I Love the Fall!

I love the fall! Don't you? It is SO fun and beautiful! You should have seen the canyons as we went driving along their winding roads to and from my parents house this last week. The trees were beautiful! Know what we did while there? I loaded the car with veggies from our garden and took the kids to can nummies! It was CRAZY!!! My dad called me a kitchen "fixture" 'cause I never left. All together, we did: tomatoes, corn, beans, dilly beans, jalapeno jelly, pears, pear jam, apple sauce, apple butter, cherry jam (earlier), and peaches. It was a lot! My mom asked me what I learned from the garden this year. I learned we need to plant more corn next year; and, I think I'll freeze it because it took almost THREE hours to process a batch! Blah!

Today has been such a crazy strange day! The big frost is coming tonight, so I have this weird anticipation of everything being dead in the morning. I harvested all the tomatoes on my vines and picked the last of the peppers, beans, and zucchini. And sweet little Mercedes, who has been sick all day, lined up all the pumpkins in the living room window. Most were small enough she could lift them, but there was one she needed help with.

I also took the children to our bishop's brother's garden and helped harvest some of the veggies there. The wind was blowing like crazy and the kids got cold, but they had fun anyway. Then the young men loaded it all up and took it to the food pantry for their busiest day of the year - tomorrow!

And do you know what else I did today?! I made sourdough bread. Mmm, it is so good! I think I'll put the recipe on here some day for all of you wonderful people to try, 'cause I know you will love it!

I really do love the fall. I love the colors and the spices and the chill...as long as I don't have to be in it too much! Don't you?

Happy harvesting!!!

Picture curtesy of Country Living
But I wish my porch were that exciting :)

Well hello, everybody! It has been a long time since I did a post on here, other than Motivational Monday. No, I haven't forgotten about you, it's just been extremely busy! Between two trips out of town this month, flu season, and canning season, there hasn't been much time for anything else - and we're not done yet! I'll be back soon though. Love to you all!

Motivational Monday

"Service to others deepens and sweetens this life while we are preparing to live in a better world. It is by serving that we learn to serve. When we are engaged in the service of our fellowmen, not only do our deeds assist them, but we put our own problems in a fresher perspective. When we concern ourselves more with others, there is less time to be concerned with ourselves! In the midst of the miracle of serving, there is the promise of Jesus that by losing ourselves, we find ourselves!"

--Spencer W. Kimball, "Speaks Out on Service to Others", New Era, Mar. 1981, 47

More Than Just a Yard Sale

I had been planning to have a yard sale all year long. But, after visiting with two of my neighbors, and both mentioned wanting to have one, I decided to promote a neighborhood yard sale. Not just a neighborhood yard sale, but a ward yard sale. (Sorry to the two small areas I missed with fliers). After planning around community events, school starting, holidays, and ward activities, I was finally able to decide on a date. It was no picnic though - it changed three times over the course of two months. I was afraid people would lose interest, but most never knew about the changes.

Jake and the kids were GREAT! They helped make fliers and deliver them. While we were out, we were able to chat with neighbors, and meet some for the first time. I also got to speak to other members of the ward I'd never met because they'd call to ask questions.

Finely, the week arrived. Most of my family had the flu, but I was going to do this. We put the add in the paper and began collecting. Do you know how much we had? TONS!!! We collected 32 boxes of items! It was great! I had a hard time parting with some things, like the Cabbage Patch heads, and bodies, that I've been saving since elementary school because eventually I will get around to making them. Ha! Probably not, but I really was saving them for that reason.

My neighbor Windy was good support. She kept telling me she was proud of me for getting rid of so much. I really am a pack rat. This was very hard! Actually, it started out hard, and became easier as I went, which was a real blessing from the Lord.

So...yard sale day! I have no idea how many yard sales there were. I heard there were a lot, but I didn't see them. Later that night, my bishop's wife asked if ours went well. Well...let's see:

• I was able to clean house, or at least the garage. It was liberating!
• My neighbors were able to clean house too.
• We were able to socialize with friends and neighbors that either aren't members, or not active.
• Because of the yard sales, some ward members who weren't planning on coming to our ward activity that night came.

So, was the yard sale a success? Absolutely! We made just over $50.00, but for the reasons listed above, I can't even explain how happy I was. I told Jake that I used to feel like that all the time, and he said "it's because you used to do that kind of stuff all the time. When you were in Institute, that's all you did." He's right! I don't know what made that experience so different; but, to feel that way again was a tender mercy from the Lord and I'm glad we had more than just a yard sale.

Motivational Monday

"The Lord loves you for your strength and your courage. He is always there for you. You are not alone. He has promised us that when we are trying to live righteously and are serving Him, 'I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.'"

Janet Hales Beckham, D&C 84:88 quoted

Motivational Monday

“There is no infirmity, affliction, or adversity that Christ did not feel in Gethsemane. . . .President Howard W. Hunter said: ‘If our lives and our faith are centered on Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right.’" (The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1997], 40).”

365 Days of Pre-made Meals

Because we are working on adding a "soup of choice" to our Sample BASIC Menu, I thought this would be awesome to share with you! Please click on the link below and visit Preparedness Brings Peace. Read the short story and enjoy the soup recipes because this is an incredible idea! And to think...people do this! They actually do it. It is their way of life. It is amazing to me, truly amazing!

365 Days of Pre-made Meals

Potty Training Stina - I Think it Backfired

O.K., Christina has been potty training since last Wednesday. This is all well and good except she's had quite a few messes on the floor. That's fine too. She is learning. O.K., she's had a lot of messes. I was talking to Windy, my neighbor, and I said "I just want to put her back in diapers." And she looked at me and said "No, you don't." Which I really don't, but it's so much easier, and cleaner, and the carpet doesn't stink - 'cause between kid pee and poop, vomit, and dog messes - which I thought we were over - I have now used my #10 can of baking soda and am officially out! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

This morning Christina hadn't peed yet, but she was showing signs that she needed to go. I kept picking her up and taking her to the bathroom; but all she would do is cry, "No, I can't. I can't." Finely, I didn't know what to do. She was standing next to the chair with her legs stiff and crossed and I just said to her "Christina, go sit on the potty." You know what she did? She walked over to the potty, sat down, saw a book, picked it up, flipped it open, and started peeing in the toilet! Can you believe that? It's the first time since Wednesday that she's done that! I was so elated I started bawling! Well, it was probably the stress too; but, poor thing. Holding up her hand, she exclaims, "Way to go, man!" and wants to give me five, but sees me crying and you should have seen her face. Boy, was she confused!

Stina stood up next to me, and wiping the tears from my face, told me, "It's O.K., Mommy. You're O.K.. I'm sorry."

As much as I told her I was excited for her, and proud of her, and she was such a big girl, I don't think she believed me because she hasn't peed in the potty since.

Poor thing...

Motivational Monday

"I have always found that when we do the little things correctly, the Lord gives us the strength to accomplish big things... You might not always understand the reasons for some rules or commandments, but if you will follow them even in the little things you will have more strength to do big things... And you will have the great blessing of knowing that you are on the Lord's side and that He is on yours."

--Donald L. Hallstrom, "Friend to Friend: On the Lord's Side," Friend, Sept. 2002, 8

Life if Beautiful!

Hello Everybody! I haven't written an up-date in a long time! My last post was about our new dog Drake. Well, he's gone. We traded him for a new model because he was slightly aggressive with the children; although, I did like him. He was a very intelligent dog! We now have a "French Alaskan" as Grandma Rae put it. His name is Sunday, which is our favorite day of the week, and he's a thirteen week old Pookimo. Now you're wondering "What in the world is a Pookimo?" Well...he's an Poodle Eskimo mix - hence the "French Alaskan." Sunday's a good puppy, but he's going to start thinking the block's his territory if we don't do something about the yard soon. Supposedly, he's really smart, but we'll see. I just hope he stops chewing on things soon!

Since my camera is broken, I pulled this picture of Sunday from his add on ksl. He's the little guy on the right. I think his sister, little black dog on the left, is still for sale. She's a cutie and I'm considering getting her too. But, if you want to buy her, go for it!

O.K., so enough about the dog. We are all doing really good!

Christina has been potty training this week. Hooray! She's afraid to pee pee in the potty, but she still tries. Today, she was sitting on the potty trying and trying and trying. You could tell. She looked down, looked up at me a little confused, and looked back down exclaiming "It's stuck in there!" Then she paused for a second and said "It's coming!" and jumped down. She never went. She loves the dog and is training him. "Sit, stay, come, down, don't jump!, don't bite!, good boy are all things she says to him. She's also teaching him to jump up to her hand. Christina likes giving him treats when he is good. They get each other so riled up, which would be fine, except Sunday has the teeth of a wolf; and being a puppy, likes to nip.

Alex is figuring all sorts of things out. He loves being out side, playing with his sisters, going down the slide, and playing with cars. He likes the dog, as long as it's not licking his face. We got him off his binki this week! Yeah! No more binkis! (It's just one less thing for the dog to chew). What a brave little boy!

Mercedes is a social butterfly that only comes home when her friends come over. Actually, they're here a lot, so I'm glad. She enjoys her bike, playing at the Bee Hive Home, and visiting with Grandpa Rod. She is also an extremely big helper, and is very excited to start Kindergarden on Monday. Oh the joys of homeschooling! She will begin Kindergarden and Christina will begin Preschool! Hooray!

Jake was up all night with a migraine. Poor guy! It started coming on last night when we were on the way to Arby's for a Unit Check and a lawn mow. (I mow their lawn). Mercedes did her best to help him though. She got him stuffed animals to sleep with, a "Puke Bucket," and sang him songs while he laid on the bed. Besides that, he is doing good. Work is getting slow, but what can you expect right now. He bought some posts to put up a simple fence for me. I can't wait! He's also really enjoying his calling right now. It's nice that he has scouts that actually want to work on scouts. He loves it! And, he's excited for basket ball to start in two weeks, because he'll get to go play with his "brothers." The other thing Jake's going to do is start school next semester. For now, he's going to continue his degree in Accounting and Business Management. I'm excited for him.

I've been busy too! I started Institute this last week. I'm not going to lie, it was a little weird. Five years ago, when I was in college, that was just life. I want to graduate from Institute, which is why I'm going, but I don't really fit in with the other students because a lot changes in five years. I'm hoping to go to school next semester, too. We'll just have to see. I've been busy canning tomatoes and green beans, 'cause that's what we have. We've eaten zucchini, watermelon, pumpkin, corn, tomatoes, beans, peppers, green onion, and raspberries from our garden this year. They are so yummy! The neighbor behind us said they were surprised at how well our "first attempt at gardening" has gone. Actually, last year was our first attempt, and we won't even go there. Jake and I also planted an apple and a pear tree. I made a grid on our side yard. Do you know how many fruit trees we can plant there? 14! It'll be AWESOME!!! We'll have our own little orchard!

So that's it...the kids are good. Canning is good. The dog is good, sort of. Jake will be better tomorrow for sure. Life is good - definitely has it's challenges - but it's good.

I hope everything's good for you too!

Strawberry and Cherry Jams

For great jam and jelly recipes, check out the Ball and Sure-Jell sites. I made jam a couple years ago, but it didn't turn out right because I didn't process it long enough. This year, I tried my luck at strawberry and cherry ('cause I couldn't find a cherry pitter). Both are EXCELLENT! You never know what you can do until you try - so try! You just might like it. Happy canning!

SURE.JELL Strawberry Jam Makes: About 8 (1-cup) jars* or 128 servings, 1 Tbsp. each 5 cups prepared fruit (about 2 quarts fully ripe strawberries) 1 box SURE.JELL Fruit Pectin 1/2 tsp. butter or margarine (optional) 7 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl BRING boiling-water canner, half full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling. STEM and crush strawberries thoroughly, one layer at a time. Measure exactly 5 cups prepared fruit into 6- or 8-quart saucepot. STIR pectin into prepared fruit in saucepot. Add butter to reduce foaming, if desired. Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon. LADLE immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with 2-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 minutes. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. (If lid springs back, lid is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)

* I used pints

SURE.JELL Cherry Jam Makes: About 6 (1-cup) jars*

4 cups prepared fruit (about 3 lb. fully ripe sweet cherries) 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1 box SURE.JELL Fruit Pectin 5 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl 1/4 tsp. almond extract

BRING boiling-water canner, half full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain jars well before filling.

STEM and pit cherries. Finely chop or grind fruit. Measure exactly 4 cups of the prepared cherries into 6- or 8-qt. saucepot. Stir in lemon juice.

STIR pectin into fruit mixture in saucepot. Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar and extract. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 min., stirring constantly. Remove from heat; skim off any foam with metal spoon.

LADLE immediately into prepared jars*, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 min. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middles of lids with finger. (If lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)

*I used pints

Wednesday Prep Day

Life is crazy right now! Although, I'm positive I'm not the only one who can say this. Just keep going, no matter how difficult things may become; because eventually, they will get better. It may take a while, but the Lord loves us and never forgets us.

How is your 72 hr. kit coming? I debated having a catch-up week this week, and I think that's what we are going to do; but, I also think a small sewing kit is pretty easy to throw together, so lets do both. If there is anything, highlighted in red on the right, that you haven't been able to grab, see if you can find it. And then, grab a little bag and fill it with: a needle, some thread, a few buttons, and a small pair of scissors. You may want to have a couple of these just in case.

How is your three months of storage coming? Do you have a plan? If so, keep pluggin' along. You'll get it. If you don't have a plan for your three month supply, lets make one together. To start, make a menu: seven breakfasts, seven or fourteen dinners. Seven's easier to plan, fourteen gives you more options. (As we continue our Sample BASIC Menu on the right, you can use it for ideas. More of that to come later...).

1. Write the recipes for each breakfast and dinner down.
2. If you do seven meals, multiply the ingredients by 13 to find out exactly how much of each item you need for three months. If you do fourteen, you can multiply all of the meals by seven or half by seven and half by six. It's up to you.
   
3. Make a master shopping list.
   
4. Begin shopping always remembering to stick to your budget. Little by little you will cross all the items off. Just be persistent and patient.

This month, we are collecting Beans for our long-term storage. Beans are awesome and we all need a few, o.k. a lot, in our storage. Liesa Card suggests a food storage program that fits the way we collect long-term storage on this site; although, there are many ways to go about gathering your storage.

Another way that makes sense is gathering a one year supply for one person at a time. (When you have one year gathered, just do it again). If you have one year for one person, you will also have a six month supply for two people, a four month supply for three, and so on. Isn't that COOL?! (I thought you might like it)! Happy collecting...

Here's an important note:

Never spend what you do not have. If you do, your things will own you, and that's just not the way preparedness, or anything else, should be done. Always be persistent, never running faster than needed; because, as you "Do the best you can, the Lord will provide the rest." (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

Motivational Monday, One Day Late

"You are a child of God with great strength. You have the ability to choose righteousness and happiness, no matter what your circumstances."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints, For the Strength of Youth, Copyright 2001, P. 5