Putting Up Food!

Well, I've been busy canning again. This time I canned 18 jars of Strawberry Jam and I'm currently working on Pickled Beets.

In between batches of Jam I put 4lbs of Pears in the dehydrator.  It really is easy to do.  Here is what I did....
1. I Washed Pears
2. I halved the Pears and then cored them.  I used a teaspoon measuring spoon to take the core out. Kind of like you would use a melon baller with melons.
3. I peeled the halves.
4. Then I slice the halves into 4 slices.  This gives you 8 slices per Pear.
5. I then put the slices into a solution of water and Fruit Fresh.
6. When I finished all the Pears I drained and place the slices on two drying trays.

It usually takes about 12 hours on my dehydrator. Yours may take less or more time.  I then put them in a ziploc bag. The 4lbs of Pears I dried made 1 quart ziploc bag full.  I was going to weigh them but...Oops!  I ate about 1/2 of tray before they made it to the bag.  I LOVE dried Pears!!! :)

Last week I canned Grape Juice.  It was soooo easy with my Steamer Juicer.

This Juicer is soooo worth the money!  I only spent $30 on it.  A couple years ago Hubby and I were in Fred Meyers and saw they had it on closeout.  Normally $145!!  I love finding deals like that. :)

I bought 30lbs of Concord Grapes and that gave me 16 quarts of Juice.  The grapes below are NOT what I juiced.  I didn't get a picture of the Concords. :(  But here is the wonderful juice it made...

I had Hubby taste test it to see if it needed sugar. His vote was no sugar needed.  I thought it could use a tiny bit but I then decided to can it with no sugar.  This makes it very versatile.  At a later date I can make jelly out of it. :)

Well, the beets should be cooled by now so I had better get going.

Hope everyone is having a great Fall. :)

Mobile Blogging....

I have been wanting to try out the mobile blogging. I have just posted my first pictures! This will be my first post. :-) Not sure how it all works yet. The jury is still out as to if I will blog this way?

Canning continued...Here are the Manuka Grapes!

Canning continued....Here are the Dilly Beans!

Canning...

While I'm not up to canning all that I normally do, I have put up a few things this year.  I did a double batch of Sweet Pickle Relish, Whole Tomatoes in Water, Dilly Beans, and Applesauce.  I also dried a few Zucchini with Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb and then Manuka Table Grapes.  They make the best raisins. :)  If your interested in canning any of these, here is the trusted website to find the Tested and Safe recipes.  National Center for Home Food Preservation

Here I am!

Hi Everyone!

Yes, I am alive and better.  :)

Things are winding down here for fall.  Getting things all pruned and button downed.  One exciting thing is we finally found a 5th Wheel!  We have been shopping and waiting for the right price for 3 years.  Now if we could get some time to go out and enjoy it.  Next year we are going to have some fun!  Hope all is well your way!  Here are some pictures of the home on wheels....

She finally did it!!!

My beautiful niece Miss Mae finally started a blog! :)

I have been encouraging her for a couple of months to start one.  Just finishing High School the road is wide and full of possibilities for her.  I just thought since she is great at writing a blog would be a perfect fit. And I get to read it.  ;)   I am so excited for her and her new adventure in the blog world. 

Yes, I had somewhat selfish motives in encouraging her to start a blog but it's a win-win for all.  She has a space to express herself and let family know what she is up to and the world gets to see the wonderful young woman I know. :)  Her blog is Writing Miss Mae, go check it out.  Enjoy!

Love you Miss Mae,
Your Auntie

Well...

Here I am two months out from surgery and I am still having pain.  The Physical Therapists are doing thier best to figure it out but I might have to go back in for an MRI.  I truly meant to post more on my blog here but I kept remembering Thumper from Bambi saying, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."  I am finally starting to feel some re-leaf now with pain meds but of course that is not the answer.  I hope that within the next few weeks we will get closer to the problem so that we can get the real solution.

I have been knitting like crazy these two months but have not gotten my pictures upload so as soon as I do I will post them here. :)

Believe it or not, I got bored with my knitting!  I picked up my Family History stuff again.  It's been about two years since I did anything with it.  Boy is it in a mess!  I was surfing the net for Hubbies Paternal Great Grandfather and then got distracted and read about organizing your Genealogy.  I don't have a whole lot of info or documents, yet, but, I have not figured out a system for what I do have.  I have started researching ways to do this and  think I will start by filing things by Surname.  There are all kinds of ways  to do it but I think this will work best for me.  My stack of papers is only about 10 inches high but it's enough to be overwhelming.  So, as I sit and knit I will also sit and slowly organize my genealogy files.  It will be nice when it is all done.

Well, that is all for now.
:) 
 Take care!  Until next time...

It's been a week and half....

Since my surgery and I am doing well.  Things are progressing nicely.  Stitches are out and Physical Therapy starts this Thursday. :)  The old pain is still not there!!! Just a little sore...except when I overdo and then it's ALOT sore. ;)

So, what does one do when they are couch bound?  Well, I watched movie after movie that I have wanted to see or already had seen but Love.  Miss Marple, Poirot, Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, and Emma.  I of course watched several of the murder mystery series.  A total of 20 different movies. lol

I also did knit, of course. ;)  I mentioned earlier the brown bag and mittens I was going to knit.  Well, besides those I knit two pairs of fingerless mitts, two cowls, and worked on my sweater I started a couple months ago.  I also finished my cable purse.  I don't know why I put off sewing it together. It took only an hour to complete it. lol  I also finished a stole that I have been knitting on since February.  Here are pictures of all I worked on except the cowls and fingerless mitts.  I did not have my camera handy before I gave them to my friend that I made them for.  I still need to felt the Brown Bag and block the stole. :)
Enjoy!

This is the beginnings of a simple sweater. 

Surgery...check!

Well it has been two days since surgery and I am doing pretty good. :)

Besides going stir crazy from being waited on and sitting, sitting, sitting and sitting, I am doing good.

The pain is very minimal but I do have meds in me. ;)  So forgive me if this post is confusing. ;)

I have 3 more days of not walking!!!  I can walk to go to the ladies room, change seats but other than that very little movement. Currently I am using crutches to remind my self not to go crazy when I do walk.  Yesterday I did need them for stability.  I was still a little dizzy.  Well, I am still dizzy. The meds make me that way, but you probably figured that out. ;)

I started knitting late in the day yesterday and that seemed to help with the boredum and anxiousness from just sitting.  I picked up a WIP that had been hibernating since March of 2008.  It is a felted bag, I call it The Bag. I love doing felted bags and started this one with no one in particular in mind.  I just thought the colors would be pretty in a felted bag. :)  I should finish it today and then I will start on my white mittens. :)  Here is a picture I took of the bag last year when I started it...

Originally I was going to use brown throughout the bag but decided it needed more black.  I am carrying two strands of yarn, one being Chestnut Brown and one being Black.  Both Patons Classic Wool.  Patons is great for felting.

Until next time. :)

Happy New Year!!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Celebrations!

We have been busy with visiting family and staying warm.  It snowed here for a couple of days and then the warmth came and melted it all away.  :)  Now the cold has returned but without the snow.  I am hoping that the snow stays away until next week since I am having my arthroscopic surgery this week and I do NOT want to reschedule because of bad weather.  I am soooooo ready to have this done and on the road to recovery. :)

I have been getting things ready for being laid up for a few days.  I plan on renting from the library some Poirot movies.  I was hoping Santa would bring me the new Miss Marple Series from this summer with Julia McKenzie playing Miss Marple. But instead I received something better.  A wonderful piece of jewelry. :)

I am also getting knitting ready.  I plan on knitting some white mittens to match my new coat.  Yes, I said white.  Call me crazy but I can not find any brown or pink yarn to match the those colors in my coat so I went with white.  I need to come up with some other projects in case I can't concentrate enough to work with double points. :)  I will be using the pattern from Knitting Pure & Simple.

Many blessings to you and yours in 2010!  :)