Monday Message

"Let us be in a position so we are able to not only feed ourselves through the home production and storage, but others as well." (President Ezra Taft Benson)

Well, this is two weeks ago when you will be reading this... The second we took on water from heavy rain, we were pumping it out when my sister came for a visit. In the night of July 3rd, I was awake and thought, oh no, more rain that was heavy. At 1:25 a.m. I got up to check the basement floor. It had dried nicely so I went back to bed. I still couldn't sleep and rain kept going hard so at 3 a.m. I went to look again and water was again coming in. I woke my husband to turn on the extra pump which he did. I fell asleep but woke early to go look but my sister had already looked. It was really bad. She said she heard noises of things falling in the basement. 

We had 18 inches of water so we added a third pump but it was not running well. My sister had to be places on the fourth and my husband decided to go get another pump. I manned the pump that wasn't doing well - it would run for three minutes then I would unplug it to cool it down for three minutes, then repeat - three on, three off... This went on till my husband was home and we put in the new pump (now there were four pumps). 

It was now one in the afternoon and I measured 21.5 inches of water, so it was gaining on me even though I kept at it - three on three off. This pump worked all day and night and in the morning my husband put it in the sump basin so we could start the very very long and hard work of clean up. 

Come to find out the first night we had ten inches of rain in a short time span, second night 5.5 more inches in a short time so in total 15.5 inches fell. It has been three days since then and still water fills the basin fast. Fortunately, what we got is only ground water. For so many other it was sewage, eeew, that is way worse! And this was hard. When my husband was picking up the new pump, they said that they had to send someone an hour and a half away to get sump pumps.

Under basement stairs, I stored sheets in garbage bags for making rugs on my loom and towels too for rugs. Can I just say those were soooooo heavy to get out as they were wet and at that I had to break them up into four bags each just so I could carry out that - it took all day yesterday. 

This morning we were met with stacks of buckets that tilted across the walk way, I wasn't planning to do buckets till tomorrow. But that went to the front of the line. We were able to move them off and found the wood had failed. So we took off the wet wood and put on two by fours and restacked the buckets then I dried cans as best I could and stacked them in plastic tubs - this took all day.

Fans are working overtime down there now.

While husband was getting the pump, the water took out the internet and phones and water heater and furnace motherboard, so no air conditioning and it was very hot those days.

That was the third and now it's the eighth. We're still working hard but at least the air is now on and the two fans we were using can now help in the basement.

It is a lot harder now that I am seventy than it was when I was younger to pick up such a mess.

This was the worst amount of rain I have ever seen.

And now on the eighth, we are trying to dry out and just now another flood watch has been sent out. 

I complained of no rain but now I complain it's too much rain. I feel like that book "Too Much Noise" that we used to read the kids

I tell you that you can be prepared and still troubles happen. You can only do the best that you can.  Having had issues in the past, I made sure things were above the four inches - like my old buckets of beans were saved to be under buckets so four inches plus the buckets high and yet the water went higher. So we can only do the best we can and hope for the best.

I am thankful the internet and phones are back on and thankful water heater was fine and on, but most of all I really like having air back on.

Not looking forward to more water coming, the ground water levels are already high.

We are working to fix sump pumps and it's not easy going.

We have things out front and back draped over to dry.

When we thought we had only a little water and was pumping it out, my sister showed me a pattern. I had already warped the little loom so was ready... it looks very pretty.

Keep building your storage, keep making preps and building your skills.

Missy says trials come to us all, having storage helps us to weather the storms. Even if some of it gets compromised, she is sure glad we put those buckets of old beans on the bottom as it saved a lot.

Tippy Longstockings says take care, everyone in the path of the storms, and stay safe!

Monday Message

"We encourage members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings. We ask that you be wise, and do not go to extremes. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve." (All is Safely Gathered In)

We are in a bad heat wave here this week and each time we are to be done with it, they extend it another day, so now it goes through tomorrow (as you read this it will be two weeks ago).

Boy is it hot!

I can tell you what I did before it got here, as we had some notice it was coming. I did laundry and ran the dishwasher so I would not have to use it during peak times. I cooked up two pounds of hamburger and took some out for hamburger gravy. I put taco seasoning in the rest for smashed tacos and other things like soft shell tacos too, things that would only require the microwave. Also, I've been wanting to try this mac and cheese recipe. I made a double batch, we love it! I have it in the fridge and scoop out what is needed and microwave it. I chose this recipe as I had everything it took to make it and always have these things on hand...

This recipe I clipped from a magazine that I got free from library creative kids spring 2004.

Mac and Cheese (it calls to bake it I chose not to)

2 c. dry macaroni, this you cook in your water with salt like you would normally

When done, drain and add:

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

1/8 tsp pepper

2 1/2 c. milk I used powdered milk i mixed to make amt needed

3 c. shredded American cheese - I started to shred it and gave up as my cheese was soft and just cut it into pieces

I stirred all together, heating until the cheese melted.

I doubled this to have it through the heatwave. If you have kids, this would be so easy to just heat in the microwave when needed.

I also wanted it a bit thicker so made a slurry of more flour and water till it was just right.

My husband does not like mac and cheese but loved this. It says you can add cheddar cheese to make up half the cheese but I won't be doing that as I think it is perfect just how I did it, plus, I have American cheese on hand and cheddar cost more so I save it for other things.

I also froze juice into popsicles.

I made bread up.

Chopped up a salad and had it ready to use as well.

Along that line, the lettuce I used I got from saving the bottoms and putting them in water and here is what they did. You can see my little strawberry plants are growing in the pot on the right. This works for an extra bit of lettuce, you can do this with celery as well.

I tried to do things that would not heat the house up at this time.

It has been rotten weather but we are getting through it.

I put a new project on the big loom and this shows the struggles of getting it tied on plus the yarn I am using is from that yarn haul thirty years ago.

Then I used that ball winder and used these two skeins of yarn and wound them into balls.

I measured off warp using this yarn and warped up the small loom.

So these are both ready to work on now and I will tell you lots of work went into getting these warped and to this point.

Meet Norman the squirrel eating breakfast - our youngest named all of the squirrels Norman :p

Keep building your storage - things are still going up, I find this incredible.

https://www.frugalfamily.co.uk/100-frugal-fun-summer-activities/ here are some fun frugal things for the summer.

Missy says keep building your storage, prices aren't nice right now but keep at it and be kind - it is more needed now than ever.

Tippy Longstockings says keep building those skills! Vacuum seal food you have to keep it from going stale is a good skill, so is dehydrating and canning and freezing!

Monday Message

"The counsel to have a year’s supply of basic food, clothing, and commodities was given fifty years ago and has been repeated many times since. Every father and mother are the family’s storekeepers. They should store whatever their own family would like to have in the case of an emergency … [and] God will sustain us through our trials." (James E. Faust)

This week I worked on a stitchery. A young girl from church made me a card that is hanging on the refrigerator.  

So I thought it might be fun for her if I made it into a stitchery in the same colors and gave it back.

The stars she drew on the front of the card I included in the final.

She was really surprised and so was her mom.

It was a very nice break as stitchery is very soothing to me.

https://colonialpatterns.com/content/PDFs/easy-embroidery-stitch-guide.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOopSk1CTJpzj65Y7K5dDemzvE9xbGybBnTzYeq9yWTRz11kVEIDN

https://albertametis.com/app/uploads/2021/08/Embroidery-Booklet-August-9.pdf

These are helpful if you are wanting to embroider.

I saved our kids' artwork and made them into stitcheries. I did one version into pillows for the kids and another into pictures for our wall of the same as their pillows.

Notice I used the colors that the kids used, just like I did for my young friend.

Here are the ones I made for us from our kids' artwork.

The one with a leaf was not her artwork but shows she gave us this talk when she was little that I made into a stitchery. We have the originals of all these.

The one with a big bird was one where Sarah wrote and drew in her school journal and the teacher wrote what her letters meant. "We went to the ocean to play that day and there were Seagulls on the beach." She must have felt they were very big...too cute!

I then wanted to tea stain ours. To do this, I heated a cup of water and put four cheap tea bags into this and let them steep. Then covered a cookie sheet with tinfoil and laid the stitchery on it. Then I took the tea bags and kind of pounced all around on the stitchery dipping in the tea water as needed till it was like I wanted, then I baked it in our oven at the lowest setting for about twelve min or till dry.

To get their artwork on the muslin, I held it up on a window (or if you have a light box) and traced off their pictures.

Then like I said, I used the colors they used.

This is a very inexpensive project to do...embroidery is a very inexpensive skill to have.

We noticed today the gas prices are creeping up again. Not a good thing for sure. We notice the town three miles from us usually has gas 20 cents cheaper than our town even though it's the same chain.

They are talking that prices will continue to climb, also not good.

So be working on your storage and your skill building.

That said, about skills - our bathroom faucet broke this week. We worked hard to try and repair it for about 3/4th of the day but it couldn't be repaired so my husband went on Facebook marketplace and found a faucet for fifteen dollars, where in a store they were running $80 and $179 - wow! When did they get so high? But we replaced the one that was unrepairable and it took the rest of the day.

I also wanted to show you how the ball winder I got from goodwill works.

I want to encourage you to stock up on only what you eat now and do it wisely. Just pick up a little extra when you go to the store - just do the best you can.

I want to encourage you to build a skill.

I want to encourage you that when something breaks, try to make the repair yourself if you can. It will save money. Clearly there will be things you cannot. But if you can try, it will help.

Missy says try hard to be as frugal as you can.

Tippy Longstockings says don't wear yourself out and rest often. Learn on YouTube what you need to then attempt the repair, then rest. She is a growing girlie and needs lots of rest.

Monday Message

"Concerning clothing, we should anticipate future needs, such as extra work clothes and clothes that would supply warmth during winter months when there may be shortages or lack of heating fuel. Leather and bolts of cloth could be stored, particularly for families with younger children who will outgrow and perhaps outwear their present clothes." (President Ezra Taft Benson)

"Can or bottle fruit and vegetables from your gardens and orchards. Learn how to preserve food through drying and possibly freezing. Make your storage a part of your budget. Store seeds and have sufficient tools on hand to do the job." (President Ezra Taft Benson)

This week (at the time I'm writing this) we celebrated our 52nd wedding anniversary.

I have done some yard work which is hard for sure.

The garden is doing well. We have been getting rain every few days for now. The garden loves rain water best.

I still am getting some asparagus - yum!

Those little volunteer peach trees are doing really good. I would love an orchard in our yard. I have apple trees, peach trees, and plum trees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWRr_h9g0aM - this will inspire you to redo some things you are not wearing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu0zPpUeXng - she shows some helpful things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ2_N1NCzho - interesting to hear her story. I remember winter was coming. I found some fabric scraps from a yard sale in a free box. I had no pattern but I made a coat and wore it, so I did what i could with what I found.

It is amazing the things that we can learn. We can do so much!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwLSBPKK4k4 - has some good tips here.

https://matchymatchysewingclub.com/ - this has a few free downloadable patterns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaIV_2YBjeg - here is how to vacuum seal in the canister, which I like doing a lot because you can save glass containers and seal food in them. Any jars you get nowadays the lid has the rubber in the lid, so a spaghetti sauce jar works great to store dry food in and seal.

Since you can grow celery from putting the bottom in water, I thought I would try it with romaine lettuce - sure enough, you can! The one on the right you can see is just now growing. The one on left is so pretty.

I made more bread this week.

How are you coming on your skills and your storage? Let us know in the comments below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXR6EFH_nTQ - I love this gal, she helps you understand storage.

Keep working on all frugal things and your storage and your skills and teach others, especially your kids. We will be in this for quite a while yet.

Missy says find inexpensive things. You can fix for your family, go to the library and check out frugal cookbooks to help you.

Tippy Longstockings says we can learn so much so keep working on skill building.

Monday Message

"I wish to urge again the importance of self-reliance on the part of every individual Church member and family. None of us knows when a catastrophe might strike. Sickness, injury, unemployment may affect any of us. We have a great welfare program with facilities for such things as grain storage in various areas. It is important that we do this. But the best place to have some food set aside is within our homes, together with a little money in savings. The best welfare program is our own welfare program. Five or six cans of wheat in the home are better than a bushel in the welfare granary." (President Gordon B. Hinckley)

This week we have been having hot weather but so far the garden is doing okay. I weeded it this morning while we were still cool. The asparagus is starting to finish, I only got three. The raspberries will be next. They are starting to turn.

The young men came to learn about the telescope my husband built. They got to look at the stars and planets so I made them cookies of stars and planets. I know it is hard to see but the cart we have it on was a free "by the side of the road" find.

I have the first harvest of rhubarb chopped and in the freezer and then made two batches of strawberry rhubarb jam.

After my success of growing strawberries from seed (they were doing so well, I had planted them but within the hour they were eaten) I thought I would try again, only this time I will wait to plant when they are way bigger and totally protected. I thought I would tell you how to get the seed...

What I do is peel the strawberry skin very thin. I lay it down on a plate, cut-side down, and leave it for three or four days. Then I rub the top of the skin with my finger. If you look closely at the picture, you see dark flecks like pepper - those are the seeds. I rub them till all seeds are off and I plant them. The skins stick hard and fast to the plate so it's easy to do. I just run the plate and the now seedless-skins in the dishwasher.  If you hand it to a kid, they can eat those skins like fruit leather but they wash off.

The other thing I did last year was I put the peach pits from our peaches into three holes in the backyard. Well I was weed-whacking and I noticed nothing so I took the markers down but when I got to the third one, I thought there were peach trees but I couldn't be sure. Our neighbor brought us tiny ones all those years ago which the tree we have now is from. Well, I asked him to come and check. He came and checked and confirmed they were peach trees! I am so excited! I put two out front and have three going out back which I can divide further in a while. The apple seeds I planted and grew, I put out back as well but rabbits ate them this winter, but they both have shoots - so this year I'll do more protection.

For someone who hates gardening with a passion, I sure seem to be doing a lot of it!

I do like having our yard give us food. So think how you can plant food that will keep giving you food.

They are saying prices are to go way up over the next two months...

Both cats are horrified by that news.

I put in a grocery order and one thing that said out of stock was a 25-pound bag of flour. Usually when Walmart doesn't have something in stock they ship it, but this time it said ITEM NO LONGER AVAILABLE  Nothing about getting it soon or temporary - nope! And someone else remarked the shelves again at Walmart were empty where the flour usually is. This could just be temporary but I think we should take notice that some things are getting harder to get.

So just keep working on your storage - no reason to panic. We just keep working on it. Get your basics in.

Keep working on those skills. No matter where you are in the world, pick up extra items when you go to the store and work on building your skills. Things are hard for everyone right now.

Our town had their town-wide yard sales this last weekend. We went to a few. My husband got a router for five dollars (his died). We just missed getting a wood planer. With my five dollars, I found sewing books that were 25 cents each.

And I got ten sewing magazines a dime each.

Then I got some cooking magazines for free.

We have a wheelbarrow that we got years ago from a yard sale for five dollars but we could no longer fix the tire and the wood was getting rough but the bucket is okay. Well, there was a wheelbarrow for free! It was good except the bucket had rusted through from cement that they left (so people be sure to wash those out!) but we got it and will trade out the bucket part and it will be like a new one. So that was good! We also got a nice free grill, it just needs a good clean..

Even though I wasn't really going to go, we did, and I am glad that we did! So don't rule out yard sales or thrift stores. I did go to four thrift stores in the last little bit and found nothing - it was kind of creepy for me to find nothing. Remember when I said patterns went up? Well now they had none and remember that I complained about yarn prices at the thrift store? Now there was none. So either I have to quit complaining or things are getting worse but I say, if you can, still try to haunt them. Also, hang onto what you have and remake, reuse - that sort of thing.

Just a side note - I totaled the books I got for four dollars pictured above. They came to $401.67!

I think it is fair to say I couldn't have gotten the cheapest book for the four dollars I spent.

Was it worth it? I would definitely say so. There were a lot of others but I had a limit and got the ones that were of interest or that will further my skills.

Missy says we can do this so don't be afraid, it may be hard but we can do it!

Tippy Longstockings says be kind to others, it is badly needed and we will all get through this time.