Turkeyed Out

There were enough Thanksgiving Dinner leftovers so that I had two more turkey dinners and a couple of sandwiches.  A 14 lb. turkey goes a long way for two people.  Duane kept what he wanted and brought me the bones and some leftover meat.

Monday I cooked the bones for a couple of hours, strained off the broth, picked the remaining meat from the bones, and added more leftover meat to the broth.   Later I added diced potatoes, carrots, onions and corn, all from my stash of dehydrated vegetables.  Tossed in a few chicken bouillon cubes for flavor along with dried thyme and parsley and let that simmer the rest of the afternoon.

Duane took home a bucket of soup, added some seasonings of his own and declared it to be pretty darned good soup.  He was right.  I have been eating off of my half the past couple of days.  Tonite I will add dumplings for supper.

And then I believe I have gotten as much mileage from that turkey as I can.  I will be officially turkeyed out.  :)

Not Much...

going on right now here in my little Home Sweet Apartment.  Just doing the small daily chores and puttering about with this, that and the other.  Thanksgiving is easy this year since it is just Duane and me, and he is cooking the turkey.  Nearly everything else comes from my deep pantry, so there is no last minute shopping to be done.

I am taking the rest of the week off from blogging.  So this is me...wishing all of you...a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Even with the world's insanity surrounding us, there is so very much to give thanks for.  My wish for you all is a day filled with love, laughter and time spent with those you love.

Finishing Up...

my canning marathon gave me, in addition to the soups I had canned the day before, 12 quarts and 24 pints of soup base.  Each jar contains potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, peas and cabbage.  I tossed some chicken bouillon in for flavor.  This soup base can be heated as is for vegetable soup.  I can add a jar of home canned meat for a heartier meal or thicken it for stew  with dumplings or biscuits.  It can also be used as a base for a casserole.  I like having jars of food on my shelves that have multiple uses.

All that canning wore me down a bit, so I took a couple of days for rest and relaxation.  Books were read and naps were taken.  And now it is time to get caught up again.  The washer and drier are humming away.  I have been doing some rearranging on the shelves to find room for the latest bit of canning.  And in between when I need to rest, I have been adding information to my genealogy program.  My genealogy research has been sorely neglected lately.  If I want to leave a record of who we are and where we come from for my kids and grands, I need to take the time to work on it.

I have settled into a routine with the home health care people who are here twice a week.  They come in, wash my lower legs, apply the antibiotic ointment and bandages and wrap my legs from knees to toes in ace bandages.  I thought perhaps they would do things differently, but the routine is exactly the same as Duane has been helping me with for the past two years.  I will continue with the home health care if for no other reason than to give Duane a break.  He has helped me with this for two years without complaint, so I figure he has more than earned  a rest from that responsibility.

I still don't have a cleaning person lined up, so if I don't hear anything positive about this, I will call and whine a bit to see if we can't get going on it.

And that is the extent of the excitement here in my little Home Sweet Apartment.  I still check the news headlines from time to time, and then thank God for my quiet, stress free life.

Canning Again

So this past week I ordered two boneless half hams and a bunch of fresh vegetables.  The plan was to can up several kinds of soup.  I love having soups in my pantry for a quick lunch or with a sandwich or cornbread for supper.

This morning I canned 16 pints of ham, potato and cabbage soup and this afternoon it was 16 pints of ham and potato soup.

At which point I ran out of ham.

I had prepped all the vegetables earlier - potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, peas and cabbage - so tomorrow morning I will mix them all together, stir in some granulated garlic and powdered chicken bouillon and can that up to use as a soup or casserole base.

I don't care what anybody says - you can never have too much food put by.

Oh No!

You know when you go for an appointment with your doctor and they weigh and measure you first?

We will not discuss the reading on the scale.  That is way too depressing.

But I found that I have shrunk from my original statuesque 5 feet 3 inches to a mere 5 feet 1 and 1/2 inches tall.

So now I m not just a chubby granny, I am a SHORT, chubby granny.

Life just is not fair.  :)

I Have Been AWOL

There has been considerable activity in my little apartment lately. 

I spent the weekend happily sewing on quilt tops and hope to do the same this coming weekend.  I will post some pictures when they are finished .

Monday was taken up with the normal household chores and giving my grocery order to the nice lady who calls for it.

Tuesday the home health nurse was here and we got the schedule figured out.  They will begin working on my legs as soon as they receive orders from my doctor.

This afternoon I have an appointment with my doctor.  It irritates me to have to see the doctor when I am not sick, but there it is.

Thursday is grocery delivery day.  I have ordered the ingredients to make several kinds of soup to can.  I seem to have used quite a bit of soup from my shelves and need to replenish before winter.  I can do most of the prep work while sitting at my kitchen table which helps.

Friday the home health nurse will start treatment of my legs.  I found that I can order the supplies through the nursing service which will save my kids the trouble of having to shop for them.

The cleaning service hasn't shown up as yet, but my case worker tells me that should happen within a week.

Some time back my youngest son wanted to know if I was available on a certain date.  I told him I would have to check my calendar, knowing full well I didn't have a calendar nor did I need one for my quiet lifestyle.  His response was asking me to pencil him in for that date and he and his siblings have teased me about my busy calendar ever since.

The way things are shaping up around here, I may just need one.  :)

Woke Up This Morning...

looked out the window.  There is no smoke from burning cities.  There are no masked antifa gangs marching in the streets.  As far as I can tell, nobody is rioting.  Guess the Moms of these deluded wanna be gangsters wouldn't let their progeny leave their basement bedrooms long enough to carry on their revolution.  Sigh.

On another sad note...evil has again reared its ugly head in the form of the massacre of the congregation in a small church in Texas.  Right on cue, the anti-gun politicians are touting their beliefs before the bodies have even cooled.  The pundits are busy speculating about motive before we even know who is responsible.  I will wait for the facts before holding forth on the who and why.  Until then, the only thing we can do is pray for the families of the dead and for the recovery of those wounded.  And for our country, where this kind of thing seems to be happening way too often.

So today...

the antifa fools have announced they will be holding protests across the country and they will continue to protest until our President and Vice President resign.

Suppose the thugs stood around in the park in their black clothes and their face masks with their banners and their clubs, just waiting for someone to show up so they could thump them, and nobody did.  I'm thinking they would look pretty silly, especially if the newscasters ignored them too.  Kind of tough to protest when nobody else is interested.  Just saying.