Food storage and other news...

It's been too long since I posted anything....again! I'm not sure what my problem is. It isn't lack of something going on.

The Women's Conference went great. We taught an easy method to make sure you have at least a 90 day supply of food, without having to resort to dehydrated, unless you want to. This is for just food, no water, and assuming this is some kind of economic crisis and you still have power, etc. You lose your job, expensive medical bills, etc. You start with JUST dinners. If you're in a survival situation, you can live on one good meal a day. Lots of people in the world don't get that, so don't be a whiner. After you get your dinners, you can add breakfast (sleep in late, go to bed early) and lunch or snacks.

This is how you do it:

1. Pick 14 dinner recipes that you can make with shelf stable foods. They can be as easy as pasta and bottled pasta sauce, Hamburger Helper with a can of chicken, canned or dried beans and seasonings. Or as complicated as you want, as long as you can make it with shelf stable foods. This will not be gourmet meals, it will keep you alive. Figure out how much stuff you need to make those 14 meals, then multiply by six...(14 meals = 2 weeks) x 6 = 12 weeks. Now you know what you need.

2. If you're wanting to try some of the easy ones (ie Hamburger Helper Cheesy Enchilada, a can of chicken and a can of black beans....feeds 6 easy) that you don't usually make, try them out on your family before you buy them. We had a couple of weeks of "science experiments" using stuff like Hamburger Helper....something I NEVER buy...and found that most of it was OK, some of it was pretty good. The nice thing about Hamburger Helper and Rice A Roni, etc, is that they have the seasonings all in the box, makes it simpler. www.ricearoni.com has a ton of recipes. Make sure you have canned or dried fruits and veggies, too.

2. Start accumulating your supplies for those 12 weeks of dinner. Shop off your pantry shelves first (paying attention to expiration dates), then watch for sales, etc. I found it was easier get stuff together for one weeks worth of meals at a time. You can do it as you get extra cash and certain things go on sale. Figure out what you can do without to make extra cash....skip movies and watch a video at home, don't eat out as much, etc.

3. Now you need a way to rotate. If you're ultra organized, you can come up with a pantry system that just keeps track of the items for those fourteen recipes. Then you'll always know that you have at least that many meals. If, like me, you're only marginally organized, or don't really have a "pantry", my friend Lysa came up with a great rotation system. Put everything you need for one week in a box....any box that's big enough (big families will probably need two). You'll have 12 boxes, one for each week. Put a litte cash in each box to buy fresh stuff (although make sure that your meals don't rely on fresh stuff...if we're in a pandemic situation, you may not be able to go out and buy anything) Coincidentally, there are 12 months in the year. You label your boxes "Week 1", "Week 2" etc and put them wherever you can stash them. Under the bed, one in each closet, stack them and put a tablecloth on them....whatever. Then, as soon as you've completed your 12 boxes, the very next month you take out the box that corresponds to that month number....box 1 in January, box 6 in June, etc. You eat that box the first week of the month and use that week's grocery money to replace it. That way, once a year, each box will get refilled. Put a menu, recipes and an ingredient list in the box so you're not scratching your head as to WHAT you were thinking, and you'll have a handy shopping list to refill it.

Don't worry about where to put the food until it's in your house. If you're doing as the prophet says, you'll be entitled to some inspiration as to how to make it fit or you'll figure out what you can live without to make space. If you're already storing large quantities of wheat, beans, etc, and you're reasonably sure that at the time you need to use the 90 day supply that you'll still have that bulk stuff, plan that into your menus and just list on your "menu" in the box that it comes out of your bulk storage.

I have more detailed tips, info and recipes. If you're interested, let me know and I can email you a .pdf version of the booklet we made up.

In other news, Sam got a new spiffy camera. We had to sell some stuff, including the old camera, to do it. The IRS got the rest of our money, but we'll recover. The Bailey reunion starts today. Grandma Bailey is with us having a mini roadtrip on the way to that, I'll post pics later.

I should probably post something....

I'm tired of looking at the same old post, but never seem to have time, photos handy or anything to say. So here are the highlights and not-so-highlights of the last couple of weeks.

Highlights:

1. Singing with the Baptist-Mormon Gospel Choir for the Monterey Gospel-Fest. I'll blog more about it later, but it's a blast! Quite the education, though...no written music.

2. My mom in law has been here all week. It's been lovely to have an excuse to put off doing my taxes or cleaning my house. We've been trying to get out everyday and do something fun.

3. CONFERENCE! I love Conference. When I get past the taxes and the Women's conference next weekend, I'm watching it again. I love DVR's.

4. It's Spring! We expanded our garden and got it mostly planted! Can't wait for tomatoes, corn, squash, peas, beans, cantaloupe, etc etc etc

5. This week is spring break and Meghan has actually spent a large portion of it cleaning her room. Without me begging. Weird, huh?

6. Meghan gets to go to the temple to do baptisms for the first time today. She's very excited.

7. Danny is here visiting. He put a security system in Dad's house, so maybe we can at least deafen the next burglars.

8. The time between 6am (when Sam leaves for work) and 8am when I actually accomplish something because no one's bugging me and no one's calling me. ;0)

Not-so-Highlights

1. Taxes. I hate doing them. I always imagine the worst, so I put it off because I just don't wanna know. It's rarely as bad as I thought it would be...one year when I thought we were gonna have pay a boatload, we actually got a refund. I'm done rounding up all the info....I just gotta plug it all into the software, take a deep breath, and see if I have any money left.

2. It's April already. I think it was Christmas last week and Sam swears it'll be Christmas again in another couple of weeks. I hate that time seems to go so fast and I don't get stuff done.

3. No one has given us a million dollars, so Sam is still working for a living. However, at least he has a job. That would go in the "highlights" section, I suppose.

4. Did I mention the taxes? OK, back to them. This post ended up longer than I planned, already.

I'll post one picture of Prunetucky in spring. Ok, never mind, I won't. I think my computer is stuck in first gear and moving r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w. Maybe I won't have to send all my $$$ to the OTHER Uncle Sam and I can get a new one.

Blog Drought

I think we have a serious blog drought going on here. I thought it was just me, but even those I could usually count on for some entertainment every couple of days have slacked off. Unless they're talking about American Idol, which I don't watch. I know, I'm un-American. I do watch Dancing with the Stars Who Don't Wear Enough. Although, if Steve Wozniak gets past another week, I'll swear that one off, too. I wish that Edyta chick would wear more than a bikini with drapes hanging off of it. Whatever.

OK, an explanation for this picture. I've always loved James Christensen, don't have any of his prints, can't afford them. This is the first time I've seen this one (saw it in a magazine). It's titled "The Iron Rod". This looks alarmingly like me. This guy's got his eye on the rod, but as soon as he hits the mists of darkness...he's toast. I think I might have an elbow on the Rod, but that's about it. I need to lose some stuff so that I can get a better grip on it. It's hard though, everyone in this house has too many things and too many hobbies. We need to shed a few things. I think I may print this out and put it on the fridge. Hopefully James won't sue me, I can't afford to buy it.

I've been busy on a number of projects, one of which should be the taxes, but I haven't got to that yet. Another one, a 90 days food storage plan that we're teaching at stake Women's Conference, is going to be cool. I'll blog details tomorrow, I have to round up my little fam to read scriptures right now, and maybe get an arm around that iron rod.

Last weekend.....

....and it only took me until Thursday to write about it. In my defense, I keep asking Sam for pics, but he hasn't given them to me yet. I'll post them when I get them.

We went to Bakersfield for the weekend for several reasons: my nephew Andrew's movie premiere on Friday night, my niece Katya's baby shower on Saturday, my great-nephew Jesse's blessing on Sunday. I actually went under duress, I'm really tired of the drive. It was lovely to see all of Liz's kids, however, and Meg had a great time playing with Emily M's Sarah, and Emily W's boys. And, I got to hold baby Jesse...almost worth the drive. What a cutie.

Friday night we made it to Bakersfield in just the nick of time for Andy's premiere, but we missed the red carpet stuff. The movie was kind of fun, not a great movie, but, as Andy says, he didn't write it, he just filmed it. And, he did a great job. It was kind of "Breakfast Club"-ish, but the teenagers seemed to enjoy it and it was at least, clean. Meg was very excited to get the stars' autographs afterwards, one of the main character actors is on the Disney Channel. Can't remember his name...

Saturday morning, Liz, her girls, Mom Bailey and I went to Katya's baby shower. It was in a lovely old home that is now a restaurant...Rose Cottage Tea Room, or something like that. The lunch was lovely and we got a good visit in.

Saturday night, the whole fam-dam-ly went to the Texas Roadhouse Grill to celebrate two birthdays...Sam and Andy's wife Amber. We had a great time and ate WAY too much. That is, hands down, one of my favorite restaurants. Weirdly enough, almost all of our favorite restaurants are in Bakersfield: Izumo's, China Palace, Roadhouse Grill, the Hawaiian place next to China Palace, Sonic...

Sunday morning, Sam and I decided to take the scenic route home, through Santa Barbara. It was a lovely drive and really pretty day. We took some backroads and saw some country we hadn't seen before. We had lunch on the beach in Santa Barbara and got home fairly early...for us, anyway.

Monday was Sam's birthday. I was going to have a long post just about him for his birthday, but I just haven't had time. Unfortunately, he ended up working late that night and missing the Apple shuttle, so Meg and I went and rescued him and we got dinner on the way home. Last night, we went out with friends for yet another birthday dinner, (we're milking it for all it's worth).

That's about it....if I ever get pics from Sam, I'll post some.

Sunset at the beach.

Our favorite part about living here. Sam gets home at about 5:50. At 6:00, we were taking this picture. It was still chilly, after all it's winter, sort of. But sitting on the beach watching the waves is a favorite de-stresser (is that a word??), regardless of the time of year.

Just off this beach is Phil's Fish Market, where we get onion rings and bluegrass. This is a pic of our second favorite fiddle player (after Elvira, of course). She's just a kid...probably 18 or so, but she's incredible. When you come visit, be sure to be here on a Tuesday, the only night these guys play.

Stake Conference and a change....

We had a great broadcast Stake Conference (for all of Northern California, 65 stakes). We got to hear from Elder M Russell Ballard, Elder Floyd Wickham and Elder Uchtdorf. Elder Wickham gave a wonderful talk about how Zion is not a geographical place...at least not presently. Great talk for all the Californians who think they have to move to Utah to find Zion. (Those of us in know, know that Zion is actually in Arizona, anyway). He encouraged us to stay here and build up Zion here. I'm all for it. As long as we can stay employed, we'll be here. The Stake RS Presidency had a meeting with the Stake President the other night, and he was telling us how this economic downturn has helped several young families in his ward. They were employed, but never thought they'd be able to afford to buy homes here. Consequently, they were planning to move to another state. With property values going down and interest rates low, they were able to buy here and stay here. The young families are so important to keeping our stake going, and it's been so hard to keep them here. So, at least in our Stake, we are already reaping blessings from adversity.

The change came today, as they released us from our Stake callings. Our RS President had served in the Stake RS Presidency for eight years, it was time for her to be released. Dissolving any presidency is kind of bittersweet. On one hand, you feel a bit of relief when the responsibility is lifted. Not that you won't get another one shortly, but change is good sometimes. However, we have become so close that this is tough. We all live in different wards, and kind of far apart (our Stake covers a big geographic area). We say we'll still hang out and "play" together, but it's not going to be the same. I have learned so much from these wonderful ladies and I love them dearly. And, we had such great plans for this year! I told Sam that I wasn't ready to be released, but apparently, the Lord has other ideas. We all sat together today and cried. So on to the next thing, as President Jacobs would say. I'm still the Ward Organist, probably will be until I die, so I'm not totally without a calling.

Ok, we have friends coming over to eat food that we can't freeze any longer...the new fridge/freezer doesn't come until Thursday and I'm tired of buying dry ice. So, we're making a strange assortment of dishes and desserts with the last few things that I couldn't stuff downstairs or over at my moms. Off to baby-proof a bit for the masses...

From over the rainbow...

Title is a reference to Lysa's last comment on my rainbow pic. I have to say, the wind we had last weekend had me a little worried that I'd wake up in Kansas, or even worse, Barstow. That would be the WRONG side of the rainbow, that's for sure.

It's been a tough couple of weeks. Last week, a friend called and needed me to babysit for the day. Both of her kids, a toddler and a newborn, had had the 24 hour flu, and were now fine, but now she had it. Her hubby had to go to class and work. So, I went over and watched her kids for the day. They're easy, cute kids and that was fun. The next night I had a Stake Leadership meeting that I couldn't ditch (I'm the Stake Enrichment Counselor), even though I was feeling pretty marginal. I chalked it up to having spent the day with Meg's class on a field trip, and went to my meeting. I got home and within minutes it was apparent I'd caught the stomach bug. Yuck. I tried to avoid Sam and Meg, but by Monday morning, they both had it. So that's how we spent President's Day. Actually, I left them home throwing up while I went to the movies with Lysa. I asked Sam if that made me a bad mom, he said "no" at the same time that Meg said "yes". Oh well. Lysa doesn't get time without kids very often, so we celebrated by going to lunch, too. And, Sam and Meg were both still alive when I got home and feeling a bit better. I bought ginger ale for them on the way home, so I didn't feel so guilty. :0)

A couple of nights later, Sam and I were sitting in the front room when we heard a "ssssssss....pop...pop" from the kitchen. We went in there and could smell smoke, like from an electrical fire. As we were standing there wondering which appliance was freaking out, we heard it again. Of course, it couldn't be the toaster, it had to be the expensive appliance...the fridge...so, we unplugged it. I called an appliance service place the next morning and then spent the next few hours trying to figure out how to save all my frozen food and my just-purchased groceries. I ran up and down the stairs about a hundred times, moving stuff to the downstairs fridge (which is full of food supply stuff that doesn't necessarily have to be refrigerated, it just lasts longer that way). I moved some frozen stuff to the downstairs freezer and then went and bought about 20 lbs of dry ice to keep what was left in the freezer cold. It was a long day. When the appliance guy finally came today, he said that the compressor burned out and it would be a mere $750 to fix it. I think we're just going to go buy the fridge I really want anyway, it's only another $500. Doing our part to stimulate the economy. Sam says he'd rather stimulate the camera economy. But, I like having a refrigerator. And, he wasn't the one making all those trips downstairs.

I got Sam the coolest b-day present. I can tell you cuz he doesn't ever look at the blog. We were at Phil's Fish Market the other night. Yes, Phil's of Bobby Flay Cioppino ThrowDown fame. He's practically like our neighbor. Anyway, we can't afford to actually eat anything there except chowder, but we like to go there because they have live bluegrass music several nights during the week. We can run to the beach, watch the sun go down, go in and get chowder, onion rings and bluegrass for under $20. The Tuesday band is the best, and as we were listening to their incredible banjo player, Sam told me that he wished he'd never sold his banjo. I guess when they were dirt poor, living in Tucson, he had to sell his banjo. I've known Sam since college, and frankly, I don't remember him ever playing the banjo. Whatever. I looked on eBay, anything very nice was $300-$600. But, I scored on Craig's List. I got a practically-never-been-played banjo, with a really nice case for just $145!!! It's beau-ti-mous! He better play it, because we got a LOT of musical instruments in this house already that no one plays. In fact, he'll be shocked because every time he mentions buying a musical instrument of any type, I give him all kinds of grief. So, anyone taking any bets as to whether he actually remembers how to play it??? I'll take pics and post them later.

Easy Yummy Recipe...and a Rainbow

(Had to add this morning's view out my front windows...LOVE Sams wide angle lens)

Just thought I'd pass on this easy recipe that my friend gave me. We had it for dinner tonight and it was yummy. Takes about 10 minutes to get it all in the crockpot.

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Stew

1 onion, chopped (I used a handful of dehydrated onions)
1 15 oz can black beans, undrained
1 15 oz can kidney beans, undrained (I used pintos, as I have kidney haters)
1 16 oz can corn, drained
1 8oz can tomato sauce
2 14.5 oz cans Rotel tomatoes (see note)
1 packet taco seasoning mix
1-2 boneless chicken breasts (or a can of cooked chicken)

Mix everything together in the crockpot except the chicken. Lay it on top and cover. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. 30 minutes before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to the slow cooker and cook another 30 mins.

I served it with shredded cheese and toasted corn tortilla strips. It makes about 6 servings if no one's a big eater, or 4 if you have hungry boys/teenagers.
I don't buy Rotel because they're usually more expensive than plain diced tomatoes. I used two cans of tomatoes and a can of chopped green chilis.

Jenny, I know you don't do chicken, but you could brown some hamburger and put it in, or a can of shredded roast beef, or any leftover meat. I don't recommend tuna, though. Yuck!

Slacker

Yep, when it comes to blogging lately, I'm a slacker. Mostly for lack of anything interesting to blog about. I'm sick AGAIN, although I think after three weeks, I'm finally on the upswing. Now Meg's sick. Hopefully I won't catch that, too. My doctor told me that stress is undermining my immune system. Tell me how you don't stress with the economy the way it is and primary breadwinner that hates his job??? Anyway, I've been waiting for GOOD news to blog about, but nothing really exciting so far.

Last weekend we photographed a blow-out party for the son of my Fijian friend, Selai. His name is Saimoni and he married a beautiful girl from Hawaii named Anu in the Oakland Temple. They had TWENTY bridesmaids and TWENTY groomsmen and about a dozen little flower girls and ring bearers (usher?). We were the official photographers, but I think every single one of the approx 500 polynesians had a camera, which made it very challenging. But, once again, Selai and her cousins, aunties, etc etc, threw an amazing wedding party the next day. She and her sister are former dancers at the Polynesian Cultural Center and they've passed on a love of polynesian culture to their family. They had Tahitian dances, Tongan dances, Hawaiian dances, Fijian dances. It was great. And once a dancer started, anyone was allowed to join in. Not too many people on the Tahitian dance, though, hardly anyone can do the Tahitian hip thing the way these little girls could. Very impressive!



This is the couple in their traditional Fijian costumes. This was a great party, and sitting there watching it all unfold, it was hard to believe it was fueled by nothing stronger than bottled water and imu pig. Saimoni is a wonderful guy, Anu is very sweet and I'm happy for them.



There are more pics on my facebook page...Fiji warriors, etc.

Someone should come visit and give us something to blog about. :0)

Not much to say...

Not much going on of any excitement, so this is just so I can see a new entry. And avoid my ever-growing to-do list.

Ward conferences have started. As a Stake leader I get to go to every one of them, although this year I don't have to speak. Yay for that! But, it does mean two on the same day sometimes...six hours of meetin's. It's amazing how tired you can get sitting for six hours. I do enjoy visiting the other wards though.

I had a birthday. It was fun, as long as I didn't think about the digits it represented. I'm now officially on the downhill side of my life. I hope I do a better job on this half. (or whatever I have left).

Mom Bailey is having surgery today to hopefully remove the cancer they discovered a couple of weeks ago. They think it's contained and hope to remove it all and not have to do chemo or radiation. She told us last time that we were there that she's fine, not concerned about dying and we should not worry about her. We had to explain to her that we could tell she was OK with it, we're not sure that any of her progeny are ready for her to go. Sam keeps telling her that he expects her to take care of him in his old age. We're going to Bakersfield this evening to see her and help out Mary, who is there taking care of her.

Meg and I are elbow deep in a project about King Tut. We're building a replica of his tomb. I'll post pics if/when we get it done. We were supposed to start working on it over Christmas break, but I put my foot down and said it was supposed to be a break, not homework time. So, now we're in a crunch. I guess I shouldn't have been so stubborn.

On MLK day, we went to San Francisco to attempt (again) to go to the SF Academy of Sciences museum. I've NEVER seen Golden Gate park that crowded...bumper to bumper traffic, no where to park. Ugh! We gave up and went to HaightAshbury and had great Thai food whilst we watched the odd/strange/weird people go by. We'll try the museum on some random day of the week sometime.

OK, I'm gonna go down and beg for a haircut. (I forgot to make an appointment with the only stylist within 40 miles who speaks English.)

Baby Jesse

We're in Bakersfield to see Mom Bailey, and we got to go see the newest Bailey; Jesse Timothy Waite. This baby, that his parents waited 15-ish years for, is such a miracle and is absolutely beautiful. We'll post more on the Facebook site after we get home and Sam gets them edited.

Hmm...what the?

For some reason, yesterday's post didn't show up on anyone's list until this morning...now that a bunch of other people have posted and kicked it back to the bottom of the list. SO, this is a test to see if that happens again. And take a peek at Meg's new haircut (below on yesterday's post) if you didn't see it on my Facebook page already....

Off to SJ with Sam to eat at the famous Apple, Inc. cafeteria. (Srsly, gize, they have a wood fired pizza bar, staffed by italians..)