Today was a getting it done day...except I didn't get it all done yet. I spent the day individually packing and vacuum sealing 120 lbs of chicken breast. The lesson of the day was 'cheap freezer bags might be cheaper BUT when you have old eyes, sealing them can be tricky and it slows you down.' 3 hours later, I finally finished. All of it is in the freezer. 80 lbs of it will go east with me next week, and 40 lbs of it is for our own use.
Buying in bulk like that allows me to get boneless, skinless organic chicken breast for $1.75 a pound, an unheard of price, so it makes it well worth my time though. After it goes in the freezer, I can transport it to my son and daughter's house safely. It stays frozen solid for the trip and is unloaded from the ice chest straight into their freezer. Compared to $4.99 a pound for chicken there, this is a very nice savings for them.
I hope to be able to take a bushel or two of tomatoes to them as well. I will go a day early to help her can them.
Anyways, that is today. I have tomatoes to do here and they won't get done if I keep sitting here.
I live his calm measured way of speaking. I believe that we will see him as president one day.
Something very great: I have a couple meetings tomorrow. We are setting out to recreate last year's very successful Christmas toy giveaway. We have a donation of a minimum thousand new toys. Mind-boggling to me. We have two storage places offering free storage. One place is actually accepting the donations for us, starting in November. This means we do not have to go there every time someone has a donation.
What is incredible is that this is happening with very little effort from me. I don't know if you remember last year, but I posted an idea on a community helping hand site: 'We live in a poor area. At the same time, we have people going through their children's things to get rid of toys to make room for what Santa is bringing. What if we could get those toys collected and allow people who are struggling a chance to pick out toys for their kids for free?'
And boom! That idea took off. The YMCA offered their gym as a venue. Volunteers stepped up. We collected one day, gave away the next. Even though this was all pulled together in a matter of one month, we literally had thousands of toys to give away.
The best part was that everyone there felt like they were in the middle of a miracle. I can tell you that it made my own holiday season.
Here we are, not even close to the holidays and the community is reaching out to do it again. I get a little thrill of excitement remembering what a community pulled together in a month and imagining what could happen with 3 months of lead in time.
This post took several sessions, but supper was made (BBQ chicken), those tomatoes were skinned and ate in a pot simmering awaywith the appropriate spices This batch of tomatoes will become spaghetti sauce. The house smells great.
I even got the kitchen cleaned. I am on fire today!
PS: Thanks to DB Stewart.
I've been worrying about your neighbors who were worried about the measles - did anyone get sick?
ReplyDeleteAlso I think I had a box of those same freezer bags - ended up putting duct tape on the closing seams because they would NOT stay shut.
Ceci
No one got sick at their house. Interestingly though. A family close by heard of someone in the community with measles. The went there to expose themselves intentionally. The husband actually got quite ill with breathing complications. They had a young baby. As far as I know, the child was not affected.
DeleteI think people underestimate measles. Just because it's a "kid's disease" doesn't make it not deadly. Glad to hear the Amish family is doing well. I guess food is cheaper in PA, we are paying 8.99 a pound for skinless chicken, and it's not organic. Have a lovely trip.
ReplyDelete