided (me?) that he'd better just stay here and not take the chance of wrecking the truck or falling. Had left-over chili mac for supper with garlic toast (home made bread always makes such good garlic toast!) and some peaches for dessert. Last time I looked it was still snowing. It's a light grainy snow so it's not very deep. We were planning to take step-mum to the veterans cemetery to put a wreath on my Dad's grave but saw a post from a gentleman on FB with pictures that he had taken of the cemetary where wreaths had been placed...with a light snow on the wreaths. Absolutely beautiful! So...since the snowing is still going on and the roads are not being cleared much we all three decided to not take the chance...it's a long drive and on a back road of a small town. She says she's at peace with it...especially since I shared the pics with her on FB. I know lots of people don't like FB but when you're stuck at home for whatever reason, it's very nice to be able to stay in touch via the "private message" part as well as share photos on your profile page which you can share or not share on your timeline. That's why I set ours up. Also...if you ever see one of these bread cutting things...they are a life saver! Cuts my bread in even slices and stores the bread (in it's bag) wherever I want to set it. I usually keep it in the frig because it lasts longer (no preservatives) than store bought bread.

We stayed put today. Started snowing about 8am and it's been that fine stuff that looks like it's not accumulating but has sleet on top...what does that equal? SLICK! It's still supposed to continue throughout the night but ease off for tomorrow morning, then start back up tomorrow afternoon? Hubby may try to get some things done at the homestead. I'm going to have him bring me home some of the butter that I have in the refrigerator freezer there so I can jar it up. Yes, I know, I know. But I've done my own research and made my own decision. I've got a couple cases of half pints already but I have about 12 pounds in the freezer that I need to get put back. Still cooking out of our pantry and it's very relaxing...knowing that we don't need money to eat! PTL! It's been a sweat suit day for me and hubby too. Fixed some "chili mac" for supper and did a double batch so we'll have enough for tomorrow evening's meal also. Had some ground turkey burger (not that I did...we bought from Mennonite store) that I used. I dis-like the stuff so need to get it used up. I've tried adding spices to it to make it taste more like sausage, but it's just so dry. I think I may mix it with some hamburger or sausage to get rid of it, but it was soooo cheap when we bought it and put a lot of it in the meat freezer. Still no info on the gunshot sounds that went on. Nobody we know takes the newspaper and the online edition is always 2 or 3 days old. We don't take the paper because it's HIGHLY political...and often is against our core values.

Are you going to get some of this white stuff that's falling. We've got about an inch so far with some sleet on top of that.

Hubby's still working on the homestead's "project". Went to run some wiring for the basement/cellar since he's moving my dryer as well as disconnecting the kitchen electric range, and found out "why" you couldn't run the dryer at the same time as the washer. Totally unsafe stuff was garbaged together just to get electricity to a certain place! I stayed around here and got some of my canning supplies put away for the time being and some other odds and ends. Then we went to join friends for a birthday party. The "theme" was "The Titanic". Everyone dressed up in characters (we chose not to) and then after the meal being served to the "First Class" passengers (roast beef with Amish noodles) we played a game of Trivia. Our team we named "Icebergs" and their team they called the "Unsinkables". Well...the score was 9-8...they won, but we just about got them! It really was quite fun. After the Trivia we had ice cream sundaes...yummmy!

Ditto!

Haven't heard a thing. We don't get the paper except what we can get online (very limited) but I haven't seen any police reports yet. Should probably move the scanner from the homestead to here until we get moved. Then we can monitor both properties. It's such a pain listening to every little bit of communication, but I guess that's what they're for???

It's very difficult to "slow down" once you've been so active and faced pace for so long. We're still trying to make our minds obey our bodies!

Nice sunny day today, but they're calling for "weather" to start around midnight, then snow tomorrow until??? We have a birthday party we're supposed to attend but if it's slick we're staying in.

Tell me how faithful our God is! Hubby took scrap metal to recyclers and they showed him his drivers license was expired by 3 days! So...he came and got me, I used my ID to get our cash...straight to the license bureau to renew. No penalty...but God saw the need and he had the money to pay for his renewal! We've not been this broke since we got married! We're not poor...just broke...and only temporary!

Eight times in random succession...boom, boom, boom! Not a transformer. Sounded like big firearm. We made sure doors were all locked, got away from windows and called police. They said they had received 3 other calls and were on their way to investigate. All seems to be quite now but we're still "prepared" to defend our home if necessary. Hopefully other neighbors are safe in their homes and that the police can find out who's doing what!

When we get moved there's going to be a lot of gardening going on at the homestead...including a fall/winter garden and plan to put up both of my small green houses as well. I have ask hubby to build me some cold frames so he's collected some old storm windows and a couple of windowed storm doors. I have a nice wrap around front porch that is covered so I'm able to hang planters off the rails on both sides for herbs etc. as long as it's not freezing etc. Inside I have a nice bay window that faces west that will get some use too! LOL

I watch Leisa Sutton's channel nearly every day...and she also has a great facebook group.

Another nice day. Sunny and mild but the breeze made it feel a bit colder that it was. Glad since hubby was outside sorting metal for the re-cyclers.

Yep...having some gas set back pulled us out this time! Was able to pour 10 gallons into the truck. That should last us through the month if we're very careful about driving. We could take Miss B if it was necessary, but she doesn't get as good a mileage as the truck...but she's available. I've been 'praying "money cometh" ...LOL So hubby spent the afternoon sorting through his metal collection and has a load of aluminum and a bit of copper to take to the recyclers. Sure glad we are able to keep that stuff stored and a place right here in town that we can take it to cash it in. Had one of my turkey pints not seal so fixed white chili for supper tonight along with a small pan of cornbread. Been eating out of our pantry for a month now, and will do so this month and next month. Still have one more property to pay taxes on. I'll be getting one of my inheritance checks in January but I'd sure like to keep it for next years taxes on the homestead. With both of those checks plus the "curcuit breaker" relief refund it usually pays most of the taxes on the homestead...which was the plan. But you know how it is...life happens and you get behind. But we're sure thankful for the pantry and the other things we've set back. Have a birthday party to go to Saturday so I dug into my stash of cards and found one for our friend, and made a half pint of elderberry jelly as a gift.

I have a set of the Bible cassettes and love to sit and just listen while I enjoy my morning coffee...and then spend some additional coffee time listening to some gentle gospel music. Gets me "prepared" for my day. My reading of other books is in the evening, after I'm in my pj's and ready to relax. I try to "shut down" by 10:00 pm and turn off my bed table light by 11:00 pm. Hubby usually spends his evening watching some of the shows he enjoys and then in to this room's computer to read some of the blogs he follows. He usually turns in about 1:00 am. He's a night owl and doesn't require as much sleep as I do. I really need 8 hours but he seems to just need about 6 hours.

We have the dvd series...guess I should watch it. Hubby has but I haven't.

Fall is trying very hard to push back against winter... Today was pleasant and sunny. Tomorrow is supposed to be about the same.

Feeling a bit "relieved" but not happy. We literally were digging into our nickles and dimes to come up with enough dollars to pay the insurance bill on one of the houses. Praying this is the LAST year we pay taxes, insurance and utilities on three properties. Hubby ran into a problem trying to insert some new joist in the basement...so he'll enjoy your prayers of wisdom and knowledge...thanks!

Jarred up 9 pints of turkey and they're sitting on the counter waiting for me to wash, dry and label them in the morning. Now...only 5 more to process...but...not for a few days. Those will just stay in the deep freeze a bit longer. Was nice to just put it in the roaster last night and wake this morning to a done turkey. I let it set covered in the roaster while I went w/hubby to the homestead and dried a load of laundry. Was cool enough to handle when I got back.

His faithful is something we can always count on!