SSDreamin Blessings and curses

[SSDreamin]

Five days and counting. Mood is improving. Craving are lessening, somewhat. Savings to date $60.00

Ran out of gum last night and turned the house upside down looking for the pack I know is here somewhere! DS thought it was quite humorous - I was yanking things off the shelves, freaking out - like a junky!!

Have a lot of stuff packed up and sitting in the backroom, waiting to go out in the trailer. DS packed up 75% of his room last night (which leads me to believe he can do without all of that, and it would look so nice and spacious in there...hmmm). We pack at night, then haul it out to the (enclosed) trailer during the day - it is very dark in our yard at night, and avoiding the bad spots on the deck while carrying boxes at night just doesn't work! Need to get it loaded up and ready for yet another trip North!

We'll go up this Sunday and drop off the trailer load, play with the well pump again (DH thinks he may have figured out the problem. He also found out that vasoline is a huge no-no for the seals, so I am not allowed to mess with the pump), and get a better idea of what we are going to need for the gas lines.

I finally was able to order an Excalibur! Can't wait until it arrives!! Plan on attempting lots of potatoes, sugar pumpkin, butternut and acorn squash in it right away!

Have to run my errands/do my shopping today. Looking forward to seeing what I can get from the thrift shops!

Hope your day is sunny and beautiful, and upper 60's, like mine is!

 

[Windyhillfarms]

After reading what you get accomplished in a day, I'm exhausted!!!!! We're currently in the process of trying to figure out where to put the garden as where I wanted to move it, there is a water line that we can't figure out where it goes, but don't feel like screwing anything up!

The new place sounds exciting! We are half looking around at places, and are pretty much looking for just land as the first priority and then buildings are great, but not the top priority if that makes sense.

I'll have to keep watching to see how this progresses, I think I'll be able to learn a lot!

 

[SSDreamin]

My food strainer & sauce maker came today. After almost all of my tomato based things are done.

First thing I noticed was: This thing is BIG. I figured, by looking at the pictures online, it was small. They should post a disclaimer that says: "This item is actually really BIG. Look at the picture. It is just like the picture, only on steroids."

I washed it up right quick, then scrounged up enough tomatoes to fill the hopper. Could feel the tears beginning to fill my eyes as I realized that all I had to do was rinse the tomato off, quarter it and drop it in. DS helped turn the handle/feed the tomatoes through. It was easy and...took just ten minutes, INCLUDING SET UP! I'm so happy What used to take me almost three hours, and LOTS of labor, took ten minutes! An extra batch of DH's hot sauce (NOT from the book of Jose, but no slouch ) is now cooking down on the stove. There is no way I'm telling DH how easy this is now - he watched me slave over spaghetti sauce a while back and brags to his friends about all my hard work to make his favorite sauces. Did i say I'm extremely happy?!

Well, I went to Vinnie's and was freaked out! The shelves/racks were almost empty! I know things are bad here by me, but that sight slammed it home! I dropped off our items for donation and looked around. Found a nice sized shelving unit for DS, for $1.99. Needs a coat of paint, but we have that here on hand. Also found a very nice vintage tablecloth for $1.99. I have been looking for one just just like that for some time now, to make an apron out of. Really want to get started on it, but need to find some contrasting trim on sale/free/cheap for it first. Should have enough left overs of it to line my attempt at making a camo purse from an old pair of my son's overall's. Can you tell I like to start way too many projects at once?! My biggest problem is finishing them!

Also went to Goodwill. They raised the prices! The stuff is donated, we are in tough economic times, and they RAISE their per item price?! Go figure! I find that a little offensive, but I bought a trunk full of awesome clothes for DH, DS and me anyways! Found it very strange that they also had a 'Goodwill Boutique' area as you walk in the door. They sorted out the designer donations, put those in a separate area, and charged more for them! Come on - Goodwill Boutique? Isn't that an oxymoron???

Six days and counting

 

[SSDreamin]

After reading what you get accomplished in a day, I'm exhausted!!!!!

I never seem to get half of what I set out to do, done! I am definitely avoiding the list of 5 thread! Don't want to go back on there and admit how many things I didn't complete!

We're currently in the process of trying to figure out where to put the garden as where I wanted to move it, there is a water line that we can't figure out where it goes, but don't feel like screwing anything up!
We found a weird water line at our old house - it fed the barn, but they'd capped it! Was a total score!

The new place sounds exciting! We are half looking around at places, and are pretty much looking for just land as the first priority and then buildings are great, but not the top priority if that makes sense.
Way back when, just after DS was born and DH and I were struggling to make it, he talked me in to a piece of land with nothing on it. The owner had it listed on land contract, and the payments were doable if we squeezed our belt a little tighter. So glad he talked me into it! We have big plans we haven't accomplished yet for that property, but it has been very helpful in several ways. DH hunts it every year, and does well (knock on wood!), it backs up to 1200 acres of federal land, which is so cool, and we use it as a family get away spot (and possible escape spot). It can never have electric ($50,000.00, minimum, to get it back there), but - once DH puts the holy grail of out houses up there and a hand well (water is only 30-40 feet down) I think we'll be pretty comfy! To me, it is fun starting with bare land and - slowly as money allows, or quick if you have tons of cash - guide it to take the shape YOU want!

I'll have to keep watching to see how this progresses, I think I'll be able to learn a lot!
Yes! You can learn from all my mistakes and horrible flops!!
Lesson one: No matter how tired you are and how much you want to speed things up; do not pressure can pears in heavy syrup and tomato paste together! The results are... interesting, to say the least

 

[Wifezilla]

Goodwill has raised their prices here a little but the ARC has priced themselves out of my price range. They did this a few years ago, lost a lot of customers, and had to lower their prices back down. I will wait a few months then go back and see if they came back to their senses.

As for finishing projects....you are supposed to finish?!?!

 

[JRmom]

Our Goodwill prices are sky high on most things. We have a "super" Goodwill so I guess someone has to pay for the humongous new building. I love our Humane Society thrift store. Got a brand new, never used, tags still on, food mill for just a couple of bucks.

 

[Windyhillfarms]

Okay I thought it was just me when I went into Goodwill and the thought crossed my mind that it seemed a lot more expensive than the last time I had been there, or I thought perhaps it could just be in Texas it's more expensive than Pennsylvania, but i didn't think that was possible either. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is experiencing that. I have to do a thrift store loop and hit a few and see what I can find that I can recycle into crafts for the upcoming shows but where does one find the time? I so have to get to the point where I don't have to waste precious eight hours of my day with this whole working for a living thing that I have decided I am totally over ...

 

[FarmerChick]

hang in there you are doing great. to quit smoking is a biggie in health and money departments

thanks for the tip---I am now going to invest in gum stocks

 

[SSDreamin]

hang in there you are doing great. to quit smoking is a biggie in health and money departments

I blew it - under threat of death, I made my DH an accomplice in my failure - made him bring home a pack of cigarette's. I smoked three, in two days. Made me sick, and gave me a headache. So, I sent the cig's to work with him. I figure, one day a week, I can smoke if I feel the need, but otherwise, I can't. We'll see how that works out!

thanks for the tip---I am now going to invest in gum stocks

Oh yes! I am most definitely keeping the gum companies in business!

I have not been ignoring this journal. I have been really busy. The Excalibur came bow ) and I've started playing with that. I tried mushrooms, some left over pineapple and two banana's. At first I was worried, because everything was rubbery, not hard and crispy like my old dehydrator. Everything tastes good though, and looks WAY better than I'm used to.

I plan to test out the Excalibur today or tomorrow for raising bread. I found a recipe that makes four loaves at a time. At first I was freaked out at using 12 cups of flour, but that works out to three cups per loaf, so that's not so bad I guess. I think this will be my 'go to' bread recipe. The first time I tried it, I made one regular loaf of bread, one loaf of cinnamon swirl bread, and two XL pizza crusts with it. DS loved the crusts, gobbled up the swirl bread, and DH actually said "Did you MAKE this bread? It tastes really good." Wow! That is as close to a compliment as I've ever gotten from DH for any bread I've made!

Made up a batch of Caramel Apple Butter and Carrot Cake Jam this past week. Can't taste the caramel in the butter, and - to me - there was too much cinnamon, but DH loved it and said I needed to make it just like that for him. I couldn't get the jam to set up completely, but it is SOOO delicious! I think I've found my new favorite jam! Mmmmmmm! Thanks for the great recipe's Beanie!!

I managed to get the enclosed trailer packed, in between rain showers, and tried to be ready when DH was so we could take all of it up to the new house and get a lot done. Well, my Brother came over, on HIS birthday, and helped us set up our gas system. He trenched out and laid some new copper to where we wanted the tank set, serviced our boiler so we wouldn't have to pay somebody, and told us what we needed to do in the attic. I had to crawl around up in the attic checking out what was what. Found where they went from *approved* pipe to *illegal* pipe. I fell twice, almost put my foot through the living room ceiling, and at one point had to crawl on my belly. All this, while three able bodied men and one 12 yr. old boy hung out down below! Climbed out, told DH he would be handling the running of the new gas line, and sat getting admonished for swearing on Sunday. ( I stepped on a cross board, it broke, and I fell halfway up to my knee in what I hoped was JUST insulation, and I used some colorful language to express my frustration. I do that. Sorry. Geesh.)

Anyway, we had bought 50 feet of pipe for the gas line. We were at least 20 feet short. DH also spent MORE time messing with the well pump. It still doesn't work. :/ I don't like peeing in the woods. I would love either water (preferable) or a duplicate of our neighbors awesome outhouse. So, the only thing we actually accomplished was moving the load of stuff up there. On the 'plus' side, if this keeps up, DH will have to bring the motorhome up there, because the park he's staying in (for work) closes October 31st. So, I will have a place to go potty, if this continues to drag out! We always winterize it after deer hunting though, so I won't have it for long My MIL is calling some extended family with connections, to try and line up a reputable well repair company to come check things out. FIL has graciously offered to go over there when they show up, so I won't have to make the six hour round trip.

Found the material I needed for my apron at Chinamart, so I hope to get cracking on that this week too. Also want to cook up the sugar pumpkins (2 from my garden, 2 from Chinamart that cost $.79/lb = $3.76 total), then run them through the strainer and dry them. If they dry well, I'll do the same thing with the butternut squash. I figure I can plop them on the trays in two cup increments, with maybe a few one cup dollops in case a recipe calls for three cups.

Guess it's because of the cold weather, but the chickens egg laying has dropped WAY off. We had been getting 5/6 a day, now we get 3/4. I keep wondering if it's because I turned over their care to DS. He seems very skiddish around them. I try to take them treats and spend time with them, when I'm out doing things near their pen. For the most part though, I only check them - once in the morning, and once at night - to make sure DS is doing his job.

Day one Starting over.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Dehydrators are great! Congrats on the bread and jam. Did you post the recipes? Pleeeez

Moving is always an adventure, but those guys can either do the attic work themselves- or ignore the language when stuff goes bad. If they really dislike cussing on a sunday- you could always take the "day of rest" option.
Guess I'm a bad influence.

Dig the outhouse. They are reliable- year round, and easy enough. You can fancy it up later.

The chickens may need a little more light to pick up the laying.