Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
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Thank God she is a class act. As good as she is, I’m afraid she would get seriously hurt playing with the men. But I love to see what she could do if she could because she now owns the WNBA!
that’s a great clip
lots of passes to teammates at key moments and to great effect
she’s as much a play-maker as a sharpshooter, and there are a couple beautiful lay-ups in that clip too
couple other gals on the team are 3-point shooters as well
Every man needs to witness the birthing of a child IMO. I delivered several and held one granddaughter in my arms less than 5 minutes after she crowned. That granddaughter came over today with a day early birthday present for me and an ice cream cake.
Happy Day Early Birthday, rah 🎂💕
Make those mental cocktails with your beautiful grands for later. Enjoy every moment 🤗
Happy Birthday, Rob!!!! To you, to you, to you!
🎂 🥳 🎉
Happy Birthday, rah!
Thank all of you. I’m a very lucky man.
🤗😁🤗
🥳 happy birthday rah
I thoroughly enjoyed that, Patty! Yesterday’s depression era meal is today’s gourmet! I would eat all of these things and remember some of them from my childhood. Some I still prefer to order today. Cornmeal mush, corned beef hash… yummo!
How are you feeling, Patty?
Hanging in. I have gained one pound since taking the c diff meds. While that may sound like nothing it is the first time in over 4 years that I have gained ANY weight. So I’ll take what I can get.
Next week I go back to the Dr and I am sure she will have me run tests to make sure the c diff is gone. I’m looking forward to that.
I always eat less in the summer coz it’s too hot to cook a lot. This week our 107 to 110 degree days have stopped and we are in the upper 90s which is really nice. We had almost 2 straight months of temps over 105 every day.
Thanks for asking, JWoo!
Loving to hear of that pound gain!!! That is terrific, Patty. It’s gotta feel good.
Praying for good news from the doctor and continued energy and weight gain.
I’ll let you know what I learn after the next visit.
Yes please do, friend!
I agree and I still eat a number of them. Love corn meal mush and fried corn meal mush with some bacon is just heavenly. Made potato soup 3 nights ago for dinner. Corned beef hash with a poached egg on top makes a great breakfast or dinner.
I even remember the mock apple pie made with Ritz Crackers!
Patty… you’re killing me! That sounds so delicious! I just finished some mock beef stroganoff that I threw in the pressure cooker as the beef was a year old in the deep freeze. Turned out terrific and a tender as could be.
That vinegar pie sounded wild. Why not just ditch the vinegar and go for a basic vanilla cream pie?
I love making homemade puddings from scratch. I’ll often make vanilla and add leftover jasmine rice and raisins for a fragrant rice pudding.
Going to have to get motivated to get cooking. My butt is getting too comfortable sitting here.
They probably didn’t have the vanilla to make the pie but cocoa powder isn’t too pricy.
All this talking about cooking has made me hungry. I think tomorrow I’m going to make a Boston Cream Pie. A cake, really, not a pie but golly it is good. If it weren’t so late in the day I’d make it now.
My mother lived thru the Great Depression and we definitely had several of these dishes in the ’50s & early ’60s since she knew well how to make them (we were not wealthy but never missed any meals). We also had fried Spam, ham cheese & potato casserole, and homemade chicken or beef pot pies. When Dad got a few extra $$ in his paycheck, we’d have a pot roast. Good times, good eating, no fake food, and darn few preservatives
And you grew robust and healthy and craved those meals your mom and grandmom made!
Yes all 3 of us kids were relatively healthy, JWoo.
I do miss my paternal grandmother’s German-influenced cooking. She was the daughter of German-Americans whose parents came to the US right after the Civil War. That woman could cook! Roast pork and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes and green beens; potato pancakes to die for (served with applesauce); gingersnap cookies; thin-sliced cucumber, onions and tomatoes in vinegar with sugar (sweet and sour)….and so much more.
There are a few dishes that my mom made that I still like today. She was a very basic cook. She was raised in a eat-to-live family (not live-to-eat). Didn’t use many spices, didn’t stray far from basic boiling, roasting, frying, and infrequently, broiling..
But my wife was raised in a Spanish American family – all 4 grandparents were immigrants from Spain in the very early 20th century. Her abuela (maternal grandmother) ran a very popular Spanish American restaurant & small hotel in Baltimore at Fells Point just 100 feet from the harbor water. At that restaurant, my wife learned how to make paella and arroz con pollo at an early age – she helped Grandma in the restaurant kitchen and was Grandma’s favorite granddaughter….
Since we married, my wife has become quite the cook, well-respected in our extended family, and her large repertoire of dishes are all excellent… So… she has more than satisfied any cravings I ever had for my mom’s and grandmother’s cooking. ❤️
Awesome story friend. Most of my German side went to Baltimore, when they left Pa. Cheers friend, enjoyed reading it!
Baltimore was the port of entry for thousands of German immigrants in the latter 19th century because the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad built two large (for the day) ship piers (Pier #8 and Pier #9) on the north side of the Locust Point peninsula in the Baltimore Harbor.
The B&O RR put several tracks that ran right up alongside the piers. They then started passenger / freight service from those piers straight out to Chicago via the B&O mainline thru MD, Southwestern PA, OH, IN , and IL. But most importantly, the B&O RR Company contracted with the North German Lloyd Steamship Line to use those piers exclusively for their transAtlantic runs between Baltimore and Bremerhaven.
So anyone who can trace their German ancestors arrival in Baltimore between 1865 and 1925 probably came thru those piers and rode the B&O into America’s heartland.
That’s where they came in. Lost touch with that side unfortunately.
Love it, Baritone. My mother was the same as yours… don’t know if it was because we were poor or if she really just wasn’t interested in cooking… but we had the same things over and over again and none jumped out at you… except her spaghetti.
Fortunately, I moved a lot in my youth to various places in our country and picked up local cuisine. I’m the cook and am fairly eclectic.
Would love a great Paella recipe if your wife is inclined to give it?
If you’re missing some decent German food… Aldi’s has an excellent selection of sausages that are delicious. We get several varieties and stash them in the deep freeze.
The only things I don’t make are sushi and fried foods. I order those when we go out because some things should remain a luxury.
Ty for the Aldi’s tip, when the weather turns cool, I usually order once or twice a Fall/Winter season from Stiglmeier. They even have Sauerbraten (which my Nana used to make) in a sealed packet of its unique gravy you can purchase & the Potato dumplings that are must have with it. Their Franks are tops and I also love their Landjaeger which is like the best beefstick you ever ate.
I was not surprised when visiting a German Beergarden/restaurant in NC that their meats come from Stiglmeier. German food is great, especially in winter.
I love Spain cuisine, but cannot get it where I now live, but when I lived up north, I used to go to them all the time. GBari sounds like your eating great friend. I always loved Chicken in Cherry Wine sauce.
Jaeger snitzel is top of my list!
Thank you for the source for German sausages. I looked up bologna, yes, they have a good selection:
https://stiglmeier.com/?s=Bologna
Once I bought some sliced bologna from the grocery store because I wanted to revisit the bologna sandwiches of my childhood. I had to throw it out because it tasted like a chemical superfund site! How things have changed.
Here’s a sandwich idea: cut a cinnamon roll in half crosswise, fill with pan-fried sliced bologna. Sweet and salty perfection.
HAH. Spaghetti! You triggered a repressed memory 🤣🤣🤣
That was one of two meals my mom made “from a box”!!
1 – Spaghetti – made from a “kit in a box” from Chef Boyardee! Had the dry spaghetti, a can of sauce, and a pack of grated dried Parmesan cheese. It has long since been discontinued in favor of their canned spaghetti (yuk)
2 – Chinese food – Chun King – Chicken a la King or Chicken Chow Mein (actualy came in a large can). She served those with “chinese” dried noodles and usually some white rice…
I think these meals were served when the budget was a bit low… 🙄
UGHHHHHH!!
Both of those!! Chun King was AWFUL. I refused Chinese forever until I learned what REAL Chinese food is like. To this day, I refuse bean sprouts. Might as well have been worms in a can!
We used to have sturdy wood dining room chairs with the cushions you would tie on. My half sister would shove Chun King under the cushions.
The other was liver and onions on Fridays. One time the dog, an Irish Setter named Missy… who would drag little me around the yard like a rodeo clown… knocked the fry pan off the stove and ate our dinner. We got hamburgers.
Good dog. Very good dog!
LOLOLOLOLOLOL! My wife turns green when I mention Chun King….🤣
And dittos on liver & onions. My father LOVED pan-fried liver ‘n onions, Mom also liked it. None of us kids could stand it. We kids definitely got hamburger “round steaks”….😁
I loved eating my Mom’s calf’s liver in a cream sauce with new potatoes and green beans. Happy memories.
Never saw that preparation, it sounds like it could have made the liver taste better. Calf’s liver must be harder to get since veal seems to be less abundant than it was decades ago.
liver and onions was an occasional “special meal” at our house–at butchering time. My dad did his own butchering of beef and hogs. As I recall, we kids were not required to eat the liver, but were provided with some merciful alternative.
Now there was another specialty that we DID really enjoy: calf tongue sandwiches! The entire calf tongue, in recognizable form, was boiled or baked or cooked somehow, and then it was in the refrigerator for a week or so, used for any sandwich that anyone wanted. Straight calf tongue thinly sliced with a little salt between two slices of homemade bread. What’s not to love? (we really DID like that….)
And the food just tasted better then without all the chemicals and imitation flavors. I was kind of surprised Tamale Pie didn’t make the list along with Tuna Casserole.
I remember my Dad, back in the 60s, ranting against all the new disposable products that were becoming the fashion. His line was disposable products will only lead to disposable people.
Yes it tasted good to us kids! My mom was raised in a rural county in Maryland and they kept chickens for eggs and meat. Her stepdad (bio dad had died from TB when she was only 4) worked for the A&P food chain so they never lacked for food but only low cost food.
Yes – Tuna-Noodle casserole was definitely one of mom’s staple dinners…. and we kids loved it.
Your dad was quite prescient…..
Tuna casserole is highly underrated!
I too hope your doing better patty. Enjoyed this whole convo with you JWoo, & Gbari.
Thank you, Colkitto!
Come on in… pull up a plate and a chair. I’ll bring you a beer. It’s Sun King tonight as I fold my 8 hour old laundry. Lol
Tasha Tudor’s Old Fashion Apple Dumplings!
Did you see the chocolate crinkle cookies????
I need to make room in the freezer for pies and dumplings. With that big apple run last year, we made half dozen apple with candied ginger pies and those things vanished.
Such great gifts to give in a pinch. Just a little egg wash and cinnamon sugar with lemon zest and bada bing bada boom…. dessert was served. I used smaller pie plates and got to where I could throw one from frozen into the air fryer…30 minutes later… perfection.
We are planning our apple trip now.
I love Winesaps. Apple country here is in Hendersonville NC. Love seeing all the apple orchards & farms. And of course eating the apples and apple cider donuts!
Thanks, got it. Sounds very good.
Thanks for this, Patty. In the 50’s my quite rural grandparents still prepared these depression era dishes. My dad (born in ’08) still loved cornbread and buttermilk throughout his life.
BTW: Good luck in the future, Patty. Your friends here are all pulling for you. Take care, love. 🙂
You’re welcome, Garrison. Brings back some good memories, doesn’t it?
Has anyone here ever drank straight buttermilk? I don’t think I could bring myself to do it. So rich and tart! Whoo wee! Makes killer pancakes though!
Garrison,, watching through the Little House series, buttermilk was all the rave.
I love good buttermilk. But it has to be good cultured buttermilk. Very refreshing on a hot day.
I tried it once but it tasted bitter so no more.
I was not allowed to waste any food as a kid because of all the Depression stories I heard from my elders. I also heard about how the Banks stole my families money that was deposited, thus spawning the hiding the money under the mattress many people did after that
My little grandma, born in 1896, had a rather large book collection when she passed away. When we started going through her books we found hundreds and hundreds of dollars in $20 bills stuffed in the pages of the books. I guess that was her “mattress”.
The banks were mistrusted after that. I heard the stories of the Bonus Army also growing up, many of my family elders were WWI veterans. At least one was a Wildcatter in Oklahoma for a time.
My father was represented by the Bonus Army since he served in WWI, but didn’t travel to DC for the bad events, obviously. When his bonus check of $541.25 finally arrived in our rural mail box, the driver didn’t get the mailbox shut properly way out there in prairie country–and the grasshopper scourge which had completely destroyed the crops for several years running during the middle thirties ate his Bonus Check up. There was enough of it left to identify what it was, but not enough to take it to the bank.
I don’t know if it was ever replaced.
During those years, in such places as the one where I grew up, the running mantra was, “Next year will be better.” That was not evidence of denial or hopium. That assertion was based on faith in God and their commitment to continuing to work as though there would be a harvest.
During the 1950s when I was headed into my ‘teen years, there were good harvests.
Eventually…next year was better.
You lived through some very interesting times. Growing up near Bakersfield, CA, a large percentage of the population was made up of those escaping the dust bowl.
When my grandfather died with dementia, they found $20k in the walls of his old home in Evansville, Indiana. A fortune in that day and age.
Sorry about your grandpa, but to have the banks steal their hard earned money………….no wonder why Dillinger and some others that were robbing banks were thought of as heroes (as long as they did not kill innocent civilians)
I do admit to enjoying the movie Public Enemies, and a special fondness for Paul Ferris from the excellent movie “Gangster”. When his dog got killed as a kid, it set him off, though he did have a strict moral code so you really ended up liking him in the movie. Best to you all
Will have to check those movies out.
My grandpa was a hoot. He would call me by my Mom’s name, MaryHelen.
He would twist up two $1 bills tight as a candy cigarette and hide them in my palm… like he was giving me gold.
Oh, my…I remember candy cigarettes.
Me too.
Winstons and Cools ? (menthols)
haha. They even had that dot of red on one end , to make ’em look “lit”.
Canning green beans this evening. Clean raised in my garden, my grandsons and family to have wholesome nutrition. 13 quarts for this session.
Haven’t taken total count for the year yet but likely approaching 75 qts of Romas, Bluelakes and tenderettes.
Butter beans just coming in (Lima beans for non Southerners) and how I wish had access to a “huller”, lotsa work by hand. Usually dry most of the butter beans. Lost a significant amount of black eyes to damp weather when they matured but saved some.
Fought drought for 3 weeks to garden this year. Up until 2400 or 0100hrs switching drip hoses.
All worth it to serve up fresh butter beans to grands yesterday.
Used to go out on Saturday nights, lol. Seems work never ends for this retiree.
Good evening all.
That really great that you can your produce. Doesn’t it taste so good when it’s fresh and ripe/ready to can?
I just finished canning/freezing my peaches. For a change this year instead of canning the peaches I sliced the peaches, soaked ’em in some ascorbic acid so they wouldn’t turn brown and froze them in zip lock freezer bags. Then I canned several qts of my Mom’s spiced peaches recipe. I finished up with a years worth of peach jam.
Oh boy does that peach jam sound good!
Yes fresh out of the garden is always so much better. Fresh sweet peas, beans, butter beans, corn, tomatoes and especially blackeyed peas are so much tastier fresh.
mmmm…Blackeyed peas.
This is long. Scroll on if ya want!
Partly because I never want to attract attention and become anyone’s project*, there are many things I don’t routinely speak about, either in my personal life or online; however, perhaps there is need to speak about those things for the potential benefit of others like me who are trying to survive Bidenomics and the actions of our domestic enemies, as well as simple aging. So I decided to toss some stuff on the table.
**About a year ago, I applied for food stamps (SNAP or whatever) because my son and DIL are incredibly generous with me (to the tune of about $6,000 so far, in replacing stove and furnace, etc) and I will NOT be found nickeling and dime-ing them because I “don’t have enough money” for everyday things. If there are resources that can help me NOT DO THAT…I will use them. So, yeah–I’m on food stamps I get $23/mo. What that means is that sometimes I can buy some beef.
**A year ago, I applied for a low-income weatherization program via which upgrades can be done on my house, like insulation/crawl space, perhaps windows, etc. I contacted them the other day to see where I was on the waiting list (I had been pre-approved). They cheerfully told me I may expect a contact in about a month to come with all my paperwork (benefit statements for pension and social security, etc) to prove my eligibility, and then they will schedule a visit to see what they might be able to do.
**I live on a very tight budget and know, months in advance, what my income will be, what my expenses will be, what is expected to increase (medicare supplemental insurance, medicare deductible, prescription insurance, homeowners insurance, utilities [electricity in Oregon went up 10% last year and just recently it was announced that PGE has applied for another 17% increase this coming year], auto insurance [I’m paying $80/mo on an 18-year-old car, driving less than 200/mi per month]) Reality being what it is, ***I no longer have a budget line for groceries: I gave that up as a futile effort two months ago). Now, I simply look at what is left, and that is my budget for groceries for the month. I do not eat out. I do not buy takeout. I cook and bake anything I eat and have a good freezer for preserving things, making good use of my vacuum sealer which was purchased several years.
I no longer have the strength to do any canning, so have sold my good pressure canner this year.
This one doesn’t have to do with money, but with reality: when I go shopping, I always use self-check (except when I go to Costco a couple times a year for paper products, batteries, etc)….
*I always have a specific list
*I always go through self-checkout because:
-I experienced more than once that the Walmart checkers often do not comprehend handling simple cash transactions, they do not understand money, and I no longer have what it takes to either instruct them or wait for their supervisor to come and bail them out (re-explaining what the customer was trying to say)
-I will NOT pay for bags at Walmart or anywhere else; therefore, in the checkout that THEY do, they are placing items on the t00-small counter space faster than I can bag them into the carry-bags I brought in to the store from the care, which I would need to be doing at the same time as she is finishing the ring-up and asking for my payment, all the while all that stuff is sitting there waiting for me to self-bag and the next customer is waiting behind me. So I use self-checkout, and simply take all the time I need. The minute I park my cart there, THAT SPACE IS MINE.
-I also make it a point to notice other shoppers who look normal and are willing to make eye contact. If it’s appropriate, I make small conversation with them (far more than I used to). It seems to often be encouraging to them and it’s good for me.
I’m also officially old now, having turned 80 last spring, so another thing I do–when I have doc appointments that require my brain to be online, I start bringing the details together about four days ahead of time so that, the morning of the appointment, the right things are in the car, the right things are in my carry-zipper-packet, and my phone is charged. I NEVER leave those things to last minute. Because I am locked into my personal-best medical care, every doc appointment I have also requires an 80 mile round trip. I’m the driver. So I CANNOT afford to leave the house rattled or over-tired.
Two things that are a priority for me these days: maintaining the performance to be seen as a competent driver and maintaining the capacity to live in my beautiful little home. My family (two sons in their 50s and their lovely spouse) are fullly supportive to do whatever has to be done to keep those two priorities going.
There’s a whole ‘nother list of things that goes with those two priorities and I’m not able to do that right now. Maybe another time.
If you are one of those who is over-whelmed and feel like you’re fighting to hold the hill you fought for and have lived on–sift through this and take what is useful for you–leave the rest.
I have the following Bible passage typed out on 4″ X 6″ cardboard stock pieces, and posted several places in my house, tossed into a few drawers where I’ll see it when I open that drawer, and a copy in the car:
“If I say, ‘My foot slips,’, Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.” Psalm 94:18, 19
Hi Sharon,
Thank you for sharing your day to day. I believe, more often than not, we have many who share these Tree branches in the same boat.
If I may share something I do as a cost saver?
Do not throw away your seeded fruits and veggies that spoil. I have pots of soil and I shove my old tomatoes in there.. like compost… and I overwinter them in my garage. For several years in a row, I’ve yielded the most fascinating hybrid tomatoes and grow the luscious plants in a huge pot on my patio. It works.
I hear you can do potatoes the same way but I’ve not tried it…yet! I’ve got visions of verticle buckets on a cool wheeled rack that I can bring out or stow away. I don’t have any land and no longer own my own home… so why not??? Why can’t I be a nice patio gardener?
I go and purchase discounted plants at nursery, and have the nicest herb gardens. Invested in some rather costly aero gardens, but in the winter, we still have our fragrant cooking herbs.
To me… I feel wealthy, if I can sustain cooking for me and my daughter and not skimp on flavor.
I appreciate your story and wish we were near to contribute. Even if it’s just having tea together.
Today, I’ve gathered nice apples and am going to make some nice caramel apples as a gift to our friends and a few freezer pies. I’ll wait until daughter comes home to help me. We usually bring down meat from our farm town butcher… and I ran into one of the store associates today and they sell bulk bones for broth stock.
We are frugal too, but even if we weren’t and we “had it all”… I’m not certain I would change my habits… for there is a sense of good stewardship in common sense and being creative.
Blessings on you. I pray your freezer is always full and your tummy always satisfied.
JWoo said, “I feel wealthy.” I am wealthy, JWoo. For sure.
Learned an important lesson from my dad when I was about ten years old, in our dry-dirt-farming community in NE Montana, where hard work was sometimes rewarded and sometimes useless (because of weather, etc.)….I was trying to figure out the impact and meaning of the word rich…I had figured out that there were some people in our country church who were considered rich.
But I wasn’t sure how that conclusion was arrived at. I knew that we had a big house and a big farmyard. We had pretty curtains on every window and really good meals on the table three times a day, with desserts on Sunday. I always had new shoes a couple times a year and pretty skirts and blouses that my mother had sewed. I was the youngest of seven and she was good at that.
Our potatoes, butter, eggs, bacon, fried chicken, onions, carrots, steaks and hamburger, milk and cream, rhubarb, chokecherry syrup and June berry sauce–all came from our work and our land….I couldn’t see that we lacked anything, but I still wasn’t sure whether or not we were rich.
So I asked one day, after working up the courage, “Daddy, are we rich?” He stopped and went quiet. Thought for a minute before he answered, “Yes, we are. And some day we might even have some money.”
You’re gonna like him, JWoo. You will meet him in eternity. And you are gonna like him. If you get there before I do, just ask around for Immanuel Larsen.
Oh–I LIKE your suggestion and experience about tomatoes! I’ve had that happen accidentally in my raised garden that my son built for me a couple years ago–but this year now, I will do that on purpose! I’ve been setting aside large planters of various kinds not being sure how I would use them, and that is going to be one way.
Thank you very much!!
I have also learned I don’t have to buy seed potatoes: I have tested and learned that my potatoe harvest from “last year” can be cut up and used as seed potatoes for “next year”. Nice discovery. I wasn’t sure if that would work or not since they are pretty busy preventing /heirloom stuff. I don’t understand all of that very well.
Sharon,
I will look very forward to meeting your father in Eternity. Yes, a man after my own heart and what an honor to befriend his sweet daughter.
You have done the potato thing! Now you’re inspiring me! I would imagine it would work the same with sweet potatoes.
Exciting to try! God just makes things so fascinating and cool! 😎
He’s the cats meow! Literally!
Can plant garlic cloves ( not true garlic but what the grocer sells for garlic) or tops of onions and they’ll come up. Carrot tops with a bit of carrot left attached will sprout new carrots most of the time. Seeds out of fresh squash or a slice of fresh squash with some seeds in it will produce.
Totally agree about the seeds. Especially tomatoes.
Have gotten great tomatoes by throwing a tomato piece or two into the big pot on the porch.
Blessings to you Sharon.
I have appreciated your wise and kind voice here at the tree.
I will remember you in my prayers.
monti
Thank you kindly – ….that I will be at peace, able to think clearly, always knowing where and Who my provision is.
Sharon, I can really appreciate how you are living and struggling. I’m there in that boat with you.
I changed my car insurance several years ago to AAA. Like you, I drive less than 2000 miles per year, my truck is 25 years old, and I pay monthly $34 for my car insurance. WAY less than I was paying Farmer’s ins for my truck.
I turn on no lights at night except for 1 fluorescent light in the room I am in. I replaced 5 leaking faucets I had outside. I water almost exclusively outside at night, less evaporation. Just that alone reduced my monthly water bill by $60 month (I have a well that is 3 phase and a separate meter for my water).
I’m so sorry you have PG&E. They have let their line maintenance go to h3ll and are now paying the price for it. Or should I say you are now paying the price for it. They have a monopoly and there is nothing you can do about it.
I know what you mean about a grocery budget. It’s what’s left after you have paid everything else you have to pay for the month.
I got rid of all credit cards. I simply don’t have enough money to pay a middleman interest just to speed up a transaction.
Three years ago I applied for and received help from SS. They now reimburse me for my Medicare premiums!!! That was HUGE. That alone gave me a 17% raise and finally raised my monthly SS to over $1000 per month. I don’t know if they have that option where you are in Oregon but please check on it if you are not getting it. And it came with a medi-cal card (Medicaid). Now I can actually go to the doctor and have the tests run that she wants. Before I only had tests run if I could afford them, which most of the time meant not having tests run because I couldn’t afford the deductible amount.
I also do all my own cooking. I have learned that all my old cookbooks are better than the newer ones. The old ones don’t seem to have recipes that call for expensive ingredients. And by old I mean 40 – 60 years old.
I also cancelled my home owners insurance (I own my home free and clear). Here in CA the prices for the least insurance I could get was well over $1000 per year for my little 900 sf house. I’ve lived here over 40 years and have never had a claim. Many years ago I had my house homesteaded to protect it.
I am thankful that I have worked very hard to mostly overcome my stress and anxiety brought on by the insecurity. I put my trust in God and I depend upon Him to keep me safe. He knows what I need. I simply wait upon Him. I am so thankful to have my house and all the blessings God has given me. I have a lot of joy in my life and my heart is content. Can’t ask for more than that!
Hi, Patty–thank you for your share, Patty. I realized a couple weeks ago that my current efforts and day-to-day solutions for things are just like a job.
This is my job now. May I gently say, I have learned that it helps not think of myself as struggling. I’m not struggling any more than I ever have! Life has always had dilemmas, demands, deadllines, and issues….so…words are a big deal for me and matter a lot.
So as I was thinking about the whole scene, it occurred to me that I could just put a sign on my living room wall that says, This is what I do now. Such a declaration and acceptance doesn’t have to do with how much money I have or anyone else has. It’s what life has always been, for any level of living.
This is what I do now–and now is not a problem to be solved. It’s not all bad. This is what I do now.
It’s ok to find contentment in doing what we can, as well as we can. This is what we do now.
Let’s be content and do it as well as we can, just like we did when we were working a job that we didn’t like so much. It’s ok to live limited. That does not define or dictate any kind of summary about my life.
Thanks, Patty. I’m content, too, and so very grateful for that.
Acceptance and Contentment… words to hang on a shingle for sure.
I’m so blessed by your sharing today.
I just love our Tree and all within it.
So many of our younger Americans all want to talk about what they have or what they just bought.
I get the strangest looks whenever I ask what their skills are or the last actual accomplishments were.
Different value systems, they simply weren’t raised properly.
Yes. I’m learning new skills, adding to my old skills, after my husband died ten years ago.
Now I know how to check/add coolant to my good old car, for one thing! Gonna keep that old blessing going–it has nothing computerized on it. My sons love that I have it in case we ever have to ditch their newer vehicles and head for the hills. 2006 Equinox.
They were brought up in a society which taught them to become compulsive consumers.
Corporations pushes materialism at youngsters, day in and day out.
And remember that stupid adage that so many people revered:
“He who dies with the most toys wins!”
Modernity encourages narcissistic conspicuous consumption.
It’s really quite ludicrous.
It could be even worse. Just look at this, from Berlin Germany:
.
GERMANY: Pro-Prostitution Picture Book Offered To Children By Government Officials
ByGenevieve Gluck
September 25, 2023
The city of Berlin has prompted outrage from locals after offering a graphic picture book on prostitution to children via its official website. The book, titled Rosie Needs Money (Rosi sucht Geld), is advertised as a resource for youth aged 6 to 12 years old.
According to Equal Opportunities Officer Kerstin Drobick, the book is designed to explain prostitution to children of families residing in a red-light district of Berlin, located in Kurfürstenkiez, known as Kurfürstenstraße….
https://reduxx.info/germany-pro-prostitution-picture-book-offered-to-children-by-government-officials/
That leaves me beyond words……
…evil.
If you are near a WINCO grocery story, it’s employee owned, their food, whether fresh, canned or frozen is highly less expensive than Walmart.
If you are able to get onto one of those Medicare Advantage programs – some offer an over-the-counter debit type card providing up to $60 a month at Walmart and Smiths (Krogers out east) for groceries plus around $100 a quarter at those same stores for items such as toothpaste, vitamins, aspirins and such.
Those two little steps may help.
While waiting in line the other day at the post office struck up a conversation with a lady – she is 93 and still driving herself just fine though she said her children worry if she drives outside the usual places, groceries and gas stations so she keeps them informed when she’s venturing further.
And three months ago struck up a conversation with another lady at the grocery store – she is 94, driving herself and doing her daily routines just fine.
I take those conversations and little bits of money savings as encouragement that we older ladies and gentlemen got this. My vehicle is a 1990 Mazda pickup truck and yes, it’s important to keep our vehicles running fine. Am just beginning my 7th decade –
you got this. And yes, daily readings from various Bible passages are a must!
Yes to all that good and cheerful conversation!
I’m near a Winco distribution center, but not a store! Will have to check into that a bit more.
With my Medicare Supplemental plan with State Farm (yup – the auto guys), I pay literally nothing for any procedure or appointment beyond the $240 annual deductible for Medicare, and never have to get advance approval for any procedure or test my doctor recommends. I don’t care to risk that by makng changes.
The daily Bible passages – yes. I have a wonderful little volume that has a theme of Scriptures filling a page every day. There are no “devotional thoughts written by someone else”—just those passages. Oh, my, I love the trails they sometimes take me on. So much blessing in the Word ministered by the dear Spirit.
Disney’s legal team claims that signing onto the Disney+ contract means that all future disputes with the company must be decided through a binding, third-party arbitration process.
Disney further claimed that even if a potential steaming customer only signs up for the trial period and does not follow through by paying for the service, they have “forever waived the right to a jury trial enjoyed by them and any future Estate to which they are associated.”
Just goes to show you… how sinister and sneaky they’ve become. Don’t trust them with your children. Walt is turning in his grave
Corn. Corn was on sale at the grocery, 5 ears for $2… which is rather high for a farming community.
What astounded me was this…
They had little trays of 4 ears of shucked corn…2 trays for $8!!!
Who can’t take just a few moments to shuck some corn and get better pricing and yield larger ears???!!!
Ever do freezer corn straight into the microwave for three or four minutes?
Works best with the freshest corn you can get. Leave the shucks on but trim the butt and tip and place 3 or 4 ears in a bag, (grocery store plastic will work) in the freezer. Leave shucks on and microwave each ear straight outta the freezer for 3 to 4 mins or to taste. Shuck (it’s hot so be careful) silk, salt and butter to taste.
Almost like fresh roasted.
How long can clean laundry sit in its basket in the couch in the living room before it’s called “dereliction of duty”?
Going on six hours….
I would much rather play with you instead.
It’s clean until you wear it to the point that it’s dirty.
there is no difference between clean laundry in a basket and clean laundry in a drawer.
🙂
Evening Prayer For Forgiveness
Heavenly Father, thank You for bringing me through this day and Lord, forgive me for the times when I have wandered outside Your best will for me, instead of trusting You implicitly.
Thank You, that You are such a gracious Shepherd to me and that You come and rescue me even when I lose my way and stray from the path that You have laid out for me.
As I look back over today, I know Lord that there were things that I should have said and done differently, and times when I reacted in a manner that was not honouring Your holy name. Forgive me I pray, but thank You, Father, that You always faithfully prepared to gently bring me back to Yourself.
Give me a good night’s sleep I pray, knowing that there is no condemnation because I am in Christ, and may I wake up in the morning refreshed and ready to do Your will. In Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen.
Source: https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Evening-Prayers
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Evening Prayer For Future Guidance
Heavenly Father, as I lie down to sleep tonight, I pray that You would guard my sleeping and protect my mind from wandering thoughts and unnecessary planning. Teach me to wait for Your perfect timing and not to try to plan my future in my own strength.
Lord, I know that You have scheduled every day of my life. Help me to trust You in all things and rely on You to lead me along the straight path and guide me in the direction that You would have me to go.
Give me patience to wait for Your perfect timing, and may I not trust in my own abilities and scheming, but rather rest in Your love and trust my future into Your hands.
And so now Lord, I commit this night to you, asking that I would rest soundly and wake refreshed and strong to do Your bidding. This I ask in Jesus’ precious name,
Amen.
Source: https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Evening-Prayers
______________________
Prayer Of Thanksgiving In The Evening
Praise Your holy name Heavenly Father, for granting yet another day in my life and for being with me every step of the way. Thank You for the many blessings that You have provided and the love and fellowship that I have with the friends and family that in Your grace You have placed in my life.
My heart is so thankful for all the many blessings that I enjoy day by day, and today I am once again reminded that Your mercies are new every morning and Your faithfulness endures from generation to generation.
Thank You, that I have been brought into Your family and have been made a child of God and a citizen of heaven. Words cannot express my love and devotion to You Lord
I pray that You would watch over me as I rest tonight, and that You would give me a restful nights sleep so that I may wake up in the morning refreshed in body and spirit and ready to do Your will. Guard all those that I love and may we all grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ in the days that lie ahead. This I ask in His precious name,
Amen.
Source: https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Evening-Prayers
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I know many of you will understand this: I have relatives that I cannot reach politically or spiritually. I have tried and tried I pray for them, but nothing changes. I keep hoping they will one day understand that there really is a God, and he cares about us. Sometimes the most unlikely person can change his life.
One man’s story.
PRAY FOR TRUMP
Amen.
Amen
Amen.
Amen
Amen.
Amen
Amen
✝️ Lord, thank You for the day. Amen.
“When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at any price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith.”
Abraham Kuypur
Let’s continue to pray that America will again be a grateful people anxious to bless God from thank filled hearts.
✝️