Anyone else get rain? Lots of rain yesterday? We did, it was such a blessing. The only plant I need to water is the pickling cukes, their pot is shoved a bit under the eaves and they don't benefit as much from the rain, unless it is a brutal storm. It was so calming and peaceful to listen to the rain falling. I spent the day leisurely working on processing all the yummy goodness from the market. At a nice slow, relaxing speed. It was wonderful.
I could have probably gotten more done, but honestly, I was enjoying the pace. Hubs was watching a movie yesterday morning, I wasn't overly interested, but enough that it was a nice distraction, so I pulled out the bag of purple hulled peas and started shucking while watching it with him. It was definitely an interesting task to the pups, as they kept trying to help.
There are two different kinds of pickles aging for the littlest grand to pick from, plus a few bread and butter pickles for the Hubs. I harvested all of the jalapeno's that were ripe and ready to use and now have 7 pints of them. It was a very productive day as I walked in and out of the rain harvesting the goodies I'm growing.
I have a huge roaster of tomatoes simmering right now, in just a bit I will start doing the final things to make it into a rich, thick tomato sauce. This batch is for my friends, they both work far too many hours to have time, so we worked a barter and I am almost finished. I love doing the creating and canning and they get to enjoy the fresh tastes, seems like a win/win to me. After completing both of our batches of tomato sauce, I am going to get busy with the blackberry jam and other things on my wish list.
My girls finally tried their burrito in a jar, I think the greatest compliment ever was when the oldest grand told me she didn't know what it was that she was eating, but "you made it and it's delicious". Told my daughter that I would get more of it made up. It's perfect for when you want a great dinner and don't want to cook. I get it.
Last night Hubs and I went to the grocery store. We didn't have a huge list, just a few things that I haven't gotten around to doing for us, or that I am unable to do for us. We used one of those little carts, ya know the smaller ones that hold next to nothing? I have to admit that I almost fainted when the bill came out to $429. We didn't buy any junk - ok maybe one guilty pleasure Coke Zero (definitely not healthy, but it makes a mean Jack and Coke for "those days") but that was $12, about $120 of it was a combination of things for the pups and non-grocery items. The rest was food items. Dried beans, nuts, some meats, cheeses, eggs, etc... I didn't buy any thing processed, no sugars or flours. Although the prices on some of those items was making me ill.
This backed right up against the email from Ameren telling me that even though I am keeping the temperature higher and we are unplugging or turning off lights like crazy... my bill was a full $100 more for the month of July than it was a year ago. Even though temperatures were similar, I was not being cautious with cooling - yes that thermostat was set at 67° all summer long. And we were not even remotely being cautious.
Those two things together, really struck me hard in the common sense department. When are we going to wake up and realize something is very, very wrong in this country? Heck on a global scale? I took a picture of the cart and showed it to my daughter, asking her how much she thought that had cost. She guessed about $600, based on her last grocery shopping trip.
How is that even normal? How is that even truly a thing, that folks are forking out hundred's more in grocery bills than just a year ago? How high is it okay to go? Hubs has a steak/burger seasoning that he is nuts about. When I first bought it for him, it was $5 for a 5 oz jar. Last night, the same seasoning was $9.99 on sale. The jar isn't any bigger. We bought it, but I am going to work on replicating it or coming up with something better. It was insane. I'm not so sure I am even remotely buying the 9.1% inflation.
I truly understand that most folks don't have time to do some of the things that I spend my time doing. Hubs and I have looked at things very critically from a financial aspect. He is forever reminding me that the things I am enjoying doing, are actually allowing us to live more comfortably than we lived when I worked a stupid amount of hours per week. I wonder if other families are discovering that also? Is that one of the reasons that there is a shortage of workers?
I mean if even one parent per household chose to stay home and not reengage in the work place. Think about their savings, and I am basing it off of our experience. If they have young kids, there goes a huge expense when you are no longer paying child care, we don't so that wasn't an issue. I know what my daughter pays for part time child care and it is insane, I never made that much money a week per child when I ran my own daycare.
Add into that the fact that most people do not live within walking, or even biking distance, from their place of employment. Yes, I know gas is down about seventy cents a gallon, but I truly do not believe that will last based on comments from our global leaders. I do know that filling up a vehicle for Hubs to go to work and run all over for work, is costing us a much larger percentage of our disposable income. I can't image paying to fill two vehicles weekly.
Next consider things like work clothing and necessities. Before moving on to food. I know when I worked full time, we spent a great deal of time eating out. It was a method of self-defense, as well as self-destruction. Our entire country is wrapped up in the grip of it, at least for now. I was too worn out before to want to come home and cook. It was already stupid high for two of us over a year ago, I can't even imagine what it would be to feed a family like that today. We joined friends for a dinner out last week, I couldn't believe that the meal with tip was over $60. It wasn't even a fancy restaurant, just our favorite little hole in the wall Mexican place.
I know I am off on a tangent, or maybe a rant here. But I really feel we need to start paying attention. Everything is going up except wages. Folks are asking for more and more in the way of salaries when looking for jobs, because they realize the money they were making isn't cutting it.
Driving through our neighborhood yesterday we were shocked to see two houses still on the market. We live in subdivision where houses are usually sold before the for sale sign goes up, so having two of the smaller ones (usually bought up the fastest) still on the market over a month later is shocking. Now I don't know what they are asking for them, I haven't checked. I mean the fact that one of the small ones on the corner traditionally a $180k - $250k house sold for at least $380k a few months back makes me wonder if they aren't priced the same. I don't know. What I do know, is two beautiful little homes are sitting empty over a month later. Definitely an interesting sign of the times.
I can't change any of it, well at least on a global or even local scale. I can work to minimize it's impact on Hubs and I. I can help my girls. I can take care of the resources we have and put them to the best use possible. Other than that... I can pray and hope the impact of this insanity doesn't destroy too many people and families that aren't paying attention yet.
I feel there is an ominous cloud out there... and I don't think it is going to get better overnight. But I am praying that I am wrong....
Well, my little suburban homestead is reminding me that it needs care and attention. The laundry is calling out for attention, the harvested items need putting up and many day to day things need my attention. Hopefully, I will find out when the thread will arrive to finish the quilt that is on my long arm and I have several sewing projects to complete this week. Much to do, time to get cracking...
love and prayers for all....
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