Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: May 21~27, 2023

[SouthernBreeze]

We made it to small town to get our running around done. Since I didn't buy any groceries this time, that saved us a lot of money. I hope it saves us a lot if I only go once a month, or when needed. Hopefully, I won't have the tendency to buy as much. I've got to force myself to use up some of what I've already got stored, not adding to it.

Right now, there is no rain at all in our forecast for the next 8 days or so. We plan to get the rest of the garden planted this weekend if all goes well. Cary already has the posts and fencing ready to make the trellises for the green beans. His watermelon plants are ready to go in the ground, but his tomato plants are still too small. They're doing well in their little pots, though.

I'll be chopping and freezing bell peppers tomorrow. I'll leave some whole to use as stuffed peppers.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

All of those sound good. We almost always have a graham cracker crust or two on hand because DH loves the cheesecake pies, I can’t remember all of it right now but cream cheese, cool whip and powdered sugar I think. I started making those for him right after we were married but he makes them now! He loves to top it with cherry pie filling which I don’t care for so that part is generally dumped in a bowl and those that want it, can add it.

I keep both, graham cracker and regular pie crusts in my freezer. Cary loves all kind of pies and cheesecakes. That way, I've always got crusts on hand. I usually use the canned strawberry pie filling to top our cheesecakes, but canned and drained crushed pineapple works for us, too.

 

[kyrsyan]

All of those sound good. We almost always have a graham cracker crust or two on hand because DH loves the cheesecake pies, I can’t remember all of it right now but cream cheese, cool whip and powdered sugar I think. I started making those for him right after we were married but he makes them now! He loves to top it with cherry pie filling which I don’t care for so that part is generally dumped in a bowl and those that want it, can add it.

My family does a chocolate version of that. I'm hoping to test out other flavors this summer.

 

[kyrsyan]

Oh wow. Someone upstairs is giving me a boost.

More laundry done today. Got 14 hot peppers and two eggplants planted. And then got the spots marked and the mat cut/melted to place squash tomorrow.

I "splurged" and got a drill auger set for planting. Between those, the chalk line, and the hot knife, prep work goes quickly. And they all keep my back from hating me quite so much.

Tomorrow morning, before work, I'll go out and use the auger to prep the planting holes. At lunch I'll pull the plants, soil bags, fertilizer, and hose over. Planting goes really quick at that point.

And the little problem things for the pool and filter were handled today. Now the pump is really rocking it. And hopefully by morning the cloudiness will be gone. If not, I'll hunt up the chem test or take a sample up to the pool store. The water is not dirty, just cloudy.

I inadvertently taught son to gather twigs and sticks into a pile. That provided some smiles today.

Now I'm going to do those just before bedtime things. Because if tonight is anything like last night, as soon as I sit still I'm going to start falling asleep.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I just finished washing and chopping all those green peppers. I got almost 2 gal of chopped peppers to put in my freezer. I still have a gallon left from the garden last year. I kept out 4 to make stuffed peppers for our supper tonight, along with purple hull peas, boiled cabbage, and some kind of bread, but I don't know what kind, yet. No dessert, tonight.


Cary is finishing up on splitting and stacking all remaining firewood he's been working on all winter. He's anxious to get that all done, so he can move on to other projects. I don't know what his plans are for this afternoon, whether it's mowing or tilling.

I spotted our first baby tomato on the regular plants this morning! The cherry tomato is loaded. The late cukes I planted are coming up, and the first ones have begun to run. I'm watching for blooms on the squash any day now. All the bell peppers planted are beginning to load up with peppers. All in all, everything is doing great.

 

[nomifyle]

Yesterday I got a grocery flyer in the mail, the only one I ever get. Family pak of boneless ribeye steak @ 7.99 a pound, and chicken breast tenderloins @ 2.69# and ground beef @ 2.99#, chicken breasts @ 2.49#. Frankly I have no clue if these are good prices because I never buy any of these. We eat wild game and get chicken in commodities. We rarely eat chicken though, last month we cooked a 5# package of leg quarters and got tired of eating it an I put what was left in the freezer.

Our tomato plants are getting big, DH said there are blooms on a couple of them. The yellow squash plants DH bought at TSC are looking good. And the seeds he planted in the ground are coming up nicely. He didn't plant any cucumber seeds, but I'm going to suggest that he does.

DH has to go to the VA today to get his INR checked, he gets that checked monthly.

Church last night was good, we went over Matthew 6:25-26. These particular scriptures kept me going back in the dark days of my life. I changed all of that by moving away. They had meatloaf at church and I ate a slice and it was delish. I could have had a small scoop of mashed potatoes too but didn't think about it. This was diet friendly. I'm losing inches and a pound or two here and there. It all adds up. I'm still completely happy with this way of eating.

well, back to working in the kitchen. Still a lot to do.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Yay! We got the big garden tilled, rowed, and planted. Now it can rain, LOL. 2 long rows of green beans, 3 watermelons, and I'm planting more squash tomorrow morning. Cary's other tomato plants will go in as soon as they're big enough.

I'm happy to have it all done.

 

[nomifyle]

I checked our tomato plants, Some are really high and some have hardly grown at all, go figure.

 

[Illini Warrior]

only gardening problem this year has been the lack of rain - hasn't been a decent rain in weeks - next rain is next week and it looks pizz poor for anything decent >>> farmers have begun to worry - seed has sprouted but need some rain badly ....

 

[SouthernBreeze]

We've been busy this morning. We watered the raised beds with our rainwater system, I did a huge load of laundry and hung on the clothesline, watered and used Miracle Gro on my roses, and Cary is finishing up on putting the trellises up for the green beans. I still have floors to sweep and furniture to dust.

It appears that the cauterization of that blood vessel in Mom's nose didn't work. She had a nosebleed so bad, yesterday, that she had to call 911. They came and checked it. Got it stopped, and she has an appointment with her PC doc this morning. Her ENT doc's office is closed, until Tuesday. I've got everything ready and on standby in the event she has to call 911 again. I don't think it will do any good to take her to the ER. All they would do is to pack her nose, and tell her to see her ENT, Tuesday. If she starts showing other symptoms, or the bleeding won't stop, I'll strongly suggest her go on to the ER.

 

[school marm]

only gardening problem this year has been the lack of rain - hasn't been a decent rain in weeks - next rain is next week and it looks pizz poor for anything decent >>> farmers have begun to worry - seed has sprouted but need some rain badly ....

And our weather has been bizarre in the other direction. Here in the desert we had rain and clouds all last week and all next week. We've only had a couple of days in the 70s. Spring was slow in coming and none of the fruit trees were ever even threatened with a late frost. We've had so much snow over the winter and so much rain now that our little creek is a river and the house in the valley near the little creek has put up some sandbags. And they sure as heck better get some more--a lot more--put up. They've had plenty of time, and apparently plenty of warnings beforehand from locals who know.

We should have had a lot more sunshine and warmer temperatures and much less rain. I'm not complaining; I'm just saying it's nowhere near normal for this area.

 

[nomifyle]

We had rain rain rain and now none. Although we do have 10 ICB totes full.

Day before yesterday I had so much energy, yesterday not so much and today not much either. I still need to move things out of the way on the kitchen counters so DH can clean the back areas that I can't reach.

I did clean out some papers on my desk and I have much more to go through her in my office. In the burn barrel they went.

I had my go to first meal of chopped tomatoes, cottage cheese and a very few mandarin orange slices, and a slice of plain toasted ezekiel bread. So satisfying. I look forward to the day when I stand up and my fat lady shorts fall down, they are getting close.

 

[nomifyle]

Since I've changed my way of eating there are things that I have that I no longer eat, but don't want to waste them. One thing I have a big stack of the street taco size low carb tortillas. I'm thinking about putting wax paper between each tortilla and then vacuum sealing them and putting them in the freezer. I can always brown them in a skillet for DH.

I'm starting to get the itch to stock up a bit more. Not canned food, I'm got lots, but some of the more fresh things that I'm now eating. Frozen vegs can be dehydrated and I've already done that. When I shop I'm wanting to buy two of things like the ezekiel bread that I eat, its very satisfying, even just one slice. Its kept in the freezer anyway. I'm also thinking about buying two packages of frozen biscuits, not for me, but for DH. Then vaccum sealing two in a package to help them last longer in the freezer. I'm just thinking. . .

 

[Digger]

I got part of the other garden planted. I still have some plant starts to get out. We aren't expecting rain till next weekend at the earliest. I need to get the planting done before we start on hay.

I went to the dr to get blood work done. Today I get an email saying my Labcor results are in, but I can't get in. It's so aggravating. It keeps saying my email or password is incorrect. Then I check the box to say I am not a robot and it just goes in a loop asking for it over and over. Maybe later it will work. I would like to know what my thyroid reading was. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I did not take any thyroid medication and yesterday I felt better than I had in weeks. Thursday was a good day too. Today I took a very low dose of natural thyroid medication the dr wants to try. She is willing to let me take it only every 2-3 days and see how it goes.

I got in to my results. My TSH and T4 are normal, but my T3 uptake is low. I am not sure what to do about that. I am going to look at what foods may help with that. Mushrooms is one and I love them. Hubby doesn't so I rarely buy them. Time to do some research.

 

[kyrsyan]

I got in to my results. My TSH and T4 are normal, but my T3 uptake is low. I am not sure what to do about that. I am going to look at what foods may help with that. Mushrooms is one and I love them. Hubby doesn't so I rarely buy them. Time to do some research.

Sometimes you cook some stuff for yourself because it's needed.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

You know? I get so pissed, sometimes, that I can't see straight, and there is no recourse to rectify it. Even when pointed out and proven that an error has been made. Reading comprehension is very much lacking.

Still working on firewood and gardening. I had a few pieces of clothing to iron this morning. Glad that's done. I hate to iron. I also made up a meatloaf for the crockpot. That is now cooking for supper, tonight. Bake beans, mashed potatoes, and Kieser rolls to finish up the menu.

It was supposed to rain, today, but we still have sunny skies, and the temp is wonderful. 81 degrees for our high, today.

I think I'll go take a walk and try to calm down!

 

[nomifyle]

Sometimes you cook some stuff for yourself because it's needed.

I do this every day now. I know its not the norm, but then I've never been the norm. I've always walked to the beat of a different drummer.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Sometimes you cook some stuff for yourself because it's needed.

I've always cooked this way. I don't cook for just Cary. It's seldom that I cook a whole meal that we both eat everything that's cooked.

 

[nomifyle]

DH had bacon and three eggs for his first meal and I had a chicken apple sausage link with sauteed zucchini yellow squash, carrots and an egg scrambled up in it. We are both full as a tick. No clue what we will have for our next meal, most likely something with ground meat.

Its a slow day today, I woke up at about 2:30 am and could not go back to sleep for about 3 hours, I woke up again about 8:00am but went back to sleep, I think it was after 12:00 nonn before I finally go up.

I've been cleaning under my desk and finally found the power cord for my jackery, the charge is only down a smidgen, but I like for it to be fully charged. I've got a solar panel and a car charger adptor for it too. I would like to get a larger stronger jackery but its not in the cards money wise. I'm trying to cut back and stash as much cash as I can. Although I do have another fairly large order in my wm cart.

I know some people don't shop at wm and I wouldn't if I had much of a choice. Most things that I buy are up to a dollar more for each item, so its wm for me, at least for now. I haven't darkened the door at tar gay since they started letting men in the girl's bathroom.

 

[kyrsyan]

I do this every day now. I know its not the norm, but then I've never been the norm. I've always walked to the beat of a different drummer.

Son and I have different diets.. Most of our meals work for both of us. But occasionally I just cook us both different meals.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I know some people don't shop at wm and I wouldn't if I had much of a choice. Most things that I buy are up to a dollar more for each item, so its wm for me, at least for now. I haven't darkened the door at tar gay since they started letting men in the girl's bathroom.

I totally understand going to Walmart, Judy. You won't get any flak from me. We are all being inundated with evil agendas left and right through these evil corporations. We, all of us, can't boycott everything. All we can do is decide which one gives us a clear conscience before God by continuing to support one over the other. I still spend a few dollars at Walmart, myself, although it's very little money spent there anymore. I avoid it as much as possible.

 

[Barb]

We have had some badly needed rain in Western Kansas this week and the wheat is greening up nicely. Not many cattle out as most didn't have enough feed and sold them off. My daughter took me to the cemetery this morning and we put poppies and flags on my dad's and brother's graves. They were both veterans. They looked nice and the cemetery already had quite a few decorated graves and was looking nice. We ate lunch at a small town cafe and it was so good. I don't get to eat out often so that was a treat.

 

[John Deere Girl]

I also shop at Walmart, but I rarely go in the store. My husband rarely feels like going in a store, so I order our groceries online and have them delivered. It's the only place in our area that offers that service, and I'm very thankful for it.

 

[JasmineAndLace]

Since I am disabled and not able to do my own shopping, my daughter does all that for me. She shops a lot at Walmart because I have a Medicare supplement card that offers some monthly grocery and OTC benefits and the only place around here that will accept the card is Walmart. I don't always like Walmart's policies and prices but if I want to take advantage of the benefits of my supplement card, that's where we have to shop.