Monday June 19

[snowball]

It's been cold here today even turned the pellet stove on... well need to remember to turn it down tonight... I did get my blankets put away and flipped through lots of women's worlds to see if any recipes I want to take out... found a few but then I rarely if ever use them... but some of them look so good...
and got the books I read in May recorded and put in the box... still have some stuff on the bed that I need to take care of... you know that moving stuff from one spot to the other now needs to find a new home...
found some yarn that I might make a hat for great grand son I think without the flower on the hat that perhaps the same pattern would work for him... talked with my grandson's wife and she said he loves hats is always taking whomever he can... I mentioned last night on chat that I was thinking of making him one... can't remember the comment I made about it my sister thought that I should ask I would have been ok .. I need to find a hook that might make the pattern be smaller... dd is on her way home from WA hope she has a safe trip I visited with her for a half hour or so blue tooth is a good thing... she didn't call me so guess she didn't get overly tired... she was going to call if she did so we could keep her alert..
it sounds like everyone is busy or thinking about being busy
you all have a good day
sheila
Barbie my daughter was mentioning that she has been have pain in her wrists and her daughter in law sister who is a massage therapist recommends have massaging done of the wrist might look into that

[Cudedog]

I looked for a styrofoam cooler to put my cold stuff in but they didn't have any. Will have to look for a soft-sided cooler that is big enough for what I usually buy. Now I just pack all the frozen and dairy stuff together in one bag to keep each other cool and that works pretty good.

Barbie, I have discovered that for short periods (like for a run from the grocery store to home) a nice bath towel will do the job very well.

Just get a cardboard box of your preferred size, put in a bath towel (or two!) unfolded, with the ends of the towel draping over the sides of the box, along with a spare folded towel.

Bring the towel box and spare towel with you into the store - so that they can get/stay cool - then pack your cold/frozen items in the box at the checkout, and then drape the hanging sides of the towel over the box. Maybe even put another - and folded - towel on top.

When you get out to your car put the spare folded towel on the hot car seat, and put the towel box on top of this folded towel.

This method works surprisingly well, and should get your cold items still cold, and your frozen items still frozen home, if you can get back home in a half hour or so.

Anne

[Pooker]

Couple of thoughts on the shopping, keeping things cold problem: I have a variety of methods - living where summers are in 100's you have to get creative. We've been lucky so far this year, but I bet we'll get blindsided soon. Anyway, I have 3 sizes of soft sided coolers, but I have discovered it's always smart to just bring the largest one. I keep a supply of frozen individual waters in my freezer and drop a couple into my cooler when I head off to shop. It not only works as an icy to keep everything cold, but as they thaw you have cold drinking water for your shopping trip, too!

I also keep two of the blue icy things in my freezer for routine shopping trips when I don't have individual water bottles. They are probably old enough to vote, but they still work well. The foil freezer bags that the supermarkets sell work okay, but most are not flat on the bottom so it limits packing. But I have one of those in my car, too, just in case.

Another trick. Bubble wrap is a great insulator. We even have it in our dollar stores. Keep a roll or two in the car and if you have forgotten your cooler you can line a shopping bag with the bubble wrap - or wrap individual frozen items with it. The wrapped frozen things keep each other cold. I don't usually carry any of these solutions into the store with me - I try to get all frozen stuff together when bagged and repack it into the cooler. Doesn't take long to do.

We had a friend in Atlanta who had what appeared to be the world's largest portable cooler. It was one of those rigid ones and fit wall-to-wall across the back of his large trunk and he kept it there all summer, using the back seat for everything else. I noticed he was able to often just pack the groceries still in the bags in this cooler. Made it easier to unpack at home because he couldn't have managed taking that sucker out of the trunk!

I know the best solution is to shop more often and do all your shopping at the closest store. Can't seem to make myself do that because there's always something that no one store carries!

Evie

[BarbaraRose]

Thanks for the cooler suggestions! Lots of good ideas! Yes, Evie, the freezer bags I have bought from WM are so flat that not much fits inside of them. With the horrid heat out here in the summer and the inside of the car being into the 130*+, it doesn't take long for things to thaw or melt. Luckily, the WM I shop at is only about 10 minutes from home. Will let you know what I end up doing. (You would think with this being my 5th summer here, that I would have come up with a solution by now! )

[snowball]

when I'm in AZ I keep one of those insulated bags that you can get from the store suppose to keep stuff cool for 4 hours in the truck ....you can pack quite a bit into them I don't think I put gallon containers in it but did put the more perishable stuff in it... and often put up from with the A/C could be more direct but then I wasn't usually there too long after it became a 100+
sheila