Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: April 19 - April 25, 2026

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Taco filling? I'm thinking of making meatloaf this weekend. I may half the recipe since it's just DH and I. Slept in - I needed it, and I'm still kinda groggy. I need to get up and going because we have an appointment about some stuff. (Informal, but I still need to be dressed in something other than jammies).
 
moldy said:
Taco filling? I'm thinking of making meatloaf this weekend. I may half the recipe since it's just DH and I. Slept in - I needed it, and I'm still kinda groggy. I need to get up and going because we have an appointment about some stuff. (Informal, but I still need to be dressed in something other than jammies).
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That sounds good, too. I just did a search on the many ways to use up leftover meatloaf. Several great ideas. I have plenty of hamburger buns, so Cary wants sloppy joes. I've found a good recipe for it. There will be some left for another meal or two, so I'll divide it and put it in the freezer. Quick and easy.
 
Digger said:
I only bought 2 small picks. I swear we used to pay $1.49 or $1.99 for the same size pick. They are $4.99 now. Most nice picks were $7 or $8. I have 2 picks from last year I will use, but i want one more at least. I am afraid the day will come when we can't decorate. But the crowds are getting smaller every year. The older ones passing on and the young ones don't keep coming.

I sold 4 Turkey poults yesterday afternoon. Someone is supposed to come get more today. We will see if they message about it again.

My son and I fertilized most the fruit trees yesterday. I just have a few in our yard to do still. We got more rain after we put it out, so that was perfect. He did his berries too. He worked while we ran to around to drs Wednesday and Thursday. He is back home so he can go to work tonight.

Hubby is awake, so I am going to have coffee with him. Have a blessed weekend everyone.
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They have priced a lot of folks out of the market for decoration flowers. Sadly enough, I'm going to have to cut back to close family only where I use to put a little something on every cousin, etc. I would say daddy and I easily decorated around seventy graves every year during the month of May but we could still get the little one dollar picks. We spent a good bit more on immediate family. He had the money and he enjoyed it.

In the little community southwest of town where my mother's people are buried, DH and I showed up at the cemetery a few years ago to see a single flower on every grave there. I don't know who did it or where they found those flowers but it was beautiful...they did not come from Dollar Tree. Some of the little mountain cemeteries use to do that every year. Nobody had a big impressive arrangement but everyone had that single flower.
 
Memorial/decoration day at Cary's family cemetery is in August every year. His mom and dad are there, so we buy a nice floral arrangement for them. My dad is buried at Mom's family cemetery, and there is no set day to put out arrangements. I always get a nice arrangement for him on Father's Day and at Christmas. Every year, the price of those arrangements go up, or the price is the same, but the arrangements are smaller. I'm glad we don't have a lot of those to buy.
 
I have put leftover meatloaf in chili too. Leftover baked beans are also good in chili.

Storm hit here yesterday morning. Power blipped but I had invested in an uninterrupted power supply before another storm forecast so computer was fine. Will need to get my internet setup on one at some point.

Today is cleaning house and scanning books. Trying to get books down to a manageable and movable number. Now that I have knee brace off and my mobility is better, I really need to deep clean. Going to tackle 1 room a day.

When budget permits we are going to look for a zero turn mower. We have 4 yards to maintain and the little bouts of rain have them growing fast. I mowed 2 of them last week on consecutive days and allergies were the worst I have ever experienced. Made it hard to function for a couple days after. Now they all need mowing again but it is supposed to storm until Tuesday.
 
patriotgal said:
I have put leftover meatloaf in chili too. Leftover baked beans are also good in chili.

Storm hit here yesterday morning. Power blipped but I had invested in an uninterrupted power supply before another storm forecast so computer was fine. Will need to get my internet setup on one at some point.

Today is cleaning house and scanning books. Trying to get books down to a manageable and movable number. Now that I have knee brace off and my mobility is better, I really need to deep clean. Going to tackle 1 room a day.

When budget permits we are going to look for a zero turn mower. We have 4 yards to maintain and the little bouts of rain have them growing fast. I mowed 2 of them last week on consecutive days and allergies were the worst I have ever experienced. Made it hard to function for a couple days after. Now they all need mowing again but it is supposed to storm until Tuesday.
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After today, we have six straight days of rain, a small break and more days of rain. If it materializes, it will come straight in your direction but some may burn themselves out before they get there.

This is what I get for trying to get my garden in earlier this year. I'm so wishing I'd waited a week or two to start my tomatoes. They have reached that point that they desperately need planted. I'm about to go see what the possibilities are but I'm guessing it will be too wet.

DS just showed up to help DH stretch that last little bit of fence they left open for a gate. They can go back and do the gate any time but once I have plants or seeds in the ground, I want it where nothing can get in. DH agrees.
 
Anna, your power company may have increased transmissions costs or some bs. I'd do a comparison with last month's bill and call them if you think anything is amiss. If you have a sump pump, sometimes they will draw extra power before burning out.

I expect that you don't have any "rapid start" TVs, etc., plugged in. If so, that might be drawing phantom power, which means even when it's turned off the "rapid start" is still drawing power. I have that stuff on a power strip and turn off the power strip when I'm not using it.

My power bill increased by $3 because of some sort of transmission increase. I emailed the Iowa Utilities Commission about that because there was zero notice. It probably won't do any good, but I'll complain to the IA AG, next.
 
WanderLore, add garlic extract to your list of wart remedies, although I hope your next treatment of an OTR kills it for good!

It's in the mid-60s here. I went for a bike ride this morning, and I'm puttering outside this afternoon. I saw several bumble bees but no honey bees, yet.
 
change of plans, dh was ready to go get the mulch for the garden so we went and did that. i now have enough to mulch everything and help with this water situation. Its going to have to sit in the truck though till Monday at least. Enchiladas are now in the oven, chickens fed and one separated to move to the other pen, and its break time! Already have a salad made so will just need to add some more fixings, and cook the rice and heat up refried beans. That means its break time!
Oh and upper 80's here today. There's rain forecast but I don't know that we will actually get any, it looks be moving more northward. Time will tell I guess.
 
Finally finished with all my housework. I separated and repotted my snake plant. I have another houseplant that needs the same thing done to it. I'll have to buy a new flower pot for it, before I can do it. The pot it's in was too big from the beginning. I'll put that on my shopping list for next time we go.

I don't think we'll get any rain, today. The chances aren't very good. Tomorrow will be a better day for it, plus, some thunderstorms for tomorrow afternoon.

Cary has been doing more work on the house getting it ready to be stained.
 
Sheets washed, dried and ready to go back on the bed. Whites washed with the sheets are folded and put away. Put six tomato plants outside and noticed animal blood and a bit of fir on the front stoup so scrubbed that up. It's about perfect for plant hardening off today 69º, partly sunny and wind at only 12 mph. I'm only leaving them out for an hour today. Slight possibility of rain this evening, then rain in the forecast for Sunday and Monday, Tuesday high 55º so not going to be putting them out again any day soon.
patriotgal said:
When budget permits we are going to look for a zero turn mower. We have 4 yards to maintain and the little bouts of rain have them growing fast. I mowed 2 of them last week on consecutive days and allergies were the worst I have ever experienced. Made it hard to function for a couple days after. Now they all need mowing again but it is supposed to storm until Tuesday.
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If you take an allergy medicine, take it before going out to mow. It may or may not help but easy to try.

Meemur ... the only change is that one grow light and maybe the furnace running more than last April. The graph shows a significant increase over April of 2025. I'm on a budget plan so the increase could be due to higher average over six months. $17 isn't the end of the world because I always budget an extra $25 in my utility category to cover increases. Last year I got clobbered with a huge increase in water bill that was way more than the $25 so had to do some fast adjusting in other areas.

I vacuum sealed the asparagus today. I've found if I freeze it before vacuum sealing it doesn't get squashed. I do that with meat too so the liquid in the meat doesn't siphon out and affect the sealing.
 
What’s rain?- ha! Very dry here but May is the month we get storms and even hail. Last June was when we got the big hail that broke a window. Bad duststorms seem to be fewer. Perennials and flowers that reseed are blooming. Blanket flowers especially pretty right now.
I am behind a few days on some housework but will get caught up. With my arthritic knees I just do a little each day and it keeps everything ship shape. Some days motivation is lacking. At least I planned meals for week. Always enjoy reading what everyone is doing.
 
Got the linens washed and dried. Kitchen deep cleaned except for pulling out stove. 10 boxes of books going to library book sale. Windows open, listening to night critters. Storms not supposed to hit until tomorrow evening.

Anna, I eat allergy meds like kids eat candy. At least 4x daily. 12 hour meds are out of my body in 4. Allergist knows this. I take Benadryl when I work outside because of poison ivy. The allergies do not apply to Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, or Kansas. I get a break from them when visiting friends and family.
 
feralferret said:
I would have just put the meatloaf on buns as is and had meatloaf sandwiches. Maybe add some brown gravy and mix together to eat as the entree with some mashed potatoes.

Getting ready for Sabbath service at 4 PM.
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We love meatloaf sandwiches. I even eat them cold if I'm just doing a fold over for lunch. If it's for supper, I heat it before making the sandwich and add a side or two.

We had sloppy Joes tonight...grands request and they also wanted fried potatoes with cut up hot dogs in them. We'll do our hamburgers out tomorrow night and grab a few groceries.
 
patriotgal said:
The allergies do not apply to Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, or Kansas. I get a break from them when visiting friends and family.
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My mil did not get them when she moved to the beach of NC from middle NC. Moved back and allergies came too.

Had a wonderful dinner with dd, dsil, and kids. Brody has even started wanting me to hold him! Usually he's a momma's boy lol. When they were leaving last night I picked Bella up to carry her out as she was tired and dd was standing right behind me with Brody. I got Bella and dh said umm look behind you he's reaching for you. Sure enough he was in Momma's arms but if I was carrying sissy I needed to carry him too lol! So out to the car I went carrying both of them. I think I need to start lifting weights!

And we did get RAIN! Not sure how much and not enough but we got some! I'm sure my garden loved it! Now Monday afternoon I need to get out there and get all that mulch spread out. Can't this afternoon cause well it's Sunday and the grands will be back today while DD has an open house. She is busy right now and says that this summer looks to be even busier so I may have the kids a lot she said. Fine with me. We did talk about bringing some extra clothes to keep over here to make it easier.

Lunch today is leftover enchiladas ( I love having leftovers for Sunday lunch).

And the clean keto is working as I'm down another pound. I'm not starving either like I was on the strict anti inflammatory diet the dr had me on. It might've cut down on inflammation but I was constantly hungry and watching the clock as to when I could eat. Clean keto, almost no processed food except a shake in the afternoons, makes me not feel deprived. I grew up in a house where there were many times the pantry had a couple cans of corn or green beans and a jar of peanuts and that was it, fridge wasn't much better either, so not feeling deprived matters to me.
 
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