Productivity

Boy did I get a ot accomplished this weekend. I found this website and this website via Pinterest (my new addiction) and both helped me with my cleaning and cooking issues.

I spent all Saturday morning shopping and preparing about 12 meals that are in the freezer waiting to be thrown in the crock pot. I also made a big batch of granola, which we eat with yogurt and as cereal. I've got all my meals for the week planned and prepped, lasagna and Mexican stuff shells. Then, yesterday, I got into Gabbie's room and finally started organizing it.

My wonderful step-mommie is spending a couple of days with us while she is in town, so I am putting her to work finishing up the organization in there. Now if I could just get the guest room and my craft area organized it would be great. Byron won't be subing for the next two weeks because of spring break. I'm wondering if I could talk him into painting!!! The living room, bedroom, and fire place need to be re-painted bad!!!! Hey, a girl can dream!!!

Well, I'm off. Hope you all have a great week!

A Sense of Accomplishment

Good Morning! Don't know why but I feel good today. The past couple of days have been full of accomplishment. Yesterday I bit the bullet and went to the health department to get Gabriella and I on WIC. Not my finest hour but the benefits will help us immensely. It was funny. You always hear horror stories about how the staff are rude and stuff. I guess they realized that I wasn't the average joe because no one was rude to me. The head nurse who filed the paperwork for us was extremely helpful. I had lots of questions and I guess it was obvious that I had no clue what I was doing. The nurse helped a lot. We talked about the colorful people she encounters on a daily basis and I confessed that I never thought I'd be in my current position. She assured me that's what these programs were there for; people in my situation that need a bit of help. It felt much better after talking with her and the other staff. They answered all my questions and told me exactly what to do when I got to the grocery store. I commented on the large amount of food that we can get and the woman replied "That's where your tax dollars go, use them." Very true!!! So I came home with my head a bit higher. I know that we won't have to spend too much at the grocery store now although coffee and creamer are not on the program.....darn!!!!

Another accomplishment was Tuesday when I took this 27 pounds of peaches.....

And turned it into this.....

6 pints of spiced peach butter and 16 half pints of peach preserves, minus the ones we ate. Yep....accomplishment!! So my totals for the season thus far are 16 half pints and 15 pints of sweet pickle relish, 13 half pints of blueberry jelly, 1 quart of blueberry juice(for more jelly), at least 10 quart bags of tomatoes, 30 quart bags of sweet corn, 42 quart bags of Dixie lee peas and its not even apple season yet!!Not bad at all! And let me say that the peach butter is out of this world!! Can't wait to eat that this winter. Next on my list is freezing butternut squash for Miss Gabbie, applesauce, and of course, apple butter!!! Thank God that we have a local apple orchard where I can buy all in bulk!

I wonder what I'll accomplish today?! More yard work I think. Mother wants The Man and I to help her mulch her house now. So I think we will be packing up Gabbie and heading to her house for the day. It will be nice to get out of the house, something I don't do very much anymore. I think tomorrow I'm going to try and wrap up these sewing projects. My in laws are coming in next weekend and I have to have a BUNCH of stuff done by then. I'm just about finished with the purses for my sister and cousin-in-law. Then I have a couple little things for them to use up the rest of their fabric. Gonna do some zippered make-up bags and little things like that. Then I have several projects for my niece, Emily. Although I better just focus on the main one and then move on after that. I'm getting carried away!!! I want to make her all the things I wanted to make for Gabbie when I was pregnant!!! I just couldn't because I was pregnant!! Like I said, I'm going to start with the main one and as soon as its finished I'll move on to the next. I have a funny feeling that everything I make for Gabbie, from here on out, I'll be making another for Emily. I'm still trying to figure out if I should do all Emily's stuff in pretty, light, and feminine or bright, fun, and cheery. What do you think?

Speaking of Gabbie...look out world, she's about 2 steps away from crawling or walking which ever happens first. She's pulling her self up and all that good stuff. We have to lower her crib because I found her half standing up in it this morning! YIKES!!!! She's scooting along though and getting into a lot more than I'd like. Time to baby proof the house. God give me strength and patients with this!!! Every day she does something new, learns something new, develops something new. Its truly amazing to watch her learn and discover. She never fails to amaze me.

Well I better have one more cup o' coffe and get going. Lots to get done and then we have to go to Mother's!!! Oh, I think I hear a tractor outside. Looks like we will have hay bales when we get home. I'll make sure to show you! Until next time!

Let The Games Begin

I've noticed, as an adult, that when I'm stressed I always end up in the kitchen. Yesterday morning I was up early making blueberry jelly. This was my first canning session of the season and I'm ready for the garden to start producing. Hopefully it won't be too much longer!! There is something so very relaxing about canning for me. I enjoy making food and I take pride in the fact that I won't have to go to Walmart for jelly in the next year. Considering our current financial situation, its a really good way to save us some money. I plan on making the very best of our situation and canning as much as I am able. We still have alot left over from last year so I'm trying to find ways to use/reuse last years bounty. So if anyone has any good recipes please pass them along.

I'm up early again this morning, just couldn't go back to sleep after nursing Gabbie. Is it possible to pray too much?? I found myself waking up in the middle of the night to roll over and I heard myself praying. I like to think that God always wants to hear our prayers but if I were in that position I would be like "OK Gladys, I get it. I heard you the first hundred times! I'm taking care of it!" Luckily God is a bit more patient than I am.

I wish I had a couple hundred dollars to blow. I'm so in DIY mode. I feel like painting and sprucing up the house. Before the bottom dropped out The Man and I were looking into a patio and painting the living room and I'm still in that mode. One day we will be able to work on the house again. Maybe I should buy that lotto ticket ;)

Don't have any plans for today. I hope to get the house cleaned and work on a couple sewing projects that need to get finished. If I do anything worth showing off I'll let you take a peek. Until next time.

Almost Time

It's almost Christmas time!!! I have to admit that I don't really have the Christmas spirit this year. I don't know if it's because I'm HUGE or if The Man won't be here but either way I'm just not feeling it this year. Regardless of my non-spirit, I still had some holiday baking to do. Unfortunately I was suffering from bad allergies and couldn't taste my wonderful creations. The Man willingly took this role for me ;) I have to admit that, when I was able to taste, all the cookies were amazing!! Here is a list of the cookies I made.

Chewy Molasses Spice

Iced Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies

Lime Meltaways

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Turtle Graham Bars

I also did a simple sugar cookie recipe and dyed part red and green to make the stripped ones. Aren't they yummy looking?! Its been hard not getting into them. I have to say that the Chocolate Gooey are awesome and I will be making more for my family.







While I was busy baking, The Man was finishing up his present for my grandmother. He decided to make her a big dream catcher out of grapevine. Isn't it amazing???!!! I told him he need to make us one for the house. All the feathers were found on our property too. I know she will love it.






Well thats about all for tonight. I have to get The Man packed for his trip and finish my present for Christmas. Until next time, Ya'll make it a good one!!

Feeling Very Polish

Good Morning!!! Well I feel great after a good nights sleep. Now I'm able to tell you about my amazing day yesterday. Its gonna take a while so grab a cup and something to munch on!!



First I'd like to introduce a major player in this story. This is Stephanie, my great-grandmother. Besides being one of my grandmothers, she is my inspiration.





This is her senior portrait. Fortunately she saved everything so I have alot of her stuff including her senior annual where I found this picture.

This is her in later years. It was cool making all these yummy things because alot of the utencils and bowls I used were hers. My grandfather remembers her cooking very vividly.

Ok, on with the show. So, we're polish and being polish means 3 things in our family: we're catholic, we like to partake in the drink, and we EAT!!! Two things that Stephanie made were Pierogis, potato dumplings, and Paczki (pronounced Ponch-key) which are a Polish jelly doughnut, but better. Now we haven't had paczki in a long time, since my uncle passed, so it was a big deal to make them. So we all decided it was time to start making them again and it was time for me to learn how.

The recipe is easy, the procedure is long. The dough has to rise 4 times!! Its literally an all day thing. In between the risings I made pierogies, lots of pierogies! This is the procedure in a nut shell, starting with my amazing shirt!!!

I made it just for the occation. I know as soon as Mable sees it she'll be wanting one!

Paczki start with alot of egg yolks. This is one of Stephanie's bowls!!

Then you have to whisk them all up. Thats Stephs egg mixer too! Then you add in a bunch of flour and yeast and let it rise. Then you punch it down and let it rise again!!

Now comes the fun part. Now you have to fill the dough with your favorite jelly. We used blackberry and blueberry, made by Mother and I, and the family favorite, red plum. This is the hardest part because the filling technique is difficult. You have to make sure that you seal the dough completely or the jelly will ooze out when you fry them.

Once you get them all filled and sealed up right. You let them rise again!

Once they've doubled in size, they're ready to fry. Then you coat them in powdered sugar and devour, well at least once they've cooled because that hot jelly is like molten lava.

Thats it. The pierogies were a bit easier. They're just dough then you cut them in circles, fill, boil, and eat.

So we had a Polish feast and everyone, especially my grandfather, was on cloud nine!

Now I have to go help The Man clean up the house. Ya'll have a good one and a Happy Valentine's Day.

Just a Taste

I've been busy all day cooking, not just any cooking but cooking with family: The BEST!!!! I had to let everyone know!! I will be making the offical post tomorrow but wanted so badly to tell everyone. So please, tune in tomorrow and you will see some amazing food and a piece of my soul. It should prove great!!!

Another great thing is happening tomorrow...My Poppa and Step-Mommie are coming home!!! SO EXCITED!!!!!

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!

Hump Day

I was supposed to show you some pictures of what I've been working on. Sorry it took so long. Its been a hectic couple of days. Without further ado.....





This is the string quilt. I thought I was done but I mis-calculated and I need to make 40 more squares!! I know, how could I have made that kind of mistake!! But I did so now I've got a bit more to do. Doesn't it look good though?!

This is my inspiration board. I've got some more things to put up but I can't find them!! But I've got my silver spoons and some embroidery. All kinds of good things. I look at this and smile. Of course I had to put up some Team Jacob love!!

Teacup Pincushion


Button Flowers. I got the idea here. Aren't they cute? You'll be seeing them again.

I'll show you the rest when I get everything done.

Had a rough day at work. One of our sales reps got fired and our new boss announced that she was going back to her old paper. So now we'll have another new boss!!! Its been crazy!!! In that light I came home and....you guessed it....cooked. I was in the mood for a real country meal so this is what we had.

Purple Hull Peas, from our garden, and Salt Pork

Home-Made Biscuits



Fried Chicken and Potato Salad


And for dessert...biscuits and honey!!

Now there is nothing better than biscuits and honey. I LOVE honey. I love honey so much that I want to start keeping bees in the spring so that I can have honey all the time. I love bees too, so I think keeping them would be very appropriate. Plus they'll help us out with the garden,which by the way is going to be awesome. I've been talking to Mabel about some new things we want to plant...like watermelon radishes and purple cauliflower. Some different things that will set us apart from all the usual tomatoes and summer squash. She's got alot of good ideas. Of course she does, food is her life!!!

So yea...that's about it for today. Think I'm going to head to the studio and play some more.

Ya'll have a good one!

BBBBUUUUUUUURRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Didn't want to get out of bed this morning, it was so cold. We've been having issues with our heating unit and I don't think its working at top speed. Hopefully next winter we'll have a wood burning fireplace and won't have to worry about it. Until then its socks and alot of blankets!

Had a rough day today. Work just wasn't all that great. I'm praying tomorrow will be better but I have my doubts. I keep telling myself only two more days and I won't have to worry about things any more. So after my hard day I came home and de-stressed. I had a glass of wine and made biscuts to go with dinner. Now I make great biscuts. I don't make them everyday, like my mother-in-law, but tonight I just had to. I immediately felt better. I'm sure the wine had something to do with that as well.

That is a trait that I share with both my mommies and my sister; we all bake/cook when we need to unwind. Don't know why but it always helps. I think it's funny that all 4 of us do the same thing. Makes me believe that Lois was meant to be in our family.

Other than that not much going on. We have no plans for the weekend....thank goodess!!! I don't feel like doing or going anywhere. I actually think I'll curl up with a good book tonight instead of heading to the studio.

Ya'll keep warm.

PS. I'm having a bit of trouble with the spacing of my posts....as you can tell. If anyone out there can help, I'd be greatful!