Iggy

I checked them out - and there is no way I can move a 50# bag around. I had to lay the bucket on it's side and roll it into the dining room from the front door. The FedEx guy refused to come further into the house! [[i had just picked up, vacuumed and dusted too:cool:]]. Dravin, I knew from the get go that I was going to be re-packaging the grains, it was just a matter of me moving the stuff around when it got here. No way did I want to open the bag in the living room, cart it gallon by gallon through the dining room and into the kitchen. The buckets I can put on our hand dolly and transport down the hallway to the storage cupboard.

Bring it up to your RS Emergency Preparedness sister. That is how this sister got interested in it. Go get a catalog from the store and any other literature aka sale ads and go ask the sisters to join. There is our Branch and the ward in the next town that are involved. One person needs to be the one whose house accepts all the deliveries, and who re-boxes the food for each person who orders it. For us, the order doesn't go in unless paid for in advance. Once the money is in the bank, then the order is done via on line, using a credit card for payment against the bank account the payments were deposited into to. Twice a year, at our evening meetings, our refreshments consists of meals, snacks, desserts made with foods from Emergency Essentials- complete with recipes! That is one of the reasons I decided to purchase from them. Tasted broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn salad with Colby cheese. ALL are FD!! Yummy, took a serving home to husband and he loved it. Pam, if you lived within 50 miles of me, I would deliver to you. I am just so excited about this bounty of food I now have - even have 25 pounds of whole grain hard red wheat. Tuesday, that pail gets opened and I start measuring & grinding so I can re-package into batches to vacuum seal.

One of the sisters in Relief Society is a group leader with Emergency Preparedness. Each month she tells us what is on special sale and if we wish to purchase any, then we get the special price and NO shipping charges. Last month I bought salt, baking soda, & powdered shortening. I went on line and signed up for a catalog to be mailed to me, and then I cruised their website. I cashed in my life insurance policy (one my Mother purchased in 1954 through Prudential - husband has one already for me that pays out much more), and I used half of the money to purchase two 6' X 30" X 17" DIY cupboards and 167 lbs of dehydrated and freeze dried foods. I haven't got the cupboards put together yet. Did make room in our bedroom for one of them and already have room at the end of the hallway for the other. Yesterday I spent from 1 pm until 6 pm repackaging some of the food. The freeze dried green pepper bits, fd celery bits, fd sliced mushrooms, fd diced white onions, dehydrated vegetarian chicken flavored broth, double chocolate brownie mix. Used my FoodSaver to vacuum seal in smaller portions. Most of what got vacuumed sealed I put back into the can. I also bought some empty spice jars to put spices I bought already at Cash & Carry. Then I vacuumed sealed what was left in the large containers. I made lunch yesterday using the FD Chicken, dehydrated diced carrots, fd celery, onions, green peppers, fd cauliflower and broccoli. Of course each one has a different serving size and each uses either warm, hot or boiling water and all for different times. Well, I figured I was just going to use boiling water, and let it re-hydrated until the carrots were ready. Put approximately 3 servings of each into my new wide mouth 4 quart measuring/mixing bowl- then added 8 quarts of boiling water. The water got sucked up, didn't even overflow! Let it sit for 20 minutes while the wild rice was cooking in the rice cooker. Then I drained it, saving the excess water, all 1.5 pints of it, which I will use monday to add to my homemade Mexican Chicken soup. Then put the 4 quart container full of re-hydrated food into the microwave and nuked for 3 minutes, stirred well and nuked some more for 2 minutes. By then the rice was done, and so was my version of chicken stir fry. It tasted like I had used fresh everything!! It also made more than the 3 servings. Husband had two servings, I had one and we invited our neighbor for lunch and he had one. I sent him home with a serving, and tonight for dinner Husband had the remaining two servings!! Last night I also made a batch of the Brownies. A #10 can equals 3 batches of brownies plus a short batch. A batch is 3 1/2 C. So I got 3 bags plus a bag that only had 2 1/2 C. It is a good tasting brownie mix too. Only add water. 1/2 of HOT water per 3.5 C of mix. If I didn't already have 6 boxes of Swiss Miss hot cocoa in the cupboard, I would open the hot milk chocolate just to give it a try. I also bought a #10 can of quick oats. What I was going to do was package them up in single serving packets. We like the instant oatmeal packets- but don't like the ones with sugar already in them. Would I have to vacuum seal them, or would they be okay in snack size zipper bags? Anybody else use Emergency Essentials? I am really impressed with them. For the 167 pounds of food, the shipping cost was only $12.00! I already have a list going for items I want to get later.

Mom napped a lot during the day, and my sister-in-law kept the curtains closed. She got tired of Mom looking out the windows and getting her finger prints all over the glass . Thus after sun-down, Mom was awake and active most of the night. Personally, I figure finger prints on the windows would be a small price to pay to keep her calm. Also when Husband and I were there visiting her at her last Thanksgiving, I opened the curtains during day light hours. I cleaned the windows. Sure enough, Mom slept through the night! We were there for two weeks. I also kept Mom busy by taking her for walks around the neighborhood, raking leaves in the back yard, and letting her plant and dig up and replant plastic flowers. She never realized they were plastic, but she sure enjoyed being outside and working the soil. AND she slept through the night.

Disagree. As one who as been around two Alzheimer's patients till death- both were gentle people. Both retained their gentleness. I disagree with Robertson that Alzheimer's is a type of death. My Mother-In-Law was a walking, talking history book. As her Alzheimer's progressed, she went back in time to her teen years. She would try to climb out the window to go meet her boyfriend, she would get dressed up in slacks, a couple of sweaters and sit in the living room waiting for Daddy to take her to her airplane flying lessons. My Mother-In-Law was cared for by her second son and his wife. About the only thing that was out of control was her 'sun-downing'. Robertson's statement is just more viable proof that the LDS Church is the true church. Oh, one of the patients at the small care facility where the other patient that I knew lived, was a mean Alzheimer's patient. When healthy this woman was gentle, kind and giving. Her family had three small children at home, and putting her into the care facility was best for all. They were better equipped at dealing with her bursts of anger and confusion. The facility had only 4 patients, all women. One was bedridden, the rest mobile. The owner is a member of the Church, and I was her VTeacher.

Lizzy, why don't you put it on a back burner for a month or three. Give your self time to digest it, ponder and pray regarding it. It seems these papers have been unseen for years, a couple months or longer won't hurt. If it were me, I would NOT destroy them. I would put them in a safe place for now, and wait until moved by the spirit as to what to do next with them, knowing full well that it could be months or even years.

Knorr/Lipton Rice Sides or Pasta Sides. Mix them in a 2.5 qt casserole dish, add some cooked frozen chicken strips or can of tuna, or can of chunk chicken, or 1/3 can spam, or 3 or 4 hot dogs cut up, or can of chunk ham. Note: drain the tuna, canned chicken, canned ham. Cook according to package- put some bagged frozen veggies into a steamer bag (Reynolds) and nuke for 4 min. You now have dinner with veggies and lunch to boot. If you prefer canned veggies: drain the liquid and save. Put veggies in a steamer bag. Use the saved liquid and add water to make the amount needed per envelope directions on the rice or pasta. Broil or fry two pork loin chops, serve with Idahoan instant mashed potato in an envelope. The individual envelopes that require two cups of water and nuke for 4 minutes. Save one chop and 1/2 the potatoes and veggies for lunch. Marie Callendar frozen entrées are pretty good. My local Fred Meyer (Kroger - Fry's) has lowered the price from $3.59-3.89 to 2.39 - 2.89. They have a meat, side of potatoes and veggies. Healthy Choice also includes either an apple crisp, peach cobbler, or cinnamon apples in some of their meals. I get these for our (Husband & I) lunch, and sometimes breakfast. Sometimes he likes homemade Mexican Chicken soup and I like Nalley's Chili with Walla Walla Onions! There are also the smaller entrée only frozens - those are generally 10/$10.00. When taken to work for lunch, pack a steamer bag of frozen veggies.

Ask your Home Teachers or Bishopric to come and bless/dedicate/sanctify your home. Then in your daily personal prayers, ask Heavenly Father to banish the adversary from your home.

Asked a computer guru friend of mine and he says: Lizzy, if you need more information, pm me. I may have to make you a friend first, let me know okay?

I am married/sealed- I am friends with another man (who is not married, and not Mormon). Sometimes we have rather long phone conversations, sometimes he actually emails me more than 15 words. :) This man now lives in North Dakota- if he lived in town, then I would NOT go shopping (one of our favorite things we did) with him, unless my Husband was okay with it. I would NOT have lunch with him alone unless Husband was okay with that. I would HAVE him to dinner at my home, because Husband would be there too. I was friends with him before Husband & I were married. Husband really does not know him, but Husband does not ban me from continuing my friendship with him. I also know men who are married, most are LDS-some are not. I am friends with them AND with their wives. Husband is getting to know them now that we have moved back to Oregon and are able to see them in person. I have made friends with a few men from the lds based forums that I frequent. Husband knows about them, and does not feel threatened nor does he think it is improper or inappropriate. My husband has female friends from his past life. Some are married, a few are LDS. I wouldn't dream of forbidding him to converse with them. With out asking him or even subtly hinting - he BCC's his emails to them, and forwards their emails to me. Also, he CC's their spouses. Husband was married three times before me. I am the only one sealed to him. Both of us had past lives, and past friendships that neither of us wants to discontinue. I don't want him to discontinue his friendships with any of his friends- male or female. What it comes down to is neither of us will ever put our marriage vows and sealing covenants in jeopardy. Nor will we put ourselves in situations where others might view it as inappropriate. The rule of thumb that I follow is: Will I be embarrased, ashamed or even uncomfortable if the emails/PM's I send/receive from any of these male friends are read by my husband? If the answer is yes, or even a maybe- then I delete the message and seriously re-think the friendship. Same goes for being in public with them.

Are you embarrassed rather than uncomfortable? Embarrassed by the reaction you have when she wears clothing that does not cover her to the neck? Are you embarrassed by the reaction you think other men are having to her? Have you told her specifically that you are embarrassed? I have a different situation- my husband is big, heavy, over 100 lbs. overweight. He has lost nearly 100 lbs, thus his pants and BELT are too big. He f l a t out refuses to cut the extra off of his belt. There is at least 12" hanging. He won't put the extra into the belt loops- makes getting his pants undone a real ordeal. Also, he won't quit wearing his too large pants. He looks like an elephant from behind- an elephant who is sickly and lost weight! His reason for not cutting the excess off the belt: "Do you know just how MUCH this belt cost me? It wasn't cheap by any means!" My response: "Do you know how STUPID you look with over 12' of belt hanging and flapping? You definitely got your moneys worth-a dozen times over." As for the overly large pants-"What if I keep loosing weight? I would have spent all that money on new pants, just to have them be too big also." My response-"How many times have your pants slid to your ankles,even with your belt on? - Even if you continue to lose more weight pants are not that expensive that we can not purchase ones that FIT you. The way you dress embarrasses me. At least when we go to Church or out to a restaurant will you PLEASE wear the new belt I bought you, and the pants that are NOT 3 sizes too big!?" ((note: belts ARE expensive- so are ties that are long enough for him!)) At home, or when we go shopping or just driving around, he wears his sloppy clothes. To Church and to Restaurants, he wears his better clothes. I had two Sunday outfits that he felt did not flatter me. One I absolutely loved, it was so comfortable and I didn't think it was unflattering. BUT I quit wearing them. Later, a girl friend commented that she was glad I quit wearing my favorite one, as the color was so unflattering. As for the second outfit, it made me look like an elephant walking on it's hind feet. For 25 years my first husband insisted that I wear tight, revealing clothes. I did- and I was uncomfortable. Yes, men looked at me. Ogled and leered. That just fueled my 1st husbands jealousy and anger. (talk about mixed signals!!) The tight jeans hurt my hips and upper legs too. So now I wear loose and comfortable clothes. NO zippers, just elastic waists. And after six years in AZ, I am no longer comfortable with to the ankle pants or skirts. I like them about 2 to 6 inches above the ankles. They are cooler!

No it isn't. They are NOT under her stewardship. They are under the stewardship of their parents. All human life is under Christ's stewardship. You are solely responsible for your self and your own children - Period. Comparing children trespassing with pooping dogs to Christ's forgiving an adulterer is ridiculous. He also told her to Sin No More. Also she was an adult who was responsible for her own actions. I repeat - Bini's stewardship consists of herself, her unborn child, her husband and her home. NOT the pooping dogs in the neighborhood, and the trespassing kids. Never in any of her posts has she stated that she has been mean or cruel to these children or their animals.

You are projecting your fear of being rejected by the children. I agree totally with RipplecutBuddah - I had an adult neighbor who brought her two dogs onto my front lawn to potty twice a day. Across the street from her home was a vacant yard- two other neighbors took their dogs there to potty, and then once a week one of them would shovel up the poo and toss it over the hill (nothing but brush, weeds & dirt over the hill) I went to her and asked her to stop. Every morning as I went out to my car, there were fresh piles of poo from her over sized lab and tiny lap dog. I scooped it with a shovel and deposited it on her postage stamp lawn. Didn't stop her. I scooped it up and placed it on her bottom step. Didn't faze her. I shoveled it and placed it directly in front of the front door. Still it did not stop her from bringing the dogs over. So, I got up an hour earlier to catch her in the act. The deed was already there. The next morning I went out even earlier. Finally I got up early enough to catch her. The next morning I was waiting with the garden hose. Just as large dog squatted I got him in the tush with the water. His owner just screamed at me- The next morning I was out there with the garden hose AND a camera. I took pics, then hosed her down. THAT still did not stop her, so when the City offices opened I went in and filed a complaint. Before I could get home, the Sheriffs office (the town didn't have it's own police-the county sheriff policed the area) were at her door. They handed her literature stating the city, county and state regulations regarding her animals. Leash law, scooping law, etc. AND explained the consequences of violating those ordinances and laws. They also went to every house on the street and handed out the same literature with the same spiel, myself included! When I told them I only had cats, they asked me how I was disposing of their waste- scoop into bag and into garbage. THAT still did not stop her. I took pics of her walking her dogs to my lawn and of them pooping. After a week, I took the pics and filed a complaint. They came out, counted the piles and wrote her up. Animal control came out and removed the dogs, and her invalid mother was also removed from the house. When the sheriff went to the door to cite her, they smelled and saw dog poo all over the living room floor. Her invalid mother was on an outdoor chaise lounge, in filthy nightclothes. Actually laying in her own waste! Bini, in my opinion, it is not your responsibility to educate the neighbor children. If I had had a gated yard, and the neighbor lady was going through the gate I would have pressed charges after informing her to not use my yard, rather than going through weeks of confrontation, picture taking and hosing the dogs and her down. The legal ramifications alone should be enough for you to put a lock on the gate and go talk to the local enforcement in person. Call your insurance agent/carrier and ask a what if: What if neighbor kids come uninvited into your gated back yard and fall off equipment you have stored in there. What is the worst case scenario- how do you protect yourself? If these children w/their dogs were to walk through your unlocked door into your home- what would you have done? Your gated yard is an extension of your home.

The easiest way for me to track was to put the cleaned empty containers into a kitchen trash bag that I kept in the guest room closet. I remove bar soap from their wrappers and place in a basket so that they will dry out - they last longer when in use. So, when I used a new bar, I wrote Bar Soap on a post-it note and tossed that in the bag. I also wrote the date on the jug of laundry soap and bleach when I opened them. Then noted the date when I used the last of it. Did the same with certain food items: Syrup, ketchup, mustard, dressings, etc. Mayo can sit in the fridge for a year after I open it to make mac salad. So I no longer buy Mayo. Use 1/2 Miracle Whip and 1/2 sour cream. I don't know if any one else does this, but my cupboards and storage is set up like the store. I use from it on a daily basis. When the sale ads come out, I sit at the table nearest my kitchen and circle the items in the ads which are close to being out in my cupboards. Example, right now I am out of spicy brown mustard (just love this crazy condiment), only have two cans of refried beans left, am overstocked on 1000 dressing, have one can of black olives (again- love them). We are down to 3 boxes of Instant Oatmeal. Been wondering if making my own instant packages would be cost effective? Husband prefers to mix and nuke- and he only likes the plain/regular. Only have 2 envelopes of Idahoan Instant Mashed Potatoes, Lipton Rice Sides/Pasta Sides. Last time I bought the Sides was over two years ago in AZ. Fry's had a special buy of boxes of 10 on sale for $3.99 each- no limit. Bought 20 boxes. Totally out of Hamburger Helper. I grew up on canned salmon made into patties or loaf. The other night I was craving this, so I got out a can of canned salmon and made patties, adding diced onions and celery. Husband loved them! Wonder if he will like home made oyster stew? That is another favorite of mine. Also Clam Patties. Made like the salmon ones, only using the minced clams. On impulse I purchased 10 cans each of salmon, oysters and minced clams- different stores, and approximately 18 to 20 months ago. They were on fantastic sales and the Use By Dates were well into the future. It wasn't until I got them home, that I realized I didn't know if Husband would eat them. 1st Husband did, and I LOVE them. In my experience there is no Use By Date on laundry detergents, bar soaps, dish detergents, etc. If you close the lid tight on liquids, they will last indefinitely. I prefer liquid- sometimes powder just doesn't dissolve completely. Also, you can fill the empty liquid laundry jugs with water and label -WASH water. Bleach jugs filled with water and marked WATER-NOT FOR DRINKING. I vacuum seal anything that comes in a box or flimsy bag. Rice a Roni, Hamburger-Tuna-Chicken Helper, pasta, 5# bags of flour and sugar. Think I need to buy extra bags of cat food and repackage into the 1 gal vacuum seal bags. Mark them for 2 years, and them open up and use. UNLESS they are needed sooner. Most canned foods last longer than 1 year. When you purchase them in the store- check the dates and buy the one with the longest time on it. Example: Use by Feb 12; Nov 15. Get the Nov 2015. You would do this with milk, cheese, eggs, etc. So do it with ALL foods. Note: Some food manufacturers use the Julian Calendar. Here is a link for deciphering it: Julian Day Table If the box has a code 36512= Dec 31, 2012 is the use by date.

My little brother gets hives from chocolate. Never had before, then on his 14th birthday he ended up with welts that were HUGE. I got them after eating Dungeness Crab:(. Antihistamines work for me- but I also don't deliberately eat crab. Some restaurants put crab in seafood chowder. Husband gets hives from dust mites and bed bugs. SO I washed the bed frame with TSP and Pine Sol, and covered the mattress with a mattress bag that is made to keep bed bugs from coming through to you. NOTE: NEVER, EVER vacuum your mattress. That will bring the bed bugs up to the surface of the mattress- use the cover instead. I also use pillow protectors. You said there are hard wood floors- I would suggest vacuuming the edges of the floors- when they meet the walls. My older sister gets hives when she is under a lot of stress, and from excessive heat/humidity. Cool showers using a liquid baby wash and then applying a very light coat of moisturizer containing aloe vera helps with the discomfort. Slamjet, I have never had a problem with eating Crab before- when I got the hives, I thought it might be because they were caught during a red tide. I asked the guy who gave them to me, if he had gotten hives or sick from the crab- he hadn't, nor had his dinner guests. A week later, armed with a bottle of antihistamines, I ate a Crab omelet at my favorite restaurant. Sure enough, not half an hour later I had the largest welts of hives to date! Took the antihistamines and was fully prepared to drive the three blocks to the ER if the pills didn't work. They worked. BTW I can't even eat Krab- artificial Crab made with Hake soaked in Crab juices/nectar. bummer- I love Crab. Oddly though I can still eat Lobster & Shrimp. If you can remember what she ate the day she got the hives, then feed her one item a day to rule out food allergy. Also, does her mother use the same laundry detergent? Does the machine have two rinse cycles? What kind of fabric softener does she use. My daughters children are allergic to lanolin, which can be in fabric softener. It can be an arduous task finding the culprit- perhaps if you all help her to reconstruct her days when she broke out in hives, and think outside of the box. By comparing what she ate, wore, did each time prior to the outbreaks, you just might find a commonality.

Ditto what every one has said. Wish I had written my feelings & thoughts into a journal. The Patriarch will talk with you before hand, then he will proceed with the blessing. Again, don't go expecting to see angels, or flames of fire.

Power came back on 4 hours later, then went out again during the night. It was out for 2 days then. As long as we could call the credit card companies to get approval on cards, the owners wanted to stay open. It was worse for them, they had triple the bookkeeping- :)

When i worked at the local little grocery store, they put in scanners and computerized the registers. Also they put in new Credit/Debit scanners at the registers. During a Rip Snorter of a winter storm, we lost power. All we had was battery lights and the battery backup to the computers. We had to do all the credit/debit cards with the slide machines and call to get approval codes. We used an intercom phone to the upstairs office, one of the employees sat there and made the calls and then relayed the approval to us via the intercom. A young woman who worked at the Bank, came in and did her shopping- Bank is 100% computerized, no power=bank closes. Before I start to ring her up(no scanning, have to input all bar code numbers by hand) I tell her that the card machine is out, and I can not take Oregon Trail (food stamp) cards, but I can do Credit & Bank Debit cards. Okay- she says she understands. This gal has done her weeks shopping, including WIC. After 25 minutes of ringing up each WIC check items, we get to the rest of her groceries. She is sliding her Oregon Trail card in the machine. I tell her again, because of the power outage it won't work- she will have to pay cash, or use a bank card. She points to the computer cash register monitor and says - that is working, it's computer, then make this work! I explain that the monitor & cash register computers are on battery back-up. Our battery backup will not power the credit & debit scanners. After about 5 minutes of this, the Boss comes to the register and explains again- Finally he says: Say, I recognize you- you work at Local Bank- they closed because of the power outage right? You can use your Oregon Trail card at the ATM there and get cash to pay for your groceries- you call OT to get authorization. She says, well I already tried that and the ATM machine isn't on battery backup. BINGO! You know, she still didn't get it. At the bank, their monitors were NOT connected to battery backup. She thought that if the monitor is on, then everything is on. Oregon Trail will not authorize payment over the phone to anyone EXCEPT the card holder. We have to take the card holder to the office upstairs to make the phone call. 98% of the OT cards refuse to give us their pin. (with all the other numbers we have to remember- we won't remember yours) With no power, no lights upstairs, have to use flashlights and the store owners didn't want to risk it- insurance reasons.

Is a vacuum cleaner in the technology department? I took a call at the Hardware store from an extremely agitated, irate customer. He had been in earlier, tested several of the vacuums. He didn't want a "floor" model, so we got one in a box, put it together for him and sent him home. When he finally shut up long enough for me to talk I asked him: ME: What is the problem. HIM: The machine just won't suck. ME: Does it turn on at all? HIM: Yes, but it doesn't suck- it just makes noise. ME: Turn it on so I can hear the kind of noise HIM: Turns it on, sounds normal to me. HIM: It just isn't sucking- whine, whine, high pitched whine. ME: Do you see the cord on the back of the handle of the vacuum? HIM: Yes. ME: Follow it down and see if it got unplugged from the back of the vacuum. HIM: {high pitched whiney voice) I have it plugged into the wall, where the electricity is- do you mean it has to plugged in twice? ME: No, but the power bar and the vacuuming part need to have the electricity get to it. So is it plugged in? HIM: Well, I am looking, ah, oh, . . . (the machine had been running and it changed in pitch- the suck part had been engaged) c l i c k. He hung up on me. Now, the funniest part was, he was talking so loud that I had the phone away from my ear and the cashiers & my Boss heard the entire conversation- when he abruptly hung up- it was so funny. Took us quite a while to quit the giggles.

The Boss's panasonic was way newer than the customers. At the store we only sold RCA & Sony's. In the Boss's guest room she had a Panasonic that her grandchildren gave her as a christmas gift- it was only 2 years old.

Would dipping the cans in paraffin help or would it just invite bugs? Mom poured paraffin on top of the jams and jellies, then covered the jars with a square of foil tied with string dipped in paraffin. When she ran out of string in a pinch she tried waxed dental floss- as long as you don't saw back & forth too much when your tie it, that works great too.

Mirkwood, I know from the other forum that you are super into preparedness, etc., and have a question for you. I am considering purchasing whole grain wheat through the Church. In the past when I purchased whole grains from Co-ops and at the local Fred Meyer store there were weevils in the grain. I never purchased more than 10 #'s of grain at a time, thus I was able to put it all in the freezer to kill the weevils. Then I picked through the grain to get the dead weevils out(after 2 hours, I lost my squeamishness and just wished that freezing would turn the bugs fluorescent orange so I could find them better & quicker!) I am curious about if I order a case of #10 cans of whole grain does it actually come in the cans, or in buckets/boxes and then I have to can it? I am prepared to vacuum seal most anything for long term storage. I already vacuum seal boxes of Rice-A-Roni, spaghetti, lasagna, macaroni, pasta, Hamburger/Tuna/Chicken Helper, etc. Bugs & vermin eat through the cardboard and thin, flimsy plastic packaging. I then store the vacuumed sealed packages in buckets or plastic totes, as they don't stack worth a darn!

You did say technology right? I worked in a True Value Hardware store for nearly 9 years. We had an elderly woman come in to buy an oversize remote universal control for her TV. She said her TV was a Panasonic, so I made sure the remote was compatible. The next day she came in with the remote, it wouldn't work. So the boss took it to her home, she had a Panasonic, got it to work, and sent the customer home. She came right back- she was so mad - I suggested that perhaps she may need to clean off the area on the TV where the remote triggers the control. I showed her the red "eye" on another TV, told her what to clean it with and sent her home. Not 20 minutes later she was back, Now we have myself, the boss, boss's husband and the two cashier's involved. Finally someone asks her to please bring in her old remote (thinking perhaps it is just the batteries that need to be replaced or the infrared "eye' on the remote needs cleaning). She gives us a blank look, then a puzzled look. Never had a remote- she is just tired of getting up and down to change channels and adjust the volume! We sold her a new TV- and the boss's husband delivered it, AND made sure the extra large remote worked!

Welcome, I know you from another forum too -- glad to have you here.

Do you mean that you will be using consecrated oil to bless with? Or am I misreading you?