My Weblog

I've lost another one............

Every time this happens, I feel it. I've lost another long time client. Truthfully, by now, all of my clients are long timers. I think I have two clients under 50. And both of them have been my clients between 20 to 30 years. This lady, however, was special to me. When I first started working with her, she and her husband were relatively wealthy. They had owned property in Hawaii which had been sold for "a pretty penny". And had come to Vegas and purchased a lovely, large home in an excellent neighborhood. Her husband began buying cars, sometimes 3 a year. When the cash got short, he mortgaged and remortgaged the house. He was buying new cars which, of course were worth much less when traded in 6 or 8 months later. So, the mortgage on their home kept going up and up. My client was a sweet little Japanese lady of a certain age, the age where a woman was taught from an early age that the man ruled the house. I tried to talk to her about it. I could see it was making a mess of their finances. She knew that to be the truth but just didn't seem to have it in her to put a stop to it. Finally, the payments on the home mortgage became more than could be managed. Incidentally, he became more and more of a loose cannon. He was obviously experiencing some sort of dementia. One day he went to the grocery store with her. The store they were at had a branch bank in it. He took a firearm with him and began to show it off to fellow shoppers who were more scared than impressed. The police came and told her either she must do something with him or they would have to. She had no idea what she could do with him. The last I heard, the police took him into custody and I'd have to guess the state of Nevada housed him somewhere under close supervision for the rest of his life. I doubt he ever faced charges for brandishing the gun in the supermarket, but if he had, he surely would not have been well enough to face trial............

She was left with nothing. The home was sold and she got pretty much nothing from the sale. At the age of 74, she got a job in the mailroom at Citibank and supported herself with that income plus her Social Security and the rent on the one piece of Hawaiian property that had not been sold. It was, fortunately, titled in her name alone so he could not mess with it. Finally she got enough together to get a small home and moved in. All this happened close to 20 years ago. In spite of it all, she took care of herself another 20 years.

She was a refined lady with some degree of education. Before the age of computerized accounting, she could have been hired as a bookkeeper and made her employer proud. She always took care of herself and looked as good as a lady of her age possibly could. Just this last year, she was having mobility problems and in November, apparently she passed. I was something of a confidant for her. I listened, I advised, I cared. She impressed me in many ways. I will miss her.

Do you remember

I told you my back felt "off" before I went to work day before yesterday? Well, here we go again. I've stretched out the muscles as best I can. A couple of times I've felt it "pop". However, now it just aches. I am so very tired of this...............

Fear slows progress

I didn't actually start on those shelf units til last night. Here's the deal. All the actual shelves are glass. The back wall of the units is mirrors. When they are clean, they sparkle and look clean. Additionally, a lot of what's displayed on those shelves is crystal/glassware. That too looks sparkly and beautiful when it's clean, but not so much when the dust settles on it. These days I am probably only about 5'4" (we all shrink as we age). I cannot stand at ground level and clean the top shelf or wash the mirror behind that shelf. I could remove the top shelf to clean it, but, in my mind, that option contains a LOT of potential for disaster. And, even if I did that, I'd still have the mirror problem.

The only real solution is to climb onto something to get the job done. The hitch in that is that my legs don't support climbing very well. Even if the legs worked better, balance is a problem. Among my fears was the thought that I couldn't climb. OR, I could climb if I had something to grab onto but I might grab the "wrong" thing. I was concerned that grasping onto a glass shelf could be a problem. Even worse might be grasping onto a glass door. What if I broke the door, somehow shattered the glass. Or, what if by grabbing onto the door, I somehow tipped the whole unit over. I would be injured and many things would be shattered.

So, pondering my options was necessary. I finally shoved as much heavy stuff into the bottoms as I could find. This, I decided would help stabilize each unit. And, I figured out if I could just raise myself a few inches with leg power, I'd be able to grasp the wooden top of the unit. Once I finally got all that figured out, there was just one more fear to deal with--the fear my legs wouldn't be strong enough to lift me that few inches. Honestly, I think, if that turned out to be the case, I just didn't want to know.

Finally I had to figure out how best to clean the contents of those units. I didn't feel like a simple wipe down would do the trick. So, I'm giving the dishwasher a shot at 90% of the stuff. That will get everything clean and make this whole exercise worthwhile.

I did attempt to get Roomie going yesterday. She ran off and, I think, wedged herself under the king sized bed in the Master Bedroom. I've searched throughout the house and couldn't find her, so that's where I think she is. There's not much light in there, even if i turn on all the lights in there, so, I will have to organize a search for her today, during the daylight. Worse comes to worse, I've tracked down the flashlight. Hopefully, whatever she's gotten herself into, I can push her out with a broom handle or something of the sort. I really need to boost the bed up higher, but how would I lift it?

Home again

Well, I had 6 days off in a row. I only had 3 days of holiday hours to use, but some unknown angel at corporate (I presume) arranged to get me 3 days off before the 3 days of holiday hours. Then I worked yesterday. About 4 and 1/4 hours into the shift I was offered an early out and I took it. Honestly, my back had been iffy before I even left for work and 4 hours on my feet on concrete floors was enough for me. It was go home or take a pain pill and worry about the potential long term liver damage and headache later. I came home.

Anyway, today is day one of a 2-day weekend for me. I work Sunday...........hopefully in Lumber...........

I signed up for a free trial of something called AcornTV. It's like Netflix but appears to be all based on BBC TV shows. I don't know if you're familiar with British TV but their "seasons" are way different from ours. Right now I'm watching "season 5". Each season has about 6 1-hour episodes. Anyway, I'm watching a police show called "Line of Duty". This show has more twists of the plot line than anything I've ever seen on US TV. I am somewhat spellbound. Can you imagine--approximately 30 hours of cop-story TV and not even one flash of a nude female or an exotic nightclub? Yeah, that's kinda why I like it............Anyway, if I decide to stick with it a while, it's only $5.99 a month, less than half the Netflix cost. Seems well worth it by now. It's gotten so that on Netflix I'm leery of most everything but Documentaries about WWII and related or documentaries done by Ken Burns, or old movies.

I worked hard during my time off. I accomplished a lot. The kitchen, dining room, and living room no longer look like a crazy person lives here. The dining room and living room could both do with a thorough dusting. That would mean taking everything off of 5 shelf units, dusting the stuff, and cleaning the shelves, the glass doors, and the interior mirrors. I will be working on that today and tomorrow. I'm still working on budget stuff, but I made a lot of progress with that too.

I've carried loads of trash out and carried in loads of dog food and groceries. This past week was Smith's every-once-in-a-while case lot sale. I did get cases of canned tomatoes and evaporated milk. One of the nice things about these sales is they give you the case lot per can price on less than a case quantity. In other words, if it's a case of 24 cans at $12, you can buy 2 or 3 cans for $.50 each. I got a bunch of cans of tomato and mushroom soup. I also got some Spam (don't laugh, I actually like the stuff fried.), some condensed milk, and so on. My big challenge right now is where to put it all. I figure, considering my canned food and my store bought food I could live pretty well for quite a while. The big problem in case of a disaster would be medication. When insurance provides only so much at a time, a stockpile is tough to do. At this time of year, heat would be a problem. In the summer, I would have to spend my days at the public library or a shopping mall where there's a/c. God knows where I'd spend my nights........

So, I need to get back to it. Hope all is well with you.

 

 

It was my mess and I took care of it............

A few weeks ago I canned some potato soup. It was actually more like a potato pre-soup or soup base. Potato soup requires milk or cream. (You can't safely process milk products in a canner.) I figured I'd just make it and add the milk or cream later when I heated it up, no problem. I even very carefully thickened the soup with potato flakes because you also cannot can grain products. Anyway it tasted delicious so I jarred it up and patted myself on the back.

Not too long after, I decided some potato soup would just hit the spot on a cold night after work. I poured a jar of soup into a small saucepan and heated it up, added some milk, and tasted it. It did NOT taste good. My fault entirely--I forgot another "rule" of canning. Any spice in food will be amplified in the canning process. And, yes, you can have too much of a good thing. Well, silly me. I had added some Herbs de Provence to the soup base. Because I needed to eat something, I choked some of it down and then I gave the remainder to the dog. He thought it was just wonderful.

Well, the sad thing was that I had 7 more jars of that stuff. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away--I paid good money for the ingredients and worked to get that soup all put together and all preserved. However, I also couldn't bring myself to eat it. What to do?

I puzzled over that dilemma for several weeks. Today I took the problem on. I grabbed a jar of the nasty soup base, a jar of previously canned potatoes, and a jar of chicken broth and headed to the kitchen. I emptied the three jars into a pot, added a dollop of butter, some additional dehydrated onions, some "green powder" (just to add a bit more nutrition), and some milk. I heated it up, dished it up, garnished it with some Mexican blend shredded cheese, and chowed down. It was just fine. Parker isn't going to get any more of this soup. I fixed it.

Back to work?

After several days off, yes, I did work today. However, that was the bad news. The good news is I now have another 6 days off. That is due, in part, to a sympathetic somebody in North Carolina or possibly having a different Assistant Manager handling schedules here in the store (and the guy likes me!). I have 3 days off the schedule followed by 3 days of Holiday time. Of course, all of this Holiday and Vacation time is only paid at the rate of 4 hours a day and the days off the schedule are not paid at all.........Nevertheless, my laundry is pretty much caught up, my budget is in better shape than it was, my kitchen looks better than it has in forever, and tomorrow I tear into the dining room. I should note that I've also been chipping away at the clutter on the dining room table, so I have a head start on that room.

I have 5 days to devote to the house. The 6th day is the closest I will come to a "leisure" activity. I am having lunch with a young lady from work, and after lunch, we are going to can some pepper jam. She says her grandma has been saying she'd LOVE some pepper jam, so we're going to work together to make her grandma happy. It would be an over the top blessing if I got a canning buddy out of this. This is the young lady who is our part time head cashier. A small thank you for how often she sends me to Lumber where I get to sit down. Her kindness does not go unnoticed.

I am as sore as though I'd had an angry encounter with a sumo wrestler. My back, my ankles, my legs, and even my hips are getting in on it. My back was painful when I started my shift and my spine was all twisted up. I think it's all back in place now, but each "pop" hurt like the dickens and then there's the residual soreness.

We have a male head cashier who is a master baker. He enjoys it and he brings the fruits of his labors into the store. Today he brought in the best brownies I've ever eaten. The man really needs to open a bakery shop and forget all this "workin' for the man" stuff. And when, if, he ever opens that shop, I hope to heaven I can scrape up enough money to own a few shares in it. I'll take my dividends in baked goods and get fat in my old age. I am not kidding--the guy is that good.

Well, it's late and I'm going to take this achy old body to bed. I hope I feel better tomorrow when I get up. I've taken a couple of ibuprofen to help with the inflammation from today's "workout".

I thought I'd be ready to take on the world...........

The last few months of the year come with a dark pall. It starts with October 15, my daughter's birthday. Next comes Thanksgiving, and then November 28, my anniversary. Onward to December 18, my birthday, Christmas, December 31, Joe's birthday, and finally January 5, the anniversary of Joe's death. It's hard going through all this alone. All sorts of memories come up. And disappointment that these days, for me, are so different from what i had expected at this point in my life.

So, today, for me, is really the start of a new year. Those hard days are behind me and I am free to move on, past the lingering depression and inertia. However, the new year has not unleashed a new me. I had hoped it would.

I'm trying to make progress in the kitchen, continuing my circle around the room. I wish I felt that I was truly making progress. I don't. It's hard to get myself to even go out there. And, I really don't feel all that well. I suspect my blood pressure is elevated. The good news is that I'm due another blood pressure pill in about half an hour. Perhaps that will be the boost I need?

Things to can SOON--note to self

I need to can at least 2 kinds of meat: chicken breasts and roast beef. I could also stand to can some ground beef. I also have enough strawberries for a batch of strawberry jam. There is also a turkey and 2 whole chickens. Planning on cooking one of the chickens today or tomorrow but there's still the other one with which I need to deal. I don't have enough of any one kind of pork to do much. The chickens, the beef roasts, and the turkey will all yield broth that will need to be canned.

I do have 10 jelly jars. I also have quite a few quart jars which I can use for broth. Few recipes require just 16 oz (a pint) of broth. I also have about 18 pint sized jars on hand. My conclusion: I need more jars and I need to not buy anything that requires freezing--possible exception, a pork roast if I find one really cheap. Soups I make need to go in canning jars and, thus, not contain any ingredients that shouldn't be canned. So, I need to be on the lookout for weeks when I have two days off in a row. Many ladies would can some of this stuff up after work, but I know I won't be able to do that after a day on my feet.

I did a number

on my back yesterday, or so it seems. Before going out to the garage, I've been waiting for the day to warm up. After all, the weather called for a high of around 58. Well, I guarantee it's NOT 58 out there. Maybe not even 48. I threw a big heavy towel on the bottom of the freezer to soak up the water. There really wasn't all that much. Then I tugged the beef box over next to my chair. I knew I wanted to use the same box again, so first I moved the contents to a different box. Then I started moving things methodically to the box where I wanted stuff to end up. Got everything listed and counted and got the box back into the freezer.

I started on the "other". I have just one small shelf left, so the trick here is to find places to put the stuff. I needed a place to put some gallon bags of strawberries that had thawed overnight. Fortunately, I had a Freschetta pizza box. So, my strawberries are all laid out flat on the pizza box which is balanced on one of the entree boxes. Also found homes for some loaves of bread, some tortillas, and some hamburger buns. By then, my back was hurting pretty badly so I'm back in for now. Not too much to go, thank God.

I do have a "resealable" bag of store bought strawberries that leaked so I think I am going to pitch that. Sadly it did a number on my box. I have found that the boxes my coffee pods come in are near perfect for use in the freezer. They are sturdy and the exterior of the boxes have that slick, shiny coating so they hold up better in the dampness that is the freezer. But I don't relish reusing a box that is soaked on the inside with strawberry juice. I think, though, I have another identical box that I'm going to press into service.

I pulled a whole chicken out and it's in the sink, thawing. It's going to spend some time in the Instant Pot, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow night. I know you can cook a whole chicken in there without defrosting, but what if there's one of those little plastic bags in there filled with the heart, etc. I don't want melted plastic all over the inside of my chicken. So, it has to thaw enough for me to deal with that.

I REALLY need canning jars. A sweet friend of mine deposited some money in my Paypal account at Christmas. So, I think I may order jars from Walmart using that money. I expect there will be some leftover. I am thinking of buying myself a cross pendant. I used to have one I wore everyday. However, while I was working at the neighborhood 7-11, the chain broke and the cross was lost. It broke my heart and I've missed being able to wear that symbol of my faith so much. I found one similar, though more ornate (not too sure about that ornate thing) for a reasonable price. It may soon be mine. There are many more practical things on my Amazon wish list, but, maybe, just this once, I can be less practical...................

Plans for today

I got through the pork box last night. Then I took a muscle relaxer and went to bed. So, today I have the beef box and the "other" box with which to deal. The beef box won't be too bad, but that "other" box has me worried. Lots of stuff in there so lots of writing and counting and working to wedge things in...............I also still need to wipe out the bottom of the freezer to clean it up and get rid of the melted ice (cold water) that's waiting there.

Next, the kitchen. I started the big job of clearing stuff off the counters and wiping them down last week. I need to check to see what the messy cook has left where it shouldn't be during this last week and deal with that. And then I want to march around the kitchen in a big half-circle wiping everything down and sorting through stuff that doesn't have a home.

I have two pumpkins that need to be turned into either pumpkin puree or pumpkin powder. Pumpkin puree would be easier but it can't be canned (too dense for the heat to penetrate through the jar's entire contents and kill off any nasty germs or mold spores that might be lurking) so it would need a home in the freezer. I don't think that will work. I'm already wondering how I'm going to get all the contents of the "other" box back in there. So, I guess it will be pumpkin powder. That takes much longer but that is elapsed time, not necessarily requiring me to stand and watch it. I've learned that you can just cut a large vent slit in a whole pumpkin and roast it in the oven. This way, the peel comes right off, just by peeling it off with your hands. No more stressing and swearing and broken fingernails while trying to cut the pumpkin into manageable pieces and peel it.

Anyway there are the plans for the day: freezer, kitchen, and pumpkins. And that list is in priority order. Time to get that freezer filled up (God help me!) and plugged back in. Then onto the next "impossible" task, the kitchen................

I just stretched for the first time this morning and the back popped at least 3 times. Now, I will try to be sensible enough to continue the sorting and listing while sitting in a chair in hopes that I will still be walking when tonight rolls around.