2023 - MAY - What Did You Do To Prepare This Week/Month?

Started the new thread a day early!

Husband was out and about mowing the acreage. He's doing some cleanup around the road ditches, too.

I've been quilting most of the day. After I put another set of 8 blocks together last night, this morning when I was checking my work, I realized I'd put 7 of them together wrong! I had to take 8 different pieces of fabric apart for EACH block to fix it! I had meant to finish two easy quilt tops today, instead, I'm only getting a single quilt top done.

Beyond that, we've had a mostly lazy Sunday.

I have a riding lawnmower seat that is broke in maybe 6 places so I decided to try and order a new seat cover only to discover that you can't find them anymore.. So I found some stuff called Plasti-Dip. Its basically plastic in a can long story short I cut blue jean material to cover the cracks in the seat and coated the cracks and material with the plasti dip. Its ugly but it worked out great no more cracks. It might be a good idea to keep some on the shelf.

Good use, Dave. I shall look into getting some. Being prepared for such a thing is good.

My sister came over and helped plant my meager garden. 3 tomato plants, 2 cucumber plants, a bell pepper, 4 jalepenos, corn salad, oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, mint, watermelon, and a forsythia branch from my parents' bush.

The late freeze meant I lost the rosemary, and pretty sure the avocado won't make it. Sigh. The banana tree is still alive, but it's struggling. We covered them all, but it wasn't enough. Lesson learned.

My peach tree bloomed a little before the freeze, but lost all the blossoms to it. So no peaches this year. Not that I ever got them before the raccoons did anyway.

I got 2 paw-paw branches to plant - I've heard they're good medicine for a variety of ailments. Hope they grow, this is their native territory, so they should.

Grocery shopping and yard sales today. I scored an Salad King manual food proccessor with 5 cones for $3 and a Magic bullet chopper for another $3.

I had to empty my herbals/supplements cupboard for the great-room paint job and found some holes in my prep stuff. I am currently ordering vitamins and other things to fill those holes.

I finished 2 more quilts and had the long arm quilter do 2 for me, too. I got them home yesterday and will finish the binding, and then be done with those 2, also. I'm also going through my flannel scraps and making wash cloths, wipes, and makeup remover pads. If there's enough fabric, I'll make burp cloths. I'll either sell or give them away to family as needed. Still working on paring down my sewing so I can move on to other hobbies. It's taking up too much space and I've gifted quilts to just about everyone I know, in addition to other sewn goods. No one wants or needs anything anymore.

Husband is still holding his own. He tires easily because of the meds, but he's doing his regular things, just has to pace himself as he works.

My Dad is also holding his own, he's got a walker now and uses it all the time to get around. I think it actually has given him a little more freedom. He's not afraid to walk across the room or outdoors now. My brother moved here to help care for both parents, too. He's been actively cleaning up the place and doing all the outdoor chores Dad used to do.

All is as well as can be expected in our little corner of the world, and we're watching the political stuff unfold with preps in mind should things go haywire.

I've been making plantain salve, as I outlined on the home remedies forum. For those of you who don't want to go over there...well, I guess it didn't post!

1 -2 Cups plantain leaves, cut up
2 Tablespoons calendula flowers/leaves
2 Tablespoons comfrey roots or leaves, or both
2 cups olive oil or avocado oil
2 cups coconut oil
4-6 Tablespoons beeswax

Put all in a pan, bring to a gentle boil, and then simmer for 2 hours. Strain leaves. Put liquid back into the pot and heat through enough to melt the beeswax. Still until melted. Pour into sterilized jars and cap. You can put it in the fridge to solidify faster.

NOTES: If you prefer a stiffer salve, add more beeswax.

Good for insect stings, itching and some neuropathy pain, or so I've been told by the users around here.

I sewed a bunch of cloth wipes and makeup remover pads (54 each) out of all the scraps of flannel I had laying around. I've bagged them up in increments of 27 each to give out to whoever needs them.

Made 2 batches of plantain salve, and I've started a 3rd batch. I gave the first two batches away.

Bought a used junior bunk bed and 3 mattresses off FB Marketplace for our family reunion. The seller threw in the bed linens and pillows!

I joined an upcycling clothing group and have been fascinated by some of the stuff they do. Today, I spent the morning upcycling a man's shirt with a back tuck and peplum. It's not perfect, but for my first try, I think I did good.

We had to replace both our power washer and the weed-eater. After 16 years, both went bad. The guy who tried to repair the power washer said it'd cost more to repair it than to replace it. So we replaced it and gifted him the old one for parts.

The deck garden is growing like mad. I replaced the rosemary with a larger, hardier plant. My two paw-paw trees came in and I need to get them planted. The mint I thought had died is making a comeback. The avocado is still dead...

Husband has been mowing and cleaning up the yard debris from spring winds.

We're moving into prepping for the family reunion, getting the house and yard looking good for the influx of people.

My house developed a leaking water pipe, directly above my stores room and nearly above my armory. Good lesson in keeping everything in water resistant containers.

I am in the process of moving everything out of that area, until repairs are done. This will be an opportunity for minor remodel, so that may be a while.

Wow, TRex! That's terrifying! Hope you didn't lose anything.

We spent Thursday packing my sister out, she is returning to her home town, now that my brother is here to take over taking care of the parents. She's very happy, she has a new grand baby and is thrilled to goo back home. Brother is already clearing the property, planting flowers, and doing general cleanup, in addition to caring for our parents.

Husband has been doing general maintenance. He's weed-whacking, mowing, and clearing debris from winter storms. He's also cleaning up his man-cave, as people will be bunking in there.

I am still working on my sewing area. I cleaned out the guest bedroom and returned it to bedroom status. I organized most of my fabric and notions, and can now clearly see what needs to be finished. I've made many bowl cozies, cloth makeup pads, burp cloths, and cloth wipes. Most will be passed in to whatever family member wants it. Some might go into the consignment shop.

I also covered cardboard boxes in fabric for the baby changing table. The fabric liners can be removed for washing.

We're building up quite a pike of stuff to take the the thrift, shop, too. Trying to de-clutter and downsize, even as we're cleaning.

We're having some wonderful weather and have been taking time to enjoy the great outdoors, too.

Ya'll have a good week!

The wife started planting the garden yesterday, she wanted to do it last week, glad she didn't 'cause we had 2 frosts last week. I had already put the stakes in for the tomatoes for her. We cut back on the planting, again. Seems like you can't give the stuff away anymore.

I cut 20 acres of hay this morning, will turn it after supper, turn it tomorrow (2 times) and bale it. Got a couple of the grandkids coming over to help stack it and run one of the tractors, they get paid very well for their time.

Been going down to camp and doing a little fishing, it's nice now that the weather is getting warmer.

And ya just have to have a couple of them there beers . NO BUD LITE.