Reflections of My Life

Yesterday, Sonny took me shopping and a couple other errands. Walmart and Price Chopper. So I am set for awhile. I bought a rotisserie chicken at Walmart for us and Sonny ate supper with me. I figured that is the easiest way for me to stick to my food plan and eat with him. It was a nice day even though it rained, actually poured when we got to Walmart and had to go inside. Can't run to the door like the old days now. I didn't melt.

Today I plan on making more yogurt in the Instant Pot. It is so good and I have missed it. I had no way to get to the store to buy the milk and starter till yesterday. I have learned something I did not know when I made it before. It was a big job scraping out the inside of the yogurt strainer because the inside is like a screen. Instead all I have to do is to invert it on top of the cover that comes with it and it will come out in one big piece of yogurt. Then put it in the bowl and whip it a little with the mixer. Cleaning out the strainer was the one thing I did not like about making it. Can't wait to try this today.

The exact same brand of milk was a dollar cheaper at Walmart than at Price Chopper. I only went there to get the yogurt because Walmart was out of the one I use. The prices from one store to another can make a difference. The cheese I could not find at Walmart because they do not have those specialty varieties was at PC. But pricey! I bought it anyway because there are some luxuries I enjoy and that is one of them.
 
Happy Easter to everyone who reads this today!

I went to church this morning with my neighbors/friends. They go every Sunday and asked me if I would care to go on Easter. I did and I am glad that I did. It was nice. They invited me to have dinner with them at their home but I declined. I wouldn't be able to eat anything really. I like to eat at home and prepare my own food. I made beef short ribs and home made coleslaw (low carbs) and home made yogurt (low carbs) with sugar-free peach syrup on top for dessert. Nice dinner.

Then I vacuum packed a package of chicken and cleaned up the kitchen. Took a trip to the storage locker to put some things in it and then on to the dumpster. I have empty boxes to get rid of in the storage locker so take one out every time I go to the dumpster. I cannot carry them all at once.

My neighbor's dog is barking right now so I figure he must have gone out to Easter dinner with his sister (I saw her car was gone). He only barks if he is gone for a long time.

Now I am watching the rest of the Keto Salt Lake 2022 which was recorded live over the week-end. I didn't watch it live but have been watching it yesterday and today on the recorded videos. Eye opening speakers and information! You will never hear this stuff from the old time medical community. It will slowly come out though over time.

Hope you had a lovely Easter and a good night!
 

I woke up yesterday to no power..........no coffee. It was not a good day. I started off with a can of Mountain Zevia thinking it has caffeine in it like coffee? I drank it but it was cold and not as good as coffee. Too sweet for my morning drink. The way these apartments are built in an old school building (brick) our apartments did not get too cold. Mine stayed at around 72 most of the day. I had to eat all cold food and pray the rest of my food would not get ruined since the refrigerator was off all that time.

By the time evening came, I was really worried. Not so much about myself as I can bundle up and I was used to sleeping cold at my house (after the wood stoves were banked back for the night). Rabbit though is not used to being cold at all. He kept going near the heater. Sonny's power was off too but he is out in the country and his is always off at the slightest storm. We had trees down in front of our building. Actually the trees were across the street in front of the library and not the whole tree was down but branches from several had fallen on the power wires.

Sonny has a generator but he did not use it and ended up lending it to his grandson's friend who has two children and a wife and they were really cold. Sonny has a propane heater on his wall that uses no electric and does not need a vent pipe because it runs very clean. No smell from it at all and he has one of those monitors right above it if it ever did. Plus his stove is gas so except for the refrigerator and freezer and his television he was okay. His power is still off and they say it won't be back on till about Friday.

My apartment is total electric. So I had nothing but a solar flashlight. I made a list while I was waiting this out of all the things I need to do in case this ever happens again. First time since 2018 when I moved in of my power being out. It is not like living off-the-grid when your power goes down for one day. Not one bit! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare some more! That is exactly what I used to write about on my blogs but now I know how I must look at it from a different standpoint. Starting my research on it this morning.
 
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Kat,, here are 3 different battery powered items I use when we lose power.
The middle lantern lights when you pull up it handles.
As you see I have string on it.
I hang it from my floor lamp & read by it.

I think both lanterns came from Harbor Fright .
Probably Walmart or a sporting goods store would carry them.

I'm surprised that your appartment building doens't have a large generator to run the electric, when power is out.
 
This is why I'm pleased that I have a house with gas heating and cooking... it means if I lose one I've always got the other...

In the house I have gas central heating.. and a gas cooker..

The fire in the fireplace is imitation coal but is electric ( I rarely use it , unless there's a problem with the central heating, which is almost never)... i've got 2 electric fan heaters as well... and in the Barn I've got an electric radiator .. also got a camping gas stove so if the electric went and I couldn't use the gas cooker for any reason, I still have something to cook on.

Further to that I've got an airing cupboard with one shelf full of very warm fleece blankets..and a drawer full of candles of various sizes.. .. as well as several small LED torches, and a spotlight lamp in the shed... which is powerful enough to light up the whole of the downstairs of my house
 
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Kat,, here are 3 different battery powered items I use when we lose power.
The middle lantern lights when you pull up it handles.
As you see I have string on it.
I hang it from my floor lamp & read by it.

I think both lanterns came from Harbor Fright .
Probably Walmart or a sporting goods store would carry them.

I'm surprised that your appartment building doens't have a large generator to run the electric, when power is out.
I was looking at the solar/wind up lanterns on Amazon this morning. I used to have one at my house and it lit up the whole room. I had a lot of different items there because of living without grid power. Moving here meant I gave up all that.

I am surprised the building doesn't have any back up power. Even if it was just for hallways and public areas. The hallways have an emergency light that runs on batteries and they didn't last the whole night. Maybe because we pay for our utilities.
 
This is why I'm pleased that I have a house with gas heating and cooking... it means if I lose one I've always got the other...

In the house I have gas central heating.. and a gas cooker..

The fire in the fireplace is imitation coal but is electric ( I rarely use it , unless there's a problem with the central heating, which is almost never)... i've got 2 electric fan heaters as well... and in the Barn I've got an electric radiator .. also got a camping gas stove so if the electric went and I couldn't use the gas cooker for any reason, I still have something to cook on.

Further to that I've got an airing cupboard with one shelf full of very warm fleece blankets..and a drawer full of candles of various sizes.. .. as well as several small LED torches, and a spotlight lamp in the shed... which is powerful enough to light up the whole of the downstairs of my house
I have 115 hour candles but was afraid to light them due to the smoke alarms. If they went off and it was dark in here......oh boy, it would be a crazy mess.

In an apartment here you cannot have any other type of heaters due to people causing fires. No kerosene lamps or heaters. I was used to cooking on gas stoves and that is something I really miss but these are total electric.

I am researching what I could do differently. If I was in a place that I had access to outside and could have a grill I could have cooked and made coffee on that. But my apartment does not have balconies or patios. Food was okay though, I have plenty in my cupboards ready to eat.
 
Two apartments upstairs had their sprinklers leaking...........so our maintenance man is running like crazy trying to fix stuff. And then other tenants are complaining to him about the elevator not working today. My thoughts on that is I would rather not have the elevator for another day and to have it repaired correctly. I hate for them to be rushed to complete a job and not have it work right or to have something serious happen with it.

I am keeping a close eye on my sprinklers though.
 
That is stressful to suddenly not have the power, and to not know how long it will be, till you get it back, as happened to you, yesterday, Kat. :confused:

My building is similar to yours.
I kept my power yesterday, while we had some of the same storm that you did, I think. Many people did lose theirs, around here locally too, from this one, but not our building this time.

We sometimes lose ours in the winter. Yikes. And same as you, there is not a way in this apartment building, to do some of the things I would do, if I could. I miss most, hot tea, hot broth, and a way to heat my pain pads, when it happens to me.

I am sorry you must have felt worried about Rabbit. And now you have the things still not working correctly in your building.
I hope some of your foods lasted okay, in your refrigerator!
 
There are still a lot of people without power, Sonny being one of them. His freezer though lost all his food. When they happens to him, he turns it in to his homeowners insurance. He pays extra for rider on it to cover that. I don't have a freezer that holds a lot of food and maybe that is a good thing.

I am thinking of finding an insurance policy for renters. At least it would cover damage to my furniture if the sprinklers dripped or something else happened beyond my control. I need to research this idea now.
 
I got up really early this morning. Three something. I am trying hard not to worry until I know I need to worry. About the elevator being closed for now. It is hard on anyone with physical issues to not be free to use it. Though I want it fixed but I am afraid I won't get my water delivery today if the driver can't bring the water up the stairs. He only comes to my area on one certain day of the month and today it is it. So that is why I got up early, trying not to worry about it.

It always seems like something happens when I have an appointment or something planned for a certain day. Most days I don't worry about leaving my apartment. I do like to go to the dumpster daily though. Now that is accumulating too.I am watching for the maintenance man to show up today so I can find out from him what is happening.
 
I am thinking of you and wondering if your water was delivered, today.
💟
No, he never showed up. On their website it said it was their delivery day. Maybe because of the state of emergency we had this week and the power outages they were not operating normally. The elevator might be working tomorrow but my maintenance man could not say for sure. Nor did he say what was wrong with it. So I cancelled my hair appointment for tomorrow and changed it to the the 28th.
 
I found out what happened to our elevator! The shaft of it got flooded when the snow melted. I wondered why the bug guy was here spraying the public areas yesterday. Just in case of water bugs. It is still closed but at least I know why. I kept thinking something inside it was broke. I will wait to see others riding it for a few hours before I get on it. Though don't know how to let the water delivery guy in IF he gets here today. If my maintenance man is here when he comes, he will let him in. Otherwise he has to go through the front door so I can open it from my apartment for him.

My neighbor across the hall is going through a tough time with the elevator being closed. She is 95 and is used to being on the go. A little while ago she got a phone call that her only surviving child has died. He lives down south, Alabama or around there. Was always sending her presents and cards. She is understandably upset and can't leave the building.

My friend down the hall did do the stairs even though she said it was really hard to do. Her mother is upstairs and she is 97 so she had to go up to check on her. We will get through this but no sense getting stressed out over it. I got a few bottles of water from her to help me with the low water situation. I didn't buy extra water the last time at the store because I get the water delivered now........just didn't see this coming.
 
Well, I could not wait much longer. Took my garbage out to the dumpster and the elevator worked just fine. It does a have a smell to it but that is expected after water damage. Some people are complaining about it being down but what could anyone do about it? It was not a problem caused by the management. Mother Nature! It could have been worse........the elevator could have been ruined! I heard one guy saying that he was going to the fire department and tell them our elevator wasn't working???? Really? They would tell him in case of a fire we are not supposed to use the elevator. Glad it is back and seems to be okay.

I checked The Water Bottle's website and I am listed as having a delivery date of today now (it was yesterday)! That is good news! Waiting for my driver to call me so I can let him in downstairs.
 
If that smell in the elevator bothers you, Kat, (or if it might bother the water delivery person, or anyone else)
I would think that wearing a mask (any type) would be very good for that.
 


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