Still scrubbing along!

Where have I been all month?
I have made several trips to East Texas this summer, trying to help my Mom with stuff since Ralph's surgery. He is finally on the mend, in Physical Therapy a couple of times a week. He's back to doing a few small things for himself, and trying to work on the yard a bit at a time. Prayers there are greatly appreciated.
On the 13th, Benjamin and Paula and their kids, and Paula's brother Eric came to visit. The very next day, Daniel, Sam, Ben and Eric all went on the annual Trek hike in the Pecos Wilderness of New Mexico. Paula and the kids stayed and visited with us. When the guys got back the following Sunday, we all had another week to visit here. I really got to get some great snuggles in on the grandkids. It was my first real visit with Milo. He was almost 4 months old- (he reached 4 months yesterday) and more than 18 lbs. He is one of the happiest babies I have ever met. He began rolling completely over while they were here, and getting his knees up under him in a prelude to crawling.

Jasher and Althea were a whole lot of fun. They are really smart, and loved to help with chores, from picking tomatoes to gathering eggs.
(At least TWO of my hens are laying, in addition to Speckles the guinea.)
 The garden has slacked off tremendously. I am still getting quite a bit of okra every day, and some of the plants must be approaching 9 feet tall. (That is okra in the picture behind me).
The new squash plants are starting to put on squash- I should be harvesting some tomorrow. But one entire row is dying. We have no explanation. The new crop of green beans is blooming, so I ought to have beans in a few days.
And I wasn't kidding in my title, that I am still scrubbing along. I still haven't figured out what to do about pantry storage. The original pantry has been cleaned, inventoried and re-organized.
The last couple of days, I have worked on my closet. It has been a pit of despair. Now, we can actually get into it and find what we need. And I have room left to maybe store some (pantry) stuff.
Today's project will be the "outside" fridge, which will segue into defrosting the deep freeze. The "outside" fridge isn't really outside... it is in the well house. With all the okra and squash I have been freezing, the defrost should of been done months ago. But it wasn't.
I have been trying to post more on the family cooking blog. I got my recipe up for Fried Green Pickled Tomatoes! They are wonderful.
That's all for now. May your day be blessed beyond measure!

Canning count!

Today is August 3rd, 2018.
Tom and I have been married 34 years. Happy Anniversary, Mr C!

I noticed last night, the *sturdy* shelves in the hutch (behind the table) were beginning to bow. They were not full.
I had to take out all my jars, so I did a count while I was at it.
15 quarts & 40 pints of plain pureed tomatoes
10 pints & 9 half-pints of unsweetened green tomato relish
8 pints of sweet green tomato relish
12 pints of spaghetti sauce
12 pints & 1 half pint of Rotel-style tomatoes. (Rotel* is a licensed brand name!) Shall I call mine No-tel?
9 pints of salsa. (Salsa Not Hot Sauce!) (Family joke!)

This doesn't include several jars I used making chili over the past weekend. Nor does it count the jars of spaghetti sauce I sent to both my mom and Tom's. This is just tomatoes!
I found one quart of tomatoes unsealed, so will be disposing of those. One jar of No-tel from yesterday didn't seal, so that is in the fridge.
I re-stacked as many jars as I could on the base shelf of the hutch, but had to put a few back on the higher shelves. The needed pantry is becoming a priority.
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I have jars of jellies, bags of frozen peaches, okra, & squash.
The dehydrator seems to be trying to die on me. It is currently full of peppers. We have dried onions, tomatoes, squash, and herbs as well. The final component of our "Tri-pepper blend", the Tabasco peppers, are finally ripening, and I have a single tray of those among the peppers in the dehydrator right now.

I have okra and squash to deal with today, plus the remainder of the tomatoes I didn't get finished with yesterday. Today's pickings were comparably slim, so just MAYBE I can get caught up.
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I am using my washing machine. The repairmen did NOT find a leak. (They surmised that either I was using too much soap, or the steam setting was causing condensation to form and drip down the machine.) However, they DID discover problems with my machine. Apparently the "mother board" has a mind of its own. No matter WHAT cycle you program the machine to use... it uses hot water. They have to get authorization (which they will, as it is a covered warranty issue) and order a new mother board. Then they will schedule a return visit to install it. Meanwhile...  it doesn't leak and I have laundry!  Which I best get to. Thanks for reading.

Stop Digging!

For once, I was right about a quote!
Will Rogers said, "If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."
I have been looking around the house, which has become somewhat of a pit the last couple of months. First off, with extra grandkids, and no designated place to keep the stuff that comes with having extra people around.
To that, I added my garden preserving supplies. 10 months of the year, they are stored in one of the out buildings. But when I use them DAILY, they need to be more accessible. Garden produce leads to storage of food in bulk. Jars of fruits and vegetables need to be protected from excess heat, and from freezing temperatures. This was a problem last year with the small starter garden we had for our first year in the new house. THIS year... the garden more than doubled. My climate controlled storage space did NOT.
I am ready to stop digging.
I am playing musical cupboards. TOO MUCH STUFF!
Did you know I have a dozen large glass goblets? This would be great, if we actually used them to drink from.
Most of the time, we drink from canning jars. (Except during garden season... when we are reduced to drinking from the canning jars that have chipped rims.) The goblets are great for when we have company. (But we almost NEVER have company. And when we do have company, it is usually a LOT of company, and we use Solo cups. Sometimes recycled solo cups.)
I have plates. LOTS of plates. I have my grandmother's beautiful set of china, over 70 years old. I use that when we have big gatherings. Day to day, it sits on display.
For "every day", I have deliberately mismatched, heavy duty restaurant style stoneware plates, and a good sized stack of Corelle plates. (Also in several patterns.) More than four people warrant on a daily basis.



I have enough Campbell's Soup Mugs to start a soup kitchen.

I have probably three dozen assorted coffee mugs... and the favorite four sought after daily are from Dollar tree.









 I have bowls. Little bowls. Big bowls. Bigger bowls. Ginormous bowls. Glass bowls. Stainless steel bowls. Plastic bowls. Antique bowls. Cereal bowls. Bowls with handles. Measuring bowls, batter bowls. Bowls with covers.

Too much STUFF.
I have attempted to downsize the amount of my kitchen supplies. I no longer have seven kids at home. I get grandkids in the summer, but seldom more than three or four at a time.

Maybe I shouldn't grow such a large garden? Then the stuff in the cupboards could stay where it is. Maybe when the twins move out on their own, they will want a start of dishes?  (I know Daniel has said he wants his own SET of  dishes when he moves. Everything that matches and fits together in an orderly space.) For today, I think I will be taking a lot of excess to the storage building. If I need it, I will know where to find it. If you need it... give me a call!