10-25-12

5:45am

My cats must have a built in alarm clock because

every morning around this time they jump

on the bed and wake me up!  Grrrr.

My alarm is set for 6:00am.  I rolled over and looked

at the cat and said, can't you give me another 15 minutes

and pushed him off the bed.  Wasn't a minute

later that he jumped back up there bothering me again, ahh.

 Got up and fed and watered them

and then made breakfast.

I decided to do something other than 

cinnamon rolls since I got up a little earlier

and had a few extra moments.

I made sausage links, eggs and jelly toast. 

Got the kids ready for school and left the house

by 6:45am to go pick up the neighbor kid

and then head to the bus stop.

Bus got there at a little after 7:00am.

Returned home to see Tony off to work

by 7:05am.  Once he left I went down to mom's

and fed and watered both her cats

since she's out of town.

Back home and working on laundry.

I started washing blankets/comforters last night.

Got two hung on the clothes line this morning.

Nothing like hanging blankets and a few clothes

on the line before the sun even comes up!

Threw a couple more comforters in the washer

and have them going.  

I have a stockpile of blankets.  Instead

of washing them each one by one when they

get dirty I have them accumulate til

I have a bunch to do and use clean ones from

my stockpile. That way I can

spend one day washing and hanging

them on the clothesline when the weather is nice

instead of running the dryer constantly

sucking up electricity I cannot afford. 

8:00am

Finally getting a moment to sit down and chill.

Well, only for a moment, lol, I need to get

back up and take some tylenol.

Thinking about making an apple cake.

I already have the apple pie filling made where

I mixed a can of apple pie filling, brown sugar,

butter, cinnamon and vanilla in a sauce pan

over medium heat til the sugar dissolved.

Oh, and I threw in a handful of 

caramel apple candy corn and melted

them in there as well :0)

So this has been sitting in my fridge

waiting for a cake.

I plan to add my apple pie filling to

a yellow cake mix and add 3 eggs.

Pour into a 9 x 13 inch greased and floured dish.

For the topping I will make the same crumble

topping that I use on my banana bread.

1/2 cup flour,

1/2 cup brown sugar,

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Stir together with a fork and hands til crumbly

and sprinkle over top of cake before baking.

Bake 350 degrees 35-40 minutes. 

Here she is before going into the oven.

Got two more comforters on the clothes line

for a total of 4 now already this morning

along with 3 pairs of pants and have

3 more blankets in the washer.

My clothesline looks like it's on fire

with all the steam coming off it, lol. 

It's now 9:00am and I'm ready to sit down

and take a break for a moment.

Carrying wet blankets up from the basement

and throwing them over a clothesline

isn't helping my shoulders at the moment.

Hurricane Sandy could bring rain and snow to

Ohio :0(  They say we could have winds 

40-50 miles per hour with gusts up to 60 mph.

I think when Ohians hear the word wind

they just cringe!  The thought of downed

trees and power outages will always haunt

us with everything we've been through.

Need to get a move on that solar heater

should the power go out.  At least have some

heat in one room.  That's providing we

get some sun to supply the heat.

One room of solar heat is better than no

heat at all.  

I still need some glass or plexiglass and 

black paint for my project then it's

a matter of cutting, screwing, painting,

wiring and taping everything together. 

9:45am

Got the screen out of my one storm door

and put in the glass window.  Wish this storm

door was like the one on the front.  It has a built in screen

and window that you don't have to remove.

I'm think I'm done doing things for now.

I have no more shoulder strength

and it's throbbing pretty good.

Apple cake is all done and it smells good in here.

That will be a nice after school treat 

and/or dessert with supper.  I got some

Tilapia fillets thawing in the fridge for supper.

The Terrible Two's!

Soaking up some fresh air from an opened window.

Anyone need a new alarm clock, I got two!

 Yesterday before bed I put on a face mask

to cleanse my skin which is still breaking

out for some unknown reason.

I thought I'd jazz it up a bit while waiting

for it to dry and threw on a Halloween wig

and scared the kids, lol.

This would look pretty cool to wear on 

Halloween while walking with the kids.

I'd smudge a little black eye liner under

the eyes to give it more of a zombie affect.

It gets cooler even after it dries and 

the face mask starts cracking, lol.

 Ok well I'm gonna watch a couple shows

I DVR'd last night.  Thank goodness I recorded

them because I was soooo tired and

couldn't stay awake to watch them.

3:55pm

I needed a better solar panel
for my solar heater and we weighed our
options and decided to use the solar shed light panel.
It would get much more use with the heater
than it would with the light in the shed.
We can use a flashlight instead if need be.
I removed the corded plug end from
the solar shed light and spliced all the wires
together and hooked up BOTH computer fans.
WOO HOO, everything is working as planned
little by little.
Both small fans are able to run off this
one solar panel.  The other solar panels
I could only get one fan to run.
Plus with this newest solar panel
the fans with still run without sunlight
because it has rechargeable batteries in it.
Let's see, so far I have invested-
-rechargeable solar panel .50 cents
-2 small computer fans $2.00

So $2.50 so far.

I'm hoping everything goes as planned and
that once this solar heater is put together it works.
I will run it into the back bedroom which faces South.
The bedroom areas of the house can feel cooler
than the other living areas in the Winter time
so hopefully this will help.
I'm thinking I should make an outside
solar heater rather than the window one
so it can put out more heat.

Still need to find some glass.
Maybe I can find something at Habitat
like maybe glass from a storm door
or glass shower door.  I'll ask mom
if she wants to go with me tomorrow to Habitat.



6:10pm


Supper tonight is fish fillets ($1.00)
baked with a little Italian dressing (free from mom) 
and all purpose seasoning sprinkled on top (free).
Served with some potatoes (free from mom)
fried in Italian dressing with some 
parmesan cheese (.25 cents).
And another side of macaroni & cheese (free)
milk & butter for mac & cheese (.25 cents)

TOTAL COST $1.50

The fish got done a littler earlier than expected
so to keep it warm without keeping the oven
on I put the pan on top of the skillet
I was frying potatoes in.

 8:30pm


Went to Menards and splurged and bought
one can of high heat spray paint in flat black for $3.77.
Now up to $6.27 invested so far into the solar heater. 


10:00pm


We've all seen what happened when Hurricane Ike
winds came through Ohio, what happens with ice storms
and what happens with major thunderstorms.  
So that's a good reason
to pay special attention to Hurricane Sandy which
could reach here around Monday to Tuesday
with high winds.  Payday is tomorrow so I think
this weekend we should stock up on some
food items that can be eaten without refrigeration
in case of power outages.  
Don't take stuff like this lightly and always
have an emergency supply on hand of things
if you have to store them in totes for times like these.
You and your family are pretty much on your
own with major power outages.  No banks, atms,
grocery stores, ice, fast food,
vehicle gas, lights, heat or air condition.  Don't expect someone
to come to your aid. 
Don't wait til the last minute or you will find
that stores will be sold out of the items you may need.
Be sure to fill your gas tank before a major storm hits!
Have cash on hand for emergencies!
Make sure you have a regular can opener on hand!! 

Bread, canned tuna fish, peanut butter, jelly,
ice, granola bars, chips, crackers, cookies,
canned soup, apples, bananas, bottled water,
instant drink packets, instant tea packets, hot chocolate packets,
cereal, velveeta cheese, canned meats,
condiment packets (ketchup, mayo, mustard),
ramen noodles,  instant oatmeal packets,
canned ravioli & spaghetti,
canned veggies, powdered milk, fruit roll ups,
jarred fruits or applesauce and fruit cups,
pudding cups, nuts, raisins, precooked boxed bacon, 
pork & beans, canned vienna sausages, spam,
summer sausage, freeze juices and milk,
pepperoni, beef jerky, granola,

Don't forget to use your grill if you have one
to cook meat from your freezer which might
go bad.  You could always buy food grade barrels
if you would want to store fresh water in them
for emergencies.  If water is an issue you can
always fill your tub with water to have fresh
so keep those tubs clean! 

Other items to have on hand-
matches or lighter, candles, solar lights.
What about one of those coffee cups
that keep your coffee warm that you
plug into the cigarette lighter?
Cell phone and car charger.  While that is good
to have it does not always work. With this past major
storm we had the cell phone service did not
work very well!

I gotta head to bed.  It's almost 10:30pm
and I'm sure cats will be getting me up early
again tomorrow.