Monday Message

"Recent surveys of Church members have shown a serious erosion in the number of families who have a year’s supply of life’s necessities. Most members plan to do it. Too few have begun . . . It is our sacred duty to care for our families, including our extended families." (President Thomas S. Monson- note: the italicized parts were italicized in his original talk)

We need to be ever engaged in putting in what storage we can at this time. It would be a prudent thing to do.

Just do the best you can. Remember what things were cleared out of stores, be sure you have food and things your family will need. It might be time to stop getting the extra for a bit till you have the needed items in.

For me, I noticed I needed oatmeal since we were low on it. So instead of getting other things, I chose to get the oats in. I called three different stores to find the best price, I also checked on Amazon...Aldi's won at the lowest price.

So look at what you are low on and beef that up.

I feel that we should work better at preparing than we did in the beginning when the pandemic first started.

This round of the pandemic could be longer.

We should plan for the worst and hope for the best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UjlTj4qQtg - she talks about what she is working on in her storage.

I mentioned last week things I wanted to do...

I have quite a few libraries in my house. The first picture is of the cozy mysteries. My grandma liked mysteries and I take after her. Cozy mysteries are good, clean books - no nastiness, no gore kind of things. I have fibromyalgia and can't take scary or nasty type things, just cozies.

Another area is knitting books and another has spinning and weaving, another has sewing, and I have one area with basket-making books. There are also cookbooks, canning cookbooks, and a whole shelf of bread cookbooks.

You can set up your libraries and they can be free too! I have mentioned www.freereadfeed.com, they put free books out every day.

Libraries have book sales and they also have free book stacks, they will also have free magazines as well.

Gus and Missy say these are all great ideas should we have to shelter in place.

This whole thing can bring you down. We feel we cannot fix it, but we can pray.

Missy says, keeping up your exercise helps, so do some if you are not already doing some.

I have been dehydrating produce out of the garden this year...just not a lot to can so this has been working for me this year.

The tray has parsley on it. How do you dry parsley? Well, when it's dry, I place a white paper (it is just what I grabbed) then place the tray over the paper, rub the parsley back and forth on the tray, then toss the stick parts away and use the paper to pour in a jar with a canning funnel on it.

Be sure to have your favorite treat ingredients on hand.

I like to have ingredients to make our favorite chocolate cake on hand to make when we have hard times...I feel like we are all having hard times now. (Click HERE for the recipe and scroll down part of the way till you see it).

Our hearts are sad to see things going on with all the death and turmoil and disasters going on, all while we are in a pandemic.

The CDC says we all need to wear masks, vaccinated or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6UcIDaxfqk - here you can make a cloth mask.

Find fun things you enjoy and find/make a space to put them. Here I organized a corner to spin in. Start gathering the things together you need to make yourself a space.

Gus says these are all things to show you how to prepare for this time that we find ourselves in.  Make a cozy place within your four walls.

Let us know what your plans are to cozy up your place and to keep your spirits high.

Please be safe.

Monday Message

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

We find ourselves fighting a war against the ravages of COVID-19 and its variants, an unrelenting pandemic. We want to do all we can to limit the spread of these viruses. We know that protection from the diseases they cause can only be achieved by immunizing a very high percentage of the population.

To limit exposure to these viruses, we urge the use of face masks in public meetings whenever social distancing is not possible. To provide personal protection from such severe infections, we urge individuals to be vaccinated. Available vaccines have proven to be both safe and effective.

We can win this war if everyone will follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders. Please know of our sincere love and great concern for all of God’s children.

The First Presidency

Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks, Henry B. Eyring

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-message-covid-19-august-2021 

I thought I would lead with the info above as this is so important.

I feel like we are almost starting over with this pandemic. It is very easy to get complacent, but this isn't the time for complacency. It could mean your life or the lives of others.

I know we are getting very tired of it, but we need to stick to the path.

Life isn't always easy, we aren't owed for it to be either… we need to do our part, we need to do hard things sometimes and this pandemic isn't over yet and requires hard work.

Knowing what we have learned in this last year and a half, how can we make things better for this time?

Well I have been pondering this very thing...

I needed to have some change, so I moved some furniture around and organized the bookshelf in our bedroom (well, reorganized it) which is always hard, heavy work. I wanted to move the groups of books around so that they stayed in their groups but had the less often used books higher up and the more used lower down. I have a lot of books, I do love books!

I have some projects I put together as kits.

I plan to read more.

Knit more, plus learn new knitting skills.

I want to tat more and learn new techniques.

I want to learn more on dying fiber.

I want to spin more and learn more spinning techniques.

I want to weave more and learn more about weaving.

I want to sew more and learn more on pattern altering.

I want to play with watercolors.

I want to learn more on bobbin lace so I can make pretties like these that my sister gave me.

I want to learn more on the Toyota knitting machine. I recently watched this -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnMdRHJ5aj4 She jumped right into the hard things and so I will stop being a chicken on that. 

I want to use the sock machine.

I want to make more little sweaters.

I want to do more embroidery, especially making more masks.

I want to study more on food storage.

These are a few of the things I am wanting to do. I figure I will keep learning as long as I am alive.

Soon the garden will be done and I will have more time.

I have been dehydrating tomatoes and some zucchini that got too big. I try to get them young but some hide very well.

I have mastered the tomato slicer. I was just about to give up but then I got it.

I will soon have to be saving seed from what I grew in the garden this year, especially since where I got my plants this year didn't grow theirs this time and they did not do as well as the seeds I started. I already saved the seed from the muskmelon we grew - yum! It was so good.  I drool every time I go out to see if the watermelon is ready....soon.

I am choosing to dehydrate most of my garden this year. My garden struggled so much with this drought we are in.

What things will you plan to do to get through this next leg of the pandemic?

Missy suggest naps when you need them.

Gus said more time with catnip and toys. Missy perked up to say she agrees.

We all say be safe - wear masks, wash your paws, stay socially distant and check on others.

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)

I am starting to see prices going high, so purchases might have to be put on a no-spend time till they get better.

Having said that, we need to make do with what we have and what can be gotten frugally.

Keep haunting those sale flyers for things that can beef up your storage, go to thrift stores for items.

Work with what you have.

I have mentioned this before but I was able to get an almost new knitting machine at a yard sale.

I have a bond knitting machine I got as a gift and later found another one at Goodwill for six dollars which I put together and had learned it well. But this almost-new machine I struggled to learn. At that time, I was taking lessons and my teacher was very stern with me. She kept telling me I didn't need to write everything down but I said I needed to. I was starting with fibromyalgia and retaining info was hard but I did not know at the time that was happening.  

Back to her, she was mean but I needed the instruction. One day she was really mean and she got a call from someone that she argued with. The person on the phone wanted her to go to an auction house so she could price a knitting machine. She turned to me to ask if I could go with her, I said yes. So I drove her there. It was an auction house and they must have cleaned out a studio of sorts so she was looking at the knitting machine. They only wanted the furniture but they made them take everything, so they wanted to get rid of the things and just get the furniture.

I knew I had a hundred dollars that I could use so I told the guy I wanted all the yarn (it was all coned yarn). My teacher was still working with that machine so I went through stuff. I got fifty-two books on machine knitting, there was a plastic drawer thing with fat quarters (aka folded pieces of fabric) all sorted by color. It was a truck load. My husband sent a worker with our truck to come and get it. The man I dealt with at the auction gladly took a hundred dollars for everything I got. My teacher bought the machine she was looking at for seven hundred dollars and we got it in my car.

The worker took the truck load of stuff to our house and we went back to her shop. She was snarky all the way home, she said she did not know why I got all of that yarn since the only thing it would be good for was for a hand knitter. I turned to her and said I am a hand knitter, that stopped the snarky stuff.

I later went back and got the other two knitting machines for fifty dollars.

I tried to set up my mother-in-law with one but her husband was getting Alzheimer's and didn't want it around so it came back to me. Back then, the internet was just starting to be a thing and I was on a knitting list, so I traded one of the machines for a drum carder that I had wanted but couldn't find and a lady bought the other machine, so that money was used to purchase a wood burning cook stove.

So that was the yarn haul. Two cones of yarn still had their prices on them. If I only bought those two cones new from a store it would have cost more than what I paid for all of it.

Not long after I had put on Freecycle that I was looking for fabric and as it turned out a lady had boxes of fabric from her grandma. Our oldest daughter and I went in the truck to pick it all up. Those boxes of fabric filled the truck bed to the top. In the end, it helped the girl and I got free fabric.

So this was the great fabric haul.

This being said, I also got canning jars and lace trims, even scrapbooking supplies from Freecycle.

I tell you this to show you that you can get items for free. Once, I was putting it out there that I was looking for tatting stuff. A lady replied that she was getting out of it and I was able to get her stuff - books, thread, and a few shuttles. I was thankful for everything.

And now that I am older, I really appreciate having it. One reason is that the prices to purchase them new just aren't reasonable anymore and second, I don't have to go into a store to purchase them.

Freecycle is still a thing…so if you are looking for something it never hurts to try this way first and then haunt thrift stores.

https://www.pinterest.com/leilajh/sewing-old-new-clothing-make-over/ - this will give you ideas for old clothing.

Now is the time to be more frugal.

Also, it is time to learn new skills - https://ourinspiredroots.com/cooking-from-scratch-for-beginners/

I checked on canning supplies just to see what was there and all I found were empty shelves. So if you have produce you can freeze it...

https://www.allrecipes.com/article/how-to-freeze-fruits-and-vegetables/

https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/186047/how-to-dehydrate-food-without-a-dehydrator-dehydrate-fruit-and-vegetables-in-oven/ - when I did this before I had a dehydrator, I folded a pot holder and put it in the door to prop it open just a tad.

This week I finished the cardigan for the sheep...

I learned a lot from knitting this little stuff.

My sister and I experimented with making these rolags using a drum carder, it was a success. These will be very fun to spin up.

Gus says stop the presses!

Gus said keep wearing those masks and washing your paws and socially distancing...which he is about to do in his box cave. He says we need everyone to stay alive and be a hero to others.

Missy says she is already socially distant. She, too, encourages everyone to wear masks. She knows some don't like to wear them but wearing masks and getting vaccinated is how we care for ourselves and others.

Monday Message

"Today, I emphasize a most basic principle: home production and storage. Have you ever paused to realize what would happen to your community or nation if transportation were paralyzed or if we had a war or depression? How would you and your neighbors obtain food? How long would the corner grocery store—or supermarket—sustain the needs of the community?" (President Ezra Taft Benson)

Finally we got some rain last night so I didn't have to water the garden on the last day of July. It was a nice treat. And last but not least it is a bit cooler, enough so that I could bake a loaf of bread.

Check out the recipe for making your own bread HERE.

My sister shared a wonderful healthy recipe with me that I now will share with you...

Chocolate Nice Cream! - This is so like chocolate ice cream - yum!

You cut three good size bananas in less than half inch coins and freeze.

To make up, you pull out your bag of frozen bananas and put in your blender.

Add a half a cup of milk to start with, you can add more as you go to get the thickness you would like.

Add two tablespoons baking cocoa.

Blend and add milk as needed.

Oh this is soooo good.

I finally finished this pink dress for the last sheep so now everyone has clothes.

I finished a hat for winter...

So those are what I have been working on to build skills. I am making a cardigan sweater for the sheep to share.

I want to urge you to be getting things in. Remember what happened in January 2020. I knew this virus would not stay in China so I picked up what things I would need like batteries and lightbulbs, etc. I was going by Sam's Club and thought I would stop and get a big package of toilet paper and maybe another package of yeast. When I got in there only a few packages remained of toilet paper and not the big package, so I got one and went to the baking aisle to grab one more thing of yeast. When I got there...no yeast, no flour. I did pick up baking soda and powder. It was so unreal I thought I must be in another aisle, I literally turned circles. Here I had been teaching bread baking and all the supplies for it were gone. That was so strange.

So while I had some another person might not. So think what you will need and what you did need. I had no idea what to expect but I knew it was coming. I have that same feeling that this will get worse before it gets better. If it doesn't, it won't matter, I will still be prepared.

So, please, vaccinated or not, wear those masks and stay safe.

We had an unmasked visitor… Missy looked out the window and asked, “what kind of cat is that?!”

A woodchuck came a-calling.

Even Gus took a second look.

They both agreed he should be wearing a mask to stay safe and they want all of you to remember to wear your masks. Also, keep up your safety protocols. We are still in the thick of things.

Our granddaughter says she doesn't like wearing the masks. I told her that none of us do but we need to just like none of us like wearing pads but we still need too. Only when you don't wear a pad you will only die of embarrassment, whereas not wearing a mask you might just die.

We all have to do things we don't like at times, it is just the way life is. No one gets out of this life never cleaning the toilet, well, if they do they are lucky. We do the hard/no fun things then move on to the fun things.

Everyone be extra safe, I do not have a good feeling just like in the beginning.

Monday Message

"Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to ‘prepare every needful thing’ (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors, and support bishops as they care for others." (All is Safely Gathered In pamphlet)

I think this year has shown us that we have to be prepared for anything. The other day we had a tornado outbreak. There were fifteen tornadoes close to our area. There was a farm where the first one hit and being in the country they had no sirens and I am guessing they had a phone alert but this one totally destroyed everything. I don't know what their house looked like before but only part of the first floor was there. They had eight grandkids visiting at the time, that alone sends fear through us all. But they went to their basement and went under a pool table. They were all unharmed, thank goodness. We all should be getting geared up for our safety spot to make sure we all know the plan.

We only had a walnut tree break in half but we played lumberjack and got it cut and put in the burn pile.

I am feeling like storm damage is our new normal.

We had tons of rain. Though the sad thing is the driveway usually always has puddles, big puddles when it storms like that and part of the side yard has standing water, well there were no puddles and no standing water this time as we were in a drought and while the rain was good it still isn't enough.

The garden is looking rough from the weather this year but I press on.

As we watch the news, terrible catastrophic things are happening all over. We need to be prepared to be able to weather what comes our way. There is no way to be prepared for everything and most have no budget for that either so we have to do what we can do. Learn skills and put in some storage and stand ready to assist our neighbors.

https://homesteadingfamily.com/how-to-make-pickles/ - as we will soon be in the canning season I thought this might be helpful.

I know it has been hard to find canning items this year so remember you can still freeze and dehydrate as well.

Stock up on some basic items: salt, honey, sugar, dry beans, rice, flour, and other things like this and beef up your low areas.

I finished the sheep dress I was working on. She looks great with her dress. Now I am working on the next one so they all will be dressed. I have to say I am learning a lot of knitting skills.

I have been doing some organizing this week...

Missy says what?? Were you going to put something in this basket? I thought the rule was to fill the baskets...what better to put in here than me!

I decided to put my embroidery supplies in these containers all together rather than in several areas.

I decided to move my sock machine here...makes for more light and more elbow room.

Here I have a tatting toolbox and shuttles with a basket of books to read on top.

Since tatting was brought up here is thread I use for tatting and bobbin lace which is in the turquoise drawers.

So I have been working hard organizing.

Gus said we should plan to rest more and he is demonstrating just how to do that.

Both Gus and Missy say for you all to stay very safe, wear your masks and keep your paws clean.  And find time to rest.