The Last of the Season's harvest...

Yesterday the children and I (by that I mean "I" while the children made each other giggle...) cleared out the garden. I felt no sadness as I plucked the last of the goodness from the vines...a bit of resentment though. An ENTIRE laundry basket of GREEN tomatoes...if only they had ripened sooner! Anyone have an good green tomato canning recipes? 

  

The last of the garden dirtied fingers and the little niblets of juicy red.

 

The last of the summer flowers... 

 

The last of the naked toesies... 

 

Some of the last tractor rides... 

 

The last of the freshly mown grass lines-and the smell to go along with it. 

Crochet High

It's another Wednesday night, long past the sun has gone down and yet sleep eludes me. I am on another post-crochet-lesson high. I am pretty pleased with myself! At my first lesson, last week, my teacher friend showed me how to single crochet. She left me with the assignment to practice that ONE stitch. This week, she was SO pleased with my progress, tension and flowing movement, she taught me the half-double, double and treble stitches along with some variations of the single crochet stitch. After she taught me a stitch, she would watch me practice a few rows and then she kept saying-"Well, your ready for it so I might as well teach you this..."

Wow! Seeing myself make a ripple pattern was so exciting! I was THIS close to taking a picture of it!

I had bought THIS book last year...







...with the idea I would teach MYSELF how to do it. Unfortunately, the task seemed too daunting and I couldn't understand at ALL what the instructions were saying, so it was shelved. I brought it out to show Nancy and she was very excited. She wants us to start on that project right away. My assignment for this week is to do the first three squares, which she says I am already skilled enough to do. She will go through all the blocks with me, and occasionally, when we want a break, will work on different, fun projects for a change of pace. Then I showed her my stash of yarn (yes~I had a stash even though I didn't know how to use it...) and that got her enthusiastic too. She taught me all about the different types of yarn and such. It was so much fun.

I just love having her over here. I love that she is willing to teach me. I love that we have so much to talk about even though we are at different stages of our lives. I love that I have a friend-a REAL friend-not just a Sunday friend. It has been hard for me to interact with people on a personal level since we have moved because I am stranded at home (most of the time) while Matt has our car. This means that the only visiting time I have is on Sunday's and that is rushed, to say the least! I think it is a REAL blessing to have her living close by. Who would have thought that the ONE person living close by would be so very SIMILAR to me in thoughts and hobbies and such. It's a perfect fit! :-)

Well, I just wanted to hop on here so that I could share in my excitement about tonight. I am just so glad I was brave enough to ask her for her help. I hate asking people for things. But I can tell, this is the beginning of a lifelong hobby and because of this, our friendliness has grown into a cherished friendship.

Wednesday nights make me GLAD that we moved.

Taking it Easy, MY FOOT!

I suppose I took it easy yesterday. If...

~Doing 6 loads of laundry and all that THAT entails ( washing, hanging to dry, taking down, folding and bringing back inside...)
~Sorting through and packing children's summer clothes
~Changing all the bedding in the house
~Scrubbing bathroom
~cleaning kitchen
~writing four letters and packaging up two boxes to mail
~browning 9 pounds of ground beef along with all the other smallish type every day jobs

....classifies as taking it easy.

BUT~I never did get my migraine back! :-)

The Last Warm Day

The radio man said today was to be the Last of the Warm days. Hopefully, his prediction will be as ill-advised as most weathermen. Either way, I am going to try to take full advantage of it. Lunch on the patio for sure.

I have no canning to do until Thursday (I need a few things from Wednesdays Farmers Market before I do anything else...) and I am going to fully enjoy this break. I hope to get Andrew's scrapbooking done-or well, a more achievable goal would be to get it STARTED! I have not gotten film developed in ages because I was so far behind on scrapbooking-I didn't want to add to my photo pile. Instead, I have been taking digitals and I will have to print the good ones when I am FINALLY caught up.

The fair was a flop. It was actually a 'Farm show' with one barn of exhibits and a few cows. No rides and no funnel cake. I guess I will have to go ANOTHER year without funnel cake. I wish I had a fryer. I REALLY wish I had a fryer. I can only imagine all the wonderfully fatty but oh-so-delicious foods I would make with one. Mozzerella sticks (my FAVORITE!), blooming onions, doughnuts, funnel cake, and the list goes on.

Yesterday we were invited to a home for lunch and it wa a lovely visit. When we got home though, my head started to pound, then to throb, and then a full fledged migraine hit. I felt nauseated and went to bed. At 5:00-managed to eat a few spoonfuls of chicken soup and then tried to rest some more. I can't believe how debilitating a migraine can be. I can only be thankful that they are a rare occurance and that I have a husband who is willing to take over when necessary.

Today-I am going to take it easy. I am so nervous I might have a repeat of yesterday. But-only as easy as I can. If today is the last of the warm days (that sounds like a title to me...), then I have LOTS of laundry to do!

Happy Days to You, until we meet again!

Scarlett

I just finished reading this book. Wow. I felt such accomplishment when I put this book down for the last time. It took me weeks to finish it because of so little time to devote to reading. This book was one of the best fiction books I have read in a LONG time and here is why. It was GRIPPING. I usually can predict, with great accuracy, what the ending will be like-in any book. Whenever I 'figured it out' while I read this-SOMETHING happened to completely void out my prediction. I mean THE OPPOSITE occurred. This book was insufferable at times (often), nerve-wracking at others and just plain fantastic to read. It is the sequel to Gone with the Wind and was written by an entirely different author so it was bound to have some inconsistencies. I found only one noteworthy one. The fluidity of both books was incredible considering it was by two different people. It has a couple risque parts to it but overlooking those, it was a great GREAT read. Superb!

 

Reason #493 why dishwashers are so fantastical. 

This is my way of avoiding a repeat "Sunset Salsa" episode. I can tweak it now and actually have a hard copy of the recipe. Unfortunately-it wasn't as tasty as the sunset salsa. I can't win! 

This picture makes me want to cry. Despite the fingers in her mouth (she never does that and was only being silly), she looks so grown up. My baby in a child's body. I don't know what I am going to do. She speaks so adult-like: in clarity and in vocabulary usage. She is looking so adult. I don't know if I can handle her growing up yet. Not yet. She is my baby. My first born. She is little girl! 

Matt made Corynn a seat for her swing this week, and upon further inspection-I found this in the corner. 

I am wondering if this whole swing idea was a good one afterall. The seat is still a SMIDGE too high for her-so she needs my help. And she wants to swing ALL THE TIME. (No exaggeration here!). Do you think she cares about all my other responsibilities?!?!? I think not. :-) 

When Andrew is happiest, his mouth is not smiling but rather, open as wide as it can possibly be. He likes his swing! 

Now they can be on it simultaneously!!! 

I love the way her hair flips out naturally on humid days! I had to get a picture of it, lest I forget. 

Fair is as fair does

First the important stuff: I had a friend ask me about this-I am not experiencing this problem but I was wondering if anyone ELSE having this problem?

"1. Did you notice you have to scroll all the way to the bottom of your blog to see the sidebar?"

If so, I will have to try and fix a problem I don't see, which will be an experience indeed!

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Now that THAT is settled:

TODAY IS THE FAIR!

I am SUPER excited about that! I hope to get a taste of funnel cake today. I have been really patient all year long! :-) I didn't put anything in to be judged this year-but I enjoy seeing all the work that others contributed. I can't wait!

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Matt declared that we don't have NEARLY enough salsa put up yet, so we may have to stop by the roadside stand for some more tomatoes. I was planning to stop for some huge pots of mums for $3.00 a piece anyway. I made Matt PROMISE that he HAD to help me make more salsa, if he wanted more. I just really want to spend some QT with him-something we haven't had in a while. And besides, the salsa is FOR him so he should be the one to make it spicy enough. I am still looking for a nice and hot recipe for him that I can go by-I have sort of been fudging my way through each batch. Some are very hot and some are not.

This week I will probably be plucking the last of our fruits from the garden. I want to get those green tomatoes done up so I can have a weeks rest from canning before the apples start up. Thank you BELINDA-for sharing a green tomato recipe with us. Matt hasn't GIVEN it me yet, but he said you sent him one! :-) Thanks so much!

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Would you believe me if I told you I am going to be doing a craft show out here? I thought my craft show days were over-with two little ones and my sidekick too far. But-a lady from church asked me if I would join her and so I shall. Since I THOUGHT my craft show days were over, I gave much of my goods away or dropped them off at the thrift store-ANYTHING to avoid hauling them out here. So-now I BASICALLY have to start from scratch. YIKES! I am not quite sure when all of THAT stuff will get done when I am so busy with canning and stuff.

Oh-and by the way-remember when I said I was going to start setting aside some time each day for teaching Corynn? Ummm...gulp. Hasn't happened yet. If I can't handle an HOUR a day with ONE child-I wonder how I will handle teaching an ENTIRE curriculum with multiple children?

I won't think about those things now. I 'll think about them later.

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Check out THIS Cutie Pie!!!! Isn't he DARLING?!?!?

Congratulations to Betsy and Doug on the birth of their sixth lovely!! He is so dear!

The Smart Ones Sleep

...but not I.

Idiot.

I have spent the last few hours that are supposed to be filled with precious sleep, organizing and sorting through past blog posts so as to categorize them for easy retrieval. I know. Like YOU care!! Like ANYONE cares!

I was so excited to have visited with Nancy from church this evening, and to work on crochet-that I just couldn't go to bed when she left. SO-I 'started' this HUGE task thinking I would leave off the rest for another time. But-this is me. Gung-ho to the end.

I have not categorized all of them-not even close. I wasn't ABOUT to categorize manually the plethora of photographs I have posted since I started this blog. But the somewhat interesting ones relevant to something others might like to refer to ARE categorized. I am sure the most interesting of all though, are the recipes now all conveniently located in the 'IN THE KITCHEN' category in the sidebar. You can find all the recipes I have ever posted now in ONE spot!

Now that I am CAUGHT UP...At the end of each month I will categorize that months posts.

I really HOPE that SOMEONE can benefit from this!

And now-to bed I go!

Catch-up and Catsup

I thought I would hop on here and ‘chat’ for a minute to the world within my computer screen. I have things to do-but I want to sit for a minute. OKAY?!?! Is that a PROBLEM!?!?!

Woah-where did THAT come from?!?! :-)

Okay-definitely not as funny in written form….
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Yesterday was my pickling day-I had great plans to do ALL the rest of my pre-apple canning yesterday but the pickles alone took all of naptime plus some. I made mustard pickles, garlic dill spears, bread and butters and zucchini relish. I also have some watermelon pickles BREWING-but that is a five day process! Argh!

Today is my tomato day-salsa, chili sauce, taco sauce, and probably hot peppers of some sort. Not sure. Lots to do. I am not really relishing the idea too much though. It seems every post canning-day my lower back KILLS me and I couldn’t figure out why. Well, mystery solved: I have to arch my back because of the hood over the stove. And arching your back for hours isn’t all that comfy cozy. Here’s to another day of back pain! 

I will say though…there is nothing like seeing the fruits of your labor lined up on the counters. And even better is the feeling you get when your husband’s eyes bug out of his head while exclaiming “You did ALL those since I left from lunch!?!?!” There is no prouder moment in the canner’s life.

I have long since grown out of my teeny tiny cupboard spot for home-canned goods and so all my newest jars are lined up on my counter for me too admire. Matt said he will build me a shelving unit to store them on, so I am excited about that. I can’t wait to see them ALL nicely lined up. There is nothing in the kitchen more beautiful that jars lined up.

With all this canning though-I decided to skip the fair entries. We will be GOING there and I will scope out what is what for next year-when HOPEFULLY, I will be more prepared. It was just one thing I DIDN’T need to worry about that right now!

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Tonight a lady from church is coming over. Wednesday nights are now crochet nights and I will hopefully learn how to do it well enough to make THINGS instead of just strips of stitches. I am very excited to have someone that is willing to teach me. VERY excited, indeed.

Now it is off to do some back-breaking work. Pleasant days to all!

The Last of the visiting pictures...

From when Grandma and Grandpa Newman were here.