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Different kind of canning

Lately my posts here have been all about meat/all about pressure canning. I'm getting psyched up for a different kind of canning--water bath canning. A little more than a month ago I ran out of my home canned sweet pickle relish. Of course, the primary ingredients, cucumbers and sweet peppers, are not in season in March. I decided to buy some sweet pickle relish to hold me 'til those items went on sale. I have been SO disappointed in the store bought stuff. It doesn't hold a candle to what I made. I made myself some tuna salad with the store bought stuff and I didn't enjoy it at all. Then I made myself a hot dog with the store bought stuff and ended up feeding a major portion to the dog. So, I got desperate. I went ahead and ordered the cucumbers and bell peppers to make another round myself, even though they are not yet in season! I figure they will cost me from $2-$3 a jar and an equivalent size from the store (is nasty) and about the same price, depending on brand. And one good thing about water bath canning is that the cook time is generally short, like 10 minutes rather than the 75 minutes it takes for a load of meat. 

It's getting warm enough around here to require air conditioning. That means I'll be canning after dark to avoid spiking my power bill........

So today was grocery day and Instacart tried to get me again. I ordered a 56 ounce package of LingLing pot stickers, priced at $15.99. They decided to substitute a 24 oz package for $9.99. What I ordered was priced at $.28 an ounce. What they delivered to me was priced at $.41 an ounce. That's like 50% more per ounce! No way. I decided just to ask to have the whole purchase price refunded. I will eat what I got and I may feel guilty that I got it for free, but EVERY order they pull something like this. And every item on my list, under substitution instructions, says "Do not substitute more expensive product." But, I'm tired of having to audit every order. It does take time, you know? I feel sorry for anyone else who depends on these people but doesn't know to check them closely. 

I DID get the cucumbers, onions, and peppers I ordered. I am so grateful to be the proud owner of a Vidalia Chopper. it will make the prep go much easier. 

I still have not gone through the freezer to check if I have more chicken breasts on hand that should be canned. I'll need to get those pot stickers in the freezer so perhaps I'll have enough presence of mind to do it then.........

Meanwhile, I only managed about 5 hours of sleep last night. I think I need a short nap.......

I deserve brownie points........

Today. I did it today. First you probably need to know that certain household chores are like cardio for me. One of those chores is vacuuming. I've had it on my list or things to get done for several days now. But, my back was achy again so I laid down for a while, just to take the strain off of my spine. And, WHOA! I got up and walked from my bed to the bathroom with no pain! I couldn't waste such an opportunity! I vacuumed the hall and the main part of the living room/dining room. 

But, apparently that wasn't good enough. I spent at least 15 minutes cleaning every filter on my good ole Dyson Animal. Tomorrow I will fire it up and work on the last little bit of the living room/dining room, and that machine is gonna work like new! At least, after all that, it had better! It had been a while since I've done a thorough job on her so I watched a youtube video to refresh myself on all the steps. Good thing I did--I'd have forgotten one part for sure, without that reminder. But now it's all sparkly clean!

I've started on reorganizing my home canning jars. I haven't done this, maybe ever. Of course, I've been doing more canning than ever recently. But I'd find an empty spot and put the day's finished project into that empty spot. But, I had, for example, at least a few jars of canned chicken breast in every drawer. That sure goes against the "use the oldest first" thing. Where IS the oldest? Well somewhere on a shelf or in one of 5 cabinet drawers. Too much of a treasure hunt for impatient me......So, now all the chicken I've found is in one big drawer. I'll try to do the same thing with ground beef. Eventually I'll have a mixed drawer, but that will be 3 jars of pork, 2 jars of Apple Butter, 9 jars of yams, and like that. At least I won't be having to try to work too hard to find the oldest of the two jars of apple butter..........

I made a really tasty and cheap soup the other night. I'd canned some chicken the night before and filled up the empty spots in the canner with some garbanzo beans. One of the bean jars didn't seal which means you have to use it within 24 hours. I had no idea what to do with those beans but I was in the mood for soup. I sauteed 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped celery stalks, and a chopped onion, softened in some olive oil. I used 2 pints of beans (about 16 oz each) of the garbanzo beans, drained and well rinsed. dumped the beans into the pot, however, I didn't check carefully and ended up with one jar of beans and 1 jar of chicken breast chunks. Oops! I decided God probably didn't intend for me to have a vegan soup, so I grabbed another pint of beans (total now really two) and added both the chicken and the 2nd jar of beans to the pot. There was some broth in the chicken jar and I added another pint of chicken broth from my stocks. I added 2 15.5 jars of Kroger diced tomatoes, and about 2 quarts of water. For spices, I added rosemary, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Then I looked at the soup and decided I wanted to bulk it up. So, I added about a cup of long grain rice. I've had 2 meals out of it so far and I have 6 more in the freezer. My one regret is that I didn't have any spinach to add. I think that would have been tasty and nutritious. So, what did that cost me? Approximately $2 for a chicken breast, $2 for the tomatoes, chicken stock from an old chicken carcass $0, spices $1, fresh veggies $1, 1/2 cup dried beans $1, total $7 for 8 healthy servings. I'm patting myself on the back for that one or should I give myself another brownie point? 

I recently finished reading a book by Joel Rosenberg named THE LAST JIHAD. It's been on the best seller lists, all of them, I think. Anyway, it's been a long long time since I've read a book I couldn't put down, but, honestly, I don't think I even got in a deep breath during the first two chapters. It made it on those best seller lists even though it contains references to prayer and various passages of scripture. I got mine used through Amazon for around $6. I'd highly recommend it.

Okay, it's getting late and I now face my next least favorite job--working outside. Gotta go.....

Did it. So much for back not hurting. I tried to be careful to bend as little as possible, but I don't think that mitigated things much....... Sitting now and I think I will try to stay this way for a while--at least this way I can get the heating pad on the back..........

 

Frustrating

I don't get it. I did an update for April 8 and one for April 9. Suddenly Google shut down and rebooted. I've never seen that before but in the process, those updates were lost. I started an update for today a while ago and it's gone now. What is going on? 

Anyway, I got another pack of chicken breasts into the fridge to thaw. I figure that means I'll be working to get that canned up sometime around Saturday. It will take that long to thaw. I think there's at least one more pack of chicken breasts in the freezer. If I'm right, they go sometime next week. Then I'll choose between pork or beef roasts...........

I'm moving along with the home cannng inventory. I can hardly believe I will soon know what I have and what I don't, not even mentioning how much of anything! What an advancement that will be in my life. I think I have about two days, at my current easy pace, and I'll be finished. Then I want to work on organizing how everything is stored. In the meantime, I think tonight's dinner will be some beef and mashed potatoes. Canned beef is tender no matter the cut. It cooks in the jars under pressure which tenderizes it. 

Did my shredding today as I'd planned. I carried out a bag of shredding. Last night I sat here and emptied a couple of files filled with paper that just needs to leave the house, like Elvis. This stuff doesn't need to be shredded. The recycle bin under my desk is overflowing. I had a big armload of loose papers that I took out to the bin. Then I carried out a bag filled with a bunch of old-style file folders and a bag of shredding. I still have a lot of paper I need to get out from that recycle container under the desk........ Not today........ 

I am wearing my beloved shorts today. I think that means I should do a yoga warm up. I was just sitting here, rocking, and I noticed how much stronger the muscles in my right leg are than those in my left. It doesn't surprise me--the entire left side is much weaker than the right. But it was more visible than I'd ever seen it............I've believed for a long time that I have had a mini-stroke. I even remembering it happening. I was driving to work when I felt my left hand go numb. I still try to use it as I always have, but it just doesn't work as well. But, I'm gonna work with what I've got. And be grateful I never have to get in my van and go to work at Lowe's again, as long as I live. That place wreaked havoc on my blood pressure...........

 

 

 

Finally

Sunday

I finally talked myself into going outside to work on the yard. I've had this in the list of daily tasks and it's just been migrated forward from day to day. One day it was really chilly out there with high winds. Another day there was some rain though there were some dry periods of which I could have taken advantage............ But some days it's just been a product of my mindful procrastination with regard to taking advantage of sunshine hours. Simply, I hate doing it. But, when I do it, I do end up feeling proud of myself. That's a whole lot better than feeling guilty or stressed because I just shined it on. I will admit to you I hurt pretty much by the time I got it done. I was also dizzy and, as a result, my balance was iffy. But, I got 'er done. 

I waded through my daily requirement for file purging. As a result, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the shred pile has grown "overnight". Except, it's not overnight--I have purged a fair amount of stuff from 2013 today. Obviously, I've been putting this off for a LONG time.

I did shred a good sized pile today and carried another bag full of bits of paper outside. The trash pick up guys are going to wonder what hit this house! 

I had enough sense to carry on with inventorying my home canned foods early today. I have to get that done during the daylight hours. The jars are labeled on the lids, but they're very hard to read without sunlight. My overhead light is not sufficient to read the labels. I probably have about 2 more days on this project. I turned up 3 jars of potato soup base. I've eaten several jars of that stuff and not enjoyed even onel  It's really yucky. I tried adding some chicken bouillon, extra milk, and some instant mashed potatoes to thicken it up. I still hated it. The good news--the dog likes it so she will get what is left from tonight and the last 2 jars all to herself (and I'll never again have to try to force myself to eat it).

CVS sent me a notice that they have a prescription ready for me to pick up. Gotta tell you though, that I received the e-mail at 6:21PM, 21 minutes after they closed for the day. "Great" work, CVS.

I told you on April 3rd, about Instacart screwing up a candy order this week. I fired off an e-mail to customer support for the Smith's chain. I carefully calculated what they managed to screw me out of and asked for a refund of $11.97. They gave me a refund of $15, to make the product right and a little excess for my "trouble". That's more than fair, but I'm just wondering what I need to be wary of when I order again...........

 

DAY 5 OF BECOMING MORE PRODUCTIVE

So, yes, I am becoming more productive. That is so important in my life. I'm a senior citizen now and face to face with the fact that my time on this earth is limited. I cannot die with things in such a mess. I just can't. I could dress this process up and call it Swedish Death Cleaning. I need to be rid of mucho paper and a fair amount of shoes and clothes. I've started with paper. I am ridding myself of OLD client files and old invoices. With this process I am accomplishing 2 things: a) I am boxing up loads of file folders which I'll take to goodwill, and 2) I will have more space in my filing cabinets. I now use the filing cabinets to store my home canned foods which hold up better if they are not exposed to too much light. I was thinking of getting rid of the filing cabinets, but, in the "reduce, reuse, recycle" frame of mind, this is an excellent way to re-use these cabinets. There are three tall ones and even if I wanted to sell them and got them totally emptied, I sincerely doubt I could move them.

I decided I will not even attempt to work outside today. The temperature has dropped 20 degrees and it is very windy and overcast. I do not need to be out there shivering and breathing desert dust. 

I've done my shredding for the day. Filled the bin again after emptying it shortly after I started. I emptied the kitchen recycle stuff into the shredding bag and took all that outside. 

I purged another 5 client files. Such a lot of paper to feed, a few sheets at a time, into the shredder. But, tomorrow I will have purged all the files in 2 drawers. I'm happy with that. 

I am about to go lie down and hope that makes my back feel better, at least for a little while. I didn't even make it out of bed this morning before I realized something (a bunch of somethings?) was/were out of place in my back. Usually I can at least get to my feet before the pain hits. Not so today........But I have had a couple of good thunks since then indicating something has gone back where it belongs and reducing the pain. But, the longer I sit, the worse it gets.......

I have no idea if this is actually true or not, but I heard today that if you improve something just 1% per day, then by the end of a year, cumulatively you've improved it 37%. I think I might be able to do more than that. I just have to get stronger before that's going to happen. I have some OCD tendencies, but, thank God, I have been able to refrain from multiplying all that out 365 times just to check the math, LOL. Somebody, somewhere, apparently did that!

I washed up my just canned stuff and got everything labeled. Tomorrow I will get it stashed in one filing cabinet or another. 

I've been reading a few pages a day consistently this year. So far (including I don't know how much elapsed time from 2023), I have finished re-reading all of my WEB Griffin books. I do not have the badge of honor series, but without those, it's still 46 books read. I just bought a book at the thrift store by Joel Rosenberg called The Alcatraz Escape. I enjoyed it a lot and he has a few more books, so as I can scrounge up the money, I'm gonna read more of his work. I appreciate that in the afterword he lists out all his sources. Right now, I've just started reading a book by Bill O'Reilly called Killing Kennedy. I was very young when President Kennedy was killed. My parents sat glued to the TV news for days and I was right there with them. To this day, there are scenes from that time period that I see in my minds' eye. I've always wondered about the truthfulness of what we were told by the powers that be. Reading this book, I think will answer some of my questions. This long after the fact, I doubt this book is just more Pablum for the masses and I trust O'Reilly to have done his research. 

I had a couple of things I'd hoped to done get today and they didn't happen. Well, I migrated those forward to tomorrow. I still feel like I had a successful day. I do not have to go to bed feeling sad or angry about myself! 

Day 4 of bujo

APRIL 4

 

Well, my planning thing is still ticking along. I shortened my list of tasks to take care of today because of the chicken canning session. I knew the cutting of the meat into bite sized pieces would take a while. But, my canner only has about 10 minutes to go and I can turn off the heat and let it naturally release its steam/pressure. Then I will remove the jars from the canner and let them sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Then i will need to wash the exterior of the jars, label them, and get them into the canning inventory and put away. As it turned out, I have 5 pints of meat and I opted to fill the canner (1 level only) with several jars of garbanzo beans. Dried beans are very easy to can with almost no prep time. And they cook, under pressure, for the exact same time as meat. 

There is still at least one more chicken canning session in my immediate future. Then I switch to pork or beef. I know I have some of each in the freezer. Getting this meat canned up will help me to be less stressed. I'd really be upset to have the freezer go out with all that meat in it. It weighs on my mind. Canning is my insurance against such a thing happening..........

I managed to shred about an inch of stuff from client files. That finished off the bin from yesterday and went a long way toward filling it again. I did not take that trash bag to the bin outside though. Instead, I had a big bag of trash from the kitchen which i carried out. 

I cleaned out more files today and probably purged about as much as I'll get shredded tomorrow in the time I am allotting. 

I worked my way through the pile of paper I've been tackling here on the computer desk. It doesn't look a whole lot better, but I know it actually IS better, so that helps me to feel better. 

I stumbled onto the spare gasket for my pressure canner today. What a relief! I was sure I had a spare, but I couldn't find it. That worried me. If the gasket on a canner wears out, you're out of the canning business until you replace it with a new one. And, though they're not terribly expensive, I didn't really want to buy another since I was sure I already had a spare. That has worried me every time I've gone near the pressure canner for a long time now. One tiny little bit of stress I don't have to deal with any longer.........

The one thing I had planned to do today that I didn't get to is the treadmill. As little as I've done on the treadmill the last 3 days, I have to admit I'm sore. That's embarrassing--I must now admit how horribly out of shape I am. I attempt, though, to look at this kind of muscle soreness as progress. If being on the treadmill weren't working on this body, I wouldn't have any soreness to comment on, right? 

Progress, not perfection

I told you last time that I am trying to start up the planning process for which I have revived my bullet journal. I am only 3 days into it, but I can see that this is going to be helpful. In this stage of my life, I don't have to worry about work to dos. I do want to accomplish as much in this house as I can. I am making progress. Still SO MUCH to do........... But I am the poster child for that old adage: Failing to plan is the same as planning to fail. 

It looks like I will be canning chicken tomorrow. I checked the chicken meat that's supposed to be thawing in my fridge. I can actually push on it and feel it give a little bit. By tomorrow it should be good to go--still frosty enough to make the cutting go easier. I have to worry about that because of my wrist. It doesn't like all the use it gets when I attack a pack of boneless/skinless chicken breast or any other meat that needs to be cut up. 

One of the things I have needed to tend to is inventorying my home canned foods. I have been working on that a bit at a time the last few days and I think I just might be done with that sometime tomorrow. That inventory, together with my budgeting, and my careful study of what's on sale, will make a difference in my shopping. I know I need to work more on fruits and vegetables in the coming months. 

I've gotten this old body back on the treadmill. To start, I am going very slowly and for just a few minutes. My goal is to strengthen my heart muscle. I am not in a contest with anyone. I'm not going to go crazy. Speed and duration will build very slowly, emphasis for some months to come on duration. I would LOVE to get "delivery" grocery shopping out of my life. They seem to specialize in "mistakes" that raise both my balance due and the instacart shopper's tip. I'm getting tired of having to audit every delivery. But, I want to be strong enough to do a grocery shopping trip without my heart rate going way up. That requires I get in better condition. 

So, why is instacart on my mind right now. Last week they had boneless pork roast on sale for $1.29 a pound. Last week they delivered to me 28 oz of carnitas meat for $8.99. If they had given me 28 ounces of what I ordered, it would have cost me about $2.56. I didn't like doing it, but I charged the whole $8.99 back. I would never pay that much for pre-seasoned meat! This week, they had candy on sale. Specifically a 9.6 ounce package of Reese's egg shaped minis for $3.99. I ordered 4, expecting to receive 38.4 ounces of candy. And, I expected a total of $15.96. What they delivered was 4 packs, 2.6 ounces each, or 10.4 ounces total, but still charged me $15.96. I've asked for a refund of $11.97. Haven't heard back on that yet. It's difficult when you still have a functional brain and some of the people around you have never experienced what that might be like..........

The other night, while I was sitting here watching youtube videos, I went through about half of my stash of pens and pencils. I contributed many dead pens to the trash. Gotta get to the other half of those, maybe tonight. 

I have started up my daily shredding routine again. I can't even estimate how long it's been since I have done this. I have a lot of personal financial stuff I want to shred. And client records. Preparers are supposed to keep client records for 7 years. That means I should have a record of tax returns I've prepared for 2017 til now. Of course, I didn't do returns for 22 or 23. But I am finding LOTS of old stuff in my files. Working 15 min a day, I'm pretty much filling up the waste bin on the shredder every day. BUT, my pile of stuff to shred is growing! That'll show me to let the small stuff go! 

Saad/Mad/Both?

I don't know how to define my emotions today. Actually the last couple of days.............

Yesterday was RESURRECTION DAY, arguably the most important Christian holiday of the year. And, yesterday was the day Joe Biden decided to show his stripes to the most blind person in the US. He declared yesterday to be a celebration of transgenderism. It's my belief that God is infallible. I also believe He is involved in every day of a person's life. We are told that children are a gift from God, that he knows us when we are still in the womb, that he actually made us in His image. Am I now expected to embrace the crazy idea that God got it wrong when He decided on the gender of a baby? I can't get there. I honestly don't want to get there. I think if I went there, I'd be committing an abomination before God. I WILL NOT honor transgenderism.

But, it's more than that. It's "honoring" it on the day we honor Christ's redemptive resurrection from the dead, his victory over Satan. What a total affront to every Christian in this country! He Biden) picked THIS day. He chose it with purpose. It was a "kiss my grits" moment to every Christian. As far as I'm concerned, he just gave the middle finger to Catholicism, purposely and with evil intent. So glad I don't have to stand before God with such a thing as this in my life. There, I'm glad I finally got that out!

I don't hate transgenders. I do believe they're wrong, to put it mildly, mentally ill, to put it stronger, demon possessed......... I hate the lifestyle that flies in God's face. I hate the way my country is being bombarded with propaganda designed to make good seen as evil, and evil seen as good.

I restarted bullet journaling today. I feel really good about that. I have much that I need to pay attention to and I have been completely unsuccessful in trying to do that without a plan. For years, it was my practice, at the end of the day, to sit still and quiet for a few moments going back over my day, trying to assess my success/failure with the way I'd used the day. Day after day for a long time now, I have failed, miserably. If I can keep going, I think this will be the first "successful" day in a long time. Yay ne!

I pulled another pack of chicken breasts out of the freezer just a little while ago. I figure this means I'll be canning on either Thursday or Friday, depending on when the meat has thawed enough for me to cut it into bite-sized pieces. That will also make a little space in the freezer. My best estimate is that there are at least 2 more chicken canning days in my near future, beyond what will happen this week. 

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!