Monday, August 31, 2009

GUESS WHAT

I found in my back yard last night????????? okay, so we're renting this place in town, and the owner had told me there was an apple tree in the back yard. So, I went out back to see how the apples are doing - and low and behold there's also a PEAR tree! Full of pears! So, now I am scheming a way to get the ones at the top b/c they are big and look ripe! And the search begins for some yummy pear recipes! How exciting is that? BTW the apples were a little sad, they had mostly been eaten up by birds, but did get a few small ones :)

Saturday, August 29, 2009

weekend

So last night and this morning was the Beth Moore simulcast. I'm still digesting everything, but it was totally AWESOME! I wish that I could truly explain all the little cool things God has done even just this weekend that I've experienced and observed. He is so in the little things, the details and also all the huge stuff too. I know I am being vague, can't help it :) I honestly feel like my life shifted this weekend though and I'm so excited to see what will happen.

For the rest of the weekend I am planning to bake again. I have a ton of zucchini to bake into bread, which I am going to freeze for future use. Not going to do the pickled zucs this weekend as I am out of jars!

I know I say this every Fall, but I am falling in love with plaid again! LOVE IT. Last year I bought some fun brown/orange plaid but never did anything with it, so I might be doing some sewing also. I rec'd the new LL Bean ladies catalog and I am totally loving this skirt (in chocolate) and this sweater(in sugarplum)! Loving it. So, if I can find a close enough print I might be making a skirt, then will have to find a sweater. I finished the knitting I was working on, I'll post pics with the pattern later.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Sweet Sunday

So Sunday ended up being my baking day! I baked 3 apple pies and a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. See, I HAD to bake 3 pies b/c I had meant to take one into work but you can't just take one into work and not have one for home. And you can't leave hubby out either, right? Therefore, 3 pies. The first two kind of turned out ugly and the third, which I took into work turned out better. I need to really work on the crusts, I'd really like to have them turn out pretty. With the cookies I found that turning the oven down to 350 degrees instead of 375 helped keep some of the chewiness. I personally do not like peanut butter cookies, but hubby said they turned out great!

I also worked on some knitting. No pics of that b/c it is a gift. I am charting my first ever picture onto a cloth. Once I get it made to make sure it actually looks like what I want it to, I will post the pattern. I have to get it done between now and 11:30 tomorrow morning :) Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh?
So, one of our patients brought in a TON of veggies from his garden today and I am totally inspired to definitely do a garden next year!!! There were green beans, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, onions, and the BIGGEST cabbage I have ever seen in my entire life! It was seriously bigger than a basketball. I wish I had had my camera with me to share a pic. I am going to make a minestrone soup in the crock pot either tomorrow or Saturday. Most likely tomorrow. And, frankly, how awesome would it be to be able to can up my own veggies??? Oh, I have big plans in my head already! When we first moved here I had dreamed up a pumpkin patch, and thought how cool would it be to be able to have kids/families from church be able to come out and pick a pumpkin and we could even set up hay rides :) But, I was a little naive about how much work to clean out the dirt it is. I'm thinking that with the tractor we could probably set up the rototiller attachment and maybe my gardening dreams will come true. Then, the only other thing is the deer - we will also have to build a fence to keep them OUT! And the bunnies.
Tomorrow night is the Beth Moore simulcast, and I am so jazzed about it! I went to the one here in town last year, and it was great. Naturally, I was already planning to go this years, and come to find out that it is FREE! The church that hosted last year is doing it again this year, but this year they are not charging, just going to pass a donation basket. I think that's great, a lot more ladies will have an opportunity to go.
My to do list for the weekend is this:
1. Simulcast
2. dress alteration for little Debbie
3. bake TONS of zucchini bread and freeze it
4. minestrone soup in crock pot
5. possibly make pickled zucchini and can it
6. KNIT

Saturday, August 22, 2009

some relish, some Fall stuff

RELISH! Let's see, I think I made these jars on Tuesday night? After work. It's got yellow squash, red & green pepper, onion, and spices. I also added a couple cloves of garlic, but you really don't taste it. This time around, canning was a LOT easier! Apparently, though, I still can't read the recipe properly. It called for a small green & small red pepper, when I looked it over again after already adding both peppers, it only called for 1/2 cup of each and I had measured 1 cup of each. Whoops. Turned out just fine, though b/c without the extra 1/2 cup I don't think I would have had enough veggies to fill the jars. I guess that's serendipity!


Originally this weekend I had planned to bake.....but looks like that might not be what I'm doing. I love how I get a mental idea of what I want to accomplish and then the weekend turns out having a mind of it's own! So, yesterday I wandered aimlessly around stores - what was that? Turned out I was hungry and instead of feeling hungry I felt spacey....whoops. I did cut out a few quilt squares and worked on another Fall decoration. I know, it's not Fall yet, but I'm getting a head start - something a little new for me! So, this silly turkey I actually made a couple weekends ago. My Mom had given me all the fabric for it last Summer. He turned out sorta cute, huh? The hat might have to go, I'm not super thrilled with it. Okay, so then is this little pumpkin that I made up yesterday. It was from a pattern, I added the embroidery leaves on the front. I'm thinking that I will add a little raffia around the stem area, but I didn't have any in my craft stash - shocking!

So, the big news is that I finally finished a project that I have LITERALLY been working on for like 2 years. I haven't told the recipient yet, but I'm fairly sure she also doesn't read my blog. My best friend Jeannette had asked me to do a scrapbook for her son, the first 6 months. So, I have been working and working on it. Last weekend, DingDong Me realized that I had finished the first 6 months a looooooong time ago! Argh! so it has like 3 extra months in it. I usually like to end at a good place so it's ending right after Christmas. I can't wait to give it to her, hopefully she will like it :)
I also finished a knitting project, which I can't post a pic of yet b/c it's a gift :) I am finding that it's a whole lot easier/faster for me to knit with circular needles. Apparently I "prop" my needles in between stitches. I learned from a book, and so that's just the way that felt comfortable I guess, but it does slow me up a bit.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Industriousness



Okay, so the table is one that I found at the Hospice thrift that I love so much. I saw it and knew I just really had to have it. Once we get back to our regular house I think it is going to look so cute in the foyer! This is the frame that I have intended to change out for each season. As you can see I'm a little late with Summer, but at least it is still technically Summer! hee hee I love the paper and the embellishments!!!! I have so many ideas for Fall, it will be fun to see what comes out!
So, last Monday when I got to work, this pot with fleurs was sitting on my desk! My lovely coworkers put it together for me since my flower beds at my house have been ripped out during construction. Hubby did manage to salvage my bulbs for me, but still. So there was a cute little card that read: Gina's idea, Sue's pot and Debbie's flowers! So they all pitched in and it turned out wonderfully! It is on a plant stand that I have in the kitchen. I love it :)

I finally, finally finished the patriotic banner that I started last year! I fastened each star to the bias tape with a button to cover the stitches, I think it turned out fun!
So this past weekend I started my first quilt, cutting out some squares. I started that on Saturday, and then Sunday I made my first ever apricot jam! I have 4 books on canning/freezing/drying things so I thought I was ready to can up the apricots that I had picked. But, aparently I am not as great at reading directions as I had originally thought! So, in the Ball book there was a picture box with a spoon with jam dripping off of it to give you and idea of what the jam should do when it has reached the gelling point. I assumed that the spoon shown was the spoon you'd used to stir the jam while it was cooking. After I finished boiling the jars and panicking to get everything jarred up quickly enough I relooked at the book and realized that the spoon should have been a different spoon that was cold. Whoops. I think I am going to have to remake my jam. Luckily, I had bought a box of pectin and in the instructions in there it said I can remake the jam and add the pectin. What a relief! I have to tell you that even though I had read up on the subject, it was a little disconcerting trying to get the apricots peeled, mixed up, cooked properly, get the jam in the jars, wipe the jars down, get them in the boiling water, record the time, then worry about the seals on the jars. Now that I know what to expect though, I think it will go smoother next time. And, I do feel kind of industrious :)
The fruits of my labor :)

Friday, August 7, 2009

bunny

What happened to summer??? This week it has pretty much disappeared! Last week it was above 90 all week, this week it has dropped 30 degrees over night! Right now it is overcast and chilly, only like 65 degrees out! Yesterday it rained on and off all day. Pretty much, as long as it doesn't start snowing I'll be okay.
Here is one finished project. I don't know what happened last weekend, I was lazy all weekend and so this is all I finished. Isn't her face silly??? I haven't pinned down a name yet. She is sitting in my kitchen on the bottom shelf that is next to the stove. She makes me smile when I see her sitting there :)