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A Dumb Thing to Do

So, at last, my beautiful jars of applesauce are in the boiling pot, waiting to boil for about 20 minutes. I did a dumb thing. I had water in the pressure canner. So, I just decided to go ahead and use it as though it were a water bath canner. Yes, you can definitely do that, but it's just not smart. My canner is of a much heavier material than my water bath canner. Meaning, it is gonna take longer to come up to a boil. Hey, I don't wanna spend the night on this!

I am greatly disappointed. I got 5 pints of applesauce and that's all. True, if you ask me, I'll tell you it's gourmet applesauce. It REALLY is delicious. But all that work I did peeling and chopping those apples, those MANY apples for 5 pints? I tell you, I had a 6 qt stockpot FULL of apples, cooking away. My expectations were certainly for more than 5 pints. Oh well, at least it's amazingly good...........

I had an extremely frustrating morning here before I went to work. I need to do something about these "teeth". The last time I was in, they basically said, in so many words, come back when it's been 6 months from the date of the dastardly deed. Well, that would be December 5th. Not that I am likely to have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving, but IF I did, I wouldn't be able to eat much of what might be on the table! So, anyway, I've been trying to set up an appointment to get this work done since Thursday. I called Thursday and I needed to schedule for 30 days out so I could make a timely request to have those days blocked on my "available to work" computer screen. If I tried to go next week, which I'd love to do, I'd have to scratch around and find someone to work my shifts OR call in "sick" and be frowned upon on my return. So, when I called Thursday, I wanted to know whether I should schedule myself as not available for one day or two. Well, the only one who could answer that question was the Office Manager and she wasn't there. I was told to call back on Friday. So, Friday, as soon as I got home from work, I called. She left at 2PM (even though the office is open til 5PM) and I was calling at 3:30PM. So, I was told I'd have to call back today. Finally, today, it took me 2 calls (I was on hold for 11 minutes the first time) but I finally got to her. She was "99% sure" it would be a one day turn around. Phooey. I just decided to schedule myself unavailable for 2 days. It's not worth the risk.

So, I went into the company's website. And I fiddled around on there for a good 20 minutes and I just could not get the entry to take. Grrrrr. (The blood pressure is mounting.) They have this website so we can check this kind of thing and DO this kind of thing from home. It's plainly stated that we are not REQUIRED to do it from home, but it's a hassle to get the time to do it at work. Well, I just could NOT get it to work from here. So, I had to ask for help at work. I'm sure that didn't go over too well......... But, it's done.

My next problem to solve was the "disability" paperwork (all 20 or so pages of it) that I need filled out by my doc's office. I wanted to pick that up Thursday, but the looks I got when I dropped it off, I knew that wasn't going to happen. Besides, the nurse had called me on Wednesday, didn't leave a date on her call. It didn't show up as a missed call til Thursday. I called, but she as "with a patient". And, Friday was "Nevada Day", the anniversary of Nevada's statehood, so the doc's office was closed and everyone enjoyed a day off. Meanwhile, I'm sweating out getting that paperwork out on time. So, I called this morning. i got connected to a voicemail! (By now I was pretty much ready to throw something). So, after work, I went there determined to sit there til tomorrow morning if I had to. But, I finally got to look at the doc's nurse, answer some questions, apologize profusely yet again for this lunacy. She promised me she'd get it done tomorrow and fax it out to the folks who have to bless it in order for me to not go to Lawn and Garden for the next 6 months. 

So, tomorrow is some sort of big shindig with food at work. I decided I should probably bring something. I've gone to those things and taken nothing but my appetite a few times so I figured it was time for me to ante up. Okay, I made a "Harvest Pumpkin Dump Cake". I've never made it before but I'm pretty sure it's going to be out of this world good. You know I had to taste as I went, right? The bottom layer is like pumpkin pie without the crust. Then there's a layer of sweetened cream cheese. And the topping is a combination of dry yellow cake mix, butter, and chopped pecans. I have the BIGGEST urge to cut into that thing here at home tonight. I hope I can resist..............

So, at this point, the cake comes out of the oven and the applesauce comes out of the boiling water bath at exactly the same time. And then, I can begin restoring my kitchen to some sort of sanity and maybe get myself some sort of dinner. 

I hope you had a BLESSED day. And hopefully after much agony and travail, I have managed to get the three big things I HAD to accomplish today taken care of. Let's all keep our fingers crossed! 

I do this every stinkin' time!

I am not going to be able to can my applesauce tonight. I put too darned much water in it when I started it--again. It's been simmering slowly all day and we're getting nowhere fast. I pulled out 97% of the chunks of apple and ran them through the blender. And, so, there's lots of yummy nice applesauce on the bottom part of the pan. But, on the surface and just below, there's too much liquid. I don't want to drink my applesauce--I want to eat it! I even ladled several cups of liquid off the top to put into a smoothie for tomorrow morning. But, alas, it's still too thin. Because I've been watching pots boil or simmer or whatever all day, I have not had a nap. And, I am on my last leg. So, soon, I'll be headed to bed and the applesauce is not going to get canned til tomorrow night. Darn!

It could be worse. I could have somehow totally ruined it. Oh, well. All of my soup cans sealed so I will think about that and celebrate my success. I'm disappointed not to be further ahead today, but...........

At least, the applesauce can be water bath canned and doesn't need to be pressure canned. THAT will go much faster. No standing around for an hour and a half or so gazing at the pressure gauge. Somewhere, there's always a silver lining. It may be hard to find, but if you look, it's there somewhere...........

I have spent a LOT of time on my feet today. The kitchen looks like something exploded in there. I should clean it, but I need to get horizontal. My back is sending out warning signs......... I've taken a Robaxin and that should help, right???

So what am I waiting for?

The jars have been pulled from the fridge. I've added the few additional ingredients that were lacking. The broth is in a pot on the stove ready to warm up. I've retrieved the canner from the garage. Inside of it are all the canning tools. I'm ready to rock and roll. Except for one thing. I have to wait for the jars to warm up to room temperature. If I put hot broth in cold jars, there's likely to be a lot of broken glass on the floor from breaking/exploding jars. So, I wait.

Once this process starts, I am more or less sentenced to be in the kitchen for the entire time. I have to monitor the pressure on the canner. So, maybe that's a bit of the holdup too. I need to get busy though before I spend more money. I spent a little this morning. I went to the Sweet Shoppe Designs Going-Going-Gone sale. I only bought 3 kits for half price but it was an indulgence never-the-less. Indulgences are not on my list of "necessary" expenses.

Alrighty, it's later, a good bit later. the soup is canned and out of the canner and cooling. I won't know if it's yummy or not til tomorrow as the jars are supposed to sit, undisturbed, for 24 hours. It sure looks pretty in the jars though. Right now, it's actually still boiling in the jars. It looks kind of layered with layers of off white (the beans), green (the celery), orange (the carrots), white (the onions), and pinkish (the ham). Pretty presentation. I finally got a brainstorm on the "cold" jars after they'd warmed considerably. I put just a smidge of the hot broth in each jar. Then I went back and put another smidge in each jar. I did that one more time and by then, I figured I wasn't really going to "shock" the jars too much with the hot liquid. I guess you could compare it to "tempering" egg yolks...........

I was afraid the jars had "evacuated" some liquid. The food in the jars cooks under pressure and at high temperatures. If the jars are overfilled, some of whatever is in them will get pushed out in the cooking process. You'll end up with "ugly" water in your pot when it's all over. My water is crystal clear. Good job, me! What had me going was that I could smell it out in the office. Well, I guess that really didn't mean anything after all.

Now I'm working on peeling apples. Many, many apples. Ugh! Eventually, it will be applesauce and it's going to be scrumptious, but, right now, it's a pain in the potutie. This is not a job at which I excel!

And, Parker has discovered he REALLY likes apple! I gave him a first little bite. He is so funny--he sniffs everything before he will take it from your hand, almost as though he thinks you might poison him, LOL. Then he very gently takes it and chews it up. Well, he decided that was pretty tasty. So, he's been doing the Parker version of "begging". I trained the dogs that they weren't to be in the kitchen. The main reason was so that I didn't fall and break a leg. But, for a while I had 3 dogs from 60-100 pounds each, and I have a VERY small kitchen. There just wasn't room for them and me! So, Parker sits in the doorway. The moment I look at him, he stares into my eyes and his tail starts wagging a mile a minute. I'm pretty sure that's Parker-speak for "Give me some more of that!" Or, given that it's Parker, it's more likely to be "Please may I have some more of that". He's pretty well-mannered..........

I am announcing a new arrival. I now have a spider. Well, if you're thinking of the arachnid variety, there are a LOT of those but they (mostly) lurk outside the house. No, a spider to use in cooking. It's like a large, semi-flat metal screen with very wide screening. Imagine, for a moment that I'd already cooked my apples (I wish) and I wanted to put them in the blender to turn chunks of apples into smoother applesauce. I could use this implement to lift a LOT of apples from the pot, as opposed to using a much smaller slotted spoon. I've wanted one of these for a LONG time. Smart and Final sells them, but I didn't want to spend the extra $4 to buy one. Yesterday, I bit the bullet and bought one. I was able to do so because I VERY CAREFULLY controlled myself with regard to what else I bought.

The spider came in handy as I was blanching my celery for the dehydrator. And, boy, was the video I watched ever right! My celery dehydrated in less than half the time and it stayed green! You'd hardly recognize the product of my prior efforts if I put the new and the old next to each other. But, it's amazing how much celery shrinks up when dehydrated. I used five of the outer stalks in the soup and then chopped the rest using my Vidalia Chop WIzard. And I used the larger dice. Then I put the rest on the dehydrator. I had about 5 cups. Now I have about an inch in the bottom of a canning jar. Maybe 1/2 a cup? I'll just have to remember that those tiny little flecks of celery are power packed and NOT measure the same as I would the fresh stuff.

So, that's it for a busy Sunday afternoon. I just had to grab a few minutes and get off my feet! Be BLESSED today!

 

Bedtime is midnight...........

So, I have an hour left............

I have 6 pint jars cleaned and packed with dry beans, carrot, beans, celery, and onion. Also with chopped up ham steak. In the morning, I'll add the seasonings--garlic, and Herbs de Provence. I'll also add a tiny bit of potato flakes to each jar to help thicken the soup. Then in goes some chicken stock that is hot, and everything will go into a barely warm canner. And about an hour and a half later, I'll have about 6 pints of ham and bean soup. I'm thinking of trying this same technique with some chicken and some slightly different seasonings. I think that would be pretty good too.

I bought a rotisserie chicken at the store and ate some of that and called it "dinner". It was darned tasty. I realized that I had not eaten all day! I guess it was time......

So, I went ahead and chopped the rest of the bag of celery and loaded it into the dehydrator. I've learned that it does not pay for me to try to store it for later use. It just spoils in the veggie drawer. If I decide to try a chicken soup using the same technique, I can always use the dehydrated celery. All I have to do is add some hot water to it and it will rehydrate. I chopped leaves and all. Celery leaves will flavor a soup or chicken salad just as well as the celery itself will.

I learned that with most vegetables, you need to parboil them before dehydrating. In a way, that seems to be self-defeating. After all, when you're dehydrating, you're trying to remove water. Why would we want to boil the stuff IN water first? Now, think of the celery like the skin on your face. You might want to give yourself a facial, so you add some steaming hot water to your sink and just let your face steam. It opens the pores and allows you to get the skin super clean. Well, think of the celery as though it were like skin. As I understand it, the parboiling "opens the pores" of the celery, letting the moisture escape more easily. So, my chopped celery was parboiled before it was placed in the dehydrator. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to dehydrate with this extra step. Supposedly, this also allows the celery to rehydrate more easily as well. 

I have some leftover ham. I trimmed it all well when I chopped it up for the soup. So, I do have one whole piece left and I think I will give myself a treat and fry up the ham with some eggs for breakfast. I figure I can use the remaining chopped ham to make myself a "breakfast burrito" for dinner one night. 

I have decided I am going to buy myself an "old fashioned" calculator. I was trying to use the calculator on my phone and the display kept going dark. That was pretty useless!

I also have some silicone gloves in my cart on Amazon. You are always touching hot stuff when you can. And sometimes you have to be able to apply a little torque. That's tough to do with pot holders or even oven mitts. I need something that doesn't slip!

Oh, and I did water outside so that the hedges don't die.

That's as far as I've gotten this evening. I'm gonna clean up the kitchen and I'll start again tomorrow. That sounds like a plan to me! See ya on the flip side.

Home is the shopper, home from the hills (so to speak)

Well, really no hills, but, yes, shopping. Food shopping to be exact. I have several cooking/canning projects on tap for tomorrow and whenever I can get to them. So, I needed a trip to the grocery store. That is STILL something of an adventure. Smart & Final corporate has come in and revamped the store. And whereas pickings were slim before, there is now a vast array of food available, just like a "normal" grocery store. Yes, you can still buy the big stuff. All I can say is someone who works for them is an organizational genius to figure out how to chuck SO MUCH additional stuff into that store. Hey, baby, we've made it to the big time!

I still get lost in there though. It was easier to get lost when they were still setting stuff up and installing more freezer cases, building a full size dairy area, creating a "real" produce area, etc. But, still.......... Today I wandered up and down several aisles several times, looking for evaporated milk. Then I went looking for someone, anyone, stocking shelves. No one in sight which is pretty unusual. I did what I hate to have done to me. I asked a cashier. Young black male. Cute as could be. I asked for "evaporated milk". He wrinkled up his face and asked "Is that in a can?" Well, maybe I should have asked for canned milk, I don't know. Anyway, he led me right to it. It was RIGHT under something else I already had sitting in my cart! I was somewhat embarrassed, laughed at myself and then told him what I'd done. Then I apologized for bothering him. He walked away, calling back over his shoulder "Don't you worry! I got ya!" Sweet kid. Later I checked out with him. When we started the process, I told him "I'm a little old lady. Please don't forget that when you pack those bags." The kid packed everything up and then said "If you don't like the way I packed anything, you just let me know and I'll pack it again." Now THAT's what I call service.

Anyway, on the agenda for tonight is vacuuming, my ever present job. I keep hoping that keeping the dog hair and dust down will help the allergies/breathing. 

I'm also planning on doing all the prep work to can some ham and bean soup tomorrow. There are a number of things I like about it. First, it comes from a cook I trust. Second, she is also a canner I trust (except for her excessive love of pepper and hot sauce, LOL). Third, I don't have to cook anything. Everything will cook in the jars as it cans. The only thing I need to "cook" is to warm up some chicken broth. I think I can handle that, LOL. And when I'm done I shall have about 6 pints of soup or about 12 servings. When I come home from work, all I will need to do is open a jar and either pour it into a saucepan and heat on the stove, or put the jar directly into the microwave. And, there are veggies in it! 

I also got a deal on gala apples. Gala apples are not recommended for applesauce because they are "too sweet". I find that kinda silly because I add some sugar and some cinnamon to my applesauce anyway. So, I figure I got enough for about 12 pints of applesauce. I look forward to that!

I picked up another dozen of pint size canning jars while I was at the store. They were "on sale". It wasn't much of a sale, marked down from $10.99 to $10.09. But I'll take what I can get. For big chunky stuff like will be in the soup, you want wide mouth jars for the ease of getting the stuff out. So, I got wide mouth. Honestly I am considering ONLY using wide mouth from here on out. Of course, I'll reuse my regular mouth jars as they become empty, but I really think I prefer the other. 

I also bought some more potatoes. I am going to try dehydrating them. And I'm going to dehydrate the extra carrots and celery that is left after I make the soup. That way, none will go to waste. I bought the Yukon Gold type potatoes. Just in case the dehydrating doesn't work out, those can up pretty well as long as you leave the skins on. 

I have watched a lot of dehydrating and canning videos in the last few days. I've sure learned a lot. I've also almost come to the conclusion there's something wrong with my dehydrator. I'm watching other folks turn out dehydrated stuff in 6-12 hours and I've NEVER had ANYTHING dehydrate that fast. Some folks even stack 8 or 9 trays deep. I can't even imagine how long that would take with my dehydrator--so much more moisture floating around in there to get rid of......... Most likely it is just that I bought a low wattage dehydrator, not knowing the impact of that. Oh well, live and learn.

I was giggling to myself a few minutes ago, just thinking of all the stuff I've learned in the last year. Think about this:

1) I binge watched desert gardening videos for weeks and weeks.

2) I've binge watched canning and dehydrating videos lately.

3) I've asked more questions of customers about what they are buying in the store than you can imagine. Actually, we're supposed to do that to help "sell" more stuff. Like "do you have drop cloths?" or "Have you tried those new pour spouts for the paint cans?" I don't necessarily ask questions to "sell", more to gain knowledge.

4) I've been participating in a new online Bible study.

5) I've "gone to church" online, spending more time than most Christians will in 5 or 10 years.

Just think of all the knowledge that will go to waste when I shed this earth suit!

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention in my fluorquinolone tirade the other day. Another problem that has cropped up, starting almost immediately after I left the hospital the first time, is issues with my balance. Most of the time I'm pretty good walking in a straight line on a smooth surface. Turning quickly, bending, or walking on an uneven surface is pretty darned scary for me these days. Just another well known floxie symptom.

So, that's it for now.......... Gotta get to choppin' veggies for soup!

Scary stuff.............

I've been doing more research on the fluoroquinolones. Stuff like Cipro and Levaquin. I'm telling you folks, it's scary stuff. No one knows how long the side effects from that junk will last. No one seems to know how best to rid one's body of the stuff. And, they're known to damage a person's DNA as well as the mitochondria. To the extent that symptoms are from changes to DNA/mitochondira, it's probably never going to get better. Connections have been made to damage to the peripheral nervous system, the central nervous system, and the auxiliary nervous system. Folks are reporting damage to the respiratory system, to muscles, to the heart, to tendons. This stuff also attaches itself to brain cells. Lord in Heaven, how did this stuff ever get approved in this country? 

The best that seems to be offered is taking magnesium, which I've been doing for months and months now. The muscle spasms have indeed backed off, but the muscle weakness is still very much there. And it was an immediate onset side effect for me. At first, I attributed it to just general weakness from the pneumonia which had made me ill in the first place. But it has never gone away and if it's any better, it's minimal improvement. If I get down onto the floor to clean something, getting up is a struggle. If I want to climb up onto something to clean, say the top of the fridge, it's quite the task. I end up using arms and shoulders and back a lot to help pull me up from the floor, or up onto the stepstool. My arms are also effected. I used to lift, with some difficulty, I admit, 50 pound bags of dog food. Now I struggle with a 25 pound bottle of water. Getting out of the bathtub is a scary proposition.

I notice that many people are reporting respiratory problems such as asthma. Yes, I had asthma as a child. But, I rarely experienced any problem with it as an adult--usually only when I allowed myself to get extremely upset emotionally. However, guess what? The asthma has reared its ugly head again SINCE THE LEVAQUIN. 

There is potential good news. I don't really know if it's good news or not, but I believe it is. I continue to experience crazy pains, pins and needles, etc. in the peripheral nerves. I suppose, given the stuff I've been reading that what I am experiencing could be nerves continuing to die. However, I just don't think so. But, I'll tell you, whatever it is, it's a crazy-maker. Yesterday, driving home from work, I got 7 intense jabs of pain in my right foot. I could barely keep my foot on the gas pedal. Today I have had pins and needles in both hands and in my arms. And I got 2 very severe jabs on the side of my right foot where the pain the other day was more around the ball of my foot. And I itch something fierce. Right now, I'd gladly take a back scratcher to my upper back and scratch for a very long time. Earlier, the itching sensation was making me crazy from itching in my hands. It's weird because it starts and it stops and moves elsewhere, or so it seems. Right now, in addition to my back itching, it feels like bugs are crawling across the left side of my upper lip! I'm telling you, it's truly strange. 

I really am beginning to think this is related to the Moringa. There are 9 or 10 "essential" amino acids. I learned tonight that so far, scientists do not know of any substance in which all the essential amino acids are present EXCEPT Moringa. And those amino acids are like the building blocks of the body. Look at this schematic:

 

 

Is that amazing? Those are the values for the dried leaf product. If you can eat the leaves when they're picked fresh, the nutrients are much higher. In addition to what's shown above, there are oh so many minerals as well. So, maybe I really AM building a new, healthier bunch of cells. I certainly hope so.

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I hope you've had a BLESSED day.

It helps to have a good payment history..........

If you ran a credit check on me, your hair would probably stand on end. Also, my FICO score reeks. I don't care. FICO scores are used to get credit. I don't want credit. Therefore, the credit check and FICO score are irrelevant to me. I figure the bad stuff that's on there will eventually age off and I'll just sit tight til then! 

BUT, the summer's power bills were mucking with my budget something awful. It is particularly challenging since my big budget catastrophe (totally out of my control) hit early in the summer. That mess is chewing up 15% of my Social Security. OUCH!!!!!!!! 

So, I got a power bill for July amounting to $274.XX. Oh, my lord........... I paid that one, but then I got an idea. Oops! Not a good idea to get an idea! I knew that the power company allows you to pay 1/12th of a budgeted amount per month. I added up all my power bills for a year and came to a total of just a bit under $2000. So, I thought if I paid them $200 a month from then onward, I would be just fine. Well, the next bill came and it was for $234 and I paid $200. The next bill was about the same but with a "late payment penalty" added in. I paid the $200 again, knowing that eventually it would all turn around. Lo and behold, this month's bill arrived and it was for $415!!!!!!!!! I almost upchucked. Turns out $235 of that was a "deposit". So, I called them today. They looked at my history of payments to them and decided I was "a good customer". So, I went through my whole tale of woe with the customer service rep and she was most decent about it. 

First, she waived the deposit. Phew! Then she waived the late payment penalty. Then she told me I could pay as little as $165 a month and be square with them. I'm not sure whether I'll pay the lower amount she offered or if I'll pay the $200 I planned on. Either way, the part of my budget that comes out of SS will still be in the hole every month. But, maybe a more shallow hole if I pay the $165. 

I am thinking now that maybe I should refigure my budget yet again. If so, this will be the 3rd edition, LOL. I'll have to tinker with the numbers for a while and see if what I'm thinking about is workable............

Good news, bad news.........

Here's the good news: I got a call from the bank my mother used. She had marked me as the beneficiary to her account. I will be receiving a check next week. It's not a lot of money by most people's standards. It won't make a down payment on a house. It won't buy me a decent used car. I won't be getting a facelift. I MIGHT be getting decent glasses though because it will pay for an eye exam. And, maybe, it will take a little bit of pressure off.

I don't know whether this is good news or bad news: I think maybe some of the peripheral neuropathy caused by Levaquin is backing off! I am getting amazingly painful stabbing pains in my feet and occasionally in my hands. Now I THINK the nerve endings are regrowing and that would be good news. But, it could conceivably mean nerve endings are dying. That would be bad news. So, something is happening. I don't know how to think about it. I don't suppose I need to know how to think about it. My life, this earth suit of mine, is in God's hands. As long as He knows what's going on, I guess that's good enough. It's called "faith", right? I've asked for healing and I'm going to believe that's what's taking place.

Here's the bad news: I woke up at 3:30AM, barely able to breathe. I dosed myself with the "rescue" inhaler. That didn't do it, so I pulled out the big guns. However, by this morning, it's still not great. By the time I thought my blood oxygen was getting so low that driving would be a challenge, my stomach had already digested breakfast. I can't throw any kind of pill or anything like that into an empty stomach. I know from long experience that it doesn't work for me. Symptoms are untouched and, hours later, after I've eaten, there's relief. And, of course, I'm no longer allowed to eat anything at my register. I DO have some hard candy in my pocket, but that's not solid and won't help with the problem. So, I was forced to come home. I will try to get some rest later, maybe sitting in the chair. I don't rest well there, but maybe a few short catnaps will help.

 

The boom was lowered...........

I am not amused. I guess I'll have to learn to live with it, but I don't like it. The word came down today (in writing and we are all made to sign it) that we can have nothing to drink at our registers but water in clear water bottles. Further we can not eat food/snacks at the registers. I'm not sure, but I think we also received contradictory "orders" with regard to where we are to stand. And, finally, all cell phones are to be on silent and no one is to text or use their phone at the register. Well, the cell phone thing is no big deal to me. I have only once answered mine at work and that was a rather urgent "emergency" situation. Further, I had advised the head cashier that I might get a call and if I did, I HAD to take it. And, I don't have texting on my cell plan, so I don't text. So, no big deal.

The water thing and the food thing--well, those are big deals to me. I don't mind drinking only water at my register. I do that anyway. That's all I've had to drink at my register since I had two dehydration episodes at work early in the summer. I DO mind the "clear water bottles" thing. I HAD a clear water bottle. I trashed it when I got the Yeti look-alike tumblers. The tumblers keep my water cold. The water bottle, though it was supposed to keep my water cold, didn't. So, I don't know what to do about that. I do have knock-off tumblers. I didn't pay $40 for a darn water container. However, whatever I did invest is now down the tubes and THAT irks me. It really does. I'm sure the store's solution would be that I buy plastic bottles of water from them. Good luck getting me to do that! Ain't gonna happen.

As to the food/snack thing, that's going to be a hardship. I work what is called "mids". I start in the morning and I finish up in the afternoon. I have tried eating before work. Even oatmeal doesn't stick with me for that period of time. I basically have to eat by around 8:30AM and according to this edict, I won't have anything to eat til after I get home and have the energy and time to cook something. That is a period of about 8 hours, elapsed time. I think that is going to be very difficult to do. Yes, I do get a break for 15 minutes in the middle there. However, I walk to my van and back and that eats into my 15 minutes. And, with the mouth situation the way it is, I would be hard pressed to chew much of anything in just a few minutes. Even "easy" things like M&Ms have to melt at least partway in my mouth before I can "chew" them and swallow. 

So, what to do? I don't know. I really don't. After the garbage my doctor and I are having to go through to exempt me from working outside in the wind, pollen, and dust and roasting temperatures in the summer and freezing temperatures in the winter, I've about had it with all this. And, really, I feel somewhat "picked on". I was talking to the girl who works most of the time outside. She was telling me she helps out with watering the plants, etc. I, on the other hand, was told that I was NEVER to be more than 10 feet from the register. Why doesn't that apply to her? I dunno. Then there's the guy in tools who spends an hour out of every 5 hours in the bathroom. There's the cashier who told me that she spent her time in Lumber watching her soaps. And there are a raft of young guy they've hired who are ALWAYS mucking with their smart phones. They think they're not seen when they're doing it between the registers, but...........

I did take that garbage paperwork to my Doctor's office yesterday. I tell you, I was downright embarrassed to hand it to them. Could it be more ludicrous? It's over 20 pages. It applies, in large part, to someone making a disability claim. That has nothing to do with what I'm asking for which is just to not have to go work outside. The reason for this? They tell me to go out there to relieve someone for break. That's 15 minutes. 2.5 hours later, I leave for the day and the next day I'm sucking on the nebulizer and shortly thereafter I have pneumonia and lose 2 weeks pay.

Anyway, I don't think I've often seen anyone's eyes get SO BIG as that poor girl at the doc's office. I apologized profusely. I didn't even have the guts to tell her we'd have to do it all again in 6 months...........

So, that's my tale of anger and woe for the day. Later, maybe.

Doing "Mock" Swiss Steak "right"!

Yes, I made "mock" Swiss Steak last night. But, I didn't have any potatoes so I couldn't make mashed potatoes. And, as far as I know, that is the "right" way to do Swiss Steak. So, today, while I was running errands, one of my errands took me to Trader Joe's. And, guess what they sell there? Yeah, potatoes! So I got a little 3 pound bag. And tonight I made mashed potatoes to go with one of my leftover servings of Swiss Steak. Oh, my stars, is that ever GOOD eats! I am usually pretty proud of the fact that I've lost a lot of weight, but, honestly, tonight I think I'd be happy if my tummy were just a little bit bigger, just so I could eat more of this stuff! Wow! As it is, Parker got the little bit that was left on my plate and he seems pretty happy about it. And, as an added bonus, I have enough leftover mashed potatoes to make some potato pancakes for dinner later in the week. 

I went and got my hair cut. I'm not at all sure about that. To me it doesn't look like a good cut at all, but maybe it'll be okay after I work with it. There was one stylist there who I've used before and who does a decent cut. However, she was running out to a "meeting" and my choice was to wait 1.5 to 2 hours for her to return or to use the newbie. I went with the newbie because who wants to sit around Supercuts for 2 hours? Not me! 

As I was cutting up the potatoes for the mashed potatoes, I was thinking about my mother. She had a horrible habit of criticizing everyone behind their back. So many people thought she was such a wonderful person, but their opinion would have changed instantly if they had heard what she said about them behind their backs. I, on the other hand, try really hard to keep my negative thoughts to myself. If I sense something negative about someone else, that is something I should talk to the Lord about, not some other person. A factual description of a situation is something else. That's one thing. It's even reasonable and recommended to tell the other person how their actions or lack of action makes a person feel. But, even so, it MAY create hard feelings and if possible should be the subject of prayer, not conversation. At least, that's my opinion.

I will give you a very mild instance of what I am talking about and, believe it or not, it relates to mashed potatoes, which is probably what brought it to mind. I remember her criticizing someone because (and you have to read this in your snarkiest voice) they "just had to cut their potatoes up so small". Well, as if that was worthy of comment at all! But, sadder still is that the person cutting her potatoes small probably knew they cook faster when they're cut up smaller. She was a woman who had worked outside the home most of her life and she probably learned to do that in order to get things done more quickly and get supper on the table "on time". My mother, on the other hand, worked outside the home very little. When I was a kid, she worked part time, first at a drugstore and later at a little corner market. And, when she was much older, she managed a church day care for a couple of years. Other than that she was home and if she cut her potatoes into large chunks and they took 45 minutes to cook it was no big deal. In reality, the comment was made in ignorance, and, most likely, to make herself feel better about the way SHE did it, i.e., pride. But, did the comment need to be made at all? Of what importance, REALLY, is the size into which one cuts potatoes to make mashed potatoes? Of no importance at all! 

I grew up around 2 extremely critical people. In particular, I remember the criticism of various church members which occurred in the car on the way home from church! I used to describe it as driving home with the smell of "roast Christian" in the car............ This is part of what turned me off to "Christianity". If that was Christianity, I reasoned, I didn't want any part of it. Later, of course, I figured out I wasn't supposed to be looking at their behavior and attitudes. Instead I should be modeling myself after Christ. But it took me about 20 years to work my way through that process............ As a teenager, I figured Christ jumped out of the car at the first stop light, just to get away from what was said, LOL.

So that is my musing for tonight. There is still much to do before bedtime. I just hope (and pray) that I can actually go to sleep tonight when I go to bed............ But, at least my next stint at work is just 3 days.