Looks like a lot of us are going to be facing rough weather over the next several days....
not just very cold, but snow and ice and wind and whatever.
Be well and stay safe...
Maybe there'll be shop bonuses after this is over....for all the shops that don't get done in the coming week.

Just trying to look at the bright side.

Oh and the sun rose yesterday in Barrow Alaska for the first time since November.

We're getting there!

It was a beautiful day today. This weekend, not so much. CRYING! Hibernating.

I have one shop tomorrow before the storm hits, then I am out for the week! There is a BJs that is available on Tuesday but not gonna drive 25 miles in snow and/or ice.

Hibernating indeed! I plan to get lots of thisNthat done around the house and bake a batch of cookies,

It made me smile that a scheduler reached out with proactive help for anyone needing to adjust their shop date.

I got my final ones for the month finished, declined to pick up any more in spite of bonuses. If I get my chores done early, I'll consider it then.

Today we got around to cutting up and splitting a downed tree that's been aging plenty long enough. So now we can use the wood stove if needed. Tomorrow's priority is cleaning a chicken coop so they have fresh, dry bedding.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2026 04:31AM by Deedeezthoughts.

Getting some shops in tonight and thst is it. Saturday should be ok but i have errands to do. Stores are already chaotic!!

I got a text about doing some of the low paying gas station shops, from a company that's one state over from me and also going to get walloped with the weather. LOL you guys are gonna have to bump the pay to the double digits to get people to go out in the deep freeze that is covering more than half the country, and snap a bunch of pics.

@Datagirl wrote:

Getting some shops in tonight and thst is it. Saturday should be ok but i have errands to do. Stores are already chaotic!!

Stores were chaotic when I went on Tuesday. It looked like 2020 in there Thursday.

I have ONE more grocery shop that I plan on doing as early as is safe tomorrow. Sunday, during the day if we can get there safely, I have 3 shops in a city a little West of me.

While we are stuck at home we're going to render some lard, my son got a case of pork fat trimmings from a grocery store. He's talking about making seed blocks for the chickens with it, and I asked if I was going to be allowed to use any.

I think I'm going to get some apples at my grocery shop tomorrow and make a couple real homemade apple pies, because all of the frozen "bake at home" pies seem to lack apples in their apple pies. We're also talking about baking some bread, because we can, and he's only done it successfully once. And of course, the candles. I keep saying I'm going to make them, but I never seem to manage to get all of the supplies into the dining room to set it up.

@Morledzep wrote:

I have ONE more grocery shop that I plan on doing as early as is safe tomorrow. Sunday, during the day if we can get there safely, I have 3 shops in a city a little West of me.

While we are stuck at home we're going to render some lard, my son got a case of pork fat trimmings from a grocery store. He's talking about making seed blocks for the chickens with it, and I asked if I was going to be allowed to use any.

I think I'm going to get some apples at my grocery shop tomorrow and make a couple real homemade apple pies, because all of the frozen "bake at home" pies seem to lack apples in their apple pies. We're also talking about baking some bread, because we can, and he's only done it successfully once. And of course, the candles. I keep saying I'm going to make them, but I never seem to manage to get all of the supplies into the dining room to set it up.

Good luck on your shopping mission! It was absolutely nuts on Thursday and I took a couple pictures to send friends in places where people don't freak out so much. The store looked like it was 2020 again. They had some things but it was unpredictable what.

Dee,

The one grocery shop I did today wasn't so bad. There was enough milk in the dairy case that I could say that the dates were good, and it was clean, no chance of making a mess when it's 80% empty. But they don't ask about the stock level.. The machine made mass produced bread aisle had some empty spots, but it wasn't bad. They were restocking the hamburger when I got there, and one of the shelves was broken in the egg section, but that had nothing to do with the stock level or cleanliness. It wasn't bad, took me less than30 minutes, even with wandering the center aisles trying to find the dental supplies (I had a coupon that was going to expire).

A good friend of mine lives in KS, usually whatever weather hits her comes directly here within 2 days. And so far, it hasn't even hit her yet. But her dogs are getting antsy, they seem to know the snow is coming and are getting excited. They are big dogs with heavy double coats that in a previous life were NOT house dogs, they love the cold weather and snow.

Right now all she has is cold weather, which we are supposed to get starting tomorrow. It's supposed to freeze tonight, but that's not unusual for this time of year, it goes below freezing at night any time it's not raining.

I predict there will be a lot of meat marked down about 5 days into this. All my grocery stores that were "wiped out" have fully restocked and now everyone is staying home for the duration.

So funny the differences...here where I am, we get winter every year lol - though usually the forecasts aren't so dire....grocery stores and gas stations were tame yesterday, no one rushing or grabbing... but we're used to snow, so that's it.
My biggest thing has been running around to charge up the power banks. I can handle cold and having to stay inside - it's losing power that really really is the big bad one IMO.

As predicted, I have been inundated by email with shop offers - all of a sudden.

On a regular day, the juice is often not worth the squeeze IMO.....so this just takes it over the top squeeze.

ShopperGirly - opportunities for those with the freezer space

Well, the weather got me.. I watched NWS all evening, and most of the night. Everything said it was supposed to be 40° F and it was only supposed to rain in the city where the grocery shop is. So I got up at 08:00 and checked the weather one more time, it was 17° and snowing in the city I thought I was going to go to. I went back to bed, when I got up at around 11:00 it was still snowing, and 21° Now, way too late to go, it says that it is still below freezing and instead of snow they are having freezing rain.

At least tomorrow I'm not scheduled to go much further than the closest city to the West of my home. And I can do all three shops between 15:00 and 17:00. I'm currently crossing my fingers and hoping the NWS is right.

Based on the forecast, I am guessing my tires won't be hitting any pavement at least until about Thursday.

Good time to work on personal biz I guess...stuff I always say I will do when I get around to it.

Play around with my new homemade ramen recipes

Try not to watch too much news. My take on the recent news:

There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen - V. Lenin

I listen to all the new news every morning (afternoon) before I leave the house. I play solitaire online while I'm listening, drinking my coffee and taking my mountain of pills.

I have been threatening to make candles for a while now. And I think we're currently burning the last of the candles we had in the bathroom, so now is a great time to do that. I keep trying to get my darling child to BAKE something.. I have a stove with an oven AND propane finally.. we can cook and keep it less cold in the house for a change.

I also have some pants that need new elastic, because the folks I buy them from use the cheapest crap elastic I've ever seen. One pair I kept in my "go bag" in my car for a few years without changing stuff around and the elastic snapped the first time I pulled on the waist band. Then I bought a new pair, same color to replace those pants, and the elastic in that pair snapped the first time I tried to put them on. I have the elastic and the skillset, just not the motivation. And three or four pair that I wear all the time that the elastic hasn't done much for me in a year or so. I was thinking of taking apart one of the matching ones and using it for a pattern to make a few more pair of pants. I have enough fabric to make 4 or 5 pairs of pants.

And I still need to clean and lube that new sewing machine that I bought for $0.25 and drove to CO to pick up. And my old sewing machine, the one I've had here on my desk for ages and carried with me from CA, needs dusting, lubing and adjusting. The only one I could probably just pop up on the desk and use the way it is currently is my Grandmother's Singer 99K mini that is in it's carrying case and has been since my Grandmother took it back from me 40+ years ago.

Sounds like it's time to make a list..