Took a break from sewing and painted wooden eggs with our elderly mothers. They loved it! Due to T being born premature and the hectic schedule going back and forth to Alabama to help, I haven't held a fun project time for them. They were very creative. I was NOT! 😂 But I will still post a photo of my finished product.

Ouch! I am sad so sorry.

Agreed. Beef can only be kept for so long before it gets freezer burn. So in the short term, beef eaters can mitigate the issue, but that lasts maybe a year at most and then the consequences of our farm policy mess will still intrude. I have been watching Clarkson's Farm, and reading on a social media farmer/rancher/agricultural support group thing, and the insanity of farm policy of the UK as well as the US is just astounding. On the surface, it looks like ignorance and political BS for the sake of BS. But it isn't, it is a corporate driven, capitalism sponsored mess to deliberately cause family owned farms to tank so their land can be sold to two entities, one being corporations like ConAgra and their ilk, or the other being wealthy, huge contracting firms who want to develop luxury homes/subdivisions/resorts on the property, acquiring it for dirt cheap when the farmer goes bankrupt and the property is auctioned to pay creditors. D.E.P.R.A.V.E.D. Local zoning boards and councilors/commissioners do go along with this crap out of ignorance and well stubbornness at not being willing to change, and also feeling entitled to cheap food as well as general discrimination against farmers as often local politicians see themselves as better than and above the farming community. They play right into these corporate entities and their bribed politicians' hands.

We serial murdered a lot of caffeine beans. Then we each had a boiled egg. For the rest of the day, we ate on the leftover rice and beans with some white cheddar cheese, and part salads since I had a bag of greens that needed to be used up. Mark made a little bacon for his salad, but I abstained which is hard to do because the smell of bacon frying is like siren call to my taste buds. So I am proud of myself for resisting.

Portobello sandwiches are so yummy!!!

I believe that like I believe my state representative is giving me a Lamborghini today! 😠😠😠

Dirty rat, evil.insect, whatever it is, die already! 😁

Wow! Whatever piece of trash insect attacked it needs to die, die, die! 💀🌋

My two bachelor sons rooming together occasionally use DoorDash. They live in a city with a lot of drivers so response time is pretty good. They do not order anything that would be less tasty if they have to pop it in the microwave or oven. So no French fries, no pizza. A common one for them is Cracker Barrel or Bob Evan's. They will usually get chicken dumplings from Cracker Barrel with green beans, cooked carrots, and salad. The salad is not packed with the hot items. It seems to be pretty hot when they get it. from Bob Evans, ham and sides. Taco Bell for fast food might be okay, but I don't think McD's, Burger King, or Wendy's would be at all good. I think some Arby's sandwiches would be fine like their French dips. The au jus is usually piping hot, and a couple seconds in the microwave would be fine if it wasn't.

Hey Bill, I am all for freedom. The "Therapy Bunnies for all" legislation will actually provide fluffy goodness of choice, kittens, puppies, ground hogs, lots of fur baby options. Clearly, bunnies are best but people get choice because my administration believes in choice! And yes, those two companies do not make true chocolate, but it is what it is, and mostly taking down Nestle in particular is a good thing. A woman can only do so much in the first 180 days. But, you know, Swiss chocolate and raw cheese from France will be on the agenda after mid-terms. 😁 If you get invited to one of my state dinners, after a feast of carnita tacos, low power rockets for all guests, there will be some of Mark's better than any commercially made fudge available for sampling. It's a byo booze event though because if the tax payers gotta spring for rockets and motors, then they shouldn't have to pay for Margaritas and Bahama Mamas too! 😉

Beautiful! Are those pea sprouts on top? I have never grown them for salads, but am considering it. I love bean sprouts.

Friday report: The usual silencing of Java protesting beans Breakfast: None, we both woke up with headaches, mine from sinuses run amok, and him from sleeping like a pretzel with the dog and having a kink in his neck. Just not hungry. Lunch: Baked potatoes with Greek yogurt and chives, broccoli salad, Clementine oranges Dinner: Big pot of Mexican rice and beans, and then a pan of fajita veggies. I made a crockpot full, and we will eat on the leftovers today. Much later in the evening we were still.up watching a movie, and made a small amount of popcorn which we sprinkled with parmesan and it was nice.

Whoa!

Interesting point. We let kids get driver's licenses at 16 which is WAY more life threatening than letting them handle a couple of Tylenol capsules at school. Our culture is so darn weird, and inconsistent. Then we wonder why teens are confused, and 18 year olds aren't ready to self regulate.

I thought of one more thing, seafood. Both elderly moms' doctors adamantly want them consuming fish, fin fish. My mom, in particular, had a low grocery budget. So we normally provide our of pocket, fish one night a week for both of them. They do not like tilapia, so we usually do perch, cod, or salmon. Those have gone up quite a bit. Not doubled in price, but definitely $2-5 more per lb depending on the species. We are still buying it for them, and they buy enough to have one more meal per week, but they are squawking about it so I suspect we will have to supplement more. I am encouraging tuna for lunch. I was going to buy canned salmon and make them some salmon patties for sandwiches, but that has also gone up a lot, and when I went to two different stores, they had none. Dh loves my clam chowder, but at $4 a can for minced clams, and $4 a jar for clam juice, a small pot of seafood soup is not cheap, so he isn't getting it very often at all. Given how fast the oceans are warming, this is going to keep getting worse.

Sorry, I didn't see this before. Yes, he has to pay for the software. Currently, if memory serves, it is $35 per month per device. He also cannot accept a job that allows him computer access without his parole officer's permission, and in order to habe that job, the employer had to agree to the monitoring, and random on site visits from the parole officer. This is a primary reason that often paroled convicts of CSAM end up working physical labor for prep approved employers set up by the BOP locally. Seafood processing, construction, landscaping/lawn companies, this type of thing. Since the employers are taking a big risk and inconvenience for having these ex-cons work for them, the pay is the absolute bottom and a pay raise or benefits is beyond rare. Since Duggar's entry to sex addiction was adult porn, and he slid down the path to some of the worst CSAM investigators have ever seen, he even has a restriction on accessing adult materials though this is normally considered free speech issue. This restriction is a sign that the judge doesn't think Duggar is going to make it long on the outside and is trying to at least give him the chance to stay clean. Given that he didn't make it more than about 13 months since being taken into custody after the guilty verdict, and well less than a year in federal lock up before violating prison rules and what is a restriction on his parole terms, my guess is he will be hit with new charges inside of 30 days when paroled. I have no idea if this impacts his appeal. The appeal was heard last month in Kansas City, just oral arguments and paperwork from the lawyers, convict not in attendance. My assumption is that it does not since the appeal is based on the trial itself, and not any behavior since. But, I do know a former prosecutor, and asked him, and he said that they will do a forensic dump on the phone, and he could see new charges if he accessed CSAM which is apparently easy to do even if you don't have Torrent and Dark web at your fingertips because it is that prolific everywhere. (😭) This can take a while to determine, so it could be months, maybe even a year before any ramifications like that are known, longer really. On his original charges, the raid was spring 2019, and he didn't go to trial until Dec. 2021. They already have him under lock and key, so their wouldn't be any need to burden the system with rushing.

Here is the wiki page, but you can also look things up on the BOP website. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Correctional_Institution,_Seagoville

His original release date since the feds assume at the start that the inmate will want to earn their maximum of 55 days per year for good behavior, was August 12, 2032. You can look it up as it is public information. He was caught with a cell phone, which has now been confirmed by sources other than tabloids, and though it has not been ascertained as to what he was doing with that contraband, whatever it was was not good because they moved his release date to October 02, 2032 which is a loss of 51 days of good behavior time. It was reported that he spent some time in solitary confinement as well, however, that had not been confirmed. It would be a typical punishment for this behavior, but not mandatory and up to the warden so that part is an unknown. If you Google Seagoville prison, where Josh is staying, you can find his public record, inmate #42501-509. CC McCandless from KNWA news has requested more information from authorities in order to do a formal update.

I understand the policy. We are a very lawsuit/liability centered society. But, I also think we have gone so far overboard that teens turn 18 and can't function properly as adults because they have been stripped of responsibility for themselves, and treated like babies. It seems there should be a middle ground. I also do not like the total lack of privacy that soon to be adults endure. It is hard to balance safety and growing and training emerging adults. When my sis was a teen, she was on PCP to treat endometriosis, though I think back then her diagnosis was "painful periods with heavy bleeding and anemia". My parents had stuck her in an awful, IFB private school, a real control freak of a place. The official theology of that particular church was all birth control for any reason is sin and prohibited. So when the senior class was taken to Washington, D.C., she had to sneak her BCP with her. She was able to keep it discreet enough that no one knew despite the fact that the students spied on each other because they gained special privileges for turning people in for infractions. Think" High Inquisitors Squad/Dolores Umbridge" of Harry Potter books. Sis had a thin body bag that she slept with under her pajamas, and would dress in the bathroom in the morning with that on her person. she packed clothing that was loose and would easily hide the bag. She would get up early in the morning before the other girls she shared a hotel room with had awakened, and take her meds. In the OP's shoes, I think the student's privacy and well being and access to her meds trumps the school policy. Though there is a doctor to do the dispensing, I highly doubt anyone has thought this out in such a way that the dispensing will preserve the dignity of the student as it is no one else's business what drugs anyone is taking. So I recommend finding a discreet way to hide them and for her student to make sure they are ingested on schedule. I am normally a rule follower. But this is something I would do. When we had our rocket team and we traveled for competition, our policy was that students needed to keep and care for their own meds. We had a long talk with the kids about this, and we also told parents we would hold and dispense meds ONLY if that was what the parent wanted and with a signed and dated note from them. We also said we would have tums, tylenol, advil, vitamin C cough drops for dry throats or developing coughs, and an otc cold med on hand. They could sign that it was okay for us to dispense according to our own judgement or ask that we call first. We didn't have issues. But, we also only had 8-10 students which made it easy to manage. To be honest we now mentor university teams, and frankly, it is a very nice break from dealing with minors and all the liability issues. I do hope to some day work with 7th-12th graders again. However the break is definitely needed on our end. It has become insanely complicated to manage all the expectations parents and organizations have when working with kids.

If I am ever near one, I can check. We live about two hours from an Ulta.

Today we made sacrifices to the coffee gods, and no, we didn't make sacrifices of ourselves. Like all nobility we sought out innocents to send to their doom or in this case, some caramel smelling beans procured from a speciality shop. ☕☕☕ Breakfast - we each ate a biscuit with a fried egg on top. (Fried in just a little sunflower oil so not too unhealthy). Lunch - homemade tomato basil soup, large bowls. Salads, and a grilled garlic toast for each of us to dip in the soup, something we love to do. Dinner - hot and sour soup with tofu, more salads, rice, and topped the soup with green onion We each ate two cups of popcorn tonight while watching a movie.

It kind of strikes me as a Hallmark sentiment. Sounds all romantic and lovey dovey, but entirely impractical in real life. Our kids came first. We chose to bring them into this world, and children shouldn't raise themselves or each other. But, we also made a conscientious effort to spend time with each other and love each other. This is "marriage first" idea was super common in IBLP and other fundamentalist groups, and it was pretty damaging to a lot of kids whose parents neglected them, and made them the adults of the family while very young so they could "marriage first". Ugh.

Absolutely agree. I am not sure why it is that low other than maybe there are a lot of beef ranchers selling out.

Absolutely agreed! I would pay more for our meat bundles, but when I talk to the gal, she just keeps quoting that price.

I also need to say that the price has nearly doubled on all fresh produce this year, as well as all tomato based canned/jars products. The quality has gone down so much that it isn't worth buying fresh produce here except from the Mennonite bulk food store that has several local farmers with greenhouses. In the supermarkets all the carrot bags are old, potatoes are sprouting and soft or rotten in the center, lettuce and other greens and herbs are slimy, mushrooms and berries have mold. It is gross. I am going to try to grow 2 bushels of tomatoes and buy one bushel from my favorite local veggie farmer, and can salsa, taco sauce, and pasta sauce for all of my adult kids. I am putting in 72 green bean plants to can and freeze green beans for everyone, enough broccoli to freeze for each household, and am heading to u-pick berry farms to pick and freeze/dehydrate berries for all. I will harvest and dehydrate again from our apples trees. Last year I did not even come close to harvesting all the apples. So if they produce like that again, I plan on making pint jars of applesauce, at least 12 per household, and last year I dehydrated 28 quarts of apples and my hope is to double that. I am exhausted just thinking about it. But determined. Oh, and a bushel of sweetcorn for each kid as well. The corn comes on at the same time as the tomatoes and green beans so I may just collapse. At least the berries are more spread out. I sat down and figured out how large and successful of a garden I would need to provide a year's worth of veggies for each household, and well, let me just say that it was a scary, terrifying amount of gardening.