What I'm up to

Today I'm canning...yep....canning..this past late summer /fall I didn't have enough tomatoes at any one time to can so I made juice..put it in 5 quart ice cream buckets and put it in the freezer. Well I made chili last week and used my last previously canned quart of tomato sauce.. Time to break out the frozen juice and cook it down a little. I ended up with 10 1/2 quarts. It won't last forever but hopefully for a little while. I've been searching for a chili bean recipe to can. I found a couple this morning and may try canning a batch of each to see if it's what I'm looking for. Not today though...by the time I finish this last batch of sauce I'll be done canning for the day. I'm thinking about making pizza crusts but I don't know if that will be today either. Hubby and youngest daughter are going to Tennessee this week end for his grandma's memorial service so I'll need something to keep me busy...maybe then. I want to start making a list and add to it every time I open a can of something...if they can do it I should be able to figure out how to. And figure out how to make some things I've really been craving...like..steamed dumplings and sushi..Hubby has me on a Japanese kick...gotta run..things to do.

Peeking in

Just thought I'd drop in for a minute and say...hey. 2012 has started out really bad. Its what? the 13th...one funeral...so far..Hubby's Gram should have passed the end of December and yet she hangs on..in her 90's...strong willed lady I tell ya. Car broke down, I had a terrible chest and head cold. Hubby and Mom have it now. Hubbs ended up in ER with a pulled back muscle, cordless phone died...Things seem to have settled down a little..fingers crossed and all that stuff. Youngest DD got me the best stuff for Christmas..well..books actually..as she handed me the package she said," I wasn't sure what to get you..if you don't like it them you can take them back and get something you like." Urban Homesteading and a book on solar power !!! What a kid !!!! Other then my new laptop its the best present I got this year. I think she's a keeper..So we're finally getting snow!!!! Sorry snow haters...I'm a snow lover..first thing I wanted to do this morning was go grocery shopping...LOL.I love being out in the snow. I love looking out and seeing my grow beds covered in snow..well...if I could see out my bedroom window..the snow seems to be stuck to it and I can't see out. So Jen and I went grocery shopping..its amazing how close to the store entrance you can get on a Friday in the middle of a snow storm..LOL. Now I"m in for the day..got my snow playing done early..though if somebody WANTS to go out I"ll gladly go. Off to do something...

Life goes on.....

Life has been pretty same old same old lately..Hubby was off 2 weeks from work because of tennis elbow..I'm not gonna lie..it was nice having him home. Other then that its been taking care of Mom and doing the stuff around the house that's needed doing..mowing the lawn, doing the laundry..now that its supposed to get cold the garden is going crazy but a little to late I'm afraid. I may cover with plastic and try to squeeze some more tomatoes out of her. The youngest is in college now. She's finding its a little harder then high school but I think she'll get it. She has an interview at MickyD's today. We'll see how that goes. Other then that not much else going on. Just finished another Dave Ramsey book..that man is motivational..getting yourself set financially. So I've got my initial emergency fund and am now working on my debt snowball. Actually I may be able to wipe that out shortly...then it'll be getting my 3-6 months emergency fund built up and on to retirement savings and then paying off my mortgage. Right now I'm reading a book called Mini Farming or something like that. Guess that's it for now...ciao

This is exactly the bicycle I was look at....::::sigh::::

Augst 26, 2011

Not much new going on...Hubby is off on disability for a couple of weeks...seems he swung his golf club a little to hard during a golf tournament he was playing in and pulled a muscle. Sucks huh? LOL..well what sucks is he hasn't been able to golf with me so I've been going through golf withdrawal. Mom finished phase 2 of Cardiac Rehab and is now doing phase 3..it gets her out of the house and exercising 2 days a week. We got a new puppy !!!!!!!!!!!!! Her name is Bonita..I call her Bonita Chiquita Chihuahua. All 2 lbs 8 ounces of her. She's asleep at my hip as I type. Juiced up the tomatoes I had in the garden that were ready today..got about 4 quarts..I'll put them in the freezer until I have at least enough for a canner full. Dragged the Hubbs off to Bert's Bikes yesterday.I've got a hankering for a new bicycle..found the one I like..its a Trek 7.2 FX...sky blue, 24 speed..and only $ 549. Maybe someday...not soon. I have a mountain bike but its heavy and has wide tires on it. I'd like something lighter. Jen took her road test this morning...she is now an official New York State licensed driver..all she needs is a job and a car. So I guess that's it for now

Finally

Tried posting the last post last week and couldn't...not sure what was wrong but Internet Explorer wouldn't let me post...so I downloaded Mozilla Firefox and lickity split it posted...so...Thursday was the showing for my cousin. Why is it you never see any of your family unless there's a funeral ? I'd say wedding and funerals but we don't get invited to weddings..LOL. Friday it was the funeral in Albion at 11:00 and then I drove out to Warsaw to pick up my sister to stay with my Mom so we could go to the races. Got there around 6:50 and spent the night watching races with my daughter, daughter in law, grandkids and the race car drivers wife.. My hubby and my son worked in the pits with the driver. Left the race track after midnight...luckily my son's apartment is only about 20 minutes away and he has a guest room. Got home a little after noon Saturday..went grocery shopping...took my sister home and crashed. Figuratively..in bed... Sunday was church and my father in law came in last night for an overnight on his way back to TN. This morning got the Hubbs off to work, said good bye to my father in law and took the daughter to church to catch the bus to camp for the week. Came home and planted 6 lettuce seeds in a pot. Garden isn't really doing all that great this year. Gonna pull the beans which aren't producing any more and plant more peas which also aren't producing anymore. Just feeling the need to stock up a little coz things aren't looking so good...need to be able to take of me and mine. So I guess I've caught up...AGAIN.. off I go to do something...anything.

Trying to catch up....again

Just can't seem to keep up on my blog...not much going on really..its been so dry that the gardens really aren't doing much..finally pulled the lettuce that had bolted...almost an entire bed..I really gotta not plant so much at once....got 3 zucchini off the plant so far. A few tomatoes..really dissapointed because last year I put crumbled egg shells around the plants before I mulched them with grass clippings and had no blossom end rot..this year I forgot and almost everyone of them has had it...not a big deal...I just cut off that end and use the remainder in our tossed salads. Tried filling a new bed with a "Square Foot Gardening" soil mix..must have used a wrong ingredient because althought the 2 pepper plants I planted in it are huge that's all they are are plants...not a blossom...not a peper..the basil did well but that's gone to seed now too. Got enough green beans and peas to make a few meals so that was good. I've gone through phases where first I'm on the computer all day and do hardly anything else and other phases where all I want to do is read and hardly anything else...right now I'm in a reading phase...books on solar power...Beverly Lewis books...and my newest love....Wanda Brunstetter books..my library had one of her 4 book series in one book...that's what I'm devouring now...I read the equivelent of the first book yesterday....well...all but about 20 pages which I finished this morning and started the second book. I've been feeling kind of yucky the last 3 days..slight fever, sore throat, loss of appetite..today I went to Rochester Immediate Care..your ER alternative. Cost me $50 to have them tell me I have a viral infection..so no antibiotics. But at least I know its not strep which is what I was worried about. The PA told me another week or so and I should be over it...great ! Today I have to go to Albion to a funeral viewing for my 60 year old cousin who died of a heart attack Sunday night...I hate funerals. Tomorrow is the funeral service and then its off to Warsaw to pick up my Sister so she can spend some time with my Mommy while Hubbs and I go out of town for a overnight. We're going to LaFargeville,NY to watch a guy from church race..As its right around the corner...well a country corner...from my son's place we're going to crash there overnight and then come home Saturday. Well..guess that's it for now...off I go to do something...or just lay here and read for a while longer. ;-)