Wednesday, November 19, 2014

~Snow!~

It has been snowing, and snowing, and snowing non-stop since Monday, except for when it was raining. And then snowing on top of the resulting ice. Yeah, baby! It's going to be a great winter!

I saw this quote and just laughed;


Well, duh! Should have looked at the map a little closer before we moved here!

The side of our front porch.

Monday, November 17, 2014

~Tooth Pillow~

I've taken a little time for some sewing and crafting lately. My latest project was a little tooth pillow for my daughter. She has one tooth out and three more that are loose so I thought it would be fun to have a specific pillow. Plus, it will make the Tooth Fairy's job a little easier.


I had everything I needed, which is always nice. I used white fleece, pink felt, pink embroidery floss, and safety eyes.


I did a search on Pinterest to find ideas, and in the end I loosely copied something from an Etsy shop. (Please know that I would never copy someone's pattern to sell.)


We'll have to put the tooth in a little baggie though because I don't think the Tooth Fairy would like digging the tooth out from those long roots! ;-)

Right now the tooth is riding a horse, and has been named "Toothie". 

Saturday, November 01, 2014

~On Canning~

I'm through with my canning endeavor for this year. 
I keep thinking of things that would be "fun" to can, 
and then I stop myself.
We have enough. 
I worked hard enough.
We were blessed with bounty,
 and give thanks for the provisions for this coming year.
My shelves hold many more jars than ever before.
This year I caned 340 jars worth of canned goods.
Three hundred forty.
That's a lot.
And a lot of work.

In late September,
 my daughter and I went for a drive and picked Concord grapes.
They were organic.
Obviously.
Worms, naturally!
I donned latex gloves in the end to power through the worms and grapes. 
I'm rethinking my desire for organic.


The finished product - 21 jars of juice and 8 jars of jam.
Worms not included.
Not that you can see, anyhow.


A view into my (not so very messy) kitchen.
It got worse than this.
Way worse.


The apples I purchased.
Some friends gave us 2 bushels of apples.
Then I bought 1 1/2 bushels of apples.
Besides sauce, I froze some, and we ate a lot. 
None went to waste this year (well, an occasional apple fell prey to mold).


Sauce!
In my new pan (seen above as well). 
It served me well this preserving season. 
The only thing I'd change, really, is for it to be heavy-bottomed.
Heavy bottoms are good (in pans anyhow). 


I didn't take a lot of pictures. 
First, I was busy.
Secondly, I need a new camera. 
If you'd like to take a look at my whole (super long) list,
 see "Food '14" above.
I praise the Lord for this year's canning adventure!
I had less back pain than the previous few years have held,
and I utilized our garden produce so much better this year.
God be praised!