My Weblog

Bad News............

This inventorying process takes a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time. I've finished going through everything that was in the inside freezer. And I've made a discovery. Sometime soon I am going to have to sand down the back wall of the freezer and paint it. For some unknown reason, the paint is flaking off. Little paint flakes were all over the floor of the freezer. I noticed this the last time I went through it, but it's gotten far worse since then. I can't do it right away because I have no place to put what's in there so it doesn't spoil. But, I'd sure like to get it done before the bare metal rusts. I'd say at this point about 1/4 of the surface of that wall is bare. The other walls are plastic so not in danger.

Of course, the fridge is old. I bought it used back in '98. But it still works okay and I happen to know that new fridges are costly. Last night as I was laboring on cleaning the fridge, I thought fondly of a fridge I drooled over in the store. They had it set up in all its stainless steel beauty right inside the entrance. And, it was marked down substantially because of a sale. But the retail price was still $1000. However, it was one of those with the fridge on top with double doors and the freezer on the bottom. Yup, I drooled, but, thank God, I just kept walking away........... Besides, I think I would want an LG. Joe and I bought a new LG washer and LG dryer in 2006. Twelve years later they're still going strong...........

Just heavenly...........

And so simple. Until today, I've been eating the low-cal version of Haluski. (That's a little bit tongue in cheek, by the way.) A little olive oil in a hot pan, carmelize some onions, throw in some chopped cabbage (smaller than a quarter head of cabbage, not teeny tiny like cole slaw). While the cabbage and onions are browning, cook some egg noodles. When the noodles are cooked and the onions and cabbage have some color on them, you can drain the noodles and mix with the cabbage onion combo. Some folks add some garlic powder. Also salt and pepper to taste. Serve it up and it will taste good enough to really enjoy.

However, if you want to kick it up a notch, add a good dollop of sour cream to your serving and stir in. It'll knock your socks off. Today, I really haven't eaten all day. I was getting shaky so I decided I could get away with the sour cream. It is SO GOOD. Excuse me, I'm going back for seconds........

One heckuva gym...........

So, my great adventure for yesterday was scrubbing out the inside of the fridge for hours. And with all that, I didn't even get it to the level of cleanliness for which I was aiming. However, it was some kinda workout. I went to bed less than 5 hours ago and I've been up for about an hour. I had no intention of getting up this early and I'm sure I'll wander back in there and try again soon.

However, I am sore, sore, sore. And, yes, I've been awakened twice with charley horses in my feet. THAT is one way to get me out of bed really early and NOT a pleasant way either. I knew I was using my thigh, back, and butt muscles a lot with the reaching, lifting, bending, and scrubbing. There is a muscle that attaches somewhere around the shoulder and runs down the back of the upper arm. I think that muscle is attesting to the fact I really did scrub. I am pretty surprised that even the muscles under my b**bs are sore! See, I TOLD you I really worked long and hard on those dried on spills.........So, I've taken another muscle relaxer AND some ibuprofen for the soreness and inflammation. Unless the ibuprofen does more than usual, or God intervenes, it will most likely get worse before it gets better.

In a way I'm grateful for the charley horses. I have learned to view spasms in small muscles as warnings for the moment we graduate to spasms in bigger muscles. And, being forewarned is being forearmed.

All of this adverse muscle stuff is kind of surprising me. Not the workout-related stuff, but the random muscle spasms. I've been taking my potassium and magnesium supplements. Those are supposed to take care of these things. Somewhere there is a key to this stuff but I don't have a clue what it is............

So, that's it for now. I'm cold and tired and I know where I can find a warm, comfy bed.............

Cleaning hurts............

I have spent, literally, hours cleaning my fridge. I told myself when I started that I wanted it clean enough to sell. No, not planning on selling it. But, I'd be embarrassed to sell it if it weren't sparkling.

Well, I've since come to my senses. Pulling out the veggie drawers on the bottom, putting them back in, emptying each of the next two shelves, scrubbing down the shelves and the walls, and putting the good stuff back into the fridge and getting rid of the science experiments................Ooph! This is not easy when you have symptoms of muscle problems in your legs and back. Part way through I got more sensible (about the time the muscles in my thighs started quaking) and pulled a stepstool over to sit on. It was a great idea but for one thing. It required that I get myself lowered down to the stepstool and then get back up from it. That was a lot harder than you might think.

In order to limit my getting down and trying to get back up again, I filled a big bowl with soapy water and sat it in front of the fridge next to the stool. (I sure didn't want to have to go back to the sink multiple times to rinse my sponge.) And I didn't pick it back up til after I was finally standing again. BUT, to get back up, I had to pull a chair over to the stool to help pull myself up. I had tried moving myself around on the stool, attempting to get up from various positions. I couldn't do it. My muscles, what muscles I have, were all used up.

So, I've ended up doing some laundry today, making multiple trips outside with the trash and recycling, cleaning all the science experiment containers and loading the dishwasher and just generally staying on the move. I will still inventory and organize the freezer above the fridge and pull the plug on the freezer in the garage before I go to bed (I hope). It can start the defrosting process while I sleep. IF there's enough left of me, I'll start offloading the contents of the garage freezer into insulating containers before bedtime. We'll see if that happens..........Absolutely no promises.

I've learned a trick or two along the way. Frequently I will fill ziplock bags and put them into the fridge til the next day/evening when I take them out to the freezer in the garage. Well, from now on, I will be putting those ziplock bags into something before they go into the fridge. I have a mess on the second shelf of the fridge that I've worked on for over 40 minutes. I even had a giant jar of mayonnaise stuck to the darn shelf! I managed, finally, to get that jar loose and the shelf is better, but it sure isn't "sparkling". I am convinced something in ziplock bags leaked in there. So, I did put some bags back in there for now, but those ziplock bags are in a cake pan. If they leak, they'll leak in the pan...........I am thinking that the next time I go to Smart & Final (which is a combo restaurant supply/grocery store), I will look for something else to use for this. Maybe some of those disposable aluminum foil pans. Not that I'll use them once and dispose of them. No, I'll wash them up and reuse them til they are unusable and then get another one from my stash or the store. Or, maybe I can find some sort of Tupperware that will work?

Anyway. I'm going to play it smart and take a muscle relaxer before I go to bed. AND, if I wake up tomorrow all crippled up, at least I will know why!

Recovery complete?

Seems like it is. Of course, it's morning and I haven't been too active yet this morning. I wonder how it will seem once I've worked my way down through my to do list for the day. Well, we'll have to be patient and wait and see.

I went to work yesterday. By that time I was in the "limp a little faster" mode. I still couldn't take normal strides, just something better than baby steps holding onto furniture and walls. I stayed 5.5 hours, leaving half an hour early. I sat for about 4 hours in Lumber which was a blessing, but the last 1.5 hours I stood. That standing did me in.

More and more customers are learning that when they come check out in Lumber, there are shorter lines. So, it was not busy, but it wasn't all peace and quiet either. I had pleasant customers the whole day for which I was grateful.

I had to go to the pharmacy on the way home. So grateful for the drive thru window! I really do need to go inside the store soon--I need some cough drops. But, yesterday was not the day for that. Holy mackerel! I picked up a 3-month supply of just two meds and it set me back $158.03! Phew! December has been a pricey month!

In theory, staffing is going to break loose at work come February. I do hope that's true. Funny story (or maybe it's one of those "you had to be there" stories): There is one older gentleman (retired) who works part time in the front end. HE works in Customer Service most of the time (where the older ladies don't go). Customer Service is supposed to be a REAL challenge. Well, one day last week, he was on the register I refer to as "the refrigerator" the whole day. I know I've mentioned before that that is the busiest register in the place. Well, he ended up there all day and he had one of those "the Marci show" days, where there is no relief to be had and they never open a second register. He was telling me, complaining a bit, that he had no idea how really busy that register is. How everytime he looked up there was a line of people waiting to be helped. I just had to giggle (inwardly, of course). I wonder how he'd like a steady diet of that!

I have 3 days "off" in a row. I'm really going to try to make the most of these 3 days. I have been planning for about two weeks now that the freezer WILL BE defrosted and inventoried during this time period. Yes, IT WILL. I want to have a solid idea of everything that's in there. I want to be able to prioritize what I need to use because it's been in there long enough.

Once I've gone through the freezer, I will be canning. I only have 9 empty pint jars, but I plan on filling them with 10-11 pounds of ground beef. That will reduce my stash of frozen ground beef to around 5-8 pounds. I may decide to go buy another dozen empty jars once I get an inventory of what's in there. You know, I mean for things to go in there temporarily and then cycle into the canner...........Sometimes those plans don't work out so well because I'm just short of jars. And it's not easy to work another $10-12 for a dozen jars into my grocery budget. However, those jars really are a "capital investment" like a bulldozer would be a "capital investment" to a real estate developer. And having the food in jars extends the life of the food by about 2 more years. That's a worthwhile endeavor. One truly wonderful thing about having canned food on the shelf is that you don't have to remember to defrost it! And, when you don't remember to defrost it, it just ages in the freezer. Not good!

Laundry is pretty well cleaned up. About the only way I could come up with a load is to combine the light colored clothes and the whites. I suppose I could do that. We'll see how the rest of the day goes.........

I pulled out the notebook for 2019's Bullet Journal. I am behind in getting that set up. I waffled about just keeping on with the old journal from 2017/2018, but I feel like that one is getting pretty beat up. It's starting to look nasty. So, I will reward myself with the new one which I bought months ago.

So that's it for now.

Today I need a walker.............

I have muscle problems in my upper left thigh, all the way up to the groin. In a milder form, all the way down to the knee........... It's not absolutely terrible when I stand still, but it threatens to buckle when I walk. And, of course, it hurts whenever I move it whether I'm trying to walk or just sitting and trying to change positions. If you ask me why, I have to give you the usual answer: "Because I'm alive." However, I did kinda sit cross-legged (modified for creaky knees) on the floor while visiting the kids yesterday. Maybe I did something then? It doesn't take much. It could just as easily have happened in my sleep........... In any case, the idea of trying to stand on it for 6 hours or walk to Lumber and back 2 or 3 times or even walk to the store from the van..........Well, that's not going to work. IF I behave myself, there's a good chance I'll be able to go to work day after tomorrow as scheduled. But today just doesn't seem like a good idea. I've "called out" as they say at the store. Note: two trips to Lumber and two trips outside for breaks bring me to 2 miles worth of walking on any given day.

I really don't know what to do for it. I hate to do muscle relaxers. Even the non-narcotic ones kinda make me "dull". And I hate to challenge my liver with a dose of ibuprofen. Maybe I'll go get the heating pad and try that..........

Do you suppose I could use the vacuum cleaner? Would it help to hold me upright like a walker or is that wishful thinking? For the moment, neck, shoulders & back are behaving and, but for the leg, it would be a good day to vacuum. Perhaps this calls for an experiment..........

I wrote all that this morning. I have berated myself all day for not going to work. However, as I suspected, it has just gotten worse throughout the day. That muscle in the left thigh is still hurting. And now, the right calf muscles have joined in. I figure that has to be some sort of response to being used differently because of the left thigh thing. And, I went out and stood about 25 minutes making myself some dinner. By the time I finished that, the pain had spread up into my left hip. Ugh!

So, I have finally resorted to taking a muscle relaxer. I'm pretty sure that will make a difference. I may have screwed up in that I took the non-narcotic/less effective one. We'll see.........Anyway, what I'm thinking now is that it's a really good thing I didn't try to go to work today. Can you imagine if I'd had to ask to go home after standing behind a register only 25 minutes? Of course, even that assumes I could have made it in from the van.......... Nope, I guess I did the right thing.

 

 

I got to see them!

I did have the tires checked. Yes, indeed, at least two of them were pretty low. No more tire pressure warning light today. We'll see what happens over the next few days. I'll keep an eye on it knowing that there is such a thing as a "slow leak". I did not take time to have the brakes checked. That will have to be deferred til Friday.

I got to see the two littles. There was an added bonus--the oldest was also in town and hangin' with the littles. So I was mightily surprised and mightily pleased that I got to see him. Apparently he drove into town while his brother & sister flew in. He is staying with "a friend" and came into town to update the registration on his car and accomplish a few other tasks. Frankly, I don't care a whole lot WHY he's here, just thrilled to see him.

Second son, the middle child, has grown. Now I know that all children grow over an 8-month period. However, this is the kid who had to have his Celiac disease diagnosed by his grandmother, AHEM. Once his mother ceased breast feeding him, he continually lost ground until he completely fell off the doc's growth charts. He wore the same size clothes for months and months and months, something some of us with tight budgets might have wished for back in the day, but something that is totally scary when it happens. However, I swear he's picked up at least a couple of inches since I last saw him at Easter. Believe me, it's a thing to celebrate. It's not likely he'll ever play pro basketball, but he's somewhere in the ballpark for a 12 year old.

Little sister is turning into a beauty. To my eyes, of course, she's always been the prettiest little girl around, but I'm pretty sure other folks besides just her Grandma think so now. A lot of times when I've seen her, her hair has been pretty messy. I noticed today that it's recently been cut into a chin length bob and she had it very nicely combed. Yes, she's growing up too. This child has absolutely gorgeous skin!

In the past I noticed that all 3 of them tended to speak VERY softly. True, I hear a little less well than I used to, but not THAT bad. The oldest seemed to talk to the floor most of the time and neither of the other two ever heard the word "emote". I noticed that the oldest is now projecting his voice better and seems to have decided the floor has had enough benefit from his conversation. #2 is also doing a little better. But my sweet DGD seems not to move her lips or teeth when she speaks. Whatever voice she had behind the words gets muffled trying to get past the teeth, it seems.

So, the oldest will be starting some college classes in January. I hope he applies himself. He is certainly capable of doing excellent work if he does. Second son is in 6th grade this year. The schools in his area limit "middle school" to 7th & 8th grade so he is still in the same school as little sister who is in 4th grade. I asked the oldest what he's been doing. Apparently he's been pressed into service taking care of his brother & sister when they get out of school in the afternoons. If I were his Mom, I might have encouraged him to get a job of some kind. But, he's had some time to himself, time to grow up a bit and that may be helpful. Also, I think the little guys missed him a lot during the time they were in CA and he stayed here. I can see that now he is more involved with them and that's a good thing to see. For example, I watched him today checking/fixing his little sister's hair...........a pretty grown-up thing for a young man to do.

I had one more surprise. Do you remember that after my mother's death last year, I inquired as to a certain ring she had? She had worn her engagement ring through and elected to have the diamond reset. Along the way somewhere, she acquired some additional diamonds. It now looks like a cube set on point. I kind of doubt any of the diamonds are "good" diamonds, but that's really not relevant. At the time, I just wanted to be sure my daughter had the ring. I didn't receive it but maybe she had it. I just knew my mother would have wanted one of us to have it. As a result of my inquiry, my daughter decided to "give" me the ring. She had it shipped. However, to my knowledge it never arrived. A different big box arrived, but not the small box containing the ring. The big box was actually stuff for DGS1 but I was told it was stuff for me which had me completely mystified. I never saw hide nor hair of any other box. I also never inquired again as I had the feeling the motivation behind my original inquiry, although explained at the time I asked, apparently was questionable in the mind of my offspring.

As I started to leave today, son-in-law's new lady reminded oldest DGS that there was a small box for me in the garage. Somewhere along the way it had been opened. On the very top of the box was a small box and in it was my mother's ring. How it got to son-in-law's house, I do not know. However, I'm very glad it's been accounted for one way or another.

So, that was the bulk of my afternoon and it certainly helped make a Christmas memory or two for me. I work tomorrow so I'm winding down for the day now.

Merry Christmas, everyone.......

Not a lot of merriment here. I cracked a coupla jokes but I just couldn't get Parker to respond. But, it's been a lovely quiet day so you won't hear me complain. Well, actually, I might complain about that messy cook that came to my house again...........But I had plenty of time to tell the Lord how grateful I am for Christ's birth and sacrifice which is what it's all about for me.

I finally made my turkey pot pie (you know, the stuff you call turkey and noodles or turkey and dumplings). The jar has been sitting in a place of prominence on my kitchen counter for 5 weeks. I made those 5 weeks pay off--in the meantime I watched a video on how to make PA dutch pot pie. Don't get me wrong--I know how to make potpie. I've been making it most of my adult life. However, I thought I might pick up some fine points from the video. As a result, I increased the amount of baking soda in my dough and my "dumplings" rose more than usual. I like that.

Anyway, I am full and happy. It was a good dinner. I have 7 or 8 meals to freeze. They're all packaged up and ready for the freezer it's just that I forgot my count.

Tomorrow I get to see the kids. Just the two younger ones, but that's always a treat. But, first, I need to take care of some car stuff. It is possible to go to my son-in-law's house on surface streets, but there's bazillion traffic lights between here and there as well as bazillion cars. It makes more sense to drive the freeway, but not with the tire pressure light on! So, I have to go have the tires checked out. And I'm going to swing by the place that did my brakes and ask them to figure out why my ABS and brake light keep coming on. As far as the tires, I am hoping my boss is right that a tire is registering low just because of our changing weather. My hope for the brakes is that there's some sort of preset brake warning light that comes on after X number of miles. In theory that should have somehow been reset when I had the brakes done. We'll see how all this goes.

I bought gift cards for the kids. I even bought one for their mother! And I ordered something from Amazon for the ex-son-in-law and his new lady as well as the kids. These people LOVE to read. I see photos of them and at least half the time, they all have their noses in a book. I think that's SO good. I found a big jigsaw puzzle that looks like an old time book shop or maybe a much loved personal "library". I figured the photo fit them perfectly and it was something they could all work on together. The kids tend to sit around and watch TV and work on Lego projects. It might be an entertaining change of pace for them. This is the puzzle I ordered for them:

playing with paint..........

Have you seen those gorgeous pieces of art work people are showing off every now and then on Facebook? Just big abstract designs of color on color....... I have drooled over those things for months. I am not particularly wild about floral patterns. I love stripes or plaids or even geometrics.  And I love bright colors. Those pieces are right up my alley. One of my favorite things is to watch the colors "play" with each other...........

Yesterday I had a customer buying floetrol. It's a paint additive that's supposed to make paint go on smoother. I learned that a good while back from a home dec blog I used to follow. I always look for a way to start a conversation with my customers, so I asked the lady what she was painting. She got a kind of sheepish look on her face and said she was making artwork with poured paint. I asked her how she learned and she said "youtube", my favorite teacher. It didn't take her long to figure out how interested I am........

I had always figured this type of work would have some artsy fartsy name. In that I didn't know the artsy fartsy name, I didn't know what to look for when searching youtube. Imagine my surprise when she suggested I just search with "pouring paint". Hey! It worked!

I am still totally fascinated by what I am seeing. I found a lady from The Netherlands (who speaks amazing English) who does this stuff and makes instructional videos. I am glad it's 10PM on Christmas Eve. That means Michaels and Hobby Lobby are closed and I can't run out and spend money I can't afford to spend to buy supplies. I have a sneaking suspicion this would be a pricey hobby. And I am sure I'd be addicted to doing it if I ever started. I guess I'd better not start............ But wow! The lady from The Netherlands even has the same taste in paint--we are kindred souls. It's very hard to resist..........

So, I have a pretty good idea of what is needed to make some of these pieces. Sadly, I probably won't ever be able to do it. But it sure is fun watching someone else create such amazing stuff with some paint, a few other additives, some canvases and some plastic cups. If you're curious, the lady I've found is on youtube, of course, and the name of her channel is Annemarie Ridderhof. Just enter that in the search bar on the youtube home page.

Making flavored coffee creamer

I'm back on this kick. For a while I was just adding some Torani or Monin syrup to my cup. But, I had no idea how much would be enough and what if I added too much?

I swore off the storebought stuff quite some time ago. I checked the labels for both the liquid and the powdered stuff and it contains hydrogenated oils. I avoid that stuff like the plague it is!

But, I still love a little extra flavor in my coffee...........

So, here's what I've been doing: 1 can of sweetened condensed milk and 1 3/4 cups of half and half. (Original recipe says you can use milk, but I don't hold milk in coffee to be fit to drink.) THen for flavoring.

Torani and Monin syrups here. If you're not familiar with them, this is how bartenders make those fancy flavored drinks. I buy them at Smart & Final. Check your store, or buy flavored "extracts". If you're using the syrups, try 1/3 cup added to the above mixture. I like the flavor a little stronger and the cup is bigger so I find I like 1/2 cup per mixture. Then just shake, shake, shake, or stir til you're tired and pour into a container (I use a 1 qt Mason jar). Remember to give it a little shake each time you add it to your cup.

So far, with the syrup, I've made Irish Cream flavored creamer, and Peppermint. I also skipped the syrup and added about 3 Tbs of Almond extract to the condensed milk/half & half mixture. The recipe I found for the Almond creamer said 2 TBS, but, once again, I found I needed a bit more flavor.

Next up, I'm going to do Coconut syrup in a batch.

There are probably 30 different syrup flavors. Some of them curdle milk--orange and raspberry do this in my experience. I haven't tried those two flavors in this mixture yet, but it occurs to me that sugar is a preservative (think jelly/jam). I suppose it's possible that it might not curdle with the sweetened condensed milk in there.

I enjoyed the two I made with the syrups. However, so far, the almond takes the prize. Just thought I'd share...........