Reflections of My Life

Blessed said:
I do not like yogurt for the most but I do get a craving for the yoplait orange and cherry, but that is what the grandson likes. I have never been a great fan but my son took the gogurt tubes and drinks in his lunch box

Can bunny sleep with you? My two littles sleep in the bed with me and the big boy sleeps on the the carpeted floor next to my side of the bed. I have dog beds all over the house so there are many places for them to nap. The only one is funny is the oldest little girl, if she sees me getting dressed she knows I am leaving the house and runs to my bed and stays there until I get home. I guess she does not like dealing with her brothers when I am gone. LOL
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I eat yogurt for the health benefits mostly. I can use this yogurt in recipes in place of cream cheese or sour cream.

No, Rabbit cannot sleep with me. He has many beds and places to sleep in this tiny apartment. I think he is set in his ways and he is not a lap bunny or a cuddler. Maybe if I had him as a baby he would be different but I didn't.
 

When my husband and I lived in St. Petersburg, FL, we both worked at Home Shopping Network. When we first started my stepdaughter, Hollie, came to live with us so she got a job there too. 1994-96 At that time, a good portion of the employees were working for Mystics, which was not owned by HSN but they did contract work for. Mystics is who answered the phone when you called to make a reservation for a campground at a national park. We were like a football field of cubicles with telephone reps on computers wearing headsets. I found this job to be very interesting and challenging at times.

People called right at 8:00 AM on the button to get a reservation for a NY campground because they would sell out instantly. Those callers (especially NYers........my home state!) would get really angry if it was 8:10 AM and they had been on hold and then I said the campground they wanted was already sold out. All of us reps were busy making reservations but there were more callers than sites available. Many of the callers lived in the city or on Long Island and wanted to go to a campground that was not too far away. I felt sorry for them but nothing much I could do. Many would end up taking a primitive site which meant no electric, water or cabins. If they were lucky it would have a platform for a tent. Also you could not take a rv into one of those sites. It may have changed since that time, I do not know.
 
Blessed said:
I do not like yogurt for the most but I do get a craving for the yoplait orange and cherry, but that is what the grandson likes. I have never been a great fan but my son took the gogurt tubes and drinks in his lunch box

Can bunny sleep with you? My two littles sleep in the bed with me and the big boy sleeps on the the carpeted floor next to my side of the bed. I have dog beds all over the house so there are many places for them to nap. The only one is funny is the oldest little girl, if she sees me getting dressed she knows I am leaving the house and runs to my bed and stays there until I get home. I guess she does not like dealing with her brothers when I am gone. LOL
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I like to blend a little yogurt into cream cheese for a nice topping.
I wish my bunny would snuggle but she spent her first year or two of her life in a closet so she doesn't like it. How do you keep them from chewing up everything when they are loose? We give our little girl lots of roses and their branches to chew on but she still likes to "taste" everything.
 

Happy Heart said:
I like to blend a little yogurt into cream cheese for a nice topping.
I wish my bunny would snuggle but she spent her first year or two of her life in a closet so she doesn't like it. How do you keep them from chewing up everything when they are loose? We give our little girl lots of roses and their branches to chew on but she still likes to "taste" everything.
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When I first moved here, he did chew on the bottom of my two dressers. I taped cardboard over those areas and kept it like that for a long time. Last year I removed the cardboard and he hasn't touched them since. He loves to chew firewood but I don't bring that in for him anymore since the last piece I got had bugs hibernating in it. So I buy him compressed hay bales (they are small) and chew sticks. He also has a play table and can chew on that to his heart's content. Those are compressed hay bales hanging from the top of it. I have since removed all those pieces of rope off the bottom. He didn't care for them. Now he can get right inside it or run through it. He also likes to chew on cardboard and as much as I would rather he didn't he still does.

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A "To Do" list, is not carved in stone. Treat it as a "Suggestion List"....and always add a few things at the top that you have already done, to make it look like you've been busy.

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Blessed said:
I LOVE BUNNIES BUT THINK I WOULD NOT BE GOOD AT TAKING CARE OF ONE. I love animals but have come to accept that I would not be able to provide the care and comfort they need. I will just stick with dogs. I would love a cat but I am allergic. Cats, IMO are amazing animals!!
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I am basically a cat person. They have always been and always will be my favorite animal. I have owned many cats as a child and adult. I owned only one dog and she was extra special. I had her for 15 years and still miss her as much as the day I lost her. I loved each and every one of my cats dearly too! I just had a dream about two of them last night.

I have had 1 dog, a boa, a hamster, pygmy goat, 3 horses, 1 red hen, too many cats to count and of course, 1 bunny rabbit. As for having a bunny for a pet........it was an accident. He showed up at my barn after being wounded by an owl in the area. He had big wounds on his side and I could not get near him to doctor him. He lived for 5 months in my barn.......the cold months. It never entered my mind that he was going to be my pet. I didn't think he would last outside as we lived in the middle of the state forest.

But circumstances changed and he ended up needing my help and I brought him inside. I researched online and learned about "house rabbits" which I never knew about. All my homesteading friends who raised rabbits did so for meat or their fiber. I learned a lot and am still learning. He is 8 now so must be I did okay.
 
Yesterday after putting Rabbit on the table (on a towel) I was able to do his claws pretty easy. He was mostly concerned with the table and the other things on it (computer stuff). Later when I bent down to look at his eye, he took off and jumped into his cage. Then he thumped his back feet quite loudly! That means danger alert or he is not happy with me. I got the message and left him alone. When my friend/neighbor stopped in for a chat bearing blueberries for him, as soon as she called him he came running. It does my heart good to see him run to her like that. She is going through some tough issues in her life right now and it is good to see her smiling and laughing.

It looks like we have a new manager! I met her yesterday and she seems to be very nice and pleasant. The bad thing is she will only be working here 2-3 days a week. Conifer (the owners of this place) like to hire managers and maintenance people and make them do several buildings at the same time. It would be okay if they were in the same location but these people have to drive pretty far to other buildings. We have to call for an appointment to talk to anyone even about trivial problems. So 2-3 days is better than none.

Rearranging my houseplants now for the winter. Can't be on the windowsill unless it is very sunny out. I have them on the table where my computer is for now. It is the warmest spot, especially at night. One of the heaters is right next to the table and my computer chair.
 
Yesterday, I made the best keto meatloaf I have ever made. I used half ground beef and half ground Italian sausage. What a difference that made. Of course, instead of bread crumbs or oatmeal, I used crushed pork rind crumbs (no carbs). I made it in the NuWave oven but instead of doing it as a loaf, I made them as patties. Came out perfect! I have one cooked left for today and a bowl of the meat mixture to cook up today. Two pounds of meat made a good amount (at least for one person).

I have been transitioning myself from sleeping in my recliner to my bed. I have managed to lay down in the bed during the day (not for a nap as I just cannot fall asleep during the day no matter how much I try) for about an hour. Yesterday was my best time. I finally got adjusted to the bed and laying flat down (felt great!) and then get my legs up on the wedge and what happens............my intercom buzzes! I had a delivery of my son's new jacket and had to go downstairs to get it. Then I start over..........Sonny calls and I talk to him for awhile but that is good. It distracts me so I can lay down again while talking. Pretty soon my friend calls so I say good-by to Sonny and talk to her for a long time. That helped pass the time of laying down with my legs up on the wedge. She also inspired me to make the meatloaf.

My friend is coming to see me the week-end after Thanksgiving. So I am looking forward to that. I haven't seen her since 2018, right after I first moved in here. I never was one to have a lot of friends in person, but she was one of them. Living here of course, I have more friends than I have ever had.......well, not as many as when I was a teenager. I was more social back then. There is something special about friends who know your past (and love you anyway, lol).

Today I am going to start planning out my menus for each day of the week. I hate the way I have been just deciding at the moment what to fix. I put on the dry board what is in the refrigerator exactly. So I know what is in there and what I have to use. Plan the menu starting with that. Then if I need anything, add to the grocery list. Meals can get boring if I am just popping a frozen beef pattie in the oven when I get hungry. I never ate that way before and not going to do it now.
 
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katlupe said:
Yesterday, I made the best keto meatloaf I have ever made. I used half ground beef and half ground Italian sausage.
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I did the Italian sausage thing once, it was good. The pork rind crumbs would seem to make the mix lighter? Very interesting. I'm asking now, if you put some onion in the mix but I'm guessing not, since onions have sugar. I love how you tweak your recipes.

I like to put strips of bacon over the loaf sometimes.

How nice that your old friend is coming to see you. Have fun!
 
RadishRose said:
I did the Italian sausage thing once, it was good. The pork rind crumbs would seem to make the mix lighter? Very interesting. I'm asking now, if you put some onion in the mix but I'm guessing not, since onions have sugar. I love how you tweak your recipes.

I like to put strips of bacon over the loaf sometimes.

How nice that your old friend is coming to see you. Have fun!
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I do use onions. I diced a medium sized one.

The original recipe I saw on a keto meatloaf was to use almond flour. Almond flour is a keto friendly food but it has carbs so you need to be careful with it. I used the pork rinds because I find they are good for anything I would use breadcrumbs for. Plus they give you more flavor. Zero carbs.
 
katlupe said:
Yesterday, I made the best keto meatloaf I have ever made. I used half ground beef and half ground Italian sausage. What a difference that made. Of course, instead of bread crumbs or oatmeal, I used crushed pork rind crumbs (no carbs). I made it in the NuWave oven but instead of doing it as a loaf, I made them as patties. Came out perfect! I have one cooked left for today and a bowl of the meat mixture to cook up today. Two pounds of meat made a good amount (at least for one person).

I have been transitioning myself from sleeping in my recliner to my bed. I have managed to lay down in the bed during the day (not for a nap as I just cannot fall asleep during the day no matter how much I try) for about an hour. Yesterday was my best time. I finally got adjusted to the bed and laying flat down (felt great!) and then get my legs up on the wedge and what happens............my intercom buzzes! I had a delivery of my son's new jacket and had to go downstairs to get it. Then I start over..........Sonny calls and I talk to him for awhile but that is good. It distracts me so I can lay down again while talking. Pretty soon my friend calls so I say good-by to Sonny and talk to her for a long time. That helped pass the time of laying down with my legs up on the wedge. She also inspired me to make the meatloaf.

My friend is coming to see me the week-end after Thanksgiving. So I am looking forward to that. I haven't seen her since 2018, right after I first moved in here. I never was one to have a lot of friends in person, but she was one of them. Living here of course, I have more friends than I have ever had.......well, not as many as when I was a teenager. I was more social back then. There is something special about friends who know your past (and love you anyway, lol).

Today I am going to start planning out my menus for each day of the week. I hate the way I have been just deciding at the moment what to fix. I put on the dry board what is in the refrigerator exactly. So I know what is in there and what I have to use. Plan the menu starting with that. Then if I need anything, add to the grocery list. Meals can get boring if I am just popping a frozen beef pattie in the oven when I get hungry. I never ate that way before and not going to do it now.
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I can relate. Yesterday, I was in the bathroom taking care of personal business when the doorbell rang, and rang. Usually it is the phone that interrupts which that is why I have a machine to take messages.
Stay warm and take good care of yourself.
 
Today, I did lay down on my bed for almost an hour. No interruptions! I left the "out" sign up on my door. Then I sat in the chair with my feet up, but in the chair they are not up high enough but a little is better than nothing. Now I put my slippers on so I can go clean the bunny cage and they fit! They are loose with room to spare. I can't believe it.

I also made sure to drink my water with electrolytes, magnesium and daily minerals. I drink it through out the day. I was lax in doing it the last week or so. I know it works for my cramps in my calves so need to make sure I do this daily from now on. If I doubted it was doing me any good before now I know it was.
 
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Thinking about Thanksgiving next week. I remember last year, we ordered the free dinners that were delivered from a local church to seniors and disabled. They were a disappointment. What would you expect for free? This year I am making the normal chicken thighs I always make for my meals. I will make a dinner for my son too that he can pick up here and take home. I will make some sides for him like sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy and pumpkin pie. That way I can be sure that he will have a nice Thanksgiving meal. If Sonny wants to come here, I will make food for him too. But I try to urge him to have his Thanksgiving with his family. They have a big celebration and I think he should get together with them while he can. They will treasure these times with him in the future.
 
katlupe said:
Today, I did lay down on my bed for almost an hour. No interruptions! I left the "out" sign up on my door. Then I sat in the chair with my feet up, but in the chair they are not up high enough but a little is better than nothing. Now I put my slippers on so I can go clean the bunny cage and they fit! They are loose with room to spare. I can't believe it.

I also made sure to drink my water with electrolytes, magnesium and daily minerals. I drink it through out the day. I was lax in doing it the last week or so. I know it works for my cramps in my calves so need to make sure I do this daily from now on. If I doubted it was doing me any good before now I know it was.
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I see that you also are doing the keto diet! It's been 2 months for me now. I also do the electrolytes during the day. In the evening, I drink a cup or so of chicken bone broth. If I see I have muscle twitches, I will do the magnesium (Calm). Also, thanks for sharing your keto meatloaf earlier. I found that interesting!

I have been using the almond flour as a substitute for regular flour, but like you, am careful with the carbs. My daily carbs are 20-30g. So far, so good. :)
 
I have been doing a no buy month in November. I have a goal of not buying anything online unless it was groceries or Rabbit's hay or hay products for him. I have not ordered anything from Amazon at all. I will have to order the hay pretty soon though. When ordering stuff online I tend to spend more than I do when I buy it in a physical store. Since I do not go to any stores except Walmart, I don't buy extras. The reason is that once I have shopped for groceries in Walmart I don't feel like walking to the other end of the store. Saves me money!

Since I moved here in 2018, I have been "snowballing" my debts. One of the reasons I left my house and marriage was due to debts. I let my husband put equipment for our alternative energy system on my credit cards. Then he paid only the minimum payments on them. I took over paying on them when I started getting my SS check but there was nothing left over after that. Then I moved here and I increased my income and was able to snowball the debts. In January the loan I have with my credit union will be paid in full. I am so happy about this I could dance in the street!

Not only that, but I put a purchase on one of the cards that I had paid off last year. I think I will have that paid off in January or February also. So two of them will be done and I can combine those payments and put them on one of the others. Two down and two to go. And I am doing this with very low income. I know being eligible for various benefits has helped me to do this. I could not in good conscious not pay them off. I have never missed a payment or been late with one.

People ask me why I have not filed for divorce. Well, I don't have the money for it. If he wants one he can pay for it. I want to put all my money into this debt payoff. It is the biggest reason too that I did not want to get a car. Too many expenses involved with owning one.

Now that my consumer credit balances are going down...........my mailbox is full of offers from them! Oh yeah, they want to keep you enslaved by them. Another thing this experience has done for me is to teach me how to say no to buying anything on impulse. I really believe I have everything I need. Eventually, I will purchase some new clothing but not now and not until I have at least three debts paid off. I will save the money up and pay for it with my debit card.
 
Blessed said:
I use a credit card to pay all my bills but it is paid in full at the end of every month. I do this in case I ever have to dispute a charge on anything. It is also a cash back card so they give me free money!! Love me some free money!
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That is the way they should be used. My husband had too much debt and only paid minimums. Then he started using mine. I took his name off them before I left or that he knew I was leaving. Once these cards are paid I won't be using credit again. I won't need to.
 
katlupe said:
I have been doing a no buy month in November. I have a goal of not buying anything online unless it was groceries or Rabbit's hay or hay products for him. I have not ordered anything from Amazon at all. I will have to order the hay pretty soon though. When ordering stuff online I tend to spend more than I do when I buy it in a physical store. Since I do not go to any stores except Walmart, I don't buy extras. The reason is that once I have shopped for groceries in Walmart I don't feel like walking to the other end of the store. Saves me money!

Since I moved here in 2018, I have been "snowballing" my debts. One of the reasons I left my house and marriage was due to debts. I let my husband put equipment for our alternative energy system on my credit cards. Then he paid only the minimum payments on them. I took over paying on them when I started getting my SS check but there was nothing left over after that. Then I moved here and I increased my income and was able to snowball the debts. In January the loan I have with my credit union will be paid in full. I am so happy about this I could dance in the street!

Not only that, but I put a purchase on one of the cards that I had paid off last year. I think I will have that paid off in January or February also. So two of them will be done and I can combine those payments and put them on one of the others. Two down and two to go. And I am doing this with very low income. I know being eligible for various benefits has helped me to do this. I could not in good conscious not pay them off. I have never missed a payment or been late with one.

People ask me why I have not filed for divorce. Well, I don't have the money for it. If he wants one he can pay for it. I want to put all my money into this debt payoff. It is the biggest reason too that I did not want to get a car. Too many expenses involved with owning one.

Now that my consumer credit balances are going down...........my mailbox is full of offers from them! Oh yeah, they want to keep you enslaved by them. Another thing this experience has done for me is to teach me how to say no to buying anything on impulse. I really believe I have everything I need. Eventually, I will purchase some new clothing but not now and not until I have at least three debts paid off. I will save the money up and pay for it with my debit card.
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Feeling for you, @katlupe! You've been through a lot, but you are one determined lady and I'm sure you will achieve your goals very soon! Good luck!
 
I am expecting we will get snow this week-end. I don't mind the snow, just don't want any power outages. We have had only two since I have lived here. One was for more than a few hours but not for a whole day. It was hard since it was cold. I can always bundle up but Rabbit is not the kind of pet that would cuddle on my lap or with me in any way. He does not want to be on the furniture. He has various rugs and blankets on the floor to get warm on. I see people putting pictures up on fakebook of their rabbits with clothing on..........not this little bunny boy! He is a stubborn little guy and does what he wants (Right now he is running circles around me and my chair.........wants his morning banana but I want to finish my first cup of coffee).

I may have mentioned before that we have a number of homeless people here now. They were transported here from somewhere else. Seems like they should have built a homeless shelter for them before they brought them here. I think it was when all those protests were taking place in 2020. Up until then, we didn't have that many. So they had been hanging around the park across the street where I walk a lot. Never bothered me. Usually say hi. I have seen them doing drugs and drug deals also. I ignore them and mind my own business.

Our city council was trying to figure out where to make a homeless shelter and Catholic Charities got involved. They had a former food pantry building that is empty now and had planned on making that a shelter. The residents in that neighborhood signed a petition and went to the town council meeting to fight it. It did. They won. I can understand both sides of this but I know they need to do something. It is 23 degrees right now. Many of them are sleeping in tents along the river right now (and I turn my heat up.......). Most of them are in the late twenties to thirty something range. The paper said there was one 67 year old. This is a small town and they stand out.

Even if they were able to use that building it would only help up to 10 people. There are many more than that. The library owns the park next to it and have now changed it to a dawn to dusk park only. So if anyone is there during the night the police can arrest them or get them out of there. The library has also turned off their free wifi during the hours they are closed. They said people sat in their cars outside using the wifi and it drew the homeless to the library at night. Plus they have locked their bathrooms so you have to ask for the key and have to be a patron of the library. Not sure what the result of that will be! The reason they did this was because of all the police reports involving these homeless people since 2020. A variety of charges and instances of drug overdoes. Residents did not feel the library was a safe place for their children to go unsupervised (just to get to the door!).

They can and do get food from the food pantry. The only thing is that most of the food I have seen from the food pantry needs to be cooked or prepared with other ingredients (like butter and milk) in some way. Like I said before, they pick through our dumpster for food that has been thrown away. It is thrown away for some reason and probably is not safe to eat. People always say they should get a job and there are signs on almost every business for help wanted. But if you were hiring would you hire someone who is not clean and wearing a backpack with everything they own in it? No address to speak of.

I am just praying that a solution is found. There are a lot of empty buildings around here. In fact, there is a small school building on the main street that has been empty for long time but looks like it is in good shape. That would be a good shelter but there are a lot of homes along that street too. I hope they figure it out before these people freeze to death out there.
 
Homelessness is not something I would wish on anyone.. but equally I have to be honest and say I wouldn't like it if we had the same sitauation as you Kat.. and they bused in dozens of homeless who ended up sleeping rough in my area.. that would be horrible..

The poor people, they must have thought they were getting some shelter by being taken somewhere else in the first place, only to be informed they have to sleep rough in their new place...

I truly hope a solution can be found quickly for both sides..
 
I was able to fall asleep in my bed today! That is a big step for me. I am trying to increase my time laying down on the bed with my feet up on the wedge (so they are higher than my heart). Not sure how long I slept, but of course............someone was knocking on my door! I can be here all day and nobody stops in to see me or calls me on the phone.......but let me go to the bathroom or lay down on my bed!
 
katlupe said:
I was able to fall asleep in my bed today! That is a big step for me. I am trying to increase my time laying down on the bed with my feet up on the wedge (so they are higher than my heart). Not sure how long I slept, but of course............someone was knocking on my door! I can be here all day and nobody stops in to see me or calls me on the phone.......but let me go to the bathroom or lay down on my bed!
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exactly the same happens here.. you're not alone..

Tonight I was watching tv, and I can never get past 1/2 hour of tv, and I nod off sitting on the sofa .. only to be rudely awakened by a call on my landline.. the ringer is so loud, I nearly jumped out of my skin..
 
Snowing hard here at the moment. I don't mind it as long as I don't have to go anywhere. Sometime today though, I will have to walk to the dumpster in it. I hate having garbage accumulate in my apartment. So after I clean Rabbit's cage today, I will be sure to get it outside. If it wasn't for Rabbit, I wouldn't have as much garbage as I do. It is from cleaning his cage......hay and newspaper, that make so much.

I am going to take an inventory of all my food. To make sure I have what I need to make meals for this coming cold weather. The thread about stocking up food got me to thinking about it. This is what I used to write my blogs about. I grew almost all my own vegetables and herbs. I bought meat in bulk from a restaurant supply store and would come right home and can it. Chicken, ground beef, beef chunks, pork chunks and then can all the broths that came from each meat. During hunting season, I would usually be given venison and would can that also.

Yesterday I found some YouTube channels that are about "urban homesteading" and "urban prepping". So been watching them. Most of them figure your apartment has at least a balcony, which mine does not. So for someone like me I would have to buy the vegetables in bulk somewhere or subscribe to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and then bring them home to either can (which I can no longer do) or dehydrate. It costs me more but less work. Not that I mind the work, but I know physically I cannot do it.
 

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