My Tireless Retirement - Week 186

 

If you are feeling like we are hurdling toward the holidays and the end of the year you are in good company.  I am right there with you my friends.  Time feels like it is gaining speed.  I’m ready for the holidays though so bring it on!  What little shopping I needed to do has been done and I’ve started putting together Christmas cards and supplies so I will be ready to get them sent out the first part of December.  I’ve got a good jumpstart on my groceries to make lots of delicious holiday meals and treats too.  I think this is the earliest I’ve been ready and with my shopping completely done.  Huh.  I guess practice makes perfect!

 

I woke up last Friday morning and it felt like it was time to turn on a little bit of heat so I fired up the electric fireplace for the first time this year.  I really enjoy my little fireplace and the cozy vibe it adds to my home, especially this time of year.  We are on the cusp of needing heat to take the chill off in the morning and needing it full time so for right now just using the fireplace is working out perfectly.  I’m sure that will be changing soon though.

 

I worked late Saturday morning to escort a group of seniors on a walking tour in downtown Boise about the Chinese/China Town history during the later 1800s.  Of course, at the time we originally scheduled this activity we didn’t know there would be a No Kings Rally going on at the same time.  With thousands of people heading toward the Capitol building it was a bit stressful keeping my group corralled together and not allowing anyone to get swept up in the crowd, but I managed it and no one got lost in the shuffle.  Thank goodness!  I did say a little prayer that morning that all would go well and that the rally would be peaceful, which it was.  I also prayed for an available parking space at City Hall and I got one too!  It was a good day.

 

Also, over the weekend I pulled out the slow cooker and the pressure canner for a canning project I wanted to work on.  I was down to the last two pint jars of pork verde (yikes!) while I had been waiting for a good sale on pork roasts.  I found a decent sale on pork shoulder for $1.69 per pound at Fred Meyer so I decided to start November’s grocery shopping a little early in order to pick one up, however, at the store the BFF paid for this little grocery excursion (which he tends to do anytime I let him go with me plus he talks me into getting crap I normally wouldn’t) so I got to hang onto my grocery money.

 

Once we got home we got right to work.  This ten pound roast filled up my largest slow cooker.  After letting it cook all night I removed the bone and fat, which wasn’t a lot surprisingly, and it easily fell apart.  I added a couple sliced onions and a large can of my favorite green enchilada sauce and let that cook for another hour.  I was able to can eleven pint jars of pork verde to add back to the LTFS shelf.  Crisis averted!

 

I was also getting low on canned boneless skinless chicken breast.  While picking up the pork roast we had also picked up a package “on sale” for $2.69 a pound, which is about a dollar a pound more than what the sales prices used to be (groan).  I was able to cut up the chicken and get it into the pressure canner adding five pint jars to the LTFS shelves.  Not a lot of chicken, but enough to make me feel really good about having these extra jars of meat added to my winter preparations.  We should be set with shelf stable meat options for quite a while.

 

The big bag of leftover donated bagels I brought home from work the previous week ended up in the trash.  The chickens wouldn’t eat them which I took to mean they were made out of not-so-good ingredients.  I’m glad I didn’t eat any of them either.  Chickens are smart.

 

I had replaced the toilet seats in both bathrooms not long after my youngest moved out of the house.  The one upstairs I had apparently scrubbed too much because the finish was worn off of it making it look dirty all the time.  I think it had a faulty finish to begin with because the downstairs toilet sees more action than the upstairs one and it is fine.  Nonetheless, the one upstairs didn’t look good and if you didn’t know any better you’d likely question the cleanliness so I grabbed a can of spray paint out of the garage and gave it a budget refresh.  After leaving to dry and then cure for forty eight hours it was good as new.  I am so grateful that worked.

 

Pumpkin pie has been calling to me for weeks now so I caved and made a no crust pumpkin pie as our treat for the week, which is fairly low carb since there is no crust and I used half monk fruit sweetener and half sugar.  We topped it with real whipped cream.  It was so good!  I will be making more of these in the next few months.

 

I finished out the week by working Thursday evening and took a group to dinner and then to the theater.  We saw the play Dracula, A Comedy Of Terrors and it was absolutely wonderful.  I loved it and I think my seniors did too.

 

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful week and are having a terrific weekend as well.  Let me know, is it cooling down where you live and have you had to turn on the heat?  Also, have you started Christmas shopping yet?  How about projects around the house?