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Eat your hearts out!

If only you were here, you could share in the bounty. Many of my plans for the day went out the window when I figured out how to turn pineapple chunks into crushed pineapple and then found some sugar I'd set aside for storage. I made jam, y'all! Pineapple jam. And it is superb. I could just sit down with a spoon and a jar and eat it that way. Wowzers! 

It didn't take too long as I used canned pineapple I got at the dollar store. I was actually able to buy cans of Dole pineapple at the dollar store a few weeks ago. I just opened the cans of chunks, dumped them into the blender and gave that stuff a "mix". That's the lowest setting my blender will do. But, it still came out in really small bits, not like the crushed pineapple you buy at the store. But I persevered. I used up part of my storage sugar and that covered the shortage. I now have 4 small half pint jars (jelly jars) and 2 pints of pineapple jam plus a little over half another pint. Too bad I didn't have another half pint jar, but more for me to taste every now and then, LOL. 

I would love some of this over a bagel and cream cheese. I think it could also be outstanding over vanilla ice cream. Anyway, it's 'licious! 

That took some time. I had to get a LOT of water in the water bath canner and then add my empty jars and get that to a boil. I also had to heat some water for my rings and lids. Then I had to heat up the blended pineapple stuff after adding the pectin, get it to a boil and add all the sugar. Then I had to get it back up to a boil and let it boil for a minute. Then, one by one I fished the jars out of the water bath canner and filled them, wiped the rims, put on the lids and rings, and put them back in the hot water. When I got them all filled, I set the heat under the canner to high and let 'er rip. Once it was back to boiling, I let everything boil for 10 minutes. And, voila, pineapple jam!

I, of course, got my head and equipment and ingredients together at just about the hottest part of the day. I made jam, but I emerged from the kitchen, my clothes stuck to me and my hair wet. It gets so hot in that kitchen! Silly thing to do, but I kinda loved it, haha.

So, now I will play catch up for the rest of the afternoon and evening, but it will all seem worthwhile when I look at those sparkling jars of jam!

This is it!

Have you ever noticed how fast a two-day weekend goes? Yeah, wow! And I feel just a little bit ripped off. "Normal" working stiffs got a 3-day weekend. I only got 2. But it's important to get only 2 because I don't get holiday pay for working a holiday. Nor do I get paid compensatory time. So, my "rip-off" 2-day weekend gets me 5 days pay and that's a very good thing! 

So, what do we do with today? Well, the first thing to consider is that I work just 3 days and then I am on "vacation". The word "vacation" is in quotes because on the 5th I am having a dental procedure which I expect to be painful in the short run and troublesome for a long time to come....... But I won't be going to the store........... So, if some things don't get done today, I will surely get some of them done then, right? 

Today, the various parts of the Dyson which are all clean and sparkly should be dry and usable. I am still intent on vacuuming. 

I got part of that cabinet under the sink in the bathroom cleaned out. There's more.... So I'll go back after that. It's not a fun job as I have to choose between getting down on the floor (and it's a struggle, still, to get back up) or bending over for a substantial period of time. (And as I typed the "bending" word, I felt my back pop, just sitting here.) Neither of those things is a wonderful experience in this body.

I got part of the fridge cleaned out. There's more...... My original plan was just to go through the various containers and see what should be gotten rid of. However, there's some sort of spill on the bottom shelf. I've scrubbed at it, bent over, and not made much progress. It's really dried on! I may try to force myself to take that shelf out to wash it. I HATE doing that because that shelf is glass. It just depends on how much of a perfectionist I allow myself to be..........

Trash day is Friday. I'm thinking I need to drag trash to the outside bin. I know I'm not likely to feel like doing that after work on Thursday. There's still a bottle of water and a few other small items I need to drag into the house, so, I guess I will do the "fetch and carry" thing today. 

No doubt there is more to be done and more that will be done. I just can't figure out what it is right now........... (I'm still working on my first cup of coffee, be gentle.....)

I had wanted to can the last 10 pounds of ground beef that's in the freezer. But, I want to can it in pint jars. If I were to can it in quart jars, there would be more beef to deal with each time I open a jar. More than I should eat. More than I want to freeze........ Also the processing time for pint jars is less than for quarts. But, I do not have enough pint jars. I have to buy some before I can proceed with that little project. 

I also was thinking of canning some jam, but I don't have enough sugar for that. 

I may decide to cook up and dehydrate some more Basmati rice though. The stuff I did yesterday came out just the way I wanted it and it IS a convenience to have it around. The time to rehydrate it and cook it comes down to around 5 minutes versus 30-45 to make it in the first place. 

I have been wishing for some chicken thighs to go on sale. I have only a few drumsticks left in the freezer and thighs would be good to throw on the grill. Smart & Final has a choice of either for $.87 a pound. Is that a good price? I kinda think it is so I may drag my butt in there sometime this week and buy some. They've also been featuring pork on sale a lot more lately than in the past. So they have pork loin for $1.99 (boneless) and a cushion cut pork roast for $1.59. Those are somewhat attractive. I just have to remember to cut off as much visible fat as I can from either of those if I buy them. I don't love their produce offerings, as a general rule, because everything is pre-packaged and pricey. However, this week they have 18oz of blueberries for $2.99. I hate that price, but, comparatively, it's a decent price. Also, if I were convinced I had the jars and processing time to handle them, they have 40 pounds of russet potatoes for $8.99 and 50 pounds of carrots for $4.99. Wouldn't it be grand to can up some of those? Actually, I think I am going to try to hold out for a buy on yukon gold potatoes.........but that carrot price is enticing! 

I stopped and took a look at my legs in the mirror this AM. You may remember that when I escaped from the hospital the last time (December 2015), I was cursed with "hanging skin". I looked as though I had lost 100 pounds and my skin had not shrunk to fit my new body. No, it was the effect of Levaquin eating my muscle tissue. For almost a year now (a year on June 9th), I have walked 1-3 miles a day. You would think I'd be back to "normal" by now, having built up new muscles. Well, no, not quite. It is true the skin no longer "hangs". But, now my legs look as though there is cellulite. There isn't, it's just continued after effects of reduced muscle tissue which is VERY slowly being rebuilt. How do I know? Because my calves look the same way. Kinda makes me glad I'll be wearing long pants again this summer........ I'm getting pretty tired of my legs hurting every time I walk a quarter of a mile or so...........

Well, I think that's it for now. Really, who knows what I might get up to today? Only the good Lord. YOU be BLESSED today!

 

If she could see me now......

would my mother FINALLY be proud of me? meh. Probably not. I know I said I was going to vacuum today. Well, it's not going to happen. And, honestly, it's not going to happen for a GOOD reason. I have just watched a video or two on youtube on how to clean my Dyson Animal DC-41. (I still say you can learn to do ANYTHING on youtube!) Whew! Such a lot I didn't know! But I know it now! And 3 of the 4 cleanable parts of my Dyson have been cleaned and in some cases lightly scrubbed. One piece to go. So that means I won't be able to vacuum til tomorrow because you have to allow 24 hours for the parts to dry. 

Even though I will miss that particular goal for the day--vacuuming--I think it's in a good cause so I'm giving myself grace on the vacuuming. This machine was expensive. It was oh so necessary, but still expensive. I SHOULD be taking care of it as well as I can. Cleaning it, in all its hairy grodiness--well, that's just part of taking care of it. Better I do that than that I ignore it.

And I am so much more "knowledgeable" now. I also know that the darned vacuum cleaner repair shop charges astronomical amounts for this stuff and now I know how to thwart their ability to skin me again. There is that old saying: "We learn these many things as we go along."

I've had numerous conversations with various customers who are of retirement age. They will approach my checkstand and when asked how they're doing, they will list off some ache or pain. Hey, at this age, we all get 'em, right? My usual response is: "Yeah, I know what you mean. However, here's a question for you. If you could go back and be 18 again and have none of the achy stuff, but you had to leave behind all the lessons you've learned about life in the meantime, would you do it?" So far I've had all negative responses. Not one of us would make that choice. The answers come out like: "Absolutely not." "Nope, never." "No way." I agree wholeheartedly! And I say that boldly as I sit here, just slightly tilted to one side and hear and feel my spinal parts pop in and out of place, LOL............ And I think they leave my register feeling a little better about their achy back or elbow or knee or whatever.........

So far.........

I have operated on the freezer/ice cube tray again. Actually, this time, the ice cube tray came out with a minimum of hair dryer time. It was the unloading of all the stuff around the ice cube tray to provide room to maneuver that took time. And, then, of course, putting it all back in! I did find some Italian sausage in there and I decided to pull it out and wrap it individually and then put it back in. Unless I am going to make a big pot of pasta sauce, I don't know when/how I'm going to use 5 links of Italian sausage at once. But, singly, I can plop them on a bun and throw a little something on the side and call it a meal. Perhaps you can guess that I am eyeballing Italian sausage on a bun for lunch?

I got that rice all cooked and it's on the dehydrator. I am about to turn the dehydrator off for about 4 or 5 hours til the western sun, which hits hot and heavy on the kitchen window, slips below the roof line of the neighbor's house as it begins to set. The good thing about a dehydrator is that it doesn't get HOT. You don't want it hot as the heat zaps whatever nutrition was in your food in the first place. But it does throw out air that is warmer than ambient air and will force the a/c to work harder. From now on til the end of summer weather, it is going to be a better idea to dehydrate at night.

I've been dicing up a single red pepper that will go on the dehydrator. I wanted to do it a couple of days ago, but I was afraid I'd end up with dehydrated bananas that tasted like red bell pepper. That didn't sound desirable to me. However, I think if my rice comes out with a slight red bell pepper flavor, that will be tolerable. Most likely, if I am eating rice, it will have some sort of "sauce" on it which should deal nicely with any transferred pepper flavor.

I've spent what feels like forever on the other side of the office, trying to pick jammed up paper out of the shredder. Lord knows, the budget does not include the price of a shredder at this time. So far, in spite of the time I've spent (realistically 1/2 to 1 hour) picking bits of paper out of the teeth of the shredder with tweezers, my efforts have made NO impact. But, there are a few more bits of paper that I can probably get at. I also oiled the blades in hopes that would make a difference. Not so much.......

And I've paid a few bills. I had happily socked away $10 per pay period for the last 5 pay periods towards the sewer bill. So, paying that bill of $62.xx was not so painful. Moved that $50 to the "return to bank" envelope. I have two bills that are payable quarterly--the sewer and trash bills. I try to put money away each payday so that, when those bills come due, I've got money put away to pay them. I came up short on the sewer bill because I had one very small paycheck during the time I was out sick.

I have not gone into detail with regard to the current "financial crisis". Here's how it shakes out: I am currently working 25 hours a week. I am going to need that schedule to change to 30 hours a week just to skin through a month. I REALLY need your prayers on this. Somehow the "blessed one" needs to decide I should work more hours. At the moment, he seems pretty happy with his current schedule. Please pray that God will change his mind.

The world looks better today........

So, I guess my emotional thing last night was exactly what I thought it was--a case of tired and overwhelm. The tired part is taken care of. And with that being done, I'm in a much better mood this morning. I did sit down last night and do a "to do" list of things I want to accomplish today. So, I'm a step ahead as far as that goes. 

I would have liked to schedule a grocery shopping trip today, but we don't get the new sale ads til tomorrow. I've scoured through the ads for this past week and not found much that inspired me, so I will NOT be going to the grocery store today. I DO need to put gasoline in the van either today or tomorrow though. For a while, in that I worked at 7-11, I bought my gasoline there. It was more expensive, but I worked there. And, I wasn't making payments to the hospital and the water company then. As things have gotten tighter around here, I moved to using a station at the end of the street. Still kinda convenient and less expensive. I say "kinda convenient" because getting out of there to come home requires a bit of maneuvering. Now, I've switched to another place, a bit further away, less convenient, etc., but usually a few cents cheaper by the gallon. I don't like the place much, but you gotta do what you gotta do. 

One thing I want to do is cook and then dehydrate some more rice. What I dehydrated the other day was organic brown rice, contributed to this household by my benevolent client. But I still have a good supply of Basmati rice and having some of that in a more "instant" and user-friendly form will be good. I can throw this stuff into the rice cooker and go about my business. When it's cooked, I can throw it on the dehydrator and walk away. It makes things a little easier when it comes time to get myself something to eat NOW. 

One thing I need is more of those mesh sheets that are used to line the trays of my dehydrator. I only have two which limits the amount of rice and other sticky stuff to just those two trays. 

I have to go after that ice cube tray again. Most of the ice in there is stuck together again......

I want to go through the fridge in search of stuff I need to eat up or stuff that has turned to science experiments......

I have vacuumed a lot of the house. A lot of the house that REALLY needed it. I still have not had enough oomph to vacuum the dining room and the office. I want to get that done today and maybe I can get another "round" started on the rest of the house.......

I need to spend some time in the bathrooms. When I did the hall bath floor, I noticed that although that room isn't used on a repetitive basis, it still needs dusted. A good dusting and maybe a swish will do a bit to improve it. The master bath needs more in that I use it daily..........

I even have vague hopes of clearing out some of the under cabinet space in the master bathroom area with a decluttering attack. I know there are about 4 different hair curling types of things stored under there. When you have stick straight hair, I guess you never stop searching for something that will actually make it curl and hold its shape. Well, I don't think I'll ever mess with that again. SO....stuff's gotta go. It's time to bundle it up and send it on its merry way.........

Sometime either today or tomorrow, I'd like to go to CVS or wherever and lay in a stock of Ensure. Come June 5th, eating food that needs to be chewed will be out of the question for days. I wonder if Amazon has Ensure? If so, I can at least save some time and some gasoline and exposure to other products I might be tempted to grab as I go through the store........

So that's the master plan for the day. Along the way, I'll be working on clearing out e-mail, paying bills, and straightening the desk. All of that will probably keep me out of trouble for the bulk of the day! YOU be BLESSED today.

What I want to do.........

is sit here and have a serious cry. I don't think I'm really depressed. I think I have a serious case of tired in addition to a serious case of overwhelm. The SHTF has happened in this house this past week. I can't do anything but slog my way through it. However, I am absolutely not strong enough to do it on my own. There is only one place to turn--the Lord. Even if there were another place to turn, it would be counterproductive. It would be rehearsing the various problems rather than thinking on the one and only solution--a loving God. So, significant prayer time is called for. I am grateful to have two days off from work. Then I work three days and have a week off. I may be kind of out of it during the week off, but I suppose I can just pray "out of it" prayers and the Lord will still know what I mean, right?

I haven't accomplished much tonight. I did take a nap. I needed it. I DO put my heart and soul into trying to love on my customers but that takes effort. It wears on me as to the physical demands of the job. Still I am happy to have the opportunity. And God and naps, those are the things that get me through.

I did make a list of things to tackle tomorrow. That will help me to tackle the day. And we shall see what else develops as I plod along. Appreciate your prayers.

So confusing........

Well, I think Satan took another run on me. Financial again so a double down on what is happening already. 

I told you all the saga of my "vacation time". I requested it April 5th, in writing, asking for June 5-9 off. Then I noticed that I was scheduled to work those days. So, I went to the "blessed one" and reminded him that I had given him notice in writing that I needed that week off because I was going to have some surgery. I didn't mention it would be oral surgery, figuring surgery is surgery. He seemed angry and just lined through the days and marked the as unpaid days. Well, that was certainly NOT what I requested. I was informed that I did not handle things correctly. In writing 30 days in advance was what I'd always been told, but, no, there was something in the computer I needed to mess with instead. So I got some help from one of the people at the store who probably knows the computer system as well as anyone in the whole place. She helped me schedule what I needed. The "blessed one" had already given me the 5th off, so together, she and I got me scheduled for the 6th through the 9th for vacation time. She, of course, checked everything out and pronounced it correct. I had previously asked several people about vacation time and what she helped me set up dovetailed in with the little that I knew.

Today, the "blessed one" came to me while I had customers to tell me I was given one day of vacation pay but that I was not entitled to any more than that and he had changed the other days back to unpaid. Thank God I was busy or I might have crashed in defeat about then. But, I didn't. But, after I clocked out, I paid a visit to Ms. HR. She agreed that it had been right as I had changed it and she changed it back, saying she would talk to the "blessed one" about it. Good, 'cause I don't trust myself to talk to him about it. I'd almost certainly cry or come off in a manner I didn't really intend while trying to hold the tears in. Besides, he would place no credence in whatever I said anyway. 

According to Ms. HR, with this company, all vacation time must be used by January 31. So, as of February 1, it looks like you have NO vacation time coming. However, you can go "in the hole" 20 hours in order to use the vacation time you have coming throughout the year before the following January 31. It's kind of a backhanded system, but that was the best description of it I'd ever heard. This applies to part time employees, not full time. I have no clue how their vacation time works.

So, we'll see what happens next. Have you ever heard of anything so convoluted? 

We were busy, busy, busy again today. I did not get my break til 3:30. Usually it hits anytime from noon on to around 12:30 if I work the same schedule I worked today. I honestly think she forgot I needed a break, but that's a whole 'nother matter. Later, after coming back from break, I noticed my back was aching. It's been quite a while now since it's really felt that bad. I couldn't figure it out for a minute or two. Then it hit me: I usually (between customers, obviously) bend over and stretch my back out. I also do something like a modified push up, using the counter for support and making sure I arch my back, kind of like a cat will arch its back when it stretches. I had done NONE of these stretches today because there hadn't been an opportunity! 

I thought that Ms. HR was funny because she'd been out on the floor some today and pronounced the customers she'd served as "grumpy". I really didn't experience that. I did have one man I REALLY wanted to slap silly. Instead, I just held my tongue and didn't get out of line. He pulled up to the register with quite a load of "little" items, lots and lots of them. I worked my way through a solid 85% of them when he decided he needed to pay for some items separately. Well, doing a line by line edit, one line at a time, would have cost a LOT of time. I really had no choice but to wipe out all the work I'd done and start over. I know that guy split that order into at least 5 separate orders. I quit counting after 5 because it was certainly not improving my mood knowing what a butthead he was being. I didn't care so much for my sake. They pay me the same no matter what. But the store was busy and there were customers lined up waiting to pay for their stuff and I was helpless to speed the process. It was those customers who suffered most from his lack of consideration.

There was something of a "celebration" in the store today for the employees who were working on the holiday. I guess that was in lieu of holiday pay. They had a bunch of pizza delivered. Someone brought in a salad, and there were store-bought baked cookies and such. And one extra good bakery cake. I controlled myself, kind of. I had one piece of pizza and one piece of the bakery cake. I was sorely tempted by the cookies, particularly since they had white chocolate chip cookies with macadamia nuts. But, some small amount of good sense prevailed. 

I think after the vacation pay fiasco, I was determined to eat anything that looked like the store might have financed it. It was a grudge match! Now, of course, I wish I hadn't eaten that stuff. But it was plenty good goin' down, LOL. 

I watched episode 4 of Victorian Slum House on PBS last night via the internet. I'm now more knowledgeable about life in England for the poor in the 1890's. I guess I am still making up for what I was NOT taught in that college "history of England" class.

Well that's my news for the moment. The cliff hanger here is whether Ms. HR remembers to have that promised convo with "the blessed" one, illuminating for him that I AM entitled to take that vacation time! 

3 of 3.......

Working today. Home for 2 days and then working another 3. Then I will have Saturday through Friday off. That's not necessarily going to be a fun time as am having extensive dental work done on Monday. I felt I needed the extra time to recuperate.

I finally managed to go to the bank yesterday. I am usually there as early on Fridays as I can get there. But, Friday was my one day off and I didn't even leave the house. Saturday I totally forgot. I can hardly imagine that, but it's true. So got my paycheck cashed out yesterday. I headed to Trader Joe's where I managed to escape just $26 later. Bought two entrees, some half 'n' half, bananas, a red pepper, part skim string cheese, some applesauce, and that's all I can remember. Then I came home and began the process of trying to distribute my paycheck cash to my various envelopes. 

I did take a short nap. Between that and last night's almost 6 hours, I might be a bit more normal today, I hope! I was pretty unprepared for work yesterday morning. No oatmeal, no tea! I ended up taking an iced mocha to drink. But, last night I was virtuous and made tea. I also got 5 of those bananas sliced up and onto the dehydrator. And the working half of the kitchen is clean. Then I paid some bills to try to keep life going in the month of June.

I learned something new yesterday at work--something that will definitely improve quality of life for me and service for my customers. Again, it was one of my co-workers who was kind enough to teach me, not one of my supervisors. Sometimes folks come wandering up to the checkstand with products that don't have item numbers or prices on them. THAT is just miserable. The only solutions I have had til now have been to either send the customer back to the shelf to get me the information I need, usually via a smart phone photo, or to call the department and ask for a price. That second option only worked if there was someone on hand in the department who could get to the phone and then find the product (frequently, these folks are serving customers at the moment I call, and don't answer the phones). I have known there was a whole separate part of the system with which I was unfamiliar that a few folks used to look up prices on some items. But yesterday I learned there is a down and dirty way to do it as well. Quick and easy. Through this new down and dirty method I can find an item number and that will get me a price. Hooray and Hallelujah! 

Here is one sad fact of life: You don't know what you don't know until you see someone else doing what you had no idea they could do. I had some folks trying to buy a tree. No price on it. Asked my coworker for help and saw her doing something I didn't have a clue could be done. So, later, I called her back over and asked her if she would show me how to do what she had done. Whoopee! It's pretty easy and will ease some of the problem. It will be particularly helpful when the customer thinks he/she is being helpful by telling me a price. That does me no good because I need an item number/UPC to ring up an item. This way I can use the quoted price to confirm I found the right item number.

We have been slammed both Saturday and yesterday. Customers one right after another. I counted 6 registers open for part of yesterday, not taking into account the registers in garden and lumber. Many times there are only 2 registers open and at "busy" times, maybe 3 or 4. The store has markdowns on charcoal and on propane refills. Decent markdowns too! I've watched a ton of grills roll out the door too. Nice to see so many folks picking up a bargain or two...........

Well, that's all I have time for this morning. YOU be BLESSED today!

The Battlefield of the Mind........

I received some bad news last night around 10PM. To the human eye, it is devastating financially. I went to bed at midnight, still whirling mentally and upset mentally. Of course, with the Lord, the circumstances are nothing. There is NO circumstance that can keep Him from doing whatever He has promised to do. The problem is ALWAYS our reaction. I REFUSE to be in fear over this. I will not tolerate it. It took me 3 hours to beat down the fear and upset, but by 3:30AM, I finally won and managed to go to sleep. I had to get back up at 7:00 so I went to work on very little sleep and as much faith as I could muster. My "mantra" to myself has always been that God got me this job and He will help me do what needs to be done.

The customers today were good people. That helped. There was this one guy...........He smelled SO MUCH of marijuana I was thinking I should be high just because I had to breathe while I checked out his order. Thankfully he was in a hurry, and after a few whiffs of him, so was I! So, customer wise, it was a good day. We were BUSY. I barely got any of my water consumed because there just simply wasn't time between customers. But, the customers were nice folks and I think I did well. 

They have changed our military discount program. And one of the changes just nauseates me. We are supposed to "read this to the customer: Thank you for your service." Now, certainly our service men and women should be thanked. But, what could it possibly mean to anyone to have us stand there and read that off a screen. I searched for a way to add some meaning to it and still to thank them. Finally, I began telling them "This is YOUR weekend." And when they put 2+2 together and got my meaning, I said "You enjoy this weekend. You've earned it. Thank you." I hope that had a bit more of my true feelings in it that reading off a screen.

I went in this morning, my mind made up, to find a way to solve the mystery that is our computer system with regard to scheduling. The head cashier on duty was the one that told me she didn't understand how to print out her own schedule and contented herself with taking a photo of the computer screen with her smart phone. Well, kudos to her for a smart way to use her smart phone, but I wasn't sure she'd be able to help me much with my problem. I was detailed to Lumber early on and Thank God for that. There is a young lady down there who knows every single in and out of that system. She is usually VERY busy so I really hated to bother her, but I asked for her help. She was amazing. First I printed out my schedule. It showed that I was to have one day's vacation. Well, I promise you, I don't think I will be well enough to go to work and chat with customers after just one day off after the procedure. I was shown as having one day of vacation time and 3 days of unpaid leave. 

She showed me how to change that to 4 days of vacation. I was already scheduled off on the 5th which is the date on which the dastardly deed will be performed. I think with 4 days and a goodly stash of ibuprofen, that will work. She also showed me how to check on my accrued vacation time. She tried to explain some of the "logic" of the system, but, believe me, it's convoluted. However, I think I got the problem fixed. Sadly I learned that vacation time for part time people is only 4 hours a day. So, since I normally work 5 hours a day, I will lose some hours. But, being paid for 4 hours a day is better than being paid for no hours a day, right? And, it's a blessing to work for a company that gives ANY kind of paid vacation time to a part-time hourly employee.

I went back through everything afterwards and made notes so that I can go back and do what I did again. Then I proceeded to do it again. I have 40 pounds of chicken to pick up on 6/21. I have to pick it up, bring it home and stuff it into the freezer or the refrigerator. After that is accomplished, I can be available to work. Well, figuring out how to schedule myself for a partial day as "unavailable" was tricky. And it took several tries. However, I got it done and then also scheduled myself unavailable for the morning of the 26th, my next doctor's appointment. So, judging by the results, I'd say the young lady in Lumber was a pretty good teacher. 

I have been fighting against taking a nap, but I think I'm going to give in. I doubt I'll accomplish much by staying up. I am just too darned tired for that. Anyway, yes, I do have sort of a financial emergency. I could certainly use your prayers. The amount being demanded on a monthly basis is far more than I can chisel out of my current income. And, though I'm due a small raise after the 9th, I'm quite sure it will be WAY less than enough to make a dent in this mountain. God has the answer. I just need to hear from Him what I am to do next. 

Noonish.........

Well, the last load of laundry is in the washer. I can't tell you how many times I have said unkind words about the front loader washer. The regular wash cycle is 55 minutes. Dear Lord, that's almost an hour, guys. An hour per load just to get the stuff washed. It still has to be pulled out, piece by piece, and hung nicely to dry on the indoor drying rack. I did cave and put the bed linens into the dryer. Honestly, there just isn't room for them on the drying rack--I have a king sized bed! I decided to forego washing the wubbie for now. Instead I am doing a small load of whites. I had not intended to wash whites, but I just bought a new white polo shirt (cheap, of course) and wore it once and it has spots on it. I spot treated it, but I decided to go ahead and wash the whites even if the only REAL purpose is to see if the spots come out.

I cooked up another cup of that organic brown rice. I have to tell you--I have never much cared what color my rice was. However, I am loving the "nutty" flavor of that rice. So, I have that rice in the dehydrator, making "instant" rice. I would love to do more rice, but I only have those little mesh trays for two of the drying trays. The dehydrated rice shrivels up a lot so there's no way that I know of to dehydrate more without those trays. Maybe this evening I can do some more. 

I have actually had 4 servings of rice out of the last batch I made. I used it one night in the cuban black bean stuff I have in the fridge. And I also used it in the Shitake Mushroom Chicken I found in the freezer (from Trader Joe's). That stuff, I decided, was good enough that I was able to eat it two nights in a row without wanting to gag. I still have one serving in the fridge. The rice added to the bulk and the taste of both items. And, it was so great to be able to have rice without paying the higher price for "instant rice" in just 5 minutes. 

I have continued to work on the budget stuff, particularly the program updates. It's not a lot of fun and I'm kinda slow at it. But I am determined to get it caught up today. I'm up to May 15, so just 11 days to go. 

I made myself a mocha frappuccino. After all, it is a single day off so it deserves a little bit of extra goodness. I added 1/2 cup of that hemp milk I was given in lieu of some of the milk. I actually used 2 cups of milk. So, a 4 to 1 dilution. I can still taste the hemp milk, but it doesn't taste obnoxious diluted. Here's the thing: I own it because it was gifted to me. I do not want to waste it. So, I'm using it. Even though I think it tastes ugly!

So, moving along, even if it's not moving very fast! I may work slowly around here, but I DO work long hours so maybe that makes up for it?