Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: December 17 ~ 23, 2023

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ReneeT

Veteran Member
Good Morning, All! I'm up, I'm caffeinated, and have done some prep for a friend's family dinner that I've been invited to today. Not many other plans than that - just waiting for the trees in the east side yard to drop their leaves so that I can get out and clean the gutters before the weather gets cold enough to make me grumpy while I'm doing it.

Haven't made any plans for the week beyond going to back to back doctor's appointment that are liable to make me cranky, hitting up Aldi, and then goind to the Evil Empire to cheer myself up with Lemon muffins after said appointment Somewhere in there I'll need to take the grand-dog home. If it'd dry, I'll keep clipping more flower seed heads; if it's wet, I'll work in the pantries.
 
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nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I'm up by the hardest, had trouble going to sleep last night. My legs were restless, is there something I can do about that?

The sun is shinning and the rain is over. It misted all day yesterday.

Its been more than two years or longer since I've made any jewelry, it was definitely before covid. I'm thinking about gifting this young family that has seven children under ten, 5 of which are girls. Its a couple of good size boxes of beads and a nice assortment of tools. My sister use to make jewelry and she said how many necklaces etc do you need. If I do that I'll keep a couple of tools to repair something with. I always wear earrings but I have a selection here by my computer and I generally wear the same ones depending on what I'm wearing.

This young family is who I'm leaving the contents of my house, she shed and cabin and anything else they want to. This is a precious family, the mother home schools and the father works long hard hours at a paper mill. The children are amazing and are very well behaved, not the usual spoiled brats.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Home fellowship this morning. Afterwards, I'll be getting everything ready for our trip, tomorrow. We don't know how Cary will do driving on his leg all the way there and back. The pressure on the back of it might make it quite painful driving that distance (1 1/2 hour drive one way). Nobody else can pick Mom up and bring her back home, though. It will be an all day event, since I want to visit with my aunt and uncle while we're there. I'm taking pain meds with us.
 
Meemur

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie / FJB!
@nomifyle : One thread about restless legs: (there are others)

HEALTH - Restless Leg Syndrome

I am considering surgery. Actually 2 surgeries as they do one leg at a time. I've had RLS since I was a teenager and the last few years gotten much worse. I've been on the various medications since they came out and they have been a real lifesaver. But..... I've got augmentation and what...
www.timebomb2000.com www.timebomb2000.com

Going walking and then for coffee. It's warm enough to bike, but I don't have enough energy, yet.
It's been raining, so the water tables got a little moisture. Going into the 50s this week. The first
day of winter is supposed to be 53. Amazing for December in Iowa.

Wishing everyone a happy and productive week!
 
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nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Meemur said:
@nomifyle : One thread about restless legs: (there are others)

HEALTH - Restless Leg Syndrome

I am considering surgery. Actually 2 surgeries as they do one leg at a time. I've had RLS since I was a teenager and the last few years gotten much worse. I've been on the various medications since they came out and they have been a real lifesaver. But..... I've got augmentation and what...
www.timebomb2000.com www.timebomb2000.com

Going walking and then for coffee. It's warm enough to bike, but I don't have enough energy, yet.
It's been raining, so the water tables got a little moisture. Going into the 50s this week. The first
day of winter is supposed to be 53. Amazing for December in Iowa.

Wishing everyone a happy and productive week!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link, several good suggestions, the RLS is not bad and not all the time.
 
kyrsyan

kyrsyan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Meemur said:
Glad that you got your walk in, Kyrsyan! Good job on purging. That's two bags of stuff gone!
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And two more bags less of stuff to worry about keeping neat, organized, and clean. Which I am not always successful at. And there's already 3 crammed full boxes in the van.

This is first level purge but it's still taking out a lot.

Hot chocolate mix and white hot chocolate mix done and packaged. Have to ship one box tomorrow.
 
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philkar

Veteran Member
It's a rainy day here today and like all of you we need it terribly! We do Advent at church and I especially enjoy it. Always did it with my children when they were small so I guess it is a little nostalgia for me.
Always have plans for the week or we would never get anything done! We have found a source for aged sawdust and hope to get that moved to our place this week. Moving blueberries and getting holes ready for a couple of new cultivars. We love blueberries. I think Hubs will spray dormant oil this week if the weather cooperates. And a few new blackberry plants from the University of Arkansas are expected this week. A little at a time!
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Home fellowship was great this morning as usual. We always have a great time with Bible study and fellowship after.

Everything is ready for our travels, tomorrow. I got out our emergency bag to make sure I had everything we might need if we get stranded. This bag is separate from our "Go Bags/Bug Out Bags". We have short term bags and longer term survival bags. The weather is supposed to be nice, too.
 
patriotgal

patriotgal

Veteran Member
No energy here either. Slept all day. Sinus crud. Missed great grands birthday yesterday due to the sinus headache from hades. Thank God for leftover fried chicken and veggies cuz DH has forgotten anything he knew about cooking for himself.

One night last week we stopped by inlaws home to check heat. Cleaned out more of closet and found a beautiful little glass piece with a note saying it has been passed down for 6 generations. Will eventually gift it to my oldest, 7th generation. So special.

Grand took more furniture this week. We are doing Christmas dinner next Saturday at farm house. Have Mil"s care plan to do Tuesday at nursing home so any last minute shopping will be done then. Ordered loud squeaky allegedly indestructible toys for fur grands including the shitzu puppy grand picked up yesterday. They should arrive Wednesday.
 
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anna43

Veteran Member
I made a commitment today to help my d-i-l declutter her apartment. It's clean but knee deep in papers of all sorts from magazines, catalogs, piles of mail, craft papers and probably some important papers that have gotten buried. Whether or not she will take me up on it remains to be seen. I suggested she be thinking how she would like her papers stored because my way might not work for her. I made a couple suggestions so we will see how it goes.

My therapy last week was better than the week before, but I missed yesterday and have only done part today. Need to get off my backside and finish!

I was going to comment on posts about canned veggies last month and forgot so here goes. I generally do not care for canned veggies, but do have them in my preps. My thought is that they are inexpensive at Walmart or Aldi (.58) so I stock them and, if they don't get used, I won't be too upset about tossing them out. The point is in a SHTF situation they would be very much appreciated. I don't worry about GMO or non-GMO, organic or not, etc. I just stock for SHTF knowing in that situation, ANY food will be appreciated and possibly desperately needed. This goes against the stock what you eat and rotate, but I cannot afford to stock expensive cans of freeze-dried veggies and frozen ones need to be used quickly.

I learned that pouring off the liquid in the can and heating in the microwave tastes better than heating in can liquid in a pan. For carrots, adding a bit of honey enhances the flavor. Finding sauce recipes for veggies is also a good way to enhance such as Harvard beets or beet pickles. Pea salad with well rinsed canned peas isn't as good as using frozen peas but would still be an acceptable side dish if nothing else was available. My mother used to do a turnip and carrot dish with a cream sauce cooking the turnips and carrots separately and then combining with the sauce. Using canned carrots would work.
 
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moldy

Veteran Member
Well, it is what it is. I did manage to get laundry done, a soup made, and about a dozen things listed on Ebay. The Ebay thing is not so much to make money, but to clear out things that we do not want or need. Organizing this place is going to take the rest of my life probably.

DH did come home with the other semi trailer. Not sure what that portends, if anything.

It promises to be a busy week with several holiday parties I'm obligated to go to (but would skip if I could), a board meeting that may not be contentious but will be annoying and disappointing (and where I will need to watch my words and actions carefully), and work (which may be too people-y this week). I need to make sure I have some tension tamer tea in my bag.
 
Meemur

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie / FJB!
Praying for travel mercies for you and your DH, SB!

Not a lot of energy here, either, which is highly disappointing because other than a few Zoom meetings, I'm off this week. But I set up a lawn chair in the garage, and I will sit as necessary. My goal is a total re-organization of the garage while temps remain in the upper 40s (incredible for Iowa in December!)

I will also toss/donate all of the junk along the back wall, which I wish I had said "no" to in the first place, but I still haven't completely overcome the "That might be needed before long" mindset. I'm working on it! I'm not a minimalist and won't get rid of certain hand tools / screws / nuts / bolts . . . but things like non-working lamps (China crap) that can't be safely rewired need to go.
 
sssarawolf

sssarawolf

Has No Life - Lives on TB
The wind is still trying to blow us away. This is the 5th or 6th day of high winds, I lost track. The weather for the area says 9 to 15 miles an hour, lol our valleys and hills on the outside of the area always end up having much winds.

I managed to feel well enough to attend Church yesterday, dh was giving a talk on his conversion. We picked up the blind guy from up the mountain.

I haven't gotten anything else canned for about 2 weeks now. There is always after Christmas time. I have 3 quilt tops made, now I have to put the batting and the backs with them.

Christmas cards all sent out etc. I should make some Christmas cookies, we'll see. Depends on my energy levels.

Take care all.
 
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anna43

Veteran Member
I finally vacuumed the carpet this morning. It's been way too long since it was last done!! Anyway, I finished the living room and hallway and unplugged the vacuum to change plug-in so I could reach my bedroom and the plug was so hot it almost burned my fingers!! I decided to wait a while before plugging it in again. All is now finished, and the dirt dumped, the filter cleaned, and vacuum put away probably for another month. I remembered to put on a dust mask before cleaning the filter which I did directly into the garbage can in the garage. No coat required as temp is nearly 30 degrees. I dearly love having an attached garage.

I have learned my lesson on overdoing so will not be looking for another project today. With therapy and common sense, I've been able to keep my life on track despite my back issues. Of course, sometimes just moving the wrong way hurts like the dickens and there's nothing I can do to prevent that. Keeping up with daily therapy helps and I had been slacking off. I missed a lot in November but have been doing better this month. I missed two days last week. and my goal is to take only one day off per week. We'll see how that goes.
 
Toosh

Toosh

Veteran Member
For all ya'll under the weather, let me give a shout out, "poor baby!" I know it's terrible being ill but it's even worse around the holidays when we want to see friends and be cheery. Increase your vitamin D and zinc!

I'm working on gasoline storage this week. I went to transfer a 5-gal tank into a vehicle as I usually do each month to rotate only to find that my squeeze-ball siphon hose would not siphon. This led to a cascade of frustrations of various types based on which stupid fuel tank I was handling.

Mine are all the Midwest jugs from Harbor Freight but depending on the year I purchased some have one kind of spout and some another. I hate all of them. I gave some money to Amazon and got all new caps, spouts and vents to make Gas Tanks Great Again. I also had to dig in with needle nose plyers and screw drivers and beat the heck out of that silly strainer they put inside. Ripped that puppy clean out of there.

Also from Amazon I got a new battery powered fuel transfer pump. With the strainer-thing out of the tank, now I can just put the stem of the transfer pump down into the tank and push a button and fuel is pump with no hassles.

4 tanks down, 8 more to do!
 
Milkweed Host

Milkweed Host

Veteran Member
ReneeT said:
Good Morning, All! I'm up, I'm caffeinated, and have done some prep for a friend's family dinner that I've been invited to today. Not many other plans than that - just waiting for the trees in the east side yard to drop their leaves so that I can get out and clean the gutters before the weather gets cold enough to make me grumpy while I'm doing it.

Haven't made any plans for the week beyond going to back to back doctor's appointment that are liable to make me cranky, hitting up Aldi, and then goind to the Evil Empire to cheer myself up with Lemon muffins after said appointment Somewhere in there I'll need to take the grand-dog home. If it'd dry, I'll keep clipping more flower seed heads; if it's wet, I'll work in the pantries.
Click to expand...
Read your info too fast as I left the 'r' out of your last word.
Like, wait, what, had to go back.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We made it safely back home. Thanks for all the prayers! Ya'll are all such a blessing.

We had a great time with my aunt and uncle. She's a trip, LOL! She wanted to take us out for lunch, so we did that. Had a long visit afterwards, then loaded up Mom and all her stuff, and took her home, unloaded the SUV, and came on home. We traveled the Natchez Trace Parkway all the way there and back. I got to see my very first bald eagle in the wild! It was beautiful, too. Mostly, all we see while traveling the Parkway are deer, turkey, and occasionally, a black bear.

Cary's leg didn't bother him enough to have to take anything for it, so that was a blessing in itself. Now that we are home, he can rest it lots better. He's doing that now while watching a soccer game.

Nowhere else to go for the rest of the week for a change. I have lots of pies to bake, before Christmas Day, so that is on my "to do" list. I make them ahead of time and freeze. The rest will just be ordinary house cleaning and laundry. Most of all, just being at home.
 
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hd5574

Veteran Member
I have lots of vacuum sealed jars of dehydrated veggies...I dehydrate them myself...the quickest easiest way...and least expensive is bags of frozen veggies from the grocery store... often you can get them on sale...my dehydrator will do 4 to 6 lbs at a time and has long ago paid for itself...really reduces on store space....8 lbs of carrots will go in one quart jar

We also grow a garden and I home can lots of stuff we grow

When I grew up the stores only carried in season veggies and some frozen veggies...so we had mostly ...home canned or canned vegetables from the store and no where the variety we have now...they way things are now ....looks like that may be our future.....
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Commodities today, both kind. We were blessed with four large packages of salad shrimp, some uncooked breaded chicken, grapes and misc other things. The church gave us a food basket last night which included enough for a meal for two people, including a baking chicken. We are greatful for their kindness.

The church had their annual dirty santa party last night. I ended up with a nice buck knife, DH and I worked together for me to be able to keep it. IMO you can never have too many pocket knives.

Warm today, 65 at least with sun shine. We don't have to do anything else this week except Wednesday night prayer meeting.
 
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ReneeT

Veteran Member
Dorothy knew what she was talking about - There's no place like home... :)

And speaking of home, I wish my kids would call and say that they are home from their trip. Oh well, If I run out of things to worry about, I guess I can worry some more about them.

My body seems determined to hibernate today, but people kept calling. The neighbor lady called this morning before I woke up; she wanted me to go to the pool with her today - okey-dokey. We stopped by Dollar General for some of those money holder Christmas cards, then she dropped me at home. I decided to take a nap and was almost in the zone when apparently a delivery driver couldn't find our house so left the package at the library, who then called me. Trip to town :rolleyes: Then telephone calls from a couple of former co-workers, and then Red Cross wanting blood (they won't take mine, I don't know why they keep calling.) I'd shut my phone off but the kids are on their way home from a trip...
 
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philkar

Veteran Member
Walked into an appt in a place where no one ever wants to go. I was tense and emotional and scared. And what did I hear but a live harpist playing What Child Is This. Such a calming peaceful sound! And she wished everyone a Merry Christmas as they left the waiting room. 5 hours later as we left she was still playing and smiling! And Yes I heartily agree there is no place like home doing mundane things!
 
kyrsyan

kyrsyan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Tired. Long work day. And the things I discovered at the end of it are going to make tomorrow difficult. I'm really debating keeping the full scope of it tucked away from all but boss until we get through this. She can decided whether to inform client but there's ego involved that may decide to cause issues if it feels threatened.

Had to remind boss, again, that while I am very organized and can streamline things to the nth degree, I am not a miracle worker and I can't bend time. Three large messes dumped in my lap is going to take time to clean up, and it's not going to be fast since my normally daily stuff pushes to 6 hours a day now. (People really like to spend money through the holidays, both on their business and themselves. And sometimes sorting through which is which takes time.) I strongly hinted that she is going to need to bring on at least one more fully capable and flexible person.

I made another friend very happy. Her son wants to explore photography and video. But there are no funds for equipment so he only got to do it when he was with others. In the purging I found and old digital camera and also a video recorder. She found replacement batteries and cards for the camera at prices they could afford. And she'll look for the video camera supplies. I gave them everything I found that went with it which included some extra lenses and a tripod. I pray it all works out for him. And there is someone who can mentor him through the first stages of learning, along with the manuals.

Otherwise, no walk today because I just couldn't find a break. I think I'm going to do it before work tomorrow so that I don't have to try and force a break.

On the positive side, I have a large paycheck coming from last week. I got out the last gift to be mailed. And dinner today was BBQ. I'm debating for tomorrow because it will likely be another long day.
 
briches

briches

Veteran Member
Not a lot will happen for us this week. I am off work until the 2nd and will spend time relaxing and reading.

Laundry going now. I like staying current with that. I now have the dog toys going in the laundry. Our golden LOVES her toys.

We just started the wood stove as the high today is in the low to mid forties. It should be nice and toasty here before long.

Meals are planned out for the week.

I would like to check out some thrift stores this week … I keep a running list in my phone of things to be on the lookout for.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Absolutely nothing happening for us this week until Christmas Day. We have no doctor appointments, no traveling plans, and no shopping that will be getting us out of the house all week. We can rest and relax other than everyday chores. Next doctor appointment isn't until the 28th. We've been eating out a lot, lately, so I'm going to enjoy cooking our meals for a change, along with several pies to make. I'm cooking Cary and myself a big Christmas Eve supper, since we'll be by ourselves that day.

Our temp went all the way down to 20 last night. Only in the upper 40's for today's high. By Christmas Day, our temp is supposed to be 65! Too warm for this time of year, and storms are possible for that day, too.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Tuesday all ready, colder than yesterday and tomorrow, not exactly over cast, almost looks like the sun is coming out.

I'm going to thank the church for the food basket, but ask them to take us off the list. We already have a good supply of what is in the basket, so it would be best to give it to someone who doesn't have a full pantry.

Over two flats of canned foods in the commodity boxes, I'm sharing much of that with a family that has 7 children, 10 and under. I'm also going through other things to share. Not really purging, just trying to organize.
 
psychgirl

psychgirl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
moldy said:
Well, it is what it is. I did manage to get laundry done, a soup made, and about a dozen things listed on Ebay. The Ebay thing is not so much to make money, but to clear out things that we do not want or need. Organizing this place is going to take the rest of my life probably.

DH did come home with the other semi trailer. Not sure what that portends, if anything.

It promises to be a busy week with several holiday parties I'm obligated to go to (but would skip if I could), a board meeting that may not be contentious but will be annoying and disappointing (and where I will need to watch my words and actions carefully), and work (which may be too people-y this week). I need to make sure I have some tension tamer tea in my bag.
Click to expand...
What do you list on eBay??

Praying for all here who feel poorly!
 
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