Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: Nov. 23 - Nov. 29, 2025

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Wildwood

Veteran Member
SouthernBreeze said:
I have a lot of 1st cousins that are older than me, and a lot that are younger on both sides. I lost a couple from Covid. One older, and one younger. My aunt that just passed lost a DS from Covid. He was a couple of years older than me. She has one son and one daughter left. The daughter and I have always been really close. We grew up together on our grandparent's farm. Mom and Dad had a house on one end of the farm, and my aunt and uncle had a house on the other side. We both stayed on the farm, until we both got married. We were all one big happy family. Aunt's oldest DS owns the whole farm, now. He bought Mom and Dad's home, once they decided to move back to the nearest small town. The old farmhouse burned, before my grandmother passed.
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What a blessing to have that large extended family. My father was an only child and my mother had one sister. That sister only had one child and he never had any children. My sisters and I each had two boys. We ended up with seven biological grandchildren between the three of us but my sisters both have a step grandchild each that we all love as dearly as the others. It makes me so sad that we ended up with such a small family.

Because of leaving here for good as an eight year old, I'm not close to my second and third cousins like I was before we left. Had my mother moved back here with daddy's last deployment like she did with all the others, I feel it would have been different. That would have had me in touch with all of them at twelve and there were/are so many. She was in cosmetology school at the time and I don't blame her for wanting to finish and not have to find a school in another state to transfer hours, etc.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
Wildwood said:
What a blessing to have that large extended family. My father was an only child and my mother had one sister. That sister only had one child and he never had any children. My sisters and I each had two boys. We ended up with seven biological grandchildren between the three of us but my sisters both have a step grandchild each that we all love as dearly as the others. It makes me so sad that we ended up with such a small family.

Because of leaving here for good as an eight year old, I'm not close to my second and third cousins like I was before we left. Had my mother moved back here with daddy's last deployment like she did with all the others, I feel it would have been different. That would have had me in touch with all of them at twelve and there were/are so many. She was in cosmetology school at the time and I don't blame her for wanting to finish and not have to find a school in another state to transfer hours, etc.
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Mom and Dad, both, had large families with lots of brothers and sisters. Every single aunt, uncle, and 1st and second cousins, except 2 never left the county we still live in, today. We've always been very close knit on both sides. Mom's sister in Alabama moved there when her husband got transferred there. She has a son and daughter who also live there. The other lives in Germantown, TN.

I really do miss all the big family gatherings I grew up with, especially, this time of year.

I only had one sister who has passed. She was 5 yrs. younger than me. Cary was an only child. All of his relatives on his mom's side are still in Germany. He has 4 cousins left on his dad's side.
 
kyrsyan

kyrsyan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Hugs, SB. I miss the extended family gatherings as well.

I lost a chunk of yesterday to sheer exhaustion. And son was not helping.

Dealt with son issue by pulling back ot the visual timer. Front door opens to get messes no more than one time an hour. Now we are working on the staying out of my personal space with the bully attitude. If it were anyone normal, they would have been hurt by now. But the seizure fractured some skills and he is having to relearn the personal barriers.

I opened the frost cover for the onions to add thermal mass. Most look to be doing okay.

Laundry. Dishes. Black Friday done. That had quite a few things that I wanted for the house. A laser light for part of protection. A few more cameras that can be moved around using the app. The second cast iron pan to replace the frying pan. And supplements to stack a bit deeper because the costs keep jumping.

As much as I want to work in the garden bed, it's too cold. Supposed to get back towards warm about midweek. And if the energy level gets an unexpected boost, I'll go play in the cold.

But for now, plan is house chores.
 
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WanderLore

Veteran Member
Got my little vacuum for the hard floors. It works great and it was cheap.
Snow is coming down good.
My kids and grands and I all stick together. Some day maybe we can have a small reunion of the others who live in SC.
So many have passed. Parents, aunts and uncles, cousins. My brother. And now my husband.
I'm praying that's it for now.
 
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hd5574

Veteran Member
SB so sorry for your loss
I lost my father in 1981 and my mother in 1990...and two weeks later my last aunt.. there were a lot of aunts and uncles at one time but all passed years ago..most of them were born in the late 1800s....my grandmother had a bunch of kids after she was married in 1890...then 2 more many years later my aunt in 1908 and dad in 1910....i am the last of my generation the last of my first cousins passed about 10 years ago....I know 3 first cousins once descended but only one that sends Christmas cards....but there are a few others that have lost touch with this side of the family...a number of that generation have passed also....

My husband has lost his parents and half brother who never married..all of his aunts and uncles have passed..along with a number of his first cousins..the only one we are in touch with is in Arizona..far away...but she and I are close and talk on the phone a lot...but almost never see each other since we live 2000 miles apart

We have also lost most of our long time friends...I am now down to mailing less than a dozen Christmas cards...the number dwindles every year..this is what happens as you age..we have accepted this many years ago..at least DH and I have each other..and still do Thanksgiving and Christmas..as we always did...
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
WanderLore said:
Got my little vacuum for the hard floors. It works great and it was cheap.
Snow is coming down good.
My kids and grands and I all stick together. Some day maybe we can have a small reunion of the others who live in SC.
So many have passed. Parents, aunts and uncles, cousins. My brother. And now my husband.
I'm praying that's it for now.
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When Mom passes, Cary and I will be alone. Oldest dear son is close, but when his DW and her family moved down here from Montana, they took over. It's always about them and their little circle. They have never wanted to adapt to the rest of his family, except us, and most of the time we feel like outsiders with them. This Christmas will be 4 years, since we've heard a word from our youngest DS. My sister had a son and a daughter, but I've never gotten along at all with either of them. Her son lives in Colorado, and daughter lives out of county near TN state line.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
Gosh, am I tired! I've done 3 loads of laundry and put them away. Cleaned the house for tomorrow's home fellowship, and cooked supper. We just finished washing up the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. I baked a small boneless ham and made a pot of potato salad for Cary. I had steamed broccoli with a little homemade cheese sauce with my ham slice. I'm glad I baked enough bread for the freezer. Cary almost finished off another loaf, tonight. I don't know when I'll get a chance to bake more.

I talked to Mom just for a few minutes while supper was cooking. I didn't get a lot out of her, before her pastor and his wife drove up to visit with her. The way it stands right now, my aunt's memorial service will be Tuesday. Her DS wanted to wait, until, Tuesday, because tomorrow and Monday is supposed to be cold with lots of rain. If it's Tuesday, we won't be able to go. That's the day Cary has a doctor appointment in Tupelo at the same time. I really hate that we're going to miss the service. Too late to change his appointment, and he really needs the bloodwork done.

Thanks to all for your prayers and well wishes!
 
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anna43

Veteran Member
It's still snowing here. Temp is 21º/feels like -12º and wind has kicked up to 20 mph. I went out at noon to get mail which had not been delivered, and the snow was over my boot tops ... boots are 11½ inches. It has not stopped snowing since sometimes light sometimes heavy and is forecast to continue through 10:00 p.m.

I haven't done much today beyond washing sheets which need to be put back on bed. I had a phone call from a friend in Wyoming, and we talked until my phone battery died! I hadn't heard from her for a while, so it was great to talk with her.

I've already decided I'm going to watch church from home tomorrow. It may be cancelled, but even if they have it and even though I only live half a block away, I'm not going to risk a fall by trying to walk there. I have appointments on Monday and Tuesday here in town which should be no problem once the streets are properly plowed and my driveway gets plowed. The guy who does my driveway is very good about not doing it until the snow stops.

Leftovers for supper again tonight. So many choices it is no hardship. However, I do need to do dishes before as all my forks are dirty. Two long phone calls where battery went dead so no forks washed. I'm now eating supper with a salad fork.

Stay safe everyone.
 
kyrsyan

kyrsyan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Bloody cold outside right now. Just started sprinkling and there are warnings of sleet coming.

Several loads of laundry. Son was guiding me as to which blankets he wants washed next. I think one is going in the trash. It's really torn up.

I don't know why but I'm really wanting candles again. Since I am not exploring stores, it's a gamble on scents. So far, two I really like. One of okay. Another flat out no.

Got some cast iron recoated today. And body insisted on an hour nap about mid-afternoon.

The new frost cover/greenhouse frames arrived. I like these. I'm hoping to get a bit of time in one of the raised beds tomorrow. Just 20 minutes or so.

Sorted through and got random groceries put away. I'm moving the charging space to a spot that is more accessible, so I had to clear the misc items that were sitting there. Another box and bag for thrift.
 
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Wildwood

Veteran Member
I made my latest effort at mama's pie crust tonight and I am very happy with the results...it's not mama's but as close as I'll get this side of heaven. I made a big deep dish chicken pot pie. I ended up doing the equivelant of six pie crusts and since I was trying new things, I did them in three batches, not wanting to do anything to screw up my results.

In the last few weeks I found a couple YouTube channels that caught my attention...they were a little different than the usual basic pie crust I'd tried a hundred times. I watched them both a few times and tried again. I've never worked with pie dough that was that easy to handle..it was so soft and pliant and did not tear no matter how big I rolled it out. I had enough dough left over to do a deep dish pumpkin pie. It's cooling now but I'm sure it will be just as tender as the pot pie was. My oven won't let me cook more than one thing at a time.

It has the consistency of a very tender shortbread. I used butter flavored crisco because that's what mama used to make pie crusts. I'm trying Summerthyme's recipe with my newfound techniques next.

Yay me!
 
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feralferret

feralferret

Veteran Member
Watched Ryan Hall's winter weather coverage much of the afternoon. He added several new features to his system and is using the winter coverage to get the bugs out of it.

Someone screwed up the communication regarding scheduling for our Thanksgiving dinner tonight. Grandson and his wife were here last night but not tonight for the meal. Wife didn't check the turkey temperature in time and it got higher than it should have. Hopefully it won't be too dry. We will be eating shortly. I'm hungry and ready to eat.

Only rain here. I feel sorry for the people who got a foot or more of snow. Glad I don't live in Iowa.
 
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Wildwood

Veteran Member
moldy said:
@Wildwood would you please post the recipe? Fairly quiet day today, just like I wanted. I was able to journal and get my blog entry written - those are really my only 2 'must-do's' on Saturdays. Did talk to oldest DD for about a half hour. It was good.
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Gladly!

My Version of Mama's Pie Crust
2 rounded cups of plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter flavored crisco
4 TBSP ice cold vodka
Ice water to pull the dough together..about a cup

I added the salt and baking powder to the flour and blended well.

I used my pastry blender to blend the flour mixture and crisco.

I made a well and poured about half of the ice water in and added the vodka so that the two blend together. I kept mixing with my pastry blender and added water until it felt right but was careful not to overdo it. I used the same blending technique as Kitchen In The Shire.

After all was blended, I'd either leave it alone, add a touch more water or a slight dusting of flour to get it where it needed to be IMHO.

Next I made about a six inch round disc with the dough, wrapped it in plastic wrap or a small plastic bag and set it in the fridge for about twenty minutes to rest. Longer may have been better but I was in a hurry.

After all that, I rolled it out on a floured surface. It was a dream to work with and maybe the consistency of play dough but a tiny bit drier.

I'm linking two of the videos I got the most from. Both women have several pie crust videos but I'm pretty sure these two are what helped me most. I got the vodka and baking powder from Marie's Kitchen. I got the blending technique from Kitchen in the Shire...she does use vodka in a butter blend on some of her videos...I seriously love that channel. This woman can cook like nobody's business. I like my crusts a little more finished than she does hers so I deviated a little. Hers are really rustic and cooked a little browner than I like. I did not use the cream and sugar blend she brushes on afterwards on many of her pies. I may try that later. My finished pie crust looks more like Marie's Kitchen.

I hope this helps someone else as much as it helped me. I still maintain, other than the vodka and baking powder, it's more about the technique. Sorry, it took me a while to type all this out and make sure I got it right.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ruDsff2bXc&t=6s


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMN_eFRCYp4
 
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Meemur

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie
I like Ryan, but he's seeing some of the more extreme footage. Yes, I-80 is a mess but mostly east of Des Moines. The farther west and south west one goes, the better, relatively speaking.

A lot of us started shoveling yesterday and got the heavy, wet snow pushed aside. Spots have filled back in, but it's a lighter snow and easier to move. I was able to do my porch and around the garage door.

Lots of businesses and churches are closed this morning. It's calm right now, but we're being warned that the winds will pick up this afternoon and that Central Iowa may see an additional two inches tomorrow.

I'm fine! I'm hanging out at home. No Sunday drive today. If I do go out, it will be several blocks over to check on older seniors and make sure their driveways are clear, but I'll wait until later this afternoon. The plows are now out in full force, both commercial and residential.
 
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Wildwood

Veteran Member
ALERT...Pecan Cream Pie recipe

I forgot to mention that I lightly toasted the pecans I used in that recipe. I was looking at another recipe on line that had toasted pecans and it reminded me. The original recipe didn't call for it but I thought it would be better.
 
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