Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: August 22 ~ 28, 2021

[ReneeT]

Good Morning, All! Hope you are all having a good weekend so far!

The older grandson's team won their JFL football game yesterday 18-0, so that set the weekend off to a good start. It had been a while since I'd been to a football game, so I'm having to relearn it all over again. And since younger grandson's soccer games start next week, I'm going to have to learn that as well. I'm not sure there is enough room left in my brain I am so blessed to have activities like their sports to comfort my mind and distract me from all the other stuff that is going on in the world as well as here in the states.

And when I say comfort my mind, this is what I mean: I know that I am not alone. My circle is not as small as it sometimes seems. I saw very few people wearing masks. Did notice a LOT of Veteran themed shirts and hats, patriotic themed gear ditto, and Thin Blue Line gear mixed in with the mass of purple. The only person I did not see standing for the Anthem was a young man with CP who was in a wheelchair, but who waved a small flag during the Anthem.

I was scheduled for an 8 hour shift this evening, but someone else volunteered for the whole 12 hours; trust me I was NOT disappointed to give away my 8 hours of it. I will spend that time with my grandchildren and with going through my medical preps, with an eye toward checking expiration dates and things that might have walked away - pretty sure Hubby 'borrowed' the D3 from that tub for instance (I have more hidden where he won't find it easily.) And I need to figure out the All Day Chemist site to see about pricing for the few meds we take on a daily basis - so far, the only script med I take is on the $4 list at WM; it's actually MORE expensive through my insurance .

Prep plans for the week include continuing to work on the prep pantry and med cabinet. I've gotten behind with the grandkids here so frequently. I also need to figure out what I'm going to do with all of my houseplants that are currently out on the porch since fall is creeping up on me. They were on a shelf in the utility room last year, but now that the kittens are here, that's not going to work.

Okay, I swear I've been typing on this one post for an hour - lots of interruptions with boys and husband and kittens around I'm going to give up and hit post!

Take care all; have a great week!

 

[paxsim2]

Slept in, not my usual thing but the poor dog is afraid of storms so we were up until 1.
Going out in a bit to plant a few things since is poured down rain last night the beds are good and wet. Might as well take advantage.
Have a shelf unit we brought in from the farm that will go up in the pantry room for preps.
Need to do some basic housekeeping stuff. Just not real motivated.

 

[nomifyle]

I peeked in the door of my camper, what a mess. I have canned food out there that has been in there for a few years and I may dehydrate most of it. I need to find a new home for my dehydrator, just not sure where to put it, probably in the kitchen where I had my food saver, so now I need to find a convenient place for that too.

I have two canned foods just for me that I have enough for one can a week. The canned zucchini in tomato sauce and canned yellow squash and vidalia onions. Last night I tried a can of okra and tomatoes, I put ground venison in it, it was good, but I've been putting canned chicken in the others and I think I like the chicken better. I'll try that before I really stock up on the okra and tomatoes, my only issue is the unknown natural flavoring in it. The squash is seasoned the same way, so I'm just not sure I want to eat two cans of food with natural flavoring in it a week. All three of these foods are low in calories which would be good for weight reduction, which I'm struggling to deal with.

About three days ago I cooked two pounds of ground venison. That day I use some of it for sloppy joes, of course, DH loved that, I don't consider the canned mix healthy, then if I found some energy I could make it from scratch, but Dh probably would not like it then.. I ate a very small portion in a small bowl. I was going to use the remainder of the venison for tacos, but may make spaghetti instead.

One day this week Dh asked me what's for supper and I had not planned anything and just could not face the kitchen, so I ordered hamburger steak dinners from the local hole in the wall. so I'm trying to plan ahead what is for dinner and get an early start on it.

We have a white peach tree that is loaded with peaches. We gave a box of them to friends the other day and I asked DH to pick some for me to put in the freezer. I did this just in case I get a wild hair to make peach preserves. And also I could dehydrate some too. That sure gel will come in handy if I make the preserves. I have a good bit of blue berries in the freezer that I would like to make preserves with. Dream on Judy.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[ReneeT]

Judy, I didn't know whether to hit the like button or the laugh one after that 'Dream On Judy' (I know that feeling all too well!)

I picked up something from the Aldi cold case the other day that I think might become a fairly regular purchase - especially for when the boys are here. It's called Mama Cozzi's Take and Bake Cheesy Bread Sticks. I was thinking I might bake them and take them in my work lunches, but since the boys were here and I needed to feed them lunch, I drizzled some red sauce over the top, added some left over chicken sausage that I'd cooked to use in 'breakfast bowls', sprinkled a little more cheese over the top, then put them in the oven for the 7-9 minutes recommended on the package. The box that it was in was 10" X 10" so the bread stick area was maybe 9" x 9", We sliced it across the center, then pulled the bread sticks apart - the boys liked the 'pizza sticks' as they were easy to just pick up and eat, and chowed down on them in spite of having a couple of snacks after breakfast. I don't think I'll be taking them to work with me though - we haven't had any vampires in the unit recently so I'm probably pretty safe without the garlic

 

[WanderLore]

Shredded 4 large zucchini and put in bags. Holy smokes. Huge. Finally used food processor, forgot I had it. There will be enough to make at least 10 chocolate zucchini breads for Christmas gifts. Maybe more.
Picked more elderberries, I think we are on the second 5 gallon bucket. Put 10 more butternut squash in pantry. Bushels of tomatoes, green beans and so much more coming on. Very blessed with garden this year, praise the Lord.
Very hot and dry. Took my bath in the pool.
Boys had last ball game last night and we celebrated at the little lounge.
Just regular stuff.

 

[amazon]

I'm feeling uneasy so I went and spent $400 on food. Suttons Daze on YouTube just did a segment where she shared concerns about the trucking industry, among others. Apparently a lot of truckers aren't going to get the jab, and many large companies will require "papers please!" to enter their warehouses. Its worth a watch, about 15 min.

I went to Sam's, Kroger, Walmart and 3 Ace Hardware. Things about like they have been, not as much of anything, some holes, high meat prices. Produce looked terrible, during mid summer. Ace website showed they had 3 6 packs of half gallon jars. They didn't. They did have a pallet of Pur jars that had gotten wet and lids had a little rust. $4 per dozen, pints only. I bought 5 cases. Lots left.

This week I plan to can 30 lbs of roast, 10 lbs potatoes and some apples my MIL gave me, Grimes, I think. Im going to dehydrate celery. I hate blanching.....I also need to repackage some things I just bought.

Let's hope and pray this week is better than last.

 

[Marseydoats]

It's too hot to do anything outside, so I've been cleaning inside. Chunked a bunch of old Christmas cards, and found a card that then, Vice President Nixon had sent my Mom, thanking her for her support, which I thought was neat.
The puppy eats anything that falls on the floor. I don't know how many rocks I've pried out of her mouth. It is so muddy out, in August, no less, that I've been sweeping multiple times a day.
Having out of state company the end of the week, and worried about Covid germs, but I guess I can't live the rest of my life in fear.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Well, we've have a full day.

We had Bible study here this morning. It went longer than usual, because there were some problems and questions we had to deal with of a personal nature. It went great, though.

DS that has been clearing trees from his backyard finally got all of them cut, and cut up for our firewood. Cary has brought it all to our house. So, DS had excavators come in and remove all the stumps, and cleared down to the dirt everywhere he had cut. He now has a huge backyard to grow a larger garden and DDIL has a spot picked out for her new greenhouse next spring. We followed them home from Bible study to see all they had done on the yard. While there, DDIL showed me the new food dehydrator she had bought, and all the fruits she has already dehydrated and put up. She was so proud, and I had to brag on her, of course. She inspired me, so I came home, and went out to my mini barn. I found my old food dehydrator that has never been used, and has been in the original box for years. Now that it's in the house, I need to wash, and clean it up to see if it still works after all this time. If it does, I have a new toy to play with, LOL!

I got more of my Sam's order, today. Hopefully, the rest will come tomorrow.

I had just started to make supper when my phone rang. It was my mom telling me that we may have to take our DS to the ER, because he was having a pretty bad MS flare up. I got him on the phone, and talked to him about what was going on. His right leg was having really bad muscle spasms/weakness. He told me that he had taken the MS medication he has for it, and for us to wait about 2 hrs. If the medication hadn't worked by then, he would need to go to the ER for treatment with stronger medication. I finished making supper, ate, and cleaned up the kitchen. I called him back, and the med's were working, so we didn't have to go to the ER with him. Praise God!!!!

Mom is actually taking the medication her doctor sent her. She's complaining about it making her jittery. Budesonide is the drug. I believe it is a cortico- steroid. She's on a pretty high dose to start with, and will taper herself down to just one a day by the end of 2 weeks. I'm pretty sure she will have to stay on a low dose to keep the UC under control for life. Her doctor will be giving her a strict diet that she has to follow when she goes back to his office in 3 weeks.

Anyway, that's my day, and I'm tired.

Have a happy and blessed week, Everyone!

 

[paxsim2]

Budesonide is what they are prescribing for covid.

 

[moldy]

Made about 40 gallons of cider today with some friends. I'm beat.

 

[blackguard]

So grateful for this continuing thread. I read it often, it helps to see what others are doing. Ive definitely picked up some good tips and ideas. It has also served as prep fuel. Sometimes I need a little extra motivation, although with everything going on in the world that hasn't been much of as issue of late! Just wanted to say thanks!

 

[20Gauge]

Kept working on the coop. Most of the sides are up, but still need to be secured better. Right now they are attached by zip ties. I will staple and wire them later. Also, the ground part has not been attached yet. I will wait on that one until the end.

I also got the first strip of 4-5 strips of the roof done, but I did not take a picture. After finishing it, I determined that it was too flexible, so I decided to add some additional support. So the 2nd strip has not been installed as of yet.

There are no pictures yet of the roofing, but the side walls are noted in the picture below.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Budesonide is what they are prescribing for covid.

I did not know that. Thanks.

 

[Marseydoats]

I did a WM pick up order this morning, at a different store, mainly to get the things that I couldn't get last week. Best experience I've ever had at WM! The email said they wanted "No contact". So I parked, called and told them I was there, and got out and opened the tailgate, figuring they could just sit the groceries there and I would load them in the truck myself. My legs were hurting and I hadn't even got sat down in the truck and here comes the young man with my groceries. (My 4WD is so high, I can't get up on the tail gate without a boost)
I managed to get a fan today, but I can't get the thing together. It looks like somebody opened the box and put different fan blades in it, they are gray, the fan is white. If dh can't make it work, I'll have to take it back.
I messed up and didn't realize that I only had half a bottle of aspirin. The software kept randomly removing items from my order, some of them it said, "Out of stock" some of them it just took off. Aspirin was one of the things it removed, along with tea bags, and cat litter. I put the aspirin back 3 times, as it never said out of stock, but it just kept removing it. I went in the store and got that, and the last 2 boxes of tea bags they had, along with dh's ice cream, which I never put on a pick up order because I figure it will melt. I was done in less than 10 minutes.
I also ran completely out of Kaopectate. I buy Pepto Bismol for dh, but that stuff makes me throw up.
The vitamins that were supposed to be delivered last week, and keep going to different states, still haven't shown up. If they don't come by this afternoon, I will put a trace on them.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I opened the box for the food dehydrator, and pulled it out this morning. What a mess! Apparently, fire ants had built a nest in it sometime in the past, and it was a total loss. It wouldn't even turn on. That's what I get for buying something, and sticking it back, without using it from time to time. All my fault. I'm not going to buy another one right now. Maybe later. I'm still concentrating our funds on stocking more Keystone meat and more varieties of canned veggies.

While at DS's house, yesterday, DDIL had just received a shipment of dry soup mixes she had ordered. We were going through them, and they all looked very tasty. Each had it's own instructions and a variety of different ingredients you could add to personalize them. I believe she ordered them from Anderson Farms. That may not be right, and am going to ask her. I'm going to add an order of those for ourselves. She had ordered some in the past, and made soup with one, and they loved it. That's why she was adding more to her stock.

Heat index today is going back over 100 degrees, so Cary has already been out splitting and stacking more firewood. I don't have much of anything to do today. I have a 5lb bag of each of cornmeal and flour I need to empty into 1/2 gal canning jars with O2 absorbers, but that's it. Tomorrow is laundry day.

DS is doing lots better this morning. He's still really tired. He gets his twice a year Ocrevus treatment in October, and it usually begins to wear off, before it's time for his next one. He's got to wait, til then for his next treatment. He has med's to take in between treatments if he needs to. He leaves Sunday going back to Texas for his final divorce hearing. If he isn't able to drive himself, we'll have to take him. We'll be there a few days helping him get some things taken care of that can only be done, once the divorce is final. That should be Sept.1st at the hearing.

Oops! That should be Anderson House instead of Anderson Farms. I just placed an order. They have several varieties of dry soup mixes to choose from. I also got free shipping.

 

[WanderLore]

All Soup Mixes Archives - Anderson House

Both our ‘Hearty Meals’ and ‘Homemade in Minutes’ soup mixes are made with real ingredients—all natural, with no added salt or artificial anything—and can be prepared as vegetarian or vegan. And, with 37 soups, stews, chilis and chowders to choose from, you’ll always have deliciously different...

www.andersonhousefoods.com

Now called Frontier soups but still same product

 

[SouthernBreeze]

All Soup Mixes Archives - Anderson House

Both our ‘Hearty Meals’ and ‘Homemade in Minutes’ soup mixes are made with real ingredients—all natural, with no added salt or artificial anything—and can be prepared as vegetarian or vegan. And, with 37 soups, stews, chilis and chowders to choose from, you’ll always have deliciously different...

www.andersonhousefoods.com

Now called Frontier soups but still same product

Yes, that's it. I bought the baker's dozen package. You get to select the ones you want. I'm going to try one when I get the package, and if we like it, I'll be buying more, soon.

Have any of you tried any of them?

 

[WanderLore]

Went to town to doc appt and run errands. Doc said nothing about the vax but he and I have been a team for many years and he went thru my bout of shingles with me for 8 years, result of the one and only flu shot.
But, the tv in the office was non stop vax stuff.
Anyway, getting set up for new CT and mamm.
See what status my back is. I may go ahead with the shot back there. He said it is an actual surgeon that does it. So might chance it.
WM is pushing the masks, no thanks. No butane for over a month now for my little camp stove.
Got rest of what I needed and hit the dollar tree next door.
Other bunch of stuff. Our 4H group is supposed to take pop cans to trade for money for the group. There are about 40 bags. Plus what we all have at home ourselves. I'm doing the bags we have and that's it. You have to go all the way into the bigger city, you can't do more than $25 a day.
The money is for the kids doing the horses. We aren't and I already paid what they needed to.
It's just too hot and too much. Gas is 3 a gallon on top of that.
Anyway. Neighbor brought us cantelopes. They are looking for a stray dog who is injured. We are looking too.
Tomorrow is going to be extremely hot so going to take the boys to the lake beach not too far.
Hope you all are doing ok and stay cool.

 

[WanderLore]

No SB I haven't tried them. Was wondering how many servings each package makes?

 

[SouthernBreeze]

No SB I haven't tried them. Was wondering how many servings each package makes?

I don't know, but when DIL was telling me about making a pot, she said it made a large stew pot full. I'll see if I can find out.

Edit to add....I just looked at the soup mixes I bought, and each one serves 8. If you add your own meat and other fresh ingredients as listed on the back of each package, it might make more servings.

 

[Mprepared]

I am getting my dehydrator out and going to do all squash. I was going to pull most of the plants. I just have too much, but all day reading all the news and all the posts, and basically wasted the whole day. I have tomatoes to bring in. It finally cooled off and i am going to start dehydrating. I want to start dehydrating potatoes. My daughter's friend sent her a picture of a store this morning here in Idaho. I am not sure if this is from not getting shipments in to sell or if people came in and bought this all up. It is a bulk place, restaurant supplies, etc. I need to go shopping and see other stores.

 

[WanderLore]

Edit to add....I just looked at the soup mixes I bought, and each one serves 8. If you add your own meat and other fresh ingredients as listed on the back of each package, it might make more servings.

Serves 8 is good, and can make it go farther adding this and that.
Daughter made chili in crock pot tonight using meat she canned a year ago. She was tickled because the jar made that wonderful whoosh pop noise when she opened it. That was her first time using a pressure canner and reading the ball book. I'm very proud of her. She cans almost every day.
There must be a few hundred butternut squash out in garden. DH planted 26 plants. Already about a dozen in pantry. I think we will be sharing.
Awhile back, I had a pack of tomato seeds and just threw them in an ice cream bucket with manure. They sprouted and I transplanted 72. Hubs and daughter planted in garden later. They are all huge and full of maters! She is just about giddy over it lol.
Her herbs are coming up too. This is really the first year she has had such a huge garden or grown anything so it's fun to watch!

Grandsons and I had our first meal off the bbq grill in the cabin yard tonight, it was very nice.
Grandma Kelly

 

[nomifyle]

Today was commodity day, I went early because I wanted to get my oil changed and get a new inspection sticker. Ever since we had that hard freeze back in the winter I've had an issue with the transmission in my van. Its initally slow upon exceleration and then its fine, so I make allowances for that. I guess it makes a noise. They refused to change the oil and do an inspection. He did check the oil and said it was fine, I always get synthetic high mileage oil. The inspection sticker expired in March, I don't drive the van very often. I know another place I can go.

I also went to walmart and dollar tree. I ended up with 8 cases of vegetables at walmart and two bottles of Dawn Platnium, frozen sweet potatoes, a Bristol canned ham, dried beans, BBW pork in a soft can, Michelina's frozen foods, some fresh vegetables, most of those to dehydrate, a loaf of Ezekiel bread, and bananas.

Last trip to DT I tried Fabuloso with vinegar and liked it so I got more. Also Artic analgesic gel, some pace picante sauce in small jars, hungry jack hashbrowns, and some apple sauce for DH.

Commodities were slim pickings. A giant bag of french fries, two cans of biscuits, two sleeves of crackers, a large box of oreos (neither one of us like those), a ziploc of bacon and sliced ham. A couple of other things. The bacon looks good.

Got another 2# packages of bacon ends and pieces, same price. I cooked one, so I'm replacing that. I bake the ends and pieces in the oven, Its makes enough grease to cover the bacon and I put it in a container in the fridge and it stays good until its all gone.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[Digger]

Our daughter saw the surgeon today. Her knot is a cyst, not a blood clot. Praise God! Thank you everyone for the prayers. The cyst has to be removed because it is giving her problems. But the dr said it is pretty straightforward.

I have my 3rd canner of okra creole running now. That gives us another option for a side dish or sometimes my hubby adds it to gumbo.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Serves 8 is good, and can make it go farther adding this and that.
Daughter made chili in crock pot tonight using meat she canned a year ago. She was tickled because the jar made that wonderful whoosh pop noise when she opened it. That was her first time using a pressure canner and reading the ball book. I'm very proud of her. She cans almost every day.
There must be a few hundred butternut squash out in garden. DH planted 26 plants. Already about a dozen in pantry. I think we will be sharing.
Awhile back, I had a pack of tomato seeds and just threw them in an ice cream bucket with manure. They sprouted and I transplanted 72. Hubs and daughter planted in garden later. They are all huge and full of maters! She is just about giddy over it lol.
Her herbs are coming up too. This is really the first year she has had such a huge garden or grown anything so it's fun to watch!

Grandsons and I had our first meal off the bbq grill in the cabin yard tonight, it was very nice.
Grandma Kelly

Your DD sounds a lot like my DIL! This is only her second year growing a garden on her own. She is absolutely giddy over what she's grown so far, and has been dehydrating up a storm. I'm so proud of her! She has quart jars full of dehydrated tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, apples, several kinds of squash, and green peppers so far. One of DS's best friends raises chickens. DS just bought a dozen of his fresh harvested hens for their freezer to go along with all their venison and wild pork. DS is an avid hunter. I think he has catfish and bream in their freezer, too. Both are survivalists (DIL is from the mountains of Montana), and they are working to make their little homestead as self-sufficient as they can. DS is getting ready to start building a place for his own chickens, and maybe, rabbits. A spring house in their newly landscaped back yard, a greenhouse, and a larger garden. I'm jealous of their fresh water spring! It's great to know that there are still young people out there who are carrying on our lifestyle, and are enjoying life while they do it!

 

[paxsim2]

The young couple buying our farm are homesteaders in the making. They were raising quail and chickens in their small yard plus a big garden. They will be able to expand their businesses now. They have 4 kids who are 5-12 and are loving it at the farm.
The place is 120 years, we fully modernized it but left it intact. It's the first time in 100 years that children have lived there. As silly as it sounds, I believe the house is happy! I know we are!

 

[nomifyle]

Didn't get much done today, still tired from yesterday. DH went to get feed at a town about 50 miles away, he called and said he forgot his wallet and would I meet him with it. I said of course, I still had to get dressed, could not find my keys to the house right away so I left the front door unlocked. My van was low on gas and I was nervous about it, the place where we were meeting has gas. We passed each other right after the gas station. I pulled over and he turned around and pulled up behind me. I told him I was almost out of gas and to please follow me. I got gas, 3.49 a gallon, but very rural, and made it home just fine.

DH also wanted to get his windshield changed, but the place was backed up for a week, so he has an appointment for next Monday.

He had been paying around $10.00 for 50#s of corn, but today at a different place it was only $8 for 50#s.

Some friends invited us over for a fish dinner but lightening struck the transformer by their house and their power was out, so we post poned. DH at a freezer dinner. I finished what I had left of my lunch.

There is nothing I need from the grocery for an extended period of time, and not really anything I want. I have one shipment of two bottles of NAC coming from walmart and nothing else. From amazon I've ordered a 2.6 pound can of dehydrated diced carrots to add to stuff and a large bottle of naproxen for the medicine cabinet.

I would not take naproxen unless I was desperate, but from time to time it would be good to have. I hurt a lot but try not to take anything if I can help it. And I also alternate what I take for pain, so not taking the same thing all the time. I generally do not take something for pain every day and I want to keep it that way. But if I do a lot of something physical I usually take something.

I did order a
Go Power Plus GP200 Emergency Portable Power Station With Weather Band Radio

this along with my Jackery 240 should keep my small things powered in a power outage if we are not running the generators. I wish I'd heard about the Go Power Plus plus when they were under $50, now they are almost twice that. It would be nice if I could afford something bigger solar wise, but its not in the cards. I'm blessed to have what I have.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[philkar]

I am sitting down to regroup before bed! Every morning I get up and hurriedly do those things that take electricity thinking that if the grid goes the hard stuff will be done. I am beginning to realize that that is no way to live. Trying to revamp my frame of mind. Part of it is being prepared for the worst and praying for the best. Getting better at it I think. Baby steps though! We are good on preps we think. The barn has back ups for the back ups and the same for the house. Harvest is almost over but we will start planting next week if things dry out a bit. May you all be blessed with an abundance of energy and clearness of mind!

 

[Meemur]

You aren't the only one, Philkar. For me, that'll be SOP until October or so. For me, it's staying on top of laundry, dishes, and housework, plus doing regular backups on the computer.

If I'm wrong, nothing is lost. I like having a clean house with no large piles of dishes or laundry waving at me.

 

[John Deere Girl]

I keep the laundry and dishes up, and try to keep the house clean. Makes me feel better, and nothing bad happens when the housework is done.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I try to live by this rule. "Never put off, until tomorrow what you can get done, today." It doesn't always work out that way, but I try. I always get into trouble when I procrastinate.

 

[aviax2]

We’re having another crappy week. So much bad news in the world, country and even locally. Things are crazy with the virus and one grandson is having to quarantine because he came into contact with someone in the school cafeteria that has been exposed to it. I think there were only 5 kids in his class today. The elementary part of the school has a huge number of kids that have been sent home because of possible contact. A big majority of the teachers are out too, it’s insane. I don’t even see the point of having the school open.

DH has been recovering from The Crud (luckily I haven’t gotten it) and of course he’s been overdoing things. His neck has been giving him fits after moving some boxes the other day and he’s made two trips to the chiropractor this week. He has been in so much pain and hasn’t rested well at all. Sigh, the man is baling hay as I type. He is an extremely hard worker and most of the time he’s just as hard headed.

I had plans to can beans today but between being so stressed out about everything and DH was so restless and moaning all night, I didn’t sleep at all. I gave up and went to the living room because I was worried my restlessness would make it harder for him. I watched some Alfred Hitchcock and Twilight Zone and did some reading. Hopefully I’ll get to the beans tomorrow. I had the Princess for about 5 hours this afternoon and she has a way of cheering me up so even though I was pretty tired I was happy to be able to help out.

Still waiting on a few items from Sam’s, this last order has been the craziest yet, a few items here and there on many different days. I did an online order with Walmart for some first aid items. I’ve really got to get busy and get things better organized and put away.

I‘ve been doing some more Christmas shopping (even before Heels up Harris mentioned it) I want to get the kids on our list taken care of as soon as I can. Things are already getting hard to find and prices are definitely up.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Did a rough inventory. Found some gaping holes and got organized. One bin I thought held emergency supplest ended up only having one bag of beans and one of pasta. Found out some of the stuff needed updating or replacing

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I finally received my last shipment from Sam's, yesterday. It took around 3 1/2 weeks for it all to get here. I got it in 5 different shipments. This was all one order, too. Crazy! The only order I have outstanding at the moment is the dry soup mixes, and tracking says that it's been shipped.

DS called, yesterday, and asked if I would make supper for him, tonight. He wants to come over for a visit, before he leaves for Texas, Sunday. He got over the MS flare, and is doing lots better. He still gets tired really easily, though. He doesn't want us making the trip with him, since he will be staying out there for a few days in a hotel room.

So, tonight's menu is oven fried chicken breasts, Kraft Deluxe mac and cheese, home canned purple hull peas, deviled eggs, German sweet rolls, and ice cream for dessert.

 

[philkar]

Another very hot day here. Heat index to be around 102. I run the canner everyday and today is no different. Still putting away odds and ends! Will try my hand at crabapple jelly today as our trees are loaded. Yesterday made some squash pickles which are delish. My first try at those.

Does anyone unwrap their soap bars to make them harder? They last longer if allowed to harden. Used to do it with homemade soap. Just passing along an easy tip at least for you to think over!

Supper sounds great at your house Sherree! Wish I was closer!

 

[20Gauge]

The wife, despite the rain, decided to pick some peppers from her garden. She got over 250 of them, mostly tabasco. She then chopped them up and froze them for later use.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Another very hot day here. Heat index to be around 102. I run the canner everyday and today is no different. Still putting away odds and ends! Will try my hand at crabapple jelly today as our trees are loaded. Yesterday made some squash pickles which are delish. My first try at those.

Does anyone unwrap their soap bars to make them harder? They last longer if allowed to harden. Used to do it with homemade soap. Just passing along an easy tip at least for you to think over!

Supper sounds great at your house Sherree! Wish I was closer!

Oh, I love squash pickles! Mom and Dad made them every year, along with a delicious squash relish. The relish was sweet, but spicy hot. I've never tried crabapple jelly, but Mom made some one year from her huge crabapple tree. I don't think Dad liked it, so she only made it that one year.

I don't unwrap my soaps, but I have heard that it makes it last longer. All the homemade soaps I see are never wrapped.

 

[philkar]

Sherree I actually make pear relish that we eat with peas and beans and I make a muscadine relish to eat with pork. Relish is something that I make with the leftovers after I have made jelly or preserves. The muscadine relish is a Callaway Gardens recipe that has cinnamon sticks in it. More savory than sweet.

 

[Marseydoats]

Philkar, I unwrap my soap. I also tuck a scented bar that I like in the linen closet, and I've put some in the plastic zip bags that I store heavy blankets in out of season. Kind of cuts down on the musty smell.
It has been right at 100 degrees for the past 10 days, I don't know what the heat index is. The barn cat was laying in a mud puddle and gave me the stink eye. I tried to bring her in the house in the ac, and she was having none of it. The poor livestock are suffering. I go out and hose everybody off with cool water.
The glue that holds the rear view mirror on melted in my car, and it fell in the floor, and pulled all the wiring out. I was surprised that the car would still start. So I have to get it to the shop.
I have too many tomatoes to eat, but not enough to can. The chickens are giving me "You have got to be kidding" looks when I dump them more tomatoes. I've tried to give some to my neighbors twice, but they are never home.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Sherree I actually make pear relish that we eat with peas and beans and I make a muscadine relish to eat with pork. Relish is something that I make with the leftovers after I have made jelly or preserves. The muscadine relish is a Callaway Gardens recipe that has cinnamon sticks in it. More savory than sweet.

Sounds delicious, too!