Next Step

Even though you had planned to start your food storage as soon as your debt was paid off—you had thought to do it little by little. However, with Dallas being ground zero for the Ebola virus, you got caught up in the frenzied, scared talk going around. So the first step to food storage is:

1. Freak out. Make sure you tell your husband you are having nightmares. He'll probably get on board.

2. Do research on the basic, life sustaining foods. Realize you probably won't eat some of it. Ever. Powdered milk? Bleck.

3. Go to Costco and buy a A LOT OF IT. (But you make sure you go on a Saturday for all the free food samples. Always.)

4. Buy out all 250 mylar bags from the Home Storage Center. And think "neener neener" in your head because you just bought the whole supply available.

5. Prep your bags by labeling them.

6. Prep your jars by washing them. Wonder to yourself…am I becoming a "Prepper?" That could be scary expensive.

7. Invite a friend over and have a treat ready to eat while working.

8. Help one another fill each other's bags and seal them with goodness inside:
110 lbs. of flour.
125 lbs. of sugar. 
100 lbs. of rice. 
50ish lbs. of oats. 
4 bags powdered milk

25 lbs. beans

25 lbs. steel cut oats

9. Remember the Food Saver your mother-in-law gave you? But you didn't understand what it was for? After watching a few YouTube videos on dry canning it hit you that you have the tool for that! Now don't you feel sheepish for even considering letting it go?

10. So the next step is to dry can and seal into jars:
chia seeds
variety of herbs in bulk
aluminum free baking powder
and help your friend can her M&M's (all the time wishing you'd thought of that.)

11. After four hours step back and look at all your spoils. You can't keep your eyes off the pillowy,  shiny bags of food (face it you like sparkly things.) But you are also so proud of all that work. (Your new job paid for it after all.)

12. Cross your fingers that the oxygen absorbers do their work, or you'll have to re-do EVERYTHING.

13. Realize you now have to find a place to store all of this. Plus, you're not even close to having all the different varieties of food you should.

14. Go to bed satisfied and begin wondering how long the shelf life for Nutella, chocolate, and cookie butter is.

So, do you want to know the REAL reason I'm doing all this? Click here.

Our church is VERY big on emergency preparedness and has been for years. We are constantly advised to prepare against the hard times or calamity—because they do and will come. Good advice! Every time I read lessons given on this topic it ALWAYS says to have a food and financial reserve, food and financial reserve, food AND financial reserve. They are BOTH important. I am SO GLAD we have a plan for both and the plan is working for us. It's so awesome to witness! I just want EVERYBODY to get on board!

Deep Sea Fishing

He left me again. To fish. Again. And then Adam sent this image from the condo just to rub it in.

The company woke early for their chartered excursion to catch the little fish to bait the big fish.
The guy next to Adam in the orange is Adam's boss. He's a very good man.

Below the red fish are Mingos (can't remember the others). They're all filets with no skin so I'm not sure which is which when I open my freezer.

Adam can't remember the name for this one below: (do we deserve to eat the fish if we can't name  them?)

The catch of the day. That's A LOT of fish. You should see my freezer. Fish stew anyone?

Adam fought a large fish for quite a while, going from one side of the boat to the other. I've sped up part of the process in the video. Password: fighter DeepSea2 from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

The fish from the video is a Mackerel. We get to eat this one because we know its name. Heh.

Concert at the WinStar Casino

The WinStar Casino (photo credit here) is just across the Texas border, it boasts the largest casino in the world and I believe them. Adam, the Marlex's, and I drove out there to attend…

...you guessed it! Another concert! WOOOO! I'm not going to say who it was…let's see if you can guess by the time this video is over. (I know I couldn't, some of the songs are familiar though. I guess I'm not old enough heh heh.)

Password: secretone
Secret1 from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Did you scroll down to cheat?

It was very crowded, and loud, and way fun!

The song is totally bastardized to get it into the clip below, but I don't care! I just wanted to capture the evening.
Password: theseeds
Sewing from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.
After that we HAD to go eat at the all-you-can eat buffet—because that's what you do at a casino. Eat. REAL CRAB! So yummy. And of course…three desserts…or more….
Thanks to Marla and Lex for the fun treat!

It's NOT About the Journey, It's About the Destination

Preface:
A couple of month ago I went home for a visit to be with my parents and help out with some things. Then, on the way to the airport I did something STUPID. I sat facing Dad while we talked and made myself carsick.

By the time we reached the airport I was facing forward, unable to talk and shaky. I couldn't even go to my terminal. I had to stop moving NOW. It was terrible. How would I survive the day?

And then the flight. With a layover, where I couldn't even disembark during our time on the ground, not even soda helped. The man next to me looked worried for me and pointed his air toward me. I am so thankful for the kindness of strangers.

Upon disembarking in Austin, TX, I knew Marla, Lex and Adam had driven several hours to meet me at the airport. We were all on our way to a lake house in Center Point, TX (kind of close to San Antonio). Our friends Jeannette and Jeff had rented a vacation home for the week and invited us to come and stay for the weekend and enjoy the Center Pointe Lake on the Guadalpe River with them.

But I couldn't meet them when I got off the plane. I carefully shuffled toward a bathroom stall and locked myself in, trying to calm my tummy and head down until I got a text from Adam "Are you here?"

I will speed up the story and say the rest of the drive was on curvy roads! We had to pull over so I could escape and walk a bit. When we finally arrived (it was well after dark)  I have never been so thankful stop moving in ALL MY LIFE. NEVER.

Lesson: USE DRAMAMINE. Forget soda and crackers. It's pressure point bracelets and drugs for me next time. It didn't even cross my mind to get some until the trip was almost over. (Moan…)

The next morning we woke up and walked out onto the deck were greeted by this—and it was LOVELY. I KNEW the day was going to be drastically different from the day before. And it was. Oh how it was.

I can't believe little ole us got invited to the big kid hang out! What a day. We stayed in the water most of the time. Jeannette made awesome food. It was calm. This is the kind of thing I like. A small, good group of friends, and time spent where it's beautiful. It feeds my soul.

I am grateful for the memories we'll have of this trip. I am grateful for friends who are so kind and open to sharing their vacation with us! This trip will not be forgotten.

Here's a video of some of the fun. Password: RiverLake
Lake from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.