Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: March 29-April 4, 2026

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie
I hope everyone is better today!

Overcast and rainy here. I'm waiting for the coffee to brew and then I'm off to dump yard waste and then later go to paying work. Our yard recycling area is limiting hours to Friday and Monday. That's a pain but at least it's in town, not 30 miles away.

It's a somber Good Friday, for sure!
 

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
86 for our high, today. Clouds moving in late this afternoon. Up to 1 inch of rain forecast for tomorrow afternoon. I sure hope we get it, too. Our drought is getting worse by the day.

It's going to be a busy day for me. I have a ton of veggies to chop for the freezer, laundry to fold and put away, plus, another load of laundry to do. Sweeping the floors throughout the house. My back is stiff and sore this morning, so a good long walk is in order this afternoon. Walking always helps.

Tuna salad sandwiches and chips tonight for supper.
 

patriotgal

Veteran Member
Planning the meal prep I will do tomorrow afternoon so DH can eat while I work. Off Sunday with family coming over. Washing bed linens today. DH is doing all the other laundry and has taken over all things dishwasher related. Much appreciated.

Full week following with decent breaks. Can have lunch with DH. April 13 to April 15 will be 12 hour days at good pay. It is incredible to see some of the numbers for tax season. 2200 contracts offered, more than 200 call slots available every 30 minutes. And more than a dozen different entities doing so. One of the ladies I assisted yesterday prayed an awesome prayer over her return. It was obvious she is a woman who knows God and who prays over every thing. Very inspiring.

Life will be back to normal after the 15th. Hallelujah. Helping grands with their new garden and new to them chickens. We got together and informed DH his only focus for next 3 months is healing. No lifting. No mowing. He is not a happy camper when in pain and makes us unhappy too. He pulled a muscle when he twisted while trying to move a far too heavy box. He will be helping me do a deep inventory of all the eBay stuff in garage. I will do any necessary moving/organizing of totes. Have a lot of potential eBay items. Will decide if they are worth bothering with.

Will be making regular runs to Amish farm. I am looking at electric canners. I have a lot of dried beans that I would like to can so they are ready to use. Canning tomatoes this year. Just using up the last of tomatoes canned 5 years ago. Will buy jelly from the Amish. Buying beef from a friend. He will deliver cow to slaughter house.

Yard is full of birds and they are happy. Weather is beautiful right now. Hoping storms go above us today. Praying for everyone in tornado alley.
 

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
Taking a lunch break. I've got everything I had set out to do today done, except the sweeping part and going for my walk. My back needs a break right now. I just applied more Arnica Gel to it. I have more mulching to do, but I don't know if my back will allow me to get that done today. I would like to, since rain tomorrow and all next week off and on. We'll see how it goes.
 

hd5574

Veteran Member
Me either but when I decided to give it a try, I found out it was pints only. They aren't tall enough to do the quarts. That's when I bought the pot linked above. I enjoyed canning the smaller amounts in the electric canner so much that I wanted to do smaller batches of water bath.
My electric canner does quarts...if i remember correctly 4 at a time...I do things like stew in quarts..mostly I can pints... since there are only 2 of us..and if I need more simply to open 2 jars..
 

patriotgal

Veteran Member
The only sweeping I do now is the front porch and the garage. Love the robot vacuum the kids got me. It gets the floor so clean. I do have to mop but not near as often as I did when we had cattle. My DD has a fancy Dyson vacuum that is so heavy I can't hardly use it. We got her a robot vacuum.
 

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
The only sweeping I do now is the front porch and the garage. Love the robot vacuum the kids got me. It gets the floor so clean. I do have to mop but not near as often as I did when we had cattle. My DD has a fancy Dyson vacuum that is so heavy I can't hardly use it. We got her a robot vacuum.

I don't mind sweeping. It's that I needed to do the whole house, today. It wasn't kind to my back, though. Mopping is worse.

Went for our walk, and was able to do a little bit of mulching with Cary's help. One more day should get it done. I want to try to finish it tomorrow, before the rain moves in.
 

Wildwood

Veteran Member
My electric canner does quarts...if i remember correctly 4 at a time...I do things like stew in quarts..mostly I can pints... since there are only 2 of us..and if I need more simply to open 2 jars..
Mine will pressure can quarts but is not deep enough to waterbath them...it can waterbath pints though.
Sweeping and mopping ( and vacuuming) tear my back up something fierce.
Mine too but I'm afraid to stop. I'm afraid I won't be able to if I quit completely and it seems I'm already taking things I can do off my list.
 

Wildwood

Veteran Member
I wanted to give a quick update on my dog. I didn't mention that I thought I would try a few things on her. I started her on an antibiotic and also some steroids. I'm being very conservative. I also gave her half a fluid pill twice. Last night she quit the hard breathing and snuck up the stairs when DH took my barrier down for a few minutes...she loves sleeping up there with us but she is just too big to carry down those stairs. DS and DH have both carried her down on the day before I barricaded it...it's a spiral staircase and it terrifies me when they do that.

She is better but it's just an extension, we know that and the things I've done are more for comfort than anything. However, this morning, she was down those stairs on her own before DH could stop her and he took her out to potty. She followed him around a little bit and was actually doing her little spins.

We would have already taken her in for an opinion but our vet is undergoing chemo and he took most of this week off. Believe me, we will not let her suffer and what I'm doing is working for now...not my first rodeo. If she seems to be suffering at any point, we will take her to another vet...we only have the one in town and it is hard to take your baby to a strange vet when it's the last ride. I've had to do that and it was horrible. I've had my vet tear up with me and give me a hug.
 

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
April 28th will be a year, since our fur baby passed. We still get choked up when talking about him. Cary still visits his grave site and talks to him every day.

Not a lot going on, today. My back is still really messed up. I've got to take it easy these next few days. Cary has a check up with our PC doctor, Tuesday. I want to be able to go with him. Right now, I can't even get my pants on by myself.

82 degrees with possible thunderstorms this afternoon. 66 for our high tomorrow.
 

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie
It's 40 degrees with intermittent showers, too muddy for planting. Tomorrow will be a better day outside.
I got in a walk and some housework. I'm not overly energetic today, either, but I didn't schedule anything, so I can work at a leisurely pace.

I need to decide soon what, if anything, I'm going to fix for Easter. I was going to grill a small steak, but an individual slice of ham is starting to sound good, too. A quick trip to Fareway might be in my future.
 

ginnie6

Veteran Member
Well I am finally on the upside of this bug! Thank heavens. It has knocked me for a loop. I managed to not sleep all day today and got my sheets changed and a shower. I don’t think a shower has ever felt so good! Then I walked outside with Dh to show him how I wanted the garden. He’s gotten a few plants and put them out but I need this week to go get some more seeds and start them. And the watering will be up to me.
Dd made chicken noodle soup for me and I managed to get down some broth and noodles…can’t stomach the chicken yet! I’m just so glad to be over this! Now to get my strength back.
 

moldy

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Glad to hear you guys are feeling better. Went and picked up a bunch of canning jars and other glass stuff today. Trying to get it cleaned up and listed some on Ebay. I have got GOT to get more done on that. Was able to talk to middle DD last night for quite a while - she keeps sending house listings closer to her. I think she misses her mama!

Just lots of little moving pieces this month - an open house, 2 dental appointments for me, and hopefull a couple for DH, board meeting for the Junk Jaunt for our area that happens in October, and hopefully a trip to see the grandbaby later in the month. Plus I am doing nutritional counseling once a week, soon to be teaching a class once a week, then doing house cleaning as I can fit it in.

Yet -- I feel incredibly blessed to be able to do it all. I am still concerned about my job, but it will be what it will be, and God is in control of all.
 
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