It's almost a new week!?!

How is that possible? Where did this week go! I demand to know... LOL! We managed to get through the first week of pre-camp. She has 3 days of pre-camp this coming week and then off to band camp the following week. The the week after she comes home, the band will be preforming at on of the major state universities first football game. Band monsters' band was chosen to attend this event. Very kewl! Like I have said before from the begining of August to November we have no life other then band. It is very time consuming.

Grim has 6 more weeks off work, per the doctor. But he will be starting PT on Tuesday. This is a great thing, it means that he is getting better and one day may go back to work. For those of you who may not know Grim was involved in a motorcycle accident on March 31 of this year. Luckily, he was not seriously damaged. The accident has held him out of work because of his shoulder though. So we are going on 5 months of him being home. I am just thankful that he is alive. Because there was a huge possiblity that he could have been killed.

I was able to get the strawberries made into ?. It didn't jell right. Everytime I try to make strawberry jelly it doesn't jell. So we have another syrup. 10 half pints to be exact. It will be good on toast anyways. LOL! I also made up bbq sauce. To me it seemed like a lot of work for so little to show for it. I worked on it for almost 5 hours and only got 3 pints. But it tasted and smelled great, so I will be making it again. My tomatoes are coming in slow but sure. I don't think that I will get enough out of the garden to make everything that I want to make. There is a U-Pick farm that I can go and tomatoes at. Plus it is great fun to get the monsters out there to show them what it is like to be on a real farm doing real work. Next week I should be up to my shoulders in tomato. I love canning.

My house still needs to be cleaned. I have been working on it little by little but there seems to be more important things to do. Went and hung out the other night with friends at our local hang out. Took the kids to bowl.... It was cosmic bowling....Fun was had by all. Plus, it was only $1 per game per person. Cheap fun, does it get any better. Exercise, fun and real potties! (As any mom of kids that are involved in anything, you can relate to why I seem fixated on real potties *big smile*!) Yeah, bowling!!! Back to the cleaning... I feel that if the living room is trashed then my life is chaotic and I don't like that. And guess what room is trashed?!? Any guesses...LOL!

So today if the world doesn't stop rotating then I will be cleaning the living room and making watermelon jelly. But then again I feel the gravitational pull changing, so you never know!

Gotta Run,

Yart

New Day

Like usual there is a ton of stuff to do and so little time to accomplish it! But I have decided that I need to take time and only deal with what is important to me. That way I don't get all stressed out over what I can't control. Well, at least I'm going to try... LOL!

First I want to let you all in on a little secret. I am going to be participating in a blog party on the 25th of September! Anyone is welcome to join the theme is "Practical Magic" by Alice Hoffman, either the book or the movie. If you wish to be part of this wonderful event then just click on the invitation below!



The next thing is I was able to use up the quart of cherries that I had in the freezer. I made black forest topping. It made 9 half pint jars. When I use it I plan on making a dark chocolate layer cake and using it between the layers. Then topping it with a dark chocolate. almond whipped cream. Sorry no pictures of it. Don't worry though, I still have strawberries and watermelon to turn into jelly!


Band season suddenly came upon us yesterday. A nasty message from a 16 year old been left on my phone. It was from a section leader wanted to be a show off and called to inform my band monster that if she didn't attend the next session she would be kicked out of the program. I had an appointment and she had to miss the first practice. So needless to say, I went in and spoke with the band director. He said that everything was fine and for us not to worry about the section leader. So it is officially Band season! 5 nights a week of running here and there.



This year is going to be really fun as the two youngest are going to be bowling on Saturday mornings. I know what am I thinking. The youngest two need to be active in something as well. And it might as well be inside, with potties, food and seating! YEAH BOWLING!!

I've got a roast in the oven. My family was going to revolt if I didn't get back to cooking. They hate eating out and that is what we have been doing the past couple of days. I'm right there with them, my poor tummy wants real food. So there is the roast, carrots, fresh potatoes and onions from garden. We will also have corn and a lettuce and tomato salad. YUMMMM!

I have to go and get the stawberries and watermelon juiced up for the jelly!

Gotta Run,
Yart

Best layed plans

In my last post I told you all the things that I was going to be preserving this season. It seems like I just had to get started doing some other things first. Well, I guess that is why I always leave room for change! My mom, picky monster and I went berry picking. We were able to get Blackberries and raspberries. The blackberry bushes were taller then me and I am 5'9" and they had thorns that were huge. I have the scrapes and pickers to prove it. (Sorry I didn't think to take pictures of the boo boo's).

 

We got 4 quart of blackberries $3.99 each, and the raspberries were $3.50 a quart for 7 quarts. Mom got 12 half pints of blackberry jam and 5 pints of raspberry jam. I got 5 pints of blackberry jam, 5 pints of raspberry jam and 5 pints of Chocolate raspberry dessert topping.

Then I got on to cleaning out some of my freezers. I know I was suppose to have done this months ago. I still have more to get out but I did get out some of the pecans and made 3 half pints of praline syrup. Two bags of cranberries also needed to be used up. I got 5 half pints of jellied cranberries. 

When I was looking for other recipes, I came across two more that I can use up freezer stuff for. The first is Black Forest Topping using the bing cherries I froze months ago. I will be making strawberry jelly, also. This will be the first time I have made this type of jelly. Really, I don't know why I haven't made it before. But Grim will be very happy!

Grim was able to get the kitchen finished. Here is a before picture to remind you what it use to look like.

And here is the finished product.

We also changed out the counter, it is a multi-colored brown. The stems you see in the corner of the picture is all of the garlic. It is purple hard neck. I am hoping that I will be able to use some of these cloves to plant for next season.

 Lots still to do!

Gotta Run,

Yart

Catching up or longer then I planned

Here is picture I took from the bridge of Mackinaw. The sky was beautiful and Lake Huron was very calm. Which was a good thing considering that I hate heights and water. We went up into the UP. It was very nice. The weather was much nicer then at home. We looked at several parcels of land. Unfortunately, we don't have the money to make that type of purchase but it is nice to dream.
Mackinaw City has a multitude of wind turbines. I think that this is the kewlest thing as I use to work in the renewable industry. There are 8 of them, they help power part of the harbormaster building and an ice suppression system in the dock area. I love seeing more eco energy options being used.
In my last post I was complaining about the garden. Of course I just needed to wait a few more days. Here is a nice little haul that I got this week. I ended up dehydrating all of the hot peppers. There is Hungarian Hots, Peter Peppers and Ancho Peppers. If they keep production up I will have a jar of each in the pantry.... Yeah! I did go out to the you pick farm. He said that his tomatoes are about 2 weeks behind because of the weather. So I don't feel so bad now.
Here is the picture of the wall color before we painted. It was a gray / purple. I loved this color. It was in the bedroom for over 10 years. It was time for a change. So we went with the dark green walls, butter cream for the trim and the linens are a rust color. I am very happy with the new color scheme. It is just taking a little time getting use to the new layout.

As you can see in the tires are potatoe plants. I probably should have left them for a little while longer.But of course I have never been patient. So we ended up with 39.2 pounds of taters. We ate some with dinner tonight and they were very good. Since these aren't for storage we will be eating the rest of them over the next few weeks.

All of the tires are now up against the fence. It will give us more room to manouver. Plus, we want to build a fence with a gate. It will block the dog from the garden. Right now we are using metal stakes with snow fencing. It looks horrible and I am tired of climbing over the fence to get in the garden.

I have an appointment with my real doctor tomorrow. I don't know what is going on, I am almost done with the antibotics the urgent care doc gave me and I'm still not better. Then Thursday I have a dreaded dental appointment. I hate, hate, hate going to the dentist. It has been like 4 years since I've been. But with what ever is going on with my sinus's / ear, my teeth have been hurting. So to the dentist I go.... blah!!!!

I worked in the pantry the other day. I cleaned out almost 40 jars of food that just weren't a hit. There was lemon juice that didn't quite turn out, pickles that tasted great but were mushy, apple sauce that went south and kidney beans that were yucky. I was sad to toss out all that food. The work that went into making it wasted. :o( But that was really just a lesson learned. Make less of new items. With that work done I organized the pantry a little bit... ( it needs more attention, then I have time for right now). I have room now for all the canning I want to do this year.

1. Spaghetti Sauce
2. Ketchup Recipe here
   
3. BBQ Sauce Recipe here
   
4. Dill Pickles
5. Chicken Stock Great sounding recipe here
6. Corn Relish Recipe here (not sure how to eat this but it sounds good)
7. Sauerkraut
8. Beef Stew Recipe here
9. Vegetable Soup Recipe here
10. Taco Sauce Recipe here
11. Carrots
12. Corn
13. Potatoes

I think that is a good list to start with. LOL! I know I tend to bite off more then I can chew. But I want to get the pantry full for winter. I need to make a list of things like toilet paper that needs to be stock up on. I just have a feeling that this winter is going to a bad one and want to be prepared. I know, I know foreboading arn't I.

Gotta Run,
Yart

Back again

Well, we are back home again. We were gone for the past week, camping again. We went to the same area but saw lots of different things this time. The older monsters got their own tent for this trip and it worked out well. The littlest monster was in our tent with us. The weather was gorgeous. But unfortunately, the night before we left I ended up at urgent care. I have a sinus infection. The doc gave me a ton of antibiotics, claritin D, and flonase. It has been 5 days of meds and it still isn't gone. So I have been eating soft foods as it hurts to chew. It is doing wonders for my figure... LOL!

This week coming up I need to pull the potatoes and get them canned. Then I need to go to the old man with the farm and see if his roma's are ready to pick. If so I think I am going to get 2 bushels to start with. My tomatoes are producing but just not enough. I don't know what I am doing wrong with the garden. Or if it is just the weather that is causing chaos. Or it could be that I am jumping the gun, which might be the case. But I should be careful what I wish for. It is so hot here I really shouldn't be in the kitchen anyways.

My room is done we got that finished last weekend. I have to sew two buttons on the duvet cover. Once that is done I will take pictures. I still have some other things to do. Like paint the dresser and hang a few more shelves. But at least I have more space since I went through most of the clothes. We had gone to price a new bed frame. It would have cost us $89, but we went to Ikea and bought a new bed for $99. It sits of the floor way higher then our old bed. So now I have storage under the bed that I didn't have before.

It is steamy today, so I think that I will just be hanging out in the basement, not doing much of anything. But as usual the best laid plans of mice and men. I will probably end up doing something that will make for a sticky day.

Gotta Run,
Yart

Been awhile

I hope everyone's summer is progressing nicely. We just got back from another short trip. We went to an Amish community that hosts a flea market and auction. The flea market was huge! But even with all the booths I was able to find a couple of deals. I am now the proud new owner of a #3 and #4 crocks. WooHoo!!!! I can make more sauerkraut this year as I just used up my last jars a few weeks ago. I can't wait!! I also found a wringer but I decided that I could wait and it is a good thing that I did. Since I have been home, a friend has contacted me and offered me the entire washer from his basement. I told him that I just wanted the wringer and he said he would get it off for me!!! Oh, and I almost forgot I found a glass wash board! Now I have the mop bucket and the wash board and the wringer. We will have clean clothes no matter what the circumstance.

I also drug the family to the animal auction. Oh my God! The piglets were so cute! And the little bit bigger ones looked like they would make nice hams.... LOL! I know it was funny to me too. I don't know when livestock started looking like food and not pets?!? I guess it goes with the territory of wanting to be closer to my food. Anyways, the pigs went for a very good price. We didn't get to see the cattle, it wasn't until way later in the day.

It was very hot while we were gone. So upon our arrival I found the first of the red tomatoes. There was a handful of grape, 1 Roma & 3 purple Cherokee ready to be picked. The cucumbers have powdery mildew, all the lettuce has bolted and the potatoes look like they need to be dug up. But on the bright side, there are baby watermelons, peppers and a ton of Swiss Chard.

We are planning on taking another trip next week. I know we are a going concern this year. But Band stuff starts up again at the end of this month and if we don't do something now then I don't know when we will have the opportunity. Band goes until the beginning of November.

I have been drying all of the mints. So far I have done chocolate, orange, pineapple & spearmint. I have lemon balm drying right now. The apple mint didn't do to well, so I didn't get any cuttings from it. I am hoping for a better year next year. I still need to dry out some oregano and horehound.

My room is almost ready to be painted. I just need to clean off the bookshelf and take the bed down. Then I can paint. I am going with a forest green for the walls and a cream for the trim. The bedding is a rust color. Hopefully, before the weekend is over the room will be done. Then next week Grim and I will be finishing up the DAMN kitchen.... The only thing we have to do is hang the doors and it will be complete.

Gotta Run,
Yart

Happy Birthday America

We are going to be BBQ'ing today. Nothing fancy, just hot dogs and sausage, corn, salad, broccoli and beans. Then tomorrow night our neighbor will be doing a ton of large fireworks. So we will gather in the alley behind the house and watch. The monsters love it, as they can run in the house to potty if necessary. This will be the first year that we don't have a ton of people coming over.

The garden is going well. The lettuce has bolted and so has the spinach. I pulled all of the garlic. It is drying out in the garage. But it has to come in tomorrow as we will be having the garage door fixed on Tuesday. Long story, almost ruined our day last weekend... but we purserveered! And it won't even cost an arm and leg to fix.... Yipppppppppppy! The cucumbers are doing really well. And the tomatoes are there but they haven't started to blush yet! I figure I will be up to my arm pits canning within 2 weeks.

We are going somewhere that I will be attending a rather large auction. I am hoping to get a really good deal on produce. Especially the things that didn't do well or that I just didn't have enough room for.

*edited* Well, it has been a quite day here. The neighbor didn't do his party so no fireworks! :( Maybe next year!!! It has been super hot here.

Gotta Run,
Yart