Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread September 3, 2023 to September 8, 2023

[nomifyle]

Running kind a late.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Me, too, Judy. We overslept really bad.

 

[nomifyle]

Hard to believe those dates

 

[ReneeT]

Thank You, Judy! I've been fighting the internet off and on since last evening. Let's see if it will let me post this time!

 

[sssarawolf]

Still picking cukes here, pumpkins are turning orange . Corn is coming along. So far we are having a mild start to Sept. which is wonderful. The early apples are picked and will be canned up this coming week, at least that's what's planned. Apple sauce and etc. But we know how plans go.
Canning is rearranged and the potato's put away.

 

[ReneeT]

I give up

 

[SouthernBreeze]

We have nothing planned for today. I swept the floors and rotated a case of my home canned ground beef from the pantry room into the kitchen pantry. That's it for today. We're just going to enjoy the day. We might go for a walk, later.

 

[nomifyle]

We went to church, then to road kill for lunch and two grocery stores. The first store is a regional chain and then walmart.

The regional chain had pork on 1/2 price. Just select pieces but a good price, I bought for or five packages and three bottles of mint oil cleaning solution. Just a spoon full in the toilet disapates poop smell. During covid you could only buy one bottle at a time and they are not large bottles, but a little goes a long ways, I bought 3 bottles today.

And at walmart I bought the 12 piece angus beef patty box and a 6 patty box with bacon. I also bought a package of Gortons breaded pollock. Gorton's has good pollock, which is a good fish, wild caught. I didn't get everything on my list but what I did get was $130, which is alot for me. I don't usually buy meat but that's what i mostly got today. I'm sick and tire of trying to figure out what to cook for DH. He's a meat and potatoes guy so that what he's getting. Maybe what I got today will hold him until I can go through the freezers and see what we have. I know there is still plenty of venison and ground pork.

 

[wvstuck]

Today was another average late summer day, chicken canned. Tomatoes picked and canned. Sweet pickle relish made and canned. The last of the potatoes dug and set in the curing area. All the onions pulled, now on the drying shelves. Mandarin oranges and pineapple filling the dehydrator. Still have about 20 lbs each of jalapeños, Hungarian hot wax and mild banana peppers to get canned. Green bell peppers need to be picked so we can freeze some and dehydrate some. Then there is the yellow jacket nest in the compost pile I need to figure out.

 

[ReneeT]

Busy day today with a JFL football game - we won - and then getting prepped to be a part of a Labor Day parade tomorrow. It's a 1.9 mile route, and we'll be handing out ice pops and flyers for daughter's cryotherapy business. I'll be up early tomorrow morning loading ice pops into coolers and heading to daughter's town. I'm getting kinda old for this stuff...

 

[John Deere Girl]

Busy day here processing and canning tomato juice, green beans, and applesauce. The last load is going now. Tomorrow, I'm planning to can chicken soup, beef stew, and pepper steak without the rice. It's nice to have quick meals for busy days.

 

[hd5574]

Got the chest freezer cleaned out .. defrosted...and organized...next the upright freezer..at least it defosts itself....then will know what add for the winter...so glad the chest freezer is done....:-)

 

[alpha]

Just the realization that for years we've been preparing for TEOTWAWKI but... THAT occurred with the advent of Covid and the end of our Constitutional republic. Now I think we must begin preparing for a return to the Stone Age (at least economically). One of the most important aspects of this type of preparation is the utilization of natural materials and plants. Some examples of planning for this would be learning to make apple cider vinegar, one of the most used canning ingredients as well as disinfectant. Perhaps soap making and herbal medicines. Skill sets rule!

Suggestions are welcomed...

 

[nomifyle]

cider vinegar,

The only apples that I know of that grow around here are crab applies, even the goats won't eat them and they eat "anything".

My trip to the grocery store cleaned me out. More groceries but no adding to cash stash. It is what it is. Actually I used my credit card to pay for the groceries but I just transfered the money to cover the charge. Not running up the credit card is a good thing.

I turned off my light earlier last night than I have been so I'm awake and I've started a load of clothes. Only a couple of small loads to go.

My uniform for the winter is jeans and flannel shirts. I got two new ones yesterday at wm. So with the ones I bought last year I'm in good shape, only issue with them is they have to be ironed,

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Just the realization that for years we've been preparing for TEOTWAWKI but... THAT occurred with the advent of Covid and the end of our Constitutional republic. Now I think we must begin preparing for a return to the Stone Age (at least economically). One of the most important aspects of this type of preparation is the utilization of natural materials and plants. Some examples of planning for this would be learning to make apple cider vinegar, one of the most used canning ingredients as well as disinfectant. Perhaps soap making and herbal medicines. Skill sets rule!

Suggestions are welcomed...

I prefer to call it the "1800's lifestyle", instead of the stone age, but that's just me. We have already prepared to live it.

Another skill set would be home building/repair and furniture making. Cary loves to do both and is very good at it. Give him a design and he can build it. He has a good workshop with electrical equipment, but also has all the hand tools for a grid down situation, too. He's made a lot of the furniture in our home, and he remodeled our home by himself, except for new electrical wiring. He contracted that part out. Also, a basic knowledge of medicine and medical care can be added. Know your surrounding native plants to use for food and medicine or grow what's not native to your area if it's viable. Grid down means no internet commerce to order what you might need, especially the more uncommon herbs for medicinal purposes.

Everyone needs to know how to pressure can with and without electricity, whether using a generator, gas stove, or an open fire.

 

[nomifyle]

DH knows how to pressure can, he grew up canning. Although the canning that was done when he was growing up was water bath. They water bathed everything, even chickens in half gallon jars. If I had to guess they ate that food fairly quickly though, nothing on the shelf for years.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

DH knows how to pressure can, he grew up canning. Although the canning that was done when he was growing up was water bath. They water bathed everything, even chickens in half gallon jars. If I had to guess they ate that food fairly quickly though, nothing on the shelf for years.

If I'm not mistaken, the Amish still do all their canning using the water bath way. A few counties over from us, there is an Amish community. They had open house there one weekend. On Saturday, all the women got together to can chickens. They were doing it using the water bath method. On an open fire outdoors, too. I might do some veggies that way if they are high in acid content, but never any meat.

 

[kyrsyan]

If I'm not mistaken, the Amish still do all their canning using the water bath way. A few counties over from us, there is an Amish community. They had open house there one weekend. On Saturday, all the women got together to can chickens. They were doing it using the water bath method. On an open fire outdoors, too. I might do some veggies that way if they are high in acid content, but never any meat.

Not all of them. Or not anymore. They will use pressure canners. It just depends on the people. I know that they are used in the community just north of us. But it depends on the family.

Yesterday I just decided I was going to out stubborn my body that just wanted to shut down. I absolutely dragged, but I got things done. Laundry is finally starting to get under control. I got more dishes done and some kitchen chores handled. I'm getting the living room cleaned back out. I don't know if I came down with something and am just getting over it, or if the body just didn't like me missing my menopause tea for a week. Either way, I'm staying stubborn for now.

Today I'm just going to keep moving on all those things. I'm also going to do out and do the prep work for the garlic bed. I'm hoping to have that done no later than Friday. That's relatively simple. Pull the currently woven ground cloth. It's cut for a more spaced plant and I want to not add more holes. Put down the new one. Mark the spacing lines. Cut the openings. Then just wait for the bulbs to be ready to go in. I have some in the fridge that can already go in. And then I can add the new ones after they get some chill time in the fridge. I wish there was a way to find the needed chill time for different varieties but I'm just going to have to wing it. This bed won't get hoops but it will get frost covers. Frost covers are the only way to keep the bloody squirrels from digging them up. They don't eat them, just toss them around.

And then on to the next garden bed to prep for fall plants. That's going to be whole worlds of more complex. I'm going to put thermal mass bottles in under the ground cloth. If I put them on top there will be complaints. And since I'm hoping to put in hoops and covers, I'm changing the planting pattern to low growing crops on the outer edges and taller growing things towards the centers. That is also a different cut pattern for the ground cloth.

I was originally going to wait until I could order more of the ground cover that I prefer, the woven style that the farmers use. But I decided that it was not worth putting off the work. I can use the remainder of the large roll of non-woven for the end of this year. It doesn't hold up as well but it will work. And no reason to have it just hanging around. And if the new way works, then I can use the non-woven ones to prepare the woven ones before the next fall season.

Two more braces were done on the project. This coming weekend will see the last two done. And maybe the frames for the doors built. It's just chugging along, a bit at a time. One of the things I'm hoping to get done during the week is cleaning the bamboo strips and getting them stained.

I'm purging. A little bit at a time, I'm purging. As I find things that I'm not sure why I kept them, and I don't have a real current or future use for them, I'm purging them.

I'm also deciding to use things that I've kept because they are pretty, but haven't really been using. A crystal cut vase that was a wedding gift is now on the kitchen windowsill holding bottle brushes. Another pretty orange one is holding the things I use to close bags. I have a few of the old style, amber, square medicine bottles that I just like. I've gotten new flip lids that can be attached to them. I'll likely fill them with oils that I like the scent of and use for different things so that they are both purposeful and pretty.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I've been doing more cleaning out and purging old stuff, too. I had dishes and such in my few kitchen cabinets that I haven't used in years. It was time for those to go. I still have one kitchen cabinet to go, and the kitchen will be done. Cleaning out and purging old stuff all throughout the house seems to make it breathe a lot easier, LOL. It doesn't seem as full. I also moved the rest of my home canned green beans to the kitchen pantry. Now, I have a big empty space in the pantry for new things. That will be rectified tomorrow when I do my monthly shopping. I'll be adding more to what I use most often. I had some empty plastic jugs that I use for pasta storage that were empty. I pulled two bags of egg noodles out of the freezer, yesterday, and filled the jugs back up this morning, dated, and stored away again.

There is one thing I can't stand, and that is clutter. I also refuse to live like a packrat.

I've got two loads of laundry on the clothesline. I'm having to keep my eyes on our local radar. There are rain showers in the vicinity, and I don't want it to get wet. The sun is still shining right now, but laundry hasn't had time to dry completely, yet.

 

[Barb]

I love spiced crabapples and crab apple jelly is so pretty.

 

[ReneeT]

I'm whupped. Labor Day parade 3 towns over- 89* F and what ended up being a 2 mile walk passing out flyers and ice pops. We ran out of ice pops near the end, but I had a secret stash of candy put back so we flipped to that and no one missed their helping of sugar We've still got the school homecoming parade coming up in September; then a harvest festival parade in October - not sure we'll want to hand out ice pops in October, but they should still be a welcome treat in September unless we have a cold snap that week. I'd probably better go pick up a bunch more ice pops to stash in the freezer before Wal-Mart stops carrying them.

 

[hd5574]

Red raspberry leaf tea is very useful for change of life problems.......will stop and normalize heavy bleeding...

 

[nomifyle]

We are finally getting some rain and I didn't see it on the forecast. The wind blew the tarp off the camper roof, so I'm sure the camper inside is getting rain also, sad. Its been too hot for DH and his helper to work out there. I don't want to total it because it can be made livable again, its got a functioning bathroom and kitchen which could be useful in an emergency. The roof ac is totaled but we have window units that can be put in there.

Getting to sleep earlier last night must have been good for me, I woke right up this morning and I've gotten some things done. A little here and a little there adds up. My back is screaming but I'm resting in between tasks.

I was watching a video this morning (Patara) and she is showing examples of winter OTC's that are good to have on hand. I'm adding a couple from her list, energen C and alka saltzer, I don't usually keep those on hand, but they seemed like a good idea. Now to get my OTCs organized.

 

[kyrsyan]

Red raspberry leaf tea is very useful for change of life problems.......will stop and normalize heavy bleeding...

I have a mix with that in it. I make it. It works wonderfully. But something skipped randomly in my head and I didn't drink it for about a week. Mistake. It works wonderfully to help my body and not having my one drink a day really let the hormones go a bit haywire.

I think I caught a bug which caused the initial "skip", and things cascaded from there. And then my stubbornness kicked in yesterday and started putting some things back on track.

 

[ioujc]

Well, my niece just took me on a video tour of a nice, used RV down there in Florida. It was indeed, very nice, and she and her hubby bought it when I gave the OK.

They are coming up the week after Thanksgiving and we will move all my "essentials," including ALL if my preps and everything I have canned, frozen, and stored. They FINALLY realized this past February that I was correct about the need to prep, but they are still beginners. They have 2 large freezers full, and think that is enough to live on for a year. I see that I will have my work cut out for me getting them up to speed.....but at least they are understanding what is going on now!!!

I have sold all my animals and just have a couple of dogs left. One of them is my precious Bailey. Now that all of the animals are gone, the "demon" is now breaking into my garage and stealing/ destroying my personal items. This morning, she came to the window by my bed, and barked, as she does, pretending to be one of the dogs. I really don't know what to think; so tragically stupid and BIZARRE!!! If THIS is the only purpose she has in life, how very VERY SAD!!! I finally decided to leave, because she is so obsessed with doing anything she can to make my life harder or more difficult. What a MISERABLE person she must be!!!

She already has me living without electricity, except for the little amount that two heavy duty extension cords can bring from the electric post. So, basically I have just one small room that is A/C'd, a fan for the remainder of the RV, and has destroyed my ability to have hot water, except for what I put through the coffee pot!! By unplugging the fan, I can run the microwave, OR an electric appliance, like an electric frying pan, but not both at once. I have tolerated this for a good 2 and a half years. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
Meanwhile, she has killed a number of my animals and tortured my dogs in all kinds of ways......like I said, she destroys what ever I try to do, EXCEPT for the GARDEN.......which is just BIZARRE!! Because apparently she doesn't realize this is the backbone of the homestead!!

At first I was heart broken to be leaving here, but now I am getting really EXCITED about it......now I can hardly wait!!

Initially, I was going to have my RV that I have now, trucked down to Florida, but my niece convinced me to do it another way......primarily so that we can move the RV I will have down there, in case of a storm, ect. The one I currently have is a 5th wheel, and although it is a few feet bigger, we had no way to move it around once it was set up.

She sent me lots of pictures showing how much area they have that I can use for gardening and it will do .. ...not 6 acres, like I have here, but about enough to support us. They don't yet understand that we will need to be at least somewhat self sufficient. They are fairly well off, and didn't understand the food crisis until it began to stretch even their budget!!

I admit, I was having MAJOR ANXIETY until she sent the pictures, however now I am feeling better about it.

What is almost SCARY to me, is, they actually seem to WANT me there!! They paid for the new/used RV with THEIR money, and as soon as the bank loan goes through for my place and I receive the money in my hot little hand, I am to pay them back!! WOW!! JUST WOW!!!

So, I am packing and getting ready. They told me that I CANNOT BRING my 100 thick, heavy duty plastic one gallon jugs that I store water in, but guess what......those jugs will now be filled with beans, rice, flour, cornmeal, and all kinds of other goods!!!
LOL!!! More than one way to deal with these issues!!! TeeHee!!

 

[moldy]

Busy weekend...worked on painting the used camper we bought about a year and a half ago. Today i made a batch of salsa and some tomato jam(never tried that one before) as we stripped the garden yesterday. Working on cleaning, too. Thats a never ending job.

 

[kyrsyan]

Short work day. Banks closed and many clients closed. So minimal stuff to do.

I haven't gotten outside yet. Too hot. I have gotten three more loads of laundry done. And more kitchen cleaning. And more living room.

I'm about to go pull some cherries so I can test the cherry limeade concentrate recipe from KathyinFl's story. If I like how it turns out, I'm making a bunch. I love cherry limeade. I am not fond of the diet version.

 

[John Deere Girl]

If I'm not mistaken, the Amish still do all their canning using the water bath way. A few counties over from us, there is an Amish community. They had open house there one weekend. On Saturday, all the women got together to can chickens. They were doing it using the water bath method. On an open fire outdoors, too. I might do some veggies that way if they are high in acid content, but never any meat.

I am pretty much by the book (Ball Blue Book) on canning. However, I did join a canning group on Facebook that has quite a few members from Europe, and they can a lot different than we do. Not as much water when they water bath, and they water bath everything. I find it interesting, but I'm not willing to try it. The only thing I may try canning will be butter, , but that's pressure canned.

 

[anna43]

My computer died two weeks ago and I'm just now getting back up to speed. A long way to go yet so I need to take the computer back this week for some updates they missed. Also need to figure out speakers as the ones I currently have are not working. Only good thing is that the price for computer, monitor and wireless keyboard and mouse came to just over $500. I know my last Dell cost at least $800 and no monitor.

In August I ended up spending about double my income due to having 2½ trees removed (only had to pay ½ for one on property line), new computer, paint for the house, new shoes, plus budget overages on food and miscellaneous. This month is property taxes, so I'm making a greater effort to keep to the budget on food and miscellaneous as those are the only somewhat flexible areas. I put my grocery money in a separate envelope so I can easily see what I have available.

Tomorrow I am canning tomato juice in pints. I have my jars washed, Squeezo and various containers up from basement, dishes done so decks are cleared to get to work asap in the morning. Dining room table is full of produce about 3/4's of which is tomatoes. Also, lots of cucumbers and summer squash to deal with another day. I've been taking a lot of produce to the senior complex across from me and it's disappearing about as fast as I deliver it. I've given a lot to friends and d-i-l.

I just dehydrated a watermelon and my goodness that is like candy! Next year I want to plant a seedless variety of watermelon. The cantaloupe I planted is not ripe yet, but the volunteer patch is ready.

We're in the midst of another heatwave so I watered my zinnias as they were looking very sad. I love watching the butterflies, hummingbird moths and hummingbirds on the flowers so want to try to keep the alive until frost. I need to deadhead tomorrow evening. If we get a cool down, I am hoping to plant some lettuce and radishes for fall. Just a small patch so I can cover it when necessary. We often have frost in September, then it warms back up and no frost until sometime late October. One hundred days for the sweet potatoes is this week, but they were very slow getting started so I think I will give them another week or two. Maybe dig one plant to see if they are ready.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

We're getting ready to tackle a big shopping day in a little while. The weather is nice, but a bit warmer than it has been with a chance of thunderstorms later this afternoon. Heat indices has us at 100 degrees for today. It's pretty humid out.

Bank, Walmart, Walgreen's, The Wine Shop, the dry cleaners if they are open again, and Tractor Supply will be our stops, today. That will be it, until the middle of the month. I have 2 doctor's appts. the 14th of September (rheumatologist and Mac Degen specialist), and I plan to stop in at Sam's for a few bulk items that I'm getting low on, since we'll be in big town. Some of the items I need, Sam's has stopped shipping.

I finished all my cleaning out and purging, yesterday. Now, all that's left is for me and Cary to go through all of our bookcases clearing out some very old books that we need to get rid of. He has ordered so many new books, lately, that we are running out of shelf space for them.

 

[patriotgal]

Had big plans for today. Twisting my body while wrestling a tree limb caused me to pull a muscle in the middle of my upper back. Ouch. I am used to lower back pain. Will be doing things that require very little movement. Big storm came through yesterday so it's too wet to do yard or garden stuff. Much as I hate filing I really need to clear our community desk.

 

[WanderLore]

Just for fun. This Is a once in 1000 years event.
Add your age and your birth year. Everyone will be 2023.
If you haven't had a birthday yet this year, use the age coming up.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Just for fun. This Is a once in 1000 years event.
Add your age and your birth year. Everyone will be 2023.
If you haven't had a birthday yet this year, use the age coming up.

Yep. 2023.

 

[WanderLore]

Scot has doc appt today. He came in from dialysis when we got home yesterday and fell. Hit his head on table going down. Much blood but not much of a cut.
Daughter and I got him up and cleaned.
I'm mainly concerned about his surgery site. He refused to go for X-ray. But he sees cardiologist today so they should do one.
On the prep front, we're pretty much stocked. I do my shop while he is dialysis.
Still swimming in tomatoes, peppers and jalapenos.
I did get some Brussels planted. That's all I've had energy to do.
Weather is still very hot but soon will be cooling off.

 

[anna43]

I canned 14 pints of tomato juice this a.m. All have sealed. The hardest part of the job -- cleaning the Squeezo screen. I really hate that job, but it must be done. Everything is cleaned up except the water bath canner since I want the water to cool off before I dump it. Accidents happen and I'd prefer it happening (hope it doesn't!) with cool water. Now it's a matter of hauling everything back to the basement.

I got a call that my monitor is in so will go to town tomorrow to get that and take the discs and computer for updates. Also, the speakers to see what going on with that. A friend is going with me and we plan to go to thrift shops while waiting on the computer updates. I need several clothing items for this winter and several for next summer so am hoping I find a few that will work.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I'm so tired! It was a job getting all the shopping done, unloading the SUV, then dating and putting it all away. Finally, I was able to bring it all in under my monthly household budget. I'll need a few things the middle of the month from the grocery store, and that will finish getting the rest of the budget, then. Cary pays for everything at Sam's. I'll be broke until the first of October when payday comes around again.

Walmart was a disaster zone! They are still remodeling the store, and it was a total mess. Couldn't find anything. It took me twice as long to do my shopping as it normally would. For the first time in a long time, chicken and pork were very low to almost being out completely. The prices on both are still quite reasonable for our area. Beef was in great supply, but with the prices, I can understand why people are passing on buying it. The ground beef was still almost $6 lb, so I bought only 2, 1lb packs and 1, 2.25 lb pack. I got enough other meats to refill the hole in my meat freezer. There were empty shelves in spots, and I'm hoping it was due to the fact that it was the first day after a holiday weekend.

The dry cleaners was still closed for remodeling, so we didn't stop in there as planned. It got wiped out in the tornado back in the Spring. The outer building is finished, but they haven't got all the equipment back in, yet. Maybe, next month. I need my bedspread and quilts put in to have cleaned. Too big to fit in my washing machine.

 

[Barb]

Put your squeezo screen in your water bath canner and boil it for a little while.

 

[kyrsyan]

I'm tired. And it looks like I won't be getting much outside time this week. Two big clients have big issues that popped today. So I get to go digging into records that are over 3 years old. I did finally manage to prove that there was some serious misremembering of dates going on. You can't make payments in 2019 when the project didn't start until 2021, and the loan documents weren't signed until 2022.

And I want to go find some of the "fly by night bookkeepers" that don't know what they are doing and do something to them. The only good that comes out of them is that when people sign on with us, they don't want to leave. The only clients we have that consider leaving are the ones that haven't experienced a bad bookkeeper before. Right now, that's a very, very small percentage of our clients. At least we've only found signs of embezzlement in one client, and that was dealt with immediately. I truly don't comprehend why people think that it is okay to screw up someone else's money this way. Or to get paid for a job and not do anything.

I get making honest mistakes. I really do. None of us are perfect. Our work is audited by a CPA monthly, on all accounts, because we'd rather catch and fix things quickly, not get to end of year and find a massive pile to fix. But not asking questions, getting educated, etc, that I don't get. Nor do I get just not doing anything at all, although that is easier to clean up.

Town didn't have water this morning. There was a major line break behind the Dollar General. We've got water back now.

I have another kidney/bladder infection that is not bacterial. I'm waiting to hear back from the doctor's office. By all that's sacred, I did not miss this type of pain at all.

I think I'm calling it a day. I'm going to go get dinner going and read a book until bed time. Maybe the sunlight coming in through the front windows will help energize me some.

 

[John Deere Girl]

I'm tired. And it looks like I won't be getting much outside time this week. Two big clients have big issues that popped today. So I get to go digging into records that are over 3 years old. I did finally manage to prove that there was some serious misremembering of dates going on. You can't make payments in 2019 when the project didn't start until 2021, and the loan documents weren't signed until 2022.

And I want to go find some of the "fly by night bookkeepers" that don't know what they are doing and do something to them. The only good that comes out of them is that when people sign on with us, they don't want to leave. The only clients we have that consider leaving are the ones that haven't experienced a bad bookkeeper before. Right now, that's a very, very small percentage of our clients. At least we've only found signs of embezzlement in one client, and that was dealt with immediately. I truly don't comprehend why people think that it is okay to screw up someone else's money this way. Or to get paid for a job and not do anything.

I get making honest mistakes. I really do. None of us are perfect. Our work is audited by a CPA monthly, on all accounts, because we'd rather catch and fix things quickly, not get to end of year and find a massive pile to fix. But not asking questions, getting educated, etc, that I don't get. Nor do I get just not doing anything at all, although that is easier to clean up.

Town didn't have water this morning. There was a major line break behind the Dollar General. We've got water back now.

I have another kidney/bladder infection that is not bacterial. I'm waiting to hear back from the doctor's office. By all that's sacred, I did not miss this type of pain at all.

I think I'm calling it a day. I'm going to go get dinner going and read a book until bed time. Maybe the sunlight coming in through the front windows will help energize me some.

Praying for you!

 

[John Deere Girl]

I'm so tired! It was a job getting all the shopping done, unloading the SUV, then dating and putting it all away. Finally, I was able to bring it all in under my monthly household budget. I'll need a few things the middle of the month from the grocery store, and that will finish getting the rest of the budget, then. Cary pays for everything at Sam's. I'll be broke until the first of October when payday comes around again.

Walmart was a disaster zone! They are still remodeling the store, and it was a total mess. Couldn't find anything. It took me twice as long to do my shopping as it normally would. For the first time in a long time, chicken and pork were very low to almost being out completely. The prices on both are still quite reasonable for our area. Beef was in great supply, but with the prices, I can understand why people are passing on buying it. The ground beef was still almost $6 lb, so I bought only 2, 1lb packs and 1, 2.25 lb pack. I got enough other meats to refill the hole in my meat freezer. There were empty shelves in spots, and I'm hoping it was due to the fact that it was the first day after a holiday weekend.

The dry cleaners was still closed for remodeling, so we didn't stop in there as planned. It got wiped out in the tornado back in the Spring. The outer building is finished, but they haven't got all the equipment back in, yet. Maybe, next month. I need my bedspread and quilts put in to have cleaned. Too big to fit in my washing machine.

I do our grocery shopping for pickup or delivery. It's so nice to not have to deal with people, employees stocking shelves, remodeling.