Another Quick Post

Felt bad all day yesterday. So I didn't manage to get much done. I took it easy and just did my on-line stuff. Today I am feeling much better. I was able to get 7 quarts of green beans done and I have 4 trays drying in the dehydrator right now. Hopefully, they will be done before I go to bed. My freezers are starting to look bare. I am making sauerkraut and kielbasa, its in the crockpot. It will go in the freezer for St. Pat's. Probably will make a Shepard's pie and freeze also. As I usually cook a lot of food that day.

Tons to do tomorrow. Teenage monster has to get the stitches removed and from there I am running all day. I hope to be back on Saturday. As Sunday we have a birthday party and recital to get through.

Huggles
Yart

Nightly Ramblings

Well this is just a quick post for tonight. I was able to get 5 pints of hamburger done last night. But I did it to late so today I didn't want to do anything. Sitting babysitting the canner just took it out of me. I did get dishes, laundry and dinner done for today. Not much else though. I still need to fold the laundry, that can be done when I head up to watch some tv before bed.

I also worked more on the afghan. Only 2 more skeins left to go. I think that it is turning out very nice. I know I keep promising to post pictures of it. I will by the end of the week cause it should be done by then.

That's about it for tonight.
Huggles
Yart

Monday Bread's

Well, I didn't make any yeast bread but I did make waffles & two loaves of applesauce bread. I haven't made any sweet bread in a couple of weeks so I thought it was time. I still have two loaves of sandwich bread so hopefully that will last if not I'll have to make more later in the week.

On the pressure canning front. I did 7 quarts of chicken soup. Chicken, onion, garlic, carrots, & celery. Today I have started hamburger. It was in one of those chub things. It didn't even have a sell by date. I know that it hasn't been in there longer then a year. Nothing has been in there that long. I cleaned out the freezers last year at this time so it is all still good. But I digress. There was no sell by date. So into the pot of water it went along with onion, garlic and pepper. Yes, I boiled it. It is a much easier way to cook 5, 10 pounds or more. So that is done and the liquid is sitting out in the frigid temps cooling so I can defat it. Once that is done I will use the liquid to add to the jars of hamburger. I think I should at least get 4 pints. I will be happy with this as it will be the first beef that will go on to the shelf.

Tomorrow I will be doing green beans. I have a couple of quart bags in the freezer. I think they are better suited for the shelf. So that is where they are headed. I have bags of tomatoes in the freezer also. I need to make up chili and can it up also. That will be one day this week. Oh, and I found a stash of kidney beans I figure will look nice in jars also. Tons of work. But I am enjoying every bit of it. They are calling me the "mad canner" LOL!

Since it is Monday all the stuff that I put off on the weekend has to be done. I have laundry to fold and laundry to wash and hang. I got all the dishes done and the kitchen is almost spotless since I am in there so much babysitting the canner. LOL! I was lazy this morning and didn't make the bed. So that is on the list of to do. I need to wash the stairs and the basement floor. But I will see when I have the ambition to do that.

Only have a couple of commitments for this week, fish fry on Friday, 2 desserts one for the Legion and one for a fundraiser for the band. Other then that I am free and clear to do what ever all week. Which means maybe I can get more of that afghan done. Also could start on all of the sewing projects that need to be done around here.

Didn't walk on Saturday but I did get my mile in yesterday. You would think that I would be use to walking a mile and should be able to increase but I am winded after the mile. Maybe I will try and get on there twice a day and see if that does any good.

We are going to have fish tonight for dinner with french fries. Last night we had chicken baked in salad dressing, stuffing, corn and left over mac and cheese.

Gotta run,
Huggles
Yart

Saturday Musings

I know that it is far from harvest time. But I got to use my pressure canner yesterday for the first time. I made 7 quarts of turkey soup. Turkey, carrots, celery, onion, pepper and stock. Today I used the rest of the stock to can up 4 pints of stock.I just wanted to share how they looked. And it does taste yummy!

I also noticed that I have sprouts. Remember that I told you that I put seeds into sow. Well, the peas have already sprouted. Woo Hoo! 8 of the 9 seeds for both varieties have popped up.
Ok, lets see what else happened. I got an email from the local freecycle and it said that the remains from an estate sale was free for the taking and that there was canning jars. I ran and got them. They are full of dirt and still in the back of my car. I didn't even count them. LOL! I just grabbed and left.
Then I went over to the Joann's that was in that neighborhood. I got almost 6 yards of material at 70% off and I got 3 pattern sets. 2 of them are just aprons, the other one is all kinds of kitchen items. I love when everything is on sale.
The fish fry went really well. We sold 80 dinners. Yeah! Next week should be 120 dinners, considering that it will be the first Friday after the start of lent. I was going to bow out but they are really going to need my help. I hope I don't have to take the little monsters. If I do I do, that is kewl.
Teenage monster is healing nicely. Thank you for all of your concerns. She is happy that she doesn't have to do much around the house. It is like a vacation. LOL!

I let DH in on a secret. I told him that now that the pressure canner no longer scares me. I will be cleaning out the freezer and canning everything that will fit into the jars. I will be busy for quite awhile as we have 2 chest freezers. Right now as I type, I have some chicken that was a little freezer burned in the pot with veggies making stock / soup. I have used slightly freezer burned meat before to make soups with. I don't find that there is much of a difference. So something that would normally would be trash now has a whole new life as sustanance for my family.
I think that I am addicted to canning. In the fall when I did all the water bath canning it was fun and I looked forward to the next item. But those individual items wouldn't keep us for long. But the pressure canning, I am searching for ideas. I have a whole list. I posted it not to long ago. Now I have added things to it. I'm having a blast doing this. It is a lot of work. But I love it. I really wish I would have started doing this years ago. Even though I think by doing it now I have a greater appreacition for it. So I figure until I run out of jars I will be PC'ing something everyday.

Gotta run and check the soup,
Huggles
Yart

Thursday Morning

As promised we had leftovers. Everyone like it. Plus we didn't really have a choice it was either that or nothing as we had to spend almost 2 hours getting stiches last night. Teenage monster was doing dishes and broke a glass. Needless to say she ended up with 9 stiches and a couple pieces of steri strip, and antibiotics. So it was such a good thing that I just had to pop it into the oven and reheat. She is doing ok. Sent her to school with a note about if she can't hold her pencil she can bring the work home and we will do it.

So far this morning I have got the bread dough rising, exercised my mile and got more of the afghan done. I am dreading taking the laundry down. When the monsters were cleaning the room I had them toss all of the socks in the wash. So now they are all clean and I don't want to have to match them. LOL! I have to do more laundry today.I think only 2 loads. That is great. I got the towels done in the last batch so very little laundry.... Woo Hoo! I guess I do something with laundry everyday. It doesn't generally take long to do. It is just everyday and I think that is why it gets so tedious.

I found another paid to click site. They pay right into your paypal account. It is called Storm of Cash
I am working it right now as I type my blog. Like I said before these are not get rich schemes. They take some work and you make something.

I go at 3 today to get my canner tested. I am so excited about it. I just can't wait. I think I will have to wait until Saturday before I will have the time to do anything with it. And even then I have to get started early as I have plans Saturday night. I'm still thinking that I need to make turkey soup. As the bones and the meat are in the upstairs freezer taking up room. I hope to get at least a full canner load for the first time. Then Sunday I will have all day.

Tomorrow is the fish fry...Oh boy. I do get tired of working them. But it is a volunteer thing so I really can't complain to much. Plus I like most of the people that are there. It is just that with most volunteer organizations you only have a few people who do the majority of the stuff. I wish a few more people would step up and help out once in awhile. But the good news is that we are done the end of April not to start back up until September. It will hurt the Legion as they won't have the money coming in but I think they can come up with a few other things to bring in the money. Lent is coming also so that will help. The last couple of weeks we haven't been getting the crowds like we were last year. Maybe just a sign of the times.

That's all for today.
Huggles,
Yart

Making Money On-Line

I know 2 posts in one day I must be sick... LOL! But anyways, since I have been layed off without a possibility of going back I thought it was time. I have always worked online doing something, surveys, paid to click, or searches. At one time I did really well at it. Then I went back to school, then on to the job that I am now laid off from and fell out of it.

So here I am again.

These are not get rich schemes. They will make you a couple of dollars here and there if your willing to put in a little time. Now I know my description of these jobs are not fantastic. But I don't want to lead anyone to believe that they can quit their job to do searches all day.

Here are the sites that I do things for with an example of benefits.

Swagbucks - Search engine - Randomly earn swagbucks while doing searches - 45 swagbucks earns you a $5 e-gift cert to amazon.com
MySurvey - Survey Site - You earn points for every survey you take - 1000 points earns you a $10 check
InBoxDollars - Paid to Click Site - You earn points for reading your emails and clicking on a link - Once you reach $30 you can cash out
Say Nation - Survey Site - You earn points for every survey you take - 12000 points earns you a $10 gift card to Barnes & Noble
Mypoints - Everything Site - You earn points for searching, paid to click, & surveys - Once you reach your point level you can redeem for lot of different gift cards.
Bzz Agent - Product Testing & Surveys - Here you can earn points as a reward from buzz that are transfered to mypoints - So you do things at buzz and are rewarded at mypoints. Double the benefits.

I am just sharing these in case anyone else would like to try and make a little bit of money.
Huggles,
Yart

Lazy Day

I forgot to say that Sunday I got all of the seeds into the dirt. I have 2 types of peas, 4 types of tomatoes, eggplant, green peppers. If they all come up there will be 9 tiny plants for each item. That should be plenty. And it should save us quite a bit of money as I won't have to buy the plants. Then once I can get outside to plant I will do lettuce, onions, potatoes (white and sweet), cabbage, beans ( green and lima). Not sure what else I will plant as this is quite ambitious for us as it is.
I was so busy yesterday. I started cleaning mouthy monsters bedroom. Mind you mouthy is only 5 so a lot of help is needed. LOL! 2 bags of trash, broken toys, stained clothes and paper, a ton of paper. She loves to draw but doesn't keep them nice. The drawings end up everywhere. I have tried to organizer her. She just doesn't fit into the organized category.
We had the first estimator come to give us a price on our roof. WOW! For the cheapest roof its $3500 for the most expensive the starting price is $12k. I just sat there listening and told him, let us think about it and we'll get back to you. All I can say is NEXT!
My idea of calzone's was shot down. I will put that on hold till one day next week. We ended up making Shepard's pie:
2lb hamburger
1 onion
2 cans of mixed veggies
1 can of corn
2 cans of beef broth
4 tbsp of flour
Mashed potatoes
Cooked hamburger and onion. Added beef broth and veggies and flour. Simmer till thickened. Poured into a casserole dish and topped with mashed potatoes. Baked uncovered for 25 minutes at 350. And of course I forgot to take a picture, next time.
Monsters weren't home for dinner but DH and I ate. Loved it. Once the Monsters came home they said they would rather have been here for dinner. That's ok, cause we had a ton left so that is what is for dinner tonight..... YEAH! No cooking tonight. LOL!
I still haven't gotten around to making dessert bread or even bread for sandwiches. I was up last night with a sick stomach. I know that I shouldn't snack before bed but I was hungry last night. I worked out late. So I paid for it. I am taking it easy today. I was able to work more on the afghan. All of the variegated is done. Now I am on to the dark blue. Only 3 1/2 skeins left.
Tomorrow I get to have the pressure gauge tested. So I think that I will start with turkey stock. Oh I can't wait. DH and I were discussing what we are going to make over dinner last night. Looks like I need more jars already and I haven't done any thing yet. LOL! I think I have accumulated about 8 dozen empty jars. But that will never be enough.
Huggles
Yart