Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: April 9~15, 2023
- Thread starter ReneeT
- Start date
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
That's great, Judy. I'm glad you and DH are feeling better.
I just use a Duncan Hines strawberry cake mix. Then to make the frosting
Strawberry Buttercream frosting
2 sticks real butter (1cup) softened
4 cups powdered sugar
A pinch of salt and just a pinch. No more
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp strawberry extract or to taste.
I add a drop or 2 of red food coloring to make it pink. But sometimes the extract will have a little color. It just depends on the brand.
Add water, a little at a time, to get the consistency you want.
I make 1 1/2 recipe if I am doing a layer cake. But this is plenty for a 9x13 that i leave in the pan.
Strawberry Buttercream frosting
2 sticks real butter (1cup) softened
4 cups powdered sugar
A pinch of salt and just a pinch. No more
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp strawberry extract or to taste.
I add a drop or 2 of red food coloring to make it pink. But sometimes the extract will have a little color. It just depends on the brand.
Add water, a little at a time, to get the consistency you want.
I make 1 1/2 recipe if I am doing a layer cake. But this is plenty for a 9x13 that i leave in the pan.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank You!
John Deere Girl
Veteran Member
I appreciate you taking the time to share this!
I haven't had time to read to catch up with what everyone is doing, it has been a busy week. My garden was tilled yesterday and this morning I planted three rows of potatoes and one of onions. Every time I see the garden tilled I realize all over again how blessed I am with a foot of pure black top soil. I wanted to plant more, but 25 mph wind just plain wore me out. Also, I want to pace myself and avoid triggering back pain.
The whole state is under "red flag" fire danger warning, and I got a reverse 911 call that there is now a fire ban. Only a total idiot would light a fire the way the wind has been blowing. (I guess that makes my neighbor a total idiot as he had a fire going two days ago!!)
Tomorrow, I have an appointment for evaluation/exam pre cataract surgery so with my eyes dilated I doubt I'll want to be out in the sun! Saturday it's supposed to rain. I had my last physical therapy session so now I need to be very intentional about keeping up with all the therapy exercises daily at home.
I hope I have time soon to catch up on my forum reading soon.
The whole state is under "red flag" fire danger warning, and I got a reverse 911 call that there is now a fire ban. Only a total idiot would light a fire the way the wind has been blowing. (I guess that makes my neighbor a total idiot as he had a fire going two days ago!!)
Tomorrow, I have an appointment for evaluation/exam pre cataract surgery so with my eyes dilated I doubt I'll want to be out in the sun! Saturday it's supposed to rain. I had my last physical therapy session so now I need to be very intentional about keeping up with all the therapy exercises daily at home.
I hope I have time soon to catch up on my forum reading soon.
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
Anna43, you are blessed to have good soil, our soil is very sandy and DH has a hard time raising anything in it. We do well with tomatoes, and okay with green onions and garlic, but anything else and its a toss up. My great grand mother only had an early spring garden but she grew up around here and was use to the soil. DH is from Illinois and had beautiful gardens there. I have a black thumb and would kill plastic flowers.
Praise the Lord, I feel so much better this morning. It looks glorious outside, sun is shinning and its a sea of green out there, alas my allergies my be in full bloom too. I'm so blessed that the side effects from that medication went away because if I had had to go to the ER at the VA they would have tested me for covid and I want to avoid that testing in any way possible.
Now to try and get back on track with getting things done around here.
Praise the Lord, I feel so much better this morning. It looks glorious outside, sun is shinning and its a sea of green out there, alas my allergies my be in full bloom too. I'm so blessed that the side effects from that medication went away because if I had had to go to the ER at the VA they would have tested me for covid and I want to avoid that testing in any way possible.
Now to try and get back on track with getting things done around here.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Another night of pouring rain. Everything is drenched outside, but it has stopped raining for the time being. It's rather chilly this morning, too. High today of only 71. I'm still wearing one of Cary's long sleeve insulated shirts, leggings, and cabin socks. It looks like the sundresses will have to wait, LOL.
I didn't do too bad with pain, yesterday, until I tried to eat supper last night. I made myself some instant mashed potatoes and a packet of brown gravy. Even though, it was very soft, it started my mouth hurting to the point I had to take another Narco. The swelling hasn't gone down any, and it's hard to wear my glasses, because right underneath my right eye is where the swelling starts. It causes my glasses to sit crooked on my face. I feel like everything is healing properly, though. I'm going to try not to take any more Narco today. Just the antibiotics. We'll see how that goes.
Monday, our plans are to go grocery shopping, Food Giant, TSC, wine shop, local nursery for more garden plants, etc., and a Sam's order. Cary is expecting his book order to come today. He ordered the latest in the "Pendergast" series and another by Jonathan Cahn. I can't think of the name of the Cahn book right now.
Tuesday, I have an appointment to see my Ophthalmologist for a check on vision, cataract, and macular degeneration. I'm going to request him to send me to a new macular degeneration specialist that has come to Tupelo. From what I've heard, she is one of the best in the field. She also specializes in cataract surgery. I'm just not ready to have that done, yet. Too many other health problems to deal with first, and it's not affecting my vision so far.
Anyway, today will be another day of rest for me. Cary got another 1/2 cord of firewood split and stacked, yesterday. He's taking a break today, too. His back is sore today.
Supper tonight will probably be a can of soup of some kind for myself, and I'll make a box of Hamburger Helper for Cary. Something quick and easy to make with a jar of my ground beef.
I didn't do too bad with pain, yesterday, until I tried to eat supper last night. I made myself some instant mashed potatoes and a packet of brown gravy. Even though, it was very soft, it started my mouth hurting to the point I had to take another Narco. The swelling hasn't gone down any, and it's hard to wear my glasses, because right underneath my right eye is where the swelling starts. It causes my glasses to sit crooked on my face. I feel like everything is healing properly, though. I'm going to try not to take any more Narco today. Just the antibiotics. We'll see how that goes.
Monday, our plans are to go grocery shopping, Food Giant, TSC, wine shop, local nursery for more garden plants, etc., and a Sam's order. Cary is expecting his book order to come today. He ordered the latest in the "Pendergast" series and another by Jonathan Cahn. I can't think of the name of the Cahn book right now.
Tuesday, I have an appointment to see my Ophthalmologist for a check on vision, cataract, and macular degeneration. I'm going to request him to send me to a new macular degeneration specialist that has come to Tupelo. From what I've heard, she is one of the best in the field. She also specializes in cataract surgery. I'm just not ready to have that done, yet. Too many other health problems to deal with first, and it's not affecting my vision so far.
Anyway, today will be another day of rest for me. Cary got another 1/2 cord of firewood split and stacked, yesterday. He's taking a break today, too. His back is sore today.
Supper tonight will probably be a can of soup of some kind for myself, and I'll make a box of Hamburger Helper for Cary. Something quick and easy to make with a jar of my ground beef.
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
Sherree, I just finished reading the latest Pendergast book. Tell CaryC that its different but still good and with the way it ended I'm just about holding my breath until the next one comes out.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
"The Cabinet of Dr. Leng" is the name of Cary's latest book in the series, arriving today. He just finished the book, "Bloodless". He has the whole series, and it's one of his favorites.
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
When this newest one came out in January I started the series over with #3 and just finished #21. No telling when #22 will come out, I hope its before the end of the world. So now I've started #1 and then will read #2. These books are facinating and its hard to find something else after I finish one. I do have most of the books in paperback, but I do have then all on kindle. I have enough other hardbound books that I just don't collect most fiction in hardbound as my shelves are over flowing and on the floor. I have two walls of floor to ceiling shelves and I have several book cases in the cabin and unfortunately I have way too many cartons of books in my damaged camper. Although many of the ones in the camper can be saved, if only I had the stamina to do something with them. No telling what will happen to all of them when I die, almost no one in this area would be interested in them.
When I was married to my ex he promised me he would sell my books to like minded people, I believed him. My oldest son said to throw them in a dumpster and ex said no. My now precious DH would be closer to oldest son's opinion. Not something I need to worry about though. Its all in God's hands.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I tell Cary all the time that if a person walks through our house, they will think half of our house was a grocery store, and the other half was a library. LOL! Floor to ceiling shelves for both. We prefer hardback or paperback books. We are both very low tech here. 2 laptops and our cell phones are it.
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
While I do have a couple of earlier kindles, I read the kindle books on my phone, so much easier to hold into the night while reading. I actually go for months not reading, but when I get in the mood I walk around with blurred eyes from reading so long. I will say the nice thing about an actual kindle, you can enlarge the font when you can hardly see from reading so much.
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
So do you cook any vegetables in your beans, I know onions, but I want to dress them up some. I like okra but DH would die before he ate okra. The last beans I cooked I put some of our butchered pork in it but DH didn't like it. He ate the pork but not the beans, he said the beans tasted sour.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
When I cook a pot of beans (dry pintos or dry limas), I sometimes cut up an onion and add a little salt and black pepper. If I want meat in them, I add smoked ham chunks I save from whole or half hams I bought in the past and frozen just for that purpose. I soak the beans overnight in the fridge after washing them. I drain and rinse the next day, before putting them in the crockpot.
John Deere Girl
Veteran Member
I soak beans overnight in water and some baking soda and then rinse them before I throw them in the crockpot. I also add onions, garlic, salt, and pepper, and most of the time I also put ham in with the beans.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Do you think that maybe the beans soured from soaking too long? I don't know, since I soak mine in the fridge overnight.
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
never had the problem before, I only soak them in boiling water for about an hour. Although the two pound bag of large lima really filled the crock pot. I've lots of pintos in the freezer so I'll go back to cooking them. I do beans vacuum sealed in jars, but I'll leave those for a later time. I also have beans that I put up in one gallon paint cans up to 15 years ago. I might try some of them. The basmati rice I put up at the same time in the same way were in pristine condition when I checked a couple of years ago. I put up a wide assortment back then.
I just got my new antibiotic today, amoxicillin, a tried and true med. That other one is specifically for uti's. A new and improved crap to kill you.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I have no clue, then, as to why your beans tasted sour. Maybe, it won't happen again. I hate it when I ruin a dish.
I had some dry black-eye peas stored in sealed canning jars years ago that soured in the jars. They really don't like moisture from all of our humidity.
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
I really do need to check things that have been stored several years. Only problem I've ever had with beans is they get too hard to cook. Although hard beans can be ground to powder and used that way, nice thickening.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I would really like all you guys and gal's opinion on something. It would be a large investment, and we consider it a big prep item. Taking some of our cash and investing, while there is still value in cash.
Cary and I have been talking about getting a new vehicle. Brand new. We have 2 older vehicles that are steadily depreciating in value, and with the big push to switch everything over to EV's, we want to get ahead of all that by buying now. Cary's Jeep is 21 yrs. old, and my Nissan is 13 yrs. old. We have no debt. Nothing on credit in years, so our credit rating will soon start going down if we don't use it. We are wanting to pay half in cash and the rest in payments for 3 years.
So, in light of everything that's going on, do you all think it's a sound decision?
Cary and I have been talking about getting a new vehicle. Brand new. We have 2 older vehicles that are steadily depreciating in value, and with the big push to switch everything over to EV's, we want to get ahead of all that by buying now. Cary's Jeep is 21 yrs. old, and my Nissan is 13 yrs. old. We have no debt. Nothing on credit in years, so our credit rating will soon start going down if we don't use it. We are wanting to pay half in cash and the rest in payments for 3 years.
So, in light of everything that's going on, do you all think it's a sound decision?
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
Absolutely not. The new vehicles have bad things on them. You can look for a good later than you have and in excellent condition instead. That's my 2 Cents for what ever its worth.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
What bad things? We have never had success with used vehicles.
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
nothing specific off the top of my head except regulatory things you might not like, research is your friend.
We purchased new car 2 yrs ago but paid cash. It was a good decision for us. Hubs is a car guy though so he knew exactly what he did or didn’t want. He is talking about buying again because of the EV’s etc. But if debt was involved I would think twice but that is just me. Debt free for a long time and would have a hard time incurring debt but you have a plan! My plan is just that MY plan. I know God has a plan for you!
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SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Yes, lots of research on the exact new vehicle that we want (Nissan Rogue or Murano). Nothing is popping up that would change our minds, though.
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SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
We could pay cash for this one, but Cary wants to put at least some of it on payments to help boost our credit score up. We're still thinking of just paying cash, though. We haven't decided yet on that. We might need to have a good credit score sometime in the future, so we think it's good to keep a good score going. What better way to invest some of our cash than in a good reliable car for the future? We've had a few used vehicles in the past, and they lasted about 2 years, before they were pieces of junk that had to be traded in for something else for another 2 years. Cary has the ability to work on cars, but it gets old having to replace parts all the time, and with his age, it does get complicated.
John Deere Girl
Veteran Member
I would pray about it, but both of those are nice vehicles that will last. We have a Nissan Armada, and we LOVE it!
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
We're leaning more to the Murano. I have a Nissan Maxima right now, and it's never had any major work done on it. We're wanting a smaller SUV this time, though. The Rogue only has a 3 cylinder engine, and Cary doesn't like that.
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
My comment about not buying new was my first reaction. Probably because I looked to my brother for information and he was very smart about buying preowned. they never failed him. Not only about choosing them but also negotating price. Unfortunately he went to be with Jesus from covid, he never got the shot.
John Deere Girl
Veteran Member
Have you and Cary looked into the Pathfinder? Those are really nice too.
John Deere Girl
Veteran Member
Unfortunately, in our area used vehicles are often more expensive than new.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
We haven't. That's a Toyota isn't it? We haven't done any shopping around, except online. but we're sort of partial to Nissans, based on my Maxima's performance. Tuesday, we'll be in Tupelo, and we plan to shop around on the many lots there. A Toyota would be our second choice. We want something that serves our purpose in our older years, something that has a high rating, and something we can afford to pay cash for if we so choose.
John Deere Girl
Veteran Member
The pathfinder is a Nissan SUV that's smaller than the Armada. I haven't had to shop for vehicles for a few years though, so I'm not sure about pricing now.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Ok, thanks. Don't know why I thought it was a Toyota.
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
I know that has been the case the last couple of years all over the place.
Car shopping very interesting these days. Days of choosing car off lot are gone. We are looking at Toyota. We are going to look at one when dealer gets shipment sometime this month. I do think prices are down- no longer above sticker like during CV. But still high in my mind
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
All of the many different new car lots in Tupelo are flooded with new cars. I hope we can find something on the lot that we like. I hate the idea of having to wait months.