Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: Jan 25-31, 2026

ginnie6

ginnie6

Veteran Member
It was in the 40’s here today but breezy. I’ve done a LOT of nothing. I did go do a Walmart pickup of a few groceries.
My head is extremely sore but that’s to be expected. Dd cleaned it tonight for me as I can’t see to do it and Dh does not have the stomach for it. She took a pic and it’s hard to tell where it is so that’s good. It did not feel good with that tape coming off my hair!
One of my prep wants was supposed to come today but is delayed. Hopefully it makes it tomorrow before the storm hits. They’re saying it could start around 4:30.
I was going to go to the quilting event in Statesville tomorrow but canceled. My head is sore, there’s a bandage on top, and my friend that goes with me is super nervous about the storm coming early.
Tomorrow I have to rally and get some housework done.
I can also get my hair wet as of today so plan on a nice shower sometime tomorrow.
 
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anna43

Veteran Member
Today's high was 16º and low to be -1º and Friday high to be 8º/low -4º. It was sunny today, so it felt warmer as long as you weren't in the wind or shade. My car hadn't been started for a week, so I wanted to run it to charge the battery. At first, I thought I'd drop off mail at post office and drive around town for a half hour but decided as long as I was using gas I might as well go to county seat to Fareway and take advantage of a few ad items using my gift certificate. According to my receipt I saved $10.50 which is always a good feeling. Since I had the gift certificate I splurged on a round steak for $14.30 and two frozen pizzas. Haven't had any pizza for three months so thought that would be a nice treat and they were on sale.

I baked blue berry and apple cinnamon muffins this morning and made up a batch of spiced tea. Recipe makes a quart of mix, and 3 teaspoons is enough for a mug of tea. Pure sugar but contains no "tea" which I love but cannot have. I got all the dishes washed up before I went to Fareway and nuked leftovers for supper, so few dishes used.

Forecast for more snow on Sunday but so far it doesn't look like it will amount to much. Hope those are nor famous last words! Everyone is winter weary and we still have February, March and maybe April to go. April can go either way but most likely will be a bit of both spring and winter. We've had some major blizzards in April, and they are common in March so there's a long way to go yet.

I haven't done any seed planting yet but it's still early. I will start peppers next month and tomatoes early in March. With the heat matt and light, I can start them earlier and they won't get so leggy and fall over. Fareway had a rack of seeds out but I didn't stop and look at them. I usually go to Menards for seeds as they have a large selection and decent prices. First, I need to go through my boxes of seeds and determine what I need. I've learned to buy early, as they can run out of varieties I want.
 
D

Digger

Veteran Member
Our daughter made made it to work. She said her road was the worst. Her husband made it to work yesterday. Tyson only gave her 1 point for missing after the plant opened back up. She was ok with that. Her husband didn't see any points added on his record when he was on break yesterday. So they are not completely heartless maybe.

Daughter's boss told her that the boss knew they have had at least 30 chicken houses that supply their plant collapse from the weight of the sleet. They are wondering if that will affect their hours. Her plant is a kill plant.

We should get a few degrees above freezing today. That will help on the roads especially where they have been plowed and salted. We salted our driveway hills. They have gravel showing in the ruts. But now it's turning into a mud lolly. We go below freezing again tonight and don't see above freezing again till Monday sometime. Next week should melt off all the ice. I am more than ready. It's hard to do chores. My chicken pen is down hill from the house. That's been fun. The turkeys are closer to the house and it's a flat walk to them so that hasn't been bad.

We baby sit the kids today and tomorrow. They could go to their other grandmother today, but her road is still ice covered.

Have a blessed day everyone.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
We haven't gotten any mail at all since Saturday when the ice storm hit. All of our mail comes from the processing center in Memphis. I have no idea when we will start getting it. Maybe, today. Cary has an order out that comes regular mail, so it's backed up.

High of 40, today, before the front comes through, and 16, tonight. Tomorrow's high of 28 and low of 14. I don't expect to get any snow, although, snow flurries are in our forecast. The sun is shining right now at 32 degrees.

Nothing really planned for today, but I bet I can find something to do.
 
Meemur

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie
Yeah, mail has been scarce here, too. I'm watching for my checks and the tracking has been inaccessible. I think the combination of MLK Day and the recent storm has slowed down the system.

I just took the trash out. It's something like 15 degrees. I'm going to have to pry off my car license plate and bring it into the house to put the new tag on it. It's too cold to change that outside. Some years we'll get a 40-degree afternoon to do that, but we're still in the ice box.

I haven't made it to Menard's yet, but I'll check out the seeds when I'm there. I want to try different varieties of radishes this year. They do well in the containers, and I love fresh radishes!
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
TB has been down for both Cary and myself for about an hour. I'm just now able to get back here. We could go everywhere else, just not TB. Don't know what's up with that.

Anyway, I had to get rid of some old pots and pans to make way for my new ones. I've been working in the kitchen on that while TB was down for us.

I'm going to be trying my hand at baking some artisan bread in the new Dutch oven. Cary had rather have the hard crust type breads, so the Dutch oven should fix that with all my bread recipes. I've been reading about how to do it, so I hope I don't mess up.

ps. I forgot to ask if anyone has ever used a Dutch oven for baking bread? I do have some questions that I couldn't find the answers to when I searched. I have to preheat the Dutch oven for 30 mins at 450 degrees, before putting the dough inside to bake. All my bread recipes calls for a 375 oven. Will that make a difference?
 
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Meemur

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie
As practice for Y2K, I've made bread in a Dutch oven in my backyard and I've also done it at a campground while car camping. Spoiler alert: I like the Coleman oven that fits on top of the propane stove much better! It also bakes awesome brownies.

Unfortunately, my experiences with the Dutch oven for bread (and brownies) are not good. It's hard to keep it at a high enough constant temperature, so parts of the bread / brownies end up over-cooked or underdone. You have to keep a constant eye on it for around 3 - 4 (sometimes 5) hours for bread, depending on whether you are using charcoal or wood. I think charcoal might be better in terms of consistent heat. (about 2 hours for brownies, depending).

If that's the only thing you had, you'd make do, but it takes a lot more experience than I have to make good bread.

Since then, I've experimented with fry bread in a cast iron skillet over a fire. It still takes some technique, but it's a lot easier to master and much faster.

For what it's worth . . . and I'm sure I'd get better at it if I did it weekly, but I don't think I'll ever try it again, unless there is an emergency.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
Meemur said:
As practice for Y2K, I've made bread in a Dutch oven in my backyard and I've also done it at a campground while car camping. Spoiler alert: I like the Coleman oven that fits on top of the propane stove much better! It also bakes awesome brownies.

Unfortunately, my experiences with the Dutch oven for bread (and brownies) are not good. It's hard to keep it at a high enough constant temperature, so parts of the bread / brownies end up over-cooked or underdone. You have to keep a constant eye on it for around 3 - 4 (sometimes 5) hours for bread, depending on whether you are using charcoal or wood. I think charcoal might be better in terms of consistent heat. (about 2 hours for brownies, depending).

If that's the only thing you had, you'd make do, but it takes a lot more experience than I have to make good bread.

Since then, I've experimented with fry bread in a cast iron skillet over a fire. It still takes some technique, but it's a lot easier to master and much faster.

For what it's worth . . . and I'm sure I'd get better at it if I did it weekly, but I don't think I'll ever try it again, unless there is an emergency.
Click to expand...

When using my Dutch oven, I put it in a regular oven to bake the bread. The temps would remain constant. When preheating the Dutch oven at 450 degrees, I don't know if I should turn the temp down to 375 degrees while the bread is baking. 375 is what all my recipes calls for.

I love cornbread fritters. I make them in an open skillet on my wood stove. Just like making pancakes.
 
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philkar

Veteran Member
SB I don’t think I would cook the bread at 450. Maybe that temp was just to get Dutch oven really hot to obtain that crispy crust? I have made bread in Dutch oven over open fire along with biscuits etc but that is a totally different animal from cooking with Dutch oven inside on oven. Just my opinion!
 
H

hd5574

Veteran Member
It wont work on my woodstove ..
But an oven is made that is made to sit on top of a woodstove
Kind of like one the Memur mentioned that works on a Coleman...
You would have to search to find one
Since I have a propane stove and cast iron Dutch oven with legs and lip on top made for fire cooking...have never looked for one ...
 
Meemur

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie
SB, it occurred to me after I logged off that you were probably going to use it in an oven. I've never done that! I started experimenting with Dutch oven cooking for use with a campfire or coals.

I don't know anything about making bread in a Dutch oven and the heating it in an oven. I'm sure there's youtubes around about that. I don't know why it would need to be 450. That sounds high to me, too.

Maybe something here will help:

RT 5:34

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oiLEEFTju8


RT 2:43

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbfEPkFSJek
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
My cast iron "enameled" Dutch oven is made for use in a regular oven. I know ya'll know what I'm talking about. You can even get them in different sizes and colors at Walmart. I'm not wanting cook on the stove top with a camp oven, or use on an open fire. I want to bake bread in it in my stove oven.

Cary loves hard crusty bread. All my recipes don't have that hard crust that he likes. If you bake your bread in a Dutch oven in your stove oven with the lid on, it will cause the crust to be hard and the inside soft. I've watched videos using different recipes using this method. The only question I have is the change in oven temperature. You have to preheat the Dutch oven in a 450 degree oven for 30 mins. then place the dough in the Dutch oven and put back in the oven to bake. I don't know if I need to reduce that temperature to 375 degrees to actually bake the bread. 375 degrees is what all my recipes call for, and bake for 25-30 minutes.

I guess I'll just experiment with it. I don't like waste, though.
 
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SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
Meemur said:
SB, it occurred to me after I logged off that you were probably going to use it in an oven. I've never done that! I started experimenting with Dutch oven cooking for use with a campfire or coals.

I don't know anything about making bread in a Dutch oven and the heating it in an oven. I'm sure there's youtubes around about that. I don't know why it would need to be 450. That sounds high to me, too.

Maybe something here will help:

RT 5:34

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oiLEEFTju8


RT 2:43

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbfEPkFSJek
Click to expand...

That's exactly the bread I want to bake using my own bread recipes. You can see that the outside crust is hard and crunchy. Thanks, Meemur.
 
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philkar

Veteran Member
SouthernBreeze said:
That's exactly the bread I want to bake using my own bread recipes. You can see that the outside crust is hard and crunchy. Thanks, Meemur.
Click to expand...
I am about to stick my nose into your bread making! I wonder if keeping a lid on would make the top soft. A lid would keep steam in right? I often spray loaves with water to make them soft. Just a thought floating by.
 
Meemur

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie
They also add parchment paper in the first video so that the bread doesn't get too soggy from the steam. Both videos are short and worth a look.

I will never turn down any homemade bread! But I make a basic wheat or white loaf using loaf pans in my oven, often while I'm cooking a meat loaf and sometimes muffins all at the same time, both to heat up the kitchen and be efficient.

In any case, tomorrow is going to be something horrible, like -12. I'm planning on sleeping in and then doing some baking. Fortunately, it's going back into the 30s on Sunday.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I'm not much of a bread eater but I do like a piece to slather avacaddo on. I've been using Dave's killer rasin bread but its got horrible ingredients in it so I'm looking for something else. I'm not a baker so baking bread is not something I'm up for.

DH has been using a regular cake mix to make cookies, that he adds raisins and nuts in a woopie pan. Of course the ingredients in the cake mixes are not something I want to consume. I have a recipe that has minimal ingredients in it but it has added sugar, have to keep looking. but they are delish.

I ordered some organic monk fruit sweetener. I have tons of different teas, but need something sweet to drink them. I'm thinking about opening the tea bag and putting the loose tea in a tea ball, hoping to cur down on the microplastic consumption that seems to be in just about everything.
 
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anna43

Veteran Member
Meemur -- snow early Sunday too although not much. We had snow "spitting" most of the morning but no accumulation.
I do not eat a lot of sweets so don't worry about sugar in them although I do usually bypass excessive amounts of sugar in recipes. If a cookie recipe calls for two cups of sugar, then it's a big no. I have an old recipe from my grandmother for oatmeal raisin cookies that only calls for 1/2 cup of sugar. The raisins provide the majority of the sweetness.

I had a headache this morning so decided to lay back in the recliner around 11:00 and try a short nap. A friend called me three times once when I'd just dozed off and then two more times when I'd just gotten relaxed again. I finally gave up!

My Old Testament Bible reading is caught up from missing several days. New Testament is still behind, but I'll catch that up easily enough. I've finished Genesis and Exodus and am now in Leviticus which I find heavy going.

I'm also keeping up with my therapy and not beating myself up over an occasional skip day. I think I'm making progress strengthening the appropriate muscles to support my back although my back is still hurting. I have to accept the fact that the stenosis is going to continue worsening as I age but keeping the therapy going is the only option to provide help. I don't want to start taking pain meds until absolutely necessary and thankfully, I'm not there yet.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
DH usually takes eggs to wednesday night church, but we haven't been in awhile, so because the eggs were building up he gave away 8 dozen yesterday to a couple people in the community.

I think we have run out of frozen tv dinners, we probably won't get many in the future. I took a container of my soup out of the freezer and we really enjoyed it. So I took another one out last night for today.
 
patriotgal

patriotgal

Veteran Member
Going to make drive to visit nursing home. Will have to use 4wd to navigate driveway and county road. Hwy is clear. 9 deg last night and the snow looks just like it did last Mon am. Will pick up fresh produce if there is any to be had.

Am wiped out. Washing linens is the only chore I plan to get done this weekend.

Last Saturday I made big changes in my office. Expected DH to come upstairs when he heard thumping but he did not. I removed an old dining table and a small desk that had held a TV. Also went through 2 tubs of paper. Now my office is more open. I put a larger TV on top of my stereo cabinet in one corner of the room. I put the aquarium Screensaver on it. One of the kids gave me some great candles in a range of nature scents. I put one of them at corner of middle monitor. I don't have to light it. It smells wonderful as is.

These changes instantly made for a more pleasant space. Will be making changes in other rooms later. Will be working long hours until end of February. Expecting DGS to graduate from Fort Leonardwood sometime in Feb. Praying weather won't prevent us from attending.

Stay warm and safe everyone.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
philkar said:
I am about to stick my nose into your bread making! I wonder if keeping a lid on would make the top soft. A lid would keep steam in right? I often spray loaves with water to make them soft. Just a thought floating by.
Click to expand...

No. The lid makes for a lot of steam that makes the tops hard. You take the lid off in about the last 15 mins. of baking to let the crust brown even more. I've watched several videos, and they all do it the same way with the lid on.

I found the answer to my question about the oven temps. If my bread recipe calls for a 375 degree oven, that's the temp I preheat the Dutch oven to. It will just take a bit longer to preheat. About an hour, instead of 30 mins.

I have only been using bread pans for baking the bread, but baking in them doesn't give me that hard crusty crust that I'm aiming for.
 
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Meemur

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie
True! Loaf pans won't give the bread a crispy crust, which is fine for me: I eat a lot of toast in the winter, and a crunchy bread that is toasted makes the crust almost too hard for me to chew.

Thanks for the reminder about snow on Sunday, Anna. I forgot about that. If it warms up later this afternoon, maybe I'll do a fast "Sunday drive." There are two houses I'm helping to keep an eye on. The police are, too, so if I don't make it out, there's another set of eyes on them.

Congrats on getting your office decluttered, Patriotgal! I'll bet that space makes you feel a lot better when you're working there.

It's 9 degrees (actual) and no wind, so my fingers are crossed that it will warm up into the teens later.
 
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SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
Our temp right now is 19 with wind chills in the single digits. 28 for our high, today and wind chill several degrees below 0, tonight. 14 for our low, tonight. We saw a few snowflakes early this morning. It looked more like ice crystals falling as the sun was coming up. To tell you the truth, I'll be glad to get back to our Southern heat!

Doing some house cleaning and laundry, today. Home fellowship is tomorrow, and I've done no cleaning all week. Just cooking and keeping the kitchen cleaned up is about all I've been motivated to do.
 
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prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
I tried a new recipe for soup the other day and used up some of my frozen chicken broth. It turned out great. Have a lot of this older broth to use up before I can make some new broth.

Quick trip to Walmart as we were getting lower in spreadable butter than I liked. Sam's hasn't had it in the last three months. Picked up some spices as well, as I used the last of my rosemary. I know I have more, but I can't find it. Doesn't do me any good that way. Walking a few aisles, I noticed they were COMPLETELY out of sugar of all types, WM brand, name brands, anything in any size. That was the only hole I saw and we are not in the major storm area (north Florida), but maybe trucks can't get down here.

We are supposed to get down to 21 tonight, with a wind chill of 9 or so. For north Florida, that is pretty cold. We are doing a fire in the fireplace and just hanging out until sometime on Monday. Will do church online Sunday after I make blueberry muffins for breakfast. Will roast a chicken for dinner. Nice and easy.

Ya'll stay safe and warm.
 
etdeb

etdeb

Veteran Member
patriotgal said:
Going to make drive to visit nursing home. Will have to use 4wd to navigate driveway and county road. Hwy is clear. 9 deg last night and the snow looks just like it did last Mon am. Will pick up fresh produce if there is any to be had.

Am wiped out. Washing linens is the only chore I plan to get done this weekend.

Last Saturday I made big changes in my office. Expected DH to come upstairs when he heard thumping but he did not. I removed an old dining table and a small desk that had held a TV. Also went through 2 tubs of paper. Now my office is more open. I put a larger TV on top of my stereo cabinet in one corner of the room. I put the aquarium Screensaver on it. One of the kids gave me some great candles in a range of nature scents. I put one of them at corner of middle monitor. I don't have to light it. It smells wonderful as is.

These changes instantly made for a more pleasant space. Will be making changes in other rooms later. Will be working long hours until end of February. Expecting DGS to graduate from Fort Leonardwood sometime in Feb. Praying weather won't prevent us from attending.

Stay warm and safe everyone.
Click to expand...
I use candle lamps at home and office. No open flames or overheating candles to worry about.
 
W

WanderLore

Veteran Member
Pipes froze again today. Heater quit during the night. Got cold on a trickle.
God bless my neighbor. He came over with his big propane heater thing. It's huge.
He said it was the water softener that's froze so he bypassed that and now the water is working great praise the Lord.
He left the propane heater down there to finish it out so I'm checking it about every 20 minutes. Then I can turn it off when it's done and hook up a little space heater that my other neighbor loan me.
I was trying to keep the water going till he got here and had to keep dumping buckets because I was able to get cold working a little bit.
 
kyrsyan

kyrsyan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Hello everyone. Been an interesting week. Finally got a contract on the house. It's not what we agreed to but I'm waiting for the moment. Ordered a copy of the deed and got a very unpleasant surprise. The original house price was $20,000 less than I had been told. All of the original house repairs were rolled into that first mortgage that I paid off. But they've been holding that over my head as an "you owe us" for years. If the tax return is large enough, I'm not going to bicker about the closing costs much (they agreed to pay them but that's not what the contract says). I am going to get a property survey done. And while the house is being sold as is, the mortgage company wants a home inspection. So I have to find a home inspector. I just finally want this done and their hands out of the mix.

I had to pull out the boss whip for two weeks now because the same person has fallen back into bad patterns. As of Monday she is losing an account and is back on the list to not receive any new accounts. She got "fired" from the 1099 project because she hadn't done most of the work. Fortunately another employee was able to dive in and get it handled quickly. Boss hit a whole other round of pissed about it when that employee came back with questions that she had sent answers to weeks ago. I got the adventure of figuring out how to access her email which revealed that she had trashed the emails without even opening them.

At home, purging. So much purging. It's hard on the body while doing it but so wonderful to finally have it done. Makes me want to dance for joy when a new space is cleared out. Today it was a large chunk of my office.

My Stanley French press mug arrived and I am in love. It is wonderful for my loose teas.

I think my body says I'm done for today. But there's always tomorrow.
 
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philkar

Veteran Member
kyrsyan said:
Hello everyone. Been an interesting week. Finally got a contract on the house. It's not what we agreed to but I'm waiting for the moment. Ordered a copy of the deed and got a very unpleasant surprise. The original house price was $20,000 less than I had been told. All of the original house repairs were rolled into that first mortgage that I paid off. But they've been holding that over my head as an "you owe us" for years. If the tax return is large enough, I'm not going to bicker about the closing costs much (they agreed to pay them but that's not what the contract says). I am going to get a property survey done. And while the house is being sold as is, the mortgage company wants a home inspection. So I have to find a home inspector. I just finally want this done and their hands out of the mix.

I had to pull out the boss whip for two weeks now because the same person has fallen back into bad patterns. As of Monday she is losing an account and is back on the list to not receive any new accounts. She got "fired" from the 1099 project because she hadn't done most of the work. Fortunately another employee was able to dive in and get it handled quickly. Boss hit a whole other round of pissed about it when that employee came back with questions that she had sent answers to weeks ago. I got the adventure of figuring out how to access her email which revealed that she had trashed the emails without even opening them.

At home, purging. So much purging. It's hard on the body while doing it but so wonderful to finally have it done. Makes me want to dance for joy when a new space is cleared out. Today it was a large chunk of my office.

My Stanley French press mug arrived and I am in love. It is wonderful for my loose teas.

I think my body says I'm done for today. But there's always tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Congrats on purging!
 
W

Wildwood

Veteran Member
nomifyle said:
I'm not much of a bread eater but I do like a piece to slather avacaddo on. I've been using Dave's killer rasin bread but its got horrible ingredients in it so I'm looking for something else. I'm not a baker so baking bread is not something I'm up for.

DH has been using a regular cake mix to make cookies, that he adds raisins and nuts in a woopie pan. Of course the ingredients in the cake mixes are not something I want to consume. I have a recipe that has minimal ingredients in it but it has added sugar, have to keep looking. but they are delish.

I ordered some organic monk fruit sweetener. I have tons of different teas, but need something sweet to drink them. I'm thinking about opening the tea bag and putting the loose tea in a tea ball, hoping to cur down on the microplastic consumption that seems to be in just about everything.
Click to expand...
I switched back to Luzianne tea because Red Diamond used those microfiber teabags.

I grew up on Lipton only. My mother never would buy anything else. I switched to Luzianne because Lipton started tasting bitter to me...more than usual. We got hooked on Red Diamond when we were out of town doing a show and bought a gallon already made. It was so good, we switched and then found out about the microplastics in the their tea bags. I'm drinking sweet iced tea that I had with supper right now made with Luzianne tea.
 
W

Wildwood

Veteran Member
kyrsyan said:
Hello everyone. Been an interesting week. Finally got a contract on the house. It's not what we agreed to but I'm waiting for the moment. Ordered a copy of the deed and got a very unpleasant surprise. The original house price was $20,000 less than I had been told. All of the original house repairs were rolled into that first mortgage that I paid off. But they've been holding that over my head as an "you owe us" for years. If the tax return is large enough, I'm not going to bicker about the closing costs much (they agreed to pay them but that's not what the contract says). I am going to get a property survey done. And while the house is being sold as is, the mortgage company wants a home inspection. So I have to find a home inspector. I just finally want this done and their hands out of the mix.

I had to pull out the boss whip for two weeks now because the same person has fallen back into bad patterns. As of Monday she is losing an account and is back on the list to not receive any new accounts. She got "fired" from the 1099 project because she hadn't done most of the work. Fortunately another employee was able to dive in and get it handled quickly. Boss hit a whole other round of pissed about it when that employee came back with questions that she had sent answers to weeks ago. I got the adventure of figuring out how to access her email which revealed that she had trashed the emails without even opening them.

At home, purging. So much purging. It's hard on the body while doing it but so wonderful to finally have it done. Makes me want to dance for joy when a new space is cleared out. Today it was a large chunk of my office.

My Stanley French press mug arrived and I am in love. It is wonderful for my loose teas.

I think my body says I'm done for today. But there's always tomorrow.
Click to expand...
I'm assuming you are selling without a realtor. When we were trying to sell my father's house, the realtor was able to get a much, much lower rate for survey and inspection than I was quoted trying to get them on my own.

I'm that person who is happy to pay a realtor to make sure all the t's are crossed and the i's dotted. There's too many loop holes you can get caught up in without them. We did sell our second house ourselves and we both (the buyer and seller) wanted the same lawyer for closing so it was a very simple process until it wasn't. Around three years later, we got a call from the folks we sold to. The wife, a seasoned business woman, was in a tizzy to say the least. The lawyer never filed a single paper. She had to draw up all new closing papers and mail to us.

We took them to our lawyer to be on the safe side. He said they looked good and then informed us that we did not have to sign them and that we still owned the house. Of course we aren't that kind of people. On the other hand, she called me months later raising cane because the house was about to be foreclosed on because we hadn't been paying the property taxes...for the three years she owned the house!!! I kid you not. I asked if she had been paying taxes on her other properties and she said yes. I said didn't you find it strange that you weren't having to pay taxes on that property? She didn't have an answer for that lol. She knew all along and hoped they'd never figure it out. We left forwarding info but never got a bill. It explained why we got threatening letters when she didn't pay her water bill but I just chalked that up to a lapse in paper work and gave them a call and explained that we didn't own that property and hadn't for months. They probably did turn the water off and she had to get caught up to turn it back on.

The lawyer had a stellar reputation but the town we lived in at the time depended strongly on the oilfield business to sustain their economy...it was the mid 80's. Wealthy people were falling like dominos along with the economy of the whole region. The lawyer lost everything and his wife left him too. He left town without ever filing the paperwork on that house and it was about to be auctioned and that is why I want a realtor. Had the new owner not had a BFF working at the courthouse who called her in a panic, it would have happened.
 
kyrsyan

kyrsyan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
It's a family to family sale. But it's my first purchase. The other party has done this many times and knows what is needed but is instead playing games. I'm beyond tired of it, and the duplicity of it just makes me angry after discovering that he lies started 18 years ago.

The state requires a real estate attorney so one of the things I will have to do next week is look for one. And I have no idea where to start. I suppose I will learn. I do have the capability to learn so I will.

Honestly learning isn't the issue. It's close family playing bs games. Hopefully, fortunately, once this is done the games they play can no longer affect son or my safety and security.

And purging has been great. So much excess going away. One amusement today was that friend realized that if he continued to leave different small gifts behind, they would go in the thrift box. Suddenly they were important enough to make sure they went home this time. It made me laugh quietly. He is really beginning to accept that I am definitely serious about the purge.
 
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