Thursday, August 25, 2011

Thursday 8/25/2011

Taking a minute for some me time!!

The baby is down for a nap and both boys are at school so I figured while its quiet I would hop on the net for a minute to check things out!!

My day has been a normal one... up early, hubby off to work, got the boys breakfast and ready for school, took Colby to catch the morning bus, then home, I started the dishwasher then it wasn't long till we were back to the bus stop so Brady could catch the kindergarten bus, then home again, heated up leftovers for Kara and I for lunch. She has been changed and is now fast asleep.

I still have much to do, its never ending really.
There's more dishes that need done, always laundry, and there is something sticky on the kitchen floor so I needs a scrubbing as well. Then I need to finish my coupon clipping I am way behind and try to make some sort of menu as well as a list of what I need to make pies for the church yard party on saturday. I volunteered to make 6 pies!!!

Now that school is back in I have picked up my crochet hook again, I like to have something to work on while we wait for the bus it helps to pass the time. Right now I am working a prayer shawl that I will donate to church when its done but a dear lady from church called yesterday to talk to me about the yard party this saturday and told me she is expecting!! I have to tell you I am so happy for her and her hubby. They are a dear sweet couple and have tried for so long and been through many complications and are now expecting! I was so happy when she gave me the news that I actually got goosebumps!! SO I will soon be making something for their upcoming arrival!!

Busy Busy Busy, I like to think of it as somewhat organized chaos, lol

Have a great day!!
Dana

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Tuesday 8/23/2011

Good mid morning!!
Today is the last day before the new school year starts!! I am going to be a busy lady today!!
So far I have:
* unloaded the dishwasher, started to reloaded it but its not full enough to run yet maybe after lunch.....
*got the laundry going!! Plenty of that to do today, regular laundry and new school clothes that need washing
*I've got baking to do, the blueberry muffins I made yesterday didn't stand a chance and so in order to have some for breakfast and lunch boxes I gotta make up some more. I am also itching to make a carrot cake but that may be moved to tomorrows list. Oh and shhhhh don't tell but I think I am going to try to sneak in a baking of brownies to suprise some little boys when they open their lunch boxes tomorrow!! Wonder if I can get them outside to play long enough for me to be sneaky?? Yeah probably its gorgeous out there!!

Then of course there is the normal house work that needs done, it was a whirlwind weekend so the house needs some attention!!

Dinner tonight is Pizza/strombolis- Normally a friday night fare but I thought it would be nice to have a dinner time fave before sending them off to school tomorrow!! Plus I can go ahead and get them ready and stick them in the fridge and bake when we get home after orientation tonight.

So that is my day today, cooking/baking, laundry, and cleaning up!!

Have a great day!!
Dana

Friday, August 19, 2011

Friday 8/19/2011

Today is another busy day for me. Seems like its been one fury of an activity after another this summer but thats ok tis the season of our life at the moment... right??

Yesterday I canned peaches, sadly I didn't get them all done and so there are more that need done today or maybe this afternoon as today I have a few errands to run and visiting to do.

First I am going to straighten up some in the kitchen, I'm terrible yall, as soon as nap time hit I started on the peaches, and I worked right up until the baby got up from her nap I changed her and while the canner cooled down we headed out to the pool store to get some kind of testing strips that dh had requested, then I came home and unloaded, and then reloaded the canner, and got busy working on dinner. Truth be told we ate a late dinner last night, and then Kara was clingy and a bit whiny so I ended up snuggling her on the couch till she fell asleep and by that time I was D.O.N.E!! I put everything in the sink and dragged myself to bed. I didn't clean up a thing, its horrible but I was whipped. I was hoping for a peaceful restful night but it was not meant to be, Kara woke up and was HOT and gaggy, I thought sure she was going to errupt but she never did. I got her some meds for the fever and some watered down juice and we laid back down, she seemed to sleep peaceful after that but momma didn't. She is still warm this morning but not terribly and I can't pinpoint if its new teeth/sinuses ie allergies/ or a summer cold coming on. I guess we will just play it by ear today and see how she does. I only need to pick up a couple birthday gifts and I know just what I want to get so I shouldn't be long, and I need to pick up my Scentsy orders from the party I hosted!! Can't wait to get them fired up and all the wonderful scents to be dispersed in the house!! Then home for some canning and housework!! Sounds like an exciting day, no??

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Oh Happy Day...

I was able to get green beans and peaches at the farmer's market yesterday, I came home and got started right away, I almost finished the bushel of green beans but didn't because I had gotten too late a start in the day. I stopped only long enough to make dinner and then as soon as dinner was ready I started another batch in the canner. I got 14 qts done yesterday/last night and I have a few more to do today then will be moving onto the peaches!!!

After peaches I want to make salsa from tomatoes in our garden.

Oh how I love canning season!!!

Have a blessed day!!
Dana

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Tuesday 8/16/2011

I wasn't able to get anything from the farmers market yesterday. I called before running gas out to go there and they said they hadn't picked the beans yet but to call back today and hopefully they will be picked and ready for me today.

Hopefully that will work out for us!! If so I need to go to the farmer's market, the bank and the pharmacy, oh and I still need to take trash away too. The plan was to do that yesterday too, but I am trying to combine as many trips as possible so as to not waste gas. My truck guzzles it, and where it has come down some - I think it was 3.29 yesterday, its still alot to pay when filling my truck!!

So those are the plans for today, if it doesn't work out then I will continue with what I got going on with housework and laundry which is never ending, lol!!

I hope you have a great day!!
Dana

Monday, August 15, 2011

Monday...Back to business!!!

8/15/2011
After a very busy weekend we are back to business here today!!

We had a great weekend though!!
Saturday we went to the farmers market, I was on the hunt for green beans but they were sold out so I will probably go back today but I will call first. If they have the beans I plan on getting a bushel and probably another bushel of peaches.

Sunday I went to church, after church I took dh's gram to pick up a condensate pump for her AC unit, picked up a quick lunch and came home to have lunch with the family, then I loaded up our 3 kids took them for haircuts, a weeks worth of grocery shopping and a few more clothing needs for back to school- socks and underwear. By the time I got home after doing all the running all the shopping and such I told dh that the next time I think its a good idea to take 3 kids for haircuts, a weeks worth of groceries and school supplies and the baby hasn't had a proper nap, to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ask me to take moment and think it over, lol I was BEAT, and FRAZZLED!! The kids were pretty good but the baby was just not happy to be shopping instead of napping but it was the only time I had to get it all done. She fell asleep in the truck on the way home and got her nap out which was good, she was much happier after that!!

But now its monday and its back to business so to speak!!
On my list of things that need done are:
Bills
Laundry- should have 3 or so loads
Gather and take trash away
Go to farmers market if they have what I need
Get dinner prepared ahead of time
Kickball game with the cubscouts tonight- which is why I want dinner made ahead of time so when we get home we can just reheat and eat!!

If I luck out at the farmers market I probably won't have time to work up anything today so I'll focus on the housework today and the canning tomorrow!!

I have a pulling in me to get ready for winter!! Not sure if its the canning bug that bit me or if I just feel like we are going to have a bad winter but I want to be ready either way ya know??

Have a great day!!
Dana

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Tuesday around our place 8/9/2011

I didn't get a whole lot done yesterday. It was not a day of cooperation on my kids parts and well after a very busy weekend and going to bed late sunday night, I just didn't have the gumption to get anything done yesterday. Couple that with a run to the store for sugar, bread, milk, etc, and a trip out later to help dh's gram take her car to the garage for repair and well I just didn't get anything done.

Today has to be different!! I've got beans to can, maybe salsa to make and I need to take a trip down to the garden to see whats what down there.

At some point today I will need to take dh's gram back to pick up her car from the garage, lets hope its much later in the day!!

So there ya have it, canning and housework- mostly laundry and I should be right busy today!!

Hope you have a great day!!
Dana


Monday, August 8, 2011

Busy Wonderful Weekend!!

Oh what a weekend!!

Friday I did most all of the school shopping, it took all day to get the school shopping done and all the errands run, and it was HOT but I got everything done which was great!! We came home and got some veggies picked in the garden and then called it an evening!!

Saturday I spent the day cleaning up and trying to get ahead on a few things, then around 6 my mom came over to stay with the kids while we went to a wedding!! My best friend's little sister got married!! It was a great ceremony and the reception was SO.MUCH.FUN!!! Hot but what a great time we had!! We got home late and then dh followed Mom and the boys home to her house so he could make sure they got home safe and sound. Mom doesn't like coming home late by herself and even less so when the boys stay over so dh went over to make sure everything was ok then he came back home and we crashed, we were so tired!!

Sunday started out as a normal day, church, visiting at the cemetary and then visiting Gram and Pap, while we were at Gram and Pap's they told me to go and cut the last of the collards and kale and Mom and Pap picked green beans, they said there was only enough beans and greens out there for about a mess of each but I got a grocery store bag of each one of the greens and Pap and Mom picked 2 grocery store bags of beans which they sent most of those home with me. Mom's kitchen is out of commission so I will can them and split with her what I get!! Some of the green ends are sun scorched so they will have to be picked over well when I clean them and then hopefully there will be enough that I will can the collards and with the kale I plan on making a big pot of Sausage, Potato and Kale soup!!

All those veggies and my garden is still struggling along as well, the heat has all but dried out and killed everything but I have been watering as I can and we were lucky enough to get a good rain on Saturday so maybe there was enough to keep it crawling along.

After the veggies were all picked, mom sorted out Grams meds for the week and did the bills, and then I made the bed and "greased" grams leg. Thats what Gram calls it when I put lotion n her leg and foot. She's an amputee now for the last 35yrs and so her remaining leg gets very dry and scaley so I rubbed lotion on her leg and foot and even some on her stump, not to much though because she's having alot of trouble with her stump and is under doctor care for a wound she has on her stump. It stays pretty sore since her fall so we have to be careful with her stump.

The plan after all that was for me to take Mom home and then dh wanted to take us to this BBQ place, we asked mom to go but she wanted to stay home, relax and get ready for the coming week. But those plans did not go through because we got the biggest most wonderful suprise!!

Dh called me while we were at Grams and asked if we could put off our plans because his Nephew had shown up and wanted to spend some time with us!!! This is huge because we have only seen him 1 time in the last year and before that it was a long long time since we had seen either dh's neice or nephew. Its a very long story full of messy divorce, dh's sister running away from her kids and responcibilities and dh's ex bil and his new wife who pretty much didn't want the kids to have anything to do with us which explains why we never got to see them. But the nephew is 18 now, left home and is living with his grandparents (father's family) and decided he was going to make his own decisions and one of those was to get in touch with us and we couldn't be happier!! So instead we spent the evening catching up and having dinner and then we went to visit dh's gram so she could see her great grandson whom she hasn't seen in just as long a time as we haven't seen him so needless to say everyone was super happy!!!

The sad news is that our neice still lives with her father so the chances of us seeing her anytime soon is slim but we won't give up hope!!

God is Good ALL THE TIME!!!

Have a great day!!
Dana

Friday, August 5, 2011

Today is the day!!

School supplies shopping!! My oldest is a pro at this, lol he is going into the 4th grade this year but his little brother will be starting Kindergarten this year and as excited as he is about new pencils and glue sticks he would be just as "happy staying home with mama thank you very much", lol So he has said to me!! He thinks Kindergarten will be just fine but thinks it would be better if I came and waited for him in the parking lot, ya know the entire time he is in school, lol Its a time of adjustment for us all but I know he will love school!!

Soon it will be just me and miss boo at home. I don't know what I will do with just one at home but I am sure I will come up with something. *wink*

Little Miss Boo will surely miss her big brothers!! But there are books to read, movies to watch, dollies to play with and lets not forget piggy toes to paint!! She's really young so it will be a big adjustment watching her big brothers get on the school bus when she isn't going to get to go along. We'll get along just fine though!!

I can't believe how fast they grow!! I swear I feel like I just barely brought them home from the hospital now I have a 4th grader, a kindergartener and the "baby" will be 2 in December!!

The old saying is true is Time really flys when your having fun!!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Update: Unstuffed Peppers

I had planned on making the "Unstuffed Peppers" on monday night but after canning all day dh took pity on me and brought home take out chinese. He said he was craving it but I think he really just felt bad that I was hot and tired!! He's a sweetie for sure!!

So yesterday I still had canning that needed doing but I think I found my groove and the 2nd 1/2 bushel went faster than the first and so I wasn't completely warn out when it came time to get dinner together.

We love stuffed peppers but we never eat the pepper that its stuffed in. I guess its a texture thing but we love how it flavors the pepper so I thought I would experiment a little and I came up with this.

I had bought a family size package of hamburger and from it I made us a big batch of hamburgers that we grilled out over the weekend. I hadn't bagged up and froze the rest of the hamburger because I had originally planned on making this dish on Monday but the hamburger was still good on Tuesday and I had about 2lbs left from that family pack and I put that into my mixing bowl of my KA mixer, then I added 2 green peppers chopped fine- these were from my garden and we smallish I'm guessing one regular size green pepper from the grocery store would be about the same, I added 1 large onion chopped fine, 2 cups minute rice, 2 cups spaghetti sauce, 2 eggs and salt and pepper, and then let the KA mixer mix it all up for me.

I used a mini muffin pan and made mini size loaves of the mixture and baked them till done.

The verdict? Dh loved them deemed it a keeper they weren't dry and tasted great and now I can chop up my green peppers and freeze them so I have green peppers to cook later with instead of them being used just as a flavor conponent and holder for my stuffed pepper mixture!!

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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Peaches!!!!

Ok so yesterday I was going to go gang bustgers on the bushel of peaches and just get them canned and be done all in one day!! But..
Ya know what they say about best laid plans right?? Yeah that would be just about how it works out for me. And it seems its every time I plan something. Truth?? I think I am just miserably unorganized. Its a fault, and I am owning it, there I said it!!

So my day yesterday went more like this instead:

My youngest 2 slept in, which is epic!! If I could only get them to do that on Saturdays I tell ya!! Anyway I started by putting the canning jars in the dishwasher, and got it going, started collecting pots and such I would need to can the peaches and then it hit me: I didn't have enough lids sooooooooo, once the kids were up I got them dressed, bagged up the garbage that needed to go to the dump anyway and we were on our way. I made 2 stops after dumping the trash and without going all the way into town the only lids I could get were the ones that come with rings so I bought what I could and came on back home but not before stopping at dh's grams who had bags of ice she had been saving for me!!

Once back home I whipped up a quick lunch for the kiddos and I and soon after little miss boo was ready for her nap so I loved her up and she fell asleep fast and I laid her in her crib and got busy!!

I had picked the last of our green beans on Sunday and I knew my mom was coming over after work to pick up her tea so I got busy and snapped and cooked her a big pot of green beans with country ham and the later after the beans and ham were done I added a bunch of cubed peeled potatoes!! Yummy. Then once that was set I started on the peaches. I was able to do 16 qts of peaches yesterday before it was time for dh to be on his way home from work. He called to let me know he was on his way and God Bless him took pity on me and brought home dinner!! Good man I tell ya!!

By the time it was time for bed I was more than ready!! My back was screaming!! The skin around my fingernails is stained and ya know I don't care!!

Oh I almost forgot I had to make dh some potato salad before I was done for the day, they are having a BBQ at work for a farewell to a coworker so he had asked me to make Potato Salad, which I finished making at about 10:30 last night.

I slept good but my back, knees and legs are pretty sore.

Only another 1/2 bushel of peaches to do today then onto the apple seconds!!

So if you need me I'll be in the kitchen!!

Have a great day!!
Dana

Monday, August 1, 2011

Another busy weekend, another busy week!!

Wow, I think our weekends are just as busy as our weekdays!! And this weekend was no different.

Lets start with Friday....
I needed to go to the grocery store, its been a while since I did a real grocery shop so that was first on the list!! With temps near and at 100* though it made for a long and drawn out day.
I got the kids and myself ready then we went to pick up dh's gram, switch car seats and were on our way. First stop: Walmart, since the heat was so intense after we were done with our walmart trip we took everything home, unloaded the car at dh's gram's house, then unloaded our things at our house got all the cold items put away then back to town we went this time we stopped at Arby's and dh's gram treated us to lunch!! Then we went to the bank, then to Martin's for our meat and some sale items, I like to buy my meat from Martins or Costco, then we came back and unloaded everything at dh's gram's house, and this time we took all of my purchases and put them into our truck and then we came home, unloaded the truck then put away all the cold items again, then the kids and I went back to the feed mill to get pool salt so dh could set up the salt system for the pool, its supposed to save lots of money over having to by clorine for the pool not to mention its better and easier on your skin.
After we got home with 200lbs of salt, I called it a day and refused to go anywhere else, lol, It was so hot and miserable. I worked on getting the grocery dry goods put away, and I made dinner while the boys were in the pool with their dad, the baby wasn't interested, she was tired and not having a decent nap during the day from all the running she wanted to just stay inside with me. So I popped in her Tangled movie, sat her down with some cheez-its and she was happy to hang out while I got dinner ready!! We had Hm Pizza and bread sticks!! Yummy!!

Saturday, the boys were up early with their daddy, I had little miss snuggled next to me so I stayed put in bed till she was awake and ready to get up. Then we got ready to go, dh stayed home to mow the grass, and the kids and I went to dh's grams to pick her up then we went to a farmers market to get peaches to can. I bought a bushel of peaches, a box of apple seconds and a box of cabbage seconds. Then we came home, the boys got in the pool with daddy, the baby took a nap and I worked on the laundry. Saturday night we took the kids to the county fair!! They had a blast, Kara rode the merry go round 3x!! We left the fair something like after 10 the boys stayed the night with my mom and the baby didn't go to bed till almost midnight, I was so tired!!

Sunday we got up and the baby and I got ready for church, dh had to work so he stayed home, I went over and picked up mom and the boys and we went to church, then after church we went to the cemetary to visit dad, then to my gram and paps house, where he loaded me up with all sorts of things, crackers, cookie mix, raisins, tomatoes from my great aunt. I guess one of my aunt's church gives away boxes of food to the elderly and shut ins and Pap was giving me all the things they won't use but didn't want to throw away, so I'll make use of it one way or another. I don't normally turn down free food :) Then we came home, worked in the garden and then played in the pool till time to get dinner ready!! Dinner last night was Burgers on the grill, Mac and cheese, cukes from our garden, tomatoes from my great Aunt Dorothy's garden and peaches.

Today I already have the jars washing in the dishwasher but I discovered that I don't have enough canning lids to do up the peaches today so as soon as all the kids are up and dressed I am going to take away the trash and while I am out get some more canning lids!!! Then home to work up the peaches. Once the peaches are done the apple seconds are next they are going to be turned into apple sauce!! I also have some free hot peppers from a friend that I hope to get canned into hot pepper rings. So looks like I'll be busy for a while!!

Dinner tonight is a new concoction I am going to try: Unstuffed peppers. I love the flavor of stuffed peppers but I don't care for the cooked pepper that the meat mixtured is stuffed in. I hate wasting so I am going to try to make an unstuffed pepper and see how it turns out. I'll report my findings tomorrow!!

Have a great day!!
Dana