WHATCHA DOING TODAY?

[Annarchy]

Well, DH’s order of large mouth lids came in.  6 boxes of 12.  However, even though the boxes said “Ball”. Not quite.  The bottom of the boxes said, “Made in China”.  Wanna see what the boxes looked like?  

 

Inspecting them, and I found a few like this,

 

All in all, the rest weren’t bad. Beveling is smaller than Ball and no Ball logo on the top of the lids.  However, because I wouldn’t trust them for canning, DH suggested using them for my dry goods, and saving the authentic Ball & Kerr lids for canning.  So far, I’ve saved over 30 lids. Washed & put up.  Sorted and organized my stash of lids... yikes, I didn’t realize how many I had. Lol, probably close to 200, unused.    Now that the heat has cooled down, it time to start canning & baking again.  Plus, DH is needling me, “When are you gonna make sausage, JK”, yeah right.  Soon... is my reply. 
 

Paid bills, mailed a Birthday card to MIL, it’s her 90th birthday.  Hopefully it will get there in time.  Prepped for bookkeeping tomorrow.  It’s always something on the list to do.  
 

We have a Thresher in the yard.  At first, it was really really, scrawny, looked like something had attacked it’s neck, no feathers, and it still had baby fluff.  I named it “Gangly”. It still doesn’t fly, and still looks scrawny, plus, it’s curved beak is much longer than most of the Threshers we see.  It comes running, not flying, when I feed the birds.  Silly little misfit, fits right in at our house.  Lol.
 

 

[Mt_Rider]

2 hours ago, Ambergris said:

The advantage is that when you heat them, the corn starts popping before it gets dangerously hot.

 

New way to do popcorn?    

 

Supposed to take my mom out today.  Did not have good sleep...woke with sinus headache.  Didn't clear til afternoon....tho it wasn't a splitting       one.   Wiped me out tho.  And people kept calling me......    ....which I usually greatly enjoy.  But I NEEDED a short nap.  Ring....Ring.....Ring...  Last one was my mom.  She never calls cause I call her every night.  I'd JUST drifted off and the phone goes off.  AND I CAN'T FIND IT!   It's right in bed with me and I'm flying the covers all over...  looked on the floor....  more blanket displacement....  and FINALLY find it underneath me.  Hello?  She wanted to alert me to a spectacular [due to wildfire smoke] sunset.  

 

   Well, we do call each other for worthy sunsets but I was minutes too late to see fiery red in my location.     

 

DH isn't feeling very well today either....achy.  He claims it's the portent of   WINTER    Hope we're not catching something.  Twice with an illness in one year would be HIGHLY UNUSUAL!!!!      ....but then, it IS 2020.  

 

MtRider    .....my med alert bracelet just caught on my reader glasses and won't let go...gottago get dh to HELP... 

[Midnightmom]

On 10/1/2020 at 5:39 PM, Littlesister said:

You know you are getting old when you have more doctors than friends.  

 

ALSO: You know you are getting old when everyone you meet reminds you of someone you know! 

[snapshotmiki]

Walked first, yesterday--then out in garden putting down 2 bales of hay. It's pretty dry here and I hope that will help hold water a little.

Today--haven't walked yet, but printed data from godaddy bookkeeping for accountant. Want her to see the difference now that eBay has changed format to managed payments. The printing went quite fast so I may weed some today. Not sure what else to do.

Wish my oven worked so I could do apples, squash and jalapeno poppers. Have to wait until Tuesday I guess for that.
Have a good weekend!

[TheCG]

I’m taking my mother out today.  She wants to go shopping in the “big city” near by.  Will avoid anywhere that it looks like people are gathering.

[Mt_Rider]

Not feeling "sick" like yesterday....not exactly.  Still taking the whole load of our herbal preventatives!!  Glands feel better.  However, the past 2 days I've felt a great weakness....and miscoordination.     Today I barely made it back to the bed from kitchen.....step by careful step with quad cane.  Walking like a 90 yr old. 100 yr old cuz my mom walks much better!   Wha....????

 

Oh no.........     .....it might be the onset of the MS Fall Fatigue Thing!       Hmmm....I'd RUN but I'm barely walking.  We've never quite figured out if there are any ways to reduce/avoid this.   Seems to be worse if I've had numerous heat-meltdowns [hyperthermia] during the summer.  I haven't.  I've been inside with the A/C running.  Mebbe this bout will be mild and SHORT?     Never heard anything definitive about this.  I'm fortunate....some MS folks get a Spring Fatigue too.  I don't.  The change of seasons are the cause, we've assumed.  

 

MtRider  ...not sure it's FFT.....but likely.    So much for getting my mom out...if it is. 

[Annarchy]

Pressure change,Mt_Rider.  DH can hardly walk. His ankle/foot.  Barely hobbling around.  My arthritics are challenging me, but, not enough to stop me. Close, but no bananas.  Lol. 
 

Made French bread today.... came out fantastic!  Thought I messed up, too wet at first, kneaded it a bit, let rise, punched it down, divided into 2, rolled out, and let rise again, tripled its size, cooked, and came out larger than regular loaves!  Amen!!!  
 

 

DH wants me to figure out my mistake & keep doing it.   

[Jeepers]

Yep, its the weather. My neck feels like it's on fire from autumn through winter. Even though I stay warm in the house. It still starts in this time of year. It hurts other times too but not like this. I can't find any of my hair clips to get the hair off of my neck to put some cream on it. I plan to experiment this winter with different creams. I left all of my Rx cream in Indy. I don't think it was working anyway but I'll try one more time. I'm going to get some CBD cream and some Biofreeze, whatever that is. Aspercream and Ben-Gay. 

 

Take extra care Mt. Rider. No falling!

 

Oh my Annarchy, that bread looks amazing. 

[euphrasyne]

I'm tired and having a lot of pain in my incision site and I am super hormonal so I am not much fun for my family right now. 

 

The department of agriculture gave the schools a grant and food is free for all kids under 18 for breakfast and lunch through December if you go to the school each week to pick it up.  DH goes on Mondays and Wednesdays and picks up 5 days worth of breakfast & lunch for the 2 school aged kids.  It is overpackaged and they never eat all of it b/c they do not like it, etc.  When we get the packets, I have them sort it into 'things we will eat' and 'things we won't.'  I then use the NOPE bucket to make other meals out of.  Long story short, I had a plethora of oranges.  Way too many to ever use up.   So I made 5 1/2 pints of orange-grapefruit jam.  MMMM it turned out amazing and everyone wants to sit down with their own jar.    I have been using up the apples, but I need to sit down with the remainder sometime today or tomorrow and either can or freeze them.  

[Ambergris]

Beats lemonade!

[Virginia]

Bio Freeze is very good stuff.  Comes in cream or roll on here.  Chiopractor first gave it to DH and we have kept some around ever since.  

[Jeepers]

Thanks Virginia. I'll be sure to get some to try. I've heard good things about it.

[Mt_Rider]

    Well I hope it was the weather.....   ...but shift in weather is what causes the overwhelming Fall Fatigue Thing too! It can last anywhere from couple weeks to 3 months...trailing off finally in December.   

 

ANYWAY, today was much better.  DH had to work today and for the first time since The Foot Thing     .....I took Dog for a walk down the road.    Didn't know how far I'd get but the foot has been doing well.  So at 'sauntering' pace, I made it to the N. end of the property.  That's about half my maximum distance and very average for me.  Less than half mile total.    I am SOOO excited! 

 

Had to wear a good N95 mask....ROAD DUST!!!  SOOO BAD!  Can't even open the house...choking dust.  At least it wasn't supplemented by the wildfire smoke the past couple days.  Still..... 

 

DH is getting a lot of extra hours.  His back has calmed down some...but he doesn't want too much.  The aspens are still pretty, tho past the prime viewing.  Soon the restaurant will be "out of season" for the winter.  Slows way down.  It's helped that he's been available to fill in these shifts of people who leave without 2 wk notice.     Extra money is always helpful too. 

 

MtRider   

[Homesteader]

How dumb to think I could turn off the second refrig for the year. My SIL comes once a week and helps me and my mom. I've always kept her in the loop since my brother died of pancreatic cancer 5 years ago. She has been like a sister for 47 years, and we spend a lot of time working and laughing together. We cleaned out the garden due to a pending freeze. Hense, I had to leave the 2nd refrig plugged in until everything is canned, dehydrated, and frozen.  Tomorrow I will travel 1.5 hours to pick up our 1/4 beef. My nephew raises the BEST! 

[snapshotmiki]

Today is laundry day (walked first and fed dogs). Still need to walk dogs and then go to local grocery for DH.

I've done very little the last few days. I look forward to getting the oven fixed tomorrow so I can catch up on what has needed baking or dehydrating-- butternut squash, jalapeno poppers and apples.

Our company has a rental house and are painting and doing some cleaning on it. Should be moving out of our house and into it on Wednesday.

I shall enjoy having little to do for another day or so!

[The WE2's]

On 9/22/2020 at 6:47 AM, snapshotmiki said:

Any thoughts as to what enzyme cleaner I may need after they leave?

 

We used to clean out houses and the only thing that really worked was spraying peroxide on the floors.  Check for steadfastness if you spray on carpet, we sprayed in closets first and it worked without removing color.  A friend of ours had a terribly old cat and their house stunk so bad.  When the cat went to kitty heaven they tried the peroxide and it worked for them.

[The WE2's]

Been just plain old busy!  Our farmer friends have called us several times to come "glean" their green beans, yellow beans, yellow cherry tomatoes and loads of green tomatoes.  He's been ill and we were all concerned, even though we socially distance when we go pick, and don't go in their home.  He tested negative and doesn't have the flu but is severely anemic.  They're still trying to figure out what's going on.  He doesn't have Lyme's or any other tick born diseases.  Very confusing for them.  Soooo...I've been busy canning green and yellow beans, dehydrating the cherry tomatoes and putting all the tomatoes (green and red) in the freezer for another day.

Hubby went for his dental and the news was not good.  He's got a lot of dental work they want to do but we just don't have the dollars, so we'll just have to take it a job at a time when the dollars are there.  He grew up hating milk and wouldn't drink it.  He's been a DR. Pepper addict for years and only in the past 3 years changed over to Diet...but I can't convince him that all those bubbles are not good for teeth.  I drink Green Tea in the bottles or water...and of course my coffee...3 cups a day max.

His morning job of delivering flowers is going well and we're getting better at getting up.  I have started getting up at 6:30 and he comes wandering in about 7...because Abby-girl goes and tells him he need to get up! LOL

Changed all the bed linens this evening and put the wool blanket between the mattress and sheet, and put the fleece blanket on the bed.  Then find out it's going to be pretty warm tonight! LOL  So I turned the ceiling fan over our bed back on! LOL

I'll get the laundry started tomorrow.  Glad we're having nice breezy weather.  Makes drying the clothes outside much quicker.

Hubby's making progress on the bathroom project.  Just so much micky rigging that they did on the floors!  Had to shore up another beam between the 2nd bedroom (our pantry now) and the new bathroom floor.  We removed the door and he's going to build a nice shelving unit in it's place.  Will be nice to have shelves to sit things on even if they're not really deep.  Fragrances, decorative items  etc. as well as combs and brushes (instead of using up counter or drawer space in the vanity), hair pins, lips etc.

He put me an outlet where the vanity will be and a hook for my hair dryer.  I don't use a hot curling iron.  I'm letting my hair grow back out.  I will never cut it again except in length!

I'm not sure if I read it here or where...but the tip on mosquito bites really did work!  Just in case it was someplace else...rub the bite with Peroxide, then dab your finger in some Vicks and then dip it in salt, then rub the bite.  It stopped itching almost immediately and never did whelp up.  For me?  That's a miracle!

Bed time!

[Littlesister]

Got the dryer fixed yesterday. Needed a roller and belt replaced so not bad.  Last night I gave DH melatonin before bed.  But this time I doubled what I gave him 4 mg.  He slept like a baby all night. So I got some much needed rest as well. He woke up at 6 am. So I was good with that. His heart Dr. appt was changed to next Tues. as they haven't gotten the results of his CT scan yet. Hope it is not bad news as he is suppose to be able to come off the blood thinners now. So getting the skin cancers removed is put off for another week. He sees the orth. dr. Friday for the knee.

 

Today I got bills paid. Then got the fridge cleaned out. Need to defrost the big chest freezer but going to wait till the weather is cooler as that is in garage and it is still hot out there.  Took inventory of canning jars.  I am out of wide mouth pints, Only a few that I have used the food from. But not enough to can more meat. I like to use the wide mouth pints for that and still waiting for my order. Hope they come within the next couple of weeks. 

 

Talked with granddaughter2, earlier this evening. She was at the vet with one of my grand dogs. She let them both out to go to bathroom and when she went to let them back in there was blood all over the porch. But not in yard that they could find. He cut the pad of his foot wide open. So she cleaned it up, bandaged it and took him to vet. She was at vet most of the day. This is the one in Washington State. He cut the foot to the bone. They couldn't find what he might have cut it on. So they are still searching so it hopefully won't happen again. Lots of stitches and a collar as well.  Her kitty is laying on couch beside him for comfort.  My daughter has now had to put down the 4th ferrett.  She had 7 of them. All are about the same age. So they are starting to have health issues at about the same time. 

Still going through papers to get them sorted and through out what I don't need to keep. Seems like with everything going on it is hard to get that job done with so many things popping up to keep me from doing what I need to get done.  But that is the way it is when you are a caregiver. Just hoping after DH sees the ortho. doctor and they get that knee fixed, I will be able to get more done. 

 

Mt. Rider, and everyone else having illnesses. Get well soon. Keeping you all in prayer. 

WE2,  Sounds like you have been really busy.  

euphrasyne,  Try to get some rest when the baby is sleeping.  You need that incision to heal up and to get your strength back. 

 

[Homesteader]

On 10/1/2020 at 9:28 PM, Annarchy said:

Well, DH’s order of large mouth lids came in.  6 boxes of 12.  However, even though the boxes said “Ball”. Not quite.  The bottom of the boxes said, “Made in China”.  Wanna see what the boxes looked like?  

 

Inspecting them, and I found a few like this,

 

All in all, the rest weren’t bad. Beveling is smaller than Ball and no Ball logo on the top of the lids.  However, because I wouldn’t trust them for canning, DH suggested using them for my dry goods, and saving the authentic Ball & Kerr lids for canning.  So far, I’ve saved over 30 lids. Washed & put up.  Sorted and organized my stash of lids... yikes, I didn’t realize how many I had. Lol, probably close to 200, unused.    Now that the heat has cooled down, it time to start canning & baking again.  Plus, DH is needling me, “When are you gonna make sausage, JK”, yeah right.  Soon... is my reply. 
 

Paid bills, mailed a Birthday card to MIL, it’s her 90th birthday.  Hopefully it will get there in time.  Prepped for bookkeeping tomorrow.  It’s always something on the list to do.  
 

We have a Thresher in the yard.  At first, it was really really, scrawny, looked like something had attacked it’s neck, no feathers, and it still had baby fluff.  I named it “Gangly”. It still doesn’t fly, and still looks scrawny, plus, it’s curved beak is much longer than most of the Threshers we see.  It comes running, not flying, when I feed the birds.  Silly little misfit, fits right in at our house.  Lol.
 

 

 

On 10/1/2020 at 9:28 PM, Annarchy said:

Well, DH’s order of large mouth lids came in.  6 boxes of 12.  However, even though the boxes said “Ball”. Not quite.  The bottom of the boxes said, “Made in China”.  Wanna see what the boxes looked like?  

 

Inspecting them, and I found a few like this,

 

All in all, the rest weren’t bad. Beveling is smaller than Ball and no Ball logo on the top of the lids.  However, because I wouldn’t trust them for canning, DH suggested using them for my dry goods, and saving the authentic Ball & Kerr lids for canning.  So far, I’ve saved over 30 lids. Washed & put up.  Sorted and organized my stash of lids... yikes, I didn’t realize how many I had. Lol, probably close to 200, unused.    Now that the heat has cooled down, it time to start canning & baking again.  Plus, DH is needling me, “When are you gonna make sausage, JK”, yeah right.  Soon... is my reply. 
 

Paid bills, mailed a Birthday card to MIL, it’s her 90th birthday.  Hopefully it will get there in time.  Prepped for bookkeeping tomorrow.  It’s always something on the list to do.  
 

We have a Thresher in the yard.  At first, it was really really, scrawny, looked like something had attacked it’s neck, no feathers, and it still had baby fluff.  I named it “Gangly”. It still doesn’t fly, and still looks scrawny, plus, it’s curved beak is much longer than most of the Threshers we see.  It comes running, not flying, when I feed the birds.  Silly little misfit, fits right in at our house.  Lol.
 

 

DH read where Amazon got burned on Ball knock off from China. I ended up with ones like yours through Walmart a few years ago. Some of the quart jars broke in the pressure canner and some of the lids buckled. I finally recycled them to either water bath or dry food storage.  😑

[Mt_Rider]

Day 2 of walking dog about half mile....slowly, leisurely.     Wearing N95 cuz the wildfire smoke was baad today.  Don't know which way it come in from?    But it gets us!!!  

 

DH had full work day/night so getting home late.  Then 5 days off.  Then half days.  That works.  In those 5 days, we'll take my mom out.  That's the PLAN.     Who knows the future, right?

 

MtRider  ...oye, I'm sleepy and not near bedtime yet.  {yawn}

[Jeepers]

I went to Wal-Mart yesterday. I had a small online order to pick up and ended up leaving with a cart full. Sigh. The food aisle was hit or miss. Veggie shelves were very low. No spinach, carrots or lima beans. I didn't really need any but I want to stock up a few cans of carrots and limas for when I make a vat of veggie soup. I have plenty of time to get some though...I hope. There were lots of empty shelves throughout the food aisle. People are shopping! The only thing in abundance was sugar. They had loads of five and ten pound bags of that. Only sugar free Jell-O. The cottage cheese/chip dip section was nearly empty. Toilet paper aisle was nearly empty again too, along with the cleaning supplies. The beans and rice sections were almost empty but I figured that. I did find some of the Knorr side dishes and got some of those to put away. I'll vacuum seal them and put them in the 2 gal. buckets. And maybe Mylar bags.

 

I had a list of miscellaneous stuff to look for and noticed some empty shelves along the way. Bedding and kitchen linen was in short supply. The long row of storage boxes was nearly empty. The only thing on that shelf was the shoebox size containers. The kitchen storage boxes were a little bit more stocked but not by much. 

 

Good luck in the underwear department. It's probably not going to happen for you. The clothing racks looked pretty full. And I noticed they were getting bikes back in stock. Kid bikes, no adult size yet. 

 

The med aisle look to be pretty well stocked. They had plenty of alcohol and peroxide. If you need OTC meds now is the time to buy. Just saying. Couldn't find any tweezers but I might have over looked them. Hair accessories were limited to only very small hair clips. I saw in the African American hair care section where they have cloth hair 'putter upper' items. Don't know what they are called but they looked great for getting my hair up off of my neck. I'm thinking it will feel better than a metal clip anyway. Will be nice during canning and food prep too. I should have gotten two. I have doo-rags but they knot at the back of the neck with tails hanging down.  I found three bottles of 100% aloe gel in the lotion section on the bottom shelf. 

 

I was going to go to Sam's Club but my energy was shot. I barely got the cart unloaded at the check out. Then I had to unload it again into the Jeep. All but the cold stuff is still sitting out there waiting for me. Darn Jeep unpacking elves didn't show up last night to do their job. I really don't need anything at Sam's anyway. I might go later in the week to nose around. 

 

I guess what I came away with is if you need something now until the end of winter, get it while it's still on the shelf if you can. Our supply system is not reliable. All it takes is for one news feed to say something is in demand or short supply and you can bet the shelves will empty out the next day or two. People are definitely shopping.

 

 

I forgot to mention that Wal-Mart did have about seven water bath canners. I just hope newbie canners won't try canning meats and veggies in them.  

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by Jeepers
Added Info

[The WE2's]

13 hours ago, Jeepers said:

cloth hair 'putter upper'

 

Snood's?  

[The WE2's]

We'll be accessing our extended pantry and freezers for a bit.  Going to take the dollars to start hubby's dental work.  They'll start this Thursday.  We'll be just fine eating from our pantry's for a couple of months without any serious depletion...IF...we can re-stock we will.  If not...we'll still be okay.  He just need to get this done.  Bad teeth affect ones whole body.

He's being much more diligent in brushing 3 times a day and using the waterpik in the mornings and evenings.

I finally got caught up with my kitchen "mess" ... and the dehydrator trays are washed and drying, so I'll put them away tomorrow.  Four trays of yellow cherry tomatoes ended up in just under a quart jar...LOL  They're so sweet that the leather tray was sticky and so were my fingers, so I added a dessicant package before I vacuum sealed the jar.  Love my brake bleeder for quick jobs!

Also got 4 lines of laundry washed, hung out to dry and now are folded and put away.

Tonight was a pizza night.  EZ on the cook who was on her feet most of the day.

Hubby got the wood work done on the bathroom project so now will put in a transition piece...then...then...then! LOL

Was hoping for me and Abby-girl to take a walk with hubby when he got home but I was just too tired and still had clothes to fold, pizza to bake and plates to wash up.  

Perhaps tomorrow night?

Taking my Vit. D and Zinc plus our other supplements but it sure does feel good to get out in the sunshine.  My clotheslines (4) are under our carport here.  They dry just fine but no sunlight.  They still smell wonderful because of the warm breeze/winds though!

Made up a batch of carpet deodorizer for the carpet in the living room here.  It's 10 years old (Berber) and has Abby-girl to deal with! LOL  We're not replacing it when we sell this place.  It's just a remnant and doesn't go wall to wall any way.  When we put a remnant down at the homestead's living room we'll go with Berber again.  It's wonderful...in my opinion.

 

[Littlesister]

WE2 might have to get one of the snood's to try. My hair is long and would be nice to get it off neck without a clip. 

Washed clothes today and did some dusting.  Cleaned bathrooms and kitchen.  Then went out later this afternoon and put oil in the generator as it was low and the lights were blinking.  Glad that was easy to do. 

 

Mt. Rider you have done well these past couple of days with your walking. Hope and pray it continues. 

[TheCG]

Snoods generally took at least 4 and sometimes up to 8 Bobby pins to stay in place, depending on the length of my hair and if I was wearing a hat over it.