Gotta Dance...

Ever had a day that is just so beautiful that you just HAVE to dance?? Not a dancer? Ok, sing? That's what today is here in lovely south central IN. Windy, 7 puffy clouds and the thermometer by the creek says it's 81. Poifect! I just got done doing a mama-shuffle in the back yard. We've been busy, busy, busy gearing up to start canning in earnest. I've put up a little tomato sauce and blackberry jam so far. The big stuff, tomatos by the dozen and green beans and corn, will be ready before ya know it. Crazy Uncle and Therapy Boy (oldest son unit) took time away from their chores to wash billions of jars for me! I do mean billions! I got the bulk of them from Freecycle. Hope you've discovered that service! Here's a link www.freecycle.org The boys washed the biggest gunk off outside as they'd been stored in the barn. Won't do that again! Then I ran them thru the dishwasher and scrubbed some stubborn gunk off. Now I put rings on them and have them stored in big tubs by size. Now I can just grab what I need and they're ready to go. And what doesn't get used this year will stay clean till next summer. Yay! And just in case you've forgotten, here's a gentle reminder!

sigh...

When you have forty billion things you'd like to accomplish and not enough energy and time to do em all...how do YOU choose what to do? Here's my list....Help me pick. Figure a new budget as we just refinanced the house (7 years to go!!) Reorganize the kitchen to be more efficient Clean and reorganize the outside (garage) food storage area Pitch all the old useless papers from the file cabinet Paint 3 rooms Organize the closet thats full to overflowing Organize the bathroom so you can find something, anything! Get skinny Quit smoking Get nicer Get cuter I'm sure I could come up with lots more but these came to mind first this morning. I need to get all these done plus keep up with cleaning and cooking and canning and yard work. I read Self Sustained Living's Blog and think, "How in the wild west does she do it all??" I have some health issues so can't always do everything that needs to be done on a daily basis. It gets discouraging. If anybody out there has a way to prioritize that works for them, lemme know. Or I would gladly feed you if you want to volunteer to come help!!!

Back Home Again in Indiana

We had a lovely weekend in Pennsyltucky at our family reunion. Crazy Uncle drove the big blue plastic motorcycle and met oldest son and I there. Now G.U. is off visiting his brother in Ohio. I'm home guarding the chickens and the waaay stinky dogs. Goofy Sally just can't get the hang of waiting till some dumb human takes her outside. I shampoo'd the carpet spot this am but am about to choke on the left over fumes. I'm heading to the Big W to buy that carpet deodorizer schtuff that really works. Even my favorite cleaning tool, vinegar, isn't cutting it! OY! Next major project on the budget is to de-carpet the entire house. Later on today I'll pick some more blackberries and see if I have enough to make some jam. My first shot at real jam instead of freezer type. Will post result later-umm, if it worked and I'm not embarrassed by results. Sorta like the blackberry cobbler I took to the reunion that was inedible! No clue what happened. I've made 4 so far this summer but of course the one that flubbed was the one for others. sheesh. Even my major body builder, 2x Iron Man contestant cousin couldn't cut it. LOL. I did see some kids scraping the berries off the top to eat. It is so lovely outside I hate to spend the day in the house doing domestic goddess type things. Maybe I'll play hookey and hang out at the pool in town. Wanna find a cheap/free small pool for the backyard. I dread paying the water bill to fill it tho.

Planning ahead...

Our garden and fruit crops are growing and are not in need of my efforts in the kitchen as of yet. Finishing up the very last of the peas drying process today. We ate some with dinner last night. Yummy. Next year we'll know to start picking earlier so they won't be quite so dry and more sweet. It's amazing to think that I touched each and every pea in the jars and in the bags in the freezer at least twice. sheesh! This week I will be checking and washing jars. We got a literal truck load from freecycle! www.freecycle.org Then I plan on going over my recipes again to refresh my memory (constant battle!) on how everything goes this time of year. Plan to try real jelly/jam instead of freezer type. Blackberries are about ready!!