Well thats good that you'll be inside for the most part of the storm. Hopefully you get everything you need done outside first! But stay WARM!! I know the big one Miss Ann got was hundreds, but the little one Mitch found (wayyyy quieter, way more efficient) was a lot cheaper according to him. But I don't know exact costs. But I will say if you have power outages a lot, that even pricey, it may be a very good investement for you. I totally understand the paying off other things first however. I currently have three doctor bills I'm trying to pay off, plus Ryan is giving me $ to pay off tMobile for the old cell phones since we switched service.

I've got to run up to walmart and get Nathan poptarts. That boy eats like crazy still. I am waiting to see if he shoots up taller again! I told him I would go several days ago but other stuff keeps happening (like the moving of the presents, although that ended up NOT happening yet.....) Also I'm forgetful :P I was going to go one day after school Mon or Tues and just completely forgot til I got home and I didn't want to go back out. But now he is completely out of poptarts....and its early morning, which is when I prefer to go. So I'm looking to see if I need anything else before next Monday and will grab that while I'm there so I don't have to go back again til after Christmas!!

Pop tarts, lol.

Yeah the one I found on Amazon is still around $500 and it's a more updated and electrical version. I've rarely had any power outages where I am now which is another reason it hasn't been high on my list of things to get. Thankfully we're on a pretty stable power grid.
I have a propane heater, although no propane at the moment (and it also needs ventilation) but mostly I have knowledge. Section off a room and burn candles in it. Two wool blankets. Camp gear that I can cook with and camp lights that I have batteries for. (I know you can also put up a tent inside your living room and put the candles in there for a more warmth, but I need to think about the animals, too.)

Yep. The boy lives off of poptarts and chili doritos :P Not really, he eats other stuff, but those are his go-tos. And he fell in love with this specialty flavor poptart- boston creme donut lol - he LOVES boston cremes when we go to Dunkin.

Home again (obvs). But forgot to get can veg. looking at what I have here to see what dinner options I can do w/o can veg. (Chili, hamburgers, hmmmm, what else...) Can veg is a staple here. We usually do meat, rice, can veg, and bread of some sort. (crescent rolls, biscuits, cornbread)

I used to have a lot of candles...til nathan burned them all LOL I don't have an issue with that, but I never thought about using them to keep warm. I never have had to, though. Even if we lose power its usually back on in a day or less. We are in the south after all :P He is actually getting MORE candles for christmas since he likes to burn them. I hope he likes the scents. I picked out 3 smaller ones for Shane to give him, and his dad got him two fancy ones - wood burning wicks that are supposed to crackle like a real fire. Sounds interesting!!

If I lived any more NE than I do, I would move. LOL Seriously though, I would definitely have a generator, especially if I lived East of the lakes. Man do they get hammered. The one thing - that still costs hundreds of dollars for the titanium (lightweight) version - is a tent stove. I'm pretty much prepped for all kinds of shit except a source of heat where I can use wood and there's plenty of wood around here.

I bet people are going crazy at the stores right now... in the path of the storm.

Got some makeshift bedding in the coop for the chickens and wrapped it with really thick plastic that my older brother had brought home a long time ago when he lived here and worked at some place that uses this stuff. If you know the mil's on garbage bags, I believe this is like a contractors trash bag which is around 6ml in thickness. Honestly it's probably more around 10.
I just hope the duct tape stays on since I squeezed the sides shut to keep the wind out of the top and the door area. It won't fly off b/c I have rocks on the top but it will allow that super cold wind in. Secured or brought in anything else that would be affected so I'm good to go with the outside work and only got a little rained on. Seems like it picked up after I was done.

Guess I'm about to start melting some wax. Such a messy endeavor that I'm not even looking forward to it.

Hey, what kind of scents did you choose for Nathan?

I honestly don't remember now. One was a eucalyptus (maybe sage?) mix, one was a vanilla (I liked that one best) mix and I forget the third one.

People here go crazy too when its supposed to be bad weather, and we have no where near as bad as ya'll up north. I mean seriously? Those jokes about bread and milk? Its not a joke. We do that here. Its so stupid LOL I personally don't, because I just buy what I know I'll need for my regular shopping anyway, I dont stock up on extra. But if a storm is around, you CANNOT find bread or milk :P

There's no cat food to be found around here, except for the super expensive, $50 for a 14 pound bag stuff. So.. that's fun. But there was milk! I didn't go down the bread aisle, so I don't know about that :P

Kat, what if you invited the adult tantrum thrower over on Christmas, maybe for a brunch or something? He could spend time with the boys, etc, open presents, it would be pretty chill. I've spent some Christmasses forced at places I didn't want to go because it's uncomfortable, etc etc, and it's awful. BUT, it would have to not be too uncomfortable for you!

Pine scents are literally my favorites, I love them. So cozy. Right now though, I'm burning a vanilla candy cane one. Smells like peppermint bark, which I love, for some reason.. even though I hate white chocolate and vanilla.

We have a generator here, I bought it last summer when the power kept going out because of thunderstorms. Tonight El and I are goign to finish scrubbing around the stove we haven't used in 8 years so Alex can light it tomorrow night and through the weekend. It can burn coal or wood, but we have a lot of wood (see previously mentioned summer power outages :P), so that's what we'll be using. We cleaned the chimney and cleaned it out well, so now it's just.. getting rid of everything that got shoved behind/around it over the last.. ages.

Also, I had to go shopping last night and.. do not recommend. Everyone is crazy.

This morning I spent time making sure there were blankets and boxes in the sheds and garage for all the animals. And we put some pie pans of cat food out there, since the possums, skunks, raccoons, and cats all eat it. Basically all the feral creatures. So hopefully they can just stay inside where it's warm(er). We also filled the bird feeders and the squirrel feeders. Don't want to leave anyone out! ALSO hung up a blanket over the window in the room where the rabbit is, so that when we get these single digit high temps over Christmas weekend, he'll be fine. The heat should be on, but still. :P

Yep... see that ^^^ right there is when you know you need a gennie. (When you have power outages from spring/summer storms)
It seems that even with all the hoarding crap you had to take care of, that house is pretty hardy, Mieke! I would LOVE a house with a stove or a fireplace.

This is the tent stove that I would love to get and while it's part of an Youtube influencers name, the material used is the same price as other stoves out there. (I do watch Lonewolf on Youtube. He's a camper/prepper and overall self sufficient guy.)

You feed the vermin? That would get an oh hell no from me. They can naturally take care of themselves and I am still far too angry at the amount of chickens I've lost over the years to those vermin.

Omg why don't I ever see a peppermint smell in the wax melt section?! That would smell so amazing!

Ironically I couldn't find basic, cheap cat litter last night. All that's left is the stupid expensive stuff that isn't even worth buying. Other stuff I got over the weekend b/c I hate waiting (like last night) until 6 o'clock to run to the stores. I don't have a problem driving at night... I have a problem with all the assholes on the road at that time. A lot of them do seem to have some kind of night blindness and it makes them absolutely terrible drivers.

Bread and milk are the absolute last 2 things I would get, aside from sweets.

He wanted to do Christmas at his house. And while I agree he was throwing a tantrum, he was also legit upset/sad. I've offered for him to come open presents here. Not sure what he'll do. (Open them here/take them home. whatever) Shane is going to stay there starting tonight - so Shane will get his gifts early - Ryan bought him a mattress set. I got him sheets for it (and some other little stuff he'll open here). So I'll deliver that gift when I deliver Shane to Ryans house - because Ryan got stuck out at work and will be home later and Shane is almost to the local truck stop. He talked (texted) to Katie again and she is going to his house Friday afternoon. Guess they settled it a little bit. Not sure what everyone's feelings are, but there you go. Nathans stuff is still getting brought to the house for him to open here (as of this moment). I think I'll make him open them while dad is here regardless of what dad says :P So there. Just like I'll probably make him (dad) open our gifts to him while he is here (because he'll be bringing Shane here on Christmas, and also bringing me a turkey breast he is going to smoke for me). I have also decided to send Shane's stocking stuff, "santa" gift, and a stocking for Ryan, as well as Ryan's gifts from Shane (that yes, I picked out sigh i need to stop enabling that adult child) - however he also just told me he just picked up some more little things for me and his dad so I guess there is that. That way they will have a little bit of a "normal" christmas morning, stockings and a few gifts to open before they come this way. Edit: I am not sure how THEY will feel about that, but if they don't want to do that, they can bring it back to my house and open here.

For some reason, i've had a hard time finding dog AND cat food - in the specific brands/sizes I buy, for like, the past MONTH!! Its ridiculous - I've had to go to like 3-4 stores sometimes before I find it or get something a little different - like i've gotten the mini bite dog food - which i dislike getting for the big dog, but at least its something for her to eat!!

BRRR single digits!! My phone says like 15 for Christmas day here and I was in shock. It has not been that cold in a long time. Too bad there is no rain forecast because then I'd get to see snowfall :P I am probably the only one who wants that though! (Edit: and three days later, its supposed to warm back up to the 50s-60s) :P

I'm sure you'd set it up safely but I've always been leery of fires inside. Only once did I live in a place with a wood burning stove for heating, while I loved the fire, I always was concerned about the baby (Shane was like 2?) touching it or getting burnt, or the smoke being in the house, even though it was ventilated properly. Not to mention having to clean out the ashes. Ugh. But you do what you got to do to stay warm right? :)

Yeah, we feed the creatures, too. I won't put hay out, because I don't want to encourage the smaller rodents (mostly because I hate finding them dead on the front walk!), but since the big ones are already ehre and eating the cat food, I don't want them to suffer if they don't have to.

Besides.. the possum, especially, is quite a good animal to have around!

I loathe fires, Kat. I hate them. They terrify me, and every single winter for 5 years I fell asleep praying that the house wouldn't burn down around me. It's literally one of my biggest fears. HOWEVER, we've done everything properly, it's all cleaned and set up, the carbon monoxide detectors are working. And I don't want to freeze or run out of heating oil in two weeks instead of 6 so I'm going to hope for the best!

I ended up ordering on Target online.. there was no cat food at walmart, none at target, none at petsmart, not even at Sams! I was shocked!

Thankfully, we have litter, at least :P

Warm/glow is why I have an electric fireplace LOL No mess, no fuss. Just prettyness and warmth. But that doesn't work when you don't have electricity!!! I love seeing a fire. I don't like being cold. We have real fires outside and I rarely go out to see them because I'm always too cold :P

I have litter. Still lots at my store too. But I recently changed over to the pretty litter (I wanted to try it and see if it really did smell less, and it does! And doesn't cost but a little bit more per month than what I was already buying). I got so very tired of scooping pee and having the litter stick to the sides of the litter box. And I have used the basic litter for other cats and got very tired of dumping/refilling the whole thing which is why I changed to scoopable litter long ago.

My brother feeds possums at his place. Then his wifes dog chases it when the dog gets loose :P I don't feed anything outside anymore. We used to feed birds because Ryan liked to do so. I dislike cleaning the birdfeeders and refilling them. And the cats chase the birds and kill them, in addition to rabbits, squirrels, mice, etc and leave me gifts and I don't like gifts :P Sorry cats but I don't. I am shocked petsmart didn't have cat food!

I dislike driving at night. I dislike driving in the rain. I dislike shopping at anytime the store is crowded which is any time after 9-10 am in the stores I go to. I am willing to go shopping in the PM if its like after 6pm (if I am already out, or i really n eed something) because even tho its busy I can usually get out pretty quickly at that time because lots of registers are open. Only at my walmart. I refuse to go to the other one later in the day. You're in line forever. I hated it when we were at the fireworks because if you tried to go buy something really quickly - well quickly didn't happen! :P

Petsmart is way overpriced and I loathe going there unless I'm getting my dog groomed or need s/thing I can't find anywhere else.
For litter, I use the basic clay and add in the litter deodorizer by Arm & Hammer and it keeps all smells at bay for as long as you need, plus it helps the pee stick to it and not the sides of the box. So, like a hefty lair on the bottom before the litter is put in and then mix a bit more in after. Works great! I have 3 cats sharing 2 litterboxes so having them use that expensive clump litter is outrageous b/c I end up replacing litter every 4 days at $15 a pop... no fracking way.

Never had a fear of fire. Even with candles and cats -- well, to be honest there's a healthy fear there but nothing excessive. My cats learn to stay away from candles, even if they get some fur burned on their tails to learn it. Had a fireplace in the condo I rented like 13yrs ago but it was very updated and there was no worries with it. Was handy when the hurricane Ike sent it's pressure system up North and knocked out everyone's electricity for days, and days and days. Even then I was on a better grid than my dad was who was literally a few miles away from me but didn't get electricity restored until 5 days after me.

LOL the "gifts". Well, I don't let my cats go outside Kat but my daughter has one that always escaped and he would bring us gifts. I had one that would escape as well and do the same thing but one day, he never returned so I'm VERY strict w/ my allowance of being outdoors for my current cats. They're generally caged in on my small porch/deck kind of area.

Everything has a purpose, but intervention from us causes havoc on the system. There are now too many deer b/c we keep killing their predators. Too many vermin in neighborhoods due to trash and outside feeders. Too many of one type of insect or another than is being eaten, b/c of us.
Just give me a mule to protect my land. lol They're quite violent towards just about anything that isn't supposed to be there.

Ok.. got some candle containers to clean and stick wicks into.

Mama cat (Tiger) was a wild baby (No idea who her mama was) she and her sister wandered up the driveway from the duplex by the street. Mama stayed and had babies (thus why she is mama) and sister Snow ran away or something. When mama had Cheddar (and 4 other babies, we only kept him), she was already used to being inside/outside so he went with her. So yep. lots of gifts. Aggie (Agravation) the cat I had at the time Mama wandered into our possession, was supposed to be an indoor cat but was absolutely fascinated with the outside and kept darting out, so I gave up and let her become indoor/outdoor as well. All 3 got fixed asap. Just like all my animals. Mama was supposed to get fixed and we found out she was already preggers. I couldn't do that, so we had babies. THEN got fixed. Cheddar is now 10yrs old, so mama is around 11 (she was practically still a kitten when she had babies). Aggie is also long gone, ran away or elsewise. I think these two are smart enough to be careful, they know where they get fed and are inside more than outside but do enjoy outside especially in summer. Cheddar occasionally comes in with scratches/fur torn other signs of a fight but is usually minor stuff. Mama pees like mad, and against the wall of the litter box, so yea. Gross. Pain in the butt. I only had one large litter box until now, I got two smaller ones because I needed a new one to try out the new litter, and instead of buying another big one, I just ended up with two small ones. I am rotating them, because even tho they are next to each other, the cats only use the one by the wall and not the one by the desk LOL.

Where do you buy candle wicks? I've thought a few times about using crayons for candles (I saw that somewhere and in PreK we always have tons of broken crayons), also sometimes I have bits of wax left from candles that if I could melt off & put into a new/re-used jar I'd have another candle. But no wicks....

AWWW. My oldest always finds kitties to bring me but I had to put a stop to that. My 2 main boys are from Craigslist after I adopted out the other ones she brought me (AFTER I had them vetted, neutered and spayed).

This current kit I got from Amazon. Came with 100 wicks, popsicle sticks to use to hold up the wick while it's cooling/setting. A wick placement thing and stickers that are totally useless. I find using hot glue to be better at keeping the wicks in place than anything else.
Formerly though, you can get hundreds of wicks on Ebay for around the same price - a few dollars then. I've honestly been making my own wicks for awhile with either hemp or jute but you always need the weights for the bottom and while they're just as cheap, it's a little easier just to get them WITH the bottoms on them. It's also easier w/ the popsicle sticks that have a hole in the middle of them to keep the wick in place as it sets.

And YES!! Use leftover wax and all those unused crayons for candles!! Everyone likes the gift of a candle and you can use scents for it but I only use them if I have the money for them. I also save my wax melts.... well, I was until I started running out of room to pour the melted wax into.

I'm totally experimenting on this next candle and throwing some candy canes in it. Smells SO good! 😂

You got a forum point while making a post! Check out the shop here! YAY!

We sure do look cute in our pinks! 😊

❤ 💚 ❤ Merry Lumi to Everyone ❤ 💚 ❤ I hope everyone stays warm, dry, and safe!

Mmmm you found a way to smell peppermint with your candles!! FUN! lol Maybe one day I'll get to do candles. It does sound like fun. But messy. Wax melts? Like from the wax warmers? I have two of those and tons of the waxes, but usually I dump them in the trash after they lose their scent. They would make candles? Thats interesting.... (I dump them back into the containers and use them a couple of different times before I ever notice no scent anymore)

Hi !!! :D

I am elated to have another pink-in-winter advocate, even if it's not locally, we can still pink out in Xmas style here. <3 Merry Lumi, Happy Holidays and much love to ya, sweetie. <3 @/mister_ed Stay warm, safe and happy.

Kat, you jumped in there before me. Yep! I figured, why not try it! I have a bunch of peppermint spoons from making a little hot cocoa tray last year so I thought it would be a good time to see how sugar holds up in wax.

And YES! I use wax melts all the time so I figured, more wax! Keep adding it up and you get quite a lot. Plus the benefit of good smelling candles and while it's not strong, it's still mildly scented. I mix too much to get concentrated scents but I'm sure you could make separate containers and start now! :P

We have four litter boxes for the three cats, except Kelly only uses it in an emergency. She'd rather go outside. But I use the good stuff, I just buy it in the 40lb tubs. We empty them every night,

Still snowing here. It's pretty, but I'm glad the kids already had a half day. The other school ended up getting out early too, though. So no youth group Christmas party tonight. Which is honestly OK with me! I'd rather stay home and have LIlys sloppy joes tbh.

I don't feed the coyotes... though we do leave the big dog sized tennis balls in the back clearing in the woods. They love to throw them around, and it's good for them. I also take down the feeders in the late spring/summer/early Fall, because I refuse to feed the furry bird (AKA the bear). I do thoroughly enjoy watching the squirrels though,. and to watch them torment the cat back. She deserves it. And we have two mated pairs of cardinals, I always look forward to seeing them. And I'll admit to loving the woodpeckers. They're so tiny! When I watched Woody Woodpecker growing up, I always thought they'd be big birds LOL.

And skunks are good for the lawn and garden. Possums, as we all know, eat ticks and are rabies resistant. Raccoons.. well, they just like the same stuff as the skunks and possums LOL.

Just finished wrapping Ds gifts. She's spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning here, and so I needed some under the tree gifts for her... because I mean, she's 18. And everyone deserves under the tree gifts. I already got her and Akira stockings, so that's not a big deal. However, it's the week before Christmas and I'm basically broke, so I individually wrapped like, 30 different types of instant ramen LOL. And some other small things. Probably only like $50 all together, but there's a lot to open :P

Edit: oh goodness, apparently that took me a long time to type haha. I love the ideas of using the used up wax melts, I'm sure you could add some scent in there even? What a great idea!

You wrapped ramen?? Lol I hope she enjoys that. I have read a few articles where moms have wrapped items like that. I would feel a little weird starting it as a tradition now, but it sounds great to me. Wrap food things they love and give them more things to unwrap!! I usually try to do a bath set, but now the kids are pickier about their soap/shampoo and I thought about creating my own bath sets for them but I don't know what anyone besides Nathan uses. I might just ask next year and do it that way. Especially as they are getting older. Things they can use and do t have to buy for themselves later seems like a great gift. It's one reason I like monetary gifts because I can use it to buy what I need....as an example ...although I appreciate the coffee mugs I get....I never use them or end up regifting/donating most of them.

Omg my youngest called me out of the blue the other night to figure out how to find the types of Asian stores that I went to. I told her to just google Asian Grocers and she found some nearby and the next thing I saw was a cart full of RAMEN! (I'll post them tomorrow when I log in to work, providing our internet is still active.) I was dying. To be sure, they ARE really good. Lots of Korean flavors which are quite spicy.. HOT.

Seems like hubby brings home a lot of bacon, Mieke. :P I've never been able to afford that much expensive cat litter which is why I found my own way of dealing with it.
Skunks all good but even opossum's will take the opportunity to grab on to "easy meals", like young chickens or ducks. Raccoons are truly the worst and when you have to pick out the PIECES of your chickens in between fences you thought would protect them, you might feel a bit different.

When I'm not in the mood for looking for stuff for my girls, I just give them gift cards but this year I did really good w/ finding functional things for them. I got a shell light fixture (that I'll take pics of once I install it) for my youngest daughter's room and even though she won't be here most of the time, she'll be able to take it with her. I got them both satiny duvet sets, a little bit of jewelry and for my youngest I got her a gorgeous gold set of elephants w/ their trunks raised (symbol of good fortune) b/c she is obsessed w/ them. (I've gotten her some cheap necklaces w/ an elephant on them but she wears them to death and therefore, wears them out. Not so easy to find in better quality.) Grandkids got functional stuff as well. Two different types of projection lighting for their rooms, a snowtube and throw blankets.

Ugh Kat, I can't even tell you the nice coffee cups my youngest has gotten me that I keep breaking. Even those tea mugs w/ their own lid and filter/sieve I've managed to break. I don't know what the hell it is but I break a lot of special shit. Makes me glad that I don't get a lot of them but also since I don't, it makes the ones I break even more heart wrenching.

Got several large candles that are setting. One really large round one I have outside, since it's colder than inside. Got that sucker from the thrift store for $5 and I know it would've cost like $20 or s/thing from the regular store. Again, I'll share pics when I can send them to my work email, lol.

I can see where wildlife and chickens dont mix well. Yuck for bits in the wire.

Most of the mugs I have were gifted by kids/parents from school. So I appreciate the thought, truly. I just rarely use mugs. Hot chocolate sometimes. Nathan uses them to heat water for grits. That's about it.

Most of my kids gifts this year were little nonsense things. Or slightly more expensive nonsense things lol. Katie and Wesley got a lot of Jack Skelington things. I hope she/they still like it. Her big gift was a bread machine since she asked for one. Nathan got a ton of bath stuff since he's often in the bath lately. And some hair color wax since he keeps wanting to dye his hair. Shane got random stuff (snacks like hot cocoa and brownie in a mini cast iron pan type things) plus the bedding.

Dropping things seems to be happening more to me. I'm wondering if it's due to the nerve issue or whatever's going on. I plan to go back to Dr in Jan when insurance changeover happens. They wanted me to try physical therapy as the nerve study showed minor carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome Plus the pain meds, while helping, do not get rid of my pain. So I wanted to talk about that with them as I'm almost out anyway. (On last refill). I find it strange since last time I had this specific pain med it worked wonderfully. But was for a different issue so that's probably why