Day 1 of week one.

 Charlotte insisted we start the day with our normal routine of sitting on the kitchen porch while I drink coffee. I was definitely wrapped in a blanket.

We decided to eat our main meal at noon with snacks later. 
I roasted the turkey, baked a large sweet potato to split between us. Baked Brussels sprouts in bacon grease so they were crispy on the edges. Bakes stuffed mushrooms.  I added a spinach salad with sliced strawberries, feta cheese and strawberry salad dressing one of the kids passed to me as they didn't like it. I heated a couple rolls. We did not have any of the pecan pie or pumpkin pie but the day is not over.

I set the table (used to bug the crap out of Hubby) with the dishes my Daddy bought Mother on their 5th anniversary to celebrate buying their first home. Plus I used the silverware that was Hubby's grandmother on his Dad's side. His parents said it made them feel good because none of the kids wanted it because it was silverplated instead of silver. Since they would have been farming for a living , I struggle to see them spending money for real silver. But that is just me I guess. 

I took the crystal punch bowl Son2 gave back and used it for the citrus fruit. There is oranges, lemons, limes and pomegranates. The oranges look yellow in this photo. 

While putting leftovers away I found a bag of mixed salad that has taco flavoring that needs used up. So moved enchilada casserole up to this week to go with the salad.  

I washed the outside of the  west side windows so we can start dealing with Christmas decorations. I ordered some things we needed replaced for Christmas decorations that was on sale at Amazon.

Tomorrow I will be bagging up the turkey by meals and starting broth from the bones. Probably cleaning, and decorating. 

Be safe

Prayers for peace

Blessed Be 

Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating it.

 Okay, we had 3 doctor appts, DONE until Monday and that is only Hubby.

I no longer need to take potassium (YEAH) , or go get more blood work and won't see primary until Feb. Am able to schedule my doctor appts I missed while sick. Able to schedule our vaccines also.

Primary is letting Hubby's cardiologist make the call over one med that Hubby takes for tremors, it might be the glitch in his heart beat, or it could be just how it beats since he has a deformity.

We sucked it up after chiro and my blood work and went shopping for the bulk.

Went to Menards, got bottled water, pretzels, Chi Chi chips (the only place that carries them) and candy for Christmas. We will get 11% back.

Went to Aldi's, got a small turkey for roasting later this spring, corned beef (now in freezer for St Patrick's day) some specialty cheeses, a pretzel bite tray, brown and serve buns and fresh cranberries. They did not have any ham which I usually buy there.

Went to Kroger's. Hubby pushed cart #1, I got cart #2. I got fresh veggies and a couple salads, oranges, limes, lemons, a pineapple, apples, pears  and pomegranates. I got dairy.  Hubby grabbed some different breads as at this point doc wants it on the table and we will work at lowering chemicals after the holidays. I have lost 30 lbs. I look like my mother when she was taking chemo. They were out of their 49 cents turkeys so I did not pick another turkey up. I usually have 2 in deep freezers.  I did get a log of ground beef (I had coupon) for making ground beef crumbles this week. I bag them in 1 cup sandwich bags and then in freezer bag. Helps make quick meals or to add to casserole or pasta. I use Bluapple in my frigs to help keep produce longer. It does seem to work pretty well.  I got junk food as I know if I didn't he would start picking worse crap up when he would go get milk and veggies.  He picked up a pie that was half pumpkin and half pecan. He would have gotten more but I pointed out I had the stuff to make cranberry custard pie, mini cheese cakes along with any fruit pies, cakes , cookies etc. I do not make pecan pie any more as Son2 can no longer eat it and it was being tossed. I think half a pie will get ate. Pumpkin never gets tossed LOL.

Went to the butcher shop, got 2 meals of cube steak, 2 meals of bone in pork chop, 2 meals of boneless pork chop and ribeye steaks to make in to Guy Fieri sliders for NY eve, Philly steak subs, and Philly steak pizza.  I will slice them on my meat slicer after they are frozen. Confirmed I had 2 prime ribs or 1 large one (depends on what he gets in) on order for Christmas eve. I will make several meals from that.

Went to Save A Lot and got a ham. If I don't use it for Christmas I will use it at Easter. I have a rack of ribs, a pork shoulder roast and 2 small pork tenderloins I can use for NY eve/NY day.

Figured out we still stayed in the $85/week range for the groceries . IF we go longer than 8 weeks and don't pick much up, it might be lower than that.

 Wrote out 154 meals without repeats from what is in house (included prime rib ordered).  That is 22 weeks and puts us to Easter. 

I would love it. We know we will have to get dairy and some fresh veggies. I should have enough winter squash, potatoes, and onions ( might be on light side there) . 

It took four hours of shopping, on top of 2 hrs. of driving AFTER blood work and chiro appt.  Lucky that the weather was on cool side so we could just leave the perishables in the coolers out on the porch and I put it away the next morning.

We talked about how it worked.. I had a full grocery list on clip board, in categories and in order to shop store (non perishables/middle of store first). 

We would set the carts at one spot, he stood with them and I walked the aisle to get what was needed, Limited us from trying to work around others. We went on Tuesday so the crowd was not bad as it was on Wednesday when our grandkid set me a pic of him trying to get some odds and ends. The check out line was to the back of the store.

BUT the negative, if is is colder than what it was (34 degrees out is like a frig) or hotter like in Summer, we would have to leave earlier, not have any other appts (especially blood work) to get it , get home and put it away immediately. It took me 1 hr. to put it all ways (yes it fit in 3 frigs) and the meat is wrapped and in freezers. I was hauling butt to get it done that fast.

I do have some things to do before Monday night (trash goes to road) like dealing with today's turkey carcass. Making the apple sausage stuffin muffins (Rachael Ray the only stuffing Hubby will eat), making apple sausage puffs (crescent dough), noodles (main dish and side) and taco seasoning. Off the top of my head.

We will be cleaning and decorating this weekend. It usually takes us a week to get the decorating done inside and out. I think it might take 2 wks. just because of him still going to cardio rehab 3 times a week and my energy is still in the toilet. 

We figured if we only go every 8 weeks. We will save 4 hrs. of our time, not counting cost of the gas to run the stores. We did not stop at the Mennonite or Amish store. They were packed.

This week on the menu is 
Today: Roasted turkey, roasted Brussel sprouts, baked sweet potato, baked stuffed mushrooms, salad optional ( easy meal) pie and pumpkin roll (from Amish)

Friday . Leftover steak from Applebee's that we celebrated at last night after no more blood work and back to 3 month appts. Probably will have bell peppers, onions and mushrooms sliced with it into tortilla wraps to give us enough for a meal. Pear salad or apple salad.

Saturday Leftover turkey in noodles (making noodles for pantry), Mashed potatoes, asparagus from freezer, cole slaw (canned) 

Sunday Apple sausage puffs (I am using a lot of recipes out of the cookbook The Cabin full of Food) . This works well as the ingredients is close to what the apple sausage stuffin muffins is. So less mess to clean up. 

Monday Nonna's pizza... think sheet cake pan, thick dough, good coating of pizza sauce, sausage, pepperoni, bacon, ham,2-3 different color of  bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, banana peppers, black olives and cheese. Chef salad .

Tuesday Spaghetti squash bowls (turkey alfredo most likely but could be taco meat and toppings) 

Wednesday Rheuben casserole on rye bread. It's a crock pot thing, layer of canned corned beef, thin layer of Swiss cheese and then topped with a layer of kraut (I have homemade kraut) I usually put a layer on Swiss on top when I serve it. We both use horseradish cream sauce on the sandwich if we eat it like that. Other wise we use the rye bread to sop up the juices. 

Thursday I will finish using the spaghetti squash as pasta.    

Stay safe

Prayer for peace

Blessed be

Hubby brought up

 He would like to do the grocery shopping like we did when the kids were growing up. I'm like... which part? The stop at butcher shop for the reduced on Saturday night because the store was closed on Sunday? The nine loaves of homemade bread I baked DAILY? The leftovers going into casseroles and leftover casserole going into soups?

No, the part we only go every two or three months for bulk. 

That was before Amazon for sure. 

 I had changed to once a month with milk run between last summer when one of the Amish ladies told me she was saving 25 % by not going every other week. 

In Sept with all the medical problems I went to 6 wks. Groceries are now averaging $85/week.

I showed him our standard list. There are a few things added due to holidays. Pointed out that fresh salad and fresh veggies will not last that long. He is willing to pick up some fresh veggies when he picks up the milk. 

I have no problem with going to January without being in the freaking stores. I don't want what ever new crud is going around. We are still averaging 4 medical appts a week.

I wrote out the list to increase the amount of time before we need to shop. Added some healthy snack food as I know we will snack more than eat meals with being mostly at home. I am hoping that the medical appts go down to one or two a week not four like now. 

I also made note... fresh salad and seafood first/ fresh veggies (think carrots and celery) and poultry next. Root veggies (and winter squash, cabbage in storage) next and then canned goods and freezer goods. 

I did tell him if it goes to waste we lose that money. I usually will dehydrate, freezer or make casserole or soup before that happens but it does happen sometimes.

He understands he will be in store pushing a cart. AND there will be at least 3 if not 4 stops.

If we take our time and I figure it correctly, it should be manageable between the two of us.

The side benefit, if I reduce the grocery budget doing it , that money can go over on to the mortgage.

Stay safe

Prayers for Peace 

Blessed be

When you get reminded of some funny things that happen at family holidays.

 Like the house catching on fire (no one hurt but enough damage) right before Halloween and we ended up with the spookiest house because the windows were black and looked like they had spider webs on them.

Same year, had Thanksgiving for 25, used church kitchen up the street. No one could believe we pulled it off but we did.

I made an Alabama Lane cake, went to move it from counter to table and it fell. Hubby caught it in the bowl he was getting for mashed potatoes. Ended up being Alabama Lane cake trifle. I cried over that one.

Deep fryer with turkey in it blew out at controls. Hubby kicked it out of Daughter 2's garage and saved the turkey. She said her garage smelled like turkey for months. No damage to garage or an cars.

Had Tday dinner outside as it was a great day, saw a couple next door and thought it was neighbors friends so invited them to share meal. Neighbor's thought they were kids friends, kids thought they were our friends... Not one of us knew them but it was the best of times. Never could figure out who there were. LOL

Daddy asking me where I got yellow cucumbers because he liked them as well as the green ones. He was eating raw yellow squash and zucchini. Yes we eat them raw. 

When Pop (stepdad) asked what I used to make the turkey moist but not mushy and I handed him a pint of homemade turkey broth that he helped me can. 

When Mother asked what was in the pinwheels... and it was tortilla wrap, cream cheese and diced bell peppers. 

BUT the part that still gets shared to this day... Is when someone will tell the grandkids (most are adults) to NOT SPOIL their dinner by eating from the veggie platter. Daughter 4 still can not live that one down. As she really did tell her kids to not eat from the veggie platter or they would spoil their dinner. Her husband at the time looked at her as she had lost her mind. LOL

What day is this?

 We are now marking off days like I did for my parents so we can keep track. 

I asked Hubby what day it was, his answer was 4.

I don't think so as we already had Veteran's day and Daughter 2's birthday. He laughed.

He thought I was asked what the day was to figure out how many prednisone and potassium tablets . I was to take which was 4 that day. Doc and told him to write it on the calendar since we both look daily at the calendar on the wall.

Hubby had voice therapy today, I had blood work.

I put away the stuff on my computer tray (that I never use for my computer) that sits at my rocker. I wiped all the tray. I put the pile of papers on the radio by my phone in the bill box where it belonged and wiped it off.

 I did my blog and started catching up on my National novel writer month of 50 K words by Nov 30th. 

I checked with Life Lock to make sure that was all up to date.

Ordered 2 prime rib roast, one for Christmas eve and one for the freezer.

I am not up to cooking. Lifting pots and pans is still a struggle but better.

I could actually give my phone number and social without looking today. Last Friday I was clueless.

Yesterday, Hubby stopped at Taco Bell's , not one of our normal places (would be mine) and got me 3 crunchy tacos for lunch and a Mexican pizza for supper. I took 2 potassium at lunch and 2 at supper. Today I go to 3 a day.  for 3 days and then it is 1 a day twice a day until a month..

I walked very slowly around the perimeter twice. It was a nice day. Hubby said it was nice to see me out of the bathroom and bedroom where I have basically lived for a week. 

We went for his voice therapy while I played where is my blood order? sitting at the hospital and it didn't help Doc's office was ran over with sick people and his head nurse aka his wife was the only one in besides him so she was slow getting back to me of the phone number she faxed it to.

I finally tracked it down (where Head nurse said she sent it and they said they didn't get it) and within two minutes watched the office manager walk the young lady that lied about getting it to the door.  Had 8 "vampires" what I call the blood takers LOL, trying to find a place to pull blood from...sigh. Finally the head boss found if she moved her thumb a certain way she could get to a good one and stuck me. 

We went through Mc D's and got a double cheeseburger for each, split small fries and I got a small ice tea as I had a headache. 

Got home, Hubby went back to town for groceries that I was not up to dealing with and he had to jump the truck to get it started twice. Replaced that battery, thinks there is a short in the  rear brake lights again (has happened twice now) and it drained it. Going to call about scheduling that to be checked. He picked up Special K, milk and 3 bags of mixed salad. 

Doc calls to tell me my potassium in not in the toilet (2.9) but hanging over the seat (3.4 LOL) and he would like it to be at 4 (with toilet lid shut). Magnesium is in normal range and he can't think what would cause the potassium to drop. I asked him if he had checked my B9, Folate? Total silence. No because I am past childbearing. I pointed out that just because I am past that doesn't mean it can't be the issue as I know from experience that drops my potassium. Has been added to my blood work on Tuesday even though we see him Wednesday. Means I can go to store and pick up a few things to get us through the holiday and decorating for Christmas and NOT on the day before the holiday. 

There is one thing I would never miss about the holidays. The kids start fighting with each other until I want to smash heads together. I blame Mother as she always felt she needed to start it right before the holidays. I am glad they are having meals with their kids (yes our house is big enough but they know they can't fight with each other within the length of our arms) So they are eating else where. Son 2 who just broke up with his lady due to her cheating is going to his biological aunt's for dinner as he is close to her boys he hasn't seen for a couple years. Son 1 is going south with some buddies as he is not seeing anyone.

 Hubby said he noticed that they didn't offer for us to come to eat and I laughed. They know full well they start fighting with each other in their own homes we will still smash heads. Until the day we die before that stops. Less stress for us as I would probably try to figure out how to eat with 4 different kids, couple of the grandkids are going to be with their other parents also. By Christmas things will calm back down. 

Hubby mentioned we had no place for putting puzzles together. I used to have a cardboard for the table and we would move it to the bfast bar. His Mom told him to quit doing them as he made 2 into pictures for her (framed etc.) so he stopped completely when she meant for her alone.   I ordered a puzzle table and some puzzles I think he would like, one I know I would like to do  for us as our Christmas gift to each other. I know I will have to change what I store on the bfast bar (beside clutter) so we can sit it there when using the table. It has drawers for the pieces so I won't have to keep gathering them up and putting them back in the box. Daughter 2 had one like this for years for her 4 boys(who fight with each other around the holidays also).

We are having pumpkin spice Special K for bfast

It's supposed to rain, soaker rain most the day but be warm. I have to clean the stove as the rest of the week is to be cold. Nice to have a couple days break of hauling wood

I am thinking beef stew for supper. I have canned beef, just turn broth into gravy, add carrots, onions and potatoes. Either bake bread or biscuits along with salad should be plenty. 

Best try to get some sleep. 

Prayers for peace

Blessed Be 

 

I am in recovery. Its going to be long time.

 My potassium is 2.9. Usually at 3.5 they have you in hospital with potassium IV. Since Doc just watched me hobble in to his office on Hubby's arm. He knows I am better... as I could not walk into the ER or out of it on Friday. LOW POTASSIUM CAN CAUSE HEART ATTACK. I already left sided heart disfunction (which goes in to left sided failure).

At ER on Friday night

Paramedic took me to my room as the staff was busy and my BP was 85/53 and I was having chest pains. Pain level at 8, throwing up and diarrhea. I had taken 2 Humira and it did not not slow down the freight train (because Crohns wasn't the problem) Told Hubby he expected me to just slump over at any time and figured he was the best person at the spot to deal with it. Hubby told him they could tag team it as he was retired EMT. plus squad driver.

RN took one look and called for blood work, and all the heart crap  stat. PA came in and started hooked up IV but was nice to draw blood since he taking my only good vein. They did a small amount later to run second test for heart attack. NO heart attack but definitely heart event with stress. Still was at level 8. pain

Meds for throwing up. Had to wait for ct scan to show nothing was blocked before they could give me a pain shot.  NO blockage, gave me standard morphine (that's all I can take) It did not kick the pain down. Still at level 8. Not throwing up (such a relief) but went through 8 diapers in the 3 hrs. we were there.  Said potassium low. So as I was being releases I asked what meds was being sent to pharmacy... Potassium. Doctor has already been in an out making comments about I have crohns. I asked for pain meds to get me through until I could see my doctor. He refused. I could see my primary for pain meds for my crohns. Nothing for diarrhea, nothing for throwing up, nothing for pain. PA could not understand it and mixed the powdered potassium and wondered out loud why I wasn't just given the pill. When I immediately threw it up and he wiped up the floor, washed and dried my crocs so my feet wouldn't get wet. He pulled what was in the that powder, Printed it off and told me to make sure my doctor saw that. It has citric acid. Citric acid is know to cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and sever stomach cramps. 

I walked in hanging by my fingernails on that cliff and walked out wondering how to harm myself without screwing it and causing more pain. Thoughts on our 30 children, grandkids and great grandkids pasted through  my mind. It was great grandbaby that had to have four surgeries since birth 3 months ago to get her shunt to work correctly that stopped me. I could imagine her tiny little foot kicking my in the butt. She worked so hard to come home and I was giving up over a butt head's belief. I had crohns so I should just accept the pain. IT was not the crohn's causing the problem but the potassium.

I hadn't been able to hold anything but water down since Tuesday the 7th (Hubby said politics has made me sick). Call primary early Monday morning and leave message including I had thought of self harm until I thought of baby. I was in, blood work drew. Meds for pain, throwing up, diarrhea and potassium. He filed a complaint at that Hospital. He is checking my blood work again on Thursday, got the hospital Hubby has voice therapy to take his order and run it so I don't have to drive so far. IF it is still down, I will be in hospital until it is up enough I am not in danger.

My GI  and my GI PA was through the roof. I was not told to follow up with them (I did request it be after Tday as I want to get the potassium fixed first). Was not sent records I was even in. Full review of the doctor and his orders concerning me are under review. The fact that several of the staff heard him tell me I had crohn's I could talk to my primary and ignored I was a heart patient  and GI patient with level 8 pain and no meds to cover Friday night to Monday was shocking. The nurse at my GI office called and asked how I was doing. She doubts if the doctor remains on staff. In this hospital , it's not 3 strikes you are out, it's one strike and you are out. He didn't even follow protocol. Said the RN and the PA and the ct scan tech all reported him also. 

We will see where that goes.  

Meantime I am limited up as I get to shaky to walk. I have no strength. But I have to eat solid food with the potassium. Yesterday I cut up 3/4s of a cheeseburger slider in to 8 pieces to have 1 before each pill and 1 at the end to get rid of the nasty tasting crap. I actually held it all down with sips of water in between and puke meds 30 minutes before I started. Now down 30 lbs. I look like Mother when she was on Chemo 

Update of Hubby Neurologist report

First they did nerve testing on his legs. He has very little feeling in the skin of his legs but the muscles definitely are NORMAL on the feeling. Said we will have to watch him for minor cuts etc. getting infected. His arms are the same way. It is due to the prediabetes. His balance has improved also. 

Doc K said heart issues can mimic other issues so make sure he does not miss cardio appts. Was surprised Hubby doesn't go back to cardiologist until May. Said that meant he was doing great. 

Doc K didn't get the results of the testing done by another Doctor. Hubby didn't have them either so Hubby is calling today to find out what is going on with that. 

Doc K ordered at home sleep apnea study... I have to find a way to keep Charlotte from waking him up. I would have him sleep upstairs but he gets up to potty through the night.  

Doc K agreed that eating foods that help with issues instead of popping a pill was the best way to go. He thought it was funny primary took Vit B complex out as you just pee the excess, until I showed him on my phone (thank you Google) that high dosages will affect SLEEP. Since we eat the foods that have B Vitamin in them, the pill was making it too high and neither of us was getting a good night's sleep. 

B Vitamin helps with Dementia.  He asked about coconut oil (another one that helps) Sends triglycines up and he just had a heart attack. That went bye bye also.

We talked about Beta glucan (oats, barley, sweet potatoes etc.) helping with the metabolic syndrome and some issues and he was for us trying it for the next 3 months. That will have another round of blood work from primary done to show if it is helping. 

He asked if Hubby was in cardio rehab. As he felt Hubby probably doesn't need it . It starts today. His cardiologist said he only needed to go for information and ins reason for 3 visits and if he doesn't want to go any more that was fine as he does more "work out " at home than he will at rehab. 

Got to get around to get some work done before we head to rehab. 

Prayers for Peace

Blessed Be

What I am doing this week

 Not canning  SNICKERING

Dealing with scarp wood. We put it in tubs and I use it to limp evening fire to night wood, bump up heat for cooking or if it's warm (50s) outside use it instead of the longer lasting wood.

We have several appointments. Hubby has nerve testing and follow up with neurologist today. Tomorrow is cardio rehab and that will be 3 days a week unless he stops. His cardiologist told him he does more work at home than he will with the physical work out he get in rehab but he wants him to at least go 3 times due to insurance issues. Wednesday he has to take the wood wagon to the saw mill. He also has to catch E when he is not in the fields taking off beans. Amish work together taking their crops off. He need E to mow the around the edge of the pond, mow the asparagus (our mower would damage it, his is to the side so weight it not on the asparagus) and see if he knows anyone selling cords of wood. He would like to have one cord cut as he gets tired easy and not sure he will get the wood he has cut to size. He had someone give him about half a cord....it's too long for our stove so he has to cut off about 2 inches (more for tubs) .

I changed our chiro appts back to the regular day so it matches our appts with primary and blood work. One trip, less gas and Hubby will be less frustrated of losing a day of working at home.

I need to declutter and clean the 1st floor. THEN I can start decorating. Won't turn the decorations on but we won't be worn out trying to do the "get it done in one week" mode we usually do at Thanksgiving. He is going to start decorating the outside since it's to be nice this week.

Daughter 1 is having surgery next week. She's on disability right now. She has had serious health problems for the past few years. We talked to her and her hubby about them needing to look for a different home that was one story and not up a hill that she has to walk down to get to the car or where she can't get to the laundry room as it's in the basement. They didn't do it. NOW she can't walk up or down the 9 steps to get to the car and it's too steep to ramp. They had to take a window out of the bedroom and put a door in to get her in and out of house. Lesson learned. She does not want to rent but might have to due to interest on mortgage loans. She's too young for the one set of apartments that would work great. Daughter 3 told her a couple places that she could probably get into. Daughter 3 used to work at the old folks home.

Son 2 is having more testing and tons of follow ups. 

The berries are only half weeded. So one or both of us will probably try to get more done this week. 

I am reading "The Cabin Full of Food" by Marie Beausoleil. I am also following her at justplaincooking.ca

I need to rewrite the to do list that is for both of us. Hubby loses his list.

Prayers for peace 

Blessed Be

Sunday is the day of rest. I cleaned the basement.

 I went down to get something out of the one freezer and had to move the dehydrator and thought enough is enough.

I cleaned the mechanical room first as it is off the freezer room. Cobwebs down, breaker box, furnace and water softener dusted and floor swept. I had Hubby check the furnace filters and water filter. He couldn't remember changing the water filter so he change it now. I will now put that on the calendar to make sure one of us changes it. I will remind him to flip the pipe on the septic tank. It's changed with the time change.

I moved the dehydrators to a shelving unit in the bucket room and finished putting away stuff off the top of the 3 deep freezers. Move a couple things off the top of the one refrigerator (now in donation box) and put some of the extra empty canning jar boxes there. I picked up a green Rubbermaid thinking there was stuff in it... it was empty. I have been sitting the food processor on top of it. Now food processer is in bucket room on shelving unit, rubber maid is going to barn. I stacked all the empty wide mouth quart jars there

The regular mouth pints and the wide mouth pints stayed by the refrigerators. I keep them neat as if I don't we fall over them walking into this room.

The pantry area was just dust and sweep. I do need to finish grinding some of the herbs and greens I dried but that can be done later. 

I hung the onions on the wall. Hung garlic in bags from stairs and put the little onion in the hanging basket. Straightened up the regular mouth canning jars under the stairs. Moved the solar cube to that area so I am not moving it daily to get into the chest of drawers (It was Daddy's) that I store small baking pans in.

Straightened up the buckets that hold flours and grains. Hubby takes things and sits what ever on these buckets instead of putting it away. Just something I have to get used to with his dementia. 

I have 3 rice buckets and 1 bucket of homemade noodles and one bucket of Ramen noodles in the pantry. 

There is 9 buckets at bottom of stairs of what I use weekly. 

There was 1 small bag of trash, 2 small boxes of burn trash (one was mostly dog fur as Charlotte has a bed in the basement for when she is hot or scared) and 2 boxes of donations and 2 boxes for Daughter 4. I do have 1 boxes of extra kitchen stuff as we have grandkids starting to go out of their own and I let them pick through that box.

It took 6 hrs. BUT it's done and I should be able to maintain it since I moved things around. It helped we bought 3 shelving units when we bought one for Daughter 2.  I might add another one for the oils that sit to the right of the staircase . I will see what I have in barn I can use as this area never gets water so I won't have to use something waterproof.

I already did the lofts last month. I do need a better system for some things in then north loft. I might go book cases for it. Make it out of the scrap lumber we have in the barn  as the north loft is canned goods like cases of soup, coffee and teas etc. and canning supplies like canning salt, citric acid etc. Cleaning products are in boxes on the other side. Building book cases is winter project.

Ever think "I am not going to do anything today" and then work twice as hard?

Prayers for peace

Blessed be

frugal choices plus solar pump

 

The solar pump is now connected to the pressure tank. Electric pump is off. We will see how this saves electric. AND we will know how long a solar charge (goes to batteries and then the pump) works with OH sunlight. If the grid goes down here NW Ohio) like it does repeatedly in NE Ohio. We will be ok water wise.

I never bought a baby monitor for the kids or grandkids but Hubby sure did for this solar pump. He wanted to monitor the pressure and make sure there was no issues and doesn't want to go to the pump house every time he wants to check it.

First day, it turned off. He had it programed wrong.

Second day, he had the pressure drop to 15 before it would kick on. Takes less than 5 mins. to bring back up to pressure but the washer wasn't done filling and it shut off due to lack of water. So the pressure is set for 25 with no higher than 45 (50 is the max).

He wrote on the calendar were the electric meter was and where the propane tank level was. Said he was going to read both once a week. 

I have learned the curve of watching what water I am turning on with what ever is running also. Flushing the toilet when showering is  NO NO. LOL

We are being careful with our water. Our pond was 12 inches lower than normal. We have gotten 1 inch total rain this week. It's supposed to be drier winter in Ohio. If we don't get enough rain/snow. Six Amish families won't get ice this winter for their ice houses... which means we will be making ice blocks in the freezer. Been there and done that the second year we were here. We get our well water from SNOW. Rain runs off to the streams and rivers. Snow fills the water under ground which is the deep well.

Our Amish neighbor had his 1000 gallon cistern go dry. He is putting up more spouting to run to that on the new wash house he is building. Mean time has his wind mill pumping daily to bring water into the house by a garden hose. His sister in law is washing their whites so the rust in the well water doesn't ruin their whites.

Our water softener company let us know we are only using the water of 1 person daily. That does not count the watering of the gardens as I don't have outside water lines going through the softener. We have 3 more beds to replace then I can run the drip lines in the gardens. Goal for next spring. I have the drip lines. Bought them on sale.

I reused our canning water several times in the canner. I then used it to wash the pots and pans. We had a rain downspout break, Hubby put a trash can under it to catch the little rain we got. He then poured it in the drain of the pump house as that goes to the pond.

Our Amish neighbor came over to use the phone. He came up to the house because it wouldn't go through (we put a phone in the barn for Amish to use). He handed Hubby the paper with the number and then had to pull out his flashlight for Hubby to read it. He wasn't using the 1 in front of the number for long distance. He thought it was funny he was using his flashlight in an Englisher house. We only have a ceiling fan light in the dining room and I have it so the light doesn't come on. We use oil lamp and Christmas LED candle for light in that area. We moved our supper to 4 so we don't have to turn on lights to eat since it will be getting dark at 5. 

The wood stove is on. Propane furnace is off. It's now cold enough outside that the house doesn't get up to 80 plus with the wood stove (we open windows just like Amish do) and it stays around 74  to 76 degrees.

I didn't decorate for Fall... mostly because of how sick I have been (thankful it is SLOWLY going away, doc thinks it's long haul side effect of covid) SO besides the pumpkin decoration with LED string lights there is no extra lights. I bought LED lights for 2 windows that was still the old lights so ALL the lights for Christmas is LED now.

I am done canning (Hubby says I will find something to can) but all the food is in the pantry. I told him We are eating from the pantry and freezers. I want to do more canning of our meat and less counting on the freezers. 

How are you doing?

Prayers for peace

Blessed Be

DONE

 One of the few times there was no big discussion of buying something expensive.

New ones are $3-$4 K. This was less than $1K. It works. Young man (our grandkids age) modified it so you can push a button and it will rotate the blower instead of using a hand crank to move it. Said he had a hard time reaching it while sitting and didn't like getting off to move it. Hubby said he did a good job and it's nice to have. Will have to modify it to a quick hitch. But it does connect to the tractor now and work. Hubby just likes quick hitch since we have some many attachments for this tractor. Done with him using the walk behind snow blower on the lane that is over 300 ft. Done with him shoving gravel in the yard with the bucket on the tractor. 

Probably won't get enough snow to use it now. But we definitely are getting the 20 degree low and winds are to be coming it to create wind chills. High for the coming week are all low 40s with lows in high teens to low 20s.

DONE WITH  APPLES AND TOMATOES!!!!

Last batch of tomatoes I made into juice, I didn't can. Using it in the chili I am making to can. Got the mild chili made, ready to can today. Will make the spicy chili today after bloodwork.

Freezers are full. Will have to eat (SNICKERING) to make room for 2 hams, 1 turkey and 2 prime ribs. I'll buy the corned beef in the spring. 

ON the not frugal side. chiro called change time from morning to afternoon as Doc is closing on his new house in the morning. Did NOT think about we were to get blood work done which is why we made the early morning appt. SIGH

Now making a trip round trip (2 hrs.) total to get blood work. Need NO groceries, as I grabbed milk when we got flour and sugar for M. SIGH. Haven't found a primary in our area. The one that had great reviews retired. Talked to a couple of his patients that said they are driving to Lima... no thanks. If I am driving 45 minutes to Lima I might as well stay with my primary of 15 yrs. for the hour drive. 

My in laws said they don't have a primary any more, they are all specialists and take care of the prescriptions for what they are being seen for. They go to Urgent care for general issues like flu etc. Brother in that area said that's how he has had to go. SIGH.

Have a great day. Stay safe 

Prayer for peace

Blessed Be

Winter train coming

 We have been here 6 yrs. first time the oak leaves turned any color beside dead brown. There are a few that are burgundy in the higher limbs.

Weather forecast is going from warm fall (usually mid 60s is now in 70s) to below FREEZING in mornings with high's in high 30s to low 40s.. Was supposed to come in today, has slowed down to come in Monday morning.

I am about half way through the tomatoes, I might finish them on Sunday just because I don't want to run in and out through that cold of temp from a home that is 75- 80 with a wood stove. Monday should be the latest. I plan to make some juice so I can use it to make chili. I'm down to 5 pints.

I finished applesauce. 6 pints

I have apple jam waiting in frig to jar and can today.

I have apple peels and cores to strain and press to make apple butter today. Might finish apple butter tomorrow as it sometimes takes hours to get to cook down.

I pulled the last of the onions from the gardens, they are in barn to cure. I pulled radishes the bugs didn't eat, moved my herbs in pots to protected area and got 1 row of the berries weeded. Hubby told me he would finish them. I told him to leave the pollinator gardens alone. The birds are still picking at the seeds.

I need to check space in freezers, Hubby wants to get hams and another turkey this week. I am not sure we have that much room.

Lord, I am tired of this head/chest cold. 

Prayers for Peace

Blessed Be  

Health updates.

 Great granddaughter born at 30 wks. in Aug. is home with her shunt in head working great. 

Uncle who had pneumonia is home doing rehab to teach him to not shallow breath... that is a common thing with elderly (and yes mid 60s is elderly with your breathing). My aunt laughed when PT was teaching him... told him to breath like I do... take deep breath as counting to 5 slowly, hold 5 and release 5. PT told her that was good. He got it but could only count to 3, said give him a week and it will be 5.Knowing how he is, he will work that above 5 in couple weeks.

Son2 is getting through his heart testing. He has a glitch (he is his mother's child) on left side of his heart, his BP is higher than the doctor likes. He has sever sleep apnea so machine is being ordered unless his ins will pay for Inspire. His cholesterol is over 250 , his sugar is borderline (he had sugar problems as a child) He has hearing issues (I could have told them that). His PTSD is flaring but not bad. His Cardiologist is not putting him on meds until the sleep apnea is taking care of because it could be what is causing the glitch. Son2 thinks it's Mother's genes and then laughs as he still remembers my parents talking about Children's hospital telling my parents I only had a 50% chance of living year WITH surgery for heart and digestive issues, without I maybe had 6 months. IN GOD'S HANDS. 

Hubby's check up yesterday with Cardiologist went well. Told him he was doing good but still to go to Cardio rehab at least 3 times, more for knowledge that actual work as Hubby told him he trims and mows 2 acres (1/2 acre is with push mower), he cuts wood, stacks it, then moves it with bucket on tractor, unloads and restacks in house and on porch. Though he needed to find ways to move more during winter but not walking behind a snowblower for a 400 ft. lane and then all the ramps, sidewalk and porches/deck. Also needs to lose weight. He told cardiologist he has metabolic syndrome and he had been losing about 2 lbs. a month but since he had heart attack and then covid, he hasn't lost. He is to eat 3 meals and 3 snacks with the last snack 3 hrs. before laying down. I texted his Mom and asked if his Dad had the same problem. YES and to get the weight off she made sure he ate bfast (Hubby doesn't) and main meal at lunch time (he hates stopping to eat and never ate lunch when in the factory), and then soup, salad or raw veggies, fermented or pickled foods and whole grain bread for supper around 4 pm. (our meal time also). She does have some kind of fruit dessert daily. His Dad doesn't like ANY fresh fruit. 

I am still sniffling, coughing, hacking especially in middle of night unless I sleep sitting up which KILLS my back. I have found if I take my honey, turmeric, pepper and cinnamon mixture, before bed, I still wake up sniffling, coughing and hacking but I DO NOT have the nasty sore throat. I've gained 3 lbs. I am up to size 4 (I was wearing a 10/12 when I got sick). Doc told me to use generic Vick's rub before bed and hot shower if I am coughing hard. It's not as hard as it was, though I have morning sickness (HA HA) from the drainage.

Over all we are either getting better, or at least getting answers of what is wrong, which actually is better because you aren't worrying causing anxiety wondering.

Prayers for peace 

Blessed be 

It's kind of funny when 2 of your kids get asked

the same question and they really aren't that much in each other's life and don't have the same friends. 

First question was, if you were out of groceries and stores were closed  like during pandemic ,what would you do..

Both asked (ha ha) do I have gas in the car or gas money. 

One was told yes... the other was told no.

Yes answered, call Mom and Dad and tell them I am coming.

No answered, call Mom and Dad and tell them to bring supplies. 

Both said they were asked if I was stocked up due to war... NO. Due to pandemic... NO... 

Both made the comment that the person asking was not understanding. So finally asked why we would be stocked up.

I WAS RAISED BY PEOPLE THAT WENT THROUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION.

Mother's grandma canned. Her mom didn't, she worked and gave her mom non food items in exchanged for canned vegetables and fruit.

Mother and Daddy always had tin can goods under the couch, stacked at end of couch and covered with fabric (I think old sheet) to use as a side table, and behind their bedroom door. There was always home canned food in the cellar along with 100 lb. bag of potatoes they bought from Daddy's Dad.  Daddy always insisted Mother have 10 lbs. of dried Navy beans, 25 lbs. of corn meal and 25 lbs. of white flour. Mother always had some medical supplies, toilet paper and lady products as she called them. I actually started growing navy beans because Daddy was struggling to find them. I grew kidney beans for MIL.

Mother said some of their friends made fun of them because of all the tin canned food when they bought the house in the country and was helped moving her and Daddy. They stopped the making fun when two weeks later the WHOLE GROUP lost their jobs when the plant closed down without warning right at Christmas. No unemployment at that time. 

But because my parents stocked food and had the money set back for 3 months, they were okay. Two of their friends lost their homes, one ended okay by moving their parents in with them. 

I asked both of my kids what was the lesson learned.

BOTH said, don't run your life on world events, run it to protect during bad times, no matter what those bad times are. Like having 2 children under the age of 3 in Children's hospital (me and my younger brother) when Mother went into early labor and baby brother died at birth. No health insurance in those days. Or granddaughter who went into labor early and whose baby just got released 60 days from children's hospital. 

 Son2 is one of those kids, he is having serious health problems and ended in ER with heart issues (not attack) the day Hubby came home from have heart surgery. Never married, has no kids, so we are his next of kin. He works for military, can't get his retirement from other military for over 10 yrs. He checked what his disability pay would be, looked at his out flow and told me he might have to move back home. Thankful, his ex girlfriend was being supportive and her with Daughter 2 (both are driving him to appts as we live 2 hrs. away and they live 15 minutes away) not only dealt with him with other testing, but both set down with him and his budget and cut the crap out of it. Both have worked over 15 yrs. as food servers and raised kids without child support being regular or at all for long periods of time. They know how to budget. My thought  BETTER THEM THAN ME. Now he is on THEIR budget, his stress level has dropped and he knows he could stay in his own home while going through all the medical testing. AND I am not worrying about having 2 elderly cats in a house a dog doesn't like cats. 

Then the other child told me that since Hubby farmed and I was raised the way I was that it's automatic. Even when I was a widow with a negative estate , kids at home and no income as I had just left my job as it was costing more for a babysitter (we had 4 kids and late husband's sister in home) than I was earning. There was food and TP stocked (lady products) I paid off the estate of $25,000, kept our home by doing odd jobs, housekeeping, laundry, ironing, delivered phone books (we still get one here in the mail LOL), babysitting, yard sale every other weekend. I took the house we had bought 1 step from being condemned appraised at $30,000 and 4 yrs. later had it appraised at $54,000. I got ALL of what I used to fix the home from yard sales and thrift shops.

I look at things and say this is what I want done, is it a NEED or a WANT. Needs come first. Like brakes for the truck that is going to cost over $2,000. A snow blower for the tractor , Hubby says is a want, I think more NEED as the last thing he needs to do is spend hours with the  walk behind snowblower one we have snow blowing our lane after his heart attack. They already warned him about being out in the cold. E would come plow it for us as he does the two widows lanes.  I look to see if I can do it CHEAPER but not cheaply so it doesn't hold up for long term usage. 

It's cheaper for me to garden (get exercise, purpose and Vit. D) and to can, freeze and dehydrate than spent $$$ at the store, let alone be exposed to what ever crap (RSV, covid, flu, whooping cough as Amish do not vaccinate) going around.

I still take buttons, zippers, and good material from clothing that is worn out. I just patched 2 of Hubby's work shirts. My kids have played checkers with buttons on a checkered table cloth when they were little. 

I still use junk mail that has nothing on the back for scrap paper. Amish will use the back of the envelope. I've gotten a lot of notes from M that way. Then we toss them in the wood stove. 

 Son 2 just told me he has 6 of the large packages of TP in work out room closet besides his 6 pk in the hall closet. I asked why... he noticed in a couple stores it was low on TP supplies. Figured he lived closer to his 3 sisters, niece  (who's baby of 2 months who has been in hospital since birth just went home) and his ex (she let me know they are dating again this morning) so they could come there for TP. He let them know he would even bring it to them if they needed it. I am quite sure there are 2 going to say something about that isn't in his budget. I noticed he is PAYING ATTENTION to the supply chain which he hasn't done before. 

Hubby notices OUR supplies... made the comment that TP was too low, if the kids came up or M needed some we wouldn't have enough to go 2 months (mentioned I went through 18 rolls in 3 weeks with Covid and Crohn's). I told him I ordered bulk and it would be here. I even mentioned that Son 2 had picked up extra for his sisters and niece. Then he noticed I was down to 1 box of Borax and 1 box of washing soda... No worry, M just borrowed a box of each and she will replace it.  That came back last night when they came over to borrow 3 dozen regular canning lids (I buy them in bulk) to can grape juice that was given to them from other family.  

Do you stock anything? 

Prayers for peace

Blessed Be

Life and saving

 Hubby closed business credit card (took 2 weeks to get it done). They sent him a check for his cash back since there was nothing owed on the credit card. That is the final closure for the business.

Went to pay the hospital bill and it wasn't matching what was on our insurance. I requested information. Explained it wasn't matching what was listed as paid on the insurance (they showed insurance had paid). I think they sent separate bills to insurance but put it all together for 1 bill for us as the doctor did that but he made note that he had combined ALL of his billing into one for us and separate for insurance.

I made 5 gallons laundry soap.

It's going to be in mid 70s the rest of the week, so Hubby put creosote log in wood stove last night and let it burn instead of wood to let stove go out so I can clean it today or tomorrow. Furnace is set at 68. I doubt if it gets that cold as I just looked at it and it's still 73 in house. 

I put in pantry  7 meals of ground beef crumbles, 10 meals of taco meat, 5 meals of chicken (leftover from roasts),  6 meals of brats(gave to us), and 2 meals of lil smokies. 

I have chicken/broth to can, beef/broth to can, still working on apples for apple jam and using skins and cores for apple butter and still working on tomatoes for pasta sauce. I have flash freezing smoked brats and smoked sausage.

Hubby found an Amish selling sweet potatoes (most grow them but don't usually sell them in this area). She told him to stop back this week as they would be finishing digging the rest after he bought 12. One of her sweet potatoes makes 2 meals for both of us. She gave him a couple small ones for me to use to starts for us next spring.  He noticed she had potatoes on her sale board yesterday. We will be checking it out, if she has big ones like the sweet potatoes I won't have to buy baking potatoes at the store. I have small purple, small red and small Yukon potatoes that I grew myself. I have some small russets. 

Hubby started clearing the gardens yesterday. We plan to have it done by Thursday when the rain comes in. We had a killing frost yesterday. I hope to get the weeds dealt with in the berry vines also. I need to pull the onions in the next week or two which means I need to deal with the cured onions. I will cut some of the onion tops to dehydrate.

Hubby ordered a tarp for the basement ramp from local Amish man. There is an area of about 10 ft by 10 ft at bottom of ramp. We put a nice roof over it making sure there was ventilation. I want to use it as a food storage area using the coolers to keep the winter squash in as Hubby just harvest another 8 golden acorns (neither of us remember ever growing them but they grew this year in the compost pile). I also have pumpkin, butternut, green acorn squash and one spaghetti squash. The Amish at the tarp shop asked where he was putting the tarp. When Hubby told him, he suggested he make us a "tarp" door  with 2 screens and told Hubby how to frame it so it wouldn't flop and tear up and then showed Hubby he had one on his own basement ramp. His wife said she first thought she would hate it but she really likes it. She uses the area for their winter squash and potatoes.

Today I will cut the mint back away from the house and deal with the north flower garden, probably about 3 hrs. of the day. Hubby plans to wash the siding this week or next so I want to get the plants off the siding of the house.

Following advice of two of our daughters . We got a Gold Good RX acct. Hubby takes two HEART meds that aren't covered well by insurance (what he has is best covered by what insurance he has plus our pharmacy gave him another discount) What we pay ANNUALLY for the Gold is what we will save in 2 months for the meds. I also ordered through Amazon (for free as I used my points) his aspirin 81 mg. Got him, as insurance doesn't pay for that and I see no reason for spending $2.12 for 30 aspirin when I got 500 for less than $8 (free with using the points). His nitro is good for a year, but the hospital cardiologist  ordered it to be filled every month. Hubby called our primary since they are friends also for advice. Primary backed us as it's a waste but told him to bring it up when he goes this Friday along with buying aspirin from Amazon. He already called his ENT about the cost of the nose spray (also good for a year). She told him that Gold Good Rx is great, Good Rx is good and to get a couple at least into storage but to use it daily through autumn. Also said to check out Mark Cuban Pharmacy. Which my pain doctor uses himself. Back in the day he would have just paid the price and not try to find a cheaper way to get the same thing.

I did my Medicare part D. After looking at several sites for top 5 Part D's . I chose Well Care zero premium , zero on meds (gap coverage is $1.20 for all 4 a month) and $545 deductible that I shouldn't meet all year. We rechecked Hubby's D which is Silverscript. That's the best for him at $5.30/ month and $280 deductible. He will only pay $12 a month if he uses the Gold Good Rx for his nitro and nose spray. I can get my inhaler through Gold Good Rx for 1/3rd of my insurance so I didn't even list it on my meds.

I have went from Humira to Visbiome (original formula of VSL#3 prior to 2016) Even with "help" from the company it was going to be over $1,000 a month. As I have very bad veins and can't do infusions which would have been covered under part B.  Visbiome is $62 a month (I order for 2 months amount to get that price) plus IT WORKS. I used it before 2016 and was having no flare ups for 2 years. Company sold and new owners changed to cheaper ingredients BUT didn't acknowledge it and it quit working. There is a stronger amount but I would have to have my GI send them the script straight to the company. I don't think I need stronger when this is working but it's nice to know that option is there.  

I added green tea capsules to both of us. Neither of us would drink enough of it as tea. I searched for top 5... Zenwise came up in several searches. Cardiologist backed it also as a good for cholesterol, blood sugar, inflammation and metabolic syndrome.

Hubby stopped at Amish and got local honey and some puffed speltz. I took 1/2 cup, added turmeric, black pepper and cinnamon. Really worked for the nasty sore throat I got from the head/chest cold. I will continue to take it through the winter. 

I started oil of oregano. I have a child nagging. Started like the other kid suggest. One drop in a shot of tomato juice for 3 days, increase 1 drop every 3 days, don't do more than 5 drops. Nagging child makes her own so she's walk me through when I go to make my own since I grow oregano.

I have elderberry syrup that I put on my Greek yogurt. A friend gifted me elderberry mixed with local honey as they were allowed to pick elderberries from another friend's home. 

I have been taking resveratrol for years for my cholesterol with a 5 mg statin... I have heart failure/disfunction birth defect along with having a stroke due to accident. 

We can't do coconut oil as it sent our triglycerides through the roof. Not good for heart patients. Daughter 4 uses it as a mouth wash (had infected tooth and her dentist suggested it) and grandchild uses it for skin care. So it won't go to waste.

I best get at the day's work

Blessed be 

Prayers for peace 

First Hard Freeze warning

 for tonight. We haven't had a frost to harm anything. I will need to cover my onions up and move my radishes that are in pots into the barn. Supposed to warm back up to the 60s even close to 70 the rest of the week. SO covering them will allow them to have another week or so of growth before I start pulling them. I will have to bring the apples in that are sitting on the porch. I have 4 plants still blooming so I will bring them in also. A lot to do on a Sunday.

I did 21 pints of applesauce. I have room for 15 more it I triple stack them which I really don't like doing. Hubby told me to do the apple jam which we are low on  and then apple butter (I usually only use cores and peels to do) for the rest of the apples. I use apple butter as the "frosting" on spice cakes or carrot cakes beside just putting on bread and rolls. That should use up the last of those apples. I need to put the rest of the honey crisp apples in the freezer room frig.

I got 5 qrts. of pasta sauce canned out of 2 gallons of juice.

We moved the last of the Yukon gold potatoes, russet potatoes, and sweet potatoes to the basement. I put an apple with each crate as I had a couple Amish tell me it helps keeps them from sprouting. 

Hubby measured basement ramp opening (4 ft wide). He wants to put a clear tarp (Amish made) there so I can use that area for root veggies and squashes.

I froze and bagged apple brats, beer brats and original brats.

I froze and bagged chicken thighs.

I roasted 2 whole chickens, had roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and corn (starchy meal) and an apple custard with meringue sent over from M. We then had baby carrots and celery as a snack. Hubby also had an apple with peanut butter later. 

Hubby stacked more day time, night time and what he now calls cook time fire wood in house and on porch. Almost ran me over around the stove with all the wood but I realized that the cook time firewood is pretty helpful. It's small and burns quick. I needed to bump up the "temp" to roast the chicken but not for 3 hrs. like day time wood would burn. M showed him the other day when he was over to talk to E her cook time fire wood.

Monday's work 

Pay the hospital bill that came in for Hubby's heart attack. I have to keep repeating we have the money back for those bills to him as it sends him into a panic when he gets them.

I will be taking chicken off the bone and separating it for meals and bagging it for the freezer. Then I will cook the bones to make broth and can it.  ACTUALLY I will take it off the bone today when I make supper and do bone broth on Monday.

I have hamburger to cook to make taco meat (bagged in 1 cup servings) and ground beef crumbles for freezer. That's for Monday also.

I have smoke sausage links (size of hotdogs) to repackage, bag and put in freezer.

I try to do most of "nasty trash stuff" like meat packages etc. on Monday because trash goes to the road Monday night. Our trash is picked up between 4 and 6 AM  Monday morning. 

Cook more tomatoes for juice to make pasta sauce . I leave the juice sit over night to let the water come to the top, remove it and then slow cook the sauce all day. Let it sit over night (to make sure all the "water" is out) and can the next day.  Hubby said when I was done with onions and tomatoes he would "stir" the compost pile and then have E put manure over it.

E said he thinks he will be over to mow around pond and the asparagus ferns this coming week. He made it clear to Hubby that Hubby was NOT to be up on the roof of the wood shed replacing the roof. He would do that for us. Hubby said he had patched it so it doesn't leak before his heart attack but he had offered that he would ask one of the other Amish to help as E really is overloaded with work that needs done since his family day to help him with his wash house did not happen so M's wash house is still not done. He also got really cheap materials to build a saw mill so he could work no matter what the weather. His saw is sitting in the open close to our property where the berries are at. He is moving it closer to his own driveway to help trucks from getting stuck in the mud when unloading logs. Three times last spring Hubby had to pull trucks out that got stuck. BUT he made it clear Hubby was NOT to have someone else come do it or be up there himself. I laughed when Hubby said he wasn't going to tick off the neighbor... we might not get any more free eggs and desserts LOL.

I had to buy clothes. I hate shopping for clothes and ALWAYS question two of my girls and one granddaughter where the sales are and what they are wearing as their style is more like mine and they are close to my size.  I looked at 4 different thrift shops and found nothing. I have lost 20 lbs. from being sick and the weight is not coming back on. I hate shopping for bras. But I was lucky that granddaughter who is just close to my size told me what she wears and because we were at Hubby's ENT appt. (no cancer, no tumors, nothing to be concerned about, doc figures he is losing his voice do to allergy reaction from wildfire smoke. So will have that dealt with and some voice therapy as he has always been a little "gravelly" in speaking) Hubby wanted to stop at Meijer's We don't have one close to us but the kids do. Not only did they carry the bra granddaughter wears (fits great), they were on sale for half price. I also go 2 pairs of every day spandex pants for half price and 3 shawl like vests with hood also half price. I don't have any "dress" jackets and the hoodie I wear at home is definitely seen better days. I texted a friend (she's my size) and let her know they had a sale going on. She texted me back to stop and try on the "dress" pants she just bought. They were lovely. Hubby told me to order some also as I have NO dress pants. She gave me a code she was given to share (so she gets another discount) and I was able to hit their sale and ended up getting 4 pairs for the price of 2 AND free shipping.  THEN a Facebook "friend" let me know she had just bought boots from Amazon that were warm and fit well. She wear's same size as me. I checked it out and ordered 2, one at ankle and one above ankle, both on sale.

BEST PART... even with buying so much I am still under budget for clothing. Hubby even picked up another pair of boots, one with steel toes and rubber coating over the toes for 25% off. He is still under budget for clothing. I also just put what is too big for me now back into storage in barn. 

Hubby thought we should cut that budget some... I am not going to do that as he still has 30 lbs. to lose. He's lost 30 lbs. this year. I've taken darts in all his pants. BUT I know if he loses the other 30 he will need new pants. I do have some put back that got too small for him that were still good. I can see him dropping in shirt size also. He used to wear 3 x large. His long sleeve shirts are x lg. his tee shirts are lg. His pants were 56 waist, now are 44 waist. He'll probably need a new belt also. 

On the nice side we inputted the RRA (retiree reimbursement acct.)acct. that Hubby got from work. When he was retiring they told him that they had did away with that. Found out that he got it due to the years he had in. They gave him the amount we would be getting. I figured out that it will cover the cost of our dental and eyeglasses ... maybe if those stay on the low side, cover his hearing aids when he has to replace them. Anything not used in one year is ROLLED OVER to the next year.

Our primary used to be " no" to anything holistic... his daughter went to Africa (she's a doctor) came home and told what they use there... he no longer is a no to holistic. IN FACT, we were talking (as we are friends also) and he mentioned his Daughter was telling her patients with metabolic syndrome to use green tea (capsules or tea) to help along with those that have IBD and IBS...He checked it out and felt it would be good for both of us. BUT mentioned it lowers the iron and I would need to watch that part as I struggle with low iron (always have).  I have green tea (tea and capsules) for other reasons but we decided to start that immediately to see if it helps. I actually wished his Daughter was working in the area as she does both traditional medical and holistic. 

Menu for the week:

Today: Bacon and tomato wraps, salad blend, M's dessert

Monday: chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, cole slaw

Tuesday: steak, baked potato, salad, rolls

Wednesday: mackerel patties, boiled potatoes with butter, peas

Thursday: One pot green beans, ham and potatoes with corn bread (pick up more salad and milk if needed after doc appt)

Friday: fried cabbage with sausage, fried potatoes and onions, left over corn bread

Saturday: stuffed shells , meatballs, salad and garlic toast.

Hubby has asked for me to bake bread, make granola, bake monster cookies, bake custard pie (pie crust optional) and make ice cream to go between the cookies. He is thinking on ice cream sandwich (cookie) would be a good sweet that would limit him instead of a bowl of ice cream. He used to eat half gallon of ice cream at a time, then he went to a quart. Then it was a pint. He has found that he can get a ice cream sundae at the gas station (where we get $11 pizza at times) and it's enough. It's 1/2 cup.... I reframed from dancing in joy.

How has your week being going?

Prayers for peace

Blessed Be

After almost 5 weeks

 We went to the store. I am thankful the only thing we had to pick up was a gallon of milk while sick.

I spent $379.37 at Kroger's with $108.71 savings (5 % cash back) plus $9.50 in Fresh Mode rewards. 

I spent $47.90 at Country Variety Store on 1 1/2 bushels of apples and 6 pears. *check or cash only* Saved $6

I spent $106.90 at Save A Lot with savings of $6.82 (3 % cash back)

We have enough to go 6 weeks (not counting anything I already have in freezers) with only picking up fresh produce and milk.

I got chuck roast on sale, made it last night with red potatoes (from garden) orange carrots (we already ate all of ours) and white onion from B (add $10 for 15 lbs. of candy onions from B). I will be canning 3 qrts. of beef and broth and 1 qrt. of just broth. 

Tonight's supper will be roasted chicken. I have 2 that will be cooked same time in wood stove. I will then pick off the pieces for other meals and make broth and can it.

At Kroger's I also go a pork shoulder( in freezer), skinless boneless chicken thighs * to be vacuumed bagged and frozen, beef hotdogs bagged and frozen(me only) mini sausage links (Hubby requested pigs in blanket), shrimp, hamburger (make taco meat and cooked ground beef) and a turkey ON SALE. I got 3 salads, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, carrots (big) and mushrooms. I replaced the Sprite and Coke I went through while sick. I got yogurt as my yogurt maker is on order, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, goat cheese, Vit D milk, heavy cream, half and half and buttermilk.

 I did very well at writing my list in the way I shop (non perishables first, produce, meat then dairy) so I did NO backtracking. I wore a mask. LORD I was done by time we put it in the truck and worried I was going to be sick from getting too hot. But Hubby cranked the AC up and rolled my window down. By time we got to Country Variety store I was fine.

I got apples for fresh eating (Hubby is trying to eat apple with peanut butter instead of almond chocolate bar with peanut butter for his bedtime snack) and apples for applesauce.  I got 6 pears for fresh eating. They charged bushel price for the applesauce apples instead of the 1/2 bushel since I bought 2 of them saving me $6.

At Save A Lot ,I got baby carrots (Kroger's looked bad) smoke sausage links (size of bun size hotdog) brat patties, and brats to be rebagged and frozen. I got 2 T-bone steaks as Hubby mentioned he missed getting his steak dinner at Lock 16 for his birthday. He does NOT want to go out to eat. So this weekend I will fix him a steak dinner as close as I can to what he would order.  I got pizza rolls for our lunch and I bought the size of bag that would ONLY be lunch instead of us pit stopping for a sandwich (saving about half of what the sandwiches would have been).

I wrote out the meals I was going to serve: Leftover beef brisket from Sunday is going to be fajitas

Beef roast with veggies, beef stew, beef and noodle, beef pot pie

Roasted chicken, autumn stew, chicken pot pie, and chicken and noodles

Mock Lock 16 Steak dinner

Pork shoulder roast, mock Brunswick stew, Cuban pork, pork and cabbage casserole

Pigs in Blanket

Chicken Shrimp stir fry

Shrimp scampi 

Smoked sausage

Brat patties

Brats

I also have potstickers and egg rolls, pepperoni and sausage for pizza, stuffed shells, stuffed manicotti, lasagna rolls, penne and spaghetti, Swedish meat balls, meat loaf, Salisbury steak, tacos, crispy bean burritos, breaded pork tenderloin, BLT (while I have fresh tomatoes) grilled cheese with tomato soup, fried bologna, fried ham slices, Philly steak subs, Gordan air fryer fish,  mackerel patties, salmon patties, tuna noodle casserole, fried cabbage (from garden) with fried potatoes (garden) with sausage or ham, one pot green beans, potatoes and ham,  pancakes, waffles , French toast and eggs.  Crepes, I want to learn to make crepes. 

We should be able to only need dairy and fresh produce until Dec if not Jan. 

I spent $549.17.... if we don't go back to store for 4 wks. that is  $137.30 a week

IF we can go 6 weeks (only getting dairy, celery and carrots) that is $91.53 a week. 

I have 5 meals listed so that is 7.8 weeks that's $73.22 a week... SO I am looking at not going back for at least 7 weeks, that's the beginning of Dec. Which is why I went ahead and got the turkey for 99 cents a lb. 

Not counting soups and casseroles from scraps. I know I have more brisket, 2 pork tenderloins and plenty of bacon and sausage. I am low of pork chops though. 

Blessed Be 

Off to deal with more tomatoes

tomatoes

 He was working on the trimmer. He did finally after 4 days get the property trimmed and mowed except around the pond. He will do that so E can mow at the edge with his hay mower which is to the side instead of straight with the horses. 

 I have 29 qrts. of tomatoes to wipe down and take down. Not sure where I am going to be putting the rest of it. But am going to cook it down to can sauce and not over do it.

Blessed be

Prayers for peace

Yep I am up

 

I have no clue to what she wants. I let her out, in , out and back in. She just sat there. Finally she went and laid on the couch. She's probably wondering when I am going to stop coughing. 

I fed the stove, good thing I was up as it would have been completely out by morning.

I am coughing still, it's a bad cough but not as often. Our Nurse called Tuesday to get Hubby's Medicare info as we have a phone appt on Wed and I coughed while he was giving her the info... she actually sighed. But it's better, it doesn't hurt to cough as much or every time. Morning and evening are the worse, it's not rattling and things are still breaking up. No fever, icky crap is clear so no infection. The meds will start messing with my Crohn's (never ending circle) in a couple days so I am backing off a little of that before that happens.  Doc called. One day of work, one day of rest. Hubby to take rest breaks and remember this cold winter will affect him differently. He definitely didn't get the same ickes I got

Electric bill is in at $126. There was AC on that bill so it's not bad. I am using the dryer for bedding and throw blankets. My co op figured if I do 3 hrs. a week in the dryer, my electric will raise about $25. SO I need to try to limit use of other electric to balance that out. 

Hubby got his surgery bill... He owes nothing of the $65,000 bill. BECAUSE he maxed out his out of pocket in Urgent care, ER and the ambulance  to transported him to the other hospital for surgery. Those bills are still out there.  One bill our health insurance flagged as a surprise billing and for us to NOT pay it until we called them as they were negotiating with the company over the bill. The ambulance was not provider under our insurance. It's not like we get to chose who transported him... DUH.

I bought a high yield 9 month CD from Ally. Added enough to both of our savings to be back up to what we want in regular bank. Paid 1 month extra to mortgage and added enough to Money market to cover most of 2024 out of pocket medical. 

I asked 4 different financial advisors about car loan. Every single one said to follow the 20/4/7 rule (couple kids said they saw the same with Rocket mortgage) 20% down, only for 4 yrs (48 months) and no more than 7% of gross yearly income. Which is almost what I felt we should only pay and Son 2 is looking at the same.

Blessed Be

Prayers for peace

 

When you wake up coughing hard enough to give yourself a nose bleed

 you might need to think that you are still sick. SIGH I am now carrying Bleed Cease in my pocket. 

Doc has me taking my temp 3 times a days to make sure I am not running a fever. SO far nothing. 

Echinacea tea, honey tea, ginger tea and elderberry honey in my white tea is helping. 

I ate chili last night, boy did that break some crud loose. My tummy wasn't happy with me but I could BREATHE. Doc did add bronkaid and Mucinex DM and cooked onion, ordered to drink the juice LOL. What ever I am to cough up I am to spit out or it will trigger my Crohn's.... guess he doesn't understand it raging anyways. Drainage does that.

Hubby is now holding his fingers in a cross when I come near him to ward off my "evil" cooties. I try not to be close. Lysol twice a day now instead of once. Windows are open with the wood stove so we do have fresh air all the time. Humidifier in front room is on 60. I will be turning the hallway one on today.

Hubby took a trip down memory lane something he doesn't do much.

I remember, he started, when you had 3 surgeries in 3 months... Oct/ Nov/ Dec. 1995. We had 3 kids with serious mental issues and you was juggling "women" issues your self. 

Yep right after we got married and he spoiled the kids by baking snickerdoodles for Thanksgiving dinner along with no bake double layer pumpkin pie and I sat curled up in a chair in the dining room. 

Then it was 

I remember, you have 3 different pneumonias  Oct/Nov/ Dec.

Yep, 2008 we lost both houses, moved Daughter 2 and her family of 9 and then us from a 3500 sq ft home to a 800 sq ft rental and had 5 storage units  and filed bankruptcy when he went to 3 days a week work instead of 7 days a week work. Talk about income dropping.

Then since Brother was texting Hubby (he was with uncle in hospital is doing a lot better and aunt don't look like she's going to fall over) And BROTHER texts

I remember coming home from college for Thanksgiving and finding she had not even started school.

5th grade, rheumatic fever. Sept through Dec. I did work at home, teacher stopped to give Mom my work daily and started back in January.   

THEN my Aunt said, she remembered Daddy saying I was Aunt Hazel who caught everything and anything within a ten mile radius. 

SO I finally asked... what is the point you are trying to make?

YOU get really sick in the fall of the year when YOU am under a lot of stress...

Brother was NO.... she's allergic to mold and that's fall... TRUE... beans coming off, hay, corn isn't as bad with it because E takes out rows in middle to allow air flow to help dry his corn. But yeah, it's the mold. I can't walk in a barn that has hay in the mow. I can't take penicillin for that reason. It nearly killed me, Hubby could remember nearly losing me, they sent me home to die. But he couldn't remember what caused it. They gave me a medication that had penicillin in it and it didn't red flag it at the hospital but did at CVS. WHO immediately called Hubby and my doctor to tell them what was happening. 

But looking back at the cycle... fall is my stress time on top of when my allergies are their worse. I getting the crops in to feed us through the winter, getting the home battened down for the winter and facing bills going up due to winter. 

NOW, I can see the pattern... how can I change it? I can't do anything about mold season as Brother who is allergic everything said.  BUT what can I change ? 

IF you have any thoughts please comment as I know this change won't be easy for me. I am a creature of habit.