Whatcha doing today?

[snapshotmiki]

Dogmom and Wychwood--Congratulations on your retirement decisions!

Becca, I'm glad your dad is through his surgery!

Annarchy, glad you made it home through the windstorms!

Sorry to hear that Abby is not feeling great, WE2!

 

Walked first.
Cleaned 2 shelves in fridge and put down placemats. I just think it will be easier to clean and looks better.
Picked blackberries.
Planted most of the starts I got for free a week ago.
Put up tomato cages.
Weeded one row.
Will water roses and garden.
Bible study tonight at 6:30.

 

I've just been so busy I haven't turned on the laptop, which is where I usually post.  Step daughter and her youngest son are coming to visit in 2 weeks.  For 10 days.  I may not be around much.  The garden is growing like crazy.

 

Monday, they demolished the house next door that burnt.  now have 2 huge piles of rubble.  They are working on removing some today.

 

[snapshotmiki]

Already walked.
After breakfast, will plant seed potatoes and weed last row in garden for the week.
Clean bathrooms.
Clean another shelf in fridge and put down placemats. Did two yesterday.
Bible study this evening.
Should rain so no watering.

[Jeepers]

I might be a little bit MIA this weekend. That will probably mean nothing since I check in often and tend to be chatty  but it could happen. I've been working on getting all of my dried food sealed up so I can take most of it over to Indiana on my next trip. I got a lot of rice and corn meal and pop corn bagged up and a lot of veggies jarred up the last two days. I need to get those noodles done this weekend. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. And a few other things too. 

 

I think I lost my dehydrated carrots though. Nearly a gallon. They looked good when I stored them but now they look like raisins and they smell like raisins too. Very dark brown. Sigh. I hope I'll be able to find some more frozen crinkle cut carrots. They rehydrate crinkled. Oh well. if that's all I lose I'll consider myself fortunate. And at least I found it early. 

 

I'll give a total count when I'm finished. 

[Ambergris]

Too bad you don't have critters to feed them to. Then you could eat them indirectly.  Regardless: compost!

[Virginia]

Spending my time last night and today reorganizing food stuff.  I do have more than I imagined but not enough to really called myself prepared.  Living in a small city in a subdivision with many neighbors, and then adult children and grandchildren, when will I ever have enough?  

[Momo]

I woke up this morning to see a wolf napping by my back door.  I almost yelled at it to go home since  I thought it was my neighbors dog.  Then I looked closer and decided to not say anything.  He walked off calmly so I guess I didn't disturb him.lol

 

I finally got a neighbor to take out my old fridge for pickup.  It felt good to get it out of the garage.

 

It is still nice outdoors.  They predicted it would be 90 today but they were wrong.  Every day without ac sure helps with the bills.

 

I got 2 invitations in the mail today.  Grand daughter is getting married and my high school reunion. Both of them are in September. I haven't been to any reunions yet except for DH's.  I don't know if it would be fun or not.  It is a long trip for me and would be pretty expensive.  I got plenty of time to think about it.  DH's was pretty lame but he went to a country school with a class of 23 kids.

 

Tomorrow would have been my sisters bday.  I can't stop thinking about her. 

[Becca_Anne]

(((Momo))) Losing those we love is always so hard. There is no time limit on grief.

I have 2 stoves and 2 fridges to find new homes for. They still work so I think I'll be able to find someone to come pick them up, but have to get them downstairs first. I am pretty exhausted from all the changes and the puppy has been great about sleeping while I'm working, not so great about sleeping when I sleep so I'm a bit sleep deprived. Today I stocked up on some soup and DH took one of our kids to a job interview so that is hopeful. It went well so I'm crossing everything that they get it. Tomorrow is quilt guild so on my way home I'm picking up paint to prime and paint the porch steps they replaced before we moved in (it was too cold to paint them when they were installed) so that's my big home project for the weekend and prep related in keeping my shelter from deteriorating. 

[Wychwood]

Just about to have some breakfast then I'm going to strip and varnish the other chair frame. The one I did earlier in the week looks pretty smart, it has made such a difference. 

I'm trying to get my head round not going to work, it's taking some getting used to. I've looked forward to retirement for several years, now I'm here, it's going to take a while to settle into it. Whoda thunkit?

 

[Homesteader]

4 hours ago, Wychwood said:

I'm trying to get my head round not going to work, it's taking some getting used to. I've looked forward to retirement for several years, now I'm here, it's going to take a while to settle into it. Whoda thunkit?

 

It took us about 3 months before we settled down. Now we have to keep projects in front of us for motivation. The best part was "NO ALARM CLOCKS" anymore.  

[Littlesister]

Haven't been on in a bit and hard to catch up. House is going a bit faster since I got on the owner of the company. But Friday they did not come. Waiting on painters now before they can finish up in main bathroom. Though it is coming along nicely. I need to pick a paint color for that bathroom. narrowed it down to 3 colors but still not sure. The floor is here and sitting in den. So, hoping that will get installed Mon. or Tues. After that is done, I can get my food all organized and put away. I have a 5 ft long closet in the hall that I use for a pantry. I am waiting on floor so I can get the food back into it. Lots of reorganizing to do there. I have wheat berries and other things to get set up for long term as well. So going to be a busy summer with garden and getting house back together. Starting to feel like some of you guys that are moving. Everything is packed up. But at least I don't have to load it and move it to another home. 

My grandson is living with me now and is doing great. He just needed guidance and a chance to get his act together. He is 20 years old but never had that guidance that his parents should have given him. So, he is learning it now. He is working on a budget, and he will start his new job in a week. He will be living with me for at least a couple of years. Told him to get car and other bills paid off and then save like crazy for new car as his is old and lots of miles on it. Not the best on gas either. But job is only about 13 miles from me, so that is a plus. Then he will be saving for what he hopes will be a small house with some land for garden and chickens. He plans on keeping me supplied with eggs and said that one day I might not be able to work a garden, so he plans on taken care of that for me. He did our back yard garden this year and did really well. He like his grandfather loves to garden and do yardwork. Though I did help him with the backyard garden, he did all the plowing and stuff. He wouldn't let me do any of the heavy lifting of fertilizer and such. 

Kitchen is done except touch up painting and the shoe molding around the floor. So, I can now start canning again. Grandson is going to help me get the meat out of freezer to thaw so I can get it canned. I have a Boston but I got for 99 cents a pound as they don't price them that cheap much any longer. Going to get that sliced up for grilling. GS loves it that way. And I still have lots of barbeque that I made and canned with the last 4 I bought. So this one will be fixed up for how GS likes it. 

Becca-Anne you are so right about no time limit on grieving. I still grieve for my DH. It has been 15 months now and it sometimes feels like it was yesterday. Glad your house is coming along well.  

Jeepers, hope all goes well for getting moved into new house. 

haven't gone back and read all the post I have missed, so lots of catching up and reading to do.  But hope everyone is doing well and I know everyone has been very busy as of late with moving, gardening and getting everything together. 

Annarchy, was glad to see you made it home safe through those high winds and storms. 

Congratulations Wychwood & Dogmom on your retirements. I know you both will enjoy it. I retired in 2001. Stayed busier than I was working. Bigger garden and lots of canning and sewing as well. And a vacation to N. Carolina and other places as well. Have to have some relaxing time.  But it has been almost 4 years since I have traveled anywhere. Maybe I will have that chance again but not at these gas prices. 

 

 

 

[snapshotmiki]

Yesterday, walked first.
Went to Walmart, Dollar tree and Co-op (top soil)
Went by Social Security ofc. to check hours and procedure for appt.
Came home and shredded some cheese.
Cooked 99 cent a pound drumsticks in instant pot and finished under broiler.

 

Today, walked first.
Secured tomato cages that blew over yesterday in little storm--got half an inch of rain.
Next, will get sweet potato treats for dogs into oven.
Then walk dogs.
Dust house.
Remove a sticker from back of my jeep.
Clean another fridge shelf and put down placemats.
Maybe cook sausage and eggs since I was given a couple of dozen extra.
That should be enough!

[TheCG]

Grocery store had a bunch of ground beef for 25% off (making it around $3-3.25/lb).  Bought about 12 pounds.  Browned it all, packaged in ~1 lb containers in the freezer for easy meals, plus made half of it taco meat, and used some of that to make some beef enchiladas to have in the freezer since hubby keeps planning stuff where I’m the only one home for dinner and I generally don’t feel like cooking when that happens.  

[Ambergris]

Quiet day.  Back really bothering me, so I alternated between stretches and just resting it. My elder cat didn't mind.

Housemate is getting ready to move out on her own.  I had asked her to leave end of February / beginning of March and expected it to take until at least the end of March.  She hasn't packed yet, but she's been talking to the VA and is on several waiting lists, has her updated food stamp card, has a state ID, has a Social Security card, and so on--none of which was true at the end of February.

Repair person was supposed to come between three and five to fix the fridge.  They routinely come an hour before or after the time, so we didn't give up until about eight p.m.  Might come tomorrow.  Might come after we file a complaint.  Might be one of those things where we have to write complaints for six or eight weeks to get anyone to show up.  Ugh.

[Littlesister]

Went out to check the garden this evening and I have both butterbeans and green beans now coming up. Squash still hasn't broken through yet and they were planted about the same time. Guess it will take a bit longer. Got car washed today as it had been 2 years since I washed it. Yeah, it changed colors. Just couldn't get it done with everything going on. 

[Littlesister]

Ambergris, I hope your back is much better by tomorrow. And hope they get the fridge fixed soon. Sorry your housemate is having such a hard time finding a place to live. Hopefully it will be soon. 

[Becca_Anne]

CG- great deal! I need to cook up the hamburger DH brought home the other day thanks for the reminder I'll do that tomorrow!

Ambergris you are very patient. I am glad your housemate at least is making progress on a few items. I hate to say it's likely going to take quite awhile if she is going to need to get on a housing list in many places it takes years to get to the top of the list. I hope she gets lucky and finds a place soon for your sake.

 

Wynchwood enjoy your newfound freedom in your retirement! Glad the chair worked out it's fun when you tackle a project like that and then it turns out well.

 

Miki sounds like you had a productive day!

Littlesister-WTG on washing your car. I need to do that too the birds seem to think ours are for perching on and it's going to be an ongoing annoyance until I can put in a garage or carport. 

 

Today we had a big item checked off our list when DH went to buy a riding lawnmower which will be delivered monday. I am going to go look at dishwashers this week and pick one out that will hopefully be able to be installed as soon as the counters get put in. Waiting on the cabinets still, and will still need plumbing and electric put into the island once the items get in. It is taking a lot longer to do all this than I'd hoped and people just don't communicate when they are coming back so its kind of frustrating but I keep reminding myself if I just get 1 thing done a day it will get done and I will eventually have a new kitchen and bathroom sinks. 

 

My tomato cages came today so I need to go buy plants to put in them tomorrow

[Littlesister]

Didn't make it to Church this morning. Just could not get myself together. Very tired for some reason.  Though this afternoon I did get potatoes, carrots and spring onions planted with help of GS in the grow bags. Still very tired though. So, we had a do-it-yourself dinner tonight. I just did not feel like cooking dinner. But GS is a good cook, so he took care of that and cleaned up. Hoping within the next couple of weeks to start canning from freezer. That is getting to be a must get done now thing. Need that freezer space for any good sales on meat that I can find. 

[Becca_Anne]

Went to book group today and was going to work out in the garden but then it was raining a little and some lightning so skipped that for today and worked on breaking down some boxes and packing material and bagged that up to go out to the shed until DH can take to the recycling and put in the trash. So much styrofoam ugh. Anyhow that's all done and DH is putting together his new desk today. I cooked some meat to freeze when I made dinner so one meal's worth is made ahead. Freezer is so tiny not able to prep much that way and I looked online at Lowe's and they won't be able to deliver a new big freezer until August so held off on that and going to see if I can find a model in one of the appliance stores that's in stock that will fit through the narrow door or where I want to put it. Also need to order a new dishwasher but I don't have the counters/cabinets in yet so holding off on that for now. I feel like these things are taking forever but then I just remind myself to feel grateful they are even an option as when this house was built there was no options for them

 

 

 

[TheCG]

AC is blowing, but not cooling.

 

Ants in the kitchen.

 

I would say wake me up when it’s all been taken care of, but it’s too hot to go back to bed.

 

Argh.

[Annarchy]

(((TheCG))) 

 

It’s been 100°F in the shade, here.  However, I heard the first cicada yesterday.  Old desert wives tail says, 30 days & we get rain!  I sure hope so.  
 

Sounds like everyone  has been very busy.

 

 I’m doing almost everything around the house & garden.  DH is limited to walking.  He did 3,000 steps yesterday.  I’m very concerned about his bruising.  Really dark dark red purple patches, from just scratching his arm.  I have to go to motor vehicle, then, to the pharmacy.  I will see if I can talk to the pharmacist.  Doc tests next week, so, maybe they can do something about it.   Warning:  Mom’s friend was on meds like that, one day while she was shopping with him & his wife, he explosively puked blood all over the floor in the store from both ends.  Sadly he passed a few months later, from bleeding internally.  So…that makes my hackles stand on end seeing how easily DH is getting bruises.

[TheCG]

24 minutes ago, Annarchy said:

(((TheCG))) 

 

It’s been 100°F in the shade, here.  However, I heard the first cicada yesterday.  Old desert wives tail says, 30 days & we get rain!  I sure hope so.  

Theoretically, we might get some rain next week.  Supposed to be 102F today.  We turned on the AC in the camper this morning so that even if we can't get an AC guy out today, we can sleep in the cool tonight!  Here's hoping I found all my chocolate stashes to stick in the fridge!

Edited May 16, 2022 by TheCG

[euphrasyne]

Wrist is sore, but I have more movement than I did.  The occupational therapist is impressed with my progress and says I'm ahead of the curve. 

 

We went to Food Lion last Friday and saw lots of holes.

 

The neighborhood garage sale got rained out.  Rain date is next Saturday.   We have SO MUCH junk in our garage.  I'm praying for good weather next Saturday so we can have it and clear out some things we no longer need. 

 

One kid graduating on Friday, another has her first semi formal dance Saturday night.  This week will be busy.  

 

This morning I cleaned up the bomb zone that is my living room.  The baby helped by recreating the chaos while I cleaned.  I think we are going to rest for the remainder of the day.

[Jeepers]

Why is it that all is going well and then you plan to do something and all h3ll breaks loose? I had big plans to work in dried food storage and then the migraines hit. Hard. Followed by some mysterious intestinal urgency situation still going on. Crimony, it hits before I even know what hit.  

 

Even though I have 'stuff' going on I still managed to get quite a lot bagged up. Pop corn is all done but there wasn't much of that to do. The par boiled rice is done The regular white rice is done and I got all of the corn meal done. I dug out my old Food Saver, that I was going to donate, from the garage and used it to vacuum seal the corn meal. I know that's a no-no because it can plug up the machine but I really didn't care. I was so done with looking at all that dried food on the living room floor. I wouldn't recommend doing that but those bags turned out great. Brick hard. I'm going to put the bags in Mylar bags and store them in buckets. Overkill...probably.  Most of those #$^& noodles are still staring at me.

 

As I was working on bagging the stuff up I was seriously questioning why I was doing all of this. Even though it was bought at the bulk food store cheaply, it still cost money. And those bags aren't cheap! It's taking me a lot longer than I thought and I have to haul it all to Indy and store it over there. Almost everything I have, I already have in long term buckets. My thinking was to buy more and divide in into smaller portions so I don't have to open the buckets for a small amount. I still think it's a good idea but it's a lot of work and a lot of the time. I wished I had never started. And some of the time I questioned myself if it was really worth the trouble and all the time I've spent on preparing. I've been doing this for decades and I know the world is in the worst shape than I've ever seen it. I think we are in for a world of hurt. 

 

In my heart I know it's worth it. The thought of my family being hungry is unbearable. I was just having a moment. And tired. Even seasoned preppers can suffer burn out too. After a little nap I'll stare down those blasted noodles again. Still wish I hadn't bought so many. What was I thinking. 

[Littlesister]

Annarchy, my husband was on blood thinners, and he bruised like that. The skin would get so thin that if he scratched his arm in that area, it would bleed. We decided to go with the watchman to get him off the blood thinners as he was having reactions to them. Hopefully maybe your DH could check into the watchman. It is surgical procedure, and he would have to stay in hospital overnight. But well worth it than to have the side effects of the blood thinners.

Jeepers I am with you on the food. I don't want any of my family to go hungry because they didn't prepare like they should have. Yes, my DD still won't prepare and still has her head in the sand and will NOT lesson to her DH.  And after seeing that my GS being homeless and not prepared for anything and was skin and bones when he got here, that will not happen again. He is eating me out of house and home, but I know it was because he didn't have much to eat. He would get him something at work when he was homeless to heat in microwave at work and then it was whatever he could find to eat in car. He was first going all day and night and not eating and then would eat that one TV dinner at work. Then he would fill his water bottle up before leaving work with water. That didn't just go on when he was homeless but also at his sister's house as that is something I won't get into here. I can say it was not a good situation. 

Right now, I have a lot of wheat berries to get into mylar bags as well as the flour that is in fridge right now. They are coming tomorrow afternoon to put in the rest of the floor. So, after that I can start getting the rest of the food put away and organized. It's been a long 4 months and they still have a way to go. They are now looking at the plans for the wood burning stove. 

[Becca_Anne]

So much going on for everyone just know you're all in my thoughts and prayers!  My friend had the watchman and it was a great thing for her as being on blood thinners was super dangerous for her since she had a hemorrhagic stroke and also had a-fib(which is what she had the watchman for). Now we can all breath a bit easier knowing she isn't on them anymore.

 

Today my big preps were locks for the shed got installed with the delivery of our new riding lawnmower  and DH brought home the 20 lbs of white rice and 5 lbs of brown rice I asked for. Put the rice in the bucket with the other 15 lbs of white rice I had and will use the brown rice (we eat much more brown than white but I store the white because it can stay good in the bucket longer) I freeze the brown usually but we'll go through this before it goes bad so I'll just put it in my container in the pantry. I was all out of brown rice so that made me happy. Otherwise just worked today and didn't get a chance to do much else.