Continued from here
well I went and finished my Christmas shopping today and while I was at it I did pick up some major preps to maybe put away, haven’t decided yet. I FOUND DARK CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES. yes I gotta admit to buying a few boxes. snicker snicker. ahem. gotta get a hold of myself here. so far haven’t opened any but haven’t hidden them either. Think I need some serious help.
Today was my day off, so once again, I did my usual grocery run and kept my eyes open for cool BirdFluPantry stuff. I found a soy milk making machine, which meant fresh milk, without having to store any fresh milk. Yay!!! I bought 5 pounds of dried soybeans for around $3.50, which should get me lots of fresh soy milk. With a converter and a power source, it should keep me well-stocked with milk for as long as my bean-supply lasts. I bought a small amount for a first run and for everyday use, but I plan to buy in larger quantities for storage. Soybeans in burlap bags are relatively cheap. Much cheaper than milk in cans or in powdered form.
Got my tetnus booster today.
I hit a great deal yesterday. I stopped in at a thrift store and found 11 15-gallon barrels from a Chinese cafe that had once held Rice Cooking Wine. They all have 2 lids each, so they are pretty water & air tight. I dickered the lady down to 8 bucks each and I took them all. They stack nicely…and hold 15 gallons of liquid or 105 pounds of rice or beans ! What a relief to have something I can fill with water in addition to all my other water bags. Plus I have something NO critter can get into.
:-) Good !
Have experimented with cooking on the top of our woddstove this winter. Find there’s a lot we can do and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist, just a cast iron skillet and a cast iron dutch oven. Still have to get a new coffeepot - the old one has seen too many open fires and is getting frail. If you don’t have a woddstove or some such and you live in cold winter country, you might want to consider getting one. It heats the house, cooks dinner and boils the wash water. What more can you ask for? How about 4 cords of seasoned oak?
I think some of the simple things will be the things we forget. I just remembered a hand operated pencil sharpener.
Got a Xo X20 Breadmaker and a Family Grain Mill (Both electric and hand base). Just ordered a 45lbs pail of White Hard Winter Wheat and am going to probably order a years worth of grain around Feb when a local co-op does their order. And if I absolutely have to load up sooner, the place I ordered a single bucket from is only 4 hours away (each way).
Water is still my biggest concern and I’m going to have to bite the bullet on the cost of a large tank and a 12v pump sooner of later.
Emergency Essentials is going to have to raise their shipping rate. right now you can get the 55 gal blue barrel with shipping no more than $12. Offer ends at midnight the 27th. Just got an email from them about it. Also finally bit the bullet and ordered one, what with the new suspected cases just reported in Egypt. Water has always been the thing I felt I the least control over. Usual disclaimer - I have no interest and make no money from EE. But nice of them to tell us that rates are changing.
Just ordered our 2 55-gal water barrels, along with numerous other items I have been procrastinating on. Water was to be my first prep project of the new year, but the e-mail from EE prompted me to do it now. Yes, Egypt has me a little “concerned”.
bought a few things at Coldwater Creek on sale. A oversized sweater with lots of cats, and a art kit in a wooden box of colored pencils, pastels and water colors with brushes and a pencil sharpener. Going back to art. Used to, but my husband wasn’t too keen on my working on a painting for 12 hours straight and ignoring family needs.. Am using up this years supplies of water, time to restock. Find that I really don’t use all that much since I’ve experimented for months on how little I really actually need. (Outside of drinking water.) Actually I think I am improving in health since I have become aware of H5N1. I always have enjoyed everything in life, but that too has sharpened with this threat.If nothing else stepping into the world of the internet has given me another perspective. The range of humanity is far beyond anything I have experienced previously, and I have met one heck of a lot of people in my lifetime. That too is a prep of sorts.I am impressed with the competence of the people here.
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Diana, I always enjoy your posts….I can appreciate that you’re enjoying life every day even while prepping for something that might never happen, or could happen tomorrow (more likely). It sounds like you’ve learned a lot about you and your needs while reading these threads & are practicing concervancy each day, which is good. I love Coldwater Creek — bet you look great in the sweaters! I’m glad to hear you feel your health is better overall now too. That’s a GREAT thing to be able to report. I’ve introduced more fruits into our diet since before Christmas, and more fish, just as a general ‘better for you’ effort.
You’re right that there are a lot of compassionate people with levelheadedness and a desire to help others here that we’ve all been able to learn from, and I’m like you — grateful for the sharing environment where we all can learn at our own pace, offer input where we can & feel the community here as we all work toward the goal of educating others. You’re right that it’s a prep of sorts to be able to interact with all these people on so many levels — reminds me of the multi-level chesss set on Star Trek! Interesting, challenging, and rewarding.
Another day off work, another chance to continue stockpiling ye olde birde flue pantrye. teehee!
I got 500 paper plates, 450 styrofoam bowls, 370 plastic forks/spoons/knives, & 400 hot/cold 14oz cups, all ready for the day when water is so scarce, it’s for drinking only. I figured there was no sense in wasting water by washing dishes since I don’t live near any water source. Even though I live near the SF bay in Sunnyvale, there’s Lockhead Martin between my house and the water, and it ain’t easy going through their highly guarded, gated campus to reach the waterway.
I also stocked up on spices. After having done quite a bit of research on various methods of cooking with bland tasteless canned and dried foods, I have come to the conclusion that one can make almost anything taste good with the right spices and ingredients. Canned chicken makes good chicken curry, and canned roast beef makes good stir fry if you add some frozen veggies to it, like sliced carrots and snow peas or frenched green beans. The secret ingredients are the spices.
I got in bulk, powdered garlic, powdered onion, dried crushed rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, cilantro, whole peppercorns, crushed cayene pepper, chili pepper, curry powder, etc., for the birdflu pantry. I also have on hand bottles and bottles of soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, plum sauce, etc. to make other types of foods, and they will come in handy, especially when the days are long and there’s nothing to do and nothing to look forward to except a tasty meal.
I’m worried now about how to cook all of this if I run out of coal or wood. I find it very hard to think of everything. It almost seems as if I forget about this or that detail, which then makes a mockery of all the preps and planning I’ve made for my family.
Kelly, we all feel that way…..once you get a look at all that rice & beans, you begin to wonder how you’ll have enough fuel to cook it all, but you don’t need to fret about it, you’ll find you’re better off than you think you are! Instinct will help you balance it all out.
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KellyP - one way to extend your fuel is with a haybox cooker. You can google haybox cooking and come up with lots of plans, should you decide to try it. The way it works is the food cooks much like a crockpot works, except instead of keeping the heat low and steady with electricity it keeps heat from escaping in the first place. So the food cooks from whatever initial heat you put into it.
If you just bring to a boil, cook for a minute, then quickly place in the haybox, most meals will cook fully. Only a few things will need a second heating.
If you want something that is already made, try this. http://www.tiny.cc/7osyp I have one, and it works great. It isn’t cheap, but then again it isn’t too awfully expensive either.
Here’s an interesting story on a paint-on product (not yet commercially available, but promising) that kills bacteria and virus nearly on contact (snip below)…
“The researchers painted glass with long chains of molecules, called polymers, which anchored to the surface to form tentacle-like spikes.
When the team then applied the surfaces with E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus (both common disease-causing forms of bacteria) and the influenza virus, they found the coating killed them with 100% efficiency within minutes.”
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Kim - will it also, in the process, kill us?
I’m-workin’-on-it - Thank you for your words of encouragement. I think I’m just going through the stages…denial, anger, depression, acceptance…etc. I’m still stuck somewhere between anger and depression right now. I’ll get through this with all your help.
deborah - Thank you for your suggestion. I will look into it. BTW, does a haybox cooker require hay? …’cause we don’t have much of that either, where I’m living at. No such thing as hay here, only palm trees and oranges and the such. LOL
Good sale on Rubber Made storage containers. Keep dry goods in it or fill it at the last minute with water. 18-GALLON ROUGHTOTE For $ 3.33 Till 1/3/07
DARWIN that’s a handi-sized good brand name tote! I could see them serving as flu prep boxes by the bed because they’re not too big to move if you’re feeling really sick.
KellyP- Ive been at this quite a while and I STILL find myself going through those stages, its just that I don’t swing as violently from one to the next as I once did. Your idea about lots of spices/flavorings is a great one. I’m thinking of getting a pressure cooker to quick-cook beans-will save on fuel/energy which is a good thing even if we don’t have the flu. I think you can use other materials than hay for the hay box-I think someone suggested wadded up newspaper. The idea of the hay is just for insulation purposes.
Ive never been to San Fran but my son got to go a couple of years ago and he LOVED it. Thats allways been a city I would like to visit.
Ive been hitting some post holiday sales this week and have picked up some chocolate (I also picked up some extra boxes of choc. covered cherries!) batteries, (rechargables) candles, sweat pants and shirts and a couple of Christmas “gift packs” that had cocoa and summer sausage in them- all these were marked way down. I also hit my favorite thrift store and picked up a couple more puzzles, some books (for fun reading) and a few homeschooling books- a really good geography book with some great maps, and a math drill book. My local grocery had a great sale on pasta, canned soup and (I don’t know why,) Pop Tarts. I bought lots (20 lbs of pasta!) though I had to smuggle the Pop Tarts in the house after dark while the kids were watching “Pirates of the Carribean”
Greenmom- Ah, the smuggling! Yes, I do quite a bit of that. If my family knows I’ve put something “in stock,” it’s the first place they go to if they want something. If they think I haven’t been putting anything back, they don’t bother to look. So, I do alot of smuggling.;-) This goes for batteries as well.
KellyP from CA? — 28 December 2006, 22:13 I’m worried now about how to cook all of this if I run out of coal or wood.
Kelly, where are you getting coal near Sunnyvle if I may ask ?
Kelly - I am putting some links in here for you so you can see exactly what haybox cooking is. By the way, you can google the phrase “haybox cooking” and come up with tons of links. As you can see from the links, you do not have to use hay, it is just a term.
http://www.lostvalley.org/haybox1.html
http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/skills/b-p/wb/cooking.htm
http://www.dalbeattie.com/domesticcivildefence/stoves.html
http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6187
These should get you started well enough to devise one for your own use. You can use it now, and get a feel for how long things take to cook in it. And it saves energy, so it makes a good thing to use for conserving energy in general.
Another Bay Denzien
You can check out this place. They sell charcoal, coal, etc.
deborah - Ah! I see. I gotta get me one of those! :) At $125.00 it’s not cheap, but in the long run, it will pay for itself. Thank you for the tip.
Just back in town from holiday travelling. Lots of stomach virus going around so I’m hoping that we don’t get it. We seemed to just miss it every place we visited.
Got some good prep-work done at your secondary place. Not likely that we would SIP there unless things got bleak fast and we could still move, would need plenty of advance notice of the worst kind. We cleared more land around the house so that the house is still hidden but not as easy to “sneak up on.” We’ve also made plans for future improvements if we and when we are able. Our fruit trees show they are ready to bud when the time is right … awful young still so don’t know if they will actually fruit. And we’ve made some plans for additional tree planting in Feb and March.
Round that work out by adding a little more water storage and plans for storing minimal food preps and there you have it.
Looking forward to some cleaning and restocking here at our primary residence now that the holidays are past for us. The kids got much needed clothes that should last another year and I’ve got a list of things I’m trying to pick up during those January sales.
Mostly I plan on restocking the pantry where the holidays knocked the inventory down a bit.
KellyP from CA You can check out this place. They sell charcoal, coal, etc. http://www.lazzari.com/industry_page1.html
Thanks.
I guess I’m visiting Brisbane next week.
deborah - I got one! Yay! Just ordered it and hoping it will get here soon. I can’t wait to try it out. Amazon sells it for about $87 + 12 bucks for shipping.
Thanks so much for the information. I also looked at the links you showed me, and although it looks as if it would be simple to make, I don’t think I could replicate it.
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Do we currently get any kind of discount at Emergency Essentials?
I don’t think a deal was ever made with EE. Don’t think Fully Prepped in SoCal was able to get them to offer a group buy like MRE Depot. EE is however, one of my favorite prep sites. By the way, Where is Fully Prepped in SoCal???
Just want to put in a plug for starting a home garden. Great therapy, and gives you a sense of having a future beyond your beans and rice and tuna. You can start plants indoors now in little styrofoam cups (punch a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage). As they get bigger you might need to transplant to bigger pots if its still too cold outdoors, and you might need a grow light. You can also make a simple hydroponics system. Here’s a link for that: http://www.simplyhydro.com/system.htm
Save the seeds from your crops and you can continue on from your own starter stock.
If you don’t like chocolate “hard”, try hiding it from yourself in the freezer…
Get too many seed catalogs now, (though still going to make an order from here (and, need to check the stored seed I already have) but, have probably run out of yard space for any more berry bushes or fruit trees, so, I just daydream what I’d do with more land, and, years of time to put in nut and fruit trees, starting from a blank field.
Speaking of seed catalogs, if you like green beans you might consider planting pole beans rather than bush beans. The pole beans are almost all non-hybrids, so you can easily save seed from year to year. Pole beans also seem to have a “beanier” taste to them, yield heavily, and can be grown in a small amount of space. I can grow a full year’s supply of pole beans on about 25′ of wooden trellis that’s attached to my privacy fence, thereby saving the valuable actual open space in the garden for tomatoes.
My bean trellises are just 4′ x 8′ sheets of CCA trellis turned sideways and screwed to the wooden support poles of the fence. If you can’t afford that, I think that even some sturdy string or twine wrapped around screws driven into the wood will support them. Of course, if you have a chain-link fence you already have ready-made trellis :-)
I started from a bare half acre three years ago and already have an edible landscape going. I’m harvesting peaches, blackberries, herbs, and vegetables. Little apple trees and one semi self-fertile pecan went in this year. I’m trying to figure out where to put one more pecan tree - maybe in the far corner of the back yard next to the woods. In good years, the squirrels might share some of the nuts someday ;-).
Mary in Hawaii
The only things I have grown in the past with any real success are herbs. My very large and healthy basil bush (2′ wide, 4′ tall) just died a very hard death. I tried everything I could think of to keep it alive over the winter. I brought it indoors over night, I put a spot light on it 24/7 for a week, I under-watered it, I over-watered it. No go. It was gone within a week of Christmas. And it’s not like we don’t have mild winters, but unfortunately, basil’s threshold is 40F, which I think it was exposed to on one night (yeah, we got really cold, it was hovering at the 40 degree mark for a night or two). So now I have to start some new styrofoam cup basil plants. Really good uses for all those birdflu stashes of styrofoam cups that I’ve bought!
I do have a very very fruitful lemon tree in my back yard. At any one point in time, there are always thirty or forty lemons that are ripe and ready to pluck, plus at least ten or more on the ground that have fallen from over-ripeness. I try to find good uses for them, I really do. But there are only so many things you can do with the fruit, and I can only drink so much lemonade. Any suggestions on what to do with such proliferation of lemons? It’s not even a serious panflu fruit contender! :)
out of curiousity I googled “lemons”…and you are right, there isn’t much edible you can make from the fruit besides lemonade, lemon meringue pie and lemon jello. But I did find a site with 34 uses for lemons around the house, other than eating.
here ya go: http://tinyurl.com/yeqwzp
KellyP from CA — 02 January 2007, 01:23 --- Any suggestions on what to do with such proliferation of lemons?
Take a bunch of lemons to work in a plastic bag. Set them on top of a filing cabinet with a sign that reads “Free. Take Me.”
I’ve done this every year, and every year, I don’t have to throw any lemons away!
Guaranteed that within 8 hours, most of them will be gone!
KellyP, You are lucky to have so may lemons. I’d probably add a little lemon to my iced drinking water - the extra vit. C would be good for you.
I use a lot of lemon and grated lemon in my cooking for everything from penne side dish to wienerschnitzel (sp), and lemon bars. If I had so many lemons, I’d juice the ripe ones and freeze the juice, then when I had enough juice, I’d can the juice, and then use it when I can other items or bake. The acidity of the lemon makes it great for use in preserving.
You might even be able to use the canned lemon juice as a barter item.
Lemon juice makes a great hair rinse. Add the juice to your dish water for a great smell. I love to do this, as the steam released the fresh lemon smell throughout the kitchen. Try simmering a pan of water with lemon juice/spices during the winter. Try making those pommerades(not sure what they are called), where you stick cloves in it, cover with spices, and let it cure for a few months. They do this to oranges. Try mixing some juice with sugar,(to a wet consistancey), let it dry, and use in baking, drinks, anything you want a sweet lemon flavor in. Have fun experimenting!
Kim? — 01 January 2007, 22:02
Pole beans were about all I had as a kid growing up. My grandparents … and my mom … would make four “Tee-Pee” poles out of tall cane poles. Then once all the “tee-pees” were set they would lay another cane pole between each one at the top.
Man, did those pole beans yield. I remember as a kid that I could fill my bucket just from one tee-pee, and that was just what could be gathered each day.
You can also string netting between poles from what I understand, those beans will climb just about anything. Get a pole bean that does well in your area. I grew up on Kentucky Wonder, but there are a whole lotta varieties out now.
InKy — 01 January 2007, 22:27
One of the things that I want to do at our acreage is plant a couple of pecans … they just take so ever loving long to bear. What is it? Something like 8 years for most varieties?
Currently my fruit trees are too young to bear, unless some do this coming year. I’ve got 3 pears, 3 plums, four peaches, 3 apples, some mayhaws, and a persimmon.
I hear persimmons do really well and are “native” so don’t take a lot of special attention. The one I did plant stayed prettier probably longer than most of the other trees so I want to plant a couple more if I can get them before they sell out.
Since we don’t live on the land were I’ve got the trees planted, my really big task this year is to put in a good watering system. I’ve been making do with sprinklers run from the house well … want to have an agricultural well dug closer to the orchard and the future location of the home garden. That’ll be some $$$ but it will be worth it in the long run. It means that we will be able to completely shut off the water to the house when we aren’t there so less likely of an accident or vandalism happening.
Right now I have a Ruby Red grapefruit tree as well as a plain ol’ white grapefruit tree in our front yard that yield a ton when the rain-y season is worth something. We also live next door to an orange grove … though how much longer it will be a grove I don’t know as they may sell it for homesites. <yuck> The rest of the yard is either our septic field or too shady for any real edible landscaping. I’m going to be growing things in containers this year to see what kind of yield I can get from that.
KellyP from CA?
Lemonds are dead useful for cleaning. They are a natural “bleach” and I’ve used them on more than one occasion to remove a stubborn stain from my whites.
I also use citrus peel and pulp to “freshen” my garbage disposal. Toss a half of a citrus fruit … lemon does work best with a little salt thrown in for “scrubbing” … and then turn it on.
I’ve used lemon juice to get a grape juice stain off of a counter top and a wine stain out of a carpet.
You can dry your own lemon peel for recipes that call for fresh grated peel.
You can also dry slices of lemon and use them in potpourri to help deter odors and some insects.
If the grid is down, and we have no water softener, will we need more soap/shampoo/detergent? Anyone know?
quilter1 --- will we need more soap/shampoo/detergent?
Probably not. You’d have to go back to what you were using before the water softener was installed. Baths/showers could be cut in half, ie: every other day instead of every day. Hair washing could be done every three days; dishwashing could be reduced with the use of paper plates (which could be burned). Clothes can be worn for a couple of days before washing.
Kathy in FL — 02 January 2007, 10:43 - One of the things that I want to do at our acreage is plant a couple of pecans
Just be sure, Kathy to plant those suckers well away from any structure that you value. I have nine mature pecan trees in my yard and I’ve had major limbs go THROUGH my roof twice in the last 18 months.
Plum trees and blueberry bushes are starting to sound a lot better to me.
second time, cranky now.
Preserve lemons by salt-curing. Use them in tagine (recipe for chicken or lamb or ?
Lemon zest flavors Italian-style cheesecake (ricotta or maybe cottage cheese can substitute).
Lemon and garlic are good on raw or cooked greens, and with chicken. (hope it works this time)
Kathy in Fl, most persimmons are either male or female trees, only the females will bear fruit, and you’d need at least one of each (a boy and a girl) to get fruit. Unless the grower specifies that both male and female flowers are borne on the same tree, or can guarantee the sex of the tree (would have to be grown from a cutting to be sure), you’ll have to plant several persimmons to be sure you have at least one of each. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Yeah, those pole beans really go to town! I’ve had years where the leaves were about chewed to nothing and still picked huge crops from those vines. The one thing with green beans is, the more you pick the more you’ll have. If you let the beans start to mature on the plant, they’ll stop setting new beans. Just pick at least every 2–3 days and you’ll be drowning in green beans! I learned my lesson about planting pole beans instead of bush beans one year when the rabbits ate down to nubs every single one of my bush beans, but the pole beans grow so fast & tall that they can’t reach them.
Thank you everyone for the suggestions!
Mary, I have copied the link into my files for future reference. At this time, there are two large baskets of lemons sitting on my counter top, mostly for decoration. I need to juice them and freeze them (or do something to them) soon.
Perhaps bring them to work with a ‘Free to good home’ sign? Thanks Bill for that idea.
Cottontop, how do you make that cloves with lemon juice? I have cloves, plenty of it, and I use it for cooking certain dishes, but I’ve never heard of lemon-cloves before.
Jane, how do you preserve lemons by salt-curing? What do you use them for?
Kathy, I found a small lemon and threw that into the garbage disposer along with all my other junk. Smells great! LOL.
tjclaw1, lemon juice as a barter item? That’s something to think about. But who would want lemon juice? I’d imagine it’s not the most critical item that anyone would need in any kind of emergency.
Lemon juice is great for folks with kidney stones - I was always told that, anyway. Helps to prevent them or make them less severe they say.
Send those lemons out to your buddies in the north kelly,and ask them to send you their extra northern crops ( pears,apples,grains)Also you could make candied lemon rind.I recall a part of the little house story where Laura describes getting a couple of oranges for christmas and how “Ma”saved and candied the rind as even that part would not be wasted.I have made them a few times and lemon is tart and an acquired taste for most,the orange is sweeter.Also I recall a story in the 1918 thread that talked about a grandpa insisting his family drink lemon water and them all making it,crediting the high vit c intake.You are very lucky.I have dehydrated some lemon slices and use them in water or for lemonade but they taste cooked.
I could see lemons being a very important barter item,as many who have not prepared will not have C vitamins stored in the quanities that could be needed.
Kathy in FL — 02 January 2007, 10:43
Kathy, as I understand it, pecan trees do take years to bear, and mine is only a 4-foot stick. Still, time passes, and someday there will be nuts :-). I lived once in a house that featured two mature pecans in the yard, and I gathered grocery bags full of them. When I was eight months pregnant, I had to do this on my hands and knees because bending wasn’t an option. They were wonderful. You really do need two varieties, so I’m figuring where I can fit another tree. I have a Pawnee pecan now, which is semi self-fertile and grows to 35 feet, much smaller than other varieties. I have dwarf peach trees that began bearing the second year, but I am still working on how to keep bugs out of them. I envy your ability to grow citrus fruit!
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My preps are coming right along. The last 2 months have been more or less for ME…well, me and my DENTIST ! :-( BTW—Don’t EVER use those Crest White Strips unless you have many thousands of dollars to give to YOUR favorite dentist ! ONE BOX of those ruined the enamel on my teeth ! Now along with white pits on the tooth surfaces, I am being plauged with cavities popping up EVERYWHERE---especially between the front teeth. The dentist said he sees this over & over from those strips. Last month, it was $182.00, Already in Jan it’s been $150.00 with 1 more appt this month; and 2 major appts set up for Feb. ! $$$$$ OW !
I am on disability, and this is a major money stealer for me…but something that has to be done…I certainly wouldn’t want to need this dr while SIP ! So for the next few months, prep money will be on ME.
I did get my big deep freeze cleaned out and sorted everything in there; so I know what I need to eat next, what I need to can, etc.
I also bit the bullet and bought 18–66 qt tubs and sorted all my small sized preps. I thought I was rather low on canned fruit, but I had more then I thought. The house is running over, but that’s fine with me ! ;-)
madamspinner, how good to hear from you!! I never knew those strips would do that to your teeth — lordy, I’m throwing mine out — I bought them when they first came out and used probably 3 and just kept hanging onto them thinking someday I’d start the ritual over again, but never have — now I’m really GLAD!
Sounds like you’ve made great progress with your canned and frozen preps in getting them organized - that’s always a good thing! Good for you.
I’m sorry about the budget getting off to a bad start right at the first of the year, but you’re right that it’s better now than later.
Madamspinner — 05 January 2007, 04:08
Thanks for the advice on those whitening strips … I was seriously considering giving them a try. I have tetracycline yellowing on my teeth from a sick childhood and adolescence.
I’m going to be defrosting my upright freezer today. That is always a mess. I wish we had bought a frost-free, but it was what we needed at the time so I’m not going to complain too much.
We’ve been living with the budget busters for the last couple of months … most of the electronics in our house either died, were on their last breath, or had to be upgraded to accomodate the replacements for the ones that died. We are talking TVs, phones, computers and we’ve also had vehicle repairs and the general cost of Christmas for five kids. <sigh> Hubby and I didn’t really give each other anything big this year which suited us both fine. I did get some new non-stick cookware because the old ones were 10 years old and had started to lose their non-stickiness.
What are you going to do except roll with the punches? We still managed to do a little prepping here and there and the changes we made in our budget to accomodate the cost of prepping actually helped with the unexpected expenses. Luckily we aren’t starting the new year in the hole.
When I was watching the marathon Top Model with Tyra Banks, I believe the girls painted their teeth with some sort of disposable tooth whitener. If you have some special thing to do, you might ask your dentist about it. I pay very little attention to my appearance, Comb out my hair, put on my lipstick and pull up my jeans, and its out the door. I see women at the Y who spend at least a half hour making up their faces, and another 15 min. on their hair. They probably look better afterwards, though I can’t tell. At least they feel good about themselves..We all need that, even if its a little whitening on your teeth for a festive occassion. Eventually you might get veneers if your budget eases up. I often get free vouchers from dentists in the mail. I like my regular dentist and peridontist for teeth cleaning, so I never use them. I have even seen dental promotions in the papers. Free x-rays and cleaning if you don’t have peridontal issues.
This year I am determined to learn how to can fruit so we won’t waste all the apricots our trees yield. Every year we give away a ton of fruit, but a lot just drops to the ground and ruins. I told my cousin, Domestic Goddess Extraordinaire, that I wanted to learn to do this, and she’s going to “walk” me through it over the phone!
Our spinach plants survived the snowfall we had here in El Paso (made the national news!), and the lettuce plants are almost ready to transplant to the field. Does anyone know a good way of preserving, canning, storing these vegetables?
Somebody told me the strips would fade the dark color over my upper lip. (It’s darker than the rest of my skin.) I haven’t tried it yet, though.
Cottontop, were you thinking of pomander balls? Fruit stuck all over with cloves, to hang in the closet? I’ve heard of oranges used that way. Lemons probably work too.
KellyP from Calif: Here’s one recipe for salt-cured lemons. I haven’t tried it yet. My friend put up some in pint canning jars without pressure cooking them. salt-cured lemons Recipes for tagine can be Googled. I don’t know if more than one link can be put in a post.
Tagine or tajine is a pot used in Moroccan cooking. This site says it is used on the stovetop and acts like an oven! Le Creuset has one for $129, whew. It’s a cast iron base with a ceramic chimney shaped top. Nomads used them for stews that cook for hours. But I guess with SIP we’re not going to be cooking something for hours. Still, I wonder if it makes bread.
Madamspinner, what a nightmare! Wonder if there will be a class action lawsuit to recover damages? Have you heard of anyone else with your bad result? I was going to use them, but I have a nightguard and thought it would compress it against my teeth too much and was afraid to use it.
Did a bit more preping today, bought the last Mr.Heater left in our local Princess Auto store. They had a pallet full of them before Xmass and they are all gone now. I am planing on using it in my Ice fishing shack and also as a emergency back up. Tested it out tonight and it seems to work quite well.
As far as water goes. I used rain water to wash my hair once a week, and you don’t need all that much. Your hair is wonderfully soft to the touch with rain water.I have cut showering down to once a week when I again wash my hair, with a daily rinse of water to any bits and peices that do have sweat glands and can accumulate bacteria and an odor..The natural scent of anyones body without rankness is pleasant to the opposite sex.. Of course this is winter but it has been 60degrees. But I don’t do anything to sweat so it is very easy to be immaculate with very little water.No difference than when I showered daily.I am devoloping habits that save water and might be needed in the future.As far as lemons, perhaps a local restaurant would take a steady supply of lemons in return for a nice dinner or lunch out once a month for you and your BF.As far as giving things away always to the same people, they do begin to feel entitled to your gifting. So giving in exchange for something else might work. I know of people who moved to towns, where the economy was based on bartering.
A while back someone had mentioned True Lemon and I had to try it. For those of use who will never have citrus trees in our back yard it’s nice to have. Our grocery store started carrying it so I didn’t have to buy it online. I actually signed up for a free sample which I haven’t ever received! I’ve used the True Lime several times and really like it. If your store carries it you’ll find it in the baking isle near the Splenda.
I went to TSC Tractor supply store and was looking at their after christmas sales area ,I saw they had the hanging style oil lamps with the reflective plaques 75% off they rang up at 5.35 each.I have been looking for the style cause I think it will be alot safer around my kids.They came with a 20 oz bottle of lamp oil.Thought I would let ya know in case anyone is looking for them.They had lots available.