Well if is not one thing, it's another!

Sissy here...

Another crazy week and more sadness for Sissy and I.  Our Little Sisters Fiancés only sibling passed away in Seattle yesterday and She and Her Significant other have left to handle matters, as Her Significant other had only one Sibling and Parents have passed. A real shock I tell you. and Dan and I are taking care of their animals.

We will be spending nights at their house, as Lil Sisters Dog is a bit neurotic and needs a familiar environment.

On my way up to Sissies this morning my check engine light came on and that scares me to death, and I cannot get it into a Mechanic until the 31st.  Now I have Lil Sisters car until they return, and I will be able to borrow Kim's Daughter third car next Wednesday when they return from vacation.  So, all is well.  The mechanic told me I could drive it, but that just makes me too damn nervous.  We paid 32 thousand cash for her in 2013, and she has been very well taken care of.  She is due for Her 100-thousand-mile checkup in 400 miles, so she is due.  I drive a Ford Taurus and have had five of them since they first came out, and they are no longer being made!  We have always had our Taurus's for at least 200 thousand miles.  The bodies fall apart before the engine!  So could be a big expense but we shall see. 

I will be processing tomatoes all weekend and Dan will be painting another bedroom at Lil Sisters house.

Both Kim and Lil Sister have gardens, and the tomatoes are abundant this year. I have already made 16 quarts of sauce and frozen it, and I think this batch will be about the same.  I may turn some if it into Pizza sauce as I have eight balls of pizza dough frozen, and we love Pizza!

Kim is busy sewing, sewing and the shop has become manageable.  This is great.

I took a lasagna, a salad and garlic bread over to Lil Sisters last night so they would not have to cook before leaving town.  This is why I prep ahead for emergencies and had a Lasagna in the Freezer.

Kim and I are going to head to a little store in Clarkston where they have onions in 10 lb. bags for .39 cents a pound and I plan on buying 20 pounds to put in storage.  The potatoes should be harvested soon, and I will be buying 50 pounds of Russets.  This should last us through the late spring.  Having a canning pantry and fruit cellar is such a blessing, along with my chest freezer.  We save a ton of money this way.  I am not a big canner, but I do have a food storage I am working on and have a grocery budget of $60.00 a week for Daniel and I and we eat well, as I only shop loss leaders and cook from scratch.  I just wish the price of butter and eggs would come down and I do not see that happening anytime soon.  At least I will not be buying nuts and dried fruit!

I did make 16 pie crusts yesterday for Thanksgiving and such and they are in Kim's freezer as mine is full.  I know I will be making at least four pies for Thanksgiving.

I am busy in my head trying to plan next week without a car from Monday night to Thursday, so my brain is saying I will be staying with Kim, so I have wheels when I need them.  Right now, the plan is a boat load of ironing, (Sissy's) and making banana walnut bread and orange cranberry pecan bread and lemon poppy seed bread.  These freeze beautifully and make great gifts.  Sissy and I were gifted with (a ton and I mean bags and bags) of free almonds, walnuts, cranberries, blueberries, raisins, and dates, so our Christmas baking will be much less costly this year.  All of this spoil is in Kim's new freezer and there is still a tone of room.  I will also process all the nuts next week as in toast then and chop them, and then refreeze.

We will definitely need to lay in more flour, sugar, lard, eggs, and butter.  It was so nice when Kim had chickens, but the price of feed is so high that it is not worth keeping them.  Eggs and butter do occasionally go on sale, and I am so hoping they will for Christmas baking season, we will just have to wait and see.

Fast forward....

Now it is Tuesday morning and five days after I started this blog.  Survived the weekend with the Animals and cooked down two bushels of Roma tomatoes and made nine quarts of sauce.  Daniel finished Little Sisters downstairs bedroom and it is move in ready.  She was very pleased, and I had a dinner waiting for them last night when they came home absolutely exhausted.  The estate will take at least a year to settle, and they will do a major clean out of the house next month and Dan and I will be on Animal duty again.

I am up at Kim's having rousted her out of Bed and she is sewing. I am cleaning and doing laundry.

The ironing is calling me, but I have several errands to run with Sissies car, just waiting for Dan to get back with it as He is running errands.

Kim plans to take the entire month of November off and go to her eldest daughters as the shop is so caught up.  I will take easy mending as it comes.  No zippers and no wedding dresses, that is for sure.  I am just not ready for that yet.

I had a great talk with Sluggy and her Husband yesterday and she is doing so well and is on the mend. I am so thankful.  She sounded like her old self!

Now I am going to go and vacuum.  I will get Kim to blog soon!

Hugs to all;

Kay