euphrasyne

Most of the dust comes from sharpening and banging against the case. Mechanical pencils yield almost no dust if used correctly and they come in many sizes. You can also get solid graphite pencils which are usually wrapped or just solid and do not have to be sharpened. They also make liquid graphite (been around since 1955) and wax based since about 2K years ago. The hilarious thing is that I hate pencils and much prefer pens while DH is an engineer and has every pencil known to man. ^^

I had an argument with my husband this weekend about space travel. I was making fun of the US for the millions spent on a gravity proof pen while the Russians just used a pencil. DH adamantly defended the pen saying it was protocol, all documents had to be signed in black or blue ink and nothing could be erased. I said that spending that much on protocol NOT function was our problem. I told him that I'd rather have a redneck with me than a rocket scientist in an emergency and that we would never colonize space until we started focusing on cost effectiveness. The current privatized space tourism for the rich should actually give us a lot of data about what works and what is cost effective. It may actually go further towards us expanding past this planet. It was actually a heated argument that focused on space but was really about....protocol vs function and cost effectiveness. 20 years ago I was prepping so that I'd never have to do without and was worried about having the 3Bs (beans, bandages, bullets) because my biggest concern was doomsday. My ideas and needs have changed over the years with many different iterations of prepping. These days I think my biggest worry is economic and I know that going without is a minor inconvenience. I want my focus to be on using what I have and being comfortable with the time I have. The argument we had reflected my current mindset and focus on downsizing and completely rotating my stock down to zero. I want to prep, but I want fewer things to clean so I'm trying to rotate the entire household down to zero over the next 5 years. At that point, the teen will have graduated and the baby will be ready to start school. We can reevaluate where and what we want to do at that point. There are a few things I will need to keep buying (cheese, lettuce, etc.) but I have enough frozen and canned to last quite some time. I rearranged the pantry and can actually get rid of one of the shelving units since we have already been eating from there. Looking at what is left, I made a list of things I need to focus on eating: Things I have too much of: Flour Sugar Honey Powdered Milk Sweetened Condensed Milk and evaporated milk Canned Pie filling Canned Fruit Canned Meat Jelly Tea bags Misc Spices that I use rarely (I have every spice known to man including a half gallon of cinnamon and a lot of quarts of random) Things I wish I had more of: Pickles and pickled vegetables Teriyaki sauce Flavored vinegars Its no wonder that this list is where it is. I cannot eat carbs like I used to so I stopped making a lot of things. I'm going to focus on making meals with the above items and using the bits and bobs that seem to sit in my pantry. I made chicken cakes last night. I used the meat patty recipe, but tried adding a bit of flour and some grated gouda to get it more pancake like so the baby could eat it. I also fried it on a nonstick griddle. BLECH. next time just the breading and fried in more fat on the stove. Live and learn. I think I can save the extras by cubing it into chicken parm casserole with LOTS of marinara. I mixed leftover mashed potatoes with an egg, some flour and a bit of milk. I fried it as pancakes and cut into small cubes for the baby. HIT! I made a big pot of baked beans for dinner and everyone else served the baked beans over the potato pancakes. This morning I used a stick blender to puree leftover peaches and dumped it on baby's morning oatmeal. HIT! Since she is starting table foods, the stick blender is going to live on the counter for the next few months. I love that thing. This is the 4th kid and I wish I'd had it for the other 3. Cleaning a food processor to puree 4 peach slices is a huge hassle, but it takes 10 seconds to clean the stick in the sink. I also use it to make up half a gallon of powdered milk in a mason jar. I love those large 2qt jars I found! DD13 made a no bake chocolate cheesecake (milk used was made from powdered) then she made up whipped topping from instant powdered milk (I have multiple types of powdered milk) and layered it on top. She made everything by herself. The only thing I had to do was stop her from using regular sugar and give instruction on the difference in regular sugar and powdered sugar. I will say that I purchased Land O Lakes whole milk powder and it was definitely worth it. The consistency, fat content (richness) and taste is great. It is currently 25% more than I paid for it a year ago. It will not let me paste the link but it is on amazon currently for $240 for 55lb as Dry Whole Milk New Hawaiian roll recipe used up some canned pineapple juice and was husband approved 1/2c pineapple juice (room temp) 6 T brown sugar 1/2 c milk 4 T butter 2 eggs 1 tsp salt 4 c flour 2 1/4 tsp yeast Heat the butter and oil to a warm but not hot temp. *Microwaved in glass about 1m and stir to melt butter into milk. Add all to beadmaker in order listed. Dough cycle. Alternately---mix, knead and allow to rise. Once that is done in either method and dough has doubled in size, make 16 balls and place in greased dish and cover with dishtowel. Allow to rise in oven. (my house is cold. I turn on the oven to 180F, turn it off, then stick dough in to rise.) You can make an egg wash with 1 egg and 1T or water or not depending on how you want the rolls to color. I wanted buns, so I let them rise on a cookie sheet not touching with no wash. Once dough has doubled in size (30m--60m) bake 350F for 25m. Make sure to take bread out of oven while it preheats and put it back in once it has come to temp. It was an enormous raving hit with everyone. I used them as hamburger buns and dinner rolls. The milk was from shelf stable. I'm adding the original cooked meat patty here from another thread so everything is together: Cooked Meat patties (croquettes) 1 can cooked chicken (*12 oz) or any cooked meat 1 egg seasoning of choice 1/4 c breading of choice +extra for outside Mix all and roll in breading. Fry in butter or oil in skillet about 3-4m per side. Creole: paprika, garlic, crushed dill pickle potato chips Hawaiian: chopped spam, pineapple, brown sugar, cooked rice Vegetable Nuggets (spinach nuggets) 3 cans vegetable 2c breading 1c parmesan 4 eggs 1 stick butter 1/4c minced onion pepper and spice of choice Combine all and make nugget sized balls. Flatten and bake 350F for 20m until firm. Serve warm with sauce like marinara or ranch. I usually use spinach, stuffing mix, and nutmeg but any vegetable will do. This goes over very well for potlucks and large gatherings. The kids gobble them down. The recipe is easy to scale back if needed but I tend to make it when I need a lot. Bean Patties (I usually call it falafel but that is usually chickpeas) 2 cans drained beans or *3c cooked beans 1/2 c cooking liquid or water 1 1/2 c oats or other breading (oats are best) 1 clove garlic if beans are not already seasoned salt and pepper Mash beans and mix everything together. Shape into burger sized patties and bake on greased pan 350F 15m. Flip and cook another 15m. Notes: Seasoned beans work well. Chickpea is the usual suspect, but I've used leftover red beans and rice, black beans, navy beans, pretty much any. Seasoned beans are great. Sometimes I cook them 30m without flipping and they aren't as crispy but they are still very good.

This week has been mostly assorted leftovers. Tuesday I made Curried Tomato Soup and Quesadillas again. I changed up the soup by adding a can of coconut milk as some of the liquid. Everything else was canned this time around. Quesadillas Mix cheese, can of chicken, can of mushrooms, bit of leftover grilled onion, and some honey mustard. Heat until cheese just starts to melt. Fill 6 10" tortillas with mixture. Sprinkle bacon bits on each. Fry 3m per side. Cut each into 3s and serve with sour cream or honey mustard. I have no measurements since I literally just dumped the ends of jars in a bowl. Yesterday, we had leftover soup and quesadillas. I dumped the soup into a pot and added a dash of heavy cream and about 1/4 c monetary jack cheese and milk to make it enough. Serving, I grated some aged gouda over it since we had some that needed to be used. I had exactly half the quesadillas left so perfect since I'm feeding 3 now. I put the triangles on a cookie sheet at 400F for 20m (no preheat). I had some leftover scallions from the previous day, so dumped them over everything to be fancy. I served it with a few slices of cheese. The kid ate all hers and half of my quesadillas. Husband had to toss some of his and my cheese back in the fridge. Leftovers stretch. The white triangles in a circle around the soup are just where i tore up my slice of smoked gouda and dropped it in the bowl.

There is a difference in a port and a deep water port. Certain ships need deeper water than others and you can't really do that artificially without completely disrupting the ecosystem for thousands of miles and billions of dollars. The cranes and tugboats aren't really an issue. We have them all over here since we are the 6th busiest port in the US. The supertankers, post-panamax boats, and larger cargo ships all need deep water ports (over 40Ft for draft.) This isn't common and you can only build them in areas where the amount of dredge doesn't disrupt everything. Any bridges also need to be large enough to open or tall enough for them to go under. We have the M&M bridge and we also have underwater tunnels so the boats can go over the roads. Our port is roughly 50Ft and is considered pretty deep. The problem is less about port space and more about how they are implementing quarantine policy and routines. California only allows union members to work on certain ports and there is a labor shortage since they won't hire more people. I really don't think this is a port space issue at all.

Tamale Casserole (kid favorite) pour 2 cans chili in a casserole dish. I used the no beans type but homemade or beans is fine. Open and unwrap 2 cans tamales and lay them on top of chili. Reserve liquid. Top with misc cheese mostly Mexican and Munster. Pour reserved tamale liquid over top Bake 350F 30-45m Mexican Corn (mmmm I'm having a bowl of this leftover for breakfast so good!) 1 can cream corn 1 cup frozen corn 4 slices bacon diced dehydrated onion 1/8c dehydrated bell pepper 1/8c dehydrated jalapenos pinch 2 splashes heavy cream to consistency Large sprinkle tropical sazon seasoning (its like a lime-y mexican) Dump all in pot and cook over med heat till bubbling then turn down to low and simmer for about 45m. I forgot last saturday. We had hash and pinwheels. Hash 2 cans corned beef hash 6 eggs Press hash into cast iorn skillet and make wells. Crack an egg into each well and bake 350F 45m Pinwheels Take 1 can crescent dough and unroll without making triangles. divide in half. spread leftover spinach artichoke dip on one half and leftover Mississippi sin dip on the other half. Roll up and cut each log into 8 pinwheels. Place cut side up on baking sheet and bake 350F 20m. Spinach artichoke dip Take leftover creamed spinach and mix with canned marinated artichoke and cream cheese in amounts desirable to how much creamed spinach you have. Serve with chips then use for whatever after leftover. I can cook fancy and I can cook redneck. It never ceases to amaze me that the redneck always gets better reviews.

I was sick over the weekend so we ended up with a lot of takeout by choice. I'm back to the pantry rotation this week. Last night we had Basil Bread and Curried Tomato Soup. It was a huge hit and everyone loved it. Basil Bread scant cup water 1 1/2 T olive oil 1 T sugar 1t salt 1 T milk powder 2 1/4 c flour 1 3/4 t yeast giant handful basil from garden washed and shredded. It makes about a 1lb loaf, but run it through 1.5lb loaf French cycle on bread machine. It gets extra spongy rise. Curried Tomato Soup 2 cans tomato soup 2 cups liquid Milk (from shelf stable) 1 t garlic powder 1 T curry powder small handful dehydrated onions large handful of chopped pear tomatoes from garden (small like cherry tomato but yellow and pear shaped) Dump all in pot and heat thought on Med low for about half an hour. Pour in bowls and artistically top with a sprinkle of Mexican cheese, small handful fried onions canned, a few canned bacon bits, and a few slices of reserved pear tomato cut into rounds. The curry gives it a sweet mild taste and everyone thought it was the best tomato soup I've ever made.

DH's job is basically measuring stuff. We have so many tape measures. He loves his laser measure and usually uses that on everything; I'd second the recommendation. One time, DH pulled out his micrometer (measures to .001mm or .000039in), pointed it at my head and told me he was measuring my patience.

I'm trying to rotate the pantry. We are down a teen and up a baby and the other adult and teen are on diets. I'm still super tired from the accident so this should be fun. Pasta Bake (husband RAVED over it) In a casserole dish Mix the following without measuring: Leftover penne pasta in a vegetable and marinara sauce from several days ago (i think artichoke, mushrooms, zucchini were in it) Cottage cheese sour cream a can of pasta sauce Top with mozzarella cheese and bake 350F 45m. Mississippi Sin Dip (redneck edition) (kid and husband loved) Mix random amounts of cream cheese, sour cream with some garlic powder, paprika, and a packet of ranch seasoning. Add in a bag of shredded cheese, some Worcestershire sauce, and 1 can of diced spam. Microwave 3m. Stir. Microwave 3m. Place in leftover bread bowl from Panara and serve with sun chips. *Makes a ton. good as a dip or a sandwich filling.

I order pick up from Kroger and get meat frequently. I haven't had any issues with it. I order it and set a time and then DH goes and they load his truck.

Canned chicken is a lifesaver for us. If you find Masa in the Hispanic food section, that is cornmeal. I find my family gets tired of the same thing over and over so I try to vary it a bit. Leftover cooked items mixed with an egg and some type of breading (breadcrumbs, crushed chips, stuffing, flour, rice, oatmeal, crushed pork rinds, almond flour, etc.) and some seasoning makes a great croquette/fritter/patty. We had chicken croquettes last week and DH loved them. I made a remoulade sauce to go with it. DH was sure it was the fanciest thing I'd ever made and it was basically a can of chicken and some mayo. Fancy names make things more palatable. Cooked Meat patties (croquettes) 1 can cooked chicken (*12 oz) or any cooked meat 1 egg seasoning of choice 1/4 c breading of choice +extra for outside Mix all and roll in breading. Fry in butter or oil in skillet about 3-4m per side. Creole: paprika, garlic, crushed dill pickle potato chips Hawaiian: chopped spam, pineapple, brown sugar, cooked rice Vegetable Nuggets (spinach nuggets) 3 cans vegetable 2c breading 1c parmesan 4 eggs 1 stick butter 1/4c minced onion pepper and spice of choice Combine all and make nugget sized balls. Flatten and bake 350F for 20m until firm. Serve warm with sauce like marinara or ranch. I usually use spinach, stuffing mix, and nutmeg but any vegetable will do. This goes over very well for potlucks and large gatherings. The kids gobble them down. The recipe is easy to scale back if needed but I tend to make it when I need a lot. Bean Patties (I usually call it falafel but that is usually chickpeas) 2 cans drained beans or *3c cooked beans 1/2 c cooking liquid or water 1 1/2 c oats or other breading (oats are best) 1 clove garlic if beans are not already seasoned salt and pepper Mash beans and mix everything together. Shape into burger sized patties and bake on greased pan 350F 15m. Flip and cook another 15m. Notes: Seasoned beans work well. Chickpea is the usual suspect, but I've used leftover red beans and rice, black beans, navy beans, pretty much any. Seasoned beans are great. Sometimes I cook them 30m without flipping and they aren't as crispy but they are still very good.

Hardtack is best soaked before eaten. 5m for a chewy option or 2 hours for a mushier option. Coffee, soup/broth, alcohol are the usual suspects. Some people use them as a base for cream cheese/ricotta/jam type meals if they have the ingredients. Drama and chaos keep coming to my house. DD18 will be staying with her dad in AR after all for her senior year. At this point, I think everyone deserves peace and I hope this will achieve that. I don't even have the energy to be upset anymore. I took stock of the house and we are going to spend the next year doing a cleanout rotation for most things. There is a time to harvest and there is a time to enjoy/rely on the winter fruits of that harvest. We've decided that it is important to recognize that seasons change and everything has a time.

I am recovering slowly but surely. I have a huge bump and bruise on my inside left shin that is extremely sore. I had lots of bruises from the accident, but this one seems to be taking longer to heal. Tuesday my mother called and said her husband got Covid at work and gave it to her after she went home to MS. They had both been vaccinated. That evening, my ex in AR called to tell me his wife has Covid. She had been vaccinated. Wednesday, husband shows up home early and says a) they are moving half his department elsewhere at work but he is probably safe where he is and b) his mom called to come get her from hospital. DH's uncle had a seizure and fell out of wheelchair bonking his head. Ambulance called and MIL drove up there. While at hospital, she had low blood pressure and had to be treated. We had to go get them and drive their car to their apartment. I'm not supposed to be driving right now, but I drove her car while DH took them in the van. It took an hour to wait for them to be released and we waited in the van with the AC on b/c it was 95F out. After we got back home, we found the house AC had gone out entirely. Thursday I waited all day for the AC repair guy to show up. He ran late and didn't come until after 4. It was 95F again and the baby and I were miserable. AC repair bill to go along with the medical bills. Friday my ex texted to tell me that my DD13 has covid. She had not been vaccinated. They are supposed to come home next weekend, but because of this they are pushing it back a week and won't be home till at least the weekend after. School starts on the 7th and I will only have 1 week to get them ready. Add in all the medical and political mess going on and DH thinks we are going to war with China. The crazy DOES NOT END. All I want is a day of peace.

If you don't use the caulk method, you can throw it in the wash though you will get more life out of it if you line dry it. If you used different fabrics, they may shrink at different rates and make it puckered. Wash everything before you cut it up so it is where you want it to be. If you did use the caulk method (or any method) it can be hand washed in the bathtub and hung over a fence/balcony to dry. Easiest tip for crochet/knit: Whichever you learned first, the second one you will learn the opposite dominant hand method. If you learned right handed knitting, you will want to learn left handed crochet. It is because they are basically opposite hand motions for the dominant hand so it is MUCH easier to learn the 2nd one if you change the hand position. I learned right handed crochet and I could not master knit until someone told me to do it left handed. Problem solved overnight.

The braided ones take longer than the crocheted ones. Crochet is actually pretty easy and you really only need to chain and sc (single crochet) to make it. Its 99.9% one stitch all the way around. I could teach you in about 3 minutes to crochet it. Also you need no thread to make a crochet one. The sewing is a blanket stitch for the braided one. Basically you coil it and just blanket stitch through the new part as you go around. Either way: Longer strips are better. Cut your material in such a way that it spirals a bit and gives you long strips. Also, you will be stepping on this rug, use fabrics that you want to put your feet on. Denim is awesome and pantyhose make the softest thing you can imagine. There are all sorts of things you can do to make the rug non slip. The DIY cheap way is to turn it over and run some squiggles of hot glue or caulk where you want it. Allow to dry thoroughly. It is hand wash only after you do that though.

My mother is still here and will fly home on Sunday. I tire easily but am recovering well. I can lift the baby to change or feed her now. My house is the cleanest it has ever been. My mom has way more energy than I do. Thank goodness for family.

One of my kids is hearing impaired--moderately on one side, severely on the other. I find the loud alarm clocks with vibration work well. There is a part that goes under your pillow and shakes you to wake you up. Sort of like the one below: Amazon.com: Super Loud Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker for Heavy Sleeper, Dual Vibrating Alarm Clock with USB Charger for Hearing-impaired Deaf, 7.5’’ Large Display with Dimmer, Snooze, 12/24H & Battery Backup: Electronics

My husband took me to a f/u appointment yesterday and everything is healing well. They took out the staples. Dr. said I could hold my baby seated now and pick her up by 2 weeks from now. My mom is going to stay until then and fly home. I am so grateful she is here doing all the housework and childcare. She is no spring chicken either in her 60s. I looked at the medical records where I went back to the ER. They put down everything BUT what I complained of when I went in.... low blood pressure in the 40s...and never did anything to even deal with that. I hate doctors. This has been a major SHTF scenario for us and I am glad that we were prepared for some of it and glad that we can see what to do differently in a similar event. DH seriously thought I was dead/dying at the ER and he was so lost about the day-to-day needs that all he could do was worry about how to get things done. I need to lay everything out more clearly in a format he can understand in case I am not around to do it.

I was having problems with confusion, nausea, lack of apatite, fever, extremely low BP (dystolic 48 and dropping) and a few other issues. We were worried about complications, so went to the ER yesterday morning early. They admitted me and I got IV bags, IV antibiotics, and a few other things. They did not allow me to eat at all, so I went 48 hours without food until they released me this afternoon. They did go ahead and take my drain out so I'm just healing over now. I am so tired of the hospital and grateful that my mom is here to watch the baby. I'm glad that I have stock of everything on hand and didn't have to go shopping after this accident. We did order a rollator and shower chair from amazon to make my life easier. I checked and the rollator has gone up $15 just since I ordered it last week. Amazon.com: Drive Medical 10257BL-1 Four Wheel Walker Rollator with Fold Up Removable Back Support: Health & Personal Care Otherwise, I am happy with the current medical and personal supplies I have on hand. Wet wipes, dry shampoo, etc are lifesavers.

The hospital had me on ativan after I woke up in a panic cuffed to the bed. I remember nothing from climbing up the ladder on Sunday until waking up Thursday morning. I only know what I am told about the time between. They finally stopped it and reversed it and I became alert and was able to go home. I am home since Friday night. My mom drove up and is here helping me with the baby while the older ones went to stay with their dad for the summer. I have multiple broken ribs, lacerations, bruises, a liver laceration with a drain in my liver and will need further surgery. I needed 5-6 units of blood. I am truly blessed and lucky to be alive. God is good.

Still in the hospital waiting on the liver bleed to stop. They are giving me the good drugs. Kids dad is driving all the way up to get them today so I will have to give all the way back I 6 weeks. That is the older 2 gone. My mom is driving up from MS to help with the baby. She should be here tomorrow and will stay several weeks Hopefully I will be out of the hospital soon. I really did a number on myself. Knocked out, ambulance ride, ER surgery that lasted over6 hours. In a week now. Luckily I have good insurance.

We ent swimming on Sunday. I slipped and fell exiting the pool. Contusion all over mface, laceration to my liver. Its no joke. Bre careful. Still at Norfolk Sentara gneral.

Dex told DD18 she could live with him about 10 days ago. She has been planning and happy ever since. Her Bday was Sunday. Dex called me up Sunday morning and said she could not live with him for reasons. He did not want to tell her on her birthday so i had to go around with the knowledge all day until he told her Monday night. She is going for the summer, but coming back. Now I have to figure out how we can live together and deal with all the rest of the issues that DD18 involves. On top of that, it is my child who is hurting because my ex said come live with me then turned around and said no. She has been throwing living with him in my face for a year. It is a huge blow to her. She has one more year of high school, is hearing impaired with ADHD and an executive functioning disorder. I'm hoping that enough of this sinks in for her to realize that we have to get along and be functional because there are no 'better options' for her out there.

My grandfather used to pickle them. They were very sweet and you couldn't tell it was a pickle.

Chaos and Drama strike again. DD17 (18 in a week and a half) had a hissy fit over my insistence that she would go to summer school if she flunked math (probable, will know by Wednesday.) There was a big argument with lots of yelling and she grabbed me, hit me in the arm, shoved me, tried to wrestle with me. When I went to call my husband to come home, she took my phone from me, grabbed my wrists, and physically fought my phone away from me. I have no idea why this happened as I have never been a physical person and this is not a usual family dynamic for us. Long story short, she is going to go live with her father in AR. We are trying to arrange dates and details. I have not told her that she is going yet as I am waiting to work out the bigger details first. My life has turned into an episode of springer.