Unprocessed...

Good afternoon!

What a good Saturday morning it's been.  I've not gotten ANY thing done on my to do list....but.....

I found a bunch of great "foodie" blogs and have been pouring over them!  So many great ideas.  For lunch today I made homemade, freshly milled wheat flour tortillas.  They were yummy.  I won't post a recipe quite yet.  I've discovered that I need to try a recipe 3 times before I feel like it wasn't a beginners fluke that it turned out.

I also found what I am going to make to give for Christmas gifts. I would love to share...I'm bursting to tell...but most (if not all) of my readers are on my gift list.  So.....for now I'll just have to keep it to myself.   But it's totally unique...I wouldn't have thought of it on my own...it's so cool!!  (Can you tell I just want to spill??)  I think this qualifies for SOMETHING in my 101 list!!  OK, no more !!!

The counts.....

Peaches: Quarts: 24
               Pints: 5

Tomatoes: Quarts: 68

Green Beans: Quarts: 6
   (Frozen Quarts):34

Salsa: Pints: 9

Tomato Soup: Pints:9

Tomato Juice: Quarts: 2

Dill Pickle Spears: Quarts: 1
                                Pints: 3

Bread & Butter Pickles: Pints: 7

Sweet Relish: Pints 5

Concord Grape Concentrate: 4 Quarts

Yellow Tomato Jelly: Pints: 3

Jelly/Jam (half pints)
Yellow Tomato Jelly: 3
Concord Grape: 15
Lilac:5
Blackberry:2
Mixed Berries & Rhubarb: 11
Peach: 8
Huckleberry: 5

Other Frozen:
6 Quarts of Lima Beans
3 Quarts of Shredded Zucchini
1 Quart of Huckleberries
3 Quarts of Asparagus
6 Quarts of Cauliflower

Of Course....

I guess it's been a while since I blogged...it's time for the canning "round-up" 

Final Count: Summer 2011: 189 Jars canned.  This doesn't include the Foods frozen.  That count is 47.

I suppose that is alright....I thought the number would be much higher.  I didn't do nearly as much jelly/jam as I did last summer.  Geez, you would think with my being off of work I would have had a higher number.

Total jars in the cold cellar: 524, 314 are jelly/jam.

Boring would be alright....

Seriously....I'm ready for someone else's life to be full of drama. I'm done!

As you saw below, our doggie is hurt. We think she was hit by a car on Monday. The damage to her front leg is serious. She had two very, very deep cuts and is not able to feel the leg or foot so she is still "walking" on it. This is bad because she is "walking" on the front (where the wounds are).

We did take her to the vet. And right now it is a "wait and see" period. The vet believes that she either strained or tore the tendons (ligaments??) in her "arm pit" and has no sensations in her leg at all. The hope is that after the inflamation goes down, it will start coming back and she will heal. If it does not, she will likely need to have her front leg amputated (or worse put down).

This is a very difficult time. Financially things are not great here. With the economy, Man's business is very slow. My short term disablity is over and we are currently appealing my denials for long term disablity and SSDI. So I have $0 income. The pesky light company still want their money and don't really seem to care if your doggie is 'sick'. So....we are doing some fundraising. If you can help, we'd appreciate it. If you can't, that is totally fine too. I'm just hoping that 240 of my fans (um...I realize there are only maybe 3 of you!) will contribute a couple bucks. Or hit their fans up for some!

We will also be doing Kristl Kakes and Doggy Yum-yums for sale to raise funds as well. The Kristl Kakes are for people and cannot be shipped...however the Doggie Yum-yums can. I will be working on a flyer or information...in my spare time. Grin!

Kristl's Chip In for Surgery

What is that smell???

That would be our Pyrenees dog....skunked!  UG!  After a whole day of my kid being ill (on the floor x3, in appropriate places x4),  I went out to do chores. 

Good news and bad news.....the bad news is...well, Iona is skunked.
The good news...the rabbit that has been loose for 2 months was sitting in it's cage, just as nice as you please, so I just latched the door.  Rabbit caught.
Bad News...we've lost all three of the youngest chicks (the ones hatched in the nest box).
Good News...the three older ones, the two guinea chicks and the two ducklings are still doing great.

It's been cold, but today and the next few days are supposed to be warmer, so we've got lots of outside chores to do to get ready for the cold days ahead....

Bad news...I think I may have what the Boy had....that or just the smell of the skunk-dog is making me sick.
Good news...I didn't spend any money today!

Dreary Monday

So I woke up this morning, raring to go (despite not sleeping well), only to find out that my Boy is feeling ill.  I gave him the benefit of the doubt (even though I thought it was because he stayed up too late, and frankly didn't want to do school today).  I made him brush his teeth and told him to go back to bed....only to have part of last nights dinner end up on the bedroom floor.  UG!  So, yup...tummy troubles.  This does change some of the plans for today.

Month of Nothing - October 2011

We're off to a good start.  I have the freezers inventoried (and even made a spreadsheet-ooooo), I'll go down into the root cellar and get a current count of the canning done this summer in a bit.
I have already spent money...boo!...but the budget for our family is set at $50 per week.  This is for groceries, gas, etc.  I do already have a few extras I see coming up.  I've committed to three fairly local "mystery shops".  That will add expenses this month, but will be reimbursed with a small "pay" next month (plus, we can have a sub for lunch one day, a coffee another, and a fast food sandwich the third-actually all this week!)

After going through the freezers and planning menus, I discovered that we needed hamburger and cheese.  We also needed vegetable oil and our sodas (Big K-gotta pop that drop!).  So after spending a little under $40 (I also needed chocolate to get my mood regulated-grin), we're ready to go.

Menus for this week:
Sun: S:Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Baked Apples

Mon: B: Oatmeal with Peach Jelly or Syrup
L:Turkey Wraps, carrots
S:Cheesy Fish and Chips Cassarole, Zucchini Slaw

Tues: B: Homemade Granola, Apple Slices
L: 1/3 Sub Sandwich, Chips
S: Bacon wrapped Chicken, Oven fries, Green Beans

Wed: B: Corn Flakes & Milk, Bananas
L: Meatloaf Sandwich
S: Spinach Chef Salad

Thur: B:Oatmeal with Cinnamon & Apples
L:Other Myst. Sandwich or Turkey Wrap
S: Cranberry Pork Loin Chops, Steamed Broccoli

Fri: 24 Fast before Yom Kippur

Sat: B:Bacon & Eggs, Toast & Jelly
L: Hot dogs on grill, grilled zucchini, pasta salad
S: Homemade 10 layer Lasagna & Salad

I do actually have all the menus planned for 22 of the days this month.  Before the day is over I should have the rest figured out. On my list for tomorrow is to get granola made.  And homemade granola bars.  I know that when it's here, we will eat it.  The granola bars don't last long!  I'll post a recipe when I make them. (if you are interested).

I'll also put up a link, button or something going to any ebay, etsy, craigslist if you want to shop.  (Shop today...it may pay for YOUR Christmas gift-grin! Or it could BE your Christmas gift!)

Comments and suggestions ENCOURAGED!!

Change is in the Air

Officially, my favorite season is fall.  However, I still need brought into it kicking and hollaring because summmer is a very close second.  It's now fall and frankly the past few days have been feeling long past the beginning of Fall and quite close to Winter (my least favorite).

So with the change of the seasons, it's time to put new goals in focus and shift gears. On my 101 list, I've listed two "Month-of-Nothings" per year.  The year is almost over and we only had a half of a "M-o-N" back in April.  With my disablity pay ending and the economy looking worse and worse, October is declared "Month-of-Nothing PLUS!"  This will make up for the unstellar show in April.  This month we will be frugal PLUS hit another goal of making some money on Ebay and Craigslist.  (Oh, and I kinda hit another goal, in a sideways way, I did post on Etsy last month, but under a new account for Man's business).  But I will post in Etsy on my account too! 

Other goals that we will be accomplishing (like the positive thinking) by doing MoN:

• Menu planning
• Going after Debt
• Clean out Barn (gotta have room for the cow/goat!)
• Inventory freezer and pantry (get count of what was canned!)

This would be a longer post, but my friend down the road and I planned a "Road Party" for our two Country Roads to get to know one another and it is taking place in just a few hours.  It may be two families, it could be 42 families.  We'll see.  It's really nasty out today, so our hopes of having an outdoor party is pretty much a bust.