A Positive Ending To A Negative Week

All was quiet on the western front today, with no children in the house and no going to houses where children reside.  Sean and Katie can handle the boys over the weekend, so I spent the day relaxing.

We finally got our Christmas decorations safely ensconced back in the attic.  We took the tree down last weekend and put the decorations in their festive red and green tubs, but then Bud got sick and there’s no way I can get them back up those steps by myself.  So, they have been sitting and waiting for life to settle down.  Done and done.

Joy of joys, my food storage order arrived from honeyvillegrain.com.  It came way quicker than I had expected; I’m chalking that up to the economy and UPS probably not being very busy after Christmas.

Anyway, I now have powdered eggs, cheese, milk, and butter to augment what storage I already had.  And best of all, the cherry hot cocoa arrived too.  I had to open a pouch right away to taste it.  I figured if it didn’t measure up I could give it to my children and come across as a beneficent mother concerned about their longterm well-being, not a fussy hot chocolate gourmet who was giving them the rejects. 

Well, they are out of luck.  It is really good, and Bud and I have each had two cups already.  I am still giving our offspirng a couple pouches each anyway, since I ordered enough to share.  (It is still available on their website at $2.89 for a 24-serving pouch, plus $4.49 shipping no matter how much you order from the site.)  It may be a luxury for food storage, but it is cheaper than buying Swiss Miss in the grocery store for those who are going to drink hot chocolate anyway.

I need mini marshmallows for storage now.

Safely Gathered In

Food storage.  Food storage.  Food storage.  I can’t get it out of my head so I might as well keep working at getting it in my house.

I placed an order at www.honeyvillegrain.com today.  I have been debating what and how much to get from there for awhile now, and decided just to get it done.  While on the site I noticed they had their cherry flavored gourmet hot chocolate on sale at $2.89 for a 24 serving pouch so added some of those to the order.  If we ever have to live off food storage (been there, done that when Bud retired from the Air Force and didn’t find a job immediately) we will have some comfort items in the mix.

We inventoried our food storage and decided we are doing better than we thought.  It doesn’t look like much, but then I am judging it by what I used to aim for when we were a family of six.  It is hard to adjust back, and when you only have to store for two it obviously doesn’t take as much room.  So even with all the outdated jars of food we discarded recently we are doing okay.  I really did slack off after the kids left, though, so have some catching up to do.

Lolly and I were talking about storage today and she said you should have ten pounds of salt per person per year.  Ten pounds!  We decided that would give you enough for canning and preserving purposes – either that or it would give you high blood pressure and a stroke.  At the cost of salt I think I can get that much put aside with no trouble.  Too bad other things aren’t as inexpensive.

Does anyone have experience using oxygen absorbers in 5-gallon buckets?  I always used dry ice in the past.  I have read that you should use dry ice in the buckets instead of oxygen absorbers, but I have also read that you should use between four and eight of the absorbers per bucket.  So, which is it?  Any help would be appreciated. 

In other news, Katie and Sean are on their way home from Florida.  It has been quiet around here without them next door, and I look forward to having them back and safely gathered in.

My New Year’s Resolutions

For those who think this is going to be some serious navel gazing exercise on how to improve myself during the coming year, you might as well click on over to someone else’s blog right now.  Good intentions aside, I never have been big on making promises I know I won’t keep and I’m too old to change now.

So, moving right into business, here’s my list of things I probably will be able to do this year:

1. Since I no longer have to worry about the edification of my own children, and the responsibility for preparing the next generation now falls on their shoulders, I resolve to spoil my grandchildren and make their jobs harder.  Yep, I’m going to give those kids more candy and cookies, let them stay up later, and in general show them how much fun they could have if they just didn’t have to deal with those stodgy grownups they live with.  I figure spoiling grandchildren is my job, and I want to excel at it.
2. My house needs a big shovel and a dumpster to clean out all the memorabilia we have collected over a lifetime.  I don’t think I’m ready to do that though, so I resolve to enjoy it like it is but not let it get any worse.
3. This is the year I am up for re-election, and I am determined not to be a typical politician who promises things that can’t be done.  So, I resolve to work hard, be myself, and take whatever happens in stride.   Just like last time.
4. I resolve to enjoy life more.  This covers such sub-topics as:  going out to lunch with friends more often; playing Guitar Hero/Rock Band with my children and grandchildren more often (I have so much fun with that when we get together); having longer conversations and more vacations with my husband; visiting our children more often; and generally pausing to smell the roses.

Okay, that’s enough to keep me busy.  What are you doing this year?

All kidding aside, I’ll throw in one or two serious things that I really want to work on (not that there isn’t some truth going on with some of the ones above). 

1. Food storage – I keep thinking of the seven years of feast followed by the seven years of famine, and just know I need to get more long term storage.
2. Scripture study – I need to make more time for this one.  It is storing nourishment for the soul that goes along with the storage that maintains the body.

We are so fortunate to live in the times we do, and I am grateful for all I have.  May we all share in a multitude of blessings this year and for years to come.

Food Storage On My Mind This Season

Fabulous new recipes or old standbys – how do you balance the two for Thanksgiving?

Last year we had a wonderful green bean casserole, along with several comments that it just isn’t Thanksgiving without creamed peas.  There are the die-hard canned cranberry sauce aficionados versus the fresh cranberry relish fans, and this year we will have both.  Yam boats got added to our menu years ago amid raised eyebrows at their introduction.  They have become a staple because they are so yummy.

YAM BOATS

• 6 to 8 medium sweet potatoes
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 tsp. salt
• 6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled

Scrub potatoes.  Bake 350° 1 hour, or until done.  Cut each in half and scoop out insides.  Save shells.  In mixer bowl beat together scooped out potato with 3/4 cup cheese, butter, salt and dash of ppper, until fluffly.  Fold in 3/4 of bacon.  Pile mixture into potato shells.  Place in shallow baking pan.  Bake uncovered at 350° for 25-30 min.  Top with remaining cheese and bacon during the last 5 minutes of baking.  12 servings.

I did my grocery shopping today and was amazed at how few people were in the store this close to Thanksgiving.  That does not bode well for our economy.

I was also amazed at how many sales there were.  I wanted to keep buying for my food storage, but alas, my cart was full.  I came home with lots of canned goods to add to storage as well as some dry staples, cleaning supplies, and paper products.  I may go to Aldi’s tomorrow to check out their canned goods, as food storage is so high on my priority list right now.  It is just amazing how uncertain the economic outlook is.

Drew and Kelli are coming tomorrow for the weekend, or at least part of it.  He wants to go shooting with Bud, so I’m sure that will happen sometime in the next few days.  I’m guessing they won’t be the only family members going, too.  Elaine and Matt are coming Friday morning, and Sean and Katie will be wandering in and out.  It will be a nice gathering.

Your Lamp Will Light If It Is Filled

We have spent a lot of time the past few weeks working on emergency preparedness, and the progress has been amazing.   Note to self: buy lamp oil.

D&C 88:119   ^aOrganize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a ^bhouse, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

We decided one of the best ways to physically organize our house was with new shelving units for food storage.  We got rid of old cupboards and have been disposing of outdated canned goods that were in them; home canned spaghetti sauce, pickles, peaches, pears, and other memories of harvests past that got hidden behind closed doors and neglected until they were too old to be safe.  At least they can be composted for use in next year’s garden.

The new shelves are looking very good, burgeoning with storage we already had joined by items we have recently purchased.  It has become quite the family project, with everyone adding to their supplies.

                                                           Katie and I found Aldi’s to be a good source for bulk canned goods at very reasonable prices.

 

Bud found a source for used food grade buckets to store bulk dry goods. 

 

I have been putting stickers on all the stored items to indicate when they were purchased, to make sure they get rotated properly.  This year is coded green.

                                                   

In past years we were more diligent in keeping up with food storage and emergency preparedness, but somehow once the kids were raised and gone it was easy to discount the need to have everything organized and ready.  No more. 

Now I think of the story of Joseph and the seven years of plenty followed by the seven years of famine, and feel compelled to prepare for times of want.  We should have been doing more in recent years, so are having to work harder to get to where we need to be.

A by-product of this renewed sense of urgency is an effort to convert others to store food and other supplies for unanticipated emergencies.  I am getting a lot of nods and lukewarm agreements, but I don’t know if I am making any true converts.  At least I am spreading the word among those I work with and know socially.

I wonder if they think I am coming unwound?

Keeping Up With the Important Things In Life

A church I once attended had a plaque in the hallway with the following quote from 2 Nephi: 24-25:

Adam fell the men might be; and men are that they might have joy.

That quote from the Book of Mormon teaches an important principle of God’s plan of salvation that you can find outlined here.

The sense of joyousness in life that is obvious to anyone who becomes familiar with the Mormons was one of the primary draws I felt toward to their religion.  The other was their emphasis on families.  Their joy isn’t the superficial variety that comes from transitory worldly achievements, but from a deep inner conviction that life has a purpose, they know what it is, and they are enjoying themselves while gaining a goal of unsurpassabe value.

My life changed when I joined the LDS Church, and I continue to find my life blessed and my family a source of joy through the principles I have learned there.  I have been fortunate to be able to bring that deep, fulfilling joy into my life, and continue to learn as it continues to grow.

Katie has been blogging all month about things she is thankful for, and I want to take a page from her book and do the same today.

1. I am thankful for my grandchildren and enjoy being around them.  We celebrated K~’s second birthday Saturday, and it was such a nice party.  She is so sweet, and was so cute sitting in her little pink princess chair with a tiara on her head, opening presents.  When she got to the end she started doing the sign for “more” and saying “more presents.”  (Kelli studied sign language and has been teaching it to her.)  I was thankful all our children and grandchildren were there, since we don’t all get together often enough.
2. I am thankful for the Church’s policy of being prepared for emergencies and their help in accomplishing that goal.  I stopped by the cannery on my way to the birthday party and picked up a truck load of food for our extended family.  Some of us ordered a little, some a lot, and I was the designated driver.  We got bulk bags of wheat, oats, rice, beans, sugar, and dried apples.  Katie and I divided the apples up this evening, since we are splitting the bulk 15 pound order five ways.  Any idea how many dried apples that is?  Twelve and a half gallons!  And they are so good!  We will probably get more next time we head that way.  And the apple dust and crumbs at the bottom of the bag?  I mixed some in my dry oatmeal and can’t wait for breakfast tomorrow to try it.
3. I am thankful for my husband, who spent this weekend learning how to fire cannons.  Maybe his 21 years in the military has something to do with it, but when he found out they were giving classes locally to learn how to fire a replica Revolutionary War era cannon he just had to attend.  He had a blast!  Literally.  After a nine hour day yesterday studying how to do it, today was shooting day.  They shot off three cannons and some kind of launcher.  He had a good time and is now a cannoneer, certified to participate in artillery events.  I suppose next I will be making him clothes to participate in re-enactments.
4. I am thankful that we are able to worship where and how we choose, and pray it will always be so.  When I read of activists picketing the Church’s temples in California and spraying graffiti on the walls it makes me sad.  When I read that the police did nothing to stop it, …How can that be?
5. I am thankful for our country and the oportunities it provides for those willing to take them and work for them.  I have been following Jill’s blog as she spends time in Ukraine in the process of adopting two children, and she reminds me of all the blessings we have.  I also think back to some of the things Matt and I saw and heard in Vietnam and remember all the blessings we have.  We should not complain about what we do not have, rather celebrate what we do.

Just a quick note back on item number two above.  After the disruption caused by the wind storm that went through Ohio in September, the importance of being prepared for emergencies cannot be stressed enough.  If that had happended during the winter it would have been devastaing.  As it was lots of people lost thier perishable food, there was a run on the stores, public services were overwhelmed, and life was turned upside down in general.  We should all have emergency food and supplies, and know how to use them if necessary. 

I found a good resource on how to do it at the website Safely Gathered In.  The women who write it are having a good time with emergency preparedness and inspire me to try harder.

Horse Trailers And Hardbacks

If you have ever wondered how much furniture you can pack into a horse trailer I have the answer – one heck of a lot.

Lolly’s brother and sister-in-law, plus two of their kids, arrived today from Las Vegas with her furniture and other household items.  Doug an Lolly’s house, which had become pretty orderly after the first half of the move, is now a sea of boxes and lots more furniture. 

And food storage.  Just an impressive amount of food storage – she has been very diligent in accumulating the year’s supply of food that the Mormon church recommends.  She is well on the way to having enough for their family, and it inspires me to do better.

Bud and I went up to help and came home late exhausted.  He spent a large part of the evening working on a crystal chandelier for the living room.  It’s a lovely chandelier, but it was a beast to install.  It weighs a ton (yes, I’m exaggerating), and the receptacle on the ceiling didn’t have the appropriate number of holes for screwing it into place.  After much effort it was finally in place though, and it looks very classy.

Speaking of lovely, I finished The Lovely Bones* this morning.  Once I start a book I have a hard time putting it down until it’s done, and this one was no different.  It has some rough scenes and language in it, but for modern literature not as much as has become common.  

Why do they do that?  Take a book and throw in unnecessary coarseness just to “spice it up?”  Puh-leeease.

Anyway, after a rough beginning the book progresses easily and is well written.  There were several places that brought tears to my eyes – not maudling, just touching.  Well done.  There were many places where I admired the author’s choice of words, which makes for an enjoyable book.

Then I got to page 300 and the book just seemed to fall apart.  From there on it was downhill.  An illogical course of events, an inadequate denoument, and then it didn’t really end – it was more like it just stopped.  It felt like it needed another 50 pages or so to finish itself, not to mention how she….  No, that would give too much away.  Anyway, it was an unsatisfying conclusion to an otherwise well-written book.

And the passage that gives the book its title, oh my goodness what an illogical interpretation of the influence of events.  I just sat there going, “Huh?”

Would I recommend it?  Yes, because the author is very good with words even if there are some plot problems.

I have to admit the book I read was not a hardback, but the alliteration worked.  “Horse Trailers and Softbacks” – not so good.