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Nose over toes........

That's kind of a catchy phrase, isn't it? It' a catchy enough phrase that I'm just sure I'd remember it, if only I'd heard it before. I learned about it only a few days ago on a YouTube video from a physical therapist. Essentially I saw it used in a video about making it easier for seniors to stand up. The idea is that before trying to stand, you should move towards the edge of your seat and then bend forward in your seat til your nose is over your toes. This changes the center of gravity of your body, making it easier for you to rise out of your seat.

i've been working at this method for several days and it DOES help. It's not a "fix" but it helps. I find I don't have to make that old lady grunt that used to escape me when I was attempting to get out of my chair. I think that making getting out of my chair easier probably means I'll dread it less, do it more often, and thus build some necessary muscle to help make me stronger. 

As a kid I listened to a constant barrage of "sit up straight", "don't slouch", "chairs are for sitting, not lounging", and so on. On my own, I would never have thought that nose over toes was a good idea. It's a violation of "sit up straight". But, i'm sure glad I've finally learned it.

I am frustrated by one thing. Three and a half years ago, I broke my wrist and injured my right leg. They sent a Physical Therapist to the house. He gave me 4 exercises to do, all of them working either the abs or the lower body. But I had a cast on my right wrist that went from my hand all the way up past my elbow. Thanks to the broken wrist AND the cast, it was extremely difficult and painful to get out of my chair. I am amazed that in all those visits I never heard "nose over toes". It would have spared me some pain, and possibly enabled me to be more active which would certainly have benefitted me long term. That particular Physical Therapist gets a D- rating from me.

4 days in the making........

On the 21st I brought a pack of chicken breast in from the freezer. i put it in the fridge to defrost. I went to pull it out on the 22nd and it was still frozen solid as a rock. Okay, there would be no canning that day. I checked again on the 23rd, same result. I checked again on the 24th, same result. Early this AM, the 25th, I checked again. The two chicken breast on the ends of the pack had begun to defrost. I figured that while I cut those two up, the three in the middle would begin to defrost. It worked and I put 6 jars into the canner around 2:35AM. Around 4Am I pulled them out and went to bed. I checked when I got up. 5 jars sealed, one didn't. I don't know why the 1 didn't, but I think that means I'll make some chicken noodle soup for tonight's dinner. I have plenty of fresh carrots and fresh celery as well. No fresh onions, but plenty of freeze dried. There's broth in the jar created as the canner did its thing. And, if I need it, I have chicken bouillon. I also have some PA Dutch egg noodles..........Can you tell I'm looking forward to this? 

So 5 jars to save for later in the cupboard, and 1 for tonight. Well worth the time invested, I'd say. And I got that chicken at a bargain price as well! There are at least 2 more packs of chicken breast in the fridge so, in a few days, I can do it all again.

The canner was not full. That made me feel bad, but my wrist wasn't killing me either. I only had to cut up 5 chicken breasts, and apparently that was not enough to make my wrist hate me! Thank you Lord!

 

Pain, pain, go away, come again some other day..........

You get your first hint of how the day is gonna go when you wake up to a charley horse in your left leg. Yeowwwwwww..... Then you sit up as fast as you can so you can get that left foot flat on the ground and you realize your back muscles hurt in a side to side swath from above your left hip to above your right hip. These things do not bode well for my day. I am so thankful for a heating pad today!

On my way from the bedroom to the office I stopped off to check my canning jars. It would appear all 8 are sealed. Nest is to wash up the jars and get them put away. I normally buy 85/15 ground beef, but that has NOT been on sale at all lately so I've had to switch to 80/15 and you can sure tell the difference when you look at the cooled jars. To make matters worse, some of the fatty liquid siphoned from the jars to the canner. That means the exterior of the jars is yucky and so is the canner itself. And, when that happens, I always worry if I've got a good seal on the jars. I won't know for sure 'til I get the rings off and the jars washed up.

I don't know when I'll tackle the canner. maybe not today. Empty, the canner is large, heavy and unwieldy. But there's liquid in it now. Is my back going to allow me to mess with that today?

Update, hours later. I took some potassium, some ibuprofen, and some muscle relaxers and, about 4 hours into my day, went back to bed to give the meds to work. I have now managed one small thunk and one fair-to-middlin thunk in my back, as somethingd have gone back in place. Thank God that has brought a significant reduction in pain. Maybe I will get something done today!

 

 

 

Small batch canning, part 1

Okay, I'm patting myself on the back. I just turned the heat on under my canner. I have 8 pints of ground beef about to be made shelf stable, no refrigeration needed. The rule of thumb is that a pint jar holds 1 pound of meat. Somehow, I had 7 pounds that filled 8 jars. I can't explain it. Anyway, altogether I had 9 pounds with which I needed to do something. I planned on only doing 8 jars/8 pounds. Well, I wanted to save 1 pound to make some hamburgers. Instead, I now have an extra. I guess we'll call that "seed" for when I accumulate enough for another batch. In any case, I figure those 8 jars are good for at least 4 meals each so, that's another 32 meals to add to my stash. I'll use it in pasta dishes, farmer's soup (ground beef & veg), stroganoff made with ground beef, unstuffed cabbage roll soup, hamburger gravy, and other similar dishes. 

I had jars clean and ready so that I could have prepared that 8th pound. I had lids available and rings. I just didn't have the juice to keep going. Besides, after jarring up 7 pounds, I had a good handful leftover. I decided I would give that to Miss Alyssa. But, I didn't want a bigger handful, after opening another package. Honestly, at current beef prices, I can't afford to reward my dog with that much ground beef. And it would not have been enough to fill a 10th jar or even to make a respectable sized hamburger. So, what was I going to do with the extra if I pushed ahead? 

I know my next three canning sessions will be chicken breast. I might have more chicken breast than that, but that's a minimum. Once I get some space in the freezer, I'll reorganize and inventory and then I'll have a good idea where I stand in terms of what comes next. I know I need to deal with a turkey, maybe two. I HATE canning turkey. By the time I get the bulk of the meat off the bone, then I have to make broth from the carcass. The problem is that turkey meat seems fatty/greasy to me and after spending some time dealing with it, even the smell it enough to nauseate me. Still, I do like having a few turkey sandwiches............ And turkey noodle soup is pretty good too! And about the time I get that turkey deboned pretty well, I will develop an urge for turkey and dumplings too. 

I know I also have a little bit of pork to deal with. But, I have to go through it and make sure what cuts I have before I take that on. I have a plastic bin in the freezer labeled "pork", but for all I know it's sausage, or maybe some pork roasts. I just don't know. But, soon I'll know! As soon as I get that inventory taken care of. I stress about things like this, so it will be good for me to do that and to give the freezer a good clean out at the same time. It's in such a state right now that I worry about my toes when I open the freezer door! Not good..........

 

A necessary change

I've had a change of mind in the midst of a change of circumstances.  I've come to the realization that I'm well on my way to old. I try to do things that are hard.  And, I rely on the Lord for the strength to get it done. I've decided I need to accept that I'm making things harder than necessary on myself. 

I have an overstuffed freezer. My usual answer to that is to have a major canning session. I spend every drop of energy that I can wring out of myself to make sure I can't get even one more jar of stuff into my canner, double stacked. What that does (besides wiping myself out) is minimize my energy cost for those items canned. After all, I can in pint jars and I can mostly meat and that means I have to run the gas stove 75 minutes for every load, no matter how many jars in the canner. So, it costs me the same to can 16 jars as it costs me to can 8. This is the sensible thing to do. 

However, the "work" of canning is in the prep work, not in watching the stove do its thing.  Meat gets canned in chunks. Somebody has to cut it into those chunks. I'm the only somebody in this house. And by the time I cut up 18 pounds, roughly, of meat, I am wiped out. My back hurts and it takes days and multiple ibuprofen for my wrists to recover. I've set myself up for procrastination! I think about the pain and I don't have a few days where I want to hurt. So, nothing gets canned because I don't want to hurt. I caught myself saying, this week, "well, I can't buy anything that needs to go in the freezer because there's no room". 

The problem with that is it is counterproductive to my way of budgeting/grocery shopping/keeping myself fed. When I see something on sale, I buy it, freeze it, and, if it can be successfully stored in jars, ultimately can it. I can afford to eat the things I love only because I shop the sales. I have an order pending right now--Total of what's in the cart: $61. Net cost to me: $44. On my last order, the total for the cart was $88, but my net cost was $64. That means I am paying only about 72% of the total cost of what I buy. I think that's doing pretty good. The only way I know I can better that would be to go to the store personally and grab the markdowns. But, I don't walk that well, and there's the wear and tear on the 18 year old van. So, I don't think that's a good option. 

So, a new plan is called for. New plan: As I empty jars, I will get them clean and store them in plain sight. When I have 8 empty jars I will scan the freezer for something to fill them up. If what I come up with from the freezer fills only 6 jars, I'll fill out the other 2 jars with beans. Heck, I could even fill out the canner with beans.......... I buy only dried beans and the way I can them does away with all that soaking and hours of cooking on the stovetop. It's a win/win. This will not instantly relieve the pressure on the freezer, but over a few weeks, I'll be in good shape. I think I will plan on one canning day a week for at least the rest of March, starting tomorrow.