Hello again!

 Well it's been a while.  Yep!  I can't say illness was the only culprit.  When your hubby is gone for weeks at a time, when he's home you just want to spend tie with him.  At least I do.  However, while I would prefer flowers, each time he's come hoe since before Christmas, he's brought home to me some type of respiratory illness.  The first was Flu A before Christmas.  The second tie was just a normal seasonal cold, but this last time was RSV!  Luckily no pneumonia or sinus infection, but the worst coughing I've experienced and I've had covid twice!  I ended up pulling an intercostal rib muscle and having a slight amount of bleeding in my eye from coughing!  It hurt every time I had to cough.  Which was often.  

Finally recovered and the plant sale was this past weekend.  I'm happy to say our gardening costs are covered, and a lot of folks got their plants for half of what they would have paid at even Wally world.  We met some wonderful neighbors and had a great time.  Got a little sun, and it was a lot of work, but worth it.  This is the 4th year we've done this and plan on doing it again next year.        

Now to get ours into the ground.  Wasn't planning on having a garden this year, but then realized I needed to at least plant something to having the seeds for next years sale.  Then drought, war, pestilence, etc and I thought it prudent to throw some more things in the garden.  I have a friend who has a little farm stand.  She's offered to let me sell some herbs there from the garden.  So I'm tucking them into any corner I can find.  Every little bit helps!  

Another help is this!  This is my future, sooner rather than later, sewing workshop!  Now full disclosure here.  We had to pull some from our small retirement funds ( but we're retired so...)to buy this but we're cash flowing the inside finish.  That means some tight belts here.  WORTH IT!  Not only will this finally give me a place to work, but it will also add value to our property.  My poor but sweet hubby stood on one too many needles and said YES YOU CAN HAVE A SHE SHED!  Also in a pinch, this, finished, can become living space if needed.  

This workshop will allow me to do things like this:  This is the before and after of a 1967 Little Miss Fussy doll.  The white spots all over her face is from battery corrosion.  She's been cleaned completely and the new outfit she's wearing is made by me.  That's what else I will do in this shop: sew for my Etsy shop and home.  The last doll is an outfit I've made and sold on my shop.

So as a result of cash flowing this and desiring have this done and paid for as fast as possible; I've given myself a pantry challenge.  Right now my grocery list for May is Milk, potatoes, heavy cream, and chicken feed!  I've stepped up my kitchen activities and quit slacking.  Got my pantry organized yesterday and discovered a lot of things I"d forgotten I had.  Need to use those up.  I pulled a large package of chicken thighs and a whole pork loin out of the freezer and put them in the fridge to thaw and use this week.  Those chicken thighs, roasted crisp will be a great alternative to wings with hot sauce and butter to coat them. That pork roast can be ground for ground sausage, or sliced for pork chops or stir fry.  Baking has stepped up as well.  We have strawberries coming in and still have some from last year.  I think we'll eat the fresh ones, and I'm going to make jam from the ones frozen from last year.  I'm excited to face this challenge, and stretch my frugal muscles!           

Well Just Darn!

 Good morning!  So about 2/3rd's of the US is either going to experience, or is experiencing this massive winter storm.  I wish you all God Speed!  We are in the Major impact zone for Georgia.  So we could get up to an inch of ice.  For those of you unfamiliar with an ice storm.  That's bad.  This isn't the joke of southerners panicking over a dusting of snow.  This is a one inch coating of ice on everything and it's very dangerous.  Anything 1/2 inch or greater brings on serious power outages, trees down, impossible roads.  Oh yay!  

So I've been battening down the hatches and getting things squared away.  While I do have my two strapping young sons here.  DH is out of town.  I wish he were here, if only for the company and moral support.  He's keeping in touch, and quite honestly; even if he tried to get here; with a 2000 mile long winter storm between us and him; I don't see him getting a flight.  

I've done all I can to prepare, with a few more small things to do today.  I DID NOT want to get into the craziness at the grocery stores.  Diva had to go by there and she said she had to go to three stores to find one loaf of bread.  She said everything was cleaned out.  Instead I've stayed home and made bread, granola, hamburger buns, BBQ Sauce( to go with some cooked pork in the freezer), and 2 batches of cookies.  Today I'll make up some meals that can be reheated on my camp stove.  

Speaking of camp stoves!  I had resigned myself to cook anything I needed on the outdoor grill, but then I imagined what that would be like in the middle of freezing rain.  UGH!  BRR! I figured so close to the event, the chances of finding propane cannisters for a camp stove would be zero.  Still, I got on Walmart's website.  They had 2 packs for $32.99.  I thought GOOD GRIEF!  They had to be shipped and would be there in 2 days.  Too much for no guarantee of arriving in time.  I called a local hardware store(Howard Brothers for you locals) to see if they topped off propane tanks for grills.  They did.  So I then asked them if they had adapters to convert grill propane tanks for use with a camp stove.  I was told they had sold out.  I wasn't surprised to hear that with it being 2 days before the event.  I then asked him if by chance they had any 16 ounce propane cannisters for a camp stove.  I even said "I know this is a shot in the dark, but".  He actually had some, but told me I needed to get there soon.  He'd had 8 cases the day before, but had sold out and what he had left was on the self.   I was a mile and a half away.  I was there lickedy split.  Went in and he showed me where they were.  Want to hazard a guess as to how much two cannisters were at this local hardware store?  Mind you these were the same Coleman brand cannisters.  Two cannisters were still $12 and some change.  It never dawned on them to raise their prices due to demand.  They just provided a service for their customers, and charged what they were already priced.  Walmart raised their price due to demand.  It's sad to say, because my son works for them, and they gave him a job when he couldn't get one.  I have to say, this is disappointing.  Now one could say they increased the price because of shipping.  That's what I thought until a friend told me he had seen them pull a pallet of these cannisters out at a local Walmart and they were priced the same as the ones online; $32.99.   Needless to say, they sold out, regardless.  😒

If you're in the path of this thing, were caught off guard, but are needing to grab something or use something you have to get through; Here are a few tips I've gleaned through this experience.

1)  If you have hurricane lamps, they will generate a good amount of heat in addition to light.  This is, however, when used in a closed off room such as a bedroom.  

2)  Think outside the box for items you think you need.  For example:  I have an elderly dog who won't be able to go down the steps on her own if they're covered in ice.  I feel bad I was late realizing this.  In my defense, she does fine when there isn't ice.  I'll be needing to go up and down steps too in order to see to our chickens.  So I need salt to melt the ice.  No way to find rock salt or ice melt now, but what I did find was canning salt: 2 bags around 3 or 4 pounds each.  I need 4 D batteries for one camp lantern, but could only find two.  I don't think I'll need them, but if the batteries currently die, I can still use the lamp if I put two new batteries in to replace two dead.  It won't work as long, but it will work some.  It isn't urgent to have these, but it will be nice to have.   I need to stretch the propane I have in my camp stove cannisters, so I'm making things :Coffee, meals, etc. ahead of time so I only have to reheat it on my camp stove; not cook from the beginning.

3)  So you couldn't find groceries at the store?  That sucks, I know, but that means you can go home and use the time you do have to make up meals, snacks, whatever with what you have on hand.  It's work, but it solves the problem.  That's what I spent yesterday doing.  I'll do more today if I have the time. 

4)  If you think a power outage is possible, wash clothes, run the dishwasher, everyone shower, and anything else you think you'll need to have taken care of before the outage hits.  

I'm hearing the first pitter patters of precipitation.  It's my reminder that I need to run fill up my truck just in case later gas stations are on the fritz.  Then I'll come back and situate the chickens as best I can.  Still have some indoor things to do.  Prayers for everyone going through this right now.  I figure if we're prepared it will only be rain.  That would be fine with me!

TOTALLY DOING AGAIN!

 Hello my friends!  I hope you had a great Christmas and new year!   Ours was definitely non traditional and less than stellar with DH having the flu, but we're still very grateful for all our blessings.  

I'm finally back to doing stuff and it feels good.  I've dabbled in the garden, but haven't done anything like I normally do.  

Today was the first time I felt home steady!  I worked in the garden cleaning up beds the really should have been cleaned up in the fall.  Don't Judge!  

I also started some seeds for my plant sale in April.  I'll have the date and time soon, but just know it will be a Saturday April.  I started Sage, Cilantro, Parsley, German Thyme, and Spinach.  I also potted Strawberry plants!  It felt great!

All those things were wonderful, but the big deal; the great find, was what I did to a whole Turkey purchased around Thanksgiving.  I got the turkey for .47 lb.  I like roasted turkey when it's first out of the oven, but after that it's so so.  I also like using turkey in chicken recipes, but we mainly use ground turkey when it comes to our main use of the bird.  The cheapest 85/15 ground turkey I've found is at Aldi for about $2 lb.  So my process today was to grind what turkey meat I could with y meat grinder, then cook the rest, debone, and use the bones for broth.  I got 4 pounds of ground turkey.  I've yet to see how much cooked meat I'll have, but I should end up with 8 quarts of bone broth.  The cost for my Turkey was $6.58.  The 4 lbs of ground turkey alone made this a great return on my money.  That's $1.65 per pound verses the $2 lb I normally spend.  The rest of this bird could be considered free!  Adding the other cooked meat and broth and you're talking serious money.  I have another turkey to do this too as well.  So this is going to be something foremost in my mind next Thanksgiving.  That is significant savings!  

Now I know not everyone has a meat grinder.  Mine is an attachment to my kitchen Aid mixer.  It's more than paid for itself, but it isn't a huge expense.  If you don't have or want a meat grinder, no worries!  Just cooking a whole turkey and using the meat and bone broth is also a significant savings.  So I highly recommend this to all!

Oh!  Update on the microwave.  I just got a call from our handyman/friend, and he will be here tomorrow to install a set of cabinets and a range hood!  Yay!

Okay.  I can't let you go without another cat pic!

I can't live without it ! Can I?

 Merry Christmas and Happy New year everyone!  DH and I are finally emerging from the joy that was Flu "A".  I had "something" during the course of caring for DH, but I've been told it probably wasn't the flu.  More than likely what I had was an immune response to the flu being around me at the level it was.  When DH had been sick about 5 days, I began to have a cough.  It wasn't too bad until a week after his onset of symptoms.  Mostly I've dealt with the cough, some sneezing, and a very low fever for one day.  Now he and I both are dealing with the cough, but other than that; are on the mend.  Our Christmas was a small affair.  DH was sick on his birthday, but doing some better by Christmas.  Illness kept us from being able to visit my mom for Christmas as well as being able to see our daughter and her family over the holidays.  We've rescheduled both.  Just as the Grinch learned; Christmas still came.  Jesus was still born in a stable!  Doesn't matter if we celebrate on the 25th or in January.  It's something we celebrate 365 days a year!

  

So as we we're starting to emerge from the flu fun; we anticipated a gift we bought ourselves:  a new over the range microwave.  We purchased it about 3 weeks ago.  It was supposed to be installed yesterday.  We opted to pay to have it installed because I couldn't find a way to remove the old one.  In case you're wondering if we needed a new microwave, well....

So...yeah.  What you can't see it the door is also cracked completely in two places.  The inner working still worked, but I felt like I was getting brain cancer every time I used it.  We had this on our list, but since we cash flow everything, it wasn't a priority, until it became one by getting this bad.  Anyway, there's a reason I couldn't figure out how to remove the old one.  When the man came to install the microwave yesterday; he discovered the person that installed the microwave initially had indeed sealed this thing in.  He could find no access point to remove the microwave.  He left the microwave with us.  We were given a refund on the installation, and called our awesome, fabulous, wonderful handyman, Jerry to see if he could help.  Well we texted him.  As I was waiting for his response, he showed up in our driveway!  He came in to look at the problem to see if he could figure it out.  He did, and was able to remove the old microwave.  Once removed, he didn't have time to put in the new one.  It would have to be added to his schedule.  This guy is so incredibly busy and it's all from word of mouth.  His customers are the ones who have advertised for him.  So I'm willing to wait.  While we wait, we began looking at options other than an over the range microwave.  We began to think it might be better to not have to deal with this in another few years when a new one dies.  Instead we're looking at replacing the microwave with cabinets and a range hood.  Then we would get just a small countertop microwave.  Or would we? 

Wow this has been a long post!  Thanks for hanging in if you did!  

So to the crux of my story.  I've gone 20 hours so far without a microwave.  It's been an eye opener!  I use it to tell time, defrost something quick, heat my coffee, heat up leftovers, timer for baking, and even warm milk for the kitten.  I'm having to reprogram myself to function without it, and it's like trying to function with one hand tied behind my back.  There's a part of me that says I can relearn the skills that would enable me to function without a microwave.  There's another part of me that says "forget that!  get a new one!".  Getting a counter top microwave will take up precious space on my already limited counter space counter.  With a clock, timer, and coffee warmer ( I wanted one anyway): I feel I could function without a microwave.  I would have to change some cooking routines, but I do like the idea of fewer appliances.  

So what do you think?  Should I try to live without it?  Am I nuts?  Wait don't answer that one!  😁

Let me know what you think!  

UPDATE!  Nope!  If only for heating the rice heating pad!

Sickness in the House!

 Merry Christmas all!  

Ours is rather unorthodox this year.  Many of our traditions are being temporarily set aside due to illness.  Yes we found out, rather personally, that the worst flu this year is Flu A, and it's running ramapant through the U.S.  

DH returned home from a tour a week ago yesterday.  He was home two days and said that Thursday "I have this cough".  Fast forward to today and my poor man has been miserably sick ever since.  Woke up Friday morning with a temp of 99.2.  Same the next day, and then it hit.  Three days of 101+ temps.  Add to that no sleep due to excessive coughing, and aches everywhere.  

Fortunately we have a wonderful, great, fabulous doctor.  How great?  I texted his office after hours on Friday hoping he might see it over the weekend.  He called me soon after.  Gave instructions for DH's care and said "Keep me posted".  He had told us to get one of the flu covid test at the store and test him.  Well DH has Flu A.  This is the flu that is putting more folks in the hospital and even in the ground.  So we have a Nebulizer and and O2 concentrator that we bought during the Covid craziness for our oldest son.  Haven't had to use the O2 concentrator, but I made sure I had it ready.  Hubby's O2 kept dancing around the 90 mark.  Yesterday Morning our Doctor called in a chest Xray to a local imaging center, and off we went.  It was normal thankfully.  No pneumonia.  

So I have droned on about this for a reason, really.  

DH and I don't have insurance.  He's retired now, but too early for Medicare.  As a result we cash flow or save up for Medical things.  In this case, we had no Dr visit.  We weren't required to come in for him to tell us something we already knew.  When we got to the imaging center I told the nice lady behind the desk that we weren't filing insurance, and would be paying in full that day.  Our bill was $100.  That's it.  She told me that had I filed insurance; the bill would have been more like $500.  Insurance would have paid $300, leaving us owing $200.  In our case, had this been last year with the insurance we had then.  Our bill would have been $500, and we would have owed $500 because we had to meet our deductible first.  All of this expense doesn't even count the premium we paid with each pay check for the privilege of paying more for Doctor visits.  Now why would this be the case; over charging patients with insurance?  Because when you have insurance and pay your bill by their rules, you're paying for three other patients that didn't pay their bill. 

INSURANCE IS A SCAM!  There I said it.  It is.  Many of the problems in our healthcare system can be laid at the feet of the insurance industry.  Doctors decisions are based on what insurance will and won't cover.  "Pathways" which are a series of doctors orders that are printed up ahead of time for a doctors signature.  Those "Pathways" aren't created by doctors, but by insurance companies.  I had a cardiac pathway when I had my Heart attack 7 years ago.  It was that pathway that told them I should be on a statin to lower my total cholesterol lower than the 146 it was at that time.  Did ya know that total cholesterol less than 150 increases "All cause Mortality"?  That means in increases my chance of dying sooner over all.  Yet the pathway told them to put me on a statin they wanted it lower.  

Our primary physician doesn't file insurance, though we could have used the receipt from paying his bill and file it ourselves.   That is when we had insurance.  Did you know you can do that? You can go in to a medical establishment and tell them you're self pay.  Pay your bill.  Get a receipt, and file it with your insurance company for a reimbursement.  It can go towards your deductible and after that is met, go for reimbursement.  People just assume it's either self pay or insurance, but you can use them together.  Not as great as not paying a premium, but better than playing the game by only their rules.

Because our doctor doesn't file insurance, his decisions are based solely on what's best for each patient.  It's been the best decision we've made.  

We hadn't used the insurance we paid premiums for in about 5 years.  We just held it in case of a hospital stay and paid cash for everything.  I was great, and much cheaper.  Now we don't have insurance, pay no premium, and cash flow everything.  

Okay.  Now that I'm done venting about that!  Cute Kitten pictures for the holidays"

FINALLY!

 Today is the day I finally got into the kitchen to handle some kitchen business!

About a month ago we had 14 roosters processed.  The plan had been to do it ourselves, but my dh had an unexpectedly long tour and it needed to be done.  So we paid to have them processed.  Can't say I was sad to do it, but it wasn't a cost effective way to raise meat chickens.  However, once we figured in the cost of a lessoned learned; we broke even.  For the past month I've had these boys taking up space in the freezer.  Last week I used up my last quart of home canned chicken bone broth.  It was time.  This will be an on going process, but one that is totally worth it.  Even with the expense of paying to have them processed; the cost of my hoe canned bone broth is cheaper than buying it from the store.  I took our two rooster and placed them in my good size crock pot.  They barely fit.  They had to cook a bit before I could lay the lid flat.  I went ahead and added some celery, onion, salt, carrots, and vinegar.  I covered the whole bit up to the top of the crock pot; covering the birds.  I let them cook over night.  Next day I removed the meat, strain off the broth, and put the bones, veggies, and everything but the meat back into the crock pot.  I added more water to the top of the crock pot, a little more salt and a little more vinegar and let this slow cook for 2 days.  I just strained it off and am now canning 6 quarts of bone broth.  No artificial anything.  This is the stuff colds and flu remedy's are made of!  I had put the first broth into the fridge to keep until the second run was ready.  The first broth had gelled so nice.  This is the collagen we need and people pay big bucks for in a powder.  Save your money!  I will keep doing this until I've gone through all the birds, then I will move on to the two turkeys I found on sale for .57lb.  The deboned meat will go into the freezer or be canned if I'm so industrious.  Chicken or turkey, I can use it in any poultry recipe.  You don't have to grow your own poultry to do this.  Whenever you cook a whole chicken, make use of those bones as well.  This same process can be done with any bone in meat.  Beef broth, ham broth, chicken broth; are all things I can store( freezer or pantry)and not have to purchase from the store.  It requires limited hands on work.  It's, I believe, one of the easiest things to make to save at the store.  Bone broth can allow less meat to be used in a recipe because the broth will add taste and nutrients to meals. 

My second kitchen task; well second and third I guess.  Is to dehydrate!  I bought 5 bunches of celery before Thanksgiving while they were on sale for like .98 each.  I dehydrated all 5.  Do you know that once dehydrated all 5 bunches fit in 1 quart jar?! 

 Crazy!  If you don't have a dehydrator, chopping and freezing is an option too.   Now my dehydrator is full of garlic harvested this year from my garden.  

The dehydrator is full, but it barely looks like I made a dent in the harvested garlic.  This will also be a process until I get through all the garlic.  Once dried I plan to pulse it into garlic powder in my blender.  Voila!  Organic garlic powder for the cost of energy used to dehydrate it.  This comes back every year.  

Homemade pizza is on the menu for tonight, and probably some bread for general use.  My work in the kitchen, home, and garden saves us money, and allows us to eat better to boot.  

10 years ago, before I left my job to come home permanently, a co-worker asked if I thought I'd be bored.  I told her I would have plenty to do.  My job as a homemaker is not one of soap operas and bon bons.  It's a  job.  As it should be.  Make no mistake.  We all work for someone.  We can work for an employer or work for ourselves.  I choose to work for myself, my husband, and my family.  

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I'm not ready!

 Sneaky little thing, the Holiday season.  Normally I'm ready to go.  I can face it's arrival with a smile because I've already started my Christmas shopping.  I laugh at delivery dates because I know I've had ample time to have my gifts arrive.  I feel sorry for those poor souls running around last minute to get their gifts for loved ones.  That is until this year.   This year, I'm a poor soul running around.  I haven't even started.  Well, okay, I do have one grandsons gift.  I bought it in the beginning of the year.  I also have two very small gits; one for DH and one for our youngest son.  The bulk of my Christmas shopping is still to be done.  It starts tomorrow.  However, I will need all my wits to get everything before the Christmas Holiday.

Dh and I set a budget each year; for ourselves and for what we get for family.  We don't use credit cards.  Not even with the intention of paying it off next month. Once we paid those bad boys off, we said never again.  "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions" said 18th century writer Samuel Johnson.  Truer words were never spoken.  Especially when it comes to credit cards.  Well, and me.  It's so easy to get out of budget during the Christmas season.  Gifts, paper, ribbon, food, tape, stamps, cards, employee parties, etc., all can throw you off budget.  Balances can become more than can be paid off in a month.  Then what follows is tax season.  Not a good combination.  Before you know it, that balance thought to be paid off in January is still there come next December.  

This year, for us, is going to require some leg work; old fashioned Christmas shopping at brick and mortar stores.  I can get somethings online tomorrow, but the rest won't have time to make it.  I won't have more Christmas money budgeted until the middle of the month.  So the other half of the shopping plan will be after that.  The benefit of that is the closer to Christmas the lower prices tend to go as stores try to move inventory.  It's a gamble, but I look forward to the challenge.

Homemade gifts are also part of that budget/plan.  Everyone from the mail man to my siblings will receive a homemade gift from me.  Usually in the form of a baked good or candy(my butter toffee).  If I have enough time while DH is away, I might be able to make our traditional Pj's for Christmas eve.  One year I decided not to give Pj's on Christmas eve.  I thought the kids were tired of it and already knew what the gift was anyway.  I was wrong.  They missed not having the Pj's on Christmas eve.  So I've gone back to it.  If I don't have time, I'll need to buy them, but if I can make them from fabric on hand, I can save that bit.  I may end up buying the t shirt tops, and making the pants.  

So we'll see what I can get done.  Sewing will be my major project while DH is away.  The most important part that I hope is taken away from this post is please, please, please

A)  Have a budget, even if it's tiny, to work with for the Christmas season.  Homemade gifts are awesome!  I have recipes on my pages for "how to's", playdough, and other treats.  Google is a great resource too!

B)  DON'T USE A CREDIT CARD!  Even if you have and follow a budget, don't do it.  Don't put yourself there.  If you can't afford gifts for your entire family, let them know and focus just on you, your spouse, and your own kids.  

***The pictures are pictures of present and past fur babies in our home.  The top is current.  That's stitch.  Next is Wolly.  We lost him 12 years ago.  I miss him every day, and last is Nermal.  We had her for 22 years until 7 years ago.  Now we have 2 dogs and 4 cats in our little house because apparently we're nuts!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Love to all!