Watcha doing today?

[Littlesister]

Please tell me this will not come in 3's.  Loaded dishwasher and started it like always. Halfway through the cycle it died. As in no current going through it.  I told DD my dishwasher died, and she needed to come here and wash my dishes.  Yep, she told me this is an emergency. Get to Lowe's as fast as you can I don't do dishes. Oh! well guess I'm going to Lowe's tomorrow. Only issue is, my oven and stove top are over 30 years old. Yes, I am crossing my fingers that nothing else happens. 

[Becca_Anne]

Hello all busy week here for me. Stepdad made it to his new place, arrived without any shoes. No shoes at the hospital and they didn't tell me? I would have ordered some for him. In any case the facility will buy some and put it on his bill. I will be glad when he gets his things at the new place. My mom is having a neighbor deliver them this weekend. I'm kind of exhausted. Heading off to bed early this week. I have been doing my daily 10 min exercise and sticking to my low spend year so far. I've bought only the basic needs no extras at all. 

[Necie]

Damp, nasty weather for the last few days... and now it’s pouring. My sinuses are NOT happy!! Flooding possible with the snow melting and ground still frozen. 
Got mom out of the house for the first time in over a month. I think it helped, even though we were only gone less than 2 hrs. Went and got some groceries, then stopped at one of her friends and Mom took her some old crochet books that she’d found for her. Of course, mom wouldn’t take any money for them, so her friend traded for some very pretty old handkerchiefs. I think they had a good, though short, visit. (I sat in the van and smoked. 😜😂)

DS1 and I are getting the heater, propane tank and line out of the cabin tomorrow so I can take it home for DH to figure out why it won’t light. Also need to take pics of the electrical to show him. I think we’re gonna keep the gas generator at home and I’m going to get a portable battery one for the cabin. One that can be recharged with a battery charger/electric/solar. 😉 Also need to put out mouse bait. We’ve been seeing a lot of fox this week... new thing, so hopefully they’re keeping the mouse population down too. 🙃

[Littlesister]

False alarm on the dishwasher, not one plug on that wall would work. And I didn't know that till this morning when I went to make coffee.  After checking all the outlets in kitchen and found none of them would work. I checked the fuse box. Yep, do not use dishwasher and the Ninja grill at the same time or switch to a plug that is not connected to the dishwasher. All I can say is thank you Lord that I didn't have to buy a new dishwasher. Had I checked plugs last night I would have known then what was going on. 

 

It is nice outside today but still a bit wet from the rain last night. Sun is shining. So will be stacking wood again today. GS is working today so won't be much help. He thinks he is off tomorrow, so hoping the weather will hold out. With 2 of us stacking, it will go by much faster. Then I can turn back to the house and work inside again. Maybe one day this house will be like I want it.  

 

Now I see my next-door neighbor is doing what I have been doing. She cut down all the bushes around her front yard and starting on the end side of house cleaning out stuff. Don't know if she is going to remodel anything or not yet. But said she is starting to get rid of a lot of things. Seems her DH didn't like to get rid of things either.  Though my DH's parents lived through the depression, and he grew up and saw how things were and how tight money got. His father pulled up all the bushes and flowers around the house and grew sweet potatoes all the way around the house to help feed neighbors. They had a huge back yard and had gardens back there also. I did pull up all the azalea bushes in my front yard because they were diseased. But I have grown tomatoes and peppers in the front flower beds. There is nothing growing in there now, so thinking it would give me more garden space but need to do something about the rabbits first. 

[Jeepers]

Glad your dishwasher is still alive and kicking!

 

We have had nothing but rain rain and more rain this week. Really taking a toll on my back. Not only damp but humid too. My granny used to call it 'close.' Snow is mostly melted so I can go ahead and make the Amazon order. I just need a couple of things I can't find locally but the walkway was snowed under and I didn't want to chance them not delivering. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't want to trudge through the snow. I wouldn't want to either. 

 

I saw the B.P. nurse today. She upped one of my pills again. Nothing seem to work. Even when I was on the med that made me pass out, it was still too high. I'm special.  

 

I stopped by the house again. I've been going over there every day. I got most of the floors mopped and the rugs put down. I'm moving back in in a couple of days. It will be easier for me to work over there instead of going back and forth. Will be uncomfortable with no furniture. I bought a little cheapy boom box for noise. I don't work well when it's quiet. I'm going to spend the weekend packing up the hotel and getting it loaded in the Jeep. There really isn't all that much. It's just all spread out. And I STILL have to iron those #$%^ curtains. I don't even know if they are useable or not.   I might have to order some. Whatever I do, I'm going cheap. Probably just some cotton Priscilla curtains.  I'm tired of moving all the time and setting up and tearing down. I hope to have it all behind me this summer. Then I can start working on that house.  

[Necie]

Home again. Leaving was hard. I told Dad I was going to go home for a few days... he said “You can’t.” 😢 I told him just for a couple days and I’d be back on Wednesday and explained to him everyone that was going to be there in between. 
Plan for the weekend... make soap, and more soap, and MORE soap. 😃 Hoping to get 3 batches done— 150 bars of Oatmeal Milk & Honey and 75 bars of Coconut Lime. 
Need to dig a few things out of the freezers to use up. Cleaning out the chest freezer has kinda gone by the wayside due to being gone so much.  Mom informed me the other day that I’d been there a total of 24 days since December 20th when Dad came home from the hospital. She keeps schedules, lists, charts, etc for everything. 
Hope everyone has a super wonderful weekend. 🥰

[Littlesister]

Necie, I know that has got to be hard on both you and your family. But you will get through it. Praying that God will give you the strength to get the things done you need to do without getting overly tired. 

 

Weather was against me today for doing things outside. So, working inside today.  Washed a load of towels early this morning and put a few things away. Going to start back in bedroom again to go through some boxes of stuff. Getting another load for Goodwill drop off. 

We are supposed to have heavy rain sometime this afternoon. It is in 60* now but feels a bit cooler and dampness in the air. And on top of everything else I slept wrong and can't turn my neck to the left. That's going to hurt for a couple of days. I hate when I do that.

 

Jeepers, you will be in your new house before you know it. Just reading about all you have gone through makes me wonder about moving to another state. The flooding of the house made it much harder for you. Whereas I just need to finish painting the house and debate on refinishing the hardwood floors or selling with floors as is. I am trying hard to downsize the house plus try to use up a lot of the food I already have. Packing up canned food in a way the jars won't break will be a challenge, but bubble wrap hopefully will take care of that. Not sure if I will even have much help with moving or not as DD and SIL would have to come here with his truck, and it is just that a truck. Though I think he does have a trailer he can attach to the truck but not sure of that. I would have to depend on a moving van for the most part and that won't be cheap. 

 

[Mother]

36 minutes ago, Littlesister said:

Packing up canned food in a way the jars won't break will be a challenge,

We used sill insulation to weave in and out of our glass jars when we were traveling in the Motorhome.  It is a thin foam that is fairly cheap )cheaper than bubble wrap) and comes in large rolls about four inches wide.  You will find it in building supply stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot.  It is used to insulate between the sill on a house and the walls set on those ‘sills’.  

[snapshotmiki]

Walked early today.
Picked up trash in parking lot at Church and dug up some flowers that froze along the walkway. Not going to re-plant anything for awhile.
Picked up prescriptions and then picked up friend and we went to local grocery for sales.
Came home and walked dogs.
Put new tag on DH's car.
I still need to re-pot aloe vera that did not freeze last week.
Figure out what to cook tomorrow!  I'm tired!

[Mt_Rider]

Wow....we've all had challenges!

 

Little Sister with the dishwasher (I've just this morning read in a book where the dishwasher flooded half the house) but your's turned out good.  You'll get that wood stacked yet!  Warms you twice, as we've heard. 

 

Becca Anne....I can relate - trying to anticipate all the needs of our elderlies.  Had a discussion with mom about coats.  She has quite a few.  But she was a bit off and insisted that she doesn't have a 'fine' coat to wear.  Oh.   Good luck on the budget.  Hard to do but worth the effort.

 

Necie..also the elderlies issue.  Must have been hard to leave but it was a good choice.  "Put on your own airplane breathing mask before helping the other...or you won't be any good for them". 

 

Jeepers...you're making big progress but even living it with you - it seems so never-ending.  You're gonna make it, friend!    Glad your snow is melting ...and getting out of the way.  Wish you could get the BP under control.  ...yeah, I know about being "special"  - MS...not MS....mebbe MS....    Hmph!

 

Miki....frozen flowers where you live?  That's really unusual, isn't it?   

 

Mother...sill wrap.  Hadn't heard of that.  AND it would take up less space in a box then fat bubble wrap and won't pop.   

 

Don't hate me but we're also around 60* and full sunshine today.  I think I'll go out and "sunbathe" ...get some sun in my eyes and arms mebbe? 

 

MtRider    

Edited January 27 by Mt_Rider

[snapshotmiki]

@Mt_Rider, it got down to  11 and  13 degrees, respectively. Too cold for aloe that is potted. We have been  warm this week, but cooling down  a bit now. 

[Midnightmom]

5 hours ago, Mother said:

We used sill insulation to weave in and out of our glass jars when we were traveling in the Motorhome.  It is a thin foam that is fairly cheap )cheaper than bubble wrap) and comes in large rolls about four inches wide.  You will find it in building supply stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot.  It is used to insulate between the sill on a house and the walls set on those ‘sills’.  

When I visit the grocery store I always go to the produce dept whether I need stuff or not. I like to pull the packing that is used in the shipping cartons for tomatoes, apples, etc. Sometimes it is "molded/shaped cardboard" between layers of apples, sometimes it is a sheet of "foam" between layers of tomatoes, etc. These items are good for packing things in boxes at home, or for shipping items to others. However, I generally only take from boxes which have had at least on layer of already purchased goods, and redistribute the remaining items to other fuller boxes of the same items. The stores don't seem to mind - less trash for them to have to get rid of. 

 

[Jeepers]

Necie, you are a good daughter!  

 

Dang Miki, you are colder down there than we are up here.  

 

Mt. Rider, D-ex used to say wood warmed him three times. Once when he cut/split it, once when he stacked it and once when he burned it. He used to do all of that back in the day. He's 76 now so he isn't as spry as he usta be. Although he still jogs for miles every day and still works. Show off.   

I'm starting to think the light at the end of my tunnel isn't a train this time.  

 

Littlesister, moving out of state isn't that hard for me because I didn't have a lot of furniture to move. No living room or dinning room furniture. Biggest thing I had was a bookcase and a pie safe that son took in his trailer. He brought his big trailer over twice and really loaded it down. I call it his horse trailer because it is so big. But it's just a regular enclosed trailer like a lawn company would use. You could probably get 4 riding mowers in there though. Looking around today, I think he is going to have to bring it over just one more time. Either that or he can bring his full size truck and I'll pull a U-Haul with my Jeep. His truck has one of those removable hard covers over the bed so we also packed a lot in it too. Even though I paid for their hotel stay and all the gas and food, he saved me a fortune on moving. I can't imagine what a moving company would have charged me. I'm scaling down too but I can't believe how many clothes I have.  Sheesh. What was I thinking. I have nightgowns out the wazoo. I went through some of it today and I have 3 trash bags already to take to the Salvation Army next week. I saved all of my canning jar boxes and just wrapped them in that plastic wrap stuff I got from U-haul. I moved most of mine in the car though. Moving sucks big time. Especially when you are older.   If it weren't for my son, I might have ordered a pod and filled it up then had them move it. I still would have had to load and unload it myself. 

[Littlesister]

Jeepers, you have done really well for what you have been through. I will more than likely be 76 years old by the time I am able to find a house and move. Unless my SIL buys a new truck, I am not sure how dependable his will be at this point. It is a diesel though, and those hold up much better. But it has a lot of miles on it, and he is no spring chicken himself now. Health is not the best. That's what smoking can do to you. He has now been diagnosed with COPD from his smoking. And NO, he still won't quit. 

 

Mother, I know the stuff you are talking about.  When the time comes, I will get that instead of bubble wrap. I think that would be cheaper also. I would take those over to the new house in my car and DD's car if I can't get it all in mine. But hoping to have a lot of it used up by that time.  A lot of the store-bought food I will just give to the church. I could box it up and let my deacon pick it up as he also works in the food pantry. 

 

Anyway, my moving will depend on how the housing market is going. Not so good right now. But interest rates are starting to drop just a tad.

 

I did manage to get the last wood log holder put together. GS helped with this one. We moved it to the back of yard till I can get the cinder blocks and things I need for it. I ran out. If I don't use those the racks will sink into ground with all the weight.  And yes, stacking wood will warm you up fast. And you get exercise.

Edited January 28 by Littlesister
added about wood.

[Littlesister]

Went to Church this morning and then later a neighbor that I found on the Nansemond shores app. Though he lives in Western Branch and not my neighborhood. Texted me and said he could replace my dryer vent. So, I let him come over and look at it. The outside part of the vent was an antique. Where it came in from outside wall to the inside of wall to hook up the hose part, He pulled it out and it was full of huge holes. I had a lot of lent that was in the wall instead of being blown out through the vent. So, all of that is now replaced. Another small job done.  Little by little I am getting some things like that taken care of.  The neighbor said he does things for people on the side. He is a homeowner inspector for when you sale your house. And termite inspector as well. 

I think now I will just sit back and relax with a heating pad on my neck. The Nansemond Shores app they were saying it was time to clean dryer vents. They remind you it needs to be done twice a year. So, I asked if anyone knew of someone that could replace mine. And he answered back and said he could do it. It reminded me I had not cleaned it out in 3 years. That could cause a fire if lent gets built up in there and I had noticed that my dryer wasn't drying the clothes like it should have been. So now I have great air flow, and all is good. Now back to just cleaning it out twice a year without worrying if the vent is going to fall off. 

[euphrasyne]

I'm making a giant pot of scratch ragu.   Ragu the brand is just a misnomer for ragu the dish which is like saying cake.  It is is a vegetable, meat, tomato concoction cooked for a long time.  I'm using hot Italian sausage decased, most of my fresh veggies, some of my canned veggies, dehydrated veggies, V8 juice, and the rest of a can of open Prego, as well as fennel, Italian seasoning, and a very large switch of rosemary from my backyard.  Least there be any doubt there is more than enough garlic and olive oil to support an army.  It takes hours and should end up about 1.5 gallons of ragu for various usages. Tonight the usage is over pasta and French bread b/c that is what Hubbie adores.    Otherwise I'm reading or finishing reading several books in my kindle que.  

 

How to cut grocery costs: use what you have.  Make menus from items in stock.  Can or freeze what you do not use that day or as leftovers.  

 

All the recent posts remind me: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold.  Peas porridge in the pot nine days old.  Sometimes it is important to keep using things until they are your limit of done.  The bigger the limit the better.  Know how to get to the limits that you can reach.  

Edited January 28 by euphrasyne

[Necie]

Made a batch of soap yesterday. Cut it today. Didn’t get another batch made today, so will hopefully get it done tomorrow. Will only get 2 batches done instead of the 3 I was hoping to do. Woke up in a pi$$y mood— snow on the ground again. 😡 Probably only an inch, but... 

Did get some onions chopped and put in the freezer. Four were starting to grow and 2 in the fridge that needed used or put up. Got a quart of chopped and 1/2 a snack bag of tops/greens. 
 

[Littlesister]

Didn't do much today. Tomorrow I will dig in and get things going again. I cut down some boxes that I had emptied while the guy was working on dryer. So those are out of the way. He was telling me about his FIL passing away a few months ago and now his MIL is going through what I am. She is downsizing the house and having things done to it that needed to be done.  Said her house right now is a total disaster. So now I don't feel so bad about mine.  

I wanted to go over to see how my next-door neighbor is doing but can't catch her home. She has been on the road for most of the time since her DH passed. I figured she is still taking care of things.  Banks, and such. I know I had to do all of that. 

 

I heard today that stamps went up or is going up to 70 cents now. So now I will start paying my bills by phone. I have some I can do that with. Helps save postage. Then I can just use the stamps when I have to. 

 

Tomorrow, I hope to get the end of month stuff done and then start on the end of year stuff for taxes. Tax stuff is starting to come in the mail now. I hate that time of year. 

 

Found out where I can take my car to get it painted. He said they do a great job. He had his done there and he said it looked like it came straight off the showroom floor. So might take it there.  And they have enterprise car rental across the street from them. I need to get the back of car done as whomever was kind enough to slam a grocery cart into the back of my car, really messed it up. Water got behind the paint and is bubbling. I didn't need that expense. 

[snapshotmiki]

Will walk, soon.
Do laundry.
Call about changing homeowners insurance company.
Thawed chili for dinner, so no cooking today.
Honestly, have nothing else on list. Yay!

 

I have a lot of threads and topics to catch up on here.  Will work on that, this afternoon!

[Littlesister]

I have chicken in fridge that I will cook for dinner tonight. Just going to be a chicken breast and a salad for me tonight. GS is working so he can fend for himself. Though I will fix an extra chicken breast for him. He's not much on veggies or salad. So, he can fix what he wants as long as I don't have a mess left in kitchen in the morning. He's not one for cleaning up behind himself. 

Was working on end of month stuff this morning and then started going though things for end of year stuff for taxes. 

Getting ready soon to clean up the front end of house and mop floors right after GS leaves for work. Will do floors as soon as he leaves so, he won't track up the wet floors when he comes in from car to get ready for work. I don't always catch him before he walks on a wet floor. Then I am starting back on my bedroom and getting that finished in hopes there won't be any more interruptions.  After I get that done, then I start on the office. 

Going to go ahead and get my GD to help me list my dining room suit on her site she uses to sell things. Once that is sold, I will hire someone to paint the hall, foyer, living room and dining room. Then will sell the furniture in den as soon as I order my new furniture. The way this house is set up, I am turning my den into the dining room, but not a formal one. It is part of the kitchen with a bar between kitchen and den. All just one big room. I am going to get a farmhouse table and a buffet cabinet for that room. Then in the living room and dining room, I will get the den furniture and then put 2 swivel rockers and a small table for in between the 2 chairs in dining room. The living room and dining room are one big room. I am going to move my sewing machine table into the dining room where I will get more use out of it. Then I can redo the office/craft and sewing room to better fit my needs.  I am not a formal person, and I really don't need 2 rooms I don't use any longer. So going to make better use of this house. It has been a long time coming, but once done it will work much better for me. Figure with the housing market like it is and even though interest rates are starting to come down, it is not down enough. So will make the best of where I am to suit me much better.

[Littlesister]

Started back going through things in my bedroom. Had to slow down a bit as my shoulder blade started hurting again. Lifting to many heavy boxes.  I am not supposed to be lifting over 25Lbs due to my neck  But I want my bedroom closet organized in a way it works for me. Alot of my supplies are in that closet but not organized where I can find things I need. So, working on a system and it seems to be taking forever. It's not easy moving stuff and going through it all, getting it all separated and making piles of what to keep and what goes out the door. I keep my extra batteries in there that I think I will move to a shelve in office. I can never find them when I need new batteries. Going through clothes is something I hate to do but working on it.  If I only keep one set of clothes and a couple sets of clothes for church and a few extra shirts, I think I would be fine with that. But like Jeepers on t-shirts, I do mess them up bad cleaning house and doing a lot of stuff outside. So, I also keep a lot of extra t-shirts. But now have separated the bad from the good. I am going to cut up the old t-shirts for rags as they are 100% cotton.  I even have an old pair of pants and one of my old uniform tops that I use when I am painting. I think they have every color on them this house has ever been painted with. Though I am no longer going to paint other than closets as I can't keep a straight line at ceiling and wall, and it hurts my neck to try it. I will get rid of those also. For closets I said white ceilings don't matter and painted the ceiling and walls the same color in the office. My bedroom I will just paint that closet white after everything is out of it. It will be bright and clean. It's a walk-in closet so that would work. 

[Necie]

I’ve got to get SOMETHING done today. 🤪 At 1:00 I’m getting off my lazy butt and getting busy. 
Still gotta take soap upstairs to stack. Only got one batch made instead of the 3 I’d hoped for. 😞 Gonna do one canner (7 qts) of beans (3 black, 4 kidney). Bluegill for dinner. 

[Littlesister]

I thought I logged out, guess not. 

GS left for work a couple hours ago.  So, all is now quiet around here right now. He will be working until 2am tomorrow.  Long day for him. 

 

Got several boxes of things out of the way and done. Not many to go through now. So, working on the clothes situation now. Once everything is out of closet, I might go ahead and paint it while it is empty. that one is a tossup. I don't really feel like painting. 

 

Necie, I know how you feel about having a lazy day. I have those also. I just do-little things on those days just so I can say I did something even if it's wrong. 

 

Thinking of cooking pepper steak for dinner tonight.  That moves another bag of peppers out of freezer. Slowly but surely those bags of peppers are going down. I have a huge ham in the bottom of freezer, I thought I had used those up. So now I need to figure out what I want to do with it. Maybe use it at Easter depending on what family is going to do. This family thing gets hard when everyone lives so far away from everyone. Which everyone could move in closer again. It was so much easier. But, one day. 

[Necie]

Log out?  I never log out (phone). 

 

Beans in canner... still have 50 minutes.

Got soap upstairs. I’m beginning to hate stairs. Hurts my knees and I can only do one step at a time.  It even prompted me to snoop on Zillow to see what’s available in the area. One that could be possible... except we’re not moving.  I love my house... except for stairs. 
While upstairs, I did an inventory to see exactly how many batches of soap that I HAVE to make before market starts in May— 10... could be 11, but one can probably wait as it’s a slower seller. I usually do all I need by the end of March and then make lotions in April. But this year might be a *make as needed* year with everything going on with Dad. Then I went out on the front porch and straightened up my totes of wrapped soap that was a mess after the kids/grandkids rummaged through them at Christmas. Everyone gets their own little gift bag to fill with whatever they want. 
Back to doing *something*... 

[snapshotmiki]

Walked early
Signed papers for new homeowners insurance policy
Aldi
Thrift stores.
Came home and walked dogs. Resting now.

You all are too busy!