Yesterday I bought the equivalent of a case of mixed plums from Albertson's for appx $5. We ate some of them (including the lone golden plum, which I wished I had more of)- they are good- and it was my every intention to put up plum jam today (not that I don't already have 26 jars already but I do love it!) but apparently that was not going to happen. Farmville happened, then falling asleep at the computer and snoring so loudly my husband could hear me without his hearing aids happened. Then a shower, then I ran off to drop off my timecard, drop off Ninja Assassin to Blockbusters (great martial arts, decent plotline, but the special effects were... nah.), then to WalMart to get canning supplies, to Lowe's where I spent almost an hour trying to locate stump killer, MiraclGro and small planter boxes for my new herbs (and was there any helpful sales person in sight? Hello!), then to Albertson's. They had eggs for $.99 and a today's markdown of beef ribs. Then on to Ward's.
Ward's is our local market and they have the BEST stuff. This is usually where I get my fruits and veggies. I shop the bargain basket- usually I find great deals on overstock or non-commercially viable produce (one cherry is bad in the batch, grapes are too small, mangoes slightly overripe and other fruit bruised) and buy them out. Winn Dixie and Albertson's both have the same type of thing going (I got the plums at Winn Dixie with bonus limes!) but Ward's has a larger variety. This is where I got the Ranier cherries- they were overstock- and they made far superior jam than the regular cherry (which is very good, too).
Today, being Saturday, the cart (there are usually 2-3 but there was only one today) was well picked over. There was only cilantro, cauliflower (which I never eat), and okra (which will never come into this house as long as I'm alive, thank you very much). So on to the meats. In the meat section there were 4 small racks of beef ribs on markdown- you don't have to tell me twice, so I snapped them up. They looked good. I got them home, threw all of them in the crockpot and covered with 4 jars of the last batch of tomato jam (which was running to syrup). Absolutely fantastic. Meat dripping off bone. Next time, though, I think I'll mix it in a bowl first with about 1/2 cup of vinegar, just to spice it up.
Also today, a friend of ours, Bruce Davis (hi if you're reading this!) came by with a load of canning jars- pint and 1/2 pint. For this I am very grateful- jars aren't expensive per se but when you need a lot of them at once it can cost you. I am also concerned that since I can through the winter (off season for jars, etc) I will run out. I will need jars for cranberries and when my friend Tammy's quasi mother in law sends crabapples. OOH yum. Apple Crabapple jelly. I am also very grateful that Ball put $.50 off coupons in their pectin packets- I am going to need to stock up. I used all I had today including two that I picked up from work. I am so glad they are available!
At any rate I am going to sign off now- my INTENT is to start jam first thing in the morning and get most of it done before noon when I have to get ready for church. Wish me luck!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
8.26.10 JAM!
Busy night, so short note. Made a batch of peach cinnamon (Spiced Peach) jam tonight- a little thin but tastes good. I also did inventory and the list can be found below. I will add and subtract from it as it comes and goes.
GOT to go to bed, so will catch you later!
GOT to go to bed, so will catch you later!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
8.23.10 Further Adventures in Plumbing.
GRRRRR.
I missed church again Sunday as I was still upset about the plumbing and sore from mowing the lawn- I definitely overdid it. Later that day, I had to go out to turn in my timecard and I ran into my neighbors, Mark Goldstein and Mary Mehr.
I love to talk to Mary- she is a great gal- and Mark has a heart of gold but a rough exterior. I've known them for years- well, Gran knew them for years and my sister and I occasionally played with their kids- and I tend to run into Mary a lot while she walks the cat. (Seriously, she walks her cat.) Well, I told Mary about the plumbing, she had me talk to Mark and long story short I got a recommendation to use their plumber.
Called said plumber yesterday and we made arrangements to meet up today for a second estimate. I really liked him and what he said made a lot of sense- and in retrospect I wasn't too sure I wanted to go with the original plumber as he stated he couldn't warranty the work. This guy took a look and gave me three options, none that were pretty.
The reason for three options is the line will have to go across the yard, around the house and hook to the existing sewer line at the bathrooms. Said line is pretty much surface deep and the back yard is flat. If they hook up a line just running flat across the yard there is a danger of it not draining or will stop draining and create backwash a la today. Not solving problem.
Option 1: Run line from kitchen and washer to electric pump in back yard which will super grind waste and pump to existing sewer line. Upside? Cheapest option. Downside? Is electric and will drain energy on bill. Not married to this option and neither is Derek.
Option 2: Run line from kitchen and washer to sewer line and connect at a point further down the existing pipe. This is kind of a weird option as it's a splice.
Option 3: Replace the entire line. Upside? Can't complain about any drainage problems anymore. Downside? Appx. $5000. This is where I am leaning but where the heck am I going to come up with $5000? I'm going to have to sell a hell of a lot of jam to come up with that kind of money.
However, the immediate problem now is taking up the patio, which is going to have to get done anyway for said future plumbing project. So, right now we are concentrating on that and we will deal with the plumbing later. In the meantime, I guess I will take out the old wash tubs I used a couple of years ago for this and wash dishes the old fashioned way- lucky me.
Well, it's late so good night all...
I missed church again Sunday as I was still upset about the plumbing and sore from mowing the lawn- I definitely overdid it. Later that day, I had to go out to turn in my timecard and I ran into my neighbors, Mark Goldstein and Mary Mehr.
I love to talk to Mary- she is a great gal- and Mark has a heart of gold but a rough exterior. I've known them for years- well, Gran knew them for years and my sister and I occasionally played with their kids- and I tend to run into Mary a lot while she walks the cat. (Seriously, she walks her cat.) Well, I told Mary about the plumbing, she had me talk to Mark and long story short I got a recommendation to use their plumber.
Called said plumber yesterday and we made arrangements to meet up today for a second estimate. I really liked him and what he said made a lot of sense- and in retrospect I wasn't too sure I wanted to go with the original plumber as he stated he couldn't warranty the work. This guy took a look and gave me three options, none that were pretty.
The reason for three options is the line will have to go across the yard, around the house and hook to the existing sewer line at the bathrooms. Said line is pretty much surface deep and the back yard is flat. If they hook up a line just running flat across the yard there is a danger of it not draining or will stop draining and create backwash a la today. Not solving problem.
Option 1: Run line from kitchen and washer to electric pump in back yard which will super grind waste and pump to existing sewer line. Upside? Cheapest option. Downside? Is electric and will drain energy on bill. Not married to this option and neither is Derek.
Option 2: Run line from kitchen and washer to sewer line and connect at a point further down the existing pipe. This is kind of a weird option as it's a splice.
Option 3: Replace the entire line. Upside? Can't complain about any drainage problems anymore. Downside? Appx. $5000. This is where I am leaning but where the heck am I going to come up with $5000? I'm going to have to sell a hell of a lot of jam to come up with that kind of money.
However, the immediate problem now is taking up the patio, which is going to have to get done anyway for said future plumbing project. So, right now we are concentrating on that and we will deal with the plumbing later. In the meantime, I guess I will take out the old wash tubs I used a couple of years ago for this and wash dishes the old fashioned way- lucky me.
Well, it's late so good night all...
Saturday, August 21, 2010
8.21.10 The Joys of Home Ownership
Ah, the joys of home ownership!
Got up early this morning because I borrowed my friend's lawnmower Tuesday and they wanted it back today. So, in my infinite wisdom, I cleared what I could of the back yard of debris and cranked that baby up and headed west, like a new pioneer.
I'd forgotten about the sewer outlet cover.
You can see where this is going. Since the back yard hasn't been mowed since the dawn of time (I think my indigent people who normally show up to do it mowed it back in March?) it was a little overgrown. I'd forgotten the sewer outlet was not flush with the outside wall and the grass had grown over it. Needless to say I heard this terrible sound and pulled it back- but too late.
It looks like a neatly exploded mining disaster. Nice "little" hole in sewer pipe. I won't tell you what I said but I kept mowing, making note that I need to cut down the new Mimosa forest, discovered trees I thought were dead are very much alive... Once the gas ran out and I stumbled light headed into the house to find a seat for a moment I vowed that I was going to call a landscaping service to bulldoze the rest of it down, as soon I called the plumber.
I'd planned on calling the plumber anyway, since the kitchen sinks were clogging again and actually draining out through the old washer outtake pipe and flooding the garage. I discovered this early in July when I poured the water contents of the canning pot down the sink and stepped into the garage to do a load of wash. (The old outtake pipe had the top pipe broken off at the U joint and my father in law had rigged a new system to have this drain out the old propane dryer outlet when he was here. Since I use environmentally friendly wash soap, this has not been a problem.) The garage was FLOODED. Not a huge problem for the contents of the garage since everything is off the floor on pallets or overturned milk crates but it's still disconcerting to step into Lake Erie after washing some dishes. Also, we were having some issues with the tank on the master bath toilet as well so I figured, well, let's call and just get all four of these things done at one.
Plumber came, pretty quickly (about 3 hours later).
Project 1: toilet tank. Well, the plumbing in the bathrooms is a little mysterious and boils down to the fact that they are fed by water hoses connected to the sink. It's a bizarre hose set-up. He tried to turn it off underneath the sink- but it was jammed tight (and has been since we had to replace the toilet ourselves due to the faucet replacement fiasco which is a story for another time). So we trot out to the meter. Meter is buried in dirt. Dug out dirt to turn off valve- well let's just say it was steadfast and immoveable. Great for people of moral rectitude, not great for water mains. So using one of the numerous basins that just multiply around the house, the hose to the tank was removed. Not sure how he got the water to stop but he did. The problem? When the tank was placed the seal slipped and it wasn't seated properly. Good news? Easy fix. Bad news? This is not a standard sized seal. So toilet is not working and he is coming back to fix it.
Project 2: Washer outtake valve. Opened garage door to the Great Flood and plumber went WTF? (Literally. I don't use that word with any real frequency but apparently this is a standard plumbing phrase). I explained to him the situation, he found a cap and this was done in 5 minutes. I hope after a few days the garage rbecomes the Sahara and I can spend more quality time ignoring it.
Project 3: Crater in sewer pipe. He is coming back Monday to cap this.
Project 4: Kitchen sinks.
This one is a doozy so I am going to have to start with a brief history of the house as we know it.
In 1956, the house was built. No one in the family knows who, what, where, when or why but it remains that it appeared on this plot of land in that year for whatever reason. I personally think it was spawned. If I lived on Discworld, I would suspect the architect was B.S. "Bloody Stupid" Johnson (likely a relative). At any rate, somewhere in the early '60's it appears the garage was added, the original patio became part of the house and the current cement patio was laid. Over the existing grey water system. For those of you who aren't familiar with that type of system, it has been explained to me that the pipes from the kitchen and the washer (garage) lead into a barrel which then is some type of primitive irrigation system for the lawn. The second owners (or possibly the first, we never really pinned it down) were the Episcopal Diocese of Gainesville. I am not certain how much entertaining they did so I'm not sure what the kitchen was like for them. But I do know what it was like for Gran.
Gran bought the house in 1968, probably with some inheritance money, and she did to my grandfather what she did later to me- bought the house and said, "We're moving" about the time she closed on it. She was a very shrewd woman as their old house is in now in a less respectable area and this area still commands pretty hefty prices, even with the downturn. At any rate, my gran- being a very social creature- loved to entertain. Loved to have us kids here, loved to have people come over, loved to hold court. But she was The Queen. I know that she could cook (she WAS raised on a farm) but it wasn't anything elaborate and, frankly I think when we were gone, cooking didn't happen very often. So I don't think the sinks were used a lot. Gran complained and called Roto-Rooter when necessary and when I moved in December 2003 she wouldn't let me use the dishwasher, complained that her washer was leaking and stated something about other people putting rice and such down the sinks.
After we moved in and Gran was in the hospital previous to being placed in the nursing home, the plumbing stopped. We discovered that it would not take any toilet paper but Scott tissue. We called a plumber after 2 days, discovered that the sewer outtake for the bathrooms was basically a big hole (not unlike today's) cut into the original iron pipe. This was fixed. Same plumber was called 6 months later to unclog the kitchen sinks. After playing the snake out the entire length and discovering that the kitchen was not connected to the sewer line, we investigated the sound and could not tell where the sinks were draining. This went on several times with various plumbers (5 times with the last as the same company I called today) and no answers. Today was different.
Today, I'd washed dishes before the plumber came (thus the Great Flood in the garage) and the sinks drained, leaving the same old stinky sludge it usually does. First thing in looking at the sink was the age old question- " Do you have a septic tank?" to which the answer is the ever present "I don't know but probably not." He looked at me and said "You have a grey water system and the lines and barrel have probably disentegrated." He gave me an estimate of how much it would cost- it's attainable but not cheap. And involves jackhammers. We will have to rip up one part or possibly the entire patio for this.
So much for the landscapers. I'm going to have to borrow the lawnmower again.
As for jam, I need to get the kitchen under control first. I might be able to get a batch out tomorrow, but we'll see.
By the way, the apple dessert the other night was a real hit! I will have to make it again soon.
Well, goodnight all!
Got up early this morning because I borrowed my friend's lawnmower Tuesday and they wanted it back today. So, in my infinite wisdom, I cleared what I could of the back yard of debris and cranked that baby up and headed west, like a new pioneer.
I'd forgotten about the sewer outlet cover.
You can see where this is going. Since the back yard hasn't been mowed since the dawn of time (I think my indigent people who normally show up to do it mowed it back in March?) it was a little overgrown. I'd forgotten the sewer outlet was not flush with the outside wall and the grass had grown over it. Needless to say I heard this terrible sound and pulled it back- but too late.
It looks like a neatly exploded mining disaster. Nice "little" hole in sewer pipe. I won't tell you what I said but I kept mowing, making note that I need to cut down the new Mimosa forest, discovered trees I thought were dead are very much alive... Once the gas ran out and I stumbled light headed into the house to find a seat for a moment I vowed that I was going to call a landscaping service to bulldoze the rest of it down, as soon I called the plumber.
I'd planned on calling the plumber anyway, since the kitchen sinks were clogging again and actually draining out through the old washer outtake pipe and flooding the garage. I discovered this early in July when I poured the water contents of the canning pot down the sink and stepped into the garage to do a load of wash. (The old outtake pipe had the top pipe broken off at the U joint and my father in law had rigged a new system to have this drain out the old propane dryer outlet when he was here. Since I use environmentally friendly wash soap, this has not been a problem.) The garage was FLOODED. Not a huge problem for the contents of the garage since everything is off the floor on pallets or overturned milk crates but it's still disconcerting to step into Lake Erie after washing some dishes. Also, we were having some issues with the tank on the master bath toilet as well so I figured, well, let's call and just get all four of these things done at one.
Plumber came, pretty quickly (about 3 hours later).
Project 1: toilet tank. Well, the plumbing in the bathrooms is a little mysterious and boils down to the fact that they are fed by water hoses connected to the sink. It's a bizarre hose set-up. He tried to turn it off underneath the sink- but it was jammed tight (and has been since we had to replace the toilet ourselves due to the faucet replacement fiasco which is a story for another time). So we trot out to the meter. Meter is buried in dirt. Dug out dirt to turn off valve- well let's just say it was steadfast and immoveable. Great for people of moral rectitude, not great for water mains. So using one of the numerous basins that just multiply around the house, the hose to the tank was removed. Not sure how he got the water to stop but he did. The problem? When the tank was placed the seal slipped and it wasn't seated properly. Good news? Easy fix. Bad news? This is not a standard sized seal. So toilet is not working and he is coming back to fix it.
Project 2: Washer outtake valve. Opened garage door to the Great Flood and plumber went WTF? (Literally. I don't use that word with any real frequency but apparently this is a standard plumbing phrase). I explained to him the situation, he found a cap and this was done in 5 minutes. I hope after a few days the garage rbecomes the Sahara and I can spend more quality time ignoring it.
Project 3: Crater in sewer pipe. He is coming back Monday to cap this.
Project 4: Kitchen sinks.
This one is a doozy so I am going to have to start with a brief history of the house as we know it.
In 1956, the house was built. No one in the family knows who, what, where, when or why but it remains that it appeared on this plot of land in that year for whatever reason. I personally think it was spawned. If I lived on Discworld, I would suspect the architect was B.S. "Bloody Stupid" Johnson (likely a relative). At any rate, somewhere in the early '60's it appears the garage was added, the original patio became part of the house and the current cement patio was laid. Over the existing grey water system. For those of you who aren't familiar with that type of system, it has been explained to me that the pipes from the kitchen and the washer (garage) lead into a barrel which then is some type of primitive irrigation system for the lawn. The second owners (or possibly the first, we never really pinned it down) were the Episcopal Diocese of Gainesville. I am not certain how much entertaining they did so I'm not sure what the kitchen was like for them. But I do know what it was like for Gran.
Gran bought the house in 1968, probably with some inheritance money, and she did to my grandfather what she did later to me- bought the house and said, "We're moving" about the time she closed on it. She was a very shrewd woman as their old house is in now in a less respectable area and this area still commands pretty hefty prices, even with the downturn. At any rate, my gran- being a very social creature- loved to entertain. Loved to have us kids here, loved to have people come over, loved to hold court. But she was The Queen. I know that she could cook (she WAS raised on a farm) but it wasn't anything elaborate and, frankly I think when we were gone, cooking didn't happen very often. So I don't think the sinks were used a lot. Gran complained and called Roto-Rooter when necessary and when I moved in December 2003 she wouldn't let me use the dishwasher, complained that her washer was leaking and stated something about other people putting rice and such down the sinks.
After we moved in and Gran was in the hospital previous to being placed in the nursing home, the plumbing stopped. We discovered that it would not take any toilet paper but Scott tissue. We called a plumber after 2 days, discovered that the sewer outtake for the bathrooms was basically a big hole (not unlike today's) cut into the original iron pipe. This was fixed. Same plumber was called 6 months later to unclog the kitchen sinks. After playing the snake out the entire length and discovering that the kitchen was not connected to the sewer line, we investigated the sound and could not tell where the sinks were draining. This went on several times with various plumbers (5 times with the last as the same company I called today) and no answers. Today was different.
Today, I'd washed dishes before the plumber came (thus the Great Flood in the garage) and the sinks drained, leaving the same old stinky sludge it usually does. First thing in looking at the sink was the age old question- " Do you have a septic tank?" to which the answer is the ever present "I don't know but probably not." He looked at me and said "You have a grey water system and the lines and barrel have probably disentegrated." He gave me an estimate of how much it would cost- it's attainable but not cheap. And involves jackhammers. We will have to rip up one part or possibly the entire patio for this.
So much for the landscapers. I'm going to have to borrow the lawnmower again.
As for jam, I need to get the kitchen under control first. I might be able to get a batch out tomorrow, but we'll see.
By the way, the apple dessert the other night was a real hit! I will have to make it again soon.
Well, goodnight all!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
8.18.10 WORKING.
Well, I haven't been on in the last few days as I was a) nervous about the new job and b) working at the new job. Needed to get the timing organized and since it's now 10PM and almost "bedtime" this is going to be short.
Sunday was our anniversary- 12 years come and gone and I still can't imagine life without Derek. It's amazing. Nothing special done as Derek was sick and having some episodes so I missed church again- but I did manage to get a huge batch of plum jelly done. Probably more like syrup, don't have any spoils jars nor have I opened/refrigerated one so I don't know how well it set. 11 and 1/2 half pints, largest yield in one batch yet. Go team!
Peach is next. The Ranier cherries still look good but are probably bad and I haven't looked at the other cherries either. Need to make bread as I'm out and payday is a week away, unless my 401K payout comes Monday. I will be so glad to see that as it will be the last vestige of my old job and I will be DONE with them. It's not so much about the money, it's about CLOSURE.
As for the new job, well, I think I will leave that off of this forum. This is not meant to vent about employment, only to let one know I am gainfully (yet temporarily) employed and this is partially responsible for the delay.
Tonight I made a lazy man's dinner (scalloped potatoes with beef chunks and corn using 2 cans of cream of mushroom) and dessert with was 3 cored apples sliced in chunks, skins on with butter, sugar, cinnamon and a bit of cornstarch, topped with granola and then topped with plum banana jam. Haven't eaten it yet but will let you know how it turned out tomorrow. Promise.
Sunday was our anniversary- 12 years come and gone and I still can't imagine life without Derek. It's amazing. Nothing special done as Derek was sick and having some episodes so I missed church again- but I did manage to get a huge batch of plum jelly done. Probably more like syrup, don't have any spoils jars nor have I opened/refrigerated one so I don't know how well it set. 11 and 1/2 half pints, largest yield in one batch yet. Go team!
Peach is next. The Ranier cherries still look good but are probably bad and I haven't looked at the other cherries either. Need to make bread as I'm out and payday is a week away, unless my 401K payout comes Monday. I will be so glad to see that as it will be the last vestige of my old job and I will be DONE with them. It's not so much about the money, it's about CLOSURE.
As for the new job, well, I think I will leave that off of this forum. This is not meant to vent about employment, only to let one know I am gainfully (yet temporarily) employed and this is partially responsible for the delay.
Tonight I made a lazy man's dinner (scalloped potatoes with beef chunks and corn using 2 cans of cream of mushroom) and dessert with was 3 cored apples sliced in chunks, skins on with butter, sugar, cinnamon and a bit of cornstarch, topped with granola and then topped with plum banana jam. Haven't eaten it yet but will let you know how it turned out tomorrow. Promise.
Friday, August 13, 2010
8.13.10 Part 2
Wow, 2 posts in one day. Amazing.
Well, I am annoyed. I took a late nap today, was awakened suddenly, then after a half hour realized that I didn't sleep long enough and went back to bed. Got up and made dinner (shepherd's pie) and tried to play Frontierville only to be extremely annoyed by "We done lost the internet" several times then slow load times for visiting the neighbors. Finally said, "Bag it" and left. Am a little annoyed about the Land Office goal- I mean, if I'm having problems getting my neighbors to send me building materials for the sawmill are they really going to send them for the Land Office? I mean, come on!
I did get the cast iron pans seasoned today. Not sure where I am going to ultimately store all six of them as I can't leave them in the oven, I use it too much. I might clean out the bottom drawer under the stove and store the baking pans somewhere else, which is probably a better idea. I decided that the black plastic rack that formerly held my stereo (and is now lurking in the living room in an odd spot and loaded with paper stuff as said stereo is on the couch where it's been since I moved the desk out here to the living room) would be ideal to store both excess food storage and the plastic containers so I now have to rearrange the dining room AGAIN to make room for it. Found some stuff I need to get rid of as well, so this is now back in the living room, waiting to Freecycle. I'm not keeping any packing materials I can't ship jam in. I am just too annoyed by everything, which I hope is not an omen for my new job. I want to go back but I am really dreading it. I'm really not all that excited about it.
SOOO, I am only a couple of steps away from canning again and very little time to do it. Tomorrow, I need to go to my friend's house to do at least one load of laundry, cut Derek's hair, finish the dining room, and get the dishes finished. And I am SOOOO tired, which is why this is early and I am heading to bed. So goodnight everyone...
Well, I am annoyed. I took a late nap today, was awakened suddenly, then after a half hour realized that I didn't sleep long enough and went back to bed. Got up and made dinner (shepherd's pie) and tried to play Frontierville only to be extremely annoyed by "We done lost the internet" several times then slow load times for visiting the neighbors. Finally said, "Bag it" and left. Am a little annoyed about the Land Office goal- I mean, if I'm having problems getting my neighbors to send me building materials for the sawmill are they really going to send them for the Land Office? I mean, come on!
I did get the cast iron pans seasoned today. Not sure where I am going to ultimately store all six of them as I can't leave them in the oven, I use it too much. I might clean out the bottom drawer under the stove and store the baking pans somewhere else, which is probably a better idea. I decided that the black plastic rack that formerly held my stereo (and is now lurking in the living room in an odd spot and loaded with paper stuff as said stereo is on the couch where it's been since I moved the desk out here to the living room) would be ideal to store both excess food storage and the plastic containers so I now have to rearrange the dining room AGAIN to make room for it. Found some stuff I need to get rid of as well, so this is now back in the living room, waiting to Freecycle. I'm not keeping any packing materials I can't ship jam in. I am just too annoyed by everything, which I hope is not an omen for my new job. I want to go back but I am really dreading it. I'm really not all that excited about it.
SOOO, I am only a couple of steps away from canning again and very little time to do it. Tomorrow, I need to go to my friend's house to do at least one load of laundry, cut Derek's hair, finish the dining room, and get the dishes finished. And I am SOOOO tired, which is why this is early and I am heading to bed. So goodnight everyone...
8.13.10 Randomness
I am not afraid of Friday the 13th. Never have been. In fact, some of them have been really, really good days although not one of them in particular comes to mind.
So... why am I sitting here at 3.30 AM typing in my blog? Well, I woke up from a series of strange, fantasical dreams from which I could not get back to sleep. Considering I went to bed feeling sick last night at (SHOCKER!) 9.30 PM, I think I may have gotten my requisite 6 hours of sleep and might actually be up, but all the yawning suggests otherwise and I may actually go back to bed once I'm done with this blog entry (which may turn out to be rather long, so if patience is not your virtue you might want to quit while you're ahead). Whew! Talk about a run-on sentence!
At any rate I woke up first after a strange dream involving the aftermath of a hurricane, 2 kids swimming in the ocean and rummaging through the wreckage of beachfront houses which were all neatly pegged by cut and trimmed lumber and discovering Fanny Wildcat from Frontierville (a Facebook game) was a distant ancestor.
Yeah, that's what I said. HUNH?
At any rate the second dream, for being as benign as it was, was more disturbing to me. Apparently I was working a job I loved and the company collapsed, ended or downsized, and I, along with this other girl (Cynthia, who never actually made an appearance), was let go. It was in this old, tall building and it had this apartment on the 11th floor where the boss lived (he looked like Joe DuBois from Medium and was built like a kid I had a crush on in middle school). I liked this guy and visited him there to get some info on the job aftermath- we flirted a little and teased each other (nothing ontoward happened) and I hit him playfully with a huge wooden spoon and left. At any rate apparently the building was haunted- I got in the elevator and it went haywire (this is actually a recurring theme in some of my dreams- the annoying haunted elevator)- when it actually got me back to the 11th floor it took me right back to the boss' apartment instead of the office and I found it dark and empty with a 401K letter addressed to me and this Cynthia. It stated he (the boss) had enjoyed working with us but any further assistance from him would cost $155.50 and hour. There was some more to it (avoiding the elevator to get back to the office) but at that time I woke up in a sad mood, legs hurting like heck and unable to get back to sleep. So I am thinking this is actually going to be a reflective day, so I am going to reflect on this dream a bit more.
For those of you who were not aware, I was fired from my last job. Ostensibly because I could not make productivity rates, but I am not going to go into any further details. When I first got written up for the productivity matter, I was frantic, super stressed, almost at the point of tearing my hair out. Then the Lord stepped in and sent me 3 commercial flats of blueberries via a member of my church and I spent several days just making blueberry and blueberry hybrid jams. And during the whole time I became this calm, rational person and realized there is more to life than that job and I was just let what was happening happen, whether it was stay at this job (which I rapidly discovered I HATED) or lose it. I did not do this on purpose as I busted my butt to make it until the minute I was fired but it was a great relief to finally see the end of it. So much so that my now former boss was following me around asking if I was sure I was ok.
Now I realize that I was probably not as ok as I thought as I woke up from this dream, not actually crying, but teary and sad. It's hard losing a job. I have spent the last 6 weeks actually enjoying myself canning about 18 cases of jam (and still more to come), getting my kitchen and dining room under control (nearly there!) and just decompressing. But underlying that I was subtly kicking myself for mistakes I've made jobwise and vowing not to do it again. I came to the conclusion last week after reading the aforementioned Terry Pratchett book "Unseen Academicals" that what I really want is a job, not a career. Yeah, I am Glenda Sugarbean, who runs the Night Kitchen at Unseen Unversity, except I am a jam girl, not a pie girl. If I could stay home and make a living making jam, I'd do it, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. All I really wanted in life was to be a stay at home mom, but that is never going to happen due to choices I don't regret making and uncooperative health, so I am just taking the side road journey through life and enjoying what I can. And this next job I am going to do to the best of my ability, not get real involved in the social aspects, and not bring any of it home. We'll see how that plays out. And I vow I am going to make at least one batch of jam a week, as it relaxes me and keeps me balanced.
This last week, due to various reasons, (getting the kitchen ready for the chest freezer being one of them) I have not put anything up. It is almost finished- the last bit is to decide if the breadmaker stays or goes, finish the dish washing and wipe down the counters. Oh, and figure out where all the copious amounts of plastic containers are going as there is no room for them now in the kitchen. However, I went out grocery shopping today and bought more stuff to put up (peaches! cherries! plums! kiwis!) so the push is on. And considering this is our anniversary weekend (amazingly I was the one who forgot about it, Derek had to remind me) I don't have a huge lot of time to do it. So wish me luck.
So... why am I sitting here at 3.30 AM typing in my blog? Well, I woke up from a series of strange, fantasical dreams from which I could not get back to sleep. Considering I went to bed feeling sick last night at (SHOCKER!) 9.30 PM, I think I may have gotten my requisite 6 hours of sleep and might actually be up, but all the yawning suggests otherwise and I may actually go back to bed once I'm done with this blog entry (which may turn out to be rather long, so if patience is not your virtue you might want to quit while you're ahead). Whew! Talk about a run-on sentence!
At any rate I woke up first after a strange dream involving the aftermath of a hurricane, 2 kids swimming in the ocean and rummaging through the wreckage of beachfront houses which were all neatly pegged by cut and trimmed lumber and discovering Fanny Wildcat from Frontierville (a Facebook game) was a distant ancestor.
Yeah, that's what I said. HUNH?
At any rate the second dream, for being as benign as it was, was more disturbing to me. Apparently I was working a job I loved and the company collapsed, ended or downsized, and I, along with this other girl (Cynthia, who never actually made an appearance), was let go. It was in this old, tall building and it had this apartment on the 11th floor where the boss lived (he looked like Joe DuBois from Medium and was built like a kid I had a crush on in middle school). I liked this guy and visited him there to get some info on the job aftermath- we flirted a little and teased each other (nothing ontoward happened) and I hit him playfully with a huge wooden spoon and left. At any rate apparently the building was haunted- I got in the elevator and it went haywire (this is actually a recurring theme in some of my dreams- the annoying haunted elevator)- when it actually got me back to the 11th floor it took me right back to the boss' apartment instead of the office and I found it dark and empty with a 401K letter addressed to me and this Cynthia. It stated he (the boss) had enjoyed working with us but any further assistance from him would cost $155.50 and hour. There was some more to it (avoiding the elevator to get back to the office) but at that time I woke up in a sad mood, legs hurting like heck and unable to get back to sleep. So I am thinking this is actually going to be a reflective day, so I am going to reflect on this dream a bit more.
For those of you who were not aware, I was fired from my last job. Ostensibly because I could not make productivity rates, but I am not going to go into any further details. When I first got written up for the productivity matter, I was frantic, super stressed, almost at the point of tearing my hair out. Then the Lord stepped in and sent me 3 commercial flats of blueberries via a member of my church and I spent several days just making blueberry and blueberry hybrid jams. And during the whole time I became this calm, rational person and realized there is more to life than that job and I was just let what was happening happen, whether it was stay at this job (which I rapidly discovered I HATED) or lose it. I did not do this on purpose as I busted my butt to make it until the minute I was fired but it was a great relief to finally see the end of it. So much so that my now former boss was following me around asking if I was sure I was ok.
Now I realize that I was probably not as ok as I thought as I woke up from this dream, not actually crying, but teary and sad. It's hard losing a job. I have spent the last 6 weeks actually enjoying myself canning about 18 cases of jam (and still more to come), getting my kitchen and dining room under control (nearly there!) and just decompressing. But underlying that I was subtly kicking myself for mistakes I've made jobwise and vowing not to do it again. I came to the conclusion last week after reading the aforementioned Terry Pratchett book "Unseen Academicals" that what I really want is a job, not a career. Yeah, I am Glenda Sugarbean, who runs the Night Kitchen at Unseen Unversity, except I am a jam girl, not a pie girl. If I could stay home and make a living making jam, I'd do it, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. All I really wanted in life was to be a stay at home mom, but that is never going to happen due to choices I don't regret making and uncooperative health, so I am just taking the side road journey through life and enjoying what I can. And this next job I am going to do to the best of my ability, not get real involved in the social aspects, and not bring any of it home. We'll see how that plays out. And I vow I am going to make at least one batch of jam a week, as it relaxes me and keeps me balanced.
This last week, due to various reasons, (getting the kitchen ready for the chest freezer being one of them) I have not put anything up. It is almost finished- the last bit is to decide if the breadmaker stays or goes, finish the dish washing and wipe down the counters. Oh, and figure out where all the copious amounts of plastic containers are going as there is no room for them now in the kitchen. However, I went out grocery shopping today and bought more stuff to put up (peaches! cherries! plums! kiwis!) so the push is on. And considering this is our anniversary weekend (amazingly I was the one who forgot about it, Derek had to remind me) I don't have a huge lot of time to do it. So wish me luck.
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