What now!

I guess that is where I am at. I have been cleaning like a fiend this past week. Not only to clean up after our nightly visitor… but to make sure that they didn’t nest in my house. Which I can say that they did not. YEAH!!! I still have to get out to where the garden use to be and dismantle the raised beds. The dirt will be used to re-grade that side of the house. I’m not sure what I am going to do with the tires just yet. There a few other things out side that need attention. That will happen next week. Still working on the house. Have I ever told you guys just how much I hate cleaning. I can clean, I know how. I just hate it. I believe that once I bust my butt to clean it…. it ought to stay that way for awhile. Well, as you all know with a hubby, 3 kids, 2 cats, a dog and a rabbit…. nothing stays that way for long. One of the things that I have been doing this week is getting rid of stuff. The salvation army is very happy, the garbage men won’t be… LOL! I have gotten hate mail from them before. It is a new company though…. I wonder!

I have been working on the kefir. It is a little bit to sour. Not sure what I am doing wrong. It is still edible just a bit to sour for me. So tonight I took a can of peaches and some frozen strawberries and blended them. Now all I have to do is mix some of the fruit and kefir in the mornings. This way I can still drink it but I don’t have to use the blender and wake the whole house. Hopefully, it will taste similar to the flavored kefir in the stores. I got some cucumbers and peppers dehydrated this week. With getting our produce box today I have a ton more stuff to do put up.

Oh, I can’t believe I forgot to share this. I made the lacto-fermented salsa. I didn’t have any gloves to I seeded the jalapenos bare handed. On my right hand the thumb and index finger and the left thumb burned till the next day. I used milk, yogurt, scrubbed with a toothbrush and soap, soaked my hands in ice water and shoved burn cream under my nails. Nothing helped. Please use me as an example wear gloves when cleaning hot peppers.

My eyes are feeling better today. Still itchy though. The last time I had pink eye I was like 14. Funny thing is the kids haven’t even started school yet… and no I haven’t been playing with cows even though it would be cool to do that. No cow so the goat will have to substitute LOL!!!  Should be back to my old self in a couple days. Looking forward to that… I know it was a groaner…

Keeping everyone on the Eastern Seaboard in my prayers! Post when you can to let us know your alright!

Yart

Dreams Put on Hold

We found out what our nightly intruder was. I’m not going to say what it was. But I will say that the wood pile has been given away. The compost bin has been emptied and cleaned out. The garden is gone. I can’t allow any hiding places or a free buffet. The city apparently knew that the area was having critter problems, because upon a through investigation of our yard we found an industrial trap set up at our fence line in the alley. Thanks for telling us. But now we have doubled our determination to get out of this area. I want to cry and hold my breath and say that it just isn’t fair. The truth of the matter is that we know that Grim is capable of splitting wood and I grow a mean garden. This has been a learning experience for us. We value that, we truly do.

The time has come for this family of 5 to get out act together and come up with a down payment for a new place and try to sell ours in the process. The powers that be have been pushing us in this direction for a couple of years but we didn’t want to listen. We were comfortable here. This was the last straw in my books. I grew up in the ghetto and never had this problem. I’ll be damned living in a nice quite neighborhood if I am going to deal with it.

Country here we come sometime in the near future!

With being said, I am still doing what I can here to feed us. The second batch of fermented pickles froze in the stupid fridge so I don’t know if they turned out or not. We will be trying the cortido in the next day or two. I will be working on fermented salsa tonight. I processed 3 cantaloupe and 1 watermelon. Oh, I stopped and picked a almost 2 pounds of purple hull peas. Half are fresh and the other half were already dry. How cool is that. They are shelled, with the help of the monsters. I will be freezing the fresh and the dry will go into fall and winter soups. I’m hoping to get back to the farm and get more peas and get a couple bushels of tomatoes. Oh, and I have pictures of the tomatoes that I already got done! I almost forgot I have kefir going right now! My first batch that I could use was ready today. But I didn’t have time to get to it, so into the fridge it went. I will be making smoothies for the monsters tomorrow, so having a little bit more will be a good thing.

Around the house ordinary news. Grim and I got the old side by side fixed up. The one side needed a new bottom… done and one of the drawers needed to be glued back together… done! The monsters popped a breaker and now I have no power to several plugs and two of the bedroom lights don’t work… Need to wait for Grim to get home from work to pop it back into place. Yes, I can do it…. I just need to get a ladder and it is in the wall and ….. well, I’m not doing it. We had some problems with a couple of window screens so those got fixed today… gotta love duct tape!

Yart

Just an update

Yesterday I took the entire fridge apart and cleaned it. Boy oh boy does it sparkle now. I do that at least once a year. I do spot cleaning as needed but the deep down cleaning, yep that’s a once a year job. I should have taken pictures but didn’t think about it until right now. As for right now, I am waiting for the repairman to come. It is the 12-5 waiting game. Grim, even though he is at work is anxiously waiting to go grocery shopping tonight. We don’t need much, milk, eggs, lunchmeat, I might even pick up some of the Hebrew national hotdogs. Teenage monster has never been a fan of hotdogs but those she likes. I like the fact that they have nothing in them. We need to move ever thing out of the mini-fridge to the big one once it is fixed.

I have been cleaning all day. I thought I did enough of that before we left to go camping. But alas it is a never ending job. I have a ton of produce to put up once my kitchen is put back together. I completely missed out on black and blue berries & raspberries. I need to get all the tomatoes, corn, peppers, potatoes, squash, pumpkin and apples. That way the pantry will be rounded out nicely. So far I have gotten, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, cherries, apricots put up into jams and jellies. I blanched & froze the sugar peas. I dehydrated zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, cucumbers and celery.

Even though fall is still like a month away as far as the calendar goes, I’m thinking mother nature has different plans.

Yart

Sunny and Cold

Well, not really like 50's, but it is windy and so it's cold... LOL! But oh, does my laundry smell so fresh and clean. I love being able to hang it outside. Especially, since this now beings the outside season. I hit Meijer's today and got 192 new clothespins... They were on sale for $2.97 a pack ( I got 2). Over the winter I went back to using Gain for washing the clothes. The homemade stuff works ok.... But we felt that it just didn't work for the basement and winter. I will go back to making it once I use up the Gain.

I got outside yesterday and cleaned out the pots of mint. The dead from last year. I leave the growth to help protect from the winter. So far only the apple and the spearmint aren't showing any signs of life. The orange, pineapple, chocolate mint and the lemon balm are doing good. Plus, the catnip I thought I killed last year, is already up. I love pluses! I cleaned out the chives. I think this year I need to get another packet of seeds. They just don't want to fill out the planter.

More good news, my 5 type apple has real leaves on it and the 4 type pear (still in pot) is budding. The rhubarb is up and really red. I hope that I can get some this year. The last two years it went to seed on me. And by it doing that the stalks were nasty. Always room for hope!! Still waiting on the blueberries to show some sign of life. The strawberries are coming in nicely. Last year I think I got almost 2 quarts. I think I should get that much again. Every little bit is a little bit I don't have to buy.

I was going to re organize the garden this year.... But I just got one of those feelings. So I will leave it as it is for this year. I will probably be kicking myself next year for having waited. If we need to get the basement walls done (still in question) then I will have to rip it out anyways.

My tomatoe seedlings are doing really well. As are the pumpkin seedlings. Not sure what I am else I'm going to plant. Lettuce, spinach, chard, beans (teepee), maybe peas. No peppers or eggplant for this year though. They did really well for the last two years and I have more then enough frozen. Not doing potatoes or onions either. They do ok, but they take up a lot of space that I can use for other things. I will plant sunflowers again this year. And maybe the mice won't get them before I can get them to the birds. Damn garage mice!

Gotta Run,
Yart

Waiting on Spring

Ok, I am so done with winter... It can go away and not come back till later in the year! I want spring.... This cold is for the birds. Well, not even them.... the poor things aren't even anywhere to be seen. The squirrels are still really fat. This is not a good sign. We are in the middle of Feb and the squirrels are still fat! They should be getting skinny in anticipation for the warmer weather. And with this not happening, that means that we are going to be in winter for a lot longer!!! GRRRRRRRRRRR!

I have been back and forth to the gym. My treadmill here at the house is also getting a ton of use. Grim, has had the flu most of last week. He is feeling better but hasn't got back to the gym yet. Maybe tomorrow. I have been losing weight. I'm not going to weigh myself this week though. You ladies all understand about water gain! So next week we will see how much I have lost.

Today I made it to 60 minutes on the treadmill. Last night the monsters did some cleaning. They found workout videos that I didn't remember buying. One of them is the Biggest Loser Workout. And guess what I did last night. You betcha, I did 50 minutes of video. I was so tired, I barely kept my eyes open to watch the new Hawaii 5 0. There was also a yoga and belly dancing video. Will definately, be doing them in the near future.


I made oven baked chicken strips with panko crumbs and oven baked sweet potato medallions. Let me say that everyone gave me that look of you got to be kidding me. But they ate and were full. So my mission was successful! I paired it with a salad. Most meals are paired with salad now. I have stopped using dressing. I figure that if I am eating 2 cups of salad...... 2 tbsp of dressing (that I can't taste because of the size of the salad) isn't worth the calories. Really, it isn't so bad.


Gotta Run
Yart

Its over

Yeah! LOL! The gifts have all been opened and the trash all tossed out. The leftovers are in the fridge and most of us have belly aches from eating so much. Santa was very good to the monsters. He didn't disappoint me either. I got a counter top composter, all the attachments for my kitchen aid mixer... (no more hand pureeing for me), I also got a steam juicer....(now I need to find out how to use it). Grim also got me a new wedding ring.... my old one was to small and was causing me alot of pain. He took it upon himself to order it for me.... I am so happy with it. It doesn't have a stone but it does have the eternity symbol on the top of it... I will get pictures.... I've just been busy cleaning and cooking.

Today and tomorrow are lazy days. Leftovers and jammies! And of course gun fire..... LOL! The monsters got nerf suction cup guns.... so they are shooting everything and everyone. The only one that is safe is me. I didn't get one so they know I'm not part of the game. Its a good thing to, cause two got shot in the face yesterday. Now they all have safety glasses. Those have been the hit of the season.... The Wii games have only been just opened. I love when a plan comes together.

It has been decided that we will be staying home for new year's eve this year. Everyone has been invited to come here. It will be more of a relaxed time. We are going to move the tv out of my room into the dining room and hook the Wii to it. So we will be playing Wii and having a great time. I'm going to make meatballs and mash taters, veggie tray and dip, cheese ball and crackers. I'm asking everyone to bring something. Usually, I don't ask anyone to bring things. So this is a switch. But this is also the first time I've hosted a New year's eve party. I think we will have fun. The monsters will be at my mom's house and she will be here. LOL!

We have friends coming in from out of state to visit on Tuesday. I'm not sure what I'm going to serve them. I might just go out and get broasted chicken from the local butcher. That actually doesn't sound to bad. I'm going to have 10 people here. But it will be nice to see them.... The one is my oldest monsters godmother. And the other is my mother in laws goddaughter.... LOL! I know, I know.....

Well, those leftovers are calling to me.....

Gotta Run,

Yart

Feeling better

Now that the silly season is upon us what to do....?!? Most of my shopping is done. The house is decorated. I still have to can up the turkey broth and leftover turkey. Never got around to it the other day. I went shopping for the pantry again today. It is filling out nicely. Still some holes but we are getting there. Finally, went and worked out again. I feel almost dead... LOL! I really pushed myself to finish the workout. I finished the third hat. Yeah! Now there are 3 more hats sitting waiting for me to do something with them. I know.... I really need to get my butt in gear and post everything on etsy. Did I tell you I even bought a foam head. That way I didn't scare anyone with my head in the pictures...teehehe! If you didn't notice I'm just rambling. I felt compelled to type, but I really don't have anything to say.

Tomorrow Grim and I go back to the dentist. This will be my last visit for the year. Grim is getting a cleaning and work done. It may be his last visit for the year also... LOL! The monsters will be getting appointments for after the first of the year. Then we can all be up to date with the dental.

I decided that it was high time to show off some pictures. So out comes the camera and I start to download all 323 pictures..... Little did I remember that I allowed the oldest ones use of my camera on a road trip we took back in October. They took a whopping 243 pictures. Most were blurry as we were driving. But I would like to share a few other photos.

 A storm was moving in this day... But oh, the colors were just brilliant!

 Here were our pumpkins!

 Yep, those are Indian Corn Cupcakes.

 Baklava....First attempt. Everyone who had some said it tasted just like baklava!

And here are the pies that Teenage monster and I made.

Well, its getting late. And I need to make sure I get to the gym in the morning.

Gotta Run,

Yart

Who woulda thunk it

This weekend wasn't as quite as I would have liked it to have been. First I found a travel trailer that I want.... So I called my local city ordinance officer.... after playing phone tag I was able to get clarification on storing it in my driveway behind the house. But it was to late to go to the bank and call for an appointment (found on craigslist).... I want to have the cash in hand, so that way if it is decided to buy it, it can be done right away. Now that is on the agenda for next weekend.... that is if the people who own it still own it.

Like I said yesterday band monster had an all day practice. And we had to take the littlest monsters to bowling. But since Grim can't bowl, we left Picky monster at the alley and we went yard saling..... Really the middle of October, I'm yard saling. I actually went to more yesterday then I did all summer. I got a ton of really kewl stuff. I got a vintage embroidered blanket, a newer steamer trunk, 2 small Thermos's, 9 vintage aprons, several purses/bags, some glassware, a spice rack, 2 barbies, clothes for the monsters, dress boots for Mouthy, oh and a 100% silk scarf for a dime. Had tons of fun! I am jumping the gun again and went ahead and picked a color for the inside of the trailer....Blues... So I was really looking for stuff for the trailer..... Didn't really find anything though.... The fates didn't smile on me.... LOL!

We went to see Band monsters performance last night. Then we went to the store so I could pick up some stuff to get the tea party started. I worked on a few things last night. But the rest was done today. Man was it time consuming.... Each monster helped out with something. Everyone was drooling and chomping at the bit to help eat the goodies...... But I had to do the photo shoot first.... LOL! I love the Internet..... I have found so many like minded people..... In the real world not so much! If I was to tell real world people that I was hosting an online tea party for Halloween they would think I was crazy..... But there are a lot of people who have signed up to take part in it..... It is so good not to feel all alone in the world......Ahhhhhhhh! LOL!

Well, tomorrow back to the grind.... monsters have school, Grim has therapy and I, not to sure what I'll be doing but I guarantee that it won't be boring!

Gotta Run,

Yart

Tuesdays Ramblings

Not to much fall like or even Halloweeny type stuff happened today. I got up and took the monsters to school. Then I came home and messed with the computer. A friend stopped by and then the 3 of us went and looked at some forclosed with him. Then went and got the monsters from school. We came home everyone ate. I took band monster to practice. An hour and a half later I sat in the parking lot waiting to take her to the competion. It was very local so instead of getting busses they had us drive the kids. So now I'm waiting for a call to go and get her. Oh, I got all the jars washed off and in the process of heading down to the pantry.

I got a Halloween sign and it says " A witch lives here with her little monsters". I thought that was just the cutest thing. I have it hanging outside the front door so everyone can see. I have a picture..... yep on the camera.... nope not uploaded yet.... I know bad blogger.... LOL! I did add a Halloween countdown display on the blog. I thought it was very kewl. One of the monsters pulled out all the boxes of decorations while I was at Bingo last night. That was so nice of her to do that for me. Now I just need to get the energy to put it all up.

Grim and I have gotten a hair brained idea....... Drum Roll.... LOL! First some background. We have a 1967 Chevy Malibu. It is baby blue and white. About two years ago we rebuilt the motor and did some other stuff to it. Grim had it up for sale for awhile with no real interest. We don't have to sell the car.... It was just one of those things taking up room in the garage and he thought eh, what the hell. Since the accident we have decided not to sell it. So now we have decided that we need to get a vintage travel trailer to use with the car. And of course the fates are with us on this. I started my search on craigslist. And low and behold I found a 1966 travel trailer for $600. I figure it must be in really rough shape. Then what do I find while I'm looking up vintage travel trailers, a restoration place right here like an hours drive away.... Who knew!

Gotta Run,

Yart

Jammie Day

Band monster and I had a wonderful time at the salon yesterday. Just a bit of history. I am a t-shirt and jeans kinda girl. I have gone in the past and had my hair cut and a full set of nails done. I understand a salon setting. This was Band monsters first time. We arrived on time. Unfortunately, the hairdresser was still with another customer. So we waited. But it was worth the wait. The girl was great! Band monsters hair was gorgeous. Then we had to wait for the nail tech. And again well worth the wait. She did the manicure first then the pedicure. She even waxed Band's eyebrows.... LOL! I almost fell out of the chair, when I saw the look on her face.... It really was priceless! Baptism by fire!!! All I can say is that she was so grown up and pretty. She had a blast at homecoming with all her friends. She is so looking forward to next year! I guess I need to start saving now.... LOL!

I would like to thank everyone for stopping by yesterday for the blog party! It was a ton of fun! And because I really did enjoy doing it I am going to be doing another one..... It is a Tea Party under the Halloween Moon. It sounds like so much fun. So I am inviting anyone who would like to attend to attend!

I finally got all the apples processed. I even wasted a crockpot full of apple butter because it just didn't cook right. I was so tired when I started it, I didn't plug it in. Then in the morning I found it unplugged and plugged it in. Then it cooked for to long. So what a friggin waste of time! I have 4 gallon bags in the fridge with apple sauce in the fridge. Tomorrow I will be making the carmel apple butter. And putting up the rest as sauce. So then all I have left is the potatoes. Grim bought me a french fry maker. One of the industrial ones. So what I am going to do is peel and then make them into fries then cut them up to can. Once they are done I think I am going to get a bushel of beans to can up.... Maybe, I don't know. I still have to pull out the garden. I was going to do that today. But to tired. I have a pork butt in the oven to make pulled pork out of. I also made brownies and the bread is baking as I type.

Tomorrow I need to wash off all the carrot and apple pie filliing jars. Then lable and put in the basement. I need to spend some time down there doing laundry and pulling out more jars to empty out. The canning that I need to do in the morning will be done before I work bingo. So while I'm canning I can wash out the other jars. I know that doesn't really make sense but I get it... LOL! One of these days the freezers will become a priority. I was able to get a lot of the stuff out of the freezer dried. There is still a lot that needs to be done. It is down to the mid 50's and 46 tonight. The garden is on it's last leg. I guess I keep hoping for an indian summer. I know wishful thinking. So there will soon be green tomatoes on every flat surface!

Gotta Run,

Yart

Merry Mabon

Did you get to dance under the Mabon Full Moon? I didn't either... But I told band monster while she was out on the practice field to dance under the light of the full moon and give thanks. She said she had a blast doing it. All the other kids thought she was just a little weird dancing around.... LOL! I did give thanks to the powers that be for all of our good fortune as well as some of our bad. Because without the bad then you would never realize the good. And really we have a ton to be thankful for this year!

I haven't felt good the past couple of days. Just a little head cold. Still not great but better. I got around to de-seeding one of the sunflowers. It was easy work. I still have four more todo. I didn't cook anything special. With Band monster having practice, Grim had a meeting, there was no use.

I was able to get on the bicycle tonight. I did two different sessions of 30 minutes each. Just over 13 miles. Woo Hoo! It makes up for not doing anything yesterday. Plus, it was supper easy. I got a new game for the computer. Its Plants -vs- Zombies! This is the kewlest game ever!!! Each 30 minute session just flew by. If this keeps up I will be able to do an hour every day. Just to be able to play this game. LOL!

Of course those damn apples are still haunting me. I am going to get up in the morning, peel and cook them down. For I say it will happen so I hope that it does.... This really sucks! Do you ever seem to hit a wall when it comes to canning. I was going along great then bam! You don't want to do any more. I think its just cause I have so much to do over the next week. I got myself into this blog party which I need to get pictures and the blog written, the canning needs to be done, homecoming (hair, mani, pedi), bowling, fundraising for bowling, buying a sax, legion riders poker run, house cleaning, going to the show to see resident evil part?, getting forms from doc, faxing said forms out, getting school parents jacket set up, blah, blah, blah!!! And most of this happens before Sunday. The never ending list of stuff that needs to be done at some point.

Gotta Run,

Yart

Where has the time gone

Summer is quickly making its exit, but it isn't going without a fight. It has been in the 90's all week. We went to the Ren fest over the weekend. I was going to dress the part but I had put the costume in one of those space bags and the bodice shrunk.... So while we there I had to purchase a bigger one. Grim got himself a kilt. Now we need to make all of the rest of the outfit. He could have got family colors but went with the Black Watch colors of Ireland! Blues and Blacks. I had pictures... But apparantly I can't be trusted with a camera. I deleted all the picture off the camera....I am a ditz at times.

I have lost 2.6 pounds. I have been trying to cut down on the portion sizes. And today I did 20 sit-ups. And I will be starting Leslie Sansone Walk at Home: 5 Mile Fat Burning Walk, today. Grim also wants to go for a bicycle ride tonight. I need to loose this weight. I hate being fat. I am 5'8" and 207 pounds. I'm not rolly polly. But I do really resemble an apple with stick limbs and a head. I know what a visual... LOL!

I am at a stand still with canning. No corn or peaches. Our pay got all screwed up because the damn doctors office that we pay $10 per form didn't bother to fill out the forms. We need them to get paid. So when Grim gave them grief about it we finally got them. But it was like 2 weeks behind and so the pay is 2 weeks behind. Once this all get squared away then I will get back to canning.

But since I have all this free time. I was finally able to get the living room cleaned up. It took all day and the dusting didn't get done. But all the extra junk that was in the room either has been tossed or relocated. Which was a good thing. Grim had to get up early to take picky monster to orientation. And of course I had a panic attack, so I slept out on the couch as to not keep him up. I'm fine now, but when I have them it feels like I'm having a heart attack. When they first started years ago I thought I was dying. But now when it happens, it annoys me and I get though it. They don't happen as much as they use to. For that I'm very thankful. 

Gotta Walk,

Yart

Not a lot

Not been a lot going on here lately. I have just been tired and it has been very hot. Now that it has started to cool down... High 80's! At least it isn't 100's any more. I have a ton of stuff that needs to be done. But I am just being to lazy to get any of it done. 

Band monster is doing fine at camp. She is calling me a couple times a day. There is lots of swimming and free time. The food isn't to bad she says! But I know she is wanting to come home. My monsters even say that they don't want to move out. So Grim and I need to find a place with lots of room so that they can live near us. I know it is kewl and kind of creepy all at the same time.... LOL!

I have decided to give a low glycemic index diet a try. Well, actually the whole family is going to do it. We are all overweight... I tried to get books from the library. But they were all checked out. So Grim and I went to Barnes & Noble, and I was able to get a couple of books on the subject. Just got them today so I haven't had time to read them. Hoping that it will do the trick to looseing the weight.

Grim and I went to see The Expendables. It was very good for a shoot em up movie! Plus, Jet Li and Sylvester Stallone were hot.... so that didn't hurt at all! LOL!!

Gotta Run,

Yart

Amazement

This is probably the kewlest thing I have seen for Urban Gardeners! It is called window farming. "Window Farms are vertical, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield edible window gardens built using low-impact or recycled local materials." Quote taken directly from the Window Farms site, which you can go there by clicking here.
I found out about it by checking out Ashley English's blog Small Measure. The blog talking about it can be found here. I am just amazed at the ingenuity of this project. I have a square foot garden that most of you have seen pictures of, but this I am going to try. I have 3 windows that have southern exposure and are perfect for this. Plus, I will be able to grow greens for the bunny in the window in the kids room. I just love double duty items.

We will be picking up our newest addition after school today. I don't know who is more excited me or the monsters. We got a cage and bedding and food and a water bottle and food dish last night. Grim and the monsters set it all up. So I will have pictures very soon of Fluffy the Bunny! On a funny side note..... Grim and I went to Kroger last night. In the freezer section they are selling frozen rabbit for $5 a pound. Grim couldn't believe that there really is a market for rabbit meat and we can raise them to butcher and sell. So I will be getting meat rabbits when we get property. But, like I said before there are two types of animals here, pets and food. If it has a name then it is a pet and will not be eaten, so Fluffy is safe!

I would love to get out into my garden but it is so wet out there, I'm sure I would sink 6" into the mud. I have Roma's, pineapple and apple mint, oregano and 2 citronella scented geraniums to plant yet. I poked my head out the window yesterday in between the rain drops and what did I see the peas, pole beans and the bush beans are up. The kohlrabi and the broccoli seem to be looking ok. The lettuce looks a little water logged *smiles*, the strawberries will need to be cover soon as I don't want to share with the birds. Most of the sunflower seeds have come up but there are few bald spots that need to be re-seeded. My rhubarb has decided to flower. They are very pretty smelling flowers, but when I asked them at the nursery why it is flowering, no one could tell me. Then by the time I found on line that your suppose to pull those stalks clean out, I think it is too late. Once the rain stops I will see what I can do to salvage a summer crop.

That is about it for today.
Gotta Run,
Yart

I miss you all

I know I have missed so much. Mother Moon Congrats on the newest Grand!!! I love babies! Jenna, Congrats on the new place. How very exciting it must be!

But this past month has been super busy. Dealing with both insurance companies, work, the doctors, the disability claims people and he still hasn't seen the specialist yet. That doesn't happen until May 4th. All of the road rash has healed nicely. His shoulder is what is giving him problems right now.

I have busy in the garden every free moment. I found a source of free compost and so I have been using muscles that I didn't even know belonged in my body.... LOL! I got the grass cut in the back. I got and planted 2 blueberry bushes in pots. I know why pots? Good question! But the answer will have to wait for another day.... (I'm tricky that way....LOL!) I was able to find a 4 in 1 apple tree locally and it only cost me $29.99 no shipping. It has jonagold, fuji, braubear (sp?) and granny smith. We don't have room for trees but this will polinate itself. And there was this empty spot behind the garage where junk was piling up. Now no more junk and we have a production plant now! Yeah!!!! I built trellises for the beans and peas. I was able to get the dragon tounge, another type of bean and the peas in the ground on Tuesday. I only had a minor set back. I saw a spider right next to my head on the house and I went to squash him and I hit to hard. I dislocated my thumb.... I know you have to be thinking this is the most accident prone person. I really think I am. But it is all little inconviences. So I can be thankful that nothing major happens to me. With Grim not being able to use his left arm at all right now, we would be in a fix if I did something worse. So I am going to try and take it easy for the next couple of days. But that probably won't happen. LOL! Oh, my rhubarb is huge the crown has to be at least 8 inches across (planted last year) and my grapes have leaves and new growth (planted last year and they stayed sticks all season). I am still hoping to get bunnies this year. But that is a wait and see deal.

This weekend I have to get my butt in gear and get stuff out and washed for an upcoming yard sale. It will be the second weekend in May. I am hoping to sell off most of the junk.... I mean treasures.... LOL! Well, at least if I sell it I won't have to take the time to take and donate. But what ever is left I will do just that. I am feeling the need to downsize and get it done rather quickly. Nope I'm not nesting.... Ever feel that you have way to much stuff and it is keeping you from your full capabilities. That is how I am right now.

I put up a pully system for doing laundry out side. So far it is working. It is taking some getting use to though. The line moves when I don't want it too sometimes. And it is kind of droopy, I don't have the tension set right on it yet.

I have started clearing out my freezers. I know I should have joined the real food challenge last month. But I just didn't have it in me to do it. So now I am lagging behind. :oP But I am hoping to have both of them emptied of all the old stuff by June. I cooked up one of the turkey's on Sunday. We still have a ton left but it will be gone by the weekend. I have a ton of veggies to cook up also. I forgot how much swiss chard I froze.... and beets also. But that just shows how well the garden did last year.

Gotta Run,
Yart

Mid-Winter Break

Today is the beginning of Mid-Winter Break! The monsters have a 4 day weekend! I love it. I got to sleep in to 8:30 this morning.... Then when Grim got up we had to go and pay some bills and pick up somethings. I finally got to Best Buy to get the cable for my camera..... Of course they don't carry brand specific cables. So I had to get a card reader instead.....blah! Since I was there I found the dance Wii game that the Band monster was asking for..... An early Birthday present!

I will be going out to Joanne fabrics tonight! Since I got Grim's apron done.... I know have to post pictures..... I am way more confident in my sewing abilities. So it is time to incease my fabric stash!!! Yeah! Shhhhhh, don't tell Grim.

Last night I made a pork roast, delicante squash and corn for dinner. I need to go to the fruit market tomorrow. I think that I need to get more brussel sprouts and maybe some spinach. There is still broccoli in the fridge for this week. I made it to the dairy today. This weekend bread needs to be made. Speaking of bread I looked at getting "Artisian Bread in 5 minutes a day", it was $27. I'm not sure that it is worth the money. With all of the great bread recipes on line.....hmmmmm! Still debating that one.

I might go tonight and pick up the paint for my bedroom. My room is going from a dusty purple to a dark green with rust and cream bedding and accents. It is going to be so nice. I love to decorate and change colors. But I promised Grim that I would wait a few years in between wall color changes. This is the only room that has yet to be changed since we moved in 9 years ago. So it is definately time. Oh, I have an idea.... I want to make one of the bed buddy things that sticks inbetween the mattress and box spring and hangs out to put the remote or a book in. We don't have night stands. More fabric! LOL!

Once I figure out how to use the card reader I will be posting a lot of pictures. So look out!

Gotta Run,
Yart

Absentee

I know I haven't been around again. But with the mad dash to get everything finished before the monsters are out of school has been very time consuming. And we still aren't done yet. One scarf is almost done. With that one done then if need be she will be able to see her sisters being done... and I will just have to tell her that if I get time I will make her one... You all know how that goes!

I have been doing really well with exercising everyday. I have only missed 2 days all month but in my defense I worked bingo and probably did more there then I would have on the treadmill anyways.... LOL! I'm still not seeing any improvement. But will keep at it at least until the end of January. I figure that if in 2 months I still don't see any change in my weight then I need to contact a doctor to see what else could be wrong.... I am keeping fingers crossed that I will see something as I HATE doctors!!!!

With the exercising I have been watching more television then ever. I have started watching Martha Stewart. I know, I know but she really does have on some really kewl things. The other day she had on an attachment for the Kitchen Aid Mixer it was the Pasta Press! I want one..... It shapes the dough into pasta shapes. You make the dough separate and then add it to the hopper. So if you wanted you could make 10 pounds easily in a day. But with the cost being over $200 I will have to wait until I hit the lottery! It will be on my wishlist for just in case someone has a butt load of money they want to spend on me.... Hint, Hint, Honey! LOL!

2 more Bingo's and then I'm done until February. And I also got some other really good news. The fish fry's are being cancled until the middle of February. That way they coicide with Lent. So we will only have 6 or 7 to do for next year! That made me very happy. So if the weather is crappy in January like it should be, I will be snuggly warm here at home. Not driving from obligation to obligation. YEAH!

I have an etsy shop and I sent for the priority boxes from the post office. I am hoping to have the shop up and running just after the holidays. I know I probably should have set it up for before the holidays. Since I have never done anything like this before I thought it was best to wait till I had time to deal with it properly. I am going to put the hats I've knitted and the afghan's that I have crocheted on there. I have a couple of other things as well, I sewed up a few bags and small towels that I knitted. 2010 is going to be another learning year for me. Which is wonderful. I am all about learning new things. It will also be a year of getting out of debt. We made some strides this year but with the added expenses of being sued and then the bike braking and all of the band stuff, we didn't do as well as we thought we were going to. To recap though we did pay off one of our loans and we did put a new roof on the house. All in all it wasn't a bad year!

I got another $5 certificate to amazon from epoll (survey site). While I added it to my account I was looking around at the books in my wishlist. I noticed that they offered reccomendations. Of course I went looking to see if any of it interested me. The are really good at knowing what I like. I found a ton of books on making soaps, shampoo and cleaning products. All of them went on the wishlist until I earn more certs... LOL!

Time to go watch Martha and exercise!

Gotta Walk,
Yart

Wednesday Musings

Wow, were has the time gone. It is already the 4th of November. I guess that I am just posted out or is it because I don't fell like I need to post every day. But in my defense I have been super busy. Where to start?!?

Monday, I decided to run to the store and get two chickens. We were going to have baked chicken for dinner. I cleaned them and stuffed them with onions. Then I had Grim go and get me some carrots out of storage. Needless to say, he brings up both of the 25 pound bags. They are rotting and need to be processed right away. I don't know what happened they should have been fine in the cold storage?!? So I go through the bags and salvage what I can. I lost about 5 pounds, 10%. I washed and cut off all the ends. Got dinner going and after dinner went to work bingo. Band monster peeled all of them for me. Once I got home from bingo I diced them all up and into the fridge they went.

Tuesday, the monsters didn't have school due to election day. So we all slept in. I got up and made sure all of my facebook apps were ok. Then I started to pressure can the carrots. It went alot faster then I thought it would. The last thing I pressure canned was meat and that takes forever. But I was able to get 21 quarts done last night. (3 more quarts, maybe? to do). I made hamburgers for dinner and Band monster had practice.

Band monster had practice, because they are going to state finals this weekend. So the instructor wants them in tip top shape! We are going into finals in 7th place due to issues with the judging last weekend. Not happy with the judges. They know better. Since we are freshmeat, this is our first trip to finals. I guess that there is a ton of stuff that we can buy. YEAH! Sorry had to toss out some sarcasm. Like band hasn't cost enough. That is why I work the bingo's to off set the costs.

Today, Picky monster had a half day of school. We have conferences this afternoon. I will be leaving in a few minutes to run to the Legion to help with an Audit for the District. I am hoping that it will only take a short while. I am very disappointed with the group as a whole right now. And unless there are big changes in the near future I won't be a part of the active group. There is very little participation and I can't do it all my self. And with having been busy with band and school and monsters not much has been done at the post.

Once all that is done, I still have to do dinner?!? Get Band monster to practice, finish the carrots and work on the hat more!

Gotta Run,
Yart

Friday Musings

Last night went well. Band monster was exhausted when she got home. My meeting went well and was over with fairly quick. And I got nothing done once I got home. DH and I went and got a couple of movies. Since he is on vacation it was the least I could do... LOL! We watched Boondock Saints (the one brother is super hot ;o), and Last house on the left. Wow, that movie was intense, not scary but horrifically intense. We still have to watch the CG version of Resident Evil. The kids go to grandma's tonight. They are only there for a couple of hours, visiting. DH is taking me to a new farmers market. They are popping up all over the place now. At least is helps with buying local.

I think that I am going to try my hand at making pizza sauce with the tomatoes. Since I still have to go out to the garden and see if I have more. I'm sure I do, just how many is the question. I think that I have had almost 2 bushels of just tomatoes from the garden. It is more then I could have ever imagined. The bounty of this year's garden has been fa nominal. I'm thinking about next year. I have already been requesting seed catalogs. So then in the dead of winter I can dream about warm summer days and the bounty of the garden. And if I'm smart, I will try and remember the bugs and disease. So then I can plan accordingly. If not then I will have similar problems next year. LOL!

I had an epiphany today. Band monster is starting her first day of 9th grade on Tuesday. In 4 years she will be graduating and Picky monster will graduate in 6 years. Where has the time gone. Then on the other hand, Mouthy monster still has over a decade to go before she does. WOW!

Chores need to be done!

Gotta Run,
Yart

Kniting Notions

I know I'm up and about really early this morning. I wanted to get a jump on things and then decided to take it slow.
I got up and took the dog out. I am doing this now to make sure no one harms him. Not sure what these people are capable of. But I took my knitting with me. I am learning how to do the ribbing. How I wish I could show you my progress. My memory card for my camera died a couple of weeks ago and I haven't had the money to get a new one. But I digress. The class I'm taking is a lot of fun. I have met some very interesting people.
I have heard it said that knitting is the new yoga. If that's the case then I was zenful for half an hour this morning.... LOL! Now I'm not knocking yoga... LOVE IT! But sometimes you need to learn a new move or two.

It was cold here last night. If I had a wood burner it would have been stoked this morning. Brrrrr. DH and I went out for a ride on the bike the other night and I had to toss on a hoodie. I told him that fall is in the air. Even if it's the beginning of July. I think we are in for a bad winter this year. We had our first power outage the other day with the rain storm that blew through here. It got me thinking yet again about food storage. With being in the city some of the things that I do seem even backwards to me. But the food storage is one of those things that needs to be looked at every month. And especially when something happens to bring it to the forefront again. Sorry, bit of a ramble.... LOL!

For the rest of this month I am going to clean out the freezers and can what I can. I know there is meat and veggies in there. I think there might even be some fruit. That way the freezers will be clean and ready for if DH gets to go hunting this year. Plus I know I have cantelope & watermelon in the fridge that I need to do something with. I'm thinking jelly!

This turned out to be longer then I intened.

Gotta Run,
Yart