About the time I think I’ve set up a pretty good system to keep blogs, videos, and podcasts posted, life seems to veer me in a different direction for a while and my good intentions seem to dissipate. I will say, I may not be regular in my posting, but I refuse to quit.
I did finally land a job. I had been looking since early February. It was not the job I wanted but I had accidentally applied for it and didn’t feel like I should turn it down in hopes of getting the job I actually wanted. The United States Postal Service (USPS) hired me to work only Sundays to deliver Amazon packages. I went through training, both in the training facility in Tulsa and a day shadowing in Claremore. The next Sunday, I arrived to run a route myself. It got up to ninety degrees that day, but I am used to hot weather. The route was divided with another person so I didn’t have to run the whole thing my first day. I struggled with the GPS instructions but managed to get the job done. The next week, was Easter. I was able to get in a sunrise service at church before going to work and that helped, but the rain fell. We were surrounded by flooding and I waded in ankle deep water more than once to deliver packages. I was unable to deliver one package because it wouldn’t fit in the mail box. I looked at the front door, many yards away and discovered that the yard was completely flooded with a wide, shallow river streaming through. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had to evacuate. At one point, a shallow stream crossed the road and a small fish swam in front of me in that stream. Again, the GPS gave me considerable trouble. I spent way more time than I wanted to meandering around the country trying to find mail boxes and houses that clearly weren’t where they were indicated.
The next week, the struggle with the GPS system continued and I wasted more time driving around trying to find out where these customers actually lived. As I took a third try at finding an address, I turned around in an graveled drive. I slipped into a shallow wash with 90 degree side and got stuck. The left front wheel was in the wash and the power wheel spun freely in loose gravel. I was so frustrated and ashamed to have to call my supervisor to come help me get out. He was very kind as we both pushed and rocked the vehicle attempting to get out, but had no luck. He called another man to come get my remaining packages and had a tow company come pull me out. I was mortified. After I had been rescued, I met the man who had taken my packages and he split the remaining ones with me. My struggle with the GPS was so bad, it was nearing 7:00 at night, the battery on my scanner died and I couldn’t figure out how to change to a fresh battery. I had three packages left and just couldn’t finish the job. I drove back to the office where my supervisor waited kindly and patiently for me, explained that I couldn’t finish the job and apologized profusely as I quit.
I drove most of the way from Alaska to Texas years ago, drove all the way from California, to Tennessee and other states many times and all over Oklahoma for basketball and softball games. There were times when I had trouble finding a location but not like I did for this job. I know north, south, east and west. I know left and right. I know how highways and roads are set. At this job, many times I could not find a place where the voice tells me I have arrived at my destination and there is not mailbox or house. This happened repeatedly. I missed my church home. I missed all my friends there, who have almost been a life-line for me as I am finding myself suddenly single. I am ashamed that I could not do the job well, but I am not sorry to have walked away from that job. I needed the job and the income it provided, but I needed to be able to do it properly and that wasn’t happening. On to something else, I suppose.
While I am looking for a job, I am not giving up on my dream of growing my YouTube channel. I am enjoying cooking in the church kitchen and producing videos for the Cookbook of the Collapse, Cooking from the Pantry series and Great Depression meals. Those seem to be doing well and I am very grateful. In the Cookbook of the Collapse series, I posted the video, Scalloped Potatoes. It can be seen here.
I have been honored with the task of watching my husband’s Aunt Frankie one day each week. Every Thursday, I get to take care of and visit with this beautiful 91-year-woman. I have always enjoyed her company, spending way too much time at her house visiting her so getting to sit with her each week has been nice. I still have a lot to learn about the actual part of taking care of her (helping her to the bathroom, knowing what she like and needs to eat, etc.) but I believe things are going well. I have been grateful for the opportunity to sit and chat with her about her life and catching her up on mine. It works out, too, when she’s napping, I can edit videos or do other work on my computer.
Because my son’s kitchen is too dark to shoot videos in, I have been doing all my cooking videos at the the church kitchen. I am very grateful for the opportunity to do my work there. I usually go down on Wednesday afternoon to cook and video. It works out well because the things I cook don’t necessarily fit in to what my son and his family eats so I set it on the stove for the adults to eat as they come in from work for Wednesday evening. A recent dish I made brought back memories of my mother-in-law, who was half Italian. Pasta Piselli is not a dish that I would have considered Italian (spaghetti, pizza, etc.) but a very nice, light dish that I enjoy very much. Pasta Piselli: A Beloved Italian Depression-Era Dish can be seen here.
I have not done well in producing podcasts. Some of the research needed takes up more time that I anticipate. I did manage to get Episode 78: This Too Shall Pass discussing many of the political and world events that we are told to worry about can be heard here.
I am still trying to get videos of Kinzie playing sports produced. I went way back in the archives and produced Gracemont at the Oilton Basketball Camp. It can be seen here.
I’m pretty sure that my podcast Books Highlighted is a silly project, but I really love doing it. I just read highlighted sections of books I have read. I hope you enjoy listening to them. Episode 25: War Room can be heard here.
My Dad’s 83rd birthday came and went. He and Mom are in an assisted living facility in Florida so I seldom get to see them. Dad’s Alzheimer’s is progressing so conversations with him are few and far between. He did acknowledge that he had a birthday and the facility threw him a party. I’m glad.
Once a month for nine months of the year, the ladies of our church have a meeting. We have excellent food and Bible study with wonderful fellowship. Those meetings are usually the night before the men have their monthly meetings. We are asked to bring desserts, leaving the leftovers for the men the next night. My daughter-in-law made some cookies from cake mix and I decided to try making those for our meeting. I ended up with three different flavors that tasted really good. Cake Mix Cookies: a Quick and Easy Treat can be seen here.
The next episode in my Are You Ready for the Next Great Depression is in both audio only for podcast listeners or on video with illustrations who prefer to watch content. The podcast version can be heard on your favorite pod catcher or here.
Or the video version here.
On the Kinzie Lackey Sports YouTube channel, I posted Bluejacket Away. It can be seen here.
I love the gym I attend. I will go to do exercise on my own, but I really enjoy the comradery of the ladies in our classes, particularly the one at 9:00 in the morning. Our favorite class was led by a funny, wonderful, free-spirited woman who made sweating very fun. She has her own business in another town though and needed to spend more time there. On her last day, several of us got together at a local restaurant as a form of goodbye for her. We really miss her but had a good time at the restaurant. We miss you Christina!
My poor son, the one I’m living with for the time being, spent three days trying to replace the water heater in his house. They had just come home from a weekend away to discover that they had no water. He went to Lowe’s and bought one, working all day and two more trips to Lowe’s for parts he needed. That’s apparently just the way it goes with plumbing repairs. He got the new one put in and put it under water pressure to find out that it had a significant leak. The next day, he returned it and swapped it for another water heater. Got it home to unbox to find that it had factory flaws that made it iffy to install it. The third water heater also had flaws but it was determined that those flaws would not interfere with the viability of the water heater, and Tony got it installed. Thanks to his patience and perseverance, we now have hot water again.
Most of you know that a year ago in December, I had surgery on my left foot. The doctor disconnected my Achilles tendon about 2/3 of the way so he could remove two bone spurs on the bottom of my heel and a large calcified knot on the back of my heel. He told me that, after a year, I would be one hundred percent recovered. I am not. There is still a large knot on the back of my heel and my ankle swells and bruised daily. I went to a different doctor who did more X rays. She said that all the excess bone had been removed but the knot was excessive scar tissue and wanted me to do physical therapy all over again. I had already done several weeks before the surgery and then again afterwards. The copay for each session is $60. I just can’t do that. I told her that I had all the exercises listed and I would do them at home, along with scraping the knot on my heel with a butter knife regularly to help break up the scar tissue. Otherwise, I may have to have another surgery. I certainly don’t want to do that. Now, two or three times a day, I am doing specific stretches and strengthening exercises. It’s not much fun, but I am determined to win.
As I explore the foods of the Great Depression, I am enjoying not only learning what people ate, but also cooking some of them, tasting them also. Most have been quite tasty so far. Onion Gravy on Day Old Bread can be seen here.
The next week, I got to shoot two videos in one day. I peeled potatoes and fried them up for the Depression era food series. That video can be seen here.
For my next video, I fried up the potatoes with some Spam for my Cooking from the Pantry series.
I also managed to get another video published for the Kinzie Lackey Sports channel. Barnsdall Away can be seen here.
Kinzie is graduating high school this year and we have been scrambling to get some things done. She has been on line for the past three months to finish up school. Well, she went on line three months ago but got the school work done within a month of doing so. I got her graduation invitations ordered, filled out and sent. She works full-time and I thought I’d help her out. I was very proud to learn that she has signed for a full-ride scholarship to Coffeyville Community college. That’s only about an hour away from here but it gets her out of our situation and into a much better one. Like I said, I’m very proud of her.
Another project I’m working on that I would encourage you to check out are some skits I have been writing that are mostly geared toward women and are perfect for women’s meetings as they are short and address issues that women frequently encounter, providing biblical solutions. Check out my shop at scriptureskits.etsy.com. The most recent skit is All That and Talented Too.
That’s all I have for you this time. I pray this post wasn’t too long. I will keep working on being more punctual with these posts. See you next time!