Just When You Think It Couldn't Get Any Worse.....ha!

   You ever have a thought about things, thinking, well, what more could happen?  Nah, two busted pipes, two bathrooms, one living room, one hallway and one master bedroom all damaged with water, and all the carpeting and well, really, what else could happen.  Almost don't want to drive, ya know? 

     So, dummy me, I really had this idea that I could use that new shop vac to suck out a ton of water.  I just didn't realize it was two tons of water.  I plugged in the steam cleaner, so I had two machines, sucking water.  Now, see, I don't know a thing about amps and circuits.  So, I didn't know plugging two things into the same outlet was a bad idea.  Until I found myself sitting on a wet rug in the dark and I hear a two year old screaming from somewhere else in the house.

     Yeah, so, well, uhhh, I blew the circuit.  I mean, really blew it.  It won't go back on.  I burnt something somewhere and as of today we can't find it.  That's the bad news.  The good news is it didn't affect the entire house.  The bad news, well, it's a real pain to try to remember which lights work and which ones don't. 

     The good news, the shop vac still works.  The bad news, well, the hose is a bit shorter.  Taking a break in the kitchen I thought I could smell burning plastic.  I asked, "anyone else smell that?"  Then all of a sudden I hear my husband yelling french words in the bedroom.  At least I thought it was french.  I didn't want to venture any closer right then.  You see, he has this extremely bright light,....that's hot, very hot.  Melt plastic hot.  The shop vac hose was plastic.  You know that's why they make duck tape right?

The bad news, the fan on my ceiling doesn't work.  The good news, the restoration company that came out put a ton of fans in my room.  Yeah, well, can hardly hear yourself think with those things on.  But then it is a fan.  The bad news is that the dehumidifier makes the room steamy which negates anything good the fans are doing.  The good news, just maybe when I fall asleep I can pretend I'm in a heavy wind in tropical weather, like Hawaii. 

More bad news, they can't get the bathroom dry, they might have to rip it apart.  Noooo, it's the only room that's been remodeled in a nice way.  Well, they started to rip at it, but decided to give it one more night with the fans.  In that last picture you see the dehumidifier, yeah, that took most of the bathroom, our only bathroom right now.  So, needless to say, trying to "go" involved getting over a fan, wedging yourself between the toilet and the dehumidifier.  I can't really describe the next thing nicely, so I'll leave it up to your imagination.  Let's just say, having a fan blow on you full boar while using the commode is an awful thing.  And most of the toilet paper is unrolled and blowing in the air above your head. 

   How did I save any money on this venture?  Hmm, tough one.  These things happen and cost.  We did get the claim money.  I refused the restoration people at my expense, they finally conceeded to me and paid for it.  Aha, I saved the insurance company money since I did most all of the wet drywall removal and some of the water removal, and of course water shut off myself.  I thought shutting off the water was a given, but they were surprised at the work I did, joked about how I did their job and told me than many people had no idea to shut off the water.  Well, I think, ( I could be wrong) it paid off for me in that I was paid for better moulding in my room than what I actually had in there, in the closet.  Just little things like that.  Now, I was also paid at what a contractor would charge reasonably for the work that now needs done.  Which means, if I can possibly do the work myself I will save a ton of money.  I can then take that money and upgrade something else. 
Plus, they also paid me for time spent doing removal of damaged materials, and general removal of closet items. 

   It's not like I planned this at all, but when these things happen it does help to work it all out and think it through.  It's not always necessary to hire someone to do some of the tasks.  Or you might know someone who can do it for a better fee.  I still want to call the electrician, for safety reasons.  You also won't see me using a knee kicker on the carpet. 

Now, if I can just figure out where to put all my clothes.....the rest are all over the living room.  A bit of reorganizing for the duration of this will be ongoing.

NEXT:  Some of the projects I did while my house was falling apart. When I had water that is.

Plus:  What Have You Changed In Your Life This Week To Save Money?  (okay, if you must, change week to month) 

Upcoming Groupon Deal on Elf Makeup, BOL (be on the lookout) 

A New Leak and When Will This Ever End!

     Well here we go again, another leak.  If you all recall, we just did this a few weeks back.  The picture on the left shows how that looks today.  Not close to done and only one bathroom working right now. 
I know I've felt the earth move a few times and it really makes me wonder.  It could just be the crummy pipe from Home Depot.  Either way, knowing that doesn't help at all. 

 

  Ever notice how your never ready for these things to happen?  Anything you were planning to do, or working on is now null and void.  I've been planning some sewing projects for months, really, months.  I was just feeling that I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with the hope that I would actually be putting the pedal to the metal on my sewing machine and now it's buried in clothes.  Trying to find a pair of jeans before the insurance plumber showed up became a "where's Waldo" type of game.  Although I'm sure he wouldn't have noticed since he would probably be grossed out by the Frito's in my teeth since I had no water to brush my teeth. 

     That's another funny thing about it.  You know you have no water in the house, you have to keep a bottle near the toilet for flushing purposes, you have bottled water in the kitchen, your socks are drenched yet you still go over and try to turn on the faucet to rinse your hands off.  Okay, maybe you don't do that, but I do.
Just like when the power was out, I walked into my room with a flashlight in my hand, and yep, I flipped the light switch to turn on the light.  Lifelong habits are hard to break I guess.  We do a lot of things that we don't even think about anymore.

      So, okay, I'm not talking about apples today.  I know I said I was done talking about apples, but I lied.  Not intentionally mind you.  But I so want to make fruit roll ups or fruit leathers.  Same thing either way.  Then I realized I don't have the right mats for my dehydrator.  So, maybe I'll just do the oven method.  Your saved from apples right now though, by an intensely huge leak in my bedroom closet that seeps out into the carpeting and another wall. 

   I wanted to share one of my little money making online things, Swagbucks.  I wanted to tell you about my last groupon deal. 
I did manage to dry some of my sage plant in the dehydrator today.  I'm not sure if that is a good thing or if it was better left to dry on it's own. 

But life's little leaks get in the way. 

Apple Jelly Made From Apples and Peels

   I have fond memories of my Dad taking me out to breakfast and we'd get those little jelly containers in a variety of good flavors.  If I couldn't decide, I'd pick the mixed jelly.  I still love jelly and jam but wish the brands in the store didn't have so many unnecessary ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup. 

   Which brings me to my last project with my bushel of apples.  Apple Jelly using apples and the left over peels and cores.   

      I remember making plum jam when my son was an infant, and while I was trying to cook he was fussing so much I had to push his walker back and forth with my foot since my hands were full and the kitchen looked like an explosion in a plum orchard.  Fast forward to now, and I still have a little boy in the kitchen with me, and I don't mind him helping and do give him tasks to keep him busy.  He seems to understand when I tell him to clear out of the kitchen if I'm transferring hot jars from the boiling water.

     Like other canning projects you will use most all of the same equipment.  Your clean jars, 8 ounce are great, a large pot for processing the jars, jar lifter, funnel, your caps and rings, and of course, your fruit.  I've tried many kinds of pectin and this time I tried Pomona's Universal Pectin  and found that I really like it.  It uses low amounts of any kind of sweetener you choose to use which is great.  One thing I really like about it is that it's derived from citrus peel and is activated  by calcium which they include.  Most pectin's require tons of sugar, which is less healthy and more expensive and not necessary.  I followed the instructions inside the box for the first couple of batches ( I underestimated how much I could make) and then winged it for the last batch.  They all came out great and delicious.  For sugar I used sucanat, which is sugar cane natural.  That will explain why the apple jelly looks so dark in the pictures. The Pomona's recipe also called for lemon juice 1/4 cup.  That also will help the jelling process. 

     How did I use peels and apples?  Easy, I threw all the apple peels and cores into a tall pot and added liquid to the top, although the exact recipe uses 3 pounds of fruit and 3 cups of water.  Then I cooked it for awhile, the recipe saying to bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes  Then you stir and mash and simmer for five more minutes.  I simply cook and stir until the fruit is soft. You also can just throw the apples into the pot without peeling or coring, although I would cut them up to make the cooking process go a bit faster.

    I dumped the apples/peels into a colander to strain out the liquid. I don't have a jelly bag, but a clean lint free towel or cloth will work just fine.  The recipe is for 4 cups of liquid and I had about 12 cups.  I did single batches, but it can be doubled or tripled.  After it's strained, you put the "juice" into the pot, along with the liquid calcium and lemon juice. A half cup of my sugar was then mixed with the pectin.  Bring the juice to a boil and add the sugar/pectin mix and stir like crazy for two minutes.  It didn't seem like the pectin was ever going to dissolve.  Then I added the rest of the sugar, and brought it back to a boil.  It was then ready to be put into my jars.  I keep my jars in hot water on the stove so I pull them out onto a towel and fill them to 1/4 inch from the top, put the lid and screw ring on.  When I have enough jars to fill the large pot I'm using I use the jar lifter to place them into the pot of boiling water.  If the water stops boiling, give it a minute or two, and then I give the jars a full ten minutes to boil.  Lift them out and place them in an area where they won't be touched or bothered.  As they cool you might hear the lids popping, and that is a very good thing. 

That's it, jelly or jam is one of the easier home canning projects to start with, and there are so many different kinds you can make with just a few alterations in the recipe.  If you buy pectin they all come with instructions.  One other thing, if you don't find a great deal on fruit, you can simply go buy a bottle of apple juice or grape juice or any other flavor.  It works great, and if you are short on time it cuts out all the fruit preparation time while still giving a healthier alternative to store bought. 
 

My pantry now has a few more jars added to it, I've gained a bit more experience and will approach this with a bit more confidence the next time I see a good deal on fruit.  Or maybe I'll use that bottle of grape juice sitting on the pantry to make grape jelly.

I found many great web links that I was going to add to this post but I think Pomona's Universal Pectin is a good place to start with many
recipes to check out.