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Christmas Layoff: Final Week
Dec. 29th, 2022 04:26 pmWoke up the day after Christmas feeling a little disoriented, lol.
But there is still 2023 to look forward to (hopefully)!
I vacuumed up pine needles, cookie crumbs, and shreds of wrapping paper while Jameson went to the gym.
Started to dust but got bored with it and switched to selling my medium-sized Tootsie jacket in the tour chat instead.
Someone wanted it immediately, which was great!
Then I did a little packing for tour, mostly making room for Christmas candy and seeing what needs to be replenished.
When Jameson got back I had lunch and went to Target, hoping to find heavy cream for the batch of caramels I still need to make for the Tootsie band. No cream. No cream at Target, two Publix's, ALDI, or Walmart.
Needless to say I got home a lot later than planned and with no cream.
Jumped on Instacart, and had it by 8pm from Sprouts.
Cost a little extra, but it would have been a 90-minute round trip, so to me the order was well worth it.
Leftovers, gaming, and anime for dinner.
------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, breakfast and having a look at my plants.
Tropical plants don't do well with sudden freezes, and our lows of 29F over the past two days have wilted my bananas.
They'll be ok, they've recovered from such before.
The vanilla surprisingly looks OK.
I had brought my little Meyer lemon indoors so the fruit wouldn't be damaged by frost, but put it back outside last night as it wasn't supposed to get below 40F. And you know what, I think these lemons are ready to use. They have just turned golden-yellow. Go figure!
Now I have to come up with a use for them before I leave on New Years Day.
They *might* keep in the fridge for the month I'm gone.
I could make a chicken picatta or lemony pasta, but that only uses like a fraction of a lemon.
And we are inundated with desserts and treats, no point making more.
Considered lemon curd, but that is a bit more involved (and potentially not safe for water bath canning) than I would like right now.
I need something simple and quick and shelf-stable.
I think I'll have to do a marmalade.
Anyway, first thing's first, and that's making the caramels for the band.
It took about an hour, then I had lunch and took myself for a walk because it was finally warm enough to do so again.
When I got back, learning how to use my new video recorder and enjoying some hazelnuts for a snack.
My sister Raven called...her apartment in NYC flooded over Christmas, and part of her ceiling has fallen in.
She's lost a lot of belongings, especially furniture and clothing.
(She sent pics but I don't want to share without her permission)
I offered for her to come stay here or to send her money, but the frustrating thing is there's not a lot she can do other than salvage what she can and take care of herself while waiting to file a claim. And that's going to be $$$ and a lot of her time until this is all resolved and she is compensated. I wish there were something I could do to fix this for her, instead of lamely offering a bedroom or a handful of money.
Well. That's what's up.
We're down to the last of the leftovers, so ordered Mexican and had a quiet stay-in day.
Tomorrow I will go look for canning supplies at my least favorite place, Walmart.
--------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, I went out and looked at the lemons one more time to make sure I'm not crazy and they are in fact ready to use.
Yep, it's now or never.
I pulled them off the tree. Two of them came away easily with a little twist (another way to tell they're totally ready), one needed to be cut.
They are three different sizes this year: Orange-Sized, Baseball-Sized, and Suspiciously Large Lemon-Sized.
This makes it a bit difficult to guess how many equal out to "four medium Meyer lemons" in the recipe I'm using.
But I think the softball-sized one certainly counts as two, and the others are maybe 1.5 lemons?
I'll probably start with the two largest and reserve the smallest for as-needed.
Off to Walmart for the supplies. I have four 4oz canning jars already, but this recipe makes five cups so I bought a box of twelve.
A 10"-wide pot, because the one we have leeches minerals onto my cans and I don't like that.
Some pectin, two oranges, and a carton of raspberries, because I found a recipe for "sunshine jam" rather than straight lemon.
Back home I put everything away. Marmalade will happen tomorrow...for today I need to focus on cutting and wrapping the caramels, which takes up to two hours. Boooooo. But I sure am pleased with how they look.
Eventually that was done. Jameson got home from his haircut, and I went for a walk because now it's 70F.
Our HelloFresh delivery didn't show so we ordered Italian and had a chill night.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, I woke up excited to try making marmalade!
( Marmalade Things )
While the cans cooled Jameson and I went for a walk. It was mid-70s and very nice.
I feel sad that I have to leave again in just three days :(
We are only performing for three weeks before the next break, so at least I can look forward to seeing him again quite soon.
Back home we both showered and relaxed.
Tonight is a New Year's party at Jameson's friend's house, one last little bash before 2023.
Over the next few days I'll start seriously packing and cleaning to leave, and get myself back into "tour mode".
It really has been a lovely layoff, and I'm grateful.
But there is still 2023 to look forward to (hopefully)!
I vacuumed up pine needles, cookie crumbs, and shreds of wrapping paper while Jameson went to the gym.
Started to dust but got bored with it and switched to selling my medium-sized Tootsie jacket in the tour chat instead.
Someone wanted it immediately, which was great!
Then I did a little packing for tour, mostly making room for Christmas candy and seeing what needs to be replenished.
When Jameson got back I had lunch and went to Target, hoping to find heavy cream for the batch of caramels I still need to make for the Tootsie band. No cream. No cream at Target, two Publix's, ALDI, or Walmart.
Needless to say I got home a lot later than planned and with no cream.
Jumped on Instacart, and had it by 8pm from Sprouts.
Cost a little extra, but it would have been a 90-minute round trip, so to me the order was well worth it.
Leftovers, gaming, and anime for dinner.
------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, breakfast and having a look at my plants.
Tropical plants don't do well with sudden freezes, and our lows of 29F over the past two days have wilted my bananas.
They'll be ok, they've recovered from such before.
The vanilla surprisingly looks OK.
I had brought my little Meyer lemon indoors so the fruit wouldn't be damaged by frost, but put it back outside last night as it wasn't supposed to get below 40F. And you know what, I think these lemons are ready to use. They have just turned golden-yellow. Go figure!
Now I have to come up with a use for them before I leave on New Years Day.
They *might* keep in the fridge for the month I'm gone.
I could make a chicken picatta or lemony pasta, but that only uses like a fraction of a lemon.
And we are inundated with desserts and treats, no point making more.
Considered lemon curd, but that is a bit more involved (and potentially not safe for water bath canning) than I would like right now.
I need something simple and quick and shelf-stable.
I think I'll have to do a marmalade.
Anyway, first thing's first, and that's making the caramels for the band.
It took about an hour, then I had lunch and took myself for a walk because it was finally warm enough to do so again.
When I got back, learning how to use my new video recorder and enjoying some hazelnuts for a snack.
My sister Raven called...her apartment in NYC flooded over Christmas, and part of her ceiling has fallen in.
She's lost a lot of belongings, especially furniture and clothing.
(She sent pics but I don't want to share without her permission)
I offered for her to come stay here or to send her money, but the frustrating thing is there's not a lot she can do other than salvage what she can and take care of herself while waiting to file a claim. And that's going to be $$$ and a lot of her time until this is all resolved and she is compensated. I wish there were something I could do to fix this for her, instead of lamely offering a bedroom or a handful of money.
Well. That's what's up.
We're down to the last of the leftovers, so ordered Mexican and had a quiet stay-in day.
Tomorrow I will go look for canning supplies at my least favorite place, Walmart.
--------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, I went out and looked at the lemons one more time to make sure I'm not crazy and they are in fact ready to use.
Yep, it's now or never.
I pulled them off the tree. Two of them came away easily with a little twist (another way to tell they're totally ready), one needed to be cut.
They are three different sizes this year: Orange-Sized, Baseball-Sized, and Suspiciously Large Lemon-Sized.
This makes it a bit difficult to guess how many equal out to "four medium Meyer lemons" in the recipe I'm using.
But I think the softball-sized one certainly counts as two, and the others are maybe 1.5 lemons?
I'll probably start with the two largest and reserve the smallest for as-needed.
Off to Walmart for the supplies. I have four 4oz canning jars already, but this recipe makes five cups so I bought a box of twelve.
A 10"-wide pot, because the one we have leeches minerals onto my cans and I don't like that.
Some pectin, two oranges, and a carton of raspberries, because I found a recipe for "sunshine jam" rather than straight lemon.
Back home I put everything away. Marmalade will happen tomorrow...for today I need to focus on cutting and wrapping the caramels, which takes up to two hours. Boooooo. But I sure am pleased with how they look.
Eventually that was done. Jameson got home from his haircut, and I went for a walk because now it's 70F.
Our HelloFresh delivery didn't show so we ordered Italian and had a chill night.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, I woke up excited to try making marmalade!
( Marmalade Things )
While the cans cooled Jameson and I went for a walk. It was mid-70s and very nice.
I feel sad that I have to leave again in just three days :(
We are only performing for three weeks before the next break, so at least I can look forward to seeing him again quite soon.
Back home we both showered and relaxed.
Tonight is a New Year's party at Jameson's friend's house, one last little bash before 2023.
Over the next few days I'll start seriously packing and cleaning to leave, and get myself back into "tour mode".
It really has been a lovely layoff, and I'm grateful.
