7-4-12

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

6:50am

There's a printable coupon

for 15% off a $30 or more purchase

on Advance Autos Facebook. 

Good July 2-8 in stores only.

That's at least $4.50 off.

Something's better than nothing

when you need a few parts or supplies for your vehicle.

97 degrees today with another heat advisory.

I saw that next week we should have temps

in the upper 80's.  That should feel like

a little cool down compared to the temps 

we've been having. 

Got up at 5:45am this morning because

Tony went into work this morning

early to get some work done before any

major heat sets in.

It's 74 degrees now and I might go ahead and

bake some cupcakes this morning

before the heat moves in.

Then this afternoon me and the boys

will sit down and watch all the shows

we recorded yesterday and chill in the darkness. 

Then a nap sounds good after that.


7:30am


Baking up some of my version of the 
two bite jam filled and frosted cupcakes
like the one Kroger makes.
I'm baking them now while it's 70 something outside,
before the heat of the day.

1 Kroger white cake mix- .99 cents
3 egg whites- .24 cents
1/3 cup oil- .10 cents
FMV strawberry spread- .52 cents
tub of white frosting- $1.37

TOTAL COST TO MAKE 
52 of these cupcakes 
$3.22
@ .06 cents each to make.

Kroger bakery has them 12 for $3.00.
It would cost you $13 to buy 52 of these from Kroger
@ .25 cents each!!
  
Currently waiting for them to cool.
Cut a small slit into the center of each cupcake
then lightly frost.
Fill a sandwich zip bag with
some strawberry spread, snip
a small corner from the bag and insert
it into the middles of the cupcakes
with jelly.

9:30am

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9:40am




85 degrees out already and feels like 89.
Ahhh, I'm so tired of all these 90 degree days!!






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10:00am

Updated AEP Power Outages:

Franklin County: 73,985
Licking County: 27,156
Delaware County: 2,107

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10:30am

89 degrees and feel like 94, AHHH!

Garden update.

 Mathilda Hydrangeas blooming
with greenish-white, blue and purple blooms.

Hot banana pepper.

Green Bell Pepper.

Bush Beans.

Cucumbers planted from seed 6-20-12 coming up.

Carrots and radishes.

Beef Master Tomatoes.

Ceyenne and Bell Peppers.

Sweet Cherry 100 Tomatoes starting to ripen

Tomato plants are up to my shoulders.

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1:00 to 4:30pm


We had no internet, cable or phone in our area.
Good thing I recorded a bunch of stuff off tv
because that's what we watched this afternoon off the DVR.
Tony just got home.  Today was the end of their
pay period.  They run from Weds. to Weds.
but get paid Friday.  I can't make heads or tails of
it but that's how it works.
Anyways he got 67 hours, 27 or them was overtime
and double time.

Going to take the kids to the pool tonight around
7:00pm.  Pool closes at 9:00pm.
Then hang out a bit til 10:00pm
for the Whetstone fireworks.
We don't actually go to Whetstone but have our
own spot about a minute or two from Tony's work where we can
still see them without the crowds or traffic. 




5:00pm




Tony found a bunch of stuff at work today
that people threw away when moving out.
A medium sized box of girly toiletries
like hair care products, lotions, perfume, etc.
And then his biggest find for today
was a 19" LED monitor.  I swapped out my other 17" LED
monitor on the security cameras with this one
and put the other one back with our desk top computer
in storage.  The monitor probably goes for
about $100 new at Microcenter.  It's much easier
to see the cameras on the screen now and is much brighter.

5:15pm




Gonna start dishing up supper.
Hopefully it turned out all right.
For starters the internet went down on me
before I could get a tater tot casserole
recipe for my crock so I had to wing it.
And then I searched high and low in my
fridge for a couple pounds of deer burger
and a deer roast I got from mom's last night.
We finally brought home all our refrigerated
and freezer food home from storing it over
there when the power was out.
Then it dawned on me to look out in the truck
for the one bag of meat.  I did bring in a whole
cooler of meat last night and put it away
but the deer meat was in a separate bag
which got forgotten in the truck.
Heartbroken that I had to throw it all out!
I ended up frying up some boneless pork chops
and cutting them up to put in the tater tot casserole.




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5:30pm




Just had to share this real quick.
My brother and his family is vacationing in
Pennsylvania this week
with their camper.  Which by the way I don't
considering it camping when their camper
has built in flat screen tvs, a fireplace and
all the amenities from home with a couple slide
outs on the sides.  Yesterday they stopped in Hershey
and today they were at Gatlinburg.  I thought this was a real good
picture they got dressed in Civil War attire.

We have an excessive heat warning til 
8:00pm Saturday.
They say the day time heat index
is expected to reach or exceed 110 degrees.
Right now it is 98 and feels like 102.
We all need a vacation to Alaska, lol.

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10:45pm


It's 88 and feels like 94 degrees.
We were smothering out there at the pool
this evening and while watching fireworks.
It was so hot that I jumped in with my clothes
on in the pool because I did not bring my swimsuit
nor had planned on swimming.

When leaving the pool and heading to the
maintenance shop to change clothes at 8:57pm
I noticed an object in the sky that didn't look right.
I pointed toward it and asked the kids
and hubby, "what's that!"
I immediately stopped the truck before reaching
the shop and grabbed my pair of binoculars
and couldn't see it really well except
for the basic shape.
At first I thought it was a helicopter off in the distance
but as it got closer it made no sound and didn't 
have the shape of a helicopter.
Then thought maybe a hot air balloon but
there was no basket underneath.
We're stumped as to what we saw. 
I grabbed my camera and got a photo of
it at 10's zoom before it disappeared.
  It stayed pretty much at the same
level in the sky only changing it's directional path
of going North to changing to go East.
The odd thing about this object was that
on the underside of it was a small, red,
blinking light.  Any ideas????

I'm off to bed.  I guess we'll never know but
it's something we'll always remember and talk about.
So tired, nighty night.

7-3-12

7:35am

Whew, I feel as though I've been

run over by a Mac truck!

Just took some ibuprofen as my body

is creaking, cracking and groaning with every move.

My stiff neck has finally felt better.

Only took about 5-6 days for that to go away.

Now the rest of my body has gone to heck and back.

Now we sit and wait to see if the power

will come and go today like it did yesterday.

You hurry and try to get things done like

laundry and dishes before the power goes out again.

It sucks living on the edge and it takes a toll

on ones body.   I got two loads of laundry done yesterday

with a load in the washer waiting to be hung.

I was just so exhausted and had to lay down and

take a little nap yesterday afternoon.

I don't know how Tony is still going after being on

call all weekend, dealing with this power outage, 

then putting in 11.5 hours at work

yesterday and more overtime all this week and having

to work on July 4th.

You try to think positive about it all

knowing he's making extra money for the family

because we really need it right about now. 

Friday's storm and power outages has caused

us to use money we don't really have.

The money I had put back to tune up the truck some

has been spent because of having no power and it was

the only cash I had on hand to use at places

running on backup generators.

Coping with power outages is a costly endeavor for many.

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Todays temperature is going to be 96 degrees

with a heat index of 100 degrees 

with a heat advisory from noon to 8pm.

I'm really going to hate seeing what August temperatures

have in store for us if these are the temps for June/July.

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SAVE-A-LOT


If you go to their Facebook page and click on the
photo that says 
"Savings To Share"
you can fill in your info to be able to print out
a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase.
Sometimes they have 10 for $10 sales.
That's when I like to stock up on their
ground turkey, bacon, and some other meats.


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Columbus City Schools have some schools that
are open due to having Summer school.
My children do not have to attend it while many
others around us do.   I am in bed last night
and hear the phone ringing in the other room
at about 12:45AM.  I jump up outta bed and run
into the living room to see who is calling
at that hour.  It's a recorded message from
Columbus City Schools.  That hour of the 
morning is just ridiculous to send out those
messages to tell of the school closings!!!!!!!!


COTA bus drivers (Columbus city buses) 
will still be on strike today for the second day
due to not coming to an agreement yesterday.
Not sure how people are getting to work
or the fireworks (Red, White and Boom) tonight or even to places
that have air condition with those that have no power
and no transportation. 


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9:20am


Got a load of laundry hung up on the line
and another going in the washer.
Got a neighbor outback mowing his grass
and his lawn mower is sounding sick.
Ever hear what a locust sound like
buzzing away, something like that sound, lol.
It's already hot and muggy outside, yuck!


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10:20am


Andy Griffith has died at age 86.




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12:30pm


I was so tired earlier I laid back down for a bit.
My honey just called from work and told
me he found a freezer full of food in the 
vacant apartment he's working in.
The power has not gone out at his work
so it's all good.  Woo Hoo!
Anything will help at this moment. 




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1:15pm


Another load of laundry taken off clothesline,
another load hung up and a bleach load
in the washer.


I just don't get it.  Some people complain
of not having the power on and no air condition
with this heat.  I'm hanging clothes on the line only
to see that the neighborhood kid came over and wants to play
with my child on a skateboard out on the hot blacktop.
Don't think so!  He's now inside playing where
it is cool and making the comment,
"It's so dark in here!"  Well yeah, during this extreme
heat wave I keep the house dark to help keep it cool.
I keep the air conditioner on 76 degrees and it
feels wonderful in here as opposed to the days
we didn't have any ac and had to sweat to death!!
So go ahead and complain away about the darkness.
When the power went off yesterday you could
still find relief and coolness in our home
that hardly budged off that 76 degrees for
the couple of hours we lost power.

Some people have no clue or pioneer skills
to deal with any emergencies.
In our neighborhood people didn't wait around
for tree crews and chippers to show up in order to remove
trees from roadways or yards which
could have took days or a week or more to get here.  You almost
immediately heard chainsaws and people taking
matters into their own hands and coming
together to get things done NOW.
When we drove through the higher dollar
neighborhoods those people were all standing
around with their hands on their faces looking
like the scream painting wondering what to do.
There are still trees laying in their roadways
and they are still waiting for the tree people to
show up and remove them.
You cannot expect to pick up those fancy cell phones
and make phone calls to contractors
and expect them to come right over to clean up
tree debris right now in the middle of all this.
Get over it people, get out there and dirty your clothes,
break a nail and break a sweat, it ain't gonna hurt you!




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2:00pm


Rain so close but no cigar.
  It rained literally a couple streets from
here and we didn't get any :0(
Grrr, I need to fix camera date again I see.

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2:50pm


AEP is asking everyone to conserve electric
between 3:00 to 7:00pm or we could risk
more power outages.
I know lots of people are conserving considering
they have NO power yet
or have been without for 3-5 days now 
and are just now being able to soak up some air
after just getting it back on after sitting
in 90 to 100 degree temps.
Oh believe me they are all complaining on Facebook about
this conserving issue LOTS thinking it is a joke. 
AEP says unless the demand declines
they will remove circuits from service
purposely creating power outages.
I just don't understand it myself!!
CRAZY!



I've done everything as it is to conserve
and lessen our own electric bill as much as possible.
1. line drying clothes and not using dryer
2.  not using oven 
3.  sitting in dark with no lights on
4.  air conditioner set at 76 degrees


Was thinking about firing up the dishwasher 
as I really need to get the dishes done!
So I will do that with everything else
I've done to help cut back!


Tony just called to say that the vacant apartment
he is working in has a freezer full of 
food that the past resident left behind.
WOO HOO!
It's a blessing that's for sure when
we don't have much money at the moment!




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6:30pm


Supper tonight is breaded chicken patties
on bread with half a slice of cheese
and some bbq sauce along with some
homemade mac & cheese.
quick, easy and cheap to make.

Earlier I made up a bunch of homemade
pudding pops for the freezer.
I got a large grocery bag of popsicle molds
for .10 cents a couple years ago.
I figured I cannot afford store bought popsicles
so made my own with what I had.
Plus these are probably more healthy
for you than store bought ones.
I still have some leftover pudding to 
make about 6 or more popsicles.
-vanilla pudding with mandarin oranges
-pumpkin spice with maple syrup
-chocolate, peanut butter and bananas

Well Tony should be getting home soon.
He worked til 6:00pm this evening
and didn't take a lunch.
10.75 hours today.
Tomorrow he wants to go to
work 7am to 3:30pm since they are
ahead of schedule and he wants
to start early without all the heat.
Whelp speak of the devil, lol, as I just
watched him pull up on the security cameras.


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10:35pm


Just got done watching Columbus
Red, White and Boom on tv.
Happy 200th Birthday Columbus!!

 
Earlier tonight I had to stop in Kroger
to get some stamps so I can start paying
off all these doctor bills, sigh.
While standing in line at the customer
service counter looking around I see these
cupcake they call two bite cupcakes.
12 mini cupcakes for $3.00.
Probably equivalent to about 6 regular cupcakes
so I don't think it's worth the $3.00.
They really looked good though and tomorrow
I am going to attempt to make my own
for much cheaper or more for my money
than what Kroger wants.
They appeared to be a white cake mix
with a strawberry jam filling topped
with a white frosting.  Didn't look too hard to recreate. 




11:00pm


I just realized I missed all my scary shows
tonight on Sci Fi.
Got everything recording on the DVR.
Tomorrow me and the boys will have
fun watching these shows/movies in the dark-
Haunted Highway,
School Spirits,
Lake Placid 2 & 
Lake Placid 3.

7-2-12

7:40am

Found some more photos of the storm damage
from 6/30 to 7/1 

WTTE FOX 28.

Forecast for the next 7 days

from Fox 28. 

Half of our street has power while

the other side does not.

Street lights are still out along

with traffic lights nearby.

I feel guilty going outside knowing those

people are still in the dark and sooo hot.

We have a Heat Advisory along

with an Air Quality Alert.

The news said they are bringing in power companies
to help restore power from Texas, Mississippi,
Alabama, Florida along with many other states. 


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9:00am


Need to make a run to the store.
Taking mom with me because they need
a few things.  Who's to say we'll even find
some basic things if they haven't been cleared
off the store shelves.  Gotta remember it's
also the first of the month and people with
food stamps will be raiding the stores as well.

Everyone is sooo tired still.
Me and Tony have so many bodyaches
and are eating ibuprofen like candy
to keep up with everything.

Watching the news and see that at Morse and Hamilton Rds,
not too very far off from here, has major damage as well.
They say that about 15 to 20 telephone poles toppled over
along one main road, some had trapped people in their cars.
Just horrible everywhere you look for those
who haven't been able to get out and about
to see all the damage.  Houses and cars damaged and totaled.
Trees downed everywhere. 
I'm telling ya, if you were from out of town coming
into this, it looks as though a tornado hit!! 
There are still LOTS of power outages.
They are now telling people that if you have
a generator to call and let AEP know because
it can affect the workers or getting power to your
home once it is turned on maybe causing a surge
or something to that affect.  I don't know.
It's hard to take in and understand everything
that is going on around us.
Out of town electric companies are having a hard
time even getting hotel rooms to sleep in
because others without power have gone to
hotels and they are totally full.


Update from WSYX 6-

4500 AEP crews from around the country will be out today
working on restoring power to nearly 415,000 people
who are still without power.
Not only did Columbus take a direct hit
but many other counties in Ohio as well.



I got laundry going on top of everything else 
I need to do.  And as much as I don't like
it I have to hang everything outside to dry.
Can't afford to run the dryer or have any dryer
heat in the house!  The electric bill is going
to kill us this coming month.
Laundry should have no problem drying
with this heat.



11:30am

 Wore out and tired already.
Got a load of laundry brought up out
of the basement and hung on the line.
Decided it would make my life easier
to put my laundry basket and hangers
 in my wagon and pull it down the line
while hanging clothes. 
I love my little wagon that I saved from
someone's curbside trash.
I use it for gardening, lawn care, mulch and soil,
laundry, and hauling the cooler and lawn chairs in.
It may not look the greatest but it
has saved my back quite a few times.

Got another load of laundry going, 
got bills paid and in mailbox,
got groceries put away from going
to the grocery store and just made lunch
for everyone.
I spent $43 at the store for groceries this week.
I got enough diet pop to last the week for me and
the boys, found a couple gallons of milk
marked down to $1.89 a gallon,
got 2 rising crust pizzas on sale for $3.33 each,
a bag of tater tots for tater tot casserole,
2 boxes of regular macaroni pasta,
a velveeta store brand block cheese,
2 packages of breaded chicken patties,
3 boxes of hot pockets for lunch,
deodorant for Tony,
a super sized bag of styrofoam plates &
a bunch of bananas that were marked down.
Everything else for meals will have
to come from the freezer/fridge or pantry items
that I have stocked up. 




From Channel 4-
Nearly 300,000 remain without power;
Storms set back power crews. 


I read that the first storm on Friday caused
power outages to 660,000 people in Ohio!!
That didn't include the additional 
20,000 power outages caused by 
yesterday's (Sunday's) storm.



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As if everything that's been going on hasn't been
bad enough for everyone there's always something
else to worry about.  Next will be hiring crooked
contractors that will steal your money and run,
thieves are already stealing people's generators,
and now many are talking about price gouging.
Some people are complaining about gas
stations and hotels upping their prices taking
advantage of people in their time of need.
Mom went to get a hot chicken dinner at
Turkey Hill Friday.  Those dinners are usually
advertised for $2.99 and she has bought them at that price
in the past couple of weeks.  Friday, the day they bought
a couple dinners, do you not find it odd that
it went up to $4.99????
PRICE GOUGING NEEDS TO STOP!!!!
BOYCOTT THE PLACES DOING IT!!!!
If I find out any companies doing it I'll
be sure to post them on here to spread the word!!




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Yup, that about sums up how it is!

The Attorney General warns of door to door
contractors following storm.



Here's a tip of mine.
Always carry emergency cash money in your purse or wallet.
When the power goes out so does registers,
ATMS, banks and so on.  Many places will only
accept cash.  So be prepared and ready to use
cash only at many places in an emergency. 

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11:00pm


This evening at 4:30pm
I had made arrangements with truck driver
neighbor and his kids for him to take us all over
to my hubby's work to go swimming around 6:00pm.
Tony is on mandatory overtime this week. 
I'm packing swim bags and a small
cooler of water.  I get back in the house
and just moments before turning on the
oven to bake up some pizzas for supper
the power goes out.  I quickly grab the bologna
out of the fridge and make some sandwiches.
I'm getting tired of bologna!!
Me and the kids are all disappointed about the power
and I'm sure the people across the street were 
very upset.  They just had their power restored
at 3:00pm only to have it shut back off
1.5 hours later.  I kept the house closed up
and didn't open any windows.  I have 
blankets and towels over them all.
The thermostat only rose two degrees in two hours.
6:30pm rolls around and truck driver neighbor
pulls up to pick us up.  I have him make a pit
stop at mom's house so I could put the groceries
I just got today in her fridge since she has
the generator.  I also grabbed some ice to put in the cooler
for the water.  
As we're on our way to the pool mom calls
and tells me the power was back on,
thank God!!  I was worried about having to sleep
in the heat another night which by the way
is very miserable and makes for a loooong night!
So anyway everyone had a good time at the pool.
Poor Tony didn't get off work til about 8:00pm
and met up with us at the pool.  He worked 11.5 hours today.


Oh Lord I think I have gone off the deep end
today and have lost my mind,
We took 5 kids to the pool in one truck ages
4/5, 7, 9, 11 & 12.  
Hoping they all
sleep well tonight after all the swimming they did, lol.
Isn't that the whole idea, they just don't know how 
we parents work in mysterious ways.

  
Once Tony got off work he and another maintenance
guy that lived by the pool came over and hung out.
It's a small world let me tell ya.
What was the chance that my neighbor and the 
one maintenance guy having been in the same
graduating class from high school back in '89.
Hearing that made me feel old, lol, thinking
I graduated in '88.  But come to find out they
are both a year older than myself so I felt better about that, lol.
I had to remember that I was always a year younger than
all my classmates I graduated with.


Well we finally got home about 10:00pm.
Stopped by mom's to pick up my food I dropped off
earlier.  I couldn't wait to get back home and
finally bake those pizzas I had anticipated earlier.


11:35pm


Everyone's belly is full and I am sooo tired.
This past weekend has did a number on me
with the stress, heat, no power, Tony being on call
and trying to get caught up on housework,
laundry and dishes.  I'm off to take my meds
and head to bed.  Nighty night.