Canning

Well, we have been canning fools around here. We went through 6 boxes of tomatoes that gave us 38 quarts of stewed tomatoes and 22 pints of Italian tomato sauce. We also did pears, and got 18 quarts of jarred pears, 10 half pints of pear butter, and 9 trays of dried pears. Then came the 14 half pints of jalepeno jelly--my friend calls it green slime :) We'll be on to apples and grapes next. I'm eyeing the apple tree out back. It hasn't been tended to in years as far as I can tell, but the apples don't look too small. If they are big enough, I imagine we can cut around any wormy parts :D
This all means that Autumn is in the air. In truth, Autumn is my favorite time of the year. The color is amazing. Spring is pretty, but it's localized. Our yards are beautiful--well, Yours might be but mine has a ways to go. Never the less, the color and the beauty is localized, and private for the most part. Not Autumn boy. The trees and bushes want to scream halleluja, it's nap time! They want the world to know how gleeful they feel about their down time. This is something worth further reflection :D

Birthday Girl

Well today we celebrated our youngest daughter's sixteenth birthday. Could it really BE sixteen YEARS??? I remember so clearly the events of that day. She was born on September 11, 1992. Sixteen years to the day since I had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was a joyful day. I was SO glad not to be pregnant. I mean really glad! We lived in Utah at the time, and I went through the ENTIRE summer pregnant. It's hot in Utah in the summer time for those of you who have never been there. She was born ON her due date, which for me was a first.

I look at this beautiful, graceful, funny, sweet girl, and I feel grateful daily for her. I feel very blessed to be her mother.

Gardens of Glory HA!

My garden was a disaster this year. We have plucked NO tomatoes out of it, one measly jalepeno--I am still planning to make my *famous* jalepeno jelly, but I have to BUY jalepenos now tsk!. We actually had success with the lettuce and spinach; otherwise, we have had one very small watermelon the size of a softball,(it's still on the vine, we seem to have outlandish and unrealistic expectations for the next month's growth) one cuke, and a couple of zucchinis! Isn't ANYONE supposed to be able to grow zucchini?????? Don't most people have zucchini coming out their ears??? Aren't people who normally like me supposed to be running in fear at the very sight of me by this time of the year?? Apparently the zucchini have met their match in Me!~~evil laugh commencing~~ OH, and our blueberry bush had the nerve to DIE!
Craig says that all of this was "well worth the $120 we spent for the raised bed materials". Sigh. We even bought dirt with BAT GUANO as an ingredient! Come on, stuff was supposed to grow in this *Gold*. So what am I going to do?? I'm going to build TWO MORE raised beds! Yes, I believe that is what any sane woman would do :D

Summer's End

It seems that summer is at an end. Canning time is upon us. As homeschoolers, I don't have the stress and heartache of sending the kids back to prison, but there are other stresses to take it's place.
First is the fact that this is an election year. I am a political junkie, I freely admit it! I listen to Rush, Sean, and Glenn whenever I can, and sometimes O'Reilly.
I am a full fledged flaming conservative. I align myself with the Republicans, as a major party, but fall somewhere closer to Libertarian--although I can't agree with them 100%.
It was with great anticipation I waited for John McCain to announce his running mate the other day--the day AFTER the DNC nominated the Marxist named Obama. I was rooting for Mitt Romney--and NOT because he is LDS, although that didn't hurt. I felt Romney was both fiscally and socially conservative enough to boost the ticket.
Well, Ta-Da, the VP nominee is... Sarah Palin??? Who??? I'd never heard of this woman. A WOMAN????? What is he doing??? Being a woman myself, I should have been overjoyed right? Why wasn't I?
As I have come to learn about Sarah Palin, I feel I can give her my endorsement. She is tough, very conservative, and a mother to 5 beautiful children. Five! Someone who at least knows what I'm going through with a large family. Someone I can connect to. I may even join the NRA now :D
Second is canning. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE to can. There is something special about seeing those rows and rows of jars lined up, like jewels on the shelf. The trouble is, I'm in a rented house with a glass flat top stove. Now this is a potential disaster. I hate the stupid thing. It's hard to clean, it gets scratched, and I'm petrified that extended canning will crack it. We bought a new grill over the weekend with an additional burner to the side. Problem solved? I'll let you know :D